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

[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.

[bjwestner]

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.

[Lash]

Originally Posted by bjwestner

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.

That is a very good point as well.

[bjwestner]

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.

[bjwestner]

Had another good weekend of golf.....I played three rounds this weekend, including two on Saturday and one on Sunday.  The first round on Saturday was in the morning at my country club and then the second round was played at a local muni in the afternoon.  The round on Sunday was played in the morning at my country club.

Saturday morning's round was okay, I ended shooting an 85.  The front nine was not good as I went out in 45 but on the back nine I played much better and was just 4 over on the back to card a 40.  I had 34 putts and 51 strokes other than putts.

The round on Saturday afternoon was at a local muni.  The course was much easier than my country club and was a par 71.  It was a 67.50 rating and 119 slope.  We played the tees from just a few yards under 6k yards.  I ended up shooting my lowest score ever (80) but the round was strange.  I did not feel as though I played that well but I must have since it was my lowest score ever.  I went out in 40 and came back in 40.  I had 36 putts and just 44 strokes other than putts.  I tied a personal record by hitting 9 GIR.  I also had back to back birdies during the round which was the first time I have ever done that.

The round on Sunday was okay I guess.  I shot another 85, had 36 putts and 49 strokes other than putts.  The round could have been much better but I had 2 double bogeys, 7 pars, and 9 bogeys.

As a result of these three rounds (all of which will count towards my handicap), my handicap is trending down to 11.8.  I don't feel like I played all that well this past weekend either.  My friend that I golf with thinks that I am getting better and believes that I did play very well but because I am improving and have increasing expectations that this is the reason that it does not seem that I played that well.

The change that I made in my bag seemed to work out well this past weekend.  I went down to three wedges from four.  I used the 52 degree wedge many times this past weekend and hit it pretty well.

So all in all I believe that I am still on track to reach my goal of getting to single digit handicap by the end of the year.

[bjwestner]

Statistically it was the best weekend of golf I have ever played in my life, this past weekend.  I played two rounds total, one Saturday morning and the other Sunday morning, both at my country club.  The USGA/Maryland Golf Association (MGA) handicap revision happened late last night so results from yesterday were included.  Going into this past weekend my hc was officially 12.7 but was trending to 11.8.  After this past weekend and with the updated revision I am officially at 11.2!

Saturday's round saw me set a new personal best for GIR as I hit 10 GIR.  I went out in 42 and came back in 41 to card an 83 which was an 11.1 index for the round, 11 over par.  I hit 6 FIR.  I did not have a good day putting though.  The greens were very fast (stimping at about 11) and I just did not execute as well as I should have with the putter.  I had 38 putts in total.  While this was way too many, my ball striking was better than ever.  I had just 45 strokes other than putts which was also a record for me. I had a whopping 20 putts on the front nine.  I had 6 pars in total, 10 bogeys, 1 double, and 1 birdie.  I was on track to shoot in the mid to high 80's going into the 17th hole, a tough par 4.  The 18th hole is a tough par 5.  I was sitting at 33 for the back nine going into number 17.  What helped was that I played 17 and 18 at one under par and having just 8 strokes on those two holes which allowed me to come home in just 41.  I played pretty well on Saturday but it was one of those rounds were I should have scored much better than the 83 considering I had 10 GIR and only walked away with just one birdie.  After the round on Saturday my hc was trending to 11.6.

Sunday's round was pretty good.  Once again though I did not putt very well and ended up with 36 putts total including 19 putts on the front nine and 17 on the back nine.  I had so many birdie chances and I just did not execute on any of them all day.  The good news though is that once again my ball striking was great as I had just 46 strokes other than putts.  I had 7 FIR and drove the ball very well (I drove the ball better than the FIR indicate).  I had 9 GIR.  I went out in 41 for the front 9 and came back in 41 to card an 82 for the round, a 10.2 index for the round and just 10 over par.  I tied a record with 9 pars in the round and had 8 bogeys and 1 double.  I also set a record for myself by carding 4 straight pars on the back nine at one point and 5 out of 6 holes with pars.  My only double of the day came on the 18th hole, a par 5.  Kind of a shame as I was sitting at a 75 going into the 18th hole.  Although it was not my best score ever, I think I played the best golf of my life on Sunday.  I had so many birdie chances, more than I ever had before and many of them were reasonable, ones I should have made.  I came away not making any of them.  Had just a few gone in then I could have broken 80 for the first time.  I'm not dwelling on that though.  As you know from the past few weeks I have been working hard on sharpening my approach shots into the greens.  Last week I was a bit frustrated as I did not seem to capitalize on this but the work showed this past weekend as I had 10 and 9 GIR respectively Saturday and Sunday.

I'd say that I am still on pace to reach my goal of getting to single digits hc by the end of the year.  It's great to see the hard work paying off with continued improvement statistically in shot performance during the rounds.  As my hc continues to drop I am realizing that putting is taking on an increased importance in my game. Not saying that it was not/is not important before but it seems that as the hc gets lower the differential becomes more and more reliant on putting performance.

I plan to continue to work on my approach shots and also with my driving.  I put a new driver in play last week and I did not have the best weekend last weekend with it but I tweaked the settings on it Friday night and I drove the ball much better this past weekend.  It's a Titleist 910 D2 driver.  I like the shorter shaft (45 inches) a lot better but it's just taking some time to get used to I guess.  Here are my updated stats:

Golf Scoring Statistics

Frequency of Score per 18 holes
Year	Rounds	Double Eagles	Eagles	Birdies	Pars	Bogies	Doubles	Triples	Others
2013	46	0.00	0.00	0.39	4.41	10.76	2.37	0.07	0.00
2012	48	0.00	0.02	0.10	3.31	10.31	3.56	0.69	0.00

Average Strokes Over / Under Par
Year	** Rounds With Details	Par 3	Par 4	Par 5	Par 6	All Holes	Total Rounds	Avg Score All Rnds	Avg Index All Rnds
2013	46	0.76	0.92	0.77		15.30	46	87.20	14.94
2012	48	1.03	1.11	1.02		19.35	57	93.33	22.41

** NOTE: Only rounds with hole by hole scores are included in statistics. If you use the quick entry the round won't count in your stats.

Stats Averages
Year	Avg Fairways	Avg Greens	Avg Putts
2013	5.35 (46)	5.27 (45)	35.20 (46)
2012	4.24 (42)	3.73 (40)	34.98 (42)
Numbers in parens are rounds with details where that stat was tracked

[bjwestner]

So I ended up playing 3 times over the past "weekend".  I played on Thursday, the fourth, then again on Saturday the sixth, and Sunday the seventh.  All rounds were played at my country club.....I started the round on Thursday on fire with me striking the ball as well as I ever have.  Unfortunately I had two three putts on the front nine and went out in 41 for the front nine with a whopping 19 putts.  I had 3 really good birdie chances but only converted one of them.  I was not as sharp on the back nine and faded down the stretch.  I did convert another birdie but ended up double bogeying the final two holes to come home in 44 for an 85 overall.  It was one of those days that I had so many birdie chances but only converted two of them and had 36 putts and 49 strokes other than putts.  I had 8 GIR which was solid imo and 8 FIR.

Saturday morning I was not feeling too good but played anyway.  I vomited on the third tee and probably should not have played because I had a hard time focusing and it really affected my ball striking.  I bogeyed the first 8 holes and got my first par on the 9th hole.  I started to feel better on the back nine and it showed.  I came home with a 41 for an overall 85 again.  Because I was sick I played very conservatively to avoid the big number.  Thus I had 5 pars and 13 bogeys.  I hit only 6 FIR and 5 GIR and did not putt very well with 35 putts and 50 strokes other than putts.

Sunday I was feeling better but not 100%.  At least I did not vomit during the round in front of everyone again.....It was a great round, not because I played well (I did not strike the ball well at all in my opinion).  I knew that I was not striking the ball as well as I could and I changed up my game to meet this.  I knew that I had to play it safe and stay out of trouble since I was not as sharp.  I hit just 5 GIR and only 6 GIR.  I found myself many times in a not so good position off the tee but not screwed either.  This left me playing it very safe.  I hit my wedges as well as I ever had yesterday and while I was not on many GIR, I was able to get close enough a lot to one putt and save lots of pars.  I had 5 one putts and just one three putt for just 32 putts overall.  I learned soooo much from yesterday's round.

For example, on the par 3 (172 yards) 6th hole, I hit a 6 iron that was terrible as the grip slipped a little bit and I barely got off the tee box. I had about 110 left and was hitting from deep rough.  I focused and was able to get my PW to 3 feet and converted the putt to save par.  There were several holes yesterday that were like that, strange, very strange at times but because my course management was good and I recognized this, I ended up tying my record for lowest score at my club.  I went out in 41 and came back in 40 for a 9 over 81.  This despite just 5 GIR and 6 GIR.  No birdies but no doubles either.  Just 9 pars and 9 bogeys.

Part of it was that I was not feeling good and was just not as sharp as I could be.  Part of it was also me tinkering with my new driver (I and still in process of tweaking adjustments on the Titleist 910 D2).  Part of it was the difficulty of the course (the rough had not been mowed in almost a week and it was very wet and very penal in the rough, it was also so humid out that it was hard to play and I also learned in person just how that high humidity can affect the break in putts).

So after the weekend my handicap which is officially at 11.2 is now 10.8L.  The last 7 rounds that I have played (out of my last 20) have all counted towards my handicap.  Of the last 20 rounds, the oldest 6 have not counted and only 2 of the oldest 10 have counted towards my handicap.  Thus I am in good shape I believe.  The improvement can really be seen by looking at my year to date stats versus just the last 20 rounds.  Over the last 20 rounds I am hitting an average of 6.3 GIR while YTD I am hitting 5.22.  Last 20 rounds I am at 34.7% par or better performance per round while YTD I am just at 27.2%.

[bjwestner]

I ended up buying a new wedge last night at GG.  I tried the 55 degree Rocketbladez SW on their machine and hit balls with it and liked it a lot.  A short while ago I went down to three wedges from four.  I think that I am going to go back to four though.  It seems that my 4 iron/4h get little use so I am going to keep the 4h in the bag and take out the 4 iron and put this SW back in the bag.  In addition I may put the 60 back in and take the 58 out to have better coverage.  The 58 is fine but since I have a middle wedge now (when I went down to three wedges the 52 got a lot of use for anything over 60 yards as although I could hit the 58 that far, it is one of those situations where the harder I hit it the higher it goes and trying to get the 58 to go 60 or 70  yards was not a good thing).  So I will keep the 52 wedge in the bag for shots of just around 100 yards.  The PW is for 100 and over (situation specific, i.e. uphill/wind/etc).  The 55 degree SW will allow me to comfortably hit 80 yards and in where as before I either had to muscle the lob wedge or have to judge a less than full swing with the 52.  Then I'll have the 60 for shots around the green and such.

It was frustrating to have a 70 yard shot uphill like I had last week.  When I only had three wedges (PW, 52 GW, and 58 LW) I was right inbetween clubs.  I could take something off the GW or try to muscle the 58 degree there.  I tried to muscle the 58 and I guess the shot played longer than 70 because I was a bit short.  Now with this 55 degree wedge I will be able to take a full swing and not have to hit a shot with one of my clubs that is outside of my comfort range.  Also it will allow me more options on longer bunker shots.....I like to use the LW on most bunker shots but if it's a longer bunker shot now I can use the 55 instead of hitting the 52.

[bjwestner]

The handicap revision was done today as it's the 15th of the month.  My official handicap is now down to 10.4!  I ended up playing twice this weekend, once on Saturday and once on Sunday at my country club.  Both times early in the morning.  I played very well on Saturday morning shooting an 81 (9 over par, 9.3 index for the round).  The front nine was probably the best golf I have played in  my life as I went out for the front nine in just 38, which was just 2 over par.  Unfortunately I was not able to keep this pace up on the back but I did not have any big numbers and while I had just two pars on the back, I came home in 7 over 43 on the back for a total of 81.  I putted better but I need to convert more birdies.  I had legit birdie chances on the first four holes and only converted one of them.

The round on Sunday was not as good as I just was not as sharp as I was on Saturday.  I shot an 86 on Sunday going 43/43.  It was nothing special and was a lack-luster round in my opinion.

I'm getting very close to my goal which is to be in single digits for my hc by the end of the year.  I'm confident that I will be able to do it as of my last 20 rounds of golf, just 3 of the last 10 had scores that went to help my handicap.  Thus 7 of them did not and 7 of my 9 most recent rounds of golf counted towards my handicap, so there is room.  I've played 12 rounds of golf since 6/15/13 (a month ago) and in that time my worst score was an 87.  Thus I am being more consistent and I continue to improve my ball striking and hitting more GIR.  In my last 20 rounds my GIR has soared to 6.5 GIR per round where YTD I am averaging 5.38 GIR and I've played 51 rounds of golf YTD.  So the ball striking is continuing to improve and now that I am at 10.4, I feel very confident that I will be able to reach my goal.

[bjwestner]

I ended up playing twice last weekend, once on Saturday and once on Sunday morning at my country club.  Both rounds were very "average" at best.  I purchased new irons and Saturday's round was the first time that I had used them in a round.  I purchased the Bridgestone J40 cavity back irons with Nippon NS shafts in them.  I like them a lot as they have a lot less offset in them but it's an adjustment.  The lofts are much different versus my prior irons (Taylormade R11 irons) and so I was trying my best to select the right club for each shot.  For example, with the R11 irons my 9 iron was 40 degrees where in the new set of irons, the 9 iron is 43 degrees.  The 7 iron on the old set was just 32 degrees while in the new set it's 35 degrees, almost an 8 iron from my old set!

Thus it's taking a little while for me to get used to the new irons and getting to know how far I can hit each club and things like that.  I ended up shooting an 84 on Saturday and an 85 on Sunday.  My handicap coming into last weekend was officially 10.4 and after the weekend it went down to 10.3.  On the bright side of things I drove the ball very well.  I tied a personal best by hitting 10 of 14 FIR on Sunday morning.  It really came down to me just not being used to the new irons and trying to figure things out on the fly as far a club selection goes.  The ball flight is much better with the new irons which is the reason that I got them.  I am no longer seeing a severe draw/hook and this is because the offset is much less with the new irons.

The time I put in working on my ballstriking has been paying off though in my opinion.  I needed to hit more GIR and that's what I've done and is the main reason that my hc has dropped so much since the start of the season.  Over the last 20 rounds I am averaging 6.44 GIR per round (and over the last 5 rounds it's closer to 7 GIR!) while YTD I am averaging 5.33 GIR.

I've been hitting balls a few times during the week and last night I had arguably the best range session I ever had.  I was going to hit a few buckets of balls but since I take my time in between shots on the range and try to do the same routine that I would before a real shot, I end up hitting much fewer balls but the quality is much higher.  Thus I only went through one bucket of balls and I hit each club in my bag at least three times.  The irons were sharp.  I just have to continue to hit balls so that I can get used to them and also used to the weaker lofts per iron versus my old irons.

I also got new wedges, since I play with just three wedges in my bag now, I got a PW with the new set of irons and I then obtained a new 52 degree Bridgestone J40 wedge and a new 58 degree Bridgestone J40 wedge as well.  I hit those last night for the first time and was very pleased.  Looking forward to a much better weekend than last weekend and hoping to shoot solid scores.  I'm so close to single digits as my hc is now trending to just 10.3.  Hopefully I will be able to execute this weekend and who knows, maybe this is the weekend that I finally go sub 80?  It would require a hell of a round due to the difficulty of my course but I have shot 3 different 81's at my course which comes to a 9.3 index for the round.  Thus shooting a sub 80 is possible I think?

[bjwestner]

Well, my goal for 2013 has finally been obtained....after yesterday's round of 81 and todays round of 80, my handicap will be 9.6 when the next revision happens (July 31).  I came into the weekend officially at 10.4 and trending to 10.3.  After yesterday's round I was trending to 10.0 and after today I am now trending down to 9.6!  Today's round of 80 ties my lowest round ever (I shot 80 several weeks ago at a local muni) and is by far the best round of my life (8.3 hc index, 8 over par).

So it took 13 months and 26 days but I've gone from never playing golf to having a single digit handicap.  I'm pleased with the progress that I have made.  When the season started in March I was sitting on a 15.5 handicap and thought that it would be ambitious to get to single digits.  It started slow but especially over the last 2 months or so I have improved at a very high rate, far surpassing my expectations.  Only about two months ago was I struggling to shoot lower than an 86 on my home course and an 84 last November on an easy muni was the best I had to show for it.  In the last 10 weeks or so though I have really worked hard during the week by going to the range at least once during the week and working on my ball striking.  It's still a work in progress but I wanted to take this afternoon to stop and smell the roses before I decide what my next goal is and how I am going to get there.

I realize that in the big picture of things that a 9.6 hc is not very good and hopefully I can continue to improve to a point where my game is respectable.

[bjwestner]

Just one week after breaking into the single digits I played the best round of my life so far this past Saturday.  I played at my country club and it finally happened.  For a while I had been hovering right around 80 as I had shot an even 80 last week at my country club and weeks ago shot an 80 on an easier par 71 muni course as well.  This past Saturday I was finally able to break 80 by shooting a 7 over par 79 at my country club.

I started out on fire and was just 1 over par going into the 9th hole (par 5).  I then proceeded to play the 9th hole terribly and ended up with a double on the 9th hole, my only double of the day which gave me a 3 over par 39 through the first 9 holes.  I played the back nine in 4 over par 40 to card a total of 79 (39 front, 40 back).  My ball striking was not even that great during the round, I would say it was average or so as I had 50 strokes other than putts during the round.  My putting was as good as it has ever been though as I had just 29 putts for the round.  I had 9 FIR and 8 GIR.  I had 10 pars, 1 birdie, 1 double bogey, and 6 bogeys.

So after the weekend my handicap is trending down to 9.5L and I came into the weekend officially with a handicap of 9.6.

[bjwestner]

here are my updated statistics, year to date:

Golf Scoring Statistics

Frequency of Score per 18 holes
Year	Rounds	Double Eagles	Eagles	Birdies	Pars	Bogies	Doubles	Triples	Others
2013	58	0.00	0.00	0.43	4.79	10.72	2.00	0.05	0.00
2012	48	0.00	0.02	0.10	3.31	10.31	3.56	0.69	0.00

Average Strokes Over / Under Par
Year	** Rounds With Details	Par 3	Par 4	Par 5	Par 6	All Holes	Total Rounds	Avg Score All Rnds	Avg Index All Rnds
2013	58	0.71	0.87	0.72		14.45	58	86.36	14.18
2012	48	1.03	1.11	1.02		19.35	57	93.33	22.41

** NOTE: Only rounds with hole by hole scores are included in statistics. If you use the quick entry the round won't count in your stats.

Stats Averages
Year	Avg Fairways	Avg Greens	Avg Putts
2013	5.71 (58)	5.56 (57)	34.93 (58)
2012	4.24 (42)	3.73 (40)	34.98 (42)
Numbers in parens are rounds with details where that stat was tracked

[Jeremie Boop]

I would love to be able to devote this much time and energy into getting better. I don't know that even then I'd have the same results, however. It's great to see that you reached your goal for this year with so much time left to go in the season and look forward to how far passed the goal you get. Personally, I've decided if I don't get to at least a 12 handicap by the end of next year I'll give up on getting better and only play on occasion.

[bjwestner]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I would love to be able to devote this much time and energy into getting better. I don't know that even then I'd have the same results, however. It's great to see that you reached your goal for this year with so much time left to go in the season and look forward to how far passed the goal you get. Personally, I've decided if I don't get to at least a 12 handicap by the end of next year I'll give up on getting better and only play on occasion.

Thanks!  I am a very selfish person and when I decide that I want to do something I go all out.  The most recent example of this is my improvement in golf.  A couple of years ago I wanted to get a certain prestigious professional designation that would help me in my career/industry.  It is 8 graduate level courses and usually takes people years to do.  I put my mind to it and went all out and got it done in just under a year.  There is no way that I would be able to do things like that or golf if I had a wife and kids and stuff.  Shoot, there is now way I could have done any of these things when my father was alive and I was taking care of him before he passed away in August of 2011.  That's the ironic part of all of this......had my father not passed away I would have never started playing golf.  And believe me, if I had the chance to choose, I would not have to think twice about it, I'd give anything to have my father back.  No I would not be as successful in my career or have ever played golf or become a member of a country club and met so many great people, but all of that does not even come close to my father.

Many people say the same thing (that they wish they could play as much golf as I do or wish they could practice as much).  Being able to play a lot of golf is not "being lucky".  I choose to be selfish and not have a traditional family because it's more important to me.  While I like golf a lot, I wish my father was still here because if that was the case then I would have never started playing and I would take that trade in a  heartbeat.......

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by bjwestner

Thanks!  I am a very selfish person and when I decide that I want to do something I go all out.  The most recent example of this is my improvement in golf.  A couple of years ago I wanted to get a certain prestigious professional designation that would help me in my career/industry.  It is 8 graduate level courses and usually takes people years to do.  I put my mind to it and went all out and got it done in just under a year.  There is no way that I would be able to do things like that or golf if I had a wife and kids and stuff.  Shoot, there is now way I could have done any of these things when my father was alive and I was taking care of him before he passed away in August of 2011.  That's the ironic part of all of this......had my father not passed away I would have never started playing golf.  And believe me, if I had the chance to choose, I would not have to think twice about it, I'd give anything to have my father back.  No I would not be as successful in my career or have ever played golf or become a member of a country club and met so many great people, but all of that does not even come close to my father.

Many people say the same thing (that they wish they could play as much golf as I do or wish they could practice as much).  Being able to play a lot of golf is not "being lucky".  I choose to be selfish and not have a traditional family because it's more important to me.  While I like golf a lot, I wish my father was still here because if that was the case then I would have never started playing and I would take that trade in a  heartbeat.......

Some people are lucky to be able to do what you are because they have everything and still can put lots of time and money into golf to get better. I wouldn't say you are "selfish" so much as determined and focused, but if you want to say you are selfish it's not my place to argue! I could do this if I wanted to some extent since I'm recently single again, however I am helping a couple people out instead of putting all my time and money into golf. I'm hoping I can focus more on it next year, which is why I set my goal for the end of next year.

[bjwestner]

Had an okay weekend of golf this past weekend.  I played twice, both at my country club, one on Sat and one on Sunday morning.  I had a feeling going into the weekend that I may not play too well this weekend because Sunday was the two year anniversary of my father passing away......I came into the weekend with an official 9.6 handicap and it was 9.5L going into the weekend.

My play on Saturday was not great and not too bad either.  It was a pretty average round of golf.  I started out slow and went out in 43.  I played a bit better on the back and came home in 41 for a total of 84 (12.0 index for the round).  I drove the ball very well though especially with my driver.  I had 10 FIR but I was not as sharp with my irons and had just 6 GIR.  I did putt very well though and had just 32 putts in the round which means that I had 52 strokes other than putts which told me what I could tell during the round: my ball striking and iron play was not very good.  I had 7 pars, 10 bogeys, and 1 double.

Sunday's round was a bit better....although I did not drive the ball quite as well, I was a bit sharper with my irons.  I was on the first two GIR only to two putt both of them to walk away with 6 putts for the first two holes that were both 3 putt bogeys.  Then on the third hole, a par 3, I was on the green in regulation again and had about 15 feet.  I sank the birdie which made me feel better after back to back three putts.  I went out in 41 and had a whopping 19 putts for the front 9.  So my ball striking was excellent but my putter was not so great.  I played solid on the back 9 with 5 pars and no doubles to come home in 40 which game me a total of 9 over par 81 (9.3 index for the round).  I putted much better on the back 9 and got up and down to save par several times.  I had just 15 putts on the back nine for a total of 34 putts total.  Overall the ball striking was better on Sunday than Saturday as I had just 47 strokes other than putts on Sunday compared to 52 on Saturday which was higher than normal for me.  I had 7 FIR and 7 GIR on Sunday.

After the weekend was done my handicap is now 9.4L and the next revision is coming in a few days.  I may try to get out and play a round during this week but I am not sure if that will happen before or after the revision.

Amazingly I have used the same putter for the last 8 rounds of golf.  Considering the stupid amount of putters that I have purchased, this is a surprise.  I really like the putter though.  I never thought that I would have ever went to a center shafted putter but for the last month plus it has been great.  It's a SeeMore Si5w putter.  It's the face balanced one.  It was only $150 which is kind of embarassing since I have tried two Scotty Cameron Circle T putters earlier this year that cost me > $1500.  I was able to sell both though and not lose any money on them so that is the positive.  I should have known that after spending thousands of dollars on putters that I would end up with something off the rack that ended up working the best for me.

I am still using the same ball that I have been using for a while now, the Bridgestone B330 RXS.  I'm very pleased with it.  Yesterday I was 3 out of 4 in sand saves and that ball has helped a lot.  It stops very quickly in those situations, something that the E6 that I used to use would have never done.

[Lihu]

Holy long post batman !      Glad you're coming along .... I started at age 45 and have been playing almost 2 years & you're way ahead of me at the same stage (I've logged 73 rounds this year alone & am just starting to break 90 regularly).      Just keep your swing under control - biggest fault we see is people overswinging & losing all sense of tempo.      Easy backswing, smooth follow through will keep you on the fairways - which I'm convinced is the key to this game.     As for lessons, there are so many resources today ... youtube, golf channel, this forum, magazines, video cameras - it's possible to the learn the game by yourself if you are dedicated to it.      I find it a challenge to go about it by myself.      SO many casual golfers just take lessons because they don't really dig into the resources available today - they want the easy fix.    Lessons are great, but I look at it like a golf doctor - I will only go to one if at some point I develop a real serious swing illness and I need help diagnosing the cure.

Ditto here, 1 year of serious weekend playing with daily practice. Just breaking 90 on easy courses. Lots of lessons too! Full swing is hard.