r/weekendgolfers

Just asking

Takes focus to not let rando pairing clowns get you annoyed. Slow play, not tracking their balls, 3 practice swings, looking up yardage on phone when over 250y out (and can't hit 150), Getting mad at every bad shot (despite having an ugly 1/4 swing), etc. You end up focusing on their antics more than your own game.

2 holes blew my round. 7i out of rough was a disaster. Sideways, roller, into hazard. Hitting from rough is Fck City. Ended up +4 for the hole. Par 3 4H tee shot went fat, sideways, 50 yards, and OB. +3 for that hole. On the plus side, I hit a pure 6i (144), 7i (120), 3W (175) today. Club speed is 70mph, for 9i/7W.

Do you grip the shaft at the very end? Sometimes I see people with half inch or one inch choke down, and not for like a special circumstance like rough or uneven lie. Like a slight choke even for a perfect lie. What's the story there?

2 holes blew my round. 7i out of rough was a disaster. Sideways, roller, into hazard. Hitting from rough is Fck City. Ended up +4 for the hole. Par 3 4H tee shot went fat, sideways, 50 yards, and OB. +3 for that hole. On the plus side, I hit a pure 6i (144), 7i (120), 3W (175) today. Club speed is 70mph, for 9i/7W.

Most of the fun in golf with mates happens beyond the scorecard — trash talk, side bets, rivalries, someone finally breaking 90, season-long bragging rights, etc. But most of that just disappears into the group chat after each round.

Wondering if there is an app where your regular golf crew has a private group with leaderboards, head-to-head records, challenges and a season-long history of your rounds?

Curious if golfers actually want this or if I’m imagining a problem that doesn’t exist.

How does your group currently keep track of this stuff?

Even waiting until 7pm to go out and catch an hour of play before sundown is impossible.

Heat + Humidity out of control and the layer of saharan dust in the air keeps it from raining.

OMG when will this pass!!!!

That goddam rule where at double par you stop counting… At the start of the season I’d have blow up holes - I’m not even on the green - I’m out. As I’ve been getting better over the last year (Canadian year), I’ve been making way better shots, more GIR, and making double or triple bogeys basically consistent across the board on a bad round, losing less balls.

Now compare this to a former good round, where a couple bogeys or pars happened, but waaay more double pars where I don’t actually finish the hole, my goddam score is near the same as it is today.

I feel like breaking 100 is a bigger deal than it’s sold. From 110-125 average to under 100 seems to be a long frustrating stretch to me. I’ve played 144 holes this year so far, under 80 last season. I’ve taken 5 lessons. Hit like 3000 range balls.

Will it ever get better!!??? For the love of the golf gods.

Today was the day it finally happened. Even though it was raining heavily, I didn't lose track of my goal, and after some pretty good shots, I finished my second 9-hole round ever with a score of 69. Not as impressive as the title suggests, but I still had a good time.

Hello all,

I started playing again last year after 35 years away. I'm 59 and retired at the end of last year and looking to play as often as I can.

I have broken 100 recently and make it to the range weekly and trying to play at least weekly as well. I wanted to ask the members who currently play or have played in their local Spark Leagues what they thought of the experience and if they would do it again or no, why not?

I’ve been thinking about something I’ve noticed in amateur golf, and I’m genuinely curious how other people see it.

Someone recently asked whether an eagle from the front tees “counts.” Of course it counts. You made an eagle. Is it as difficult or impressive as making one from the tips? Obviously not. But both things can be true.

That got me thinking about how defensive some golfers seem to get about numbers and context.
When I talk about one of my rounds, I usually give the score and some context: what tees I played, whether I took a breakfast ball, whether I dropped a ball, etc. Not because I think my score is more legitimate than someone else’s. I’m not even breaking 100. I’m doing it because we’re talking about my round, and those details tell you what actually happened.

And here’s the part I don’t understand.
You’ll see people say, “We’re not professional golfers. If your ball lands in a divot, just move it. Who cares?”

That’s completely fine. Play however you want.
But that exact same argument works in the opposite direction: “We’re not professional golfers. The numbers don’t matter. If you want to play the ball exactly as it lies and take every penalty according to the rules, go ahead. Who cares?”

Play golf however you enjoy playing it. Move the ball out of a divot. Don’t move it. Take a breakfast ball. Don’t take one. Play the forward tees. Play the tips. Keep a handicap. Don’t keep one.
I genuinely don’t care.

Heres my main point of confusion, What I don’t understand is getting annoyed when somebody gives context for how they played their own round.

If someone says, “I shot 88,” and you want to know what tees they played from, whether they used mulligans, etc., isn’t that just useful information for having a conversation about the round?

Why is “I shot X” somehow supposed to be the entire conversation?

I’m not trying to gatekeep anybody’s golf. I’m barely good enough to gatekeep my own score.
I’m just curious why amateur golfers sometimes seem simultaneously obsessed with numbers and determined to pretend the numbers don’t matter.

I’m around a 20 handicap and usually after a round I have a pretty good idea what went wrong. At the range I mostly just hit balls, aim at different targets and go by feel. If something feels really off I’ll record my swing and take a look.

The part I struggle with is knowing what’s actually a recurring problem vs just a bad day. One round my irons are terrible, next round they’re fine and something else falls apart.

Do you guys keep track of what keeps going wrong over multiple rounds, or do you mostly just remember and work on whatever feels bad at the time?

I play maybe half a dozen times a year. If I break 90 I'm playing the best round of the year. Do you guys get fitted, if so do you find a big difference? I have a decent set of taylormades that are a few years old now, but I really like them.

I went back and forth whether to even make this post, but maybe it'll help me decompress a bit. Yesterday I decided to run up to a local course and get in 18, the course is at 6k feet elevation and it was pretty hot, up around 90F. In front of the group I got paired with was a couple twosomes, one of the twosomes was some brothers and one of them would drive the cart while the other ran/jogged between shots and holes to get more exercise while playing. The one that jogged was a relatively fit (from what I could tell) 64 year old man. The gap between the 7th and 8th hole is pretty substantial and includes a not so insignificant hill that goes up and over a bridge/overpass for a road. Well the brother that jogged had a medical emergency, probably a heart attack or stroke, and ended up collapsing on that hill. We came upon him and another golfer was already giving him CPR, I'm BLS/CPR certified so I swapped in and out with the other golfer doing compressions. When I arrived he had no pulse and given the lack of a defibrillator and our relative distance to the closest fire station/medical center (course is in a canyon ~15-20 minutes from the city) I knew his chances were not good.

Unfortunately he fell right on his face when he collapsed and there was a lot of blood, which we tried to clear, but we ended up not doing mouth to mouth until his brother ended up coming back to try and find him. His brother did breaths while we did compressions until the fire truck arrived, it was a tough situation, he ended up not surviving.

Obviously a lot has crossed my mind in the time after that, but discussing the situation with my boss (who has seen about everything you can imagine as a part time certified Utah SAR) and a golfing buddy/coworker, we all came to the same conclusion, that's about the best way to go you could personally could hope for, obviously not so much for your loved ones and the people around you though. He had passed before he even hit the ground, doing something he loved doing, and didn't suffer one iota. His brother and the rest of us will have to carry the trauma of the situation, but if I'm going to pass away it would hopefully be instantaneous and without long term suffering while doing something I really enjoy.

So I just wanted to share the story and encourage others to enjoy life, enjoy the game, try not to take it all too seriously and while keeping yourself healthy try and understand that anything can happen to anyone at any time. Fair winds to the man that passed and his family, hopefully the course can honor him with a memorial plaque when they are ready.

I went golfing with my buddy John last weekend. We typically both shoot in the mid 90s and are usually competitive which is why we like playing with one another.

It is not uncommon for me to start poorly, then get better as the round goes on. After two holes I was off to a really poor start, but he shot par the first two holes. On three, I nearly chipped in then tapped for par, whereas he shot a double bogey.

Hole 5 is a par 4, and this is where it all fell apart for him. He had a nasty hook that landed in the bunker on the next fairway over. There were lots of trees to the green from where he landed, but decided to play it.

Long story short, he took an 8 for a quad on that hole, but he got frustrated and it ruined his round. On the back 9 he shanked three shots in a row into the woods, which is very uncharacteristic of him.

I tried to give him some advice without being too critical, saying things like "Each hole is a new opportunity" and "Don't worry about score, just worry about the next shot"

At the end of the day he shot a generous 110 (probably closer to 120 if we counted every shot and penalties), and I was at 97.

It didn't help that pace on the back 9 was dreadfully slow and there was a foursome on our tails the entire round.

When he lost his swing, it really soured the mood.

Any advice on how to get someone out of their own head when they start golfing poorly?