Do some people just never get it?

[uitar9]

Yup, its a journey. From "The little red book" -started  going to the range and using  irons and wedges and try hitting the same target. Say 75 yards. My pick. Only twice so far. Opened my eyes to using irons in a different way. Different partial swings, club face positions. Gonna try this for a while over the winter.

Then I allow myself to machine gun a few balls. LOL

[Raging Beard]

After yesterdays success, I went out at Wexham on 9 hole par 32 and shot 55 :( and one hole, a par 4, took me 12!!!! I couldn't stop on the green, miss hits sending me one side to the other and my frustration grew causing me to rush.

Some good hits, pulling left still with irons, but some good drives even with the driver.

Only in 1 bunker today and I got out pretty well.

So a bad result but with positives to take away.

[rkim291968]

On 12/5/2016 at 4:52 PM, Raging Beard said:

Lol sadly I'd assume the first,

LOL.  I am coming to the same conclusion about my golfing ability.  

To OP, enjoy the journey.  Don't stress over running into walls.  You will progress, as much as you put in.  Well, more or less.  Good luck.

[Hategolf]

I believe that after taking a lesson, if you are a high handicapper, the swing actually gets worse before it gets better. 

If you have a decent instructor, then it is a matter of committing to the process and working on execution. This can be accomplished if you understand the instructor in a way that helps you make the right moves. Turning your upper body in your swing can mean different things to different people...

More importantly, like others have pointed out..I think we all need to find our swing. I have played with guys who have a lousy swing and not much athletic ability and they score pretty good. 

[Raging Beard]

A good day...

Used 7 and driver today with another bucket of 50 on the range. 7 went ok with some good and bad, nothing amazing. Driver however went awesome :) started bowing my left wrist on the downswing and bam, my slice is gone! Always had an unplayable slice, ball would go as far right as it did forward, but today the pretty much all went straight! A few bad contacts but no slices, looking forward to using the driver now lol.

 

[Buckeyebowman]

On 12/6/2016 at 0:20 AM, Piz said:

.Ets the tryin bit then innit?  We dinna know what tryin is till it rears it's ugly heed.    

Aye! I ken yur idee! Jist set up, swing yur swing, and the bah goes wher it will! Nay rootin fur yur bah! Maks no diffrence! Larn yur swing!

[gregsandiego]

On 12/6/2016 at 5:43 AM, RH31 said:

Yes. Some people never get it.

There was a very nice guy at our old CC who tried and tried. Took lesson after lesson from our very competent and compassionate pro. The guy really wanted to be a golfer, heck he lived adjacent to the clubhouse! Finally one day the pro said "xxxxx, the best advice I can give you is take 2 weeks off and quit. You will never be a golfer." So, the guy would just come over and have drinks with us after we played. He never picked up a club again.

I'd suspect many many many people try to take up golf and get frustrated with the difficulty and give up. Nothing to be ashamed of, it's the hardest game by far!

Considering the number of people out there that area actually physically handicapped in some way, and still enjoy the game, I think this "competent" pro was the real loser.

[lee34]

On 07/12/2016 at 3:49 PM, Raging Beard said:

After yesterdays success, I went out at Wexham on 9 hole par 32 and shot 55 :( and one hole, a par 4, took me 12!!!! I couldn't stop on the green, miss hits sending me one side to the other and my frustration grew causing me to rush.

Some good hits, pulling left still with irons, but some good drives even with the driver.

Only in 1 bunker today and I got out pretty well.

So a bad result but with positives to take away.

Is that wexham park mate ?

I play up there every now and again. My local course is Huntswood.

55 on 9 holes isn't too bad if you haven't playing that long. My 2 brother in laws play every Sunday with me and score higher than this.

We play 18 every Sunday at huntswood and one of my mates scores 130ish and the other 110 (but is actually 120 he seems to tell me he took less strokes than I counted lol).

Just keep playing and getting lessons it will soon get better.

[Yukari]

4 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

Considering the number of people out there that area actually physically handicapped in some way, and still enjoy the game, I think this "competent" pro was the real loser.

I would have to agree. I think the pro was not a good communicator. You have to know how to effectively communicate to a person to teach. Not everyone can comprehend the same way. 

As long as you find a pro who knows how to teach it to you, one can get at least decent enough to let you enjoy the game. 

I think everyone can be a decent player with proper lessons and practice.  It also depends on how badly one wants to improve. 

Some people are not motivated enough or do not have the time necessary to improve. It doesn't mean they will never get it. It just means they don't have the time or the desire to put in the time necessary "to get it.

[Raging Beard]

5 hours ago, lee34 said:

Is that wexham park mate ?

Yeah and have done the front 9 at Huntswood a few times too. But if I played 18 there I hate to think what I'd finish on lol.

[Divotmaker77]

I started playing late in my 20's and made a big mistake in not getting lessons.  Developed a horrible over-the-top swing that I had no idea was ruining my enjoyment of the game.  I went to some old school pros to get some lessons and it just did not click (did not believe in video analysis, etc).  Finally saw a pro who was big into Video Analysis which changed my golf life.  Saw exactly what was going wrong and he gave me a very simple program to follow that involved tons of very slow repetitions without hitting balls and then when I did hit balls I had to do half swings for awhile and could not hit more than 25 balls at a time.  It really taught me patience with the game and slowly I began to get better and eventually developed a too inside to out swing (haha).   Patience is not a strength of mine so he really challenged me to learn that golf is a game of opposites.  It was painful for awhile but I got used to it and it changed my game.

Point is everyone learns differently and everyone has their own expectations.  Mine was to work really hard on my game and get into single digits which I did but sometimes fall back when I do not play enough.

[gregsandiego]

3 hours ago, Yukari said:

 

As long as you find a pro who knows how to teach it to you, one can get at least decent enough to let you enjoy the game. 

 

I know right ? I have friends that like executive courses, that don't hit the ball very far and still like the game. How many of us amateurs can consistently hit anything anyway?

 

And as an aside from another thread - even Ian Poulter gets trapped in a bunker and hits an  8 occasionally.

 

Edited December 10, 2016 by gregsandiego

[paininthenuts]

On 12/6/2016 at 0:38 AM, Raging Beard said:

Over last 5 months or so I have had 3 lessons early on and another recently. I play on a course 1-2 times a week and hit the range 3-4 times a week most weeks, it varies of course.

I just don't seem to be getting anywhere!

I just hit the range with a basket of 50 and a 7 iron, trying to practive what I was taught from last lesson. It was bad. No real good strikes, many awful ones, 4 hit the right wall of my bay.

Some days I feel like what is the point lol, perhaps some people just do not have the motor function required! I am due to play tomorrow and almost felt like calling can cancelling... I can't strike a ball on the range now so what chance to I have on the course?!

Right rage, whinge and moan over. Of course I will soldier on.

 

My golfing journey http://www.ragingbeard.com 

I haven't met you and I am no pro, but all the same same I will give you a few basic tips I taught myself. I took up golf shortly before my 58th birthday, so I have certain restraints. As well as that I don't have the best coordination and am far from naturally talented. There are thousands of pros who will be more than  happy to take your money in order they can teach you the "classic" swing, but few who will take into consideration your personal restrictions. That doesn't mean lessons are a waist of time, but it does mean you will have to filter out certain aspects of what you have been taught. Regardless of your age or ability these are a FEW tips that will help.

1) Relax your swing and don't try to hit the ball to hard

2) Watching women's golf on TV will give you a better indication of where you need to be.

3) You have probably been told this a million times, but don't take your eye off of the ball

4) Focus on keeping your height consistent prior the the strike. 

These are the 4 things I tell myself before approach, and needless to say there are a million other tips to make you a good golfer, however these 4 tips will help you hit the ball cleanly, even if it doesn't go where you want it to go. 

[lee34]

@Raging Beard I took several lessons from a pro at richings park because I wanted to change one thing about my game. I had a dreadful slice/push off the tee with the driver.

Just wanted that sorted so my ball was in play off the tee. Ten lessons later loads of swing changes etc nothing had changed.

That alone gave me give up golf for 2 years. I then got the bug again and went to huntswood and had a lesson with Mark Grieve the pro there. He watched me hit 2 balls filmed my swing on the iPad and then showed me the 2 things I was doing wrong.

He is a superb coach I can't recommend him enough and works with the swing you have rather than trying to mould yours swing into the textbook swing.

Give him a try mate I will be amazed if he doesn't get you playing better golf.

[MS84]

I play with one of my mates.

I pretty much beat him everytime (thats not bragging as neither of us are great), I used to beat him by about 10 shots on a full course. He then went for some lessons and I started beating him by about 15-20 shots, he went worse! As time has gone on he has started getting better, doing things the right way.

I then went and got some lessons and I started playing worse! He actually beat me. As time has gone on I have started getting back to the scores I used to get.

My point is that taking lessons appears to mean you play worse in the short term but then once you get used to doing the right way, you get a little better than you were.

Im not really a fan of the driving range, I get bored.

[Raging Beard]

Many great tips and good advice and thoughts here :)

Guy at Huntswood sounds good Lee, but my new guy only had one cheap "assessment" hour with him, and my first proper lesson next week. Will see how things go. It seemed to me he was adapting me to my faults, not building me up from scratch, which is good.

[Buckeyebowman]

While I would probably not take that pro's tack and blow off a paying customer, I've seen guys who were athletically skilled in other sports who couldn't play golf to save their lives!

One thing about these types is that they seem to "fight" you when you try to help them! They know they are good at other sports, so why should golf be any different? They don't NEED any help!

[DownAndOut]

I play golf mainly to exercise and get a bit of fresh air in beautiful scenery, so my aspirations aren't  too high. I do think relaxing and emptying your mind of too many swing thoughts can help ease anxiety and tension. Let that clubhead swing you!!!!