timwalsh300

I don't know about Nicklaus, Palmer, or Player, but here is a passage from Mark Frost's book, The Grand Slam - a Bobby Jones biography... Sound familiar? Tim

Unfortunately I can't help you. I don't work in "corporate America." Actually, my degree is in computer science as well. I enjoyed it quite a bit in school, but I don't know how happy I would be as a software engineer over the long-term. To be honest, "Office Space" scared me away. It might depend on where you work. I've never heard anything good about working for a company like Microsoft (as an entry-level programmer in the 21st century, I mean), but I know others who went to work for Google and Apple and love it. In general I think most happy people do as you mentioned: They just try to get a job that provides the money, benefits, and freedom to pursue what they really love to do (be with family, travel, play golf, etc.). Their happiness doesn't necessarily come from their work. And that might be true across the board, to even include professional athletes (just ask Boo Weekley). Tim

Except high school only lasts 4 years. Your "soul sucking professional life" lasts a lot longer, so hopefully you can set yourself up with a career that doesn't suck so bad. To each his own, I guess. You'd probably consider me a "stiff" but I have no regrets. So far I'm enjoying the path I've chosen, settling down and taking on a lot of responsibility at a relatively young age. I'll still have stories to tell about being 25 years old - they will just be of a different variety. Tim

Looking back on high school, I wish that I just didn't spend any time worrying about "the social order" or anything like that. I didn't figure it out until sometime during my junior year. Forget about "cool" or "uncool." Just do what you have to do to be successful (i.e. school work). Find yourself some other hardworking classmates and help keep each other on track. You'll make some quality friends by accident along the way. Stay away from people who will distract you from what is important or get you into trouble. If you want to sit by yourself in the cafeteria to get some work done, do it. I know that sounds insane to a 14 year-old kid ( Be the loser that sits alone in the cafeteria!?! ), but it actually demonstrates more maturity and self-confidence than anything else (i.e. that you aren't in desperate need of the approval of "the group"). Anyway, eventually people grow up and a lot of the cliques break down. Some of the girls who were "hot" turn into repugnant hussies. Some of the girls who were "dorks" turn into stunningly attractive, fine young women headed off to Ivy League universities. A few years after high school very few of the "cool kids" will rate as the most successful people from your class. Just try to lengthen your horizon. Think about where you want to be in 5-10 years rather than getting wrapped up in the day-to-day soap opera because none of that matters in the end. Tim

As I alluded to in my last post, people typically confuse "middle of the strike zone" for "high." MLB umpires will usually not call a strike on a pitch above the belly button ("high"), so pitchers are forced to keep the ball at the knees. Therefore, when an MLB pitcher "misses high" it usually means that he threw the pitch at the belt ("middle of the strike zone"). I have never advocated throwing a pitch in the middle of the strike zone. In any case, my pet peeve has more to do with baseball announcers who automatically say that "the pitch was left up in the zone" whenever someone gets a hit - even it the pitch was really at the knees. Tim

How do you know what I don't know? Since you brought it up: I didn't play college but I've played in a summer league for the last few years with a number of guys fresh out of college (all division III but college nonetheless). I am basing my opinion on experience too (i.e. I had a really hard time with high fastballs). Ok, "bud," what statistics are you looking at? First you question my sample size and then you turn around and carelessly use words like "statistically" and "percentage" to try to make your point. By all means, if you've seen reputable studies on this, show me (I've looked around and this appears wide open for research). But don't just blow smoke (Argumentum ad populum, Appeal to authority, etc.) and tell me that I'm the idiot. At least my 'theory' has some kind of quantitative data behind it. What about yours? Yes, don't confuse "belt high" ( middle of the strike zone) with " top of the strike zone" (from the belly button to the letters). I understand that umpires in many leagues will not call that a strike (thus I wouldn't recommend pitching there all day). But that is beside my point. I found that pitches in that area were hit less frequently than pitches at the knees. How many homeruns did you give up on letter-high fastballs? Tim

Both of mine come from baseball... 1. Pitching counts and pitching changes: Seeing a pitcher doing fine only to be taken out because of his "pitch count limit." Inevitably, the pitcher who relieves him promptly loses the game. Even worse is when managers bring in a guy to pitch to only one batter. Or when managers insist that a guy can't pitch more than one inning at a time. I've always said that if you try enough pitchers you'll eventually find one who is having a bad day, and he'll lose the game. 2. Announcers who always mention that the pitch was "left up in the zone" when a batter gets a hit, regardless of where the pitch actually was. Everyone is convinced that if a pitcher could just "keep the ball down" he would never lose. A few years ago I charted every pitch thrown in dozens of baseball games and found exactly the opposite to be true. Pitches at the top of the strike zone or higher were almost never hit well. Plenty of knee-high fastballs were hit into the bleachers. But who is listening? Tim

I think he's just asking if the guy made the putt or not. Tim

Yes. I couldn't believe I was playing golf everyday in January. People back in New Hampshire kept saying, "Just wait until July!" but the summer here hasn't been all that bad. I always say that on the hottest days here I at least have the option to go play - the golf courses are open. On the coldest days back in New Hampshire you can't do anything . I've even tried the heated stalls at the driving range... just a horrible experience... Tim

I moved from New Hampshire to Alabama this year and had to deal with serious heat for the first time. Initially I bought gloves (I never used them before) to help keep my grip, but I too found that they were quickly ruined or I sweat through them during the round. Now just carry a towel (like a bath towel) with me at all times. I make sure to dry my hands completely before pulling a club out of my bag and touching the grip. Then I hit the shot right away and put the club down before I start sweating all over it. Tim

These people who give the advice... it's always " You picked your head up." When they hit a bad shot it's always, "Argh... I picked my head up..." As if we could all play on the PGA Tour if we could just "keep our heads down..." I played a few holes recently with two guys who were both terrible, but one was clearly better than the other - maybe the first time ever on the golf course for the weaker guy. Every time he duffed a shot his friend said, "Come on dude, you picked your head up again." Finally he pitched one onto the green OK and his friend said, real snarky, "See, it's amazing what happens when you remember to keep your head down." I felt so bad for him. I think that worse players feel the need to do this because it reaffirms their limited and fragile understanding of how everything works. They desperately need the game to be that simple or their heads would explode. I've found this to be the case with everything. The more advanced I've become in any endeavor, the less likely I am to dispense my knowledge. I start to see how nuanced and complex everything is, and I am humbled by that. I also realize how dumping advanced knowledge on a raw beginner is ineffective. It's best to just encourage them and let them figure things out as they go at their natural pace. Tim

I thought this was interesting too. It is encouraging for someone aspiring to be a single-digit player. I said I make one every 7-10 rounds. On a good day I shoot bogey golf but my scores on each hole are remarkably consistent... lots of bogeys, a few pars, and a few doubles. Tim

Are you actually hitting a 200-yard hook in this video? Tim

I started playing this game a couple weeks ago... Find a hole that is on a slope. Place ball markers on 4 sides of it, 6-7 feet away. So you should have a downhill putt, an uphill putt, one that breaks left, and one that breaks right. Go around 4 times hitting a putt from each mark and see how many you can make. My record is 12/16. These "make-able" putts tend to hurt me the most. I'm still bad but I think I'm getting better. I used to go 18 holes without sinking anything outside of 3 feet. Now I will hit a few 5-10 footers. I have another game that includes chipping and lag putting... I design a little 9-hole course of par-2's. Sometimes I'm hitting my first shot from the green, 30 feet away. Sometimes I am hitting my first shot from the rough. If I had a practice bunker next to the green I would include that too. This can be as challenging as you want to make it. This is great if nobody else is using the practice area at the same time. The advice that I have received is to make sure that practice is as realistic as possible. Vary everything. Use only 1 ball. Keep score so there is a little bit of pressure and you have something to concentrate on. You see a lot of people doing the complete opposite of this as they just go through the motions while waiting to tee off. Tim

I'd hit a 4-iron. The odds of sticking it close are not good. But I don't care if I miss the green. I'll just be chipping from the fringe, or hitting out of the green-side bunker (from which I'm quite comfortable) with my 3rd shot. That gives me a better chance than hitting my 3rd shot from 50-100 yards (which could put me in the green-side bunker too). Worst case scenario is that I end up hitting it like a 9-iron (i.e. taking an extra shot to lay up). Tim

I agree, good for him. But it's not the phenomenal claim he seemed to be making initially. I think we were all under the impression that he was claiming to shoot E on a championship length course. JSwiney... Go play Stonecrest Golf Course for $26 and tell us how you do. Try to play from the black tees (129/73.3), or at least the blue tees (124/70.8). Tim

I don't want to call foul... I am just interested in getting a little more background information... 1. Are you coming over from another sport? For example, I recently played with a college baseball player who very quickly got down into the 70's after learning to chip and putt. You could see the raw athleticism and natural aptitude for swinging a club. 2. Did you seek out any instruction? Reading books/articles, watching Youtube videos, etc? Or did you just pick up a club and start swinging? 3. What are the course/slope ratings and yardages where you play? 4. Have any video of your swing? I'd especially like to see your swing 2 months ago vs. today. EDIT: One more very important question... If you hit your ball out of play into the woods and you can't find it, what do you do? Tim

I four-putt more often than I'd like to mention. I haven't five-putted in a while but I know I've done it - it's just blocked from my memory. My course has a few holes where the ball will roll right back if you leave the putt an inch or two short, or it will lip out and trickle completely off the green. On a related note, last night I saw a guy whiff with his putter . He was trying to give it a little extra gas from the fringe and jerked it right past the ball... really ugly. Tim

I'm not going to answer for Saint, but I would like to point out the fallacy in this question... Just because someone can hit a driver 280-330 doesn't mean they choose to hit a driver on every hole, always leaving themselves a wedge into the green. As I've said before, I often leave my driver in the bag precisely because my distance is above average: I'd rather hit a fairway wood or long iron and land where someone else might have hit their driver. It's risk management. If I'm hitting a wedge into the green it means that I was acting stupid and used more club than I needed off the tee. I'll happily hit 4-iron/7-iron instead of driver/wedge in order to reduce the risk of a blow-up hole (still a very real possibility), even though it means fewer birdie opportunities. Tim

You sound a lot like me, as far as the scores that you shoot. Last week I had a similar round where I was +4 through 8 holes and ended up finishing with a triple bogey. When I start off playing well I feel like I'm just waiting for the bubble to burst - like catastrophe must strike eventually to ruin everything. Have you ever worked extensively with video? I started doing this a few months ago and my experience is that the swing is much more resilient than you think. This is why it's so hard to make swing changes. After the first time I took video I spent three days working with a new "swing thought" which felt like it produced a very different swing. Then I took more video and was shocked to see that it was exactly the same, frame-by-frame. Someone wrote this on another forum and I find it to be very true... There probably isn't much visible difference between your swing that produces at good shot down the middle, or the one that tops the ball into the woods. It's just a matter of missing by an inch, or having the club face open or closed a few degrees. My point is that you probably have more to gain through doing video analysis than you think. You can at least get a much better feel for what is really going on. Tim

My home course (three 9-hole tracks) plays 6858, 6863, and 6919 from the tips and I don't "need" to drive the ball 300 yards. Of the 27 holes, I only really "need" to hit my driver on two of them... a 586-yard uphill par 5 and a 455-yard par 4. Even then, driving 250-260 is OK as long as you can follow it up with a solid fairway wood or long iron. I can get through the rest of the course with a 3-wood (~230 yards). The real advantage to having power on my course is being able to more comfortably hit approach shots from 170-200 yards. The par 3's are long and some of the par 4's and 5's don't allow you to just bomb it off the tee. Tim

Again, selection bias. The members here at The Sand Trap are not representative of the "average" as seen on any course. Ask around and find out if anyone else at your course reads this site - they probably don't. If one person from every golf club is a member here, it is more than likely someone who is (1) younger than average, (2) better than average. I too don't see many people at my club hitting it as long as me... usually people are impressed just by seeing a legitimate 250 yard drive straight down the middle, immediately prompting excited questions like, "How far do you usually hit it!?..." But in just the last few months I've played with 4 or 5 other guys who fit my description exactly - young, athletic, a couple of them were serious high school golfers (including the cart boy), one played college baseball - and we knocked our drives 280-290, and hit 7-irons into the greens from 170, without much fanfare. Tim

I've said this before, and I think I should say it here too... It doesn't seem unbelievable to me that we have a disproportionate number of long hitters (or low handicappers) on this forum. It's called selection bias. If someone is going to spend time at The Sand Trap they are probably not your typical hacker: the guy who has never committed to taking lessons, never seen his swing on video, never gotten over his old back injury, and never been to the range except on the night before the company golf outing. Selection bias also says that most people on this site are probably younger than the typical hacker you see out there. I am in my early 20's. I've played sports competitively my whole life. I've been in the gym continuously for the last 6 years. Now I eat, sleep, and breathe golf. And I have no doubt that I'm representative of a good portion of the other members here at The Sand Trap. We are strong, limber, and injury-free. We are busting at the seams with testosterone. We have no wives or kids to worry about; no distractions to keep us from working on our swings everyday. We've grown up during (i.e. been influenced by) the era of steroids, weight training for all sports, juiced balls, hotter club faces, the MLB Home Run Derby, the ReMax Long Drive Championship, etc. Why does it seem so far-fetched to believe that we can dial it up to bounce/roll one out to 300 yards a couple times per round? We aren't talking about breaking any world records here - we aren't even talking about distances that could win a ReMax local qualifier. If you still don't believe me I suggest you find the 17 year-old kid that works at your club running carts for his summer job. Take him out to play a round and you'll be surprised. Tim

Kingfisher, You just painted a classic "straw man" argument. If someone does what you describe, they are stupid. But who here has suggested that players should spend $500+ on a new driver or aimlessly beat balls on the range until their hands bleed in an attempt to get longer? I would suggest that the player start by working on his/her swing. Find an instructor, read books, use video feedback and start building something that is powerful, efficient, and repeatable. In my opinion, good distance is simply a product of having a good swing (i.e. using your hips and core to accelerate the club, achieving lag, and "cracking the whip"). I've not yet seen someone who "has a swing that looks like an octopus falling out of a tree" hit the ball 300 yards. Corollary to that, if someone finds that they hit the ball shorter than other people of their age, gender, and level of fitness then I think the person should take a step back and reevaluate things: something is wrong, and the shorter distance is a symptom of that. The only way to significantly improve the distance is to address the fundamental problems with the swing. This will ultimately allow him/her to hit every club in the bag not only longer but also straighter with greater consistency , as it did for me. Tim

I agree. In fact I rarely hit the driver myself, precisely because I don't have to. The same swing that lets me drive the ball 270+ also lets me play shorter clubs off the tee compared to other players. That is an advantage. Well, yes, that's lovely. But I only play for personal satisfaction. I'm not really excited about being able to shoot bogey golf and "win" because someone else has to give me a bunch of strokes. Lately my typical par-4 has been an iron or 3-wood in the fairway, an iron on or near the green, and then 3 chips/putts. If I could sink a putt outside of 4 feet I think I'd be a 10 handicap. I'm working on it. Who said I was swinging at 100% effort? The point is that through improving my swing and getting stronger (thus improving my maximum distance) I'm now able to hit the ball fairly long without coming out of my shoes. Over my last 36 holes I've only lost 1 ball, which was just an easy lay-up on a par-5 that trickled into the water... nothing hit into the woods. Tim