GOLF

[DavidM]

Showed up for golf yesterday

But I left my Game at home 

Started with a 9 after 5 putting the first green!

the day didn't get any better, finished 15 over for the day (104 shots), stroke round.

Oh Wellll

[Otto Von Blotto]

If it makes you feel any better, Matt Fitzpatrick 3 putted from 6 feet in the European masters

[ozdevil]

medal day    had 94 for 72 net   but was a really a mixed bag  and needed a bit of patients as we was behind a group of 6 admittingly most of the 6 was a-graders  in which they caught up to a group 0f 4 that started 40 minutes before them.   anyway  we hit up thinking the group of 6 was on the ground  and didnt see the other party in which was in our driving range.  lucky i didnt kill 1 of them as he is the most likely bugger to bury me  as he is the local funaeral director.   anyway the said come up to the green  might as well finish as a group of 10  .      

i basicly just went into the game with a relaxed attitude and not get to worked up on how i hit the ball and the score sorted itself out.  only 1 bad hole  and that was on the hardest hole of the course in which i call frosty hill its a par 5 and up  a steep hill  was up short of the green for 3  and thought worse case was a 6   ended up finishing with a frosty  = 8   in which you get this on a stroke day you have to  to play the frosty ball which is bright pink with a logo of a snowman  and can only go back to ball of choice if another shoots an 8 or more  and if you end up with it on the last your buying  the drinks as a penalty then the round starts.   

but after that it was a messy night and the good wife was a little angry considering i was at the golf club at around 8:30am and didnt get home til 9:30pm that night as i hung back and watch the night golf we had .   

good day 

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'm glad we don't have that at my club, I hate using any ball other than my preferred type lol

[ozdevil]

2 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I'm glad we don't have that at my club, I hate using any ball other than my preferred type lol

its only used amongst our mates .   it works very similar to the snake   where if you 3 putt and your last man standing ya buy the first 2 rounds

its all for the fun of it mate no one is forced to play our frosty ball if someone in the group says no then the ball dont come out

the ball is  callaway supersoft   not great ball but definately not the worse ball  on the market.  most at my club play these or there srixon soft feels or srixon distance balls..  so its definarely not to bad a ball

[Otto Von Blotto]

Nah I reckon pinnacle rocks are probably the worst balls out there

I used to use supersoft when I first started playing again because they were cheap, but later switched to tp5/x and finally settled on prov1 as my ball of choice last year, mainly because of the far better control around the greens, better stopping power on approach shots, and to a lesser extent I got more consistent and longer distance off the tee. I think this was a factor in my short game improvement as well because it makes practice fun trying to muck around with spinning it, so I do more of it. 

For some reason the soft balls were inconsistent for distance off the tee, could have been due to inconsistent contact in some cases, but there were ones that I struck well that flew wildly different distances as well. I did lose a little distance with the irons when I first switched balls, but it wasn't really an issue. I've since gained it back. 

Yes they're expensive, but I don't lose them as often as I used to, and I've also not actually bought any out of my own pocket for quite a while, just build up freebies from NTP wins or placing in comps. I also use the credit from winning comps towards them if I need to as well. 

 

[ozdevil]

2 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Nah I reckon pinnacle rocks are probably the worst balls out there

I used to use supersoft when I first started playing again because they were cheap, but later switched to tp5/x and finally settled on prov1 as my ball of choice last year, mainly because of the far better control around the greens, better stopping power on approach shots, and to a lesser extent I got more consistent and longer distance off the tee. I think this was a factor in my short game improvement as well because it makes practice fun trying to muck around with spinning it, so I do more of it. 

For some reason the soft balls were inconsistent for distance off the tee, could have been due to inconsistent contact in some cases, but there were ones that I struck well that flew wildly different distances as well. I did lose a little distance with the irons when I first switched balls, but it wasn't really an issue. I've since gained it back. 

Yes they're expensive, but I don't lose them as often as I used to, and I've also not actually bought any out of my own pocket for quite a while, just build up freebies from NTP wins or placing in comps. I also use the credit from winning comps towards them if I need to as well. 

 

i think pro v1's   for majority of players  in highteens and heading out with there handicaps its an over kill of a ball  .    with prov1's  can make milli vanilli slices alot worse and more dramatic  as they cant control the spin of the head face .   

at the moment i loving the srixon  q-star tour ball   distance of the tee has been good all winter  and around the greens i can get them to check and alot of the time i get them zipping of the greens   

i use to use the chrome softs from callaway   not bad ball but i started to find them far to soft  

i just thought heck for the price of a box i can  save half of that for a beer with the boys after the round  

but i get why you like them and as your heading down the singles path a good ball is what will help you

[Kegory]

I just like brightly coloured balls that are easier to find in the rough.

[GregT5]

I have used the Callaway Supersofts and quite liked them.  I am using Taylormade Soft Response at the moment and like them.  They feel good off the club and hold on the greens (if you don't duff your swing!).

Whilst I don't lose a ball very often lately it's hard to justify the price of ProV1s against the others.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Yeah they wouldn't suit players who can't control the club face. Mind you I can still hit the odd wild slice at times I actually changed from the tp5 because I felt like the new/current model had too much spin compared to the previous one - my iron shots went straighter with the Titleist. I tried the tp5x again first, its spin is about the same as the prov, but they felt a bit too firm, so yeah, in the end I went with what felt the best and performed the best for me, despite the price

Generally balls with a urethane cover will generate more spin and check on the greens, and they do of course come cheaper than pro vs. I like the feel as well, they feel firm/solid without feeling like hitting rocks. Some of the cheaper options feel too soft to me.

Most of the "soft feel" balls are surlyn covered, probably to try to lessen spin on longer clubs but at the same time they lose it on the greens as well. In the end I got sick of hitting chips and little pitches and having it behave like I'd just thrown it on the green. Up here the greens are usually pretty firm, so you need all the help you can get to control the ball on them. 

 

[GregT5]

Well I am finally back on the good side of the golfing gods!

Stableford round this week and after 3 weeks of rubbish golf my game returned.  Shot 89 for nett 73, so played to my handicap and finished with 36 points. The winner of the day came in with 38. I ended up 8th out of 91 players. 

It was a day of "what could have been..." as I had 4 putts of about 25 feet that missed the cup and left me with a putt of 2-3 inches. Probably should have been closer to start with!

I don't know if a change of ball to a Callaway Chrome Soft was the difference, I found one in my bag when I was sorting it out on Friday afternoon and thought I would give them another go. We will see I suppose. 

Next week is a 2 person ambrose round. Normally they schedule these rounds for AFL Grand Final day.

. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Played a best ball on Saturday, didn't really do much there as neither of us played well. It was a qualifier for a match play event, with the final being on grand final day. Maybe I had it in the back of my mind that I wouldn't be able to play if we made it that far or just had an off day I don't know. 

Yesterday I played in the social club at a different course. Started with two doubles but steadied it playing the rest of the 9 in even par. The back 9 was ruined by 3 bad holes, although one was due to a bunker on 18 that looked normal enough but had hardly any sand in it. Two of my attempts to get out exposed the hard clay underneath, I finally got out on the fourth attempt just playing a normal chip shot. After playing my best drive of the day it was a really disappointing way to finish the round. 85 overall, should have been sub 80 really. Oh well onto next week. 

[ozdevil]

Well  2 days of golf for me. Saturdays game  was a tale all sorts and we it was like Playing 18 bunkers  as 8/9 they cored the greens  and due to some wild wolly weather of high winds and rain   they couldnt mat  the greens  so  there was a good  2 inches of sand  on the greens you would have thought we was playing on sand scrapes.  having said that some greens rolled better then others far as speed wise   but couldnt find my way around the front nine   and it was a good mixture of wipes and 1 pointers and finished with shocking 13 points    back 9  found much easier   and manage 16 points      but  thats golf   

Sunday  played in the social group  and a totally different day  couldnt do a thing wrong ,   i decide to use a different ball  yesterday  and pulled out a titliest pro v1  .   i know i have said  for hackers like myself its a waste going to that ball  as we dont have much control specially  to a ball that can  generate  so much spin of the club..   but i thought i would  compare it to my srixon q-star tours  for length.  i am fortunate i usually a fairway finder  off the tee ...   well comparing the 2 different balls i found no real difference in length  only when i  flushed the driver i may have gotten 5 metres longer then i would with srixon ball..   early in the day the greens had a lot of moisture  which didnt help the pro v1 to stop  as the ball just skidded on   but by mid morning  when the greens started to dry  i could get the ball to stick on the greens    with the occasional  drop and stop and suck back  good to watch but put me into 3 putt territory on some holes.

however i had 1 guy telling me i  should be hitting this club  rather then the club in hand  on the par '3  hmmm i said  ok then i will swap over   so went to cart pretended to change club just walked up and swung  hit the ball sweat   bang drop and stop on the green.   he goes  you would have been short if ya used ya pitching wedge instead of the 7 iron.   i then said  ya right  showing him  the word pitching wedge on the club he used,  he was gobsmacked  and said ya just got lucky  but i continued to do this entire way round and it was safe to say  i bet ya glad ya didnt liston to me.  

besides that   i had   a 82 of the stick  but it was a fairly easy course compared to the course i normally play

however i am going to miss mid week golf as my knees have pulled up very sore  

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

It doesn't make sense to me to suggest clubs to other players, there's too many variables unless you are familiar with their game. Some guys hit hybrids where I hit 7 or 8 iron, then you've got variations in irons themselves. My 8 iron is 38° but there's others that are 2, 4 even 8 degrees stronger lofts so naturally it would travel further. 

Nice round though, clearly the ball made all the difference I also found it difficult to stop them on the dewy ground yesterday morning, but some greens were difficult even after it dried up, they were a bit varied in condition though. The latest versions of those balls are designed for lower long game spin, so they may not be as susceptible to wild curved shots as they used to be. I do hit mine off line probably half the time, but it's rare they curve enough to end up on adjacent fairways, it'd be better if they did actually because I wouldn't have to waste shots chipping out sideways as often

[Kegory]

Magpie snoozing in the sun just off the practice green on Friday

[DavidM]

Another pleasant week of Golf, lovely warm sunshine, played in a match play event, won the first round, up again Thursday.  Played ok yesterday and was happy with the day, just had too many three putts! Greens are running fast for our course right now, just before coring and sanding in a week's time.

See what the week brings and which swing shows up!

[ozdevil]

what a great weekend for golf   pleasant temps in victoria  

Saturdays  club golf was a board event  and was either a mixed pinehurst  or mens pinehurst  and my playing partner didnt want to put a skirt on so we decided  its mens pinehurst.    i started to worry after a few holes  as we played with the local undertaker ,  my advice to ya all never play with the undertaker they seeing dollar signs  all the bugga did  was measure me up for a box inbetween his gracious swing .     not sure wether he was just putting my off the game or he really thought i was close to  pushing up daisies..

anyway moving on  as hacker of handicap of 22 of our back markers   only missed 2-3 fairways  seting up my ball for him to hit while he hit his ball  everywhere but the fairway   .  however i had some good fortune though bladed a ball out of bounds only for the local  lorry driver to run my mates ball over flicking it back to the green and we made par.   my mate  wasnt to happy  that i killed his ball though after  being chewed up by the tyres and flicked back

overall we thought  yeah we did ok and left a few shots out there that was very gettable .  anyway  we finished the round with a net 70.125  with a gross 87 off the stick    which brought us in a runners up however though we was very shocked as the club captain was saying we do  have something to say before we announce the winners of the day  on 69.675 .  the club captain said this group are the daily winners however 1 of the team hasnt played enough rounds  to qualify for board events .  meanwhile i was looking at another mate  and he says your next inline but i dont think yours has enough  ..   then the captain  announces the winner of the board event 
goes to ozdevil and his off sider  

i thought i would never get my name up on the boards at any golf club  so i am stoked even though it was  a team event  my name is up there  teams pinehurst for 2023  woohoo

I hope you all had a great golfing weekend as well

[Otto Von Blotto]

Unfortunately I had a disastrous weekend this week. I have been having a mild pain in my right chest muscles on the downswing, not sure what I did to strain these muscles but anyway, doing anything else it's fine, it's only in a specific point of the downswing I feel it. 26 points yesterday, just couldn't find the swing at all outside of a few shots here and there. 

Today I decided to take some painkillers before the round which helped quite a bit, unfortunately I got a case of the shanks over the front 9 and turned in.....7 points!! It was then that I started to work things out and start swinging better. Cracked a drive down 10 to about 60 out and made par, wiped 11, then on 12 my mate noticed that the ball position hitting irons was further back in my stance than usual. This would explain the litany of poorly struck shots across the weekend. I made sure it was in the middle where I normally have it after this. 13 is a 190-200m par 3, hit a 4 iron dead straight at it and finished about 10 feet or so. The strike was much better with the ball in the right position. The driver kept getting better as I had confidence to turn through properly with the pain not being there, missed it a bit right on 15 but hit the middle of the fairway on 16 and 17, and on 18 piped one down the middle again to leave 56m to the pin. Nice little 58° pitch stopped dead pin high and rolled in the putt to have 21 points coming in, and some semblance of respectability to the score. 

I'll have to make sure I keep up what I did on the back 9 next week, be more vigilant of not absent mindedly allowing the ball position to move back, and swing with a proper follow through on the full shots. Despite the crap scores it does give me confidence that I was able to work through it (with a little help) and play some good golf to finish out the round. 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Otto Von Blotto

[Kegory]

Friday was a mixed bag. I'd been practicing my new modified swing in the week leading up and I was confident I'd hit a good shot at some point.

The 1st was not bad, for me, double bogey (which is actually a birdie with my handicap). The 2nd was a disaster. Teed the ball back onto the 1st fairway. Next shot ran along the ground. The shot after that hit the ground instead of the ball, as did the next four shots. Gave up on that as there was a guy waiting on the tee and carried the ball up to chipping range.

Nothing so dramatic after that, just the usual erratic. Then it happened. Teed off on the 8th, a par 3, and the ball travelled low and straight, bounced a couple of times, and rolled up to the edge of the green. Normally I would chip if I'm not on the green but the grass was low and the slope was with me and it was only six inches to the green so I went for a long putt. It was a good one, leaving me only about two foot from the hole. Third stroke (second putt) and the ball went in. Par! Woo hoo!

The 9th was encouraging, on the fairway all the way to the green. I didn't putt as well as the previous hole but it didn't matter.

Saturday was just the icing on the cake. I'd received an email from the golf club earlier in the week about some clinics (chipping and putting), limited places, $5 (also $5 buckets on the range), and I'd managed to book a slot in the second putting clinic. I turned up a couple of minutes earlier and there were about 8 people in the first clinic and it was being run by my coach (he's great, very good at teaching people who aren't very good). Well, nobody else turned up for the second clinic so I ended up getting a one on one lesson, and it was great. I got some really good tips and some great exercises to practice.

[Back Brewing]

6 minutes ago, Kegory said:

Friday was a mixed bag. I'd been practicing my new modified swing in the week leading up and I was confident I'd hit a good shot at some point.

The 1st was not bad, for me, double bogey (which is actually a birdie with my handicap). The 2nd was a disaster. Teed the ball back onto the 1st fairway. Next shot ran along the ground. The shot after that hit the ground instead of the ball, as did the next four shots. Gave up on that as there was a guy waiting on the tee and carried the ball up to chipping range.

Nothing so dramatic after that, just the usual erratic. Then it happened. Teed off on the 8th, a par 3, and the ball travelled low and straight, bounced a couple of times, and rolled up to the edge of the green. Normally I would chip if I'm not on the green but the grass was low and the slope was with me and it was only six inches to the green so I went for a long putt. It was a good one, leaving me only about two foot from the hole. Third stroke (second putt) and the ball went in. Par! Woo hoo!

The 9th was encouraging, on the fairway all the way to the green. I didn't putt as well as the previous hole but it didn't matter.

Saturday was just the icing on the cake. I'd received an email from the golf club earlier in the week about some clinics (chipping and putting), limited places, $5 (also $5 buckets on the range), and I'd managed to book a slot in the second putting clinic. I turned up a couple of minutes earlier and there were about 8 people in the first clinic and it was being run by my coach (he's great, very good at teaching people who aren't very good). Well, nobody else turned up for the second clinic so I ended up getting a one on one lesson, and it was great. I got some really good tips and some great exercises to practice.

I thought you were going to say you got an email from the club asking you to pay for damages you caused to the green at the second 

[Kegory]

27 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

I thought you were going to say you got an email from the club asking you to pay for damages you caused to the green at the second 

I put sand in the holes I made. The only lasting damage was to my self esteem and that would be hard to spot with all the other dents and scratches there.

[Otto Von Blotto]

A little improvement this week, took a bit to get the driver going well on Saturday, I didn't hit them too off line, just kept getting under it too much and skying them, but sorted that out during the round. It was an aggregate stableford of the best 3 of 4 each hole, and we ended up with 108 points. I had 30 individually. 

Yesterday was a bit better again. I hit the driver a lot better, I skied one on the first but no others. I have to work on keeping my right arm in tight on the downswing, it's the move that helps me hit it straighter, and draw it if needed. Maybe I should write it on my gloves or something. Irons were a little hit and miss but the short game was working reasonably well. Ended up with 32 points, just too many silly mistakes or bad swings on the easier holes ruins it with 1-pointers. Also wiped 15 after some really crap luck on the second shot when it kicked hard left and went just outside the boundary fence. I was still fuming about it on the next hole and made a stupid double, but finished with two pars.

This week is a long weekend, which is handy because I'm not playing Saturday or Sunday due to going to a pub/street party for the GF, and recovering from it on Sunday. At least I'll be able to watch the Ryder cup. Next Monday will be the next round, but I'll try to get some practice in some time between now and then. 

[ozdevil]

Saturdays golf was full of good and bad   being a Par event  ,  absolute hate this format,   played with a bloke i had a hit with last wednesday  , he said  what happened to ya game off the tee  you was nutting them.  well i said not sure  my game seems  to be a bit off today  as i couldnt get the ball in the air  and putted crap.   however coming  home my game did turn back around and manage to salvage some    but still   couldnt get back to square to the card but to the way i played i was happy to finish -1..

Always wednesday which will be my last game for a week or so due to trip to tassie for a 50th

[Kegory]

Well, it was a stunning day. Old Melbourne Town really put on it's best dress for the Grand Final Eve public holiday and it seems that everyone who doesn't follow Brisbane/Fitzroy or Collingwood headed for the golf course. I managed to get a booking for the last tee time, 4.14pm.

I didn't play as badly as last week, nor as well, but most of my better shots did come towards the end. There were no pars today, no birdies, no eagles, and no albatrosses, but I did get a couple of emus.

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

It's a public holiday up here today, so I'm going out for a hit. Not really expecting much as I still feel a bit tired from Saturday night's shenanigans but that's usually when I play my better rounds - no pressure.