M2R

I have a mixed set of Cleveland (2005 models) CG2 (3-6) and CG1 (7-PW) and moving between them can be a little jarring at times. To me they only differ markedly in two ways. The larger heads on the CG2 don't cut through some nastier lies in the rough like the smaller CG1 heads and soles can. How the sole/grind interact with the turf taking a divot. If the player is a sweeper/picker and/or plays on softer soil types it probably isn't noticeable. Play on a muni that turn into hardpan in the summer and the CG2 soles just sort of glancing bounce off it rather than taking a proper divot. They both work but the CG1 just cuts through even harder soil relatively effortlessly where the CG2 feels more like blunt force gouging out a divot. Not sure if those are "cons" but they are differences that I notice.

This whole thing is starting to get out of hand because of what appears to be either ignorance and or misunderstanding of the ROG. Or possibly (in combination) poor choice of specific language that is misleading or inaccurate. With that said there is a possibility the ignorance and misunderstanding is mine ... yea I do realize that. There is no penalty for making a bad drop. There is no penalty for making a drop in the wrong place. It is not "illegal" to putt while on the green with the flag in. There is no penalty for putting while on the green with the flag in. There is a one stroke penalty for not correcting a bad drop. There is a two stroke penalty for playing from the wrong spot after dropping in the wrong spot and not correcting it. There is a two stroke penalty if you putt on the green and your ball strikes the flagstick still in the hole. Rule 33-7 was not really the central issue here as the committee has had (as long as I know, not that long) discretion to waive a DQ but only in very limited and specific circumstances. Rule 33-7 is applicable here but not in the sense that I feel most people are implying, again either ignorantly or carelessly. Decision 34-3/1 (and many more supporting decisions, 34-3/3.9 for instance) already cover the situation: Situation A (34-3/1): Player thinks he may have made a rules violation and informs committee before returning card. Committee rules no penalty is warranted and player signs card. Next day committee realizes there was a violation and assesses player a two stroke penalty but does not DQ him. Situation B (Tiger): Spectator thinks there may have been a rules violation and informs committee before player returns card. Committee rules no penalty is warranted before player signs card, which he obviously subsequently does. Next day committee realizes there was a violation and asseses player a two stroke penalty but does not DQ him. The obvious difference is that in A the player brings it up and gets the feedback. In B a caller brings it up and thus Tiger was unaware of any of this happening. The feedback in case B would go to who? the caller (not likely).

COMMITTEE'S DECISION 34-3/1 Correction of Incorrect Ruling in Stroke Play Q. During the first round of a 36-hole stroke-play competition, a competitor plays a wrong ball from a bunker at the 6th hole and the ball comes to rest on the green. He then realizes that he has played a wrong ball and corrects his mistake. The competitor reports the facts to the Committee before returning his card and is incorrectly advised that he has incurred no penalty since the wrong ball was played from a hazard. During the second round the Committee realizes that it made a mistake and retrospectively adds to the competitor's first-round score two penalty strokes at the 6th hole, but does not disqualify the competitor under Rule 6-6d . The competitor objects on the ground that the Committee reached a decision on the matter the previous day and that, as Rule 34-3 states that the Committee's decision is final, it cannot now impose a penalty. Was the Committee's procedure correct? A. Yes. Under Rule 34-3 , a Committee's decision is final in that the competitor has no right to appeal. However, Rule 34-3 does not prevent a Committee from correcting an incorrect ruling and imposing or rescinding a penalty provided that no penalty is imposed or rescinded after the competition is closed, except in the circumstances set forth in Rule 34-1b .

About 80% of my matches (18/22) are team events, better ball, four ball, scotch, etc. Which is why I stopped cursing and getting outwardly upset on the course. In most circumstances it doesn't help the team and might even hurt our chances if it puts someone on edge or interrupts their flow. But if I though swearing would loosen someone up to play better then I would swear and not think twice about it. Actually that is why I like team events so much, it adds another layer of team dynamics, it isn't just me. Same thing when someone hits a bad shot, normally I just say straight up oh man that wasn't too good looks like you XYZ. Usually they say no it wasn't XYZ it was MNO but that gives them the outlet to express their frustration and it much better than saying oh don't worry about it, could happen to anyone or something like that. Depends on the person though some guys don't respond well to straight talk, most do. I still get upset and curse on the inside and my teammates know exactly when I do. But I'm a lot better about OK - I just need a couple seconds to vent internally ... OK - whew that's better ... next shot. Haven't run into any playing partners who are offended by that, YET!

Not taking it nearly far enough. I hope he loses in a two man playoff then is subsequently declared the winner when it is found his competitor made and illegal drop (after having returned his card) and is DQed. The only really fitting ending for this Masters IMO.

Yea I probably didn't answer the OP question, your SSS is (for all practical purposes) identical to our course rating. We don't have anything equivalent to your CSS as we always use the course rating when returning scores regardless of how difficult/easy the course may play on any given day (for instance if it were raining hard and blowing 35 mph). You don't have anything equivalent to our slope rating. As a category 3 player if you see a really high slope on a course (like 140), you could expect it to play harder than one with a slope of 113 but nothing really helpful or concrete just in general relatively easier or harder. If you were a category 1 or 2 player you could ignore slope altogether. And all that is just in theory and on paper as flintcreek's post does such a good job pointing out. Sometimes I play a course and just scratch my head wondering how the rating and slope can apply to what I just experienced.

Not an answer to "people thought" because what does that even mean? Reading some of the comments here on TST would lead me to believe a large percentage of people don't think he is comparable or will ever get 18. However, when Tiger played for his third consecutive US Amateur was the first time I remember watching media coverage that kind of nauseated me with the constant unprecedented record this and that, lives to set records, wall of records, and on and on. Obviously some of those comparisons were to Jack (more than just 18 majors). I watched him win his second US Amateur and don't remember it being quite so over the top, maybe I just tuned it out better. But since the media is basically paid to provide entertainment value it doesn't meet the "people thought" criteria even though it was presented as if he might be the one to rewrite EVERY record in golf. Or to put it another way, when you tout ever new player that looks to have potential as the "NEXT BIG THING!" eventually you might be right but I don't think you deserve any credit.

My short and lose version: course rating is the difficulty a scratch golfer should have expressed as number of strokes taken and slope rating is how much more incrementally difficult the a bogey golfer should find it expressed as a number from 55 to 155 where 113 is neutral, no easier or harder. In theory the course rating should be the most important part to low handicap guys and slope rating progressively more important the further over 20 the handicap. But everyone I play with just cares about slope rating and use it an an indication of how interesting the course will be to play. Typical conversation: Want to play XYZ this week? -- I don't know, what is the slope? -- 118 -- Nope I won't play any course less than 124. -- Why? -- I don't like playing flat, boring, straight out and back holes. --- The end ... ------------------------------------------- USGA Course Rating: A USGA Course Rating is the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for scratch golfers under normal course and weather conditions. It is expressed as the number of strokes taken to one decimal place (72.5), and is based on yardage and other obstacles to the extent that they affect the scoring difficulty of the scratch golfer. Slope Rating®: A Slope Rating is the USGA® mark that indicates the measurement of the relative playing difficulty of a course for players who are not scratch golfers, compared to scratch golfers. It is computed from the difference between the Bogey Rating and the USGA Course Rating times a constant factor and is expressed as a whole number from 55 to 155. ------------------------------------------- Scratch Golfer: A male scratch golfer is a player who can play to a Course Handicap of zero on any and all rated golf courses. A male scratch golfer, for rating purposes, can hit tee shots an average of 250 yards and can reach a 470-yard hole in two shots. A female scratch golfer is a player who can play to a Course Handicap of zero on any and all rated golf courses. A female scratch golfer, for rating purposes, can hit tee shots an average of 210 yards and can reach a 400-yard hole in two shots at sea level. Bogey Golfer: A male bogey golfer is a player who has a Course Handicap™ of approximately 20 on a course of standard difficulty. He can hit tee shots an average of 200 yards and can reach a 370-yard hole in two shots at sea level. A female bogey golfer is a player who has a Course Handicap of approximately 24 on a course of standard difficulty. She can hit tee shots an average of 150 yards and can reach a 280-yard hole in two shots. Bogey Rating™: A Bogey Rating is the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for bogey golfers under normal course and weather conditions. It is expressed as the number of strokes taken to one decimal place (92.1), and is based on yardage and other obstacles to the extent that they affect the scoring difficulty of the bogey golfer.

Comparing this chart to the Number of 5SK earned vs. Handicap chart suggests a possible inverse correlation between frequency of cursing and the number of 5SK earned? Implying that simply cursing less might result in learning more of the 5SK elements ... or maybe not

The simplest to perform and understand that I have found (for myself). Like Zeph said might work for you, might not. Description: A drill to help players learn to maintain the right wrist angle and also get a flat left wrist. It won't make the course superintendent happy but it will make everyone a better player. Stop the flipping with this one. Mike hit over 1,000 balls a day for months to perfect this

Huh? Love the way this guy plays ... always have. May never be a superstar/big winner but he always impressed me as fairly solid and since you didn't say "who do you think has a chance to win" but "lock to play well" John Huh. Plus "play well" is a bit indeterminate. In my book I sometimes see people "play well" and not get crap out of it and others play like crap and end up with a good score. I'm assuming by play well you mean shoot low scores but I'm replying by my definition of play well. For instance Bubba last year, if he had "played well" on the tee shot he wouldn't need the miracle, brilliant, ... add your superlative here shot on the second to close out the deal. And in fact on the penultimate hole from an apparently decent spot in the fairway he couldn't get the ball as close as he did from out of the woods ... so in my book he played rather questionably but scored well enough to win, two very different things ... again just IMO.

Fred ( Winifred Burkle ) - nerd

Hypothetical situation: In some type of team competition if I can two putt we win outright and three putting means a playoff. I putt up to about 28 inches and am confident I can pop that putt into the back of the cup. I walk up, address the ball, and am about to make the stroke when one of my team members panics and blurts out " take your time ". Wow thanks dude worst possible timing for saying that, way to take me out of the moment and insert doubt into my mind.

Thought it was amusing when I tried to relate some of the lyrics to golf. TW got sucked into the supermassive, cracked me up for some reason.

Quote: Originally Posted by Stretch Boo! Yea neither link worked for me but this one did . Not the same stage though. Quote: What are you changing? Who do you think you're changing? You can't change things, we're all stuck in our ways Damn Jenny, harsh!!!

I find golf shots to be like reverse farts, I tend to enjoy everyone else's a bit more than I probably should but always think my own stink. I never say nice shot unless I truly think it is a nice shot. But I have also learned to be sensitive to the fact that "my standards" may be too low in some cases.

Kappa Danielson Grenade (Bruno Mars cover).

Yea I saw that and sort of chuckled as some of the implied activities in peoples user names are pretty awesome. For yourself I sort of assumed IPSC/USPSA, possibly PPC, CMP, IHMSA too if you are a 3-gun/multi-gun type guy. Seriously interesting culture as the working professionals are ... uh lets say way more interesting? ... than the professional gamers. Saw a team roper user name reference too implying heading and heeling team I would assume, wow how often will you meet someone into team rodeo events? Saw a WERA reference in a user name once, turns out the guy was a nationally ranked expert motorcycle road racer ... impressive.

Same, shot 81 more than a dozen times over six years. Not even an 80 once in six years, always 81. Finally managed to shot 79 and a week later followed up with a 76, crazy.

Kind of depends on the courses you have access to I think. For most of the reasonably priced public courses I play in New England a 240-270 yard drive is enough. So it isn't about the long ball it's about calculating the club that will hopefully leave a 100-145 yard approach shot. Most holes are doglegs of some sort cut through dense brush/forest and fitting a 300+ yard drive in just doesn't seem practical (if even possible). Obviously there are exceptions to this where a 300+ yard drive might be an advantage if the approach shot can be played to inside reasonable birdie range (a big if in my experience). I would rather hit a 170 yard drive on a severe dog leg and leave 200 or more yards in than to challenge bending one around the corner and have it bend early and go into the woods or not bend enough and go through on the other side. In that respect being able to reliably hit a long ball off the deck would be a huge advantage, the longer the better. Same for par fives, I think having a reliable long ball off the deck would be a huge advantage. Quote: I think they dig the high hard one that seems to stay in the air forever more. I'm hoping that by improving my technique as I get older I can offset the losses, maybe even after 50 and possibly 60 as well. Obviously at some point the curve has to reverse and go the other way but I think I have almost unlimited potential for improving my swing mechanics as a starting point.

HILL - AIR - E - US!!!! That explains so much. Years ago I got fit for MX-23 irons with Dynalite Gold shafts and went with something else. I ruined my life to save $699

You could simply move up and play the reds on #5 (444 to 376), #9 (451 to 377), and #14 (452 to 318). That would leave the total length at 6440 and you would need to manually post rounds using 69.7/111 rating and slope to account for the changes. Those might not be the correct holes to move tees on because they may play sharply downhill or some consideration other than raw length comes into play. However, the idea is that if just a few holes are outside your reach then move up on those particular holes and adjust the rating and slope accordingly.

I use one like the one pictured in this post . To me the sound and feel of the ball off the putter face are more about the ball than the putter. Soft cover ball, soft feel and sound off the putter. Hard cover balls "click". Mine has the black insert but I understand there was a green insert model as well. One insert is supposed to be softer than the other but danged if I can remember which is which. When it rains and the putter gets soaked the insert turns gray and swells above the surrounding metal, doesn't seem to permanently hurt the putter though. I prefer the 330 insert over a smoother metal face (even shallow milled) but would prefer a deep milled metal face over the 330 insert. It is a light putter and works for me on fast greens but I would prefer a heavier putter on slower greens (less than around 8.5). Prefer in my case means don't care enough to make a change but I guess in theory would be nice.

Again that is the weird thing he "talks" about deliberate practice but I only see on video what looks more like structured practice. But I think that goes back to x129s point about for golf how do you split up and/or organise practice to achieve optimal results? One concrete example I can think of that might be similar to the "deliberate practice" idea is the P90X program where the claim is "Muscle confusion supposedly prevents the body from adapting to exercises over time, resulting in continual improvement without plateaus.". For something as simple as getting in shape OK but for something as complex as golf how do you go about training so as to ensure "continual improvement without plateaus"? Add another big question mark to my list I guess. This was my exact reaction regarding myself after reading x129s post. Will I ever be a legitimate single handicap? If not what is limiting me? On the one hand there is this nice research that I respond to on some rational level and on the other hand is the every day tangible reality of my true golf game. What are the specific and measurable steps I personally need to take beginning today to move toward a legitimate single handicap? And then I wrote ugh!!!

x129, nice post, good points, more to think about ... ugh!!!