A couple years ago Sportfan posted a video of himself at the range "hitting a few eggs" for the first time in a couple years. I thought to myself how do you not play the game for that long with a swing like that? Glad you're back at it.
I wasn't having any fun playing about 8 years ago which is why I quit for about 5-6 years. I started back with one goal, to enjoy my time on the course. I began playing with friends who couldn't break 90 from the men's tees but it was an incredibly fun time. They don't get mad at bad (normal) shots and seem to truly appreciate the good ones. Unfortunately lately I've been playing in tournaments and money games with very good players. My attitude on the course has changed for the worse so I'll be looking to correct that soon.
Do any of you have a favorite long club off the tee other than driver? I'm lucky in that I hit the ball fairly long and high, so even if I'm about 185 out I can hit 6 iron and the ball usually stays within about 1 yard of where it lands on a green. My irons have been great lately, but the problem is keeping tee shots in the fairway. Most of the par 4s around here are under 400 yards, so I really don't need driver but my 3 wood isn't much more consistent. Should I look at a 5 wood maybe? Right now I have driver, 3W then 3hybrid.
My main course has plenty of short par 4's so I play a 3 or 4 iron off the tee very frequently. Sometimes I'll pull driver or 3 wood just to get to hit them a little more but in league play I typically stick to irons
I need to force myself to play one entire round doing nothing but trying to leave myself a full wedge on all par 4s
That's my main reasoning for doing it so much...I'd much rather leave myself in the 125-150 range and have a full gap, PW, or 9 iron
My rule of thumb is a hole less than 400 yards I hit 4 wood. That generally leaves me with a good hard 8 - W into the greens.
Interestingly enough I've struggled lately because all I was filming was from down the line and thinking that it looked pretty dang good. My lower body movement is AIDSy from face on, right hip/glute works back towards the target which then gets my chest leaning away from the target which causes me to play catch up in my downswing leading to some poor shots. Also my chipping/pitching is that of a 18 HCP at the moment. Got a month until two more qualifiers to grind a bit.
I absolutely love my 3 wood..off the tee off the deck, whatever.. Bringing a long par 5 to it's knees with a solid 3 wood is a top 5 feeling in golf.
Practice the shorter wedge shots. Much greater long-term payoff. Generally speaking the closer you are to the pin, the better off you're going to be for scoring.
I started finding that issue when I was hitting driver well I'd have an awkward distance with a wedge and would have to kinda guess at it. I need to really work on my wedges I guess.
Check out a 2 hybrid. It's my go to on short par 4's. Hit it about 235 with a low draw and I always know where it's going to go
Yeah, but it's still true that one of the things that can help amateurs the most is to plan ahead and set yourself up with a distance you're most comfortable with (usually around a full PW) to approach the green, instead of hitting it as far as you can on your initial shots and ending up with a partial swing shot.
I agree. I think the last part of the game to really click for most weekend golfers are half/alternate shots. Just outside chip range but well under full swing even for a sand wedge. 30-75 yards is especially troublesome for me. Example, 2 weeks ago I hit my best drive of the day on a downhill, slight dogleg left par 4. About 380 to pin and I crushed my drive with perfect draw. 40 yards to pin on 2nd and I had to play an awkward half swing half chip sand wedge and wound up probably 30 feet from the pin.
A good wedge game separates a lot of okay players from really good ones. I absolutely love being inside 100 yards because it's the shot I practice the most, and the most fun to practice actually.
Right, but setting up for a shot you're comfortable with (say, 120 yards as opposed to 60) separates a lot of decent players from below average ones. I'm old-ish, I have a young kid, and I don't get out to the course or range nearly as much as I used to. "Really good" is unattainable for me, so I'm shooting for "decent" for now. Which means aiming for 120 out instead of trying to be a hero and get as close to the green as possible on my first/second shot.
Reading it right now and that's what has flipped my view on the "layup to a full wedge" ideology. Was going to post an excerpt from that section later. Haven't gotten all the way through the book yet. Some simple setup changes do seem to be paying off already.
How have you been with more flip in your swing? I need to just go get his 5 steps and hit 200 balls trying to pay close attention.
Where do you practice that? Our local range uses shitty balls and has a big drop off right after the tee area, so anything under 100 yards is mostly pointless. I work on short game for 30 minutes or so at the course before each round, but those greens are usually only set up for chipping and putting and have no room for 50-75 yard approaches
Is that the book that recommends playing with 4 wedges and having exact yardages for several shot types on each club written down on a cheat sheet?
Laying up to a full yardage can be correct but for the wrong reasons. You are not much better from 90 than you are 120 (it's probably like 2.75 vs 2.85 for a tour pro don't have the stats in front of me) so if you're taking on fairway bunkers, rough, or hazards to gain like .1 shot you're losing massive strokes. It's one of the bigger errors my buddy sees when working with collegiate and tour players. The other is a too passive approach off the tee.
Theres a 54deg cleveland wedge at work if whoever lost it doesn't call by this weekend I'm snatching it.
My 3w is a 13 degree deep face Sonartec with a heavy (100g) shaft. If I'm ever spraying driver I just tee the 3w down and hit low cuts to get through tight holes. On hot dry days in Texas I'm probably only giving up 15 yards.
has a bigger head than a 3 wood but much smaller than the driver, and mine has 16 degree loft. I have a pretty low ball flight with my driver so I wanted something I could hit long and high off the tee. it's long and it's easy to hit.