Chas

I almost did it today. The group in front (par 4) were walking away from their second shots and I had a 3W in my hand on the tee. They seemed well out of range but I hit a strongish draw, rare for me with that club. The ball landed well short but rolled a long way, up to within maybe 20 yds of the rearmost player. None of them noticed it as they were facing the other way and kept on walking but I was a bit embarassed, though pleased at the ball flight. I should have waited another 30 secs or so for them to be even further out of range - no good reason for the impatience. I probably do it a couple times a year, usually when someone suddenly appears from another fairway or has hung around out of sight for no apparent reason.

Best to say nothing, especially if the player utters an expletive or otherwise demonstrates severe displeasure. But if the player laughs and says something self-derogatory it is appropriate to laugh with him or her. Not to share in this might even seem rude. These things can be difficult to judge. If you don't know the victim, always err on the cautious side and practice your poker face. The worst thing you can do is give unsolicited advice as to why that terrible shot just happened, not unless you're Butch Harmon.

Yes, obliques should be a part of one's routine for golf. I'm not sure how best to work them other than just holding a free weight in one hand and bending sideways. Is there something better than that? I'm finding that using free weights has greatly increased my wrist and forearm strength as a kind of secondary effect. This seems to have reduced my tendency to overswing and to break down at the top (including regripping) - a very serious problem of course.

Yoga, I'm guessing. No, about 50, Yes, free weights and bench with cable attachments, No, No, Possibly, N/A..

That is cool. I'm into retro myself.

Fourputt, Please explain why greater loft tends to reduce dispersion, if that's what you're saying. I have a 9deg driver, would my power fades be straighter with say 10.5, other things being equal? Must admit I though the opposite was true but WWIK .... Mind you my main problems are swing plane and forward head drift, not something a different driver will fix.

Is this true? If it is (i.e. tour players generally have shorter drivers), then no wonder I'm having control problems! :>)

That all sounds reasonable, but just how much do we know about the golfer we're talking about here? Maybe he's as fervent as an evangelist but maybe his words on winning his first pro tourney mostly reflected this life-changing event. I wouldn't know.

I see no point in restating the obvious, that the ban has nothing to do with any performance advantage of anchoring if such exists - that would clearly be a waste of time.

LOL Yesterday I stopped by my favorite golf shop to pick up some lead tape and asked the guy about long putter sales. They have tanked. Not surprising of course, but it does suggest that most people think that the ban is going to actually be implemented. It also suggests that it is the anchoring, not the use of a long putter per se, which is considered the potential advantage by prospective buyers. Also not surprising but there you have it.

Started using golflogix recently (just the free stuff) and really like it. Keeps nice record of all my stats. I have my trusty laser for all the other yardages I need so probably won't pay the fee for that.

Well things have changed for Tiger now in so many ways. Since all the world knows his relationship history now, including his new girlfriend, the entire basis of the relationship has to be different than before. More honest, obviously, and just more open altogether. I've been a critic of Tiger's in the past re: all the women but this has to feel good for the guy. I wish them all the best and yes, they do deserve some privacy. Tiger ought to write a book about his personal maturation process, it would be a compelling read. He's bright enough to do a god job of it, with a good co-author of course. It would sell millions.

Look I'm a lifelong atheist but I never understood all the personal hostility directed towards believers by some. The guy is entitled to his beliefs and if they motivate him to do good things, in golf or in life, what's the big problem? He wouldn't be honest to himself or us if he didn't say something about his religion at such a moment in his life. Good for him. Let's be clear: there are far, far worse things that some people believe in. Just look around you guys, this world isn't so pretty and that's in part because of some of the thoughts of mankind that have nothing to do with religion - on the contrary. \lecture

Streelman's tee shot on the 18th said a lot (no backing down to a 3W despite narrow fwy), that's real confidence in your driver. Man does he have a wide stance with driver so serious rate of weight shift moving to the left foot. Me, I'm reducing stance width a tad to make sure I get the shift fully done in time. If I don't all hell breaks loose.

^kidding^ (3 month allotment is what I meant)

All this means is that you have already used up your annual allotment. Sorry to be the one to break it to you. But don't give up ......

Why repeat a silly argument for which there is no evidence, just mean-spirited speculation. Do you think you give it credence by doing so?

Agreed. To be honest I cannot remember a single low capper who has been obnoxious or other than courteous. Sometimes they are rather quiet and focused of course, understandable. Like the big dude (retired pro footballer?) in my group at Pebble. He was really pounding them, fairly accurately, off the tee (e.g. seriously cutting par 4 corners) and had a decent short game. In such a case I try hard not to interrupt their mental flow and just observe their play very closely - maybe there IS something to this osmosis theory of game improvement. :>)

You appear to possess something they used to call a "conscience" (how quaint ....). Some don't, apparently.

Short par 4, dogleg left. Pushed my 3W into medium cut of rough but had clean view of somewhat elevated green, about 175 to center green IIRC. Wife was in the cart (not playing). She had bought me a Taylor 4h late last year and I said, "this is the shot for my new club darling, the one you bought me!". Maybe this was unduly risky of a remark. Anyway I made clean contact, nice trajectory (slight draw) that landed just short of the green and rolled onto it about 5 yds. Boy did that feel good, esp. in the circumstances. I missed the 20 ft birdie putt by a couple feet and made a solid par. My chances of a new driver for Christmas surely went up :>)

Thanks for sharing, hilarious. I used to work for a Japanese pharma co. and know whereof you speak. The good thing was I had just started playing somewhat regularly when I joined the company and always got invited to business rounds when the guys from the home office (Tokyo) showed up. Almost everyone bought at least one new club every visit, as I would have done in their shoes (everything is much more expensive in Japan of course). We always had a blast - they knew how to enjoy themselves in the bar afterwards.

Handicapping in association croquet is similar, sort of: you get a number of free strokes in a match equal to the handicap difference. As a newb you are given a very large handicap but unless you're pretty hopeless or never practice you quickly outplay your handicap in tournaments. This can be a bit embarrassing, that is until your lagging handicap drops to the point where better players with really low 'caps start hammering you. Then you cease to be embarrassed.

Aha, just read the comment about LA PC and lack of effective policing on the course. That seems very plausible.

Agree with Clambake that in San Diego the average is about 4.5 hr - almost never over 5 and sometimes under 4. If I'd experienced what you had Clambake I might have put the clubs on eBay the next day. Appalling. So the question is begged: why do you guys think things seem to be much slower in LA then a couple hours south in SD? More newbies, proportionately?, older, poorly designed courses?, more old fogies, proportionately?, more out-of-work actors/actresses? :), more people high on something? .... :>), what's up???

That's OK Saturday. Yes, it was after my post that he did the right thing and really cleared things up for all of us with that interview/press conference. I was expecting it to happen and wasn't disappointed. hmmmmm, maybe I put the idea in his mind .... ;>) [kidding]