Try hybrids for out of the rough shots, if, you don’t feel comfortable changing to a steeper attack angle for getting out of the rough. Takes practice but no big deal once you understand how to get the club face to the golf ball.
We have those thick blue grass ( poa annua) in the rough, wider leaves and thick. coupled with moisture, the only club which can extract the golf ball out of it will be a sand wedge.
As to retire down under just for golf; I don’t know. We have been in the same spot for so long, we know everyone and everything. Out medical care, shopping, even for shoe repair ( yes, I still repair shoes to avoid dumping them in the landfill)… But that’s far away from
One of my friend said, he’ll never move again. If necessary, he will install a motorized stir lift just in case he needs it ( he had both hip replacement surgery ).
I do have relative in the down under world. Let’s see, one of my in-laws live near Sydney. But that’s far away from the New Zealand. Used to know an engineer who moved his family to New Zealand maybe 14 years ago.
My set is 3i to Pw plus lob and sand wedges and a driver. I have never had a hybrid and am resistant to trying one. Luckily the only time we have thick rough is spring an then it is only in certain places on the course. In spring the grass grows quicker than the mowers can get to it. I just hit pw out and take my medicine.
I’m in Adelaide South Australia. We have low humidity in summer making it a very dry heat. Lots of golf courses
I had replaced long irons with hybrids after I turned 58.
There are many use for the hybrids. majorly depending on if used to replace a fairway wood or a long iron.
If replacing the long irons, the hybrids should be shorter in length to close to the long irons being replaced. Same loft and length as the long irons with more forgiving heads.
I have hybrids from 15 degree loft to 22 degree loft. Been experimenting with them since 12 years ago. Golf club repair and making have been my hobbits off the golf course for many years.
So try the hybrids. I had also “resisted” using the hybrids as long as I could. I still had the 2 iron in the bag 11 years ago, while others had converted over to the hybrids.
I take pride in being able to hit a 3i off the deck. I know it is a more difficult club but I can’t hit fairway woods without hitting lots of wormburners so I don’t carry them. If I hit my 3ii perfectly I hit it 171m. At my course accuracy is more important than distance due to the course only being 5312m. I don’t think I will ever buy a hybrid.
I hit the shot of a lifetime today. On 9 a 336m Par 4 I hit a wormburner drive to 160m out. The green is a two tier green with the pin today on the left lower level. Into a slight wind I hit my 3i down the right treeline with a draw. I saw it land just short on the right side and get a decent bounce forward. I watched to see if it rolled down to the lower level but didn’t see it. Got up to the green and it wasn’t there. Went down the bank at the back but not there either. Finally checked the hole and it was in the hole for an eagle 2. I couldn’t stop jumping up and down in pure joy. So lucky. Probably will never ever hole a 3i again. Shot of a lifetime. I have played around 1450 rounds at my course and that is my second eagle.
Nice.
As they said, the more you practiced/played the luckier you’ll get.
I remembered my eagles in recent years, and most of them are on par 5s. One for holing out from a fairway on a par 4 ( 407 yards) in soggy playing condition, no hole in one on par three for me.
Keep playing and you’ll get “lucky” again. Did you buy the customary drink for those who witness your eagle?
Usually the drink is only for holes in one. And usually only those who have put in an extra dollar for the hole in one prize fund. One of the aces I saw last year said he had to go to work and ran off after the round. He joined our group again recently and bought us a drink after the round. 11 months late but all in good humor. In our casual group my mate Rick holed a 4i on a par 3. I didn’t expect anything and wasn’t disappointed. We always go straight to the cars after the round. My other eagle was a holed pw from 88m on a par 5. Plus I had a hole in one way back in 1995. The way I hit my irons, that shot was a fluke. Fluke I didn’t over draw my 3i like usual. Landed on a down slope short of the green and ran onto a raised green then somehow ran left enough to run off he top tier. And then hit the hole at exactly the right angle to drop. Very flukey
Congrats on the eagle! That must’ve felt amazing. Practice enough and it’s amazing how lucky you can get.
In March I had my 5th covid jab and the next week I had 2 blood clots in my lungs and a 6cm clot in my thigh. I couldn’t play for 3 weeks. When I came back my game went to crap. Kept hitting shanks and nothing was working. Finally worked out I needed to swing further left with an open face to get a straight shot. Played Friday and the course was wet. 17mm overnight plus a few showers during the round. The ground is so muddy and crucial to get ball first. I shot 14 over with 3 pars and 2 birdies and only 3 doubles. A great round in the conditions. Only 2 fat shots and no shanks. It is officially winter here now so the course will be muddy for the next few months.
Thank goodness, you had recovered from your episode with COVID and more seriously, with the blood clots.
Hopefully they’ve found the cause for the blood clots in your system, which is deadly serious.
Great round of comeback golf under the circumstances.
I don’t enjoy golf in the muddy condition any longer. Done that in my younger years and I had enough of treading through the soft grounds and come home with muddy soaked shoes and socks, mud soiled pants and sometimes the inked in shadows couldn’t be cleaned and erased.
We’re into summer months here ( officially starting in a week or so ). Already had several days over 80degrees F.
Golf courses were way ahead by flipping their green fee schedule to "summer rate ) on April fools day. Senior green fee of local municipal golf courses with tax and garbage fee is over 3 pounds of USDA Choice steak. Steak or golf?
Condition is not as good as the hiked up green fees.
One of the guys went to a golf course which he had not visited for almost 3 years, it was located about 60 miles away; paid a lot more than he remembered and the condition was lousy.
I’m glad that I did not go because I had a tight schedule that day.
Looks like, I may have to start looking for another pastime, or go back to a regular work schedule to be able to afford the green fees.
I know everything had went up in recent years, but not this out of proportion. 3-4 times higher than the inflation rate is highway robbery in my opinion, especially with the city run municipal golf facilities, which should benefit the people who live in and around the city , paying tax already.
@ dewsweeper My annual 6 day membership rose by 8.8%(above the rate of inflation) to $2760 this year. Two years ago when inflation was low they put it up by 6% What can we do? Accept it or walk. Walk to where? Mt Osmond is closest to my home with the best views. Played again today and had a lucky bogey on the first with a chip in from down the bank at the back of the green. No shanks and no fat shots. One drive into a hazard and five 3 putts balanced by seven one putts, getting 6 pars and a birdie. 2/3 rule, great drives bar one and great ball striking with the irons and great chips so at least 2/3 Just those 3 putts let me down.
I would not complain of the 8.8% raised green fees you have there.
It’s kind of mild comparing to my region.
We golf at this nice layout ( 61 miles away ), which I frequent before I formed a family, was one of my favorite gem of golf courses around here.
Have not been there in 3 years due to the pandemics and the hiked up fuel cost. The green fees was up 70% from 3 years ago and the condition was not as good as previous years.
We will not return there for the foreseeable future.
I understand that the operator of the golf courses need to balance the book with all the cost increase and labor shortage issue.
However, increased fees will only deter additional golfers to use the facility. As golf is a non-essential element of life. We would like to think that golf is essential but only the psychological attachment.
So they increased the fees trying to bring in more revenue, instead, the increased fees had reduced the play ( potentially). So the golf course will not balance the book.
From the signs of the lack of maintenance, they had reduced the required maintenance. More reasons for us not to go back there anytime soon.
A few of the guys in the group had already cut down their rounds of golf in recent years. They go from 2-3 times a week to now maybe 3-4 times a months.
A few quit the game all together. Some picked up swimming, some do hiking. Few just sits around more. They will quit the golf before they cut the internet connection.
Cities owns the municipal golf courses, they do not care. If the cost of operation goes up, they’ll up the green fees. If the rounds played reduced and the revenue from user fees could not cover the cost, then they’ll increase the tax, or find a new name for additional tax.
I remembered, the public golf courses were never in perfect condition, but they were affordable.
It is what it is, trying to make the public daily fee golf courses like a resort golf course is reversing the purpose of making golf available to the mass.
Here they said fertilizers and weed killers went up by more than inflation and that was why subs went up by more than inflation. As much as I want to say golf is for everyone most people at my club are reasonably wealthy. For me it is 27% of my annual spending but only 4.17% of my annual income. I justify it by playing 11 days a fortnight and my love of the game and if I didn’t play golf what would I do with all my time. It is good exercise and I have great camaraderie with my mates. Awesome views with plenty of wildlife and a challenging course. I am reasonably immune to inflation. Fuel, utility bills and golf are my only exposures. Only 6km from my home, the course has alot going for it.
Everyone has his own budget and where to spend the discretionary portion of it.
You sounded like you have it all figured out.
Enjoy the golf . As one of the guys said to me, he has to golf, because no one knows just how many years left for him to golf.
This comment came right after one of the guys ( who always workout and physically more fit than most the guys in his age, also walked the golf courses ) had a sudden health issue which kept him away from the golf courses.
Last Sunday on the 16th a downhill 115m par 3 a playing partner semi bladed his shot and the hole got in the way for a hole in one. That makes him the 5th person to have an ace in my presence in the last 2 years. Either I live at the course(almost) or I am a lucky presence(maybe)
Do you ever visit Connecticut? I know at least 2 others like myself that would host you at our home course lol.
4 decades in this game, never had a hole in one, not that I wanted to have one. It just proves that there is a lot of chance involved here.
Came within inch many times. Holed out with the approach shots twice, but never on a par-3 for a H-I-O.
One time We had a young man who just started golf that season joined us on the tee as a walked-on, got a hole in one in our presence.
No one tutored him that it is customary to buy a drink for everyone who was present at the H-I-O.
I had to run after the round so I will never know if he was offering a free drink. The pool was at $400 as there were 3 aces the week before. If anyone else holed out the $400 gets split. My first hole in one got 5k. Of the 5 aces, I only saw 2 go in. I consider every birdie putt flukey so an ace is a once in a lifetime event. I joke that must make me a lucky charm but it so streaky that I even was playing with those people on that day. Two I have not played with since, two only once more and the other is my regular Mon & Fri partner. All in all just amazing luck. Edit not my first ace but the first person to hole out with me.
Just a brief note. First round in a few months for me. Frustrating but educational. Poor low point control and inability to calibrate putting speed to slow greens. Poor distance control on short game pitches. Though my line on pitches was usually fantastic. Disastrous full swing day.
One or two pitches that really impressed the single-digit stick I was playing with. Flops are easy for me. (Shrug) Slow greens helped there, of course.
2 pars, 1 GIR. On one of the tougher holes (>200 yd par 3) on the course, naturally. As I said, poor. No birds. Frustrating, but that’s the game. Especially when you can’t play very often.