miggusrises

Rory is actually quite underrated. I say that because most people will say "When he's on his day he is the best in the world". But actually, he's the best in the world when he's merely having a decent day. And on his off days he just comes top 10. When he's on form... well, watch the last round of the Canadian open. Rory was 1st SG Total for the 2019 season on the PGA at 2.5. 2nd through 4th were 1.8ish-1.5ish. That is an absurd difference. Hell, Brooks was 9th! The only argument that he isn't by far the best in the world is that he hasn't managed to perform well in majors. But in terms of best golf, Rory is clearly the pick

I have found that baked, fluffy greens bounce hard and don't check. They also tend to be inconsistently maintained, with parts of the green having less grass than others. Finding fast, well maintained greens to play on is a) way more fun and b) better for your golf.

I think I get what OP is talking about. At the start of the year I bought a driver and have been using it on the course. At the start it was wild and I didn't know how to control my misses, so the club made me somewhat nervous when pulled. Back then, it would have often been a good idea to lay up with a shorter club, as it removed the possibility of a big number on the scorecard, and so naievely that would be the 'better shot'. But if I had always done that then I would never have overcome the fear of hitting driver on tight holes, and I wouln't have figured out how to bias my misses. Now my scoring is much better because of the extra length, and I feel comfortable hitting driver at every opportunity. In the short term I paid the cost of higher scores and more stressful golf for the payoff of reaching a higher ceiling. I think this applies to flop shots, tight lie chips, and generally playing more aggressively. Yes you can practice off the course, but until you start actually trying to play them in the context of the round you'll never have them as part of your game, and you will be limiting your long term potential.

I have been struggling with this too I like the idea of getting in shape for a round of golf, but not in the physical sense. When you care about your score, the ups and downs of a round can be mentally fatiguing, and often towards the end of a round I find myself not lining up putts, or trying overly risky shots, and generally taking less care. Maybe by playing more rounds, you get mentally conditioned to the emotional swings and can make better decisions and better swings more often.

I guess maybe sometimes when people talk about their distance it comes across as bragging. That can rub people the wrong way

PW regular swing carries 140 PW wedge swing carries 125ish 52 degree carries 115 56 degree goes 100. With the wedges I find you can get pretty wild distance variations if you swing like a 7 iron. Combination of delofting the club + strike inconsistencies can cause problems.

I mean, technically the golf ball always deforms a little, even on a putt! The information that the ball has been struck has to propagate to the centre of mass by some mechanism. But you're right, it is definitely possible to get a ball that deforms too much, and matching up your club head speed to the type of ball does result in a better feeling than hitting a ball that is too soft. I just never see compression used in this context, but everywhere is different. With regards to the feeling difference, the 'compressing the ball against the ground' feeling only really comes when there is a reasonable angle of attack, and is a different sensation to when the ball is picked cleanly off the turf. So thats why I think it generally applies to wedges and mid irons, and wouldn't feel it as much with the long irons.

I almost always hear about it when players are hitting mid irons or wedges, and almost never when they hit driver, when the most physical compression actually occurs. So I think that most of the time people are referring to the thing that doesn't happen.

I may be wrong, but most of the time I hear people use the word ‘compression’, they are not talking about the short lived deformation of the ball, but are instead referring to the “squeeze” feeling of a properly struck iron. They imagine that this squeeze feeling results from the ball somehow being trapped between the club and the ground and so refer to it as compression. Since no compression of this sort occurs, ‘compression’ used in this context is a misnomer in my opinion.

Overrated - because people have the conception that getting big and strong massively influences your distance. Fibre type and frame size dominate how far a given player hits the ball, and people in general underrate the importance of fibre type and overrate the importance of muscle size/strength. Some people will mention special 'golf specific' routines that can help, but these largely revolve around improving explosive coordination (throwing a weighted ball against a wall, swinging heavier objects etc.) This is basically just practicing the skill of swinging the club quickly, and while valuable, likely doesn't have a much greater affect on driving distance than just practicing swinging the club faster. Almost everyone can optimally improve the physical aspects they need for golf by just playing more golf.

Yeah I get that the ball is always rising from the moment of impact and exerts no force on the ground (compression is a misnomer), but it does feel like it is being squeezed out, and that feeling is stronger when the ball is on the deck. It's not an important point, and I don't think there are any quantitative differences in terms of spin or launch (unless there is grass between the ball and clubface).

And imo that little depression makes it feel a little different. More squeezy.

For me, hitting off a tee with the shorter irons removes the feeling of compressing the ball. I know that technically it doesn't matter, but that squeeze feeling is stronger off the deck and so I sometimes don't bother with the tee (normally when I cant find a broken one!). Also, there is a bit of a mental thing that goes on where if you hit off the deck then you're saying to yourself that you prefer the grassy lie, and so when you get one on the fairway you feel more confident. I do normally use a tee though. Fats are more embarrassing than thins 😂

2019 Goals (and my first post! (although I have lurked for some time). I was writing down my goals offline but saw this thread and figured this was a better place to put them.) Shoot a round of par. Since I got back into golf 18 months ago this has been my goal. Started out shooting well into the 100s, but that came down pretty quick once I learned to keep the ball in play and to hit the ball then the ground (I didn't know that you were supposed to take a divot!). Played bogey golf until the summer of this year, at which point I was able to get down to scoring low 80s rounds consistently through learning to chip and putt. Since September I have been taking some lessons but not playing as much, and this kept my scores in the low 80s. Finally, this last month I put a driver in the bag (I was playing irons only until then) and now I am consistently in the 70s, with a best round of +2 (yesterday). I think a par round is coming soon, but when it finally happens I will be very happy 😃 STRETCH GOAL - shoot a round in the 60s. When I started I hadn't dared to consider this, but now seems like a possibility! I don't expect this one to happen, but want something to shoot for if I get the other one early. Achieve a handicap of 5. I don't actually have a proper handicap yet (not been living in one place long enough), so the first step will be to get one. However, based of my recent rounds I think my initial handicap wont be far off this anyway, so this one shouldn't be too difficult. Stretch - achieve a handicap of 2. This reflects my best ever round, but that was in the winter without any roll and on a new course. This one will be difficult, but with effort I think I can do it. Other goals: Play in a club competition Play in a university match Go on a golfing holiday! Have four more lessons, inc. one of which is a round of golf with the pro. Get a set of irons with stiff shafts