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The family is off to Cape Cod through Labor Day. Tomorrow the kids and I are playing a round at the place we're staying. And no score keeping. Which is probably best for me.

If you don't keep score then how do you measure yourself against other golfers? By height?..... :huh: :)
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The family is off to Cape Cod through Labor Day. Tomorrow the kids and I are playing a round at the place we're staying. And no score keeping. Which is probably best for me.

If you don't keep score then how do you measure yourself against other golfers? By height?..... :huh: :)

 

Just like Ty did. :)

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The family is off to Cape Cod through Labor Day. Tomorrow the kids and I are playing a round at the place we're staying. And no score keeping. Which is probably best for me.

 

Great, and totally true, moment during the round. One of the holes was one of those par 3s where the tee box is separated from the green by marsh land and water (these are common in New England, don't know if you have them where you are). I was intimidated by the set up and crushed my 8 iron into the woods behind the green. My son contributed a ball to the water hazard. And my beautiful little girl, who said "Why am I doing this, I'm just going to lose my ball" proceeded to plant one on the green.

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I splurged for a few golf lessons this spring with a PGA pro. There has been improvement in my game. :ebert: I'm happy. My game still sucks, but not quite as much as before. I'm going to keep at it! When you see some positive results, you don't want to throw the clubs in the river..

 

I'm seriously considering taking some lessons next spring. I may be an old dog, but I'm willing to learn some new tricks. I'm in good health (except for my tendonitis), and I can still hit the ball a fair distance. My scorecard WILL become a pleasant sight someday......:LOL:

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I was golfing on Sun with my pops. I shot a great round seeing how I have been shooting. 43, 3 pars, 5 bogies, one double bogey. I had 4 birdie putts...

Last weeks round I had 18 chances at birdies only made one. :P
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I was golfing on Sun with my pops. I shot a great round seeing how I have been shooting. 43, 3 pars, 5 bogies, one double bogey. I had 4 birdie putts...

Last weeks round I had 18 chances at birdies only made one. :P

18 birdie putts... or 18 chances at birdies? Very different :)
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I was golfing on Sun with my pops. I shot a great round seeing how I have been shooting. 43, 3 pars, 5 bogies, one double bogey. I had 4 birdie putts...

Last weeks round I had 18 chances at birdies only made one. :P

18 birdie putts... or 18 chances at birdies? Very different :)

 

I have a chance at making a birdie every time I step up to the tee. Unfortunately, that chance evaporates halfway down the fairway.....

 

:doh:

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Played today after work. Started par, par, then made a triple on a par three. Felt like the rest of the front nine I was on full tilt...hot & windy...my playing partner really hacking his way around the course. Finished the front with a 43 somehow.

 

Number ten hole is a par 5. Driving up to the tee, I was a little steamed still from that triple bogie (such a child). Something I've learned to do is to micro-focus, so I putt all my energy into a single dimple on the ball. I absolutely crushed my drive, setting up a fairly easy 3-hybrid to get close in two. A chip and a putt later, I make birdie. Taking things one stroke at a time, I felt like I was playing much better. Didn't really care about the score. I birdied a par four after nearly driving the green (nice tail wind), and birdied seventeen (par 3) and eighteen (par 5) as well. Ended up shooting a 1 under 35 on the back nine. 43, 35...for a 78.

 

Good things happen, if you let them. May be a life lesson in there somewhere. :)

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I can hit an 80 yd worm burner all day long. Getting the ball off the ground aint my style. Never been able to do it in the four years I've golfed. I should take your advice and invest in some new clubs.

Golf is so counter-intuitive in that way. As long as you're trying to lift the ball, it will stay down. Try and mash it into the ground and it'll jump right off the fairway.

 

Exactly. Let the loft of the clubface get the ball in the air.

 

After playing King Cobra knockoffs for the past 15 years, I went to Dick's and tried out some new irons. First I tried the Calloway X-Hots and the Ping G20s. They were fine -- liked the Pings a little better, but I like a heavier clubhead and neither quite fit the bill. I wasn't hitting the ball flush on a lot of shots, though I'm sure my high-handicap swing had something to do with that. ;)

 

Then I tried the Cobra AMP CELLs and they immediately felt comfortable. I felt the clubhead throughout the swing and I made better and more consistent ball contact. With the other two clubs I was hitting the 7-iron about 155 yards, a little below what I should be hitting it. With the Cobra I was hitting it 165-ish pretty consistently. So I bought 'em.

 

I got them about a month ago and I've yet to go to the range or play a round with them. Too busy with work.

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Played today after work. Started par, par, then made a triple on a par three. Felt like the rest of the front nine I was on full tilt...hot & windy...my playing partner really hacking his way around the course. Finished the front with a 43 somehow.

 

Number ten hole is a par 5. Driving up to the tee, I was a little steamed still from that triple bogie (such a child). Something I've learned to do is to micro-focus, so I putt all my energy into a single dimple on the ball. I absolutely crushed my drive, setting up a fairly easy 3-hybrid to get close in two. A chip and a putt later, I make birdie. Taking things one stroke at a time, I felt like I was playing much better. Didn't really care about the score. I birdied a par four after nearly driving the green (nice tail wind), and birdied seventeen (par 3) and eighteen (par 5) as well. Ended up shooting a 1 under 35 on the back nine. 43, 35...for a 78.

 

Good things happen, if you let them. May be a life lesson in there somewhere. :)

 

I don't care much about the score either. I just want to hit the ball good. A round with more good shots than bad ones and not too many 3-putts is a good round.

 

After a meltdown hole where I'd be sitting on a 5 before getting onto the green, I would usually pick up my ball to clear my head for the next hole. But that never really cleared anything -- while the other guys were putting out, I'd sit there stewing, and that would carry over to the next hole. That happened about midway through my last round, but this time, instead of stewing about it, I took practice swings. My main problem that day was I was picking my head up on contact, so I concentrated on keeping my backswing simple, and keeping my head down. From that point on I hit more good shots than bad ones. Simple swing thoughts are a beautiful thing.

 

Next round it will be a different problem, but that's the game. :)

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Played today after work. Started par, par, then made a triple on a par three. Felt like the rest of the front nine I was on full tilt...hot & windy...my playing partner really hacking his way around the course. Finished the front with a 43 somehow.

 

Number ten hole is a par 5. Driving up to the tee, I was a little steamed still from that triple bogie (such a child). Something I've learned to do is to micro-focus, so I putt all my energy into a single dimple on the ball. I absolutely crushed my drive, setting up a fairly easy 3-hybrid to get close in two. A chip and a putt later, I make birdie. Taking things one stroke at a time, I felt like I was playing much better. Didn't really care about the score. I birdied a par four after nearly driving the green (nice tail wind), and birdied seventeen (par 3) and eighteen (par 5) as well. Ended up shooting a 1 under 35 on the back nine. 43, 35...for a 78.

 

Good things happen, if you let them. May be a life lesson in there somewhere. :)

 

I don't care much about the score either. I just want to hit the ball good. A round with more good shots than bad ones and not too many 3-putts is a good round.

 

After a meltdown hole where I'd be sitting on a 5 before getting onto the green, I would usually pick up my ball to clear my head for the next hole. But that never really cleared anything -- while the other guys were putting out, I'd sit there stewing, and that would carry over to the next hole. That happened about midway through my last round, but this time, instead of stewing about it, I took practice swings. My main problem that day was I was picking my head up on contact, so I concentrated on keeping my backswing simple, and keeping my head down. From that point on I hit more good shots than bad ones. Simple swing thoughts are a beautiful thing.

 

Next round it will be a different problem, but that's the game. :)

 

Indeed....all I want is to put the ball in the fairway consistently (MY fairway, not the one adjacent to it..... :facepalm: ) as well as get the ball up in the air when approaching the green. Simple things like that. If I can do that, then everything else is peachy. I can enjoy the round regardless of my final score....

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http://silveroakgolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/number-6.jpg

 

Had a great day yesterday at Silver Oak. The weather was perfect and the course is in great shape. Late September/early October is the best time for golf around here. Summer UV rays really stress the grass here (we're at 4500 ft.). I got to play with a couple of solid golfers, too. Good friends of mine that I hadn't gone out with in years. Life is good.

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OK, fellow hackers......after a year of wrist tendonitis, fatigue, distractions, and much frustration on the golf course, I have made a breakthrough and started golfing better. It took a while, but I finally cleared my head and realized what I've been doing wrong on the tee. The HIPS, baby....it's all in the HIPS.

 

The past year, I've done most of my golfing on only a few hours sleep (I work nights). I've been so tired that I've been swinging my driver with nothing but my upper body. Consequently, the slices off the tee were of epic proportions. It was freaking embarrassing, I tell ya..... :facepalm:

 

This past week or two, I've been going to the range with my full focus on my lower body and coiling & uncoiling my hips through my swing. Using my driver and my 3-wood, 90% of the balls were zooming off the tee. I was hitting the ball dead straight, with a bit of a draw (YES!!) or with a slight fade (which is OK). So today, I played 9 holes on the local "executive course" for practice, and my tee shot on #1 rocketed right down the middle of the fairway, and fell 10 yards from the green (269-yard hole). Every time I used the driver and 3-wood, the results were 100% better. I scored a 39 on the par 32 course (I had some bad chips..... :doh: ).

 

I still have much improvement to do on my overall game, but now, I have regained my confidence and look forward to playing better golf and having a LOT more fun.

 

http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/m3qBTmKfuB5xVI1Y5sWZExw.jpg

Edited by Principled Man
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Congrat's on getting that figured out! Rotating your hips through ' belt buckle to the target - gets you off your right side and through the ball. Now if you can just give it a little more right hand you can turn that slice into a nasty hook! :LOL:
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Congrat's on getting that figured out! Rotating your hips through ' belt buckle to the target - gets you off your right side and through the ball. Now if you can just give it a little more right hand you can turn that slice into a nasty hook! :LOL:

 

Indeed! Some golf instructors love to see their students hit consistent draws and hooks, as it shows that they're eliminating their slices. Once the slice is gone, then they work on ironing out that hook into a straight shot or a slight draw.

 

That is exactly what I was doing these past few trips to the range. Once I got my hips in motion, I was hitting draws and some hooks. Several times, I hit a perfect 5-yard draw. The ball started out a bit right and then drew back straight to the target line. That got my juices flowing!! :LOL:

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Congrat's on getting that figured out! Rotating your hips through ' belt buckle to the target - gets you off your right side and through the ball. Now if you can just give it a little more right hand you can turn that slice into a nasty hook! :LOL:

 

Indeed! Some golf instructors love to see their students hit consistent draws and hooks, as it shows that they're eliminating their slices. Once the slice is gone, then they work on ironing out that hook into a straight shot or a slight draw.

 

That is exactly what I was doing these past few trips to the range. Once I got my hips in motion, I was hitting draws and some hooks. Several times, I hit a perfect 5-yard draw. The ball started out a bit right and then drew back straight to the target line. That got my juices flowing!! :LOL:

Nice! Golf is a wonderful game. So many little nuances.
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What a fickle game golf is. I played yesterday and nothing really came together. Good tee shots ended in a bad lie, great putts lipped out... The format was two-man better ball, and my partner and I were paired with a couple of high handicappers. I grind out a par and the other guy makes s birdie while getting two strokes - for a 1! He did that twice. :LOL: He and his partner shot a net 55!
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This coming weekend my wife is going down to Cape Cod for her annual "girls' weekend" (at least, that's what she tells me :)) So part of the weekend plan for me is my son, daughter and I are going to go out at around 4 pm on Saturday to the public course we love (it's wide open) and play 9 or so. We don't keep score, and it's a walking course, so it's just hit, laugh, walk for a couple of hours. Honestly, I probably look forward to "girls' weekend" more than my wife because the three of us walking the course is as good as it gets.
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Been out more this summer than the last couple. My first 9 was great, I shot a 42 - I was very happy with that. Next time out with my pop, I shot a 51, just couldn't get my drives down, and putted for crap. We had a 4 person scramble on Thurs and we came in at a 69 (3 under). I was absolutely crushing my drives, perfectly straight in front of me. The only issue I had was not aiming my feet properly a few times.... and when I hit my 3 wood, I teed it up too high once and got WAY under the ball. Other than that, I was really good off the tee. I put it 62 yds from the pin on a 389 straightaway, and about 2 yds from the green on a 342 dog leg right (nearly cut the corner perfectly.) Just a hair more to the right off the tee and I would have drove the damn green on that one.
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and when I hit my 3 wood, I teed it up too high once and got WAY under the ball.

 

Pop it straight up? I've done that a few times......embarrassing!! :doh: :doh:

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and when I hit my 3 wood, I teed it up too high once and got WAY under the ball.

 

Pop it straight up? I've done that a few times......embarrassing!! :doh: :doh:

It was a beautiful hole, tree covered tee box, a slight dog leg to the left. I used a 3 because the water was about 250 away and I didn't want to put it in the water. Teed it up like I was hitting a driver and managed to hit the trees above me :LOL:

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and when I hit my 3 wood, I teed it up too high once and got WAY under the ball.

 

Pop it straight up? I've done that a few times......embarrassing!! :doh: :doh:

It was a beautiful hole, tree covered tee box, a slight dog leg to the left. I used a 3 because the water was about 250 away and I didn't want to put it in the water. Teed it up like I was hitting a driver and managed to hit the trees above me :LOL:

 

Speaking of trees.....just this past weekend, I was on the tee at a 170-yard par 3. A couple of trees to the left about 50 yards away, and a big pond on the right. I aimed a bit to the left to avoid the water, but hooked it a bit. The ball hit the tree dead square and came right back to me...... :LOL: :lol:

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and when I hit my 3 wood, I teed it up too high once and got WAY under the ball.

 

Pop it straight up? I've done that a few times......embarrassing!! :doh: :doh:

It was a beautiful hole, tree covered tee box, a slight dog leg to the left. I used a 3 because the water was about 250 away and I didn't want to put it in the water. Teed it up like I was hitting a driver and managed to hit the trees above me :LOL:

 

Speaking of trees.....just this past weekend, I was on the tee at a 170-yard par 3. A couple of trees to the left about 50 yards away, and a big pond on the right. I aimed a bit to the left to avoid the water, but hooked it a bit. The ball hit the tree dead square and came right back to me...... :LOL: :lol:

Our golf outing was a shotgun start, we started on 17 so finished on 16... played 17 and 18 again back in, each playing their own ball. I birdied 17, and tried cutting the corner on 18... didn't make it. 2nd shot out of the trees hit a tree, landed on the fairway 15-20 yds behind me... :doh:

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