MiniMoe

you are looking at the wrong numbers. Look at what makes the cuts and what wins. If you can't play good enough to make the -2 cut, then you are wasting your money. Winners usually shoot -16 or better, I figure. If you shoot 71 every time you play, then you might make a few cuts, but don't count on it.

are they as bad as the swine flu? Don't cough on me.

I never pull out a new ball if there is a tree or a cart path near the landing area. I don't care what hole it's on. Unless I'm in a big tournament, a new ball gravitates toward water, trees, cart paths and heavy rough. Nothing worse than breaking out a new ball and getting a yellow mark from a tree off one swing.

bad golfers are slow only when they take 10 practice swings on every shot, chip and putt, and are not ready to hit when it's their turn. I've seen scratch players that play slower than 30+ handicaps, so it's not really the handicap, it's all the extra stuff being done before the shot. That being said, will all else being equal, it does take longer to hit the ball 112 times than it does to hit it 72 times. Granted, it's not much longer, but still longer. What really adds up is looking for golf balls in the water and the trees. If you do that every other hole, it's going to take forever to play.

I'm helping a guy with his swing and he cups his wrists at the top so he can't get the club back to square. He does this because he uses the wrists to lift the club, so he is cupped really early but does not feel it. I told him to use his arms more to control the back swing and let he wrists become a little more passive. This helped him immediately, but he still fights using the wrists to lift the club. The key is a flatter lead hand at the top. A little cupping is ok, but it should not be very much.

The longest walk in golf is from the range to the first tee. Playing the game is more about just swinging the club and controlling the ball. When the swing is not working good on the course, you have to learn to get the ball in the hole with a sub-par game. Tiger is the best in the world at winning with his "C" and "D" games. Why??? He knows how to play his misses to give him the best opportunities. If he is missing everything right, he will aim left and play it. If he is not hitting the irons good, he will take more clubs and play 3/4 shots to help control the shot. The best advice I can give is to learn your misses. You have to know where the ball is going to go if you don't hit it good so you can somewhat plan for it. After that, you have to learn to play one shot at a time without expectations. On the first tee, you only job is to get the ball in the fairway, or at least in play somewhere. After you find it, then your job is to get it on the green, or at least somewhere that gives you a good chance to make par. Playing golf is all about one shot at a time. You add up the score when you get done. One more thing... small targets means small misses . Standing on the tee, pick a very small target to hit to. Don't aim for the fairway, aim for a tree limb in the distance, or anything that is very small in the distance.

the shoulders follow the hips, the arms follow the shoulders, then the hands follow the arms. Everything is in sequence.

Too much information. All I know is that any little thought that helps someone hit the ball better is ok.. even if it is not exactly correct. Feelings are more important in the golf swing than "perfect" mechanics. Imagination is way more important in the golf swing than logic.

I have seen a lot of weird stuff in my time. Birds hit in the air, on the ground, and on a power line; shanks off a cart and back at the hitter, big hook left into a crowed public pool (no kids were hurt in the making of that shot), skipped across a pond for an ace, an ace (different) then the guy died of a heart attack on the spot... but the best was a few weeks ago. A guy busted a hemorrhoid and had to go home for a bit to clean up. We thought he was going to bleed out right there on the third hole.

I don't try new things. I swing down the line with a square face... damn thing goes straight.... backwards. I guess I have to line up a little different.

I want a hole in one on a par 4 for a double eagle.

score is pretty much irrelevant unless you are playing a tournament or gambling or something like that. Handicap does not matter. You always have to strive to learn and get better no matter what. if you just think about handicap and don't take risks and push yourself you will not improve as much as possible. I know my personal abilities, handicap is irrelevant. If all of a sudden I'm a 5 handicap (no offense, to anyone), It would not bother me because I know inside I can be a lot better. I know my potential, so I'm not bothered by any number I post.. good or bad. The point of the game is to lower your potential score... improve your abilities... grow as a player.... be smarter.... know your abilities and use then as best you can.

Golf is not about how good our good shots are. It's about about good your bad shots are. If you get a bit of luck on the bad ones.. you are way ahead of the ball game. I'll take anything I can get.

I forgot to mention.... "Practice... practice? Were not talking about a game, but practice? Practice.. not a game, but practice?"

I just don't believe that if you swing from inside to out with an open face, you hit a draw. Somewhere the face has to shut down a bit to produce the side spin needed for the draw. If you had a square face with a inside to out path, that would produce a glancing blow and produce the needed sides spin... but with an open face at impact?? seems like the spin produced would be counter productive for a draw. BTW.. the subconscious is great at producing the shot see in our minds. Mechanics be damned. And... if the club is way open and is working closed at the moment of impact, you are not actually doing it on feel, it is just a continuation of what was happening prior to impact.

When I use an alignment aid, I just point it at the target. Look at it this way.... put two clubs down parallel to each other. One is the ball, the other is on the feet line. Those clubs are maybe two feet apart..?? Extend that out to 150 yards. If you just put one club down and you want it parallel to the target, do you think you can put it two feet from the actual target? of course not. If you put it so it looks parallel to the target, I bet you would be many yard off actual parallel. So just point the club at the target, and if you hit it two feet right of it, don't worry about it.

what??? keeping your shoulder and arms out of it until the club is way down in the swing? The shoulders and arms control the swing. You don't keep them out of it, you let them control it. They keep everything else connected. The club is an extension of the left arm. Why would you keep that out of the swing? The club will not be in the correct positions during the swing unless the arms and shoulders do what they are supposed to do. Everything else in the swing follow their lead. Sure, the hips are a little ahead of the arms, but that is more like throwing a baseball overhand. The hips and legs always lead the arms, but the arms are the controlling factor. But they are always in sequence. So, the club follows the left arm. Think about swing the arm, and not "releasing" the wrists. The wrists will follow what the arm does.... they play a passive roll in the swing, not a controlling roll.

I think that stat about having an open face with an inside-out swing path will produce a draw is a slight miss-representation of what is actually happening throughout t swing. If you take a snap shot at impact and the face is open, does that mean the face is going to stay open? Of course not. If the club face is open 10 degrees in the moments before impact, but is only open 4 degrees at impact, which way is the face moving? It it rotating over, so just after impact, the face might be closed by 10 degrees. That movement will produce a draw. The fact that the face is open at impact is not enough information to know what kind of shot it will produce. Taking a little snip-it of a swing and saying that it will produce a certain kind of shot pattern is ridiculous.

I actually use my play as practice. I have never cared about my handicap, so I am never scared to try new shots, or tinker with my grip or stance, or what ever. I always figured you learned more while playing than on the range. After all, it's when you are playing (when it matters) that you have to pull up the memories of the good shots, or have the courage to try something new.

"piss on luck" ... quote from Dead Solid Perfect by Randy Quaid. Also.. the better you are, the better luck you will have.

I left the putter out because the stroke is the easiest to make. whether or not you actually hole the putt is irrelevant to how easy the stroke is. Wedges... there are so many different shots that you have to hit with them.. low, high, running, one-hop and stop, flop, not to mention all the different distances. Sure it might be easier to hit a green, but as misses go, the misses are less forgiving than with a driver or other clubs.

sometimes a break is all you need.

What do you think is the most difficult club to hit? I think the wedges are the most difficult because we use them from so many different distances and difficult situations. On the flip side, the driver is the easiest to hit because we always have a perfect lie and we normally are only hitting full shots.

A little open, but not much at all... just enough to ease some tension in my left knee after impact

Dead straight almost to a flaw right now. It bugs me a little because I should just aim down the middle, but I like to aim left side and play a little fade with the driver. I both love and hate to look up and see that ball flying straight..... down the left side. I have to really focus on leaving the face open to make sure it fades like I want.