M2R

Your Distance Reality Check!

True but it would be more informative to say the further a golfer is from scratch the more potential influence slope might have on the differential calculation. The important point being the golfer can be further away in either direction, better or worse.

Great stuff. If this one is BB maybe the next could be Lucille

Ha, yea maybe. But given the nature of the book he helped author I still want to stick with: take in and fully understand statistics

Well that is really too bad and I feel for your plight in this. The only thing I have ever found that helped me in this situation is, and I wish I could cite a good video but I sadly can not: 1. address the ball, 2. cock your wrists so the clubhead moves more or less straight up toward your head, 3. roll your arms/shoulders/hands triangle 90 degrees to where the butt of the club basically points directly at the target, 4. do a centered pivot mostly with hips and leg action to get your back more or less toward the target. If that kick starts your brain, start over and do your version of a back stroke. Otherwise just make your downswing from that static position.

I actually can assimilate statistics.

Interesting, in the referenced video No Turn Cast Swing Drill Monte says something like - The number one above all others important thing in the golf swing is the arms need to be linked up with the turn. Do you have any thoughts on that statement? To me it makes sense. As instructors is that in general a big part of the initial priority piece in students that you see or is there no real number one thing?

A good instructor will be able to communicate their intent to achieve their desired result . Usually this is accomplished by asking the student to do specific drills or feel like they are doing something. The drills and feels may seem counter-intuitive and just weird because the student is feeling one thing but actually doing something entirely different, which is why it works. Or the summary of the summary, feel isn't real. Monte does his summary at about 23:25 where he talks about intent and result . I really enjoyed the video thanks @bdevore76 for posting.

Well I never thought of it in those terms but yes I suppose a normal putter might be able to shot 78 or 79 that day if they did my putting. A few putts were over 40 feet so I do not think most people could 2 putt all of them. I have shot 76 or less there a few times, many, many years ago. You did say bad putters represent and as bad as a person may feel probably somewhere someone is worse off. I did not feel a problem with putting till I started to hit a significant number GIR, then not two putting felt like death. And like I posted it was a cascading spiral of death where every 3 putt lead to more apprehension and fear for the next putt which eventually turned into a massive case of the yips.

I once produced a 91 by 3 putting seven times and 4 putting four times. I also managed to 7 putt a green once. The key is once, as even by my standards these are extreme outliers. I spent a couple years trying to work that problem out and in the end decided the root cause was the same as for my full swing, bad technique/fundamental positions that when put under stress tended to cascade into increasing levels of disaster.

The easiest way to manipulate a handicap is for a player to honestly and accurately evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses in their game and then chose a course with the highest rating and slope which complements their strengths and minimizes testing their weaknesses. For example if I were you I would play every day at Amesbury Golf & Country Club because it is only 6095 yards yet has a rating of 70.5 and slope of 125. Only two of the par 4 holes (9/18) play to more than about 300-350 yards even though listed on the card as longer, because they play massively downhill (and 9/18 play massively up the same hill). It is also very forgiving on wayward shots so while balls can be lost or in water hazards they are more likely to be found and playable. I would not randomly go back to the furthest tee unless your game is such that even from a forward tee you can not get the ball near the green in regulation anyway, in that case then I would consider doing so. I would go back as far as I could while still getting the ball near the green in regulation if very little else were changing other than distance. If it is in your personality to play percentage golf then do so to the max. I shot 83 once when my playing partner shot 104 and after the round he commented my chipping was really bad. So I asked what he meant? He said well you did not get any close to the hole. His focus was on a tiny circle around the hole and my focus was the entire green. Consequently he felt a lot of stress and messed up many of his chips and pitches requiring a second attempt where as I felt completely confident I could hit a 4000+ sq ft area and always succeeded in getting the ball on the green somewhere. Yes I never got any ball closer than 8 feet but even so I made two putts to save par from 8-10 feet just by the luck of having the opportunity to do so. Would I like to get the ball closer, yes, is that a realistic evaluation of my present skill set, no. Since you have LSW you know about the 5Ss and like someone somewhere here posted the success part is often overlooked. Practising is one thing and playing is another but small successes are important to both IMO. If you need to convert a long par 4 to a par 5 for you do it, if you need to do a low punch out shot using your putter do it, if you need to putt out backwards or sideways to guarantee getting out of a bunker do it. Practice the most on things that have the highest SV but play avoiding the shots/clubs with the lowest strokes gained values, even if that means leaving them at home. Or to put it another way if I can not practice well with a club it is unrealistic to think I can play well with it so I do not attempt to play with it unless there are no better options.

For a person like myself who has no background in serious competitive golf (college or higher) and only has experience on public courses, these types of tournaments present a special opportunity to experience a course set up for high level competition. It was my habit at the start of every season to go through all the local, regional, and national PGA section, USGA, Symetra tour, etc schedules and make a note of were tournaments were scheduled on public courses close to me. At that point it was usually just as difficult as calling up for a tee time the day of or the day after the tournament. Normally they do not want you there the day of but sometimes with a little talking and demonstrated willingness to cooperate it is definitely possible, although far from common. The difference between even a few hours lapsing between tournament play and your play can be pretty dramatic. But I still think it is worth the effort even to experience it the next day. The competitors themselves might experience a dramatic difference between morning v.s. the afternoon. It probably is not for everyone though. I once got to play directly behind the last tournament group then got swept into the tournament itself when there was a playoff happening directly behind me. I think it helps to have a competitive spirit yourself. A 62 or 64 sounds insane but having experienced some courses during tournaments, those scores sounds proportionally even more insane.

I agree, I think some people are just uncomfortable in the presence of a gun. I dated a woman once who was apparently afraid of the physical object itself. Went to a friends home for dinner and after dinner he wanted to show me his new P220 so he brought it out, mag well empty, locked open, and placed it on the table. At which point she said "We should be careful or we could be injured or killed". I asked "You mean by the gun lying on the table?" and she responded "yes". Oddly as long as the gun was in his hand she was fine but when it was placed on the table is when she became uncomfortable. As if she felt similar to the situation where a driver falls asleep at the wheel and the car now has the potential of doing serious harm since no one is at the controls anymore.

Hello and welcome! I am not familiar with Jimmy Ballard and am not an accomplished golfer but loosely in order of what I think is most important here: The 5SK system (Five Simple Keys®) and the 5SK video thread . Simple, Specific, Slow, Short, and Success - The Five "S"s of Great Practice thread. 65/20/15 Practice Ratios: Where to Devote Your Practice Time thread. 3 Keys to Better Putting thread. Quickie Pitching Video - Golf Pitch Shot Technique thread. I do think pretty much everything in the Swing Thoughts is useful and helpful but from a practical standpoint those cover quit a bit. You might also consider getting a copy of Lowest Score Wins if you find the information here helpful. I can not offer and help or advice on the driver.

You both gave some really good advice on weight loss, thanks for that. I hope you are applying the same logic to your golf games and don't beat yourselves up or get too discouraged if things temporarily backslide in scoring, handicap index, ball contact, or whatever. I think of my golf as being similar to the stock market, in the short term it might look really up and down but over a longer period the overall trend is generally upward progress. For balls LostGolfBalls might be something to look into as another source as well.