Rudyprimo

I don't think shaping shots is overrated at all. It's very important in shaving some strokes off your score when your handicap gets low and gets harder and harder to get it any lower. It's for advanced players though, not for beginners or high handicappers. Besides being able to get around a tree or dogleg or whatever, it allows you to hit safely onto greens with tough pin placements. You can aim to the middle of the green and then baby fade or draw it to the flag where if you don't shape it the ball should still end up on the green. Watching golf on TV it seems the pros are always trying to shape it one way or another, even off the tee, or even hitting a stinger like Tiger and some of the other players do. I didn't find it too hard to learn how to fade the ball. Hitting a draw was a lot harder for me and I never got good enough where I could rely on it consistently. I think carrying a lob wedge is a big help too. I don't use it much but the 4-6 times I might use it in a round really helps. Instead of using a lower lofted wedge and opening up the face it's much easier for me to hit the lob wedge with the sole lined up square to the target and swing straight through instead of trying to cut across the ball. Looking at the "What's in the bag" I'm surprised to find quite a few pros who don't carry a lob wedge. They'd rather carry another long iron or fairway wood. But these guys are really skilled with the wedges they carry and can hit any kind of shot they want with them.

People that won't fix their ball marks on the green or replace their divots in the fairway. I have three sons in their early twenties who started golfing the past two years and they not only fix their own marks and divots but will fix some others if we're waiting to hit. I smoke a few cigarettes while playing but I take a small enclosed ashtray with me that I put in the cupholder on the cart. It drives me nuts to find cigarette butts anywhere on the course, but especially on the greens or tee boxes. As a smoker I feel somewhat obligated to pick up any butts I find at those two places. I don't get crazy with it but I'll pick up a couple of them and put them in my pocket. Any kind of littering bothers me.

I have no idea what I would shoot, just getting back into golf after a long absence. But I think some guys on here have an unrealistic view of their golfing ability. I think Tom Coyne who wrote "Paper Tiger" has a much more realistic view of the difference between a scratch golfer and the pros than anyone on this forum. Coyne worked his way down to a +.4 handicap. He competed to try and get on the tour. He shot in the high 70's, 80's and had one round over 90. He was not playing courses as hard as Augusta when set up for the Sunday round. To quote him from his book, "Scratch ain't **** . Amateurs who are scratch players simply can't play. They are the mere masses who make up the bottom of the pyramid". Steve Stricker shot a 77 today. And some on here think they could shoot that score too. I don't think so. Being a scratch golfer is a big accomplishment and I respect anyone who can do it. But you are not just a few strokes worse than a touring pro.

That all adds to the mystique. It also shows what a bunch of control freaks the members/organizers are.

That's really good of you to help him out. I don't think there's as much of that today, friends being there when they need help, as there used to be. He has a diet from his doctor so he should follow it. I was going to post something until I read that. But anyway, it's very important to count calories and for a guy like him that should be about 2000 calories a day that he should stay under. Also, cut way down on the carbs. You need to lose weight the right way a little at a time, like 1-2 lbs. a week. You have to do both diet and some kind of exercise.

With Craig Stadler mentioned several times, it brings back the memory of what he did on the first tee at his first Masters Tournament. Total whiff. I didn't see it but I read it in the paper. With all the golf I watched over the years, I have never seen or heard of a PGA player totally whiffing his shot. That first hole is intimidating, with it being the first shot of the tournament and it's a narrow fairway.

ANGC will eventually change it's policies when, like another poster said, the old members die off. There's only about two dozen males only golf clubs left out of 4500 golf clubs in this country according to an article in Golf Digest. Slowly, clubs have been changing their policies over the past 20 years or so. Butler National hosted the Western Open for 16 straight years and gave it up instead of opening their membership requirements. They're in the process of changing their policies right now and they are also petitioning the PGA to host events there again. They would especially like to host an U.S. Open. Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton gave up hosting the Walker Cup in 1993 instead of changing. They eventually changed anyway and hosted the Walker Cup again in 2005. ANGC will change too. Personally I see nothing wrong with a private club only admitting members they choose. That's one of the freedoms in this country. I know I would never be admitted there even if I had the money to join. I'd love to play the course but I wouldn't want to be socializing with the type of people they have as members anyway.

Hunter Mahan 275 Bo Van Pelt 277 Rory McElroy 278

Make sure you're still hitting down on the ball and not scooping it a little. Tee it low and take a divot after you hit the ball first.

Actually "Webb" gave himself away as a phony early in his posts when someone asked him how he got the name Webb. He replied it means nothing, his parents just liked the name. The real Webb Simpson gave an interview to a NY Times reporter last September 13th while playing at Cog Hill. His full name is James Frederick Webb Simpson. He was named after his Grandfather, his mother's father, whose name was James Frederick Webb. The name Webb definitely has meaning to him, and the phony didn't do his homework well enough. An early April Fools joke maybe?