I was at a bachelor party last weekend in Memphis. We played a couple rounds - the groom had a hole in one!
I was playing with him - 135, uphill, crispy PW…bounce, roll, in. We went nuts obviously.
My wonky math says I have played at least 500 rounds in my life and I’ve never even seen a hole in one live (variance?).
The clubhouse was buzzing after the round, he’s getting his name on a plaque and a photo in the newsletter, lol.
I came as close as I probably ever will come several weeks ago. A 110 yard downhill par 3 and i stuck a pitching wedge to about 1 foot and it kicked right at the hole, flirted around the cup and ended up with about a 3 inch birdie putt (which i actually missed lmao).
The group on the other box was losing their shit
How do you miss that!
The entire tee box was watching me, and i tried to casually, one armed, backwards tap it in and whiffed it with the bottom of the putter. What’s funny is i can make like 4 footers that way. And I miss that one.
I marked it as a birdie though because fuck it i deserved it. Lol
A really bad part of my game is i have a hard time when people are watching me. I just fall apart. My best rounds are always solo.
That’s awesome. Never seen an ace.
Couple weeks ago played with a buddy who is legit. Shot a 79 on a course with a 143 slope. He holed out from like 170 yards on a par four. He couldn’t see it from where he was hitting but I was a bit forward and saw it go in. He didn’t believe me til we got to the green and checked the cup.
Damn that’s very impressive. I think the hardest course I played was a 133 and it ripped me apart (mostly because it was way too long for me)
I need distance so bad i’m considering starting a workout regimen a la phil
Lefty is swole now but doesn’t seem to be helping his game.
Consider Rory - he’s all core and he hits it a mile. Brooks too, like he has plenty of mirror muscles but also is super strong in his core. Build those muscles and learn to fire your hips through the ball and you’ll pick up a ton of yardage.
I mean hitting hit farther is great. I play to a 16.1 handicapp currently so I’m in no position to give advice but the wife doesn’t have an official handicap and prolly plays to like a 10-12 and doesn’t hit the ball nearly as far as me. I’m like 270 driver/170 7 iron type player. Her short game kicks my ass.
My buddy who is a single digit player is about my distance maybe a bit shorter but from 100 and in is miles better than me. So I’d recommend working on the short game if you want to get better.
yeah. fire your hips!
This is pretty much how I play lately. All short game. Can’t hit a green really but from ~150 out I know I can:
At least get 30 yards from the green
From 30 yards, I know I can nearly always get on the green
Once on the green, I know I can always 2 putt.
So I am basically guaranteed bogeys the way I play as long as I dont chunk or shank or mishit. That’s where I lose all my strokes typically. That’s why my scores have been way more consistently low/mid 90’s even when I’m not playing great. But, if I had more distance, this good aspect of my game (my wedges and putter) would be insane.
For instance, 260-270 yard par 4’s. Become a scramble birdie for me. Right now, typically they’re a 100 yard approach into a nasty green situation (because it’s a short par 4 theyre usually super guarded).
It makes my game so much harder than it needs to be.
I know I have the strength. When I fully rotate and connect on a 5 iron it carries 195. I’m not a wimp. I just cant generate that speed and not shank it. I also fatigue really bad late in a round and stiffen up. I need to work on flexibility probably more than my strength.
A major thing in my swing lately is keeping my lower body really quiet. I had a lot of hip turn earlier in my swing but it caused a lot of sliding. Hip sliding/opening up too early are my biggest things and why I consistently push everything and hit fat. So more hip rotation for me typically = more sliding.
I basically sacrificed 30-40 yards of distance for more consistent shots.
Same here re fatigue. After 2 rounds in Memphis I was lol sore. By 14 on day 1 and at the turn on day 2 my swing was definitely compensating for muscle aches. Kinda pathetic actually as that’s not my perception of myself.
I’m in NE and a lot of the pliability shit I see Brady promote I think would be great for my golf game. Maybe next year’s the year.
Haha. Also in New England and have seen that. Flexibility is key. It’s how all those skinny/lanky kids hit the ball a mile. I’m a fat dude who has managed to stay limber so I’d recommend daily stretching (haven’t gotten into the yoga).
One other thing to combat fatigue is that I’ve walked like 90% of my rounds in the past few years with a pushcart. I use to carry my bag and investing in the pushcart has saved at least 3 strokes a round from fatigue.
I finally bought some lessons. My friend’s dad has been a pro for 30 years and is an incredible teacher and a super nice guy. I signed up for a 30 minute $40 consultation lesson and he gave me 2 and a half hours.
I love his style and approach to the game, very technical but also very into the mind-game aspect of golf, down to the point he doesn’t use any negative words or allows any negative words in his lessons. Things like “keep the head down” doesn’t jive with him he has to say “look for the tee.”
I got 8 2 hour lessons for $200. Kind of a steal. He focuses on the entire game. We started with some putting drills and I aced it for 26 straight putts til I finally missed a 9 footer. I could tell he was a little blown away because I told him my putting can be kind of meh. But I was like, dude, you marked the exact line for me. How can I miss when I already have the correct line? I just have to hit it right? And he thought that was pretty funny.
Chipped a few in in chipping but overall need a little work on the type of chips he was having me do. Recorded my swing a bunch and I gotta say it doesn’t look THAT bad. I was hitting some crispy ones but I was absolutely shocked at the launch monitor stats. It said I am swinging 60MPH LOL. What the FUCK.
I know I can swing faster than that. I felt like I was only giving ~70% just to make good contact and work on the things he was showing me but god damn. The first thing we’re working on is my grip, he completely reversed what I was doing. I had a super strong grip to fix my slice and he made it standard/slightly weaker which I thought was like wtf but for some reason it just worked.
That was miles above what I expected, glad I finally did this. I know their job is to hype you up but he said with my short game, if I get my iron striking down, I’m gonna be unstoppable. I totally feel it too though.
Just started golfing again after playing 1 or 2 rounds a year for the last 9 years. Got down to the mid to high 80s when I was playing a lot in Vegas.
First round this year (2 months ago) I lost 14 balls, in a scramble.
Been fighting a banana slice my entire life - watched a YouTube video last week that said the first thing I should do is strengthen my grip.
Played my first round today after watching the video and shot a legit 89. I played this same course 4 times this year and never broke 100. Was never more than 10 yards off a fairway except for drives, and hit my irons really crisp. I putted well too.
Just have to figure out where my distance went. Used to drive the ball 270 and hit my 7 iron 160. Now I’m driving it 210 and hitting my 7 140. I’m 10 years older but I’m only 45. I shouldn’t have lost that much distance.
I went to a golf shop and bought a driver and got in their swing thing. Swing speed is 91, don’t know where it’s going because I’m hitting them crisp. Is the air in the Pacific Northwest that much thicker than the air in Vegas?
Grip changes are challenging for me. It can really feel foreign.
A weaker grip definitely feels odd to me, but the stronger grip doesn’t feel that foreign.
I guess it’s a matter of how one has gripped the club for so long.
I’ve had a strong grip ever since getting rid of my slice as a teen. When I deviate even slightly from that approach, it feels weird. It’s something one just needs to commit to, and it’ll become less alien over time obvs.
Yup totally agree. I switched to a pretty strong grip after learning how to swing. Took a while to get use to. I may be a bit obsessed but have clubs laying around throughout the house so for the longest time when I’d just be sitting on the couch when watching a game or whatever on tv I’d have the club in my hand working on my grip (insert sexual golf pun as needed).
That’s what my instructor wants me to do. Grip 50 times a day and if I can also work on my setup at the same time.
I’m going from an absurdly strong grip to one that’s slightly weak - but even in the few shots I took, the ball did really straighten out somehow.
I trust this guy though, he is really legit. He’s super confident too and inspires confidence. Ive seen some instructors at the range act like total dickheads towards their students.