anker0071

That was my point... he obviously mastered those keys you mentioned, and I never said he didn't work on his game or practice. My point was that I needed to change my focus in regards to improvement... just my observation that I thought might be of interest to others. And by the way, "good according to me".... all I meant was his swing was not one that someone would aspire to look like. I am in no way saying that is important. Didn't mean to strike a nerve with you.

So a little back story... I work a lot on my golf swing. I feel like my swing goals are pretty simple... solid strike and developing a predictable curve. In that pursuit I research the golf swing quite a bit, go to the range, work on positions, video my swing and see what affects strike and ball flight. It gets overwhelming and frustrating at times. In the past 3 rounds I have it 10, 15, and 9 GIR respectively. I feel confident that every round I play I can produce my acceptable shape/strike from wedge to 5i. 4i thru driver is unpredictable at best. I played in a 2 day tournament and got paired with a guy I knew to be a great player, but never played with him before. I warmed up, went through my pre round routine while this guy sat in the club house and goofed around with his buddies over pre-round beers. Got to the first tee and he hit a nice little draw about 250-260 with a swing that was far from "good" but with great rhythm. Around the 13th hole I was starting to feel the same way I felt last Monday night watching my alma mater in the national championship game... helpless and violated. Once the beat down was complete I signed for a 78 that felt like a 108 and he carded 67. Every single shot he hit was a 15 yard draw or less, the ball never curved the other way or flew straight. It was amazing. I asked after the round what he works on and he said he just plays 4 times a week and tries to miss bunkers. He said his draw is easy for him to hit and he just plays it. I learned that getting into perfect positions is probably not attainable, and I should focus on improving my swing with the intention of affecting ball flight and strike as opposed to what looks good or what works for some people. Oversimplification but I thought it was cool to see this dude ball strike this course to death with a homemade swing he absolutely owns.

I'm a lefty with and inter-locking grip, the wedding ring can't happen. I bought a Qalo ring online for 40 bucks... it is a silicon rubber ring. I wear it all the time now... my wife is not thrilled.

Football: Rudy or Friday Night Lights Baseball: The Natural Basketball: Hoosiers Hockey: Miracle Soccer: No Clue Auto Racing: Talladega Nights Bowling: King Pin Surfing: Point Break Vaya con Dios. Golf: Caddyshack and Tin Cup Boxing: Southpaw Other all sports: Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, Remember the Titans, The Program, Semi-Pro

So I'm sure this has been brought up before but what are your biggest pet peeves about golf? My biggest are people not fixing pitch marks and not raking bunkers. Also, sunflower seeds on the green.

I guess what I meant was it doesn't feel that different in my experience. I still feel like I have the same "good" shots, but the misses are more predictable and less penal. Also, mentally being ok with being under par for long stretches, as weird as it sounds. As a five, being under par was uncomfortable to me, but now it seems like just another good day. I don't really have the time or resources to really compete at an elite level. Just local and club tournaments are fine for me.

I thought I would start a topic to share my experience of going from a 10 handicap to scratch. I'm not quite there yet, 1.2 based on last revision but I think I have learned a few things that might help others. Background info: I've played since I was 7, (33 now) other sports growing up took up most of my time, but started playing "seriously" in college. I didn't keep an official handicap then but I would guess I was around 4-6 handicap. Took three full years off after I graduated, and then played occasionally until 30. At 30, joined a club, got a handicap (started at 10) and have played at least twice a week since. I do take August-November off as I am a high school football coach and don't have the time. I am now down to 1.2, and I wanted to share what I think has helped and what I experienced. Full Swing- The biggest difference is in my full swing shots. Statistically I have improved my GIR greatly and I now average 12 GIR per round (since January). I have read a lot of books, watched a ton of video, got my first lesson, and have tinkered a lot. Probably too much. But once you grasp the ball flight laws and have priorities for your full swing motion it makes it easier to diagnose errors and execute more consistently. 5SK is a great resource. I play a stock ball flight, and do not shape shots unless gun to my head. I have found on every course I play, I can score better and hit more greens playing a stock draw as opposed to working the ball the other way. Hitting different trajectory windows is the only "shaping" I practice. Pitching/Chipping- This is the biggest weakness and the area that has improved the least. Just like the full swing I have worked hard to have only 3 short game shots. Standard pitch, standard chip, standard bunker shot. I vary the trajectory by amount of shaft lean at address and keep technique the same. Like the full swing I tinkered way too much in the past. I am in no way a short game wiz, but solid enough to not make mistakes and get it up and down enough. Have a solid full swing and hit 12 greens a round and that takes a lot of pressure off. Putting- Aimpoint Express class and confidence. Practice 12 feet and in. That's it. Amazing how many putts you make when you have a routine and plan to make them. Play for something every time- Beer bet with your buddies, money games with random people, and play as many tournament rounds that you can afford. If I play by myself, I take out 10 $1 bills and for every 3 putt or double bogey I take one away and give it to my wife at the end of the round. I see how many rounds I can keep those singles in my bag. Same goes for practice. Fear of loss and pressure make you better. Random thoughts- Track your stats. Play the forward tees from time to time to get comfortable going low. Play with people that are better than you. Follow all rules of golf every time even in practice rounds. The difference between being a 5 hdcp and a 1 hdcp is minuscule, like one more green, one less penalty or punch out, one more 10 footer. Going from 5 to 1, however is hard and frustrating. You still hit awful shots and have awful rounds. But just like the 30 cap that thinks the perfect drive is what can be possible if they could just find consistency, you have to look at the bad rounds as the outliers that don't represent your game. The good rounds are the new standard. Sorry for the long post, this polluted stream of consciousness got out of hand in a hurry...

I personally don't care what people wear at public courses. I choose to wear a collar and non-cargo pants/short (never owned any tbf). I'm more offended by the jogger pants with a cuff. But if a private club has a dress code, I support their right to have one and enforce it. We had to wear pants at the club I worked at in college, and got called out by a member one time during the winter when I wore canvas type work pants. They were khaki colored and no extra pockets and were tailored fit... just made of a heavier material that apparently was too close to denim. Kevin Kisner wears something similar from time to time on tour, and I think about that member and wonder if it upsets him.

The black hole sun video freaked me out as a kid... those faces... yuck

Broke 70 for the first time. 34-34= 68 Bogey free 2 under on the front, with a missed 3 footer for birdie on 8 . Bogeys on 11 and 12 to go to even. Birdied the par 5 13th and short par 4 15th. Literally hit the bottom of the flag stick on the par 3 16th from 187. It left a mark on the edge of the cup, and rolled to 4 feet. Missed the putt for birdie . Eagle on the par 5 17th to get to 4 under. Crazy thing is, I hit a lot of bad shots. Huge blocked 4 iron on 5 that got lucky to not go OB, tee ball in the water on 11 (bogey) and 18 (par save), and missed two 3 footers for birdie.

36-34 =70. Bogey on 18 prevented the breaking of 70... with the exception of two punches from the trees all full swing shots curved to the right (left handed) some I just didn't push enough. 14 GIR

I have read the S&T book, watched the DVD's, communicate regularly with a well known S&T instructor, and the only lesson in my life has been with an S&T instructor. I have also watched many of the 5SK videos, read LSW, and obviously post and browse the content on this site. Most if not all of what I have learned about the golf swing has come from S&T, 5SK and a little from Lynn Blake. So here is my interpretation of this topic... I interpreted both in S&T and 5SK that there are commonalities all players have that strike the ball well. S&T describes it as solid ball first contact, generating sufficient power, and controlling the curve. 5SK describes these commonalities as steady head, weight forward (at impact), inline impact condition, sweet spot path, and clubface control. Learning how to achieve all eight of these objectives in my mind, would make for a ball striking machine. From what I have read on these forums, the differences come with how these ball striking conditions are taught. I just wanted to post my experiences from S&T... In the numerous conversations I have had with the aforementioned instructor, the one lesson I received, and my interpretation of the book, no S&T guy said my swing has to look like Charlie Wi or Mike Bennett. Most of the conversations I have are on how I should stop overdoing some pieces. I expected in my lesson to center around which of the "10 words" I needed more of. But on the way home from said lesson, I thought to myself that if I didn't know he was a certified S&T instructor from the website, I would never have known. To me, book is full of historic pictures of players who would never be classed as S&T in order to illustrate S&T concepts. I interpreted this as while it may look different, all these greats make great contact, hit it far enough, and can control the curve. It is unfortunate that S&T has so much animosity thrown it's way, and I am not an instructor, (nor do I know or communicate with any other than the two I mentioned) but it seems that I see a lot of awful players that need a lot of the "fundamentals of S&T" and or 5SK. Sorry for the long post, but I think that both instructional systems have value and can improve a players game... based solely on my individual experiences.

In the competitive rounds I have won, my thoughts have been minimal, more visualizing shot shape and landing spot... and "try not to s*** myself". The rounds I have played poorly in, I go into fix mode after a bad start and I'm miserable all day. My favorite set up thought is with ball position and alignment. For example, If I want to draw the ball I get set up with the ball back enough and think "this ball will draw", then I align the face slightly open and think "this ball will push enough to end at target". Then try and hit it solid.

I play with a guy from time to time that used to bother me. Not that he trash talks like the OP's buddy, but just has overbearing confidence in himself. It bothered me because I should beat him regularly, but I wasn't winning as much as I should given our ability levels. I always played worse when I played him because I would play as aggressively as he would. I play my best when I stay calm and conservative. Play for par, hit as many greens a possible (anywhere on the green) and trust that eventually a couple of birdies will fall, but in the meantime avoid big mistakes. I started really focusing on my strategies and literally never watch him hit a shot. I will look away and go over my strategy for the next shot. I beat him a lot now. As far as trash talk, I don't know if you played other sports like football or basketball growing up but it is a part of those games not golf. Trash talk does have a function in getting your opponent to focus on something other than the task in hand, I employed it a lot growing up on the football field. Recognize that he is doing it because he is probably wanting to win at all costs, and he is actively trying to get you to play worse. Trash talk can expose weaknesses in a person's competitive character. The best remedy for trash talk is a stone cold demeanor and impeccable execution. Those are both skills that can, and should be developed. As far as on the range, remind yourself that to score well you have to hit the ball solid and hit greens. Some people have a quick tempo or swing hard and that is what helps them hit it solid. They are different. On the other side of that, they may see your relaxed controlled tempo and want to emulate that. Everybody swings it different, but the goal is the same.