Make or break par by August

levitronix

So my goal is try make or break par by august.
The last time i was on a course was October 2011 i played 9 holes before a stag party. But lasttime i had a HC was 2005, i gave up golf the day after the senior cup.
To make this happen i need a few things

1. I need to join a club
2. Buy some golf balls i have none
3. I need to buy a driver and 3 wood
4. I need structure i will have two days a week decicated practice time, 2-3 hours and play 9 holes, two nights at the range and 18 holes on sunday or saturday
Im going to structure my practice all around the scoring clubs

Week 1
Tuesday : Range session, hit 90 balls, hit at least 15 shanks, skinned a few every long iron was pull hook left
Wednesday : Range session, hit 90 balls, a little bit better less pull hooks and not as many shanks
Thursday : Range session, hit 90 balls, if felt i got a swing going, but i have no tempo, but was accurate with 8 - pw so very happy
Fridays : Range session, hit 90 balls, after a long warm up maybe 25 wedges, worked mostly on pw to 7 tens balls each club, only missed a few each club, very happy,
found a old 3 wood, hit maybe 5 on target every thing else was a pull or hook or slice so all over the place.

I ll practce again sunday, id say i wont be able to get a round in for at least 2 weeks, so its practice till then.

Rikand

Good luck

Eaglebridie 32

Handicap 2005 ?

levitronix

Eaglebridie 32 wrote: »

Handicap 2005 ?

3

ForeRight

levitronix wrote: »

3

Can't see any reason why its not possible so.
I'd be surprised if you didnt do it with that level of commitment.
It will be like riding a bike once you iron out the creases.


Keep us informed. Good luck.

niallo27

Why did you give up if you mind me asking.

Senna

3 Handicap means you were good and probably making/breaking par regularly enough.
I'd say if you can follow through with that commitment, you could achieve it well before august. First time you play, post your score here, it will be interesting to see how 8 years of non-golf will effect your game.

I took about 6 months (i know that's short) off from golf with a broken leg, first round back out and I shot a very descent (by my level) score.

Eaglebridie 32

Yep, having played to that handicap, can be done ok.Just concentrate on the sort game.

Dr_Colossus

2 practice days plus two range sessions along with 18 holes over a weekend is alot of golf, no reason why you can't get back to your former handicap by August. Given all the practice sessions what are your plans regarding lessons?

Also interested to hear why you gave up the game and what happened at the senior cup

levitronix

Enough was enough for me, i was working flat out and wanted to spend more time going out with friends, i also found myself slipping because i was practicing less and less as the year the year went on.
I found golf very unrewarding because, sometimes you put in the work and dont get any results because i hadnt got the head for it anymore.
I dont think i ll be getting any lessons, i never really benfited that much before, also when i younger i was kinda self thought but lucky enough to develope a regular looking swing.
So today im working but and on a break from practice, i have two blisters on my hands from being too soft and not used to a golf grip.

levitronix

At the senior cup i just got hammered and didnt really give a ****, i cant remember the guys name but at the time he was the owner of the pro shop in birr

soundsham

Can these threads be boxed away into one please mods

There all great for the author and good luck to them , but they really fill up the page and become tedious and repetitive

m r c

soundsham wrote: »

Can these threads be boxed away into one please mods

There all great for the author and good luck to them , but they really fill up the page and become tedious and repetitive

Disagree, poor you if you have to look at the 2nd page of golf in boards to find content which you don't find tedious and repetitive.
Come on how rude was that to the op, pm a mod if you are that put out mate.

SnowDrifts

soundsham wrote: »

Can these threads be boxed away into one please mods

There all great for the author and good luck to them , but they really fill up the page and become tedious and repetitive

Fill up the page? Seriously? I hope the mods ignore and maybe delete your post.

TheGolfer01

soundsham wrote: »

Can these threads be boxed away into one please mods

There all great for the author and good luck to them , but they really fill up the page and become tedious and repetitive

+1 it's essentially a blog looking for reassurance/ affirmation.
OP hitting the equivalent of two full rounds 4 days in a row at the range is a recipe for disaster, burnout and injury, you should know already from playing to that level that the short game is more important.

bigtimecharlie

Too much range time will be fruitless. I've been to the range weekly since a lesson in early November. Then last week, played 9 holes to test my progress. Total reality check. I was reasonable good at the range but on the course, it was a different matter.

Playing will be much better than the driving range.

levitronix

TheGolfer01 wrote: »

+1 it's essentially a blog looking for reassurance/ affirmation.
OP hitting the equivalent of two full rounds 4 days in a row at the range is a recipe for disaster, burnout and injury, you should know already from playing to that level that the short game is more important.

Have no where to practice short game, till i join a club, so it will have to do till now

FixdePitchmark

Have you never even swung a club in 8 years ? Seems a dramatic change.

If so will interesting.
Best of luck.


There are always people snipping from the sides here - they will be your greatest form of motivation.

I guess if you were at 3 , you were very good. But, how much is that gone. Post first scores back.

Rikand

Novel Idea for the naysayers

There are plenty of other threads for you to read, you dont have to read this one.

levitronix

levitronix wrote: »

So my goal is try make or break par by august.
The last time i was on a course was October 2011 i played 9 holes before a stag party. But lasttime i had a HC was 2005, i gave up golf the day after the senior cup.
To make this happen i need a few things

1. I need to join a club
2. Buy some golf balls i have none
3. I need to buy a driver and 3 wood
4. I need structure i will have two days a week decicated practice time, 2-3 hours and play 9 holes, two nights at the range and 18 holes on sunday or saturday
Im going to structure my practice all around the scoring clubs

Week 1
Tuesday : Range session, hit 90 balls, hit at least 15 shanks, skinned a few every long iron was pull hook left
Wednesday : Range session, hit 90 balls, a little bit better less pull hooks and not as many shanks
Thursday : Range session, hit 90 balls, if felt i got a swing going, but i have no tempo, but was accurate with 8 - pw so very happy
Fridays : Range session, hit 90 balls, after a long warm up maybe 25 wedges, worked mostly on pw to 7 tens balls each club, only missed a few each club, very happy,
found a old 3 wood, hit maybe 5 on target every thing else was a pull or hook or slice so all over the place.

I ll practce again sunday, id say i wont be able to get a round in for at least 2 weeks, so its practice till then.

Week 2
So I bought some balls
Bought a driver, got a Titleist 910, what a club
Monday, Tuesday where just range days 90 balls each day
Thursday my first round at Moyvalley ( still have not joined a club yet bit more thinking needs to done about to where to go )
The round!
Played from the front of the whites
Front 9 went out in 46 hit, hit 3 fairways and 3 greens, made 3 pars lots of 3 putts no up and downs and lots of crap pitching
Back 9 Came back in 42, hit 4 fairways and 5 greens, made 4 pars, but made two double bogeys after hitting 3rd shot from the tee,
Bit more practice Friday and Saturday, will see if I can find a 9 holes on sunday somewhere

m r c

88 not too shabby after your lay off. You'll be shooting the lights out before long I'd say. That said I wouldn't know the course you played but I'm sure it's not over handy.

levitronix

levitronix wrote: »

Week 2
So I bought some balls
Bought a driver, got a Titleist 910, what a club
Monday, Tuesday where just range days 90 balls each day
Thursday my first round at Moyvalley ( still have not joined a club yet bit more thinking needs to done about to where to go )
The round!
Played from the front of the whites
Front 9 went out in 46 hit, hit 3 fairways and 3 greens, made 3 pars lots of 3 putts no up and downs and lots of crap pitching
Back 9 Came back in 42, hit 4 fairways and 5 greens, made 4 pars, but made two double bogeys after hitting 3rd shot from the tee,
Bit more practice Friday and Saturday, will see if I can find a 9 holes on sunday somewhere

Week 3
i joined a club, joined millicent
Got two range sessions in , stuck to 7 - PW hitting 5 balls with each club, my ball striking is kinda coming back.
1 hour short game practice in my garden 10- 25 pitches trying to land shots in my sons sand pit
Played 14 holes in millicent for 8 over par, not bad with two double bogeys, 20 min short game pitching, 20 min puting, sore back after this session
Today 20 min short game around the geen, and 20 min putting short putts
9 holes front 9, 3 over par, 5 greens hit, 1 fairway hit, and 1 3putt

Hoping to put my first card in on sunday to get a handicap and make my first birdie

ssbob

Good luck with it, seems as if you have got the love for the game back. You are already at +3 for 9 holes in 3 weeks, should crack on from here I would imagine!

levitronix

levitronix wrote: »

Week 2
So I bought some balls
Bought a driver, got a Titleist 910, what a club
Monday, Tuesday where just range days 90 balls each day
Thursday my first round at Moyvalley ( still have not joined a club yet bit more thinking needs to done about to where to go )
The round!
Played from the front of the whites
Front 9 went out in 46 hit, hit 3 fairways and 3 greens, made 3 pars lots of 3 putts no up and downs and lots of crap pitching
Back 9 Came back in 42, hit 4 fairways and 5 greens, made 4 pars, but made two double bogeys after hitting 3rd shot from the tee,
Bit more practice Friday and Saturday, will see if I can find a 9 holes on sunday somewhere

levitronix wrote: »

Week 3
i joined a club, joined millicent
Got two range sessions in , stuck to 7 - PW hitting 5 balls with each club, my ball striking is kinda coming back.
1 hour short game practice in my garden 10- 25 pitches trying to land shots in my sons sand pit
Played 14 holes in millicent for 8 over par, not bad with two double bogeys, 20 min short game pitching, 20 min puting, sore back after this session
Today 20 min short game around the geen, and 20 min putting short putts
9 holes front 9, 3 over par, 5 greens hit, 1 fairway hit, and 1 3putt

Hoping to put my first card in on sunday to get a handicap and make my first birdie

Week 4
Had 2 range sessions this week, starting to feel comfortable now hitting balls its a bit more natural less bad shots
Played quite a lot this week got 14 holes in tuesday, played 1 ball but at every green took 5 practice pitches and putts, good days work
Thursday i tried to see what i could score, shot 6 over for 12 holes but with two double bogeys from snap hooked drives, 6 greens hit and managed 2 up and downs , the pitching practice is getting there,
Friday was speed golf, 9 holes in 1 hour 5 greens hit and 3 fairways putting was crap but was putting with flags in

Next week i want to try and figure out how far im hitting wedges 8 and 9 irons. I think i ll join the gui academy for short game practice since its beside my work and drop the range sessions. But i think i could break 80 now if i was to score a card propper still a long way to go before i could shoot 72

levitronix

So first card in for handicap +7
Kinda all over the place out in 41 and back in 39, 2 birdies and 1 double playing 3rd off the tee
Got it together on the back 9 so happy with the result, but missed loads of greens short today with the cold and wind

Rikand

two more rounds of around that and they'll give you a handicap of around 5

levitronix

think I ll have a chance to get a card on Saturday, I ll take anything I get, but I didn't want to have to play off lower than 5 because I wanted to play a few junior scratch cups in the summer, my goal kinda starts in September when my son starts school I ll have a lot more free time to play, try get low again

ForeRight

levitronix wrote: »

think I ll have a chance to get a card on Saturday, I ll take anything I get, but I didn't want to have to play off lower than 5 because I wanted to play a few junior scratch cups in the summer, my goal kinda starts in September when my son starts school I ll have a lot more free time to play, try get low again

Why is the thread called make or break par by August so???

GreeBo

ForeRight wrote: »

Why is the thread called make or break par by August so???

+1
and why would you not want to get the lowest (accurate) handicap that you can?

Just to get on some teams?
Not good dude, not good.

markie4

GreeBo wrote: »

+1
and why would you not want to get the lowest (accurate) handicap that you can?

Just to get on some teams?
Not good dude, not good.

Completely agree on the first point, but he won't get on any club teams without (4?) cards from last year

PARlance

levitronix wrote: »

I didn't want to have to play off lower than 5 because I wanted to play a few junior scratch cups in the summer, my goal kinda starts in September when my son starts school I ll have a lot more free time to play, try get low again

That doesn't read very well at all OP.

In fairness, you prefaced it with.

levitronix wrote: »

think I ll have a chance to get a card on Saturday, I ll take anything I get

But on the whole, you get the impression that HC may be managed until September.
For what it's worth, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt.

You may have imagined that, after taking so much time off, getting a genuine HC of below 5 would have been very unlikely, and as such, had envisaged getting to play in a few Junior Scratches during the beginning to mid summer, working your way down to a level where your ability could produce a make or break par round in August.

GreeBo

markie4 wrote: »

Completely agree on the first point, but he won't get on any club teams without (4?) cards from last year

Yeah I was reading that as Junior Cup, would need 3 cards for that alright.

levitronix

Well I could never imagine getting a handicap lower than 5, and I never for all the years I played completive ever tried to manage my HC .I took the good rounds with the bad ones.
And right now im enjoying my golf so much that I don't want any pressure to perform, I cant see myself wanting to play barton shield or senior cup again, been there done that. I see the junior scratch cups as way of playing so many different top notch courses with a bit of competition thrown in. And yeah come September id love to try and put some real work down since I ll have more free time to try get low again because when I was 16 I was off 2 winning a few junior and youth events but I took an apprenticeship and golf got the back burner from then on, it was pressure full on to try and find practice time and play the youths events. Most people I knew went to college and seemed to have more time for golf. But now 18 years later Im in a much better position with work and family to dedicate time to golf again and have some fun again.

harpsman

soundsham wrote: »

Can these threads be boxed away into one please mods

There all great for the author and good luck to them , but they really fill up the page and become tedious and repetitive

+1.seems bit of an ego trip thread.

GreeBo

harpsman wrote: »

+1.seems bit of an ego trip thread.

Feel free to not click on it and read it?

There are lots of sites on the internet that I have no interest in...so I dont go there. I dont try to get them hidden away.

Rikand

harpsman wrote: »

+1.seems bit of an ego trip thread.

your jealousy speaks volumes!

ShriekingSheet

GreeBo wrote: »

Feel free to not click on it and read it?

There are lots of sites on the internet that I have no interest in...so I dont go there. I dont try to get them hidden away.

Greebo, to be fair, you must in some way see where people are coming from? If we all stuck up a thread about our goals and updated it regularly the golf forum would be nothing but a collection of people blogging about themselves.

The good will of posters will mean some people will reply here and show a bit of interest, but there's a load of people irked by this. It's not that we need a rule or anything, just some common sense applied.

Isn't there a thread for Goals for 2013 somewhere? Couldn't the OP (like everyone else) just use that?

Check out the Instruments forum who tackled a similar issue where people kept posting saying "check out my new amp" etc. They have a Post Your Gear Here sticky now which works great.

The once far more popular Bands and Musicians forum similarly struggled with a deluge of "seeking a bass player" threads, forcing any kind of interesting discussion down and out. They start a seperate forum for seeking musicians. It's a little too late, but in time will work I reckon and it'll get back to people from Bands talking about band stuff.

ShriekingSheet

Actually, forget about my post above.

Plenty of people seem to not mind.

I'll just avoid.

FixdePitchmark

First of all, I'll put my hands up and say I was one of them. But, I don't get people going on as if the forum is overflowing with them . There is 2 at most on the go at a time. There are 15 - 20 other threads that could not have any interest for some.

Obviously - look at me threads and people are not everybodies cup of tea - but the internet is not a great place to come to if you are trying to avoid that. Also it is interesting the forum you raisied as an example "Bands". Is that not the ultimate look at me hobby ?

(BTW - just looked at Bands forum (or whatever) - it is all this is my band and single what do you think - talk about look at me ?)
Example
Your Band's Music

---

Show everyone how great you and your band are,
post links to your music here. I wanna hear some music

Fair play - good luck to them all.

I can understand a frustration with them , as they can be repetitive, similar and perpetuatued by good will – I fell foul of the latter. But, I enjoy them as they bring out the best in the collective nature of Boards – good golfer help hackers , club players help society players, pros help hackers. People are exposed to golfers way above their own level – I can’t see how this would happen too easily outside of the forum here.

It is always obvious what they are from the title, what it is about.

Also , it is hard enough to understand how individualisation can be avoided on an internet forum.

Golf is very goal centered , it is rare enough to have such exact targets in most sport – it lends easily to target based threads.

Every internet site has a shelf life, people get tired of the cyclical nature of it. I don’t think, that because someone like me is here a long time, they can shape or ruin the experience of a newcomer to the game or forum here. To sum up – we were them once. Don’t ruin it on them.

I hope that post was not too, look at me.(lol). But, I don’t care too much – it is only the Internet.

Senna

If I posted a thread about getting my HC down from 15 to 12 by the end of the summer, it would drop off first page within a day or two as nobody would be interested. If you take an 8 year break from golf and attempt to shot level par by the end of summer, then its a lot more interesting and it will stick about.
Let the forum be a judge to what's interesting or not. I'd hate to see the forum start to ban threads about a person games, as sometimes it not so much "look at me" as "this might be of interest". If the forum gets clogged-up, then raise the issue, but its certainly not a problem at the moment.

ShriekingSheet

Senna wrote: »

If I posted a thread about getting my HC down from 15 to 12 by the end of the summer, it would drop off first page within a day or two as nobody would be interested. If you take an 8 year break from golf and attempt to shot level par by the end of summer, then its a lot more interesting and it will stick about.
Let the forum be a judge to what's interesting or not. I'd hate to see the forum start to ban threads about a person games, as sometimes it not so much "look at me" as "this might be of interest". If the forum gets clogged-up, then raise the issue, but its certainly not a problem at the moment.

Yes, fair point. A bit irrational on my part.

GreeBo

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

Greebo, to be fair, you must in some way see where people are coming from? If we all stuck up a thread about our goals and updated it regularly the golf forum would be nothing but a collection of people blogging about themselves.

The good will of posters will mean some people will reply here and show a bit of interest, but there's a load of people irked by this. It's not that we need a rule or anything, just some common sense applied.

Isn't there a thread for Goals for 2013 somewhere? Couldn't the OP (like everyone else) just use that?

Honestly, no I dont.
Unless someone is pimping their thread it wont be sitting on the first page after very long. If other users are commenting then it *deserves* to be on the first page.

If we had 1 single thread then it would always be on the front page as there would be multiple users updating their own progress (and also would be difficult to follow)

PGF

Why not just have a sub-forum for all the individual blogs? The cycling, triathlon & running forums have sub forums where training logs are kept.

GreeBo

PGF wrote: »

Why not just have a sub-forum for all the individual blogs? The cycling, triathlon & running forums have sub forums where training logs are kept.

Because we don't need one...we have maybe 3 threads like this max on the forum, if they were hidden away no one would read them.
If we start to get a large number of them and/or they start to overwhelm the forum we might look to do something.
As of now, its a non issue. If you dont like them, stay out of them.

Also...we had a forum feedback thread and this was never mentioned so its clearly not really that much of an issue for the forum in general.

PGF

GreeBo wrote: »

Because we don't need one...we have maybe 3 threads like this max on the forum, if they were hidden away no one would read them.
If we start to get a large number of them and/or they start to overwhelm the forum we might look to do something.
As of now, its a non issue. If you dont like them, stay out of them.

Also...we had a forum feedback thread and this was never mentioned so its clearly not really that much of an issue for the forum in general.

'If you build it they will come'. Maybe if it was created more people start their own log and participation would increase.

How come the mod bold text? Was there a problem with my comment? Off topic maybe... If so apologies. I thought it was a positive addition to the forum. I'll leave it at that.

Dr_Colossus

PGF wrote: »

How come the mod bold text? Was there a problem with my comment? Off topic maybe... If so apologies. I thought it was a positive addition to the forum. I'll leave it at that.

Bold text signifies that it is the Moderator that's speaking, normal text is the individual behind, nothing to do with an attack on your post it just clarifies who's speaking since Moderators don't have a separate accounts for Moderating and general posting.

PGF

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Bold text signifies that it is the Moderator that's speaking, normal text is the individual behind, nothing to do with an attack on your post it just clarifies who's speaking since Moderators don't have a separate accounts for Moderating and general posting.

Yeah I know the bold means mod speak, hence my comment 'why the MOD bold text'...

GreeBo

PGF wrote: »

Yeah I know the bold means mod speak, hence my comment 'why the MOD bold text'...

Because I was replying to you as a MOD.
Lets take this offline if you want to discuss further pls./

FixdePitchmark

Greebo - this is Feedback about this issue.

Could we have a new rule on people derailing threads because they have no interest in it ?

Just because you have no interest in a topic - I don't think the thread should be ruined as this has.

GreeBo

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Greebo - this is Feedback about this issue.

Could we have a new rule on people derailing threads because they have no interest in it ?

Just because you have no interest in a topic - I don't think the thread should be ruined as this has.

Feedback belongs in the feedback thread.
There is no "issue".
We dont need a "new" rule, thats an existing rule.
*You* are derailing the thread by continuing to talk about it after I asked people to leave it!

levitronix

levitronix wrote: »

Week 3
i joined a club, joined millicent
Got two range sessions in , stuck to 7 - PW hitting 5 balls with each club, my ball striking is kinda coming back.
1 hour short game practice in my garden 10- 25 pitches trying to land shots in my sons sand pit
Played 14 holes in millicent for 8 over par, not bad with two double bogeys, 20 min short game pitching, 20 min puting, sore back after this session
Today 20 min short game around the geen, and 20 min putting short putts
9 holes front 9, 3 over par, 5 greens hit, 1 fairway hit, and 1 3putt

Hoping to put my first card in on sunday to get a handicap and make my first birdie

levitronix wrote: »

Week 4
Had 2 range sessions this week, starting to feel comfortable now hitting balls its a bit more natural less bad shots
Played quite a lot this week got 14 holes in tuesday, played 1 ball but at every green took 5 practice pitches and putts, good days work
Thursday i tried to see what i could score, shot 6 over for 12 holes but with two double bogeys from snap hooked drives, 6 greens hit and managed 2 up and downs , the pitching practice is getting there,
Friday was speed golf, 9 holes in 1 hour 5 greens hit and 3 fairways putting was crap but was putting with flags in

Next week i want to try and figure out how far im hitting wedges 8 and 9 irons. I think i ll join the gui academy for short game practice since its beside my work and drop the range sessions. But i think i could break 80 now if i was to score a card propper still a long way to go before i could shoot 72

Week 5
Got the usual 2 range sessions
Got one card for my handicap an 80
Decent golf played on Tuesday and Thursday with a lot of chipping and putting practice
But a huge wake up call today first 6 holes I played I was 8 over par, couldn't do anything right even missed a 2 foot put and two balls into the water
But I finished off eagle, par , bogey, par, birdie, par. Very weird day