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Everything posted by PhilsRHman
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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.
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Paul Azinger - golf channel Academy
PhilsRHman replied to boil3rmak3r's topic in Instruction and Playing Tips
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. -
Darren Clarke loses 40+ pounds w/an assist from...
PhilsRHman replied to nevets88's topic in Tour Talk
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).
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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.
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I had mine bent 3 degrees without a problem.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Exciting ... a months-long tease. Definitely intrigue inducing. Good luck with whatever it is!
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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.
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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.
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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).
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Attn: Good golfers. Where does it hurt??
PhilsRHman replied to Lofty Lefty's topic in Fitness and Exercise
I find that I get sore anytime I've played more than 18 holes or hit more than 75-100 balls at the range. I'm far from being in good shape but I kind of like the soreness I feel. It's almost all in my core, the muscles between my ribcage and hips. My left hip (righty swing) can get achy too. I've definitely got a "violent" move through the ball and I always aim to smooth out my tempo. But if you get sore you're not the only one. -
Anyone play TPC Jasna Polana?
PhilsRHman replied to Gioguy21's topic in Golf Courses and Architecture
I worked there for a year back around 2002, absolutely loved the facility. The mansion is phenomenal, the practice facility is great, it's got all the polished pieces of an uber high end club. My favorite part was the drive into the club, through the woods, gorgeous. I found the course itself to be perfectly manicured, but the design itself had some lulls. The first few holes were very dramatic, but there are a few par 4s up by the road that just zig zag and bog down the round a bit. Overall, the standout holes outweigh that lull and it's certainly a fun track. -
I voted for Tiger. I still believe that once things click, he'll be might successful again. Maybe not winning 5-6 times a year, but at this point, winning 2-3 times and a whole bunch of solid finishes would be enough for anyone to grab the No. 1. I'd say he's got the best shot. If there's one reason I can see that he won't, it's that he's simply not playing enough, not taking advantage of soft fields (hello, Lee Westwood having his way with a bunch of players in Indonesia).
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Wanted to share this with the board. My day job is at Metro newspapers, which has daily editions in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Long Island, so we partnered with TheSandTrap.com to run staff predictions in print. It ended up running in New York, Philadelphia and Long Island, which has a combined daily readership of more than 800,000 people (we actually have the fourth largest audited circulation of all US papers but since we're free, we don't get as much love as USA Today, etc). Here are a few links to the pages themselves as they appeared in this morning's papers. I thought you guys would get a kick out of it. http://www.readmetro.com/show/en/Philadelphia/20110407/2/16/ http://www.readmetro.com/show/en/NewYork/20110407/2/20/ http://www.readmetro.com/show/en/MetroLongIsland/20110407/2/10/ - Ron
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Wow, this looks awesome. I just dug up the video I got after a mini-lesson I took last year and was thinking that I'd love to be able to get an updated swing on video and use the tools the pro used on what I assume was V1. I got a sweet camera a year ago but had so much trouble doing anything with the video on my computer I gave up on it. This intro makes Analyzr seem like a piece of cake! Luckily I have a Mac at work and could use it there. But since I have a PC at home, is it possible to put the videos with the lines up on youtube or to save them in a way I could watch them from a non-Mac? Really interested in this. Is there any thought that you'd pair this up with some lessons, or let someone record themselves, upload it and send it along for some review and get the video back? I think that's what Evolvr does, so I guess Analyzr wouldn't be needed if you're participating in Evolvr?
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Decided to check back in now that it's been six weeks since I started my diet. Hate calling it a diet because it's really been a re-learning of how to eat. I've been chronicling my progress over on my work blog at www.metro.us/diet and it's been great having to stay responsible because I know people are reading about it, telling me that they're motivated by it, etc. Funny, people won't tell you how fat you've gotten until you drop some weight, then they're all like, "I'm so happy you're doing this, it's so much better for your health, etc" Anyway, as I've said in this thread, I'm actually shocked at how easy it's been to track calories. I've been using a free app for my iphone called Lose It that lets me type in stuff I know, and also has a bank of foods and lots of restaurant nutrition. The biggest thing was realized how insane my eating had gotten. I know for sure I was eating 3000-4000 calories most days and over that at least a couple times a week. By knocking it down to 1800, which I've found to be very reasonable, the weight is coming off nicely. In just under six weeks, I've lost 21 pounds. But more importantly, my eating habits have completely changed. I've changed my normal ways, such as eating fast food in certain situations (in hindsight I was eating fast food 4-7 times a week, and always two value meals or more). Honestly, my cravings vanished after 2 weeks and I honestly enjoy the healthy food more. For example, last night my wife and I went out for dinner. I had only eaten a turkey sub (no mayo, no cheese, just vinegar, hot peppers, lettuce tomato) earlier in the day so I knew I had a lot of calories to play with. I ended up having a cup of Manhattan clam chowder (150 cal), clams on the half shell (55 cal) as apps, then for dinner I had a mixed grill of 3 oz. salmon (155), 3 oz. tuna (118), 3 oz. mahi mahi (93), rice (166), broccoli (50) and I added a tablespoon of olive oil (120) for the little bit they used on the fish just to be safe. All told, that was 900 calories, but to be able to eat out, have a lot of different tastes and LOVE the food was awesome. I always thought being on a diet meant carrot sticks and grilled chicken salad without dressing. Although 900 seems like a lot, in this case it's a matter of perspective. In the past I'd have had New England clam chowder (250), fried calamari (650 according to my app), zuppa di clams with linguini (600-800 cal) and the bread on the table (400 cal) and cheesecake for dessert (700) and wowsa! More than 3x the meal that I made sensible decisions at every stage. I could have made it a 600 cal dinner, but could have also made it 3500, so I'd say I'm ahead of the game. Suddenly weighing in at 209 (only 5-foot-6), I can see 199 as a realistic goal, and being sub-200 for the first time in years would be awesome. And the fact I feel so much better and now feel like I could start working out and really look forward to walking the golf course this year is going to be the perfect thing to kick me over a plateau I'd expect to hit in the next couple weeks. Since I've done almost no working out (other than shoveling and just trying to be a bit more active - walking around the mall, going to the heated driving range, etc. - instead of sitting around all day) I know that adding exercise is the next big thing.
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My wife's away and I didn't have to be up until 10:30 on Friday, so I went up to my local GG in Woodbridge, NJ. Got there around 10:45 and already at least 15 people in line and in their cars. Was going to turn around and go home but at that point I'd already driven up, brought a sandwich and magazine since I knew I'd have time to kill. Ended up sticking it out, thought it would be fun to check out what they had. By midnight, I'd say there were about 30-40 people, quite a turnout. The store is close to Rutgers and it seemed like a promotion ideal for college kids ($50 and something to do). Once they opened the doors, they brought the first 10 to the simulator. They had to hit the club, then they were given the gift card. It was actually a fun atmosphere, everyone watching, etc. I'd say there weren't many serious players among the first 10. One guy couldn't even get the ball to the wall, he was popping them up so bad. I asked how far they'd be marking that one down and the salesman just laughed. While all that was going on, a few of us who were a little more serious and were asking questions were brought onto the fitting station. There's no simulator, just a launch monitor but that was fine for me. Hit the R11 and the Superfast 2.0 and was surprised at how much I loved the white head. I went in thinking I'd hate it, and had written it off as a marketing gimmick. But I've got to say, it was quite visually appealing, and they are right about it aiding alignment. I find myself constantly trying to get the face of a driver square, because I love a face that sits 1-2* open. Honestly, both the white heads just looked so right. I think it's black face on white head. You can see the hitting surface so clearly thanks to that contrast. All in all, I think it was a good event. Reading about it elsewhere it seems that there were 25-30 people at most locations. Who knows how many drivers they sold, but for that matter, how many do they sell from noon-2 pm on a random Tuesday? I saw on R11 go right away and a few other people buying things. I almost pulled the trigger on a new bag since I need one but figured I've got another two months until I'm able to play, so no rush. The mood was cool, people were pretty into it, and the staff was awesome, very helpful and knowledgeable, which I haven't always been able to say at GG. I think they were caught up in the fact it was a special event and rose to the occasion.
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Nevada Golf Trip - Mequite Area?
PhilsRHman replied to delav's topic in Golf Courses and Architecture
I can't offer much beyond Wolf Creek. But no matter what package you book, this is an absolute must play. It's unlike anything else I've ever experienced. The elevation changes, the tees on cliffs, fairways bounded by rock walls. I would never call it the best course I've ever played, but it's absolutely the most exciting, unique and fun. I'll be in Vegas in mid March and will be driving up to Mesquite for the day to play Wolf Creek. I'd like to do a Mesqite trip sometime, but when I've priced it, the Vegas hotels are so much cheaper, and I know the courses around Vegas better so I always end up there. I'd be curious what people have to offer about the golf in Mesquite and see how it compares to places around Vegas like Paiute, etc. -
Today was my two-week mark and I'm down from 230 to 218. Amazing how the pounds are coming off without any gimmicks. Just sticking to this 1800 calorie plan. I'm pretty grossed out over how much I was eating. The cravings have only really been bad on the weekends, when I'm used to eating terribly watching football - pizza, wings, subs, sausage, pepperoni, etc. Now that I'm reading calories I realize how big a difference between "good" and "bad" foods. Atkins made me think all meats are equal. I realized this weekend that Whole Foods chicken sausage is 130 calories. Their pork sausage is 450. Considering I'd normally eat 3-4 of them, and wow, you can see the difference. It's funny, just by eating normal, the weight is pouring off. It confirms my theory that I was actually having to go out of my way to eat so much to remain this overweight.