Kenny B

First of all, the essentials are proper setup with your appropriate grip (being 6’5” means you should get your clubs checked for proper fit), good takeaway (one that doesn’t involve pulling the club to the inside) and backswing with proper pressure shifts, a good transition from backswing to downswing (again with proper pressure shifts), and body rotation. @RickyBobby_PR knows his stuff and has helped many here on the forums on their swing improvement journeys. I am also a follower of Monte Scheinblum and highly recommend his videos at rebelliongolf.com. You can follow him on Instagram; he posts excepts from many of his videos and has several years worth of posts to review. My 2 cents… FWIW, I started playing golf similar to you, but I was 44 when I started (now 76). My slice was horrible (unless I hit a dead pull left). I wasted 3 years playing that way before I took a lesson. Slices are caused by an open club face relative to the swing path, and are typically the result of an over-the-top move during the downswing. That was my problem. Unfortunately, when we get to the top of our improper backswing, we have too much weight on the trail leg and our first impulse is to swing out to the ball with our upper body. I did. The only way to hit the ball from that position is to come out of our golf posture and early extend, otherwise we wouldn't make contact with the ball. Most amateurs need to have the feeling that the arms drop straight down early in the downswing before we start rotating. This helps get the club to the ball more from the inside. It helps to feel like you are keeping your back facing the target as long as you can before starting body rotation. All of this happens with the proper pressure shifts already mentioned. While you are a chronic topper of the ball, chunking can also result from the same issues; just a matter of where your body is when you make contact. Your pressure shift to your lead leg probably comes too late; you should be transferring pressure to your lead leg when your lead arm is parallel and before you get to the top of your backswing. Video posts both from face-on and down-the-line will provide better analysis, but your symptoms are common to 95% of beginning golfers. As far as any drills, I would start with Monte’s setup and begin sloooow iron swings; backswing to lead arm parallel and then swing to trail arm parallel; club should be at right angle to the arms… the L to L drill. Shift to your lead leg before starting the downswing. Resist the urge to make fast swings. Patience! Best of luck in your golfing journey; many of us have done the same thing, so you are not alone!!

We have one private 18-hole course and six 18-hole public courses + three 9-hole courses. Quality ranges from very poor to pretty nice. Prices aren’t too bad compared to other places I’ve been lately… Palm Springs and Phoenix; about $40-50 to walk and $60-75 to ride. Since my wife and I both play a lot, we have an annual couple's membership that includes cart and range that costs $3200. Prices have gone up since COVID, but that’s mostly due to increased cost of operations and higher demand… new golfers that started playing. It’s only going to get worse, because in the last 25 years our community has grown from about 150K to about 400K people, and my course was the last “new” course built in the area but that was 26 years ago. AND it was not a “new” course; it replaced an existing 18-hole course and a 9-hole par 3 course. The last additional 18-hole course built was 30 years ago. It is extremely difficult to get tee times, and I expect prices to go even higher next year. Our most expensive and high-end public course has gone to shotgun starts at 8am and 1pm Fri-Sun. We need another course!!!!

Happy Birthday @FallenSaber, @mizunomatt, @97BrownTown, @MarkDeW, and @Haggerty!! Best wishes for a great day!

@CSiders12 Sorry to hear about your loss. Prayers are with you and your family. Good Morning everyone!! Should be another sunny mid-70’s day… and no that’s not my golf score! Play yesterday was atrocious; worst of the year for me; I even quit keeping score and started hitting multiple shots trying to figure out what was wrong. Still sore; probably tired. Resting for a few days getting ready for weekend play. Hadn’t seen this on the course before... There are 4-5 places on the course where he will have to walk his bike up hills from green to tee and just getting back to the cart path. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!

It was the Indian!!!

Congratulations testers! Looking for some good reviews on this to see if I need to upgrade my Callaway Epic Max. @EasyPutter Bring it to Kingsmill and let me try it out; I think our swing speeds are similar… I’ll let you try the Autoflex Dream 7 shaft in it!!!!

Thanks for all the support guys!! This should be an interesting test, and I hope that this group provides information on the Autoflex Dream 7 shafts that you are looking for; if not… just ask!!

Can I change shafts between holes?

You have enough speed… work on straight.

Good Morning everyone!! Hope everyone is having a terrific Tuesday! A brisk 45º but sunny day here; we tee off in 90 minutes. Temp should get up to mid-70’s, but not until we are long off the 18th green. My BIL arrived yesterday from Seattle and will stay for a few days. Last night I re-gripped my clubs; took all of 10 minutes using air. Hopefully, that will lead to lower scores… can’t be the Indian!!

Martha and I stopped for the night there on one of our trips to Phoenix many years ago. She says “It’s a big hole in the ground.” Enjoy the view!!

Late to the party today! Hope your Monday is progressing better than Mondays usually do. I had a busy weekend with golf a big part of it. Saturday, I tweaked my already sore right knee and barely made it through the round. Shot 83 with 3 doubles, but did have 2 birdies. Here’s the first one on the par 3 4th hole (my ball is the closest one; the other was a playing partner’s chip shot)... The other birdie was on the par 3 #15 and it was about a foot away. Unfortunately, those were my typical putts made; pretty sure I only had 20 feet of putts made for 18 holes. But I could hardly walk after the round. I wouldn’t have played yesterday if it wasn’t our anniversary; we always play on our anniversary and birthdays. I taped my knee and wore a knee brace, and it wasn’t too bad. Planning to schedule knee replacement in the fall. I shot 80; still had 3 doubles, but only one birdie... a 20-foot putt on the par 4 #14. At the clubhouse waiting to tee off, two groups of new visitors... Today was my cardiac rehab day, then mowed the lawn. My BIL came over from Seattle for another visit so we will be playing golf again tomorrow… another knee tape-job!!

Happy Birthday!! Way to celebrate!!!

Hope it’s nothing serious… get well soon!

You mean like this one… mine came with the house when I bought it 4 years ago! Looking really good! Tell your wife… Nice job! You can have an attaboy for all the screwing.

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Good Morning everyone!! I haven’t been online for several days and I sure missed out on a lot of happenings!! It’s amazing what happens here in just a day or two… still trying to catch up! Today is our anniversary!! 17 years! Seems like a lifetime, but not the first marriage for either of us. 3 weeks ago I mentioned that I had proposed on April 1st… a day I could remember; that’s important guys! I proposed on the 1st tee of our golf course. Of course, the next day she asked if I meant it! I said: “Meant what?” But we still got married a year and 3 weeks later. We were going to get married on April 1st, but I had work friends that were going to be in town so we waited the 3 weeks. Here’s... the rest of the story (short version)! We rented the golf course (a 9-hole exec course where we met) for the day and had the wedding ceremony on the 1st tee. The ceremony was performed by a jazz pianist from Seattle (check out deemsmusic.com) who got his minister’s license as a tax dodge. We met him at a golf course in Spokane and had been playing golf with him for several years (he sadly passed away from cancer a few years ago). Anyway, the ceremony took all of 3 minutes; we said our vows, turned around and teed off and everyone was invited to play. We had cupcakes for our wedding “cake”, food and an open bar in the clubhouse with a licensed bartender. So here we are 17 years later and still enjoying each other and playing golf as much as we can. Today we have a 10am tee time and warmer weather than we did back then, and we have dinner reservations at a nice Italian dinner this evening. Wishing y’all a wonderful Sunday April 21st… a day I will always remember!

…at 100 yds. Good practice though.

Welcome to the forums!! Glad you joined us. Yes, there are quite a few Portland MGS members. I live near the Columbia River, but 220 miles upstream. I don’t make it down that way as often as I used to since my parents passed away, but if y’all have a golf outing this year, I’m willing to attend.

Hitting shots low is a technique that takes practice. By low, I mean lower than normal than a full swing. I can hit most any club from driver to lob wedge low, depending on the lie and how far I want to hit the ball. At the old course I used to play, I needed to play a low punch driver because a normal drive would slice too much and the low shot with rollout gave me better control and the distance I needed off the tee. On my current course from the fairway on the par 5 #18, I need to get the ball around a tree at the dogleg without going too high and catching that #&@* limb. My club of choice is my Callaway Heavenwood, but normal trajectory catches that limb every time. I can get good yardage with it by keeping the ball low and have a wedge to the green. As stated by @RickyBobby_PR and @cnosil, analyze the situations you are in, choose the club that you can consistently hit the required shot, and spend time learning how to flight the ball.

Good Morning everyone! Hope your Wednesday is off to a wonderful start. Not much going on here; have a massage, then off to shop for an anniversary gift and make plans for our anniversary dinner (after our round of golf on Sunday, of course!!). Details of our wedding later this week… don’t miss it!!!

@cksurfdude Chuck is just showing off before Kingsmill.

Not really west side, but Stone Creek near Lake Oswego had a grass range, but it’s been a long time since I played it and I have no idea what the cost is.

Good Morning everyone!! Hope y'all are off to a terrific Tuesday! I can’t seem to get caught up reading the new posts in this thread; I read a few and more get posted… I need to read faster I guess. Got a few chores around the house after my morning exercises; two sprinkler valves need work, one is leaking and one has a bad solenoid. Then I’m headed to the course for some Release 2 short game work. Wife is playing this morning with some of her lady friends.

Happy Birthday @FightingScot82, @cthoma11, and @Invader Zim 315!! Have a great day… play well!!