Golf

[Joanne]

Very responsible

 

I will brave the weather for comp day :/

 

You've played in lightning and snow... I think it's safe to say you would play in ANY weather!!

[Iain.Faulkner]

Went to the range last night....truly awful, shanking the ball all over the place for no obvious reason! First 20 balls were really positive, good strike, good ball flight and decent distance (for me anyway), then just fell apart. I can only think it's down to loss of concentration.

 

Managed to get a pass to play tonight after work though, hopefully I can get these issues resolved by the start of the comp tomorrow!

[kennysarmy]

Someone had to mention the S word did n't they

[phughes]

Haha.... SHANK!

 

I'll be playing this evening too... oh by the way guys. If you ever play Nelson Golf Club - mention you've seen it on Mood swings Golf and get a discount on green fees

[AJWhite1970]

1.2!

 

Awesome, I'm sure you'll be better than you imagine 

 

Well the woods are still OK (I carry 8 in my bag, 1W, 2W, 3W, 5W, 7W, 9W, 11W & 13W) but the irons are all over the place and the putter is talking a different language but hopefully it will come back in time. Hoping to spend some time on the Poultons Park academy par 3 course this weekend, £5 a round

 

[Iain.Faulkner]

Well the woods are still OK (I carry 8 in my bag, 1W, 2W, 3W, 5W, 7W, 9W, 11W & 13W) but the irons are all over the place and the putter is talking a different language but hopefully it will come back in time. Hoping to spend some time on the Poultons Park academy par 3 course this weekend, £5 a round

 

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8 woods! Wow

[AJWhite1970]

It's a long story!!! Back in my youth I was a scratch golfer playing left handed. I suffered a major back injury and as a consequence could no longer play left handed. So I started again playing right handed and as the rotation in my back won't allow me to hit flat out irons it was suggested I used lofted fairway woods instead as it's a longer smoother swing. I do get some funny looks at times when I pull out a wood from 110yds but then I've got my right handed handicap down from 24 to 1 and held the course record at my old club (64 nett 59 on a par 71 in the club championship) so I don't really care. Oh, and I still putt left handed

[phughes]

Wow! That is truly amazing! We'll done sir, I certainly doth my cap to you 😵

[Iain.Faulkner]

It's a long story!!! Back in my youth I was a scratch golfer playing left handed. I suffered a major back injury and as a consequence could no longer play left handed. So I started again playing right handed and as the rotation in my back won't allow me to hit flat out irons it was suggested I used lofted fairway woods instead as it's a longer smoother swing. I do get some funny looks at times when I pull out a wood from 110yds but then I've got my right handed handicap down from 24 to 1 and held the course record at my old club (64 nett 59 on a par 71 in the club championship) so I don't really care. Oh, and I still putt left handed

 

Whatever works for you :-)

 

That's seriously impressive though to be able to get back to that standard having switched hands....I can barely hold the club left handed let alone swing the thing.

[AJWhite1970]

Thanks Just looking for a couple of pictures, the 7 wood was downhill from 220yds and nailed it to about 6 foot for an eagle (and several Euros...) and the putt was a curler that lipped out...

[ful56_uk]

I've just started playing. Having lesson at the moment but find I am coming up half an inch when just about to hit the ball. Is getting fitted for golf clubs a good idea to see if I need them lengthen?

[AJWhite1970]

Normally a player 6 foot or under can get away with a standard set of clubs when starting (unless you have arms like Mr Tickle). I'm very tall, so my clubs are 1 inch longer than standard and 1 degree upright. It's always worth getting a pro or somewhere like American Discount to check your clubs though.

 

Hitting the ball half an inch up (or topping) is usually caused (but not always) by one of three things:-

 

1) You are coming up on the shot. This is often caused by looking up before you have hit the ball. A very simple tip for curing this is to put the logo on the ball to the back and try and read the logo as you hit the ball.

2) Hitting the ball on the upswing. If you watch a golf swing in slow motion with an iron you will see that you actually hit the ball on the way down, not the way up. topping may indicate that your ball position is wrong so try moving it back 1 inch in your stance and see if that makes a difference.

3) Swinging too hard. The harder you thrash a ball, the more out of sync your swing is. I was once taught that the perfect swing should be timed from start to finish by saying Severiano Ballesteros. If you only have time to say "Seve" you are swinging too fast!!!

 

HTH

[phughes]

We'll said, although I would stay clear of American Golf type shops unless you know exactly what you want. Otherwise they don't always sell you what is best for you, more what they want rid of to make sales quotas. Local pro all the way

[ful56_uk]

Well i am 6'2

 

Thanks for the info, ill take my clubs and get fitted i think first port of call, the golf pro who is doing my lessons will knock the topping out of me, its not all the. or im hitting them and its going left a lot. cheers

[AJWhite1970]

6'2 is quite tall for a standard set of clubs (by standard I mean off the shelf at sports direct etc) so I would indeed look at getting them fitted.

 

Hooking and topping may actually indicate your ball position is too far back rather than too far forwards especially if you feel like you are drilling the top half of the ball into the ground rather than clipping the top on the way up. I know, stupid game isn't it!!! Your pro will soon spot what you are doing and the feeling of nailing one straight is great when it happens consistently.

 

Have fun learning, don't give up and remember a thrown club at best can make 20 yards whereas a mishit ball can easily make five times that especially when there is water or long grass nearby

[phughes]

Just shot 78 ( +8 ) in prep for tomorrow's comp. Let's see how bad the rain is at 7:50am

[ful56_uk]

Thanks for the advice. I'll get my clubs fitted at the local club where I have my lessons.

[kennysarmy]

I did n't get out over the weekend...,but range tonight and some putting practice.

[phughes]

I played in comp Sat, penalty 2shots on 18th. So came in with 80, net 69. My handicap is now down to 10.4 😰

[Iain.Faulkner]

Still playing badly in competitions.....gross 97 at the weekend, net 77, handicap still creeping up now at 20.1. so frustrating as I know I can play some really good golf, I had consecutive Par's at 7, 8 & 9! Putting was a bit better than it has been in previous weeks, but I'm sick of playing second shots from bad positions because I can't get my driver/5 wood to go straight off the tee!

 

We did have an interesting situation though as we were finishing off the 13....we had torrential rain! From the greens having no water on them, by the time we had finished they had pools of standing water on them. The amount of rain that came down in a short space of time was incredible! Hooter was sounded and play was suspended! After a bit the rain stopped and within half an hour the greens had drained completely (pretty impressive), so those that wanted to went back out and finished off their rounds :-) Never had play suspended before, I'm just glad we were in the best place for it to be suspended, as the tee for the 14th is the closest to the clubhouse :-)

[Joanne]

I'm going to a beginners meeting thing tonight at the golf club with the intention of signing up for a 3 month membership to start at the beginning of next month, so I'll have most of the summer holidays to play.

[AJWhite1970]

Had the par 3 course to myself on Saturday morning so did 9 without scoring doing lots of bunkers, chips and putts and then went round again doing a two ball better ball score in the driving rain and scored 24 (3 under). Need to get out on a long course at some point but the next two weeks are manic with no chance to get out

[Joanne]

That meeting was.... interesting. Got swarmed by the Lady Captain, Vice Captain and another lady member... they are all retired and were very insistent that the social aspect of the club was excellent...

 

errrrrr.... that's not why I'm joining.... >.<

 

Playing with one of the ladies this week and next. She's going to mentor me or something. Wah. Think I'll have to politely decline any other meetings!

[Tesla]

Local(ish) course has an offer for 2 people for £20 for the next few weeks, plan to take advantage of that during the holidays, might need an emergency trip to the driving range though!

[kennysarmy]

Well the range session started well with some crisp 6 irons going straight to slight draw, then things went a bit downhill as every 5 wood and driver shot were high fades

 

I then worked on slow practice swings trying to feel the club coming from the inside and with the feeling that I was releasing the club earlier in the back swing, this really got my shots on a lower trajectory and much much straighter.

 

 

Just have to hope that feeling is with me tomorrow night when I play my nine holes at club night...not much margin for error as with a few decent games under my belt they've cut my club night handicap from 10 to 6!