CarlH

Since I've been struggling with solid contact with my driver, I went to the range today with only my driver. Focused on all my past lessons from my coach -- takeaway, ensuring that I keep the club out in front of me rather than letting it get behind me and too flat, good turn with both hips and shoulders, allowing bowing of the lead hand at the top, awareness of pressure points of my feet throughout the swing, particularly at setup, at the top and transition, and good hip rotation on the through swing. I keenly focused on one dimple near the lower-rear quadrant of the ball through contact -- this one point seemed to help me the most. I also found choking up about an inch on the grip helped me with better center contacts. By the end of the session, I was striping the ball cleanly with a small baby draw fairly center to my intended target. Now, I won't be playing until Wednesday, but I hope to get out for at least another session before then and "hopefully" I can carry my improvements to the course with me. (Trust your swing, Carl!!!!)

Struggled with the driver and putting was off today, leading to an 82. Generally pleased with my iron and wedge play, but then to miss a short putt, lipping our or burning the edge all day long. One OB off the tee box led to a double on a par 5. Too many bogies and only one birdie. On the plus side, my partner and I won the match.

So, I'm curious. What do you think is the appropriate reward that the golf course should give you? Any differences between a private club member, a muni player, or a resort guest?

Nope! Why would the course owe you anything? At best, report it to the local paper, but beyond that, no. I belong to a private club and we have an "insurance pool" for when we get a hole in one....the bar tab is on you and the insurance is meant to cover it. We pay $2 for every HIO on our monthly bill to cover the insurance. I had a hole in one a couple years back, received more from the pool than it cost me in the bar, and got my name in the paper. Anything beyond that, would have been on me to initiate...(i.e. notify associations, groups, club/ball manufacturer etc).

I three putted the first green and it didn't get much better for the remaining 17 holes. Just out of sync, not really focused, and the results show. Shot an 85 that felt more like a 95. Mostly just mental errors, although I was really struggling with ball contact today. Although our round was under 4 hours, it felt longer because we were waiting on an incredibly slow 3-some in front of us who seem oblivious that anyone else was on the course.

About 18 years ago, I bought a bag of 500 long tees because my club gave out free tees, but they were the shorter tees. Shortly after ordering the tees, the club switched to giving out longer tees. The bag is still unopened in my golf cabinet.

Well, spent 45 minutes with the PXG rep, hitting drivers, fairway woods, and hybrids. I didn't care for the hybrids, at all and hit the fairway wood (5&7) much better than the hybrid. After testing with various heads, weights, and shafts, we narrowed it down to what worked best for me -- but, end result was that I wasn't blown away by improvement over my Ping 400Max. Even with the substantial discount with the Heroes pricing, I couldn't justify a purchase. I'll keep the Ping in my bag until I find something better, which may or may not happen.

Pretty consistent numbers.

The Apex CF-19 are players-distance irons and pretty darn forgiving on their own. Those are the irons that I play and they're hands down far better than the Mizuno JPX 850s that I played before them. Not sure going to a "more forgiving" iron is really going to answer your issues. If you're shooting in the mid 80s, you're playing pretty well but likely have an issue with your setup, backswing, or other easily fixed trait. Spend a couple of sessions with your local pro to find a more consistent swing. I'm guessing that you can resolve it by looking at the cause of the mishits.

I thought I read somewhere that optimum launch angles for wedges were around 30 for consistent spin and distance control. Have you seen anything along that line?

PXG rep will be at our club tomorrow and I've set up an appointment with him. Primarily looking for a new driver, but also thinking fairway woods/hybrids could be worth consideration. As a veteran, I'm eligible for the Heroes prices anytime.

Another day at the chipping range .... practiced crisp shots with the 60*, alternating between 2 possible flags. Distance varied between 15 feet to 15 yards.

Circle 15 golf sells a humidor for gloves that seems to work fairly well for one glove at a time....It's a bit cumbersome due to the size of the box, but it does fit in your bag. Not sure it's the best solution. For years I played without a glove, but went back to one when I went for a full bag fitting at CC 2 years ago. Been wearing one since. Not as humid here in Oregon, so it's not as bad as what you describe. I do know that putting a glove in a bag pocket after wearing will ruin a glove quicker than it should.

Normally, I'm in a funk ... sometimes, the stars align and my game clicks. Then, back to the funk. :).

That's pretty much how I putt, pitch, and chip .... I process how far I want to hit it and just go with it. Not unlike tossing a ball to the target. I try not to think about it too much. The more I get mechanical in any aspect, the more likely my hands/arms do their own thing -- and normally not what I visualized. With putting, once I've determined my line, I just "feel" how hard I have to hit it to get it to the point that I'm seeing. I'll take a couple of practice strokes, with both putter and wedge, just get the feel of what I want to execute. Like you said, difficult to explain other than the word "feel".

Our Member-Guest is this weekend and I'm not playing, so I took the opportunity to go to one of our practice holes with my 52,56, and 60 degree wedges and hit from 60, 50, and 25 yards and then did some closer chipping, particularly short-sided shots with little green to the flag (this is my nemesis shot). Got in about 45 minutes of decent wedge work. I use a shag-tube that holds 23 balls and it's filled with Snell MTB Red balls -- thinking about replacing those with MTB-X (which is my usual golf ball I play)

For me, I noticed some distance loss with the Pro-V1 when compared to the MTB-X. I've never played the Pro-V1X on a consistent basis, but I think it would compare to the MTB-X closer. In any case, I still enjoy playing the MTB-X. I buy them 5 dozen at a time and when I open the last dozen, I order another 5 dozen.

I got my first (and only one) after decades of play six weeks after knee replacement. I'm not saying that you need to get a knee replaced, but.... LOL. Seriously, I know a lot of really good players that never had a hole in one (including PGA club pros, and then there's the 30 handicap players that have had 5 or more. Several years back, I witnessed a hole in one from a 24 handicapper that rattled it off the trees like a pinball wizard before it landed on the green and rolled in the hole for his ace. He didn't even see it happen, but I did. Too funny!

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt!

42/42 on a day that I just seemed to struggle making solid contact with my irons consistently. Although I did hit some very nice iron shots, I had several occasions where I hit them fat. As poorly as I felt that I played, the other 2 playing alongside me struggled even more. We played 9s for a root beer after the round. I didn't have to buy!

I only have the Putt Out target. The perfect putt at the perfect speed will actually come to rest in the hole/cutout on the upslope. Good luck with that. I've done it a couple of times, but I'm happy just finding the target frequently and less concerned with getting it to stop in the hole. I keep it in my bag and pull it out on the practice putting range when I want to practice. I wish I had bought the mirror, as I often allow my eyes to get too far out and have to consciously keep myself in check.

Kind of a "meh" day. 40 on the front (started off with a double on the opening hole) and 41 on the back (again with an opening double). I was striking the ball okay, but my partial shots felt jerky and wasn't making crisp contact, flubbing several pitches. No birdies, despite having several opportunities. Played before the high heat hit. Think it was about 95 when we finished about 1:30.

Put your money on a good putter. You'll hit it more than any other club in your bag. A good putter isn't going to become obsolete.

Just ordered a set of Golf Pride MCC Plus 4 in midsize, plus a couple of extras. Ordered them in gray/red.

It's hard to beat in-person lessons. Video lessons work, but the coach only has that one look. Sure he can pick out the flaws easily enough, but he can't give you instant feedback and check to see how you're executing the change. Keep up the good work!!!!