Personally, I agree with you that learning how to use the driver will make this game much easier.
The driver along with the putter were the weakest part of my game in the first 3-5 years.
I had spent hours and buckets of range balls on the putter and the driver. Now they are the stronger part of my game.
Practice the smart way is the only way to get better. The difference between an amateur and someone who could turn professional is how fast they can get there.
It only took me close to 40 years to be comfortable with this game. In the beginning, I just want to get better, then to a point where I really enjoyed this game.
To play with someone a lot better than you and to travel to play some other more difficult golf courses than your home course will also help to improve one’s golf game.
See? You’ve already fitted him, making length and swingweight adjustments. If he’s 6’3" he might need a lie adjustment as well, but I’d defer to a qualified clubfitter for that adjustment.
I recently had a Trackman session with the club pro. We used a fitting cart and arrived at 2 degrees upright and an inch longer. I had him build 4-5-8-P clubs, with jumbo grips. Actually, Callaway built them, but they work very nicely. I’m not as tall as he is, but I have short legs, short arms, and a long torso. Fitting isn’t a luxury, but it is a necessity.
I wish him well!
Not a scientific fitting of course. The resale Ping irons he bought, after my suggestion is white dot ( 3 degrees up-right?). He is good for now until he get a bit farther down the journey with grooved in fundamentals.
Right now it’ll be a waste of money.
Never met a clubfitter who charged for a fitting if you bought clubs.
Well, he is a smart Youngman who can figure out the simple math. I don’t worry for him to find all options when it comes to time for a fitting/purchase.
There is nothing for free under the sun. Except for the love from parents to their children.
Most clubfitters contribute the cost of the fitting–fewer complaints mean more profits! Hope you’re keeping that young man on the course; we had a lovely 9 this morning–45 degrees and dry!
Good for you.
we finally had warmer weather, high in the low 50s today but drenched from all the moisture we had had in the last 3-4 weeks, and more coming this way in the forecast. My buddies got out yesterday and reported back the fairways ere soft with muddy spots but the greens were dry and firm. I had passed the days of hand washing the pants before dunking it in the washer, cleaning and polishing the golf shoes then put the shoe tree in them to dry. This is the reason most the golfers here have more than one pair of golf shoes and mostly in dark colors ( won’t show the discoloring from mud).
At least not flooding like some places in California right now.
We pay attention to the forecast, hence the reason why the majority of us did not purchase any Winter Program form many of the local golf courses.
As for club fitters. We have some quality service here, a few are well known in the business. Some do not offer free fitting even if we purchase golf clubs from them after the fitting.
One bad thing about the overwhelming supply of this “fitting” business since maybe 6-7 years ago when everyone saw this as another way to generate revenue. So many stores sent their employees to a seminar ( or online training ), then set them free with a launch monitor. Half of these experts do not know how to do a complete job. As if we sent people to an express racing school for a few weeks then give them a Formula One. They would not know how to push that machine to the limit.
But, as in general, the consumers would not know the difference anyway.
I’ll be working on changing shaft for a few sets of irons and put together a new driver shaft for next week.
Can’t wait for next April if the weather is not too wet to get out again.
I will be taking this young man and a few returning golfers to actually get on golf courses. I won’t worry about keeping them on the golf course, they already asked me many times to take them out to watch them play.
I’ll retreat to working on golf clubs and reading a few books which I just bought and watching archived video on the golf swings from those great golfers until then.
Maybe work on building back some lost muscles during the last 5 years. The muscle fibers are intact, just need to pump them up with proteins with exercising. As they say, use it or lose it.
One of the reasons I retired in Oregon was year-round golf. In shorts! Luckily, my home course has no dress code (cargo shorts for me!) and no cart requirement (walking encouraged). Check Oregon Mudders if you would like really good wet-weather shoes.
Sorry to hear your local golf shops have such greedy policies. Local fitters, including the pro at my home course, deduct the cost of a fitting session from the price of clubs ordered. It’s best to get a referral–I found my fitter locally via a list of fitters on the Tom Wishon website. You’re right–forget about the chain stores–those guys are worthless.
Good luck on the weather. We should have 10 or more rounds in by April.
So, you’re not that far away from us. We’re on the east side of Lake Washington between the cities of Seattle, Bellevue and Issaquah.
Forecast rain all week this week.
One of my kid took the residency at Portland V.A. Medical Center. We visited a few times and was disappointed of not finding the old China Town, but found a few nice restaurants not too far away from downtown.
Been to Bend Oregon long ago with kids during the Spring Break and that was fun. No golf for me because we spent every minutes with the kids horseback riding, biking on the trail and hiking. Visited the local museum, a small but interesting visit.
We’ll hit every museum and places of local interest where ever we visited for kids education while they were growing up. No golf while living on the golf resort ( rented town home ).
One of these days, we’ll revisit Bend again and make sure I’ll squeeze in a few rounds there. When kids were young, all they want was outdoor activities excluding golf, too young to get on the golf course.
Oregon Mudders? Heard of it and know it’s reputation. I’ll pass if the ground is wet enough to warrant the use of those specialty golf shoes.
I was raised in Ashland and lived all over the country. Came back because no place is better than the northwest! Kids and grandkids and careful spending keep me anchored in Gresham. Several good courses within 10 miles. The only time we don’t play is when the wind is knocking over trees or when the greens are covered with snow or frozen. You don’t get this old being a wimp!
The Mudders are a definite good buy–and as comfortable as Footjoy or any of the rest.
We had probably came very close to where you’re at when we ventured to one of the restaurants in Hermiston. It is very sad that Portland did not make an effort to keep the old China Town as the Bay Area. I heard from friends the the Landmark of Gant Street up and down the San Francisco China Town are now operated by East Indi people now after the traditional shop owners moved out.
The best Food we found is 120 miles North of where we are, in Vancouver B.C. and of course Vicinity of Toronto CA is taking over the traditional Eastern board spots.
One of my neighbor went to Toronto, across the continent, to celebrate his retirement by visiting restaurants he mapped out.
There should be some nice golf courses just across the river from you in the Washington State.
No, Hermiston is as far east from Gresham as you can get, 300 miles or so. The food in Portland, Gresham, and Troutdale is pretty nice, particularly the Asian food carts. We have so many good golf courses on this side of the river that I’ve never had the need to check out the ones in SW Washington, although I’ve heard they’re good. As long as the parking lots are 50% pickups–don’t hold with snooty, cart-only courses.
I don’t mind who I golf with as long as they observe the basic etiquette on the golf course.
I do have a problem with cart only golf courses. One golf course is less than 5 miles from my place and I had only golf there maybe a few times for tournaments. Not a fan of it.
Well, we happened upon this place years ago with recommendations from someone we met at the Lan Su Garden. I thought it was in Hermiston, but apparently my memory is off. The neighborhood had many other restaurants but not clustered together like the old Chinatown. The name could be Golden Palace. Things could be changed years later. Good food back then. It was about an hour from Portland in traffic.
This one?
Fits your description, but I’ve only been through Longview, never stopped.
No, very positive it was in Oregon, not close to the border. It was in a strip mall with a BBQ shop attached to it.
It had Dim Sum on cart and the dinner was superb. I remembered at the front entry lobby had pictures posted of the chefs with medals and rewards from competition. Originally, we went there for Dim Sum for the kids and we liked it so much that we went back for dinner. Price was not outrageous. It was packed with patrons.
East-SE, of Portland within 40 miles radius.
It might have changed name/ownership or gone. A lot of these chefs came over to apply for presidentship. Once they got what they want, they will sell the business for profit. I know people do this every 3-5 years and pocket half a million to over 7 figures each time.
P.S. wife said it could be this one,
actually address is in Portland, for dim sum
Golden Garden
1818 SE 122nd Ave, Portland, OR 97233
I depend on my wife for accurate memory, too.
LOL, I don’t have a memory issue. Can’t find the once visited restaurant 300 miles away from more than a decade ago.
In fact, I used to know all the golf courses within 100 miles from home. Now with the new developments, GPS is a great invention.
BTW, the young man in need of a shaft to match the set will layoff golf for now until maybe April. Not only the weather is lousy but he start to have soreness in his lower back.
I suspect that he sneaked out often during lunch break to the driving range. Not good to punish your body on those hard mat.
I can’t remember if I have a memory issue or not. My wife will tell me. GPS is indeed wonderful–have you tried the GolfPad app? Several of us use it regularly.
A friend of my sons ran into a sore back issue. Turns out he neglected stretching before exercising.
My sports clinics specialized in spinal rehab told me a golf swing uses all the muscles in the back. For someone who is not used to this and eager to get into full swing immediately will suffer soreness and even injury. Everyday reminders, just look at all the injury on the professional tour. Even for the young and the strong.
As for wives, they’re just doing what wives do; “reminding” the hubbies if we strait off course ( by their standard ).
Ping Eye BeCu , which shaft goes in them?
A set of pulled shafts was purchased but the shaft bands were gone. The seller said the shafts were pulled from a set of Ping Eye (?) BeCu model.
I may have a set of Eye2 to compare the step pattern with , it’s in the packing box for storage.
Does anyone have knowledge of which original shaft was installed in the Ping Eye BeCu model?
Thanks in advance.