Range 2 Course: Beyond Discouraged

[TurnHard Langer]

Put a video of your swing up on here. For documentation and entertainment purposes.

[Seanmx]

My advice would be to quit going to the range completely and practice by playing by yourself when the course is quiet in the evening or in the morning.

 

I went through something similar and this worked for me

[MCL116]

Here is a video before getting serious about golf, Fall 2015, just having played a bit as a kid, a couple of lessons sprinkled in over the years

 

Here is a range session from about a month ago. I was working on shortening my backswing and keeping the club from crossing the line at the top. My swing has improved since then and after my most recent lesson is in even better shape, but this is the last video I currently have...

 

I still need to hit the range since I am still working on swing changes. There's no way I could make these changes to my swing with the limited swings I can take on the course. I'll get some video this weekend of where my swing is at currently.

 

Feeling really good about the direction things are headed. If I can get in some good work with my driver, 3 wood, hybrid, this weekend, I can see my scores starting to drop very quickly.

[Nard_S]

Fastest 12 strokes I lost was working my short game. The putter and even more importantly making the wedge my hero club, Becoming deadly from a 100 out, relieves pressure on long game.

 

As far as range time, dedicate at least 1/2 to switching clubs every shot to different targets."Play a round" at the range.........it is too easy to groove crappy passes with same club and feel like you are doing well. Going from driver to wedge and back to 5 iron with good results is much harder and reflects the reality of your swing better. Good luck.

[TurnHard Langer]

Here is a video before getting serious about golf, Fall 2015, just having played a bit as a kid, a couple of lessons sprinkled in over the years

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Here is a range session from about a month ago. I was working on shortening my backswing and keeping the club from crossing the line at the top. My swing has improved since then and after my most recent lesson is in even better shape, but this is the last video I currently have...

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I still need to hit the range since I am still working on swing changes. There's no way I could make these changes to my swing with the limited swings I can take on the course. I'll get some video this weekend of where my swing is at currently.

 

Feeling really good about the direction things are headed. If I can get in some good work with my driver, 3 wood, hybrid, this weekend, I can see my scores starting to drop very quickly.

 

Oh, you're on the right track man. You haven't been taking it to the course as well as you should because it's easy to get tentative out there when the shot matters and you have a lot to think about. So when you get on the course just do your same swing but make sure you feel more free wheeling and kind of aggressive as you go through the ball into your followthrough. That's more like what you'd do when you're loosened up and swinging freely on the range.

[Mr. Jimmy]

Come back when your scores haven't changed for twenty years. Then you can start to be discouraged.

 

This. I was in a similar position as the OP. I caught the golf bug in the early 2000's, spent a ton of money on lessons and a lot of time at the range. On the range I felt like (and was told by more than one instructor) I had at least the swing of a bogey golfer, but on the course I couldn't break 100. I'd go to the range 2 or 3 times a week and play once or twice a month on weekends with an occasional mid-week twilight round. I'm in Texas so we can pretty much do this year round.

 

After 7 or 8 years of this, and never seeing any improvement, never improving my score, maybe breaking 100 two or three times and thinking the light finally clicked on only to go right back to my usual 105 the next week, I simply got so disgusted with it I walked away. I didn't particularly care that I sucked, but I cared that I worked so hard at it, felt like I was doing things the right way with lessons, range time, etc., and I still sucked. I came away with three basic realizations:

 

1. You have to start this game young. I started in my late 30's and while I was still fairly athletic at the time, I think it's virtually impossible to groove muscle memory after a certain age. It was for me anyway.

 

2. You have to have access to a course, and you have to play. A lot. And you need to be able to play alone on a non-crowded course so you can try different things and work them out. If not alone, then at least with like minded beginners so you can take your time and drop an extra ball or three. My main opportunities to play were on weekends, the peak times when the courses were overcrowded and everybody’s stressing over slow play. I got to where the stress outweighed the fun, which didn’t take much given that there’s not much fun to be had in a 105 shot round.

 

3. Good golfers do something inherently basic that I don’t. I came to suspect it has to do with the ability to keep a flat left wrist and maybe a consistent spine angle throughout the swing, but regardless, it’s something I never could identify and correct.

 

Over the years I played with so many people who didn’t have pretty swings, who barely warmed up if at all, who weren’t in shape, who didn’t hit it all that far, and who couldn’t or didn’t bother trying to shape shots, and a mid-80’s round was a bad day for them. Basically, they were consistent and they knew what each shot was going to do and how far it would go, and they were able to make that work. I’d step up to the tee, or to an iron shot on the fairway (or, in my case more often in the deep rough or a hazard), or a chip shot, and I’d basically have no idea what was going to happen. I could chunk it, skull it, stripe it, slice it, all with equal likelihood. The one thing those guys seemed to have in common was that they played golf when they were young, and they played a lot. And that’s a big part of it, but there’s more than that - I always felt like they were doing something I wasn’t.

 

So anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I finally gave up and walked away from the game. This was around 2009/2010. Since then, I’ve played maybe a handful of times in some charity scrambles that my former golfing group still does. Funny thing is I still shoot that glorious 105, without any practice at all. Nothing changed.

 

What brought me to GolfWRX one night was that I recently switched jobs and now I often have weekday mornings free. Against my better judgment I was, gulp, thinking about getting back into this thing now that I have easier access to less crowded courses. I don’t know, we’ll see. OP, I wish you the best and hope it works out for you better than it did for me.

[MCL116]

Just got back from a really good range session. Hit every club throughout my bag, switching clubs every or every other shot, picking different targets. I was hitting my 4 iron, 4 hybrid and 3 wood really well and those were clubs I could barely hit last week!

 

Driver was still a struggle. Started hitting pull draws, which I was fine with since my typical miss was a slice, but then I hit every miss in the book. I did hit a handful or two or tight draw bombs but not consistent enough for course action. A bit disappointed since I was hitting it so well after my lesson last week but I just need to put in some work and I'll find my swing with it.

 

Next session I need to focus again on shortening the backswing as I was getting a bit across the line at the top. Overall though, swing feels really good right now.

 

9 iron:

 

Driver:

 

Driver2: (Out the heel)

[MCL116]

Got a lot of work in this weekend.

 

Friday I got back to LI after working a full day and hit a small bucket. Had a pretty good range session, driver was still an absolute disaster with a few great shots mixed in.

 

Saturday morning I hit another small bucket in the morning, driver was slightly better. Decided to go to the PGA store to try some drivers out. During the warm up I was hitting beautiful draws. As soon as the fitter came over I was a disaster, so the data was completely useless.

 

That afternoon I went to the 18 hole course to play some practice holes but it was closed due to the rain so I hit another small bucket and then went over to the short 9 hole course and played a few holes by myself playing multiple balls.

 

Sunday morning, woke up early to head out east with my pops to cherry creek, the links course. Had a decent warm up on the range, then had a decent round. Ball striking was good with the short irons, longer irons were a bit off. Hit a bunch of good drivers and some really not so good. Had solid course management. A few chips were a bit too heavy and a few short putts I should have made were missed (had 37 for the round again) and I could have been 3-4 strokes lower.

 

Shot a 96!! Lowest score yet!

 

3 of my last 4 rounds have been in the 90s!

 

Very excited about the progress I've made.

 

Still a ton of work to do but things are slowly coming together.

 

Stay tuned...

[marte]

Nice round. Great improvement in your swing from fall '15 to June '17...looks better than 2 of the guys I golf with and they've been playing for years. You're progressing nicely.

[MCL116]

Quick update from the long holiday weekend.

 

Hit the range Friday after a half day at work and had a very good session. I went back to the feeling with driver that was working at the end of last season and what do ya know?? it works!! My focus is, zero tension in the arms, close the face a bit at the top, and I need to feel like my arms fall behind me with the face of the club turning towards the ground. It worked on the range and then it worked out on the course when I played 18 the next day.

 

Played 18 Sunday morning. I'm choosing to view it in a positive light instead of how pathetic it is haha I shot a 47 on the front (with an 8 and a 9), then shot a terrible 53 on the back for 100. I made 5 pars (most I've made in a round), I had back to back pars twice, had 34 putts (lowest for me so far). I just really fell apart with some bad swings on the back 9. Started off par par and the wheels came off. But I didn't feel like I played terrible. I was happy I was putting driver in play. Hit some real close shots. Made some good putts. Just some bad swings, a bunch of missed short putts. It still feels like things are very much coming together now.

 

I hit the range afterwards to focus on long irons, 3 wood and driver and had a good session there. I'm very confident in driver now.

 

Will probably go to the range again today and then plat at least 9 holes this evening, then 18 tomorrow morning.

[MCL116]

Not sure if anybody is following along anymore or not but I figured I'd provide an update regardless...

 

My new driver arrived Friday (2017 M2 w/ 63g 6.0 Hzrdus Yellow). Immediately after work, I went to the range and I have never hit drivers like this before in my life. I could not miss with this thing. I was pumped.

 

My friends bullied me into playing Bethpage Black with them this past Saturday. So my buddy camped out there, we met him at 4am and secured the 7:18am tee time. We go get some breakfast, come back, hit the range. I'm not hitting well on the range, not terribly, but not seeing my typical ball flight and not feeling that good contact I'm getting used to. Oh well, we go putt a bit and before I know it, 7:18 tee time is called to the box. There's a decent sized crowd of golf addicts standing around watching all the groups tee off. So far all the groups ahead of us have been lackluster, mostly missing the fairways. My group is up, my friend that plays to a 1 tees off from the tips, barely missing the fairway to the left, my other two buddies hook their drives into the fescue on the left. It was my time to shine, all my friends know my struggles with driver and know I did not feel ready for the beast they call Black, so this was a big moment. I absolutely pipe it into the perfect spot in the fairway with this tight little draw.

 

On the front 9, I was striking the ball very well, but scoring terribly. A few flyer lies (which I had never had before) cost me strokes, some poor short putting, some lackluster chipping, but I was in good spirits. I was pretty good off the tee and striking my irons well. Then somewhere in the middle of the round, I completely lost my feel for my driver swing and could not keep it in play. It was miserable. Continued to hit some decent irons, but losing it on the tee box made it an extremely tough course to play and tough on me mentally. Overall, I enjoyed the experience and can't wait to play there again.

 

I then had a lesson Sunday morning. We worked on a steeper shoulder turn, and having my hands higher and not so behind me at the top of my backswing. I caught onto the changes pretty quickly and was absolutely destroying the ball with every club my instructor put in my hand. I was feeling great. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to focus on the driver because the changes we made were very intricate so we were focused on making sure I was doing things properly. My instructor was very happy with my progress and the way I was hitting the ball throughout the lesson. I felt good, but stayed on the range to work on the changes a bit more and to work on driver. I'm not sure why this club gives me so much trouble, but unfortunately I did not get back the swing from the previous Friday where I could not miss.

 

Hopefully I'll get in some range work this Saturday and dial in driver again and then I'm playing 18 Sunday morning. Playing a pretty short (6400 yds from tips) but very tight (slope 134) course I'm familiar with. Hoping to break 90!

[Z1ggy16]

Golf is hard. I tend to avoid the range unless I am working on something more fundamental, like.. my instruction changed my BS or something. Golf mats hide so many faults in your swing, and having a 200 yard wide "Fairway" makes it seem like a shot that's 30 yards left not half bad... but when in reality you'd be OB or lost in some trees.

 

There's no uphill/downhill lies unless you bring some kind of special hitting mat with you. There's no pressure... There's no sense of "urgency" to make a shot, and there's no score. If you know these things and you can focus or create "pressure" on yourself during a range session, the range can benefit, but less so if it's off a mat inside a stall. Grass ranges are few and far between and tend to get jacked up pretty quick. It can be tough to improve when it's tough to even practice like how you play.

 

Everybody I know who's 'good' at golf (meaning they can shot maybe 85 or below) has been playing since they were a kid, or if they picked up as an adult, it's been decades for them. I mean think of it this way... specialty shots you see pros make like it's nothing... where can you practice that? Where can I go to practice a downhill lie in 3 inches of grass where I need to make it stop at a pin 20 feet away? The best you can do is try to simulate things and make small adjustments on course. It just takes so much time, and so many rounds to actually be a half way decent player, even if your swing is pretty sound.

[FadeFace]

i shoot around 100. one thing that has helped my game is playing with people that are better than me. my biggest struggle is with long irons and fairway woods and putting. Driver and wedges have always been my strong suit. i often play better short shots and drives than the guys i golf with who shoot in the mid 80's. i relate this too practicing lots of chip shots in the back yard, fields parks etc...and working on my driver at grass ranges. lately i have been focusing on putting practice and long iron shots . i know if i can dial these areas of my game in i should be able too shave allot of strokes off my game. Overall my advice is play and practice with people who are better than you. learn to relax. Taking the physical and metal tension out of my swing with the driver along with some path and grip issues helped immensely

[MCL116]

Well my scores are back over 100 again!

 

I've completely lost my driver swing at this point despite having worked on the range the last two weekends rather than playing.

 

yesterday I took a quick 45 minute lesson before playing.

 

Was hitting great iron shots and then moved to driver. Was absolutely piping the ball.

 

45 minutes later I'm on the first tee and what do you know? Sliced it off the planet. It didn't get any better after that. Tried going 3 wood, topped that. Wound up teeing off with 4 iron the rest of the day. Worked out ok, not even entirely sure how I shot such a high score, but I did.

 

Extremely frustrated and disappointed again.

 

The game is not fun when you can't get off the tee...

[jimb6golf]

I've always looked at range time, especially the ones with mats, as time to refine my swing and motion. Yes it's not entirely comparable to the course with the varied lies, etc. but it allows you to refine your swing in a controlled location. All you are trying to do is shorten your swing, make better contact, work on direction, etc. while realizing that the range balls are only going to travel around 85% of your normal distance. Basically I'm looking for good contact while swinging correctly. Never took it for more than that - unless you count the down time of just hitting a golf ball and not thinking about other stressful things in life.

[BdaGolfer]

Well my scores are back over 100 again!

 

I've completely lost my driver swing at this point despite having worked on the range the last two weekends rather than playing.

 

yesterday I took a quick 45 minute lesson before playing.

 

Was hitting great iron shots and then moved to driver. Was absolutely piping the ball.

 

45 minutes later I'm on the first tee and what do you know? Sliced it off the planet. It didn't get any better after that. Tried going 3 wood, topped that. Wound up teeing off with 4 iron the rest of the day. Worked out ok, not even entirely sure how I shot such a high score, but I did.

 

Extremely frustrated and disappointed again.

 

The game is not fun when you can't get off the tee...

 

What was your score on the par 3's? How many were GIR?

[marte]

MCL...you said "not entirely sure how I shot such a high score".

Review your round and see where you effed up...putt, chips, inside 50?

 

Keep in mind...you are a "baby" at golf.

...that hitting balls at the range is not playing golf. Range is easy...golf isn't.

...that you hadn't played for 2 weeks...and you've played what? 10--18's this year. Which is not very much.

 

 

My advice...rest of year...when you have a choice between range and golfing..go golf!!! As often as you can rest of season. If driver gets you in trouble hit your 4 iron off the tee....Don't give away strokes! Relax. See the blurr of the club head go through the ball. Don't worryy about where the ball goes on full shots...pick your target and swing freely.

ROS...go golf. End of year...assess.

You have a good attitude. You'll do fine.

[MCL116]

Well I'm officially grasping at some straws here.

 

I've decided to purchase a heavier and stiffer shaft as well as a 18g weight for the M2.

 

I've been feeling that the club is too light and tough to feel in my swing.

 

I'm hoping going heavier in either the shaft, head or both (will be trying out different combinations) will help me feel the club better and give me some more consistency/feedback.

 

I figure if it doesn't work out, shafts are pretty easy to sell.

 

Pretty disappointed in looking at my season so far... My scores are still relatively the same from last season (except the 4 or 5 rounds I shot in the 90s) even though I feel that my swing as drastically improved. Everybody says with my swing I should be in the 80s, yet I'm over 100...

 

Going to Hilton Head September 13th for what will likely be between 6-8 rounds of golf in a few days. Really hoping to get things sorted out by then.

 

Will get some range time in Sunday, hopefully squeeze some in Thursday evening, and then a bunch of us are playing Windwatch Friday before my buddys rehearsal dinner for his wedding Saturday.

 

Hoping to tame the wild driver and have a good round Friday.

[Mr. Jimmy]

Pretty disappointed in looking at my season so far... My scores are still relatively the same from last season (except the 4 or 5 rounds I shot in the 90s) even though I feel that my swing as drastically improved. Everybody says with my swing I should be in the 80s, yet I'm over 100...

 

Ha - I know that feeling! I once booked a lesson with the pro at a private course near my house (I'm not a member but they do lessons for non-members) for the express purpose of working on my irons, which had gone completely into the dumpster. He said "OK, go ahead and warm up, I'll watch you and see if I spot anything". I warm up for about 5 minutes and he comes over and says "What do you normally shoot?" I said "I can't break 100". He said "There's nothing wrong with your swing, I've got guys here shooting in the 80's that would kill for your swing". And then he proceeded to teach me the flop shot.

 

Now, he did a good job teaching me the flop shot, and I think I actually used it once or twice successfully on the course. But I never could improve my irons, and ultimately quit the game because of it.

 

The game is not fun when you can't get off the tee...

 

No it is not. And I think a lot of instructors don't understand this, or at least don't appreciate how important it is to beginners. Like the pro above, they assume you're shooting high scores because of the short game. And you are, to some degree. And we all need to improve the short game. But a flubbed chip only counts as one stroke and can usually be fairly easily overcome. A slice OB or lost counts as two right off the bat. A slice in the rough takes at least another shot and usually two, and often more, to overcome, and that's if you don't slice again. People don't quit golf because they can't chip well. They quit golf because they can't get off the tee.

[raindawg1]

You seem to be obsessed with your driver and spending a lot of time and energy and frustration and cost shots trying to get that to work. Maybe for now, admit that it's not working and try something else. Remember, the goal is to score in the 90's, then in the 80's. My advice, if you want to consistently break 100 and then eventually 90, is put the driver away and only use it very sparingly. Tee off with hybrids or irons, or some club that gives you way more consistency. Work on your fairway play and short game until you are low 90's, high 80's and when you feel like your swing has gotten to a good constent place then try to work your driver back in. My driver is my most inconsistent club. Before hybrids hit the scene, I teed off with irons most holes for years. Now I use hybrids and occasionally the driver if the fairway is wide and I feel like I have a good swing going that day. Sure I was farther back, but it's much better hitting your second shot off the short grass consistently than taking those OB strokes round after round.

 

Good luck.

[MCL116]

Well I may finally be reaching my breaking point even though I don't want to be.

 

I came back to the island Sunday looking to get in a long and focused range session. I wanted to get my irons back in a groove a bit since it's been a week, just sort of maintenance there, but my main focus was to work on driver, 3 wood and wedges.

 

It was all pretty terrible. The assistant pro there was helping me out and nothing was working with driver. I wasn't even coming close. I hit pulls, pull hooks, pull fades, draws, push fades, slices, moonballs, tops, I hit them all.

 

Then we went out to play a couple of holes. Awful off the tee as to be expected, hooking irons, just completely demoralizing.

 

I've put in a ton of work and have not seen any progress this season and that's what's killing me. Last season I fed off of improving my ball striking/swing even if my scores weren't improving that much. But this year, I don't feel like I have improved, I feel as though I've regressed and it's no longer fun.

 

The only reason I'm not quitting right now is because I have a trip to Hilton Head in September that I can't back out of.

 

I have 1 more lesson with Mike Jacobs on Saturday. Hopefully he can restore some sanity and confidence but I'm not sure.

 

To spend the amount of time I have in getting better to see no improvements has me beyond discouraged and thinking I can spend this time and money on other things I can enjoy...

 

I have a round with my buddies Friday, my lesson Saturday, pending on how I'm feeling after the wedding Saturday night and how the lesson goes, maybe some range time Sunday.

 

Will update after the weekend but I'm in a dark place right now haha

[North Butte]

In my humble opinion one of two things are going to happen. You're either going to ratchet down your expectations a whole lot or you're going to quit the game.

 

The hardest thing about golf is not hitting driver or scoring or playing in bad weather. The hardest thing by far is learning to take what comes and not try to force your game into meeting your expectations. It's hard for me, hard for you, hard for Jordan Spieth or Tiger Woods.

 

I'm hoping you come out the dark place and learn to enjoy the game for what it is.

[SNIPERBBB]

Sounds to me that you have too much going on in your head regarding your swing. You should try to simplify your range sessions down to working on one thing at a time.

[nattybohknows]

Were you fitted for the driver or tried multiple shafts- I don't think a fitting is always necessary for the goal of breaking 100 (I never did just some minor shaft tinkering based on launch)- but the Hzrdus yellow is a counterbalanced extra stiff tip shaft that is pretty unique. Being that it is not the stock option in the M2 (I know it is a free upgrade) what made you want to try it? Have you looked at numbers at all on how your spin is or launch?

 

I am not a range rat, despise them actually (I actually hit much worse on the range then on the the course) but what courses are you trying to get more consistent on? If you are having mental anguish, I don't think Bethpage is the course to get your confidence up on nor playing courses that are 6700+ yards out. Are you playing Habour Town at Hilton Head which again isn't the best course for inspiring confidence. There are plenty of courses on the Island (I go there every year) that have pretty open fairways where you aren't going to be punished if your driver goes off line.

 

I think the above poster is correct that it seems more mental and you're your own worst enemy right now. If you had a 34 putt round with 5 pars and still ended up right at 100 it means you had more than a few blow up holes. Keep it simpler instead of trying to fix everything at once. I've found that playing more conservative can also get your confidence up. Going in with the mind set on 4's of getting around the green in two, chip and two putt for bogey can help. I basically tell myself to try to get 5's across the board. Par 5's even more so of playing it easy.

 

Best of luck

[MCL116]

Were you fitted for the driver or tried multiple shafts- I don't think a fitting is always necessary for the goal of breaking 100 (I never did just some minor shaft tinkering based on launch)- but the Hzrdus yellow is a counterbalanced extra stiff tip shaft that is pretty unique. Being that it is not the stock option in the M2 (I know it is a free upgrade) what made you want to try it? Have you looked at numbers at all on how your spin is or launch?

 

I am not a range rat, despise them actually (I actually hit much worse on the range then on the the course) but what courses are you trying to get more consistent on? If you are having mental anguish, I don't think Bethpage is the course to get your confidence up on nor playing courses that are 6700+ yards out. Are you playing Habour Town at Hilton Head which again isn't the best course for inspiring confidence. There are plenty of courses on the Island (I go there every year) that have pretty open fairways where you aren't going to be punished if your driver goes off line.

 

I think the above poster is correct that it seems more mental and you're your own worst enemy right now. If you had a 34 putt round with 5 pars and still ended up right at 100 it means you had more than a few blow up holes. Keep it simpler instead of trying to fix everything at once. I've found that playing more conservative can also get your confidence up. Going in with the mind set on 4's of getting around the green in two, chip and two putt for bogey can help. I basically tell myself to try to get 5's across the board. Par 5's even more so of playing it easy.

 

Best of luck

 

I chose it because I had hit it well at PSASS although I did have slightly high spin numbers. I felt that it may be a bit light as well as the head may be a bit light, making it difficult to feel certain things in my swing and hoping maybe it's affecting my swing. I've ordered a heavier and x-stiff shaft to see what that feels like...

 

I don't typically play one course over and over, my friends and I tend to try to mix it up as much as possible although due to convenience and price, we did play Oyster Bay a bunch of times. I was playing my best golf going into Bethpage (not that I felt ready to play there, but since then I've completely tanked).

 

That round I had a decent front, I shot a 47 with 3 pars, 3 bogeys and then two blow up holes or 9 and 8. I then started the back par-par and had a brutal end with just 2 bogeys and the rest doubles or worse.

 

My mindset is that bogeys are good. The most important thing to me is to strike the ball well. I can shoot a 100 and be perfectly ok if I hit the ball well. Maybe a couple of bad bounces, bad chips, bad putts got the score of there but if for the most part I'm hitting the ball well, that's fine. What gets to me the most is knowing I have the ability to strike the ball decent and then go out there and strike the ball like I just started playing 2 weeks ago.

 

Not getting off the tee not only puts me in a terrible position on the course but it hurts mentally more.

 

I'm truly hoping Mike can get me fixed up Saturday and back on track. It's just tough to continue to allocate so much time and care to not see improvement and to something that is becoming more disappointing than encouraging. Whenever I see him, I tend to get back on track very quickly, so again, hopefully Saturday is no different

[zzilb]

I'm sure its been mentioned, but expectations are a huge part of this game. We put too much pressure on ourselves to hit perfect shots and have a great round (score wise) every time out. If you acknowledge that you will hit bad shots then you wont be so let down when it happens which can ruin a round. It happens, move on and stay focused!

 

There is a great Malaska video where he tells a story from his past. He's challenged to shoot a certain score but the caveat is that after he tee's off, his opponent can move his ball to the nearest trouble. Bunker, deep rough, behind trees - anywhere within reason. Every tee shot was placed in the worst possible location. But he stood over that second shot pumped up and excited to try and make the best of it and scramble to win his bet. He ends up winning the bet. The morale of the story was instead of approaching that second shot all pissed off about his poor ball location, he was laser focused to make the best of it.

[zzilb]

Another thing... if your score matters to you and you dont hit your driver well, why on earth do you keep hitting it!? Leave it at the range until its consistent. Tee off with the longest club you can hit consistently when you're playing for a good score. Golf isn't a game of driver, iron, wedge, putt. It's a game of getting the ball in the hole with as few strokes as possible. The scorecard doesn't care what clubs you used!!

[MCL116]

Well Friday was an utter disaster. I shot my worst round quite possibly ever. I was furious, I was set to quit and never play again. I told my friends that I would not be going to Hilton Head. I can handle hitting some shots that go awry, but considering all the work I have put in, and how well I know I can hit the ball, I could not deal with the mental low of topping, slicing, snap hooking, chunking, shots for 18 holes. Being on the course, it's been like I'm an infant that had never seen a golf club before. Maybe some of you can handle practicing hard and then hitting every miss in the book, but I guess I'm not one of those people.

 

I had already had my lesson scheduled and paid for for the following day and so I went. I told Mike about how bad I've been playing ever since I played Black and how I'm hitting every miss there is and how frustrated and discouraged I've become.

 

He quickly picked up on a setup issue I was having and we worked on the proper posture I should have. As soon as I changed this, my swing came back. Each club he put in my hand, 9 out of 10 swings were as pure as I've ever hit. We then moved on to driver. He said my shoulder turn had gotten a little too steep and we worked on that. After working on the new posture and shoulder turn with driver for a bit, I was poking it out there 270-280 on the fly with beaten up range balls. Not every strike was the ball flight I was looking for, but even my misses were playable fades.

 

I know I have what it takes to play good golf. I became so discouraged because I was not seeing improvement, but actually regression. In my first year, I was able to handle poor play and bad scores, but I could see that my swing was improving and that improvement is what kept me going.

 

After my lesson, I'm feeling better. I know I can strike the ball very well. I know I can hit driver well. I'm still going to Hilton Head. Hopefully the rest of this season is more promising and I can take what I was doing with Mike with me to my next range session and rounds.

 

Will keep everybody posted

[North Butte]

So how many 18 hole rounds of golf have you played, total, lifetime?

[glk]

Took a look at your swings on 7/22. A big issue is you push the club away from you in the takeaway. Club needs to go in and up - not out and up.

 

Surprised your pro hasn't gotten you to fix this. Here's a good video. A good drill is to swing with holding an alignment stick on the club and swing so that the stick stays in contact with your lead thigh and works down it. See the 2nd video.