187 replies to this topic

[SportsGuy]

Two mediocre to bad rounds this weekend.  91 at Clifton Park Friday after work.  98 at Bay Hills Sunday morning.  Iron play has been abysmal, hooking everything.  Driver inconsistent, will hit a couple good ones in a row and then hit a crazy sharp slice that is dead OB instantly.  Chipping and especially putting has been solid of late, manages to keep my score reasonable on most holes even if I've made a mess of the first few shots.

I played there a few weeks ago for the first time.

 

Hated that course because of how many blind shots there were, especially after the tee.  No idea where the ball ends up.  

[Mackus]

I'm also notorious for being 100-150 yards out and hitting the ball way left. The ball is straight, but I must not be lined up properly.

 

Pulls that go straight (i.e. not hooking or slicing) are usually more about the clubface being closed at impact than about alignment.  I'm no teaching pro, but my guess is you are bringing your arms through too fast.  I struggle with that as well.  I occasionally do a drill with one club in each hand, about shoulder width apart, and then swing, making sure the club in your back hand doesn't catch up to and hit the one in your front hand.  Forces your lower half to come through before the top half.

[SportsGuy]

I almost always go right with a slice.

 

Now, I am all of a sudden going left.  Some of it is just lining up and trying to play my slice/fade but other times, its a complete hook.

 

Really annoying.  The good news is that if you go left, its a pretty easy correction...but I have to feel the issue to be able to correct it.

 

Swing tempo is always an issue for me, so I know that's a big part of it.

[Mackus]

I played there a few weeks ago for the first time.

 

Hated that course because of how many blind shots there were, especially after the tee.  No idea where the ball ends up.  

 

1 and 2 are completely blind, but I think the rest are all pretty visible. 

 

I play there a lot since it's the closest course to my house and it's cheap.  It's an easy course, with no frills, but I think they do a decent job of keeping it in playable condition considering their limited budget.  I almost always schedule rounds for other places, but if a couple friends just wanna go out and see if we can get on, Clifton is good for that.  I teed off at 5:30 on Friday and we finished our round before dark.  $22 for twilight!  Can't beat that.

[NewMarketSean]

Really trying to remind myself to swing easy with a full back swing, arms locked in with club head flush on the ground. That has improved things a lot, but I am still shanking shots regularly.

[Mike in STL]

Was just watching golf channel this morning. They sort of dispelled the notion that baseball ruins golf swings. Showing Gary Sanchez as an example, before impact on a home run swing his hips are through, the right shoulder is dipped, the hands are lagging behind creating that whip through the hitting zone that creates club and ball speed. Showed a clip of Josh Donaldson who they had in studio last year talking about similarities, and he rips the driver long as hell right down the middle. One of golfer in studio said she warms up with baseball swings.

 

Interesting. Every time I play with someone new, after one swing, slice probably, they are like "you must have played baseball". Can't think my baseball swing was wrong cause I used to mash. My problem sometimes is just not starting the hips first and casting my hands out first. That's not baseball related. Thats just not good at golf related.  

[Miller192]

My biggest issue is sliding the upper body forward at the start of transition.

 

This causes me to lose my spine angle and my arms get stuck behind me.  Push fades for days.

 

I'm working on feeling like my weight is on my right side longer before I transition to the downswing.

 

Eventually, I'm probably just going to say screw it and play a fade.

[JamesGallden]

My biggest issue is sliding the upper body forward at the start of transition.

 

This causes me to lose my spine angle and my arms get stuck behind me.  Push fades for days.

 

I'm working on feeling like my weight is on my right side longer before I transition to the downswing.

 

Eventually, I'm probably just going to say screw it and play a fade.

 

A fade is better than a draw/hook.  I had that draw for a while, I hated it.  

 

I was getting too like Rickie Fowler flat and I'm 6'6''.  Bad combo.  The key for me is to take my hands away outside of my body. Then I can hit the fade

[SportsGuy]

Its funny how something as simple as alignment can screw you you up and my alignment can really be off at times.

 

BTW...when are we going to all go golfing?

[NewMarketSean]

I'm interested. My weekends are finally opening up. I'd like to try to keep it to $50 or below though. Not trying to spend what amounts to a dollar a swing. 😎

[SportsGuy]

How does July 30 look for everyone?

[Miller192]

A fade is better than a draw/hook.  I had that draw for a while, I hated it.  

 

I was getting too like Rickie Fowler flat and I'm 6'6''.  Bad combo.  The key for me is to take my hands away outside of my body. Then I can hit the fade

 

Yeah, I'm 6'4.

 

I just feel like I don't have any room for my arms and I feel too steep when I slide.  When I really try not to slide it feels like I have no power.

[NewMarketSean]

How does July 30 look for everyone?

That could work for me.

[JeremyStrain]

Played The Currituck Club on vacation this past Thursday.  Wind was brutally tough, never seen anything like it.

 

Shot 83 with 4 doubles which were all wind aided.  I'll take it, it could've been a lot worse.

 

That was the last course I've played. Few years ago now. Gorgeous views, but that's where I learned that I just can't hit out of the box anymore. Can't tell you how many I hooked into the water. You play there too close to a storm passing through there and the wind just KILLS you. Heard there were some strong ones down there the past few days.

[JeremyStrain]

Was just watching golf channel this morning. They sort of dispelled the notion that baseball ruins golf swings. Showing Gary Sanchez as an example, before impact on a home run swing his hips are through, the right shoulder is dipped, the hands are lagging behind creating that whip through the hitting zone that creates club and ball speed. Showed a clip of Josh Donaldson who they had in studio last year talking about similarities, and he rips the driver long as hell right down the middle. One of golfer in studio said she warms up with baseball swings.

 

Interesting. Every time I play with someone new, after one swing, slice probably, they are like "you must have played baseball". Can't think my baseball swing was wrong cause I used to mash. My problem sometimes is just not starting the hips first and casting my hands out first. That's not baseball related. Thats just not good at golf related.  

 

I played with guys that would go play rounds mid week when we didn't have games. I didn't know how they did it. I just can't keep my hips from opening up to save my life. Had a golf swing before a baseball one, now I just can't seem to get it right anymore.

[bnickle]

How does July 30 look for everyone?

Weekends are booked the rest of this month. Nothing planned as of now for weekends in August.

[SportsGuy]

Shot my best score yesterday.  It was still just a 94 (at Rocky Point) but my game is getting better lately.  Really focusing on my swing speed, especially off the tee.  My slice is almost out of my swing as of right now.  I am still not focused on swing speed enough on my second shots, so those are hit or miss right now.

 

Short game is much better after getting a lesson and learning how to properly execute things.  

 

For the first time ever, I feel like I getting close to being where I would like my game to be at on some kind of a consistent basis.  Just need to keep cleaning little things up.

[Mackus]

Definitely work on cleaning up the little things, but don't forget about constantly (frequently...occasionally at least) drilling on the things that are currently going well.

 

Seems like every time I get one part of my game showing improvement, another area takes big steps back.  Like trying to plug a dam.

[SportsGuy]

Definitely work on cleaning up the little things, but don't forget about constantly (frequently...occasionally at least) drilling on the things that are currently going well.

 

Seems like every time I get one part of my game showing improvement, another area takes big steps back.  Like trying to plug a dam.

Yea, no doubt.  

 

My biggest issue is swing tempo.  Just slowing down my swing changes my game a lot. That is the one thing I have to totally focus on and I don't do it with every shot.  My swing speed has always been too fast.  Caused a big slice.  I just never knew where the ball was going.  I was told by different coaches that I was really close because my swing was fine...its just that I was too fast around the impact zone.  Slowing down my swing allows for more of the natural motions to kick in and allow the club face to square up.  

 

The short game lesson I got just taught me things I didn't know about and didn't realize I was doing wrong, so that was a huge help.  It also has helped me in that 80-130 range, which was a big struggle for me.  If nothing else, it has helped me reduce those awful around the green shots that end up costing you 2-3 more strokes on a given hole.

[Mackus]

I've played 3 straight days.  Sat and Sunday both at Compass Point.  Couldn't hit the ball for shit, driving it all over the place and iron play was terrible, but putted fantastically.  Just one three-putt in two rounds and sank about 4-5 putts of 12+ feet in each round.  Still, was losing balls at least every other hole, shot just over 100 both days.

 

Today had a work tournament at Musket Ridge.  Played from the blues and probably had the best driving day of my golfing career, certainly the best this season.  14 drives, only one lost (and that was a bad break more than a bad shot), and of the other 13 I think 12 of them were at least good with most of those being very good to great.  Only sunk one long putt, but still managed to keep it to only two or maybe three 3-putts.  Irons still were crap, plus my 7-iron snapped in half on the range before the round.  Shot an 89, which given it was from the blues on a tricky course, gave me my lowest differential of the season.  I think my team is gonna have a good shot at winning net best ball.  We were all between 19-24 handicaps and shot between 89 and 94 gross.  Net 52 as a team.