I just don't get it !!!!!!!!!!!!

JimStipp Professional Champion
Go to Last Reply 142 Views 30 Replies 1 Like
Is the game of golf really that difficult to master? I mean, all you have to do is hit that little white ball straight, bag a par and shoot even for the day, how difficult is that? Well, I have been playing for roughly 10 years, and still cannot post a good score. I went for about 2 years without playing and then started playing again and now it is like I have never played before. I have not been able to break 90 for the past 2 years and it is so frustrating that I am ready to give the game up. My stats are as follows: 45 years old. 5'6" tall, 150lbs. Yeah, I am a little guy. My lowest score was a 78 about five years ago and my longest drive was about 295. My average distance with a driver now is 220 to 240 yards and is all over the place. Sometimes dead nuts straight, or a severe left pull and even a big right banana ball slice. My iron shots are just a complete and utter mess. Short irons are sometimes straight at my target, but usually pulled left or pushed right or hit fat and short. I hit so many balls fat and a few thin. My long irons are even worse. All my irons have been cut down 3/4 of inch, lie is standard, mid-size grips. I have no distance with my irons at all. I will hit my 9 iron 125 yards on one shot and then turn around and knock one 135/140 yards. Is age starting to take affect already? I have watched so many videos, read so many articles, listened to so many different swing tips and tried so many different drills that I am adjusting my swing every week to try something else. I cannot get my self to swing down on the ball with my irons so I usually scoop the ball and when I focus on hitting down to hit the ball first and then divot, I hit it fat. I have changed my stance, my grip, my speed swing, spine angle, swing plane, head position and feet alignment. I have changed clubs, balls, tee's and occasionally change my frickin underwear in hopes of some good luck. I have videoed my swing and really don't see anything wrong when I play it back. I guess it is time to go see a PGA pro and take a lesson. I have had people tell me, "man you have a beautiful swing", "O-Really". Then why the hell do I play like an idiot? Am I trying to hard? am I not taking the game serious enough? am I zigging when I should be zagging? "I just don't get it". They say golf is a billion dollar industry, well, I can attest to that for the amount of money I spend on golf balls every other week to replace the ones I lost. I played on Saturday at a course that I have only played once and shot a 92 and thought, man, if I would have just shaved 3 strokes I would have shot an 89. I played Sunday at my favorite course and bagged a "sweet" 106, "Yippie". So now what? I guess I just keep limping along until the day comes that I figure it all out. Here is one scenario that happened on Sunday my favorite course. Hole #1 par 5, 535 yards. Water (lakes) on both sides of fairway. Tee shot was a dead left pull into the left lake, tee up my third shot and "BAM", straight down the middle now sitting 210 out from green. Wait a minute, does that mean I just yacked out a 325 yard drive?, Yeah, okay, yardage must be way off. Shot 4, dog leg right over the right lake (all carry) is a 3 wood straight at the pin, (first time ever that I have made it over with a tee shot and a 2nd shot), but unfortunately that was my 4th shot and I am now about 10 feet from the pin putting for par. Nope, not to be, bagged a bogey. "Love It"
heartotexas Professional Champion
# 1 7/5/2010 11:50:49 AM
I feel your pain. Question with lakes on both sides of the fairway, were they lateral hazards (red staked)? If so, you could have dropped your pull tee shot where it crossed the hazard and been hitting 3 from there instead of hitting three from the tee box again.
cogolfer1 LowIndex
# 2 7/5/2010 11:54:05 AM
Get a golf instructor. I got one thisd past Friday and our first lesson went unbelievably well. I hit sand wedge at the end of the lesson as far as I hit 8 iron at the start. And that's only one lesson. I still have three more to go. I was kinda in the same boat as you. Reading articles, taking lots of advice, many drills, watched videos, but none of that makes a big difference. A teaching pro does though. It's worth the money and the time and I highly recommend doing that.
JimStipp Professional Champion
# 3 7/5/2010 12:10:10 PM
Yes, I could have dropped from the hazard but just like any other macho man, I could not live with the first tee shot so I teed up my 3rd from the tee box and hit my best drive from that hole, just wish it would have been my first tee shot.
MikeNomgi Professional Champion
# 4 7/5/2010 3:49:05 PM
Get a golf instructor. I got one thisd past Friday and our first lesson went unbelievably well. I hit sand wedge at the end of the lesson as far as I hit 8 iron at the start. And that's only one lesson. I still have three more to go. I was kinda in the same boat as you. Reading articles, taking lots of advice, many drills, watched videos, but none of that makes a big difference. A teaching pro does though. It's worth the money and the time and I highly recommend doing that. Wow, that's great Ethan! I remember suggesting you a couple of months ago your goal for the summer should be picking up 20 yds or so per club. Looks like you're going to get there. That will make a big difference when tryouts for the golf team begin. What did your instructor show you to gain the distance? Were you not striking down on the ball properly?
JeremyAZ44 Amateur
# 5 7/5/2010 4:38:39 PM
Like many great endeavors, this sport takes merely a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master.
withers40 LowIndex
# 6 7/5/2010 4:48:33 PM
Definitely take the other guys' advice and get with a pro. If you have one near you, I highly recommend Golf Tec. I went from a 12 to an 8 in about 4 months with them. I only took about 4 or 5 lessons in that time. The things that separate them from others is 1) they put a sensor on your chest and waist to show you exactly the amount of tilt, lean, shoulder turn, and hip turn you have at address and throughout your swing. They also place a video camera behind you on your target line and beside you (facing you). They then record the swing and stop it in various positions to show you what is REALLY happing and, better yet, will put video of a tour pro on the screen next to you to show you what you should look like at that point. Another great feature is that your last swing of each lesson is posted on their website so you can use a password and view the swings, still having the ability to stop them and check postiions to remind yourself what you need to be working on. I can't afford lessons these days, but getting the solid foundation I got from these guys has allowed me to keep my handicap at 8 or 9 for several years playing once a week and hitting balls once a week. I think it's a great system. If you don't have access to Golf Tec near you, I would look for someone who uses similar technology. That's the difference - there's no guessing about what's happening during your swing. You see it in slow motion, stop motion, and with lines drawn at setup so you can see where you're moving off your lines from setup. Good luck, I've been through a time like you described and it sucks. Hope it ends soon, however you do it.
HOGAN418 Professional Champion
# 7 7/5/2010 4:50:33 PM
If you watched Lawrence Taylor take on Jerry Rice in "Trump's Wonderful World Of Golf", Taylor said a line that has stuck with me and could revolutionize your game... he said:"Yeah, Jerry, you play good golf but I know how to win at golf." Best advice: play to win.. play to your stengths.. love the game.. if you don't have fun.. get out of it.. by the way... golf excellence is not about excellent golf... think about these words...
withers40 LowIndex
# 8 7/5/2010 4:53:37 PM
Sorry I have a 1), but not a 2). Should have read through my post before I saved it.
LukeTuzinski Professional Champion
# 9 7/5/2010 5:08:49 PM
maybe you have too much going through your head. maybe you just gotta pull a bagger vance. Bagger Vance: Yep... Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing... Somethin' we was born with... Somethin' that's ours and ours alone... Somethin' that can't be taught to ya or learned... Somethin' that got to be remembered... Over time the world can, rob us of that swing... It get buried inside us under all our wouldas and couldas and shouldas... Some folk even forget what their swing was like... good luck and do not get discouraged.
bill321 Professional Champion
# 10 7/5/2010 5:21:29 PM
Of course it's that difficult to master!!!! That's why there are driving ranges, golf instructors, books and videos. You don't see bicycle ranges, or bicycle instructors, do you? That's because you learn it once and "get it" for the rest of your life. No such thing with golf. If the best players in the world #$@% up, then the masses stand ZERO chance of "mastering' the game. You score in the 90s?!?!? I would kill to score in the 90s on a regular basis. Please don't construe any of this as sarcasm. I am trying to impart on mindset...feel free to discard if you wish. Good grief, enjoy your scores in the 90s...you're better than most people I play with!
cogolfer1 LowIndex
# 11 7/5/2010 5:50:56 PM
Get a golf instructor. I got one thisd past Friday and our first lesson went unbelievably well. I hit sand wedge at the end of the lesson as far as I hit 8 iron at the start. And that's only one lesson. I still have three more to go. I was kinda in the same boat as you. Reading articles, taking lots of advice, many drills, watched videos, but none of that makes a big difference. A teaching pro does though. It's worth the money and the time and I highly recommend doing that. Wow, that's great Ethan! I remember suggesting you a couple of months ago your goal for the summer should be picking up 20 yds or so per club. Looks like you're going to get there. That will make a big difference when tryouts for the golf team begin. What did your instructor show you to gain the distance? Were you not striking down on the ball properly? Hard to explain in writing rather than in pics and videos, but I'll give it a shot. (We only worked on irons in our first lesson). He widened my stance up to the width of my shouldars, shortened my backswing and thus lengthened my follow-through, stopped the hip-turn in my swing, and had me stop my backswing when my left shouldar was under my chin and stretched my arms out as far as possible at that point.
Mark Simmons Legend
# 12 7/5/2010 6:12:20 PM
Jim, do you feel better? Glad you had the chance to vent and lessons are a good idea. When you stop and think about it, what we are trying to do is really amazing. We're trying to hit a little 1.6 inch ball with a stick that we have to hold 3-4 feet away from the ball and a club head that is about 1 inch by 3 inches which we have to swing at 80 to 100 MPH so that in 5 swings or less we can get that little ball into a 4 inch hole over 500 yards away. Pretty amazing!
Mark Simmons Legend
# 13 7/5/2010 6:13:14 PM
...and then people put obstacles in our way just to make things interesting.
JimStipp Professional Champion
# 14 7/5/2010 6:44:05 PM
Yeah, I feel better now that I have vented. I started looking around my area for a good reputable instructor but no luck yet. I have a driving range just down the road that I visit frequently where they offer lessons for $40 a half hour. I have seen the way they do there personal lessons and it is by far a PGA professional lesson. I need a lot more than just 30 minutes of someone telling me what I should be doing. I will make a few calls tomorrow to see what i can come up with. Now here is my next question. What makes a notable professional instructor? A peace of paper acknowledging someone a PGA pro is not enough in my book. If anyone knows of an outstanding instructor around the Port Huron, MI or surrounding area, then please let me know.
heartotexas Professional Champion
# 15 7/5/2010 6:47:43 PM
Get with a good instructor/pro and quit trying to do everything you read on here or in Golf Digest. Every swing/golf skill is individual. Let a pro evaluate you and help you work on specific things with where you are now.

Professional Champion

142 Views 30 Replies 1 Like

Is the game of golf really that difficult to master? I mean, all you have to do is hit that little white ball straight, bag a par and shoot even for the day, how difficult is that? Well, I have been playing for roughly 10 years, and still cannot post a good score. I went for about 2 years without playing and then started playing again and now it is like I have never played before. I have not been able to break 90 for the past 2 years and it is so frustrating that I am ready to give the game up.

My stats are as follows: 45 years old. 5'6" tall, 150lbs. Yeah, I am a little guy. My lowest score was a 78 about five years ago and my longest drive was about 295. My average distance with a driver now is 220 to 240 yards and is all over the place. Sometimes dead nuts straight, or a severe left pull and even a big right banana ball slice. My iron shots are just a complete and utter mess. Short irons are sometimes straight at my target, but usually pulled left or pushed right or hit fat and short. I hit so many balls fat and a few thin. My long irons are even worse. All my irons have been cut down 3/4 of inch, lie is standard, mid-size grips. I have no distance with my irons at all. I will hit my 9 iron 125 yards on one shot and then turn around and knock one 135/140 yards. Is age starting to take affect already?

I have watched so many videos, read so many articles, listened to so many different swing tips and tried so many different drills that I am adjusting my swing every week to try something else. I cannot get my self to swing down on the ball with my irons so I usually scoop the ball and when I focus on hitting down to hit the ball first and then divot, I hit it fat.

I have changed my stance, my grip, my speed swing, spine angle, swing plane, head position and feet alignment. I have changed clubs, balls, tee's and occasionally change my frickin underwear in hopes of some good luck. I have videoed my swing and really don't see anything wrong when I play it back. I guess it is time to go see a PGA pro and take a lesson.

I have had people tell me, "man you have a beautiful swing", "O-Really". Then why the hell do I play like an idiot? Am I trying to hard? am I not taking the game serious enough? am I zigging when I should be zagging? "I just don't get it".

They say golf is a billion dollar industry, well, I can attest to that for the amount of money I spend on golf balls every other week to replace the ones I lost. I played on Saturday at a course that I have only played once and shot a 92 and thought, man, if I would have just shaved 3 strokes I would have shot an 89. I played Sunday at my favorite course and bagged a "sweet" 106, "Yippie".

So now what? I guess I just keep limping along until the day comes that I figure it all out.

Here is one scenario that happened on Sunday my favorite course. Hole #1 par 5, 535 yards. Water (lakes) on both sides of fairway. Tee shot was a dead left pull into the left lake, tee up my third shot and "BAM", straight down the middle now sitting 210 out from green. Wait a minute, does that mean I just yacked out a 325 yard drive?, Yeah, okay, yardage must be way off. Shot 4, dog leg right over the right lake (all carry) is a 3 wood straight at the pin, (first time ever that I have made it over with a tee shot and a 2nd shot), but unfortunately that was my 4th shot and I am now about 10 feet from the pin putting for par. Nope, not to be, bagged a bogey. "Love It"

heartotexas

Professional Champion

# 1 7/5/2010 11:50:49 AM

I feel your pain.
Question with lakes on both sides of the fairway, were they lateral hazards (red staked)? If so, you could have dropped your pull tee shot where it crossed the hazard and been hitting 3 from there instead of hitting three from the tee box again.

cogolfer1

LowIndex

# 2 7/5/2010 11:54:05 AM

Get a golf instructor. I got one thisd past Friday and our first lesson went unbelievably well. I hit sand wedge at the end of the lesson as far as I hit 8 iron at the start. And that's only one lesson. I still have three more to go. I was kinda in the same boat as you. Reading articles, taking lots of advice, many drills, watched videos, but none of that makes a big difference. A teaching pro does though. It's worth the money and the time and I highly recommend doing that.

JimStipp

Professional Champion

# 3 7/5/2010 12:10:10 PM

Yes, I could have dropped from the hazard but just like any other macho man, I could not live with the first tee shot so I teed up my 3rd from the tee box and hit my best drive from that hole, just wish it would have been my first tee shot.

MikeNomgi

Professional Champion

# 4 7/5/2010 3:49:05 PM

Get a golf instructor. I got one thisd past Friday and our first lesson went unbelievably well. I hit sand wedge at the end of the lesson as far as I hit 8 iron at the start. And that's only one lesson. I still have three more to go. I was kinda in the same boat as you. Reading articles, taking lots of advice, many drills, watched videos, but none of that makes a big difference. A teaching pro does though. It's worth the money and the time and I highly recommend doing that.

Wow, that's great Ethan! I remember suggesting you a couple of months ago your goal for the summer should be picking up 20 yds or so per club. Looks like you're going to get there. That will make a big difference when tryouts for the golf team begin.

What did your instructor show you to gain the distance? Were you not striking down on the ball properly?

JeremyAZ44

Amateur

# 5 7/5/2010 4:38:39 PM

Like many great endeavors, this sport takes merely a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master.

withers40

LowIndex

# 6 7/5/2010 4:48:33 PM

Definitely take the other guys' advice and get with a pro. If you have one near you, I highly recommend Golf Tec. I went from a 12 to an 8 in about 4 months with them. I only took about 4 or 5 lessons in that time. The things that separate them from others is 1) they put a sensor on your chest and waist to show you exactly the amount of tilt, lean, shoulder turn, and hip turn you have at address and throughout your swing. They also place a video camera behind you on your target line and beside you (facing you). They then record the swing and stop it in various positions to show you what is REALLY happing and, better yet, will put video of a tour pro on the screen next to you to show you what you should look like at that point. Another great feature is that your last swing of each lesson is posted on their website so you can use a password and view the swings, still having the ability to stop them and check postiions to remind yourself what you need to be working on. I can't afford lessons these days, but getting the solid foundation I got from these guys has allowed me to keep my handicap at 8 or 9 for several years playing once a week and hitting balls once a week. I think it's a great system. If you don't have access to Golf Tec near you, I would look for someone who uses similar technology. That's the difference - there's no guessing about what's happening during your swing. You see it in slow motion, stop motion, and with lines drawn at setup so you can see where you're moving off your lines from setup. Good luck, I've been through a time like you described and it sucks. Hope it ends soon, however you do it.

HOGAN418

Professional Champion

# 7 7/5/2010 4:50:33 PM

If you watched Lawrence Taylor take on Jerry Rice in "Trump's Wonderful World Of Golf", Taylor said a line that has stuck with me and could revolutionize your game... he said:"Yeah, Jerry, you play good golf but I know how to win at golf." Best advice: play to win.. play to your stengths.. love the game.. if you don't have fun.. get out of it.. by the way... golf excellence is not about excellent golf... think about these words...

withers40

LowIndex

# 8 7/5/2010 4:53:37 PM

Sorry I have a 1), but not a 2). Should have read through my post before I saved it.

LukeTuzinski

Professional Champion

# 9 7/5/2010 5:08:49 PM

maybe you have too much going through your head. maybe you just gotta pull a bagger vance.

Bagger Vance: Yep... Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing... Somethin' we was born with... Somethin' that's ours and ours alone... Somethin' that can't be taught to ya or learned... Somethin' that got to be remembered... Over time the world can, rob us of that swing... It get buried inside us under all our wouldas and couldas and shouldas... Some folk even forget what their swing was like...

good luck and do not get discouraged.

bill321

Professional Champion

# 10 7/5/2010 5:21:29 PM

Of course it's that difficult to master!!!! That's why there are driving ranges, golf instructors, books and videos. You don't see bicycle ranges, or bicycle instructors, do you? That's because you learn it once and "get it" for the rest of your life. No such thing with golf. If the best players in the world #$@% up, then the masses stand ZERO chance of "mastering' the game. You score in the 90s?!?!? I would kill to score in the 90s on a regular basis. Please don't construe any of this as sarcasm. I am trying to impart on mindset...feel free to discard if you wish. Good grief, enjoy your scores in the 90s...you're better than most people I play with!

cogolfer1

LowIndex

# 11 7/5/2010 5:50:56 PM

Get a golf instructor. I got one thisd past Friday and our first lesson went unbelievably well. I hit sand wedge at the end of the lesson as far as I hit 8 iron at the start. And that's only one lesson. I still have three more to go. I was kinda in the same boat as you. Reading articles, taking lots of advice, many drills, watched videos, but none of that makes a big difference. A teaching pro does though. It's worth the money and the time and I highly recommend doing that.

Wow, that's great Ethan! I remember suggesting you a couple of months ago your goal for the summer should be picking up 20 yds or so per club. Looks like you're going to get there. That will make a big difference when tryouts for the golf team begin.

What did your instructor show you to gain the distance? Were you not striking down on the ball properly?

Hard to explain in writing rather than in pics and videos, but I'll give it a shot. (We only worked on irons in our first lesson). He widened my stance up to the width of my shouldars, shortened my backswing and thus lengthened my follow-through, stopped the hip-turn in my swing, and had me stop my backswing when my left shouldar was under my chin and stretched my arms out as far as possible at that point.

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 12 7/5/2010 6:12:20 PM

Jim, do you feel better? Glad you had the chance to vent and lessons are a good idea.

When you stop and think about it, what we are trying to do is really amazing.

We're trying to hit a little 1.6 inch ball with a stick that we have to hold 3-4 feet away from the ball and a club head that is about 1 inch by 3 inches which we have to swing at 80 to 100 MPH so that in 5 swings or less we can get that little ball into a 4 inch hole over 500 yards away.

Pretty amazing!

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 13 7/5/2010 6:13:14 PM

...and then people put obstacles in our way just to make things interesting.

JimStipp

Professional Champion

# 14 7/5/2010 6:44:05 PM

Yeah, I feel better now that I have vented. I started looking around my area for a good reputable instructor but no luck yet. I have a driving range just down the road that I visit frequently where they offer lessons for $40 a half hour. I have seen the way they do there personal lessons and it is by far a PGA professional lesson. I need a lot more than just 30 minutes of someone telling me what I should be doing. I will make a few calls tomorrow to see what i can come up with.

Now here is my next question. What makes a notable professional instructor? A peace of paper acknowledging someone a PGA pro is not enough in my book. If anyone knows of an outstanding instructor around the Port Huron, MI or surrounding area, then please let me know.

heartotexas

Professional Champion

# 15 7/5/2010 6:47:43 PM

Get with a good instructor/pro and quit trying to do everything you read on here or in Golf Digest. Every swing/golf skill is individual. Let a pro evaluate you and help you work on specific things with where you are now.

COMMUNITY