Jump to content
Subscribe to the Spin Axis Podcast! ×

johnclayton1982

Established Member
  • Posts

    472
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    6

Everything posted by johnclayton1982

  1. Thank you for the great replies all. Quote: I'm guessing you drive everything forward in your golf swing and hit the ball lower than you should with ALL clubs, This is very true, actually. I'm not sure if its lower than I "should" but I do typically hit the ball lower with my irons. I have a playing partner that is close to a zero and we have about the same distance, but his goes significantly higher. I get the ball to stop pretty quickly tho. The other day (Sunday) I played TPC Louisiana with its fast/hard greens and I couldn't make the ball stop. It was frustrating. On my local, though, the ball comes in low, hits and sits. Quote: It means your head, because that controls the left shoulder, which is an approximation of the center of your "swing arc" with virtually all clubs (it's not a true circle, and the "center" if it exists moves around, but I'm speaking loosely here). You can still drive your hips without driving your head forward, though, given your 8I yardages and your clubhead speed with the driver, I'm guessing you drive everything forward in your golf swing and hit the ball lower than you should with ALL clubs, so it's likely going to be a bit more difficult for you. I think I kinda get this. If the left shoulder goes forward, you are really kinda changing the approach into the ball. When I look at myself on video, my head comes forward quite a bit with all the clubs in the downswing, although it barely moves it all in the backswing. Obviously this is poor (no key #1), but I've managed to play fairly good golf this way. Do you want the head to stay back on all shots, even wedges? Could this be why I can't, for the life of me, hit a draw? If the left shoulder goes forward in the downswing, I could totally see how that could throw the club out to in. I hit fades up and down the course all day, but I can't draw to save my life even on the range. I'd say in a typical round 80% of my balls curve left to right, even the misses, and the remainder go relatively straight. I can't remember the last time a ball I hit moved right to left. I have not yet created a My Swing thread even though I have video of my swing, mainly because I'm scared of getting too many mechanical thoughts. This is probably silly and I should probably create one. Basically, the way I got better was making dead certain I had a good impact condition and doing your clubface control drills. I didn't pay attention to my head very much. Its probably something I need to do. My miss with the irons is a line drive cut thats slightly thin, I'm not sure if that relates to my head, but that miss is pretty consistently how I hit the ball when I hit it poorly. I'm somewhat scared of tinkering too much TBH, as my current swing is OK for getting around the course. Going to search the forums for Steady head and see if I can find some good drills.
  2. I am struggling to understand some of the physics behind driver angle-of-attack issues. I read LSW and thought it was fantastic. I have been working ever since reading it on achieving a positive AoA with the driver. I picked two "points" for each green at my local and depending on the flag hit to one or the other (no more pin positions). Overall, the book has been very positive for me. My scores arn't lower yet, but I feel more confident on the course with a plan. My driver AoA has typically been anywhere from -6 degrees to -3 degrees with the driver, as measured right after reading the book. I have a low, line drive cut with the driver and I hit it fairly consistently. However, I see a small divergence between my iron distances and my driver distances, and I really want to work on getting a better AoA with the driver as I think it will help me add yards off the tee. I especially want more carry for a few specific holes at my local, where I have to hit lower than driver b/c I can't clear certain obstacles (I can roll it into the bunkers with a ton of pace on #5, for example, but I can't carry them - this leaves me with a hybrid into the green instead of a PW because the bunkers bisecting the fairway are in the middle of my typical 20-30 yard roll out. Same on #13 - Bunkers bisect the fairway, so I have to hit lower, and have a long shot into the green). I hit my 8 iron around 155-160ish, and I carry my driver about 235-240 with a whole lot of roll. I'm thinking I should be carrying the driver farther. Is there anything you can extrapolate from my iron carry? My swing speed is actually kindof all over the place with the driver when I got on a machine, ranging from 91 on the low end to 105 on the high end. Is this type of range typical? Most of the swings were in the low 100s, but there were some significant outliers. Increasing my driver carry would give me a ton more course-planning options as outlined in LSW (another hole #6, has big trees to the left if I could carry it 250 (instead of 230+20 roll) I could have a wedge in instead of the usual 8 iron.) Some things I don't understand: 1. Why can't you fix AoA by adding more loft to the driver? I carry a high-lofted, shorter driver I use like a SLDR-Mini type club. If I hit down a few degrees with a lofted driver why is it different than hitting up a few degrees with a lower-lofted driver? In other words, why can't you "improve" AoA by simply adding driver loft? (Note: I understand that it is wrong to say that you can increase AoA with driver loft, I don't understand why). 2. I've read in a bunch of places that you should try to "stay back" when you hit the driver, and doing so can help you with a positive AoA. However, when I try to "stay back" with my body, my clubhead speed drops dramatically and I find it hard to carry it more than 210 or so. When I drive my hips hard, I can swing much, much harder. What exactly is meant by "stay back" with the driver? Is there a good drill/key to understanding how to have a positive AoA while still firing the hips forward? 3. I usually played my driver tee'd low about off my left heel. After reading LSW, I moved it forward and moved my back foot slightly inside as suggested. When I do that (tee up slightly higher, forward ball position, back foot pulled back from the target line) I started hitting hard line drive hooks (instead of my usual hard line drive fades). I suspect its because I pulled my foot back to far from the target line, but putting the ball forward hasn't helped me hit it higher it just turned the cut to a hook. Not sure why? 4. Is there a good way to measure AoA when i don't have access to a monitor? (which is about once every two months). 5. How does shaft play into ball flight? My shaft is a "low launch" shaft. What does that mean? How does that interact with my launch conditions / AoA? Thanks in advance for any knowledge. This forum has been a huge help to me in getting better, especially in terms of understanding the theory behind the way certain things happen. I think adding more carry to my driver is the best way for me to get better right now, at least at my local. It would change the way I could play the course.
  3. Thanks for all the great replies. When we say the ratio is 3:1, what are we actually measuring? Number of seconds (time) or the actual speed of the clubhead?e
  4. Got mine today in New Orleans, La. Really solid stuff. Thank you for putting in the effort. I'm sure I'll be back with questions.
  5. Sort of a two-part question. First, is there one? (A relationship between how fast you swing back translating into swinging forward harder). Obviously, at a certain level, a backswing speed is somewhat required. I had a bad front 9 this past Saturday, and headed to the range. I was doing drills at a very slow speed working on squaring up my clubface (my fade was starting right of my target line, which is a big problem). I noticed that I could explode forward even with a very slow backswing, and I was getting really good results swinging back what I felt like was very, very slow slow. Watching Ryan Moore in contention this weekend as well - very slow backswing, smashed th ball a really long way. Strangely, the club that saw the most improvement from a deliberately slow backswing was my driver. While I started the drill (the "clubface control" drill in a few Iacas videos) going slowly, I found that a very slow backswing could still hit my irons the same distance as my "usual" backswing (8 iron about 155). You read that there is the "tour tempo" theory - that all tour pros have a 3 to 1 ratio from backswing speed to downswing speed. Is this true? This doesn't seem right to me, but seems to be accepted wisdom. I could swing back fairly slow and still hit my 8 to the 150 and it felt like a I had a ton more control. Increasing my backswing speed didn't do much, on its own, to increase my downswing speed. However, if th 3 to 1 theory is correct, a slower backswing would mean a slower downswing, all else being equal, which doesn't seem to be the case. Does 5SK teach anything about the speed of the backswing? Is there any sort of relationship there to downswing speed, or is it a comfort issue with no "right" answer? Second, how often do the really "good" players here dial down a club to hit an approach into a green? I was watching "Golf's Greatest Rounds" and they had the 2013 British. They showed a "swing vision" sequence that had the clubhead speed for Lee Westwood hitting a 9 iron. It was about 80 mph, and the shot was relatively short. Now, this is a links course, but the practice range time got me thinking - if I slow my PW swing down, I can hit a ball straight about 110 with some roll out. Usually, when I play, I'm hitting the iron that goes the distance to my target - I'm not slowing down and hitting a "longer" club. However, Westwood clearly did there, and I then saw McDowell hit a 9 from like 95 yards in another tournament (it bounced in). Is this a common thing among really good players (haivng "slower" shots that roll out with different clubs)? Is this something that should be worked on on the range? I'm thinking about how to get my iron play more consistent and it seems like slowing down could be a good way.
  6. I went to the Zurich this year, and, for me, what was incredibly was not just how they hit their shots. That is obviously stunning, but there are some guys (Well, one guy) in my group who can hit it great. What was amazing to me was how they dealt with the few bad shots they hit (And I saw some stinkers). David Toms hit a hybrid off the short #8 hole and it was a disaster. It was slightly fat, big slice, into a fairway bunker that shouldn't have been in play. It looked like a weekend 11 capper shot. Thing is, he didn't curse, swear, or break his club. He shrugged, then hit a mid-iron to the center of the green and 2 putted for a par. No hysteronics, no trying to convince everyone that he is better than that shot, just a totally calm "OK, now I need to make sure I make par". How many of us would have gotten upset, tried to hit a hero shot, and ended up with a 6? Quite a few (including me). Kevin Stadler tried to lay up on the par 5 (5th or 6th hole), hit is layup shot into a fairway bunker and then cold-topped his wedge approach. The ball was thin and shot up into a bunker near the green. He calmly walked up, went through his routine, and blasted out to like 6 inches for his par. Watney on the same hole chilli-dipped a chip shot into the bunker in front of him. No big deal, blasted out, made a 4 footer for par. The incredibly concentration and "reset button" - 'OK, that was bad, but how do i still make par' - was pretty incredible to watch. Yeah, the ballflight and swing is pretty insane, but the thing you can really take back to your own game isn't the clubhead speed its the attitude. That really changed my game for the better.
  7. I'm not sure if this is the case or not, but in tennis the pros play whatever equipment they want which is then painted to look like a particular racket. For example Sampras allegedly used the Wilson Pro Staff (a really hot item during his career because Sampras "used it") but it was actually a prince model painted like a pro staff with custom weights. I wouldn't be surprised to learn there are alot of pros playing gear that is other gear with "titlest" painted on it. Might not be the same though. In tennis you use whatever you want and they paint it to match your endorsement deal, generally. Quote: people are brainwashed that if they buy $400 OEM drivers and $1200 set of OEM irons that the Pros play with it will somehow make thier game better. The reason OEM's cost that much is to pay for the multi million dollar advertising budgets and the multi million dollars of endorsements. Its just as silly to not play "OEM" stuff because they sponsor tour pros as it is to play it because they sponsor tour pros. Quote: No thanks, I don't need a new OEM to help my game, I hit fantastic shots with the Gigagolf irons and have no reason to change. It might work for you now, but "Play Gigagolf and not OEM" is just bad advice generally. Hit a bunch of them and pick the one you like (unless you can get fitted). And if your telling me you're better off buying Gigagolf stuff over the internet with a fitting wizard than doing a Ping or Titlest fitting with a good fitter then, sorry, your dead wrong.
  8. Quote: When I first started.. I had about a 50-60 yard slice every time. To play college golf I had to get rid of it.. I found something that fixed it after 3 range sessions. 1: Set up to the ball with your feet together and the ball in the middle. So feet should be touching 2: Move your right foot(if you are a righty) back to your normal stance. 3: Put your club face IN THE MIDDLE of your stance. The ball should still be forward.. you should be about 6 inches away from the ball. The whole idea is to have the club where the bottom of the swing should be so you can start hitting up on the ball. 4: Don't look at the ball.. Only focus on the spot where your driver is at. You can put a tee in the ground to look at, but if you make a decent swing, your club will connect with the ball. It will finish the turn for you. 5: Open your front foot just a little. PS- If you start hitting a hook, move the driver head closer to the ball. The key is not looking at the ball in your follow through. Focus on the spot that is supposed to be the bottom of your swing. Staying balanced will really help.. if you start to sway you can throw off your COG and it will completely change the swing path. Meaning you will keep the face open or lean back some. Other things- Make sure you are turning through and sometimes it is because the swing is too upright. I would try and turn more around your body.. I don't have any swing to look at so not easy to diagnose but everyone I have shown this drill it has worked. This is also how I set up to the driver (head in the middle of my stance, not at the ball). I look at the ball though. When I waggle pre-shot I waggle to the middle not the ball.
  9. Quote: If the USGA conforming list says they are ok, which it sounds like you know, then its fine. Shorty doesn't know, i guess, you can have wedges from whenever so long as they conform to the newest rules. This is correct. My buddy plays some old wedges as part of his iron set and used them in the Zurich qualifier. Nothing wrong with playing old wedges so long as the grooves on those particular wedges don't violate the rule. Its not that some wedges are "grandfathered" in and some arn't. You measure the grooves or check the list. Its OK or its not. Date of manufacture is irrelevant I believe.
  10. Quote: Have you had a chance to use it outside yet? Not to discount good simulators, but I've recently gotten a new driver (based on simulator results) and I am actually going back to my old driver, based on real life results. This. According to the simulator at my local Edwin Watts, my 7 iron goes 185 yards. On the course, it carries about 160-165 yards.
  11. We are not questioning your ability to discriminate. This conversation is like this: Q: Why would a club want to keep women out on Saturday mornings? A: Its their club, if they want to keep women out they can. Q: Well, ok, sure they can, but seems pointless alienation. Why would they want to keep women out on Saturdays? A: In my business, sometimes I discriminate against old people!! Q: Uh, OK, that's strange I guess, but why do you want women off your course on Saturdays? A: This has nothing to do with race. Q: OK, I know that. I want to know why you don't women on your course with you. Its weird. A: WHAT ARE YOU A GOLF CLUB MANAGER -- We are not questioning your ability to do so legally. We are not questioning if there are legitimate basis for other discrimination, nor are we questioning that discrimination still exists in our society, or that members of this board take part in it - rightly or wrongly - from time to time. However, some of us don't see the point in alienating half the population of the earth for no gain, and would like to see the practice ended. We are not against discrimination per se. We are against pointless discrimination. We are asking a simple question: Why have the rule?
  12. Quote: Where's the discrimination? If you're under 50, you can't play on the Champions Tour. Is that also discrimination? You also can't play the LPGA Tour if you're Tiger Woods and claim to have broken Jack's record of 18 majors. Also discrimination? The club sets aside tee times for groups to have their leagues, no? I see nothing wrong with that. Men can't play during women's league times, and women can't play during men's league times. Isn't that the deal? Maybe it's not — I've not paid much attention to this discussion because I don't really care about it — but I thought that was. A public course nearby does the same… members can reserve tee times to 9am, then anyone can. Is that also discrimination? At the local restaurant, the kid's meal is only available to those 10 and under. Also discrimination? :P The issue is whether or not it is an acceptable practice morally to have Saturday AM tee times reserved for men only. Its obviously legal - that isn't in dispute - as private clubs can obviously do whatever they want, provided they do not open themselves up to the public. This is a somewhat shady area of the law, but so far it has been allowed. I can't think of one single decent justification for not allowing women only on the course on Saturday morning other than "we're the members, thats what we do". In your examples, all those examples have reasonable purposes for the discrimination. And, actually, legally, discrimination is actually permissible in some cases if there is a rational justification for the discrimination and the means are as narrowly tailored as possible (this is a gross oversimplification of the 14th amendment jurisprudence on strict/less/height scrutiny, but is generally correct). In each of your examples, there is a "point" - you want kids to eat the kids meal b/c profit margins are less, you want members to have better tee times to encourage members, etc... When I say "whats the reason" I don't mean "why should it be allowed". I mean, literally, what is gained by not allowing women on the course on weekday mornings? (Besides, of course, alienating half the population of the world). Quote: No one is "telling this private group how to make their decisions". They are free to discriminate against anyone they wish. But as "Americans who embrace freedom", we also reserve the right to voice our disgust with their discriminatory practices while simultaneously acknowledging their right to exist. Don't mistake legality with morality (see Westboro Baptist Church for an extreme example). If you're positing that Americans have no place or right to voice their disgust of a private organization's practices and rules then you're misunderstanding freedom. Very well put.
  13. Thanks. WIll try it tonight. I was short on a handful of short clubs this past round so I video taped my range session and noticed my left wrist is breaking down at impact in some of the shorter clubs.
  14. Quote: Now.. finally we are back on topic... It was a slow news day for her, so once she heard this (even though it was incorrect info) she had to make a big deal out of it to re-route traffic to her.. she probably keeps a tab on search trends and what not, and this was probably the idea of one of her publicists. IMO anyway. Search Trends = $$$$$ for them and their ilk :) Quote: If this is the most insulting news Kate has heard, she has lived a very sheltered life. Quote: This is from the DB who claims he would carry on a cell phone conversation in the middle of a fairway when its his turn to hit and people are waiting for him as long as he's within his posted POP. Major DB. This is called "shooting the messenger". Note most of those who saw no problem with a discriminatory policy have attacked Kate Upton's success, looks, star quality, etc... or resorted to personal insults. I think that is a pretty good indication of who is correct in this argument. Quote: "Men on Saturday twice a month, women on Saturday twice a month." That would be fair if your NOT taking the facts into consideration. If the (golfing) membership is five to one male that arraignment would give each male member one fifth of the available tee times than would be given to the women. A more fair policy would be to give the men five hours on Saturday and the women one hour on Saturday. Not only would that also elicit the same cries of discrimination from you and your ilk but it would also probably piss off the women of this particular club. Good job. Or, instead of twisting yourself into these insane logical knots, you could just let people play whenever they want regardless of gender. Quote: Sure it is. the fact that there may be a logical, practical reason for the policy that all have agreed upon (including the female membership) doesn't seem to matter to some tells me that their argument is that political correctness trumps all possibilities. I think it's funny that it has actually been revealed in this thread that there is in fact NO official policy barring women on Saturday but there is one barring men on Tuesday. Where's the outrage? I'm still waiting for the "logical, practical reason". Girls are slow? Please tell me what this reason is beyond "the members want it this way", because that isn't a reason. Look, I get it. You don't want to play with women for whatever reason. But come out and say it. Don't tell me being able to play on Tuesday is "the same" as being able to play on Saturday. And don't tell me "its the will of the members, man" because thats nonsense. It may be the will of the members, but it wouldn't be OK to discriminate on race and it isn't OK on gender.
  15. I've been struggling with my impact position in some of the shorter clubs. I hit my wedges pretty well, but on video I see some signs of flipping at the wedges - including one GW where my hands were roughly even with the shaft at impact (even though the shot went pretty far). Where do y'all put your focus when working on the proper shaft-lean at impact? Do you focus on the hands or on the clubhead? In other words, are you trying to get your hands forward as a swing thought or more trying to keep the clubhead behind you? I don't see it in my longer clubs much (if at all) but with my 9 iron and up I'm starting to see some flipping creeping in, and I lose a bit of distance when I do that, but not too bad. My weight is fairly far forward, but my left wrist isn't flat. Is there a good drill to isolate this feeling with the shorter clubs? I hit chip shots with my 4 iron as part of my warmup every time I swing a club, and thats how I isolate and work on my impact position. However, I'm seeing that good impact position break down more and more as the clubs get shorter and shorter. My backswing with these short clubs is increasing as well - I think to "make up" for the distance lost by flipping at the ball, but my PW backswing is about 4 inches further than my 5 iron backswing. What would it be about shorter clubs that might promote flipping? The "cross-over" point seems to be the 8 iron, and I'm having some annoying distance issues with that club. I can hit it anywhere from 140ish to 160ish depending on how good my impact condition is. My 7 iron is a fairly consistent distance, but my shorter clubs are losing distance and I think that its due to a poor impact position. I really struggled with this in my round this past weekend. I put a "standard" 56 degree wedge into the water from 104 (about 100) carry and felt the flip and I put a 48* wedge into a front bunker from about 112 to clear the bunker. It didn't feel fat but I'm pretty sure I flipped with both and lost 10 yards or so. Any drills, thoughts, help etc... is appreciated. I'm not sure if I will start to see it in the long clubs eventually, but I need to nip this in the bud with the short clubs and my usual drills (chip shots, weight left drills, etc...) don't seem to be helping it.
  16. I don't play the XHot 2, but I play the XHot regular line, and I think they are very solid irons. Forgiving, good feedback/feel, and a small amount of workability. They are decenty long but also consistent. For me, the original xhots are a rock-solid iron for any kind of player.
  17. You need to be really careful how you talk to yourself. Your subconscious doesn't understand exaggeration. It is much more difficult to shake off bad shots / score well if your self-narrative is dependant on your performance, and is catastrophically bad if you fail a little. Things like this: Quote: Over the last month I've continually gotten worse and worse. It's gotten so bad that last night I could barely hit the ball at all. are not only not true, they are silly. You are exaggerating to make a point ("barely hit the ball at all" ? c'mon. Thats silly. Even my wife who never plays makes contact with the ball more often than not.). You might have scored worse and worse, but you proably didn't actually get much, much worse in the span of 30 days. Your posts are literred with catastrophic self-talk - i.e. "I'm the worst", "I stink", "its all terrible", "throw it all out and start over". Heres the thing - until you change the way you talk to yourself all the mechanical advice and lessons in the world won't matter. Golfers tend to become exactly what they think of themselves and you have a serious self-doubt problem. You need to change the words you use in your brain to describe yourself. I'm not telling you to have false confidence, but I am telling you that exaggerating your faults in your own head is about the quickest way to short-circuit any improvement at all. Compare: "I can't hit the ball at all. I have to throw it all out and start over. I just keep getting worse and worse." to "I need to improve my contact. I'm going to google getting my contact better and do some drills that make sense to me. I can't play good golf without good contact, so thats step 1." to "Contact is all I need. Once I have good contact, I'll make the tour." You want to be somewhere between statement 2 and statement 3. You are currently at statement 1. Look, we all get frustrated. But you need to make sure your self-dialogue is (1) true and (2) helpful. If its neither one of those, you arn't going to improve with all the lessons in the world. I think the best use of your golfing money would be this book: http://www.amazon.com/Golf-Not-Game-Perfect-Rotella/dp/068480364X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid;=1402425984&sr;=8-1&keywords;=golf+is+not+a+game+of+perfect
  18. I read the entire thread. I really fail to see how "no women 8-12 am" is different from "no African-Americans 8-12 am". It was the "will of the members" for no blacks to be allowed at the Baton Rouge country club back in the day. That makes it OK? I totally agree with those saying the rule is elitist and antiquated and, quite frankly, chauvinist. Men look at themselves as "proper golfers" and have an enourmous amount of disrespect for women. I mean, just look at this thread if you want proof. This is a thread on one of the most popular golfing forums on the internet and there is no problem with mocking Kate Upton's opinion b/c she happens to be good looking and posting up objectifying photos (I'm surprised this thread is still open after that) of her. Lets say Justin Timberlake said something wrong about golf - we'd post up pictures of his junk? Imagine being a woman wanting to know more about golf and coming here and reading this thread. "Inappropriate' doesn't begin to describe it. We need more people in the game, not less. This is an exclusionary rule and there isn't any other way to put it. At least be honest and say "most women stink and we don't want them slowing stuff up" than this whole 'Tuesday is the same as Saturday' crap. And if Tuesday is the same as Saturday, why not switch off? Men on Saturday twice a month, Women on Saturday twice a month. Separate but equal is never, ever equal. For the record, I'm a liberal, so if you call me that its not going to hurt too bad. :P In my experience, usually when people don't know what to say / are clearly wrong, they say things like "POLITICAL CORRECTNESS RUN AMOK". Note that isn't an actual counter-point to the points being made here.
  19. Quote: For the record, I would say that you have one driver and one "2" wood. A lot of pros carry 3-woods with 13.5* of loft. I tried hitting one at a fitting once (Callaway xhot pro) and even though I absolutely loved the xhot 15*, I somehow couldn't get the 13.5* up in the air. Fair. I can't hit the 13* off the deck really, except maybe once in a while if I need to hit a really long ground ball (Which has happened). But having that tee shot in my bag with a 460cc driver head is really nice to have. To the OP, the key question here is (1) how far do you hit your 3w and (2) how many of those types of shots do you have in a typical round? While its obvious to tell him to get a 3w, my impression is that there are quite a few players (myself included) that don't hit them very often off the ground.
  20. What are the courses you typically play like? How far do you hit your 3w? How many of those shots are you going to need in a round? My home course has two short, twisty par 5s I can reach with long irons, one really long par 5 that I can't reach with a perfect driver/3w, and one with a carry over water that makes 3w way too risky. I'm long enough off the tee that unless something goes seriously wrong I'm not hitting 3w into a par 4 green. How does your distance line up with the courses you usually play? Are you going to be hitting 3w off the deck 2+ times a round?
  21. I think its actually a fairly important decision, depending on what you are going to use the 3 wood for and what else is in your bag. Your info says you are a 1 handicap, so you may not even need one if your long enough. I have 16 clubs that I make 14 out of depending on the course I play. All courses but 1 here there is no reason to play 3w. One one of the courses (the longest) I need 3w to reach 3 out of 4 par 5s in around 2 shots. On all the other courses the 5s are either too long / with too much trouble to go in 2 or are short enough that I don't need 3w. If you are going to be hitting 3w off the tee way more than off the deck (my case), consider a "driving" 3 wood (like the X-Hot 2 Deep or the SLDR Mini) or a high-lofted driver. I play two drivers on most courses (a 46" 9.5 with an ultralight shaft and a 42.5" 13 with a heavy shaft) because there are few shots were I'm 218-235 from the green AND the green is trouble-free enough that 3w is the right play. The 460cc, short 13* driver is a really nice for hitting 230-245 off the tee reliably. Think about the course you play and what shots you hit. If your 3w is off the tee and not off the ground there are better options than the "standard" 3w IMO. That said, as a 1 handicap, you probably have a fairly good idea what you are doing anyways. I also have a lofted 26* hybrid I bring in instead of the 3w on a few courses with 170-190 yard par 3s, as that club is very easy to hit middle of the green off the tee and I struggle with low-irons more than any other clubs. I think its important to really think about it rather than just play a standard set. Just IMO of course.
  22. @Golfingdad t here, actually. Played a round this morning. On the scorecard are a few lines of local rules, including: " The course should be played in 4 hours, 15 minutes. You are considered slow if there is an open hole in front of you. " Hadn't noticed it before. I still don't really get the point behind the rule. It asks you to either match your speed to the fastest group on the course or to allow a bunch of groups to play through or play faster. But the problem with that is that if that is going to be the rule, why have a POP? I can't think of any situation here the POP at my course matters. Are you behind the group in front? Your too slow. Up with the group in front? Good speed. Why have the POP line? It just seems crazy to me that this is the way it is set up; that other groups determine your speed. I've eaten crow a few times on the boards and I'll have to do some more now. Obviously my stance on this is not the "accepted" one or the rule at my club, but I really don't understand why you tell me to play in 4 hours 15 minutes then immediately say "Forget all that. See those guys? Play at that speed."
  23. Quote: Why are you failing to address the fact that I said you have two options??? You are not obligated to keep up with the group in front of you, but you are obligated to have some courtesy towards the faster group behind you. Just let the faster people go by you. You don't have to speed up. I like to play at a leisurely pace as well, but I recognize not everybody else does, so if I'm not keeping up with the group in front of me, and there is a group on my ass, I need to let them go by, for everybody's sake. I see POP as a buffer to both the slowpokes and the speed demons. The course has said what the pace of play is. I think it goes both ways - keeps people from playing too slow, keeps people from playing too fast. If I let them through, then the group behind them through, etc...etc I get off the POP pretty fast standing around. I don't understand why people expect you to play faster than the huge sign at the first tee that *explicitly tells you* how long a round is going to take. The sign isn't ambiguous. It says "A round at this course should take: 4:15". It doesn't say "A round at this course should take 4:15, unless, of course, you feel like playing it faster than that, in which case you should expect everyone to accommodate you and get out of your way." It says "A round should take: 4:15", which means it *should* take 4:15. It just seems crazy to me. Like, if you said "this train ride is going to take 4 hours" and then halfway there all the passengers start bitching because it isn't taking 3. I understand you don't feel this way, and we are probably not going to convince each other.
  24. We can have a discussion about whistling or putting hands up (which is what we're doing), but if you're not willing to admit that hitting balls at someone is never an OK response to a pace of play issue I think we're done here.
  25. Quote: So your twosome was an entire hole behind the threesome in front of you. You have only two options at this point: You either speed up to keep pace with them, or you let the guys behind you play through and keep going at your leisurely pace. That's it. Right. This is why I said we disagree. If this is rule, why have a POP? So I'm obligated to keep up with the group in front and ahead of the group behind regardless of the overall speed I'm playing at? Don't you see how insane that is? its my round. I totally agree if I'm playing to five hours, sure. But if I'm playing at a reasonable pace, why do you get to set my speed because your'e behind me? Quote: But if this gentleman was just standing there staring at a bunker shot in front of me for 5 minutes or so I probably would've hit over his head and told him I thought he was waiting for me to play through. Going to assume you are joking, because that is never acceptable no matter what. This is the type of crap people who play at a normal pace have to put up with from people who think they're entitled to play as fast as they want and damn everyone else. Quote: Not a good analogy considering he mentioned playing faster than the POP by a pretty good clip at that. Exactly. Quote: As I said before what's the chance there's a disgruntled group waiting beyond a twosome on track to finish in 3.5 hours. Exactly what I thought. I thought the behavior was ridiculous. It was on topic, so I posted here. Getting a whistle isn't that bad, easy to ignore, but its pretty annoying. EDIT: Just noticed: Quote: Honestly I have doubts about his account as told here. I didn't have a video camera, but even if we assume its a hypothetical (which it isn't), the same discussion ensues.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.

The popup will be closed in 10 seconds...