East TN Golf....

#1
DownNDirty

DownNDirty

Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2004
Messages
1,917
Likes
1,321
#1
Didn't see its own topic so I thought I'd start one for us hackers. If there is already a thread I apologize.

I started playing golf when I was 10 or so with my dad. We would go about once a month or so. In his day he was really good and won a lot of local tournaments around here. His great golf genes was not passed on to me. He is a natural - I really have to work at it. Anyway, I really liked golf but only got to play every so often so never got any good at all and mostly just played at the local park golf course which is not a great course by any means.

A friend and I started playing again about last July. We have pretty much played all the courses around here.

We started out at Kinser Park - the 9 hole course I played growing up. Its tedious at best but was good practice for us because its not crowded out there and like a glorified driving range.

We moved to Baileyton Golf Course after about a month. Its a big upgrade from Kinser Park but still not a great course by any means. Got some more improvement after 3 weeks there and decided to try something better.

We played Nolachuckey Bluffs (the old River Trace) here in Greeneville and its a nice course. I had played there a couple of times previously in golf outings at the bank I used to work for. I like this course and would definitely recommend it.

We went from there to Andrew Johnson Golf Course here in Greeneville. We have played there now several times and have started back there again this year. We both like the way this course plays. Its not the nicest either but with their online tee time special of $13 a person its hard to beat.

We got to try the nicest course around here (so I've heard) of Graysburg last November right before we quit playing for the winter. Its very, very nice and a fun course to play. We unfortunately came on a bad day as they were hosting the Coors or Miller or one of the big beer companies and they had 100 or more people there playing. Hitting a ball and then waiting 20 minutes to hit again is not my idea of fun. We were busy dodging drunk guys balls all day and waiting forever after every shot we took and it kind of ruined the experience. We will definitely try it again but we would like to broaden our horizons a bit more now.

I have went from shooting legit 110s now down to where I'm close to breaking 90. My friend has went from 120s (he had NEVER played before) to shooting 95-98. We have both got significantly better at keeping balls straight for the most part now. I was afraid to play other courses for a long time because of my tendency to slice the crap out of a ball every 3rd or 4th drive. Not a minor slice but something that went more straight right than anything else. With me being 6'2 315 I put quite a bit of speed and power into my shots - I average about 280 per drive and can rip them 300-320 at least a couple of times per round. So I am always afraid I will hurt someone with an errant shot. Lately I've got better to where I don't slice that bad except about once every round so I can live with it.

I guess shooting 90 isn't that great of an accomplishment but from where I came less than a year ago I feel pretty good about it. If I could get my putting down to where I'm not 3 putting most holes and 4 putting some I could get down into the low 80s easily. About every round of 18 I can muster a couple of birdies and a couple of pars but then I have the inevitable bogeys, doubles, triples, and sometimes a quad.

After saying all of this I am asking for opinions around the Tri Cities area on some new places to try. My friend and I both play pretty fast, know all the golf etiquette, and now hit it "mostly" straight enough to where we would like to branch out of Greeneville to try some new places out as time allows. If its a real tight course I'm not interested right now as we still have a little more work to do but if its forgiving and fun we are all for it.

Any of the local golfers have suggestions? On another post on here it was recommended we try Millstone Golf Club in Morristown and I do believe we will indeed try that next week.

Some of the others we are looking at trying to hit this year around here as of now are listed below. If anyone has suggestions about any of these or if they are too difficult for someone that shoots in the 90s advice will be welcomed.

Woodlake Golf Club in Tazewell

Pine Oaks/Buffalo Valley in JC (just from the websites Buffalo Valley looks more fun)

Warriors Path in Kingsport

Tri Cities Golf Club in Blountville

Cattails at Meadow View in Kingsport

Elizabethton Golf Course in Betsy (heard need to be pretty accurate here though)

I wish more courses had course tours. It would help me see better where to try and play at. These that just have scorecards don't always show things real pictures would.
 
#2
#2
dude i can average 280 and hit 320 with a 3 wood. With your size your form must be awful lol

btw. do you have your distances down with your irons/wedges/woods yet? That's one way to improve your score, drastically. How far you hit your 3 iron? 9 iron?
 
Last edited:
#3
#3
the.one.the.only said:
dude i can average 280 and hit 320 with a 3 wood. With your size your form must be awful lol

btw. do you have your distances down with your irons/wedges/woods yet? That's one way to improve your score, drastically. How far you hit your 3 iron? 9 iron?
Click to expand...

I average 280 but that's with a normal swing. When I really put everything I have into a drive the most I've ever got out of one was right at 350. Yes, with my size and build I should be able to crush drives but I just don't have the proper form. I'm not Charles Barkley form bad or anything but they aren't going to put my swing up on TV or anything. If I could pay for golf lessons then maybe I could fix my swing proper.

Yeah I have my distances down pretty well. For a 3 Wood I get it about 270. My 3 iron runs about 210. There's one hole I play at alot that is a 156 yard par 3 and I use my 6 iron and generally get it on the green with that so I know I can get a 6 somewhere between 155-165 most of the time. My 9 I get 110 or so and my PW I can get 100. I pretty much swing every other club in the bag hard all of the time besides the driver. I guess that's why I can get as much distance with the 3 wood when I get a hold of it.
 
#4
#4
i'm not sure if the one the only was being sarcastic, but if you're hitting 280 yard drives, don't change anything. Size doesn't have all that much to do with your swing. It's just like baseball, it's all in the form and getting in the slot to make power.

as for local courses, definitely give Graysburg another chance this summer once their new fairways completely come in. I wouldn't worry about Pine Oaks or Warriors. I think I was the one that mentioned Millstone to you, but I'd also try Patriot Hills (which I am playing for the first time Thursday) and Clinchview headed the other way.

by the way, feel free to stop by the Golf Thread in the sports forum and BPV and GA can give you some serious advice.

Warriors gets more play than any other state park course in the state and it's beaten up a lot. It's a fun track, but I've heard it's miserable right now and I don't look for that to get better over the summer. Pine Oaks is affectionately called Pine Jokes. The greens aren't even regulation underneath and nothing will stick on them and while Hole 1 might be rolling a 9 on the stimp, Hole 3 could be a 6 and Hole 10 could be a 12.
 
#5
#5
Thanks Bill you were the one that mentioned Millstone. I guess I could have posted all of this in the Golf Thread but I was under the impression from viewing it from time to time that it was just a pro golf discussion. If I could putt I could be halfway decent - I'm going to try something the next time I play for putting. I've heard to get the feel to look at the hole when you putt instead of the ball. That sounds strange to me but the explanation said to think of basketball and looking at the basket and compare that to putting. Maybe it will help me read the breaks a little better or something. I am getting decent with the distance but still missing stuff right or left waaaay too much. My dad did get me out in the field behind his house and taught me the 7 iron chipping method he always used and I've started doing well with that around the fringe area to 10 yards off the green. I need some work on my short wedges in and putting. I think I can break 85 in the next month or two with better play around the green. It doesn't do me much good to be able to blast a ball 280 regularly when I am not putting my 2nd shot on a par 4 on the green and then 3 putting.
 
#6
#6
i can't imagine not watching yourself strike the ball on a putt. Sounds like a lot can go wrong that way. Once I determine my line on the putt, I find somewhere closer to me like a dead spot, divot, etc to line up against. I then watch the ball the entire way. Watching the hole screams that you'll start pushing them off to the left.

as for the golf thread, it's all things golf. obviously around the big events that PGA talk really heats up, but courses, clubs, mechanics, everything is in that thread somewhere, often repeated many times over.
 
#7
#7
DownNDirty said:
I average 280 but that's with a normal swing. When I really put everything I have into a drive the most I've ever got out of one was right at 350. Yes, with my size and build I should be able to crush drives but I just don't have the proper form. I'm not Charles Barkley form bad or anything but they aren't going to put my swing up on TV or anything. If I could pay for golf lessons then maybe I could fix my swing proper.

Yeah I have my distances down pretty well. For a 3 Wood I get it about 270. My 3 iron runs about 210. There's one hole I play at alot that is a 156 yard par 3 and I use my 6 iron and generally get it on the green with that so I know I can get a 6 somewhere between 155-165 most of the time. My 9 I get 110 or so and my PW I can get 100. I pretty much swing every other club in the bag hard all of the time besides the driver. I guess that's why I can get as much distance with the 3 wood when I get a hold of it.
Click to expand...

Ya I was just messin with you about the driver, but it's good you got those distances down. Before I had my distances I would overshoot greens all the time.
 
#8
#8
Not an avid golfer / fan...but was wondering (as I do everytime I go back home), what is the course that is just west of the Bristol Motor Speedway that lights up and lets you golf at night?
I always thought that would be kinda cool!!!
 
#9
#9
DownNDirty said:
Thanks Bill you were the one that mentioned Millstone. I guess I could have posted all of this in the Golf Thread but I was under the impression from viewing it from time to time that it was just a pro golf discussion. If I could putt I could be halfway decent - I'm going to try something the next time I play for putting. I've heard to get the feel to look at the hole when you putt instead of the ball. That sounds strange to me but the explanation said to think of basketball and looking at the basket and compare that to putting. Maybe it will help me read the breaks a little better or something. I am getting decent with the distance but still missing stuff right or left waaaay too much. My dad did get me out in the field behind his house and taught me the 7 iron chipping method he always used and I've started doing well with that around the fringe area to 10 yards off the green. I need some work on my short wedges in and putting. I think I can break 85 in the next month or two with better play around the green. It doesn't do me much good to be able to blast a ball 280 regularly when I am not putting my 2nd shot on a par 4 on the green and then 3 putting.
Click to expand...
I actually do a lot of my practice putting looking at the hole. Forces me to keep my body still or hit some awful putts. Learn to putt well looking at the hole and, at a very minimum, you have a repeating stroke.
 
#10
#10
DownNDirty said:
I average 280 but that's with a normal swing. When I really put everything I have into a drive the most I've ever got out of one was right at 350. Yes, with my size and build I should be able to crush drives but I just don't have the proper form. I'm not Charles Barkley form bad or anything but they aren't going to put my swing up on TV or anything. If I could pay for golf lessons then maybe I could fix my swing proper.

Yeah I have my distances down pretty well. For a 3 Wood I get it about 270. My 3 iron runs about 210. There's one hole I play at alot that is a 156 yard par 3 and I use my 6 iron and generally get it on the green with that so I know I can get a 6 somewhere between 155-165 most of the time. My 9 I get 110 or so and my PW I can get 100. I pretty much swing every other club in the bag hard all of the time besides the driver. I guess that's why I can get as much distance with the 3 wood when I get a hold of it.
Click to expand...
something's odd there. That's serious heat off the woods to be hitting such short irons. That combo tells me that you hit everything with an ascending blow. Have to hit irons on the way down, not up. Your wood distances sound similar to mine (although 350 isn't in my bag without wind or hard fairways down the side of mountain), but I hit my 6 iron about 190-195.
 
#11
#11
i thought the longer irons were ok, but I would think he'd get more out the short irons. I'm about 160-165 with my 6 and 210 on my 3, but I get 130-135 with the nine and 120-125 with the PW.
 
#12
#12
volfanbill said:
i thought the longer irons were ok, but I would think he'd get more out the short irons. I'm about 160-165 with my 6 and 210 on my 3, but I get 130-135 with the nine and 120-125 with the PW.
Click to expand...
But the gap between the 3 wood and 3 iron is 60 yards. That's a big hole.

The wedge distances pointed out the problem to me. 110 yard 9 irons aren't normal for a guy with big head speed.
 
#13
#13
BigPapaVol said:
something's odd there. That's serious heat off the woods to be hitting such short irons. That combo tells me that you hit everything with an ascending blow. Have to hit irons on the way down, not up. Your wood distances sound similar to mine (although 350 isn't in my bag without wind or hard fairways down the side of mountain), but I hit my 6 iron about 190-195.
Click to expand...

Eh.. his 3 iron sounds about right but you're right the short irons are a little odd. I'm running 230 with my 3. 215 with my 4 and 2 bills with my 5. So let me go back and see what my 9 would be..... 6 185-90, 7 170-5, 8 155-60, so 9 would be around 140, and PW about 125-30. Ya OP you're short irons are seriously lacking in distance, which they shouldn't be if you're hitting 280 with a 3.
 
#14
#14
Yeah I probably need some professional help. I just started getting better distance with my middle irons finally somehow. My short irons are still, well, too short. That gap between my 3 wood and 3 iron has my 5 wood in the middle of it though. I didn't put my 5 wood in there - I generally get about 240-250 on it. However, last week I was playing a short Par 4 listed at 287 yards and drove the green with the 5 wood (somehow).

I know before I started playing alot again last year I went out on a bank outing the year before with my immediate boss. He watched me play and said that he didn't know how in the $*# I hit a ball straight with my swing. I said can you help me with it and he said no. He told me as long as it works for me to stick with it. I know I have an outside to inside swing most of the time. I try keeping my arms straight, knees bent right, etc but mostly I just go up there and hit the ball. When I overthink myself I start playing real bad.
 
#15
#15
IndianaVol said:
Not an avid golfer / fan...but was wondering (as I do everytime I go back home), what is the course that is just west of the Bristol Motor Speedway that lights up and lets you golf at night?
I always thought that would be kinda cool!!!
Click to expand...

Did a little google search and it returned Holston Valley Golf Course. Is that the one you are thinking of?
 
#17
#17
I don't know about the far east of Tennessee, but I have played a gorgeous course here in Knoxville called Gettysvue. Bruce Pearl actually lives on the 7th hole, and Coach Summitt is a member. We were going up to the green on 7 Sunday and I found like 5 Maxifli balls with a UT basketball logo on them. We figured Bruce was chipping balls off his back porch.

I'm playing Centennial in Oak Ridge on Thursday. My stepmom used to work there, but I havent played it yet. I'm curious how it is. Then I'm playing Gettysvue again on Saturday and Sunday. Hoping to catch coach Pearl out on his back porch so I can get a picture with him.
 
#18
#18
i'm not an expert and don't pretend like i know how to play, but i always point to Jim Fuyrk when i say that there's no wrong way to hit a golf ball. for me, it's always about continuing to learn how to play with the shot i'm most comfortable with.

like you DND, i've always had a slice, but i've learned to make it a slight fade, so i'm still learning how play that shot. like i said, the best part about the game is that you're always learning.

i always suggest, when people ask about East TN courses, River Islands in Kodak. it's the best value for the money and it provides a good challenge from the tips.
 
#20
#20
IndianaVol said:
Not an avid golfer / fan...but was wondering (as I do everytime I go back home), what is the course that is just west of the Bristol Motor Speedway that lights up and lets you golf at night?
I always thought that would be kinda cool!!!
Click to expand...

there's a par 3 on 394 that is just an absolute goat trail. It's got to be what you are thinking of. There used to be a slightly better one in Kingsport, but it wasn't much either. Deer Run was the name, but it closed down within the past two years.
 
#21
#21
Volingatorland said:
I don't know about the far east of Tennessee, but I have played a gorgeous course here in Knoxville called Gettysvue. Bruce Pearl actually lives on the 7th hole, and Coach Summitt is a member. We were going up to the green on 7 Sunday and I found like 5 Maxifli balls with a UT basketball logo on them. We figured Bruce was chipping balls off his back porch.

I'm playing Centennial in Oak Ridge on Thursday. My stepmom used to work there, but I havent played it yet. I'm curious how it is. Then I'm playing Gettysvue again on Saturday and Sunday. Hoping to catch coach Pearl out on his back porch so I can get a picture with him.
Click to expand...

Is Gettysvue a private course. I'm going to try to make it to the season opener this year, but I wanted to try to get in a round of golf while I was there. That sounds like a nice course, but I didn't know if just anybody could play there or if you had to play with a member.
 
#22
#22
LAVolfan said:
Is Gettysvue a private course. I'm going to try to make it to the season opener this year, but I wanted to try to get in a round of golf while I was there. That sounds like a nice course, but I didn't know if just anybody could play there or if you had to play with a member.
Click to expand...

it's a private country club. i've been told you can show up and walk on Monday, but it's got some massive elevation changes.
 
#23
#23
Millstone is solid, but it is right beside railroad tracks and an airport. It can get pretty loud sometimes.
 
#24
#24
Thanks Bill...I knew and fellow Nor'east'r would know...I just always liked the concept of night time golf...LOL
 
#25
#25
LAVolfan said:
Is Gettysvue a private course. I'm going to try to make it to the season opener this year, but I wanted to try to get in a round of golf while I was there. That sounds like a nice course, but I didn't know if just anybody could play there or if you had to play with a member.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's private. And from what I hear it's quite exclusive. My father is a member and my stepmother is one of the teaching pros, so I get to reap the benefits.

doozer said:
it's a private country club. i've been told you can show up and walk on Monday, but it's got some massive elevation changes.
Click to expand...

I don't know about open to the public on Mondays... but the elevation changes are ridiculous. We walked this past Sunday and I thought I was going to die. If you're a smoker, or not in the greatest shape, I would never recommend walking that course.
 
New Posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

Advertisement



Back
Top