limoric

I cant say I really agree with you. If I want to really hook the ball, the club face will certainly be closed at impact, but the ball will still start right, because my swing path is pushing the ball out to the right. The opposite is true for a fade, I'm doing everything I can to get my body (not the club) to the right side as fast as possible, this action will cause me to cut the ball to the left imparting side spin. Swing path has everything to do with it, but I'm not thinking about an in to out swing or vise verse during the process. It's all about releasing the club head for a draw or the hips for the fade. Slicers can't draw the ball, because they think they need to do something with the club. You work the ball with your body, not the club, it's just hanging on for the ride. Watching the final round yesterday at Sherwood, they had trackman setup on one of the par 3's, I forget which one. The hole called for a fade and the commentator described each player trying to get onto their left side to cut the ball, some laboring to do so as a fade is not their natural shot shape. There was no mentioned of club face. Thinking about the club face is why most slicers will never learn to draw the ball...

If I had to think too much about swing path and degree by which my club face was open or closed, I would never be able to work the ball today. I'm starting my 12Th year of golf (from age 27); for the first 4 years or so, everything was a push fade, for the next 4 everything was a pull fade (i was starting to get the feel of impact). 4 years ago, I bought a momentis swing trainer and swung it all winter. I also put some feel grips (reverse taper) on all my clubs the following spring. The swing trainer helped me develop that in to out swing, as it's very difficult to come over the top with it. The reverse taper grips put the feel of the club in my left fingers and quited my right hand. Within a year I was drawing the ball, so much so that I was aiming more and more right just to get the ball in the middle of the fairway or green. Throughout this processes, my body learned what an in to out swing with a closed stance felt like and it was able to connect with my brain. At the start of my 9Th season, I could no longer hit a fade; my previous fade was as a result of poor mechanics; therefore I could not simply go back to an over the top swing. It took me a year to fade the ball and even then I kept reverting to a draw as my go to shot. Today, I can work the ball pretty well how I want. No one is going to be able to teach you how to draw the ball (especially the on line community) until you train your body to know what it feels like. If you are like most golfers, your fade is unintentional, it's not due to good mechanics. Here is how I work the ball today, but I only understand this because I can feel shots now; that is to say, my brain is doing all the work. I still could not work the ball today, if I had to think about an in to out swing or vise verse. When I want to draw the ball, my stance is closed and I aim right; the ball is slightly back in my stance, I accelerate the club head through impact, delaying my hips (by brain is thinking about the club head clearing). When I want to fade the ball, I open my stance and play the ball to the left and forward in my stance, I accelerate my hips faster, delaying the release of the club head (my brain is not thinking about the club head at all, only my hips) So to draw, my brain is connecting with the release of the club head, my club face is usually wide open at address, contrary to common thought. To fade my brain is only thinking about my hips clearing. I never think about an in to out swing or the position of the club head (open or closed), though an open club face at address does trigger my brain to draw the ball... I tried a couple lessons 6 years ago and all it did was frustrate me, because explaining feel is different than experiencing feel, my brain could never connect the concept. Feel players will tell you they have no idea how they work the ball exactly, only that it does what they're thinking in their setup.

You are new to the game, buy the cheapest ball you can find with 70-80 compression. It absolutely does not matter what ball you play as a beginner. Now is the perfect time to experiment as you'll be buying a dozen every few rounds. If you plan to get better, go online and look for the Top Flite Gamer V2's, you can find them for a buck a ball. They sold for $30-$40 just a couple of years ago. This is the cheap mans Pro V1. I play it in the winter as I lose a few balls per round due to balls pugging in the fairway or rough (pacific northwest). I get the same distance as Pro V, but slightley less spin. It's too bad they're discontinued. Buy as many as you can find...

I hit my 17* hybrid as far as my 4 wood off the deck. I can work it left and right at will. I can't say the same for my 4 wood. Long irons are way more important than fairway woods. If you have decent course management, you're not likely going to hook or slice a hybrid into the bush, at least not as often as a fairway wood. You'll occasionally strip a fairway wood, but your percentages will be better with hybrids. I play with an 8 handicap once and a while. He has the traditional 3/5 wood setup. If he were to take them out of his bag and not even replace them, hit 3 iron instead, he'd be a 2 handicap. He can hit his 4 iron further than I hit my 2 hybrid, but he's always in the bush chipping out...

Maybe try a low lofted hybrid. I hit my 17* hybrid as far as my 4 wood from the deck. You can get a Nickent 4DX for under $40 new on eBay, it's what I play and you still find them on tour. This is also one of the best kept secrets around, they've had titanium technology before Adams put it in their new XTD's. You can bend the hosel a few degrees and extend the shaft to play 41.5 or 42. I'll be replacing my 3 wood with a 15* XTD this summer, I should easily get 240-250 yards out of it... I watched Keagan Bradley hit his hybrid past McDowell's 3 wood all day in yesterdays final round. Believe it or not, some tour pros can't hit fairway woods worth $hit either...

I wish they would stop yelling "get in the hole" after teeing off on a par 4 or 5... It's pretty simple and I don't know why it's not already being done, boot their A$$'s off the course, police escort style. I would guess that less than 5% of the fans are truly idiots; it might actually increase attendance...

So you're saying the barometric pressure is unlikely? I'm a pretty good ball striker, but there's no way that a 105-107 mph driver swing speed nets 270 yards consistently at 47F in the Pacific Northwest. The PGA tour average at the 2011 RBC Canadian open (my neighborhood), was in the 270's, in summer. The only plausible explanation was the significant difference in Air Pressure from normal for this region of the golfing world... http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2000-07/962413045.Ph.r.html "Finally let's consider air pressure which has probably the biggest effect of the three. Simple stated, less air pressure means less aerodynamic drag (air resistance). Viscosity (drag through a fluid) is inversely proportional to air pressure (or density, really). Since the golf ball does not depend on air pressure (or density) for thrust (like a jet engine), it will fly farther. The effects of air pressure (density) are usually approximated as linear. This is not a great approximation all the time, but it pretty close. Therefore, a 10% drop in air pressure will turn a 240 yard drive into about 267 yards."

Well that is the general principle; however, yesterday's cold air was not denser, the air pressure was 99.4 (994 or 29.35). I play at least 40 rounds of golf from Nov to Feb and can tell you that the air is typically a lot more dense. Not only am I at sea level, the air is cold in the Pacific Northwest. The air pressure is normally around 102 (1020, 30.62). I normally have to club up all winter. Yesterday the ball traveled as though I was playing in 75F weather, not 47F. So although cold air is typically more dense, it was not yesterday as a result of a low pressure system. I don't have a question, just more of an observation. Days like yesterday don't happen often. Sometimes I experience the opposite, it may be 70F outside, but the barometric pressure is over 103, the ball flies as though I'm playing in the winter. I play as an amateur on the Vancouver Golf Tour (Like the Pepsi Tour). If I had a tourney yesterday and did not check the a barometric pressure, the 3 greens I airmailed would have resulted in 5 extra strokes. Some parts of the U.S. and Canada have little variance in air pressure, others have wild swings, Alaska and South Carolina are examples. In much of the continent, it probably does not matter, but where there are wild swings (yesterday for example), it obviously can have a major impact; that is if you're stock PW usually lands within a 10 foot circle... I've only lived in the PNW for 4 years, I've scratched my head on many shots until I started to correlate air pressure and ball flight.

Humidity averages 90% in the winter months in Vancouver, this factor is constant.

I've read a lot about the effects of cold and warm weather on the effects of golf ball distance, as well as elevation. Really elevation can correlate to air pressure since the higher the elevation, typically the lower the air pressure. Yesterday I was playing a round of golf in the PNW (Vancouver specifically). Temperature was around 46F (8C) and of course humidity was around 90%. I did not know what the air pressure was at the time. On the second hole, I'm lying 126 to the pin and I've got around 7 yards from pin to back of green. I hit a PW, which would normally travel 120 yards at 46F (summer distance is near 130). I walk to the green to discover I flew the green. My ball mark was on the very back; that's about 132 yards carry. I'm shocked, so I jump on the iPhone to look at the air pressure; it's 99.4Pa (994mb for you Americans). This is super low air pressure for the PNW and especially at sea level. Standard air pressure is 101.5Pa or 1015mb. The air pressure in the PNW is typically around 102Pa or 1020, slightly high air pressure. We all know we have to adjust for distance at sea level, unless you are playing in Florida, the temp offsets the air pressure I believe. Hole 9, I have 136 to the pin and around 10 yards to the back. I take out a 9 iron and choke down 1/2 an inch and swing 3/4. I airmail the green. Drives were going around 270 (which is respectable in summer at sea level); the tour average at last years RBC Canadian Open (2011), was around 270. I was driving this distance in soft conditions and at 46F. Had it been summer, I would have been driving 300 all day, which I've never done at sea level. I've read quite a bit that temperature has greater effect on ball distance than elevation. I'm not sure this is the case. I think whichever measure is more extreme, might be the more significant factor. If they are both at the extreme end, it could mean a 2 club difference. My golf buddy's think its funny that I check the air pressure before a round. Most of the time it's irrelevant, but for those times when the air pressure is extremely abnormal, I know it's made a big difference; 5 yards could make the difference between birdie and boggie.

I couldn't read every post...too damn long; if it has not already been mentioned, the penalty for out of bounds is not more severe, it's stroke and distance just like a lateral hazard. By hitting your ball out of bounds, it is not longer in play; therefore you must put another ball in play from where you hit the last shot. When you hit into a lateral hazard, your ball is technically still in play, it's just not playable most of the time, therefore you must put another ball in play, the penalty is as if you had an unplayable lie. You could technically jump in the pound and retreive your ball. It's not about what color stake you hit the ball over, but whether the ball is in play or not. Ever say to a playing partner, "that's one" when they nick there ball off the tee during a practice swing? Even in a tournament, that would not be a penalty, as the ball is not in play, it did not leave the tee box and there was no attempt to put the ball in play. A ball that is not in play cannot be penalized... So the rule is more about whether the ball is in play, not what type of stake you hit the ball over.

Anyone want to give up their CB3 3 iron? I want to add it to my CB2's which stops at 4...

It's his brother. Later in life, he can either regret having helped him or regret giving him 0.0000000001% of his money. Which will hurt more in his weiser years. All he needs to say to his handlers is, "take care of it, I don't want to know about it" and move one with a successful career.

I agree, this shouldn't even be news, Tiger's handlers should have taken care of this. Regardless of history, there's no doubt Tiger is a sociopath, I still respect his talent though...

My wife also thought the picture was hilarious. She thought the guy was an idiot, but she laughed first...

Well honey, it's called satire, although it's not right for someone to call you a bitch straight to your face, using the word in the context and setting the man chose can be funny, if you choose not to take his political protest personal. Just like when I say to you, "do you want a nuckle sadwich", I don't really mean I want to punch you in the face. The man does not likely feel that all women are bitches, just the ones who don't iron shirts. Ha, ha, ha daddy, you're so funny. See dear, that's satire and if you choose to laugh at something like this down the road, you just might find a man who doesn't think you're a bitch...

Yup... I see what you're saying. I should have said most scatch golfers would not play to their home course rating or the course rating of most of the courses they play...

Most scratch golfers would not be scratch at Augusta. If they are playing mostly course which are rated 72 with an average slope, they most likely would play anywere from a 2-4. Having never played it, I would say breaking 90 would be highly unlikely. Now give that player a practice round, a tour caddy and a pro's yardage book and for sure most would play 5-10 above their hadicap for the course. I don't think your average touring pro would break 80 the first time (no practice round, no tour caddy) Round 1, I would not break 100. Round 2, I would likely play 2X my hadicap, assuming I had the same tools as the pros. I played Ko'olau a few years back when I was playing to about a 10 handicap. Tournament tees are 7,310 yards, 75.7 course rating and 152 slope. I played the championship tees rated at 73.5 and a slope of 145. My best round on the 4th day was 84. The greens were rolling between 9 and 10. Augusta is estimated to be rated above 76

New clubs all the way. My first decent set of clubs where Cleveland CG2, DGR300, I got them almost new on eBay for $200 (2 years earlier they were selling for over 1k at Golf Town). The same year I bought some Adams A1 Pros brand new for $100 on Rockbottomgolf, DGS300. I also bought a set of Demo Ping i5's from my golf club for 400 bucks. I mostly rotated between the CG2's and i'5. year later I bought some Project X shafts on eBay and put them into the CG2's, did the work myself. They became the perfect clubs for me. 2 years later (2010), I'm into a set of Cally X-forged project X 5.5 for $400 off Rockbootomgolf. I sold the Adams and i5's for what I paid and my son has graduated into my CG2's. Bottom line, I got to tinker with a lot of different setups and it didn't cost me all that much... You can get single 6 irons in different shafts on eBay for under $10. Get fit, then buy up a bunch of 6 irons and tinker. Then buy a set that is perfect for you.

Nice improvement! Yes, your elbow breaks at the top of your backswing, this might be a flexibility issue and trying to get parallel. You don't need to go parallel and likely shouldn't. There are plenty of tour pros who bomb the ball with a 3/4 swing. Swinging 3/4 will also allow you to concentrate on turning, lag and speed at impact...

You are trying to pick the ball off the tee rather than trying to strick down and through the ball. I tee PW and up, but level with the ground, the tee only guarantees a perfect lie. I still take a divot. The exception might be with a 4 through 2 iron, though I hit hybrids these days, the tee gets pushed down until my fingers touch the ground...

Wow! I didn't know that. Wiki says the player becomes an honorary member. I've been doing some googling and it looks like a masters champion can play the course when they want, but they are not full members otherwise...

I only considered pocketing balls once and that was after the dude who sold me 2 buckets ($12) turned out the lights 15 minutes later. I guess closed at 9 must mean they shut the lights out at 9 too. Instead I hit the ball in the dark...it was a fun exercise... Nothing is more hated in this world then a mooch!

For sure the greens are most important. If they roll true, it should not matter the condition of the rest of the course. Nothing sucks more than perfect fairways and shitty greens, but the reverse can still produce an enjoyable round in IMO...

But what if she won???