clearwaterms

I have a routine where I tee the ball up, stand behind it picture my shot, take a practice swing and then hit and go. I used to do something where I would do a continuous L to L drill for like 3-4 swings thinking just tempo and start with the lower body. That used to work, but I don't know why I don't do it more often. I will give that a shot on my next round.

On Monday, I played 18 holes early in the morning. I played the front 9 by myself in an hour and 25 minutes. I played the first 6 holes of the back nine in an hour and that included a 5 some that let me play through. On the 6th green, I caught a 3 some, these guys were just plain inconsiderate. On the 7th tee box, I watched them take 2 carts, look for a lost ball (all 3 players) for a full 3 minutes, then give up. The player that couldn't find his ball got out of the cart, dropped a ball, and the other rider in the cart grabbed a club and walked backwards towards the tee box probably 50 yards to go hit his shot that was in the fairway. Then he had to walk back to the cart. The 3rd player in the pace of looking for the other players ball, then couldn't find his which was on the other side of the fairway. The last 3 holes took almost an hour by themselves. nobody in front of them, and nobody behind me - I never got the chance to catch up to them to ask if I could play through, but every time I would hit my approach shot near the green, they would see me as they were just teeing off, i was having a pretty good round, and striking the ball fairly decent (except off the tee box). They could have let me tee off on that 7th hole while they were looking for that lost ball. I was riding, by the time they found that ball, I would have likely been putting and most likely off the green with at MOST 2 minutes of inconvenience to them. instead, they added an honest 30-40 minutes to my round. Now, I can't complain, since I still played in a touch over 3 hours, but I could have likely played in 2.5 give or take had it not been for them. Now I had started on 10 that round, they had clearly started on 1. I made a point to say something to somebody in the pro shop as I returned my cart key, but the only person I could find was the cook in the kitchen and his response was not very much that he didn't care.

Sorry, I think you misunderstood. The problem is the tee box. I know the problem is ENTIRELY mental. I am fairly certain that on the tee box, I tend to try and over swing. Especially with the driver, I tell myself 235 down the middle is better than 265 in the trees. Then I get up to the ball, and my back swing becomes to long and my swing becomes disconnected, my tempo gets off, or I try to help the ball with my arms instead of letting my lower body start the process. it isn't the wooden tee that is messing me up. I have tried playing 4w (don't carry a 3) off the tee, hybrid off the tee, etc. It's the tee box. 2 weeks ago, I played at a course that was short, the type of course where you leave the driver in the bag the entire round. The Hybrid, which is always a stable go to club, nothing but trouble off the tee, lay up on par 5? no trouble, punch out? gladly. Tee off and hit it 200 down the middle, can't do it. I swing to hard on the tee box. I just don't know how NOT to.

I don't mean to tell people they suck at the game. I mean to tell them that they need not wait for the green to clear at 230+ yards away when the longest they have hit the ball is 120 yards. I mean to tell people that as a single, there should be little reason you can't keep up with a 2 some in front of you. I mean to tell people that on a crowded public course to play ready golf, that it is not a social outing that involves everybody zig zagging back and forth across the fairway so they can watch the other player hit his/her shot.

I can see it now. - Shortest drive competitions. - Longest divot counting from the center of the golf ball backwards. - The number of greens you are able to play without having to repair a ball mark.

in reference to the Jekyl and Hyde thread from a few days ago, It is just frustrating. I played at the beginning of the summer, and for the last 5 holes, I was striping the driver. The guy I played with was a mid single handicap (6.x) if memory serves, and I was keeping up with him. When he asked why I wasn't playing the 4th back tee box and instead playing the one in front of it (they did like red, silver, white, blue) I explained that I was only an 18 handicap, and he told me well, you know how to get around a golf course, you should expect to see that fall pretty quickly this summer. yeah that hasn't exactly happened.

today I went to play at my favorite 9 hole course. The course has a special before 7AM for the early birds, and for $10 it's a great 2 hour walk in the park. This morning, I arrived around 6:25 with no tee time, and noticed the first tee had a 2 some teeing off, and a single behind them. I arrived and the single asked if I wanted to join him, to which I politely declined. The 2 some in front of them appeared to be decent golfers that knew there way around the course. So my friend the single proceeds to tee up his ball on the back tee. His first tee shot is a push slice OB, his second is a sky ball that barely makes it to the front of the fairway. His second shot skitters on the ground leaving him around 230 out from the green. He proceeds to wait for the group in front of him to clear the green. The shot that followed wasn't terrible, I was too far away to see how far it went, but I am reasonably certain that it didn't come anywhere near the green. The next hole, he hits 2 shots to the dog leg, which is 225 from the green, and he waits again. On the 4th hole, he joined up with the group in front of him, and when I saw them from the green, he had moved up to the middle tee box. So my question is, how do you tell somebody not in your group that they have don't need to wait for the green to clear outside of 200 yards. Or how do you tell them that they have no business playing the back tee boxes. When we play amoungst friends, I have this same arguement. I know that it is a macho thing, but I believe that if you can't break bogey golf (90 on a par 72) you should play the closer tee box. The golf courses are designed to be playable by everybody on the course. What did the other group say to him for him to move forward? This course is a muni, so it isn't well "rangered" and as a result, I feel that the people who play it regularly should help to maintain pace of play. I am not afraid to say something to somebody, but I want to do it in such a way without sounding rude or inconsiderate, but at the same time, when I can walk the course when nobody is in front of me in an hour 20, to have to play a 2 hour + round means that something should be said to keep this person moving along.

I am a "strive for 5" guy. What I mean is if I had a round of bogey's, I would leave the course content that I played the game I am capable of playing. Over the last 2 weeks, I have just had the most see saw experience in golf. Last week, I played my favorite local course, a par 36 9 hole twice in the same day. The first 9 I shot an average 47, then after that came back and shot a 4 over 40 coming in even par for the last 4 holes. In between that round and the round I had today, I shot an 87 (41/46) on a par 70, so I went 6 over, then 11 over. The holes that I shot worse than double bogey, it is ALMOST always a result of a lost ball off the tee box. Today, every hole that I put the drive in play, I par the hole. On the 5th hole, getting tired of waiting for the 3 "tour 120's" (guys that think they are on the tour, play the back tee's, take 5 practice swings, line up every put like they are Phil to win the british but on the score card have never broken 120) I tee'd off and hit a full sleeve off the tee. Each shot was a great drive, and I played all 3 into the green, and EACH ball I shot par. Here is the worst part. It isn't the driver that causes the problems. Today on the 4th hole, a 185 yard par 3, I hit 5 iron. I hit that club perfect 2 times off the fairway, off the tee, I hit it off the toe and leave it 20 yards short. On the 8th (a 195 yard par 3) I hit a 4 iron, I hit 4" behind the ball and the worm burner skirts the grass to about 40 yards from the pin. The previous hole I hit a beautiful 4 iron with a playable fade that carried 190 yards and landed soft just off the back of the green staying on the table top. Does anybody else have that problem? Something about the tee box just gets between my ears? Take a fairway wood off the fairway, no problem. Put a tee under the ball and my swing falls apart. Now, I can go to the driving range, and hit driver ~ straight 9/10 times. Last week, I played a charity scramble with a guy who was pretty consistent off the tee, and I was CRUSHING the driver. However, the same club when it counts and I'm like a blind man playing darts after being spun around in circles.

Dave, Come out to Chicago and play any reasonably priced golf course on a Friday afternoon, Saturday or Sunday with tee times between 10AM and 1PM. By reasonably priced, I mean anything under $60 a round with a cart. The golf course starters cram people onto the first hole, so they end up have people play that as soon as the first group has hit approach shots to the green, the next group should be on the tee box and tee'ing the ball up. Combine this with golfers that tee off at inappropriate tee boxes, and players who don't play ready golf, you can end up with a very slow round of golf. Just in the last 2 days, I had 2 instances where my round was slowed down because the group in front of me was inconsiderate. In the first example, I was playing as a single, on my home course. I know the course well, manage my misses and with nobody in front of me, i can walk the course in 1:15~1:30. The group in front of me was 3 older gentlemen who were insistent that that they not pass a players ball. So on a 40 yard wide fairway, you have one guy about 170 yards from the tee box in the left rough, one around 210 in the middle, and a 3rd around 215 on the right. The course is wide enough, that the two players who hit the 200+ yard tee shots could have easily walked down the right hand side, and been in little to no danger from the golfer on the left. This would allow the golfer on the left to hit his second shot, then the 2nd golfer to immediately walk to his ball, hit his shot, and while he was hitting his shot, the 3rd golfer could already have a club in hand and be ready to execute when it was his turn. Instead, the 3 walked to the first ball, waited, then the 3 walked to the second ball, waited, then they all walked to the 3rd ball, etc. The second instance, was a 4 some of golfers that probably shot 50+ on a par 32 course. The course is a short par 32, but very target oriented golf. The 4 some could not get the ball air born on a regular basis, and clearly were not very good. As a result of playing the back tee boxes, they played the hole slower than the group in front of them. Neither of these groups were malicious in their intent. The first scenario falls on the ranger to explain the concept of ready golf. The second it falls on the starter to explain to golfers that the back most tee box is reserved for golfers who are of a predetermined ability. If you can't play bogey golf or better, play closer to the green. These issues get compounded on weekends.

spending a lot of money on a putter may or may not be the right course of action. Iacas recommends the Eidel fitting process for selecting a putter. This gives you exactly what is right for your stroke. When you are first starting out, you don't have a putting stroke just yet. Most new players will try lots of different approaches, and eventually find something that they are comfortable with. So you might end up spending $400 on a putter that works on a flawed stroke, fix the stroke and end up with the wrong equipment. Spend money learning what you look like as a golfer, then fit equipment to that player. When people are first starting, they can learn the appropriate way to swing a golf club. Too many people buy clubs, get some help from friends, get bad habits, and then have to spend lots of money to break those bad habits later. If you don't have money to spend on lessons, lots of people have found that Ben Hogan's five lessons book is a GREAT start. That combined with regular visits to TST will likely give you a great foundation. So to the Original poster. If I were to tell you what is the FIRST peace of your golf bag to upgrade it would be you. http://www.amazon.com/Five-Lessons-Modern-Fundamentals-Golf/dp/0671612972

What are the club lengths like though? Are the Burner clubs the same length as the Titleist clubs? If the lofts are lower, but the length is the same, that could be an effect of the CoG changing and the manufacturer trying to keep the height of the golf ball reasonable. Per the post that I posted. Ping hasn't just labeled an old 6 iron the 7 iron. Yes, the loft of the 7 iron now mirrors the classic 6 iron, but the club has more perimeter weighting changing the Center of Gravity to give it a higher ball flight. So while the loft is stronger, the ball flight is the same, its just longer because of like saeval said because technology, multi metal casting, etc. has made a longer golf club. In the end, does it really matter which golf club you use to put it on the green? I heard a story once. A playing partner was at an all weekend golf outing, they had a hole in one contest on one of the par 3's. Every day the prize was different. One one of the days, a player got a hole in one. Later when he was retelling the story to his buddies that didn't witness it, one of them asked him what club he hit. He proudly responded "Driver". It was a short hole, but at the end of the day, he got to put a 1 on his score card, and nobody else did that weekend. No score card that I have ever used has pictures of golf clubs, or video's of golf shots. In the end, the goal is to put the small ball in the slightly larger cup in as few swings as possible. If you do it in fewer strokes than I do, you beat me. I don't care if you used a USGA legal shovel to do it, you still win.

My first post pointed out that looking at Ping (so others might be different) but Ping hasn't lengthened the 7 iron from the EYE2 to the G25. Ping also doesn't struggle with distance compared to other manufacturers (it isn't the longest or shortest) Both stock clubs are 36.75" Ping EYE2: http://www.americangolf.com.au/irons_classics.html Ping G25: http://www.ping.com/clubs/ironsdetail.aspx?id=15155 But the G25 is 4 deg stronger, at 32 deg, it is really a 6 iron with a shorter shaft.

So it sounds to me like the increasingly lower lofts that today's clubs have isn't just a marketing ploy to make LONGER golf clubs. More that today's golf clubs are longer because of technology advancements outside of the club head. The golf club engineers are building clubs to interact appropriately with the conditions today's golfers face (modern golf balls, modern shafts, etc.) instead of the conditions of the past (balata golf balls, permission and/or steel drivers, etc.) The perception that is prevalent on TST (and most other places) isn't that clubs are getting lower lofts because of a marketing play to hit clubs longer, but more likely a side effect of advancing technology.

So here is a follow up question. Are today's clubs really longer (distance) I was just comparing the Ping EYE2 to my Ping G25's and I noticed that the EYE2's 7 iron (36 deg of loft, 62.5 deg Lie, and 36.75") is really only 4 degree's weaker than the G25 (32, 62.25, 36.75) The length of the club is the same. It seems to me that engineers are making stronger lofts to adjust to the improvements in other parts of the game (shafts and balls) If we matched shafts, balls, and swings, would we see a similar ball flight? Would we see similar distance? Would the ball have approx. the same amount of spin imparted on it? What I mean is that the golf balls of the past didn't travel as far. Look at this blog post, where somebody compared the ProV1 to Tour Balata balls, and he noticed that the Balata spun more, but had alot less height. http://0to300golf.blogspot.com/2013/03/titleist-tour-balata-90-v-titleist-pro.html edited to make the post more understandable

I am pretty sure you don't want to do this. The problem is that Graphite is a fiber based build. A pipe cutter cuts by compressing the cutting wheel into the shaft. The cutting wheel isn't very sharp, so to make a groove, you would have to apply quite a bit of force, which is likely to start delaminating the graphite fibers in an area larger than just then intended cutting area. I think people here have lots of great ideas. I personally use a dremel tool with a cutting wheel. I clamp the club into the vise, mark the tape where I intend on cutting, make a small cut, turn the shaft, cut a little more, etc. I basically cut into the shaft surface a little at a time until the cut is complete. The shaft wall is very thin, so it still takes maybe 45 seconds or a minute to cut a graphite shaft. Are you planning on doing alot of stick and glue work? If you are, I would consider purchasing a shaft cutter. http://www.golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_CSM6_A_cn_E_46 Several people I know have purchased a chop saw from Harbor freight and had excellent results. Just make sure it has the appropriate blade type, and it should be fine.

I would suggest upgrading your swing. What I mean is, you already have good equipment. What you have is more than sufficient to play great golf. Since this is an equipment thread, I will tell you that the club that costs most golfers the most strokes isn't the driver. It's the putter / wedges. Learn the game solid from inside of 50 yards, and you will be WELL on your way. Most golfers that are honest with themselves will tell you that the fastest way to lower your scores isn't by hitting 280 yard drives, or hitting lots of GiRs (to be honest, these things don't hurt) it's getting that chip close and sinking the putt. So if it were me, and I were in your shoes. I would make sure that I felt 100% confident with my putter and wedges.

I started reading a book recently entitled "The Gods of Gotham" by Lyndsay Faye. It is great. The story takes place in 19th century New York at the very beginning of the NYPD. Lots of history, very relatable characters (flawed, and believable) I recommend picking it up.

yes, sorry I did mean the Callaway Chrome+. I played today again with the same Chrome+ balls, and even with full wedge shots with my new Ping G25 Gap wedge, I noticed the golf ball to be intact. I also was getting plenty of check up on the greens. It sounds to me that my wedge is playing fine, so I can continue to play with it, and have no fear that it needs to be replaced. Thank you for the tips

Yes - I have a club cleaning tool which has a brass groove tool as well. I have noticed that the point on my tool has a notch which makes me feel that the club face is stronger than the cleaning tool.

I think the idea is solid, but thinking about it a little more, it has some problems. I am going to use the Chicagoland area as my example. Chicago has LOTS of golf courses to choose from. A weekend round typically costs around $60 with a cart. To pay 50% more ($30) would be extreme and likely a lot of people wouldn't pay it. If you don't enforce it for everybody (IE give them the option) it would diminish the value of the pace of play. Alot of the courses in this area sell permanent times in the mornings (prior to 9AM) on Saturday and Sunday. These players typically are more serious golfers, and know the course so they play in 4 hours or less. I think a course could charge a small premium for the next hour or so, and sell them as "express play" make the time to tee off more like 9 minutes instead of 7. This would reduce the number of tee times by approx. 25%. I would pay the 25% surcharge. I think if it is explained that these rounds are intended for experienced golfers ready to play ready golf and complete a round in 4 hours or less, and golfers unable to complete it in 4 hours will be asked to play it at a further forward tee box, skip holes, or worse case scenario, receive a pro-rated refund equal to the cost of a normal round (IE, if you play you run the risk of losing the 25% if you can't keep up) With enforcements in place, and a clear explanation of the reason for the 25% increase. I would even go so far as to charge an extra 33% and the remaining amount can go to the cost of putting an extra ranger to keep an eye on these tee times. 2 hours worth of tee times at 9 minutes apart, would yield approx. 53 golfers. if the cost of the round is $50, that would mean the course would have an additional $200 to pay a ranger for 4 hours to follow these tee times and enforce pace of play. He/She would be responsible for monitoring only 12~13 tee times.

Do you play pushes if that wolf plays alone? Because I have heard of something similar, except that the if the Wolf goes alone, he gets a stroke for the purposes of the game score. The other option is that if the FU'd Wolf pushes, he wins.

I went out to play a quick 9 before work this morning. My local muni 9 hole course has a special if you tee off before 7AM, you can walk for about 1/2 price. They also have a replay special that you can play a second 9 for $7 to walk. The course isn't difficult by any stretch. It is a full length course at 3,253 (whites) for a par 36. It does allow you to hit driver on all but one of the par 4/5's. But the course has no sand traps, and water only comes into play on 2 holes. The course is a forest preserve course. So it was cut out of the forest preserve. So it does have a fair number of mature tree's, but the fairways are pretty open. Anyway - the 'front' nine was nothing special, my average score is somewhere around 45 or 46 and I carded a 46 with one triple bogey and only 1 par. I decided having a little extra time this morning, and noting that as far as I could see the course was pretty empty and nobody was waiting to tee off to try to play again. I started the round very much my normal carding a bogey on one, and a lost ball bogey (ie a birdie if I didn't lose the ball) bogey on 2. However, after saving bogey on 5 with a 40 yard up and down, I played the last 4 holes birdie, par, par, bogey for a 9 hole best 40. I have shot a 42 at the course in the past, but that was 2 years ago, and last year, I played the first 5 there 1 under only to blow up on the last 4 holes and end up carding a 43. My best 18 hole round was a 15 over 87 at a different course, and I typically play right about bogey golf shooting in the low 90's, occasionally breaking into the 80's with a 17 over 88/89. So to play my home course and shoot 40 with a lost ball bogey on the 2nd hole literally had me floating on cloud 9 on the short drive away from the golf course. All season, I have really struggled with the driver, and today, i hit 5 fairways (2 of those were very high and short though) but the part of my game that caused me to shoot that good was I didn't 3 putt anything, and I got up and down several times. It just seemed like when I was hitting the driver in play, the rest of my game was better because I had more confidence instead of trying to invent a scrambled shot to try to get close to the green in 2.

We have one group that I play with. One of the guys used to play very close to scratch and his handicap now hovers around 6-8 (on a good day, he can still shoot par, but most days he is right around 80) The rest of us are in general shooting in the bottom 90's. We play match play, him against a best ball for the 3 of us. The last time we played, I think we took 4 holes, pushed 8 and he took 6. You could try playing that with your friends to give you a little more challenge.

I avoid weekend golf around here because I don't want to waste the ENTIRE day playing golf. Most of the courses around the Chicago area are jammed full with groups going off every 7 minutes. The round typically takes 6+ hours. So this means that a 18 hole round of golf is an 8-9 hour experience when you factor in the 19th hole, warm before the round, and transit to and from the golf course. If I could play a 4 hour round that didn't require me to tee off at 5:45AM, and be done and home by 1 or 2PM, I would likely play more golf on the weekends. As it is, I currently play golf in the morning before work, or after work. So I voted I would probably play 2 additional rounds a month, meaning I would spend roughly an additional 100~150 a month at the local area golf courses.

This topic has been covered MULTIPLE times. I would recommend doing a few searches on this website and you will see pages of threads on topics very similar to this. That being said, here is a little bit of reality for you. At 16 you are already freshmen going into your sophomore year or a sophomore going into your junior year. In most states, the top golfers at your age are already LOW single digit handicaps (4,5,6) and honestly probably only 1-50 of them will make it to the tour (that is purely a guess) I am not saying it is impossible, people have taken up the game in their 20's and 30's and made it to the touring level. So while, I won't say it's impossible, I will say it is VERY VERY unlikely that you will make it to the PGA. Please don't be discouraged, golf is a great game, and if you keep playing now when you are young, you will find that it has value in the adult world, both in business as well as the plain escape from the every day stresses of life. Additionally, Golf as a sport employs lots of people that are not touring professionals. Teaching Pro's, club pro's, store managers, club managers, grounds keepers, etc. You could find a very rewarding career in and around Golf that isn't being a touring professional.