dagolfer18

Hey guys! I’m gonna start posting here again, and I’ll update in my blog as well soon. Here are my most recent five rounds: 5/23: Teed it up with a few buddies at Umstead. 40-42-82. A 9.5 differential from the blues. Doubled the fifth hole but apart from that limited the damage to just bogeys. 5/29: Played Croasdaile after work, from the blues as per usual. 45-40-85 and a 10.9 differential. I was -1 for the back going into 15 but choked the last four holes. An ugly three-putt double and three bogeys. 5/30: Played Wildwood Green with a few guys from work. 44-40-84 from the blues (70.3/131) and an 11.8 differential. Highlight of the day was hitting my second shot on the par-5 13th to 15 feet. I was a little timid on the eagle putt but cleaned up for birdie without much trouble. 6/4: Another round after opening. 44-48-92 from the gold/blue hybrid at Croasdaile (6744 yds, 72.9/139) so a 15.5 differential. I was putting myself out of position off the tee a lot this day, but I made a few good putts that kept that 92 from being even worse. 6/5: Yesterday was another trek, to Forest Oaks in Greensboro. I shot 44-41-85 there from the blues (definitely on the longer side at close to 6900) for a 9.9 differential. I butchered the first three par 3s, all with awful tee shots leading to doubles, before parring 17. The day prior, the driver was inconsistent and the putter was solid. This day it was the opposite. I had five three-putts en route to a total of 37 putts on the day. As for the driver, I was hitting it well, and even when I wasn’t in the fairway (I hit 9/14 fairways) I was still in good position to hit the green except for one hole. Tomorrow I’m going to update in my blog, going through some highlights of the last part of the semester and the first few weeks of my internship, and some things I’m working on with my game. I’m looking forward to getting back to posting regularly here.

Alright, let’s see… 1. Reduce handicap to 8.0 (from 11.6). Ouch. This one stings a bit. I got down as low as 9.4 at the beginning of August but I didn’t practice or play near as much as I should have last semester and it ballooned right back up pretty much to where I started at the beginning of the year. It stands at 11.8 now. 2. Average putts down to 33.0 (from 34.9). Definitely an improvement, but not quite. I averaged 33.9 putts all year, and 33.5 in my last 20 rounds. I’m a lot more confident in the 3- to 5-foot range, which is what I believe I said I was struggling with. 3. Average fairways up to 65% (from 61%). I’m at 50% right now. Again, I went backward from where I started. Probably won’t include an FIR percentage in this year’s goals. 4a. Make All Conference again. I did make All Conference. I think I was on the outside looking in going into the conference tournament, but a low 80s round did the job. 4b. Make it to regionals as an individual. Proud of this one. Started the season 49-47 and had a lot of ground to make up, but some low 40s rounds and a 38 meant I was so far inside the cut line for regionals going into the conference tournament that I could shoot near 100 and still be okay. 4c. Make it to states as an individual. Bit of a stretch goal here, and I don’t think I was anywhere close to the cut line at regionals. But, as I said in my goals last year, I’d consider goal 4 an overall success if I made it to regionals, which I did. 5. Play in Umstead’s club championship. My parents dropped our Umstead membership mid-summer to pay for tuition. And because that particular tournament was members only, my chances were zero. I’ll count this as neither a win nor a loss. 6. Play in at least three junior tournaments (including at least one multi day tournament). I played in exactly zero junior tournaments. Didn’t sign up for a single one. Not sure why, because I had a few in mind that I wanted to play in but I never signed up. Oh well. So I guess you could say I had varying levels of success with each of my six goals for 2022. Still working on my goals for 2023, but I’ll have those posted hopefully this weekend.

Just put myself in! I’ll be playing Downback (the course at Methodist) for a lot of the next year so I put that as my home course. There are a few holes that are gonna be pretty tough to snag a birdie on (9 and 16 in particular come to mind) but I’m excited to see how far I can get!

FINALLY! I’m finally posting this entry to catch up on what has happened since my last post (November 7 I believe it was). And honestly, not a lot has happened. The rest of the semester was a blur as far as golf goes, and I haven’t played or practiced a ton this winter either. Here are a few highlights: 11/12: My second lowest round on Downback. Wasn’t the greatest start: +6 through five holes. I parred six through eight then bogeyed the ninth to make the turn in 43. My only bad hole on the back nine was a double on the 16th after blocking my drive right, and I shot 40 on the back for 83 total. 11/23: My brother and I finally got to Bryan Park (the Players course). I made the turn in 40, helped tremendously by a birdie on the 420-yard 18th. Then we made the turn to the front. I birdied the second hole after my brother and I hit our drives so far we both had 8 irons to the par 5. Unfortunately, two very unnecessary doubles in the next three holes derailed me a bit, and I finished with a 42 on the front for 82 total. A solid number but no doubt a bit disappointing. 12/23: This isn’t a round of golf, but it IS something I can add to my resume. The few days prior to the 23rd, we prepped the old carts for departure because on this day, we would have a new fleet arriving. I got to work at 7AM and we began immediately. The new fleet was parked in a nearby lot and for about three hours that morning, we moved the old fleet out and the new fleet in, and we began to get those carts ready for play. They were first taken onto the golf course on December 28. I do have a few more rounds than the ones I’ve listed, but none of them are really worth talking about. Here is my plan for the next semester: MONDAY/FRIDAY: I have a huge gap between classes these two days (4hrs on Mon and 5hrs Fri), so that gap is when I will be practicing. TUESDAY/THURSDAY: I have three classes Tues and Thurs but they are back to back to back and I’m done at 12:15. So, depending on how much schoolwork I have, I will plan to practice for about an hour and a half. WEDNESDAY: Since I didn’t play in many Monarch Tour events last semester (only played in three), I will make it a goal to play in at least five or six this semester. On the days I’m not playing Monarch Tour, I’ll dedicate that time gap (3-5) to any schoolwork that needs to be done. Obviously I’ll be working throughout the week as well, but that is one specific time gap that I’ll be devoting strictly to schoolwork. WEEKENDS: Giving myself two options with weekends as well: a. Play 18 holes one day, hour and a half to two hour practice session the other day, OR b. Play nine holes both Saturday and Sunday, with a one hour practice session. So for the most part, my play days will be limited to weekends and practice days will be during the week. This schedule means playing just once a week and practicing five of the other six days. This is also a tentative schedule. I’m taking a private voice lessons class (don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this but I’m a music minor) that only meets once a week for half an hour, and I’m also going to try and work in the golf shop there one or two days a week, just for an hour or two at a time to get myself a little bit of extra cash. So once I figure out when both those things happen and how they will impact my tentative schedule, I will create a final schedule that I’ll put in that week’s post. Starting next week I’m going to begin again with posting once a week on Sundays. It feels good to be posting again!

I’ll be honest, the couple of weeks before break were just really stressful for me, and I never got around to posting on Sunday nights like I’ve been doing. Haven’t been able to practice or play as much as I would like either (two to three times a week MAX over the span of those two to three weeks) and I think the stress was a big part of that. My plan as of right now is to get through finals, and when I get home next Monday or Tuesday I’ll post again, and that post will briefly recap the rest of the semester. It won’t be a super long post because those couple of weeks were a blur but I definitely owe y’all an update. Happy late Thanksgiving to you too!

Four weeks left. It’s hard to believe that my first semester of college is only a month away from being over. Anyway, here’s what happened this week: Tuesday and Sunday: Stayed at the range for about an hour both days and focused primarily on strengthening my grip as recommended by @iacas. Thursday: After seeing me play last weekend and talking a bit, my dad suggested I hit more 4- and 5-irons on the range so I could become more comfortable with them. And on this day, that’s exactly what I did. I dedicated about two-thirds of the balls I hit on Thursday to getting more comfortable with the longer irons. And I can say that coming away from that range session I was definitely more confident. Friday: Walked a total of 13 holes: The Loop (1, 16-18), then the back nine. The Loop didn’t go too well (bombed the 1st then bogey-bogey-par) but then here’s what happened with my nine hole outing: PAR: 4-4-4-4-3-4-4-5-3—35 SCORE: 5-4-6-7-3-6-4-5-4—44 So a little bit of everything here. I had two completely unnecessary misses with chip shots (12 and 15 in particular) and a wayward drive on 13. I played three holes at +7 and the other six at +2. Blowup holes are a common theme with me and it often leads to a messy scorecard that isn’t pretty to look at. I also read over the GEARS post several times in the past few days, and I feel like I understand it to some extent. The Monarch Cup was also this weekend, but I was unable to play. Spots filled up super fast and I just wasn’t quick enough to sign up. That still ticks me off. As for this week, I have a plan. Mon: Walk 18 holes. I haven’t done much of this at all apart from the PAT, and that could come back to bite me at the next PAT in the spring. And going forward, I would like to be able to walk 18 at least once a week, ideally early in the morning on weekends before the course gets too crowded. Tues.-Thurs.: Spend at least an hour on the range each of these days and work on grip and the info in the GEARS post. Fri.: Not looking good weather-wise, so not sure whether I will be able to get to the course. Might also be going home for Veterans Day weekend. Weekend: It’s supposed to be considerably cooler this weekend, but I would like to get out at least one day on the weekend and do some range work. First step: 18 holes tomorrow!

Thank you for you willingness to help. I appreciate that. And please don’t think I don’t want to put in the work, because I do. I would love the help of you and many others on this forum. I remember you and a few others recommended I purchase a tripod to help film my swing. The one and only reason I have not done that yet is because I misplaced my wallet and lost my debit card. It took forever but the card finally came and I can now order a tripod. I know that reason may sound crazy, but I promise if I hadn’t lost the card I would have a tripod now or at the very least have ordered it. To answer @Phil McGleno, I have been putting in work to improve posture and grip in the past week. I may have forgotten it on a few swings (the ones in the video may or may not have been bad), but I promise I have been putting in the work. This has been one of the tougher weeks on and off the course but I’m working through it. Again, thank y’all for your feedback. I will continue working.

Got the videos. Both these swings, like last week, were 7 irons.

I’m proud of how much work I was able to put in this week. I went for at least an hour every day Tuesday through Saturday. I won’t go day-by-day this week because all of my range days I worked on solidifying the grip @iacas talked about in the video, but I will go through some highlights. Wednesday: I went to the course after my 1:00 class and warmed up for my 3:20 Monarch Tour tee time. The format was a Tombstone, where we all got 33 shots and we put a flag where our 33rd shot ended up. For me, that was on the 7th hole. I was +5 going in and needed a birdie to finish the seventh hole at 33 shots even. Unfortunately I made double instead, and finished the nine bogey-double for 46. I was holding my ground until the seventh but three-putted for the double then made a mess of the last two holes. The highlight of the nine was almost driving the second hole, which was playing 260 uphill. I put it on the fringe and turned that into an easy two-putt for the birdie. Thursday: Thursday afternoon was my lesson. Alex looked at my swing and noticed two things: 1. I was starting to lose my posture in the backswing. 2. I was standing too close to the ball with the longer irons. He told me to move my chin up slightly right before I hit each shot, which took some adjustment but it definitely helped. Both problems noted above will take a good number of reps to clean up but neither should present much of a challenge for me. I won’t be able to get a lesson this week because it’s super busy for everyone but in my next lesson I’d love to start touching on my swing. Saturday: Yesterday my dad and brother came down and we played King’s Grant. I was stiff as a board on the first tee because we didn’t hit any balls and it was 55 and misting so that meant it took a couple of holes to warm up. I won’t get into detail with this round, but I’ll sum it up by saying this: The front nine wasn’t great but I was optimistic and thought I could at least keep it in the 80s with a good back nine. But then I started spraying it off the tee, which resulted in a lot of reteeing. Needless to say, the final number was horrible. It would be embarrassing to put it here but if y’all want me to I can. I wasn’t able to get out there today because I had a bunch of laundry I needed to do and some schoolwork to finish up but I will be back out there tomorrow. Some upcoming things to note: •On Wednesday I’m planning on posting a video my swing again in my Member Swing topic, with the new grip change. •This weekend is the second Major of the year, the Monarch Cup. It’s a Ryder Cup format with 10 players per team. I’m still trying to find a team to play with, hopefully I get that sorted out tomorrow or Tuesday. As always, if you have any questions let me know!

Too far into the palm as in, the grip needs to be closer to the fingers?

I've been Playing Golf for: About 9 years. I’ve only been serious about it the last four years or so. My current handicap index or average score is: 11.5. Was in single digits two months ago, would like to get back down there. My typical ball flight is: Usually a fade, but my swing is starting to produce some draws which can turn into a bad two-way miss on a bad day. The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Fat shots. I know it’ll never go away completely but I’very been hitting a number of these lately and I would like to fix it. Videos:

Quick question: how do I convert the video’s URL to a non-shorts URL? I got as far as uploading the two videos to YouTube but they uploaded as shorts and not regular videos.

3rd: Fat with an iron out of the rough, left me 230 out uphill. 4th: Actually a pretty solid shot but it hopped into a greenside bunker 5th: Off a downhill lie, I caught all ball and it flew over the green 6th: Out of fluffy rough I got almost directly under the ball and it didn’t make it to the green. The second chip was better, but still not great. It left me about eight feet, and that one lipped out. Honestly after the drop I should’ve made no worse than a double but it just turned into a blowup hole that got under my skin.

I saw in the article it said a tripod is pretty much a must, but I unfortunately don’t have one. Would I do ok if I just had someone film my swing at the angles described?

Thank you for this @iacas. I’ll be honest, my lesson Thursday will be only my third lesson this semester, and my second full swing lesson. That is on me for not going after more instruction, whether from one of the instructors there or here on the forum. I am completely willing to own that. I think a large part of the reason I don’t have a specific practice schedule is because I don’t have anything specific to practice. That is partly why I have a lesson Thursday. And here’s what else I’ll do: •I am planning on going to the range tomorrow. I’ll have someone take a video of my swing at whatever angles needed. •I will post those videos to a My Swing thread.