Golfers Thread

[Ayr_United_1910]

On 11/27/2017 at 08:12, expatowner said:

I've been playing a lot better over the past month. Long may it continue.
I'm currently on 11.2 ,  I can't seem to get down to single figures.

 

Expatowner, the secret to getting to single figures is not thinking about it.  As long as you continue to improve, it will come in time.  The secret is not to wish it to happen, that's when it doesn't happen.  Golf is a funny old game, progress & success come around when you least expect it. 

All I can really do is go from my own personal experience.  When I was younger I was single figures, I then didn't play for many years & took the game up again properly (i.e. joining a club, playing weekly etc) a couple of years ago.  I had played sporadically through my early 20's, but didn't play any competitive games etc from 18 till I was 27.  I thought I'd just pick the clubs up again, post my 3 cards for my handicap & be given 7 or 8.  That didn't quite work out & I was given 14.  For about the first year, I was absolutely obsessed with getting back to single figures & it just wasn't happening. 

I then spoke to a friend of mine who does a bit of golf coaching etc & he said to concentrate on 1 shot at a time, all of the time.  We went out for a game & he took me through his wee process thing.  Previously, I was a 1 hole at a time guy, but when I had a bad hole, I found it very difficult to forget about it.  Anyway, I tried his method with him there & it worked, I shot a 74 scratch.  It took me 4 or 5 rounds for me to manage to fully get into this mode when on my own, but when I started to do this & stopped thinking about my total score, the bad hole previously etc, I started to see a wee bit of success.

I'm not saying it'll work for you, but give it a go & see how you get on.
 

[Distant Doonhamer]

On 14/12/2017 at 13:39, Ayr_United_1910 said:

Expatowner, the secret to getting to single figures is not thinking about it.  As long as you continue to improve, it will come in time.  The secret is not to wish it to happen, that's when it doesn't happen.  Golf is a funny old game, progress & success come around when you least expect it. 
 

So true. I was absolutely obsessed with getting to single figures. Spent what seemed like an eternity being between 9.6 and 10.4. Passed up many a chance to reach single figures with poor finishes. Even on the day I finally made it in August 2009  I had a double bogey 7 at 14th and got that feeling of another chance about to be passed up. Anything but as it happened as I went par, birdie, par birdie for a net 65!.

Have been single figures since then other than a single return to 9.5 followed by an immediate cut. Currently 7.3. lowest i`ve been is 6.8.

[Ayr_United_1910]

6 hours ago, Distant Doonhamer said:

So true. I was absolutely obsessed with getting to single figures. Spent what seemed like an eternity being between 9.6 and 10.4. Passed up many a chance to reach single figures with poor finishes. Even on the day I finally made it in August 2009  I had a double bogey 7 at 14th and got that feeling of another chance about to be passed up. Anything but as it happened as I went par, birdie, par birdie for a net 65!.

Have been single figures since then other than a single return to 9.5 followed by an immediate cut. Currently 7.3. lowest i`ve been is 6.8.

I hope you continue to improve DD. 

When I started playing again I thought I'd just pick up my clubs & instantly return to the same player I was when I was younger.  It took me longer than it should to realise that it wasn't going to happen.  I kept saying ''couple a rounds to get into it & then it'll come'', but it never did.  It wasn't until I left the past in the past & just went forward with the attitude ''this is where I am, lets improve'' that things started to get a wee bit better, however, like you've described above, I would get to about the 12th/13th/14th in very good shape, have a bad hole & it would all go to pot.  1 bad hole would completely ruin my day, I got so angry, frustrated & couldn't put it to the back of my mind & move on.  Sometimes my temper would ruin my round completely. 

It all came to a head one medal Saturday.  I started off with an eagle 3 at the first, chipped in from off the green.  I followed this with a par at the 2nd, par at the 3rd, birdie at the par 3 4th, par at the 5th & tap in birdie at 6.  I then began to think as I approached the 7th tee ''well even if I have a couple of bad holes today, surely this first 6 holes will stand me in a good position.  All I need to do is hit a straight drive here & even if I get a 5 that's it out the road''.  The 7th at the course I describe is a dog leg with an elevated green.  The medal tee is in an elevated small patch of ground surrounded by trees on the left, trees on the right with a pedestrian path & a burn.  The trees on the left stretch right down to the dog leg & there is very little room on the right until after the bend either & as the laws of gravity go, everything kicks right off the sloping fairway too.  Conservative players chip a 5 iron to before the dog leg, chip it over the dog leg hill with a wedge or 9 iron & then go for the green.  However, if you are playing well you can drive it off the tee, carrying the dog leg.  Of course, as I was playing well, I get the driver out, think I was playing with a Ping G5 at the time, loved the shaft in it.  Anyway, I slice the first drive right & into the burn.  I then tee it up again & do the same.  So I go off the tee to my bag, get my 6 iron out & decide to just knock one onto the fairway, the conservative approach.  However, by this point I was boiling, absolutely boiling.  Hands were soaking with sweat, I could barely look up as I had the other 3 players in my 4 ball looking at me.  That much time had passed the 4 ball in the group behind were also waiting.  So I keep my head down, walk to the tee, tee it up &.........grip slips out my hands, ball goes straight left into the trees, club releases from my hands & nestles in the long grass/tree area to the left too.  I tell the 3 guys to go on, swap score cards etc & walk the pedestrian path from the woodland area, heading in the opposite direction from the clubhouse, but a route that would eventually lead to my home.  I had a brief look for the 6 iron, but never found it, might even still be there. 

I was absolutely embarrassed beyond belief.  ''I used to be no bad at this game, really quite gid actually.  I f*cking hate it now, I'm never playing again, that's me finished, I obviously don't have it any more''  (I muttered stuff like that to myself all the way home).  It took me about a fortnight until I picked up a club again & afterwards I told myself that I would not take the game so seriously ever again, would just enjoy it & see where that led me.  I can honestly say, the moment I adopted this attitude was the moment that my game began to improve.  If I have a bad round I don't really bother anymore.  I get upset, but I then put it into perspective.  Could be that I've not played regularly leading up to the round, haven't practiced etc.  However, when I prepare for a tournament or whatever, put the time in & take 1 shot at a time, I tend to do ok.  And any time I ever find my blood reaching boiling point I try to just laugh & think ''that's golf, it'll try and do that to you, you've just got to smile''. 

This season I hardly played at all, but I've done enough to maintain a handicap, that's slightly went up.  I have began Caddying full time at Turnberry, have a 3 year old daughter & play Football a couple of times a week, so I haven't really had as much free time to dedicate to golf.  I've told myself that I'm really going to knuckle down next season & see where that takes me.  My football/futsal career is hanging by a thread (knee is like glass) so I think I'll pack that in at the end of the season & make golf my only past time. 

[Distant Doonhamer]

5 minutes ago, Ayr_United_1910 said:

I hope you continue to improve DD. 

When I started playing again I thought I'd just pick up my clubs & instantly return to the same player I was when I was younger.  It took me longer than it should to realise that it wasn't going to happen.  I kept saying ''couple a rounds to get into it & then it'll come'', but it never did.  It wasn't until I left the past in the past & just went forward with the attitude ''this is where I am, lets improve'' that things started to get a wee bit better, however, like you've described above, I would get to about the 12th/13th/14th in very good shape, have a bad hole & it would all go to pot.  1 bad hole would completely ruin my day, I got so angry, frustrated & couldn't put it to the back of my mind & move on.  Sometimes my temper would ruin my round completely. 

It all came to a head one medal Saturday.  I started off with an eagle 3 at the first, chipped in from off the green.  I followed this with a par at the 2nd, par at the 3rd, birdie at the par 3 4th, par at the 5th & tap in birdie at 6.  I then began to think as I approached the 7th tee ''well even if I have a couple of bad holes today, surely this first 6 holes will stand me in a good position.  All I need to do is hit a straight drive here & even if I get a 5 that's it out the road''.  The 7th at the course I describe is a dog leg with an elevated green.  The medal tee is in an elevated small patch of ground surrounded by trees on the left, trees on the right with a pedestrian path & a burn.  The trees on the left stretch right down to the dog leg & there is very little room on the right until after the bend either & as the laws of gravity go, everything kicks right off the sloping fairway too.  Conservative players chip a 5 iron to before the dog leg, chip it over the dog leg hill with a wedge or 9 iron & then go for the green.  However, if you are playing well you can drive it off the tee, carrying the dog leg.  Of course, as I was playing well, I get the driver out, think I was playing with a Ping G5 at the time, loved the shaft in it.  Anyway, I slice the first drive right & into the burn.  I then tee it up again & do the same.  So I go off the tee to my bag, get my 6 iron out & decide to just knock one onto the fairway, the conservative approach.  However, by this point I was boiling, absolutely boiling.  Hands were soaking with sweat, I could barely look up as I had the other 3 players in my 4 ball looking at me.  That much time had passed the 4 ball in the group behind were also waiting.  So I keep my head down, walk to the tee, tee it up &.........grip slips out my hands, ball goes straight left into the trees, club releases from my hands & nestles in the long grass/tree area to the left too.  I tell the 3 guys to go on, swap score cards etc & walk the pedestrian path from the woodland area, heading in the opposite direction from the clubhouse, but a route that would eventually lead to my home.  I had a brief look for the 6 iron, but never found it, might even still be there. 

I was absolutely embarrassed beyond belief.  ''I used to be no bad at this game, really quite gid actually.  I f*cking hate it now, I'm never playing again, that's me finished, I obviously don't have it any more''  (I muttered stuff like that to myself all the way home).  It took me about a fortnight until I picked up a club again & afterwards I told myself that I would not take the game so seriously ever again, would just enjoy it & see where that led me.  I can honestly say, the moment I adopted this attitude was the moment that my game began to improve.  If I have a bad round I don't really bother anymore.  I get upset, but I then put it into perspective.  Could be that I've not played regularly leading up to the round, haven't practiced etc.  However, when I prepare for a tournament or whatever, put the time in & take 1 shot at a time, I tend to do ok.  And any time I ever find my blood reaching boiling point I try to just laugh & think ''that's golf, it'll try and do that to you, you've just got to smile''. 

This season I hardly played at all, but I've done enough to maintain a handicap, that's slightly went up.  I have began Caddying full time at Turnberry, have a 3 year old daughter & play Football a couple of times a week, so I haven't really had as much free time to dedicate to golf.  I've told myself that I'm really going to knuckle down next season & see where that takes me.  My football/futsal career is hanging by a thread (knee is like glass) so I think I'll pack that in at the end of the season & make golf my only past time. 

Great story 

[expatowner]

On 12/15/2017 at 02:39, Ayr_United_1910 said:

Expatowner, the secret to getting to single figures is not thinking about it.  As long as you continue to improve, it will come in time.  The secret is not to wish it to happen, that's when it doesn't happen.  Golf is a funny old game, progress & success come around when you least expect it. 

All I can really do is go from my own personal experience.  When I was younger I was single figures, I then didn't play for many years & took the game up again properly (i.e. joining a club, playing weekly etc) a couple of years ago.  I had played sporadically through my early 20's, but didn't play any competitive games etc from 18 till I was 27.  I thought I'd just pick the clubs up again, post my 3 cards for my handicap & be given 7 or 8.  That didn't quite work out & I was given 14.  For about the first year, I was absolutely obsessed with getting back to single figures & it just wasn't happening. 

I then spoke to a friend of mine who does a bit of golf coaching etc & he said to concentrate on 1 shot at a time, all of the time.  We went out for a game & he took me through his wee process thing.  Previously, I was a 1 hole at a time guy, but when I had a bad hole, I found it very difficult to forget about it.  Anyway, I tried his method with him there & it worked, I shot a 74 scratch.  It took me 4 or 5 rounds for me to manage to fully get into this mode when on my own, but when I started to do this & stopped thinking about my total score, the bad hole previously etc, I started to see a wee bit of success.

I'm not saying it'll work for you, but give it a go & see how you get on.
 

Thanks for that!
I've just finished playing 10 different courses in 10 days as we toured the North Island here in new Zealand, I think it helped improve my game because I didn't think about the overall score (no expectation) and had to just concentrate on one shot at a time.
Rororua 78,  Whakatane 82,  Opotiki 82,  Te Puia Springs 77,  Gisborne 83,  Maraenui 88 then 81, Taupo 81,  Cambridge 81 and Formosa 82.  
All fairly good scores (apart from the first game at Maraenui) so they should help pull my handicap (usually 10) down a bit more.
I'm still thinking I need better results when putting .

Anyway thanks for your encouragement.

 

[CY2508]

I hope you continue to improve DD. 

When I started playing again I thought I'd just pick up my clubs & instantly return to the same player I was when I was younger.  It took me longer than it should to realise that it wasn't going to happen.  I kept saying ''couple a rounds to get into it & then it'll come'', but it never did.  It wasn't until I left the past in the past & just went forward with the attitude ''this is where I am, lets improve'' that things started to get a wee bit better, however, like you've described above, I would get to about the 12th/13th/14th in very good shape, have a bad hole & it would all go to pot.  1 bad hole would completely ruin my day, I got so angry, frustrated & couldn't put it to the back of my mind & move on.  Sometimes my temper would ruin my round completely. 

It all came to a head one medal Saturday.  I started off with an eagle 3 at the first, chipped in from off the green.  I followed this with a par at the 2nd, par at the 3rd, birdie at the par 3 4th, par at the 5th & tap in birdie at 6.  I then began to think as I approached the 7th tee ''well even if I have a couple of bad holes today, surely this first 6 holes will stand me in a good position.  All I need to do is hit a straight drive here & even if I get a 5 that's it out the road''.  The 7th at the course I describe is a dog leg with an elevated green.  The medal tee is in an elevated small patch of ground surrounded by trees on the left, trees on the right with a pedestrian path & a burn.  The trees on the left stretch right down to the dog leg & there is very little room on the right until after the bend either & as the laws of gravity go, everything kicks right off the sloping fairway too.  Conservative players chip a 5 iron to before the dog leg, chip it over the dog leg hill with a wedge or 9 iron & then go for the green.  However, if you are playing well you can drive it off the tee, carrying the dog leg.  Of course, as I was playing well, I get the driver out, think I was playing with a Ping G5 at the time, loved the shaft in it.  Anyway, I slice the first drive right & into the burn.  I then tee it up again & do the same.  So I go off the tee to my bag, get my 6 iron out & decide to just knock one onto the fairway, the conservative approach.  However, by this point I was boiling, absolutely boiling.  Hands were soaking with sweat, I could barely look up as I had the other 3 players in my 4 ball looking at me.  That much time had passed the 4 ball in the group behind were also waiting.  So I keep my head down, walk to the tee, tee it up &.........grip slips out my hands, ball goes straight left into the trees, club releases from my hands & nestles in the long grass/tree area to the left too.  I tell the 3 guys to go on, swap score cards etc & walk the pedestrian path from the woodland area, heading in the opposite direction from the clubhouse, but a route that would eventually lead to my home.  I had a brief look for the 6 iron, but never found it, might even still be there. 

I was absolutely embarrassed beyond belief.  ''I used to be no bad at this game, really quite gid actually.  I f*cking hate it now, I'm never playing again, that's me finished, I obviously don't have it any more''  (I muttered stuff like that to myself all the way home).  It took me about a fortnight until I picked up a club again & afterwards I told myself that I would not take the game so seriously ever again, would just enjoy it & see where that led me.  I can honestly say, the moment I adopted this attitude was the moment that my game began to improve.  If I have a bad round I don't really bother anymore.  I get upset, but I then put it into perspective.  Could be that I've not played regularly leading up to the round, haven't practiced etc.  However, when I prepare for a tournament or whatever, put the time in & take 1 shot at a time, I tend to do ok.  And any time I ever find my blood reaching boiling point I try to just laugh & think ''that's golf, it'll try and do that to you, you've just got to smile''. 

This season I hardly played at all, but I've done enough to maintain a handicap, that's slightly went up.  I have began Caddying full time at Turnberry, have a 3 year old daughter & play Football a couple of times a week, so I haven't really had as much free time to dedicate to golf.  I've told myself that I'm really going to knuckle down next season & see where that takes me.  My football/futsal career is hanging by a thread (knee is like glass) so I think I'll pack that in at the end of the season & make golf my only past time. 

The 7th at Dalmilling has wrecked many a score card especially from the medal tee [emoji24]

[Nutz_the_Squirrel]

Weather has been quite superb this winter.  Can't even get a game at my winter (links) club due to either frost, snow or frigging monsoons. 

[Distant Doonhamer]

13 hours ago, Nutz_the_Squirrel said:

Weather has been quite superb this winter.  Can't even get a game at my winter (links) club due to either frost, snow or frigging monsoons. 

Yep I usually aim to play 9 holes every couple of weeks just to keep things ticking over. Haven`t played in some time. 

[wellfan09]

Was up at the range at Kings Acre in Lasswade today, nice wee setup they have there. First time swinging a club since September and on about my 8th shot in fucked my shoulder mid-swing. Managed to stretch it off for a bit then done the same again, obviously nothing too serious as I was able to carry on but annoying as I felt I couldn’t fully get into it. Made me keen to get back out soon though so fingers crossed it stays dry for the foreseeable.

[peasy23]

Yep I usually aim to play 9 holes every couple of weeks just to keep things ticking over. Haven`t played in some time. [emoji20]

Same for me, being constant nights I was hoping to get out every Monday morning. Haven't hit a ball in anger since early November.

[gavin_3110]

On 1/3/2018 at 21:42, Nutz_the_Squirrel said:

Weather has been quite superb this winter.  Can't even get a game at my winter (links) club due to either frost, snow or frigging monsoons. 

Yep, absolutely awful. Managed 18 holes up at St Andrews on New Years Day but it was tough going after not playing in a while.

[cas79]

Yep, absolutely awful. Managed 18 holes up at St Andrews on New Years Day but it was tough going after not playing in a while.

Nice I'm wanting to start playing some of they courses over the next few years, the players I'm golfing with aren't interested tho so I might be a single

[Distant Doonhamer]

Played 9 holes today. First game for a couple of months. Hit the ball poorly but putted like a dream to win 1 up. 

[expatowner]

Not trying to rub it in but, I'm playing nearly every day just now! :-)

 

[expatowner]

I played in a 3-day competition last week - Fri, Sat, Sun
There were over 80 golfers.
I had three so-so rounds of 84, 85 and 81, which meant I finished 11th in Div 2 (over 55's) and 20th overall.
I hit a long drive to win a bottle of Moet, and a "two" got me 3 Titleist balls, my Stableford points got me a bottle of wine, an umbrella and another 3 balls.
Not bad considering the three days golf only cost $120 (about 60 quid) 

[Cowshed Chris]

Decided to ditch my 15 year old MX15 irons and get fitted for the JPX 900 Forged.

Should receive them shortly, hoping for a strong finish to the winter league and a good start to next season!

[cas79]

Decided to ditch my 15 year old MX15 irons and get fitted for the JPX 900 Forged.

Should receive them shortly, hoping for a strong finish to the winter league and a good start to next season!

I had a little play with the jpx 900 hot metals I think they were, quite good I did hit more to the left with them but distance was beter than my speedblades, I ended up picking up a set of Wilson staff c200 cb and updated to n.s.pro stiff shafts and a set of used mizuno t5 wedges 50/56/60 (highly recommended wedge) so I'm all set for the news season

[Cowshed Chris]

New member offer that may be of interest for anyone in the Inverclyde area. If interested I'm happy to refer you and you can have the extra £50 off.

 

[expatowner]

I smashed my previous best score at one of my local clubs a couple of days ago (previous best 78 this round a two over par 73). 

I don't really know how it happened, but want more of the same please.  

[Distant Doonhamer]

18 hours ago, expatowner said:

I smashed my previous best score at one of my local clubs a couple of days ago (previous best 78 this round a two over par 73). 

I don't really know how it happened, but want more of the same please.  

Great shooting. Really well done.