What'd You Shoot Today? (Golf BBV Thread)

I have somehow unlocked some previous unknown swing ability. Like overnight.

I now have about 40 yards more on my drives and 30 yards more on my irons. It is crazy stuff. I kept clubbing down on my approach shots and flying the greens. I lost 3 balls where I just hit the ball so much farther than I ever have, over the green and into the woods. I lost sight of one with my sand wedge and figured I mishit it to the right or something and we found it on our way to the next hole, an easy 25 yards past the green. On the last par 5, the scorecard said it was 515 yards and I got to just right of the green in 2 shots. It's beyond crazy. I have to completely re-calibrate my game. Not a bad thing because I've been chasing distance, but damn, this is crazy stuff.

This is relevant to our discussion I believe. I've talked to both of the instructors I use about my lack of distance and both have talked about being less handsy and getting my hips to turn better and all sorts of things. But what has given me this newfound distance I've learned from facebook videos. Not so much a single one and just trying to absorb a little of everything and also watching pros swing.

Turns out when I used to make contact, my hands were almost behind the ball. I was pushing the club with my hands towards the ball, almost following through before I even made contact. I got on the range and played around and basically formed a 90 degree angle with my club/arms when I address the ball, overemphasizing my hands way forward of the ball. This was before I swing. I also noticed that what people were saying about "hinging" just wasn't happening so I played around with that when I held the club before the back swing. The combination of those has forced me to get my hands out in front and let the club just follow. It's incredible, to me at least, just how much difference this has made. Not only that, I'm hitting it straighter on a more consistent basis as well.

Didn't get a great score today. My father-in-law wrote down a 91 but I was nowhere near that. I'm guessing probably around 100. Although I did have 3 pars and a birdie. But I also lost a few balls.

But I really feel good about this.

Good stuff BB. Sometimes it's like that where something just clicks and you realize what it's supposed to feel like. Then you're able to start repeating it. Keep at it. I've enjoyed following along as you've progressed.

This is why we play the game. Finding something in the dirt is one of the greatest feelings in golf.

It sounds to me like you learned how to compress irons using an exaggerated forward press. The moment you realize that the clubhead has to trail the hands through impact with irons is a key step in progression. Congrats!

fun to read a success story bb
curious if you have a video of your new found technique because wondering how exaggerated you might actually be
leaning on a crutch while still able bodied sometimes results in self fulfilling proficy

The exaggerated pre swing was me on the range. Although I am setting up with my hands quite a bit more forward. All of that is to try to get the acceleration at the bottom instead of the top and letting the club swing through the ball instead of my hands guiding it to the ball, which is what I've been doing. This is obviously a work in progress and just the beginning. Hopefully I'll just feel it eventually. But the satisfaction of knowing that I'm able to unlock compression is phenomenal. I've been trying since I began and just never seemed to get it.

Getting forward shaft lean at impact is a game changer for sure, for compression and distance.

Still trying to get the hang of my new swing. Pretty sloppy round. 99(48/51). Lost 5 balls. Took a while to straighten out driver as usual. Mis-hit my short irons a few times and struggled out of the bunkers. Chipping and putting were good, though.

keep plugging away
being able to play is the first key so take advantage of it every chance you can

Thanks. Hit the range today to work on my new swing. I know what I want to do and I know how it feels when I do it but it's really difficult to retrain my body after 7 months of "armsy" swinging. When I'm able to do it, though, it really feels good.

I have a significant backyard landscaping project I'm working on. Been shoveling rock for the last three days. Caught up to me. I felt absolutely exhausted this morning and shot appropriately. First time in a while I just stopped keeping score. My estimate is probably 120. Need some rest.

You may have already said, but are you taking lessons? If not I highly recommend it. Otherwise its easy to get off in the weeds with swing changes.

you really tried to play after sifting all that gravel and rock?
props to you!

also recommend not thinking of anything as 'new'
more a transitional adjustment to the current way of doing things

Yes, I've taken multiple lessons from 3 different people. They have all tried to get me to swing less armsy, but none of them suggested the secret sauce i somehow discovered on my own. I probably need to get someone to look at me now. I still have a couple lessons left that I've already paid for. All in all I feel like I'll be fine. I just need to put in the work.

Wacky day. I started out just like I ended up last round. I couldn't hit anything straight. I'm hitting it pretty solid but I can't keep things straight. Shot a very disappointing 52 on the front nine. I was really thinking that I messed up my game so much trying to get distance that I might not recover. Then, the back nine was a completely different story. I just barely missed two 10-12 ft. birdie putts. And, I left the ball a foot away from the pin on a 50' EAGLE putt. Man oh man. Ended up with a 43 on the back for a 95.

Driver is still an issue but it got better as the day went. I'm struggling to grip my irons properly. I look at my grip when I set up and it feels and looks correct but the club face gets really closed when I swing. My hands at setup just aren't where they end up when I swing. It's really a perception issue. When I grip it properly, my brain tells me it is wrong for some reason and it just "feels" off. But it isn't. Just something I need to work on.

Took a lesson yesterday. I wanted to concentrate on not hitting driver right so much. The guy started with one thing, then eventually progressed in trying to change literally everything from my set up to my follow through to get me to hit like Rory or something. It was too much. He kept telling me "your iron swing shouldn't be your driver swing."

He was able to show me one thing that I think will help. I'm sort of swinging in an oval and getting my hands out too far causing the club to sort of sweep across instead of coming through straight. I got a chuckle out of the drill he had me do. He set a tee up without a ball and set a pool noodle about 2-3 feet behind the tee. He told me to swing and not hit the pool noodle. I did this several times. Easy peasy. Then he set a ball down and when I swung I chopped the noodle in half. Ha! But it illustrated what I'm doing I think. Anyways, I pretty much tossed most of the lesson aside. I might work on a few suggestions but I'm not ready to completely revamp everything I'm doing. I feel like my new swing is pretty comfortable for me and I'm making good contact so I'm reluctant to start all over.

Anyways, on to the round. I didn't try to do anything he told me and I hit driver pretty well today. Pushed it right a couple of times but mostly it was pretty straight and pretty long. I think I'll keep my swing. It was the wedges that killed me. I mishit (really badly) almost every wedge shot from almost every distance, including chips. Not sure what that was all about. Putted ok and struck the ball well. 106(53/53).

Anyways, I'm probably not going to take a lesson for a while. Other than today, I'm hitting my irons pretty well. My issue is what my hands are doing right before impact. I have a tendency to turn them and close the face. Very fixable. I'm crushing my 3 and 5 wood, and straight. And, I think I know what to work on with driver. I'm pretty happy with my distance so I just don't want to mess with my swing right now.

keep getting out there and posting scores for us to read
swing path, face location, and flipping are all connected and often mutually created by each other
predictable consistency with your misses offers opportunity for game improvement and thinking about courses in a different way

Sounds like an inexperienced coach. Two or three things to work on is more than enough for one lesson.

Another ugly round. 106(55/51) The only good news is I'm hitting driver better. Only pushed one right. The bad news is everything else is a struggle. "Sloppy" is the best word for my game lately.

2/22/26
Cimarron Golf Club
Par 72 - 71.9/129 - 6809 yards
40/41 - 81

What a weird round. Played the tips but that didn't really affect anything. On most holes it just means a PW instead of AW, or 8 iron instead of a 9. 1 birdie, 2 doubles. I didn't have my first 2-putt until the 10th hole and only had four for the round I believe. I drove the ball pretty well overall though a couple of wayward ones led to the doubles. Irons and putting did me in even though the irons weren't completely awful. They just weren't very good.

1 - 375 yd par 4. Middle of the fairway, 115 in. Approach wedge to about 25'(long, straight over the flag). A bad misread on the uphill/downhill part and not having hit any practice putts led to a 3-putt bogey
2 - 355 yd par 4. Middle of the fairway, 110 in. Approach wedge to about 50'. 3-putt bogey
3 - 515 yd par 5. Middle of the fairway, laid up on second shot, 105 in. Just missed the green with a SW but chipped it to within a foot. 1-putt par.
4 - 170 or so to a back pin up on a tier. Clunker of a 6 iron that barely got on the front. 3-putt bogey
5 - 440 yard par 4. Bad drive, second shot got me back in position but my 3rd shot from inside 100 yards ended up just off the fringe but only 20' from the flag. Made that for a zero-putt par.
6 - 574 yard par 5. Worst drive of the day. Tried to do too much with my second shot from a terrible lie and topped it into some bushes and I had to take an unplayable. Now I'm hitting 4 and still 350 yards out. 4th shot got down there ok, 5th shot missed the green, good chip shot and a 1-putt double.
7 - 200ish yard par 3. Bad contact got me over the water but short of the green and 75' from the back flag. Very average chip but made the 12' par putt
8 - 400 yard par 4. Middle of the fairway. Missed the green right with an 8 iron. Holed the short pitch shot for a zero-putt birdie!
9 - 350 yard par 4. Middle of the fairway, 100ish in. Pin on the left with water just left of the green. I barely missed the green left but thankfully they keep that grass long to keep balls from rolling into the water. Drew a good lie, hit an ok chip, made the 10' putt. 1-putt par.

More of the same on the back but without the zero-putt holes. Golf is hard and I can't wait to do it again this Sunday morning.

95(49/46) All the sudden I can't hit an iron to save my life. If I'm not hitting the hosel, im pulling it left. My normally reliable woods weren't very reliable. Driver is getting better. My putter was absolutely on fire. I put all but one lag putt within a foot of the hole and a couple went in. Saved me from another over 100 score.

Par on every par 3 hole and two other pars. But a few blow ups mixed in. Just don't have any swing consistency.

3/1/26
Granite Falls South
Par 72 - 69.1/116 - 6401 yards
39/42 - 81

Third straight 81. No birdies, one double, one eagle(275ish yard drive, 3 wood from 245 that rolled just past the back pin and onto the fringe, but only about 18' away. Made the putt ldo. First eagle in over a year I think). Drove the ball great after a Saturday afternoon range session, irons were much better than the last few rounds. My undoing? The 8! 3-putts. Yes, 8 of them. 6 started as birdie putts inside 25'. My speed was awful all day and I couldn't make a 3' putt to save my life. On the back, thru 8 holes I had only missed one green and I was still 5 over...and made par on the hole where I missed the green. My only terrible drive of the day was on 18 and it found the water but I still managed a bogey after a solid approach shot and rare 2-putt.

Putting has never been the best part of my game but only recently has it become a big liability.

Perfect excuse to go drop $300+ on a new putter. PC version 'It's probably the native American and not the arrow' but it'll make you feel better for a couple of weeks.

Ha, it's the newest club in my bag! Bought it new in 2020. I've been thinking about trying a heavier mallet style putter, hoping it'll help keep my hands steadier on shorter putts, but I need a new everything else, too. The putter will have to wait.

this feat shall not stand or pass and deserves additional pennance

may also have something to do with not using a pair of new shoes or a fresh four dozen ball sleeves for practice so you best get some of those as well before trying to succeed again

I hit the range yesterday to try to figure out why my ball striking has been so horrendous. I "thought" I figured something out.

Today's round started like virtually every round lately. Triple, triple. I felt like I couldn't hit anything right. Ended up with a 52 on the front but a par on 9 and my swing feeling a bit better. Turned it completely around on the back and swung as good as ever. 40 on the back which I believe is my best 9 hole score to date. And, all that was with mediocre putting. 12 stroke turnaround. Crazy.