The trials and tribulations of the weekend golfer
Where did it all go wrong!?
I'm not sure where it's all gone Pete Tong with my golf game, but I'm consistently playing inconsistent rounds in the mostly mid to high 90s for the past month or more. This has me way off contending for prizes playing off my current handicap of 16.
It doesn't seems so long ago that I was playing my best ever rounds, when posting rounds of 85, 87, 83 during a wonderful week in early August. I really felt like I had turned a corner and my game was in suberb shape.
Where I am now and where I was then seem world's apart in terms of scoring, but I feel like I'm doing the same things. It's time to assess what I stopped doing that seems to have added 10+ shots to my rounds. Clearly something or more than one thing has changed.
Practice chipping
As I think back to June, July and August, I was out in my back garden chipping balls around at least twice a week and was playing twice a week regularly, so that's definitely one I need to address. In fact, I addressed it only just yesterday morning and went chipping balls in the back garden for around an hour and my technique had improved significantly by the end of the round. Let's see how it plays out on the golf course next Sunday morning. That will be the real litmus test. Like I always tell me son though, practice makes perfect and you can't expect to be good at something if you don't practice.
New clubs
Another issue for me has been that I bought new irons, which I'm delighted about to be honest, but like any new golf club, it takes a bit of getting used to. I'm still figuring out my distance control with the new irons. It will come, but it takes a while. The real issue though is Sandwedge-gate. You see I bought the set as SW-5, however when I played my first round I quickly figured out that the SW was only flying around 100 yards, i looked up the loft and low and behold the loft on the SW was 53°, but I already have a relatively new Titliest Vokey 54° in my choice 14 clubs. The SW was no good to me, but they do have a 47° Gap wedge. Luckily when I went back in to change it, they were cool about it, but the problem is it'll be January before they have my replacement club.
Quite the ball ache, so now I have my 54° which goes 95-100 yards and then my Pitching wedge that goes 130-135 yards and nothing in between. I pulled an old and worn 52° Titliest Vokey wedge from the shed, so that'll have to do, but that'll max out at around 110 yards, so I'm goosed for 115-130 yard shots. So I now have 4 wedges in my bag, which feels kind of cool and sorts me from 60 yards to 110 yards. I'll be unbeatable when my gap wedge lands! 🤣
Game Management
Let her fly off the tee and find the middle of the fairway. That's the aim. The aim and outcome often diverge in reality however and the weekend golfer can find themselves stuck in the trees or in an awkward place. You find your ball and stand behind it and spot a gap, a small gap and size up whether you should take it on.
When you see someone else going through these motions, you think to yourself take your medicine, chip out, minimise the damage and move on. Yet somehow, when it's you in the driving seat, that logic can go out the window, unless you have a sound game management plan. Suddenly you're thinking about taking on the 10% shot. It's rarely worth taking on the 10% shot, yet how often do us average weekend hackers take them on?
When it comes to game management, Shane Lowry gave a master class in it when winning the Open Championship in 2019. After a shake start on the 1st, he managed the rest of his round expertly and ended up winning comfortably in the end and I was there to watch it and take the photos used here.
Practice putting
Practice practice practice. Isn't that what they say. Yet, so many avid golfers give little to no time practicing their putting and these days that includes me. I can't remember the last time that I practiced meaningfully other than 4 rushed putts before legging it to the first tee.
I'm the proud owner of a putting matt, so I need to break that bad boy back out again and do some putting practice after the kids have gone to bed. I often play with solid putters, and it's hard not to think that my scores could improve considerably if I became a better putter. It's most definitely the part of my game that needs the most attention.
Arrive 20 to 30 minutes before tee time
This one ties in with the one above, as your practice should also take place just before you head to the first tee. Having a few chips and a few putts before a round is paramount to getting a good score. Arriving 5 or 20 minutes before your tee time is probably one of the worst things you can do. Get there twenty or thirty minutes before and get yourself warmed up and get your chipping and putting eye in.
Minimise mistakes
This one goes without saying, but I'll still mention it. We have to minimise silly mistakes as much as possible. Don't take on the Superman shot all the time. Know where to miss it. Don't aim straight at every pin, what's wrong with the middle of the green?
Avoid doubt of any sort. If you pull the 6 iron, make sure you are fully committed to it - lingering doubts on club selection will translate into a shit shot almost every time.
I really can't wait to get back out on the course now and see what I can do. If I can put all of this into practice, hopefully a round in the 80s is only around the corner.
These photos were all taken with my shake hand on my Samsung smartphone
Thanks as always for stopping by.
Peace Out
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The short game is the killer for any score. Driving has never been a massive issue for me as the driving range is the easiest place to fix it. Bunkers forget it as that is a disaster zone on it's own and normally hit it in the teeth and fly off some distance from the intended target zone lol. Keep at it is all I can say and eventually it will click but you need all three to click and not only one element. Stop worrying about it and go with the flow and it will come right. Have a few drinks before hand as that may even help so arrive 60 minutes before the tee time.
Ha ha, no there's an idea! Straight to the 19th, two pints of Guinness and whiskey on the rocks, then straight to the first tee to play your best round ever! 🤣
I have a friend who kind of did that, tried with some friends, but got so frustrated by his inability to hit the ball well, that he walked in after 6 straight up to the bar for pints..
Same here, it's the best part of my game, but guess what it doesn't stop me smashing half of my balls with the Big Dog at the range, as it just feels good to unleash and hit it far. It's like you forget why you are at the range in the first place!
The putting green is where I should be spending my time of course, as that id where I lose a lot of shots. Honestly, if I could sort out my putting, I think low 80s could become more normal than outlier.
You've got to love the golf though, as they're is always room for improvement regardless of what level you're at.
I've never played oughterard but I've heard good things about it.
As for the golf, I can feel your pain. I've played little to nothing this year and I need to get playing again. I'm hoping to get back a bit this month when I finish up at work and a have some free time.
Played one game in dromoland in the past two months and it was painful. Like you said, you need to put in some time.
Practise, chip, think about what your doing. All of it is important to play a decent round. I can barely hit the ball at the moment.
Night try to get playing Wednesday if it's dry. I have one game lined up in November and that's all for the moment so need to get back out there.
Ya Oughterard is solid and well looked after, but like most courses, it's getting pretty soft in places now. If you ever fancy a game out there, let me know and I can bring you out for a round.
Definitely and that last bit is really important. So often we say, just hit the fairway, but the fairway could be 50 yards wide! You have to pick smallet targets.
Same thing with chipping, you've got to pick a landing spot for the ball rather than just saying want to chip this in.
Sounds good. I'll try to get back playing regularly this month and get some bit of my game back. 😂
Oughterard would be a nice day out. I'll definitely take you up on that at some stage. Once I can hit faorways again. I hope they are wide enough for me.