MacGruber

i started at 26 and when i was 27-28 i got down to a 7. that was playing 3-4 times a week during grad school with some mixed in range sessions once or twice a week. now that i've backed off to just chipping around the yard daily and playing twice a month my handicap has increased slightly (i need to update my profile. i got it back to a 9). I would say that's a pretty similar time frame to what you've done, and I would consider that normal if you put in that much work. I think what helped me more than anything was as soon as I got my clubs in the mail my grandpa took me to get a lesson. Not saying I have a sound and perfect swing, but it's a lot easier to get going when you know what you're supposed to do with the basics vs changing those bad habits later in life.

I use my free bucket to mostly work on my chipping and wedge shots. I'll take the last 10-15 balls and hit whatever club i'm going to hit off the first tee. if i'm familiar with the course i'll maybe put for 5 minutes. Unfamiliar courses get a little more attention on the putting.

It does now. I don't know how i was even playing like this, but i had a gap between my left thumb pad and the shaft that was really large. I can easily fit the index finger of my right hand in the gap. any abrupt transition and the shaft would move in my hand leading to all sorts of problems. the other adjustment i made was using a 10 finger grip instead of my usual interlocking grip. I have pretty large hands and i know a 10 finger or baseball grip is really uncommon, but this feels comfortable and natural as well.

is it possible to get the grip TOO much in the fingers? I feel like I had this problem for awhile, but i always read that having the grip more in your fingers would lead to more lag and more power. I didn't feel like the club was not loading properly and I felt like i had no control over anything. Last night I went to the range and experimented with moving the grip up in my hand and i felt really explosive and instantly i was adding 20 yards to my short irons and i compressing the ball again. it was the first time i have felt like the club was releasing properly in 3 months.

i don't consider it stealing, but i have a bag full of balls from the course so i guess i'm bias. I try to do this with some common sense though. If I'm the only one in sight i'll pick up every ball i find. If it's a busy saturday and there's the possibility of people spraying it all over the place, I'll usually leave em.

Taylor made changes the name of the golf ball every year. The "original" lethal was the TP5 and the lethal replaced that. I think now the tour preferred is the ball closest to the lethal. the tour preferred balls are still expensive so that's why i go with the older ball that I play just fine.

don't get too nasty, just make sure the person understands you don't appreciate it. I have hit in to people because i couldn't see them, hit the cart path 10 times, pure shanked one 50 yards off my target, etc. and I always rush over to apologize and let them know it was not intentional. You get your jerks, but a lot of people appreciate what i do and understand that we aren't perfect. If you play golf enough, you've likely been on the end of both situations.

if you're looking at top flite, the gamer is a good ball for the price. I would tell you to look at taylor made lethal golf balls. These are a surprisingly good ball and you can get 50 of them for 100 bucks from the taylor made website. If you want to go used, you can find some ridiculous deals on these on occasions.

i carry two, sometimes 3. always a driver and 3 wood, then depending on the course i'll switch out my 20 degree hybrid for a 5 wood.

ping g30 - 200 (later put in an ahina, so up to 280) sldr 3 wood - birthday present! rbz stage 2 4 hybrid - 8.00 wilson fg tour m3 4-gw - 210.00 mack daddy 2 56 and 60 - 200.00 odyssey mxm #7 with slim 3.0 - 180.00 around 900 dollars..fail....

I love Bubba. I think he's fun to watch when he's in contention and it doesn't hurt he's a lefty as well.

i voted worse but i guess i should have said about the same. started the year around a 9, now a little over 10. I videoed my swing for the first time ever this year and have really been working on my fundamentals. It's pretty amazing how you can still play decent golf with a terrible swing.

i voted grand slam as well. you can look at some of the first year pros and see that they're really, really good. winning 4 times against the best of the best would be much harder.

i used to hit my 7 iron 195, then i got tired of being a 21 handicap.

i have to disagree. Sure i have seen my 30 handicap buddy hit it 270, but that isn't taking in to account the 5 balls he hit 100-200 yards due to tops, weak slices, etc. you have to remember that all those 100 yard topped balls add to the average as well. i average 260, which according to you would be middle of the road. I've rarely met anybody that can hit the ball further than I can on a regular basis, and I've played with a lot of strangers.

I voted average is about my carry. handicap is currently 8.6 Average drive is 260. Judging from the drives i see that stop after carry (due to wet conditions) i would say my carry is around 265. My miss is a weak push slice that goes 240. My true hits end up about 290 out.

licensed drug dealer. aka pharmacist

The gamer is a great mid-price ball. I play that or the lethals that i have stashed. The one ball that I didn't like was the project a. They just didn't feel right to me and felt much harder than I expected.

Go west!!! This looks awesome Put those east coast boys to shame. Make sure you take plenty of warm clothes. The other day when I flew in to phoenix it was a cool 114 degrees at 1230. Perfect golfing weather in my eyes!

I was in a very similar situation as you when i picked up the game 3 years ago. My friends in college got me started but i was more addicted to the game than they were, so I ended up playing alone like i had no friends. A lot of people here are going to recommend you take lessons, which will help your game. I had some lessons early on to teach me the basics of grip, stance, ball position for each club, posture, etc and I think it really helped me out. Everything else I have learned through lurking on this website or youtube. I could certainly benefit from more lessons to make myself a better golfer, but I'm stubborn and really like the challenge of teaching myself. From your situation it looks like you don't get to play much during the week. I would enjoy playing at 2-3pm during the week because in Texas nobody in their right mind wants to play golf at that time. It would give me a chance to work on whatever I wanted and hit as many balls as I wanted. These solo opportunities really tuned my game, and by the end of my first summer I was beating my friends who had been playing for a much longer time. that would be my first recommendation. If you have time after work, go out and play 9 by yourself. I still do that from time to time and it's actually enjoyable after a stressful day. As far as playing with strangers, I get extremely nervous when I play with strangers and it still takes me a few holes to loosen up. The key is to realize what they want out of you as a playing partner, and from what I have seen it is to be an enjoyable person who doesn't play terribly slow and knows when to pick up. Don't get upset about your game and make the round uncomfortable for everybody. At the end of the day we're all out there to have a good time. Book you some solo tee times, go out there, play your game, and make the round enjoyable. You'll likely make new friends and even find you some playing partners for future rounds.

I try to play alone at least a few times a month on my days off during the week. It's the only time i get the opportunity to walk (well I shouldn't say that, I could always walk, but I prefer to ride with my dad for the companionship when we play on the weekends) and I seem to play better when I have time to plan my next shot on the walk to my ball.

Thanks for the advice Erik (and your reply as well natureboy). I played again on Sunday and things went better. I was definitely a "stupid monkey" on Saturday and was thinking 3/4 shots for everything and completely forgetting that I can just swing a little less with a different club! My ball placement was a little too far back too I think. I'll try to post more. I usually just lurk around because I'm still pretty new to the game and there's a lot more people who are more knowledgeable than me. Thanks again.

tried this out yesterday after a range session and hit 13/18 greens. For me, that's unheard of. I had more birdie putts inside 15 feet than i've ever had in my life. I didn't try to hit anything under a 6 iron with a full swing. I have the distance down pretty well but I'm having issues controlling the height. It wasn't too windy, but any time I was hitting in to the wind the ball would balloon. The one thing I noticed I wasn't doing was the shorter follow through and I was making more of a full finish. Could this be the cause of my problem?

It's all personal preference. I hated my 60 degree until i really practiced with it, and now it is my go-to club for anything 40 yards and in (and sometimes further). if you can practice enough to feel comfortable with the 54 pulling off the shots you are doing with the 58 then ditch it. If I was in your situation, though, I'd stick with the wedge. I don't think a 5 wood or 2h would benefit you more than your wedge. You're talking about a 15 to 25 yard gap at over 200 yards. pull the club you want to hit, and hit it. If you hit it well, and your distance falls in this magical void zone, you'll either be a little short or a little long with hopefully an easy up and down. If you're caught with a bad lie at 240, I think a new club would only talk you in to bad decisions.

It's a toss up for me. I enjoy watching all sports, especially at the collegiate level. I voted no because of fantasy football. I really enjoy watching NFL now and it's probably my favorite...dang that pigskin..