Nice round, you've definitely improved a bunch this year and sub-90 is coming soon.

Do you have a 3 wood? A lot of golfers find it to be a more consistent option off the tee - a little shorter than a driver and easier to control (I am not one of them lol, I have never gotten along with fairway woods).

Also, if you have a chance to do so (prob next season), play a round where you leave the driver at home. When I played in high school our coach would make us play practice rounds with irons only. Since you can't reach all the par 4s in two it's good practice for the short game and you might find you score better if you're keeping the ball in play off the tee and avoiding the triples.

How far do you/did you hit your 3 wood?

The firs time that I shot 33 was without a driver. I had collapsed the face and was waiting for a new one.

My average 3 wood carry distance (well struck, not smoked) is probably 220ish. For some reason I can't seem to hit driver much further than that. I have this issue....I can really rip irons but the longer the club the more diminishing the return. I don't think a well struck 4 iron for me goes any further than my 5 iron.

I've broken 80 once in my life. About 10 years ago. Didn't hit driver once.

While these anecdotes about driver are great and there is certainly some merit to the approach Booker describes, if you want to improve scores the simplest way to do that is to find a reliable driver swing and repeat it.

Giving up 15-20 (or more) yards per hole is not a recipe for optimal scoring

^agreed. my main issue is making solid contact with every club. if I'm 80 yards out and miss-hit the ball I'll still be a lot closer to the green than a miss-hit from 150.

edit: not that me keeping driver in the bag results in a difference of 70 yards off the tee, the above is just an example.

42-43-85. No birdies, 3 double bogeys.

Not sharp today. Main meltdown was from 50 yards in, wedges went AWOL. Rolled the ball well on the greens but made nothing.

One more round planned for tomorrow before the season is probably over.

Lessons maybe? Could be something fundamental

Less crisp the last two days but a solid 41-41 82 yesterday with a birdie on a long (5-iron) par 3 I hadn’t birdied all year. Been mostly flawless off the tee lately but the ball striking with my irons and wedges is off. Going in for some indoor lessons over the next few weeks.

Today was solid - played nine and had one bad driving iron swing but hit the other 5 fairways. Compared to 2 months ago my driving is 100% better and I’m hitting 4-5 fairways per nine instead of 2-3. New shaft has been great - and the slight swing change to really complete the backswing has been a massive game changer. Now to get the irons and putting dialed.

I'm jealous, my course has been closed due to snow for about 5 days.

We avoided the snow last week and had pretty decent weather for the whole holiday weekend. Highs nearing 50 and almost no wind. So played Wednesday Friday and 9 yesterday. May get out today but the weather is also looking similar for one more week so might just do some house stuff I’ve neglected.

41-42-83. No birdies, 1 double bogey.

A lot like yesterday, just not real sharp. Not bad though.

didn't keep score but it was somewhere in the high 80s/low 90s.
spraying the driver = 1 fairway. 4 or 5 pars, no triples, probably more doubles than singles, no three putts, no one putts outside 5 feet. hit some decent iron and full wedge shots. haven't played in at least two months and the course doesn't have a range, so i felt mildly ok about things in general.

most oregon courses are wet this time of year and this one was no different. several plugged lies including a couple on the green, soggy fairways make it harder to get clean contact, leaves everywhere. but it was foggy in the morning and cleared off to be sunny and low 50s by mid afternoon. worth the walk.

Yeah, straight is great, but if I could pinpoint one thing that would REALLY improve my score, it's adding another 15-20 yards off the tee. Too many courses have too many par 4s where I'm hitting 4 iron + into the greens, and even three-shot par 4s. It's really frustrating.

One good thing about living/playing on the Oregon coast is there is so much water all year round the (decent) courses have drainage down pat. It had been a damn rainy week, and while you could certainly find mud spots and don't get much roll out, the greens held and rolled better than many courses do in the middle of summer.

Going in for x-ray tomorrow. Highly unlikely anything is broken. My routine of ice and Aleve is the recommended treatment. Basically rest until I can withstand the pain. Tried swinging club this afternoon, no good.

Played a scramble on Saturday up in Kent, Washington with my dad, brother, and cousin, and it was lol. My dad used to be a +1, but is old with multiple artificial joints, and can't putt worth a damn. My brother has been a 2-3 round a year golfer, but really got into it this year, and his scores (upper 80s, low 90s) gave me hope he could contribute. Cousin was the x-factor. I am who I am...I hit the ball reasonably straight but not far, 120 in I'm pretty decent, and I putt above average.

We shot even par. I don't think I've EVER shot even par in a scramble. Two bogeys, two birdies. Course was a muni course in horrible shape (just mud mud mud mud, horrible, bouncy greens), somewhat lengthy with tight fairways. My brother and cousin crush the ball, but we didn't have a playable drive of theirs until the 8th hole, and only a couple after that. We used an embarrassing number of my (i.e., an 11 handicap) shots, and unfortunately they weren't that good. We actually hit every green but one in regulation, which makes even par even more embarrassing.


Sunday usual game: 43-44. Only two doubles, just couldn't get the pars. Annoying, because I felt I played pretty good.

Emergency 9: 39 with a double on the first hole, two bogeys and a birdie. I had tweaked a few things towards the end of my initial round, and felt a bunch of stuff I've been having trouble with come together, including straightening out my driver a little bit, which gave me a bit more distance. Putts were falling, etc...the type of 9 that gets you coming back and thinking you might actually be able to improve.

Emergency 9 happened because you really couldn't have asked for a better November day to play golf on the Oregon Coast. 55 degrees, no clouds, very little wind. Just fantastic.

no surprise. as you're more than aware, one of the downsides of PDX is the number of courses that become totally unplayable in the winter (looking at you Eastmoreland). as for greens, we played at Rose City and i was actually shocked how fast they were rolling for looking as shaggy as they were.

Yeah, Rose City is always pretty shaggy.

Washington County courses seem to do worse with drainage than Portland. Couple of those nine hole courses in Hillsboro (which are actually pretty fun, and dirt cheap) are literally 90% completely underwater most of the winter. Rock Creek was like that until about 10 years ago when they spent a ton on drainage.

(Incidentally, Rock Creek has an about engaged men's club. I haven't been a member in several years but I'm still on their list... a couple weeks ago when it was cold and rainy they had 85 guys play the usual weekly game).

Sent from my SM-G981V using Tapatalk

on the public side it's probably Stone Creek, Langdon, and not many more. our group plays both Heron courses quite a bit but considering the courses were built in the former location of the Vanport flood you can guess what they're like.

X-ray was negative. MRI scheduled for tomorrow morning. Doctor thinks it's something called TFCC. Funny enough I have a buddy that was hurt about a month ago. Texted him and asked if he heard of it. Literally the same injury he has, except the other hand since he is a righty.

guessing that stands for The **** Country Club?

triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC)

just teasing scott...couldn't help myself.
i googled it after you posted. wishing a speedy recovery.

I have a wrist splint on it now to hopefully promote it healing faster.

MRI done and confirmed TFCC, cartilage tear and also microfracture of hamate bone. I'm going to guess the bone is the source of the pain. Have an appointment with a hand specialist next week. Probably goodbye golf for this year.

My doctor knows my swing and he said you are going to have to shallow out your swing. Lovely.