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End of season analysis

echico

echico

#MOIJacking
Albatross 2024 Club
Joined
Jul 10, 2011
Messages
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Location
Gilbert, AZ
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8.5
Some folks ate coming to the end of their season. What aspect of your game did you work on this year and feel you improved?

For me it was wedges. I really think I finally have some touch with them. Thankfully my season never ends in AZ so I will get more practice coming up.
 
echico said:
Some folks ate coming to the end of their season. What aspect of your game did you work on this year and feel you improved?

For me it was wedges. I really think I finally have some touch with them. Thankfully my season never ends in AZ so I will get more practice coming up.
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I started lessons right as my golf league ended. I had some good rounds at league this year, and some horrible over 50 rounds, and the lessons seem to be helping me with consistency. The end goal is to start hitting driver well enough to play it instead of my 4w off the tee. :)
 
Tough to pin down a single area as my game basically got overhauled this year but I feel like my mental game improved quite a bit this season, especially in regards to finishing strong. I averaged a little worse than par on #18 at my home course this year, and it’s always a confidence boost to finish the round on a high note.
 
I am one who is coming to the end of the season shortly. For me, this season I improved my putting on my home course. I have been a member now for three years and this year I made an effort to improve my play on the greens. I worked on becoming more consistent as far as controlling speed and direction.
 
driver and putting....buuuuut

 
I spent a bit of time learning how to hit the ball harder, further with all full swings. I'm getting a bit more yardage and staying in the short grass. Also continued to learn how to remember to not be stupid. Thats on-going. Bogey golf is much more attainable now.
 
In the few range sessions I did, I worked mostly on the "bomb ball" off the tee because it's the most important shot. Distance and keeping it playable was paramount. I'm at that age where we lose yardage and I'm not going down without a fight. I don't think lessons will do me much good unless something goes completely off the rails. My last three rounds I hit over 60% fairways with all my clubs, and that's 11 of 14 holes where I play driver, and no I didn't miss all of those fairways with the driver.

I started the year with a HC of near 19, and you see where it is now. I broke 90 three times. My ball striking with my irons has fallen off. Yet I would call this a successful year. Given the iron striking year I had, if I had not had the distance year I did with the driver I would not have broken 90. I want to give my thanks to TaylorMade for that awesome Sim Max.
 
2022 has been so different than any other. Very eye-opening and very enjoyable.

By about this time every other year, I'd be completely worn out from the yearly cycle of the desire to get better, the hope, the effort, and subsequently, the disappointment once it became obvious improvement wasn't going to happen.

I've discovered this year that working on my game was never going to be about overall improvement. I now realize I hit that plateau a few years back. Instead, it's more about gaining in one area while falling back on another. I've also discovered that the game is lot more fun when I lower expectations and, at the same time, trust that however sh***y my swing might be, it is the best swing I have at that time.

I've learned to approach the game as though I were a kid - less mechanical, more free-swinging. Paint-by-numbers golf instruction was never going to be something I could benefit from. Had I not tried every possible method during the last 10 years, I would have had some level of doubt. Having gone through it, there isn't any.

As a result, I'm bummed about the season coming to an end. There's so much to work on. For example, the last year and a half has brought about crazy improvement with my short game. And recently, I seem to have lost that. The strange thing is, instead of being disappointed or frustrated, I'm looking forward to the challenge of getting that back.

So, what part of my game improved the most... my attitude.

As far as mechanical successes... improved driving by using my legs more and holding back less. Just commit and swing hard as in more of an athletic move. My iron swing has been a lot worse so I'm happy to be hitting more targets for a change.

As far as mechanical needs... probably the short game.

Edit: Have to work on my bunker play. It's the worst part of my game.
 
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Driver - took way less penalties off the tee and didn’t put other shots in terrible positions leading to higher scores.

Irons - it took half the season but I feel more comfortable with irons than I ever have. Distance control as well as dispersion (though dispersion still needs work).

I trust every club that I have in my hands and that’s not a feeling I’ve had for a loooonnnnnggggg time
 
This year I made an effort to improve my putting and I have seen some good results. I hope I remember what I was doing this year when 2023 rolls around.
 
Thankfully my season isn't over here, because things have got increasingly more messy since mid July. Overwork has wreaked havoc on consistency and I've been fighting a slower swing trying to maintain some. I was really moving it before work and family work took over and my swing (and gear) doesn't seem well built for a take it easy swing anymore. I can put it together for stretches. Went -6 over 5 the other day, but spray charts with long clubs are a mess, everything's turning left, and my wedges and putter have been working their metal off having to make up for it.

Did some amazing things this year before all that though with a big retool over last winter, and with a little rest can get back to some boringly good rounds I'm sure. I'll try to end the year well.
 
Sad to see my season coming to a close but I made a big change with my putter and putting technique a few weeks ago and my putting has dramatically improved. I putted better than my average 9 of the last 10 rounds including 6 one putts on the back nine yesterday for a -4 on that side. I’ve gone to a 40” armlock that is much heavier at 695 grams, than any putter I’ve used in the past. Proximity and make percentage is better from all distances. It feels almost too good to be true after being a below average putter for my index for at least the last 30 years. :)
 
I hate to see the season end. My swing has become much better than at the start of the year.

Off the tee, I'm excited right et up and hit it because the Rogue ST with UST LINQ Blue shaft is so solid for me!

Iron play has become good too. Much less miss hits!
 
Love all the analysis here folks.
 
This is a great thread. It think for me I've improved ball striking a bit. I need to check stats to confirm but it feels like I am finding more GIRs. The index has ticked down and it doesn't feel like my short game and putting are on fire, so it has to be with the long swing.

Driver can still be a bugaboo, but that's what winter is for, hopefully.
 
I think my wedges and driving definitely improved. Irons feel a little better but there’s still a lot of progress to be made
 
My putting was pretty good this year. I would have to look back at last season to compare, but in my analysis, I was losing fewer strokes against a tour baseline than I recall from last year.

My driving started out poorly, improved, and has gotten worse to the point where I don't have as much confidence as I need out there. Partially a swing issue, partially mental, partially equipment? I am hoping the excellent fitters at ECPC can help with part of that equation!

My course management, away from the tee, has really improved. Sticking to DECADE targets and mentality helped me shoot some of the best scores (and a huge PB) I ever have. Just have to keep the ball on the planet off the tee.
 
I am glad my season is not over yet, as I aim to get better and better. I have dropped my HC at least 10 strokes this year, and I attribute that to playing 2 times per week. Hitting into the 80s was a fluke previously, now it is fairly common, but so is a 90s round. I love this game and want to improve so bad, but alas, reality sinks in. I also started the year wearing a back brace (sciatica issues), and needing 3 days off between rounds, now I have played Thursdays and then Fridays with no back pain and no need for a brace. For that I am grateful. Maybe now I can sign up for a tournament/THP event with multiple days/holes without worrying.
 
For me it's been driving this year. I've found many more fairways and even when not in the fairway I haven't been in as much trouble and less lost ball penalties. It also has made for cheaper rounds when I'm not losing 8-9 balls a round! I hate to admit this, but the driver game really took a big upturn when I put one of the crazy JumboMax grips on my driver in an effort to stop the huge pull hook. It worked and I'm still shocked.
 
The Data Experience is the reason I have improved this year. I knew my tee shots, driver specifically, was an issue, but the data helped me narrow down where and how far my misses were, plus other specific areas like my approach shots from 150-200 yards. Rather than just hitting irons, I focused on those yardages, took a lesson for the driver and worked on drills at the range.

Fairways have improved from 35% to 49%, 150-200 yard shots went from 33% success/68' proximity to 47%/58', and I tied my PB a few weeks ago that I have not sniffed in over 5 years. I am excited for the 2023 season!
 
I'm in the beginning of a series of lessons, so hopefully I'll be improving some as the outside golf wanes. I can say from looking at beginning and now video that I at least look like I'm almost a golfer now instead of my Charles Barkley seizure-esque swing I started with. My longer irons have improved dramatically since starting lessons, and hopefully driver gets the same results before December.
 
I have some understanding of what it's like to have to shut down one's golf game. Then kind of start it up again a few months later. I suppose like most, I just looked forward to playing again, and relearn parts of my game.

For the most part, I missed the first 8 months of my 2022 season due to a medical issue. Probably 45+/- rounds. So, I don't have much analysis to look at. Normally I take most of October off to recharge my golf game physically. My goal going forward every new year is to slow down the age related deterioration.

I handled my withdrawal symptoms with lots of practice. Practice helped, but it's not the same as improving by playing.

So with that medical issue solved, I have, for the past few weeks, have gotten a jump start on my 2023 season.

I am one of the fortunate ones to have easy, year around golfing weather. Going to make the best of it.
 
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Driver and putter, both vastly improved this summer and our season is coming to end with 3 straight career best rounds for me.

With driver it was simply stopping the pursuit of the draw, which can be a very costly shot shape when you miss, and excepting that a fairway finding fade is so much easier to be consistent with, and being in position off the tee often is the only path to success in golf.
 
It is sad to think that the season is coming to an end. When the year started I was really struggling with Driver, missed all over the place, and they were huge. I then got selected for the Budget Golf Championship and was even more concerned with the state of my game as a high handicapper going to an event with much better golfers (Kudos to all those who took part for making that such a special trip). I took a few lesson in the run up to the event and my Driver game has come around. I am finding a ton more fairways (I still have a big miss occasionally but it's not every other shot like it was.) My fairway wood game has become a strength (which I need it to be as I'm a short short hitter). Iron game is alright, and Short game still needs some work. Putting is hit or miss depending on the day but I drop a fair share of solid putts.

Going into the offseason I know that I need to get in better shape to get where I want to be. Losing pounds, gaining strength and flexibility will help me increase my distance on the course which is sorely needed. I am going to clean up the diet, begin focusing on a workout plan, and continue using the Stack system to try to make 2023 the year for halving my handicap.
 
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