2018 Golf Thread
- Thread starter jercra
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Broke 80 for the first time...w a 77. That included a topped 10 yard tee shot into water and 2 3 putts. Feels like a huge weight lifted.
Congratulations. Now you will be miserable for the rest of your golfing life when in the 80’s.
It’s a strange game. I love it. 82 today with 5 lip outs. I hate golf.
Every Saturday. 7:00 AM. It never rains in Southern California.
2 months to my Ireland Trip. Getting excited.
Yep - breaking 80 is a real milestone in one's golfing career. Congrats!
Where are you playing?
Castlerock, Royal Portrush, Portstewart, Royal County Down, Portmarnock, and the European.
Have fun! Shame you're not heading south and west at all, but Portrush and County Down are sublime, and Portstewart is a wild ride on the good side. (I didn't care for The European Club at all, but others' mileage does vary; I haven't played the others on your list, FWIW.)
Why? Even the pros don't expect to play their best every day. Enjoy today and just enjoy the process of getting better over time.
I was just joking. I’m thrilled and understand the ups and downs and that the long term trends are what is important.
This is a good attitude. The first time I broke 80 it was momentous and seemed like I would never do it again. I may have called a lot more people than cared to hear from me. I'm not sure when it happened, but now if I shoot in the 80s, it's a bad day and even mid 70s is pretty blah. 60s is a good round now. The point is that it's relative and a continuum. Congrats on shooting in the 70s. It's kind on magical because it's the first time your score matches with a score you see on TV. Keep playing and it will hopefully become a regular round. On to the 60s next!!
I hit balls the other day for the first time in 18 months or so (shoulder surgery 2 summers ago, kid born last summer) and I was pleasantly surprised with how good I felt afterwards. The last time I played was in October of 2016 for a bachelor party and it was 7-8 months after my surgery. I couldn't hit a 6 iron over 140 yards and was pretty disgusted so other than watching on TV I haven't been thinking much about golf. The Masters got me into it and after hitting the other day I've been caught by the bug again. Due to my dad's membership at our club I still have my membership active, so I have a place to play (just have to pay cart fees) and will try to get out at least once a week this year...hopefully more.
I went on the simulator last night at the club and felt pretty good. If the numbers are accurate (which I think they are based on the friend that I brought with me) my swing speed was between 110-115, which is probably a few MPH less than before shoulder surgery but not off by much.
Last time I was big into golf a few years back, I bought a few scratch wedges and due to limited play they're still in good condition. My whole set otherwise looks pretty good.
Is Hrzl still around? I liked their gloves the last time I played.
What about a ball? My buddy tells me Snell and Kirkland are very good for the money. I'd rather not spend the money on new Pro V1s so any advice is appreciated.
I went on the simulator last night at the club and felt pretty good. If the numbers are accurate (which I think they are based on the friend that I brought with me) my swing speed was between 110-115, which is probably a few MPH less than before shoulder surgery but not off by much.
Last time I was big into golf a few years back, I bought a few scratch wedges and due to limited play they're still in good condition. My whole set otherwise looks pretty good.
Is Hrzl still around? I liked their gloves the last time I played.
What about a ball? My buddy tells me Snell and Kirkland are very good for the money. I'd rather not spend the money on new Pro V1s so any advice is appreciated.
Hrzl is still around, you can get them on Amazon. Balls I like the Vice Pro Plus - find it to be just as good as a ProV1 and if you buy 5 dozen, they’ll run you about $26/dozen. They have lower models as well and the descriptions on each will tell you the comparable big name line.
Kirklands are supposed to be like ProV's, and I believe they're getting sued because their dimples are near identical, but they go on sale infrequently and sell out quite quickly, so it's very difficult to get them. I grabbed 4 dozen last time they came around in like October/November but haven't seen anything recently.
The packaging is different than the ones I got but at 48 balls for $60, I can't really go wrong regardless.
I'm just going to leave this here, emotional read for any golfer.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/my-last-round
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/my-last-round
Do you play these? I actually read on article in golf digest this morning about how well they tested with spin. Are they comparable to driving distance to the high end balls out there?
Thanks so much for bringing that to my attention...I got to know John fairly well during my time at Golf Digest, and he's one of the good guys. (I vividly recall him teaching me in the kindest and least embarrassing possible way that "droll" is not a synonym for "dull".) Lovely piece.
I have not, but everything I've read and seen has been glowing. For the price, I think it's between these and the Snell ball. These also have the added benefit of having the cool factor.
I should buy a sleeve of each (Cut, Snell, Vice) and try them all out myself. I've been flirting with going back to the Bridgestone, so maybe I'll do some ball testing.
I pick up AAAAA or however many A's the company wants to put - for what appear to be hit once Pro V1's off eBay. I picked up 250 which my playing partners will eventually steal half of, for $160 with an eBay 20% off coupon that came about last month. They are basically indistinguishable from new to me, and I am not a scratch golfer so it makes no difference. It worked out to $7.68 a dozen with free shipping and it was a deal I just couldn't pass up. I have been buying from the same eBay seller for years, and am extremely happy.
Looking for a little advice. Lately I've been having a terrible time going right, to the point where pretty much every one of my shots is a push to the right. I can feel my wrists open up during the swing and that leaves the club face wide open at impact, but no matter how much I try to overcorrect my body to keep it closed, I still open my wrists up. Any tips on how to consistently keep the clubface closed at impact? Nothing I try has worked.
This was my miss for a long time. Two things that helped were working on tempo drills. Martin Hall has some great videos for this. For me, it was a non completion of the backswing before firing my hips leading the face being open at impact.
A second thought is get the back of the left hand facing the target at impact. Those helped me a bunch.
Opening the wrists/rotating the forearms is a good thing. Creates a ton of speed. Just have to finish the swing.
Thanks, I'll check out those videos. I do love distance and sometimes I sell out trying to hit the ball as far as I can, and I'm sure that doesn't help.
I'd like recognition for my incredible selflessness. I sold my irons today so everyone should expects amazing weather until I get new ones. You're all welcome and I don;t want to call myself a hero but I definitely am.
Link? You get that wood?
So do the opposite. Set up for a huge push.
It doesn't, but closing your hands is a sure way to hit missiles.
I played 9 yesterday with my dad. Would have liked to kept going but he had surgery on his hand this winter and was struggling a bit as we were playing. The course is in great shape considering the spring we had. No leaves on any of the trees yet and the fairways were extremely soft but the greens, despite being soft, were fast.
It was great to be back out there. I played alright considering it was my first round in two summers. 7 over including an OOB tee shot on #1. One thing that I missed yesterday was my range finder. I don't know where the hell it is but if I start playing a lot I'll definitely be looking for one.
It was great to be back out there. I played alright considering it was my first round in two summers. 7 over including an OOB tee shot on #1. One thing that I missed yesterday was my range finder. I don't know where the hell it is but if I start playing a lot I'll definitely be looking for one.
39 putts on Sat. I’m switching to crosshanded. It can’t get any worse. My shoulders are naturally open and my right hand wants to take over the putt so bad. Practiced a bit yesterday and the roll seemed really true w the left hand low. Gonna give it a whirl this weekend.
Have you practiced right hand dominant putting? Try putting with just your right hand on the putter.
I do this a lot and I'm actually a better at putting one handed than two handed. I would do it as my normal putting stroke, but would be self conscious about it so it would probably negate the advantage.
I switched to cross-handed in college and never went back. I don't think it's for everyone but everyone should give it a serious try-out.
Ditto for the giant putter grips. Less feel (IMO) but they're harder to move your wrists with. Not for everyone but worth a look.
Ditto for the giant putter grips. Less feel (IMO) but they're harder to move your wrists with. Not for everyone but worth a look.
Putting is so tricky and everyone is unique, so take the following with a grain of salt.
I had a stretch of just AWFUL putting last year into early this season. Generally I'd consider myself to be a good putter and I was averaging around 36 putts per round through 5-6 rounds.
I was switching putters, grips, strokes, stances, etc. Decided to just commit to a single putter with the larger, 140 cc pistol shaped golf pride snsr grip and hit putts on the carpet for hours. Through practice I discovered my backstroke was too long, which was making it tough to hit putts on-line. I was also really inconsistent but generally too tight with grip pressure. Squeezing the grip really tight and then relaxing before starting my takeaway has been a good way to fix this. Since figuring this out, I'm down to 30-32 putts per round over the last 5 rounds.
TL;DR: Practice is your friend.
You know, I use that on chips to rake tension out. Going to try on putts that’s a great call.
Today was the practice round, and the competition is the next three days. 250 teams, supposedly the biggest Member/Guest in the country. The "gift bag" we got was insane. Probably $600 worth of SWAG apiece. Amazing Stag night dinner, drinks, lots of tv's with sports, hand rolled cigars. It's paradise. We're in a very favorable flight, so I just need to play decent golf. Tomorrow is better ball. And a putting competition. Need to kick some ass.
Sounds like pretty much the opposite of my Club Championship here in Scotland, which begins on Saturday. Just golf, and nothing else, with temperatures in the high 40s and a northerly wind for round one. Our format is that there are three qualifying rounds of stroke play, and your best two scores count, with the top 16 after that going through to a straight match play knockout competition. (The final is 36 holes; all other match play rounds are 18 holes.)
I have in the past finished 16th, tied for 16th - necessitating a US Open-like 18-hole playoff to determine the qualifier - and 17th in the qualifying rounds, so it's always a nervy time for me. I've made it through a few other times, but never as a top-10 seed, and I've only won two matches in total; one of those was against a former club champion playing off a +2 handicap, which was nice, but it's definitely an uphill climb. And this year I've semi-intentionally not played a single 18-hole round in six months; as per one of my most recent comments in this thread, I'm hoping that this might help me, insofar as I don't have any expectations and maybe everything will come together in a pleasing fashion for me on the day. (Insert the "That's a bold strategy, Cotton..." meme here.)
I have in the past finished 16th, tied for 16th - necessitating a US Open-like 18-hole playoff to determine the qualifier - and 17th in the qualifying rounds, so it's always a nervy time for me. I've made it through a few other times, but never as a top-10 seed, and I've only won two matches in total; one of those was against a former club champion playing off a +2 handicap, which was nice, but it's definitely an uphill climb. And this year I've semi-intentionally not played a single 18-hole round in six months; as per one of my most recent comments in this thread, I'm hoping that this might help me, insofar as I don't have any expectations and maybe everything will come together in a pleasing fashion for me on the day. (Insert the "That's a bold strategy, Cotton..." meme here.)
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What a lovely morning to be on the golf course today - temperature was only about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but the sky was soft and the wind was only 5-10 mph at most, so it was very pleasant to be outside. I shot a 77 (one birdie and seven bogeys) in my club championship qualifier, and in the conditions I probably shouldn't have shot any worse than that; I left one greenside sand shot in the bunker, which was my biggest regret, but I did birdie a par 3 and therefore get some money in the "twos sweep". More importantly, the round took just over 3-and-a-half hours - after the first hole we didn't have to wait once for the group in front of us - and I had a nice chat with my two playing partners all the way round. A lovely way to get back into golf after a lengthy absence.