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Official OGBoards Golf Thread

After playing horrible, but putting decently in 3 straight competitive rounds (all bad scores), I hit 15 greens in wet/windy conditions on Saturday.

Of course I had three 3 putts, and could not make a birdie putt. I literally had the long putt speed yips, and could not get a 20+ foot putt within 5 feet of the hole - some long, some short. What's the cure for that?
 
I went to the Justin Rose version of the claw grip last year and it has made a world of difference. Takes the right hand, the source of most yips, out of the stroke.
 
It was so odd. I only missed like 2 putts inside 7-8 feet, but could not lag a 25-40 footer within 4 feet of the hole. Knocked one 40 footer like 15 feet by.
 
I had two nice sandys on Sat. One was a 40 foot putt after being short-sided with the green sloping away. The other was from a bunker that is about 15 below an elevated green. I will be so sad to see this season end. Playing my best golf by far. Every time I enter a score my index goes down. Down over 4 points for the year.
 
Also will be sad to the season go. I have the same problem with the long range putting. I feel like i am a good putter on the 8-15 footers, and probably make the appropriate percentage of those if not more. Once I get into the 25 foot plus lag range I just have a hard time getting it to be a tap in. It's unsettling feeling that way.
 
Folks here using rangefinders? Anyone use GPS watches or things that attach to the cart or bag?

I can obviously look up reviews but always enjoy anecdotal evidence/research too
 
DeacHawk said:
Folks here using rangefinders? Anyone use GPS watches or things that attach to the cart or bag?

I can obviously look up reviews but always enjoy anecdotal evidence/research too
Click to expand...

Yep. I use a manual Bushnell range finder. Have for about 2-3 years...can't really imagine playing without one at this point.
 
My groomsmen bought me one with slope before my bachelor party last year. It's awesome
 
DeacHawk said:
Folks here using rangefinders? Anyone use GPS watches or things that attach to the cart or bag?

I can obviously look up reviews but always enjoy anecdotal evidence/research too
Click to expand...

I typically play with the Garmin S60. I love it. It shows the outline of the hole and has a black line showing where I typically drive the ball. So I can tell on the tee whether I can carry a bunker, reach the water, etc. It always gives front/middle/back readings which is all I need. I'm not dialed in with my irons to the single yard. It's also a watch, podometer, etc. Which is cool.
 
I have used a Bushnell for the past three seasons—found it relatively cheap online when the newer switch slope version came out. Can’t imagine playing without it now. Definitely worth it.
 
I'm in the middle of my long-awaited Scotland golf trip! Having a great time. Staying at the Trump Turnberry hotel! Played at Royal Troon the first day. The wind was blowing 25-30 mph with higher gusts and it rained off and on. A true Scottish experience. It was the hardest round of golf I have ever played. The fairways are pretty narrow and the winds were almost all cross-ways - it was almost impossible to keep the ball on the fairway and the rough was so penal! And the bunkers, of course. I shot like 85 and I carry a 1.5 index. I didn't play well but it is so hard to concentrate with that wind in your ears.
The course was great - the clubhouse, the setting - it was a real experience. The greens are slowish but they have to keep them that way with the wind. They rolled true, though.

Played Prestwick yesterday. It was very different - very old, very quirky, but very, very fun. Lots of blind shots, including a totally blind par 3. The caddies there were the best - so funny! And helpful. The wind was blowing a gale again and we had a little rain off and on. But the wind was mostly into you or behind you, not across. The first few holes and the last few are the originals and they are super interesting - very different from anything I have ever played. I loved it. I played much better and shot 73.

Today we played the Turnberry Ailsa course. I can't even tell you how awesome it was. We had rain and the hardest wind yet on the front nine. It was easily the hardest nine I have ever played. I actually hit the ball well and was +7 at the turn. The ball just disappears in the rough and if you can find it, it is so hard to hit out! Everyone in our group was unanimous that this is the most beautiful course we have ever played. I ended up even par on the back nine - the wind settled down a bit and I played much better. I rolled in a 40 footer from off the green on 18 for a birdie and it was probably the highlight of my golfing life!
Playing #9 across the bay to the lighthouse, stopping for a beer at the lighthouse halfway house, then playing 10 and 11 along the water - has to be the best stretch of golfing experience anywhere!
 
scooter84 said:
I'm in the middle of my long-awaited Scotland golf trip! Having a great time. Staying at the Trump Turnberry hotel! Played at Royal Troon the first day. The wind was blowing 25-30 mph with higher gusts and it rained off and on. A true Scottish experience. It was the hardest round of golf I have ever played. The fairways are pretty narrow and the winds were almost all cross-ways - it was almost impossible to keep the ball on the fairway and the rough was so penal! And the bunkers, of course. I shot like 85 and I carry a 1.5 index. I didn't play well but it is so hard to concentrate with that wind in your ears.
The course was great - the clubhouse, the setting - it was a real experience. The greens are slowish but they have to keep them that way with the wind. They rolled true, though.

Played Prestwick yesterday. It was very different - very old, very quirky, but very, very fun. Lots of blind shots, including a totally blind par 3. The caddies there were the best - so funny! And helpful. The wind was blowing a gale again and we had a little rain off and on. But the wind was mostly into you or behind you, not across. The first few holes and the last few are the originals and they are super interesting - very different from anything I have ever played. I loved it. I played much better and shot 73.

Today we played the Turnberry Ailsa course. I can't even tell you how awesome it was. We had rain and the hardest wind yet on the front nine. It was easily the hardest nine I have ever played. I actually hit the ball well and was +7 at the turn. The ball just disappears in the rough and if you can find it, it is so hard to hit out! Everyone in our group was unanimous that this is the most beautiful course we have ever played. I ended up even par on the back nine - the wind settled down a bit and I played much better. I rolled in a 40 footer from off the green on 18 for a birdie and it was probably the highlight of my golfing life!
Playing #9 across the bay to the lighthouse, stopping for a beer at the lighthouse halfway house, then playing 10 and 11 along the water - has to be the best stretch of golfing experience anywhere!
Click to expand...

So cool you got a chance to enjoy Scotland golf. I stayed at Turnberry and played Ailsa last year. A must do for any golfer.
 
More Scotland stories. The last day at the Turnberry resort with did a tour at the Culzean Castle nearby. Some interesting history and a beautiful setting. We also toured a Scotch distillery. That was interesting but most of the group felt like it was a little bit of a waste of time. We did get to taste some different kinds of Scotch but it was a bout an hour drive so that was annoying.

We got back to the resort at like 3:30 pm and we all decided to go play another round on the Ailsa course. We managed to get in about 16 holes before it got too dark. Another great experience on what might be the most beautiful course in the world. After the rest of my trip, though, I can't say it is my favorite - the rough just makes it too hard to find your ball, making it less enjoyable and more frustrating. Everything after the first cut (10-20') is only mown one time in the spring and just allowed to grow the rest of the year. I made 3 birdies so that was fun.
 
Our tour guide offered us guaranteed tee times at the Old Course at St. Andrews for 1000 pound sterling (over $1200). I said no thanks but 8 people in our group did it - leaving 5 of us wanting to play it. He put us in the ballot to play the same day they were playing (the day we arrived there by bus) but we did not get in (you find out 2 days in advance). The tour operator kept acting like there was no way we would get on otherwise.

We arrived at the Old Course Hotel around 11:00 am on a Monday. I immediately went to the starter pavilion and put my name on the list by 11:30am. The people there are super, super nice. But they told me my chances were slim and none. I was number 31 on the list (last). Some of those people had gotten on, but most had not. I left to get lunch and do some putting etc. I came back at 2:30. I talked to a guy that had been there since 5:30 am - he was #23 on the list and was losing hope.

One frustrating thing is the fact that R&A members don't have to allow people off the list to join them. They are always asked but they can say no. While I was watching a saw one twosome and 2 threesomes go off - while people are sitting there dying to play.. Ugh!

Anyway, about 2:50 the lady running the list called a couple of names and this older couple came up - very excited they were getting on. Then she called another name - and it was the guy I had been talking to. He was getting on and was super excited. Then she started calling names on the list after his. She would call them and if no one responded she would move on - giving them about 5 seconds. I watched as she kept going down the list.. no response, no response, no response... And then she called my name! What?! I was getting on. I asked her to make sure and she said yes, you're on the tee in 5 minutes....! I slammed the desk and shouted "no way"! I couldn't believe it.

I teed off at 3:00pm with a caddie. This is already too long so I won't recount my round. Suffice it to say it was the highlight of my golfing life so far. Even though the wind was blowing so hard they would never play a tournament - the ball wouldn't even sit on the green! But at least it didn't rain. We played pretty short tees (I think maybe 6300?) - I could have played one tee back with my handicap but in that wind, why bother? And it only added about 300 yards.

My caddie was the best I have ever had - we were a legitimate team! I hit the ball the best I did all week. I hit 14 greens in regulation (legitimately - not counting if I hit the other side of a double green). I 3 putted 5 times (4 out of the first 8 holes), including for par on one par 5 - mostly because of the wind - you couldn't think or hear or even stand still. I shot +4 and was ecstatic. I was never in a bunker all day - my caddie helped tremendously there!

I hit a great drive over the hotel on 17 (the road hole) and the best 6 iron (maybe it was a 7?) of my life, cutting it into a right-to-left cross wind to about 10 feet. I literally got chills as that ball settled on the green. Of course I left the putt 2 inches short, dead in the heart! The only birdie I made was on #9, a short par 4 playing downwind where I drove the green.

Standing on the Swilcan bridge and playing up 18 to an uneventful par was totally surreal! And, it only cost me 190 pounds instead of 1000!
 
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Another guy in our group got in line that night at 2:00am - he was #9 or 10 on the list. He got a tee time at 1:20 pm. That day we were playing at Crail, so he had to miss that round.

Another guy went over before we left for Crail (like 7:30 am) and put his name on the list (he was #33). If you tell them you are going to play another course they will hold your place on the list while you are gone. He went back about 3:15 after we were back from Crail, and checked in. They said "oh, hey, welcome back"- they called the starter to check and said "you are on the tee!" He had about 3 minutes to get ready. He played with a member who was really nice and helped guide him around the course all day (he did not get a caddy). His tee time was the first one in what they call "dark time" - times where you are not guaranteed to get all 18 in - so it only cost him 150 pounds. And they finished with ease.
 
Great stuff! You can almost always get on if you're willing to wait it out at the hut. They are notoriously quick to skip over people who don't respond right away.
 
I entered the lottery for the Old Course again this year. Win or lose I'm deep into planning another trip over for next July.
 
Awesome stuff. I tagged along with my dad on a business trip when I was younger and he was staying at what is now the Fairmont. My dad hated golf and was there to do lawyer stuff, I just wandered around trying to play golf on the cheap. I think I got to the shack at 5am with my handicap card begging to find a spot for me (and at some kind of student rate, although none existed). I got called up around 1pm and they charged me 40 pounds. I couldn't afford a caddie, but I got paired with one who happened to be playing and gave the thumbs up for a single to join him and his buddy. I had a 2 iron I was just killing at the time and I got lucky missing most of the fairway bunkers. We got some wind and a little rain through the middle of the round, the caddie/player guy helped me out a bunch, and I shot 1 under (thanks to getting up and down from the road hole bunker). Only bummer from the round - when we came up 18 the sun was peaking through the clouds around sunset, got a pic of myself on the Swilcan bridge that the 3rd guy took, swore up and down he'd send it to me... and never did. Awesome week anyway.
 
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