RC

I do not much like scrambles but you have to realize what they normally are for or about. Typically there is some charity involved or maybe even to support a team or school golf program. So I will play a couple a year but otherwise, I prefer to play another course the day of scrambles. But when it is something like Meals on Wheels or the Heart Association, etc., you know you are not there just to play golf.

Haas has a great move, but Adam Scott is the prototypical Harmon swing that I prefer. Els, Mahon, Louie O., Rory and a host of guys today have very modern and at the same time classic swings. The lower body is more braced today and swing arcs are more optimized than the great swings of the past, but almost everyone on tour has a great swing. Perhaps a stranger topic would be who has the weirdest swings on tour and still gets results -- Jim F. is not the only outlier. We could all name a few swings that maybe only the owner of that swing could make it work for them. Try naming the Orville Moody types of today.

La Quinta, PGA West, Indian Wells... multiple courses, all good. Don't know your price range but there is something for everyone. I think I once counted something like 70 golf course in the valley. My favorite is the Vintage but you have to know someone to play there.

I wondered the same thing, but when I looked up the Decisions, they were correct (at that time.) Relief was only for your normal address and swing. Your fan story is alarming since some did and some did not take relief so one group was obviously in violation of the rules. Maybe there was a local rule? I've played a lot of places where circulation fans were near the green and I know one place the understanding was a local rule allowing relief. But I would not count on that. There are guys on this forum that are far more qualified to answer rules questions...

This rule has changed over time. There was a time when the player could elect to play left handed (if he were right handed) and upon deciding his swing was impeded, and a drop was allowed, he could take a drop and then switch back to his normal right handed swing. At our state amateur I had this come up one year and was advised that the rule for relief was only available if it was your normal swing that was impeded, however, I was free to swing away left-handed, just with no relief. You always can swing from either side, of course, but you can only take relief from your normal swing impairment. I started golf playing left-handed and then switched to right handed so when near a fence or a tree, I will often swing left-handed either by hitting the back side of a low iron or by flipping a lofted club upside down. I think a long time ago it may have been illegal to hit a ball with the back of club rather than the face, but that was so long ago that I forgot if that was true or an old wives tale. The rule book then was pretty small and you could carry it in your back pocket. Now my "Decisions on the Rules of Golf" is a pretty big book, and I have given up trying to remember all the rules. There have been a lot of changes in over 60 years of playing this game, and I no longer claim to know them all. Also, there were slight differences in PGA rules and USGA rules, a trend that is tending to be more limited now.

Your waist high finish just reminded me of an surefire 20 handicapper who easily hit many drives well over 300 yards. He was just retired from the majors as a centerfielder who had several 30 plus homerun seasons. Flat swing, abbreviated finish, ball might go anywhere, but when he connected... wow. I think some of his divots might have needed a front loader to fill.

Finger pointing could be directed in many directions in this general topic. Course designs should have appropriate tee boxes for those that do not want 600 yard par 5s and 500 yard par 4s -- most do, but the golfers in many cases select the wrong tees for their length and skill level. Murfield is in the British Open rota and I just read where members there consider it dishonorable to take longer than 2 hours and 45 minutes to play 18 holes. That may be over-stated and extreme, but I do wish no round of golf ever took more than 4 hours and if a group was holding up play for whatever reason, they should be moved ahead or pulled to the side. I think a foursome can play a championship course in 3 hours 45 minutes and not feel rushed, but I am dreaming thinking this will ever happen -- just go watch a high school golf tournament. They are slower than glaciers. I enjoyed reading about Lee Trevino's approach to learn to play better. He played faster, and turned that into an advantage. I have yet to see a really good golfer take an extra minute or two over-reading a putt and concluded they putted any better than a more normal amount of time. Slow play is my biggest grip, not course design. Course design can be handled by not playing unreasonable (for the golfer) courses or moving up a tee box (or two.) It is much harder to fix a golfer who has programmed themselves to waste time, be unprepared to play when it is their turn, or who takes far too long to analyze and prepare for a shot.... just my opinion.

I recently enjoyed reading about Muirfield, the host of this year's British Open. Slow play is considered dishonorable there -- and they play fast as a matter of tradition. At one of my old clubs, the expected rule was every round had to be completed in or under 4 hours.... it was great. Slow play was simply not permitted. Golf teams were not allowed access to the course. Indeed now at a different course, the slowest players we encounter is when we are playing behind high school golf teams -- truly dishonorable pace of play. At least where I play most of the time today the marshals will go forward and ask slow players to stand aside and allow faster groups to play through -- not as good as a firm 4 hour limit but better than nothing.. Those that do not support faster play are hurting the sport. Pace of play is the number one issue for golfers.

Byron Nelson -- the game's ultimate gentleman and the geneses of the modern swing. Even the great Hogan studied Lord Byron's swing.

Welcome to the group. You will enjoy the people here. I hope you progress toward your goal with success.

If I use my most lofted wedge (either a 58 or 60, depending) for full shots, that is the most inconsistent club.

For me it has got to be the soft high pitch or flop when short-sided, and instead, I hit it thin or even blade it. Arg!!!!! I use the flop a lot and usually pretty well, but when it.s thin, it is typically a big number to follow..

That is strange... I could not find the Nitro LD history on Google either. However, Nitro was a golf ball, touted for distance and I know they hosted LD contests becasue I went to one in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Maybe someone else can fill in some history here. Maybe it was just a local Nitro rep who hosted the event. My guess is the time frame was about the mid or late 1980s. It was about the time Adams golf (and Barney Adams) located to the Richardson area (north Dallas.) I remember that because Barney called me to to hit some new club designs and ideas he had. Barney was very innovative. I also remember we had our swing speed measured at the Nitro event and that was the first time I had had it done as accurately as the equipment there could do it. Art Sellinger might not remember me but later on we met in Houston and I did hit some balls at one of his ranges. He was a big guy.

And don't forget the Nitro LD contests...