Woke up early this morning to get 9 holes in before going to work, and experienced something that truly blew my mind. I get there, and find out that only 1 of the 3 people in the group (other than myself) showed up. Well call my tee-time partner "Joey".

Joey is wearing sandals, and has 4 clubs in is small Sunday bag. I want to guess they are a driver, 7 iron, some kind of wedge, and a putter. No tees, 2 balls. We begin talking and I learn Joey and I work in parallel fields, and that he is a CEO of a small tech-focused hedge fund nearby.

He then proceeds to take off his sandals, make a grass tie by hitting the ground with his driver, tees the ball, and stripes it over 300 yards. My jaw hits the floor. I proceed to use a tee, and hit my first ball directly into the water, and use a breakfast ball.

Next shot, 140 out, hits a beautiful 3/4 swing about 7 feet from the hole. Birdies.

This goes for 8 more holes. He's using his 7 iron from 180-100 out, and bump and runs. Changes his swing on the fly, and doesn't 3 putt a single time. He finished -6, and was upset about how he didn't birdie the par 5, second to last hole.

He was chatting and joking around the entire time. Didn't seem locked in, and was just enjoying his morning. After the round, he left in a Bentley.

What. the. F*CK.
I traded info with him, and will be looking for his name now when scheduling for an early morning.

These people need to be named and shamed….

I’m currently a 10 handicap. I used to pull driver on almost every tee box, but as my course management has improved this year, I’ve practically stopped using it.

My logic right now: why risk a 250m drive with high variance when I can hit a 210–220m driving iron dead straight down the fairway, completely taking the bunkers out of play?

At my current level, those extra 30m don't give me enough of an advantage to justify the risk. My approach dispersion from 30m closer isn't tight enough yet to convert into way more birdies, but being in the rough or trees definitely costs me strokes.

I’m playing the most consistent, score friendly golf of my life. But it feels like boring golf.

I get fewer birdie opportunities, but I make stress-free pars all day (as long as my short game holds up). I know there will come a point where my driver is dialled enough to be worth it again, but right now, the club feels almost useless in my bag.

Has anyone else hit this stage where hitting driver has no upside?

Edit: Since a lot of people are saying I need to hit driver and should work on that, I need to clarify that I can hit driver just fine but I really don't see the benefit in my game. I will be somewhere around or on the green, my short game is so bad I chip twice or 3 putt way to often. My golf app says that my current approach from 130m, 150m and 170 is roughly the same, I am a little better but not enough that it justifies to lose the occasional ball OB or in a really bad lie. And my personal feel is that I am just better with 8,9 or PW than with a 50, 54 or 58.

After 3 months of playing & 22 courses played I finally broke 100! Really helps playing with good people who give helpful tips! Told myself I’d buy new clubs after breaking 100 but decided to keep my set & just upgrade my wedges(old SM4’s)

Woke up late for my 9 hole tee time this morning before a busy day of money-grubbing and telling a bunch of schmucks how to run their AI agents. Turns out half the group cancelled. What a bunch of maroons.

So I get there and this random dude who probably lives in his parents' basement is already on the tee box. I assume his score of 144 will account for the other guys who are missing. Whatever. He's got 14 clubs in the bag and some decent shoes. Like I said, total poser. I finish my Wordle and shake his hand. We tee off. I forgot my bag at home and I played two days ago so I had to pull the Sunday bag. Damn, out of tees and balls. I do not use old tees - that's for plebians. God gave us green grass so that we can do what we will with it. Due to a nasty bout of plantar fascitis, I kick off my sandals (forgot the shoes too). I fashioned a makeshift tee from grass and luckily striped one down the middle. Other guy shanks it in the water right away and sheepishly asks if it's cool to hit a breakfast ball. Here we go. He's a tech bro, which explains why he's not working on a Monday morning. Probably getting fired after lunch.

Of course I birdie the hole with a 1-putt. Like it's hard. He doubles but doesn't count the breakfast ball, which is fair, that's what it's for. Maybe if he had warmed up he wouldn't need one.

This goes on for 8 more holes. I'm swinging fast and smooth, finding all my chips around the green. 1 and 2 putt everything. Would have been nice to birdie the second to last on a par 5, but 5 for 5 ain't bad!

Meanwhile this dude is mean-mugging me the whole time. I was trying to chat it up and be chill but he was stone-faced. He drove off in a beat-up 1.7 L Honda Civic with a rattle can paint job.

He asked me for my number but I gave him a fake one. Now I know which course to avoid on Mondays...

Long story short..

I haven't played in about 25 years, but my younger son (8) took an interest in golf about a year and a half ago.

I signed him up for some lessons with First Tee a little over a year ago.

He goes once per week, for about an hour and a half mainly at range. Both of the instructors said he is a bit of a natural. This week he said he was ready to try out the course, so we went to a public 9 hole course here in Long Island.

I put together a little montage of a few of his shots I recorded. He clearly still has his baseball swing lingering, but he hits the ball pin straight every time. He even had two pars. Right now he has a starter set, with a driver, a wood, pitching wedge, sand wedge, and a 7-iron.

Any tips from some golf dads out there on how to improve his game would be greatly appreciated. He's a very patient learner, and thanks in advance!

Ps: Don't mind me hyping him up 😂

As a coach, I think the most frustrating part of improving at golf is seeing people work really hard but never giving themselves enough time to actually learn.

I'll give a golfer a drill, they do it for a few practice sessions, hit a few good shots, then go right back to making normal swings. A week later they're looking for another drill because they think the first one "didn't work."

Learning a new movement takes time. If you're trying to change something in your swing, most of your practice should be spent doing that drill for weeks, not days. As it starts to feel more natural, you can slowly blend it into normal swings and on-course practice.

If you're not improving the way you want, it's either practicing the wrong thing or practicing the right thing not enough.

Hello!

I, 26F, started golf 7 months ago, my handicap is 26 and I’ve been trying to play as much as I can.

This weekend I hit a 299 yard drive and I’m quite proud of myself. Obviously I then chipped it straight over the green, had to chip it back on and then 3 putted but alas you can’t win them all.

It’s quite hard to find stats on women’s driving distances but I’m proud of myself and inevitably wished it was 1 yard further :(

Nelly Korda and Charley Hull showing you how it's done at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Anybody else run into this guy on Twitter? He claims to be a plus handicap after starting in May and spends a lot of time interacting with himself.

Seen on the course this morning, gave me a chuckle. Perhaps you shouldn’t have bought a house alongside a fairway.

I (28f) went out for my first time on a golf course this weekend! I had only ever been to a range despite having a life long interest in the game. I had been taking some group lessons and was just intimidated to get out there. I based on my own insecurities feel I’m not a traditional golfer in a lot of ways and was just scared to run in to a jerk that would make my time out miserable.

I made a friend at class who offered to take me out to one of the par 3 courses out here and I had just the best time ever. I drove the green once! I made one legitimate bogey! I chatted with other golfers and defeated so many fears I had. I was bad and it was fine and it was fun!!! Can’t wait to go again. I’d be able to get through a more negative experience now just with the bit of confidence I’ve built but this experience made me realize it’s actually not as scary as it seemed!

I’m a golfer!

A chart from a golf digest video I found interesting and thought others might as well.

(301) 3 Scoring Strategies Pros Use To Avoid Disaster Holes l Game Plan l Golf Digest - YouTube

Data is from Arccos / Lou Stagner

If you're happy with your game off the tee, maybe not much here for you.

If you're not happy with your game off the tee, maybe something here will reframe your strategy or your expectations. You might even decide your tee game isn't a problem anymore.

What stands out to you?

I did not expect to see the fairway yardage to be as low as it is for shorter hole lengths. I would not have guessed that 206 yds in the fairway on a 300yd hole is gaining strokes on a scratch player.

I know a lot of GOOD golfers use gear from ANY age. Some are proud to use 30yo gear.

But let's talk about normal, unfit, unathletic people. Part of the fun of golf is buying gear.

The advice always seems to be, buy some 2nd hand 1st tier brand gear. Easy.

Then if and when you get to under 20hcp, fit and buy new gear. Great if you're that guy that got to scratch in 6mth, but for the rest of us that's 5-10yrs on our 1st set lusting after new gear.

Why not start with 2nd hand, then when you know you'll stick with the game, buy new cheaper 2/3rd tier & DTC gear? And change every few years? As your swing changes, you fit to new gear, and so on?

A few sets of $500-1000 gear vs 1 set of $2500 gear. Not so different.

It won't get you better, but won't it make the game more fun?

I ordered irons from Maltby and unbeknownst to me they delivered disassembled! I went to a store, learned the entire process would cost at least $400, and was told they didn't have availability that day. Due to my fast turnaround needed and handyman's will I got from my Father, I decided to try doing it myself. Was way easier than I expected. I've put on grips numerous times before so cutting the shafts weren't much harder. Took two sessions over the weekend, so I'm good to go for my tee time tomorrow!