bweiss711

I'm back at it again for 2017. I did exactly NO work on my game over the winter and didn't swing a club a single time. But I'm actually encouraged by my start to the season so far. My first 18 holes this year weren't a total disaster, considering my first swings in almost 7 months took place on the practice tee 10 minutes before I teed off. I shot a 65 on the front, and 55 on the back. I've played two more 9 hole rounds, shot a 55 and 51. I'm very encouraged that I actually haven't forgotten any of the work I put in last summer improving my understanding of what swing mechanics are supposed to be, and all the "mental" reps i took over the winter seem to have actually helped those mechanics sink in. I've been very controlled with great tempo, and all my mishits are the exact same, and correctable on the course. If i can keep getting in practice consistently this summer, I'm very hopeful that by the end of this summer, I'll be posting mainly in the "Breaking 90" thread. I have a couple rounds planned for this holiday weekend, so hopefully im just as encouraged on Tuesday as I am right now.

My goal for 2017 is just to consistently strike the ball well. Or said another way I want to avoid the "Blow Up" holes where I have duff after duff on my way to the green. Since that will be hard to quantify, let's say the goal is to have more Pars or better than Triple Bogeys or worse.

It's cool to see you actually put some numbers to the inaccuracies. I believe the issue is that GG only uses its users' data to calculate strokes gained/lost. And I assume that most golfers do not edit their round afterwards and move the pin placement on each hole. I imagine this leads to the issues with putting you demonstrated here. Not sure what could be done about it.

Team U.S.A. will win 15 to 13 Phil Mickelson will win 4 points by going 4-1-0 Jordan Spieth will clinch the Ryder Cup for the U.S.A. by winning his match on the 16th hole. You can see my GAME GOLF profile here: https://www.gamegolf.com/player/bweiss711

Currently, I'm an unofficial 24.6. Next September, I'd love to be an official 16.5. My prediction is going to be 18.7 however.

Since I last posted here that I finally broke 100, I have a played a few more rounds. None of them were particularly great. Its almost like I said to myself, "Well you broke 100! You're good at golf now!" And I stopped practicing so diligently. I first played my local 9 hole course, which isn't particularly difficult, and couldn't hit the ball cleanly. Scored a 51, which is actually my worst score there this summer. The good news was that it was my first scorecard all summer which didn't have an 8 or worse on it. The next round was 18 holes, and the first nine we played was much of the same and not hitting the ball clean, getting myself in some trouble. Luckily, I parred the 2 par-3s to keep the score on the first nine holes at 52 and a shot to break 100. The second nine holes were much better, even though I only scored a 48 for an even 100 on the day. I actually met my intended goal as an improving golfer to have at least as many pars or better as doubles or worse. I had my first birdie of the year, 2 pars, 3 bogeys, 2 doubles, and an 11. The 11 was a freak hole where a wicked slice came out of nowhere and I hit 2 tee shots OB, and put my 6th stroke in the water after hitting a fat wedge out of the rough. My last round was another 9 holes at a course by work. I was cruising along with 3 pars through 7 holes. But then that wicked slice appeared again on the 8th and 9th holes and I finished with two 8s and a 53. So, after that slice appeared again, I've gotten back to solid practice this week, and had a great range session yesterday. I focused on making sure my feet and shoulders were square to my line with the ball in the middle of my stance, and the slice was nowhere to be found. I plan to play my local 9 hole again tomorrow morning, and then play 18 on Sunday at a course where I had my worst round of the summer. I'm really hoping that next week I'm posting about having my best score ever at the 9 hole course, and scoring another round under 100 on Sunday.

Congrats @grantisadrummer! Well done!

Age: 33 Height: 5-9 Where are you from: Chicago, IL How long have you been playing: 18 years in total, 2 months "seriously" Best Score: 96 a couple weeks ago Favorite club in the bag: 8 iron Golf Books / DVD's that have helped you: Ben Hogan's Five Lessons Where do you play: Chicago Park District/Forest Preserve courses and other courses in far NW Chicago suburbs Best courses you've played so far: Don't remember the names, but played a bunch of nice courses in Myrtle Beach several years ago Things you enjoy most about golf: Two things: 1) Planning a shot and actually executing it 2) Getting out on the course with my buddies, drinking beer for a few hours away from the wife and kids (although I love them dearly). Goals for 2017: Make more pars or better than doubles or worse.

I'll usually book hot rates from golf now. But, if there isn't a hot rate available at the time i'd like to play, i'll use the website to compare available tee times from all the courses in the area. Then, for the tee times that work for me, ill check those courses' websites to see if its any cheaper. I've actually saved almost $20 in the past by booking directly through the course instead of golf now.

Only you can determine what's the best thing to do with your money. But, I would recommend looking at the preowned websites if you want some nice clubs for less money. I've been very happy with a couple purchases from Calloway Preowned, and you can get length and lie adjusted on the Calloway branded preowned clubs. Not sure if the TaylorMade website offers the same customization or not on their preowned clubs.

I have the TaylorMade Speedblades. The pitching wedge looks just like the 8 and 9 irons... cavity back without the "speed pocket" of the 3i-7i. The AW is also Speedblade branded, but is muscle backed. Looks like a totally different club. So I agree that it wasn't just about loft in this instance. I believe the club design contributed to more than a 5* difference in clubs would suggest. My wedges are Cleveland 588 RTX cavity back wedges, so they also just feel more natural to me for full swings. After swapping out my 3W and the Speedblade AW for the Cleveland 48* and 52*, my gaps feel much more comfortable. PW (45*) ~ 125 yds 48* ~ 105 yds 52* ~ 90 yds 56* ~ 75 yds 60* ~ 60 yds

Not to be the off-topic police, but this thread wasn't intended to be about golfing with terrible golfers. Its about golfing with people who's objective was not to go out and play the game of golf with the intention of doing their best. Instead, their objective is purely social, and they just happen to be having that social experience out on the course. I've played with plenty of bad golfers, myself included, but as long as they are striving to play the game, and score their best, they are still playing golf. They are playing it poorly, but they are still playing the game. In the scenario i described in the OP, I would have been much less thrown off if he just played poorly and was 20+ strokes over par after 9 holes. But instead, he wasn't even trying.

I think the simplest solution is #1. Fill your 30 yard gap with a new wedge. But, that is probably dependent on what will come out of your bag. I recently took out my 50* AW, and replaced it with a 48* and 52* so i can get better gapping between my 45* pitching wedge (~125) and that 50* AW (~95). But that was an easy decision for me since I don't carry any hybrids, and don't ever play my 3W. This means I'm carrying 5 wedges, but so what. It what works for me and I have a club to swing fully and comfortably from as close as 60 yards in. (Also, I think of my PW as more of a 10 iron than a wedge.) If i ever find that I need to add the 3W back to my bag, its probably my 60* LW that will find its way back into the corner of the garage because filling those gaps between 80 and 125 yards has already proved to be beneficial. The other solution would be for you to go with #4 if you feel like there isn't a club you want to take out of the bag to fit in a new wedge. But you could always learn to hit new shots regardless of whether you carry another wedge or not.

Its not so much I was blaming anyone for my lack of ability to focus on my game. It had just found myself in an unfamiliar situation. The thing is, I have never played a truly competitive round of golf. I don't keep an official handicap, and I've never played in a tournament. I play golf because I enjoy attempting to be good at it. Its fun for me. And a vast majority of the times I have played, its been with other people who also are trying to actually play the game. Even at work scrambles, and you get the lady from accounting who has never picked up a club in her life, the collective goal of the group is still to hit as many good golf shots as we can to get our lowest possible score. We have fun and don't take it so seriously, but we are still playing golf. Most of my rounds are played with my buddies or my dad. When I'm out with my friends, and we have a few more beers than our wives probably realize, we are still playing golf. The social experience is being out there with each other, watching each other succeed or fail at hitting good shots. Playing the game still comes first. Some of my favorite rounds are getting to play with my dad. I love that he got me to fall in love with this game, and we get to spend that time together on the golf course. But again, the shared experience is playing golf together, thinking through each shot, and trying our best to score well. I guess I had just never played with someone who's objective on the golf course was to socialize first and not even care at all about playing the game of golf. I'd still sign up to play with him again. It just caught me off guard.

I also agree with everyone who says good is a relative term to oneself. A scratch golfer who shoots an 85 will say he had a horrible day. A golfer who struggles to break 100 who shoots an 85 will say he had a phenomenal day. However, if you had to make good a non-relative term in the grand scheme of all golfers, I've always kind of looked at it like this: (and this stems from somewhere, i wish i could dig it up, that stated much more than 50% of golfers don't break 100 when they play.) 120+ or worse than double and a half bogey golf is horrible golf 110-120 or between double and double and a half bogey golf is bad golf 100-110 or between bogey and a half and double bogey golf is average golf 90-100 or between bogey and bogey and a half golf is ok golf 80-90 or better than bogey golf is good golf <80 is great golf scratch-ish or better is professional golf