So I got into golf around a year ago. I would shoot around 130-140’s when I first started out.
Fast forward to today, I haven’t broken a 100 yet, but I tip toe between 100-110.
My clubs all together cost me around $300-$400 in a bundle package from amazon.
When I play with good golfer friends they have all the best drivers, putters and irons. They shoot around 80-90.
I’m curious how much improvement I will see in my game if I update my driver and maybe my 9, and a 3 wood... my putter will be last on my list since I’ve perfected a pretty good way of 2 putting every hole; and I feel reading the greens is far more important than having the best putter.
All in all I’d say I drive the ball around 220-250 with my current driver. (Bragging moment) I once hit a drive that went over 300 and landed on the green, people in front of us were staring at me to see if I would get the eagle lol.... so therefore I wonder, my driver is capable of hitting that distance, but that one shot will probably never happen again, it was a 1 in a million shot and I literally let it all loose into that swing. Any other time I’ve tried it, I lose complete control of the ball, so I stick to a balanced swing that gets me on the fairway in decent shape.
With that information should I upgrade a few clubs? Or should I wait till I can break 100 on a consistent basis and when I have the $$ get fitted for clubs instead? [Reply]
Originally Posted by srvy:
They didn't allow fans the noise came from around the 18th hole where boats docked up. But those scores aren't bad at all for a guy who admittedly hadn't played much because of covid.
Tad hung over as well I'd assume. Does pot help one's game? Cause he was pretty stoned too. [Reply]
If you’re going to get new golf clubs, make sure you get fit for the right flex, grip and shaft by a professional. I wasted a lot of money because I skipped this step. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Brody Wa:
If you’re going to get new golf clubs, make sure you get fit for the right flex, grip and shaft by a professional. I wasted a lot of money because I skipped this step.
If you are serious about new clubs, go ahead and spend the money and time to get the proper lie angle; the lie angle can cause you to push or pull the ball. This will cause you to develop bad habits to correct the faulty lie. [Reply]
Take lessons but make sure you hire the right pro.
A regular in my weekly foursome started golfing about five years ago. Shoots mid to high '80s. Always had a big slice and didn't hit the ball far (200 yards with the drive). Took five lessons last year with a recommended pro. Small improvement in John's ball flight and distance.
Last Saturday a childhood friend of mine - scratch golfer - played with us. 6 holes in my friend looks at John as John is getting ready to hit is drive. Jim yells "stop" and asked John if he would mind a bit of advice (always a bit dicey to ask right?)
Jim squares up John's right foot, straightens his alignment, and tells John to swing away. John's drive goes 230 plus with a slight draw. The rest of the round almost every drive John hit: 230 with a slight draw.
Moral of the Story: make sure you are getting lessons from the right pro. It makes a HUGE difference. [Reply]
Originally Posted by soonersfreak:
Take lessons but make sure you hire the right pro.
A regular in my weekly foursome started golfing about five years ago. Shoots mid to high '80s. Always had a big slice and didn't hit the ball far (200 yards with the drive). Took five lessons last year with a recommended pro. Small improvement in John's ball flight and distance.
Last Saturday a childhood friend of mine - scratch golfer - played with us. 6 holes in my friend looks at John as John is getting ready to hit is drive. Jim yells "stop" and asked John if he would mind a bit of advice (always a bit dicey to ask right?)
Jim squares up John's right foot, straightens his alignment, and tells John to swing away. John's drive goes 230 plus with a slight draw. The rest of the round almost every drive John hit: 230 with a slight draw.
Moral of the Story: make sure you are getting lessons from the right pro. It makes a HUGE difference.
I've seen this posted alot, but as a new person to golf, it makes no sense to me. Sure, the sentiment makes sense: find the RIGHT pro. The problem is the "right" pro is always a 2020 hindsight view of what was possible.
In this story, the guy gained some yardage and ball flight from his lessons. But then this great golfer showed him one easy modification and he got a bit more yardage and accuracy. How was the guy supposed to know his lessons weren't as good as they could be? He did improve, if only modestly. Was he just supposed to keep switching pros until he got to where he felt he should be? How do you know when it's the pros fault vs your own? After all, there is a limit on everyone's talent. We can't all drill 330 yard drives down the center of the fairway and play scratch golf even having a PGA tour coach as our guide. How do you know how good you "should" be? [Reply]
Pretty good video with lots of details. There's a method in learning a golf swing this way. WORK ON ONE THING AT A TIME. A good swing isn't made in one day. So many guys want one tip that will work right away. What they usually get is only a short term fix. Hogan's 5 fundamentals is good reading. (over and over) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Monticore:
The average handicap hasn’t changed in in well forever and i shoot worse today than I did with clubs from the early 80s .
My 0.2 cents , lessons and practice , if new clubs will encourage you to take lessons and practice then go for it , life long sports like golf where you can play into your 90s are nice to have when you retire.
I more or less agree. I think modern drivers are about the only big improvement since 20 years ago, and it's just because they have a big sweet spot so it's easier to hit them all solid.
I've tried new irons and older irons, alot of it is just personal preference although I think way way too many people play blades. Even pros these days are going away from blades. Theres just not much of a point. Sure it's easier to work the ball and "feel" your shot but you really have to be able to pure your irons every. single. time.
Originally Posted by chefs fan in omaha:
Get professionally fitted for clubs. It makes a big difference as everyone is a different height, arm length etc.
Don't go to Golf Galaxy then. The old guy there only would let me try two drivers, the Maverik and the Ping 410 even though I paid for the club fitting.
He also fitted me for a the shaft Tiger Woods uses. I don't swing 125 mph, I swing 115 mph and that shaft is probably not ideal for me. He just fitted me with that shaft because I hooked it. But the main problem I sometimes have is hitting my driver too low so the best shaft for me is one that influences my launch to be high.
I think going to a real golf instruction place that also does club fitting is the way to go, like Imperial Golf or Robin Nigro even though I've never been there.
Originally Posted by Pablo:
Maybe investing in some quality wedges might be a good starting point. There's a nice difference in those that might help you where most everyone needs the most help anyhow.
I just this year bought Callaway Mack Daddy wedges. And while I like them, I really notice no difference between my 20 year old Clevelands I used when I was in high school. [Reply]
My handicap when I lived in California got as low as 7.8 playing 3 days a week with range practice/warmup. I am NOT a natural like a few of my buddies.
After years of a DIY swing, I finally got serious when I retired. My goal was a swing that didn't need steady play or buckets of range balls. I'm there now. Under Par on most days, even after a lay off. IF one learns the fundamentals, that is possible. Almost Nothing better than a well struck ball. BB or golf. [Reply]
Originally Posted by SithCeNtZ:
I've seen this posted alot, but as a new person to golf, it makes no sense to me. Sure, the sentiment makes sense: find the RIGHT pro. The problem is the "right" pro is always a 2020 hindsight view of what was possible.
In this story, the guy gained some yardage and ball flight from his lessons. But then this great golfer showed him one easy modification and he got a bit more yardage and accuracy. How was the guy supposed to know his lessons weren't as good as they could be? He did improve, if only modestly. Was he just supposed to keep switching pros until he got to where he felt he should be? How do you know when it's the pros fault vs your own? After all, there is a limit on everyone's talent. We can't all drill 330 yard drives down the center of the fairway and play scratch golf even having a PGA tour coach as our guide. How do you know how good you "should" be?
When I was a flight instructor I used to tell my students "take the time now to go up with a few other instructors. You'll learn the fastest and more completely with an instructor that you can relate to better. One you feel the most comfortable with." I (we really since I'm just the asst.) say the same thing to people that come to our defensive handgun class.
The thing is that if you're a newbie or relatively inexperienced, you have no real way to evaluate your instruction, other than to simply create experience by getting instruction from a variety of other people. Once you have the prerequisite experience to make such a judgement, then you can or should be able to evaluate your instructor much more quickly in the future.
I know, you're thinking, "well hell, that's going to cost me extra money."
No, it's going to save you money. The faster you find an instructor that you can learn from most efficiently, the quicker you'll learn and see significant results. If you just try to grind it out with an instructor that isn't relating the material efficiently for you, you'll end up spending more because it will take more lessons and more practice time to learn the same things.
You spend a little early to find the right instructor (3-4 lessons w/3-4 different instructors), who then proceeds to feed you the lessons in the shortest period of time (say 10 lessons), or you deal with the other guy who does the same thing but it takes 20 lessons. Pay for 13-14 lessons vs. 20+, which sounds less expensive?
Note: I'm just pulling the 10 or 20 lessons out of my hat. It could be 5 or 10. 4 vs. 12. Whatever. Still cheaper to just take a minute and find an instructor that can relate the material better than the other guy. But after awhile, you'll be able to evaluate your instruction experience in one or two lessons. Then you'll really be able to make the entire experience more cost-efficient. [Reply]
You should invest in lessons before spending money on clubs that marginally improve your game.
Biggest improvement comes from a good instructor. Once you develop proper swing plane and are consistent on how you strike the ball then game improvement clubs will assist you in lower golf scores. New clubs dont fix bad habits or poor swings. [Reply]
Those are great words in anything from a choosing a college professor, to working with HR agent in business. You will go further, faster, when you relate with, have common interests with, or even just impressed by their persona.
When I did 3 golf seasons of lessons, I was able to move between pros who taught at a golf academy. We also had guest instructors from local pro's and top amateurs from KC who would evaluate your swing and form.
My golf club had 1 free lesson a month and 4 teaching pros making a big difference when working through problem areas.
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
When I was a flight instructor I used to tell my students "take the time now to go up with a few other instructors. You'll learn the fastest and more completely with an instructor that you can relate to better. One you feel the most comfortable with." I (we really since I'm just the asst.) say the same thing to people that come to our defensive handgun class.
The thing is that if you're a newbie or relatively inexperienced, you have no real way to evaluate your instruction, other than to simply create experience by getting instruction from a variety of other people. Once you have the prerequisite experience to make such a judgement, then you can or should be able to evaluate your instructor much more quickly in the future.
I know, you're thinking, "well hell, that's going to cost me extra money."
No, it's going to save you money. The faster you find an instructor that you can learn from most efficiently, the quicker you'll learn and see significant results. If you just try to grind it out with an instructor that isn't relating the material efficiently for you, you'll end up spending more because it will take more lessons and more practice time to learn the same things.
You spend a little early to find the right instructor (3-4 lessons w/3-4 different instructors), who then proceeds to feed you the lessons in the shortest period of time (say 10 lessons), or you deal with the other guy who does the same thing but it takes 20 lessons. Pay for 13-14 lessons vs. 20+, which sounds less expensive?
Note: I'm just pulling the 10 or 20 lessons out of my hat. It could be 5 or 10. 4 vs. 12. Whatever. Still cheaper to just take a minute and find an instructor that can relate the material better than the other guy. But after awhile, you'll be able to evaluate your instruction experience in one or two lessons. Then you'll really be able to make the entire experience more cost-efficient.
Originally Posted by King_Chief_Fan:
You should invest in lessons before spending money on clubs that marginally improve your game.
Biggest improvement comes from a good instructor. Once you develop proper swing plane and are consistent on how you strike the ball then game improvement clubs will assist you in lower golf scores. New clubs dont fix bad habits or poor swings.
I've gotten more progress out of Clay Ballard YouTube videos than I have with college & high school golf coaches and crappy & lazy PGA Teaching Pros.
I've been golfing 2 times a week for a month and a half and I'm back to striking the ball almost as well as college golf days. Now just have to work on the putting.
When I got instruction when I was younger, I didn't search for online reviews (if they even existed in 2003). Now you can really get a good grasp on where effective teaching academies are. [Reply]