Which course in Columbus?

ditto here..actually closed the course today after 1.5 inches last night. Greens are really struggling in this heat and humidity

Went to the range tonight for the first time in nearly 3 months. It was beneficial, but I've still got a lot of work to do to get back to where I was 6 weeks ago ball-striking.

Figured out a couple things I wasn't doing with the driver. 1 was with my grip and the other was just being lazy with my coil on the backswing. So my power had disappeared and my arms were coming back to the ball "jerky"ier than they are with better back tension and release which was causing worm burners. Started murdering a few of them which hasn't happened in a while, but still wasn't as consistent as I'd like in terms of left/right. But it's a start. Old man next to me made a positive comment about my ball speed (heyo).

Worked on some tee'd up SW, AW, PW, 9i, 2i then driver, 4w, then about 15 lob wedge shots off the deck that I was trying to hit the 50 sign and was remarkably consistent but never did hit the thing. Was all around it though - felt good to close out. I need to work my 4 wood into my game. Would be nice to go to it if my driver isn't working but damn that clubhead is ****ing tiny. Should work on it more, though. Or just buy a used 3H. Suggestions?

It's funny how one little fundamental can slip unnoticed and completely wreck a golf swing and confidence in a matter of days. I was really struggling with pull hooks and topping the golf ball so I went back to see my instructor on Friday. Turns out I was making some little hip-bump towards the target while I was getting into my address position and it was causing some pretty major swing issues as a result. I worked on staying stable at address and focused on my rhythm and played the kind of golf I think I'm capable of this weekend.

Thank god for teaching pros, because I was probably going to cut my golf season short this year if I didn't get back on track.

Anyone listen to the podcast? I want feedback

I am trying to as we speak but it is saying the url can not be found on the server in iTunes.

My first podcast attempt so please advise...I am able to listen to a different one from Card RUnners though.

Heeaaa, I made it to the end. I don't watch or listen to much of anything so its hard to give feedback beyond that. =(

Ship, fwiw I just clicked listen now.

Yeah just click here and then click listen now. Don't need to be logged in or anything.

even though I have a couple months left in my season for golf here I've been thinking about offseason work whuch I've never really done, so I'm curious how much can 1 expect to improve in the offseason without hitting actual golf shots. My hope is to hit the indoor range a couple times a week plus a simulator once or twice a month, along with maybesome training aides for the house..... How much can I hope to improve?

I assume we can massively improve our ball striking, and to some extent putting if we just grind that out on carpetting

I can't imagine how difficult it must be to retain a low handicap in the snowy regions.

I like playing golf here, it doesn't get cold enough for courses to ever shut down but it is cold enough that it keeps a lot of people away. So you can easily get a round in and for pretty cheap. Will be trying to really take advantage of winter golf this year.

Not sure what advice to give you lol. There is a large expanse of grassland near my house that, if I had to, could take out a bunch of crappy balls and tee them up and hit 'em just to stay flexible and get some kind of real feedback.

I had done a "winter golf school" the last 2 yrs with my instructor....

The first year was great and we had a private lesson to evaluate our individual play followed by 8 group lessons (group of 4 of us that got together for it) which was every Tuesday and we really got a chance to focus on technique and iron out kinks because we got lots of 1 on 1 time, and then it ended with a private lesson in which we got to go over what weve learned and get some good feedback. I loved this because it really got in depth and I really learned a ton of stuff about my swing and mechanics and started to get it...

So when we decided to do a 2nd year I was all for it, but then the format changed drastically. The entire school was done in a simulator (albeit a very good 1) We opened up with a private lesson, then we did 4 group lessons bi weekly and a choice of 2 seminars in which we were merged with other groups. So basically there were 4 of us on 2 simulators hitting "golf shots" but not really getting in depth individually because the instructor would gravitate towards helping the one guy who was the worst (by a lot) and then the seminars were just group teaching with barely any ball striking and no final one on one lesson. The one thing this year dealt with was the mental aspect which definitely helped a ton but to me it doesnt help if you cant hit the correct shots consistently so for someone with my handicap and the handicap of the others in the group it didnt jive with what I think we should have focused on so it was a disappointment.

So basically if I am asked to do it this year I will likely turn it down unless the format changes and will try and work on my game on my own but hopefully it should stop me from losing any progress I have gained because it seems by the end of the season I am just getting going and then I regress because I am re-learning so much.

I live in Ohio/Chicago

I've maintained a near-zero handicap for probably the last 4 years and my typical routine goes like this:

Play last round of golf sometime in late October/Early Nov --> Don't touch a club (not even putter) until around mid-late March --> Play about 4-5 times a month until winter comes back.

I am not a range rat and have never had a lesson. I'd hardly call myself a natural but I'd also be lying if I didn't say that I thought a bunch about golf and get the severe itch to play as the PGA starts to air on TV in late Jan.

I'm probably in the minority for how little I play but I find that as I've gotten older the game has gotten much easier.

..but I highly doubt you did no work to get the that point. Someone in the 25-30 handicap clearly needs to do all they can to improve, especially in the offseason. I cannot expect to swing a club come April and take 10-20strokes off my handicap.

Hell I would be content to be a 10-13 handicapper who occasionally has a great round in the mid to low 70s.

lol how the hell is that supposed to help a high handicapper? All that is is a "here's how awesome I am.." post.

The only pieces of advice are "think about golf" and "get older".

Heh, sorry, I misread your post. I thought you were just looking for feedback on how ppl dealt with the winter months.

TBH, I think the best thing that people can do is to do some reading on the golf swing, try to find a player on Tour whose physical attributes are similar to yours (height/weight), and try to find some of the slow motion videos on their golf swing on YouTube.

As a comparison, I tend to have a very shut face at the top of my swing, something that Zach Johnson does. I've noticed his aggressive leading hip rotation to counter that flaw and have implemented it into my own game, which has done wonders for more scores this summer.

Notice some of the things they do and practice in front of a mirror.

Personally I don't find hitting balls into a net to be all that helpful. You don't see the ball flight or anything so there really is no feedback that you can collect. Only thing you are practicing is making contact with the ball, which has little value.

I've been playing for 6 or 7 years and managed to get to a single digit handicap in that time, but my winter strategy is similar to UCB's. I play until I can't play anymore, usually late october, and then I don't touch a club until maybe March where I'll go to the indoor dome once a week for a few weeks until I can hit balls outdoors. I will maybe practice rolling some putts once a week and hitting a few chips to a foam cup, but that's it.

The weirdest is after you start hitting balls again, it looks so foreign (the ball flight).

Where do you live?

Here in Florida the rates go up in the winter, because the snow birds move down here. But rates will sometimes double and tripple from November - April.

It really sucks.

I agree. The worst part of the winter lay off for me is that I usually strike the ball like it's a god-given talent for the first month or so of spring, then my brain matter starts to get in the way and I go back to being myself by May.

we have 2 indoor dome ranges here so I would never hit it into a net, it's maybe 150 yds tops but you can see what's happening ball flight wise pretty easy though obviously not as well as a full range....

haha yeah it's definitely like this.

Here is my golf game (mentally) through the season:

Mar-April: "Man I'm hitting it so good. I can't wait til I get some feel back and start making putts"
May-Sept: "Wow I'm putting well, wtf happened to striking the ball so damn good?"
Oct: "Wow my game came around, why does it have to snow now!"

rinse and repeat

Houston. We don't really get a lot of "winter Texans" here. I think there are some that head further down to the South Padre area. But not the city. I may be "misremembering" (thanks Roger) the actual winter rates. I just started last year so I didn't have a huge sample. It could be that the rates don't change, and it just feels cheaper since the course is empty and so it's more laid-back. But they absolutely do not go up 2 or 3 fold, that's for sure. God, that would suck having an influx of out-of-towners driving up the price for the locals. Though your courses are probably better-maintained than the ones around here.

i swear to god shakira has the 'zact same follow through as rory

Worked on driver at the range tonight. Think I figured out a few things I was doing wrong. My stance had gotten too wide. I was turning my front hip too much in my backswing. Was being lazy with backswing (not getting arms turned enough). Wasn't uncoiling properly. My grip had gotten a bit sloppy, and I was being too handsy with my right hand just before contact. So, a bunch of crap. In 6 weeks went from hitting half my drives 270 and in the fairway to like 220 and out of the fairway. Didn't realize I'd let it get so sloppy. Golf is fun.

Here is what I think you can do over the offseason to improve...ballstriking is tough obviously but you can drastically improve your putting by doing this. I was an awful putter for 35 years and over the last few years I have become a great putter doing this.

When I first decided in 2008 to get serious about golf again I decided I must learn to REALLY putt. I had the yips and was using a long putter. I watched countless hours of video of Tiger putting as I think he has the model stroke for somebody who is looking to copy a stroke. What I mean by that is if you are a naturally great putter then you aren’t searching…if you are searching you aren’t a naturally great putter. I don’t think you could teach somebody to stroke a putt like Crenshaw. I do think you could teach almost anybody to stroke a putt like Tiger. His stroke is so basic and perfect it is quite amazing. Not saying you will putt like him because he is sooo great at reading greens and everything else that goes into putting.

As I have stated many times he has zero moving parts. That is accomplished in the gym working on all the little stabilizer muscles and on balance. He then has a rotational putting stroke that moves around a completely motionless body from the sternum down.

So what to work on in the off season to improve? Get in the gym and learn how your body works and how to stabilize yourself. Then build this http://yfrog.com/hsenqiwj This is the home “studio” I built for the 14 year old stud at my home club. I had one just like it in my garage from 2008-2009. I got rid of it last year so I wouldn’t practice, but plan on building one this weekend to use for the next few months while I try to get in shape for Q School. It is a putting mat with an arc fixed to the mat. I fix it to the mat because I want the environment to be exactly the same from day to day. Repetition in a controlled environment is the way to get consistency.

Get yourself stable and then wear out a putting arc making strokes with a stable body and using only the shoulders to move the putter. Do drills where you use the upper body only to “push” the ball to the hole. Meaning have the putter behind the ball and without a backstroke push the ball without your hands to the hole. I’ll shoot a quick video of what I mean and post it tomorrow from the office. I will also show how I train my eyes to be able line up the putter consistently.

Swing the club indoors to keep loose and if you can hit balls indoors. Sure it isn’t as good as hitting outside, but it doesn’t sound like you have a choice. You can 100% build a PURE putting stroke over the offseason and regardless of your handicap that can’t be a bad thing.