ChevDog

This morning, I sent in a request to GHIN (and my club) to deactivate and delete my account. I will no longer be posting scores for a handicap. I came to the realization this past weekend that scores and handicaps were ruining my enjoyment of the game. I never compete, nor play for money - so my handicap was useless anyway. I also deleted my Golfshot app. Going to go back to the old school method of writing my scores in pencil on a scorecard, then throwing it in the trash after the round. I hope that this will allow me to find joy in the game, as I would like to be able to continue playing. I have grown tired of being upset with myself almost every time I play. If I cannot figure out how to have fun regardless of the outcome - I'm going to start searching for a new hobby next year...

Just bumped up to 15.9 - from my best ever 15.5. Trying to get to 15.0 or better by the end of the season.

Update on my progress- #1 - Getting much better at this. I'm not quite where I want to be yet, but I have made solid progress in controlling negative emotions on the course. #2 - Currently at 18.4, trending to 18.0. I have about 5 weeks left in the handicap season, so I may be able to get into the 17's before the season closes. #3 - Not quite there yet. I broke 90 for the first time about two weeks ago, and have now had a string of scores around 90-93. I joined a private club last month, so I'm now playing a course with a much higher (+10) slope rating than when I set this goal, but I'm confident that I can get there. The only thing preventing it right now are the couple of blow up (triples and quads) that seem to creep into many of my rounds. Yesterday I shot a 93 that included two quads...

Broke 90 yesterday. Was invited to play by one of my suppliers. Shot an 87 from the whites at Camas Meadows, which was the lowest score of our foursome. I have never had the low score in a foursome before! I also bought and read LSW a few months ago. Actually read it several times now.

I finally did it!!! played at a relatively difficult course yesterday (132 slope) and shot an 87! Handicap is currently trending to 18.0. Now I just need to start doing this consistently...

After a lot of range time and a few more rounds, I think that I may have found my game again. Posted a very depressing 102 on Saturday that consisted of a horrific and ugly 54 on the front, then came back with a 46 on the back side. Spent more time on the range Sunday morning, then went out to shoot a 90, which got me fired up with a 40 on the back - my best 9 hole score ever! Handicap is now at 18.4, so I can say that I reached one of my goals for this year of becoming a bogey golfer. Now I just need to try and shoot that sub 90 round that I have been trying so hard for.

Looks like I lost more game than I thought during my 2 months off. Shot 97 both days this weekend. I had finally figured out my driver back in July/August and was hitting a lot of fairways. Whatever progress I had made is mostly gone. Missed a lot of fairways this weekend, and even resorted to teeing off with my 5 wood on a few holes just to keep the ball playable. I need to spend some time at the range this week to find my swing again.

My back is healed, and I have finally returned to the game! Shot a 90 at my local public course before joining a private club and promptly posting a 102 on a much more difficult track. Redeemed myself last night by scoring a 45 on a quick 9 after work. Have two more games scheduled for this weekend. I really want to post at least 1 round in the 80's before the handicap season ends in November!

Well, I’m going to try to get back at it tomorrow morning. Back is feeling better, and against my wife’s wishes, I have an 8:06 tee time. Hoping to at least be able to complete 18. Wish me luck!

Looks like my injury is worse than I thought, and my dream of being an 18 by year end (as well as breaking 90) is ruined. Went to the doctor for my back yesterday and was told I have Sciatica (pinched sciatic nerve). The pain now radiates through my butt and down my left leg to below the knee. Haven't had a full nights sleep since my last post. He told me that is is probably cause by a bulging or herniated disc, and that I cannot golf again until it has healed. Saw a physical therapist today and she gave me more bad news - she said that this type of injury typically takes 2-3 months to resolve 😞 Looks like I'll be lucky just to get back on the course before Thanksgiving. With the handicap season ending here on November 30th, it looks like I have achieved all that I am going to for the year. So bummed right now....

As I predicted above, my handicap trend went up slightly from 19.4 to 19.6 after this weekends rounds. Playing with a pinched nerve in my lower back that is causing some pretty severe pain radiating down my left leg. These physical issues did not help my game. Shot a 95 Saturday and 96 Sunday. Also played 9 with our wives Saturday afternoon and managed to pull off a respectable 45. I did have some good shots (280 yd 3 wood - GPS verified!), and hit 13 fairways on Sat, but the pain and lack of flexibility prevented me from putting it all together to meet my goal. I am going to take a week or two off from the game to heal, and hope to come back ready to shoot an 88!

Nice work! You are getting close! im playing my last two rounds of this cycle today and tomorrow. Current trend is 19.4, but I’m playing with a bad back, so it may go up instead of down...

Thanks! It has taken a lot of effort, time, and $ to get this far. Today was the 64th round I have played since Jan 1st - and that is not counting 9 hole rounds or the three best ball scrambles I have played in. I played 15 rounds in July alone - I wonder if my wife remembers what I look like?

Played 18 with some friends this morning. They convinced me to play the white/blue combo (70.6/133 & 6407 yds), which may still be a bit above my skill level since my good drives are averaging 234 over the last 5 rounds. Shot a 92, which is an 18.2 differential, so I think I can say I shot bogey golf today. 5 pars, 8 Bog, 3 Dbls, and 2 Triples. Hit 9 fairways, 3 GIR, and 7 NGIR. 32 putts. If I can just eliminate some penalties and triple bogeys, I'll have it! Playing a difficult private course tomorrow with my parents, then back to the home course Sunday. I am determined that I can get it done this weekend.

Absolutely better than a year ago. At this time last year my handicap was 34. Tomorrows revision will be 20.2. It has taken a tremendous effort (and $$$) to achieve this. Will I be better next year? I have every reason to believe so, but I expect the improvements to be much smaller. It is much easier to drop 14 strokes from a 34 than it will be to drop 14 from a 20!

Well, my golf weekend didn't quite go as planned. Played 6 rounds - 97, 97, 97, 90, 91, 97. My handicap will be 20.2 when the next revision comes out tomorrow. Got so close to finally breaking 90 and just missed it with a stupid triple bogey both times! I finally made some breakthroughs though. Put a new stiff shaft in my driver and once I got used to it, I was hitting 13 fairways. Made my longest drive ever at 288 (GPS verified), along with several at 250-260. My irons have improved as well. Hit 8 GIR in one round which was also a personal best. I am still hopefule that I will be able to get down to an 18 this season and break 90 at least once. Playing again Friday and Saturday to try again!

Yes - let's do it! My goal for this year is to get down to 18 and break 90 a few times.

I am currently in my second season of this maddening game. Got addicted last June after taking my first lessons, and haven't stopped playing since then. I started out shooting in the 120's, broke 100 in September, and was breaking 100 pretty regularly by the end of last year. Started this year at 29.1, and am currently at 21.2 (trending to 20.9). Yesterday was so close! 5 pars, 5 doubles, and 8 bogies - for an even 90. If I could have saved just ONE stroke somewhere, I would have done it! My driving was awful (31%), which led to only 2 GIR, but my chipping and putting (31 putts) helped to make up for that. I had a nice streak with my driver about a week or two ago where I was averaging about 75% of fairways hit. I went from fighting a slice, to a slight draw, to now hitting hooks and dead pulls. Need to spend some time at the range this week and see if I can figure that out before I head out of town on Friday for another golf weekend. Hoping to put down some good scores next weekend and get my HC below 20 - wish me luck!

I found the case on Amazon for about $5. Much of what I could find online was the same as what you reported. Crappy balls that the pros didn't want to use. I asked my dad about this ball, and he didn't remember buying any logo balls for the company, so it must have been purchased by my grandfather who passed away in 1980. This would make it from the 70's at the very latest.

Along these lines of ball ID, my mom found and gave me a logo ball from our family business (sold 30 years ago). It is a Park/Macgregor Magnum 100. I have been searching online to try and find an approximate age on it and have not been able to find anything. Do any of you know what year this might have been made? I'm guessing late 60's/early 70's.

Shot two of my best rounds over the holiday weekend - 93 on Saturday and 92 on Sunday! I may yet get my HC into the teens this year!

Thanks Hespeler - I will try some of those tips and thoughts during my next range session. I played 36 holes at two different courses yesterday, and decided to try hitting the driver a couple of times, with mixed results. My playing partner told me I was swinging too steep and when I tried to flatten it out and shorten my back swing I got a straight drive. Not very long though - about the same as my 3 wood. I think that I am swinging my driver much slower than my 3 wood because I lack confidence in it. I stated several posts back that I corrected the swing weight when I built the shorter shaft for my driver. After a bunch of reading online, I think that I screwed this up. I went from the stock 45.75" playing length down to 43", which is a reduction of 2.75". If 1" = 6 SW points @ 2 grams per point, I should have added 2.75 x 6 x 2 = 33 grams to the head to bring it back to the stock D3 rating. What I did was order an 18 gram head weight to replace the stock weight (I think it was supposed to be 8 grams). This means that I only added 10 grams, or 5 SW points back after cutting it down, which also means that it is currently 23 grams, or 11.5 SW points lighter than it should be. If this is correct, it is currently at about C2. Can someone more knowledgeable than me confirm this? I picked up a roll of lead tape today so that I can make the correction - I just want to make sure that my calculations are now correct. I have a feeling that having such a light swing weight is causing my inconsistency with this club. My 3 wood is the same length with a D3 SW, and I it it pretty well. I would like to try my driver at D3 and see how it feels.

Went to the range again today at lunch, and decided that there may not be that much difference between my performance on the range and on the course. After warming up and making a small tweak to my setup to get contact near the center of the face, I mapped out my "imaginary fairway" that I was trying to hit with every shot. I then hit 10 balls, taking note of whether it was on the imaginary fairway, missed left, or missed right. Result was 4 fairways, 2 left, and 4 right. I used the same pre-shot routine every time, and was focused on my aim point. My target fairway was probably narrower than I would normally see on the course, but I still had some big misses that would have cost me strokes. I guess I have a lot of work to do. I still have trouble understanding why it is so much harder to hit my driver than my 3 wood. They are the same length, and only 2.5 degrees apart in loft. The only thing I can think of is that the driver is currently at a lighter swing weight - which could be causing the inconsistency, or that I'm just more consistent with the level/down swing of the three wood and having trouble setting up to hit up on the driver.

92 last night - net 64! Best round I have ever posted on GHIN. Quit hitting the driver and used my 3 wood to keep it in play. No Triples!!!