After a two week hiatus due to rain+work, I did a lesson yesterday and then went out by myself to play 9 holes.
On the range I'm having much more luck with the driver than I used to... my shots are actually carrying, although my 'straight shot' consistency could use some practice.
What still amazes me after all these years is how you go out on the course and shots that you were doing well with on the range are suddenly too difficult to do properly.
I always found the flatness of the range to be a throwoff when playing on the real thing, unless of course your are still hitting a flat shot. A good trick if the course isnt too busy is to just hit another ball when you feel you didnt quite hit your shot the way you wanted. Of course you can't take the piss with this since other people want to play
On September 21 2014 23:30 micronesia wrote: After a two week hiatus due to rain+work, I did a lesson yesterday and then went out by myself to play 9 holes.
On the range I'm having much more luck with the driver than I used to... my shots are actually carrying, although my 'straight shot' consistency could use some practice.
What still amazes me after all these years is how you go out on the course and shots that you were doing well with on the range are suddenly too difficult to do properly.
Very true. I've had times on the range where I felt like I was ready to go out and shoot 60 the way I seemed to be grooved in. Several things account for it in my opinion:
1) You're able to get in a real groove with rhythm, you can be hitting a ball every minute or two, which is much more frequent than on the course 2) On the range you're working on what you want with the swing and getting it grooved in, when you hit the course it all changes and you're generally trying to play well...which has a tendency to lead to reverting back to some of your old habits, which in turn causes conflict with the new stuff you are trying to work on 3) The course is varied, unlike the range. Uphill, downhill, doglegs, side hill lies, etc.
On September 26 2014 01:57 L_Master wrote: 1) You're able to get in a real groove with rhythm, you can be hitting a ball every minute or two, which is much more frequent than on the course
Every minute or two, for the range, actually seems pretty infrequent. Today I warmed up a bit on the range then did a lesson on mostly short game. After the lesson I figured I would try hitting some shots with my driver, and barring a bad performance, I would go play 9+ holes (the weather was nice). I couldn't get my driver to work. I must have hit like 200-300 shots with it, and I wasn't doing any better at the end than at the beginning. Either I am gripping it too tightly, or I move my head before the swing, or I have too fast of a tempo, or my balance ends up off, or one of a few other things... and they are always in a state of flux which is very frustrating. Whatever I am focusing on, it seems like something else goes wrong.
The good news is, my bad drives are generally much better than my bad drives were ~3 months ago. Still, my 'average' shot and my 'really good' shot need to improve more or I won't even feel comfortable playing... especially when I recognize that my driver will probably be less effective on the course than it is on the range. I will be happy with my swing and feel ready to attack the course 12 hours before the first major snowfall of the year. Just watch.
Since starting back in May, I'm now about a 100 golfer. My chipping and pitching game is holding me back the most right now. My form on these shots isn't great. More importantly, I don't really have a feel for them yet. My longer shots are definitely passable. Iron and hybrid shots generally get me to where I want to go. One issue that I have been having there, though, is that my swing plane seems to have deteriorated such that I have developed a bad habit of coming in at too steep of an angle. There are some fundamentals that I need to revisit there.
Probably the most aggravating aspect of my game right now is the driver. For the life of me, I can't reliably shoot the ball straight. Most balls shoot out at a 1:00 or 2:00 angle and have a fade spin on them. Part of the problem is my swing plane. The other part is getting the club to release properly at the bottom of my swing. I'm always just a little bit late. Complicating things a little bit is the fact that I had to replace my driver. My first one developed a bad crack and became unusable. I just picked up an SLDR to replace it, which has a stiff shaft (instead of regular), and is a real big boy driver as opposed to what I had before. It is going to take me a little time to adjust.
Anyway, it has been a good first season. I'm happy that I can credibly go out and play with people, which was the original goal.
On October 03 2014 23:38 xDaunt wrote: Anyway, it has been a good first season. I'm happy that I can credibly go out and play with people, which was the original goal.
Yea, that's really nice. Being confident that you can go play with people is a very good first goal, I think. Conversely, it really sucks when you don't feel comfortable going out and playing golf with people. That's where I still am for God knows what reason.
On October 03 2014 23:38 xDaunt wrote: Anyway, it has been a good first season. I'm happy that I can credibly go out and play with people, which was the original goal.
Yea, that's really nice. Being confident that you can go play with people is a very good first goal, I think. Conversely, it really sucks when you don't feel comfortable going out and playing golf with people. That's where I still am for God knows what reason.
As long as you can keep the ball moving without slowing down the game, you shouldn't feel bad about being out there. I get the sense from your posts that you're better than that.
Anyway, I spent yesterday's lesson figuring out what was wrong with my driver swing. The pro tweaked my set up a bit. The ball was tee'd higher (1/2 - 3/4 ball above driver) and moved further inside in my stance to just inside my left big toe. The big thing, however, was changing up the mechanics of my swing. My problem was that my hips were turning too fast for my swing. The result is that the club would be stuck behind my body, and the club face would not close. To fix this, we focused on getting me to initiate the swing with my arms and force my right wrist to turn over through the swing. It's kind of an odd sensation. It feels like I'm swinging with just my right arm. It also feels like I'm not swinging with as much as power. However, my club head speed actually went up because my club head was properly whipping through the bottom of the swing. Regardless, it more or less fixed my slice+push problem with driver shots. Now I just have to keep practicing it so that it is reduced to muscle memory.
In the past, I've found it very helpful to go out on the course with the pro for a few minutes. No matter how well you hit the balls on the range, if you don't set yourself up properly on the tee box you won't have good results. I think many pros neglect to actually work with their students on exactly how high to tee the ball!
Today it was really windy... the first time I tried hitting balls in the wind in a long time. After a lesson working on various things, which all seemed to go pretty well, I tried hitting some shots with my driver. I figured, if I can hit my driver I'll go out and play 9 despite the wind. After 10 shots with my driver, I realized that 0 of them would have been on the fairway (they would have been on either side of a standard fairway, with about half of them being well over 5 yards off, and short). I chose not to play. Unfortunately it's starting to get cold now which will make golf more difficult.
Was just browsing some older TL threads and stumbled on this one. Always fun to see some of you guys are still active here. LuckyFool, L_Master and even Ahzz! Wasn't there another golf thread at one time?
Anywho... I just turned 49 this year.. ya gettin' up there. I still play competitive golf through the NCGA and just waiting to turn the magic 50 and try some amateur senior events (ouch.. that hurts), but for the past couple of years have been having a blast playing with authentic 100 year old hickory clubs out here in the SFrancisco/Monterey area. Our group has started a small community website www.norcalhickory.com and feel free to poke around if you are curious. If you're ever by chance in the bay area, please don't hesitate to drop me a line if you'd like to try it out or find out more for your own area for that matter. We have lots of loaner sets and happy to get anyone started.
Playing with old wooden shafted clubs is really a blast and such a thrill when you pull it all together. Anyone else ever play or experience playing with old wooden clubs?
I think it would be better to bump this thread than make a new one.
Last year I was relocated for training and didn't play golf. I went to the range a few times but that was it. This year I've been doing weekly lessons (weather permitting...) for the past couple of months and am finally started to feel good about my swing. I'm going to play 9 after work this week which will be my first round since two years ago!
I can pretty much sum up what I learned in my recent golf lessons in one word: transition. To be a bit more descriptive, my transition from upswing to downswing is by far the most important thing to get right. I'm building in a legit pause to ensure I transition properly. When I pause sufficiently, I hit a good shot. When I don't pause sufficiently, I hit a bad shot. Every time. Hopefully this progress will show itself on the course.
We also did some work with pitching, and the same finding about a pause at the end of the backswing applies.
Exceptionally rarely unfortunately due to the cost and sinking most of my available funds into racing bikes.
Played twice last year, shot a 41 and a 42. Once to the range this year. Hit the ball surprisingly well, but noticed I was about a club shorter than normal. Putting seemed okay, but chipping was comical. I was having trouble getting basic pitches within 15 feet of the hole.
I play about once a year, had some lessons as a kid but i'm pretty much a beginner level player. Hit occasional good shots but a lot of bad.
Played 18 a few days ago. Chipping and putting was ok. My range is off because i've been going to the gym quite a bit this year and so I need to take a club or two less than I was before.
Patented slice is still working well, I need to work on getting my hands around and striking it clean.
I want to play a lot this summer and actually work on using woods because I haven't hit a wood in years because I just slice it everytime.
I went ahead and played 9 after work today. Didn't have time to loosen up at the range before I started which couldn't have helped, but the round went pretty terribly lol
It reminded me of all the times people told me how you should spend most of your time practicing short game and I've thought to myself "NO! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO NOT BE ABLE TO GET TO THE GREEN!"
Like, "Oh God, I two putted when I could have one putted this and got a 10 instead of a 9 oh no!"
Hopefully things can only improve from shooting 56 (with a little bit of 'assistance') lol
On May 30 2016 00:15 micronesia wrote: I think it would be better to bump this thread than make a new one.
Last year I was relocated for training and didn't play golf. I went to the range a few times but that was it. This year I've been doing weekly lessons (weather permitting...) for the past couple of months and am finally started to feel good about my swing. I'm going to play 9 after work this week which will be my first round since two years ago!
I can pretty much sum up what I learned in my recent golf lessons in one word: transition. To be a bit more descriptive, my transition from upswing to downswing is by far the most important thing to get right. I'm building in a legit pause to ensure I transition properly. When I pause sufficiently, I hit a good shot. When I don't pause sufficiently, I hit a bad shot. Every time. Hopefully this progress will show itself on the course.
We also did some work with pitching, and the same finding about a pause at the end of the backswing applies.
Anyone else golfing?
I have a noticeable pause at the top of my swing. its the same for me. if i dont have a good transition i hit low pull hooks with the longer clubs.
i find watching golfers with pauses at the top helps as well as keeping the grip soft. Villegas and Matsuyama come to mind for the men. pretty much any korean girl on the ladies side of things.
ive been much less aggressive off the tee and with my approach shots this year and its helped lower my scores pretty consistently. my biggest weakness right now are my wedges if its not a chip shot its been ugly. im leaving an easy 2 or 3 strokes per round on the course per 18.
I didn't get to play much last year, but this summer I'll be doing a lot of golf (my in laws are in town for like 3-4 months, so I need to gtfo).
Problems in my swing occur when I get too long in the backswing. As long as I keep things short enough, my shots are really nice. That said, my driving is a goddamned mess. I'm rebuilding that swing from scratch.
After today's lesson I was actually hitting drives on the range pretty well. The only problem is I tend to send them too low so I'll probably be replacing my 9.5 degree King Cobra S9-1 S-flex with a regular flex 10.5 or 11.5 degree driver with newer technology. I might replace fairway woods as well but I'm less worried about them. My TaylorMade R7s should be fine.
I'm going to try to play 9 after work tomorrow and see if I have more luck from the tee box. I also worked a little bit today on chipping which is something I hadn't practiced in like two years! I'm going to collect my scorecards and set up a handicap once I have five full rounds accounted for.
On May 30 2016 00:15 micronesia wrote: I think it would be better to bump this thread than make a new one.
Last year I was relocated for training and didn't play golf. I went to the range a few times but that was it. This year I've been doing weekly lessons (weather permitting...) for the past couple of months and am finally started to feel good about my swing. I'm going to play 9 after work this week which will be my first round since two years ago!
I can pretty much sum up what I learned in my recent golf lessons in one word: transition. To be a bit more descriptive, my transition from upswing to downswing is by far the most important thing to get right. I'm building in a legit pause to ensure I transition properly. When I pause sufficiently, I hit a good shot. When I don't pause sufficiently, I hit a bad shot. Every time. Hopefully this progress will show itself on the course.
We also did some work with pitching, and the same finding about a pause at the end of the backswing applies.
Anyone else golfing?
I have a noticeable pause at the top of my swing. its the same for me. if i dont have a good transition i hit low pull hooks with the longer clubs.
i find watching golfers with pauses at the top helps as well as keeping the grip soft. Villegas and Matsuyama come to mind for the men. pretty much any korean girl on the ladies side of things.
ive been much less aggressive off the tee and with my approach shots this year and its helped lower my scores pretty consistently. my biggest weakness right now are my wedges if its not a chip shot its been ugly. im leaving an easy 2 or 3 strokes per round on the course per 18.
That sounds like a good idea. Also, my course has a small practice hole where you can pitch to an elevated green which seems to be very good practice for those 30-6 yard approach shots... I plan to use it a fair amount.
On June 06 2016 00:43 micronesia wrote: After today's lesson I was actually hitting drives on the range pretty well. The only problem is I tend to send them too low so I'll probably be replacing my 9.5 degree King Cobra S9-1 S-flex with a regular flex 10.5 or 11.5 degree driver with newer technology. I might replace fairway woods as well but I'm less worried about them. My TaylorMade R7s should be fine.
Yeah, I've wondered a bit about my driver as well. I'm currently using a 10.5 stiff flex SLDR. I spent about thirty minutes troubleshooting my swing. I was hitting a lot of balls low and left, so I really opened up the club face which resulted in straighter and higher shots. I'm thinking that I may still want to jack up the loft a bit (I can go up to 11.5). This might give me a little more distance and make the club more forgiving for my swing. It's something that I plan to chat with my instructor about at my next lesson.