Chatter Golf Sub-Forum

[Gator by the Sea]

I’ve seen a longer version of this quote but couldn’t find it. The short version still encapsulates the nature of the game and what makes golf great.

 

[stephenPE]

"Golf is a good walk spoiled." Popularly attributed to Mark Twain, but it was first used in 1948. Twain died in 1910

 

[Gator by the Sea]

Found it!

“Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated. A child can play it and a grown man can never master it. Any single round is full of unexpected triumphs and seemingly perfect shots that end in disaster. It is almost a science, yet it is a puzzle without an answer. It is gratifying and tantalizing, precise and unpredictable; it requires complete concentration and total relaxation. It satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening and it is without doubt the greatest game mankind has invented.”

 

[gator1946]

I started playing golf at 6 years old. I quit playing when I was 48 (another story). I was a single digit handicap for about 30 of those years. I was a sub 2 handicap (and even got to a negative handicap for about 3 weeks) the last 20 years. Here is my advice.

Don't be a driving range warrior. Get out on the course and have fun. Go to courses and play at times when you know there won't be a crowd. Take mulligans and do overs. Don't get caught up in the score yet. Right now its all about just building the experience in your subconscious about what you think the golf ball is going to do after deciding to hit it a certain way. Golf is nothing but a series of decisions that are really just best guesses based purely on your experiences in the current situation of each shot. It is picking the right club and swing along with actually executing the shot correctly. From every single shot you are building experience on how to decide on future shots, so you need to understand whether you guessed right or wrong and if you executed the shot right or wrong. You can guess right then hit a bad shot or you can guess wrong and hit a good shot. Both of those are very frustrating but whats important is understanding what went wrong. But when you guess right and execute the shot right it feels really good. Just understand you should be learning from all of it instead of that rare moment you do it all right.

Also, you are 71...just go play.

Yeah and you were one of those guys I hated. You had a rare talent for the game. I didn't. I had to beat my hands bloody on a driving range to get my handicap as low as I did.

 

[neteng]

Yeah and you were one of those guys I hated. You had a rare talent for the game. I didn't. I had to beat my hands bloody on a driving range to get my handicap as low as I did.

I didnt spend a whole lot of time on the driving range, especially if I was in a peak and making good consistent contact with the ball. My range work was very specific when I did. I got on there, worked on what I wanted with clear goals and then got off. I had a scripted range warm up that I followed religiously before rounds and any range work I did. It changed a little bit based on the different types of shots the course I was playing that round required.

I found that my game didn't directly improve based on the hours spent on the driving range. I spent more time around the putting green and chipping area. That is where I saw the most improvement. The other thing I did was to play by myself a lot during the week at off times and practice on the course. I picked something to work on each day. For example, on par 4s and 5s I would drop 10 balls every 10 yards towards the green starting at the 150 marker. I would use just my wedge so it was a drill about feel and swing speed. That same day on par 3s I would hit 10 shots out of a bunker around the green.

That type of practice kept me in the zone. If I tried to replicate that on the driving range I would just lose interest. I guess what I am trying to say, you hitting so many balls on the range to the point of getting blisters isn't going to do a whole lot to really make you better. Like I said previously, golf is nothing more than a trail of decisions you are making from the 1st tee to the 18th hole. The more experience your mind has absorbed to help feel your way around all the choices of each shot is what you are trying to get. Beating balls on a driving range really doesn't do that much and can actually make it worse for you to pick through your experience to get that right feeling about the shot.

EDIT: I do want to say though that beginners should spend a lot of time on the range at first to get to the point where they can make consistent contact. But there comes a time where one's gains on the range start to minimize versus the gains you get from the experience on the course. Confidence is a huge part of golf and that is initially gained on the range.

 

[cover2]

No...you learn to cuss at the first golf courses you start playing at not ANY golf course. ;)

And there was something unique about ironwood...it had lights. I haven't seen that anywhere else other than vegas.

About golf and cussing, the Father’s Day card my daughter got me had a caveman with a stick hitting a rock. The caption read “And it was then that profanity was born!”

About lights on a course, me and a group of coaching buddies used to go spend a weekend every so often in Destin to play golf and drink beer. We’d play at Ft. Walton CC during the day and then at a place called the Golf Garden, that was lighted, at night. It was a lot of fun, particularly because we were pretty lit up by then and screwed with each other mercilessly. It was 9 holes and I remember #9 had a big net behind the green to keep errant shots off of Hwy 98. The worst golfer among us hit one high off the net that caromed to within an inch of holing out. Couldn’t tell his dumb @ss anything from there on out.

@Okeechobee Joe Im glad you’re getting into it. There really is a lot of pleasure to be found in the game. Like several others have said, get out on the course and play. As far as instructional videos go, there’s a guy I like named Danny Maude. He doesn’t get overly technical. You might give him a try.

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

I didnt spend a whole lot of time on the driving range, especially if I was in a peak and making good consistent contact with the ball. My range work was very specific when I did. I got on there, worked on what I wanted with clear goals and then got off. I had a scripted range warm up that I followed religiously before rounds and any range work I did. It changed a little bit based on the different types of shots the course I was playing that round required.

I found that my game didn't directly improve based on the hours spent on the driving range. I spent more time around the putting green and chipping area. That is where I saw the most improvement. The other thing I did was to play by myself a lot during the week at off times and practice on the course. I picked something to work on each day. For example, on par 4s and 5s I would drop 10 balls every 10 yards towards the green starting at the 150 marker. I would use just my wedge so it was a drill about feel and swing speed. That same day on par 3s I would hit 10 shots out of a bunker around the green.

That type of practice kept me in the zone. If I tried to replicate that on the driving range I would just lose interest. I guess what I am trying to say, you hitting so many balls on the range to the point of getting blisters isn't going to do a whole lot to really make you better. Like I said previously, golf is nothing more than a trail of decisions you are making from the 1st tee to the 18th hole. The more experience your mind has absorbed to help feel your way around all the choices of each shot is what you are trying to get. Beating balls on a driving range really doesn't do that much and can actually make it worse for you to pick through your experience to get that right feeling about the shot.

EDIT: I do want to say though that beginners should spend a lot of time on the range at first to get to the point where they can make consistent contact. But there comes a time where one's gains on the range start to minimize versus the gains you get from the experience on the course. Confidence is a huge part of golf and that is initially gained on the range.

Good advice. Your point is well taken that using the range at first can be beneficial, but only up to a point when the law of diminishing returns starts to take effect. I know you said you started playing at an early age, but did you take many golf lessons as an adult golfer?

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

@Okeechobee Joe Im glad you’re getting into it. There really is a lot of pleasure to be found in the game. Like several others have said, get out on the course and play. As far as instructional videos go, there’s a guy I like named Danny Maude. He doesn’t get overly technical. You might give him a try.

I like Danny Maude too and had been watching him before I read your comment mentioning him. I like to keep things simple especially at first. Another video instructor I've found to be pretty good is another Englishman named Rick Shiels. Right now I don't need Bryson DeChambeau discussing the intricacies of the effects of air density on the spin of the ball. The Scientist was a physics major at SMU you know.

 

[cover2]

@Okeechobee Joe the scientist has turned into an unmitigated @ss. The shine is off of that penny.

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

Believe it or not, Phil Mickelson has some pretty good instructional videos on YouTube, especially for chipping and pitching. And unlike a lot of these dudes with youtube channels, he doesn’t prattle on and on, begging you to hit the subscribe button, etc. Just quick, easy to understand basics so you at least know the correct technique before you head to the range to practice.

Practice without some direction is a good time waster but not necessarily the path to better golf. Taking lessons from a pro that speaks your language sure beats just beating ball after ball downrange when all you’re doing is permanently ingraining all your natural flaws into your swing. That, and playing golf with decent players so you can watch how they do things out on the course.

Phil Mickelson is a class act. I like the kind of basic instruction he gives as in the video above. He can bomb the hell out of the ball but he knows that ultimately the game is won with the short game where most of the shots are made.

 

[neteng]

Good advice. Your point is well taken that using the range at first can be beneficial, but only up to a point when the law of diminishing returns starts to take effect. I know you said you started playing at an early age, but did you take many golf lessons as an adult golfer?

I only really took lessons as an adult a couple times when I got into some slumps and needed a reboot. The golf swing is like rack and pinion steering...its never really ever headed in the right direction, you just got to make small tweaks here and there to keep inside the lane.

 

[cover2]

I haven’t watched much of the olympics, but I did enjoy watching quite a bit of the men’s golf. Hats off to Xander Shauffle. He’s been touted as the next big thing and has been close, but can’t push through on the final day. Might have got the monkey off his back. Winning a gold medal for the US still means something and I’m proud for him.

The course they played on was beautifully kept. Seemed like the putts might have rolled a bit truer and easier than what the pros normally encounter based on the barrage of birdies over the four days. There were sure a lot of long putts made. The primary rough was pretty plush, but didn’t seem to be consistently punitive. I had to chuckle at the couple of balls that got stuck in trees by Justin Thomas and Thomas Pieters. I haven’t seen that many ever in a tournament. I’m glad we don’t have trees like that over here.

In old school terms, I guess I’m trainable mentally handicapped. I took the advice some of you guys offered on using a more lofted driver. Lo and behold I looked through my trove of clubs and found a 10 degree Callaway and it made an immediate improvement. Not only did I pick up some needed distance, but on the par 5 #6 at my home course, I was able once again to cut the corner over the pines (sharp dogleg right) and have a legitimate chance of getting on in two. Between that and some shorter approaches, golf is looking to be more fun again.

Last bit, I bought a “new” used set of clubs. For the last several years I had been playing with a set of Tommy Armour 845s that I picked up at a junk shop for $20. They were in great shape and had regular graphite shafts. I hit them pretty well, but I came across a really nice set of Ram FX Pro Set Tour Grinds. A guy I knew years ago had a set and let me hit them and they were like butter. I believe they ran about $1000 or so back in ‘94 so that put them out of reach. I paid a little better than $300 for the 3-SW set with the regular flex graphite shafts that were pretty pristine. They hit just as sweet as I remembered. Something about the nickel finish makes for a very soft feel. I’ve got something to look forward to as I’m winding toward more time for golf.

 

[FireFoley]

@cover2, I was never a great or even good golfer, but the best stint was when I played with 845s. Loved those clubs.

 

[cover2]

@cover2, I was never a great or even good golfer, but the best stint was when I played with 845s. Loved those clubs.

They were a great find. We were at Mexico Beach 6 or 7 years ago and it was raining, so the missus and I went to this little junk shop just to kill some time. That set of 3-PW was in a corner with some other clubs, all marked $2 each. I scooped up the 845s and an old Callaway Tuttle putter and gave the lady a twenty. They really hit well and were very much worth what I paid for them! I remember when they first came out, Fred Couples played with them and hit them a mile. I hit them very straight :)

 

[FireFoley]

They were a great find. We were at Mexico Beach 6 or 7 years ago and it was raining, so the missus and I went to this little junk shop just to kill some time. That set of 3-PW was in a corner with some other clubs, all marked $2 each. I scooped up the 845s and an old Callaway Tuttle putter and gave the lady a twenty. They really hit well and were very much worth what I paid for them! I remember when they first came out, Fred Couples played with them and hit them a mile. I hit them very straight :)

Perhaps they were mine LOL. When I sold my big house in 2015 I donated 2 sets of golf clubs to someone who said they were going to give them to a kid's club. Maybe they made it all the way to Mexico Beach and into that junk shop, LOL

 

[jeeping8r]

Used to be a fair to so-so putter, OK chipping but anything over a 7 iron forget it. Driver? Nope. My issue is I tend to stand up and top the hell out of the ball, either goes straight up and 10 yards down range or kills a pile of worms.
Basically take par on whatever course, double it and put it on my scorecard.... I'll meet you at the 19th hole. Although I have made a grand total of 2 birdies in my pitiful golf career.
Think my best round ever was in the mid 90s at baseline just north of Belleview.... But had loads of fun

 

[cover2]

But had loads of fun

That should be the ultimate goal!

 

[G8trwood]

My old lab is too old to hunt anymore. Maybe take him to find those errant shots and improve the lie ;)

Next up is a shoulder replacement. The arthritis has limited me to a half swing, which in retrospect could be a good thing.

 

[neteng]

I dont care what level you are at with your game, get your clubs fitted. It doesn't matter if you found the greatest deal in the world or spent thousands on the best set of clubs, if they don't fit your stance and swing then they are equally worthless. It really is worth the investment.

 

[NVGator]

I dont care what level you are at with your game, get your clubs fitted. It doesn't matter if you found the greatest deal in the world or spent thousands on the best set of clubs, if they don't fit your stance and swing then they are equally worthless. It really is worth the investment.

Interesting take. Interesting outcome.