mynerds

Went to the range for a lunch session as I'm working through some swing changes and hit awful. Out of ~70 balls, I had maybe 3 decent strikes with my irons, and zero with the driver. At least the pitching wedge was still kind to me Trusting the process though, and hoping it's just an off day. I don't want to lean back into bad habits just because I could make them work.

@YourKillingMeSmalls Will do, and totally agreed! I love the short game - as soon as I can pull out a wedge and my putter, I'm having a blast. I've been trying to find a scramble event for my equally amateurish friends to play in. My buddy can hit bombs but can't chip to save his life. With our powers combined, we have a mostly functioning brain and the ability to hit reasonable scores @KennyB Boy that sounds like a familiar tune. Totally agree on the need for a good plan and a good coach. There is a PGA pro coach near me that a neighbor's daughter goes to and speaks highly of, but I tend to do better with content I can consume on-demand with my chaotic schedule. In-person lessons would may yield better/faster results than virtual, but not if I never have/make time to go in-person. I'm excited for the journey!

Thanks for putting this together, and best of luck to all! [This Space For Rent] reporting in. A lot of creative names out there! Wasn't a selection of mine, but I'm hoping that Aaron Jarvis does well representing my alma mater. Seems like he has a good head on his shoulders.

Tl;dr: I am relatively inexperienced player looking to build a foundation and improve my golf game. I’ll treat this as my journal to document what I am doing and how it’s helped me progress. I hope this helps similar novices who may be overwhelmed with the available and sometimes confusing amount of information. Background I am an early 30’s predominately right-handed-but-lefty-golfer in the Midwest. I’ve owned a set of clubs for ~15 years now but have played double-digit total rounds of 9-hole golf in my life. I’ve never played a round of 18. My golf outing of choice has been at driving ranges for social occasions or chipping whiffle balls into a net in the back yard. I’ve had an on-again-off-again relationship with golf that is primarily driven by the number of friends I have who are interested in golfing too. I recently learned several of my neighbors are avid golfers and decided to fully embrace the stereotypical suburban dad trope and pick the game up properly. There is a wealth of information here on highly-specialized topics or perspectives from experienced individuals – and rightly so. It is admittedly a little overwhelming drinking from the fire-hose, and I’m easily swayed into missing the forest for the trees by spending my time on the wrong things at the wrong time. I want to keep track of what I’m doing this year and how it influences my abilities and overall enjoyment of the game. For small accomplishments and efforts, I’ll make a quick post here about what I did and how it helped/hurt. For larger efforts that could be their own topic (e.g. lesson programs, fittings, equipment, etc..), I may break out a separate thread to serve as a dedicated review/discussion. I will edit this top post to serve as a one-stop summary when I update in either manner though. Completed/In-Progress/Scheduled March – Shot 61 on the par 35, 9-hole Pottawatomie Golf Course Shot 11 on the 476 yard par 5 first; Par on the 319 yard par 4 second. Such is my game. March – April - Me and My Golf’s 30 Day Golf Swing Transformation Challenge Completed - Link to Review March – April - Me and My Golf’s Full Body Freedom lessons Completed - Link to Review April - Me and My Golf’s Beginner Golf lessons In progress April – Shot 62 on the par 35, 9-hole Pottawatomie Golf Course Realized on arrival that I had forgotten my putter, that was a nice surprise. Shot 11 on the 476 yard par 5 first again; and had a few 4 putts using my PW / playing partner's putter. I think I would have played mid/high 50's had I brought my full bag. A worse score than March but I felt better about the outcome, weirdly enough. Club Fitting Fitted with Golf Galaxy. Fitting Recommendations: 1) Callaway Rogue ST Max OS, 65g Regular Graphite, Standard Length, Standard Lie; 2) Taylormade Stealth, 75g, Regular Graphite, Standard Length, Standard Lie. Fitting Experience: 0/10. Likely will not purchase. Description below. May - Regripped from standard, stock 14 year old grips to Jumbo Golf Pride CPx at Dick's Sporting Goods. May - Shot 58 on the par 35, 9-hole Pottawatomie Golf Course PR, losing most of my strokes on the par 5 first. Had some great approaches and hit my wedges as well as I ever had. One of these days I'm going to start better than an 11, and I'll get into the low 50's. May - Club Champion Full Bag Fitting Link to Review May - Purchased PuttOut Large Mat. Regripped putter from stock grip to Super Stroke FLATSO 2.0 June - Sporina SP8 Testing. June - Purchased Rapsodo personal launch monitor for use with Sporina net. Planning Handicap index Seems like this is a thing I should know/have. Club Fitting I am hoping to complete an irons fitting with a local pro who fits outdoors and indoors with Club Champion to compare experiences and outcomes before fitting the rest of the bag. First Full round of 18 I have yet to play a round of 18. There are several nice courses near me, and I’d like to give a few of them a go. The closest to me, Settler’s Hill, was closed all of last year for renovations. I’d like to give that a try at the very least. Home Putting Equipment I have an ok-ish putting mat from Amazon and a Puttout alignment mirror in my basement. I’d love to upgrade the mat and possibly get a few new toys. MGS’s review of the Puttout Tour Studio and Travel Studio is probably going to drive a purchase sooner rather than later. Putting Baseline Planning to hit and document 100 putts on my PuttOut to create a performance baseline. I've been trying to make 10 putts every day, and want to see how this improves my putting over time.

@T8r Todd I’m in Batavia (recently added my pin to the community map, super neat feature!) so you haven’t been too far away at St Andrews. I haven’t been before as I’ve only been in Batavia since ‘18 but it’s on my to do! @JerryB my BIL went to NIU and had (mostly) nice things to say. Will have to make my way down there at some point!

@T8r ToddHello from way down I-88 fellow Chicagolander. I agree that the past two weeks of cold AF or rainy AF is growing old, and we get the rain all next week too. I am ready for second winter to be over. I grew up in Vegas so similar background of desert life coming to northern Illinois. The weather may be better back west (you don't have to shovel heat) but the people are much better out here and being able to see grass/trees/foliage sure is nice!

Probably because most of us are in the habit of eating and putting clothes on daily. Outside of the home office, I spend most of my time in the kitchen. Give me nice appliances, well structured floor plan, lots of storage, and prep space? The rest of the house could be falling down and I'd be happy!

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm glad I'm not the only one with this issue. I'll keep an eye out for water/air hoses but I'll probably end up getting a trunk liner and a hand held scrub brush from Home Depot.

I recently bought a push cart and shoes (thumbs up for adidas Men's CODECHAOS 21) during the winter and broke them both out at a municipal course for the first time last week. I've previously been a walker and an athletic shoe wearer, so I was not accustomed to the massive amount of goose poop that ended up stuck to my shoes and on the wheels of the cart. I knocked what I could off but I ended up with a non trivial amount of...stuff... in the trunk of my car. Are there any tips or products you can recommend for post-round cleanups of cart wheels and spikeless shoes? My car and my wife would greatly appreciate it.

Hi all - I've been a hyper-casual golfer for over a decade, predominately spending my time socially at ranges and 9-hole public courses. I recently started taking lessons and playing more consistently to enjoy the game more. Up to this point, I've only ever owned a hodgepodge set of irons, a hybrid, a putter, and a driver predominately assembled from clearance selections at big box stores or second-hand bins from Play It Again Sports. I hadn't considered getting fitted previously because to me, a club was a club was a club. I was advised at the end of a lesson last year to add a hybrid to my bag and picked up a used TaylorMade Burner Superfast Rescue 4 hybrid (the only used left-handed hybrid in the store) that would charitably be labeled "Poor" condition. I took it to the range and loved it. It was the first time that a club felt "good" and made me wonder if my other clubs were a poor fit. I plan to schedule a fitting for my entire bag, and it seems the consensus is to not do an entire bag fitting in a single session. If I were to schedule a fitting for fairway woods, I wouldn't have anything to bring other than my well-worn hybrid. It looks like some fitters offer the option to fit the entire long game of Driver/FW/Hybrid in one sitting, but again I wouldn't have a FW to bring as a baseline. Is there any issue in scheduling a fitting that includes a fairway woods without having a club to be fit against? I'd prefer to not buy a random club that I anticipate being immediately replaced, but I also can appreciate the need to know my own tendencies with a club before going to a fitting. Appreciate any insight you can share!

How long have you been playing golf? What’s your handicap or normal score? I've owned golf clubs for around 14 years, but it would be charitable to say that I've been inconsistent in playing during that time. I used to brag that I hit an 80 the first time I ever golfed, but then would point out that it was on a 9-hole par 3. Can't say I know my handicap or normal score at this point! What do you love about golf? It doesn't destroy my knees like ice hockey goalie, and there seems to be an expectation for me to be terrible at the game anyways. Also, I love putting. What brings you to MyGolfSpy? Do you already know any other Spies? I was looking for some clubs to replace my cheap set from PlayItAgainSports circa 2016 and realized I have no business purchasing anything in the blind. I'm also a data fiend, so I'd love to document and share my progress as (hopefully) I play the game more regularly and buy new shiny toys. Where are you from? What is your home course? Born and raised in Vegas, currently in the western suburbs of Chicago. No home course, unless top golf counts. What are the best and worst things about golf in your region? Best: When the weather permits, its great to get out in any of the many courses. Worst: Its winter for 6 months of the year. What do you do for a living? Cybersecurity for healthcare. How’d you pick your user name? Anagram of my name.