MiniMoe

Steve Elkington once quit qualifying for the US Open because they had a soft spike policy and he refused to change his spikes. Once you get to the tour, metal is just fine. A friend just purchased some Pro Stinger spikes. They are both soft and metal. It brought back memories of the crunch, crunch when walking on pavement. Not supposed to wear them around here, but the course is a goat track, so who cares.

I hate complainers. You know the guys that have a comment about every missed shot, or missed putt... "I would have made that 2 footer if it had not hit the ball mark", or "Must have been a gust of wind that made me miss club by 25 yards". The worst is when all is said and done and in the clubhouse drinking a beer to have to hear the whole round over again. I'm thinking to myself.. "I watched it the first time, I don't need a play by play on why you shot 92 instead of 85." Some of the better golfers are the worst at it. It's a contagious condition, so I have to be careful as I don't want to catch that bug.

There is something like this here in San Antonio. You can contact them and get advice on how to start all this. Good luck Iron Thong Golf

The distances on the ranges are often measured from the very back of the tee box. If you are hitting from the front of the box you are going to be at least 20 yards closer. I like ranges with greens and flags, then have plates with yardages to those flag from different areas of the tee box..... or I just take my laser. But in the end, it doesn't matter that much because most of the range balls don't fly correct distances anyway.

Guy sounds like a tool. If he is that way during practice, how much worse is he when the pressure is on, or when he hits a bad shot. I bet you almost anything he finds an excuse for every bad shot...."stupid birds chirping in my backswing". Rabbit ears will kill your golf game and make it no fun to play. Bubba Watson (in the vid below) actually had a valid reason to complain, but I have played with a couple of guys that would turn and stare at you if you flinched while they were getting ready to putt... even if you are well behind him and off the green. After a while I become a jerk myself and mess with him a little just to piss him off. A little jingle of the coin here, a cough there, anything to break the tension. I can be a tool too, but I know it and admit it, and have fun with it. hehehehe Only thing that bothers me is a sudden noise in the middle of my downswing. Other than that, do what you want... just give me a clear line to the hole.

Look at it from the other players perspective. IF you are having a really bad day, and the guy you are playing with is in contention to qualify, do you want to continue to be a distraction to him? It has nothing to do with integrity or anything. There is nothing wrong with quitting in a qualifier . I am not a big fan of quitting during an actual tournament. There are many pros that do not finish on purpose if they are having a bad round. They reason that it is better to withdraw than to post a high number... at least in regards to sponsors knowing what you shot. This last year in the U.S. Open qualifier, I played with a guy that was having a very bad day. Normally, things don't bother me that much, but after the third hole I told my caddy I was done helping him find his golf ball. I had a job to do and it was not to hike all over God's creation to be ball retriever. It was very distracting having to wait on him that much... even to the point we were just about to get a penalty for being out of position. On the 12th, he hit one in the bushes, and was heading back to the tee...again.. and a rules official convinced him to go ahead and quit. After that, I played great and ended up going to the next round. There are times to suck it up and play, and there are times it is better to quit.

The golf swing happens from waist high before impact to waist high after impact. The most important, IMHO is waist high after impact. If you are in a good position there, the odds are you have hit a decent shot. It does not really matter how you get to the good position, because there are a lot of ways from point a (address position) to point b(waist high after impact).

If he really did not like the ruling, he always has the right to play two balls . The official is not the final word on the matter. The player is the sole person responsible for his/her actions. All he had to do is declare he was playing two balls. One under the water hazard rule, and one for the lost ball, then declare which score was going to count. When he gets in and before he signs his card, the matter would have been figured out. They could have gone back to video or what ever. How many times does a player get in and is informed of a rules violation that has already been confirmed by video. For once, it might have worked out in his favor.

call around to see if they have any games around. Around here, you can find a group almost every day of the week if you are willing to drive a little. On Mondays, it's at Pecan Valley in San Antonio. The game is blind draw 4 man teams, two best balls, and skins. Cost is $35 + green fees. This time of year, there are normally 50-60 players and in the summer, it can be over 100, so the money is good if you win. On top of that, they play games within their own group.. wolf, or something. Seems like there should be a game like that somewhere in your area, but you have to look around. Also, talk to the guys in the golf shops. They get guys in there all the time that know about local money games.

Doesn't make much sense. If you are aiming twice as much, then the putt breaks 12" and not 6". The trick is understanding this and learn to read greens will all the break in mind. The speed you want to hit the putt determines how much break you should play, or vice versa. Also a huge factor is the actual speed of the green. The rule of thumb is that faster greens break more. The reason is that when the green is slower, you are hitting the putt hard enough to nullify break early in the putt.

I putt my best when I don't put to a spot at all. I see how the ball is going to roll and how much it will break, then I try to make the ball on the line I see. So in your example, would simply try to make the ball roll on the arching line. I do this best when I see a ball mark or scuff on the green near the apex of the putt. Then I just tell myself, the ball has to be inside or outside that mark as it goes by to make the putt.

When it comes to putting, feel is probably the most important aspect. Pro's especially are prone to getting into a run when it comes to a routine, or putting stroke. When the putts stop falling, the stroke is not always the cause - good putts, produced by great putting strokes don't always go in. And when the well goes dry, he most important thing you can do.... the secret to great putting... is....... make a change, any change at all. It can be huge, like totally reworking your putting stroke, or something small like changing a putter. The point it to get your eyes in tune with your hands and your feel. Everything has to work together to make a lot of putts. When my putting goes south, I do things that help putting more instinctual . I change putters, mess with ball placement, or what ever. I think that is what Phil has done. He has done things in his stroke to make things more instinctual, and not so mechanical. I may be wrong, but at least it sound good. lol

The problem for a guy like me is getting noticed. I did not play in HS, I did not play in college, I don't play many tournaments, and because I don't belong to a exclusive country club, I don't have members that are willing to back me. In this economy, it is actually harder than you think to find sponsors. To get club sponsorship, you have get to know the reps. Again, because of my age, and my lack of actual tournament time, most reps are unwilling to go out on a limb for someone that is not in the business (that is how most of the older guys without experience get club deals... they know the reps from pro shop work.) On top of that, golf is not more important than my wife and daughter. If I was alone, I would be more than willing to live in a van down by the river to have a chance to play for a living. So, although I enjoy competing when I get the chance, I know my family is more important.

gonna take a lot more than not believing me to get me offended. No worries.

Honestly, I feel I have the ability to break par on any golf course I play. I hit the ball very straight, and I have a decent short game, and when my putting is real good, I can go real low. At the high levels of golf, the difference between making cuts and money and spinning your wheels is a few putts per round. A lip out here, and a missed three footer there will send you home in a hurry. We can all be "dick weeds once in a while, and you have to admit, it can be fun to mess with someone. As for the being on tour .... I'd love to play on the mini-tours. All it takes is $2000 wk or more to travel and play and pay some home expenses. Wanna sponsor me? BTW - on long hard courses I will average 15 GIR - still about 80% - any when you play tournaments, sometimes you are aiming to miss the green in a certain spot because two putting from the wrong part of the green is next to impossible.

Never said the course I play is real long. But on my home course... average 17 GIR.

under local rule only , you can hit a provisional for a ball thought to be lost in a water hazard... with a few conditions. If you find the original ball outside the hazard, it is played as it lies. If you find your ball inside the water hazard, you have two options.. one... play it as it lies... two... play the provisional. Once you hit the provisional under the local rule, you are not afforded any other option but play the original ball or play the provisional.

I must be backwards because I like to fade the ball with it back in my stance, and draw it with the ball more forward. This is true for my swing because the consistency at which the club goes through the impact zone. If the ball is back, the club face is coming into the ball open to the target line..... fade for me. When the ball is forward, the club has passed square and is starting to turn over..... draw for me. I can do it the traditional way as well, but my was is much more consistent for me. I understand it's weird and "all wrong" but I don't question something that works so well.

if you rotate your wrists and the club closes, you are turning your left hand under the shaft as the club goes back? If that is a problem, try this..... hold the club with the left hand only. Now, take the club back to waist high in the back swing without rotating the wrist at all in either direction. At this point in the swing the club should still be in a straight line pointing directly away from the intended target. Now, put your right hand back on the club and take it back down to the address position and repeat the drill with both hands on the club without rotating the wrists at all. At waist high in the back swing, the wrists have not rotated at all, and the club should be pointing directly away from the intended target, and the toe of the club should be pointing to straight up, called the "toe up" position... or close

Of you are a 10 handicap and want to get down to a 5 quick... just work on the short game (100 yards and in... especially just off the green). If you miss 8 greens per round but get up and down 6 times, how many shots will you save from what you normally do? After that, it about course management. You have to learn when to take a club and hit a full shot, or when to take more and hit a 1/2 shot. Golf is a game of misses. The better the miss, the better you can score. I went from a 5 to a scratch in one season just with good decisions in course management. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses and using that knowledge to your advantage is the key to becoming a scratch player. I have known a lot of scratch players that really don't hit the ball that well. They just know what they can and can't do and minimize big mistakes, which ='s scratch or close. I'm a plus handicap now because I don't miss fairways and I average 17 greens per round. If I make putts, I can go low, if I don't I'm going to shoot even par at worse. Aim small, miss small!!!!

It's important to understand that a professional tournament, they would never play the course that long if the wind was blowing that hard. There is no way they want a tour pro to end up short on a par three with driver in his hand. T.V. is bad about telling the audience the course is 7400 yards, when in fact they are only playing it 6900 yards.

$500 yr then $18 to ride and 5 to walk after that. Really pretty cheap...especially since the conditions are not too bad most of the time.

rolling the club open as the first move in the back swing is a bad idea. For one it puts too much importance on timing to get the club back to square at impact. I was taught to do that when I was first learning. That one swing flaw caused many other flaws in my swing. It was not until I started to swing "one plane" that I realized that rolling the wrists was counter productive.

Here are a couple of videos that show the move.. one shows it exaggerated.

I love hard wind. There is nothing better than hitting a 5 iron (my 190-200 club) from 120. I love hitting a hard driver only 200 yrds into the wind. It makes you use your imagination, try shots you have never tried before.