August 17Aug 17 Work trip this week to Portland, ahhh what a great opportunity to golf in some nice PNW weather! I land at PDX and it’s…97 degrees. Fuck. Oh well, got in 18 on Monday.Then got out again on Wednesday for twilight golf, got in another 9. They weren’t doing carts so I walked it which was actually really fun, about 4 miles. Weather in the low 70’s with a slight breeze, so nice. I actually shot my best so far, I was 49 through 9 so on track to crack 100.Back in Austin now and am going out to golf Avery Ranch tomorrow with my wife. Hopefully can keep the good vibes flowing.
August 17Aug 17 Oh and while I was out part of my Takomo order arrived, my wedges. Excited to try these tomorrow.
August 17Aug 17 A few other comments on chipping. As a beginner it absolutely behooves you to get good at chipping. You can really pile up a mountain of lost strokes really quickly around the green with sloppy chipping. Let’s say we hit two good shots on a par 5 and we’re just off the green in 2, thinking birdie. A chunked chip and we’re left with the same chip again, or worse we blade the chip across the green and we’re in a bunker short sided or in some junk we have no chance of getting up and down from. A skulled first chip, a second chip that doesn’t get close to the hole, and now we’re angry because we pissed away a birdie and we 3 putt. So instead of birdie we’re carding a double bogey. The path from 110 to 80 involves eliminating a lot of wasted shots around the green. Two putts after a mediocre chip doesn’t really feel like a lost shot, but it is and they add up. Three putts after a bad chip is a disaster. Knowing you can get in the cup in 1 or 2 strokes from around the green also transfers a lot of confidence and freedom to your 80-150 yard game. reducing the level of stress over a shot from 125 yards allows you to be more committed to the shot. Tense, hesitant swings produce bad results. Some technical notes that I forgot to mention. Since you’re in Texas, I’m assuming a lot of the green surrounds you’ll be playing on are bermuda grass (idk?) It is a completely different playing surface than rye/kbg/fescue. You absolutely have to learn how to read the grain and account for it when chipping off bermuda, whereas it’s not a consideration on other grasses. It’s not hard to learn but you have to take it into account when chipping. When you’re chipping with the grain, the club glides along the grass nicely. When you’re chipping against the grain it will really want to grab your club and make it dig in. A putter is often a good choice there. When practicing chipping, make sure some of your chips are across slopes. Take note of how the slope treats different trajectories. A slope will grab a high lofted shot sooner and harder while a low runner will push through a some of the slope early. You want to take that into account when dealing with side slopes. You can use it to your advantage at times as well. For example if you’re chipping to a hole that’s downhill from you. Chipping directly at the hole can be really difficult because it’s carrying so much speed and the slope wants to add more. But you can sometimes hit a higher lofted shot 45 or even 90 degrees across the fall line and let gravity gently bring it down to the hole. Alternatively, if you need to traverse a slope to a pin that’s on top of a shelf, the lofted shot will be difficult to get close because the slope wants to repel the ball away down the hill as well as kill its momentum. A low runner will drive through a lot of that early break and has a higher margin for error. One of the key ideas to shooting lower scores is taking the worst case scenario out of play. The shot OB off the tee, taking on too much of a forced carry and ending up in the water, not taking your medicine with the short punch back out into the fairway from the trees vs trying to thread the needle towards the green. That applies to chipping as well. It’s generally safer to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. A bad putt from short grass on hard ground from off the green is going to be a lot better than a bad chip with a high lofted wedge from that same lie. There’s a reason it’s called the Texas wedge. Worst case scenario with the putter there is probably 3 strokes. Worst case scenario with a wedge is that your next shot is significantly harder than the one you started with. Start forming your plan with the thought of getting the ball rolling as quickly as possible and add loft and carry as the shot requires it. On the note of carry, make sure you practice varying the amount of longer grass between you and the green. Most of the time you’re going to be carrying the ball onto the green, but rough can also be used to take speed off the ball. For example, standing on a downslope, chipping to a close pin with the green running away from you, it might not be possible to keep the ball remotely close if you carry it onto the green. There, landing the ball in the rough and letting it just trickle onto the green might be an option. When practicing chipping, you want to feed as many types of shots as possible into your memory bank. The better your vision and imagination is when approaching a chip, the more options you’ll see for how to play a shot. And the only way to develop feel is reps.
August 17Aug 17 On 8/2/2025 at 8:35 PM, Horn of Gabriel said: I'm still not getting the distance I want out of it; I'm averaging around 200 and my club head speed on the monitor is only mid-90s. If I try to push it faster my form gets out of whack and I mis-strike it, so that is a work-in-progress. I've been watching a lot of videos of the pros and the long drivers specifically with regard to weight shift but I still don't feel like I'm recruiting the power of my lower body enough. For reference, I'm not weak and do lift 😅, I squat and deadlift north of 400 lbs which is decent for my age I guess, I just don't feel like I 'm putting that strength to use on the swing! Tips welcome. A couple things, one already mentioned is flexibility. There’s a good chance you’re not rotating your hips enough so that you can use the strength you have. Another thing a lot of people that struggle with power and/or an over the top swing do is they try to fire everything at the same time from the top of the back swing. The application of the strike from the wrists and arms fire to early and rather than a sequential addition of force, all of the force is spent too early leading to weak and inconsistent swings. If you played baseball it would be the equivalent of striding and casting the bat behind you at the same time and then just dragging it through the zone. Or jumping, extending your arm and flicking your wrist all at the same time when shooting a basketball. There is a sequencing to it. Something that helped me learn how to whip the club is turning your driver around and holding it upside down, with your hand at the hosel. Make one handed swings with each hand and hear where the whoosh of the club is the loudest. It should be just after where the ball would be, sort of in front of your lead foot. Make some swings getting the sound in the right spot and then try recreating that feel with the club turned around. Imagine you were trying to pound a railroad spike horizontally into the trunk of a tree at shin height with a sledge hammer. You wouldn’t yank a sledgehammer back and then yank it down. You’d instinctively, because it’s heavy, gradually add force to assist gravity with the movement without ever thinking about it. That’s why guys like Couples and Ernie Els made their power look so effortless. They have a nice smooth summation of force. Also, since you squat and deadlift, do you power clean? Its a great way to train explosive power production.
August 17Aug 17 Played 18 with my 12-year-old yesterday and he hit a damn hole in one. I’ve been playing my whole life and still don’t have one.
August 17Aug 17 11 minutes ago, Gale Snoats said: Played 18 with my 12-year-old yesterday and he hit a damn hole in one. I’ve been playing my whole life and still don’t have one. That’s awesome, and so fucking frustrating. How far was it? Was it a good shot or did he get lucky? My most regular playing partner almost got his first a couple weeks ago on a horrendous shot. 185 yds, hard pull that missed the green left by 15 yards, bounced around in a tree, fell out onto a slope, bounced down to the green and trickled past the hole.
August 17Aug 17 Played Friday with two friends. I hit the ball OK, but missed by just enough just often enough to screw up a round. Short sided myself multiple times. Missed fairways by less than a yard four separate times, all of which ended up in heavy rough that affected my approach shot significantly. It was one of those rounds that should've been in the low 80s, maybe upper 70s with some good breaks, but carded an 89. Second shitty round in a row. Meanwhile, my 12 hdcp buddy rattles off 6 birdies, and my 18 hdcp buddy lips our for albatross and has a banner round. I need the pendulum to start swinging back the other way. Soon.
August 17Aug 17 That’s awesome, and so fucking frustrating. How far was it? Was it a good shot or did he get lucky? My most regular playing partner almost got his first a couple weeks ago on a horrendous shot. 185 yds, hard pull that missed the green left by 15 yards, bounced around in a tree, fell out onto a slope, bounced down to the green and trickled past the hole. 107 yards pitching wedge. Perfect ball flight slight fade bounced twice rolled about 2 feet and in.
August 18Aug 18 On 8/17/2025 at 7:49 AM, Gale Snoats said: Played 18 with my 12-year-old yesterday and he hit a damn hole in one. I’ve been playing my whole life and still don’t have one. my son pulls that on me I will deadpan this reaction Then be very excited for him, but repeat the line.
August 18Aug 18 On 8/16/2025 at 8:23 PM, Horn of Gabriel said: Oh and while I was out part of my Takomo order arrived, my wedges. Excited to try these tomorrow. Hadn't seen any up close pics until now. I was surprised at basically the full grind. Not much heel or toe relief. I do love that they are forged for basically $90, which is a steal. I would've like the lob and sand wedges to have different bounces and relief/grind profiles.
August 18Aug 18 4 hours ago, crash_davis said: Hadn't seen any up close pics until now. I was surprised at basically the full grind. Not much heel or toe relief. I do love that they are forged for basically $90, which is a steal. I would've like the lob and sand wedges to have different bounces and relief/grind profiles. They do have the 2 versions "F" and "V," on the SF002 model, which changes the bounce profile slightly. I got the V's for the 60 and 56 and F for the 50. I was able to hit all three this weekend and my chips were the strongest part of my game, for once, although I still need to practice more getting out of the sand. I believe they are cast, which is fine for where I am in the game. https://takomogolf.com/products/skyforger-002-wedges?srsltid=AfmBOorQw4NyknvmFLsDiAXc6kjMbSdh19Rjb2GcT3V13Wb2GAWd8IPF&variant=44931593437381 Edited August 18Aug 18 by Horn of Gabriel
August 18Aug 18 On 8/16/2025 at 11:36 PM, heso said: A couple things, one already mentioned is flexibility. There’s a good chance you’re not rotating your hips enough so that you can use the strength you have. Another thing a lot of people that struggle with power and/or an over the top swing do is they try to fire everything at the same time from the top of the back swing. The application of the strike from the wrists and arms fire to early and rather than a sequential addition of force, all of the force is spent too early leading to weak and inconsistent swings. If you played baseball it would be the equivalent of striding and casting the bat behind you at the same time and then just dragging it through the zone. Or jumping, extending your arm and flicking your wrist all at the same time when shooting a basketball. There is a sequencing to it. Something that helped me learn how to whip the club is turning your driver around and holding it upside down, with your hand at the hosel. Make one handed swings with each hand and hear where the whoosh of the club is the loudest. It should be just after where the ball would be, sort of in front of your lead foot. Make some swings getting the sound in the right spot and then try recreating that feel with the club turned around. Imagine you were trying to pound a railroad spike horizontally into the trunk of a tree at shin height with a sledge hammer. You wouldn’t yank a sledgehammer back and then yank it down. You’d instinctively, because it’s heavy, gradually add force to assist gravity with the movement without ever thinking about it. That’s why guys like Couples and Ernie Els made their power look so effortless. They have a nice smooth summation of force. Also, since you squat and deadlift, do you power clean? Its a great way to train explosive power production. My flexibility is shit; I had some shoulder issues on my L side a few years ago that continue to linger. I do stretch but could be more regular about it. I do power clean and play basketball often, so explosive force production is something I have some familiarity with, I just have the sequencing out of order for my driver swing. Couples swing is so effortless, it's beautiful. My big issue is sequencing...in all those examples, once he completes the take back in his backswing, there is a slight pause in the club and he transitions his lower body weight to his front foot to start the downswing. I'm relatively good at that in my iron swing but for whatever reason in my driver, I'm not - my body wants to start the swing motion in the club rather than the lower body. As a result I get really "armsy" and disconnected between my upper/lower body as they try to fire together and it warps the swing and robs power at best, at worst it sends the ball careening off to the left or right or tops it. On Sunday my wife and I golfed our "home" course at Avery Ranch (we're not full members there but it's closest to our house). It was like I had never hit a driver before in my life. Eventually I backed off to 50% power on my swing just to try to hit relatively straight-ish. Finally around hole 12 it started to feel right. My irons and chips were great and my putting was improved, I only 3-putted I think twice in 18. Finally on the last hole, it all came together. Decent if short drive, my 2nd approach shot I was about 10 feet behind a 10 foot tall bush with no view of the hole with about 140 yards to go, and I used my 9-iron and got great loft and got it up over the bush and landed about 12 feet from the hole, which I 1-putted for par. Felt really, really good to close out strong. My wife just texted me wanting to go to the range again tonight, she's got the bug! Thanks for the drill, I'll try that out next range session. Maybe one of these times I'll get a recording and someone more knowledgeable here can give me some feedback?
August 19Aug 19 11 hours ago, crash_davis said: Hadn't seen any up close pics until now. I was surprised at basically the full grind. Not much heel or toe relief. I do love that they are forged for basically $90, which is a steal. I would've like the lob and sand wedges to have different bounces and relief/grind profiles. i went from a 56 to a 54, much better for my chipping style
August 19Aug 19 60 and 50 for me - depending on how much height and how much spin I need. Same chipping motion for both. My only swing thought for chipping these days is "accelerate".
August 19Aug 19 On 8/17/2025 at 9:49 AM, Gale Snoats said: Played 18 with my 12-year-old yesterday and he hit a damn hole in one. I’ve been playing my whole life and still don’t have one. Congrats to your kid but that shit is frustrating isn't it! I still don't have one, but my kid got one a few years ago when he was 17 years old on a 160-yard Par 3 on our course. That shit cost me like $500 to frame the ball, flag and scorecard. I was with my nephew last Thanksgiving, and he got his first hole in one and while I was excited for him, I was also pretty jealous.
August 19Aug 19 The rapid highs and lows of golf are just unbelievable. As a 12 handicap headed to 10, I’ve been starting to really have some good swings, shots, and rounds. However, in the blink of an eye a round can go south fast. I played this week and had three birdies within 5 holes. It was unbelievable. I started getting visions of posting my best round ever (<75). Then my swing slowly melted away, with me unable to hit even my best irons, the wedges. I staggered to a 39 on the front, and then just broke down completely after that, with an ugly 48 on the back. How can a person hit so well, and then so poorly, within the span of about 90 minutes? Golf is an amazing, and amazingly frustrating, game.
August 20Aug 20 17 hours ago, Dbeasy said: The rapid highs and lows of golf are just unbelievable. As a 12 handicap headed to 10, I’ve been starting to really have some good swings, shots, and rounds. However, in the blink of an eye a round can go south fast. As a 14 handicap headed to 10, I’m now a 16 after a week in pinehurst.
August 21Aug 21 On 8/20/2025 at 8:20 AM, heso said: As a 14 handicap headed to 10, I’m now a 16 after a week in pinehurst. so cool, how was the weather?
August 21Aug 21 I have been practicing a lot lately, some decent rounds with a few stinkers mixed in. Practice sessions on the launch monitor have been encouraging. All this to say we played Canyon Springs last week for our fantasy draft weekend and I carded a smooth 113. Lost 11 balls (found 22 tho). There were times I couldn’t even remember how to hit the ball. Haven’t seen rough that ridiculous since Ferry Point in NYC. Hopefully tomorrow’s return to Lions resets things a bit
August 22Aug 22 Author Yeah I ditched my 3i for a Ping G410 3h 4 years ago. So much better. Still hanging onto my 4i as my tee club on short par 4s where there's too much trouble past 215 or so
August 22Aug 22 7 hours ago, nolongerU2horn said: Yeah I ditched my 3i for a Ping G410 3h 4 years ago. So much better. Still hanging onto my 4i as my tee club on short par 4s where there's too much trouble past 215 or so i picked up TM Sim2 9 wood for $125, best money ive spent in some time.
August 23Aug 23 On 8/22/2025 at 8:08 AM, nolongerU2horn said: Yeah I ditched my 3i for a Ping G410 3h 4 years ago. So much better. Still hanging onto my 4i as my tee club on short par 4s where there's too much trouble past 215 or so This is me exactly, except I have a Titleist 19Hybrid
August 24Aug 24 Holy shit a huge unlock today. Now I know what I’m supposed to do with my wrists and why I keep topping the ball and hooking (bad address, rushing, wrong grip). This makes much more sense. 7i just went from 125->160. Driver from 170 with a bad hook to basically straight and 235 at 75% effort. Also getting 190 off the tee and 165 off the deck with a 5h, but I’m not sure what the point of a 5h is other than it came with my set. Why not just grab a 6 iron? Of course I’m 3 weeks in, so about 40-50% of the time everything is fucked. In short this game sucks and I think about it all the time.
August 24Aug 24 12 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said: Holy shit a huge unlock today. Now I know what I’m supposed to do with my wrists and why I keep topping the ball and hooking (bad address, rushing, wrong grip). This makes much more sense. 7i just went from 125->160. Driver from 170 with a bad hook to basically straight and 235 at 75% effort. Also getting 190 off the tee and 165 off the deck with a 5h, but I’m not sure what the point of a 5h is other than it came with my set. Why not just grab a 6 iron? Of course I’m 3 weeks in, so about 40-50% of the time everything is fucked. In short this game sucks and I think about it all the time. You get these stair steps in ability in golf in all facets of the game - tee, approach, short game, putting. And then it goes away for a week, you panic, over correct, and you're back to square one. Welcome to your new hell. Eventually, you develop a core feeling that you can always fall back on. That helps to reduce those over corrections and you start to see real progress and consistency. That was the big hurdle to get me from 12-15 to 5-7.
August 24Aug 24 3 hours ago, dieucla98 said: And then it goes away for a week, you panic, over correct, and you're back to square one. Welcome to your new hell. Already there! I went out this morning with a great attitude, felt fluid and effortless practice swings and then when I stepped up to the ball I was topping everything, can’t make solid contact with anything longer than a 9 and hooking off the tee again. I even missed the ball altogether a couple of times this morning, hadn’t done that since day one. Edited August 24Aug 24 by Bozo_Casanova
August 25Aug 25 7 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said: Already there! I went out this morning with a great attitude, felt fluid and effortless practice swings and then when I stepped up to the ball I was topping everything, can’t make solid contact with anything longer than a 9 and hooking off the tee again. I even missed the ball altogether a couple of times this morning, hadn’t done that since day one. It's so frustrating. You mess up epically once or twice and then you just feel like you have to hit the reset button. But the truth is a half a degree here or there and that's the only difference between a complete shit show and some real decent golf. Literally. A half of a degree. I bought a simulator (a good one that tracks, plots, and gives you all the stats) and that's what it took for me to take it easy on myself and stop panicking - my good swings vs my "oh my god the world is ending" swings was so minute. Take a gummy. Chill.
August 25Aug 25 8 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said: Already there! I went out this morning with a great attitude, felt fluid and effortless practice swings and then when I stepped up to the ball I was topping everything, can’t make solid contact with anything longer than a 9 and hooking off the tee again. I even missed the ball altogether a couple of times this morning, hadn’t done that since day one. driving range time, go out there and hit a large bucket repeat as needed. keep your head down. hands should be in front of your weiner at set up
August 25Aug 25 23 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said: I stepped up to the ball I was topping everything, can’t make solid contact with anything longer than a 9 and hooking off the tee again. a common cause of topping the ball is not getting your weight transferred to your left side. Falling back to the right is an extremely common beginner swing flaw and makes the margin for error for a descending blow on the golf ball extremely tight.
August 27Aug 27 Author 5 hours ago, tx 3 putt said: curious if anyone else used to play with a persimmon driver ? Sure, when I was a kid. Got this in high school, still have it in the garage:
August 27Aug 27 curious if anyone else used to play with a persimmon driver ?I had a persimmon 3w, 5w, and Cobra Baffler 7w but never a persimmon driver.
August 27Aug 27 4 hours ago, nolongerU2horn said: Sure, when I was a kid. Got this in high school, still have it in the garage: 9 degree with a ti shaft was my first metal wood, game changer then callaway changed the game again with the big bertha series
August 28Aug 28 On 8/23/2025 at 8:38 PM, Bozo_Casanova said: Holy shit a huge unlock today. Now I know what I’m supposed to do with my wrists and why I keep topping the ball and hooking (bad address, rushing, wrong grip). This makes much more sense. 7i just went from 125->160. Driver from 170 with a bad hook to basically straight and 235 at 75% effort. Also getting 190 off the tee and 165 off the deck with a 5h, but I’m not sure what the point of a 5h is other than it came with my set. Why not just grab a 6 iron? Of course I’m 3 weeks in, so about 40-50% of the time everything is fucked. In short this game sucks and I think about it all the time.
August 28Aug 28 On 8/19/2025 at 2:30 PM, Dbeasy said: Golf is an amazing, and amazingly frustrating, game. I’ve held steady between a 1 and 2 for the last few years, but developed the shanks on the range warming up before a round a few weeks ago. Managed to break 100 but not by much and haven’t played a round since. I tried to work it out on the range a couple times to no avail, and I have no clue how to fix. Partial wedges and short game are unaffected, and as a result I’ve just been focusing on those for practice. Any full shot has about a 1-in-3 chance of going sideways. I am supposed to play 18 on Sunday and expecting another blood bath. The good news this happened to me once before about 5 years ago. While it lasted for a few months it was directly followed by the first real quantum improvement I’d had in years going from a double digit index to low single digits. So either I am on the precipice of another breakthrough or I will never sniff breaking 90, much less breaking 80, again.
August 28Aug 28 14 hours ago, Gen. Applewhite said: I’ve held steady between a 1 and 2 for the last few years, but developed the shanks on the range warming up before a round a few weeks ago. Managed to break 100 but not by much and haven’t played a round since. I tried to work it out on the range a couple times to no avail, and I have no clue how to fix. Partial wedges and short game are unaffected, and as a result I’ve just been focusing on those for practice. Any full shot has about a 1-in-3 chance of going sideways. I am supposed to play 18 on Sunday and expecting another blood bath. The good news this happened to me once before about 5 years ago. While it lasted for a few months it was directly followed by the first real quantum improvement I’d had in years going from a double digit index to low single digits. So either I am on the precipice of another breakthrough or I will never sniff breaking 90, much less breaking 80, again. Can almost guarantee it's something small. At a 1-2, you're damn good at repeating the same thing over and over but I'm sure like all of us, your tendencies are drifting slowly. Something has drifted just into shanksville and since you're so good at repetition, you're stuck on the shanks. When I get too toe-y or heely, I just adjust how close I'm standing to the ball. It helps in two ways - physically moves the club to adjust for the miss and allows you more room to come from the inside (if you're heel-y) or "outside" (if you're toe-y).
August 28Aug 28 1 hour ago, dieucla98 said: Can almost guarantee it's something small. At a 1-2, you're damn good at repeating the same thing over and over but I'm sure like all of us, your tendencies are drifting slowly. Something has drifted just into shanksville and since you're so good at repetition, you're stuck on the shanks. When I get too toe-y or heely, I just adjust how close I'm standing to the ball. It helps in two ways - physically moves the club to adjust for the miss and allows you more room to come from the inside (if you're heel-y) or "outside" (if you're toe-y). I tried turning my hat around backwards and moving my change from one pocket to the other.
August 28Aug 28 42 minutes ago, Gen. Applewhite said: I tried turning my hat around backwards and moving my change from one pocket to the other. But where did you keep the Best Buy coupons?
August 28Aug 28 52 minutes ago, Gen. Applewhite said: I tried turning my hat around backwards and moving my change from one pocket to the other. have you tried playing with a god awful hangover? The barely can stand up, head feels like its in a vice grip kind.
August 28Aug 28 On 8/25/2025 at 1:15 PM, Incredulity said: a common cause of topping the ball is not getting your weight transferred to your left side. Falling back to the right is an extremely common beginner swing flaw and makes the margin for error for a descending blow on the golf ball extremely tight. This in combination with the slo-mo of Fred Couples was enormously helpful. Hard to explain but I’m basically just trying to make my swing feel as natural and economical as possible, and nothing else. Still not sure what the fuck this 5h is for, but otherwise back on track. Does anyone here carry a chipper? Why or why not? I’ve been reading up on this and it seems like everyone shits on them because it’s a single purpose club, but since an average 90 golfer chips 13-15 times a round, that single purpose seems pretty important.
August 30Aug 30 Mo Willie this afternoon. Front 9 was HOT. Clouds rolled in for the back 9 Still searching for confidence with the putter
September 3Sep 3 On 8/31/2025 at 12:57 PM, tx 3 putt said: a true master .... If you watch short game chef, who teaches a lot of pros, three of his main teaching points are to do exactly what Mickelson is saying don't do. He prefers equal weight balance, ball between your feet always, and very little to no shaft lean. I subscribe to the short game chef method and pretty much never do anything Phil suggested unless it's some funky situation and that's probably one of the strongest aspects of my game. There are, despite Phil's opinion, multiple ways to chip and pitch. I think the key is to pick one that resonates for you and stick with it until it's fully engrained. Edited September 3Sep 3 by dieucla98
September 4Sep 4 Maybe y'all will be interested in this, I saw this online somewhere and thought "that looks fun" so I built my own cornhole-style chipping boxes. Basically you chip from one to the other. Put them as close or as far as you need. I was working my 60 degree and had them kinda close in this picture. It's actually super hard to land it, you have to put a ton of backspin on the ball. 7 points for holing it, 3 points for getting on the box, otherwise 1 point for closest to the pin. Play to 21. It's fun and you get to work on your short game. And no, I don't water our backyard grass during the summer I did a pretty extensive set of photos during the build process, LMK if anyone would like a post on the build.
September 4Sep 4 4 hours ago, Horn of Gabriel said: I did a pretty extensive set of photos during the build process, LMK if anyone would like a post on the build. You must have mistaken us for a discriminating audience only interested in highly curated content. Spoiler it if you feel like it is too long, but by all means bring it on...
September 4Sep 4 Looks like there is padding underneath the turf - is that right? What kind did you use? I can't imagine ever getting a chip to hold that surface if it's straight turf on wood.
September 5Sep 5 2 hours ago, dieucla98 said: Looks like there is padding underneath the turf - is that right? What kind did you use? I can't imagine ever getting a chip to hold that surface if it's straight turf on wood. Yes, it's a 6.5mm foam shock pad that designed to go under putting green fake grass. It's still really hard to get a ball to sit on the surface. 90% of the time I when I hit it, it bounces off unless I do a huge flop shot and even then. But, it's a good challenge. Here's the build, spoiler because it's long: Spoiler The sides are 2x6's and the top is 4'x4' plywood. You could buy a single sheet of plywood and have Home Depot rip it down the middle, might save a tiny bit of cost, I bought two 4'x4' pre-cut squares because they were more solid/finished than the 8x4' plywood pieces. Had to cut off the ends of half the 2x6's so they'd fit nicely Then gave all the wood a low-grit and high-grit sanding so the stain would stick better Measured and used the paddle bit to cut what would become the holes for the carrying handles Holes drilled, wiped off the dust, ready to stain Went with the Behr semi-transparent in Padre Brown, 2 coats Hook 'em Stain done, really brings out the color in the plywood, lol Time to pre-drill screw holes and glue and clamp Good trick when pre-drilling to depth is to put tape on the drill bit to the correct hole depth I bought some simple screw in feet attachments as well, which raises it up slightly but also allows a tiny bit of control over the height if I want to add a slope Box 1 complete Lesson learned on Box 1, the standard bits I had were not long enough for the 3" screws, longer bit to the rescue! Box 2 clamped, glued, and screwed Picked up that 6.5mm shock pad from TurfHub Time to drill the hole for the cup! 4" cup, 4" hole saw, here we go! I forgot to take good photos but you can see I also glued and screwed the top down to the sides Looks perfect! Except I fucked up! The cup needs a 4.25" opening. The hole needs to be a quarter-inch wider. Shit. Welp, I have a router at least, I can widen the hole. It ended up being redneck engineering but you can't see it and it works, so... Time to cut the shock pad and grass Last, glue it down to the box. Bought 2 of these, ended up using 5! Be super careful to get the right kind that is foam-safe or it will destroy the foam pad. Gift from the wife and whiskey break Last step, add the carrying handles, I used some nylon rope All done! Parts list: 2 4'x4' finished plywood, I think it was at least 1/4" thick - plenty strong enough for me to stand on 8 4' 2x6's - I think all the wood was maybe $50 24 3" brass wood screws for the frame - $10 32-ish regular wood screws for the top - $5 2 Quarts of Behr stain - $30 (guessing on this price I can't recall) 5 tubes of Fuze-it liquid nails - $50 1 container of Titebond wood glue 2 golf cups with mini flags - $40 2 masters mini flags because why not - $40 ~40 feet of nylon rope (didn't use all of it) - $10 32 sq ft of SYNputt fake putting green grass (purchased at Lowes, minimum purchase was 12'x4' so I had 4' of waste) - $150 32 sq ft of 6.5mm foam shock pad (purchased at TurfHub, minimum purchase was 15'x4' so I had 7' of waste) - $50 Milam & Greene Whiskey Tools used: Miter saw 1/2" drill Router 4" Hole saw (should have been 4.25") Paddle bit Rubber mallet Clamps Electric sander Caulk gun Total price, not including tools was around $440. You could probably rebuild it cheaper with lower quality wood, not staining it, just getting the golf cups without the sticks, not putting handles on the side, and finding cheaper fake grass. Edited September 5Sep 5 by Horn of Gabriel
September 5Sep 5 You can take my 3i when you pry it from my cold dead hands. My keep it low, rescue from the woods club. Maybe you can take it when I learn to better avoid the woods though. Why just this monday I banana-balled my second to reach the 18th at sharpstown in two from the forest, setting up the inevitable three putt parI did just snag a Titleist 904f 19 degree five wood from goodwill with a decent accra shaft for 15 bucks so that is going along for the long walk today at el dorado
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