DeanS

Tiger Woods +4 Luke Donald +5 Lee Westwood +5

The swings are identical. The idea is to catch the ball on the upswing. Drivers are designed with the sweetspot higher on the face for this reason. It is the setup that changes. When setting up for the driver you need more lateral shoulder tilt. You then need to offset that imbalance by sliding your hips forward. Think about streching before going for a run. The hips counterbalance the sideward lean. At the other end of the scale think about hitting a wedge. Now you are hitting down or trapping the ball. The low point of the swing is in the dirt and ahead of the ball. Its the same swing only the ball position has changed and your stance is narrower. Palmer once said 13 clubs one swing. FWIW.

Hunter Mahan 275 Ernie Els 277 Luke Donald 278

I'm a lefty also. Maybe your grip. Try rotating the left hand counterclockwise. That will promote more release. I had to do the opposite because I was snap hooking it.

1. Tiger Woods 277 2. Rory McIlroy 278 3. Luke Donald 280

Anthony Kim grew up using adult length clubs and plays with longer clubs today because thats what he is use to. Tiger's comment was that the extra length gave Kim better balance and more control. You might try choking down for a while.

Astonishing and extraordinary. I don't know of any other place on the world wide web where I could get such quality free advice. Thanks to all and humbles for the initial confusion. The reason I asked the question is because I signed up for the SCGA Net Am. It's almost certain that this issue will come up. Understanding these rules may well save me two strokes.

Ok and thanx for that, I think I understand. So when dropping from a hazard there is no roll out and the ball must be played inside that two club length drop zone, no nearer the hole.

That doesn't add up for me. You're saying the total amount of relief for a lateral water hazard is no different than the relief allowed for a cart path. When the hazard is at my back I'm entitled to two club lengths of relief which begins at the clubhead. I see that area as being my drop zone. I am then entitled to two club lengths of roll. So I get four. However if I were facing the hazard then I would have to keep the ball within the two club lengths. I don’t believe the ball is allowed to roll out behind me and I don't have to accept the ball in the hazard for which I'm being penalized. Hope that helps.

I came across this writing and wanted to ask if the same was true when taking relief from a lateral hazard. 14. Ball on a Cart Path You are entitled to free relief. Step 1 – Determine the “nearest point of relief”. This is the point where the ball would lay affording the player both swing and stance from the cart path. Step 2 – you are entitled to 1 club length relief from the point where the ball would lie once full relief is taken. Step 3 – After dropping, the ball may roll up to 2 club lengths no closer to the hole. 16. How to Drop the Ball After determining the nearest point of relief, you may stand outside the drop area, no closer to the hole, and extend your hand to the side dropping the ball from shoulder height. The ball may roll up to 2 club lengths no closer to the hole. If the ball rolls farther than that you must re-drop. If after dropping 2 times the ball continues to roll past 2 club lengths, you must place the ball where it first touched the ground. If I understand this correctly then the ball would be considered in play at upwards of 4 club lengths from the nearest point of relief.

I've been working on my tempo which started when I downloaded the SwingReader app and became curious about the 3 to 1 ratio. I found this thread and then found this article in Science News which talks about being in the zone among other things. Anyway as an fyi here is the link. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/337209/title/Brainy_Ballplayers

I use a SkyCaddie and it shades the green's slopes. That means I can get distances to the front, top and back shelves. This new ruling has made my SkyCaddie illegal.

My last game I shot an 89 ( 2 over my handicap). Had 7 pars (5 from GIR's), hit 6 GIR's, shot 5 bogey's, 6 double's and had 36 putts. Looking at my errors I figure I lost 3 stokes to tee shots, 2 to long irons, 2 to chipping (which could have been much better) and 4 to putting. I'm feeling confident with my short game and noticed that I'm a lot more comfortable hitting into the green as a result. Where as my chipping suffered because I didn't have the same confidence in my putting. I'll be working on my putting next.

Last Sunday's tournament I had two of these side hill shots. Both were from behind a tree with a hook lie. The first I had fairway to work with and so played a knock down draw, nine iron, ball back, normal setup. The shot came off great and straighter than expected. For the second shot and being circa 10 penalty shots out of it I thought I would experiment a little and try to hit a fade. I played a seven iron, opened the face 30 degrees, normal setup, normal ball position and hit the perfect push draw. No fade, nothin just straight up and over the fence ob. Now that I have written this I'm thinking I could have hit a low fade by playing the ball back.

I've been a little digging trying to figure how to hit fade from a hook lie and vice versa. I have a few thoughts and have seen it done but have never practised it. Suggestions welcomed and thanx in advance.

"Or Should I start my takeaway/upswing with my arms and hips moving/rotating at the same time?" This is close. I learned it this way. Arms somewhat static until club becomes parallel to the ground. The turn begins with the shoulders and is centered about the waist. This action pulls the hips around. The wrists cock and the club is then parallel to the ground. From there simply lift the lead arm up and under the chin. This will/should promote additional shoulder/waist/hip turning. Your at the top position should be shoulders at 90 degrees with the lead arm in line with the inclined shoulder angle. FWIW my typical drill.

A finished backswing or that little pause at the top that says Ok I got it.

Nice, this what I want to do next, if I get that consistency its going to save me some strokes around the green. Also tried this shot with the ball lying down in the rough which was a complete disaster, club twisted open and I bladed it left. Switting up in the rough worked ok. Not the shot I would want to use over a bunker.

Had a similar lesson and now play a knock down shot, which gives me more stopping power and greater accuracy. I didn't see any mention of this shot so I'm curious is anyone else doing this.

I think Tiger is an extraordinarily strong individual suffering from deep emotional distress which has been aggravated by physical injury. He has nothing he needs to prove. I'm guessing he will retire at the end of the year and I don't see him playing in the Presidents Cup. I think Tiger's all done golf, 2 years minimum. Just a guess.

Consistently shooting my index. No real quality shots to speak about. If one part of my game is letting me down, the other parts pick up the slack. Nerves, knock on wood, are all but gone. I'm optimistic and my index has dropped by 0.4.

"Does anyone have any tips for a guy new to tournaments to help with the nerves/mental side of it all?" Yea I got one. Those aren't nerves thats excitement. Excitement is a positive reinforcement, nerves are a negative reinforcement. Excitement is fun, nerves are bad luck and trouble. Whats the worst that can happen. You can't change the past, you can't predict the future or control the actions of others. So what's most important. What is most important are the choices you make in the present. You can choose to be nervous or you can choose to be excited. This worked for me, shot my best in about 3 years last Friday. Also I only allowed myself one swing thought thru out the entire round. In my case it was focusing on my shoulder turn. Good luck.

I've done it. I don't feel good about it. I'm not proud of it. I think most people have done it. I've learned from it and I make the effort to not let it happen again.

I know a lot of folks here have an interest in the physics of golf, so when I came across the article in Science News I thought I'd share. This work was done by a Yale physicist with a passion for golf and may improve your putting. Find it here: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/331745/title/Better_putting_in_a_few_simple_steps _