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That was what I was looking for. Thanks, -Eric

A while back someone posted a video here, that I can not find using the search functions. The video was something to the effect of what a golfer thinks of during the golf swing. The guy then goes into a couple minute rant using a bunch of physics terminology during his explanation. The video or post was called something like "one simple swing thought" I tried to find it on youtube also, any help would be appreciated. Regards, -Eric

I have a new favorite: When your playing partners call good shot and the result ends up in trouble, short, in a trap, etc. "Get your mouth off my ball!"

Experimenting with my Driver at the range last night I was trying to get my swing with that club rhythm and tempo to be more consistent with how I swing my irons. So I would take 5 swings with my PW hitting a slight draw, then switch to the driver and make 5 swings trying to repeat my swing motion. I have an alignment stick set up for stance. Setup for PW ball centered in stance, hands centered in stance. Setup for driver ball off left heel, hands at left thigh. (This position often feels a bit awkward/unnatural) So I started to hit some shots with my driver setup modified such that the ball was at my left heal but my hands and club were centered in my stance. So at address my club head was ~10" behind the ball. With this setup I was hitting the draw I wanted with the driver with a nice easy swing and based on ball flight and tee height I would say I was hitting up on the ball fairly well. The catch is I believe that I should be set up with the club near the ball with the driver and I am not sure why. I think why the experiment was working for me is mostly mental and that when I set my hands forward I think of that as the bottom of the swing instead of past the bottom of the swing. Specifically my question is Why do you want to set up with hands and club at the left thigh? Is it a preview of impact? Is it to pre-set spine angle? Is there consistency issues with setting the club well behind the ball at address? Thanks, -E

I think perhaps this did not come off as I intended. IIRC, since the web site is down it was a bit cheaper than the other resort courses, and a bit less manicured. It could also be that I prefer to play at Trappers Turn and Christmas Mountain when I am up there. Also, all the county courses in Milwaukee are really nice so "muni" for me does not carry the negative connotations as it may for some. Biggest difference on the county courses and the independant daily fee courses is the county uses bluegrass for the fairways and fringe and bent only on the greens.

You may want to try playing with only a 6I for tee shots and shots getting close to the green. Then work on short game into green trying to make putting a 1-putt as often as possible. So assuming your 6I averages 145y. Hole 1 - 6I, 6I, 50 yard pitch, putt (par) optimal if you two putt (bogey) very good result Pitch misses green, chip and one putt (bogey) very good result Two putt after your chip (double bogey) acceptable result Hole 2 - 6I, 6I, 60 yard pitch, putt Hole 3 - 6I, 6I, 6I 35 yard pitch, putt You should hit some sort of groove with the 6I during the round similar to results on the driving range and you get to work on short game at the same time. By using a 6I and keeping the ball in play it should take a bit of pressure off your game by not hitting the ball into the woods and the like. I would try and work in a couple lessons as well if you plan to stick with the game or at least see if you know any better golfers and try and emulate what works for them. Self video can also be very effective, I know that what I felt and what I looked like were completely different before I had video feedback. Regards, -E

Christmas mountain village - This is a Blue Green time share property but you can probably find someone looking to rent it out. 27 hole golf course on property The Kalihari - This is a water park resort and they bought the nicest course up there Trappers Turn 27 hole course. They offer shuttle service between the two. Chula Vista - 18 hole course on property, Front 9 is oldest in the state. They built a back 9 about 3 years ago but I don't really care for the back much it is somewhat boring and uninteresting compared to the front. Northern Bay - This is about an hour north of the Dells, but it has 5 great replica holes including one of TPC sawgrass 17th. They have on site cabins there as well and tote themselves as the Dells but they are a good hike away. The Wilderness - More of a municiple course up there but not a bad 18-hole track. Nice thing about the Dells is all those courses are right in about a 10-15 minute trip of any of the waterparks or hotels in the area. There are more courses in the surrounding area outside of the Dells but what I have listed is more than sufficient for a week of golf for me. I will play each of the courses the week of 7/5-7/11 when we are up there on vacation this year. Maybe not Northern Bay, it is more of a drive than I care for. Regards, -E If you go to www.wisconsingolfonline.com and do a search for courses within 30-miles of 53965 you will see all the courses and links to their web pages in the Wisconsin Dells area.

Swing weight should not be an issue with a putter, you are not getting the club into a position where it comes into play, since the stroke is so small. True cutting down you will take a small bit of weight off the putter but you are talking about a hollow shaft. I had my VP1 cut down 2 inches from 35" to 33" so that I could let my arms hang and get my eyes more over the ball. I went to go hit a few balls with a new VP1 at 33" at the store and if there was a difference I could not tell. Before I had the putter shaft shortened I was a bit concerned, however, after having done it, I would never worry about it again. Though it will never be a factor again because now I know what set up feel I need when buying a new putter. Regards, -E

This is important even if you are not in a bend. Say you are 20y left of center even with the 100y marker, you are probably closer to ~110y from the center of the green because 100y out is a circle around the green, not a straight line at the 100y marker. If you were to print out a hole from google maps and use a compass to draw circles with the pointy part at the center of the green this would illustrate the point I am attempting to describe.

Kevin and I were discussing this during my playing lesson the other day. I am very excited about what Oakwood is doing here and I hope that the rest of the county courses follow suit and put up a pace of play day or several pace of play days. It would be nice to be able to finish at Oakwood in under 4-hours and six minutes that they have set as the guideline in the article. I normally go off at 6 or 6:30 on the weekends on the county courses and I can finish in 3.5 hours at that time with a 4-some, but I have had a few weekends where I requested to play through a group or two in route that appeared to be on pace for a 4.5-5 hour round with an early tee time. Regards, -E I could not imagine going off a county course at 9am-noon, with the current 5-5.5 hour rounds.

The thread about Tiger's ball flight got me thinking about this, I have read several posts recently that seem overly concerned about hitting the ball too high. Taking out the shot off the tee that I hang back on the right side and the ball is clearly an in-field pop fly that could be caught by the pitcher, I don't think I have ever hit the ball too high. Furthermore, recently my irons have come together and I have gotten more height and distance out of the 'nearer center of face' hit. Also, Nicklaus wrote that one of his greatest advantages is he could hit a 5-iron as high as some players could hit a 9-iron. Then he revised it to say that really his advantage was he could hit a 2-iron as high as other players could hit a 5-iron. So with the exception of windy conditions where you may want to keep the ball lower depending on wind direction, why are some people concerned about height of flight if the distance is good? Also, my limited experience has demonstrated to me that as my distance has increased so has my ball flight height. Is this different than others? Thanks, -E

One thing I noticed watching the teaching pro I am playing with on the course was he "knew his miss" and played to it much better than I did. -E

Well it looks like the new distances are here to stay. Knocked it around for 9-holes with the Pro I am taking lessons with, I was plesantly suprised to see the biggest differences in our games was quality of the short game. Tee to green, I did not feel the leagues apart as some folks describe playing with a low capper (he plays to a 0.x-1.x). Obviously the quality of his misses was slightly better on full swings. The biggest biggest biggest diference was shots from the fringe or rough around the green, he had a lot more tools to knock it close. Now I just have to figure out how to get the short game going without giving up too much of the full swing. -E

I think trying to understand how to work the ball is important at all levels. For instance, I have worked quite a bit so that my stock shot is a slight draw, this happens with a stance parallel to the target line and an in-to-out swing with a good release. One of my misses if I tense up in the swing is a shot that starts slight right and curves slight right (2y-5y). What basically happened is the tension held off the release for me and left the face open through impact instead of turning the club over for a draw. What this taught me is that, if I simply open my stance to the left and make this swing and actively holding the release of for a moment I can play a 2y-5y cut shot. I am not terribly good at working the ball in the cut direction yet, as I don't need it that often right now and it is low on my practice priority The open/close stance / aim club face at target method was not that effective for me last time I experimented with it, my swing has gotten quite a bit more repeatable since then so I may give it a whirl again soon. Making a decision to make my go to shot a draw, allows my miss to be primarily a straight shot. Working it the other way well is going to take a back seat to short game for the rest of the summer though. I can let it rest though because I know how it will work for me.

I did not realize that Bushnell made a Tour V2 scope and rangefinder. The second link appears to also be a scope. I have only ever used a scope once, it got the job done when you can see the whole pin to the accuracy of the lines with marked distances. I would not give up my laser for anything though. $300 is well worth it. $20 is probably worth it in the meantime till you save up your pennies for the other one. Although pacing from yardage markers would save you the $20 and get you about the same accuracy. -E

The first link the scope is an estimate based on the height of the flagstick. You put one line at the base of the flag, then where you see the top of the flag there are pre-printed numbers telling you the range. The second you linked is much more acurate and uses a laser to measure the distance to +/- 1 yard. Regards, -E

6 hours from Detroit is Lake Geneva, WI There is Geneva National Grand Geneva Hawk's View and a few others in the area. Regards, -E

I think you need to go into a lesson very open-minded. You also need to give feedback to their method, if you are getting overwhelmed with the technical bits ask them to tone it down some. For me, I like to see the video of full swing about 3-5 times a lesson with all the subilties and possible corrections so I have the information. After looking at it and hearing it I don't actively think about it at all just push it to the "back brain." Then when working with the swing in real time, we typically work on a portion of the swing to fix the biggest error as decided by the pro. Here I only want one thought and a drill to work on. More than that and I will get overwhelmed and not do much right at all. I remember one time where I was getting things pretty quickly in a lesson and the pro moved on to the next item, I was not ready and politely told him that was too many things for one lesson. We spent the last 30 min of the lesson working on the things that I had understood already just to make me more comfortable with them and less prone to forgetting them. Fortunately for me the pro I am working with and I have very good lines of communication. Remember, no one can read minds though, if you don't speak up a bit, they can not adjust their teaching style to your learning style. Regards, -E

Again speaking only from my own perspective, though I feel it does add to the OP topic about how many wedges to carry and why, the changes you are bringing up here are primaraly accomplished at address, though I can see where someone without experience would have problems here. A few lessons and a lot of questions has mitigated this issue for me. I agree here, for chipping, I use a single club approach (9I) and I am not even tempted to use all the other clubs. The long term plan though is to add the 52* for shorter chips and the 7I for longer run outs depending on the ammount of carry needed to just be on the green and get it rolling. This may seem contrary to my pitching philosophy, all I can say is that chipping and putting is where my creative side takes over my game and a single club seems to do the trick 95* of the time. Every "Bomb" needs a "Gouge"! So many great courses in the Milwaukee area for having ~4.5 months of snow cover. For Milwaukee county residents Brown Deer is a great value ($43.50). If I were out of county though the $88.50 greens fee would be a bit steep. Especially with Fireridge, the Bull and the Bog all in the area or Geneva National or Grand Geneva in that same price range. Fun to play before or after the US Bank Championship though.

I am pretty sure that the USGA handicapping system has a minimum course length requirement. I think it is somewhere in the 4,000y range. Regards, -E Source: USGA Handicap Manual f. Unacceptable Scores Scores made under the following conditions are not acceptable for handicap purposes and must not be entered in the player's scoring record: (i) When fewer than seven holes are played; (ii) When made on a golf course in an area in which an inactive season established by the authorized golf association is in effect; (iii) When a majority of the holes are not played in accordance with the principles of the Rules of Golf (except for preferred lies); (iv) When the length of the course is less than 3,000 yards for 18 holes (or less than 1,500 yards for 9 holes); (v) When, as a condition of the competition, the maximum number of clubs allowed is less than 14, or types of clubs are limited as, for example, in a competition that allows only iron clubs; (vi) When scores are made on a course with no USGA Course Rating or Slope Rating; (vii) When a player uses non-conforming clubs, non-conforming balls, or tees; (viii) With respect to Rule 14-3 (Rules of Golf), when an artificial device or piece of unusual equipment is used during the execution of a stroke or when equipment is used in an unusual manner during the execution of a stroke. (See Decision 5-1f/2 for an exception.)

Course management is of course key. As someone who is working diligently on thier game I understand as I am sure that you do as well golf is a game of managed misses. That being said, if I need to lay up again I agree to play to one distance (45y is my prefered layup) however, given my ability that can easily become 60y or 30y (though the range is getting smaller) also on a course that I am not familiar with I may forget to factor in elevation changes and the like that leave the shot playing to a different distance than planned. This is where I branch off an say that a multi wedge set up is simpler. With only a wedge that goes 45y on a half swing I have entered into a swing modfication that is ultimately analog and has an infinate ammount of change that I need to increase or decrease with a certain margin of error. On the other hand, I can just grab a different club and make the same swing (to the extent it is repeatable, based on practice) with a different (smaller for some) margin of error. As an engineer, this is truely the simpler model for me. This was not my intent. Simply put, I manage my misses better by having more discrete options (less variables) of one swing length, one distances, four clubs. Than I do by having analog options (more variables) variable swing length (every fraction of a fraction of an inch is a new variable), two clubs. That being said, I know the importance of feel distance control to obtaining a low handicap and if someone is more of a "creative type" player I expect that fewer wedges will work better, for the more "mechanical type" I offer that more wedges may be better. Most importantly, knowing what type of golfer you are is what is most important in determining what is simplist for you and as we see week in and week out by the top professionals there is definately more than one way to skin a cat. Regards, -E

I carry 4 wedges: 47* PW 52* 56* 60* IMO having more wedges is simpler than having to focus on fine tuning distance control for a club or two. With four wedges full and half swings only I get the following distances: 125 110 100 85 75 60 45 30 If I just had PW and SW I would only have 125 100 75 45 All the rest of the distances would be a "guess" or "feel" shot. I am personally a lot more comfortable going 7 yards up or down feel wise (with 4 wedges) than 15 yards up or down on feel (with two wedges) at my current level. "Simple" is always a function of perspective and experience. Regards, -E

I think because of the stack and tilt method the pro get me set up with for wedge shots they have not been affected much by this change. For some reason that set up caught the sweet spot and I was already close to the ball and pretty relaxed on those shots. In fact my 1/2 swing wedge is now much closer to 1/2 of the new full swing distances they play. I have not really tuned in 1/4 or 3/4 swings yet, so many things to work on so little time. -E

It was completely out of the blue, especially since the focus of the lesson was on the longer clubs I did not expect it in the irons. It was hard to trust at first... Really, I am not complaining though. (Even though it may have sounded like it) Just caught off guard and wondering if I am being teased and taunted by the game of golf. (Which I expect continuously) -E

As my swing becomes more efficient, I have gotten a few distance gains that I did not anticipate, while this is good in the long term it did cause havok in my game last Sunday. I have taken lessons this year about every 3 weeks since January. Swing is coming along quite nicely including some work on the short game. I had a lesson this past Saturday and I asked for focus on woods and hybrids due to a lot of contact off the toe, resulting in very low confidence overall. It turned out that I had gotten my set up too far away from the ball, I was not able to self diagnose because when I started I was way to close to the ball and needed to move back, too much of a good thing I guess! Moving closer also forced me to relax my shoulders and hands a bit more to address the ball properly. After the lesson things were back in order for the woods and hybrids. So during the Sunday round, the first 3 holes I hit my approach over the green with my irons, I thought my new distance was a fluke so I did not club down and flew a couple more approach shots. Finally, I decided to club down 1 club from my normal distances and I was still over the greens. Still not convinced that my new distances were here to stay I kept at it. Finally at 14 I clubed down a second club for the last 4 holes and the new distance was spot on. Now even for my rounds coming up this weekend, the first few holes I think I am going to play at 1 club down from normal but if I go long on the first couple approach shots, I will more quickly take less club. The kicker of all this is, I have never felt like I have made a shorter swing with less effort and I am getting more height and distance than ever. I am curious to see what this game has in store for me this week. Thanks for listening, -E