JimmyDoesGolf

Shot my best round of 83 yesterday to win a junior tournament at my local club. Had a 2 under par front 9, almost died of shock, and had a 13 over back 9. Still, solid overall score so I'm fairly pleased.

I don't like that 2-putt instead of 3-putt school of thought. I'd much rather think 1-putt instead of 2-putt. I find a positive attitude to each putt makes it much more likely to drop. Besides, I don't see what more risky about going for that birdie than going for a 2-putt. If you miss the hole by 3 feet you're not too bad, if you miss a 3 foot circle around the hole by 3 feet, you've left yourself an awkward par putt.

I'd guess what happened was you realised you were ripping it and subconsciously started going at it more, which is fatal to good rhythm. Try and pick a specific target to aim at. Know what your practice is aiming to achieve, be it rhythm, consistency, a certain shot type, a swing move, whatever and focus on that. It is very easy, having hit a few good shots, to tense up and try and hit the ball.

My ideal set, if I had the skill to play it: Titleist 909D2 9.5 Diamana BB Stiff Titleist 909F2 15.5 Diamana BB Stiff Titleist 909H 19 Diamana BB Stiff Titleist 710 MB 3-PW DG S300 Titleist Vokey SM 52.08, 58.12 DG S300 Scotty Cameron California Coronado 33"

As far as I was aware, the one plane swing supposedly decreases the chance of back problems, so its more likely the amount of time you've spent practicing. Take a day off.

Yep, assuming it does indeed have 13 degrees of bounce, then it will change to 11 degrees of bounce. The difference will probably be unnoticable.

Thanks mate. Mmm, you wouldn't think so till you see my short game, and that's where my attention is focused at the moment. I haven't handed in a card in a while, so that largely explains why its stuck where it is. Typical miss depends on the day. If I'm swinging well then its usually a block. On a bad swinging day I can lunge at the ball and hit pulls/slices cause I get on top of it and leave the blade open.

Thanks. My bad. Should work now.

Hi all, Just thought I'd post up a more recent version of my swing and see what people think. Any comments/criticisms are welcome. All three shots were fairly well struck. The 3rd was slightly thin if I remember correctly. Cheers, James

Hi all, Looking for a new shaft to either fit my current driver (Ping G10 10.5) or a new one and wondering if anyone had any recommendations. Looking for a Mid launch, responsive shaft. Don't like a boardy feel. Preferably low spin, but that's not normally much of a problem. Swing speed is probably somewhere near to or just over 100 mph so stiff flex is probably right. I have a reasonably smooth tempo. Obviously fitting is the best thing, but as I have access to a Titleist fitting trolley, I'd like to shortlist without having to go through every shaft. Will probably be testing them in a 909D2 head. Cheers, James

I suppose the argument is that you should be trying to get the best possible score either way. If you know that you need birdie to win, and you try something risky, you could end up much worse off than if you'd followed your regular strategy for that hole. Its also very easy to say, I can get away with a bad shot, or, I can get away with a double, and then do even worse.

How about a flip flop four holes. Beat this: Hole Par Score 1 4 10 2 4 4 3 5 12 4 4 5 Camping and walking 40Km in a weekend clearly does wonders for your swing.

It depends on what kind of chip I'm trying to hit. My stance is open, shoulders square. Face open depending on the height of the chip and whether I want it to run out or not. I'd suggest that if your chunking it, the problem is either that your wrists are breaking down through the shot, or that your weight is shifting. Next time you chip really focus on getting your weight forwards and set your wrists before you start and keep them that way.

I tried the MX 200s and, while they had the great Mizuno feel on a decent strike, the clubheads just seemed massive, especially coming from my Titleists.

No one here can tell you how you will hit the R9. You may hit it well, you may hit it terribly. Certainly, the wiser investment by a mile is lessons or at least a fitting. I'm sure you can find 30 mins here and there for that.

Yes, the ProLaunch Red is a great shaft for a lower launch with lower spin. Is your problem to do with spin or just a trajectory that is too high? Off the top of my head, the Aldila NV, Mitsubishi JavlnFX and Diamana Whiteboard are all reasonably low launch. I'd say the Matrix Ozix X-Con 5 is more of a mid to high launch, but you may be surprised. It may be a shaft that you don't expect that will fit your swing. Get properly fit.

To borrow the words of Mr Rotella "Every putt is a green light putt." It doesn't matter what distance, you should always be aiming to hole it. The smaller your target, the smaller your error is likely to be. If you aim for a spot, your more likely to end up within 3 foot of that spot than if you aimed to end up inside a 3 foot circle. That's my thinking at least.

Prepare to be almost universally shot down. It has been shown several times that rust has little to no effect on spin.

I think the worst thing you can do is think about it too much. Whatever you do, don't doubt yourself or your putting stroke. Iacas' idea may work, but don't focus too hard on changing anything. Just play exactly how you normally would. That's my advice at least. We have recently had absolutely awful greens due to Fusarium disease so I've had to put over sand, holes, scarifying marks, patches of mud and grass, seed, you name it I've probably putter over it.

Hard enough. Thats the only way I can think of to describe it. I know how far I hit each club and don't try to hit it further. I also don't think too much about hitting it 80% or whatever. To me, its just swing at the speed that gets me the best combination of distance and accuracy, and that speed differs depending on how well I'm playing. That speed will normally sort itself out without me having to think about it.

Working on improving consistency by shortening my backswing and pairing down the motions. Ensuring club starts back on plane and the downswing starts with what feels like a shift of my right knee laterally towards my left.

On our course each flagstick has two flags. Flag at the top is just a general marker, and the lower flag is placed at a different height on the pin dependant on position. If the lower flag is at the top, the pin is at the back, at the bottom and the pin is at the front.

Yes. It depends entirely on the situation at the time. You need to consider the positions of your playing partners, how well you've done so far, your striking, the wind, tree height. In other words, don't go onto the hole blinkered to hitting over.

In my opinion, wrist cock isn't something you should consciously worry about. In the correct backswing, the wrist cock will come naturally and at the correct time.

Cupped and cocked are two different things. A cupped wrist through impact would leave the face open. The difference is hard to explain. Imagine holding a golf club out directly in front of you parallel to the ground in your normal grip. The cocking motion is the one which would move the golf club towards the vertical so that it is perpendicular to the ground. A cupped wrist is even harder to describe. Imagine holding your left arm out in front of you with the palm open and faced down. If you bend your wrist back, that is a cupped wrist. To compare this to a cocked wrist, from the horizontal position, move your hand to the right without moving your arm. There is probably a much better way of describing this.