HighlandLaird

Carnoustie, Scotland, in wind and rain. Nothing comparable on earth---it wasn't dubbed "Carnasty" for nothing. But having played all the Open Championship courses in Britain, and in the Open on more than one occasion, I have to say they are no fun. I greatly prefer the many,.many unknown courses, mainly in Scotland, of incomparable beauty such as Callander and Comrie in Perthshire and particularly Rosemount. If any of you Americans are visiting Britain, PLEASE do not confine your golf to the famous courses----there are numerous sublime courses you would love.....and we want you to enjoy such a visit, not tire yourselves out playing inhospitable tracks like Carnoustie ! Not just that, but courses like the Old Course at St. Andrews are difficult to get on, and then cost over 250 dollars a round, whilst a superb, enjoyable course like Callander is around 30 dollars !

Agreed----Sam's swing was the greatest ever. When I was 13 (in 1954 !!) I tried to copy his swing from his books, one of which was "Natural Golf", a book which contained a series of press photographs of him in tournament play, with his comments and anecdotes. I got to scratch three years later. Sam Snead was always my golfing hero, even from afar in Britain, and I was lucky enough to see him in the flesh in 1956 when he was playing this side of the Atlantic. What a player !!!

Hi R11 driver I have found exactly the same as you----I have R-flex woods and S-flex irons. I used X flex throughout in my youth when I was a long hitter, but now I'm 71 and had to change. However, after a huge amount of experimentation ( I build clubs using Golfsmith components) I have found I need S shafts in my irons (Ben Hogan Apex 1999 blades ----(4) flex, probably because when contacting the ground, there is too much distortion of R shafts. Like you, I use R shafts in the woods and hybrid, but I have found I have lost over 50 yards with the driver in the last 50 years, despite the better equipment today, and I find I cannot hit long graphite shafts any further than steel, so I have a Dynamic Gold R300 ( 44.5") steel shaft my Ping G2 11degree driver, and the same shaft in my 15 degree Callaway Big Bertha 3 wood. Same shaft in my Taylor Made 19 degree hybrid. I think this just shows that we should use whatever works, whatever its specification----and then take the shaft stickers off !!! Best wishes....

Hello sacman, I had a terrible dose of the shanks many years ago, and found it was caused by trying to "steer" the ball to the flag. I was advised how to cure it by a top English tournament pro-----he told me to address a ball, and deliberately miss it on the near-side, then repeat the process, but deliberately miss the ball on the far side. He had me repeat this over and over, and finally got me to hit the ball-----MAGIC:- no more shanks. Presumably works just by retraining us to "find" the ball. Best wishes and good luck beating the "Shermans" .

Hello all, I'm new to this forum and looking forward to reading all your comments! I'm a retired doctor (diagnostic radiologist) and was once a plus handicap, but age (71) and three back operations and a knee op have reduced me to playing off 4 now, Thank you for tolerating another Brit on your forum ! Best wishes to you all, HighlandLaird