Mark In Land O Lakes
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Posts posted by Mark In Land O Lakes
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I had one a few years ago, I believe it was the SC200Plus. I got it because it featured a "Practice Mode" in which you could get your swing speed without actually hitting a ball (great for use practicing on my deck).
That feature worked fine, but I had problems on the range. It seemed to have problems picking-up shots I'd hit with my woods and driver. Unfortunately, I don't hit big booming shots; I tend to hit these low line drives with a lot of roll. I finally determined it was wasn't right for me and returned it. The Swing Caddie people were very nice and gave me a refund (even though I was technically just past the return date), so I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them.
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I'm now playing from the forward ("Senior") tees (at age 76). Definitely the right move for me. Even my best drive won't go 200 yards anymore, and I was getting tired of my 2nd shot always being a fairway wood. Now I actually get to hit irons into greens!
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I regripped my clubs, moving to a jumbo grip. I have a bit of arthritis, especially in my right hand, and this makes it easier to grip the club and swing without pain.
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On 2/2/2021 at 9:24 AM, PMookie said:
Well, folks, the folks at the R&A and USGA are dead-set on limiting distance now. Bifurcation is coming.
These folks are SO out-of-touch with the recreational golfer, the 99% of golfers they SUPPOSEDLY serve!
https://www.nationalclubgolfer.com/news/r-and-a-bifurcation-in-golf-reduce-hitting-distances/That's ridiculous. This won't affect recreational golfers at all right now. The goal is to reduce the need for courses to get longer over the next 10-20 years, which increases costs for maintenance. And guess what! If course costs go up, greens fees go up!
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40 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:
There are time when players choose not to play within the rules, you seem to be a case in point. In reality, very few players know every rule, even the most experienced and best players. I'd be a fool to say that players follow every rule all the time, I know that's not true. I know the rules better than most, I've tested at the Expert level each time I've taken the USGA 100-question exam, and I'm sure there are times when I unknowingly do something wrong. Most players try to follow the rules, and will not knowingly break them. That's what Rule 1.2 requires of us:
"Acting with integrity – for example, by following the Rules, applying all penalties, and being honest in all aspects of play"
If you choose to behave otherwise, that's your choice.
That's all well and good, but it didn't address the comment I made. Your original post contained the phrase "play within the rules as much as they can". To me, that implies there are times when they can't play within the rules (not a choice)? That's what I termed interesting.
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5 hours ago, DaveP043 said:
The Rules expect YOU to behave with integrity, without needing an official to follow you around. Many players (I hope MOST players)) do just that, play within the rules as much as they can, with the knowledge that they have.
So there are times when players can't play within the rules? Interesting!
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On 12/15/2022 at 10:55 AM, Jim Shaw said:
Although in theory that point makes sense Mark, most tournament I play in pair players with similar handicap levels. With the real competitive players it probably wouldn't affect their play however with, and this is just an example, if an 11 handicap is playing with a "pretend" 15 handicap which is actually a 20 handicap it could impact the 11 handicaps enjoyment of their round. It is true that lower handicaps can have a "bad day" but there are signs that they are off just that round and it is acceptable. The handicap system, thought not perfect, is another reason this game is great, if any of your group plays in competitions that have some sort of prize they have to have an honest handicap.
The guys I play with don't play in tournaments. If they even keep a handicap (and I'd bet very few do), it probably would be mostly for their own edification. If there are any guys in the league who are really serious about their handicap, they can play without taking advantage of any of the "local rules". After all, it is an honor system!
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1 minute ago, AzRoger said:
Because the USGA states that scores shouldn't be posted if the rules of golf aren't followed. Sec 2.1
So everyone who posts a score had a rules official following them around to make sure then didn't inadvertently violate the rules?
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20 hours ago, AzRoger said:
Nothing wrong if all are in agreement but scores shouldn't be posted in the handicap system if playing that way.
I don't think that's really an issue with this group, as we don't use handicaps (we use a point system)! But even so, why would it even matter? Posting a score lower than perhaps you deserve would lower your handicap. The only benefit of this is to perhaps increase your bragging rights! It would put you at a disadvantage if you then played in a tournament where handicaps were used; so you'd be hurting yourself, not cheating others.
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On 12/9/2022 at 9:31 AM, Jim Shaw said:
I have a question to the thousands of golfers on this site.
what percent of the golf conversation, say, after your round in the clubhouse, involve rules?
Clarification of a rule or rules or "I saw "X"'s ball move and they put it back and didn"t count a stroke" or something like that?
Just curious because as I started playing provincial or national championships, rules conversations are very few and far between.
I'd say about 0%. I play in a league of senior golfers; most in mid-late 60's, but many in 80's and even 90's. You are always allowed to "clean & place", if needed. You are allowed to improve your lie in the fairway, so for example you can move the ball to get it onto a tuff a grass. You are allowed to move your ball if you are in danger of hitting a root or rock. Basically, we want to enjoy the game and not get hurt.
- Jim Shaw, cksurfdude and Stuka44
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53 minutes ago, Kenny B said:
Well, you young whippersnapper... I turned 75 last spring! I have found that by improving the efficiency of my swing, I have gained some yards. I'm hitting the ball further than I did last year, but some of that is from moving up to the Senior tees on my birthday this year!!
Actually I'm used to being called the young guy! In the 4-some I play with, 2 of the guys are in their 80's, and one in his 90's!
- Kenny B, GolfSpy_APH, GolfSpy TCB and 1 other
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10 minutes ago, Kenny B said:
I GOT old years ago; now I'm trying to maintain the speed I have to not lose more yards. My swing changes are coming around and I'm more consistent now, which helps. Hopefully, I can improve even more when my hitting bay is complete; that's my Christmas gift to myself.
I'm fairly happy with my bag, so I don't see much changing there this next year... please don't tempt me!!!
Yeah, I got old years ago also. But at first the loss was gradual, and really only noticeable if I compared it to my distance from a year or two earlier. But I just hit 75, and it seems like now I lose yardage each time I play! (ok, slight exaggeration.) I just need to hang-on for 5 more years so I can move-up to the red tees in the league I play in.
- Kenny B, GolfSpy TCB and tony@CIC
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Simple. I just want back the 20 or so yards I've lost off the tee in the past few years! (Getting old has its penalties.)
- tony@CIC, MDGolfHacker, GolfSpy TCB and 3 others
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Why does everyone have to play from the same tees? That's why you have handicaps, to offset things like that. As long as each player consistently plays from the same tees, the handicap will even things out.
We have a group of about 30 or 40. Our course has 4 sets of tee boxes (blue, white, yellow, and red), and generally where you tee from is based on age. I'm over 70, so I go from the yellow, over 80 goes from the red. Some guys have moved-up earlier than their age would normally dictate because of some physical issues; they may have a slight handicap advantage for a couple of weeks, but that goes away pretty soon.
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16 hours ago, LICC said:
I went out on an empty course once and played two balls on the front 9, a Titleist and a Callaway, and then 2 different balls on the back 9, a different Titleist and a Kirkland. I saw no material difference in how the balls performed. I really think that an amateur golfer, especially anyone higher than a single-digit handicap, wouldn't be able to tell the difference among any of the top-brand balls. Sure, some may spin or check slightly differently (slightly), but you would have to hit it nearly 100% consistently every time to see that small difference. Some may have a slightly different feel off the club. But performance wise, I think people are fooling themselves thinking they can get a big difference from one ball to another.
I totally agree. The higher the handicap, the less likely it is you can notice a difference between different balls. I'm a high handicap, so realistically the distance I can expect to hit a given club has a range of probably +/- 10 yards. It is not possible for me to separate the possible differences in ball performance from just my normal swing "performance".
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1 hour ago, Grasmere5 said:
I did a putting experiment over a full round with a pal a couple weeks ago as follows:
For ALL putts, NO lining up from behind the ball, you could ONLY gauge very briefly from the side then the idea was to then as effortlessly as possible because “it didn’t matter” putt the ball ‘at’ the hole within the classic dustbin lid.
Guess what? Our putts were great, sank some, missed most and NO 3 putts at all so we lost nothing!
IMHO The only putts we should practice are from 10’ max, spend the rest of green practice by chipping/pitching closer to the pin, not to be a ‘better’ putter but to be a ‘fewer’ putter
so don’t change your putter to hit fewer putts, change your technique: pick a better line, hit it a better strength and you will be a better putter.
This basically says that you should change your putting style to fit the putter. I don't agree. I think you need to find a putter that fits your style. There is shaft length, lie angle, the weight of the head, size of the grip, etc. Why try to "make do" with a putter that just doesn't feel right to you? I'm not saying this necessarily requires a "professional" fitting, but it does require that you try a putter before buying. If it doesn't feel right, you will never be happy.
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From my own experience, I think 90% of putter selection is finding a putter that you feel comfortable using. For example, I'd always used a blade putter, as the few times I tried a mallet they seemed like a sledgehammer on a stick.
I bought a new blade putter on-line, never having tried it. That was a mistake. Not that it was a bad putter, and sometimes I putted pretty well with it. But other times I didn't. I think the problem was I had to adapt my putting style to the putter, so I was never fully comfortable with it.
Then one day I happened to be in a pro shop and they had a few putters and I tried a TourEdge HP Series mallet-style. It just seemed to fit my style right away. The shaft length was right for my stance, the lie angle allowed for a more straight-line take-away which I like, and the head didn't seem too heavy. And it was on sale!
Now the ball goes where I aim it. Unfortunately I can't read greens, so my aim sucks; but that's another story. Let me know when they make a putter that'll fix that problem!
- Stuka44 and HikingMike
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I've been using the Cobra 1-length irons for about a year now, and I like them. For me, the best part is that my swing set-up is the same for every iron. I don't have to adjust ball position or how far I am from the ball. It just reduces variability. It is not a cure-all, but I think it has helped. Some clubs I think I hit better; but clubs I had trouble hitting before, I still had trouble hitting. Like my 5-iron, which I eventually replaced with a 5-hybrid; and I'm still lousy out of a greenside bunker with my sand wedge. But I can't blame the clubs for that.
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I've got 14 in mine. I think the biggest advantage is that if I see an empty slot, that's a signal I may have left a club somewhere. Usually I just "mis-filed" it in another slot, but I have left a club just off a green, and it is best to know about this earlier rather than sometime after the round.
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I don't need any more clubs. Actually, I bet I could get by with a lot fewer than 14! I think I could do OK (certainly not much worse than I currently do) with only 8 clubs: Driver, 5W, 4h, 6i, 8i, PW, SW, and Putter!
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On 7/5/2020 at 7:03 AM, WaffleHouseTour said:
I’ve been looking at Wellputt Matt’s in comparison to PuttOuts. Suffice it to say - not cheap...
what do you think of the speed? Also, what’s the back like?do you have to lay it out on something hard like a wood floor? Also, what does it come in? PuttOut comes in a hard tube w a carry bag you can store it in. Anything like that for WellPutt?
thanks.
As Cnosil said, you can roll-up the mat and put it back in its original box. I don't take it anywhere, so I just roll it up (not quite so tightly as it originally came) and just put it in a corner. I don't have the expertise to comment on the speed, other than to say it is faster than my rug. I believe the Stimp reading for the "Start" mat is supposed to be about a 10; for the other mats, I think it is 10 in one direction and 12 in the other? It is rather thin, so I'm guessing you could use it on any surface. Not at all like a practice swing mat which might feel "squishy" underfoot.
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On 4/25/2020 at 6:16 PM, tony@CIC said:
Not sure where you came from - 60 or maybe 56? Why did you try a C3i? And why that particular loft? That would be good info to post here so we could provide some feedback.
From a high handicappers perspective: my feeling is that lessons and practice are more effective than the 'silver bullets' I see advertised on the Golf Channel. Short game requires a ton of practice - most days I'll hit 100+ balls with my 60*. and 56* That coincidentally is now the best part of my game. My wedges start at 44 then progress to 48, 52, 56 and 60. Now if I could only drive and putt as well as I can chip
I tried the c3i because I was having all the issues they said the wedge would help cure! When I ordered it, I didn't realize it came in different lofts. The 65 is the one they market; the others seem to be there so they can sell you additional wedges if you like the first one. If I had known, I might have tried the 60 instead (my wedges now are 45, 50,and 55).
What Is Your Next Planned Golf Equipment Purchase?
in General Equipment Talk
Posted
A golf club crusher.