RainmanP

Well, I'm not sure if Ben was kidding, but as the previous poster stated it is a VERY common problem among new players and those of us who have it creep in sometime. A proper downswing starts with the hips then shoulders which pull the arms and club down to the ball. New golfers tend to swing with their arms, so instead of the clubhead dropping down to the ball along a plane in line with the shoulders it tends to loop "over the top" following path over and in front of the shoulders approaching the ball on an outside/in path resulting in slices. Keeping that right elbow tucked in or bringing it back down to the right side is one of the things that helps prevent an over the top swing.

Just relax and have fun. If your scores are consistently in the 80s, particularly low 80s, you could probably make the team at just about any high school.

Last Sunday on 2 back to back decent length par 4s I had nearly identical situations. On both I got off so-so drives that faded into light rough with trees blocking my view of the green, but far enough away to not be serious obstructions. The first I was about 180 out with a slight uphill lie (back of an old tee box). Hit my Hogan 3h hybrid, and dropped it on the green. Two puts for par. Next hole, similar situation but about 210 out with an iffy lie, took a smooth swing with my 1h hybrid onto the green but a LONG way from the hole so 3 putts. Hitting greens from that distance my not sound like that big a deal, but the way I have been struggling lately, I was thrilled.

OTOH, I doubt you would see the general golfing public clamoring to play the "Pro Tour Only" ball that drives 20 yards LESS than the commercial model. :)

A pure grand slam would be the U.S. Open, Open Championship, PGA Championship and Masters all in the same year. No one has done that. Bobby Jones won the grand slam of his day, Open Championship, British Amateur, U.S. Open, and U.S. Amateur.

I agree with Paul21. 160-180 yd par 3, wind blowing from right to left, hit a little cut up into the wind so that the ball just dies and drops straight down to the green. I used to be pretty deadly with that shot, but I haven't gotten it back since I started playing again.

The golf swing is not one big muscle movement. It is a system of dozens of tiny movements performed automatically by dozens of tiny muscles that have learned to work with each other. When you change even one tiny thing all those little muscles have to re-learn their new parts in relation to the whole. Building muscle memory takes a lot of repetitions.

Dipgolf, I guess one man's "dead" is another man's "solid". I love the solid sensation when I hit the ball with my Hogan CFT 3H. Since I play at a lower level than you "feel" in the sense of control is a bit of an abstract to me. To me that "dead" feel instills a feeling of confidence that the dense little head is powering right through the ball and is unlikely to be deflected by anything. It was love at first stroke. I liked the club so much I found myself using for par 3s from 175 to 205 yards, 190-200 yd fairway shots, and tee shots where 200 yds down the middle was preferable to the trouble awaiting an errant drive. I liked it enough that am currently awaiting delivery of a CFT 1H 17*. As an LSU graduate it breaks my heart to disagree with a Rebel. :) Regards, Raymond

Is the adjustability really intended for frequent use like that anyway? I thought the idea was just to tune it to your swing and change it only if your swing changes. I would think that good players would not want to make changes during a round even if they could. How do you know the adjustment is going to do exactly what you expect it to?

At this point in my golfing life I prefer playing a variety of courses. Like NCGolfer my retirement dream would be to live in a golf community, belong to the club, and have my own little golf cart charging in the garage for my daily round, hopefully most of the time with my wife, if I could ever get her out to the range to continue her lessons.

As you may know from reading other posts I have just started playing again after a long layoff. I have been watching tournaments on TV and have a question about a big difference in swings from what I was taught. I guess theories have changed. I was taught to keep the right elbow in close to my side on the back swing. Keeping that elbow quiet is one of my two swing cues. Now it looks like all the pros have a huge "flying right elbow" as it used to be called. Is the idea that this increases the distance the clubhead travels and thereby allows additional time for increasing acceleration and, therefore, distance?

Thanks again. That's what I was concerned about - the swinging motion of the shaft against the lip of the tube wearing a spot on the shaft.

Thanks for the links, guys. May I ask what you searched on to come up with those? I Googled all kinds of combinations of golf, club, organizer, insert, etc., and only got back mainly to Ogio bags!

Stacy, I agree that one grows by challenging oneself. Think of me as playing devil's advocate on this subject. Let me stress right off the bat that my concerns have absolutely nothing to do with sex. I feel the same way about young men in the same situation. Michelle may become a great pro, or she may not. Only time will tell. There are thousands of young men, and women, who can and do drive the ball 300+ yards down the middle and shoot subpar golf on a regular basis. Hundreds of them attempt to go pro but relatively few become really successful. At the pro level there is more to the game than 300 yard drives and occasional subpar rounds. Just about any successful pro will tell you that at their level the game becomes 80-90% mental. That grind of playing and being successful on the amateur circuit and the lesser tours gives a young person the opportunity to develop the confidence and right mental toughness to make it in the big leagues. Consider this: does anyone here know of ANY 15-18 year old that DOES know fear? Almost without exception, they are sure that they know everything and have an inflated, often, unjustified confidence in their abilities. How many get a driver's license and within a month are sure they are better drivers than any adult? My concern about situations like Michelle's is that young people who don't attain pretty quick success in that environment can lose confidence and suffer subtle mental effects that may take years to overcome. If she starts having some success, great, but if she doesn't we won't know if it is because she really wasn't quite as good as everyone thought or if she is just not mentally ready due to her lack of experience. We will just have to see how things develop. Regards, Raymond

Clarification noted.