mdl

Hey Taylor, You need to update your handicap, or is your country club like the easiest course in the country? Cause I count 10 of your last 25 scores between 74 and 78, which means you'd have to be playing like a 67/100 course or something to have a 12.5 index...

I've been playing for real for about 2 years (I bought my clubs about 6 years ago, $200 for PW-Driver, but only played the par 3 exec course and then dropped it for a long time). I broke 100 almost instantly. Broke 90 within 2-3 months. Now my best is 81, which I did in back to back rounds this month, once with 4 straight 3-putt bogeys...

Two stories. 1) Older guy I play with sometimes told he once got hit, in the balls, while standing BEHIND a buddy! The guy came down so steep and topped it off the back side of his driver and bounced it backwards into my friends' nuts! 2) My little brother was a college baseball player, is 6'6", and very stubborn and arrogant in his sporting endeavors. I've worn him down, and this event helped, but for a long time I couldn't convince him that just taking a baseball swing and pretending the ball is a low fastball, middle-out, and trying to drive it to center field, as HARD as possible, was not a good approach on the golf course. He'd just stand up there hacking as hard as he could, and his one or two 320-340 drives that made it on or near the fairway would be his "proof" that he just needed to keep his own approach and eventually he'd get consistency. Anyway, we're on the 11th, which is a long par 4 (450+ from the blues), and the 8th green is up a hill to our left. He winds way up and absolutely mashes the ball, about 45* left (he's a lefty). There's a woman sitting in her cart on our side of the 8th green, maybe 40 yards away. We're literally just barely trying to start yelling "fore" when it ricochets off her or her cart. We're not sure at first, then she slumps out the side of the cart. Oh shit... Turns out he ball glanced off her chest just below her collar bone, leaving a nasty welt, and then absolutely shattered her wrist. She was a doctor and was sure it was broken. She was pretty cool about it actually, was most pissed cause she was hitting a 40 through 8, which was really good for her...

I had this trouble with my Titleist 585h when I first got it too. Play around with ball position and opening the face. Mine is actually not closed, but when I really need it to go straight I've actually had the most consistency delofting it a bit and setting up and hitting it with my hands in front a bit.

Right on. Everyone always talks about mats as if they're possessed by the devil. Off of good, new mats, I've found it's not that hard to feel when I didn't make contact the way I want, even if the mat helped straighten out my shot and made it look pretty nice. Like you said, you just have to figure out how they work and feel compared to what you'll be hitting off on the course!

I feel the same way. That one (or zero) hole(s) where you make the low-percentage shot doesn't make up for the 2, or 4, or 8 strokes you give away trying the shot you can't hit a high percentage with on other holes. For me, the two things were: 1) We all love those eagle putts or the super short pitches in on the 3rd shot in a par 5, but hitting a 3 wood when you're in big trouble more than 10 yards off in even one direction is a bad play even at my current level, which is generally about mid 80s+ 2) If you spend your time at the range working on the basic mechanics and so only really have one shape (your natural one) that's high percentage, don't hope you magically will be able to fade your 2nd shot into the green on that dog leg hole where you ended up on the wrong side of the fairway. Club down, go for as close a pitch as you can get with your natural shape, and hope for the up and down. Actually, there's a third: 3) Don't putt with your hands! Get your speed from the weight of the pendulum and keep your hands and forearms out of it. Cutting out the three or four putts 8-10 feet past the whole has taken a couple strokes off my score, and has let me work more on reading the green and keeping a repeatable stroke so I can try to put it exactly where I'm aiming.

I said 11-30%, but that's cause I'd guess 10-15% really. There's two short par 5s on my home course that play about that length, and I haven't been keeping good stats until recently but I'd say I've played there maybe 15-20 times in the last year and had 4 eagle putts...

Congrats! I had my best round ever last week too, after playing 4 times in a week and half, and hitting 100-150 balls all the rest of those days but the Sunday in there. It was an 81, with my best nine ever on the back. Eight pars with one double on 11, with two birdie putts lipped out to tap ins and one that stopped a half roll from going in! Ironically, this was two days after I broke my driver. I hit my 3 wood 230-250, but the mishits end up at 200 with a second shot more often than not, while the mishits with the driver turn in to punch-outs or OB and hitting the provisional drive sitting 3. Course is 6,650 yds, and apparently I do better hitting 6i-8i on the good tee shots and 4i or 19* hybrib on worse tee shots than I do with PW-8i on the good tee shots and a 4i punch through the trees on the bad ones!

Yeah this is right on. I broke my driver (Taylormade quad, 10.5* from a few years back) last week, and hit my best round ever two days later only hitting my 3w (15*) off the tee. I put it 230-250, 260 or so here and there. The only times it hurt me were on the two 420+ par 4s at my home course. One of those I put hybrid just off the fringe after one of my 230 yd 3 woods, but the other I hit skulled and pushed an ugle 5 iron from 180+, and took a 6 which was the only blemish on the back nine, 8 pars and that double... Other than those kind of holes, the 3 wood is so much better for me. The slightly off shots end up a bit short and usually on or near the fairway, instead of well into the trees or OB like with the driver. Even on the par 5s, I can hit my hybrid consistently 200-210, so 240 with the 3 wood and then 200 with the hybrid puts me inside 150 on anything but a super long tour style over 600 yard par 5.

Along with being too close, you're also very hunched over. Notice the picture of Tiger above (or any pro). His back is basically a straight line from his hips to the base of his neck (which tilts down just a bit so he can see the ball!). Then look at yourself. Your lower back is almost straight up and down and then you have a very serious hunch in your upper back. Straightening that out will force you to get a better distance from the ball...

This is the big one for me. I'm pretty long off the tee, so unless I'm having a horrible day with the driver, I rarely need more than a 7i on the second shot. But there's two shortish par 5s on my home course, and I've started saving myself a stroke or three a round by doing exactly what you said. I'll roll a drive to 270-280, then think sweet, if I mash my 19 degree hybrid I can roll this right by the bunker and up on the green. Then half my "good" shots are in the sand and the misses get me in WAY more trouble than if I'd hit a 6i or 7i and had a nice half wedge to try to get close enough to have a real birdie putt.

I agree it's chipping. Obviously if you're a 20 cause you've got pretty good ball striking with the irons and play well around the green but are inconsistent and massively slice the driver half the time or something, then yes, killing the slice, consistency on the long game would be it. But the biggest difference for me is chipping and distance control on the putts. I'll still often end up just off the fairway from the tee with a tree in my way, and have to knock something down or just aim left or right of the green, or just hit a decent second shot but push it or pull it a few degrees, and end up say 20-40 yards out. That used to be 4 strokes from there more often than not for me, but especially in the 20 to 30 yard range now, I expect to put the ball inside 10-15 feet, with real chance at saving par. Of course I still miss the 15 footer a good amount, but now I'm pissed about the double on that hole instead of just hoping for only the bogey. Never putting more than 4 feet past the hole also helps there, hence the putting distance control.

I agree that grass is definitely preferable. That said, my only available ranges have (frequently replaced) mats, and I've found that yes, the mat will mask fat shots in the ball flight, but for me at least, I can feel and hear when I'm hitting it fat on the mat, so it's nice to see the ball go straight with 90% distance and all, but I know when the ball flight wouldn't look like that on the course. I also haven't found that the mats stear me away from getting a good divot, though I started naturally towards the picker end of things and not the heavy divot end of things. When I'm hitting well I get a light to medium divot, despite practicing my irons on mats. That said, I've never gotten to hit my 3 days a week on the range off of grass, week in and week out, so maybe I'd be better if I did...

This is almost exactly what I do, except I've decided that when my average round is below 80, then I'll move back to the blues (on my own). The funny thing is, I'm a pretty long hitter, and I ALWAYS hit it further than the guys I get paired with who insist on the blues, and often hit it further and win by 5-10 strokes, yet I'm the one who wants to play the whites...

Sorry I was unclear. I wasn't saying that I was surprised that my fades come back more in general, but that they come back to the left. Some days they'll come back and to the right like I would expect, but some days they'll come back and to the left, which I would only expect on a draw. Am I getting some sort of weird double movement or something?

I hate my inconsistency, both from round to round and within a round. I have so many rounds where I'll be like 3 to 5 over on 14 of the holes, and then have like 3 doubles and a triple, usually bunched together over a 6 hole stretch or so. I also am inconsistent with parts of my game. Some days I'll drive lights out, then hit like 2 greens with my second shot, but still come in okay cause I'll paly well around the greend. Then the next round I'll drive like crap, hit my irons on the money, and putt mediocre. If I could put the like top 50% in each category together in the same rounds, I could start thinking of breaking 80, but it just won't happen...

My mishits tend to be push fades. I keep my left arm close to the body to start the backswing and my right elbow in so I don't come over the top, but on my mishits I tend to go from, fire the hips first, to, yank the left shoulder out, and then I come across the ball with the face open a bit, start it close to the target, but then fade it well off target. My question is, on a so-so day, when I'm fading it but not that much, and starting it on target, so I'm ending up on the far right side of a lot of greens, some days I'll still bring it back well left of the divot. I get pretty good spin (despite my crappy ass irons), so it usually comes back with anything less than a 5 iron, but how can a serious fade spin back like I was drawing it?

Thanks for pointing out the sandbagging thing guys. I never understood why the hell you would give people strokes (especially ones like me who tend to play lots of pars, good number or bogeys, and a few explosions in a typical round) on their handicap. Makes sens that guys who play lots of local tourneys would want to put a few 9s on their rounds to keep the handicap up...

That's the worst golf lie story I've ever heard! I mean, I know guys who claim 5 to 10 strokes better than their true average (like their handicap is from their best 5-10 rounds ever, not their most recent best 10 out of 20, or whatever the formula is... can't remember). But being a 130 shooter claiming scratch is pretty rich. And I feel the good with some friends, bad with others. I think I play to the level of those I'm with. My best golf buddy is probably 3-4 strokes better than me (he's an 80-82 from the blues at mid-toughness courses, I'm more 83-87). But my brother was in town recently and suddenly I'm a mid 90s player for two rounds. Then the three of us play together at the end of my brother's visit and I put up an 84 again...

Yeah if you're surprised about a ball that's OB at a public course, not in a tourney, I would not feel bad at all about just playing it stroke and distance and dropping. Yeah, if you think there's a good chance you're OB when you hit your shot, take a provisional. Don't listen to the angry folks here who seem to think the real way to play by the rules as anything but a sub-5 handicapper is to hit a provisional every time you don't land it on the green or fairway, cause only terrible rule-breaking losers would ever assume that ball into the trees is findable, only to have it turn out it went further sideways than you thought and went OB, then dare not walk back 250 yards to the group waiting on the tee to take your 3rd. You know if that player were in the group behind you they'd LOVE it that you took two drives and two second shots on most holes, then shuttled back and forth from one side of the hole to the other when you either could or could not find the first shot

Best ever 82. Put up a nice 83 the other day with disappointing bogey bogey finish on two par 5's that I've birdied pretty regularly in the past...

Yeah I'm a mid handicapper and I've only recently sort of happened upon working the ball a bit just while at the range, but I'm still at a point where I'd rather take my stock swing every time out on the course cause I don't have the ball striking consistency to mix things up. I keep saying that I'll move back to the blues/blacks and worry about working the ball when I start breaking 80 regularly...

Again the equation between the fact that one might take a mulligan every once in a while with cheating yourself. Like I said before, I follow the rules once I've decided to play a ball, exactly cause I'm out there for the challenge. But there's no other sport quite like golf, where you've paid what (for me) is a lot of money to get to play. If I decided to be a really serious bowler or pole vaulter or something, and say I bowled a really horrible game and was frustrated with my trajectory or spin or something. Well I could go pay another $4 and do it all over again. Or say I'm really into martial arts. If I'm working on some move or whatever and I have a bad session. Well I can just keep on going, pretty much exactly the same as ever, until I'm happy about it. You don't get to do that in golf. What if my favorite hole is a tricky par 4 on 15, I've been more inconsistent off the tee than I'd like that day, so I haven't gotten to play many good/fun approach shots, and I tighten up and snap hook a ball. Why does it bother people so much if I want to take another drive so maybe this time through the hole will be fun, and I don't have to wait 2 weeks and pay another $50 to get to play my favorite hole again? With the handicap, I think I'll just delete it. I had put my scores into golflink just to assess my own development, and if the number that came back was 1 or 1.5 points lower than it would have been if I played as if I was always in a tourney, that's not something I care about. The motivation was to track relative improvement, not have some number I could feel proud of.

My point is exactly that you see me taking my game seriously as an athlete and the fact that I'm not an anal stickler for the rules when I'm just out challenging myself for fun as evidence that I'm confused. I'm seeming quite pissed, which I shouldn't. This particular quirk of golfing culture just really gets to me. I'm not whining about the fact that if you take a mulligan you can't claim that score as a legit round. I just don't give a shit about whether the USGA would certify my round for an official handicap. I'm not making what would clearly be a quite anemic argument about how my handicap score is as legit as yours. I just don't accept your paradigm at all. I'm out there to challenge myself. You don't like how I challenge myself. That's fine. You're free to not like it that way, and never do it yourself. But as long as I'm not out there bragging about a handicap or my last couple scores when you think some of them weren't legit, what's it to you? The holier than thou, you're not even playing golf attitude is what bothers me. The baseball analogies don't really work cause it's a team sport. If I were entering tournaments where my chance of winning were affected by my handicap, then I'd be a stickler.

No I'm very aware of the math. I looked up the exact formula just recently actually cause my handicap index is something like 6 months old, whenever golflink told me I had to start paying, and I just started coding up a little script so I could keep my own database of personal scoring stats. In the past I've only kept strokes, putts, and fairways, but if I get my code up I think I'll start adding things like up and downs from inside X yardage, from bunkers, drives right/left, what club I hit for my approach, etc. The point is, I'm very aware that handicap isn't exactly average strokes over par. But that's not a bad approximation. And the point remains that your bitter, condescending tone, is only further evidence for the type of attitude common among serious golfers that tires me. I played baseball in college, I'm a serious athlete. I go to the range two or three times a week, though haven't had time for a full 18 more than twice a month so far this year. I have recently finally started really feeling comfortable and natural, like I used to with my baseball swing, and have been shifting attention to my short game to make the next step. What I'm saying is, I take my game seriously, and the whole set of assumptions behind your type's idea of treating golf like it's some holy order and if you're not pretending you have the a PGA official breathing down your neck during every shot of every round you play and dare to ever try a drive a second time you're sullying the faith and bringing dishonor on the sport and deserve nothing but ridicule yourself is just pathetic and tiresome.