Daddy Golfer

I made several flower supports from heavy gage galvanized steel similar to these http://www.gardeners.com/Gathering%2...efault,cp.html and I use one to hold my golf clubs off the grass. I drilled a hole in the plastic that overhangs the bucket of my golf bag to hold it and viola. Cost me about $1.50. I can't imagine myself spending $20 for a large clothes pin.

Legion Memorial, Everett, WA: Tourney - Shot 83 with 41 putts. I suck! Got 2 Kp's so made my money back. Greens where horrible but still...

This is right out of Greg Norman's Web Instruction: www.shark.com To play the shot, you need to have a combination of factors working in your favor, only one of which is your swing. First, it's absolutely vital that you have a firm, clean lie. The ball can be sitting on tightly clipped fairway, on hardpan, even a good lie in a bunker, but that's about it. Don't even think about making the ball back up from the rough. Second, the shot should not be a long one. Since you need a fair amount of loft, don't try this shot with any club longer than a 7-iron. Third, the green should be firm -- not hard like a sidewalk, but firm. If it's hard, you'll be lucky to keep any shot on it. If it's wet, the ball will just plug. What you want is a green that is soft enough to accept the shot yet firm enough to let the spin take effect. It also helps if the green slopes toward you. If it slopes away, you'll have no chance of backing the ball uphill. Wind conditions also play a part. The shot is much easier when played into a wind. A headwind will increase your backspin. But don't try it in a tailwind, which will propel the ball forward. Finally, be aware that certain balls enhance your ability to apply backspin. Any wound golf ball or any two-piece ball with a cover designed to give maximum backspin is better than any solid-center or hard-covered ball. So if you have the ideal equipment working for you, you have a clean lie, and you're hitting upwind at a firm green that leans in your favor, your chances of backing up your shot are very good. Now all you have to do is hit it. That, I'm afraid, is easier said than done. Basically, backspin comes from hand speed through impact. The harder and more crisply you can apply the club to the ball, the faster you'll make the ball spin back. It's also important to hit slightly down on the ball. One of the reasons I'm able to apply so much spin is that I have a fairly upright swing which enables me to hit down rather steeply on the ball. When I want to, I'm able to make impact with the top-back quadrant of the ball. I actually squeeze the ball down against the turf, applying enormous friction and backspin. I don't take much of a divot; it's more like a crease in the turf or a slackening down of the grass. To get this sort of impact, you have to play the ball a bit back in your stance. But not a lot. Some people think you should position the ball well back, as you would for a punch or low shot. That, however, just produces another low shot that may skid and stop; it won't suck back. Instead, you have to play it just a bit farther back than normal, so that you can pinch the ball rather than crashing down on it. My best advice is to experiment with your ball position. When that pinch begins to be a smother, you've got the ball too far back. You must grip the club more firmly for this shot, because although it demands fast hand speed, it doesn't require a lot of wrist action. The swing must be aggressive with the entire body. Keeping the wrists firm, swing forward forcefully with your arms, and lead through impact with your legs and lower body moving toward the target. Strive for that pinching impact, with as little divot as possible. After a while you'll know by the feel of the hit whether you've put "juice" on the ball. It's a great feeling and a great sight to see the ball land past the pin and come back close to the hole. --------------------------------------------------- Something to note, putting backspin can be more trouble than it's worth. There have been lots of times where I wished I just had it check for a 5 foot putt instead of spun-back 12 footer. Ugh!

I watched and it reminded me of cats in a room with only 1 bowl of tuna. P.S. Has anyone took 5 strokes to get up and down from 50 yards and... be a 5 handicap or less?

3h 220 (I've hit this bugger as long as 250 yrds) 4h 205 5i 195 6i 185 7i 170 8i 160 9i 150 pw 140 50w 130 56w 110 60w 80 I've dropped or went up 1 to 2 clubs, depends where I'm playing.

Every chance I get... 12oz here, 12 oz there...

I do my best to imagine the swing I want to execute the shot I want. The take-away, the swing plain, the swing path, and finish. I try to feel it, but I confess, I sometimes miss something like where I want the ball to start. Doh!

Oh Man, I've got 10 years on mine. I end up getting free subscriptions constantly and it just adds on. Never payed for it yet.

The only time I ride is when I'm playing a course I've never played before or on vacation. I once walked a course I've never played and it nearly killed me. They should have had a sign at the first tee saying 'If you can't walk up a 70 degree incline for longer than 5 minutes, get a cart.' It wasn't so bad on the first 9 holes going down the valley, but the last 9 holes coming in up the valley. Ahug!

Absolutely, as you can see I purchased the Scorecard and it does what I want. I review it after every round to see what area is doing better and others that need improvement. I've tried online stats but I keep forgetting to use it or I have to pay annually, which I personally like to own it for years of use.

Got a pair of Peak Visons 2 xmas's ago, and I wear it every round. It does, at times, help me read the greens as they say, but not all the time.

2:15pm PST Tiger 80 foot birdie on 11. Whoa!

Mirror Pond, Alaskan Amber, Fat Tire, Becks or Becks Light Port, Ice Wines, Muscate Red Wines

This reminds me of my first golf instructor, he would do this on all putts. This would seem to work best if your the straight back straight through putter. Might be hard to square the putter for the arc putter. But to think of it for short putts straight back and through is the best option.

I have a practice drill I picked up from a golf pro that helps my confidence on short putts (3ft or less). Find the flattest part of the green, stick a tee in the ground. One foot away place your ball and stick tees on both sides of the ball, now move the ball 1 more foot away and practice putting the ball through the 2 tees to hit the single tee. This is a 2 foot practice drill, make 10 straight putts without hitting the two tees. When you done with that, take another foot back and do the same thing, 3 foot practice drill. If you want to make it harder take another foot back for a 4 foot drill and so forth. By that time hitting the single tee isn't the object, it's getting through the two 'Guard' tees. Do this enough times and you'll have far more confidence to sink those short putts. Plus it will help with your alignment, which was my biggest problem. What I thought was straight turned out to be a bit right. If you keep hitting the guard tees have a friend line you up to see what is straight. For me, I'm right handed but I'm left eye dominant so when I look at the ball from above I line up a bit to the right of my intended line, which LOOKS straight to me. So now I close my left eye and line up properly plus I putt with my left eye close so I don't 'Peek' at the hole during the putt. Found this out all from doing this drill. Give it a try.

This is from Brent Zebb, First Assistant Golf Pro at Chambers Bay. He had a shot class this past Friday on 'Pitching from a tight lie.' Key reminder steps: - Feet shoulder width apart - Ball middle to back of stance - Loose grip pressure - Feel & see the shot - Shorter backswing - Down and through to finish - Most important: ACCELERATE! Took the clinic. He holds shot clinics every Friday at 5pm - 6pm. Cost $20.

Tourney play at McCormick Woods, Port Orchard, WA. Font 39, Back 46. Started to pour rain on the 11th hole. Dbl bogey 11, 12, and 13. Sigh. Lost concentration, took a bit to recover. Still... came in 2nd place in my division made my money back.

Today, I found part of the club (shaft with grip) from someone who might have had a bad round. Kept it use as a practice tool, or stake for my tomatoes.

The bounce on the club produce excellent results, very easy to get the ball out of the sand. I don't feel like I have to pound it out of the sand, in fact, I tend to make a smoother swing, so you can say it helped with my sand play - increase confidence to get up and down. With the low profile it is less likely to scull or hit sand shots thin as some of us have done. As for hitting out of fluffy sand where you want more bounce, not sure yet. The only place I know of to test this out in our area is Apple Tree Golf Course in Yakima, Washington. Guess I'll be taking a golf trip there sometime.

I bought the 56 and 60 degree DSG wedges. They play easier out of the sand than the Vokey Spinmill. In fact, they may hit to well. I gave it a big test this past weekend: Par 4 hit my drive into a long, deep, bunker. 202 to green took a 5 iron and cut it out into another bunker. Grrrr. 35 yard with the 56 degree, stuck it on a hard green to 3 feet for my par. They go a little further than my last wedges, Vokey spinmill and 500 Cleveland. They are great in the fairway and rough. As for the color, it only comes in the rusty color. They will rust but if your in the sand as much as I have this past weekend you have nothing to worry about. Trades in all my old wedges and putters - got $187 credit for clubs that's been sitting in my closet for 5 years. My 7 year old 500 Bronze Cleveland got more credit than the 6 month old Vokey Spinmill, who would have guess.

Fortunately she hates golf but she lets me golf almost every weekend and she even plans our vacations so I can golf everyday. If she golfed we'd be broke.

Chambers Bay, Washington. windy, sunny, showers. The course played nice. Shot 82 (43 front, 39 back). I naturally have a low shot flight and that helped tremendously, especially on the par 3's and long par 4's. Imagine a 5 iron for a 144 yard hole. That's the kind of day it was and I loved it. Played with a 2 handicapper and he shot 77 so I felt very good. Seem like I play better when grouped with low handicappers, gets the competitor out of me.

I bought mine at www.tgw.com . Got a pair of Nike on sale for $50. Very comfy and light for warm weather wear. I intend to buy another pair.

86. not so good. to many 3 putts. plus the blue flag look to much like white from a distance so I left lots of 20'+ 1st putts. Really need to work on my putting...still.

Don't really think of it as the worst conditions because it was lots of fun to play in it. In the Northwest we get lots of down pours. This day was my friends birthday, and on his B-day we always play a round of golf. He lives in Oregon and on this day it was Hurricane like winds, poured rain so hard it hurt my head and taking divots hit you in the face on head winds. We were so muddy, cold and wet you had to appreciate the time we spent on the course. We were the only nuts out there hitting a muddy ball.