NEOHMark

IMHO, you are not bobbing your head. I believe your head is moving because your are literally changing your spine angle when you start your back swing. You're not turning around your spine, but rather lifting your entire torso up on the back swing, and then reversing the move downward toward the ball. IMHO you'll always have ball striking issues until you fix that. If you can set your weight a bit more toward the insides of each foot (a bit of a knocked-knee feeling) and keep it more or less there in the back swing (it looks like your weight is on your heels and very pronounced toward the back foot at the top of your backswing to my eyes), I think that would be a good start. I really think you can help yourself tremendously if you can get your spine angle much steadier throughout the swing, but particularly during your back swing. From there it's simply turn back around your spine, and turn forward the same way through impact.

Regarding the lie angle on your irons, you can probably get a good idea if you are too upright, too flat, or just right by looking at the dirt line on your clubs. Clean your irons, go hit some balls on a grass tee box at a range (with several different irons) and then look at the dirt line and see if it matches the grooves on the clubs. If the dirt line is nice and parallel to the grooves, your lie angle is probably correct for your swing. If the dirt is higher on the heel side and goes downward toward the toe, you probably need to have them flattened. If the opposite is true - the dirt line starts higher at the toe and goes downward toward the heel, you probably ought to have them bent more upright. Look at your divots too - are they nice and flat from side-to-side throughout the divot? Or is one side noticeably digging down deeper than the other side? Toe side deeper means bend them more upright; heel side deeper means bend flatter...to fit your natural swing. IMHO I wouldn't go by static measurements from a website. Perhaps the pro at your local could give you some advice after seeing you hit a bucket of balls?

If it's the shaft that is breaking, I'd believe that happens more often than they'd want to admit (any mfr, for that matter). Graphite shafts are made up of tiny strands of wire-like carbon fiber material and if the hosel of the club has any imperfection/burr that starts a slice on the outside strands? The rest of the shaft, at that point of stress, won't take too long to fail. My guess is you happened to come across a fluke of two defective clubheads, with burrs that started cutting into the shafts several hits before you got your hands on the clubs. FWIW, it's also why it is good idea to know exactly what you are doing if you are re-gripping graphite shaft clubs. You can't just take a box-cutter or X-acto knife and start slicing right down the middle of a grip like you would on a steel shafted club. Without a curled/inverted blade, you'll cut right through the graphite strands and ruin the shaft.

Agreed. Actually, those are some pretty good qualifiers to put on a skins game for an all-high-handicapper group of players, IMHO.

I wear two gloves, and they're actually rain gloves (H2Os) so I don't have to worry about drying them out. Like Allin and shortgame85 above, I too keep them on while putting. I don't like having two different 'feels' of clubs in my hands - one for the putter and another for every other club in the bag. For me, it helps keep my grip feel consistent and it's what I've gotten used to over the years. It's probably more of a comfort thing, I don't suppose it really makes all that much difference either way.

Just funnin with ya. No confusion - I didn't really think you'd drive from Hackettstown to the town of North East. I don't know that there's even much more there than the vineyards, Mercyhurst College, and a copper plant. Can't think of any notable GCs there.

PA is so confusing. There's NE PA - home of Scranton and the Poconos and such, and then there's North East, PA, which is actually located in NW PA.....a bit east of Erie.

^^^^^ This.

... split hems? I hope they're not the 'in' thing this year in golf wear. They looked a bit effeminate to my eyes. Reminded me of my wife's Capris.

If anyone really wants to make the argument that the 13th green is little more than a Jungle Golf putt-putt gimmick, they need to re-watch Davis Love III's putt from today's final round.

I gotta think Augusta #12 is harder as there is much less margin for error in terms of distance. The TPC 17th green is fairly long - front to back - so I'd think it's more of the mental intimidation of the water than it being truly a harder hole.

IMHO, to get to be a better-than bogey golfer you HAVE to get at least near the GIR, if not on in regs. If you have the chance to chip near the hole and leave a short putt for par, you can offset some of the damage of any doubles you may incur. So that means having playable drives, and solid approach shots. Your short game still needs to be solid, but if you aren't anywhere near the green in regs, you don't have a chance at scoring somewhat low. That means TOTALLY eliminating the topsies, fatties, and shanks. Lessons might not be a bad idea. JMHO

Mrs. NEOH has a VW GTI. It'll return 30+ mpg all day long and is quite sporting in feel and speed. Not as fast as a WRX STI or a MazdaSPEED3, but has quietness and refinement in spades in comparison. It'll fit several golf bags and passengers with ease. With the rear pkg shelf off, I'd guess it'd accommodate a foursome quite nicely.

In NE OH, if you won't play in the rain or cold, you won't play much before the end of May or after late September. I find the biggest benefit of being willing to play in moderately inclement weather is the fact hardly anyone else is. This entire spring I'd be the only one on the course several times in mid-40s to mid-50s temperatures or light rain. The sun and warm weather brings out the fair weather players, many of whom can jam up the course into a 6 hour marathon. I played 18 (riding, alone) yesterday in about 2 hours and 40 minutes - no rushing, and playing a second shot at times. We had severe weather all around the course, but the course itself had sunshine and mild temps. But the threat was enough to keep people away - I counted maybe three other groups on the entire course.

'Dufner', as in Jason Dufner. Though to his credit, he's in the hunt today at The Players.

+1 on the Adams hybrid sets.

86. Had more than a few chances to get lower than that, but my tee-to-green was really really solid. I'll take it.

Actually, ESC - while not expressly encouraging this - does provide a mechanism for many leagues to speed up play. It's not uncommon for local leagues or outing/event administrators to ask you to pick up when you reach your ESC max. In match play, you often pick up anyway once you are out of the hole. So it's possible (maybe not probable - but possible) sometimes the folks you see picking up are simply conceding the hole in match play.

It's my understanding too, that the shoulder turn is much more crucial than where the club ends up in the backswing. Like Chrepper, I'm not very flexible so I go with however far I can get my shoulders turned - usually a little more than 3/4s. I get much better consistency in ball striking that way. Everything 'stays together' better in my swing.

Fair enough, but how weak does that make the player TRYING to sucker his opponent into failing - at the last resort of gamesmanship? It doesn't speak well of that player either, IMHO. Speak with your play, or don't speak at all, I say. FWIW, in the two sports I officiate (at the HS and small college level) - baseball and basketball - there are specific rules against this sort of gamesmanship (though you'd never know it at the pro level, admittedly). A player who curses at himself in anger, or displays an outburst of anger at himself, is largely ignored..... while the player who intentionally tries to interfere with the performance of another player - via such 'gamesmanship' - is either warned, ejected, gets a technical foul, or possibly all of the above. Interesting that in a 'gentleman's game like golf, there's this notion that it's OK to F*** with your opponent, and it's up to him to deal with it. Just food for thought.

I'm not sure how that enters into what I was saying, but if -if - the implication is Phil's was the only one? It's not relevant....at least not to what I was saying. If you hit a shot onto the green, I believe it should be a relatively safe haven for a ball that comes to rest - or very nearly comes to rest - on the green (thereby taking out the momentum shots that roll off the back or the spin shots that shoot off sideways or backwards). If a designer wants to be 'cute' and make a trickling ball pick up more and more speed from a virtual dead rest and roll 40 or 50 feet purely on the momentum caused by the slope/speed of the green, at least give the player the chance at putting it back up the hill. I find nothing interesting about watching a ball (at any of these tournaments) start from almost dead rest and end up rolling 35 or 40 feet off the green - either into a false front waste area or (in this case) a hazard. But that's just me. The question was asked for an opinion. That's mine, and the reasoning behind it.

I certainly think it's beneath the grace and dignity of the game. It's beneath the grace and dignity of any game. I don't like it when a baseball player snaps his bat over his knee after striking out. I certainly don't like it when a basketball player slams the ball down in anger (usually resulting in a technical if he let's it bounce freely up toward the rafters). But none of those things are 'big deals'. Think about the perspective. A big deal is a physical altercation between players. A big deal is taunting another player. A big deal is intentionally trying to hurt another player. A big deal is trying to get away with cheating. Here's a question for you hennie. Which, in your opinion, is worse - a player snapping his putter in half because he's angry at himself, or a player who subtly (or not so subtly) is trying to play mind games on the 18th tee shot of a tied match by doing a little 'talking' to his opponent?

I think if player hits a green, it should be designed such that the ball won't roll a ridiculous amount of travel due to the slope/speed. If a player's backspin causes it to shoot sideways or back off the green, that's one thing. But that's not what happened to Phil. His ball practically came to rest and, simply due to the slope and speed of the green, gathered momentum down the left side of the green and into the water. Yes - I think that's an unfair playing condition. Yes, all the players have to 'deal with it', but it doesn't make it right. I liken it to a bowling alley that doesn't dress their lanes - it makes it almost impossible for a good bowler to hook the ball consistently with any predictable results. No PBA pro would put up with it, so why should a PGA pro? There was another green I thought was ridiculous in that if the player missed over the right crest of the green, it'd roll at least 20 or 30 feet off the right edge down to a waste area that was a good 4 feet lower than the level of the green. That's gimmicky, IMHO, and not too unlike putt-putt golf, where a lucky shot is often rewarded more so than a skilled shot.

For whatever reason, I tend to play a bit better during team competition - and I love scrambles. I think I just like the camaraderie of team play. We have our roles. I'm never the longest in our typical scramble group, but can often get a decent drive down the fairway. Then the long hitters can flail away with no pressure. I take great pride in providing the relief valve role, even if we only use a couple/three of my drives the whole day. Quote: I could have shot 75 by just hitting it in bounds from the tee. Never underestimate the importance of getting the first shot 'right'. Our league does several special event nights throughout the year - one is called the 'Bramble'. Each player gets a tee shot and everyone plays their second from the spot of the best one, as chosen by the group. Then each player finishes his own ball through the end of the hole. It is AMAZING how much lower everyone scores when you virtually eliminate any possibility of an errant tee shot. I used to think 'drive for show' and all that rot, but not so much anymore. You can't usually win a hole on the tee shot, but you most certainly can take yourself out of the hole on a bad one.

I'm down to 13 clubs after jettisoning my 3W. Frankly, I use my 60* maybe once every other round, so it could probably 'go' too.