bones75

I played a double at Crossings at Carlsbad this weekend. 2nd round i played from the whites randomly just to join w the 3 ppl i got paired with. 1st round 91 from blues (played poorly), 2nd round 79 from whites (only 6k yards). This is an example of some long time concerns ive had w handicaps and which tees i play.

My dad plays with a guy who shoots mid 80s every saturday. His swing is a mess. Like his head moves up, down, back, forward, inside-out, upside down, and then he closes his eyes and makes great contact. he's 70 and i figure he's just been doing it for 40 years and learned to time things out perfectly. I don't have a video. Any vids out there of good scorers with crazy (not just unconventional) swings?

Just read most of thread, first time actually looking at the event. I thought it was just a random tournament for TSTers. I'm skeptical that I can get time to participate, but I will bring it up w/ my better half to see if there's even a chance. This thing looks like a blast. Really fantastic event you guys put on @iacas and @mvmac!

Would love to, but my this golf trip is typically the 1 weekend I get off per year from family duties. I hope it's still going when my little ones are older. That said, I am thinking along the same lines, and look to join some basic (1-day) tournaments in my area to keep me motivated. Haven't done those kinda things in almost 10 years. I fear this can sound badly, but I also think golf is like perfect for my age / lifestyle. Like I can no longer be pretty "great" at basketball at my age, but I can still be pretty "great" at golf. Something I can still be a "baller" in, yet low impact enough where I am not performance limited by my joints or my vertical.

I never really thought of this before. It does seem to be much more unique to golf than to other sports. I like the thought a lot :)

This may seem a stoopid sounding topic, and isn't exactly pointed... but my friend's experience in my other thread (https://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/99619-over-under-on-improvement-in-1-month/) as well as my own current experience made me think about our "golf motivation" again. Me and my friends are all mid 40's+ now, have all gotten the "golf bug" and we've all gotten out of it at some points (willingly or unwillingly because of life). That said, I've recently gotten back on, as well as others close to me because we have an annual golf trip coming up. It's amazing how focused you can get in golf. Not just in making time, but in how you play and practice. If you look at an average range session or round from me 6 months ago, compared to now, the difference in focus and "playing/practicing with a purpose" is just staggering. My mom took up golf in her 60's as a thing to do. She would tell me her teacher would laugh at how fast she hit balls on the range. Like all she was trying to do was get through the bucket asap and say to herself: "things to do today: practice golf: Done!". I would laugh with her thinking she just wasn't really motivated to get better and going through the motions... but looking back at my own range sessions six months ago, I feel like I'm the pot calling the kettle black. Yet I still got my ass to the range back then, so obviously I was "mostivated" in some sense to get better. But it was just awful practice compared to now. I've improved dramatically (not as dramatic as my friend in the aforementioned thread) in the last 1-2 months. I only play/practice slightly more often than before, but I'm doing drills on the range, focusing on my routine at the course, etc... This is just an open thought post looking for shared experiences. there's no mystery on why I'm so motivated right now (annual golf trip!), but I'm also kinda sad cuz I know after the trip I could just fall back to my usual ways. I can't even say I'm looking for a way to get more golf motivated for other parts of the year. I always have fun playing and trash talking on the course, and I'm okay w/ my life priorities, with "truly improving on golf" simply not a top one on the larger scale. But for non-golf-related careers, isn't that what it should be? Or maybe I am looking for a way to get more "golf motivated":... as I'm still impressed at how much I've improved the last month+, while investing almost the same amount of time in golf as I do usually. I can't see why this isn't generally the same as any other of life's endeavor (health, self improvement etc..), but like i said, I got the "golf bug" big time right now, so it's all I think about!

I've posted here in the past ranting about one of my closest friends that had the golf bug for 5+ years and wasn't improving. Some years he was playing 75+ rounds and couldn't break 100. The one summer he caved in and got lessons he improved by 10 strokes in like 2 months. For me personally, I wholeheartedly credit all my gains in golf towards my swing coach.

I still think it remains to be seen if he does it come game days, but it's a super fun bet for the group. It's possible he was sandbagging, but I don't think so personally. He also stopped playing in recent years because of other life factors that we all tracked. At the least, this was is an annual trip going on 7 years straight now, so I've witnessed his high 90's scores the last few years myself. Based on the info I gave, I think most people thinking he couldn't improve 10 strokes in a month was fair judgment, but for the folks on the trip that know the details (half of us are all good friends), it was actual a fair split on the bet (half of us believed he could improve, including me!). Two of his closest friends were the main ones betting big $ against him, but I think they did it half for encouragement, and he gladly took the action for motivation. He also lost a ton of $ the last few years on this annual trip, cuz no one wanted to give him strokes even though the 20 rounds used for his index stretched back over 4 years. So if he wins, we can't really cry foul.

@iacas Yea it's been nearly 4 weeks now, and the trip is on 4/6. He's between jobs and last last day was 3/1, so technically it will be a month and 4 day project for him. This is our group's new Dan Plan to follow, as he created a fb account and posts updates just on his progress. It's pretty fun to track. I rly screwed up the thing w/ the South course being in full maintenance mode, now have to find out everyone's flights and such to see what our other options are. May play Aviara (lpga kia classic course) or Maderas instead. This is off topic too, but if anyone has any opinions on them, feel free to share.

@klineka omw thanks so much! I just read the link. This was my responsibility as i planned the courses and live here... oops. I called when i booked it in Feb, and they told me something about maintenance, but the guy i talked to didn't give me make me feel it was that major (I thought maybe aeration and such). I will look into booking north course.

Update. Not sure yet if he'll win the bet, but progress can happen quickly if you're dedicated and getting back to a once good form. Trip is weekend after next. Progress: Since 3/1 when he left his last job, he's been played 2-3 times per week, taking lessons every week, on a workout schedule with his TPI guy, and been at the range on many of the other days. On his home course he is averaging ~83 the last 1.5 weeks (four rounds played at ~6800yds rated 72.3). One of the guys from the trip has played with him a few times and personally watched him go from shooting high 90s to low 80's over the last year (granted he only played a few times previous to getting back on the golf horse). His old index of 8-10 was comprised mostly of tournament scores, so if anything we think it would error on the high side. Not sure what this will translate for the trip as he's never played any of the courses, and with Torrey Pines South the last day which we'll play from blues (Taupe) at about 7000 yds. He's got almost $400 on the line now for the over/under on him, not to mention the other bets. I've got $60 on him personally. Super fun!

This post is more for people who count macro nutrients. So I've been training for about 7 weeks now for a golf trip in a few weeks (cardio and weight training). I've lost about 10lbs of fat and gained about 7lbs of muscle (got measured by my sports therapist when I started and again last week). The #'s are dramatic because I only started dieting and lifting again recently (noob fat losses and muscle gains). I'm a skinny guy, yet still put on a good deal of fat the last few years, so my regimen has been to undercalorie by about 400 per day, while getting proper macros, particularly protein where I target 180g per day. I'm 5'11" and only weigh 165, but after 7 weeks of weight training, I can (finally) squat my weight again. The thing is, my carb macro ratios are about 40% of my daily calories, and for the last 2-3 weeks, I've been noticeably fatigued when I went out to play goilf. One day my driver was like 40 yards shorter than normal, and I was clubbing up by 1-2 clubs on irons. I like my fat losses and muscle gain, and just wondering if my fatigue on the course may be caused by lack of glycogen (carb) loading? Should I not undercalorie the day before I play? and likewise the day(s) before I play, should I bump up my carb calories to 50% or even higher? Tbh, I'm not exactly sure why i'm so fatigued, as I'm 100% sure my body is stronger and in far better shape than previously.

I've had the same experience, and so has he. I took 9 months off once for an injury, was a 6-7 index, and first day back I played a difficult course (Pelican Hill in southern california). I was so mortified of not even making contact that I swung ridiculously easy. The result? I shot a 79 and was as long (if not longer) than I was before (blues, not tips tho). Just 1 pre-round range session and that's it in 9 months. He's had a bunch of similar stories too. That said, I agree that 3 rounds is a completely different story.

I never played baseball (past pony league) or hockey, but am surprised on responses based on one experience i had. Got paired up w/ 2 high schoolers one day, girl was on the boy's golf team, and the dude was on the baseball team (and looking to get d1 scouted, or so he said). I can't remember the details now, but the guy had only been on a golf course like once before in his life, although he hit the range a few times. He was carrying it well over 270 on avg i would say, with a few more that he crushed. He wasn't accurate, his irons were a mess, and he shot like 130+ prob, but i remember he was pin high (way left of green) on a straight 300 yard par 4 (carried a creek in front of the green that was about 270 out). Since then i always figured sluggers wld make good golfers.

So betting is closed. He's in it for $200 on his own. Prob not a fair bet, but he makes good coin and I think he's taking this as something to motivate. To answer a few questions, his short game was 100% his strength. Dude used to get up and down from anywhere. His long game is just ok, he was carrying prob about 230-240 last few years. And honestly, last few years he would still hit a lot of pars and some birds too, but his scorecard would also have a bunch of quad+'s. I swear last year he was hitting 5 from the teebox like at least once per round. So I bet with him, but it was more of me picking which team to root for. I figure in a month's time he'll at least be able to stop the 2-ob's from the tee mistake, which is 4 strokes right there. And the rest he can makeup with some improvements across the board.

lol. not just here but it's starting to favor the "under" in our group (more of us are thinking he'll shoot higher than 86). So he's now saying he'll cover any spread to keep the line at 86 and even money. He's probably in it $200 on his own now. He's motivated for sure now.

@iacas tx and tx!

@iacas idk wut i'm doing wrong, but can't seem to find a way to edit it. My intention was the over/under on "strokes of improvement", but i admit i made it overcomplicated for no reason.

I have a golf trip w/ 7 buddies in early april. One of the guys was like an 8-10 index from 2008-2013. Since then he's gradually stopped playing (like 2 outings in 2018), and shoots 96 on average for the last 2-3 years. He happens to have an entire month free right before our trip. He says he will (and i believe him) be playing or practicing that entire month. He thinks he can average 86 on the trip (10 strokes scoring avg improvement). This has quickly turned into huge action in our group. At least $500 already in play, and split evenly so far. He's late 40's, pretty athletic, and in great shape. We'll be playing Torrey Pines on the final round and 2 muni "easier scoring" courses before that. Any thought on where I should put my money? Half of me think it'll be ez for him to get back into his old form, and half of me thinks it'll be impossible. Don't expect u guys to have the right answers w/o knowing him or the details, but would be interested in any related stories you may have heard of.

Didnt think itd be so 1 sided, but certainly answers my question on what to do, so tx!

7 friends are meeting up in SD (i live here) in the spring for a weekend golf trip. We have agreed on a budget that everyone's on board with. 2 rounds on a saturday, one on Sunday. Pretty serious competition between us all, and we range from 6-14 in index. Would you rather go 3 rounds at a 3 star course, OR 2 rounds at a 2 star course, and final round at a 4-5 star course. For reference say a 1 star is a bad muni, and a 5 star is torrey pines. I don't want to get in specifics of what a X star course is exactly, so just generally. I'm in charge of picking the courses, and just curious what you people would enjoy most.

Not much was said here that wasn't already stated by TSTers. But was funny that this article was just posted. So if you wanna see a paid writer give his answer to the topic question, here ya go: https://www.golf.com/instruction/instructions-columns/2019/01/25/etiquetteist-swing-tips-golf-partners/

I made a poor joke once to a random guy i was paired with and since then i learned my lesson in ever going there. Was making a joke, but he misheard me and thought i was giving him a tip, and he immediately snapped back "I think Im a better golfer than you" (which wasnt true btw, at least on that day). Anywho, back to my original situ. The guy even remarked after his drive on the 1st tees went right, "Pushed that one..". And i was thinking to myself "i dont think uou did, thats exactly where you were lined up..." Ill prob stay the course and keep my trap shut, but still think i coulda helped that guy.

Tx for the poll. Thought about it but wasnt sure how i would word it. Im also curious what people would think/say in the situation in my original post.

Is unsolicited shot/swing advice always a no-no? I often see folks offer advice to people who are clearly beginners, particularly if they are young. But aside from that, is it always bad manners? Played with a guy today who was shooting ~100. Looked like he played at least semi frequently (a weekend warrior perhaps). He was clearly lining up way right, and was hitting way right all day. I dont think he was adjusting for a hook (or at least i didnt see a single hook/draw all day). If anything i saw him slice a few. I didnt say anything, but wanted to.