kurtbayne

thanks again guys, good advice

I'm the poster: Thanks for the replies guys. Sounds like I'll be at the range first. (BTW the new range looks FAAAAAANTASTIC it looks like it's about 600 yards long and you can land a hundred private planes to boot. My only beef is that it looks into the morning sun.) I think I'll walk a few holes with the early groups, then go to 18 and go backwards, and then follow someone on the course back up to 18. And I'll bring a camera (and a ladder?). Psyched to go after seeing the course again. The only other tournament I've attended was when I watched Annika's 59.

A couple things after re-walking again 1,2,3,16,17,18 last week I noticed a couple super-small bunkers next to the green or maybe IN the green. They're like if you sunk a hot tub in the green and filled it 1/3 of the way with sand. DANG ! I presume they can do unplayable lie from the bunker, right? Another thing I've yet to see mentioned is the overall layout of the course, gallery-wise. The course is basically a hollowed-out sandpit. More specifically, it's like if you cut a bowl in half vertically and the cut edge is the edge of the ocean Kinda like half of a stadium. This means that if you are perched on the upper third of the course, with binoculars you might be able to see every shot on every hole. If they wanted to, it looks like they could seat 200,000 people above the course. WOW ONE THOUSAND PORTA POTTIES ! How loud could it get? I'm thinking it could get loud in Seahawks land. And the weather: Typically I say there is a 30-40% possible it could be windless, drizzly, 60-degree weather. There's really no way of knowing what course the pros are going to face Plus we've had a weird warm dry winter up here, just the opposite of what the midwest and east coast has had. So does this mean hot dry mid-June swirling winds, impossible greens, Or a rebound to marine-layer drizzle making the course super-long? Or both or neither?

I'm a local who is gonna get a $50 ticket for a practice day. Firstly, is there one practice day that is better than another? I personally don't like a lot of crowds. Secondly, can any golf nerd recommend a golfer or two for me to follow? I'd like to follow someone who is not a "star" but someone who is good at staying out of trouble and has good course management skills. I was able to walk 2, 3,16, 17, 18 last week, and the back back tees are just stunning. As a non-links player, for example, the flagstick looks like it's 900 yards away. Thanks for your answers

I'm no expert, but I'd say your swing is basically fine, especially for a 20, and nothing really bad stands out, other than the ignorance any normal amateur (including me) has over the elements of the swing. IMO you won't find the secret answer posting your swings. Just keep learning about swings in general and experiment with different variables. Be patient, keep smiling, and follow the rules.

In the Seattle area here, 35-45F now that it's winter, I don't really notice a difference in carry. Roll is another story. Restrictive clothing for me makes little or no difference also. I do hit far, and have not-so-good distance control, so that might be a factor. A fat shot is a lot more catastrophic in acres of mud, tho. Also I keep an extra ball in my pocket to warm it up. I hate driving cold balls, it makes me feel like I'm going to hurt it more, like a hammerblow on icy cold fingers. I don't pooh-pooh low compression balls this time of year, and I don't really see any difference between any ball this time of year. Whoops bad grammar there

i'm thankful i'm not burned out, after a ton of golf this year. Also thankful that my right knee, which got pretty loose and screwed up, is sloooowly starting to get better. You hate to get hurt and then have the feeling that this is going to be as good as it will be for the rest of your life

my guess is that the answer is all over the map. Yes there's fun, but is it grinding fun, WTF fun, I hate this game fun, I gotta win fun, fun failing, fun succeeding. And you can do all the above and enjoy it or not enjoy it. Or enjoy it sometimes and not at others. If I had to guess, top tour PGA players are a different mental/emotional/spiritual animal, and my guess is that there's no yippee-I'm-having-fun-yay walk-in-the-park effortless fun For most top pros there's a lot of stress and most people would not want to think the things that these guys are thinking. Pretty grim, actually. But then again, most of these top pros wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Different strokes for different folks, and those stressed-out pros don't want or need any pity. This is for men. I would think women are more, uh, on the normal scale, but I bet there is still a lot of the above going on. Of course there are a few life-is-good happy-warriors without much stress. I would say these tend to be long-time veterans or kids just coming up.

75yd SW from the rough - nothing but net. Always wanted to do that, lucky i was above the hole so I could see it in.

PW - my first PW par 5 was after just a OMG drive like 350+, 70 over my average. level hole, but a slight tailwind and a GREAT first bounce. I was so out of my comfort zone that skulled my PW into a trap, then fat into the next trap, and up and down for a par

I also broke par for the first time this year I'd love to hear if you can remember what your thoughts and plans were for the round and how you worked on them during the round.

not that i go here often, but i've never seen a thread on this subject and i wonder what advice others have on this. and i also have my version of advice that might help golfers in this situation which i call TWILIGHT ZONE (TZ), a term from an old TV uh sci-fi horror show i guess i'd call it? The short definition of TZ is where your round is going soooo bad, often seemingly from nowhere. TZ has elements of (1) a nightmare (2) a bad acid trip (3) nuclear-powered WTF and unreality (4) fly-in-the-spider-web struggling and despair This is the real deal. This is not like the normal perplexities of golf, like ALMOST making a bunch of putts and not sinking even one, or for some reason I can't draw/hook a fairway wood, when usually it's all I can do NOT to hook/draw a fairway wood. True TZ is Alice-in-Wonderland, hair-on-fire, please God i don't wanna die!!! You're wandering lost in the jungle, nightmare-drunk, emotions are dailed up to 11, your cell phone is dead, and your fortune cookie is blank The most unbelievable things are happening. Examples: (1) You get an 8 on an easy par 3, and looking back, none of your shots were really that bad. Yet you could have putted left-handed from the tee and gotten at least a seven. (2) You duck-hook 1 inch OB left. So you reload with a little less hook, then proceed to banana-slice it 1 inch OB right. (3) Fairway wood, tight lie, you get under the ball and it squirts straight up, yet no indication that you've even touched the ground with the club. (4) You hit the green, ball spins back THRU the trap and into the water. (5) Your first shank in a decade hits a tree and bounces behind you and hits the club president in the face. In this bizarro world, hooks fade, slices draw, short is long, up is down and left is right. ----------------- If any good golfers have managed to blink back the fog of unreality of TZ and found a way to finish even OK, I'd love to hear any thoughts about getting out. ---------------- As for me, this advice I'm giving below is the best I can come up with when afflicted with TZ. (1) GIVE UP. No more beating-in-your-head heroics on the remaining 8 holes to maybe grind out one more skin. Let it go, your round is over. Beating a dead horse is pointless, especially when you're the horse. (2) 5 SECONDS - E.L.S. What shot can even a hopeless retard like you execute right now? I'd offhand vote for a 7-iron or a rescue club that goes half to 3/4s of your normal distance. Maybe even a 30-yard chip. The shot has to be so simple that you don't need to spend more than 5 seconds over the ball. One practice swing, step up to the ball, and swing the center of the club thru the center of the ball. Concentrate on getting your feel back -- swing E_ASY, L_IGHT, AND S_MOOTH (ELS). Do the absolute easiest thing you can think of, regardless of strokes. You just wanna finish this round in the fewest steps and thoughts possible. If something even sort-of-works, ride that dead horse all the way to the parking lot. (3) HOW MANY IN A ROW? I suggest you don't, but if you absolutely need to play a game, the game should be: how many shots in a row can I hit without sucking? Not how many in a row you can hit well, cuz that game is OOOOO-VER. If you're not sure if your shot sucked or not, then it sucked. (4) GIVE UP AGAIN - often, after you've given up, things will start to go right again, you'll sink a lucky long putt, or your 2/3s shot goes just as far as your previous retard-hero shot, and it felt great and you're thinking; man let me roll the dice one more time, i might be ok now. And my answer to that is HEY-LLLLLLL NOOO. Your only goal is to leave the 18th hole without feeling like the stupidest, crappiest golfer that has ever lived. If you can leave the round somewhat sobered up, with a lesson learned, and a modicum of confidence about your next round, that would be fantastic. BUT WHAT ABOUT MY SCORE??? you know what? my experience is that my give-up score is generally about the same as my fly-in-the-spider-web-struggle score. But let's say giving up is 10 shots worse cuz your course is just a big cow pasture with 18 flags. So what. Your job now is to NOT fly straight into the web in the next round. While you finish your round with easy swings and clearer thoughts, you'll have a lot better chance of figuring out how not to get trapped next round. Getting into and out of the Twilight Zone is not about swing mechanics, or course management, it's a state of mind. ---------------- Offhand, this is what comes to mind for my best advice. And I'd love to hear any pearls of wisdom that might help me recover better next time. Thanks for reading

good thread idea a few i've used this year, my first serious golf in 20 years SO BAD IT'S GOOD - rather self-explanatory. e.g. a slice so bad you're sweet in the other fairway, a skulled sand shot that skyrockets over the lip and lands close to the hole, a really pulled putt that goes in the hole cuz you're as bad at reading greens as you are at putting. sort of like 2 or 3 wrongs making a right. JENNY CRAIG [swing] - hit it fat, then thin, then fat, then thin, etc FATTY McFATS-A-LOT - you constantly hitting fat when you know better [AHHH] F**K S**T P*SS D*MN H*LL - this is stolen from another golfer. Instead of swearing loudly or otherwise acting out after a poor result, say the five magic words very quickly and rather softly, conversationally, in an "oh well" + disappointed-again fashion. If you are known as a hothead a-hole, this juuuust might work for you to upgrade from "PSYCHO-BABOON" to merely "ANNOYING." It'll likely take some practice. OH GOOD IDEA - SNEAK UP ON IT - This is a variation of the Alice putt. His 20-foot putt is 7 feet short, and so you validate his putt. "Oh good idea, dude, sneak up on it." Like that's the smart play, lay up really short on the putt and maybe the hole will let its guard down and he might accidentally make the 7-footer. In fact, he should probably lag the 7-footer to guarantee the 3-putt, cuz of how he's putting. Just get it close; baby steps, that's the thinking, don't get greedy. And the thing is, with tricky greens and no confidence, ninja-putting might actually be the way to go sometimes. The problem is so many golfers take this comment the wrong way! I'm just trying to help--really! I'm on your side bro! crap i just had another one but i forgot

250-260, 7 handicap of course earlier in the year, same distance, 14 handicap I didn't read the other posts, but my gut feeling is that there is some correlation between driver distance and handicap, but it probably shows a stronger correlation the lower the handicaps are. Like in the NBA, players show differences in court awareness, shotmaking ability, etc, but every one of them can dunk.

I can't remember if it was this year, but recently I hit two good shots in a row! WOW!