JonMA1

Regarding Tiger not playing as well as two weeks ago, is that not normal for the elite players? I don’t follow the game as others do, but it seems like the top players often do well for one or maybe two or three tournaments with it not unusual for them to then miss a cut. Doesn’t seem as though anyone gives that much discussion when it happens.

A better question would be "What would happen if I stopped practicing the wrong things?". In golf, it seems that whenever I focus practice towards one part of my game and neglect another, I will show improvement where I've put in the extra effort while performing worse on what I've neglected. In other sports (those I'd learned at an early age), I can go years without playing or practicing and it seems like there is little drop-off when I get back into them... other than the normal slowing down that aging brings.

It was a good week of golf. Shot my lowest round ever and otherwise played some decent rounds. I have to assume it has something to do with the chip drill that @iacas and @boogielicious helped me with (thanks again guys) as well as some of the suggestions my instructor gave. Driver: This may be the biggest opportunity for improvement. It's been tough to get a consistent starting line, ball flight and distance. The bandaid fix is to align my feet right and close the club face at address. While this "takes away" the right side of the fairway and gives me decent distance (230 yds on occasion), it also brings a pull into play. Conversely, I can align straight, not close the face and play the slice/fade which takes the left side out of play, but also results in some very weak drives (<200 yards). For the most part, I'm making decent contact near the center of the face of the driver. On most holes, I can keep this club in play and still get more distance than my next longest club. 5w and 4h: Couldn't be happier with these clubs. But I also know from past experience it can change in a heartbeat - especially with these clubs. Irons: Wouldn't dare consider anything I do to be "good", but I'm ok with how I've been playing these clubs. Starting lines have been better as has been contact. The longer irons (4i) are more prone to poorer mechanics and a resulting slice/fade. I need to consider replacing the 4 and 5i with hybrids. That sucks because flushing a long iron is one of the more satisfying shots in golf. Wedges/9i: One of the reasons the week went so well is that I'm playing these 120 yards and in shots a lot better than I had been earlier in the season. I've gone back to my preset weight forward swing for these shorter distances. No doubt the chip drill has helped in this area. Pitches, Chips, Sand: When I focus on these, I'm happy with the overall results. What can be damaging is taking good results as granted. Putting: There are rounds where I feel I've putted poorly, but this has been the most improved area of my game this year. I'm not sure how to keep this going other than developing a structured practice routine. I really enjoy the chip drill so that's easy to do every day. I need to continue to try and make incremental improvements in getting my weight forward.

This is exactly what I was thinking. It would surprise me if there was not some sort of settlement. Edit: Then again, a visit by Stadler to the hospital and apology may be all that's needed. Not everyone files a law suit when they get injured.

https://www.gamegolf.com/player/JonMa1/round/2345115 https://www.gamegolf.com/player/JonMa1/round/2345347 Ordinarily, a 96 wouldn't be much to get excited about, but I played from the blue tees again today to work on the driver. While the par 5s have pretty wide fairways, there are a couple of par 4's that just kick my butt when using the driver from these tees. Hole 5 was especially costly. Playing this hole twice, I had 3 out of bounds and 2 successful drives. High point... after a 10 stroke blow up hole which included 2 out of bounds and to go along with a 3 putt, I birdied the following hole with a well-struct 4h, followed by a flighted 9i, followed by a 25' putt from the back fringe to a flag location at the top of a ridge. If I hit this putt just a bit too hard, it rolls all the way off the front. A big part of my instructor's lesson plan is for me to "stay in the present" and not let a bad shot or hole affect the next. I think I was able to do that several times today.

I'm not informed at all. Not only do I have a very limited knowledge of genetics, I don't have any personal experience with transgender individuals and the treatment they undergo. The article in the OP is about titles being won and records set by transgender high school athletes with some parents wanting them banned. I suppose that makes my posts and opinions a bit off-topic. My only concern is that all kids have access and an opportunity to participate in team sports if they so desire. Records and titles are not a concern of mine, even though I recognize that they are important to most others. My suggestion was to allow a transgender female immediate access to competition by allowing her to compete against males. Will she win? Probably not often, if at all. But at least she could compete. If creating a criteria based on hormone treatment (or whatever is logical), and testing individuals can be accomplished easily, then I would concede that to be a better, more fair option. Again, I'm very ignorant about the science. It's nice to read through these posts and see that attitudes have changed a bit over what they were 20 or 30 years ago. I don't generally care as much about adults, but it's not that difficult to remember how crappy high school could be for those of us who didn't have something like this to deal with. I can't imagine what a day in the life of a transgender kid would be like.

It is a complicated subject to be sure. But how would you make it better... even slightly? We can assume that the very best solution is going to be unfair to someone and imperfect, correct? So why not make incremental changes and build upon those with a long-term goal of make it reasonably fair to everyone involved? The saying "don't make perfect be the enemy of better" comes to mind when I think about subjects like this.

Am I oversimplifying the situation to suggest they simply compete against men? Of course, that alone would require a tremendous change in attitude and rules, but if a league of their own isn't desirable or feasible, and competing against other females is unfair, what other options are there?

Not sure a good thug would be required. Maybe just an average one.... who's also a golf fan. I mean, we're talking about a heckler at a golf tournament. How hard could it be? You might even be able to find a few spectators to take care of the problem for free, so long as officials agreed to look the other way.

If you have enough money to bribe a heckler, you have enough to hire a thug.

It's nice to hear LSW and some of the work put into it recognized on the Golf Channel. I thought they did a nice job with the graphics by shifting the center of the shot zone up towards the middle. That should to grab some attention. As much as I dislike the host, what he said about "checking the ego" was pretty good.

I can't agree that luck had anything to do with the outcome unless you want to argue it was "bad luck" that Koepka played perhaps his best golf at the same tournament where Tiger finally played well enough to win any other time. I have to agree with this (at least for round 4).... I kept waiting for Koepka to buckle or to go through a bad stretch and he didn't. He missed some greens and a couple mid-range birdie putts late on Sunday, but he just appeared to be in control of his game. All this means is that it will be even more impressive when Tiger gets his next win. There is a lot of talent in the field in addition to BK. Tiger seems capable of playing above that level.

We have a boxer and mutt. Cooper, the 95 lbs boxer, is the most obnoxious and food-driven dog I've ever known (video of him whining for food). But he's a gentle giant. He wouldn't know how to bite a person. Lucy is a 3-legged beagle/wired-hair something mix. She is definitely the smarter of the two but wasn't smart enough to avoid chasing cars a few years back... hence the three legs. While Cooper's sole purpose in life is to eat himself to death, Lucy would like nothing better than to rid the world - or at least our property - of red squirrels.

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

On a positive note, I was behind a foursome today and they were flying. I held back a couple times... looking for golf balls or practiced chips, but overall, the 4 of them were riding at about the same pace as I was as a single walking. it was nice to see that kind of ready golf for a change. I honestly wanted to go up and compliment them. I'm starting to believe my course is becoming a mecca for slow players. As I was getting packed up to leave yesterday, a twosome had just arrived and asked me how the course was. I told them the course was fine but that there were a lot of slow players out. His reply was "Oh good, we like to take our time". I have less of a problem with it if the course is ok with it, and they are. I know it's going to be like that and I can choose not to play when it's crowded. But boy, today sure was a nice change.

I can't brag about a round I wasn't going to keep score on, but I started off well and decided to see how long I could keep it up. Ended up with an 85, which I believe is my lowest score to date. Wanted to work on my short game today and I was happy with how that went. Really, everything was pretty good today. Driver is still weak but I'm keeping it in play. Made good contact with long and mid-irons and was able to start them on line. 3-putted a couple times but that was offset by making a couple long putts. Only one penalty today and that - of all things - came off a fat 8 iron that failed to clear the creek. Dropped in front of the creek, hit a wedge to the center of the green and 2 putted for double. Can't ask for more. You know that feeling when you have a good round going and you get to the last hole just knowing you're going to blow it but hitting a couple into the woods or something? Instead, I hit driver in the fairway, PW to just off the green and chipped in for a birdie. Best of all, it was the 2nd chip-in birdie of the round. It nice to experience these rounds now and then. I'll try to take away something positive from it (which may have been a controlled tempo). But I have to remember there's a long way to go before this becomes anything normal.

I think you’re right @HJJ003. Old habits are hard to break. Lol. Thanks.

Short game has been a weakness but not what I'd consider "glaring". I work so much on the full swing that I often neglect this part of the game. Today, I tried to use the sand wedge for shots I normally use my gap wedge for. Ironically, I've been working on chips every day (with all my irons). But as a drill for key #3. This is what I was trying to say. A putt from the fringe counts against the short game stats even though it's a putting skill (in my mind anyway).

It's a little deceiving. Short game was bad - no doubt. But some of the chips and pitches were from bad lies caused by poor approaches, even if they were nGIRs. And there were a few putts from right off the green so my putting wasn't great either.

Follow up on my round today... From these tees, this course can be pretty tough. I've only broken 100 a few times from them. I was able to keep my shit together (not get pissed off) and really concentrate on my instructor's lesson plan... 1. Use the same pre-shot routine on every shot. Check. 2. Play in the present, forget the bad shots. Check. 3. Shift weight to the left on downswing. Hmmm... not so much. Easier said than done. 4. Specific putting practice. Fail. I haven't been working on this and it showed today. 5. Less judging, more acceptance (I think he meant on my game, not his instruction). Check. Also, 6. Divots were on the target side of the ball today. Likely due to the Erik's chipping drill I've been working on. Negatives... 1. On my best shots, I might be 50/50 at most on the weight distribution at impact. Slower tempo did help at times, but I was off-balance more than on and falling back on a few swings. 2. Probably due to the above, I'm cutting across the ball a lot on everything from mid-irons to driver. I was able to keep the driver in play, but a lot of weak slices to go along with decent fades and even a slight draw. The variance in distance can be 40 yards. All of today's drives were well-struck on the face, but that spin is a distance killer. 3. Chipping was horrible as was my sand game. After telling me he'd be in touch, I haven't heard from my instructor in a few weeks - which is fine. We've completed 2 of the 4 sessions I've paid for. This time around, I feel pretty good about my end of the deal. I've been as good of a student as I possibly can be. Kept a positive attitude and worked on the physical and mental things he'd suggested. I made it crystal clear how slow of a learner I was and gave him every opportunity to not accept me as a student. If he does end up calling, I'll ask what his plan is and continue being positive. If he doesn't, some of what he's worked with me on will be useful.

https://www.gamegolf.com/player/JonMa1/round/2336602 I haven't recorded any rounds or even kept score for a while, so I decided today would be as good of a day as any. Played from the longer tees as it would require much needed work with the driver. No surprise on the score... my games is pretty poor right now even by my standards. But I was able to take away some positives to offset some of the countless negatives that cause double-bogey scores.

I had a really good week of practice last week so was a little disappointed that nothing seemed to show up on the course this morning. I'm not even talking about shot results. I really felt that all week I'd developed a good pace/tempo and was in better control of the weight shift and also a balanced finish. Worked on the pre-shot routine and then a commitment towards a smoother takeaway, backswing, downswing and followthrough - without a lot of twitchy stops and starts. Despite taking more club than normal, this morning it felt like I was swinging a bit too hard and falling back onto my back foot again. Nothing felt very smooth or in control. Almost like I was just half-assing it out there. Maybe there should be a balance between not over-thinking mechanics and not just swinging a club and hoping something good happens. Maybe something in between the two. Driver wasn't too bad until the 9th hole - a narrower par 4. Pulled the first 2 out of bounds, pushed-sliced the 3rd (still in play) and then for good measure, pulled a 4th out of bounds. Putting wasn't very good either. I think there was just too much non-golf crap on my mind. It was still good to get out and walk 9 holes. I really needed that even if the golf wasn't very good. As has been the case lately, I didn't keep score so there wasn't much in the way of frustration.

It's hard for me to watch him play this year and not believe he's going to start finishing in the top 5. He will eventually win a tournament. There are so many parts of his game that are very good. He won't be the player he once was, and the competition is very good right now. But he's hanging with these guys even without the ability (yet) to put together 4 solid rounds.

Swinging a hybrid or fairway wood too hard can be yield some ugly results for me. I know this to be the case and yet I still forget at times. But even with less than perfect contact, those clubs will usually get me closer to the green than a decent shot with a "safer" club. Some guys can swing these clubs hard and make good contact, but they're usually pretty good players. I'm certainly not one of them, but I try to use these clubs as often as I can. As far as playing from a set of tees I have no business playing from, I try not to do it when the course is full, but when I can, I find it kind of relaxing in a way. I don't have any expectations of shooting a personal best so there's less pressure. As a result, there's almost always the feeling that the round wasn't as bad as it could have been. Longer courses bring about a different strategy than my normal <6,000 yard courses do. There will be holes that I approach with bogey in mind. While I usually go for the green on longer par 3's, a par on anything longer than 190yds is a pleasant surprise (who am I kidding, a par from any distance is a pleasant surprise). See @Shindig's post above - he beat me to it and worded it much better than I could have. The first time I played a longer course a few years ago, it was by accident as I didn't read the markers or scorecard when I first started. But I decided to keep playing from those tees. I wasn't breaking 100 very often so when I shot a 49 on the 3300 yd 9 hole course, it was a good feeling. I remember parring both the par 3's, shooting bogey on all the par 4's, and doing just horribly on the par 5's. It's still a fond memory. Welcome to the site @Weirdgolf.

Thanks @boogielicious and @tlazzol. I understand and agree with everything you posted Scott. I don't think I've ever been as even-keeled and patient with how I approach practice as I presently am. While there's still frustration and an overall lack of confidence at times, I just feel like this year has been different. Even though my game may be as bad as it's been in a couple years, there hasn't been that "screw it, I'm going back to what works" attitude.