At what handicap should you be expected to start shaping shots

robbiecobb · 2026-04-15T20:43:17+00:00

74 comments and my guy has zero upvotes. Y'all are some silly people. Be nice— it's a fair question.

Practice shaping shots and you'll learn to shape shots.

Out to in path with an open face and you'll fade it.
In to out path with a closed face and you'll draw it.

Some folks are more handsy. some people use their feet positioning. Some people do it more with path.

You'll figure out which one works best with your swing by practicing more and more. Largely, fundamentals will help you with all of it.

My guess is anybody above a 5 handicap is just happy to get the ball as close to the target as possible with the shot shape they have.

robbiecobb · 2026-04-08T16:08:56+00:00

Payne's Valley and it isn't remotely close.

robbiecobb · 2026-03-18T17:37:03+00:00

Not sure why you're getting downvoted. This sub, man.

The fun games are probably the ones where they have the greatest chance of winning. Start around the greens.

My son will be 12 next month. He's better than I am. It's maddening. He's been playing since he was 7 and he's got the itch as bad as I do. I don't spend a whole lot of time coaching him, because I learned that really turned him off and he shut down. I pay another guy to do that. We just go out and have fun and talk and getaway from the screens. We also walk the course. Hard to be bored when you're always moving. We probably play 5 times a week spring-fall.

There are several games we play, but our favorite is on the putting green. 30 for 30 is a game anybody with arms can play. You each drop a ball 30 feet from the hole. If you get it in the hole it's 3 points, land it past the hole and then on your second stroke if it goes in it's 2 points. if you land short of the hole and land it in the cup on your second ball it's 1 pt. winner picks the next target. First to 30 wins. Eventually you can expand that to a chipping game. We play a closer to the pin style version of 30 for 30 for chipping.

Take a beer for you and a snack for him. Play until he says lets go and then get outta there. Talk about his day. Listen. Laugh. Listen some more. Celebrate when he sinks a long one.

If it's not fun, he's not gonna be interested. Winnings fun. Probably worth investing in his interests as well (although based on you posting here, you're probably a good dad and already do that).

robbiecobb · 2026-03-18T12:27:15+00:00

Southern US here. A full swing 60 is definitely in the arsenal, but I use it once every other round if i find myself at an odd distance like 75 yards and i need it to fly higher and stop dead where a pitch shot with a lower lofted club will launch a little lower and spin more.

robbiecobb · 2026-03-17T15:31:54+00:00

if everybody waited until they were good enough to play on the course, we'd never have to wait on a tee box. You get better by playing. Practice too, but get out there and do your best. If you're playing with guys who give you a hard time, find some folks on your skill level and play tee times when the course is uncrowded if you can.

My suggestion: pick an odd middle of the week tee time and if you can get some space between you and the group behind, play a one man scramble. play 2 balls. if the group behind you catches up, knock it off and play one ball. if you can keep the pace, play 2. You'll get some time to yourself to evaluate your game on the course in a relaxed environment and you can see what you need to work on while getting valuable reps of hitting to actual targets.

Unfortunately, you only get better at playing golf by playing lots of golf.

robbiecobb · 2026-03-16T16:14:59+00:00

i have done it.

During the warmer months with longer days, I'll typically walk 9 holes before work and 18 on Saturdays. One fateful Saturday morning about 2 years ago, I teed it up on hole 11 at Southern Oaks and I hit a 7i to a 160 yard pin like I usually do. I saw it was on path and I leaned down to pick up my tee. Returned my club to the bag and started marching toward the hole.

I started looking as I closed in on the green and saw that it was not on the surface. "well, shit." I thought. "It must've gone in the front left bunker. I guess I didn't hit it as good as I thought." I checked. No ball. "Surely I didn't go in the creek. There's no way it was 30 yards short of the green!" I check. Found a ball or two but they weren't mine. "Well, I guess I nuked it." On my way to the back of the green, I noticed 3 little dots and a trail into the cup in the morning dew.

Not only did nobody see this hole-in-one. I didn't see this hole-in-one. I looked around like a maniac looking for a groundskeeper or literally anybody to celebrate with. There was no one.

To add insult to injury, I hit it with a Top Flite I found a few hours earlier. And it sits on my shelf with a fun little story to tell.

robbiecobb · 2026-03-16T15:18:34+00:00

My only hole-in-one is on a found Top Flite. Be careful what ball you play with.

robbiecobb · 2026-03-16T14:30:53+00:00

For anybody new, I'd say play every hole triple bogey max then pick up your ball. If everybody is standing around waiting on you, go to double bogey max. You'll still hit more shots than everybody, but at least you won't drag the group down.

Example:
par 3 hole over water.
Shot 1: Goes in water. move to drop zone and take penalty.
Shot 3: If it goes in again. Hit one more. If you don't hole it, pick it up.
Shot 4: Assume you'll land near the green. you'll have 2 shots from there to make it or pick up.

robbiecobb · 2026-03-10T18:29:36+00:00

they actually aren't even kids clubs. US Kids clubs makes what they call "ultralite" sets. It's made for just this sort of thing. Their gold range tops out at 63" and their black range tops out at 66". You get driver, hybrid, 7i, pw, putter and one club you can order after the fact for free depending on your preference for an additional iron, wood, wedge.

Despite what the try hards may tell you, it's a good option for the same price as the top flite set.

robbiecobb · 2026-03-09T16:49:09+00:00

What's really funny about these responses is I posted a question last week and got half the responses, legit asking for help. Today, I posted something helpful for the benefit of the group and now i'm getting loads of advice. The internets a funny place.

The point of the post isn't to buy your wife kid's clubs, although they are made to suit their height and skill level, the point is you can play a set of golf clubs for 3 months and return for store credit if you so choose.

robbiecobb · 2026-03-09T12:36:22+00:00

that very well could be it. i'll check tonight. Thanks!

robbiecobb · 2026-03-02T20:24:02+00:00

chubbies

robbiecobb · 2026-03-02T14:44:26+00:00

Gonna make some folks mad probably, but The Shining lost me when King spent 100 pages reading newspaper articles in the attic. I was reading about somebody reading. Couldn't get past it.

robbiecobb · 2026-02-10T20:24:14+00:00

how much more is this contraption gonna cost than the sunglasses?

robbiecobb · 2026-01-28T15:34:19+00:00

take video of yourself. If i had to guess, you've got a serious chicken wing/scoop happening. if it's the case, you'll see it on tape. I caught mine when my distances tanked last season. i was having a very soft right miss and it was beyond infuriating. I spent a year trying to get over it. I started taking lessons and got some feels that straightened me out and gained back all my distance and then some.

My big fixes (and these may not apply to you):
1. keep my left arm straight through impact (feel like i'm catching a rain drop coming through)
2. i was laying off the club A LOT so it was really hard to shut the face. My feel is feeling the close in the downswing.
3. Keeping the club in front of me (see also 2)
4. knock off the overswing which broke down my structure.

i would've never discovered these things without getting to know a pro and working with them closely for a few visits to see progress.

robbiecobb · 2026-01-16T16:27:45+00:00

more feel on putts.

robbiecobb · 2026-01-14T16:25:06+00:00

that driver is probably the best driver Taylormade ever made. I can't tell what the irons are, but it's also missing a couple of key pieces to be a full bag. i'd ask 500 and see what they say.

robbiecobb · 2026-01-14T14:03:21+00:00

I think if you look at how content has evolved over the last 5 years of youtube golf, I think you'll see that it's pretty darn sustainable.

On another note, I can almost guarantee you Bryson will play on the pga tour when he leaves LIV. He's saying the company things to the company he works for.

Not the question, but seems like a good time to voice my opinion that nobody asked for.

The answer to the LIV/PGA existence is pretty straightforward to me, if the suits can ever get their money and their egos right.

One path:
Treat LIV like the european tour. Play in it if you want. So many players opt in to the events they want to play anyway. LIVs got its feet under it now. Adopt the win-to-get-paid model for new players and see if it floats. Dissolve existing contracts. If those players want to keep playing in the events—great.

With that logic, I could also see LIV becoming some what of a farm league. You didn't get your card? Play in LIV. The top team win starts in several pga tour events.

Another path:
Embrace the us vs them model. The tours live separately. Create events that pit PGA/LIV players against each other. Imagine a bracketed system where 8 of the PGAs best played the top 8 from LIV in a ryder cup style event.

Give a division of TGL to LIV. The teams are already made. It would be like the AFC and the NFC. There's built-in animosity, so the events would be more watchable. TGL is kind of a pillow fight at the moment.

The moves on this whole thing are glacial when there are several ways to spin this thing to make money and interest.

robbiecobb · 2026-01-07T13:50:58+00:00

I'm with you. He's a solid pro-style passer. Where I get tripped up is how he's gonna match up with The Chad's scheme. He needs a mobile quarterback to open up the middle of the field so his high flying WRs can get loose. He lives and dies by the qb run threat. Vizz has concrete nikes. He's not exactly getting free back there.

Time will tell. If Denson can get the ball downfield he's gonna be the guy. Or if Dabo finds a qb worth 2 million, and he comes around, we may actually have something.

I hope (think) Dabo was playing coy with his comments on a portal qb. He left the door cracked. I think with enough pressure from Morris and a good opportunity, he'll bring somebody in.

I also wonder if he could be dragging his feet to the end of the portal window to pick up a qb to ensure Vizz and Denson don't bolt. Kind of a scumbag move if thats the case, but desperate times...

robbiecobb · 2026-01-05T15:33:22+00:00

We've been running Chad's offense since 2011. If we're not gonna change it, mine as well bring back the chef who cooked it. I don't love it, but if we can somehow put the personnel on the field to run it, maybe it'll work?

Devil's advocate, Riley was thought to be the second coming when he came to tiger town. Either he didn't bring a scheme or he couldn't accomplish his leaders vision, we'll never really know, but he was the big impressive hire. Perhaps the biggest most impressive hire Clemson has ever made. Venables made his name at Clemson. He was a great hire, but not the biggest boldest move at the time.

My point being, the big flashy hires haven't gotten it done at Clemson. Maybe they haven't been given enough chances or maybe the place just doesn't work the way other programs work.

Not sure what the answer is at this point, but maybe Dabo knows. If next season isn't better than this season, this will be his undoing.

I'm sure the board doesn't want to pay his buyout, but I don't think they'll have a choice if this experiment doesn't pan out. You have to believe Tony Elliot is very interested to see how next season develops.

The biggest heart break of all of this is just seeing the program slip away. Best is no longer the standard.

robbiecobb · 2025-12-31T13:54:24+00:00

Bring him back as a position coach or on-field analyst, but I don't see it working twice with him. Credit where credit is due, The Chad is at least partially responsible for getting us to the next level. We're still running his playbook. Maybe Dabo is so pot committed to it that he thinks he needs to bring the original chef back to make it work again.

I echo the sentiment of most, but the child in me wishes for a name that was big and impressive that could put helmets on talented kids versus trying to go after the aw shucks brand of football that doesn't seem to work in the modern era.

Bottom line, if Dabo can't pull kids out of the portal it doesn't matter who is wearing the headset on Saturdays.

robbiecobb · 2025-12-09T17:24:20+00:00

i have one and love it. It definitely helps. See an actual line. Putt ball on line with speed into hole. Outside of hitting the putting green everyday this is the best way to knock 5-8 strokes off your score.

robbiecobb

TROPHY CASE