CarlH

I've found that, in golf, as soon as you say "I got it!", you don't.

Water! After the round, the loser buys the Henry Weinhard's Root Beer!

....hard to turn down a hot dog at the turn!

Dave, I understand what you're saying. If one doesn't have reasonable control of distance when putting, they're going to leave it short or go long regardless of whether the target is 4.25 inch circle or a 3 foot circle....this is exactly why I spend a lot of my putting practice focusing solely on distance control and not how many times I can putt a ball into a hole standing in the same spot like I see so many recreational players do. Does this mean that I will always hit my putt at the correct speed? Of course not. I'm still focusing on hitting the ball the correct distance as you are with your 10% rule or someone putting using the 3 foot radius concept. Generally, I have pretty good control and end up with a reasonable next putt. Sometimes I hit it too soft or too hard and I walk away with that 3 putt. So do those that putt to a 3 foot circle. For me (and I emphasize "for me"), narrowing my focus to a smaller point helps me focus better than just having a general area to finish. When I practice putting, I choose to putt to hit a tee peg. When I am chipping, I pick out a spot where I'd like the ball to land and focus on that. When I stand on the tee box or am hitting to the green, I choose a landing area rather than accepting the entire fairway or the entire green as my acceptable place to land. I realize that I'm not going to hit those points every time, or even a small percentage of times. However, my choosing a smaller place to focus, I am able to increase my percentage of the end result being reasonably close to what I was looking to achieve. Should you expect to make every putt? No, but focusing to try to make every putt is very reasonable (again, to me). The only putt that I expect to make EVERY time is the one where my opponent said "that's good"!!!!

A good mental exercise to help NOT focus on the entire round is to treat every 3 holes as a game. Your goal would be to shoot 13 or better on 3 holes. At the end of the 3 holes, you forget about the last 3, and play the next 3 holes with the same goal. Repeat for the entire 6 groups of 3 holes. Again, don't worry if you don't shoot well on 3 holes, move on to the next 3 and only think about those 3 holes. BTW, the reason that I chose 13 as your target for each group of 3 is that if you achieve an average of 13 strokes for each group of 3 holes (maybe 11 on one group, 15 on another and so on, but it averages out as 13/group), you will shoot 79. This will help you narrow your focus to a smaller range. Try it. The hard part is getting a bad group out of your head, but that's the same as when we take a big number on a hole and can't shake it from our thoughts.

Years ago, at the Yellowstone Country Club, the Head Pro's daughter was a player on the LPGA tour, but didn't earn enough each year to make it a sound career decision, so she became an assistant pro at the club. Anyway, I complained to her that, no matter what I did, I couldn't break 80 on the course. Her answer was pretty simple. She asked me what I was thinking about on hole 15. Of course, my answer was "breaking 80". She said to stop that! The next day after that advice (probably just a coincidence, but who knows....), I shot a 78. Point is, try hard not to focus on the round as a whole and focus on the shot you're getting ready to hit. I know! Easier said than done! Other thoughts....why do you feel the wheels are coming off? Are you tired? Lose focus? Get nervous about shooting lower than normal? Lots of reasons can be mentally or physically holding you back and that may be worth taking a hard look at yourself.

81 today. Couldn't buy a birdie all day, but the bad part was double bogeying the last hole for that 81! (sigh)

The only time I putt to a 3 foot circle is when I'm practicing putting on the range. On the course, even though I know it's unrealistic, I'm trying to hole every putt and every chip. Distance control is something that I work on, so I focus on how far I want to hit it and then choose my starting line.

Membership has its privileges.

Played one of our muni courses today -- one that I hadn't played for several years -- Stone Ridge Golf Course in Eagle Point. It is one of the prettier layouts in the valley, but unfortunately financial difficulties always left the course with much to be desired -- slow greens, patchy fairways, and typical muni conditions. It's now under new management and they're trying to make improvements. Unfortunately, we are in bad need of rain here and the heat's been very high for several weeks now. All of the courses in our area are really putting the water to the fairways and greens to keep from losing them. So, the course was soft and wet, but the greens rolled well. I shot a 78, which easily could have been 3 or 4 strokes better, having missed a couple of makable putts. Anywho..... was a fun day with my regular playing partner. We played as a twosome and the course was relatively smooth sailing at the time we teed off. Ran into one group of 6, who quickly let us play through. Here I am at the "selfie spot" where you can post the selfie for a chance to win a free round. It's a 132 yard par 3. The pin and my tee shot are directly behind me. Missed the 15 foot putt, but tapped in for the easy par.

Played a couple's Chapman with a friend's wife today (he was out of town) .... we had previously played well together winning 1st net. Today, not so much. But, we had fun!

Struggled with my short wedge shots today (despite having just worked on that area a couple of days ago). Also had some wayward shots causing me to punch out to get back in position. Anyway....shot an 83 today. Hit my second shot OB on our opening hole (par 5) and managed to get a bogey, then parred the next two holes and thought it'd be a good day .... that's when the trouble set in . 44 on the front, 39 on the back. 2 doubles, no birdies.

The only pushback you get from me is singling out the seniors for being creepy. Being in the same age group doesn't make it any better. It's just plain wrong, regardless. Just don't do it!

Worked about 45 minutes with short pitch/chips on the practice green. The green has 2 pins and I would alternate between the pins from various locations (5-20 yards from fringe) and alternating between my 52,56,60 degree wedges. I'd also vary between high, low, and med trajectory shots with each club.

Oh! oops!

This generally happens when I am swinging too hard with the short irons/wedges. I've found that I'm much more accurate with distance and direction using more club at 1/2 and 3/4 swings -- additionally, the ball contact is much crisper and I get great spin control with that shot. I spend a lot of time at a practice hole at our club working on partial shots with everything from the LW to PW .... I rarely hit a full LW, SW, or AW anymore.

2 bad holes today. Took a double on a par 5 and a triple on a par 4 on the back 9. Otherwise played decent golf ... 37/43 (80 adjusted to 79 for posting). One birdie on the front.

Interesting read. I recently replaced my tour velvet with extra wraps on the low hand with MCC +4 grips. Really prefer the +4 approach over building up with tape. Easier to install overall and the feel is superior (for me).

You're way too young to be the least bit concerned about that one. I started playing later in life (submarine duty got in the way for 20 years), so my experience will differ from those who started at younger ages. However, I'm getting ready to turn 70 in September and, although I've lost my distance off the tee, I'm still playing "club" competitive golf. My handicap never got real low, but I've been a single digit player for the last 20 years (generally around 8ish). I think I noticed significant distance loses around the age of 64, but that was also after 2 total knee replacements. I putt better now than I did 10 years ago and I definitely chip better. I'm taking a series of lessons with a swing coach and I'm seeing good improvements. I play with several members over 70 who still play great golf. My 78 year old playing partner playes to a 6 handicap. Our frequent club champion just turned 65 and has shot his age or better a number of times and carries a +1 handicap. Very few of the younger guys give him a run for his money. Point is: Just enjoy your time on the course and enjoy the game and don't sweat getting older. Embrace it!

Sorry. I know how difficult these times are! Golf was the last thing on your mind!

I didn't "dislike" the driver....just didn't see it as any better than my current driver.

I liked the irons quite a bit. I wasn't particularly enamored with the Driver, fairway woods, or hybrids. People raved about the Sugar Daddy wedges, but I didn't find them significantly superior to any other wedges that I've hit, but to be fair, I only hit them on the range and not on a green which would be a better indicator. Never tried any of their putters.

Half of our foursome bailed today, so we played a leisurely round as a twosome. After back to back birdies on 15 and 16, I take a double on 17 and bogey 18 to finish at 4 over, 76 (38/38). The practice session that I did earlier in the week with my driver paid off as I drove the ball fairly well today.

Seems to be a common theme. In my own progress, I recognized that I'm striking the ball better and making fewer really errant swings. With cleaner ball striking and improved short game, the numbers still don't reflect that improvement (yet). I know it's closer to where I want to be and I know that if I continue to work on it, the scores will follow.

Congratulations!!!