Mugs050

How much should you practice it before you use it? I play today and I was thinking of putting it in right away. I just worry that I might juice up my shots to much and go long!

Is your Handicap still correct at a 25+? The key to hitting long irons like a 4 is swing speed. I would suggest you replace both the 5 wood and the 4 iron with the 4/5 RBZ hybrids like you stated. Not to many high handicappers can hit a 4 iron consistently or a 5 wood off the deck. I have an RBZ 5 wood that I love but I am with you that they are not the most visually appealing. However get over that as they are awesome clubs to hit and dirt cheap right now!

I like your play sometimes you can catch the bunker and it will propel it out for a soft landing on the green. I think you had very limited options that wouldn't of given you any better of a chance to make par. If you played it sideways onto the fairway how would of that helped any more then being in the bunker? Unless your bunker play is awful I think you made the right choice. PS. Nice looking tree

I actually respect how everyone plays. I think golf is a game of strategy and you can devise a strategy based on your strengths to tackle the task anyway you like. However.... when it comes to practicing I would look at the data. I was in the bunker three times my last round and that is actually quite a lot for myself sometimes I don't hit a bunker all round, but I had a half dozen putts over 30 feet. Now you could say its from my strategy of hitting the fat part of the green, however I find on average I have a lot more lag putts or longish putts 20 footers then I ever have bunker shots. So I would challenge you by saying why did you practice so much on bunker shots? Wouldn't that time be better spent on hitting better irons/drives to avoid bunkers? Or in this case Lag putting? I think you should take an inventory of all the shots you hit on a per round basis and practice the ones you ether hit the most or shots that lead up to ones you want to hit the least Ie. bunkers.

That's a small majority of people but at the end of the day what makes golf so unique is the fact that the game can be played in so many different ways. If your scrambling ability, and sand save % is much higher then your 3 putt avoidance numbers then good for you. I would challenge you to track that but at the end of the day its about going with what's comfortable.

Actually kind of funny but reading the responses I see it more or less like this as far as the people that responded: -Middle of the green or a slight variation of middle of the green 9.5 6.3 +0.1 14.8 +2.7 At the flag or not the middle 5 17.6 20 14.9 Then there were some that didn't give a definitive answer. If you take everyone's handicap at face value on here then that shows that generally speaking the lower handicap players play to the middle of the green or some sort of variation that takes the middle into account, like middle on shots outside x distance. hmm

I disagree. I think the most important stat is GIR even if your lets say 30-50 feet away, sure your not going to be getting birdie very often by you should be able to get up and down 4/5 or 80% of the time. The odd pin might be in the middle, and the odd time you might pull or push your shot towards the pin. At the end of your round having more GIR's no matter where the ball ends up on the green is going to lead to lower scores.

Going to buy it as soon as I am complete the back log of books I am reading (3 non golf books right now) sounds like there is some good theory in it. I think I will experiment more as I keep playing. I had a bad habit of firing at pins and taking aggressive lines which although I got down to an 8.4 factor last year, it made the game a lot more stressful. When I was on I was shooting good scores but when I was off I would blow up. I really want to raise my floor and break through my ceiling. Again us golfers always feel like we are capturing lightning in the bottle but this strategy seems to have some merit.

Played a round today started off poor but ended good. Three things I changed: 1. Aimed my tee shot to areas that had the most real estate and would allow for the biggest miss 2. Took more club, hit a few longer left me with long laggers but wasn't in the bunkers short 3.Aimed for the fattest part of the green. Flag be damned Wow way less stress I didn't feel like each shot was life or death it felt like I had margins of error I took over the match and won. What say you trappers?

I enjoy practicing the short game more then the long game. After a small bucket say 20-30 shots I am bored of the long game. However I can practise getting up and down for a solid hour before my mind starts wandering. What's better for my game? Hard to say I fight the BIG miss the pull hook but generally I am solid throughout the bag.

@natureboy Its not perfect but is fairways hit ether? I mean you could take a 9 iron and besides the odd forced carry hit 14 out of 14 fairways. I think to your comment about distance, let's say the hole is a long par 4 450 you sky your drive 200 down the middle in the fairway and your second shot has 250 left. At that point I think you could safely according to the point season call it a 2 pointer requiring an amazing shot to get the gir even though your in the fairway.

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/mental-game/sanders_gd0809 Doing some research on where you lose the most strokes and what part of the game to work on the most (read a few interesting things here) and I stumbled across this article. Now this article makes complete sense to me. I hear all the time that hitting fairways is key to shooting better scores, and I agree. However does it really help to be using an iron off the tee and being 200-220 down the middle and having to hit the same shot 200-220 on your approach? Yes you may have hit the fairway but now you have a very low % shot to gain that ever important GIR coming into the green.I will admit sometimes I try to out think myself out there and have at times chosen to lay up way back to take the big miss out of play. Now back to the article. Instead of saying ether fairway hit or not the article gives each tee shot a score. See below: - a tee shot that lands into the first cut or a good lie in which it does not affect your ability to hit your second shot to the green (pretty much the same as hitting in a fairway) = 0 points - a tee shot that lands off the fairway into rough or a other lie that you would have to hit a excellent tee shot to make the green = 1 point - a tee shot in which lands in a spot where you would simply have to punch out = 2 points - a tee shot which lands in a water hazard or one stroke penalty = 3 points - a tee shot that lands OB = 4 points The author then asks you to tally up your scores and divide by 2, then reference a chart he has created to indicate how much your drives affect your score vs handicap averages. Interesting read! what say you?

I actually have a jumbo on my old sruver, seemed like I had more control kind of a dead feel.

I actually hook the driver too. These are my misses and when I am off they show up more and are harder to shake, I am not looking for a fix just wanted something so I can swing a little bit more free or combat the hook.

Thinking of trying Jumbo's on my irons to combat a hook. Thoughts?

I want to get everyone's opinion on bringing your game from the range to the course. I am not meaning to sound cocky or delusional but I feel I have another tier in me and generally can hit shots my peers can't. On the range I hit high climbing bombs with the driver, high draws and fades with my 4 iron, and putting oh putting I can putt the eyes out of the ball. I get on the course and I top the driver, hook my 4 iron and miss 5 footers. Now not saying I do that all the time, as early as last year I was as single digit handicap but I really want to learn how to maximize my potential and stop leaving so many shots on the course. How do I bring my game from the range to the course? Any swing thoughts/methods you guys use?

Thanks all. I figured I was just tight and a little out of it. I played better towards the end but my chipping was horrendous. The shanks early on messed with my mind so I was hitting them long after that. My main concern which you guys put me at ease with was I was developing a shank like swing from the simulator.

I live in Canada so I have been playing on golf simulators all year. Recently I went down to Las Vegas to play my first outside round of golf of the year. I had been chipping amazing on the simulator and overall playing pretty good. Now I will add this disclaimer that could of added to my chipping shanks: -I was hung over -First round of the year nerves -Playing for big money for myself -The wedges were huge shovels Has anyone else experienced this from practicing on matts? I feel they allow you to get through more which could add to getting away with shots. I am worried I have been practising a shank all year.

Awesome info guys! I am looking more for forgiveness and accuracy. I hit my 4i plenty long enough (210-220) but I hook it too much, with that being said if I could get a GI or SGI an extra 10-20 yards then I could use it as a off the tee club as well.

I recently played golf down in Las Vegas, since it was only one round I didn't bring my own sticks. I use R9 TP's stiff all the way to 4 iron as I do not like hybrids, I tend to hook them too much. Anyway the rentals where speed blades, steel stiff shaft. I really liked how I hit the long irons (4,5,6) even after being a little haggard playing. My question is, has anyone built there own progressive bag? I am thinking of looking to buy an individual speed blade or similar for my 4 iron and maybe 5 iron. Let me know what you think.

My club head speed is on the higher end around 108-112 consistently but like many I struggle with the occasional hook. Is there a ball that would be best for helping keep tee shots straighter in general? I heard good things about the Bridgestone E6. To tell you the truth I haven't worried about balls that much over the year and played anything really. But the more I read about it the more I am hearing it can make a difference.

The guys in the office are the 8 - 12 handicappers who are complete equipment snobs. My index floated up a little this year but I typically hold the bragging rights in the office for golf. These guys buy new drivers + every year, I keep telling them that it really doesn't make that big of a difference it's more the archer then the arrow. They bag on Wilsons so I am committed to playing Wilson balls this year... so two questions: 1.) How much does a ball really make a difference? I know they do but when you reach a certain level let's say the Bridgestone E series how much more return do you really see after that? 2.) Anyone play the Wilson Duo? Any good?

New to the forum.I'm playing here next Thursday on my bachelor party weekend in Vegas. Anyone played this course before? Were playing $20 a skin so maybe some inside info would be nice, and more importantly how was it as a course?