Beginners Log

Halloween Jack

dan_ep82 wrote: »

Have a look at the PuttOut.

Made a big difference on my shorter putts and lengthened how long I can suffer to practice putting.

Thanks, that looks like a decent setup for the house, much obliged!

slingerz

dan_ep82 wrote: »

Have a look at the PuttOut.

Made a big difference on my shorter putts and lengthened how long I can suffer to practice putting.

got this as well. very handy and rolls up tidy enough to keep the wife happy

Halloween Jack

slingerz wrote: »

got this as well. very handy and rolls up tidy enough to keep the wife happy

I think I’ll pick one up, means I can practice at home before I join a club and even on a rainy day thereafter, thanks a mill lads;)

kod12

Anyone know the one to get seems to be a few versions of them online. Any good deals?

Halloween Jack

kod12 wrote: »

Anyone know the one to get seems to be a few versions of them online. Any good deals?

It seems there are 2 items, the putt out device itself and the mat

Halloween Jack

So I went around stepaside twice today, shot 102, aside from two disaster holes ( had a 10 and an 11!) I played pretty well.

I managed 34 putts today which I’m delighted with had 4 birdie putts in 5 holes, missed them all but were comfortable pars rather than bogeys. Very much enjoyed it today;)

PARlance

spacecoyote wrote: »

This^

Don't beat yourself up over missed putts. Look at the numbers:

From 3' - 100th on PGA Tour makes 99%
From 4' - 100th on PGA Tour makes 92%
From 5' - 100th on PGA Tour makes 81%
From 6' - 100th on PGA Tour makes 70%
From 7' - 100th on PGA Tour makes 60%
From 8' - 100th on PGA Tour makes 53%
From 9' - 100th on PGA Tour makes 46%
From 10' - 100th on PGA Tour makes 41%

So, the 100th best golfer in the world is making 4/10 from 10ft. Don't beat yourself up too much over missed putts.

If I could give one piece of advice its to get yourself really comfortable over 2-3ft putts. If you are always confident from that distance, it lets you be much more positive with your longer distance putts.

If you feel like you're going to make everything from that distance then you can always putt past the hole, which improves your chances of making more putts from further out as you'll hit positive putts.

+100

Probably the best advice in terms of getting your shots down. I took Spaces advice on board a good while back and focused an awful lot on 2,3,4 footers... 1000's upon 1,000s of practice putts from short range (putting mat and putting green). Once you're confident on the short ones, medium to long putting will improve as a result... you won't putt with fear. You won't be afraid to get the ball passed the hole.

Lost 7 shots one summer as a result of a winter/spring working on short putting. It was woeful to begin with in fairness. Space can't get all the credit, think the real catalyst was shooting something like an 87 with 43 putts...

Practice so much that you even start to begin to practice holing them off the heel / toe from 3 yards. It's obviously not great to practice a bad stroke but it's nice to know you can hole putts with bad strokes... it worked for me anyway.

Halloween Jack

PARlance wrote: »

+100

Probably the best advice in terms of getting your shots down. I took Spaces advice on board a good while back and focused an awful lot on 2,3,4 footers... 1000's upon 1,000s of practice putts from short range (putting mat and putting green). Once you're confident on the short ones, medium to long putting will improve as a result... you won't putt with fear. You won't be afraid to get the ball passed the hole.

Lost 7 shots one summer as a result of a winter/spring working on short putting. It was woeful to begin with in fairness. Space can't get all the credit, think the real catalyst was shooting something like an 87 with 43 putts...

Practice so much that you even start to begin to practice holing them off the heel / toe from 3 yards. It's obviously not great to practice a bad stroke but it's nice to know you can hole putts with bad strokes... it worked for me anyway.

Jeez, 87 with 43 putts, you must have been stiriking the ball beautifully that day all the same!

I spent 30 mins on the carpet at home on Thursday and Friday hitting balls at a protein shake holder/cup thingy from 6 feeton Thursday and Friday.

I definitely feel like it helped me on Saturday, like I say I had 34 putts, including 2 that lipped out and only one 3 putt all day, which was from about 50 feet.

What I found most valuable about the exercise was over the course of the 2 mini sessions I feel like it got me used to how much of a backswing I need in my stroke for a 6 ft putt. Once I had even a little bit of that muscle memory it feels like it is much easier to gauge the weight of other putts, as I can extrapolate the length of backswing compared to the 6 footer.

The few that I left short then were failures-of bottle rather than technique as I quit on them, rather than totally misjudging the weight to begin with.

The only thing I’d say is that we were playing in stepaside where the greens are a. Pretty flat and b. Very slow, so I’ll keep practising and see how it translates on the better greens over the next few weeks.

It definitely seems like putting is a surefire way to improve anyway.

Out of interest, whenitcomesto average club golfers are there many/ a lot of good putters around? Or are a lot of club guys decent ball strikers who’s short game let’s them down?

spacecoyote

PARlance wrote: »

+100

Probably the best advice in terms of getting your shots down. I took Spaces advice on board a good while back and focused an awful lot on 2,3,4 footers... 1000's upon 1,000s of practice putts from short range (putting mat and putting green). Once you're confident on the short ones, medium to long putting will improve as a result... you won't putt with fear. You won't be afraid to get the ball passed the hole.

Lost 7 shots one summer as a result of a winter/spring working on short putting. It was woeful to begin with in fairness. Space can't get all the credit, think the real catalyst was shooting something like an 87 with 43 putts...

Practice so much that you even start to begin to practice holing them off the heel / toe from 3 yards. It's obviously not great to practice a bad stroke but it's nice to know you can hole putts with bad strokes... it worked for me anyway.

I can attest to the quality of Parlance ball striking!

But I'm happy to take all the credit for his game improving

Halloween Jack, I'd say that generally you'll find that the majority of decent club golfers, particularly the older guys who get low are there due to short game.

Played with an 8 handicap recently enough. Was probably 20 yards or more shorter than me off the tee, and hit his irons fairly mediocrly but he was lethal with short game & putter & was getting up & down from all over the place. Was quite open about it too.

I'd say that you can get low enough with a good short game, but need both if you're targeting really low

Drifter50

Can I ask a question which maybe someone can help with.

Took up golf in 2016, decided to join a club last year, all good and was given a handicap of 25. Tipped along but after playing a few competition this year and having scores of 22, 25 and 26 I went up to 26. The last 2 competitions I scored 34 and 35. How do you know if your handicap changes or how can I start trying to go back through 25 and maybe to 24

benny79

When you joined your club you would of been given a GUI card. It has your gui number on it which is unique to you. If you go onto the gui.ie website and register it will tell you your official HC your score for each competition round you played and all the competitions you entered also your HC changes.

Its basically your golf passport.

Drifter50

benny79 wrote: »

When you joined your club you would of been given a GUI card. It has your gui number on it which is unique to you. If you go onto the gui.ie website and register it will tell you your official HC your score for each competition round you played and all the competitions you entered also your HC changes.

Its basically your golf passport.

Thanks for the help, I see that now

spacecoyote

Drifter50 wrote: »

Can I ask a question which maybe someone can help with.

Took up golf in 2016, decided to join a club last year, all good and was given a handicap of 25. Tipped along but after playing a few competition this year and having scores of 22, 25 and 26 I went up to 26. The last 2 competitions I scored 34 and 35. How do you know if your handicap changes or how can I start trying to go back through 25 and maybe to 24

Just as an FYI, you have to beat the CSS (Competition Standard Scratch) in order for your handicap to drop. This is basically what is seen as level par for the competition.

Generally before the comp starts, in a stabkeford comp, level par (for your handicap) would be 36 points.

So if you shoot above 36 points you get cut. You're a category 4 golfer at your handicap level, so for every shot above 36 your handicap drops by 0.4

Category 4 also has a 4 shot buffer. So if you shoot less than 36, but within 4 shots of it (ie 32 or better) your handicap doesn't change.

If you shoot worse than your buffer, your handicap goes up 0.1

The CSS will go up or down depending on the scoring in the competition. If there are lots of good scores in, it could go up. If scoring is bad, it could go down.

There is also a thing called an ESR (exceptional scoring reduction). If you beat the CSS by 4 or more, twice in a season this will result in an extra handicap reduction on top of the cuts you've already had (this is a simplified explanation of it, but enough to get the basics on it)

Hope that helps you understand things a bit better.

Halloween Jack

In terms of handicaps being assigned am I right in saying that it’s your clubs handicap committee that assign you your starting handicap?

I generally score betwee 100 and 110 at the moment am I thereforelooking at starting at say 36?

No golf for me this week, running the marathon on Sunday, so resting up for that.

Next weekend am bookedinfor Druids Heath and Hope to play delgany the following Thursday, looking forward to both of those.

prawnsambo

Halloween Jack wrote: »

In terms of handicaps being assigned am I right in saying that it’s your clubs handicap committee that assign you your starting handicap?

I generally score betwee 100 and 110 at the moment am I thereforelooking at starting at say 36?

No golf for me this week, running the marathon on Sunday, so resting up for that.

Next weekend am bookedinfor Druids Heath and Hope to play delgany the following Thursday, looking forward to both of those.

Generally it's done on the basis of three cards handed in to the handicap secretary. Your handicap is worked out on the best card of the three and additionally, every hole that scores worse than a double bogey is scored as a double bogey. So if you have 9 shots on a par 5, that's dropped down to 7 shots for the purpose of calculating your handicap.

Edit: So in the case of your 100 shot score above, you need to look at all scores above double bogey and reduce them to that and recalculate your overall score. If that card was handed in, that would be your handicap.

Glebee

Still have not got my 3 cards into get my official handicap. Am getting in loads of golf but usually only play 9 holes, twice a week.... need to get my finger out. Ive set a date to have my handicap sorted by Christmas.

prawnsambo

Glebee wrote: »

Still have not got my 3 cards into get my official handicap. Am getting in loads of golf but usually only play 9 holes, twice a week.... need to get my finger out. Ive set a date to have my handicap sorted by Christmas.

You could probably use 9 hole cards with the agreement of the handicap sec. I know I did when I started first. Admittedly at that time (the winter) our back nine was closed, but that's pretty much part of the landscape of Irish golf during the winter. Perhaps play the front nine and back nine alternately, if time is an issue.

BraveDonut

Bray is par 71, not 72

It gets a lot of bad press for being hilly, but you do get used to it.
Good practice facilities and a very proactive Pro in Dara Lenihan (relatively new to the club). Excellent teaching pro
Great club atmosphere, teams, etc

Timesheet is busy but you should always get a time near your preference if you are online when it opens - if not, waiting list applies. I have never been left disappointed in 10 years.

Sub is approx. 1700 including 150 bar levy

Halloween Jack

prawnsambo wrote: »

Generally it's done on the basis of three cards handed in to the handicap secretary. Your handicap is worked out on the best card of the three and additionally, every hole that scores worse than a double bogey is scored as a double bogey. So if you have 9 shots on a par 5, that's dropped down to 7 shots for the purpose of calculating your handicap.

Edit: So in the case of your 100 shot score above, you need to look at all scores above double bogey and reduce them to that and recalculate your overall score. If that card was handed in, that would be your handicap.

Much obliged,

Looking at the breakdown of my scores on the rounds I’ve played I typically have 5 double bogey or worse, 10 bogeys and 3 pars, so am I looking at 20?

The doubles or worse are a killer for me generally I suppose

Halloween Jack

BraveDonut wrote: »

Bray is par 71, not 72

It gets a lot of bad press for being hilly, but you do get used to it.
Good practice facilities and a very proactive Pro in Dara Lenihan (relatively new to the club). Excellent teaching pro
Great club atmosphere, teams, etc

Timesheet is busy but you should always get a time near your preference if you are online when it opens - if not, waiting list applies. I have never been left disappointed in 10 years.

Sub is approx. 1700 including 150 bar levy

Have never played bray but when I’m coming toward bray on the southern cross I can see a part of the course that looks crazy steep, sloping from the head back toward the road, there is a bunker on that very steep bit so I guess there is one very steep hole at least?

spacecoyote

Handicap Secretary will assign your handicap to you based on your 3 cards that you enter. If you're scoring 100-110, I'd say that, at a push, you might get 24-25, but I doubt much more than that. There are other guys on here who've been involved with committees, so would likely be better placed to explain the process (I see prawnsambo has covered plenty above).

I've heard mixed. Some clubs that will not give anyone a starting handicap above 18.

Others that look at your best score on each hole in the 3 cards & create a kind of best 18 hole round for you to base it on.

When I first joined a club, if I remember correctly, I handed in 3 cards in the range 95-105 and was given 22 as a start handicap.

@prawnsambo - is it reduction to a double, or a net double based on an 18 handicap?

prawnsambo

spacecoyote wrote: »

@prawnsambo - is it reduction to a double, or a net double based on an 18 handicap?

It's reduction to a double. No handicap is applied first. Up until the new handicap categories were introduced this year, there was also an upper limit of 28, so you couldn't actually get a handicap of double bogey on each hole. Now a couple of new members at my club have started with handicaps of 30 and 35 so that's now possible. I don't know if new hanidcaps are being given in excess of 36 as I haven't read the new CONGU handbook fully yet, so can't comment. Perhaps others amy have some direct experience.

prawnsambo

Here's the bit from the latest CONGU manual:

1. Adjust any score of more than double par at any hole to a score of double par (i.e. 6 on a Par 3, 8 on a Par 4 and 10 on a Par 5).

2. Add the nine-hole scores (if applicable) to make up 18-hole equivalents in chronological order. If a club has more than one Designated Nine-Hole Courses each pair of nine-hole scores must be returned over courses having the same Designated Nine-Hole SSSs for the gender of player concerned.

3. Calculate the Adjusted Gross Differential (‘AGD‘) scores from the three 18 hole (or 18-hole equivalent) scores; these scores being calculated by comparing the returns relative to the SSS’s of the courses/tees used:

AGD = Adjusted Gross Score – SSS for the course/tees used

Determine the Lowest Adjusted Gross Differential (‘LAGD‘) from the three Adjusted Gross Differentials

4. Reduce the resulting LAGD according to the formula; Initial Handicap = (LAGD + (LAGD*0.13))/ 1.237 truncated to provide a whole
number.

For example, a player with a Lowest Adjusted Gross Differential of 31 is allotted an initial handicap of 28 (which is recorded as an
Exact Handicap of 28.0) as shown below:

Initial Handicap = (31 + (31*0.13))/1.237 = (31 + 4.03)/1.237 = (35.03/1.237) = 28.31 truncated to 28 and recorded as an Exact Handicap of 28.0.

So the bit in bold is new. Instead of reducing to double-bogey, it's now double par. It looks very complicated, but basically it's saying that scores on each of your three cards (or 6 nine hole cards converted to three 18 hole cards) are adjusted to double par and then totalled and the SSS for the tees used is subtracted from them.

So if you scored 110 off tees with an SSS of 72 and you had a 9 on a par 4 and a 7 on a par 3, that score would be reduced to 108 and gives a nett 36.

If that's your lowest score of the three cards, then it's used in the formula above to calculate the actual initial handicap which would be 32.88 or 33 when rounded.

BraveDonut

Halloween Jack wrote: »

Have never played bray but when I’m coming toward bray on the southern cross I can see a part of the course that looks crazy steep, sloping from the head back toward the road, there is a bunker on that very steep bit so I guess there is one very steep hole at least?

'Most' of the holes play across the hills. Generally the hills are green to tee. The 10th is very uphill, so consequently, the 14th (the one you see from the road) plays very downhill - actually one of the best holes on the course.
The 4th hole (downhill) has imminent plans to be changed to remove this as one of the hills.
Almost all members use electric trolleys

Skyfloater

So OP, are you any closer to deciding where you going to join?

Halloween Jack

Skyfloater wrote: »

So OP, are you any closer to deciding where you going to join?

Off out to try Druids Heath Now, then delgany on Thursday, will have played most of the local tracks then and will report back;)

Halloween Jack

So Druids Heath yesterday, the weather and my game were appalling. Hadn’t swung a club in nearly 2 weeks so we went to the onsite range before teeing off. Fairly instantly knew it was going to be a long day as I began wickedly slicing short irons....

Needless to say the slicing continues on the course, this reached its apex on the par 3 third, which seemed almost designed to torment me personally, given there’s water on the left so tailor made for a lecture with a slice.

I also putted fairly poorly, chipping was a little better, but hard to remain focused or care too much when the rest of the game is in tatters.

I did strike a couple of decent tee shots and a couple of very nice fairway woods
Off the deck, also had one nice wedge over water on the back 9 but pretty slim pickings overall.

In terms of the course I have to say I really liked it, I thought the first 3 holes were nice and the stretch at 12/13/14 was really nice too. I would say that it definitely felt a step up in difficulty from most of the other courses I had played, flat putts were a rarity, there were a lot of testy breaking six footers etc (invariably missed). I also felt that most times the tee shots could be intimidating, felt rare that you’d be on a tee and be able to see a nice flat spot to land the ball, also the heavy rough is never too far away. I also felt that the course played longer than the yardages, maybe due to a lot of elevated greens/uphill approaches. I had to take a fairway wood a couple of times on a par 4 for my second, on holes that did t read that long on the card and on the odd time I had a semi decent contact on an iron approach I seemed to be a club or half club short.

In saying that, my brother was playing fairly well and scored similarly to what he would on an easier course, though he probably left a good few strokes on the greens, so if you were used to the greens and strike the ball well you’d srillscore well I guess.

In terms of condition, it was wet yesterday and there had been some rain overnight but it was fairly light stuff so I was surprised to see some water on the one or two of the greens and in some of the sand traps. I also thought the greens weren’t in tip top condition, they seemed kind of patchy and kind of blackened in places.

Overall though I was impressed with the facility, the shop staff were excellent, the changing room facilities looked good and I enjoyed the course. The range there wasn’t bad, there are very reasonable member rates and you can play off the grass.

I did enquire about the timesheet and was told it fills very quickly, ie: almost instantly for sat and Sunday morn, though it seems like it’s easy to get out in th afternoon.

So all in all I would strongly consider joining as I enjoyed the course, it’s convenient and has all the facilities I would look for in a club, I know a friend of a friend who was a member there but left, so I will try be d his ear about the place soon.

Next Thursday is delgany, if I have time I’ll hit the range before then to try desperately to find a functioning swing again;)

youcancallmeal

I'm in very similar situation to you OP. 35 and just joined a club after years of very occasional play. Handed in my 3 cards for handicap a few days ago. I scored 100 in my last round. I figured if I was playing of handicap of 18 I would of had 14, 26 and 23 points for my 3 rounds so I'm guessing I'll get about a 25 handicap? The club is Stackstown, it's tough but fair I think. Don't think I scored better than a double bogey on the 3 hardest holes so far.

I'm mostly worried about my clubs at the moment. They are a literally a mixed bag. Some 15+ year old wilson irons 3-SW that I can mostly hit fairly well I think, a macgregor driver I bought a few years that was supposed to help my sometimes huge slices of the tee, a big square putter that I feel is too heavy so very hard to control distance, a cheap slazenger hybrid I got recently from sportsdirect that I haven't figured out how to hit properly yet. I reckon I might get fitted for irons in the new year, I'm about 6'4" and a few people have said I should be playing with properly fitted shafts(length and flex) in particular.

Halloween Jack

youcancallmeal wrote: »

I'm in very similar situation to you OP. 35 and just joined a club after years of very occasional play. Handed in my 3 cards for handicap a few days ago. I scored 100 in my last round. I figured if I was playing of handicap of 18 I would of had 14, 26 and 23 points for my 3 rounds so I'm guessing I'll get about a 25 handicap? The club is Stackstown, it's tough but fair I think. Don't think I scored better than a double bogey on the 3 hardest holes so far.

I'm mostly worried about my clubs at the moment. They are a literally a mixed bag. Some 15+ year old wilson irons 3-SW that I can mostly hit fairly well I think, a macgregor driver I bought a few years that was supposed to help my sometimes huge slices of the tee, a big square putter that I feel is too heavy so very hard to control distance, a cheap slazenger hybrid I got recently from sportsdirect that I haven't figured out how to hit properly yet. I reckon I might get fitted for irons in the new year, I'm about 6'4" and a few people have said I should be playing with properly fitted shafts(length and flex) in particular.

Howdy, some useful/interesting parallels, thanks for the info re: handicap, please update us when you get it officially;)

I had a look at the stackstown website and was considering it for a little while as it’s not a million miles away from me and my bro/playing partner lives nearby. In the end though I reasoned I’d have a better chance of getting the most out of a club if it was close as possible to home.

I’m playing with a mixed bag of stuff myself, bought some second hand Cleveland irons that are nice clubs but are aimed at mid handicappers or better, so I may have been better off with slightly more forgiving clubs. I’m also 6’5’ so maybe I’d benefit from a fitting when finances allow. I’m currently without a driver as the head flew off my old one and shot off down the range, could never hit the damn thing anyway;) I did try the couple of lefty second hand drivers down at the local range and found them fun to blast away with;)

srfc d16

youcancallmeal wrote: »

I'm in very similar situation to you OP. 35 and just joined a club after years of very occasional play. Handed in my 3 cards for handicap a few days ago. I scored 100 in my last round. I figured if I was playing of handicap of 18 I would of had 14, 26 and 23 points for my 3 rounds so I'm guessing I'll get about a 25 handicap? The club is Stackstown, it's tough but fair I think. Don't think I scored better than a double bogey on the 3 hardest holes so far.

I joined Stackstown this year and scored similar to yourself on my initial 3 cards. I was given a hcap of 24 so I'd say your'e pretty close with the 25.