sofingaw

Like many have said, and like I also do.. You groove a swing and can make immediate adjustments on the range until you get desired results, with no penalty. On the course, the stakes are higher, even in a practice round, and certainly when playing in competition or with others. And every shot counts and can’t be ‘done over’ without heavy penalty. Tension comes with knowing this for most of us. Add to that a long list of variables, including uneven lies, pace of play concerns, and club changes swing to swing... we’re destined to swing worse a lot of the time. I’ll also add one thing from my personal experience: Alignment. On the range, I align generally with my feet, hips, and shoulders parallel to my target line, and my shots fly relative to that line. Like they are supposed to. I still mishit a bunch, but the good ones do about what I expect. On the course, I invariably line up closed or open to the target line more often than I should, trying to adjust to what I see, and or obstacles to the green. This causes me to hit a lot more over fades, straight pushes and over hooks than I do on the range. A lot more. I think alignment discipline would go a long way in helping me, and many of us out there. That and staying focused yet calm, and trusting our swings. Easier said than done, but I think it’s within reach for us all. One other note, I do notice that on the course, my distance improves, and so does my ballflight on my good shots. This is most likely due to playing good balls vs. range rocks. I do like that about playing vs. the range.

I’d set up to hit a comfortable 8i from the whites, since that’s where I play from. ....and then proceed to block it right, overcook a draw off the planet, or skull a screamer that one bounces over the creek and into the lip of one of the bunkers. Then, take either 1 shot out of the bunker, or two from off the green left or right, and 3 putt. Score: 4-6. Nice hole!

The way I chose to answer this question was to look at each players individual accomplishments and ask myself: Which would I be most satisfied with? Hogan and Player both won modern Grand Slams, in addition to a ton of other tournaments, which I consider to be a very fulfilling set of accomplishments. However, Hogan had about 3x as many PGA Tour wins as Player, since Gary chose to play internationally more often. Both are very impressive, but Hogan simply beat better players more often. Phil and Snead each have the U.S. Open monkey on their backs, though Phil may still do it. I hope he does. Palmer never got the PGA. While it’s not all about the career grand slam itself, I can’t help but think given the choice, I wouldn’t have chosen a career without it as the ‘best’. Having said that, I’d say #3 to me is currently Hogan, with Phil and then Player right behind him. If Phil gets his US Open, and especially if he also reaches his goal of 50 PGA Tour wins overall, considering today’s strength of field, and going directly against Tiger so often, he’s my #3. Even if Phil just gets the US Open, I think I put him at #3.

Biggest self-cons for me are: 1) That I ever truly intend to practice with purpose. Unfortunately, I still waste a lot of time bashing balls. I know it’s bad for my game, but I just love doing it. One day I may finally decide that I love getting better more than hitting ball, after ball, after ball.... 2) The common one mentioned here that my best shots are representative of my current skill level. I know the truth is that I hit way too many horrid shots every single round, and until I improve my swing enough, I will continue to.

I just finished reading LSW, and loved it. Can’t wait to practice and play using the concepts. Thank you for writing it! I do have one question out of pure curiosity, however. I may have simply missed it, and it seems clear that common sense dictates this, but: By which specific data measure(s) is GamePlanning a SV4 skill? I ask because I recall all other skills having a SCOR value, and specific data points associated with them, which clearly illustrated and in effect proved thier relative SV ratings. I didn’t notice this with GamePlanning. Is that simply because no data yet exists relating specifically to GamePlanning, since you guys invented it only a few years ago? Or perhaps because GamePlanning is a nebulous thing to measure? I mean, it’s obvious that spending a third of the book on it, and assigning that level of value to it, that it’s arguably or certainly the most critical piece of the book. And I believe fully that you wouldn’t just decide that arbitrarily. Common sense tells us that your scores will drop if you GamePlan properly. I guess I’m just curious about roughly or exactly how much you think (or know) one could expect to lower scores using GamePlanning alone, as compared to the other skills. I hope that makes sense, and please don’t take it as a criticism. I do have faith that it’s that important. I know you guys never put out junk. I’m just curious about what your feeling is or what data says about how much one may improve via GamePlanning specifically.

Purchased and read Lowest Score Wins. Thanks for the book!

I guess those old videos are gone now. Here are my newest swings. A couple of 6i and a couple of drivers. Apologies for the poor lighting and angles. I’m still trying to figure out how to film at my range. I’ve recently updated my grip and my stance, each in accordance with the threads that Mike posted in the ‘instructional content’ sticky thread. I believe I’m getting much better contact overall, and my big miss has gone from a pull hook/push slice to an over-fade/pull slice. My good shots are now pull fades or straight, while they were straight or straight draws before. A couple things that stood out to me when looking at these videos myself was how steep and how far past parallel I am going with all clubs. While I feel fine doing these things, and seem to be getting decent results overall, I seem to think that my swing looks wildly out of control. Any suggestions or comments are appreciated.

This thread has been helpful to me recently. I have been hitting my driver, while poorly in both instances, much better on the range than the course. I firmly believe that the following factors, which have been touched on here, have been most of my problem: 1) I’m nervous and I desire too much to make a good swing on the course, and so I swing more slowly, and more specifically, more timidly. Either a weak slice or a super weak hook are my results on the course. I’m simply not swinging aggressively enough on the course. I’m pulling out of shots out of fear of launching one way into trouble.. and sending them instead into very near to the tee box trouble. I don’t intend to become reckless on the tee, but I need to have the confidence to at least feel like I’m swinging the driver as aggressively as I swing, say, a mid iron, and committing to the shot. Conversely, I feel free to ‘swing away’ on the range and truly ‘drive’ the ball to the back fence. I need to bring that freedom of motion to the course. 2) I hit my best drives after hitting 3-4 bad ones, and adjusting on the spot while on the range, and I’m hitting way too many shots in a row with one club; in this case, driver. What I intend to do is focus on improving my swing on the range as much as possible, reduce the number of same-club shots in a row on the range, and start swinging aggressively (enough) on the tee box while on the course. Not out of my shoes, mind you, but like I truly want to get it ‘down there.’ Good luck, and thanks all for the tips and ideas.

I want to add my thanks and my endorsement of the material here in this thread. As anyone who has read anything I’ve posted here can tell, I’m still not a skilled player. But I revisited my grip and my stance, using only the threads linked to here, and had my best range sessions possibly ever, this week. I’m still hitting my share of poor shots, but contact is much improved, and my swing feels much more comfortable now. Mostly due to setup alone! All I did was mimic the grip in Mike’s grip thread, and flare my feet, and I’m now hitting from a neutral stance, with a neutral, firm handed, (yet loose- wristed) grip. My grip wasn’t drastically different before, but the seemingly small changes make it incredibly comfortable and much more solid now that it has been tweaked and made better. I find that most of my really big misses are gone, and while I still push, pull, and even hook and slice some.. my misses are within a noticeably smaller ‘cone of uncertainty’. I also notice that very small changes to grip and stance now have the expected and desired effect on my shots. For example, if I hook one, then very, very slightly strengthen my grip or open my stance, I’m likely to hit he next one straight, or fade it if I hit it cleanly. Never could adjust predictably before. Very encouraged by, and appreciative of the instruction provided here, -for free, may I add! Thanks a million.

Interesting. The poll has a decent majority saying, ‘yes’ but there are very few comments in support in the thread. I'd definitley watch. Nothing beats the PGA Tour, but lots of these guys are pretty skilled, and the unpredictability of their games adds to the interest, IMO. Could shank or duff one out of nowhere. I would want to see single digit caps only, though.

I know there’s a big thread asking generally how long it took for each of us, to make a big breakthrough. This is slightly different. I’m interested to hear specifically who took the longest to break a major score or accomplishment barrier in this game? Im still looking to get under 100. Been seriously playing 5+ years, but with a 3 year layoff since my first two years. Trying to make it happen this year. Share your struggle and success!

I have to eat some humble pie, but I’m not afraid to out myself here. I played SO badly this round. Didn’t even score one hole, after I reached 12 strokes. I haven’t played this poorly in a long time, but I’m undeterred. I will move past this. All the course management in the world couldn’t help the swing I had yesterday. I literally put an 8 iron mere feet from OB off the tee on one hole. An 8 IRON!!!!! Here are my excuses, in no particular order: Started on 18, because of being with a large work group, social outing, all teeing off together. I hit too many balls on the range the day before playing, and developed blisters, due to.. Grip and swing changes that I tried to implement, but certainly didn’t have grooved by the day of my round. I had too many swing thoughts in my head on the course (see above). I was paired with two people who had never ever played before, even once, and required (and received) basic swing, etiquette and basic rules instruction from me. I had to leave by a certain time to return to work, and was therefore pressured to finish on time. Pace of play was very slow for everyone. (5+ hour round). Was playing on a military course in Japan, which allows local guests. The polite thing to say is that the elderly Japanese golfers in several groups directly ahead of us were... ‘deliberate’. I talked so much trash on here about my course management plan, and failed to implement it on numerous occasions because... I hit bad shots with my ‘safe’ clubs, and thereby lost confidence in all clubs, and so I even hit driver a few times, (predictably) badly, late in the round. And most of all: I wanted to do so well, so badly! I psyched myself up and out of this round before I started. The positives were: I had a string of four 5’s in a row, and was definitely playing well enough during that period. I putted decently. Didn’t make any putts outside of 6’, but only missed 1 or 2 inside of 6’. I hit one drive with my 5w 230 yards or so, and dead straight. AFTER I hit my 8 Iron next to the woods to a severe side hill lie off the tee (see above), hit an approach well short (of course), duffed a SW 5’ (yuck)... AFTER all that.. I hit my next SW stiff to 2” from about 50 yards, and tapped in for a 5 on a hard, short par 4. I got to play golf! As neither a positive, or an outright negative, I confirmed that I’ve developed a consistent one way miss with my irons: a hook. Or as I call it an ‘overcooked draw’, LOL. (Starts straight, or slightly pulled, then curves left, and more left.) This ‘shot’ has almost always been in my bag, but today it’s almost all I seemed to hit! Now I have something specific to correct as I practice. The quest continues. Next time I’ll make sure to put myself in position to play well, and to keep the pressure off myself. I’ve not given up on my course management plan, and I already bought the LSW book. It hasn’t arrived yet. Hope to get it and read it before my next round. Would already have it read if it was available on Kindle, (hint, hint). Good luck to all!

A fair question, and it seems that they don’t. At least compared to tournament time. I would speculate that any maintenance that is done is done because they need to keep it in shape to become ‘Masters Augusta’ as needed each year.

Always wear it, never gave it a thought. I’m pretty surprised by the number of people who have issues with thier rings, though. I guess I’m a lucky one! Simple band for me, and I wear a glove, no problem.

“Im sure there are lots of other things they do at the courses that we never hear about.” Hey, fair enough on the last point! No question there is a lot involved that the rest of us have no idea about. Even at our regular courses, I bet, let alone major venues! I think we can all take a moment once in a while to recognize the work of greenskeepers and course managers. It’s truly remarkable what they do so we can hack it around out there.

I mean, I totally get ‘jazzing up’ the course for TV, and doing the grass dyeing, and fresh plant planting, etc... I even understand maybe, ‘topping off’ the bunkers with fresh, bright sand before the show. But wholesale replacement, and then re-replacement? For what? I still don’t buy it. Why not just use the fancy shit all year round, and top it off if/when it starts to look like crap, say, before the tourney? If they have hella money, (they do), why not spring for quartz for thier billionaire/millionaire/hundred-thousandaire membership? They’ll make it all back from TV, anyway, yeah? Also, if I’m not mistaken, quartz is a very common mineral. Maybe among the most common? It’s not like they’re filling the traps with rubies and pearl dust! It all just seems excessive beyond practicality to me.

By the strictest, most basic interpretation of the question, no. Joey LaCava is almost certainly not the absolute best choice out of all possible caddies out there for Tiger. There are hundreds of very very good caddies of which, at least one would very likely be better than Mr. LaCava for Tiger in some way. But I’m being disingenuous and dodging the implied subordinate questions. 1) Who would be better? And... 2) Why or in what way(s) would this person be better? Since I am, like most everyone, almost completely ignorant of the attributes of specific caddies at the elite level except for Williams, Bones, LaCava, I can’t answer those questions intelligently. Unqualified Opinion Time: Yeah, he probably would benefit from someone who challenged him and took an active role at key points during rounds. It might take just a tad bit of pressure off him if he could share the decision making process with someone he trusted (and was actually good).

Why would any course go through the trouble to ship in and then back out again a ton or two of sand every year (Augusta) or few years (Carnoustie)? Even with the money and prestige to be able to... who would be willing to? And for what reason? To ‘stick’ it to the highly exclusive membership or exorbitantly high price paying public? This doesn’t make sense to me. Obviously, I’m not suggesting that these courses are kept in major championship shape perpetually... but changing out the sand JUST for TV and the pros, and then changing it BACK, just to have to do it all over again? I don’t believe this is done. And if it is done... I can not understand why in the world it is done.

Cheers! We almost got slightly anyway, since this thread isn’t about me and my pace of play specifically, but about pace of play more generally. But I have to defend myself! Lol

Yeah, I didn’t specify. Most of my visualization is done as I walk. Though I will sometimes stand near the ball and look for a few seconds from or near the point of view of my stance. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I’m not a slow player.

Yeah, I would say 10 seconds is a maximum for me, actually. But I would argue still that 10 seconds x 105 shots (I’m being conservative and counting ALL shots I normally shoot, including tap-in putts) = 1060 seconds/60 seconds = 17.6 minutes per round as my maximum amount of ‘visualization’ time. A total of less than a minute per hole. Perhaps not a word record, but hardly slow.

Best tips for me from bunkers are the two ‘timeless’ ones, combined. ‘Thump the sand’ (behind, and under) the ball, and ‘follow through.’ A couple of others if those don’t work for you, for whatever reason: NEVER decelerate into a bunker shot. ALWAYS accelerate into the ‘thump’. Hit it harder than you think you ‘need’ to to just barely get it out. As long as you don’t hit the ball, you’ll get out and stay on the green almost every time. You can hit it (the sand) pretty hard. MENTAL: Have no fear in the bunker. Even as a poor player, I am now fearless in the sand cause I know I can get it out of anything that’s not buried or right against the lip (and some of those, too), since I can be aggressive and thump it pretty hard.

Without piling on the OP, I’ll share my viewpoint. I’m not an accomplished golfer. Never broke 100. I’m also not a slow player. My pre-shot routine is: look down the line for about 10 secs visualizing the shot, take a practice swing (60% of the time), line up, hit. I play ready golf, and I have a quick, long, natural stride. I am not above a light jog to my ball if I’m not playing ‘cart golf’ and need to traverse a good bit of the hole to get to my ball, away from any playing partners. I hate to feel rushed from behind, and I do my best to avoid having anyone wait on me. All that said, I care quite a bit about my score, and about improvement. While I love many things about golf, getting better is the most important reason I am playing now, and scores are the easiest way to track improvement. I want to get as good as I can, very much. I would indeed take several minutes to hit each shot like a tour pro, if: 1) I wanted to spend an extra couple of hours away from my family on a weekend. 2) I did not care about making strangers and friends wait for me for those two hours per day; OR 2a) It was an acceptable norm for me, and everyone else, to take as long as we wanted on each shot. 3) I had the skill for the extra time to make an appreciable, positive difference to my outcomes. Well, I’m here to say: 1) I don’t want to be gone longer. While I could hit balls and play all day, every day with great joy, my family comes first. I truly feel a twinge of guilt taking the 4-7 hours I do take for myself per month while my wife is stuck home watching our 3 and 1 year old, even though I love golf desperately enough to do it anyway. 2) I do care. It’s clearly inconsiderate. Plus, I feel rushed from behind when it’s tight/busy out there. Taking extra time would exasperate this, and make me play worse. 2a) It’s not the norm anywhere I play or during casual rounds in general, as evidenced not least by the replies here. 3) My shots are simply not consistent enough for extra time and considerations to make a positive difference. In fact, I often play my best when I’m a bit less deliberate, and in rhythm, or ‘the zone’. Pretty common for most sports skills, it seems. It seems like more time over the ball and thinking allows for more thoughts to creep in and mess up the flow. My most deliberate shots are at best 50/50 between good/bad results versus ‘my walk up, line up, look, and hit’ shots. In summary, It’s not nice, or right to do, it isn’t important at my level and place in life, and it doesn’t even work. Maybe in an alternate universe....

Potential