Mr Smell Good

He set expectations too high by winning 2 majors in his first year. People called 2016 a down year for him and he still won 2 tournaments, but no majors. He has never been "really cold" as far as I can tell. He might have just had some luck his first year and jumped out to a pace nobody could live up to.

Last lesson I had the pro was telling me about how he went to a tournament down in San Diego and was watching Tiger warm up at the putting green and that he watched Tiger stand there and hit like 50 putts in a row from 3-5 feet with only his right arm

Can you go into a little detail on how you "worked on keeping a flat wrist" please? Does that mean you did some drill that helped make it click for you?

I feel bad for the duck... you went into a little more detail than I would have liked Couple weeks ago I was playing at a local course on the 18th hole along a lake and I do not exaggerate when I say there were at least a few hundred of those Canadian geese all over the fairway. Thought I was going to hit one but I didn't.

You should probably stop knocking the ball off the tee that often lol... I can see why they say that because it would be kinda funny.

Bridgestone e6

You're right. Honestly until I joined this forum I never knew that much about all the golf rules and even how many clubs I could carry. The only reason I haven't looked into hybrids is because i've spent my money on other stuff like a new driver and new irons.

I guess I would add a 3-hybrid. Never really hit one before but they seem to be all the rage.

Do you happen to know a drill for a specific swing issue i'm having? When I hit my wedges and irons everything seems all good but the longer the club (very much more pronounced with the driver) I can't seem to keep my right shoulder down. It's always coming way up almost level with my other shoulder. For example, here is me vs. Tiger at impact. This was me when I was focusing intently on keeping my shoulder low. Notice how even with all my focus on that it's still nowhere near his angle? I have no issue with this until the clubs get longer because the driver swing feels nothing like an iron swing to me.

Having never played the course before I would consider yellow but probably go with the red. I feel like with a landing area that size I can hit a 7-iron up there pretty safely. Like many said, if I wasn't feeling confident in my abilities that day, I would play yellow.

I got one of those indoor putting mats from Sports Authority (or you can buy on amazon for like $45) and I really think it helps with keeping putts on line. It's also fun to play with. I notice I have putt better since buying it.

I figured. Just like some play interlock and some play overlap.

Does anyone know what the pros tend to do as far as left hand position on their grip?

About 6 months ago I had never had a lesson and I played golf on average about once every 3-6 months for the last 10 years. My average score was probably 110-120. Within the last 4-6 months I have probably played an average of one full round per week (always on Sat or Sun), usually warmed up for 45 minutes first, gone to the driving range 2x per week on lunch breaks, and taken 7 golf lessons from a pro. Recently I posted a personal best score of 86 and I average in the low to mid 90s now. I don't know when the progress is supposed to level off but I'm happy about all of it so far. And that's with playing only weekends and getting some swings in at the range a couple times a week. I plan to continue this amount of practice and ultimately if I can average scores in the 80s whenever I play I'll be happy. I say that now anyway. I feel as if getting to a single digit handicap playing only once a week is do-able as long as you have a practice area you can take some swings mid-week on. Big difference between thinking it's do-able and actually doing it though

Even thinking about things like this is helping me learn about course management. I think my decision on whether to break out the 3-wood or not would also depend a lot on trees. I don't mind chipping 30 yards out of the rough but I do mind possibly being behind a tree. Last weekend I shot my all time best score (86) and toward the end of my round I started to think about how I could play more conservative shots because I didn't want to mess up the score I had going. I remember on the 18th there was a huge water hazard both in front and out to the right of the green and I was about 170 yards out hitting my 3rd shot already. I knew I could reach the green with a hard 7 iron or a 6 iron but I decided to hit my sand wedge 110 yards or so and chipped up. This is an even more extreme example than option 2 above because I was settling for a bogey but I just wanted to avoid any blow up holes at that point and I wasn't in great position because of my tee shot.

I did actually. I suppose that thread has enough "par 5 second shot" analysis to keep me from even asking this one in here. But that was from the point of view of a scratch golfer who feels that no matter what club he uses, it's going straight at the green. For me in that scenario, laying up just short is a little riskier because I would have to use a club like a 4-iron that is less accurate.

I'll go ahead and post this here instead of making a new thread because this conversation made me think of it. What do you guys think about GIR strategy on a par 5. We reinforced how important GIR is in this thread. Let's say you have a 500 yard hole that is relatively straight. I usually find myself with a couple scenarios: 1) Hit the driver, then hit a 3 wood gunning for the green but most likely ending up somewhere in the rough nearby. Obviously even the pros wouldn't regularly hit a green from 230 out but with an average player you're more likely to put yourself in a tough lie or be behind a tree or in sand. However, you also have a chance to hit the green and be under GIR. 2) Hit the driver (lets say 265), hit an 8 or 9 iron that you feel very comfortable keeping in the fairway another 150 yards, and then you're left with an 85 yard shot to the green with a favorable lie. This would be about a full swing with my lob wedge which I feel pretty good about hitting greens with. It's a risk reward situation that obviously depends on the hole but is option 2 usually going to be best for your average player? P.S. Option 3 is missing the fairway with the driver which leaves you no choice but to play option 2

I'm curious about cavity back wedges vs blades. When I got my cavity back irons I liked them and went ahead and ordered the full wedge set too. Will most people generally play blades for wedges even if they use cavity back irons?

I have a swing thread but that's not really what I'm getting at here. I am not hooking my irons - i'm saying that I have been using a different grip on my driver than I do with irons and wondering if this is normal. I think this makes it easier to close the club face with the driver which I have no problem doing with irons. The V on my left hand points toward the middle of my chest on irons and with the driver more toward my right shoulder.

Really enjoying all the ideas thanks guys! I will admit, it probably doesn't get cold by a lot of your standards over here. I'm not aware of golf courses here actually shutting down for the year, although we do get a lot of rain sometimes. Hand warmers in the pockets is an awesome idea. Will look into under armour as well

I still haven't got all the terminology down yet... what I meant by "strong" is that I will move my left hand so that the V points more toward my right shoulder on drives. Did I mix them up?

Everything I posted was an estimate. I don't know any exact distances. My local driving range doesn't have very good markers for that and I am hesitant to post too high of distances. I'd rather be conservative if I don't know. One thing I know for sure is my 7-iron gets me about 165-170 because I hit a ton of them when I got fitted. I have a fast swing speed and I hit the ball far with my irons but I'm not as confident with my driver. I think the higher in club I go, the less hard I actually swing which results in my swing speeds for all the clubs not being that different. Driver is still the highest of course but not by much. Perhaps a better estimate would be: 4-iron: 205 3 wood: 240

Does anybody change their grip based on what club they are using? I've only recently learned the difference between strong and weak grip and I've discovered that if my grip is too strong on iron shots, I will hook the ball. However, a strong grip on my drives seems to straighten it out and eliminate the threat of a slice.

Every time I play in a group of 4 at least 1 or 2 of the other guys are playing Titleist balls and they all look alike until you pick them up. As for the expensive part, I guess that is what has kept me away from them as a brand. If I can get Pings for $500 or Titleists for $1000 it's an easy choice because the Pings are great quality too. Is this bothering you that I feel this way? What else is there to discuss here?