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Attitude Change


DrvFrShow
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I've just returned to playing again after an injury plagued season. I have a bone spur on my left tibia right under the patellar tendon. This thing inflames and burns if I kneel for extended periods of time - like when I cleaned the floors recently - or if I over practice at the range. Two orthopedists have told me that it cannot be surgically removed due to where it is located because doing so could cause a tendon rupture. Bad.

Also I'm recovering from rotator cuff tendonitis in both shoulders caused by bone spurs. The bone spurs have been there a long time, but the flare up was an overuse injury. Cortisone shots in each shoulder + physical therapy which I did on my own since PT is $40 a session out of pocket.

Verdict - I won't be banging balls off the mats at the driving range. I can practice tee shots and that's fine, but don't overdo it. Also if there are tree roots or the possibility of tree roots in the area I'm taking an unplayable. If there are a lot of tree roots, it's going out 15 feet from the tree. It isn't worth my shoulders.

This has given me a change of attitude about the game in general. I just want to play because I enjoy playing the game. I've had to lower my expectations to where I've realized I'll never make my goal of single digit handicap. If I play in the mid-80s I'll be ecstatic. But overall I just like to get outside and walk the course.

There are no shoulds. It's what works. I know how to hit a straight ball with my irons and I can get the ball out a pretty fair distance with them. What my swing looks like I really don't care. With my 5 iron going straight with a 180 carry I'm happy. There are faults and they show up with the driver, but do I really need to hit a driver? I'm 62. At my age, any tournament I enter I'll play from the red tees. This means the longest hole will be around 500 yds maximum. I can reach that with a 5 iron + 6 iron + PW or 9 iron. If I'm hitting a 9 iron or less the ball is going somewhere on the green. Most courses will be 5200 yds. I could play at 5600 yds, but Jack Nicklaus said something about if you're over 60 to tee forward to get more enjoyment out of the game. Still, I'll practice with my driver because there are the occasional long par 4s and work on my short game. My very short game needs a tune up.

I just can't practice as often as I used to due to all the injuries. I had to lower expectations. So it was making peace with mediocrity and having fun with the game.

It was coming to the conclusion of things like: hit the club off the fairway that you know you can get the ball in the air, not necessarily the one that "you should hit at that distance." Chances are I hit the ball further and put it in a better position. If it's going to take me three shots to reach a green, why bother hitting a fairway wood that I have a good chance of duffing when I can hit a six iron and hit a decent shot? Just because some guy who wrote a book said I should hit a FW from 210 yds out? What are my chances of being accurate with my FW from that distance anyway? I'll have to hit a wedge shot onto the green in all likelihood. Guess what? Hitting my six iron will land in the fairway leaving me a wedge shot too, and a chance for an up and down or even a birdie on a par 5.

So I'm just glad to be back out on the course again and having fun playing this game.

  • Upvote 3

Julia

:callaway:  :cobra:    :seemore:  :bushnell:  :clicgear:  :adidas:  :footjoy:

Spoiler

Driver: Callaway Big Bertha w/ Fubuki Z50 R 44.5"
FW: Cobra BiO CELL 14.5 degree; 
Hybrids: Cobra BiO CELL 22.5 degree Project X R-flex
Irons: Cobra BiO CELL 5 - GW Project X R-Flex
Wedges: Cobra BiO CELL SW, Fly-Z LW, 64* Callaway PM Grind.
Putter: 48" Odyssey Dart

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It's good you have found a way to still enjoy golf despite the injuries.  You may find you shoot lower scores just as result of removing all the pressure you had placed on yourself to reach single digits.

Joe Paradiso

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you hit your 5 iron longer than I do & I'm 12 years your junior.    I like your attitude ... enjoy golf for the love of the game.   Its not in the cards for us all to all be single digit hcp ... after nearly 500 rounds, I've become aware that such a goal requires way more practice than I'm willing to give it - I just like to play.

John

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

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Something to be learned from this but I fear it will take me 13 years or more to learn it, if I ever do. I wish you continued enjoyment of the game!

In my Bag: Driver: Titelist 913 D3 9.5 deg. 3W: TaylorMade RBZ 14.5 3H: TaylorMade RBZ 18.5 4I - SW: TaylorMade R7 TP LW: Titelist Vokey 60 Putter: Odyssey 2-Ball

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180 yard carry with 5iron = roughly 250 yard carry with driver and 265-270 total yards. That is far from short and you could easily play from 6600 yards with that distance.

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@DrFrShow your self assessment is point on. Thank you for sharing. I think you last sentence is key...back having fun. I have never played golf free of injury and have continued to play and learn up through each joint replacement. I do not get hung up on distances anymore and quite frankly, my handicap improved when I did while concentrating more on accuracy. I actually play lower than my HC (since returning from 4th surgery). I only say this to remind others that injury doesn't necessarily prevent play under certain conditions and doctors monitoring like you and I are probably doing. To make it easier on me I had to overhaul my bag by removing long irons and adding woods and hybrids. Shaft changes too. The scorecard doesn't know what club you use to get on the green with...and I am very comfortable hitting first now in a group. Also getting longer, stronger, and straighter by clubbing up and hitting non full shots. Easier on my body.
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180 yard carry with 5iron = roughly 250 yard carry with driver and 265-270 total yards. That is far from short and you could easily play from 6600 yards with that distance.

That's upper range of LPGA distance.   If @DrvFrShow were 20 years younger with no injuries, she can give LPGA a run.

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RiCK

(Play it again, Sam)

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180 yard carry with 5iron = roughly 250 yard carry with driver and 265-270 total yards. That is far from short and you could easily play from 6600 yards with that distance.

No, you're overestimating. I had to do the "why am I hitting my clubs so far and not hitting my driver 270 yds?" Then I figured it out. My irons have stronger lofts than those used on the charts. I hit my 5 iron as far as a 4 iron on the chart. When I compared the loft of my 5 iron to the loft of a 4 iron in a set of blades they were identical. So I'm essentially hitting a 4 iron 180 yds. instead of a 5 iron, but since nearly all club manufacturers have made their lofts stronger for the average golfer, it's a 5 iron.

What is a better guide is to go by my driver distance. I hit an 11.5 degree driver - Big Bertha. I get 225 yds carry. I know this because I hit the 225 yd marker on the fly at the range yesterday, and routinely hit it near that marker distancewise on carry. This will translate into 240 yds under normal circumstances. Under our current rock hard "Chambers Bay" fairway circumstances it is another story.

Still according to this I should play at 6000 yds., and from the 74.8/122 rated white tees. I say "poo on that." I'm 62 years old. I'm teeing forward. My league plays at 5200 yds.

My neighbor is 64. He hits a 270 drive. He's tired of hitting a 6 iron or 5 iron into par 4 greens. He's had two shoulder surgeries. Jack Nicklaus said tee forward over 60 and have fun so he said bye bye to the blue tees and is playing "old man" tees now. lol. Back to shooting 75s.

And @rkim291968 there a lot of caveats - If I was 35 years younger , injury free, had say "hit Powerball", and wanted to do this, I'd move to Florida, hire top coaching like a Jim McLean, put in my 10,000 hours, entered as many tournaments as possible, get my LPGA and PGA cards, and go on the tour and see what happened. 35 years younger would put me in my mid 20s. Hopefully my body would hold up. It's a grueling training regimen. Most of the up and coming have had like 10 to 12 years training starting when they were kids before they hit the tour. And honestly it would be a dream to put together a hot round to make a top 10. Making a cut would be more realistic.

I met a high school freshman at the course and she was shooting pars regularly. I met her at the turn, and she complained she wasn't having a good round. She was +1 on the front 9. This is what is out there. I don't think people really understand this.

PS: my club championship is next month - I will be playing in it. It will be an interesting experience. The course is very difficult to play right now with everything so baked. Nothing bites on the greens, except yesterday I practiced my flop shot which I was able to get it to stop under some pretty bad conditions. Now if I could only find a real old Trusty Rusty (with square grooves).

Julia

:callaway:  :cobra:    :seemore:  :bushnell:  :clicgear:  :adidas:  :footjoy:

Spoiler

Driver: Callaway Big Bertha w/ Fubuki Z50 R 44.5"
FW: Cobra BiO CELL 14.5 degree; 
Hybrids: Cobra BiO CELL 22.5 degree Project X R-flex
Irons: Cobra BiO CELL 5 - GW Project X R-Flex
Wedges: Cobra BiO CELL SW, Fly-Z LW, 64* Callaway PM Grind.
Putter: 48" Odyssey Dart

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Note: This thread is 3176 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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