gosly

Thanks for the references. Do you normally chip with that paint brush motion? My swing is probably more like the older style demonstrated at the beginning of the second video mvmac posted.

This summer I've been working on a lot of aspects of my game, but one thing that keeps tacking on strokes is my game right around the green. So like less than 25 yards out from the pin, usually in the rough. I can't count the number of strokes I blow by blading it or hitting too soft and leaving it in the tall grass, essentially wasting a stroke. Even if I get it on the green I rarely get it close enough to have a good chance at putting it in. It's a problem. I'm wondering, what is your strategy/swing for this type of shot. I don't mean like a low loft, bump-and-run versus a flop shot, I mean like the mechanics of your swing. I've watched a video or two or seen people swing with a lot of wrist, and I've seen people with a quicker, shorter, punchy swing with locked wrists. Does it change depending on the shot? Or is it just like any other iron swing? Any advice or videos would be welcome, I'm basically looking for some stuff to try because I obviously have to change how I'm approaching it. Thanks!

Been there many times. It's almost as bad when you feel like you had an excellent day but the score says otherwise. I think we tend to feel like we did better on days with good ballstriking rather than days when the ballstriking is weak and maybe our short game is more on point; so it feels like we did better/worse than we did. Can't underestimate the putting game.

All I play is municipal courses (poor college kid) and I've never really had any major issues. I mean you're always going to have people out there who are taking it less seriously than you are, or they don't understand certain etiquette like fixing ball marks or raking the sand. It only really bothers me when it's clearly deliberate or people start getting intoxicated and stop giving a care about the course.

I'm almost a 50/50 split, depending on the week. It depends on if my buddies are available for a round. I usually pick up the sticks ~3 days a week. Depending on the week that may be a mix of range practice/short game practice/playing a (usually 9-hole) round. Recently I've been doing 2 rounds of 9 in a week and one day at the range or putting green.

For my driver, I usually take some practice swings at the first tee box and dial in what i'm going with for the day, then I line it up and hit it. Usually I don't take many if any practice swings on the tee for the rest of the day unless the drives are really off. I don't want to screw up a good thing. My irons are a lot different, I take forever. I usually walk up to the ball and practice my swings to get the speed right, then I step back to line up the shot, then address the ball and step back for a final practice swing before I (finally) hit the ball. I'm lacking some confidence with my ball striking ability so I usually spend forever trying to think out how I'm going to swing. I believe it's causing way more harm than good, and I am in the process of shortening that up. Wedges are right now, way too many practice swings and weak results. Working on it. When I putt I line up, do as many practice strokes as it takes to target in on my speed, then step up to the ball and go. I'm comfortable there. Some days breathing is a big factor as to when I swing (on the inhale/exhale), but it depends on the day. I think that may be part of me over-thinking shots.

I hate when you have the backup, and the group(s) ahead of me are making me wait on shots while a group (or more) waits behind me. I really don't care about playing slowly and hanging out on the golf course waiting to take my next shot, but I do hate being the guy slowing people down. Makes it a lot less fun.

Yessir! Good to have that feeling to end the day, carry me to my next round

I know this isn't technically what the post is asking, in light of the OP's pictures I just thought I'd share: My closest to an eagle came last night, nice end to the round anyway.

So accurate haha. I'm a Sergio fan because I like watching him play and I like watching him struggle. I like to see him on the leader board on Sundays because it makes it more interesting for me. The stuff that happens off the course I tend to filter out.

Just to share personal experience, I spent the last thee trips to the range working hard on getting my irons dialed in, and I think I made great progress. First time on the course afterwards and my driver was horrifying, anything but center off the tee. I realize that I've changed my whole swinging motion to bring the irons on target and it means I have to change the way I swing my driver a little bit too. So back to the range I guess, seems like such a delicate balance to not let the subtleties of one swing leak into the next. For me anyway. I definitely practice more with my long game though, for better or worse.

This was me last night. Went out with a buddy for a quick 9 after work, excited because I thought I had my irons down after a lot of working on them. After a bogey on the first hole (not bad for me) I quickly self destructed. Terrible tee shot followed by some ugly short irons, and my chipping was horrifying. I chipped over the green four times before I picked up the ball to walk to the 3rd cursing. More of the same on 4 and 5. I was fuming and I didn't even count my strokes for those holes. I decided to take advice from this thread and just stop keeping score and start working on shots. Long story short I went par, bogey, par on the last three holes, and walked away feeling a lot better. They were shorter holes so I was all irons and I hit some great shots. Moral of the story is it's worth sticking around. You owe it to your golf game.

The feeling of a great shot is just too addictive . Every rocket drive, every great approach, every smooth up and down, every ten foot putt. I just need one more hit!

If you're hitting behind the ball or pushing your irons, make sure you're not putting too much weight on your back leg in your swing so that you can't lean forward on it effectively, causing you to hit the ground too soon or lift up and top the ball. When I learned to take a slow backswing with my head down and weight centered I found I could lean into my shot and it brought my club down and into my ball before the ground. It may not be your problem but it really worked for me last night at the range when I was working on the very same thing.

I went to the range yesterday and had a mini-revelation with my swing that may help. I have been pushing balls forever and yesterday I found out that I was kind of swaying my hips back as I took my back swing. What I did was keep my head down and eye on the ball as I did a slow controlled back swing without putting weight on my back foot, which allowed me to fully lean into the shot and rotate the hips around. The result was a long straight iron shot that I was more than proud of. Just a musing that may be helpful, I know it definitely helped eliminate my problem.

I'm a 9 hole man myself, I need time to get a nap in after work before I hit the links

Yeah I know the feeling, luckily for me my friends and I are pretty much at the same level and I can usually get at least one to play every week, although I'm definitely more into it than they are. I never go to the range without something to practice, if I know I'm topping balls I google it or come here. Even if I spend an hour on the range and only hit a handful of great balls if I can force myself to work on a few simple mental triggers to keep my head down or align my stance or hit down, etc. that kind of seep into my play on the course and it usually leads to a better round. It's early this year though I'll have to let you know how I feel after this week lol. Keep at it.

Have you played a round recently Ll Hacker? I feel like I've seen you talk a lot about your swing at the range, maybe you need to stop 'hacking' so to speak and get to the course. I had a rough day at the range last week, focusing a lot on my iron swings and trying to drive home some good technique, but the day after I played great on the course. I like to think some practice paid off but I think a lot of it is having other shots to play and not worrying so much on hitting the perfect 5 iron shot 100 times.

Forget about the glamour, perfect my short game. Play 18 holes every week. Make a birdie at least three times this summer. Break 90

One of the clubhouse guys was rolling around the course in his cart last year when I was about to try a risky shot between a couple trees to the green. He watched silently as I blasted the ball into the first tree and let out some beautiful expletives. Then he gave me the best advice that I have remembered ever since. "Remember, find the fairway first." I never play a hazardous shot without remembering the Triple-F golden rule no matter how much I get heckled to take the risky shot. I'm no pro and now I know it.

Had a good round for me today on 9, my driving was yucky but the short game was pretty much on point. My best shot that really had me smiling was the second on a short par 4 where I ended up in the long grass underneath a tree, some hills and a bunker between me and probably ~75 yards to the flagstick. I took the risk of using my 55 wedge to go up between two huge tree branches. Lucky for me I calculated right and the ball split the branches and came down perfectly on the green. Felt damn good, that SW was my golden club for the round.

I'm too much of a tightwad to stop early, gotta get that money's worth! I have played some really bad rounds in my short career but hey extra strokes just means more practice right? Practice that I know I desperately need.

I'm a pretty new golfer (last three years) and I learned using the baseball grip. About halfway through the summer last year I switched to the interlock grip to help do something to straighten out my crazy slice off the driver. It was weird at first and weird on my irons, but I can't even imagine going back now. I think it helped me loosen up my deathgrip on the clubs a little bit and lessened the wrist over-action. If anything I would use baseball on my irons, I can't imagine swinging my driver any other way.