Everything golf

[Troy Loney]

I saw a Rick Shiels video with that drill (or something like it) where it forces you move forward by putting the ball way at the front of your stance.

Played terribly on Saturday, i pulled every iron that wasn't a lofted 50+, so went to the range yesterday. the instructor was there, and I asked him for advice. lots of dirty laundry came out when I realized how wrong I was doing some things. lesson being, its important to have periodic lessons, it's amazing how quickly you start adding things on to try and correct certain misses. my swing was far too in-to-out, was gripping far too strong with my left hand, and my left arm was releasing incorrectly. and this was all revealed to him by watching me try to do the wall drill. the quick adjustment immediately corrected my iron shots, and I was able to hit the hybrid off the deck again, but I was losing 50% of drives to the right, also started hitting a fade instead of a draw. I need to figure out how to hit the driver the way that I was, and swing differently with irons and woods.

[MR25]

I played Saturday as well. Hit maybe 75% of my drives straight left. I know the issue (upper body is turning before I can get my hands around to contact) but it's so frustrating to absolutely nuke a drive directly into/over the tree line.

On the plus side, I went pin-seeking on 3/5 par 3s, and came up just short-sided on the two that missed the green. Stuck a 52 to about a flagstick away on one, just a little longer with an 8 on another hole, then stuck a 4 iron (greens were real soft) about 5 yards short of the last par 3. Downside is I came out with par on all 3 (lipped two of them and had the 4 iron putt come up about half a roll short).

[shafnutz05]

I ended up breaking 100 again on Saturday with a 99 at a course in New Jersey, Golden Pheasant.

Shot a 53 on the front...back 9 was definitely shorter/easier, and I finally figured my driver out somewhat. Honestly, left a lot of strokes around the greens. Upward and onward.

[shafnutz05]

[dodint]

Nicely done, shaf.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

I ended up breaking 100 again on Saturday with a 99 at a course in New Jersey, Golden Pheasant.

Shot a 53 on the front...back 9 was definitely shorter/easier, and I finally figured my driver out somewhat. Honestly, left a lot of strokes around the greens. Upward and onward.

anecdotal but I feel like my back 9s are always better than my fronts. Front 9 is effectively a warmup and the back 9 is when you have a feel for how you're playing for the day

unless I'm walking the course. then the back 9 becomes more of a fighting through tiredness from walking the whole course

[Troy Loney]

I played Saturday as well. Hit maybe 75% of my drives straight left. I know the issue (upper body is turning before I can get my hands around to contact) but it's so frustrating to absolutely nuke a drive directly into/over the tree line.

On the plus side, I went pin-seeking on 3/5 par 3s, and came up just short-sided on the two that missed the green. Stuck a 52 to about a flagstick away on one, just a little longer with an 8 on another hole, then stuck a 4 iron (greens were real soft) about 5 yards short of the last par 3. Downside is I came out with par on all 3 (lipped two of them and had the 4 iron putt come up about half a roll short).

I was able to score well because of the short par 4's, but it's a good thing when a low 80's feels bad. Almost had another hole-out eagle, when a 40 yard chip lipped out.

[willeyeam]

I shot an 84 with four birdies yesterday. What a wild time

[Orlando Penguin]

Hitting the 'cash out' button on my brain after a week in Wisconsin (and a week in Napa prior to that):

Going into the week, I thought the Euros could pull off the upset. While they didn't have near the pedigree or the high rankings that the US players did, they were comfortable playing together and I felt like they would play very well in the windy conditions. But this US team picked a great week for EVERYONE to play at their very best. By the time Saturday's AM session was done, the competition was over. A lot of credit goes to Stricker for cutting out all the normal BS that accompanies Ryder Cup week with the dinners and the speeches and the other get-togethers that go on off the course. But the players stepped up big time. There wasn't a weak link anywhere during the competition, which is a rarity in these competitions for the US.

Other observations from the ground in a 'random musings' format -- I avoided any splashes of champagne. Didn't have the rainsuit with me and I didn't feel like smelling of stale alcohol...That course is incredibly treacherous to walk if you're not in the fairway. I nearly bit it in front of everyone at the 9th green on Thursday while trailing the Euros practice and having to walk from 17 tee to 18 green yesterday while chasing the Morikawa clinching half point was like walking a slippery tightrope....The gasps of the crowd when Bryson's tee shot landed at 5 on Friday were great but the cheers that went up on 1 green both when his drive landed yesterday and when he buried the eagle were pretty damn good. Not as good as being greenside for Spieth holing out from the bunker at the Travelers in overtime but still loud...I'm not sure if the broadcast showed it but Westwood took a little extra time on 18 after shaking hands with English to sort of reflect on things. That very well could have been his last Ryder Cup match. He alluded to it in his press conference afterwards, saying that he hopes it isn't but realizes it very well could have been. Same with Poulter. He showed some emotion after he closed out Finau. Poulter is now 6-0-1 in Ryder Cup singles...After it was all said and done, there were probably 100-150 fans still milling around outside the clubhouse trying to catch a glimpse as players left. They were rewarded when Sergio came out and signed autographs and took pictures with anyone who wanted one. He also dished out a new Euro Ryder Cup headcover to a kid as well as a few other trinkets. Then the main event started with all but 3 US players coming through a makeshift human tunnel on their way to the parking lot (others took the team bus, these players left with their families). Bryson's tossing out RC pins to people, Schauffele's caddy had a handful of various things that he just tossed in the air for people to grab, JT was revving up the crowd. It was a lot of fun to see that even though I got assaulted by the mosquitoes once the sun set...Cantlay's gonna win a major next year and Scheffler will win at least twice between now and the end of calendar year 2022...And as I found out on my trip to Madison for the PSU win, cheese curds and Spotted Cow kick ass.

[shafnutz05]

That's awesome OP. Was looking forward to your recap

[shafnutz05]

Nicely done, shaf.

Thanks. Honestly the hardest part is wanting to go all the time now

[dodint]

Nicely done, shaf.

Thanks. Honestly the hardest part is wanting to go all the time now

Yeah. Fall is coming and I am squeezing golf in everywhere I can.

Very average golf, but, golf nonetheless.

[dodint]

For you folks that carry gap wedges. Do you treat it as part of the iron set or part of the wedge group?
I bought a 50-degree wedge to serve as a gap wedge between the iron pitch wedge and my 54 sand wedge. My reasoning was that the 50 wedge had the same wedge shaft and wedge grip as the wedge group, so it would have a consistent feel when shooting around under 100 yards. These wedges have a different grip and shaft from the iron set. I've come to realize that the only time I'm using the 50 wedge is to literally fill that gap with full swings. For partial swings I'm using the 54 which is the lowest club in my bag now (dumped my 60).

I'm going to do my full iron fitting next month and I'm wondering if I should be treating the gap wedge as an iron and replace the 50 with it. That seems like the thing that makes the most logical sense if I'm only using the 50 for full-length swings. In this instance, the Ping G425 PW/GW has the same clubface as the Ping Glide 3.0 wedges that I have; the G425 4i-9i has a different face.

Put simply: should your full swing gap wedge have the same shaft and grip as your longer irons, or should it share a shaft and grip with your true wedges?

At my skill level this is probably a distinction without a difference but I'm curious about the theory.

[Dickie Dunn]

My gap wedge is part of my set and I just treat it as another iron. My short game shenanigans are restricted to my SW and LW.

[willeyeam]

i don't think it matters - my set goes through 9i, then I use my PW from my old Nike set, a Cleveland 50 and 56, and a Vokey 60

[willeyeam]

i think the main goal is getting your distance gaps manageable so whatever club you can hit that bridges your PW to SW gap is what you want, regardless of the model/grip

[dodint]

The first two replies being opposite is great.

i think the main goal is getting your distance gaps manageable so whatever club you can hit that bridges your PW to SW gap is what you want, regardless of the model/grip

Right, ulf. But what's the easiest and most efficient way to dial in a proper gap (and be repeatable) to where they're manageable? An 11 iron or a 50 wedge? I guess the answer would be to compare them side by side. I could just sell the one that doesn't suit me. I'm leaning towards DDs line of thought; keep as many clubs in the bag with the same shaft/grip to reduce the instances of hitting a club that is not aligned to that configuration.
I could just practice more.

[Troy Loney]

My set came with an "approach wedge" which i gather is the same as the Gap, (50 degree). It's a full swing club for me, which I think is what you are looking at. So it's the 100-115 yard shot. I use the SW for those in between distances, I can get it to go 100 with a full swing, but can do the abbreviated swing to manage the 70-100 yard differences.

I have issues with my lob wedge, so I just added one of my old 56 degree wedges to my bag, which was a hand me down when I was a kid, trying to figure out how to play different trajectories in that 60 and under range. I need a good space to practice the clock piece and getting precise distances aligned to different backswings. I feel like the range is an ineffective way of doing that. I think i just need like a baseball field, some balls and a way to mark distances.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

you're losing me with the delineation between treating it as an iron and as a wedge. are your shafts/grips that different between your irons and wedges? I've never noticed it (albeit, the only clubs in my bag that aren't part of my iron set are my sand wedge, putter and driver)

the wedges I carry are a PW, Approach Wedge and SW. I can full swing my AW (distance is about 120) and I use it to pitch from between 20-50 yards. It serves a good purpose

[dodint]

Troy, have you tried an indoor simulator? I do that and tee it up about 1/8" off the deck to try and take the mat out of the equation.

One of the things on my list is to collect this data:


Chipping distance control technique - Perform the three different swing lengths for an 8-iron, pitching wedge and lob wedge and take note of the distances

The three distances are ankle, knee, and hip height:

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

I don't chip with anything but my sand wedge. I've gotten pretty good with it

I think the hardest shot to really gauge for amateurs are the 100-20 yard pitch shots. You can full swing a SW or a higher degree wedge but I don't because you have such a high chance of thinning it. I feel pretty confident with my pitching and approach wedge in those distances but I'm not as precise as I'd like to be. I never really focused on having a consistent pitch form because I usually can get the distance correct but I also have a tendency to hit the ball off line either 10 yards off the green right or left (I'm guessing that's mostly a grip issue)

[dodint]

you're losing me with the delineation between treating it as an iron and as a wedge. are your shafts/grips that different between your irons and wedges?

For me, yes. My irons are steel and have jumbo grips. My wedges are a lighter, tip-balanced steel shaft and have wedge grips that are longer; the grips are taped under the grip but not as thick as my jumbos. There is a distinct difference in my case.

[Troy Loney]

I don't chip with anything but my sand wedge. I've gotten pretty good with it

I think the hardest shot to really gauge for amateurs are the 100-20 yard pitch shots. You can full swing a SW or a higher degree wedge but I don't because you have such a high chance of thinning it. I feel pretty confident with my pitching and approach wedge in those distances but I'm not as precise as I'd like to be. I never really focused on having a consistent pitch form because I usually can get the distance correct but I also have a tendency to hit the ball off line either 10 yards off the green right or left (I'm guessing that's mostly a grip issue)

I think it's also a matter of knowing how the ball is going to come off the club face given the different types of lies. I think if you just use one club, you end up having to adjust your angles all the time, but if you can play the different irons at those distances, you can keep the swing angles and tempos the same, and just change the club.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

I don't chip with anything but my sand wedge. I've gotten pretty good with it

I think the hardest shot to really gauge for amateurs are the 100-20 yard pitch shots. You can full swing a SW or a higher degree wedge but I don't because you have such a high chance of thinning it. I feel pretty confident with my pitching and approach wedge in those distances but I'm not as precise as I'd like to be. I never really focused on having a consistent pitch form because I usually can get the distance correct but I also have a tendency to hit the ball off line either 10 yards off the green right or left (I'm guessing that's mostly a grip issue)

I think it's also a matter of knowing how the ball is going to come off the club face given the different types of lies. I think if you just use one club, you end up having to adjust your angles all the time, but if you can play the different irons at those distances, you can keep the swing angles and tempos the same, and just change the club.

yeah that’s what I try to do. 50-100 for PW, 20-50 for AW. Relatively large ranges but I feel like it’s all manageable

I know the next step in my game other than solidifying my normal swing is learning how and when to put backspin on the ball. It’ll make my pitching game even more of a force

[willeyeam]

The first two replies being opposite is great.

i think the main goal is getting your distance gaps manageable so whatever club you can hit that bridges your PW to SW gap is what you want, regardless of the model/grip

Right, ulf. But what's the easiest and most efficient way to dial in a proper gap (and be repeatable) to where they're manageable? An 11 iron or a 50 wedge? I guess the answer would be to compare them side by side. I could just sell the one that doesn't suit me. I'm leaning towards DDs line of thought; keep as many clubs in the bag with the same shaft/grip to reduce the instances of hitting a club that is not aligned to that configuration.
I could just practice more.

I don't have a good answer. I think it's just about figuring out what feels best and what you hit that distance at a better clip probably via a fitting. I like my gap wedge as a traditional wedge because it just fits my eye and feels better I think. But to each their own