…quite addictive isn’t it 😯

Hit a couple of long straight ones and get a few pars and it’s hard not to go back. Oh dear…..

I have a terrible habit of finishing well – so you leave the course feeling good but forgetting the dross and heartache in the middle! 😀

😀 that sounds about right

takes a long time to get consistently good at it though. When I played I’d hit one hole a blinder and then 2 holes slicing it to effery, just no consistency at all. For this reason it is addictive. I found a better hobby though.

Use to enjoy it but stopped about 20 years ago. Played a game of pitch and put a few months back and after the 3rd hole I had my eye back in. Started putting pressure on the young lad who was a former junior golfing champion so we had a great battle. Then I messed one hole up and threw it all away.

Yes, but, if I can do it once surely I can do it again…hang on, just one more try…ok just one more…lucky it’s two minutes from home and peanuts to play!

I’m still at the early stages. Started playing 5 weeks ago and had about 3 lessons. It’s bloody hard! Really enjoying it though, but decided a change of instructor was needed. Seem to keep slicing the ball. At least I seem to have cured the issue of hitting the ground before the ball. Just consistently hitting it around 30 degrees to the right!

Golf just seems like the kind of thing you do if you’ve never discovered mountain biking.

There are similarities in the money outlay and the requirement to drive an Audi, but one is interesting, fun, social and loads of exercise and the other is golf.

I used to play loads a long, long time ago. Not brilliant by any stretch but single figure handicap. I play twice a year these days and really enjoy it, if only it was quicker !

At least I seem to have cured the issue of hitting the ground before the ball. Just consistently hitting it around 30 degrees to the right!

I suspect you will find when you compensate by adjusting and aiming 30 degrees to the left that that consistency will magically disappear!

Golf just seems like the kind of thing you do if you’ve never discovered mountain biking.

Mountain biking in the evening or weekend when my mates are free. Golf has been in the day on weekdays when my work mates are free, or by myself, doesn’t matter – course is pretty quiet at those times.

I was a serious single figure handicap golfer before I had kids 6 years ago. Still play occasionally with mates who are still members. In many ways I probably enjoy it more now. I was almost too obsessed at one point as its incredibly addictive and frustrating and you have to put a lot in to improve, especially to get to low single figures. That can start to take away the fun and then once kids came along it was game over – literally. Just too time consuming and after a year, realised it wasn’t worth renewing my membership. I can see me getting back into it in a few years but the bikes are much easier to fit around family commitments now. Great game though!

Oh god no, I’ve played 12 holes in my life, I was bored at 3 but my mate was begging me to carry on, at 12 we both agreed it wasn’t for me and we gave up.

Played at Celtic Manor of all places, so it wasn’t like I was slumming it – stupid club would hit stupid ball despite being designed specifically for the bloody purpose, let alone go anywhere near where you want it to go. ****, why make it that bloody hard – bigger ball, huge bat, **** it, enjoy life. Not spend a decade tarting about until you can use the equipment with any sort of accuracy.

I’ll bypass the old clichés about the sorts of people who hang around golf clubs, other than to say, they’re not all like that – but quiet a few are worse than you dare imagine.

what is fun is going to the driving range in the evening occasionally. get one in the net, YESSSSS!

See, for me, doing shifts gives me days off in the week, and all my kids are at school now, so I’ve got time to kill. Went up today and persuaded the green keeper, one of my mountain biking mates, to put the mower back in the shed and play a round with me instead. Then fresh scones in the cafe afterwards, courtesy of the cook who lives a few houses up the road from me. What’s not to like 🙂

Seriously and pathologically dislike it…..
All my mates when I was in my thirties were like you will be great at it, good hand eye co- ordination, calm relaxed……I turned into the incredible bulk every time I played……

Wennt on a round with work colleagues and a reverend who was playing left handed….usual descent into incredible bulk without the answering or club throwing …..reverend had a quiet word and said I should use his clubs….. from there on no problems turns out I am left handed player at golf.

Still dislike the game and avoid at all costs…..

@ Ape. You’ve been promoted haven’t you. Is it Inspector Ape? Or Superintendent Ape?

Another ex single figure handicap addict here. Played from age of 8-16, from a golfing family (Uncles are pro’s, cousins play/played for England, brother played at a good county level, I played jnr county level) I got bored of it, couldn’t get any better to become pro, got in to mountain biking, girls etc and have hardly played since

Sod that! It’s still DC Ape, and long may it stay that way. I don’t want to be responsible for others 🙂

Talking of Apes….here’s another! I’ve been a golfer for 40 hrs (yes really) and obviously I enjoy it. For those that say Mtb instead, well I do both and enjoy both. However it really is the most ridiculously difficult game, so can drive you insane trying to master it.

It’s the social side I enjoy most these days.

Thought club memberships were going down as MAMIL numbers were going up…

And it’s not a sport if the ball you hit isn’t moving. 😉

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-03/nike-to-stop-making-golf-equipment-in-latest-blow-to-the-sport

Nike giving up on Golf equipment, as is Adidas.

My old local golf course was pretty good for snowboarding in winter. Other than that it just doesn’t gel with me. Have a friend who takes it seriously. Took me and another friend to try and convince us to play. He had something of a rage fit when he realised I’d been throwing the balls as opposed to using the clubs.

A question for those of you who play…how long did it take you to pick up the basics and get to a decent standard? Yes, I know all the usual comments about always improving, never master it etc etc. But what I mean is to actually get around a golf course using drivers, woods, irons etc and enjoy it? So basically progressing from just trying to hit the ball at a driving range with a 7/8 iron?

I’m hoping soon enough something will click!

@thegreatape

Dragons Tooth?

how long did it take you to pick up the basics and get to a decent standard?

Don’t know about the decent standard bit but its taken me two years to finally get to that point when I can go for a round and really enjoy it, its mostly down to the fact that I can now play with friends who have played for years and not feel that I’m holding them up! I got my official handicap three weeks ago – 26! and now looking forward to some comps.

I had two big realisations, first was after about 12 months when I realised that the range just does not help when your trying to learn. After you hit a bad ball its just too easy to pick up another one and go again, I started to go and play a couple of holes after work when I could and my game came on leaps.

The second was after about 18 months, stop trying to hit it so hard! I really slowed down my swing and its amazing how much further and straighter the ball goes when you actually concentrate on hitting it properly rather than hard.

If you anywhere near the Glous area give me a pm and i’ll be happy to go for a round 🙂

Kieran,great that’s exactly what I wanted to hear! Certainly makes me feel a bit better about my ‘progress’. Cheers for the offer of a round but I’m about 5 hrs away unfortunately. So far I’m managing to hit about 50% of my 8 iron shots around the 100yd mark but really need to sort out this slice.

I think the problem as with most sports is the unrealistic expectations. Mostly from my only exposure to the game being watching the pros on sky sports!

That’s the one mangobikeride – not a bad setting 🙂

Do you play there?

I foolishly joined in with playing golf a couple of years ago with a couple of work colleagues.
The worst injury I have ever had was playing **** golf, when I went to casually pick up a ball a mate had hit into the bushes next to me.
The ‘bushes’, were some kind of hybrid rigid pampas grass type affair which poked me deep into the eyeball as I bent down.
I was instantly blind and in agony for over a week.
I eventually regained my sight and reevaluated my life.
**** golf!
Even the sexy nurse at the eye hospital agreed, **** golf!

It’s a lovely place thegreatape but I’ve never played there, the cafe is lovely and I often pass it and wish I had my clubs in the car

Well if you don’t mind playing with antique clubs they’ve got a few sets to borrow! Come down one day, there are some good bike trails up the back of the glen too if you don’t already know them.

I used to live for golf, to the point the other half thought I was seeing another woman. So I started starting earlier so I could finish earlier and go to the driving range!

I got my handicap down to 6 with the sole intention of becoming a teaching pro but I just couldn’t get my handicap down any lower so I could get on the course.

One night I was at the driving range, hitting the ball really well, about to go home and my mate turns up. I decide to get another half a basket whilst we’re chatting and I shanked everyone. I tried different clubs and every one from the 3 to LW I shanked. Then my putting went, I just couldn’t hit the ball. So I sold everything and stopped, got rid of everything.

My BiL is trying to get me to play at the moment, I’ve been to the driving range once with him, I hit the ball fairly well and enjoyed it. I can’t say the bug was back but I’ll happily have a go a crazy golf on holiday.

To be fair I don’t have the time to dedicate to golf, cycling and everything else that’s going on. Like anything, if you want to be any good you need to put the time in.

They say if you hit a shot hear that “snick” and watch the ball arc away from you and you aren’t hooked then you never will be. I have done that and just thought meh.

I have to visit quite a few golf clubs through work and they are a rum lot.

A friend owns a farm on the other side of the Usk from Celtic Manor, he often dreams that Matthews and his land agent had written him a mahoosive cheque.

Do love a game of crazy golf though 😆

its amazing how much further and straighter the ball goes when you actually concentrate on hittingswinging it properly rather than hard.

If you watch the Pro’s you will see they don’t hit at the ball they swing the club through the ball, which is what you need to practice doing. That way you can actually practice without hitting balls. Does that make sense? Then you take the swing onto the range and course and focus on that. If you really want to improve, you need to spend as much time on chipping and putting as you do on the range, so ideally find a range with those facilities available.

Regarding how long it takes to get half decent, its all down the individual, but if you’re reasonably good at sport, you’ll do okay.

Love Lee’s story….probably five mins with a teaching pro would have solved it immediately, but we’ve all been there at times. 😡