ProStuart

Thanks iacas - have you been admin here for many years? I think I recall seeing your name years ago! Yes, I do aim at different targets on the range and switching clubs - playing my course in my head is something new I've been trying. Wasn't sure what you meant on your 2nd paragraph 🙂 Here in the UK, most courses have just the 2 tees - yellow for "standard" play and "white" for competition play.

Thanks pganapathy - happy to entertain any potential suggestion as to whats going on but assuming you're right, any suggestions as to a fix?

Hi I don't post here very often (last time was years ago!) but feel I need some input from you guys on my game at the moment. I'm a 51 year old guy - go to the gym regularly and like to think I'm in pretty good shape. I started playing golf late in life - 20 odd years ago. Within 5 years, I was down to an 8 handicap. Back then I saved some stats on my average rounds 2001 - 104, 2002 - 96, 2003 - 88, 2004 - 84, 2005 - 81. Since 2005, my handicap gradually went up (having 3 kids, family life, work, etc.) so until COVID hit, my handicap was always around 10 or 11. Scroll forward to 2022 and my average for the last 12 months has been around 92-95 strokes with my index now at 14.6. I've been for lessons to check my fundamentals - as far as the pro is concerned, all looking pretty good. I've always played once a week on a Sunday at my home course all these years - with the occasional society days throughout the year. I play every week - rain or shine. Yes, I'm older now so I've lost some distance but I'm still hitting drives 230-240 and my 7 iron is still pretty much around the 150 mark. I've started buying all these training tools - elbow armbands, flat training balls, top of backswing angle check thingy. I've been going to the range 1-2 times a week trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong - of course 90% of the shots at the range are crushed at target. I've been chipping in my back garden (something I've never done!) too. Am I expecting too much? I had a game once but now when I go out, I don't feel confident at all - it's like I'm wondering where the next shot is going to end up all the time - whether that be with the driver or the putter. Any suggestions as to what next? I'm going on a golfing trip to Spain in 2 weeks with some buddies and want to have fun for a change! Thanks for reading. Stu

Here in the UK, now that the really cold weather has stopped for a while, it's just raining every day. I played at my course yesterday and had trouble on quite a few holes whereby I'm within chipping distance, I play my shot and see it die the moment it hits the green because of hidden water on the green. Other times, I'd try and flop it straight at the flag only to see it hit a non-waterlogged part of the green and see the ball run on for another 2-3 yds leaving me a tricky put for par. Do you just accept this is golf in the winter and getting within 5-6 shots of your handicap is a realistic goal or do you (like me) end up feeling frustrated at the end of the round? Stu

OK guys here goes..... I've always played golf once a week since starting the game when I was aged 28 (11 years go) 2 years ago my handicap was 7.7 I went through a grip change just over a year ago that totally screwed with my grip/swing but had to be done because of the horrible hook I'd developed (owing to an over-strong grip) It's taken just over a year to drill-in this new grip/swing. I have a handicap now of 9.1 I have 2 daughters aged 3 & 7 and a son who's 14 weeks old. I think I've shot my handicap maybe 4-5 times in the last year. A normal round seems to be going like this: bogey double bogey bogey double bogey straight par for the next 8 holes double bogey bogey birdie double bogey bogey par I've always typically arrived at the course, got my shoes on and walked straight onto the 1st tee, so last weekend I thought I'd hit a few balls on the practice range beforehand and a few putts on the practice green. My round went almost identical to the above in pattern but with a further 2 shots over handicap. The 5th-12th holes are not particularly easy at my course but my results seem to indicative otherwise. Has anyone gone through a remotely similar experience? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Any suggestions/tips/anything welcome :) Cheers Stu

It would be interesting to see how you guys coped playing here in the UK. The majority of courses over here have a 3 tee system - red for ladies, yellow for casual play and white for competition play. The higher end courses may have a blue tee but from my experience this is the minority. Whenever there's a monthly medal or stableford competition at my home club everyone is expected to play from the white tees - whether you can nail a drive 300+ straight down the middle or 100 forward and 200+ to the right/left. Makes for some loooooong days on qualifying rounds.......

Anybody got suggestions for alternative games to play as a 2 ball other than matchplay or strokeplay to mix things up a bit? A friend and I will be playing 36 holes as a 2 ball due to our other 2 friends dropping out. We'll both be playing off a handicap of 9 on this course: http://www.princesgolfclub.co.uk for the first time. Cheers Stu

Zeph, Can you elaborate on this point a little? What do you mean by "deep"? I barely get time to get out and play once a week, let alone have the time to make a video of my swing sadly....... Stu

Guys, Has anyone worked on changing their swing path from out-to-in to in-to-out? I'm in the process of trying to do just this and I'm struggling to get rid of that over the top move causing the out-to-in. I guess this is mainly because I've had the same swing for 10 years and changing my muscle memory is going to be tough. I've tried the following: - practice swings in slow motion - can get correct in-to-out path working - headcover next to ball angled on the correct path - imagining I'm trying to hit my right-hand trouser pocket on the downswing Trying any of the above at full swing speed or put a driver in my hand and this all goes out of the window!! What worked for you? Stu

Erik, Sorry, maybe I'm being a bit thick here, but can you clarify where you get the 0.0175 figure from? I've tried TAN(1), but that gives 1.557408. I understand that from the above example, the "1" is the 1* of angle, and the 155 is the distance in yards. Thanks Stu

Phew - too much maths for me - hence why I asked the question. Thanks for clarifying Erik. Stu

That's a good article Erik, but it still doesn't answer my question :) The table below is the closest to what I'm after, but I don't see how to extrapolate this data into what I'm looking for. The below shows that on an approach of 150 yds, you can be +/- 4.76* and still hit a green 25 yds wide. Does that mean a 1* open would be roughly +/- 5.25 yds (25 / 4.76) right and a 2* would be roughly +/- 10.5 yds right of target? What's the equation to use if my 7i goes 155yds instead of 150? Stu Appr. Width tan(θ) θ (+/-) ----- ----- ------ ------- 50 25 0.2500 14.04 75 25 0.1667 9.46 100 25 0.1250 7.13 115 25 0.1087 6.20 130 25 0.0962 5.49 150 25 0.0833 4.76 175 25 0.0714 4.09 200 25 0.0625 3.58 225 25 0.0556 3.18

This is probably a mathematical question rather than a golfing one, but here goes.... Assuming 7i straight carry distance is 150yds Assuming you're a righty if you hit a golf ball with a 7i and the golf face is open 1*, how many yards to the right will the ball land? If you're 2* open, is that distance doubled? Is there a standard equiation to apply here? Cheers Stu

I did a charity day in November 2008 - - teed off at 06:50 - finished at 08:30 - had the course to myself. Used a buggy for the rest of the day - teed off next at 08:45, finished at 10:30 - next round at 10:45, finished at 12:30 - next round at 12:45 finished at 14:30 - last round at 14:45 finished at 16:15 (barely able to see the ball due to fading light) 90 holes of golf in a single day - raised £1600 for Children in Need and had muscles aching the next day that I didn't know existed!!! Stu

Hey guys, has anyone had experience of making their irons more upright? I'm 6'3" and although I was fitted for my driver (standard length), I've never had my irons fitted. My pro advised that the toe should be slightly raised at address? He mentioned that as mine is level with the ground, I may occasionally be catching the toe on the ground and causing the clubface to slightly open at impact. Has anyone done this? Are there any downsides? Thanks Stu

Update to my progress.... NONE ..... this is the MOST frustrating thing I've ever tried in my life!!! I'm trying to drill the inside-out path by putting a ball 6-8 inches in front of my target ball on the inside by about a ball and a half. I'm then trying to ensure I do not hit the second ball at impact. I hit 120 balls last night - I can do this fine at 50% swing speed, but put me back to 80-90% and I hit the second ball every time!!!! Is this something in my subconcious that's stopping me performing this simple action? Is there going to be a "click" moment if I hit another 120, and another 120 and another 120..... Any feedback from others who may have gone through this would be truly appreciated...... Desperate......

Assuming I take the club away on the right path (ie. plenty of width and on the correct path), are you saying I could get into the correct plane by bringing my hands further in towards my body after say 2-3 feet of takeaway? It's obviously very difficult to visualise the correct path - do you know of any good images that show this? Stu

Hey all, Went for a lesson on Friday to see about my "power fade" and the pro tells me my swing path is out-to-in coming over the top, causing loss of distance, etc. I guess I already knew this but it was good to hear it confirmed. He advised that my takeaway was good and wide and that to get on the right downswing plane, I need to "drop" my hands at the top of the backswing to get in the slot for an in-to-out swing plane. I totally understand this concept and the reasons behind it. However, as I've had the same swing since I started 10 years ago, I'm struggling to implement the change. I can do it in slo-mo, but as soon as I go back to normal speed, I lose it. I've managed to get down to a 9 handicap with the same swing and the rest of my game is pretty good. Does anyone have any other tips for instilling this move into my muscle memory? Appreciated Stu

Oh the irony of it...... I saw the guy at the weekend to get fitted. He gets me to hit 10 drives using the launch monitor. He then tells me I'm hitting below centre on the driver and if I can hit a little higher on the clubface, it'll add 25 yds I've always hovered the driver at address and he suggested I ground the club instead Average of next 10 drives is 22yds longer than first 10. He then says he could build me a new driver, but it would be the same spec shaft in a different colour and the same spec head but a different make, but it wouldn't give me any better distance/control. So to sum up, I go for a driver fitting session and end up with a free golf lesson that adds 22 yds to my drives instead! Result!

Is this the guy: http://www.sevencanyons.com/weiskopf_golf.php If you do find him, get him to register on www.findyourgolfpro.com - then next time someone needs to find him, they'll be able to easily!!! Cheers Stu

I'm a 8.7 handicapper from the UK looking to buy a new driver this year. I'm not going to buy off the shelf as I want to get correctly fitted by an expert. I've found this guy on the web who is very close to where I live ( http://www.leeporter.eu/ ) and according to his site, it all looks good. His site mentions a lot of club manufacturers I've never heard of - Mitsubushi, Yoshitaka, Nakashima, Miura, KZG. Have you heard of these manufacturers before and if so, any feedback on the quality of their products? Thanks Stuart

If you do find a good pro, get them to register on www.findyourgolfpro.com then other golfers will be able to locate them based on your feedback. The PGA search is OK, but it won't tell you others feedback on the pros, how much they cost or a link to the pro's own website where you might find other useful information about them. Good luck!! Stuart

Late last year I went through a grip change back to neutral after discovering I'd gone too strong by a local professional. Ever since that change I've had to work on drilling in a "correct" swing rather than one using a very strong grip. I'm getting there - slowly - but getting there.... So, I'm looking to buy a new driver and I've found a professional fitter in my area who provides a custom fitting service for free (assuming you buy a club from him) - he uses the FlightScope out on the range so you can also see ball flight/shape, etc. The answer to my question seems to be obvious to me, but wanted to check what everyone thought - so, should I wait until I've drilled-in my swing BEFORE getting custom fitted or will it not matter so much? Appreciate any thoughts you might have. Stu

I started the game of golf when I was 30. That was 9 years ago and I've only ever played once a week. My handicap is 8.6 but I got down to a 7.7 at my lowest. So, yes it is possible, but only to a point - mine being a handicap of 8/9. I can't see myself ever getting below that unless I spent a lot more time on the range/on the course.