Seasons almost over

For all intents and purposes the 2019 season is pretty much done, ok a couple of qualifiers left but pretty much done. Bit of a strange one for me with a horrendous first half of the season with only 1 little bit of sunshine, a 0.2 cut away from home at Saunton. Came within one bad round of going up to 8, actually came within 1 bad round of seriously thinking about jacking it in.

Around the time of our Club champs at the end of June took the decision to just stop seeing my coach. Did go for a one off 2nd opinion with a highly rated Pro though. Then in July/August/Sept 7 cuts and 3 buffers, down to 6.1 (and a whole plethora of golden opportunities to infact go much lower). Only blight on the 2nd half of the season being an abysmal performance on my annual trip to Carnoustie. All in all though, it has to go down as a successful season with 8 cuts and a strong finish.

Now what? At this point (for the past 7-8 years I’m usually thinking about my winter program with my old coach. This year I’m thinking about going to the new guy. When I look back I always seem to start the season relatively poorly which I take it is a sign that I have had too many swing thoughts in my head as the season starts. So I’m thinking of going earlier and hoping that there’s not much to change (I don’t think there is) An added benefit of the new guy is that he also does club fitting which my old coach doesn’t and I really do need new irons, definitely looking to move away from Ping due to the weight port issues I’ve had with my last 2 sets. The new coach has quite a short list of fitting options basically Mizuno, Titleist or Callaway so I’ve started reading reviews on the various options.

Anybody got any strong views/recommendations between those 3 brands?

Jas

I am sure you love my honesty with you, so here goes. If you are playing off 8 with a full time coach you need to reevaluate your skill level. OK you got to 6 but a bad run and you are back to 7. With the level of tuition you receive a competent player would be low single figures and a good player off scratch. You have probably brute forced a 12 to 15 handicap ability down to 7 through extensive tuition.

Once you accept this your enjoyment of the game will flourish as you realise your perseverance has allowed you to shoot 5 or more shots lower than you otherwise would.

I would perhaps go somewhere with a wider range. If you know of one that was brand agnostic that you could trust within a certain range you'd be willing to travel.

I have a completely justification-free dislike of Callaway. No idea, just don't like them.

I got Titleist AP2 last year - they launch (too) high for me but feel nice. I think I'd be tempted to get CB rather than the new T100, but the latter look OK for Titleist's "techy" forged tour offering.

I'd certainly give the Mizzy's a look. If not the new 20 range then the JPX 919 tour are pretty nice

If you're a bladist then the new Titleist and Mizzy ones look great. Shame I'm not good/consistent enough for them!

I think from a performance perspective there'd be little to choose from the equivalent models from each OEM. Mygolfspy.com has reviews I pay attention too if only because it does give you some good stats you can manipulate and doesn't just "suck off" the big boys with big scores.

Of those clubs, dunno. Never played Callaway or Mizuno; or much Titleist for that matter. Of those, I would probably go for a fitted Mizuno set.
Personally, I wouldn't give up on Ping - I got a second-hand set of S55s this year and they are seriously impressive cf. what I had before. They may get called a blade type of iron, but they're p!ss easy to hit from 3i-pw. I'd seriously consider their iBlade or even Blueprints in future.

Re. your off-season coaching, sounds like time to give it a rest. You may be over-complicating things. As TW would say, just get some 'reps' in on the practice range and/or course. You've surely got enough coaching advice on board from the last few seasons to perfect?

McLaren wrote:Jas

I am sure you love my honesty with you, so here goes. If you are playing off 8 with a full time coach you need to reevaluate your skill level. OK you got to 6 but a bad run and you are back to 7.  With the level of tuition you receive a competent player would be low single figures and a good player off scratch. You have probably brute forced a 12 to 15 handicap ability down to 7 through extensive tuition.

Once you accept this your enjoyment of the game will flourish as you realise your perseverance has allowed you to shoot 5 or more shots lower than you otherwise would.

Lol Mac that has eff all to do with honesty, it’s so full of obvious WUMmery it doesn’t warrant any further response.

navyblueshorts wrote:Of those clubs, dunno. Never played Callaway or Mizuno; or much Titleist for that matter. Of those, I would probably go for a fitted Mizuno set.
Personally, I wouldn't give up on Ping - I got a second-hand set of S55s this year and they are seriously impressive cf. what I had before. They may get called a blade type of iron, but they're p!ss easy to hit from 3i-pw. I'd seriously consider their iBlade or even Blueprints in future.

Re. your off-season coaching, sounds like time to give it a rest. You may be over-complicating things. As TW would say, just get some 'reps' in on the practice range and/or course. You've surely got enough coaching advice on board from the last few seasons to perfect?

Aye that is a serious consideration as well Navy, especially as...
1. I’ve done just fine since stopping lessons &
2. i’ll be forking out a substantial sum on new irons.

I just can’t help thinking that I’m not that far away and that with a fresh look I might finally get that “everything just clicked into place” feeling.

Roller_Coaster wrote:I would perhaps go somewhere with a wider range. If you know of one that was brand agnostic that you could trust within a certain range you'd be willing to travel.

I have a completely justification-free dislike of Callaway. No idea, just don't like them.

I got Titleist AP2 last year - they launch (too) high for me but feel nice. I think I'd be tempted to get CB rather than the new T100, but the latter look OK for Titleist's "techy" forged tour offering.

I'd certainly give the Mizzy's a look. If not the new 20 range then the JPX 919 tour are pretty nice

If you're a bladist then the new Titleist and Mizzy ones look great. Shame I'm not good/consistent enough for them!

I think from a performance perspective there'd be little to choose from the equivalent models from each OEM. Mygolfspy.com has reviews I pay attention too if only because it does give you some good stats you can manipulate and doesn't just "suck off" the big boys with big scores.

Must admit, of the 3 I would tend toward the Mizzys, I don’t like the idea of high launch so that might rule out the Titleist. My driver & Wedges are Callaway so wouldn’t have an issue with them. That’s the choices I would have at Bowood which is basically just 3 miles away from me. The other option would be to go see John Jacobs at Cumberwell still relatively local but I believe a wider choice.

JAS wrote:

Roller_Coaster wrote:I would perhaps go somewhere with a wider range. If you know of one that was brand agnostic that you could trust within a certain range you'd be willing to travel.

I have a completely justification-free dislike of Callaway. No idea, just don't like them.

I got Titleist AP2 last year - they launch (too) high for me but feel nice. I think I'd be tempted to get CB rather than the new T100, but the latter look OK for Titleist's "techy" forged tour offering.

I'd certainly give the Mizzy's a look. If not the new 20 range then the JPX 919 tour are pretty nice

If you're a bladist then the new Titleist and Mizzy ones look great. Shame I'm not good/consistent enough for them!

I think from a performance perspective there'd be little to choose from the equivalent models from each OEM. Mygolfspy.com has reviews I pay attention too if only because it does give you some good stats you can manipulate and doesn't just "suck off" the big boys with big scores.

Must admit, of the 3 I would tend toward the Mizzys, I don’t like the idea of high launch so that might rule out the Titleist.  My driver & Wedges are Callaway so wouldn’t have an issue with them. That’s the choices I would have at Bowood which is basically just 3 miles away from me. The other option would be to go see John Jacobs at Cumberwell still relatively local but I believe a wider choice.

I might just have too high a launch because they're not ideal for me and I probably don't have an optimised shaft. Don't let my (probably self induced) small issues put you off, Titleist is definitely worth considering.

McLaren wrote:Jas

I am sure you love my honesty with you, so here goes. If you are playing off 8 with a full time coach you need to reevaluate your skill level. OK you got to 6 but a bad run and you are back to 7.  With the level of tuition you receive a competent player would be low single figures and a good player off scratch. You have probably brute forced a 12 to 15 handicap ability down to 7 through extensive tuition.

Once you accept this your enjoyment of the game will flourish as you realise your perseverance has allowed you to shoot 5 or more shots lower than you otherwise would.

You don't half talk out your "activated glutes" at times Mc.

Went for Mizuno last year Jas. Can't complain a bit. New clubs and tuition have given me a great deal of progress in last 12 months that it makes me sad that the season is at an end.
All good for next year though and a lot of practice too be done in the next few months. Next season is looking very good if I can keep up what I've done this year with developing a draw, resulting in more accuracy.


In regards to your game JAS, I think the next couple of months is a good time to look back and see where you are losing shots.

If you haven't got a spreadsheet or app to track your rounds make/get one. Record how many fairways you are hitting, what your average score per hole is, where you are missing greens, how many putts you have, how many GIR you have, % of putts inside 10ft etc. Why are your bad holes your bad holes? What tactic can you do to make the bad scores less bad?

Get a trackman session and get an average for your yardages. Make a sheet for this you can stick on your bag etc. If you haven't got a laser or GPS, get one. Aim for the middle of the greens for a while, don't chase stupid pins.

The most important thing though is to structure your practice. 70% of your time should be within 150 yards, and most of that , pitching, chipping and putting.

Jas

If I am just wumming then this question will be easy for you. Without constant coaching what would your handicap be?

McLaren wrote:Jas

If I am just wumming then this question will be easy for you. Without constant coaching what would your handicap be?

I have no idea and it’s not really relevant. It’s not like I can now unhave several years of coaching to compare is it.

I started at 12, with coaching I got as low as 4, the rise from 4 to 7 made me question what I was doing. I stopped having coaching earlier this year when I was 7.4, I’m currently 6.1. Did coaching help me get from 12 to 4? undoubtedly. Did the learning that took place during that time help me arrest the decline earlier this year, yep most certainly. Did coaching have a hand in the decline from 4-7? That’s the big question?

super_realist wrote:Went for Mizuno last year Jas. Can't complain a bit. New clubs and tuition have given me a great deal of progress in last 12 months that it makes me sad that the season is at an end.
All good for next year though and a lot of practice too be done in the next few months. Next season is looking very good if I can keep up what I've done this year with developing a draw, resulting in more accuracy.


In regards to your game JAS, I think the next couple of months is a good time to look back and see where you are losing shots.

If you haven't got a spreadsheet or app to track your rounds make/get one. Record how many fairways you are hitting, what your average score per hole is, where you are missing greens, how many putts you have, how many GIR you have, % of putts inside 10ft etc.  Why are your bad holes your bad holes? What tactic can you do to make the bad scores less bad?

Get a trackman session and get an average for your yardages. Make a sheet for this you can stick on your bag etc. If you haven't got a laser or GPS, get one. Aim for the middle of the greens for a while, don't chase stupid pins.

The most important thing though is to structure your practice. 70% of your time should be within 150 yards, and most of that , pitching, chipping and putting.

That’s good to hear re the Mizunos Super.

Re the stats I always do a stats card, I’ve become a bit rubbish at collating into a spreadsheet like I used to. My GIRs are typically 9-12 although I have had a 13 & a 14 this year. I’ve also been as bad as 6 though (ok nursing a sore back on a windy day. Fairways hit are average 8-10 out of 14. Putts are typically around 30 but vary quite a bit, can be as low as 24 on a bad approach/good chipping day or as bad as 35 on a bad putting day.

Just out of interest what app(s) do you use to track stats?

JAS,
I built my own spreadsheet. Might still have it around somewhere I've not used it in a while. If you want I'll take a look and see if I can find it.

What is the cause of your missed GIR? i.e. where are you missing? short, long, left, right? Is your driving causing you to have a difficult shot to the green? Are you considering the best place to land your drive? Taking out hazards such as long rough, bunkers etc, or like I was are you missing the green from good position?

Hitting GIR has always been my achilles heel too but not because of poor driving, hence why I worked on having a good chipping game, but I'd rather be putting for birdie than chipping and one putting for par. My lessons this year though have been sensational, especially the last one. I've now got a nice draw going, which gives me great control and the first and second times out I hit 16 and 13 greens.

Jas

You should try this

https://shotscope.com/uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQjww7HsBRDkARIsAARsIT6Wy-KwTeVHxkiCRw5jOHmlXKD5wRGnAr5ldGSoFDie7VJm3M8B4CoaAq3SEALw_wcB

Haven’t read the specs on that but you need to be careful on some of them. On my device I have a facility to input what club I used and how far I hit it. The device then “learns” and can make suggestions next time around. Not legal for competition play so I have disabled the feature.

I got the shotscope V2. It's OK, but misses out on recording a few more shots than I would like. I think it needs to be "awake" before the stroke, for which a practise swing is a good trigger. I don't have a practise swing so I think it may miss some of my shots for that reason. I find it a bit of a pain to correct after the round too so I just use it as a GPS now. Fortunately the introductory offer plus a code from mygolfspy meant it only cost the same as a "normal" GPS watch anyway.

You have to remember to count and press the corresponding number of putts over the hole (so it can calculate proximity etc) when you hole out. Review say this is quite quickly ingrained, but I kept forgetting and that's a bit annoying when you come to review the round.

When it captures everything, it is quite a good bit of kit and does show you some trends in shots for a relatively reasonable price.

Sadly my season never got started.
Rejoined in April and got a ridiculous 30 handicap played a handful of rounds recently using a buggy but a problem on the backswing with pain in my right  hip meant I played very badly .Not sure what to do going forward I can live a normalish life but another op is probably the answer if I want to play again .
The course has finally got new owners and they have decided to shut down the bar and catering operation to extend and refurb . Moving into basically a wedding marquee for the winter and beyond .Seems like madness to me as they could have done it in phases and maintained the income and service.Im sure it will be around May /June before reopen have to build up again from zero and golfers will have moved on as they get impatient.Plus the owner will be looking for a return which seems to have been overlooked by many.We had a good set up working/middle class golf club very open  and there is no way it can be turned into something else IMO .See what happens

dynamark wrote:Sadly my season never got started.
Rejoined in April and got a ridiculous 30 handicap played a handful of rounds recently using a buggy but a problem on the backswing with pain in my right  hip meant I played very badly .Not sure what to do going forward I can live a normalish life but another op is probably the answer if I want to play again .
The course has finally got new owners and they have decided to shut down the bar and catering operation to extend and refurb . Moving into basically a wedding marquee for the winter and beyond .Seems like madness to me as they could have done it in phases and maintained the income and service.Im sure it will be around May /June before reopen have to build up again from zero and golfers will have moved on as they get impatient.Plus the owner will be looking for a return which seems to have been overlooked by many.We had a good set up working/middle class golf club very open  and there is no way it can be turned into something else IMO .See what happens

Crikey, what did you have done again Dyna?

Re the whole Marquee thing, takes me back to 2012 when the cowboys doing the refurb on our clubhouse went through a main beam and rendered the building unsafe. We were pretty much the whole season in the Marquee, yes we lost some members but pretty much most of them and more came back the following and subsequent years.

Ive just got a bad feeling about the new regime .
I had left hip replacement 2 years ago on NHS(which is fine) and now the other side is on the way out -same mileage I suppose

dynamark wrote:Ive just got a bad feeling about the new regime .
I had left hip replacement 2 years ago on NHS(which is fine) and now the other side is on the way out -same mileage I suppose

I feel your pain Dyna (if you pardon the pun) having had both replaced within 9 months of each other 10 years ago. Now my knees are giving out but I’m reluctant to go under the knife again so I keep going. I missed most of this golfing season, well from June 2nd anyway, due to a torn tendon in my left ankle which was only picked up by a very good physio about six weeks ago. It’s well on the mend now and I hope to play in our 9 hole medal on November 2nd to test it out. It’s been really frustrating having to sit out most of the season as we don’t have buggies on our course and it was the walking, not the swing, which was affected.

I'm also reluctant to go under the knife/saw/hammer/anesthetic again its not like having a tooth out as you know not to mention the cost and recovery period as I live on my own basically.Got to make a decision soon. Its not at the point where I'm in a deal of pain and then it would be a no brainer.
Back to the golf our new owners have now come out with an offer for us to pay in advance in the next few weeks for fees not due till next April and in return they will give us 18 months for 12.They are trying the same deal at the other course they have its not smelling very nice tbh.Ive got a bad feeling about it sadly.
See what rolls out

dynamark wrote: an offer for us to pay in advance  in  the next few weeks for fees not due till next April and in return they will give us 18 months for 12.They are trying the same deal at the other course they have its not smelling very nice tbh.Ive got a bad feeling about it sadly.
See what rolls out

I think you are right to be cautious. That's a huge discount. Sounds like a cash crisis is looming in these winter months. The problem is going to come in Nov/Dec 2020.

Also - sorry to hear about your health issues. I had an operation on my leg in May, and another 18 days later to clear the infection created by the first op. I didn't get back to golf until July, so 6 weeks wasted messing around with district nurses and wound packing. When I say messing around with nurses, I mean I was stuck in the house waiting for them to come round every day. Nothing like one or two movies involving nurses I may have heard about

I had the nurses round to take the socks off and wash my feet !Not my idea of a career
Sadly that was the extent of the service.

Well, I hope you manage a recovery. There's nothing worse than being unable to play golf on a sunny autumn day when your pals are all out there having fun.