LarryK

Or you might think that 90% of the viewing audience had no interest in anyone other than Tiger, and that pretty much is close to the truth. When Tiger is on, he makes a lot of money for a lot of people. You bet they are going to milk it. And he also just happens to usually be making golfing history in the bargain. But in fairness, where was all the butt smooching at the US Open? After he missed the cut, it was pretty much hard to tell he had been there from the TV coverage. So you can hardly accuse television of creating a phenom that wouldn't otherwise exist. But would TV rather have a final pairing that included Tiger versus J J Henry battling Jeff Maggert? Uh, yeah, I'm thinking so.

Couples is the master, but after spending an hour watching the pros on the driving range last Saturday at the International, I was amazed at how many of them have that same basic tempo. Even Bubba Watson wasn't swinging that hard, but he is so tall and his arc is so wide the ball just rockets off the face. Everyone seemed to swing a lot smoother in person than they often appear on TV.

Worthy nominees, both, but I have to go with the 16th at the Golf Club at Bear Dance http://www.beardancegolf.com/golf/golf_hole16-t.html . Par 4, 378 yds (from where I hit it) or 431 from the back porch. One hundred and forty foot elevation drop from the tee to a not quite generous fairway leaves an interesting pitch over a pond to a large back-to-front sloping green. The single most beautiful hole I've ever played.

I got hooked on golf about 10 years ago when I worked for a major telecom company. Although I had fooled around on a few par 3 and executive length courses, my first full regulation 18 holes was at the TPC at Scottsdale Stadium course compliments of my company's Re-use Division. I really knew next to nothing about the game and had an underappreciation of where I was, but I have never again putted greens that rolled that true. Scored 140, not counting the hand toss onto the green at 15 after three balls in the water.

I think it is a bit much to expect a 16-year-old to take on the role of an employer and fire someone twice their age. It's not as if she's Tiger dumping Fluff, who, if memory serves correctly, also got the word from an intermediary.

Ernie is a great choice, but I'm going to go with Chris DiMarco with a top 20 finish by David Duval. I played with a guy last week who claimed to be Duval's sometimes caddie and he was saying how much it meant to DD to play well before the home crowd. Meanwhile, I'm trying to decide whether to play this Saturday or go out and watch the pros. On the one hand, I'm probably going to move back east this winter so this may be my last chance. On the other hand, it's always more fun to play golf than to watch golf.

A show of hands please from all those who thinks she's still good to finish in the top five. Hmmm. Looks like the crowd has thinned out a bit. Hate to say I told you so but,........well.........nawww, not really. I certainly don't wish Michelle ill. I look forward to seeing her win, but I could just smell this one coming a mile away.

There is no doubt about it. Short game and putting is the most important part of the game, but I am in full agreement with Ghost Runner that solid, consistent ball striking is the most important part of my game, because it is what I do so poorly. Your hypothetical example implies that just about any weekend sod cutter can get somewhere around the green in only (on average) two strokes. Define "around". My short game is fair. I love to chip. If I am just short of or roll through the green, I like my chances to get up and down for par. But if I spray a wedge 20 yards wide in the short side rough, "around" isn't helping me much. I lose way too many strokes between tee and green. I would love to play golf with a high degree of confidence that I actually knew where the ball was about to go. Solid, consistent ball striking is my holy grail.

Okay. But I do think you are correct that she will find more challenge on British type courses than those here in the states. I just think that challenge will push her down the leaderboard a bit more than others obviously think. Plus, she has been playing SO well she's due for a change -- either to win this thing or fall off form just a bit. I just think all the ingredients are present for a slight stumble. Certainly not a train wreck. Just a minor derailment.

Agreed. No better than 8th or 9th.

If all else fails, consider an equipment change. I am always suspicious when I find any club that I can't hit for crap ever . It has happened to me twice. One, in fact, was a 56-degree Vokey, which I was really excited to get used because, hey, it's a Vokey. But I could never find the sweet spot. No matter where the ball went, it felt like a "clank". Traded it in for a Hogan gap wedge because the rest of my set is Hogan and I hit them reasonably well. Seems to have worked. Second time, was a Nike 3W that I couldn't get 10 feet off the ground no matter how much I adjusted my swing or ball position. Took it back to the store and swapped it out for an Adams Ovation. Problem solved.

Yeah, no kidding. How in the world do you accuse a 16-year-old girl of choking who consistently racks up top five finishes in major professional tournaments? How about this for the next poll question: Of whom does the golfing public have the more skewed perspective and unrealistic expectations? Tiger or Michelle?

I can relate. This past Saturday I shot 91 and hit maybe two fairways. On Sunday, I shot 87 and hit 10 of 14 fairways. The difference, primarily, was grip pressure. Tight on Saturday, light on Sunday. You've got to get a handle on this (so to speak) or you are going to find it incredibly difficult to score well. Try this exercise. Hold a five or six iron out away from you at waist level. Toe up perfectly square club face. Nice, light, soft, gentle grip. Think about that soft grip pressure for a good 15 - 20 seconds. Now instantly squeeze that handle as quickly and as tightly as you can. What just happened to the club face? Open? Close? Did the clubhead move forward or back? Up or down? If any of those things happened, they are probably happening if you do the same thing at impact. And it won't matter much how soft your grip was as you were going back. Get it out of your head that you "hit" the ball with your hands. You swing the club through the ball with your shoulders . The hands just hold the club so that you don't have to chase it along with the ball. Of course, if you are swinging as hard as you can, it follows that you might be hanging on tighter in order to simply hold the club at all. If that is the case, try swinging slower and smoother and taking one more less lofted club for the same distance. Good luck. You're going to love what happens if you can fix this.

I find myself rooting (or not rooting) for Tiger based largely on the circumstances at hand. When I find myself on his side, it is usually for all the reasons you mentioned and the fact that another major step in golf history is about to be made. But as exciting as that is, sometimes it is even more exciting to watch an underdog slay a Goliath. I was kind of pulling for DiMarco in the head to head at the Masters, and I wouldn't have been thoroughly disappointed to see him win the Open as long as it would not have been the result of Tiger pulling a Philly Mick. Thank, God, that didn't happen. I'm a fan of great golf. And whenever Tiger wins it is highly likely we have seen great golf. But if I'm rooting against him it is because I'm anticipating someone is about to play even greater golf and for whom the victory might personally mean a little more or who may be just as deserving from a personal standpoint.

Not that you asked, other than rhetorically, but let me volunteer how I feel about it. If we can agree on the obvious -- that we are pretty much a judging society and that one of the cherished elements of our freedoms of thought and speech is to freely render judgements, then it should hardly be surprising to anyone that others would just as freely pass judgement on those opinions and expressions we freely offer. I swear, sometimes I think that is the very reason Al Gore invented the internet. The more relevant question within the context of this forum, it would seem to me is, what grand benefit(s) do we derive from constructing and implementing a mechanism that seeks to assign a numerical ranking to something as subjective, emotionally sensitive and potentially transitory (ask Ken Lay - oops too late!) as one's reputation. The question is not how the system works. The question is why is it even here and what value does it provide other than to allow the majority to assign the mark of Cane or give its collective stamp of approval? Who needs either one? Perhaps our moderator will share his rationale with us. But I will tell you this Erik. At the risk of speaking on behalf of others, I sense people get a little bit suspicious and nervous when you make statements like "... I may delete more. I don't want to delete more, so stop the petty stupid shit." I believe I have raised a not-so-rhetorical question as to the value and purpose of this rating system that is neither petty, stupid or 'shit'. Nor would I be quick to make such an assessment of someone else(s) posts. I would be concerned that my reputation (not to be confused with someone's numbers) might suffer. In the meantime, my reputation is a 12. But the thing I am proudest of is that I have steadfastly ignored that silly number ever since it was a two.

I would strongly encourage you to go to a demo day at a local driving range and pick a six (or seven) iron from about four or five different manufacturers in a set that you think you might like. Keep your comparison as "apples-to-apples" as possible, (i.e. don't try to compare blades to cavity backs - duhhhh - or mix shaft flexes between different manufacturers). A good half hour of hitting these "identical" clubs should give you a pretty good idea of which one feels the best and gives you the most desired ball flight. It's fairly safe to assume that "feel" will manifest itself throughout the rest of the set. That's how I fell in love with my Hogans, and I've never been sorry.

A little bit. It is certainly not hard to envision a course that goes 69/140 eating me for lunch. I can certainly believe that harder courses punish bogey golfers more than they punish scratch golfers. Got that! But it is harder for me to get my head around the fact that a scratch golfer might be more likely to shoot a higher score on a course with a slope of 115 than he would on a course with a slope of 140. That's where I'm still having a bit of trouble. It just doesn't seem logical. But I will take your word for it. One thing is for certain. I don't shoot at specific areas of the fairway, and I don't shoot at specific portions of the green. The writer definitely got that part right!

Why is that? I'm not understanding why one figure is more relevant to a specific handicap index.

Thanks for the info, CD. As for playing in the heat, it was 100+ here in Denver today and I still played. Of course, as they say, it ain't the heat, it's the humidity. And being from Louisville, KY, (and probably moving back there this winter) don't I know that. It can be 83 there and you're miserable because the temperature and dew points are so close together. Soaking wet with sweat and it's not really that hot. If I do go back to KY it will likely be in November. Maybe I can swing by and you could give me the nickel tour. I'll keep you advised Thanks, again.

I didn't think I had any until today. 160-yeard Par 3 16th. Pond front and left holds approximately 50% of my tee shots here over the years. As we pull up to the tee, I see a guy in the foursome in front of us hitting from the drop area. I immediately looked away. It just felt like bad karma to watch somebody hitting from the drop area. Guess it sort of worked. Instead dunking it in the pond, I hit a six-iron flush to the left back fringe. Unfortunately, the pin was front right and I couldn't get down for par. But a dry bogey still felt better than a wet double.

Here in the metro Denver area, we have some outstanding golf and a lot of it, but the cheapest municipal courses run about $25 on the weekends plus $11 or $12 bucks for a 1/2 cart. Top of the line public courses go for about $100 on the weekends and occasionally include the cart. I have been looking for a great residential/golf combo deal like yours in preparation for retirement in about six or seven years. Hot Springs sounds tough to beat. My only concern is the winter weather. I closely watched daily temperatures last winter and it looked like the only really reliable area for 60-degree days and above was nowhere north of Waco,TX. I really want to play year round. How realistic is it to do that in Hot Springs? It would seem even a bit tougher in Bella Vista. Am I wrong (sure hope so)?

IN-CREDI-BLE!! To me it's not just that his head is so still, it's that nothing is moving laterally. Hips. Shoulders. Everything just turns. And even the hips don't turn as much as I would have thought. I haven't seen anything that perfect since someone e-mailed me nekkid pictures of his wife.

Geez, it's not enough that you have to play against the course or grapple with your own expectations for yourself. You've gone so far as to question whether or not you are living up to the expectations of your playing partners. It's a wonder you have any room left in your head for swing thoughts How about getting back to what makes golf fun and satisfying for you, whether it is improving a particular aspect of your game, feeling that squish when you just pure a swing, visiting other courses, morning dew on the grass, etc.? As for not being where you should be, how do you really know where that is? What happens when you arrive? What if you don't? Does it really matter? I think you just need to stop and smell the roses, and with an index of 3.2 (forget whether that makes you a scratch golfer) you've got a lot of roses.

As I 16 handicap, I may be more than a bit presumptuous giving advice to a nine, but what the hell, here's something else to try. From what you've described I would be willing to bet you may be doing one or more of the following that is causing you problems. 1. Since you really don't trust your chipping and it is stressing you out, you may be tightening your grip at address and tensing up in the forearms. Only you know for sure. 2. If so, that might produce a short, choppy, handsy stroke (even if you don't break your wrists on the follow through) 3. If your swing into the ball is too shallow, the slightest error will produce a blade or a chunk (depending on which side of the spectrum you err). So.........repeat after me: "If I am a good putter, I should be a great chipper". And you should be. Especially if you copy most of your putting stroke for your chipping around the green. And what are the elements of that putting stroke that work so well for you? Let me guess: Light, easy grip pressure? More shoulder rotation and less active hands? A longer smoother stroke where the follow through matches the back swing? (If you don't "stab" at putts, why would you stab at chips?) Like Johnny Rockets suggests, a less lofted club might help your subconscious trust the idea of a putting motion a bit more. From 10 yards or so off the green, I'm wondering if a 56 degree isn't telling you to swing it harder than you should. So, smooth it out. Lengthen the swing and keep it loose with whatever club you choose. I really believe you develp "touch" with your shoulders, not your hands.

The "Check Go" I believe it's called. Tried a demo model one day standing in line at Golfsmith. Turned it on, found the "center" and discretely placed a mark on the ball. Spun it up a second time. The mark I had just made was nowhere in sight. Hmmmmm???