luchnia

That totally sucks big time. I was so close to considering CC for a fitting, but I read so much about the over the top pricing and decided when I am ready I will go back to a couple guys that are up front and ask straight away what your budget is and they work to fit the best possible equipment to your budget. They don't try to sell you anything that you do not need.

Shot 105 yesterday in a threesome with raining starting up on the back 9. I still won the round with that score. 🙂 I felt I was hitting really well with minimal mishits, but had too many trip bogies. I was soaked to the bone around the 11 hole. Water was dripping off my hat and was hard to see what I was doing. Putter felt like grease when I putted as I could not keep it dry enough. Drives were super nice and irons were pretty good. Had one hole that had 10 strokes, but came right back on the next hole and didn't lose it. After a nice drive from the Tee, I drove a nice 167 yd iron over the water on the 18th hole and chipped up to the green, but still wound up three putting. Just could not hold the putter straight. It was funny when we finished up the 18th hole and drove up to the clubhouse we were the only cars in the lot! That is dedication right there (or was it stupidity?)!

I study a number of different swings, yet I primarily focus on what might assist my swing the most. I don't swing like Moe. I wished I could even come close to such a solid straight swing. Some things from various swings don't work for me while other things do. The things that don't work I quickly discard them. I find that the ease of Moe Norman's swing and consistency and reducing all the "mind clutter" like Moe did has helped me greatly. In my opinion, I think Moe only maintained a couple of thoughts when swinging. Moe no doubt disproved many golf "theories" to ashes by his striking capability and he did this before all the fancy high tech equipment we have today. The camera would pan to where Moe was hitting and there would be a slew of balls in a fairly tight grouping. I find it fascinating even the pros of his time would stand around watching Moe for hours mesmerized by how he could simply hit the ball straight with any club for hours on end.

I tend to agree with this view. I have been debating fitting and since I have played about 40 rounds in total. With practice and rounds I have swung a club a lot this year and I am still not in what I would call a grooved swing. I do plan on some driver fitting and maybe some more coaching. If a good coach says go get fitted then I will probably do that.

So far there are two for last year because they happened back to back holes. 1) My buddy shot off the Tee on a par 3 that was around 167 yds. He shot the ball left which left him a short wedge shot. He chipped the ball and I saw it roll up on the green so I knew it was there somewhere. We looked and looked because the only thing we could think of was that it rolled too far. Finally as he walked by the hole he saw the ball in the cup! 2) The very next hole, he tee'd off and then I tee'd off. The hole was around 328. I hit a nice drive but was a tad right and landed just shy of the right side bunker. I could only chip up over the bunker using my lob wedge because of the flag position. I chipped the ball up and my buddy yelled that it landed and rolled in the hole!

Do any of you play the small town charity fundraising events. I am only referring to the small events that raise money for different causes. My buddy was expressing an interest in playing some small charity events. He usually shoots around 105-110 and I wasn't sure if that was a playable score for those type of events. The ones around here cost around 75 to maybe 150 per person. If you do play them, do they suck, or are they fun and worthwhile?

I just re-gripped my irons with MCC Plus 4 and wow did that make a difference in some of my iron shots especially in cold weather. My long iron grips were worn so bad and started slipping in my hands in the cold. With the new grips much better shots. Bad thing is I don't have any excuses for my bad shots now 🙂.

Yeah, that club should easily squeeze out 400+ yards a drive and always straight down the middle 😉

99 on Saturday from the whites and a WET course. 50 on front and 49 on back. It had rained most all night and part of the morning. Everywhere we walked was smushy had to be extra careful. Tee'd off with no practice shots at all. It was a fun round though. A few bad green approaches resulted in some three putts and one two shot bunker and some double-chips on the back nine. I think I was tiring down and I hacked some chips. Missed two birdies! Uggghhhh. Iron game was fairly solid with no topping. I did have a few chunked too much dirt before the ball, but I was purposely not going to top any balls. Two bad shots from the tee on the day, but the rest were pretty solid and made most fairways. No blow out holes. Had a nice par (almost birdied) on last hole over water which felt really nice. I counted 11 strokes that should have been avoided. Hindsight is torture!

To me this is a great question. If a weekend warrior wants to be fitted does he or she really need the super high-end stuff? Would not decent middle-of-the road equipment provide them good service? I went to one fitter to look at what I was doing with my driver because I was too wild with it and the first thing he asked me was how much do I want to spend, which I really appreciated. I told him the amount and he worked toward providing me a solution that would fit my budget. You can't beat that because he does not mislead you. I went out to the range and warmed up, then he came out and watched me swing some and we talked a bit. Next he went inside and did some shaft changing on some drivers and brought out three drivers and said hit each one these some. One of them was on the money for me at my stage of learning. He only charged me for the equipment and gave me a discount on top of that. From my opinion he did a good job for the amount of money I was spending. He also said I could come back later as my game improved and he would re-evaluate and trade-up if I wanted.

Thanks for you input. Concerning approach shots and tee shots, I would state maybe a bit of both. I do need to stat my notes so I can get good solid data. Not sure how much longer this decent weather will hold out for us. January in VA is usually much worse than it is and we have been able to get in a few games in the last two weeks. Maybe I can get in some more rounds and get some more info on what I am doing.

I do play pain-free and have no problem playing often if time permits. My hands never sting with my graphite shafts if I hit a bad shot which sometimes my buddy gets stung bad on a mis-hit.

I keep a small notebook on the course and while playing I make various notes about all my shots (plus I can remember most of my shots that cost me lost strokes) then I look over my notes to confirm my weak areas and determine what needs work the most. I then prioritize the items. When I can practice I work toward improving these areas. Right now in the winter when I can play, I play, and not able to put in as much practice time on my weak areas. My 3 putts during my last round were mostly on a few long putts that I was too short on. Most of the day I was on the money with two or less, but I had several that I shot short and could not make the second putt and had to pop in a short one. It still cost me three strokes on my game.

How much have you played while you were taking your lessons? Did you buy the fitted clubs and if so, how did that improve your game?

I have a CC about an hour away from me and was thinking of checking them out. We also have some other fitters in the area so one can pick their poison. I would like to get another opinion on my setup is why I was thinking of doing a fitting. I hear some say wait until you get a good swing down and then others say you need to go as soon as you can. Always so many different opinions out there.

I thought about his range session some yesterday and that I could not notice much improvement on the course but it made me think more about my game and the main things I think would benefit me more than anything. I have done some range practice and it does help me, but I am not sure to what extent it does. I believe it I focus on certain things it would be of greater benefit. Here are some things I think my game will see great improvement: Knowing solid yardages with all my clubs - sometimes I don't get this right and my game suffers. Work on fade/slice with driver some more, still get those occasionally when I don't swing through good (when not wanted). Overall I am getting closer to some light shot shaping now and I hit a few nice planned slices last round. Better consistency chipping/pitching, especially in difficult lies and bunker shots. I need to spend some serious time with this and I know without a doubt this will help. Also, not sure whether to focus more on one or two wedges, or all of them. I hit a few chips way over a few greens last round which is not my normal style. If anything I am usually a tad short which usually provides me a light chip, pitch, or put toward the hole. Overshooting greens on the courses I play reek havoc on my scores. Bring practice swing speed to the course with consistency - I can maintain high 80s to mid 90s in practice with no problem at all but I don't take that to the course. I think my course swings are around 85 with the occasional low 90s hit. There must be some safety zone that my brain locks into to not swing faster off the Tee box. Minimize three putts - I have improved greatly in this area, only have a few three putts during my last couple rounds

I agree. To me that many balls doesn't have purpose. I remember Moe Norman claimed to hit about 800 per day when he was 14 years old. I don't know if that is true or not. The videos of Moe certainly show massive baskets of balls being struck. My buddy did say he was there at the range most all day. He also said some guy helped him some while he was there with his driver and I will admit his drives were so much better during the round. All in all though, it did not seem to help him much overall. His game was still worse.

I believe we have to limit our expectations and seek for a level of satisfaction n the game, or we might be extremely disappointed. I, like you, have learned much last year and trying to schedule in as much golf as possible has been a challenge of its own. Many of us have lives to live and other obligations, yet we do love the game and it has a serious pull on us. No doubt it is expensive and you can spend a small fortune if you want. Buy this club, that club, lessons or not, get fitted or not, on and on it goes. You just have to draw a boundary line somewhere that you can be happy with. Lately I have been trying to determine what works best for me, whether that be range practice, course play, or simply hitting balls in my shop at home. In other words, what works the best for me in order to play the type of game I believe I can play. I really don't think my aim is that high at trying to stay in the 90s. I currently am still hovering around 100 to 105 with the occasional mid to high 90s game. Currently I think my aim is more at consistency in ball striking and knowing my yardages with each of my clubs better. I realize that those two things will assist my overall game, especially my level of satisfaction. I know I am improving yet my scores are barely indicating an improvement. On a side note, just a couple days ago a golfing buddy went to the range and hit about three buckets of balls and made an effort to make it purpose driven practice before the next day's game. Here is the thing. He played the next day and his score was worse than if he had not of gone to the range. I am thinking it did not help him at all. I had to work and did not get in any practice and I scored a few strokes better than my last outing.

I really hate it when a decent round turns into a waiting session that is that long. When I play I am always conscious of those in front and behind me and if I think I am slowing folks up behind me, I will give them an opportunity to play through if there is a gap in front of me.

I completely forgot about the shoes 🙂

I will take those scores any day!

To me there is certainly something to be said about what it feels like to hit what one considers a good shot. It might not be good by other's expectations, but it is satisfying. Kind of like as a kid hitting a baseball solid and how it felt or throwing a good pass in football. Maybe that is why we really like golf because we want that elusive feel good ball strike. BTW, I remembered when I was studying Moe Norman's swing last year that I had read that when he was 14 years old he hit on average 800 balls per day. No wonder his swing became machine-like. 🙂

Any bad shot is a bad shot! I hate all shots that don't achieve the intended purpose in a reasonable way. What I hate worse is when you are playing good and all of a sudden you roll up the tee hit a sweet drive, then top three balls and wind up with four shots trying to get to the green on a par 4 and you haven't even chipped up on the green yet. Now that is a destroyer of all that is good in ball striking. 🙂

This is where I am at too. Graphite in everything but wedges and putter. Some days I wonder, but others I really don't pay any attention to the differences. Although I wonder if I should go steel on my irons because sometimes the graphite iron shafts feels too light for me. Being an older golfer at 65, I thought maybe the graphite would be easier on my hands and arms which I think it is, yet I am not sure I am hitting my best with them. I am always a club up from my buddy to match yardage and yet I swing faster than he does most of the time. I may look into this a bit more during the winter before next spring.