My Road to Improvement - swing video 3/15/24

[betarhoalphadelta]

Any practice swing? 

 

I think the difficulty with trying to figure out ball position and setup based on what you do at the range is that everything is nice and flat at the range... Out on the course, not so much. 

 

For me I will do one practice swing on full shots, basically about a clubhead away from the ball, with the expectation that I'm getting a physical sense of balance, where the ball is vertically in relation to my feet (and sidehill lie), whether the ground is sloped towards/away form the target (downhill/uphill lie), getting an idea of the firmness of the ground at that point, etc. Essentially that practice swing is really just a "find the ground" point so I know if some slope that perhaps I'm not visually picking up is going to affect my balance, swing, low point, etc. 

 

On course, those are different for every swing because every location you encounter is different. So I use the practice swing to get a "feel" of what I'm about to encounter on that shot. 

[bortass]

1 hour ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Any practice swing? 

 

I think the difficulty with trying to figure out ball position and setup based on what you do at the range is that everything is nice and flat at the range... Out on the course, not so much. 

 

For me I will do one practice swing on full shots, basically about a clubhead away from the ball, with the expectation that I'm getting a physical sense of balance, where the ball is vertically in relation to my feet (and sidehill lie), whether the ground is sloped towards/away form the target (downhill/uphill lie), getting an idea of the firmness of the ground at that point, etc. Essentially that practice swing is really just a "find the ground" point so I know if some slope that perhaps I'm not visually picking up is going to affect my balance, swing, low point, etc. 

 

On course, those are different for every swing because every location you encounter is different. So I use the practice swing to get a "feel" of what I'm about to encounter on that shot. 

 

Nope. I gave up on those a long time ago. Back when I was shooting in the 105-120 range. They didn't seem to really help and I always felt bad digging up the course with practice swings. Though that may have helped me Sunday when I was on a downslope after a great drive and chunked my approach.

 

I managed two rounds this weekend. Decent weather both days but it's still soft out there. Scores were lack luster a 50/50, 100 and a 50/49, 99. 

 

I made a course management error on Saturday. I should have gone for the middle of the green but didn't and it likely cost me a stroke. 

 

I noticed a couple of times I wasn't confident with a shot and it led to bad things. I'll have to work on this and try to make sure I am committed.

 

There were a number of execution errors. Namely my pitches and partial wedges. I think I may know part of the problem with the partial wedges. I don't think I'm swinging aggressive enough but need to confirm/sort it out on the range.

 

I made a change to my tee shots partway through Sunday's round. I always tee it up on the right side and aim towards the left side of the fairway because my main miss was a push fade/slice into the right trees. On holes 4,5, and 6, I hit into the left trees... One was a snap hook and the other two were pretty solid baby draws that just started too left. I had noticed that I'm missing left more with my driver in prior rounds and that string of holes led me to tee it up more in the center and aim more down the center. The results were promising! I hit some great drives down the middle. I even got a compliment of sorts, 'I've never seen a 21 hit the ball like that'. Of course, he's played with me before and has seen all the shots that make me look like a 30+.

 

Now the real positive thing. At times during my round I felt myself shifting to my left. It kinda felt like i was falling into my left side. The results were amazing. I hit some very high draws with my irons and some very solid baby draws with driver. My approach stats showed a big improvement. Saturday I was -8.2 SG. Sunday I was -4.0 SG (Both compared to a 12 HCP) My approach game has always been the worst area of mine and to see that kind of improvement from one day to the next is awesome. I'm not saying it'll always be improved but I got to see that I can do much better than normal in my worst area.

 

#9 into the wind, I smoked a baby draw down the middle 225 yards.  It was a back pin location and the back of the green was around 140 yards. I decide to hit my 140 club, 7i, because the wind should make it go closer to center. I make contact and it's a very high draw that carried the back of the green. It's sloped towards the green back there, so my ball rolled back onto the putting surface, 15 feet from the hole. Arccos has it as a 141 yard shot, I probably carried closer to 143 into the wind.

 

#16 into the wind, it's 130 to center, forward flag, and I go with my 7i again. Another high baby draw all the way to the back of the green. My ball was a couple feet from the pitch mark. It was 139 yards, so I almost hit my stock distance but into a pretty good headwind. One of the guys commented that I hit it through the wind, lol.

 

#17 drive is a nuked baby draw, 253 yards down the middle. It's still very soft out there, so I'm sure i got some roll but not as much as I would come summer. The wind was left to right for this drive, so i don't think it was helping me any. This gave me a partial AW into the green which I chunked because I was on a down slope( the shot I mentioned in my reply to Brad above).

 

It's no where near perfect but Power Shift seems to have already made a difference for me. It's really straightened out my irons. I didn't see the push fade miss at all. I'm excited to see what happens after I get some time to work on it at the range. I'll keep doing the wall drill off and on throughout the day.

 

Sorry for the wall of text.

 

Hole of the day - par 5 #18 with both a stream and pond.  I Fubar my drive into the left slope, 132 yards. Just a real bad pull, from a terrible swing. It's a steep slope covered with leaves and long dormant rough. I am above the fairway, so that should help. The ball's below my feet and I just want to hit a partial punch with my 7i back into the fairway. I aim towards the right side because if I get close enough, I can reach the green over the stream and pond. Also my 7i has no chance of reach the stream. I hit the ball better than I thought I would and it's a very low draw, line drive that goes 148 yards and ends up in the right rough.

 

The hole is front left. The back of the green is about 195ish. I have a decent lie in the rough. The wind is in my face. I decide to go for it with my 4w( my 185-190ish club) since that would reach the back of the green. I feel very confident with my 4w off the deck as well. I hit the ball and it's a high push draw to the front right of the green, 180 yards. I'm 21 feet right of the hole and my birdie putts misses but I have a foot for par, which I make.

 

My drive sucked and I still managed to par the #2 HCP hole on the course. I felt so confident with that 4w shot. I wasn't worried about the pond at all. I figured I had enough extra club to account for both the rough and wind. There was no question in my mind. I have to say that's a great feeling to have.

 

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, bortass said:

 

Nope. I gave up on those a long time ago. Back when I was shooting in the 105-120 range. They didn't seem to really help and I always felt bad digging up the course with practice swings. Though that may have helped me Sunday when I was on a downslope after a great drive and chunked my approach.

 

 

Yeah, obviously I'm not taking practice swings because I "need the practice". I mean, I do... But that's for off-course work lol. 

 

But I do think it helps me make sure I feel the "local", i.e. local to the tiny circle encompassing me and the ball, conditions that a shot entails. 

 

1 hour ago, bortass said:

 

Now the real positive thing. At times during my round I felt myself shifting to my left. It kinda felt like i was falling into my left side. The results were amazing. I hit some very high draws with my irons and some very solid baby draws with driver. My approach stats showed a big improvement. Saturday I was -8.2 SG. Sunday I was -4.0 SG (Both compared to a 12 HCP) My approach game has always been the worst area of mine and to see that kind of improvement from one day to the next is awesome. I'm not saying it'll always be improved but I got to see that I can do much better than normal in my worst area.

 

It's no where near perfect but Power Shift seems to have already made a difference for me. It's really straightened out my irons. I didn't see the push fade miss at all. I'm excited to see what happens after I get some time to work on it at the range. I'll keep doing the wall drill off and on throughout the day.

 

 

That's great! And the best part is that you don't even feel like you're swinging harder, or doing anything different, and then the ball just explodes off the face. 

 

Keep up the good work!

[bortass]

 

 

Got out for 18 this morning with the seniors group. I had a great time. Shot a 49/48 97, 96 for GHIN since I carded a quad, 9, on a par 5. Weather was great for golf and it's still a bit soft out there. I warmed up hitting chips, pitches, and partial wedges. All three went well and I confirmed my partial wedge issue. I haven't been swing aggressive enough. I didn't have a single issue with a partial wedge my entire round for a change.

 

@betarhoalphadeltaI did some practice swings when I had downhill lies with my wedges today. I think it helped. I should probably start doing them more often with full swings just to get the feel of the motion from Power Shift.

 

I got killed off the tee box today. Snap hook with driver into a hazard(138 yards); Toe shank with 4w into a hazard( 45 yards); Push fade OOB with driver.  Arccos says that penalties make up 5 strokes of my strokes gained driving stat. I'm not sure how they got that number unless it includes something for the poor distance. I was having an issue with sending the ball left off the tee until I hit the push fade OOB on 14.

 

I had some execution issues but I think it's because I have done just enough with Powershift that bits and pieces of it show up at times. When it all shows up the results are very solid. I expect it to be rocky until I put in enough time. Short game, namely SW chips were bad. I eventually broke out the 7i to try bump and run chips with mixed results.

 

I did have a course management mistake that led to a triple. I hit a pull draw with driver on #9 into the rough. I was thinking layup and hit the green in 3. It was a bare lie and the back of the green was in 4w range over the pond. I had hit it well earlier in my round and I went for it. Caught it thin and it didn't quite make it.

 

I did hit some great shots though. A 4w approach that went 185 yards and got on the middle of the green, after I hit a pull with my driver that only went 175 yards. Came away with par. Elevated tee shot on #8 par 3. Flag is middle and i went with 8i. I hit it pure, 170 yards, to the back of the green. A high baby draw. I think the tees are elevated by 10 yards or so and not surre about a tail wind. 237 yard driver on #15 that got me within 15 yards of the hole. Chipped with 7i to 3 feet and came away with par, doh!

 

My irons were much improved still. Hitting more high draws. Still have some miscues with them but it's a big difference. My approach game was much better than normal based on SG again. It wasn't my worst area which is rare since it's always been a struggle.

 

Hole of the day had a few in the running. #6 because of the great 4w to get on and make par.  #15 because of the great drive but the par was only because I missed a 3 foot birdie putt.

 

The winner was #17, par 4 - I hit a draw down the left side, a bit more left that I would like but it missed the trees. A 244 yard drive into the left rough, past the corner. It's about 100 yards to center and I have a brain cramp. I hit a partial AW instead of my PW. Good contact and it goes 93 yards and I'm 13 feet from the hole. Birdie putt misses low but I have less than a foot for par.

 

birdies: 0

pars: 5

bogeys: 5

double bogeys: 5

triple+: 3

 

 

Some stats:

Avg drive: 192 yards

Longest drive: 244 yards

Fairways: 5/14

GIR: 5/18

Avg Approach: 113 yards

Up & down: 1/10

Putts: 35

 

Strokes gained compared to a 12 HCP. 

Overall: -12.2 strokes

driving: -6.9 (5 of which are penalties 😱)

Approach: -3.2

Short game: -0.6

Putting: -1.5

Edited February 28, 2023 by bortass

[bortass]

I'm pretty sure I mentioned back in November I won 'Most Improved Golfer' with the seniors I play with. Turns out there's actually an award and I was able to collect it today.

 

[bortass]

@Bob M I ordered a copy of Three Releases. Thought I recall you said you were reading it. How do you like it?

[bortass]

Finally finished Atomic Habits. I think it's a pretty good book and recommend it. The following is just my understanding of some of what I read while wrapping the book up. 

 

It's better to do than plan. What's been noticed is people that start something, even if it's not perfect, tend to have better results than people that are looking for the perfect plan to achieve a goal. I know there are a couple things where I fall into the plan trap. For example, I want to start working out but have been trying to figure out the plan. What exercises, what days etc. I'm 3 days in to saying screw it and just doing a couple real basic things. It's also happened with golf when I want to figure how to work on say my putting when I should just start going to the practice green. Eventually you'll likely find that you start to spend more time doing the habit you're trying to built and probably improving what you are trying to do to reach the goal. An example he uses is he knows a guy that lost over 100 pounds. He started off by going to the gym 5 minutes a day. That's it. He'd go do whatever for the 5 minutes and then leave. Over time he found that he liked working out and started to stay longer and dropped the weight over the next few years. 

 

So for me, I'm changing my morning routine. Part of it is to go to the range when it opens. I've been having a hard time the last few months finding times during the day to hit the range for various reasons. If I go before work, then I don't need to worry about finding time or being to tired later in the day. It's easier for me to do, therefore I'm much more likely to actually do it. I went to the range yesterday before my round and I went this morning, so I'm making progress in my golf practice habit.

 

I spent about 40 minutes at the range. I started off warming up with chips, which were so so. I went into pitches pretty quickly and made a small change. Our range is pretty beat up, so things aren't always level. I opened the face of my SW just a touch and the pitches got much better. I dunno if it's correct or not but the results were good. I then moved into partial wedges which were great. I then did 3 sets of a drill from Power Shift. 3 balls with the drill followed by 10 balls just swinging. It was a very mixed bag. I started to think too much during the regular swings and it showed. Luckily I'm well aware not to be concerned about ball flight etc when doing drills.

 

I wrapped up with 10 minutes on the putting green. I just used a single ball and did two things. Worked on long putts, always putting 'til I holed out, and I did some work on 2 - 3 foot putts and trying to get the ball to enter the hole with enough pace to hit the back of the cup. Some of my short putt issues are being tentative and the break causes me to miss. It's not perfect but to my point above, it's better than nothing!

Edited March 1, 2023 by bortass
grammar/typos

[Bob M]

16 hours ago, bortass said:

@Bob M I ordered a copy of Three Releases. Thought I recall you said you were reading it. How do you like it?

 

I finished reading " 3 Releases" and like it a lot. A couple of key things which I took away from the book are:

 

1. Reading the book confirmed that I should use a lob wedge rarely (I used it a lot in 2022), if ever. Grieve states that they should be used for "emergencies only".
2. The chip and run shot (Grieve's first release) should be my "bread and butter" shot around the green. The book provides a good, repeatable method for hitting these shots with any iron. Release 2 is a "soft landing" shot used when there is little green to work with (using the GW or SW) and release 3 is the lob shot (hit with a SW or LW), used when you have to go over a bunker, etc and stop the ball quickly.
3. Rather than being a mini full swing, Greive describes the distance wedge shot is an extension of Release 2 and in order to control distance, gives three address positions involving width of stance and gripping down on the club in order to provide a natural governor on swing length as he believes most players cannot execute clock face positions consistently. 

Overall, I liked the book a lot and have begun to implement what Grieve recommends (in addition to some things that I picked up from Parker McLachlin's videos).  For example, in a Trackman session last week, I hit A-1, A-2 and A-3 distance wedge shots with my 56* wedge and found it really easy to get consistent distances. 

[bortass]

Now for a fun exercise. What caused my blow-ups over the last three rounds? I am limiting a blow up to triple+ for now. Maybe someday I'll improve enough where the blowups are the doubles but I'm not there yet. They do need to get cleaned up but it'll be too much to look at right now.

 

Saturday(100):

#1 par 4, result 7. Drive was a 208 yard push fade into #9. I can't reach the green and punch a 5i to get in position. The ball clips a branch because I actually made solid contact and the ball went a bit higher than expected. It goes 85 yards though and I'm now in position to reach the green. Based on being in the rough and the yardages involved I go with a 9i at the middle of the green. However I leave the face wide open and hit a high push, 90 yards, and well right of the green. A 40 yard chip gets me 13 feet from the cup. My first putt goes 7 feet long...3 putt Cause(s): wide open 9i, first putt speed

 

#6 par 4, result 7. Shank driver OOB right, it was a banana slice. S&D tee shot is 201 yards into the left rough, almost pulled into left trees. 5i can reach the green but I hit a slight mishit and the ball goes at the right side of the green,127 yards, and comes up short. It's still a fine result since my 5i is not a club I use much nor expect to hit a green with. I chip with my SW, 28 yards, but leave it 14 feet short. First putt gets to 2 feet and I make the next one. Cause(s): Shanked driver

 

#7 par 4, result 7. Drive is a bit of a pull and draws into a fairway bunker on the left, 224 yards. I take an extra club, 6i, and choke down some. I'd like to get on the green but just getting out of the bunker and having a shorter approach is an acceptable result. I catch it thin and the ball goes 91 yards and I'm in the fairway. Hole is back right and roughly 60 yards away. I decide to hit a pitch and fluff it 17 yards. I try again and get on the green but 33 feet short of the hole. First putt is left 7 feet short.... 3 putt. Cause(s): Poor pitches, first putt speed

 

#16 par 3, result X(6). The tees are on a different box and closer than normal. I top my 9i 55 yards, it was a terrible swing. Partial LW into the green and I'm not aggressive and it goes in the stream. Drop and pitch into a bunker. I call it a day on this hole. Cause(s): bad swing w/ 9i, bad partial wedge

 

Sunday(99):

#4 par 4, result 7.  Pull draw with driver into left hazard, drop 210 off the tee in left rough. Partial AW into the green and I'm not aggressive and it goes 70 yards and come sup short. Blade a chip through the green. Chip with putter to 6 feet. Miss the putt. Cause(s): Pulled driver, bad partial wedge, bladed chip

 

#5 par 5, result 8. Snap hook driver into left hazard. Drop 128 yards off the tee in left rough. Thin my 4w, 159 yards, and get lucky it didn't roll into a stream. A punched 7i will get me into range of the green and I mishit it. It only goes 86 yards but I'm 140ish out, so 7i again. Hit a terrible push way right of the green, 125 yards. I hit a chip with my SW. I say chip because I'm trying to hit the ball low and versus a higher shot that I consider a pitch. Regardless it goes 36 yards and is short of the green. Chip with my putter to a foot and make the putt. Cause(s): snap hook driver, mishit 7i, bad chip

 

#6 par 4, result 7. Pull draw with driver into left hazard. Drop 229 yards off the tee in left rough. Ball is above my feet and I block my 7i high and way right, 116 yards. Ball is in the right trees and I'm also above the green. Try to hit a lower pitch with my SW. The ball comes out low, as expected, lands on the green and runs off the far side into the fringe, 72 yards. Chip with my putter, 31 yards to 2 feet. Miss the putt. Cause(s): Pulled driver, mishit 7i ball above feet, terrible recovery from trees, missed a two foot putt

 

It's this string of three holes that made me start to change how I setup on the tee box. I'm no longer setting up near the right marker and aiming left. Now I'm trying to setup more middle of the markers and aiming more at the middle of the fairway.

 

#14 par 5, result 9. Great looking draw with my driver down the right side, 252 yards, into the fairway. A solid 4w, 192 yards, down the fairway. I'm now 90 yards from my target, partial AW. I don't swing through it aka not aggressive, and it goes in the pond. Drop. Plan is a low pitch over the corner of the pond and on the green, skull  it into the pond about 2 - 3 yards in front of me. Drop and try again. Hit it 47 yards to 8 feet. two putts. Cause(s): bad partial wedge, skulled pitch

 

#15 par 4, result 7. Hit a push with driver that lands near the cart path, gets on it and rolls down the path and eventually to the right and into a drainage hole full of rocks, 231 yards. I can't hit my ball out, it's about 6 feet deep with rocks the size of a football. marked as a hazard and I drop. It's 70 yards to my target since I'm so far right. A partial LW and I don't swing through it, yet again. Ball goes 47 yards and into a bunker. Blade my bunker shot just short of a back bunker. Chip with putter and hit it 15 feet past the hole. Two putts. Cause(s): Pushed drive, bad partial wedge, skulled bunker shot, poor putter chip speed 

 

Tuesday(97)

 

#5 par 5, result 9. Snap hook driver into left hazard, drop 132 yards off tee, in left rough. I'd need a solid 4w to barely clear the corner and there's hazards on both side, so I layup with a 9i. A bit of a push but it's okay.  Thin my 4w, 147 yards, down the fairway. 130ish to target, so 8i into the green. Chunked pull that's high and drops into the stream fronting the left side of the green. Drop and mishit my pitch over, 20 yards, and short of the green. Chip with putter to a foot and make the putt. Cause(s): Snap hook driver, mishit 8i, bad pitch

 

#9 par 4, result 7. Hook driver, 179 yards, into the left rough behind the pond fronting the green. I think 'that's okay, I'll just layup down the right side and get on in 3'. I get to my ball and it's on a bare lie. No real rough. Back of the green is 4w range, so I go for it. Hit it thin and it's a low draw into the pond. Drop 45 yards closer. I'm 130 yards center, which is 8i. I make great contact and it's a high draw over the green into the back rough, 142 yards, smoked that shot. I'm chipping down slope and down a tier to a forward flag. I chip with my putter and it misses long, as expected, so this is fine. I'm 9 feet out and two putt. Cause(s): course management, the mishit 4w would have been fine if I was not trying to carry a pond. The 8i was great, and the chip did what I expected. 

 

#12 par 4, result 7. Always hit 4w off this tee. it's a toe shank with a divot to the inside of my tee. the ball does a snap slice into the right hazard. I drop 45 yards from the tees in the right rough. 4W will carry the corner and put me in a good spot but I thin it, 134 yards. It does get me far enough that I can go for the green though. Hit an 8i onto the front of the green and 38 feet short of the hole. My first putt is 9 feet short. 3 putts. Cause(s): shanked 4w, first putt speed control

 

A note about this round: I mentioned in my recap yesterday I hit a drive OOB on 14 with a push fade. I came away with a double bogey on that hole, so it didn't make the cut even though I really screwed up the tee shot. I had a great 4w that went 210, and then another 8i that went 142 yards with a high draw and it carried to the back of the green and went into the fringe. Those two great shots salvaged what should have been a triple+.

 

Patterns:

 

Pulls/hooks with driver - I think some of this will clear up. I've started to flip my driver miss from the constant push fade/slice into the right trees to pulls draws and hooks. The push fade still shows up like it did a couple times in the rounds above but it much less common. Changing where I setup and aim on the tee should help some. Bad swing, the snap hooks, will happen but the ones where it's a solid pull with a slight draw that just starts too far left and goes into the left trees, should get reduced.

 

Bad partial wedges - I think it was because I wasn't swinging through hard enough. I used to really power through these shorter shots, so even if i was a bit heavy the ball went the expected distance. Tuesday morning I went to the range prior to my round and the partial wedges I hit there with more power behaved as expected. I did not have any issues with that shot at all in my round later that morning. I worked on my partial wedges today as well since it's part of my warm up routine. I think this may not be a long term issue for me.

 

Bad chips - pretty straight forward. I need to find something that doesn't have me blading a chip or leaving it short.  Sometimes it feels great on the range but something is just off. Also I want to say I have always sucked at chipping. At least it's never been a strength. My short game stats are where they are mostly because i use my putter to chip so often. At least that's my take.

 

Bad speed control on first putt - pretty straight forward. I hit some putts that didn't get inside 5 feet of the cup and realistically, outside 5 feet is not good odds to make the next one.

[bortass]

5 hours ago, Bob M said:

 

I finished reading " 3 Releases" and like it a lot. A couple of key things which I took away from the book are:

 

1. Reading the book confirmed that I should use a lob wedge rarely (I used it a lot in 2022), if ever. Grieve states that they should be used for "emergencies only".
2. The chip and run shot (Grieve's first release) should be my "bread and butter" shot around the green. The book provides a good, repeatable method for hitting these shots with any iron. Release 2 is a "soft landing" shot used when there is little green to work with (using the GW or SW) and release 3 is the lob shot (hit with a SW or LW), used when you have to go over a bunker, etc and stop the ball quickly.
3. Rather than being a mini full swing, Greive describes the distance wedge shot is an extension of Release 2 and in order to control distance, gives three address positions involving width of stance and gripping down on the club in order to provide a natural governor on swing length as he believes most players cannot execute clock face positions consistently. 

Overall, I liked the book a lot and have begun to implement what Grieve recommends (in addition to some things that I picked up from Parker McLachlin's videos).  For example, in a Trackman session last week, I hit A-1, A-2 and A-3 distance wedge shots with my 56* wedge and found it really easy to get consistent distances. 

Thanks for mentioning the videos. I checked out a couple and I think I see something i'm doing wrong. Too much hands/wrists and not enough pivot. I should get Three Releases tomorrow and I can't wait to try it on the range. It's looking like rain the next few days, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to test things out.

[bortass]

The rain held off and I made it to the range this morning. I have a sore knee, so I did not work on Power Shift. I think it's just from all the golf and the increase in activity. I figured taking it a bit easier won't hurt.

 

I have to say my session was excellent. @Bob M I tried the chipping technique from the Parker M videos I watched and holy crap what a difference. I have always chipped in an armsy/handsy manner. It took some trial and error with ball position, etc but the overall results were much better than my normal chipping. I spent a good 10 minutes chipping random range balls back into the range. Mostly from the rough since someone had left a bunch of balls scattered in it. My SW comes out very high. Part of that is I don't stop my follow through which I think sends the ball higher. I also went around for another 10 - 15 minutes and hit chips with my 8i. Those come out much lower, as expected, and really rolled on down the range after landing.  Not perfect but much better than my normal chipping.

 

In between the two chipping sessions, I spent about 10 minutes hitting partial SW shots. A few mishits but the majority were fine to real good. If I can make these shots a strength again, it'll help quite a bit I think. I tend to use these shots after a great drive or when I'm in recovery mode and looking at GIR + 1. Not dubbing them as badly will pay off in the long run.

 

I wrapped it up with another 10 minutes or so on the practice green putting. Worked on lag putts and short putts. I'm not doing any drills yet but any practice it better than none. I used just 1 ball and went through my routine and just tried my best to focus. It'll get easier as i work on it more. Right now it's really just trying to build the habit of spending time on the practice green whenever I'm at the range.

 

 

[Bob M]

52 minutes ago, bortass said:

@Bob M I tried the chipping technique from the Parker M videos I watched and holy crap what a difference. I have always chipped in an armsy/handsy manner. It took some trial and error with ball position, etc but the overall results were much better than my normal chipping.

 

 

Good report. I likewise have learned that chipping with some body pivot, rather than the arms only putting approach which I learned back in the day, has made me a much better chipper. For 2023, I'm focusing on using my LW much less frequently and making the chip and run with 8i to SW my basic shot around the green. 

 

I find lots of similarities between the methods of Grieve and McLachlin. In the video I've linked below, McLachlin gives Travis Fulton a virtual chipping lesson which I thought was really good. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t0TwTdNaRs

 

Additionally, both Padraig Harrington and Kevin Kisner have chipping videos which advocate chipping using a pivot and are excellent. 

[bortass]

Got in another range session this morning before the next round of rain. I'll likely stop mentioning these every time I go due to spam unless something truly noteworthy comes up. I'm simply excited that my plan to go to the range before work has worked out so far. I made it 'easy' to go to the range and it's working. There are a number of benefits to it but right now I think the big one is feeling that I can work on whatever I feel like and it's okay. This thread is full of evidence that I struggle to get to the range. If I only get out there once every couple of weeks, I'd want to really focus on Power Shift and not spend much time on anything else. I don't feel guilty that I only did chipping, putting, and some partial wedges today.

 

The noteworthy thing today that I want to record so I have a reminder is weight shift when chipping. I worked on 7i chips and it seemed decent. I then went to my SW and it got a bit more dodgy with what I'd consider thin shots. I would get that feeling I have at times with my full swing where if I were to lift my right foot, I'd start to fall backwards. I was chipping some range balls and eventually started to shift my weight to the left during the actual chip. Contact improved quite a bit, as did the sound, and ball flight. Three Releases came in and I'm curious to see what it says on the subject.

 

Tomorrow we're playing one of the sister courses. It's the one w/o all of the water. I'm looking forward to it. It's a fun course and the bunkers actually have sand in them! It's also a shorter course, so I could score lower, in theory. Doesn't always pan out that way but that's okay.

 

Have a good weekend!

 

EDIT - Having read part of Three Releases I see that weight should be on the left side to begin with.

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by bortass

[betarhoalphadelta]

5 hours ago, bortass said:

 

The noteworthy thing today that I want to record so I have a reminder is weight shift when chipping. I worked on 7i chips and it seemed decent. I then went to my SW and it got a bit more dodgy with what I'd consider thin shots. I would get that feeling I have at times with my full swing where if I were to lift my right foot, I'd start to fall backwards. I was chipping some range balls and eventually started to shift my weight to the left during the actual chip. Contact improved quite a bit, as did the sound, and ball flight. Three Releases came in and I'm curious to see what it says on the subject.

 

 

Interesting. If you watch the Paddy Harrington YT video on chipping/pitching, he advocates just presetting your weight on the front foot and not shifting off it. Idea being that on that partial swing, it's going to be nigh impossible to have enough time to have a shift at all. 

 

 

 

[bortass]

50 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Interesting. If you watch the Paddy Harrington YT video on chipping/pitching, he advocates just presetting your weight on the front foot and not shifting off it. Idea being that on that partial swing, it's going to be nigh impossible to have enough time to have a shift at all. 

 

 

   So I see the 'issue'. The videos I watched the other day suggested keeping a 50/50 weight split at start. I was doing that and it wasn't working as good today until I made sure to finish with weight left. I was starting with weight neutral  and finishing it with it left via the pivot to make the chip. I never went middle -> right -> left like you do in a full swing, It was middle-> left. Three Releases talks about starting with weight left, and rotating around the left side, for a bump and run shot. I'll be working on that instead of what I was doing today. It's much simpler.

 

Good luck Sunday!

Edited March 3, 2023 by bortass

[Bob M]

4 hours ago, bortass said:

 So I see the 'issue'. The videos I watched the other day suggested keeping a 50/50 weight split at start. I was doing that and it wasn't working as good today until I made sure to finish with weight left. I was starting with weight neutral  and finishing it with it left via the pivot to make the chip. I never went middle -> right -> left like you do in a full swing, It was middle-> left. Three Releases talks about starting with weight left, and rotating around the left side, for a bump and run shot. I'll be working on that instead of what I was doing today. It's much simpler.

 

Dan Grieve recommends using your left side as a rotation point (I think he calls it), but does not go as far as Harrington in the amount of weight on the left side. McLachlin advocates more of a 50/50 distribution, but my takeaway from the video with Travis Fulton that for the chip and run, he favors weight on the lead leg. 

[Chip Duffer]

On 2/28/2023 at 3:50 PM, bortass said:

I'm pretty sure I mentioned back in November I won 'Most Improved Golfer' with the seniors I play with. Turns out there's actually an award and I was able to collect it today.

 

Congrats Bortass!!

 

It is well earned and deserved. 

[MattC555]

My weight is 60-70% on my front foot for all pitches, chips, and sand shots.  I try and keep this balance through my swing.  This includes shots up to 50-60 yards.  I am some amount of weight forward on any shot that isn't 'full'.  This is based on lessons I've taken, and has worked quite well for me.       

[bortass]

I have only read part of Three Releases and I really like it. Thanks for mentioning it @Bob M. I worked on release 1 and 2 on the range Sunday when I warmed up before my round. It went well. I also hit a great shot using release 2. I did make a mental mistake and tried to do release 1 with a SW from the rough on a very long chip and really messed up. It was the wrong decision. Still my share of mishits but I think this will make a real difference in my scores as I get better at it. 

 

I made it out twice this weekend. Saturday at the sister course and it was a disaster. I'm not really gonna talk about it except to say I only had two pars... I had some great shots but they were preceded or followed by not so good ones. Just couldn't get it going. 

 

I will do a full write up of Sunday's round at my home course and post it later. We played a game called high low, strokes off the low man. Rotating partners every three holes. A dot for lowest score on a hole, a dot for lowest total score on a hole, and two dots for trash, which are greenies (with carry over), birdies, and sand pars. It's a fun game and it's giving me some pressure when I play that I don't feel in the Saturday group. Putts can matter in the moment versus being a possible skin depending on what 11-15 other golfers do on that hole. Granted it's not big pressure but it's more than nothing. 

 

 

[bortass]

11 hours ago, Chip Duffer said:

Congrats Bortass!!

 

It is well earned and deserved. 

Thanks! Good to see you. 

 

Been playing much?

[bortass]

Sunday's round was cart path only. It's been this way for a while now. It was soft out there but sunny. i warmed up on the range hitting chips andpartial wedges. i mixed in a few full 7i shots and it went great.

 

 

1 – par 4, 404 yards, straight, #1 HCP, bunker front right. My drive is a 225 yard draw towards the left side of the fairway. The hole is back right and it's about 180ish to center. I take my 7w and aim for the middle of the green. I leave the face open and it's a push fade that goes 158 yards and under the small trees the help separate the 1^st green from the 9^th tee box. My ball is on bare, damp dirt, under a tree. I have a line at the hole, roughly 25 yards away, but need to keep it low because of the branches. I hit a punchy chip with my SW, not something from Three Releases. It comes out okay and rolls 21 feet past the hole. The green is covered in dew and I don't give it enough speed and come up 4 feet short. Not what I wanted but I do make the bogey putt, 5.

 

2 – par 3, 142 yards, #17 HCP, bunkers short left and right, and long left. The hole is front left and I aim for the middle with my 8i. I hit a high push, 134 yards, into the right fringe. I chip with my putter, 13 yards, to 4 feet. I make the par putt, 3!

 

3 – par 5, 458 yards, dogleg right, #9 HCP, couple of fairway bunkers on the left at the corner. My drive is a high draw down my line past the corner, 224 yards, and into the fairway on the left side. I have a great angle towards the green and go with my normal 4w shot. I mishit it and it's a low, weak push that goes 103 yards and into the right side of the fairway.

 

Now the right side of the green is blocked out by some trees that pinch the fairway. The hole is on the back left though and I have a line. It's about 140ish and I go with 7i. I hit a low pull that misses the green left. I'm worried my ball may have rolled into a hazard since it landed on the slope that leads up to the green.

 

My ball is sitting in the rough to the left of the green, 136 yards from where I hit it. I'm now short sided and the green is 3 – 4 feet above me. I decide on Release 2, which is a higher spinny shot(not a lob) with my SW. I take a practice swing and it feels good. The real swing was amazing. The ball pops up high lands on the green and rolls at the hole. I end up 2 feet below the cup! I also make the par putt, 5.

 

4 – par 4, 293 yards, straight, #15 HCP, water left and OoB right. Right side has a slope. There's a fairway bunker on the right. My drive is a low pull. Luckily, I was aiming more at the center of the fairway, so it stops on the left side. Just 178 yards but another FW hit, lol. It's a forward flag and 120ish to center.

 

Bunkers cover the the entire right side of the green and the majority of the left side as well. I decide to go for the middle with my 9i. My swing is a bit funky for some reason and I hit a low push. The ball goes over the front side and while it misses the first bunker that guards the right side, I expect it to be in the second one. Instead I find my ball in the fringe, short of the bunker, 123 yard shot.

 

I chip with my putter and it's not good. The ball rolls 9 feet past the hole. My par putt misses and I have a tap in from about 4 inches for bogey, 5.

 

5- par 5, 501 yards, dogleg right, #5 HCP, hazard down the left side. There's a slope on the right side which makes the fairway narrow in the landing spot. A stream runs down the right side from the corner to near the green. I aim a bit more towards the right side with my driver and make a bad swing. It felt like I got too quick and never finished my back swing. It's a hook into the left hazard, yet again... I drop 148 yards off the tee.

 

I could try to hit anything from 6i and up to try to clear the corner but there's hazards on the left, short of the corner and right, starting at the corner and almost all the way to the green. I just don't like it, so I layup with a punched PW that goes 99 yards. I'm on the right side, which isn't the best since the trees in the right hazard are more in play now, but I'm just short of the corner and can hit my 4w. It's a very solid push fade that starts too far right and makes it through the first set of trees and clips a small branch further down.

 

I find my ball in the right rough, 129 yards, from the prior spot. My shot at the green is kinda hosed now. I have to go over some trees and don't think I can. I mean I could if I hit it pure but that's not likely. It's 120ish yards to the middle and I try to punch a 7i. I send it left of the green. I', almost in a stream and chipping from the rough to a green that's a few feet higher than me. I try a punchy chip and thin it 32 feet past the hole... I leave my first putt 7 feet short... A three putt quad, 9.

 

Sweet I just blew up....

 

6 – par 4, 367 yards, slight dogleg left, #7 HCP. Medium width landing area with a bunker on the left. Houses are on the right and there's a sharp slope into the left trees if you end up too far into the left rough. I aim down the middle of the fairway and hit a very solid pull, over the left fairway bunker which is terrible. Everything slopes off into the left trees, marked as hazard, on that line. Sure enough I find it in a bunch of brush and need to drop. The good news is I'm 222 yards off the tee. The bad news is it's ball above my feet in the rough to a green that's 130 yards away.

 

I hit my 8i and it's low and right, 109 yards, and short of the green. I'm short sided now and the green is elevated some. I can't recall exactly what type of chip I tried but I end up 39 feet past the hole... My bogey putt doesn't miss the hole by much but rolls 6 feet long. Another three putt for triple bogey, 7.

 

The wheels are coming off the bus it would seem.

 

7 – par 4, 351 yards, slight dogleg right, #11 HCP, elevated tee shot to a wide open fairway that slopes down right to left all the way to about the 100 yard marker. Bunkers on the left marking the corner and a slope on the right. My driver is another low pull that goes 223 yards and ends up in the fairway on the left. The hole is back left. There's a bunker front left and back left and the green is narrow between them. I decide to aim more for the center with my 8i and hit a decent shot, 129 yards, and onto the green.

 

I'm 24 feet right of the flag and completely misread the break. My putt misses very low and I'm 5 feet out. Another three putt but for bogey this time, 5.

 

At least I stopped the bleeding.

 

8 – par 3, 160 yards, elevated tee shot, #13 HCP, bunker on the right side of the green. Slope to the right of this hole that is weed whacked. So it's long stuff and wild. Balls can get lost here.

 

Story time. The hole is forward and a decent 9i will be close to the middle. One of the guys who isn't my partner tees off first and misses the green short, right. I watch the ball as it lands and rolls left at the green. He's on and within 12 feet of the flag most likely. I'm thinking I need to attempt to get inside him since it's very likely he'll win a greening for him and his partner.

 

It's too long for my normal partial PW and too short for a full 9i. I try a partial 9i. It's a high pull that comes up short of the green on the left, about 20 yards from the hole. The other two guys all miss the green as well.

 

We get to the green and the first guy is in the fringe.... I deviated from my normal plan on this hole because of the game we were playing. I hit a shot I don't practice much and I wasn't 100% convinced I was making the correct decision on the tee. Lesson learned, just play my own game.

 

I blade my chip, 32 yards, through the green and into the right fringe. I chip with my putter, 12 yards, to 2 feet, and come away with a bogey, 4.

 

9 – par 4, 357 yards, straight hole, #3 HCP, water on the left as you approach the green. The pond fronts this green. I hit an okay drive, low draw, 218 yards, into the left side of the fairway. The hole is back right, around 140ish yards. Long is not good, so I go with my 8i. A great shot will get me near the hole and a normal one will get me in the center of the green.

 

It's an okay shot that fades on me but lands on the green. 130 yard shot and I'm 45 feet right of the hole and on the lower tier. I have to putt up the tier and my speed is good but I started the ball too low. I end up 6 feet below the cup, almost rolling back down the tier. I make the par putt though, 4!

 

10 – par 4, 342 yards, dogleg left, #10 HCP hole. Elevated tee shot to a lower fairway. Green is elevated with a bunker front right. I hit an okay draw with my 4w, 193 yards, into the fairway. The hole is back left and about 150ish yards. I decide to go with my 6i since the green is a bit above me. I make okay contact and it's a lower shot, slight pull, but it does land on the green. 143 yard shot and I'm 24 feet short of the hole. My birdie putt misses but it's about a foot for par, which I make 4.

 

11 – par 4, 329 yards, 90* dogleg left, #12 HCP. Fairway eventually slopes down to a stream short of the green, forced carry.

 

This hole is a disaster. So I'm not gonna get into a lot of detail. I hit a dead push towards OOB with my 7w. We hear it hit a tree by the forward tees and see the ball drop straight down like a rocket. I expect to find the ball and don't hit a provisional. STUPID!

 

No sign of the ball, leaves are 12 – 18 inches deep. So I drop 93 yards off the tee and add two penalty strokes. Layup to have a shot into the green. 8I should reach center and I hit it fat. The ball drops in the stream for another penalty. Drop and pitch across to 9 feet. Two putts later I have a +5, 9.

 

I shouldn't have assumed I'd find the ball and didn't need to hit a provisional. That decision cost me since I was then laying 4 where I could have been in 3. I don't know if my frustration at myself over that helped create the situation with the fat shot into the stream or not. I wasn't mad or anything but I knew I made a big mistake.

 

12 – par 4, 315 yards, 90* dogleg left, #14 HCP, green is elevated. Narrow tee shot that opens as you reach the corner. I hit a low pull with my 4w into the face of the slope on the left. It kills the ball but it rolls back into the fairway, 149 yards off the tee. It's a 6i into the green and I hit a thin push, 108 yards, and short of the bunker. Now I have to pitch over the bunker to a green that's above my head. I hit a great looking shot that ends up 4 feet from the hole. I have a shot at par even after the two mishits! I miss the putt... Bogey, 5.

 

13 – par 3, 123 yards, #18 HCP, green is elevated with bunkers short right and left and long left. Tiered green as well. The hole is back left and 130ish yards. That's an 8i but long is bad. I remember what I did on #8 and just play like I would normally. 9I at the middle of the green. I hit a nice high draw towards the left side, 122 yards and I'm on the green. I'm 24 feet below the hole, going up a tier. I'm closest to the hole and if I get a par or better I'll win two greenies, since no one got the one on 8. The equivalent to winning two holes outright.

 

I hit the birdie putt and it's pretty good. I miss but the ball stops a foot from the cup on the high side. I make my putt, 3.

 

14 – par 5, 543, straight hole, #4 HCP. Elevated teeshot to wide open fairway. Fairway slopes down left to right, water on the right closer to the green and fronting the entire green. I hit a pull with my driver that hits the left slope and rolls back across the cartpath into the left rough, 200 yards. I don't like my lie, so 4w is out. I take my 5i and hit a punch, 163 yards, down the fairway. It's 200ish to the green with a pond down the entire right side. I don't like the thought of having a go with my 4w. So I punch my 5i again and it's a bit heavy.

 

The ball goes 96 yards and I now have a partial PW into the green. I chunk it 66 yards and into the rough short of the green. I have a brain fart now.

 

I have plenty of green to work with. I plan to hit that punch type chip with my SW. I change my mind and try to hit the bump and run shot with it instead. I mishoit it off the toe and into the pond... Drop and hit the chip like I mean to originally to 6 feet. I make that putt to save my triple bogey, 8.

 

Bad decision with the chip. It was the wrong type of chip for the club and distance. I also have not practiced enough, so it's probably a bad idea even with say a 7i.

 

15 – par 4, 264 yards, straight, #16 HCP. Elevated tee shot to a fairway that is always soft abd cart path only year round. Fairway bunkers on left side in line with the green. Bunker surround this green except for the left side. I aim to the right of the green with my driver and hit a solid pull draw, 215 yards, over the fairway bunker and into the rough between it and the green side bunker. I chip with my SW over the bunker and onto the green. A 33 yard shot that gets me 24 feet below the hole. I putt to 2 feet and come away with a par, 4.

 

16 – par 3, 147 yards, #8 HCP. Elevated green with a forced stream carry. Bunkers short right and long left and middle. Tiered green with a strong back left to front right slope. Hole is front right. It's 140ish to center. I almost always miss with a push fade on this hole. I aim for center with my 7i and hit it pure. There's a tailwind and I hit a high draw completely over the green, 165 yards!

 

Well, I'm in a real bad spot. On a steep down slope in Bermuda rough. The green slopes away from me and theirs a tier I have to go down. Also a bunker to my right that I have to chip just to the left of...

 

I hit my chip and I hade the speed/distance I wanted but it take a bad bounce into the trap. It's mud and we play it as GUR, so I take relief, still in the rough but not as much, so I can use my putter. I get it to 9 feet past the hole. There was no way to stop it close without having perfect speed. I barely miss the bogey putt, double, 5.

 

My first double of the day and I can't complain. It was caused by a great shot that went 25 yards long. Some of it was the wind but most of it was actually hitting the ball correctly.

 

17 – par 4, 363 yards, dogleg left, #6 HCP. Fairly open fairway with bunkers on the right at the corner. Green has a tier and heavily slopes left to right, can putt off this green... Bunkers short of the green as well. I hit a very solid draw with my driver down the left side, 247 yards. I'm on a slight down slope. The hole is back right. It's a partial AW in. I take a practice swing and it's good contact with the ground. I aim a bit left to let the slope take the ball towards the hole and I chunk it...Well I'm 78 yards closer and in the rough between the two bunkers that front the green. I mishit my chip but get away with it. The ball strikes the face of the slope leading up to the green which kills the speed. It rolls onto the green and down to the hole. I have 2 feet for par and make it, 4.

 

18 – par 5, 504 yards, straightish, #2 HCP. There is a stream carry on either the second or third shot. There is also a pond fronting the green... There's a tailwind and I rip a draw down the left side. My ball lands on the cart path and heads on down it. A 262 yard drive... Too bad that's not my norm. The front of the green is 200 yards. So a real good 4w could get on but I need to carry a stream and a pond. I'm also in some thin rough

 

No thanks. I take my 6i ( 150 club) and hit a great looking high draw with the wind, 168 yards, and into the fairway across the stream. I have a partial SW into the green and do something funky with my release. I don't know why, but instead of a nice high follow through, for a high shot, I do some sort of arm twisty thing that makes it a low fade instead. I get on the green but I'm 24 feet from the hole and on the lower tier. I go too low with my birdie putt and it's 6 feet below the cup. Kind of like what I did on #9. I miss the par putt this time, bogey, 6.

 

A 47/48 95 (92 NDB for GHIN) with 33 shots on 4 holes. It bumped a 91 out of my scoring history, so my index went up to 22, sigh.

 

I can't believe I played as well as I did. Power Shift is making a difference already. I'm thinking about trying to shift better when I play and while sporadic, it's been better. I feel like I'm hitting solid high draws with my irons more often. Some of my drives are also doing better than normal. I believe Three Releases is really going to help my short game. That chip on #3 for example to save par.

 

I also think I need to change my course management on #5. I keep hitting pulls and hooks into the left hazard less than 150 yards off the tee. I'd probably feel differently if I was dropping 200 yards out but I'm not. I think I need to see what happens if I use my 4w off the tee. I don't like the potential loss of distance, driver is the way to go, but I can't seem to keep it in play on this hole right now.

 

I'm feeling pretty good about the trajectory things seem to be on. Hopefully there's not an asteroid in my path, lol.

 

birdies: 0

pars: 7

bogeys: 6

double bogeys: 1

triple+: 4

 

 

Some stats:

Avg drive: 200 yards

Longest drive: 262 yards

Fairways: 8/14

GIR: 6/18

Avg Approach: 115 yards

Up & down: 3/12

Putts: 35

 

Strokes gained compared to a 12 HCP. 

Overall: -10.5 strokes

driving: -3.5, 4 penalties

Approach: -5.2

Short game: +0.6, progress!

Putting: -2.3, a bit better than usual

[Chip Duffer]

3 hours ago, bortass said:

Thanks! Good to see you. 

 

Been playing much?

Only once a week at the moment. I was playing too many scrambles and am now back to finding “my” game again. Like you, I’m encouraged. I just need to eliminate the @others” from the score card. Struggled with my iron striking for a while, but am getting that back. Had a fairly good round Saturday, but threw in 2 doubles and a triple and the score didn’t reflect the rest of the round.

 

I love this game and I am so happy to see you scoring so much more consistently. Like me, get those “others” cut down and your goal is attained. It looks from what I’ve been reading that you are still having fun and have the desire to do better for You. I like that

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, bortass said:

Sunday's round was cart path only. It's been this way for a while now. It was soft out there but sunny. 

 

 

Does your course and your current fitness level allow you to walk? 

 

I hate CPO with the fiery heat of 1,000 suns. I don't care if a course isn't easily walkable, it's still better to walk than ride when it's CPO. And I swear I walk as much, if not more, playing CPO than I do just walking. Seems like no matter what side of the fairway the cart path is on, I hit it to the other side. And then playing with two players in a single cart CPO? Nah... It's horrible. 

 

I personally prefer walking courses whenever I can. But some aren't particularly walkable. San Juan Hills, for example, has several long stretches between holes going through tunnels under a road in into neighborhoods. Probably close to an extra mile+ just based on layout. CPO pushes me over the top for courses where I would normally take a cart though. 

[bortass]

2 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Does your course and your current fitness level allow you to walk? 

 

I hate CPO with the fiery heat of 1,000 suns. I don't care if a course isn't easily walkable, it's still better to walk than ride when it's CPO. And I swear I walk as much, if not more, playing CPO than I do just walking. Seems like no matter what side of the fairway the cart path is on, I hit it to the other side. And then playing with two players in a single cart CPO? Nah... It's horrible. 

 

I personally prefer walking courses whenever I can. But some aren't particularly walkable. San Juan Hills, for example, has several long stretches between holes going through tunnels under a road in into neighborhoods. Probably close to an extra mile+ just based on layout. CPO pushes me over the top for courses where I would normally take a cart though. 

Sure does. I used to walk it. In Maine I played a slightly longer and hiller course and walked. I enjoy walking the course but have only done it a few times since my wife bought me the cart. It's kinda funny to load my Clicgear into the backseat of it and drive it to the course to play 9 walking.

 

The course had a rule when I joined that no walkers before 3pm on Saturday and Sundays during the peak season, which I can't recall when it started/ended.. That went away with COVID and I don't know if it's back. I do know the guys I play with make comments when they see walkers in front of us on the weekend and how they shouldn't be out there. I personally don't see the issue. Plenty of slow people riding.

 

I've talked about starting to walk when I play 9 but it's been just that talk. I haven't played 9 a quite a while and if no one is in front of me I can finish in just over an hour w/o rushing riding. I really need to find time to play 9 during the week and try to walk when the weather is decent though.

 

I don't like CPO because I rarely know what club I may need to hit till I can get to the ball and assess the situation. There's been times when I bring 3 clubs and they are all wrong, so I have to go back to get the right one. The extra walking is fine with me, I need the extra steps.

 

As an aside what I really don't like about CPO is the people that ignore it. Our clubs have started to get in the carts with GPS and geofencing. It's starting to keep people out of the fairways when it's CPO but some people will look for the older carts that haven't been upgraded yet to bypass the system. Then  there are the lazy people with personal carts that think all the signs don't apply to them. Can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine? Drive your cart up to the green where it says no carts you jackwagon..... may you get a case of the shanks. lol.

Edited March 6, 2023 by bortass

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yeah, I don't get the idea that walkers slow down the course. Heck, my round yesterday there were two twosomes paired up ahead of us and one of the twosomes was riding, and those two were about the slowest golfers I've come across in a LONG time. As we made the turn they were probably two holes behind pace. At least at that point the marshal asked us, and then went to talk to them, and they sped up. 

 

IMHO carts could be faster if they gave you four of them for the group, and it wasn't CPO. But once you pair people up in the carts, and one hits it far left rough while the other hits it far right rough every hole, I don't think it makes the game faster. At least since you have your own cart, you won't have that "paired up" problem, right? Or is the etiquette thing to do to let one of your playing partners ride along in your cart when they don't have their own? 

[bortass]

7 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Yeah, I don't get the idea that walkers slow down the course. Heck, my round yesterday there were two twosomes paired up ahead of us and one of the twosomes was riding, and those two were about the slowest golfers I've come across in a LONG time. As we made the turn they were probably two holes behind pace. At least at that point the marshal asked us, and then went to talk to them, and they sped up. 

 

IMHO carts could be faster if they gave you four of them for the group, and it wasn't CPO. But once you pair people up in the carts, and one hits it far left rough while the other hits it far right rough every hole, I don't think it makes the game faster. At least since you have your own cart, you won't have that "paired up" problem, right? Or is the etiquette thing to do to let one of your playing partners ride along in your cart when they don't have their own? 

This is interesting. I don't offer to let people ride with me. Reason being I had a bad experience. We have a long roof on our cart to cover the rear facing seats. Which means it can get in the way if you load your clubs normally i.e. longer ones near the back. The guy would always hit the metal part of the roof when he'd put clubs in his bag and didn't seem to care. I do it too but try to avoid it because it can mess up the paint. He was having none of that and add in putting his feet up on the 'dash' above the area where you can stash stuff like phones etc. Have some respect for property that ain't yours. 

 

Most of the guys I play with on weekends would be fine riding with me but this also allows one of them to ride solo and they like doing that. Some guys in our group with personal carts will let a select few ride with them and other's won't( or maybe no one wants to ride with them...)

 

The best part about walking is the timing when I'm solo. if there's a single or twosome in front of me, I will not catch them. Riding solo, I will eventually catch the twosome most of the time. I'm not in a hurry the vast majority of the time, just don't like waiting. I also don't like the feeling of someone waiting on me. I don't want people in front of me to feel like I'm pressing them. 

 

The biggest thing is ready golf. Even with one rider per cart due to COVID, I'd see herds of carts go from one ball to the next. I get you can't get in front of someone's line of play/mishit zone but damn. You don't need everyone sitting by your ball while you hit, so that you can all go to the next guys ball... First world problems!

 

[bortass]

The weather is looking dodgy tomorrow, so I doubt I'll make it to the range. The week has been a success though. I made it to the range Tuesday - Thursday and each session was between 40 and 50 minutes. That should give me 6 practice sessions the last two weeks which is a massive increase. I'd have to check but it's probably more than I've done in the last 5 months. This change in my routine to go before work is really working out quite well.

 

The vast majority of the balls I hit this week were chips. I'm working on a chip and run and a more spiny shot, releases 1 and 2 respectively. It's hasn't been easy but I'm seeing improvement. My range doesn't have a good setup to practice chips because the practice green is on a high point, so there's 3 - 4 feet of rough or fringe all around it. Get past that and it's either trees, cartpath, a bunker, or a very steep slope covered in rough. It's also a small green with a tier.  

 

What I've been doing is practicing with all the random range balls that are scattered about and using the two types of chips to hit them into the range.  For example, today I cleared probably 30+ range balls from the green and chipped them with my 7i into the range. This is fine since I'm just trying to get the setup, swing and contact correct. Distance control will come later. I then used my AW to hit the softer spiny shot from balls that were in the flat area of rough between the practice green and hitting area. I also used that shot and a few partial wedges to hit the random balls that were in front of the hitting line and sent them down into the range as well. I'm seeing some improvement with the chips but have a ways to go. 

 

Based on the SG stats from Arccos, short game is not what I should be working on since it's my best area. The catch is I don't think I have a good short game. I use my putter from the fringe/rough as much as I can which tends to have better results than when I use a wedge. The chipping practice should help reduce the  double chips, blades, leaving the ball 30+ feet short, etc that show up when I have to use something besides my putter to chip. I'm thinking this is low hanging fruit.

 

I did do one set of a drill from Power Shift the other day. It's the only full swing work I did this week. I expect to work on it more after I get better with the chipping. 

 

I have also practiced putting every session. I'm not doing any drills yet. Just taking a ball or two and dropping them in different places and putting out. It's a mix of lag putts and shorter ones. I doubt this is the most efficient way to practice but it's better than nothing. 

 

Regarding possible burnout with the range. I'm not too worried about it right now. I look forward to going and I'm having fun with what I'm working on. I wouldn't expect that to be the case if I was beating balls with a full swing the entire time. As long as it's enjoyable practice, I should be good.

 

 

[bortass]

Nature has it's own plans and they cannot always be overcome in the pursuit of golf.  I'm pretty sure @betarhoalphadeltacan attest to it with all the rain in CA.

 

Saturday was high 70s and sunny. Great golf weather, however a thunderstorm rolled through around 4am. It's gonna be a very wet course with standing water in some of the lower fairways. I hop in the cart and head for the club. There's a main road ( speed limit is 45 MPH, so most cars are doing 50+) that splits the course. Holes 2 - 8 are on my side of said road. I get to the only underpass and find this:

 

 

That stream flooding is normal. It'll flood the entire fairway of #3 multiple times a year. We got enough rain to flood the tunnel but not the course itself. I called the clubhouse and they were starting on 10 and hoping it'd be clear in 2 - 3 hours. The guys all cancelled, so I just turned around and went home. I never saw a golfer on the front throughout the day. Sunday was rain and thunderstorms.

 

The Saturday before that we got some decent rain the day before but it dropped to almost freezing overnight. I think it didn't break 40 until early afternoon. So didn't play then either. My last round was on 3/11 and a bad day scoring.

 

As for my morning range sessions, I got my first two in since the time change last Thursday and Friday. Every other morning has been either at or below freezing or raining. At least the freezing part will be out of the picture soon. 

 

The two range sessions went well. I've been working on chipping, both release 1 and 2 from Three Releases. I'm not doing great with them yet but will keep at it. I also have done some more drills from Power Shift. Each session was wrapped up with 10 - 15 minutes on the putting green. I have been enjoying the pre-work range sessions, so I don't think I'll be getting sick of it. I do have to find a way to get in some 9 hole rounds during the week. It's been a long time since I've been able to do it with any regularity and I play better when I play more often. Shocking, eh?

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yeah, all this rain has been a bit of a pain when it comes to golf this winter...

 

...but then I realize I grew up in Chicago, and I now live in Southern California, so I'll deal with it 😉

 

[bortass]

Ever feel like you’re better than in the past but are still in the same place?

 

I do. It’s like I find new ways to stay the same, lol.

 

Got in 18 this morning and started off decent, +3 through 4 holes. #5 was the normal disaster but I salvaged a double. I can’t seem to keep my tee shot out of the left hazard on this hole.

 

#7 was funny. Tee shot is OoB. Next one is decent and I come away with a double thanks to S&D off the tee.

 

I don’t have any triples til the back when I manage to card 3 of them. End up with a 47/53 100.

 

My good shots are much better than in the past but I still find ways to throw away strokes.

 

Part of it is what I’m working on. The changes with chipping and Power Shift are not course ready. I’m better with both but it’s costing me more than I’m gaining right now. I hope it’s the short term pain to grow a long term improvement. I say hope but it’s what I believe.
 

The chipping isn’t alway comfortable but it looks like I’m about the same as far as Strokes Gained per Arccos.

 

Full swing is seeing more very good shots with higher quality but I’m still thinking too much. So my mishits are laughable at times.  Just too much going on/in flux.

 

Luckily it’s a process and I know it. I’m neither worried nor frustrated, more bemused if that makes any sense. I may still suck score wise but I’m having fun and fun is what matters in the end.