Summary Of Your Golf Year 2008

**ks8829** · November 26, 2008

Since its almost the end of the year reflecting back in 2008 what do you remember in your golf game for 2008?

1) best round
2) new golf swing
3) working on the short game within 50 yards

Whats yours?

**Uthinkso** · November 26, 2008

I joined a league this year and got my first taste of some what competitive golf. I finally got it through my head that I don't need to worry about using all the clubs in my bag, just as long as I score well. I found that I was hitting only four or five clubs in my bag and was thinking I needed to work them all in. So I dedicated 2008 to knowing when to pull what club and why.

My off season plans are to purchase my new irons (R7, MP52, or X20) and keep swinging all winter and playing when the weather allows. 2009 HDCP goal is 10.

**LottaBalata** · November 26, 2008

First off, I had foot surgery in '07, only played once, and that was way back in April that year.

So, I basically golfed more this year that I ever had. I think I was making up for lost time on the course the year before!

1) Working out the driver. . .figuring out what it was that I was actually doing wrong.

2) But I basically had similar troubles with my swing that I always had. Just not as bad

3) I started the year as a 20+ handicap. . .The last time I checked, I'm around 14!!

So, that's a definite improvement.

**NM Golf** · November 26, 2008

I can sum my 2008 up with one icon:

Okay well thats three icons but you get the point.

My scoring for the year was terrible, especially in tournaments. In 2007 I had 7 underpar tournament scores out of like 14 rounds and my highest score was 76. This year I had 1 underpar tournament score and my tournament average was around 77.

I went through ballstriking slumps, shortgame slumps, and basically a year long putting slump. Ahh putting, I completely sucked on the greens this year. It was brutal.

And to make matters worse, I had just enough good rounds to keep my handicap low. So I sucked most of the time but not enough to get my handicap to go up.

So basically thats my game, at least I carded like 90 rounds this year, playin' bad is still better than not playin' at all.

**kyldo** · November 26, 2008

For me it was the year that should have been... I planned on practising a ton and dropping my handicap a lot, but ended up just golfing with buddies and getting drunk a lot.

That said, it was still a year of improvement. I dropped my handicap from a 10 to a 2 with relatively little practise. I attribute this to a change in irons; last year I had big bertha x-12's, this year 704 cb's. My swing really didn't change, but the irons improved my ball striking just because the smaller club head fit my eye.

Biggest accomplishment for me this year was gaining 20 yards off the tee and 30-40 yards on my irons. Again, this didn't come from work; it came from me filling out and gaining strength.

This year's gonna be different though (at least this is what I tell myself). I'm really gonna work on strength and flexibility throughout the winter, and I'm gonna work relentlessly on my short game in 09. I figure I can get to a +2 or +3 if I really push myself.

**PiKapp23** · November 26, 2008

My 2008 in golf? I started the year as a 8.9 handicap, won my first event on a local 'amateur tour' (first I ever played) then watched my game crumble to nothing as I developed a horrible pull-hook with driver, had trouble making solid contact with my irons and lost my putting touch.

So, I spent the next several months getting everything working again. My driving problems started first, shortly after the tournament and I couldn't hit a fairway for my life with everything either being a pull-hook or a slice. I went back to my old TM R540 driver and got back to hitting 8-10 fairways per round but with no distance for another month. I finally did get it corrected and have been driving the ball great again.

Last year I redid my irons swing to make it 'rounder' and hopefully more consistent and it was really working right up until about June of this year - then it was gone. Everything was going right and usually short. I fixed that accidentally about a month ago at Golf Galaxy on simulator with new swing thought, so that's back.

I've always been a good putter, as long as I have been playing. Suddenly this year I found I couldn't putt with any of my old putters (Ping Anser, 2-ball, 3-ball). My alignment was bad and I couldn't see it. I was playing around at Golf Galaxy (I spend way too much time/money there) and started hitting my current Scottie Cameron Futura Phantom (it was in 'used' section) and found the 3 alignment dots were really helping. It was pretty cheap, so I bought it planning to just use it for practice, but have since really gotten to like it. I am still struggling with distance control with it, but at least I'm almost always on line now.

Through all my problems I've managed to keep my handicap around 10 thanks to my short game, which has been very good all year (and thanks to handicap system which only includes best 10 or last 20). I've played about 60 rounds this year, with scores as low as 75 and high as 103. Next year I want to get back down to below 10 and keep it there for a while. I'm really trying to work on consistency, especially with short irons.

**Pat007** · November 27, 2008

Pretty good year, except for the fact that I had to take a month off after I broke my ankle. My driving was awesome after having been fitted for a new driver (Ping G10 10.5* stiff ProLaunch Red) and was splitting fairways and going deep.

Had a crappy ball-striking year, until I got fitted and ditched my MP60 irons for a set of AP2 irons with stiffer shafts. Made one hell of a difference.

As for short game, it was good, as good as expected.

All I need is practice and a bit more tournament golf, as my handicap dropped from 10 to 7 this year, but I still get nervous in tournaments and the big snap hook tends to show its ugly face.

Worked on my swing, its alot less flat and I'm alot more on plane.

All in all, it was a good year, played just about everyday, other than the forced month off.

**mapa94** · November 27, 2008

This year I broke down and took a series of full swing lessons in January and I've seen marked improvement

- Handicap dropped from 18 to 14
- Shot all time low round of 81 (at a difficult Pete Dye course)
- Broke 90 about 1/2 of the time.

Goals for 2009

- Lower handicap to 10
- Break 80 and eliminate scores over 90
- Change from spending the majority of practice time on full swing and focus on developing a good short game.
- Play in at least 4 tournaments

**Fat Slice** · November 27, 2008

2008 for me was a good golf year:

1) Dropped index from 35.3 to 24.9
2) Got in LOTS of golf!
3) Started hitting irons better, which meant hitting a few GIR!
4) Played a good, encouraging round (40 + 48) on a decent course (71.2/122)
5) Started going out by myself instead of always trying to coordinate with someone.
6) Started working golf into my travel
7) Learned to TAKE MY MEDICINE after a bad shot or result.

2008 was a really good golf year for me. For 2009, I hope to practice more and play less - I think that will help a lot.

**iPutt** · November 27, 2008

Well I started this year off only really fooling around with golf and never have played a full 18 hole course. At the beginning of the summer playing for my first time on a full 18 hole course, I shot a 126. That's not even counting all the drops from losing a ball on almost every hole. All summer though I took lessons and worked on my game almost everyday of the week. I finished off the season with a 96 and can't wait till next year

**Brakkus** · November 27, 2008

I have been playing only 18 months,but for this year at the very start kept track through TG of my stats and rounds.

Opened with a 116,121,112.However by the end of the year I posted a 100,105,and 99,so big improvement.

Really have gained an understanding of the way I swing,and it's a matter of refinement instead of major changes.Short game gets a lot of attention now and I'm starting to hit all sorts of shots around the green.

So much of golf is accuracy not purely the strike of the ball.I always play golf not golf swing on the course.I think I'm due another leap next year as for the next 2 months I won't fit another round in now,just practice.

**srjorion** · November 27, 2008

This year for me was about the same as last year in terms of performance, but I'm happy with that since a lot of things have been going on in my life and I wasn't able to practice and play as much as I wanted. I was transferred to a new location in January and wound up moving again in July. My job has been super busy leaving little time for play. Luckily I found a good driving range that is hardly used and a cheap course near my house that is good enough to let me work on my game.

I tied my best score yesterday after having not played for three weeks. With a little more practice and playing time I'll pick up where I left off last year making big improvements in my game. I'm looking forward to next year for sure.

**4ringslvr** · February 3, 2009

This last year was when I started actually taking the game seriously, reading about it, learning everything i can, actually going to the range and practicing. I bought my first set of clubs that were not a hand me down. I went from roughly 25-28 cap to about a 10-11. My best round was a 76 with 1 other round under 80 (79). Learned a ton about the game and the biggest thing was I fell head over heels in love with it. Ive played baseball my entire life, I got engaged this year and I never thought I could love something as much as do baseball and my fiance but golf has done it. I simply cannot wait to get out to the course or range. I pretty much always have a club in my hand when Im in the house (probably a recipe for disaster at some point, windows beware). I read about the game nonstop, watch it on tv and dream about it at night.

Goals for '09:
1. Drop into the mid single digits. 5-7
2. Play more golf when I get married ; )
3. Play for the college team?
4. Work more on the short game

**pherg** · February 4, 2009

2008 was all in all a pretty good year. I joined a new club. Started with a Handicap of 18.0 and ended the year on 11.3. There were some solid rounds but still had the odd blowout. This lead to a great deal of frustration, the one thing I've ever wanted is consistency. Worked hard on my course management, started to hit the club that was required off the tee - if it was smarter to hit 4 iron I hit 4 iron. I stopped fiddling around with new clubs and started to get the most of the clubs I had, deep down I started to realize it usually wasn't the club's fault.

I decided at Christmas time that I'd focus on my short game in 2009 (I realized anybody can bash the ball a long way but being able to get up and down was something that really earns the respect and recognition of other players - that's what really good golfers can do), so I had a lesson and now I regularly get up and down from bunkers, chips and pitches. Probably averaging 75%. My confidence is sky high in that area which has allowed me to be more confident going at the pins, if I miss I figure I'll get up and down most of the time anyway. As a result I hit 8 GIR in a row two weeks ago when I shot a 77 off the stick, first time I'd broken 80 on the course I'm playing.

My goal now is to get to single figures and hopefully end the year around the 5 or 6 mark. I might have to hurry though, expecting the arrival of my second child in July and who knows if I'll get out much after that.

**madcityscott** · February 4, 2009

I decided 2008 was the year I'd really get serious about golf, determined to break 90. I took a series of 4 lessons through Golf Galaxy and things were looking up, but I hit a wall and got frustrated. I thought maybe I wasn't meant to a "conventional" golfer so I fiddled around with other methods (Stack-n-Tilt, Natural Golf, etc) with no positive results. Finally I took another couple of lessons with a highly recommended local pro and started having better results. But what has really helped lately is Jim McLean's 8-step swing video. I still haven't broken 90, but I've shot 100 and I feel I'm on the cusp of finally being respectable. Friggin' game.

**bcollins** · February 4, 2009

1. Had basically given up on golf, went to the driving range for the hell of it, swung surprisingly well, started going regularly again.

2. Realized clubs were very out of date, bought new irons and driver.

3. Actually manned up and played golf instead of just hitting at the range.

4. Stopped cheating and taking mulligans.

5. Saw scoring average drop from 110+ to 100 over the next 2 months.

6. Watched "oobgolf" handicap drop from 36 to 23.

7. Broke 100 for the first time ever (and then a couple more times).

8. Scored first birdie ever!

9. Addicted!

**mirv** · February 4, 2009

started off pretty miserably, was regularly firing in the 90s the first part of the year when i had shot 79 in november of 2007. got it back together around early summer, started shooting mid 80s again. had a few "eureka!" moments scattered across the year and fired my best round to date, a 76 on a par 72, in the late fall, along with several other rounds in the upper 70s as well. still working on a few kinks, but now at least have a definite idea of what i need to be doing and not just guessing my way through it the way i did in 2008.

in fact, that'd pretty much sum up 2008 - guessing my way through the game, playing with smoke and mirrors, and somehow miraculosly shooting around mid-80s most of the time.

hopefully 2009 will be the year that i finally shoot par for the course.

**bogeyhitter25** · February 4, 2009

Pretty satisfied with my golf this year. It was my first full year of golf, and of course up in New England you can only play for about 8 months a year. I finally cured my slice which added some distance as well. My putting wasn't bad, and I learned to relax on the course. I used to get so worked up, what's the point?

All in all, I don't plan on ever stopping playing.

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Summary Of Your Golf Year 2008

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