The Golf Thread - 2017!

[HaplessBoyLard]

Rosscow said:

I'm pretty happy with my short game - I think for me to reach the next level (single figures) my iron play needs to be better.

I need to be hitting more greens in regulation.

Up until the winter slow down for bad weather, I was comfortably playing to single figures without ever hitting more than 9 or 10 greens in a round. What's you GIR percentage, if you happen to keep those stats?

[Rosscow]

HaplessBoyLard said:

Up until the winter slow down for bad weather, I was comfortably playing to single figures without ever hitting more than 9 or 10 greens in a round. What's you GIR percentage, if you happen to keep those stats?

I don't keep them - but I can remember Sunday's round and I know that I hit 5 greens in regulation. Which is pretty bad, especially as I only hit 1 of the par 3's in regulation.

[_Neal_]

Rosscow said:

HaplessBoyLard said:

Up until the winter slow down for bad weather, I was comfortably playing to single figures without ever hitting more than 9 or 10 greens in a round. What's you GIR percentage, if you happen to keep those stats?

I don't keep them - but I can remember Sunday's round and I know that I hit 5 greens in regulation. Which is pretty bad, especially as I only hit 1 of the par 3's in regulation.

How many fairways did you hit?

[Rosscow]

_Neal_ said:

How many fairways did you hit?

8 out of 13. But of the 5 fairways I missed, only 1 was a bad miss. And I took my medicine, wedged on and 2 putted for a 5. The other 4 misses were all in the first cut.

[GTO-3R]

Rosscow said:

8 out of 13. But of the 5 fairways I missed, only 1 was a bad miss. And I took my medicine, wedged on and 2 putted for a 5. The other 4 misses were all in the first cut.

To give you a bit of help in to understanding your game better. When you next play, mark on a card if you hit the fairway and if you didn't, what side did you miss it on. If you hit the green (from the fairway) and if not, what side you missed it on. If you missed the green, did you get up and down (seperate bunkers from grass) and roughly how close did you chip it to. Then how many putts did you have in total, missed green or not...

Do this for a few rounds and you will start to see a pattern emerge and will give you more of a basic insight in to which part of your game needs to improve.

[Rosscow]

GTO-3R said:

Rosscow said:

8 out of 13. But of the 5 fairways I missed, only 1 was a bad miss. And I took my medicine, wedged on and 2 putted for a 5. The other 4 misses were all in the first cut.

To give you a bit of help in to understanding your game better. When you next play, mark on a card if you hit the fairway and if you didn't, what side did you miss it on. If you hit the green (from the fairway) and if not, what side you missed it on. If you missed the green, did you get up and down (seperate bunkers from grass) and roughly how close did you chip it to. Then how many putts did you have in total, missed green or not...

Do this for a few rounds and you will start to see a pattern emerge and will give you more of a basic insight in to which part of your game needs to improve.

Yeah, I think I start needing to understand where I'm losing shots.

My Apple Watch actually has the provision to mark putts, tee shot club, tee shot misses, sand shots etc. so really should start using that function.

Cheers!

[GTO-3R]

Rosscow said:

Yeah, I think I start needing to understand where I'm losing shots.

My Apple Watch actually has the provision to mark putts, tee shot club, tee shot misses, sand shots etc. so really should start using that function.

Cheers!

Give it a whirl, can only benefit you and give you a simple insight in to your game. Good luck with it

[kiethton]

Well 3 week back playing now, 6 months after I shattered the finger on my right hand into multiple pieces and had it all screwed back together. Seeing as the swelling/scarring has gone down a bit and I can now grip I thought I'd try

Rounds had been getting progressively better since the first tee shot back where I managed to hit a house, twice, slicing the ball 90* right off the first tee...

Come this Saturday I had a good start and was playing to well under my 8 handicap in a friendly stableford with a friend, until it all went to pot on the 8th....guess a bit of time in the gym to improve fitness and keep some more concentration should help here!

[Rosscow]

kiethton said:

Well 3 week back playing now, 6 months after I shattered the finger on my right hand into multiple pieces and had it all screwed back together. Seeing as the swelling/scarring has gone down a bit and I can now grip I thought I'd try

Rounds had been getting progressively better since the first tee shot back where I managed to hit a house, twice, slicing the ball 90* right off the first tee...

Come this Saturday I had a good start and was playing to well under my 8 handicap in a friendly stableford with a friend, until it all went to pot on the 8th....guess a bit of time in the gym to improve fitness and keep some more concentration should help here!

Not too shabby at all for a 6 month lay off! Well done, hope the hand is well and truly on the mend.

[_Neal_]

Rosscow said:

_Neal_ said:

How many fairways did you hit?

8 out of 13. But of the 5 fairways I missed, only 1 was a bad miss. And I took my medicine, wedged on and 2 putted for a 5. The other 4 misses were all in the first cut.

That's nice driving. If I remember, I keep fairway, GIR and number of putts on the very rare occasions I play. Which invariably tells me I need to play more and learn to putt

Which side I miss would be a useful note though.

Edited by _Neal_ on Wednesday 15th March 13:08

[_Neal_]

Rosscow said:

Not too shabby at all for a 6 month lay off! Well done, hope the hand is well and truly on the mend.

Agreed - clearly got some skills! How long have you been a member at Sundridge Park? I'm local but never played there - good courses?

[bodhi]

Rosscow said:

I'm pretty happy with my short game - I think for me to reach the next level (single figures) my iron play needs to be better.

I need to be hitting more greens in regulation.

My short game was spot on last season, and got me out of many a missed green/fairway related hole. However I was effectively relying on 5 or 6 up and downs every round to get under my handicap, so have spent the winter tightening up my backswing so I miss the greens less in the first place. That's actually been pretty successful, just with the weather and time spent on the range, I've lost a bit of distance control round the greens - hopefully should come back after a week or two.

My backswing had always been quite long and loose, and only managed to line the club up straight through timing, so we've been working on fixing that. Shortening a backswing is fairly easy - shortening a backswing and keeping the rhytym the same as before - now that's the tough bit.

[kiethton]

_Neal_ said:

Rosscow said:

Not too shabby at all for a 6 month lay off! Well done, hope the hand is well and truly on the mend.

Agreed - clearly got some skills! How long have you been a member at Sundridge Park? I'm local but never played there - good courses?

Thanks, was pretty happy with the front 9 anyway

However, as I used to be a lot better (captain of the Uni scratch team) I do find the game frustrating from time to time when trying to play competitively as I try to play to old levels (hard when you've got a 60+ hour job!), tend to just treat it as a walk in the park with friends now

Been at Sundridge a good few years now, joined half-way through Uni IIRC so ~2009 on a student rate (£200 a year!), now the same cost is just the bar levy. Coming from Broke Hill before I really rate it, never have to book a tee time, just wonder onto whichever course you fancy/is quietest whenever you like. Quality of everything is far better too, no waterlogged bunkers, better (tighter) layout and far better-maintained. More convenient for home too (Shortlands side of Beckenham).

[Rosscow]

bodhi said:

Rosscow said:

I'm pretty happy with my short game - I think for me to reach the next level (single figures) my iron play needs to be better.

I need to be hitting more greens in regulation.

My short game was spot on last season, and got me out of many a missed green/fairway related hole. However I was effectively relying on 5 or 6 up and downs every round to get under my handicap, so have spent the winter tightening up my backswing so I miss the greens less in the first place. That's actually been pretty successful, just with the weather and time spent on the range, I've lost a bit of distance control round the greens - hopefully should come back after a week or two.

My backswing had always been quite long and loose, and only managed to line the club up straight through timing, so we've been working on fixing that. Shortening a backswing is fairly easy - shortening a backswing and keeping the rhytym the same as before - now that's the tough bit.

This is exactly the same as me - I'm a bit of an up and down expert these days, definitely where I save my shots.

So yeah, I need to improve my iron play big time!

[_Neal_]

kiethton said:

_Neal_ said:

Rosscow said:

Not too shabby at all for a 6 month lay off! Well done, hope the hand is well and truly on the mend.

Agreed - clearly got some skills! How long have you been a member at Sundridge Park? I'm local but never played there - good courses?

Thanks, was pretty happy with the front 9 anyway

However, as I used to be a lot better (captain of the Uni scratch team) I do find the game frustrating from time to time when trying to play competitively as I try to play to old levels (hard when you've got a 60+ hour job!), tend to just treat it as a walk in the park with friends now

Been at Sundridge a good few years now, joined half-way through Uni IIRC so ~2009 on a student rate (£200 a year!), now the same cost is just the bar levy. Coming from Broke Hill before I really rate it, never have to book a tee time, just wonder onto whichever course you fancy/is quietest whenever you like. Quality of everything is far better too, no waterlogged bunkers, better (tighter) layout and far better-maintained. More convenient for home too (Shortlands side of Beckenham).

Thanks - sounds like a good place. I'm in Petts Wood, so would be convenient.

No time for golf at the moment though - play 2-3 times per year at the moment (60+ hour job plus young kids mean no weekend time, or inclination to be honest) so can't justify the expense. In a few years may give it a go though.

[Rosscow]

_Neal_ said:

Thanks - sounds like a good place. I'm in Petts Wood, so would be convenient.

No time for golf at the moment though - play 2-3 times per year at the moment (60+ hour job plus young kids mean no weekend time, or inclination to be honest) so can't justify the expense. In a few years may give it a go though.

Artisan golf is your friend!!

Try either Langley Park or Royal Blackheath (we play matches against both), or indeed Sundridge Park.

Much cheaper golf.

[kiethton]

Rosscow said:

_Neal_ said:

Thanks - sounds like a good place. I'm in Petts Wood, so would be convenient.

No time for golf at the moment though - play 2-3 times per year at the moment (60+ hour job plus young kids mean no weekend time, or inclination to be honest) so can't justify the expense. In a few years may give it a go though.

Artisan golf is your friend!!

Try either Langley Park or Royal Blackheath (we play matches against both), or indeed Sundridge Park.

Much cheaper golf.

Yeah we do have artisan membership from a portacabin clubhouse in the car park

Only issue with it here are the restrictions on tee times which are an issue if you want to play early and get it done

[Rosscow]

kiethton said:

Yeah we do have artisan membership from a portacabin clubhouse in the car park

Only issue with it here are the restrictions on tee times which are an issue if you want to play early and get it done

Admittedly, some Artisan clubs are better than others!

We have 2 courses, unlimited restrictions on 1 course and certain time restrictions on the other.

We have our own clubhouse with locker room, dining room, bar, toilets, showers, etc.

We're pretty lucky. Likewise places like St. Georges - some lovely little clubhouses.

[_Neal_]

Rosscow said:

_Neal_ said:

Thanks - sounds like a good place. I'm in Petts Wood, so would be convenient.

No time for golf at the moment though - play 2-3 times per year at the moment (60+ hour job plus young kids mean no weekend time, or inclination to be honest) so can't justify the expense. In a few years may give it a go though.

Artisan golf is your friend!!

Try either Langley Park or Royal Blackheath (we play matches against both), or indeed Sundridge Park.

Much cheaper golf.

Intriguing - tell me more! Online info club by club seems a bit scanty.

[Rosscow]

_Neal_ said:

Intriguing - tell me more! Online info club by club seems a bit scanty.

In a nutshell, harks back to the early part of the 20th century. Golf clubs would offer cheap golf and free land for a clubhouse to be built to cater for 'working class' golfers in exchange for work on the golf course.

Nowadays, for our club, it means we have to spend 2 or 3 mornings a year helping divot the fairways. And when I say morning, I mean 2 to 3 hours. But each club is different.

For that, and a cheap yearly fee, I get to play a top 30 in the country course weekly.

You'll need to get in touch with the respective Artisan clubs as mentioned above. It's pretty much a closed shop, they don't have to or have the inclination to advertise so you'll have to sniff it out yourself.

But it's worth the effort! Bear in mind there will be distance restrictions (e.g. you must live a maximum of 3 miles from the club).