paddlefoot

I was just wondering what drills, if any, folks use to practice putting at home. I've been thinking about buying some artificial turf to put in my basement for putting practice. Has anyone else done this? If so, what type of setup do you have, and what kind of drills do you do? Thanks in advance!

I'm just being devil's advocate here... If you look at the replay/video, yes the ball does move. But if you look at the very top of the ball, it doesn't look like the ball actually moves up/down or changes position. It looks like his ball mark moved... That would be oscillation, correct?

I watched the replay several times on you tube. The ball looked like it oscillated to me. It did move and the PGA guys keep saying that it moved, but moving is a result of oscillation. The ball didn't look like it changed positions to me. I'm not a big Tiger fan, but I think he's got a decent argument. Just wondering what everyone else thinks about it.

I always put on my head covers because the clanking drivers, fairway metals etc... is disruptive to other golfers. At least that's what I've always thought. Maybe I'm being hyper courteous. :)

- People that play speed golf and their main objective is to push the people in front of them. I know that scratch golfers are naturally faster than bogey golfers, but I'm not talking about scratch players. I'm talking about the double bogey guys that pick up their balls on bad shots, drop in the fairway on bad shots, and move as fast as they possibly can simply to push the group in front of them. Yes. There are groups that play like that. - Fast players that, instead of politely asking a beginner group in front of them to play through, they complain to the club pro. Golf is a gentleman's game and I think people forget that. A true gentlemen would rarely whine to the club pro about a slow group in front of them, rather he would try to handle the matter himself in a professional way. "Guys I don't want to push y'all and disrupt your round, so would you mind if we played through?" - Golf clubs that don't explain the etiquette of letting a group play through. I believe many complaints would be mitigated if only the marshals or club employees would briefly explain when and how to let a faster group play through. "If you see a group behind you standing in the fairway for a few minutes looking at you, just wave for them to come on through". I've never heard that, ever from a marshal or employee of a golf club. Beginners need to hear that from someone. You would think that after all the complaints a club pro gets about slow play, they'd inform their golfers when and how to let faster groups play through.

I watched a few hours this weekend and noticed after every hole won by either team...fist pump. Sometimes the fist pumps, IMHO, got out of hand and were somewhat obnoxious. I think in general, the fist pump fad is getting old and we need to find something else. I know it's been around for eons, but maybe we can change the manner in which it's done. For instance the current fad seems to be a fist pump as the ball is going into the hole. I think Tiger started that years ago, and it has just gotten old by now.

So at $1 a club for labor, that's around 15 bucks to have someone do it for you. You have to buy the grips anyway. Why do it yourself? Your saving a whopping 15 dollars. Am I missing something?

By shank, I presume you mean that when you hit the ball it veers low and strong to the right. If so, sometimes I'll do this a couple of times when hitting bucket...for me it's most always that I'm hitting the ball with the hosel of the club. That tells me I'm standing too close, so I drop back a little away from the ball at setup and I typically stop doing this. Hope that helps.

Sometimes during a round, I'll start doing this too. Here's what I do to help: I've found that when I do this, it's when I'm trying to hit a draw and my stance has drifted from slightly aligned to the right (I'm a righty) to dead straight. So the first thing I do is to be very conscious of my alignment at setup and make sure I'm slightly aligned to the right of my target. Secondly, I envision a line slightly right of my target, and that's the line I try to take with my club (from downswing to follow through). Lastly I try to be more conscious of the club face at impact and try not to turn my wrists over so much...this is probably what contributes to my duck hooks the most...an over closed face. Also, when I starting doing this I slow down my back swing and only go about 3/4 on the back swing. I lose distance, but at least it's in the fairway... My hardest holes are dog legs to the right because my best drives are draws. I haven't mastered the fade yet; I basically have to lay up with an iron.

No but I will try it...

That's great advise! Thanks.

Most "swing mechanic" fanatics will disagree with me, but I'm a believer in hitting lots and lots of golf balls to improve. I've had lessons that never helped; the only time I've ever noticed an appreciable change in my game is after hitting thousands of balls into a net and on the range. My opinion: Hitting into a net gives no feedback except contact, BUT, if you are really really good at contact, you can experiment much more easily with different swings at the range. Just my 2 cents.

When hitting off mats, I tend to draw the ball much better. I know that mats are very forgiving, but my swing path is the same on mats vs. grass. Why would my ball flight change? TIA

Update. This just hit me. I remember when he video taped me the second time, in addition to telling me to swing steeper, he also told me to turn belt buckle to target at impact... I think that's what caused my video to show more lag...not the angle of attack. Regarding BWChuck's post, I agree about sales tactics, but...I will say that the 25 bucks was worth it because at a minimum I could see that I'm trying to lift up instead of swinging down and through with lag. I think the belt buckle advice caused more hip rotation, thereby increasing lag. After the 25 dollar swing video, they then try to get you to sign up for lessons, but the feedback I got from the 25 video analysis was enough to give me stuff to work on...

I was at Edwin Watts looking for socks (of all things), and the guy offered to video my swing for 25 bucks and give me some feedback. I did my normal swing, and just as I thought, my shaft was straight up and down at impact (like i was trying to lift up the ball) instead of the club head lagging behind the shaft. He suggested that I swing steeper. He re-video taped my swing. At impact I had much more lag, the club face was well behind the shaft and the shaft was angled forward... My question. Is this for real? Could swing path steepness really affect lag? Or does Edwin Watts have some slick video manipulation going on to try and convince me that I need lessons. As always, TIA for your wisdom...

I'm trying some new swing techniques to try and hit down more on the ball and swing from the inside better. I've noticed that shifting my weight forward at address and through the back swing all the way to contact, it helps to swing from the inside and strike down more on the ball. Has anyone else experienced this? Any advise is appreciated.

Learn how to hook the ball. That's how I cured my slice. A few things to learn how to hook/draw the ball... Rotate your right hand over (for righties) just before contact...like you're trying to shake hands with the target. Your right hand index finger's knuckle will be pointing up when rotating your hand. This helps to square up the club face. Just my 2 cents.

For the past three weeks I've been practicing a lot trying to hit down on the ball more. My flight pattern is very high/short, and I'm trying to improve distance. I tried the towel drill (towel three or four inches behind ball and try not to hit it). I really can't tell whether that drill has helped or not. This helped almost instantly: Imagine a ball just in front of your ball. On the downswing, try to swing through your ball and hit the imaginary ball. I noticed an appreciable change in ball contact right when I started doing this. Just wondering if anyone else has a success (or failure) story in using this technique...

Thanks for the advice. I'm trying to learn better compression, and from what I've been able to tell, a slight lag at setup helps me come down on the ball better (Maybe it's a mental thing).

When standing over the ball, say with a seven iron, is your shaft slightly tilted to the left in front of the ball (righties) i.e. in a slight lagged position, or is it vertically straight? What's the "proper" position on this? I've heard different opinions...just wondering what's correct. TIA

I talked to the local "golf pro" at the range today, and he told me that coming to the range and hitting a lot of balls in a short amount of time is not good. I disagree. Basically I have two types of range visits: 1. Sometimes i'll go and wear out my 7 iron, aiming at various targets. I'll hit a lot of balls quickly, one after the other. 2. Other times I go and work on ball placement and ball shaping, rotate through my clubs, putting and chipping. I have found, that over the last couple of years, #1 has helped me tremendously with ball contact. I rarely miss hit the ball or shank one while playing a round. I usually always hit the ball solid, and i think it's because i have hit so many balls, which i think has improved my ball striking. So many times i'll see these guys with a perfect golf swing, but often miss the ball or shank one off into the woods. I'm not saying I'm any better than these guys, but I feel i've gotten to the point where i can strike the ball with confidence, because of #1. Opinions?

If I hit (or the person I'm playing with) hits the ball into the trees three or four times, I'll say, "Dang, there must be a naked lady in those trees". It usually gets a good laugh. Also, if/when I hit a bad shot...I'll say, "Son of mother!" It sounds very vulgar when you say it out loud, but when you think about it it's not vulgar at all....

My dad is a beginner and he doesn't like being paired up with other folks when we play. Early this morning (around 7:30AM) we went to play 9 holes. I asked if we could play the back nine (basically just to keep from being paired). When we went to the 10th hole, there was no one in sight because all of the 4-somes had just started and were still way behind us. It was a pretty fun half round...I enjoyed taking my time and not worrying about holding anyone up....

I have calluses on my right ring finger (the first tier from the base of my finger). I wear bandades on my finger every time I hit at the range or when I play a round. Is the location of or existance of the calyce normal? Should this tell my anything about my grip or my swing? Thanks in advance for your responses.

1. Woods 2. Ogilvy 3. Furyk 4. Lefty 5. Pady