How'd you play?

[cnosil]

10 hours ago, Grand Stranded said:

My ball striking and putting are where I want them to be, but my short game is still my Achilles heel. I’ve played well enough to come in 1st and second in my Tuesday and Saturday leagues last week, but it’s sad how many strokes I lose around the green. My 81-83’s would be 5-6 strokes lower if I had an average short game. I’ve said this before, but the guys I play most with tell me I have the game of a single digit cap until I take a wedge out of the bag. Then I become a 23 cap. 

It is what it is, I guess. I’ll never be great at that part of the game, but I just have to figure out how to get better. This semi yip thing I’ve got going on is embarrassing… Tuesday League, 18th hole, par 5. I hit a nice drive, and have 210 to the hole. The problem is if I want to try to reach in two, I have to hit a shot 190 in the air to clear a waste area. Normally I’d lay up and hit a 56* with my third shot, but a bird would give me a 79. 80 is a good score, but not if you lay up to shoot it, so I hit my 3 wood. I hit it as good as I could, and it ended up hole high about 15 feet off the left edge of the green. Problem was the flag was in the right corner about 50 feet away. I proceed to stub my 52* about 6 feet, then thin it across the green barely staying on the fringe. I two putted from there and took a 6 and an 81.

Two shots traveled 450 yds, the next 4 went 50 feet. That my friends, is frustrating…  

I know your frustration especially with the short game.   This is what I have been working on for the past year+ and while I ma better  it still isn't where I want it to be.   I can hit the ball pretty well during my practice and warmup sessions and a about 70/30 when playing.     All I can say is keep practicing your low point and wrist angles.

[JerryB]

Played River Heights yesterday morning by myself.  It was both early and chilly so my son refused to get up to join me.  His loss; it warmed up well enough and the course was nearly deserted.

My best rounds seem to be solo rounds.  I think it's because I have nothing else to focus on so I'm locked in a little better.  Yesterday was no different as I shot a new PB of 44/48 for a 92.  And it could have been a little better; I had 39 putts including a couple four-putts.

Tale of two holes...hole 3 I missed the fairway by about a foot, put my 3 wood on the little ridge before the giant weed bunker and then put my wedge about a foot from the pin for a tap in birdie:

 

Next hole I used my 5 wood to get on the green and proceeded to four putt for a double.

 

It was like that all day...had a four putt double on one hole and a 1 putt double on a different one.  I also had a five hole stretch where I played +1.  All in all a great day.  I played well and still felt like I left strokes on the table.

[sirchunksalot]

11 hours ago, Grand Stranded said:

My ball striking and putting are where I want them to be, but my short game is still my Achilles heel. I’ve played well enough to come in 1st and second in my Tuesday and Saturday leagues last week, but it’s sad how many strokes I lose around the green. My 81-83’s would be 5-6 strokes lower if I had an average short game. I’ve said this before, but the guys I play most with tell me I have the game of a single digit cap until I take a wedge out of the bag. Then I become a 23 cap. 

It is what it is, I guess. I’ll never be great at that part of the game, but I just have to figure out how to get better. This semi yip thing I’ve got going on is embarrassing… Tuesday League, 18th hole, par 5. I hit a nice drive, and have 210 to the hole. The problem is if I want to try to reach in two, I have to hit a shot 190 in the air to clear a waste area. Normally I’d lay up and hit a 56* with my third shot, but a bird would give me a 79. 80 is a good score, but not if you lay up to shoot it, so I hit my 3 wood. I hit it as good as I could, and it ended up hole high about 15 feet off the left edge of the green. Problem was the flag was in the right corner about 50 feet away. I proceed to stub my 52* about 6 feet, then thin it across the green barely staying on the fringe. I two putted from there and took a 6 and an 81.

Two shots traveled 450 yds, the next 4 went 50 feet. That my friends, is frustrating…  

 

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

I know your frustration especially with the short game.   This is what I have been working on for the past year+ and while I ma better  it still isn't where I want it to be.   I can hit the ball pretty well during my practice and warmup sessions and a about 70/30 when playing.     All I can say is keep practicing your low point and wrist angles.

I agree with @cnosil, just keep plugging away at those things and remember, bounce is your friend. It's amazing how we can hit the ball a long way easily and then find the closer to the hole we get the harder the game becomes. You've got this! I have faith you can get it straightened out and will be shooting in the 70's soon. 

[MaxEntropy]

Got out with @DiscipleofPenick for what could be the last round of the year at a pretty remote, but nice course (Sugar Bush). It was in the low 40's when we started and didn't warm up much. 

Two of those cars are ours.

Old train car as a bridge.

View from 16th (maybe?) green.

18th tee.

I don't feel like I played that poorly, but short game was a disaster - I was +9 on two stinking holes thanks to skulled/shanked shots that were 50 yards or less. The course was playing pretty long due to the temps and wet ground. Ended up +23. Would love to play this course in warmer/drier weather.

[DiscipleofPenick]

19 minutes ago, MaxEntropy said:

Got out with @DiscipleofPenick for what could be the last round of the year at a pretty remote, but nice course (Sugar Bush). It was in the low 40's when we started and didn't warm up much. 

Two of those cars are ours.

Old train car as a bridge.

View from 16th (maybe?) green.

18th tee.

I don't feel like I played that poorly, but short game was a disaster - I was +9 on two stinking holes thanks to skulled/shanked shots that were 50 yards or less. The course was playing pretty long due to the temps and wet ground. Ended up +23. Would love to play this course in warmer/drier weather.

This is my favorite course in Cleveland. A true hidden gem that I used to play all the time with my dad. Now I live on the other side of town and it takes about 50 min to get there.

The course was soft as we got unexpected rain overnight but it cleared out after the 2nd hole and we had the course basically to ourselves. And it didn't break 50 temp wise. I was playing a club more than normal on all shots. I hit 13 greens, no penalties, no birdies, 79. A great day though and a good possible end of the season.

[Grand Stranded]

7 hours ago, cnosil said:

I know your frustration especially with the short game.   This is what I have been working on for the past year+ and while I ma better  it still isn't where I want it to be.   I can hit the ball pretty well during my practice and warmup sessions and a about 70/30 when playing.     All I can say is keep practicing your low point and wrist angles.

When I go to the range or warm up before a round, I’m so much better with them. I know my technique is far from perfect, but a lot of this is mental with me. The closely shaved areas down here are in my head. When I go back to Long Island and hit balls sitting up a bit on bent grass, I’m a lot better. For what it’s worth I’m not alone in this. I see a lot better players than me struggle down here with this. We learn quickly to putt it whenever possible.

6 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

 

I agree with @cnosil, just keep plugging away at those things and remember, bounce is your friend. It's amazing how we can hit the ball a long way easily and then find the closer to the hole we get the harder the game becomes. You've got this! I have faith you can get it straightened out and will be shooting in the 70's soon. 
 

Thanks buddy. Yeah that’s all we can do is keep plugging.

I’ll say one thing though. Sometimes a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. For instance, you said “bounce is your friend” and I’d tend to agree, but there are times it isn’t. Such as off firm tightly mowed surfaces or hard packed sand.
We have 4 courses in my development, and for the high end prices they charge non members, our bunkers are amazingly inconsistent. One has hardly any sand, the other is hard packed, the next is soft and fluffy. Same with fairways. Some are dry and hard, others wet and soft.

The point is, the more I’ve learned about bounce and grinds, the more I tend to overthink things. I’m to the point now that when I recently read a review of PXGs forged wedges, what was meant as a knock actually appealed to me. The man was complaining about their lack of grinds and bounces, they were just straight forward basic wedges. Like I said, that sounded very good to me. *The KISS theory.*

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, Grand Stranded said:

The closely shaved areas down here are in my head. When I go back to Long Island and hit balls sitting up a bit on bent grass, I’m a lot better.

What is your miss on the tightly shaved areas?

Do you setup with the shaft leaned forward?

1 hour ago, Grand Stranded said:

The point is, the more I’ve learned about bounce and grinds, the more I tend to overthink things.

Finding the right bounce and/or grind can be a little hard. A wedge fitting even if online with a fitting tool like Vokey wedge fit or the brands that offer online fittings with a fitter can help. But also with that one really needs to learn and understand how to use the bounce. This is a game changer for many in the wedge game.

[Sluggo42]

Played ok yesterday, my “swing de jour” is a flared front foot that allows an easier turn through. Making much better iron contact. Funny that driver is opposite and back foot flared. “Adele” continues to putt lights out. Not a silly number like the other day, but solid.

best shots were a few monster drives, (275-285 is a monster for us old farts),but the memory was a 45 footer putt right to left back to right dropping in for a birdie. I was honestly just trying to get it to within 2 feet..

[Tom the Golf Nut]

1 hour ago, Grand Stranded said:

I’ll say one thing though. Sometimes a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. For instance, you said “bounce is your friend” and I’d tend to agree, but there are times it isn’t. Such as off firm tightly mowed surfaces or hard packed sand.
We have 4 courses in my development, and for the high end prices they charge non members, our bunkers are amazingly inconsistent. One has hardly any sand, the other is hard packed, the next is soft and fluffy. Same with fairways. Some are dry and hard, others wet and soft.

 

I'm in agreement with you. Firm tightly mowed surfaces around the green and hard packed sand is difficult with a club with a lot of bounce. I run into the same thing on my course. They have been working on the bunkers one at a time. You can go from fluffy sand in one to hard pack in another. With 36 bunkers to do it is taking quite a while when they only do a few a season. I've found the most consistent shot is with a square face. Any time I try to open up the SW it bounces off the turf or hard pack and I wind up skulling the ball. Since I went to a square face about two years ago it has been working great. 

I even went and picked up a SW with less bounce and a more diverse grind.  It worked great for the tight lies and firm sand but was horrible in the fluffy stuff. I went back to my other wedge because my percentage of saves was higher.  

[Grand Stranded]

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

What is your miss on the tightly shaved areas?

Do you setup with the shaft leaned forward?

Finding the right bounce and/or grind can be a little hard. A wedge fitting even if online with a fitting tool like Vokey wedge fit or the brands that offer online fittings with a fitter can help. But also with that one really needs to learn and understand how to use the bounce. This is a game changer for many in the wedge game.

Shaft is leaning forward, ball is in the center of my stance. My main thought is to maintain the “V” with my arms as I go back. My weight is forward, stance slightly open. I’m trying to get the club to the ball with my hands and shaft as close to possible as where they were at address (if that makes sense?) I want to keep my body and head still while pivoting the rear knee slightly.

I know it sounds silly, but I can never replicate the practice strokes I take just prior to the shot. Something goes haywire with my forward stroke to the ball. I’m just as likely to chunk, blade or hit it well.

Edited October 24, 2021 by Grand Stranded

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 minutes ago, Grand Stranded said:

Shaft is leaning forward, ball is in the center of my stance. My main thought is to maintain the “V” with my arms as I go back. My weight is forward, stance slightly open.

I know it sounds silly, but I can never replicate the practice strokes I take just prior to the shot. Something goes haywire with my forward stroke to the ball. I’m just as likely to chunk, blade or hit it well.

The shaft leaning forward is the problem especially on the tightly shaved areas. You are probably changing your height thru the ball, getting quick in transition and yank the handle which is going to lead to the chunked shots, standing up is going lead to blading it. More than likely missing rotation in your motion.

These are common mistakes many make.

Ball should be played slightly forward unless trying to hit a low shot then play it back. Phil says playing a ball in the middle means one is indecisive on the shot they want to hit. A good video. Also worth the cost to buy his use the bounce 2.0 series on rebellion golf

 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I got out to play today instead of my normal Sunday round on the weekend. There is a tournament tomorrow so the course was booked starting at 10 am with a shotgun start. 

I did play better than last week So I'm still going with blaming the jacket. Today was warm enough for shorts and a golf shirt. Last week I also reduced the loft of my driver down 1 degree. This week I moved it back and my fairways hit percentage went back to normal. 

My hole of the day was the 503 yard par five. I smoked the drive and was left with 203 in. I hit a three wood to an uphill green from a down hill lie and was on the fringe. Lipped out the eagle chip but had a tap in bird. I don't think I ever was that close to the green before. 

I managed a 72 today with two bogies and the one bird. 

They were spraying our fairways today with that blue green liquid fertilizer. What a mess. Of course I was playing right behind the crew. Didn't want to touch my ball to line my putt up on the green. I could have brought a towel with me to each green but I was just plain lazy.   

[fozcycle]

Okay, so I have Osteoarthritis in my fingers and bilateral carpal tunnel.  Friday, my OT taped me up with K tape, from my Palms to my elbow and said i5 should last 3 days. So I wore a pair of gloves to keep the tape attached to my Palms.  This destroyed my feel on chips and putts. I missed 3 birdies by fractions of an inch and had a quad(4 putt)….Ugh!  Shot a 47/45:92 using my backup clubs(Wilson Triton, Bombtech 3W, 4H, PowerBilt 5W, Patriot 7W and Hogan irons/wedges).

All things considered, I had a good round. Full swings with 5h3 Hogans were terrific. Driver & Fairways were great, Hogans were like butta.

[Rickp]

14 minutes ago, fozcycle said:

Okay, so I have Osteoarthritis in my fingers and bilateral carpal tunnel.  Friday, my OT taped me up with K tape, from my Palms to my elbow and said i5 should last 3 days. So I wore a pair of gloves to keep the tape attached to my Palms.  This destroyed my feel on chips and putts. I missed 3 birdies by fractions of an inch and had a quad(4 putt)….Ugh!  Shot a 47/45:92 using my backup clubs(Wilson Triton, Bombtech 3W, 4H, PowerBilt 5W, Patriot 7W and Hogan irons/wedges).

All things considered, I had a good round. Full swings with 5h3 Hogans were terrific. Driver & Fairways were great, Hogans were like butta.

So the K tape worked for you?

[fixyurdivot]

Played my first round for the winter season in Yuma.  87F with a nice 3-5mph breeze.  I played the front nine with a local guy (Stanley) I've seen at the course in prior years. I scored a 41.  They had just reopened today after 3 weeks of closure for overseeding and the fairways, aprons, and greens were shaggy.  Putting was quite wonky and required some serious swats to account for the grabby surface.

At the turn I went went solo and played a second ball. A Tour Speed vs. an AVX dueled one another.  These were both from 125 yards leaving two birdie attempts of about 7 feet... neither were cashed in .

The Tour Speed was abducted on #15 - absolutely certain a group going down the adjacent fairway picked it up.  So, I randomly grabbed whatever came out of the ball pocket and replaced it with a Wilson DuoSoft.  AVX carded a 44 and the TourSpeed/DuoSoft a 42.  Nice start to the winter season.

[sirchunksalot]

I got out today to play nine holes and do some testing for the Odyssey White Hot OG putter test. 

Shot a 52 today, but the star of the show was the putter. I had a grand total of 12 putts. I chipped close a couple of times, but holed putts from 26 and 31 feet along with hitting one from off the green that was 18 feet. I shut into more detail in the testing thread.

As far as ball striking goes, it was an on and off day there. The driver showed up in the middle of the round, but it left me at the bookends of the day. 

Irons were decent, I few shanks that first showed up during the warm-up on the range. 

The wedges were about the same as the irons, I hit some absolutely great shots and some that were atrocious. 

I can't complain, the work I've been putting in is starting to show up on the course. It's a nice confirmation that with more work my game will continue to improve. 

[chisag]

2 hours ago, Grand Stranded said:

I know it sounds silly, but I can never replicate the practice strokes I take just prior to the shot. Something goes haywire with my forward stroke to the ball. I’m just as likely to chunk, blade or hit it well.

 

... Not crazy at all and a common problem. Your practice stroke doesn't count and you don't care where the imaginary ball goes so at least mentally there is absolutely no pressure. The trick is not caring where the ball goes when you take your real shot. It seems counter intuitive, but cliches become cliches for a reason and not caring allows you to take a free from tension stroke and focus on the process not the result. Making good chips is really very easy to do. You may not get it close but you won't chunk or blade it when your focus is on the chip, just like your practice stroke, and not the end result. Sooooo many golfers like to say that second guy is always better than the first guy after hitting a shot poorly then hitting another because they know their mistake and fix it with the second shot, but the second guy is almost always better because it doesn't count and there is no pressure. I love that old saying "Golf is 80% mental and the other 20% is mental" 

 

[Shapotomous]

11 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

....The Tour Speed was abducted on #15 - absolutely certain a group going down the adjacent fairway picked it up.  ....

It might be that Yellow Ball was on that other fairway and the Tour Speed decided to run away and join him for some adventures!?!?!  

[PMookie]

The struggles continue. 81(41/40). I’m lost with driver swing… Just horrible. I didn’t hit a lot of greens because I was trying to recover from the rough, behind trees, etc. 

[CarlH]

Thoughts on my game ......