jschen

Congrats! Still seeking my first birdie. It's always great to hear about others finally getting one.

Congrats!

Congrats!

Not everyone is better than you. I started around the same time as you, and I'm perfectly happy when I shoot 120. With some recent improvements to my ball striking and putting, though, I'm hoping to be on my way to breaking 110. My goal for the year is double bogey golf, which works out to 108 on a par 72 course.

Actually, the current version is the e6. The e6+ is the older ball. But I believe there also is an even older ball that was called the e6 (not to be confused with the current e6).

I'm not a hugely powerful hitter, but my Nike VR wedges thrash range balls the same way as you described with the black ones. Good contact with a full swing of a wedge, and I get five lines of white range ball to remove.

All my clubs are 2009 model clubs since I started golfing last summer. They're the first clubs that I've ever owned. My intention is to keep them for the long haul. But we'll see.

I hit my 6i around 150-160 yards. From what I can tell, that's a pretty solid distance. It might be at the low end of claimed lengths on this forum, but out in the real world, distance is not really a problem for me. My instructor thinks I hit a perfectly reasonable distance.

Congrats!

Evidently, that thread inspired you and me both.

From my lesson today: Working on addressing the ball an inch closer in order to be more relaxed at address. (Used to be too close to the ball. Now a bit too far.) Straightening out the swing for better reproducibility. (Need to stop rolling my arms at the beginning of the backswing, which currently is forcing me to take a hugely inside-out path.) And making the swing plane more vertical.

Congrats!

Before the shot: Teed up driver on a short par 5 (470 yards to a front pin location, water in front of the green) playing straight into a 10-15 mph wind. Made solid contact with driver, but pushed it a bit and ended up in a fairway bunker. I was close enough to the left edge of the bunker for a slightly awkward lie, but at least the ball sat up nicely. Hit a 6i with so-so contact, resulting in the ball being in light rough on the right side. The shot: 148 yards to the pin according to a rangefinder, playing mostly into the wind. The ball was sitting up nicely. Only problem was the overhanging tree branches. I thought I could stay under them with a normal swing of my 6i, which would be approximately the right distance. Aimed straight at the pin and fired away. Made solid contact, watched the ball go up and heard it rustle some leaves. Lost sight of the ball. Walked up and saw a pitch mark 10 feet short of the hole and barely right of where I had aimed, and the ball 6 feet from the hole. After: Missed the relatively simple birdie putt. Otherwise, I'd be telling you about my first ever birdie. But I made the very short par putt.

Long story short: Tried the Bridgestone e6 for the first time today. It was like magic. I had a rough range warmup before a round with my parents today. A lesson earlier in the morning with my instructor wanting me to change 3 things all at once (address 1 inch closer, straighten out swing path, make swing plane more vertical) wasn't helping. In fact, I didn't hit any decent shots with anything longer than a 6i. As I walked over to the first tee, I contemplated playing short irons only for the day. But I didn't, and things turned around quickly on course. Some of it undoubtedly is a placebo effect. But given that the effect lasted the entire round, I think there's something to this ball. Got to the first hole, teed up the ball and pulled out the driver. Nailed the ball, got a nice long drive with an ever so slight draw, right down the middle of the fairway. And the driver magic continued throughout the round. Didn't hit all the fairways, but misses were because of pulling or pushing, not because of hook or slice. In only two cases did I notice appreciable side spin on my driver. For me, that's like magic. As long as I didn't top the ball (no ball will help with that!), my fairway woods were like magic today, too. Felt great on short to medium irons, too. Nice high trajectory, nice soft landings. Always very straight, with misses due to pulling or pushing. I hit pretty high and get soft landings anyways, but the ball seems to climb even higher than the Srixon Soft Feel that I was using before. And the almost complete lack of hooking and slicing was in sharp contrast to the range warmup before the round. Long irons were a bit of a mess today, but even then, with one exception, they went pretty straight. No problems putting, chipping, or pitching with the ball. I felt great putting with the ball. Pitches stopped faster than I was used to. (This last point may or may not have more to do with technique changing due to a pitching mini-lesson at the end of my lesson, though.) I didn't lose any balls in the round, and the ball is in excellent shape despite hitting some trees. I'll see how future rounds go, but so far, it was like magic out there today. Unless things happened to click from my lesson during the walk from the range to the course, I must attribute some of that to the ball. To think that I almost decided to play my entire round with short irons only after the range warmup went so terribly wrong. I'm glad I didn't do so. I'm sold on the anti-side spin claims for the ball. That little bit of help did so much for confidence... I just had to make solid contact and the ball flight was almost always a gentle draw or fade. Magic, I tell you.

I carry a 60*. Used to be quite afraid of it since I'd skull so many shots. Now that I'm getting better with my wedges, I'm finding it to be quite useful for when I need the ball to get up quickly or stop on a dime. Even though mine is a rather low bounce club (6*), I'm finding it quite useful for sand shots that need to get up really quickly, too, as long as the ball is sitting up nicely.

If I could hit every shot near the sweet spot, I wouldn't bother with a glove. But for the wild misses (which I make plenty of), it hurts a lot less with a glove.

I'd bring my dad to the Masters. He won't be of much help, but since my score's going to be abysmal anyways, it doesn't matter. If not the Masters, the British Open will do. Or Pinehurst... imagine how much trouble those domed greens under PGA tournament conditions could cause for a player like me! If they send me out first, the whole field is going to be stacked up on the course right behind me! In a PGA tournament, are you allowed to let other groups play through?

For what it's worth, the Nike VR grip is made by Golf Pride. So no switch is necessary just to get Golf Pride grips on your clubs. Not that my experience means much since I'm a novice at the game and on my first set of clubs, but I actually ended up changing the grips on my woods since I was having trouble with the abrasive feel of the stock grip. I considered other grips, but couldn't find any other that actually drew a line down the centerline like on the Nike VR grip. I kind of like having that visual reference. And I like how the Nike VR grip feels. (Again, not much experience to draw on, though.) So I asked my sales guy whether he could get me some Nike VR grips for my woods. He called up the Nike rep, who told him they'd send out some Nike VR grips for $4 each. I like the feel of my woods a lot better since the switch.

I'm still seeking my first birdie. It's great to hear of someone else having accomplished the same thing. Congrats!

Interesting. I like the idea of a quantitative measure of one's expectations.

Well, from the point of view of possibly the worst player on the forum, it's ball striking. No amount of short game will help with total inconsistency in trying to get to the short game distance in the first place. On days when my ball striking is way off (topped shots, big slices and hooks), no amount of short game skills or course management will save me. On days when my ball striking is pretty good, I find myself wishing I was a better short game player. Given a choice between those two, I'd take the latter any day.

I'm still rather inconsistent. But assuming I make good contact with my swing, I'm expecting to be on the green. Anywhere on the green will do, though I'll aim somewhere between the middle of the green and the flag.

I'm starting to learn to play a bit smarter. What did it for me was hitting a beautiful 270 yard driver on a 300 yard par 4, leaving myself a delicate 30 yard pitch that I messed up badly. I managed to save par (a VERY good score for me) on that hole, but it highlighted the pointlessness of going at it with driver when a shorter club off the tee would put me at a more ideal distance for my approach shot. On holes where length isn't an issue--there's several 300-odd yard holes at the course I often play--I now aim to get myself an approach shot in the 110-130 yard range, which for me is a full swing PW or 9i. Shorter than that is asking for trouble until I develop a lot more touch in my short game.

My clubs are always in order. putter driver -- 3 wood -- 5 wood 3 iron, 4 iron -- 5 iron, 6 iron -- 7 iron, 8 iron 9 iron, pitching wedge, sand wedge, lob wedge For expedience, the last four get a bit out of order sometimes during a round. But as soon as possible, they get put right back in order. I wish I had a divider on that bottom section. It would help with the organization.

One putting lesson definitely helped me a lot. My instructor pretty much liked what he saw with my putting, but was able to explain to me what he liked and what little things he wanted me to correct. And how to practice effectively. I'm not going to tell you that it's more or less urgent for you than any other lesson, but a single lesson on putting definitely can be useful.