187 replies to this topic

[Mackus]

30% off at Callaway pre-owned today if anyone is interested.

[Mike in STL]

So if you haven’t been fitted for your clubs, I highly recommend it. Also, the most important thing in your driver is a shaft that matches your swing. Buying a driver off the rack is a waste.

I say this because this morning I went to the driving range. I got to thinking as I’m shaking off the rust that I’ve had my driver for over 6 years now. TaylorMade RBZ. It’s fitted with the stiffest shaft and has a steel shaft insert at the bottom 8 inches or so. It’s the one Bubba Watson uses.

So I go to golf galaxy to hit some drivers off their clearance rack to see if anything newer feels great, better distance given technology advances. The clubs obviously don’t have my shaft. I get on the monitor with two drivers and my club speed barely touches 100 and my drives are all out of whack. Only going about 235 on the fly. I hit my own driver on the monitor, 108 swing speed, 275 carry. It’s all about where the kick point is in your shaft based on your swing that gives you max speed at impact.

So if you buy a driver, get fitted. Or take your driver to a shop with a monitor and a pro. See if your spin rate is ok. Might need a new shaft to improve your driving game.

[Mike in STL]

My golf game has gone to hell this year, but at the same time, I'm making just enough shots to keep me coming back. Yesterday I played Mount Pleasant and on the 1st hole hit a bad drive, pitched back to the fairway, and hit my 4-hybrid 205 yards off the pin on one bounce and putted a 3 footer for birdie. Easy game. Still ended up shooting 112!!! I've tracked all my rounds since 2014, about 40 of them. Worst round since at least 2013. 

 

This year I've played in two best ball tournaments and been fine, made my fair share of shots with the team. But played three times keeping my own score and haven't broken 100. I thought for a few years now 100 was in my rear view and I was focusing on breaking 90. Now I'm back to trying to break 100 again. 

 

Worst part is I think I know what I'm doing wrong, I just cant fix it. I'll take a practice swing that is just right. Then put a ball in the way and all of a sudden I'm trying to hit a ball instead of make a swing. Tighten up, strangle my grip on the club. Thinking too much over the ball. 

[NewMarketSean]

My golf game has gone to hell this year, but at the same time, I'm making just enough shots to keep me coming back. Yesterday I played Mount Pleasant and on the 1st hole hit a bad drive, pitched back to the fairway, and hit my 4-hybrid 205 yards off the pin on one bounce and putted a 3 footer for birdie. Easy game. Still ended up shooting 112!!! I've tracked all my rounds since 2014, about 40 of them. Worst round since at least 2013. 

 

This year I've played in two best ball tournaments and been fine, made my fair share of shots with the team. But played three times keeping my own score and haven't broken 100. I thought for a few years now 100 was in my rear view and I was focusing on breaking 90. Now I'm back to trying to break 100 again. 

 

Worst part is I think I know what I'm doing wrong, I just cant fix it. I'll take a practice swing that is just right. Then put a ball in the way and all of a sudden I'm trying to hit a ball instead of make a swing. Tighten up, strangle my grip on the club. Thinking too much over the ball. 

 

It's so mental, man.

 

I'm in the same boat. Usually flirt with 100. Usually end up shooting 102.

 

Still have a handful of awful shots I wish I could have back and replace them with just OK ones, and I'd be shooting in the mid-90's.

[Mackus]

This year I've played in two best ball tournaments and been fine, made my fair share of shots with the team.

 

Apologies for the obnoxious distinction, but this is a scramble format not a best ball format.  Scramble is when everyone hits tee shots, the group goes to the best one and everyone picks their balls up, then everyone hits a second shot from the best drive location, and so on.  Best ball is when everyone plays their own ball tee to hole and then the team records the lowest individual score as the team's score.

[Mike in STL]

It's so mental, man.

 

I'm in the same boat. Usually flirt with 100. Usually end up shooting 102.

 

Still have a handful of awful shots I wish I could have back and replace them with just OK ones, and I'd be shooting in the mid-90's.

Yeah. I had a run of a couple years where breaking 90 was possible. Did it exactly one time with an 88. Shot mostly 93-98. I'd track my 3 putts and penalties. If you make my 3 putts into 2, and take off penalties, I could shoot 85. If I did that with my 112 yesterday I still shot just a 99...with a birdie on the card. 

[Mike in STL]

Apologies for the obnoxious distinction, but this is a scramble format not a best ball format.  Scramble is when everyone hits tee shots, the group goes to the best one and everyone picks their balls up, then everyone hits a second shot from the best drive location, and so on.  Best ball is when everyone plays their own ball tee to hole and then the team records the lowest individual score as the team's score.

Yeah your right. Scramble format.

[Mackus]

I've been mostly terrible this season myself.  Best round was a 94, my final round of my golf trip to Myrtle Beach in late May.  Had played absolutely abysmally the two previous rounds, hitting very near to zero good drives or irons the entire two rounds.  So I put the driver away, clubbed up on every iron shot, and tried to swing absolutely as slowly and calmly as I could.  Hit the ball much more consistently and straighter. 

[SportsGuy]

I have been going right a lot this year...driving me crazy.

[Mike in STL]

I think I’m the Chris Davis of golf. I’m playing worse than ever. But today...during my 104 (8 shots better than my previous 112 but still terrible!) I pitched in from about 30 yards out. It was for par though cause on the par 3 I teed into the sand, then trying to get out hit it thin, way over the green. Like Davis I hit one shot a round (a week or two) that shows other people, I can actually do this.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Gizmodo: Engineer Builds Auto-Adjusting Club That Compensates for Your Bad Golf Skills

[NewMarketSean]

Been playing alot in the last few months. Nothing has changed. Shooting 103, 104...I've become much better off the tee and hitting long irons. Getting new clubs last year has made a big difference with distance. Gap wedge has helped alot too. But I am still so awful 10 yards from the green. Can never hold a green during chipping. And my putting is pretty bad too. Usually three putts. So frustrating. So close to being respectable, but still so far. I am going to make it a point to spend a few hours a week at the local course just practicing chipping and putting. 

[SportsGuy]

I had the best range session I have ever had last week. Was playing for the first time in like 8-9 months and wanted to get some swings in.

It didn’t carry over much the next day of course.

I’m just a little off with my swing but I can’t play enough to make the corrections.

[Mike in STL]

I’m playing the worst I probably ever have. After a few years of being in the 90s on the regular and breaking 90 twice, my games gone downhill for a couple years. 1st time out I shot 103. Last week I shot 110. Today I shot 118. And I only lost 6 balls, so it was mostly due to just bad shots. I was never putting for par. Only one putted once. Found myself in the sand 4 times which is always fun to hit out of.

I’m also very tired before we even start the back nine. 3 months of sitting on my butt? Not enough sleep? Gained 20 quarantine pounds? Taking 30 too many swings? But I also shot a few strokes better on the back nine.

I know my problem is too tight a grip. Even when I relax, somewhere in the backswing I clench down. I try to kill the ball. Probably why I get tired. I don’t know how to hit out of the rough, which I’m always in. I hit all my irons longer then the 8 iron fat. I miss left and right, so I can’t figure it out. When I shot in the 90s my miss was right, so I could plan for it.

I’m taking a couple father day gift cards and upgrading my driver. I got fitted for one sometime ago and they put me in a Bubba Watson shaft with a heavy weight at the tip cause I swing hard (not necessarily fast). My playing partners don’t swing out of their shoes, have older, off the rack drivers, and when we both hit our best drives, I’m only longer by like 10 yards. So I need to control my swing, Still get it out there with my buddies, and not have to kill my driver because the heavy shaft. Maybe I’ll find more fairways, and be less tired.

Probably need a lesson or five too to find out why I’m hitting fat, and how to hit decent drives with a more controlled swing.

[NewMarketSean]

Playing today, hopefully we'll be done before the storms start. $21 at 12:30 in Glade Valley. Some really good golf deals to be found right now.

 

Also, I never made it out to work on chipping and putting. Hopefully something clicks for me today.

[Mackus]

Lessons and practice time are definitely the better uses of money than equipment unless you've got really cheap and out-of-date stuff or if you just can't get over a mental block of not being confident in your sticks.

I'm playing 9 today for the first time this season if the weather holds. Hoping to break 50, that'd be a good day considering I haven't swung in nearly a year.

[Mike in STL]

Lessons and practice time are definitely the better uses of money than equipment unless you've got really cheap and out-of-date stuff or if you just can't get over a mental block of not being confident in your sticks.

I'm playing 9 today for the first time this season if the weather holds. Hoping to break 50, that'd be a good day considering I haven't swung in nearly a year.

Good luck.

The only reason I got a new one is the driver I have was great when I was 27, in good shape, and the fitter put me in a shaft that fit my John Daly like ridiculous backswing. I’m 35 now, don’t want to swing like that anymore, and would rather learn a better swing with a lighter club. Basically looking for more club head speed without having to swing so hard. Combine equipment upgrade with lessons.

8 years in a driver is probably pretty good anyway. I’m getting last years TaylorMade, the M6. Was on sale. Technology advances so much in drivers. I’ll probably look to get to ten years with my irons which is three more years away. When I do actually hit them flush they still get it. I don’t think wedge technology really advances. I have rusty old 56 and 60 degrees that works just fine. Will want to get properly fitted for a putter one day though.

[NewMarketSean]

Shot 102 on Tuesday. Shot 100 today. Progress!

[BSLPatDonohue]

Shot 102 on Tuesday. Shot 100 today. Progress!

That's about my range as of now, getting better though. I started golfing only about 5-6 years ago but have seldom had the chance to get out on the course consistently to improve my game. This year I've already been out twice as much as I was all of last year. 

 

I'm really falling in love with the game though and I'm determined to spend more time with it. As of now, I'm better at betting on golf than I am at actually golfing apparently. Threw a 20 spot on DJ at the Travelers this past weekend and won $600  

[SportsGuy]

I just can’t keep my club face closed.

It’s the last thing to really bring most of my game together. And I’m
defining that by being able to always be in the 90-95 range and maybe break 90 on occasion. I still have other issues that need to be worked out.

I’m still going right too much and it’s costing me.