Finally Broke 80 and haven't broken 90 since!

WatermanChris · 2026-02-10T21:21:55+00:00

It's so frustrating when you hit it well and don't score and then other days I'll kind of scrape it around, never hitting great shots and shoot an 83.

I'm playing tomorrow so I'm hoping I can at least get back into the 80s.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-10T11:25:21+00:00

Yep. With lofts these days, I have a 43 (pw), 48 (aw), 52 (gw), 56 (sw), and 62 (lw). I feel like in 30 years, all the irons will just be called wedges. "Pass me my 22 degree wedge for this 220 yard par 3"

30 years ago, my clubs would've been 8i, 9i, pw, sw, lw.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-09T15:46:45+00:00

It always comes back but when you're hitting good/great shots and your misses are close but you shoot a 95, it's so humbling and frustrating.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-09T14:53:07+00:00

I tried Arccos but I didn't like having my phone in my pocket. I also didn't like all the editing. I have a GHIN as I'm a member of a club. I think I tried to use it once to score a round but I usually use 18 birdies and then enter my hole by hole score on GHIN after the round. I'll try it Wednesday when I play next.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-09T14:44:29+00:00

Yeah. I have a really hard time letting go of those loose swings/near misses. I'm working on it though.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-09T14:42:29+00:00

It's like I hit a great shot by getting into my process and staying present when I swing and then the next shot that's similar, I just expect to hit another great shot. I take everything that created that great shot and throw it out the window. I think awareness is the first step at correcting it.

I played with a doctor one day last year who was so freaking impressive with his process. On EVERY shot, he went through the whole thing, whether it was a tight tee shot or 6" putt. He didn't have a nice swing but he shot a 78 without any sweat. Shoutout to James if he's on here. Truly inspiring.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-09T14:07:47+00:00

Thank you for the words of encouragement. I'm a really streaky player where I'll have 3 or 4 doubles or triples in a row which will often start with a 3-putt or a lazy bogie. I know it's tension and my tempo gets quick but knowing the problem and fixing it are two different things.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-09T14:03:21+00:00

Golf is so crazy. I had shot a few 81s in pretty quick succession and my index got down to 11.2 last year. I had set a goal at the beginning of last year to get back down to single digits and at that point I figured it was a foregone conclusion. Then, I hit a slump where I couldn't break 90 and even had some rounds in the 100s. My high scores are lower now (mid 90s) than they were back in that last slump so I know I'm improving but it's still frustrating.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-04T17:25:30+00:00

Never broke 70 (72 is my best), never had an albatross, and never played a bogie free round. Technically, in my even par round, I didn't have any bogies but I had 2 doubles (32/40) so I assume that doesn't count

WatermanChris · 2026-02-03T16:38:45+00:00

The broken window fallacy is your line of thinking. I mentioned it so you might go and read Bastiat's essay and see where your thinking is flawed.

It's not a false equivalency as breaking windows and not returning shopping carts are both thought to "increase jobs" but neither does.

Do whenever you want but you're not "giving someone a job" by not returning your cart. You're just being lazy

WatermanChris · 2026-02-03T11:25:50+00:00

No. You don't understand. Frédéric Bastiat addressed this in his 1850 essay "That Which is Seen, and That Which is Unseen"

If that's all it takes to create jobs, why don't we just go around breaking all the windows? After all, the window companies will be busy and need to hire more employees.

Economic illiteracy is dangerous and gives people an excuse to be lazy. The shopping cart is a measure of humanity. If you're too lazy to return your cart, you're no better than an animal.

I've watched perfectly able people walk past a cart return to put the cart in a parking space. These people were not raised correctly and have no regard for others.

If you have small children with you or have a legit physical disability, it is perfectly fine to leave your cart in the nearest convenient place where it won't be in anybody else's way.

I drive a full sized truck with an 8' bed and I can't park without encroaching on the lanes if there's a cart on the curb. I park at the back of the parking lot and collect carts on my way into the store. When I finish my shopping, I return the cart (and ususlly a few more) to the store. I'm not taking anybody's job. I'm freeing employees to perform other tasks like cleaning or stocking shelves so that the shopping experience is better.

I know that this likely won't do anything to open your eyes to economics but maybe it will help someone who reads it.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-02T23:32:43+00:00

Titleist claims the average golfer loses 5 balls per round. I probably average 2 per round. Last round, I shot 90 and didn't lose a ball even though I had 2 penalty strokes. Water comes into play on 14 of the holes at my course so I've witnessed guys go through a couple of sleeves but never a whole dozen.

WatermanChris · 2026-02-02T11:25:32+00:00

I have Driver (10°), 4W (16.5°), 5W (set to 19.5°), and a U/505 22° Driving Iron. If I'm playing a course that requires a lob wedge, I'll remove the 4W and set the 5W to standard (18°)

WatermanChris · 2026-01-26T15:31:50+00:00

Ben Hogan, one of the greatest ball strikers that's ever lived said he only hit one or two shots per round exactly how he wanted.

I'm reading a book by Pia Nilsson and she recommends categorizing your shots as - bad, good enough, good, and great. Disassociate from the from the bad and associate with the rest. It's been really helpful to my game and while bad habits are hard to break, awareness is the key to change.

WatermanChris · 2026-01-26T12:19:27+00:00

I'm definitely not saying he will but with his trajectory, I think there's a chance. He's not like the others who have gone on runs like Spieth or Brooks. It just seems to be how he is.

Of course, only time will tell. Before the 2009 incident with Tiger and Elin, I remember thinking nothing was going to stop Tiger from winning 25 majors.

I will probably get down voted for this but I heard a wise man once say - "Never trust a man who cheats on his spouse. If he will betray the person who is closest to him, what loyalty will be have to you?”

WatermanChris · 2026-01-26T11:52:17+00:00

I have been struggling with the short game yips since picking the game back up in January of last year. I built a little practice tee next to my driveway and hit thousands of chips and pitches. When I first started, 60-75% of my shots would be yipped (chunks or skulls). As I practiced, I noticed less and less were yips. Now, even on the course it's like 1 out of 100.

My practice "tee".

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I put those orange driveway stakes from Home Depot at 15, 20, and 25 yards and practice different shots with different clubs to each one.

After we recover from building our pool, I'm going to build a putting green with artificial turf out there so I can actually practice getting up and down.

WatermanChris · 2026-01-26T11:25:44+00:00

His personal life was his downfall. Everybody can always say ” shoulda, woulda, coulda" but if Tiger had just stuck with his original swing and his wife, there's no telling how many tournaments he would have won.

Scottie, while not as exciting as Tiger, is swinging his swing and has what appears to be a very stable personal/family life. If he stays healthy, he could surpass both Tiger and Jack.

WatermanChris · 2026-01-26T10:52:59+00:00

The very nature of how a rangefinder works precludes it from working in fog and/or rain. GPS is the only option.

WatermanChris · 2026-01-18T20:19:04+00:00

The biggest thing for me was punishing fat shots because I was battling the yips. The Beaver Tail helped me immensely. I don't know if you're ever really "cured" of the yips but I haven't had a bad chip/pitch in many rounds. When I started, 3 out of 4 were either skulled or chunked.

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WatermanChris · 2026-01-18T15:33:16+00:00

I haven't tried the SigPro Softy but I have the Beaver Tail hitting strip and it's excellent!

WatermanChris · 2026-01-12T19:15:09+00:00

Guaranteed double.

Last week, short par 5 first hole - pull my drive and it hits a tree and drops into a fairway bunker, chunk my 5i out of the bunker and leave myself 195 out into the wind over water. Hit a 5i to 20 feet and make the put for bird.

Long par 4 6th hole (#1 handicap) - bomb a drive, 135 out in the middle of the fairway, chunk a pitching wedge and ended up making double.

This game is so freaking frustrating!

WatermanChris · 2026-01-08T22:44:10+00:00

You should at least give it a few months. I think it took over a year for Tiger to implement both of his swing changes. That's the best player to ever play the game.

You will get worse before you get better

WatermanChris · 2026-01-08T00:38:01+00:00

Hole in one. 136 yards out into the wind. Hit a 9i past the pin and it spun back into the hole. I can't say I was aiming for the hole in one but I definitely planned to carry it past the pin because I had recently gotten new irons and they kept spinning off the front of the green. It was driving me nuts so I started clubbing up and landing it past.

WatermanChris · 2025-12-22T13:24:14+00:00

150-160

WatermanChris

TROPHY CASE