Cantankerish

I love a long, drawn-out challenge with a winding, unmarked road full of forks and dead ends. I realize that those words appear sarcastic, but I mean them sincerely. If I were not frustrated by the difficulty, I would be off to try something else more challenging. But I prefer to embark on the road with friends. The alcohol is not usually my cup.

Trimbo, put this in the award thread. Erik will give you a Broke 90 symbol. And congtatulations!

I bought two pinemeadow clubs. 3H and 4H. They are both heavy. The 4H, I continue to like, though I am not great at determining quality. The 3H broke in less than a year. Split at the hozel.

Carl3, that is a gorgeous photo. Did you shoot well? ******************** 87 yesterday with lovely weather and good company. Still hitting the driver great. My approach irons were even pretty dang good yesterday. I only lost one ball. But around the green I was just awful. I lost so many strokes to bad putting. hideous statistics 3 eagle attempts that turned into 2 pars and 1 birdie. 4 birdie attempts inside of 3 feet of which I only made 1. 5 three-putts. 2 times up and down out of who knows how many attempts. 1 putt made from outside 5 feet. But the one that sums it all up: 2 times I actually picked the ball up from out of the cup out of 18 holes. Here is a particularly egregious example: This is the par 4 16th at Southwinds. It's not a long course. The hole measures about 325 using the dogleg. This is about as far as I am going to hit the ball with my swing. Not especially accurate here, but still okay. (Got it? I am telling you how strong the drive was to fluff my ego before I discuss the disheartening important part.) Little pitch over the sand and putting for birdie. But as you can see, I seriously screwed this hole up. I am tired of meeting people who are wowed by the distance only to eventually offer advice on the short game.

Lean away from the target a few degrees at address. If you are not already doing this, it may be that simple.

I did not play at all last week. My most recent score before today was a hieroglyph from two weeks ago. Truthfully it was probably 94 or 95, but I did not keep a proper score. There was alcohol involved. It rained heavily last night. So I got us on at beautiful and challenging Osprey Point, the crown jewel of Palm Beach public golf courses. I can only get a tee time when it rains and people cancel. I am increasingly suspicious that morning rounds are being given away by politicians for unethical reasons because the "public" tee times are simply never available before 2 PM. Anyway, the course was a mucky mess with intermittent rain. I got an 89, kinda good for me. I could not get a putt to drop today. But (to toot my horn a bit) the driving has definitely been switched ON for the past few weeks. I hit driver on 11 holes today, 8 fairways, no penalty strokes, and they were bombs. I sure hope that I have turned a corner, though probably not. It will all go to pot again soon enough. I should not even speak of it publicly or suffer the wrath of the golf gods. But while this lasts, confidence in the drive opens up some wonderful options when you can hit it much further than the people you are with. The courses are just not long enough. Have a look at Falcon 4 at Osprey Point: I love smart designs like this. The score card says 315 from the gold tees, but that involves laying up on the dogleg (which you can't really see from the tee box) and pitching onto the green like an intelligent person. This hole is a trap. You can see the scrub brush barrier. It's only about 12 or 15 feet high. The green is small and elevated, but the scrub brush hides the elevation. There is not a lot of room to miss on the left. I have gone for this green twice in the past. Both times I over-swung and pulled it into the woods. More recently I have simply played it properly. But with the driver working I felt emboldened today. Sure enough I found success at last. My pic is not great here. The drive came up slightly short of the green, not really 292. It hit the incline and just stopped. I was close enough to putt though. Yeah, I three-putted. Oh well.

I do not know why that clip has been edited so, but my favorite part was when he wanders into the wrong door first - abuse. One of their best, and entirely apropos. Please film that for me. I'm quite curious about what is the down side is of simply allowing the guys to dominate the courses so that scores dip lower and lower.

I have 45, 49, 52, 56. I am not entirely satisfied with this setup, partly because I just do not consistently make solid contact with the 49. But I have been getting much more confident with hitting the 56 degree sand wedge. I may actually put the 60 back in the bag because my friends like courses that are shorter than what I would prefer. Question: How confident would you be to chip with something like this?

92, 91, 84 since I last checked in. I have to learn to putt.

I must have fallen flat on that quip for it to get past you. I will work on my wit and submit regular progress reports for your approval.

Oh heck yes. Irks me. I wonder if using a green ball would help. 🙂

Hey bones, do core exercises for your lower back, abdominals, and obliques. If you can manage it, also do proper squats <--does not have to be heavy. These guys are in just about everything, but particularly so in a golf swing. When these muscles are not pulling their weight (very literally), you tax the auxiliary muscle groups to pick up the slack. This in turn, tires those muscles out faster. Good luck.

Winter bag? Sure. Just take fewer water bottles. I actually do not know what "winter bag" means. Are we talking about different equipment with crappy grass and thick clothing?

Yeah. Pretty close. I started out doing a lot of the mirror drills, without the mirror. It's hard for me to get a spot for the mirror. I went about trying to incorporate the motions into my swing. I am just not learning very well this way. I am going to have to decide if I want to take lessons or accept no progress. Pretty disheartening.

Progress report: Been working on the angle of my torso relative to the shaft as recommended. I am trying to get that angle close to 90 degrees. (I am not sure if I am saying this or doing this correctly.) Please let me know if I have accomplished this goal. If not, I may need to ask for advice on how to go about it. I have been working on this for awhile without really knowing how to get there. Thank you for your critique.