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What? You mean that "S" on my wedge doesn't mean Shovel?

I'll jump in this as well! My current index is 24 and I am wanting to trim 5 shots off that. I have been working on posture, consistent ball position at address and alignment. Just like the previous couple posts I have worked hard on bringing my range swing to the tee box. I have been able to do that for the most part. I will say that it is 100% mental! You really have to NOT care about where your ball will end up. It can't be any worse than when I'm swinging out of my shoes trying to kill the ball. My biggest issues right now are: *practice time - I travel quite a bit for work and when I'm home I play more "practice" rounds than go to the range *as the round progresses, my tee shots start pushing right (not a slice), towards the end of a round my miss is an OTT pull I have taken driver out of my bag and added a 5w, I hit my 3w consistently 235 so I don't feel like I need a driver right now. My misses are smaller and more consistent which has improved my tee game. I have felt that this has been my biggest fault for the past couple years. I'm not taking lessons but am considering it. Improving "on my own" hasn't worked out so well thus far.

It looks like you all feel the same way I do about a rule ilke this! But have you paid any attention to the courses the PGA has played this year? I have noticed ALOT of wooded areas marked as lateral hazards when there is no water. The wooded are between the fairway and a pond should not be a lateral hazard! I think they're scared of one of the well known pros having another Kevin Na 16 stroke hole!

Sorry guys, this is why you pay attention in geometry! If you were to stretch a line from the pin to your ball, this is the radius of your circle that is the distance from the hole. If you proceed to follow that radius around the circumference you will see that if the fence truly runs parallel with the hole, the circumference of your distance to the hole circle will immediately leave the fence line. This leaves a drop area, albeit small, on the inbounds side of the fence. So option 3 is NOT out as you thought, and is probably the better option. To go along with Fourputt's suggestion of playing from the other side of the fence, if it were a solid fence, it is legal to hit the back of the fence to propel the ball forward and off the fence as well.

I'll throw my 2 cents in here by contradicting most everything else that has been posted. Your OP stated that you play only 3-4 times a year and you did not indicate that this was going to change. You also said that your concern was not being embarassed at your fundraiser outing. If these two statements are true, paying for lessons and/or being fitted for a new driver are incredible wastes of money! It will do you no good at all. Lessons will not instill anything if you only pick up a club once every three or four months and a new driver will only make a prettier display in your garage. I would suggest what you have already found, look at youtube. You can get some decent information for free, and with a little effort you can get good enough not to completely embarrass yourself. Another great idea is to post a swing video here, there are alot of great guys who can offer alot of great information IF they have a video of your swing.

I should be able to make the 17th.

I ran into this situation last week and will be playing the same course again this week in competition. On a links style course, my tee shot entered an area of tall fescue. I hit a provisional, just in case I could not find it. Once I got to the area of fescue, it has bordered by red stakes that were not visible from the tee box. I abandoned my provisional because it was hit not knowing that this was a hazard. Was this correct? Or was I obligated to play my second ball beacause in the case that the ball was hit into a hazard I was not entitled to a provisional? This is an important question for me, because during the competition it mat affect what I do if a competitor hits into this area and wants to hit a "provisional"

I'm playing to about a 22 right now. I've been measuring all of my drives on my SkyCaddie so I know pretty well how far I drive. Total drive, not carry. My shorter drives are around 230 with my longer ones out to 280. I'm "averaging" around 240ish. My trouble is still off the tee! I have been taking around 10 penalty strokes per round recently. I either slice one OB, lost or in the water or I smoke one 250 down the middle. So my "average" tee shot is 2 out of 3 are great (either in the fairway or within a few yds), the other 1 is gone, hitting 3 off the tee.

I bought a 50* simply because it "fits" in my overall wedge selection. PW=45, GW=50, SW=55, LW=60. I've got a consistent 5* gap. I believe your selection should not be based on a single club, but how you chose to build your "set" of wedges.

I'm definately up for it, but it really depends on when. I will be spending most of my fall in CA for work, coming home every other weekend. So I got a 50/50 shot?

There are a ton of great courses in the area! You can find some super weekday or weekend afternoon rates at most courses.

Here is a chart from Golf Digest for 2013. I am putting the Callaway Hex Chrome into play tonight, changing from the e6 for exactly the reasons you mention. I tried a sleeve of ProV1s last week but had too much spin on my driver. The e5 has an even higher spin rate off the driver. So I decided I liked the driver spin of the e6 but wanted more half wedge spin around the greens. Following this chart made selecting a new ball easy, now to see if it actually works.

I was behind a foursome playing a scramble format on Saturday, they were still crazy slow! This is something that, I agree, should be promoted by the USGA. I also played a very slow round on Sunday at a local muni Par 3 course. At the par 3 I never complained, THIS is where the less experienced and new golfers SHOULD be playing. I agree that slow play is an issue with more experienced golfers as well, but I feel that the USGA should be promoting these small courses more for beginner players and try keeping them off the regulation courses until they are better suited for the course. I have to drive an hour to find a par 3, they are becoming extinct here, courses seem to be trying to be bigger and longer, following the lead of the PGA.

I believe this actually stems from a tournament late in the season last year when Phil showed up with a TM 3 wood. Phil was out driving the others that were using driver and hitting way more fairways. Obviously Callaway is paying him too much to carry that club every week, but I think they're still trying to re-create one for Phil.