Nosevi

Ok guys, thanks. I've never been one to bite my tongue or toe the line and that tends to get me in hot water on here. Ironic with a background in the military I'm not good at being told what I should or shouldn't say, it brings out the worst in me. British forums (including the one I help to run) tend to be much more 'free-flow' for want of a better word. In no way am I saying that's 'better' (in fact often it's far from it) but it's more what I'm used to. I'm actually a pretty chilled guy (ask Randy) but it just doesn't come over that way in type. Anyway, enough excuses. Yes, in this place I over-stepped the mark which is unfortunate but I don't want to spend my hours arguing with people, as you say it's a distraction. Give me the winter and I'll see how the ground lies come spring. Maybe I'll have learnt to bite my tongue by then Sorry to have hacked you off @iacas and @Phil McGleno (can't get the @ thing to work for phil?).

Eyad, truth is I don't know. What I'm trying to do is supposed to be fun. Yes, I'm throwing myself into it in a big way but it's still supposed to be enjoyable. When I feel I have to start defending how I'm going about it etc it stops being and posting on here becomes a distraction from what I'm trying to do. I'm not really talking about the mini 'spat' with Erik either. I think I need a break from TST and it probably needs a break from me. No hard feelings I've just got a lot going on right now. I'll get my head down over the winter and practice hard and see how things look and feel come the spring. It'll all be dull indoor stuff anyway, you won't miss much.

Swing thread's been updated again and didn't go quite as planned Didn't want to just disappear but not sure continually updating the threads was particularly constructive. I clash with some members here which is unfortunate but it happens, and me annoying them and them annoying me isn't helping anyone. Cheers for the help and support all, enjoyed sharing 'year 1' with you but think now I need to get my head down and work hard. Had a good lesson at the National Academy yesterday - stay more centred on the backswing helping a 'steady head'. Feel sure I've read that on a key somewhere At the very least I'll come back in 4 years to tell Shorty he was right Cheers all.

Phil, you are well wide of the mark. I didn't want to chat further about what Erik had said because I didn't want to further prolong the discussion and I certainly didn't want to upset him further. "Bash him"? "Want sycophants"? Do be sensible. All of this started simply because I asked for a reason for doing something in my swing. The response I got was a mild 'slating' of my efforts. Also wasn't particularly true which is why I bit back. I don't really get the "cheating with a back ball position" reference - it's a short iron and the ball is a shade forward of centre - it's a still photo, it's not going anywhere, feel free to check, Phil. But why go on debating the point? Erik said he was giving me a kick up the ass, getting me 'riled' and trying to get me to work harder. Ok, lets just say it worked. It really did He basically said I wasn't doing well enough and said my swing was still pretty rubbish (unless you feel flipping the club entirely backwards at impact isn't rubbish?), I bit back saying that wasn't constructive...... it was a bit of a tiff. I run an internet forum with hundreds of active members and people have tiffs all the time, funnily enough they all get on far better face to face. The idea that you can never have a heated discussion on an internet forum isn't something I'm used to, sorry. Truth is I've gone from somehow getting round the course doing this (no idea how I did): To this shot yesterday: Yes I do think that's progress. Yes I still need to do more. Do I just want "sycophants"? Of course not, totally ridiculous thing to say, Phil. Do I want to be "bashed" (to use your turn of phrase) in my efforts and told things like the club is pointing at my right nostril at impact when it's not, implying no progress and not be allowed to bite back, debate the point, say "come on, it's nowhere close"? Even tell the person who says it (whoever says it) I feel it's unhelpful? No. Someone can say it, I just want the freedom to say "No it's not." and show still photos showing that without cries of "All you want is sycophants!" Erik told me to "man up" with the criticism he leveled at me and I'm sure me getting riled (miffed if you guys don't use that word) at him is water off a duck's back, I'm sure it bothers him very little. As I say, it may well have been his intention all along (ie to give me a kick up the ass). But for the record, I'm sorry if I upset you, Erik. Our personalities clash via a keyboard, no doubt, strangely I don't think they would face to face. I do appreciate the help you've given, think I've said that numerous times and I meant it. Now I think the best thing to do is just let it lie. Cheers all.

Thanks for responding, particularly in saying why you think my arms need to come down faster. I think I'll leave any response at that. All the best.

And speaking bluntly (as that seems to be the best way ) it's far from a cop out. I'm a fraction over 1 year into what will be a minimum of a 5 year attempt to see how good I can get at this game. I happen to have the time, enjoy the game and like to try to be the best I can be at things I throw myself into. I'm not claiming to be 'there' I'm claiming to be trying to improve. Comments like "handle pointing at their right nostil" are 'unhelpful'. For a start it's not close to true (red line is where it is, green line is where you're saying it is. You're saying my hands go backwards though impact?!?!). But secondly how is a comment like that supposed to help a 'student'? Players like Molinari don't have their hips as open as some. 2 pictures from impact we're both square (compared to our toe line). 1 picture from impact we're both slightly open (compared to our toe line). At impact we're both further open (compared to........ you get the idea ). Yes I need to do more. I'm a long way from where I want to be but I feel, generally speaking, I'm making some progress. I'm maintaining spine tilt, I'm keeping my head at least verticle, my hands are a bit further forward (more work here admittedly). It's progress. Is it the end picture? No. How do I know I'm making progress with grooving my swing? Kit numbers the shots so you can see they are consecutive. That's how I know - results. And I appreciate the advice you've given so far in helping that. I merely asked for clarity in why I need my arms to come down faster. And no, I don't think the 'why' for that has been mentioned anywhere. Saying "To get better" is round about as useful as when your parents say "Because I said so" (as we're speaking bluntly). 18 years (on and off) coaching Rugby, 14 years as an air traffic instructor, good enough at that to be selected to be an Officer Training Instructor at our academy, and not once in all of that have I shot someone down for asking for clarification on a point. In fact when training Junior Officers they were told that if the troops need clarification of the 'why' it's down to them to explain it in a way the troops understand. I'm a long way from where I want to be. I was sharing a bit of what I was doing on here because some of your members seemed genuinely interested. I wanted to post video and actual data rather than just say stuff like "Striking it well at the moment, pretty tight dispersion." At times I do wonder whether it's worth it. In short, no, asking "Why do my arms need to come down faster?" is not a cop out. It's asking for clarification on what may be a minor or may be a major point. I have no idea, I don't know why you're saying I need to do it. All speaking bluntly, you understand

Copied and understood I do think that right elbow position is a key for me. Get it down and in and the club is more on plane, it'll create more lag, my hands will be further forward at impact improving my smash factor ........ It just seems like that right elbow position being down will put me in a much better position - it's definitely something I need to work on. I suppose my apparent reticence from time to time (maybe more than apparent) is that I do tend to get pretty good results, albeit I conceed that it's DESPITE some aspects of my swing and not because of them. I 'compensate' pretty well. My 5 handicap is somewhat 'historical' and a result of the way our slightly daft system works, under the US system it'd be about scratch right now based on my scoring average. I guess I really need to know clearly in my own mind exactly why I'm working on any given area. If I know the 'why' I'll commit to the change. But it has to be something that will have a tangible effect on the end result ie the ball flight. I don't want to look good swinging a golf club, I want to score low - it's the only thing that matters

Hi there. Absolutely agree which is exactly why I want to get that right elbow in - I can see a reason for it in terms of eliminating a bad shot. I just can't see moving my arms down faster will gain me control or eliminate bad shots. Maybe it will, I'm just asking why

Hi Mike, was typing over you there Yep, there are some things I really need to look at and I think that right elbow is key. Getting it in will keep the club from going steep so I won't have to recover it and it'll get everything more in line into impact........ at least I think it will. Lots of that head cover drill to come! Did you understand what I posted above about a "results based buisiness"? Obviously this shot was arrow straight - one of the advantages of using the sim to record swings is that you get the ball flight on there. Do you agree that it's the result that counts? The picture can tell us something but at the end of the day it's the result that is important. I understand the need for my right elbow to come down and in more to prevent me from getting tapped and either block or hook the ball though Just to reiterate, I'm not in any way 'debating' the advice. I'm asking, if possible, for a 'why' interms of ball flight ie result when it comes to arms coming down faster

Fair on some points I think I've got to grips with a better spine tilt (pretty much identical to Francesco's) and reduced my overswing to keep things a little more under control but I can see I need to turn my shoulders more at the beginning of the backswing - let my pivot move the club away more? Regarding a 'flip' it's usually better than it was (trajectory is lower so it must be) but it's still there a tad. Clearly my ball position is further back than Francesco's so for the same dynamic loft to be delivered with the same club path and with the same club my hands will obviously be further back but I'm not quite there yet. Do you think by moving my right elbow in (perhaps using the headcover drill @mvmac suggested?) it will put my hands further forward pre-impact and so further forward at impact? Slow arms coming down - again do you think it's more that right elbow position rather than the actual speed? What I'm getting at is I don't quite get what I'm trying to achieve with coming down 'faster'. I don't see Francesco coming down with faster arms, just with that right elbow tucked in when he does. If I got that elbow in I'd clearly increase my lag a bit but obviously right now we're about the same in every stage up until impact........ but would just having my hands a tad further forward 'fix' that? What I'm getting at is we're in a results based buisiness What's the 'result' I'm after with coming down faster? Obviously my ball flight is pretty staight (most of the time) and numbers from this 8 iron shot were carry 156yards, trajectory 20 degrees, backspin a shade under 7,000rpm. This is a set of my launch data to give an idea. What am I trying to achieve by arms going down 'faster'? (Ignore club speed and smash, my kit doesn't measure it so no idea why they 'guess' it). I hope you don't mind me asking but if you don't ask, you don't learn. I like to know why I'm trying to do something, not just what I'm trying to do. What result am I after in terms of ball flight?

For anyone interested in this side of things I've just updated the my swing thread. More work to be done in that area over the winter http://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/72433-my-swing-nosevi/?page=4#comment-1160243

It's been suggested on my 'main' thread that I should update this thread so I shot a quick vid earlier today to show where I am. I've been concentrating a lot on short game over the past couple of months, knowing that I'm going to be concentrating on long game as the weather closes in and looking at some pictures there are a few areas where I have back slid slightly so it's definitely time to get stuck back in with work on the full swing. I find it useful to look at where I am in comparison to a pro but always think if you're going to do this you need to pick a pro who's built similarly to you and if possible swings in a similar way. Monty and I are reasonably 'chunky' but his 'armsy' fade is nothing like my body dominant turn through the ball. Equally comparing myself to a thin, supple guy is never going to work. For me the 'best fit' is probably Francesco Molinari - we're built similarly and we both hit the ball with a fairly similar body turn through the ball. He's also a fantastic striker of the golf ball so a good 'role model' to try to emulate. Here's some pictures from today along side Francesco - a couple of glaringly obvious things I need to work on but any comments over and above that are welcome. Standby for quite a few pictures! Not really liking the gap between my body and right elbow here: Obviously Francesco has his ball position further forward but my hands being a tad further back in the above shot results in them being a shade further back in relation to the ball below: Bit earlier on my right toe here, not sure of the significance though ? And some DTL Think I could rotate my shoulders a bit more here and take my arms more out of the move away? Obviously Francesco has a longer iron in his hands so you'd expect the plance to be shallower but by here I'm getting a bit steep. I think it relates back to my right elbow coming away from my body (if I moved it down from here it'd shallow out the plane) so maybe need to go back to the headcover drill. Any other suggestions welcome. This is where I should have my right elbow against my side but face on shows I don't. Pretty much recovered it all by here.... And the ball flight from my shot. No idea of Francesco's but my money is on pretty straight So that's how it stands right now. Some similarities to Molinari but some differences I still need to work on. With the weather closing in there'll be plenty of time for that over the next few months. As I said before, I have some ideas of where I need to put some work in but comments/advice always welcome.

Is Charlie who commented on the latest post on Dan's blog someone on here? Just rings a bell.... Charlie says: November 11, 2015 at 4:36 pm As we’ve agreed all along, you’re just one data point in the testing of the 10,000-hours theory, but at least you’ve learned a lot along the way. I’ll bet if we took 50 people at the start, there would be many playing as well as you, many playing worse — including many because of injury — but even the ones better than you wouldn’t be close to being a low-level tour pro. 10,000 hours isn’t a sufficient condition for mastery; it’s merely a necessary one. I hope the folks in Finland ask good questions!

Hi. First looking at clubs I made an assumption when I started that I would get stronger, have a faster swing speed and require stiffer shafts as I go along so at my initial fitting I basically 'over-spec'd' the shafts to be about as stiff as I could cope with. I'm using Project X 6.5s across the board and although I may eventually need stiffer, they may well do me fine. They're actually the shafts Rory had before he recently moved up to Project X 7.0 so that should give an idea of the sort of swing speed the 6.5s can cope with. At first they were a bit too stiff but within 6 months or so I had 'grown into' them. Loft and lie wise, we have the UK's main Ping fitting centre just down the road from me so it's no problem to pop over there and get the lofts and lies checked. In fact you've made a good point and I may as well do this some time over the winter. Balls wise I use ProV1x. I've tested several balls myself on the GC2 and as it measures spin etc directly it's a really goid bit of kit for doing this. Although ProV1 and ProV1x aren't the cheapest option out there I actually buy either x-outs or ProV1x PRACTICE balls to use for practice which keeps the cost down. They are exactly the same as the standard ProV1x but with minor cosmetic blemishes (which I've yet to spot) in the printing. My 'ball draw' in the sim, ProV1s are there for Jess, the rest of us all use ProV1x: The pro who I was speaking about was Brian Casey, the guy who just shot 24 under par in European Tour Q School. The thing is while you want to control spin from the fairway if the greens are soft, you want spin if you're around the green or perhaps coming out of the rough; often it's a balancing act and you may sacrifice distance off the tee in order to gain control around the green - I do the oposite to this as I get more distance from a ProV1x than a ProV1 but less spin around the green. Anyway, Brian wanted to keep using the ProV1x but on really soft greens be able to get at flags towards the back of the green rather than landing it near the flag only to have the ball zip away from it as he found was happening in the Russian Open. He used the kit I've got to practice basically clubbing up but choking down a bit so he could hit a 7 the distance he normally hits an 8, an 8 the distance he hits a 9 etc. With the GC2 he could monitor the spin rates and decent angles and make a good estimation of how the ball would react. We actually also set the sim to 'soft' to see how much 'zip' he could take off the shots. Hi Randy. I'll see what he posts but with the indoor setup I've got I think I'm a tad spoiled - I'll just switch focus to long game over the winter. As you know, my focus on short game over the last couple of months has lead to this being my strongest area strokes gained (lost if I'm being honest ) as my average is now -0.1 a round. I'm sure that hunkering down in the swing studio over the winter will lose me a bit of 'feel' (although it's debateable whether 'feel' exists....) around the green but I'm equally sure I'll get back to where I am pretty quickly. In the meantime I'll see if I can really move my long game performance forwards. As far as strength training is concerned training for all the sports I've ever done to any decent level (Discus, Javlin, Rowing, Rugby) require you to build strength from the core outwards. Having watched the vid that was posted on here regarding the tests TPI can do to determine your max clubhead speed I think the regime I'm doing now is a good start as much of it centres around exercises that would increase your scores on those specific tests. In other news, that putting change I said I was working on when we last spoke seems to be working - 3 birdies in 9 holes at practice this morning. I'll post about it soon, it was so obvious I have no idea why it didn't occur to me earlier

Hi there. Regarding following me when I turn pro, I've got an awfully long way to go yet. We'll just have to see how far I can take it. The sim is a great tool for both grooving and improving your swing and I will definitely be using it a lot over the winter. You can do things on it that you can't do as well out in the elements such as make minor adjustments to your swing, see it on high speed video and see the resultant ball flight on the same video. When grooving a swing you know if you swing the same the ball flies exactly the same, there are no external factors effecting it. It's a great tool ...... but it isn't a substitute for hitting off grass. My course has a grass driving range that you can use your own balls on when it's quiet so I'll use that as much as I can between sim sessions until the ground freezes. One of the good things about the GC2 is it's very mobile so I can be hitting in the sim and if I want to check something off grass just unplug it and go hit a few balls off the turf while recording how I strike them on the ipad. I think the combo of using the GC2 both indoors and out is probably better than hitting limited flight balls outside for what I'm trying to do although I'm sure they have a place and using them is undoubtedly better than not practising at all. I agree about short game practice and I often practice it out on the course myself. While I really need to switch focus to putting (which I've really left till last to get stuck into) I've worked really hard at chipping, pitching and bunker play around the practice green and out on the course and short game has actually become my strongest area strokes gained/lost. I'll do a post on it soon but essentially I always practice with a single ball, every chip or pitch is from a different location and to a different target. That seems to be helping me judge distance pretty well.

Got it

Yep, I won't worry too much if performance on the course appears to stall a bit due to conditions, it's still valuable practice to get out there. Regarding the sim, I do collect performance on there (ie ball striking etc) but it's not mixed in with performance on the course, it's kept completely separate. I use the sim as a tool for training in addition to training outside, never as a substitute. If for instance I want to work on hitting a lower ball flight for into the wind perhaps, I'll work on it in the 'sterile' environment of the sim first where the only variable is how I swing the club and only once I'm comfortable with it there will I then take it out and practice it on the course. Doing it inside first means that any variation I see in ball flight is down to me rather than say a gust of wind durring that shot so it stops me 'correcting' on what was actually a well struck shot that was just effected by outside factors. The sim is a training aid and not a substitute and so stats collected in there are never mixed with those recorded in the 'real world'. So yes, I'll get plenty of practice hitting from a good lie inside but the stats on the course will still suffer from (or be effected by) always hitting from further away and from a 'shaggy' fairway. The good thing about a strokes gained approach though is that only the slight difference in the lie should effect my approach play scores, the fact I'm not driving it nearly as fat should only effect my driving strokes lost and so the overall.

Just to round off following Brian at Q School........

Hi Erik You're probably right and coming into the winter my focus will very much be switching back towards long game. Over the last couple of months my focus has been a little more around the green than it was previously simply because I know the time is probably coming when I'll be looking almost exclusively at my full swing when the winter hits and I'm forced inside. For the last few weeks I've been trying to make the most of what time I have before then to work mostly on my chipping, short pitching, bunker play and putting. I've still worked a bit on my long game but the ratio of long game to short game has been out of kilter to where it should be simply because I'm trying to look ahead and see my training allocation and division between the two areas in terms of the next few months rather than on a day to day or week to week basis.

I know in a sense this is going a little off topic, talking about how Brian is doing, but in many respects it's not. Out of the good players I practice with it's probably with Brian more than the others. We've practiced on the putting/chipping green together loads of times, out on the course, pitching practice, in the swing studio working on long game..... He actually joked I know his swing better than his coach I have so much data and high speed video of it. Anyway, what does it look like when a player like that gets everything firing together? Remembering this is a course of over 7,000 yards, this is one hell of a front 9 today: Does kind of validate something I said to@RandallT early on in my programme when I had recently taken up with Brian and was in effect using him as a living benchmark, wonder if he remembers me saying it? I told Randy that Brian is the 'real deal' and although I'd seen some good young players (bearing in mind I get coached where our national squads train) he just had something extra. It's part of the reason I wanted to practice with a guy like that. Can tell you though, first time I tee'd it up for a round and when asked how we were scoring I said matchplay, both of us playing off scratch obviously, I felt a tad nervous that I was going to make a total pratt of myself scoring wise. It goes back to what I said about stretching yourself; playing with players at your level and off tees you feel comfortable with isn't going to help you to progress. You need to be constantly trying to find ways to make life difficult, take yourself outside your comfort zone and try to perform at a level above wherever you currently are in order to progress. Clearly this is all in my opinion, but it holds true in most walks of life so can't see why it wouldn't when trying to improve your golf

Brian's still do pretty well :)

Hi there. Slightly smiling by the rainy day in the summer being a rare event comment - ever visited the UK? Joking of course. I do get what you mean generally though. Sometimes Gamegolf shows the weather when you post a round, but sometimes it doesn't. If it's particularly significant like playing in the winds over 40mph yesterday I'll mention it when I write it up (keep a log of everything I've done since week 1 for my own records) but I think it'd be hard to track performance in all different situations separately. I think it'd be best to keep an eye on things like that and as DrvFrShow has suggested, draw a line under overall progress tracking but still keep an eye on how my 'winter golf' goes. Tee wise, yep I think I'll stick with playing the course as long as I can (actually usually at the back of the tips rather than where the tee is marked up that day), get used to that and have a pleasant surprise in the spring when I find it gets easier and I'm firing into greens with much shorter clubs. I don't think stretching yourself ever hurts. In fact I'd go further than that, I'd say remaining within your comfort zone and so not stretching yourself will stiffle your development. I guess the trick is to constantly stretch yourself just enough to help draw you on but not so much so that you simply can't cope.

Thanks, we'll see how it all goes. Even if the goal intself is a tad ambitious (slight understatement) if I stumble on something that works for me it may work for someone else, you never know Regarding tracking stats, the way I look at it golf is a collection of skill sets - some are very similar, some quite different, it's one of the reasons I love the game - and I'm trying to work on each individually then bring them together on the course. The thing is many traditional ways of tracking stats combine the skill sets which can make progress very difficult to track or see. An example might be your up and down percentage from the fringe. When you track up and down percentage you're actually looking at 2 skill sets (albeit related) - how close do you chip it then do you hole the resultant putt. You can work for hours on your chipping and find your up and down percentage doesn't get all that much higher. You might conclude your chipping practice isn't working. But it could actually be that it was working, you were chipping it closer, but you simply weren't holing the putts. Taking the same example one stage further you might find that you're not making enough up and downs and so focus all your efforts on chipping when in actual fact it's the putting that's at fault. Another example may be you're not getting enough GIR so work on your iron play when it's the fact you are a long way back so need to work on driving distance or are regularly in the rough so need to work on driving accuracy. In both cases though you're 'blaming' your iron play when it's your drive that needs the attention. That's why I like the strokes gained approach as it breaks down each facet of the game and looks at it independently. On a really good day I have been strokes gained (as opposed to lost) on approach play and strokes gained on short game, I have yet to be strokes gained on putting. This shows me where I really need to start focusing. As well as that, when I'm practising around the green I don't collect stats for 'up and down', I look at average leave distance after a chip, a pitch out of the rough, a greenside bunker shot etc. I'm looking at the performance of the chip or pitch in isolation of the putt to follow. By doing that I can see how good at chipping I'm getting and so can prioritise my practice properly. I need to get really good at chipping and really good at putting and the result of those two will be my up and down percentage made will go up. Equally with long game I can see my iron play slowly improving but may well not see imediate drops in score. But as long as I keep knocking it fractionally closer on my approach play, chip it a little closer when I miss the green, and hole a few putts when I knock it close, the progress I can see in my iron play will begin to translate to lower scores. I'm using 'Lowest Score Wins' and stats taken directly from the PGA Tour as (sometimes distant) targets or 'ceilings' and working towards them. How close I'll get is anyone's guess but without the targets you have nothing to aim at. Hi there. Sounds very similar conditions - 2 clubs extra across the board into greens is about what I'm seeing. I like the idea of drawing a line under 'summer stats' and suspending them until spring but still looking at how progress goes over the winter in order to still track progress and focus training. While I don't think it's useful to use them as an overall measure of progress (it feels like I'm going backwards when I'm not) I need to keep an eye on actual performance and not just go out and aimlessly play golf. Gamegolf actually allows you to collect the data on a round by round basis but not include it in the overall stats so I may make use of this feature. In the meantime I'm reticent to tee it forward as one element I try to keep in my training is to continually try to stretch myself. I play with better players for this very reason. Yesterday afternoon I went out and played a few holes for the same reason. I was with a mate who thought I was mad because according to our weather man winds were hitting about 43mph and were very blustery. You really had to try and control the ball as even a little deviation into it (and almost all the holes we played were into or across wind) was massively exaggerated and with a bit of drizzle thrown in for good measure it was a good test. The last hole we played was a short par 3 but was straight into the wind and very exposed from a high tee. I hit a really pure 4 iron straight over the pin that spun back towards it (but missed the birdie putt!). Normally hitting that green is pretty much a given but 'pureing' a long iron straight into the gale was masively satisfying. Anyway, the weather and changes to the course are allowing me to play what is in effect a longer and more difficult course than it's usual CR 73 so rather 'hide' from that I may as well use it. I think I'll continue to play from as far back as I can in order to stretch myself as much as possible with the hope that this will help in the long run even if in the short run it feels like my progress is slowing. We'll see if this approach is the right one in the spring.

I do think he's barking up the wrong tree utterly with all the media nonsense, fair to say we agree totally on that point. It isn't going to help him one jot if he really is trying to get to any form of tour. Meanwhile, chatted to Brian via WhatsApp earlier - still on track to get through stage 2. Just hope he can keep rolling in the putts..... Have practiced along side the guy down in 6th (Ashley Chesters) once when he was up at the academy for England squad training so rooting for him too :)

I'd go with that. I also think there's a big difference in how much players depend on their caddy. At one point I saw Robert Rock's caddy used to stand looking down the line of the putt and literally tell him if he was aiming right, stepping aside just before the stroke to technically stay within the rules at the time (personal opinion was it was pushing it a bit...... possibly more than a bit) while at the other end of the spectrum I've heard Poulter basically say he just needs a caddy to check that he's not made a glaring error in calculating his own yardage etc. and be on the same wave length as him. The implication seemed to be he pretty much takes care of game management himself. Personally I wouldn't want to see caddies go - I like the interaction and it often gives an insight into what the player is thinking looking at a given shot.