RoyalBull

I used to have a handicap with an exponent. Once I forgot weight-shift and focused on maintaining spine angle, everything changed for me. Be warned, though...weight shift begins at address. Only in the bunker and chips should your weight begin left...and stay there. Otherwise, get centered over the ball, and weight shift, if any, takes care of itself. However, if you don't finish with weight on the front foot, that is a symptom of a bad follow-through, not necessarily a swing-weight fault. Correct the follow-through and the weight takes care of itself. But if you correct the weight, you'll end up complicating your bad swing. BTW, the second thing that got me out of the 90's and into the 80's in one season, was keeping my front foot NAILED to the ground. Tim

I just can't look at offset clubs. Makes me dizzy.

I just bought an Odyssey Rossie and got the poker chip. I use it on the practice green or in the living room to putt to. It is an odd thing to have in a putter cover without an explanation. I kind of like it! I also have to say that I love this putter. I have an old Ping Zing from 20 years ago that finally went dry on me. I love the mallet and the feel. And the poker chip. :)

THE IMAGE: Phil is basically a walking two-by-four. Fake, strained smile. Forced gestures. Stiff. They compare him to Arnie, which makes me punch walls. That's just the media trying to "create" what they need of him, fabricate "story." Phil's a golf nerd. He is perpetually uncomfortable everywhere......except in his mind. THE GOLFER: And his mind is clear and aggressive. Results talk. He makes mistakes because he takes risks, or he's off, but he still goes for it...then he works to correct it all. He's got to be incredibly talented. He sets goals, then he actually succeeds beyond what we think are his abilities. He stretches. He's a gazillionaire, but he works hard and INVESTS his time and money, not just spends it. VS TIGER. No contest yet. Tiger is number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. After that is Phil... or maybe Vijay....or Jim, or Goosen, or the freak winner of the week. If you don't catch Tiger when he's down, no one has a chance. BOTTOM LINE. I'm now wondering if Phil might just rise up and achieve what he wants. He's come a long way...sometimes sideways....and his goals are higher. He hasn't failed yet. PREDICTION: One year, two years, three years away....there will be a tournament, the ultimate showdown, the best tourney ever played, when the other animals of the jungle rise up and attack Tiger.

Hybrids revitalized my game...but you have to learn to hit them. Don't hit them like fairway woods. Stand a bit closer than with a wood (AKA, like an iron), keep the club low back, low through, with less swing than you think. Stay behind the ball...if you get ahead, or dip back, you're screwed. My first hybrid (rescue mid 4) had a graphite shaft that I hooked like mad. I switched to steel and I hit them straight as an arrow. I have 2, 4, 5 and took the 3 and 4 irons out of my bag. I hit my driver about 280. I hit my 2 hybrid 260. BTW, I have no fairway woods in my bag anymore. Now I can fit in a lob and maybe gap wedge, to improve my short game!

Old Ping Zing BTW....Who is the Odyssey Rossie putter named after. Rosburg?

Thanks, Erik. I like your Lake View CC site. I'm in Union County, NJ, eastern-central across from NYC. I play the county courses and various other publinx. My son lives in Baltimore (a lefty 7-handicapper who works for Sprint by day, Taylor Made on weekends, and he just got his Realtor license...so he's busy) and I play some courses down there on occasion. I've been out to PA to play, too, a few nice courses...Shawnee, Delaware Water Gap Club, and a few others. I'm a longtime writer of just about anything--books, corporate communications, marketing, magazine features...right now I'm ghostwriting two books, one is a new book by a big dotcomer about how super tribes on the Internet have reshaped how we see, and don't see, the world. My brain might explode on that one. Naturally there's more. Later for that. My golf game: I will add my bag contents to my sig today. I drive it straight and long with a Taylor Made R5 I l just love. My mid-irons are my biggest problem--I always come over the top and it drives me nuts. My short irons are great, and my putting comes and goes...right now I just retired my old Ping Zing: I woke up one morning it felt just horrible in my hands. 20 years ago I won the "Ask Hank Haney's Help" contest sponsored by Golf Illustrated magazine. I wrote a humorous essay on why I needed his help, and won over hundreds of other submissions. I and my then-wife were flown to PGA West and I took lessons from Hank everyday and played many courses in the area...free. It was a dream, and I dropped 12 strokes off my game (and only got a few of them back). Here's a link to my winning entry, if you're interested>>> Here . I write quite a bit about golf--stories, humor, etc., and I'm trying to find a home for it all. I love Golf in the Kingdom and many other novels and essays, as well as the movies. Okay, there's not much I don't like if it involves either a white ball, a "You da man," or grass. More later.. Thanks.

Me, I'm a writer and humorist. I'm a seasoned copywriter, but I also write novels under my own name, as well as ghostwrite books of all kinds for others. :)

Hey there, golf nuts. Glad to be here, and hope I will be a good contributor going forward....or, FORE ward. :) Tim