mmoan2

I played a nearly 6-hour tournament round in 112 degree heat. Friggin brutal. I went home and passed out for 10 hours.

I'm not discrediting that 240 is a good driving distance. I just don't get a 205 yard 4 iron and a 240 yard drive. When I look at the "What's in your bag" section of Golf Digest, many pros hit their 4 irons 205 yards, but they also hit driver 275+. The ones who hit a 4 iron 220+ are driving the ball 300+. Heck, I hit my 4 iron around 190-200, but driver 260-270 and I suck. I wanted to see the insight from a low HDCP why he's happy with that seemingly small distance gap. Maybe something I could learn, that's all. It looks like he actually put a darn good shaft on his driver to get that distance out of the club.

I disagree with the first statement. In studying it, I know there's a biological component to obsessive drive, I think your environment and upbringing are far more important. Being the youngest vs. oldest child, being a certain size, your peers, luck of the draw, etc. The myriad factors that go into developing one's "drive" are difficult to point out individually, but collectively they form your identity, especially as a youth when you aren't even aware of how your environment forms your identity. I agree with your talent statement to a point, but I think you are selling yourself (and "untalented" people everywhere ) short. I think what is missing is that by the time you are old enough to recognize your own talent and actually do something about it, your proclivities have pretty much been set. No one here would have heard of Tiger Woods if it wasn't for Earl Woods. Tiger has natural talent, but is he "the most naturally talented golfer ever?" I think the fact that he putted against Bobe Hope on TV at 3 years of age was a bigger factor. As an 18 handicap who has only been playing for 2 years starting in your 40s, if your parents had you playing golf every day for hours throughout your youth, I guarantee you'd be a scratch golfer. If you quit your job tomorrow and practiced for 3-4 hours a day, played in tournaments, got the best equipment, a coach, and basically put golf "in your blood" for 10 years, as long as your body held up, you could probably be a scratch golfer. I've known Olympic athletes who were absolutely lost when they played pickup basketball or football with me. Even their basic coordination didn't stand out necessarily.

You hit driver 240 and 4i 205? How/why do you manage that?

I think it's interesting that no one voted for "the drive to make you the best" thing. I think most people discredit just how important that is. Attempting to make a living as a professional athlete in any sport is a huge risk. Forget the talent - if you don't have an absolute killer instinct and indomitable will, you'll likely never get there. You'll "fall back" on a standard career. Not that it's such a bad thing. We all think we want to be professional athletes, but if we really did, maybe we would be instead of talking here about how we don't have the physical traits to do so.

I don't think he's underrated because he hasn't won a lot, but he has had injuries and the vertigo thing. From what I've seen, he looks like he's ready to explode now. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Day, Spieth, McIlroy rivalry for another 10 years. Aussie, Irishman, American - a truly international rivalry. Awesome! Wait a minute ^^^^^^^^ @DeadMan beat me to it!

Good luck. BTW - when did you graduate from BC? I was class of 98.

good points.

That's all right. I liked it. You forgot that he also saved Astoria, Oregon and discovered One-Eyed Willie's treasure years before he made the team!

I don't think anyone disputes that he's on the downhill side of his career. It's a question for most people of whether or not he'll ever win another tournament, let alone a major, or not. I'll make my decision after next year. Tiger leads the first generation of golfers who have put a premium on fitness and nutrition (except for Gary Player, of course!). It's absolutely impossible for a basketball player to stay in the NBA at 45, but golf is different. Tom Watson was one shot away from a major at 58. Let's see...

Seriously, though, mine is very similar to this. I think pre-shot routine on pitching and putting are equally as important, too. My putting routine (until I get around to Aimpoint): Try to beat the other guys to the green to mark ball and get a read from front and back without causing slow play. Final read from behind before picking a target a few feet in front of ball mark - line up ball at the target with the black sharpie line on my ball. A few practice strokes from behind to get a subconscious feel for the speed. Line putter up with black line on ball with right hand. Step into stance with left foot. Look at hole one more time, look back at ball, press putter forward slightly, make stroke. Takes me between 10 and 15 seconds for all steps except the first.

Me too - putting and short game are getting mighty sharp, though... Stay away from me in miniature golf. You'll lose your shirt.

Mrs. Clinton will not be a factor because Bernie Sanders will have eclipsed her by the time the primaries are up, and Kerry and Biden are probably more credible non-uber-progressive Democrats in the long run. The progressives have jumped ship on Clinton, for good reason. If the term RINO (Republican in name only) exists, she should be a DINO (Democrat in name only). She's the reason Trump is in this race - a professional politician whose platform seems to sway the way the voters blow more than the others. This e-mail security thing is really looking bad for her as well.

I agree, but the lack of stats kept in those days makes a true comparison difficult. Surely Hogan in 1953 or Jones in 1930 should be on the list. That's why these GOAT talks in any sport always boil down to "my science is better than your science" in the end, IMO. That's cool, though.

Some other observations: Watching Keegan Bradley golf gives me a headache. He seems like a good guy, but stop putting the itching powder in your drawers, man, seriously! Michael Breed is like the Dick Vitale of golf announcers. Boundless enthusiasm. I tend to enjoy his energetic commentary. Whistling Straits reminds me of a much prettier, greener version of Chambers Bay.

I tend to agree with this. Practice is not game conditions. I heard a really good quote this morning on the PGA Tour podcast, though - the only one who seems happy about Tiger Woods's progress is Tiger Woods. I think a 39 year-old man who just came off of near career-ending back surgery is happy right now to be tinkering with his swing, playing sparingly, and getting into competition again with mixed success. A year ago he was probably pushing too hard and getting a WD in every other event. The fans are expecting too much from this guy too quickly. "Is Tiger back?" is the week-long question that precedes every tournament he competes in. No, clearly he's not. He seems to not be pushing the issue, though. I would expect him to play more next year. I think next year may be the last hurrah - either he plays a full, injury-free season giving the fans a glimpse of what we can expect for his next 5 years on tour, or he continues to fight injuries and never gets back to consistent, top-10-in-the-world-type form. I was fortunate enough to watch much of the "marquee pairing" this morning, and I don't think he was that bad. His putting really let him down. He hit 2/3 of GIR, and his short approaches were often pretty bad. Even though he only hit 50% of fairways, the only tee shot with driver or 3 wood that was way off line was on the long par-5 that he birdied. As a matter of fact, I just checked his stats and he was -2.6 strokes gained putting. There's the big problem. I think tournament consistency can only come through playing in more tournaments. Simple. He seems to be happy taking a long road back. I trust his opinion of himself more than anyone else's.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/win-or-lose-at-the-pga-jordan-spieth-is-having-one-of-golfs-greatest-seasons/ Another perspective: I saw this article on 538 Sports about how Jordan Spieth is having one of the greatest golf seasons ever. It posted a graphic that ranked the best seasons in golf history. Of the Top 20, Jack has 8 and Tiger 7. However, Tiger holds the 1,2,4,5,6,8, and 17 spots while Jack has 3,7,9,10,11,13,16,20. Spieth's is ranked 12 using this methodology, which uses standard deviations above/below all tournament averages for the given year. A pretty common and useful statistical tool. Just something else to add to the fire...

Would it be worth it to post my range sessions on my swing thread where I am working on "stupid monkey" priority pieces? I find that when I try to stay very granular and focus on one thing, especially if it's a half-swing or shorter, I often feel very unathletic and clunky. I wonder at times if I'm getting worse because of it. I know "Feel isn't real," but at some point, isn't that all you have - how your body feels about the swing? I probably shouldn't be too worried about this because today will be the first time I swing a golf club in over a month due to injury. I also just got an iPhone 6, so I have a 240 fps camera. I'll post and any comments are welcome. Thanks people.

I think the difference is that it may no longer be "just an animal". I've done some reading recently and seen that approximately 600 lions are killed for sport on average a year. Estimates say that maybe 25-35k are left in the world. They used to be common in Eurasia, and even the American Great Plains once, but now are in a small part of sub-Saharan Africa. In 50 years, due to poaching, land development, and big game hunting, several species of great beasts may become extinct and it absolutely doesn't have to be that way. I think the attitude that humans are exceptional and more valuable than mere animals could help contribute to that apathy. Will this discussion sway the minds of poachers in Kenya and Uganda? Certainly not. Will I get by in life if no rhinos exist on earth any more? Sure. It just feels awful that the human race can't reach a collective consensus and be better stewards of the glorious world we have the pleasure of living on. We surely can't protect every species, but it would seem strange to me that rhinos, tigers, lions, gorillas, and whatever else would go extinct because we can't stop big game hunting and poaching from happening. I value human life very much, but I tell you what - I'd be infinitely more upset to read tomorrow that the last male Northern White Rhino on earth was shot and killed by some putz to sell the horn than if a car full of drug dealers went driving off a cliff. This is a forum about golf and not social issues, but it clearly shows that certain golfers have deep feelings about more important issues. Isn't that a good thing? If we are having a good discussion, who cares if it takes place in a golf forum, on the CNN message board, or at a bar at 3 AM? I think we are safe discussing this topic here until the discourse gets totally incendiary. I hope the moderators choose not to close it.

Good call. I love that woman, BTW.

Speed dating. That's all I've got...

It's douchey. It's stupid. But come on, are you going to suggest people who yell it be kicked out? I guess half the crowd at the Waste Management Open should be rounded up and put in jail. I'd rather they shoot people on sight who start The Wave at a football or baseball game.

Synchronized swimming Floor gymnastics Sorry, that's funny :)

Something else - you have the same issue I struggle with: swaying hips and a reverse spine angle shift to generate power. Look at my swing thread and you'll see very similar backswing positions. I've been hurt for a while, but I was improving greatly with these problems just before I wrenched my back. I noticed that I really had to exaggerate my rotation to achieve the proper positions. I felt like I was rotating, but I wasn't. Use a mirror. It's a huge help. I literally feel like I'm not only rotating my hips, but sticking my ass out toward the target to avoid shifting back. My body still wants to default to the old method, so I need to exaggerate the rotation. You'll feel very awkward at first. My final advice - work on grip and setup first ONLY. Don't swing a golf club for the next few hours of practice. Seriously. You must get those better to have any chance at all of showing marked improvement. Again, it will feel very awkward. Overexaggerate your "reverse K" setup position. My evolvr coach said I should strive to achieve a setup position where my left arm and the shaft form a pretty continuous line. Your best friend here is a mirror. Even better than a camera. Then the hip rotation thing once you start swinging the club. You will be tempted to revert to your old stance and grip when you actually swing, especially if you are trying to hit balls. Be sure to resist this. It's very awkward. Good luck! I make so many comments because I see much of the same problems I have in your swing. I'm no tour pro yet, but I can see major improvement. Today I plan on hitting balls for the first time in a month to see if anything stuck. I'll probably post some videos soon enough to show you what I mean.