mjbartow

Golf isn't a team sport. Playing alone is the best. Unless there is beer involved.

I don't think I have a single digit handicap. I have yet to shoot in the 70's (my summer goal which is quickly coming to a close) but I usually shoot an 83 or anywhere in that range. I play from the tips always. The back tees really don't challenge me that much because my drive is very good. Not the longest but long enough for me not to struggle to put it where it needs to be, and it is almost always straight. The back tees only challenge me on par threes basically. When a par 3 goes from a 180 to a 210, it is very intimidating to have to stick a green with your hybrid. Usually the only thing that bothers me is with severe doglegs. There are 2 (almost) 90* angle doglegs at my home course and those are the ones where you HAVE to drive the ball to a certain distance. In all honesty, I started playing from the back tees, being out with my usual friends and on the first hole: "**** it, let's play from the tips"

You can't go wrong with a Speed LD. I have a Speed LD M which I think is a little too flexible for my swing but I can still crank my drives out there. It is incredibly forgiving and it is amazing how much this club helps. Although the mishits really are annoying, they are loud and very rough on your hands.

My Cobra 20* Baffler is amazing. I smoke this thing about 215, and stick a few greens if I have to. It is incredibly versatile and one of the easiest clubs to hit in my bag. The sound it makes when you hit it perfectly is more satisfying than the sound of my driver.

"Animals" Only pays out at the end of the round Snake: 3-putt Squirrel: shot into a tree Camel: shot into the sand Gorilla: shot goes OB Fish: shot into the water You get an animal if you do the selected action, say you 3-putt on hole 15, you have the snake. But animals only belong to the person who most recently did it. So you don't have to pay the other people in your group, if say somebody 3 putts on 18, because then they are the last person to have it. You can come up with any monetary value to pay out at the end of a round to each other person. We have also been debating what animal to make if somebody hits a house.

The water at my course tastes really good. But they have coolers at the weirdest places like 2 holes away from the turn, and 2 away from the 18th.

Saw one in person the other day, much thinner than you would expect, I was quite shocked at the awesome slim size of it. Pretty much what you would think of it, an awesome phone that does a bunch of neat stuff.

I just figured out what could be a problem. You aren't trying to scoop the ball are you? Make sure your hands are infront of the ball and you are hitting down. What tipped me off is your 50yds for a SW. 45-50yrds for a SW is what I hit when I put my hands directly above the ball to flatten out the loft and flop it into the air. I can also hit it 90yds if I put it back in my stance and my hands in front of it. Maybe sure you are hitting down on the ball and not trying to scoop it.

Honestly, your swings aren't that short with your scoring irons, if these are from a range, then yeah they aren't LONG but they aren't SHORT. If they are out on the course then I think they're normal. The only gap I see is with your 7i and up. What about your 8i? Where is it? And 6i? Your 5i is pretty much the only thing I'd call short, 160 with a 5i is a bit below average, I can get a 6i to go 170ish and I'm just about your size. As of late the only irons I use up to are 6i, then anything 200+ I use my hybrid (3iw). So there is definetly something odd about 5i, and I'd even venture to say there is something wrong with your 7i. Are you realizing the fact that your PW swing and 5i swing shouldn't be exactly the same? Maybe you are putting it too far in your stance? For a 7i-5i I like to take practice swings until I get a perfect mix between divot and sweep, maybe a little nic on the grass, not a dollar sized divot, but a thin line that only goes for an inch or two. There is nothing like hitting your 6i perfectly, because it is difficult to do, but as for generating velocity, I don't really know how I do it, but I'm just helping you to analyze your problem

OK so at the beginning of summer I had just gotten my drive tuned perfectly, it was straight, it was long and I couldn't have been happier. I would go to the range and it is 230 to the net and I would hit about 45% right into the net, no bounce no nothing, just crushing the ball. I had never had a lesson. Then recently I was watching the golf channel and one of their tips ruined me, they were talking about tilting back or something, so then I started just falling onto my back foot, popping up the ball and having it only go 200 or so -- quite a bruise on my ego. So I quickly realized that problem and tried to revert back to my old swing, but it just isn't happening, it isn't nearly as far. I'm hitting them about 250, when I used to be able to carry them to 230 most of the time and end up with a 30 to 50 yard roll. The pro came up to me yesterday and said "Matt, one thing I've noticed you've lost is your wrist action, you need to whip through with the wrist -- you're going all arms as of late" I quickly tried to incorporate that but it didn't seem natural, but maybe I was just exagerrating my wrists trying to fix the problem. Another thing I've noticed is I have been pulling down with my left shoulder, but I don't think I'm hitting down on the ball. When what I used to do was do a lateral shift with my left shoulder and not so much as a pull it down. I have noticed I haven't been visualizing sweeping it off the tee, as I've been pulling the club up to soon, and a faster takeaway then normal, but lately it just seems like I can't generate the old velocity (I'm only 18 so it's not arthritis).

My glove has to be off and in my back pocket before I step onto the green to putt. Lastly; The headcover of my driver never enters the tee box, it is off before I bring the driver through the "threshold of the teebox", I don't know, just someting soft and squishy doesn't belong in a place where I'm trying to think of crushing the ball I guess.

I never wear jeans on the golf course and frankly I think If I ever ran a Golf Club I wouldn't let others wear them on my course. I do like to dress nice for golf, it gives me a sense of professionalism (like how it does in other aspects of life) -- it is mainly for myself, and not to intimidate others. My favorite golf outfit usually consists of clothes from Polo or Brooks Brothers. A nice white Brooks Brothers polo and some sky blue shorts of theirs are my favorite golf outfit, sometimes I wear khaki pants with a pink polo or dark blue etc. Golfing always seemed more natural in pants, the fact that golf shoes seem very big and outlandish to me make me feel more comfortable if they are semi hidden by pants. I have also found that I golf better in traditional colors, like a dark blue or white polo, as opposed to the magenta or lime green shirts I like to go golfing in. My favorite golf outfit that seems very professional and one that you would find on tour is some cuffed khakis with a dark blue polo and a cap. I usually shoot my best when I'm wearing that, I don't know why, can't explain it, it may be pure psychology.

I was playing 18 the other day as a single, and get stuck behind a foursome of old ladies on the 4th (where I finally decided to make it apparent I had caught up to them so I teed my ball up on the tips while they were still hitting there drives) -- so they all shank it into the 6th dimension where only God knows where it went, all but one finds it. The one lady proceeds to hunt for her ball for 7 minutes (I kept track) -- and then decides to doddle back over to the tee box, and hit her penalty shot -- apparently the idea of hitting a provisional even if you have a hint that the first one went OB was beyond this lady. Luckily the ladies realized they belong in the clubhouse to waste their life away because on the turn I stop in the get a water and they are there playing Bridge. After 18 I stop in for a spot of water and they were still there with their stupid cards.

Never felt natural to me, it just feels so -- untrustworthy.

The day I cured my slice was the happiest day of my life, there's nothing like hitting a straight drive, and then making sure it wasn't a fluke, hit another ball and see it be exactly the same. I had two problems with my swing. 1.) My shoulders were not level at address, my left shoulder was shrugged up towards my chin, and when I swung through I would try to return to that position and it would push my arms out and the ball wouldn't slice but just go high and right. Think of a drive as you are playing baseball and trying to hit a pitch right back at the pitcher. I was aiming more for first base. So make sure your body is square, good angles, and I cannot stress how important your left shoulder is in your swing, it is the cornerstone. Make sure your shoulders are level, swing back, and pull down with your left shoulder towards the ball, and when your arms catch up, swing it up; make sure you are swinging your shoulder up, not around. Your hips go around, your shoulders rotate more vertically. 2.) Square the clubface at impact. For me, the trick was in my grip, I use a baseball grip but with the thumbs pointing towards the clubhead, running down the grip with the tip of my left thumb tucked a little under my right. But with this grip I could generate any velocity and I just couldn't bring the clubhead back to square after opening it in my backswing. So what I did is I just rolled my left hand over a little bit. The grip on your F-Speed should have two (I have the M speed so they are blue, I'm assuming on the F speed they are red) red dashes on the grip for where to put your thumbs. Try my grip, but put your left hand so your left thumb doesn't cover the dash, but the left side of your thumb is touching the right side of the dash; and over the bottom one with your right thumb as normal. This grip really put less strain on my left shoulder, helped me swing harder, and made it much easier for my wrists to come square at impact. Sorry if any of that is hard to decipher, but I hope you can figure it out because it saved my drive.

That's some good advice, I've been having trouble keeping my putting stroke fluid. I really don't have any club that troubles me, maybe my putter just because missing putts is so aggravating. My bag goes Driver, 3iw, 6-PW, SW, Putter I took all those useless long irons because I can hit my 6 iron (depending on the swing I put on it) 150-185 and my 3iw 185-230. So I feel no need to bother with a 4 iron or 3 iron when I only have yardage gaps the lower I go (still wrestle with club selection in the 80-90 range -- SW or soft PW)

I'm sure Tiger could put up 300lbs. But I guarantee you he doesn't. Bench Press puts way too much strain on the shoulders, something Tiger wouldn't want to do. I picture Tiger with minimal weights and alot of balance exercises focused around one of those exercise balls. A lot of Core training and a lot of Back workouts.

Sorry, I must disagree with you. This movie kicked ass. When Optimus Prime showed up I was like "this movie is. . . awesome". One of the best summer flicks I've ever seen and probably one of my favorite movies. Sure there are some stupid one liners (and blatant product placement), but that's expected in all action movies. The special effects more than make up for them, this movie sets the bar for realism and is breathtaking. The CGI is awesome, not the kind of CGI usage of George Lucas (let's use CGI just to make it all shiny and glitzy) the CGI is an integral part of the movie (transformers) and is really used appropriately. Shia LeBeouf is the only person I could see donning the role of Witwicky, and this movie is the only movie where you actually empathize and bond with characters renderred in computer graphics. Go see this movie.

My first birdie ever -- It was hole #10 and I was playing with about 6 of my friends -- they had a foursome in front and me and my buddy were playing behind them. The green to #10 (a par 5) and the tee box for #11 (par 3) are right next to each other so we were all bunched up for the moment. My 3rd shot went about 30 yards to the right of the green because I just wanted to crush it to carry this creek that guards the green. I step up to it with my sand wedge, hit a nice little flop shot, and it just kept trickling down the green and it just disappeared in the middle of the green and then I realized it went in, and me and my buddy went nuts and were running around the green and our friends on the tee box just stared at us.

My summer goal: Shoot in the 70's consistently If I can do this then I can feel confident enough to go out for golf at my college and know I can go to a course I have never been to before and shoot in the 70's/low 80's

5 days a week by myself 1 time a week with the Sunday (dad and business partners) foursome Playing by yourself gives you more time to practice and analyze and think. Playing with others gives you more time to socialize, feel the pressure of making shots with people staring at you, and get that feeling you get making great shots infront of people who wish they could be as good as you

18th hole at my home course, it is a 90 dogleg right. A 400 yard par 4 with tight fairway and bunkers on the right of the fairway and crowning the top of the green. This hole I always debated whether using my 20* hybrid or driver off the tee (usually overshot the fairway even with an easy swing). I have never parred this hole and is the hardest hole on the back 9. So I tee off with my hybrid this time, booming shot down the fairway but not all the way around the bend for a clear shot at the green. So I'm 200 yards out and I have to thread my shot between two trees to get to the green because I haven't rounded the dog leg yet. I take 2 practice swings with my hybrid again (which is hard to stick on the greens), hit the ball and I got that sweet little "P-Tink" sound a cobra baffler makes when you hit it perfectly, ball splits the two trees perfectly and lands on the center of the green. I was ecstatic, sticking the green from 200 out is a feeling unlike any other. 2 putted for par but hey, no worries.

My dad played at Glen Abbey GC. Can I count that as my best one that I have (not) played? But I want to.

I used to sweep the grass as well. I would drag the club back as far as I could along the grass. I just kept feeling like I was too prone to thinning the ball, the ball was not getting the loft it needed to bite the greens, it was just humming along about 20 feet off the ground, it felt like I was playing shuffleboard. Lately, I have been taking maximum length (dollar bill length) divots with PW-8 iron and then short clippy divots with 7-6 (rarely hit my 5) and sweep with my hybrid. I have had amazing success with my scoring irons as of late and I suggest you try it. My practice range has mats and while warming up I take a few practice swings but instead of hitting the ball, do a back swing, come forward, and just pound the mat over and over to ingrain into my head to hit down on the ball and make a divot. "Don't thin it. . . make a divot!"

My new trademarked phrase when it comes to iron play, don't steal it: "Don't thin it. . . MAKE A DIVOT!"