I Removed All My Even-Numbered Golf Clubs

[JasonK88S]

Originally Posted by RonTheSavage

Taking clubs out of my bag makes me sad. I still miss my lob wedge eventhough that rotten B__ch hates my guts.

But lately on the course I've taken what I think is 1 club too much and I've had more success hitting greens that way. Sometimes I should've taken two depending on the lie. But whatever works for us high handicappers.

Right there with ya. My *60 treats me like shit... but for some reason I still cant keep my hands off of her.

[ShortOffTheTee]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

Gotta disagree with that sweeping generalisation. What do you mean by 'use correctly' Patrick?

If you read the two sentences after that sweeping generalisation, you will notice that I did explain what I meant by 'use correctly'. I will however concede that my explanation was rather brief.

[dak4n6]

Originally Posted by ShortOffTheTee

Quote:

Originally Posted by dak4n6

Gotta disagree with that sweeping generalisation. What do you mean by 'use correctly' Patrick?

If you read the two sentences after that sweeping generalisation, you will notice that I did explain what I meant by 'use correctly'. I will however concede that my explanation was rather brief.

You referred to using touch and varying swing length for the putter. Is that what is meant by 'correctly' for all the other clubs? If so, I will have to argue that most golfers do this to some extent with the other clubs. What about choked up 2/3 shots? What about clubbed up back in stance into the wind shots? What about hands ahead punch shots? What about open face high fade shots? What about putting from off the green with a hybrid? Please give us a little more credit, we are not all idiots, and the putter isn't the only club we use 'correctly'.

[ShortOffTheTee]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

You referred to using touch and varying swing length for the putter. Is that what is meant by 'correctly' for all the other clubs? If so, I will have to argue that most golfers do this to some extent with the other clubs. What about choked up 2/3 shots? What about clubbed up back in stance into the wind shots? What about hands ahead punch shots? What about open face high fade shots? What about putting from off the green with a hybrid? Please give us a little more credit, we are not all idiots, and the putter isn't the only club we use 'correctly'.

I didn't call anyone an idiot.

Most of the golfers I play with show very little imagination with their bagful of sticks. They anticipate hitting their so called stock shots with each club and moan and groan when they don't pull them off as expected. At best, 50% of their shots actually achieve acceptable outcomes but they stick to the same old, same old. I don't call this idiotic but it is rather unimaginative and very conformist to the norm.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by ShortOffTheTee

Most of the golfers I play with show very little imagination with their bagful of sticks. They anticipate hitting their so called stock shots with each club and moan and groan when they don't pull them off as expected. At best, 50% of their shots actually achieve acceptable outcomes but they stick to the same old, same old. I don't call this idiotic but it is rather unimaginative and very conformist to the norm.

I don't comprehend your continued, repeated, backward logic.  How do you not see it?  If your friends, and the rest of the world in general can't even hit a stock shot with each club (as in the shot it was meant for, no thinking involved) how in tar-frickin-nation do you expect us to be able to pull off "imaginative" shots with those clubs (or less clubs)?

You make zero sense.  (Actually, no that's being too generous ... you make negative sense.  You actually suck some of the sense out of the rest of the world into some sort of black hole where it disappears for good)

[saevel25]

Quote:

I don't comprehend your continued, repeated, backward logic.  How do you not see it?  If your friends, and the rest of the world in general can't even hit a stock shot with each club (as in the shot it was meant for, no thinking involved) how in tar-frickin-nation do you expect us to be able to pull off "imaginative" shots with those clubs (or less clubs)?

You make zero sense.  (Actually, no that's being too generous ... you make negative sense.  You actually suck some of the sense out of the rest of the world into some sort of black hole where it disappears for good)

I believe the point is, your not going to be able to pull of these shots, but at least your trying them, and it gets you to learn how to feel the club work. To me it makes perfect sense in a way to practice. I would never consider this in competition or for a match, but for a change of pace, its interesting trying to play golf that way. Its like a game i know, were you have teams, and the opposing group picks the tee shot you must use as best ball. So you might end up in the middle of the trees when your best tee shot might be in the middle of the fairway. Its a nasty version of two man scramble, but its interesting.

Honestly i see many golfers force there selves around the course, i see them line up at trees with an iron even if they miss the tree is going into the limbs. If you practice differently, then you can develop a sense for different shots. Every level of play can learn from this. When i was a 20 handicap, on the range i would image a 9 segment (like a tic-tac-toe box), then i would hit cuts and draws into those boxes. This was on the range, but it helped me learn feel of the club, rather than mechanics. It helped me a lot because now i can take my better mechanics, and hit more shots when i need to. Like i have been trapped behind a tree on the left, and i have to take it low, so i would just put the ball far back in my stance, aim my body way right, shut the clubface down, and really snap through the ball and hit a very low rocket duck hook. You can literally make the ball go 30 yards out and take a near 90 degree hook left, its a useful shot. Or, this one time i was 5 yards above the green on an embankment, next to a tree, so i stood with my back to the pin, and with my left hand holding the club, just chipped the ball on the enbankment and and had it roll out to about 15 feet from the pin. But what this also teaches me is trajectory. When i was in the trees, i had one shot only, and it was a knockdown wedge that had to fit this triangle opening. I had a gut feeling this was a perfect trajectory, it was, went right through the opening, but i caught it slightly long and just ended up over the green.

So there is some use to playing around with the golf club no matter what the level of play, because it brings focus into the shot, and gets you more aware of the golf club. Its a good practice tool. Its just like saying, ok i am going to hit this short side chip shot with ever club in the bag. Well, you might have to find a way to hit that chip shot with a 3 iron, you may never do it, but it gets you thinking more.

[Th3R00st3r]

I didn't see it, so if I missed it, sorry.

Not one person said take lessons..WUT!?

Should we be giving a 33 hcp'er all kinds of information he doesn't need to be thinking about as a 100+ golfer.

We haven't even seen his swing. (unless I missed that too..)

If you want to break 100, take some lessons and develop some consistency. Spend some time at the range developing your swing. It took me a while to break 100 without lessons.I still get 101's and 103's on bad days, but am in the low 90's (trying to break 90).

[Th3R00st3r]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

Gotta disagree with that sweeping generalisation. What do you mean by 'use correctly' Patrick?

Ha Ha,  Patrick..

I have been off the forums for a bit, but I thought Patrick was banished??

[logman]

Originally Posted by ShortOffTheTee

IMO the only club in the bag that that most of us tend to use correctly is the putter. Using something that is referred to as touch, we adjust the swing length to the corresponding length of putt. I think golfers should apply 'touch' to every club in the bag and for most players that would probably mean carrying less clubs.

Well after a short experiment with flipping to right handed, I have to agree. I bought a cheap driver and some Op shop irons. A ladies wedge,(it was all they had) a 7/8 iron, a blade 5, and a oversize steel shafted 4 iron.  I gotta say I really enjoyed having to THINK about my shot. It occured to me that with a full bag of sticks that my concentration wasn't on the shot I was trying to make, it was on a general,  overall, generic sort of golf shot. It was like a "soft focus" instead of a intense concentration.

Y'know when you've got a new club......and it's just the shiz......for some reason every time you hit it it's like a wonder club, it seems better than all the others.......The honeymoon period!

Then slowly it seems to just become one of the other sticks.....it lets you down, It becomes another golf stick. Maybe that's whats happening here. Gdaddy, have you ever just swapped putters with your playing partners, just for a couple of weeks or something. It's strange, but it focuses a whole new level of concentration on your next putt.

PS. I Think that's what we're talking about!

[Paradox]

I carry pretty much a full set and I hit a "stock shot" less than 10% of the time I'm on the course.  No golfer hits stock shots all the time, therefore they are constantly creating shots with any club in their hand...at least thats the way I play and everyone else I play with plays.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by logman

Y'know when you've got a new club......and it's just the shiz......for some reason every time you hit it it's like a wonder club, it seems better than all the others.......The honeymoon period!

LOL ... Now you're on to something!  Somebody should do an experiment into why this is.  I would even go one step further and say it's even better right BEFORE you buy the new club.  When you're in the store just testing it out and you actually try to hit it poorly but can't.  It's some sort of golf store equivalent to the soft lighting they put in womens clothing stores to make everything look flattering. ;)

Then once that honeymoon is over ... "Oh yeah, I'm not really that good at golf, I don't know why I let myself be tricked into believing this club was going to solve all of my problems." :(

[David in FL]

I carry pretty much a full set and I hit a "stock shot" less than 10% of the time I'm on the course.  No golfer hits stock shots all the time, therefore they are constantly creating shots with any club in their hand...at least thats the way I play and everyone else I play with plays.

You're an 8 hcp. A high handicap golfer who wants to improve his scores quickly, should do everything in his power to simplify the game and strive for consistency.

[Paradox]

Originally Posted by David in FL

You're an 8 hcp.

A high handicap golfer who wants to improve his scores quickly, should do everything in his power to simplify the game and strive for consistency.

all I'm saying is that even WITH a full set of clubs, you still use imagination.  I'm not saying that you can't just hit your stock distances if thats what your skill level is.  Just saying that theres no reason to limit the clubs and distances you can hit with as much simplicity as possible.  Thats the whole point of having all the clubs...simplicity.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by saevel25

I believe the point is, your not going to be able to pull of these shots, but at least your trying them, and it gets you to learn how to feel the club work. To me it makes perfect sense in a way to practice. I would never consider this in competition or for a match, but for a change of pace, its interesting trying to play golf that way. Its like a game i know, were you have teams, and the opposing group picks the tee shot you must use as best ball. So you might end up in the middle of the trees when your best tee shot might be in the middle of the fairway. Its a nasty version of two man scramble, but its interesting.

Honestly i see many golfers force there selves around the course, i see them line up at trees with an iron even if they miss the tree is going into the limbs. If you practice differently, then you can develop a sense for different shots. Every level of play can learn from this. When i was a 20 handicap, on the range i would image a 9 segment (like a tic-tac-toe box), then i would hit cuts and draws into those boxes. This was on the range, but it helped me learn feel of the club, rather than mechanics. It helped me a lot because now i can take my better mechanics, and hit more shots when i need to. Like i have been trapped behind a tree on the left, and i have to take it low, so i would just put the ball far back in my stance, aim my body way right, shut the clubface down, and really snap through the ball and hit a very low rocket duck hook. You can literally make the ball go 30 yards out and take a near 90 degree hook left, its a useful shot. Or, this one time i was 5 yards above the green on an embankment, next to a tree, so i stood with my back to the pin, and with my left hand holding the club, just chipped the ball on the enbankment and and had it roll out to about 15 feet from the pin. But what this also teaches me is trajectory. When i was in the trees, i had one shot only, and it was a knockdown wedge that had to fit this triangle opening. I had a gut feeling this was a perfect trajectory, it was, went right through the opening, but i caught it slightly long and just ended up over the green.

So there is some use to playing around with the golf club no matter what the level of play, because it brings focus into the shot, and gets you more aware of the golf club. Its a good practice tool. Its just like saying, ok i am going to hit this short side chip shot with ever club in the bag. Well, you might have to find a way to hit that chip shot with a 3 iron, you may never do it, but it gets you thinking more.

He (Patrick/Shortoffthetee - nice avatar by the way) has no point.  His (ludicrous) suggestion is that we would all be better off PLAYING with less clubs and trying to finesse all of the shots in between.  I certainly agree with you that it's great to practice all different kinds of shots with all clubs.  I do that all the time ... just take a 7 iron and try to hit all of the targets that I can reach from 170 back to 50.  But he's intimating that we would be better off playing 120-170 yard 7 irons on the course because it's too confusing or complicated to use 8,9,W, etc for those shots with THE EXACT SAME SWING as the 7 iron.  No, it's "much easier" to teach yourself all of these finesse shots with one club as an amateur. (Sarcasm)

Now, on the other hand, I still say that total beginners would probably be fine - maybe even better off - with less clubs at first, simply because it could be overwhelming to them.  But quickly, as they start to realize how far each club goes and get comfortable with them, then they'll want to add the rest back in to fill those gaps.

Again, Patrick isn't talking about practice and learning different shots for when the need may arise, he's talking about playing permanently with less clubs because it's supposedly easier.  In the words of Ricky Bobby "That's just dumb."

[logman]

HANG ON!! HANG on!!!

I know every forum has to have a "patrick"..............And I thought I was the new "patrick"

I feel so disapointed now. So some totally unproven "new" "patrick" turns up.......and BANG!! he's the new "patrick"????

Is there room for 2 "patricks"...... or should I just clean out my desk

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by logman

HANG ON!! HANG on!!!

I know every forum has to have a "patrick"..............And I thought I was the new "patrick"

I feel so disapointed now. So some totally unproven "new" "patrick" turns up.......and BANG!! he's the new "patrick"????

Is there room for 2 "patricks"...... or should I just clean out my desk

LOL!  Who said you were "Patrick?"  You can certainly be contrarian sometimes (and maybe even troll sometimes ;)) but "Patrick?"  Nah.

Besides, this guy wasn't some "new" Patrick ... he was the original.  He keeps forgetting that Erik and Co. can actually tell if you're using the same computer even with different user names.

As you can see, they already banned him again, so you needn't worry about him stepping on your toes or anything.

[logman]

Phew!!

[Ernest Jones]

HANG ON!! HANG on!!!  I know every forum has to have a "patrick"..............And I thought I was the new "patrick" I feel so disapointed now. So some totally unproven "new" "patrick" turns up.......and BANG!! he's the new "patrick"???? Is there room for 2 "patricks"...... or should I just clean out my desk

Lol. You got nuthin' on the P-Man. You're gonna need to up your game significantly if you're gonna run with P57.