Random Golf Thoughts

Ivefoundgod · 06-01-2021 3:16pm

I've had similar issues getting responses from clubs on membership even before this latest lockdown. Sent multiple emails to clubs but only got one reply which had any concrete information and an application form attached. I did contact a club this week but am not sure if/when I'll ever get a response on that now that golf is closed indefinitely. I'm beginning to wonder now if its even worthwhile trying to join somewhere this year given the cost and likelihood of ongoing restrictions.

Ollieboy · 06-01-2021 7:46pm

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

I've had similar issues getting responses from clubs on membership even before this latest lockdown. Sent multiple emails to clubs but only got one reply which had any concrete information and an application form attached. I did contact a club this week but am not sure if/when I'll ever get a response on that now that golf is closed indefinitely. I'm beginning to wonder now if its even worthwhile trying to join somewhere this year given the cost and likelihood of ongoing restrictions.

Golf membership is always worthwhile, it’s about belonging to a club and been part of a family.

I reckon once we reopen at the end of Feb or early March that it will be the last lockdown for golf but it will be a long time before other sports get back to pre COVID activity. The govt were very clear that golf would only shut down if the situation was very bad.

I personally see COVID been around and a issue until the end of this year if not longer. They will only complete the vaccines and have to restart again. Hence I think golf will be the most active sport around for a while.

slingerz · 06-01-2021 9:35pm

I don’t see golf clubs opening by Paddy’s Day really. I expect schools will stay shut until the mid term in February and give golf another month after that. Hopefully the vaccine means it’s the final lockdown

The only saving grace is that given the time of the year and the weather/underfoot conditions it isn’t the worst. Lockdown 1.0 was way worse given the fine weather we had!

tayto lover · 06-01-2021 9:39pm

Thinking back over the summer.
If I didn’t have an 8 on the seventh, a 7 on the eleventh, a 6 on the fourteenth and another 8 on the seventeenth I could have won the Captain’s Prize.
I was that close.

blue note · 08-01-2021 11:01am

Why do people obsess about making a draw their natural shot shape instead of a fade? I think a few pros have done it in an effort to win Augusta and I'm not sure it's a good idea even then. But you see mid to high handicappers trying desperately to turn their shot shape into a draw. I think it's madness. Colin Montgomerie and Jack Nicklaus played with natural fades. It's not stopping people get down to single figures or anything!

Personally, I have a natural slice. I try very hard to hit it straight and on the good days it balances off to a fade. And most of the time that's an absolutely fine shot shape. The only time it's a bit of a problem is on a very windy day when a left to right wind can turn it into a serious slice. Or if I'm too tight to trees on my left hand side. But if I switched to a draw I'd have a mirror of the problem anyway.

DuckSlice · 08-01-2021 12:07pm

blue note wrote: »

Why do people obsess about making a draw their natural shot shape instead of a fade? I think a few pros have done it in an effort to win Augusta and I'm not sure it's a good idea even then. But you see mid to high handicappers trying desperately to turn their shot shape into a draw. I think it's madness. Colin Montgomerie and Jack Nicklaus played with natural fades. It's not stopping people get down to single figures or anything!

Personally, I have a natural slice. I try very hard to hit it straight and on the good days it balances off to a fade. And most of the time that's an absolutely fine shot shape. The only time it's a bit of a problem is on a very windy day when a left to right wind can turn it into a serious slice. Or if I'm too tight to trees on my left hand side. But if I switched to a draw I'd have a mirror of the problem anyway.

The ball generally goes further with draw that probably has a lot to do with it.

padmcv · 08-01-2021 1:11pm

blue note wrote: »

Why do people obsess about making a draw their natural shot shape instead of a fade?

I try to play a draw because my fade can turn into a slice very quickly.
My miss with a draw on a bad day is a low-left which I find less damaging to my score than a slice.

slave1 · 08-01-2021 2:11pm

At pro level a bad draw is a better miss than a bad fade (apparently, don't know why)

08-01-2021 4:46pm

blue note wrote: »

Why do people obsess about making a draw their natural shot shape instead of a fade?

My coach actually got me to switch from a natural draw to a fade. My bad hooks we're costing me alot of shots from the tee.

RoadRunner · 08-01-2021 4:52pm

slave1 wrote: »

At pro level a bad draw is a better miss than a bad fade (apparently, don't know why)

I think the side of the miss is more significant for amateurs. In my own experience, ie: not pro level :rolleyes: a miss left and a miss right are not equal. The bad push is always a high shot with spin that carries pretty good distance. When it lands the ball is dropping from a high trajectory with spin which is very likely to nestle into the rough and become a lost ball. Due to its trajectory it's difficult to gauge exactly how far it travelled and the search area for the ball is wide. Just finding the ball needs luck.

The miss left is a bad hook has a very low trajectory and will land way shorter then normal however with pace. Your eye can often follow it better if it goes into rough it may skip and hop around. Due to the difference in trajectory will sometimes have a better lie then you might expect for such a poor strike. With luck you may still be able to find the green with it.

The Pros have other people to find their ball. They normally just walk up to it wherever it ends up.

billy3sheets · 08-01-2021 5:42pm

Interesting read on what Tadhg Harrington thinks of draw v fade here: https://harringtongolfacademy.com/swing-myths-set-up/
Personally I'd love to be able to draw and fade the ball. I'd naturally fade or slice it, probably because I try to swing too hard and come over the top. I watched a few videos on drawing it and have been having some success, if not a draw then a non-slice.

dan_ep82 · 08-01-2021 6:15pm

I think most people can hit a fade and a draw but like me it's hit and miss whether it's a functional one.

I score better when my miss is a low hook vs a high push fade simply because it usually stays in bounds.

I can fade a draw irons pretty much on command but the driver is a different story.

Bill Ponderosa · 08-01-2021 8:36pm

Strangely when I started playing golf I had a natural draw. When I got decent at golf I decided I needed to learn how to hit a fade mainly for the craic but incase I ever needed it or to show off to the lads.

Anyway for the next few weeks I hit nothing but fades off the tee with the driver. Learned it fairly quickly, big power fades. 3 weeks later I said I better get back to my usual shot shape as I was starting to hit massive slices. Unfortunately for me my draw was gone for good. 3 years later I've no idea where the ball will go and my game has fallen apart!! Work in progress.

redzerdrog · 08-01-2021 10:13pm

I think it is a myth that a draw goes further than a fade or that a a left miss is better than a right miss.

It's all about getting the functional match up in the swing but many people who fade the ball lose yards not because of the ball fades but because fade might be due to an over the top movement or early extension or a very weak grip or other deficit in the swing.

I think most people get thought to move from a fade to a draw because this move will change the functional match up in the swing that causes some of the above. But in theory the aim isnt necessarily to change everyone to a draw but if you have someone who's natural path is -12 with an nautral face and get them to try change the their path to a exaggerated +8 they might get some movements that will bring that natural closer to -2 which will make it much easier to get a functional match up.

That made a lot more sense in my head anyway!!!

Deeper Blue · 09-01-2021 1:46am

I'm absolutely sick to death of hearing about Charlie Woods

They were even on about him during the tournament of champions TV coverage earlier

Granted he's got a great swing for his age but so do thousands of other youngsters. Chances are he'll never even make it as a pro.

Leave the kid alone

Jimbee · 10-01-2021 1:54pm

I suppose if you even have a slight fade you are generally moving the wrong body parts first. If you play that way there will be times when you get a worse fade.
If you learn to hit a draw you will always be able to hit both ways. If your hooking go back to a fade to straighten out your flight and vice versa. So learning to draw the ball is not just for distance it teaches you different movement patterns and gives you lots of options.

tayto lover · 10-01-2021 4:34pm

I can draw the ball and fade the ball.
The trouble is I don’t know when and I don’t know how.

gypsy79 · 10-01-2021 7:48pm

tayto lover wrote: »

I can draw the ball and fade the ball.
The trouble is I don’t know when and I don’t know how.

I am by no means an expert.....but if you are doing both I am suspecting that your alignment is off. You need a set of alignment sticks!!

blue note · 11-01-2021 3:19pm

Those replies were interesting. I had thought it was just wanting to be more like the better golfers in the club, but it sounds like there are logical reasons to pursue a default draw. I won't be trying it, but I'll no longer judging the people that do.

Okay, I'll try another one....

I don't get people trying to chip with lots of check on the ball. They should just roll it up to the hole. Seeing people who are very average club golfers trying to fire it towards the hole and have it just stop is the opposite of impressive for me. If it works fine, but you're swinging so hard to hit the ball such a short distance. The chances of chunking it or boning it through a green are massive. As opposed to a bump and run with the 8 iron. Even if you thin it, you're not swinging hard enough for it to be a major problem. Even if you need to clear something my preference would be to play it with a bit of loft anyway.

So what's the logic there people?

Ivefoundgod · 11-01-2021 3:36pm

blue note wrote: »

Those replies were interesting. I had thought it was just wanting to be more like the better golfers in the club, but it sounds like there are logical reasons to pursue a default draw. I won't be trying it, but I'll no longer judging the people that do.

Okay, I'll try another one....

I don't get people trying to chip with lots of check on the ball. They should just roll it up to the hole. Seeing people who are very average club golfers trying to fire it towards the hole and have it just stop is the opposite of impressive for me. If it works fine, but you're swinging so hard to hit the ball such a short distance. The chances of chunking it or boning it through a green are massive. As opposed to a bump and run with the 8 iron. Even if you thin it, you're not swinging hard enough for it to be a major problem. Even if you need to clear something my preference would be to play it with a bit of loft anyway.

So what's the logic there people?

I think this is actually the very absence of logic rather than there being any logic to it. Its an ego thing IMO, people like to hit a shot that the pros do and given that very few golfers can hit a drive 300 yards or stitch a 7i to 10 feet the most attainable type of "pro shot" is the chip shot with check. I'd agree there's very few who can even do it and you see players who have no business even attempting it trying it but let them on. There was an interesting video by golf mates a while back where they played a few holes with a man in his 70s playing off single digits, I think 4ish? His course management was fantastic and he swore by the bump and run. I know it made me re-evaluate shot selection around the greens. I'm generally a sand wedge guy with chips, I'd rarely try to check the ball but I would often aim to land say 10-15 ft short and let the ball roll up to the pin but looking at his technique I plan to use it more often, particularly when I'm 50ft+ from the pin.

blue note · 11-01-2021 3:52pm

I had thought the draw was a bit of an ego thing but have been convinced otherwise, so I'm open to people here changing my mind on hitting chips with check too.

I've seen fellas off mid teen handicaps pull off the shot regularly. But by pull off, I don't, mean they ended up on average closer to the hole than I'd have expected them to had they run it to the hole. But they hit it quite straight and it came to a sudden stop several feet before or after the hole. It's a chance of an up and down.

For me I'd say the liklihood of not pulling off the shot is higher, the consequence of not pulling it off is severe and the reward of pulling it off is at best equal to the reward of pulling off a bump and run.

I know you can take a few of the breaks out doing it this way, but the same could be said of using a more lofted club which to be is the easier option.

Snotty · 11-01-2021 4:34pm

I play with a guy off 5 who has this shot perfected, he used a 58 wedge, hands sort of forward, good divot even from 20 ft, works great for him, ball hits the green with a short run out, but he has practices it a lot and very much has the one chipping action and uses it for every chip, because it works.
It's definitely a good idea, as long as you are making consistent contact then the result is always similar, it takes out some of the risk around the green. My go to shot near the green is definitely a bump and run 8i, but I have spent time practicing a similar shot with a 54 wedge it works well but it's the confidence to take such a quick swing for such a short shot.

redzerdrog · 15-01-2021 11:46pm

Seems like this year is gona be big cycle with all the major brands releasing new model's for drivers, woods and rescues. Any many introducing irons too.

Anyone got their eye on anything?

I need a new 3 wood badly as still have an old Nike covert in the bag but think I might change both Driver and 3 wood! Maybe even rescue too depending on how much they gona set me back.

Really liking the look of the new Ping G425 range at the minute but gona hold off and see what SiM 2 looks like

Ivefoundgod · 16-01-2021 12:01am

A lot of clubs on the way this year allright, even the SIM getting an upgrade. I like looking at all the new gear but to be honest it doesn't really interest me, the cost just far outweighs the benefits for me. Instead I'll have a look around and see if there are any deals on the outgoing models but I'm really only in the market for a 5W and 3H, probably only use one but want to pick up both anyway.

I'm still using a VRS covert driver, recently bought an M2 driver to go with M2 3W and 4H but not had a chance to hit it yet.

My plan for this year is to get a lot of rounds in as many unique Irish courses as possible, Lahinch, Tralee, Ballybunion, Carne and as many others as I can get to for a decent price.

redzerdrog · 16-01-2021 12:23am

I have the M2 driver myself so not badly in need of an upgrade there could easily get another season out of it so depends if anything takes my fancy.

I am the same I like looking the reviews ect of all the new gear. there doesn't seem to be reduction in the older models though only 50 quid in the difference from the last ping g410 to this new one from what I see

Ivefoundgod · 16-01-2021 1:56am

redzerdrog wrote: »

I have the M2 driver myself so not badly in need of an upgrade there could easily get another season out of it so depends if anything takes my fancy.

I am the same I like looking the reviews ect of all the new gear. there doesn't seem to be reduction in the older models though only 50 quid in the difference from the last ping g410 to this new one from what I see

I'd give it a while for the older clubs to drop, although the new drivers have been announced you can't actually do anything other than pre-order at the moment. I'd say come march when they are readily available is when decent pricing might kick in. Saying that I've already seen the Mizuno ST200 for less than €260 and the Cobra Speedzone was €299 in golf style Galway during the week. Problem as always will be stock, once they start the reductions we'll need to be quick. As I'm not looking for a driver though I think there will be value to be had at some stage.

Ollieboy · 16-01-2021 2:21am

I’m planning to upgrade the driver this year rom G30 to the new model and so far all reports are positive on its performance and I think it’s a decent upgrade for me.

I was looking at the irons, but some reviews comment on the gapping distance is to large. It’s never something I would have thought about before but I’ll need to test it myself. I always like 10 meters between my irons with the wedge starting at 105.

NotCarrotRidge · 16-01-2021 11:47am

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

I think this is actually the very absence of logic rather than there being any logic to it. Its an ego thing IMO, people like to hit a shot that the pros do and given that very few golfers can hit a drive 300 yards or stitch a 7i to 10 feet the most attainable type of "pro shot" is the chip shot with check. I'd agree there's very few who can even do it and you see players who have no business even attempting it trying it but let them on. There was an interesting video by golf mates a while back where they played a few holes with a man in his 70s playing off single digits, I think 4ish? His course management was fantastic and he swore by the bump and run. I know it made me re-evaluate shot selection around the greens. I'm generally a sand wedge guy with chips, I'd rarely try to check the ball but I would often aim to land say 10-15 ft short and let the ball roll up to the pin but looking at his technique I plan to use it more often, particularly when I'm 50ft+ from the pin.

Old Man Pat. There are a couple of videos with him actually, I watched them around Xmas and then started to implement his strategy. You really need to know your distances and they have to be fairly consistent. His distance judgement around the greens was phenomenal, pro level stuff. For each tee shot, you need to know how far out your shot will land and then look at the potential dangers there. If there's a bunker, or trees on the edge that will block your second shot if you're behind them, then you change the club. You eliminate any risk.

Same when you're looking at your approach. Instead of hitting a big high wedge or short iron that only works if it's dead accurate, run it up to the front of the green if that is possible. If there's a bunker protecting the front, go short or take a look at left or right. Ignore the pin unless it's in a very low risk position.

blue note · 16-01-2021 1:31pm

NotCarrotRidge wrote: »

Old Man Pat. There are a couple of videos with him actually, I watched them around Xmas and then started to implement his strategy. You really need to know your distances and they have to be fairly consistent. His distance judgement around the greens was phenomenal, pro level stuff. For each tee shot, you need to know how far out your shot will land and then look at the potential dangers there. If there's a bunker, or trees on the edge that will block your second shot if you're behind them, then you change the club. You eliminate any risk.

Same when you're looking at your approach. Instead of hitting a big high wedge or short iron that only works if it's dead accurate, run it up to the front of the green if that is possible. If there's a bunker protecting the front, go short or take a look at left or right. Ignore the pin unless it's in a very low risk position.

I played with a guy not a million miles from that. I was off 16 and hadn't a clue what he was playing off. First hole I outdrove him but 70 yards. He punched one up short of the green, I hit just missed the green with a wedge. He got up and down for par, I nearly did. Exact same thing happened on the second hole. And on the third. Then I asked him what he was playing off, turned off he was a 6 handicapper. It was incredible with his distance limitation that he was such a good golfer.

But it just goes to show that you don't need distance to get to a low handicap. As long as you never mi**** shots, always hit it where you aim it and get up and down as often as a scratch golfer.

Arnold54321 · 16-01-2021 3:23pm

Ollieboy wrote: »

I’m planning to upgrade the driver this year rom G30 to the new model and so far all reports are positive on its performance and I think it’s a decent upgrade for me.

I was looking at the irons, but some reviews comment on the gapping distance is to large. It’s never something I would have thought about before but I’ll need to test it myself. I always like 10 meters between my irons with the wedge starting at 105.

Heard from a good teaching pro the new G425 driver is the business, very forgiving. Reviews have been excellent so far. Think it will be this years best selling driver.

https://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/equipment/golf-clubs/drivers/ping/g425/g425/

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