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Trying to Break 100

Pretty pumped at the moment. Did golf school last weekend, and I learned a lot about my game. Prior to golf school I was shooting in the low 100s. 102-105. Yes, some of that score was horrible putting and chipping. But I digress.

Instructor was quite pleased with my setup and form in backswing (I was amazed on seeing my video how my swing was on plane). But he noticed my grip was way too tight. On Sunday, it finally clicked in my head just how tight I was holding the club/and just how loose I really should be holding it.

A tight grip causes a lot of problems- can cause hitting thin, slices, and also could prevent the arms from rolling over (like the pros) causing sometimes the duck arm look.

Very excited to try putting my new found knowledge to use the next time I play.

For you fellow 100+ hackers out there, from a scale of 1-10 on grip pressure, think a 3.
 
Had an interesting discussion with a guy at the range today. He asked me how hard I try to swing if 100 percent is swinging as hard as I can. I told him I try to hit between 85 and 90 percent. He said he tries to hit around 60 percent. I thought that might be too soft a swing. After hitting some 7 irons and having so so results, I thought I would try the 60 percent. I'll be danged if it didn't go a little further. And straighter. Every one was good contact.

When you're just starting that method it can be hard to find the right swing speed. Too slow and its not so good. Too fast still not as good. But when I really focused on backing off the swing speed, it was really good. I know its probably more than 60 percent. But when I try to feel like its slower it works really good. Doesn't seem to work as good as the driver, but the other club were very good. Now the question remains, can I find that groove next time?
 
charley48 said:
Had an interesting discussion with a guy at the range today. He asked me how hard I try to swing if 100 percent is swinging as hard as I can. I told him I try to hit between 85 and 90 percent. He said he tries to hit around 60 percent. I thought that might be too soft a swing. After hitting some 7 irons and having so so results, I thought I would try the 60 percent. I'll be danged if it didn't go a little further. And straighter. Every one was good contact.

When you're just starting that method it can be hard to find the right swing speed. Too slow and its not so good. Too fast still not as good. But when I really focused on backing off the swing speed, it was really good. I know its probably more than 60 percent. But when I try to feel like its slower it works really good. Doesn't seem to work as good as the driver, but the other club were very good. Now the question remains, can I find that groove next time?
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I really need to commit to this strategy. I occasionally try to do this on the course but half the time it ends up super fat and results a duff (usually into water that I was trying to be extra careful to clear). I'm sure I'd be better off with an easier swing, but I definitely need to practice it.
 
charley48 said:
Had an interesting discussion with a guy at the range today. He asked me how hard I try to swing if 100 percent is swinging as hard as I can. I told him I try to hit between 85 and 90 percent. He said he tries to hit around 60 percent. I thought that might be too soft a swing. After hitting some 7 irons and having so so results, I thought I would try the 60 percent. I'll be danged if it didn't go a little further. And straighter. Every one was good contact.

When you're just starting that method it can be hard to find the right swing speed. Too slow and its not so good. Too fast still not as good. But when I really focused on backing off the swing speed, it was really good. I know its probably more than 60 percent. But when I try to feel like its slower it works really good. Doesn't seem to work as good as the driver, but the other club were very good. Now the question remains, can I find that groove next time?
Click to expand...
This is why I am so much better with short irons and wedges. Anything longer than my 8 iron, and I swing too hard.
 
I played a course I haven’t played in a couple of years today. It’s likely the hottest day of the year here, and ridiculously humid with no wind. It was immediately evident that it was going to be a slow round, but even I didn’t expect it to take the five and half hours that it did.

I started off with a tap on par after leaving my birdie putt about a foot left…then I tripled the second hole. I followed that with a bogey and a double. The fifth hole is a par 3, and I’m the idiot that managed to hit my tee shot OB. I put up a big fat seven on that one and got incredibly frustrated.

Holes 7, 8, and 9 always kill me on this particular course (all involve water). I somehow managed to play that three hole stretch at even par (bogey on 7, par on 8, and birdie on 9).

I started the back with two more pars, giving me a five hole stretch at even par which has to be the best I’ve ever done. Then a double…then a nine on a par 4. I then bogeyed a par three and tripled a par five. I somehow kept the wheels on and finished the final three holes the same way I finished the front nine…par, bogey, birdie (a chip in birdie on 18)!

I went 47/47 for a 94, tying my personal best. What got me there? I don’t really know. That quad on the par three fifth shook me up for a couple of holes, but then I somehow relaxed more than I ever have on the course before. The conditions (heat, slow play, and a bunch of holes being cart path only) seemed like a recipe for a horrible round, but I guess sometimes miracles do happen.

I wasn’t great with my Crossover from the tee, but only hit one OB with it. I pulled the driver out on a couple of holes that were the right shape, and it worked both times (including likely the best drive I’ve ever hit on 16). I hit some really good shots with my pitching wedge, chipped better than I have been, and even made a few putts (including about a 10 footer for the par on 8 and a six footer for the birdie on 9).

I ended up with 33 putts, which is pretty dang good for me (a zero putt on 18 sure helped). This was the only round I can remember where it didn’t feel like at least one part of my game was really bad.

What happens next time? Who knows…I’m just gonna enjoy this one for a bit.
 
Up in I-da-ho this week visiting relatives. Played Coeur d'Alene public golf course and had a blast. Shot a 96 which is good for me on an unknown course. Had one snowman on 17, then hit my drive on 18, 250 yards. I was then 258 yards from the pin and totally fatted my 3w to only 50 yards. I hit the 3w again and landed it 10 feet from the pin. My birdy putt was off, but ended up with a par to save the round. If not for 17, a great round. Damn hazard that took 2 swings to get out of.
 
[snow] said:
had a pretty good time today.
46 through the front 9, went on through 5 more for a total of 78 - 21 left to get through 3 par 4s and 1 par 3...

collected a double on the 2nd because i'm bad and a triple on the par 4 4th by skulling a ball through the green from a ~40m bunker shot and being unable to find it. Drop for 5th from bunker, left that one short, conveniently close chip, 1putt salvage...
bogeys and 2 pars for the rest of the front 9.

Completely blew up on the start of the back 9.
par 5 10th: first tee shot hung out right without turning, landed in the strip of rough bordering the driving range. didn't see it, amount of driving range balls in vicinity discouraged an extended search. Topped a second tee shot (3) and its followup (4), to then hack the ball up onto the green with 5w and 6i. 3 putts for a total of 9 o_O
par 4 11th: topped the tee shot, but got some distance. hit a nice 8i to wedge distance. Hit the wedge fat. missed the chip left to a far left pin right on the closely mown edge of the green... yes, i rolled off the bloody green with a chip, leaving myself short-sided. Overcompensated the uphill chip back to almost the other end of the green, 2 more putts - 7.
Whatever screw had come loose for those two holes found its way back down for the other 3 holes, came home with bogey, bogey and a double to end on a high note score

Didn't bring water or i might have tried to complete the round.
Still only played the entire course once... I think it's getting better, but the swing still sort of shifts around through the round and may randomly come apart.

Can i break 100? Who knows. If we're not getting another monsoon treatment over the weekend, i may try on sunday.
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You will. I guarantee it. Just keep playing to your strengths when on the course, and work on the weak spots on the range. You got this!
 
Hamfist said:
You will. I guarantee it. Just keep playing to your strengths when on the course, and work on the weak spots on the range. You got this!
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shot 96, 46/50 starting on the back 9.
1 lone par on the scorecard. Oh, yes, i got an actual scorecard to commemorate the occasion, alongside my usual ruddy notepad.
1627212449179.png
It tried to get away from me, especially in the second half where i 3-putted three times, hit a ball into the water just quietly trying to get back into my own fairway and lost one ball to the rough as well. But i somehow dragged it back, kicking, screaming, biting, gouging and all.

Pic: last hole, par4 9th. Conservative 4i off the tee into wind, just trying to get this score home. Then 8i downhill to leave myself a nice little pitch up to the green.
... except it didn't run an inch. left a tiny crater and spun back, in the middle of a fairway going down quite a bit. Thanks for nothing. Full SW -> stalled on wind, bunker. Bunker, 3 putts from the far side of the green, SAFETY :giggle:
1627212204182.png

Still plenty of silliness in those 96, i'm sure i can do better if Hamfist keeps cheering me on.
Of course he must also accept liability for future rounds shot without the cheerleading ;)
 
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Walked 18 today after a three week break. Shot a 51 through the first nine and stopped keeping score on the second. Ended up really enjoying the day. The course was very busy so I spent the extra waiting time finding a few dozen balls.

After a week of trying to give a recent golf lesson a chance, I was struck by a bolt of common sense and spent last week working my ass off to get my old swing back. Hopefully, it'll be a while before I lose my mind go that route again. Sometimes all we need is a reminder of how bad a bad idea can be.

Good contact on the full swing was back but so was the two-way miss. Still, I hit some nice shots with every club in the bag including a couple nice long-distance hybrid approaches and layups. I believe every hybrid shot was hit cleanly - which is saying a lot.

My short game was off for a change - probably due to neglect from working so much on my full swing. On a positive note, the new-used putter I received this week seems to be a good fit.

After playing the white tees on the first 9 and shooting a crappy score, I moved back to the blues. I did lose a few balls but wanted to work on my driver and hybrids off the tee, as well as some longer approach shots.
 
Shot a 99 on Friday afternoon but with an asterisk as I didn't finish. Let me explain...

It was getting late in the day as our foursome got to the 18th hole. There is a fundraiser at the club restaurant and the parking lot is FULL, and by that I mean there are cars parked on the grass almost right up against the 18th fairway on the right side.

So we decide that teeing up at the tee box was out of the question. Too much of a chance of hitting cars/people on the right. So we kept walking up and decided to tee off in the rough in front of the forward tees. This was around 250 yards from the green and while there was still a chance of hitting cars, it should be OK if we're careful.

The first guy in our group tees off with a 7i -- 170 yards straight in the middle of the fairway. The 2nd guy hits a 5i onto the fairway, also safe. The 3rd guy hits a 3w and it launches left onto the 17th fairway, not good but at least it didn't hit anything or anyone. I go up with my 4 hybrid in hand, thinking I should be good since my miss is a big hook, and on top of that, I'm going to aim at the trees on left. Whatever you do, don't miss right, I told myself.

I take my swing (hack?) and to my horror :eek:, my ball slices right -- careening straight toward a pickup truck in a row of cars, and the truck's owners/family were tailgating behind it. At this point my playing partners yelled "FORE! FORE!" and I just wanted to dig a hole in the ground and never come out. I was thinking, "Damn not only am I going to smash someone's truck but the entire family is standing there to witness it." My wife may ground me from golf for months after this.

But to my relief, the ball landed about 3 feet in front of them and nobody (and no cars) were injured/damaged. I sheepishly approach the family and apologized profusely and they seemed strangely calm about it -- maybe it was because all the beers they had downed by that point. I pick up my ball, catch up with the group (who at this point were on the green), and declared I'm done for the day. :rolleyes:
 
JonMA1 said:
Walked 18 today after a three week break. Shot a 51 through the first nine and stopped keeping score on the second. Ended up really enjoying the day. The course was very busy so I spent the extra waiting time finding a few dozen balls.

After a week of trying to give a recent golf lesson a chance, I was struck by a bolt of common sense and spent last week working my ass off to get my old swing back. Hopefully, it'll be a while before I lose my mind go that route again. Sometimes all we need is a reminder of how bad a bad idea can be.

Good contact on the full swing was back but so was the two-way miss. Still, I hit some nice shots with every club in the bag including a couple nice long-distance hybrid approaches and layups. I believe every hybrid shot was hit cleanly - which is saying a lot.

My short game was off for a change - probably due to neglect from working so much on my full swing. On a positive note, the new-used putter I received this week seems to be a good fit.

After playing the white tees on the first 9 and shooting a crappy score, I moved back to the blues. I did lose a few balls but wanted to work on my driver and hybrids off the tee, as well as some longer approach shots.
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I feel you on the lesson thing. Every time I think I’ve made progress at a lesson, my next round is horrible. I recently started paring back what my instructor had me working on. Rather than try implement ALL the changes he had me working on, I decided to focus on just two of them (specifically keeping my arms extended and actually following through). That has me hitting my irons better than I ever have before.

I don’t know what specifically you were/are working on in lessons, but maybe simplifying the approach a bit could help.
 
Annhl8rX said:
I feel you on the lesson thing. Every time I think I’ve made progress at a lesson, my next round is horrible. I recently started paring back what my instructor had me working on. Rather than try implement ALL the changes he had me working on, I decided to focus on just two of them (specifically keeping my arms extended and actually following through). That has me hitting my irons better than I ever have before.
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One method is that while a good instructor may recognize several faults, he or she will have you work on the single piece that needs to be addressed first. And only after you've reached a certain level of accomplishment with that one piece, are you ready for the next. That style makes a lot of sense to me.

Annhl8rX said:
don’t know what specifically you were/are working on in lessons, but maybe simplifying the approach a bit could help.
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I'm done with PGA teaching pros until I find one who will listen first and then come up with a logical plan. Just as it is in any profession, it seems many pros are simply not very good at thinking outside the teach-by-numbers box. The first words I'd like to hear from an instructor is that not all students are the same. That would be a good start.

I do have what seems to me to be a glaring weakness right now and I have to continue working on it myself.
 
Turtlerancher pummeled me today. I was hitting a lot of sand shots. And then more sand shots.
 
A tough day today. I'm battling a bit of a stomach bug and tried to play. Had to quit after nine holes. My whole body was just aching along with the stomach cramps. Didn't help that we have unusually high humidity today. It just wore me out. Ended up shooting a 51.

Even my normally reliable driver wasn't doing well. Only hit two fairways in 7 tries. Although the final hole was the best. Hit one down the middle around 270. Good hole to do that. The longest par 4 at 431 yards. I was on the fringe with the second shot. But 3 putts ruined a chance at the only par for the day.

I'm gonna chalk it up to my body not feeling well. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
Hamfist said:
Turtlerancher pummeled me today. I was hitting a lot of sand shots. And then more sand shots.
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But it was pretty white sand! 🤣🤣
 
[snow] said:
shot 96, 46/50 starting on the back 9.
1 lone par on the scorecard. Oh, yes, i got an actual scorecard to commemorate the occasion, alongside my usual ruddy notepad.
View attachment 9018607
It tried to get away from me, especially in the second half where i 3-putted three times, hit a ball into the water just quietly trying to get back into my own fairway and lost one ball to the rough as well. But i somehow dragged it back, kicking, screaming, biting, gouging and all.

Pic: last hole, par4 9th. Conservative 4i off the tee into wind, just trying to get this score home. Then 8i downhill to leave myself a nice little pitch up to the green.
... except it didn't run an inch. left a tiny crater and spun back, in the middle of a fairway going down quite a bit. Thanks for nothing. Full SW -> stalled on wind, bunker. Bunker, 3 putts from the far side of the green, SAFETY :giggle:
View attachment 9018606

Still plenty of silliness in those 96, i'm sure i can do better if Hamfist keeps cheering me on.
Of course he must also accept liability for future rounds shot without the cheerleading ;)
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I accept any and all responsibility for all your future scores good, and bad.
 
An "ok" night in league tonight. Quadruple bogey on the first hole because it took me 3 shots just to get on the green after my 3rd shot was pin high, just off the green. I need to take my time and not rush those shots. My short game has improved but not when I do THAT. I had a couple of triple bogeys as well, but the other 6 holes were pretty damn good by my standards. I parred three holes including both par 5's. One of those is an absolute b*tch, I'm not sure I've even bogied it yet. Anyway, I finished with a 50, not bad considering how I butchered 3 of the holes. I hit three GIR, so that's still a bright spot for me lately.
 
So, I dropped a sweet 111 playing with Turtlerancher up here in Maine. Great, tough course, lots and lots of bunkers, fast greens an pretty gnarly rough. I was using clubs he was very nice to lend me, and it took me some time to figure them out. I had some decedents shots, some real stinkers, and some in-between. I did have a blast. The set was a sweet bag, so no excuses there.
 
Hamfist said:
So, I dropped a sweet 111 playing with Turtlerancher up here in Maine. Great, tough course, lots and lots of bunkers, fast greens an pretty gnarly rough. I was using clubs he was very nice to lend me, and it took me some time to figure them out. I had some decedents shots, some real stinkers, and some in-between. I did have a blast. The set was a sweet bag, so no excuses there.
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And "No Brian.™" you can not have my 5 wood! 😉
 
Looks like there were quite a few double digit rounds from people in this thread the past week. Good job, folks!
 
I have found that my hips tighten up after 9 holes (causes me to sway) so I started doing the Justin Thomas thing. I take a partial swing back to make sure my hips are turning, and then a full swing. It has been working for me. :cool:
 
ULEWZ said:
I have found that my hips tighten up after 9 holes (causes me to sway) so I started doing the Justin Thomas thing. I take a partial swing back to make sure my hips are turning, and then a full swing. It has been working for me. :cool:
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I've been doing the same thing, especially with my driver. It does help.
 
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