pipergsm

My upper body is indeed bent over quite strongly. Don't know if its really parallel to the ground though.

Another round of 9 holes today, finished in 45, not bad for me. Had quite some bad luck with the putting today: 5 very close misses and constantly hit the green way too far from the pin. I'm rather pleased with my drives, the're getting much more consistent. It's all in my foot positioning. If I don't mess up there, my drives are quite straight and decently long (up to 270 yards). I developed a trick to see and feel if my foot-positioning is ok or not, and I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. Sw-play (short approach) was bad today, but I figured out why: moving my shoulders too much during the back-swing. Needed at least 5 additional strokes because of that. Tomorrow I'll be playing the monthly club tournament, playing 18 holes for the first time. If I can stay calm (don't like fast playing and being rushed) and not forget the necessary details at set-up, I should be able to get a decent result.

Another 2 examples of strangely missed putts. I played 9 holes today, finishing in 45, not bad for me. Just a pity of those very close misses I had today (5) from which I'd like to hear your comments on what could be the cause. 1st was from 18 feet, straight line. I hit the ball quite well, it reaches the hole just left of the center line, and just in front of the hole it makes a strange bounce and jumps over! Any ideas? 2nd from 21 feet, straight line again. the ball goes in, hits the back of the hole and bounces out again, staying still on the edge of the hole! Are these misses purely a problem of ball speed, or is there something else going on? The other misses were just a matter of the ball kissing the edge of the hole, or stopping just in front of it (usually with some slope and break, and from 9 to 25 feet) Thanks for your reactions!

Back to the range practice. I usually hit 80 to 120 balls (3 trays) with my irons and driver on 1 practice session, usually working 9-iron, 7-iron and driver (sometimes Sw and Pw full swing) For every ball, I completely re-do my set-up. Living in a hot climate (Thailand), I've learned that I need to drink a lot and stop for a few minutes after each tray (40 balls). If I don't, I get tired, start to loose focus and mishit every other ball. After the range practice and a little break, I often practice chipping (20 yards, 50 to 100 balls), set-up for every ball. Again a little break and finish with some putting: 6 feet, 9 feet, 12 feet, 15 feet, overall about 60 to 100 balls. I'm not sure if this is a good way of practicing, but at the moment it seems to work for me. In my job, I have either a full day free or no time at all, which makes it easier to take your time for a decent practice session.

Sorry, English isn't my native language. Thanks for any corrections, it'll only make things better!

Played 9 holes yesterday and finished in 46, which is ok for me. Had a horrible first hole, par 4, 380 yards, 9 strokes! Started by missing my drive way left and the ball bounced back on a side tree, ending up 50 yards from the tee. Got 50 yards in front of the green in 3 (playing 7 iron), but then shanked my Sw in the approach, which ended up on a strong downhill lie at the Tee-box from another hole (30 yards right from the green). Got it up and down at the 2nd attempt but overshot the green, in the bunker. Finally got on the green in 7, at about 30 feet from the hole. Needless to say I didn't 1-put! Rest of the round was ok for me, hitting 1 birdie, 2 pars, 4 bogeys and 1 double. Hole 3 and 8 keep on harassing me though. Par 4, 350 and 268 yards, they both have a little water-stream in front of the green (100 yards and 20 yards in front), less than 20 yards wide. Every time I hit a good drive, my ball ends up in the water! They had me both today. Would have shot birdie and par if not. Par and bogey instead. Great drive on hole 3, par 3, 170 yards to the pin. Since it's too far for my 7-iron, I can't play the woods and don't have a decent 6 or 5-iron, I use my driver for that hole, so I need to carefully calculate my swing speed. Got the ball at the back off the green, 35 feet behind the pin (down slope and break) and 2-put. 1st put missed the hole by 1/2 foot! I'll play again this afternoon, preparing for the monthly club tournament tomorrow, playing 18 holes for the first time. If I can avoid that first hole result, I think it's gonna be fine.

I get the picture. Thanks a lot for your information guys!

Mmmm, maybe you're right and I'm just not seeing it. I do seem to have a little problem with my eyes. I feel it mostly when I have to estimate distances, sometimes I'm way of. Also when I drive the ball, whenever it passes 200, I have a serious problem just seeing the ball, both in the air as at touch down.

Thanks for the explanation. I also try to let the ball die into the hole, but it still happens! So many times I see other golfers doing it and the ball drops. But with me, even when the ball goes slow, if it doesn't hit the hole 100% pure, it lips out! I'ts come so far that I'm really surprised whenever a lip goes in! Could this be caused by the kind of spin my stroke generates?

What exactly do you mean with "arc of the putting stroke"? I (try to) swing the putter like a pendulum always, straight back, straight forward, on line to the target.

Thanks! But it often happens when I need to hit it right or left because of a break on the green. The ball will then make the break, hit the edge of the hole, but instead of going in, lips out. It even happened several times that the ball went straight over the hole without dropping, while the speed of the ball was, in my opinion, not extremely high (never see that happening with other golfers!) This is why I started putting at such a speed that the ball can't go much behind the hole.

Sorry, didn't read the last part, off center from the hole, got it!

Hitting the ball off center, or off center from the hole? Hitting firm means the ball goes too fast, yes? It often happens when the ball only just reaches the hole. If it wouldn't lip, it would probably stop less than 1 foot behind the hole.

When putting, I usually try to calculate the speed of the ball such that, if I miss the hole, it will not pass it by more than 2 feet, often resulting in the fact that my ball comes up just a little short. This is not my biggest problem however. Quite often, I see my ball going in (half) and coming out again (lipping out?). Is this caused by a specific flaw in the way I put, or is it rather bad luck and will it get better as I practice more? Thanks for the answers.

What I really wonder is how important customized equipment is for a beginner, how much difference in results it can make and at what level one should really start looking at all that technical stuff like customized lie of the irons, customized shaft length (+ or - 0.25 inch, does that really change that much?), and many more things I read about but can't even remember. Can anyone answer this question? Thanks!

I'm a beginner, so I don't know much about these things. However, I often hear people talk about the "feel of the ball at impact". I must say, the only time I feel anything at all at impact, is when I mishit the ball! When I hit it right, especially irons and wedges, I don't even feel the impact. Only with the driver I can feel something (not much). The only situation, I think, the kind of ball can have a real, noticeable influence, is at bunker shots, chipping and pitching, regarding the spin of the ball. What I really wonder however, is how important customized equipment is for a beginner, and at what level one should really start looking at all that technical stuff like customized lie of the irons, customized shaft length (+ or - 0.25 inch, does that really change that much?), and many more things I read about but can't even remember. Can anyone answer this question? Thanks!

Looks like you're doing very well indeed! Having a time-problem sucks, I know. But don't giver up: frequency of practice is more important than duration/session Try to design a specific practice program, focusing on your weakest points, in order to maximize the efficiency of your time-use. Good luck!

Congratulations with your progress over the last year. Reading your journey, I recognize many of the difficulties you encountered. Though there are quite some similarities, there are also some important differences with my own journey. I really started learning the game at the end of may 2012 (no lessons either). You seem to have had a lot of time to practice and play from the beginning. Due to my job (tour guide, living and working in Thailand), I was often unable to practice for several months, during which time I would loose everything I had build up before. Only since may 15th 2013, did I have the necessary time to practice on a daily base. Also, not having a complete set before, I only practiced 7-iron and putter until late 2012, when l bought a driver and also started practicing SW and PW. One of my biggest problems was transferring the positive results from the range to the course. My first scores on the local 9-hole course were in the 80's! (around 175 for 18 holes) On a 9 hole round, I would have 2 or 3 shots that could be called normal. The rest was all shanking and topping and duffing. Only in the last few months have I been able to bring it down to the low 50's, with an accelerated improvement in the last 4 weeks, 45 being my best (without cheating, as I did before). Since I have about 6 more weeks of holiday, I intend to practice and play a lot, hoping to bring down my average 9-hole score under 40 (80 for the full 18). Once I can do that, I want to go play other courses, since my local course is a very short one, just under 3000 yards for 9 holes. I wish you luck with your journey and hope you can become a scratch player soon!

Next update. Having stopped the "cheating", my scores have logically gone up a little, but not too much. Having some strained muscles and a wrist injury, I had a very bad round on Monday morning (56), but played a 47 in the afternoon. Having problems again with shanking and topping, working it out on the range now. Tuesday I played 50 and today (wednesday) 45. Really have to work on the 5-iron. Never really played it before, but starting to use it now and I'm topping it most of the time. I'll be playing the monthly club competition on Sunday. Hopefully I'll be able to stabilize my 5-iron by then and get a decent result. Since I'm not a member yet, I don't have an official hcp, so I'll play with a fictive 24 hcp.

JRASCH: Thailand is in South East Asia, it's where I live now, but I'm from Belgium. IACAS: I never spoke about "being a scratch player" , but about "being able to play par" on a course that's not long and not really difficult (say max. 6.500 yards). These are 2 completely different things. BPLEWIS24: My first round without cheating was indeed 56, but I also mentioned I had an unusually bad round. after this first round, others followed with 47, 50 and today 45 (no cheating anymore!) I'm always stressed when I play on the course, that's my problem! SPYDER: The reason I left out the fairway woods is 2-fold 1) I was talking about a rather short course (max. 6.500 yards), and if your driver and iron distances are any decent, you don't really need fairway woods on a short course. 2) personally, I'm unable to play them and in my experience they are more difficult to master than irons, so why (in the beginning off course) waste time on them? TO ALL OF YOU It seems like some people feel insulted because "a beginner who can't even break 90 on a 6000 yards course yet " dares to suggest that many (more experienced) golfers seem to have a flawed priority perspective and an inadequate way of practicing. I'm sorry for that! It was never my intention to insult anyone. I do however believe that many golfers are overly pessimistic regarding what's needed to "become a decent golfer", who's able to play par from time to time on a not too difficult course (I'm NOT talking about a scratch player, that's a very good golfer!!!). Provided the golfer has the minimal physical requirements to be a decent golfer, I do not believe that this has to take much more than 2 years of organised and frequent practice. I realize that I'm probably underestimating certain aspects of the game, but still, all I can read in here is "how difficult and nearly impossible it is for any average person to become good at golf" , and I just don't agree with that. It is my intention to prove those pessimists wrong and show them how I do it. Maybe I'll fail and you'll all be laughing in a year or so, but I really believe in what I say.

we have a small practice green where I practice sometimes, but the greens on the course are different. They're usually faster than the practice green, break when they shouldn't and don't when they should, drives me crazy sometimes.

Good idea, I'll copy that next time I play a round, thanks!

My best score was similar, missing several drives, but putting a round of 14, including 2 from about 30 foot, on a down slope, breaking left to right

Lining up 15-footers on a flat green or mat will allow me to do the same, maybe even more than 1/3. But the greens on the course are not like that. I'm sure they're nothing like the pro-level courses, but they do have quite some slopes and breaks.