Photo courtesy of @tak6tak, featuring him (left), @STOV3TOP, @OrsonRosas, and @twiterlesKale (right) with host @Back9Ben photo-bombing in the background

 

THIS WEEK:

Crazy weather, golf swing personalities, secret buddy trips, and more! Come join us starting at 5:30 PM PST (click this link to get your local time)!

 

This Week’s #GolfChat Questions

Q1: Tell us about your past week in golf: where did you play and how did you do? What TV golf did you watch? What’s something new you learned? #GolfChat

Q2: @GOLFTEC recently retweeted a story of a player who saw noticeable improvement after replacing his 30-year old clubs with newer ones fitted for him. @FastestSurgeon thinks it was more the newer tech than the fitting that helped. What are your thoughts? #GolfChat

Q3:  @golfgetaways asks “Who are the best and the worst people you’ve ever been randomly paired with on a golf course?” #GolfChat

Q4:  @youngin_uk asks “What are your thoughts on hybrid irons?” #GolfChat

Q5: @XMoralHazardX asks “Has anyone ever been ghosted after a golf invite?” #GolfChat

Q6: What are you looking forward to this week? #GolfChat

 

#GolfChat Poll: @rbmcrae89 asks “Do you think more players at your local golf club sandbag for a higher handicap or have an artificially low handicap because they don’t always play it down or putt it out?”

 

Tips for good #GolfChat:

1. Follow @realGolfchat and the hashtag #GolfChat.
2. Retweet the questions to spread the #GolfChat love.
3. Include the hashtag #GolfChat in your answers.
4. Ask us questions for next week!

Photo courtesy of @nosoup4u72

 

THIS WEEK:

Fivesomes, learning from watching pros, illegal clubs and more! Come join us starting at 5:30 PM PST (click this link to get your local time)!

 

This Week’s #GolfChat Questions

Q1: OPENING QUESTION: Tell us about your *past* week in golf: where did you play and how did you do? What TV golf did you watch? What’s something new you learned? #GolfChat

Q2: @tak6tak asks “We had a 7 way tie late and it would have been a one group playoff. Whats largest group anyone has played in, or seen?” #GolfChat

Q3:  @MitchLaurance had an amazing time as the tee marshal on the par-3 4th for two days at Baltusrol in 2005. He asks “Who else has had a chance to get that kind of up close at a golf major?” #GolfChat

Q4:  @CaptPat48 wants to know “Do you ever learn anything watching the pros in a PGA TOUR tournament that helps your own game?” #GolfChat

Q5: @1beardedgolfer asks “Have you ever played a round of golf with a range ball or illegal club?” #GolfChat

Q6: CLOSING QUESTION: What are you looking forward to *this* week? #GolfChat

 

#GolfChat Poll: @DevonDembinski wants to know “What course playing conditions do you prefer: Firm and fast or soft and slower?”

 

Tips for good #GolfChat:

1. Follow @realGolfchat and the hashtag #GolfChat.
2. Retweet the questions to spread the #GolfChat love.
3. Include the hashtag #GolfChat in your answers.
4. Ask us questions for next week!

By: Adam Atkins

 

This was the exact conversation between my wife and I last week before a round with my dad:

“Okay Honey, I am leaving – be back in a few hours! Wish me luck!”

“Enjoy, have fun! And don’t let him get to you!”

 

Every time I get ready to go play golf with my dad, I know that I am in for a battle. My dad is just over 60 and hits the ball like he is in his mid-forties. He has that old-man golf game, where it goes straight and he doesn’t get into too much trouble from tee-to-green. He also still has plenty of strength to hit the ball far, which makes him a very good golfer in his circle of friends. However, I am a young 32-year old that is in the early stages of playing golf. I just started playing the game less than six years ago. I have the power to blast the ball miles, but I also don’t have the mind for golf. Every time I get ready to go play golf with my dad, I know that I am in for a battle… mentally.

 

1. You have to be athletic to play golf
2. You can compete at any level in the game of golf
3. Golf requires mental awareness and strategy… if you want to win

 

Golf is a funny sport in which you try to hit a small ball across the yard and make it stop in a hole. I can only imagine what the first few rounds of golf must have been like; they had to take forever! Think back to when you first began the game of golf, undoubtedly there were times when you contemplated giving up. When you thought, this is impossible. When you wondered if you would ever be able to reach the green or even just hit the ball straight. Now think about trying the game of golf with wooden clubs, awful golf balls, shaggy grass, and obstacles everywhere. This is the beginning of golf…. how we decided that this is going to be one of the greatest sports is beyond me – but I sure am glad it survived!

As bad as the beginning of golf must have been, the progression and where we are now as a sport is just as advanced. PGA TOUR players and amateurs alike are spinning back golf balls to exact distances on the greens. When a player asks his caddie for a distance, they are not asking for 115ish yards they are asking for 116 or 114 yards – because it matters. Players are so good these days that they even miss in the correct spots so that way they still have a great chance at making par. The next event you watch, count how many times a player is on the green in regulation and still gets the same score as their playing partner who isn’t. Players have become so good, that there is almost as likely a chance to make a short chip as there is to make a long putt.

However, as impressive as the short game abilities have become – nothing is more impressive than a player that steps up and absolutely mashes a ball 300+ yards. Length is something that is needed in today’s game, and it is becoming more and more of a requirement than an advantage. Everybody wants to step-up to the tee box and obliterate a drive that makes everybody watching pick their jaw up from the ground. The saying goes, “Drive for show, putt for dough.” Who doesn’t love putting on a show?!?

Most people who begin the game of golf just want to step up and hit the ball as hard as they can. Who doesn’t? There may not be a better feeling in golf than when you smash a drive and your ball drops a care package to your playing partner’s ball as it sails past. It is also absolutely an advantage to know that most holes you are going to be 30-40 yards closer to hole. Which leads everyone to wonder – what is the secret to hitting the long ball?

If only it was as simple as stepping up and swinging as hard as you can. However, most accomplished golfers will tell you – swinging harder usually results in a hook or slice. If the shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight line, then a hook or slice – no matter how far – is not ideal. In the game of golf, you need a smooth swing with perfect impact and perfect club face and perfect swing path and perfect body movement – seems easy right? Riiiiigggghhhhtttt.

This is what makes golf a mental minefield. If you can’t hit the ball straight, you are going to find trouble all over the course. You have to use strategy to work your way around the course and put yourself in good spots. It does you no good to be 90 yards away from the hole if you have to go over trees and carry a greenside bunker with a tucked pin. Instead, just hit a smooth shot that places you 125 yards away in the middle of the fairway and leave yourself a good look at the green. Far too many times, golfers take the strategy out of the game and just hit the ball as hard as they can every time. In order to be successful, you need to utilize all the golf clubs in the bag and leave yourself a perfect distance and shot location into the green. I have seen far too many golfers smash their drive when in reality they could have easily just hit their 7-iron to 150 yards and been perfectly fine.

Golf is a terrific sport because not only does it require length, it also requires the mental awareness to know when to use your length. It isn’t always about hitting the ball far – it is also about controlling the ability. The next time you are out on the course, I encourage you to play a few holes with two balls. Hit one ball with your driver and hit one ball with the club that you feel has the best chance to get you to 150 yards out and land in the fairway; play both balls out and see which one scores better. I think you will be surprised how many times the second ball either wins or ties with the first ball. Golf is progressing, but there is no progressing past the mental side of things!

 

2 hours later…

“I’m back.”

“Why are you so upset?”

“He did it again! He started playing mental games and I started swinging out of my shoes!”

“Honey, I love you – but you are an idiot.”

 

 

Photo courtesy of @Portland_John

 

THIS WEEK:

Golf careers, lessons learned, staying relevant and more! Come join us starting at 5:30 PM PST (click this link to get your local time)!

 

This Week’s #GolfChat Questions

Q1: NEW OPENING QUESTION: Tell us about your *past* week in golf: where did you play and how did you do? What TV golf did you watch? What’s something new you learned? #GolfChat

Q2: Have you ever considered becoming a PGA professional or making golf a career? Why or why not? #GolfChat

Q3:  What’s the best thing your PGA pro has taught you about the game or even something else? #GolfChat

Q4:  @TheGratefulGolf asks “If you could caddie for any player in the #PGAChampionship, who would it be and why?” #GolfChat

Q5: @fnf2017 asks “How tough is it for @PGA pros to keep up/stay relevant with online instructors? #GolfChat

Q6: @tak6tak asks “How legit is the @PGA PAT (player ability test)? Can most people pass it?

Q7: NEW CLOSING QUESTION: What are you looking forward to *this* week? #GolfChat

 

#GolfChat Poll: @TheParTrain asks “When putting your golf bag in your trunk, do you lead with the clubs or the bottom of the bag?”

 

Tips for good #GolfChat:

1. Follow @realGolfchat and the hashtag #GolfChat.
2. Retweet the questions to spread the #GolfChat love.
3. Include the hashtag #GolfChat in your answers.
4. Ask us questions for next week!

By: Adam Atkins

If you are joining us from the previous article – you have a good starting point from where we stand. If you happen to have missed it, here’s a link: Trust Me, Just Try Golf!

And now on to Part II…

I remember just starting in the game of golf and my dad would completely dominate me on the course. His shots were farther and straighter than my erratic shanks that were sprayed all over the course. My father has a kind soul and would encourage me to keep trying. However, I was a young stubborn, overly competitive young buck who could not stand the fact that he could not hit the ball as far as his dad. I would walk off the ninth green defeated and ashamed at the embarrassing display I had shown on the course. Yet, somehow I would only lose by a stroke or two – or even win!

How is this possible? Is my dad just super kind and let me win in order to make sure that I continued to play with him? He is. Is he selfishly hoping that I continue to play so he has someone that he can play with not named his wife? He is. Does he occasionally hit bad shots and somehow I luck out and win a hole? He does. While all of these reasons ring true, they are not the reasons why I was able to be competitive in a match that I had no business being in.

Golf is a unique sport. A sport that has a variety of aspects that make it one of the best sports on the face of the planet. It is one of the only sports that allow athletes (yes, golfers are athletes) of all different skill levels to compete on a level playing field. There is no other sport in which an experienced professional can realistically lose to beginner.

 

1. You have to be athletic to be good at golf (article #1)
2. You can compete at any level in the game of golf

 

Growing up, I played soccer and basketball. I was never the fastest or the most gifted, so I had to rely on hard work and busting my butt in practice. No matter what I did I still could not manage to crack the starting lineup – but it wasn’t for lack of effort. In many sports there is nothing you can do, some people are just more gifted. Call it the hand you were dealt or call it unlucky, sometimes God-given talent just outweighs hard work. However, in the game of golf there are ways to make it an even playing field across the board. Something that is unique to golf and no other sport.

If you play golf, you undoubtedly have a group that you tend to play with often. In our group we have varying degrees of talent, with one or two golfers that are very good. However, more often than not they leave the golf course without winning any money – crazy, right? Well, myself and the others in the group can thank the handicap system.

There is no other sport that features a handicap system that allows for beginners to compete with experts. In golf, someone can score a 68 and still lose to someone who scored a 79. The handicap system is made for the weekend golfer, yet the average weekend golfer probably doesn’t take advantage of their handicap – or for that matter understand the handicap system. Let’s break it down…

A golfer’s handicap is based upon their average score in relation to par. For instance, if a golfer typically shoots an 82 – then they have a handicap of 10 strokes. I know, it sounds like math – Bryson would be very pleased! Essentially, in a given round that same golfer would get to subtract 10 strokes from their score. So if that golfer has a good day and scores a 76, their net score would actually be a 66. In other words, if you are a bad golfer and muster together a surprisingly good round – you are going to make some cheddah!

That is simple way of putting it – but what if you only play nine holes? What if you are playing match play? The handicap system can still be used to even the playing field. That same golfer would get one stroke on each of the 10 hardest holes on the golf course. Let’s say that 5 of those holes happen to be on the front – then for each of those holes, that same golfer would be getting a stroke a hole.

Some people may be reading this and think – this seems really unfair! Why would I give other golfers an advantage in a game that I dedicated so much time in to get better? While we could get into a long drawn out argument about this – I would simply rebuttal: Why would someone who is clearly not as good as you, play/bet against you without some type of help?

If you want to learn more about the handicap system a quick Google search will explain course rating and different aspects that affect a golfer’s handicap. Whether you choose to use the handicap system or scrap it – there is no denying the fact that golf has allowed itself to be played by all kinds of people with all kinds of skill. Now tell me what other sport has that?

 

Follow Adam on Twitter @Lousomumo254