What Gives?!? - Game Improving, Handicap Getting Worse

[b101]

4 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

Only tees in front of me are the ones for the ladies and Im pretty sure that would be frowned upon by the golfing public as Im a lot of things...but a lady, isnt one of them. :)

Hmm... it's starting to change a bit over here (http://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/news-and-events/general-news/2015/november/should-you-be-playing-off-the-red-tees/) but maybe not in the US?

Do you have a 'my swing' thread? That's another really good way to force you to analyse your practice and whether you're effectively improving your game. It's good to keep you honest as well - because I document much of my practice, it helps to force me to evaluate whether I really worked on my drills or just started hitting too quickly and analysing the video helps me to check whether I'm really making the changes I think I am.

Also, it's often nice to look back at what your swing was like a year ago - would thoroughly recommend it and the guys here are very knowledgeable and helpful 

[stealthhwk]

42 minutes ago, b101 said:

Hmm... it's starting to change a bit over here (http://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/news-and-events/general-news/2015/november/should-you-be-playing-off-the-red-tees/) but maybe not in the US?

Do you have a 'my swing' thread? That's another really good way to force you to analyse your practice and whether you're effectively improving your game. It's good to keep you honest as well - because I document much of my practice, it helps to force me to evaluate whether I really worked on my drills or just started hitting too quickly and analysing the video helps me to check whether I'm really making the changes I think I am.

Also, it's often nice to look back at what your swing was like a year ago - would thoroughly recommend it and the guys here are very knowledgeable and helpful 

THAT IS THE ABSOLUTE SMARTEST THING IVE EVER SEEN IN GOLF!!!!! The American courses apparently have much to learn. We prefer to play from the tips and take 12 hours to complete a round of golf on a tuesday afternoon!!!! In all seriousness, its a great idea and boy I hope it catches on over here. Ive only ever seen that at one course here in the states that offers that and imho, that course is so hard, u could start on the green and its not close enough!! Id love to start a my swing thread!!! Sadly, even at a young 33, I lack the tech skills. I also work for a company that trolls the net lookin for the politically incorrect items and firing those who post them. I like being free to voice my opinion and I gotta keep this job at all costs. Have a wonderful wife and son to look after. When I retire, its gonna be the very first thing I do! Umm.....assuming someone can teach a much older me the tech skills required to do so! LOL :)

[b101]

6 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

THAT IS THE ABSOLUTE SMARTEST THING IVE EVER SEEN IN GOLF!!!!! The American courses apparently have much to learn. We prefer to play from the tips and take 12 hours to complete a round of golf on a tuesday afternoon!!!! In all seriousness, its a great idea and boy I hope it catches on over here. Ive only ever seen that at one course here in the states that offers that and imho, that course is so hard, u could start on the green and its not close enough!! Id love to start a my swing thread!!! Sadly, even at a young 33, I lack the tech skills. I also work for a company that trolls the net lookin for the politically incorrect items and firing those who post them. I like being free to voice my opinion and I gotta keep this job at all costs. Have a wonderful wife and son to look after. When I retire, its gonna be the very first thing I do! Umm.....assuming someone can teach a much older me the tech skills required to do so! LOL :)

I doubt they'll fire you for your golf swing... it can't be that bad! 

Seriously, though, it's easier to do than ever. This post may be five years old, but the principles are good (https://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing). If you have a decent smartphone, it's even easier, just buy some sort of stand that you can attach to your bag, then put it behind you. I use a Joby Gorillapod, which works perfectly at about £15/$20. 

Once you've recorded it, copy the file off the phone, open it with Windows Movie Maker, which allows you to easily crop and even change the speed to x0.125 - perfect for looking at a swing. Good luck and do ask if you need anything else!

[RandallT]

2 minutes ago, b101 said:

I doubt they'll fire you for your golf swing... it can't be that bad! 

!

[stealthhwk]

21 minutes ago, b101 said:

I doubt they'll fire you for your golf swing... it can't be that bad! 

Seriously, though, it's easier to do than ever. This post may be five years old, but the principles are good (https://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing). If you have a decent smartphone, it's even easier, just buy some sort of stand that you can attach to your bag, then put it behind you. I use a Joby Gorillapod, which works perfectly at about £15/$20. 

Once you've recorded it, copy the file off the phone, open it with Windows Movie Maker, which allows you to easily crop and even change the speed to x0.125 - perfect for looking at a swing. Good luck and do ask if you need anything else!

To quote a minion; WHAAAAAAAAAT?!

haha! Thanks for the tip and link. I get all but that last part and Im sure the wife could figure it out, shes got mad tech skills. The BIGGY for me is whole darn job thing. Only my b swing that I posess most days would get me fired. My A swing would just get me written up. Its not so much the swing as it is them recognizing me in the video. I have some unpopular views on everything from firearms, to skinny jeans, to golf. I also have three close friends who were dedicated employees who were fired for harmless stupidity. One cant be to careful. Its kind of aggravating! Im supposed to live in a free country with freedom of speech! But thats only as long as my company agrees and man, apparently, their internet team must be in cahoots with the CIA or something because the stuff these guys got canned for was beyond stupid! Maybe the wife can edit my head out or something. Who knows? 

P.s. I also suck cus I have limited practice time and facilities. Well, that and I havnt quite finished lsw yet, just got it yesterday. Not sure how helpful a swing thread is with my lack of A and B.

[b101]

5 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

I get all but that last part and Im sure the wife could figure it out, shes got mad tech skills. 

Ok, I'm going to back myself and reckon we can show you with one picture.

• First, download and install Movie Maker (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/get-movie-maker-download).
• Copy whatever video you take off your phone to a folder somewhere on your computer
• Right click on that file and then choose Open With - Windows Movie Maker

It should look like this (without the coloured boxes). Make sure you're on the Edit tab at the top - yellow box shows where to change the speed of the video, red will allow you to set a new start point (to cut out the part where you walk to the ball, take your stance, check target etc. and blue does the same, but for the end.

Finally, once you're done, Go to File -> Save Movie -> Recommended for this Project. From there, go to YouTube, create an account and upload the file (top right hand corner of the main page). Once it's done, you can just copy and paste the link into whatever thread on this forum and it'll load up nicely.

Sounds like a lot, but it's really a piece of cake once you've done it a couple of times.

Quote

P.s. I also suck cus I have limited practice time and facilities. Well, that and I havnt quite finished lsw yet, just got it yesterday. Not sure how helpful a swing thread is with my lack of A and B.

LSW is brilliant, but don't rush it - try to digest it as you go. The swing thread is still very useful - LSW isn't a swing tips book, more a guide on how to make the most of what you've got and improve. The swing underpins all of it, and in your swing thread you will get people suggesting things to do based on the 5 swing keys mentioned in the book. But, if they can't see your swing, they can't really suggest anything - hence why we push for swing threads 

FYI - here's my swing thread so you have an idea of what to expect. I'm the main contributor; it's mostly there to keep me accountable to myself and sometimes get ideas from other people.

 

[Lihu]

3 hours ago, stealthhwk said:

Your half right on the chips. They havnt gotten worse. Ive rushed my chips a bit sometimes skipping a preshot routine and really oreparing for the shot at hand. Ive also been making rookie mistakes as in grabbing the wrong wedge, or two rounds ago, when I called a penalty on myself after walking into my ball with a wedge which inadvertantly struck the ball. And while I agree punching out doesnt cost that many strokes once or twice a round, doing it five or six times in a round is huge! Esp when you consider that I often screw up one of those punch outs which adds at least another stroke.

Exactly, remember that even if you hack your way with an extra shot per hole, you'll still play better than bogey golf especially on a harder course.

 

2 hours ago, stealthhwk said:

Only tees in front of me are the ones for the ladies and Im pretty sure that would be frowned upon by the golfing public as Im a lot of things...but a lady, isnt one of them. :)

Not frowned upon. The golfing gods will punish you with 100 plus scores if you tee up too long.

[tdiii]

I started playing in my late 20s and got down to just under a 14 before I had to stop playing for many years on account of back problems.  My best score was an 80.  After a 6+ year layoff, I started playing again early last year (Feb. 2015).  My index was about 19 or so, but has crept down to 15.5 now.  But I'm a much better player now than I was then. 

How do I explain the sub-14 index?  I am not sandbagging now and it wasn't a vanity handicap then.  I'm just playing much more difficult courses now, and playing from longer tees than I did then.  I know the handicap system is supposed to account for the tees you play from and the course difficulty, but I'm not buying it.  I play with many older golfers in their late 50s and 60s, with handicaps in the 8-15 range.  You put them off longer tees and they can't play anywhere close to their handicaps. 

Could that be the case for the OP?  [Guilty as charged for not reading through the entire thread]

[stealthhwk]

50 minutes ago, tdiii said:

I started playing in my late 20s and got down to just under a 14 before I had to stop playing for many years on account of back problems.  My best score was an 80.  After a 6+ year layoff, I started playing again early last year (Feb. 2015).  My index was about 19 or so, but has crept down to 15.5 now.  But I'm a much better player now than I was then. 

How do I explain the sub-14 index?  I am not sandbagging now and it wasn't a vanity handicap then.  I'm just playing much more difficult courses now, and playing from longer tees than I did then.  I know the handicap system is supposed to account for the tees you play from and the course difficulty, but I'm not buying it.  I play with many older golfers in their late 50s and 60s, with handicaps in the 8-15 range.  You put them off longer tees and they can't play anywhere close to their handicaps. 

Could that be the case for the OP?  [Guilty as charged for not reading through the entire thread]

There is some elements there that you hit on that I havnt really thought about. Ive been playing same tees but I moved and the courses I play now are indeed much more difficult then my old course. Slope at old course was 108, but that always seemed high to me as theres only two water hazards and one trap on the entire course. New courses rate between 117 and 129. How much of an effect that has by exact numbers I dont know, but Id have to think that plays into it quite a bit. On a side note, maybe our teams will meet in the playoffs. GO STARS!!!!! :)

[DrvFrShow]

I had the privilege of playing with a PGA teaching pro yesterday who had played in the US Open many years ago. The man was about 70. We were in a foursome. Warm weather brought out a lot of people and made for a 4.5 hr round. When things were going to hell he told me to forget everything and just concentrate on making contact with the ball. 

When my driver was going all over the place I decided to sacrifice the potential distance for accuracy. Why? Because it was only potential distance. In reality the way I was hitting the driver was costing me strokes. Hitting out of the woods or taking S&D was not helping. The straw that broke the camel's back was a duck hook on 7. They have head covers on drivers for a reason so they can hide in shame. I went to my 20 degree 4 iron and hit all but 1 fairway with it and the one I missed I was in the first cut. All shots were about 200 yds. +/- 10. A 4 iron is easier to hit than a 3W. I needed a win.

The handicap system really doesn't account for the tee length all that well, IMO. I could sign up for GHIN again, play my rounds from the white tees, get a high handicap, then play my tournaments from where they are from the red tees and win my flight net easily. Many guys I've played with who are in their 60s struggle to drive the ball 210 yds. and they play the whites. It puts them at a serious disadvantage. They should be playing the gold tees or even the reds.

[tdiii]

22 hours ago, stealthhwk said:

 On a side note, maybe our teams will meet in the playoffs. GO STARS!!!!! :)

If we meet, I hope you have home ice -- my Sharkies have been pathetic at home this year!

[WilsonWedgeMan]

interesting fact is, that according to many PGA teaching pros, the handicaps have not truely risen over the past 20yrs..even with newer technology being introduced along the way. that tells me something: it's the Indian, not the arrow. It also is a fact that thousands upon thousands of golfers are quitting the game every yr for the exact same reason: not improving to enjoyable levels. Is it the instruction? is it the instructors? is it our limitation of time constraints on practicing? Could it be that we have an predestined amount of skill that cannot be improved upon one we reach our max? Is our egos preventing us from playing smartly on each hole? Could our expectations exceed our abilities, thereby causing extreme frustration ? I understand wanting to be the best we can be, but it's difficult to accept,as humans, our short comings..at anything. As a woodworker, I know I want to produce magnificent pieces of furniture, but my talent never allows that level of quality....should I lower my expectations while applying more effort to improve? I think that what has happened to the game of golf. we see magnificent shots from the Pros on Tour, and believe that with enough practice, we can duplicate that feat...not sure that level is attainable by most....I've watched as many videos on hitting the ball as anyone..have taken lessons from multiple instructors( all teaching differently,btw) and have come to conclusion, that it's better to accept the level I'm at,while trying to improve, than to push on bull-headedly, and incur immense frustration at not acheiving the level I think I should be...I have no quarrels with improvement driven practice but perspective is always the better teacher.  at the end of the round, it's all about satisfaction  being around friends, and enjoying a beautiful day on the course....unless you're playing for $$ or trophies, it won't matter in a week what you shot, in the grand scheme of your life.

[Lihu]

25 minutes ago, WilsonWedgeMan said:

interesting fact is, that according to many PGA teaching pros, the handicaps have not truely risen over the past 20yrs..even with newer technology being introduced along the way. that tells me something: it's the Indian, not the arrow. It also is a fact that thousands upon thousands of golfers are quitting the game every yr for the exact same reason: not improving to enjoyable levels. Is it the instruction?

Golf is hard, and most people are not dedicated enough to stick it out.

 

25 minutes ago, WilsonWedgeMan said:

is it the instructors? is it our limitation of time constraints on practicing? Could it be that we have an predestined amount of skill that cannot be improved upon one we reach our max? Is our egos preventing us from playing smartly on each hole?

Instruction has gotten better and there are instructors like the ones on this site. It's a matter of finding the right ones. 

 

25 minutes ago, WilsonWedgeMan said:

Could our expectations exceed our abilities, thereby causing extreme frustration ? I understand wanting to be the best we can be, but it's difficult to accept,as humans, our short comings..at anything.

This is the only sport where for some reason or another people actually think they should be playing better than they are.

Not sure why? As a very high handicap golfer I thought it should be easier to get a ball into a hole in 4 shots. As a mid handicap, I feel quite happy saving a bogey.

There must be something in the human psyche that causes these misconceptions?

 

25 minutes ago, WilsonWedgeMan said:

As a woodworker, I know I want to produce magnificent pieces of furniture, but my talent never allows that level of quality....should I lower my expectations while applying more effort to improve? I think that what has happened to the game of golf. we see magnificent shots from the Pros on Tour, and believe that with enough practice, we can duplicate that feat...not sure that level is attainable by most....I've watched as many videos on hitting the ball as anyone..have taken lessons from multiple instructors( all teaching differently,btw) and have come to conclusion, that it's better to accept the level I'm at,while trying to improve, than to push on bull-headedly, and incur immense frustration at not acheiving the level I think I should be...I have no quarrels with improvement driven practice but perspective is always the better teacher.  at the end of the round, it's all about satisfaction  being around friends, and enjoying a beautiful day on the course....unless you're playing for $$ or trophies, it won't matter in a week what you shot, in the grand scheme of your life.

Golf is hard. You have to break it down and simplify it. Find a priority and work on it. Take one step at a time.

 

[stealthhwk]

3 hours ago, WilsonWedgeMan said:

interesting fact is, that according to many PGA teaching pros, the handicaps have not truely risen over the past 20yrs..even with newer technology being introduced along the way. that tells me something: it's the Indian, not the arrow. It also is a fact that thousands upon thousands of golfers are quitting the game every yr for the exact same reason: not improving to enjoyable levels. Is it the instruction? is it the instructors? is it our limitation of time constraints on practicing? Could it be that we have an predestined amount of skill that cannot be improved upon one we reach our max? Is our egos preventing us from playing smartly on each hole? Could our expectations exceed our abilities, thereby causing extreme frustration ? I understand wanting to be the best we can be, but it's difficult to accept,as humans, our short comings..at anything. As a woodworker, I know I want to produce magnificent pieces of furniture, but my talent never allows that level of quality....should I lower my expectations while applying more effort to improve? I think that what has happened to the game of golf. we see magnificent shots from the Pros on Tour, and believe that with enough practice, we can duplicate that feat...not sure that level is attainable by most....I've watched as many videos on hitting the ball as anyone..have taken lessons from multiple instructors( all teaching differently,btw) and have come to conclusion, that it's better to accept the level I'm at,while trying to improve, than to push on bull-headedly, and incur immense frustration at not acheiving the level I think I should be...I have no quarrels with improvement driven practice but perspective is always the better teacher.  at the end of the round, it's all about satisfaction  being around friends, and enjoying a beautiful day on the course....unless you're playing for $$ or trophies, it won't matter in a week what you shot, in the grand scheme of your life.

In this lies my problem really. I dont want to be better to be a great golfer. I just want to be able to play the game well enough to have fun every round. All I have to do to have fun in a round of golf is shoot under 95. If thats 94 Ive played well enough usually to enjoy myself. If I shoot 87, It was a great day. If I shoot 102, Ive usually played so poorly that I want to destroy my clubs and vow to never pick one up again. Its less about the number and more how I play to reach said number. I know Ill never be Rory and Im ok with that. But Id like to play well enough to have fun, feel like I halfway know what Im doing, and at least be good enough to teach my son the game when he gets older. I love my son being such a little guy, but I often dream of what it would be like to play golf with my son someday. I fear it may be something I never experience if I dont get a little better soon. :(