clearwaterms

The idea of "quality" tee shots comes from the idea that pitchers in baseball track "quality" starts, and to be fair that is a much better statistic than the W-L record, because a pitcher can have a shitty game, but his offense scored 10 runs, and he still earns the W, or the case in my team (Cubs) the pitcher has a great game, but his offense scores nothing because they stranded 10 runners through 7 innings. To me a good drive is 240-250, with a on the screws frozen rope, mashed potatoes, drive is 270 with roll (probably 260 carry) I typically consider anything from 230+ with a clear look at the green (or in shots where you have a weird double dog leg) within 10% of my target (that gives me a very respectable 23 yard radius circle to put it in) I did the math one time. If you hit a decent tee shot, play the 10% rule, and hit 50% of the 5' and in putts, you will break 90 almost every time. The 10% rule is take the distance of the shot and give yourself a 10% circle by which you consider that a quality shot. so on a 230 yard drive, if you hit it 207 right down the line or 230 but 20 yards right or left of the target, it's a quality shot. At a 17 handicap, a 150 yard shot at the flag with the 10% rule should give you par because you should have at worst a 45' putt to which you can put within 5' and 2 putt.

I didn't read all of the responses, so I am probably restating things that have already been said here. The thing that bothers me more than anything is people playing the rear tee box that have no right to do so. Also, observing golf etiquette is fine and great, but playing ready golf is a great way to ensure that regardless of how good or bad you are, you won't be the group that holds up the round. After the tee shot, proceed to your ball in a safe manner, get as close to your shot as you can without endangering yourself or others. If the player who is furthest away can not safely hit and you can, identify with that person that you intend to hit and proceed to do so. Another thing that bother me is ineffective rangers. Some courses I play (because I tend to play early in the morning during the week) don't always have rangers out just yet. That being said, if they do, and they can clearly see where one group is playing slow and slowing down groups behind them, the rangers second job is to keep pace of play up.

to the OP. You sound like a person who is driven and knows what kind of effort it takes to succeed in your pursuits. This is a large piece of it, and I always wish those that are willing to put in the hard work the best of luck in their pursuits. That being said, it wouldn't be a terrible idea to have a backup plan. If you don't make the PGA tour, don't think that your hardwork wouldn't be wasted. Starting later in life would give you a unique perspective. In addition to that perspective, you also have done some light teaching. If the tour doesn't end up working out, you can still make a very respectable living and still get to live and breath the game that the rest of us hope to enjoy for a few fleeting hours once or twice a week. I can think of a lot worse things you could do with your life. In my profession, I am often tasked with sticking my head down and seeing the weeds, but sometimes clients want me to take a step back, stand up and look out over the trees. What I mean by that is sometimes, I tend to look at the entire picture. In your circumstances, you have a young family (to which, I am sure you are VERY proud) I have known only one person who tried to make the tour. The person I have taken lessons from gave it a go for 2 years. In 24 months, he played close to 1000 rounds of golf and gave it a go on one of the mini tours in Florida. That kind of time commitment would be very hard on a young family. Given how much of the game of golf is mental, having a supportive home life is going to be very important. If you have not already, be prepared to explain the process of your dreams to your spouse and children. Please keep us updated. Several people on this forum have a dream similar to yours, and it is always interesting to see when they post the following year with updates. These people take our hobby and make it a life style, and I admire them for it.

There was an article that prompted a thread a while back that stated if you want to lower your handicap, hit more greens, and it did a survey of how many greens somebody hits, and how that translates to handicap. Some of the people here found it to be pretty spot on, others it was high / low. However, I am here today asking about Fairways hit off the tee box. To be more accurate, I am curious about quality tee shots. What I mean by quality tee shot is that it is within a reasonable margin of your target. On a short and tight par 4, being in the first cut isn't a fairway, but if get quality distance out of it, you likely won't have too much trouble with the first cut and a short iron or wedge. What is your handicap? How many quality drives do you hit a round? For me, as a 17 handicap, driving is the worst part of my round. I tracked this 2 days ago when I played 9 holes. On 7 of the holes that you have a fairway to hit, I considered a quality drive is one that leaves me between the two tree lines and is +/- 20% of the distance that I believe is average for me (250) So anything that is 230-270 with a clean look at the green. I had preciously 0 on my last 9 hole round. In spite of that, I managed a 46 (normal is 44-46) and that was because of 2 instances of a stroke and distance penalty for a lost tee shot. The previous week at the same course I managed to shoot a 41 and had 4 quality drives out of 7.

my SW with a smooth L to L swing goes 75-80ish. I practice chip shots at home in my yard, so those 20 yard shots are good as well. It's the distance in between that I have a problem with. I have actually developed a problem where I am hitting the ball with the leading edge of my wedge and the result is a shank.

Have you stuck with Evolvr for the entire summer? If so, have you reaped the rewards? Are you still using the service? In other words, if it isn't too much trouble, can you give us a 90 days in review?

So, to fight a slice, learn to fly fish. I have tried everything else, why not try that. As to the OP, I know what you are speaking of. I think the question isn't taken seriously on the site, and for that I apologize. But, I have read that some people find the same thing to be true about some of the golf simulators that attach to Tigerwoods (optishot if memory serves) You will start to develop a swing that makes the results good in the simulator / etc, but it won't translate to real golf. I don't think that TW for Wii was ever designed to simulate a real golf swing, and because the gyro scopes in the remote are generic and designed to emulate everything from a baseball bat to a steeringwheel, it will do the best that it can do, but never be perfect for any of those things. Last time I checked the steering wheel in my car doesn't fall to the ground when I let go of it. In the end, it's a video game, treat it as such. Don't think of it as a simulator, and I would tell you friend thank you for the training aid, and then promptly put it into the closet.

I am happy with my swing. Not so happy where the ball goes after I make that swing. So if I am going to dream of something, I want the ball to go where I think that I am aiming. If I could "graft" something from the pro's into my game, it's the wedge and short game. Putting / chipping / sand play. That is really the biggest difference. I am not saying that with a pro's short game I could be a pro, because I don't hit enough Fairways, greens, etc. BUT that alone would probably be the biggest improvement on the score card.

If you have a decent Triumph dealership where you live, they typically do demo days at some point. if you remember and get the opportunity, take the Rocket III for a ride. It isn't a harley (doesn't sound as nice, and one side is ugly as sin) At the time that I had that I rode a small twin cyl. sport bike with upgraded suspension, and the Road King was like trying to wrestle with a retarded bull, and the Triumph had quite a bit of excellence. Now the flip side of that is that my uncle is a former Motorcycle police officer (can do the cross on a fully kitted road king) and he still prefers a Harley to the Triumph, so I think it is perspective. The triumph wore its weight very low and very balanced. It was also incredibly fast (I think the Rocket III is faster than the v-rod)

no, you know those commercials for attorney's that you see during Price is right? (not the bankruptcy ones, the other ones) pretty much any of them will help you do all of that for you.

Did you consider the road king as well? I have ridden several Harley's and if I were in the market, the soft-tail deluxe was my favorite. To be fair, I have not ridden a touring chassis since they updated it in (07?) and preferred the handling of the soft tail. That being said, my favorite cruiser to ride is the Rocket III from Triumph, it's HUGE, but once you are at speed, its about the most flick-able thing with floorboards.

Why not just realize today's American Dream. Fake a back injury and go on disability for the rest of your working years. It's way easier, and then you can sit at home, watching the 9AM news and laugh at all the working stiffs that pay taxes while they sit in traffic.

I don't know why, but when you said Tinker to Evers to Chance, it made me think of Calico Joe by John Grisham. A good, but not great read if you like stories involving baseball that really have little to do with baseball. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Joe

1. What is your favorite word? Morning (I always wish people a good morning, regardless of what time it is) 2. What is your least favorite word? Um... or like 3. What turns you on? the stomach, a flat toned stomach... 4. What turns you off? Divas 5. What sound do you love? Rock'n'Roll music. 6. What sound do you hate? people honking the car to get somebody's attention to come outside. 7. What is your favorite curse word? F&*( - just one of those words that generally will fit ANY scenario 8. What profession others than yours would like to try? billionare playboy. 9. What profession would you not like to do? Social work. 10. If Heaven exists what would you like God to say when you get to the pearly gates? Morning (see post #1) - or... Good morning, which way to the golf course? Care to join me for a round?

Fox sports considers Larry Csnoka and Jim Kiick from the 72 dolphins to be the best. http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/lists/TOP_10_Sports_Best_AllTime_Dynamic_Duos#photo-title=Larry+Csonka+-+Jim+Kiick%252C+Miami+Dolphins&photo;=7924342

i forgot about them - The 09 Yankee's stuck out because of the two big names, and they won the championship that year.

Also, A-rod isn't very popular right now, but the 2009 Yankees are considered one of the best infields EVER, so Jeter and A-Rod is another one in baseball, for both hitting / fielding.

As a moderate basketball fan, I say Pippen and Jordan were the best that ever played looking at completed careers, but I would say that if Lebron and Wade manage to stay together for any length of time, they might provide competition. I don't follow Tennis too much, but what about the Williams sisters in doubles?

I can't answer the iron question. But I can answer the driver question. The Tour is a smaller head club and comes with a Kuro Kage Black instead of the regular which is a Kuro Kage Silver with a 460 head. I have the regular and really like the club. I had a Cleveland DST and Callaway FTiQ prior to this and this club is lower spinning than both, and the adjustable loft gives me the ability to dial in the ball flight height. The net result is that with the Nike set to 10.5 degrees and in the closed position, I carry the drives as long as the Cleveland, which was a 1" longer club. Because the Nike is shorter I hit the center of the face that much more often.

The only thing that I am willing to get out of bed for that early in the morning and stand around wearing way to many layers of clothing to fight the cold is tailgating for a football game.

I love the color. Curious, what made you choose the road glide vs. the street glide? The biggest difference is the frame mounted vs. fork mounted wind fairing. I have never ridden the road glide, and I always thought the dual headlight front wasn't as attractive as the bat wing front.

No, a good golf swing will result in a good golf shot, regardless of the club in your hand. The clubs you bought will be fine to learn with. As you come to enjoy the game more, you will start to appreciate the differences in the clubs, and then you yourself will be able to start to form an opinion of which clubs are right for you. At this point in time, enjoy the game. Don't worry that the clubs you bought didn't cost alot. Also, never judge a golfer by his clubs. I once had a guy show up with a nasty old leather bag filled with mismatched clubs including some Spaulding Executives from the mid 80's, a permission driver, a Taylor made burner bubble fairway wood and a cheap putter. After shooting 3 pars in the first 4 holes, I got to talking to the guy, he was an experienced golfer that was traveling on business for several weeks and when he discovered what the local courses wanted for rentals he want to the 2nd hand store and picked up that bag. He even said that one of the clubs in the bag he was probably going to ship home because he holed out a shot for eagle with it a round or 2 prior.

I can't speak to other brands, because the only nice set of clubs I have ever purchased were pings. But for $800 for the set of Irons, I got a set that was custom built to my specifications. The clubs arrived approx. 2 weeks after I ordered them and came with a toe tag that indicated which shaft, grip, etc. That I ordered. Each club head was weighed, and the final product was verified to all have the same swing weight. I know for a fact that the sets from big box stores don't include that level of detail. Like you said, the quality control is much lower. But as others have posted. Just because a high line club from a major golf store costs $600~$800 doesn't mean that the set further down the wall that costs $200 is inferior quality. Honestly, golf clubs are sold on the value proposition, not on margin. Some bean counter somewhere has found out that a golfer will pay $600~$800 for a new set of Irons, so manufacturers charge $600 to $800. In Hong Kong, they sell golf clubs at thousands of dollars, and when I was looking, they appeared to be the same clubs that I could purchase in the states for 1/2 the price. They are not twice the clubs, honestly they were probably the same club. But the value proposition dictates that is what they can reasonably charge for equipment and people that are serious enough will buy it.

When you say wore out, what do you mean? When I first started, I got a set from walmart in a dunlop bag, the entire set probably only cost $100. They lasted longer than 7 weeks, and I didn't know how to play golf at all. I probably banged those clubs into the ground 1/2 dozen times and they still lasted longer than 7 weeks.