Jnoble89's 2023 Season Thread: Intro & Journey to Breaking 90

[Josh Ross]

3 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

I am picturing this in my head and I think it’s making sense to me, and I like the sounds of it. I was just looking at alignment sticks the other day so I think I’m going to pull the trigger on some. If you wouldn’t mind and would have a chance, because I’m a massively visual learner, could you take a picture of the stick setup just so I can make sure I am seeing it correctly in my head?

Definitely, I'll grab mine and head to the yard when I get a second. But as a lefty you'd have a stick parallel like me but with one pointing towards shortstop. My nephew is a southpaw as well so I've had to get used to swapping things around when teaching him.

[GolfSpy_KFT]

14 minutes ago, Josh Ross said:

Definitely, I'll grab mine and head to the yard when I get a second. But as a lefty you'd have a stick parallel like me but with one pointing towards shortstop. My nephew is a southpaw as well so I've had to get used to swapping things around when teaching him.

Got it, that makes more sense now. I was trying to figure out the angle to 2nd and my brain was doing cartwheels

Thank you!

16 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

yes, opposite if you are lefty  

Definitely will give this a try! If I could turn it into a slight draw I would not be upset at all

[Josh Ross]

So in this picture I've got it set up for myself as a righty, but I'd stand parallel to the blue stick and swing along the white one. I typically put the ball close enough to the stick so I can avoid making contact with it. Really helps to enforce the idea of swinging on that line. If it feels like you're aimed too much at shortstop, move it closer to pointing back to the pitcher but keep that slant to force yourself to swing on that path. Glad you played baseball so I can use those terms, it's always how I explain it haha.

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

11 minutes ago, Josh Ross said:

So in this picture I've got it set up for myself as a righty, but I'd stand parallel to the blue stick and swing along the white one. I typically put the ball close enough to the stick so I can avoid making contact with it. Really helps to enforce the idea of swinging on that line. If it feels like you're aimed too much at shortstop, move it closer to pointing back to the pitcher but keep that slant to force yourself to swing on that path. Glad you played baseball so I can use those terms, it's always how I explain it haha.

I like this. I might have to try

[GolfSpy_KFT]

50 minutes ago, Josh Ross said:

So in this picture I've got it set up for myself as a righty, but I'd stand parallel to the blue stick and swing along the white one. I typically put the ball close enough to the stick so I can avoid making contact with it. Really helps to enforce the idea of swinging on that line. If it feels like you're aimed too much at shortstop, move it closer to pointing back to the pitcher but keep that slant to force yourself to swing on that path. Glad you played baseball so I can use those terms, it's always how I explain it haha.

Love it, thanks a ton @Josh Ross! Definitely will be giving this a try. I know I struggle with getting a good in to out club path. Any drills that require baseball-isms are the best way for me to understand what’s going on

[Josh Ross]

6 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

Love it, thanks a ton @Josh Ross! Definitely will be giving this a try. I know I struggle with getting a good in to out club path. Any drills that require baseball-isms are the best way for me to understand what’s going on

Hope it helps! Don't know if you've heard of Birdie Balls, they're a training aid that are limited flight but fly true. Super fun to play with and a great way for kids to practice too. They have a strike mat to hit off of that have a club path printed on it for both lefty and righty, might be worth looking at if you've got somewhere to use them. I love anything visual that helps me swing on the right path.

[GolfSpy_KFT]

1 minute ago, Josh Ross said:

Hope it helps! Don't know if you've heard of Birdie Balls, they're a training aid that are limited flight but fly true. Super fun to play with and a great way for kids to practice too. They have a strike mat to hit off of that have a club path printed on it for both lefty and righty, might be worth looking at if you've got somewhere to use them. I love anything visual that helps me swing on the right path.

Yes, I’ve actually used them in a YMCA golf lesson class way back when! I have not seen the mat before. I was just looking at one of those strike mats that changes color to show your divot pattern too. I think the alignment sticks will really help me with path. It’s like I know I need the path to go that way, but I can’t convince my body and my brain that it won’t slice off the planet even though I KNOW it won’t. 

[Mr. Mushball]

On 4/18/2023 at 5:39 PM, Josh Ross said:

So in this picture I've got it set up for myself as a righty, but I'd stand parallel to the blue stick and swing along the white one. I typically put the ball close enough to the stick so I can avoid making contact with it. Really helps to enforce the idea of swinging on that line. If it feels like you're aimed too much at shortstop, move it closer to pointing back to the pitcher but keep that slant to force yourself to swing on that path. Glad you played baseball so I can use those terms, it's always how I explain it haha.

This is the same swing path drill my coach gave me a few months ago, though he set me up with a slightly more open angle, maybe about 15°. Really helped reinforce an in to out swing and bring my draw into shape.  Your actual swing path can be anywhere between the two sticks to be able to hit a draw and make good contact, but try to follow the angled stick as it will create the right feeling.  You can also use the same setup to watch how your club head alignment is as you go through the ball.  A bit closed to the swing path stick and it will draw. If it's square to the swing path stick you'll hit a straight push.  Anything more open will be a fade to slice.  

[GolfSpy_KFT]

1 hour ago, Mr. Mushball said:

This is the same swing path drill my coach gave me a few months ago, though he set me up with a slightly more open angle, maybe about 15°. Really helped reinforce an in to out swing and bring my draw into shape.  Your actual swing path can be anywhere between the two sticks to be able to hit a draw and make good contact, but try to follow the angled stick as it will create the right feeling.  You can also use the same setup to watch how your club head alignment is as you go through the ball.  A bit closed to the swing path stick and it will draw. If it's square to the swing path stick you'll hit a straight push.  Anything more open will be a fade to slice.  

I’m ordering some sticks off Amazon tomorrow. Weather should finally get back on track here over the coming weeks so I’ll be able to get out on the range again. Really looking forward to this to see if it’ll help me finally “feel” the in to out path. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Alignment sticks arrived today. Hoping to get on the range this week to start trying to ingrain that in to out swing path and get some more consistent ball striking. Really hoping the visual aid will help me. My thought is to start with small swings and gradually progress to a full swing? I know it won’t happen overnight, but I do struggle with feeling the right pattern. 

[Josh Ross]

1 minute ago, Jnoble89 said:

Alignment sticks arrived today. Hoping to get on the range this week to start trying to ingrain that in to out swing path and get some more consistent ball striking. Really hoping the visual aid will help me. My thought is to start with small swings and gradually progress to a full swing? I know it won’t happen overnight, but I do struggle with feeling the right pattern. 

I didn't mention it before, but that is exactly what I did. I started with a bunch of slower, half swings and built up to a full swing. All that was before I even hit a ball. Let me know how it goes!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

34 minutes ago, Josh Ross said:

I didn't mention it before, but that is exactly what I did. I started with a bunch of slower, half swings and built up to a full swing. All that was before I even hit a ball. Let me know how it goes!

Perfect, that is exactly what I was hoping to hear!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Got on the range today and worked on a couple different alignment stick drills. First one I stuck a rod in the ground at an angle just above my hand height. Used another one held against my club shaft and right side of my body (left hand) to make sure that I wasn’t flipping the club inside. Flip it, and the sticks clack together. From the top of my swing, I was trying to get both sticks parallel in the start of the downswing. Took some practice reps with that and then ditched the stick I was holding to take swings. First swing on a ball was struck very well, but then I was getting really fat contact. Thinking I was releasing the club too early in the downswing. But, I do feel like that drill will help me in not coming over the top. Then, I did the drill @Josh Ross showed me with two sticks, one parallel and one at a slight angle, to promote an in to out path. Again was just really fat on my contact, so didn’t work on it too much as I was overthinking at that point. 

Switched to driver and it was maybe the best range session I have had with my TSi3 ever. Changed the shaft setting to up 1.5° and slight draw bias, and I was getting a nice high, soft fade ball flight almost on repeat. Face contact was center, some a little high but nothing off the toe which is big for me.  No idea on carry distance as the range tee was moved up from the normal area to let it grow back nicely for June. I would guess a 230ish carry, which I’ll take all dang day if it’s in the fairway. Hoping to get a round in Sunday afternoon, maybe even a quick 9 or just a few holes Friday evening. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Got out for a quick 9 this afternoon with my wife and oldest son. My dad took our youngest to the park so he got some one on one Papa time, which he loves. 

Shot my lowest 9 hole round of the year so far with the Maxfli Tours in play, with a score of 49. Had one blow up hole on a Par 5, but it also had the highlight of my round when I chipped in off a side hill lie! Sadly it was to card a 9, but that was the only blow up of the day. Also only had one three putt, and the two putt try lipped out. Hit two back to back great tee shots with my 3 wood, then duffed the approach on both, but didn’t let it rattle me. Also hit a smashed drive on a shorter Par 4 but just missed cutting the corner and it hit a tree. Thankfully I got the members bounce . Going to get out again for 18 on Sunday morning, and going to try to make a push to break 100!

[sirchunksalot]

4 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

Got out for a quick 9 this afternoon with my wife and oldest son. My dad took our youngest to the park so he got some one on one Papa time, which he loves. 

Shot my lowest 9 hole round of the year so far with the Maxfli Tours in play, with a score of 49. Had one blow up hole on a Par 5, but it also had the highlight of my round when I chipped in off a side hill lie! Sadly it was to card a 9, but that was the only blow up of the day. Also only had one three putt, and the two putt try lipped out. Hit two back to back great tee shots with my 3 wood, then duffed the approach on both, but didn’t let it rattle me. Also hit a smashed drive on a shorter Par 4 but just missed cutting the corner and it hit a tree. Thankfully I got the members bounce . Going to get out again for 18 on Sunday morning, and going to try to make a push to break 100!

Great round, Jason! It sounds like your game is trending in the right direction. It's nice to see you were able to bring some of your beautiful family out to the course with you. I hope you continue the stellar play on Sunday. I'm rooting for you!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

1 minute ago, sirchunksalot said:

Great round, Jason! It sounds like your game is trending in the right direction. It's nice to see you were able to bring some of your beautiful family out to the course with you. I hope you continue the stellar play on Sunday. I'm rooting for you!

Thank you! It’s always great getting to go out as a family. We will take our littlest guy occasionally too, but it was pretty busy tonight so didn’t want to try it. I was amazed that I scored where I did, because I did struggle with my irons with anything that wasn’t a wedge. But the score at the end is all that matters at that point! Had some good things going that I can hope to build off of!

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

20 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

Got out for a quick 9 this afternoon with my wife and oldest son. My dad took our youngest to the park so he got some one on one Papa time, which he loves. 

Shot my lowest 9 hole round of the year so far with the Maxfli Tours in play, with a score of 49. Had one blow up hole on a Par 5, but it also had the highlight of my round when I chipped in off a side hill lie! Sadly it was to card a 9, but that was the only blow up of the day. Also only had one three putt, and the two putt try lipped out. Hit two back to back great tee shots with my 3 wood, then duffed the approach on both, but didn’t let it rattle me. Also hit a smashed drive on a shorter Par 4 but just missed cutting the corner and it hit a tree. Thankfully I got the members bounce . Going to get out again for 18 on Sunday morning, and going to try to make a push to break 100!

Looks like a blast. Keep grinding. Remember it’s ok if your scores fluctuate. Next time out don’t get discouraged if you go backwards or whatever. Love the family time. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

More detail later, but set a personal record of 100 today. Missed a putt for 99 by inches which kills me but still very pleased. Shot a 46 on the front but the back was a bit more rough. Drove the ball well and irons started good but got rough on the back 9. Something to build off of!

[GolfSpy_APH]

35 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

More detail later, but set a personal record of 100 today. Missed a putt for 99 by inches which kills me but still very pleased. Shot a 46 on the front but the back was a bit more rough. Drove the ball well and irons started good but got rough on the back 9. Something to build off of!

Can't wait for you to get the new sticks and see you crack into the 80s this year.

I know it's going to happen! 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

53 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Can't wait for you to get the new sticks and see you crack into the 80s this year.

I know it's going to happen! 

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jamie! Honestly super happy with today’s round. Could have executed better on some holes on the back 9 but off the tee was so good today. Hit three drives 270+ and was finding fairways. Irons and some lack of focus with the putter 3’ and in on the back 9 is what got me today. 

[sirchunksalot]

1 hour ago, Jnoble89 said:

More detail later, but set a personal record of 100 today. Missed a putt for 99 by inches which kills me but still very pleased. Shot a 46 on the front but the back was a bit more rough. Drove the ball well and irons started good but got rough on the back 9. Something to build off of!

Great round, Jason!! From the sounds of it you played better on the back (44) than the front, so there's some positivity to come out of that. You'll crack 100 in no time, especially once the new clubs come in. Keep it up!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

5 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

Great round, Jason!! From the sounds of it you played better on the back (44) than the front, so there's some positivity to come out of that. You'll crack 100 in no time, especially once the new clubs come in. Keep it up!

I actually went 54 on the back, but it was three putts and some errant approaches that got me (couple balls lost to the woods).

Early results from the Maxfli Tour are great, though! Hit my career longest drive (274) with it!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Alright, finally have a little time to reflect on yesterday's round! Going to do a summary of each section of the bag, so to speak, and see how that goes. 

Woods: I used Driver/3W/Hybrid on 14/18 holes. Holes 1 & 2 require a 3 wood with course layout, and I made good contact on both tee shots. I did pull both slightly, but not the hook I had been dealing with early in the season. I was left with good lies, though in the rough on both, with clear lines to the green. Holes 4 & 5 are both driver, and I finally found the fairway on #4, which is a long and straight Par 5. Missed it a little toe side so lost some distance, but it was the best drive I've had on that hole this year. #5 I had good contact but pushed it left and hit a tree. Fortunately got a member's bounce (haha!), and it sat middle of the fairway. Only went about 190 yards due to hitting the tree, but it's a short Par 4 and left me with about 123 to the flag, which is my PW distance, so I still got a GIR there. Hole 7 is my least favorite Par 5, but I again hit a really good drive here. Landed in the right half of the fairway and a tree blocked my line to the green so going for it in two was out. I lobbed a 56 over the tree and had a good lie to approach the green. Holes 8 & 9 were my two worst tee shots with woods, as I massively overswung and hooked them both. On hole 10 I again missed toe side a little, but still got enough to carry a fairway bunker on the right and had a good lie to the green. Hole 11, my favorite Par 5, I hit it as pure as I could possibly hope for, and hit a 271 yard, dead straight shot. Left me in striking distance for the green in 2 with my hybrid, but I unfortunately overswung and sliced the heck out of it into the woods. Oh well. Hole 13 I made great contact but pushed it left. Thankfully, that is ok on this hole as it's open left and I only had about 50 yards to the flag. Hole 14 I hit hybrid as it's about 200 to the corner on a dogleg left and left it exactly where I wanted in the fairway. Hole 16 is a long Par 5 and I again missed just toe side but still managed to get about 235 yards and landed in the fairway. Hole 17 was the drive of the day and I got flushed contact again for a 274 yard bomb that left me with 105 yards to the flag. Hole 18 was a slight toe miss again that went left, but stayed just off the fairway again about 230-240 yards. All in all, this was the best driving day with woods I've had maybe ever. I found that when I was deliberate in the backswing and felt like I had a slight pause at the top, the club was coming down what felt like right on plane and led to good shots. I didn't hit a ton of fairways as I just missed in the rough on a handful, but it was a drastic improvement from what I've been doing.

Irons: Irons were inconsistent for this round from the front 9 to the back 9, I would say I hit about 50/50 on good shots and poor shots. I also had 3 poor tee shots on the Par 3s which hasn't been typical this year, but scrambled to save bogey on 2/3. The Par 3 sixth I hit a decent 8 iron that landed past the flag, but ended up bogey as my par putt lipped out after leaving the birdie try short. Highlight had to be on the Par 3 third, where I shanked my tee shot into the neighboring fairway behind a row of TALL, old pines. We are talking absolutely towering trees that are for sure 100' tall if not taller. I asked my 6 year old if he wanted to see my try to hit it over the trees, and he excitedly said yes, so I went for it. Grabbed my 56*, opened the face a bit and took a full swing and somehow managed to do it, much to his laughter and delight! This was my favorite shot of the day for me, even more so than the big drive on 17. I had a long lag putt for Par which I just wanted to get close enough to save bogey, which I executed. Another great iron shot was on the Par 4 fifth, where I hit my PW to about 10 feet from 123 yards out, and sank the putt for my lone birdie of the day. Back 9 I just couldn't get it going and duffed too many approaches.

Putter: I putted quite well by my standards on the front 9. I did end up with two three putts, but I had more one putts than two putts outside of those. The back 9 is where, like with my irons, my putting fell off a bit. I think I had at least 4 three putts and the rest were mostly two putts, which led to 23 total putts on the back 9. I don't recall how many I had on the front, but it was significantly less (I used the Grint app to track my round, but when I synced my GHIN to the app, it wiped out the stats from my round and just put in my total score. Lesson learned). 

I can't really pinpoint anything as far as why performance sagged once I crossed to the back 9, as I'd say I actually was better from the tee box. I was feeling some fatigue from not having enough food on the course (another lesson learned), but again, I can't blame that as I still drove the ball well. I'm thinking I maybe got a little overconfident with some putts and approaches, and I also had my score in the back of my mind knowing that I carded a 46 on the front and had a real shot at breaking 100. 

Quick edit/add: I just went through my tee shots in my head and was 7/14 hitting fairways, which for me is really good. Honestly the best I have ever done. 

All in all, I was really happy with yesterday's round and do feel like I have a lot of positives to work off of going forward. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Quick little update today…

Played 9 today and shot a 48, which was two strokes off my best of 46. Didn’t hit it well off the tee but putted pretty well. No 3 putts and only 16 total putts. We decided to play the back 9 for fun and things went off the rails and I didn’t end up keeping score. Was a beautiful day and other than tee shots I was really pleased with other aspects of my game. Need a range session and lesson with my head pro in the worst way (hoping for this Tuesday before league).

Once school is out for my oldest and the cobra challenge starts I’ll be getting two weekly range sessions over my lunch hour and I’m hoping that’ll help my tee game. I had a round of great drives so I know it’s there, I just need to be able to find it consistently as I am back to my high toe miss (towards the crown). Thinking I’m coming in way too steep and losing posture on the downswing. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

4 hours ago, Jnoble89 said:

Quick little update today…

Played 9 today and shot a 48, which was two strokes off my best of 46. Didn’t hit it well off the tee but putted pretty well. No 3 putts and only 16 total putts. We decided to play the back 9 for fun and things went off the rails and I didn’t end up keeping score. Was a beautiful day and other than tee shots I was really pleased with other aspects of my game. Need a range session and lesson with my head pro in the worst way (hoping for this Tuesday before league).

Once school is out for my oldest and the cobra challenge starts I’ll be getting two weekly range sessions over my lunch hour and I’m hoping that’ll help my tee game. I had a round of great drives so I know it’s there, I just need to be able to find it consistently as I am back to my high toe miss (towards the crown). Thinking I’m coming in way too steep and losing posture on the downswing. 

Looking forward to the upcoming updates and to see as we get some warmer weather and just better conditions to see the scores keep dropping!

[OdinSnipes414]

Love this thread buddy! Need to swing on as a guest one day

[Caddie1966]

Keep it going.  Once you make that breakthrough, there’s no stopping you from going low.

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Thanks for the words of support and encouragement, everyone! I sound like a broken record but I love this community and it truly helps lift me up to strive to get better. Hoping to get a lesson in tomorrow after work/before league and might sneak a quick round in today if I can get out of work in time. My oldest asked me on the way to school if we could golf today, so I'm going to try hard to make it happen. Men's league is on Monday nights, but even if we could play 6 or so holes, that would be fun and some good on course practice of even just dropping balls and hitting different shots.

[sortiz003]

Jason,

Very excited to follow along. Your story is very similar to mine (sans gifted clubs) - former baseball player, weekend hacker, finally started getting serious about golf last fall (‘22).

 

Still haven’t broken 90 yet but hopefully soon . The lessons have helped tremendously. 
 

Looking forward to seeing what I can pickup from you in in hopes it helps my own journey. 
 

Cheers! 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

2 minutes ago, sortiz003 said:

Jason,

Very excited to follow along. Your story is very similar to mine (sans gifted clubs) - former baseball player, weekend hacker, finally started getting serious about golf last fall (‘22).

 

Still haven’t broken 90 yet but hopefully soon . The lessons have helped tremendously. 
 

Looking forward to seeing what I can pickup from you in in hopes it helps my own journey. 
 

Cheers! 

Glad to have you following along! I am still chasing breaking 100, almost had it earlier this year but missed a putt for 99 on 18. The pain was real lol. Good luck on your quest to break 90 as well!