Played today in the muddy conditions. Showers as well. 14th one of my playing partners hit a bad shot, got frustrated and took an angry swing at the ground, the club dug in and he sprayed me with wet mud. I was standing a few metres ahead on the left. Not happy. Had five pars and birdie from 3gir but also hit 2 balls ob and had a 10 on a par 5. Finished with 8 one putts. Nearly a great round. Got lucky on the par five 6th. Great drive, great 3i a fat 7i. then I semi bladed my pitch over the bunker. It hit the pin low down on the second bounce and I was left with a 1ft tap in for par. So lucky
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Thatās right, your winter there, right?
At least you donāt have the national birds swamping the golf courses there. I heard there are some vicious flies in the summertime.
Hope your buddy will get you a drink afterward for spraying mud all over you. I donāt golf with people losing their temper like that on the golf course. A curse word for bad shots here and there is normal but not with behavior like losing control.
Once I encountered a guy got so mad at a bad golf shot. He snapped his brand new Taylor Made 5 wood around a tree trunk and the broken piece helicoptered 12ā away , almost struck another guy in the group.
I told the guy to find another group if he does not learn to pipe down.
Basically, I told him that he is not good enough to get mad like that over a bad golf shot.
He apologized and offered to buy me a beer but I declined. He had his 14yr son with him.
We are in Spring now but no one has told the weather. Today a top of 18 and first time I have golfed without a jumper in sooo long. More rain forecast tomorrow though. 8-15mm. I donāt know what you mean by vicious flies. Just annoying flies that want to land on you. They can smell your sweat and are attracted the smell. There is a lone kangaroo hanging around the course. I have seen it 4 rounds in a row. It looks like it canāt find itās way off the course. The course is surrounded bu a 2m wire fence with 2 strands of barbed wire above. He would have to find the front gate to get outā¦
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A few relatives migrated to the down under world told me that the flies bite. Or the sucking sweat was more invasive.
The end of summer here next week so yes, you guys should be getting into Spring now.
We have one family of red fox residing at one of our golf courses for generations ( the golf course logo was a red fox). They disappeared in recent years because some coyote moved in.
One rural golf course has a herd of 200+ elks around. The golf course put up steel fence and barriers, yet we still find hoof prints on the greens. Those animals will knock down a chain linked fence to seek their pasture. Barbed wires is not allowed in certain area here. The bull elk ( 5ā tall at shoulders and weight around 1,000 lbs. ) will laugh at the chain linked fence, they just bulldoze over the fence.
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In NZ you have sand flies that bite but here in Adelaide just annoying flies. Normally no kangaroos on the course but they roam the bush land surrounding the course. Driving to the course the other day a deer came from below the road. It jumped over the armco barrier and in front of my car before heading further up the hill. It was a 35km/hr corner so no danger of hitting it. We have a fox on or around the course. A house bordering the course told me they saw a fox carrying a chicken walk past their window and I found one of their chickens missing itās head on the course. Sometimes you just find intestines on the course. Plenty of rabbits. Nothing as scary as an elk.
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No idea how well 'roos can jump, but deer could easily go over a fence such as you describe.
Roos jump both feet together using their tails for stability. And the one on the course isnāt a full sized one.
Love how random this forum gets sometimes!!!
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Got on a near-by municipal golf course recently, itās close ( less than 20 miles away from home), usually I skip it because it plays 6300 yards from the back tee.
Have not been there for many years including the couple of the pandemics years. Owing to the Indian Summer we have enjoyed here ( extremely dry and warm for this year from May into October); I went to visit the golfer course I had been playing since almost 4 decades ago.
Crowded, several new taxes tagged on the green fees now. The City must see this golf course as a cash cow.
Most the golfers are ānewā golfers, since the golf course is relatively shorter and easy walking for most of the holes. 5 1/2 hour round for that short layoutā¦ not sure if I want to return in the future, and it is not exactly low for the green fee as what it offers.
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6300 yds too short? Wowā¦ 6400 is my limit at 240-250 off the teeā¦ more than thatā¦Iām toast.
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Well, it is one of the shorter track around here from the tip. although most the fairways are lined with towering evergreen as we are famous for the N.W. there are only a handful of doglegs so, is hitting driver and short irons for the par4 or have a chance to go for the par 5 in 2 gives the feeling of not getting the moneyās worth. I take my persimmon woods and set of Apex from the 80ās to play that track.
Used to game something from 6,700-6,900 yards but with the progression of aging, the 6,500-6,600 yards falls in the top range of a comfort zone. Also not fun to hit approach shots with hybrids / fairway woods for par-4 and pray itāll get on the green.
6,300 yards is the medium yardage for most of us to take out the vintage golf clubs for nostalgia. Too bad the vintage wound balata golf balls are not available.
Most of all, over 4 1/2 hour round is just too lengthy even for the walker. close to 6 hours around is tiresome, mostly standing in the fairway/tee box, waiting for the group ahead to clear the field.
Iād rather read a good book with a cup of tea.
There is another public golf course which is just over 6,100 yards from the tip, A bit further out from my house, and I still drive a full size SUV so fuel cost is another consideration. One of the other public golf course which hosted a PGA in the 60ās is more challenging, also farther away from my house but with rolling fairways and elevation changes, Iāll go back there when the Fall rate kicks in after November 1st. So dry and warm this year, might as well take advantage of it.
In my youth, I was hitting Persimmon, then went to TM Burner 8.5 45" XS shaft. I could play 6900 yd courses and break 80, but I had CH speeds of 105-110. Once I hit 45-50, I found 6600 started to max out being fun. Now that Iām mid 60s, my CH speeds are 93-96, 6400 yd is my limit, which is most member teesā¦but the blues and blacks, I really only use them for the par 3s, they are just fond memories. Pretty much LPGA courses. I donāt know your age, I follow you, and Iām gathering you are in 60-70. If you are bringing CH speeds of more than 96+ and with higher end SFā¦ you are way better than me that can only bunt it out there 240.
Iāll be crossing the 70 mark in a couple of years. With the newer driver and golf balls, I can still get it out there close to 250+ during dry condition.
The big difference is that I can no longer game my 1-2-3 irons. Used to love hitting those. I guess my driver swing speed is below the triple digit right now, but I have an aggressive follow through so while the swing arc is not like it used to be, at least Iāll finish looking good.
My kidās friends told me that my golf swing looked effortless and I can get the golf ball out there; LOL, my current golf swing only looked effortless because I lost the swing arc and swing speed.
I was never a long hitter of golf balls, but I could keep up with most the people I have met on the first tee. Except for one time we ( a 2-some) happened to be pared up with a couple of golfers doing their practice round for the U.S. Amateurs; I remember they were two singles, one is a high school kid and one is a guy in his 30ās. Their PW is like my 8 iron distance. Had a good time with them and wished them good luck with their qualifying rounds the following week when we parted our ways.
Did not find their names in the results.
Well ure better than me. 70 and hitting it 250 and saying ure not a long hitter. If I extrapolate those numbers and going by youth you had to have hoganesque swing speed into the 130s in your 30s. Age is age. I mean Langer is only out there 250 at age 64. I know how hard I have to work to keep it at 94-96 and Iām only 63. What tour did you play on I mean your talking Daly distances well over 300 yds in your 30s.
No, when I was in my 40ās I had it measured at 108-109. when I hit 50, it was measured again at 102-104. Never was a super long driver. Or any one of the golf club for that matter.
My 2 iron with the 1992 Apex and #4 shaft was 190-193 carry . #5 shaft was a little bit shorter because of the weight. That was in my 30ās-40ās.
You donāt need super fast swing speed to get to 230 carry + roll out. In fact I believe any healthy male golfer could do that with the right technique. One of my kid can drive 190-195 carry + roll out and she is 5ā3" weight 115 soaking wet. I tutored her on the game since she was 12, but she had to quit the game for high school and college plus the grad-school. Just asked me to watch her on the driving range after landing a stable position, and she picked it up like she had never left it.
Find your unique way of harnessing the maximum swing speed which you could get out of your physical frame without causing pre-mature injury. It is there!
It is not as complicated as some of the instruction will lead you on.
Golf is not a difficult game. As long as one does not wish to something which is beyond oneās ability.
Langer is a much longer driver than you might have believed. I watched him on the last day of one of the senior PGA Championship teamed with Fred Couples. He is not that short. And his short game was superb.
Well thatās an interesting quote and perception from anyone that plays the game with any kind of seriousness. I find it to be one of the toughest sports in the world. Look, anyone can get lucky and get a hole in one, not anyone can play 18 holes and break 90, let alone 80 on a consistent basisā¦ as a matter of fact, only about 10% of golfers in the world have ever broken 80 even once. I play mostly with groups that are over 60 yo, once in a while, we will get hooked up with someone under 40, and although I hit the ball 50 yds past my playing partners, i struggle to stay within 20 yards with the young fellers! My approach game and mid range putting allows me to break 80 and a couple times this year to break 70. An amateur keeping triple digit swing speeds is rare once you get over 60 and I find keeping it in the 90s takes a lot of workā¦ you are one of the rare onesā¦congrats
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Itās like everything else. Only if one could open the mind to the basic of golf swing and the method of scoring.
I started this game late, and my physique is not quite top model for an athlete.
The game is not that hard, if one could understand the basic of how it works and put in the time to practice. Scoring is really not that difficult once we learned how to propel the golf ball.
As my first instructor told me, that Iāll never make it to the professional level but sure could impress the weekend playing partners.
I once tried to teach a guy how to change a golf grip which is the very first basic of golf club maintenance. Showed him how to do it with the traditional tape and solvent and then with the air compressor. Watched him do it several timesā¦ guess what? Ended up he called me to help him because he ruined a couple of new grips.
Tried to help another guy to correct his issue with his driver, went to the driving range and pointing out a few small issues and he was striping the drives. 2 weeks later, he went back to the same old way of fumbling on the tee.
I donāt know. Iām not gifted nor more equipped than the next guy. I have good common sense, decent eye-hand coordination, played a few other sports in high school, practiced martial arts when the Bruce Lee craze was infatuating almost everyone in the 70ās. Iām just a normal guy.
I did, spend a lot of time on the driving range and the golf course. Raining days or snowing days, Iād hit hundreds of range balls under cover. Off work I would spend an hour on the putting green before heading home. I put in the time.
Some one said one thing which I agree with the game of golf. with the modern technology and ways to analyze the golf swing as we were robots, a famous saying of āparalysis by analysisā .
Is really is not that complicated if we donāt try to chase the supposed perfection. Hit the little white ball with whatever God gave you, find it and hit it again. All the while figuring out how to hit it where you want it to go and learn to use your strength efficiently.
I believe I had peaked at my ability to propel a golf ball when I was in my 30ās, unless I grew much stronger, I just accepted the distance I could muster and live with it. 270 in my hay days was not that far behind some of the longer hitters I golfed with, and they were much taller and stronger than I was.
It really is not that complicated, only if you donāt over analyze it.
The first time I played golf I was 12 years old. I would play this āsissy sportā a couple times a year up until my football, baseball and basketball careers went poof in the early 80s. I could always propel a ball, but score less than 130, not really. I got bit by the virus when I decided I wanted to become better. I was fortunate, although I had to unlearn what I thought this game was and learn what this game is. Heck, Mr Hogan said you could learn to swing a crooked stick just like him by executing 5 basic fundamentals. EASY? Forty years later, hundreds of thousands balls and swings later, I still havenāt figured it out! Not Complicated? Hereās the Rules Book in a nutshell, Hit the ball, find the ball, hit it again, just as you found it until you hole it out. Do that, and you are good 95% of the time. Then it becomes complicated that last 5%. That last 5%, you will find some of the most complicated rules and people who disagree about interpreting the rules that many professionals want to jump off a bridge because they argue rules decisions to the point of being admitted to a mental hospital. Ask Ken Venturi how he felt about the not complicated rules until the day he died when the rules were interpreted strangely at the 12th hole at the Masters for one Arnold Palmer. I took a PT job with my teacher as a gopher in exchange for being able to hit all the balls I wanted. I beat my brains in 4-5 hours a day every day. When I finally did take to the course to play the game, I actually broke 90. By my fourth full round I was breaking 80. Then I hit a wall, still at that wall, My ringer round at the home course after hundreds of rounds is 28 under par. Yup, Easy, except try and replicate that over just 18 holes. My best ever single round was a 68 on a par 72. I thought, I was or could be good enough to play tournament level if I worked hard enough. I was just not that talented. Why because this game is really effin hard. I could teach it, I could teach those 5 Hogan basics, as I understood them to other lost souls and watch them try and figure it out too. There are hundreds of thousands of chapters in books written by thousands of people trying to explain how they figured out this game you said isnāt hard. I think you might want to rethink saying the game isnāt hard. Fun, yes, frustrating, yup, complicated, can be, mastered, only by a few, hard, depends on your definition. When I was 18 and still shooting scores in the 120s nope wasnāt hard, when I was scoring in the the 70s and rarified air of the 60s really, really hard. Iām still of the opinion if you are 70 and hitting a ball with a driver like you say you are well over 250, you might be one of the greatest amateurs to ever lace them up. Thatās rarefied air and for someone with that kind of immense talent, maybe the game isnāt that hardā¦ or is it?
Your expectation might be too high a standard for your situation?
Not everyone could be Bobby Joes, Ben Hogan, Arnold palmer, Tiger woodsā¦
Work hard at the game but work smarter.
Anyone could break triple digit, 90, or even 80, if we keep at the game long enough and work at it intelligently. Breaking 70 will be another matter if one wish to do that consistently at any given golf course.
Having a handicap index at oneās home club which is familiar to the golf is totally different than a traveling index holder. If someone could score close to their established handicap index while on golf courses they had never or seldom played, then itās a much more realistic index may that be a negative or a positive number.
Every one will have a up and down curve in this game, some go daily changes and some could maintain a stretch of weeks or months or even years staying close to their potential.
A good read are the series of books written by Dr. Robert Rotella. Understanding the game will improve the scoring and enhance the enjoyment out of this game.
A mental state of not fearing to get par or better on each golf hole is also important, as if one play the appropriate tee for distance, the par is the designed score for that hole.
I had found out some of the guys will understand the basic of the game and worked really hard at practice but, when they stand on the tee box or facing a 10ā putt, their brain scrambled from all the information and knowledge they have accumulated.
Practice smart and understand oneās limitation ( physical), then one could get the most out of this game.
My father was an avid golfer, and we the children, were exposed to the game when we were young, just did not really immerse in this game until I passed 30. Then I really got covered by it.
Hoganās 5 basic is easy to read by difficult to interpret; I still pick it up from time to time and each time will understand at a different level. The other book by him, the Power Golf is a more advanced version of the 5 fundamentals, try to get a copy of it if you enjoy reading.
Understanding the psychic behind a great golfer will help one get better at this game.
Mind you, scoring lower does not always equal to more enjoyment.
To score lower, one has to treat each shot at hand is the most important shot in oneās life. More stress, more effort, less enjoyment; until, one grooved the mental preparation into a pre-shot routine, then itāll become second nature. Like riding a bicycle, normally we donāt think of paddling, balancing directional control ā¦ we just paddle.
You played baseball, bet you donāt think of matching the pitcherās pitch with your swinging of the bat, analyzing with all the data to find the swing to catch the baseball? You just swing the bat.
It probably took you a lot of practice to face a pitch over 90 MPH, right? but after youāve got it, your percentage of success will be higher.
We donāt think of the batting average comparing to golf, if we do, weāll not get angry if we topped the shot from an uneven lie.
I see all these young golfers trying to be Tiger Woods on the golf course and most of them will get angry or embarrassed if they hit a not so perfect golf shots. Learn to accept the game and one will get better at the game.
My putting was not ideal at the beginning, was putting with a 8802 style heavy putter. Often 3 putts on a fast undulating green. Many times bogey the hole after GIR.
I practice putting after work until it got pitch dark before I go get dinner for many years. Putting and driving were my weakest part of the game at the beginning, both turned out to be my strength of the game later.
Often times when I practice on the driving range, Iād be playing an imaginary 18 holes. One of the golf course I like to play starts with a par 5, Iād hit a driver toward a target in the back of the range, depending on the ball flight, Iād pretend to second shot is in the fairway or in the tree lines or in the rough and play that second shot accordingly until the imaginary approach shot. Mark down the approximate location where the approach ended up so I can finish it around the practice green, may that be a chip and putt or imaginary GIR.
Be honest to yourself of the outcome of each driving range shot, more fun that way.
Now that is out of the way. My recent rounds have been meh. As a matter of fact, on 10/1 (Ian visited us in Jersey) our home course was closed, our annual visit to the Dunes was CX, but the Pinelands was openā¦ so off we went. The last time we played the Pinelands was 3 years ago. It was only the 4th time I had ever played here, for all intents, we would never go there because the fairways were weeds, the greens had splotches of crabgrass, the course was horribly cared for. It was not worth the 15 mile ride, nor the greens fee. They should have payed me to play it. Well, 10/1, was walking only, which I love, and I have to say, we had heard new ownership had taken over, and they were spending serious cash to bring the course back. They hired Stephen Kay to oversee the improvements. Well, this guy is a miracle worker. First, the course drains very well, They have overseeded with bermuda and the weeds are gone, a new irrigation system is going in, they laser leveled the tee boxes, what a turn-around. I think I might have hit 12 shots that I would consider good, I stopped keeping score after the 8th hole, as it wasnāt a great ball striking round, the wind was just horrendousā¦But I have to tell you, it was one of the most enjoyable rounds I played all year. The improvements just made it fun and because we were the first group out at 9am, no waitingā¦ Then the Food & Beverage was absolutely outstanding in their re-vamped clubhouse. Sometimes, it doesnāt matter about how you play, what matters is the enjoyment factor. So much so, in my conversation with the Pro, I am probably going to move my membership next year, Itās that much of a change. Itās a public course, itās not expensive and each hole is its own entity, which I loveā¦ you wonāt hear alot of FORES! If you get to South Jersey, Iād recommend to put this on a gotta try it list!