Chief Broom

It is within the rules of golf to use your putter to "mark" your ball.

Tommy Gainey did it. He was an assembly line worker at a water heater factory who played money games and mini tour events on the side. I believe after doing this for a few years and being reasonably successful doing so (making money in the money games and placing well in the mini tour events) he was able to convince a group of business people whom he knew to put up the money (along with winnings he was able to save) for him to devote himself full time to playing golf. It can be done and you don't have to go the route of spending large sums of money on living with a top golf instructor for years in order to hone your ability (although guys have gone that route too and made it).

I wonder how you translate that drill into the full driver swing?

Find a good vantage point somewhere on the back 9 prior to any of the players making it that far along in their rounds. Stay there and let all the golfers come to you. The herd following Tiger starts showing up a good 2 or 3 holes prior to him coming through, so being there ahead of time is crucial. This has always worked for me Sunday's at the Masters.

I de-loft the driver horribly at impact. I have a very strong grip as a result of being a lifelong slicer of the ball. As I've tamed the slice (somewhat) my ball flight has drastically dropped. In fact the only shot with the driver I can get up in the air is that high slice/cut, otherwise it's low. This is a result of being above plane after I start down on the ball and come into impact outside-in. Any ideas for drills to work on at the range to add more loft or promote hitting up on the ball?

Well I tried this and it didn't work. My club has 5 sets of tees and I always play the middle tees at 6250yds (70.4/126). Beyond that we've got 6750yds (72.5/130) and 7100yds (74.2/137). Our club championship is coming up this weekend and they'll set it up so that we'll be playing from a mixture of the three longest tees. Incidentally the one's immediately shorter than where I usually play are considered the senior tees at 5450yds (66.6/117) and shortest are the "women's" tees at 5000yds (un-rated for men). Figuring that I should have some experience from the longer tees leading into the competition one golf buddy and I endeavored to play from the first set longer than normal for us (6750). Let me tell you that extra 500 yards beat us up this past weekend (I got to play the front 9 twice and the full 18 once). I'd say on balance the extra yardage only made a real difference on about half of the holes. The rest were marginally harder, but on the ones where it did it was punishing. It doesn't help that driver is the most vexing club in my bag, so on the holes where the yardage was significantly added a poor tee shot left me in a lot worse trouble than I am used to having to deal with on approach. My buddy, who's a 9hdc, and I were grinding to play bogey golf. What made matters worse is that the extra yardage also got into my head. I hit some decent tee shots but I hit some lousy ones too, and when I was in position off the tee I seemed to perform slightly worse than usual. I have the game to play from those kinds of yardages, but after the championship I'm going back where I belong.

I guess I'd pick b for a larger margin of error. I'd missed that "capture speed" thread originally and it is certainly interesting. I'm definitely not a "rammer" when it comes to putting. That's one of my regular playing partners. He's a better putter than I am and I have found myself at times admiring his ability to firm those shorter putts home. Actually how firm he's hitting them I can't say because I'd put his success rate on those (and this practice stands out primarily on those in the 3'-5' range) around an 80% make rate. This weekend I did spend some time considering this and I'll spend some time on the practice green trying to perfect that 6"-12" capture speed. I have to concede that the firmer stroke may well be an indicator of confidence as much as a capture methodology.

The pros hit putts firm for a reason. I've got a regular golf buddy who does this and he's deadly on those short putts that can easily bring you to your knees trying to second guess the break and get the ball to die in the hole. As Ben said aim for the back of the cup and hit it hard enough so that it hits it.

This practice is very widespread. I'd say far more people "roll" the ball than play it down. It doesn't bother me one way or the other. If someone who rolls the ball plays in a handicapped tournament their handicap will reflect the way they play, so any advantage gained will in effect lower their handicap accordingly. The problem I see from rolling the ball is for the "roller" if they ever find them self in a situation where they are not allowed to roll the ball. Then they will lose whatever advantage they have gained from rolling the ball, and constantly have to fight the impulse they have ingrained to bump or nudge the ball to a more favorable lie.

Miura draws upon the Japanese cultural traditions of metallurgy, craftsmanship, artistry, etc. It's no coincidence that this approach has been successful for them in the Japanese market and beyond. This multidisciplinary approach has always been a fundamental component of Japanese culture and the Miura company functions under this philosophy. I've always admired this mindset. The Samurai prized the ability to arrange flowers and write poetry as much as skill with arms or military tactics. At the core of this belief is the assumption that better design is to be found through such a multidisciplinary approach.

D'oh!

In my experience when you play a course has a lot to do with how busy it will be. Take the time to get to know a course and it's play patterns and it should be fairly easy for you to schedule your rounds when you know you'll stand the best chance of not being held up. The best way I know to be able to play as fast as you want is to be the first group off in the morning. Those times are usually taken by course regulars because they also don't want to have to wait. There have been plenty of times when I showed up at the course prior to their first tee times and was able to convince them to let me go off with those first groupings. You'll also find that many courses are slower the closer you get to twilight or mid-day. Get to know the course and you'll figure out when you should schedule your tee times for maximum benefit.

I don't disagree with your basic premise. But I get the impression that you might not be playing necessarily the same game a lot of these other guys are playing. There is a lot to be said against the current rage of the "bomb and gouge" style of play. You mentioned earlier playing the ball along the ground versus flying it to the hole, and I've played with a lot of older players who routinely will use their putter from 50 yards off the green. That's a style we aren't used to seeing here in the states but it is a style that can be used to great effect. So too can players become obsessed with the power game, and quite frankly I have to say that it isn't always the most effective way to shoot lower scores especially if the player isn't capable of being consistent when they try to apply that power.

The reason I asked the typical yardages you play from is because that has a huge impact on breaking 80. I'd say if you stick to tees less than 6300 yds and hit your driver 220-230, but always straight, you'll have no trouble occasionally shooting in the 70's. Now if on the other hand you play tees pushing beyond mid 6000 yds to upper 6000's (and beyond) you're going to have a lot of trouble, and in fact have to play lights out in order to break 80. In actuality my average driver distance is certainly in the mid 230 yd range and I always stand a chance (albeit a small one) of breaking 80 on any given day (even on tees pushing beyond mid 6000 yds). Do I hit driver a lot farther than 230, sure, but an average also has to take into account all those lousy drives too and that's what brings my average way down. I'd say if you can hit your driver consistently 220 yds but find the fairway a majority of the time, and you're playing a set of tees a little over 6000 yds your typical approach shots on par 4s should by mid iron or shorter. And a mid iron or better in your hands on typical par 4s is pretty much all anyone can ask for when trying to break 80.