2020 Golf Thread of Disappoint Yourself

[DCA_HORN 725]

We had a softside cooler UNDER THE SEAT and the bastard inspected that and busted us.
Then I felt like a jerk because they need the revenue badly to keep up that awesome track.
I guess that is why they charge a mint for their "cabins*"
 
 
 
*shitty converted ass apartments with window units.

In the battery compartment? Did he see you stuff it in there?

[capnamerca 571]

We didn't have a single person give us the side eye for personal liquor. We made several trips to the truck - granted, we also bought a bunch of liquor, so maybe they just gave us a pass.

[DDD Dad 14339]

We didn't have a single person give us the side eye for personal liquor. We made several trips to the truck - granted, we also bought a bunch of liquor, so maybe they just gave us a pass.

[capnamerca 571]

3 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

My favorite quote of the trip was "I didn't take the muscle relaxers, so I'm taking extra alcohol relaxers."

[ztejas 43464]

For anyone in the Austin area, wanted to plug a guy that I took a couple clubs to yesterday. I needed the shaft on a PW extended and wanted to swap grips on a shaft that was missing a head and a club that needed a new grip. He charged me $16 and had it done in an hour. 

Anything to avoid having to walk into Golf Galaxy or the PGA Superstore and deal with their corporate bullshit.

His name is Ralph. Wouldn't be surprised if some of you here have already used him. He's also a Horns fan and a Vietnam Vet.

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by ztejas

[chitwood 155]

10 hours ago, ztejas said:

For anyone in the Austin area, wanted to plug a guy that I took a couple clubs to yesterday. I needed the shaft on a PW extended and wanted to swap grips on a shaft that was missing a head and a club that needed a new grip. He charged me $16 and had it done in an hour. 

Anything to avoid having to walk into Golf Galaxy or the PGA Superstore and deal with their corporate bullshit.

His name is Ralph. Wouldn't be surprised if some of you here have already used him. He's also a Horns fan and a Vietnam Vet.

 

Thanks man. Great to know. 

[chitwood 155]

42/34 at Avery ranch yesterday. Best 9 ever. Birdied 13/14/15. After playing like dogshit at Pine Dunes with @capnamerca and @DDD Dad  went to range Wednesday and realized I was set up 30 yards right of target. Stupid game. 

[ztejas 43464]

3 minutes ago, chitwood said:

After playing like dogshit at Pine Dunes with @capnamerca and @DDD Dad  went to range Wednesday and realized I was set up 30 yards right of target.

I usually know where I'm aiming. It's just a question of, will this be the high draw that I hit when I strike it pure? Am I going to turn the club face over too much and push it 20 yards left? Am I going to swing too far inside and send it 15 yards to the right? 

But that's a badass back 9. I'm about 18 shots off your game right now - parring 3 and bogeying 6 would be a great 9 for me. 

Played Colovista today and shot something around a 93. I was with my granddad and we just played the senior tees so I took their handicaps on the scorecard and added the difference between that and the tips. 

Basically every time I play I fuck up my round in the first 3-4 holes. I think I was 5 over on the first 3 holes and 13 over on the next 15. 

My bag is still kind of a mess and I'm really just trying to piece my game together right now, but I've played more in the past month than I had in the 6 years before that. Getting back into it is addicting to say the least. 

[ztejas 43464]

Does anyone here know or have a good breakdown of factors that go into ball/swing speed? I hit a bunch of balls at top golf today and they give you your ball speed after each strike. How much of this is created by your equipment and how much is physique (on the ones I'm hitting pure)?

Say I want to get from 140 to 160 - should I try out some different drivers or should I hit the gym? Is part of it the ball itself that I'm using? How much is gain or lost from my stance?

(Sorry, I know that's a lot of questions - feel free to chime in on anything I brought up)

Edited September 22, 2020 by ztejas

[gurt 748]

hitting the center of the clubface is your best bet on increasing ball speed.  

[Lurch 5931]

Driver heads and balls are mostly maxed. Other than making sure you have the right shaft, you can’t really buy more length.

To see gains you’ll want to make sure impact position is correct (maximizing smash factor) and increase club head speed through swinging harder (literally trying), transitioning weight properly, extending swing length (more time for club head to speed up before impact) and of course building muscle.

[Lurch 5931]

True. If you’re not consistently center face nothing else really matters until you solve that. Smash factor will reflect it as such.

[ztejas 43464]

9 minutes ago, Lurch said:

Driver heads and balls are mostly maxed. Other than making sure you have the right shaft, you can’t really buy more length.

Thanks. The driver in my bag I like is an older head but it's long and I like the shaft. 

I swing as hard as I can so that's not something I can change. Sounds like I need to do some push ups if I want to get my speed up. Not that distance is the issue with my game, but man it would be fun to get my 7i close to 200 off the tee and get some drives 340-350 after the run out.

[pops 6986]

On 9/22/2020 at 11:40 AM, ztejas said:

Does anyone here know or have a good breakdown of factors that go into ball/swing speed? I hit a bunch of balls at top golf today and they give you your ball speed after each strike. How much of this is created by your equipment and how much is physique (on the ones I'm hitting pure)?

Say I want to get from 140 to 160 - should I try out some different drivers or should I hit the gym? Is part of it the ball itself that I'm using? How much is gain or lost from my stance?

(Sorry, I know that's a lot of questions - feel free to chime in on anything I brought up)

Pretty much perfect contact will lead to a ball speed 1.5x swing speed. What is your swing speed? 

[capnamerca 571]

On 9/22/2020 at 2:06 PM, ztejas said:

Thanks. The driver in my bag I like is an older head but it's long and I like the shaft. 

I swing as hard as I can so that's not something I can change. Sounds like I need to do some push ups if I want to get my speed up. Not that distance is the issue with my game, but man it would be fun to get my 7i close to 200 off the tee and get some drives 340-350 after the run out.

Said very respectfully, this is pretty much all wrong :).

"Swinging hard" doesn't mean that you're at all putting energy from your body into the club in the most efficient manner. Doing pushups isn't the best way to increase golf speed, either.

Golf is a rotational game, played from the ground up. Watch the guys that hit it a long way, especially ones who aren't huge - Justin Thomas, Rory, Rickie. They all end up on their tippy-toes at impact, because they're starting their swings from the ground up. They also all finish with their chest AND belt buckle facing the target itself, or even LEFT of the target, because they've rotated so far and so hard. Think about a spiral staircase - you're doing mostly a rotational thing to go up, but you still gotta push up on each stair. It's a pretty good picture for how you unwind from the top of a backswing to get the most power - push DOWN into the ground, then unwind going UP. Bryson's swing has some unique technical bits, so don't start there, but go find a slow-mo of JT or Rory's golf swing. Consider Rory to be the most technically sound driver swing for the modern era - copy it, and you'll do fine (of course, your wedge game will suck, but that's not what you asked).

In terms of workouts, it's legs, legs, legs, core, more legs, back, legs, shoulders, core, and then more legs. Push ups, bench press, incline press, all gonna slow you down.

[ztejas 43464]

6 minutes ago, pops said:

Pretty much perfect contact will lead to a ball speed 1.5x swing speed. What is your swing speed? 

Not sure. Topgolf was giving me ball speed and towards the end of it I was getting 150-155 mph on my drives, but that was after probably 200 balls - a lot of them long irons and driver. Guessing I'd be around 160 going straight in after a couple days rest. I seriously doubt my swing speed is over 110 though... I think I'm getting about as much ball speed as I can with my current setup and physique. If I had to guess I would say something like 108?

[ztejas 43464]

8 minutes ago, capnamerca said:

In terms of workouts, it's legs, legs, legs, core, more legs, back, legs, shoulders, core, and then more legs. Push ups, bench press, incline press, all gonna slow you down.

That's good to know, actually. 

As for the rest of your comment, I don't think there's much more distance for me to squeeze out of my swing until I get in better shape. Certainly not until I have a more consistent ball flight to play with. Sure there are guys 5 inches shorter than me playing on tour that hit it past me but they actually, like, go to the gym and have hit hundreds of thousands more balls than me.

Assuming I get in better shape and keep hitting balls 2-3 times a week then I think I could work on really REALLY maximizing rotation to knock the piss out of it. 

[capnamerca 571]

Just now, ztejas said:

That's good to know, actually. 

As for the rest of your comment, I don't think there's much more distance for me to squeeze out of my swing until I get in better shape. Certainly not until I have a more consistent ball flight to play with. Sure there are guys 5 inches shorter than me playing on tour that hit it past me but they actually, like, go to the gym and have hit hundreds of thousands more balls than me.

Assuming I get in better shape and keep hitting balls 2-3 times a week then I think I could work on really REALLY maximizing rotation to knock the piss out of it. 

All fair points, yep. Just wanted to point out that "moving your arms really fast" isn't going to translate to ball speed :).

[ztejas 43464]

6 minutes ago, capnamerca said:

Just wanted to point out that "moving your arms really fast" isn't going to translate to ball speed :).

Yeah and I've noticed as much. Easy way to demonstrate that is compare a full backswing to a 3/4 swing. The 3/4 swing is going to go much farther than 3/4 the distance of my full backswing. 

Which, can be irritating when I'm trying to dial into 60-65 yards with say, a pitching wedge, and keep "barely" hitting it only for the ball to carry 85.

So much of it is where you're hitting the ball, too. My average distance on my 4 iron might only be 7-8 yards past my 5 iron. But if I hit a full 4iron pure it's going to be close to 15 yards past a full 5. The difference is I hit my 5 much more consistently.

Edited September 23, 2020 by ztejas

[pops 6986]

7 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Yeah and I've noticed as much. Easy way to demonstrate that is compare a full backswing to a 3/4 swing. The 3/4 swing is going to go much farther than 3/4 the distance of my full backswing. 

Which, can be irritating when I'm trying to dial into 60-65 yards with say, a pitching wedge, and keep "barely" hitting it only for the ball to carry 85.

So much of it is where you're hitting the ball, too. My average distance on my 4 iron might only be 7-8 yards past my 5 iron. But if I hit a full 4iron pure it's going to be close to 15 yards past a full 5. The difference is I hit my 5 much more consistently.

Sounds like ball striking inconsistency. Happens to all of us. 

Id say find a good pro and have them take a look. Or if you're really a glutton for punishment,  upload a video of your swing. Plenty of armchair qb's around here that could offer criticism. Some of it may even be constructive!

[ztejas 43464]

14 minutes ago, pops said:

Sounds like ball striking inconsistency. Happens to all of us. 

Id say find a good pro and have them take a look. Or if you're really a glutton for punishment,  upload a video of your swing. Plenty of armchair qb's around here that could offer criticism. Some of it may even be constructive!

Oh... I'm very aware of my inconsistency. I just got back into playing so for now all I need to do is hit balls and then go hit more balls. I'm still playing with where I have the ball in my stance, shaft angle, how much I get behind the ball or ahead of it etc. and how I adjust all of that depending on the club (e.g. I stay much more in front of my swing with a 48* than I do with a driver... but I literally started to figure that out yesterday)

Once I find a comfortable spot with my swing I might upload a video if there's something I can't figure out. I just haven't run into that yet. But I'm sure it will plateau at some point and I will start driving myself crazy. 

And all of the discussion of ball speed was really just me being curious. I'm not at the point where I would be trying to dial that up. It's plenty fast for me right now. 

[Revolution512 1487]

1 hour ago, capnamerca said:

Said very respectfully, this is pretty much all wrong :).

"Swinging hard" doesn't mean that you're at all putting energy from your body into the club in the most efficient manner. Doing pushups isn't the best way to increase golf speed, either.

Golf is a rotational game, played from the ground up. Watch the guys that hit it a long way, especially ones who aren't huge - Justin Thomas, Rory, Rickie. They all end up on their tippy-toes at impact, because they're starting their swings from the ground up. They also all finish with their chest AND belt buckle facing the target itself, or even LEFT of the target, because they've rotated so far and so hard. Think about a spiral staircase - you're doing mostly a rotational thing to go up, but you still gotta push up on each stair. It's a pretty good picture for how you unwind from the top of a backswing to get the most power - push DOWN into the ground, then unwind going UP. Bryson's swing has some unique technical bits, so don't start there, but go find a slow-mo of JT or Rory's golf swing. Consider Rory to be the most technically sound driver swing for the modern era - copy it, and you'll do fine (of course, your wedge game will suck, but that's not what you asked).

In terms of workouts, it's legs, legs, legs, core, more legs, back, legs, shoulders, core, and then more legs. Push ups, bench press, incline press, all gonna slow you down.

Pushups, bench press and incline will most definitely not slow you down. Old myth. Chest, triceps and back are pretty important upper body muscles for your swing. Are they the most important things to work on? No, but definitely beneficial. See Tiger, Brooks, Rory, Jason Day, Bryson, etc

[capnamerca 571]

7 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

Pushups, bench press and incline will most definitely not slow you down. Old myth. Chest, triceps and back are pretty important upper body muscles for your swing. Are they the most important things to work on? No, but definitely beneficial. See Tiger, Brooks, Rory, Jason Day, Bryson, etc

I was unclear ... if the workout is "do a bunch of pushups," that's not going to help. Upper body strength, in a balanced approach that prioritizes length, and especially elasticity, will absolutely help. But if you only had a few minutes and wanted to do something to improve your golf swing, "do a bunch of air squats and crunches" would be FAR more beneficial.

[DDD Dad 14339]

All fair points, yep. Just wanted to point out that "moving your arms really fast" isn't going to translate to ball speed .

That’s not what your mom said.

[DDD Dad 14339]

I was unclear ... if the workout is "do a bunch of pushups," that's not going to help. Upper body strength, in a balanced approach that prioritizes length, and especially elasticity, will absolutely help. But if you only had a few minutes and wanted to do something to improve your golf swing, "do a bunch of air squats and crunches" would be FAR more beneficial.

Deadlifts, RDLs, and bench squats FTW.

Farmer walks, 90 degree box jumps, burpees, Roman twists, are good too.

[capnamerca 571]

Just now, DDD Dad said:

Deadlifts, RDLs, and bench squats FTW.

Farmer walks, 90 degree box jumps, burpees, Roman twists, are good too.

How's your back, Arnold?

[DDD Dad 14339]

2 minutes ago, capnamerca said:

How's your back, Arnold?

[ztejas 43464]

11 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Deadlifts, RDLs, and bench squats FTW.

Farmer walks, 90 degree box jumps, burpees, Roman twists, are good too.

What about Iroquois twists? 

ONE! Hay ya ya...

[DDD Dad 14339]

1 minute ago, ztejas said:

What about Iroquois twists? 

ONE! Hay ya ya...

Dammit.  Russian twists. (I had Romanian Dead Lifts in my head when I was typing that).

 

Edited September 23, 2020 by DDD Dad

[ztejas 43464]

4 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Dammit.  Russian twists. (I had Romanian Dead Lifts in my head when I was typing that).

 

All of them sound like things I try to avoid by playing golf. 

[DDD Dad 14339]

1 minute ago, ztejas said:

All of them sound like things I try to avoid by playing golf. 

Well if you hurt yourself like I did the cure is taking muscle relaxers.  I figure those things have dropped my handicap at least a stroke or two.

[capnamerca 571]

1 hour ago, DDD Dad said:

Well if you hurt yourself like I did the cure is taking muscle relaxers.  I figure those things have dropped my handicap at least a stroke or two.

Wheeeee motherfucker wheeeee! (name that reference for one internet point)

[heso 2805]

On 9/22/2020 at 3:06 PM, ztejas said:

Sounds like I need to do some push ups if I want to get my speed up.

You’d be better served with some deadlifts and power cleans. 

[Revolution512 1487]

1 hour ago, capnamerca said:

I was unclear ... if the workout is "do a bunch of pushups," that's not going to help. Upper body strength, in a balanced approach that prioritizes length, and especially elasticity, will absolutely help. But if you only had a few minutes and wanted to do something to improve your golf swing, "do a bunch of air squats and crunches" would be FAR more beneficial.

Gotcha, totally agree

[DDD Dad 14339]

Wheeeee motherfucker wheeeee! (name that reference for one internet point)

Does it involve golf carts and sand traps?

[capnamerca 571]

12 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

Does it involve golf carts and sand traps?

Nope

[ztejas 43464]

Well... fuck. Ventured out solo today to play point venture out in Lago Vista because they are basically giving away greens fees. Felt some tightness between my shoulder blades early and tried to play through it but had to call it a day after #15. 

Which sucks two fold because I was putting together a decent round and a pretty good back 9 and I'm also slated for Terra Vista tomorrow afternoon. 

So... time for emergency massage and stretching to see if I can get through 18 tomorrow. I really hope this doesn't turn into a regular issue but I think I should be fine. I overdid it the other day and didn't stretch or anything. Worst case scenario I have to find somewhere below parallel to start bringing my backswing to but that is going to cost me 5-10 yards and some consistency as of right now. 

It's a fun little 9 hole course. Outside of the greens it is in tremendous shape for what they charge you. Pretty easy but there are some tight fairways and the greens trend small. They definitely cut the greens for Sue and Margie out there so you don't have to worry much about the ball getting away from you but the breaks were a little inconsistent. 

[StruggleBus 3922]

My man! You broke 80!

[ztejas 43464]

6 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

My man! You broke 80!

Worst 79 ever.

[DDD Dad 14339]

2 hours ago, ztejas said:

 

So... time for emergency massage and stretching to see if I can get through 18 tomorrow. 

 

Here's to a happy ending to your round.

Edited September 24, 2020 by DDD Dad

[ztejas 43464]

7 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Here's to a happy ending to your round.

Let's just say I found the 17th and 18th holes off the course.

[heso 2805]

Some day I’m going to put together multiple facets of my game at the same time. Normally hitting greens from the fairway is the downfall of my game. Like 2-3 of 18 GIR. I finally put together a round where I hit 10 greens and my putting completely falls apart. And to top it off my wedges, normally the strongest part of my game, fail me on half of the greens that I missed. 

[capnamerca 571]

I played a qualifer on Monday at River Crossing - what an exceptional track. If you get the chance, definitely go. Easy drive from Austin. Incredible shape. Smooth, fast greens. No goofy golf, but some fun architectural choices - a couple of split fairways, some fairway bunkering, an island green par 3. Good mix of short and long holes. I was just really, really impressed.

 

Didn't play for shit, but that's neither here nor there.

[StruggleBus 3922]

Isn’t River Crossing private? Too bad, looks like a great track. I always see it on my way out to Vaaler Creek

[Bogeywon 2519]

My buddy got a hole in one. I was on the green they just finished and he dropped one in. Closest to a hole in one I’ve ever been wow

[gurt 748]

man, hitting fairways sure makes the game a lot easier...I hit 10/14 yesterday.  Only had one where I had to punch out.  Felt like I didn't even chip and putt that well but still shot an 82 (really good for me).

[htown85 159]

I am a pretty mediocre to bad amateur golfer, but I cannot solve the new Memorial Park.  It is a true big boy course with the elevated greens, grown up rough, and tough pin placements.  I have yet to break 100 but shot a 100 yesterday.  It required me scrambling for birdie on 16 and then bogeying 17-18.  Can’t wait to see how the pros play it in November.

[ousuxndallas 65]

Club championship is this weekend, I'm in the championship flight. 7000+ yds from the tips. 3 days.

Wish me luck.

[BayouBill 835]

Arizona golf trip for the 1st week in November. Playing Troon North Pinnacle and Monument, Quintero Golf Club, Wickenburg Ranch, and Talking Stick. Never played in Arizona so I'm next level pumped.

[jkates 316]

For most of the 2010s I played 5-6 rounds of golf per year. I would shoot between 80-95.

I have played 1 round of golf in 2020. On 9/24 I played the Tournament Course at Golf Club of Houston and scored an 89.

Front 9: 51

Back 9: 38

Edited October 9, 2020 by jkates