Golfers

[Weasel]

Been out three times in the last week, man I missed it. I usually play with my dad, but went by myself twice. I decided to throw on headphones when I was alone, the first time I had done that. It was a really different experience to have to music while playing

[Downing11]

I played my first 9 of the year, shot a 39 which is 6 over (4 par 3s, 4 par 4s and a par 5). The good news, I had 5 one putts. The bad news, none of them were for birdie. 4 pars, 4 bogies and a double. Could have been better, could have been worse, I'll take it for the first time out this year. When I hit the fairway or green on the par 3s, I made par, funny how that works...

[ReignOnU]

Anyone familiar with golf in mid-northern Michigan? I'm working on my groups golf package for this year and they've mentioned this area as a potential option. It looks like anything with Arcadia Bluffs or Bay Harbor is out of the question. I've got emails in to Shanty Creek and Treetops. Any other places that I should look? (we've done Gull Lake before) Also, if you're familiar with the area near Bay Harbor, do you have any recommendations for food? It looks like a really small area with mostly mom & pop shops.


Also... anyone familiar with the Williamsburg, VA area? I have 1 package that I'm running by the group that includes Royal New Kent, Viviterra, Stonehouse and Brickshire. This wasn't an area we were initially looking at, but I kind of stumbled into the trip yesterday. We love Tobacco Road and Tot Hill Farm in NC, which are Mike Strantz designs and I found RNK and Stonehouse are 2 of his other options. It's an 8.5hr drive, which is kind of rough, but we've done Pinehurst for 3-4 years now, which isn't much shorter. Are there any hidden gems for food in Williamsburg, Jamestown... or is it worth the trip to Newport? I'm assuming there's a shot since it's a pretty historical area.

[Weasel]

Give Tullymore and St Ives in Canadian Lakes, MI a look. Two really nice courses, and depending on the size of your group Tullymore has a really cool lodge

[Whittness10]

Played two times so far this season. First 18 was a 92, 46 on both sides. Terrible off the tee. Second time I played 9 at a little course that has four par 3's on each side, with zero par 5's. Shot an even 32 with a bogey on the last 3 holes. Got my first eagle as I almost holed out my drive on a 280 yd par 4. Best shot I ever hit, luckiest too.

[DRiccio21]

i must play on tougher courses than most people or i just really suck a lot worse than everyone i know

bought clubs like 6 years ago, had never played. probably hit range for a month then played 5 or 6 rounds then put the clubs away and never touched them

about 6 months ago i got lessons and i play after market closes probably once or twice per week then once on the weekend. i still haven't broke 100.

granted i'm obviously a beginner, i still feel like i'm doing something wrong as everyone i talk to plays in the 90's and high 80's and i'm not able to break 100. i keep legit score, i don't take any mulligans or gimmies, i punch out of trouble if i need to.

the worst part is, i don't feel like i suck. i hit my irons really well, i can putt relatively well. i just can't figure out how to allign myself and i never hit to the right target. i'm not hooking or slicing, my target is just off and i can't figure out how to fix it. i also can't drive at all and barely take the club out of the bag.

anyways 100 is my goal, i'm hoping to break it soon.

[Seeitsaveit13]

i must play on tougher courses than most people or i just really suck a lot worse than everyone i know

bought clubs like 6 years ago, had never played. probably hit range for a month then played 5 or 6 rounds then put the clubs away and never touched them

about 6 months ago i got lessons and i play after market closes probably once or twice per week then once on the weekend. i still haven't broke 100.

granted i'm obviously a beginner, i still feel like i'm doing something wrong as everyone i talk to plays in the 90's and high 80's and i'm not able to break 100. i keep legit score, i don't take any mulligans or gimmies, i punch out of trouble if i need to.

the worst part is, i don't feel like i suck. i hit my irons really well, i can putt relatively well. i just can't figure out how to allign myself and i never hit to the right target. i'm not hooking or slicing, my target is just off and i can't figure out how to fix it. i also can't drive at all and barely take the club out of the bag.

anyways 100 is my goal, i'm hoping to break it soon.

You could get a usga handicap. That would at least give you a rough idea where you are compared to other golfers, regardless of course.

Got a course or 2 that you consistently play? I could look at the card and see if it seems super hard etc.?

[DRiccio21]

i play Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy mostly... i doubt either are 'really hard' courses.

Miami Beach is usually tougher for me cause i feel like its longer, more hazards.

i shoot between 100-106 just about every round. i'm pretty consistently terrible

[ReignOnU]

i must play on tougher courses than most people or i just really suck a lot worse than everyone i know

bought clubs like 6 years ago, had never played. probably hit range for a month then played 5 or 6 rounds then put the clubs away and never touched them

about 6 months ago i got lessons and i play after market closes probably once or twice per week then once on the weekend. i still haven't broke 100.

granted i'm obviously a beginner, i still feel like i'm doing something wrong as everyone i talk to plays in the 90's and high 80's and i'm not able to break 100. i keep legit score, i don't take any mulligans or gimmies, i punch out of trouble if i need to.

the worst part is, i don't feel like i suck. i hit my irons really well, i can putt relatively well. i just can't figure out how to allign myself and i never hit to the right target. i'm not hooking or slicing, my target is just off and i can't figure out how to fix it. i also can't drive at all and barely take the club out of the bag.

anyways 100 is my goal, i'm hoping to break it soon.

We're in the same spot Dave. I've always been pretty athletic and picked golf on my own about 10yrs ago. I haven't played more than 5 rounds (not including my trip) each of the last 3 years and I consider it pretty good if I break 100. With that said, at my best, I was hitting low 90s consistently, around 4 years ago. I've talked about it with a lot of my friends that legitimately hit in the 80s and they tell me that I'm really not far away. It's playing consistently, every week, and it will happen. I've been so eager to get to this point, finishing up my degree, because it's going to free up a lot of time (every Sunday!) to golf. 2 more weeks!

Not that you want to take advice from someone that shoots a similar score, but it seems like your alignment issue should be an easy fix. If you go to a range, lineup to a target and consistently hit it to the same spot, then you just need to shift your alignment. You could search for the technical reason as to why your not hitting it where you're aiming (open face, ball placement in stance, swing plane) or you can just accept it and adjust accordingly.

I saw you post about some swing analysis equipment a month or so ago... did you buy that? How is it working for you?

I've paid for a 3 lesson package before and wasn't overly impressed by the results. It hurt me more than it helped. I'm sure it's a situation where I need to go for an extended time to see the results, but that seems kind of silly. A week or so ago I signed up for Hank Haney's 10 free videos and I'm considering purchasing the Haney Blueprint. Personally, I like the concept of what he's doing. One of the things that I find unique about it is that he's encouraging fast swings and not focusing on slowing down the process. I think this keeps the swing natural. If I remember, later this week, I'll track down all 10 videos and post links to them here.

[ReignOnU]

i play Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy mostly... i doubt either are 'really hard' courses.

Miami Beach is usually tougher for me cause i feel like its longer, more hazards.

i shoot between 100-106 just about every round. i'm pretty consistently terrible

Blue or White Tees? Makes a big difference if your have a weak driver.

[ReignOnU]

i play Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy mostly... i doubt either are 'really hard' courses.

Miami Beach is usually tougher for me cause i feel like its longer, more hazards.

i shoot between 100-106 just about every round. i'm pretty consistently terrible

Blue or White Tees? Makes a big difference if your have a weak driver.

Also... roughly... how many penalty strokes are you taking per round. It's one thing to have a bad shot, it's another to have a bad shot that counts 2x.

[Seeitsaveit13]

i play Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy mostly... i doubt either are 'really hard' courses.

Miami Beach is usually tougher for me cause i feel like its longer, more hazards.

i shoot between 100-106 just about every round. i'm pretty consistently terrible

Depending on the tees, looks like Miami Beach has a decent rating and slope, so it's not "easy"
Normandy doesn't look like a slouch of a course either.

That's probably part of it, but it doesn't look like either course is insanely hard.

The difference between 100 and 90 is practice. Even with some lessons, the practice (and then consistency from it) is what starts dropping strokes.

Once you know your swing enough to hit a ball wrong and know what you did wrong as soon as you hit it, that's when the scores will start dropping. There's just so many damn variables. You can hit your irons well, and not your driver, and vice versa. You can do both of those well, and have a shitty short game. There's so many aspects to a golf game that until you've had a good deal of practice in all the aspects, you can't start to consistently score well.

Yet another reason it's the most frustrating sport on the planet.

[DRiccio21]

i know it sounds simple, trust me.

it drives me nuts. i hit ball then divot, smoke a 6 iron feel great about the contact and the trajectory off the club then the ball goes completely straight and ts 40 yards right of the hole. i'm just clueless how i am so far off to the point i think i might have vision issues in my left eye when i'm trying to line up. i can't think of anything else. i'm always lined up way right.

the thing i wanted to buy was arrcos for my clubs to track my stats. i haven't bought it yet, i need to get an iphone to use it since their app doesn't work with android.

the guy i take lessons with has the trak man system (i think thats what its called) that tracks all your mechanics of your swing. i haven't used that but if i can't break 100 soon i'm going to take a few more lessons and going to ask for that.

[Seeitsaveit13]

i must play on tougher courses than most people or i just really suck a lot worse than everyone i know

bought clubs like 6 years ago, had never played. probably hit range for a month then played 5 or 6 rounds then put the clubs away and never touched them

about 6 months ago i got lessons and i play after market closes probably once or twice per week then once on the weekend. i still haven't broke 100.

granted i'm obviously a beginner, i still feel like i'm doing something wrong as everyone i talk to plays in the 90's and high 80's and i'm not able to break 100. i keep legit score, i don't take any mulligans or gimmies, i punch out of trouble if i need to.

the worst part is, i don't feel like i suck. i hit my irons really well, i can putt relatively well. i just can't figure out how to allign myself and i never hit to the right target. i'm not hooking or slicing, my target is just off and i can't figure out how to fix it. i also can't drive at all and barely take the club out of the bag.

anyways 100 is my goal, i'm hoping to break it soon.

We're in the same spot Dave. I've always been pretty athletic and picked golf on my own about 10yrs ago. I haven't played more than 5 rounds (not including my trip) each of the last 3 years and I consider it pretty good if I break 100. With that said, at my best, I was hitting low 90s consistently, around 4 years ago. I've talked about it with a lot of my friends that legitimately hit in the 80s and they tell me that I'm really not far away. It's playing consistently, every week, and it will happen. I've been so eager to get to this point, finishing up my degree, because it's going to free up a lot of time (every Sunday!) to golf. 2 more weeks!

Not that you want to take advice from someone that shoots a similar score, but it seems like your alignment issue should be an easy fix. If you go to a range, lineup to a target and consistently hit it to the same spot, then you just need to shift your alignment. You could search for the technical reason as to why your not hitting it where you're aiming (open face, ball placement in stance, swing plane) or you can just accept it and adjust accordingly.

I saw you post about some swing analysis equipment a month or so ago... did you buy that? How is it working for you?

I've paid for a 3 lesson package before and wasn't overly impressed by the results. It hurt me more than it helped. I'm sure it's a situation where I need to go for an extended time to see the results, but that seems kind of silly. A week or so ago I signed up for Hank Haney's 10 free videos and I'm considering purchasing the Haney Blueprint. Personally, I like the concept of what he's doing. One of the things that I find unique about it is that he's encouraging fast swings and not focusing on slowing down the process. I think this keeps the swing natural. If I remember, later this week, I'll track down all 10 videos and post links to them here.

GolfTec.

If you do care and want to fix it, they can find little things to tweak in your swing once you're at a point where you have a consistent swing.

They had a simulator at the event we worked in LA, and they were hooking people up to it and giving a quick 5 minute analysis. They found a habit in my swing that I didn't realize I had gotten into, and couldn't even feel. Pointed it out, I worked on it, and now I'm back on track.

If you wanna do it yourself (and you feel like you know what to look for) download "Ubersense" on your ipad. Set it up when you go to the range, and then you can look at your swing and see the "obvious" problems. This only works if you've gotten to the point that I mentioned in my previous post about knowing your swing and knowing what you're doing wrong when you hit it. Without knowing your lessons and such, it's hard to figure out where you're at with regards to that.

[DRiccio21]

i play Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy mostly... i doubt either are 'really hard' courses.

Miami Beach is usually tougher for me cause i feel like its longer, more hazards.

i shoot between 100-106 just about every round. i'm pretty consistently terrible

Depending on the tees, looks like Miami Beach has a decent rating and slope, so it's not "easy"
Normandy doesn't look like a slouch of a course either.

That's probably part of it, but it doesn't look like either course is insanely hard.

The difference between 100 and 90 is practice. Even with some lessons, the practice (and then consistency from it) is what starts dropping strokes.

Once you know your swing enough to hit a ball wrong and know what you did wrong as soon as you hit it, that's when the scores will start dropping. There's just so many damn variables. You can hit your irons well, and not your driver, and vice versa. You can do both of those well, and have a shitty short game. There's so many aspects to a golf game that until you've had a good deal of practice in all the aspects, you can't start to consistently score well.

Yet another reason it's the most frustrating sport on the planet.

i play from the back cause the guys i play with are better than i am. a couple guys are under 10 handicap so i have no choice.

sometimes when i hit hybrid off the box i barely get it past the womens tees

[ReignOnU]

i play Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy mostly... i doubt either are 'really hard' courses.

Miami Beach is usually tougher for me cause i feel like its longer, more hazards.

i shoot between 100-106 just about every round. i'm pretty consistently terrible

Depending on the tees, looks like Miami Beach has a decent rating and slope, so it's not "easy"
Normandy doesn't look like a slouch of a course either.

That's probably part of it, but it doesn't look like either course is insanely hard.

The difference between 100 and 90 is practice. Even with some lessons, the practice (and then consistency from it) is what starts dropping strokes.

Once you know your swing enough to hit a ball wrong and know what you did wrong as soon as you hit it, that's when the scores will start dropping. There's just so many damn variables. You can hit your irons well, and not your driver, and vice versa. You can do both of those well, and have a shitty short game. There's so many aspects to a golf game that until you've had a good deal of practice in all the aspects, you can't start to consistently score well.

Yet another reason it's the most frustrating sport on the planet.

Going back to those Haney videos... I've had the concepts of ball flight explained to me and I've watched Michael Breed explain them. Haney actually took it to another level that specifically explained to someone why their driver was slicing right and why their iron was firing directly left, with the same swing. The same logic applied, but he combined the factors of face position, swing plane and speed.

The one thing that I started on Friday was swinging a club 100x a day. The only place I can do it is in my bedroom (huge ceilings) or outside (patio/yard). The idea is to swing your swing, 100x a day, so that you get it into memory. As you practice, you'll understand your own swing and know how to adjust for the issues that come up. (he explains all the potential results, 6-8 of them)

[Seeitsaveit13]

the guy i take lessons with has the trak man system (i think thats what its called) that tracks all your mechanics of your swing. i haven't used that but if i can't break 100 soon i'm going to take a few more lessons and going to ask for that.

that's some good stuff. If he's got that, no real need for GolfTec that I mentioned above unless you want to see some other perspective.

Go out to dicks and get something like this (no need to spend more than 15-20 bucks) http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/produ ... cadevice=c

Pick a target on the range that is straight ahead of you (hopefully a green). Set up 1 stick to the right side of it (straight) and 1 to the left side of it (straight). The one on the left needs to be where you line up your feet, the 1 on the right is where you'll put the ball inside of. You're basically making a parallel box for you to hit from. This proves that if you're truly hitting it straight, it will go straight. This shows that you're aligned right. If the ball strays, see where it strays. See what the divot does. If you get the app I mentioned, see if your swing path looks off. That should help see if it's alignment.

It's a simple thing, but it could screw it.

[Seeitsaveit13]

i play Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy mostly... i doubt either are 'really hard' courses.

Miami Beach is usually tougher for me cause i feel like its longer, more hazards.

i shoot between 100-106 just about every round. i'm pretty consistently terrible

Depending on the tees, looks like Miami Beach has a decent rating and slope, so it's not "easy"
Normandy doesn't look like a slouch of a course either.

That's probably part of it, but it doesn't look like either course is insanely hard.

The difference between 100 and 90 is practice. Even with some lessons, the practice (and then consistency from it) is what starts dropping strokes.

Once you know your swing enough to hit a ball wrong and know what you did wrong as soon as you hit it, that's when the scores will start dropping. There's just so many damn variables. You can hit your irons well, and not your driver, and vice versa. You can do both of those well, and have a shitty short game. There's so many aspects to a golf game that until you've had a good deal of practice in all the aspects, you can't start to consistently score well.

Yet another reason it's the most frustrating sport on the planet.

i play from the back cause the guys i play with are better than i am. a couple guys are under 10 handicap so i have no choice.

sometimes when i hit hybrid off the box i barely get it past the womens tees

That could cost you 4-5 or more strokes, so keep that in mind. You're not ready for those tees just yet. But keep in mind that your score is a little better than you think. If you get a handicap, you'll start to see that, because they're generated accordingly.

[ReignOnU]

i play Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy mostly... i doubt either are 'really hard' courses.

Miami Beach is usually tougher for me cause i feel like its longer, more hazards.

i shoot between 100-106 just about every round. i'm pretty consistently terrible

Depending on the tees, looks like Miami Beach has a decent rating and slope, so it's not "easy"
Normandy doesn't look like a slouch of a course either.

That's probably part of it, but it doesn't look like either course is insanely hard.

The difference between 100 and 90 is practice. Even with some lessons, the practice (and then consistency from it) is what starts dropping strokes.

Once you know your swing enough to hit a ball wrong and know what you did wrong as soon as you hit it, that's when the scores will start dropping. There's just so many damn variables. You can hit your irons well, and not your driver, and vice versa. You can do both of those well, and have a shitty short game. There's so many aspects to a golf game that until you've had a good deal of practice in all the aspects, you can't start to consistently score well.

Yet another reason it's the most frustrating sport on the planet.

i play from the back cause the guys i play with are better than i am. a couple guys are under 10 handicap so i have no choice.

sometimes when i hit hybrid off the box i barely get it past the womens tees

Again, similar situation. Keep in mind that a lot guys that hit in the 90s are talking about the whites. If you know that your driver is an issue, you're hitting your 3 hybrid 220 or less off the tee, and you're playing from the back, then you're a lot better than you're giving yourself credit for. You should go out and play from the whites at some point, because I'm fairly certain you're going to hit in the high 80s. I play a local course, Yankee Trace, most of the time and I've played a few rounds without my driver. There are a couple of par 4s that can be big trouble if I don't smoke my hybrid. My 4 iron is a turd, so I rarely hit it. I've got to either smoke my hybrid to leave me a 6 or have a to rely on a perfect 5 iron. That's a far cry from bombing a drive and having a wedge or 9 iron into the green.

[ReignOnU]

the guy i take lessons with has the trak man system (i think thats what its called) that tracks all your mechanics of your swing. i haven't used that but if i can't break 100 soon i'm going to take a few more lessons and going to ask for that.

that's some good stuff. If he's got that, no real need for GolfTec that I mentioned above unless you want to see some other perspective.

Go out to dicks and get something like this (no need to spend more than 15-20 bucks) http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/produ ... cadevice=c

Pick a target on the range that is straight ahead of you (hopefully a green). Set up 1 stick to the right side of it (straight) and 1 to the left side of it (straight). The one on the left needs to be where you line up your feet, the 1 on the right is where you'll put the ball inside of. You're basically making a parallel box for you to hit from. This proves that if you're truly hitting it straight, it will go straight. This shows that you're aligned right. If the ball strays, see where it strays. See what the divot does. If you get the app I mentioned, see if your swing path looks off. That should help see if it's alignment.

It's a simple thing, but it could screw it.

I've always used my 4i and 5i when I'm at the range. Too cheap for sticks.