IceDave

I usually play golf with my wife, when she was taking up golf we would take a round when there were few on the course and usually rounds on short courses. Today she's an accomplished golfer with a 20+ handicap and a hole in one on her card that I have yet to accomplish. We try to pair up with people we know but sometimes that isn't possible so then we try to avoid the ones we know of. Usually strangers at my club are really nice, when I am playing alone I play mostly with strangers and in 99% of the time it is just fine, you get to know new faces and different styles of play, stories they tell and so on. Most of the time I would ask people to join, but some times it isn't possible, either because of the people or my wife is playing poorly and doesn't like the company. Then we just let them pass.

Played 3 holes last Sunday, too wet conditions to continiue for me at least, found my swing on the 3rd with a 3-wood bomb that split the fairway. Ahh the feeling.....

My last years goals very pretty general, hoping to keep it more focused this time, these are my 2011 goals: 1. Handicap to 7 or under 2. Focus more on putting, get a sub 30 putting round. 3. Work on wedge shots, the low 60 yard spinner. 4. If I buy equipment, focus on replacing 2-iron(or new shaft for that club), nothing else (the fault is the swing, .....) 5. Finish top 5 in my group in the club championship.

Thanks for the tips there, I have been browsing the web for reviews for hybrids (even though the first playable month here is March) through the day, will definitely look at Callaway and Adams.

Hello there, a Ping HL 2-iron has been on and off in my bag since 2003, going through swing changes I have taken it out, only to put it back in when my changes have grooved. It is a very effective club when you're swinging well but the offset on the clubhead is bothering me at times, also I will need to reshaft it for the upcoming summer. Going with it to the pro shop the specalist there hinted that I could do worse than checking out a newer club for example a hybrid, or another 2/3 iron with a less of an offset. I have been checking out the 909H from Titleist and i15 from Ping (we don't get latest models until summer is knocking on the door). Are there any of you who have replaced a 2-iron with a hybrid and if so what is the most exciting one?

Got a Kindle, bought me The Match by Mark Frost and Stan Utleys Art of Putting. Both great books, nothing beats reading about golf in the winter and hitting the gym. Brought out my putting mat though after reading Utley :)

Mine is EGA official, works in Europe. Most often when I play using handicaps I prefer local handicap or playing handicap for the current course, tee's etc.

I made it! The key I found out with 3 sessions with my club pro was all down to my setup and balance, my swing basically was sound. I didn't start the summer guns blazing but when July came around I was Mr Consistency, carding sub 80 rounds with ease and having two 74 rounds this summer (nothing below that though, blame it on my short game and putting). With my new found consistency I took my irons and wedges to a new level for me with checking or spinning for green shots. All in all my most exciting and fullfilling golf summer to date. Hope 2011 will bring more of the same.

Just bought this book 2 days ago and have been going through it and trying out Utleys approach to putting. My golf club has excellent indoor putting facilities and I have been trying out my new found stroke there. Too my amazement my short putts are finding the hole and speed control in longer putts is much better, but mostly I am working on putting with one hand and getting the right sound at contact. But so far very impressed, would give this book 4,5 out of 5. Before this book I had purchased and read Pelz Putting bible and Rotellas Putting out of your mind. Rotellas book I highly reccomend and some of the things Rotella emphasizes are echoed in Utleys book. I have since I bought Pelz's Bible been trying to get some consistency through SBST style putting and well as many of you who have gone down that path had little to show for it. Some days my putting would be ok, almost excellent but too many times I would struggle with short putts and also speed on longer putts. Lacking consistency I think mostly was contributed to my shoulder rocking stroke (trying in vain to track my putter straight back and through) and inconsistent contact. I somehow thought that SBST was the way to go with putting, now its out the door for me at least. My wife who is also a golfer is not convinced.

Hi there haddockd, I just watched your video on the range, look at the right foot in the first swing vs swing number 2. In the first swing it stays on the ground all the time and in the second swing you lift it up and get more of a follow through. Don't know if it was a different kind of shot but the first swing was lacking something, to me it was the follow through and with it went probably distance and accuracy. Another thing I noticed when the camera was facing you head on was that the hips are sliding back and forward depending on the back and forward swing. If you check out swings like e.g. Hogans you see that his hips turn also and not only slide. This can be difficult to mend and takes a lot of time (did take a lot of time for me to figure out and fix I should say) but is tremendously rewarding in power and accuracy. I would recommend some sort of assistance here, if nothing else than a mirror to help you figure out that your hips at turn do occupy less of a space and therefore the reference point should be in the opposite direction of the turn (hope this does make sense). Regarding your posture, if you get more upright you diminish the space/room for the hands to travel through, wouldn't change it, looks ok.

Hope it to be a hybrid, preferably i15 or 909. Need that one to replace my Ping HL 2 Iron which I have been falling out of love with the last season.

Sorry to hear about your injury, I had a similar episode 2006-2007, ended up buying some older used clubs (esp driver) with softer flex, and totally altered my swing to be able to play (with consent from my doctors). I did it mostly on my own, as I was the only one aware of the pain barrier. After that I've developed a killer shot with my irons with a very short swing. Although that period was difficult I believe I came from it a better golfer, with some new shots in the bag. It took me the better part of 2008-2009 to re-program my full swing again, again frustrating but very rewarding. I look back on that time and wonder why I didn't practice more putting, should have though as it is sometimes hurting my rounds. Hope you regain your flexibility and strength and can get going for those Mizunos :)

Great story, lucky you that the jerk went home :) There is one member at my club that starts throwing around his irons after a couple of holes if he misses par. Mind you he is around a 20 handicapper. I try to stay away from him on the course. Most of the members at my club are fairly enjoyable playing partners, have the same vision of the game as you mention, enjoying the round. People who are too hooked on maintaining some pre-imagined goal for the round and usually are very vocal about it, I tend to stay away from. When that goal is not achieveable for them they usually self destruct and want to take everyone around them down with them. My club is fairly small in member numbers, so I usually have good choices when it comes to playing partners, here we register 2-3 days ahead on the web for tee times.

The wind here is usually that strong that I do not measure, but in a full swing on 8 out of 10 balls I usually get some consistency. In these conditions it has more value to have more shots in the bag rather than the longest iron x or driver. I can hit my 5 iron from 100-160+ yards consistently 8 out of 10 balls. I once played with a 0 handicap player in Luxembourg, and for the first 12 holes he was just owning the very long and hard course we were playing, very long hitter. Then the wind then picked up and his shots were suddenly all over the place. Mind you he stopped playing after 15 maybe because I then had the honour for the first few holes of the afternoon, or perhaps he didn't like my ugly golf. Guess he went to the range to measure his distance. My advice is keep your distances constant, and have enough of play in your bag to counter all possible conditions. Distance bragging has no relevance when you add up your scorecard.

After a monster drive on the hardest par four in a championship (last Saturday), I got a flyer (stupidly long shot) with my wedge, into a lava rock, loosing the ball (penalty + second ball) + ended uppfalling down a cliff while searching for the ball and hurting my wrist.

I've battled this a couple of times, and tried the thing with the headcover, right hand and all, but it didn't do the trick for me. What did though was following in order of importance: 1. Stance, hands should be right below shoulders at setup and space between legs and hands ample (use mirror). Do not fall into the trap of putting hands further away from the body as that will only induce sitting-down stance which will bring back the shanks along with inconsistency in impact. Also keeping hands to close to legs or your knees to flexed well explains itself, will cause you to hit it on the heel sooner rather than later. I would reccomnd a visit to a pro to just focus on the stance (it took me 3 lessons :). 2. Forward movement of upper body. In the second part of the swing (forward swing), keep from shifting upper part of body forward (to the left for right handed players). Moving the body in this way will move all your setup to the left and with it your clubead and greatly increases heel hits. My pro would hold a club at specific point to refrain me moving my body this way. Cured all my shanks with irons. 3. Wedge shanks. This was done with the help of my pro, when I suddenly got the shanks, only with my wedges all other clubs were fine. Have someone hold a soft object close to your hands at setup. In the forward part of the swing you should not hit this object. The cure for me was to focus on keeping hands at same path, or as my pro put it (shouting in the forward swing), "Pull them in for Gods sake man!" After the above (and truckloads of practice balls) I've both cured my shanks and have created a great feel for hits/misses, and mainly it all relates to the first point, Stance. It is so important and was the main culprit in my shanks dilemma. Hope it helps but my main point would be to visit the pro you trust to help you with this, and be patient, this is not a mental issue it is purely technical.

I understand where you're coming from. If you haven't read Rotellas Putting out of your mind, I would highly reccomend it, as it focuses mainly on the mind part of putting but leaves technicalities out (seems to me based on your HC that technicalities aren't your problems). Also with regards to practicing putting, use some of the time to set up competitions with others, I compete with my sons (10 year old twins) and my putting has improved since I started practicing with them since every practice putt counts. These 2 things changed my putting dramatically, I don't hesitate anymore with a breaking downhill putt on a lightning fast green any more or any other putt for that matter. Just getting a routine and sticking to it will do wonders. Hope it helps,

He can mark it and recreate the lie as it was before you hit your shot, if I remember correctly.

Just try to ease into it with putting and short game practice. Last year I did compete at putting with my 10 year old son, really helped me put some edge on my putting (you do not want to loose at that, although I did at times, he's a great putter). Read some Rotella too it really helps getting your nerves in check, its just one shot at a time.

Also use my initials on mine, it is frustrating to incur an penalty for such a simple thing as marking your golfball. Playing unmarked balls also can get you into a lost ball situation if 2 play similar balls, that has happened when I was playing. They couldn't identify who had what ball, ergo they had to go back to the tee box and fire number 3 from there.

With the summer getting started here in Iceland and having posted around 4-5 rounds in the middle 80's, I started playing last Sunday with suppressed expectations. Always hoping but accepting the worst has been somehow my motto in the last 2-4 years. Consistency has been my enemy. There are rounds when you start off bad that make you think that this is just not your day, but sometimes you grind out the will to make the change or have a lucky break or two to turn things around. Then there are rounds that start off blazing, with pars and birdies, and with me that kind of makes me nervous not to mess this beautiful thing up. Sundays round was neither of these. That said I started the first hole with the easiest of pars. Going to the second I went all the way with my 3 wood, landing it unsafely in the lava left side of the faiway. Don't know if anyone reading this has played golf on a course surrounded by lava, but is different from any other rock formation covering almost any unplayable lie. Chances are high that your ball will never be found. If moss doesn't devour it, some deep lava crack certainly will. And if you by chance find it, chances are high it will be unplayable. Well I found my ball this time and was able to chip it into the fairway, SW onto the green and converted the par. Over to the third, another easy par, and then the fourth again easy par. Slamming my drive on the difficult fifth (lava covers both the right and left rough on a terribly narrow fairway) I got one of my best drives of the summer. Worked my ball beautifully from left to right and landed 100 yards from the green in the middle of the short stuff. Easy par. Two more of those followed, and I was starting to wonder what was going on. On the eight I almost lost my ball but found it in deep grass, and somehow managed to hit it a mile high and get it onto the green for yet another par. I ended the front nine with a respectable bogey after a rather unimpressive drive. 1 over after 9! The 10th at my home course is a rather long par 3, 180 meters most of the time, and this time the wind was coming in strong from the Atlantic Ocean, straight at my face. My 2 iron has really been getting me through some hard times last couple of summers, and this time it didn't let me down and I was able to convert the par. A missed birdie on the super cool 11th hole, had my spirits up for the 12 driver. I was going to drive the green on this easy par 4. I should have know better. I hit a bomber though, and with the wind at my back I thought I had the green all covered when the ball started fading half way up I knew I had done wrong. My ball was plugged in a deep bunker on the 10th green and almost unplayable. Double bogey was the result, and a bogey on the 13th had my feet firmly on the ground. A nice birdy on the easiest 14th got me on the straight track again and a tough pars on the next 2 kept me going. The 17th is a short but very difficult dogleg right to left par 4, with pot bunker dropped like M&M;'s all over the way. My strategy helped me here as I got the ball to the green in 2 and had a slick and tricky downhill sideways putt that I managed to hole. Second birdy! And I was now just 2 over par, could this really be happening? The last hole is a long par 4 with a really difficult second shot, I decided to go the safe route here as I have at times been lucky to get away with a double on this one. Got to the fringe in two, and had 3 putts from there for a total of 74, 3 over par! My best round in more than a year, may there be many more like it!

Posted my best round in more than a year, a 3 over 74 at my home course. What makes it extra special was that I had 14 GIR, and just an all round nice round. Irons and putter were my strongest in a long time, and I will go on and build on this.

First round of the year, nice weather, no volcano ash, though flights were cancelled today. Played on a course near our international airport, par 72, links course. Front nine were jittery, finished with a 42, 6 over. Decided to try to continue m momentum from the last 3 holes on the front, and came in on the back with a 37, one over. Total 79. Greens are less than attractive here at the moment, but with a little bit more warm weather and rain, in June they will be excellent.

Here's my take on your problem. Don't mix up your original stance at address with the position of your hands, arms, shoulders or clubhead for that matter at impact. Those shouldn't be the same as far as I am concerned. Your hands should be ahead of the clubhead for a solid strike at impact. If your are putting all or longer irons (full swings) 30 degrees to the right, it then sounds like the clubhead is in an open position at impact. A lot of things cause this, usual culprits being grip and stance. Check those out.

My friend introduced me to golf when we were 10. His father was an avid golfer and a member of a club. I hit golfballs on a field next to my house until I was about 12. Never played. Dropped it then because my friend became a member and I couldn't afford it. I didn't start playing golf until I was about 20 years, but then moved abroad and took up the game again around the time I was 26-27 years old, my calculated handicap then was 24. It was assessed by the clubs super after watching me swing at the range and turning in 3 scorecards.