Hittin' the links: Golf talk

[NUance]

Swung by the practice green on the way to work this AM. Practicing putts. I hit a bunch of 8 footers in groups of five, and then lag putts from around the green. I have a theory (not based on anything) that that's the way to develop touch. By practicing 20 or so from a given distance, then 20 or so lag puts from various distances above and below the hole. I'm thinking that has to be better than just hitting 100 putts from one particular distance. Who knows though? Maybe it doesn't matter.

Hitting lag putts from around a sloping green, above and below a hole, makes me realize that I'm MUCH more likely to three putt from long distance above the hole than below. On those long lags from above the hole it's just so easy to either leave it 10 feet short or blast it past the hole by 10. Or more.

My putting is definitely a work in progress.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Swung by the practice green on the way to work this AM. Practicing putts. I hit a bunch of 8 footers in groups of five, and then lag putts from around the green. I have a theory (not based on anything) that that's the way to develop touch. By practicing 20 or so from a given distance, then 20 or so lag puts from various distances above and below the hole. I'm thinking that has to be better than just hitting 100 putts from one particular distance. Who knows though? Maybe it doesn't matter.

Hitting lag putts from around a sloping green, above and below a hole, makes me realize that I'm MUCH more likely to three putt from long distance above the hole than below. On those long lags from above the hole it's just so easy to either leave it 10 feet short or blast it past the hole by 10. Or more.

My putting is definitely a work in progress.

Good luck.

My theory on practicing putting is similar in that it's only based on my theory.

I think I need a combination of what you do.

The 100 putts from one location doesn't help with touch much. But, I can work on the muscle memory of the stroke. From there, then I can go to what you are doing and work on touch.

I agree that putting many balls from various distances teaches you to adjust your touch by what you see.

 

[icedavis]

Played my first 9 of the year yesterday at an executive muni with big slow greens. Compared to the course I normally practice, it felt like I was pounding the ball with my putter just to get it close. Nothing like messing with your head regarding touch around the greens.

For the most part, even though the greens were on the bigger side, I was hitting them pretty tight with solid distance and spin. Three bogeys, a stupid double and finished with a solid birdie. One of those bogeys was a stupid three putt too. Sigh. The game is there. So close, yet so far.

 

[NUance]

Played my first 9 of the year yesterday at an executive muni with big slow greens. Compared to the course I normally practice, it felt like I was pounding the ball with my putter just to get it close. Nothing like messing with your head regarding touch around the greens.

For the most part, even though the greens were on the bigger side, I was hitting them pretty tight with solid distance and spin. Three bogeys, a stupid double and finished with a solid birdie. One of those bogeys was a stupid three putt too. Sigh. The game is there. So close, yet so far.

Ha ha! Yeah, not really an executive course, but I played a local par 3 last week for grins. It's next to the driving range where I go. The greens were terribly slow, and none of the yardages were close to what was listed on the scorecard. It cost $6 to play nine, and it wasn't really even worth that much. I guess that's why most the people you see playing the place are high school students out goofing around.

 

[NUance]

Putting is a weird unpredictable skill. For me anyway. Yesterday I stopped by the practice green and was hitting 8 footers. I couldn't miss. At one point I made 8 in a row. Probly dropping around 75% from 8 foot. Stopped by the practice green on the way to work again this morning. Same exact conditions. But I couldn't hit jack. At one point I missed 6 in a row. Probly dropped arount 30% from 8 foot. Go figure.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Putting is a weird unpredictable skill. For me anyway. Yesterday I stopped by the practice green and was hitting 8 footers. I couldn't miss. At one point I made 8 in a row. Probly dropping around 75% from 8 foot. Stopped by the practice green on the way to work again this morning. Same exact conditions. But I couldn't hit jack. At one point I missed 6 in a row. Probly dropped arount 30% from 8 foot. Go figure.

Don't worry about missing from 8 feet and outside. Even the best golfers in the world only make 50% of their 8 foot putts.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/51757/pga-tour-putts-gained-make-percentage-stats

 

[icedavis]

Played my first 9 of the year yesterday at an executive muni with big slow greens. Compared to the course I normally practice, it felt like I was pounding the ball with my putter just to get it close. Nothing like messing with your head regarding touch around the greens.

For the most part, even though the greens were on the bigger side, I was hitting them pretty tight with solid distance and spin. Three bogeys, a stupid double and finished with a solid birdie. One of those bogeys was a stupid three putt too. Sigh. The game is there. So close, yet so far.

Ha ha! Yeah, not really an executive course, but I played a local par 3 last week for grins. It's next to the driving range where I go. The greens were terribly slow, and none of the yardages were close to what was listed on the scorecard. It cost $6 to play nine, and it wasn't really even worth that much. I guess that's why most the people you see playing the place are high school students out goofing around.

For a while I really looked down upon par 3 courses (maybe because the ones I looked into were rough) but as I have gotten smarter with my game, i have realized how much they can help build confidence back into my game. I have always been fairly hit or miss on par 3s, even when I would practice hundreds upon hundreds of wedge shots a day in high school (where I peaked at like an 8 HDCP). I wasn't always the smartest player either but as I have played less, it really made me focus on different parts of my game (mental/execution mostly) and as a result my whole practice routines and play routines have changed such that I hit way more greens now, even though I practice/play less. It helps to have all that muscle memory from hitting a gagillion balls in high school.

I would always stall out at that 81-82 score with typically a solid 9 and a blown 9. I now feel like if I even put in a 1/3 of the time that I did in high school, with this new kind of focus on the mental/execution game, I can really take my game to the next level and be in the mid 70s regularly.

 

[NUance]

Putting is a weird unpredictable skill. For me anyway. Yesterday I stopped by the practice green and was hitting 8 footers. I couldn't miss. At one point I made 8 in a row. Probly dropping around 75% from 8 foot. Stopped by the practice green on the way to work again this morning. Same exact conditions. But I couldn't hit jack. At one point I missed 6 in a row. Probly dropped arount 30% from 8 foot. Go figure.

Don't worry about missing from 8 feet and outside. Even the best golfers in the world only make 50% of their 8 foot putts.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/51757/pga-tour-putts-gained-make-percentage-stats

Ha ha! Except the 8 footers I was putting were a lot easier than the 8 footers faced on any tour event. I cherry picked a hole where I had a slight grade uphill, straight on with no movement left or right. I'll bet any PGA player on the tour would make 95% of those.

Also, I like that website thesandtrap.com. Some pretty good golfers post there, if their advertised handicaps are to be believed.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Putting is a weird unpredictable skill. For me anyway. Yesterday I stopped by the practice green and was hitting 8 footers. I couldn't miss. At one point I made 8 in a row. Probly dropping around 75% from 8 foot. Stopped by the practice green on the way to work again this morning. Same exact conditions. But I couldn't hit jack. At one point I missed 6 in a row. Probly dropped arount 30% from 8 foot. Go figure.

Don't worry about missing from 8 feet and outside. Even the best golfers in the world only make 50% of their 8 foot putts.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/51757/pga-tour-putts-gained-make-percentage-stats

Ha ha! Except the 8 footers I was putting were a lot easier than the 8 footers faced on any tour event. I cherry picked a hole where I had a slight grade uphill, straight on with no movement left or right. I'll bet any PGA player on the tour would make 95% of those.

Also, I like that website thesandtrap.com. Some pretty good golfers post there, if their advertised handicaps are to be believed.

I hate straight putts of that length!!! LOL. I like putts that have a little break into them. I can never hit a putt perfectly straight. Plus, if there is a break and I miss it, I can blame it on the break. LOL.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I hate putting on slow greens. I would much rather putt on very fast greens.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I hate putting on slow greens. I would much rather putt on very fast greens.

I'm the same way. I hate having to hit a putt hard to make it.

 

[ZRod]

I hate putting on slow greens. I would much rather putt on very fast greens.

I'm the opposite. Playing in early spring when the greens are still dead and crazy fast sucks. I like slower greens so when I miss judge a put I'm not shooting from the opposite side of the green.

 

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Going out this morning. Looking forward to it, but my back has been acting up this past week so it might be a short day.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I continue to hit the ball very well. But, I'm not scoring well. Last night I had a decent round going. Last hole is a par 5. Nice drive. Nice/lucky second shot to get about 20 feet from the green. Blade my chip shot over the green and into a ditch of water. Drop for 4. Duff chip for 5. Finally get on the green for 6. Two putt for 8.

It just seems like every round that means something I have one or two holes like that that screw up my score. :bang

After my round I play two extra holes actually from the back tees and par them both.

 

[icedavis]

Check out the Hole 19 app. Mobile scorecard/yardage book/shot tracker/stat taker/etc. And it is $FREE.99. They have tons of courses and apparently if you don't a simple email to them and they will add it. I don't mind paper and pencil cards but it's nice to have the all in one option.

At least now I can be constantly reminded about how much work i need to do on my horrible golf game is every time I unlock my phone and see the app icon on the screen.

Is it the best out there? Idk, i just started looking. Anyone have better suggestions for scorecard apps?

UPDATE: I just downloaded Swing by Swing ($Free) and the Nike Golf app ($Free). Will test those out and see how it goes.