iamshack Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 (edited) So this weekend my wife and I and another couple took a little "staycation" in north las vegas because I won some package in a charity auction. The resort had a golf course across the street so I made an early tee-time for Saturday morning. Ended up partnered up with two guys who played college golf for BYU several years ago. Wow, were they good! I've gotten my handicap down to about a 9, and was starting to think I was getting pretty decent. Umm, no! What a humbling experience to watch these two guys play. Just automatic with their drivers for the most part and very solid iron players. They said they only get out about once a month so they were fairly ordinary with the putter. I think they both shot 73 or something. Was a great learning experience though and the one asked for my number after the round because he is looking for a regular group to join. Looking forward to learning from this guy. Oh, and my 85 looked like about 110 compared to these guys and their 73's Edited July 21, 2014 by iamshack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmteam Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 10:51 AM) So this weekend my wife and I and another couple took a little "staycation" in north las vegas because I won some package in a charity auction. The resort had a golf course across the street so I made an early tee-time for Saturday morning. Ended up partnered up with two guys who played college golf for BYU several years ago. Wow, were they good! I've gotten my handicap down to about a 9, and was starting to think I was getting pretty decent. Umm, no! What a humbling experience to watch these two guys play. Just automatic with their drivers for the most part and very solid iron players. They said they only get out about once a month so they were fairly ordinary with the putter. I think they both shot 73 or something. Was a great learning experience though and the one asked for my number after the round because he is looking for a regular group to join. Looking forward to learning from this guy. Oh, and my 85 looked like about 110 compared to these guys and their 73's It's ok, I probably would have actually shot 110 on a nice course like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 08:28 PM) I've been working with some BS sand wedge I bought in a used bin and no lob wedge for years. Finally broke down and decided to buy the Cleveland 588 RTX wedges. 56 and 60 degree. Pretty pumped to start using them once they get here. I've gotten pretty good at using my pitching and gap wedges from 115-15 yards, so it'll be interesting to see how long it'll take me to figure out the best wedge the use from those distances. I carry 4 wedges, most important clubs in my bag IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 If you played in high school what do you wish your HS coach taught you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabiness42 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 If you played in high school what do you wish your HS coach taught you? I played four years in HS. I wish my HS coach had worked with us more on repetitive drills to hone our swings. 90% of the time we just played 9 holes and got chewed out for bad scores. I went from a 19 handicap as a freshman to a 17 handicap as a senior. Seems like four years with a "coach" should have produced more improvement than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 23, 2014 -> 09:46 AM) If you played in high school what do you wish your HS coach taught you? I wish he had coached more. Our practice was essentially just playing a round of 18 on a ladder system and you moved up and down on the roster depending on how well you did against the guy next to you. My improvement over the 4 years was due to my own changes and study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 23, 2014 -> 09:46 AM) If you played in high school what do you wish your HS coach taught you? I wish I would have picked up a club in HS or earlier. Never really got into golf until college. I am jealous of the guys who played seriously that far back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Our district's Director of Golf is a PGA Professional and my interview was pretty solid. He has been replacing the coaches that are just there for the stipend with coaches that are golf guys with some experience. For example I'm replacing a guy that would rather be coaching tennis. I'd rather be coaching golf than cross country or soccer (my two other choices). What do y'all think of my three main focus areas? Pre-shot routines both physical and mental. Hit your shot and forget about it, start thinking about your next shot in a positive way. No walking to the ball thinking I suck, that was a terrible shot, etc. We can work on improving those shots during practice. At the ball visualize the shot, visualize the swing, and start your physical preparation. They can't necessarily swing like a scratch player but they can think like one. About half or more of my players come from the magnet school next door to our main campus so they should take to this pretty easily. Establish a scoring zone where you are thinking either holing it out or an up and down. For better HS players that may be 75 yards out, for other players 25 yards. Focusing most of my instructional time on this scoring zone. I know they will practice the long stuff on their own. It's practicing scoring that will be a bigger factor in lowering their scores. The head of the golf booster club is very good at creating and using Excel. She offered to be my statistician for the season. I will be tracking their rounds, both practice and tournament to establish empirical data and where the individual player needs to concentrate their practice time. My HS coach didn't do much more than drive the van and fill out the lineups. The above worked well for my middle school team (minus the stats), I am assuming with modifications it will work in HS. It's modeled after work by Pelz, Rotella, and a lifetime of playing almost good golf. (I've been as low as a five at my old club). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 My HS coach was a priest who basically knew very little about golf. He didn't do much more than drive us to the practice facility or course. Tex, the thing I would work on with them the most are alignment and setup drills, and the short game and putting drills, and finally, course management. Those things are going to be the biggest determinant of scoring. For whatever reason, proper alignment does not come easily over the golf ball for a lot of people. I for one know that I spent a vast majority of the last 20 years aligning myself improperly. This causes all sorts of other problems, as you then start making adjustments to an improper alignment based on your ball flight. Then before you know it, you've got adjustments for adjustments for adjustments. Your ball flight starts looking like a UFO taking evasive maneuvers from a missile in a sci-fi movie because of you all the crazy spin you've got on the ball. This is like trying to build a house on a poor foundation on top of poor soil. Have them all buy a set of decent alignment rods and use them every day on the practice range. They are honestly the best bang-for-your-buck training tool out there. Look up all the different drills you can use them for and pick out several which you think will be helpful. They can work on proper aim, ball position, swing plane, etc. They can take these things to the putting green as well. There are plenty of drills to encourage putting alignment and strokes. Finally, have them work on their pitching, chipping and sand play. The lowest hanging fruit at that age can usually be found in the short game. I remember kicking ass from tee to near the green only to get beat from around the greens to the hole week after week. I was a good ball striker but a poor short game player and there is nothing more frustrating than watching some guy get up and down on you all day when he can't hit an iron shot worth a s***. And for you, Coach, I mentioned it before, but I'll say it again, pick up Dave Pelz's books on the short game and putting....they are awesome and will give you a lot of drills to give the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Took my first golf lesson this morning. Very pleased because some very minor fixes cleared up some very major ball flight issues. Still have a bit of work to do on the driver, but the irons were flying very nicely. After I feel comfortable with these drills and fixes, I'll go back for a general short game lesson, which is where some major improvement will occur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 My golf book collection has about 25 volumes. I have all of Pelz, Rotella, Penick, etc. One of the ways I improved my tempo, which was hurting me was playing with guys with great tempo and watching video of Ernie Els. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Went out on Sunday and finally got back to my old self and shot an 81. Doubled a couple of holes hitting some atrocious sand shots (basically out of cement on a muni-course, so I don't feel too bad). The round took 4.5 hours though. So tough to maintain consistency waiting 10 minutes on every tee box. But, at the same time, my round was all of 20 bucks with a cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlliniKrush Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 11:02 AM) Went out on Sunday and finally got back to my old self and shot an 81. Doubled a couple of holes hitting some atrocious sand shots (basically out of cement on a muni-course, so I don't feel too bad). The round took 4.5 hours though. So tough to maintain consistency waiting 10 minutes on every tee box. But, at the same time, my round was all of 20 bucks with a cart. Where'd you play? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) Carriage Greens in Darien. Reserved through GolfNow the morning I was going to play for a noon tee-time. Edited July 28, 2014 by Jenksismybitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlliniKrush Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 03:00 PM) Carriage Greens in Darien. Reserved through GolfNow the morning I was going to play for a noon tee-time. Nice deal. I don't know anything about GolfNow except for that TV commercial. Looks like it pops up some discounts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 03:00 PM) Carriage Greens in Darien. Reserved through GolfNow the morning I was going to play for a noon tee-time. Is it still in horrific shape? I know the owner and he was hurting last year for some maintenance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I think that course is where I tried out for my hs team...either that or it was where I played one of my first junior tournaments... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 03:08 PM) I think that course is where I tried out for my hs team...either that or it was where I played one of my first junior tournaments... back in the day it was a solid course, had a lot of players on it. Over time they have overbooked and undermaintained it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 03:06 PM) Nice deal. I don't know anything about GolfNow except for that TV commercial. Looks like it pops up some discounts? Yeah, the closer to the day you want the better usually. And you can often get twilight discounts (or better) much earlier in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Golfnow is THE way to book public courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 03:10 PM) back in the day it was a solid course, had a lot of players on it. Over time they have overbooked and undermaintained it. You know it wasn't terrible. The greens and fairways were in good shape. The little creeks and ponds were full of algae/moss/god knows what, but that's more of an aesthetic thing. The bunkers aren't great, but i've seen a lot worse (Fresh Meadows comes to mind...just cement now). It's a nice little course. Easy holes that you can get birdie or par without much effort, even if you screw up a drive or 2nd shot. Some doglegs where you can really screw yourself if you get in the trees. But they do tend to have a LOT of older guys who bring their wives and/or they overbook. So it does get backed up pretty quickly. I've played there three times this year and this was the first time my round was over 4 hours. But it's been a common complaint over the years. But still, for the price, it's worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 You guys have any other western suburbs courses to recommend? I was thinking about playing Ruffled Feathers or Waters Edge. There's too many private courses out where I live. Damn rich people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 01:27 PM) You guys have any other western suburbs courses to recommend? I was thinking about playing Ruffled Feathers or Waters Edge. There's too many private courses out where I live. Damn rich people. Orchard Valley? Ravisloe? Prairie Landing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 03:27 PM) You guys have any other western suburbs courses to recommend? I was thinking about playing Ruffled Feathers or Waters Edge. There's too many private courses out where I live. Damn rich people. Orchard Valley, Settler's Hill, Willow Crest, Ruffled, Cog 2, Bowes Creek, Bollingbrook, Prairie Landing are all solid courses. Settlers is one of my favorite western courses because its usually fast and affordable. I grew up playing Cog 1 and 3 and 2 when possible. If you are in the city one of the closest good courses is Lost Marsh right next to the horseshoe casino. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Once I joined a private course my public course rounds have gone way down so I assume those are all in good shape this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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