MD/DC/VA Golfers - Twelve Monkeys Mental Divergence

[tungstenplug]

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Edited February 26, 2023 by tungstenplug

[baddomes]

 

[Sterling_247]

That's exactly what I wanted to hear!

[ceejay81]

Here I am in my bucket hat.

 

[FAbb]

I've written a lot about my putting journey the past year and change, CJ, so I'm gonna save the drawn-out post. Here's one thing you should 100% try the next time you're at the putting green. It's perfect for the head space you're in right now. Find as flat of a 3ft putt as you can, and grab 3 golf balls. Take the first ball, set up like you're going to hit the putt right in the center, but try to miss the hole to the right. Take the second ball, set up like you're going to hit the putt right in the center, but try to miss the hole to the left. Then take the last ball, set up like you're going to hit the putt right in the center, and drill that MF'er right in the heart. Repeat that cycle until you can complete all 3 putts successfully for 2 cycles in a row. Try the same thing from 5ft. If you get better at it, you can start narrowing down the margin of error for your misses. You can stick tees left and right of the hole to narrow down width you have to miss in. If you get even better, you can start trying to lip out on the edges instead of missing the hole entirely. You'll learn more from that exercise than you would if you stood there and tried to drill 300 3 footers in a row dead straight.

[moose557]

I was at the API a few years ago and Bryson on that tee turned and hit his tee shot straight left down the previous hole and got home in 2 from there. No one had any idea what he was doing.

[eagle1997]

Played Hampshire Greens today with a "RandoBob." I won't get into what was his icebreaker, but it was political and hilarious. He asked about my sniffles and I said I just got out of quarantine for COVID-19 and that I probably should have been in longer and then gave him a weird stare and didn't smile. This was after we shook hands. He busts out laughing and so do I.

It was a fun round.

Couple points: I am driving the ball better than anytime I have in recent memory, maybe ever. I'm finally taking divots with irons again, after thinning approx. 1000 irons in a row. And, I can read greens again now that I'm not in Pinehurst.

Putting down there really takes a toll on me. By day 4 at TR, I was totally frazzled. Pathetic putts were the norm, so much "give up" in the stroke at impact that I shudder thinking about it. Made 3 birdies yesterday at BM, including a sweet downhill double breaker on 17, and made another couple decent ones today while tipping it out. As soon as I had a confident read, I started making confident strokes again.

(Sidenote: Hampshire Greens was in v.good shape and was just a ton of fun to play. $38 to ride at 2:30. Me n RandoBob made it around in under 2.5 as a two ball. Shot 78 and didn't lose a ball).

CJ, the only thing I saw with your putting was a noticeable sway that cropped up from time to time. That definitely can be a plague on shorter putts. Ask me how I know. ?

[gregh729]

played Worthington today. Fairways and tees were excellent. Greens have some unevenIt is growth right now with the Poa Anna (?), I reallly don't know squat about grass.

It is really not a bad walk. Hit the first 3! Yea! 3-jacked two of them Booo! Only hit 6 greens but hit some decent chips and sand shots. Shot of the day on par 3 #6. My buddy chipped to a foot. I had a about a 100 ft sand shot. I hit as he was walking to his ball. My ball lands on his on the fly and shoots into the pond next to to the green. Mine stopped about 6' away, but I missed the putt. A couple of nice IPAs after the round were a great way to cap it off.

[2moreTerpz]

i'm not sure if everyone goes to the front page but this interview really is awesome

Matt Every gives brilliant interview every golfer can relate to after claiming first-round lead at APIthat's only one quote from it. some others

"i'm not afraid to make a double here and there"

(on beating rory by a shot) "laughing. obviously that doesn't mean i'm better than rory"

"yeah that shot was really good. best of the day. i had 222 and hit a cutty three wood against the wind to take some distance off it and to hold it's line"

"that putt was just lucky. same as the hole before"

 

not the standard robotic golf interview answers.

[FAbb]

Here's another drill, with similar intent, CJ.

Find as flat of a 3ft putt as you can, and grab 3 golf balls. Take the first ball, and try to hole it with enough speed that it hits the back cup liner on the way in. You don't want to bang it off the back of the hole - that's too hard. Take the second ball, and try to hole it with barely enough speed to fall over the front edge. Then take the last ball, and try to hole it with "swoosh" speed. Repeat that cycle until you can complete all 3 putts successfully for 2 cycles in a row. If you complete it at 3ft, try the same thing from 5ft.

It takes more than just deciding you're going to "be an athlete" with putting, to actually get better. You've got to train those athletic senses. The two drills I've posted are examples of how to do that.

[TheCityGame]

Matt Every is one of my faves. A few years ago, he got in trouble for weed, and he had sit down with a golf channel reporter after a round.

You could tell the reporter was trying to set him up to do a "mea culpa" and go, "I made some mistakes, but that's behind me" or whatever, and he wouldn't do it.

He said something like he had to quit to stay on the tour, but he didn't think it was bad and all his friends used it so he wasn't going to apologize.

He got suspended again last October and basically said, "I disagree with the policy".

In that interview, he seems like a combination of CeeJay and Tex.

There's about 2 athletes in the world who I believe what they say. He's one of them.

[Ocgolfrick]

There's about 2 athletes in the world who I believe what they say. He's one of them

 

The other of course, is Patrick Reed.

 

 

[Sterling_247]

Are there any more installments of @Ocgolfrick visits Pinehurst?

[dcmidnight]

It takes more than just deciding you're going to "be an athlete" with putting, to actually get better. You've got to train those athletic senses. 

Love the speed drills Fabb posted.

I really believe that practicing those 3-4 footers affects every part of your game. And its not a lot of time. If you can do 5 minutes a day - thats huge. But it affects everything. If you get confident in your ability to smash a three footer into the back of the cup - you'll notice your speed getting better on medium length or long putts. I see people who are nervy over those putts never really giving those 15-20 foot putts a good run because they are worried about the come back. But if you know you can make that 4 footer, you'll subconsciously give it a much better go.

 

[2moreTerpz]

my only putting contribution: I've come to really dislike the "don't practice medium length putts" advice. basically the point is that you want to practice short putts and long lag putts. practicing 15 footers is a waste because you never really make them, you can't make a lot more of them by practicing, and it's discouraging to watch yourself miss and miss and miss

 

here's the thing. if your stroke feels off you're going to see it because you won't hit lines. and then as you hit 8-20 foot putts your line hitting naturally improves. it's close enough that you can expect to roll it past the hole every single time and yet never have it roll out to 3-4 feet. so it's great speed work. and. when i practice them i DO get better at them.

 

i'm a good putter. i wonder how many strokes the best players i play with pick up on me during the course of a round. I think it's a lot. something like .75 of a stroke if they're picking up 8 total strokes on me?

[TheCityGame]

The other thing about working on 3-4 footers is that they're kind of the "key part" of any longer put. . .if you can't get the ball to the "3 foot" point correctly on a long putt, then you can't get it to the hole correctly. 3/4 footers are the foundation of your putting game. If you're not good at them, then you're just not good at putting.

I've heard the advice about not working on those 10-20 footers that 2More is talking about.

I consider it utter nonsense. This idea that you're going to be a bad putter if you see too many practice putts miss the hole. . .how weak minded do you have to be to be working on 12 footers and 90% of them don't go in so your whole confidence on the greens is shattered? It's NONSENSE.

Pay attention. Get your 12 footers from 8% to 12% by practicing. If you work on 12 footers, you will get better at 12 footers. You won't turn into a mental weakling on the course because you're only seeing 1 out of 9 putts go in the hole. Total hogwash.

[tungstenplug]

A good putter is seemingly never out of the hole. I find it much more difficult to play against a good putter than a long hitter who is only average at putting

Edited February 26, 2023 by tungstenplug

[eagle1997]

Couple great quotes from yesterday.

RandoBob: Write down the name of the hotel and course you played when you were in India. Sounds interesting, I want to play it.

RandoBob: I'm wearing 10 layers. This sweatshirt is 9. The hood is 10. Can't move your arms if you're wearing 10 layers.

RandoBob: (hits ball back to me after a missed 30 footer) Hit it again. If you make it, you're a pro.

RandoBob: I only play from the back tees. Me: why? RandoBob: BECAUSE THIS IS REAL LIFE MAN!

On 18, I hit a good one and carry the gunch.

RandoBob: That's piped. I like to aim at the cart path. That's my play.

 

So many other ones I can't type due to political content. Such a fun round. I hope you all get to play with a RandoBob one day. Hell, I hope I'm someone else's RandoBob one day.

[HighBoomingDraws]

Can confirm the randoms at HG and NW can cover an impressive spectrum of personalities and backgrounds.

[eagle1997]

Today I learned that H*e*LL is a censored word on WRX. JFC.

[TheCityGame]

so is mon key.

[aiyyer]

Sterling, Eagle and Bandon Dunes are good putters of people I know on this thread. I’m terrible and hope it’s mainly due to lack of interest and practice - intend to fix both this year.

Watching BD and Sterling putt #2 with different routines and pace with similar results was fascinating. Sterling takes care setting up and blew off the caddie politely a couple of times to make solid putts. BD is a quick and “athletic” putter.

Childbirth is faster and quieter than Eagle’s routine.

 

 

 

[shoot4par]

Hey boys,

A brother from up north here to chime in on some insight on public golf around Alexandria. I am going down to see my buddy from school. We played Westfield once and I'm thinking of pairing that with Potomac Shores. If I wanted to not play Westfield again, what would be good options for a third alternative course. I'd prefer public. It just cuts through the red tape of leveraging a time. I certainly wouldn't consider myself an architecture snob but I enjoy a decent layout. Thanks for any insight.

Best

[ceejay81]

Definitely check out Laurel Hill. A lot of folks love that course more than PoSho or Westfields. Solid course.

[dcmidnight]

Where are you basing yourself out of? Westfields to Potomac Shores during the week could easily be well over an hour.

Laurel Hill should definitely be on your list.

[shoot4par]

Its gonna be on a weekend. He has a condo in Alexandria.

[TheCityGame]

@ceejay81 when you bowl, where do you look when you're throwing the ball? Do you look at a point on the lane about where the arrows are that you want to roll the ball over, even knowing it's going to curve as it gets closer to the rack?

[FAbb]

I've come to really dislike the "don't practice medium length putts" advice.

 

I would never say don't practice that distance at all. I think that like anything else, it's just a matter of how much time you can dedicate to practice. If you have plenty of time, you'd be stupid to not dedicate a reasonable amount of time to practicing ALL length putts. I don't practice all that much, so I don't dedicate much time to the 10-20ft range. I definitely spend the most time from 3-10ft. I spend the second most time on 20-50ft. Then a little bit on 10-20, and 50+.

[eagle1997]

I wasn't the one taking selfies on TR #9 with the whole damn course backed up behind you waiting. ?

[eagle1997]

The WRX threshold for naughty words is currently set to Puritan. My God

 

Also, I hope someone interviewed Matt after this round.