[International]

21 hours ago, Svengineer said:

My most unusual aspect on the course is that I use a long two grip side saddle putter that I putt with a pendulum motion so I am really good at knocking in short putts because I do not ever hit the ball off the line I pick, so that usually causes some interesting discussions, and almost always purchase advice near the end of the round.

Welcome, Sveinn! Would you care to elaborate a bit on your putting? I've actually just begun playing around with different styles after putting Spieth-style (cross-handed, sharp takeaway) for five years.

[International]

Thank you! Nice to hear you've been to Finland. Late summer tends to be the best time for golf here. Many of the courses take a long time to recover after winter since a lot of the grass dies and frosty spring nights with no snow shielding can make things worse. Drop me a line if you ever get the chance to come and need some playing company!

[International]

Greetings from icy Finland!

I jumped the gun in the Shafts board before introducing myself. But better do it later than not at all, right?  

My love affair with the game began in 2013, when a friend managed to talk me into taking a green card course. The course was couple of hours of group instruction on three evenings. After the first one, I went straight to the pro shop and bought a beginners set. I think it was Ben Sayers M15 in blue. For a few years, I enjoyed the game immensely without much regard to score, technique or course management.

Realizing that I wasn't really going anywhere, especially technique-wise, I delved into Youtube golf channels and took a few lessons. I started to focus towards short game, mostly because I found I could get the easiest gains near the greens. My long game was mostly held together thanks to the Aeroburner hybrid I still carry around, and humbly accommodating for almost as much slice as distance when lining up my shots.

The Ben Sayers irons gave way to a set graphite-shafted game improvement Callaways which managed to stay in the bag for two years. However, I always graved for the feeling of the steel shaft, and eventually switched to steel-shafted Fly-Z set. They were much nicer to hit, although I had yet to really understand how the golf swing works and how to produce favorable impact conditions. And I never did, until one March (bear in mind, here in Finland we get to play from April/May to maybe October) I spotted a set of new Mizuno MP-54's for half the price at my local golf store. I hit three shots indoors with the seven iron and put the clubs in my bag.

The MP's changed the way I hit the ball overnight. No longer did I have the bravery to just whack at the ball as hard as I thought I could. I had to concentrate, relax, control the club and understand what I was trying to do. For me, these irons were the necessary wake-up call to get my head around the golf swing and the impact. Lacking natural talent at the game, dropping my handicap from 38 to 16 was huge for me. I attribute me still playing golf today to these irons. I will play lots of other sets in the years to come, but I will never part with my MP-54's and they will never gather dust.

As I said earlier, we get to play roughly 6 or 7 months around summer in Finland. This makes winter a natural time for making changes and training. Now, I have always been one to choose playing over training anytime. Last autumn was a magical time for me, but mostly because I played enough to have some rounds where I consistently hit quality iron shots. I shot a new personal best of 89 only to best myself the day after with an 88. Coincidentally, I was born in -88. (This was on a par 73 course, FWIW.)

The newfound iron strike and dropping scores have lead me to finally embrace training; this winter I've started strength training in the gym three times a week and hitting the indoors range as often. Swinging now feels effortless and powerful and I'm set to continue on this regime until the snow melts and grass grows. My goal is to gain as much speed as possible before summer and then learn to control the curve once we can hit balls outdoors and actually see how it flies.

So that's how I've ended up here. Let me know what you think, if that wasn't too long. I sure like writing...

To finish up, here's me (right) with my playing buddy in a memorial scramble, and another picture of my club (Espoo Ringside Golf) at just a magical sunrise last October.

Go Low!