Green Golfer

Wow, you broke 80 first time there, and you were just turning 18? That's impressive. I have trouble breaking 90 most days on my home course. Shows that I have a lot of room for improvement. What benefits do you get with the caddy? I may consider it.

Nice to see a fellow buckeye on here. Was raised in southwest Ohio. Have been in southern California since 2002, but didn't start playing until 5 years ago.

Yeah, it's turned into a bucket list type thing for me as well, after reading more into it. In the end it's more about the experience than playing a good round of golf. I only looked at the fees, not sure if I have to make a commitment to stay at the hotel, although I might consider.

Theres a lot of good suggestions on here. Think I'll weigh the options but I don't think I'll pass up this opportunity. Thanks for all of your inputs. Exactly. The more I think about it the more I am enticed. Who knows how many opportunities i'll get to play it down the line. A few people have suggested Poppy Hills. Have you tried that one?

Contemplating playing the "number 1 public golf course in the US". I look at the green fees and my handicap and wonder if it would be worth it. Will be in the area in a few weeks so time to decide if I want to secure a good tee time. Don' get me wrong, a low score isn't the most important factor here, ,but I want to make sure the $500 is worth it.

I feel like I'm about the same. Honestly its just practice. Just swinging clubs once a week is not enough. My irons have improved tremendously; I've added about 5-10 yards on each iron. They are my strength. But off the tee I am still wild, especially with the driver. Costly if you play from behind trees or in deep rough regularly. I have almost considered not playing my driver. Have had success slowing my tempo, but I lose so much distance. Just not worth it. For me 2018 is about getting out to the range and chipping greens, and playing at least once a week.

You’re still relatively new to golf it appears. I had a similar problem for awhile. Using a 7-iron was the same as using a 4-iron for me. Problem was that i had developed bad habits that needed to be ironed out by a professional (pun intended). Club pros are trained to pick out the smallest of swing deficiencies. I highly encourage you to get a few lessons. If not, your bad habits may get worse and become more engrained in your subconscious, making them harder to get rid of. Looking at your swing, your tempo seems okay. Tempos can change as we evolve as golfers. Whatever the case is use the 3:1 ratio. For example If your back swing is 1 second, it should take you .33 seconds to strike the ball from the end of your backswing. To me it looks like you have the standard slice swing (i.e. outside to in). Thats pretty normal, but it also reduces ball carry and overall distance in addition to being right of the fairway. Theres a few ways to mitigate this. Position your front foot closer to the ball and/or change the angle of the backswing. For you it appears to be too steep, thus inducing those slices. I agree, swing with your core. How ever i don’t necessarily agree with other posters that using too much arms is the problem here. Everything, arms, hips shoulders legs, etc need to be in line to square up at impact. If arms are out in front you will normally hit a hook or if behind, you will hit a slice (all other things staying the same of course). Too me, if you’re using too much “arm” then you are leading with the arms and hands. Your arms appear to be lagging behind the rest of you though. We need to see a video of you swinging with irons. Are you swinging too fast/slow, hitting the ball fat, or otherwise are you simply not letting the club do its work? Attached is a chart of iron distances with various swing speeds to help give you an idea. You could figure out your swing speeds by visiting a golf store such as Roger Dunn, Golf Galaxy, etc and having them analyze you for free. Good luck. You’ll grow into those irons, it just takes time. Trust us.

Thanks for the tip. Not sure what happened to the video upload. Also, trying to change my profile picture, but max file size is less 512 kb. What gives?

I've been Playing Golf for: 4 Years My current handicap index or average score is: 20.4 My typical ball flight is: High Fade/Slice The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Slice from the tee. Videos:

Update: It turns out the old shaft was too short/light for me (hence many topped balls). New shaft helped dramatically in achieving loft. Now just need to work on accuracy :)

Thanks for those links. I usually play in courses with about 1-3 inches of rough. Will have to take a look. Recently played Torrey Pines 10 days after the Farmers Insurance Open and was dealing with about 4 1/2 INCHES rough! Was the most frustrating experience in my golfing life trying to get it back into fairway much less anywhere near flagstick. That experience alone helped with curing some of my rough lie swing ineptitude.

My Adams Idea 3-hybrid A12OS is a great club when i can hit it. However, it seems to be the hardest to hit club in my bag (that and fairway woods). I primarily use it for second cut rough shots when more than 250 yards from the green, but upon striking it i hit it fat and topple it 50 yards or less. Its very discouraging and i often will sacrifice the added distance i could get with it from the rough by using my 4-iron for its dependable 180+ yards. I recently took it to Golfsmith and had a new Proforce V2 shaft +1 inch installed with an extra 16 grams of weight (86 total). I haven’t tested it out besides hitting a few balls at the Golfsmith's simulator. I guess my thought process is that maybe the added weight and customized length will help me hit down on it. Any suggestions that might help augment my new adjustments? Thanks. ___________________________________ Driver: Taylormade R1 Stiff Adjustable Loft Fairway woods: Taylormade Rocketballz Stage 2 Stiff 3 & 5 Woods Hybrid: Adams A12OS 3 Hybrid Customized Proforce V2 Shaft Irons: Taylormade Rocketbladez Stiff 4-PW Wedges: Taylormade ATV 52 and 56 degree Stiff Putter: Cleveland Classic HB1 milled satin finish

I've heard it mentioned so many times, but am not quite sure what it means when a golf club gives it's user good feedback. Does this have something to do with the way a golf ball feels coming off a club, or does it have a deeper meaning?

I was actually wondering about this myself. I bought a set of Adams Golf Tight Lies (my first set ever) that came with covers, but wasn't sure if golf clubs normally purchases on line or at the store come with them. Since i just bought some hybrids online, I'd be correct to assume that i won't need to purchase covers?

Thanks for the advice everyone. All very good tips.

Thanks SCfanatic. I needed that boost of confidence.

I spend a fair share of my driving range practices hitting from the artificial mats at my local golf course. Usually this is because they rotate the two ranges for grass recovery, and the grass side of the range is usually in poor shape. I do pretty well on the artificial surface with my irons, but when i shift to grass on occasions i seem to topple the ball or make deep fat swings into the grass. Am i being spoiled by the smooth flawless surface of the mats to where i am afraid of driving my club into the ground when i shift to the grass? I feel like i should only practice on grass surfaces. Is this the case or do i just need to retrain my brain?

Please bear with me for a minute. I have been golfing consistently for only 8 months so my opinion probably shouldn't be considered over some of the more experienced golfers on here. Just bought my first set of spikes 2 weeks ago and spent about 99 dollars for the Nike Lunar Control Golf Shoes. It was awkward going from tennis shoes to spikes. I noticed i topped the ball more frequently at first. I hit up the golf range a few times and it wasn't getting any better. But when i played 18 holes a few days ago, i guess i must have finally adjusted because i seemed to have a lot more stability in my swing and was able to more consistently hit some great drives. Its only been a few weeks mind you, but after the adjustment period it feels like i have a bit more stability in my swing.

Hello all. Just trying this forum for the first time. I am from San Diego, CA., and have been golfing consistently for 8 months. I hope to establish a good friend base here, and look forward to many fruitful discussions with you all.

I am new to this forum as well. I extend a mutual welcome.