EpicNorCalGolf

I disagree. Why would you factor in your miss hits when averaging club distances? If you're 150 out from the green, are you gonna hit your 200 yard club in case you miss hit it 100 yards? No offense meant and you're correct - For a true average you would clearly need to factor those hits in. But for an average that can actually be applied to your golf game, you of course wouldnt factor those in. That, and his numbers were completely reasonable.

Goals are always changing. I started about 6 years ago and have gotten seriously Hooke in the last 2-3. At first it was to break 100. Then 90. Then 80. Those goals have been met and replaced with new ones. The problem I'm finding is that as the bar gets set higher, so does the difficulty of attaining. I'm carrying roughly a 12 index right now, yet I've only broken 80 3 times. That's a whole lot of 81s, 82s, etc. I would say getting the index down to a single digit is definitely a goal, but I've also set some smaller, swing related goals - better lag, ability to work the ball with more control, get my moment of impact more forward, become a short game baller and such. The improvements you see as an 18+ are awesome and rewarding. As are my current improvements, but the frustration level gets higher as well.

I know I've wrestle with this moral dilemma. You've got a great round going, you hook or slice a shot but think it stayed in. You get up there and can't find your ball. You spend a few minutes looking and finally realize its OB. At this point the next group is waiting on the tee box. You're obligated under the rules to return to the tee box, but instead take a drop and 2 strokes, rationalizing it by saying you would've done at least that well with your second tee shot and to keep pace of play. I think for a social round, I'm good with that logic... Mark it with an asterisk and don't post the score. If it happened to be on target for a personal best, I'd probably head back to the box if it was late in the round.

It really comes down to both clubhead speed and the amount of energy being transferred to the ball at impact. Though the woods and hybrid may have a longer shaft which would in theory make them harder to control, the mass behind the impact point is significantly greater. As a result, slightly off center strikes are still going to transfer a significant amount of energy to the ball. That mass also helps for plowing through taller grass with less chance that the clubhead will turn on you. Id also say a 3i is tougher to hit because of its comparative low ball flight - to say a 7 iron. A mishit with that 7 iron would generally still carry some loft, allowing it to get in the air. When you have that same mishit with a 3i, it's very likely going to be a dribbler.

Couldn't agree more. I played my first competitive tournament about 2 months ago. I woke up early, wore my lucky shirt, got there 2 hours early, hit a shit load of balls, was feeling good and tripled the first hole. It took me a about 5 holes, and about 7 strokes over par to stop caring and relax. I finally settled into my game and finished 4 strokes over my index. Considering I gave more than half of those in the first 5 holes, I'll call it a mental victory. Played my second event a couple of weeks ago and shot 2 strokes under my index. Got there 20 minutes before my tee time, hit about 10 balls on the range, chipped a few and spent a little time putting. Night and day. Don let the hype of the situation get you. It's just a round. Have fun.

I shot a 92 at Spanish Bay, an 88 at Abu Dhabi and a 77 at St Andrews today. Played at Eagle club, the new indoor simulator in downtown San Francisco today :) The guy at the counter thought I was nuts when I asked him to set me up for my 3rd round. Anything inside of 10' was a 1 putt, anything outside of that was a 2 putt. I think I was averaging about 30 putts per round, so I still feel pretty good about the scores.

So I've been fighting some major inconsistencies with my tee shots over the last couple of weeks... Lets call it 50% straight, 25% pulled left and 25% sliced right. I setup in front of a mirror today at the range and would take my normal backswing and hold it. I was definitely going past parallel at the top. I set up my iPhone and took a couple of videos of full swings and it was even worse during my full swing. I was consciously thinking about it during my round after a little time on the range. I asked my buddy to point it out after any shot and even though I was consciously trying to avoid it, I kept taking to much. It seemed to have no affect on my iron play - I was hitting them very well, consistently in the center of the club face with a divot and compression on the ball. But again, my tee shots were a mess of pulls and slices for too many holes. Any comments on why the tee shot would be that much more affected and any tips on keeping my backswing in check?

Posted an 84 on a true 85 (ESC on an 8 I put up on a par 5 due to a horrible tee shot followed by an even worse attempt at a low percentage recovery shot). 39 on the front and hit every fairway. 45 on the back with 2 fairways. 6 GIR and 3 scrambles for par. 30 putts. I think with the slope it put me 1 under my index. Still thinking of some stupid silly shots I left out there.

I was playing regular flex for all of my clubs except a 19* hybrid. I had the matching hybrid in a 25* and it was my go to club, but had a regular flex shaft. Long story short, that stiff shafted 19* became a serious hook/pull liability. So much so that both it and my 25* just got traded in for a couple of new RBZ hybrids. World of difference. You can't buy a game, but they sure look pretty and at least they're consistent.

Denny- Just downloaded the app and I agree, it does look like it would be time consuming and require too much screwing aroun with during a round. Maybe I'll adjust my scoring system on the card so I can go back afterwards and input it into GL. Spyder- since i do it every round, this actually takes me no time at all. When I finish putting out, I'm just adding in FIR and GIR in addition to what you're doing. I like to track it, but really don't do anything with the info anyway. At the end of a round I can say I hit X fairways and Y green with Z putts, but its not like I'm putting it into a spreadsheet later. Gonna give this golflogix a try and figure out a way not to let it be a distraction while playing.

I'm definitely going driver here. It's not that I miss hit it necessarily more often than the occasional iron, wedge or putt, but when I miss it, I really miss it. The ball's either OB or way out of scoring position. At least when I miss hit another club, I'm almost always in a position where getting up and down is at least possible.

I feel you brother... At least when I was an 18+ I expected some bad shots. This 10-13 range is driving me nuts. 90% of my shots are great, low single digit caliber. I'm taking divots, compressing the ball, can work it left and right, my short game is solid if not good, and my putting has its ups and downs but very limited 3 putts if any in a round. It's that 10%. That draw I over cook and leave myself with no shot. It's the drive that I don't get through and block one out OB and the 2 or 3 other shots per round that compound into a blowup on 1 or 2 holes combined with a spattering of bogeys.

At the end of the round, my totals might looks something like this: 12 8 82 +10 ----> 84 Posted 31 +2

I really need to start using GolfLogix or another digital system for tracking my game, but inevitably my cell battery is running low, or I've just got other shit to worry about instead of tapping stuff into my phone after every shot... like hitting the ball well. Since I play so often at the same course, and usually as a single, I didn't want to carry a new scorecard every game. Here's what I do. Top left of the square for each hole is my FIR. Top right is my GIR. Bottom left is putts. Bottom right is penalty strokes - I count my penalty strokes separately and then add them back in at the end (only the penalty itself, not the resulting separate stroke). Score without penalties goes in the middle and score in relation to par on the hole goes just to the right of that. Basically, it allows me to use 1 card for 6 rounds at my home course. It sort of looks like this: Par 4: 1 0+ 4 E 1+ 0 This would be a par-4. I hit the Fairway on my tee shot, just missed the green (the + symbol means I had a putt from the fringe) and I technically 1-putted the hole (the first putt was from the fringe so my putts got listed as a 1+). I had no penalties. Furthermore, I've started counting my second shot on a par-5 as a FIR type shot. In other words, I give myself two opportunities for FIR on a par-5 which gives me a clean 18 FIR attempts at the end of the round (the par-3's obviously don't have a FIR point attached to them). Par 5: 11 0 6 +1 2 +1 In this case, I hit the fairway on my tee shot, hit the fairway on my second shot, but pumped one OB on my approach, had to rehit from that position and then 2 putted. So I had 4 strokes to hit the green (not counting the penalty) plus the 2 putts... my penalty stroke gets added back in at the end. I like looking at the penalty strokes separate as it allows me a better idea of how I was hitting my clubs throughout the round and gives me the "what if I hadn't duck hooked that ball OB". I've clearly started rambling at this point. Curious to see what others are doing.

The 18th at my home course is a par-4 with a slight curve to the left and an approach shot over water. Too many times I've bombed a drive leaving me less than 100 in and caught that shot thin or fat because the water was in my head. It can be a real card killer.