Is anyone else really enjoying their golf lately?

[freehb]

Title says it all.  It's been super fun lately for me.  Hogan said "the most satisfaction comes from improving" and as with so many things he was right.  I finally found a good teacher "for me"... He always sets me down the correct path for the next stage of my development...the first objective was more powe, but with that, accuracy improved.  Short game is way better as well, after lesson 14 or so now and the things we started working on in lesson 2 are second nature now.  I find myself making one or more birdies almost every round and going on runs where I make 3 or 4 on one side...so much more fun to hammer one out there 265 than a weak bunty 240...I crushed a "4" handicap today straight up and he was giving me 5 shots...was up 4 on 8 when he paid me off for front and 18.  I started needling him and offered double or nothing straight up on the back then proceeded to roll him up and smoke him firing a 38/39---missed at least 4 easy birdie putts, ball just went wherever I wanted it too...breaking g the habit of sliding has transformed my full swing.  More upright both putting and chipping and a grip change, tighter with a release has turned inconsistent stroke to a sound, productive one.  I look in the mirror sometimes, shake my head and whisper "God I admire you!"

[freehb]

...

[Shacco]

Right here, H. I am playing the best I have ever played at the moment. And I am doing it consistently. Granted that wasn’t too difficult to do because I was very inconsistent. Sliding has also been a weakness in my swing amongst many others. I also found a coach that translates the proper feels to me. The biggest change for me has been tempo and rhythm. I have always taken the club back very slowly and I guess it has only gotten worse since trying to self correct swing flaws because I was so worried about hitting certain positions in the backswing (which I never did then in the full swing anyway) that I didn’t allow for any rhythm in my swing. Basically the first thing he told me was to feel like I  „match“ my back swing to the downswing in tempo. That to me felt like I was super super quick taking the club back. But it wasn’t. The best thing about it that it doesn’t give me time to think about where the club should be but hits better positions by itself.
I will actually go as far as saying that now I just started to really understand the golf swing.
Putting still sucks though and short game could use some tune up.

[tsupo67]

bah humbug!!!!
crushed 2 days on the spin last.week in trecherous. wind, as good as. i can play par and 2 over  non comp. only. to go oit next day in comp on a pop gun course where driver is optional   with soggy slow.greens amd fast firmfairways, 4marker shot a 3under in the am ... the course was getting crucified, c grader shot 46 poimts.....46!!!!
i went out and shot a.manhood sapping


86

no, not i ...


golf.sux.dogs bawwwwwwls!!!!

[freehb]

Stu your post made me smile and laugh...my 77 on Sunday was preceded by a 90 on a 5700 yard dog track on Saturday.  Some days u have it, some days you don't.  I guess that's farking golf....

Glad to hear your game is good shac!  It's fun no?  I have a slow takeaway as well and go back to super slow when things get off kilter.  I think the cadence that has helped with this teacher is not getting hung up on perfect.  Making incremental, productive changes and then revisiting fundamentals that slip when something new is added or just cause they've slipped from small to egregious...I find that it helps hearing the same thing in different ways or feeling the same move different ways.  Some days it's left hip out, some days it's right shoulder drop or side crunch, some days it's stay in posture and turn through to properly sequence my downswing...this guy elaborates in different words till we find something that gets my body close to where it is supposed to be.  With video, I realize what I'm feeling rarely translates to what I think I should be doing and I need someone besides me coming up with a plan to improve...

[tsupo67]

nah.......im really loving  it tbh...
 ive only jstarted playing again  regularly  just 3 weeks ago.
had 1or 2  games  since late nov till late  april.. that's a recod low for me.
ive still a few  lingering  snow  season issues with back and groin that are  taking an eternity to heal :  read AGE!!!!..... 
doesn't  really kill my golf  as a whole  but its noticebale on the irons in particular , driver is fine im farkeeeeeeeeen smoking  the driver at the moment not long  but not missing the middle,  that day in the wind  last week was  prob close to if not the best , most consistent  driving ive done in horrible conds.  ever   and im no where   near fully golf fit yet, seems the back issue is a kind of blessing in disguise, I just  swing easier and  am not missing the sweet spot much at all,  it didn't matter going to and from drivers , was all the same.
 distance was consistently good without being  super long , just   really consistent,  I cant argue  with that stat. makes  the game a lot easier when im sitting mid fairway on pretty much every hole

irons however.................................  not playing ball !

 Im on a pretty intense rehab program at the moment to get the fkkn thing right but  its still taking its time, sleep is  one of the remedies that is being payer special attention to.

and beer ............... beer  and sleep = a great  remedy!

[MBBG]

I’m playing horribly and don’t have any time to practice and fix it. Not fun.

[Shacco]

I’m playing horribly and don’t have any time to practice and fix it. Not fun.

Honestly, I didn't really get the concept of properly swinging a golf club until maybe this past winter. When I started playing golf, it was all self taught. I used to play Tennis at a pretty high level as a junior and naturally, it wasn't too difficult for me to make contact with the golf ball. But I have never been taught what is the "correct" way to do it.
Obviously, I guess everybody knows that you need to come from the inside to hit a draw. I know that too, but someone telling me that does not help me hit a draw because I can't implement it into the swing at full speed. What seems to work for me is that I need to control what my legs and body are doing (loading with pressure vs. swaying). The arms and hands follow, but not consciously. When my legs and body are working properly, my swing tends to work (more or less  ).

[ian-500]

i wish I could play.....

[nobwas]

My game is "so so" now...
Back in Montana when I played 4 to 5 times a week during the season,   I was averaging 75 to 80 ...
Since I moved out to WA,  my average has gone up to 80 to 85 ... I only play once or twice a week.... 
I still practice at least twice a week at the range.     I think I just need to get out more on the course after work for 9 holes.
Going back to Modus 120  in my irons have helped regain consistency.   

[freehb]

Interesting comments.  Scoring and my game is really why I'm into the gear...just another way to enjoy the game. 

I've had a good run of approx 100 rounds a year for the past 7 years.  Short game is good...will stack up against most low single digits I play with but I got real short in my early/mid 40s once I started playing comps for consistency...typical incurable over the top cuts..240 off the tee...still, hcap was down in high 7s for long stretches like when wife and kids go to Maine for 2 months and I play 116 holes a week but I couldn't keep up with the big boys from the back tees. 

I've had a real good teacher now for 4 months and my full swing has evolved, putting much better and now have shortish but respectable distence averaging 250 off the tee, sometimes getting it out the 275...life is funny though, kids are older and I'm spending more time with them...spending time with wife and stuff...not practicing much other than weekly lesson and time I convince my kids to come to range...also, I've added so much to all parts of my game in last 4 months I'm less consistent..hcap has actually gone up to 10 but I'm making more birdies and hitting golf shots with character.  When I'm on, I'm mid-70s from the big boy tees these days...have so many more rounds in the 70s now...seems like my pattern has been drunken 86 Saturday 78 with some loose shots Sunday...high 80s and low 90 rounds sneak in too but I'm grateful for them...feel so much more confidence in the events when I'm carrying a 10...

life is good, when kids are away to college, I'll early retire and see how good I can get.  I love to grind, would practice 80 hours a week if I could...love beating low mid single digit guys straight up...

Lately, I'm getting more comfortable with the upright poor/fat man's version of JT's swing...the modern golf swing really...hitting a draw as my stock shot but can still cut it if I need too...esp with the driver...right hip back/left shoulder to right foot, weight on the inside of right foot a little upright at the top.  Right shoulder drops with a little side crunch as left hip leads and clears slightly ahead of shoulders...slow takeaway, no move off the ball, just a turn, drop and keep my posture on the through turn...golf has never been so fun for me but with healthy handsome boys 8/13 a full time job and a sexyish housewife at home who is less angry these days I'm enjoying my time away from the course as well...played 18 and watched the players on Mother's Day...now mrs free gets her present!

[Shacco]

Sound like the fury days of mrs. Free are over.

[freehb]

Sound like the fury days of mrs. Free are over.

Ahhh the furry days!...!!!...I miss them like the 1979 playboys i found when I was 12/13....sadly the furry days are in the rear view...it's Brazil all the way now...the fyury days that scare me.   As in furious...still plenty of those and I deserve every one of them I guess...esp when you factor in the unknown travesties...

[95124hacker]

Ok what were we talking about again??

I’m in a transition period from major JDM Ho-ing & blogging to focusing on playing and improving. Learning how to maintain a good posture and better swing plane/path to draw the ball is hard work but produce better contact lately. Getting the occasional duck hook off the tee which is killing my rounds. Learning what types of soles fits my swing has been reducing my urge to ho. And the Fusion driver has helped my tee game drastically.

[freehb]

I know what you mean!  Starting to banish the smother hook now though and I may have killed my tournament season to early...hcap is dropping like a stone as short game is on and pretty consistent now with this new swing...hard to shoot hire than 80 these days even when I go full rhoudylax during a round...