Try Stableford maybe? You can still get an idea of how well you've played because you get a points score at the end and can aim to beat it next time. And you can work out how close you are to handicap - a Stableford score of 36 means you're effectively playing to your handicap. It helps to forget those "blobs" on the scorecard while you're (hopefully) improving.

I's Monday, so that means it's time for my weekly moan about golf

This week was really disappointing as the lesson with the pro went well, thought i'd worked out some of my issues. Hit the range twice in the week and was hitting fairly straight. Then hit some balls down the range yesterday morning (still going well) - then got to the course and it was like i'd never played again - back to 130s.

Someone please tell me that at some point I will see improvement! I've now been practicing regularly and taking lessons for about 3 months and every round is worse than the last.

can i ask how old you are and how much you have played before ?

the older you are the harder it can be to "train" the muscles and get to the point where a golf swing is something thats natural

muscle memory is such a hugely important part of a golf swing and being able to repeat a swing consistently when there are so many moving parts that all have to be co-ordinated and the only way you achieve that is by practice.

i was lucky that i was playing from when i was 5 or 6 years old, had a couple of clubs with cut down shafts and would sneak on the the golf course next to my village and just hit balls, became a member with a half-set of of clubs when i was 11 so alot of it just sort of came naturally. even then i had to be playing almost every day to keep the standard up, if i didn't play for 2 to 3 weeks or we had a really bad spell of weather during the winter it took time to get back into things again.

even just what sounds like a silly thing but i played cricket as well when i was younger and if i went through a spell playing cricket and then went back to golf i would feel changes to my swing because my muscles had got used to doing different things between playing cricket shots to a golf swing.

even the top pros are practising for hours every day just to keep their swings grooved.

I'm 34 now and have been playing very infrequently since I was 14. I've probably played more golf so far this year than the previous 4 combined. The only other time that I played this frequently was when I joined a club in my mid 20s.

The issue i'm having is that practicing seems to have no noticeable effect at the moment. I suppose if you're practicing the wrong thing then that's just inevitable. But my instructor is telling me that i'm doing 95% of things right and whenever i'm in a lesson I seem to be fine.

Do you have a regular partner? I found that having someone else to watch and at least measure yourself against helps a lot. If it's someone you know well they can also offer advice or at least commentary. They can spot trends in your swing that you don't.

The course may also be a factor. There's two near me that I struggle with and it's maddening. Every other course I expect to be in the mid to low 90s but these two I struggle to get below 100 (never have at one of them). Yet they don't really look that different. They are both just shy of 6,000 yards and fairly standard parkland for this area. One of the courses I can now reliably get low 90s on is a monstrous 6,700 yards (although I found this Sunday that they've moved some of the yellow tees onto the ladies box so that's probably knocked a 100 yards off in total).

I can understand struggling at a course the first time you play it but I've now played Banbury a dozen times yet my best score is 99. But the real bugbear is Silverstone. Despite it being the sister course to my own club I've never got below 100 and frankly every time I've played has felt like a struggle. I'm determined to conquer it but most of the time I find myself being pleased that I don't have to pay to play it Spending money to feel like a pratt would just be too much

I'm playing with the same two guys each week at the moment. They're only beginners as well so I think they're concentrating more on their own game. However they do say that my swing looks good and don't understand why the ball is duffing so often.

Which club(s) are worst?
Do you normally take a divot on the fairway?

hmmm , sounds like that shouldn't be a big problem then

could be that you are just expecting too much too quick and tensing up when you are playing and that tension is coming through in your swing

only other thing i can think of is try to build up from the more lofted clubs that are easier to hit, spend time just hitting 8 or 9 irons when practising, dont try to hit them too hard and just work on grooving the swing, then as you get more comfortable build up

other alternative is just forget about keeping score for a bit, just go out and play, try to relax and enjoy it more, no point putting too much pressure on yourself at this stage and maybe risk demoralising yourself before things get better

Lots of good advice.

I'm definitely better at some courses than others - however I am consistently hitting between 20 and 30 shots more on all of them than I was three months ago. Though maybe I was going through a good patch then as I was driving well and just messing up around the greens. Today I couldn't hit 200 yards straight to save my life.

I would like to see your swing and hear what your pro is telling you to work on.

Imo any half decent asst pro should within a few lessons be able to have anyone breaking 100. The only times I usually see this not to be the case is when people have ridiculous issues with their swing and are just too stubborn to go back to the very start and work on the basic fundamentals.

Your playing partners say your swing looks good yet you are shooting approx 60 over par or more so it doesn't really add up. If your swing is decent then I'd be having a look at your grip, posture and several other things that need to be right before you even start your backswing.

Putting a video on here or a couple of pics of your grip etc could make all the difference.

Ok, I might regret this . . .

https://youtu.be/pYmh5z_IJWA

https://youtu.be/BaCb5Hd9tX0

First of all he corrected my grip and told me to focus on keeping my head still as I swing.

Then he gave me some exercises to keep my arms closer to my body (basically holding a towel under my arms as I swing).

Then he showed me that my back swing was going too far behind my body and that I need to cock my wrists a bit to keep it straight.

I think the next thing he wants me to work on is swinging my right hip/knee round.

It looks like a reasonable swing to me. Only things I can see are:

* Your head seems to bob up and down a bit. It's not a huge amount but quite noticeable on the first 'indoor' video.
* At 11 seconds into the second video you appear to have developed a slight 'chicken wing' on your follow through with your left elbow sticking out. Again, though it's not much.

I may be wrong, but I think showing us videos of your swing is of limited value to you at the moment.

If you're a high handicapper who is duffing shots, it's unlikely you're necessarily doing exactly the same thing wrong each time - and certainly nothing that's going to be identifiable in a video of you making a decent connection with a shot on the range. Generally, the higher the handicapper, the more variables you'll have in your swing. It won't just be a single thing that's going wrong and you won't identify it every time.

Stick to lessons and stick to what your pro is telling you, as I think at this stage it'll be far more useful to you.

It may not be up to the quality of Adam Scott's swing but it's certainly not one that should be shooting in the 130's. Actually I don't think I've seen such a decent swing from someone shooting in the hundreds.

First thing that jumps out to me is your arms being so far from your body but that's something you are working on so keep at it. It might feel different and awkward at first but it'll become natural eventually.

It's quite hard to tell for sure because of the video quality but your right hand looks very strong, look at your right thumb position compared to where it's meant to be. Your hands also seem to be very disjointed as soon as you start your backswing. The only physical relationship you have with a golf club is with your hands, to me it's imperative that the grip is correct. A bad grip can lead to all sorts of variables in the swing.

My pro says the same thing. When i'm having lessons I can hit the ball fine - as soon as I get to the course I just can't find any natural tempo. I'm having an actual course lesson with him next week so we'll see if he can work out what is going wrong.

He tells me that my grip is fine now so I would be surprised if my right hand is off.

I'm losing quite a few shots on my putting at the moment but I don't even want to start working on that until i've sorted my swing out enough to hit the ball at least 50 yards every time.

I once walked off the course totally disconsolate and went straight in to book a lesson.
My swing had disintegrated.
I turned up for the lesson a few days later with only a six iron saying "I've lost it completely".
I then proceeded to hit every ball perfectly.
After about five shots my Pro said "Ok, what are you doing here?"
It seems inexplicable.
I think because he was stood alongside I made every effort to focus on grip, stance, alignment and a smooth swing.
Often, if I'm hitting an iron on the course I say to myself "Think of the lesson."

By the way, there are many reasonable golfers at my club with the ugliest swings imaginable - yours would go unnoticed 👍

I had a 'sorta' hole in one earlier tonight.

Had been practicing and was walking back across the course to the clubhouse, a route which passes the 8th hole. The course was empty so I dropped 3 balls on the tee and knocked them onto the green with a wedge. 144 yards but playing a bit downwind so I knew I could get there.

All 3 looked pretty close but the hole is slightly uphill and the pin was tucked behind a bunker so never knew it was in until I reached the green.

Not sure whether I can count this as an ace or not.

No witnesses, three attempts, not an official comp, not recorded.
You know the answer really 😜
It's not a hole in one, It's "a nice story".
But well done! 👍

Hello Toby LaRhone! Was hoping I'd see a post of yours.......apologies to you & everyone else for stepping off topic........

A few months ago, you'd recommended Basque Country for travels in Spain & we're now booked for a week there, come September. Without your direction, doubt it would have occurred to us.

Thank you!

Maggie,
You have me confused with another poster.
Nevertheless, hae a lovely time!
Have a game of golf and tell us how you got on 👍

I've also had a "hole-in-one-that-wasn't-really"

Was playing on my own a couple of years back. Stepped up to the tee of a par 3 and spooned it left, out of bounds. So I reload, I'm three off the tee.

Hit it nice this time, straight at the green. Bounced once, twice, ran on and into the hole.

Down for three, so I can't really class it as a hole in one!

I played Feldon Valley Sunday. Not a great game in the end (102 gross) but I lost two balls and the arrival of rain for the last three holes mean I'm not too bothered. Might actually be quite a good score under the circumstances. But half way round we joined up with another two ball rather than try to get past the four ball in front. On the next hole I hit a good drive then a blinder of a 3 hybrid to get to the green in two. Then the next hole I miss hit my approach club resulting in a fairly low trajectory. It bounced off a hump in front of the green and came to a rest two feet from the pin.

I think for a while there I had the other two ball seriously impressed. Sadly I lost a ball on the next hole through carelessness and the rest of the round was a bit 'meh'.

What was interesting though was that both of the other two were long hitters (over 250yd drives) whereas me and partner are average (200yd drives). But we held our own because although they weren't bad they got into more trouble than us and lost more balls. Give me accuracy over distance any day

I lost the second ball due to excellent ball contact with my sand wedge..inside a bunker. The damn' ball was sitting up on a bump (someone clearly didn't use the rake) but I felt that a proper sand shot would be safer than trying to pick it out. Sadly my arms didn't quite get the message and it went sailing over the green and into the very long rough

I haven't played 18 holes in a couple of weeks now - but I did a short 9 hole course twice at the weekend. The first attempt was a poor 58 but hit 46 the next day so a significant improvement.

This is after a 9 hole lesson I had with the pro last week where he pointed out a number of my issues. I'm slowly getting back to where I was at the start of the year so hopefully I can continue to improve beyond that.

That's the way I see it as well. I've had two previously and had partners both times, had it been my first I may have tried to claim it.

I put 4 balls down on a fairway tonight on my way back from practice, around 130 out. Decided to film it incase I got lucky again. . Results here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z04YefK5-0

I did go back and replace the divots on my way back.

Three on the green - not bad.
I'd have holed out in five easily with each of those! 😂