The Golf Thread

[MikeF]

I am not too sure, his interview last night indicated to me that he was suffering badly. Maybe the British will come too soon for him. Not sure if he could play 36 holes a day either at the Ryder Cup (has to be a positive for us Euro's)

I honestly wouldn't be suprised if he takes a long lay off to fully recover from the knee surgery

[Rossco]

I can't see him missing the Open though, it's the one to win. He came back for US Open clearly before he was ready and won it, so I expect the same thing again, he's a winner and thrives on setting these records and wants to catch up with Nicklaus's 18 Majors and smash the record.

I'll be surprised if he misses it, but life's full of surprises I guess.

[MikeF]

Apparently Tiger is out for the remainder of the season and possibly more due to needing reconstructive surgery on his knee. Looks like he did come back too soon

Means he will miss the British, the PGA and the Ryder Cup

[Rossco]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12176_3707238,00.html

Yup he's out. Such a shame, he must be so gutted. But no doubt he'll come back bigger and better than ever, with even more hunger to catch up and make up for the tournaments he's missed.

[Rossco]

Waahhhhh!!

I played golf today for the first time in almost 3 years.

Just back from a gym workout and 10 mile cycle and my neighbour pops his head over the fence "Fancy 9 holes of golf tonight?" I was like "ehhh, mmm ahh, ooo" didn't know what to say. Hadn't played for years and was knackered and thougt I would be **** so didn't really want to without going to driving range or something first.

But got the balls to do it anyway and just went. And it was awesome, I am desperate to take it up again. Played 9 holes, and was 12 over par. Which I'm pretty happy with considering I hadn't hit a ball since August 2005!

Was hitting the ball very cleanly, no tops or big huge divots, all I was doing wrong was slicing it like a bitch which I almost sorted out a bit near the end to finish with 2 pars, lipped out for birdie on the par 5 ninth!

Was such a great feeling to be out playing again though, nice warm summers evening and golf is just HEAVEN!

[Kieran76]

Once you start playing again you wont be able to stop.
I have manged three rounds so far this year. All them have been poor, but getting slowly getting better. I am playing again this sunday but have a big night out on the saturday so I'm not expecting much.
The only decent thing about my game at the moment is my approach play, everything else is shocking.

[Rossco]

Yeah I'm dying to play again but you can't expect to be half decent unless you play all the time.

My problem yesterday was confidence to just hit the shot I wanted to. I wasn't accelerating through the ball, like I was scared to hit it hard incase I flapped it off out of bounds!

[SmokeMeAKipper]

The UK Open is being held at Royal Birkdale this year (it's about 3 miles from my house!) and I'm told tickets are about ?55 if anybody is planning on going. I'd like to go but I'm not a golf fanatic - but with it being so close it seems silly not to really.

[Kieran76]

Yeah I'm dying to play again but you can't expect to be half decent unless you play all the time.

My problem yesterday was confidence to just hit the shot I wanted to. I wasn't accelerating through the ball, like I was scared to hit it hard incase I flapped it off out of bounds!

Sounds to me like you are half decent. On my first round of the year I was gripping the club too tight and trying to hit the ball rather than focusing on my swing. I have a football club golf day in August so am hoping to get another three rounds in before then. A lot of the people who are going aren't big players but have been spending a lot of time at range. They will be in for a massive shock when they play a course.

[gamelife]

i've been getting into golf alot more these days myself. bought a new set of clubs just recently. played last friday and shot 28 over par on a full 18

just got to keep playing and hopefully i'll reduce my scores

[Rossco]

Hows it went for you guys in the last week? Played any more?

I hit the range today and hit 100 balls, and it was looking good.

I used to read tons of books and stuff on golf swings and always watched it on TV when they analyse the pro's swing etc so know the ins and outs of it and how to fix what I'm doing wrong.

So today I worked on my backswing, which when I take it immediately away from the ball, I was going outside too much instead of round the back of my body as such. So I changed that slightly which worked along with the fact that I wasn't crossing my right hand over as I hit through the ball forcing me to slice it wildly at times.

Really focused on those changes today and felt a big difference, along with really swinging easy. I used to lash at the ball furiously which just isn't helpful at all.

Anyway, playing with my mate tomorrow morning at his course and he's been playing loads recently and is shooting in the 70's most rounds so it'll be a tough game, but I'm hoping I can pull off a stunning win!

[Kieran76]

Good luck with the gane.
I played at the weekend, had a nightmare front nine, I was either slicing or hooking off the tee! The course is quiet narrow on the front nine as it is in Epping Forest so I lost a lot of balls into the woods. Things picked up in the back nine but the damage had been done. I was 34 over par!
Still towards the end of the round I was hitting straight and once again my short game was good. Not playing this weekend but hope the get at least anothe round in before playing my golf day on the 1st of August.
I am still about 16 shots a round worse than when I was playing regularly in Sheffield.

[Rossco]

Well my round today wasn't much better. I was awful!

Really bad, much worse than my game last week somehow. It was really frustrating as I played well before and was hitting it ace at the range yesterday. But today I was chopping it all over the place. Kept thinning it for half my shots, I really couldn't understand what I was doing wrong. Ended up realising at the end that I was starting to 'jump' up through the ball through impact, lifting my whole body hence thinning or topping it.

So final hole I really focused on not doing it, creamed my drive straight down the middle, second shot again, great contact, but wind caught it (windiest conditions I've ever played in today btw! ) and stopped 30 yards shot, then pitched it in for birdie!!! Pitched 10 ft short and slowly got to the cup, stopped on the edge for a second and then dropped, it was brilliant. And loads of old guys were watching as it dropped which was cool as they were like "good shot lad!" etc etc.

So overall, poor golf, but still a good day and can't wait to get out again to improve!

[Kieran76]

What I find I do, is when I am playing badly I start to take more and more off my swing, when what I should be doing is commiting more to a full, slow swing.
I know what you mean about the jumping through the ball, it is something I have done recently as well.
The great shots are what keeps you coming back for more though? Even when you have a dire round you can always recall those wonderful drives where you smash it down the fairway, or those approach shots that zoom high into the high and stick like glue onto the greens.
I love golf - and the Open starts today!

[VR46]

I played loads of golf from when I was 14 to 17, got my handicap down to 14 and won a two day tournament at local club when was 16. Sadly have only played two rounds since then, enjoyed it both times must admit. Have no friends that play now though, not seen as a "trendy" game nowadays I guess ?

Look forward to watching The Open though