If you are definitely catching the ferry then Lonsdale and 13th Beach worth playing… but i wouldnt cross just for that…too good on the MP side.
Lonsdale is a bit unique though. You never get bored there. Green complexes are tough, often square edges, short but tight.
I played it last week and the heat amd rain has left it in amzing condition
Lads got a question about your swing. I’m very much a begginer and have good days and bad, but would love to know what everyone does to “Find” their swing when they’re going through a rough patch.
Don’t play for a week
Practice your swing with no clubs
Focus on a point in your follow through and get there in balance. Let your subconscious do the rest.
I think the “beginner” but makes it hard for me to make suggestions. I just put the club’s away for a while, and it normally comes good. That said, going to see a pro semi-regularly can be really beneficial.
As long as you’re both aligned with what your goals are it is the best investment. (IE, do you want to rebuild your swing and become the best golfer you can be with a long term improvement plan, or do you just want the pro to know your swing and know when you get out of sequence and be able to help you get back to your “normal” swing when it goes haywire. Or somewhere in between)
My normal process (excluding the “don’t play” option) is based on what I’ve learned tends to go wrong for me. And also based on what I know I can fix on my own. So I check the basics. Grip, stance, where I’m lining up. Get those, and the first foot of the takeaway lined up and not much can go wrong.
If that doesn’t work then it’s time to consult a pro.
My swing goes when I’m subconsciously trying to follow through straight and this leaves my stance and shoulders open. To get it back, I need to consciously remember to fully rotate and, to use a cricket analogy, look to purposefully follow through and rotate towards mid-wicket.
If I’m playing badly, it is often caused by a recurring miss that develops. A particularly insidious example would be that I start pulling a lot of iron shots off to the left. Or sometimes I find that my contact isn’t entirely crisp and I might start hitting shots thin or fat. Most of these things usually involve a small adjustment in where I am standing; I could be too close or too far from the ball at rest.
Sometimes it just goes away the next time I play. I wouldn’t really worry about making huge adjustments to your swing unless you start stringing together streaks of bad rounds.
Tested negative on Tuesday and had 3 days at Bridport booked for my brother over from Pomgolia. Just finished 18 at Barnbougle Dunes. I am absolutely kn ackered. Cold beers here I come.
The basics are so critical. Stance and grip. Easily get a couple of cm/degrees out and it stuffs everything. Also the easiest thing to correct yourself.
When I’m stinking it up, I default to a few things. I’ll take a practice swing and find the position I want to be in at the top of my backswing, because finding that will get me on plane (I honestly just think of Adam Scott lol), then I’ll swing down til about 2-3 inches from the ball and reference where the club face is at (open, closed, am I standing to close? etc.) then I’ll make minor adjustments to make sure the face is going to be square at impact.
Failing all that, I just mentally check out and start thinking about how quickly I can have beers.
OK. I’m more than happy with the TM M3 driver I picked up in the early lockdown years for $310. Seemed like a fair bit of money at time but it was a covid discount and I snapped it up and it’s now my most consistent club and I reckon I hit it further now than when I got it new, maybe the head is now a bit more springy, Rory hits it twice as far as me and reckons drivers get so springy after a year or so they are illegal. Oh well, I’m not getting mine testing so tough ■■■■.
ANYWAY, it’s new driver season, all the major youtubers are on to it. The Callaway Paradigm AI Smoke, stupid name it must be said, is first off the rank for the key tubers, and doubt you’ll get much change out of a pony for it when it hits the OZ stores, absolutely massive money spinner, number one seller last year. Just watched Peter Finch, a dead set bomber, trial it and find it goes an extra few metres for him out of the middle, and is better from the off centre hits. Didn’t sound that keen otherwise.
What I want to know, is it like the latest road bike, do people sell the old one on Ebay and then upgrade? Anyone here buy last year’s Paradigm and now want a Smoke. How much would you get for the old model on Ebay anyway? Notice that Ebay want more for my Old M3 than it cost me 4 years ago. Personally don’t care, I’m sticking with my old M3, unless I win tatts, and even then I’d keep it in reserve, just in case the new one is BS. What about you?
Over $1000 for a single club is madness (RRP is $1069)
Of course all the other OEMs will have their new stuff out in the next month, and you can be guaranteed YouTubers will be all over them, repeating the company tags lines. “Designed with AI” FFS.
Are the new clubs better? No doubt. Are they better for you? Who knows. You need to hit them and understand how your swing interacts with the clubface and hence the results you might get.
Paying full retail for one of these brand new is a mugs game.
Can you onsell old stuff to fund the new stuff, sure. Im sure some do, but you’re still paying absolute peak for the new stuff.
Context:
I don’t really know my point though …
Same as road bikes where people will dole out 15K for anything novel, no matter how happy they are with their current bike, it’s a commercial given. We are well trained consumers, no cash, get a loan. Buying a new driver every year for minimal gain is so…
I’ll stop the rant now and watch some of the new driver reviews garner tons of views. At least Finch doesn’t take himself seriously.
PS Main claim of so many mobs is that their new drivers are so much more forgiving for shitte shots. Not sure this is such a good thing considering all the angst about the impact of modern balls on the viability of trad courses. Was a time when central striking of the club was rewarded, hardest part of the game in my op, something I clearly struggle with, and a reason why moderate hitters but great strikers in the past, such as Trevino, were ultra competitive. I suspect Lee would struggle to compete in the modern muscle bound game.
Because of club regulations, improvements are always going to be marginal and just an opportunity for marketing people to grab some money.
I trialled a paradigm last year (only because my club had a Callaway testing day and I happened to be there) and my old Callaway Big Bertha Fusion driver (2016 I think) was only slightly shorter in length (less than 10m on avg) and I was way straighter.
Anything worth playing in Bendigo? Heading there next week for a couple of days.
I think focussing on being relaxed as possible at address and literally only thinking of the current shot I play my best when I can block everything else out and focus on being relaxed at the address . itvis very hard to do when you are playing bad . I also think a lot of people have unrealistic expectations of how consistently good you should be able to perform. most golfers would be lucky to play to handicap about 1 in every 4 or 5 rounds . I read somewhere that’s a fact .
I accept some bad shots and holes will happen every round . I’m happy if my ball striking is about 80% plus of shots and whatever the score is it is . some days you get lucky bounces and some days you don’t too.
Hi Stealth, I’ve played the bendigo courses. Neanger GC is probalby the best but Bendigo GC is also a nice course.
All the courses in the area are looking great with all the rain we’ve had. Other nice courses are Axedale GC and Belvoir GC.
Yeah, Neangar looks like the best option and it is close to where I am staying. Also has a pitch and putt for the kids.
Hope you don’t plan on playing Monday, it will be as wet as a shag.