Harp stein

His takeaway on that first drive was insanely steep, and I noticed he was jumping up off at least his front foot on just about every hit. He did seem to be one of the better players, but he sure has an ugly swing. I haven't watched much of the show, but found the last few episodes compelling. I'm sure editing plays a role, but he seems like the classic loud-mouth that underneath lacks self-confidence. He couldn't stop talking about how he was the best player out there and it was a forgone conclusion that he would beat Jimmy. And talk about 2 of the weakest players making the finals, wow! Of the last 5 contestants, I would have said the odds that those 2 are in the finals would be very small.

I'm trying to not make this an "off season," hoping to play at least once per month in Dec/Jan/Feb but also not willing to play in the rain or below 40 degrees so might be a challenge. New shoes for me and planning to try out 5 new golf balls; Pro V1, Pro V1x, NXT Tour, Bridgestone e6 and Bridgestone e7. Probably filter that list down a bit once I get on a launch monitor and get some concrete stats on my swing, we'll see. Also debating getting a used blade putter off EBay, just to see how that compares to my current mallet putter. Played the HX Diablo Tour and Gamer Tour this year and liked them, then bought some cheap Noodles late in the season and while they "feel" slightly harder around the green I didn't hit them any better or worse. Figure why not try the expensive balls as well and see if there's any difference?

I guess to clarify my question, which should come first? Getting fit then learning to putt or learning to putt then getting fit? The former makes more sense to me, but curious how others have done it.

I'm looking to improve my putting. Right now I use a 36" White Hot (mallet putter) that I bought at Golf Galaxy about 10 years ago, after trying a few out there for a half hour. I struggle with distance control on putts over 20 feet and struggle with intended direction in the 1-5 ft range, which seems to be the area where good players make putts consistently. Late in the season this year I started choking down on it and seemed to get more consistent. It feels too heavy on short putts, but that could be my imagination. I've considered buying a blade putter, but no science behind that beyond wanting to try something different. The question is, should I do a putter fitting or should I work on drills to get a consistent putting stroke? I've read several threads on here and seems to be conflicting advice. Some say there's no point in a fitting until you have a consistent stroke, but others talk about how the fitting will match the putter to the player's stroke.

I keep wanting to try it, how do you handle the video recording piece? I have 1 camcorder and it's fine for family stuff but nowhere near the speed of a GoPro. I've used it at the range in the past, the frame rate makes it impossible to see the swing in much detail. No money in the budget for a GoPro, are there other options that don't require a big investment in recording equipment?

43+40=83 to close out the season! Best round of the year, good way to end it I'd say. Hitting my driver either straight or slight fade, and finally found my iron swing again. Now if I can just hold onto it until Spring!

Wow, poor guy can't win with this crowd. Everyone was complaining awhile back about him not sharing enough details of his training. When he writes a technical post with details about his training, people blow a gasket because he's being too detailed? WTF...

Looking at it from the other side, and I don't play much during the busy times, but it's difficult to let people play through on busy days. If there's not a gap of at least 2 holes, then you're just trading spots in line which means their round is now 15m longer because they're waiting on one more group (yours) in front of them. Now, having said that I played with 3 players I'd never played with before a couple weeks back, and was shocked when one of them kind of threw a fit when welet a twosome play through on #10. His complaint was that foursomes "have precedent" over any other size group, and therefore it wasn't right for them to play through. I have never heard that argument and it doesn't make any sense to me. Some courses don't let singles go out alone, but once you're on the course I've always thought it was the faster groups should be allowed to play through when appropriate.

10.5 right now, I've tried my driver at 9.5 on the range and not really noticed a difference from 10.5 so I keep it higher with the hope that maybe it cuts down on my fade/slice..

I'm looking forward to it, should be fun and I play the course in a league so pretty comfortable out there. Since we appear to have a couple GN "experts" on the thread, I'm curious if they require that courses not give discounted rates to folks not booking through GN? I've played a certain course a couple times on weekdays for $20 and every time when I pay they give me a $20 coupon to play again without having to book through GN. It's actually $20 for 4 people which seems kind of insanely cheap, but whatever. The pro shop guy even says "It'll save you the $2.50 booking fee" when he hands it to me. But then another course I've played a few times, I tried to call them on Friday and ask if I could go off on my own early Sunday morning before their first tee time. They were booked until 9a on GN and no way am I playing a 4 hr round. So anyway, they said yeah but then wanted to charge me the full $40 price instead of $25 which is what their 9a tee time was offered at on GN. She was not letting me get out of paying full freight, just kept saying that if I wanted the GN price I had to book through GN and use the tee time I booked through GN. Didn't really make sense to me, but then thought maybe they can't discount it b/c that would be competing with GN? Pretty much all of their tee times are on GN. But if that's the case, how can that other course offer me a discount and cut out GN?

Much better, I seem to have "locked in" bogey golf this season which is an accomplishment considering my first 3 times out this year were 47/55/54. After that 2nd 50+ I got fed up and with the kids older now felt comfortable investing some time in my golf game for the first time in maybe 15 yrs. Took 2 lessons at GG Started hitting the range almost once per week during lunch hour Bought a used Nike Covert 2.0 (had been using an offset Burner from ~2001) Had my irons re-gripped (original grips from 20 yrs ago, all cracked and falling apart) Bought a used 5W, 56 degree wedge and 60 degree wedge on EBay Bought a mat and setup driveway reflectors at 10/20/30/40 in my yard and hit ~500 balls a couple nights a week Could never hit a driver, always sliced it horribly so kind of gave up on it for years. But with lessons and practice I'm regularly hitting the Covert 240-250 with a little fade on it. Now, in the course of fixing the driver I broke my iron swing so scores haven't dropped as much as I would like. Around the green I'm MUCH better, putting comes and goes. I'm debating whether I need a shorter putter or whether I should try a blade putter. I read greens fairly well (although would love to take an AimPoint Express course but can't find one locally) but struggle with distance control, and not consistent enough on direction to make the 4-6 footers that good golfers seem to make more than they miss. Last 3 rounds were 46/44/43 at the same course and I dropped a 39 and 40 earlier in the season before I lost my iron swing. Full 18-hole rounds this year have been 94/89/87/94/92, so feel confident enough to go out and play without thinking I'll embarrass myself. Goal for next year is to get to low 80s, maybe even break 80. Need to find my iron swing and get more consistent with my putting for that to happen. Getting another 20-30 yds with the driver would also help. There's a place by me that keeps talking about buying a TrackMan and letting people rent it, which I think would let me improve my swing better than just bashing balls at the range. Also could do the Shot Zones from LSW with it. But so far no TrackMan so we'll see... Kind of pinning my hopes on the TrackMan thing, which doesn't seem likely to happen this year. I just find it hard to learn anything on the range beyond hitting the ball straight. It's hard to tell distance with much accuracy, it's hard to get a sense of where shots are landing, what my tendencies are, what went wrong when I slice and pull a shot, etc... Maybe a false hope, but seems like the TrackMan would make all of that obvious and then I'd just need to get the right swing feel down to replicate the shot I want.

It's booked, thanks to everyone for the great feedback!

I'm looking to golf this weekend, can't find anybody to go with so on my own. There's an 8a tee time on GolfNow but it's for only 1 person, which I assume means they already have a 3-some scheduled for that slot. What's the ruling on me booking that 4th spot? Is that no big deal or do you think the 3-some would be pissed that a 4th random person is joining their group?

A few weeks back, had a guy hit the ladies tee marker on a par 3, which sent the ball straight back past him (barely missed me as well) into a rock wall where the ball bounced back past us a 2nd time and ended about 20 yds out in the fairway. Then 3 holes later he shanked a driver about 45 degrees left, directly at a house where the home owner was standing right there watering his garden. I'm sitting in the cart, see the ball coming and before I can even yell fore it hits the hole sign post and comes wizzing by the cart. That post almost certainly saved him from buying a window.

Does anyone have experience with using something like stableford scoring to set handicaps, as one possible way to "fix" the issue with handicapping in match play. Several have already mentioned it, the issue seems to be that in match play no matter how bad a hole you have, the worst outcome is you lose 1 point. My typical 9-hole league night, I shoot either +4 (ish) or +9 (ish) and the difference is one hole where I shank a drive (or 2 drives) into the woods or dump a ball into a pond and then lose my cool a bit. It seems like stableford or some other system where you can't use blow-up holes to "inflate" your handicap would solve this issue. And I'm not saying people are sandbagging, when I shoot a 10 on a hole it's a legitimate 10; I earned it! But it's inflating my handicap without hurting nearly as much in match play.

Brutal 1st 9, but settled down for the second 9. I hope he can keep that calm going into his round today.

Stuck behind a ladies league during a weekday a couple weeks ago, back 9 took me just under 3 hours. Front nine I wrapped up in < 90 minutes, really frustrating to take twice that long to finish my round. That's my longest round for the year, a little over 4 hours total.

I'm not a big believer in the importance of the golf ball either, but this is the first year I've every actually bought specific brands of golf balls so what do I know. I've been using Top Flight Gamer Tour and Callaway Diablo HX Tour and really liking them both (can't tell a difference on the course), they're 2 dozen for $35 at Dick's or Golf Galaxy which is a little pricey if you lose them often. This weekend I bought 2 dozen Noodles (1 soft and 1 distance) but haven't hit them yet. They're 2 dozen for $20, which is more to my liking. Also considered buying a pack of Pro V1s this weekend just to see what all the hype is about, but can't bring myself to spend $4+ for a golf ball. I know Golf Galaxy offers ball fittings, never been through one but I have been curious recently what (if any) difference I might see on a Trackman from hitting a few different balls. Ever since reading LSW I've been in love with the idea of getting on the Trackman, but haven't made time to actually do it.

43/44 for an 87 with 39 putts! Just couldn't get the speed figured out on the first 9, then couldn't hit GIRs on the second 9. Hitting my driver well so that's a positive, compared with Friday when I shot a 104 (on a tougher course) spraying it everywhere off the tee. Getting better, seeing some progress just need to keep at it!

57/47 for a 104. Slicing the driver is my weakness right now and this course was tight off the tees. A chip-in for birdie, 2 pars (hit 1 GIR), and finished with 4 straight bogeys but the front was obviously really ugly. Just couldn't keep it straight off the tee, felt like every hole I was sitting 3 on my first short in the fairway. And I'm having an issue with my irons, dropping my shoulder or something and taking huge divots which is costing me yardage.

I 2nd the recommendation to read Lowest Score Wins. The course management part will help you from day 1, it was something my high school coach preached a lot (20 yrs ago!) so I was familiar with the ideas but reading the book really refreshed them in my mind and has helped me remember to take them into account when playing. And then throughout the season you can work on shot zones and practice plans. Buy a used driver on EBay, unless you just have money to throw away. You can find last year's models on there in great condition for less than $150. Kids/family/career kept me away from the game for a while, but back into it this year and I bought a Covert 2.0 driver ($150), RBZ stage 2 5W ($60), and 56 degree Vokey SM4 ($70) for just under $300 total this summer on there. Learn to chip if you can't do it now. Pick 1 club (I use the 56) and just practice from inside of 30 yds. I've been practicing in my front yard with 3 driveway reflectors from Home Depot (1/10 the cost of golf sticks and they're the same thing!) set at 10/20/30 yds. So I'm dialed in now on how far to backswing for a given distance, and I can generally eyeball the distances. Practice landing the ball at the yardage marker (10/20/30), then you you just have to pick a landing spot for the shot when you're faced with one. I use balls I've found over the years, so I have a bucket of about 50 now and I hit those 4-5 times a few times a week. It's worked pretty well for me, I can get inside of 15 ft pretty much all of the time now and according to GolfShot I've been successfully scrambling 25% of the time over my last 5 rounds versus 10% of the time early this season.

39 (+4) on league night, 2 doubles and 2 birdies. 2 sand shots on one hole cost me a double, and then I 3-putted another hole after leaving a wedge from 110 short. 5 GIR (3-putt one of those too!!), finally might be finding a consistent fade with my driver (or at least not a banana slice, which has been killing me). Frustrating sand shot, I was 25 yds short of the green and was waffling between opening the face and hitting it hard or trying to skim the ball off the top with a chipping motion. Decided to open the face, but forgot to power through the ball which is a problem for me in the sand if I don't focus on it. So I hit it correctly but let the club die as I came through and it only went 10 yds which wasn't enough to clear the bunker...

I think there are genetic traits that might act as natural talent, but I just don't see how those would come into play in golf. It's not a very physical sport, compared with other major sports. Its much easier to be great at basketball if your 7' tall for example. All the great baseball hitters seem to have incredible eyesight, as another example. Maybe there is a coordination gene or some combination of genes that produce someone pre-disposed to being better at golf? That's certainly possible, we're just starting to understand the human genome. But because we don't know, Dan is an interesting test subject! What happens if he does make the Web.com tour in 3-4 years? Or he tops out as a scratch golfer and never gets over that hump? Either way it's another data point, and he's not hurting anyone by trying so I say sit back and enjoy the show!

I agree, it seems like the next big step for him is to figure out how to post "typical" rounds under tournament pressure. Hopefully this stuff he's doing helps. I don't get why all the vitriol for Dan on here. Dude's been golfing for 4 years (early parts of which were putting which isn't really golfing) and based on his handicap he's probably in the 95th percentile of players (or higher). What natural "talent" does a golfer need? Flexibility and strength can be built, I'm not really aware of any other physical trait that's necessary to be a good golfer. You swing a stick on a plane, then walk to where your ball goes. There's no speed, size, special genetic trait, or athletic ability required that I can think of. I mean they have a Senior's tour for goodness sake, where you have to be over 50 just to participate! Show me another major sport where even a small % of competitors are over 40 years old! I think it's really cool, he had a dream (or at least a half-baked idea) and is pursuing it. Who cares if the 10k hours thing is bunk, isn't it fun to just see how good he can get?

44/45 for an 89 this morning, my first ever sub-90 round (well, since high school)! Finished with double-triple which kind of killed my enthusiasm for the round but good to finally break 90. Had 2 triples and a double with five 3-putts which was also disappointing. On the plus side, lots of nGIR and I'm really settling into using my 56 effectively; scrambled for at least 3 pars with it. Need to get a giant bucket of balls and figure out my driver, it's either low and left or crazy slice. And I never hit the sweet spot, so max distance of about 225 and typically it's 200 which is also how far I hit my 5W.... Played by myself walking, was the first of the day off and did the front in just under 90 minutes. Then got stuck behind a ladies league on the back 9, literally 20 minutes per hole. Took me just over 3 hours to finish the back which seems criminal. That's frustrating!!!