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My journey to breaking 80.


Finley
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MDL... Thanks for your thoughts on the rule. However, my ball wasn't OB, there was no stake in the wooded area it must have went into. So it was a lost ball, not OB. Do you know the rules on that for a lost ball?
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MDL... Thanks for your thoughts on the rule. However, my ball wasn't OB, there was no stake in the wooded area it must have went into. So it was a lost ball, not OB. Do you know the rules on that for a lost ball?

That's why he put the slash in there. Lost ball/OB are the same under the rules. No options other than re tee. (But in casual rounds I play exactly like Matt does ... If you're not walking back to the tee you gotta take 2 strokes, not one)

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MDL, thanks for the clarification. I did take two strokes, as I treated my drop as lying 3 (essentially pretending that my drop would have been the provisional). Unfortunately it sounds like my round can't really be considered truly breaking 80. Unfortunately 99% of my rounds are casual, so it's hard to make it back to the tee on a busy day... Lesson learned is that anytime it might be a close call (even though I thought I saw it get a good kick), is to put a provisional out there. Btw Finley... Congrats on breaking 80! Even though you didn't really keep score, if you're confident what your score was, I'd say you did it. A couple more months until we're all back out there chasing this again!
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In general this is backwards.  Par 3s versus par 4s, which are more difficult might depend on your game and your course.  But for most people on most courses (assuming you're playing the right tees), the par 5s are the easiest holes on the course. This is definitely true for me. In my last 20 rounds I've averaged +0.4 on par 5s, +0.6 on par 4s, and +1.2 on par 3s.

Well I agree the par 5's are the easiest holes. I meant the par 4's because I nailed several 5 and 6 irons in the 160-180 range got pars on some of those par 4's. The trouble was I missed some easy par 3 shots one being a 7 iron from 145 that I dumped in the front bunker. So I need to brush up my bunker play first and the mental side of feeling that I should hit a par 3 in one shot.

"Repetition is the chariot of genius"

Driver: BENROSS VX PROTO 10.5
Woods: BENROSS QUAD SPEED FAIRWAY 15"
Hybrids:BENROSS 3G 17" BENROSSV5 Escape 20"
Irons: :wilson: DEEP RED Fluid Feel  4-SW
Putter: BENROSS PURE RED
Balls: :wilsonstaff:  Ti DNA

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  • 3 weeks later...

So I'm starting to get back into the swings of things. Practicing often. Today I went out to a wide open park with my range finder. I am hitting quite shorter than I was when I finished last year. All of my irons are about 10-15 yards shorter...

Anybody else have this happen?

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Finley - I bet it's probably just due to not playing for a while. That's what used to happen to me every year when I started back up anyway. What I started doing a cpl years back during the winter was swinging inside during the winter, maybe 50-100 swings every few days. Before the new house we bought last summer, we didn't have high ceilings, so I bought a demo 6 iron, cut a few inches off of it, and re-gripped so I could swing in the house. I still had to hit the range a bit come spring, but it did help keep the rust off during the offseason. BTW... Read a great book if you're interested. Elements of Scoring by Ray Floyd. Nothing earth shattering, but a good, simple read with some good advice on game management. I think it should be helpful this coming season, and thought I'd pass the word on in case it could help you in your quest!
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I am hitting quite shorter than I was when I finished last year. All of my irons are about 10-15 yards shorter...Anybody else have this happen?

Sometimes it is just the difference in temperature. I feel that once the weather warms up a bit the distances will improve.

Drivers: Bag 1 - TM R11 (10.5°); Bag 2 - Ping G5 (9°),
Fairway woods: #1 - TM RBZ Tour (14.5°) & TM System 2 Raylor (17°); #2 - TM Burner (15°) & TM V-Steel (18°)
Hybrid: #1 - TM Rocketballz (19°); #2 - Ping G5 (19°)
Irons: #1 - Ping i3+; #2 - Hogan Edge  (both 4-pw, +1" shaft)
Wedges: #1 - Ping i3+ U wedge (52°) & Ping Eye 2+ BeCu (60°); #2 - Ping ISI Sand BeCu (52°) & Cleveland CG11 lob (60°)
Putters: Ping B60i & Anser 2, Odyssey White Steel 2-Ball & White Hot XG #9, Lamkim Jumbp grips
Golf Balls: Titleist Pro V1, Bridgestone B330, Callaway SR1, Slazenger Grips: Lamkin Crossline
Golf Shoes: Footjoy & Adidas; Golf Glove: Footjoy StaSof®; Golf Bag: Ping Hoofer
I love this game! :-D

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So I'm starting to get back into the swings of things. Practicing often. Today I went out to a wide open park with my range finder. I am hitting quite shorter than I was when I finished last year. All of my irons are about 10-15 yards shorter...

Anybody else have this happen?

This is our year, Finley, I can feel it. Funny how hope springs eternal with golf. I haven't done anything with a club since November, I think, but I'm already thinking I'll pick up the game a few strokes better than where I left off. After all, I've spent a couple weeks lurking here to catch up on things, and I am sure I'll remember to shoot for the center of greens this season. Plus, I've read all of @ freedrop's random tips, so I'm definitely ready to go.

But seriously, I think the best thing I've done is to see a trainer for a little while to get a good fitness routine going. It's amazing how out of shape I'd gotten over the years. With a focus my trainer is putting on my "core," I do truly think it will help give my body more balance and strength when I finally swing the club. That 79 is there ready for the taking in March. February even, if the weather holds out like it is here this week (temps in the 50's but snow still melting). Unfortunately, next week it's back to the 20's, I see.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

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Finley - I bet it's probably just due to not playing for a while. That's what used to happen to me every year when I started back up anyway. What I started doing a cpl years back during the winter was swinging inside during the winter, maybe 50-100 swings every few days. Before the new house we bought last summer, we didn't have high ceilings, so I bought a demo 6 iron, cut a few inches off of it, and re-gripped so I could swing in the house. I still had to hit the range a bit come spring, but it did help keep the rust off during the offseason.

BTW... Read a great book if you're interested. Elements of Scoring by Ray Floyd. Nothing earth shattering, but a good, simple read with some good advice on game management. I think it should be helpful this coming season, and thought I'd pass the word on in case it could help you in your quest!

Tefunk,

I am going to pick up the book today. Thanks for the recommendation. I didn't do a lot of swinging in the house this winter, but I did do a lot of chipping and pitching with my 60 degree. That was a mistake I am finding out. I played 18 yesterday and I was horrible around the greens from hitting behind the ball.

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This is our year, Finley, I can feel it. Funny how hope springs eternal with golf. I haven't done anything with a club since November, I think, but I'm already thinking I'll pick up the game a few strokes better than where I left off. After all, I've spent a couple weeks lurking here to catch up on things, and I am sure I'll remember to shoot for the center of greens this season. Plus, I've read all of @freedrop's random tips, so I'm definitely ready to go.

But seriously, I think the best thing I've done is to see a trainer for a little while to get a good fitness routine going. It's amazing how out of shape I'd gotten over the years. With a focus my trainer is putting on my "core," I do truly think it will help give my body more balance and strength when I finally swing the club. That 79 is there ready for the taking in March. February even, if the weather holds out like it is here this week (temps in the 50's but snow still melting). Unfortunately, next week it's back to the 20's, I see.

Randy,

I hope you're right! That's good that you have a good fitness routine going on. Every so often I will look for a fitness routine that is designed for golf. Any recommendations?

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I am not sure about any golf-specific programs, but I'm seeing a local trainer near my house who specializes in getting adults back on track. He has seen just about every sort of story, and I think he does a good job figuring out a program that fits where you're coming from and where you want to go. In my case, he's focusing on flexibility of my hips, shoulders, plus the strength of my legs and core.

Last time I had a physical trainer about 15 years ago, it was at a big retail gym, and I'd have to say the focus was more on the machines they had. They tended to work arms, shoulders, and back. There was some abs and legs, but I think back then, the style of training was different. Or maybe that was just me.

With these sessions, there are no machines. If I get a workout of my arms, it is incidental to some other exercise where the focus is on my core. I'd never done "planks" or "burpees," but now I'm intimately familiar! I do lots of things with kettle bells. There is one he calls "kettle bell swing" where you hold a kettle bell between your knees and you swing it up to chest level in front of you by only thrusting your hips up and forward. At first he said I was using mostly my arms, and I eventually got the hang of letting my arms relax. I can now feel the hips driving my body upward and the kettle bell comes up with no arm effort.  As I swing my club slowly at home now, I can feel that similar feel. Less armsy, more driven with my body.

Anyway, his focus is on shifting the workouts around a lot, and doing movements that challenge your whole body for balance and strength. Don't let the body get comfortable with routine. Mix it up.

The way I tried to stay in shape until now was to do 3 mile runs a few times per week, but his thought on that is that without strengthening my entire body that those runs could actually have been stressing my spine too much. He thought I needed to get more strength throughout my core and legs before letting me run much. He also says that if you only have 30 minutes to do some full body exercise. His thought is that your body will get a decent cardio workout just by doing some strength exercises, plus you get the benefit of strength that running won't give you. Most efficient use of time.

Of course, I haven't hit a golf ball yet, but I've been doing many of the 5SK drills here. Lots of slow motions stuff, hoping some good things begin to ingrain. Whether or not any of this will pay off when I swing the club outside... time will tell.  There was a thread a few days ago about someone whose swing might have been messed up by workouts, so it's possible I'll take step backwards.  But I gotta tell you, my body hasn't felt this good in years, and I feel like a new swing is developing very comfortably. My mid-section feels strong which I think gives me confidence over the ball. Let's hope it pays off.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

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  • 1 month later...
We've been lucky enough to have a mild winter this year, so I've had the chance to get out 4 times already. Two 86s, two 82s. Feeling pretty good about the start to the season. How is everyone else doing? Any progress towards sub-80?
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Finally got out - couldn't take this winter any more & drove an hour and a half south and played Heron Glen.     Cold & windy & never played this course before - shot 41 & 44 on back.    After a few months layoff, I was surprised how well I was playing, thought I had a chance going into the back 9.     I think this is gonna be the year ...

John

Fav LT Quote ... "you can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen"

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Thanks for the write up Randy. How's it going?

We've been lucky enough to have a mild winter this year, so I've had the chance to get out 4 times already. Two 86s, two 82s. Feeling pretty good about the start to the season.

How is everyone else doing? Any progress towards sub-80?

Tefunk you're getting there. Glad your season is underway. Not so much here in VA. We had some bright hopes that spring was arriving, but 1-3inches of snow are due tomorrow.

I joined evolvr a month ago, and I've been to the range only once so far this year. My first video submission was in my family room, but it gave me a week to practice before I could send an updated view of my swing from the range. Unfortunately, I didn't see much change. I'm doing lots of drills at home based on their feedback, but I need to hit the course or range to see how much of what I'm doing will bleed into my swing. Overall, my fitness feels good, but I think I have a lot of swing restructuring to do. My posture was WAY back on my heels, and I was keeping my right leg very flexed (hearing for years about "x-factor") and the hips/shoulder differential being a good thing. They also strengthened my grip and moved my hands forward at address. When I went to the range, I forgot a lot of those things I had been working on. Duh. Actually, I thought I was doing some of those things, but the video told a different story. Feel ain't real.  So I think it'll take time to take my family room swing to the range, and then take the range swing to the course. Hoping it'll come easier than my first experience outdoors, but it was a wakeup call how drastic the change needs to be to actually make a difference in your full swing.

My first round of the season will be on April 6th for the SandTrap Mid-Atlantic gathering . A new course for me up near Baltimore (out of my territory), and I'll just try to have fun keeping the ball in play and not expect anything better than bogey golf, most likely!

Oh, I did see this thread earlier in the week. Masterhacker broke 80 , but wasn't aware of this thread.

Finley, I'm still thinking about buying that driver I got fitted for last year (stiff shaft). You said it helped you, I believe, but I think I'll wait for a few months of swing improvements and THEN commit to a purchase. Maybe by the end of the season.

My Swing


Driver: :ping: G30, Irons: :tmade: Burner 2.0, Putter: :cleveland:, Balls: :snell:

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I can't believe it, but I did it! Broke 80 with a 79 after only playing for 6 months! Front nine: fairways 4/6, greens 4/9, but only 15 putts. Doubled one, bogeyed 2 and eagled one. Smashed a drive on a par 4 and hit the green then sunk the putt! The double came right after that though. Back nine: fairways 6/7, greens 3/9, and another 15 putts. One double, and 3 bogeys. The double and two bogeys came from the last 3 holes too, so I was playing good the whole time until the last 3. The courses rating is 71.9/129. I think that's a pretty hard course I guess, not sure. But anyways I did it, now only if I can do that for this 18 hole school match I have Thursday...
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I can't believe it, but I did it! Broke 80 with a 79 after only playing for 6 months!

Front nine: fairways 4/6, greens 4/9, but only 15 putts. Doubled one, bogeyed 2 and eagled one. Smashed a drive on a par 4 and hit the green then sunk the putt! The double came right after that though.

Back nine: fairways 6/7, greens 3/9, and another 15 putts. One double, and 3 bogeys. The double and two bogeys came from the last 3 holes too, so I was playing good the whole time until the last 3.

The courses rating is 71.9/129. I think that's a pretty hard course I guess, not sure.

But anyways I did it, now only if I can do that for this 18 hole school match I have Thursday...


Congratulations!!!!!! and I pray God bless you. Be confident you can do that again......

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Note: This thread is 3272 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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