hippyboy

Thanks for all the replies, it's much appreciated.

Hi, i just want to ask a quick question, while playing in a comp at the weekend one of the players touched the ball with his club while addressing it (on fairway) I thought it counted as a shot but one of the other guys said as the ball had not completed one full revolution it was OK. So I just want to know if this is correct? If so does it apply to rough as well or just fairway. I know if you knock it off the tee at address its OK, you get the usual "that's one" comment but not a penalty.

I know how you feel as I'm from the same area, although we will be the first to moan when the courses are closed due to being waterlogged lol.

Spot on, there is twice as long in between tones 1 & 2 as there is between tones 2 & 3 not to scale but if it was based on a whole second it would be as follows: BEEP 2 seconds BEEP 1 second BEEP hope this helps.

Totally agree with this post, thanks mate. I tried it over the practice ground today & hit 50 of the most consistant drives ever!!

This really wouldn't bother me, if the person is out of my "backswing range" I will not see him. I'm really working on keeping my head dow & focussing on the ball. I play mainly muni's so at the weekends there are several obnoxious players (& empty beer cans in the bin) so I have started working on not getting distracted. When playing rounds on my own I have my MP3 player on loud (packed with music I don't like) & put my trolley around a foot to the rightside of the ball (directly in front of me as I address the ball) I have been doing this for a few weeks now & it really helps me to shut everything out & concentrate on my shot.

It was so gutting, for a few seconds I forgot about the first out of bounds shot until a guy I was playing with pointed it out. The worst thing was the guys who were on the green putting when it went in were part of a society group of about 20 players, most of them I saw in the clubhouse afterwards came up to me saying "you're the hole in one guy" I had to explain to them that it wasn't

Today I had one of the greatest & most frustrating shots ever On a par 4 I tee'd my ball & drove it, 286 yards absolutly dead straight, the green is not visible from the tee but the group in front walked back down the fairway & told me to stop looking for my ball cos it's in the hole. I was over the moon, by far my best shot ever, so where was the problem? I was hitting my 3rd off the tee, I hit a hybrid 3 out of bounds with my 1st shot, then figured I had nothing to lose from hitting the driver (we were playing stableford) Instead of it being my only ever hole in one & the fabled Albatross, it was merely a great shot & a birdie. How frustrating!!!!

What was the carriage charge to UK? I've emailed to ask them but not had a reply yet.

With the people I play with you know where you stand. If it's a 3 foot putt it will never be concede & always greeted with one of 2 favourite phrases: "That's a little tester there for ya" or "I've seen those missed" I like finishing off a hole, as others have said it's good practice for tournament play. Also, regardless of whether it's a practice round or money involved, we never give putts that are for birdies or pars, you have to putt out.

I went on the website (via the link provided) put in the basket & went to pay by PayPal but there was no shipping added, even though it would be sent to an address in UK. Is this right? Is it really free shipping to UK? I don't want to buy it then find I have to pay $50 shipping.

The best training aid I have ever used was my local PGA pro.

Agree totally about the bunkers, how many times do you hear the commentator say "he will be ok if that's in the bunker" implying it is an easier shot from the bunker than from the rough surrounding it (which for the pro it probably is)

If there was an offer of hitting a driver, then letting me tee it up & hit driver again I might be tempted to go for the 10%. As it is I have no chance, the course I play at has a 535 par 5 & I can just squeeze into the 100 yard marker in 2.

I was playing with my buddy at my local course, he is a 26 handicapper. We get to the 16th, a 460+ par 5 with a creek running across right in front of the green. he lays up as usual leaving around 100yd pitch onto the green, he completly mishits the ball sending it 30 yards right, heading straight for the creek, it hit the side of the wooden bridge & bounces all the way back to the green, settling about 3 foot from the pin, he made the putt for a birdie. I was equally gobsmacked & p***ed off, I lost the round by one shot.

I would also agree with "quiet legs" In my latest lesson with the pro he said "If you are only going to have one swing thought, make sure it is to keep your right leg still" I had a tendency to try to "push off" my right leg to generate more power in my swing, but in actual fact I generate much more power keeping it still.

Surely the answer is right there for you "stroke Shaver" Or possibly "can't count, won't count" maybe "different strokes" as the score is different to what he shoots. or "miss-ter shot"

I have been reading with interest another thread that has a few people saying that a friend of theres has shot under par on their first ever round of golf. I find this highly unlikely as I have been playing for nearly 3 years & I have never broke 80 (best is 83 on par 74) so I just wondered how many people have carded an under par round & how many times have you done it? I know there is a lot of low handicappers that will have managed it a few times, if you have not made a round under par (like me) how close have you got? Was it one missed putt away? I was going to do this as a poll but not sure how? Edit: I found how to do a poll.

This probably won't help as I'm in UK but golf lessons here at my local course are £105 (around $175) for 7 one on one lessons. The lessons are 30-40 minutes (the pro always gives you longer if there is no lesson afterwards) That works out £15 (around $25) a lesson. These can be taken as you wish (every week, once a fortnight, once a month) & they all take place on the practice ground with no-one else around. I tried a lesson somewhere else that was on a driving range, there was too many distractions & I prefer to be hitting off grass.

I don't look at the ball during my swing, I focus on it before I start my backswing, but I seem to lose sight of somewhere before impact. I used to think this was a big fault in my swing & tried focussing on the ball thoughout the whole swing but I as my swing has improved with lessons I worry a lot less about it. My scores have improved, my swing & ball striking is loads better so I don't feel it is that important (I do not know if that is right or wrong but it works for me)

I have a steel shaft on my Taylormade V-steel ii 3 wood, it was not a consious decision to get one, it was purely a cost reason at the time. I had a V-steel 7 wood (graphite) & really liked it, I could only find a 3 wood with steel shaft (ebay) in my price range. Does it make a difference? It's hard to say as I have not hit a V-steel 3 wood with a graphite shaft, what I will say though is, after a course of lessons my swing has improved & I have the same high trajectory problem with driver & fairways. I posted a thread about it & the general feeling was it was a shaft problem, my driver has a stiff shaft but has a soft tip (which promotes a high ball flight) I'm not sure whether to get it reshafted or not as I have never hit so many fairways than I have in my last few rounds.

I'm taking a course of lessons at the moment (paid for 8 & so far I've had 6) I thought I had a good swing & was hitting the ball rather than swinging. I really went to have the pro "fine tune" my existing swing but it quickly became apparent I would be far better long term rebuilding the whole swing. As you can see from my profile I was playing off 21 but in the last 2 weeks my scores have been 39 (9 holes par 36) 82 (18 holes par 74 & a long course) 40 (9 holes par 36) 84 (18 holes psr 74 & long course) As you can see I have improved dramatically over the course of 3 months or so, my ball striking is also better than it has ever been. My distance is around 1.5-2 clubs longer as well (I'm still getting used to it as I keep over hitting greens) All this is with a lot less effort, I have no problem playing 18 holes then going to the range for 2-3 hours (wife permitting) where with my old "grip it & rip it" swing I would be getting tired towards the end of normal round. Is your handicap 36? how long have you been playing for?

as I can't practice yet as I'm still waiting for my MP3 I'm just driving my wife mad playing the tones over & over on the laptop with the volume on full, she is hungover lol.

Superb, I'm glad you got on well with it, I have got my book now (already read cover to cover) but my MP3 player died so I'm waiting for the new one to arrive before I try out the tones. I can try it in my car cd player but it's really difficult to swing my clubs in there lol.

Don't worry I have played with a few newbie golfers & it won't be as bad as you think. I would suggest setting a shot limit, perhaps 4 over par or something like that, just say you are picking up as you do not want to ruin his game, he may well say to finish the hole (as I did on a few occasions). But most of all enjoy it, I was blown away the first time I went on a proper golf course at the sheer size & beauty of it.