Fromthecoast

I'm now finding myself playing in a funk right now. Just shortly after posting my best score of 95, I tweaked my back and have been basically unable to hit the ball well at all for the last 3 or 4 range session. It is like I am back at square one. I am not sure if I should lay off a few weeks or get out there and work on the fundamentals. Really very frustrating. Seems like this keeps happening, and I am not sure what I can do about it.

These are SOLD

I'll get some up soon just haven't had a chance.

That doesn't sound too bad to me. I'm just now dipping my toes into the sub 100 range. I think ideally I want to get myself into the 10-17 handicap range.

I've got a set of 4-PW Maltby MMB Forged Musclebacks for sale. They have Dynamic Gold S300 Shafts and Golf Pride Tour Wrap Grips in White. These are in very good condition. Normal wear. Looking for $150 via Paypal shipped in the lower 48.

I don't see any reason that you shouldn't learn on the irons that you have right now. Eye 2's are very forgiving but still not ridiculously large, so they could be good clubs for a while. Spend the money that they want you to use on clubs on lessons and range time instead. If they are trying to sell you new irons, telling you that you won't get better until you do, then you should go somewhere else for lessons.

SUCCESS! I went out today and shot and honest to goodness, no mulligans, count every stroke 95 for the first time. What's crazy to me is that had I been a little more on my game, two holes could have made the difference between 88 or 89 versus the 95 I shot. I'm really thrilled but I need to go out and do it again and reaffirm. I also posted this in my thread about trying to go from super hacker to decent, here: http://thesandtrap.com/t/73507/super-hacker-to-decent-golfer-whos-done-it/90#post_1000940.

Today was a really good day for me. I recently bought some new irons that I really had my eye on and played them for the first time today. I signed up at one of my local courses for a "range" membership because I've really wanted to be able to go and work on my wedge and

Got my son signed up for a junior golf league and he is really excited. I think he is officially on his way to being a golfer.

I started walking for the first time this year, about three months ago roughly. I don't think I will ever find myself in the position where I won't be primarily a walking golfer. I'm happy to get the mild exercise, but there are many reasons that I really enjoy it. It rains a lot in my area and cartpath only in a cart is just plain awful and pointless. I also like to have everything in front of me if I want to change clubs or check distance, etc. I find myself more relaxed and I have time between shots to clear my mind. When I play alone, in a cart I rush myself for some reason. I am not sure why but I do. I don't have that issue on foot. I general seem to finish 18 in about 3 hours on foot depending on who is in front of me. When I am playing with other friends who don't want to walk or in a scramble I will take the cart, but that is a different experience. Even when I play with my dad and son, I let them go in a cart and I walk with them. Having a push cart makes walking enjoyable and I wouldn't have it any other way. It really is a great game for walking and racking up the miles walked over the last few months sure makes me feel better.

I never attempt a flop shot. My pitches already give me enough trouble. I too am going to go straight for the cup more on close putts. I've found myself over analyzing those lately and missing in the direction that I am compensating. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am trying to break 100 myself. Several 101 rounds but I haven't been able to put two good sides together. I can easily see two areas that will drop a significant amount of strokes. My up and down game is struggling big time and I'm missing tons of greens. My focus will be to try to improve my accuracy hitting greens with my approach shots but I'm going to put a lot if emphasis on my up and down game. A little improvement there would save me 10 strokes around.

I use a push cart almost every time out. I don't see what the big deal is. I'm out playing golf and walking that's all that matters. No one ever said anything to me about it but being 6'2" and 235 probably doesn't hurt either.

Still a hacker but I am improving. My scoring average is down to 105, and I've taken 6 strokes off my handicap in 60 days. My last few scores have just been right over 100, but I feel like I am on the cusp of making some major improvements that will get me into the 90s. My FW% is steadily increasing and I'm even starting to hit some greens in regulation occasionally. I think a mid 90s score is just right around the corner. I don't personally think scoring in the 90s is going to make me a decent golfer, but I am starting to get around the course like I know what I am doing. I think I will be able to consider myself a decent golfer, at least for my goals, once I get into the upper 80's (long term goal). Right now, the goal is consistent 90's by the end of the year.

As an actual high handicapper, I think you have to play the club that gives you the best change for success. Don't try hero shots, get back on the fairway immediately, and just generally play smart. Lay up when you should, not just because you can. Most high handicappers like me are shooting the scores they are because of inconsistent ball striking. Sure if you are crazy ass wild with your driver, you should keep it in the bag but only if you have a club that you can be successful with.

Had both my targets out on the course today. Three generations playing golf. Dad got his membership today. Things are going well

Thanks guys. I will check into the options presented. I'm in good health overall and only 33, but have had issues with extremely tight hamstrings since childhood. That still holds true today but I think it is impacting my lower back as well.

I don't think I will be able to prove until I get more flexible. I'm happy with the progress that I have made in the last two months but the toll of multiple rounds and range trips a week are getting to my back. I'm not very flexible anyway which limits my ability to make good swings and a turn. Once I start getting a little soreness my swing really starts to go downhill. Watching videos and analysis on evolvr, I can't keep my head still. My tight back is a big contributor I believe. Can anyone recommend some specific stretches to help with the lower back not only to et loose but improve flexibility over the long run? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know that I am making progress and all but I still find myself getting frustrated. Sometime I have my swing and I am doing really well. Then the next minute I lose it and I can't figure out what went wrong. I know that will probably improve with practice but it still can de-motivate you.

Driving the ball better lately which is helping. Not necessarily long but most are straight and in the fairway with my high loft driver. Getting out to 250-260 when I'm doing things right. Shot a 47 on 9 holes today so I was very pleased about that. Although it's not breaking 100 on 18 it's a small victory. Trying to keep my misses with the putter small is helping. Hitting more fairways but no GIRs to really speak of. Basically getting on in GIR +1 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think I can claim a level 2 as well. My 6 year old has been golfing every every weekend so far for the last month and actually getting pretty good. He's got a driver, fairway wood, 9 iron, and putter. We are even walking every time out. He's got his own bag and pull cart.

Last night I used the simulator at Dick' Sporting Goods to try to get a better understanding of what I was doing with my driver swing. I tried 2 different drivers. One was a Maltby 10.5, 43.5" A-Flex shaft that I picked up on the cheap to experiment with and the other was a Nike Machspeed SQ STR-8 Fit HL 13* Driver, standard regular flex shaft. One thing that I found was that my swing speed was disappointing low in some cases, but validated what I was thinking. Tension was killing my swing. When I was tensed up in my swing (trying to kill it) I was swinging around 85 mph. When I relaxed and took nice tension free swings (starting with relaxing my hands) I was driving the ball straighter and further with around a 95 mpg swing speed. Based on that I am hopeful for the future because I think with some additional tweaks and lessons I could get that up over 100. My best drives were between 250-260, which matches what I see in real life when I get a hold of one. My average seemed to be around the 210-220 range, excluding the occasional disaster. Went an played today with my son and had one of my better rounds to date. I was staring down breaking 100, but after 13 holes, my son just couldn't keep up and we went home. Ended up with a 74 through 13; and a 52 on the front. Started off the back with 2 pars in 4 holes so things were looking promising. Best drive that I GPS'd before my phone died was 245 in the middle of the fairway which was huge for me. One thing that I noticed on the simulator as well as the course is that with the 13* driver and the ball tee'd up high, I was definitely sacrificing some distance but that the ball was going nice and straight. The roll out was pretty minimal, probably 10% or so of the carry distance which for me is ok because I am not a marksman yet and the not too much rollout was helping to keep the ball in the fairway. The guy on the simulator also noticed, and I did get more distance with a little more loft, but I think I was back to fading and slicing as well. For now, I am willing to make the trade off of a little distance for more fairways hit. What I found while experimenting on the simulator was that I cannot have any tension in my swing. For me that starts in the hands. I have to keep myself from strangling the club because that is where it all starts to go downhill. If I do that and make sure to get my hands deep, I'm hitting pretty straight even drawing the ball some. This is the first time that I managed to get rid of my monster fade and slice with the driver. Now I have the interesting problem of making sure that I don't forget that I can now put the ball on the left side of the fairway. About 2 months ago, maybe a month and a half, I was basically playing 130 golf. Now it looks like I'm playing around 100. I know I still have a long way to go but it is nice to sit back and think about that I have dropped nearly 30 strokes in a short period of time. I know going forward it won't drop that fast but it gives me hope that I could be a 90's golfer in the near future, trying to figure out how to break 90. My continuing personal goal for the year is to break 100 and by the end of the season be a solidly scoring in the 90's consistently. Beyond that, who know's. Long term stretch goal, maybe single digit HC?

Well I'm glad that I am at least solidly in the 105-115 range then but I would still disagree with what you are saying. Sure if the course is crowded no sense in holding things up, but if no one is around and behind you, you'd probably be better off dropping another ball and practicing that shot they just missed. I doubt very many people walked onto the course and started shooting par.

Played again today. Started well with a par and the rest of the front was bogeys and doubles which is good for me. Finished with a 49 on the front so I met my short term goal there but I had a disastrous back nine and finished with a 106 I believe. What funny is I felt like I didn't strike the ball well but I must have done better than I though because I three putter more times today that I have in the last month. Should be back at it tomorrow with my brother in law, hoping for a sub 100 round.

I took my son out to play a couple of times when he was 5 and several times so far this year. Also set up a net in the yard for him to practice which has been a big help. He's got more rounds under his belt at 6 than I had at 18.