The Golf Thread - 2016!

[LHRFlightman]

Jist incredible. Well played to both of then, and great to see them walking off arm around the shoulders. Reminded me of Jack and Tom.

[FrankAbagnale]

Great golf. Loved every second of it.

Stricker 4th and Garcia 5th should mean I get a little E/W payout too.

[SpeckledJim]

Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Very pleased for Stenson, he seems a proper gent.

Wouldn't it be great if every major ended with an 18 hole play-off between the leading two or three golfers of the week. Compelling viewing.

[Rosscow]

Well done Stenson, amazing 63 to win it.

We had an all day session at the club yesterday - foursome Absent Friends competition in the morning followed by a BBQ and then the annual Short Game Challenge competition.

We came 4th in the foursomes but unfortunately I bowed out of the SGC in the 2nd round.

I organised the BBQ and the SGC and it all went really well with everyone enjoying themselves. Hard work - down the club at 5.30am and home at 8pm - shattered!

[swisstoni]

Didn't think Mickelson could string 4 rounds together like that any more. Something seems to have clicked that was missing for years - he will be a threat again at any major if that holds together.
Could feel sorry for him after playing like that but he's got a few majors in the bank and Stenson was unbeatable and won on merit.

[bodhi]

Must admit I didn't see much of the golf over the weekend as I had used up my "pass outs" on playing in the morning both days - have the highlights on Sky+ however so will give them a watch tonight - over the moon for Stenson however, he's been there or thereabouts a few times now, happy to see him finally get one.

From the first couple of days however it looked like the big difference in Lefty's game was off the tee - his iron play and short game have always been incredible, just needed more accuracy off the tee. I suspect with his touch round the greens he will be around for a few years yet.

Had a mixed weekend with the sticks however - played the next round of our foursomes on Saturday morning - we were 3 down after 6, and in grave danger of going 4 down on the 7th, but we drained a 25 foot putt for the half, then went on a run, and ended up winning 4 and 2. Just needed 7 holes to wake up.

Then yesterday we had our annual Charity competition - I somehow managed to balls up the first 4 holes completely, ending up with 1 point after 4 holes.....then promptly woke up and ended up with 32, with 20 points on the back nine. Another .1, and another week of "If only". Still, got a midweek comp on Thursday, so hopefully can carry on where I left off on the back 9.

[boxsey]

I can't remember watching a better final round at the Open. Great stuff from both of them and for the sideshow from Beef!

[Dan_1981]

Playing the Forest of Arden next week

http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/hotel-information...


- looking forward to it - comes well reviewed & Morley Hayes again this coming weekend. Really enjoyed it earlier this month when we played it.

http://www.morleyhayes.com/


Aside from this i'm looking for a hybrid / rescue - I don't currently use one at all or any fairway woods. Longest iron is a 4 which leaves me a little wanting on some of the longer par 3's from the tee or even the par 4's from the 2nd shot.

I'm not a massive hitter - 4 iron will go 180 yrds when hit well - driver will go 230 ish.

So i'm looking for something inbetween the two.

Suspect a rescue / hybrid with a 19 / 20 degree loft would be about right - 3 iron / 5 wood replacement?

Would this be right?

Any suggestions on what to look at - I use a G25 driver so will start by looking at the equivalent hybrid as I find the ping stuff pretty easy to hit.

I'm still a high handicapper so don't need anything to hard to hit!

Cheers

[mikal83]

A favourite years ago was a heaven seven. A four wood shaft with a 7 head! Might work for you. It did for me when I was a high handicapper, (now a 6).

[bodhi]

Must admit I'm not the biggest fan of hybrids - I normally use irons instead, but over winter with the temperatures and state of the ground I tend to carry a 5 wood - however a friend has just had a Callaway XR+ Hybrid, and it seems to go like a rocket, so may be worth a look?

As an aside, had a cracking long weekend on the course last week. Took Thursday and Friday off, played in our Mid-Week Stableford, went round in 76 for a total of 41 points (after 3 putting the first...), then on Saturday played in the monthly medal, ended up with a 77. Won the Mid-Week Stableford (by 6 points) and came second in the monthly medal - and have had the old handicap brutalised, was off 9.9, now off 8.1.

Amazing the difference when your drives end up on the course!

[brad40]

Dan, I use a Ping G 4, 22 deg hybrid and it is my go to club for 160/170 yard fairway shots, I'm not a powerful hitter, but it's a consistent club for me. Sounds good too when contact is right.
The pro at my club gave a 'test drive' of the club before buying and the club sold itself.

[TheCandyMan]

Can anyone verify whether this Scotty Cameron Putter is genuine?

[kentlad]

TheCandyMan said:

Can anyone verify whether this Scotty Cameron Putter is genuine?

Could be, but something doesn't quite look 'right'

[n_const]

The L and the T on the titleist engraving on the face doesn't look quite right. Hard to say when it's upside down.

[HaplessBoyLard]

Dan_1981 said:

Playing the Forest of Arden next week

http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/hotel-information...


- looking forward to it - comes well reviewed & Morley Hayes again this coming weekend. Really enjoyed it earlier this month when we played it.

http://www.morleyhayes.com/


Aside from this i'm looking for a hybrid / rescue - I don't currently use one at all or any fairway woods. Longest iron is a 4 which leaves me a little wanting on some of the longer par 3's from the tee or even the par 4's from the 2nd shot.

I'm not a massive hitter - 4 iron will go 180 yrds when hit well - driver will go 230 ish.

So i'm looking for something inbetween the two.

Suspect a rescue / hybrid with a 19 / 20 degree loft would be about right - 3 iron / 5 wood replacement?

Would this be right?

Any suggestions on what to look at - I use a G25 driver so will start by looking at the equivalent hybrid as I find the ping stuff pretty easy to hit.

I'm still a high handicapper so don't need anything to hard to hit!

Cheers

Forest of Arden is a great course, assuming you're playing the Arden and not the Aylesford.

The front 9 is a fair bit easier than the back 9. It suckered me a bit. I went out in 43, and finished with a 99. There's some great holes though. The 18th is excellent.

As for hybrids, they're great as far as I'm concerned. I always struggled with long irons, and find my 3 and 4 hybrids far easier to hit. The design of hybrids allows shorter hitters to get the launch that they'd otherwise find hard, and they're generally pretty forgiving.

Whatever you buy, make sure you try it out on an open air range. The first one I bought was a Taylor made burner 2.0 and it was an absolute hook machine. A lot of hybrids are weighted/designed to be slightly draw biased to help the beginner who struggles with a slice due to club face control issues.

Once I had lessons and got rid of my wild slice, I literally couldn't hit that hybrid straight.

[FrankAbagnale]

I was down at the driving range last night and was changing all sorts of bits with my stance/swing.

Oddly I found I hit the ball a lot cleaner if I took my usual stance and then pushed my left foot forward and inch. Any idea why this is? The only thing I can think of is instead of bringing the club out to in it pushes the clubhead away from me on the follow through. Does that make any sense?

Usually I fade the ball and it definitely marginalised the fade.

[DuncanM]

FrankAbagnale said:

I was down at the driving range last night and was changing all sorts of bits with my stance/swing.

Oddly I found I hit the ball a lot cleaner if I took my usual stance and then pushed my left foot forward and inch. Any idea why this is? The only thing I can think of is instead of bringing the club out to in it pushes the clubhead away from me on the follow through. Does that make any sense?

Usually I fade the ball and it definitely marginalised the fade.

You're spot on, by closing the stance, you're much more likely to hit in to square

BBC 2 women's British Open, worth watching, we could all learn a thing or two from then LPGA Pros.

[FrankAbagnale]

DuncanM said:

FrankAbagnale said:

I was down at the driving range last night and was changing all sorts of bits with my stance/swing.

Oddly I found I hit the ball a lot cleaner if I took my usual stance and then pushed my left foot forward and inch. Any idea why this is? The only thing I can think of is instead of bringing the club out to in it pushes the clubhead away from me on the follow through. Does that make any sense?

Usually I fade the ball and it definitely marginalised the fade.

You're spot on, by closing the stance, you're much more likely to hit in to square

BBC 2 women's British Open, worth watching, we could all learn a thing or two from then LPGA Pros.

Is it an acceptable remedy for the fade? Or have I bodged a solution?

[DuncanM]

FrankAbagnale said:

DuncanM said:

FrankAbagnale said:

I was down at the driving range last night and was changing all sorts of bits with my stance/swing.

Oddly I found I hit the ball a lot cleaner if I took my usual stance and then pushed my left foot forward and inch. Any idea why this is? The only thing I can think of is instead of bringing the club out to in it pushes the clubhead away from me on the follow through. Does that make any sense?

Usually I fade the ball and it definitely marginalised the fade.

You're spot on, by closing the stance, you're much more likely to hit in to square

BBC 2 women's British Open, worth watching, we could all learn a thing or two from then LPGA Pros.

Is it an acceptable remedy for the fade? Or have I bodged a solution?

Most certainly! Look up D plane, Ben Hogan book has the same concept also, you close your stance as you go up the clubs, from open at a sandwedge, to closed with a Driver

[FrankAbagnale]

DuncanM said:

FrankAbagnale said:

DuncanM said:

FrankAbagnale said:

I was down at the driving range last night and was changing all sorts of bits with my stance/swing.

Oddly I found I hit the ball a lot cleaner if I took my usual stance and then pushed my left foot forward and inch. Any idea why this is? The only thing I can think of is instead of bringing the club out to in it pushes the clubhead away from me on the follow through. Does that make any sense?

Usually I fade the ball and it definitely marginalised the fade.

You're spot on, by closing the stance, you're much more likely to hit in to square

BBC 2 women's British Open, worth watching, we could all learn a thing or two from then LPGA Pros.

Is it an acceptable remedy for the fade? Or have I bodged a solution?

Most certainly! Look up D plane, Ben Hogan book has the same concept also, you close your stance as you go up the clubs, from open at a sandwedge, to closed with a Driver

Ah thats interesting as my PW/SW is a very open stance compared. I'll give it go!