The OS Golfer's Thread!

[CC]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

Shot an 81 this afternoon. I didn't play bad at all, just had some errant tee shots and sometimes my new ultra aggressive approach just doesn't work out. It was a course I've only played once, maybe twice though. Really I should be fairly happy with the round because I haven't played seriously the last 3 years, but I am not since I've come out on fire this year and am almost back to scratch.

[SinisterAlex]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

I'm going through the same thing.

I've always had a natural cut which more often than not turns into a slice (always had a real nice inside out swing in baseball) and I put a lot of work in over the winter to reverse it to a draw.

It's been challenging and I've hit some beautiful shots that are showing promise but they are followed with just as many bad shots.

It gets a little disheartening at times but I'm determined to solidify my swing within the next couple years.

I made the mistake of changing my natural fade into a draw. Now I'm slowly trying to go back to my fade. I have a big issue with getting "stuck" during the downswing. Basically the club and hands get well below my shoulder plane on the way down and the only realistic way for me to hit the ball solid is to release the club early and flip with my hands. When timed perfectly I would hit towering high 1-2 yard draws, but when not timed perfectly would turn into pushes and pull hooks. My distances would also vary. I have a pretty fast swing speed and my stock PW usually goes about 135 in the air. Some days if I timed my flip correctly I'd hit the 135 yard mark. Other days when I couldn't time the flip I'd hit a higher than normal shot that would only go about 120 yards.

I got caught up in that quest to hit a draw that every golfer dreams of. I went from hitting a fade that was consistent with only a one way miss with predictable distance and ball flight to hitting balls with inconsistent distances, ball flights and had a two way miss.

Changing back has been hard though. When I'm swinging right it feels as if I'm coming horrendously over the top but when I watch footage of myself the club is on plane or just slightly below or above. Much more of an improvement than what I used to be doing.

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I'm playing on Thursday at a super challenging and demanding course. This course actually created a local PGA Tour winner. Nick Taylor is his name. Born in Manitoba but raised and played golf where I live. Never met him in person but whenever I go play the course (especially after his PGA Tour win) you always see memorabilia and pictures of him. Really neat to have a PGA Tour winner right in my home city.

[pietasterp]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

I'm going through the same thing.

I've always had a natural cut which more often than not turns into a slice (always had a real nice inside out swing in baseball) and I put a lot of work in over the winter to reverse it to a draw.

It's been challenging and I've hit some beautiful shots that are showing promise but they are followed with just as many bad shots.

It gets a little disheartening at times but I'm determined to solidify my swing within the next couple years.

Yeah, it usually gets worse before it gets better, but as the old saying goes, if you just keep doing what you've always done...

I'm okay w/ hacking it up to some extent while trying to improve, although I'd be lying if I said it doesn't bother my ego a bit. Even playing with friends and such that you haven't played with in a while or don't normally play with, I know I shouldn't care at all (and they don't care either) but it does sorta bother me that they probably think I'm one of the biggest hacks they've ever met. But whatever. It'll be worth it for the long-term gains of actually getting better/more consistent. Whenever that happens...

I made the mistake of changing my natural fade into a draw. Now I'm slowly trying to go back to my fade. I have a big issue with getting "stuck" during the downswing. Basically the club and hands get well below my shoulder plane on the way down and the only realistic way for me to hit the ball solid is to release the club early and flip with my hands. When timed perfectly I would hit towering high 1-2 yard draws, but when not timed perfectly would turn into pushes and pull hooks. My distances would also vary. I have a pretty fast swing speed and my stock PW usually goes about 135 in the air. Some days if I timed my flip correctly I'd hit the 135 yard mark. Other days when I couldn't time the flip I'd hit a higher than normal shot that would only go about 120 yards.

I got caught up in that quest to hit a draw that every golfer dreams of. I went from hitting a fade that was consistent with only a one way miss with predictable distance and ball flight to hitting balls with inconsistent distances, ball flights and had a two way miss.

Changing back has been hard though. When I'm swinging right it feels as if I'm coming horrendously over the top but when I watch footage of myself the club is on plane or just slightly below or above. Much more of an improvement than what I used to be doing.

I had a similar problem and I'm going through a similar adjustment back to a more upright/out-in swing. I don't want and out-in swing if I can help it, but that's a much more consistent shot-making swing than the draw swing I was morphing into the last few seasons. If I had more commitment, I'd stay w/ the draw swing, but it got to the point where I was no longer able to flush contact the ball and get good, high, crisp shots - everything was sort of a mediocre low/thin draw, and it was really inconsistent. Also, it forced me to do too much with my swing that for whatever reason just doesn't work for me.

I'm still taking the principles of the draw swing to heart and trying to sort of incorporate them into some of my older swing to make a bit of a "hybrid" swing that hopefully will offer the best of both worlds. So far, it's the absolute worst of both worlds, but it's early yet....

Keep at it, and have fun out there!

[pietasterp]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

I made the mistake of changing my natural fade into a draw. Now I'm slowly trying to go back to my fade. I have a big issue with getting "stuck" during the downswing. Basically the club and hands get well below my shoulder plane on the way down and the only realistic way for me to hit the ball solid is to release the club early and flip with my hands. When timed perfectly I would hit towering high 1-2 yard draws, but when not timed perfectly would turn into pushes and pull hooks.

Oh, one other thing (sorry for the double post) - I also had/have this problem of "getting stuck", although for the longest time I couldn't understand why this was happening to me and I didn't realize it was such a common problem. For me, part of this came from the mistaken sense that I had to really let my hands and arms lag behind my legs and torso, and really slow down the hands instead of it just happening naturally in a in-rhythm swing. For me, this manifested in a lot of misses that were horrendous tops or grounders that went straight right.

One of the realizations for me that made a difference (as with all golf-swing-related things, your mileage may vary and I don't recommend anyone else try what worked for me...) was that I actually had to move my hands faster to the ball, since my legs/body were rotating over too quickly if anything. I'm not saying swing faster, but...the idea that swinging slower is better may not always be true for everyone. It is probably true that a "jerky" or sudden-change in speed swing is not good, but making sure your hands/the butt-end of the club reach the ball first has been a positive change for my swing. But the jury is still out - will report back after a few more rounds.

[countryboy]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

Tomorrow is one of my favorite days at work as i get paid to play golf.

[SinisterAlex]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

Oh, one other thing (sorry for the double post) - I also had/have this problem of "getting stuck", although for the longest time I couldn't understand why this was happening to me and I didn't realize it was such a common problem. For me, part of this came from the mistaken sense that I had to really let my hands and arms lag behind my legs and torso, and really slow down the hands instead of it just happening naturally in a in-rhythm swing. For me, this manifested in a lot of misses that were horrendous tops or grounders that went straight right.

One of the realizations for me that made a difference (as with all golf-swing-related things, your mileage may vary and I don't recommend anyone else try what worked for me...) was that I actually had to move my hands faster to the ball, since my legs/body were rotating over too quickly if anything. I'm not saying swing faster, but...the idea that swinging slower is better may not always be true for everyone. It is probably true that a "jerky" or sudden-change in speed swing is not good, but making sure your hands/the butt-end of the club reach the ball first has been a positive change for my swing. But the jury is still out - will report back after a few more rounds.

That's exactly what I've been doing along with feeling like I'm coming over the top.

[pietasterp]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

That's exactly what I've been doing along with feeling like I'm coming over the top.

Seemed to be working really well at the range yesterday. I know I'm like a driving range hero and course zero these days, but yesterday I was really striping them.

One thing I struggle with is that there's a definite difference between moving your hands to the ball earlier, and swinging way too hard. I can't explain the difference in words, but I think most of you guys can sort of tell what I mean when I say that. It's a real fine line, though...the bad over-swings are still horrible when it happens and lead to some embarrassing misses. Controlled speed is the goal. Easier said than done...

[speels]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

Played a round on the home course on Monday and it was.......interesting. Shot 84 (par 71) but had 3 triples and a quad, so basically played the rest of the course even.

Changing my setup has caused me a lot of problems, but I'm working through it. It has honestly added 10 to 15 yards to all my irons, but aiming is a little different so I don't have the control yet. It does feel great when you hit the center of the club though.

[SinisterAlex]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

Seemed to be working really well at the range yesterday. I know I'm like a driving range hero and course zero these days, but yesterday I was really striping them.

One thing I struggle with is that there's a definite difference between moving your hands to the ball earlier, and swinging way too hard. I can't explain the difference in words, but I think most of you guys can sort of tell what I mean when I say that. It's a real fine line, though...the bad over-swings are still horrible when it happens and lead to some embarrassing misses. Controlled speed is the goal. Easier said than done...

I can tell when I'm swinging at a "good" speed when I feel my swing is the fastest at or just after the golf ball. If I rush from the top everything gets out of sync and I usually find myself hitting fat shots.

We'll see how I do during my warm up range session before my round tomorrow. Continue to focus on feeling myself swinging over the top (even though I'm not) and not delaying my hands as much on the downswing. I should be seeing a straight shot and/or slight fade if I'm doing it correctly.

[Skyboxer]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

Well I "think" my whole game is hitting sweet spot at same time.
I know as soon as I write this the golf God will take care of it..

Anyways I'm striking my irons pure pretty much 90% of the time and my driver is very manageable right now.
Just played the short course the other day (Par 39) and shot a 44.. hit fairway with driver all 3 times.
My misses were all distance related but not off by much.

Have our first charity tourney in 2 weeks so hope to get out 2-3 more times before then.
Love playing in the BB tourneys as there's no real "stress" and I can just go with the flow. Haven't played with these guys since last year so I'm hoping (just for ega lol ) to do the heavy lifting ..

We'll see.

[pietasterp]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

I can tell when I'm swinging at a "good" speed when I feel my swing is the fastest at or just after the golf ball. If I rush from the top everything gets out of sync and I usually find myself hitting fat shots.

Good tip - I'll try that one next time I get to the range. I also noticed I tend to get fast from the top, and that almost always leads to something really bad happening...

[fistofrage]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

Good tip - I'll try that one next time I get to the range. I also noticed I tend to get fast from the top, and that almost always leads to something really bad happening...

I find that most people take too big of a backswing. Tell yourself you are going to take a backswing back to about 75%. And then turn the hips and rip through the shot. Trust me if you tell yourself to take it back to 75% you'll still get that club near parallel. You mill make such better contact.

Remember Skip the stone. Always release your arms/wrists last. By starting with the hip turn, your arms will automatically get pulled downward with your wrists still hinged, this creates the lag and clubhead speed. Anything you do with your arms before your hipturn is wasted energy and is costing you distance.

If you can imitate Ben, you are well on your way.....

[pietasterp]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

If you can imitate Ben, you are well on your way.....

Well, that's definitely the goal, but....easier said than done!

[YeOldTonk]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

Have not been on a course in close to 20 years. Still have my dad's hand me down Wilson set. It's so old the woods are actually wood. Got divorced a couple years back after 20 years of marriage. (See the correlation there?)
Started going to the range a few times over the past couple of years to get back into the swing of things.

Decided to make the plunge and got me a new set of Calloway Strata 12 piece set for my 50th birthday coming up (I have a low budget). Going to try to hit the range tonight to get a feel for them and then scheduled to hit the course near Pullman this weekend. Hopefully won't lose too many balls.

[fistofrage]

Re: The OS Golfer's Thread!

Well, that's definitely the goal, but....easier said than done!

Totally easier said than done. Lag like Hogan had is something your born with and not really taught from my experience. If I could do it and practice made perfect, I'd be a professional golfer.

I love hitting the range as much as playing a round. I went out and hit 150 balls tonight just trying to practice what I preach. I know exactly what I have to do to get more lag, but I can't get myself to do it. I just make sure I make solid contact each time which I can do for the most part, I'm just trying to get to 280 off the tee consistently. I play in alot of tournaments/skins games with some scratch to +5 guys and they are destroying it off the tee. I'm money on par 4's that are 400 and less.

The problem for me comes on those 6800 to 7100 yard couses and those damn 440+ par 4's, you drive the ball under 250 and then I'm hitting hybrid or wood into those meanwhile the guys that I play with are going 310 off the tee and wedges and 9's into those greens. Hard to make money doing that. Put me on a shot makers course and the playing field evens out quite a bit.