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

[Chip Duffer]

8 hours ago, bortass said:

Thanks. It sure wasn't easy. Have you been able to play lately?

Playing a little. Not enough to play at my former level. It’s a bit frustrating and dealing with some injury issues. Distances are all skewed, but a good day on the course with good companions is still among the very best life has to offer. 
 

Now I am on the journey to break 85 again. 
 

😊

[bortass]

12 hours ago, Chip Duffer said:

Playing a little. Not enough to play at my former level. It’s a bit frustrating and dealing with some injury issues. Distances are all skewed, but a good day on the course with good companions is still among the very best life has to offer. 
 

Now I am on the journey to break 85 again. 
 

😊

Just don't take 3 years to do it!

 

 

Made it to the range this AM. I worked on the sequencing drill from Powershift with 8i and my bump and run chip contact with 7i. Overall it went well.  

 

My thoughts regarding practice is I want the first half of my session to always be full swing. The big thing I need to work on is making a complete backswing. I can do that while doing certain other drills. My reasoning is the pattern is 3 balls with the drill and then 10 balls with normal swings. The sequencing drill from Powershift entails making a full backswing, so they dovetail nicely. An example of a drill that doesn't fit the mold would be Cast B drill from NTC because you don't make a full backswing with that one. I will be working in Cast A for my full swing work as well at times, since that's the other thing Monte said I need to work on at the clinic.  

 

The second half of my range session is a wildcard. It's pretty much whatever I think I want to focus on, outside of a full swing. It started off with putting and that's gotten much better. Then I was focused on the UTB chips/pitches which has also improved quite a bit. Right now it's trying to work out the bump and run chip. I am thinking that I will eventually start working on flighted irons/wedges, some of the contact and low point drills from Adam Young, etc during this half of my sessions. This practice slot will be much more fluid. It's also a time to work on any red flag items that pop up and are hurting me on the course like if my putting goes AWOL or I can't hit a bump and run chip( current state, lol).

 

Tomorrow I have the first tee time. I should be able to play 9 before work unless something goes wonky on me. My guess is it'll take about 70 minutes at a decent pace aka not rushing from shot to shot. I'm probably just going to play the whites unless I decide to experiment with the teals (forward) or blues (back). All three have their advantages for what I can learn about my game.

[Myherobobhope]

Awesome work, my friend! Glad to see it finally happened. 

 

Focus on process over results... the results will come, but you've obviously put in some good work recently. Just focus on that part and lower numbers will continue to come!

[bortass]

14 hours ago, Myherobobhope said:

Awesome work, my friend! Glad to see it finally happened. 

 

Focus on process over results... the results will come, but you've obviously put in some good work recently. Just focus on that part and lower numbers will continue to come!

Thanks!

 

And exactly. I started to shift away from result focus to process focus around the first of the year and it's been liberating. I don't get as frustrated with myself with a bad hole, etc. It'll never be perfect because we're human but it's a good feeling. The clinic and committing to hitting the range before work most mornings is paying off.

 

How's your game been?

 

 

[TheDeanAbides]

I'm not here very often anymore, so I'm just seeing this. Great play, buddy! It just goes to show what happens when you go and get proper coaching from a genuinely elite pro rather than listening to us idiots. 

 

 

[rondo01]

23 hours ago, bortass said:

Tomorrow I have the first tee time.

go get ‘em pro! Congrats!

[bortass]

 

Played 9 this morning and it took longer than expected. I lost roughly 20 minutes while waiting for sprinklers on tees and greens on both 8 and 9 to shut off. I'm not complaining though. We have a new superintendent and he's making changes to improve the course conditions. I don't recall ever seeing the tee box sprinklers running the last few years. It made me wonder if the course even had them, lol. 

 

I shot a 46 with two doubles and only one par. I'm happy with the round. I didn't play great and came away just over bogey golf which is better than my average score still. It'll take a number of good rounds before playing bogey golf isn't considered decent in my book. I'll temper that statement with bogeys are good IMO and I see no reason not to be happy with them for quite a while. I will expect to throw in some pars though to get me under that 45/90 threshold.

 

I had no idea where the hole was on most holes. The flags were on the ground on 5 holes because the crew hadn't gotten to them to set the new pin positions. I even hit one of the flags with my tee shot on #2 (par 3)

 

Driving, including 4w, was decent. I had no penalties off the tee. I managed a 261 yard drive on #1 and 249 yards on #4, both were great looking baby draws. #5 I hit a 262 yard 4w when I hit a great draw down the right side and it took the cart path to roll out an additional 40+ yards, lol. Things weren't perfect and I saw the push fade with my driver 3 times but they weren't as bad as normal. Also had a push on #9 with 4w that forced me to lay up and it led to a double when my approach went long and I missed a 4 foot bogey putt.

 

Approaches were okay. My only penalty is when I mishit my 4w off the deck into the right trees with my second shot on a par 5. My drop blocked me from going at the green and led to my first double. I had a couple decent shots but things were a bit off.

 

Short game was okay. I had a double chip on #1 when I tried a bump and run 7i from well off the green and hit it a touch too hard into the back fringe. I never got up and down the entire round even though I had 3 chips in the 2- 5 foot range but that was because of my putting.

 

Putting was off and my worst area.  I missed a lot of shorter putts. I think most of it was lack of focus. I had some brain farts with my speed like leaving a 15 foot birdie putt about 3 feet short but short misses were the big thing.

 

End of the day, I gave myself chances which is all I can ask for. I avoided big blowups again and even finished with the same ball since i recovered the one I hit into the trees on #3. I also saw that my good driving from Sunday wasn't a fluke but there's still work to be done. I'll probably be a bit Helter Skelter with it but that's fine in my book. The longer drives feel great.

 

Avg drive: 221 yards ( this is all par 4 and 5 tee shots regardless of club and includes two 4w tee shots)

Longest drive: 262 yards( cart path 4w, lol)

Fairways: 3/7

GIR: 3/9

Avg Approach: 108 yards

Up & down: 0/5

Putts: 19

 

Strokes gained compared to a 15 HCP. I bolded that because I was always using a 12 index for my round comparisons while trying to break 85.  My next stepping stone is to get down to 15 on the way to 10 😉

 

Overall: -1.8 strokes

driving: +0.3

Approach: -1.4

Short game: +1.9

Putting -2.7, struggled here....

 

Birdies: 0

Pars: 6

Bogeys: 6

Dbl bogey: 2

Triples+: 0

[bortass]

6 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

I'm not here very often anymore, so I'm just seeing this. Great play, buddy! It just goes to show what happens when you go and get proper coaching from a genuinely elite pro rather than listening to us idiots. 

 

 

Thanks! I'd say it's more not being left to my own devices and being clueless. Seeing Monte in person made all the difference. He went right to the first issue in the chain, my short backswing. Monte has a knack for teaching, at least for me. Also finding out why I was having issues with UTB was massive. I can't believe that's now a shot I feel comfortable with after a few weeks of practice. carry a greenside bunker? No problem!

 

 

2 minutes ago, rondo01 said:

go get ‘em pro! Congrats!

Thanks! It was a fun round. Not an awesome score but still valuable.

[bortass]

Got out Saturday and almost Sunday.

 

I'll start with Sunday, we got rained out when a thunderstorm hit as we were about to tee off on #3. I only am mentioning this round because of two shots.

 

My drive on #1 was a 273 yard draw into the left rough. I have never hit a drive that far on this hole. 

 

Tee shot on #2 with 8i. I hit it pretty pure and it was a high draw, all carry, 159 yards and over the green. My ball landed in a bunker and rolled a few feet closer to the green and tee. So I'm pretty sure I carried my 130 yard club 160 yards... I don't know if I had wind assist or not but that's still unheard of. I can hit my 8i in that 155ish range on #8 because the tee box is roughly 42 feet above the green. On #2 it's level...

 

Now for Saturday. Sunny day, low 80s. Warmed up with orange whip on the tee box before going off and also hit the practice green to try to get a feel for speed.

 

 

1 – par 4, 404 yards, straight, #1 HCP, bunker front right. I hit driver and it's a solid pull draw, 253 yards, into the left side of the fairway. It's about 150ish in and I go with 6i. I catch it thin and it's a fairly low draw that hits the left side slope leading to the green and kicks left towards the range, 165 yard shot.

 

A complete mishit. If I had landed on the green it would have rolled off the back and probably into the hazard that's past the cart path the goes behind #1 to get to the 9^th tees.

 

I hit a 49 yard pitch with my SW that comes out good but ends up 15 feet past the hole. Par putt misses but I have about a foot left and have a bogey, 5.

 

2 – par 3, 142 yards, #17 HCP, bunkers short left and right, and long left. Hole is on the front near the middle. I go with my 9i and chunk it. A low pull, 103 yards, and short of the front left bunker. I hit a 19 yard pitch over the bunker with my LW to 7 feet. Miss the par putt and have another bogey from about a foot, 4.

 

3 – par 5, 458 yards, dogleg right, #9 HCP, couple of fairway bunkers on the left at the corner. I hit driver and it's an extremely high push fade. The ball is going over the mature trees at the corner on the right. Crap... I listen and hear nothing... My ball is in the fairway, 259 yard shot over the trees. A couple weeks ago and I would have hit them I'm sure.

 

I have 180ish to the green and go with 7w. I block it dead right into the trees. See see and hear it hit leaves but nothing solid. We find it on a slope in deep rough. The ball made it through, 136 yard shot.

 

I don't have a good lie. Very thick rough aka weeds. Ball above my feet and I gotta carry bunkers. Probably about a 50 yard shot or so. I hack it out with SW and the ball goes right, a slight push. A 49 yard shot to the right of the green. I chip with SW and hit it too hard. It goes 22 yards and 30 feet past the hole. I hit the par putt and miss low and pin high. It's about a foot out and I make my bogey, 6.

 

Not an awesome start but bogey golf is still good. My second shot on #3 could have hurt even more. I feel good so far.

 

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. I go with driver and hit a solid high draw down the middle, 236 yards. My ball is in the rough short of the green side bunkers. Drove it through the fairway...

 

I use my SW to pitch over the bunkers, 46 yards, to 7 feet. Miss the birdie putt and have a tap-in par, 4.

 

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've dialed back to 4w off the tee on this hole. I hit a solid high draw, 206 yards, into the left rough. This is where I used to be happy to hit my driver...

 

I have a decent lie and a very good angle past the corner. I go with 4w again. It's a very solid draw, 207 yards, into the fairway. I'm inside 100 yards and go with a partial AW. It's a high shot that lands near the hole and stops 3 feet out!

 

I hit the birdie putt and miss... Par, 5.

 

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 hit a solid draw with driver, 252 yards, into the right side of the fairway. It's a left hole location and I'm 130ish from center. I aim for the middle with my 8i and hit a bit of a low shot. It goes 129 yards and I'm on the green, 21 feet right of the hole.

 

This time I make the birdie putt, 3!

 

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.

 

I tee off with driver and hit a push fade into the right trees. I hit a provisional and do about the same thing except it's higher and shorter. I find the provisional almost in the trees on a slope. I go look for my first ball and find it just in the trees, 189 off the tee.

 

I have no real shot and I just hack a 7i shot, 44 yards, to get in the fairway. The hole is front right and a 9i will get me on the green past the hole. A partial PW is likely to come up short. I go with the 9i and chunk it 103 yards and short of the green. I decide to chip with putter and it rolls 9 yards and drops in the hole for par, 4!

 

Got lucky there.

 

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. Middleish hole location and I go with 8i. It's a high draw, 157 yards, that lands on the green and stops about a foot from it's pitch mark. I'm 10 feet past the hole though. My birdie putt has the right speed but I aimed too low and I end up pin high a foot out. Par, 3.

 

9 – par 4, 357 yards, straight hole, #3 HCP, water on the left as you approach the green. The pond fronts this green. I have dialed back to 4w off the tee on this hole as well. It's a solid push draw, 222 yards, into the rough of #1. I'm blocked by a small tree. I don't want to risk hitting it's branches which start maybe 4 – 5 feet off the ground.

 

I use my 7i and chip it 48 yards into the correct fairway. The hole is front left on the lower tier. It's about 90 to center, so a partial AW in should hit the tier's slope and feed left. I hit my AW and itgoes 99 yards onto the upper tier, crap.

 

I'm 33 feet above the hole and there's no realistic way to stop it close. My putt goes 14 feet long and it's a 3 putt double bogey, 6.

 

Not the result I wanted but the AW shot went longer than expected. Once I was above the hole like that, a bogey was going to be a good score...

 

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 4w off the toe, 211 yards through the fairway near the corner into the rough. It's 150ish to center. Pin is back right and I'm blocked out by trees. I take 6i and aim for middle of the green. I chunk it 113 yards instead...Need to pitch over the bunker and it's a blind shot. I make okay contact with my SW but it's too far right. 35 yard shot and I'm on the right front of the green. 35 feet below the hole. My par putt dies a foot short, bogey, 5.

 

 

11 – par 4, 329 yards, 90* dogleg left, #12 HCP. Fairway eventually slopes down to a stream short of the green, forced carry. It's a solid high draw with 7w, 206 yards, into the fairway just short of the bunkers that are at the outside edge of the corner. It's a front left hole and I decide to go more for the middle of the green. I hit 9i and it's okay. 122 yard shot onto the green about 24 feet past the hole and to the right.

 

I FUBAR the read on my putt. I have the speed but I end up hole high but 6 feet out on the low side. It turns into a 3 putt bogey, 5.

 

12 – par 4, 315 yards, 90* dogleg left, #14 HCP, green is elevated. Narrow tee shot that opens as you reach the corner. 4W off the tee and it's a very solid high draw, 214 yards down the middle and almost through the fairway. Left hole location and 90ish yards. I go with AW and hit it heavy. The ball is a decent draw but only goes 81 yards and ends up a few yards short of the front edge of the green.

 

I hit an 11 yard chip with putter to 3 feet. It's a two 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 right and about 8i range but long can be bad. I go with 9i to just get on the green. It's a decent high draw to the left side of the green. 115 yards but the ball landed on the slope of the tier and rolled back some.

 

I'm 40 feet below and left of the hole, going up a tier and the green slopes towards the right side. I hit my birdie putt and come up 3 feet short... I miss again, bogey, 4.

 

3 foot putts are killing me. All had the same issue, breaking right at the cup and rolling a foot or so long...

 

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. My drive is a high push fade into the right edge of the fairway, 194 yards. I hit a solid 4w, 215 yards, into the middle of the fairway.

 

It's about 130 yards to my target on the green and I go with 8i. It's a chunked pull, 118 yards, onto the cart path to the left of the green. I have to pitch over bunkers to a green below me. I don't hit it solid enough and end up in the rough between the bunkers and green. I chip with my putter, 16 yards, to 4 feet. I make the putt for bogey, 6.

 

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 go for the green with driver, well that's kinda the plan. I aim towards the right corner of the green and swing.

 

It's a high draw over the rightmost FW bunker that's short of the green. The ball lands in the fairway and rolls between the right side green side bunker and the green, 253 yards. If the ball had rolled left, I would have been on.

 

I have an eagle chip with my putter and hit it 10 yards, 6 feet long... Miss the birdie putt and get a par, 4.

 

Darn, had a real chance at a birdie but hit the chip too hard. Still an eagle chip with putter is a great feeling.

 

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. The hole is on the right side. I always hit push fades here it seems, so I aim for center with my 7i. It's a high push fade, 135 yards, and just short of the green on the right. A draw would have been on or even a more solid strike, lol.

 

I hit a 6 yard chip with putter and it almost drops for birdie. I have a foot or so for par and make it, 3.

 

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. My drive is a bad pull hook into the left trees. I can't find my ball and drop 182 yards off the tee.

 

I have a 6i into the green and I hit it very heavy. It's a low push , 120 yards, into the rough short of the right side of the green. I pitch over a bunker with my LW and hit it too hard. It's a nice looking ball flight, 42 yards, and 27 feet behind the hole. It's a down slope putt and I hit it to a foot. Double bogey, 6.

 

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... Another bad pull into the left trees. I find my ball, 135 yards off the tee. I take 5i and hack it back into the fairway. I decide to lay up short of the stream to try and hit the green with my 4^th shot.

 

I hit 9i a bit too good and it's a 133 yard shot that stops short of the stream. I have a 6i into the grean and it's a bad push fade into the pond. I drop in SW range and chunk it into the pond. I just take an X and card a NDB 8.

 

A 40/46*, 86. I'm happy with the 86 and it dropped my index a full stroke. I have dropped 3 full strokes, 21.6 down to 18.6, with the last three rounds I have posted...

 

I'm not happy with how it happened by messing up on the last few holes, but it's still a very solid round for me. Blowups are a bit less common now and I seem to be able to play for bogey when I mess up more often than in the past. The added distance off the tee has been making it easier to play well too.

 

Putting was off and cost me. Driving was mostly decent. My good shots were great and the bad ones were middling to bad versus just all being terrible. Approaches were the same way. Short game was pretty good but still had some shots that could have been improved. Can't complain about a chip in though.

 

The main takeaway I have is once again, I gave myself opportunities. I just need to stick with my process of how I practice and play. Good things are happening and I don't think it's just a flash in the pan.

 

birdies: 1

pars: 6

bogeys: 8

double bogeys: 2

triple+: 1

 

 

Some stats:

Avg drive: 215 yards

Longest drive: 259 yards

Fairways: 8/14

GIR: 7/18

Avg Approach: 113 yards

Up & down: 2/9

Putts: 32 for 17 holes

 

Strokes gained compared to a 15 HCP. 

Overall: +0.8 strokes

driving: -0.3

Approach: -1.2

Short game: +4.6

Putting: -2.3

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Looks like your contact is greatly improving. 

[bortass]

On 6/13/2023 at 12:02 PM, SNIPERBBB said:

Looks like your contact is greatly improving. 

I think it is but it's still very erratic, as expected. Every once in a while, I uncork one. I think that it'll get better over time , as in the next few years, if I stick with practicing regularly.

 

Speaking of practice regularly, I didn't make it to the range at all last week and it showed up in my rounds over the weekend. I'm not sure how this week look because of weather but I plan to be going to the range T-F morning. The greens are being punched but the range will be open. We're scheduled to play one of the sister courses this weekend. If we really get 3 inches of rain over the course of this week, I'm not sure what the course will be like outside of cart path only.

 

I played both days this weekend and will just give a synopsis versus doing a full write up. Saturday was a disaster and Sunday was a bit better.

 

Saturday started out great. 255 yard drive on #1 into the fairway. Bladed my 7i just short of the green. Chipped with 7i to 5 feet and make the par putt. On #2 I tee off with my 9i and it felt funny after contact. I see the clubhead rolling down the fairway.....  The head came off and I dropped it off to be repaired post round. My ball was short and right of the green but a bladed pitch, pitch without enough speed, and a 3 putt from 32 feet led to triple. I just fell apart and it stuck. Triple on 3 after going OOB off the tee. Double on 4 after hitting a pull off the tee into a hazard and 3 putting from 33 feet.

 

#5, par 5,  was a great hole though. 218 draw with 4w into the fairway. 215 yard 4w off the deck to about 55 yards from center. Pitch on to 30 feet and I get a par.

 

It was a 50*/47, 97 for GHIN. NDB kicked in on #9 after I hit two shots in a row into the pond. I had 9 penalty strokes on the round, 6 off the tee. I don't think the mishap with my 9i, set everything astray but it didn't help. There were a couple holes I would have used it and either had to go with a strong PW or try to take some off an 8i. I had problems in all aspects of my game though.

 

Sunday was a bit better. I did have one of my old 9is but I didn't want to use it. I tried it on the range before my round and struggled with it. It's an inch shorter and has a different shaft. I did have to use it on #13 and it was okay.

 

I shot a 46/43, 89 which replaced a 96 that rolled off. My index dropped 0.5 to 18.1, which is a new lowest ever! Even got a par on #1 again!

 

I had 6 penalties, three on each 9. What killed me the most was #9. 4w tee shot was off the toe and into #1. I was 200 yards out, so my plan was to chip my 7i back into #9 and hit the green in 3. I let some on course things distract me and it took 3 more shots to get into the correct fairway... After each mishit chip, I got more frustrated and rushed more... Came away with a triple with no penalties...

 

I had two other triples, 3 and 17, but they each had 1 stroke penalties and some other bad shots mixed in.

 

Hole of the day was #12, par 4. I nuked my 4w off the tee, 223 past the corner on the left. I'm in the fairway and about 75 yards from the hole, elevated green. I hit a 74 yard SW to 3 feet and sink the birdie putt.

 

#16, par 3, hole is 142 per the guys with rangefinders, so i go with 7i, my 140 club. I hit a pure, high draw, over the flag. Over the green. Into the back of the back right bunker, 158 yards, think it was all carry too.... 

 

On 18, par 5, I decide I'm swinging away with my driver. It's a high draw that lands in the left rough and stays in it, 277 yards.... I now have the option of going for the green in 2 with either 4w or 7w.  I decline and hit 6i across the stream to setup a roughly 55 yardish shot to the hole. Come away with a par.

 

I'll put the stats below but want to touch on a couple of things.

 

Driver was a bit off. I hit some great drives but had some pulls and a push or two. I think I just need to swing away with it. I played in a red tee scramble last November and I noticed when I tried to hit it far, I seemed to have more control, as in not a huge amount of curve to the shot and no weakass push fades. This was pre-clinic, so still a shorter swing, but I was wondering back then if I should just try to hit it hard. I never explored it but I guess if nothing else I get to drop further down when I go into the trees, lol.

 

The guys started making jokes about what I was doing after a bad shot. I would say 'oh well'. Pushed drive ito the right trees 'oh well'. Pulled 7w into the left trees 'oh well'. They though it was funny and 'oh well' was used as a joke a few times on the 19th hole as well, lol. What I told them is there's no point in getting frustrated at a bad shot. I'm an 18 and they're gonna happen. I used to get frustrated with my bad shots and it just ruined the round. 

 

I stand by that. I care that I hit a bad shot but I need to let it go. Nothing good happens when I get frustrated( of course that went out the window on #9 when I FUBARed the three shots to get back into the correct fairway....

 

Outside of that, the guys are commenting on my game in a positive way. I'm getting some trash talk like ' Now have you ever seen an 18 hit a shot like that?' but it's just that. Good natured trash talk. One of the guys I play with the most commented how my putting is 200 times better. pretty sure they're also happy my index is dropping, down 3.5 in the last 5 rounds, only the 97 Saturday hasn't dropped it.

 

Overall, I still think things are going quite well. Saturday was rough but my last 5 rounds were 86, 82, 86, 97, and 89. There's a couple changes I need to make like dialing back to 7w off the tee on #10 and even that may be too much. Also some strategy changes based on a repeated mistake. I don't know why but I have hit my second shot with 4w into the right trees on #3 for the last 4-5 rounds. I have been hitting it quite well as my second shot  for months on this hole but it's suddenly AWOL. Think I'll just start to punch a 5i down the fairway to get inside 100 unless the 4w will actually reach the green and I'm far enough left that I can take the right trees out of play.

 

birdies: 1

pars: 7

bogeys: 5

double bogeys: 2

triple+: 3

 

 

Some stats:

Avg drive: 220 yards

Longest drive: 277 yards

Fairways: 5/14

GIR: 6/18

Avg Approach: 121 yards

Up & down: 3/10

Putts: 32 

 

Strokes gained compared to a 15 HCP. 

Overall: -1.4 strokes

driving: -3.3, 4 penalties.

Approach: -0.3

Short game: +2.0

Putting: +0.3

[SNIPERBBB]

50 minutes ago, bortass said:

I think it is but it's still very erratic, as expected. Every once in a while, I uncork one. I think that it'll get better over time , as in the next few years, if I stick with practicing regularly.

 

Speaking of practice regularly, I didn't make it to the range at all last week and it showed up in my rounds over the weekend. I'm not sure how this week look because of weather but I plan to be going to the range T-F morning. The greens are being punched but the range will be open. We're scheduled to play one of the sister courses this weekend. If we really get 3 inches of rain over the course of this week, I'm not sure what the course will be like outside of cart path only.

 

I played both days this weekend and will just give a synopsis versus doing a full write up. Saturday was a disaster and Sunday was a bit better.

 

Saturday started out great. 255 yard drive on #1 into the fairway. Bladed my 7i just short of the green. Chipped with 7i to 5 feet and make the par putt. On #2 I tee off with my 9i and it felt funny after contact. I see the clubhead rolling down the fairway.....  The head came off and I dropped it off to be repaired post round. My ball was short and right of the green but a bladed pitch, pitch without enough speed, and a 3 putt from 32 feet led to triple. I just fell apart and it stuck. Triple on 3 after going OOB off the tee. Double on 4 after hitting a pull off the tee into a hazard and 3 putting from 33 feet.

 

#5, par 5,  was a great hole though. 218 draw with 4w into the fairway. 215 yard 4w off the deck to about 55 yards from center. Pitch on to 30 feet and I get a par.

 

It was a 50*/47, 97 for GHIN. NDB kicked in on #9 after I hit two shots in a row into the pond. I had 9 penalty strokes on the round, 6 off the tee. I don't think the mishap with my 9i, set everything astray but it didn't help. There were a couple holes I would have used it and either had to go with a strong PW or try to take some off an 8i. I had problems in all aspects of my game though.

 

Sunday was a bit better. I did have one of my old 9is but I didn't want to use it. I tried it on the range before my round and struggled with it. It's an inch shorter and has a different shaft. I did have to use it on #13 and it was okay.

 

I shot a 46/43, 89 which replaced a 96 that rolled off. My index dropped 0.5 to 18.1, which is a new lowest ever! Even got a par on #1 again!

 

I had 6 penalties, three on each 9. What killed me the most was #9. 4w tee shot was off the toe and into #1. I was 200 yards out, so my plan was to chip my 7i back into #9 and hit the green in 3. I let some on course things distract me and it took 3 more shots to get into the correct fairway... After each mishit chip, I got more frustrated and rushed more... Came away with a triple with no penalties...

 

I had two other triples, 3 and 17, but they each had 1 stroke penalties and some other bad shots mixed in.

 

Hole of the day was #12, par 4. I nuked my 4w off the tee, 223 past the corner on the left. I'm in the fairway and about 75 yards from the hole, elevated green. I hit a 74 yard SW to 3 feet and sink the birdie putt.

 

#16, par 3, hole is 142 per the guys with rangefinders, so i go with 7i, my 140 club. I hit a pure, high draw, over the flag. Over the green. Into the back of the back right bunker, 158 yards, think it was all carry too.... 

 

On 18, par 5, I decide I'm swinging away with my driver. It's a high draw that lands in the left rough and stays in it, 277 yards.... I now have the option of going for the green in 2 with either 4w or 7w.  I decline and hit 6i across the stream to setup a roughly 55 yardish shot to the hole. Come away with a par.

 

I'll put the stats below but want to touch on a couple of things.

 

Driver was a bit off. I hit some great drives but had some pulls and a push or two. I think I just need to swing away with it. I played in a red tee scramble last November and I noticed when I tried to hit it far, I seemed to have more control, as in not a huge amount of curve to the shot and no weakass push fades. This was pre-clinic, so still a shorter swing, but I was wondering back then if I should just try to hit it hard. I never explored it but I guess if nothing else I get to drop further down when I go into the trees, lol.

 

The guys started making jokes about what I was doing after a bad shot. I would say 'oh well'. Pushed drive ito the right trees 'oh well'. Pulled 7w into the left trees 'oh well'. They though it was funny and 'oh well' was used as a joke a few times on the 19th hole as well, lol. What I told them is there's no point in getting frustrated at a bad shot. I'm an 18 and they're gonna happen. I used to get frustrated with my bad shots and it just ruined the round. 

 

I stand by that. I care that I hit a bad shot but I need to let it go. Nothing good happens when I get frustrated( of course that went out the window on #9 when I FUBARed the three shots to get back into the correct fairway....

 

Outside of that, the guys are commenting on my game in a positive way. I'm getting some trash talk like ' Now have you ever seen an 18 hit a shot like that?' but it's just that. Good natured trash talk. One of the guys I play with the most commented how my putting is 200 times better. pretty sure they're also happy my index is dropping, down 3.5 in the last 5 rounds, only the 97 Saturday hasn't dropped it.

 

Overall, I still think things are going quite well. Saturday was rough but my last 5 rounds were 86, 82, 86, 97, and 89. There's a couple changes I need to make like dialing back to 7w off the tee on #10 and even that may be too much. Also some strategy changes based on a repeated mistake. I don't know why but I have hit my second shot with 4w into the right trees on #3 for the last 4-5 rounds. I have been hitting it quite well as my second shot  for months on this hole but it's suddenly AWOL. Think I'll just start to punch a 5i down the fairway to get inside 100 unless the 4w will actually reach the green and I'm far enough left that I can take the right trees out of play.

 

birdies: 1

pars: 7

bogeys: 5

double bogeys: 2

triple+: 3

 

 

Some stats:

Avg drive: 220 yards

Longest drive: 277 yards

Fairways: 5/14

GIR: 6/18

Avg Approach: 121 yards

Up & down: 3/10

Putts: 32 

 

Strokes gained compared to a 15 HCP. 

Overall: -1.4 strokes

driving: -3.3, 4 penalties.

Approach: -0.3

Short game: +2.0

Putting: +0.3

Contact doesn't need to be perfect. Erratic we can deal with, heck was a a shot off my personal 18 record yesterday and was erratic all day with 2 doubles a bogie and 7 birdies lol . I was referring more to the fact that the tops and chunks have basically disappeared. 

[bortass]

43 minutes ago, SNIPERBBB said:

Contact doesn't need to be perfect. Erratic we can deal with, heck was a a shot off my personal 18 record yesterday and was erratic all day with 2 doubles a bogie and 7 birdies lol . I was referring more to the fact that the tops and chunks have basically disappeared. 

Ahhh, gotcha.

 

Yes, overall ball striking is much improved. The big mishits seem to be thin iron, so they take off low but go anywhere from a reasonable distance to long. With woods, it's more of a toe shot that starts a right of my target line. Driver is the biggest mixed bag with possible misses both left and right, lol.

[bortass]

Played Saturday at the sister course and it was rough. I had my moments but didn't maintain them. 45/49, 94, it was a 93 for GHIN because I went over NDB on one hole on the back. No change to my index. 2 birdies, 4 pars, 5 bogeys, 3 doubles and 4 triple+.

 

Started off decent, +4 through 6, with a triple bogey in the mix. Pushed a tee shot almost 300 yards just short of the tee box of an adjacent hole. I had issues navigating the trees to get back to my hole.

 

#7, par 4, I hit a good 7i off the tee to the flat area short of the forced carry. 6i into the elevated green and I hit it very solid and into the back right bunker. I messed up my easy 7i putter stroke out and sent it into a front bunker and walked away with double.

 

Below is #9. I decided to hit driver. I will use the orientation of the picture for frame of reference even though it's opposite of playing the hole. I aimed to the right of that fairway bunker. It's 240 yards to clear it and the hole is pretty level. Well I nuked the driver and  my ball was 20+ feet off the ground when it went over said bunker.... I almost put it into the parking lot. No shot at the green and I didn't hit the partial AW to get back in play well, think I clipped a tree, and followed it up with a bad chip, 57 feet short of the hole and a 3 putt for double.

 

 

That's kinda how my day went the rest of the way. I had good shots but didn't follow up with them. Also some bad breaks like a OoB tee shot on a par 3 when I pulled it a touch and it landed on a cart path. I feel like it was a positive round even with the lackluster scoring

 

I'll touch on drives, either driver or 4w. It's a work in process but I'm seeing the largest changes in this area. I had a 226 yard draw with the 4w which is what a solid driver shot was like pre clinic. There was a 290+ yard driver, cart path assist, along with that 284 one on #9 above. My low end for driver is slightly longer than pre-clinic but the upper end is much higher now.  Those 'real long' drives are a game changer and I expect it to be more common as I keep working on my clinic takeaways. Good things are happening!

 

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, bortass said:

Those 'real long' drives are a game changer and I expect it to be more common as I keep working on my clinic takeaways. Good things are happening!

 

 

Yeah, it really is pretty important. One of the gents I play with is an older guy (early 60s) and quite fit, but a very small guy, maybe 5'4" and 130#. If he cleaned up his mechanics he could hit the ball a lot farther than he does, but I think he maxes out driver at ~200 on his best strikes. More commonly 175ish. 

 

When we play at Oso, he can keep up. He's got a good short game, and the par 4s are short enough he has no trouble reaching in two, and the longer par 3s with a fairway wood (although he quite often doesn't take enough club; I've never figured out why he misses short so often). But when we go anywhere longer, some of the par 4s are really par 5s for him. He has no realistic chance of getting there in two. 

 

He should probably play from the forward tees, but I don't want to be rude and suggest it, and he doesn't seem to be sad about it, so it is what it is. 

 

But you keep this up? Your playing partners are going to push you back a few tee boxes 😉

 

[bortass]

22 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

[snip]

(although he quite often doesn't take enough club; I've never figured out why he misses short so often). 

 

He should probably play from the forward tees, but I don't want to be rude and suggest it, and he doesn't seem to be sad about it, so it is what it is. 

 

But you keep this up? Your playing partners are going to push you back a few tee boxes 😉

 

This is like a guy I play with. He's 82/83 and always comes up short, even on 120 yard par 3s. I'm not about to say anything to him about the pattern though since I don't offer advice unless asked. The guys have suggested he move up to the forward tees but he doesn't want to. I admire him and a few other guys I play with. They range from 75 - 83 but are still out there hitting the ball. I want to be like them and still playing at that age, assuming I make that long, etc.

 

As for suggestions to move back, none yet. We do play with course handicaps since we play mixed tees. I'd get some strokes that I've lost to dropping index if I move back and some of the guys say it's not much harder from back there. The longest guy in the group thinks it's easier actually. Less holes where driver may be too much etc. He doesn't always play back though. I think there may be some pressure to move back if I start to hit it 250+ regularly but maybe not.

 

From my point of view, I still want to play the shortest I realistically can. There's too much that can go wrong, swing to swing, so why make it harder? If I found a way to break 80 from the whites, I'd probably feel better about dropping back to the blues since I've probably improved enough across all aspects where I would feel like the extra yardage is reasonable for my skill. It's holdover logic from back in the day where I tried to break 100/90 from the senior tees before moving back to try from the whites.

[betarhoalphadelta]

For me I pick distance based on my distance capability, not my handicap. IMHO I'll play the longest tees where I know I can make GIR with good shots. Essentially I look at two things on a scorecard:

• Longest par 4s: There shouldn't be a par 4 over 450 for me. That's basically the cut line for par 4 vs 5 because it'll take two perfect strokes to reach in two at 450. Even then, if that leaves a large number of par 4s in the 400-450 range I might need to move up. 
• Longest & distribution of par 3s: Generally I don't like a par 3 over 200 yards. I might accept one, but if the other par 3s are also long (i.e. you've got 205, 194, 188, 167), I'm probably too far back. Ideally a par 3 in the 180+ range, a few in the 150-170, and one short par 3, is a good mix.

For example, you can view the card from San Juan Hills here: https://thegrint.com/course/scorecard/793/san-juan-capistrano/san-juan-hills-golf-club--weekend

 

I wouldn't be uncomfortable with the blues, but it's just about on the edge. But it's only 3 holes with par 4s in that 400-450 range, and all the par 3s (albeit long) are under 200. We normally play the whites though, and it would be cruel to ask that older gent to play the blues. 

 

But I look at it that the longer tees also have a higher rating and slope than shorter. So although I'm expecting to shoot a higher number, it might NOT be a worse differential. I.e. 25 over par like I just made at Oso is an average to somewhat weak round. My best at San Juan Hills was 25 over par, and I was proud of that round. Because mentally I know that the degree of difficulty is higher. 

 

 

[bortass]

1 hour ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

For me I pick distance based on my distance capability, not my handicap. IMHO I'll play the longest tees where I know I can make GIR with good shots. Essentially I look at two things on a scorecard:

• Longest par 4s: There shouldn't be a par 4 over 450 for me. That's basically the cut line for par 4 vs 5 because it'll take two perfect strokes to reach in two at 450. Even then, if that leaves a large number of par 4s in the 400-450 range I might need to move up. 
• Longest & distribution of par 3s: Generally I don't like a par 3 over 200 yards. I might accept one, but if the other par 3s are also long (i.e. you've got 205, 194, 188, 167), I'm probably too far back. Ideally a par 3 in the 180+ range, a few in the 150-170, and one short par 3, is a good mix.

For example, you can view the card from San Juan Hills here: https://thegrint.com/course/scorecard/793/san-juan-capistrano/san-juan-hills-golf-club--weekend

 

I wouldn't be uncomfortable with the blues, but it's just about on the edge. But it's only 3 holes with par 4s in that 400-450 range, and all the par 3s (albeit long) are under 200. We normally play the whites though, and it would be cruel to ask that older gent to play the blues. 

 

But I look at it that the longer tees also have a higher rating and slope than shorter. So although I'm expecting to shoot a higher number, it might NOT be a worse differential. I.e. 25 over par like I just made at Oso is an average to somewhat weak round. My best at San Juan Hills was 25 over par, and I was proud of that round. Because mentally I know that the degree of difficulty is higher. 

 

 

Good point about score versus differential. If the actual number is what matters, shorter the better for me.  It looks like SJH whites are similar to my home course whites, 5963 yards, 68.9/126 vs SJH at 5970 68.9/123. The blues are only 270 yards longer, so it's not a big increase on a hole by hole basis.

 

I use differential at times to gauge a round because the sister course is easier like you did at SJH with the blues. An 86 at the sister course is not the same as an 86 at my home course. Home course I get 18 strokes and sister course I get 15.

 

Part of it is the new car effect. I can sometimes hit it far off the tee and it's fun to see what that does! Still waiting to drive a green, lol.

[SNIPERBBB]

3 hours ago, bortass said:

This is like a guy I play with. He's 82/83 and always comes up short, even on 120 yard par 3s. I'm not about to say anything to him about the pattern though since I don't offer advice unless asked. The guys have suggested he move up to the forward tees but he doesn't want to. I admire him and a few other guys I play with. They range from 75 - 83 but are still out there hitting the ball. I want to be like them and still playing at that age, assuming I make that long, etc.

 

As for suggestions to move back, none yet. We do play with course handicaps since we play mixed tees. I'd get some strokes that I've lost to dropping index if I move back and some of the guys say it's not much harder from back there. The longest guy in the group thinks it's easier actually. Less holes where driver may be too much etc. He doesn't always play back though. I think there may be some pressure to move back if I start to hit it 250+ regularly but maybe not.

 

From my point of view, I still want to play the shortest I realistically can. There's too much that can go wrong, swing to swing, so why make it harder? If I found a way to break 80 from the whites, I'd probably feel better about dropping back to the blues since I've probably improved enough across all aspects where I would feel like the extra yardage is reasonable for my skill. It's holdover logic from back in the day where I tried to break 100/90 from the senior tees before moving back to try from the whites.

Playing farther back also gets you playing more clubs in the bag. As you start getting longer consistently, it's gets a bit boring playing driver wedge all day. Also playing farther back makes dropping your cap easier. I have to shoot -4 on my course at the tees most of our events are from to get to scratch. 

[bortass]

16 hours ago, SNIPERBBB said:

Playing farther back also gets you playing more clubs in the bag. As you start getting longer consistently, it's gets a bit boring playing driver wedge all day. Also playing farther back makes dropping your cap easier. I have to shoot -4 on my course at the tees most of our events are from to get to scratch. 

Very true. Driver wedge sounds nice but I can see if that's what it's always like day in and day out it can get a bit stale.

 

You and @betarhoalphadelta are making me think about the blue tees a little. Scanning the card the difference in distance per hole isn't that big, 6 - 24 yards. I know that's not quite as accurate on the course because on the card #2 is listed at white 142 and blue 148, but #2 seems to mostly play about 130 from the whites. 

 

There are two holes where the added distance could make things more challenging #1 and #16.

 

#1 would change to a 428 yard par 4versus the 404 from the whites. I almost never hit this green in two and even the best drive I've hit from the whites left an 8i in. Historically, I'm hitting 4w for my second shot. It's more more 6iish with the new distance.

 

#16 becomes a 165 yard par 3 up from 147 from the whites. This hole normally is playing 140ish from the whites which is 7i. The blues would have me hitting 5i, nominal 160 yard club, on a par 3 I already struggle with because I always seems to hit a high push fade and get in trouble, lol.

 

I think it could help on #13 which goes from a 123 yard par 3 to 135 yards. I just hit 9i to center regardless of pin location the majority of the time because a back pin is about 130ish and long is bad. I have a big gap between my PW and 9i, about 20 yards, so I still hit 9i even if it's a front pin that's closer to 110ish. The blues may open the door for using 7i-9i depending on where the hole is. Food for thought.

 

I don't think it changes the math much on the holes that I do not tee off with driver on. It may just shift me from 7w on a couple to 4w.  The blues don't buy me enough distance on say #5 to risk hitting driver and actually may make my 4w even safer off the tee.

 

Of course the worst aspect of my game is approaches, so I'd be stressing the area I am the worst at. The flip side is it should force me to hit more iron shots overall, which could be a good thing.

 

On the practice front, I got out to the range before work today. it's been a couple weeks and it felt good to work on stuff again. I worked on Cast A and my chipping. I watched the Rick Shiels(sp?) video with Dan Grieve that was posted in the Three Releases thread last week and it was very helpful. Short game is my strongest area per Arccos but I'm leaving a lot of shots on the table, so I'm trying to focus on it. Hmmm moving back a tee box would mean more chips I bet... Maybe I need to consider practice rounds from back there when I can get out for some solo golf.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Yeah, sounds like the blues are all reachable in regulation with #1 being JUST on the ragged edge for your old distances. But if you can smack a drive 250 and leave yourself 180, it doesn't mean you're going to hit the green from 180, but you know you have that distance in your bag.  

 

Obviously it'll make things harder. Longer approaches = fewer GIR, which puts a lot more pressure on short game to recover from those missed greens. So score will go up. But hopefully differential stays close to the same.

 

[bortass]

On 6/27/2023 at 11:23 AM, betarhoalphadelta said:

Yeah, sounds like the blues are all reachable in regulation with #1 being JUST on the ragged edge for your old distances. But if you can smack a drive 250 and leave yourself 180, it doesn't mean you're going to hit the green from 180, but you know you have that distance in your bag.  

 

Obviously it'll make things harder. Longer approaches = fewer GIR, which puts a lot more pressure on short game to recover from those missed greens. So score will go up. But hopefully differential stays close to the same.

 

#1 is hard to reach in regulation even from the whites. It doesn't look hard but it is. I think part of the decision to move back is when I see better distances with my irons, more often. Right now only 3 clubs are showing a consistent increase in distance, driver, 4w, 7w. They are the only ones I swing away with since they are tee shots. The 4w is the only one off the deck I've been hitting lately and it seems to be improving. Again because I'm swinging away.

 

That's not the case with my irons. I'm caught in flighted iron syndrome. Monte showed the guys how to go about hitting them during the playing lesson, take more club and shorter backswing. He told me, 'just hit it like you normally would'. So now I'm a bit unsure about irons. There's been a fair bit said about flighting irons to improve scores but when I do that with my not so great face and low point control, I get a 120y 9i. I know I could increase some of my iron distances by taking a full backswing, like I do when I practice with my 8i on the range. Question is, when do you flight versus swing away? I guess I'm scared to make a full swing with an iron now and don't think it's rational but I don't have any idea of how to make a decision between the two types of shots.

 

I'll add, that I even my 'flighted' iron backswing is a touch too short at times. So I may seem some improvement in distances as I get better at making sure I take it back far enough for the shorter swings.

 

This will spill over into my wedge game. My partial wedges backswing isn't what I thought it was. I've been noticing that it's someplace between club parallel and left arm parallel(club 90*). I think I've said it's club parallel but I've been wrong( surprise surprise). So if I can use that 'flighted' backswing with my wedges, I'll gain some distance and lose that 20 yard gap between 9i and PW I have today. I can probably sort out some of the shorter distances via feel, I mean I hit an 80 yard SW right now, so even if I get it to 90 with a longer backswing, I should be able to still ferret out how to hit it roughly 80.

 

Not sure how much I would trust the 60* to reach 80. I use it for that 70 yard window and it's normally closer to 65ish I think. I added it to the back because of the gap between my 80 yard partial SW and a 50 yard pitch with my SW. It felt like too big of a gap and I already had a 60 floating around. I'm well aware of the caution that ams shouldn't be using LWs but it fills a hole.

 

Regarding  practice. I made it to the range the last two days as well. I worked on full swing with 8i both days, doing a drill from powershift, and making a full backswing. I've found that I can do 3 sets in 20 minutes, so it breaks down as 9 balls with the drill and 30 full swings. Full swing work went well. I wasn't able to practice a second thing Wednesday but I did today. My second item was using my PW and working on Cast B and making sure to try to make a backswing that gets to left arm parallel(club 90*). It's a longer backswing than my normal partial wedges and it went fairly well. 

 

I really need to work out what I want to do with my second item and see if I can come up with a game plan of sorts. Right now it's really whatever I feel like working on, which is fine. I want to work on some Strike Plan stuff like the heel, center, toe drill, or the low point drill where you miss the towel and hit the ball. I don't know if I should just wing it and do whatever I feel like that day or try to add a bit of structure to it and figure out on Monday what I want to work on during the second half of my sessions for the week. This thread is proof of my inability to plan and stick with it....

 

Have a good one!

[SNIPERBBB]

I only flight my irons when either I need to get under the wind or a tree, need the ball to roll out or between clubs. Our greens can be pretty hard to hold with a lower ball flight during the summer time. Either have to hit the high ball or land it 20 yards short so when it does roll onto the green it doesnt roll all the way off. I flight a lot more wedges than I do irons.

[bortass]

2 hours ago, SNIPERBBB said:

I only flight my irons when either I need to get under the wind or a tree, need the ball to roll out or between clubs. Our greens can be pretty hard to hold with a lower ball flight during the summer time. Either have to hit the high ball or land it 20 yards short so when it does roll onto the green it doesnt roll all the way off. I flight a lot more wedges than I do irons.

That helped a lot!

 

Roughly how much distance do you see between a normal iron shot and a flighted one? I get that everyone is different and there are a lot of variables at work. I'm trying to work out a starting point for a full iron shot versus what I currently do today. The range doesn't really help me since the landing area is either uphill or downhill depending on if we are using the lower vs upper range. Also don't have any distances to the various flags to try and use those as a gauge. 

 

It may be irrelevant since I already can get an extra 10-20 yards just from better contact. Worse case I start using full swings with my irons when there's no real trouble short and just see what happens. Scores may suffer a bit until I sort things out but that's just the cost of doing business.

[SNIPERBBB]

19 minutes ago, bortass said:

That helped a lot!

 

Roughly how much distance do you see between a normal iron shot and a flighted one? I get that everyone is different and there are a lot of variables at work. I'm trying to work out a starting point for a full iron shot versus what I currently do today. The range doesn't really help me since the landing area is either uphill or downhill depending on if we are using the lower vs upper range. Also don't have any distances to the various flags to try and use those as a gauge. 

 

It may be irrelevant since I already can get an extra 10-20 yards just from better contact. Worse case I start using full swings with my irons when there's no real trouble short and just see what happens. Scores may suffer a bit until I sort things out but that's just the cost of doing business.

Minimum of a half club, but that could drop down to 4 clubs or more depending on the shot involved. 

[bortass]

Made it out for two rounds this weekend. Greens are still recovering from being punched two weeks ago. They rolled fairly good but have sand on them still and the ball would sometimes bounce, albeit rarely. I didn't play great but had moments, lol.

 

Saturday I shot a 41/46* 87 for GHIN. The * is because I hit NDB and picked up after hitting three shots in a row into a large pond.. The 41 on the front included two double bogeys on par 5s, one of which included a S&D penalty off the tee when I hit my drive OOB. It dropped my index by another 0.8, to 17.3, a new low. My index has dropped by 5 since the clinic two month ago!

 

Sunday was a mess, 48/48 for 96. I had some solid holes but all aspects of my game were off. Great shots that weren't followed up by even decent shots. It didn't change my index at all.

 

A few things of note.

 

I will be working on sand shots. The course is finally repairing the bunkers. We have been playing them as GUR for a long while now because of the poor condition with stones, no sand, and constant water from the clogged drainage. They added sand to #1 weeks ago and I wasn't in it until yesterday. I bladed my shot out into the hazard behind the green and ended up with a triple to start the round. They finally added sand to the practice bunker this week, so I'll be spending time in it.

 

I hit some full irons with mostly good results. Not enough to tell the distance gain but I hit a 6i almost 180 instead of the normal 150. I had some great flighted iron shots that I struck pure like a 7i, into the wind, that went 152 yards, normally my 140 club.

 

 

Played today as well and shot a 91*, reached NDB on 18 which capped it at an 8. I started off okay and kind of fell apart at the end. It was hot and humid but I don't want to blame that. Once again I had some opportunities and didn't make much out of them. Still felt pretty good out there though. The bunker on #1 took 3 strokes to get out of, so that will need to be practiced. I'm not sure of the amount but my index is supposed to drop again overnight and into the high 16s.

 

Playing a solo round in the morning and curious to see how it goes.

 

Have a good 4th.

[bortass]

Well I was wrong about my index. It only dropped 0.3, to 17 even. A PCC of -1 was applied to yesterday's round. That's the third time in the last 5 rounds that has happened. Guess enough people are playing better that expected and it's slowing my index drop, lol.

 

Today's round was a mess. Lost 9 balls and once again every aspect of my game was off at times. If I could post the round it would have been a 45/48, 93 with a NDB 8 on a par 5 I picked up on. 

 

I guess it's still a sign of improvement because I would have been in the 100s not too long ago if i had lost that many balls. I did manage 7 pars and 4 bogeys at least.

 

I want to mention one bogey since it was the hole of the day. Par 4, #6, I hit my tee shot OOB and my provisional is a decent drive into the right side of the fairway. It should be a bit less than 150 to center and I hit 6i. It's a low draw that lands near the back of the green and stops on the back edge. I'm 54 feet past the hole and sink the putt. 

 

I hit a few great shots. Hit a high draw with 8i to inside 2 feet on a par 3, for example. Came away with a bogey when I lipped out twice in a row... LOL.

 

One of the big lessons is I need to not be lazy. I am not focused during my PSR, including putting. Once I started to focus more, the ball was going on the lines I wanted more often and the results were much better. Small sample size but I've gotten too lax. It's going to take some work, and time, to be more focused when I play but I think it will help a fair bit.

 

Something else I meant to write about last post is I am starting to notice another positive change. Some of my short game shots are coming out great based on feel. I've had a couple tricky shots over mounds or bunkers and my goal was get it on the green. I knew the style of shot I wanted to hit but I didn't think about the mechanics. I just swung the club and let things happen. In once case my follow through is not what I would have expected but the shot came out almost perfect and it stopped a quarter inch from the hole( 29 yard shot, ball below feet in the rough, over a bunker to a tight pin).

 

As always a massive amount of work to do but it feels good to be able to play like this. 

[bortass]

Another hot and humid day. Shot a 44/46, 90. The good news is I didn't hit NDB on any holes. It's hard to say because PCC has been showing up in rounds but my index should drop into the 16.8/9 range. A number of the guys played real bad today, so PCC may kick in.

 

Approaches killed me. I was in good position on two par 5s with a partial wedge into the green for GIR and I bladed one into a pond and chunked another into a pond. Another par 5, I hit a terrible second shot off the toe of my 4w and had to drop 40 yards from the prior shot... I also hit a partial PW recovery shot into a hazard....

 

Mental errors:  I noticed that either my 4w or 7w ball position looked too far back and I swung anyways. One led to the horrible penalty I mentioned above and the other was a bad tee shot off the toe which led to my FUBARed PW recovery into a hazard. I cannot seem to step back and reset in these circumstances. It's been an issue for years....

 

Got cute with a partial LW into a par 5 and chunked it into a pond which led to a double. A Partial SW would have been on and probably 20-30 feet past the hole but would have saved me two strokes.

 

Execution errors: I had a few bump and rum chips. I used 7i twice and made solid contact for a change and sent the ball way past the hole. The execution error was on #8 when I used my SW to bump and run, after hitting the 7i too hard on a couple earlier holes. I didn't swing hard enough and the ball stopped in the fringe a few inches from the green.

 

I made a tee club change on #11. My 7w has been going through the FW at times since the clinic. I decided to hit a full 5i instead. The result was a 197 yard draw(elevated tee box) through the fairway, lol. Not sure if I'll have to dial down to a 6i off this tee box but I'll see how the 5i performs.

 

I had a number of great shots and only had 1 penalty off the tee for a change. Some irons went further than normal and I'm starting to play around with adding 10 yards to some of my iron distances but it's not a given yet, so I'm being careful with it. I'm going with the shorter club if I'm between clubs more often.

 

birdies: 0

pars: 5

bogeys: 8

double bogeys: 5

triple+: 0!

 

 

Some stats:

Avg drive: 214 yards, a couple 4w, a 7w, and 5i in the mix.

Longest drive: 256 yards

Fairways: 8/14

GIR: 5/18

Avg Approach: 105 yards

Up & down: 2/9

Putts: 33 

 

Strokes gained compared to a 15 HCP. 

Overall: -2.5 strokes

driving: -0.6

Approach: -5.7,  4 penalties in this area

Short game: +2.5

Putting: +1.2

[bortass]

An up and down weekend. Saturday I shot a nice 101(98 for GHIN), with 9 penalties. The push fades were back off the tee. #7 was a thing of beauty when I sent two tee shots OOB... I had some great looking shots but too many dogs. My 9i was a beast on par 3s though. Hit one high draw 138 yards and another high draw 128 yards(uphill) with my 120 club.

 

Sunday I did better and shot a 92, which should have been lower. I missed 4 putts in the 2-3 foot range, including one where I hit it 2 inches fat and rolled the ball about 6 inches, lol. Driver was a bit better but I still had some issues with it. The shot that really hurt was a pull hook OOB with 4w on my second shot on a par 5 after a great drive. Led to a double bogey.

 

I had a great shot hurt on a par 3 when I hit a high pull draw 174 yards with my 7i. The tee box is only elevated about 30 feet or so and I don't recall any wind. My ball ended up in a hazard past the green. Can't complain when a great shot kills my score though.

 

A lack of focus seems to be a strong theme. I'm over the green of #1 in two and chipping with my putter. It's a long chip and I get the speed right and miss 13 feet high... Yup, 13 feet.... Stupid mistakes like this are costing me. I don't expect to hole out but should have at least got it into the 4 foot range.

 

The game I played Sunday caused me a problem. Three of us and we played 9 dot. 9 points per hole that get split up based on how you do versus the other two guys. On #3, a stroke hole, par 5, I hit a solid drive and a solid 4w which gave me roughly a 25 yard eagle chip. I get it 2 feet past the hole. The 'A' player in the group also has an eagle chip but is much closer and sinks it. I can tie him if I make a 2 foot putt. I freeze over the putt and I'm thinking about needing to make it and miss. So instead of the points being 4/4/1, they are 5/2/2 since the third guy had a 5 net 4. 'A' player actually came away with 9 points since we gave the eagle 4 points, double the trash points a birdie gets, 2. 

 

9 dot being a solo game puts all the pressure on me. No team mate to help carry me if I have a bad hole etc. I choked under pressure. I rarely feel pressure when I play, so in the end it's probably good for my game. Doesn't feel it at the time though. 

 

The big takeaways from last week are:

1) I don't feel like I play my best when I play almost everyday. It's fun and all but I really need to practice. 

2) I don't focus enough at times and it really hurts. I don't know how to get over this though. How do you practice focus? I may show my ignorance and ask about it in a separate thread.

3)Short putts need work.

4) I live/die by my driver. Right now it has the biggest correlation to how well I do. That could be just because of the penalties though.

5) 4w off the deck is off for some reason. I think I'm having ball position issues with it. The resulting mishits have hurt my scores on par 5s.

 

Right now I expect to hit the range 4 days this week. Weather looks good for it. That means 8 practice blocks, I'll be doing full swing work for 4 of them. The other 4, I want to work on short putts; maybe sand shots since we now have sand in the practice bunker; Chips and pitches; Maybe something from Adam Youngs Strike Plan.

 

[bortass]

Made it to the range this morning. Full swing block was working on the Cast B drill from NTC with 8i. I re-watched it yesterday afternoon and realized I'd been doing it wrong. I did 3 sets with a few minutes to spare. I had a couple real nice looking shots but most were okay to meh, lol. I'd probably be better suited to trying to hit a flighted iron when I work on Cast B.

 

My free block was putting. I spend about 10 minutes doing the drill where you putt over an alignment rod/driveway marker. The idea is to get used to hitting short putts with enough pace to get them to the hole and take out some of the break involved. Basically, putt short ones firmly versus dying it in the cup. I thought it went fairly well. I hit some too hard and a couple too soft. I then spent the next 10 minutes with two balls and tried to make short putts. I'd just toss them within 2 - 4 feet of the hole, each ball in a different spot, so I wasn't trying the same putt over and over. It went well but I missed more than I should have. That's how I felt anyway, maybe it's not realistic, because everyone will miss a putt in that range, just a question of how often. I think it was too often today. Overall, I am happy with the putting session. I may keep at it with my free block of practice to try and focus on it in the short term. I really think there's some low hanging fruit with my putting.