I was the Captain of the Golf team my senior year in HS, which was in Brooklyn. Playing golf in Brooklyn or any NYC HS was a big feat in of itself. Basketball players and Bowlers had to try out for golf, so I didn't mind. It was pretty cool. Of course we were undefeated for like 3 years, and my team lost one when I was captain and the match got called early due to lightning. We lost by 1, and would have won had we had the chance to finish that hole. We made the playoffs and all that good stuff. This was also around the time Tiger Woods was starting on the Tour, and southern colleges seemed to want some more, let's say urban demographic, to look for golfers, so I did get some inquiries that senior year, but never went through the process as my parents wouldn't let me go away to school since I was 16. What could have been. Fast forward to like when I'm 30, and try golf again, between tennis elbow, and a balky hip, I just couldn't swing properly, so that was that. Tried Top Golf with some buddies, and it was cool, but I was in a world of hurt after. TL;DR wish I could play
I always noticed when I walked I shot better because I could walk off a bad shot. Only ride now (would like to get back to walking, but knees and ankles wouldn't like it at this weight) and there's sometimes not enough time between shots to shake off a bad one. Bad shots always compound and lead to more bad shots. I probably give up about 6-10 shots a round because of it sometimes. I tell myself all the time to follow up a bad shot with a good shot, never another bad shot. Doesn't always work, but that's my mindset standing over a ball after a bad shot. Another trick I've tried is to play holes mentally in groups of 3. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. That's the one good thing about golf, is there a million tips and tricks, Hacks and systems to try and play the game better. Every shot, every round is different. I never get bored of it. The mental aspect of it has always been my biggest weakness though. I haven't even talked about the equipment side of it either....lol
Sucks about being injured. My ankles/feet are screwed from crashing, and sometimes pretty sore after a round, but my neck/back/knees don't seem too bothered by it yet. I know at some point they will though, and my swing will have to change. Or I could lose a bunch of weight and try and get in shape.... I still play Softball in a couple leagues and that really kills my body though. I got way too fat the past couple years and the running just hurts. This will be the last year I play in one league, and will cut down to one night in the other because I'd rather golf more. We don't do HS sport up here like you guys do down there. It's more recreation than anything. I didn't play any HS sports, as we didn't have a ball team, and I sucked at hockey so never made the team lol. We would have had a pretty good golf team though, and an amazing ball team, but it never happened. The downside to going to a small school. Our hockey team was awesome though. Some really good hockey players have come from this area. We had a few guys that played under fake names so it wouldn't mess up their junior and OHL contracts lol.
I used to feel the same way. Now, after spending nearly my entire life at the race track, I find golf as a nice change of pace. I probably watch more golf on TV than I do motorcycle racing, but that's because there's more televised golf tournaments than bike races. If you play, you start to understand the difficulty of some of the shots the pros are doing and it makes watching it on TV a bit more interesting. Watching a pro tournament in person is even better. I've done a couple rounds with some pro motorcycle racers and when you get a few guys together with huge competitive personalities any game can get exciting!
Getting to a point where i can play more than omce a year and looking for my first real set of clubs. I borrowed some newer off brand set with the hollow back "game improvement" irons and could feel the difference from the hand me down Dunlops i have. Looking for used in the 2-$300 range theres a lot out there. Was there a big step change any particular year or model?
I wish I was more clever so I could make a Pirelli joke right now. But no, if you're just starting any old game improvement iron will do well for you. This place is really good for finding almost new "used" clubs (if you think motorcyclists spend tons of money on bikes and farkles and then sell for a deep discount without using, golfers are at another level). https://forums.golfwrx.com/forum/56-classifieds-for-sale-forum/
I used to play more but still love to golf every now and then. I suck but who cares, I usually pick up my ball and keep things moving for the group. I go ready to lose some balls so no biggie when I zing one into next week right or left. I've never shot lower than the temperature and I played a lot in Phoenix in the summer! Never played as a kid and only got into it doing work related things. I love visualizing a motocross track with doubles and rhythm sections using the hills and bunkers.
I was down to 6.9 last year right before my latest crash,couldn't play for 2 months,now I'm at 10.0. Just did my 1st track day since crash and managed to keep it upright. I'm all right with that.
You're doing the lord's work, my friend. Nothing more frustrating than someone grinding for a putt for quadruple bogey.
The last decade+ there has been a big improvement in technology in the game improvement side, but beware there has been a lot of "loft jacking" going on to explain the big distance gains. Don't fall for it. The real gains that matter to most are in the tighter dispersion you get on mishits, and the newer clubs can deliver that. Getting "fit" for a set of clubs is always highly recommended online (I've never done it though). But IMO someone just starting out should develop a good repeatable swing with a decent quality set of cavity back irons, and perhaps a some lessons first before they go down the rabbit hole of custom fit clubs for an ever evolving swing. That's kinda the gist of it, and there's a lot more I could geek out about for hours though. It's quite a deep rabbit hole, youtube and forums are a wealth of both good info and bad. You should be able to find a decent set of used clubs with plenty of life left in them in your price range for sure though (if you're a righty). I've come to like Mizunos, and play an older set of Mp-h4's, with an st190 3w/driver I've put together over the last 2 years. They're a forgiving forged game improvement set with a hollow 2 piece construction in the longer clubs, and a small cavity in the scoring irons. I love them, and would highly recommend a set like this for beginners to grow into even though they are a decade old. Their JPX line would be a good starting point too, I just prefer the more classic looks/lofts of the Mp's. My clubs are much better than I am right now, and are not what's holding me back. Until I regularly start to break 80 I'm not going to get fit for a new set, and even then will probably still just buy used and fit and tinker myself as I rather enjoy that process. I do want to get a launch monitor though so I can actually measure some data. I've only hit on one once a few weeks ago, and it was nice to confirm some #'s that I kinda figured out myself from the range and course, and after that one time I can't wait to go back. Pretty cool stuff, but I think it would have been a waste for me to go when I just got back into it a few years ago as I was too wild and all over the place. Just my opinion of myself though. Lessons probably would have been good, I've never had one, but I'm too damn stubborn and just wanted to find the swing I used to have again by myself. I picked my clubs up from Ebay, global golf, golf avenue and the local classifieds and put together a pretty good bag of irons from 2-pw, wedges, 4hybrid, 3w and driver. All for under $800 cdn over the course of a year and a half /winter. Just like racing, you can always spend your money on new go fast gear (and lots of golfers do just that), but sometimes it's not the equipment holding you back, it's practice and personal skill level. I'd rather work on myself with what I have, than needlessly throw money at a problem until I can be sure it's equipment holding me back. I do enjoy the gear hunting/tech side of it now though. And there are a few clubs I'd like to add (5w) and shaft changes I'd like to make that I am on the hunt for all the time. I'm too cheap to buy new though and love hunting for deals and bargains .
Any self respecting motorcycle rider would never choose playing golf over riding. Period end of discussion. The saying isn’t “golf or die”. Bunch of panzies all up in here.
Jason Pridmore was trying to qualify for the Sr. Open this year. Andrew Lee was his caddie. Just say'n.
Miguel Duhumel is also a good golfer and would golf with Pridmore at most AMA rounds when they were racing and had a day to waste etc. I’m just having fun bagging a little on golf.
Agreed. There was a book called Finding Your Zone by a guy named Michael Lardon that really helped me with my mental racing game. Pretty sure he is/was a mental coach for some big time golfers.
I should look into getting that book, as the mental aspect of golf has been, and always will be my biggest hurdle. I think the way I play now, I could get down into the high 70's if I cleaned some stuff up and got a bit more consistant, but I doubt I'd ever get lower than that or challenge par without seriously blowing out the cobwebs from between the ears. Especially if the course is busy and I have to wait between shots. That always drives me insane, but I'm finding ways to control it better. Oddly, I did much better at that shit while racing, but issues would creep up from time to time. I always did much better coming from behind, vs leading. I'd mindfuck myself into a mistake so many times from out front it was laughable lol.
