How's your season been?

adam6177

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How's your season been so far? What have you done differently to go up/down? What have you learnt?

I started my year off at 13.6 and am currently at 7.2.... somewhere I never thought I'd get to without a lot of hard work, but I did 2 things which have made a massive difference to me.

1. I've been a member of a pitch and putt course for last 2 years... During lockdowns I played it as much as I could and my short game and approach play has improved a lot.

2. And this is a BIG one for me.... I did the aimpoint putting course over the summer and despite what some people say/said about it.... They couldn't have been more wrong. It's tightened my putting game drastically.

So where do I go from here.... Not sure, golf is a casual fun game for me and I'm not interested in competing, so I guess keep having fun and see where else the enjoyment takes me.

So what about you?
 

thebigreason

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7.2 wowsers, great job pal.

So my aim or target at the beginning of the year was to shoot one round below 100. I know this comes easy for most people but for me, my previous best was 105 and then the remainder were 110+.

I have done a few things, most of which are common sense but not for me.

1. Slowed down and taken my time, not to the extent of slow play but I have stopped walking up to the ball and just swinging, a little more thought is going in to it.
2. Stopped worrying about what I thought other golfers (spectators) were thinking when seeing my play.
3. Taken a practice swing before shots and played sensibly. I now choose to lay up on one particular hole at my local course which is a shot of around 100 yards instead of attempting to clear the brook (200+yards).
4. Tried not to get too stressed or worked up after playing a bad shot, it's only a game right.
5. Took my driver out of my bag. I quite simply cannot hit it and it was getting me worked up so now that bad boy is under the bed so I do not waste any shots using it.
6. Purchased a Scotty Cameron putter, again this was more of a mental thing for me as I needed to be more delicate with my putting.

My last three rounds have been 93, 98, 94 which I am very pleased with, especially as I am only getting around 160 off the tee.

Onwards and upwards............
 

rudebhoy

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Back in April, I was thinking seriously about packing it in. Had a bad case of the shanks, which would appear out of nowhere and totally destroy my round. There is nothing more dispiriting than hitting a great tee shot, then shanking your second 90 degrees to the right.

Had a "make or break" lesson in early May. Since then the shanks have more or less gone (still have the odd one, but very infrequently). As well as making changes to my swing path, I've massively simplified my pre shot routine. i used to worry like mad about my takeaway and have loads (I mean loads) of practice backswings before hitting the ball. Now I just have 2 practice swings, and hit the damn thing. I've also decluttered my mind, used to have a million thoughts, now I try to keep it as simple as possible. I've also banned myself from watching YouTube videos!

All of the above have worked wonders, and my golf over the last 4 months has been great. Am hitting it straighter and longer - drives before were about 190, now up around 230, 7 iron was 130, now 150 etc.

Set myself some goals in May - break 90, win a comp and get handicap down to 20 (it was 24.5 at the time). Have achieved the first 2 goals and am hopefully closing in on the third - got a cut of 0.6 overnight, taking me down to 21.5. Am happy with that as have only played 12 comps in that time.


Bottom line now is I am massively enjoying my golf, when previously sometimes I used to dread going out. Keeping it as simple as possible is definitely the key for me.
 

Biggleswade Blue

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Handicap exactly the same as at the start of the Spring. As a new club member I had just completed my 3 cards before the big lockdown, and had to pick up again after the long time out. Played respectably in my first drawn comps, well in the high handicap summer matchplay - I'm in the final which is next month, and got a good number of general play cards in. Frustratingly, the general play and comp cards are all very consistent, regularly getting 30-36 points, but I just cannot get any cards together that exceed better that and start to bring the handicap down! However, parts of my game are really improving, but not yet all connecting to lead to lower cards. Hopefully it will come over the winter and I can start next spring a bit lower. Desperate to break 100 - had loads of rounds in the 101-105 range, and plenty of 9s less than 50!
 

jim8flog

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Great season in some respects

In the money several times including one first place in a pairs Open.

I have not quite reached my target of a return to single figure PH now down to 10 which has got me back to Div 1.

Not being involved so much with the committee and getting the WHS up and running has taken a lot of mind and allowed me to concentrate on my game.
 

harpo_72

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Not hit the highs of last year, but had limited time to play in the competitions. I did a lot at the beginning which forced my index up as I was a bit appalling..
I got caught by the pro and put into the match play singles, which I have managed to get to the semifinals of, which has surprised me and my opponents. Likewise the knockout match play pairs we have got to the semifinals. I see an improvement in my game, and I give my partner credit there as he said my bad shots come from a lack of self belief.. which is true my confidence is low. But when I am really certain I go for it. The pro also sorted me out during a driver fitting- my head is too cluttered and it forces me to manipulate which then kills my distance..
I am now going round around 1-2 shots under my handicap, just need to bin the OBs and that will see me drop another 2-3 shots .. but it will all come to an end as work gets in the way again
 

patricks148

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Was 4. 8 before WHS came in, then 4.2 with WHS. Played well in some opens early season, shot a few low scores and a few hundred in vouchers. We have a bit of an anomaly in our comp calendar in that apart from the 5day open we almost have 2 months with no comps.Now at 2.6, my lowest handicap to date. But in reality I couldn't get anywhere near that under the old system.
 

Imurg

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As always.. up and down
I've always been a streaky player - several rounds of average or complete dross followed by a week or two of low scores
Thought I was heading for an index of 9 or more but the chucked in a couple of low to mid 70s and back down I went.
No comp wins but with a large number of members with much lower and higher handicaps its no surprise.
Flitting between 6 and 7 index all year...
 

adam6177

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As always.. up and down
I've always been a streaky player - several rounds of average or complete dross followed by a week or two of low scores
Thought I was heading for an index of 9 or more but the chucked in a couple of low to mid 70s and back down I went.
No comp wins but with a large number of members with much lower and higher handicaps its no surprise.
Flitting between 6 and 7 index all year...

Ha ha that's golf in a nutshell isn't it... That's why we keep coming back ?
 

Bdill93

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So, So.

I thought id progress a bit more this year than I have so far. Struggled to go low - mostly a mental block though. I cost myself far too many shots when I play one bad one, starting to get better at recovering though.

Best ever round last weekend of 80 which I was mega happy with. Still am really!

Handicap is down from 19 to 16.7 which was the aim before the year started - If I can card another couple low 80's (sub 85) before the end of the year, ill be thrilled!
 

Depreston

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ended last season on 12

whs cut me to 9.8

had an amazing round last week to get me to 7.3

never thought i'd keep at 9.4 nevermind end up going down!
 

IanM

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Really enjoyable. Managed to play a bit more which has stabilised my scores, even if my HI hasn't dropped, it hasn't really gone up either. My "courses played" total went over 400 this summer, I've had 15 away days/opens on some smashing courses... actually making H4H this year, Bideford Bay Pairs was great in super weather, always a highlight. JCB was amazing, Woking was fab... and Birkdale/W Lancs next month.

Packing in work in 3 weeks so will be trawling Golf Empire for next years Opens! :)
 

Mandofred

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Pleased at the moment. Now I just have to spend some time practicing my chipping....it's costing me at least 1 shot a round.

*Changed my grip, stronger left hand
*Stopped my hands from moving too much
*Changed to mid size grips even though I've got small hands
*Shortened the backswing
*Stopped getting tooooo upset at bad shots
*Playing more, practicing less. Not on purpose, just the way things have turned out with joining a 2nd club.
*Gave up on even thinking about hitting the ball a long ways. I never could and at 64 long drives are a wish. Hitting a 7 iron 135 in the air is about my limit.
*Down to 6.3 at the moment. Still not sure how they come to these calculations....
 
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Started poorly, so my handicap stayed the same.
Then started playing pretty well, and therefore my handicap has gone up a bit.
It’s a great new system ?
 

Crow

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WHS forced me to accept a handicap that reflected the way my golf had gone steeply downhill over the last 5 or 6 years, for a number of reasons.

Started the season at a new club with an HI of 16.4 and with big hopes of quickly lowering it, but over the first 3 or 4 months it climbed up to 17.5!
Since the start of August I've had some good rounds including a couple of wins in club seniors comps and I'm now down to 13.7

On the vintage club front I've made quite a few nice acquisitions.

I've also started a YouTube channel, which takes a lot more time to do than I thought it would....
 

adam6177

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WHS forced me to accept a handicap that reflected the way my golf had gone steeply downhill over the last 5 or 6 years, for a number of reasons.

Started the season at a new club with an HI of 16.4 and with big hopes of quickly lowering it, but over the first 3 or 4 months it climbed up to 17.5!
Since the start of August I've had some good rounds including a couple of wins in club seniors comps and I'm now down to 13.7

On the vintage club front I've made quite a few nice acquisitions.

I've also started a YouTube channel, which takes a lot more time to do than I thought it would....
What's your YouTube channel?
 

Orikoru

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I started the year on 15.1 and hoping to break 80. Now I'm on 15.0 and still hoping to break 80, having shot 80 on the nose in my last two rounds. So I guess not much progress really, but it feels like breaking 80 is right there for the taking (unless I've missed my chance of course now we're getting towards winter..)

But with other aspects - I have enjoyed being a member at a proper club for the first time (my old club was at a public course so I still had to pay green fees, and there was no bar or food for the last 3 years) - getting more evening rounds in and so on is always nice. My dad has got back into playing more, even joining the same club as me (although that will change next year as my parents are moving further away), so it's been nice to play with him again more regularly. And my wife has got into golf for the first time, we've been playing short nine hole courses, so it's been fun trying to help her improve, while also seeing improvements to my own short game from these extra rounds. So plenty of positives aside from the fact my own handicap has stayed the same. And you could definitely argue that these kind of positives are a lot more important than a handicap. :D

I just hope the tee booking / non-booking / can't play at certain times issue sorts itself out so I don't have to find a new club again next year.
 

Orikoru

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It's about classic golf clubs (no surprise), link in my signature below.
Surely there is a way to create a snappier link than that? i.e. channel/classicgolfclubs rather than the random collection of letters? Most of the channels I follow seem to have their actual name there in the link.

Edit: There is, if you click on Channel Customisation in your settings.
 
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