biggerboat's building boondoggle blog
I started this in H&F but this seems a better place for it. These are my H&F posts. A bit long-winded but hopefully en
an alternate less hazardous option is to cross post into the twoplustwo golf thread
several rather high level knowledgeable folk tend to hand around
I found golf like poker.
Bad hand/swing, one after another. "I hate this ****ing game."
Crush one, you're back in love, ready to play again.
we've lost biggerboat
glgl
Hehe.
I'm wondering what a realistic timeline is to a: break 100 and b: break 100 consistently.
I think if a doesn't happen in a year I'll probably get frustrated and give it up.
I really don't have any clue what my best score is now because I tend to stop counting when I'm playing bad.
My best score on a par 3 9 hole I've been playing is 35.
an alternate less hazardous option is to cross post into the twoplustwo golf thread
several rather high level knowledgeable folk tend to hand around
a place for you to explore and see if there is a potential fit
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/93/go...
...
I'm wondering what a realistic timeline is to a: break 100 and b: break 100 consistently.
...
My best score on a par 3 9 hole I've been playing is 35.
35 < 100
Ugh. Played the front nine of our local course. 62. So frustrating.
Im decent off the tee but my second (and third, fourth, etc.) are horrendous.
Chipping not great but ok enough. Putting ok.
I have another lesson Wednesday.
I've been considering getting back into golf. I'm certain that when/if I do I won't play a round of golf for quite awhile. There will be many lessons and many practice sessions long before I subject myself to The Torture. I was thinking this program might be the way I go before I ever play a round, but we'll see.
was hoping it was the Ultimate Practice Routine. short game is the quickest way to improve your score (or so i've been told).
this is also a nice reminder from someone on r/golf who claims to have first started the game a year ago and already improved to scratch
Spoiler
My methods for improvement/lessons I’ve learned along the way:
Get swing fundamentals down - I see a lot of people on Reddit swing way faster than they should be swinging. How fast you swing a golf club means **** all if your form is garbage. Start slow, ensure proper technique - making contact with center of club face while club face is square, hinging wrists, good swing path, etc. The more you do this, the more muscle memory you will build. Suddenly you don’t have to think about the small things while you swing anymore (keeping club face square, not firing your arms too early, etc.). You will naturally build more speed and distance as you do this.
Swing tempo - tempo over power literally every single time. The golf club is a whip. The physics of the club head whipping down on the ball is much more powerful than you might think. Facilitate an accurate whip at the ball.
Get consistent - piggybacking off #1, it does not matter how your swing looks, feels, etc. just be consistent. It does not matter if you can hit your 7 iron 175 yards, it matters if you will hit it 175 4/5 times. Hitting your approach onto the green, after 75% swinging a club up, feels a lot better than falling short after full swinging a club you are not accurate with (or able to consistently hit center of club face with) when full swinging.
SHORT GAME. SHORT GAME. SHORT GAME. - My greens in regulation percentage is about 30% (I have a lot of shots that end up on the fringe but are technically not GIR). My up and down percentage is sitting at around 85% for the last two months. I sucked for a very long time at hitting greens in regulation (and still do), so I did my absolute best to get consistent at any shot, from any lie, less than 30 yards. Putting is easily the most underrated aspect of golf. After all, over half of your strokes will be on a green during a round (assuming you two putt every hole). I cannot begin to tell you how many holes/rounds I have saved with a clutch one putt from 6-7 feet. I booked rounds during non-busy times at courses that I knew had difficult greens, I would play the hole out, then I would drop my ball around different spots/breaks and practice them over and over. This really helped me get a feel for putt power and helped me learn to read breaks a lot better.
Knowing your distances - if you don’t know how far you hit all of your clubs (give or take 5-10 yards) you need to fix that. Try to get the best possible IDEA of both your CARRY distance and TOTAL distance per club with a reliable 75% swing, and a full swing at the range.
Course management - It’s comical how many people I have played with that are truly talented ball strikers, but their course management is just pitiful. If you have not practiced hitting a fade with your 5 iron then just don’t try to fade this shot around the trees ? If you aren’t positive you can carry the water or the tree line then just don’t ? try ? to ? do ? that ? Lay up to a distance that you are confident in your ability to approach the green from. Boring golf is good golf.
Course management continued - I see a ton of posts asking how they can break 100 or 90 and the answer is honestly course management (assuming you aren’t genuinely horrible at hitting a ball straight). To put it into perspective - the average par for a course is 72. If you hit less than 28 over then you have broken 100. The avg length of a par 4 is around 410 yards. Even if you only drive the ball 200 yards, you will have 210 yards in, which if you split into two shots, gives you two 105 yard shots. If you get onto the green after these 3 shots, and then two putt, you will bogey the hole. If you bogey every hole you hit 90. If you double bogey 7 holes, and bogey the rest, you will be 25 over and break 100. You see where I’m going with this?
Don’t get frustrated - Like moving on from your ex to your new piece, every hole is a new hole. Don’t go into the next hole still pissed at the previous one. It happens. Shake it off and relax, or you won’t play your best golf. I’ve double bogied holes that are typically an auto-par or better for me because I was still pissed about missing an easy birdie putt, or messing up a chip, at the previous hole. In my best rounds of golf, I am in a flow state. I’m not thinking about my swing because that is what the range is for; I’m not thinking about anything at all honestly. I keep my head clear, and I swing my swing.
You really need on course/turf practice - this is especially true if you hit off mats at the range. They give you way too much forgiveness and do not punish fat shots/chunks nearly enough. They also cannot emulate different lies, dirt consistency (softer vs more compact), the rough, etc.
Every round is a lesson - do not simply go out and swing your golf club around and hope to do well. You are paying $50-$100 for this opportunity, use it wisely. Your last shot sucked? Why? Did you hit it fat? Thin? Poor tempo? What did you do well today? Which areas of your game were you inconsistent with?What do you need to work on? Once you’ve identified the areas needing improvement, be disciplined and actually focus on them. Remember how it feels to blade a ball 20 yards past the green because you are not consistent with your wedges, and let that motivate you to get better with them.
Course conditions and pace of play matter - poorly maintained courses are hard. Nearly everything is unpredictable. Also, I definitely play worse if I’m sitting around for 10 minutes at the tee box waiting to hit my drive, and then another 5 minutes waiting to hit my approach.
Playing the tips encouraged me to improve - I have seen so many people on this subreddit bitch about people not being good enough for the tips etc. As long as you keep pace, do you. A sliced drive from the tips has the same result as a sliced drive from any other tee. For me personally, playing the tips constantly inspired growth. I worked on my driver distance, and I attribute practically all of my long iron and 3W proficiency to this strategy. I was at a point where I only ever used my 3W, 4, 5, 6 iron once per round, if that, because once I was able to drive 240 yards, I rarely had more than 175 to the pin from the whites and I never got course practice with these irons. There isn’t a crazy difference between the blues and the tips so I said screw it and just started at the tips.
Lessons - I have taken 3 lessons in one year, and I only requested a lesson when I could not achieve any progress for over a month of consistent range sessions and rounds on my own. Buy a $12 tripod, film your range sessions, keep note of your “good shots,” identify consistent mistakes leading to “bad shots.” Any reputable pro will be charging $150+/hr and they can be EXTREMELY helpful for helping you get over bumps in the road. With that said, you’d be surprised how much progress you can make if you are patient, disciplined, and actually analyze your swings and ball flights as opposed to swinging the exact same swing for 160 balls and expecting something to change.
I worked really, really hard to accomplish this - I am by no means a prodigy or naturally talented. I played 70+ rounds of golf in the past 7 months (did not really play during NY winter and was injured) and I likely hit well over 35,000 balls at the range. I filmed every range session of mine and then spent hours analyzing my swing and compared it to tour pros. I took notes and hit the range seeking to improve with those notes. I would not leave the range until I improved in some capacity. Sometimes I would be at the range for 5+ hours. Sometimes I did not want to go to the range or to play a round, but I still went out and did it because doing what you don’t want to do when you don’t want to do it is when you will build mental tenacity.
Most importantly - believe in yourself. When I first started golfing, I’d tell people my goal was to hit scratch in one year and people either laughed to my face, called me crazy, and even straight up told me I would never be that good, let alone in one year. The majority of people that play this sport are extremely kind and encouraging people, but there are definitely a significant amount of golfers who are resentful *******s. Do not let those people discourage you.
Thanks, redeye. I'll no doubt come back and refer to this as I continue. I think I'm not quite where I need to be to have a lot of it help right now.
My biggest problem I believe is simply consistency of swing. I've heard from everyone about the short game, but I can't even get to a short game in a reasonable number of shots. My second shot has been pure crap, which leads to a third shot that is pure crap. If it takes me 4 strokes to even have a shot at the green, my short game isn't going to save me.
It's kind of weird that some of the things that others have problems with, I don't. My driver is pretty decent as is my putting. My short game isn't great but it isn't my achilles heel either.
Of course, when I get my swing right and hit more consistently, my short game will definitely be the thing I'll need to work on the most.
I played the little par 3 9 hole course today.
The driving range was closed so I didn't get any warmup swings in.
52 the first time around, and 42 the second.
But I was reminded that as bad as I am, I'm not the worst out there. Played with a kid that hit as bad as me, but couldn't putt to save his life. Then got behind an old guy that couldn't hit the ball 20 yards.
Also, it is unbelievably hot here. I play in the heat of the day because the course is less crowded. But damn.
at least in my pdx loci
and only if because we played off the same courses
the dan plan was golf damn phenomena over fiveten years ago after a photographer retires at 30 to audition as an outlier in the next edition of Malcom Gladwell pga tour instructional books
his attempt to transition from never played a full round to pga qualifying in 10k repetitions is admirable, but his body let him down
https://www.golfwrx.com/437894/what-happ...
the reason to bring it up is i have met his coach Christopher Smith and their strategy was to start at the hole and work outward
what was most interesting to me is the feeling of a solid wedge upon ball around greens
middle groove that repeatedly then hit it a little bit further with the same purpose,
then a little bit more....then a bit more again........and again.......clubhead has the same path every time
9-8-7-6-5
all require the same solid contact
and do not forget the toes heels ankles knees hips
all comprise our tangled swing angles
Lol, golf is dumb until you hit that perfect shot.
I get what you are saying, red, but I'm not sure I care all that much about my short game right now. It isn't great but it isn't what is killing me. My long irons are horrendous.
Took my second lesson with the local pro.
On the first lesson he only gave me one thing to work on. I was bending my left knee (a lot) on the backswing. Fixing this helped a lot with distance but hasn't given me better consistency.
This lesson he only gave me one thing to work on. I was lifting my back foot (almost completely off the ground) on the backswing. I think this should help with me topping the ball a lot. At least it helped while he was watching me hit balls. Of course, I went to the 9-hole next door right afterward and couldn't hit a damn thing. Well, I say that, but I found the swing about half way through and hit some sweet shots.
So, from what I've gathered so far, my backswing is more of an issue than my actual swing. I believe I'm using it more as some sort of momentum starter instead of just a setup for my swing. I dunno.
Right now I think I have plenty to work on and don't plan on taking more lessons for a while.
The driving range was closed again today so I played the par 3. First shot was 6' from the pin. Woot. Overall I hit better than I have for a while. I really have to think about every part of my swing. Hopefully it will start becoming more natural.
Lol, golf is dumb until you hit that perfect shot.
I get what you are saying, red, but I'm not sure I care all that much about my short game right now. It isn't great but it isn't what is killing me. My long irons are horrendous.
finding a way to make solid contact on shorter shots then incrementally increasing their length with the same form while also transitioning to longer clubs is a common way to practice them both and also a solid range warm up
Took my second lesson with the local pro.On the first lesson he only gave me one thing to work on. I was bending my left knee (a lot) on the backswing. Fixing this helped a lot with distance but hasn't given me better consistency.This lesson he only gave me one thing to work on. I was lifting my back foot (almost completely off the ground) on the backswing. I think this sho
asking a few questions to help me understand what you're describing
do you swing right or left handed?
and when you say you're lifting your back foot on the backswing (which i'm struggling to visualize), is it your right or left foot that your lifting?
how is your hip and lower back mobility? any limitations?
and not a question more reminder, your backswing IS part of your actual swing and SHOULD be used for momentum,
especially when properly connected to the ground in sequence with all major muscle groups from armpits down
The driving range was closed again today so I played the par 3. First shot was 6' from the pin. Woot. Overall I hit better than I have for a while.
big smile reading this
what you describe is why many of us have not yet quit
well, that and eventually becoming a forefiend addict
So....
I'm right handed. I feel like I have pretty decent mobility, especially for my age. I don't think I swing like an old man, but I could be wrong. Also, I'm 6'5" if that matters.
So, here's the video taken by the guy I took lessons for. This is the before. Notice how my left knee collapses. He told me "don't do that"
So, I stopped doing that.
Then my buddy told me I need to lower my left shoulder more on the backswing, and not pull the club backwards. I think I was basically incorporating a baseball swing. Doing those two things really straightened my shots up a lot, but I was still topping the ball quite a bit.
So, I went back to the pro and he was telling me I was lifting my right foot, almost completely off the ground. So, I stopped that.
The last outing I definitely hit better, but I found one more thing online that has helped as well. Keeping my head stable. I had a tendency to lift it on the backswing.
All I know right now is my percentage of toppings and slices has definitely gone down. And, my distance has improved considerably. Like a lot.
I'm hoping all of those things become second nature in time.
i have a few thoughts but not going to share them now and clutter things up. i also think you may be addressing them under a different name so i can wait and see how that turns out
what i will say is you look more than functionally athletic and i can see you making large strides in a short amount of time.
Your swing needs work but it's probably good enough to break par.
The most important thing I've read so far is keeping your head still. Here's some 1950s technology:
Stick a tee in the ground.
Stand with your back to the sun.
Place the shadow of your head underneath the tee.
Practice your swing.
If the shadow of your head moves more than 1/1000 inch, try again.
Visualize.
Listen to red. Go play Putt-Putt and work on your money game.
Yeah, that swing probably doesn't look much like it does now. I've changed a lot of things.
But, yeah, the head. I've really worked on that. When I find myself hitting it poorly it usually traces back to my head.
Everything is still a work in progress but I'm definitely seeing an improvement.
