How's your game!

dan_ep82

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Was hell and post 666 intentional.

Didn't notice it at all lol.

I agree with the above, I had a different swing every week watching youtube.

The biggest problem I found I had was even if I was doing it right (stance,grip,swing etc) and made a bad contact I'd couldn't tell so I'd change again.

galwaylad14

I'm finding it hard to know where I'm at at the moment. Got a lesson recently that I'm still working on as I had been struggling with my driver, now my driver is much better but I'm not quiet striking the irons as well as I was but I'm determined to stick with it.

I'm scoring solidly without feeling like I'm playing that well at all though. Hitting sort of between 33 and 37 points consistently enough but can't help but feel I should be doing better given the winter tees and pick and place everywhere.

The strange thing about my game is that 7 or 8 months ago I was playing off 10 and I genuinely felt I was a decent golfer and that I had an all round solid game. I had a good year at it and put in a lot of practice and managed to get down to 5 and in fairness I am playing to it but I now consider myself a decent driver of the ball, a mediocre long and mid iron player, a good short iron player, an average short game (and dreadful from bunkers, need to get this sorted) and a flakey enough putter (can go from 26/27 putts a round to sometimes about 32/33). Where as when I was off 10 I would have considered myself to be decent enough at all parts of the game.

I'd generally hit 9 or 10 greens a round but I hit the ball a decent bang off the tee so the greens I hit are usually when I have a wedge or short iron in my hand, rarely seem to hit them when I've a 7 or longer iron in my hand.

I definitley considered my game to be better when I played off 10 even though I know through my scoring averages and stats that it clearly wasn't. Just shows how your perceptions are all relative I suppose.

I often play with people that would say, you know they'd be happy with their game if they could break 90 or play off single figures or whatever and I always tell them that they wouldn't be happier because once they get to that level they'll want to improve further and they'll get frustrated when progress starts to stall. At the same time though thats what makes it the game it is and in some ways I think that you can't ever be happy with your game if you actually want to get better because there's always room to improve no matter where your game is at.

The other big positive I take from it all is that the fact I feel my game has so many weaknesses now means that I know there's still lots of room for me to improve if I can get those issues sorted!

FixdePitchmark

A bit of a breakthrough with swing changes in last few days.
Was totally lost there for a while - a 6 iron could be 100 yards of a dispersion

It was funny and desperate all at once. But at last.
The pro has basically changed my swing plane - wider on way back and a drop inside. Also better balance at start - improved release and good firm right leg and one piece takeaway.

It was all a bit much - so ended up working on one piece at a time and got to a mental block on the start of downswing - if quick my natural swing is OTT - so getting inside and not pulling from the top is a crazy feeling for me.

So how much of this is going to stick - don't know.

Flight is more a draw now, I feel like the ball is more in way of swing as opposed to my old lunge and throwing the club at ball.

Anyway - some of my mates - think/know I'm nuts changing all the time. But, I hope I'm right - in that we all know if there is something wrong in our game - we are the ones that see the flight of every ball and the flaws in our game most.

I'd imagine my short game has fallen apart - but that will come back when short game area is back to normal in my place.

Anyway - will stick at it.

Dossy

Well just got another lesson this evening and unfortunately, the hard practice i had been doing the last 2 weeks has been half in vain,

On the plus side i seemed to have stopped locking up my right knee, still need to keep this going for another few weeks,

Problem, i misunderstood what i was told last time, ive been practicing the last 2 weeks on keeping the right knee bent and keeping below my hips static WRONG, it should be both moving together but keeping the right knee bent,

Anyway after the lesson i went and tied out what i should have been doing, started hitting lovely clean shots again,

Got good feedback all the same from the Pro, even with the one or two mistakes during the week, Pro says my swing has made a massive improvement in the last Month, Happy Days

alxmorgan

alxmorgan wrote: »

Last outing of 2013. Quick 9 yielded +2 for 23 pts. Unfortunately that was all she wrote for whole of holidays.

Encouragement for next year though so happy out.

Things still tipping along ok. Driving is very good at the moment. Putting is solid mostly although my miss is still a slight pull so have to watch that

Hybrid is going well. Irons are a bit of an issue. Fine off the mats in practice but strike on the course is too inconsistent with a few heavy ones recently really costing me. Worked on something on range yesterday to try to get forward shaft lean into the impact area to get ball first contact. If it ever stops raining I might be able to try it on the course :rolleyes:

All told still looking forward to a big (touch wood etc) year

spacecoyote

So, winter lesson number 2 last night, and still a long way to go.

Had kinda taken the previous lesson too far & gotten my stance way too narrow. The result was a controlled swing but lacking in power, or as my pro said in the nicest way possible, "a lazy swing"

So the take aways from last night are get a more stable base, not stand too close to the ball & work on upper body turn, basically to try get my left shoulder turned past the ball on the back swing (without any lower body sway to the right)

It's tough as I'm not the most flexible, but even from the short time I spent hitting balls last night I can see a power difference (when I wasn't catching them fat!!). Was hitting an 8 iron the same distance I'd been hitting a 6 iron at the range on Sunday, due to getting more body turn into my swing.

I know it's a learning process but I wish I was a faster learner

At least there are 3.5 weeks to the boards outing to try get myself to a place where I don't make a complete fool of myself

FixdePitchmark

@ Space.

Sounds the same as me - poor turn. Very hard, when you are coiled as we should be it is a new feeling for us

It is like I'm learning how to play golf again - was as polite as I could be to a lad in the range telling me I had the wrong shaft. Love those old lads most days - but please man.

I guess - I'll be the old lad on the range one day

spacecoyote

Cheers Fix, yeah its tough working parts of the body that aren't used to getting a working.

I do see the logic of it though, should definitely slot more naturally inside on the way down if I can get to the right place on the way back.

Sure who doesn't look forward to being a grumpy old golfer in the future telling the young bucks how they should be doing it & about how in our day manufactors only released new lines of clubs once every 18 months

PARlance

Lesson last night, a few things to work on but happy enough with it.

Main priority is fixing my address, way "too left" (left shoulder outside left foot) with it. Causing me to get trapped in the swing.
Need to stand a little bit taller too and let my arms fall straight down at address.

In other news:
Wife asked my this morning "what's the gaps between your wedges ????"
Apparently I was shouting in my sleep that I need to fix the gaps between them.... Definitly too obsessed with golf

charlieIRL

hahaha, good thing your pro is a bloke or there would be some serious questions from herself!!!

dar_cool

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Brilliant!!! That would probably explain some of your drives where your hitting the ground first.

FixdePitchmark

So, determined to hit a ball somewhere over the midlands , even if a practice area. Let us just say, take out a bit of frustration. A little bit of bad news, but stick at it.

GUI Carton house - closed , only thing I seen was the Irish Rugby team. Grown men still playing a game. Got to putting green, 4 putts , starts to lash.

So disappointed, headed across Kildare - saturated, fields flooded, puddles are ponds, ponds are rivers. Hit the N7 - was heading to midlands , the sun broke to give the most amazing evening. Thinking , could I hit Heritage for front 9 - , 2 and half hours to sunset.

So 7 iron from a hanging lie on 3 , to 6 inches , birdie was worth it

So - played well - I know it is a crazy golf course , size and difficulty. But I like it, I play well there on the front nine for some reason. The back not so good , long story


So
2 birdies (3 and 9)
1 pars
6 bogies

(+4)

Putting poor (3 3 putts)

Tee to green has come together nicely - not sure what swing I'm using - But I'm in play way more.

Just need to sharpen up putting and short game.

I know I can play better.

Met up with a nice 17 year old lad, he has taken on golf, when nobody in his family likes it at all, up at 6 am at weekends, waking up the whole house, had his first hole in one last summer. Little does he know he has 20 years more till he reaches my age - he may never see another one. He may still be trying to understand this game.

scubapro

Went for a lesson Last night with a new coach , I had a swing flaw that previous coaches either ignored or thought there was more important things to work on, I have a move at the start of the transition Where my upper body slides left,helps get my weight forward to get into the ball but can be a death move because my head can get in front of the ball causing all types of problems unless timing was spot on. I've tried umpteen things to no avail, until last night, fantastic session, after two swings he spotted the problem straight away, got me doing a couple of drills and voila, massive improvement when looking at the video playback, gonna hit the range again tonight and put some work in.

Fanny Brioscaí

After taking a break from the game due to injury i wanted to pick it back up straight after Christmas. I had a game three weeks ago without hitting a ball in almost 18 months and it was ok but not good enough. I decided to book a lesson with the pro at my local range which i had last Monday evening. It didn't start of great but within a ten minutes he made everything so simple i was striking the ball lovely and getting more distance. I went back to the range tonight to put in some practice and it was a disaster, compared to my lesson and ball striking it was not as good or consistent. I am getting custom fitting for a new set of irons on my next lesson, i am really hoping for a confidence boost as i never liked my current clubs Top Flight X2 which i have now almost six years.

I am determined to work hard and get myself back to a better standard than i was at before

spacecoyote

Quaint wrote: »

After taking a break from the game due to injury i wanted to pick it back up straight after Christmas. I had a game three weeks ago without hitting a ball in almost 18 months and it was ok but not good enough. I decided to book a lesson with the pro at my local range which i had last Monday evening. It didn't start of great but within a ten minutes he made everything so simple i was striking the ball lovely and getting more distance. I went back to the range tonight to put in some practice and it was a disaster, compared to my lesson and ball striking it was not as good or consistent. I am getting custom fitting for a new set of irons on my next lesson, i am really hoping for a confidence boost as i never liked my current clubs Top Flight X2 which i have now almost six years.

I am determined to work hard and get myself back to a better standard than i was at before

lessons will almost always feel like you're taking steps backwards before you make progress. Stick with it, it'll pay off in the long run

PARlance

I would maybe hold out till after your next lesson for your fitting. Sounds like you are still finding your swing.

Dossy

Im still going through the lessons at the moment and i had 2 weeks of pure ****e at the range, but this week was wayyy more positive, stick with the lessons for another bit then get your custom fitting when your comfortable in and with your swing

dan_ep82

I was still struggling with my iron swing the last time I was out until I went back to my old ball position.

Near the end of my first lesson the pro was saying I was doing good and my ball striking was good I told him I aim in front of the ball about an inch or two and he said to move the ball back in my stance instead. Out of the 40 or so hits after that I connected with only a few but put it down to it being something new but since I just can't connect right.

Near the end of the round the other day I kept using all the new swing except ball position and I was striking much better and got my distance back with the irons aswell. I'm going to run with this for a few rounds, if my old problems creep back in I'll move the ball position otherwise I'll stick with it.

Dossy

If its working keep going, as odd as it sounds even if your supposed to do something one way and you do it another and it works thats all that matters!!
If it breaks down then you know what you have to do...

dan_ep82

Crap at the minute, feel like my swing went from natural to a mechanical swing resulting in more mis hits than when I first started playing.

Starting to worry if my irons are right for me aswell. Played a few holes with my brothers MP58's in regular S300 shafts (good ball striker, high HC) the other day and played better, my mi****s were still going out there compared to my own. May need to get fit

bustercherry

dan_ep82 wrote: »

Crap at the minute, feel like my swing went from natural to a mechanical swing resulting in more mis hits than when I first started playing.

Starting to worry if my irons are right for me aswell. Played a few holes with my brothers MP58's in regular S300 shafts (good ball striker, high HC) the other day and played better, my mi****s were still going out there compared to my own. May need to get fit

What did you shoot?

dan_ep82

bustercherry wrote: »

What did you shoot?

I stopped counting before hand lol.

I just felt I could swing his better, there was less bad shots and the bad ones were better. In saying that once I switched back I was hitting my own better, if maybe still not as good. I've no doubt confidence/mental has a big thing to do with it but anything that makes the game easier is a plus for me.

poteen

First golf lesson in 3 years this evening. I dont know what Im hoping for. A miracle I guess. Im getting an hours lesson. is this too long or should i keep it to 30 mins.

e.r

poteen wrote: »

First golf lesson in 3 years this evening. I dont know what Im hoping for. A miracle I guess. Im getting an hours lesson. is this too long or should i keep it to 30 mins.

I had a 1.5 hr lesson recently, and taught it was fine as everything was explained with no rush to squeeze changes in. So a hour would be fine in my book .

galwaylad14

That would seem a fraction long to me, I think you'd get more benefit from doing the half hour, spending a week or 2 working hard at the changes and then going for another half an hour lesson. That would be my opinion but no reason that it can't work for you.

I had a lesson myself recently and I must say the level of progress is frustrating me a little at the moment but I want to stick with it. I'm probably lucky in this sense but any lesson I've ever got before, I'd usually go there with some issue and by the end of the lesson it would be fixed and I'd be hitting it well and it would stay that way provided I put in any half decent little bit of practice. In other words I was able to make the changes very easily and they didn't seem to require much work.

But this time I was hitting it fine at the end of the lesson but since then I've been very inconsistent on the range and course. The change just doesnt seem to be working. I'm sort of confused at the moment as I don't know if I should basically abandon the change as maybe it just doesn't suit me because I've always adapted so well to change before or if I should just keep plugging away at it. There's also the possibility that I'm just not performing the new move properly.

I think I'll go to the range once or twice this week and maybe arrange another lesson for next week.

FixdePitchmark

Hit the ball all over the kip from the driver today - duck hooks, slices.

Played poor
+6 for 9.

Great day for a game of golf.

A bit confused with what I'm trying to do with driver.

Rest of game ok.

poteen

Par 3 today. 8 iron to 20ft. 4 putts. Distraught.

TrapperChamonix

poteen wrote: »

Par 3 today. 8 iron to 20ft. 4 putts. Distraught.

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D you made me laugh. Especially as we've all been there.

Wombatman

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Hit the ball all over the kip from the driver today - duck hooks, slices.

Played poor
+6 for 9.

Great day for a game of golf.

A bit confused with what I'm trying to do with driver.

Rest of game ok.

Me too. Was working on my mid-long irons at the range all week. Felt the driver was in a good spot so only hit about five balls with it at the range. Mad how it can turn to sh1te so fast.

Keano

I dream of hitting balls at this stage! Not in the golf mood at all and not sure how can I get myself going again