Ongle

Well mine was kind of outrageous but not all that daring consider I didn't have any kind of score going. Playing my friend from colleges local course back home, 14th hole is a 340 something par 4, an almost 90 degree dogleg to the left. Decided to just hit as big a slice with the driver as I could. Seeing as if I just swing as hard as I can ihit a massive slice, I did just that and the ball took off straight before almost perfectly following the dogleg round the corner and out of sight. Friend played his 5 iron to the corner and as we rounded the corner there was my ball, front edge, 10 feet from the hole! Few footnotes are fairway was rock hard summer and drops maybe 25 feet from the corner down to the flag. But still, I dared to drive a par 4 green and succeed! 3 putted for a par.

So played a lovely local members course on Thursday. Got there nice and early, had a decent 20 mins on some practice chips and putts then a good warm up in the nets working up through the clubs. Got to the driver and had a few good swings, nothing out of the ordinary. But then 4th or 5th sounded a bit funny! Just presume hasn't caught them nice, even though felt pretty good. Then went to tee off on the par 5 1st, caught it a bit out the heal, a low slight right to left (being a lefty), but it sounded AWFUL! I remarked it almost sounded broken, when I look at the head and low and behold I have a big crack in the bottom of the face!!! WTF?! Pretty sure happened on one of the swings in the nets, but didn't hit anything other than the ball and the rubber tee, so not sure how this has happened? I'm not a club thrower or ground smasher, and I've only had the club 3 months! I honestly think this is a manufacturing fault as I've played maybe 8 rounds with it and been to range maybe 8 times as well. So does anyone think I have a case for getting a replacement From the online company I bought it from? I know 3 months is beyond the UK's sales of goods act, but would feel a bit pissed off if that was that. Has as anyone else had something like this? Does it look like a fault to you? sorry, sure I could have told that story without the essay!!! Btw it's an Adams Super speedline S black, so not a shit club although not a. Top of the range either to be fair.

Presumably not for the squirrel?

95 on local par 65 course. It is an extremely tight and hilly course but it was typical Ongle inconsistencies! 2 Pars 9 Bogies 3 DB Had 11 putts for par or better though and although only converted 2, feel I putted pretty well generally, but 3 putted 5 times for 37 total so obviously wasn't that good! Played on my own and felt I went downhill once I'd caught up a fourball who were so slow and not very good (says I!). They wouldn't wave me through and last 4-5 holes was waiting around and my own game fell away a fair bit. Overall wasn't unhappy with it as was persevering with swing changes and I must have had every bad, horrible lie you've ever seen.

Living in the UK I expect to play through winter. It'll get cold but a base layer, decent jacket, some mitts and a wolly hat and it'll be fine. As long as there isn't much wind, as I find wind chill brutal being skinny. Not until joining this forum did I appreciate for a lot of Americans golf has a season!

I have only had lessons from one guy and he has always given me more time than what I've paid for. Not necessarily by a lot but I'd consider it the decent thing to do. What is the point in after 30 mins saying "that's your lot!" If a guy is still struggling with grasping something? Ultimately that guy will probably leave thinking "well that wasn't very helpful" and might not return? My last lesson was more on developing my new swing and my hand position through it but at the end I was talking about lagging up long putts and how it was easily the worst part of my putting game. He had me wander over to the putting green and gave me 5-10 mins extra on some basics. They really helped and as a result I booked a few extra lessons to go over it in more detail. It's all part of being a good salesman, giving that little bit extra will normally reap the benefits in the long run as it builds a relationship better. Frankly I'd be surprised if any pro didn't do this?

The only thing with that is, that if you watch it down and get the line, depth perception is kind of irrelevant isn't it? Just walk up there on the line and you'll find it. You can feel how well it came off the face and you know how far you hit the club. This is something people like playing with me for (apart from my witty repartee!). I'm very good at judging where a ball will land whilst it's still in the air. 99 times out of 100 I'll call something as coming up short or long and it'll come down exactly where I said it would. If only that was an important aspect of golf, I wouldn't be shit!

You have to be really self absorbed/blinkered to act like that in front of a complete stranger! I often play by myself due to friends being busy/not liking golf or sometimes I just like being on my own and playing. It's a nice time for some quiet self reflection. I don't really like being paired up as it's a bit of a gamble. I've played some great rounds with some really nice people but have also been joined to a group who couldn't hack it beyond 40 yards. The funniest was playing with a friend and we had a guy ask to join us. He then proceeded to smoke weed most of the way round and give us scores that bore no resemblance to how many shots he took on the hole! This was typified by him having 5 shots at getting out of a green side bunker, failing, so picking the ball up and throwing it at the flag. It was a good throw to be fair, finishing only 1-2ft from the hole. He then asked if we'd give it to him?!!

I think you might be on to something here! Lots of good points in this thread. The one I personally can identify with most is "ready golf". I mentioned this in the pet peeves thread about the work colleague I sometimes play with (who I also mentioned above, Mr Worldofhisown) and he has a massive issue with "ready golf". We can get to a tee, 3 of us will tee off in turn, he's the last to go and instead of having ball/tee in hand, club selected and glove on, he'll start getting ready once it's his turn. It's SO frustrating. Another of his tricks is to stand in the middle of the green we've just completed, tun around and mentally count his shots along the hole! WTF, how can you not know what you're putting for, this what score you got? He'll then ask our scores, even with guys waiting to hit into the green! We have to almost drag him off. It's just rudeness, based deeply in a blinkered, self absorbed attitude. He's the kind of person that'd say: "I'm a good driver (car not golf), I've never caused a crash! I've seen a few happen in my read view mirror though!"

Most of you guys on here would probably list me as not very good, but I do have a sense of keeping up with play. Not all us crap players are slow; I think it comes down to the individual. One guy I play with is just in a world of his own, and unfortunately other players on the course simply don't come into his thinking! He is slow in life though too. I work with him and we'll play after work. He can literally take 3x as long to leave work, get changed, drive to the course, get his shit together and be on the first tee. It was getting so bad that one week we just teed off without him! He had to miss 2 holes to catch us up, even though we were a 3 ball and he was on his own. We see only a par 3 ahead at the start. Slow people make slow golfers!

No it's just a really hard game! There are no other sports out there where every playing arena is so different and with so many outside factors that can vary the outcome! Golf seems like it should be simple, it's just "hit the little ball into the hole!", only it's not simple, it's that variety of influences that helps make it so difficult, along with the fundamentals of trying to perfectly align a little flat bit of metal to a little ball at 100mph. I think the reason golf hooks people is because a.) there is no "perfect game" and b.) we are all capable, on any given day of hitting shots a top level professional would be proud of hitting! I've stuck a 200yrd 3i punched cut to 6in before! I've sunk monster double breaking 35ft putts too! And it's that which gets you out again; they might be lucky to come off considering you're handicap and a low % shot, but I've done it. So in my mind it's proved to me that I can play this game! The rest of the round might be crap, but it's those few great shots you play that make you believe and get you out for that next round. I know I'll never be a pro. Hell, I doubt I'll ever be a single figure handicap, but I'm gonna enjoy the challenge to see what I can do. And those great shots/holes along the way are what makes it all worth while.

I've actually started not keeping score. I tell my playing partners what I got, who will mark it down but I am really trying not to worry about what I shoot and just concentrate on each shot. As I say, just need to actually try and get to a point that I don't beat myself up if I hit a crap shot! As the duke of Wellington once said: "never reinforce failure!". Think I need to listen to that advice and just try to enjoy myself? You're right though, this is such a stupidly difficult game.

Well 6 hrs is just ludicrous! Hence why I gave up on my round Sunday, had visions of being out there 7 hours. When you're getting to a tee and there are a group on the green and 3 waiting it just destroys your concentration.

Since I started playing again 4-5 years ago I haven't played a driver so hit 2i off of every par 4/5. It's one of those weird ones where I have just got in the groove with it. Not sure if I'm doing myself any favours by hanging onto it, but just like it. Never got on board the hybrid bus, never tried one even. I know it sounds stupid but I like it that my bag is different to your average driver, 3w, 2 hybrids, 5-sw bag. Probably not helping my game? Lol. I can hit it good though (apart from recent dip where Pro has adjusted hand position on backswing and it's taking while to get used to) so I've kind of thought "why not stick with it?"

What an interesting idea for a thread. Jesus, where to start? Well actually I'm being very honest with myself these days, but it's taken a while. I always used to tell myself I had a good swing, because basically it looked quite nice and people I played with would often say to me: "...well you've got a nice swing!" So I convinced myself that I had a good swing, but then put my very average scoring down to a variety of excuses, or just flat out wondered why my friends would often shot lower than me even though their swings weren't as "pretty" as mine? Only now am I realising that those people saying "nice looking swing!" Weren't actually looking at the mechanics of my swing, or more to the point they didn't know what they were looking at. As for nowadays, the biggest con I have is telling others that I just let bad shots wash over me and I just let them go when that's actually blatantly not true. I will often completely lose my head and after I hit a bad shot will try to compensate by hitting a ridiculously difficult shot, which invariably goes wrong, etc, etc. I then normally lose it for a few holes, play terribly before I do actually reach that point where I don't care, which is when I start playing better golf again. Not really sure how to address this other than just try to take my medicine and not think of the score?

It's really not fun when the thing you're doing most during a round is waiting. Had this on Sunday, played 9 holes of an intended 18 and gave up as it took us over 3 hours! Turns out there was a Japanese society day playing and they were a combination of brutally awful and brutally slow. I didn't see them as I was so far in the back log but a guy I chatted to afterwards was telling me they were pretty much all complete novice hackers, yet were putting in so much effort into each shot you'd think it was the Ryder Cup. He timed one of them as he waited on the tee for one of them to tee off and it was 40 secs between him addressing the ball and then starting his backswing. Apparently he was just completely stick still for 40 secs, then topped it 40 yards. As I pointed out, he should have stood there for 5 minutes.

What is flipping? I've always hit my irons high, but they don't lose distance as a result. Pro I spoke to said it was a very good ball flight. Only trouble is when it's very windy I have to play almost every shot way back in my stance and spend the entire round punching it around the course. Gets a bit boring!

Just strange when the guys I play with are taking 1 or 2 more clubs on par 3s, but get a driver in my hand and I'm normally hitting first on the next shot.

Oh yes, definitely the case. My 2i was always my go to club off the tee, so got pretty good with it. Have a blind, 211 yard par 3 at my local and swing nice and steady with the 2i and am always up at or around the green. That's the frustration with persevering with the driver during a round; it's far more erratic and I'm gaining minimal distance over the 2i (although even that is struggling at the moment due to swing changes). Went to range last night with friend of mine who plays off 11 but been as low as 3 and worked on keeping my head still and rotating hips around, rather than drawing them back too much. Was hitting it much more out the middle, felt nice. He was getting me to put a tad bit more weight into my back foot and splay my knees slightly, which really helped with the turn through. Absolutely murdered a couple, without really trying so think the distance will defo come back when I start getting it consistently out of the middle of the face.

In recent memory, I had one of around 330 on a 375yrd par 4 at a local municiple, however this particular hole is like a ski slope! Hole must be 150 ft below the tee?! I caught it out the heel and it still just ran and ran. Back when I was younger had a lovely hippo 3 wood, steel shaft thing I could crack. Hit a couple of 300 yrd greens in one, which is a great ego boast. Nowadays, it's a work in progress!

Yes I'm definitely losing distance, I used to hit a lovely steel shafted 3 wood (was the size of a driver to be fair!) 260-280 back when I was 18-20 years old, with the odd one popping over 300, yet now, with newer technology, etc. I doubt I get my driver over 230? Which is very frustrating as I can hit my 2i around 215 and am (or at least was!) far more consistent with it.

Many thanks guys, lots to work on!

Yeah I know, just I couldn't hit ANYTHING good, not even a short iron. Was fatting them all round! And swing thread was based on driver swing. Was laughable.

Played twilight after work, we got 14 holes in and shot a 93! :-( 10 on the opening par 3 set the tone, taking 4 to get out a bunker and then a 4 putt! Next hole, par 5 took a 9 having healed a drive so badly I almost hit myself! Took another 9 few holes later, then another 10 toward the end. Was simply shocking! Tried to implement a few tips I got from my "my swing" thread (If anyone else wants to comment on it it'd be appreciated) and it all went a bit wrong! Worst Ive played in a long time. Just couldn't find the middle of the club?! :-( Fats, slices, thins, you name it I had it. Pitched/chipped well though. Just nothing else!

Complete - ****ing - garbage