Your 2020 Year in Review

General Discussion
#31

All par 3s. In fact, I don’t even use all of the eight clubs I bought :joy: I could’ve gotten away with just a putter, 9i, and 7i.

I’ll probably continue to play par 3s well into spring and summer until I’ve had a lesson or two with my coach on how to use my driver/3 wood. I might experiment a bit with it on my own, but I don’t want to develop any bad habits either, so we’ll see. I’m in no rush.

As for goals - become a scratch golfer. I decided that golf is going to be my sole hobby for the foreseeable future. I work from home on a flexible schedule and have no kids. Between that and the net/putting mat in my garage and several options nearby (including a par 3 with a separate dedicated practice course), I can practice several times per week year round.

For 2021, there are several things I’d like to improve.

  • Continue improving my ball striking and ground contact. I’m still hitting a touch behind the ball on occasion (1"-3") and all over the face (though more heel dominant). I’m working on drills for that stuff now from the Strike Plan.

  • Reducing the slice I have (which is going well) and the open face I have sometimes on contact.

  • Becoming less mechanical with my swing, which is a bit tough to do at the moment with everything I’m working on. I think this will work itself out a bit the more I play.

  • Taking everything I’m practicing to the course. That’s definitely not happening, as I learned the hard way in the tournament I played :laughing:

  • Learn how to use my driver and play my first regular golf course/round in late summer/fall.

Other than that, I’d like to make incremental progress across the board. Since I’m new, there’s plenty to learn and it’s all uphill. That’s one of the great things about golf - there’s always something new to learn and improve. :sunglasses:

4 Likes
#32

Just remember to have fun while doing all this! Honestly, I’d recommend starting hitting the driver sooner rather than later. It’s not so different from other golf swings that it should give you much issue, and hitting drives is FUN. (hitting driver is also a requirement to getting to scratch unless you have some extreme talent elsewhere)

5 Likes
#33

How do you like perfect practice? I see fb ads all the time and one time actually put it in my shoppi g cart but didn’t pull the trigger.

2 Likes
#34

Absolutely. I find practicing and improving (the journey to playing scratch) the “fun” part. I’m pretty laid back when I play and don’t take things like mistakes too seriously (i.e. have total meltdowns).

I’m definitely going to learn the driver ASAP, as I’m sure the bigger courses are much nicer and more interesting than the par 3s. I might experiment with it a bit before seeing my coach or scheduling a lesson with him sooner than I planned.

Thanks for the advice!

#35

I like it. I’m building a site (similar to PG, I guess) where I’ll review products, like several putting training aids and mats. That said, the Perfect Practice mat is the only one I foresee keeping/using.

What I use it for most is for practicing my starting line. That IMO (FWIW, since I’m new to golf) is where you’ll see the most carryover. In fact, if I knew I was going to primarily use it in my garage, I would’ve gotten the 15 footer instead of the 9.

There are a couple downsides IMO. For example, you can hit the ball pretty hard and it’ll still go in. Since there’s the ramp there (which, I think, is supposed to train you to putt a little harder and not leave your putts short), I’m wondering if it’s training you to hit your putts too hard. I think I’m going to work on hitting them to just fall in or maybe split it power-wise between trickling in and hitting the back of the cup. But that’s just my $0.02, again based on limited experience.

Overall, I love mine and would buy it again. I definitely recommend it.

1 Like
#36

Lol.

I’ve had both bugs. It’s a consequence of both being great games.

1 Like
#38

Definitely. I wish I could like this post twice!

#39

Thanks. My miss is always short of the hole. I was thinking the ramp would help me try and get it there. Never up, never in!

1 Like
#40

Yeah, I think it’ll definitely do that. The “putting too hard” thing might just be me. Plus, the ramp is nice because you can hear the ball drop, which is great if you’re trying not to move your head too soon after you hit the ball.

#41

I think the hill is there so they can fit a hole and have it run back to you… but 8 foot putts should be going past the hole most misses. Leaving a putt short guarantees it’s not going in, so it’s better to aim past the hole, as long as you are confident your miss will end up within “gimme” range. (In other words, lag puts should be targeted AT the hole.)

1 Like
#42

Played a ton of golf that’s for sure. I had a few goals that I achieved:

  1. Win our club championship stroke play (my flight). Managed to do this starting off with a very sketchy 46 came back with a back nine 38 and second round 79 to win it on the last hole.

  2. Break 80 in a tournament round. Did this three times in various club tourneys.

  3. Break 80 on a course I don’t regularly play. Did this twice.

So was able to check these goals and in that sense it was a good season. However at the back-end I think fatigue started setting in and I lost a little focus especially in my ball striking. Ended the year with the highest hcp for a couple of seasons but that’s all right. We have a great group that I play with and I truly enjoy getting out there even if I don’t play too well.

7 Likes
#43

I started the year with a goal of 366 rounds for the year and finished with 367. I went from a 20hcp to a 14hcp having 1426 pars and 119 birdies with 19 of those coming in December. I holed 59 chips, 5 pitches and 2 bunker shots or once every 5.56 rounds. If I had had one more I would have matched last years average of once every 5.47 rounds. Last Wednesday I hit a perfect medium range chip that looked like it was going in and then lipped to 6inches. What could have been. My game went to crap in June with me hitting 5 or 6 shanks a round but I found a fix and bounced back in July. The course was only closed for 4 days due to covid restrictions. For a while we were restricted to 2 and 3 player groups making it hard to get a good tee time but luckily that didn’t last too long. I hit enough good shots to make me want to keep playing. I set some new records(11 pars in one round,a low round of 79(par 70) and I have set a new goal of 365 for next year.

4 Likes
#44

Wow that is a lot of golf! What, may I ask, did you do to retire at 46 so you could play 6 days a week?

1 Like
#45

I’ve had my best golf year ever. Not in terms of progression (dropped from 21 to 19hcp) or development, but more in the step change in amount of golf played due to COVID. That plus I believe I’ve hit on a couple of gems to work on in 2021 largely due to @jon‘s PG forum. Tour Tempo and Decade for example.

All the best for 2021 people- let’s hope it’s the new best golf year ever!

3 Likes
#46

@okiwiz you are a legend my friend!!

1 Like
#47

No not a legend, just someone with too much time on their hands who has a lot of luck on the golf course. Last month I had a chip in in my 2nd round of the month, Then holed a bunker shot in my 9th round but then had to wait until my 28th round for my next chip in. Then again in rounds 29,32 and 33.

3 Likes
#48

Not the best. Handicap went up from 12 to 15. Preoccupation with COVID safety rather than being outside having fun.
Missed playing in some annual outings that got cancelled.
At end of the year went from retiring my driver to putting a ton of tape on the toe and ended with the best driving round of the year.
Can’t wait until springtime to get out.

1 Like
#49

Solid year for me. We had a few weeks delayed start in MN until our Governor figured out how golf was one of the safest activities we could’ve doing :man_facepalming:t2::man_shrugging:t2:.

Played around 70 times. Started out around 4.7, had a low of 2.0 and finished the year around 3.7.

My goals were:

  1. Break even par in an 18 hole round for my first time - Did not achieve (multiple 9 holes sub par but none as a full round)
  2. Play in 3 or more tournaments. - Achieved and really enjoyed the competition.
  3. Improve my handicap to 2 or better - Achieved, albeit only for a period of time.

Overall, this year was another great year for golf other than the courses around here were packed. But that’s good for golf in the long term I think so I can dig it.

This coming year I’ve got the same goals and a Pinehurst trip on the calendar so I’m looking forward to it.

4 Likes
#50

It was a short season for me - July-Oct with the rest out due to COVID/course conditions.

But it was the first year of playing regularly since my teens. Handicap started at 18 (pre-WHS handicap) and ended up at 13.0 with the introduction of WHS (giving me 15 shots on my home course).

Really frustrating to end the season so early, as I felt I was picking up some good momentum. Course closure and work craziness mean I’ve not been able to think about golf much (or even visit this site - enjoying catching up!).

Only had 9 holes in 2021 so far, but thankfully picked up where I left off, and was striking the ball really well (aside from driver - something to focus on early this year). I’m just really excited to keep progressing in 2021, with hopefully less in the way of virus-related obstacles… main goal for this year is to improve to the point that I’m shooting low 80s regularly, by focusing on a shot at a time and sticking to back/middle of green as my target.

3 Likes
#51

We are similar level players. I finished at a 2.5 Index.

Breaking par for 18 holes is so difficult. I do it occasionally at my home course, which has a 112 slope, so pretty easy. I had a goal to break par away from my home course, which I haven’t done in about 10 years.

I didn’t make it either. I shot Even twice. In one round I was -2 with 2 to play and I finished bogey-bogey. But I learned from that and will do better next time I’m in that position.

4 Likes