Golf!!!2!

[kcin]

On the topic of improvement - can anyone recommend a good indoor simulator experience to work on the game over the winter months. Specifically looking for a place that I can download or review my results afterward. Preferably somewhere central or NW.

[DoubleK]

Holy jumpin' they are not messing around with the Maple Ridge renos.

There is an insane amount of heavy equipment working on 13 and 14.

[DoubleK]

Played The Track in Langdon today in gale force winds which was fun.

Had played it early in the season so it was good to see the progress they are making getting it back into shape. Still a long way to go to repair the damage and neglect from Windmill.

Super's Revenge tomorrow at Valley Ridge and that's probably it for the season for me. Feeling pretty golfed out right now.

Have a lesson booked at Modern Golf. I'm going to really put in some hours over the winter to see if I can get a little bit better before next season.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Had an interesting Friday and Saturday and tried to answer the strategy question. Which is the best strategy? Bomb it as far as close to the green as possible or lay it back to the yardages where you are most consistent. I engaged a little help from some friends and took the task on. Results were surprising.

Friday, I played a mid-afternoon round with a friend and we both played two balls - one hitting it as close to the green as possible, the other hitting to a yardage where we felt most comfortable. It's normally a bit of a disadvantage to my playing partner as he's about 30-40 yards behind me off the tee, so I gave him a tee box advantage to even things out a bit and make it more of an apples-to-apples comparison. He's a 12 handicap to my 4 to set the expectations. My buddy is more of a short knocker whose strength is his short game. He really grinds the game out, so I figured the forward advantage may work for him and he'd post better results on the short ball. This proved to be accurate as he ended up shooting 83 on the closer to the green ball and 87 laying it back. He had some actual birdie opportunities instead of scrambling a lot for pars. He did also throw in a couple doubles from in close because he missed a pitch over a hazard, either hitting it long or dumping it short. For me, results were different. I was 77 on the bomb it close and 76 from laying back to my yardage. I had slightly shorter putts on the bomb it ball after making touch shots, but I also took two doubles because of dumping wedges short into bunkers (love the D-cell). I had more birdies on the bomb it ball (by one), but more big scores. It was risk-reward versus playing it conservative.

Saturday was very different. Played a four ball with some of the better players at the club. We had a 1, 2, 4 and 6 handicap in the group. We talked about strategy and who liked what. The 1 was from the bomb it school while the 2 and the 6 were both from the hit your number school. So for the sake of experimentation, we decided to play the front nine using one strategy and the back nine using the other, but players could choose which nine they would employ which based on their course knowledge. The back nine had more shorter holes so all but one decided to employ the bomb it strategy back there. This time the results were as I expected. The 1 was unaffected, shooting 75 (with a quad on a pitch he plugged high in a bunker than took three to get out). The 2 and myself were unaffected, both carding 76 and having the same scoring opportunities from either distance. As the previous day, I did score more birdies using the bomb it strategy but was most consistent in ball striking hitting for yardages. The 6 actually saw the best result, carding a 76 on a birdie free round, but having a number of really good looks when having the shorter pitch. What worked for him was he did not hit any hazards on his pitches and kept the ball on the green at all times from in close.

So, what was the takeaway here? It really depends on your game and how good your hands are. I would say if your hope is to try and make birdies and don't mind the risk, bomb away. If you're about trying to grind a round out, hit to a target yardage. One thing is for sure, the birdies do come easier if you're going to bomb it, but so do the bigger numbers. That was consistent with every player and of all skill levels. One last takeaway from this exercise, carry a lot of birdie juice and be prepared for a hangover, especially when playing with good players.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Good analysis, appreciate that!

I suspect for mid-higher handicappers like me, there's also an element of self fulfilling prophecy that occurs.
If you know you struggle with short, half swings in and you always try to play to your best distance in, you'll keep getting practice on your preferred short in and never on the half shots.
Then you never become comfortable with that 60 yard chip in because you rarely play it.
I have a lot of friends who panic in those ranges but I think they're never getting over that hump of discomfort and probably could with more of those shots.

[Northendzone]

Saw some pictures on FB that were apparently taken at kaninaskis today.

They were incredible. Hopefully a few folks on this board got out there to play this weekend.

[Manhattanboy]

Anyone used the Top Tracer driving range at YYC Future?

Seems the readings are a little light? I usually am 220-230 with driver but my readings were 200-210.

Assume it’s also adjusted for the tees upstairs.

[malcolmk14]

My numbers with Top Tracer were about right.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Anyone used the Top Tracer driving range at YYC Future?

Seems the readings are a little light? I usually am 220-230 with driver but my readings were 200-210.

Assume it’s also adjusted for the tees upstairs.

Range balls will have some effect too

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Good analysis, appreciate that!

I suspect for mid-higher handicappers like me, there's also an element of self fulfilling prophecy that occurs.
If you know you struggle with short, half swings in and you always try to play to your best distance in, you'll keep getting practice on your preferred short in and never on the half shots.
Then you never become comfortable with that 60 yard chip in because you rarely play it.
I have a lot of friends who panic in those ranges but I think they're never getting over that hump of discomfort and probably could with more of those shots.

I think both of you are overstating the benefit of a target distance, however I do think though that there is merit to keeping in mind that a 30 yard pitch is not that much of an advantage over 100-120 yard full swing with one of your wedges. One little bit of strategy I've helped my son with as he's got better is telling him if he doesn't have a chance of reaching the green on a par 5 to put away the 3 wood. He's quite good with his 3 wood, but he's not going to hit the green from 250. He was shooting so many low to mid 80s rounds where he was like 6 over on the par 5s. In the one time that he's listened to me about golf advice, I convinced him to take out an iron on second shots of par 5s if he had no realistic chance of hitting the green, and it's definitely taken at least 2-3 shots off his average score per round.

So many par 5s have a huge penalty if you miss from 250, so the risk/reward just isn't there. I think he's probably marginally better from 30-50 yards out, vs 100-120, but a bad 4 or 5 iron might be in the rough while a bad 3 wood is in a creek, lost in the trees or ob.

[Lubicon]

Got in one last glorious round yesterday (9 holes) which I certainly did not except to get in October. Might have been the most beautiful weather day I played all season - no wind, blue skies and a only a few bugs. As usual consistency kills me and I probably shot one of my poorer rounds this season which is getting very frustrating. I'll chalk some of that up to lack of practice (was not able get to the range a single time this season) and I only played 5 rounds of 18 and 2 rounds of 9. But it does get discouraging when you don't have confidence in any of your clubs. I may take them in this winter for a check on the fitting. I know my swing is bad but I've gone to a very consistent pull on my irons since getting new clubs.

My strategy is basically just hit what I am comfortable hitting to avoid the obvious pitfalls (water, OB etc). Playing to a target yardage or bomb it are equally as debatable as chances are I will miss the green equally as bad hitting either shot. (hitting from a target yardage, or with a partial club from close in).

[Slava]

I can't believe I'm about to say this...but I think I was "golfed out" this weekend. I went away with some guys and we played 6 rounds over 4 days. The last round in particular was a disaster on almost all fronts. I just chalk it up to being tired, and my swing was lazy. I didn't even think it was possible for me to get to that point though!

I'm hoping to get a few more rounds in though. Taking a few days off and I'm sure I'll be wanting to get out again!

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Slava

I can't believe I'm about to say this...but I think I was "golfed out" this weekend. I went away with some guys and we played 6 rounds over 4 days. The last round in particular was a disaster on almost all fronts. I just chalk it up to being tired, and my swing was lazy. I didn't even think it was possible for me to get to that point though!

I'm hoping to get a few more rounds in though. Taking a few days off and I'm sure I'll be wanting to get out again!

I have always found that the best games on golf trips are the first two, and then it steadily goes downhill from there. The last game is always the worst.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I have always found that the best games on golf trips are the first two, and then it steadily goes downhill from there. The last game is always the worst.

That was pretty much my experience. The last round was a complete grind!

[Lanny_McDonald]

Short trips like that are tough. Longer trips help out. If you're out for a week or two I always find that days four and five suck, but after that you get back to normal. I think it's the body adjusting to playing back-to-back-to-back.

[malcolmk14]

Agreed, we did 5 rounds in 4 days in July and by day 4 we were very tired. If we stayed a few more days I think we would've just gotten used to it.

I'd love to try and get out this week but just not sure it's going to happen. Year might be over.

Going to be in the market for new irons this winter. 10 seasons and 268 rounds on my current set.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Agreed, we did 5 rounds in 4 days in July and by day 4 we were very tired. If we stayed a few more days I think we would've just gotten used to it.

I'd love to try and get out this week but just not sure it's going to happen. Year might be over.

Going to be in the market for new irons this winter. 10 seasons and 268 rounds on my current set.

Do people track how many rounds for a set? How many should a guy get? I'm guessing once you hit ~250 it's time for a new set in that case, and maybe less with wedges?

I'm probably changing my putter this winter. I went with the armlock two years ago, and while I think it helped with some things, it hinders with others. Specifically, when my weight is good, it's amazing. When my weight off though, it's awful.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Play them until the groves start going flat! I've had some wedges that were pretty concave when I replaced them. Of course that was when I hit 300-500 wedges a day for three years.

;-)

What you gonna buy for the short stick Slava? Time for a Scotty?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

Play them until the groves start going flat! I've had some wedges that were pretty concave when I replaced them. Of course that was when I hit 300-500 wedges a day for three years.

;-)

What you gonna buy for the short stick Slava? Time for a Scotty?

Lol, I don’t know. I was so sold on the armlock and SIK. Maybe the Scotty is the way to go. I just want a good putter and some consistency.

[jayswin]

I'm stunned. Shot the round my life by 4 strokes. Had 8 beers and 5 shots (because of my birdies). Serenity sun catcher, 74. Drove the green and made a 35 foot putt for eagle, plus 4 birdies.

Could barely stand up near the end and told myself I needed a nine on the par 5, 18 to get under 80. Then missed an eagle by two inches and tapped in for birdie.