Reply With QuoteMy golf clubs go in the cupboard in October and generally reappear on Good Friday.
Lunacy golfing in the winter.
How are you managing? I found myself to be going to the range / course almost daily when I could in 2020, but lockdown, weather, packed tee times post lockdown led to a very sporadic 2020 that was proven to be destructive to my (already fragile) game.
I have a net in the garden and a putting mat in the living room, but with this weather I've been struggling to practice...
I wonder how other golfers managed 2020, and what your experience's been (UK or elsewhere)
Cheers!
Tommy
(not optimistic about 2021 for obvious reasons)
My golf clubs go in the cupboard in October and generally reappear on Good Friday.
Lunacy golfing in the winter.
I spent 3 evenings a week in the range between Oct - March last year - did a max of 3 evenings this winter.
Lockdown has stopped me playing entirely and tbh I’m not sure I’ll go back to it. I am of a mind that the fees are just a bit much to justify given how much I play. Maybe I will just cancel membership and become a day ticketer.
I’m an avid golfer but hardly ever practise - I just get bored and find it doesn’t really help. I’ll hit a few irons in the net and maybe have a chip for 10 minutes before a round but that’s it. I just miss getting out there with the lads for the banter and comps, you can’t really recreate that
This is me and is what I’m missing the most.Originally Posted by Peck
I’ve got a net in the garage and I’ve not even practiced in that.
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Working fine for me...
I guess it's like every sport you can't currently do, you'll just have to stick it out until you can.
Putting practice indoors and chipping practice in the garden maybe?
Damned sight easier than practicing for a 40M dive in your shower!
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
Morning.
Much prefer playing on the course instead of ‘true’ practice on the range. Just purchased a putting mat in the hope I can shave a shot off and get down to single figures!
Haha that is trueWorking fine for me...
I guess it's like every sport you can't currently do, you'll just have to stick it out until you can.
Putting practice indoors and chipping practice in the garden maybe?
Damned sight easier than practicing for a 40M dive in your shower!
M
I’m definitely in the fair weather camp, last ventured onto the course in mid October and it was so wet it wasn’t enjoyable at all - that was my prompt to retire the clubs for winter. I do miss going to the range a couple of times a week though.
I see there is a petition to allow golf during lockdown but don’t see any chance of that happening given the media obsession with ever tightening restrictions.
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Not a golfer but a club tennis player playing between 3 and 5 times a week on average all year round with weekly coaching. When covid hit in April it was about renewal time at my club and I was also due to move so I was forced to stop. With the rules changing so much on what was and wasn't allowed, I just stopped completely and solo running filled the void. Feel pretty depressed about it as skill fade will have been immense and weekly lessons for the previous two years cost a lot! I'm an avid runner but I think with both golf and tennis there's a skill/cooridnation thing that leads to pleasure that just running or gym doesn't satisfy.
With all the changes in the last year for me, feels like a different life when I look back.
I played last Sunday but because of the restrictions I cannot play now. Next week I will be visiting 9 seperate households for my work.
Not one to practice either, but I am missing the course. When we came out of lockdown in the summer I played twice a week with a colleague or friends. Cannot wait to get back to that. Great way to tune out for a few hours.
The closures are lunacy and make literally no sense to me.
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I played two or three times a week when the courses were open and as work permitted. I got a fitted set of clubs towards the end of last year and managed to get my handicap down to 13.3...just before the whole system changed and we went to this new index system.
I would be playing now if the courses were open. I am quite happy to play in cold weather although I draw the line these days at getting soaked.
Personally I think it’s crackers that the courses are shut but what can you do.They will open again in due course (no pun intended) and when they do I shall be straight back out.
It’s just the simplest and most hassle free option to blanket ban amateur sport. I think I wrote on another thread if golf was granted an exemption, and tennis was not, good folks like Christian would feel (understandably) put out. And vice versa of course.
But ultimately you’re right, it makes no sense. The fact you can walk round a packed B&Q, but are prevented from playing tennis or golf is crazy really.
Haha yep - the only time we don’t play is when the course is closed. We’re the true all-weather players!
I managed to get down to 6... I’ll never win a competition!
Got a Putt Out putting matt for last Christmas and definitely improved putting with all that practice in March-May.
Played a lot in the Summer after joining local course on a 9 hole membership. Managed to drop HC by 4.5 shots.
That's mostly through playing on course though not practicing. I've found learning how to score is almost as important as the core technical skill of the swing.
New driver arrived 2 days into current lockdown. It's going to be a frustrating few weeks!
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Yes, simplest to ban all sports rather than have to make and police loads of different regulations for different sports.
Think angling is allowed now though and seen lots of anglers out on the local river.
I understand the likely thought process to arrive at the decision, but the conclusion still makes no sense to me. Other activities, with far higher risk associated, continue without interference.
Your grocery shop, although a necessity, is far higher risk.
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Last edited by boris9; 10th January 2021 at 18:41.
As you say, the grocery shop is a necessity. Golf might be a lower risk but it's still a risk. Ban it and the risk is reduced, makes sense to me.
Golf is a socially distanced sport. Golf clubs are supremely well set up to both monitor and police correct application of rule I.e pre booking of tee times,easy to spread the tee times out further than usual,2 balls only etc.
I know it’s been said before but there is absolutely no difference to being allowed to walk the course with a mate vs playing a round of golf with the same mate. People get fresh air and exercise with no more risk than walking through the local park or woods. I went for a walk yesterday and today and encountered far,far more people that I would’ve had I been on a golf course.
Out of interest do you play golf?
I can't do winter golf. When the weather packs in here, I hibernate the gear until a trip to warmer climes is taken, sadly that's usually right about now. I could quite do with a stroll around in shirt sleeves with a nice cool pint of Dorada or Tropical afterwards.
Never more has one of those simulators been more of an attractive proposition!
Oh come on, everything has a risk associated. Walking around in an open field, chasing a ball with a friend at 2m distance is limited risk and one that I’d be prepared to take.
Protecting mental health is a necessity. Looking after my fitness is a necessity. Closing golf courses is a lazy decision and “reducing risk” is a ridiculous justification.
Driving past my local course today there are people walking dogs on the fairways. They’ve no clubs, but they could be exercising with someone from outside their household and it’d be ok. Carry or push some clubs and it’s not. That’s boll0cks.
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Last edited by boris9; 10th January 2021 at 19:03.
That's the problem, people are prepared to take all sorts of risks. No doubt you are extremely sensible but not everyone is so, as said previously, the government has taken the simplest option and stopped all sport.
Plenty of other ways to protect your mental health and fitness.
Go on.
Care to comment on the fact that going for a walk is ok, but carrying clubs whilst doing so isn’t?
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No one is saying that it's not safe but they have to draw the line somewhere. And whilst I don't like it I'm just about ok with it.
There are risks in everything and just as there are protocols to safe golf there will be those that turn up and shake hands, play as four balls, touch flags and even share cars on arrival. Most won't but that's the problem.
I'd love to be out there duffing approach shots and watching mud balls spin wildly away from its intended trajectory but it's not to be.
I can wait a few weeks.
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Where’s that line then? Carrying golf clubs and hitting balls?
You can meet your mate in the local woods or park for a walk, where shaking hands, bumping fists all the stuff you are referencing is a possibility. Equally you can meet up on a pair of bikes and go for a ride within the rules.
It’s either a total lockdown or it isn’t.
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+1 to this. But I miss it dreadfully!!
As people have said it’s crazy what we can do and what we can’t. Golf this year has been great mentally for me, I’d got into a routine each week, either range or course, just whacking some balls was great exercise, physically and mentally. Fingers crossed that some common sense is used to allow some sports to start up again.
Plus I’ve spent a fortune on new gear and just want to use it :-)
I bet Richmond’s 3rd fairway was quieter than the local park today.
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I got a PuttOut in the first lockdown and it has definitely improved my putting. It’s hard to put your finger on why I just seemed to be striking the putts better.
With regards the closure if it were only a few weeks I could live with that, if they drag it out until the end of March (as per the legal review date) it’s gonna be a real struggle. I am a member at a links course and the condition in the winter is amazing, such a shame to be missing it.
Cheers
Ross
Yeah I agree. If you combine the matt with the Perfect Putt widget and it's ridiculously small target it just trains you to hit more consistent putts.
I find I just end up tweaking stance, grip, strike etc until you get the most repetitive stroke.
I can hit 50 putts and not one lands in the hole then I'll hole 4 in 6 but I know overall it's much more consistent than ever previously.
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Although I miss golf dearly I'm somewhat okay with the current situation too - as I'm fit enough to run, cycle and so on (and that I can't change anything re golf rules). Having said that, I don't quite think it's a good enough excuse for the government to take the 'simplest option'. This debate has come up every time from lockdown 1.0 to 3.0, during this time we've had the tiered system, various level of local lockdowns, and all sorts of other rules. I think to ask the government to differentiate between different sports is not such an unreasonable demand.
2020 has seen more people taking up running, walking, and cycling, and no one really complains about that - and I don't see why people should if golf is added to that list. If anything this would help the struggling clubs, and see more people taking up the game (which I think it's the greatest sport of all, of course biased).
On top of that, golf is truly one of the only means of exercise and social interaction that many members of my club(s) have. Many of them are over 70 or even 80 (some have lost their spouse), and being able to drive a buggy around the course hitting a few shots with their friends means the world to them.
Anyways - nothing I can do really, I've signed every petition there is, and wrote to my local MP. Like many others here I don't mind waiting a few more weeks, but hopefully the story will change in future lockdowns (sorry for being pessimistic about Covid).
Petitions are a total waste of time
They are 'considered' when the only people in the HoC are the Speaker the clerks and a few old dodderer MPs who fell asleep hours ago and the cleaners haven't woken up yet.
Unless you can get your MP interested it is a total waste of time and even then it is an uphill battle.
As for golf I play on a Downland course on chalk so we can normally play all year round.
But with over 1000 people dying a day I totally get why all amateur sport is banned.
I am expecting tougher restrictions to come in and doubt we will back on the golf course until April at the earliest
They are the very people who should be isolating as they are at the most risk.
Lets hope the vaccination roll out will help
Last edited by Kevin; 11th January 2021 at 01:56.
I bit the bullet during 1st lockdown last year and invested in a Skytrak launch monitor, it arrived about 5 weeks before the courses re-opened and has quite possibly been my best purchase of 2020. Luckily
I just about have the room in my house to use it, so built my own net, I already had a spare games PC to run the software, decent hitting mat purchased and can now play a choice of around 170,000 golf courses in the warmth. It was a massive game improver to my ball striking and reduced my handicap considerably.
The only downside is losing the "touch" of short chipping and putting around the green, it is no replacement for the real thing but its more than satisfying and great for the mental aspect of playing.
If anyone is considering getting a monitor, I highly recommend it.
I've used Puttout since last March, a brilliant accuracy stroke builder. I use blue tack on my putter the make the face of the putter smaller, also a T stroke putter lock.
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