Golf
I was inspired to write this post as the first major (PGA Championship) is this week. I want to see how popular golf is for a lot of the higher finance individuals. If you could say your profession, what clubs you use, your handicap, and how long you've been playing, that would be great.
1) Commercial Banking
2) 2019 Big Bertha irons and PING G410 Plus driver
3) Handicap ranges from 14-15 pretty consistently
4) I started last year and have tried to go at least once a month, sometimes twice a month however with COVID things have changed.
I would love to hear everyone else and if you have any tips/tricks to improve your handicap, outside of playing a lot, adding that would be great too.
Driving range, putting practice
you sound like a man I need to play with!
phrasing facepalm
CRE Love a good scramble and it sounds like y'all have a lethal squad.
So the best part of my game is off the Tee (260-290) usually fairway, maybe slightly in the rough. I have great fairway wood play which comes in handy for Par 5's, but my irons/wedges are lack luster to say the least. I am god awful at Par 3's, almost an auto Double Bogey and chipping anywhere from 50 yards in, is extremely hit or miss (usual miss). I love playing though and grew up an athlete, then college athlete, by my god is Golf the hardest/most frustrating sport out there.
Has a round of Golf ever led to or closed a deal for you?
Nah. Typically if we get taken out, it's by brokers or GCs looking to get us to hire them. It may or may not have helped them close the deal, though most of the time it's more them keeping up with existing relationships than it is making new ones. "We've all worked hard. Let's take the afternoon and go hit some balls" type of thing.
1) Corporate Strategy
2) A bunch of old TaylorMade clubs my uncle bought years ago that were top of the line when he bought them; I'll probably end up pulling the trigger on a new set come next spring
3) If I was actually playing strict rules, probably high 30s lol. I usually am in the 95-105 range with a few mulligans here and there off the tee box but I play pretty fair once off the tee
4) I started in earnest this year by buying a net when COVID started, so I was able to work on the swing for weeks straight. It translated fairly well to the course though it wasn't perfect as I couldn't see the trajectory of the ball and adjust accordingly.
I do need to start hitting the range more though, just tough not having a car and working long hours.
Profession: Investment Banking
Clubs: Taylormade Woods, Titleist Hybrid, Titleist MB's & Vokey Wedges all from 2010. I got them all custom fitted so don't feel the need to update them yet.
Handicap (UK System): 0-3 depending on the number of competitions I play in a year
Time Spent: 11 years
Tips to Improve: I self-taught myself how to play so may be able to give some good insight.
On the course:
My biggest piece of advice on the course is to know your misses and to play with the shot shape you naturally have on the day. For example, I usually hit a draw, but if I get to the course and am hitting a fade when warming up, I'll play for the fade that day and won't think about my swing. When playing on the course, do not think about your swing from a technical standpoint, the only thing I think about is the feeling of tempo, nothing else. To do this, before every shot I do a 50% speed swing and really feel the impact position I want to reach.
On the practice range:
Full Shots: When practicing you just want to create a repeatable motion, where you strike the ball well and you know roughly what the shot shape will be. Key things to focus on for better ball striking is your grip, set-up and backswing. I'll recheck my grip when I go to the range to make sure it's correct. Then I'll hit some balls with alignment sticks to make sure my set-up is neutral and square to the target. Then I make sure my backswing is on plane and get the feeling about where the correct spots are. Above all, my advice is err on the side of swinging softly because a better strike will make the shot go further.
Short Game: THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT AREA. You just want to achieve repeatable motions and routines around the green to ensure that you'll get a good strike on shorter wedge shots / chipping. For wedges and chipping you want your hands ahead of the ball and should aim to maintain rhythm, no jerky movements. For flop / bunker shots, you want to establish a repeatable set-up and have confidence making a fuller swing and getting contact. I usually practice the motions of impact to get this right on the course. You want to know how far shots will go if you swing 25%/50%/75% with all of your wedges, this way you'll have a solid base to go off when on the course. For example, a 75% gap wedge goes 105 for me and a 75% lob wedge goes 85.
Mental Game: I have a pre-shot routine that clears my mind and helps me focus on the shot at hand. For shorter shots, I do 2-3 practice swings of exactly the motion I want to do, then quickly execute the shot. For me, doing this under pressure helps me execute the shot better because I have less time to overthink it! If you want to score well, you need a good understanding of your capabilities and what you're like in certain scenarios. For me personally, I know that I'm better off playing safer golf and gaining confidence through hitting three good shots on a par 5 to get to the green, rather than going for it in two and potentially messing up.
The above is advice that I use when trying to get back to playing well after time off, it may not work for everyone but it helps me get back on track. If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to help!
Awesome stuff, thank you so much!
This is really great!
As an older poster (mid 50s) and playing golf for over 30 yrs (love/hate, borderline obsession at some points) that message about playing your shot shape of the day is crucial. Golf is literally a game of fractions of inches. The smallest adjustment in grip, setup, takeaway, putting stroke, wind and...mental state of mind will manifest in both ball striking and shot shape. Really hard to fix things on the course but fun to tinker with on the range. Sometimes I actually prefer going to the range and just trying things and then ultimately taking it to the course (I guess that's the obsession part!)
Here's a tip that I learned just a few yrs ago that has helped me immensely. So much of golf is mental. I'm pretty competitive and tough on my self. I have the capability of being a pretty good player but that requires transferring to the score card. So many rounds where you're hitting it well but not scoring. I used to focus on the score and a few blow up holes would kill my whole round, attitude, etc. "Crap that double on 4 just ruined any chance for a low score..." So a few yrs back I played with a young guy who played college golf and he shared this:
Mentally break your round down to 6 rounds of 3 holes. Whatever your handicap or goal is, give yourself 6 shots at reaching it. So if you striving for bogey golf (that's your par), play each three holes with a mentality of "Ok I'm one over or one under or even...". However you are playing, just reset at the start of the next 3 holes. Much easier, for me, to stay focused and keep it together for the whole round. Off to a good start, say par, par, bogey and, you're "2 under". Then if you blow up the next 3 holes with two doubles and a bogey, you're "2 over", but in total you're on track for your goal (and you mentally tell yourself, OK, I got that bad stretch over with.)
That has really helped me be much more consistent. Sounds crazy but works. I've noticed my total score has improved by 3 or 4 strokes because of that mental approach.
1) Macro trading @ bank 2) Callaway XR's Irons. Some driver my grandfather gave to me, don't even know the name. Nike putter of sort. Currently shopping around for a lob wedge & driver replacement. 3) 15-20 4) 18 months
Golf was one of the primary conversations in one of my interviews. I didn't really play at the time but I live in Surrey (UK) which has the highest golf courses per sq mile in the country. Unsurprisingly, it was an easy topic to connect over given the interviewer is a scratch golfer and regularly played in my area. Talk about geographical privilege.
If you’re shopping for a new driver, would definitely demo the SIM. Hit straighter / longer for me than this year’s Callaway or Ping.
Cheers, I've seen that one in a few clips recently so will be sure to inquire about it when I get in store.
Asset Management
Taylor Made irons and woods across the board - RSi I think, some random taylor made driver, one callaway hybrid, Scotty C. putter and an old Titlelist sand wedge.
I don't have an official one - I'll generally shoot low to mid 80's, and on a bad day that will be somewhere around a 90 at this point. If I drink too much - well - then it really doesn't matter.
half a dozen times a month, give or take. Maybe one driving range session or two - when i'm feeling very golf-y. Otherwise it's whenever i'm on vacation, work tournaments, charity tournaments, etc. Have played my whole life basically.
Tips to improve? Spend money on lessons - not clubs. Don't care if you are beginner or advanced. Focus on a compact, repeatable swing. Stop focusing on length off the tee or length in general - chipping, putting and accuracy lower scores faster than an extra 25 yards, to the right, underneath a tree.
I'm pretty sure at one point I destroyed my shoulder because I couldn't comprehend not blasting it a million yards off the tee - I've calmed that down, and suddenly I'm about 5 strokes less just because i'm not saving my second shot every other hole. That's all my advice - otherwise i'm still a headcase who wants to hit a 7 iron 200 yards because i just can't help myself.
Tips:
Think your way around the course. The best score I've ever shot (2 over), I only pulled driver once. I have the advantage of being pretty long off the tee, but on a 400-yard par 4 going 3 iron, 8 iron can give you the lower expected value on the hole than driver, hopefully wedge if there is a lot of trouble where you typically miss. In my competitive rounds, I noticed that even if I hit a loose second shot and can't get up and down, a bogey on a couple of holes isn't going to kill my round, but having to re-tee after pushing a driver OB on a couple of holes can.
Work on your wedges. I've noticed since I stopped playing a lot that one area I'm gaining a few shots every round is with my wedges. As important as putting is if you can hit your wedges close from 70 yards and in, putting becomes a lot easier. You might not make a lot of 15 footers like the pros, but it's a lot easier to two-putt from 20 feet than it is from 50. I think I saw someone above say this, but learning your yardages 10, 20, 30...70+ will help a lot. I would also recommend knowing the yardages with some of your high irons for 1/4, 1/2 swings, because if it's super windy, it can be advantageous to flight the ball into the green at a lower angle.
I still suck so no tips from me, granted I am strong proponent of the 'swing your swing' folks.
Profession: Private Equity Analyst
Clubs: Titleist 915 driver and 3w, Adams Golf 4 hybrid, Titleist AP1 4i-pw, Titleist Vokey Design 52,56,60, Taylormade Spider Si putter (which I hate. going back to a blade style putter)
Handicap: 3 when I was a teenager. ~8 now - working and other sports get in the way of regular golf
Time spent: played 2 years when I was 12 and 13, got down to an 8 handicap then gave up playing regularly for other sports. Picked it back up when I was 17 and gave up again for other sports at 19 on a 3 handicap. Now I play every now and then - maybe 18 once a month. Scoring ranges between mid 70's and early 80's
Tips: Always have to think 1 shot ahead i.e. best place to hit at this green is there (X distance from the tee) so I need to use a hybrid to land there instead of a driver etc. If you get into trouble, take your medicine and play the safe shot instead of trying to be a hero. Half your shots come from close to / on the green - short game is key to low scoring
1) Growth equity associate
2) Nike Irons (throwback lol) with Taylormade SIM woods
3) Handicap is 17-20 and been playing for 12 years
What are your favorite MA/NE courses? I'm from MA but live in NYC, and now that I'm spending the summer back home for WFH, I'm tryna find some new courses to try out
Banking
Taylormade SIM Woods and P790 Taylormade Irons + Vokey Wedges + Odyssey Versa 7 Putter
Scratch. Played D1 golf in college
Started in grade 8 and never looked back! (9-10 years)
Advice: Go on youtube and search for videos by Golf Sidekick. Great golf channel and top tier advice on how to manage yourself on the course.
I would say the most important things to focus on are the fundamentals, especially if you aren't able to play very often. This includes grip, alignment, ball position, swing tempo, etc. It's simple stuff but can easily be forgotten about if not kept in check.
Also, there's a difference between practicing for fun and practicing to improve. Practicing to improve is not necessarily fun. If you're really trying to get better, at least half of your practice time should be putting and short game. With that said, hitting balls is a lot more fun and there's nothing wrong with just wanting to rip drivers for an hour sometimes haha
Would love to chat golf and careers with anyone on this forum who might be interested. Having a solid career in finance with the ability to always enjoy the game of golf is my dream. Thanks OP for posting
Agreed, but I think it hard to get people to go to the range to practice wedge distances; for most its just a time to unwind and see how far you can pound driver
Found a huge improvement in score / fun when I practice with a purpose. Definitely like to pound the ball but also include target and distance practice. I pick a flag and see how many shots out of 10 I can put pretty close. Have become pretty good at that and it makes it so much easier to transfer to the course. "Hey this shot is essentially the same as the one I practice" usually results in center of the green approach. Same for chipping. Don't practice putting much (should) but I like to chip. So much easier to score well when you can chip. Generally hole one out per round.
work : corporate credit research
Clubs - titelist cb 690 irons, titelist wedges (54,56,64), sldr 3 hybrid, m6 driver, early 2000s scotty newport 2
Handicap - 11 to 13 area. Was as low as 7 when I played in high school but have drifted up since then. I’m pretty competitive in the 12 range.
I’ve been playing golf since I was a kid. I played in high school and caddied at a prestigious club.I joined my local golf club as a junior member a few years back have been playing a decent amount since then. Being back home for quarantine has definitely made it easier for me to go up and get a few holes in after work.
Advice - it’s all mental, the best golfers have good attitudes and can shrug off the bad shots and think about the next one. The worst people are the guys who have to give a breakdown after every bad shot.
I have play in some big / serious events and big money games and the guys that are the consistent winners have it on the mental side. Having a pre shot routine and a way to zone into your shot is very important.
Also being able to play a shot that’s comfortable for you is extremely important. Clubbing up and swing easy on a par 3, hitting an easy pitching wedge from 80 yards out instead of a sand wedge, and many more smart shots really help your game.
1) Investment Banking 2) TItleist 918 D/F2 Driver and 3 wood, Titleist 731pm 3-pw, Vokey SM5 60, 56, 52, Scotty Cameron Newport 3) ~4.0 4) I was born into it, and played a lot in highschool & during my undergrad, but ever since I started working full time in IB I only play a handful of times over a summer.
1) Energy investing
2) Ping i200 irons, Ping G410 driver, Vokey 60,56,50, Ping Anser putter
3) ~10
4) Didnt pick up golf until mid way through college and did not play consistently until after college. Invested in golftec for the last two years and went from a 20 hcp to a 10, shot a career 78 two months ago. Still have fits some days but learned so much about course management that bad rounds tend to be low 90s as opposed to 105+.
Ping is probably my second favorite brand after Titleist. Gorgeous stuff and that Anser is legendary.
Ping's genesis was game improvement focused. Also I purchased a friend a Scotty as a wedding present and he still can't put for shit so why upgrade the Anser?
Improving your handicap is extremely dependent upon what level of golfer you are. A 30+ handicap will have far different needs for lowering handicap than a high single digit (grip, posture vs. course management, specific swing mechanics, etc.). But below are a few general pieces of advice for varying skill levels. Please note this is coming from a player, not instructor
Driving - Distance is key (as long as you don't take a penalty stroke). You're better off hitting a 9 iron in from the rough than 6 iron from the fairway - If you hook the ball, tee up on the left hand side of the tee box. If you fade the ball, tee up on the right hand side of the tee box (assuming a right handed golfer). This provides more space for the ball to curve naturally while staying above / on the fairway. This can obviously vary if the hole has a severe dog leg - I consider driving the ball the most important part of the game, especially for low handicaps to improve. It is hard to make birdies if you fail to drive it well.
Iron Play - The pin should rarely be your target. More often than not you should play to the largest part of the green. For example, if the pin is tucked up front behind a bunker, your target should be 15/20 feet or so past the pin. Managing your misses with irons is critical - The smaller your target, the smaller the miss. I cannot emphasis this point enough - Distance control is far more important than accuracy
Short Game - One often overlooked piece of the short game is looking at where you're chipping / putting from to begin with. This is really a function of managing your misses with irons (see above). If you leave yourself difficult short-sided chips all day, you probably won't make many up and downs for par - I would not consider this a short game problem but rather an iron play problem. It is much easier to have a good short game if you leave yourself less difficult chips - Speed control is key for long putts. It is much more common to hit a putt 6 feet short/long than it is to miss 6 feet right/left - Eliminate three putts. This is generally a combination of having better speed on lag putts (see above) and making a higher percentage of putts inside 4 feet - Keeping your eyes "quiet" while putting. I suggest looking at a specific dimple or piece of grass while putting. It is very difficult to hit it consistently if your eyes are looking at different things throughout your putting stroke
Mental Game - Create a "reaction" mindset. Eliminating nearly all thoughts when you're over the ball is key to playing well. For example, in basketball, on a fast break and the ball is kicked to an open man on the three point line, the shooter has not thoughts going through their mind. It's just a reaction, catch and shoot. Trying to create that in golf is important to eliminate over thinking which is likely the cause for many golfers to struggle. This may be better for low/mid handicaps but I would suggest not taking practice swings. As soon as you visualize the shot, you need to go and hit it. Shortening your pre-shot routine can probably help accomplish this
I don't want to hijack the thread but happy to answer any other questions
How long have your had your SIK? Anything major to note about it?
4 years. Pricey but probably worth it if you know what you want (look, specs, measurements, etc.). I don't see myself changing.
1) PE Associate 2) Ping i200 irons, TaylorMade Burner driver, Ping G woods 3) Bogey golf or slightly better on a good day 4) I've recently been tweaking my grip from reading Hogan's 5 lessons book and it has been helping a lot. I was surprised on how big of an impact the grip can have, I never put much thought into it before.
For anyone in the Bay Area you should check out the Baylands public course. They recently re-modeled it and the course is in phenomenal shape, much better than any of the public courses I've played in the area. Also always up for 18 for anyone interested.
I am one of the few people that COVID has affected positively. Last semester of college was pass/fail and I did it remotely in a state that never really had a lot of restrictions, especially for golf. Because if this unusual situation, I'm approaching over 100 rounds this year. I doubt that I will ever play this much again probably in my entire life so I am soaking up the moment as much as possible.
@M. Gustave made a really good point above about iron play. Anyone who wants to drop their score should really use their recommendations. I wish I had their list months ago rather than learning by error. It is super satisfying to aim at the pin with the perfect distance and put it really close, but more often than not it just got me into trouble.
Profession: REPE Clubs: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero Driver, TaylorMade Burner 3 wood and hybrid, Mizuno MP20 Irons, Vokey 50,56,60 wedges, Scotty Cameron Del Mar putter Handicap: 3.8 Time Spent: I've played off and on for about 10-12 years now. Advice: focus on the good shots not the bad ones. Its too easy to get in your own head and let a round get away from you. I used to go out there trying to shoot low until I realized no one fucking cares how low you go if you are crushing the vibes in the group. Hit a bad shot, crack a beer and move on to the next one.
Profession: LMM private equity WITB:
HCP: 9, +/- 2 or so Played occasionally since I was a kid, played a lot (a LOT) in business school, now play 1-2x a month.
On improving, nothing to add that hasn't already been said. I've gone deep down the rabbit hole of equipment tinkering - different shaft stiffnesses & kick points, different length / loft / lie adjustments, swingweights, putting setup / eyeline / alignments, and so on. I think that stuff can be really critical for helping get a 10 hcp to a 5 or a 5 to a scratch, but for 10 and up there's no substitute for a well-constructed grip and basic swing fundamentals.
We aren't robots, so we shouldn't all have the same swing - but if you catch 60% of your wedges fat, then "swinging your swing" isn't working for you.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, so I play a lot of short (even sub-6000 yd) courses that are tree-lined and tight. My 3h carries about 220 and my 4h about 200, so those clubs get a workout off the tee. Lots of 320-yard par 4s with tight OB and water where my buddies pull driver and I catch some razzing for my hybrids. But fairway-green-2putt never gets old, and bomb-gouge-shortside-f&*% or bomb-water-drop-gouge-f#@! get old pretty quick.
Also - I put together my current bag for a grand total of about $650. If you're a tinkerer like me, or you're trying out different clubs or different bag constructions, eBay is your friend. Lots of gently used equipment that comes up around the time new models are being released.
1) Commercial Real Estate (First year guy out of school)
2) 2017 Mizuno MP-25 Irons, Cobra F8 Driver (fuuucckkss)
3) Handicap is 14 right now
4) I started two years ago in college working at a country club part time...
Switching over from baseball was one of the most difficult things to do. The concept of swinging slower and the ball going further was so ass-backwards to me when I first started. I'm playing this Sunday for the first time in 3 weeks and it feels like ages! Biggest tip for me was taking less loft to the greens. On a greenside chip, i'll use my 9 iron and choke down and make my stroke like a putting stroke. Helps reduce the margin of error tremendously.
(From Las Vegas / Scottsdale so the golf out here is money year-round)
I played D1 baseball in College, and you sir are 100% correct.
The transition from baseball - having all your weight on your back foot, in combination with an in and out swing, had my ball slicing for almost 6 months. I had to go to the range and focus on shifting my weight to my front foot and rolling over...very uncomfortable for most former baseball players.
Right! It was the most foreign feeling in the world. Still to this day I try and tell my old baseball buddies from college that a well struck 3-iron is a feeling unlike anything ever. They still aren't convinced to try golf lol.
1) Investment banking 2) Taylormade drivers, Titleist AP2 irons, Cleveland wedges, Odyssey putter 3) 10-15 handicap, probably more like 15 right now since I haven't played for a long time 4) On/off whole life
Buddy of mine from High School is one of the top ranked college players in the nation. Without wanting to disclose more he is 21 years old and ranked around top 600 globally according to this http://www.owgr.com/ranking. Supposedly he's won several competitions on the international level and has made BANK bc of the scholarships and awards he's gotten. Anyways, the guy has a non-finance background and has never heard of accounting before, but got a JP Summer internship through literally just being good at golf. The guy is a total dumbass and his story about how he got the internship and converted to full time was that the MD and other superiors took him out to play on a regular basis.
if you play golf, your handicap is probably your deadlift and your fuck game
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