bradpet

Love your style Harry Longshanks . It's Ecco all the way. They're great, even down to the part where the side of the tongue is connected to the rest of the shoe to make it totally waterproof. .... and as with most things, you get what you pay for. [I'll just put up the sandbags now because my radar says I'm about to be bombarded with Footjoy incoming]

Ecco. They're European & in my view Footjoys' main competitor. Very comfortable, excellent quality, waterproof (lined with goretex). Pros such as Baddeley, Appleby, Montgomerie are wearing them & a few others also. http://www.ecco.com/int/en/collectio...golf/index.jsp Well worth a look. (no, I don't have any connection with the company)

The Rugby League World Cup's coming up guys. What do you think of the chances of England & NZ (or others)? If Australia make the final, who do you think we will face?

There are so many people in jail who wouldn't be there if they stopped after the first crime committed. Now OJ's one of them...

Well done Harry. You went to a lot of trouble for this poster. Double thumbs up.

I thought it great when Rocco Mediate wore red on the last day of the US Open. I love Tiger but he hasn't taken out a trade mark on the color red (last time I looked). I'd hate for a so called 'tradition' to develop where no other pro golfer dares wear the color red because it's become known as 'Tiger's color'. Let every golfer wear what color they want without fear or favor, I say. Or perhaps take a leaf out of Ian Poulter's book and wear every color at once!!!

Adam usually returns to Australia for some of the Nov/Dec Australian tournaments. Unfortunately, he hasn't won, or figured in the big placings, in any in recent years. Success is hard to predict sometimes. For example, Aaron Baddeley returned for some of the Australian summer golf tournaments at the end of 2007 & won the Australian Masters. Unfortunately, that was his 'high watermark' for the last 12 months. Most Australians (& of course many others) would like to see Adam Scott win more tournaments. He's easy to like. Fingers crossed it's 2009. But then again, Greg Norman's result in the British Open has given him an invitation to the US Masters. Now that will be interesting .... [ please no comments about choking - we've heard them all before ].

In the absence of any other comments, I'll throw in a piece of potentially useful/useless information. Haven't read either yet but Christie Kerr referred to Zen Putting in an interview recently & said it really helped her game.

For those who might be interested, just discovered that my left leg was 'collapsing' on me on the backswing which caused me to 'dip' on my swing, resulting in inconsistent ball striking (perhaps consistently hitting the ball thin & fat). The cause was my left foot being 90 degrees at address rather than turned out left at an angle. As soon as I turned my foot out, it stopped the left leg collapsing & also promoted hip turn on the backswing rather than a slide. Such a simple sport!!!

I'm reading this book at the moment. What do you think of it Erik?

Thanks Finnstang . I somehow missed that discussion thread.

Correct julie_m

Hello all, I've noticed that Robert Karlsson (Euro PGA golfer) puts tape around his left index finger between the knuckle & first joint. I've assumed this is to help prevent callousing because my finger callouses in the same place. (yes, I wear a glove on that hand) I've also noticed Tiger tapes a couple of his fingers which I assume are for the same reasons. Does anyone know if it's a special sort of tape? If not, can anyone hazard a guess as to the type of tape it could be?

Perhaps a visit to the "Secret of Golf ..." thread might lift the mood a little. We're all friends here (hopefully)

Oh my goodness?? The LPGA did that?? [lost for words] As far as Natalie goes, I certainly wish her all the best & it would be good to see her attracting attention by winning golf tournaments rather than by other 'assets' (which mind you appeared to increase in size overnight judging by historical photos). I saw Natalie live at an Australian Ladies PGA tournament in '07. She didn't set the world on fire at the tournament. Of the Americans, Christie Kerr did much better. I had to laugh at one stage. Natalie was waiting for golfers to clear the green on a par 4 (in her 'spray on' outfit). She then seemed to decide that a good stretch was in order. So (in the middle of the fairway in front of a large gallery) she starts bending, stretching, reaching, twisting, turning (I'm sure you get the picture). Talk about a modern day version of golf porn.

Which tends to prove my point. All the more reason to be concentrating on improving her game because obviously she is at a critical point - the proverbial 'fork in the road'. Better to concentrate on being invited/qualifying for the Samsung or the next tournament than becoming a sideshow attraction in a tabloid tv show. Don't worry Harry , my comments aren't a personal slight at you, just my opinion. I'm just picking up on a recent podcast discussion of Erik's where similar sentiments were expressed.

As I was watching Paula Creamer win last week, the question in my mind was where is NG? Now I know the answer - doing something more important like selling cupcakes. Has anyone bothered to tell her that she's a pro golfer, not a street vendor? Sure, sure, I know that she's on the celebrity apprentice but it's not like she's Tiger & can afford to take the occasional tournament off. I think she's in a very critical time in her golfing career where she could either (1) rise to the challenge, or (2) disappear for good like a golfing version of Anna Kournikova. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that region directly below her TaylorMade cap.

I know iputt . It's so funny (and so true). It's almost a health risk from the uncontrollable laughter it causes. [still laughing] ...

I know, but I couldn't resist sharing it. I'm tempted to also insert it in the "Justin Timberlake" thread discussion. There's some major 'aggro' going on in there.

Hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did ... Don't buy a putter until you've had a chance to throw it. Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing. When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls. If you're afraid a full shot might reach the green while the foursome ahead of you is still putting out, you have two options: you can immediately shank a lay-up or you can wait until the green is clear and top a ball halfway there.. The less skilled the player, the more likely he is to share his ideas about the golf swing. No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to play worse. The inevitable result of any golf lesson is the instant elimination of the one critical unconscious motion that allowed you to compensate for all of your many other errors. If it ain't broke, try changing your grip. Everyone replaces his divot after a perfect approach shot. A golf match is a test of your skill against your opponents' luck. It is surprisingly easy to hole a fifty foot putt. For a 10. Counting on your opponent to inform you when he breaks a rule is like expecting him to make fun of his own haircut. Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts It's not a gimme if you're still away. The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large tree. There are two kinds of bounces; unfair bounces and bounces just the way you meant to play it. You can hit a two acre fairway 10% of the time and a two inch branch 90% of the time. If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age. Since bad shots come in groups of three, a fourth bad shot is actually the beginning of the next group of three. When you look up, causing an awful shot, you will always look down again at exactly the moment when you ought to start watching the ball if you ever want to see it again. Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe. If you want to hit a 7 iron as far as Tiger Woods does, simply try to lay up just short of a water hazard. To calculate the speed of a player's downswing, multiply the speed of his back-swing by his handicap; I.e., back-swing 20 mph, handicap 15, downswing = 300 mph. There are two things you can learn by stopping your back-swing at the top and checking the position of your hands: How many hands you have and which one is wearing the glove. Hazards attract; fairways repel. You can put a draw on the ball, you can put a fade on the ball, but no golfer can put a straight on the ball. A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours. If there is a ball on the fringe and a ball in the bunker, your ball is in the bunker. If both balls are in the bunker, yours is in the footprint It's easier to get up at 6:00 AM to play golf than at 10:00 to mow the yard Sometimes it seems as though your cup moveâth over. A good drive on the 18th hole has stopped many a golfer from giving up the game. Golf is the perfect thing to do on Sunday because you always end up having to pray a lot. A good golf partner is one who's always slightly worse than you are....that's why I get so many calls to play with friends. That rake by the sand trap is there for golfers who feel guilty about skipping out on lawn work. If there's a storm rolling in, you'll be having the game of your life. Golf balls are like eggs. They're white. They're sold by the dozen. And you need to buy fresh ones each week. A pro-shop gets its name from the fact that you have to have the income of a professional golfer to buy anything in there. It's amazing how a golfer who never helps out around the house will replace his divots, repair his ball marks, and rake his sand traps. If your opponent has trouble remembering whether he shot a six or a seven, he probably shot an eight (or worse). You probably wouldn't look good in a green jacket anyway! A sweatshirt will do just fine. It takes longer to learn to be a good golfer than it does to become a brain surgeon. On the other hand, you don't get to ride around on a cart, drink beer, eat hot dogs and break wind if you are performing brain surgery!

Thanks powerfade , jambalaya & the others. Very useful comments.

Thanks glebert , I'll give that a try.

Thanks for the feedback so far guys. Very useful. To answer Jambalaya , apparently I slide back & forward. In my first lesson with him, my teaching pro found that my head was staying fixed & didn't move backwards (or hardly at all) on my backswing. Therefore, my hips just slide back (on the backswing) & forward (on the downswing) under a rigid head. The pro has encouraged me to let my head move to the right a little bit on the backswing. He was keen to point out that most people (including me) wrongly think any lateral head movement (on the backswing) is bad. He said (except for the 'stack & tilters') that the perception of no lateral head movement is wrong. He said allowing the head to move to the right (on the backswing) will encourage a turn. So, I have another lesson with him in a week & wanted to do some drills to assist in the meantime. I'm sure the suggestions will be helpful. Keep them coming. It appears that I have a couple of 'challenges' to overcome because I've noticed that my rear leg isn't rigid enough on my backswing. Yes, I keep it flexed. Yes, I keep my right foot planted. But I've noticed it 'bows' a bit to the right on the back swing. I'm currently scratching my head about keeping my right leg rigid & not moving or 'bowing' to the right on the backswing.

Hello all. Just wondering if anyone knows any drills to change a slide into a turn. Recently, I've been hitting a lot of my irons thin & some fat. My teaching pro has diagnosed that I'm sliding. I'll be going back to him for another half hour lesson in about a week's time. In the meantime, I just wonder if anyone knows any drills to promote hip turn on the backswing rather than a slide?

For what it's worth, I think it's important to bear in mind that everyone is human - pro golfers included. Everyone has their moments - happy, sad, angry, frustrated ... the lot. No, I'm not about to break into a religious sermon & I'm not about to defend disgraceful behavior. It's just that I get annoyed when someone, usually the media, drag out the old "but they're a role model" chestnut when someone displays a bit of emotion on the course. Fair enough if the person starts throwing clubs or swearing profusely. Someone like that deserves to be criticized. However, most displays of frustration or disappointment usually happen in pressure cooker situations. An occasional show of frustration is completely understandable. Often it seems to be the media that drags out the "role model" criticism particularly when they've been refused an interview or haven't liked an answer to a question. Whether ••••••••ers are labeled 'role models' or 'millionaires who should know better', they're still human. It would be hard to conceive the pressure a ••••••••er would face, for example, as part of the leading group on the final day of a big tournament. It's bad enough being a weekend hacker trying to sink a 3 footer for a rare par, with nobody watching (or caring).