Golfers Thread

[The Hero of the Day]

Used to go up Callendar Park when it just opened but my first full round was at Falkirk Tryst and I must have shot about 136. Was about 12 at the time and is really was an indication of what was to come. I used to play in the medal every Monday and as some have said, it all got to competitive and it was taken to seriously by some, therefore I fell out of love with golf. I got to about 28 handicap but couldnt be bothered with it all anymore.

Would love to get back into it with a few friends as they might be a similar standard now and I could have a laugh going around the course and not really car if I'm 5 under or 5 over par.

Edited April 21, 2010 by The Hero of the Day

[seamus]

I take it you mean +3?

The free membership thing is pish unless he has been a member for 50 odd years, has won the championship 30 times and laid the greens himself.

Yeah sorry.

A great player but is not motivated by the career golf.He has won our club championship almost every year.

[the jambo-rocker]

What has the handicap came down to gaz since you started this thread anyway?

I only ask because i am intrigued by whether the pnb advice has been beneficial or not.

[perthshirebell]

I dont beleive this for a minute no course would do this.Therse a guy at our course who plays off +3 which means that he has to shoot 3 under all the time to remain level par.

He pays his fees the same as anyone else.

Many clubs give out honoury membership to players that have won Full international honours. The closest i came to getting a cap was to play a under16's match against the north of england at drumoig.

Normally at a good course there will be 3/4 players playing off at least 1. With the new technology scratch is no longer a wonderful achievment.

In saying that i just put in my first card to get my handicap back and shot a 76

[orlandoblue]

I don't think clubs would be so quick to give out life memberships now. Most clubs struggle for members now.

[mid-table]

i bet he isn't anywhere near as good as he claims. There are good scratch, +1 golfers and there are really good golfers that play off +3

To be fair, I believe he is as good as he says. It's the fact he keeps going on about it that riles me.

I dont beleive this for a minute no course would do this.Therse a guy at our course who plays off +3 which means that he has to shoot 3 under all the time to remain level par.

He pays his fees the same as anyone else.

The free membership thing is pish unless he has been a member for 50 odd years, has won the championship 30 times and laid the greens himself.

Many clubs give out honoury membership to players that have won Full international honours.

I don't think clubs would be so quick to give out life memberships now. Most clubs struggle for members now.

I know of a club near me that rewarded two of their members for winning the London Amateur Foresomes by giving them a free years membership.

With the new technology scratch is no longer a wonderful achievment.

I wrote a piece about exactly this subject a few months ago; The two pyramids of golf.

[orlandoblue]

I know of a club near me that rewarded two of their members for winning the London Amateur Foresomes by giving them a free years membership.

Yes but that's not the same as life membership.

[mid-table]

Yes but that's not the same as life membership.

Well spotted Sherlock.

The poster who said he got free membership never said it was life / honorary membership, that was only mentioned by two other posters, one of whom was you.

I was pointing out that people can get free membership for a time bound period based on their achievements, without them having life / honorary membership.

[Gaz]

Bumpity-bump

Two and a half years after starting this thread and a good few sessions at the driving range later, I finally got around to it

I played my first ever "proper" round of golf on Friday afternoon. Well, I say round, but it was just a half-round really - the nine-hole course at Brucefields near Stirling.

I arranged it last week and all week I was simultaneously looking forward to it but utterly bricking it. I had images of hitting 20+ at every hole and having other players laugh at me or be angry at me for holding them up.

Thankfully that didn't happen. I started off poorly - a nine at the first hole (skewed my first three shots wide right, nearly going into the driving range) and then a horrible seventeen at the second meant I was sitting on 26 after two holes

Waved a guy through after the second hole, then took a bit more time and my mate gave me a good few pointers on my swing and stance before the third.

My next three holes were a five at the third (par 3), a six at the fourth (par 4) and a seven at the fifth (par 5). I was delighted with that!

The sixth hole was a total disaster again - for anyone who's not played it, it's a short par 3 that has a drop of about twenty metres onto the green with overgrowth in between the green and tee area. Lost two balls and for the sake of avoiding losing more we agreed to mark my card as a ten and move on.

The seventh and eighth holes were par 4 (shot an 8 both times) and the ninth hole was a par 3 (shot a 5).

Out of the nine holes (par 34) I went round in 75. Not brilliant, but not a total disaster either - I'm convinced that had I went around again immediately after, I'd have taken a couple of shots off of the first hole and gotten single figures on the second, taking my score down into the mid-sixties.

I really enjoyed it, going to go again on Thursday to see what score I can get. I also found out that I can play Falkirk Council's Grangemouth course for free as I am a student, so I'm going to look into that.

Wish I'd done something about it years ago!

[printer]

Out of the nine holes (par 34) I went round in 75. Not brilliant, but not a total disaster either - I'm convinced that had I went around again immediately after, I'd have taken a couple of shots off of the first hole and gotten single figures on the second, taking my score down into the mid-sixties.

I really enjoyed it, going to go again on Thursday to see what score I can get. I also found out that I can play Falkirk Council's Grangemouth course for free as I am a student, so I'm going to look into that.

Wish I'd done something about it years ago!

That's one of the things that makes golf such a great game for all abilities. You can always look to beat your best score, or play a certain hole better. Sounds to me like you will cut a lot of shots off if you get a regular game.

Try and get out on the course as much as possible as opposed to the range. If you are going to practice just take a pitching club, a putter and one ball down to the practice green and work on that.

[Gaz]

That's one of the things that makes golf such a great game for all abilities. You can always look to beat your best score, or play a certain hole better. Sounds to me like you will cut a lot of shots off if you get a regular game.

Try and get out on the course as much as possible as opposed to the range. If you are going to practice just take a pitching club, a putter and one ball down to the practice green and work on that.

Yeah, my mate that I was playing with is quite a bit better than me (not brilliant, but his handicap is about 16 I think) but I wasn't paying attention to his score at all. The next time I play those same holes I'll just concentrate on beating my own score. I did beat him on one hole though!

My putting is quite good as well - I used to work at Prudential and they had a nine-hole putting green, so I used to play that every lunchtime for two years. I two-putted seven of the nine holes, which I was happy with.

[printer]

Yeah, my mate that I was playing with is quite a bit better than me (not brilliant, but his handicap is about 16 I think) but I wasn't paying attention to his score at all. The next time I play those same holes I'll just concentrate on beating my own score. I did beat him on one hole though!

My putting is quite good as well - I used to work at Prudential and they had a nine-hole putting green, so I used to play that every lunchtime for two years. I two-putted seven of the nine holes, which I was happy with.

That's very good for a first round!

[Fudge]

I've not played golf in about 7 years but I hope to get back into it quite soon. As has alredy been said, you can always improve so regardless of how good/bad you are, there's always something to strive for.

It's the most stupidly obvious thing to say, but make sure you get a set of clubs you are comfaortable with. I've got a set of Wilson Fat Shaft Irons and I honestly don't think I could ever play with anything else. The shafts are fatter (obviously) and the heads are quite chunky and when you address the ball you just can't invisgae yourself playing a bad shot because they just feel so forgiving.

This may or may not apply to you yet, but when I was about 12/13, we used to count our score relative to a par 90. In effect, we'd class each hole as a par 5 and count our score that way, so an 87 would be '3 under 5's'. That way, even if you're not the best golfer, you feel like you're hitting a decent score and you feel more content than realising you're 17 over par.

However, as I improved, I found that this was holing me back. I was content with a 4 on a par 3 as it was still '1 under' in my mind. As soon as I changed to actually counting my shots with regards to par on each hole, I found myself being much more ruthless and setting my standards higher.

With uni etc, it was impossible for me to play regularly after I hit 16/17 but I wish I could have kept it up as I'm sure I'd be fairly close to scratch by now

Edited April 17, 2011 by Fudge

[Davis Love III]

Nice to see you've finally got out on the course Gaz, and more importantly you've enjoyed it!

I can only reiterate what everyone has said about practice and trying to improve, and the beauty of the game for players of all standards. Keep us all up to date with your progress!

My putting is quite good as well - I used to work at Prudential and they had a nine-hole putting green, so I used to play that every lunchtime for two years. I two-putted seven of the nine holes, which I was happy with.

I wish I could putt as well as that!

Edited April 17, 2011 by Davis Love III

[printer]

I wish I could putt as well as that!

I once had 21 putts for a round. I wish I could put like that now.

[printer]

This may or may not apply to you yet, but when I was about 12/13, we used to count our score relative to a par 90. In effect, we'd class each hole as a par 5 and count our score that way, so an 87 would be '3 under 5's'. That way, even if you're not the best golfer, you feel like you're hitting a decent score and you feel more content than realising you're 17 over par.

However, as I improved, I found that this was holing me back. I was content with a 4 on a par 3 as it was still '1 under' in my mind. As soon as I changed to actually counting my shots with regards to par on each hole, I found myself being much more ruthless and setting my standards higher.

This is a good tip as well. You can set whatever is a reasonable "par" for your standard and change it as you improve. When I first started playing, my pals and I were 9 or 10 years old and we initially played to "double par", so a par 4 was an 8 for us etc.

[Fudge]

My first ever round of golf was on Election day of '97. I played with about 6 or 7 wooden clubs that used to belong to my granda. Now a days wee boys are stoating about with nearly £1000 worth of equipment in their bags. Back in my day.....never had it so good....etc

[Gaz]

Well, I played my first ever eighteen holes today, at Grangemouth. And it went... well, it went not too bad, I guess

I decided I was going to play with the "double score" suggestion above - so that for a par 4, I'd treat it as a par 8, 6 for a par 3 and 10 for a par 5. I figured this is a good way to keep it interesting until I join a club and can get a proper handicap through.

The par for the course is 70, so I took it at 140 and shot 153. Not a brilliant round, by any means.

A few things I've learned:

Bunker shots - I went into a bunker three times today, on the 4th, the 17th and the 18th. The ones on the 4th and 17th were deep bunkers and I foolishly made the mistake of trying to play forwards out of them - and took seven shots each time. From now on if I find myself in a bunker with a steep slope in front of me I'm going to take one shot backwards out of the bunker instead of wasting shots trying to play forwards.

My tee shots are horrible. I can't use a driver at all, but I'm not really bothered about that - I'd rather be accurate than powerful. At the moment though, I'm neither I play some good, straight shots where I'm aiming from the fairway and the light rough but almost every shot I make from the tee goes wildly to the right. Need to work on that.

My putting is still probably my best feature - in eleven of the eighteen holes today I putted in two or less. I only took more than three putts on one hole - the 4th, the first hole that took me seven shots to get out of a bunker

Really enjoyed it again though. Going to go round again later in the week, maybe tomorrow or on Wednesday afternoon.

[Guest The Phoenix]

Gaz

A couple of suggestions.

They may not work but they're simple to follow and are a lot cheaper than professional lessons.

Bunker shots - let the club do the work. Aim to hit a spot in the sand about two to three inches behind where the ball is and keep the club moving through the sand and complete a full follow through. The most common mistake made is to decelerate as soon as contact is made with the sand.

Driving - persevere with a driver or at least a three wood. You may not be bothered now but if you're serious about getting better at the game, you'll soon get fed up only getting around 150 yards off the tee.

The difference between a 150 yard drive and a 200 yard drive on an average length par 4 is about five clubs less for your second shot. It's a lot easier to hit a nine iron to the green than a four iron!

The problem you've described with your driving is a slice and by your description a fairly big one!

Years ago I tempered my natural tendency to slice with one simple change to my grip - I moved my right hand slightly further round anti clockwise on the grip. This should have the effect of closing the clubface on impact (a slice occurs with an open clubface). A bit of experimentation should tell you when you've got it about right.

As I say that's layman's advice that works for me but may not for you - I've never had a lesson in my life but self taught I managed to get down to a handicap of 6 at my best (creeping upwards in my old age!).

I look forward to reading about your progress.

[Blue1870]

I've not played competitive golf ie been a member of a course for about 13 years. Just rely on the odd comp or pay on now. I'm 37 now and started playing when I was about 5 or 6 at Stranraer(Creachmore) and Portpatrick(dunskey) with the old pencil bag and some cut down clubs. Lol! When I got about to the age of 9 or 10 me and mates were never away from the course during the school hols. we even used to play golf at local park in stranraer. Whole groups of youngsters. A few greenhouses were smashed in those days!!! I used to have an excellent short game. Practiced loads. pitch and run with a seven iron.

Lessons eventually arrived through Golf World at Dunskey and Bill Lockie (barrassie tartan tour pro) who came down to stranraer to coach a few of us who were showing signs of promise. Got down to handicap of 5 when I was 16-17 years old at Stranraer. Best score 72 round Stranraer and 69 round Dunskey. Got selected to play in the scottish boys matchplay at West kilbride. Leading upto the event I was striking the ball brilliantly shooting under par for 9 holes regularly round stranraer however I lost in the first round tamely 2&1 to guy from ratho near edinburgh. Very disappointed didn't play well at all.!!!

Last handicap I had was about 7.3 I think. never played enough and therefore handicap rose. i know if i had stuck at it when i was young i would probably have made lower than 5. regret it now. I have all the gear now ready to take it up again. However the costs are alarming.

One wee tip I got from Bill Lockie is G.A.S.P. that is Grip, Aim, Stance, Posture. Do these when your setting up to a ball and you'll have a start. Also when you go to driving range. Don't start hitting driver or long irons first. Start with your wedges to loosen off and get the feel and timing.