flanagan

You are absolutely right and sometimes looking at the ball is the biggest obstacle. One of my keys has been improving my takeaway, which I work on in the house all the time. Takes 5 minutes, and helps groove the feel, and just as important as time on the range.

Unfortunately, over here it's a common practice, and tradition and common sense, which seems to prevail across the ocean, doesn't usually prevail here. The excuse is always "we make them get 3 carts" (i.e., additional green fees speak louder than inconvenience for the rest of the players). So, tough to get courses to do anything about it, if they are allowed to tee off in the first place. Courses should split them up, and people that have respect for other players shouldn't play in fivesomes (let alone play 18 holes in over 7 hours).

Play will get you nothing with the swing changes. 120 balls, or maybe 2 1/2 bags per week, once a week, isn't giving your lessons a chance. Even 40 balls three times a week would be better. Takes 100s and 100s of balls to get those swing changes "permanent", good luck. I've been working since the middle of last summer on swing changes (can't play in the winter) and still working. So easy to fall back into what's "comfortable" and not even realize it, even when practicing 3 -4 times a week. Frankly, I don't know it I'll ever get accomplished what I'm working on (no more casting and more "lag"), but I'm getting closer and occasionally I'll hit some great shots that keep me encouraged. Good luck, but no substitute for quality practice and practice time.

Did you take 3 hours for lunch? If your nines were comparable, I think you had a responsibility at the turn to split your group up into manageable (speed + ability) numbers, i.e., threesome/twosome. It doesn't matter how many groups played through, your group was spoiling golf for everyone who teed off after you did at that pace. Think about it.

I've tried to do this from time to time and it is tough. Where I play the range, putting green and practice pitching/chipping green are not all that far away from each other, so not a lot of time wasted moving from one to the other, your setup may be different. Obviously, part of the answer depends on what you feel is important to work on. Personally, if I had 40 minutes, I'd spend about 25 - 30 of it on chips and pitches and the remainder on either my driver or a couple of longer irons, maybe alternate that part of it on different days. If I was going to work on putting, frankly, I'd set aside more time for that and it would be the major part of the time, then probably finish up with some chips and pitches just to loosen up my back a little before going back to work. Depending on whether you are just keeping sharp or working on something specific, things would be adjusted. It's a hard question to answer, but when I have limited time, I spend it on the short game, and that feel of having hands ahead of the club, solid contact, divot ahead of the ball, seems to translate whether I work a lot on longer clubs or not. Not saying it always or usually works, but that's what I'm hoping for.

Given your concern, I disagree with your approach. If your lie angle needs adjusting and you are going to make swing "adjustments" and see what happens this weekend, you may work yourself into an unnecessary compensation in your swing that will not be good for you. All you may accomplish is a swing change that results in good contact with improperly fitting clubs. Check the lies and do it under the eye of someone that is also checking your swing. A few minutes out of your weekend made for golf can include checking the lie angle on your clubs.

Why aren't you looking at Ping's Tour W wedges? You can order them to match the specs on your other clubs and they are really good wedges. Which wedge to get depends on your distances, etc., and what the club is going to do for you. You may want to get the "P" in the G10, it's really more of what a 9 iron used to be, to avoid a big gap in your wedges, if you are primarily hitting that from 120 or more in the fairway (or whatever, it's just another more lofted iron), then maybe go 52/58 in the Tour W's, and just dump the gap wedge.

Both of the women he married have passed, one from cancer, one from suicide. The girl in the picture may be his current girlfriend.

You are asking questions that should be asked of the person fitting you for your clubs, without seeing your swing, knowing your measurements, etc. no one can tell you what shaft is appropriate or what length to get and I wouldn't go by one launch monitor's swing speed. Sooner or later you'll have 3 or 4 hours that you can drive somewhere, hit some actual clubs (hopefully outside) and get fit. If you are not willing to invest the time and effort, I would recommend not getting new clubs. Make the time. Make a mistake on your self-fitting and on your choice of clubs/shafts and you'll end up compensating for that in your swing and only bad things will happen from there. Make the time.

1. Do you really need a 60? 2. I'd be cautious about going with 4 degrees of bounce as suggested above by someone who can probably handle that okay and maybe plays a course where it is needed. I play my 60 pretty well, and can't think of a situation where I'd need 4 degrees of bounce (off the cartpath?), and like a lot of players use my 60 out of the sand quite a bit. I think a little more bounce is useful in more situations and doesn't further specialize the club, and again, I wonder if you really need one. Don't get me wrong, everyone should own all the golf clubs they want and clubs they want but don't need or can't hit, but still something to consider.

Freddy's wife died, not aware he has remarried, has he?

They have their place, and I look at them as more entertainment, but plan on overswinging and going for everything. What is really becoming a problem where I play is finding groups playing their own private "scrambles" on Saturdays or Sundays during peak tee time hours. The idea that four people on carts = four people on carts no matter what "format" they are playing doesn't cut it.

Wow, just when you wonder, can people on golf courses really be that annoying, a post which defines "loser" -- let's see how many obscenities we can fit into our immature rant. Making Mr. annoying with advice seem like a good role model.

Based on the information I'm gathering from your post, etc. I am guessing it is not necessarily the greens that are the problem. I agree that hard, baked out greens will be a problem for anyone, if that is what you are trying to describe, but you really haven't described what it is about the greens that is the issue. However, it also sounds like the way you hit your irons is not conducive to the kind of backspin and checking you are looking for. Good technique and a good spinning ball (which is the kind of ball you may not need to be playing) will do as much as can be done with the conditions.

How would you propose to "open" your irons?

Hardly a "hacker's" club, where would you even come up with that? Certainly not in the category of "super game improvement" (which I don't consider "hacker's" clubs, either). Just by leering at other clubs you are trapped and will probably buy them, so get them and be happy. By the way, I didn't get a full set of AP1s because I liked the feel and look of the AP2 shorter irons better, do be aware that there are significant loft differences if you decide to blend a set.

Is Harrington "over" because of his play on 8? Tiger finally got one of those seconds many, including myself, think he needs more of to approach Nicklaus' legacy. Maybe he'll be taking more top 5's if he doesn't win, but there is no way to declare a "new era" in golf just because Tiger didn't have his A game on Sunday. I still think many took his recovery and success this year for granted, it's still an amazing feat and look out next year. The scores Sunday showed it was a tough day and it was, I was there, and the course played hard. I think he was a bit "neutralized" by the par 5s, and he played the par 3s poorly by his standards. A bad day, he'll have more of them, but he's far from at the end of his era.

Actually the reason Jack quit smoking on the golf course is because he didn't like the way he looked when he saw film of himself doing it. It's been decades since Nicklaus or Palmer smoked on the golf course, and it was a completely different era. The kind of swearing Tiger does on the course would not have been heard from Jack or Arnie on the course, no matter how "pissy" it is claimed they were.

What? A post on the internet, some replies from very well meaning, mostly helpful strangers, now you've slept on it and are sure pro golf isn't for you? All in 24 hours? Sorry, but pro golf was never for you and it's pretty clear you knew that, anyway. There's a pretty good thread on here from someone who is serious about getting there, and you could probably learn a lot from that, but I think the original post was self-indulgent, having read this epitaph, and I think good people that bought into your non-issue were misled. I'm all for encouraging people who are serious, but you never were nor had a basis for being serious, other than ripping a few long balls. Learn the game and enjoy it. Again, sorry, but sometimes strangers throw wet blankets, not snuggly ones.

WRONG. Cameras are allowed at ALL practice rounds, as they are anywhere else. We got a lot of good shots of Tiger and others today. He seemed to have a back issue for awhile on the practice range after his round, but was hitting when last I saw him, so assuming he worked it out. Take your cameras, take pictures if you are going on Wednesday. Pratice green, not so bad. The bleachers stayed pretty full on the driving range, mostly in anticipation of Tiger and the range, like other places, filled up in a hurry with people when he approached. Except from the bleachers, it's not all that easy to watch once it gets three to four deep with people, also, once you are over there, you can get stuck. We waited over 20 full minutes just to cross the path to get back out to the course from the range, because it was blocked off for players headed for the range and/or the first tee, and it was a place where players were besieged for autographs. Plan accordingly. Range was interesting and we lucked out on our seats in the stands, frankly, watching guys work on putting not so interesting to me. By the way, I agree with anyone who suggests you not wear golf shoes. There was dew on the ground early in the morning, but not an issue as the day wore on. Lots of walking on hard paths or relatively hard ground, running shoes were the ticket.

I refuse to answer, either you're the guy I hit or whose Titleist I "found" in my fairway.

I disagree. If she's a 10, what more do you need to know?

NO. 1. The motivation is more about marketing and expanding markets for "golf" than any real sense that golf is an Olympic endeavor; 2. The golf schedule is already oversaturated; 3. Not every sport needs to be or should be in the Olympics (examples of sports that should not be don't justify adding golf, they justify dropping those sports from the Olympics); 4. Extension of #1 above: apart from the motives, what does the average golf fan care/how does the average golfer benefit from golf taking root in "new markets"? Probably very little. 5. The idea of our golfing athletes competing naked in the Olympics, isn't that how it works?, is just not appealing to me, some things just shouldn't be done naked, ask Seinfeld.

Usually no glove, but weather conditions (or the condition of a particular grip) will sometimes force me to wear one. I've always got a couple in the bag for when I need one.

No, shafts are not telescoping. They may cut a piece of another shaft, epoxy it to the grip end and cut it to length. Most will tell you they have had good experiences with shaft lengthening. I just paid to have my daughter's lengthened by Ping, and I'm sure they did it right, BUT the irons have come back with a strange sound at impact related to the insert. Come October they will be going back for reshafting. I would also have caution about an inch or more, but that's just me.