Secretariat

Thx for the advice. You make me feel like I'm changing Mona Lisa's hair dress, or turning a Cadillac into a drag racer!

Pinehurst #2 (before 1934)

These greens are different from the sand greens of the US Great Plains and possibly Australia’s, though they also use wasted motor oil to bring the sand together and make the putting surface smoother and more receptive to approaches. Their preparation somewhat resembles that of tennis clay courts, involving implements such as hoes, two or three types of rakes, large wire brushes, hand roll and, finally, a large, rectangular piece of oilcloth and tarpaulin that is swept gently over the putting surface, in larger and larger concentric circles around the hole. Pin placement also changes, like in grass greens. In fact, shoveling a bit of sand and scattering it here and there to level the surface do not take much more time than removing leaves or wormcasts from your line in a grass green. It is all done quickly between players' putts. The green you see in the pic is not prepared for play. The photo was taken the day after a heavy rain fell and flooded the greens. You can see the sand is a bit darker on the right, lower portion of the green where water accumulated. The other photo shows caddies putting on a green almost ready for play, on caddies’ day (Monday).

I might think I need only two putts, but just after striking the first I only expect to hole it -- always. So 2-putting on purpose is a paradox. You have to picture your ball as being stymied, or something like that, in order to accomplish it. ....................................... For a description of the infernal misery possibly within golf, read George Plimpton's The Bogey Man, especially the terrifying chapter wherein Plimpton practices with four golf balls on a tinselly, night-lit par-three course in the desert, each ball diabolically possessed of individual bad habits. (Is there life after golf?, by John Updike)

They are forged irons tapered bore, equipped with DG R-300 weighing 127 gr. PW weighs 475 gr with grip installed, clubhead only 260 gr. Set swingweight averages D 1.0. PW = C 9.7 approximately. PW hosel lenght = 3.40". Bottom of bore to ground = 2.0". Hosel depth = 1.40". I wonder, how does the math work? Supposing that R-300, DG SL shafts weighing 104 grams are installed, will the weight subtracted (23gr) correspond to minus 11 points in SW, effectively reducing the SW from D 1.0 to B 9.0 ?!? Thx for any clues.

I shall never forget my feeling as I prepared to hole my last putt at Scioto, in Columbus, Ohio, to win the United States Open in 1926. The thing could not have been over three inches in lenght. Yet, as I stepped up to tap it in, the wildest thought struck me. "What if I should stub my putter into the turf and fail to move the ball?". I very carefully addressed the putt with my putter blade off the turf and half-topped the ball into the hole. Sounds a bit psycho, doesn't it? But golfers can get that way. (Bobby Jones on Golf)

Thx for clarifying, Piz. In an interesting article published in http://www.golf.com/equipment/johnny-miller-1973-us-open-golf-equipment-macgregor-wilson Miller says, "I cut the irons [' hosels] and reground the bottoms [soles] and the top. You didn't have much club left, so they had to have a lot of lead tape to bring them up [to proper swingweight numbers]." A more cautious approach, I guess, wd be simply installing lighter shafts?

Thx DAVID IN FL, suggestions or even references (I have searched the site in vain, but then I'm a newbie), wd be greatly appreciated! I can feel the golf club, and I'm sure these irons will play even better [for me] with a bit less weight. "How much?" is the question.

Maybe I should have put the question in other terms: what happens when you shorten the hosel of a golf club?

When I was a kid, I played a course in Campinas close by the highway leading up north to Barretos. If I'm not mistaken, it was run by the 3M corp. The course was in formation back then, and I have only vague memories. If you ever come back to Brazil and Campinas, consider travelling to Barretos and you will be welcome playing there as my guest.

why?

"After I sawed down the hosels on my irons and added some lead tape here and there, they were like magic! I got on the hottest streak of my career." (Johnny Miller) One of my cherished projects for the new year is recovering a set of MacGregor Tourney Custom irons. As they have extra long hosels and feel too heavy, the first thing it occurred me was also sawing down the hosels, maybe drilling the bores a little deeper... Speaking in general terms, in which ways would this affect flex, COG and sweetspot location, swingweight, kick/bend point, clubhead feel etc? I thought of replacing the original shafts with TT DG Lites R-400 that are 18 grams lighter. Extracting 20 to 30 grams (10 to 15 dime coins) from the hosels would be too much? I guess Miller did it all by pure feeling... Thx for any suggestions.

That's correct, GolfLug, as long as you have worked quickly between putts and is ready to play when its your turn. You can step on your line, touch it, tamp it down with the sole of your putter or shoes, you just can't build inroads to the cup or "funnels" around it. A good putter is almost always a good earthworker. So that putting here is twice a game within a game...

Thx everybody for the welcome! Club is currently known as Barretos Golf Club, in the town of Barretos, state of São Paulo, Brazil, former Anglo Golf Links, former Blue Star GC, part of an old British settlement from the 1910s linked to the huge Anglo meat plant. Definitely, the greens are just another sort of sand traps and source of endless torments... Two-putt every green, and you'll be just fine at the end of your round.