Love Golf?

[Inkleg]

but I am guessing it'll get at least 10 yards deeper into the woods than the one I have now.

Thanks pp I needed that laugh this morning.

 

[benco]

Hit four shots and play best? Idk.

I like a reverse scramble. Play the worst ball.

You hit two shots from everywhere and play the best, unless you like your first shot. It feels like you played 36 holes.

 

[doug293cz]

Hit four shots and play best? Idk.

I like a reverse scramble. Play the worst ball.

First one kind of makes sense.

Brew on

 

[applescrap]

First one kind of makes sense.

Brew on

Haha, no doubt.

I think that this would be great practice in general. The idea being learning how to be the second guy the first time. I have heard that is the title of a golf book. I think that title is the whole lesson.

 

[SailorJerry]

The king sue and golf, heaven to me.

It'd be way better if they had it, or any relatively decent beer, at our local golf course. We drink busch light and whiskey while we're there....best options available.

 

[applescrap]

We have some selection, but in a rush, now that beer is sold in gas stations, I will stop right on way at 7 eleven and get 2 for 3 voodoo ranger and lagunitas ipa. They have had deschutes fresh squeezed ipa in can at course so that is pretty good. But a good beer like that on a nice fall evening, doesn't get any better to me. I used to play in the fall in Vail every year, man I miss that, inlaws sold place.

 

[applescrap]

Ugh, not getting out much, need to practice indoors.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Golf P0rn: 119yds Sand Wedge. Ball mark! Two bounces and zzzzzip!!!!!!! That pin was on a high table top position. One of those times where I would have liked to watch a shot at the green

I like playing Titleist balls but I found a Callaway Chrome Soft and I get so much spin on them even with very soft greens. I don't like the feel of them ball

 

[BruceH]

Ugh, not getting out much, need to practice indoors.

I haven't been out in 4 weeks. Old man problems, hip hurts like hell and locks up, then it's fine, then it starts all over again. Last time I was out I parred the first 4 holes. Then the hip didn't want to cooperate and I ended up throwing the card away on 14. I did manage to power through the round but it wasn't my best decision...

 

[SailorJerry]

Played yesterday with my wife and another couple who arent big golfers. Terrible pace of play, ended up playing 4 person best shot for ***** and giggles.

Driver was terrible, but my short irons and chipping were pretty dang good. It is awesome when I can confidently swing a 7 iron to a 56 degree. Makes golf a bit more fun.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Ever thought about only playing 7i-56deg? Keep saying I'll do that but ego gets the best of me.

Played yesterday with my wife and another couple who arent big golfers. Terrible pace of play, ended up playing 4 person best shot for poopys and giggles.

Driver was terrible, but my short irons and chipping were pretty dang good. It is awesome when I can confidently swing a 7 iron to a 56 degree. Makes golf a bit more fun.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

Speaking of slow play, a friend (who has since passed) was THE slowest golfer ever once he got to his ball. Not only the diddling around with club selection and so on, but once he addressed the ball, he'd stand over it literally--and I timed it so this is no bull--for 30 seconds before he'd pull the trigger. It was excruciating. What is always a mystery to me is when hacker-types act like Jack Nicklaus, doing all this different pre-shot BS, only to hit another lousy shot. They'd be better off to just go up and hit the darned thing.

******

I've returned to golf this year after a 5-year hiatus related to back surgery and back issues. I'd done a lot of core stuff to try to manage the pain, realized things had gotten a lot better, and decided to try golfing again.

I've come back about 90 percent of the way to where I was. But one thing keeps killing me: I can't break 80. Shot 80 last Sunday; shot 80 on Tuesday.

All the shots are there. The short game has returned, and I figured out I was gripping the club too tightly, inhibiting release. Loosened that up, and my iron distances are the same they used to be, and the driver picked up 25 yards.

Each time I seem to have this stretch of 3-4 holes over which I'm something like 5 or 6 over. That's mental, and the good thing about that is the mental game is the most readily fixed. I just need to do it.

I’m interested in the core things you did to manage the pain. I’ve got a partially herniated disc that’s bad enough it’s not healing but not bad enough for surgery. I’ve only played twice this year, last year I played weekly if not more. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[passedpawn]

I’m interested in the core things you did to manage the pain. I’ve got a partially herniated disc that’s bad enough it’s not healing but not bad enough for surgery. I’ve only played twice this year, last year I played weekly if not more. Any help would be appreciated.

They don’t ever heal. You’ll have better days, but you’ll always have bad days too. Sorry to bearer of bad news.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

They don’t ever heal. You’ll have better days, but you’ll always have bad days too. Sorry to bearer of bad news.

I did the burnt nerve endings treatment a month ago. Felt good for about a month, but I’ve started using it a lot more lately (plumbing a bathroom for my sister) and am dang sore lately. So it never heals on its own?

 

[passedpawn]

I did the burnt nerve endings treatment a month ago. Felt good for about a month, but I’ve started using it a lot more lately (plumbing a bathroom for my sister) and am dang sore lately. So it never heals on its own?

Afraid not. Sad I know. Lift with legs, don’t overdo it, 2 Alieve with your coffee.

 

[BruceH]

I’m interested in the core things you did to manage the pain. I’ve got a partially herniated disc that’s bad enough it’s not healing but not bad enough for surgery. I’ve only played twice this year, last year I played weekly if not more. Any help would be appreciated.

The easy answer is to make 1/2 swings. Usually the ball goes higher and farther with a partial swing, at least in my case, lol. Limit the back swing and try to not rush the rest but keep the hands and hips involved.

 

[BruceH]

I did the burnt nerve endings treatment a month ago. Felt good for about a month, but I’ve started using it a lot more lately (plumbing a bathroom for my sister) and am dang sore lately. So it never heals on its own?

I've had nerve ablation done 2 times on 3 cervical (neck) nerve roots. It worked about 60% the first time and not so much the second time. The nerves grow back and sometimes on a different path than they were on to start.

Welcome to the start of over using your body and old age. The older I get the more things hurt.

You can try to ignore the pain and play through it. You can accept that there will be pain after doing something you like. Or you can stop all activities that cause pain.

I've chosen to accept that there will be a price to pay for playing golf. I can't just sit around and watch tv. It drives me crazy. And, I really like it when I string a few shots together for a few holes. YMMV.

 

[applescrap]

I’m interested in the core things you did to manage the pain. I’ve got a partially herniated disc that’s bad enough it’s not healing but not bad enough for surgery. I’ve only played twice this year, last year I played weekly if not more. Any help would be appreciated.

i know you didnt ask me but I have an l4 l5 herniation with serious spinal stenosis whatever the hell all that means. I guess because of the stenosis I cant have surgery because it will make it worse. I suffered. Then suffered some more. Then a little more. Well and a little more after that, then I took 2 months off. Now I only play once a week because I know it will hurt me. This summer, I found advil and two a day especially when playing keeps the swelling down which dings my nerve. Salonpas the bigger more expensive lidocaine patches work well as does ice. Best of luck, sucks man. Stretching helped too. Seriously slonpas works.

 

[mongoose33]

I’m interested in the core things you did to manage the pain. I’ve got a partially herniated disc that’s bad enough it’s not healing but not bad enough for surgery. I’ve only played twice this year, last year I played weekly if not more. Any help would be appreciated.

The usual disclaimers: I'm not a medical doctor, and I don't play one on TV. I can only tell you what i did and what happened.

My back surgeon tells me that a certain amount of discomfort will likely always be there--it's arthritis.

Different people have different postures that are pain-relieving and pain-inducing. Some people can't sit; in my case, standing is more difficult--sitting takes the pressure off.

I'd been doing some exercises that a PT had given me. The two that seem to really matter are, in both cases lying on my back: the first is where I draw my knees, one at a time, up to my chest and hold for 30 seconds. That loosens up the back, and that's part of what I think helps.

The other is pressing the small of my back down on the floor, so if you had a thin handkerchief between the small of my back and the floor, you couldn't pull it out. Pressing the small of the back to the floor for any extended period is HARD, at least for me (and I gather, others too). So, I lift my legs off the ground in a bent-knee posture and bicycle, all the while keeping the small of my back pressed against the floor.

It's really hard. But a funny thing happened over time: whereas a 10-minute wait in a line was painful, suddenly I stopped thinking about it. I'd been doing this exercise for 90 seconds (that's HARD to do), and started to run it up to 2 minutes. I can feel the joints in my lower back working when I do this--in fact, one of the recommedations to reduce pain from arthritis is to be active, and I believe this helps.

My biggest problem golfing was holding posture during the swing. I could get to 13, maybe 14 holes and do fine, but the back eventually said "enough!" and I couldn't hold posture. Either I'd stand up during the swing, or I'd speed up the swing--neither is a recipe for a good result.

More recently, with the help of two Aleve, I've been able to make it through 18 holes with virtually no pain. I can feel the back tire, but it's not usually a pain thing. I just need to remember to swing easy, and it all works fairly well.

You'll note that this didn't solve the problem--it only allows me to manage it. I've learned also that my warmups can't be devoted to working on some aspect of the game. Instead, I need to loosen up, and allow practice from other days to take over.

I'm a believer you can't meaningfully practice before a round. All you can do is find out what you've got, and maybe develop some feel for some of the touch shots. So my warmup is trying to get where I can hit good shots, then I stop.

EDITED to ADD: The basic idea here, not expressed all that clearly before, is that I probably only have "X" number of good swings in me during any round of golf. The more of those swings I use up prior to the round, "practicing" or warming up, the fewer remain to be used during the round. So warmup is just that, and not wasting any shots I'll need late in the round.

A typical warmup will have me first, stretching. This, btw, for me is crucial. Then I'll swing a weighted club a dozen times or so, enough to get the sinews warmed up. Then I'll hit maybe 10 wedges from 70 yards to a practice green, trying to dial in the feel of a good wedge approach shot. Then it's hitting some shots around the green, about 10 low chips, about 10 longer-in-the-air chips with my 60-degree wedge, and I'll finish with 4 or 5 shots from the rough around the green with my 60-degree wedge, trying to get the ball out and on the green. Then to the big range. A half dozen pitching wedges, maybe 8 or 9 7-irons, then something with the woods. Maybe a dozen with those at most.

All this is designed to warm me up, but also see what kind of feel I have that day. Then it's to the practice green where I hit putts from one side of the green to the other, trying to get a feel for speed.

******

Your warmups have to be what works for you--mine might, might not. A bulging disc is an issue. I have a partial bulge on my right side, and a couple times it's been debilitating (forget golf, in other words). My chiropractor showed me how to put it back, and it's counterintuitive. The bulge is on the right side. I put hands on hips, lean backwards, then slowly to the right. The idea is to squeeze it back. Oddly, it tends to work.

******

Walking is out of the question for me, so it's riding in a cart. Here's something else I discovered: if I'm not driving the cart and I have Mario Andretti as my cart partner, we're over bumps and stuff that just tends to compress my spine. I would rather drive--I can hold onto the wheel, and I don't hit near as many hard bumps.

******

Above i noted I hadn't been able to break 80. Finally did it a week ago, shot a 79. Needed a par on the 18th, one of the 3 or 4 hardest holes on the course. I knew exactly where i was with score on the last hole. Pulled my approach to the left of the green, a tough shot to a close pin. I got the shot to about 8 feet which, considering, was a pretty decent shot.

So I was facing an 8-foot right to left putt. Knocked that thing right into the hole for a 79.

*****

I was feeling pretty cocky after the 79, decided to play the next day. Normally I play the white tees, played with some different guys and we decided to play the blues. A good test for me.

On the front, I was two over--had back-to-back birdies on 6 and 7, even when bogeying a hole, it wasn't a terrible hole. Hit a few tremendous shots, on the 507 yard #6, driver, 3-wood, 60-yard wedge to a foot. Looked like I knew what I was doing.

But then, the back nine--which is a pun, because my back decided maybe it had had enough golf in the preceding 30 hours. I only made a single par on the back nine, shot an 83. C'est la vie.

So I either need even more core exercises plus golf to strengthen the back further....or I need to avoid trying 18 holes two days in a row.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

Long story short I made it out today for 18 holes. Advil liquid gels an icy hot patch a whole lot of stretching and warming up now I’m home and icing down. Thanks all.

 

[mongoose33]

Long story short I made it out today for 18 holes. Advil liquid gels an icy hot patch a whole lot of stretching and warming up now I’m home and icing down. Thanks all. View attachment 641858

Those liquid gels are the nuts for me. I use the generic, but they act more quickly than the hard tablets, and last enough through the round to help me enjoy it.

 

[applescrap]

Played 9 last week and 9 today in a few. Didnt see the upside last week of my good shots and hit to many bad shots, one of the worst in years.

 

[applescrap]

Doh,

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Here's a shot from yesterday. Always Beautiful weather when a hurricane misses you. Bit breezy but nice

 

[applescrap]

No game again. Basically in a slump. It's been years so not to upset. It's the driver. Foul up the driver too much and double is all but certain. I think I know what I am doing wrong, but ultimately I just need to play more. Not playing much.

 

[passedpawn]

I played last wkend. Had one of my best games ever. Not a single disaster hole, but lots of bogs and dbl-bogs. My new birthday driver seemed to be fine.

Unfortunately, I fouled up my scorecard. I often use Hole 19 app on my iPhone - it's a great app for golf. But I always mess up by forgetting to score a hole or two, and by the end I can't reconstruct my round the score is lost. I think I have to stick to paper and pencil.

 

[murphyslaw]

I've been playing poorly lately, but theres still no better way to spend a Sunday morning.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

 

[applescrap]

Haha that led to the one where he takes the 5 wood from the casket too. Funny.

 

[applescrap]

Been through some ups and downs lately. Thought I was headed towards a major slump, but found a little key and have been riding it. Started spanking it good. But lots of 3putts and careless other stuff. Hit this one from 192. They decorated some pins.