42 40. Ball striking... meh. The stats probably would look okay, but the actual strikes weren't the best. Chipping was good to very good. The fail was on the putting. Didn't make a putt over 3 feet and missed 3 or 4 of those. No doubles, no birdies... just 8 pars, 10 bogies, 3 3-putts (if you include putts from fringe). Oh well... no practice and no play makes a bad player. Still had fun though and it was good to get out there.

82 on an easy course

91 on a brutally tough course.

92 on a pretty easy course. very fast greens and very windy though

i can never seem to get all parts of my games together the same time.

one day driving was great but sculling and chunking chips/pitches. next time, exact opposite. good chips/pitches but the 3 or 4 tight driving holes ate me up.

one consistent positive is that my fairway irons seem very good. somewhat strangely i seem to have problems with irons off the tee on par 3's. and i can't seem to do the obvious which would be to just replicate the fairway irons.

going for lessons. my goal was to break 80 regularly (high 70's not expecting much better) on a reasonably tough course. i realize i can't get there with slippage in my game (i never seem to take 2 strokes from 30-50 yards. sometimes 4 strokes), and then penalty strokes sometimes kill me. i think i need lessons to get rid of both to get into the 70's frequently.

straight driving is probably focus #1.

Played 3rd round of the year today. 72 with a double on the 2nd, and an eagle on the 10th.
Chipping was by far the part of my game that has suffered most from the layoff.

43 today. Started off pretty well, finished pretty bad.

2nd shot on Hole 1 I landed the ball within a foot for a birdie.

Hole 4 is a Par 5 with a tree line down the right side. It sucks if you're a habitual slicer. I hit the ball off the toe of the club and it went OB. I was just playing casually so I threw a ball out in the fairway (omg Rulez!!!) I hit a 3iron for my second shot, which went left behind a bunker so I was about 15-20 yards away. Chipped with a 56 degree wedge right into the hole for a 3+OB. Would have been an Eagle in my book.

Then on Hole 6 I met up with my friend's brother who is like a 1 handicap. I started rushing my shots and just played like hell getting double bogies on the next 3 holes.

Birdie, Par, Par, Par (Eagle 1 time!!!), Bogey, DBogey, DBogey, DBogey, Par.

I met Double Digits today and made him my bitch.

50-41-91 on a pretty easy home course of 69.7/113 (you called it Pelican86!)

Obviously super stoked. Previous lows a few instances of 103, and my handicap coming in to today was like 33.5 through 18 rounds.

Stats:
35 putts
6/14 FIR
2/18 GIR

6 pars
8 bogeys
2 doubles
1 triple
1 quad

Nothing worse than a bogey on back 9.
No score higher than a 7 all day.
Played 1 ball all day for the first time ever.

0 sand shots
1 penalty stroke
Had a Lionel Richie song in my damn head all day which was somewhat funny.

If I wasn't the worst putter ever, I could have sniffed 85 today, easily. Total putts does not tell the whole story about how bad I putted. I probably hit 3-4 putts from the fringe that didn't count, also. I had a 4-putt and three 3-putts today. And my first putt distances (first time I tracked these) were all close. My chipping/pitching was incredible today distance wise. As were pretty much all my approach shot distance irons. I'm generally good at club selection even though I don't use a range finder but today my distances were just really accurate. I did get lucky a few times when my "bad" shots didn't find water or come to rest under a tree like they usually do. Part of this was luck, part was taking time before the shot to consider where my mis-hits might land and adjusting my target line. In other words, the more I practice the luckier I get...

Drives weren't incredible today but I didn't hit 1 really bad drive at all. Usually I have 2-3 drives that bounce 80 yards and pull to the left and roll into water. Distances weren't my best and accuracy not my best but everything was solid and manageable.

Best shots of the day were probably a 3I from 180 out on a par 5 after topping a bad 2I. This was my third shot and it rolled up to the fringe, splitting two greenside bunkers. Another one was my 2nd shot on a par 4 from about 170 out (with wind). I hit a 6I perfect that settled pin high leaving me a 20 foot bird putt.

Really long, boring synopsis:

Hole 1: Par 5. Good drive just left of fairway. 2I punch under a tree canopy that worked really well. PW too far and it settles on a terrible uphill lie out of a bunker. I proceeded to chip a beautiful SW from 19 yards to 1 foot then sunk the par putt.

Hole 2: Par 3. Really ****ed this one up. It's short but all water carry and into the wind. I hit a 7I but pulled it bigtime. Then I skull my LW across green and into unplayable trench. 1 penalty stroke but I found my ball and pulled it out and dropped it. 4th shot again an LW that settles on green then I 3-putt from 12'. WTF. I'm so terrible at par 3's I really need to work on these.

Hole 3: Par 4. Nice drive 260 in the fairway. PW just off green that again rests above a bunker in thick grass on an uphill like with ball above my feet. Great. Luckily I hit a little LW out of that to 6 feet then 2-putted for bogey.

Hole 4: Par 4. Drive right of fairway. 2I, LW, then 2-putt from 6 feet for bogey.

Hole 5: Par 4. Great drive middle of fairway leaving me PW that I hit a bit short. SW chip to 15' then I ****ing 4-putted from here. Left first one way short. Hit 2nd putt about 4 feet past and lipped out the third putt coming back. Really had to try to control myself after this fiasco.

Hole 6: Par 5. Decent drive in the fairway. 2I approach shot hits this mound and doesn't run very far. Hit another 2I then a LW just over the green, then a terrific LW to 3 feet and I 2-putted from 3 feet. Ridiculous. Double bogey.

Hole 7: Par 4. Drive about 290 settles barely left of fairway, but inside cart path leaving me ball a few inches below my feet. (Thanks to dagolfdoc's tip I read today I knew to keep my weight back on my heels for this shot.) I hit a PW great contact but did pull it just off the green. Perfect distance though. Then I hit a beautiful SW chip from 18 yards to 4 feet and sunk the putt for a pretty fun par.

Hole 8: Par 4. This hole has a lake you gotta carry about 215. I finally cleared it and ball settled nicely in middle of fairway. Was getting ready to hit my PW approach shot when my foot started burning and I looked down and saw a bunch of fire ants on my ankle and left shoe. Walked back to cart, took shoe and sock off wiped my leg off with the towel and shook my sock out and smacked my shoe a bit and put it all back on then went to hit my PW when a ball from a dude's tee shot on another hole bounces in front of me. Awesome. So he's walking up toward his ball which is a bit distracting and I hurry to hit my PW and catch it fat out of a firm mud lie and it lays up short. OK I'm playing for bogey now. I then hit a LW onto the green and 3-putted from 35' for double bogey wtf?

Hole 9: Par 3. Hit 8I onto green then 3-putted from 35' again for a bogey.

Hole 10: Par 4. This hole always ****s me. It's got undulating water all down the left side. Hit my driver just a bit left but of course it bounces into the nearly empty lake (thanks drought). I manage to find my ball down in a muddy but firm lie. I make sure there are no snakes visible and take a 2I down there to see if I can play it. I've got about 18" of firm mud to stand on which barely gives me enough room to choke up and attempt some crazy save shot. Well somehow it works and the ball shoots over the lip of the lake and rolls up maybe 90 yards but in the middle of fairway. Great! I then hit a great PW to the left fringe and putt from there (60') and lag it to 2' and sink that for bogey. What a weird hole. I 4-putt from 15 feet but can lag it uphill out of fringe from 60' to 2'. What the **** ever. Really getting happy about my composure/play at this point.

Hole 11: Par 5. Nice fairway drive, 2iron second that I slice the **** out of but still get decent distance. A-wedge approach to fringe, putt from fringe, then 2-putt from 9 feet. Bogey.

Hole 12: Par 3. 195 yards. Hit a 2iron correct distance but pulled it a bit. LW pitch to 3' from about 22 yards left of pin. Sink it for par.

Hole 13: Par 4. Driver left of fairway. A-wedge to short/left of green. LW to 14' then 2 putt for bogey.

Hole 14: Par 5. Drive left of fairway. 2 iron punch shot under tree that I top and it bounces up maybe 60 yards and settles in fairway. 3 iron approach from about 180 that settles on the fringe. Putt from fringe to 3 feet then sink that for par.

Hole 15: Par 3. 8 iron way short into wind. LW onto green to about 20 feet and 2-putt for bogey.

Hole 16: Par 4. I hit a pretty good drive but it's a bit left and I lose sight of it. I think it bounces off hill and ends up in water up ahead so I hit a provisional ball and murder it 290 in the fairway. Not sure what to hope for at this point. I drive up and look all over for my original ball in this dry lake and don't see it. Then I walk back after a few minutes and see it much shorter than I thought. It's actually in the fairway but literally 50 yards short of my provisional. At least I'm hitting 2 instead of 4. So I walk my PW back to the cart and grab a 6I since I'm like 170 out instead of 120. Ball is about 2 inches below my feet and again I remember to put weight on heels and rip a beautiful 6i that settles pin high 20 feet right of hole. I knew I was playing well and in the back of my mind thought I'm probably going to break 100 today but it wasn't until after this shot that I got really confident and really started thinking about going for it. I 2 putted for par.

Hole 17. Par 4. Good drive but right. It settles right of some trees leaving me a shot at the green. I was about 170 out again and I'd just hit a great 6i so I hit another one but pull it way left about 30 yards from pin. I hit an amazing LW from 33 yards to 6 feet and had a good laugh then sunk the putt for another par.

Hole 18. Par 4. Rip driver about 270 (with wind) but it slices quite a bit. Left with PW with ball above feet and I put weight on balls of feet and strike it good but just a bit short but it clears a bunker and settles on the fringe. Gotta be at least 35 feet out and I lag it from the fringe way past to 8 feet past and 2 putt from there for bogey.

Pretty damn excited!

PHB,

Awesome round, phb. Glad to see you bust through the 100 barrier in style.

Thanks guys. Pretty weird tallying things up and seeing I almost broke 90 on the same day I broke 100. Can't believe it... didn't think there were that many strokes for me to shave so soon. Been on cloud 9 all day.. and to think I almost didn't play. Had a bad headache but took some tylenol and got my ass out there and braved the nasty heat/humidity.

And special thanks to the high handicappers, the low handicappers, and the golf docs who have helped me along getting to a lower number than I could have on my own! This forum has been really great.

Here's a crazy/stupid question:

I found a club in my garage today and I am wondering what it is. I can't tell if it's a driver or a 3 wood or what. It says 9.5 on it, I guess that must be the angle? It also says Taylor Made 200 Steel.

TIA.

phb, congrats and I would love to play a round of golf with you. In what area do you live?

My sudden success in golf came from 2 things.

1. Using my dad's 56 degree wedge, being able to play the super short game a lot better. I still tend to use it too often, thinking I can reach the green when I'm more of a reduced PW away.

2. The way that I address my ball. When I was 14 years old, out in California, my friend and his dad took lessons (I was there so I took them for free) and the instructor showed us how to hold the club in relation to the ball. It was a very exaggerated angle with your hands way in front of the ball. I played like that through high school and all the way up until this year. I always had inconsistency, but in high school I played so much (was on the golf team) that I just got used to it - but I was just an average player.

This year I had been out playing and I would watch my friend's brother hold his club and he was always straight on, maybe having his hands inline with the ball. I started doing that just to try it out and I instantly had better accuracy and better contact. It took 6-8 shots off of my game.

Golf is a lot more fun when you only have to swing a few times per hole. haha But I think now I'm starting to expect more out of my game so when I bogey a hole that I shouldn't I start getting irritated that I just ruined the hole.

I hit a 40 today. Should have broken into the 30s, but I f'd up on Hole 7 by 3 putting.

9.5 sounds like a 1W.

Does it have a 1 on it anywhere?

No 1 on it anywhere. It doesn't look like an iron tho. It has a big head and looks like a driver or a wood.

Methinks we need a 2p2 golf outing.

My driver is 9.5 so I definitely assume thats what it is

upon googling... its a Driver (My TMR7 just has degree on it also)


..and its current trade in value is $5.01

per OOB.com he plays at Pasadena Muni GC a lot and its in Houston, TX

Awesome about the driver, thanks!

Houston is far from here. I'm in DC. Meet in Nashvegas?

Played 2 balls on 9 holes walking in the rain. Shot 49 & 53.

Actually pretty pleased, given the slippery conditions. Putting and wedge stats would be horrible, I've never played in wet before. Driving and iron shots were pretty much fantastic today--not a single penalty, skull, slice, or shot hit fat all day. 16 FIR and I believe I had three shots total from the rough. That fairway sure is a ****ing nice place to hit 2nd shots from!

Next time out I'll be adding some modern (used) equipment,; titanium driver and a 3 hybrid. The way I was absolutely murdering the ball with my 3 and 4 irons today, I'm especially looking forward to the hybrid.

i'd love an explanation here. It appears as mr. golfer man is wondering if he's about to get shot to death on the driving range.

Shotgun Golf

I haven't posted on this forum before, but I've been lurking since I started playing (about a month or so ago, hah).

I played the best I've ever played today, and by a fairly wide margin. Since I started playing I've been sticking almost exclusively to a par 3 course that I can play cheaply ($8 for unlimited play if you get there before 2 PM on week days), and occasionally the driving range. The course is pretty short, with more than half the holes being <=100 yards, but I was absolutely on fire today. I didn't keep score, because I never do and because I have to skip around a lot sometimes due to large groups bogging the course down. That said, I'm pretty sure if I had kept score I would have been even or very close to it. I played ~30 holes and of those my worst score was a double bogey (which is amazing for me, I don't think I've ever played a round without a couple really terrible holes), and I made probably about 6 birdies with reasonable putts for 5 or so others that I missed.

It's crazy, but I feel like I've had kind of a eureka moment in regards to several things. The main one, though, is my grip. I don't know if anyone else does this, but I have started changing up my grip significantly when hitting wedges when compared to other clubs, and I've changed my grip overall compared to what I used 2 weeks ago. When I'm hitting wedges I grip under the club with my top hand so that if the handle of the club were transparent I could see my palm. This has helped me be much more consistent with getting the correct trajectory on wedge shots when I take a normal swing. Before doing this if I wanted to chip I had to take a really awkward arms only swing that wasn't really viable without a very good lie. This new chipping/wedge swing is viable pretty much universally regardless of the lie of the ball.

when I'm hitting other clubs I grip over the top of the club with my top hand, so that when I extend the club out in front of me I can see the back of my top hand. with both grips I've begun reaching across the club with my bottom hand. I use a baseball grip because I have smallish hands and could never get used to the feel of having my bottom hand's pinky being laced with or on top of my top hand, and this new thing of reaching my bottom hand across the club makes my grip feel so much more cohesive.

I don't know if these are bad habits (if I've been unclear I could probably post a picture or two to illustrate what I mean), but I was striking the ball so much more consistently today it was kind of insane. Hole after hole I was putting my first shot not just close to the green, but often on it close to the hole with the correct trajectory (which at this point seems as important to me as anything else) for the club I hit. They were mostly just PW, SW, 9i, and 8i shots with an occasional 7i and one 5i mixed in since the course is so short, but I was hitting those clubs very very well today. I also think I figured something out about hitting the driver while I was warming up on the driving range before I played today. Overall, easily my best day of golf yet, and I'll be playing again tomorrow and a full length course on sunday. Pretty pumped to see if I can actually start being more consistent.

I was meant to go golfing this evening but of course the rain is pelting down so it's a no go. Worst summer in my lifetime, non-stop rain.

playing golf this afternoon in scottsdale at pinnacle peak cc....should be about 112 degrees but at least there's no rain!

EXTREME HEAT >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> RAIN

the ball goes so damn fair when it's 110+ out it's stupid

What's the most # of 3-putts you've had in a round? I just played 9 holes and had 7 3-putts, 25 putts total, what a joke I am.

Probably 8 in an 18-hole round. Just got a new putter the day before and it felt like I was hitting it with a head cover on compared to my old one. Returned it the next day lol.

played a 36 hole marathon tournament starting at 5:12 AM. both scores sucked 94 and 100 (HCP 16). Never will play this tournament again. Tooo early - couldnt get asleep untill 1 AM and had to wake up at 3:30. 2nd Round was just tired and unfocussed. But it was fun, though i expected to win this by netto did not work out ^^

played the OGA course about a month or so ago. the thing that i really liked was the five par 5s and the five par 3s on the card, especially the 3-5-5-3-4-3-5 stretch on the front. i've always dreamed about playing a course that had six 5s, six 4s, and six 3s, and the OGA is the closest i've come.