Josh531

I finally, FINALLY shot a bogey round 2 weeks ago, and then again last week. Granted it was only a par 31 nine hole but an accomplishment is an accomplishment.

So in an interesting update to the hooking, I played 2 times at my local par 31, 9 hole course, and did really well (42 and 41 respectively). As far as the new dreaded hook, I didn't. I modified my grip a little and focused on squaring the club face on address. I did draw a LOT more balls with both my irons and my driver (50% of my shots had a draw), but I usually fade my irons and I was also trying a new swing (more arm triangle and wrist power, less lower body) so that could be to blame for the irons. But with the driver, I definitely felt a difference. And just the fact that I didn't hook or pull the ball, and just had a slight draw tells me its getting better since the ball flight is straightening out. Now I just need to control the draw, fade, and straightening of my shots.

So, just for the heck of it, I decided to play my usual ball and a pro v1 today when I went to my home 9 hole par 31. I was lucky that it was only me and my father so I was able to play 2 balls. The Pro V1 was uncontrollable off my driver (no surprise there), but it was amazing with my irons. When I teed up with it on the par 3's, it was a LOT better than my usual Burner (and since I played two rounds, I played burner vs Pro V1 the first round and Mojo vs. Pro V1 the second). I almost feel like playing 2 balls, one for the holes I need to use driver, and one for holes that I use iron! Of course, I'd still like to have just 1 ball. So as soon as I lose all the Burners I have, I'll look into Q-Star, E5, and PD Soft (as I've said before). Thanks again for the advice everyone!

Played my home 9 hole course 2x today. Shot 11 over then 10 over (and for the 5th time this year missed a bogey round by 1 STROKE! ) I did drill my driver 300 yards on one hole, and my irons were spot on today. Oddly though, got 3 pars on the first round, and no pars on the second round, but the second round was more consistant, and I'd rather be consistant then go triple bogey and 3 pars.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA So true. And I'm not a father at all. 27, married...NO kids (at least for now. Maybe in 3 years...at least that's the plan lol).

Just curious how everyone mentally prepares for a round. Obviously, there will be a difference between tournaments and recreational rounds, but I was just curious how some people prep. For me, its just simply running through my head what I want to do. Occasionally I'll listen to some music to focus, but that's just me. What about the rest of you?

I would, in your case, just make sure that they are low-compression balls. 2 reasons for this. First, they are usually pretty cheap. Second, you probably don't swing at very high speeds (115+mpg). I know I CAN swing over 120mph, but I rarely do this anymore as I rarely hit the ball well (if at ALL! LOL). I average a speed of 107mph now and hit the ball MUCH better. I also switched to lower compression balls which allow me to swing slower without losing distance. My point here is that if you use lower compression balls you will be able to slow down your swing and work on its mechanics while not having to lose distance or try to kill the ball with every swing. The ONLY downside is that you will lose almost ALL greenside spin with most low compression balls. I'm at that stage where I need that spin, but the balls I have don't provide any, but at the same time I still can't control the spin off the driver as well as I should to be able to use better balls.

2 things...first, perhaps change your glove. I know that I had a glove that I always felt made me have to grip tighter to avoid the club spinning on impact. That would be my first recommendation...change your glove. Second, based on your scale, grip around a 5, take one extra club than you would normally, and swing easier. That has helped me tremendously just in terms of control. I try and grip light (or strong) and kill the ball, I never get a clean shot. By taking a 9 iron for a 140 yard shot and gripping normally and swinging easy has been a major help than what I used to do, which was take my pitching wedge, grip and swing like I was trying to kill a charging puma and getting it on the green 1/10 times. Much nicer getting it on 8/10 times! Also less blisters and other nastyness.

Actually it makes perfect sense. Although not the same extreme, its the idea of not knowing peace without the existence of war (obviously I just began proving my history "geekness"). Thankfully, I rarely "banana ball" it anymore. They are more like fades or pushes (which i know a push is totally swing path). I do want to pull off a draw (since my regular 9 hole has 2 of them which I usually have to play over the dog leg) but I'd rather consistently hit it straight first lol. And mosnas, I don't usually pull the ball so-to-speak. I listed all the stats up above (I'm honestly just being lazy and not typing/looking them up again! lol).

aha! I changed to a stronger grip because I always sliced! So....i OVER compensated...go figure. Oddly, I use the same grip with my irons and still manage to slice those...but I think that is because I bring my hips around too early with my irons...but that's a totally different thing altogether. Thanks for the tip. I'll post a video of my newer, flatter, swing soon, but obviously with a slightly modified grip.

I know we all tell the ball to "bite" from time to time...but I never thought the ball would bite someone in the @$$

Here is a link to that newer "old" swing. The only real difference between this one and my current driver swing is that I stand a little further from the ball and flattened the swing plane (hence the reason I needed to stand a little further away from the ball). Oh and the reason I kinda "fall" at the end, is because the mat was kinda small. http://www.swingreader.com/video/view/zNZy8UMj

Irony of Ironies....my dad gave me a box of Pro-V1's he found in his closet. He can't hit them to save his life, and they were a gift, so he gave them to me. I'll probably play them till I lose them just to test them...so it was a dozen balls....that will probably last me about 3 holes! Actually, I might just play them on par 3's when I'm just going iron, and use a different ball on long holes...again, until I lose them all. In reality, I'm still tossed on what I'm gonna buy, but I definitely leaning towards the Q-Star, Hex Chrome, or PD Soft. Will probably all come down to whats on sale!

Played a quick 9 with my father for Father's Day. And I played a LOT worse than my scorecard lets off. Although I did have some killer shots, I went 15 over 31 for the round and that was with getting Par on 3 holes . Also topped 25% of my shots which my average is 4.5%. BUT I did manage to 2-putt every hole. So all in all...I'm disappointed with my round, but if the #1 and #2 can get cut from the US Open, that is just proof we all have bad days!!!!

While I'm sure many of us support the spirit behind what your saying, most golf course have it written someone in plain sight (usually on the scorecard) that golf is a sport that has "inherent" dangers and that it is your responsibility to watch for wayward balls. While the statement is meant to protect golf courses from being sued, it would probably protect individuals as well (provided the person wasn't intentionally TRYING to hit someone). Again, I completely support what your saying and how safety is the most important part, there is no legal action that can really be taken

I actually don't mind the bias. I obviously don't have a preference in terms of brand (I am partial to taylormade but like i said, the burners aren't cutting it anymore. But I'll always be partial to their clubs). I've tried all the balls I've listed and I'd be happy with any of them, so I'm more seeing what others play and getting their opinions before spending on them. Of course the decision is still tough. As for titleist velocity, I've never played them. May pick up a sleeve today and give'm a test tun tomorrow for the 9 holes I'm playing with my dad tomorrow for fathers day (the hell I'm trying to get out on fathers day Sunday! Lol)

Down to my last few Taylormade Burners and was looking to go to another ball. While the Burners have good feel off the driver and putter, they don't hold the greens as well as I'd like. I do tend to fade or slice the ball (a LOT less than I used to though) so I was thinking E6, but I was told they don't hold greens that well. Not to mention all the info on different golf balls has my head in knots over what to get. Every single ball I listed is a ball I've played at some point in the past and had no real issues with, so I figured I'd throw it out there to get everyone's opinion. Please don't go too pricey with other recommendations...don't want to spend a fortune on balls, but I'm thinking its time I may want to go to a mid-priced ball instead of the "value" balls I've been getting.

I use a softspike ball marker. I change things slightly based on the brand, but right now I'm using Taylormade Burners and I mark them with a line extending from both sides of the "taylormade" a little so that if I look at green level at my ball, the marking only goes halfway down the ball. I then place a line above and below the "or" in taylormade so I have something to check that my putter face is square at address. Until recently, that's all I did, but when my putting got better a few of my buddies started marking the ball in a similar way, and I noticed more people at my local 9 hole course had similar markings, so I put a green dot under the number on the ball. Its a bit much, but no one ever mistakes my ball. Its also a nice way of knowing you found your ball the next day after losing it on a wayward drive the day before!

Just got the same bag in black and white about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Best stand bag I've ever had. Light and still carries everything I need it to!

Thanks. I'm hoping to get to the driving range later this week (weather here on Long Island, NY stinks this week) and get a video of my swing. I'm also really thinking about what you said about grip. I took out my impact bag at home a few hours ago and my driver and noticed my thumb was on the side of the club and gripping WAY too strong. I'm hoping to test out a slightly easier grip at the range. I'll let all of you know after I go to the range...and hopefully get that video up. And although I HATE advertising, the fact is the stats are completely thanks to swingbyswing tracking every shot with each club.

I have to agree with both posters above me. I'm in a similar situation to you. I'm paying a LOT closer attention to what gear I use and taking my scores far more seriously. But I'm still not investing a ton of money into balls. I doubt I would even spend the money on Bridgestone E6's (although that may change) because I'm just not that good that I need to spend a lot on the ball. I usually stick to "value" balls like Taylormade Burner's or Top Flite's newest balls (found one or two on a course and played them and was quite surprised they aren't rocks anymore). Slazengers are also good cheap balls. The point is, we aren't pros...so avoid pro balls. If you really want to upgrade your ball, go to golf digest. A few months ago they did a thing on best golf balls at 3 different price ranges. That should help you pick a "better ball" without tightening the wallet.

Oh...and I don't use tour level balls. Not only can't I afford them, but they generate WAY too much spin for me to control. I use 2 or 3 piece balls that are low to mid compression. Currently I use Taylormade Burners, but when those are all gone I will probably go for either Bridgestone E6 or Top Flite's version of those (more bang for your buck). Last, my swing speed with the driver was 115mph with my old driver, but with the Burner SF allowing me to slow down for accuracy w/o losing distance, my swing speed is between 100 and 105 mph, which I attribute to my increased accuracy and control with my driver.

Thanks...Just looked up the details on full shot shapes (thanks swingbyswing...and I HATE when ppl act like advertisers, but I happen to think that its awesome to get such detailed stats. Anyway...) Of all the balls that go left, the breakdown is as follows: Draw (Straight then curves): 15% Pull (Straight Left): 35% Pull-Hook (Starts left and goes more left): 50% Don't know if this will help, but when It comes to my drives right the breakdown goes like this: Straight: 15% (up from 5% last year) Fade: 50% (up from 30% from last year) Push: 25% (Down from 35% from last year) Push-Slice: 10% (Down from 30% last year) Unfortunately I don't have a recent video. I have one of my old swing, then a newer swing that I worked on with a friend, but not my most recent one. The most recent swing I use with my driver has a slightly flatter swing path than my old ones. And my OLDEST swing is long gone since, as my friend pointed out, I was slicing because my left arm was bending during my back swing. My newest swing is flatter for 2 reasons. 1) The long shaft of the driver. 2) I had a HUGE wrist cock that caused a LOT of problems and by flattening the swing plane I have a better feel for timing it. Thanks again for any help.

I'd go back to play 9 (if possible) in about 3 months. See if it got better. I know that the course I played this weekend was a LOT better than it was when I played two weeks prior. When I played 2 weeks ago, the fairway grass was so long you could only see half your ball even dead center of the fairway!!!! And the greens were horribly inconsistent in terms of speed. I wound up shooting a 109 on it and that was with shaving off a few strokes because of the fairways (I played with my father and we both agreed we could play mulligans from fairway if needed and not count the first shot at all. We NEVER do this because of speed of play, but the group in front of us was so slow as was the group behind us). But yesterday, it was like a totally different course. Fairways were perfect and the greens were consistent through all 18. All I'm saying is, don't give up on the course because you never know. Although I would complain to whoever runs the course.