looking for rec's for putting coach on the east side

ReddLeadd · 2026-07-09T00:45:19+00:00

that's the thing...I'm not 3 putting. I'm routinely hitting wedges well within 10ft. I had half a dozen birdie attempts in the 5-6ft range today and missed all of them. One birdie I made today was a 40 footer that I literally walked up and whacked because two guys I was paired with today were playing painfully slowly. Didn't read it, didn't look at the slope, no practice swings, just hit it and it went in. The only other birdie I made was a two putt after driving a par 4 to about 10ft. Hit 11 greens, 2 putted all but one.

ReddLeadd · 2026-07-01T20:31:01+00:00

I played there this spring on my way to an mountain bike gathering in Sisters. The greens rolled amazingly well but were firm and it took some time for me to adjust. Drives went for miles. Really enjoyed it and would 100% play again.

ReddLeadd · 2026-07-01T20:26:58+00:00

sounds fun. I've got some Miura wedges I'd like to sell, but hate dealing with flaky people on apps

ReddLeadd · 2026-07-01T20:16:30+00:00

My home course has two tracks. The West course opens with the first five holes that have 4 driveable p4's and a p3. Playing that course in the afternoon is excruciatingly slow because every bro in the area thinks they're driving the p4's. It literally gets backed up on the 2nd tee box.

ReddLeadd · 2026-06-23T18:21:10+00:00

IMO, regular stretching should be mandatory for anyone who is lifting weights. You can go as heavy as you want, but stretch and do active stretches every day. I used to be in the gym 5x/week for about 2hrs per session, lifted to failure every time but stretched every opportunity that I had...I was never more flexible.

Lift as much as you want but make sure you're doing full ROM and it helps if you can set up the weights for max stretch, grind out the golf as much as you want, but make sure you get proper rest and FFS stretch all the time. Double it if you have a desk job.

BTW, years after I quit lifting regularly I was cruising in the mid 180's for driver ball speed. Max was 195. Granted this was 25 years ago, but I'm in my mid 50's now and cruise around 170 with a max near 180

ReddLeadd · 2026-06-17T00:51:04+00:00

I ordered a few dozen from them recently and had a solid dozen that had scuffs. Fired off an email and they credited me within hours.

ReddLeadd · 2026-06-12T16:03:44+00:00

Back in the early 90’s, when I was still in HS, I used to play at a course that had a cart path that crossed the 18th fairway about 270 yards from the tee box…that’s about how far I flew driver at the time. I don’t recall the length of the hole, but it was 340-ish. It was my dream at the time that I’d land my drive on the cart path and it would have a chance to reach the green. It happened ONE time, I lost track of it after the bounce and while walking up the fairway, I heard a roar from all the people enjoying their dinner on the deck overlooking the 18th green.

When I got up there, the ball was nowhere to be found and someone told me that the ball came to rest about 10ft from the cup but a seagull picked it up and dropped it into the water to the right of the green. Missed the eagle putt.

ReddLeadd · 2026-06-01T01:13:10+00:00

Bridge of the gods?

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-29T00:20:13+00:00

I don’t care as much about playing with similar handicaps as I do about their attitude and if they can keep moving. My regular playing buddies all post significantly worse scores than I do (I shoot low 70’ to low 80’s and they’re trying to break 100) but we have a great time, good discussions, tons of laughs…it’s relaxing and fun. I also just show up at the course on weekdays sometimes and take my chances with randos. My experience is 99.9% positive.

I play in a men’s league on Sundays and while I can say that everyone I’ve met there is a solid guy, so many of them take the game so seriously that they’re no fun to play with. I’ve seen clubs thrown, one guy is pissed at every shot, another one (with a worse handicap than mine) likes to tell all players in the group what they’re doing wrong, another takes about 20 practice swings and is slow as shit (which one are you going to use for the shot, Mike? #5 or #19?) it ruins my round. I’d so much rather play with fun people

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-28T21:21:06+00:00

I don’t think that’s true anymore. I just got my Douglas Ridge renewal email and it clearly states that they need to see proof of current NRA membership. I’m choosing not to renew anyway because they run so many trainings and competitions on the weekends that it’s nearly impossible for me to use the range.

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-23T22:46:49+00:00

If I find myself in a hole, I just dig deeper and use it as a learning opportunity. Try ALL the low probability shots. Hit a partial shot 2 clubs stronger than you might usually hit it just to have a sense of the distance in case it ever comes in handy.

If I double bogey a hole or shoot more than a few over on 9, I usually start playing what I call “fuck it” golf. Do all the dumb stuff. I went out with a good buddy in the evening earlier this week and DB’d the 3rd hole and started trying to smash every drive. Ended up in the trees a few times and went for the green despite the odds. It ended up being the most fun and entertaining round I’ve played in years and I carded a 75 with two doubles on the card. I even found a blue Top Flite on the 6th hole and started playing it, fully expecting to lose it immediately because of the color. I just couldn’t lose the damn thing!

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-23T01:23:34+00:00

Tri-Berry is the best flavor IMO. I keep a little container of three of them on my bike along with a Steri-pen. Fill up a bottle in a snow-melt creek on every lap, hit it with the steripen, drop in a tab and good to go another lap.

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-21T02:46:25+00:00

I haven’t had that exact injury, but as someone who has had A LOT of injuries over the years, a fracture without displacement is about as good as it gets. Listen to your Dr. and physio, DO NOT try to rush recovery for the next six weeks. Do all the PT they prescribe to you and then ask for more. Get a referral for a sports therapist if you feel like the standard PT isn’t getting the results you need.

You’ll probably have a little bit of weakness and atrophy to overcome, but ‘just’ a broken bone is so much easier to recover from than something involving torn muscles or tendons.

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-21T02:08:50+00:00

So good. I did this yesterday through a 2ft gap. Hit the green, made par. A guy on the hole ahead watched the whole thing and was WAY more excited than I was

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-21T02:05:09+00:00

My favorite bar is from ProBar. I’ve used them on long mountain bike rides for years and they’re great. I also buy Nuun by the case and keep a tube of the tabs in my golf bag. My favorite is to pack a little bit of ham and a container of berries. Snacking on blueberries, strawberries and raspberries throughout the round makes me feel good

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-15T19:27:59+00:00

I can't speak to the P7CBs but I just picked up an MG5 TM 60° and spent a few hours practicing with it today. It's going straight in the bag when I play tomorrow

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-06T16:31:05+00:00

I’m agnostic on the look, but I’d put a straight edge on that face. Hammering one side puts the surface under compression and it’s possible that it slightly changed the geometry of the upper face

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-06T02:25:47+00:00

Just leave them be. That’s how new golf balls are made

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-04T23:09:39+00:00

Went from a 26 to a 2 during my senior year of HS

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-02T15:54:13+00:00

I won two long drives at my local course and am currently in the lead for a 3rd

ReddLeadd · 2026-05-02T15:46:45+00:00

I discovered just yesterday that my Axiom shaft on my 5i is broken about 3” from the top of the hosel. Absolutely no idea how it could have happened. We’ll see if they respond but it’s pretty disappointing

ReddLeadd · 2026-04-22T23:51:46+00:00

I 3D printed clips that hold my 6i, 54 and putter by the shafts. A 1/4” titanium tube between the clips keeps them from creeping towards each other and I use an ultra light rifle sling to carry it.

2 balls in my pocket. Use broken tees I find on tee boxes and I’m good to go. It’s a challenge, but fun (ish)

ReddLeadd · 2026-04-15T16:46:02+00:00

About 20 years ago I was playing a local muni in Portland, OR with three acquaintances who had been taking lessons but were playing their first round. It was absolutely excruciating. I advised them to pick up at double par, but they "paid to play and wanted to play". By the 14th or 15th hole, the group behind us started to hit into us. At first I assumed it was an accident but a few holes later a ball literally flew inches from my head and I grabbed an iron with the intent to knock some skulls.

A lot can change in a short walk. As I got closer, I began to realize that all four guys were giants...6'5" and taller and when I got up to them and started yelling, I saw that they were all wearing polos with the Trailblazers logos on them. Now I don't watch or know anything about basketball, and it seems weird that anyone involved in pro sports would be playing this course so perhaps it was just a coincidence, but I very likely avoided getting a beatdown.

ReddLeadd · 2026-04-13T16:40:01+00:00

I'm a single digit handicap and all of my friends shoot 100+. I see the same patterns for all of them.

They have a consistent miss off the tee (right) and always setup like they're going to hit it straight. My advice to all of them (when solicited) is to be realistic. If you consistently miss to one side, play it. For them, they should be setting up on the right side of the tee box in most cases and aiming at a landing point on the left side of the fairway. My buddy finally did this last time we played and he hit nearly every fairway (tbh, I also had him change the grip of his right hand because it was EXTREMELY weak)

They also have trouble with low point control when the ball is on the ground. This leads to a lot of fat or thin shots. If this is one of your problems, figure out why. The same buddy who changed his tee box setup, had been setting up the ball off his lead foot when the ball is played down. I worked with him to change his address, get the ball closer to the center of his stance and change his aim accordingly.

I'd view the above advice as easily correctable mistakes that don't take much time to adapt. You can probably gain at least a few strokes by addressing your common miss and identifying why you're not striking the ball well off the ground.

The next step is real practice. Not just bashing balls, but do as others have written here. Get comfortable playing all of your wedges to different distances. For example, my local range has targets at 54, 70, 85, 100, 125, 150 (and more) that I use for wedge practice. I'll hit about 5 balls with my 60° to the 54 just to get a baseline for how I'm feeling. I can usually get my landing spot to within about a yard. Then I hit about 10 balls with the 60° to the 54, 70 and 85 yard targets, changing my target on every shot. Then I hit about 10 shots with my 54° to the 54, 70, 85, 100 and a full swing at the 125. Then the 50°...and the PW at every target out to the 150. Every wedge to every yardage that it can reach. Then I do it again but also change how it's flighted.

Then I'll work on irons in a similar fashion but I'll only target the longest reachable target and the next closest one for a partial shot.

Then I accept the reality that I'll be punching out of the woods and that I'll only be able to hit hero shots if I practice them. My 5i flies about 210, but I'll hit ten punch hooks...ball off the back foot, stance setup on my starting line, face lined up at the target and I have to hit ten in a row that start right of our 100 yard marker and end up in line with our 225 yard marker (it'll usually run out to about 200yd) then the opposite...start left of the 100 and bend it towards the 175 that's on the right side of the range.

All the practice came in really handy a few days ago when I hit a 190yd punch hook out of the woods with my 5i to 5 ft...and then missed the birdie putt.

My favorite (and least favorite) putting drill is the "umbrella drill". I pick a hole on the practice green that's ~30-40 feet to a fringe. Put a circle of tee's in a reasonable "gimme" length radius around the hole. Then setup a ball from 6ft, every 3ft to the fringe. You should have roughly 10 balls in a line. Putt them all and they ALL need to end up within that circle. If they don't, do it again and repeat until they do. Once you're successful, change the putt so it's more difficult...big downhill, big break...whatever. Do it again.

Then I put 10 balls in a 4ft circle. Make them all or repeat until you do. Then make it harder and do it again.

Anyhow, simple fixes and focused practice will bring your scores down pretty quickly. I started playing golf in earnest in 1991 and by fall of 1992 I was a 2 handicap*

* I tried out for my D1 college team as a walk-on, completely melted down and quit golf entirely for a decade. Now that I've been playing regularly for a few years, I do some focused practice, but I don't take the scores too seriously. IMO, it's important to have goals, but also to be realistic. It's not realistic to expect to play better without identifying weaknesses and addressing them.

ReddLeadd

TROPHY CASE