rustyredcab

I ask again: Anyone know why they do not toss these people? Heck, I recall a hockey game years ago when people behind me were tossed for foul language. I had been given amazing seats and we were near the wives section. No mercy. I do believe they got one warning. This was a hockey game!

I need to feel hips stay low and that I'm swinging into a flexed front knee in order to get hips forward with moving body forward. I also do not think about my head but rather the top of my spine. Same thing in effect but works better for me to think about spin and not head.

Have we lost the OPer? Lots of questions hanging in order to help. The OP is 7 handicap All of us would expect a pretty good ball contact and therefore more distance.

Anyone know why they don't toss people out for things like this?

As a 7.2, I'd almost always choose yellow unless I was having a great ball striking day. Then, I might choose black. You're a 3.8. I'd expect you best play is black with a "miss" short. But, I always think anyone under 4 can hit every shot, every time.

Not arguing -- really wish to know... What is the standard meaning of "gap wedge?" Isn't the 48 your gap wedge? My pitching wedges are 45 and 46*. "Sand wedge" is 54 or 56*. I always thought anything in between was called a gap wedge. Am I wrong? Is there something other than loft that make a wedge a "gap" wedge? To the OP, I do both matching set and matching wedges. I have two sets of irons, my JPX 800 Pro set has a 50* Gap Wedge. With my MP-53's I use a 50* that matches my other wedges.

Last year I played two rounds a week and git another one or two sessions of practice. Not all range practice. Some short game, some putting. And, as others said, drills. This year it is all a bit less. If your range work is leaving you with aches and pains, try hitting less balls and make each one count more. Perhaps add some video work -- hit, review, repeat. Practice with a purpose. I'm 54 and pretty out of shape. Beating too many balls on hard dirt has caused some elbow pain this year. I should have done as I did in years past and made each range session count more and keep them shorter.

Pretty rare that I need a 60* in a bunker. (Don't use that 60 very often for anything.) Try to use a 56 most all the time and adjust loft by opening face and such in paticular out of bunkers. If I have a very long carry, I'll use less loft but rarely want more.

Where on the face are you making contact? Mid? Top? Have you adjusted loft? You can get that down a bit with adjustment. Where is your ball position relative to lead foot? Have you tried moving it back about an inch? Any launch monitor numbers to share? If not, are you guessing the high ball is due to spin as opposed to launch? I'm no club-fitter but I believe that with a 95 MPH SS, high will result in more distance. Ballooning is bad. But high is good even if you are getting less rollout than you think you should get. You shaft may make for a higher than desired flight. Even you ball could be the culprit. Test with a low spin ball that fits your 95 MPH swing -- like the E6 -- and see if that brings the flight down.

Sounds like you've earned at least a look at new clubs with your work. My advise is get another lesson and ask your pro if he or she thinks you would benefit from new shafts and/or sticks. Get clubs that fit the swing you and your pro want you to have -- don't change your swing for the clubs you have. Re-shafting can breath new life into your current clubs. But it is complicated when changing weights because the swing weight and feel will change. I love my new AeroTech shafts that are light but do not cause a ballon flight. There are plenty of options that can help with ball flight at many different weights. But new sticks are nice to think about. If you are a Minuzo guy, as I am, look at the 54's JPX 825 Pros and even the now discontinued MP 53's. Shaft optimizer can help you narrow shaft options and get a setup you'll love with your new and improved swing.

I switched to a SeeMore because I wanted to switch to a more consistent stroke -- week in and week out. The alignment system on the SeeMores helps consistency but requires a commitment to their method to take advantage of it. Zach Johnson uses the original SeeMore model. Many choice at $150.

Looking forward to comprehensive reviews. I'd love to hear about which grinds will play like Mizuno MP T-11's that I love but will need to be replaced. Which grinds keep leading edge low when you open them like my Mizuno and different than my old Callaways? Which grinds... Hoping TST will have reviewers give more that the info on Hopkins website -- which is fine but simple. I like the ideas of these being my next wedges.

Ball moved and should have been a penalty. I don't think Tiger thought it moved. I do not think he was thinking he'd get away with cheating. If he thought it had moved, he'd have taken the one stroke and not risked his integrity and an additional stroke. I think is he is aware that every move he makes is being watched. At what point do outside pictures and videos reviewed after a round stop influencing the game? IMO, there is tremendous inconsistency here when some pros have every move on video and others don't and all the video is used to check for correct rules and scoring. YET, a player must keep track of his own score and sign his scorecard even though officials are watching every shot. No pro would ever get away with posting a lower-than-shot score without everyone noticing. You think Jim F. could have posted a 58 without anyone noticing his error? So why make them track their own scores? When do we get officials following every pro and making determinations in real time? Lord knows the tour can afford it. And, this every-shot scrutiny seems to be happening with some players now. But it is fans instead of officials capturing every move and then delayed calls to the PGA to determine penalties. In high school tennis, you call your own line calls. By the time you get to the pros, lines-people and even net sensors make the calls -- not the players. Why do pro golfers have to call their own "lines?" I love the concept that I call my own penalties when I do something wrong. That is part of the beauty of the game. Much as playing tennis requires both players to make fair line calls. But, when I play golf, if I do not think a ball moved, it didn't move. It is my call. But, I am not playing on the PGA tour.

I often have unfinished holes and unplayed holes. Pretty simple for me. We often have unplayed holes because of lightning or simply skipping a hole to avoid a backup. Only correct way to score for bets and handicap is par plus handicap strokes. Yes, we use those handicapped scores for bets too but we bet very small money. If you play at least 13 holes and get called off the course, you handicap out and post the score (7 hole to post a 9-hole score). No option. Play 12, no posting. Play 13, post. Since we play matchplay, holes are conceded whenever someone wishes to surrender. Blast a few OB and your opponent lies two on the green, you can pick up and concede the hole. The OB guy scores most likely score (up to his max for handicap purposes) and we usually let a guy putting for birdie putt out. If he does not putt out (for example if we have fallen off pace of play), he takes most likely score too. In matchplay, not letting a guy pick up when he is out of the hole is, to me, akin to batting in the bottom of the ninth when you already won the baseball game. It may be done by little kids on the playground but not by ball players. When the hole is lost, the hole's over. Go to the next hole. There is no reason to make a guy putt out for his 10 when you are in with four. I was told by caddies in Scotland that one reason Americans play so slowly, by Scottish caddie standards, is that Americans keep playing when the hole is over. The only time I think scoring is a question between the two ways to score holes that were not played to completion, would be on a long hole where you've hit your drive well, in play, and then you are called off the hole because of weather. IMO, there is a lot of golf left to play on that hole and "most likely" score is a wild guess. Yet, you can not increase your certainty by playing if there is lightning. I'd like to think that par is my most likely score when lying one and 270 out on a par 5. But alas, I'm looking at anything from 4-7 even from the middle of the fairway. So, I'd handicap that hole too. Pretty rare that you start a hole yet can't play enough to have a good guess at a most likely score.

Always when sunny. Transitions for sorts sunny and dark when sunny all day.

What is the obsession with driving distance? Why do so many of you need to prove something/anything?

Regular Saturday game is a two-point per hole game -- cart against cart, low ball and low total with strokes of low handicap. Fifty cents per point. Points double on 18th hole. No presses. End of round, points round up to nearest dollar. Everyone's handicap is legit so often matches result in a one point victory. Often, $1-$2 changes hands. A real beating can result in as much as $7. It is about winning some money and not about the amount of money.

In the heat of the moment after a bad shot, or even a bad break, I often forget about the option of going back and re-hitting.

Helps me. Not for everyone. I let my buddy hit mine on the range. He has had a very nice swing for many years. I told him to just hit balls and if they get airborne then he made a good swing. First seven balls were great, straight, high balls. Not one low shot in the bunch. He handing it back to me and said, "I don't get it." For me, before most every round I hit some with the 7-pro. Some mornings they all go great -- just like my buddy. Other mornings I worm burn a bunch and know I have a little something to fix before moving on. I'll hit with that TS until I'm hitting them well. When I'm hit every shot well with my TS, I know I'm going to have a great ball striking day. Conversely, it can create a crisis of confidence if I never get consistent before a round. I then make sure I do some short chipping before teeing off because it is likely to be a scramble day. Since my new tennis elbow issues, I do not beat lots of balls with the TS off hard ground. I try to make every one count. Too hard on my elbow to hit ball after ball with divots. It is possible that my TS and very hard range ground may have contributed to my tennis elbow so, be careful.

And you must drop the ball. In many bunkers that increases the odds of a plugged/bad/buried lie. Seen and done it when the ball is really unplayable -- such as nearly buried and under the lip with no chance of moving the ball in any direction. In Scotland, many bunker shots are aimed away from the hole in an effort to get the ball out.

I feel your pain. I'd have re-hit and hoped for a hole out from the fairway before surrendering. But maybe after such a long round... But as to slowing down an already slow round, it is likely not so unless it was your last hole. When it is slow ahead of you, your returning to the tee is not going to change the pace of play. I don't understand why people think making the group behind you wait at point A is slower than making them wait at point B. Again, bummer that you lost a "perfect" drive.

Why DQ yourself? Your ball is lost. Go back and hit your third shot.

Golf is a closed loop system (as my engineer college roommate would say.) The system can only move as fast as the slowest group ahead of you. So, most every time I play where groups are waiting, we are all waiting because of groups ahead of us. If my group is the slowest group in the system, then there will be "clear air" ahead of us and I will be the first advocate in my group for letting groups behind play through. However, this is rarely the case. And, if my group is waiting, then going back to re-hit a lost-ball shot does not actually effect the pace of play of the groups behind my group. We all will be waiting again very soon. Perhaps on the next tee. Not sure how you don't see that. :) My apologies for assuming that any fellow SandTrap member would make condescending comments about provisionals. You did not say that you would. You simply said people would. And, by most objective measures, I am a joy to play with so, your bet is safe. However, the few times a year when I play a stroke-play event, I am "da-man" who attempts to protect the field by making sure everyone plays by the rules. In the multi-round stroke-play event I play with a large group of guys, we have a max for the hole and a max on the green -- in large part for exactly these reasons. You are always welcome to take the max if you wish to surrender a hole and/or take a drop instead of going back.

I can't say that I'd be thrilled to be the one needing to come back to the tee box. So, it that we are agreed. Neither of us is thrilled at the prospect of a search, followed by the drive of shame back to the tee. You will not be playing through. You will wait politly and your condescending comments about provisionals will make your group look silly not mine. I'm the guy playing by the rules. I will have already apologized for not hitting a provisional. But, as I am hitting three off the tee, your feelings are my last concern. Any caring golfer would know that no one wants to lose their ball. I will take my time, and even more if you're making snide remarks, and try to hit a nice shot. As I meant to make clear, your group is not being held up by mine (if you were you'd have already been invited to play through.) As for the drive back after a 5-minute search, the five minutes starts when I get to my ball. Often the others are playing while I search. Not really five extra minutes.

You have some options: 1. Sell the set as suggested here 2. Soft-step them once or twice and get one or two new shafts for the longer irons that will be without shafts. (I soft stepped my new graphite shafts after I thought they were too stiff and I love them. I also keep the added 1/5 inch to make them 1/5 inch over standard) 3. Re shaft them. Be very care about swing weight since I think those is4's are very light. I am VERY happy that I went to graphite -- actually AeroTech i95's which are a combination of graphite and steel fiber.