My friend dragged me to the range today and I went because it was pretty nice and sunny but in the mid 50’s, which is my favorite practice temp because I don’t get all sweaty when I wear a just a T shirt.
I quit a few months back - I haven’t touched a club since October. I was expecting it to be a bloodbath, but I just picked up my 9 iron and started swinging, didn’t even stretch.
First shot was blasted about 15 yards over my target. Wut? Hit another, super high and straight. And then another and another. I went through all my irons and was just nuking all of them. I was hitting the 8 iron 150ish. Big, beautiful high launched shots. The 5 iron was the only club that got a little sketchy but my misses were just pushes, which is an easy fix. A lot of my shots started out right but tailed to the left which never happens for me.
I guess the break was good for me. I don’t know why i was hitting them so well, but it just felt smooth and natural. One thing I noticed is I was very loose and not thinking any swing thoughts or trying to make my path go a certain way, I just swung. When my bucket was gone, I was a little disappointed, which never happens either. Maybe playing/practicing too much is bad for my game.
Over the years I have taken long breaks from golf and I can come back with no practice and shoot a pretty good round and strike the ball great entire time. I never feel comfortable over the ball but I usually play well. It’s all downhill after that though. Then it’s a few weeks of terrible golf and every swing thought going through my head while taking practice swings.
Just bought a new carry bag at PGA Superstore. Had most of the things I want, especially a big pouch for my metal water bottle. Will try and remember to add pics with my clubs and stuff loaded in it.
Yeah he really is scummy. Sadly he doesn’t need to be. He’s so good, why take stupid risks? If he had to play that ball maybe he loses a stroke, maybe! When his putter is hot he can make up for a ton of bad shots. I just don’t get it.
Habitual golf cheaters have something wired wrong in their brain I am convinced of it. No matter how many times you tell them that the number they write on the scorecard doesn’t change what actually happened they never stop. Deep down they know what they are doing and that others know they are cheating. Patrick Reed is far from an exception among golfers. The exceptional thing is it is rare to have a cheating addict also be good enough to play at his level.
My favorite question from habitual cheats when you ask them what they had:
I mean the worst kind of “cheating” at golf I do is give myself a 2 footer, or free relief off of like a tree root. I figure if I’m paying $50+ for a round of golf I am going to enjoy it, and trying to get a shot just to break my wrist off of a tree or some other obstruction just isn’t fun to me. But I’m just playing casually with friends so it doesnt matter. If it was in a tournament or for money I would not dream of cheating. What drives these guys is really interesting to me.
Sometimes I get a little too loose with the rules, feel guilty and charge myself a stroke or 2 on a later hole to make up for it. But like you I’m just playing for fun, on really bad days I just shut my watch off and make the best of it. I don’t even keep a real handicap. Used to keep a half assed one on the Golf Digest site but stopped cause it depressed me. If I improve in the future I’ll try to do one as accurately as possible. But really, who gives a shit?!!? I just want to get better and more consistent.
yea idk about you but I’m between a 15 and 20 handicap probably and at my level it just makes more sense to play quickly, try to make good shots, and get comfortable being in situations you may not see in practice, rather than worrying about keeping a perfect score. I get really annoyed being paired with rules sticklers that point out to you everything everyone is doing wrong when you’re just trying to get better and finish the round without embarrassing yourself.
“You know, technically, asking someone what club they are hitting is a 2 shot penalty.”
Lol. I play a ton, which means I play with strangers often. Never really had any issues but it’s always funny when a guy shoots and obvious 100+ and says ‘87’ when I ask how he did. Best part about golf is I could care less what others do. It’s just me and my demons vs. the course.
A couple of random golf thoughts as we watch this final round and what will hopefully be a good US Open there in a few months.
-Very jealous of folks that are getting ready to play. Preparing for 12-16 inches of snow here over the next few days. Clearly I’ve made poor choices in life.
-If you’re serious about seeing your progression I highly recommend getting an official handicap. For years I didn’t because I didn’t belong to a club, but it’s super easy now. There’s multiple apps. I use The Grint. I think it’s like $20 a year. Just input your scores and you get a legit one.
-Mrs Cooler convinced me to get a new putter. So I got a used, but refinished Scotty Circa 62 and a Scotty Phantom 12. I’m certainly no Scotty fanboy like many are - I’ve played with my current $20 tiny brass blade putter for well over the past decade. But I figured I’d get a couple to test out since there’s a large resale market for them and they hold their value pretty well.
Funny story I have involving a cheater was back in my high school playing days. I’m in one of the last groups and come in with a 79. Par or better was usually low score so I was surprised when I end up tied for low score. We get sent back to the 18th for sudden death playoff. With the gallery full of the other players all watching the pressure gets to me and I completely choke and snap hook my drive into the woods. At best I’ll be able to chip out. Other guy should probably take a 3wood or even iron now but to my surprise he pulls driver and puts it into the water. I chip out he then drops and chunks his next into the water. I hit the green and three put my way to a double bogey win. I’m a little embarrassed but tell my friend hey at least I don’t choke as bad as he did. Well it turns out my friend was in his group and the guy really shot an 80 but he had never posted a round in the 70s and talked the group into all signing his score card with a 79. They never thought it would be tied for low score. Apparently he was a cheater with a conscious and was freaking out as all the groups were coming in and he was holding in the lead. Once he realized we were in a playoff he lost on purpose. I still don’t get it though he knows he shot an 80! Writing 79 doesn’t mean it happened!!
I used to play bigger amateur tournaments that paired you based on your handicap and also had prizes for low gross and low net in the different categories. At the time I was in the scratch to 4 handicap group. Lots of times you would get paired with a guy that was obviously a 15 handicap or worse player that had been entering in low scores. Now this makes no sense because they would never have a chance of winning any prizes and they always get exposed posting a 92, 89 two day score. They never really bothered me I always thought it was kind of funny. The real cheaters that made me angry were the sandbaggers posting a 71-73 with a 10 handicap.
