Monday evening we kick off the 2024 SkyTrak Experience where two teams battle it out at beautiful Victoria National Golf Club. Playing alongside the team from SkyTrak, THPers are ready to share the entire experience with you.

The Prize
Just because you are not at Victoria National with us does not mean you can’t win from the 2024 SkyTrak Experience. The lucky prediction winner will receive a Mystery Box of golf equipment. You do not know what is coming, but it is 100% awesome. This is one contest you will want to enter and follow along to see how you did.
The Contest
Pick which team you think will win and post it below.
Then you can follow along in this thread for the action and experience kicking off Monday evening. Entries must be in by end of Monday night. If you are an Albatross Club Member, also do not forget to hit the THP Sportsbook to wager your Albatross Coins on your prediction as well as taking part in a few of the prop bets.
Teams
Team JB
@JB (9.1)
@wadesworld (13.7)
@93civiccpe (13.3)
@cringjr (20.7)
Team Koske
@Koske (8.6)
Desmond from SkyTrak (21)
@AuzzieMatt (12.7)
@odom730 (13)

Itinerary for the 2024 SkyTrak Experience
May 20th: Meet and Greet Private Dinner and SWAG Party
May 21st: Breakfast at Course then off for 18 Holes of Shamble at Victoria National.
May 21st: Lunch at the course and then 9 Holes of Alternate Shot
May 21st: Group Dinner and discussion around SkyTrak and Software
May 22nd: 18 Holes of Singles at Victoria National followed by lunch at the club.
Then Depart
This live thread will kick off on Monday evening and will be filled with tons of information. If you have questions you want answered directly from the source, ask them below. Remember, every participant in this event is receiving a brand new SkyTrak+ launch monitor and will be reviewing it on the THP Forum, post event in this thread.
Matchups
Round 1 – Shamble 70% Handicaps
JB and @wadesworld vs Desmond and @AuzzieMatt
@Koske and @odom730 vs @93civiccpe and @cringjr
Round 2 – Alternate Shot 50% Handicaps
@JB and @93civiccpe vs Desmond and @odom730
@cringjr and @wadesworld vs @Koske and @AuzzieMatt
Round 3 – Singles 100% Handicaps
@JB vs @Koske
@cringjr vs @odom730
@wadesworld vs Desmond
@93civiccpe vs @AuzzieMatt

Do not forget to make your pick of which team wins the 2024 SkyTrak Experience and then follow along to see how it all goes down over the course of the next few days and you could win an amazing prize.
If you are an Albatross Club Member, also do not forget to hit the THP Sportsbook to wager your Albatross Coins on your prediction as well as taking part in a few of the prop bets.
For more information on any of the products SkyTrak makes, check out their website at www.skytrakgolf.com.




Ok.. work day over and house finally clean enough for the company we are hosting for the holiday weekend. I’ve spend the last day and a half reflecting and getting my thoughts together on what was an amazing experience with a solid group of guys. Recaps incoming though they will be spaced over the next few days as time permits.
[B]Recap part 1 – SkyTrak / GOLFTEC[/B]
This seems like the natural place to start. I went into the event familiar with SkyTrak as I’ve used the original SkyTrak launch monitor for over 7 years. I also believe a long time ago I did an assessment with GOLFTEC but didn’t go any further. Dinner Monday night changed my view of them. The excitement from [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] as they discussed their mission and opportunities was contagious. [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] explained that their driving goal is to help people get better at golf. The SkyTrak+ is the vehicle that opens a lot of opportunities on that front. Their are so many directions that they can go and a lot of partnerships being presented to them and it was refreshing to hear them both say that they always use their mission of helping golfers improve to determine which to choose. I work as a transformational coach that helps companies who need to make major changes. Often what has gotten them in trouble is chasing too many opportunities and stretching their resources too thin. Hearing [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] discuss remaining focused on being great at helping golfers improve shows their strong commitment to that mission. I said multiple times that I wish they were a publicly traded company as I would purchase their stock. Getting a glimpse at their road map even furthered that desire. They are both passionate about what is ahead and I’m excited to see how it can help me with my game. I believe the ability for a GOLFTEC coach to use my SkyTrak+ data in coaching will be a difference maker. Additionally, the GOLFTEC coaches having custom ranges built out to help with coaching / making swing changes offers new, functional ways to implement those changes. After this event I’ve decided to go all in with GOLFTEC lessons but more on that in another update.
[B]Recap part 2 – Victoria National [/B]
This was my first experience at a Dormie Property and it did not disappoint. Starting at check-in we were all blown away by the cottage we were in overlooking hole 18. The rooms were fantastic and the open areas were awesome for hanging out. Somehow I never played Golden Tee but I did play several games of shuffleboard. The food was ridiculously good at every meal starting with the steak night. I feel like I put on 10 pounds while there and don’t regret it at all!
The course was incredible and one of the most visually intimidating courses I’ve played. The greens are the best I’ve played this year and the rough was more penal than what I’m used to. I don’t think there’s a single bad hole on the entire course. I really like the course design and how hole 1 eases you in and then hole 2 starts showing the teeth of the course. Holes 5 and 16 are two of the better par 3s that I’ve played. Both are scorable if you hit the green but a large number is quickly possible if you miss the green. The Turtle Shack is a nice feature and I think more courses should have similar small snack shops on them. Both days I had AJ as our caddie and he was great. He was always smiling and kept things light. Additionally, he was dead on with his reads on the greens. He mentioned that he wanted to join the forums and I hope he does. Everything from the course to the cottages are so efficiently run and it is a first class experience.
[B]Recap part 3 – great group of guys[/B]
This was a fantastic group of guys and I enjoyed getting to meet each of them, talking life, and sharing some sunlight as we shared rounds of golf together. I appreciate each and every one of them and do plan to stay in touch and hope to tee it up with them again.
[USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] is such an easy guy to talk to who has been in the industry a long time and has great stories. He is passionate about GOLFTEC & SkyTrak and their mission to help golfers improve. There was not a question he wouldn’t answer and I appreciate his willingness to discuss things that they had decided to move forward with and others which they have discussed but have no imminent plans to take on. His golf game is really good especially seeing as he doesn’t play a ton of golf. He hits his driver far and with a lot of confidence.
[USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] was incredibly easy to talk to and is such a chill guy. He was genuinely interested in our feedback and he too would answer any question we had. We played table shuffleboard several times and I was an anchor as a teammate and menace as an opponent. It was fun hearing him discuss winning the chipp-o contest to attend the event. He was always smiling on and off the course and I quickly felt like I was talking to a friend who I had known a long time. His swing is really good and I feel he’s going to better than all of us in a few years.
[USER=3]@JB[/USER] is such a fun guy to be around. He also has a ton of stories and his one liners are legendary. I know he was battling the elbow but he did not let it stop him from ensuring we all had a great time. His insights on the golf industry as well as the average golfer were cool to hear. On the golf course I’m envious of the confidence and freedom he has in his swing. He puts the ball down, hits it and is moving to the cart to get to the next shot. That’s something I want to achieve in my own game as I’m often battling in my mind while hitting (but more on that later). I truly enjoyed playing alt shot with [USER=3]@JB[/USER] as his confidence rubs off and he set me up for success time and time again. I just wish I had a couple chips back that I did not hit as well as I could have as I could have saved his elbow some swings.
[USER=70243]@cringjr[/USER] did awesome in his first THP Experience. I was fortunate to get to spend time with him during the practice round as well as our first round of competition. He’s an easy guy to talk to and fun to have as a teammate. Unfortunately my struggles on the tee made it difficult for us in the shamble to be as competitive as we would have liked but I still enjoyed riding with him and getting to know him. His game is solid and he threw some absolute darts on the par 3s.
[USER=13304]@wadesworld[/USER] was our OG THPer and embodies how to do a THP event right. He was a great teammate, easy to talk with, and very insightful when discussing golf simulator software. I’m jealous of his garage setup and I’m planning to mimic it when our standalone garage is up. It was interesting hearing him talk about some of the events he was on prior to me joining THP and seeing his passion for golf and the forum. On the course he is a solid player. He was giving a lot of pops in singles yet remained calm and patient throughout. I appreciate how he goes through his routine each shot and does not rush. He does not get too high or low on the course and is encouraging to all the players on the group.
[USER=54652]@AuzzieMatt[/USER] is a fun guy in general. He was the first person I got to talk to when I got to the hotel and really enjoyed getting to know him. While we may disagree on whether Vegemite is actually food/nutrition and our attire choices are quite different, I would tee it up again with him any day. We were laughing a lot and I still smile at him trying to convince me to buy the chipper or have it crowd funded. (In hindsight, I should have purchased it if just for night putting shenanigans.) Our singles match was a pillow fight at times but his driver came alive and it was fun to see him playing good golf. (He also pured an iron on 16 that went over the flag to the back rough that we thought was going to be close. I don’t think any of us thought that iron could go long).
[USER=46310]@odom730[/USER] and I got to play a few rounds together including our practice round. It is clear that he’s put a lot of work in his swing and he played at a very high level. His driver goes far and his 4 hybrid is an absolute weapon. That thing was point and shoot for him. He tried my 2 SuperHybrid on the range and was hitting it far and straight as well. If he puts one of those in the bag I can only imagine how much more difficult he will be to face in a match. [USER=46310]@odom730[/USER] Is also one of the most positive people I’ve ever played with. He does not put any negativity out there / does not make any self-deprecating comments to himself. I am going to embrace that in my own game. He was always smiling regardless of the shot he hit or the score of the match. He also helped give me feedback when I was struggling in the practice round and I cannot thank him enough for that. I truly enjoyed getting to know him and spend time on and off the course with him. It is incredible that he was able to join us with his wife so close to giving birth. I’ll be praying that everything goes well!!
Recaps have been crushing it.
[USER=46310]@odom730[/USER] and [USER=70243]@cringjr[/USER] putting stranger danger aside for 16 hours in a car is awesome and brave. Knowing [USER=46310]@odom730[/USER] it is about as safe and fun as it gets. But still brave.
Great experience by everyone, SkyTrak brought more than an A game with everything and all the participants stepped up and did the same.
Can’t wait to see where the extra SkyTrak system ends up, someone will be super happy, this is such a good system.
Thanks for taking the time and sharing your thoughts post experience!
Love the direction SkyTrack is going.
The breakdowns are amazing post experience
[B]Recap part 4 – My swing / honest assessment / moving forward[/B]
This will likely be my last update for a bit as family will be arriving within the hour to spend the holiday weekend with us. I will find time to continue through the thread as I’m on page 68 right now going back through.
This is also the most difficult recap to post. I am my own hardest critic but i want to post this for a couple reasons. First, in hope that it may help another THPer who may be having a similar struggle. Second, I want this hear for me to reflect back on to remember how I feel right now and use it as motivation.
To start, I will give a little background. My driving has been the most inconsistent part of my game since I took up the sport. Over the last few years I’ve taken lessons and have seen my handicap drop and have worked to turn my driving from a liability to a strength. In rounds where I am driving it well I see a lot more pars and have more chances at birdie. Coming in to this event, my shot shape with driver was a slight draw but there were days where it would be quite straight or slight fade and I would just play what I brought. A common miss would be too much hook and catching the driver out of the toe. The bad miss that got me in trouble was a high ball pushed right especially if it had any fade spin on it.
Coming into the weekend, I was feeling confident in my swing and excited to see how it held up at Victoria National. You will see others write things like I “didn’t play the way I wanted” and that is them being overly nice. In the practice rounds as well as at Victoria National I warmed up on the range and had good range sessions where the ball was flying the way I was expecting and felt good about it. But on the tee, I was seeing something completely different. It got so bad that at times my only hope was that the ball would get up in the air. I have never experienced something like this where my swing on the driving range was that drastically different than what I saw on the tee. There are a lot of words I could use to describe how I was feeling.. frustrated, confused, embarrassed, broken.. but the best word is probably LOST. I did not understand how it could be that different. All the lessons I’ve taken and all the work I’ve put in seemed like a waste and I just could not fathom what was going. This is not something I’ve seen in the last 2 years. Leading up to the event I tried to add pressure to my game by playing courses I’ve never seen before and playing 1 v 2 versus friends and this did not show up then. I know nerves affect us all but this seemed different.
As a player constantly in my own head, I was trying not be there. I told myself to just continue keeping it simple and swinging and not getting in my head but the results were not good. My inability to get off the tee made it very hard to be competitive at all in the shamble and in singles. It started eroding confidence in other areas of my game but fortunately my short game and putting held up enough that I could at least put up somewhat of a fight. I felt terrible after the shamble as [USER=70243]@cringjr[/USER] was playing good golf and I was not contributing much. I was trying to take pressure off him but unsuccessfully. After lunch I went back to the range and once again I was hitting the ball fine. Then in alt-shot the inability to get off the tee started to show itself again. I reduced down to a 3/4 swing to try to keep it in play with limited success. (There was a ball that went straight right that [USER=3]@JB[/USER] may have referenced). If not for some fantastic recovery shots from [USER=3]@JB[/USER] and my putter getting hot then that match could have easily gone the other way. Going into singles morning my body felt a little sluggish and I told myself that could be a good thing as I suspected I had been over-swinging and that could have been a part of the struggles I was seeing.
I had another good range session but if I’m being honest my mind was now full of doubt as I had seen this play out in the 3 previous rounds. Sure enough, on hole 1 I hit a really poor tee ball and lost the hole. Tee 2 offered some hope as I hit a decent ball but it did over-draw a bit. At this point, i would happily pay for the high fading ball that normally got me in trouble because at least that shot would get in the air and get some forward distance before finding trouble. (That was how bad my mindset was at that point in time). Finally on hole 8 of singles I realized that my top position was making it almost impossible to hit the ball solidly. It is like my backswing reverted back to where it was 6 or 7 years ago with no explanation. I consciously worked to get to a better position at the top and though my driving was not what I had seen leading up to the event it was at least playable and gave me chance to try to claw back into the match. Unfortunately, [USER=54652]@AuzzieMatt[/USER] had been finding form with driver and did not make it easy. I was grateful to be able to get it back almost to a respectible loss.
Over the last couple of days I did a lot of reflecting but am not getting down on myself. Am I frustrated that I couldn’t get off the tee? Absolutely. Do I wish I had played better? Sure. But I’m not dwelling on any of that. When I see a problem my natural instinct is to solve it. The plan i had in place to get better at golf has helped me play some really decent golf over the last couple of years but clearly isn’t holding up under pressure. Something needs to change if I want to continue improving and getting better at competing at golf.
I was mainly using virtual lessons with a coach in the UK since my local coach took a job managing a storefront right before the pandemic and had to stop coaching. I am very grateful for the help I’ve gotten through virtual lessons and I do believe that coach is a fantastic coach. But I don’t see a way to work through this with him. It is not something I think I can replicate on the range as I’ve not see it present itself there. On the other hand, I’m excited to try something new. Hearing [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] talk about the GOLFTEC utilizing SkyTrak data for coaching resonated with me. The fact that they are designing custom ranges specifically to simulate stress is exciting especially with what I just experienced on course. I believe that is a gamechanger for them and cannot wait to experience it. I am going all in and am going to schedule my initial session with GOLFTEC. I talked with my previous local coach when I got back in town and he highly reccomends the director of instruction at the GOLFTEC local to me. Good or bad I plan to document this journey and will have a thread up where I’ll try to give the highlights from the sessions along with practice sessions and performance on course. I am going to be brutally honest and hopefully that added accountability will help me. I’m also thinking about entering a competitive men’s league or entering local competitions to try to simulate the same pressure so I can overcome this. As low as those low points were while standing on the tee feeling lost, I am excited about this opportunity and grateful to have the SkyTrak+ to help me improve. I cannot thank [USER=3]@JB[/USER] , [USER=7]@GolferGal[/USER] , [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] , and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] enough for this opportunity!! The words don’t seem enough but thank you all!!
[QUOTE=”93civiccpe, post: 12376937, member: 41068″]
[B]Recap part 4 – My swing / honest assessment / moving forward[/B]
This will likely be my last update for a bit as family will be arriving within the hour to spend the holiday weekend with us. I will find time to continue through the thread as I’m on page 68 right now going back through.
This is also the most difficult recap to post. I am my own hardest critic but i want to post this for a couple reasons. First, in hope that it may help another THPer who may be having a similar struggle. Second, I want this hear for me to reflect back on to remember how I feel right now and use it as motivation.
To start, I will give a little background. My driving has been the most inconsistent part of my game since I took up the sport. Over the last few years I’ve taken lessons and have seen my handicap drop and have worked to turn my driving from a liability to a strength. In rounds where I am driving it well I see a lot more pars and have more chances at birdie. Coming in to this event, my shot shape with driver was a slight draw but there were days where it would be quite straight or slight fade and I would just play what I brought. A common miss would be too much hook and catching the driver out of the toe. The bad miss that got me in trouble was a high ball pushed right especially if it had any fade spin on it.
Coming into the weekend, I was feeling confident in my swing and excited to see how it held up at Victoria National. You will see others write things like I “didn’t play the way I wanted” and that is them being overly nice. In the practice rounds as well as at Victoria National I warmed up on the range and had good range sessions where the ball was flying the way I was expecting and felt good about it. But on the tee, I was seeing something completely different. It got so bad that at times my only hope was that the ball would get up in the air. I have never experienced something like this where my swing on the driving range was that drastically different than what I saw on the tee. There are a lot of words I could use to describe how I was feeling.. frustrated, confused, embarrassed, broken.. but the best word is probably LOST. I did not understand how it could be that different. All the lessons I’ve taken and all the work I’ve put in seemed like a waste and I just could not fathom what was going. This is not something I’ve seen in the last 2 years. Leading up to the event I tried to add pressure to my game by playing courses I’ve never seen before and playing 1 v 2 versus friends and this did not show up then. I know nerves affect us all but this seemed different.
As a player constantly in my own head, I was trying not be there. I told myself to just continue keeping it simple and swinging and not getting in my head but the results were not good. My inability to get off the tee made it very hard to be competitive at all in the shamble and in singles. It started eroding confidence in other areas of my game but fortunately my short game and putting held up enough that I could at least put up somewhat of a fight. I felt terrible after the shamble as [USER=70243]@cringjr[/USER] was playing good golf and I was not contributing much. I was trying to take pressure off him but unsuccessfully. After lunch I went back to the range and once again I was hitting the ball fine. Then in alt-shot the inability to get off the tee started to show itself again. I reduced down to a 3/4 swing to try to keep it in play with limited success. (There was a ball that went straight right that [USER=3]@JB[/USER] may have referenced). If not for some fantastic recovery shots from [USER=3]@JB[/USER] and my putter getting hot then that match could have easily gone the other way. Going into singles morning my body felt a little sluggish and I told myself that could be a good thing as I suspected I had been over-swinging and that could have been a part of the struggles I was seeing.
I had another good range session but if I’m being honest my mind was now full of doubt as I had seen this play out in the 3 previous rounds. Sure enough, on hole 1 I hit a really poor tee ball and lost the hole. Tee 2 offered some hope as I hit a decent ball but it did over-draw a bit. At this point, i would happily pay for the high fading ball that normally got me in trouble because at least that shot would get in the air and get some forward distance before finding trouble. (That was how bad my mindset was at that point in time). Finally on hole 8 of singles I realized that my top position was making it almost impossible to hit the ball solidly. It is like my backswing reverted back to where it was 6 or 7 years ago with no explanation. I consciously worked to get to a better position at the top and though my driving was not what I had seen leading up to the event it was at least playable and gave me chance to try to claw back into the match. Unfortunately, [USER=54652]@AuzzieMatt[/USER] had been finding form with driver and did not make it easy. I was grateful to be able to get it back almost to a respectible loss.
Over the last couple of days I did a lot of reflecting but am not getting down on myself. Am I frustrated that I couldn’t get off the tee? Absolutely. Do I wish I had played better? Sure. But I’m not dwelling on any of that. When I see a problem my natural instinct is to solve it. The plan i had in place to get better at golf has helped me play some really decent golf over the last couple of years but clearly isn’t holding up under pressure. Something needs to change if I want to continue improving and getting better at competing at golf.
I was mainly using virtual lessons with a coach in the UK since my local coach took a job managing a storefront right before the pandemic and had to stop coaching. I am very grateful for the help I’ve gotten through virtual lessons and I do believe that coach is a fantastic coach. But I don’t see a way to work through this with him. It is not something I think I can replicate on the range as I’ve not see it present itself there. On the other hand, I’m excited to try something new. Hearing [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] talk about the GOLFTEC utilizing SkyTrak data for coaching resonated with me. The fact that they are designing custom ranges specifically to simulate stress is exciting especially with what I just experienced on course. I believe that is a gamechanger for them and cannot wait to experience it. I am going all in and am going to schedule my initial session with GOLFTEC. I talked with my previous local coach when I got back in town and he highly reccomends the director of instruction at the GOLFTEC local to me. Good or bad I plan to document this journey and will have a thread up where I’ll try to give the highlights from the sessions along with practice sessions and performance on course. I am going to be brutally honest and hopefully that added accountability will help me. I’m also thinking about entering a competitive men’s league or entering local competitions to try to simulate the same pressure so I can overcome this. As low as those low points were while standing on the tee feeling lost, I am excited about this opportunity and grateful to have the SkyTrak+ to help me improve. I cannot thank [USER=3]@JB[/USER] , [USER=7]@GolferGal[/USER] , [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] , and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] enough for this opportunity!! The words don’t seem enough but thank you all!!
[/QUOTE]
This is an awesome post and one that I think will be interesting to reflect back on. I went through a similar thing a couple of years ago and also used it as motivation
[QUOTE=”JB, post: 12376941, member: 3″]
This is an awesome post and one that I think will be interesting to reflect back on. I went through a similar thing a couple of years ago and also used it as motivation
[/QUOTE]
If I can get anywhere close to the confidence and consistency you displayed it will be a huge win!!
Absolutely love reading recaps after experiences in general. And the way [USER=70243]@cringjr[/USER], [USER=13304]@wadesworld[/USER], [USER=46310]@odom730[/USER] and [USER=41068]@93civiccpe[/USER] have been honest and forthright with theirs has been a pleasure to take in.
Thank you gentlemen for the pre-, during and after event posting you’ve done. This baan really fun to tag along.
[QUOTE=”93civiccpe, post: 12376937, member: 41068″]
[B]Recap part 4 – My swing / honest assessment / moving forward[/B]
This will likely be my last update for a bit as family will be arriving within the hour to spend the holiday weekend with us. I will find time to continue through the thread as I’m on page 68 right now going back through.
This is also the most difficult recap to post. I am my own hardest critic but i want to post this for a couple reasons. First, in hope that it may help another THPer who may be having a similar struggle. Second, I want this hear for me to reflect back on to remember how I feel right now and use it as motivation.
To start, I will give a little background. My driving has been the most inconsistent part of my game since I took up the sport. Over the last few years I’ve taken lessons and have seen my handicap drop and have worked to turn my driving from a liability to a strength. In rounds where I am driving it well I see a lot more pars and have more chances at birdie. Coming in to this event, my shot shape with driver was a slight draw but there were days where it would be quite straight or slight fade and I would just play what I brought. A common miss would be too much hook and catching the driver out of the toe. The bad miss that got me in trouble was a high ball pushed right especially if it had any fade spin on it.
Coming into the weekend, I was feeling confident in my swing and excited to see how it held up at Victoria National. You will see others write things like I “didn’t play the way I wanted” and that is them being overly nice. In the practice rounds as well as at Victoria National I warmed up on the range and had good range sessions where the ball was flying the way I was expecting and felt good about it. But on the tee, I was seeing something completely different. It got so bad that at times my only hope was that the ball would get up in the air. I have never experienced something like this where my swing on the driving range was that drastically different than what I saw on the tee. There are a lot of words I could use to describe how I was feeling.. frustrated, confused, embarrassed, broken.. but the best word is probably LOST. I did not understand how it could be that different. All the lessons I’ve taken and all the work I’ve put in seemed like a waste and I just could not fathom what was going. This is not something I’ve seen in the last 2 years. Leading up to the event I tried to add pressure to my game by playing courses I’ve never seen before and playing 1 v 2 versus friends and this did not show up then. I know nerves affect us all but this seemed different.
As a player constantly in my own head, I was trying not be there. I told myself to just continue keeping it simple and swinging and not getting in my head but the results were not good. My inability to get off the tee made it very hard to be competitive at all in the shamble and in singles. It started eroding confidence in other areas of my game but fortunately my short game and putting held up enough that I could at least put up somewhat of a fight. I felt terrible after the shamble as [USER=70243]@cringjr[/USER] was playing good golf and I was not contributing much. I was trying to take pressure off him but unsuccessfully. After lunch I went back to the range and once again I was hitting the ball fine. Then in alt-shot the inability to get off the tee started to show itself again. I reduced down to a 3/4 swing to try to keep it in play with limited success. (There was a ball that went straight right that [USER=3]@JB[/USER] may have referenced). If not for some fantastic recovery shots from [USER=3]@JB[/USER] and my putter getting hot then that match could have easily gone the other way. Going into singles morning my body felt a little sluggish and I told myself that could be a good thing as I suspected I had been over-swinging and that could have been a part of the struggles I was seeing.
I had another good range session but if I’m being honest my mind was now full of doubt as I had seen this play out in the 3 previous rounds. Sure enough, on hole 1 I hit a really poor tee ball and lost the hole. Tee 2 offered some hope as I hit a decent ball but it did over-draw a bit. At this point, i would happily pay for the high fading ball that normally got me in trouble because at least that shot would get in the air and get some forward distance before finding trouble. (That was how bad my mindset was at that point in time). Finally on hole 8 of singles I realized that my top position was making it almost impossible to hit the ball solidly. It is like my backswing reverted back to where it was 6 or 7 years ago with no explanation. I consciously worked to get to a better position at the top and though my driving was not what I had seen leading up to the event it was at least playable and gave me chance to try to claw back into the match. Unfortunately, [USER=54652]@AuzzieMatt[/USER] had been finding form with driver and did not make it easy. I was grateful to be able to get it back almost to a respectible loss.
Over the last couple of days I did a lot of reflecting but am not getting down on myself. Am I frustrated that I couldn’t get off the tee? Absolutely. Do I wish I had played better? Sure. But I’m not dwelling on any of that. When I see a problem my natural instinct is to solve it. The plan i had in place to get better at golf has helped me play some really decent golf over the last couple of years but clearly isn’t holding up under pressure. Something needs to change if I want to continue improving and getting better at competing at golf.
I was mainly using virtual lessons with a coach in the UK since my local coach took a job managing a storefront right before the pandemic and had to stop coaching. I am very grateful for the help I’ve gotten through virtual lessons and I do believe that coach is a fantastic coach. But I don’t see a way to work through this with him. It is not something I think I can replicate on the range as I’ve not see it present itself there. On the other hand, I’m excited to try something new. Hearing [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] talk about the GOLFTEC utilizing SkyTrak data for coaching resonated with me. The fact that they are designing custom ranges specifically to simulate stress is exciting especially with what I just experienced on course. I believe that is a gamechanger for them and cannot wait to experience it. I am going all in and am going to schedule my initial session with GOLFTEC. I talked with my previous local coach when I got back in town and he highly reccomends the director of instruction at the GOLFTEC local to me. Good or bad I plan to document this journey and will have a thread up where I’ll try to give the highlights from the sessions along with practice sessions and performance on course. I am going to be brutally honest and hopefully that added accountability will help me. I’m also thinking about entering a competitive men’s league or entering local competitions to try to simulate the same pressure so I can overcome this. As low as those low points were while standing on the tee feeling lost, I am excited about this opportunity and grateful to have the SkyTrak+ to help me improve. I cannot thank [USER=3]@JB[/USER] , [USER=7]@GolferGal[/USER] , [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] , and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] enough for this opportunity!! The words don’t seem enough but thank you all!!
[/QUOTE]
Great recap. Best of luck with the GolfTEC lessons ??
[QUOTE=”93civiccpe, post: 12376937, member: 41068″]
[B]Recap part 4 – My swing / honest assessment / moving forward[/B]
This will likely be my last update for a bit as family will be arriving within the hour to spend the holiday weekend with us. I will find time to continue through the thread as I’m on page 68 right now going back through.
This is also the most difficult recap to post. I am my own hardest critic but i want to post this for a couple reasons. First, in hope that it may help another THPer who may be having a similar struggle. Second, I want this hear for me to reflect back on to remember how I feel right now and use it as motivation.
To start, I will give a little background. My driving has been the most inconsistent part of my game since I took up the sport. Over the last few years I’ve taken lessons and have seen my handicap drop and have worked to turn my driving from a liability to a strength. In rounds where I am driving it well I see a lot more pars and have more chances at birdie. Coming in to this event, my shot shape with driver was a slight draw but there were days where it would be quite straight or slight fade and I would just play what I brought. A common miss would be too much hook and catching the driver out of the toe. The bad miss that got me in trouble was a high ball pushed right especially if it had any fade spin on it.
Coming into the weekend, I was feeling confident in my swing and excited to see how it held up at Victoria National. You will see others write things like I “didn’t play the way I wanted” and that is them being overly nice. In the practice rounds as well as at Victoria National I warmed up on the range and had good range sessions where the ball was flying the way I was expecting and felt good about it. But on the tee, I was seeing something completely different. It got so bad that at times my only hope was that the ball would get up in the air. I have never experienced something like this where my swing on the driving range was that drastically different than what I saw on the tee. There are a lot of words I could use to describe how I was feeling.. frustrated, confused, embarrassed, broken.. but the best word is probably LOST. I did not understand how it could be that different. All the lessons I’ve taken and all the work I’ve put in seemed like a waste and I just could not fathom what was going. This is not something I’ve seen in the last 2 years. Leading up to the event I tried to add pressure to my game by playing courses I’ve never seen before and playing 1 v 2 versus friends and this did not show up then. I know nerves affect us all but this seemed different.
As a player constantly in my own head, I was trying not be there. I told myself to just continue keeping it simple and swinging and not getting in my head but the results were not good. My inability to get off the tee made it very hard to be competitive at all in the shamble and in singles. It started eroding confidence in other areas of my game but fortunately my short game and putting held up enough that I could at least put up somewhat of a fight. I felt terrible after the shamble as [USER=70243]@cringjr[/USER] was playing good golf and I was not contributing much. I was trying to take pressure off him but unsuccessfully. After lunch I went back to the range and once again I was hitting the ball fine. Then in alt-shot the inability to get off the tee started to show itself again. I reduced down to a 3/4 swing to try to keep it in play with limited success. (There was a ball that went straight right that [USER=3]@JB[/USER] may have referenced). If not for some fantastic recovery shots from [USER=3]@JB[/USER] and my putter getting hot then that match could have easily gone the other way. Going into singles morning my body felt a little sluggish and I told myself that could be a good thing as I suspected I had been over-swinging and that could have been a part of the struggles I was seeing.
I had another good range session but if I’m being honest my mind was now full of doubt as I had seen this play out in the 3 previous rounds. Sure enough, on hole 1 I hit a really poor tee ball and lost the hole. Tee 2 offered some hope as I hit a decent ball but it did over-draw a bit. At this point, i would happily pay for the high fading ball that normally got me in trouble because at least that shot would get in the air and get some forward distance before finding trouble. (That was how bad my mindset was at that point in time). Finally on hole 8 of singles I realized that my top position was making it almost impossible to hit the ball solidly. It is like my backswing reverted back to where it was 6 or 7 years ago with no explanation. I consciously worked to get to a better position at the top and though my driving was not what I had seen leading up to the event it was at least playable and gave me chance to try to claw back into the match. Unfortunately, [USER=54652]@AuzzieMatt[/USER] had been finding form with driver and did not make it easy. I was grateful to be able to get it back almost to a respectible loss.
Over the last couple of days I did a lot of reflecting but am not getting down on myself. Am I frustrated that I couldn’t get off the tee? Absolutely. Do I wish I had played better? Sure. But I’m not dwelling on any of that. When I see a problem my natural instinct is to solve it. The plan i had in place to get better at golf has helped me play some really decent golf over the last couple of years but clearly isn’t holding up under pressure. Something needs to change if I want to continue improving and getting better at competing at golf.
I was mainly using virtual lessons with a coach in the UK since my local coach took a job managing a storefront right before the pandemic and had to stop coaching. I am very grateful for the help I’ve gotten through virtual lessons and I do believe that coach is a fantastic coach. But I don’t see a way to work through this with him. It is not something I think I can replicate on the range as I’ve not see it present itself there. On the other hand, I’m excited to try something new. Hearing [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] talk about the GOLFTEC utilizing SkyTrak data for coaching resonated with me. The fact that they are designing custom ranges specifically to simulate stress is exciting especially with what I just experienced on course. I believe that is a gamechanger for them and cannot wait to experience it. I am going all in and am going to schedule my initial session with GOLFTEC. I talked with my previous local coach when I got back in town and he highly reccomends the director of instruction at the GOLFTEC local to me. Good or bad I plan to document this journey and will have a thread up where I’ll try to give the highlights from the sessions along with practice sessions and performance on course. I am going to be brutally honest and hopefully that added accountability will help me. I’m also thinking about entering a competitive men’s league or entering local competitions to try to simulate the same pressure so I can overcome this. As low as those low points were while standing on the tee feeling lost, I am excited about this opportunity and grateful to have the SkyTrak+ to help me improve. I cannot thank [USER=3]@JB[/USER] , [USER=7]@GolferGal[/USER] , [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] , and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] enough for this opportunity!! The words don’t seem enough but thank you all!!
[/QUOTE]
We’ve all been there. When an aspect of our game abandons us and we get lost in a familiar area. With the knowledge you have, and the way you approach the game, I know you can get to where you need to be. I’ll be following along. You got this.
[QUOTE=”odom730, post: 12377128, member: 46310″]
We’ve all been there. When an aspect of our game abandons us and we get lost in a familiar area. With the knowledge you have, and the way you approach the game, I know you can get to where you need to be. I’ll be following along. You got this.
[/QUOTE]
Thank you [USER=46310]@odom730[/USER] ! And I’m going to keep it positive on the course!! I love that aspect of your game and going to copy it!! Going to try to only put positive words out there when playing!!
[QUOTE=”odom730, post: 12377128, member: 46310″]
We’ve all been there. When an aspect of our game abandons us and we get lost in a familiar area. With the knowledge you have, and the way you approach the game, I know you can get to where you need to be. I’ll be following along. You got this.
[/QUOTE]
Absolutely we all have. I know you were not happy, but you could definitely see the game on the good ones, which were more than perhaps it felt. GolfTEC should have you back quickly. I look forward to following as well.
These recaps are excellent.
And the winner is…
[USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]
Please send [USER=7]@GolferGal[/USER] your full name and shipping address
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]!
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER] !
[QUOTE=”93civiccpe, post: 12376937, member: 41068″]
[B]Recap part 4 – My swing / honest assessment / moving forward[/B]
This will likely be my last update for a bit as family will be arriving within the hour to spend the holiday weekend with us. I will find time to continue through the thread as I’m on page 68 right now going back through.
This is also the most difficult recap to post. I am my own hardest critic but i want to post this for a couple reasons. First, in hope that it may help another THPer who may be having a similar struggle. Second, I want this hear for me to reflect back on to remember how I feel right now and use it as motivation.
To start, I will give a little background. My driving has been the most inconsistent part of my game since I took up the sport. Over the last few years I’ve taken lessons and have seen my handicap drop and have worked to turn my driving from a liability to a strength. In rounds where I am driving it well I see a lot more pars and have more chances at birdie. Coming in to this event, my shot shape with driver was a slight draw but there were days where it would be quite straight or slight fade and I would just play what I brought. A common miss would be too much hook and catching the driver out of the toe. The bad miss that got me in trouble was a high ball pushed right especially if it had any fade spin on it.
Coming into the weekend, I was feeling confident in my swing and excited to see how it held up at Victoria National. You will see others write things like I “didn’t play the way I wanted” and that is them being overly nice. In the practice rounds as well as at Victoria National I warmed up on the range and had good range sessions where the ball was flying the way I was expecting and felt good about it. But on the tee, I was seeing something completely different. It got so bad that at times my only hope was that the ball would get up in the air. I have never experienced something like this where my swing on the driving range was that drastically different than what I saw on the tee. There are a lot of words I could use to describe how I was feeling.. frustrated, confused, embarrassed, broken.. but the best word is probably LOST. I did not understand how it could be that different. All the lessons I’ve taken and all the work I’ve put in seemed like a waste and I just could not fathom what was going. This is not something I’ve seen in the last 2 years. Leading up to the event I tried to add pressure to my game by playing courses I’ve never seen before and playing 1 v 2 versus friends and this did not show up then. I know nerves affect us all but this seemed different.
As a player constantly in my own head, I was trying not be there. I told myself to just continue keeping it simple and swinging and not getting in my head but the results were not good. My inability to get off the tee made it very hard to be competitive at all in the shamble and in singles. It started eroding confidence in other areas of my game but fortunately my short game and putting held up enough that I could at least put up somewhat of a fight. I felt terrible after the shamble as [USER=70243]@cringjr[/USER] was playing good golf and I was not contributing much. I was trying to take pressure off him but unsuccessfully. After lunch I went back to the range and once again I was hitting the ball fine. Then in alt-shot the inability to get off the tee started to show itself again. I reduced down to a 3/4 swing to try to keep it in play with limited success. (There was a ball that went straight right that [USER=3]@JB[/USER] may have referenced). If not for some fantastic recovery shots from [USER=3]@JB[/USER] and my putter getting hot then that match could have easily gone the other way. Going into singles morning my body felt a little sluggish and I told myself that could be a good thing as I suspected I had been over-swinging and that could have been a part of the struggles I was seeing.
I had another good range session but if I’m being honest my mind was now full of doubt as I had seen this play out in the 3 previous rounds. Sure enough, on hole 1 I hit a really poor tee ball and lost the hole. Tee 2 offered some hope as I hit a decent ball but it did over-draw a bit. At this point, i would happily pay for the high fading ball that normally got me in trouble because at least that shot would get in the air and get some forward distance before finding trouble. (That was how bad my mindset was at that point in time). Finally on hole 8 of singles I realized that my top position was making it almost impossible to hit the ball solidly. It is like my backswing reverted back to where it was 6 or 7 years ago with no explanation. I consciously worked to get to a better position at the top and though my driving was not what I had seen leading up to the event it was at least playable and gave me chance to try to claw back into the match. Unfortunately, [USER=54652]@AuzzieMatt[/USER] had been finding form with driver and did not make it easy. I was grateful to be able to get it back almost to a respectible loss.
Over the last couple of days I did a lot of reflecting but am not getting down on myself. Am I frustrated that I couldn’t get off the tee? Absolutely. Do I wish I had played better? Sure. But I’m not dwelling on any of that. When I see a problem my natural instinct is to solve it. The plan i had in place to get better at golf has helped me play some really decent golf over the last couple of years but clearly isn’t holding up under pressure. Something needs to change if I want to continue improving and getting better at competing at golf.
I was mainly using virtual lessons with a coach in the UK since my local coach took a job managing a storefront right before the pandemic and had to stop coaching. I am very grateful for the help I’ve gotten through virtual lessons and I do believe that coach is a fantastic coach. But I don’t see a way to work through this with him. It is not something I think I can replicate on the range as I’ve not see it present itself there. On the other hand, I’m excited to try something new. Hearing [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] talk about the GOLFTEC utilizing SkyTrak data for coaching resonated with me. The fact that they are designing custom ranges specifically to simulate stress is exciting especially with what I just experienced on course. I believe that is a gamechanger for them and cannot wait to experience it. I am going all in and am going to schedule my initial session with GOLFTEC. I talked with my previous local coach when I got back in town and he highly reccomends the director of instruction at the GOLFTEC local to me. Good or bad I plan to document this journey and will have a thread up where I’ll try to give the highlights from the sessions along with practice sessions and performance on course. I am going to be brutally honest and hopefully that added accountability will help me. I’m also thinking about entering a competitive men’s league or entering local competitions to try to simulate the same pressure so I can overcome this. As low as those low points were while standing on the tee feeling lost, I am excited about this opportunity and grateful to have the SkyTrak+ to help me improve. I cannot thank [USER=3]@JB[/USER] , [USER=7]@GolferGal[/USER] , [USER=51106]@Koske[/USER] , and [USER=75759]@nugs303[/USER] enough for this opportunity!! The words don’t seem enough but thank you all!!
[/QUOTE]
I appreciated reading what you posted. It sounds like you have a solid plan with Golftec.
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER] !
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]
Lets go!!!!! Thanks THP!
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER], it will be fun to see what you get too! Please share when you get it!
Congratulations [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER] !!
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]!
Congrats @PhillyV. THP always puts together a great box.
[QUOTE=”wadesworld, post: 12380895, member: 13304″]
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]. You’re going to absolutely love having that unit!
[/QUOTE]
The contest was for a mystery box [USER=13304]@wadesworld[/USER]
Details in the first post.
[QUOTE=”JB, post: 12380897, member: 3″]
The contest was for a mystery box [USER=13304]@wadesworld[/USER]
Details in the first post.
[/QUOTE]
Haha…my powers of observation strike again! (I’ll edit the post to avoid confusion)
Well, [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER] has still got a great prize coming because THP always brings it!
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]!
Also, love the recaps. There is nothing about THP Experiences that is short of amazing. Every time you think about your time you will be smiling. It’s everything about it. The sponsors, the equipment, the swag, the food, the golf, the beautiful courses, and the amazing friendships you make with a bunch of random blokes you met on the internet. There is just nothing else like it.
Congrats to [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]!!!
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER] !
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]!
[QUOTE=”MarMill, post: 12375335, member: 51186″]
If you could only play one hole at Vic again which would it be?
[/QUOTE]
16. 7′ from a HIO, why wouldn’t I like that one.
[QUOTE=”JB, post: 12369469, member: 3″]
my alt shot partner [USER=41068]@93civiccpe[/USER] with just an amazing gift to me.
Ice cube creator with the THP Logo
[ATTACH type=”full” alt=”IMG_4149.jpeg”]9268783[/ATTACH]
[/QUOTE]
I’m just now seeing this! What a gift [USER=41068]@93civiccpe[/USER]!
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]! Make sure to show us what you got!
Congratulations [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER] !
Congrats @PhillyV well played, so to speak.
[QUOTE=”JB, post: 12380604, member: 3″]
And the winner is…
[USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER]
Please send [USER=7]@GolferGal[/USER] your full name and shipping address
[/QUOTE]
Congrats [USER=6890]@PhillyV[/USER] !!
Got my flag in the shadow box and hung on the wall.
[ATTACH type=”full”]9271124[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=”full”]9271125[/ATTACH]
[QUOTE=”odom730, post: 12391831, member: 46310″]
Got my flag in the shadow box and hung on the wall.
[ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_100351.jpg”]9271124[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_105528.jpg”]9271125[/ATTACH]
[/QUOTE]
That’s awesome
[QUOTE=”odom730, post: 12391831, member: 46310″]
Got my flag in the shadow box and hung on the wall.
[ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_100351.jpg”]9271124[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_105528.jpg”]9271125[/ATTACH]
[/QUOTE]
Freaking awesome.
[QUOTE=”odom730, post: 12391831, member: 46310″]
Got my flag in the shadow box and hung on the wall.
[ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_100351.jpg”]9271124[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_105528.jpg”]9271125[/ATTACH]
[/QUOTE]
That looks great! Actually, your whole wall looks great.
What a great way to remember those amazing experiences. Very nice.
[QUOTE=”odom730, post: 12391831, member: 46310″]
Got my flag in the shadow box and hung on the wall.
[ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_100351.jpg”]9271124[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_105528.jpg”]9271125[/ATTACH]
[/QUOTE]
I am jealous. That whole wall is ?
[QUOTE=”odom730, post: 12391831, member: 46310″]
Got my flag in the shadow box and hung on the wall.
[ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_100351.jpg”]9271124[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_105528.jpg”]9271125[/ATTACH]
[/QUOTE]
That looks really good
[QUOTE=”odom730, post: 12391831, member: 46310″]
Got my flag in the shadow box and hung on the wall.
[ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_100351.jpg”]9271124[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_105528.jpg”]9271125[/ATTACH]
[/QUOTE]
That looks fantastic.
[QUOTE=”odom730, post: 12391831, member: 46310″]
Got my flag in the shadow box and hung on the wall.
[ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_100351.jpg”]9271124[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=”full” alt=”20240602_105528.jpg”]9271125[/ATTACH]
[/QUOTE]
Is that the butcher with a rocket pop?