Hellstorm

Yeah, I remember the flag stick one.....but I didn't see it happen in person. The turtle was a complete surprise.

For what it's worth, I have a 3 hybrid that I can hit about 230 off the tee and its perfect for finding tight fairways and on holes where there is something that forces hitting less than driver. I like the hybrid aspect more than the fairway wood because you can hit them out of the rough better and for me its a more consistent swing.

As crazy as that sounds, I have seen the opposite. I was playing with somebody who hit a nice shot to the green only to have it hit a turtle and ricochet 25 yards sideways. Worst luck I have ever seen.

I've told this story many times but never here. I was golfing with a friend on a course we play quite regularly. I happened to hit my ball way right of the green and I knew it was between the cart path and the woods, which is roughly a 30 yard gap. i left the cart path and ventured through the rough to find the ball and I was looking down in the grass trying to spot the ball. Well, apparently there used to be some bunkers or something over there that I didn't know about and they were more just holes in the ground at this point. So, i'm looking and not watching where I was going and I drove right into one of the holes. My buddy and I flew out the front of the cart and there were golf clubs and equipment all over the place. I turned around to look at the cart and the impact broke the front axle or something because the front tires were pretty close to the back tires. I had to make the call of shame to the clubhouse and tell them what happened and they sent somebody out. I was completely embarrassed and afraid I was going to have to buy a new golf cart. When the guy came out, he told me I was the 4th or 5th person to do the same exact thing in a month. Anyway, next spring we went back and when we got to that hole, the old bunkers were filled in and the ground was flat all the way around.

I was going to say that too.....he is for sure OCD. Good call

You guys will make a thread about anything.

I have played the Chrome Soft from Callaway and I was very impressed with it. It is much softer than I am used to playing a ProV1x but the distance is fantastic and the feel around the greens is great.....plus its a few bucks cheaper than other tour balls.

The Snell balls are solid, although I can only admit to playing a sleeve of the tour balls. I just skip all the hassle of picking the better cheap ball and buy tour balls off the lost ball sites for the same price as the new lesser quality balls.

I would argue that in golf, it has more to do with focus and execution than it does with luck. Let's face it, we have all had days where we are more focused and play better golf than other days. I think that hyper focused play builds confidence and increases execution in the golf swing. Making one putt builds confidence in the stroke and it builds from there. Same thing with basketball and other sports...you make a few baskets and the confidence grows and makes the rim look bigger. I also think there is luck involved with golf as well, but not as it relates to putting. We have all got some lucky bounces off a tree back into the fairway and things like that, but nothing that would apply to putting. That's just my two cents on it.

I was all excited when I saw the TST outing but I can't do anything on Saturday mornings because of coaching soccer. I would have been there for the TST thing no questions asked. That deal at Olde Stonewall is every Sunday though during NFL games until their offseason rates start on Oct. 8th. Good luck at the TST outing, looks like it will be a great time.

Trying to get a little group together to play Olde Stonewall in Elwood City PA on Sept.20th in the afternoon. The green fee is $75 and is worth every penny of it. If we have enough people we will have a little skins game too. If you are in Eastern Ohio or Western PA this is a must play course. Let me know if you are interested in playing.

I keep notes too about different stuff. It always helps to go back and see the notes when you are struggling with a special shot or shot shape.

Personally, I do everything I can to make the range shots more difficult. I play little games and work slowly taking time between each shot. I think it helps take the range game to the course more consistently.

That's pretty accurate. I do find myself struggling with swing thoughts, especially when my confidence is lacking. I think the whole alignment thing is valid as well. I just dont feel all that comfortable over the ball. I am going to focus on this and focus on my takeaway because I think that's where things are going bad.

I've been playing pretty much the same clubs for a few years. I switched out a 4 wood for a 3 hybrid and I have changed driver shafts but overall everything is the same. I am going to just have to buckle down and go back to basics and start over. The rest of my game is in good shape, its the trouble on the tee boxes thats killing me.

I'm only 40 and I dont think age is really affecting my game. When I hit the ball well it is going as far as it ever has. I live just up the road in Youngstown so I have the same golf season as you do. This year was especially difficult to get started because of all the rain and the courses being in such bad shape. I do get range time but I have been trying to play more to play my way back into some confidence.

These are all good points. I know the pace of improvement will slow down the lower the score gets but I am going backwards.....that's the rough part. I feel like I am right there though. I have been hitting more 3 woods off the tee and that goes ok most of the time but then for whatever reason I go back to the driver and hit some OB. One of these days I will figure it out.

I have worked on getting a routine but in all honesty, if I do have one, its terribly erratic to the point that its not a routine. I do really need to buckle down and develop a good routine.

I took some lessons and even went to a golf school at Greenbrier to help get to where I am now but nothing this year. The lessons have been incredible for my game and I have used them to help specific parts of my game. Last year when I was driving well, I struggled to get on the greens anywhere near the hole and was consistently scrambling for bogeys. Took the wedge lesson and worked on that a lot this spring and I am hitting a lot more greens and even getting some shots close. The problem now is that I am punching out to get that wedge shot. I think I will try to video some swings and see if I can get them posted. Thanks for the comments.

This is my 4th season as a regular golfer and I have improved greatly every year until this one. I went from 100s, to 90s and I was regularly in the 80s and even broke 80 a few times last year. It seems like every time I tighten up an area of my game that is lacking, another area gets into trouble. This year, its my driving accuracy. I have not been able to hit anything in play and its ballooning my score every round I play. Has anybody else been in a season long slump and what did you do to get over it? I have lost confidence on the tee and I have been dedicating more range time to the driver but its not helping so far. The misses are both ways and its very frustrating. Do I need to change the way I practice? Do I just need to stick with it and try to gain back some confidence? Anything that anybody could add would be helpful. The drop in confidence is killing the mental game and its getting harder to concentrate on golf for 18 holes when things are going badly. Thanks

I do that to my buddy all the time. He looks at the balls I find and tries to lay claim to all the Bridgestone balls because that's what he buys. So if I throw him a rock flight and he knows I picked up a Bridgestone, he gives me some lip and calls me a cheap ba***rd.

I've got two 5 gallon buckets full of lost and found balls in my garage. I have been blessed with some vague immunity to poison ivy and one of my regular courses has two dog legs that everybody tries to cut and most never make it. Unfortunately for them, when the ball hits the tree and falls into the woods, there is a giant patch of poison ivy so nobody even really goes in to look for them. I can go in there and get 20 balls without even really trying. On a side note, I have lost a ball in the woods on a course, went there again and found my ball in a different set of woods. Somebody else found it and lost it. That ball has 9 lives for sure.

I would do this. Sounds like fun. I'll check things out and see if I can swing it.

I work in the steel industry, currently as an Process Optimization Engineer but I have been part of a galvanizing line as an operator and foreman for the last 14 years. Its always interesting and I actually enjoy my job most days. It feels good to go to work and produce something that people want. Its also nice to go to the driving range on my lunch break and hit some balls.