New to the forum and need some advice! (Long Read)

[AlphaRider]

I've been golfing since I was a little kid and even though I never really embraced golf when I was younger, I finally have come to realize that I'm addicted.

There was a couple years where I didn't golf a single round (16-20) and now I'm back into it hardcore. I'm currently a student at CMU and plan on being here another two years. Luckily I have the summers off school and can play golf more often.

Ok enough with the introduction...

I recently joined a college league and have been having a blast every week. This comming monday I just found out that we will being have a stroke play tournament and the top two players (handicap included) will win a new set of irons!

I immediately scheduled a lesson with the course pro and have already fixed several flaws with my swing which I hope to burn into my muscle memory today and tomorow morning. I'm desperately in need of new irons seeing as my current set is from when I was 16 and about 6 inched shorter. I'm currently 6'4" right now and my ol' Top Flite Tour irons have seen better days. Being a college student, I don't really have much money to be throwing around at a new set of irons/driver so I want this set of irons BADDDDD. In the league we have our handicaps which are based off of two rounds calculated into winning this tourney. I shot a 52 and a 48 to set my handicap. I know I can shoot better than this though and even broke the 40's for the first time on another local course with a 39 on a par 37!

What I want to ask all the old farts (thats you...lol), is how should I spend my next 48 hours preparing for this? I plan on going to the range and playing as if I'm on the course (Hit my driver, mid-iron, wedge, ect.). I've played the course many times and have a good understanding of it!

Should I be focusing on just putting/chipping or the total mix? I've heard countless times that putting is the best thing to practice but I'm honestly more confident in my putting inside of 10 yards than anything. I tend to have trouble finding the fiarway with my driver and I'm somewhat curious if leaving it in the bag can help me for this. There's 60 people in the league and I want those iron's, what do I realisticly have to shoot to give myself a chance at winning them? The handicaps are limited to a certain number of strokes in this, although I don't know how many.

I hope I havn't bored any of you with this but I'm looking forward to any advice you have to give!

The match is in under 36 hours starting......................NOW




PS: Just joking bout the old farts thing

[Jcp907]

I immediately scheduled a lesson with the course pro and have already fixed several flaws with my swing which I hope to burn into my muscle memory today and tomorow morning...

A couple of things.

You paid for a lesson. Go with your instructor's recomendation with regard to what to work on. It's advice you paid for which will usually be better than advice that is free. If you have time to work on more, short game practice is it in my opinion. Getting up and down from everywhere-the goal being one pitch or chip, then one putt. This am, start with 11 balls. Chip from one area. Remove the 5 furthest from the hole, remove the 5 closest. The ball left is your median. Measure and document the distance. Know that you can make putts from this distance. After your practice, do it again, and see if you are getting closer when you get up. If you aren't hitting the driver well at the range the morning of the tournament, leave it in the bag. If you can get up and down, the yardage off of the tee isn't as critical, particularly if you only have a 50% chance of getting a good lie.

[ks8829]

1) Putting
3 footer
lag putting

2) chipping around the green
distance control

3) pitch shots
20, 30, 40, 50 yards

4) 100 yard

5) 150 yards

6) 200 yards

7) driver

The time you spend should be from the hole backwards and the amount of time for items 1 - 7 should be an upside down pyramid in the amount of time you spend, so the most time on putting and the least amount with your driver

no need to put additional pressure on yourself, be loose, have fun and if you win its great but have no expectations and do your best, at least you know you prepared the best way possible in the limited time you had.

[deafheaven]

1) Putting

That's a really solid workout plan. Think I'll use that myself. I strongly agree with working on the 3 foot putting, which most people don't take the time to do. For me, being a short hitter, I'd ignore working on from 200 but everything else is perfect.

Only thing I'd add is don't overdo it on the driver. People go out to the range with these ginormous buckets of balls and I believe it to be counter productive. You get tired and a lot of bad habits can creep into your swing.

[shades9323]

Where do you play your league at? River Wood? Had many fond memories of that course!

[beachbreak]

no need to put additional pressure on yourself, be loose, have fun

Exactly. Unless you are tournament hardened, putting high expectations on yourself might hurt you.

[AlphaRider]

Thanks alot for the advice guys!

We got rained out today so we're pushed back till next monday or we can shoot a make-up round late this week depending on the weather. Wish me luck!


Btw, yes we play at Riverwood :)

[shades9323]

Thanks alot for the advice guys!

Does the radio station still put on the 90 something cent golf day? I remeber the first time I went to one of those. It took forever and I had an exam in a night class. I showed up 15 minutes late to the exam and all I had was a golf pencil!

[1par2win]

I immediately scheduled a lesson with the course pro and have already fixed several flaws with my swing which I hope to burn into my muscle memory today and tomorow morning.

The one comment I would make is you really can't burn muscle memory in just a day or two. It takes repetition and an understanding of what your trying to accomplish for muscle memory to really take. Sounds like you want those irons sooo bad but unfortunatly the more you "try" to win the easier it is to lose focus which is one key to winning golf tournaments. My suggestion is to step back, lower your expectations, and focus on one swing thought suggested by your pro. There is some really good advice given here especially about going from the cup back to the tee.

But with that said I hope you stripe everything for a 78 and claim your new irons! Good luck!

[CarlSpackler]

I don't play in formal competitions, but I can tell you from experience that when I focus on something other that each individual thought, bad things happen. Go into this with the thought that it would be nice to get the irons, but if you don't, you don't. Focus on each shot and visualize hitting the perfect shot and do not get upset or loose your composure if it doesn't come off perfectly.

Good luck and keep us old farts posted.

[AlphaRider]

Well I decided to upload some pics from my first time out this season and hopefully get soe input on everything I'm doing wrong...lol.

These pictures are from the first time out in the year at Riverwood. It's about 45*F out and theres still snow and ice everywhere!

The pictures are also before my lesson with an instructor and I've already pointed out one big flaw in my swing, the backswing.



I'm very flat on the backswing and pretty much have a baseball swing going on. I drew the red line as to where my backswing CURRENTLY is. I'm trying to discipline myself to stay on plane, easier said than done though!




My iron shots aren't much better...lol




On the downswing!




Off the ice and within 5 feet, my best shot of the day and I still vividely remember it...lol



Curious to see what you guys have to say about this!



My swing was alittle better with my 5 wood though :)




Side view



Exactly during contact!



And finally, my next to the overflowing Chip River! I would be lying to say that we didn't sneak a 12 pack with us to keep warm...lol :)



On a side-note: I practice a full hour of putting and chipping today and noticed a huge improvement with chipping. The putting still has a long ways to go because 20+ foot putts still turn into 3 putts for me VERY often.


I also tested out which club worked best for my from within 10 yards of the green with a 60*, 56*, and my pitching wedge. Suprisingly my 60* was the best with the groups and I acually put alittle bit of spin on some of them :D


I played the range game visualising every hole start to finish nay putting/chipping and played excelent! I was some confident in my drives and my iron's that it put a confidence I've never had before in both my irons and driver.



I'm tired of typing now, off to get some food and watch the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup! Oh yeah, Lakers too! :)

[MPforthewin]

That would suck if you won and they said, "I'm sorry the irons are right handed."

Seriously though, almost all of your scoring occurs inside 100 yards so that is where your focus should be. Confidence in your short game and putting will translate to the rest of your game, so that is what I would practice most.

[AlphaRider]

LOL!!!

I would be pretty upset to say the least if they were all right handed!



I just went out and played 9 last night and shot a 52...=( I was doing everything right on the range but totally fell apart on the course. Hopefully I can get on the right track before the tourney on Monday!

[enis750]

i can tell you exactly what the problem is...your swining the club the wrong way!!??...
ok sorry, had too.....!! hahahaha!!!!!!!

good luck w the tourney
if you can control the 6" between your ears, you will be fine

PS - Game 7 is upon us......Detroit better get their game on! (not a Pens fan, just cant see the Wings win it AGAIN! :) )