jasongst

Frankly I think he got you all confused. A draw is a mini-hook is a draw, same thing *. You can try several things to alter it if you don't like it. For instance, you can open your club face via weakening your grip, or you can work on a more natural (later) release. You can even hold off on your release, although I don't recommend this because a good swing will allow you to fully release the club. *The only difference is your expectations. Since you expect your ball to go straight, the draw catches you off guard. If over time you end up expecting the draw, then you'll naturally aim a little right to compensate. Same thing!

Isn't that semantic? If he expected the intended line to be a little more left, wouldn't that "fix" his "mini-hook"? It's the same thing. But you might be right; he might be "flipping" the club (I hate that term though; it's so inadequate). In other words, he might be forcing the club through the impact area with his hands, instead of allowing it to release naturally, or he might be releasing it too soon. Another thing that will certainly work is to weaken the grip (turn the club face out a smidge). You may need this adjustment. Ben Hogan needed it. If the release is off, it's better to fix that first though.

I would say stick with what you got. Not because they are better clubs, per say, but because I don't think it matters much which you use. EXCEPT, that is, for offsets and things intended to encourage a draw. Personally as someone who works on their game daily I dislike the notion of the club adding a bit of a draw to every shot I make (especially since I hit a natural draw anyway). I think it's funny that on one hand people will tell you to use a less forgiving club to get better at ball striking (which kinda makes sense, I admit) but then the same people will point you to these high-MOI drivers with huge forgiving club faces. And likewise I find it funny that pros who play for money actually want *less forgiving* irons! Confusing? You bet. For me, at least. What it comes down to for me is that you can't find many forgiving iron sets that have minimal or no offset, so a set like yours is probably ideal. You still have the forgiving cavity back, but you have little or no offset (right?). Oh, one thing I *would* do if I were you is to go and get your lie angles adjusted for your swing. It should only cost you about $5 per club.

Agreed with the "sway inside" comment (not sure about letting go of the club). Rugger, the last thing you need is more rigidity in your wrists. I think what was being pointed out there is that when the club hinges on your back swing it points to the right. Personally, I think this is because your wrist is *too* stiff and the club isn't allow to naturally collapse on plane.

Very interesting, thank you! One thing that sticks out to me is this note about club face angle: "The same physics works in the horizontal direction. If the clubface isn't square to the path, the ball takes off between the two directions, and much closer to the clubface direction." This contradicts common golf wisdom which says that the initial path of the golf ball is due to your club head path, and the spin is due to your face angle. If the article is to be believed, this wisdom is false. To hit a draw, for instance, you would want the face angle to point down your intended start line (more or less), and you would want your club head path to point to the right of your intended start line.

I tried to reply to this but I guess I didn't get past the Preview. Anyway, what I noticed about your swing is that you use your arms and hands way too much. It ends up looking a bit unnatural and stiff, like you are trying to force the club into all the right positions with your hands. Work on developing a nice fluid swing with body motions that automatically puts the club head where you want it, rather than depending on your hands to guide it. It should feel a bit like you a cracking a whip (though not so loose as that, of course) just beyond the ball. This requires good tempo and good balance. Swing at the grass until you feel it! Another thing I see is that your right knee is coming too close to being hyper-extended. Try to keep it more stationary on the back swing with the knee slightly bent. The added stability will help you consistently move through the ball.

Sometimes your setup is fine and you just don't execute the shot. IMO this is an easy thing to do with wedges. Here is a short checklist of things to do: Nail down your balance. Even a slight wobble here will send your clubhead forward a half inch or so. Nail down your tempo too. Same thing. If you rush the swing there's no telling where the clubhead will end up. Until you get it figured out, line the ball up towards the toe of your club. Better to hit it weakly than sideways. Figure out a way to be confident, even if you don't deserve it. The lack of confidence is probably the biggest contributor to the problem! Your faults are probably minor; don't fear them.

Personally, I would focus on trying to swing exactly the same way between your irons and your driver. Same ball position, everything (maybe small adjustments to your back foot; see the Hogan 5 Lessons book). If you can figure out how to hit a solid iron shot, you can hit a good drive using the same swing with the same ball position. Worry about maximizing driving efficiency later. It sounds like you don't need the help anyway. Simplifying things this way will help you groove your swing faster without having to worry about two different styles. Oh, and if you have an ugly swing (be honest) then do yourself a favor and teach yourself how to swing the club correctly. It will save you loads of time. Hogan's 5 Lessons is one great choice for just about everything you need to know. You can watch him swing the club on YouTube. If you aren't happy with your irons my guess is that the bottom of your arc is not shallow enough. It makes it tough to get good contact on the ball eh? One thing that I know helps is to work on your tempo. Work on allowing the club to snap naturally through the ball like a whip (although not nearly as loose), instead of powering it through with your arms and wrists. This requires great tempo. The "whip" should crack just beyond the ball. It helps if you keep your elbows closer together and think of your two hands as one unit. Practice without a ball on some grass until you are happy with how consistently you are sweeping the grass. Then swing just a bit deeper and you'll have the divot you want. If you aren't already, focus on swinging in balance. Are you falling over after every swing? You should be able to hold every follow-through without contorting your body. You should also be able to keep your right heel to the left of the target line on the follow through. If your right heel is spinning out and kicking right after your shot, you probably have some weird balance going on. Practice some of your iron shots off of a hard pan lie, especially if your course has a lot of tight lies. This will force you to be more precise with your impact, and will teach you not to fear the short grass. Lastly, have absurd confidence in your iron swing. Figure out enough to get by, then cease doubting yourself even the slightest bit. If you miss a shot it's no big deal; just make sure you never, ever have a "missed shot" thought right before you swing! Even if you miss 10 iron shots in a row, learn to go right back into that mode of idiotic confidence. Start believing that you are going to stiff every shot. Good luck!

Rick, this begs the question, how did they get it done back in the day? How did they manage to break even with such low green fees? Let me quote an article from Golf Digest in 2006: Pay special attention to Otter Creek, since that's about the budget most of us are dealing with. Otter Creek's fees, along with the fees of most things on this list, have risen at a rate this is MORE THAN DOUBLE INFLATION. That does not indicate rising costs, Rick, that indicates a conscious decision to increase margins and/or raise maintenance standards at a course. If you get enough golf courses doing this, you end up with the situation we are in today, where you can't get on most courses without $40 in your pocket. (Does golf have new insurance liabilities I am not aware of?) This is hurting the game of golf. It's supposed to be a game that everyone can enjoy, yet it's driving away anyone who doesn't have above average means. Like I said, for whatever reason, golf courses in previous years had no problem charging what we now would consider a pittance to play their course. My guess is they spent a little less here and there and didn't worry about living up to the Augusta standard. That is what we need. Link to the article Inflation calculator

Whatever! What evidence is he using to back this up? Most men I know of spend hours upon hours doing recreational activities, whether that be spending time in bars, playing video games, hunting, biking, you name it. What I find amusing is that anyone would look anywhere other than price. Golf, even practicing golf, is amazingly expensive. A large portion of this is inherent in maintaining the grounds, but in most cases it's largely a conscious decision to cater to more affluent people. I'm fortunate to live near a club with affordable membership rates that include access to a range. I know this situation is not always easy to come by though. For instance, the local muni has one of the most reasonable green fees around--between $15 and $40 depending on the time. Unfortunately, they offer no monthly "all-you-can-play" rates, so you are forced to go ala carte. Considering how I play about 5 times a week, that would cost me, oh, somewhere between $300 and $800 a month. For a while I was using their range almost daily. Even when I bought in bulk, it was still costing me about $80 a month just to use the range. Weekend golfers face their own problems. First, if you are golfing, say, once a month then your commitment isn't extremely high to begin with. Then you are faced with a weekend green fee that usually starts around $50 and goes up from there. That's quite a punch in the gut when you compare it to many other leisure activities. This is not exactly a growth situation! Golf participation may have small growth spurts in the future, but it is never going to boom until something gives with the price. When I look around I see too many clubs catering to retirees with fairly deep pockets, and not enough clubs targeting avid golfers of more typical means. I think of it this way. As a public course you could charge $50 in green fees and have people show up twice a year to play your course, spending $100 annually, or you could charge $50 a month for twilight golf and have many of the same people spend $600 annually, or more. And you're only using off-peak hours to do it. Choosing the second option brings some compromises. There will be more people on the course, and you'll have more divots and ball marks than you might like. But that is exactly the path we need if we want the sport to grow. We need more avid golfers, so we need to provide opportunities for them to play frequently instead of occasionally.

The greens at my local course were aerated and sanded this week. Slow greens are bad, and sanded greens are worse! I had a one foot putt for par that came up short. It was my fault, but it was still maddening. The good news is that the sand should help the greens be better than ever in the long run.

I've worn two since I started really getting into golf, because I didn't know any better. I mean, I knew most people used only one, but I didn't realize how uncommon two gloves were. A question I have is why is it so common to wear only ONE glove? It seems to me that if one is helpful, why aren't two? I wear two for similar reasons to those mentioned above. I can grip the club better, and the calluses on my hands aren't nearly as severe. It's especially beneficial if you are hitting a lot of range balls. I can't think of a good reason to wear only one glove, except that it's quicker to remove.

I should know better than to try to answer rules questions.

I can only assume that if it was the last OOB marker that it (technically speaking) marked the end of the OOB territory, regardless of whether it was intended by the course manager. It should be played as it lies. In answer to your question, if the object is movable then yes, you can move it. If it is not movable then I don't know the correct ruling off hand. OOB, GUR, and water hazard markers are a source of frustration to me. I want to play the game by the rules, but most courses do not have adequate markings, it seems. The result is too much guesswork.

When it comes to something as mystical as putting, pros are likely to follow each other's example "just because". I'm sure they will tell you they prefer the better feel of no glove, but there's no way for anyone to prove whether it actually helps performance. It's definitely the popular way to do things though, and if it helps your confidence then it's already better than most putting tips. Myself, I wear two gloves when playing (helps my grip and keeps my hand from getting torn up) and I leave them on to putt, mostly out of convenience. I'm very confident in my putting. If I used one glove I would probably take it off during putting, just because my hands sweat in hot weather and I need to cool them off. Might as well be when putting.

A few weeks ago I returned from about 12 days of no golf. Doesn't sound like a big deal but it threw me off big time. I shot 93 and 97 on my home course. Today I shot a 75, the lowest of my life. My point is, golfing ability ebbs and flows whether you like it or not. (You probably know this but it's still worth saying.) The way to get better is just to tough it out during the hard times. You almost always come away from it a little better off. Even when I get worse, I have faith that my average score over time is getting lower and lower. Learning golf seems to be a matter of attrition.

When I break 80 it's because I'm doing all things relatively consistently. That means solid wedge and putter play, but it also means solid driving and approach shots. I guess we all need to figure out our weaknesses.

I am with you on the amount of putting/chipping practice I do. The funny thing is, despite never practicing putting outright, putting is probably the strongest part of my game at the moment. That's because putting is easy . Although putting at the pro level requires a lot of practice, you can putt good enough to break 80 with little or no specific putting practice. The putting I do during the rounds (and occasionally on my carpet) is enough for me.

I totally buy this. Not only is the source reputable, but it makes good sense. When I was recording my short game scores I noticed that, despite the truth that most of my shots were in the short game, most of my score variance came from how well or poorly my longer shots were hit. I lose a huge number of strokes to errant shots that land in hazards or even out of bounds. His reference to "awful shots" reinforced this with me. I love hearing counterpoints to blindly accepted golf wisdom, especially when it's backed up with such great research! I would love to hear Pelz's comments, he being such a fan of research. The article also made reference to the fact that it may be true that practicing your short game has the most immediate benefit since it requires less practice to see a greater improvement. I also agree with this, and would use this thinking to explain why I spend most of my time practicing my long game; since it requires more time to see benefits, I, in turn, give it more time. I'm more interested in my long term improvement as opposed to a spike in performance on any given weekend.

No hurt feelings. But to be fair, you haven't really clarified anything yourself. It's not easy. I even said to look elsewhere for the details. Unfortunately, what makes perfect sense to one person makes no sense to another. There are plenty of confusing statements that are in common use: "flipping the club", "reverse pivot". If I wanted to go back in time and re-word the thumb statement (which isn't the real subject of the post anyway), I would probably say, "Be sure your thumb is sitting on the middle of the shaft, regardless of whether it is in a strong or weak position; just be sure the pad of the thumb, not the side of the thumb, is making contact with the shaft." A bit of a mouthful, but to me that statement sounds extremely clear. We'll see :)

Well, you anticipated the rail so I might as well give it to you. Frankly, I think this business of "proper attire" is a relic from golf's elitist past (and present, I suppose). What should concern golfers is behavior, not attire. If they aren't interfering with your game, then I don't see why it's your business. If all golf courses had $100 green fees, or limited memberships, and demanded you wear a Rolex while playing, I have a feeling there's a significant number of players who wouldn't mind that at all; fewer "undesirables" to deal with.

It's true. A matter of physics, although I know nothing about physics. But I do know you get more ball speed thus more friction against the air, thus more exaggerated effects from the friction.

It's more common at places that offer memberships, I would guess. If I'm going to pay $50 to play a round of golf I'll probably want a buddy with me.

Sigh. You're missing the point. If you haven't noticed, the English language isn't nearly as effective as pictures at describing something as subtle as thumb placement on a cylinder. Just ignore my words and look at the picture.

That's not something I made up; it's pretty much standard. I'm not saying to line it up with the club face or anything like that, I just mean don't let it hang off to the left or right. Better yet, just make it look like this: http://golf.about.com/od/golftips/ss...rip_lead_4.htm