Not played in a month (nor picked up a club)…a trip to Dubai and the opportunity to play the Faldo course at night has proved too tempting and I’m mega excited about the 9 holes I’ve got booked for Thursday night (too hot for 18 holes…even at night right now)!
I’ll feed back in how badly I play but not even bothered as it’s a bucket list round! 
I’ve been working through some swing changes, so played some mediocre golf the past 2 weeks but OK with it knowing the ultimate goal. Played 9 holes on Saturday and kept it relatively solid (+7) considering I didn’t strike it the best. But there were definite flashes and my short game continues to cover up the blemishes on the scorecard.
Then yesterday I played in a scramble, which is traditionally a swing killer for me. But one of my buddies was killing his driver, so I made sure to swing relaxed and committed to the new move. Certainly still had some mishits and issues, but overall clear improvement! Real excited to play again in my fall league tonight
Played Tuesday and shot a bizarre 82 with mirror image nines of 37-45. Front nine was as complete a nine that I could play. On back nine, the driving and putting held up, but ‘fairway to green’ was absolutely abysmal. I’ll spare you the hole by hole since you don’t want to hear it and I don’t want to pay caddy fees.
So, the clock is running on my golf season in WNY this year. It’s been a rebuilding year.
Driving is now power fade until the cows come home.
nGIR chipping is ball middle of stance, accelerate wedge under ball. No more ball back-of-stance nonsense. Much better control.
Putting is keep back of left hand square to target through and well past impact. Still need to fine tune distance control.
Iron play is… well, I’m still working on it. This will be my Winter/Spring project.
Relatedly, our group of septuagenarians moved from 6,400 to 5,800 yd tees. No one has to prove anything (we are what we are) and the game is a hell of a lot more fun.
I love this game.
See, those are two different kinds of shots for me. One to scoot over the ground and roll where I need it, and the other to pop up in the air, hit, and mostly stop rolling after a few feet. More acceleration into the ball with the flop, the further it goes in the air, but the faster it stops.
Much more accurate chipping than flopping, but getting over things to get to the green is occasionally useful. I’m not “Phil flopping over Steph Curry,” and nor should I be, but it can get surprisingly high and not go very far. Neat.
Good points, all, jayjay. Due to my quirks, I can’t make consistent contact with ball in back of my stance🤷🏻♂️. If the pin is in ‘front’ half of green, I’ll use 60* wedge or SW. If pin in ‘back’ half of green, I’ll try to run the ball back with PW or 9I, still from middle of stance. Thanks for your insight and perspective on this. Good stuff.
You’re welcome. It’s interesting seeing how different people approach the same problem. Does your shot pop in the air more, or run along the ground more? And is it 50/50ish air travel vs roll? Or 25/75? Or something else?
I had a devil of a time getting the chipping motion to work until I figured out the steps ‘leaving the weight left’, 'keeping hips parallel to the lie, hands always leading, and (for me, most importantly) ‘watching the club head strike the ball’. And doing them all at once. I can see why all of those books say that it’s kind of like putting, in that backswing length feels like it’s what’s driving the bus, like a pendulum.
I love your attitude towards the game that you expressed in your last two paragraphs.
So are you a righty putting Left Hand Low? Just curious. I went LHL for a bit years back and it really helped my short putting, but I struggled with speed on longer putts. I would use a regular grip for longer putts, but my pro convinced me to pick one grip and stick with it so I chose a regular grip. This was working pretty well, but recently I have been pulling shorter putts again and thinking of revisiting LHL…probably just need to practice more though lol.
Hmm, good question. For the LW/SW, I open the face a smidge to help with loft. Those shots vary between 50/50 (carry/roll) to (70/30). On the shorter shots, I also try to keep right palm sky-facing to help with loft. On the longer shots, I try to keep the club face more square to target line.
I need to rotate belt buckle facing target line, or else I’m screwed. If I don’t, I tend to decel or, sensing a decel,flip hands through. What I’ve found, with ball in center of stance, is I’m much more consistent with my ball strike. That consistency gives me a chance to better pick my landing spots. So, going forward, my efforts are to be more consistent with my consistency 
The (very) short game has evolved into various quirks that work for me. Yep, it’s a challenge.
Kevo, you’re going to wince when you see this, but I’m a righty using my standard grip - interlocking. Years ago, I decided to use one grip for everything. I’ve tried to focus on being very still through impact, especially with my head, and ‘feel’ like the back of the left hand is chasing down the target line. I’ve also found that the less time I spend over a putt, the better I putt. It’s working for now. If it goes south, I’ll fine tune something or other next season.
Yes I agree on pulling the trigger relatively quickly for most any shot once you’ve committed. I look at the hole and then go.
I have a tendency to take the putter away outside and so I may pull shorter ones. The pro has me practice pushing putts to the hole which I find very effective and I should do it more often. It forces you to push it down your intended line and helps take away the instinct to “hit” the putt.
Kevo, one more thing re the putting. After 48 years, I still play my original putter, an Acushnet Tartan. We’ve been friends for a very long time 
I have a 5-6 year old Odyssey 7s and I’m looking for something newer lol!
Was hoping to use my proshop credit on the Toulon version, but they aren’t available until possibly December. I love the shape of my putter, but have never liked the insert.
Here’s a question for everyone. What are we chipping and pitching with? I have recently changed slightly in that I am using a the 60 alot more when I have little green to work with…meaning for instance-- I go for a short right pin I end up 2-3 ft in the ruff, I have maybe 12-16 ft to the hole. I am playing the pop, stop and hope for a roll. I used to try those shots with a G,P,or S and so inconsistent. BUT for other short approaches on missed greens I was taught evaluate the lie, how far to carry to get in on the apron or green and roll it out which for me could be using any club…5-9i. I see alot folks using the same wedge on all shots…I know Phil does…I was more born out of the Ray Floyd method. I found…for me…using a wedge from in close I have 2 tendencies…decel and chunk it or not stay level and blade it! Both are bad misses. Using differing clubs dictated by my evaluated lie helps me feel more comfortable.
Shot my career low 71 today… on aerated greens from the red tees… 5,100 yards. It was ALOT of fun.
I was definitely more focused than usual, and only made a couple “big” mistakes… since I was always closer to the green, it was much easier to make up for those mistakes. Highly recommend playing the forward tees on occasion. It will be interesting to see how a low round translates to a round from the regular tees.
Before, it was with whatever I thought might get there. I’m trying to be a bit more systematic now, taking my three wedges, and sometimes a 9 iron, to: actually get the basics of both the chip and the flop down, and then seeing how they fly versus run once the basics are established. After that, then (for chipping) taking back different backswing distances and seeing what that does to carry distance and run distance.
Flopping has more variables, the way I do it. I can really try to accelerate in the downswing after wrist cock in the backswing, and shove the open face underneath the ball. Or, I can let gravity do the work.
Keep in mind, I’m learning about this from about zero knowledge. All of this is taking a bunch of time to figure out, and then try to stamp some standardization on it all. I aspire to Pelz’s (AIUI) “hands of the clock” on the backswing to try and get some idea of how far it’ll go. More clubs give me more distance options.
I’ve a very long way to go.
So I tied my round from the front tees on the front nine today… 35. 3 birdies, 2 bogeys… I birdied the two hardest and longest par 4s… had PW into both. I was CRUSHING the ball.
Completely abandoned the smart strategy on the back, stop focusing on getting the ball on the green and made 4 doubles… It was brutal. Just lost my mind. 35 / 44 for a 79… I usually shoot far better on the back, and could have easily done so today… just let it slip away.
Oh well, there is always next week!
Finally confident with driver, though! Hit most fairways… including a couple 300 yard bombs down the middle.
Wow! Your work with the driver is really paying off! Putter too, if you had three birdies. Outstanding!
And now you have an example to remind yourself of when you think that not ‘playing smart’ might be a Good Idea… 35/35, I’m guessing, would be a hell of a round for you. Or any of us.
Isn’t it great when you finally get rewarded by this game after all of the hard work?
Very good perspective… it’s just funny cause I let mistakes compound on the back and didn’t play the way I played on the front… I was thinking about the shots themselves and not committing to the target…
The funny part is I can pinpoint when I shifted my focus, and it was the 9th hole… I got into my own head, and while I managed to make a par, it was much more manufactured than the previous 8 holes… I really only made couple of mistakes previously (dumped a 7 iron into a bunker on a par 3, flew the green with a wedge from 100… both lead to bogeys). I was in the zone and let myself get out of it.
Lessons learned… A 35 on the front makes me REALLY happy.
What an experience on Thursday night in Dubai. Played like crap for the 1st 5 holes but sort of expected that as haven’t played in a month, used rental clubs and it was around 43degrees with the humidity (tip: don’t wear cotton shorts or shirts!) but I still loved nearly ever second of it. The views of Dubai at night from the course we’re insane.
Course wise the grass took some getting used to as even if you hit the fairway it was sort of like being in the first cut back home as was very spongy and the ball would sit down in it, with pitches you have to try and land on the front edge or the grass around the edge will kill the ball dead. Putting was also surprisingly slow which took a bit of getting used to. All in all my 50 for the 9 wasn’t so bad.
9 pars offset by 3 doubles and 2 triples. 10 one putts offset by 2 three putts. Still any round in the eighties is a good round. !6 over with 28 putts. Overcast and lots of squally showers. I got wet but not cold and hit loads of good shots despite the strong winds. 11th a par 3 the right side of the green was under water. My shot landed on the green with casual water between me and the hole. Instead of taking a drop I just chipped over the water to 2ft Only hit 3gir and 3putted one of them.