Your Golf Game - The Uplifting Topic

[Esox]

I've been out 3 times in the past 8 days. My driving game sucks, a LOT.  Best drive all day yesterday was 265yards on the fairway. The rest, maybe 200 yards, some less, some duck hooked, some pushed far right. What I don't get is how I can suck that badly off the tee, yet am well over 85% hitting the green from 155 in, using a combination of old Mizzys and 4 wedges of varying ages (for me 155 is a driving range 8 with my old school lofted MX-20s). Hit all 12 of the par 3s my past 3 rounds, one was slightly uphill 188 yds. (4 hybrid)

[mohearn]

8 minutes ago, Esox said:

I've been out 3 times in the past 8 days. My driving game sucks, a LOT.  Best drive all day yesterday was 265yards on the fairway. The rest, maybe 200 yards, some less, some duck hooked, some pushed far right. What I don't get is how I can suck that badly off the tee, yet am well over 85% hitting the green from 155 in, using a combination of old Mizzys and 4 wedges of varying ages (for me 155 is a driving range 8 with my old school lofted MX-20s). Hit all 12 of the par 3s my past 3 rounds, one was slightly uphill 188 yds. (4 hybrid)

That's a heck of a game you got if you can fix the driver woes!!

 

 

[greatgolfahead2]

  

31 minutes ago, Esox said:

I've been out 3 times in the past 8 days. My driving game sucks, a LOT.  Best drive all day yesterday was 265yards on the fairway. The rest, maybe 200 yards, some less, some duck hooked, some pushed far right. What I don't get is how I can suck that badly off the tee, yet am well over 85% hitting the green from 155 in, using a combination of old Mizzys and 4 wedges of varying ages (for me 155 is a driving range 8 with my old school lofted MX-20s). Hit all 12 of the par 3s my past 3 rounds, one was slightly uphill 188 yds. (4 hybrid)

It would appear to me by your explanations that you have a solid body alignment, working tempo, and grip setup for your irons and hybrids. I'll call that your ROUTINE.  In contrast, your ROUTINE for driving is all over the place, hence the wide variety of hooks and pushes.  To help you quickly improve in driving, I recommend the FART system.  Perform it in order and it's easy to remember haha.  I came up with FART for my 9 year old son (right-handed golfer)

F - Face, Get the club face pointed where you want the ball to finish

A - Alignment, Align your body in the direction of your swing. Where your hips point, your knees, feet, and shoulders should also point.

R - Right hand, will you take a strong grip or neutral grip?  While R is for right hand, also pay attention to your left hand. How many knuckles do you see on your left hand? The more knuckles you see the more AGGRESSIVE the grip is, and will likely cause you to draw and hook the ball.

T - Tempo, You need to establish a consistent tempo and sequence. Think Power and Grace. For me, if I try to speed up early in the transition from the backswing  to the downswing, I tend to impact the ball at a point when my hips have not opened up yet, which causes me to hook the ball.

Of the four letters, I think R has the highest correlation to helping you fulfill your intended shot; because you have to turn your hands over naturally, and how you set them up to begin with will determine how much or how less you can turn them over.

Hope this helps you!

[greatgolfahead2]

On 2/1/2018 at 9:23 PM, klineka said:

The thing I'm the most proud of right now is how much progress I've made with my swing and overall game in the 5 months since August when I did my first Sand Trap outing. 

I know Erik can attest to just how all over the place I was with the ball striking and also my body throughout the swing. I think I had 2 pars the entire round that day.

Bought my copy of LSW from Erik that day, signed up for Evolvr that same week, started filming my swing and made an effort to change the picture and fix one priority piece at a time. 

Fast forward through dozens of range sessions, hundreds of dry swings at home and within a few months I was able to break 80 a few times on my good days and have a completely renewed confidence in my game. 

Pretty excited to see what happens with my game this year!

 

Well said! When I look back to see how far I've come since I started playing 10 years, it's a blessing to still be playing and improving. Just in the last year alone, I've been able to consistently break 100 without breaking a sweat, thanks in part to coaching, practice, repetition of setups, routines, and reflection. I invested in new irons last year, the biggest purchase I've made in golf. All in all, lots of blessings and milestones in my game. I have recently come to see and feel what causes me to miss the shot or have a bad hole. This is another milestone, as I'm able to learn from it and finish the round strong. 

[Lugowskins]

Put a ton of wedge work in over the winter and worked on the driver just trying to make decent contact each time and keep it on the planet. So far I've got my GIR from 32.6% in 2020 up to 56.7% through 5 rounds in 2021. Driver has been much more consistent but still far from good. Making a lot more birdies and easy pars so things are looking up. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Lugowskins

[NCGolfer]

My game is in a good spot now.  Last five posted rounds are a combined -3...and this was after posting my highest score in 4 years a few weeks back.  A lot of the speed work I've done has helped but my timing/tempo was off.  I feel like that's dialed in and now just need to keep it there.  Two weeks out from the club championship!

[onthehunt526]

I was 4 over through six holes last Friday... and still shot a 1 under par 70... 5 birdies in the last 12 holes. Golf.

[ChetlovesMer]

7 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

I was 4 over through six holes last Friday... and still shot a 1 under par 70... 5 birdies in the last 12 holes. Golf.

Wow! That's impressive. 

[phan52]

I was struggling with my short game early this season because our short game range opened kind of late. I know what I want to do with my chipping and pitching but I need the repetition of practice to hone in the muscle memory. Since the short game range opened my short game is very good but now I am missing the putts. I missed five easy putts in my last round after exceptional chips and pitches. It cost me money.

it never ends. Off to the putting green.

[uitar9]

My wife broke her arm in three places in august. I slipped on the ice in November and landed on my right shoulder, injuring all that rotator cuff stuff.

We are both still doing our exercises and both are back golfing three times a week.

Just thankful that at 68/69 we are still swinging and still walking.

[The Flush]

On April 6th I shot my first eagle.  3 holes later I hurt my knee and I didn't play again for 2 full months until yesterday.

I am 99% sure I have a torn meniscus although I have not been to the doctor for it.  It probably started in early March, but the pain was not constant and I could still go out and walk 9. In early April I made some swing changes that really seemed to help my ball striking and I was hitting it further than ever. After my tee shot on the 8th hole on April 6th I felt significant pain.  I managed to finish my round, but that evening and every day following for a month or so the pain was pretty bad.  There was no way I could play, although I did do a lot work around the house completing my screened in porch.

In mid May I was able to start hitting some balls into a net, but I could not find the swing I had during my last round.  I was hitting it even shorter (based on Mevo) than before my April swing changes and just couldn't repeat what I had done before.  2 days ago I felt like I had finally got back to a similar swing and was getting good distance based on Mevo readings. Yesterday was my first round in 2 months and for the most part I really struck the ball well.  I hit it too far at least twice because I am getting about 15 yards more carry for most clubs. I shot true bogey golf with straight bogeys on all 9 holes, but even that was a better score than the round with the eagle because of 2 "others" after I hurt my knee.

I still have a little too much draw on my irons that I need to straighten out or at least trust enough to aim further right. I was aiming at the right edge of the green and ending up pin high just off the left edge (other than the 2 that I overshot). At least I now feel optimistic that I can make some improvement in my scoring this year.

[darthweasel]

been playing really well all year. By which I mean my handicap has skyrocketed from 12.8 to 15.3.  And it has done so as I have been using strokes gained to focus on where I need to practice most, using the 5-S principles in practicing...spent more time on the chipping green and short wedge area than ever before in my life, when my putting took step back went back to basics and did the 3' clock drill to get my stroke back...and continue to watch my game melt down.

 

So last night in league, still somewhat saddened by the 117 yard wedge i chunked 50 yards leading to an easy birdie/par chance becoming a hole losing bogey, hole #2 is a driveable steep uphill par 4. Guys behind us saw my drive and one yells "get on the green"...seconds before it hits an overhanging branch and rebounds 60 yards back down the hill.  So now John and I have an uphill 60 yard pitch to a blind, 2-tier green. John skulls his chip but it will still be front edge of green. Using the drills I have spent hours on, I hit mine and am pretty happy...it is on a direct line at the flag. Only question will be if I got speed right to keep it on right tier.

 

Meanwhile our opponents had missed right and were coming up the sidehill to short-sided green.

 

As John and I huff and puff our way to the crest of  the hill, I only see two balls, his and one pin high left of the green. I am a bit sad thinking "how did I roll over there?"

 

I didn't...it was our opponents ball. So I start trotting toward the upper tier to see if I rolled off the back, one opponent says "check the cup"...yep, blind eagle. followed it with natural par and two holes later a natural birdie...by end of the 9, John and I tied our personal best for any 2-man scramble 9 with an even par 36.

 

Still lost when we both missed a 7' par putt to tie the match on 9...but so fun. And hey, I have had enough eagles I stopped counting but still fun and a memorable moment. 

[onthehunt526]

My putting has been kind of shit lately.

Thursday: I hit 14 greens in regulation and shot 73. I made 1 birdie all day..

Today: I hit 13 greens and shot a bogey-free 68 with 1 eagle and 1 birdie. In case, you haven’t caught on my home course is a par-71.

[Esox]

My kid and I subbed in a 9 hole league last week. My driving game was back to hooking, kept me in trouble on the left until I started playing the 3 wood and forcing a fade. Iron play was pretty darn good but it doesn't help much when your second shot is usually a punch back to the fairway. 1 birdie, 2 pars and the rest unmentionables with more than a couple lost ball penalties. UGH.

Kid won closest to the pin, otherwise scored a few strokes higher than his average but he has never seen this course before, and it is somewhat hilly with a few blind tee and approach shots.

Edited June 13, 2021 by Esox

[Shindig]

The round I played yesterday was the first time when both my SG:D and SG:A were better than the 10 handicap level.  That's pretty good, especially since I know what I need to work on in terms of long game (and that has been improving a bit, too). 

[Sandy Lie]

I thought about posting this in the “What did you shoot today” folder but thought this story belonged here.

I play on one of our InerClub Teams, it’s a Carolina Golf Association competition for Regular players and for Seniors 55 and older.  Their are multiple PODS of teams all over NC.

Our record was 1-2 going into yesterday’s round, we were playing the 4-0 first place team on Course #5 (White Tees, just under 6200yds).  Our Captain decide he would play our better players as we are desperate for a win. We haven’t lost to this Club since 2018.

It’s team match play, 4 matches. Total strokes for our team totaled 5, their team totaled 48 strokes. Two of our matches had zero strokes.  The 1st match started at 10am and the rain started as well. Luckily it only lasted for just over an hour so that was good.

For those of you that have experience playing Match Play you must know to never give up, always play it one hole at a time. I won’t go hole by hole but a quick summary follows, the first match had our lower HDCPs playing against mid-cappers giving them 11 strokes. A see-saw battle with our 1st team winning 1UP with a birdie on 16.

My match was next, we had no strokes, they had 14.  We quickly fell behind, I was 7 over through 7 holes (putting) my partner was 4 over. They stroked on 4 of the first 7 holes and we were down 3.  I’d like to have the Rocky theme start right now because one of the other players started fist pumping pars!  Now I’m pi$$ed!  They get 3 more strokes on the back nine, 3 of the first 4 holes. My anger quickly turned my game around, from the 8th hole on I shot 1 under, birdied both par 5s on the back, 1 sand save to 5 inches, all the while my partner went into the tank with double bogeys and poor putts.  We didn’t win our match, but we fought back to tie it on the 17th hole (my par putt from 6 ft). Everyone had 4s on the 18th.

We won the 3rd match and tied the 4th to win the overall match, to continue our streak.  I would say what everyone already knows that you should never give up on your round and to sound like a cliche take it one stroke at a time!

Of course after the Matches we all had lunch and 🍺 on the veranda and talked about the matches. Our 2nd match against them is next Tuesday at their course.  If we win we are in the playoffs, but let’s not be to far ahead of ourselves just yet.

[saevel25]

Had a really good golf practice session on Saturday where a lot of the stuff I wanted to do wasn't a struggle to do. 

Had a really good short game practice session today were I was able to fly the ball to spots I want with trajectory I want. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

Had a really good golf practice session on Saturday where a lot of the stuff I wanted to do wasn't a struggle to do. 

I think two three things helped:

• length of time (allowed you to pace yourself but also get in a LOT of work)
• indoors off mats
• "gym buddy" approach