a new golfers journey through the first two months so far....... - Page 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lash 

A note for other beginners....this thread is not a typical experience.

 

Hitting your driver straight and over 300 yards within a year is unbelievable and shooting in the 80s is as well. 

 

Beginners should be patient and not expect this kind of rise, even if you work on your game every day. 

 

Golf can be frustrating, and I'd hate for a beginner to read this and expect it to be normal and then give up because they aren't improving like that. 

 

Lessons are the best way to improve quickly. I started off just playing with friends and thought I was figuring stuff out, took my first lesson and it felt like someone turned a light on showing me how to actually strike the ball. I think I immediately took 10 strokes off my game with just one lesson.

I guess it depends on what typical is.  I wish I hit it 300 yards and straight but that is far from the truth and while I can understand where you are coming from Lash, in that most people do not improve that much within just a year, there is more to the story.  Just like any other sport, for the most part, improvement is roughly equal to the time and effort put in practice/playing.  So on the outside it may look incredible because it's been just a year, however, in that year I've played right around 100 rounds of golf, been to the range around 75ish? other times to hit balls, and have been to the practice green at least 100 times to practice short game/putting.  This does not count the average of 5-7 hours per week at night that I would practice my swing in my basement or roll putts down there either. 

While I'm proud of my progress in reality I do not know for sure if my progress is good or not?  Just looking at one year since I started really does not answer that.  Maybe I should be better considering all the practice? 

With no wife/kids I've been able to put as much time as I want into it.  I can see the downside of someone just starting becoming discouraged because they are not improving much, but there is also incredible upside too that if your practice/play enough, someone can improve quite a bit in a short period of time.

Had a pretty solid weekend of golfing....I was able to play Friday afternoon.  Instead of playing at our country club we decided to get out to one of the local muni's that we have not played in a while.  By the time we finished the 9th hole, it was right at 3 hours.  There was no marshall at all at the course and the slow play was unbearable.  Thus we decided that it was enough and only played 9. Despite the slow play I shot a 40 (4 over par).

On Saturday and Sunday I played one round each morning at my country club.  On Saturday I ended up shooting my second best round ever with an 82.  I went out in 6 over 42 and then came back in just 4 over 40.  I had a chance to tie my personal best of 81 as I was on the GIR on the 18th hole (a long par 5) but I three putted and ended up with a bogey that pushed me to 82.  I had 33 putts (any stroke that I used a putter with, including just off the green) and 49 strokes other than putts.  Thus my ball striking was solid on Saturday.

On Sunday I did not have as good of a day ball striking, in fact it was average to poor.  The early morning grass was wet which made our already long and thick rough even more challenging to get out of.  And that was the story of the day, I ended up in the rough way too much and was not able to get my approach shots in good position.  I ended up shooting an 87 on Sunday, going out in 43 and coming back in 44.  Again I putted pretty well (33 putts) but ballstriking was not so good (54 strokes other than putts and just 3 GIR for the round). 

I did play a new ball on Saturday/Sunday.  I had been playing the Bridgestone Tour B330 RX in yellow for the last couple of weeks.  I had ordered the Tour B330 RXS as I wanted to try it out and see how much softer it was and if it was maybe even better for me than the RX?  It has only been two rounds with the RXS but I like them a lot so far.  There is not that much difference between the RX and RXS but I can notice the difference in certain situations.  For example, I noticed that was able to get the ball to spin much more out of the bunker with the RXS versus the RX.  This was helpful when playing out of the bunker where I short sided myself and there were three different times this past weekend where I was able to get up and down from the greenside bunker because the ball had stopped so quickly or even spun backwards a little closer to the hole. 

There was a little distance loss with the RXS compared to the RX but not something that would keep me from playing the RXS currently.  Accuracy was the same in my opinion between the two balls.  I do prefer the RXS with my putter, although I really prefer yellow balls and the RXS only comes in white so I guess I'll have to deal with that. 

The June 15 handicap revision came out and my handicap dropped to a 12.7.  This did not include scores from 6/15 and later, thus it does not count the 82 that I shot on Saturday (10.2 index).  With that score counted my handicap is trending at 12.3!

I will be making a change in my bag between now and next weekend.  I currently play with 4 wedges and have been doing so for a long time (PW, AW, SW, LW).  I do not like the SW (56 degrees) or the AW (50 degrees) that much and because I do not use them that much, when I do I usually am not as precise as I would like to be.  Thus I am taking both the AW and SW out of my bag and putting in a 52 degree wedge.  I am taking the 60 degree LW out and replacing it with a 58 degree wedge.  Thus I will be playing with just three wedges (PW, 52 degree AW, and 58 degree LW).  I think that this is spread out better and before I felt like I was wasting a spot in my bag since I did not use the AW/SW that much.  When I have a shot of like 90 yards or more I was usually using a PW anyway and just hitting it softer and having a better result than trying to hit a full AW. 

With one extra space in my bag, I will be putting in a 3 hybrid.  Thus I will have driver, 3W, 2H, and 3H before going to my irons (4-PW, AW, LW) and putter.

I have a 4H as well but since I have gotten much better at hitting my 4 iron, I am keeping the 4 iron in the bag.