Saks

I would call 4 or 5 rounds a few. Mangine77, you say a few and then a couple... I did it in a few, others did it in a couple (or never shot over 100 ever). Dont split hairs. It is possible. In saying that, I fully believe that you got those PM's from people who don't think it can be done either. Natural ball hitting ability is an amazing thing. I have played for my region in cricket before I played golf. Hitting balls is natural for me. I bet you could take a reasonable baseball or hockey player and they could break 100 first few times as well. Not by itself it won't. But after the hard work I have put into mine, the slice has gone and it is now a swing that can break 80 (not regularly yet), and I will shoot par or lower one day (my goal!) at my course. This applies to getting your swing to a point where you can break 100. It won't happen punching out of trees etc. And you still can't break 100? I am envious of the time you have to play golf but that must be frustrating... I see it every weekend. Guys hacking around doing the same thing they have always done and....getting the same (bad) result. The won't take advice from better players, and won't really get any better. A mate that started when I started 1 year ago, his best is 98. If he took advice from me and more so from a guy we play with who is a 6, he could break 90 by christmas (I believe...he has the shots for it). He wont listen and instead, he wont break 90 by christmas. He will be lucky to have more than a couple more sub 100's. You can't help some people.

Oh really? I played golf 4 times when I was a kid. Now, over 15 years later I started playing golf properly. 112, 108, 103, 103, 98. (I still have all the cards from before I joined a club and the New Zealand Golf Organisation keeps it all for you) I have been playing every week for a year now and shot 78 a couple of weeks ago. Dont accuse me of lying about my game. Just accept the fact that some people have more talent than you. Sure, there are dreamers that would lie about what they shot, took drops where the ball went out of bounds or even played off the Ladies tee. I didn't, as I'm sure most of the "good" players on here didn't either. A quote from Ben (the pga apprentice guy) "I've never shoot in the 100s." He has never shot over a 100. And he's not even on the top? tour (don't take this the wrong way Ben...you sound like an awesome player and I hope you can go all the way when your ankle is healed!) Guys like Iacas probably broke 100 very early as well. What you need to realise, mangine77 is that some people just have a natural talent for hitting a ball with an implement. It sounds like you are not one of them. Further to Mr Sandman's points about playing easier/shorter courses, yep good idea. It takes the mental side out of breaking 90/80/70 etc. When I was a 21 h/cap I had 86 on a par 68 course. A couple of weeks later I had 86 on my regular par 72 course. I wasn't under pressure over the last few holes as I had already broken 90! So was able to just keep hitting the ball. Had 3 pars and a bogey for the last four from memory... Dont think that would have been the case if the pressure of breaking 90 was hanging over the round as well... Meenman, if you don't change anything, nothing will change. Good luck getting anywhere with golf if you won't listen to people that are good at it...

Does swinging with your arms really do this? My irons were really inconsistent in the weekend. Someone happened to take a picture of my swing and it was all arms. It wasn't just cuts and slices though...Try fat, hooks and pushes and a shank as well! Are these all other symptoms of lots of arm movement and not enough upper body turn? P.S. Sorry to jump in on your thread....

Funny this should come up. I had a chipping lesson from my pro today. I always use my 56 degree around the greens. Lots of height and try to get the ball to check and spin. It leads to some bad shots when you get the distance wrong... I have always done it because every now and then I would play a good one and have it check and stop right close to the pin. He showed me how to chip with PW, 9, 7, and 5 irons. I couldnt believe that I was chipping with a 5 iron! His point is that it is easier to hit a target area 10-15 feet in front of you and let the loft of the club determine how much roll you get. Instead of aiming for a target a couple of metres back from the pin. Much more room for error. Of course there are times when you need this shot, need to fly water, bunkers etc. Also when you have no green to work with. The test. 10 feet off the green, with some rough to deal with so no putter. Hole was 20 metres onto the green. I hit 10 balls with my 56 and 2 or 3 would have been gimme putts, I thinned one way past and off the other side, left 2 desperately short and well into 2 if not 3 putt country. The rest, were scattered around, may have made a few of the putts but you wouldnt be happy about being that far away. Then with a 7 iron... 2 lipped out. another 3 were gimmes and the rest were within 10 feet. I was amazed. Having never chipped like this before, even when I felt like I hadn't hit it cleanly, instead of pulling up short, the ball would keep rolling and end up better than if I had hit my 56 that badly. With a bit of practice on distance control with the different lofted clubs, this will massively improve my game. He did say though to not forget about the higher spinning shot, but that it has a time and a place.

Thats what I usually hit. Just seeing a few TM Burner 3 woods available with the steel shafts fitted got me interested! I like the dynamic gold in my irons but not sure how they would feel with a fairway wood end on the end!

So do the makers supply them with a steel shaft to keep costs down or something? They seem to be cheaper than with graphite...

I am seeing quite a few Fairway woods with steel shafts available...Dynamic gold etc. What are the pros/cons of a steel shaft in a fairway over a graphite?

No way! The start is very important for me. Our second hole is the hardest on the course, I play it so much better coming of a birdie or an outrageous up and down...gives me heaps of confidence that things are going well! I like to get excited and play much better when the putts drop etc

n3xt, if you are a 26.8 and sandwedge74 is a 13.8, he would only be giving you 13 shots on most courses. Not close to 30.

I dont really have any help for you but a point of note. My buddy who used to be a scratch golfer and more recently sits at about a 3, was playing fine untill he lost 15 kilos (about 35ish pounds). Now his game has gone to custard. makes me think of a comment in a golf book I read "the golf swing and the human body are so intricate that even one slightly tight muscle can be the difference between playing well one day and not the next. I'm starting to think that you become so used to doing well with what you have, a major change like losing/gaining 40 pounds is going to have a huge effect. As much and probably more than a major swing change which as we know, takes a while to settle and show results. Keep plugging away, he is starting to get back to his best, has had a couple of good 9 holes sets and I'm sure he isn't far from going low like he used to. Has taken several months though. Didnt Colin Montgomerie have something similar happen to him? Just my $0.02

Its funny how that works! Only 5 weeks ago I would have been happy with low 80's but now...

Thanks! Looking at what happened today, my next goal is, apart from consistently being under 80, to shoot par or better. Not sure how long to give myself for this though! its taken one year of playing to go under 80 so... This will make those in the USA cringe but today (Saturday) me and two mates just turned up at our home club at about 9:30am walked straight onto the first tee and hit. There were only about 5 other groups we saw on the course all day... and its dead calm and sunny...just perfect for golf. The course I play is one of NZ's best kept secrets. So yeah, cant do much about a room but if you come through Wellington would be keen to show you a course or two around here. You only need a tee time on a Sunday at most courses round here. The joys of this country! When are you thinking of coming? Actually x-forged, it was a tip you gave me that got my swing back on track! So thanks!

Shot 78 today (par72)...Awesome feeling! Hit 7 fairways and 8 greens, so plenty of room to go lower as well! Made some crucial putts today which made a big difference. Still had a triple and a doublebogey as well! The heart started racing coming home when 14,15,and 16 were all bogeys and I could feel it slipping away from me but had a great up and down on 17 for par and a solid par finish on the last. Great to have it all come together after being down and out about 3 months ago with my swing in complete disarray! Was actually a tip from this forum that got it back on track!

Thanks Pom. Yea I really like matchplay. Its very different to stroke play. Such a tactical game! It worked well against the higher hcappers, we were able to hold them off when the had a stroke on us, and punish them when they didnt! The other thing that worked well for us was that I played well on the front nine, and my partner played well on the back! Perfect. Looking forward to the second round now...

Yep...thats exactly how it was played! Thanks for the response. While trolling through rules last night I found another interesting one for fourball matches: "Players form the same team dont have to play in order" This was really helpful for us today. I could play safe and lay up, even out of turn which allowed him to go for it on a couple of driveable par 4's, knowing I could make a safe par(makes it sound so easy!). Would also be good if you weren't going to win the hole but had a similar but closer putt than your partner, you could go first and help show the break. I like it. By the way we won. 4 and 2.

[QUOTE=Leonardite;138419]This may be wrong, but the way I look at handicapped 4 ball matches is like this. You are a 14.. take the 14 hardest holes and give yourself a stroke Your partner is a 5.. he takes a stroke on 5 holes 21 & 17 you do the same with the 21 getting 2 strokes on handicap holes 1,2,&3. So for example on the 2nd hardest hole (hypothetically a par 5) You get a 6 (you get a stroke on the hole so you net a 5) - Par Your partner gets a 4 (he gets a stroke on the hole so he nets a 3) - Eagle 17 gets a 6 (He gets a stroke, he nets 5) - Par 21 Gets a 5 (He gets two strokes he also nets a 3) - Eagle Take the lowest score from both teams and compare them, disregard the higher scores. QUOTE] So if you use my method I would have the worst score as I would have to give a shot to the 17 hcap... In singles match play with handicap do you get to use your shots? Ie I would get a shot in the above scenario? Or do you work out how many shots you have to give away....and the higher hcap gets the benefit from stroke hole one and up for as many shots as they get? I had a singles match(with handicap) last weekend. He was a 15 me 14. I gave him one shot on the hardest hole. Going by the method you described, I would give him a shot on stroke hole 15. I guess the easier way to ask the question is doea the higher handicap player get their shots on the hardest hole/s or the easiest (for their index) hole/s. I think this makes sense!

I am playing in a club competition tomorrow. It is 4 ball matchplay with handicap. Not to sure how it will be played. Im a 14 handicap, my partner a 5 and we are playing a pair with a 21 and a 17 handicap. How does it work? Do you average the caps as a pair? (I dont think this sounds right) My understanding is that being that it is with handicap, I will give the 21 hcap 7 shots (one on each of the 7 hardest holes) and the 17hcap (who beat me in the club champs last year and is a sandbagger!!...) 3 shots. My partner gives away 16 and 12. So... if my partner or I beat both opponents on a hole(taking into account shots given) we get the hole? Just the same as a normal 4 ball but with shots given to higher handicappers? Have I got this right?

For a left hander, a draw goes from left to right and a fade goes from right to left. They are the opposite of right handers. The club technology is the same in that the weight is closer to the heel (shaft).

Yeah had a look there last night. Seems to be a million different ways of grading them though! The ones I buy in NZ usually have one or two scuffs on them but play fine but they cost at least $2 a ball. The pricing of the so called aaa+ aaa mixes is about right but not sure how good they will be. I'd hate to end up with 108 practice balls! It says balls have a scuffs or blemishes but no cuts. What ball doesnt after a few holes! Anyone played this sort of quality ball? That would be good but the shipping to NZ will kill that idea! I would end up paying more for shipping than the balls! I kinda wish I had never hit a Pro V, now the old balls I used to play feel awful of the club.... So yeah, any experiences with the ebay used balls?

Where is the best place to buy balls online? Sooo many options! Looking to buy a reasonable quantity as buying balls in New Zealand is just painfull! Cheers

Have had a couple of my iron heads work loose... Just wanted to get an idea of a reasonable price for a shop to re glue them. Cheers

Thanks for all the ideas. Played today with my new backswing and trying not to really think abut too much. Stopping the backswing when my body stops seems to have made a big difference, hit the ball a lot cleaner, more like what I used to do. Hit driver the best I have hit it for ages as well. Two problems still! 1st is if I swing with out thinking about mechanics and only the result, I dont seem to release the club as well which makes me hit a fade/slice if I'm not careful...any tips for this now!? Also, I am about a club shorter now, hitting 7 iron from 137 (metres) to the front of the green where it used to be 8! Not too concerned about this if it is consistent!! I would rather hit 7 from the marker than a thin 8 over the back!

Thats good. There is no way my arm can go fully straight. I'm guessing the idea is to keep it at the same level of bend that it is at address? Which will happen if I concentrate on turning back in one movement?

That makes sense. My left arm was bending and I was tucking my right elbow into my body in an attempt to promote an inside outside path. This was all in an attempt to strike it better! It worked on the range when the instructor was standing there but not now! I definately think I have been forgeting to turn my body and just trying to reach with my arms, I have lost quite a bit of distance as well swinging like this. That last point you make Leek, about just playing golf and where I want the shot to go is awesome. The more I think about my swing the worse I play. Need to go back to basics here! I was playing much better when I was just hitting the ball where I wanted to and not filling my head with crazy stuff and then the self doubt when you hit a couple of awful ones! I am playing tomorrow so will try not thinking about my swing and see what happens!

Leek, Jumping in here but... The last lesson I had we looked at getting my arms to go back further in the turn and getting my elbows level. Since then I have been focussing on getting that arm back and straight and have been hitting worse than ever before! I played tonight and tried to think less about my arms and more about making a good turn, seemed to hit it better. When I think about the straight arm I have been hitting a lot of thin shots. What does this all mean?