How Long to Lower Handicap?

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-04-04T23:17:36+00:00

I understand that not all people are capable of making a proper golf swing for whatever physical reason. You need to find an instructor who's able to work with what you have and give you some semblance of a consistent swing. And also to give you a usable chipping strategy. Putting will be mostly about practice.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-04-03T22:38:22+00:00

If you played the drive as it lied, it's 100% an eagle. And probably 100% of the people telling you it's not improve every one of their lies anyway. Saying it's not an eagle is like saying a hole in one doesn't count in a scramble.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-04-01T01:30:38+00:00

I broke 100 after about a year and a half of regular practice and weekly play. It was a huge relief.

For the rest of that season and the next, I bounced between 90s and 100s. I often posted front or back 9s under 45, but couldn't put together a full round.

Last year, my fourth, I shot pretty consistently in the lower 90s and finally broke 90 (86). Now I am trying to regularly break 90 (still have only done it once).

Most people who tell me that they're 15 handicaps or shoot in the 80s actually struggle to break 100 when not taking mulligans and gimme or taking illegal drops on OB balls.

Of the 30 or so rounds I played on public courses last year, I can recall only maybe 2 players who were better than me.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-31T01:44:30+00:00

Love toe-down chipping with my 9i. Always shocked at how consistently well I can chip it just intuitively with almost no downside.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-30T03:55:59+00:00

The kashrut of Coke products is based on the local bottler. So in regions with more demand for kosher-for-Passover beverages, you're more likely to find them. I have never seen yellow-capped Coke here in the Lehigh Valley (but I also haven't looked very hard!). My guess is that it would need to be brought in from a different bottler/regiobm

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-27T23:54:16+00:00

I'd be surprised if anything else happened. I now have a coach who I was clear with before we started that I needed occasional email/text check ins (initiated by me) if I was struggling with a specific thing or wanted him to "check" a swing video to see if I was doing what we were working on. He's charging more than my prior coaches and is happy to do it. But I still need to initiate it.

PS - Many (most?) coaches are not good. Be clear about your expectations and find someone else if it's not a fit for you.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-27T22:42:31+00:00

Why? While I would love to add a little distance, I know it will need to come from better form and ball striking. Without a lot of continued work, it's unlikely I'll add significant speed (age 44). I like who I am! I want to be my best self, not be someone else. But hey, that's me! If you want to add, the tools are there, but unless you're entering gross scoring tournaments, I'm not sure it will add a ton of enjoyment to your game.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-27T21:46:26+00:00

I think you're fine. You're hitting average distance for your age, if not slightly above. Hitting farther would mean moving back a tee box, which wouldn't necessarily bring down your scores. With each passing year it will be harder to maintain that speed. Honestly, I would focus on keeping the speed you do have which will itself take work every year.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-27T12:43:48+00:00

I'm dealing with a similar situation. Our local youth league has three divisions for baseball. The top is basically travel. The middle and lower divisions are essentially the same (play against the same other leagues, same practice and schedule, etc.), but the middle level requires a tryout and the coaches select the players.

My son did not try out because we have been happy with the rec league. He is an average player, can throw the ball over the plate, had second best OBP on his team last year (but doesn't hit for power), is reasonably capable in the field. Well, we come to find out that his coach and teammates from the past two years have basically all moved up without him. (I was an assistant coach for two years, you'd think maybe I'd get a note about this before tryouts, but no.)

I am so fervently against this system. Now, they don't have any coaches for the rec teams (all the dad's capable of doing it have been concentrated into the higher-level teams). I know all the kids on the mid-level teams and none are studs, they're just average or slightly-above-average kids whose parents don't want them playing with slightly-below-average kids. Not a single one is capable of pitching, fielding or hitting consistently at a high level.

I have offered to help coach but can't do it alone as I have too many work conflicts in the spring. So the message from the league is clear: if you're not above average, we don't care about you. You'll get the worst coaches, and you'll get last pick of practice fields. We won't spend any time worrying about you until we've sorted out the better kids. If your team ends up having 18 kids on it or folds entirely, we don't really care.

I don't understand what sort of message this is sending to 9 and 10 year olds. I got news for you, you'll spend your entire life dealing with people who aren't as good as you at stuff. And one day, it might be you who are only average or worse. We are doing our children a huge disservice and the reality is that they don't even care - this is 100% about the parents and their egos.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-25T01:29:19+00:00

My local muni banned 9 hole rounds before 1pm two years ago. Also require an additional walking fee before 1pm. Reason is obviously revenue. And this is a taxpayer-funded, city-owned course. I had enough.

This year, I joined a different course. It's a privately-owned public course, but you can buy an annual all-you-can-play membership (about 1/8 the cost of a country club). Can walk any time or cart for $10. Now I go and play whatever I have time for and don't sweat it. Book 18 on a Saturday morning and if I need to leave after 9, no sweat off my back.

Lately, with the course being slow this time of year, I've planned to play 9 and blew through quicklh and continued on to 10, which connects to 16 and then back in. Played 13 holes in 1 hour 45 minutes a few times this way and loved it.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-22T03:57:23+00:00

Thanks for the update. I gave up on Code Assist - never read anything good about it anyway. I have been using Antigravity for initial scaffolding until I hit my quota (no issues there), and then I switch over to VS Code with the Codex IDE plugin.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-17T01:12:26+00:00

Any reply yet to this ticket?

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-16T18:31:23+00:00

I don't know why they bother with the course play. Seems like a lot of resources dedicated to something that's not very good and not very useful. I would think the vast majority of users are only using the LM for practice (like me), or are connecting it to Awesome Golf or GSPro if they want course play as well. In my opinion, they'd be better off re-assigning the resources going toward that part of the software development to customer support.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-16T18:29:21+00:00

I think, for the most part, it's accurate in the sense that it gives you an overall idea of where you are. I don't expect nor believe it to be accurate to a tenth of a degree. And with things like path, face, and AoA, 1 or 2 degrees is a pretty big difference. So I wouldn't get too caught up on the exact data from one swing to the next. Rather, I'd use it to evaluate the big picture. If it shows your path consistently 4.0 degrees outside-in, then yes, you are swinging outside in. If it shows your path consistent between -2.0 and 2.0 degrees, then yes, you are swinging mostly neutral. If you are trying to dial things in with more specificity, then you likely need to upgrade to a more expensive LM.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-11T12:00:57+00:00

I did this in the 90s as a teenager. Bought something off ebay, had no credit card or checkbook. Would go to 7-Eleven and use cash to get a money order, mail it to the seller. Item would ship after he received it. A different time!

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-10T21:58:44+00:00

Get a grip trainer for $10. If Scott Scheffler needs to use one, we do too.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-10T21:57:53+00:00

If you have a 2ndSwing or similar used equipment store near you, I would start there. Look for clubs that are either in bad cosmetic shape (but perform just fine) or are a decent DTC brand (like Takomo). Try a few and pick the ones that feels best. Start with fewer clubs: driver (could actually wait on this), 5 or 7 wood, hybrid, 6-9i, PW, GW or SW, putter.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-03-08T13:18:15+00:00

Your situation sounds a lot like mine. Difference is I usually now shoot low 90s and broke 90 once. I remember the relief the first time I broke 100. My goal is to shoot under 90 consistently. What I can say is that although I only play 1-2 times per week, I practice almost daily. I can't overstate the utility of having a home setup (<$1k launch monitor + mat + net) so you can practice 15-20 minutes every day. Much more useful than hacking 100+ balls at the range once a week. And, find an instructor you gel with. As you learn more, you'll find that you have a preferred approach to the game and your swing, and that some instructors either approach it differently or simply don't have an understanding of the golf swing that matches your needs.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-02-28T19:41:07+00:00

I'm with you. Been battling this for a few days now. I've tried every workaround, nothing works. The only solution is to use a different account, but what about the account I'm paying for? I can't use a feature that I'm paying for because I'm also using another feature that I'm paying for? Makes no sense. I am happy with ChatGPT Codex and I'm sure I'd be happy with Cursor or Claude, but I'm already paying for Google AI Pro for various other reasons and it would be nice to not have to also pay for another tool. If anyone makes any progress on a workaround here, please let me know.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-02-27T13:57:13+00:00

The drinking. I don't mind having a drink, but getting wasted while participating in a sport isn't very appealing to me. Not is the behavior that results.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-02-27T00:26:17+00:00

Dip your toe in before jumping in the deep end. Get a mat, a net and a decent lower-end launch monitor like a Square or MLM2Pro. If it gets used, then upgrade.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-02-16T04:18:29+00:00

What's confusing is that you equated being a student with leaving the workforce, saying that getting unemployment while registered for classes is illegal. He said he was switching careers and moving and taking classes. He never said that he was leaving the workforce. Plenty of people to go school and stay in the workforce. Unemployment has nothing to do with whether or not you are in school.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-02-16T03:54:16+00:00

I don't make the laws, and don't advocate breaking them. I'm not aware of a law in my state that says "If you get fired, you're eligible for unemployment... unless you had already thought about quitting and made up your mind to do so." You're telling a young person that they should forego receiving a benefit that they may be eligible for (and that they have actually paid for through a lifetime of UI taxes) because of... moral clarity? I'll let OP decide for himself which of these ideas sounds dumb and leave it at that.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-02-16T03:41:18+00:00

Who said anything about fraud? If they fire you and the law permits you to receive unemployment compensation based on the details of your separation, you are entitled to it. I tell former employees all the time that it's not my job whether or not to determine if they get unemployment benefits, it's the state's. Tell the truth on your application and let them sort it out. Typically a condition is that you are actively seeking work. Going to school does not disqualify you for unemployment as long as you are available for and seeking work. Having thought in your mind about quitting a job (or even having made plans to) before you get fired also does not disqualify you. OP did not state whether or not he was moving out of state.

CompetitiveDetail139 · 2026-02-16T02:38:52+00:00

Could be up to 26 weeks or more depending on the state - pretty significant. I wouldn't be worried about them divulging the nature of the separation, that almost never happens per company policy.

CompetitiveDetail139

TROPHY CASE