Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

bondi if your up for a short 3 hour round

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

bankstown on Saturdays – best of the lot mentioned so far apart from Liverpool

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

The NSWGA website is the best source for Open Day information, but it isn’t really up to date.

I suggest you ring any prospective course and check while booking your tee time. Some will accept you as long as you have a golflink number, but others will insist you are a member of a recognised course.

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

That’s fantastic! Thanks everyone! :)

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

I think they have open days out west at Penrith and Dunheved (st marys) on Sundays…both of which are nice courses

Also Liverpool (on Sundays) which is great course

check out the NSW golf assoc as they have a list of open days

Yep Penrith has an open every sunday

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

I think they have open days out west at Penrith and Dunheved (st marys) on Sundays…both of which are nice courses

Also Liverpool (on Sundays) which is great course

check out the NSW golf assoc as they have a list of open days

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

sundays at barnwell park at five dock is open day around $30 for green and comp fees
its short and tight but you can get 18 in in less than 4 hours

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

Thanks you all for your inputs :) Not much out there but it’s expected.

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

Thanks for all the replies, they are great!

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

Castle Cove will happily host visitors. Bring your golf link card and you will be fine. its a short tight 9 hole course with slick fast greens

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

I never use a mat at the driving range, the only time I do that is if it has automatic teeing, and then if I want to practice my driver…

The transition from the driving range to the course is a feeling that it’s time I did it. I work at the range until I believe it’s time I play some real golf. There’s no specific time or point as such, it’s just a feeling. And whenever I take it out on the course I play to higher scores than I would like, then after about four or five rounds things start to click and the score drops ten to fifteen strokes.

My biggest problem is that something always gets in the way when I start on the downward spiral, I have to leave the course for an extended break (I am on one at the moment grrrrrr) so I have take it back to the range for a while until once again I feel I am ready to go back out and play.

This time I feel when I finally get back to a club and start on that handicap it will finally get to scratch, I can feel it when I get the chance to play, the consistency is better than it has ever been.

Does my game go through peaks and troughs? Yes but it is a mental thing, it happens when my confidence drops and my swing tightens up, sometimes I don’t even realise it, then back to basics, my confidence climbs and my game picks up. It used to happen by itself, but now I can feel it, another reason why I know my hcp will drop to scratch when I can get some club golf in again….

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

Great post Praningka. It nice to see the positive mentality of a low capper. Thanks for the insight

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

260m is still a very long drive !!

i m luck to stoke one 230m on the flat without wind assistance !

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

I would never use a driving range that uses mats…!

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

How important is a routine of warming up / practising before your round? (How many people jump straight out of their car onto the first tee, maybe with a few putts thrown in?) Does spending 15 minutes before the round hitting a few pitches and irons make any difference?

usually I don’t warm up, when I do it makes a big difference
I know it is stupid because I usually don’t start hitting well until the 3rd or 4th tee.
even the time I supposedly save is wasted looking for the first drive.

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

Muntz,

It is very important to warm up before a round whether it be a few pitches to a green or hitting a few balls on a range. Getting out of a car and off to the 1st tee is not a textbook performance although I have done it many times before and played well. Crazy game. Maybe I got lucky? I play off 2 mate so not a world beater but I did play off much less a few years ago. Why am I off 2 now? Injury plain and simple and then putting on a wedding ring although my wife loves golf.

As for “a breakthrough point”.. I do not think there is a breakthrough point in golf unless you are talking about cash being involved. One can break 100, 90, 80, 70 and be stoked but is that a breakthrough?

I still go out and have a round of 79/80 occasionally and it does not matter if I am coming down the back nine at 6 over with 2 or 3 to play. I am looking to make a birdie and that is all, nothing else. The difference between a low or high marker is that a low marker will be positive more times than not and back their ability. It is also not about smashing a drive 300 down a fairway, it is all about placing the ball in play and having a shot into the green to your strength and I stress, to your strength. Personally, I would love to hit it 300 but I cannot unless I am hitting down an airport runway. Perhaps 260m would be more accurate and then a sneaky one after that with the wind and a kick off a cart path… (back into the fairway)...I may be 140m out and hit a 4 iron? Call me a pussy but wind and placing the ball on the green is better than trying to hunger a 6/7 iron into the wind. Take a 100m shot into the wind? Leave your PW or 9 in the bag and take a 8 or 7, learn to hit it with a punch and it becomes a weapon in your game. Learn to hit it low with a fade or a draw depending on the wind direction. Learn to hit the ball off a bare lie or even a flush lie as it does make a huge difference. Learn to hit a high hook or high fade, both tough shots. If you can master a high hook and control it, you are doing very well.
There is no easy fix to this Muntz. It is practice and practice and then practice again. Will I get back to a lower handicap in the future? No I will not because I do not practice anymore. I still have it on certain days when I play in the local comp and it it is cool when it happens. It is a good feeling to have 2/3/4 under for a round and you always think you left a shot or 2 out on the course but then you come back to the world and think, well, I was lucky to make that slider after I stuffed up that chip shot etc. I may go out and have 77 this weekend in my local and am I pissed at doing it? No I am not as I have had that many 77’s in my golfing life and it is not the end of the world. I may hit a ball OB or have a disco on the greens and that will be the reason mate. That bloody putter is a demon mate. I would rather have a 20 footer than a 6 footer at times for a girlfriend on the greens. A girlfriend is a birdie okay. (I am married)

So…does something suddenly click and you go to another level? There is only one person that knows this and that is yourself. Replace the fear you may have with practice and positive thoughts.

All the best ….

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

I think a big problem with practicing on range mats is that you do not get punished for “slightly fat” mis-hits. ie. if you hit the mat just before the ball, the clubhead bounces off and you still get a semi-decent shot that could travel 90% of the distance of a clean hit. If you took the same swing onto the course it would dig into the grass, sap a lot of power and the ball may only travel 70%.
When you hit it thin, it obviously makes little or no difference what is under the ball.
Unless you can discern the difference in the sound of a ball-mat and a mat-ball contact, practice on mats can be training yourself to hit fat.

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

Some really good points, Genki. Sometimes flushing the ball on the range the day before gets me so keyed up (a) I’m playing with a whole bunch of expectation = tension and (b) when I hit my first shot of the day really bad, I get an immediate sense of frustration i.e. “what’s the feckin point of practising!!” and your carefully practiced set-up and swing goes out the window.

On the range you can transfer feedback from one shot immediately to the next, i.e. hmm… I hit that a bit right, let me try xyz… On the course, you might have 15 – 30 minutes between drives or some other shot, so it’s hard to make small adjustments to fix something.

But I think the greatest enemy of the weekend hacker is tension, perhaps due to fear of hitting a bad shot which leads to tightness, steering, swinging too fast and too hard, looking up too early, stabbing at chips and putts, etc etc.

I’ve found my best golf comes after I’ve been able to bed down range practice out on the course. Works well when it’s daylight savings and you can hit a few balls around for an hour or so after work. There is less tension as the score doesn’t matter and you can always throw down another ball if you want to have another go at that 6 iron you just thinned into a bunker. That experience of hitting balls from a variety of lies into a real target gives you a set of memories that is easier to take into a 18 hole round.

A few questions for golfers that regularly shoot scores around a low handicap…

Was there a “breakthrough” point when your learning and practice suddenly clicked out on the course? Or was it a gradual transition that came over time? Or does it come and go, depending upon how well you follow a set of mental keys?

How important is a routine of warming up / practising before your round? (How many people jump straight out of their car onto the first tee, maybe with a few putts thrown in?) Does spending 15 minutes before the round hitting a few pitches and irons make any difference?

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

try Macarthur Grange Golf on Saturday

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

Sounds like you’ve got a mental problem there mate. The fact that you are hitting it so well at the range may have put pressure on you to perform equally well out on the course. But as other posters have said, the course is a different animal to the range. IMHO you need to accept that not all your shots on the course will be as good as the ones you get on the range. Try not to think about your score while playing and just play one shot at a time. Don’t go out to the course thinking “I should get a low score today because I was getting a fan base for my hitting poweress last night at the range”. Once you don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself (the self-pressure does not help your game) you will swing better on the course. Also on the course try to minimise as many swing thoughts as possible. Just have one or two that will prompt your body to move in the correct manner. Or you can try using ClearKeys that many people on this forum have gained positive results from (do a search for ClearKeys in this forum). Good luck and let us know how you went i.e. what changes you made to improve your course performance!

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

I believe the driving range is for acquiring a swing that is repeatable, with each club. NOTE, I said A SWING, not two different swings, or three different swings, ie one for woods, one for irons, one for wedges and one for your putter.

One swing to hit the ball,
one swing to find a score,
One swing you bring to all,
And on the fairway find them.

damn, I think I might have to ad that to my sig!

The range is about consistency, if you find your swing, the one that you can hit with all your clubs then that positive setup and swing will allow you to relax (relaxing is part of the swing anyway) on the golf course. and the score will follow.

For example I have only been on the range three times since christmas, and played two rounds of golf since then.

Three weeks ago I shot three over par, and I was hitting my driver on Saturday better than I ever have, not distance wise but I could do anything I wanted with it. I missed two fairways because of tees I wasn’t familiar with, they dropped off so my feet were lower than the ball so I hit the shots left. I must admit my wedges were off and I missed a lot of 100m approaches short because I was hitting them fat, but that is down to a loss of feel due to a lack of practice. How did I score? I shot 6 over on the front nine, and 6 over on the back nine.

Both of these games of golf were on courses I had never seen before on grass I have never putted on so I am more than happy with my practice routine, I know when I can finally get back out and practice three or four times at least a week, my game will come back to par.

Topic: Driving Range=Course Performance??

It’s one that we are doing for science.
We had to do an experiment on something of our choice – they recommended to do something that we are interested in – so i picked this topic.

I’ve been going to the range quite a lot of times in the past few weeks, hitting LOTS of balls and measuring it (distance, accuracy (slice, hook, straight etc.) then going to a course, and similarly measuring each shot i take, trying to find any relationship.

I think most golfers at a driving range will hit say a dozen 7 irons and probably hit the last 6 as they would like
then they go to another club and do the same
so after a while you think you are hitting pretty well “given the crap quality balls you probably have”

what you should be doing in reality is to only hit a club once and put it back in the bag regardless of how ugly or well you hit it , then grab another say a wood or hybrid this will give you the effect of playing at a course taking one shot at a time
that is when you will see the ordinary shots and in theory they count like on the course
I suggest you try that for your assignment

driver…cobra f speed aldila shaft reg
3w…....cobra f speed aldila shaft stiff
hybrid…cobra dws 20 aldila shaft stiff
irons….srixon I-506 4-pw dg r-300
wedges….srixon w-504 56
vokey oilcan 52 @ 60
putter ..odyssey dual

I remember a TV special where they said Vijay Singh practices a golf course at the range. He visualises the first hole, takes the club he would hit on that hole off the tee, hit it, decides where that ball would have landed, visualises the second shot and picks the club that he would then hit and hits that and so on. Apart from the putting bit, he plays 18 holes.

I must admit I am yet to put this to the test but it does seem like a very logical and progressive way to practise. it not only helps your ball striking, it helps your visualisation technique.

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

I believe that Riverside Oaks and Camden Lakeside both have weekend open comps. Green fees are not cheap but both are really nices courses.

Thanks mate. I just called them and as you said, they are quite expensive. I am looking to play weekly so can’t justify spending that much money per week. For anyone who’s interested, there info are as per below:

=======================================================================================

Name: Riverside Oaks Golf Club Region: Sydney,NSW Address: 74 O’Briens Rd
Sydney, 2756, New South Wales, Australia
View Aerial Map » Directions: View Map » Proshop: (02) 4560 3299 General: (02) 4560 3200

Holes: 18 Metres: 6311m Par: 72

http://www.iseekgolf.com/courses/778;map?

type=satellitemap&rand=69032556&keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=575&width=900

NW Syd – far away

Sat Comp (Individual Stableford):
Green fee: $92 (comp entry fee included)

=======================================================================================

Name: Camden Lakeside Golf Club Region: Sydney,NSW Address: 50 Raby Road
Sydney, 2171, New South Wales, Australia
View Aerial Map » Directions: View Map » Proshop: (02) 9606 5317 General: (02) 9606 5277

Holes: 18 Metres: 6400m Par: 72

http://www.iseekgolf.com/courses/107;map?

type=satellitemap&rand=81760124&keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=575&width=900

SW Syd (Campbelltown through Bankstown)

Sat Comp (Individual Stableford):
Green fee: $85 ($75 with ISG voucher) + $5.50 (comp entry fee)

=======================================================================================

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

I believe that Riverside Oaks and Camden Lakeside both have weekend open comps. Green fees are not cheap but both are really nices courses.

Topic: Sydney weekend open competitions?

Is it worth joining? I was looking at it the other day.

For me it’s a yes (I am a renewed member) because I wanted the free golf lesson (worth around $50) and also for an extra $99/year I can get a Golf Australia handicap through them. You also get discount vouchers for some businesses e.g. two for one game at your local Strike tenpin bowling club (in Brisbane), etc.

They are also looking to organise some competitions for Ignite members in the future (not sure when though).

So far I’ve got no complaints because I get to play in 4BBB comps (Auburn GC) and one time at Foxhill long weekend (2BBB). But would like to know which open competitions I can enter that will count towards my handicap (on weekends).