iacas

I stopped reading after that to say "yes."

Gary Player talking out of his ass? Wake me when he doesn't, because that'll be new.

What is a positional shot? – Shot Scope A positional shot is an approach shot where you are not attempting to hit the green, instead you are intentionally playing into another part of the course. The two typical scenarios where this woul... A positional shot is an approach shot where you are not attempting to hit the green, instead you are intentionally playing into another part of the course. The two typical scenarios where this would occur would be: 1) On a par 5 when you can't reach the green so lay up to a suitable distance for your third shot. 2) If your drive goes into trouble and you need to play out sideways on the second shot. By marking a shot as "Positional" it will be excluded from the "Approach' "Short Game" and "Club" stats in your performance data which means your stats stay accurate.Click here to find out how to mark a positional shot.

Day 546, May 1, 2024 Played 18 at WW with Sculley and Natalie. Some really close ones, some "there" ones, and some where I couldn't trust the face would square up. 🙂 Because even though I've hit a thousand or two thousand or five thousand, it'll take a little bit more to trust it. Even though I know it will. I'm still re-learning it.

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No, I'm not talking about "six footers uphill, slightly right to left." I'm going to indulge myself and talk about my favorite putts that I've ever hit. In no particular order… #9 at Whispering Woods The hole was cut middle left, and I was back right with about 40 feet to the hole, and six to eight feet of break. @DrizZzY (he'll be a semi-common theme here) was about 25' from the hole and he said "Do you need me to mark that" as his ball was really close to my line. I saw the line really, really clearly and, like the cocky jerk I am, said something like "no, leave it. I think I have to just miss your ball to make this." I saw my ball as having to pass within a few millimeters of his ball… and going in the middle. Well, I hit the putt, and as it passed his ball missing it by maybe 1.5cm… I said "ahhhhh, pulled it a little…" and… the ball fell in the left-center of the hole. I smirked at Sculley and he just said "you're such an ass." 🤣 I know I said in no particular order, and that might be true for the rest… but this one is clearly tops on my list. I saw the line so clearly, it was a touchy, delicate putt… and I knew I'd pulled it just that little bit, and my speed was perfect. His ball was fifteen feet from mine, and the putt broke 8'! Might be the greatest putt, given the call I made, I'll ever hit. #13 at Lawsonia Links I cared about a few rounds in Wisconsin on our 2021 trip (thanks again @cipher), and the 13th had gotten me a bit. I was in a bunker, and someone not NOT named @DeadMan had told me I could just chip a 7I out and still be fine… well, the 7I left me 250 in, so my 3W finished just left of the green… and about 10' below the green. I hit a decent pitch to 25' or so… this putt broke only about 2-3', but burying that one was satisfying as it kept my "no sixes in Wisconsin" streak alive. It was after this putt that someone said something like "You remember how you said you felt about Tiger at the 1997 Masters? That's how we feel right about now." It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. 😄 #14 at Whispering Woods Two putts are tied here. On one, Sculley and I hit tee shots to a back hole near the front of the green. I was a foot off the front, he was a few feet on. As we were getting back into the cart, I said "putting contest from here." He replied "Well, I lost." I made the 75-footer. The other time, the pin was front-left. I was mostly middle right, barely on the green, putting across it from about 65 feet. The putt broke a good ten feet. Sculley was short left of the hole, and for the last 20 feet of the putt, I looked at @DrizZzY and the face he made — disgust, annoyance, resignation — as the putt tracked directly toward and eventually into the hole was one of the funniest and most satisfying expressions I've ever seen on the golf course. I watched him, not my ball, for the last 15-20 feet of its roll. Sorry Sculley! #9 at Tan Tara Golf Course It was my 77th stroke in my second round of the PAT. It was a ten-footer, broke a few inches, and was destined for the bottom of the cup the instant I hit it, all to pass the PAT on the number in my first attempt. (Tan Tara is now Pendleton Creek.) #17 and 18 at The Old Course, St. Andrews On the 18th, I hit it to about four feet from about 40 yards out, up and over the Valley of Sin, from the fairway. I didn't even really consider chipping or pitching it, because who does that? Not there, not me. On #17, I had about a 15 or 18 footer, after playing a 6I from 180 that flew (on purpose) only about 90 yards, and took about 15 steps to run over humps and hollows before coming to a stop on the right portion of the hole. My caddie said "I see only one or two birdies a year on the Road Hole, so, well done." Lifetime scoring average on 17 at the Old: 3. I'll take that. Far Hole (#?), Putting Course at Streamsong Black @kpaulhus and I were screwing around. Calling out holes, and tee locations. I walked over to the fringe of the nearby green on the Black course… We putted from the fringe in case we scuffed the ground a bit. Well, I chose a putt from the fringe to the far side of the 18-hole putting course. In Google Earth, I measured the putt just now at nearly 400 feet. As in… 130 yards. I hit the stick. My ball stopped less than two feet from the hole. The other diners let out a loud shout when I smacked it, and looked way over at me and yelled out "it hit the stick!" Kyle lost that hole. And most of the other ones. 😉 Some stats: Count: 8 Shortest: 10 feet. Longest: 130 yards. Average length: ~93 feet. But, y'know… Those are my favorite putts. What are yours?

Day 545, April 30, 2024 Practiced downtown (Golf Evolution) for an hour today with Natalie beside me. Feeling a lot of old feelings, in a good way.

More actual thoughts on the articles: Oh boy. I taught 5SK, and before that, I was S&T certified. Those experiences, for many good instructors, are additive. They're not "all" that they are. If I were to go through Scott Cowx's certification, or Dr. Kwon's, or James Ridyard's, or whomever's… I wouldn't be a "method" teacher any more than I am now. I'd be adding tools to the toolbox. He says there are "system" teachers, "non-system" teachers, and method teachers. Which one am I? A "non-system teacher"? So, I don't have any systems or structure? Or am I a "system" teacher with a bunch of branches and if/then/else statements? I don't know. The physics thing as it relates to S&T… yeah, that's already been discussed. Huh? Brendan, sorry, that part is bogus AF. Of course the arms go "around" somewhat. It's back, up, and in. Down, out, and forward. Plus, again, "energy can either be created or destroyed" isn't even right, as many of you have said. It's "neither" and it can be transformed, too. Plus, as others noted, that's typically a closed system: in our bodies we transform sugars and other things to create movement, energy. I'm going to move off this before I get totally annoyed… "These are the pontifications of a method" — no, the specific example he cited is the way everyone who has ever played good golf moves their hands - back, up, and in. The clubhead moves that way, too. I've seen this happen. This part might be the most accurate part of the article (it's no longer clear whether he's talking about this fellow or just talking in general here.) "Now here’s the sinister thing: The overwhelming information is by design." — If the instructor is as incompetent as he says, he's likely not doing any of this "by design." He doesn't sound bright enough to do so. WTF does that have to do with anything? Probably happens to some extent sometimes, but is that the instructor's fault? Or the student for not recognizing it? Also, again, this instructor doesn't seem to be bright (not that this article even really talks about the instructor anymore), so… I doubt he's doing all of this intentionally. People are found out eventually. I'm at a point where I get a lot of referrals from people who have noticed their friends playing better golf, and ask. Or people want to brag about their improvements, and that sells their friends. "As a result, these players couldn’t play golf." — Huh? I think he just observed when he was there. Not that he went out of his way to watch. 😄

There are plenty of those guys. A guy nearby often has students see him every week or two. The students "get better" during the lesson because the guy says a bunch of things, and they've been hitting a 7I for the past 45 minutes, so they've kinda gotten in a groove. I often tell my students to go away and not come back for six weeks, because that's how long it'll be until they start to see some real progress. (I teach plenty of people every two to three weeks, but they all know they're not going to get something all that new, and that we're kind of in "bumper bowling" mode at that point where I'm just trying to keep them on the lane we've chosen to go down.) The USGTF is a money-making operation. If you're willing to pay them, they'll keep making you a "higher level" instructor. I've known people who can't break 90 who go through it and are "level 3" or something… because they gave them $8k and took two weeks of "training." The PGA… doesn't really teach you a ton about teaching, either. And what they do teach you… let's just say it's not always the best. There are plenty of really, really great instructors… who aren't PGA members. And many bad ones who are. It'd be impossible to actually teach all that you need to know about golf to be a great golf instructor, so that's not as much of a knock on the PGA as you might think it is. Nobody's going to spend six years in the PGA paying $30k/year to ONLY learn about golf instruction. That's what I estimate it would cost to distill and impart and practice the actual "here's how to be a good golf instructor" stuff. Oh boy. I know Brendan a bit. Used to text him. These articles are cringe, and I'd say that to him, too. They feel like clickbait. Yeah… BTW, I may have mentioned this before, but he's a college placement guy. He helps kids find college programs to play golf. He also argued strongly against Natalie going where she is quite happy to be right now. 😉

The Golfing Machine calls a shorter full swing motion “pitching” IIRC but I don’t think that’s what was going on here. Did you get video or anything? Launch monitor data?

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Congrats! You've got it. 🏆 Congrats to you as well! 🦅

Day 544, April 29, 2024 Drove home from North Carolina, repaired a broken PVC ball pusher, and hit some balls. It wasn't great to start (sitting for nearly 10 hours isn't great for making athletic motions), but it got pretty good pretty fast.

Did you email them (FlightScope)?

Y'all are soft. Balatas would last a hole or two. 😄