***Official 2025 Golf Thread,, woz humblebrags he's secretly a plus hcp*** (11 Viewers)

[Andy Dufresne]

It may sound silly/trite/whatever but I think it's true that golf teaches a valuable life lesson in this - You hit a bad shot, it happens. Line up and take your next shot understanding that your attitude will influence EACH shot. Don't let the bad attitude of your last bad shot influence your next shot. If you do, it's almost guaranteed to be another bad shot.

 

[Instinctive]

It may sound silly/trite/whatever but I think it's true that golf teaches a valuable life lesson in this - You hit a bad shot, it happens. Line up and take your next shot understanding that your attitude will influence EACH shot. Don't let the bad attitude of your last bad shot influence your next shot. If you do, it's almost guaranteed to be another bad shot.

So true

I played with my dad for the first time.

Starting attitude: he and a neighbor were gonna scramble, relax, not even keep score and enjoy a beautiful mountain day.

First shot he takes an iron off the tee and just striped it 180 down the middle. Worst possible outcome. Never once picked up a ball and dropped, tracked score, pissed off at the 131 at the end, ton of chunks where you can tell he tried to kill it and hit every shot perfect.

Meanwhile I'm relaxed, just smooth through things, taking my medicine after an unlucky bounce or a bad spot in the rough. Crazy.

 

[belljr]

It may sound silly/trite/whatever but I think it's true that golf teaches a valuable life lesson in this - You hit a bad shot, it happens. Line up and take your next shot understanding that your attitude will influence EACH shot. Don't let the bad attitude of your last bad shot influence your next shot. If you do, it's almost guaranteed to be another bad shot.

If I can impart one wisdom handed down to me via a book or someone i don't recall.....

Golf is not about your good shots.

Golf is about controlling your bad shots.

Or something to that effect.

Meaning you are going to hit bad shots but minimizing the damage or making your bad shots less bad is how you play and get better.

 

[Instinctive]

It may sound silly/trite/whatever but I think it's true that golf teaches a valuable life lesson in this - You hit a bad shot, it happens. Line up and take your next shot understanding that your attitude will influence EACH shot. Don't let the bad attitude of your last bad shot influence your next shot. If you do, it's almost guaranteed to be another bad shot.

If I can impart one wisdom handed down to me via a book or someone i don't recall.....

Golf is not about your good shots.

Golf is about controlling your bad shots.

Or something to that effect.

Meaning you are going to hit bad shots but minimizing the damage or making your bad shots less bad is how you play and get better.

Golf Sidekick

My favorite golf YouTube. Totally swing tip free. All strategy and mental.

Has really hammered into me the point that it's about planning for the best miss, not planning for the best perfect shot.

 

[belljr]

It may sound silly/trite/whatever but I think it's true that golf teaches a valuable life lesson in this - You hit a bad shot, it happens. Line up and take your next shot understanding that your attitude will influence EACH shot. Don't let the bad attitude of your last bad shot influence your next shot. If you do, it's almost guaranteed to be another bad shot.

If I can impart one wisdom handed down to me via a book or someone i don't recall.....

Golf is not about your good shots.

Golf is about controlling your bad shots.

Or something to that effect.

Meaning you are going to hit bad shots but minimizing the damage or making your bad shots less bad is how you play and get better.

Golf Sidekick

My favorite golf YouTube. Totally swing tip free. All strategy and mental.

Has really hammered into me the point that it's about planning for the best miss, not planning for the best perfect shot.

I don't know what that is but I learned that lesson some 25 years ago

Might have been this book from 1995

Amazon.com

 

[Instinctive]

It may sound silly/trite/whatever but I think it's true that golf teaches a valuable life lesson in this - You hit a bad shot, it happens. Line up and take your next shot understanding that your attitude will influence EACH shot. Don't let the bad attitude of your last bad shot influence your next shot. If you do, it's almost guaranteed to be another bad shot.

If I can impart one wisdom handed down to me via a book or someone i don't recall.....

Golf is not about your good shots.

Golf is about controlling your bad shots.

Or something to that effect.

Meaning you are going to hit bad shots but minimizing the damage or making your bad shots less bad is how you play and get better.

Golf Sidekick

My favorite golf YouTube. Totally swing tip free. All strategy and mental.

Has really hammered into me the point that it's about planning for the best miss, not planning for the best perfect shot.

I don't know what that is but I learned that lesson some 25 years ago

Might have been this book from 1995

Amazon.com

Haha. Same Youtuber I recommend above LOVES Bob Rotella's putting book, Putting out of your Mind

 

[Judge Smails]

Amazing lesson today. Coach said on Sunday he told all the pros they'd have a contest for best lesson of the week and he thinks he has it in the bag now LOL.

Basically, the last 2 weeks have been incredible.

I went from: somewhere between 25-40% of iron shots are godawful, between basically a wasted shot and worse (penalty/OB/etc)...to maybe 1-3 bad shots in an entire round, scores dropped from at best I'm at 90 and average I'm needing great short game to keep me under 100 or a couple lucky bounces to avoid penalties all the way to mid 80s (83, 92, 83, 87, 86) with generally great iron striking.

The big change is I spent a week hitting balls an hour or two every day on the mat with a camera pointed at me. I'd hit 4 balls, track whether I thought it was good or bad, and then watch slo mo all four swings, a bunch, and compare/contrast good with good and good with bad to find differences and commonalities. Throughout that, basically figured out if I have a super short backswing, I make amazing contact. So that's what I did. And it shows on all these recent rounds.

So i get to the lesson, warm up a bit, coach is like astounded. Comments to the other guy setting up for a lesson "look at this stripe show, we must be doing something right." Then I immediately ding the 150 yard pole with an 8-iron (exactly where I was aiming) and they kind of lost their minds in a fun way. So I told him the above, and he says "You can really tell. You're in what we can call the pocket, and everything in the pocket is great. You've figured out club face, the swing path is great, even a couple heavy or thin are flying straight and true, maybe a small draw that's beautiful."

I was like "Ok, but I SUCK with the driver still, have no idea how to swing it, and i am somewhere between a pull draw and a strong draw with my 3H. Consistent, but I'd love to hit it straighter. My 5i and maybe 6i fade on me in a way the other clubs don't."

And he basically walks through, with a series of drills and swing tools and then drills and swapping between clubs and stuff and one very important drill designed to "give your arms freedom, create space for power, but maintain the beautiful pocket you've gotten to."

The main drill is one where I just stop at the peak of my backswing (which is still short, club is maybe just past parallel to the ground), do a full one count, then swing, and don;t try to kill it, recognize that it'll go less far and focus on contact. He said it's really hard so we'll try it and stick with it. And I immediately just start hitting them near perfect. He's like "This is a totally different person than the guy I've coached for a year man oh my god. Now pause for a two count, super long." Just keep hitting them great, a little heavy here or there. Looking good.

So we pull out an iron again and he's like now instead of the pause, keep your turn going and let your arms go where they go. Hit a couple bad ones unwinding, hit a couple good, talk through it. And he moved my weight, like physically has me not lean per se, but it kind of felt like leaning (on video, doesn't look like a lean at all) and is like now do that, same rhythm but during the pause time, the turn just keeps going, weight is moving to back foot, and arms go where they go.

Just start mashing it. 8-iron hits that honestly still weren't perfect are going 7-iron distance. So do a bunch of that, a couple more drills tweaking bits, etc.

Now it's driver time. Same concept, longer club, do the same things. So we worked a ton to keep the weight shift, fixed where I have the ball position (it's about right relative to feet, but my torse made it so the ball was practically middle of my shirt, added a little torso tilt, made sure the weight shift went, made the backswing a little faster so the same timing rhythm applied to the longer club...OMG it was just mashing.

So the final fix to work on is that this new, MUCH more powerful swing, has a fade tendency. The line is perfect, so the face is a little open (and moreso the longer the club). So we're towards the end, he shoes me a couple drills, does a physically grab my arms in driver swing and show where the face needs to close (really feels like my arms roll forward in the downswing basically) and then is basically like with all irons, for a while when you're on your mat at home, do a full shot like this, then do a chip (because my chips are all dead straight or slight draws) to learn the face control.

So that's what I'm doing. He said most of the drives at the end, even with that sometimes fairly large fade, were going like 250-265, with range balls. There's a LOT of power in there. If we can keep the ball striking but add that length and space, it's like a full club, maybe more, on every club.

FEELS INCREDIBLE. Can't wait to play Friday.

Great stuff. But “club just past parallel to the ground at the top” is a short backswing?

Like it goes from the ground until it becomes parallel, and no further. Not all the way up to the top and parallel pointing down range. Parallel and pointing behind me still.

Edit: maybe that makes more sense? But basically it's about half a swing, maybe 60% as long as compared to what we worked on today.

Basically Jon Rahm, right?

 

[Instinctive]

Amazing lesson today. Coach said on Sunday he told all the pros they'd have a contest for best lesson of the week and he thinks he has it in the bag now LOL.

Basically, the last 2 weeks have been incredible.

I went from: somewhere between 25-40% of iron shots are godawful, between basically a wasted shot and worse (penalty/OB/etc)...to maybe 1-3 bad shots in an entire round, scores dropped from at best I'm at 90 and average I'm needing great short game to keep me under 100 or a couple lucky bounces to avoid penalties all the way to mid 80s (83, 92, 83, 87, 86) with generally great iron striking.

The big change is I spent a week hitting balls an hour or two every day on the mat with a camera pointed at me. I'd hit 4 balls, track whether I thought it was good or bad, and then watch slo mo all four swings, a bunch, and compare/contrast good with good and good with bad to find differences and commonalities. Throughout that, basically figured out if I have a super short backswing, I make amazing contact. So that's what I did. And it shows on all these recent rounds.

So i get to the lesson, warm up a bit, coach is like astounded. Comments to the other guy setting up for a lesson "look at this stripe show, we must be doing something right." Then I immediately ding the 150 yard pole with an 8-iron (exactly where I was aiming) and they kind of lost their minds in a fun way. So I told him the above, and he says "You can really tell. You're in what we can call the pocket, and everything in the pocket is great. You've figured out club face, the swing path is great, even a couple heavy or thin are flying straight and true, maybe a small draw that's beautiful."

I was like "Ok, but I SUCK with the driver still, have no idea how to swing it, and i am somewhere between a pull draw and a strong draw with my 3H. Consistent, but I'd love to hit it straighter. My 5i and maybe 6i fade on me in a way the other clubs don't."

And he basically walks through, with a series of drills and swing tools and then drills and swapping between clubs and stuff and one very important drill designed to "give your arms freedom, create space for power, but maintain the beautiful pocket you've gotten to."

The main drill is one where I just stop at the peak of my backswing (which is still short, club is maybe just past parallel to the ground), do a full one count, then swing, and don;t try to kill it, recognize that it'll go less far and focus on contact. He said it's really hard so we'll try it and stick with it. And I immediately just start hitting them near perfect. He's like "This is a totally different person than the guy I've coached for a year man oh my god. Now pause for a two count, super long." Just keep hitting them great, a little heavy here or there. Looking good.

So we pull out an iron again and he's like now instead of the pause, keep your turn going and let your arms go where they go. Hit a couple bad ones unwinding, hit a couple good, talk through it. And he moved my weight, like physically has me not lean per se, but it kind of felt like leaning (on video, doesn't look like a lean at all) and is like now do that, same rhythm but during the pause time, the turn just keeps going, weight is moving to back foot, and arms go where they go.

Just start mashing it. 8-iron hits that honestly still weren't perfect are going 7-iron distance. So do a bunch of that, a couple more drills tweaking bits, etc.

Now it's driver time. Same concept, longer club, do the same things. So we worked a ton to keep the weight shift, fixed where I have the ball position (it's about right relative to feet, but my torse made it so the ball was practically middle of my shirt, added a little torso tilt, made sure the weight shift went, made the backswing a little faster so the same timing rhythm applied to the longer club...OMG it was just mashing.

So the final fix to work on is that this new, MUCH more powerful swing, has a fade tendency. The line is perfect, so the face is a little open (and moreso the longer the club). So we're towards the end, he shoes me a couple drills, does a physically grab my arms in driver swing and show where the face needs to close (really feels like my arms roll forward in the downswing basically) and then is basically like with all irons, for a while when you're on your mat at home, do a full shot like this, then do a chip (because my chips are all dead straight or slight draws) to learn the face control.

So that's what I'm doing. He said most of the drives at the end, even with that sometimes fairly large fade, were going like 250-265, with range balls. There's a LOT of power in there. If we can keep the ball striking but add that length and space, it's like a full club, maybe more, on every club.

FEELS INCREDIBLE. Can't wait to play Friday.

Great stuff. But “club just past parallel to the ground at the top” is a short backswing?

Like it goes from the ground until it becomes parallel, and no further. Not all the way up to the top and parallel pointing down range. Parallel and pointing behind me still.

Edit: maybe that makes more sense? But basically it's about half a swing, maybe 60% as long as compared to what we worked on today.

Basically Jon Rahm, right?

Even shorter. Like by half.

But after today...longer maybe than he takes! Or pretty close to his.

 

[The Gator]

My local sim place is having an Avoda club fitting session in a few weeks. I have no intention to get fitted yet, wanted to play consistently for 6 months to a year before getting fitted with nicer clubs.

The question: should I still go and see what the process is and get more info on my swing?

Any advice here fellas? Worth my time to sign up and go for this even though I won't be getting clubs?

 

[Grahamburn]

or if I was just too damn sober

The man has a point that is no laughing matter.

My club championship starts tomorrow. I plan on being >.08% BAC by the time I tee off.

Swing lube.

 

[Nigel]

I had probably the most enjoyable golf day of my life last Friday. Between the golf course (Eastward Ho! Chatham, MA), perfect weather, top-notch company, how well I played and the postgame festivities…my Lord it was absolutely glorious. Didn’t want it to end.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

My local sim place is having an Avoda club fitting session in a few weeks. I have no intention to get fitted yet, wanted to play consistently for 6 months to a year before getting fitted with nicer clubs.

The question: should I still go and see what the process is and get more info on my swing?

Any advice here fellas? Worth my time to sign up and go for this even though I won't be getting clubs?

If you have the time and they know you're just window shopping, can't hurt can it?

 

[WDIK2]

I remember bending the shaft of my 3 wood by hitting my golf bag with it after a bad shot.

Bent a shaft? Pfft. Rookie. Back in the day I had a bad temper and was a snap the shaft over the knee guy.

I've since matured and hadn't snapped one in probably 20 years.... Until early this year.

It didn't help that on the 18th hole one of my playing partners said, "What was that!?!" My response was, "Have you never seen a shank ****-******?" <SNAP>. Not a proud moment.

The good thing now is that I can fix my own clubs and you can buy 3 Vokey wedge shafts pulls for about $70 on ebay.

 

[3 hour lunch]

We've been planning to go to Bandon in October of next year for well over a year now. We were just waiting for the booking window to open up. The website has been showing "booking through September 30th" for months now.

Apparently in the last month they implemented some sort of lottery booking system and it basically killed the trip. Not sure if the rest of the group (its mostly my brother's friends, so I'm not the planner) just kinda lost interest or if we pulled a bad lottery number (meaning we basically had no chance of getting a decent date...or any date at all in the window) but now its all fallen apart.

To say I'm bummed is an understatement. Between this and my game absolutely falling to pieces (dont even want to get started talking about that. We're in a DARK place) its been a pretty rough end to the summer.

This is a huge bummer of course. First class facility. However, weather is fairly unpredictable and there are so many places to try. I would encourage you to try another location- Kohler, Branson, Monterey, Streamsong, St George/Mesquite, etc. You’ll have just as good of a time…..

 

[The Gator]

My local sim place is having an Avoda club fitting session in a few weeks. I have no intention to get fitted yet, wanted to play consistently for 6 months to a year before getting fitted with nicer clubs.

The question: should I still go and see what the process is and get more info on my swing?

Any advice here fellas? Worth my time to sign up and go for this even though I won't be getting clubs?

If you have the time and they know you're just window shopping, can't hurt can it?

Thanks for the reply.

I've read they give you numbers/data to take with you anyway, Just wasn't sure of etiquette

 

[TLEF316]

We've been planning to go to Bandon in October of next year for well over a year now. We were just waiting for the booking window to open up. The website has been showing "booking through September 30th" for months now.

Apparently in the last month they implemented some sort of lottery booking system and it basically killed the trip. Not sure if the rest of the group (its mostly my brother's friends, so I'm not the planner) just kinda lost interest or if we pulled a bad lottery number (meaning we basically had no chance of getting a decent date...or any date at all in the window) but now its all fallen apart.

To say I'm bummed is an understatement. Between this and my game absolutely falling to pieces (dont even want to get started talking about that. We're in a DARK place) its been a pretty rough end to the summer.

This is a huge bummer of course. First class facility. However, weather is fairly unpredictable and there are so many places to try. I would encourage you to try another location- Kohler, Branson, Monterey, Streamsong, St George/Mesquite, etc. You’ll have just as good of a time…..

I get that. My dad, brothers and I are going to Hilton Head in October which will be a lot of fun. My dad is pushing 75, so who knows how many of these he has left and my youngest brother lives outside the country (so we rarely see him). So that will be a fun trip regardless (although we're not playing Harbortown, which is a little bit of a let down). We were also considering going to Branson and hitting up the courses at Big Cedar, but the cost was higher and kinda seemed like that experience would be wasted on brother #3 (as he's not really a golfer). Would love to do Sand Valley at some point but I know the demand there is crazy as well. (pretty sure that's a "book a year out" trip at this point). My brother and his boys did Streamsong back in the Spring.

We actually have a pretty solid "In" with Cabot (not technically part of Dream Golf/the Kaisers but there's a loose relationship) My "cousin" works for the company and we'll likely be going down to the new Florida property and/or up to Nova Scotia in the not too distant future.

But the whole deal with Bandon (the 5 course plus the short courses, the insane views, the overall "just 100% golf" vibe) was just something I was really looking forward to (despite the possibility of having some of it wrecked by weather)

 

[Judge Smails]

Re Bandon. We got tee times on our trip in 2022 but chalets were sold out. No probelm. We rented this house and it was AWESOME. Can sleep 20. Highly recommend.

https://www.vrbo.com/484421?chkin=2025-05-01&chkout=2025-05-06&d1=2025-05-01&d2=2025-05-06&startDate=2025-05-01&endDate=2025-05-06&x_pwa=1&rfrr=HSR&pwa_ts=1724904294061&referrerUrl=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudnJiby5jb20vSG90ZWwtU2VhcmNo&useRewards=false&adults=12&regionId=6087473&destination=Bandon+Dunes+Golf+Resort,+Bandon,+Oregon,+United+States+of+America&destType=MARKET&latLong=43.188476,-124.389793&privacyTrackingState=CAN_TRACK&searchId=aef57b90-98eb-4c7c-98f7-de5bf7f00cb5&sort=RECOMMENDED&userIntent=&expediaPropertyId=32729947&propertyName=7k+sq+Ft.+on+15+acres.+Putting+greens+&+sand+trap+for+golfers+&+families+.<br><br><br><br><br><br>

 

[belljr]

Heading to Alabama in October to RTJ Trail. In the middle of a swing change this could be bad.

lol

 

[belljr]

My local sim place is having an Avoda club fitting session in a few weeks. I have no intention to get fitted yet, wanted to play consistently for 6 months to a year before getting fitted with nicer clubs.

The question: should I still go and see what the process is and get more info on my swing?

Any advice here fellas? Worth my time to sign up and go for this even though I won't be getting clubs?

If you have the time and they know you're just window shopping, can't hurt can it?

Thanks for the reply.

I've read they give you numbers/data to take with you anyway, Just wasn't sure of etiquette

Just go and tell them you need to think about it. THere will be a ton of people that dont buy anything

 

[Judge Smails]

Heading to Alabama in October to RTJ Trail. In the middle of a swing change this could be bad.

lol

Played a few of those tracks with my previous company that was based in Birmingham. October should be a perfect time to go. And you have a couple months for the swing change to set in. All good!

 

[belljr]

Oxmoor - Ridge
Ross Bridge
Oxmoor - Valley
Farmlinks at Pursell Farms

 

[Truebluey]

I had probably the most enjoyable golf day of my life last Friday. Between the golf course (Eastward Ho! Chatham, MA), perfect weather, top-notch company, how well I played and the postgame festivities…my Lord it was absolutely glorious. Didn’t want it to end.

And isn't that what keeps us coming back to this game? In a nutshell. The great experiences and fantastic memories.

 

[Zow]

I had probably the most enjoyable golf day of my life last Friday. Between the golf course (Eastward Ho! Chatham, MA), perfect weather, top-notch company, how well I played and the postgame festivities…my Lord it was absolutely glorious. Didn’t want it to end.

And isn't that what keeps us coming back to this game? In a nutshell. The great experiences and fantastic memories.

That and taking our good buddies' lunch money.

 

[Truebluey]

I had probably the most enjoyable golf day of my life last Friday. Between the golf course (Eastward Ho! Chatham, MA), perfect weather, top-notch company, how well I played and the postgame festivities…my Lord it was absolutely glorious. Didn’t want it to end.

And isn't that what keeps us coming back to this game? In a nutshell. The great experiences and fantastic memories.

That and taking our good buddies' lunch money.

Well that's never happened to me, I am always the one making the donations, but I'll take your word for it.

 

[WDIK2]

Cut a driver shaft down for a 44.5" playing length. Adjusted the swing weight back to stock.

Will see how that plays this weekend.

 

[The Gator]

Went out and hit a couple buckets of balls despite it being >100

Hit the first bucket with my irons, then woods/wedges with the other. Really narrowing my spray pattern, with more pulls than slices now. 6I might be my best iron.

 

[Zow]

Was just advised by my event planner* that she and the kids will be gone all weekend and I’m free to golf all three days. Whisky and cash games here we come!

*My affectionate name for my when in the sole context of discussing my golf availability.

 

[jb1020]

Anyone catch the glitch sale on Taylormade this morning? I think it went off from 5am to about 8. Just saw it on Reddit. Everything was 40% off.

I can never luck into that stuff.

 

[Schmeabs]

Was just advised by my event planner* that she and the kids will be gone all weekend and I’m free to golf all three days. Whisky and cash games here we come!

*My affectionate name for my when in the sole context of discussing my golf availability.

Is there a poker room in Flagstaff?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I think my equipment tweaking is now complete. I got tired of chunking my Titleist SM8 56 degree so I traded it in for a Cleveland CBX2 game improvement wedge. It is SO much easier to hit it's ridiculous.

 

[Zow]

Was just advised by my event planner* that she and the kids will be gone all weekend and I’m free to golf all three days. Whisky and cash games here we come!

*My affectionate name for my when in the sole context of discussing my golf availability.

Is there a poker room in Flagstaff?

I don't believe so. We do have a couple of casinos in the area but I don't believe they have poker beyond maybe a limit game.

 

[Judge Smails]

I think my equipment tweaking is now complete. I got tired of chunking my Titleist SM8 56 degree so I traded it in for a Cleveland CBX2 game improvement wedge. It is SO much easier to hit it's ridiculous.

just more bounce?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I think my equipment tweaking is now complete. I got tired of chunking my Titleist SM8 56 degree so I traded it in for a Cleveland CBX2 game improvement wedge. It is SO much easier to hit it's ridiculous.

just more bounce?

A little (10 vs 12), but the Titleist are almost blades where the Cleveland are more cavity back. They "dig" even less with a much wider sole - more than you'd expect from the bounce differential.

 

[BeTheMatch]

I think my equipment tweaking is now complete. I got tired of chunking my Titleist SM8 56 degree so I traded it in for a Cleveland CBX2 game improvement wedge. It is SO much easier to hit it's ridiculous.

just more bounce?

A little (10 vs 12), but the Titleist are almost blades where the Cleveland are more cavity back. They "dig" even less with a much wider sole - more than you'd expect from the bounce differential.

Yeah, my Kirkland wedges dig a lot. Planning to ditch them.

 

[Instinctive]

14 over today. Greens had been punched and sanded so I'm not sweating a few close putts, especially longer range.

The driver...holy crap after that lesson. Average distance up 25 yards. Good drives distance up over 50 yards. BOOMING trajectory too no more little line drive cut. Iron striking stayed really nice. Picked up a lot of penalties (lost balls) because on the longer irons and the driver, with the long "dynamic" backswing, I have to focus and get better at face control. Swing path is good, but there's an open-face slice coming now when I don't get the club square.

Still had my 4 longest drives of the year by a wide margin.

Playing solo, a 3-some in front of me waved me to go ahead and hit (I thought to go through, which would be sensible) on a par 5, so I did, and I bombed it past where they were. Could hear them on the second shot marveling at a 235-yarder (which was not my best of the day). Got to the next tee box together (just joined their group, apparently thats what they had said from far away, which is whatever...) and heard one guy say to the other in a cart "oh **** he was on the blues too...." which I gotta admit was a pretty good feeling. Boomed a couple more down fairways and a couple into trees or water but overall so many good drives where GIRs were suddenly well within reach.

Add to that two holes where now I could tee off with a 3H because they're narrow and still well within like a 7/8i range with that club now instead of a 5i...omg it was awesome.

 

[3 hour lunch]

Played great on vacation- mid 70s at Wolf Creek and Bali Hai and 81 at Reflection Bay. Go out this morning and….89. Flaring irons, chunking chips. Maddening.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I think my equipment tweaking is now complete. I got tired of chunking my Titleist SM8 56 degree so I traded it in for a Cleveland CBX2 game improvement wedge. It is SO much easier to hit it's ridiculous.

Put it in play today - There was still a lot of operator error around the greens (why is that so freaking hard ?) but it was almost effortless out of the sand. Once I can practice a bit with it I think it'll be a big win swapping this club in.

 

[Zow]

Just won 2k in a cash game.

 

[Zow]

Played great on vacation- mid 70s at Wolf Creek and Bali Hai and 81 at Reflection Bay. Go out this morning and….89. Flaring irons, chunking chips. Maddening.

Dude let me know. I’m not too far from there.

 

[Judge Smails]

Started rough today after too many margaritas last night and lousy sleep. Bad warm up. Good news is my mindset totally has changed. The warm up means nothing. I've had great warm up sessions and played like crap, and have had terrible sessions and shot great. So it doesn't faze me anymore. I'm just getting loose. First hole I blocked one and had to hit a low hook 4 iron under a tree. Good contact but didn't hook, hit the cart path and bounced into the bushes. Took a double. But from then on was really solid. Only 1 more over the rest of the front 9. Then hit 8 greens on the back and shot even. 39-36-75. That used to be a once in a blue moon type thing but have had a bunch of rounds in the mid 70's this summer. Fun when that happens.

 

[belljr]

I just hit like 10-20 balls to get a feel and be loose. That's it

 

[The Gator]

I just hit like 10-20 balls to get a feel and be loose. That's it

Had a cold start today. Pipe a 230yard drive perfect, 8 iron perfectly to the back fringe. Make par.

I'm never warming up again

Ended up with 99, three pars and 36 total putts. Really happy with that.

 

[Zow]

Shot 75 today. 73 was easily for the taking. Missed like 4 putts inside 5 five.

 

[The Gator]

It may sound silly/trite/whatever but I think it's true that golf teaches a valuable life lesson in this - You hit a bad shot, it happens. Line up and take your next shot understanding that your attitude will influence EACH shot. Don't let the bad attitude of your last bad shot influence your next shot. If you do, it's almost guaranteed to be another bad shot.

Thought of this post today.

Had a 160ish yard par 3 today that I absolutely chunked my 7iron on off the tee, went about 100 yards. I have been working a lot on pitch and runs instead of using the bigger wedged that I will mishit more often. Took out my PW and put it within 3 feet of the hole to get one of my three pars. What bad shot?

 

[Da Guru]

Anyone tried a shorter shafted driver?

I play in a 40 man league that has some really good players. Our 10 A flight guys are from a -1 to a 3 for 9 holes. 2 of the players in the league kill their drives but lack control and they went to a 44 inch driver shaft. I played with one of the guys last week and he only missed one fairway instead of only hitting 1-2.

Told me he has not noticed much loss of distance but his control is much better as he is hitting the sweet spot and center of the driver now. Instead of 275 behind a tree left or right he is 270 middle most of the time.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

@Da Guru - I've read a few articles suggesting that people use a shorter shaft for this very reason. It's also why several pros, when playing courses with tighter fairways have started using mini-drivers.

Why a shorter-length driver shaft can improve distance and accuracy

Center-face contact is a more critical factor for increasing distance, and you’re more likely to find the center of the face using a shorter shaft

www.golfdigest.com

 

[Instinctive]

Got HCP update today. Down to 14.5. Goal for year is to go from 18 to 13. I went up to 21 but now getting close...

 

[belljr]

To add. If I only have time for one, I go putt. I spend more time putting before a round then hitting

 

[Judge Smails]

To add. If I only have time for one, I go putt. I spend more time putting before a round then hitting

Same. First thing I do is putt when I get to to the course. 3 6 footers. Back it up and hit 3 15 footers. Then 3 30 footers uphill. Finally 3 downhill 30 footers. I’ll do that even if I only have 10 minutes to warm up.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Chipping - I could never make work the simple advice of "just keep your arms straight and swing it like a putter" until yesterday. To make it work I had to do two things: a super strong grip with my left/upper hand and then use a baseball grip of all things.

I think those two things helped me square the face better.