ryohazuki222

I found that my tempo is the key to my distance. I try to have the slowest backswing I can... If you've read the golf digest article on the v-gap mumbo jumbo... that's a good way to describe my swing. My hands tend to get too fast... and the ball hooks. So the way I feel now is more like... If I want to really go after the ball it's a hook/bigger draw than i'd like. The only way I can hit it straight or fade is to slow down my swing a bit. The problem is that it's difficult to slow down the swing consistently... and while it's nice just happening to hit the ball 260-280 on what feels like a slow swing..... I hate the feeling that I'm leaving all this energy on the table. So ideally I want something that I can attack with.... It gets boring swinging "slow" on the tee all the time.

Just a quick topic.... curious given this situation: I nice relaxed and full swing on level ground, on what I'd call slightly firmer than average ground travels 285 measured yards from tee to rest. Shot shape is a fade. This is using a 44" (1.5" cut off from the butt) Tour Burner with stock Stiff shaft with a 9.5* head. Given the above scenario would you say I'm "allowed" to think about an X-Stiff shaft. Or would you say not to even think about it.....? ( Disclaimer! This is for fun... I plan on getting fit in the next couple months... but that doesn't mean I can't have my fun picking out my own hypothetical shafts!)

HAHAHHA........ 19 putts on the first 8 holes. 20 for the 9holes... If I ever had 40 putts in 9 holes I'm pretty sure I'd quit the game.

The OP sounds like me! I went out for my birthday round a couple months back. I hit 7/9 greens in regulation. Hole 9 was a tap in putt for par after lipping out a chip from the sand trap. But how did I putt the first 8 holes? I had 39 putts. (40 total for the 9). And scored an even 40. And, no, I don't expect to make em all... or even most, but some would be awesome. It really didn't matter how good my approach was. Had a couple hit inside 5 feet that I couldn't finish out. And that same eagle things has happened to me a few times only to turn into pars..... I finally figured things out though. I doubt it'll work for everyone, but maybe it'll work for you. I stopped taking practice strokes parallel to my target line to try and get a "feel" for pace. IF and when I feel I need a practice stroke I do it behind the ball, perpendicular to my line. Apparently, my first, non-rehearsed, instinct is the best chance I get at feeling the proper pace. I also have to make sure to look only at the ball. And DON'T turn up my head until a second or two after the putt. I find myself putting even better if I can copy my swing rhythm into my putting stroke. I have a very slow and deliberate takeback with my other clubs... once I started a slow takeback of the putter as I do with those, and then just swinging through.... the putts really felt good. I tried tons of other things, but the thing above is actually standing the test of time so far (the others didnt...) The funniest thing is that around my birthday my approaches were my only strength. I hit TOO many greens (funny, i know) and hadn't had a chance to practice my short game. And putts were terrible all around. I had no distance with my driver or irons... but put a short iron in my hand and I could stick it near the hole. Now?? I can outdrive my old self by at least 50 yards. Great at putting... good short game. But I can't hit an approach to save my life. Funny game....

Took the words out of my mouth pretty much. I didn't expect the game to be like that at all....... it was ugly. Unfortunately Steelers screw things up on special teams which is something I'm always worried about with these guys...... Aside from that it was about a tie from my standpoint, but the Bengals got the win. To me, it's the first game the steelers played this year that I felt they didnt deserve to win (and they STILL almost pulled it out... which I take as good news.) As for the Bengals.... At first I gave them their props. These are the kinds of games a team has to win if they want to make it to the playoffs. Also, they have an easy-ish schedule left over.... but there's still a lot of games left. So right now, I have a sort of reserved respect for the bengals that they've earned.... but I really expect to lose the respect by christmas give-or-take.... we'll see. As an Steelers fan.... this makes the rest of the season really interesting to me now. I felt if they won... it'd be kind of boring to watch em probably end up with the division and a guarnateed spot in the playoffs. Now I get to support them working to take back the division or fight it out with the rest of the afc for a playoff spot.

it really depends on the course. First off..... i've never seen a $50 muni.... but in the spirit of the question I took it as this: Would you rather play a poorer quality muni for twice as much golf vs playing an upscale course half the amount of outings....? It REALLY depends on the courses. Conditions are definitely a factor... but more than that is the layout, challenge, design, length of the course. Muni's vary SO much in my experience in course conditions. Sometimes playing off ant piles and watching your putts bounce like it's possessed by a mexican jumping bean just takes the fun out of golf.

Just wanted to let you guys on here know about a deal I find pretty good. Bushnell's top of the line color screen with tons of features GPS has been having some rebate offers lately..... but I finally found a deal that made me bite. http://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-Yarda...8226919&sr;=8-1 Rebate form: http://www.bushnellgolf.com/media/20...bateCoupon.pdf for $100 MIR. Bushnell's Subscription package seems to be reasonable. From my understanding you don't HAVE to renew or anything like that. $35 for 100 courses or something like that and you keep what you get. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. It's hard to find info/reviews on this unit. Aside from Amazon's reviews, check out http://••••••.com/home/?p=3639 (the hackers paradise instead of dots... dont know why it doesnt show?) for a detailed review. Despite not finding much info, I also haven't really found any bad info. IMO, it seems like for the retail price ($350) people are just opting for SkyCaddies and uPros instead -- which would make sense. ALSO, For a budget GPS, Amazon is selling the Neo for $123. There is a $50 mail-in-rebate for this item bringing it down to $73, plus $35 for the subscription. http://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-36805...8226967&sr;=1-1 If anyone else has any experience with these, please post it here! Both items should qualify for free supersaver shipping from Amazon (5-9 dyas)... but if you have Amazon Prime or start a free month long trial (just be sure to cancel or it renews at $79 per year!!!) you get free 2-day shipping and $4 overnight shipping.

I think the game tomorrow will answer a lot of questions about whether or not the bengals have what it takes to make the playoffs. The biggest factor in determining a team's playoff mettle is being able to upset a GOOD team on the road. If it's a close game, I'll give the bengals a little more respect (I don't think they have a shot at actually winning -- but if they can keep from being blown out...) Let's see how Benson does against a real run defense too. Adrian Peterson couldn't even do much against the Steelers....... And I just don't like Benson, but it's personal.

The clubhead is a little dirty, but no spots at all on the club head.... it's just the shaft, and maybe under the hosel (you can see some rust KIND OF.) The clubs are normally in the trunk of my 05 chevy malibu... I was wondering if maybe the humidity or rain or something would have this kind of effect. I decided to try cleaning them today...... but I don't feel comfortable getting water and soap all around and in the hosel area... am I totally off base feeling that way?

It's been a while since I had taken a real, proper, look at my golf clubs.... the other day I decided to check em out and noticed these rust spots all over. Along with what looks like a little rust around the hosel area that concerns me a bit. These are pictures of my 3 iron... but all my clubs down to the wedge look the same more or less. The clubs themselves were ordered brand new and custom from TaylorMade via golfsmith back in February or so they are definitely still under warranty if this issue is an applicable reason.... I haven't been a golfer too long and I don't really have any idea what the norm is for shaft/club aging and stuff so help me out! http://www.flickr.com/photos/4460372...7622796031532/ For more photos.

honestly it confuses me...... I'm with the OP... I'm much more comfortabel erring on the side of more stiff. I mean i've read tons of stuff about shaft stiffness... and what I don't get is, to me, it seems the the general consensus is err soft or whatever. But I think it's easier to hit the ball straighter with a stiffer shaft. Of course distance may suffer.... but if you ask all those people saying erring soft is better.... their also spouting out about how golf is a game of accuracy and not a game of distance. I have seen one or two "whats in the bag" things where the pro said to go stiffer because distance isnt important. who knows

I'm going to say it all depends on your swing characteristics. Of course swing speed is a factor, but so is tempo and transitioning and attack angle... etc etc.... which is the whole idea behind why fitting is "so great."

As a walker, if the course is really open. I find it VERY difficult to take more than 1:45 per nine. That's about as slow as I can possibly play. I've never really tried to just speed through for no reason for a whole 9, but I can't see it going faster then about 1:15/1:00 on the course I play. For me the sweet spot is at about 1:30 per nine... and if the weather is nice, then a little faster. In a cart, it should be very easy to get in a one hour or less 9 holes and still have a fun and relaxing time.

Just wanted to add in, I received my VP2 today. I've been looking at the GM2s (460 bucks!) in golfsmith, but I couldn't find any VP Mills putters so this is my first time being able to compare quality. But IMHO, the VP mills are level above the GM2s in terms of quality. All me searching led me to believe that the Cleveland Classics were just as good, if not better than the VP mills. To me, there is NO COMPARISON. The Cleveland Classics look and feel cheap to me in the stores... so I was worried about what I'd see on arrival of the UPS man..... but just letting you guys know that these are some SERIOUSLY NICE putters for $80. If you're not in a hurry, I'd suggest waiting til their next sale and you will probably be able to get them for $70 if their still available. I'd definitely agree with "the poor man's scotty cameron" I've read a couple times searching for info on this putter. I really just wanted to try out a higher quality milled putter and since this one was cheap (--relatively) I placed the order... and it's exceeded all my expectations.

The sand trap reviewed these putter pretty favorably last year ( http://thesandtrap.com/clubs/clevela..._putter_review ) but other than that, I can't really find much more info on them. TGW has them on sale for $80 right now. For those too lazy to click the link... here's an excerpt from the end: Conclusion Cleveland has made a strong push into the milled market with its VP line of putters. The VP2 I tested and still use today is a solid and dependable putter that has pushed me back into the blade camp. For a full $150 less than a comparable Scotty Cameron - the VP2 goes for $149 and Camerons are double that - I have absolutely no problem recommending it to any golfer on a budget looking for a good milled putter. So I'm just wondering..... anyone have any other input? I guess I'll know this week when I get mine in the mail...... but just interested in hearing the general opinion.

been thinking seriously about a towel... that's on the higher end of the list. I forgot to mention that I actually have a tee/golf ball surplus right now. I have hundreds of golf balls and 1000+ tees

I bought a few things from TGW... I need to return a couple things. For those that aren't familiar, I can either pay $5.75 for return shipping... or I can take advantage of their "free exchanges" policy. The way I see it... it's stupid to not, at the very least, get a grip or two. But I don't really need anything... don't really want anything in particular.... as far as golf is concerned... AT THE MOMENT! But I hate to not get anything for my $5.75. So I turn to you guys at the forum: Given $5.75 to shop at TGW, what should I get. As long as it's in the ballpark I'm happy.

It definitely feels pretty stiff. I like it though. I hit the Rescue T2 with the same stiff 85g shaft. Honestly, I hated the club at first, and it took a couple months to dial in.... but now I love it. I guess I do have it +1" from standard so not sure if that makes it a little more flexible or not. But the thing can go anywhere... I'm just now figuring out how to dial it on on purpose. You can hit some low bullets with the thing... and some sky high shots that can even back up... it's a fun club from 200-250 out. No idea what my swing speed is...... when I hit my 7i 150... I still enjoyed the club without thinking it was too stiff at all. Now I hit an easy/medium 8i (can't get my 9i there yet....) 150... and the shaft still feels great.

I pretty much ditto this..... Then again, I can't really blame people. Golf gets a bad rap for a reason. I mean... I take it more seriously than most -- it's just how I am at the things I like -- but most people I get paired up to hit with play to kill time. Drink, smoke, laugh... drive around in a cart. In that sense it's goofing off. In my case, I go out to try and test my limits. I walk the course, practice, focus on certain parts of my game (I have the luxury of practice rounds so I play rounds a lot and don't spend much on range time). Every now and then I play for score to see where I'm at. A lot of times I play to test things out. Usually when I go out with people I know though, I don't take things seriously.... but it's obviously from peoples tone and expressions when they realize how often I golf that they think I'm out there carting around with beers or something while skipping out on class/work.

Ahhhhhhh....... I'm NOT loooking forward to getting mine taken out. Luckily, my top two grew in perfectly. But my bottom two are as messes up as can be... basically growing in perpendicular into the rest of my teeth (the x-rays look almost comical). To top it off, they run deep and maybe too close to that really important jaw nerve that runs along your jaw (i forget the name) to even be operated on. It's hard to find time to go see the specialist since I'm away from home at school and working also. It's also confusing as to what to do about the situation. My dad is 30 years older and according to the dentist basically has the same "dire" situation.... but still nothing has happened to him. Anyone have any lessons to share regarding waiting for the teeth to collide and all that vs just getting it over with 'just in case' ?

thanks for the heads up about Alabama! Finally, a new place to look in to that I haven't really heard before...

you can refill the zippo. i was reading the reviews and some guy is comparing it to the Peacock hand warmer... anyone tried one of those? can you turn em on and off at all?

Austin, TX is a beautiful city. City course memberships for seniors are as low as $430 per year, plus only $2 surcharge every time you play. But if you want to ride... carts run a lot at $12.

I played the other day with a threesome (I'm mostly a lone walker) and ran into an awkward situation. I'm curious how different people deal with it?? Someone played my ball the other day and I didn't know how to approach the situation. How do you handle the situation where someone in your group -- stranger -- hits your ball, knows it after the fact and still doesn't come clean? Here's my story: One of the holes on my course is pretty evil. It's an annoying length so that it's not really a par 4 driver hole... but more like a long iron hole or hybrid hole off the tee. with the elevation change it's basically a blind shot into a narrow bottlenecking fairway with water and trees on each side. It's also a dogleg to the right... Anyway, point is that you can only guess where your ball ends up. The four of us tee off. Theres basically me, a scratch golfer, another guy similar to my level, and their third friend was 20+. The guy about my level obviously loses his ball way right. The scratch golfer hits a 2 or 3 iron to the left side and about 100 yards from the pin. To the right of that in the middle of the fairway (about where i thought mine would have landed seemingly) was another. The 20+ guy hit driver and probably hit his best drive of the day... looked like it was heading for trouble to me, and i thought it would go much further than mine did. Scratch golfer hits his. 20+ guy just sets up and smacks what i think is my ball without a second thought. I figure i was wrong. Then we can't find "my" ball anywhere. Whatever, I wasn't really playing for score so I just dropped one and hit it. We get to the green, the guy looks at his ball (which I'm 90% sure is mine) quizzically, chips it.... its on the green. I glance at it... and see a red "2" (i'm playing taylormade tp red ldp 2s). By that point im 95% convinced it's mine. But given the situation, I don't want to say anything til i get one more look and I'm at 100% sure it's mine. But he picks it up to mark his ball, and THEN THE BASTARD SWITCHES IT WITH ANOTHER BALL! He'd been playing titleist all day every time I noticed at least, and sure as hell there was another titleist. So who would you guys handle the situation? To top things off. Next hole is kind of similar. The guys slices it into the woods. Goes hits a titleist. then some angry cart guy comes telling him that he hit his ball. I mean... seriously... learn to figure out which ball is yours.

I just want to add that now you can get them for about $160 if you look around or wait for friends/family sales. BTW... excellent post Dub! Really liking the look of your setup.... mine is a green version of the same bag with an orange clicgear.