Alf. S

I've travel all over the world mostly with my trusty Titleist travel bag and never had any issue. I like the tip of unscrewing your driver head and putting in the bag. I normally wrap the woods/hybrids in a towel and secure them with the rain cover. Can't really comment on US airlines the only time I took my clubs to the states was with BA to San Diego and had no problems.

Played yesterday and couldn't better my 82, came in with an 85. You have days when you get no breaks and this was it. Hardly hit a bad shot all day. Day summed up by my double at 2. Drove the ball left but onto the 16th fairway which is the usual bail out, leaving me 150yds front 170yds back to the green, 8i (150yd club), stripe it straight at the pin, get there to find I'm in a clumpy lie thru the back. Chip back runs 12' past but leaves me up against step at the front of the green with no backswing. contrive to move the ball 6', then lip out putt for double. 11th hit the bank of the green on the full ball ends up in deep rough => double. 13th ball pitches on the full on down slope at the front of the green runs thru the green again into deep rough => double. Lipped out about 8 putts. The course also seems to be suffering from dog walkers letting their dogs play in the bunkers, we have right to roam in Scotland meaning people can walk across the course. was in a paw print at 15 which I wasn't happy about => another double.

At my home course, 13 of 18. The only par 4/5 I don’t hit it is the 8th which is a dog leg par 4 with fairway end at about 220. Usually hit anything from 5i to 3w depending on wind. I’m not keen on courses that are over protected. Driving is a skill and if you hit a good drive you shouldn’t be punished. Our 13th has a bunker at 220yds off the tee on the right hand side, the fairway slopes from left to right, you hit the middle of the fairway, pitches on the downslope and catches the bunker.

Date 10/03/2024 Course Name West Lothian Golf Club Gross Score 82 Course Rating 69.7 Course Slope 123 Gross Strokes over/under par 11 Birdies or better 4 Longest Drive 0 A sprint round in under 3 hours this evening, finishing just as the sunset. With us trying to get round before sunset meant we didn't hang around looking for balls or taking our time over putts. Lost 2 balls both resulting in triples which really killed the round. My last competition of the season on Saturday, hoping for a good finish.

I'm afraid I'm out, can't do the 14th to the 20th away in Italy on vacation.

Date 09/25/2024 Course Name West Lothian Golf Club Gross Score 76 Course Rating 69.7 Course Slope 123 Gross Strokes over/under par 5 Birdies or better 7 Longest Drive 0

I’m away most of the week so with no post button here is my score from yesterday. gross = 76 strokes o/u = 5 rating = 69.7 slope = 123 narrative Last 2 rounds showing me either my fitness is causing me issues or I can’t play the last 4 holes on the course. Saturday +4 after 13 and finished +10. Yesterday +2 after 14 finished +5

Hi Ben There is no "Post Score" radio button to bring up the table to enter your score?

If you're getting back into the game and getting lessons I would hold off on the 14th club at the moment. I would expect your swing might change thru the next few months and the distances you hit with your new clubs change. Once things have settled down get gapped on you clubs, for me I look for 10 yds difference between clubs for a full shot all the way from my 3w =210yds to my 52=110yds. Once gapped the pro should be able to advise what to do to fill the gaps. This could include changing the loft on some of your current set, a 2° difference on an iron can mean 5yds difference on carry. If you're thinking about a LW. I find the lob wedge needs a bit of practise to get use to it and when I initially start to use it I'm always leaving chips short, most of the time I prefer opening the face of the 56° that has more bounce. Don't be afraid to leave clubs out the bag that you don't get on with and are costing you strokes. It is so easy to take a yardage, calculate that it is say your 3h distance that you always slice and you automatically take out the bag and end up putting it in trouble. I actually have 17 clubs that I swap around depending on the time of year and course/weather conditions. Normal Setup Driver 3w 3h 4h 5i-AW 52° and 56° Wedges Putter Additional Clubs 3i and 4i 60 Wedge Most popular change is 3h for 60° wedge and 3h and 4h for 3i and 4i.

Another round this evening no improvement 82 (+11). Nothing gelled on the way out and was +9 at the turn, started back par, birdie, birdie only for my recovery to come to a grinding halt with a double at 13. Started at 4pm and finished at 7:15pm just as the sun was setting, this is our usual tee time on Thursday and looks like we'll start to struggle next week to get 18 holes in.

I try to get one at every course I play. The top is the frame inn my office with some of the early course I played and the bottom is one I mounted on the wall in the garage. When I buy one I tend to use it for a few weeks and then it goes on the board. My favourite is probably Castle Stuart

81 today so no post. -1 through 5, sloppy bogey at 6, then crashed to a triple at 8, finished double, bogey, bogey, par. With the start I thought I was on for something special.

For those of you that have followed my ups and downs over the last year then today I actually felt today that my swing is back to where it was over a year ago. In July last year I was blue lighted to hospital just as Brain Harman started his final round at The Open. I had a blocked bile duct and had suffered an Acute Kidney Injury. After a week of antibiotics and some minor surgery I was released after 8 days. For the next 6 months I suffered from all sorts of stomach related issues. This meant my golf dropped from playing 3 to 4 times a week to nothing for 2 months then gradually getting back into it. With unusually bad weather over the winter it also made it difficult when I was fit to get out and play. Anyway the season has been a bit hit and miss, but even my good rounds have been a struggle and I have had no consistency and have been losing distance . Over the last few weeks I've felt my fitness has been improving and I've been tweaking my setup. I'm beginning to play to my handicap last few rounds were 81, 78, 79, 80. Today I shot my best round for 3 years 75 (+4), I felt comfortable and in control of my shots, I'm hoping this is the start of a good end to the season.

Date 09/16/2024 Course Name West Lothian Golf Club Gross Score 75 Course Rating 69.7 Course Slope 123 Gross Strokes over/under par 4 Birdies or better 8 Longest Drive 258 No score card Skycaddie subscription needs renewed. Best score of the season so far for me today. Couple of blemishes with 2 doubles on 12 and 16. But had 4 good birdies. Hitting my short irons well and putting better than recently.

Good point, in this case it could have saved me at least a couple of strokes, the 2 fairway bunker shots were just me being greedy and trying to go for the green when too near the lip. The club have just put in a new practise bunker and not made a good job of it, it has loads of sand but you can quite easily hit the bunker liner and it bears little to no resemblance to the on course bunkers which tend to be hard packed with a thin layer of sand on top. What courses you playing?

Played this evening but couldn't beat my 78 from Monday, came in with a respectable 81. Score pretty much ruined by 3 doubles 4th pull my approach, leaving me with a chip to the left of the greenside bunker, tried to be too cute and ended up in the bunker. Out and 2 putts for a 7 9th drove into fair bunker off the tee, 150 yds in and thought I could make it with a 7i, hit the face and landed in the next fairway bunker, hit the face with my next shot, hit the green in 4 and 2 putts for a 6. 11th hit a greenside bunker, out and 3 putted for a 5. When I analyse this the first 2 were mental errors, with a little bit of thought and care I should have been at worse bogey or even par. I also highlights how bad I am out of bunkers, I never really practise out of bunkers so maybe that is something else I should look at.

Date 09/09/2024 Course Name West Lothian Golf Club Gross Score 78 Course Rating 69.7 Course Slope 123 Gross Strokes over/under par 7 Birdies or better 5 Longest Drive 265 Back out today. Half way round changed my setup a little on the 8th, closing my stance, felt more stable and hitting the ball better. 3 great iron shots on 12, 14 and 15 setting up good birdie chances on 2 of them. Also putting better 27 putts with at least 3 left short when tracking at the hole.

Just one other thought, my garage gets called Alf's Golf Shop apart from clubs there are spare bags, 12 pairs of shoes, couple of golf trolleys, tool box for grips, boxes of hats, towels, head covers, outdoor golf clothes rack,.... I thought about mounting display cases on the wall that has a history of my putters and drivers. The only problem is I would have to go back and buy back clubs to fill the cases. I have photos of most of the clubs of the last 20 years. Thoughts?

I have 2 adult sons who are not regular golfers but "their" clubs are in my garage, when I buy a new club/clubs they usually get the old clubs and then their older clubs are traded in. But what really happens is I have 3 sets of clubs in the garage that they occasional take a loan of!!

Last couple of weeks I've mentally been struggling, out on the course I've had no concentration and getting frustrated at every bad shot, ending up going thru the motions wanting to walk off the course and not finish the round. Last Sunday I struggled round in 87 then on Thursday I was playing in a betterball and it was 93. Without the focus every part of the game was broken. But on Saturday felt a bit better more focused, mood lighter and came back to my normal level still left a few shots out there but at least didn't want to give the game up.

Date 09/07/2024 Course Name West Lothian Golf Club Gross Score 79 Course Rating 69.7 Course Slope 123 Gross Strokes over/under par 8 Birdies or better 5 Longest Drive 240 After a pretty miserable week playing where nothing was working and my head wasn't in the game, ended up with a decent score on Saturday. Solid round, 2 poor drives on 8 and 16 cost me doubles and a 3 putt bogey on 6 were the only lowlights. +3 on the back 9 is pretty much the best score I've hit on it this year. All I need to do next week is put 2 good nines together.

If you think TV sport is now about fairness then I'm afraid you're mistaken. It is all about money and trying to keep sponsors/money men happy. The FedEx cup is exactly that, how can they keep interest alive up until the last tournament. With 6 wins and world number one then numerically we know who should win. Come Sunday if Scottie stumbles you could have any of 10 players could win it. Adam Scott winning, I love the guy but!!! I use to watch Formula 1 week in, week out until 2021. In the last race of the season, Lewis Hamilton was coasting to victory in the season ending Adu Dhabi Grand Prix and winning the championship. There was an accident with 5 laps to go with a Safety Car put out, once the accident was cleared the rules were that the race would finish with a boring procession. But money talked the back markers were cleared out the way to let Verstapen who had just changed his tyres to race against a tyre stricken Hamilton to win the race and the championship. The Race Director said "That's racing" but was subsequently sacked by the FIA and no further action taken. Why was it done, IMO because the sponsored wanted an exciting end to their showcase race. BTW if PIF get into the PGA Tour, the Tour Championship will probably end up being played in Abu Dhabi or Dubai!!

Date 08/28/2024 Course Name West Lothian Golf Club Gross Score 78 Course Rating 69.7 Course Slope 123 Gross Strokes over/under par 7 Birdies or better 4 Longest Drive 275 Wind down to 10 - 15 mph and greens soft with the heavy rain recently. Couple of strokes better than Monday but should have been 3 or 4 strokes better. After 2 or 3 rounds of ~28 putts, today I started hitting greens in regulation and can't hole out from anywhere outside 3' for 33 putts.

I know what you mean I played a bucket list course last Thursday at Machrihanish and shot 93 of h/c of 8. Found it really tough and ended up in the local distillery ending with a few hafs of Springbank

It maybe just me but I like reading about the bad rounds more than the good. I think at the moment I can empathise more. Thing can only get better.