Moppy

I just bought one yesterday, practiced with it then, and again today, and took it with me on a practice round today, took a couple practice swings with it before each drive, cheating I know, but it improved my swing markedly. I had fired my driver and was playing from the yellows so I could even sniff par, but I saw this on sale at Dicks and had some money burning a hole in my pocket so I bought it figuring I would be returning it next Sunday. Anyway, swinging the Medicus was not my only change, I thought about why I was slicing again, and revisited the grip thread, but it would break on takeaway, other than that it was fine, so I didn't think it would make that big a difference, but I practiced the "single piece" takeaway so it wouldn't break, and slowing it down gave me more time to think about my swing plane, and once I got the club cocked, I felt like I could really swing it, and I did. I had to make a couple more adjustments, but the first hole I played, I hit it the furthest I had this year on that hole, and had a birdie look, if I could have closed it with the putt. Next hole I also had a great result, and except for a couple of mishits, my driving went from insufferable to respectable, at least for me. I had completely stopped keeping score. I will start again. I was planning on getting a lesson, and I still will, but I will take a better swing in with me, I think. I need to get more distance still, straight and not very long is not the road to scoring, but slicing and even shorter is a harder road yet!

There was an episode of Nova on last night about memory, and they did an interesting experiment that I think applies to golfers. There was a man who had had his hippocampus surgically removed to prevent seizures, and they found out that you needed this area of the brain to form permanent memories. So this guy stopped having seizures, but couldn't make any new memories. They set the guy to a task that required a little learning, they had him trace outlines with a pencil, but he couldn't look directly at his hands, just see them in a mirror. Normal people can learn this skill after a little while. Anyway, they had him do it, and the first time he was not very good, but the next day they would try it again, and he would say he had never done it before, but each day he got a little better at it. Some unconscious part of his brain was learning the task even though he had no conscious memory of it. So I guess "muscle memory" is a thing separate from regular memory, even if it doesn't exactly reside in the muscles.

He fixed my slice, so I guess that makes him a genius.

I think everybody slices for a different reason. I fixed mine for a little while after a lesson, thought I had it beat, but it came back. Finally I bought a little $20 Slice Eliminator, which the pro had had me use during the lesson, and took practice swings every day for a couple of months. If your path was outside in, you would hit it. Same if it was too inside out. My swing changed to the point where I didn't have to think about it anymore. The next lesson I took I hit 20 balls for the pro and sliced one, about 12 or 13 balls in and the pro said "There's your old swing!" The weird thing about fixing a beginner's swing that is full of problems is that some of the fixes have to be done on faith that the final result will be worth it. You can make fixes, and know you've improved your swing, but not see any difference, then one day it all works.

Play three times a week minimum, all summer. My favorite golf buddy is moving up here, so I am thinking this is possible.

I have gotten distance drunk in the past. I start hitting it good, carrying some trees on a dogleg, whatever, and instead of keeping doing what I am doing, I get sucked into trying to hit it longer and end up hitting it shorter. Golf takes a tremendous amount of mental discipline.

One suggestion to a playing partner given in a lighthearted way, only if it is something that worked for me and they are having a problem that I have gotten past, one suggestion is my limit. If they are not interested, I don't worry about it anymore. I help them find their balls and we play on. If they get frustrated, that's their thing, and I might commiserate, if they whine all the time about their game, I ask myself why I am playing with them, I guess. I have never run into that for more than a round and a half at the most. If I like a person as a friend, I will put up with a *lot* from them on the golf course. Friends in life are precious things. One of the things I will put up with from friends is golf advice. I won't listen to it, but I will put up with it.

This thread helped me improved the more than any other from this site. Admittedly I had a lousy grip, "palmy" was how it was described, and you could tell by looking at my glove wear pattern, so maybe I was just ripe for it.

Joe Namath, that would be a riot. Boog Powell would be great too though, I always played first base because I loved that guy.

My course closed the pro shop a week ago, but you could still play for free if you were happy to walk, but this bad weather has put an end to even that, I think.

If every drive is a banana slice at 160 yds but 50 yds to the right, then I think you could get 20 yards easily from a driver coating that would keep the ball straight. The ball is already traveling that far, just taking the long way. But you would never get the really long ball flights that are helped along by bottom spin causing the ball to rise either. Nobody playing at the professional level would gain any advantage from this, and it would cost them distance and ability to shape shots. If you are any good at all, I can't imagine fearing playing with a guy who use "Slice Away," even if it does improve their game.

Around here a membership is pretty reasonable, if what you are talking about by "membership" is to pay a set fee to play unlimited golf for the season and don't mean plunk down some huge sum for an equity position in a golf club. It's a no-brainer for me, $825, unlimited golf, not just on the course next door, but most of the courses in my area, which are all pretty rural, BTW, so none of them are very busy. Carts are extra, but I walk and like that a lot. I have improved greatly because I play whenever I can without thinking about the money. I still pay to play when traveling, of course.

I am thinking it would be really hard to start golf late in life with the old equipment.

From the Amazon ad: Fix your slice or hook in seconds...just spray and play!Drive the ball up to 20% longer and 72% straighterPlay faster rounds and lose less ballsHit more fairways & greens, lower your handicap...and have more fun!Stop your slice now!

If I am playing with a guy who needs "Slice Away" spray on his driver to stay in the fairway, I am happy he found it and the game keeps moving and we are doing other stuff beside looking for balls. If he has a radio controlled ball that he can steer after hitting his putt?

When I get on a roll and play three times a week, I start hitting longer, with a baby draw on the irons and straight drives. When I play once a week or less, I start hitting fat shots, slices sometimes. Maybe if I had been playing for years, I could hold on to good habits, but since I am only in my third year, I need to keep playing to stay consistent.

Somebody saved this thread at last.

The one time I didn't ask a singleton to play through was when there were two singletons behind us, and we had just let one through. We let the second through after a couple additional holes, but honestly, we just didn't feel like sitting and waiting for two players to finish the hole behind us separately then tee off no matter how fast they were, and they caught us fast. They should have joined up, IMHO. Then if they were still faster, there would have been no question but to let them through. I think it was sort of selfish for them to play as singles one behind the other since they are disruptive. Singletons should be aware that they can be disruptive. I play as a singleton a lot and I try not to disrupt groups, if possible. Even if it means practicing chipping or putting while waiting for the group in front to tee off unless they are unconscionably slow. When they stop and wait for me, I try to play through as quickly as possible, but I always enjoy joining groups that are less than four.

I guess the right answer would be 100%, I won't play a course where I know a round is going to be six hours. I know I am not one of those guys who thinks golf is like work that requires 100 percent focused effort every second I am on the course, but seriously, six hours? Count me out.

I never used to clean them at all until I was taking a lesson with a pro and he said if I wanted to get the ball to check on the green, I had better start. Why buy ProV1s if you are not cleaning your club faces between shots?

You win the internet today.

Moonbats Arise! (Humor) Socialist who thinks Greece's only problem is that we won't give them more money is drawing huge crowds! http://www.democracynow.org/2015/7/7/sen_bernie_sanders_self_described_socialist

Sure this place can be a little pretentious. So what? It is still a good place to learn about golf. I don't get why people get so angry. I have to say I have seen the same kind of cr@p on the course. Sometimes I wish they would just put Prozac in the water.

Thanks for this post. I was completely oblivious as to why I was hitting fat and thin and had no idea what to practice. I took this idea to the range and it has shown me the way to get better contact though I need a lot more reps and experimentation to get it right. At least I feel like I have a flashlight now, instead of wandering around in the woods in the dark.

Cool, an excuse to head into town tonight. I have been reading up on AimPoint, and I might do one next year in Montreal, which is the nearest course currently. But it couldn't hurt to get a better sense of the feel of slopes backed by data. And as for the string. I putt on a mat in my house and can be deadly from up to seven feet, which I figure should be good enough, so I am thinking that it could just be the disorientation of being on an unmarked green without the helpful stripes that is throwing me, so the putting practice on the mats is good, but it isn't sufficient to accurately hit on the greens. Maybe the knitting needles and strings will work as "training wheels" onto the practice green. I wear bifocals, because I never could get used to progressives. I can use these to create a line too, but it will take practice to be able to really use that, I think. Does that count as a having a "training aid" with me while playing?