Golf Talk Tuesdays 2015-2020

[Texas Proud]

I have been playing a couple times of week. I am trying not to play too much to avoid and chronic injuries or burnout. A relative of mine experienced both of those problems playing every day. In general, I believe in “everything in moderation”.

I avoid tee times to a large extent. Too restricting. I did join a league up north several weeks ago, and I have enjoyed that. But now that is over, so I have headed to Florida to enjoy my golfing and other experiences here. In Florida, I have a membership to a 9 hole walking course, so I like that a lot. Nice to walk, enjoy the outdoors, etc. It does not stop me from playing other courses, though, since the 9 hole course membership only costs $100 per year.

I am not Type A, but I have OCD and I am hyper, so it can be a challenge to golf at times.

My wife is very supportive of my golfing! So much so, I occasionally wondered if it was her opportunity to hook up with her boyfriend. J She knows very little about the game, and with a chronic injury she can’t play. I doubt if she would like it, though, since she never did when she was young and healthy. The lack of a golf hobby, though, partly inspired her to become passionate about fishing, and we do that a lot together now. She is basically a charter captain for me J

I have never done a pure golf trip. Although I am sure it may be a lot of fun, it might where me out in many ways. My golf trips tend to be more integrated in some family vacations. For example, the guys will golf 3 or 4 days during a one week vacation. Seems enough for me, and allows the girls to do some things alone, too.

Seems like a super long-range goal to shoot a round that is lower than my age. I am 55 now, and my best round recently is 82, so that would be 27 years from now!! I did, however, give this some consideration, and a similar goal is to be able to hit the ball farther than I can see. I have noticed that my eyesight is decreasing faster than my distance off the tee. Occasionally I can’t see my drives as they disappear over the last 20 or 30 yards. I have to hit it around 250 yards or so for this to happen.

But a goal to remain active and healthy to be playing at 80 is a good one. I recently was beat by an 87 year old!! Adds to my list of people that have beaten me, including a 10 year old girl L

I have not played in years.... but I would be happy to shoot my age at a 9 hole course....


Also, I have never really been able to see my drives that much.... heck, I would hit the ball, look up and not see it.... funny but true story.... I was on a long par 3... hit what felt like a great shot, but did not see it... walked down the fairway and did not see my ball... since nobody else was around, walked back and hacked a ball, hit second to near the green... and a third on the green... then I see my ball about a foot from the hole!! My one and only birdie in my life (I took the first shot.... I think that is legal, but who cares.... I counted what I wanted to count )


I did see the ball better when I had orange balls, but I do not see them anymore.... thinking about getting out and playing, so will start to look for some soon....

 

[zinger1457]

Also, I have never really been able to see my drives that much....

Seems to be a common problem as we age. Currently I'm the designated ball watcher for some in the group I play with but I'm sure my time will come.

 

[pb4uski]

I have trouble following the ball too. I see them on the way out but commonly lose them as they are falling back to the ground and then see them bounce if they land in sunlight rather than shadow.

 

[48Fire]

Also, I have never really been able to see my drives that much.... heck, I would hit the ball, look up and not see it.... funny but true story.... I was on a long par 3... hit what felt like a great shot, but did not see it... walked down the fairway and did not see my ball... since nobody else was around, walked back and hacked a ball, hit second to near the green... and a third on the green... then I see my ball about a foot from the hole!! My one and only birdie in my life (I took the first shot.... I think that is legal, but who cares.... I counted what I wanted to count )
QUOTE]

Yep, completely legal! It's called hitting a "provisional ball". Thought you were going to say it was in the hole, but close!!

 

[robnplunder]

If you are retired and an avid golfer, can you share your golf practice/round routine? How often do you practice, and play? I plan to play 3 - 4 rounds per week, and practice 5 - 6 times per week. Too much?

 

[Texas Proud]

Seems to be a common problem as we age. Currently I'm the designated ball watcher for some in the group I play with but I'm sure my time will come.

Except that I have not been golfing for decades!!!

It was a problem when I was young..... my eyesight is not anywhere near good.... but I am supposed to see well with the glasses... just cannot follow a small white object in the sky... especially when I do not know where it is going..... if I were a better golfer, at least I would kinda know where it was going when I hit it and could find it....

BTW, I am not as bad as I make out.... I did see over 90% of my balls... maybe 95%....

 

[Texas Proud]

Yep, completely legal! It's called hitting a "provisional ball". Thought you were going to say it was in the hole, but close!!

I wish.... it was within a foot of the pin..... never had one that close before so I never thought to look

I played double bogey golf.... so a bogey was good for me and a par was rare.... I have ONE birdie.... I know that is not great with good golf players, but for me... good...

Now, I will put up my bowling scores as I was good at that.... not great, but good....

 

[pb4uski]

If you are retired and an avid golfer, can you share your golf practice/round routine? How often do you practice, and play? I plan to play 3 - 4 rounds per week, and practice 5 - 6 times per week. Too much?

Typically play 18 on Tuesdays with some other retired guys at our club, 18 with a traveling group of retired guys on Thursdays and 9 with DW and other couples on Sunday afternoons. Also sneak in 18 with BIL every once in a while.

Practice.... what's that?

 

[zinger1457]

If you are retired and an avid golfer, can you share your golf practice/round routine? How often do you practice, and play? I plan to play 3 - 4 rounds per week, and practice 5 - 6 times per week. Too much?

I just hit a few balls, putts, chips before playing to warm up, play 3X a week. The practice facility where I play sucks plus it's a little bit of a drive to get there so I have little motivation to practice. If I lived in a golf community with nice practice facilities I'm sure I could find a reason to practice more but not 5-6X per week.

 

[jjquantz]

If you are retired and an avid golfer, can you share your golf practice/round routine? How often do you practice, and play? I plan to play 3 - 4 rounds per week, and practice 5 - 6 times per week. Too much?

I play about 4 days per week (OK sometimes 5) and will practice pretty regularly (2-3 times per week) early in the season (April, May). Typical practice session will be about an hour and include 2 of the following 3: full swing practice, short game practice, putting.

During full swing practice I focus on the fundamentals: grip, alignment, and getting into certain key positions during the course of the swing.

Putting practice includes many reps of a ladder drill for speed control and lots of putts from 3-4 feet because you have to make those. On the short putts I work on keeping my head down until the ball is in the hole - I have a tendency to peek and miss right.

Short game practice - our short game green has 3 pin locations. First I practice chipping - one ball to each hole with the GW, one to each hole with the SW. Move to a new position and repeat. After a few minutes of that (20 or so balls) I move to open face chips - same routine. After that, flop shots, same routine. To finish I start from about 30 yards out and hit 4 balls to one target (2 with the GW and 2 with the SW). Then move back in 5 yard increments and repeat until I run out of range (about 65 yards).

When I am playing a lot my warm-up sessions include 10-15 minutes on the full swing (Basically start with wedge and move up every other club through the bag). For putting I take 3 balls and putt each to a different target, holing out the 2nd putt (5-8 minutes). Chipping OR pitching - I do a shortened version of the short game practice routine, either chipping or pitching (5-8 minutes). So total warmup time is about 20-30 minutes and I've hit just about every shot that I will need on the course.

This week illustrates my basic problem, however. I really struggle taking my swing to the course. I went out Monday and worked on the full swing. Discovered I had fallen into my usual bad habit of aligning left of the target. Got everything straightened up and was hitting the most beautiful little draw with every club in the bag. Went to the course on Tuesday and the draw was still there on the range but, on the course, I was hitting a weak little fade. And today I had the draw for 9 holes and then it just vanished.

Sorry this is so long - my buddies are not practicers and don't want to here about this.

 

[golfersailor]

Golf

I play twice a week and hitting balls and chip twice a week. I live less than two miles from two courses and a driving range. Love the game by the way I had my 2nd hole in one 10/11/2015 in the great state of Michigan. First one in Florida 19 years ago!!

 

[jcretire77]

I've kept track of the number of holes this year and last. At this time of year in 2014 I had played 1161 holes. This year 684. That's what you get with a frozen shoulder and a thrown out back while moving cr*p. The weather looks decent for the next couple of weeks so I will try to make up a little ground.

And congrats to golfersailor for your hole in one! Very cool. I have never had one. 5" was probably the closest on a par 3, 130 yards. My wife after playing for 14 months had one. It was either a mishit or the best struck ball ever as it was a line drive that rolled 50% of the 90'ish yards and into the hole.

 

[Dawg52]

I hit a bucket of balls this morning just to keep rust off the clubs. But I don't play as much as when I first retired. I was playing 4 times a week. Now average not quite 2 full rounds a week. Will probably get out of my club first of the year and pay green fees. Will come out way ahead.

 

[frayne]

I play twice a week and hitting balls and chip twice a week. I live less than two miles from two courses and a driving range. Love the game by the way I had my 2nd hole in one 10/11/2015 in the great state of Michigan. First one in Florida 19 years ago!!

Congrats on the HIOs, I've had two myself both witnessed and both really shitty shots that just happened to find the hole.

 

[pb4uski]

I witnessed my first one this year. Quite lucky actually... my neighbor landed on the left side of a left to right sloping green... rolled towards the cup at a "brisk" pace... ball hit the pin and dropped. Funny thing was that we had just been talking about how none of us had had a HIO or even witnessed one a couple holes earlier.

I've had two close calls. One earlier this summer on that very same hole my neighbor had the HIO. My tee shot had a lower than planned trajectory (ok... I skulled it a bit)... hit the right side of the hole and wrapped around the cup an exited the cup the way it came in. The other was many ears ago on a long par 3 where my hybrid shot ended up 6" from the cup.

 

[gcgang]

Speaking of keeping track of holes...one of the guys I play with set the Guiness World Book record in 2012 with 812 1/2 18 hole rounds in one calendar year.

After I found out who he was, while he was going for the record in 2012, I saw him at our noon game and asked if he'd already played a round. He said no, two.

 

[zinger1457]

Speaking of keeping track of holes...one of the guys I play with set the Guiness World Book record in 2012 with 812 1/2 18 hole rounds in one calendar year.

After I found out who he was, while he was going for the record in 2012, I saw him at our noon game and asked if he'd already played a round. He said no, two.

Wow, it's hard to imagine the fun in that, that would make golf seem more like a job (and you don't get paid). I know a few players at my club that judge a successful round of golf by not what their score was but by how long it took them to play. I'm guessing he would be in that group.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Congrats on the HIOs, I've had two myself both witnessed and both really shitty shots that just happened to find the hole.

I've had two also. Both were decent shots that went in. I'm due for another one - last one was in 2009


Hole 7 at Memorial park GC in Houston.

 

[frayne]

I guess my first one really wasn't all that bad, I knew I had hit the green and was picking up my tee when my partner yelled it was going in the hole. I looked up just in time to see it disappear in the hole. My second HOI was a skulled 7 wood, worm burner that struck the flag stick and dropped straight down. A foursome on the next hole tee box went kind of crazy jumping up and down and motioning to me that it dropped the hole. Best thing about it I was playing with my former boss and he had paid for the green fees.

 

[Revlefty]

My HIO was on tax day a few years ago. A 7 iron that took three bounces and dropped right in. The best part was that one of the witnesses is a guy who is loaded with $ and plays a lot of golf and buys expensive equipment, but has never had a HIO! That made mine so much sweeter.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Texas Proud]

With all this talk about HIO.... does anybody remember the people who got over on the sports betting places in the UK


Someone had looked and found out that there is someone in the field that shoots a HIO in half of the tournaments.... so they went and got odds on that bet... BIG odds... and bet a lot of small dollars all over so nobody would see what was happening.... when it hit, they won big time....

Some of the books paid.... some sued so they did not have to pay... do not know what happened in the end....


Looked some of it up.... at least one article....

Hole in One Betting - Factors Involved in Profitable Betting on a Hole in One at a Major Golf Tournament


Found another.... seems they did not get paid on all the bets....

http://www.bookmakers1.com/holeinonegang.html

 

[Huston55]

If you are retired and an avid golfer, can you share your golf practice/round routine? How often do you practice, and play? I plan to play 3 - 4 rounds per week, and practice 5 - 6 times per week. Too much?

My practice is very similar to JJ's, as described below:

I play about 4 days per week (OK sometimes 5) and will practice pretty regularly (2-3 times per week) early in the season (April, May). Typical practice session will be about an hour and include 2 of the following 3: full swing practice, short game practice, putting.

During full swing practice I focus on the fundamentals: grip, alignment, and getting into certain key positions during the course of the swing.

Putting practice includes many reps of a ladder drill for speed control and lots of putts from 3-4 feet because you have to make those. On the short putts I work on keeping my head down until the ball is in the hole - I have a tendency to peek and miss right.

Short game practice - our short game green has 3 pin locations. First I practice chipping - one ball to each hole with the GW, one to each hole with the SW. Move to a new position and repeat. After a few minutes of that (20 or so balls) I move to open face chips - same routine. After that, flop shots, same routine. To finish I start from about 30 yards out and hit 4 balls to one target (2 with the GW and 2 with the SW). Then move back in 5 yard increments and repeat until I run out of range (about 65 yards).

When I am playing a lot my warm-up sessions include 10-15 minutes on the full swing (Basically start with wedge and move up every other club through the bag). For putting I take 3 balls and putt each to a different target, holing out the 2nd putt (5-8 minutes). Chipping OR pitching - I do a shortened version of the short game practice routine, either chipping or pitching (5-8 minutes). So total warmup time is about 20-30 minutes and I've hit just about every shot that I will need on the course.

This week illustrates my basic problem, however. I really struggle taking my swing to the course. I went out Monday and worked on the full swing. Discovered I had fallen into my usual bad habit of aligning left of the target. Got everything straightened up and was hitting the most beautiful little draw with every club in the bag. Went to the course on Tuesday and the draw was still there on the range but, on the course, I was hitting a weak little fade. And today I had the draw for 9 holes and then it just vanished.

Sorry this is so long - my buddies are not practicers and don't want to here about this.

Play 2/wk and practice 2/wk (including a formal lesson which I'm currently taking). Occassionally play more than 2/wk.

Practice is either full swing or short game, or both, and usually 1-2 hrs.

Full swing: I focus on staying vertical (don't sway back), making a good turn on back swing, and staying inside on down swing.

Wedges: Other than lob shots, which, along with sand shots, I don't practice enough, I practice wedges along with my full swing sessions; partly because of the setup of the practice area and partly because I'm taking full swings with them. I focus on distant & direction control.

Chipping & Pitching: I focus on keeping hands forward; typically practice with SW-8I @ various distances up to 35 yds, up hill & down hill, to the 3 pins on our chipping green. For shots >35 yds, I need to be on the main range.

Putting: Lots of ladder drill out to ~8 ft, plus lag putts @10-20 ft for speed control. I focus on ball placement & shaft verticality.

I think I mentioned earlier that my lessons are from GolfTec, and I use the drills my instructor recommends, for which they have online videos I can watch on my phone.

 

[48Fire]

I witnessed my first one this year. Quite lucky actually... my neighbor landed on the left side of a left to right sloping green... rolled towards the cup at a "brisk" pace... ball hit the pin and dropped. Funny thing was that we had just been talking about how none of us had had a HIO or even witnessed one a couple holes earlier.

The only one I ever saw was a ricochet off another ball - perfectly legal.

 

[robnplunder]

I keep working on recovering (?) from the last swing lesson. Making a swing tweak usually sets me back for a while before it improves.

Looking at closely at my ER golf budget. Recently paid the next year's membership so I don't have to worry about green fee until next October. If ER goes well (no market collapse), I will continue with the membership. If market crashes, I will have to think about downgrading.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Sunday I had two tweeters in a row ended up with an 87 with 6 penalty strokes - got a little wild with my driver towards the end....