DaveP043

I don't know all the adjustments available, but I believe one is the altitude, which CAN make a difference in distance. However, it seems possible that you could gain 10 to 15 yards with a different driver. I know I gained a similar amount by upgrading from my beloved old Titleist 910.

I'm pretty sure he had a yardage to that cliff, he just hit it too far. if I heard right, he was blaming his caddie, or just complaining that his "perfect" shot ended up in a bad place. if you're going to lay up, then really lay up.

With skins (for birdies) and closest to the pin on par 3s involved, its a no-brainer to play the forward tees. Whether it will do much to a player's total net score depends on the strengths of each individual player, and the design of the golf course.

They deserve Mickelson's criticism? The USGA has screwed up every US Open for 30 years? The USGA has made some mistakes, but not nearly to the level that many of the players are alleging.

It would be interesting to see the variety of swings. I'd bet that the ones that have been "successful", that are good players, have a whole lot in common. I'd bet that the swings of the less successful players are much more variable.

I've read that the weather is what pushed the fescue greens to dormancy, unusual weather for the season. When water was applied to try to help the fescue recover, if fueled the growth of poa, resulting in the bumpy surfaces. Sometimes the best science doesn't work the way you hope it will.

I think when you look at 30-handicappers, you see tons of different self-taught "natural" swings. Most of them work pretty poorly. When you see a group of 20-handicappers, the variations decrease. 10 handicappers, even smaller variability. Scratch players do lots and lots of things very similarly. Yes, there are outliers like Furyk, but even he does a few things very similarly to every other successful tour pro. There's a reason that those wild variations aren't present in better golfers, many of the variations simply don't work. So yes, individuality is fine, but INSISTING on maintaining all of your individual quirks can severely limit your potential.

They don't say it should be easy to make the ball stop there, especially in a major championship. They don't say a shot to a bad spot on the green should be a simple 2-putt. I don't like to see a ball roll up to a hole, stop, and then roll back. But I don't mind seeing a not-quite-perfect putt from above the hole keep going.

I think that maybe this has veered a bit and might be better continued in another thread.

No Pinehurst or Pebble Beach, no St Andrews or Carnoustie?

I agree, and it would be appropriate for the course (Handicap Committee if one is active) to do the calculation and let all members know the correct procedure if the construction is going to take an extended period to complete. I believe the Committee would have the CR and Slope revised in the computerized system, so the change is made automatically when a player enters a score normally. In general, to me its more appropriate for an individual player to use 4-2, while 5-2 is generally more appropriate to be used by the Committee or management. I know if I'm on the Committee reviewing scores, I see that @humblepeasant played on Thursday, and entered a score with an odd CR and slope, I'll have questions for him.

The first thing to remember is that these guys are a lot more talented than you and I, and they practice those kinds of things regularly. The pros can do a lot of things consistently that would be disastrous if I were to try. For myself, there are times when the ball is sitting down in really thick rough, and I want to get the club to the ball with the least possible grass in the path of the club. This means swinging down pretty steeply, and certainly looks (and feels) like a chop. This isn't a finely controlled shot, its a get-it-out-at-all-costs kind of shot. This is a little different from the semi-explosion shot that @gbogey describes. I use that too, using a higher clubhead speed can cut through the rough, while the open face limits how far the ball will fly (and roll).

A club that doesn't get a lot of attention these days is the 5-wood (or even higher lofted woods). Honestly, I wouldn't have thought of it, but I heard Rory mention it in a post-round interview. If you want to hit a higher shot in that general distance range (not Rory's, but near the top end of your bag), a lofted wood might be a good solution.

I think if you have a question, ask in the pro shop before you post your score. Minor changes shouldn't make a difference. In theory things should even out.

Oddly enough, I played an interclub match yesterday at Trump National Washington DC, in Sterling, VA. Its a nice facility, 2 good golf courses (and a butt-ugly waterfall "feature"), and we played with (or against) good guys. But the reason for posting is that Mr. Trump was playing yesterday too. I had suspected as much when I drove in and saw a portion of the parking lot cordoned off by police. It didn't impact us at all, we weren't playing the same course as he was, but we did see about a dozen carts coming along when we were playing an adjacent hole, and saw Mr. Trump take one swing. No big deal for us, the guys we were with said its a fairly common occurrence. None of that says anything about choosing to play any of Mr. Trump's courses, I've answered that question previously, but it was a little out of the ordinary for me to see the President.