PhilsRHman

I always felt that I was a "feel" player because I give very little thought to mechanics. I actually do my best not to think about mechanics even though I know it's likely holding me back from improving from single digits to scratch. I never really considered "feel" vs. "mechanical" to be mutually exclusive terms, but do agree 100% that everyone has to be a feel. I guess I thought of it more as a "are you mechanical or not" question. I suppose you can make an argument that even in my feel, I must have had some mechanical thoughts somewhere along the way. Regardless, interesting topic.

I didn't see the full swing sessions, but I watched the first half of his putting special last night. Anyone else catch it? The first part was about how he visualizes putting to a target on top of the green, which is nothing I'd ever considered. I know that one of my faults, especially under pressure, is that I get tentative, leave putts short, try to steer the ball, etc. I'm not really sure (without trying it) why he said putting to a bottle of water would help, other than maybe helping with pace since you're not worried about blowing it by the bottle. That contradicts what I always felt (from Harvey Penick) that I want the ball to die into the hole. Anyone try this or take anything different away? The second part was this concept of white and black, with the divide being the line you're putting on. White would be anything above the line and black is below the line, and how it's very important to cross that line before you address the ball. Again, I felt like it was a bit of hocus pocus, but I'm hoping some of you guys with the aimpoint and other green reading experience would weigh in. I don't want to buy into something that's phooey. I didn't see the rest of the show, but I'm very much into feel and visualization, probably because of my old fashioned Little Red Book upbringing. He seemed to be much more into that camp than what many of you guys are into.

Learned something today. I've always believed that eating throughout the day helped with metabolism. Guess I bought into the myth. But maybe it helps someone like me to keep an even balance on my hunger, and I'm less likely to pig out when I eat. I've got blood sugar issues (have since I'm a kid) and have learned to eat in a way that helps me. It's very obvious reading this thread that diet is a lightning rod. Never thought of it that way. Seems silly to argue over it. If it works for you, why would you care if anyone else has a technique that works for them? Guess it really is more like religion than I'd ever realized.

I met these guys Friday at the NJ Golf Show. Cool idea, they said they want to create a Yelp for golf pros. Not sure about the end game, but it seems interesting. I actually found it to be very useful as a course finder since their search engine for pros seems pretty strong. With this kind of thing, it's going to require critical mass to be of any use. I think they might be able to beef it up in the meantime by aggressively recruiting the pros to fill out their profiles, get them to offer their teaching philosophy, which tools they use (TM, FS, teaching aids, etc).

I guess the euros don't have the PGA's mum's the word policy. Would be interesting to see what would come out if a season's worth of incidents on Tour. They consider it bad PR but just think of all the coverage of Mike Tomlin this week. People love talking about the crimes and punishment as they relate to the sport.

I had mine bent 3 degrees without a problem.

Very cool trip guys. I have been playing a Razr Fit for a year now, with a whiteboard. Very curious to hear how they've improved upon it with this year's model. I've sort of shied away from Callaway's irons since they branded everything as Razr. My X-Protos are my favorite looking set of irons at the moment, even though I don't play them often since they're too hard to hit consistently. Love the looks of the X Forged. Will be looking forward to be seeing them in person.

My Callaway x-protos have a Lamkin rainbow. A different color on each iron: light blue, yellow, green on the 7 cause I'm money with that club. White, black, red and orange. Adds a little flair. I've got a new batch of sticks and would love to switch out the multi compounds with a set of Lamkin grips. Definitely a big fan, especially of the Crossline Cord.

After all this time trying to grasp the ball flight laws, I FINALLY feel like I grasp them. I think maybe it's the combo of the ball flight chart with the idea of shaping the ball and it all seems to click. Great post Erik. Now I am desperate to get to the driving range. All of a sudden the cut I'd been hitting all year has turned into a pull hook and I guess this should be the first real sense I have of what's going on. For the first 20 years of my golfing life I fought a snap hook and when I was playing well I hit a push hook. Last year I started playing better by squaring off my shoulders and opening my stance a bit (sorry if I'm using the wrong terms) to help my shoulder turn. It led to this little cut, but out of the blue the pull hook has struck. Well, thanks for the post and I'll have to give this some thought on the next trip to the range.

I've never been able to find success with a mallet, but I really like that they're going to build this with different strokes in mind. I would definitely be interested in trying this out in the strong arc design based on my feedback on the iPing app. Heck, I'd like to test all three out and see if my results match what they "should". Also, good work by GPPGolf.com to spring into action and make them available. Not seeing it on Ping's website, let alone any retail sites. Can anyone remember a putter getting this much attention during a big event? The announcers were talking about Mahan's putter all weekend. Amazing exposure.

Exciting ... a months-long tease. Definitely intrigue inducing. Good luck with whatever it is!

I got a piece of crap Top Flite hat. My guess is they ran out of the fun, playful "old" items and ran to whatever local stores they could and bought whatever junk was on the clearance rack. If I got Toilet Golf or something funny, I would giggle and laugh it off. But they should have just emailed me a picture and saved their $5.75 shipping or paypalled it back to me. I was bracing for something funny like naked lady tees. I'd have even preferred blank foam hat from the mall with Titleist written on it in marker. Just anything to be a little bit fun.

I bought one of these and $10 on the megamillions. If my grab bag is junk I can cling to hopes I or my bad luck out of the way. Great contest definitely generating buzz.

I'm glad to see this thread. I played the Paiute courses in Vegas and enjoyed them all. Of the three I liked Wolf the least. The best way to put it, is the course funnels your ball to the trouble. It's the most "dye" of the three and it's overly tough but s a whole the three Paiute designs are fun and playable as well as interesting. But more recently I've played Pound Ridge in NY, not far from the city. I won't even get into the price, but the Dye design is so penal that it simply isn't fun. Ice played it twice and it was no better the second time. My handicap got as low as a 3.8 this summer but the day at Pound Ridge there was no way I was breaking 90. I think I shot 96 and I actually played shortish tees (around 6500 if I remember right). I was paired with two guys who probably shoot 90 on a normal day and they were so ready to leave by the 13th hole. A bad shot here isn't just in trouble, it's a lost ball. Not just on the tee, but even into greens. Once you reach the greens they're so contrived with massive humps and bumps. He uses elevation in a way that makes no sense to me. Those two guys I played with were there to celebrate graduation from business school. I felt terrible watching the course beat them up. AT a certain point it's no longer a challenge it's just frustrating. Compare that to a course like Longaberger in Ohio. Arthur Hills took this phenomenal piece of land and built a big grand layout that is long tough and a real test. But it's not a grind. As a signe digit I can battle to break 80 and be paired with a 25 who can spray it a bit but never get discouraged. He realizes that it's ok to turn a less than perect drive into a 2-3 club longer approach. Not a lost ball. Id love to play more Hills designs, and will never seek out another Dye (but I'd definitely play sawgrass or Harbortown since they are in a class of their own).