Osmond

The longer player would hit a 3-iron or something shorter than driver on this course, it seems. On the tighter holes he'd hit it every yard as long as you with your driver and more accurately. Thus, he'd have an enormous advantage. I find it funny that you think a longer player would lose 5-6 balls and you, hitting it 250 to 270, lose none.

Huh? Why would it not be possible? I don't consider myself a great athlete but it took me 40 rounds and less than a year to be a 9 hcp. A friend of mine started last year (he did play 100+ rounds) and is now a 4 hcp. I'd be wary if someone was a scratch golfer in a year but even that I think is doable.

I'm sure someone has mentioned it, but I could'nt find it. What are the yardages on the courses Dan plays? Does he always play the back tees? If he does, an average of 9 GIR isn't that bad. Naturally I do think that he should be a lot better at this point and I'll be extremely surprised if he ever makes it to scratch.

Bizarre example. First of all, Guy 2 must have a i7 for his second shot on a par 5. I'd say it's more than likely that he makes a birdie. Second, is there a par 4 somewhere with 200 yards separating the tips and the ladies tee? You keep talking about "the right tees". Not only is it... well, bizarre... it is also off topic. And to your question: Guy 2 is most likely a considerably better golfer and thus more accurate with his i7. I'd put my money on him. Finally: Does this have anything to do with the topic? If Guy 1 hits the ball 40 yards longer, he has a wedge in and on average makes a better score than by approaching with a 7-iron. Isn't this as simple as it gets?

But isn't it obvious that, no matter what tee you play, the closer you are to the pin on average the better you score? I don't quite understand the need to talk about different tees. As for the word "amateur", there's a hundred million or so amateur golfers in the world, ranging from people who score in the 60s from the back tees to people who don't have the swing to card a score on most holes. What applies to all, though, is that the closer they are to the pin the more likely they are to score well. You could always argue that most amateurs play golf just for the fun of it. Thus, for many people, distance and many other things might not be that "important" after all.

You're making no sense. If there's a water hazard 200y from the ladies tee (and 270y from the tee further back) you still hit the driver and take the penalty "to keep it fair"? This is getting funnier by the minute. I love these examples like "I'd rather be on the fairway 100y away than than buried behind the lip of a bunker 70y away". How hard is it to understand that on average it is better to be closer because it leads, on average, to a lower score? Your pw example was great, it proves you understand after all that distance is crucial. If you have the distance that allows you to play a shorter and more accurate club, you score much better. Thus, distance is crucial.

Anyone know if he plays hockey left or right handed? O_o

Maybe at some point I'll have the courage to post my own swing :) I tried to upload my friend's swing but the format was wrong or something. I'll check out that thread, thanks.

Define successful :) The fraction that wants to play good enough golf to some day maybe succeed.

...because it gives you more options off the tee and makes the second shot shorter as well. As in the former 140y shot is now the 150y shot.

Improving the angle of attack would give me more yards, yes, but I don't believe it'd give me a better swing. A better and more powerful swing is a lot more than just the 30y on a drive.

Thing is, I don't (want to) believe that only the crooked thing is fixable. If I knew that was the case, I'd seriously start thinking about something else than golf. I believe that I'd be a scratch golfer if I had a swing that gave me 30 more yards off the tee. And I'm secretly hoping changing the way I hinge the club will lead me towards that goal.

No matter what people may say, yes.

Many consider (me included) Tiger to have played a better career than Nicklaus. How many majors (and other wins) do you think it would take for Rory to be considerer GOAT?

This is a different conversation completely. Of course Rory hasn't achieved what Tiger has, but given that golf is a lot more competitive year after year, maybe he indeed is on a higher level or at least close to where Tiger was at his peak? Think of footbll (soccer), I'd say people have a valid point in saying Messi or C. Ronaldo might be better than Pele or Maradona although they haven't achieved as much.

That's kind of the answer I didn't want :) I guess he's no more crooked than me - and I'd love to be 50y longer even if it meant I was in the rough more often. Short and crooked is kind of the kombo I'm dealing with right now and it isn't really working :~(

I'm as left handef as you can be, I mean my right hand is virtually just hanging along for the ride. I play golf from the right - as well as hockey, the way left handef people play. I've always wondered why it is that right handed people play hockey from the left but switch it when it comes to golf. [quote name="Golfingdad" url="/t/77817/confusion-in-handedness#post_1069489"]Are you sure? That seems really counter-intuitive to me. A slap shot has some vaguely similar movements to a golf swing, so it seems natural to me that right-handed golfers would normally be right-handed hockey players. Heck, if you were to just slide your left hand up the shaft a bit, then you basically ARE hitting a golf shot. (Can you tell that I really want to stay abnormal? ;)) [/quote] Yes, most play left handed in hockey.

Yeah, I guess I beat him from time to time but the longer the course, the more difficult it is to me. Lets put it this way: if one of us was to make it to a professional tour one day, I'd put my money on him because he has a better swing... Unless someone now confirms to me a backswing like he has is a bad thing going forward.

To me that looks a lot different because I see her actively hinging whereas my friend's swing looks like he's actively trying to stay wide / not hinge. But as I now see in the photo at the top of the backswing, there is wrist hinge. Standing next to him it doesn't look like it. I'll have to ask him if it's ok to post his swing here, he doesn't even know I'm posting the photos :)

What do you mean by some should do it sooner, some later? Is there a typical player with some sort of tendency that might benefit from hinging later rather than doing it early?

There's no lack of hinge, he just doesn't do it the way I've always been instructed. I'm starting to think (and hope) that consciously hinging my wrists has caused my casting problem on the downswing. Now that I'm trying to copy this swing my Trackman numbers are a lot better - but I guess I wanna know whether I'm hurting my swing with a quick fix rather than really improving it by having the feeling of no hinge.

Heh, the yellow tees are the middle tees on this course, approximately 6 600 yards.

Better as in capable of going low, not having to rely on flawless short game to score well.

What on earth do you do around the greens to still be a 21 handicap? :D

With that amount of practice he should have been close to scratch in a year if he were to have even the slightest chance of making it to the tour, imo.