pburns1587

In my experience they're just loud. You'll rarely see them, other than their shells on trees, but you'll always hear them.

University of Notre Dame - Go Irish

Just broke 90 for the first time today! If this becomes a regular thing, I'll have to update my #2 goal to 85.

Officially my best score ever, also accomplished one of my 2013 goals of breaking 90! I'll revisit that thread to make sure I update my goals. Course was nice, but lots of short-ish (but tight) par 4s that let me take my 4i off the tee. I've been working on the straight fade with the driver, and it was really good to know what my miss was and play into that. Shot at the middle of the green all day. Could have done with better lag putting, I was over 2.5 putts per GIR. REALLY liking playing better golf. It's amazing how good it feels to hit GIR. Naperbrook Golf Course Blue 124/70.5

I just worked on this one at the range yesterday, as in my past few rounds I've been fighting what Stretch so eloquently put as "mo' right, mo' problems" - I tended to hit high blocks with one or two heavy duck hooks a round sprinkled in. This is after my early golf career was plagued with slices, so I changed my swing plane to be more inside (and more correct, in my opinion), but it turned into something not good. I teed the ball up about 1/2" higher and moved it to just about even with my big toe on my left foot. Straight fades abounded. Occasional push fade, and the very occasional topped draw (which I chalk up to the sheer number of balls I was hitting getting tired). I'm extremely excited to take it to the course this weekend to keep the ball in play for once! Breaking 90 will be all about no penalties and getting those GIR.

I think you could fix a lot of your issues right away by strengthening your left hand grip (i.e. rotate your left hand so its more on top of the club). You're compensating for that grip with almost all of your other flaws (coming from too far inside, doing the pelvic thrust move at impact to get out of your own way). Check this video out, it describes your issues pretty concisely:

I defer to the experts, but from a quick glance, it looks like you are turning way too far on your backswing - the club is almost perpendicular to the ground at the top of your swing. I would have to guess that hurts your ball striking consistency since it would have to be a bit out of control with that much room to get back to the ball. Also it looks like you may be set up 6 inches or so too far away from the ball, your weight looks to be a little too much on the toes. The last thing I noticed in the DTL video is that you are certainly coming from over the top - try and focus on hitting the inside of the ball - I like to think "hit it out to the right" to get the feel I want. EDIT: This screencap is what I mean when I say you're turning too far on your backswing. If your chest is starting at 6 o'clock at address, you're rotating to about 1130. Impressive flexibility, but it has to kill consistency. I would shoot for rotating only to like 8 o'clock or 8:30.

Started on fire the first four holes (bogey golf is always my goal). Kept it mostly together on the way out, but blew up on the back nine. Highlighted by thinning a long greenside bunker shot into some woods over the green on 16. I really hit some great shots on the front, and hit a couple great punch and run shots to the green as well. I think I may be fighting the hook too hard and starting to push everything right, but that's a range problem, not a course problem. I need to work on my pitching (getting my first putts closer) and my putting. They're tied together, but both were bad today. Get closer to make it easier on myself.

Went out today as a single - didn't keep score, but played about 3 balls and really focused on 100 yds and in, dropping balls from different distances in different lies just to work on different things. Hit the driver really poorly over the 9 holes. Lots of duck hooks, and when not a hook, it was a block to the right. After the round did some up and downs on the practice green and went 3 for 4 getting up and down. Hopefully I can keep it around 95 when I go out this saturday

Goals for 2013: 1. Practice short game (outside of rounds) at least one hour a week. I work next to two golf courses and a great practice facility, no reason I can't make this one happen. 2. Break 90 more than once (have never done it) 3. Average under 2 putts per hole for the course of the season (more short game goals) 4. Play a full 18 at least every two weeks Most of these are reachable with PRACTICE - which I have always taken lightly. I can't step out of the car on Saturday and expect to play well after I haven't touched the clubs in two weeks. Practice, practice, practice makes perfect (or at least better).

I'm a pretty high handicapper, somewhere in the 20-25 range. I've been using the same clubs (they are fitted) for about 8 years - Titleist DCI 990B's. If I still think that they're serving me OK as far as fitting my swing, how do I know that they have reached the end of their utility? I've since replaced the sand wedge with a Callaway Forged+ 56/14, but haven't made any other changes. Am I losing out on new technology, or should I keep working on my game with these irons?