chingali

So does living in your car.

1. Geoff Ogilvy Excellent form recently and is tough when it counts 2. Mr Woods No recent form to go on but after all he is who he is 3. Padraig Harrington I've seen him chopping around on the European Tour and missing a lot of 3 footers, it'll be out of his system by the time Arnie opens proceedings and he'll be ready to go 4. Aaron Baddely Absolute circus freak with the putter and there is enough room for him to spray it everywhere off the tee 5. Bubba Watson #1 in driving distance & T12 in putting, nice stats for Augusta Blow Ups I reckon Phil might rack up a big number due to his pigheadedness as he so often does. He's convinced of his own eternal divinity and therefore thinks he can play any shot he envisions so at some point he will proceed to dump 3 or 4 balls in to Rae's Creek in an attempt to validate to us once and for all that he is god. Personally I'd rather he tried to prove his immortality by playing in traffic whilst wearing a blindfold but hey that's just me.

Good point, but if you remember Geoff did get the job done over the final few holes whereas Phil and Monty suffered badly from oxygen deprivation. The way Geoff played those last few holes of that US open were ugly but effective. That little pitch he hit from the front of the 18th took testicles the size of watermelons to pull off! Plus Phil's meltdown, it was sort of a given really wasn't it?

I have no idea about Ogilvie but Ogilvy has always been superb on and around the greens. You don't win a US Open if you can't putt! Have you seen his record in the Accenture Match Play Championship? He's 17 and 2. I'm surprised he didn't get much of a mention as a potential winner, I had him pegged as big chance.

Before you spend any more money without solid evidence as to what you need find a clubfitter with plenty of launch monitor experience and go see him/her and do a launch monitor session. Solid factual numbers are the best way to go.

There was also no mention of whether the head accepts a parallel or tapered tip shaft, makes a BIG difference as tapered tip shafts can not be trimmed from the tip as a general rule. My best advice is to go to the shaft manufacturers web site and look up specification documents, just about all of them make them freely available.

I don't make very many double bogeys and very rarely do I have a triple. Looking at my stats I'll make a double on average less than once a round and a triple once every four rounds. And I know when it is that usually I make a double or worse too. Sometimes it'll be the poor drive ending up in an impossible position or resulting in a penalty stroke, but in most cases it'll be when I have missed a green in the wrong place and I get cute and try to get it close and end up not putting with my next shot. Despite being very good around the greens it's the one part of my game I have never been able to eliminate. I think it's because I am so good around the greens that when I have a very difficult/dangerous shot I still honestly believe I can get it up and down despite what that little voice of reason in the back of my head is telling me!

Personally I'd get it refinished to original. When it comes time to sell it a putter in refinished original condition should sell for more than something with YOUR initials or favourite saying and paintfilled in YOUR idea of a stylish Lime Green and Hot Purple if you know what I mean!

Instead of spending money on a new set of clubs to replace a set that you obviously seem to like, take your current set along to a clubfitter and get them fitted to suit you. That'll make a bigger difference to your game than replacing what you currently have with something similar that still wasn't made to suit you. As for putters, just try as many as you can and try them outside on a real green not in a store on carpet as it makes a big difference. Next time when you are out on the course and you see someone with a putter you don't mind the look of just ask them if you can have a putt with it, in most cases they'll say yes. Here's the added bonus of trying out someone else's putter, if they are struggling with it and you like it offer them $50 or swap them yours or whatever you think is fair. You'll be surprised what people say will yes to after a couple of three putts green in a row!

Have them regripped and get the loft and lie checked. If they have the correct shafts in them for you why change them, nothing will happen to a shaft to change it's spec from original other than bashing it in to something and bending/breaking. As for getting the heads refinshed, why bother if you are going to use them for another season. They have dings and scratches on them, so what? And as for worrying about the grooves, don't. Unless you have deep wear spots on the faces of some of the short irons it's not going to make a difference to the playability of the club, even up to the point where you have wear spots they'll still perform with no noticeable difference.

That was the question asked in the forum title. I'm not looking to argue with you at all, I know exactly what you are saying and I agree with you, and I am pretty sure that you agree with me after pointing out that "noone in this thread has even implied that swinging a blade will miraculously fix their swing". Everything I have said is stating that they won't miraculously improve your swing, they won't even do it via non-miraculous means! So to sum this whole thing up, Yes blades will give you more feedback as to where on the clubface you are striking the ball than game improvement irons. No they won't improve your swing. Mate, I reckon we've got it nailed

My reply was in response to the question "Will blade irons improve your swing?" and had nothing at all to do with diagnosing problems as the question makes no mention of it. As for being able to begin correcting swing flaws by having an indication of impact position, go out to any driving range or practice fairway and find a guy hitting it on the toe and tell him that he's hitting it on the toe and see if he can sort out his problem with no further input. In just about every instance unless you are talking about someone off less than a handicap of say 4 or 5 who has a good understanding of swing mechanics they won't be able to to. Here is the biggest positive I can see for a 14 handicapper buying a set of blades. It'll help him or her work out quickly that they need to find a teaching pro and practice more.

I know quite a few people who should have the exact same thing taped to their forehead as a reminder, not to them but as a warning to others to be wary.

Just did think about it for a few moments and here's what I came up with. Say I have a bad over the top move that results in me catching the ball on the toe of my 5 iron continually. With my blade 5 iron I can now feel that I am hitting the ball on the toe, however I won't stop doing so until I correct the swing flaw. Changing iron style to a blade or game improvement type club WILL NOT correct the swing flaw itself. I have absolutely no problem at all with the statement that a blade will provide more feedback, in fact I agree with it 100%. However I completely disagree that a blade (or a swing improvement iron) will improve your swing.

Think about it for a few moments and apply some logic to the question and the answer is simply NO . Practice and lessons will improve your swing. Blades may be the catalyst for wanting to improve as off centre hits aren't as good therefore you either have to improve your swing or use something else.

Must be a rather odd sort of bridge then if it actually ends inside the hazard, usually part of the structure of the bridge will extend out past the edge of the hazard and I am assuming that this would be the part of the bridge interfering with the persons backswing. If you have a look at a lot of scorecards you will quite often see that bridges are listed as immovable obstructions despite obviously having the main part of their structure within a hazard. Like I said in my original post if in doubt play out two balls, the original and another one after taking whatever relief you think you are entitled to and record the scores then hand the decision over to the match committee.

Also keep in mind that I am just assuming that the bridge would be an immovable obstruction as they generally are. For further clarification you can check the scorecard as most courses will have them listed. The following is an example from the back of a scorecard I am looking at: 5. IMMOVABLE OBSTRUCTIONS. Staked trees, Windmill, Pump Motor, Bridges, Protective Screens, Sponsor Signs, Sand Boxes. Sometimes too a course will have temporary immovable obstructions in place in which case they will usually be noted on a board outside the starters box or on the proshop wall or similar. And if you are playing in a decent sized tournament information on temporary immovable instructions is handed to you at the tournament briefing and it'll include things like grandstands, sponsors tents and if it's a really big tournament it might include tv towers, tv vans and that sort of thing.

Rule 19. Ball in Motion Deflected or Stopped 19-2. By Player, Partner, Caddie or Equipment If a player's ball is accidentally deflected or stopped by himself, his partner or either of their caddies or equipment, the player incurs a penalty of one stroke. The ball must be played as it lies, except when it comes to rest in or on the player's, his partner's or either of their caddies' clothes or equipment, in which case the ball must through the green or in a hazard be dropped, or on the putting green be placed, as near as possible to the spot directly under the place where the ball came to rest in or on the article, but not nearer the hole. DEFINITIONS Equipment "Equipment" is anything used, worn or carried by the player or anything carried for the player by his partner or either of their caddies, except any ball he has played at the hole being played and any small object, such as a coin or a tee, when used to mark the position of a ball or the extent of an area in which a ball is to be dropped. Equipment includes a golf cart, whether or not motorized. Penalty for Breach of Rule: Match play - Loss of hole; Stroke play - Two strokes.

It's an unusual circumstance. I may be wrong but I'd be happy to proceed as if the bridge were an immovable obstruction see below. If you had access to a rules official I'd be asking for a ruling on this one to make sure everyone was happy, otherwise I'd play out one ball from where it lay and play out another ball treating the bridge as an immovable obstruction and record both scores and present the situation to the match committee at the completion of the round. Can't get yourself in to any trouble doing this! 24-2. Immovable Obstruction a. Interference Interference by an immovable obstruction occurs when a ball lies in or on the obstruction, or when the obstruction interferes with the player's stance or the area of his intended swing. If the player's ball lies on the putting green, interference also occurs if an immovable obstruction on the putting green intervenes on his line of putt. Otherwise, intervention on the line of play is not, of itself, interference under this Rule. b. Relief Except when the ball is in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard, a player may take relief from interference by an immovable obstruction as follows: (i) Through the Green:If the ball lies through the green, the player must lift the ball and drop it, without penalty, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. The nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on a putting green. When the ball is dropped within one club-length of the nearest point of relief, the ball must first strike a part of the course at a spot that avoids interference by the immovable obstruction and is not in a hazard and not on a putting green.

A better idea would be to find a decent clubfitter in your area and go and ask this question of him or her. A club that suits me will in all likelihood be completely useless to yourself and vice versa. A good clubfitter will charge you for their services, but in the long run will save you money by ensuring that what you buy suits you now, and in most cases can be refit later on if you improve. They can also save you money by suggesting a cheaper alternative that you may not have considered, and often they'll have late model secondhand equipment that has been traded in with them that you can have built to suit at a much reduced cost than buying new. Ebay etc are great places to buy used or reduced price new equipment from but only if you know exactly what you need - going the trial and error route (which is what you are doing if you are just guessing or going on some random web posters say-so) can end up being an expensive, time consuming and frustrating process.

Buy yourself a surveyors measuring wheel, it'll cost you about $50 off ebay. Buy yourself a bag of 50 used balls identical to what you play. Find an area where you can hit your balls preferably when the ground in the landing area is soft, after a day of rain or early morning is a good time. Hit 40 or 50 with a 9 iron and walk out to the middle of the grouping, (the distance where most of them finished) and with your measuring wheel measure back to where you hit them from and write it down. Repeat this for every club in your bag a few times over a few weeks (don't do all of them in a day!) until you have a nice consistent yardage for every club. If you change the ball you are using or if you get a new set of irons or reshaft them or your swing improves do it again. No point in guessing when it is relatively simple to find your exact yardages.

Sorry mate I didn't read your post correctly. I missed that you were taking your penalty for the unplayable, that's 110% acceptable admirable and correct for me and is totally in the spirit of the game. I have done so lots of times myself not for fear of damaging a club but for avoidance of injury purposes such as tree roots and that kind of thing.

So basically what you are saying is the clubs are more important than the game? Here I was thinking that the game was the more important thing.

I do but then I always know that the grips on my clubs are in a perfectly neutral position and that's how I grip the club. It's something you can check with your instructor, get him or her to put your hands on the club in the position they want you to be in and then compare that to the way the grips are aligned on your clubs, maybe they need to be put on weaker or stronger than they are or perhaps they were put on weaker or stronger for the previous owners if the clubs are secondhand. What I'm saying is, if you don't know what you are doing go to your instructor or clubfitter for personalised advice. And how come the old Golf Pride Victory aren't as popular as they used to be? If you follow the pattern on the grips providing the grips are put on the clubs correctly for you there is no way known you can make a mistake.

For me without a doubt New South Wales on a windy day > http://www.nswgolfclub.com.au/guests/index.mhtml