Trying to Break 100

[baldguy]

I have an anomaly somewhat akin to Baldguys, in the makes no sense part of it at least . The last three rounds I have played fairly well the first 9 holes good mood good course decisions etc. seems like I make the turn and then EXPECT to play above my skill level and this is when things fall apart in a big way. reading his post made me think of it somewhat similar to the iron/driver thing. In that as much as I try and take control the more i lose it swing wise.???

I guess that's why they say GOLF is a 4-letter word! What irritates me the most is that when I take my practice swing before every iron shot, I sweep the grass ever so slightly (sometimes a shallow divot if it's wet) right in the line I want and it just feels right. Then I get over the ball and either hit it thin or fat. nothing like the practice swing. I'm sure every instructor out there has fixed that for someone at some point. I'm making it my mission to figure that out between now and March 1st for the Adams event. I am tall, and my previous instructor was short. We're over a foot apart in height and I have to believe that makes a big difference in teaching. I'm starting with a new instructor who is almost the same height as me (and a bit cheaper!) this week. Several pros have told me that taller golfers have issues that shorter ones don't (and vice versa) so hopefully this matchup will work much better than the last.

Here's hoping we both figure out our issues

 

[50wyldeman]

I guess that's why they say GOLF is a 4-letter word! What irritates me the most is that when I take my practice swing before every iron shot, I sweep the grass ever so slightly (sometimes a shallow divot if it's wet) right in the line I want and it just feels right. Then I get over the ball and either hit it thin or fat. nothing like the practice swing. I'm sure every instructor out there has fixed that for someone at some point. I'm making it my mission to figure that out between now and March 1st for the Adams event. I am tall, and my previous instructor was short. We're over a foot apart in height and I have to believe that makes a big difference in teaching. I'm starting with a new instructor who is almost the same height as me (and a bit cheaper!) this week. Several pros have told me that taller golfers have issues that shorter ones don't (and vice versa) so hopefully this matchup will work much better than the last.

Here's hoping we both figure out our issues

and you just described every iron shot on the back nine!!! ugh so with ya on this one.......2014 the year we get it right brother!

I am 6'1 I don't think of myself as tall but I have really begun to stand as upright at address as I can.

As soon as I drop some serious poundage I plan on lessons I will pay attention to the height of my prospective instructors never occurred to me to take that into account but it makes sense......

 

[baldguy]

and you just described every iron shot on the back nine!!! ugh so with ya on this one.......2014 the year we get it right brother!

I am 6'1 I don't think of myself as tall but I have really begun to stand as upright at address as I can.

As soon as I drop some serious poundage I plan on lessons I will pay attention to the height of my prospective instructors never occurred to me to take that into account but it makes sense......

I'll let ya know how it goes with the taller instructor. He's a pro at my club and a generally nice guy (and helluva golfer too). He's somewhat new to teaching but the other pros have told me he's the guy they go to when they have a problem with their own swings. I'm optimistic for sure.

BTW I dropped about 70 lbs from July 2012 to Nov 2013. I still have more to go but I can say for sure that it changes everything about what you do physically. Good call on waiting for the lessons - your swing will change drastically. If you can manage to improve your flexibility at the same time (something I'm still working on) it'll change even more - for the better! My 2 cents - start walking all of your rounds of golf. Do that and nothing else and the pounds will start to come off. Do more than that and you'll be even farther ahead of the game, so to speak . Best of luck my man. PM me if you want to talk fitness for big dudes, I've been through it

 

[shutch4251]

Shot a 103 today. Pretty stoked. A missed putt here and a missed shot there and I'm breaking 100. Took a different approach today. Worked on the mental side more than on the swing side. I old myself today is all about 85% swing and no stress.

Wasn't going to overswing and didn't want to worry about the last shot. I stay focused on my next shot.

Another helpful marker was my playing partner asking me "what the bleep am I thinking?!" as I reached for my 3w for a second shot on a long par 5. He told me to put the wood back, grab my 5i and lay up.

I bogeyed the hole due to a missed putt but message was loud and clear. Patience is the key. The shot will make themselves.

 

[baldguy]

I posted in another thread about my new instructor, but since I promised to update here for 50wyldeman, here's the basics - I really think the taller instructor is better for me. He has a bit different style from the other guy too, but he's also used to dealing with tall golfer issues. He competes in long drive and is thinking about trying out a mini tour. He got me to hit a much more natural swing, saying that trying to force myself into something wrong for me was causing more issues than it was fixing. not that my natural swing was bad, just on a bit of a different swing plane than you see on a lot of videos. He said that's common for taller golfers and the results were great. I'm rotating more now, following through better, and once I get this stuff ingrained into my every day swing I think I will be under 100 for good

 

[Kutros]

I guess that's why they say GOLF is a 4-letter word! What irritates me the most is that when I take my practice swing before every iron shot, I sweep the grass ever so slightly (sometimes a shallow divot if it's wet) right in the line I want and it just feels right. Then I get over the ball and either hit it thin or fat. nothing like the practice swing.

For as long as I can remember, I took a full practice swing before a shot, no real reason, but it felt good. I recently took a 9 hole lesson and one of the things the instructor asked me was what is the purpose of my practice swing. I told him that it was to loosen up and prepare mentally for the shot. He told me to think of a practice swing in a different manner and make the practice swing an over-exaggeration of a "fix" for your swing. For instance, one of my problems is that I finish high and don't make a full turn. So he told me that during my practice swing, I should almost make a baseball swing with a extreme turn and low follow through. This would get me closer to where I need to be on the full shot. It has definitely worked for me and allows me to hit my irons more crisp on a more regular basis. Try it.

 

[baldguy]

For as long as I can remember, I took a full practice swing before a shot, no real reason, but it felt good. I recently took a 9 hole lesson and one of the things the instructor asked me was what is the purpose of my practice swing. I told him that it was to loosen up and prepare mentally for the shot. He told me to think of a practice swing in a different manner and make the practice swing an over-exaggeration of a "fix" for your swing. For instance, one of my problems is that I finish high and don't make a full turn. So he told me that during my practice swing, I should almost make a baseball swing with a extreme turn and low follow through. This would get me closer to where I need to be on the full shot. It has definitely worked for me and allows me to hit my irons more crisp on a more regular basis. Try it.

you know, I think I will try that. the followthough is one of the things I really need to get better at right now and what you're saying sounds perfectly logical. Thanks for the tip! If I shoot over 100 tomorrow I'm blaming you

 

[Kutros]

you know, I think I will try that. the followthough is one of the things I really need to get better at right now and what you're saying sounds perfectly logical. Thanks for the tip! If I shoot over 100 tomorrow I'm blaming you

Haha, good luck tomorrow. I'll take full responsibility if you don't break 100 :act-up:

 

[baldguy]

Haha, good luck tomorrow. I'll take full responsibility if you don't break 100 :act-up:

100 on the nose today in the cold temps and 20-25 mph winds (gusts higher than that). Kutros, we'll call it a draw

 

[50wyldeman]

100 on the nose today in the cold temps and 20-25 mph winds (gusts higher than that). Kutros, we'll call it a draw

Way to GO !!!

Hey there Baldguy, I am playing tomorrow and posted this in the GOLF forum but thought it would be okay to put it in here too.


Golfing tomorrow , hoping to be improved over my last outing (108) at the same course. I am quite nervous have been sick more or less since before Christmas. Hoping I can focus on the mental things which are 3 points.
1. Swing easy
2. No forced shots (meaning "creative" i.e. sound course management )
3. NO negativity, none.

I will report back with both score and if I managed to accomplish these 3 goals

I must admit I love this place !

 

[baldguy]

best of luck, man. I know we can both do it

I've been working on my irons a /lot/ lately. I met with yet another instructor, purely by chance at the PGA store, and he gave me some tips that really seem to be working for me. I'm more confident right now behind the clubs than I have been, possibly ever. We'll see how that translates to the course... but the results I've seen on the range have been promising. I've got to get this figured out before the adams event!

 

[50wyldeman]

Well I played today , the bummer is I have been sick as all get out for the better part of three weeks and I genuinely believe that played a part in my round. The first 9 holes my heart was pounding (poor conditioning ;( ), unfortunately I got pissed at myself once today, but save that I did good in the mindset department.
Front 9 went poorly (56) Started with a Snowman. and carded two of the ugly buggers along with three 7s but managed a par after a bad hole something I normally don't do .
The Back nine I played lights out and managed a 44 no snowmen 1 7 a great birdie and some nice pars as well, all in all my course management today was on point.

I'll take it . room for improvement for sure but happy all in all

 

[NitJay]

This thread actually convinced me to join the forum. Good to know I'm not the only one out there!

Having lessons and working on my swing hasnt got me under 100 YET, but without a doubt I'm enjoying golf a lot more as I know if I make a mistake I can correct it on the next shot.

The difficulty with this type of goal is I think for a while I was far too focused on hitting under 100 so got worked up. Now I don't count my score until the very end what also helps is playing stableford scoring so you count up your points rather than those terrible shots....try it if you haven't it might make a difference and is fun when there are a few players. You can then count up your strokes as well if you mark both.

Played today at a course I haven't for a while, pretty poor first 5 holes where I kept taking stupid risks (3Wood rather than Hybrid/Iron, failed heroic shot attempts...etc) and my short game was all over the place (too much reading on here about new putters convincing myself I need a change!).

I scored 56 on the front 9 which is quite high for me, but I felt good going into the back 9 after a par and a bogey on 8 & 9. I continued this into the back 9 and hit bang on 50. To be honest I was pretty gutted not to get 49 as I see that as the first step. 106 is about right for me at the moment. I would say that I've done all of my practicing on long game and grooving a swing which has paid off, but my short game has suffered which is what I used to rely on to get me round. Work on the practice green definitely required, plus when it's summer I can play my favourite bump and runs rather than having to chip.

Anyway good to read all of your progress and good luck!

 

[baldguy]

today's round was a total bust. shot 60 on the front of my home course - everything was off by a huge margin. Only one single bogey, on the very first hole. everything else was double or triple or worse. I haven't had a quadruple bogey at my home course yet. until today that is, lol. I'm blaming lack of sleep and my back issues but still... it should have been better than a stupid 60! I didn't keep score on the back but I know I managed at least a couple of pars once I stopped caring about my score. No birdies today.

What's really stupid about this whole thing is that on the course I couldn't hit where I was aiming to save my life. but, after eating some food and sitting for a while I took my wife out to the practice area and was teaching her how to swing. She did well, but so did I! I was hitting pure, straight, and right on target irons. Bombing drives. All with the range balls that aren't half as good as my precious e6.

*sigh*

It's all in my head, I know. I gotta get that figured out. Worst round of golf that I can remember. Followed 45 minutes later by some of the best range time I can remember. This game is confusing.

 

[coers]

today's round was a total bust. shot 60 on the front of my home course - everything was off by a huge margin. Only one single bogey, on the very first hole. everything else was double or triple or worse. I haven't had a quadruple bogey at my home course yet. until today that is, lol. I'm blaming lack of sleep and my back issues but still... it should have been better than a stupid 60! I didn't keep score on the back but I know I managed at least a couple of pars once I stopped caring about my score. No birdies today.

What's really stupid about this whole thing is that on the course I couldn't hit where I was aiming to save my life. but, after eating some food and sitting for a while I took my wife out to the practice area and was teaching her how to swing. She did well, but so did I! I was hitting pure, straight, and right on target irons. Bombing drives. All with the range balls that aren't half as good as my precious e6.

*sigh*

It's all in my head, I know. I gotta get that figured out. Worst round of golf that I can remember. Followed 45 minutes later by some of the best range time I can remember. This game is confusing.

You'll get it man, happy to see you finished on a positive note.

 

[50wyldeman]

today's round was a total bust. shot 60 on the front of my home course - everything was off by a huge margin. Only one single bogey, on the very first hole. everything else was double or triple or worse. I haven't had a quadruple bogey at my home course yet. until today that is, lol. I'm blaming lack of sleep and my back issues but still... it should have been better than a stupid 60! I didn't keep score on the back but I know I managed at least a couple of pars once I stopped caring about my score. No birdies today.

What's really stupid about this whole thing is that on the course I couldn't hit where I was aiming to save my life. but, after eating some food and sitting for a while I took my wife out to the practice area and was teaching her how to swing. She did well, but so did I! I was hitting pure, straight, and right on target irons. Bombing drives. All with the range balls that aren't half as good as my precious e6.

*sigh*

It's all in my head, I know. I gotta get that figured out. Worst round of golf that I can remember. Followed 45 minutes later by some of the best range time I can remember. This game is confusing.

The beautiful thing ablut this game is at all levels we have room to improve which keeps us working at it and enjoying it the challenge is truly the reward, it is hard to swallow the tough rounds/shots/sides etc, but it is such a massive reward when you address an issue and can see an improvement . Congrats on getting the wife involved that rocks!

 

[baldguy]

The beautiful thing ablut this game is at all levels we have room to improve which keeps us working at it and enjoying it the challenge is truly the reward, it is hard to swallow the tough rounds/shots/sides etc, but it is such a massive reward when you address an issue and can see an improvement . Congrats on getting the wife involved that rocks!

yeah she rode with us today and only played two of the Par 3s. On the 8th (her first hole to play out) she got a double bogey. 4 shots from the tee to just behind the green, about 18 inches off. She was left with a 35 foot down hill slightly breaking putt from the fringe. I told her to just hit it hard enough to get it on the green and let gravity do the rest... and she holed it. She freaked out!

I'm gonna be so pissed when she starts beating me

 

[50wyldeman]

yeah she rode with us today and only played two of the Par 3s. On the 8th (her first hole to play out) she got a double bogey. 4 shots from the tee to just behind the green, about 18 inches off. She was left with a 35 foot down hill slightly breaking putt from the fringe. I told her to just hit it hard enough to get it on the green and let gravity do the rest... and she holed it. She freaked out!

I'm gonna be so pissed when she starts beating me

Sounds like a perfect freaking day to me man!! Very cool to see that i bet seeing her excited and that glimmer of joy for the game! way to go!

 

[-CRW-]

I'm nearly finished with the first 8 weeks/white track of the PGA Academy series and am still flirting with 100. The last few rounds I was really off with the driver and was at 106, 107, etc. Because of the drives and woods I'm taking too many penalty shots and/or additional shots from poor shots with my woods. I seem to have the driver going straighter for the moment. Hopefully between that and some better choices (like skipping wood shots for now) I can get under 100 here soon. I plan on practicing a lot over the next 3 weeks, but won't play again til Feb 1st (weather permitting).

 

[50wyldeman]

I'm nearly finished with the first 8 weeks/white track of the PGA Academy series and am still flirting with 100. The last few rounds I was really off with the driver and was at 106, 107, etc. Because of the drives and woods I'm taking too many penalty shots and/or additional shots from poor shots with my woods. I seem to have the driver going straighter for the moment. Hopefully between that and some better choices (like skipping wood shots for now) I can get under 100 here soon. I plan on practicing a lot over the next 3 weeks, but won't play again til Feb 1st (weather permitting).

I will be googling this but maybe you could let me know your thoughts on it?

 

[-CRW-]

I will be googling this but maybe you could let me know your thoughts on it?

I think its worth it's weight in gold.

http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...375-PGA-Tour-Academy-Home-Edition-THP-Preview

 

[Grins]

Since the weather is so bad up here, I've got to figure out a way to improve at home inside. I plan on rigging up some kind of arm (maybe with a pool noodle) so that I can take practice swings and keep it in contact with my head throughout the swing - kind of like I see pro teachers doing sometime when the PGA tour guys are practicing (they typically use the grip end of a club). I was watching Zach Johnson's slow motion swing, and his head is basically motionless until well after impact. I'm going to try to do practice swings and work on keeping that head still - hopefully this will result in better & more consistent contact!

 

[Geoff.]

I will be googling this but maybe you could let me know your thoughts on it?

I have been away for a few months, but I am back for now...

No need to Google PGA Tour Academy. You can find a full review right here at THP: http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...375-PGA-Tour-Academy-Home-Edition-THP-Preview

THPers seemed to really like it!

I had been planning on purchasing it. I just needed to set up an indoor training area since I am up in the cold part of the US. It is now working to my satisfaction so it is time for me to take the plunge.


*edit for grammar

 

[baldguy]

shot a 97 in some crazy wind today. I've been trying to rebuild my swing from the ground up and it's costing me a lot of strokes, but I think it'll be a much better foundation to build on. The irons are working much better right now than they have been in months. Of course now my driver is deciding to give me fits. And I've *always* been decent with the driver. Not so much anymore. If I could just get it all to click at the same time... *sigh*. It's getting better, though.

 

[50wyldeman]

Played Foxtail North course in Rohnert Park Ca, shot a 51 front (5 stroke improvement over last round) and a 48 back ( +4 over LR) for a 99.
Long way to go but seeing as I still haven't hit a bucket this year I'll take it , goal this week is to hit a bucket at least 3x
Putter saved my A** a few times and course management did the rest