Osmond

This is off topic but a man with any athletic ability does not start at 150 yards.

Hi I've unfortunately already come back to Europe. I won't be back until January. Thanks for the reply and enjoy your golf in Jupiter. If you have a chance to play Abacoa, do it. It was the best one I ended up playing.

Havent read the other replies yet, but I'm pretty sure a legitimate male scratch golfer has a chance to win on the LPGA Tour. The courses are so short for him + it's not as if a legitimate scratch golfer is a bad golfer. He should and would average under par from the ladies tees.

10th / -3

Yeah, it's crazy really. To think that even if you had Rory playing, he probably wouldn't win a spot with 100+ others capable of playing 65 or lower. He'd be more likely to miss the cut than be in the top four, that is. What a tough road it is into the PGA Tour. I hope these qualifiers do well at Honda. I think Siem and Ilonen are here for the WGC at Doral next week - Honda would have been a nice bonus.

I called the club and made sure spectators were welcome. What a great day I had. I followed Immelman's and Ilonen's group and was extremely impressed by the ball striking of both of them. Both ended up missing the cut comfortably, though, as 65 was the last score that made it to the playoff. I was also impressed by Marcel Siem and Tommy Gainey. What a powerful and unique swing Gainey has - maybe not the prettiest but I'd take his swing in a heartbeat. I recommend the Monday Qualifiers to everyone.

Has anyone here been to a Monday Qualifier? Since there's so many great players playing tomorrow, I'm definitely going. Mayakoo Country Club is a private course - can I just show up and expect to follow my favourite players, or is there something I should know? Thanks in advance.

Thanks again, guys. North Palm Beach I have played, it's one of my favourites along with Westchester, President CC, Atlantic National and Winston Trails. However, I'm looking for something even better. I've heard good things about Polo Trace and Abacoa, I think I need to give them a shot as well. Osprey Point I haven't heard of, maybe I'll try that as well. How about PGA Village? Has anyone played it? It's a bit further away but maybe worth the drive?

Sounds perfect, thanks.

Thanks, guys. Any suggestions what courses might be worth a phone call - within a 50 mile radius of West Palm Beach, for example?

I'm visiting West Palm Beach and struggling to find genuinely good golf courses. Is knowing a member the only way to play a private course around here? By googling, at least, it seems that the private courses are so much better than the public courses that it's not even funny anymore. I was told Florida is a paradise for golfers but I'm not so sure anymore.

Hi, if anyone's interested, I'm looking to sell three Adams Pro Mini Hybrids. I've played three rounds with them, so they're basically new. This is your chance to get three clubs for less than the price of one. I'd rather sell in person, but I'll ship the clubs if needed. I'm leaving Florida back to Europe in March and wouldn't want to take the clubs with me. The shaft is Aldila Tour Green in stiff flex, the lofts are 16, 20 and 23.

No, it's just that the 10-capper is lying, in denial or something similar. I just find it hilarious, as I said in my initial post. And I found it funny that you'd think posting a video where you tee up the ball and really go for it would suddenly make your weird 270y claim valid. A slow motion tells a lot more about a swing than a random video from a tough angle. I drive about the same as you or maybe a little less, 300y on a particularly good hit. My 5-wood would be in the 230y range as it would with most that have similar ball speeds to mine - that's why it sounds weird you're not carrying the ball more than Rory and Bubba with the driver - since you're already comfortably doing it with your 5-wood. Edit: and you're right, the point of this thread wasn't pointless banter but to tell everyone you hit your 5-wood 270y. Again, I participated because I find these threads funny.

Intrigued, I guess.

I think we'd rather see some stats, not a random video at full speed. Post a slow motion video from the face on view, it'll be easier to see the power in your swing from that. The videos we've seen so far don't indicate that you hit the 5-wood 260-270. The driver to 290-300 I just about believe, but the 5-wood definitely has WRX bonus to it. I find it hard to believe you carried the 5-wood we've seen more than 210 yards.

Somehow the math doesn't really work here. A 10 hcp driving it long and having "a good short game". Surely a good long and short game should equal low scores. Have you ever hit your driver or 5-wood on a launch monitor? TrackMan, GC2 or similar? It could be eye opening to see the numbers - no matter how hard you've learned to hit the 5-wood I think you're a bit off with the numbers - unless you're playing on dry courses where the ball runs forever, but I think you mentioned earlier that it was mostly carry. With those speeds you should find it easy to carry the driver way more than 300 yards.

I bought the 12 degree last year with the stock stiff shaft and had mixed feelings. I'd never had a club off the tee that was so straight - but it wasn't really longer than any 3-wood I had had. I then changed the shaft to an Aldila Tour Green hoping for more distance - I've only played a few rounds with it and it seems longer but nowhere near as accurate. I haven't hit the 14 or 16 deg versions, I'd love to though.

Just saw your driver swing. Looks pretty good, but I'm not buying the 270y 5-wood. 240 to 250 yards, maybe, which is very respectable, but if that's the case, you definitely need to make a driver or a strong 3-wood work, if you want to improve your scores. As most will / should know, 30+ more yards will improve your score, even if you end up in the rough a bit more often.

I find these threads hilarious. It's always like this when people mention their exaggerated yardages - heck, there was a 25-capper somewhere in this thread talking about hitting 260+ yards with their 5-wood. My guess would be that these players are not lying, they're just unaware of how far 270y for example is. A once-in-a-lifetime shot on a dogleg par 5 that leaves you with 200y to the green isn't hole yardage minus 200 yards and it certainly isn't anywhere near your average. Without helping wind, you won't even see Rory or Bubba average that. That said, IF you hit your 5-wood 270y, you still need to work on your driver if you want to become a good player as it is a lot easier to score from closer to the green.

I finally decided to do something drastic, since I've always had a problem with flipping. I ordered the Tour Striker Pro X 7 iron and after reading reviews online I'm actually rather optimistic. Is there anyone here that has tried it? I've only read good reviews and I guess I'd like to hear something bad about it as well. My worry at this point is that maybe by practising with it I'll learn to manipulate the club with my hands somehow. Whether that's a bigger problem than the current flipping that I feel is preventing me from becoming a good player remains to be seen. I'll be posting on how it goes as soon as I get to try the club.

Would have been a par, though, after you already hit once ;)

A FEW QUESTIONS TO MVMAC AND IACAS: I started working on your five keys yesterday in order to finally come up with a repeatable swing - and I now have a few questions. Forgive me if you've explained these in detail, which I'm sure you have, but I'd like to be sure. 1) How much of your weight is on the right (back) foot at the top of the backswing? And is the weight towards the toe or the heel? 2) Is the right elbow tucked in throughout the backswing or does it matter? Harvey Penick, if I recall, says it only matters that you bring it close in the start of the downswing. I, now that I'm trying the keys in front of the mirror, find that keeping it close to my side makes my turn better - but am a losing width? 3) Is the right leg straightening in the backswing and is the right hip higher than the left at the end of the backswing? I've always been warned against both of those. Lot of questions, sorry. I'd greatly appreciate it if you have time to answer. Thanks!

No no, I'm a 2,4. Aiming for a centered pivot reminds me of stack and tilt, a swing I've tried in the past with bad results. In your videos of the five keys Erik seems to lean towards the target in the backswing - is that really recommended or am I just seeing things?

I went to the range like crazy before my first ever round. My first round ended up being a 114 from the ladies tees, but the second round was a 92 from the men's tees. Thus, I guess my answer would be "two rounds" but I did hit thousands of balls before ever playing.

Which one of your five keys would you consider the most important? Well, maybe that's a silly question since they're all keys. I know for a fact that my head moves to the right quite a bit in the backswing. I feel like if it didn't I'd lean towards the target and suffer from reverse pivot / make the turn on top of my front leg which I think isn't recommended? I watched your video on "steady head" a few times and I think I'll start working on that. Seems easy enough in front of the mirror in slow motion but I know it's gonna be tough to ingrain.