GolfSpy MPR

Duration: 00:39:35 Alternatively titled "The Hank Haney Debate - Elevated". Contributing writer Anya Alvarez joins us for a discussion started last week based on Hank Haney's comments. We discuss the disparity between men and women's golf, and how to elevate the game of golf for women around the world. Listen Here

Duration: 00:33:24 This week on No Putts Given we cover Patrick Cantlay, Most Wanted Game Improvement Irons, the seemingly endless rise of jacked lofts, and the Pushcart Mafia. Listen Here

Duration: 01:06:41 Originally published May 28th, 2019. On this episode of No Putts Given we explore Kevin Na's caddy rolling on some new wheels, the real influence of Brand Ambassadors, and #DigestDisorder. Listen Here

A groan-worthy joke that Kirke and I made up today: Where does the king of Egypt like to hit his drives? In the pharaoh-way.

Feeling your pain:

Welcome to the forums! For my part, I've not been part of any forum on any topic that encourages meaningful and respectful conversation as well as this one does. While I'm a mod here, our members self-moderate far more often than any of us need to get involved.

Last night was the opening scramble for our local men's league. I brought Kirke along. Teams are drawn randomly, but (of course) I keep Kirke with me as a fifth player (it's a very informal event). He knows upfront that, for sake of pace of play, he only gets to take a turn when he has a realistic chance of reaching the green (within about 75 yards or so). The teams were a random draw, but happily, my dad drew the same group as Kirke and me: The kid saved our bacon on multiple holes with his chipping and putting. His best shot was on our last hole (number 2 on the course, because of a shotgun start). I hit a fun tee shot cutting the corner on a short par 4, leaving us with about 35 or so yards in. Unfortunately, we had a pretty nasty lie: a sparse patch of broad leaf weeds on top of bare earth. Kirke went first, and with his nine iron, put us to about six feet. One of the guys on our team offered a dollar bet that none of us would beat that, but not only am I not a betting man, I wouldn't ever bet against Kirke Sure enough, Kirke's shot was the best one. All in all, a fun night.

Saw the font, almost started deleting posts and spam-banning out of reflex.

Worth noting: there are lots and lots of golfers who are sincerely mistaken about their abilities. How often does anyone use a shot tracker or launch monitor and discover (to their great surprise) that they actually hit it longer than they had assumed? Has that ever happened in the history of ever? So when every guy says that he carries his 7-iron 150, it's often that 1) he truly believes it to be so and isn't trying to deceive you, and 2) he believes it because it has happened on a few occasions, even though 3) it still ain't normal for him. So then, between "honest and true" and "dishonest and false," we have to account for online golfers whose account of their own abilities is "honest but false."

This morning, Facebook pulled up this video of Kirke from five years ago, when he was just a year old: He's made some progress in the last five years

Yeah, absolutely. Even in the best of conditions, our course struggles to fully dry up. It sets low, and it's not at all a sandy soil up here. I've described it to others as hitting every single approach shot out of a fairway bunker: the ground is soft, and if you catch it fat, you're likely to be punished severely.

Great question, with a multi-part answer. I think the fact that I'm starting my season in almost last year's mid-season form is not insignificant. Like I said in my last post, I'm about 5 strokes better right now than I was through 8 rounds last season; I'm about 2 strokes behind where I was in July/August last year. So I'm not yet ready to say that the work isn't paying off as much as I wanted it to. As for things that have paid off, the biggest is the gapping, especially in that troublesome area for me from 90-120 yards. I've already this season had multiple shots in that range where I would have chosen the wrong club and come up short, whereas this year I know that (for instance) my SW struggles to go past 90 and my GW past 105 or so. On the other side, the transition from indoor golf to outdoor golf is not small, and this is one of the big lessons I'm learning right now. This is especially true for the short game: I don't think SkyTrak's software does a good job properly simulating rollout on short shots. And (this is the biggest thing) actual golf courses constantly ask you to hit shots with your ball in bad places, especially if the course you play isn't pristine (ahem). Hitting off a mat is one thing; hitting a partial wedge with you ball nestled down on a little bare patch of mud resting against a sprout of grass is very different. Right now, I'm losing lots of shots from exactly those kinds of short game failures, and I don't suspect there's any other solution to that than real outdoor practice. Kirke and I hit the course for a bit this morning, and he's awesome to play games of up-and-down with (he straight up beats me more often than I beat him at that). That kind of practice is now going to be regular for me. I also still need off-the-tee practice, which I got none of this winter because of the ceiling height in the garage. TL;DR: I think the practice this summer did pay off in ball striking and gapping. I need to work on chipping on pitching in game conditions. The guy I've play most with since I really started playing this game six or so years ago is @Erik-M, who's a legit 5 handicap. And while he has helped me a great deal, his game is so different from mine that it's hard to make applications. I've been with him when he's driven greens 330 yards away; that's not a skill I'm going to be picking up from him. He's a natural athlete who plays without swing thoughts; I'm a thoroughgoing nerd who loves over analyzing every aspect of my game. So while you're likely right, I'm enjoying what I'm doing. If I needed to get to a certain handicap, and that was the entire goal, I know I'm going about it wrong. But for me, a lot of the enjoyment comes from trying to figure it out.

A couple more mediocre rounds since my last check-in: handicap remains steady in the mid-15s. Here's the strokes lost versus a 10-handicap for the last two rounds: Putting (continuing with the Indianapolis) has been steady but unspectacular. There's obviously room to get better, but it isn't what's holding me back. My approach game has been less-than-great as of late. What I've found is I tend to have the best control when I'm thinking fade. Even if the ball doesn't actually fade, it reins in the big left miss. Sometimes, with the goal of just swinging freely, I don't consciously think about a fade, and this sometimes leads to the big left miss, especially off the tee. That has lead, in the last couple of rounds, to balls in the left woods or caroming off trees. Just for kicks, here's my first eight rounds of this year versus my first eight rounds last season: I remain encouraged that I'm better in every single category so far, and overall, about 5 strokes gained versus the same rounds last year. Our local men's league begins tomorrow, so I'm excited about that. Playing on a team with my dad this year.

Kirke had himself a round today! We played a quick nine this morning. I've noted before that I've laid out a course for Kirke according to the yardage guidelines from US Kids. Playing the back today, his holes are: 10 110 4 11 140 4 12 120 4 13 130 4 14 110 4 15 110 4 16 40 3 17 100 4 18 200 5 Through the first seven holes, he was two over. He had hit six greens in regulation. He two-putted the first six holes, and then on the par 3, 3-putted. Hole 17 was a bit of a disappointment. It's a short downhill par 4 for him (as it is for the adults). He hit a good drive, but then chunked a wedge before chipping on and two-putting for a bogey. Hole 18 is a tough one for him. It's not just the length: it also climbs uphill the whole way, and there's a ditch that's perfectly positioned to catch any second shot from him. This forces him to lay up, making it hard to reach the green in less than 4. He ended up with a double-bogey. All told, though, he shot a 41 with 19 putts today, and just whooped me by 8 strokes (I had a mess of a round). It was a lot of fun.

That's awesome! Having this time with a son at the course is priceless. Attended a graduation open house this afternoon for a young lady from our church. Her family asked Kirke to bring his clubs, because they wanted to see him hit some balls:

Here's some of the other projects that people have posted here: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aforum.mygolfspy.com+diy

Hmm, Graham McDowell made the cut, and then played so poorly today that, even with pars counting for points, his extra 18 holes brought him back into a tie with my guy who didn't make the cut. It's impressive in its own way:

This is great, and you're in the right place to post this: there's a number of us that seem to love hacking together our own versions of training aids both just because it's fun and to save some bucks. I've had the same interest in replicating thus Pelz trainer, for the exact reasons you mentioned. Great work, and thanks for sharing!

Played 18 with Kirke and my dad this morning. Very mediocre round for me, and Kirke clipped me by a few strokes again. Still waiting for our course to completely dry: a little more rollout would be a help for his drives and mine.

The course is very short. I'm playing from the furthest back tees, at about 6,100 yards.

Played 18 yesterday with a fellow pastor. Summer was fun while it lasted; the weather today is rain and highs around 40°. Had another absolutely generic round for me: an 89, which is bogey golf here. Went about it in a slightly odd way: out in 47, back in in 42. It was my first round using my new EXO Indianapolis S. Took a hole or so to get adjusted to the speed (it's a fairly soft feel), but I'm pleased so far. Nothing great: 34 putts, but I didn't miss more than a couple I should have made, and my putting score is almost exactly at a 10 handicap level. The bigger developments happened off the tee. Not only was I getting close to 10-handicap level in strokes gained, but I had a couple of legitimately good drives: two different 240+ pokes. This is again with virtually no rollout on shots right now; there were a couple of drives today sitting within a foot of their pitch mark. So that's encouraging. The short game continues to leak major amounts of oil. I have a busy few days coming up, including a trip, but when I return, I'm hoping to make chipping and pitching off all kinds of lies a major focus of practice. Handicap held steady at 15.3. As I've stated before, I'm still feeling pretty good. This was my first 18-hole round. This was yet another round in which I didn't lose a ball; it's awesome to have to replace balls because they're worn and not because they've disappeared. And I still expect my short game feels to get dialed in with my rounds.

My advice on that is just to remember how much usable size is hindered on the edges of the green. With an 11' green, with the holes 6" from the walls, spotting the ball a foot in front of the holes, I have an 8' putt in each direction.

My two contributions to this genre: I've now had that surface on my green for a bit more than half a year. My only complaint is that the place where I stand repeatedly to practice my straight putt is a bit worn: there are two obvious footprints there. But since it doesn't interfere with any putting lines, it really doesn't bother me.

First, that was a really fun read. Great post! On the wedges: my first question is, what do you use your wedges for? In my case, I could call my PW and GW my 10 and 11 iron. I almost never use them for anything other than full swings. For that reason, I use the PW and GW (or UW) that are part of my G700 set. My SW and LW are the clubs that I demand versatility from, for hitting a variety of short game shots, so that's where I'm my bag I switch to speciality wedges. So for my part, that's the question I'd present to you too guide your choice.

1. Welcome to the forums! 2. Nice setup! 3. After watching that video, it is clear that you play a sport with which I am not familiar