The Golf Thread - 2018!

[thebraketester]

Amazing day out at the Wentworth yesterday for the Celebrity Pro-Am. Got to see some amazing stuff. Wandered around in the morning and saw Rory. Then plonked ourselves right behind the 10th green so we could see their shots in and them tee off 8th and 11th.


Stood right behind the master....

Edited by thebraketester on Thursday 24th May 13:08

[Andy 308GTB]

thebraketester said:

Amazing day out at the Wentworth yesterday for the Celebrity Pro-Am.

I'm there tomorrow & Saturday, can't wait!

[Blackpuddin]

Andy 308GTB said:

thebraketester said:

Amazing day out at the Wentworth yesterday for the Celebrity Pro-Am.

I'm there tomorrow & Saturday, can't wait!

Was there for the pro-am, some very decent ams playing, the lad from that mucky film 50 shades of whatever seemed handy, James something. Hilariously slow play, what with all the selfies and autographs after every hole.

[Davey S2]

3rd round of the year yesterday in a corporate day at my own club.

I've gone down to social member there this year due to the arrival of a baby boy 5 weeks ago so I couldn't justify my £1,200 subs this year. (I can still play 6 times for £25 a time which will be plenty).

Had a fantastic round and hit 7 over gross (handicap is 13) despite some wet weather. Despite having 44 points we came 2nd as the last group in had 46.

I still got a £60 voucher for the pro shop and another £25 for winning nearest the pin (looked like a hole in one all the way but just veered off right at the end and finished a foot and a half away) so not a bad day all in all..

[rsbmw]

TVR Moneypit said:

After 7 hours play, I came in with a score of......

212 140 over par

It's not all bad. It's only my tee shots, iron shots, approach shots, chips, recovery shots and putting that needs drastic improvement.

that's brilliant, hopefully you were calling people through!

[thebraketester]

Played my local course today off the back tees for the first time. Went around in 84. It actually made some of the course more playable due to hazards being just out of reach and making me not feel like I had to rip every driver to clear the trouble.

Birdied a 185y par 3 with a 5 iron which I was happy about didn’t think my 5 iron would go that far.

[GloverMart]

TVR Moneypit said:

After 7 hours play, I came in with a score of......

212 140 over par

It's not all bad. It's only my tee shots, iron shots, approach shots, chips, recovery shots and putting that needs drastic improvement.

You did well getting two rounds completed in seven hours.... fair play!!

[kiethton]

Starting to get a little frustrated with slow play...went out with a friend this morning, teeing off around half 8 on the 10th hole in line with time boards. All was good, played well for the first half, shooting +2 gross (mate was +1!) and taking 1 hour and 15 mins!

Then we started the front...after a 15 minute wait to "zip" in with groups starting we got off...and had to wait on nearly every hole! Ended up playing through 2 groups in the last 9 holes but taking over 2 hours to do so and dropping 6 shots in the process.

Beyond starting even earlier is there anyway to avoid it as when I slow down my game (and that of the guys I play with) goes to ste!

[Blaster72]

Our club has time boards up at the 10th with expectations for 2,3 and 4 balls. The course guarddog comes around in his buggy unblocking really slow groups when he sees things backing up.

I'm not sure a 2 ball expecting not to have to wait on a Saturday starting that late is realistic though. If you got back to the first at 9.40 you must have been in the peak period for players teeing off?

Are you the sort of players who accept 10 foot gimmes and pick up rather than finishing the hole? I've seen this many times, people rushing round in a couple of hours hardly ever holing out. Seems pointless.

I can understand if a group is taking 4 and a half hours and not letting folk through but it just sounds like your course was busy.

[kiethton]

No play everything, we're all single figure handicaps though, average 270 yard drives and rarely lose balls. We hole out everything above about 2 ft.

Yeah it was just the time I think, very frustrating though!

[Blaster72]

It's not slow play then, you're just very, very good.

[thebraketester]

kiethton said:

No play everything, we're all single figure handicaps though, average 270 yard drives and rarely lose balls. We hole out everything above about 2 ft.

Yeah it was just the time I think, very frustrating though!

You need a friend who’s a hacker to go around with to slow you all down.

[Blaster72]

thebraketester said:

You need a friend who’s a hacker to go around with to slow you all down.

TVR Moneypit is free

[Potatoes]

Blaster72 said:

thebraketester said:

You need a friend who’s a hacker to go around with to slow you all down.

TVR Moneypit is free

LOL

Very similar to my first round a few months back... very similar to many of my rounds...

[thebraketester]

Blaster72 said:

thebraketester said:

You need a friend who’s a hacker to go around with to slow you all down.

TVR Moneypit is free

LOL

[kiethton]

thebraketester said:

Blaster72 said:

thebraketester said:

You need a friend who’s a hacker to go around with to slow you all down.

TVR Moneypit is free

LOL

[Juanco20]

TVR Moneypit said:

Well, I could certainly do with the practice.

I don't think I did that badly for my first round in 27 years, and it's not like I was very good 27 years ago. Looking on the bright side, I can only get better....... hopefully.

Where do you play?

[HaplessBoyLard]

kiethton said:

Starting to get a little frustrated with slow play...went out with a friend this morning, teeing off around half 8 on the 10th hole in line with time boards. All was good, played well for the first half, shooting +2 gross (mate was +1!) and taking 1 hour and 15 mins!

Then we started the front...after a 15 minute wait to "zip" in with groups starting we got off...and had to wait on nearly every hole! Ended up playing through 2 groups in the last 9 holes but taking over 2 hours to do so and dropping 6 shots in the process.

Beyond starting even earlier is there anyway to avoid it as when I slow down my game (and that of the guys I play with) goes to ste!

I’m sorry, but that’s not slow at all. Anything between 4 and 4 1/2 hours (or over 2 hours for your front 9) at peak time on a Saturday morning is fair enough. When the course is rammed it only takes one group to lose a couple of balls on one hole and the whole course clogs up backwards. There’s not a lot of point playing people through as that just adds another ten minutes for everyone behind.

I do feel your pain though as I often play as a 2 ball. The answer is to play twilight rounds and avoid the crowds, but obviously that isn’t as easy for everyone.

[HaplessBoyLard]

TVR Moneypit said:

I know what's going wrong with my swing, (I'm opening up the club face on the downswing, getting increased loft and huge slices). I just don't know how to fix it until I have some lesson.

There’s more than one way you could be doing that, but it’s quite likely you’re cupping your left wrist, which will point the Club face right of your Club path at impact, and add loft.

You could try flattening your left wrist in the downswing. Imagine rolling off the throttle on a motorbike. Watch a video of Dustin Johnson and you’ll see he bows his left wrist massively at the top of his backswing. If you try and feel like you’re doing a bit of that it will
Probably point your Club face more left, closer to target. You’ll probably hit the ball like crap to start with but you’ll soon get used to it and start hitting it better.

Mark Crossfield’s videos on YouTube are worth watching for these sorts of ideas.

Alternatively, embrace your left to right ball flight, aim down the left to keep it in play and work on the other areas you pointed out. Chipping and putting will see you make huge scoring gains this early on.

If you’re losing balls by hitting driver miles right, take an iron off the tee and keep it in play.

Keep going whatever you do. Its nice to see someone say they’re not bothered by a huge score. So many people would just give up.

[HaplessBoyLard]

TVR Moneypit said:

Thanks for the tips Lard, (bigaty bigaty bong).

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to play consistently 15-20 over par, but I know that's years away yet. I just can't understand these folk who go out for a nice relaxing round of golf, only to end up wrapping their clubs around a tree in anger.

If a hobby makes you that mad, why do it? I enjoy driving, but in comfortable with the fact that I'm not ever going to be the next Henri Toivonan. Likewise with golf, I'm comfortable with the fact that I'm not going to be the next Seve Balasteros.

I used to be that guy snapping clubs over his knee and kicking his bag in frustration. I try and just enjoy my time outside with friends now. A good score is a bonus. I can still get grumpy with myself sometimes, but the rage explosions are all but a thing of the past.

Shooting +20 really isn’t that far away if you’ve got a bit of time to practice and play semi-regularly. I paired up with a beginner at my club on Friday afternoon. He was playing his 4th proper round after a few years off.

He wasn’t hitting it long at all...180-200 with a driver. 120-130 with a 6i. What he did do was keep the ball in play most of the time. He was happy to take tips from me, so I helped him manage his way round, talking him out of any heroics. He seemed to think he’d had a bad round when we finished but I thought his score of 109 was great. He could easily have shot close to 100 if his putting wasn’t dreadful. He made par on the 18th too by draining a 20 footer.

I’ve thought for a long time that I’d like to go into some kind of golf coaching. I really enjoyed helping him out and seeing the plan for a hole come together. Sadly I don’t think I’ll ever get low enough (<4) to go pro and I’m not going to get far as a coach who never played off less than 8 I don’t think.