***Official 2025 Golf Thread, tbd*** (2 Viewers)

[urbanhack]

How does someone get a handicap? I play at different public courses and I'm not a member anywhere. Buddy of mine joined a club and wants me to play with him at the member guest next year.

I'd be interested to hear what you shoot on average, and what you'd estimate you're handicap to be?

I shoot between 75-85 most rounds. I play average public courses from the longest tees. Usually 6,700-7,200 yds.I have no idea what that translates to re:handicapping.

Depending on the difficulty of those courses, your handicap index is probably going to be between 5.0 and 7.0 range.

 

[gump]

How does someone get a handicap? I play at different public courses and I'm not a member anywhere. Buddy of mine joined a club and wants me to play with him at the member guest next year.

I'd be interested to hear what you shoot on average, and what you'd estimate you're handicap to be?

I shoot between 75-85 most rounds. I play average public courses from the longest tees. Usually 6,700-7,200 yds.I have no idea what that translates to re:handicapping.

Glad to see you didn't estimate your hdcp at 8, since you average 80. Tracking will be good for you, as most golfers who do have a legit hdcp don't want to play legitimately against those who don't. Even if you are honest as hell, there is a common misunderstanding on calculating it.

 

[TheIronSheik]

Anyone ever read Dave Pelz books? I remember reading one about 20 years ago and a couple things really stuck. Really helped my putting game. Not so much because he explained how to putt "correctly", but because he explained philosophies. I believe he was a NASA engineer that became a golf guy.

Anyway, one thing that stuck with me is something that everyone else disagrees with. He said to throw away the belief that putts that come up short are bad. The school of thought is that any putt that is short has zero chance of going in. But he says that no putt that is short will ever be longer than your last putt.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else ever read his stuff. Pretty interesting stuff.

Have you seen the setup at his house? ####### incredible.

http://www.golf.com/photos/dave-pelzs-golfers-paradise

That is cool as hell.

 

[John Bender]

Bender- I am going to go to your guy Stu in the next few weeks. I seemed to have fixed the problems I was having with my driver and happy with my contact on irons. I can always work on my short game, but I have never taken a lesson so a lot of my mechanics are unorthodox. Have you used him for short game lessons? I know things like my grip and posture could use improvements so I could always ask him to focus on that, just wanted to get your thoughts.

Bauer

He will work with you on whatever facet of your game. Were I you, I would definitely at least give him a shot to check out the swings with your irons and driver.

Tell him you want to save time for a half hour of chipping. Also, he can fix putting issues almost instantly. Even if you're an OK putter, have him take a look.

What he's best at is psychology. As I've said before, he gets you from thinking about 10 things to thinking of only 1 or 2. So that's why I think it important to maybe spend 15 minutes each on driver, irons, chipping and putting. Go back for a more chipping intensive lesson later in the month from there.

Please let me know how it goes.

 

[tommyboy]

How does someone get a handicap? I play at different public courses and I'm not a member anywhere. Buddy of mine joined a club and wants me to play with him at the member guest next year.

I'd be interested to hear what you shoot on average, and what you'd estimate you're handicap to be?

I shoot between 75-85 most rounds. I play average public courses from the longest tees. Usually 6,700-7,200 yds.I have no idea what that translates to re:handicapping.

Depending on the difficulty of those courses, your handicap index is probably going to be between 5.0 and 7.0 range.

I used this free website for 5-6 years before I finally got an official GHIN card

http://golfhound.com/handicap.phtml?GolfhoundSession=c4ed9dceb7ae0e7bf7043b3df2e9cc44

I played many tournaments and all of them allowed me to bring the printout of my last 20 scores and current handicap off this website.

ETA: do not enter 9 hole scores, for some reason this website will artificially credit you for being a better handicap than you are if you fill your card with 9 hole rounds. Just enter your 18 hole rounds only

 

[siffoin]

Anyone ever read Dave Pelz books? I remember reading one about 20 years ago and a couple things really stuck. Really helped my putting game. Not so much because he explained how to putt "correctly", but because he explained philosophies. I believe he was a NASA engineer that became a golf guy.

Anyway, one thing that stuck with me is something that everyone else disagrees with. He said to throw away the belief that putts that come up short are bad. The school of thought is that any putt that is short has zero chance of going in. But he says that no putt that is short will ever be longer than your last putt.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else ever read his stuff. Pretty interesting stuff.

True in theory especially for a tour level player. For 10 Handicapper maybe not so much. And a lot depends on the leave. Meaning- sometimes it might be better to leave a putt short than long. For example I'd rather leave my putt 2' short and have a straight uphill putt for my second than to go 2' long a face a tricky quick downhill putt.

Small Target=Small Miss

But the target size SHOULD be different depending upon skill level. For example a tour player chipping to a hole 15 yrds away might have a "small" target where he wants to land his ball = to the size of a dime. The 10 Handicapper would probably be better served to have his "small" target the size of a hula hoop. The 10 handicapper has the skill level to chip to an ideal target the size of a hula hoop 8:10x and by doing so would see his up and down % improve probably by at least 50%. If the same 10 handicapper golfer has his small target the size of a dime I doubt he could hit his target 1:100x..even worse his dispersion on those misses will be far greater than had he visualized the larger hula hoop sized target. Get a hula hoop and see how many times you can land your ball in it from various distances to gauge your ability.

So small target = small miss but the size of the target varies with skill level.

The same is true for putting. Tour players hole less than 50% of their putts from 10 feet. An amateur is a lot worse than that. IMO at 10+feet an amateur should change their thought process from trying to make the putt and instead focus on lag putting thereby eliminating 3 putts. I like to use the 10% rule. Lag putt to within 10% of your putting distance. So from 10 feet away lag to within 1 foot diameter of the hole - it doesn't matter if you're short, long, left or right - just within 1 foot. That should be considered success. A 20 foot putt, the lag target is 2 feet from the hole. 30+ foot putt target is 3 feet. I want to keep the lag target at no more than 3 feet because the odds of any player making a putt less than 3 feet is pretty high. So a 50' putt I still keep the target 3'.

Doing this will put a whole lot less pressure on your putting game.

You really want to ingrain an image of that lag target too. It needs to be burned into your brain. You can do this in a number of ways. Placing tees around the hole in the shape of a "U" - no more than 3' in diameter. Putt into the "U"

You could also buy a 9' piece of rope or webbing to provide a better "visual" target. There are also target rings you can buy.

Be realistic about your ability- if you can't pull off the shot at least 50% of the time use a bigger target. If you can pull off the shot 75%+, then use a smaller target.

 

[tommyboy]

I consider myself an above average putter. Its probably the only thing I'm really good at in golf, consistently. I spray the driver, I chunk chips sometimes, if I was a better iron players I'd be a scratch golfer, but I've always been good at putting.

my thought process is pretty straightforward. You need to be an expert at jamming a ball into the hole from 3-5 feet. I mean like it shouldn't be hard for you to make 10 in a row on the practice green, and you're furious if you miss even one.

once you have this small, extremely important skill dialed in, THEN you can be a great putter from any distance because now the only thing you have to concern yourself with on any putt, is speed control. You learn this by practicing lagging from 25-50 feet, with the goal being to leave the ball within a 3 ft circle around the hole, which since you're an expert at 3 footers, doesn't bother you in the least. I like to imagine a 50 gallon drum sitting over the hole, I want to hit the 50 gallon drum but if I miss, try to keep it within that visual circle around the hole.

finally, speed is more important than line. you can miss the line by 2 inches and the ball will still go in the hole at the right speed.

once you get really good at putting, you just think you can make every single putt on the green. You feel like the free safety that gave up three 60 yd bomb TD's to Randy Moss in the first half, and in the 2nd half you're still trash talking about locking him down.

 

[TheIronSheik]

I consider myself an above average putter. Its probably the only thing I'm really good at in golf, consistently. I spray the driver, I chunk chips sometimes, if I was a better iron players I'd be a scratch golfer, but I've always been good at putting.

my thought process is pretty straightforward. You need to be an expert at jamming a ball into the hole from 3-5 feet. I mean like it shouldn't be hard for you to make 10 in a row on the practice green, and you're furious if you miss even one.

once you have this small, extremely important skill dialed in, THEN you can be a great putter from any distance because now the only thing you have to concern yourself with on any putt, is speed control. You learn this by practicing lagging from 25-50 feet, with the goal being to leave the ball within a 3 ft circle around the hole, which since you're an expert at 3 footers, doesn't bother you in the least. I like to imagine a 50 gallon drum sitting over the hole, I want to hit the 50 gallon drum but if I miss, try to keep it within that visual circle around the hole.

finally, speed is more important than line. you can miss the line by 2 inches and the ball will still go in the hole at the right speed.

once you get really good at putting, you just think you can make every single putt on the green. You feel like the free safety that gave up three 60 yd bomb TD's to Randy Moss in the first half, and in the 2nd half you're still trash talking about locking him down.

I was like this for the longest time when I was improving my game. As I started to consistently shoot low 80's, I'd find myself getting more and more angry at mistakes I was making. Then golf no longer became fun for me. Now, I don't practice at all, don't sweat mistakes and don't really keep a legit score most days out. I can shoot anywhere from a 90 to a 105 nowadays, but I seem to enjoy golfing a lot more. Not saying everyone should adopt my policy, but the greatest thing I ever did to maximize my enjoyment of golf was I stopped trying so hard.

 

[tommyboy]

I consider myself an above average putter. Its probably the only thing I'm really good at in golf, consistently. I spray the driver, I chunk chips sometimes, if I was a better iron players I'd be a scratch golfer, but I've always been good at putting.

my thought process is pretty straightforward. You need to be an expert at jamming a ball into the hole from 3-5 feet. I mean like it shouldn't be hard for you to make 10 in a row on the practice green, and you're furious if you miss even one.

once you have this small, extremely important skill dialed in, THEN you can be a great putter from any distance because now the only thing you have to concern yourself with on any putt, is speed control. You learn this by practicing lagging from 25-50 feet, with the goal being to leave the ball within a 3 ft circle around the hole, which since you're an expert at 3 footers, doesn't bother you in the least. I like to imagine a 50 gallon drum sitting over the hole, I want to hit the 50 gallon drum but if I miss, try to keep it within that visual circle around the hole.

finally, speed is more important than line. you can miss the line by 2 inches and the ball will still go in the hole at the right speed.

once you get really good at putting, you just think you can make every single putt on the green. You feel like the free safety that gave up three 60 yd bomb TD's to Randy Moss in the first half, and in the 2nd half you're still trash talking about locking him down.

I was like this for the longest time when I was improving my game. As I started to consistently shoot low 80's, I'd find myself getting more and more angry at mistakes I was making. Then golf no longer became fun for me. Now, I don't practice at all, don't sweat mistakes and don't really keep a legit score most days out. I can shoot anywhere from a 90 to a 105 nowadays, but I seem to enjoy golfing a lot more. Not saying everyone should adopt my policy, but the greatest thing I ever did to maximize my enjoyment of golf was I stopped trying so hard.

sheik, I meant be furious when you miss during PRACTICE. I don't give two ####s what happens during my actual rounds, I found out years ago that getting pissed on the golf course rapidly leads to double and triple bogeys. the best rounds usually happen when you are just enjoying the day

 

[TheIronSheik]

I consider myself an above average putter. Its probably the only thing I'm really good at in golf, consistently. I spray the driver, I chunk chips sometimes, if I was a better iron players I'd be a scratch golfer, but I've always been good at putting.

my thought process is pretty straightforward. You need to be an expert at jamming a ball into the hole from 3-5 feet. I mean like it shouldn't be hard for you to make 10 in a row on the practice green, and you're furious if you miss even one.

once you have this small, extremely important skill dialed in, THEN you can be a great putter from any distance because now the only thing you have to concern yourself with on any putt, is speed control. You learn this by practicing lagging from 25-50 feet, with the goal being to leave the ball within a 3 ft circle around the hole, which since you're an expert at 3 footers, doesn't bother you in the least. I like to imagine a 50 gallon drum sitting over the hole, I want to hit the 50 gallon drum but if I miss, try to keep it within that visual circle around the hole.

finally, speed is more important than line. you can miss the line by 2 inches and the ball will still go in the hole at the right speed.

once you get really good at putting, you just think you can make every single putt on the green. You feel like the free safety that gave up three 60 yd bomb TD's to Randy Moss in the first half, and in the 2nd half you're still trash talking about locking him down.

I was like this for the longest time when I was improving my game. As I started to consistently shoot low 80's, I'd find myself getting more and more angry at mistakes I was making. Then golf no longer became fun for me. Now, I don't practice at all, don't sweat mistakes and don't really keep a legit score most days out. I can shoot anywhere from a 90 to a 105 nowadays, but I seem to enjoy golfing a lot more. Not saying everyone should adopt my policy, but the greatest thing I ever did to maximize my enjoyment of golf was I stopped trying so hard.

sheik, I meant be furious when you miss during PRACTICE. I don't give two ####s what happens during my actual rounds, I found out years ago that getting pissed on the golf course rapidly leads to double and triple bogeys. the best rounds usually happen when you are just enjoying the day

Just to be clear, I wasn't criticizing you at all, GB. I was just saying I used to practice and get mad at myself when I wasn't on my game. I started to hate golfing. That's all I was saying.

 

[urbanhack]

this is my putting green at home

 

[mr roboto]

That cat is in the way it seems.

 

[belljr]

shot 88 not happy but not bad since this is my first round technically and haven't really been to arrange except once hit iit pretty good with the new putter. hit some awful pitches and chips today hit driver really well

 

[John Bender]

Cannot hit my f'n irons.

Went to the range today....topped almost everything, shanked whatever I didn't top and middle fingernail continues to pull away from the skin unnaturally after every shot.

 

[Nugget]

Pulling my short irons a ton. On a 120 yard shot, I will land 25 yards left of my target. Some are straight pulls, some are pulls with a hook for good measure. So frustrating to miss greens from the fairway inside 150 yards.

 

[Zow]

Anyone ever read Dave Pelz books? I remember reading one about 20 years ago and a couple things really stuck. Really helped my putting game. Not so much because he explained how to putt "correctly", but because he explained philosophies. I believe he was a NASA engineer that became a golf guy.

Anyway, one thing that stuck with me is something that everyone else disagrees with. He said to throw away the belief that putts that come up short are bad. The school of thought is that any putt that is short has zero chance of going in. But he says that no putt that is short will ever be longer than your last putt.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else ever read his stuff. Pretty interesting stuff.

Have you seen the setup at his house? ####### incredible.

http://www.golf.com/photos/dave-pelzs-golfers-paradise

Rules so much.

 

[tommyboy]

Cannot hit my f'n irons.

Went to the range today....topped almost everything, shanked whatever I didn't top and middle fingernail continues to pull away from the skin unnaturally after every shot.

upload a video. I have a hunch but unless I see your downswing, I can only guess

 

[Quint]

Cannot hit my f'n irons.

Went to the range today....topped almost everything, shanked whatever I didn't top and middle fingernail continues to pull away from the skin unnaturally after every shot.

move ball back 1" in your stance

take 1/2 to 3/4 swings (max) until you start making consistent contact

aim for the back of the ball

 

[tommyboy]

Pulling my short irons a ton. On a 120 yard shot, I will land 25 yards left of my target. Some are straight pulls, some are pulls with a hook for good measure. So frustrating to miss greens from the fairway inside 150 yards.

easy fix. Keep your left shoulder parallel to target just a fraction longer than normal, or try to keep it aimed parallel of target AT IMPACT.

usually these pulled irons are a result of turning the left shoulder out too early before impact which causes the hands to roll early and you just pull it.

 

[Quint]

Pulling my short irons a ton. On a 120 yard shot, I will land 25 yards left of my target. Some are straight pulls, some are pulls with a hook for good measure. So frustrating to miss greens from the fairway inside 150 yards.

easy fix. Keep your left shoulder parallel to target just a fraction longer than normal, or try to keep it aimed parallel of target AT IMPACT.

usually these pulled irons are a result of turning the left shoulder out too early before impact which causes the hands to roll early and you just pull it.

agree 100% with tommyboy.

another thought: try to keep your knees parallel through the swing. a straightened left knee at impact can cause balls to start left and head left.

 

[belljr]

Feel fairly confident if today was a month from now it would have been a 78. I hit tons of good shots had no touch and actually whiffed on a 50 yard pitch lol...

Just felt good to swing. Once I get to a range I'll feel better

way k8lls me is 8 don't practice much anymore. I just show up and play. Each year I get a tad worse lol.

10 years ago I was 6ish not 10ish

 

[urbanhack]

Cannot hit my f'n irons.

Went to the range today....topped almost everything, shanked whatever I didn't top and middle fingernail continues to pull away from the skin unnaturally after every shot.

upload a video. I have a hunch but unless I see your downswing, I can only guess

I'm also guessing way too much tension in the grip.

 

[John Bender]

Cannot hit my f'n irons.

Went to the range today....topped almost everything, shanked whatever I didn't top and middle fingernail continues to pull away from the skin unnaturally after every shot.

upload a video. I have a hunch but unless I see your downswing, I can only guess

I'm also guessing way too much tension in the grip.

It's like a mental block.

Even took out my sandwedge and couldn't hit the ball square once out of 20 tries. What a mess.

Will try to loosen the tension a bit. Also will try to shorten backswing and follow through until I start to get comfortable again.

So frustrating.

 

[belljr]

Cannot hit my f'n irons.

Went to the range today....topped almost everything, shanked whatever I didn't top and middle fingernail continues to pull away from the skin unnaturally after every shot.

you are too close and coming over the top a little.setup to address. Now put the club down on the ground between your feet. Your toes should be half way to 3/4 up the grip

 

[urbanhack]

Cannot hit my f'n irons.

Went to the range today....topped almost everything, shanked whatever I didn't top and middle fingernail continues to pull away from the skin unnaturally after every shot.

upload a video. I have a hunch but unless I see your downswing, I can only guess

I'm also guessing way too much tension in the grip.

It's like a mental block.

Even took out my sandwedge and couldn't hit the ball square once out of 20 tries. What a mess.

Will try to loosen the tension a bit. Also will try to shorten backswing and follow through until I start to get comfortable again.

So frustrating.

Then it has to be your posture or your tempo. Or maybe even ball position. You need to get "centered" get everything back to square one, so to speak.

 

[tommyboy]

Just to be clear, I wasn't criticizing you at all, GB. I was just saying I used to practice and get mad at myself when I wasn't on my game. I started to hate golfing. That's all I was saying.

ok, cool. I have a hard time getting too worked up over golf, because its about the only thing i do besides workign out that lets me blow off steam from the stress of work. Plus who can not like somethng you play outdoors in beautiful surroundings and take a 6 mile walk while playing a game of skill? Its like a giant chess match on 180 acres in a beautifully manicured park

 

[tommyboy]

Cannot hit my f'n irons.

Went to the range today....topped almost everything, shanked whatever I didn't top and middle fingernail continues to pull away from the skin unnaturally after every shot.

upload a video. I have a hunch but unless I see your downswing, I can only guess

I'm also guessing way too much tension in the grip.

It's like a mental block.

Even took out my sandwedge and couldn't hit the ball square once out of 20 tries. What a mess.

Will try to loosen the tension a bit. Also will try to shorten backswing and follow through until I start to get comfortable again.

So frustrating.

Then it has to be your posture or your tempo. Or maybe even ball position. You need to get "centered" get everything back to square one, so to speak.

i had that problem he describes with the fingernail pulling away at one time. i saw a video of my downswing and immediately noticed why. I was rerouting quite a bit and pretty wristy also, so all the extra movment was causing a wear spot on my right middle finger. Anyhow we can all guess what it might be but the only way i would be able to help is to see his swing.

 

[urbanhack]

Cannot hit my f'n irons.

Went to the range today....topped almost everything, shanked whatever I didn't top and middle fingernail continues to pull away from the skin unnaturally after every shot.

upload a video. I have a hunch but unless I see your downswing, I can only guess

I'm also guessing way too much tension in the grip.

It's like a mental block.

Even took out my sandwedge and couldn't hit the ball square once out of 20 tries. What a mess.

Will try to loosen the tension a bit. Also will try to shorten backswing and follow through until I start to get comfortable again.

So frustrating.

Then it has to be your posture or your tempo. Or maybe even ball position. You need to get "centered" get everything back to square one, so to speak.

i had that problem he describes with the fingernail pulling away at one time. i saw a video of my downswing and immediately noticed why. I was rerouting quite a bit and pretty wristy also, so all the extra movment was causing a wear spot on my right middle finger. Anyhow we can all guess what it might be but the only way i would be able to help is to see his swing.

Agreed. Need to see some video. In my experience in teaching double digit handiappers a lot of the details that are hard to teach are often solved by changed something with posture, grip or alignment.

 

[urbanhack]

7:57 tee time tomorrow!

bloody marys on the first tee!

 

[tommyboy]

7:57 tee time tomorrow!

bloody marys on the first tee!

I'm jealous. my last official round was

H 10/14 71 69.6/126 1.3

I did play 3 rounds at Bandon Dunes Jan 4-5-6, but I haven't touched a club since then. Haven't chipped, havn't putted, haven't been to the driving range. Nothing.

I need to quit working so damn much and just go out to the club and play. this is pathetic

 

[belljr]

7:57 tee time tomorrow!

bloody marys on the first tee!

I'm jealous. my last official round wasH 10/14 71 69.6/126

1.3

I did play 3 rounds at Bandon Dunes Jan 4-5-6, but I haven't touched a club since then. Haven't chipped, havn't putted, haven't been to the driving range. Nothing.

I need to quit working so damn much and just go out to the club and play. this is pathetic

that was me. That's why I wasn't super mad at my score. But for a essentially a 4.5 month layoff ...

 

[John Bender]

Seems the irons was exactly as stated here. Tension in the grip. As soon as I loosened it, it felt like there was "more give" and less chance the ball would be skilled, topped or shanked. And that also makes sense why my golf "coach" was so baffled. Hard to see how tightly one is gripping the club.

I hit over 900 balls this week

 

[John Bender]

More on the irons fiasco.

Both 2 fingernails that touch the club on my right hand are starting to pull from the nail so it had to have been tension in the grip.

I guess I wasn't getting any "release?" when down swinging because I was gripping too tightly. Instead the club was static and striking the ball with no give, causing all types of misfires.

Gonna hit another 100 balls this weekend. Every other part of my game right now is as good as it's ever been, I just need to hit approach shots thats work.

I did switch to an overlapped pinky grip on my irons but I'm going to keep the interlock for my driver because the driver is just working beautifully right now. Hopefully this won't be a big deal long term.

 

[belljr]

lol I haven't hit 900 balls in a year bag

 

[Apple Jack]

Seems the irons was exactly as stated here. Tension in the grip. As soon as I loosened it, it felt like there was "more give" and less chance the ball would be skilled, topped or shanked. And that also makes sense why my golf "coach" was so baffled. Hard to see how tightly one is gripping the club.

I hit over 900 balls this week

Wow. That's dedication. I haven't hit 900 range balls in 15 years. I should probably practice once in awhile.

That said, I tested some drivers today. First swings since I think September. Club head speed now around 103-105. Got good numbers though. Playing tomorrow afternoon with some guys already in midseason form. My liver is in midseason form and I plan to use that to my advantage.

 

[SeveredHorseHeads]

If I hit 900 balls in a week, I'd be in a wheel chair and my hands would look like I put them in a blender.

 

[John Bender]

If I hit 900 balls in a week, I'd be in a wheel chair and my hands would look like I put them in a blender.

During golf season, I do nothing but think of golf. There's a beautiful range right around the corner for me and I have a season pass there.

Might go hit another bucket right now.

 

[SeveredHorseHeads]

If I hit 900 balls in a week, I'd be in a wheel chair and my hands would look like I put them in a blender.

During golf season, I do nothing but think of golf. There's a beautiful range right around the corner for me and I have a season pass there. Might go hit another bucket right now.

I'm jealous. It's always a PIA for me to play. One downside of city living.

 

[Apple Jack]

If I hit 900 balls in a week, I'd be in a wheel chair and my hands would look like I put them in a blender.

During golf season, I do nothing but think of golf. There's a beautiful range right around the corner for me and I have a season pass there.Might go hit another bucket right now.

I'm jealous. It's always a PIA for me to play. One downside of city living.

LIRR to Farmingdale baby!

 

[John Bender]

Just tried to hit another bucket.

Got about 60 percent through and my back is just sore as hell.

Of course as soon as I work out my iron troubles my sand wedge I hit on the Hoople every time. Oy vey.

 

[urbanhack]

If I hit 900 balls in a week, I'd be in a wheel chair and my hands would look like I put them in a blender.

During golf season, I do nothing but think of golf. There's a beautiful range right around the corner for me and I have a season pass there. Might go hit another bucket right now.

I'm jealous. It's always a PIA for me to play. One downside of city living.

This sucks. It's an effort to play golf living and working in downtown Chicago. I have to drive 30 minutes just to hit balls and practice. 18 holes with the guys on the weekend is a full day commitment for the most part. 8 hours at least with commute, warming up and a few drinks after.

 

[belljr]

Snuck in 9 holes shot a plus 5 40. # progress

rolling he ball great hits some great irons the only thing was bad today was my driver which was perfect the last time lol

 

[belljr]

Hey gump...Spieth DOES play a scotty

 

[urbanhack]

84 today. Pretty happy for the first round. I played the first three holes and the last 4 holes 13 over. The 11 holes in between I was 1 under. Had it going for a while and birdied 3 out of 5 holes at one point. I've got to figure out my driver if I'm going to start shooting in the 70s.

 

[gump]

Hey gump...Spieth DOES play a scotty

coincidentally I can't make a 5 foot putt or longer all of a sudden.

Anyone with tips on putting stances? I can't seem to keep from cutting across the ball. I line up putter first, then step into my stance...and naturally I end up slightly open, then slicing my putts.

 

[John Bender]

Hey gump...Spieth DOES play a scotty

coincidentally I can't make a 5 foot putt or longer all of a sudden.Anyone with tips on putting stances? I can't seem to keep from cutting across the ball. I line up putter first, then step into my stance...and naturally I end up slightly open, then slicing my putts.

Are you finishing high? Above the ball spot by not allowing your shoulders to move freely after contact?

Most issues like you describe I see people finishing high with the putter well above and to the right (if right handed) of where the ball was.

I always remember that after contact it should look like almost a mini driver swing with the club almost coming in toward my body.

 

[Johnnymac]

Shot 118 today. Disappointed obviously. Very tough course, lots of water and it was windy. I still enjoyed it.

 

[urbanhack]

Oh and one of the guys in my group holed out from about 150 on a par 5 for eagle from the trees and to an incredibly tough pin position.

 

[urbanhack]

Oh and one of the guys in my group holed out from about 150 on a par 5 for eagle from the trees and to an incredibly tough pin position.

And even crazier, the other guy just happened to shoot vide because he thought the shot he was trying to hit was going to hit trees.

 

[belljr]

That's cool but can't see crap on the video