we all had been through that. once you had been to the upper level, just have confidence that you had been there and the second and the cionsequnent visit will be a breeze.
Keep yourself healthy and everything will fall into place.
I keep shooting mid 80ās. I feel like I should easily be able to get lower, but just canāt. I always find ways to get those blow up holes in. Itās mostly mental. I donāt trust my swing on certain tee shots, I donāt always take my medicine after a bad tee shot, et al.
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Golf, in general, is a game of cycles. Both physical and and even more so, mental. I had a conversation one time with a former professional baseball player. He used to throw consistently in the high 95-98 mph range. He said, I still throw as hard as I ever did. The ball just doesnāt go as fast. Same thing with a golf swing. No matter what you do, especially as amateurs, you lose speed. Swing flaws that were overcome by youth and flexibility and speed are now exacerbated. So now you have to be better at other things to make up for that. Scoring in the 80s is not horrible, itās frustrating, but not the end of the world. Scoring is a mental thing that plays on your brain.ā I gotta make a 4ā. No you donāt. You gotta get it in the hole and move on. Golf has no winner or loser when you just play. You really just play. KEVā-the holes that cause you issues. The blow up holes. I donāt know a lot about your game. Honestly, if youāre truly consistently posting doubles and triples on them, try this break the hole down into thirds. If you can hit a 7 iron 150yds but str8 and on target. Target being a fairway. Well 3 of those is approximately 450yds. You wonāt walk away with more than a 5. Play the game, no one says u gotta hit a Driver on the tee. The first time I played Pine Valley. The Driver and 3W were in the trunk. I played every hole as a bogey hole. I shot an 84 first time out on that beast. Just stayed out of forced trouble. To be honest, the best part about playing is hanging out with my partners. That is priceless, stuff you canāt put a value on. Thatās the best part of my round.
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Sounds like you know what you should do butā¦you are human!!
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Glorious day off yesterday.
Crack of dawn walking the back 9ā¦started with a double and rebounded with 2 birdies (that never happens) and a handful of pars and bogeys for a 4 over par 39 morning.
Took a break and went back to another course for a late morning 18 (in a cart). Shot 11 over 83 thereā¦Iāll take those scores vs the mid 90ās Iāve been seeing for the last month or so.
Itās been a while since I made time for 27 holes.
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Sent a few longish approaches onto green unexpectedly. Played like a true 21 hdcp, 92 gross, -1 net.
For yous ball reviewers, I played 1 CUT blue dc ball all day. Flew nicely, stopped decently & felt a bit firm off driver.
Great weather, good company & a nice course we seldom play.
Chipped & short putted well enough to scrounge 1 par & 13 bogs.
Couldnāt hardly find the green this week. The few times I did, it was a 50āish putt.
4 doubles from poorly struck shots or 3 putts 
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Shot a very nice 4 over on my morning 9.
1 - par 5ā¦ 5i, 5i, 7i, green side bunker sw
2 - par 4ā¦ Driver, 5i, chip
3 - par 3ā¦ 5i, chip
4 - par 4ā¦ 5i, 5i, chip
5 - par 5ā¦ Driver, 7i, gw
6 - par 3ā¦ 5i, chip
7 - par 4ā¦ Driver, 9i
8 - par 3ā¦ 7i
9 - par 4ā¦ Driver, 8i
Man that is a ton of 5 ironsā¦.I need more speed and length apparentlyā¦.
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I learned this a long time ago. This game, our game is not a game of how. It is a game of how many. +4 is an excellent 9. I know there are 12 more clubs to hit than the 5 iron and using those make the game more interestingā¦.LOL. Just remember when you collect your Nassau moniesā¦itās how you bunt and roll the rock! Congrats on the +4!
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Nice, seemed you had found your golf golf of preference for the season.
Never tried the CUT, but the 4 piece construction with Urethan cover at that price point really interested me.
Perhaps I will pick up a sleeve ( or a box ) when I get the new Bridgestone e12.
The last week I have had rounds where I drove the ball well but hit crappy irons then another round where I hit amazing irons with 7gir but drove the ball crap with 2d and 2t then yesterday hit loads of good chips and pitches but couldnāt make a putt. Then today it all came together. Made every putt. 2 bad drives Started parring the first 3 then 1 par and 7 bogies till 12 when my round fell apart with 3 doubles in a row then I finished with 4 pars. 15th my gps said 188m to the back. Slightly downhill. I hit a lowish drawing 5i that landed short and ran into a bunker over the back. Couldnāt believe it. On the first tee my partner gave my 2 old British balls(the smaller ones) I hit them both off the first tee and they finished a few meters apart but about 50m behind my proper drive. Explains why pros used to have to hit 3i and now they hit 8i or some crazy short club for the same distance. A real eye opener. Shot 12 over. 9p 6b 3d 30 putts with 6 one putts and no 3 putts. 5 gir. 5 one putts were after chips to 2 foot and one 8 footer with some very testing 2 putts. A really good round.
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Shot 45 + 40 = 85 yesterday at a tight course I was unfamiliar with. Hit the ball really well for the most part, but definitely lost some shots not knowing the course. Played Friday and I barely got my drives over 210 all day, but yesterday 250 and more was easy. Not sure if itās the heavy humid air or just my inconsistent swing. Played a Vice Pro ball which seemed long-ish (for me) off the tee, but a bit harder to control around the greens. I liked it a lot though; just need to get used to it.
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Won a free Garmin S10 Approach in a tournament so I tried it out this morning. Itās fine for what it isā¦a low cost gps on your wrist. It was good for a quick walk around 9 for sureā¦quicker than my laser rangefinder, and no incentive to know the pinās exact distance 
.
Grinding it out todayā¦started bogey, tripleā¦ended up with one more bogey, one birdie, and 5 pars for a nice 5 over.
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Play the same golf ball or the same type of golf ball if you wish to lower your average score.
That is the conventional wisdom, but I have played the same ball almost all season and my handicap has gone up 2 strokes so I decided to try a new ballā¦and I had a better round lol. Honestly the new ball is supposed to be close to my previous one, but it didnāt check quite as easily. I felt like I adjusted well for the most part, but it may have cost me here and there. My problem lately is not changing the ball, but my inconsistent swing.
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Change away, then. Golf ball is the lowest cost in element to influence your golf game.
I used to play most the major brands until I settled to a few, then Itāll be the price point which will determine which brand to stock up when inventory runs low.
I use a softer golf ball during cooler temperature. come to think of it, I donāt have a go-to brand now. For my skill level and expectation, any new golf ball is good.
However, could not get along with a soft compression golf ball in warmer weather, it tend to balloon up too high on the driverās trajectory. Felt like a limited flight range ball, but, perfect for colder temperature.
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Teed of at 0810 this morning in thick fog. The course got 26mm of rain Sat into Sun and plenty of other 20mm days in the last week. The course is so muddy with lots of unofficial lakes and lots of casual water. The 11th is a 149m downhill par 3. There is a bank on the right you can use to get on the green. The left side has a bunker 3m below the green and steep banking down to the left. Rick my playing partner hit a 4 iron draw to a back left pin. We got down there and the ball wasnāt on the green. We spent the next 5 minutes on hands and knees prodding the soft fluffy grass bank above the bunker to no avail. Then Dave our other partner went to the hole and found the ball in the hole. That makes Rick the 4th different player to have an ace in my presence in a bit over a year. I must be a lucky person to play with. So much joy then he topped his next tee shot.
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So Saturday, had a very good round going through 7 holes. -2; with birdies on the 206 yd par 3 and our very difficult #6 hole. Sunk a 40ft bomb on that hole after I landed 4 ft from the pin then watched helplessly as the rock spun off down the slope like 35 ft into the fringe. Then, on #8, one little lapse in concentration shot +9 rest of way in. Putter went super cold, missed a couple of 2-3 footers, very lackadaisical passes with all my ironsā¦ it doesnāt take much. Felt like I was chasing my tail, Just couldnāt reset myself for some reason. The good news is my Driver is finding more fairways and leaving me with short irons in. It was GOLF, then it became FLOG! Next week is another week! I am starting to feel that the advancements I have made with my entire swing is going to impact my scoring average by at least 2 shots.
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Played at a different course today that I have played twice before. Teed of at 0800 in misty rainy conditions. Started off with a triple then went par, bogey, par, par, par, a chip in birdie and birdie for 2 over. Then on the back nine the sun came out and I only had 2 pars for 9 over and a total score of 11 over. Only hit 2 gir but my short game was on fire. 7 one putts and a chip in. The chip in came after I came up short on a par 3. I was about 3m short to a front pin on a green sloping back to front. I used my sw and put my hands way forward. I aimed to land on the last bit of flat ground before the green and it landed perfect and bounced up and on and in.
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Got back on the horse after nearly a year absence from playing vs. practicing. Little executive 9 holer, thatās contiguous with a disc golf course. Other than first tee power slicing my driver into a group on the adjoining fairway, things went ok. Knocked the rust off, calmed down. Got used to poorer lies than the range.
Eventually started taking about 30 seconds to assure that I was lined up and in the right spot w respect to the ball. Then, I just tried to keep everything in front of me, calm swing, with my head behind the ball. Played better. The yardage markers were afterthoughts, and I started trusting myself instead. "That looks like one of my 7 ironās away (and not the 170 that marker says it should be.) Lo and behold, it was.
Think I shot 3 over for 9. A lot of iron tee shots. (I could have driven a few par-4s, but I had an older couple ahead of me who were: bad, glacial, and watched each other hit instead of playing ready golf. I felt warm fuzzies that they were enjoying the game together, but it was a relief when they finally asked if I wanted to play through.) A lot of hit greens or just barely missed greens, and a lot of chips/flops to 5-6 feet or so. Hit 4 GIR, close enough on 4 more, and botched one hole.
Looking forward to playing a bigger course very soon. Iām trying to get ready for my sister and brother-in-law who are coming here in a month or so for my wedding. They like golf, and are staying at a Woodlands resort with two private courses. Ergo, weāre playing some golf while theyāre here, and Iād rather not stink up the joint.
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Congratulation to the groom to be. Enjoy your freedom as a bachelor now.
Just kidding, itās the best thing that could happen to a bachelor, if you have found the right woman who you want to tie the knot with.
I just checked the cost of golf around me after a couple of years away because of the pandemic. Not sure I could get back as much as I want to with the much higher green fees plus additional tax. We have multiple tax on the green fees as all municipal authorities see the golf course as a cash cow. General sales tax, city tax, parks and recreation userās tax. Iām surprised that they didnāt start to charge a mandatory 20% tip on top of all the garbage tax.
Used to be, not that long ago, we go play golf, weād pay exactly what the listed green fees. One round number as the golf course will figure out the rest. Now we have all the extra tax and fees.
Iām thinking, if I hit a lotto, Iāll get a piece of land somewhere out in the country and build a golf course. Just a ridiculous day dream!
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