Journey to Scratch

[dvq9654]

1 hour ago, Long_Left said:

Just found this thread, hoping you get back into it. Vaguely similar boat here but I'm 3-4 shots worse. Not necessarily trying to get down to a scratch index here (full time job, 2 kids under 12) but trying to take the rough edges off my game. Fully transformed my driver game over the last year with a lot of work, very respectable iron game and solid putter. My greenside short game is a total abomination. Yippy, jabby, all of the above, I'm in awe of your up and down stats. I can hit 15 greens and shoot 76. It's the only thing I'm working on at the moment but it's great to follow along and see others fight the good fight!

 

 

Thanks for following along. I need to prioritize my driver a bit more, as it sounds like you’ve done. historically, when I improve my swing, it has great effect on the driver too, but a little more focus is still a good idea as the game gets very easy when you drive it well. 

 

On short game, I go through waves of success. Now is one of the good waves. I think the key to short game is keeping it simple and swinging with purpose towards your intended target. If you have decent technique using the bounce, which is an if, and commit to your target, it’s amazing how poorly you can strike it and have the result be ok. 
 

Good luck on your goals 

[dvq9654]

Played a couple times this weekend. First time was a quick 9 alone as a practice session, followed by a range session focused on getting arms in front of pivot. Second was a full round at the local muni. 

 

In both rounds, my irons, wedges, short game and putting was solid. My driver was a demon trying to derail all the other good parts of my game. Still managed to walk away with a 74 on Sunday cause the rest of my game was strong. Feels as though if I can get my driver even close to normal, I'll start to post some real scores. Round summary with more thoughts below. 

 

Score: 74

Course Par: 72

Yards: 7023

Course Rating: 71.9

Slope: 119 

Fairways: 6/14

Greens: 11/18

Putts: 30

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 2 birdies, 12 pars, 4 bogeys 

Up and Downs within ~30 yards: 5/6

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+1.1), Driving (-2.7), Approach (+1.1), Short (+3.3), Putting (-0.6)

 

Positives

Iron / Wedge Play - Best it's been in a while. Distance is good, but more importantly ball flight is straight and consistent, with great contact. I started the day hitting 8 greens in a row, including a laser 6 iron from 200 to 5 feet (wind aided), and pretty much every shot I had that wasn't in jail was at worst a decent shot. I also have really started to get confident with "little" swings with my 9 and PW. Hit 2-3 and each one was right over the flag, leaving very makeable putts. I can tell I'm swinging well when I can be creative with my swing. 

 

Chipping / Pitching - I've really started to get back to the "old me" around the greens these last few rounds. I feel like I can get up and down from anywhere. Confidence around the greens for me is a self-fulfilling prophecy. When I'm not confident I make stupid decisions and indecisive swings. When I'm confident I swing freely and don't worry about anything but getting the ball near the hole. The result tends to be a 1-5 foot putts and a ton of up and downs. This really saved me, as scrambling was life on the last 10 holes of the round.  Managed to get up and down and save par from everywhere imaginable. 

 

Negatives

Drivers -  This was probably the worst round of driving I've had in at least a year. For the first 8 holes or so, I kept it in play, but contact was poor so distance was also poor, leaving some long approaches. I handled this with good iron play, but still less than ideal. On hole 9, my driver was gone. I looked like a 24 handicap. I was getting oddly steep, hitting the ball high on the club face and had no clue where it was headed. Result was a punch out or incredibly long approach (e.g., 230+) on 6 of the last 10 holes. My guess is my attempt to speed up my hands has had a weird effect with the driver. Think I need a range session with lots of video to get it back on track. Can't be that hard to do given how strong my swing feels with all my other clubs. 

 

Putting - Probably a stretch putting this here, as it wasn't bad, but would still like to make more 8-12 footers

 

As I said last week, recent progress with irons, short game and putting leave me with a positive mindset despite my driver disappearing on me. If I can maintain the positive elements of my game and put my driver in play I like what's ahead. 

 

I also need to practice more, but it's been a little tough given life is busy right now. 

 

[tthomasgolfer605]

21 minutes ago, dvq9654 said:

Played a couple times this weekend. First time was a quick 9 alone as a practice session, followed by a range session focused on getting arms in front of pivot. Second was a full round at the local muni. 

 

In both rounds, my irons, wedges, short game and putting was solid. My driver was a demon trying to derail all the other good parts of my game. Still managed to walk away with a 74 on Sunday cause the rest of my game was strong. Feels as though if I can get my driver even close to normal, I'll start to post some real scores. Round summary with more thoughts below. 

 

Score: 74

Course Par: 72

Yards: 7023

Course Rating: 71.9

Slope: 119 

Fairways: 6/14

Greens: 11/18

Putts: 30

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 2 birdies, 12 pars, 4 bogeys 

Up and Downs within ~30 yards: 5/6

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+1.1), Driving (-2.7), Approach (+1.1), Short (+3.3), Putting (-0.6)

 

Positives

Iron / Wedge Play - Best it's been in a while. Distance is good, but more importantly ball flight is straight and consistent, with great contact. I started the day hitting 8 greens in a row, including a laser 6 iron from 200 to 5 feet (wind aided), and pretty much every shot I had that wasn't in jail was at worst a decent shot. I also have really started to get confident with "little" swings with my 9 and PW. Hit 2-3 and each one was right over the flag, leaving very makeable putts. I can tell I'm swinging well when I can be creative with my swing. 

 

Chipping / Pitching - I've really started to get back to the "old me" around the greens these last few rounds. I feel like I can get up and down from anywhere. Confidence around the greens for me is a self-fulfilling prophecy. When I'm not confident I make stupid decisions and indecisive swings. When I'm confident I swing freely and don't worry about anything but getting the ball near the hole. The result tends to be a 1-5 foot putts and a ton of up and downs. This really saved me, as scrambling was life on the last 10 holes of the round.  Managed to get up and down and save par from everywhere imaginable. 

 

Negatives

Drivers -  This was probably the worst round of driving I've had in at least a year. For the first 8 holes or so, I kept it in play, but contact was poor so distance was also poor, leaving some long approaches. I handled this with good iron play, but still less than ideal. On hole 9, my driver was gone. I looked like a 24 handicap. I was getting oddly steep, hitting the ball high on the club face and had no clue where it was headed. Result was a punch out or incredibly long approach (e.g., 230+) on 6 of the last 10 holes. My guess is my attempt to speed up my hands has had a weird effect with the driver. Think I need a range session with lots of video to get it back on track. Can't be that hard to do given how strong my swing feels with all my other clubs. 

 

Putting - Probably a stretch putting this here, as it wasn't bad, but would still like to make more 8-12 footers

 

As I said last week, recent progress with irons, short game and putting leave me with a positive mindset despite my driver disappearing on me. If I can maintain the positive elements of my game and put my driver in play I like what's ahead. 

 

I also need to practice more, but it's been a little tough given life is busy right now. 

 

Be mindful of your stance width and ball position with driver. Could be too narrow and/or too far back. 

[dvq9654]

10 hours ago, tthomasgolfer605 said:

Be mindful of your stance width and ball position with driver. Could be too narrow and/or too far back. 

 

Good call. I wouldn't be surprised if I made some adjustments to play in the wind at Bandon that have had negative, lingering impacts. 

[gentles]

Did you end up reshafting the NCW irons? 

[dvq9654]

22 hours ago, gentles said:

Did you end up reshafting the NCW irons? 

 

Not yet, unfortunately. I need to figure out a solution with the fitter, which is still TBD. 

 

[gentles]

On 6/17/2022 at 7:58 AM, dvq9654 said:

 

Not yet, unfortunately. I need to figure out a solution with the fitter, which is still TBD. 

 

why not try the same lighter shafts that you had in your older irons? At least then you’re controlling for a variable. Seems a shame to have those stunning irons sitting around getting no use

[dvq9654]

15 hours ago, gentles said:

why not try the same lighter shafts that you had in your older irons? At least then you’re controlling for a variable. Seems a shame to have those stunning irons sitting around getting no use

 

That thought has crossed my mind. I'm definitely going to take action soon. I want them in the bag - it's just been a month or two full of travel, wedding planning, you name it, so it's been tough to focus on getting the clubs right.

[dvq9654]

Played this afternoon. Overall, was a good round, but was also a bit odd. Felt like I scored about as poorly as a could and external factors played a larger factor in that than they should have (detailed below). I generally don't get too caught up in external items, but today felt like they all added up to at least have some impact on my game. While that was annoying and resulted in a lesser score than I felt like I could have had, I still like the way my game is trending. 

 

Score: 74

Course Par: 72

Yards: 6628

Course Rating: 70.6

Slope: 117

Fairways: 3/14

Greens: 12/18

Putts: 31

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 1 birdie, 14 pars, 3 bogeys 

Up and Downs within ~30 yards: 4/7

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+0.7), Driving (+0.9), Approach (-1.7), Short (+2.5), Putting (-1.0)

 

Positives

Driver - I had a few bad swings, but overall this was better today. Went to the range before the round and focused solely on ball position and a more positive angle of attack. Hit about 5 shots with this intent on the range and that was enough to realize ball position was a large driver of my issues. Took the positive thoughts from the range and generally hit the ball well. Had a few bad swings (see below for my theory why) that got me into trouble, but happy with the improvements even if I'm still not my best 

 

Irons - Solid all round. My contact is great and ball flight is about as straight as it's ever been

 

Negatives

Playing Partners - I'm not sure why, but one of my playing partners was driving me insane. He talked non-stop, continually made noise during my swing, talked to my ball in all the wrong ways, etc. Generally, I couldn't care less about any one of these things on their own, but all of them together, all the time really impacted my game.

 

For instance, on a short par 4 (~350) I hit a good drive with a good angle into the flag. Had about ~60 yards and it was a green light special. I'm usually solid from this range, would expect something within 15 feet, but as I was getting ready to hit, he walks up with his friend talking. I should have backed away, but pulled the trigger and basically duffed it. I got up and down for par, but was in need of birdies, not pars. Frustrating. 

 

Same thing happened on another par 4, where he banged on his cart right as I was about to hit (no clue what the heck he was doing; it was loud), which resulted in a garbage drive and a bogey. 

 

I probably need to become mentally tougher, but it really felt like playing with him cost me at least a couple strokes. Maybe I'm delusional and looking for excuses, but I can't remember ever feeling so negatively inclined about a playing partner before 

 

Proximity - As well as I'm striking it, I'm definitely not hitting it close enough to score, particularly with wedges. I hit 12 greens today and 3 more were on the fringe, so I was clearly striking it well, but I didn't hit a single shot close. I think I need to grow a par and go for some more shots. There is no reason I can't hit my wedges closer, but I get the sense I'm overthinking / getting a bit conservative and just need to go for it. These course are easy and if I miss by a bit I need to trust myself to get up and down. 

 

Muni Greens - This is what it is, but I was incredibly frustrated by the muni greens today. They're super shaggy right now, I think because they are trying to let them recover from aeration and the ball is like a pinball. I hit at least 6 putts where 1-3 feet from the hole I was sure it was going in and not a single one did. On 10, I hit it to ~12 feet, hit a putt with perfect dying pace and it bounced uphill at the hole. One 18, I hit a great putt, was tracking for the hole, took a huge bounce left and then another right to barely miss. It was like that all day. I know you'll get bad breaks and I didn't hit the ball close enough to the hole, but it's brutal when you hit good putt after good putt and aren't rewarded. I think I'm particularly aware right now because at Bandon my putting was excellent all week because the greens actually rolled true

 

My handicap is trending up, I'm now a 2. I still feel good about what I'm doing and will keep pressing on. 

 

[dvq9654]

Went to the range this morning and then played late this afternoon. Range session was focused on getting hands more forward, as always lately, as well as getting back on track with the driver. Feel like I'm making a bit of progress with hands forward / rotating later, but still a ways to go. The driver is odd in the sense I hit it solid / straight at the range which has yet to translate to the course. Still going to need work there. 

 

My round proved what I've been writing lately - if I can get my driver even somewhat ok, I will score. I was only able to play 15 holes, but I was two under on those holes, with a 4 hole stretch where my driver was working at 3 under. My tee game was still sloppy generally speaking, but I managed to work around it and take advantage of those holes where I hit a decent drive. Detailed summary below:

 

Score: 70 (with holes 15-18 recorded based on handicap)

Course Par: 72

Yards: 6628

Course Rating: 70.6

Slope: 117

Fairways: 4/13 (only those holes I played) 

Greens: 12/15 (only those holes I played) 

Putts: 26

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 3 birdies, 11 pars, 1 bogey (only those holes I played) 

Up and Downs within ~30 yards: 2/3

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+4.1), Driving (-0.2), Approach (+3.2), Short (+0.2), Putting (+0.8)

 

Positives

Irons - Solid again. Straight with good distance control. Basically, if ball isn't in jail due to my tee game, I feel highly confident I'll hit the green. I'm particularly happy with my long irons. Hit a 5 iron on first par 3 from 202 to ~20 feet and then hit a 3 iron from 230 to the green on a par 5 on the back, which led to an easy two putt birdie 

Wedges - These were better today. Stuck one to 1 foot and hit others pretty well. Would still like to get proximity a little better, but trying to keep in mind pros hit them to 20 feet on average, so need to be realistic 

Putting - Nothing spectacular, but made a few key putts despite bumpy / unpredictable roll

 

Negatives 

Driver - Still garbage half the time. I did hit some good ones in the middle of the round, which is what led to my hot streak. It's a bit odd considering I'm hitting it well on the range, but something clearly isn't translating. Need to better engrain the feels on the range so it translate a bit better 

 

Theme remains the same - game is in a good spot ex driver. If I can get driver to where it was before this recent funk, or even close, I can take my game to places it hasn't been. Exciting. 

 

[dvq9654]

Weekly Practice Summary 

This was a productive week practice-wise. I managed to get in 3 range sessions early before work. I hit ~70 balls each time, with a singular focus: 3/4 swing, get hands in front of right thigh (i.e. forward), clear left hip and finish from there. 90% of these shots were with a 50 degree or pitching wedge. While not exciting, my swing is looking better and better on video and my hands are more linked up with my pivot as a result. 

 

Round Summary

Played this morning at Rustic Canyon. Golf course was surprisingly open, which meant we played a free flowing round with little waiting and zero pressure from behind. Weather was also great, so the stage was set for a fun round. 

 

First couple holes were a bit odd. I just couldn't get comfortable over the ball, especially off the tee. I managed to survive with a par and bogey, but on hole 3 I decided to bail on my driver and go with 3 iron off the tee. It's a short hole, so not really leaving much on the table. I hit it great, so decided that would be my tee club for as long as I felt like I needed it. Rustic is a bit odd in that it's not short, but the front has a bunch of par 5s, par 3s and short par 4s, so I ended up hitting 3 iron until the 11th hole. Was a great decision because I was able to get comfortable / into the groove, which I'm not so sure I would have done with driver in the mix. 

 

Despite the odd start, by hole 4 I had complete control of my ball. Not sure I've ever struck the ball more solid than I did this round, and I literally could not have scored any worse than I did (73). Sometimes I'd be frustrated by "leaving shots on the table", but all my putts were good and nearly all my strikes were solid / straight, I just couldn't get anything to fall. More details on the round below:

 

Score: 73

Course Par: 72

Yards: 6634

Course Rating: 72.0

Slope: 130 

Fairways: 13/13 (best ever, even with Rustic's wide fairways)

Greens: 14/18

Putts: 33

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 1 birdie, 15 pars, 2 bogeys 

Up and Downs within ~30 yards: 2/4

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+1.3), Driving (+1.7), Approach (-1.2), Short (+0.3), Putting (+0.5)

 

Positives

Ball Striking - As I alluded to above, I'm not sure I've ever felt more in control of my ball striking. I hit 14 of 18 greens, and really only hit one bad shot all day. Add to that two of the "misses" were strategic because long was dead, and I still left myself a putt from the fringe in both those cases. If anything, I hit the ball too well at least a handful of times, sending the ball directly over the flag and leaving surprise 30+ footers. Hard to complain about those - will just have to adjust distances if I keep hitting it like this. 

 

Driver - Despite giving up on my driver early in the round, when I took it out of the penalty box on 11 my driver was excellent. Hit 4-5 great drives on the most demanding driving portion of the course, which kept my round rolling. Never had more than a 7 iron in on multiple 430+ yard holes on the back, which made life a lot easier. 

 

3 Iron - This club was a savior. 220 yard tight bullet draws off the tee kept me in the round early and also reinforced good feels which carried through the rest of my game. I don't want to make this club a crutch, but having this in the bag really gives me a lot of flexibility.

 

Negatives 

10-15 footers - I'll start by saying despite having 33 putts, every putt I hit was at least decent. No 3 putts. Just a ton of well struck putts with good pace that didn't fall. That said, I can't help but feel like I need to make more 10-15 foot putts. I had at least 6 putts in this range and only made 1. I was so close so many times, but generally just wasn't seeing the lines as well as I could have. Part of that is the subtleties of Rustic. Regardless, need to get better in this range to go lower. 

 

Bottom line - this was an excellent, confidence inspiring round. I've shot lower at Rustic and in general, but I think this was as good a round as I've have from tee to green. Putts didn't fall, but it feels like that's just the way it goes some days. I'm on the right track, and I know that if I keep hitting the ball like this a round in the 60s is around the corner.  

 

Going to keep practicing as I have been, but will also look to weave in some more putting to hopefully improve on the margins. 

[dvq9654]

For those still following along - this was a productive week of practice. I spent a lot of time focused on my driver given it's been a "minus" lately. I was very deliberate in my practice and video'd 75% of my driver swings. Definitely made some progress and realized what was driving my miss. Need to keep focused on this to push past this bad habit, but like what the practice has done. 

 

I played twice this weekend: 9 holes yesterday at local muni and 18 holes at Rustic today. Not going to into major detail on each, but quick summary below. 

 

9 Holes

Driver practice payed off and this was probably the most consistent round of driving I've had in a while. Lots of dead straight drives with good distance. My irons weren't anything special, but playing from the fairway all day made for a super easy even par round, with 9 straight pars. My one frustration would be putting in that I had 2-3 super makeable 6-12 footers and just couldn't convert. I don't expect to make them all, but need to get a couple of those to drop to turn a good round into a great one. 

 

18 Holes

Was physically pretty beat to start the round due to lots of working out / activity this past week, so my swing felt super loose. Generally, I would say I played pretty poorly, but I managed to salvage a round because my short irons / wedges were solid. Similar to above, my putting frustrated me. I had a handful of makeable 7-15 foot putts and couldn't get anything to drop. Alignment is an issue, which I need to figure out. SAM lab is calling my name...

 

Ultimately, I feel like I'm in a weird spot right now. I feel like my floor has come up as evidenced by today's round. I feel like I couldn't have played much worse, yet still walked away with a 76. I couldn't have said that 2-4 months ago when a day like today would have been an 82. That said, I feel like I'm walking off the course feeling this way pretty regularly, which is a bit frustrating. I also am not turning my good days into great days. 

 

I feel like I'm stuck in neutral and need a jumpstart to increase my ceiling and start going lower, which is what I need to do to reach my goals. Anyone have any advice on pushing past a plateau like this? It could just be a matter of getting slightly better everywhere, but I also know I managed better rounds when I struck the ball worse historically, so maybe it's something mental more than physical 

[MelloYello]

I hear ya. I had that round yesterday. A 74 with 13 GIR and a bunch of "what could have been" with putts that lipped out. 

 

I managed an eagle on #5 but never a single birdie the rest of the way, LOL. Just slowly gave it back with bogeys here and there.

 

My handicap is down to 0.2 now that I'm consistently playing the back tees. Keep in mind that if you're really trying to lower your index, it's easier to adjust to the back tees and keep getting the GIRs you are right now from a little further out, than it is to turn missed putts into made putts from significant range. 

 

Inside 10-ft, I feel it's all about start line and green speed. 

 

The start-line practice you can do at home with gates or a line on the ball. That's self-explanatory. 

 

For me, my putting goes awry when I can't quite match the speed of the greens and my intuition for break doesn't quite match up with what I'm getting. It's a very delicate art and some days the only thing you can really do is just make the straight ones. 

[dvq9654]

1 hour ago, MelloYello said:

I hear ya. I had that round yesterday. A 74 with 13 GIR and a bunch of "what could have been" with putts that lipped out. 

 

I managed an eagle on #5 but never a single birdie the rest of the way, LOL. Just slowly gave it back with bogeys here and there.

 

My handicap is down to 0.2 now that I'm consistently playing the back tees. Keep in mind that if you're really trying to lower your index, it's easier to adjust to the back tees and keep getting the GIRs you are right now from a little further out, than it is to turn missed putts into made putts from significant range. 

 

Inside 10-ft, I feel it's all about start line and green speed. 

 

The start-line practice you can do at home with gates or a line on the ball. That's self-explanatory. 

 

For me, my putting goes awry when I can't quite match the speed of the greens and my intuition for break doesn't quite match up with what I'm getting. It's a very delicate art and some days the only thing you can really do is just make the straight ones. 

 

I'm with you on the back tees. I take that approach the vast majority of the time. Rustic is an exception, because there are a couple holes where the blacks require a carry I'm not sure I have. Maybe I'll try blacks next time though and see what happens.

 

Agree on putting. I may create some sort of putting setup at home to make sure start line is accurate. I think I'm also just suffering from a confidence issue because I cannot trust the putts to roll true at the munis. I didn't go into it above, but on Saturday, I had 2-3 putts that I thought were dead on line that bobbled off the line or died prematurely due to how bumpy the greens are. It's part of golf, I get it, but it gets in my head and carries over as the round progress and to the next day (i.e., I'm standing over putts questioning my stroke / what I see). I need to just hit them and live with it, but easier said than done, at least for me. 

 

A day removed, I still think I'm a better golfer now than I was a few months ago. I'm hitting more greens, my poor rounds are better and I'm making meaningful progress with my driver. I think a couple more months of similar practice and minor tweaking around the edges will see strokes come off my handicap. I'm still a 1.6, so it's not like I'm going backwards, so I'm probably just being a bit impatient. 

[MelloYello]

49 minutes ago, dvq9654 said:

 

I'm with you on the back tees. I take that approach the vast majority of the time. Rustic is an exception, because there are a couple holes where the blacks require a carry I'm not sure I have. Maybe I'll try blacks next time though and see what happens.

 

Agree on putting. I may create some sort of putting setup at home to make sure start line is accurate. I think I'm also just suffering from a confidence issue because I cannot trust the putts to roll true at the munis. I didn't go into it above, but on Saturday, I had 2-3 putts that I thought were dead on line that bobbled off the line or died prematurely due to how bumpy the greens are. It's part of golf, I get it, but it gets in my head and carries over as the round progress and to the next day (i.e., I'm standing over putts questioning my stroke / what I see). I need to just hit them and live with it, but easier said than done, at least for me. 

 

A day removed, I still think I'm a better golfer now than I was a few months ago. I'm hitting more greens, my poor rounds are better and I'm making meaningful progress with my driver. I think a couple more months of similar practice and minor tweaking around the edges will see strokes come off my handicap. I'm still a 1.6, so it's not like I'm going backwards, so I'm probably just being a bit impatient. 

 

Yeah, I agree. There's a public track here that I play regularly. The greens are slow, grainy bermuda. I've had to really teach myself to smash putts out there. I missed dozens (maybe hundreds) of putts inside 3-ft trying to be delicate out there.

 

I'll say this much...looking back, it's all about driver and putter. You driver it well and play the back tees and start making the majority of stuff inside 6-ft and scratch golf becomes a real possibility. If those 2 clubs are "weapons" (as much as they can be for guys like us) then we've got a real shot. 

 

For the first time ever I actually feel like I'm beginning to "settle" for pars. At this point, I've birdied every hole on my home course. Once you know that quality shots will get you inside 15-ft, it's all about hitting good drives to set that up. 

 

Get the driver and putter working in tandem and you'll get to scratch. 

[Long_Left]

15 hours ago, dvq9654 said:

I feel like I'm stuck in neutral and need a jumpstart to increase my ceiling and start going lower, which is what I need to do to reach my goals. Anyone have any advice on pushing past a plateau like this? It could just be a matter of getting slightly better everywhere, but I also know I managed better rounds when I struck the ball worse historically, so maybe it's something mental more than physical 

Same boat here, smaller engine though... had a rough outing last week and posted 79, not a bad day but certainly not good. I find that playing all the time for absolute score is draining and I often feel like I'm ready to fire off a low one and I wind up shooting 74-78 like always. My two lowest rounds over the last year have been buddies golf with a little money and a LOT of pride on the line. I find that breaking up the "goal oriented" golf with "just playing golf" has helped me personally.

 

Much of my golf is played in match play against an opponent I'm giving strokes to and that seems to help at times when aggressive targets are called for (giving a pop, opponent has a 20 foot look for birdie, etc). And knowing when and how to flip that switch helps me stay patient in stroke play.

[dvq9654]

9 hours ago, MelloYello said:

I'll say this much...looking back, it's all about driver and putter. You driver it well and play the back tees and start making the majority of stuff inside 6-ft and scratch golf becomes a real possibility. If those 2 clubs are "weapons" (as much as they can be for guys like us) then we've got a real shot. 

 

For the first time ever I actually feel like I'm beginning to "settle" for pars. At this point, I've birdied every hole on my home course. Once you know that quality shots will get you inside 15-ft, it's all about hitting good drives to set that up. 

 

Get the driver and putter working in tandem and you'll get to scratch. 

Completely agree with this given where my game is now. My irons are solid, so driving / putting are basically what create a good / bad day at this point.  

[dvq9654]

9 hours ago, Long_Left said:

Same boat here, smaller engine though... had a rough outing last week and posted 79, not a bad day but certainly not good. I find that playing all the time for absolute score is draining and I often feel like I'm ready to fire off a low one and I wind up shooting 74-78 like always. My two lowest rounds over the last year have been buddies golf with a little money and a LOT of pride on the line. I find that breaking up the "goal oriented" golf with "just playing golf" has helped me personally.

 

This is very true. I play my best on days where I get out and am just having fun / in the flow of the round. Need to capture that feeling more often vs. focusing on the outcome.  

[dvq9654]

On 6/15/2022 at 2:06 PM, gentles said:

Did you end up reshafting the NCW irons? 

 

Got my newly shafted NCW irons over the weekend. We replaced the Nippon Modus 130x with 115x based on a second fitting with the fitter. As frustrated as I was that it took so long to get the shafts right, I do have to give the fitter a lot of credit for keeping at it with me and basically making me whole at the end of day (minus time lost). 

 

Put the NCW's in play for the first time today. Was planning to warm up in advance of the round to at least get some feel for the clubs, but time got away from me, so walked straight from the car to the tee, which was less than ideal. Took me a few holes to get the feel for the clubs, but started to hit some very pure shots around hole 4. The feel on well-struck shots just can't be matched and the ball flight is exactly what I was looking for. 

 

The real show stopper for the day was the wedges (50 - 58), both from distance and around the greens. I got up and down 9/10 times within 30 yards, which is pretty darn good. I also hit a 3-4 shots from 95-105 yards within 10 feet, including stuffing one to 3 feet on 18 to walk away with birdie. The ball flight for these is considerably lower than my Vokeys with the stock S300 "wedge" shaft and they want to go straighter. These are going to be weapons as I dial them in. 

 

I was also very impressed with the long irons (small cavity backs vs. blades in rest of set). Just as long as my Apex Pros and felt great. 

 

I'm pretty excited after this round. I feel like with a few practice sessions and a couple rounds, these clubs can be everything I hoped for. 

 

Also, I can't express how surprised I am by how different the 115x feel when compared to the 130x. The 130x is heavier at 129g vs. 119.5g, but to me the 130x felt like a sledge hammer and the 115x barely feels heavier than my NS Pro 950hg which clock in at 98g. I also got zero distance and had zero feel with the 130x, but distance with the 115x is unchanged and the feel is great. I guess the 130x just doesn't work for me, probably cause it's too much of a beast. 

[D0ch0l1d4y]

On 8/1/2022 at 10:45 PM, dvq9654 said:

 

The real show stopper for the day was the wedges (50 - 58), both from distance and around the greens. I got up and down 9/10 times within 30 yards, which is pretty darn good. I also hit a 3-4 shots from 95-105 yards within 10 feet, including stuffing one to 3 feet on 18 to walk away with birdie. The ball flight for these is considerably lower than my Vokeys with the stock S300 "wedge" shaft and they want to go straighter. These are going to be weapons as I dial them in. 

 

 

Do you have the 115x in your wedges as well? Same shaft all the way through the set?

[dvq9654]

6 minutes ago, D0ch0l1d4y said:

 

Do you have the 115x in your wedges as well? Same shaft all the way through the set?

 

Yeah, I do. I know some people go heavier / softer, but I'm pretty happy with the feel in the wedges so far.  

[dvq9654]

Weekly Practice Summary 

I've been mainly playing golf lately and not practicing too much, and it started to show in my game. Nothing terrible necessarily, but started to feel a bit loose, so made an effort to get out to the range at least a couple times this week. My main focus was on my driver, which has been hit or miss; even more than usual. Feel like I made some good progress at the range with lots of of video. My driver swing gets a bit long, which has a cascading effect where my hands get behind me and my hip movement gets off, so I'm focusing on a shorter, wider swing. It's not actually that short on video by any means, but the results speak for themselves when I enact the change. 

 

I also received a putting mat as a gift, so have been practicing putting quite a bit while at home. The mat, paired with the Pelz Putting Tutor, have really helped my stroke / made it clear of my tendency to push putts.  

 

Round Summary

Played a couple times this weekend. Started with a 74 at the local muni. Not going into full detail, but it was a decent round hampered by poor long iron play on a couple par 3s and mediocre driving. Putting was solid though, in large part due to the practice I've been putting in at home. 

 

Played today at Rustic Canyon. Very fun round - hot, but relatively moderate winds made for a good day. Details below. 

 

Score: 73

Course Par: 72

Yards: 6634

Course Rating: 72.0

Slope: 130 

Fairways: 10/13 

Greens: 12/18

Putts: 32

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 2 birdies, 13 pars, 3 bogeys 

Up and Downs within ~30 yards: 3/6

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+1.6), Driving (+1.5), Approach (+1.1), Short (-1.5), Putting (+0.5)

 

Positives

Putting (Overall) - The practice on the mat with the Putting Tutor is already paying dividends. As I noted above, I realized that I very much push my putts, so I've been focused on releasing the head, which has allowed the ball to leave on my intended line way more often. I made a few mid-range putts (i.e., 10-20 feet) as a result, often to save par and keep the momentum rolling, and didn't balk one bit over my couple 4-6 foot birdie putts. I did miss a number of "makeable" putts, but they all had a lot of a break and probably are 50 / 50 at best, so while I certainly could improve there, it's hard to be get down on those considering the others I did drain. I like where my putting is going. 

 

Driver (Back 9) - Despite a less than great start, I really started to feel what I've been working on on the back and swinging freely. Hit some of the better drives I can remember hitting in a while, both straight and long (for me at least), putting me in a great position to score. Driver, at least in my mind, is the club that's keeping me from going to the next level, so it's great to see some signs of progress. 

 

Iron Play (Ex. Wedges) - My irons were solid, especially on the par 3s. Gave myself realistic birdie looks on each of them (hitting it to 4, 6, 10, 18 and 20 feet). My iron swing remains as good as it has been, and the new shafts (Modus 115x) / clubs (NCW) create a level of stability I haven't experienced before. Feels like if I hit the ball solid it's going to be relatively close every time. 

 

Areas of Improvement 

Putting (Speed / Long Putts / Putts Off Green) - This extends beyond just today's round, but I have really been struggling hitting my long putts hard enough lately. It creeps in on 25+ foot putts, but today it really reared its head on putts from the fringe and range. As a an example, the 13th hole at Rustic is a good length par 5 up a moderate hill. Hit a great drive, then hit my three wood on the green (surprising cause I usually suck with this club). However, I hit it way to the right side and the pin was in the front left, leaving a 90+ ft putt over a massive swale and well downhill. To hit a good putt, I would have needed to die it near the swale, but of course left it short (despite telling myself to not leave it short!), leaving a ~25 footer for a dandy 3 putt. Realistically, that's a 3 putt probably a large % of the time, but the first putt was so short and so bad it stung a little. Need to take more aggressive strokes on the long ones.   

 

80-110 Yard Wedges - These sucked today. Had many "green light" shots and missed the green short. I think it's partially due to the new clubs. I realize historically I could kind of decel into the ball on partial shots, but can't do that with these shafts. I need to take committed half / three quarter swings and the results are great. This is just an adjustment, so not worried about it, but a few good wedge shots could have taken this round to "scratch" level. 

 

Driver (Front 9) - With the shorter and deeper swing, I just couldn't get my timing right. Hit some less than stellar drives, but didn't really put myself in trouble. Probably a net neutral, but it's amazing how my mind will fight a change even if it works on the range. Trust will come with time. 

 

Overall, fun weekend with a couple good rounds. My handicap will likely come down a bit, from the 1.4 I'm at currently to closer to 1. I feel like with continued work on the driver and putting practice at home, I can continue to push closer to scratch. 

 

[dvq9654]

I've been focused a bit more on range time lately vs. playing, while also putting in a lot of putting practice (mainly focused on lie). Range sessions have been so so, and my driver is still a pain. That said, played a couple times this weekend (9 and then 18) and happy with the ways things went. 

 

Saturday 9 Holes 

Started off strong with birdie, birdie and then limped home a bit. Treated this as a practice round since I was first off by myself, so didn't keep accurate score, but was around even after 9. Pretty typical round in that when I hit driver well, I made or scared the hole for birdie. Bad drives were bad and put me in trouble. Left the round thinking the same thing as usual: if I can hit my driver decent I will play well. 

 

Sunday 18 Holes

Played Rustic. Weather was great, and I was paired with a good group. Started off with a great drive, which got me into a solid mindset. Ball striking was not what would make my day however, but my short game certainly would. Detailed summary below:

 

Score: 71

Course Par: 72

Yards: 6634

Course Rating: 72.0

Slope: 130 

Fairways: 10/13 

Greens: 8/18

Putts: 23

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 4 birdies, 11 pars, 3 bogeys 

Up and Downs within ~30 yards: 9/10

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+3.9), Driving (-0.6), Approach (-3.0), Short (+2.5), Putting (+5.1)

 

Positives

Putting - I have never putted this well. I put the blade back in my bag because my work at home shows I get it online far more consistently than my Spider X. Starting the ball online makes a world of difference and today showed exactly why. I made nearly everything within 8 feet and my pace was excellent. 23 putts is a bit of a skewed stat given I was within a foot or two of 5 or so greens meaning my first putt didn't count. Regardless, as you can see by the strokes gained, I made nearly everything I had a reasonable chance of making. I'm super stoked about what's possible if my putting remains even half this good. 

 

Wedge Play - I'm a bit confused by the approach stats, because I was quite good with a wedge in hand today (from ~60-120 yards). Stuck a couple and gave myself a good look on a couple others. Did hit one or two a little squirrely, but no damage was done. 

 

Short Game - I got up and down from everywhere today. Part of this was putting, but I also hit a lot of good putts from off the green, chips, etc. to put myself in near gimme range

 

Negatives

Long Irons - I played with my "old" Apex Pros, and hit a couple head scratchers with my 4 and 5 irons early in the round. One led to a bogey and the other I lucked out and walked away unscathed. 

 

Short / Mid-Irons - I don't think these were nearly as bad as my approach statistic indicates, but was just a little off on a handful of shots. My short game made up for it, but certainly could have been a bit more dialed in. 

 

Driver - I hit some good drives, but my bad drives just plain suck right now. I escaped a few bad drives but a couple other cost me. Ultimately, I just feel out of sync / don't have a great feel for what's driving some of my misses. Have a lesson in September, so hopefully can develop a game plan to improve this aspect of my game. 

 

Overall, very excited with some of the things I saw in my game today. Basically, with the exception of my driver, everything is as good as it's ever been. If I can get my driver to be a net positive even some of the time, my goal will be well within reach. 

 

[MelloYello]

On 8/28/2022 at 4:48 PM, dvq9654 said:

I've been focused a bit more on range time lately vs. playing, while also putting in a lot of putting practice (mainly focused on lie). Range sessions have been so so, and my driver is still a pain. That said, played a couple times this weekend (9 and then 18) and happy with the ways things went. 

 

Saturday 9 Holes 

Started off strong with birdie, birdie and then limped home a bit. Treated this as a practice round since I was first off by myself, so didn't keep accurate score, but was around even after 9. Pretty typical round in that when I hit driver well, I made or scared the hole for birdie. Bad drives were bad and put me in trouble. Left the round thinking the same thing as usual: if I can hit my driver decent I will play well. 

 

Sunday 18 Holes

Played Rustic. Weather was great, and I was paired with a good group. Started off with a great drive, which got me into a solid mindset. Ball striking was not what would make my day however, but my short game certainly would. Detailed summary below:

 

Score: 71

Course Par: 72

Yards: 6634

Course Rating: 72.0

Slope: 130 

Fairways: 10/13 

Greens: 8/18

Putts: 23

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 4 birdies, 11 pars, 3 bogeys 

Up and Downs within ~30 yards: 9/10

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+3.9), Driving (-0.6), Approach (-3.0), Short (+2.5), Putting (+5.1)

 

Positives

Putting - I have never putted this well. I put the blade back in my bag because my work at home shows I get it online far more consistently than my Spider X. Starting the ball online makes a world of difference and today showed exactly why. I made nearly everything within 8 feet and my pace was excellent. 23 putts is a bit of a skewed stat given I was within a foot or two of 5 or so greens meaning my first putt didn't count. Regardless, as you can see by the strokes gained, I made nearly everything I had a reasonable chance of making. I'm super stoked about what's possible if my putting remains even half this good. 

 

Wedge Play - I'm a bit confused by the approach stats, because I was quite good with a wedge in hand today (from ~60-120 yards). Stuck a couple and gave myself a good look on a couple others. Did hit one or two a little squirrely, but no damage was done. 

 

Short Game - I got up and down from everywhere today. Part of this was putting, but I also hit a lot of good putts from off the green, chips, etc. to put myself in near gimme range

 

Negatives

Long Irons - I played with my "old" Apex Pros, and hit a couple head scratchers with my 4 and 5 irons early in the round. One led to a bogey and the other I lucked out and walked away unscathed. 

 

Short / Mid-Irons - I don't think these were nearly as bad as my approach statistic indicates, but was just a little off on a handful of shots. My short game made up for it, but certainly could have been a bit more dialed in. 

 

Driver - I hit some good drives, but my bad drives just plain suck right now. I escaped a few bad drives but a couple other cost me. Ultimately, I just feel out of sync / don't have a great feel for what's driving some of my misses. Have a lesson in September, so hopefully can develop a game plan to improve this aspect of my game. 

 

Overall, very excited with some of the things I saw in my game today. Basically, with the exception of my driver, everything is as good as it's ever been. If I can get my driver to be a net positive even some of the time, my goal will be well within reach. 

 

 

 

Just my opinion but I don't think you want to be using Strokes Gained for individual rounds. Doesn't SG just give a basic Expectation (i.e. scoring average) according to distance out? That's not going to help you using sample sizes as small as 1 round.

 

Keep in mind the average # of strokes required from XXX-yds out is not the same as the Expected strokes required on a particular XXX-yd shot, the difficulty of which is subject to any number of variables. 

 

It'd be like judging a QB's performance within a single game using Passer Rating, which was an arbitrary metric assembled to compare seasonal efficiency numbers. SG is very similar in that it requires a large volume of data. 

 

Rather than judge your last round according to blanket averages relating to yardage, you should be evaluating how well you executed each shot relative to your peak ability and then evaluating whether that peak ability itself is good enough. 

 

I guess what I'm saying is that SG is never going to know your game as well as you. Barring some folks wildly over/under-estimating 1 or 2 things, only you can truly decide how well you executed a shot. Leave the statistical stuff to analysis involving multiple rounds of data. 

[dvq9654]

10 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

 

 

Just my opinion but I don't think you want to be using Strokes Gained for individual rounds. Doesn't SG just give a basic Expectation (i.e. scoring average) according to distance out? That's not going to help you using sample sizes as small as 1 round.

 

Keep in mind the average # of strokes required from XXX-yds out is not the same as the Expected strokes required on a particular XXX-yd shot, the difficulty of which is subject to any number of variables. 

 

It'd be like judging a QB's performance within a single game using Passer Rating, which was an arbitrary metric assembled to compare seasonal efficiency numbers. SG is very similar in that it requires a large volume of data. 

 

Rather than judge your last round according to blanket averages relating to yardage, you should be evaluating how well you executed each shot relative to your peak ability and then evaluating whether that peak ability itself is good enough. 

 

I guess what I'm saying is that SG is never going to know your game as well as you. Barring some folks wildly over/under-estimating 1 or 2 things, only you can truly decide how well you executed a shot. Leave the statistical stuff to analysis involving multiple rounds of data. 

I’m far from fixated on strokes gained on a round by round basis. I mainly include it / look at it because it’s another way to frame a round vs. basic statistics like number of putts or fairways hit, which I would argue can be even more misleading than strokes gained. 
 

Often times, like you said, stokes gained doesn’t tell the whole story but it usually approximates how I feel about a round, which is generally the most accurate way to judge a round (i.e., I know my game best). For instance, on Sunday, I putted like a maniac and my strokes gained clearly showed that. I didn’t need strokes gained to know I was strong there, but the magnitude validated my thoughts. I also knew I drove the ball pretty poorly. I would argue the -0.6 strokes gained is actually kind of generous vs. how I felt, so while I agree it was a minus, I would grade it lower than what the stats say. 

 

Ultimately, my take on my game is my putting is trending in the right direction, my iron game is solid and my driver needs work. Strokes gained shows this more often than not, both on individual rounds and cumulatively (which I also track but don’t necessarily communicate in this thread). So, I fully agree with what you are saying, but also don’t think it hurts to have a second set of eyes because sometimes we can be too hard / too easy on ourselves.

[dvq9654]

Been a while since I've posted. Got COVID, so was away from golf for a few weeks, and then have been grinding a bit after a lesson. 

 

The last couple weeks have been a lot of fun on the course. Played at Rustic last weekend and shot 72. Not going to go into full detail, but it was a pretty non-eventful round. Didn't drive it well, but never put myself in trouble so my iron and short game were able to work for me. 

 

Played again today at the local muni and shot 71. Played the blues vs. the blacks to take some pressure off my driver. Summary below.

 

Score: 71

Course Par: 72

Yards: 6574

Course Rating: 70.1

Slope: 114

Fairways: 8/14 

Greens: 15/18

Putts: 32

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 2 birdies, 15 pars, 1 bogey 

Up and Downs within ~30 yards: 2/4

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+4.1), Driving (+0.8), Approach (+1.9), Short (+0.8), Putting (+0.6)

 

Positives

Irons - My iron play has been really solid. Continual, small improvements have allowed me to play essentially a straight ball with little fear of missing left (my old miss), so I can really go after pins when I have a clean look. My bad shots are usually just slight mishits that come up 10-20 feet short vs. wide left or wide right. This was reflected in my 15 GIRs, which is about as good as I have done. 

 

The wild thing about my strokes gained approach is I actually lost a full stroke from 200+ yards because I was in jail on a couple of the par 5s, so everything from under 200 was a major positive. This was especially true from 150-200, where I hit a couple incredibly pure 5 and 6 irons. Few things better than a pure mid-iron. 

 

Mental State - I was paired with a group of 3 friends who were poor golfers. As a result, pace was slow and parts of the round were like pulling teeth. It would often take them 3 solid strikes to reach my drive. I run hotter than most and am too impatient and generally really struggle when watching / waiting for this type of group. However, today, I did a great job staying calm and in my game. Took one shot at a time, found ways to keep myself busy and ultimately played a steady, solid round. 

 

Areas of Improvement

Overall Driver, especially on par 5s - Despite a positive strokes gained, this was once again the weak part of my game. I also seem to have a knack for hitting my worst drives on par 5s. Doesn't help my birdie count. That said, following my lesson, my misses are at least bit more straight, so some drives I "hate" really aren't that bad - they just feel terrible cause I'm getting way out of sync.  It'll be a matter of time for the changes I'm making to bleed more into my driver, so maybe I'll stop sounding like a broken record here. 

 

Putting - This was far from bad, but I could not get anything to drop. I was reading slightly too much break all day, so burned a ton of edges and missed a number of makeable putts. Some days are just like that, so hard to be too frustrated, but a hot day with my putter would have made this a special round. 

 

Wedges (Approach) - These were far from bad, but I had at least a handful of wedges between 80-105 yards and wasn't really able to hit it tight. Feels like I left a birdie or two out there. 

 

My handicap is now ~0.6, so I'm moving in the right direction. I feel like I'm very close to breaking into the 60s. I'm going to keep working on my swing per my recent lesson, and hopefully good things will continue to come. 

[dvq9654]

It's been a tough month, unfortunately, so golf hasn't been my priority. Practice time has massively fallen and my rounds have been a bit hit or miss. Today, however, was a HIT - I finally broke into the 60s with a 69! And it could have been even better; I was on in two on 18 (a par 5) and 3 putted due to the nerves. Whoops... Regardless, super satisfying round and somewhat surprised with the result, because I didn't feel like I did anything particularly excellent. I'm learning more and more this game is about mistake avoidance just as much about making "good" shots (obviously within reason). Summary below. 

 

Score: 69

Course Par: 72

Yards: 6574

Course Rating: 70.1

Slope: 114

Fairways: 6/14 

Greens: 14/18

Putts: 30

Birdies, Pars, etc.: 3 birdies, 15 pars 

Up and Downs within ~50 yards: 6/6

Strokes Gained (Per Arccos): Overall (+5.0), Driving (+0.3), Approach (+2.4), Short (+0.3), Putting (+2.0)

 

Positives 

Driver - My strokes gained is skewed by a few bad drives (one that barely clipped a tree despite being a solid strike), but overall it was solid. I've learned to not ask too much from my driver (at least not yet...) and some swing improvements have led to a lot more balls in play and far few "dead" drives that directly cost me a shot. No doubt this can get better, but I like the more stable / consistent tee game right now, which really sets me up to take advantage in other areas of the game I'm stronger at

 

Putting (On the Green) - I hit a ton of good putts today. Not a lot dropped, but I did nail a 35 footer on 17 to put me in position to get into the 60s. I also made a clutch 15 footer on 9 to save par and make the turn with momentum going. My putting has really turned into a consistent strength, and I'm loving it. 

 

Texas Wedge - Most the greens I did miss were short / on the collar. The course is not exactly in good shape right now, so lots of tight / strange lies around the green that would require near perfection with a 54 or 58 to get it close. Today I leaned into my putter from off the green and the results were great. Got up and down every time the Texas wedge was in my hand. I need to be more willing to use this going forward because the margin for success is much higher 

 

Long Irons - I hit a few really excellent long irons today, including a 3 irons from 230 on 18 that put me on the green and secured my round in the 60s. I was quite nervous walking down 18 too, so the fact I executed that shot so well was even more exciting. 

 

Negatives

Nothing was actually a true negative today, but for the sake of completeness:

 

"Fuller" Wedges - I hit some great pitches from ~50 yards, but my more full wedge shots were just a bit off today. They weren't bad per se, but were never quite right. For instance, I hit what I thought was a perfect 58 dead at the flag from ~80 yards, but it somehow released 30+ feet with no spin (odd). Or, I hit a 54 perfect distance but left it out 20 fee right. Nothing to ruin a round, but would like these to be a bit tighter at least a couple times a round 

 

Short Irons - Again, not bad, but definitely pulled the majority of these. It was a ~10 yard pull so not a back breaker, but left me with a lot of 30 foot putts when I was at a distance you'd expect more from yourself. I think this miss is a sign the things I'm working on are finding their way on the course, which I'll choose to look at positively. 

 

Overall, super excited about the outcome of today's round. This puts a third negative differential into my handicap, so I think I may get closer to zero. At 0.5 now, I think I'm finally getting closer to my goal. If life eases up a bit and I can practice / play a bit more, I'm pretty stoked about what I can do going forward.   

[bortass]

Congrats on breaking 70!

[dvq9654]

Not an update I'm happy to post, but it's time to put this "journey" on pause. Recently learned I have an L5 / S1 herniation which is going to require surgery. I had some back pain earlier this year which I didn't think much of and resolved through PT, but more recently things have taken a turn for the worse and the nerve is acting up (e.g., constant pain, unable to walk normally, etc.). I haven't been able to play for the last couple months and the surgery will take me out for at least 6 months. 

 

Regardless, in good news, I do end this portion of my journey as a 0.3 handicap, which some would argue is "scratch" (not Obee and some other sticklers though...🤣) or at least awfully close. Fingers crossed I'll be back on my journey sooner than later in a non-diminished capacity. 

 

Here's a video of my swing (a little PW in one of my last range sessions). Posting for fun and so I have something to look back on come ~July when it's time to dust off the sticks. 

 

[Obee]

Great news! 0.3 is definitely what I would consider scratch -- if you can average that during a full playing season. 
 

Regardless, congrats on getting there!!

 

Regarding surgery, I can't possibly recommend Meloxicam enough. Before you move forward with surgery, please talk to your doctor about prescribing it. It's changed my life.