Stroke average of 86 seems a bit high when you are hitting 7.5 GiR. How's your short game? That was probably 75% of my practice time when I was serious about it (formerly +1.2 capper).

I wish I had stats like this from back then. When I was competing I almost never played more than a few holes a week for practice, it was usually ~four hours every morning at our practice facility instead. It wasn't much fun, in hindsight.

bfactor said:

Stroke average of 86 seems a bit high when you are hitting 7.5 GiR. How's your short game? That was probably 75% of my practice time when I was serious about it (formerly +1.2 capper).

I wish I had stats like this from back then. When I was competing I almost never played more than a few holes a week for practice, it was usually ~four hours every morning at our practice facility instead. It wasn't much fun, in hindsight.

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Short game around the green is hit and miss. I'm awful out of bunkers and on short chips. Putting is ok but I've been consistently a 36-38 putts per round guy my whole life. I've gotten decent at lag putting that I can turn just about any scenario into a 2-putt but rarely drain putts outside of 10 feet.

I've got a spreadsheet where I track all of my scores, putts, fairways, and greens by hole for my home club.

+1.2 handicap is nuts. How long did it take to get to that level, @bfactor ?

Kind of hard to answer. Started playing at around four years old, hit the + handicap level in my late twenties when I had a range next to work, access to great instruction, and one twilight round a week on the Torrey Pines South Course. Played junior golf and varsity in a 4A conference. Had some opportunities to play in college but was never in the league of top six/seven at Duke, and the bottom few spots were implicitly reserved for donors’ children.

I’ve gone through spells of not touching a club for multiple years at a time and then getting back into it, thinking this time I’ll just play for fun. Pretty quickly become re-obsessed, do nothing but tedious practice drills, and realize how much it makes me hate myself. Rinse/repeat. I’m probably not much fun to play with and am always miserable regardless of score. Also at this point I’ve had multiple intercostal tears which is possibly the most painful lingering injury known to mankind since you kind of need them to breathe.

One twilight round a week on Torrey Pines South...what a casual flex

$25 as a resident of San Diego. Now it's $42 (about 15 years later). Best deal in golf.

One of the most memorable ones, I played the day after the Tiger/Rocco U.S. Open playoff. Still had the same flag locations. $25, just walked up to the starter and they sent me right out.

That's incredible. I actually just watched that round on youtube a few weeks ago.

I'm hoping to get down to Pinehurst for the Open, maybe play Tobacco Road again.

@bfactor, what would you recommend as a short game routine on range days? I feel like my irons are sharpening up so around the green is where I'm looking to improve.

Topher said:

@bfactor, what would you recommend as a short game routine on range days? I feel like my irons are sharpening up so around the green is where I'm looking to improve.

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Mine was not very structured. One thing I tried to *not* do was place a bunch of balls in the same spot, hitting the same shot to the same pin over and over. Or if I did, try different trajectories (low/medium/high) and different clubs, and paying attention to how the ball reacts and rolls when it lands. I spent a ton of time with my 58*, 52*, and 47*, scattering a bunch of balls around the green randomly and trying to get them all close with whatever the situation presented and using that to build up a feel. Honestly, the best routine is probably the one that keeps it interesting enough for you to stick with it.

My ultimate goal around the greens was for it to feel as natural as it does to toss a balled up piece of paper into a wastebasket. You don't really think about how far it is, or any mechanics, it just sorta happens. When I was doing well, I could just pick a landing spot and manifest it. That was how I measured success, gaining that feeling that the clubface was basically an extension of my arm and I was just casually tossing the ball where I wanted it to go with little thought. That's more likely to hold up under pressure.

Hell yeah, that's kind of how I approach my sessions. I'm very much a vibes player, my touch is my biggest strength thanks to years in the tennis pipeline.

I'm going to try that and focus a bit more on my wedges around the green, try to reduce my putts from long range as much as possible.

Just hit the fucking green in regulation so you don’t have to worry about pitching/chipping.

Duh.

Just gonna hit it in on the first shot instead of mucking about with all these other types of shots

We call that the Kim Jong Un

Beautiful bluebird skies in the Triangle today so I got an early round in. Started poorly with a two double bogeys on the front nine par 3s. Slowed down a bit on the back nine and hit 6/9 greens including a very lucky bounce of the cart path on 17. One of those "close but no cigar" days on the greens, missing all six birdie putts.

85 with 37 putts
GIR - 33%
Fairways - 50%
Birdie Putts - 0/6

Duke Season Comparison - 2017
Some nice elements and certainly signs of promise but ultimately too weak. Fell victim too many times to mediocre opponents. The very reachable par-5 sixth was my Virginia Tech blowout. Routinely choking in crunch time.