Is your Summer slipping away?

[mcanadiens]

Summer hell. The older I get the faster time moves in general. 

I know I just lived through my thirties, but I'll be damned if I know what I did with them.

 

[iacas]

Well… to the OP:

• How much do you practice versus play? And by "practice" I mean properly.
• Yes, get the GG.
• You're not far from @mchepp and he plays year-round, I think…?

[Rsuslow]

I got my golf game, unfortunately it's all but useless to me. Mainly because most courses in my area have 27 holes and Golf Game (a month ago, may have been updated) won't let me combine 9's.

As far as practice, I'm fortunate enough to have a setup in my garage. I go out there and hit bout 25-50 balls a night. Sadly, I'm not sure it's working and it never compares to actually seeing your ball flight.

But like you, my wife has booked my weekends. Winter isn't terrible here in NM. Can still play, but it's much different and still can be to cold.

[scotth]

16 minutes ago, iacas said:

Yes, get the GG.

Can you PM me or direct me to link on this?  See it referenced here often and not sure what this is.

[Shindig]

6 hours ago, Patch said:

I am in what I call the uncomfortable time of year for golf. Higher triple digits are the norm right now.

Except for a occassional thunder boomie blowing through, the lows are in the high 80s, to low 90s. 

We have had some early tee times lately, but the high humidity is not doing us any favors. Maybe another 3-4 weeks left in our monsoon season. 

I don't handle the higher temps as well as I use to. 

You don't seem too far from some of my favorite courses ... in Palm Desert.  Four hour drive, hotels in the area are inexpensive too.  Maybe we can put together an impromptu TST Southwest meetup in the area.  Dry heat is great for golf!

2 hours ago, Rsuslow said:

I got my golf game, unfortunately it's all but useless to me. Mainly because most courses in my area have 27 holes and Golf Game (a month ago, may have been updated) won't let me combine 9's.

As far as practice, I'm fortunate enough to have a setup in my garage. I go out there and hit bout 25-50 balls a night. Sadly, I'm not sure it's working and it never compares to actually seeing your ball flight.

But like you, my wife has booked my weekends. Winter isn't terrible here in NM. Can still play, but it's much different and still can be to cold.

The statistics are important no matter how many holes it is.  I don't use mine for handicap purposes.  And I sometimes have holes I don't finish (picked up twice after ESC in a skins game a few weeks ago, for example).  The software can normalize what you have from there. 

Also, why do you need to see the ball flight?  There are times when practicing and not being able to see the result is better if you know what you're working on.

2 hours ago, scotth said:

Can you PM me or direct me to link on this?  See it referenced here often and not sure what this is.

Gamegolf.com -- it fits on my belt like a pager used to.  I tag my clubs at each shot and it records where I took the shot from.  Then I get to find out about my strokes gained or lost in different categories, see how my iron striking compares to a 10 handicap etc.  Check out some of my recent rounds by clicking the orange icon to the left of this message.

Edited July 21, 2017 by Shindig

[Kalnoky]

18 hours ago, todgot said:

Six more weeks until Labor Day and my wife let me know I only have 1 free weekend during that time... everything else is booked. 

As a fellow denizen of the wintry Pacific Northwest you have my full empathy. We get a few months of gorgeous weather and everything is crammed in there: weddings, graduations, retirement parties, family visits, camping trips, etc.

I'm planning to take a few days of PTO just to golf here locally. Otherwise I can never get 18 holes in. 

[todgot]

1 hour ago, Kalnoky said:

I'm planning to take a few days of PTO just to golf here locally. Otherwise I can never get 18 holes in. 

Next week I'm going up to Kokanee in Canada for 4 days of Golf... 7 rounds in 4 days!

[Rsuslow]

2 hours ago, Shindig said:

The statistics are important no matter how many holes it is.  I don't use mine for handicap purposes.  And I sometimes have holes I don't finish (picked up twice after ESC in a skins game a few weeks ago, for example).  The software can normalize what you have from there. 

Also, why do you need to see the ball flight?  There are times when practicing and not being able to see the result is better if you know what you're working on.

I still get my statistics through Golf Logix. I agree they are important, even if I don't want to look at them after a bad round.

As far as practice, when I hit in my garage, most of the time it is without the monitor. Just hitting into a blank screen. I try to hit about 50 balls a night just on feel of contact working on something specific in the swing. I use the Skytrak about twice a week. I like to see ball flight to know what I'm working on is improving. But I agree not seeing your ball flight while practicing is beneficial.

[todgot]

6 hours ago, iacas said:

Well… to the OP:

• How much do you practice versus play? And by "practice" I mean properly.
• Yes, get the GG.
• You're not far from @mchepp and he plays year-round, I think…?

I'm in the July 5 minutes daily challenge so I practice every day for at least 5 minutes ... Whether or not it's proper practice I guess is in the eyes of the beholder.  I'm going to try and video my swing this weekend to get a few specific things to work on.  I don't have a "priority piece" right now.  As Batman says in Lego Batman,  " I don't have a priority piece right now, I guess I'm seeing different priority pieces... I'm practicing around".  or something like that.  I usually play 18 holes one day on the weekend and two 9 hole rounds during the week. 

Portland, OR and Spokane, WA are 5 hours and a universe apart.  Portland is more of a coastal climate while Spokane is inland mountain NW about 30 miles west of the Idaho border and 100 miles south of Canada.  There is a small range of mountains which separate the two areas... maybe you've heard of the Cascades?  My club does have a reciprocal with a club in Portland though and we've talked about heading down there.  My club also has 2 True Golf E6 Simulators and are expanding to 4 this winter so that did help. 

A big part of my malaise this summer is related to spending 2 weeks of June in the Army Reserves living in a tent in the desert... Should've brought a golf club to swing but did not. 

I know you know what it's like because I lived in Cleveland for 10 years... the long dark winter. 

[Rsuslow]

6 hours ago, todgot said:

 Whether or not it's proper practice I guess is in the eyes of the beholder. 

This is the part I struggle with.

It's all well and good to know what your doing wrong and have drills to correct it, but I am never confident I am doing the drills properly.  Video helps, but I it can be cumbersome to go back and view the recording.  Guess I just need a better setup!

[WUTiger]

I teach on the college level, and I'm plagued with losing most of May and August. May is all the final reports and graduation activities, this can lead to three-week lull.

Early August has an out-of-town conference, then meetings because our semester starts 3rd week of August. I get a late push after Labor Day.

I can't seem to avoid these two speed bumps to my seasons.

[Jmdmbike]

It certainly feels like it's going by fast - even though it has not been a great summer weather wise - late start and really wet weather. Hopefully we have a nice warm, dry fall to extend the golf season as long as possible

[Zekez]

Only 3 more weeks in my league.  Where did the time go!!  (as always it flies by).

And of course i didn't improve a lick, but didn't do anything that would lead to any improvements in my game.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 7/20/2017 at 5:45 PM, DaveP043 said:

My wife has claimed a birthday WEEK!!  I promise not to mention that to yours, if we ever meet.

Other than that, I'm in a little period of burn out, which may be caused in large part by the burning hot weather.  If the highs descend down to 90 or so, I'll be ready to go back at it full speed.  Even now, I play Saturday and Sunday and Tuesday after work, I just haven't been motivated to practice much.  I'll get back to it, try to pace myself to be fresh and hot in October, and then enjoy Thanksgiving in Pinehurst.  After that week-long golf orgy, I usually don't mind taking a couple months off of the routine in the winter.

That's a good point. It's been scorching around here! I went to a local course yesterday that features a very nice restaurant. I went the for a sandwich, a couple of beers, and to watch the Open Championship. Just before I left a gentleman about 10 years my senior (I'm 64) sat at the bar and we had a little conversation. He had played just to "get his steps in". Seems he was wearing a pedometer.

Well, God bless him! There ain't no way you could get me on the course! The air was so thick with humidity that it was like trying to breathe soup!

My buddy's Son is on vacation next week, so we'll golf it up. Thank God there's a little cool down coming! 

[David in FL]

Gloating?  I can't wait for October.  God it's hot this summer!  

[dennyjones]

Just now, David in FL said:

Gloating?  I can't wait for October.  God it's hot this summer!  

Florida weather is nothing to gloat about.    Now Michigan in July...

 

[David in FL]

6 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Florida weather is nothing to gloat about.    Now Michigan in July...

 

Yep.  If you could have 12 months like July, no one would ever leave!  

That's why I don't go back to Wisconsin in the summer.  It lures you in, then buries your ass in snow and sleet for 7 months!  

[CarlSpackler]

26 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Gloating?  I can't wait for October.  God it's hot this summer!  

It was nice at the beach today though.