jayisu

38, par 35, front nine of my course. The front is my bane, especially first 4 holes. Didn't play well and scored ok. 1 birdie, best knews is no doubles or higher!!!! Missed by inches on 3 birdie putts, missed two par putts by same amount, one was struck too hard and hit back of cup nestled on the lip. Could have been better. Striving to play front in par, but I need to be better than 3 over on the first 4 holes. Have to figure those out.

Shot 81 in twilight fun round (+10). Was tired and didn't play well, but had most birdies ever in a round. Hit only 2 fairways, led to big numbers. 3 birdies, 2 doubles, 1 triple. Iron play and accuracy was terrible and a couple of errant chips, but I figure I scrambled pretty well. Was working on playing aggressive for birdie and it either paid off or blew up on me.

I agree with this and have the same trouble on my course. The other day I was inside the 150 marker by 15 yards and the guy with the range finder said it was 157 out. No wonder I was hitting that shot short. I don't have the app, but I go on Google earth and measure with its device and am surprised at how close or long some of the distances I hit from are. I am trying to memorize some of the positions I am usually in and trust the Google yardage. Hard to gauge a shot when you don't have a reliable yardage to use.

It seems the lower handicappers have much greater distance. Probably consistent distance as well. My game has improved this summer (24 to 12) as my distance has improved. Driver -- 250-275max 3W -- 220-245 max 3h -- 200-210 3i -- never use it, except for low punch out of trees 4i -- 200-210, use hybrid instead 5i -- 190 6i -- never use it, mental block, choke down on 5 7i -- 160-170 8i -- 145-155 9i -- 130-140 PW -- 120-135, no control 56 -- 100 60 -- 65 I can only give a range because I don't consistently hit a certain distance. Try to control distance gaps with choking down and shorter swings with limited success.

I only saw one advocate for 5 iron which would be my choice. I can hit it 200+ on longer shots, choke down for knock down shots and distance control and it is good for greenside chips. The sand seems to be a concern, but if I don't have a good club for the sand, then I am going to avoid it by aiming away, over, or short of any sand. If I am in green side sand, then lay it open and choke down and you can get out. But, I think the added distance would be necessary to score on Par 4's of varying distance. If a 6,7,8i can get you around a course in par/bogey fashion, why do we higher handicappers insist on using a 14 club bag?

Shot a 79 (par 71) yesterday. 37, 42. Bogeyed the first two and parred 8 in a row before mishits charged forward. Had a triple on 14 with OB off the tee. Fatted drive on par 3 16 that went about 40 yards, two poor chips and a long putt to save bogey. Had 1 birdie, 5 bogeys, 11 pars, 1 triple. Very solid day for me. Hit 9 fairways and 7 greens. Chipped well and putted great (30). The birdie was best of the day. After 3 poor holes, triple, bogey, bogey, I had to have a birdie on Par 5 17 to get under 80. It is long and very narrow, fairway is about 20 yards wide with major trees on either side. Striped drive, mishit 3 wood to difficult rough behind tree. hit a hybrid grounder that ran up to the green for a GIR leaving 55 feet for birdie. Ran the putt in. Maybe highlight hole of my golf career.

In keeping practice session stats are you recording things after each shot? Do you create a gameplan or game? I tend to just bang it on the full range because of time restraints. When I chip I take ten balls and pick a location and pin. I get 1 point if it is within 4 ft. and I should be able to convert the u/d. I get 0 points if it is on the green in two putt range. I get -1 points if i miss the green. I pick hard locations and set a par for points based on difficulty. For instance, over the bunker, downhill slope to short side pin may be a 0. Fairway lie, 10 feet off, 30 feet total may be a 5. This has helped me hit more solid chips and realistic expectations on my chips, also developing different shots that get closer. Do you do the same and does the practice tracking help your game?

We should create a stupid shot statistic. The R (risk) factor. I miss greens for many reasons, but often, even from the fairway, I get too cute and try to hit a shot that I have a low percentage of executing. Actually, I can't think of one instance the cute shot has led to a lower score. I went OB in a good round (81 with an 8 on a 5) because I was tying to drive to a long distance and narrow landing spot to avoid water and have a shot at birdie. Instead it cost me 3 strokes and a round in the 70's because I didn't lay up like usual and just take my par. 1 R factor = +3 strokes. On average, I bet an R factor shot costs most of us +1.5 shots per hole increasing as the handicap of the player increases. The hero shot from the trees, trying to carry water, overswinging to hit a green in 2, the ill fated shot at the pin on a short side flag, the perfect bunker shot instead of just getting out. I am going to track the R factors in my next round.

I use The GRINT app and it gives me charts and trends and per hole analysis. I feel like a total nerd but love looking at it.

I am a 12 handicap on my course. I am hitting 45% of fairways, 35% of greens, get up and down at 40%, 31 putts per round, 2 penalty strokes per round. Average score is 83 on a par 71. My best is 77 with only 2 fairways hit, but 11 greens. Looking at it, I have to hit more greens, especially on par 3's. I also have to eliminate the OB or water ball that bites me each round, though my course is narrow and on a lake so the water and OB are in play on some holes with a reasonable miss. Putting is aided by the up and down, but I miss every stinking birdie putt. How important is it to improve on these numbers, or am I wasting mental energy trying to track and improve these numbers? Is improvement more a matter of playing each shot and striking it well with a good decision on club and shot type? Or, do I need to think fairway, green, 2 putt on every hole? For instance, on some greens and pins, I would rather miss the green and chip than have a 40 footer. Not good for the stats, but better for me mentally. Just wondered what folks thought, especially if you evaluate your rounds outside of the basic stats.

I have shot a 77. Since, I have shot 80,81,81,83,86. Shot 81 yesterday with an ob on par 5 that led to a mental meltdown and an 8. I hit 7 GIR and missed all of my birdie putts. Two stopped an inch away from falling in. My overall game was good enough, even with the mishits (fairway mishit lead to a double as well) to end up at 79. Mentally, I think I tighten up just trying to get that birdie. The 77 featured only one birdie out of 11 GIR. Geez.... I need to learn to putt.

Shot 81 (par 71, Emerald Bay in Bullard, TX is home course). 38 front was a personal best, 43 back was very disappointing. Par first and bogey on next three holes, which is pretty good for me because they are hard, narrrow, blind dog leg par 4's and a short par 3 where I struggle to hit the green. Then on 5 hit best drive ever on the hole and started a string of 6 straight pars missing birdie chances by inches which was frustrating. Then came 11 and 12. Mishit in fairway from 120 on 11 put me in tough spot for chip in rough that led to a double. Then par 5 12 with water encroaching, should have laid up off tee, but tried to go to left landing spot and went OB. Tree trouble resulted in a triple. Shot the wheels right off a career round. Played two over the rest of the way including a 20 yard drive on a par three that the recovery shot landed 15 feet, missed putt, but good bogey given mishit. Parred 17 and 18 which are very tough finishing holes, missed birdie on both by 2 inches. 0 birds, 11 pars, 5 bogeys, 1 double, 1 snowman. 81 with a snowman was pretty good. Drove the ball great, approaches were better (12 fairways or first cut, 7 gir). Needed to chip and putt better. A lot better.

I can definately feel the hardness. I guess I like that better because my old club was very mushhy. Interesting about what the bro got, he also used to use the Titleist. Good idea on the buy/sell.

What do you like? They were free and better than what I was using, but I have not hit many different drivers. I played with them and hit them well with about an extra 20 yards of distance, but I like to know what others like.