jaragon126

Ya mdl if I just swing my driver nice & easy not worrying about distance, it usually ends up much better than if I was trying to kill it. It's weird that it's so difficult to get yourself to swing the driver easy, rather than trying to cut the dogleg corner, or get up on top of the hill in the middle of the fairway, or clear the pond from the tee box. I tried getting yardages from my lessons at GolfTec recently, because I felt like my distances were off ... but that was a complete nightmare. Now it's all pretty much a guess for me. I know my 7i goes about 145 so I just count about 10 yards up & down for each club as a guess. Would be nice to really get distances dialed in, but I don't know of any driving ranges here that use real golf balls rather than those janky range balls that don't fly true. Pretty hard to sneak out on an empty course now too cause the weather is good and the courses are full. My stats: GIR = 38% Fairways = 44% Putts per hole = 2.03 If I could get my GIR to 60% saevel25, that would be a HUGE improvement. I see that on the PGA tour, the leaders are at like just over 75% for GIR & Fairways. I'm WAY OFF!

Played 9 holes after work last night, first round of the season. Par on the first hole, then went double bogey, double bogey. Ended up finishing the rest of the round with 2 more bogeys, so not COMPLETELY horrible since I know my short game still needs work. I decided I'm just going to keep track of Fairways, GIR, and putts. No more chip/pitch/bunkers & saves ... too many numbers to think about. I think my alignment is off, I hit lots of balls pretty good with nice soft fades & draws. But everything seemed to land to the right ... maybe I'm lined up incorrectly.

Great post, I sometimes think my obsessive habit of keeping too many stats might be what kills me, but if I don't keep the stats then how will I know what parts of my game need work? Should I continue to keep stats so I can analyze what parts need work (fairways, greens in regulation, putts, chip/pitch/bunkers & saves), or just play golf & do nothing but record my scores on each hole? I used to play alot better than I have been in the last few years, but I don't know if that's because of the obsessive stat tracking, the new irons, or because I stopped taking lessons from my favorite instructor.

WUTiger, the course doesn't have any existing yardage notebooks, I've already asked that That would save me alot of time if they already had it all done for me.

Freddie Couples ... sooo smooth ... like buttah!

Thanks Raider, I didn't even think about using golf balls on the greens. Bunny, the course does have a website image: http://www.glenmoorcc.org/Images/Lib...lenmoormap.jpg They don't have larger images of each hole though.

Hi all, I am on my way to becoming a part time caddie at a course near me, and I have some questions about what notes to take on the course before I start. So far I've passed the written exam, and have the on-course test left to complete. I haven't ever caddied before, but I am anxious to learn. I overheard one of the other caddie trainees talking about how he went out to walk the course recently to take some notes on the course before going out on loops. We aren't allowed to play the course (which we can only do on Mondays) until we have a couple of caddie rounds completed ... so playing the course isn't an option for me yet. I was thinking it would be beneficial for me to go walk the course before I start as well, but I'm not sure what things to take notes on in the beginning. I don't have hours & hours to take my laser rangefinder & make a complete yardage book for every hole on the course at this time. Maybe I can slowly start building a yardage book as I'm playing the course, marking all hazards & trees & such over time. But for now is it better to just get a few things written down that will be beneficial when I start caddieing? Any experienced caddies or people that have played with caddies: any tips on what things to take notes on in the beginning? Should I take my rangefinder & get yardages for a few obvious things (like the corners of the doglegs, any fairway bunkers?). Or is just getting out on the course & seeing the holes in person good enough? What are your thoughts?

Keep rubbing it in So Cal people! :) ... here in CO we just had a snowstorm a couple of days ago that brought us almost a foot of snow ... but it's supposed to be 50 degrees today.

No mulligans. If I am playing by myself and the course is wide open, I may drop another ball & hit a couple extra shots into a green or something. But the first ball is always counted for handicap purposes.

I used to play TourEdge Comp 950 irons a few years ago. They were the 2nd set of irons I ever had, my dad bought them for me. I LOVED those irons, got down to my lowest ever handicap (I was a 6) with them. Played with them for probably 6-7 years and wore them smooth, so I decided to get Callaway x18 and haven't been much lower than a 10 handicap since. I searched google for those irons, and it appears there are a few different Comp 950 out there, the ones I had were black on the other side of the club face ... I couldn't find any pictures of them. The other Comp 950 models that I saw pictures of looked pretty awful.

I swing pretty smooth ... recently while at my GolfTech lessons I found that my average swing speed is around 75mph. I feel if I try to kill the ball then I get myself into trouble. I'm not the longest hitter out there, but as Dub mentioned if I can keep my smooth (Freddy Couples - like) tempo in check without letting my playing partner's tempos creep into my head then I usually do pretty well! I would guess that if I had to put a percentage on how hard I feel I swing, I would say 75%-80% is a pretty good guess.

uttexas, That's exactly the word I was looking for ... my lessons seem "contradictory". One time he tells me to keep my left wrist flat & try to hold the club face more shut during the swing, and months later he tells me my left wrist is too flat & that I need to NOT try to hold the club face shut during the swing. So by "S&T;" I'm assuming you are talking about the "Stack & Tilt" method? I have heard of it, never looked into it though. Are you getting your S&T; instruction from GolfTec, or someone / somewhere else?

granitegolf, That's a pretty good point ... I guess I hadn't thought of that (the particular instructor is just not working for me ... not that GolfTec is bad). Ok so if I decide to take the rest of my lessons with someone else, do the lessons transfer to another location or do I have to just use another instructor at the same location? I would feel pretty crappy telling my guy "um I don't like you so I'm going to use someone else here at this location". I would continue to see him when I showed up for my lessons with the other guy and I would feel awkward. But, I also don't know how to tell him "um I don't like you so I'm going to a different location". The guy I have been going to is an "apprentice" level instructor (for what that's worth), but has been at GolfTec since 2007.

Ya Shindig, ya know out of the multiple pages of replies on the subject you are the first person to bring that up ... was hoping to get more feedback from other people that their GolfTec experience wasn't that great. But it seems like no one else has had as difficult of a time as me. Wondering if it's me and not GolfTec

Santa brought me a Bushnell Pro 1600 Tournament Edition laser rangefinder, and Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for xbox360 I must have been good this year!

Had another one of my lessons at GolfTec last night ... it's already snowing & too cold to play here in Colorado much now. I haven't actually played a round in 3 months, but I have gotten out to the range about 3-5 times in that 3 month span since the season ended. I have about 4 lessons left in my GolfTec lesson package, and they are expiring in a month so I'm just getting them over with. When I went in last night, I got to hit a bunch of balls to warm up in on of their practice bays. My instructor came in & recorded a few swings, pointed out some faults (identical to the stuff he's told me previously), and then had me make adjustments similar to the ones he told me in my initial evaluation with them. Short history: in my first evaluation with them, they made me try to hold the club face shut and keep my left wrist flat during my swing. Then, after I started severely hooking the ball left and agreed to buy a lesson package from them, they told me I was incorrectly holding the club face shut and keeping my left wrist flat. (I know, this is exactly the opposite of what they originally told me.) Then last night, they again told me I needed to hold the club face shut & try keeping my left wrist flat. It's impossible to tell how the ball is flying since you are hitting into a net. I mean, hitting into a net is better than nothing in the winter months since I can't be outside ... but I have to trust the instructor when he does some mental calculation in his head comparing my swing path position in degrees and my open/shut clubface position degrees to tell me if I just hit a draw/fade/hook/slice. You just can't tell how you are hitting the ball when you hit the net. Another annoying thing is that as I was practicing I was hitting my normal smooth tempo shots, and the video feedback told me my swing speed was averaging around 75mph. So I knew I was nice & smooth. In the lesson though, the instructor told me that was too slow & that he wanted me to try to get up over 80mph ... closer to 85mph. So in doing that, everything is out of whack. My contact is horrible, my body position is awful, today my back hurts, my legs are sore ... I can't play golf every day if I'm going to be trying to kill the ball all the time ... much less be consistent in my ball striking. Do you think that's good advice from the instructor? To be clear, he didn't tell me to try to kill the ball or swing as hard as I could. He told me to try to get my swing speed up to 80-85mph from averaging a nice 75mph, but to me that DOES feel like I'm having to kill the ball ... lurching at the ground during contact, getting into bad positions, lunging forward, trying to release my hands so fast that my wrists also hurt. Seriously thinking of going back to my regular Pro after these GolfTec lessons are done. My regular Pro doesn't have all the fancy video & computerized equipment ... but he is able to make me FEEL the positions better and actually see the ball flight since we actually hit balls on the range. He doesn't get technical like "your hands needs to be ahead of the ball when you make contact" or "your butt is lunging at the ball when you make contact" ... but for some reason my handicap was half what it is now when I went to him. And again, he used to give me an hour lesson for less than the price of a half hour lesson. Should I stick with GolfTec even though I'm getting uncomfortable with them and not satisfied with their results?

We have a heated driving range here in town, although it's not really close to where I live. If the weather is decent, I'll try to go hit balls at the courses closer to me (although I have to hit off mats) :( We live in an apartment, so having a net to hit into in the garage isn't in the cards for me ... I wonder if they make nets that fit in apartments some how. I have been hitting some putts on the carpet once a week or so, but it's not much fun either. I usually don't touch my clubs at all in the winter months, but it sucks "starting over" each spring.

Just got a set of new irons a couple of years ago (Callaway X18). Before that, I had a set of Tour Edge Comp 950 that my dad bought me when I first picked up the game. I must have had those Tour Edge irons for maybe 5-6 years? I've had my Taylor Made driver for probably as long as the old irons ... 5-6 years, I love it & have no desire to change. I've also had my Taylor Made 3 wood for several years that I might consider replacing at some point (maybe next year). I have switched out Wedges every couple of years because I tend to wear them out much quicker. Just got a Vokey 60*, and a Cleveland 50* & 56* last year to replace some old Taylor Made wedges that were worn smooth. To answer your question about buying an entire set rather than one at a time ... I would much rather buy the whole set at once (I'm assuming we're talking about irons here) than to try to get them one by one. Obviously I will wear out my shorter irons faster than the longer irons, but if I had to keep track of which irons I had recently replaced and which irons were next up to be replaced, I would go crazy. When my current set gets worn smooth (which again, will probably happen with my shorter irons much quicker than the long irons), I'll buy another set. I do get all my clubs regripped once or twice each year, and I also wash them with soapy water in the sink from time to time ... I practice alot As far as the lob or gap wedge, for ME I hit my PW about 110yds and my sand wedge (56*) goes probably 70yds with a full swing. So I have some big gaps to fill between 110yds & 70yds. That's why I got a 50* which goes about 90yds. I use the 60* for very short sided green or bunker shots ... so it's probably not a necessity but definitely something fun to play with I too will use a 9i or PW or 8i for some chip shots where I need a "bump & run" situation. So there's definitely not a RULE for what clubs you need or how you need to play a shot. It probably comes down to preference.

Welcome Golf_Gal, Jealous that you are in Southern Cal ... Chilly Colorado here ... haven't gotten to play for about a month and a half now, and haven't even been to the driving range for about a week or two now that the weather is cold Wife & I went to San Diego for vacation last year & it was beautiful! Would much rather be out golfing than trying to keep warm!

I don't spend a ton of time with gloves ... I usually just go to Golfsmith and find a glove that fits that has a thick piece of padding/leather on the palm of the hand and perhaps on the thumb since that's where most of the wear & tear happens for me. I find the cheapest one (usually around $10) that has the extra leather on the thumb & palm, and I'm done! I usually go through a few gloves per season so I know this purchase isn't going to be my last ... so I don't buy super expensive ones and I don't waste alot of time trying to find the "perfect" glove I'm right handed and I wear a glove on my left hand. But Golf_Gal, I would say if you get blisters on a specific hand then wear a glove or a band aid or some sports tape to help out.

Question for you zrlaegel, How old are you? How much money do you usually make by caddying? Is that your full time job? Did you go somewhere to learn how to caddy? Do you work at a private ritzy club?

Glad to see a posting about Tattoos! I have a few tattoos, no pictures with me right now since I'm at work. A couple are band related - one is a baseball size Alice in Chains star, one is a smaller Biohazard star. Then I have a larger one on my shoulder that was done at 2 times. First is a black tribal star (ya I know, the same tribal stuff that everyone seems to have now), and I later went back to get something added to it because I didn't like it. I think I went to a completely different tattooist to get the additional work on the shoulder, and he added some all black tribal looking lightning bolts on the bottom & top of the star ... but I don't really dig it. Was thinking about getting another tattoo to cover that up, but it's pretty big (probably about 7 inches from top to botton and 5 inches wide) so I don't know what anyone could do to cover that up. I've been wanting to get more work done lately ... would like to start getting some bigger pieces. I think eventually I'd like to be covered from shoulder to shoulder, perhaps an entire back piece, big leg pieces, etc ... rather than a bunch of random small stuff. My question is, it's better to plan out the big pieces and have the design ready ... rather than to just get a bunch of smaller stuff & somehow try to tie it all together, right? I look through pictures of people with big tattoos, and from afar it looks like it was all one big design ... but when you get closer there are alot of smaller ones somehow tied together. My problem is, if I wait to find the perfect BIG design, I might not ever get anything done because I'm very indecisive and things have to be perfect before I'll commit. But if I just get random stuff and try to put it all together, I don't want to look like a jigsaw puzzle. Similarly, I don't think I can (or want to) commit to one design for my entire body (legs, shoulders, back, etc). Would getting a bunch of different bigger designs still look junky even though they were large designs? Donnie_Brasco, the tattoo on your left arm looks cool ... all the same design, not a bunch of smaller random stuff. If you were to put more tattoos on your left shoulder, or your left side, or your back ... would they be the same design style as the one on your arm? Or do you go with something completely different & hope it doesn't all clash? Thoughts?

As other people have said, don't worry about distances at the range. I too have hit my 7 iron the same distance as my 4 iron. It seems like the shorter distance clubs aren't affected as much as the longer distance clubs. All the driving ranges I've been to here in town use "range balls" which are different than real balls. If you look at them close, you can see that the dimple patters are weird. Some balls have very very shallow dimples, some balls have dimples with alot of space in between each one, etc. From what I've read, balls like this do not fly very far. Probably because the courses don't want to have to build 300 yard driving ranges to accomodate everyone hitting balls. I've even been to some ranges that don't allow you to hit your driver. Also, you can't be 100% certain that the yardage markers on the range (if there even ARE any) are accurate. Where are the yardages measured from? When I go to the range, I pick a target and aim for it, practicing my tempo/body positions/ball flight. If I need to get yardages, I go to the course late in the evening when no one is there, and pick a hole or 2 to hit several balls from different locations (usually the 200/150/100yard markers).

As I mentioned in some of my other posts: When I first started playing, I got into lessons by one of the golf pros at a course I played at. I had a few lessons with him each year ... and he was awesome! He didn't try to completely change things (I suppose I had a reasonably decent swing), but just gave me simple tweaks to help me out. I stayed with him for probably 4-5 years, and got down to around a 6 handicap. I would go to him in the spring to work out the cobwebs from me not playing all winter, and also go to him during the season if I had picked up a bad habit somewhere. I kept asking him how to get lower than a 6 handicap, and basically he told me that he couldn't really help out much more ... and that I would need to go somewhere that they could give me more detailed instruction. Perhaps somewhere that they could video tape me or something like that. He recommended the very expensive Mike McGetrick academy here in Colorado. Spent the next couple of years struggling, took a lesson by another pro which was horrible. Finally went to GolfTec here in town to get a free analysis. Hadn't ever been there before, but it was free so I decided to go. They made big changes in my swing, and I spent 2 months trying to dial those changes in. At first, the changes seemed to work out reasonably ok (I could hit a big draw rather than a weak slice most of the time), but more & more I would start hooking the ball. So I decided against my better judgement to go back to GolfTec, and the same guy that made all the changes to me basically reversed everything he originally told me. I was truly confused, and to make matters worse ... I got roped into buying a series of 10 lessons from them for ALOT of money I guess I am playing a LITTLE better golf now than before the lessons, but I'm still not happy. I've actually gone back through the notes from my old guy & tried fixing things myself ... keeping my tempo slow & trying not to hit hero shots. I want to go back to my old guy ... but I don't want to feel like he doesn't want to teach me.

My 2nd set of irons I ever had, my dad bought me some Tour Edge Comp 950. I LOVED them ... played with them for probably over 5 years. Played them so much that I pretty much wore them down until they were smooth. Never got fit for them, never had the loft or lie checked on them ... played the best golf in my life! (I think I had those clubs when I was down to a 6 handicap) Eventually I decided to get some new irons, and went through the fitting process at Golfsmith ... ended up with some Callaway X-18. I like the irons, but for some reason (either through bad golf or bad lessons), I've never been close to a 6 handicap again