billm408

The penalty's for hitting a ball in motion- intentional or not. Ask TC Chen... I'm sure he can quote the rule chapter and verse!

Hey if you're not doing anything tomorrow, my band is playing. Cool bar that I'm sure none of you have been to- up until a month ago it was a lesbian bar. I think I just saw this on Rescue Me! There's a link to our myspace page in my sig.

Thanks for the good thoughts! The course is a par 30 (3 par 4's), avg length of the 3's is about 150, I think the longest is 185. And the bet was his idea. I had mentioned that I like the track for iron practice and he was dissing it saying that he'd tear it up and it was an old lady course. I just called his bluff and gave him 10 chances to prove me wrong. I had no reason to believe that he'd fake a score, he may be a bit arrogant, but he's an honest golfer. If he shows me an even par or better card, I'd pay without any reservations, but I doubt I'll have to.

Nice tempo & rhythm. It looks like you're taking the club back with your hands. The one thing I would suggest is dropping your hands a bit. There should be more angle between your arms and shaft at address. This will allow you to initiate your backswing more with your left shoulder. And, as has been noted, you've got an early hip move on the downswing. Almost like you're not setting the club at the top and synching the down move.

A guy I golf with occasionally is constantly bragging about his game- how far he hits the ball, play-by-play of his last round, the birdie barrage he put up, etc... He's a pretty good player, but not the scratch golfer he claims to be and each time we've played together this year, he's shot in the mid-high 70's. Anyway, there's an exec course near me that he's always dissing. It's a bit of a goat track but the greens were re-designed by RTJ Jr. about 20 years ago and they're generally pretty fast. So I bet him that in 10 rounds he couldn't shoot par or better on this little piss ant golf course. If he does, I'll pay the green fees ($20), but if not then he pays me $200 and the green fees are on him. He just called me. Played his 10th round and shot 2 over- his best score of the 10 rounds. We're playing together next week and he'll pay up then. I think par 3 exec courses are some of the toughest in golf and great for your iron play. You don't have the luxury of a recovery shot.

+1. If there's nothing on the line, I don't care if someone wants to give themselves a 6 footer. Thery're cheating themselves, not me. For me, it's Pavlovian... I need to hear the sound of the ball rattling in the cup. Best sound in golf!

La Purisma in Lompoc (about an hour south of SLO) is the best. Check the ncga.org site. Avila's OK, there's also a Peter Jacobson course up there but I can't remember the name.

The best drill that I know of is to swing with an obstacle in the way (already mentioned). Another that might help is this; Grip the club at the head/hosel. When you swing, listen for the whistling sound the club makes on your downswing-that's the release point. You want to hear it out near your left foot. Also, there's a Greg Norman swing aid that's pretty good. It's a wrist brace that holds your right wrist in a cocked position. Good luck.

Mostly lower body. Ideally, the difference between address and impact is that your weight will be on your left side and hips clearing to the left, but your shoulders should be square to the original target line- tilted slightly up as a result of the weight shift. Your upper body returns almost to address position at impact. Of course you're in motion so it's a little more dynamic.

IMHO, your address position shouldn't change with different clubs. My body didn't change shape, the difference is the distance between my feet and the ball as determined by shaft length. The arms should drop naturally from your shoulders and hang over or just past your toe line. Regardless of the club in your hands. If you're rotating your hips properly through impact, your hands will move inside and you won't heel the shot. The pics of Tiger that iacas posted are a good example.

Agreed. Seems to be common with a lot of newer courses these days though. Why do they do stuff like that? A course I used to play years ago has a 600yard par 5 with a barranca 230 yards off the tees... dumb!

The thread on architects got me thinking. Do you prefer long (7000) or short (6300)? Grip it n rip it or narrow? Flat or hilly? Big greens or small? I was having this conversation with someone this morning and I realized that most of my favorite courses share common characteristics. I like courses that play between 6600-7000 yards, give you risk to reward options on how you’re going to play the hole and small to mid sized greens. I like elevation changes and well bunkered courses and don’t think you should always have a clear shot if you blow it into another fairway. I also tend to judge a course by the par 3’s. They should be interesting and vary in length from 145-200 or so yards. I think short par 4's should have well protected greens and long par 4's should be open in front to allow a ball to roll on. I think every course should have at least reachable par 5. I like a course that makes you think, makes you hit every club in the bag and doesn’t favor one shot shape all day. What I dislike is target golf, tricked out courses, 10,000 sf tiered greens and environmentally protected areas around the green. How about you? What’s you favorite type of course to play?

I'd add Poppy, Spanish Bay or Bayonett- either one is a great choice. I'd skip HMB. The old course is nice enough, the new links course is wa-a-ay over priced for what it is and it's 2 hours from Monterey. Have you considered Pasatiempo?

Planning a trip to Monterey? Poppy? Old Del Monte? Poppy can be tough, but of the three AT&T; courses, by far the one that yielded the lowest scores. It's carved out of a the forest and each hole feels like you're on the course alone. RTJ Jr. did a nice job of routing it and it's a very walkable track. Looks more narrow than it is because the trees are all 50' tall. Big greens with lot's of undualtion although they've flattened them a bit from it's first version. One of the toughest starting holes I've played. I'm guessing you've already looked at Spyglass, Spanish Bay & PB? Try Pacific Grove too. A little inland you've got Quail Lodge and Carmel Valley Ranch too. My favorites are the courses at Fort Ord. Bayonett and Black Horse are both outstanding. Bayonett being the jewel of the two. Up the road a bit is Laguna Seca, Rancho Canada, Pajaro & Salinas Fairways too.

Contours of the green and distance to the hole dictate the shot and club for me. I'll use anything from a 7i to a 60* or Texas wedge depending on the shot.

If there's a distinct advantage, yes. The hole you showed would be one that I'd consider in a competition, but firing over the green or into oncoming traffic for a casual round doesn't make a lot of sense. For the record... I hate any in course OB. I understand the reasons, but I think if it's on the course, it should be in play.

On par 3's, the tee markers get moved daily. You should always pace them off from the official marker-typically a plate in the ground. The course I worked at years ago set their 150 yard markers by having the pro hit 8 irons from the center of the green to the fairway (off a matt). He hit 9i downhill and a 7i uphill to accomodate elevation changes. It taught me to trust my eyes more than a marker.

Played Callipe GC on Sunday. http://www.playcallippe.com/subpage....ge_name=Course It's been around a couple of years and I just heard about it 3 months ago (I gotta get out more often!). I'd definitely go back again. Interesting round. Shot a 42/35. And the front is supposed to be easier. Oh well...

I've played Del Monte probably 20x. It's a nice muni with really good greens. Not worth $100, but a pretty good value with the Dukes card. For only $31 on a weekend, I'd rate Salinas Fairways a better "bang for the buck" golf course.

Pasatiempo makes my top 10 and Pebble Beach doesn't, but I understand your point about a "destination" course. It's not pretty or resort like in any way. What makes it a great course IMO is that it's a shot maker's course. It's not target golf and it gives you options on most holes. You have to be able to work the ball and you'll hit every club in your bag. It also has 4 outstanding par 3's, although I've never been a fan of a par 3 as the finishing hole. Of all his designs, it was Alistair MacKenzie's favorite.

25-30%- about what I reach a par 5 of about the same length. More about accuracy than distance. Slightly OT, but is 7600 yards just getting stupid long?

Not in my experience. Back in the late 90's I was in the NorCal PGA and everyone had some kind of staff deal already in place for clubs & balls. The major manufacturers are pretty good at offering some level of support once you're in the PGA. In merch, not cash. Mini tour events aren't going to provide the kind of exposure those guys are looking for to justify much in the way of perks.

You're also over rotating your upper body on the downswing. When I stop the vid at impact, your shoulders are well open to the target. They should be square to target line- ie the same alignment as they were at address.

It's not that I "made sure" to get down in 2 from 120, but that was always the goal. If you explain golf to a little kid, you'd describe it as a game where the object is to get the ball in the hole in the fewest amount of strokes. He wouldn't ask how or why, but probably say "OK" and just start firing at the hole right away. I just adopted the same approach. I hit a full SW 102 yards. I decided that anything from that distance and in, I was going to try and jar it. It doesn't mean I made a lot of 100 yard shots, but I did start leaving myself shorter putts.

FWIW- I'm not a big hitter (probably 260-270 avg off the tee). The point was that neither is Matt Kucher and he's got a tour card and a couple of top 10's this year. Goes back to my comments about improvements from 120 yards and in. To keep my short game practice from being tedious, I'd create games. Picking different targets, hittings different clubs, controlling trajectory. One of the biggest things was just playing up & down at the practice green. One ball, a couple of clubs & a putter- everything was a par 2. The practice area had room to go back up to 30 yards and we'd play for hours at a time.