Bogey Golfers Only (Index 16-22) / Breaking 90 Topic

[uitar9]

Spooky, thanks for this, gonna pick this up for the next read.

I'm 63 and started golfing 5 years ago. First game was north of 160. Being old and stiff, I can only hit as far as I can hit it.My coach worked with what I had at the time. 

Lessons helped but until I started doing some simple stretching with a basic yoga routine, my flexibility limited how far I could turn (or for that matter, walk without lower back pain) 

Got fitted for new clubs; started specific practice; last year it was putting and chipping, got 6 or 7 games under 90, even a 78; started recognizing my % shots and safe landing zones. this winter it has been target practice with my wedges and irons on 35 65 and sometimes 85 yard targets.  Once I get outdoors, gonna spend some time on the long sticks-sticking with target practice at the outdoor range. and spend some time in a bunker

Trying to use a motherhood statement : unless I change nothings gonna change

[Spooky]

You bet!....It's well worth your time and the very small monetary investment... For a senior golfer, who has lost flexibility, (as you describe yourself) this can really help. My cousin, (who is 25 years older than I) just turned 70, and had seen his swing "mysteriously" deteriorate....The mystery was quickly solved when he took the Law's tests and discovered he no longer had the upper body flexibility to swing the way he used to. He's still pretty flexible overall though, so he was able to make a couple minor adjustments to his stance and saw immediate results. That's the beauty of the Law's, IMO. You can see dramatic and immediate results when your swing and body reach a state of match. Best of luck this season!

 

[sirhacksalot]

I hate golf sometimes, last two rounds 

Edited March 20, 2017 by sirhacksalot

[sirhacksalot]

So, Last week I card a 99 and yesterday, I beat my personal best with easily 5 strokes,  and shot an 83.  We play from the whites and as fun as it is to try to go for par 5's etc. and have half wedges in, there is a lot of trouble that i can get into with "good" drives. Even a good 3 wood.  I played irons off the tee all day.  Even with irons there were two holes that I had wayward tee shots into the woods. One saved bogey the other was a double my only one for the day. 

[Chrisp irons]

I have been playing for 5 yrs now. I'm in my 40's and play about once or twice a week. I haven't had a lesson but I hit the range quite frequently and work on drills and such. Definitely don't just swing and pray. 

Anyway I'm well aware of my skill set it's not the best but I can work around the courses I play. I'm normally in the 90's with the odd 100 two to 3 times a season. So I'm pretty consistent with my scores. However I had a vicious slice and have almost completely corrected it to a soft fade. Actually to the point where I can shape it to the strong side or straight. I fixed the main part of my game to put me in the 80's consistently. I am shooting high 80's low 90's all the time. My golfing lads are very impressed with my improvements. But the last 2 rounds I completely fell apart. Two rounds of 99 and 97. All my old misses are back. It's funny I'm getting on the green in reg, par 4's I'm in the hole in 4 shots. I have been doing stupid things though. Such as drive OB 3 from the tee is laced, "second" strike is 6ft and drain the putt. But the penalty gives me a 7. I just played a round of 99. I counted the penalties I would have shaved at least 12 strokes. So a long way to my point, but even though my game is way better than the usual hack, but scoring well is still a challenge. I'm keeping up the grind and I'm sure I'll be in the 80's in no time 

[elementz]

Although there are 141 pages on this topic, it seems to be dying slowly unfortunately.  I am going to attempt to start participating on here as I seem to have hit a wall with regards to my scoring.   I know there will be a breakthrough coming at some point, but it just seems if it's not one thing, it's another.

2016 Background

Had my best year in the few years I have been playing, ie rounds played, scoring, etc.   I had 39 rounds logged.  Only 6 of those were triple digits with the highest being 103.  Had 9 rounds in the 80s with my lowest being 84.  This leaves the remainder of my rounds in the 90s (24 of them).  This all resulted in a total scoring average of 93.74 spread out amongst a variety of courses.

Fast forward to 2017.  

I have 13 rounds logged in thus far,  with 11 in the 90s in addition to an 89 and a 100.    That score of 100 was my first round in triple digits in about 25 rounds carrying over from last year.  Right now my scoring average is 93.53 which is not much of an improvement.   However, I feel like I am playing better, but the results just are not showing.   My last 2 rounds were feast or famine with a 94 and 92 respectively....but each of those rounds had 7 penalties.  Seems like I would Par, Double, Par, Double and so on.

One of my bigger struggles is putting/short game.   Nothing worse than being just off the green on a par 5 in two shots....but it takes another 4 shots from there to get it in the hole.   I averaged 36 putts on the dot last year so I set an optimistic goal of 33 putts this year.   If I can eliminate the 3-4 three putts I have, that would really help with this goal.   My last 4 rounds, my putting has felt much better as I have been working on it.  (33,34,36,33).  Of course when the putter is going well, something else falls apart, in this case it is getting the ball in play off the tee.   Last year, I could step up to the tee box with driver in hand brimming with confidence....that carried over to this season but has started tailing off.

My irons/wedges are hit and miss with my most common miss is pulling it a few yards left....usually hole high so no problem with the proper club selection there.  I still suffer from the odd shank, top, duff way too often.   All in all....on an average round where I shoot 93, I can typically pick out close to 10 really dumb mistakes that happen that shouldn't have.

I am going try to squeeze in 18 tonight hopefully as long as the course isn't too busy as me and my 2 playing partners will only have about 3 hours to get it in before dark.   I will try and keep a slightly more detailed hole by hole recap.   I think this will help as time goes on being able to review.

I have some detailed stats going all the way back to 2012....just for posterity, here are my scoring averages each year....won't bore you with the rest of the stats.  I am definitely trending the right direction...and although my scoring average hasn't been dropping as much as I like, there is less dispersion in my scoring.  11 of 13 rounds are 95 or lower.

2012 - 105.4 (10 rounds)

2013 - 101.94 (18 rounds)

2014 - 99.0 (17 rounds)

2015 - 97.1 (31 rounds)

2016 - 93.74 (39 rounds)

2017 - 93.53 (13 rounds and counting)

 

[RandallT]

Long live the bogey golfer thread. 

Actually it's partly dying because a while back I did something (as a new moderator) that basically wiped out the list of people following the thread.  Oops  

It has been a great thread for me over the past few years, so thanks for continuing it, @elementz

And I like your trends- more rounds played over the years. Lower scores.  

Have you had instruction? Do you use this site for swing guidance? (Pardon if you have a member swing thread, but I'm on my phone and that just seems like a lotta work to research! )

[mcanadiens]

To update myself (or at least put another post in here):

I'm back to scratching the backside of bogey after a rather difficult transition to an overlap grip from a baseball grip. For whatever reason, the change saddled me with an awful case of the Sh---ks and only in the last month or so have I been able to start getting a handle on it. The last six or so rounds have been in the low to mid 90s. 

The timing is a bit of a relief. I have been able to post a few rounds and will be able to play in my club championship in August. Wasn't so sure about that in mid-May. 

[elementz]

On ‎7‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 6:19 PM, RandallT said:

Long live the bogey golfer thread. 

Actually it's partly dying because a while back I did something (as a new moderator) that basically wiped out the list of people following the thread.  Oops  

It has been a great thread for me over the past few years, so thanks for continuing it, @elementz

And I like your trends- more rounds played over the years. Lower scores.  

Have you had instruction? Do you use this site for swing guidance? (Pardon if you have a member swing thread, but I'm on my phone and that just seems like a lotta work to research! )

Randall,

I have had limited instruction years back (group thing) and took away a few pieces but it was very general.   I also have never engaged the My Swing forum for advice either...something I would like to do in the future.

So I did play last Thursday...fought darkness but got all 18 in and it was definitely a round to forget.   I don't know if it was the extreme wind going on that evening or rushing to try and get all 18 holes in but, overall, it was my worst round of the year.  It was an even 100 (51/49) but I never even had 1 par that hasn't happened in a couple of years.   This was at my home course as well....but the wind really was something that evening where it didn't make it very enjoyable watching a smashed drive barely make it 150 yards when the ball starts coming backwards.

Played a 4 man scramble tourney on Saturday (drunk fest) but played better the more beers that were consumed.  

Played Monday with the wife on a tricky, but short course (6,120 yds, 67.2/124) that I play about once a year.   Played very consistent and finished 44/46 for a 90...double bogey on the par 5 18 didn't help my cause to break 90 but overall, I was very happy with my play.   Hit 9/14 fairways but I may have only used my driver 5-6 times.  There are a few doglegs so I used anywhere from a 7i to 3hy.  The few times I did use driver, I blasted a few good ones which really helps my confidence stepping on the tee box.  I still have a tendency for a bad pull hook which did show up on 18.

Only hit 3 greens all day so my iron play could have been better but my chipping was on fire.   Almost holed one where it hit the pin and stayed out but chipping close really helped shave a few strokes as those holes were a 1 putt tap in.   Everything is really starting to get dry up here due to lack of rain.   I did hit some nice approach shots to the green, but just didn't stick on. 

Putting was tough.  Finished with 34 putts (3 3putts) but I must have easily lipped 5 putts...and then I had another putt for a solid par and the ball stopped and hung over the hole.  I waited and waited but it didn't move so that was a tough bogey.

Overall, I had 4 pars, 10 bogeys, 4 doubles (3 of those were from the 3 putts).   Oddly enough, I also had 3 penalties but managed bogey on two of them which is great for me.  One of the penalties came on the 10th hole.   On the front 9, I was penalty free and played the same ball.   Had a nice drive on 10 and had little under 100 yards to green with a very large pond in front and woods behind green.   I always have trouble with 100 yard shots as I cant get my SW to go that far and my GW flys about 110/115.   I ended up trying to muscle the SW and came up short.   My 4th shot from the drop zone went in tight so easy bogey save. 

Going to get out for 9 at my home course tonight....the goal will be to keep it under 45.

 

[elementz]

Played 9 at my home course last night in great weather (minus the bugs).....really wish I could have kept playing if it wasn't due for the sun setting.  

Hole 1: Par 4, 325 yds - This hole has a pretty good dogleg where this time of year, a good driver off the tee will run out of fairway.   I teed up with 3W and it looked like a beauty draw that started too far on the left and ended up clipping the top of the tree so I easily lost a good 40-50 yards...but the ball was in fairway....didn't have best angle to green.  Had about 160 left and hit a 7i well...just not on target.   Ended up about 20 yards to right of green.  Chipped to about 10' and 2 putt.  BOGEY

Hole 2: Par 4, 350 yds - Straightaway par 4 with a good sized fairway.  Driving range on left side, all woods on right side.  Sliced drive off into woods and hit a provision down the middle.   As I was walking up, I found my original ball near the woods but in a GUR area....I'll take it.  130 out, used PW, didn't hit it all that great and stayed along the right side of the woods but the result was fine as the ball was in the rough.   Pitched to 7-8' and drained the putt.  PAR (lucky)

Hole 3: Par 3, 128 yds - Flag was in front that I measured to 120yds.   PW off tee on perfect line which came up 4' short of the hole.  Nice easy birdie.  BIRDIE

Hole 4: Par 4, 349 yds - I have a few holes that just don't fit my eye on this course...and this hole is one of them.  It is a slight dog leg right as you get closer to the hole.   OOB if you go to far right and water if you go too far left.   Ended up hitting weird shot with my driver (kind of topped it) but it rolled out decent and left me with 190 to the hole.  I tried to make a hero shot with 4hy and pushed it right into the woods.  Took a drop and next shot hit to front edge of green.   Really good lag putt which left me a tap in.  DOUBLE

Hole 5: Par 5, 451 yds - This is really the only par 5 on the course where I have a realistic change on getting to the green in 2.  Pretty decent drive with a little fade that rolled out to the right rough.  (guess I won't be going for it).   Decided the smart play was to lay up with a 7i...duffed that but rolled out okay.   120 to the flag on left side of a large green.  Of course, I hit my PW to the right side of the green and ended up bouncing off long and to the right.   Chipped to about 10' and 2 putt.   BOGEY

Hole 6: Par 3, 145 yds - Tricky par 3 with pond in front and OOB on right and if you are too long, you are in the parking lot.   Left is definitely the safe side to miss.   I duffed my 8i off the tee but luckily it held up before it reached the pond.  Pitched it on with a 2 putt - BOGEY  ***side note, my wife almost had her first hole in one (still looking for my first) as she was less than a foot from the hole off her tee shot.   Was really cool to see.**

Hole 7: Par 5, 527 yds - This hole even plays longer than the yardage as wind is always in your face...not much wind last night so that was good.  Hit decent drive with a little fade in fairway. A little over 300 out, topped my 3w and rolled out 100 yards.  I am 200 out, but there is a wide ditch w/water surrounding the green so I didn't want to risk it.  Hit a great lay up about 50 yards short of hole.  Messed up my approach as it went in the ditch, but thankfully, not in the water, so I was able to play it.   Tough chip but hacked it out and 2 putt.  DOUBLE 

Hole 8: Par 4, 325 yds - One of my favorite holes on the course, if I don't leave with a par on this hole, I am usually disappointed.  Hit a nice 3w off tee.   136 left to flag but I hit my 9i fat so ended up short.   Chipped it to 5' and made the putt.  PAR

Hole 9: Par 4, 308 yds - The 9th hole is the opposite of 8....another one that gets in my head.   Although it is shorter, there is water before the green and I rank this green as one of the two toughest on the course.   Used 3w off the tee and ended in right side of fairway leaving me 120 out.  Caught PW fat but ended up short of water.  About 60 yards to go and my next shot only went about 30 yards, just barely clearing the pond.   Really nice chip to 3' and tapped it in.  BOGEY.

Overall, this felt like a great 9 holes although I duffed a few and got lucky on #2....I felt I had some decent shots and more importantly for me, I only had 14 putts which has to be a record.   No 3 putts and no penalties are the key....which is why I would have loved to play the back 9 to see what the overall would have been.  I adjusted the ball a bit in my putting stance.  I am playing it more in the center rather than closer to my front foot....It is still early since I made the adjustment but my putting has been better than ever. 

 

[TropicalSandTrap]

On 3/19/2017 at 4:02 PM, sirhacksalot said:

I hate golf sometimes, last two rounds 

What app are you using to track these stats?

[Fairway_CY]

2 hours ago, elementz said:

Played 9 at my home course last night in great weather (minus the bugs).....really wish I could have kept playing if it wasn't due for the sun setting.  

Nice round!  Seems like your short game saved you quite a few strokes last night.  

Keep it going!

CY

[Midpack]

I shot 87-88 for three rounds, pretty good after a 15 year layoff. Then I shot 93-95-97...putting stats relatively unchanged. Finally realized I was trying to kill the ball (again), losing my balance, and hitting all over the face of the club, often (deep) into trouble. I don't know why I have to learn that lesson over and over and over.

While relating that to a fellow player, he said 'that's why I also like watch the LPGA, many of them have great tempo and surprising distance.' Where many of the best PGA players all but jump out of their shoes swinging at the ball - somehow staying in balance/control. Food for thought...

Edited July 13, 2017 by Midpack

[Spooky]

1 hour ago, Midpack said:

I shot 87-88 for three rounds, pretty good after a 15 year layoff. Then I shot 93-95-97...putting stats relatively unchanged. Finally realized I was trying to kill the ball (again), losing my balance, and hitting all over the face of the club, often (deep) into trouble. I don't know why I have to learn that lesson over and over and over.

While relating that to a fellow player, he said 'that's why I also like watch the LPGA, many of them have great tempo and surprising distance.' Where many of the best PGA players all but jump out of their shoes swinging at the ball - somehow staying in balance/control. Food for thought...

While relating that to a fellow player, he said 'that's why I also like watch the LPGA, many of them have great tempo and surprising distance.' Where many of the best PGA players all but jump out of their shoes swinging at the ball - somehow staying in balance/control. Food for thought...

 

Women are generally LEVERAGE players, due to their size and strength and flexibility levels. As such, their swings are usually rotary, symmetrical, and nice to watch. They're tempo driven. Golf swings for men come in a wider variety of shapes and styles, based on their physiques. There are LEVERAGE players (think Steve Stricker), WIDTH players (JJ Henry comes to mind) and ARC players (Mickelson or Couples are good examples). All of them have different sources of power. Couples swing is so pretty to watch and effortless, because his hands wait up there a long time as his hips shuttle to the left to create the room for them to drop. He gathers his power slowly- like a plane taxiing down the runway in preparation for takeoff. Guys like J.J. Henry are slashers. They don't have the same degree of flexibility as Couples, and rely on short, fast swings, with alot of muscular effort.

 

[Midpack]

I always liked Fred Couples swing, and Payne Stewart for those who remember him. I've never been on of those smooth swingers, but I am trying to emulate them. My focus at the moment is staying completely in balance throughout the swing - I'd lost sight of that and finished (way) off balance too often. Time will tell, but so far, so good.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Midpack

[elementz]

Played one of my favourite courses in my area yesterday.  Petitcodiac Golf Club - 68.2/121 - 5,971 yds.   The course was in outstanding shape with its rolling hills and tiny greens.  It was an ideal golf day, albeit, too hot imo but next to no wind and course was empty.   I won't be able to go into complete details as I did previously.   I find that a little distracting to record notes on each hole. 

I shot a 44/45 for an 89....which ties my lowest score of the year thus far.  Stats wise, I was all over the place.   I only hit 3/14 fairways and 2 GIR...which were both on the front.   However, all tee shots were playable so my misses weren't too bad.   I did take one penalty all round on my 2nd shot on the Par 5 #10 when my 2nd shot caught the pond (literally, another foot and it would have been a nice safe shot. 

My chipping and putting is what saved me.   I only had 30 putts (13 on back) which I believe has to be my all time low.  I made a small adjustment about a month ago and it seems to be working wonders.   My putting always seemed to be the worst aspect of my game so that will be nice if I can maintain what I have been doing.

Score 89 (44/45)

FW - 3/14

GIR - 2/18

Putts - 30

Penalties - 1

6 pars / 7 bogeys / 4 double+

My buddy is coming in from out of town so we should be playing 36 holes on Thursday and 18 on Friday at courses we haven't played before.  One of the courses is very challenging and may be out of our league.  They only have the one mens tee box which is measuring from 6,452 yards (71.9/127)....definitely out of our comfort zone but it just doesn't feel right playing the ladies tees at 5,400 yds (59.4/105).   The other two courses we will be playing seem very standard with what we are used to.  6000 yds (68.1/117) and 6,154 yds (69.6/123)

Edited to add - I touched on an adjustment I made for my putting.  All I did was move my ball back to middle of my stance instead of near my front foot...and I try to not move my butt (at least that's my feeling) and it seems to be working.  In my last 6 rounds, I have shaved close to 3 strokes from my putting alone...I am hoping with that improvement, the overall score will start dropping more into the 80s consistently.

Edited July 18, 2017 by elementz
more text

[Vintage]

The past four years, I haven't been able to good much. Two sons born, so, I hardly get the opportunity anymore.

Played a round yesterday, only 9. I was surprised at how well I struck the ball. Clean contract. Nothing chunked. Got one iron shot a bit fat, but it only cost me about 20 yards.... So, not terrible.

Played bogey golf, essentially. Was +10. I was straight off the tees, approach shots were decent. Short game was garbage. I three putt bogeyed three times. One pitch, I skulled across the green. Another, I was too aggressive and it rolled off the green. And I had a pitch shot from about 40 yards on a par 5 that barely made the green and left 30 feet to the pin, which somehow, I managed to par. Only one tee shot went wayward (as in lost, because, well, driver). 

I had no feel once I was inside 100, basically. Anything that required touch or feel, or partial swings was a hot mess.

I managed the course the best I could. Irons on 8/9 tee shots to keep it in play and hit as many fairways as possible... And hang on the best I could once I got close.

[elementz]

A few rounds to get caught up on.....

Played the only 36 hole course in our province.  Started the first round at the easier Pine course (5,996 yds, 68.1/117).   Have only played it once before, years ago.   I started out with a double bogey but rebounded quickly and in the next 5 holes, went Par, Par, Bogey, Par, Par which left me at only +3 over after the first 6 holes.   I doubled #7 and went to #8 which is a slightly uphill, straight away Par 4 measuring at 280ish yards.   I hit my best drive of the day and was on the left side fringe (flag on right).   My chip got away from me and ended up a tricky part of the green....3 putt Bogey - damn it.   I ended up with a triple on #9 as I think I was still tilting over the previous hole which I was sure I would walk away with a par at the worst.  The back 9 was a little more rough.  Although I had a nice chip in for birdie on hole 13, I ended up with 3 triples on the back.

44/48 - 92

8/14 Fwys

3/18 gir

35 putts

4 penalites

1 birdie, 6 pars, 3 bogeys, 8 double+

Me and my bud went to the clubhouse for a bite before we tackled the River course....now here come the excuses.   By the time we were teeing off around 3:30pm, the temp was well over 30* with the humidex.   When loading up the cart again, I failed to throw in Gatorade/water in the cooler....this would come back to bite me later as the only holes located near the clubhouse are 1 & 18.   #9&10 are literally the furthest 2 holes away from the clubhouse.  My back was killing me and my head was pounding by the end of it.   This course is a beast to me coming in at 6,452 yards (71.9/127).   I don't remember a whole lot about this round as it was a week ago and I was really feeling dehydrated....and really, there isn't much worthwhile to remember.   I did not play well at on this round but would love to go back and challenge myself again.  

48/53 - 101

8/14 Fwys

0/18 GIR

38 putts

1 Penalty

2 pars, 9 bogeys, 7 double+

The next day, we decided to treat ourselves to one of the higher end courses in my area. This was a really nice course, links style set up.   The white tees were playing around 6,173 (70.1/125).  I played very solid bogey golf....nothing spectacular but I never had any blow up holes, a few doubles but no 7's or 8's on the card.   The starter gave us a great tip since we haven't played there before.....you will always want to have your approach from side of the cart path for the best angle of the green.   This advise was very helpful for not playing the course before. 

47/46 - 93

8/14 Fwys

2/18 GIRs

36 putts

0 penalties

2 pars, 11 bogeys, 5 doubles

Those 3 rounds were last Thurs/Fri and the next time I was able to get out was last night for 9 holes at my home course.   This could have been a potential career 9 holes but let 2 holes get the best of me. 

Hole 1 - Topped my 3w off the tee, played next shot to dog leg. Approach went slightly long, got up and down for the bogey

Hole 2 - Fairway, green, 2 putt par

Hole 3 - Landed my tee shot on the back end of green (par 3) and ended up 3 putting my way into the hole at the front of the green for a bogey

Hole 4 - Hate this hole....hit a good looking drive with a nice fade...only problem is I started the drive on the right side of the fairway.  It landed safe but took a nasty kick to the right in the woods.   3 off the tee was a great shot.   Hitting shot 4 as my approach....shank that one in the water.  chip shot 6 up close with a tap in 7 for Triple

Hole 5 - Textbook par 5.   Drive, layup, approach to middle green, 2 putt par

Hole 6 - par 3 where I miss the green left, chip and 1 putt par

Hole 7 - Long par 5 and probably hit my best drive I ever hit on that hole.  Solid contact with my 4hy that left me about 75 yards to the flag....skulled my wedge and ended up on back of green.  Really tough chip on an elevated green that runs away from me (my chip landed in the rough and still rolled 20ish feet past the hole.   Made my par putt that I had no business making but I will take it.

Hole 8 - Easy 3w off the tee, left my wedge a little short, chip and putt for the par.

Hole 9 - I haven't looked at my score but I know I am having a solid round in my head.  Another hole that has my number but I can't blame that here as I had my worst swing of the day with my 3w off the tee into the woods.  3 off the tee was perfect.  Hit my 4th shot approach on the green and ended up 3 putting for triple. 

That left me with a 44 but oh what could have been if I didn't mess up those 2 holes.   I also believe 4 consecutive pars may be a record for moi.

44

5/7 fwys

4 GIR ( I only avg 4 on 18 holes so this was exciting)

17 putts

3 penalties (2 on 1 hole)

5 pars, 2 bogeys, 2 triples