Effington

Hey guys, hope all is well and everybody is staying safe. I am way aways from retirement, but like to play the game of imagining it, so I can at least do my due diligence in planning (which is the most fun part anyway). I was mulling over potential locations and wanted to draw on the knowledge of the masses here, because I was not finding anywhere that fit the bill perfectly. I have a short check-list here (in order) but don't have a lot of great ideas of places that fit the bill: Warm enough for year-round golf (or close to it) Not unbearably hot (wife does not do well in excessive heat) Low crime / safe Low(ish) cost of living, or at least reasonably affordable homes, property taxes, and golf Diverse / not racist Reasonably close to a big city to drive in a couple times a month A plus would be if they had a local professional soccer team English speaking (not opposed to leaving the US). If there is somewhere else in the world that fits this bill the best, I'm not entirely opposed to moving and learning a new language (although that might be too ambitious for retirement life). Wife has vetoed Florida and Arizona, your typical retirement hotspots (too hot). Here were the options I was mulling: Southern California: Is there is an area with affordable housing? Myrtle Beach: Is it one of those places that are good to visit, not to live? Australia England (are winters too cold?) I'm probably not going to have country club money, unless that is the more cost effective option if I'm playing golf very frequently. Cheers and thanks in advance for your time and thoughts.

We used to have both of those just within blocks of each other, but they closed down about a year after a PGA superstore opened up. We also have a Dick's Sporting Goods that has golf clubs, but not sure either of them will recommend me some used ones. The PGA superstore does have used clubs, but they mostly look pretty torn up.

Thanks, yes I was indeed referring to Hackasaurus Rex, as I am a super high handicapper and not a single digit, thank you for catching that! For irons I have Taylormade burner plus which have been adjusted a few times throughout the years and it was suggested that the lie is not correct for me, and that adjusting it again can risk breaking it. I believe they're about 8-10 years old. The two clubs I use the most are a 30 degree hybrid from the Bobby Jones collection, which I enjoy but my teacher said the shaft is too stiff. He gave me another club to swing and I did have noticeably better results. I'm very short and he mentioned that when you cut a club down, it makes it more stiff (like snapping a twig in half, it gets increasingly harder to break when smaller). My driver is a Callaway Big Bertha that has a big draw bias, but I already have a draw so it exaggerates it. It was a hand-me-down from a family member who had a big slice. I'm definitely OK with a model from a year or two ago, but I'm trying to figure out what the best models are for me. I was thinking the club champion route was going to get me there, but if there are better alternatives out there I'd love to know. Thanks again!

Question for ya: my skill level is similar to the OP here in that lessons are going to help me more than new clubs (which I am doing). However, I've also been told by my teacher and from some very experienced golfing friends that I would benefit from some new clubs, as my current are hand-me-downs, and while I did get them sized to me, are not the type that they would pick. They also mentioned that it's possible the re-sizing multiple times has not worked to my benefit. So, how do I go about picking clubs if a fitting as described by the OP could occur? My friends have actually recommended club champion and I was considering it, but was worried I would have an experience like the OP did if I came in and was swinging poorly.

I'm by no means an expert compared to the people here who have already responded, but figured one more perspective may not hurt. When I'm in a routine where I can practice every day, I have found that more frequent lessons (roughly every other week) are helpful, mainly to keep me on track (receive feedback). One of the difficulties I have is getting meaningful feedback; obviously we know when we hit it poorly, but I often don't know what I've done wrong. So having a professional take a look and point it out has been helpful. That being said, I may be an uncommon scenario; I have reinforced a swing with some poor characteristics that have been difficult to shake. Sometimes it takes a teacher showing me multiple times to change something before it sticks. I took two weeks practicing my take-away only to have the teacher show me (for the third time) how I was practicing it wrong the whole time.

Did you have that golf weekend you referred to earlier, and if so how did it go?

Thanks, I appreciate the thought! Yeah, I take regular lessons.

This thread is making me depressed. I've been playing around seven years and am yet to break 100.

I don't have much constructive to add, but how is the driving range into the water? Does it have yardage indicators?

I appreciate the an analysis! I’ve done a lot of tweaking with the swing. Last year I had a teacher that was working with me on getting my backswing more upright. I switched teachers a couple months ago and the current one has a focus on hip turn and keeping the wrist hinge in the downswing, and told me not to worry about the shallow backswing (yet). This most recent iteration looks ugly to me on camera, but I do have better results. I finally got a little confidence to dust off the longer clubs, and was getting good ball speed and solid contact, but it was a low trajectory with a very significant push-hook. After seeing this most recent video, I’m suspicious that it’s from my shallow backswing causing my downswing path to be out to the right. Thanks, I appreciate the comment! You’re absolutely correct that I used the wrong terminology, thank you for the clarification/correction. Regarding your last comment, I see the same thing. Against my better judgement, I went to practice today and tried to work on getting a swing path that is "less to the right". Ended up shanking it all over. Serves me right for trying to think I know the answer; I just hope that tomorrow I can remember how I was doing it before.

Hey guys, was hoping to get your thoughts on my swing; I have made some significant changes. Worked on lower body movement a lot. What pops out to me is how much “below the line” my backswing is; this is something that has baffled me for years. My instructor has told me not to worry about it yet; he has been focusing on lower body movements. I practice with a Trackman monitor, and my 7 iron shows carry of 135-145 + ~10 yards roll, ball speed in high 90’s/low 100’s. It starts out right but has a fairly significant pull (~800-1500L spin), trajectory in the low/mid 20 degree range. If I am on the low side of the left spin rate, the ball lands just about at a straightaway target. I had started hitting the ball thin, so the focus of my practice has been slowing down the backswing and making sure I don’t sway back. That way, on the downswing I can focus (“think about”) hitting down on the ball. When done well, contact was very solid and seemed to get me a couple extra mph on the ball speed too. I wiped the dust off my longer clubs, and I got solid contact, but they’re low trajectory and a bigger pull than the 7 iron. I feel like I’m a couple small changes away from almost having a real golf swing, but not sure what those changes are!

I'm still playing my first set, which is roughly 8-10 years ago. A friend of mine who keeps an eye on the industry noted that you'd really benefit from upgrading 20-30 year old clubs, but anything within the last few years is only marginal improvements.

Climate wise, I can't think of a better area than Southern California; it stays nice all year round. That being said, real estate is so expensive out there I can't imagine they have as many courses as some other popular golfing areas, such as Florida or South Carolina. With that being said, I'd pick Cali since you probably can still have enough variety to keep things fresh, and I don't think a new course each week would be a priority for me. As others have said, though, living there is quite expensive so you need to make some cash or marry rich first.

How did you like Golftec? I've heard mixed reviews from them--how much did you your results improve and how many lessons did you take?

I'm a bit late to the game on this thread, but thought I'd add that I use this plan in my area and they don't have the 2 per week cap. You can go every day as long as you reserve. In the cold weather, it's pretty busy.