rhodes81

I played a course this weekend for the first time that was excellently maintained but not very fun to play. There were too many blind layup shots. I'm a guy that hates the grip it and rip it style of golf and prefer to think my way around a course, but geez, I dont like to lay up on every hole. There was no risk reward as the hazards were impossible to carry and there were no bail out areas that weren't either OB or deep rough. I expect to hit a 3 wood or long iron off a tee on a par 4 or 5 no more than 4 times a round, and even then, I want there to be an option. This course left you no choices, which is fine occasionally, but not every hole. It was my first time playing it and would have been impossible without help from others who had played it before. Put all the trouble you want, but don't hide it from me!

I think I finally have to change my swing. Here lately my swing has gotten flat, flat, flat. I worked a long time on getting my swing flattened out but now it has gone too far. I am just too inconsistent with my ball striking and I am going to change back to a more upright swing. I got away from my original upright swing because of a bad case of hooks that I now believe had more to do with alignment than my swing plane. Now, for the meat of my post. How long does it take to become consistent with a new swing? Should I stick with my old swing through the summer and try to keep my handicap where it is and save a change for the fall when I have more time to work on it? Or try the change and see how it goes, going back to my current swing if things get too screwy?

Course management was a huge part to me finally getting in the 70's. I stopped trying stupid shots and realized sometimes bogey was a good score. Sometimes after a bad shot, you just have to take your medicine and that took me forever to realize. When those double and triple bogeys start becoming bogeys, you would be amazed at how quick a score can drop. I started planning for my misses more and quit chasing sucker pins. I also committed to my wedge game and started making sure i was on or near the green everytime from 130 and in. Do that and you will be in the 70's.

My fitting was extremely basic at a PGA Superstore, but I think it helped. I changed my lie angle 2 degrees flatter and changed my grips to a midsized grip. Now, to answer your questions: 1)I was an 8 handicap when I got fitted and now I am a 3.8. Not solely attributed to the clubs, but it definitely helped. It makes my alignment and ground contact so much more consistent. This was strictly an irons fitting. I switched from titleist 735's to mizuno mp 68s. 2) The improvement has been more than what i expected. My best scores havent changed so much, but my worse scores have gotten tremendously better. 3) Still playing with them and hope to until they are worn out. I think the confidence of looking down at clubs that are fitted just for you might be worth more than the changes to the actual clubs. It definitely helped me. My basic fitting was free so I cannot comment on whether its worth the money or not.

I have been striking the ball really well lately, but played in my regular 2 man scramble yesterday evening and wasnt quite as sharp. It wasn't awful, but I definitely felt like I was getting quick. The only problem with tempo is, as soon as you think about it, it stops being smooth. It almost has to be involuntary. I am trying to get below a 3 by the end of the year and do not need to post any bad scores right now. I am not trying to drastically change anything, so I was wondering, how do you get your tempo back on the right track when it gets a little screwy? Range time is not an option right now, but I am able to hit a few practice balls in the back yard.

Had to change my number of birdies in a round to 5, up from 3. Should of been an under par round, but i made enough bogeys to dirty up those birds and wound up shooting a 76.

So today me and my buddy decide to back up and play our usual course from the tips. The day is going along pretty good and I come to hole 17 and I am -1 on the back nine. This hole is a nerve wracking drive with water guarding short and right and a bunker guarding left. I hit a good drive to the fairway and I am 139 out. My PW is usually 130-135 but there is a good wind in my face so I am debating about a strong PW or choked down 9 iron. I decide to hit the knockdown 9 and hit a great shot that is tracking all the way. To my horror it comes up 10 yards short and lands in a bunker. I can't figure out whats happening and look down only to notice I had mistakenly grabbed my PW. Blast out but could not make the putt to save par. I par the last hole to shoot a hollow 36. I can not believe I was that stupid. Without a doubt, that is the last time I will have the wrong club in my hands. LESSON LEARNED.

First picked up clubs senior year of highschool and then got serious about 4 years ago. So, 18 at first swing and 25 to start taking it seriously.

Playing in a scramble yesterday, I had a blind pitch shot that was danger all the way. The ball was sitting up in the rough and had to be hit to an alley between two bunkers to a downhill sideslope pin. There was plenty of green to work with and the top of the flag was visible. I lined up the shot and concentrated on just striking the ball. It worked out wonderfully and settled about 5 feet from the pin. After thinking about this shot after the round, I realized that maybe my mind wanders to much when faced with an easier pitch and that if i treated every short shot as a blind shot I might be better off. Concentrating on just hitting the ball squarely paid off, and I hope I have learned my lesson. Anyone else ever notice that they play blind shots better?

I think the true test of any handicap is the layout of an unfamiliar course. I am not satisfied with my ability if I cannot shoot roughly the same score at the new course as I can at my home course. There is definitely some advantage to familiarity.

My mizuno F60 3 wood has put par 5's back into play. I love that club off the deck and it is long!

for people behind you yuraway

So, for all you guys that work the ball, explain something to me. How does the differing shot shapes effect your distance? Is a draw 7 iron the same as a fade 6 iron? How do you keep up with all those options? I see a lot of people on here talking about working the ball and I want to know the mindset leading up to the differing shot shapes. I see a remarkable amount of mid-handicappers that have all these shot options and I feel left out. Help me!

73 with three 3 putts. Greens have just been aerated and the lag putts were hard to judge. Still should have made them. I had a chance to shoot under par for the first time and just let it slip away. Well maybe next time.

Had a great weekend of golf, my best ever. Shot a 74 on Sunday, 37-37 and then turned around and shot a 37-36 today for a 73. It was on two different courses with two totally different style of courses. One is a links style and the other is more of a woodlands course with tight fairways. I had 3 birdies in a row today for the first time ever. Unfortunately I made the appropriate number of bogeys to offset them, but it was still a nice accomplishment.

Definitely go get fitted. I recently got fitted for a set after playing off the rack for years. I had to get clubs bent 2 degrees flat with a midsize grip. They completely changed my game and mindset. The change could just be mental, but looking down at clubs fitted just for you makes me trust my swing that much more. I always thought it didn't matter, but I was wrong!

I have finally decided to add a lob wedge to my bag. I currently have a vokey 52 with 8 degrees of bounce and a vokey 56 with 14 degrees. I use the 56 out of bunkers and the 52 for chipping as the conditions are usually pretty firm around the greens at my usual courses. I want the 60 to primarily be a chipping club that can be hit off tight lies, but I don't want to rule out using it out of bunkers. The vokey wedges have 4, 7, and 10 degrees of bounce in a 60 degree wedge. Which one should I get? What is the effective bounce on these clubs?

thanks for all the advice! I love to hit flop shots, but this one was a little too tight for me. It was sitting down in a patch of dead grass with tufts of weeds around it and the swing speed necessary to get down to the ball would have been so risky. Anything but perfect contact would have put it in the bunker on the other side. My original thought was bumping it into the slope, but the darn grass there is still coming back and has not been mowed so your not really sure how the ball will react. Looking back at it, I believe the bump and run would have been a good option. Even if it got hung up I would have had, at the worse a good chip at the hole, and probably would have left myself a shorter putt. Just wanted to hear some fresh ideas, my mind can get in a rut when it comes to shot selection.

play this shot? I was finishing on hole 9 Sunday and had a difficult shot and wanted to hear some ideas of how to handle it. It is a reachable par 5. I hit driver, 3 wood, and wound up left of the green in a little valley about 15 yards from the pin. The ground is packed there and the ball was sitting tight. There were some little yellow flowers (some kind of winter weed) against the back of my ball. The green is elevated slightly ( about 4 feet) above my ball and it slopes away from me. I pulled my 52 because of its low bounce and just tried to hit it firm and make sure I got on the green. I caught it a little too firm (err on the long side) and ran it past about 30 feet. Two putted for the par, but you hate to give up birdie that close to the hole after 2 shots. Other than not hitting it in that spot, what would you have tried? It was too tight for a flop and the winter grass was patchy enough that I wasn't sure how my ball would run if I chipped it into the hill and tried to let it run out. What club do you use facing a shot like this?

Great bag. I have had mine for two years. I have walked with it and used it with a cart and it works perfectly for both. I bought this bag for $95 and it was worth every penny.

Don't feel bad, I did the same thing Sunday. I shot a 79 but had 7 makeable putts that I missed. My ballstriking from tee to green was probably the best it has ever been and I just could not get the putts to fall. I had three lip outs and had four other barely miss, two of which stopped an inch short. It's frustrating, but at least I know what i need to work on.

I do not use a tee with my irons. I have just had better luck over the years with out one. I play some pretty cheap courses but I have never had a problem finding a decent spot to put my ball down on a tee box. There is just something that bothers me about the tee potentially being between by club and the ground. To each his own, I guess.

My father started playing a little when I was in highschool, so he scrounged up a few old clubs and I went with him a few times my senior year. I got a beginners set for christmas and messed around with golf for the next few years but didn't get serious until I was out of college. Thats been a couple of years now and it's without a doubt my favorite sport. I just joined a course last year, and my first handicap was around a 7, I think.

Tell him how much you admire his consistency and his willingness to never take chances. Every time he lays up or takes a safe line, make sure you tell him how that decision was so much better than the riskier shot he avoided. Most players can thrive on a barrage of "I wouldn't try that shot" or criticisms of their decisions, but it takes the truly self secure player to live up to a compliment on their consistent play. I have seen many players best aspect dissappear as soon as someone brings it to their attention, myself included.

I switched from the interlocking to the overlap. sorry about the earlier post, just a typo.