Grinde6

First off...don't quit. You're putting too much pressure on yourself if you are thinking about quitting. Your expectations are probably too high as a 10 handicap if you are wanting to quit. 3 putting from 45-60 feet is not all that uncommon for a lot of people. It would take a lot of pressure off your putting game if you work on your approach shots at the range a bit. What is your normal yardage left to the hole (range)? Figure that out and work on those distances and getting more accurate with those shots. 45-60 feet away from the pin on 100-160 yard shots is a long ways...practice those yardages and don't forget to practice putting as well. Maybe have the Club Pro take a look at your putting stroke quick and see if he can pick up on anything you might be doing wrong.

Starting our Club Championship Match Play tournament today. We have a week to find a time that works for both of us to play, and tonight is the night we picked for our match. Forecast is for 90* and 3-5mph winds, so its going to be hot and sticky. The guy I am playing is a solid player, 2.3 handicap, so it should be a good match. He and another guy jumped on with our group during men's league on Tuesday and played 11, 12, 13 with us where he went bogey, bogey, bogey and I went par, birdie, par...so hopefully that's an indication of how the match will go. Just need to get up on him early and stay on the gas with smart plays...I am a longer hitter than he is, so he should be hitting his 2nd shot before I do most times so that should be a bit of an advantage.

I usually shoot for 71-72. I play at a par 73 course so 1-2 under is the goal every time. My last few rounds have seen anything from a 70-77...but 71-72 is always the goal.

I haven't played the Pro Soft, I do however play the Vice Pro Plus now. I came from playing the Nike RZN Black and Pro V1x and I believe the Pro Plus is just as long, if not longer and has more spin around the greens than the Black or the V1x. I don't really get into the colored balls for myself, but they do look pretty cool. For the price and the durability/playability, you can't go wrong with the Vice golf balls.

I am lined up in the middle, club is grounded and I am the same with ball height. I tee it up pretty high as it is a reminder to swing up at the ball...and an even bigger reminder that I didn't if I forget to swing up, as it is a pop fly...but that is pretty uncommon for me now.

Phil Mickelson did it at Merion... ...but you need to practice your weakness(es)...I agree that he should get a lesson or two so he can become aware of what he needs to do to correct the issue, but in the meantime, practicing the driver with different ball positions, grips, etc will help as well.

The easiest answer to this is to get a lesson. It should not only help you with your driver, but also with your irons/approach shots too. A quick 30 minute lesson could potentially turn your weakness of a driver into your strength to where you wont even have to strategize like this. Now it might take a couple lessons as well, but it is worth it. I would keep using those clubs though, as not using them isn't helping you become better with them...go to the range with just your driver and see if there is anything you can change to make the flight better...ball position, how far away from the ball you are standing, aiming point, grip...all things to check and tweak until you can at least come up with a "go-to swing".

People are skeptical because of this...not only are your distances PGA Tour type distances, but you say you "can hit with accuracy and incredible height". If you hit your clubs these distances and "with accuracy" you should not be shooting 85-87. My PW-7i distances are about the same, 6i-3W is a bit shorter, and Driver is about 294 according to Arccos, but I am also a 1 handicap and am not out there shooting 85-87. Create a thread in the "Members Swings" and that should clear up some cloudiness to the distance claim. Unless you 3 putt every hole and chip it around the greens a couple times each hole, those distances and "accuracy" should not yield 85-87 scores.

League night last year, we were playing a team that insisted we play from the whites so we obliged. We were playing match play and I closed my guy out in 5 holes...here's why. I started birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie to go -6 thru 5 holes...was one of those days where everything was on and was hitting wedges to a couple feet and making putts. The eagle I had was a 30 footer but was a pretty straight putt. I was pretty upset when the rain poured on us to keep me from finishing the round. That was one of the last times I played the white tees too.

I will try to record tomorrow at full speed. I believe these were all taken with slo mo on my iPhone so it would make sense they are low fps. It's crazy that you point this out, because it feels like I am swinging out to the right...feel isn't real!! I will head to the range tomorrow or Thursday if I get time and re-record DTL and see if I can get a better angle and better frame rate. Thanks Fellas!

Here is my face on swings at the range today.

Not sure if it is heroic or not, but one of the better shots I can think of besides chip-ins from greenside and such. I was playing my practice round before a Pro-Am for one of the mini tours in North Dakota. It was the 2nd hole, dogleg right par 5. Its really not a driver off the tee hole, as you need about 240 yards to the bend, and then its about 260 or so in from there. It was only the 2nd hole, so I thought I would try to make a score on this hole so I tried a cut driver and you guessed it, the damn thing went straight which is a lateral hazard. Dropped my ball out of the hazard, hit a 200 or so yard shot to leave me a nice 60* wedge about 60 yards out. I hit the wedge, it checked up and rolled into the cup for birdie...for having to take a penalty and ending up with birdie, I will take it!

I've been Playing Golf for: 15 years (more seriously for about 6 now) My current handicap index or average score is: 1.4 My typical ball flight is: high draw The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: push/pull Videos: I didn't get any head on video yet, plan on doing that in the next couple days. This is from about a month ago. Been working on some things on the range, and this is where I am at currently. Not sure why they didn't upload in slow motion, as they were recorded in slow motion. I will see if I can figure that out too and get the slo-mo ones posted. Working on getting more through the ball, keeping my head still and rotating around my spine and following through completely...sometimes I get lazy and instead of following through all the way, I stop which hangs the ball out to the right a bit. Its a work in progress, this is my second season with a draw swing as I have worked hard with the local PGA Professional to get to where I am at. Was able to get down to a 3.5 index with a fade swing and couldn't seem to shave any more strokes off, but I feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel and hope to be scratch by the end of this season.

Here is the back 9. As you can see, the front 9 is more of a traditional 9, and the back 9 here is links style. We had a flood in '97 (google "flood of 1997 Grand Forks, ND, it was bad) which took out the original golf course. They put in a dike through the front 9 which wiped out 9 holes so they had to create the back 9. Had a good back 9 even with the wind out there. Had one of my better rounds of the year for the back as well with a bogey free -1. Wind was fun to deal with as it was out of the west, but would gust from the N too. Again, sorry for the video skills/lack there of, but then next one will be better!

Let's see if this works better than my video skills. It was a windy day out there (20mph steady gusting to 30mph), and about 60 degrees but I had a good round. This is the front 9 of my home course (will post the back 9 in a bit). Had one of my better rounds of the year so far that day, rambled off 3 birdies in a row on 5, 6, & 7, but bogeyed 3 and 9 to finish -1 on the front. Swing didn't feel like it was completely there, might have been because of the jacket, but it just felt different. Sorry for the times when I am barely in the frame, or the ball isn't in the frame, I think some of that got compressed out of the video, I will have to get a tripod to use for the next one now that I know.