How'd you play?

[cnosil]

2 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Yeah .. read somewhere that compared to us regular mortals, golf pros have much higher hand (and finger) strength - so what feels "light", subjectively, to one of them could feel very firm to one of us.

Consider also that the OG guys like Snead and Hogan grew up on farms in Texas working with their hands .. they prob both had really extra strong hands/grips!

You probably read/heard about from Superspeed and their grip strength trainer where they measured the grip strength of PGA players and they had significantly stronger grips than amateurs. 

[EnderinAZ]

3 hours ago, cnosil said:

You probably read/heard about from Superspeed and their grip strength trainer where they measured the grip strength of PGA players and they had significantly stronger grips than amateurs. 

Interesting discussion. So I just went out to the garage and grabbed a wedge. Gripped it lightly and did some 1/2 swings while trying to turn my hands over after the impact zone. Easy. Gripped it my normal and tried again. This time it took a bit of effort to start the turn over in the right spot. Last try I was strangling the club. Very difficult to get the club to do anything. Try it. I would be interested if anyone has different results. 

Cloudy and cool today and was a nice day to walk. My right calf is still sore from the brutal cramp on Friday, but good enough to walk. Picked up the Four Foundations of Golf and have started the read. And, hence I changed my expectations for the round. I worked what I spent time on the range this weekend and it worked for a while. Now when I look at the grip conversation and my little experiment I am almost positive I started bearing down on the grip pretty hard, because I started to bring the clubhead open to the ball. I could not get the club to turn over. Normally this onslaught of faded and 2 sliced balls would have cratered my round. Instead, because I could feel my hands not coming closed, I simply changed my grip a bit. This straightened the ball out, I had good distance with a little draw and had a lot of fun.  My expectations were that this weekends driving range work had not shown enough success to make to the top of my swing habit stack so it would eventually fade. When it did, it was no big deal. 

[JAYER38]

Little recap of the Holiday break game play...

Played 5 times and still sitting around 100 average. NOT 1 single round was clean sadly, just never felt a rhythm and got settled in.  Had some great shots which kept me motivated thru the rounds so we will be back another day.

But a bad day on the course is still better then a good day at work haha.

 

[EnderinAZ]

Played better today than I have in a couple of months.  Shot an even 80 with 1 double, 3 birdies, and two miserable 3 putts - one of which was a little over 70 feet across a long long side hill down hill. The big factor was I kept the ball in play and in the short grass for the most part. No parking the ball behind a tree or on the edge of a sand trap or under a bush. Short grass with a clear view of the flag. Made the day a whole lot more fun to be out there. I had two other near birdies where the ball hit the hole with just a little too much speed, rolled down into the cup then popped back out to leave me 4 or 5 inches for the par putt. Oh and I had one shot on a 190 yard par 3 where the ball came down steep onto the green, bounce up, hit the stick, and settle back onto the green about 10 inches from the hole.  It was a fun day!

[Rob Person]

What was supposed to be only 18 on the par3 short course, ended with another 18 on the big boy course too.  Shot 7 over par on the short course, had 7- 1 putts , and nearly 2 aces, and only 1- 3 putt for the day.  Shot a 92 on the long course, only 2- 3 putts for that one.

[Josh Parker]

8 hours ago, Rob Person said:

What was supposed to be only 18 on the par3 short course, ended with another 18 on the big boy course too.  Shot 7 over par on the short course, had 7- 1 putts , and nearly 2 aces, and only 1- 3 putt for the day.  Shot a 92 on the long course, only 2- 3 putts for that one.

Great day of golf!

[BallsLeon]

Played a sim round last night, at Plainfield Country Club from the “Ross” tees (71.3/131, 6356yds).

Was cooking up a pretty clean front 9 through hole 7, and then the wheels fell off a bit . Managed 43 on the front, and 50 on the back for a 93. Driving was a little wild tonight, and I should’ve adjusted and hit more iron shots. Also hurt myself a couple times on very short chips, less than 20yds, don’t have a foolproof shot for those at the moment. Highlight would be this scramble for par on hole 5.

[ejgaudette]

4 minutes ago, BallsLeon said:

Played a sim round last night, at Plainfield Country Club from the “Ross” tees (71.3/131, 6356yds).

Was cooking up a pretty clean front 9 through hole 7, and then the wheels fell off a bit . Managed 43 on the front, and 50 on the back for a 93. Driving was a little wild tonight, and I should’ve adjusted and hit more iron shots. Also hurt myself a couple times on very short chips, less than 20yds, don’t have a foolproof shot for those at the moment. Highlight would be this scramble for par on hole 5.

Just how you drew the hole up right?

[BallsLeon]

1 minute ago, ejgaudette said:

Just how you drew the hole up right?

Exactly how Donald Ross imagined this hole would be played

[Sluggo42]

Played yesterday, and it was freezing cold to begin, range was closed, and we hadn’t played for a week. Needless to say front 9 was brutal, but the back 9 was ok

[Sluggo42]

Oh, and I did hit a hole in one on e6 , in my simulator…. Does that count?

[Josh Parker]

Got in a quick 9 this morning.  Foggy for the first few holes but I shot pretty well. Seeing slight improvements with driver. My iron/wedge play are doing good and keeping me in the game, but I'm ready to sort out this driver. 

 

Hole 9 - this is at the top of the dogleg right.  Hole plays severely downhill but if you catch the hill right with your tee shot can drive the green. 

[Jim Shaw]

17 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Got in a quick 9 this morning.  Foggy for the first few holes but I shot pretty well. Seeing slight improvements with driver. My iron/wedge play are doing good and keeping me in the game, but I'm ready to sort out this driver. 

 

Hole 9 - this is at the top of the dogleg right.  Hole plays severely downhill but if you catch the hill right with your tee shot can drive the green. 

what is happening with your driver? 

[Josh Parker]

19 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

what is happening with your driver? 

I'm too steep and I'm still catching myself falling out of it to try and come in to out. Oh and I try to swing to hard 

[Jim Shaw]

11 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

I'm too steep and I'm still catching myself falling out of it to try and come in to out. Oh and I try to swing to hard 

the rest of your game must be really solid to struggle off the tee and retain a 5 index... get that big dog figured out and you will be on your way... also it sounds like you know the "why" which will make it easier to correct.

[Josh Parker]

4 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

the rest of your game must be really solid to struggle off the tee and retain a 5 index... get that big dog figured out and you will be on your way... also it sounds like you know the "why" which will make it easier to correct.

Yeah it's just re-training my brain with driver. I don't hit it out of bounds and I don't have a huge slice 90% of the time. I just don't hit the ball high, so when I really don't catch it, it ends up way short.  If I hit onto the fw it rolls a mile. 

[Jim Shaw]

9 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Yeah it's just re-training my brain with driver. I don't hit it out of bounds and I don't have a huge slice 90% of the time. I just don't hit the ball high, so when I really don't catch it, it ends up way short.  If I hit onto the fw it rolls a mile. 

have you always been a low ball hitter with the driver?

[Josh Parker]

2 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

have you always been a low ball hitter with the driver?

Yes, but not this low.  I'm really looking forward to getting the Mevo+ so I can see path and attack angle. 

Irons were the same as well but I have been able to make changes to that and have control of my trajectory.  

[Indy_Oz]

2 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Yes, but not this low.  I'm really looking forward to getting the Mevo+ so I can see path and attack angle. 

Irons were the same as well but I have been able to make changes to that and have control of my trajectory.  

I've been working on hitting up through the ball a little more too, to get the launch angle while keeping spin down with the driver. Setting up with the club a head width behind the ball seems to help drill in keeping the low point back. There are plenty of drills to help on youtube, but recently this little change to place the club further back before the shot swing has been helping me. Before I started changing things, my launch angle was around 8-12 degrees and last session I was up towards 14-16 degrees more often. I'm trying to not increase face loft as I use a 9* driver head and spin is already high enough (usually 2400-2800rpm). Ultimately, I'm more concerned about keeping the driver straighter, but better launch and more distance is a minor goal and worth working on.

Good luck!

[Jim Shaw]

13 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Yes, but not this low.  I'm really looking forward to getting the Mevo+ so I can see path and attack angle. 

Irons were the same as well but I have been able to make changes to that and have control of my trajectory.  

the reason I ask is, over my many years of playing competitive golf, I see golfers from "windy" areas of the country ie, the canadian maritimes, praries etc. with a low ball flight, as that is how they learned to get the most out of their game, and no matter how hard they try, when they get under the gun their ball flight is lower than they like. my buddy from Newfoundland is always and I mean always talking about getting more height on the ball and I feel it takes away from his performance. A lower ball flight won't kill you if you make solid contact.

[Josh Parker]

6 minutes ago, Indy_Oz said:

I've been working on hitting up through the ball a little more too, to get the launch angle while keeping spin down with the driver. Setting up with the club a head width behind the ball seems to help drill in keeping the low point back. There are plenty of drills to help on youtube, but recently this little change to place the club further back before the shot swing has been helping me. Before I started changing things, my launch angle was around 8-12 degrees and last session I was up towards 14-16 degrees more often. I'm trying to not increase face loft as I use a 9* driver head and spin is already high enough (usually 2400-2800rpm). Ultimately, I'm more concerned about keeping the driver straighter, but better launch and more distance is a minor goal and worth working on.

Good luck!

Thanks!  It's been a struggle as of late but I see some progress in between the madness. Haha. 

[Josh Parker]

2 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

the reason I ask is, over my many years of playing competitive golf, I see golfers from "windy" areas of the country ie, the canadian maritimes, praries etc. with a low ball flight, as that is how they learned to get the most out of their game, and no matter how hard they try, when they get under the gun their ball flight is lower than they like. my buddy from Newfoundland is always and I mean always talking about getting more height on the ball and I feel it takes away from his performance. A lower ball flight won't kill you if you make solid contact.

I think it is absolutely part of my game.  The course I learned at was Links style along the river and wind was always a factor. 

The challenge has been mobility and tightness. Something I think changed my swing habits and so I have been working on stretches/yoga to get that back but also having to change the swing back. 

[chisag]

6 hours ago, Indy_Oz said:

I've been working on hitting up through the ball a little more too, to get the launch angle while keeping spin down with the driver. Setting up with the club a head width behind the ball seems to help drill in keeping the low point back. There are plenty of drills to help on youtube, but recently this little change to place the club further back before the shot swing has been helping me. Before I started changing things, my launch angle was around 8-12 degrees and last session I was up towards 14-16 degrees more often. I'm trying to not increase face loft as I use a 9* driver head and spin is already high enough (usually 2400-2800rpm).

 

... This one is pretty simple but worked with quite a few of my students. Use a higher tee and make sure the ball is fully above the crown of your driver at address. Then try and hit some top spin drives like a forehand in tennis. Try and hit the top of the ball with over spin. Most drills are just tricks for our brains to re-wire engrained patterns.  My son had the opposite problem of hitting too up on his drives and I used one of my favorite drills for that problem and had him lean the tee forward so he could see it at address and then hit the tee and not the ball. 

... Obviously in both cases you want to hit the ball in the center of the face but by giving you brain a different goal, it is free to accomplish the drill task which can subtly change your delivery. Attempting something radically different can be beneficial because most of us (all of us? ) usually think/feel like we are doing something very different but to the untrained eye, looks exactly the same. 

Edited January 6 by chisag

[Jim Shaw]

13 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

I think it is absolutely part of my game.  The course I learned at was Links style along the river and wind was always a factor. 

The challenge has been mobility and tightness. Something I think changed my swing habits and so I have been working on stretches/yoga to get that back but also having to change the swing back. 

some of the greats, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, etc etc were low ball hitters from Texas... they grow good golfers in that state...

[Josh Parker]

Just now, Jim Shaw said:

some of the greats, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, etc etc were low ball hitters from Texas... they grow good golfers in that state...

Absolutely. I just need to find the old swing with the driver. 

[chisag]

6 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

some of the greats, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, etc etc were low ball hitters from Texas... they grow good golfers in that state...

 

... Chicago can get very windy and it is always a gusty wind. My first golf vacation in Dallas was such an eye opener. Wind was about 20mph and relentless, like a huge fan in the sky that never seemed to change. This was March so the fairways were also rock hard and between the two I certainly understood the necessity of learning to play a lower trajectory. 

... "Welcome to Texas" there was 4 of us from New Jersey, Chicago and LA and our host that lived in Dallas back in the early 90's. First hole it is the LA guy and me against our host and his NJ best friend. He tells me I have the honor and with a rare show of sportsmanship warns me there is a creek that crosses the fairway about 250 off the tee that wasn't visible. I tell him I only hit my 3Hy about 220 so it would be OK to hit it, right? and he says "Sure!" then as I hit a nice little 3 yd draw down the right middle he says "... but you'll be in the water"   

[Jim Shaw]

10 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Chicago can get very windy and it is always a gusty wind. My first golf vacation in Dallas was such an eye opener. Wind was about 20mph and relentless, like a huge fan in the sky that never seemed to change. This was March so the fairways were also rock hard and between the two I certainly understood the necessity of learning to play a lower trajectory. 

... "Welcome to Texas" there was 4 of us from New Jersey, Chicago and LA and our host that lived in Dallas back in the early 90's. First hole it is the LA guy and me against our host and his NJ best friend. He tells me I have the honor and with a rare show of sportsmanship warns me there is a creek that crosses the fairway about 250 off the tee that wasn't visible. I tell him I only hit my 3Hy about 220 so it would be OK to hit it, right? and he says "Sure!" then as I hit a nice little 3 yd draw down the right middle he says "... but you'll be in the water"   

great story...

[EnderinAZ]

Went out with the Wild Bunch this afternoon a half hour late because of the morning frost delay, but it was cold. 51 when we teed off. Okay so you guys looking out at the snow falling are saying "51!!??? I'd love it if it was 51! Wimp!!" But for this Arizonan, 51 with a wind is COLD. Anyway 4 man team, count 3 low net. My 10 was the lowest handicap. Shot an 83 that should have been better, but I fell into the grip it and rip it habit and played the last few holes from some pretty unique places. No doubles, but not many pars either. Didn't matter. We hammed and egged it very well the entire day and finished up with a respectable 17 under par. That was good enough to win the day.  

[Syks7]

My only goal for the year is to have fun.   I feel like I've been too number focused and it hasn't been good for my enjoyment of the game.  With that in mind I went out for my first round and played the white tees with a couple older fellas.   43/41 84 with zero stress.   Lots to like about the day, a few things to work on, and a much more enjoyable day.

[MrBandit]

Went to DallasGolf shop to get on the monitor and figured out which shaft was working better from me between my Hzdz Smoke 6.0 and or the Speeder NZ 6.0.

Plus tried a few other options.

At the end the Speeder NZ was still the better shaft for me.  Adjust the loft down 1 click from 9.0 to 8.5.

Played today and i was driving the ball much better even on a call day.

Irons, chipping and putting were pretty solid.

Good start to 2024.