Tomboys

The USGA putt "allocation" for a scratch golfer is 36 per 18 holes. As such, IMO, unless you're constantly 3 putting or worse, I wouldn't make that a huge priority. The most difficult aspect of the game is the full swing due to the complexity of the motions involved. So, spend the majority of time working on that. From there, spend a shorter amount of time working on your short game (chips and pitches) and finish up your "sessions" with a few minutes or so on your putting.

Well done. You deserve a lot of credit for being a good student. Keep up the good work.

Let's see, a person tried to be polite and courteous by offering you a ride. You repaid that kindness with contempt. Your parents must be so proud. Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled program...

If it's flat when I lay down, does that count?

I agree that the thinking tends to be backwards. Maybe that's the reason for the obesity problem that currently plagues us in America. I know that when I ride, I can interact more with my bud riding with me, so there's more opportunity to be social. In contrast, when I walk, I have a greater feeling of solitude, so I take more notice of my surroundings and, like you said, enjoy the beauty of the course and the weather. So, both have their benefits and I'll choose either or depending on my mood. Now, if I could walk a beautiful course on a warm sunny day in Hawaii with a slice of NY pizza in hand, well, I may have just experienced golf utopia =).

Maybe they were just trying to be courteous. Perhaps they were being a little over-bearing by constantly offering, but I believe their hearts were in the right place.

Els, Couples and McIlroy for the beauty and grace of their swings. I remember I was really struggling with some swing changes about a year ago and my whole demeanor matched my swing at the time. I was all herky-jerky and tense from all the swing thoughts that I had, not to mention being pretty frustrated. One day, I was watching Freddie play and I was just mesmerized by how smooth and effortless his swing looked. So, I used that image the next day during my round. Low and behold I was hitting the ball very well and when I messed up on a shot, I just brushed it off and didn't get down on myself like I did before. After about 5 holes, my bud pulled me aside and said, "Man, you are playing really well today. Your swing looks so smooth and effortless, but you're just bombing the ball. In fact, it reminds me of that pro golfer...uhhh, what's his name again? Oh yeah, Freddie Couples." I just looked at him and said, "Who's he?" LOL.

Compare the lofts and lengths of the new clubs with those of your older set. The number on the bottom of the club is pretty irrelevant because manufacturers jack with those numbers to give the illusion that we're hitting it further. Sort of like how some clothing manufacturers put "Size 34" on a pair of pants that measure out to 38 inches while others put the same size on a pair that measure to 34 inches. I've had 3 different sets of clubs over the past 9 years and I hit them all pretty much the same distance because the lofts were consistent set to set.

Wait...she plays golf too??? Dayam...I love you Holly. And yes, I do mean it in a stalkerish kind of way. The way I look at it, if I'm going to jail for stealing a car, I'm taking the Ferrari not the Pinto. At least my public defender won't laugh at me for being stupid and having bad taste.

At the end of the day, someone like DJ with his 120+ SS is going to hit the ball further than someone like Kuchar with his 108 SS. IMO, lengthening the courses are nothing more than a knee-jerk response, and like Iacas wrote, an unimaginitive one, to combat the length that some of the stronger players are capable of. There's so many other things courses could do. For instance, grow that rough up to 6" and over-seed that sucker. I remember some of the past US Opens from decades ago. Even the strongest players had to hit SW just to get it out of there. Deepen the fairway bunkers. Give them a 5' lip with really soft sand. Narrow the fairways, plant some trees and make the greens firmer. I think there's some merit to what the ITF did and I think it's applicable to the PGA Tour. Rather than make a wholesale change-over to a specialized Tour-Only ball, they come up with a different guideline for a secondary ball. Call the "original" ball, type A and call the secondary ball type B. Type B will have a limited flight attribute which would bring back some great older courses into the Tour rotation. Tournament hosts could meet with the USGA to determine which ball to approve for their respective tournaments. There's an abundance of courses that have already had extensive revsions in light of the distance gains during the past decade. Given the economic times, it would be difficult for them to redo their courses. By having two types of balls, more courses could vie to host tournaments because they wouldn't have to do major renovations to make it "Tour caliber". Also, I don't think it would be prudent to have a single-manufacturer "spec" ball on tour. Manufacturers spend a boatload of money "pimping" their goods. Take that away, the brand identity that is, and you remove a huge revenue stream for them because the masses tend to mimic what their favorite pro is playing. You know the adage, "What wins on Sunday sells on Monday". Also, IME, golfers tend to relish the comparisons between themselves and pros. I think part of this is because golf courses are non-standard in size and layout and many are are accessable to the public unlike a lot of other professional sports. Not too many of us are going to have to opportunity to play in Fenway Park, but any of us can play Pebble Beach--well, providing you have $500 handy. Because we have the opportunity to play where the pros play, many seem to want to play what the pros play, equipment-wise. So, by keeping the current ball "valid", it tends to take away the misgivings that we mere mortal golfers aren't playing the same game the pros are.

Reminds me of the time Funk, Sorenstam and Woods played in that skins tourney or something like that. Funk wore that skirt, kneeled over to read his putt and asked Tiger for a read. Tiger responded with, "Two balls to the left."

The video you saw on YouTube is the reason why I suggested that you post your swing before you looked at those internet swing tips. There's a lot of information out there that can really screw you up. I don't know which video you looked at, but based on what you've written, it fails because it's misleading. Having a pause per se will not create the in-to-out swing path that you want. The pause you see is a byproduct of starting the downswing with a hip slide forward. So, it's not the pause that gives you the in-to-out swing path, it's starting the downswing with your hip slide forward that allows you to produce an in-to-out swing path. To see what causes a ball to fly a certain way, read through this thread: http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/ball_flight_laws To see the proper sequence (which includes how to start your down swing): http://thesandtrap.com/t/29616/the-biggest-secret-slide-your-hips While you're at it, review this thread too: http://thesandtrap.com/t/36669/maintaining-the-flying-wedge . Since most people tend to slice, you're going to be reading a lot about "releasing" the club more to eliminate a slice. This information will screw you up. This last thread explains why "releasing" the club is something you don't want to be doing to cure a slice.

This is great stuff. Yes, keeping the head steady is very important. For the time being, work on keeping your head steady with a proper forward hip slide. It'll take a time to do those things "naturally", so don't be discouraged. One other area that I noticed from the video is that your back hip is sliding backwards on the takeaway. Make sure it doesn't do this. If it does, then it makes it harder to get the proper amount of weight onto you front foot on the downswing. On another thread, I said that I started playing golf in an era where video wasn't common. So, we were taught to use mirrors. In my case, I used a mirror in my garage and the reflection from my sliding glass door in the backyard. Now that I have a better understanding of the swing, I put a few pieces of tape on the sliding glass door to mark the location of my head and both my hips at address. From there, I take some full swings at a reduced speed. I check to ensure that my head stays steady; my back hip doesn't slide backwards on the backswing; and my hips slide forward sufficiently on the downswing. I do this "drill" to help my feel match my actual. It's a little crude because you have to tilt your head up slightly to see your reflection and you can't really hit golf balls--even though I have hit plastic practice ones now and then, and you can't get a DTL view of your swing. But, overall, the feedback is more immediate and at this point, every little bit of visual feedback you can get tends to be helpful.

I believe it was tried before (sorta): Oversize Balls Oct. 18, 2004 By Erik J. Barzeski Comments (0) What ever happened to the Top-Flite Magna? The oversized ball (1.74" instead of 1.68", if my memory is correct) was supposed to "roll smoother" on the greens and slice and hook less. Distance suffered a tad, I recall, simply due to the fact that the ball had to push more air out of the way. There were a few other oversize balls available as well, but the Magna was the leader out of the gates. Nowadays, you can find the Magna for $10/dozen or less . I remember my bud playing these. Didn't seem to help him much.

I think that while one with just an iron (say a 6 or 7) would suffice, you can do one as well with your driver. It wouldn't hurt. Besides we all get to welcome the latest addition to your bag =). Also, post a video of each club taking two swings each. One swing where the camera is viewing you face-on and one swing where the camera is down-the-line behind the golf ball. I would do that before I looked at some (free) instructional videos on-line. There's a couple of reasons why I suggest this. First, you get no feedback. You may think you're doing what the guy in the video says you should do, but how do you know? Unless you have some form of interaction, you're flying blind. Also, video is 2-D, but the swing is 3-D. Hence, that is why you want to post a FO and DTL video. It just helps people get a more complete picture of your swing. Secondly, I don't want a bunch of possible solutions to fix whatever ails me and I don't care where or what the majority of golfer screw up at/on. I just want to know where I'm screwing up and what I need to do to fix it. At any rate, get that video of your swings and post it in the instruction / playing tips section when you can.

That's great to hear. IMO, you're already on the right "path". Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Per the ball flight laws, your clubface is open relative to the swing path and your swing path is more than likely out to in. So, if you want to start hitting that driver straighter, you're going to have to learn how to hit the ball with either a lesser out to in swing path or an in to out one. Sure, you can shorten the driver and this may help somewhat, but you'll see a bigger net gain if you fix your swing faults first.

Agreed. And given that for his last win he took home $1.44M for the tourney and another $10M for the Fed Ex Cup, the $1.1188M check on the line for this last win was "just another day in the park".

This. Went to the golf store after a round a couple months ago. Goofed off checking out new irons, so I pulled a couple of 7i and took some hacks with each on the sim. Carry numbers came back 185--190. With rollout, had a couple break the 200 yard mark. Went to the trunk of my car and pulled out my 7i and tested that. Guess what? Same numbers as the other clubs. I guess my club didn't get the memo that it was supposed to hit the ball that far because on the course, it only went 165 yards.

Maybe he's selling belly irons...

I used to have a 2i and I kind of miss it. Not because I was adept at hitting it well. Rather, because it was longer and I didn't care if the head got scratched up so I would use it for fishing balls out of the water or out of other hazards that I hit into with it. I figured it already cost me a stroke, I wasn't about the suffer the addition indignation of losing a golf ball too.

When this happens to me, it's usually because I've stopped my hip slide too soon--or maybe I fail to engage any at all. From there, I get this chain reaction where I cast the club resulting in the clubhead being "thrown" at the ball. I end up with either this high weak shot to the right or a shank off the hosel. To combat this, I take a couple of practice swings where the length of my backswing is shorter (half, 3/4, whatever), but I swing to a full finish. This seems to ensure that I sufficiently engage the lower half of my body into the swing. From there, the results are usually acceptable.

I agree that too many swing thoughts as well as getting ahead of yourself scorewise can often be counter-productive to performing well. However, you can get some good results with a bad swing, I know I have. But, over the long haul, a bad swing will produce more bad shots than good. Also, you're a 3 and he's a 25? Suffice to say, your swing is pretty refined. OP's swing isn't. He can't "reset" himself to consistently produce a (good) swing that he hasn't learned yet.

Confess away. GF/wives/significant others are banned from this site. Your secret is safe with us.

Great pics Sean. Man, if I had a swing like that, I sure the hell wouldn't be sitting at my desk typing. I'd be on the course playing against my buds getting back all that money I donated to them over the years.