marklemcd

First, I am not going to be able to take lessons due to time and expense not really fitting the family priority right now. So that said, I really like what I've read about Stack and Tilt and if I wanted to start to teach it to myself, what would be the first element of the new swing to work on? I know the book has instructions, but I'm wondering what people who have done it would say?

My advice: Stop worrying about your handicap and focus on hitting the ball well consistently. We have the same handicap, I used to focus obsessively on each revision, it doesn't help. Yesterday I played and shot 97, I am not happy with a 97. At the same time I'm working on ensuring I'm in the right posture at address, that's a weakness of mine. When I'm not in the right posture I chunk a lot and lose distance on everything. Well, despite the score yesterday I mostly did a good job of getting in the right posture, I made solid contact most of the day. My misses were good misses (pushing right off the tee, but a push not slice and it still went 250 yards). I shot 97 because I had some penalties at inopportune times and recovered poorly. But my focus is on the posture and solid contact. Those were mostly there yesterday, so despite the score I walked away mostly satisfied. The scoring (and thus handicap) will come as I improve these fundamentals. But scoring will not be there every round or improve linearly. Just focus on one thing and be satisfied as it improves. Handicap will follow.

I have had this same problem, but I found that the more warm up I would do the worse it would be. I think what used to happen is I'd hit balls before and then all my flaws would get in my head. So now I hit maybe 10 balls with my 9 iron just to loosen up and then do maybe 3-4 with my driver just to get a full range of motion. After that I chip a few and then putt a few just to get a feel. Then I play. Now, I'm not a great golfer so take that for what it's worth, but I do much better the first couple holes than I used to.

I'm working on learning what parallel left really feels like. The reason I'm working on this is when I go to a lesson and am aimed and aligned correctly I hit the ball cleanly and have a much more consistent swing. When I go to the range on my own I notice that I hit the ball all over the place. On my last trip to the range I had a guy video a couple swings from behind and I noticed I was really inconsistent in my alignment, often with my clubface square to the target and my body aligned right. It's no wonder I struggle with an in to out swing. What I'm doing for this is when I go to the range I'm picking a flag to hit to and using alignment rods to ensure I am aligned properly and really noting the feel, and photoing it to see later so I can recreate that feeling in a mirror or at my next range session.

This is good advice, and something I'm going to work on implementing this weekend when I play with my usual group. It's cliche to think one shot at a time, but in essence that's what you seem to be saying...

The nice thing about not being a super long hitter is that it's very rare that I can go for a par 5 in two. But that said I used to do like you and try to get as close as I could but also like you learned that is sometimes a fools errand. Now I always try to set my 3rd shot up to be a 9 iron to the green as that's my favorite club to hit. Lots more pars on par 5s doing that.

My bag: Driver 3 wood 3 hybrid 5 hybrid 4 iron 5 iron 6 iron 7 iron 8 iron 9 iron PW GW SW Putter I like having the 5 hybrid and 5 iron even though the go about the same distance. I prefer the 5 iron on a par 3 off the tee or if I need to approach a green from 170 out. I like the hybrid 5 from the rough on a par 5 if I want the ball to go about 170 but don't mind some roll out. I don't like the 5 hybrid approaching a green due to said roll out.

Hi everyone, this is the first thread I've started. Given where my game is right now I generally try to play bogey golf. Or rather, I'm always on the tee box thinking of par but I'm happy with a bogey most holes and I try to manage the course to keep the blow ups out of play. Given that, I know I'm capable of runs where I put together good golf, and they tend to happen when my concentration seems locked in. For example, I usually miss right by pushing (not slicing) the ball when I am not concentrating, whereas I hit a slight draw when I am locked in, and the difference is usually because I swing fast when not concentrating. So yesterday I played the first 5 holes 9 over par, then the next 5 at even par (birdie, par, par, bogey, par) and ended up shooting 91. 91 is really typical for me. Now the request: What are your tips for maintaining concentration when on the course?

Shot a 93 today on the same course as last Sunday (88). Biggest difference between the 2 rounds was I struggled to chip close enough to have easy 1 putts. Overall I'm playing well right now for me, seem to be improving and getting tee to green is getting more consistent.

Isn't the answer to this question always yes?

This is actually a what I shot yesterday post. I played my local course that is a slope 126 and a 69.7 rating I think? Anyway, shot an 88 going 45/43 which is my best round since early June (I am playing right now to consider bogey as par). I got new irons in June and I'd say they are a little better than my capability (if you believe in stuff like that) and I've struggled a bit learning how to hit them. But I've seen my form coming back around and yesterday was a day where things were generally much better on the ball striking. I actually made 7 greens in regulation so I feel like this score is higher than it could/should have been. I had three 3 putts for bogey, 2 of which were inside 20 feet on the first put. That's an easy couple strokes right there. But I also had a couple holes where I got in trouble and scrambled well to save bogey, so maybe 88 is about where I should have been.

I play most often at Peacock Gap here in San Rafael, mostly out of convenience since it's about 2 miles away. It's not a memorable 18, but it's decent enough. I play a lot on Ocean at Olympic since I have a friend who is a member (it kills me) and I play Presidio often with friends who live in the city. I'd really like to find more people to play with in all though.

I first played golf as a teen and then through college (not competitively). I gave it up after college because I couldn't afford it once I had to pay for it for a bit while I established myself in my career. Started playing again 17 months ago and have completely fallen in love with the sport but found it completely different picking it up at 34 years old after a 12 year hiatus (and 55 pounds lighter than in college). I've worked my way from 28 handicap on January 1 this year to as low as a 19.2 though it's currently at 22. I struggled for a bit when I got new irons to replace the used set gifted to me by a friend. Here's my gear if you're interested: DR: Nike VRS 3 Wood: Nike SQ Dyno 3H: Taylormade Burner Rescue 5H: Taylormade Burner Rescue Irons 4-PW: Mizuno HP-M4 SW: An old Calloway X GW: No brand, just a crappy 52 degree that I bought for 20 bucks PT: Odyssey dual force 2 The main thing I'm working on right now is a Steady Head. It's the key to me hitting what is decent for me. When it's steady, solid contact with a 7 iron going 155-160. When I don't it's chunk city. I'm making progress, played 18 this morning without a single chunk and shot 88.

This is my first post though I've been reading and lurking for a few months. I'm basically a middle manager who sits at a desk all day but if you want to get fancy about it I lead a couple teams doing operations analytics for a large internet company. Exciting stuff...