The Fat, Bald, Yellow Guy Cometh

[HomerJSimpson]

As mentioned had a flexi day today. Had another leisurely lie in (was actually feeling quite stiff after all my golf yesterday) and was in two minds about playing as I knew there was a society playing 36 holes today.

When the sun broke through about 11.00 it was no contest. I got up there and it was pretty quiet (the society were well into their back nine) and there was a 2 ball going down the first. I decided to go onto the practice ground and hit a few balls to loosen up and then see how busy it was looking.

After about 20 balls I was hitting it great and the course was dead. Rushed back and chucked my balls into my locker and went out.

I have to say that I wasn't striking the ball on the course as I was yesterday but my short game was pretty hot. I had my old ping anser putter in the bag (hadn't used it for ages and thought I'd give it a go) and found that by having the toe fractionally off the ground I was hitting the ball perfectly and my feel was exceptional. So much so that when I counted up I had only had 30 putts (one 3 putt and a chip in).

Sadly my Fairways was only 42% and my GIR a shocking 6% (I only hit one green in regulation). Despite all that I actually managed to get it round in 83 (nett 69 -1 for my handicap). There was only one double bogey on the card today too.

Shows that the half hour I spent on my short game yesterday was time well spent. I know what the problem is ball striking wise and so I'm off to the range to work on that tomorrow and it is looking good for the weekend (never a comp on when you want one).

I also managed to get a nice pink head and neck (should have worn a cap to cover the balding bit). And to top a great day off (despite the lousy ball striking) ordered a sky caddy (GS5 version) from my pro yesterday (got it for £269 instead of RRP £299) and bearing in mind he didn't order it until about 12.30 yesterday, it was waiting for me to pick up when I got in from my round. Can't argue with that for service (or price). Off to download everything in a while.

Back to work tomorrow but HID is picking me up from the station after work and taking me to the range (she is a wonderful lady).

Roll on the weekend so I can play with my new toy. Can't wait to try it on course but also can't wait to try it on the practice ground and finally confirm how far I do actually hit each club.

 

[rgs]

Glad to hear your game is coming back and good luck this weekend.

 

[AliB]

Well done Homer - your hard work obviously paying off - long may it continue

AliB

 

[HTL]

Your short game really was good! One G.I.R and a decent score, Homer you are starting to worry me before our match.

I have not played in 10 days, my clubs have been in storage! Is it wrong to miss them?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

HTL

Plenty of time for my form to regress to its normal mix of double bogie, par, bogie, double etc

 

[benny]

You should quit taking stats that highlight how poor you are. You don't play to a high enough standard yet to worry about GIR so stop. Take the pressure off.

 

[HTL]

Benny I disagree with that, if you don’t know your week areas how else can you identify them and work and work to improve them?

I agree that a player should not do this every round as it can lead to bad things.

And Homer, I move on tomorrow (Woo Hoo!) so will be in touch ASAP. Am so happy that I will be in for my Birthday.

 

[benny]

Alright, to put it this way, Homers endless critique of his game, with stats included bores me. Why would you take stats for Greens you hit in regulation when you can't consistently control how far you hit each iron in the first place? I know the pro's use these stats but c'mon, you're kidding yourself at this level.

 

[HTL]

I am sure that Homer knows how far he hits each club. If he does not I will eat my Keyboard.

I have a handicap in the mid 20s and certainly know to about 5 foot how far each club goes when on the rare occasion it goes straight.

Stats have been proven for years to help golfers at all levels. Have you ever tried some golf stat software? You can get some really good free trials on line.

 

[OldWindy]

Hmmm. Everyone has a different way of playing and it's Homer's choice to keep the stats - I do something similar as it helps me understand how I'm progressing etc.. TBH, while I respect your view, I think your comments are somewhat unkind.

 

[HTL]

I apologise if you feel my comments are unfair OldWindy. I was just encouraging benny to give stats a go.

 

[benny]

I have tried them and I used to be a bit of a statto keeping Drives in fairway, direction, sandys, GIR, putts etc for every round and I found I was constantly running out of ink and brain power. After stripping it back and playing with a clearer head I'm enjoying the game more. Its personal choice I guess tho your right.

 

[OldWindy]

I apologise if you feel my comments are unfair OldWindy. I was just encouraging benny to give stats a go.

Not directed at you, HTL.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Benny

Not quite sure why you have such a downer on me????

To be honest around 90% of your posts are critical of players abilities, hope, aspirations and equipment and I in turn find them of little value. I'm not going to enter an online war with you but to clear up some relevant points

1) Distances - I have a measure of how far I hit each club but these were taken last year with old technique and different equipment. I now have a sky caddie and by the weekend will have distances for each club taken both into and with the wind. I'll be repeating it in a few months once I can add the summer roll in

2) Stats - There are a large number of contributors who use SS2 software and keep their own stats. I provided the information as a reference to other readers on how well/bad my game was. As you can clearly see (if you bothered) my approaches were lousy (mostly missed right) but my short game saved me

3) Level of expertise - It may surprise you to know that in my youth some 25 years ago I was low single figures and was the assistant professional at Wimbledon Common with a dream of becoming a pro. A lack of funding meant I couldn't take my PGA exams and a loss of enthusiasm for the game (plus women and beer) meant I stopped playing until about 15 years ago. I then had to stop again in 2003 to move back to London to nurse my seriously ill mother and did not start playing again regularly until 2007.

I think a drop of 20 to 13 between June and December last year is a clear indication that I can still play and if you ask people on here who have played with me the potential to get down to 10 or lower is still there as is the desire

4) Improvement - I use strokesaver 2 software as do numerous others on here and try where possible to record every round I play in. It has no impact on my round as I tend to only fill the little scorecard size piece of paper in every 4-5 holes and don't use it to monitor my scores. By doing this I get a regular breakdown on the 8 main facets of my game and as such I can dedicate my practice time to improving weak areas. If a problem persists it means I can seek PGA profesional advice via a lesson to get the problem sorted

In the vain hope that you haven't fallen asleep through my lucid reply, I hope this explains (although I'm not sure why I needed to) why I do what I do. As I said I'm not prepared to enter into a war of words and suggest if you don't enjoy my posts you just skip through them.

Sadly you are a member of a forum which by definition means everyone is entitled to their opinion, even me, and I am not prepared to change my approach just because it doesn't keep you amused.

 

[HTL]

OK cool, had an inkling that it wasn’t but just wanted to make sure.

 

[HTL]

Thanks for that Homer, really didn’t fancy chewing on my Keyboard!

What software do you use? I have been tempted by a couple online but have been using my own for the last month or so.

After 3 rounds it really brought home to me how bad my short game form 100 in was.

 

[benny]

Christ, are you finished?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Strokesave 2 is brilliant. Gives you more than enough stats for your round, and season. You can record match results, and practice time which is great because it gives you a breakdown on how long you have spent on each part of the game.

You can also record lessons with your pro so you can remember the key points of a lesson and the drills etc.

It costs £40 as a one time payment but I know there was a thread offering a £5 discount code (if you PM SS2 he should be able to give you the correct code).

I have had various other software over the years but SS2 is by far and away the best I've used (intuitive and simple, good colour schemes etc)

 

[HomerJSimpson]

From that last post my point is proven. Curt and rude simultaneously. I rest my case

 

[HTL]

Just had a quick look online and seems good. Combined with an affective Goal Setting programme you would have no excuse of way to not improve.

Really cant see a way people could logically believe this to be a waste of money + time? As we all want to be better golfers dont we?