GOLF - 2022

[Rosscow]

Here we go boys, another year of golf has gone by and now is the time to set some targets!

I teed off at 7:45am this morning and considering the wind managed a pretty respectable 80.

Used the England Golf app to submit our scores.

Handicap remains a steady 7.3. Goal for the year? Play some good golf and get my irons back to where they were, with a bit of luck get down my handicap down to 6!

Have a good year fellow golfers!!

[Rosscow]

Yep same here, anything 33 and higher and you’re in the top 3 or winning. But then we all play a lot of golf, a lot of comps, and regularly put cards in.

[Rosscow]

deckster said:

Lovely if chilly on the tee this morning. Very interesting to see the difference in carry with dry air rather than the heavy dampness we've had for the last few weeks - I completely overshot the first few greens before I got used to it. Greens were comical, mind.

Plus next time I will take orange balls. Having to search for your ball on the fairway because it's so well camouflaged gets old very quickly.

Astonished that the course was open with that much heavy frost!

[Rosscow]

danneth said:

It's 450 euro for the round, 60 euro for the caddy and 60 if you require a buggy. So looking at 420gbp more or less all in.

Can a round of golf ever be worth that much? I doubt it but guess I won't know until after.

I make that about £480 including a buggy....

Big money, hope it lives up to it and you enjoy it!

[Rosscow]

Blackpuddin said:

Wondering about getting an inch chopped off the Gmax 425 driver as I've found I can hit the shorter shafted Gmax 5 wood further and more accurately than the driver. Can't seem to get out of the way of the driver somehow.

I know what you mean. Sometimes my 3 wood is so much more accurate and just as long as my driver.

When I hit my driver though, it's a rocket. Just need to hit it more consistently!

[Rosscow]

danneth said:

Still in 2 minds over buggy, it's quite a trek and hilly in places, July will be a little toasty there, but on the flip side people say you need to walk it to really experience it...

I hate buggies and will always walk.

Can't help but think maybe late September or early October would have been a better time to play? 1st July at 1pm is going to be fking scorchio!

[Rosscow]

Blackpuddin said:

Just a quick note to say that the shortening of the G425 driver seems to have worked for me, it feels like a much more comfortable length now and although it's going to need time to get fully accustomed to it the old mixture of duck hooks and blocks didn't happen in yesterday's round. Also there was no loss of shot length which was a nice bonus.

What did you cut it down to?

Out of interest, Mizuno drivers are about 3/4" shorter than most other brands (think the Ping is 45 3/4" compared to 45" for the Mizuno).

When getting fit for it this came up in discussion - apparently very few pro's have drivers as long as 45 3/4".

[Rosscow]

JamesNotJim said:

No, no and no again.
A single has as much standing on a course as a 4 ball.
Pace of play is simple, if your keeping up with the group ahead then all is good. If your group isn’t keeping up, speed up (play ready golf, no honours on tee’s and generally being ready to go).

If in your example if a 2 ball is behind a 4 ball and they are pushing you, don’t take it as a insult to your ego, consider letting them play through. They will be twice as quick and will out of sight with a hole or less.

100% this!

[Rosscow]

deckster said:

ben_h100 said:

I'm not sure to be perfectly honest..! So far, I've only submitted casual cards through my home club. I'll have a word with them to see if they'll accept a card from the society event.

I haven't used the golf app - can you use that alongside club whs membership?

Presuming the club is properly integrated with the England Golf app then it should be fine, although you will need the person you played with to also have the app and for them to validate the card after you've entered it in. But everything should then synchronise in the background - EG update handicaps at midnight so any changes will show up the next day.

I think you'll find that the app uses your phones GPS and will only work if you are within a certain distance of the golf club.

And it'll only work if you set it up before the game, and enter the scores either as you play or after you've played within certain time parameters. Otherwise it would be very easy to get together with a mate and enter loads of scores to affect your handicap!

I've used it and it is very good - the problem is making more people use it to start submitting more scores.

[Rosscow]

deckster said:

Yes agreed on all points.

But there is nothing to stop you going to the club and entering the score there after the event. Technically against the rules and I'm sure your handicap committee could invalidate the round if they wanted to, but personally I don't see any particular issue with this. Plus when chatting with our handicap secretary he said he was pretty relaxed (up to a point) with people submitting cards that lowered their handicap. People submitting social rounds which are consistently higher than their competition scores was his main concern.

But to do that you would have to go to your club, register the intent to play, then wait 3 hours (or whatever the minimum is) before you can submit the score.

I also presume that if you left the area of the club, that the app would cancel the intent to submit (as you're obviously not playing golf there).

[Rosscow]

Greenie said:

No you can register the intent to play and submit scores later (not at the location).

Oh, really? That's interesting. And also open to abuse! I thought it was location dependent. I'll give it a go!

[Rosscow]

Overlap - always have done. I have large hands though!

[Rosscow]

I use exactly the same grip putting as I do for any other club, albeit with a midsize Winn grip. Have never played around with putting grip.

[Rosscow]

bodhi said:

I think the biggest thing for me with putting was moving to a shorter putter. I'd always used fairly standard 35 inch models, which being 6 foot 1 kind of made sense, but tried a 34 inch Scotty Del Mar in American Golf and couldn't miss, so bought it there and then. Had loads of success then against all sensible advice tried a 33.5 inch Nike Method I picked up off eBay and found it even nicer out on the course, so apart from a silly experiment with a mallet last season it hasn't been out the bag.

Not sure why it is so effective considering it's too short for my height, but it's absolutely golden and I'd never go back to a longer putter now.

It also used to belong to an LET player (Carly Booth), so I do get some stick for my "ladies putter" - until the putts start going in anyway.

Interestingly I’m 6’2” and also cut my putter down! Can’t remember the length and it’s in my locker at the club so can’t measure it at the moment but will have a look next time I’m there!

[Rosscow]

Always been a big Sun Mountain fan - excellent bags and trolleys which in my opinion are worth paying a little over your £200 budget for.

[Rosscow]

2 competitions in recent weeks and 2 poor scores have seen my HI go up for the first time in 2 years to 8.1.

Tee shots are generally OK, fairway woods have been good, even my irons haven't been terrible. But my chipping and putting is seriously letting me down - really need to practice but just don't have the time!

Edited by Rosscow on Monday 28th March 14:38

[Rosscow]

Absolutely gutted that Richard Bland missed the Masters by a week!

After his PGA Tour debut finished yesterday he’s now 48th in the OWGR…. Inside the Top 50 but a week too late for his invite. Let’s hope he can keep it up and get there next year!

Off to Portugal on Friday for the weekend, let’s hope I can find some form….

[Rosscow]

Getting packed for the weekend.

Playing here: https://www.valedolobo.com/en/golf-experience-alga...

And here: https://www.monte-rei.com/en/golf/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwl...

Monte Rei is supposed to be lovely so looking forward to that! Bar and the Masters of an evening, lovely.

[Rosscow]

Hobo said:

Monte Rei looks fantastic. Please post a review as thinking about going back to Portugal golfing later in the year having just come back from playing Pinhal, Victoria and old Course.

I booked using www.teetimes.pt which worked out under £500 per person for a 4 night stay in the Anantara (fantastic hotel) including the 3 rounds of golf, transfers to and from the airport, and all transfer to and from the courses. Flights were on top.

I wouldn't bother with Monte Rei at the moment!

The place is lovely, and great service. But the course was in very average condition. Lovely lay out but the grass was just bad, from tee to fairway to fringes. Greens were OK.

Couldn't compare to the Royal at Vale de Lobo. Stunning condition and so much more enjoyable!

[Rosscow]

ukwill said:

Any recommendations for a decent golf break within 3hrs drive of London?

Princes?

https://www.princesgolfclub.co.uk/

Edited by Rosscow on Thursday 14th April 13:37