The Good Morning Thread

[berkeleybob]

Morn all!

I’m traveling back today. Yesterday, I made time to play my old home course. Here’s the first hole.

It’s the most intimidating par 4 I’ve ever played, especially on a Saturday when folks are waiting to be called to the tee box. It’s a laugh-or-cry kind of hole for me. The third hole is the payoff.

I know I’ve talked about this place many times here, but yesterday I got lucky with the weather. It’s one of my favorite places on earth. I don’t know why—it’s also filled with some of my worst golfing nightmares.

Have great day!

[Cfhandyman]

7 hours ago, ronnieg said:

I am going on a journey. I'm a 4 hcp and my goal is to shoot under par at my home course. I've been close with my last couple rounds but stumbled down the last few holes. So my plan is to start from the front tees tomorrow and play those tees until I shoot under par. Then move back to the next tee and stay there until i break par. Repeating until I break par at the tips where I normally am. The theory is to be comfortable shooting low and being under par. I play 3-4 times a week so I'm hoping this doesn't take a long time. Thoughts on this plan? I'm also open to any other suggestions to help with the final push of breaking par. 

I highly recommend this and playing from different tee boxes. I do it all the time. You get a much different view of the course playing from different tee boxes as well as using different clubs in your bag allowing you to work on different parts of your game. It also causes you to rethink how you play different holes. Your game will improve as a result and you have fun while doing it. 

[ZJeb67]

Good morning All

At the office for an unseasonably warm February morn.  I'd rather be golfing

[David Leighton Reid]

Good morning, golfers!  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Go Chiefs!
 

 

Edited February 9 by David Leighton Reid

[Shrek74]

Good morning Spies, and TGIF!

Been a crazy last 24 hours with driving down to ATL and getting all set up for this weekend's activities. As much as I respect the truckers out there hauling around our GDP every day, please be better about passing. Ugh.

Everyone say some prayers our upgrade goes well this weekend. It's been a chore the last 2 upgrades as they haven't gone remotely to plan taking 2x longer than they should have. Maybe some good Spy Juju will help.

Have a fantastic weekend spies.

[ejgaudette]

53 minutes ago, berkeleybob said:

I know I’ve talked about this place many times here, but yesterday I got lucky with the weather. It’s one of my favorite places on earth. I don’t know why—it’s also filled with some of my worst golfing nightmares.

That's how you know its a home course, it can torment you but it somehow is still your favorite place.

[johngschulz]

1 hour ago, Rob Person said:

Morning spies. Came home yesterday to find the dryer quit.  Stripped the front of the cabinet, Broke out the multimeter hoping for a simple replacement part swap.  Nope!  Element coil split in the middle, causing all the little doodads to also burn out.(it is 16 years old)

So off to the local appliance place I went this morning. $180 later, I have the new setup, and will get that installed today. Hopefully it didn't damage the control board too!

Our dryer just went out too! It was showing other signs before it quit. We ultimately ended up buying a new unit that will get here in a couple of weeks.

I’m tempted to crack the old one open now too!

[barney_bogey]

Morning lads. Kind of dreary out but decently warm. I found a range token in my bag last night while cleaning it out. Haven't been to the range since I bought the launch monitor. Maybe it's time.

Hope you're all gearing up for an amazing weekend. Take good care of one another.

B

[Kenny B]

8 hours ago, ronnieg said:

I am going on a journey. I'm a 4 hcp and my goal is to shoot under par at my home course. I've been close with my last couple rounds but stumbled down the last few holes. So my plan is to start from the front tees tomorrow and play those tees until I shoot under par. Then move back to the next tee and stay there until i break par. Repeating until I break par at the tips where I normally am. The theory is to be comfortable shooting low and being under par. I play 3-4 times a week so I'm hoping this doesn't take a long time. Thoughts on this plan? I'm also open to any other suggestions to help with the final push of breaking par. 

That is exactly how our junior golf teaching pro starts out his juniors, and they are very good!!  They feel comfortable going low and get a lot of short game work along the way.  You are on the right track... well done and have fun with it.

[snoopy79]

Yesss the weekend is nearly here and I am looking forward to it! Tomorrow I have a bowling tournament and Sunday is Super Bowl shenanigans. I *might* get a club out this weekend for some practice swings. I am thinking about getting some lessons in April, because I desperately need help with my driver swing which makes me want to do this....

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

[ILMgolfnut]

8 hours ago, ronnieg said:

I am going on a journey. I'm a 4 hcp and my goal is to shoot under par at my home course. I've been close with my last couple rounds but stumbled down the last few holes. So my plan is to start from the front tees tomorrow and play those tees until I shoot under par. Then move back to the next tee and stay there until i break par. Repeating until I break par at the tips where I normally am. The theory is to be comfortable shooting low and being under par. I play 3-4 times a week so I'm hoping this doesn't take a long time. Thoughts on this plan? I'm also open to any other suggestions to help with the final push of breaking par. 

Interesting plan. I have no chance of ever breaking par until I find another 30 yards with every club, but maybe I should try this to try to break 80. Then again, I have shown the ability to screw up even the shortest of holes, so playing from the reds is no guarantee.

Good morning, Spies! Almost missed a 9 a.m. work meeting after I woke up at 5 a.m. with my mind spinning and had to get up for a while to clear it. Still waiting on the net for my garage sim, but the Garmin got a full charge without falling into the bathroom sink.

Hit 'em straight!

[Rob Person]

38 minutes ago, johngschulz said:

Our dryer just went out too! It was showing other signs before it quit. We ultimately ended up buying a new unit that will get here in a couple of weeks.

I’m tempted to crack the old one open now too!

Yeah, wife has this thing about matching sets,?? and these do have communication functions she really likes. But I already have a heavily invested year of funds being depleted,  and even the basic dryer that has 3 functions are over 600 bucks! And a new set is 2-3× that.

I just need it to last another year or 2.

[skraeling]

2 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Morning spies. Came home yesterday to find the dryer quit.  Stripped the front of the cabinet, Broke out the multimeter hoping for a simple replacement part swap.  Nope!  Element coil split in the middle, causing all the little doodads to also burn out.(it is 16 years old)

So off to the local appliance place I went this morning. $180 later, I have the new setup, and will get that installed today. Hopefully it didn't damage the control board too!

 

48 minutes ago, johngschulz said:

Our dryer just went out too! It was showing other signs before it quit. We ultimately ended up buying a new unit that will get here in a couple of weeks.

I’m tempted to crack the old one open now too!

Replaced mine before too, element split in half, caused no other damage.  Fixed it for like 30.00.

Edited February 9 by skraeling

[GolfSpy BOS]

Happy Friday All!

 

The boys have their "sweetheart" dance tonight at school so I think I'm going to get to go watch boys chase girls and girls chase boys for a few hours this evening.  Should be a blast. 

But the weekend is supposed to be warm for February and we have basketball playoffs, pinewood derby, soccer, and of course the 49ers bearing the Chiefs in the Super Bowl to put the icing on the cake.  

Sadly, I don't think there will be much golf for me, but hopefully I can sneak out for something golf related.  I need my fix! 

[Michael.Sandoval33]

Ahh yes happy Friday and good morning everybody! Can't wait to go back and read how everybody is planning on spending the day and weekend. I think I am going to skip the range this weekend and stick to putting and chipping in the practice area. Even though it's been a almost a week since I've been to the range, the small rain break has been nice on the hands. But, you never really know until you get out there. Have a good one everybody, time for some essence of life (coffee). 

[William P]

Good morning Spies!

Great start to another day - mid 50's and a light breeze. Only thing missing is the sun but that is not scheduled for return until Monday. Need to take advantage of it and get some mid iron practice in. Then there is that last blanket of leaves that need to be cleaned up as well. Decisions, decisions... 

My bride is now reminding me that it is my day to cook breakfast. Guess I better get ready and get us down to the local cafe before she has a complete hissy fit...

Everyone have a great day and if golf is in your daily forecast hit 'em well!

[Wheelieb]

Not going to lie. After the call last night I was expecting to see a Best Calf thread on here.  Anyhow, possibly long day today. All depends on if the reservists want to do their fun stuff today or wait until tomorrow. No biggie to me since I'm here and can only see the course on base from my office window. We have a nice view of the 9th tee box, and having watched some people tee off, it's a wonder no car has been hit that runs parallel to that hole. Hope everyone has a great Friday. 

[Jim Shaw]

8 hours ago, ronnieg said:

I am going on a journey. I'm a 4 hcp and my goal is to shoot under par at my home course. I've been close with my last couple rounds but stumbled down the last few holes. So my plan is to start from the front tees tomorrow and play those tees until I shoot under par. Then move back to the next tee and stay there until i break par. Repeating until I break par at the tips where I normally am. The theory is to be comfortable shooting low and being under par. I play 3-4 times a week so I'm hoping this doesn't take a long time. Thoughts on this plan? I'm also open to any other suggestions to help with the final push of breaking par. 

I like the idea of playing the forward tees and your plan there. It is a skill to learn to go low. 

What I would like to hear from you is "I have been tracking my stats and in order to improve I would like to "chip closer to the hole, or reduce my putts, or hit more fairways, or hit more greens, etc.) Wanting to break par is too general a statement. 

You can keep it simple by tracking your fairways hit, greens hit, and putts per round, do this for a month then put a plan on place to improve in the area you need to improve in. 

Your goal is a good one you just need to focus on the areas of opportunity.

[BigMacQue]

Good morning, I hope you're playing golf today.

My round was interrupted yesterday by a brush fire and changing winds.  The smoke became so thick it was hard to breath and hard to see where the ball was going, so I quit after #4.  I have a 3:22 tee time today so no worries about getting in some playing time.

Of course, I'll have to deal with the same league I got behind last week - they were so bottled up I never got to tee off after waiting more than an hour past my scheduled tee time.  We'll see how it goes.

 

[Kenny B]

Good Morning everyone!  39º and will be about 50º and sunny today.  The demolition of my patio cover is complete, but they ran into a snag trying to remove the old concrete footings.  What was to be a 2-3 day job looks like it won't be completed until we get back from Palm Springs at the end of the month.  The contractor knew we were going to be out-of-town but assured us that it would be completed before we leave.  I don't think they can finish by Monday...

 

My wife and I are playing at our sister course tomorrow across the Columbia River because our course has a Super Bowl tournament.  The good news is that it will be a drier course so maybe we will get some rollout on drives!

Have a great Friday and play well!

[Byrnzee]

Good morning and Happy Friday!

Glad that this week is almost over, it's been a busy one at work. Temps sneaking back up into the 50s today, which is very welcome mid-February in Chicago.

Hoping to get to the sim this weekend to work on some swing mechanics and get some Mevo testing done. 

WM Phoenix Open and Super Bowl this weekend to look forward to. 

Hope you all have a great Friday and for those golfing, hit 'em straight!

[jbern]

Good morning! Yesterday I was able to get out to the course on a beautiful southern Michigan spring day... wait... winter day! It was a ton of fun and I struck the ball pretty well for not playing on grass since early December. Of course, I had a couple of fat shots and several poor club selections (shot +13, 85). Overall, a lot to build on and a good start to golf for 2024! My playing partner actually shot his lowest score ever (79)! The only disappointing part was that I lost the last two of the Titleist White Box TEST balls.

Today is back to grinding at work and then later we're planning a family bike ride to enjoy the sun and warmth. Hopefully I can also hit a few chips around the yard to work on my chipping (obvious point of struggle yesterday). 

Have a good day everyone!

[EnderinAZ]

1 hour ago, Preeway said:

Anyone have tips/tricks to work on weight shift and hip turn?

My research on golf swing habits may help a bit. Your statement about not seeing the change in your swing while on the course confirms this part of your swing is completely habitualized. So you need to reach in and re-write that habit. To successfully do that requires three primary non golf things to happen. 

1. You must practice with the same attitude you play with. Are you the guy on the course who rarely speaks and is all business? That is the guy who needs to practice the hip turn.

2. You need immediate feedback just like on the course. Your videoing of your swing will serve that purpose just fine.

3. With that feedback you need to do two things and this is hard. Ignore the bad or incomplete swing, and I mean ignore it to the point where you don't get that little jolt of anxiety when you see the poor swing. Equally important you must celebrate the good swing hard enough to get that little push of dopamine into your system. That dopamine, a positive brain chemical released when something you enjoy happens, is the ink with which you re-write the habit. 

That little push of dopamine dissipates in about 90 seconds and according to Steven Kotler in his book The Art Of Impossible repeating that good swing, celebrating, and getting the dopamine injection inside of those 90 seconds has a multiplying effect on habit writing. 

Okay here is the hard part. Seeing a poor swing and getting that little feeling of anxiety is actually shifting your attitude into a defensive mode, and injecting cortisol into your brain. Cortisol is a fight of flight (survival) hormone and is VERY powerful. Your brain remembers everything. Where dopamine writes in number 4 pencil cortisol writes with black paint and a 2 inch brush and wipes out all of your dopamine derived work by writing that anxiety producing swing as your primary habit. Plus it has shifted your core attitude to defensive mode and it will be very hard in that mode to produce a swing that is correct and thus amplifying the poor swing. This is why getting rid of the shanks can be so hard or why when on the driving range you may hit 4 or 5 identical crap shots in a row before you are able to dredge up the good swing again. So if in practice you get that little jolt of cortisol step back, wait at least a minute and a half for it to burn out of your system, reset your attitude to the business one, and continue. 

Here is a little bonus about the videos. First immediately delete all the bad shots. You don't ever want to look at them. Sometime after you are done practicing watch those good swing videos again.  Every time you see that good swing your brain relives the actions that it took to make that good swing and injects a little dopamine. By watching the good swing you are in fact writing that swing into your habits. 

Oof this is long. There is a ton of brain science that backs up what I have so verbosely written. But, it works. 

[Erin B]

Good Morning MGS Troops! A shocker this morning; we woke up to No Snow!!!! It’s sunny right now even!!! WTF??? (Imagine a half naked chubby man doing a happy dance!) Anyway, we do need the moisture but I need to golf. It’s a freaking addiction. I’m headed to the sim in an hour to start my test on the callaway balls so that’s good. My newton shaft will be here tomorrow hopefully, and I’ll start testing that next week. And one month away from 8 days of golf in Mesquite. Wolf Creek is one of those rounds and that’s a bucket list for me. Sorry for the long post but I’m excited! Happy Birdie Hunting!!!

[EnderinAZ]

Good morning spies! Sorry about the long write up on habits. Here is my welding work from yesterday. I added the rebar loop to the bottom of the carriage to keep the bottom of the bags in place when running over rough ground. The carriage is almost 40 inches behind the back wheels so a bump is greatly amplified. This works great. 

[NubianRugby]

Supposed to be in the low 60's this afternoon here in DC, so I took a couple of hours of PTO and made a 3pm tee time at Langston. Hopefully yesterday's chipping practice will turn into at least one up/down off an errant approach shot.

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Good morning fellow spies and TGIF! Slightly bummed as I had to cancel my Callaway fitting for the Ai Smoke this afternoon because of a meeting that came up which requires my attendance at work. Not too disappointed, though, because we will have a fitting day at our course this spring. I'll just make sure I get in on that one.

Hope everyone has a great day and weekend!

[Michael.Sandoval33]

18 minutes ago, EnderinAZ said:

Good morning spies! Sorry about the long write up on habits.

I took a lot of notes from it! Excellent write up ✍

Edited February 9 by Michael.Sandoval33
Extra emoji removed

[ejgaudette]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

Happy Friday All!

 

The boys have their "sweetheart" dance tonight at school so I think I'm going to get to go watch boys chase girls and girls chase boys for a few hours this evening.  Should be a blast. 

But the weekend is supposed to be warm for February and we have basketball playoffs, pinewood derby, soccer, and of course the 49ers bearing the Chiefs in the Super Bowl to put the icing on the cake.  

Sadly, I don't think there will be much golf for me, but hopefully I can sneak out for something golf related.  I need my fix! 

If its anything like my dances as a kid it might be a bit more like boys standing looking at girls and girls standing looking at boys

[Wib081]

Good morning Spies! 
 

I was all set to get my contractor started running cable again this morning he knows where everything is going and I could check out. I was planning on being home by 1045 at the latest and a noonish round on the horizon. Well they aren’t here yet maybe in the next 30-45 min, but I’m hoping sooner. If I can get home by noon I can still get 9 in before the boys get off the bus. Eyes, fingers and toes crossed here! Have a great weekend all! I will be introducing my 2 golfers to the WMPO on tv this weekend specifically 16 so they can have a healthy appreciation of how AWESOME that hole and tourney really are!