Had my first game of golf yesterday

[Risky Business]

Sounds like bay view signature

Ha, It does. I have no money Bayview if you're seeking copyright compensation.

I once caddied for Jeff Dujon the west indian cricketer as a young kid. I was getting $20 a round. He asked me how the greens were playing. I said 'If you hit it on the green it will roll'.

He looked at me with a blank and unimpressed look. My thoughts at the time were that you get what you pay for. The tournament was sponsored by Schweppes. I've never drunk so much soft drink. Ahh. To have responsibilities and priorities of a kid again.

 

[BayView]

Ha, It does. I have no money Bayview if you're seeking copyright compensation.

I once caddied for Jeff Dujon the west indian cricketer as a young kid. I was getting $20 a round. He asked me how the greens were playing. I said 'If you hit it on the green it will roll'.

He looked at me with a blank and unimpressed look. My thoughts at the time were that you get what you pay for. The tournament was sponsored by Schweppes. I've never drunk so much soft drink. Ahh. To have responsibilities and priorities of a kid again.

I played at a golf club call Brentwood in L.A...very, very expensive and exclusive club.

If you play in a group of 4, it is compulsory to have a caddie/s.

The blokes I played with there always used the same guy - a Mexican dude about 50 years old.

He caddied for all 4 of us (we were on carts and he did all the bunker raking, read the greens, selected the clubs etc). He was brilliant.

It was a given that these guys were paid $40 per player....plus tips.

 

[Colin Rice]

Been playing golf since the age of five. Havent had a hit in a while though.

If approached correctly can teach you a lot about yourself and life in general.

Its very therapeutic.

 

[MarkB]

Its very therapeutic.

True.

But I have also heard golf described as "a good walk ruined"

and, of taking up the game....

"If you wanted to cause pain to yourself it would be cheaper and more effective to buy a whip".

 

[chindonly]

Played the "Old Course" once.....

Was a great experience....!

 

[BayView]

I had a golf lesson on Tuesday....normally I work out my own problems, but in the last year or so haven't had a lot of success and playing pretty cr@p, and I haven't seen myself on video for a few years.

Only playing about 4 games a year doesn't help of course!

I went to see the young guy who took over from me when I left my last job as a teaching pro before buying the workshop...booked for an hour lesson. Do your worst, Doc.

The technology advances in the recording of a video lesson are quite amazing.

When I started teaching golf back in 1980, the camera was a VHS video cassette camera - about 30cm long and weighed about 2kg's.....

The power pack/battery unit was about the same dimensions and weight as two house bricks. It was quite a drama then to copy one VHS tale to another for the student to take home and keep.

Now, the whole lesson can be recorded on an IPhone and sent to your email address.

My lesson was recorded on 5 different permanent cameras, and was shown at real time and recorded time on a 40" TV screen on the wall right in front of me, with videos of other similar body shape Tour Pros (no - I do not look like Craig Stadler!) in the same shot, and at the same time as you swing, complete with angles and lines etc to illustrate various positions and problems.

Not everyone needs all this by the way, but it's really cool.

A sensor reads the club head speed, angle of attack, path, club face position, ball carry, direction and flight path, and posts it on the screen immediately, along with a computerised graphic of the ball flying through the sir, on exactly the same path as I just watched live. All in calibrations of part degrees and millimetres.

It arrived in my Inbox the next day, fully edited and voiced over...

Remarkable.

Anybody else had a golf lesson recently?

 

[chindonly]

Cool - and has it helped you swing better?

I find unless I practise / play twice a week, hard to maintain or improve.

 

[BayView]

Cool - and has it helped you swing better?

Not yet - it has given me something to work on now, that I had missed in my self-analysis.

Now comes the hard part - doing millions of practice swings (with and without a club and ball) to retrain a bad muscle memory habit; but I'll do it.

I find unless I practise / play twice a week, hard to maintain or improve.

This is true.

I used to say to my pupils about how often you should practice that it is like running to get fit - if you run only once per week or less, you are never going to get fit.

This is actually not entirely true though, because one tip which requires no real hard slogging practice can improve a player - learning how to aim correctly as one example.

Most folk do not aim very well, but think they do. Once they are shown how to do it correctly, and how easy it is to do, they can simply go ahead and do it, and good results can occur.

I used to notice what happens to both adults and kids when they have a burst of playing a lot - school holidays in particular....sudden and noticeable improvement and handicap lowering - mostly the higher handicap players.

As your handicap decreases, the improvements are incremental, unfortunately.

Do you have a handicap, or approx average score, Chindonly?

 

[joeExpat]

Golf's a rich mans sport here in Switzerland, 9 holes costs more than a days skiing, so I don't play anymore. But now with more time in Spain might take it up again, the owner of the house I bought left a full set of Wilson clubs in the store room.

 

[perky29]

As much as I love golf... I think I would rather be ski-ing !

 

[geoffw]

Golf's a rich mans sport here in Switzerland,

So women are not welcome?

 

[chindonly]

Do you have a handicap, or approx average score, Chindonly?

I did up until a year ago - 7. Best was 3.8.

Ever since kids - somehow time has evaporated and I can no longer get away.

Looking forward to getting the 5yo boy into it at some stage though.....

 

[BayView]

I did up until a year ago - 7. Best was 3.8.

Ever since kids - somehow time has evaporated and I can no longer get away.

Looking forward to getting the 5yo boy into it at some stage though.....

Hey, that is excellent!

Yes, finding the time is tough.

I find that I feel guilty about spending time playing golf versus family time, and end up hardly playing as a result.

Occasionally I'll wake up really early on a Sat or Sun (do this anyway) and the rest of the house is still asleep, and nothing is planned for the day, and I think; "bugger it - I'm playing golf" and leave a note and shoot off.

I'm usually home by midday and still have a day and a half of family fun, so that works.

 

[chindonly]

Hey, that is excellent!

Yes, finding the time is tough.

I find that I feel guilty about spending time playing golf versus family time, and end up hardly playing as a result.

Occasionally I'll wake up really early on a Sat or Sun (do this anyway) and the rest of the house is still asleep, and nothing is planned for the day, and I think; "bugger it - I'm playing golf" and leave a note and shoot off.

I'm usually home by midday and still have a day and a half of family fun, so that works.

Yeah - I didn't want to miss time with the family. Thought about getting up early and playing, but I'm a night owl and work commitments often mean late nights.

What are you playing off these days?

 

[BayView]

Yeah - I didn't want to miss time with the family. Thought about getting up early and playing, but I'm a night owl and work commitments often mean late nights.

What are you playing off these days?

I don't have an official Golf link handicap anymore.

The last one was about 2 years ago and it was 1, but these days I'm realistically shooting middle to high 70's, so probably about 5 handicap.

Hey, did you catch any of the President's Cup? It was fantastic.

 

[Brady]

Playing in my first vardon event, really just making up the numbers.

My handicap is only 9.9 when meant to be <6. Had a look at the field, I will be the highest handicapper... most are around scratch. Mate who I play with each plays of +2, so a nice 12 shot difference

Should be interesting hopefully I don't embarrass myself. This round is at my home golf club so hoping can shoot alright. Haven't played 36 holes in a long time though :| especially without a cart

 

[BayView]

Should be interesting hopefully I don't embarrass myself. This round is at my home golf club so hoping can shoot alright. Haven't played 36 holes in a long time though :| especially without a cart

Good luck on the weekend for your first event! Hope the nerves settle quickly. Don't have high expectations and have a lot of fun; the score will come.

The explosion in cart use nowadays is amazing.

When I was still in the game, using a cart was restricted to either;
a) resort courses when you went away on holidays,
b) at your home Club if you had a doctor's certificate to justify the use (and only if the Club even allowed them at all)
c) your home Club allowed them and you provided your own (not manhy did this).

Now; every Club/Course seems to have them, and the usage is very often young, fit guys sitting on them - not just the rugged and buggered old b@sta@rds as you'd expect.

Incidentally; I played 3 games of 9 holes with my eldest son while on hols over in S.A recently (Victor Harbor GC). It was his first actual game (has had intermittent practice sessions since about aged 5, but no real interest)

I suspect he only agreed to play because we had a cart (I arranged to tee-off very early on the back nine, and with a cart).

It was a terrific experience for him - nice weather, gorgeous golf course, lots of kangaroos and birds, serene and no-one around us to intimidate him.

He only hit a handful of decent shots, but the 2nd game a few days later saw a marked improvement, and the 3rd round a few days after that was a tremendous confidence boost for him. We had a great time, and his interest has now sparked.

The tough bit is getting a 13 year old out of bed early.

 

[Brady]

Nerves should be alright it's my home track and I'm playing the day before, hopefully knock out a nice round.

Haha yeah we would be one of the youngest Saturday groups and we all play on carts at the back of the field. My father has a cart thats garaged at the club which will be used and also my employer sponsors the club which entitles me to some benefits (employers logo on a cart which I get acess to is one of them).

Carts can't be used for any honour board events.

 

[Blacky]

I used to play a weekly round when I was at uni. It was our weekly retreat away from constant 'study'.

It was a country "course". Meaning a farmers paddock with some tar greens - and an honor box for payment. It suited out capabilities. We would often take an icebox filled with beer.
We would play a '2ball best ball' which was nice, as it would level the playing field and shorten the game so we could still stand by the 9th hole.

We would then head to the nearest bar for a few quiet beers.

Good times.

I haven't really played since. I have though gone to the range for a few hours with a mate. A full course just takes too long, I lose too many balls, and have to walk too far back and forth across the fairway.
My issue is that I can connect with a ball very well - send it skywards for 100m or so, its just that it never goes straight and can move 50m forward and 150m to the right (I slice a lot).

Blacky

 

[MTR]

DH plays weekly and my girls surprised him with a golf coach for his b/day

The problem is he still comes home frustrated after golf. Oh well, more coaching perhaps??

MTR