mid season update

[clearwaterms]

In chicago our golf season starts sometime in April and goes through October. At this point (near the end of July) I would say we have hit the halfway mark.

I am curious, how many of you have achieved your goals for the summer, how many feel they are ahead of the pace, behind the pace. If you are ahead, what did you do to get there, if you are behind, what is preventing you from getting there?

In other words, lets all take a moment to recap on our season with regards to our goals and share notes.

I didn't have a specific handicap goal. My goal was to average 3 shots to the cup from 100 yards. I am sorry to say that I am no better than I was earlier this year. I took some leasons and have worked on some things and improved my swing quite a bit, but I still fail to get up and down when around the green, and consider myself a below average lagg putter.

My plan is to continue working on putting and chipping in an attempt to get that number where I feel it deserves to be.

[double_j]

I'd have to say that my goals are on track:

Handicap from 10 to 6. Have been playing relatively well (with a couple of career low rounds) for the past month or so. My index is currently at a 7.8. I figure I probably have 2.5 months of optimum golf weather left to pick up those last two points, although moving to a six means that I'll need to score 80 or better more often than I don't. I honestly don't know if I'll get to the 6 but I'll keep pushing. At the very least, this is the lowest my handicap has been to date.

Get my game to the point where I can comfortably play from the blacks at my home course (74/134, 7100 yards) - distance is mostly there and mid/long irons have shown a lot of improvement for longer approaches but I still need to improve my consistency off the tee since misses are much more costly. I've started dropping back to the blacks every once in a while (when no one is around) to get a feel for the course from that distance and I can say that 240 yard par 3's just aren't fair! Rounds from the tips still leave me feeling way too beat up to have fun.

Late season deliverables are a bit more focused than early: 1.) Driver: distance is fine, need more consistency so that I can control my misses when it counts. I might give up 10 or so yards if it means a more reliable result. 2.) Short game - putting is OK, need to work on my creativity around the greens (which requires practicing different shots with different lofts, etc.) to get up and down from inside 20 yards more often.

[shades9323]

Right on schedule. Of course my only goal is to go out and enjoy myself! I would have to say I am doing a great job.

[Shanker]

I'm about where I thought I be...Enjoying the game alot more and scores has improved...Last goal this year is to break 90...

[Dad-2-3]

My goals were to practice more and drop from a 20 down to a 15. I'm at 16.0 with two months before I quit playing golf and concentrate on bowhunting so I would say I'm on track to break the 15 mark.

[moparman426]

My main goal was to get out and golf with complete strangers and see how I handled it, so more on the mental side of the game I guess. I got to accomplish this last week while I golfed in my first tournament ever. It was a fund raising event, so nothing serious, thankfully. I shot my worst round ever, and I mean ever..... I did, however, take the longest drive prize (yay me). I would like to blame two of the people that I was grouped with, as they did nothing but bicker over each others scores for the entire eighteen holes (especially when they were both wrong), but I was trying to smash the crap out of the ball with every shot it seemed, so my bad. Shot my best nine-hole round ever on that same course two days ago, so hopefully things are balancing out.

Overall, all negatives aside, I still enjoyed myself and am looking forward to next years event.

[holeinon3]

My goal was to shoot in the 70's ..well I accomplished that and then some. My low round so far was a 71 which is 1-under par! I've been playing/practicing every day basically since golf season ended in May, I figure it's pretty common to see good results if you play all the time.

[Dave H]

I'm not sure how to answer other than to say yes and no. Here's some of the goals I had for this year:

Play with better temperament - This one's a crapshoot. I haven't really gotten angry on the course or allowed outward frustration to take me out of the game, but I am still struggling with maintaining the right focus after bad shots. For two rounds I was really succeeding at this and it was easy to come back and hit a good shot after a bad and I shot in the 80s both of those rounds. The next two rounds (which were two most recent rounds) I couldn't find the mental fortitude or physical energy to recover from bad shots. I started out bad and got worse.

Have a more confident, repeatable swing - this one I feel like I'm track with. While I still make plenty of mistakes, I feel like I have a base of tools to work with even when things aren't going well. Although, sometimes I can't pull anything together - see above.

Better short game - this one I'm definitely on the right track with. I've gotten up and down more this season than ever, and for the first time since I started playing golf I actually have some confidence with the putter. I've been averaging 32 putts a round over my last 10.

Handicap down to the teens - haven't made any progress on this front. Started the season as a 21.3, and I'm at 22 now...still trying though.

[Shripe]

My second-quarter season goal: Have fun and learn. Check and check. ;) I still want to have fun, but also get lessons now.

[JetFan1983]

I'm not where I want to be, no. But horrendous spring allergies and then an abdominal injury (June 1st to July 20th or so) have derailed my hopes of playing a lot so far this season. I haven't logged a round since April 2009 due to various injuries and winter. Stinks.

All that said though, I have been reading a lot about golf and getting in quality range/par-3 course time to groove a self-taught Stack and Tilt swing. I'm really liking my results so far, recently carding rounds of +6 and +7 over 9 holes on the local Par-3 course. Not bad at all for me.

I'm gonna make my long awaited return to the course sometime in the next two weeks. Fingers crossed-- not for a good score (that would be fairly foolish of me at this point)-- but fingers crossed that I remain healthy enough to keep teeing it up! I make an effort not to take any minute playing golf for granted anymore that's for sure.

Good luck to everyone else on their respective quests!

[rwfastrax]

I didn't specifically set any goals for this year...had I done so..one of them would be to have broken 80 on my home course which I did several weeks ago (75). I've become a much better ball striker (working on in to out swing path). Getting better with the driver, and I think I've finally settled on a putting stance/stroke that is repeatable and is paying dividends. I definitely have one goal that I need to achieve and that's getting better with fairway woods from the fairway ( I hit them fine off the tee). This is really keeping me from turning par 5's into pretty easy birdies or eagle attempts. I either nut it. Top it. Or hit it well with a bit of a fade. Nothing I can count on or build confidence with. Problem is...I can't practice the shot. My driving range doesn't really have "fairway" to hit from. There's a grass teeing area...but it's light rough or first cut hitting surface quality. I'll get there.

[kpaulhus]

I am halfway through my golfing year, which is year round. My goal for 2010 was to become a single digit. I achieved that goal in late May. My new goal is to be a 5 by the end of the year, but that is going to be harder than I thought. My short game has improved dramatically. I cant wait until the high is 82 again and I can practice more after work. Right now, at 6pm, I could easily lose 4-5lbs sweating at the range after work.

[PooN]

I went from a 21-ish to a 15-ish from mid-April to mid-June. Then I bought a new set of irons and faltered a bit, but now my iron game is about as strong as with my old clubs, and I'm back on track to breaking 80.