MNUte

To add onto this, the course you play is another factor that could affect the number of putts. Course design: Are you playing a course that forces you to play a bit more conservative? If so, you might be deliberately landing your ball right off the green or just on but away from the high-risk, high-reward pin placement. Are you playing a course that has more challenging tee shots and fairways but greens that you can be far more aggressive with? If so, you might be landing the ball closer to the pin. Green speed: Are you playing a course with green speeds that are similar to what you normally play? If yes, you might get into your comfort zone sooner than a course where you're not fully used to or comfortable with the pace of your putts. It could also really affect how well you lag putt. Green contours: There are some nasty courses out there that are designed to hurt those that can't read slopes. If you have a course with several heavy-sloping greens or a multi-tier greens, that could affect your putting numbers. This could really affect the number of putts depending on how accurate you are with your irons and wedges (aka, how consistently you can get on the right tier/approach point and avoid the nastier aspects of the putt). As cnosil said, there's just a lot of different factors that affect putting, which makes it hard to just say XX putts per round is great and XX putts per round is crap.

Agreed. Some of the best golfers I know do mixed martial arts or boxing as their primary form of excercise. Lots of lower body power and fast twitch muscle training. And as they've mentioned to me, they know how to sync their motions from their hands to their feet so it's a lot easier for them to just flow with their swing.

Have a clear and consistent plan/routine. Putting and chipping are the areas of my game where I'm the most confident because they're the areas I feel most consistent. I think about my line and plan behind the ball while I'm doing my pre-chip/putt routine and the moment I step over the ball, I stop thinking/worrying and just commit to that plan no matter what. That way, even if I mess it up, I don't get down on myself since I can still say either: 1) I executed the plan perfectly, it was just a dumb plan that time ; 2) The plan was perfect, I just didn't execute it well enough; or 3) "well shoot, that's unlucky."

For No. 4, I think taking too much club also needs to be included. But that can all boil down to understanding where your miss is and thinking about your shot before shooting. E.g., if it's a back to front green with not much behind the green, I think I'd rather take a little less club and run something up there or at worse have a chip/putt up. But if there's water or a bunker complex short and no danger long, taking more club makes sense. Which blends into No. 3. Knowing the yardage to both your "miss" and "make" points helps with confidence a lot. If I know my make point is 135, but I have only 5 yards of green to work with behind that and 15 yards of green in front of it, I might be looking at my 125 club and rolling it up there.

That sounds like a great drill for the mental practice as well. The closer you get to the end the more the pressure mounts and the more room you have to get into your own head and "create" the miss. I'll have to try it out!

That's been an interesting point I've heard from friends and playing partners over the year. Some say that they're fine spending the first few rounds of a season getting used to that year's ball. Others say that they really wish the companies would offer "legacy" or "classic" iterations of balls so that they can keep playing the style of ball they love and are used to.

I love Danny because he definitely gets me thinking outside of the box. I wouldn't say to take everything he says as gospel, but to be open to some of the drills, ideas and concepts he presents. For example, one of his big schticks that resonates with me and has helped my game is to look at other sports or motions we're familiar with. He uses soccer balls, tennis rackets, medicine balls, etc depending on the person. Those videos have definitely helped me get better with keeping my upper and lower body connected and with understanding rotation.

Hey everyone! Going out of order with the answers since it flows better in my messed-up head! I'm Brian from Salt Lake City, Utah. I'm an 18 handicapper who's currently playing Cleveland CBX Launcher irons. I chose the King Forged Tec X irons over the Forged X irons because having the extra 45 grams of tungsten spread all across bottom should provide additional forgiveness and the ability to get more launch from my shots. As a higher handicapper and one who struggles launching the ball higher in the air at times, especially with my longer irons, the additional weight provides greater confidence standing over the ball. As for what I'd hope to get out of these clubs performance-wise, I'm looking for forgiveness and as consistent of performance as possible regardless where on the face I strike the ball. In the longer irons, I'd love the ability to have a higher ball flight. Furthermore, I'd love for that to not come at the expense of losing control and consistency in my shorter irons. Overall, these clubs look like they could be a wonderful fit for the needs of my game. If I'm lucky enough to receive these clubs, I'd have an absolute blast testing and reviewing them and participating in discussions on the forum about my experiences. Good luck everyone!

Similar approach for me. Lock onto five or fewer single words or thoughts for to make a sequence so that you channel the focus into those words/thoughts rather than anything else. Case in point, mine are "Cowboy. Grip. Tempo." Cowboy helping to remind me of my stance, grip helping to remind me not to white-knuckle the grip, and tempo reminding me not to kill it. Once I say tempo, I just breathe through my backswing, just focusing on the breath. That process helps eliminate the self-talk and doubts for me by channeling it.

Kirkland Sig V2s. I'm not a good enough golfer to justify spending more than a dollar per ball and the fact that I don't care about losing a ball takes so much pressure off of me during my swing. Plus, the best part of my game is 115 yards and in, so I like having a bit more spinny of a ball that I can work and control.

I have an issue with someone who's inclined to cheat during a buddies game with a fairly small buy in. If you can't be honest with your buddies and have to cheat when you're with them just to win a few bucks, that's not necessarily a person I'd want to keep playing with.

It also comes down to what you're looking to get out of the club. You say driving/utility iron. I know plenty of people who use longer/shorter clubs for their tee clubs depending on if they want a little more club speed, control, etc.

I'd say aspects of my swing are intuitive and natural, especially with my wedges. That includes a fairly square stance, accelerating through my downswing, weight transition etc. It's why I use baseball swings as part of my warmups. However, there are aspects that feel so freaking awkward that I need to tell myself to remember them before my round. I think it just comes down to each person and their respective backgrounds.

Hmm, depends on how well you'd handle their background check, asset check, and every other check they'd be doing.

Beautiful course! More importantly, Painted Valley has their yardage card on the course's website for free. Print it out and make your plan in advance!! Get an idea of where your safe misses are, generally what area you'd like your tee shot to be in, your second shot, etc. That way, you can be confident in your plan going into each and have a reset in case a hole doesn't go great. Case in point, look at hole 1 from the whites: Downhill 548 yard par 5. Clearing the creek shouldn't be an issue for you (183 to clear it from the whites), but the tee shot should be aiming to the left given the slope flowing left to right and the bunkers and creek on the right. Even with your distance and the downhill, this is probably a three shot to the green hole. There's a nice bit of open room from about 140 in, so you should have your pick of your third shot in. Being on the left side of the fairway gives you the best angle into the green. The green is 14 yards wide and 34 yards long with both sides sloping inwards and then back to front. Bunkers on either side of the green and short right. So, short left of the green is an ok miss for most pins and gives you an uphill put. Long right is also ok, although not great. With all of that info, you get a good idea of what you're looking for. You don't have to try to overcook a driver/3wood combo because you're likely not on in 2 anyways. And the best room for a third shot in is in that 140 to 70 yard range, so you should decide what you want as your third shot in and what combo of tee club and second shot give you that. If your GW is still 125, you can see where you want your ideal third shot to be (around the 123 marker on the yardage book), and you get to decide how you want to split up your first two shots to get the 420 yards up to that point (e.g. 240 yard 3W off the tee and 180 yard 7i per your yardages from last year). Then on play day, it's as simple as having your ideal plan summarized on each page. For hole 1: 3w -> 7i -> GW, stay left, short left miss. And of course, being comfortable adapting when things don't go according to the ideal plan.