Raidermatt

Currently a 29.0, which is the first month I've ever been below 30. Down from 34.8 that I was at most of last year, and 36.4 that I've been at pretty much since I started playing about 8 years ago. So I'm definitely still a high-handicapper, but I am FINALLY making progress I'd say woods and chipping/pitching. At 29.0 I obviously need work in all areas, but I'd say those are the weakest. Been playing about 8-9 years, so I'm not a new player, but I also didn't play at all when I was a kid. I'm trying to get in a round or two every month now. I practiced pretty regularly for the first year or so after I started playing, and made some progress. I went from shooting 130's to 110-125. But then the progress stopped and so, of course, I stopped practicing for the most part. But last year I finally started to understand what it meant to swing without tension and that helped quite a bit even without the practice. This year I've been practicing when I can, mainly just a small bucket or short game on my lunch. Honestly not sure. I've been using the HX Hot, which is a mid-priced ball, because of the low driver spin ratings I've seen it get. But since my swing has been changing lately, it's tough to really tell if the ball helps. I've taken the approach that if I'm getting better, then I can consider some new equipment. Partly as a reward to myself, and partly because I know that the equipment alone isn't going to help THAT much. So that's why I hadn't really got anything new for the last 7 years or so, but this year I did get some new clubs. Very true. People ask if I like this or that club that I have, and I usually say "Yeah, but if I make a bad swing/stroke it still doesn't help".

Sorry if I mis-heard, but I thought there was a comment on the GolfTalk podcast that the LPGA wasn't on TV last weekend (The Safeway whatever at Superstition Mountain), but it was. All four rounds were on The Golf Channel. All of the LPGA events so far have been televised, with the exception of the tournament in Mexico. Again, sorry if I didn't hear the comment correctly, but I wanted to clear it up just in case. Thanks.

As others have said, it's a classic issue in all parts of life. Some people are sent to the best private schools, some go to school in places that have to have metal detectors and a police presence. Everybody else is somewhere in between. Regardless, your education will be what you make it. Same with golf, other sports, work, you name it. Some will always have more advantages than you, some will have less. All you can control is how you respond to your own situation, and that is what will determine how successful you will be.

To me, there's really two issues. One is just controlling anger so I don't get destructive. That's just bad form no matter how you look at it, and if it happens on the golf course, it can happen anywhere. For that, I think you just have to find a way to calm yourself before you break a club, throw a club, or hurt somebody. A deep breath often does it for a lot of people, but whatever it is for you, it's a good idea to find it before something worse than breaking your own club happens. Once you have that under control, it becomes a matter of thinking about your actual game. I haven't had issues with throwing clubs or anything, but certainly bad shots can frustrate me. What I've finally come to understand very recently is that the single biggest thing CAUSING my bad shots was tension in my swing. Tension from trying to hard, from frustration, etc. So it's a bit of a vicious cycle... tension causes bad swings, bad swings cause more tension, and so on. What's helped me before I take a shot is to make sure my practice swing is completely loose and tension free. Yes, I try to make a "good" swing, but that comes with practice and repetition. Once I'm on the course, my #1 thought is RELAX. Take the club back slowly and keep the swing loose. Even though I hardly practiced and only played about 6 rounds last year, my handicap went from over 36 to 32. As of 3/1 I'm now down to 30.5. I spent about 7 years at 36.4 (that's the highest they recognize for men). I can now practice and actually work on my swing in a productive manner. When there was so much tension, it was pointless for me to try to make any mechanical changes because (I think) they were all being caused first and foremost by the tension. I tried of course, but practice was mostly just an excercise in futility. Not so anymore. I can feel and see the improvement, and it just gets me out to the range even more. I can't say for sure that this is the root cause of anybody else's problems, but if you are throwing and breaking clubs after your swing, I'm going to guess you are winding yourself up WAY too tightly during your swing as well.

If you throw yourself in front of a moving car is it the motorists fault if he hits you? "Cause" is the key word. Mr. Three Putt makes a good point that it sometimes is going to depend on the circumstances. Maybe it's because of the ridiculous home values in this area, but it seems many developers are putting the houses WAY to close to the course to reasonably expect them not to get hit quite a bit. I know if it's my property I expect people to take reasonable care not to damage it, but at the same time, I have a reasonable responsibility to keep it out of harm's way. That's the way I look at it anyway.

Wie is a special case and for all of the criticism of her, I have a hard time going along with a lot of it. Unlike Fujikawa, she has enough sponser money to fund the rest of her life, if she chooses to do so. She is also getting to attend one of the most academically prestigous schools in the country. If she doesn't let the struggles on the course negatively affect her overall outlook on life, she is going to be just fine. Maybe a pro golfer, maybe not, but certainly she has not ruined herself in anyway. Fujikawa is different in that (A), he isn't going to make anywhere near the endorsement money Wie gets, and (B) he's not the natural phenom Wie is. But the same principle applies. If he stays strong mentally no matter what happens on the course, he's going to get a lot of opportunities that he wouldn't have otherwise received. I tend to think that in MOST cases, if somebody has the mental and physical tools, they will eventually succeed. So if Fujikawa and Wie really have all of "it", they will do well in time. If they don't, whether the issue is mental or physical, they are still better off taking the opportunities when they are open to them, because they will eventually close.

It's funny, there's a lot of sports announcers out there that it seems a lot of people hate, yet many of them stick around for decades. I think Johnny Miller does a very good job. Is he perfect? Of course not, but the question becomes who are they going to get that is going to be BETTER? Be able to to all of the analysis and top notch experience Johnny does AND conduct themselves professionally and with a personality everybody will like? That's a very short list. In fact it's probably a blank sheet of paper. I actually think both CBS and NBC have put together a couple of pretty good announcing teams. I think overall I do prefer CBS, but NBC is good too.

I actually think the jerk factor is a bigger problem on golf courses than slow play. Some people just never learn that they are the only one who believes the world revolves around them.

Since the question is who SHOULD be responsible, I answered the homeowner. I realize that's not the legally correct answer, but there are many cases of the law not being strong with common sense, and this is one of them. Errant shots are a reasonable thing to expect on a golf course. Just like wild pitches, foul balls and broken bats at baseball games. The fan accepts this risk when he buys a ticket, and the same should be true of a homeowner who buys a house on a golf course.

As others have said, I think your theory is correct. I'm a recovering slicer myself and still fight it, though to an ever lessening degree. The problem with slicing is it rarely is consistent. Sure, I would lineup and aim left, but I could never guarantee whether I'd slice back into the middle or clear across to the other side. What's more, a head wind makes the slice worse, so a high spinning ball becomes even harder to control. So yes, a ball with low spin off the driver should help a bit. Of course, as everyone told me when I asked this question, the real solution is to stop slicing, but I'm sure he knows that. A weak grip and too much tension in my swing were the primary culprits for me. The weak grip encouraged an open club face, which of course is the real reason for a slice, and then the tension resulted in a steep outside in swing path, and resulted in all kinds of other issues. Like I said, I've still got issues, but it's getting better. But yeah, the best ball should be one with low driver spin. It also seems most slicers don't benefit much from spin around the green, so it's not likely he needs that anyway. If he needs to have a "name" ball, from what I know the Callaway HX Hot has low driver spin.

When you talk about cost you have to look at what alternative sports/activities cost. $25 twilight greens fees might not sound like too much, but it's $20-25 more than it costs in most cases to play basketball, tennis or go hiking. Plus, that's twilight rates (and pretty darn good ones for this area), and it's per person. And if twilight doesn't fit your schedule, you're out a lot more. There's ways to get cheap clubs and balls, but most thinking of taking up golf don't know about those "tricks of the trade". Further, even cheap clubs aren't really cheap when you consider a basketball can be bought for $10. Sure, if you play tennis you have to buy tennis balls, but you aren't likely to lose any either, so you only need 1 or 2. Then, what does everybody tell a new golfer who wants to be able to play without embarassing him/herself? Get some lessons and practice. There's more money. When you break it down, golf is pretty expensive when you compare it to a lot of other activities. This becomes even more true when you consider how difficult a game it can be for a beginner.

I leave it in for downhillers, take it out for uphillers. My reasoning being I shouldn't have much of a problem with running the ball well past the hole going uphill, so I shouldn't need the pin to stop the ball. Going downhill speed becomes tougher to control so I prefer to have the pin just in case.

Here's what I do when I want to keep the ball low through the wind or under a tree: 1- Play the ball back in my stance. 2- Set my hands ahead of the ball. 3- Try to maintain that wrist angle through the backswing and follow-through. 4- Focus on making a low sweeping swing. 5- Take about a 3/4 backswing. One thing I fight with this is keeping the swing nice and relaxed while still maintaining the wrist angle. When I do misfire, it's almost always a hook.

Played on Saturday and shot 104 at a course with a 70.8 rating and 130 slope (from the whites). As you can see from my handicap, that's actually a good score for me. I've been practicing a lot lately and feel like I'm really making progress so I was anxious to get a round in. A storm was coming in but other than the wind and a few sprinkles, we were able to escape unscathed. I had 4 pars including 3 in a row which is a first for me. After a top on the 1st tee I drove the ball pretty well. Irons were pretty good with the exception of two five irons I pulled into the water on two different holes. Wedges were decent. Was in bunkers at least 5 or 6 times but got out in reasonable shape each time. Didn't putt very well. 3 3-putts and only 1 1-putt.

I agree, but I don't blame Wie for that. She's not forcing The Golf Channel to follow her around with cameras. That's their choice.

I like KJ a lot as well. I think he's doing a great job of maximizing his talent and showing consistent improvement. He doesn't seem to get rattled at all.

I was taken aback by the question when I heard it, but it was more in the phrasing than the conent. It's a legit question and ignoring what everybody is thinking would be "wimpy" journalism. But I do agree it could have been phrased a little differently. Fortunately for everybody, Cink took it in the spirit in which it was intended and handled it like a gentleman. I respect him for that, not to mention that he's a heck of a player who was a 1/2 inch away on a lot of putts from at least making it an interesting match.

17* and 20* Nike Sumo² as replacements for the 2 and 3 iron. The problem I had with the 2 and 3 irons is that I rarely made great contact with them so they usually didn't go much further than my 4 iron. Sure, I'd catch them good once in awhile, but not enough to be reliable. I've been practicing, but still, I make much more consistent contact with the hybrids. I've also found that I can hit a lower, boring shot with them by moving the ball back in my stance and putting my hands in fronth of the club, just maybe not as low as I could with the irons. (I actually hit the "stinger" shot with those irons better than I could hit a regular full shot) The hybrids seem to get through just about any rough with minimal twisting, and I think the shorter shaft length helps me be a little more consistent than I would be with a 5 or 7 wood.

To me this is a bit like comparing Jim Brown to Walter Payton/Emmitt Smith/Eric Dickerson/etc. Jim Brown had the best averages of any running back ever, and some say he IS the best ever. But he retired early and never PROVED he could accomplish the things the other guys eventually accomplished. I'm not saying he couldn't have or wouldn't have, but we have to give credit to guys who actually did it. Comparing Jack to Tiger at this point is kind of the same thing. Tiger has outperformed Jack up to this relative point in their careers, but Tiger is yet to accomplish most of the things Jack did. Tiger has possibly had the best 9 years or so that any golfer has ever had. But I still have to give the nod to Jack at this time. He PROVED he could keep the focus necessary for the long term. Honestly, I fully expect Tiger to continue on and win 20+ majors and break most of the other records out there. But until he actually does it, I still have to say Jack is THE man.

I was finally watching the first round of the Turtle Bay event on the DVR and at one point when I saw Paula's brows the first thing that came to mind was Groucho Marx.

I think you handled it well, and fortunately, they weren't jerks about it. Nobody has the right to jump or play through and then make you wait. I understand slow play is frustrating. I figure that if I can shoot what I do and keep up, just about anybody should be able to keep up. But at the same time, I see a lot of people getting p'd off about slow play when there's really nothing they can do about it that won't inconvenience others. Jumping holes and then making others wait, or hitting into the group in front of you is not going to help the situation and often just makes it worse. I don't like waiting, but the only time it really bugs me is when it's getting dark, as was the case in your situation.

I know I'm a little late but thought I would share what I know since I have played all the Disney courses at least once. You can make tee times 90 days in advance. I just double checked their website just to make sure. Perhaps there is a limitation if you are using the DVC discount, not sure. We are DVC members but we visit in the summer and there is a price cut at 10am so we are able to get tee times for $50-$75. No special membership required, but I do believe the price is higher if you are not staying on Disney property. Eagle Pines / Osprey Ridge: Eagle Pines is closed permanently. Disney is selling and leasing some WDW property to The Four Seasons and TFS will be building a resort there, including some vacation ownership properties. Eagle Pines and Osprey Ridge are included in this property. There will be a "championship" golf course on the property, but it's not yet clear if it will be a renovated Osprey Ridge, or a completely new course. However, Osprey Ridge will eventually close at least temporarily for the changes. (Unless the whole deal falls apart, but the announcement has been made) Lake Buena Vista - Not one of my favorites. Part of it runs through the Old Key West resort, which gives it the same feel you get when you play a course that runs through a new housing development. Not particularly interesting, but certainly opinions will vary. Palm / Magnolia - The Magnolia is a little longer, the Palm a bit tighter and with more water. I find the Palm more interesting and fun to play, even though it can eat up wayward drives. The courses have always been in good shape when we've been there, and the service has also been good. If you play the Palm/Magnolia, the best place for a 19th hole is "Evergreens", which is actually part of the Shades of Green resort, which is a resort for the use of the various U.S. military branches. But Evergreens is a sports bar open to everyone. The guys working at the course can tell you how to get there. It's a short cart ride.

This game is hard enough for us hackers without trying to change something that's working, so I agree with the other posters, go with it while it works. I will say that I was also playing the ball back in my stance for all of my irons because I hit the ball better that way. But as I've started coming less outside/in with my swing path, and also since I strengthened my grip, I've found I'm getting better results playing the ball more in the middle for my short irons, and gradually further up for longer irons/hybrids/FWs. So I'd say do it while it works, but be open to changing it later if you make other improvements in your swing.

I try to think about what made things go so bad. Was my swing just out of kilter? Did I try to do too much? Did my score suffer because I didn't know the course, and hit shots I shouldn't have? Was the putter ice cold? Did I lose myself mentally? If it's swing thing, relax and hit the range, and as joseywales posted, focus on the basics. Not only should this get the confidence right back up, it might also reveal what was going wrong on the course, and maybe give you some ideas for addressing it on the fly next time. If it was not knowing the course, I file that away and try to remind myself that I probably should play a little more conservatively when I play unknown courses. Bad decisions? For me, this usually means not being smart about staying away from the potential trouble, or not getting the info I needed from the yardage book. And then did I let all of the above get me frustrated and out of focus? If so, again, I need to learn from that and keep my cool when making decisions and making my shots. So I try to put the bad feelings from the round behind me, but at the same time I do try to use it constructively.

I was in 5 leagues this year. Yes, I have a problem. I won one league, finished 3rd in two others (I was the #1 seed in one but lost my first playoff game), missed the playoffs on a tie-breaker in the 4th league, and struggled mightily in the 5th league. That 5th league was partly a few bad moves on my part, and partly injury issues.