Mark141

A group of us are playing a week in Arizona next month, and we are permitting ourselves to carry and use a 15th "desert" club for hitting out of rocks, dirt and the many less-than-club-friendly places our golf balls will find themselves. (I know that scratched clubs don't really affect performance). What's the best desert club? 5 iron? 8 iron? Mark <>

Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree with the other posters. Total putts, fairways hits and many other stats. are pretty useless because -- for example -- a poor iron player that is chipping onto most greens will of course have a fewer putts than the player that is on in regulation. I very much welcome the total strokes gained presented as a statistic. I've used this system to track my own game and for once I have meaningful statistics. Yes, it's a bit esoteric, but once you understand the system it's pretty useful.

The wooden tee markers in the morning are out, and all I have to go on are the permanent, round, embedded tee markers on one side of the box used for calibrating distances from various tees.

Just last week I was able to make it to a single digit (just barely), descending from a 20 to a 16 to a 13, and now 9.9. Here's what I now know: * I'm not sure my drives are better, but I've eliminated (usually) the OB's, hitting into hazard, etc. Some days I'm often in the fairway, but other days I'm in the rough. Essentially I've gotten my drives "good enough" for a single digit. * I've worked had to round out my game: distance wedges, sand, chipping, punch shots, etc. Again, I don't think I'm great in any one of these areas, but pretty much good enough. * One thing that has made the difference is mastering the six foot putt (or at least making most of them). You've got to be able to get down in two putts on nearly all of the greens. For me that was making sure I made nearly all the six footers and less, and getting up and down with less than perfect chips. I still bogey more often than not when in a greenside bunker, but at least I'm eliminating doubles. * Perhaps most important is that even though my irons have gotten better, I've gotten much more conservative when aiming at the greens. I almost always go for the middle of the green on shots greater than 100 yards. For distance wedges from 100 to 50 yards I might favor one side a little more. However, I never shoot directly at a pin unless that pin is also in the middle of my "safe area" in the green. Get it on the green, two putt, next hole. If I birdie, probably because I hit a good putt, not an aggressive approach shot. * Finally, I've become a believer in "boring golf." The first hole at my course is a Par 5. I could hit a driver, and maybe hit a FW wood that might be on the green that might allow an eagle putt, that ....you get the idea. Instead, I hit a three iron the the safe area before the bunker, then a 4 iron then a short iron to the middle, then two putt. Keep it boring. Obviously I have a lot of room for improvement, but at least can now claim single-digit status. Good luck.

I often play my course earlier in the morning the the tees are being mowed are the wooden tee markers are removed. Without tee markets I play from the embedded tee tile markers. Here's my nit-picking question: Using the embedded tee marker to define my tee box, I know I can go two clubs back, but can I go all the way across the tee, or should I limit the the distance to the typical width of a tee marker. Some of tee boxes have uneven lies, and going all away across provides a flatter teeing area. However, as I post these score I want to keep it in the rules. Thanks.

I would break it down as follows: Finding a Pro -- Find a PGA Professional and sign up for a series of at least six lessons. Follow the practice advice between lessons, and be prepared to have your game get worse before it gets better. We all have bad habits that take time to undo. Don't feel obligated to go with whichever pro is closest. As someone who has taken a lot of lessons I can say that the student-teacher chemistry is very important and each pro has a different style. Find one that suits you. Don't be afraid to keep the lessons going after initial series, especially if you see your swing drifting back into previous bad habits. Also don't forget to take a lesson in putting and chipping. Practice -- Be prepared to spend 1/3 of your time on the full swing, 1/3 of your time practicing around the green and 1/3 of your time putting. We all want to hit the longest drive, but shooting lower scores is more about whittling down all of the rough spots than dominating one area. Your golfing buddies may spend 90% of their time on the range, but set your own practice schedule. Avoid Bad (or Any Extraneous) Advice -- Once you've got your pro and are taking lessons, avoid the "quick fix" advice from magazine articles, the Golf Channel, other players, etc. Getting a repeatable swing is hard enough without constantly trying to reinvent a piece. If someone offers you advice explain you are working with a pro and thank you but no thank you. Patience, Patience, Patience -- It takes more than 1000 balls to start to really groove a swing change. In the meantime you may be hitting worse, and will surely be tempted to revert back to your old swing. Likewise, you can chip like a pro on the practice green, but may end up flubbing your important chip during what you thought was going to be your break-through round (who is this golfer and what is he doing in my body?). It takes time to take what you can do on the range and use it on the course. Don't worry, keep at it and it will come. At Its Best Golf is Rather Imperfect -- The good news is that golf is pretty imperfect, and even a great round is full of a lot of bad shots. The mark of a good golfer is his ability to score well even when he is hitting poorly. Have Fun - Be ready to come back for more