hackerandloveit

Swing path. My short game is decent. I kill myself sometimes and sometimes I help myself out a lot. My putting is pretty solid. My irons are pretty accurate. The biggest thing that kills me is my swing path. I have been fighting coming over the top forever. I have two pinched nerves and a partial disk removed in my lower back which starts to effect my game. When my back starts getting tight the over the top swing comes back and it kills me. When I am swinging well I can shoot pretty well. I have a 12.7 handicap right now but am starting to get to the point of pushing over the hump and working that down. Been there for quite awhile. So, if I could get my swing path to stay consistent then I feel I could really make a huge improvement.

I have a pair and love them. I also live in Phoenix and unless you get on a green in the first 5 minutes after the sprinklers turn off, you will usually not even leave a ball mark with a 100 yard lob shot into a green.(Sarcasm) Seriously, our greens here are incredibly hard compared to playing other parts of the state or country. The dry air just saps all moisture out of the greens pretty quick keeping them very stiff unless extremely well maintained. So I have not seen any issues with my shoes yet. I also have not paid any attention specificly for issues related to them on greens and will now.

Wow. Clear! And the thread is revived. Lol. Did you conduct a search and not realize the date? No worries, this happens quite often, just curious how you found this one.

I went through a similar issue when I was rebuilding my swing. I was having major issues with slicing the ball. I was getting decent distance but I was coming over the top way to much with my hands open. As I worked on straightening out my swing I shortened it up, stopped all body movement and worked on swing path. I eventually got to where I was hitting the ball straight with a very slight draw or fade each time. I sacrificed a lot of distance to achieve this though. As I started working on getting the power back into the swing I had a period of about 4 to 5 months where my swing just got up and took a vacation on me. I was all over the place. It was getting really bad. Horrible contact, inconsistent swing path (sometimes inside out with a big draw and then over the top with a huge slice.) I stuck with it and kept practicing. I eventually got it straightened out and have now shot two rounds under 80 for the first time in my life. Both in the last month. Before that the lowest I was able to achieve was 82 quite a few times. Stick with it and just keep practicing. It takes something like 3k balls to get a swing locked into muscle memory.

Good point.

I will be going to San Diego Monday through Friday 4th of July week. I plan on hitting Torrey pines that week. I have a question for people with the resident card. Your cost is $61 a round. Do you get the same rate for a guest? If so, is there anybody that wants to play a round that week for free? I will pay for your round. $121 for two people vs $183 for one just makes more sense. And it would give me somebody to play with. I will have time one round while I'm there so I want to make sure it counts. Torrey pines is on my list of courses to play.

Signed up a long time ago then sort of dropped off as i focused on new job and such. Played golf more but this forum dropped out of my regular rotation for some reason. Came back the other day and got back into it.

Sounds like a really cool app. I will definitely spread the word to those that I know. My golfing network really goes as far as one guy. My best friend and golf coach. I have lots of other friends that play golf but most of them rarely play. I have played a grand total of two rounds in the last year where I was not playing with my regular partner. One of them I was out of state at my annual Army buddy meet up and the other was a random weekday I happened to be off. We both work in the same office with cubes next to each other so it just works out. Since there are two of us and we are always willing to meet/play with other people I am going to look into it. And it's downloaded. I will check it out and get the word out. Very cool. Edit: Ok, one thing that would be nice is ability to choose which days of the week. I usually golf on mondays so weekday was the best answer. That leaves it open a lot for people looking for somebody to play on say, a Thursday.

So I have been playing golf for about 14 years now. Playing with a desire to truly improve beyond slicing two streets off the course for about 5 to 6 years. I used to not give a damn, I just wanted to go out and have fun. Which I was, but I wanted to lower my score and get better. So thanks to a neighbor/best friend/personal golf coach I have managed to drop my handicap to 12.3 according to the AGA. (Arizona Golf Association). I peeked though around 82. I could never seem to get lower than that number. My biggest issue was I would play well, often 2 to 4 strokes over on the front nine only to blow up on the back. And it usually came on 2 or 3 holes where I just fell apart. I let my mechanics get sloppy and things went down hill. I was getting to tired at the end of the round. I have not been as active as I used to due to bad back.(I know, pulling a Tiger here.) Pinched nerves and a partially removed disc makes the back stiff. I have learned to play around that for the most part though. Just not as flexible as I used to be. So I went out the other day for a nice morning round of golf on a weekday off. The range was closed due to the picker being broken, so it was off to the first tee with not a single warm up shot. I usually hit a medium to large bucket before playing. I played with gentlemen and his elderly father. They were both very relaxed and took their time playing. The entire day I felt more relaxed on the course than I ever have. I felt in the zone almost every shot. Each shot I hit I felt like it was a nice easy warm up shot, except it went as far as normal, and sometimes a little farther. I realized after finishing with a 78 that I wasn't tired. I hit way to many balls before playing and was killing myself. By the time I got to the back nine my back was always stiff as a board and I was worn out. I play again saturday for our club outing and am excited to see how it goes. I plan on not warming up before hand with a bunch of balls. Some chipping and thats about it. I think I may have finally figured out what my major issue was.

This is a great idea and I am in.

Some courses are just built to play slow it seems. We have one course here in the Phoenix area that I used to play quite regularly. Even on off days with very few people on the course, it played slow. Never completed a round under 4 1/2 hours. My and my golfing partner can regularly complete a round in 2 1/2 hours by ourselves and not rushing the round at all. We played a twilight round there and at 5 1/2 hours, we still had 4 holes to go when it was to dark to complete. I wrote a letter the course pro and he gave our foursome a free round of golf. He never offered it, just comped our round when we came in next. Said we would get afternoon rate, and ended up giving us the round free. Course still plays slow as molasses. Now, as far as slow players on normal courses, I will pull up to them and ask to play through. If they refuse, then it is time to stay tied to their rear end the rest of the round. I don't pay my money to have my round ruined by some idiot who thinks they are the most important person on the course. I have no problem pulling up right behind their carts fast as they are trying to tee off for the next hole. When they get mad, I inform them that pace of play should have had them already driving away from the tee box and approaching their next shots when we arrived on the tee box. For us to hit into a green, and then put out after they left was more than enough time for them to hit 4 tee shots and be on their way.

I live in Surprise Arizona. I rarely ever see walkers. Summer, no way would I want to walk. To hot to enjoy the game. Yeah, I can walk miles a day at work outside with gear on, but I don't enjoy it. I have a mister bottle I use inside the cart and ride during the summers here. Would love to walk, did it in Jamaica and loved it. Difference between us and the pro's. They have somebody carry their bags for them. Back just doesn't hold up to walking and carry/push my clubs. Thinking about getting one of those self propelled bag carts. That might work. Expensive though.

Can the score cards be uploaded to a website like ushandicap?

I picked normal or average. Mainly because there are a few holes that are narrow, but most are roughly 30 yards across. Some courses around here can get really wide open. Granite Falls North course near me is about the most wide open course I have played. Some holes are wide as they are long. Par 4's that is. Not really, but they sure seem like it sometimes. I didn't count that course as I only play it a few times a year.

Out of all the times I have played by myself, a few were paired with others. Each time the group I was playing with were good people and had no problems. Very, very seldom do I see walkers around here. Do see a lot of drinkers though. I don't think I could play with a bunch of strangers that their sole purprose is to get blasted on the course. I would have no problem leaving a group behind and taking off ahead if I new the course was clear and I could get well ahead and play completely solo. I love playing by myself.

Well, first, welcome to the sand trap. Second. If you want to get longer, get some lessons. Do you have a big or even slight slice? There are lots of things you can do to hit longer. What is your average drive distance now? If you want to get better and hit longer, get some lessons.

Well, I live in Arizona. The land of lets build a golf course and line it with houses in every neighborhood. That being said, I have definitely hit my share of houses. No broken windows yet. I have broken glass though. Playing what I guess I would call one of my home courses, I shanked a tee shot on a slight dog leg right par 5. The course winds through a retirement trailer park, and it is peak retiree time. Duck hooked my shot into some RV's on the left side of the fairway and heard a loud crack. Not a good feeling when most of these RV's are the 100 to 200 or more thousand style. Rode up, and the couple is standing out on the patio holding a small metal and glass lamp that holds a candle that my ball just creamed. Chat with the owners a few minutes and apologize repeatedly. Ended up the lady does stained glass as a hobby at the club house and said she will just make a new piece of glass. I gave her money for the glass, which she just said would go as a donation to the stained glass club. Drove away with a giant sigh of relief and a positive interaction. My parents live on the 17th green of a golf course. They get the occasional ball, but you have to really shank it to hit their house. Most of the balls they get end up in the yard or pool. One individual decided though that he was having a bad day. He threw the ball up in the air and hit it like a baseball with his putter, well, he hit it. Ball ended up going straight into their glass sliding door. My mom said she ran out and yelled at them. Of course group of guys, not going to let a woman yell at them, they laugh and go to drive away. Guy finally walked back over feeling bad and promised to fix it. Gave my mom a phone number and my dad called the guy up. Never thought he would actually answer, but he did, and had some guys come buy and replace the door.

I have a few. Carry a handgun and rifle at work. Love shooting them, and always carry. Never know when an idiot is going to decide your the next target. Better to be the sheep dog than the sheep. No "area" is perfectly safe. Maybe just more expensive and cleaner, thats all.

Well, it is hard to narrow down. 1. Greens. I am no where near PGA quality, so when I finally do get to the green to start putting for double bogey, well kept greens make the hole. If the greens are in excellent shape, then the putting experience will be good. Good greens leave me with a more positive feeling walking away from a hole, even if I scored bad. 2. Tee times or booking. Nothing frustrates me more than showing up at a course and getting called to the tee box and there are 3 groups waiting to tee off. When this happens, they are usually calling the group behind as well. WTF! This turns off the whole round for me. So, showing up and knowing that the course is full, but the bookings account for proper spacing, and its managed that way makes for a better experience. I will play at a not so well maintained course if the price is right and the tee times are managed well. My home course is this way. Not so great on the growing grass side, but good on managing time. 3. Tee boxes. First shot on a hole is by far the most important. Having a good surface to hit off of is huge.

I started playing from the tips this year. It definitely changed the way I approached the game. I was not a big hitter and was fine with it, as I was giving up distance for accuracy from the middle or closer tees. I was still forced to use lower irons and my accuracy with those was off. My golfing buddy forced me to move back to the tips, which made me focus on the long game. I came to realize that putting good and chipping well didn't matter if you are chipping for par or bogie. Finally working out the whole game and making it come to together. I played the white tees the other day since the twosome we played with chose those tees. Wow. My distance has really worked come back, and I found myself having to go back to the bag on some of the tees to put away the driver. Got used to walking up with it on every par 4 and 5, I would have put myself in trouble. Play smart and score well is what I have been trying to do. Play a round from the front tees after doing the tips for awhile and it starts to mess with you like it did on the move to the tips.

Living in the Arizona desert has its pluses, and minuses of course. Guaranteed to be a golf course almost every square mile it seems. I live in surprise and have 5 courses at 1 1/2 miles and closer. This tends to keep rates competitive and always have a stable of courses to play to change up the game play. Downside, it is the desert. Summers are obviously hot, but rates are amazing. Problem is, you can't water greens enough to keep them soft enough. They turn to concrete during the summers. The nicer courses do a better job though of maintaining the courses for summer play. Newer thing at least for my area, is the morning shot gun start. This is in my opinion, the only way to run a course when its hot out. Get all our people out right away in the morning, when everybody can enjoy the early round. There is only a few of us crazy ones that will go out and play in the afternoons. Just played a normally 80 to 90 dollar course this morning for 35. Not bad at all and they did the shotgun start.

My screwed up sense of humor, thats all. I don't play in any tournaments as of right now. May in future, but trying to fix the swing right now. 700 balls. Holy crap. What is the guy trying to do? Start his own store. Should have pushed him in to "help" him retrieve more.

Peeves in no particular order: 1. Ball marks 2. The golfers who think they own the course. 3. Those golfers who think every rule in the book has to be followed to the t. These are the worst, yet the most fun. Last I checked, I pay to play, not get paid to play. If the crappy course I can afford to play has dead dirt spots all over it, or the ball rolls into the gravel, I may choose to play the foot wedge. If they don't like it, they can take their game and become a professional. Or stop playing the crappy courses. I refuse to damage my old worn our clubs. They need all the help they can get. lol. I say most fun, especially when I use a foot wedge for nothing more than to get the guy upset. It's a wonder I haven't been punched in the face yet. 4. People who get on forums and complain about spelling or grammer, yet go out and vote for the same politicians.

Never played a round with the headphones in. Never really thought of it. Maybe when I go to the range next I will try it. Play with my buddy as a twosome most of the time. If it is just the two of us, one of us turns our phones on Pandora and lets it play in the cart the whole round. If we play with anybody else, we turn it off. I have noticed I play much better when I have music going in the background. Helps relax me. We even have a set of the small battery operated speakers. If I paid money to join a club and have them ban my phone on the course, we would have a problem. I use my phone for GPS and stat tracking. The courses I play are usually on the cheaper side as I can't see spending 70 to a 100 bucks for a round of golf. 20 to 40 is about right for me, maybe up to 50 if its a nice course.