jasongst

Thanks for the suggestions so far, but unfortunately they are the opposite of what I'm looking for. TheSandTrap and golfreview.com are primarily subjective reviews. That's fine and plenty helpful in its own way, but it's not the science I'm looking for.

I am actually in the same boat with you guys, currently lacking about 10 yards on my iron shots. But for you, dkinser, I might at least have a guess at what's happening. It's possible that you are releasing the club too soon, instead of having your hands in front of the ball at impact. This would cause the extra height (because you are effectively adding loft). I'm no golf instructor, so I don't know if that's even a bad thing. It could just mean that you hit your 7 iron like a 9 iron (same loft, everything). I know how annoying it is though. We're all trying to approach those mythical numbers pros claim to achieve with their irons, so every step backward really hurts, even if it doesn't necessarily hurt our scores.

Wait, you weren't kidding? Holy cow!

Budget golf equipment companies save money by shipping their clubs with the same shafts in every product sample. It's basically just a generic shaft, probably regular flex. But being clever marketers, there's no way they are going to tell buyers the actual flex, or some people will feel they are buying the wrong club. If they label it "Uniflex" then it sets people's minds at ease to make them feel like the product is suited for them. If you're a high handicapper I wouldn't worry about it. There's much more important stuff to worry about than the flex of your club shaft. Like your swing mechanics!

Whether one driver or golf ball hits farther than another is an objective question that can be scientifically tested, yet too often we are force-fed user opinion surveys using relatively small sample groups. I've seen the occasional Golf Digest bar graphs showing distances and spin, but they are far from exhaustive because they don't tweak any variables, and they are a magazine, so they only list a handful of recently-released stuff (no historical context whatsoever). I'm already guessing the answer is no, but are there places we can look to get objective test results for clubs and balls? It should be doable for anyone that has access to a robot and access to the equipment. Here are some examples of variables that should be tweaked (sampled at multiple values) for a driver test (forgive the layman's terms): Club head speed Club shaft (make, model, flex, length) Forward/backward club face angle at impact Upward/downward swing path at impact Impact position on club face Ball used in test With results like these, we would be able to determine which club performs best for our play style (club head speed, tee height, etc.). Additionally, we would have much better insight into what kind of tweaks to make (depending on what club we own) to maximize our launch conditions. And we would finally know which clubs really are the most forgiving, or which are the farthest-hitting. I have seen something close to this for golf balls at www.golfballtest.com , up until last year, that is. Unfortunately they have now become a pay site, although you can see the old contents by using the Way Back Machine. (If anyone has an opinion on the value of the redesigned pay site, please tell; maybe it's worth it.) User opinions are a valuable resource, but with the amount of salesmanship floating around out there (especially with the magazine hype-machines) it is extremely difficult to separate perception from reality. The brand name alone is going to have a significant impact on user opinion results.

Assuming you play on the same course nearly every time, ask yourself which club you rarely use on that particular course. Regardless, I suspect it's going to be the 5-wood like everyone else above said, because people always like to have the "go for it" club from the fairway; that's the 3-wood unless you hit driver off the deck. Meanwhile you gotta get rid of something else and it sure isn't going to be your pitching wedge or an iron, right? Might as well get rid of the club with the lowest likelihood of ever landing you on the green: the 5-wood. Myself, I'm not good enough with a 5-wood to hit greens consistently, so I found myself a 2-iron replacement hybrid (17 or 18 degree, I forget). The idea is that the shorter club will be easier for me to aim, and so far so good. I use it off the tee in lieu of 3-wood on short par 4s, and I have good success with it. (My only question is if it's truly farther than my fancier 21 degree hybrid.) I pulled out the gap wedge for two reasons: First, I have better luck just hitting a medium pitching wedge onto the green as opposed to a full-strength gap, and second I don't have any use for it in my short game. It's difficult enough to master the pitching wedge and sand wedge; my pitching imagination doesn't have room for the gap wedge right now. I only keep the 60 degree for those emergency situations. If I were a scratch golfer I might have more use for the gap wedge. (Although curiously enough, even most pros seem to skip the gap wedge.)

Obviously you're kidding, but if you really want golf balls that spin they aren't that expensive at places like Lostgolfballs.com. I buy Precept U-Tri Tour balls for $4 a dozen (3rd tier quality) and I'm getting plenty of spin. Callaway and Titleist balls go for a bit more, but they are still cheap compared to $20/dozen 2-piece no-spin balls you see in the stores.

Yep, this is exactly the type of balance I try to achieve. What I realize is that when I'm not balanced on my arches, then my swings are really a controlled fall. And when I'm in a controlled fall it's difficult to have the same swing plane every time.

One thing that must be learned is that any time you make any radical change to your swing, odds are your scores are going to drop dramatically for a period of time. The more radical the change, the more of a drop off you're going to have to endure. In order to see results you really need to stick with whatever path you choose, and sooner or later you will emerge. Practice, practice, practice, then add in a little practice. Practice with determination. Do you have much confidence in your instructor? Whether justified or not, if you don't have confidence you should probably find another source for information; maybe a new instructor, or maybe a book. Anyway, I'm no scratch golfer myself, but personally I think that might put me a bit closer to your situation. I definitely know what it's like to start shooting 50 instead of 43.

Where I found "ball beating" to be the most useful is when I was a relative beginner a few years ago. I found that I absolutely needed that crazy amount of repetition to discover what a good swing felt like, and also to develop the coordination and balance it took just to get the club head to hit the ball. Sometimes this resembled mindlessness. I'd try almost anything, just to see how it felt: I even hit a couple hundred iron shots with a wide open stance and the ball out in front of my feet. It was kinda crazy (and kinda worked, honestly), but it demonstrated to me why a more normal golf swing was a better route. But in the meantime I was also practicing off the range: taking slow swings in the back yard, trying to match my movements to what I read about in my book. So behind those ball-beating sessions, I had an underlying pathway to improvement. It worked really well. Not all practice is good practice, this is true. I don't hit massive amounts of golf balls anymore. I don't go to the range nearly as often now, although perhaps I should! The primary reason I avoid the range is because I feel like I've established the foundation of a fundamentally sound swing. It's not perfect, but I'm no longer making radical changes to it. When I do go to the range I always have a purpose in mind. And of course, whenever you lose your swing, the range is a good place to go looking for it.

What's your favorite fundamental? That thing you constantly have to return to when your swing is feeling out of whack? I'm sure it's different for everybody. I have several, but here are two I especially like: Firm right side. I like to pretend my right leg, from my thigh to my shin, is a tree trunk. I keep it slightly bent, but solid. I find that if I can avoid flexing my right knee during the swing that I will return to the correct impact position far more often. This is how I get rid of fat shots. Balance. I don't think this gets stressed enough. When I practice staying in good balance, everything gets better, and I'm freed up to swing more athletically. My personal thought to keep in balance is to balance on my arches. I like to pretend there is a sliding rail that I'm standing on during my swing.

I started really getting into golf a few years ago, and during that time I ended up in a situation that I really enjoy: Golfing every day. It may only be a few holes, but nearly every day I get a chance to go out and swing the sticks. This piecemeal approach even makes it easy for my wife to stomach, believe it or not, because it becomes part of a daily routine: She does a workout video, I play golf for an hour or two. I wish more people could have this kind of experience playing golf. (And one day, maybe I'll talk my wife into learning.) The thing is, this is only possible through a reasonable 3-year membership I happened into (and the fact that I live 10 minutes from the course). I'm really privileged to be able to do this. At most clubs I would never be able to afford it, and at most public courses they do everything ala carte, meaning you pay at or near full price for every round. (I'd be broke in a matter of months!) So I have this vision for golf, where anyone who can afford cable TV can afford to play golf every day. It's a tall order for sure, but I think it would open up the game to its true potential. It's a game that should be enjoyed as a game, not just as an occasional weekend event. And I don't intend to cater only to duffers here. Quite the opposite: I would hope that by making the game more accessible, that it would produce a new category of lower to middle-class golfers who actually have the means to put in the practice necessary to excel at it. Running a course like this would obviously bear little resemblance to running a typical upper-class golf course. Plenty of concessions would have to be made. But so what? Let the fairways get a bit wild. Let the grass go thirsty. Allow the greens to play a little slow. Set up a lemonade stand in the parking lot (I kid). Do whatever it takes, but find a way to do it. Elite course conditions are very nice to have, but they are not at all necessary to the game of golf. My local course actually comes close to this, but I'm suspecting it has been a bit of a desperate act to try to bring in money to a money-losing organization (I could be way off base here). They have $50/month rates for afternoon golf sans-cart, all you can play. This is fantastic, but with new ownership in place this looks to be going the way of the dodo. Does anyone share my enthusiasm here? Know of any courses like this in your area? (I know plenty of par 3 courses are built for similar reasons, and that's super, but let's face it, par 3 golf isn't the whole game.) Better yet, does anyone have any ideas for how to make something like this work?

You must be betting money every time you go out to play. Otherwise what difference does it make what your playing partners do? If I were that picky about who I played with I'd always be playing alone. Playing nearly every day, I already do plenty of solo play as it is.

Are you kidding? It's as much a part of golf as the golf club. Of course, it's the loud obnoxious cousin most people wish wouldn't come to the golf family reunion, but it's never going away. The people you play with probably aren't playing for the competition, rather just the satisfaction of hitting a good shot every now and then. Sure you get the bragging duffers every once in a blue moon who actually think they are better than they really are, but for the most part people are just out there to have fun, and for whatever reason that sometimes means moving the ball to a more convenient spot. Just ignore the loudmouths. Myself, I do not partake of this activity, but that's only because I usually want to know how good I really am, not how good I would have been if I had avoided trouble. But if someone in my group feels like playing like an uncivilized hacker, it doesn't bother me one bit. Heck, I can sympathize. But of course it's taboo if you're actually trying to compete. I'll never understand people who cheat just to win something they don't deserve.

I have something similar to, but much smaller than, the Gorillapod. It works fine even with my biggish Canon S2IS.

Trust me, the SLR version is more than good enough for a camcorder and especially a little A620. The bigger version is only there to accomodate huge lenses, which you don't have. You really don't need much for this job. I bet the pocket camera Gorilla Pod would do the trick.

Let me clarify. I don't do this walking the line thing, I read putts the same way you do. But I always noticed how easy it is to sense subtle slopes when standing ON the slope, which prompted the question. Now that I know it's a violation of the rules, it's out regardless. And I still think it's mental ;) I play on some pretty gnarly greens though.

First, thanks for that link. Second, hah! Stack and tilt? Whatever! Looking at Aaron Baddeley's swing it looks almost identical to Trevor Immelman's to me, with the exception that Aaron prefers an up upright swing plane (and some very upright clubs to go with it). Anyone else agree?

There are an infinite number of lines depending on how hard you hit the putt (and what small objects it bounces off of on its way to the cup). If you intend to stop the ball 1 foot beyond the cup, then for all practical purposes there is only one line.

I agree with that. That's why Ben Hogan's book is so good; because he tries to break down his swing for you. I spent part of my time looking at YouTube, and part of my time trying to mimic the swing positions from the book. Using my little digital camera for videos also did wonders to open my eyes to my flaws. I used to have a massive sway that I didn't even know about until I saw it on video.

Have a look at my handicap and then take what I say with a grain of salt (as you should with anything you hear, even on TV). One thing that helps me with regripping at the top of my swing is my left thumb. Now this may or may not mesh with whatever grip you are using, but if you can keep your left thumb centered on the shaft at the top of the backswing you will have far better control over the club head and your grip. If you let it slip to the right or left you will be subject to regripping, and you'll need to shorten your backswing to compensate. The other piece of advice I have is tempo. If you want to swing hard, then practice swinging hard. Practice until you find a tempo that allows you to swing hard without regripping, then bring that to the course. If you start swinging harder in the middle of a round you're going to find it difficult to adjust. But of course the best advice is just, "stop doing that!" If you can't get the power you need, don't try to make up for it by over-swinging. Just spend months overhauling your swing mechanics until you find something that does the trick ;) Seriously. I'm sure weight training helps, but I'm a poor advocate for that since, even though I'm fairly sedentary off the course, I'm still satisfied with my swing speed. The biggest weight I lift is the milk jug to fill the cereal bowl.

I don't swing 120 but I'm not surprised that there are guys here who do. The PGA tour figures don't surprise me either. Assuming these guys are measured and averaged while playing in a tournament, it only makes sense that they aren't going to swing 100%. Even if they hit 135 on one particularly herculean shot, they might still average 119 over a season.

Don't worry, I'm very conscious of other peoples' lines. That doesn't mean I don't think the whole thing is silly :) Are you the first person to play your greens every morning? If not then plenty of people have been stepping on your line all day, and there are grains going upways, downways, leftways, and rightways, and by stepping on your line you're just as likely to fix something as you are to upset it. I think it's entirely a mental thing. Which, by the way, is good enough reason to keep people off your line. You gotta have confidence over the ball.

Thank you both for the answers! Because I'm of the belief that walking on a line has unpredictable effects, not necessarily negative. Maybe it's just the greens I play on, but walking on someone's line seems more likely to improve their roll than to hurt it. The grass just doesn't deform at all when you walk on it. Oh, and the other reason I'd want to walk on my line is because being a foot or two inside or outside of my line could give me an entirely different read. Are we sure it's illegal? :( Seems like the "line" would be too nebulous to make a ruling on the course. It's good to know walking beside it is OK though. Thanks again!

Maybe I don't know the technical definition, but I consider that a practice shot, not a mulligan. Both are illegal, but mulligans are where you are lying to yourself about your score. Practice shots are just out of place; improper in a tournament for obvious reasons (the practice of it, if nothing else). And also probably out of place in handicap rounds, but honestly, don't you think the people you play against would rather see your handicap go *down* rather than up? ;) That's totally normal and legal, isn't it? If you suspect the ball is out of bounds (or if you just don't know) you hit a provisional, right? (You can even hit water balls off the tee legally, right? If you prefer the tee box to the drop area.)