amished

If you look at a basketball close enough it appears flat. Not all observations are correct, or relevant. While we're talking about pseudo-science, where do your data concerning "the majority of amateur golfers... dump all lag pressure before contact" from? And what does that mean? Does that mean 50.001% of amateur golfers do this? 100%? And is "all" really all? So they have no pressure at the point you specified? Sorry, we deal with actual science here, so we're going to need proof about your claims.

If you've ever watched coverage that gives you an area that a putt can be hit and still made, that area is made by using aimpoint data (basically). They make a topographical map of the green, estimate the stimp as it changes over the course of the day and knowing the starting stimp number, then plug in the speeds that the cup would capture the ball. Aimpoint is literally teaching you how to try to measure all of this without having technology do it for you.

I'm certainly not an expert, but it seems you almost are on your toes for most of your backswing and then try to settle backwards when making your downswing. Small nitpick (that I might certainly be incorrect about) but it seems like it would make it hard to keep as steady of a head as possible, and possibly lead to inconsistent impact points on the clubface as you'd be trying to compensate for that type of move. A setup thought that I used to get myself away from this is to try to start with my armpits over the center of my feet rather than over my toes. It feels like I'm more in control of where my pressure is during this type of motion. Might be something to experiment with as it's only a setup thing that you generally can set and forget.

If you have a way to do it, post a member swing's thread and see if there's any way to get a better idea of what you're doing to leave your clubface open from time to time. Or find a coach you trust in your area to do the same, lessons with a good instructor more than pay for themselves.

If you gave me two unmarked balls, I probably couldn't tell you which is a Chromesoft, ProV1, or a Vice (which I play and recommend). Ordering 5 dozen at $25 each definitely feels better than going out and buying new ProV1s. I also tend to have a hard time seeing a white ball against the sky from time to time so the added colors that are easy to get from them help direct my decision as well. I've seen more people in my small area pick them up recently too, still haven't found a Snell on the course but I've found somebody else's Vice which was a shock to me personally.

If you can hit your 5 wood 250, that's more than enough to become a scratch player. However, the idea remains that the closer you can get to the green and avoid hazards, the better you will score so definitely investigate what is wrong with your driver swing to allow that club back into your bag for the long term.

In the case where we have a "safe one" and I need to take on a shot I normally wouldn't, I'll switch out my ball to a crappy one just in case it gets lost or damaged by that shot. Otherwise I keep my main one and go from there. Of course, I'm never on a team that is either good enough or cheats enough (not common, but I've heard about a team or two like that in the area) to win so it doesn't really matter what I do.

The original premise is that the amateur is going to be hitting 240, they're probably less than 60% to hit that shot too. So now it's 60% a pro from 200, 30% pro from 230, 10% pro from worse than that. And to hit it 240, that's higher than your average amateur.

I took my first ever lesson about a month and a half ago. Helped get me out of my rotating hands, shallow, behind myself type swing. I got to a good point for a while there, but then I was so "scared" to go back to my old swing that I developed a lot of cheating habits which got me too loose and inconsistent the other way. Yesterday I went back for a follow up, and we were able to find a middle ground between these two extremes, and because I was able to backtrack away from a big swing change to something more "comfortable" I was seeing an incredible amount of consistency that I've only seen on my best old days where everything synced up. We were able to dial in some more minor things too which got me extremely excited and gave me the tools to self-diagnose faster after any mishit (I feel). So ultimately, as I work on ingraining the best habits I've ever had, we'll see when I'll need my next lesson. If I can keep up everything we've worked on, I might be able to reach my goal of a sub 5 handicap. If I falter and plateau before that, then I'll see him again. As is, I wish he was around sooner (he didn't teach in the area until this year) and I feel like giving myself that ~6 week period to work on the first lesson and kinda break myself to an extreme opposite to my first broken swing. I guess that means the simple answer for me is I go back as often as I need to, if I can't immediately figure out what I'm doing on my own. And the more that I learn from my instructor, the more I realize I didn't know. I thought I could get to a good playing level on my own, but after the lessons I never would've made the changes that he made and I'm better for having him be around.

Between the G410 Driver and the Glide 3.0 wedges, I'm sure I could find a set of irons (the blueprints look amazing) and a putter that would work for me. The putter would be the hardest, as my custom Edel is fairly snazzy, but now that I have that I would know what to look for that would suit my eye.

I've gone with Stan Utley's set-up that allows me to get the ball rolling as soon as possible and on the starting line I want. From there it's just ensuring I hit it the right distance and read the green correctly. My setup thought is always to try to keep my putter shaft and forearms on the same plane, that tends to help me get myself in the right spot.

Just wanted to say that your progress and work is inspiring me! I have a very similar problem with getting too far behind me/too flat/however you want to describe it so seeing you work on the same things I'm trying to work on makes me feel a bit better about my game.

Heck, I think Jack Nicklaus has said that for a while. This comment was brought up in the No Laying Up podcast this week and I think that it's going to be hard for the tour to do anything about it. Unless the courses that are played on decide to change how they keep up the course, the design isn't conducive to really challenging the pros. Which I think brings up two points: what does it mean to challenge the pros, and does it matter if they're challenged? Is it challenging to hit a ball somewhere in the 126-129 yard range and control your spin? Absolutely, but the pros can do it. Is it challenging to hit off of side hill/uphill/downhill lies? Absolutely, but the pros can do it. Beyond what is physically possible with the equipment they have (so no hitting driver carry 400 or something), I firmly believe that a pro could hit a great shot within 3 tries of any shot you put in front of them. So instead of managing tough conditions, they have to manage the challenge of actually birdie-ing enough holes to win or be in contention to the rest of the field. That's where the challenge comes from in those scenarios and that seems like it should be enough. This can also devolve into what meaning "par" has to a pro in a tournament, and really it isn't much. Everyone is trying to shoot the lowest 72 hole score, and if the course is par 80 or 50, they're still going to try to shoot the lowest. So, does it matter if the pros are challenged? I think it's fine if they are from time to time, where the course truly punishes the not-great shots. If every pro can pretty much hit any reasonable shot, adding another layer into what shot they should be hitting is definitely a skill. It's not a skill that is tested every week, but I don't know if it needs to be. The Masters, the Open, and the U.S. Open are all places where knowing the miss, evaluating the risks, and hitting great shots are important. Is that enough? Hard to say. Is it fun just seeing everyone birdie a hole and move on? Not particularly. But is it fun to watch a pro hit a good pitch and have it roll back to their feet? Not really. So having times where both are true allows me to say that can appreciate each type of "challenge" more to the pro as a casual TV viewer. Relating back to the comment: even the challenges that he brings up (forcing a certain shot shape on a tee box) I don't know will work. The player will still figure out the longest club they can reasonably hit and do that. If they have to dial back to a 3 wood instead of a driver if they aren't comfortable hitting a 20 yard draw, they'll do so and still be okay. It doesn't change the "bomb and gouge" strategy, it just changes how far they bomb it to start with. I'm sure there's more I'm not considering at this point, but it's definitely true that a long and straight course doesn't challenge the players. But what's the difference, and what would actually change?

My problem is space. I have an indoor garage that I could use if our two cars weren't in there... If my parent's shed was insulated in the back I'd try to convince them to let me use that area. Trying to film my "course vlog" for the Newport cup also made me realize that I do not have a good way to video myself, so I'll need to invest in some sort of phone tripod thing or something like that...

Costs of ~$800 plus flights isn't in the cards for us this year, as much as I would love to participate with you guys in this.

Unfortunately I don't have a net. Might be a purchase for next year as my bag is close to where I want it long term.

Seems childish to only call out Tiger for mistakes. Any mishit that any pro does could be seen at a monthly club medal, as you put it; but you only focus on Tiger's? The courses are hard, he's playing better than 20ish other pros that make up the best in the world, what's the problem? No pro ever won every tournament they entered, so why is it a big deal if he's made a mistake? He's hit it into bunkers before in his life, gotten out of them, and won tournaments doing so. What's so bad about these shots that you have to focus on those compared to any other bad shot that led to dropping a stroke by any other player?

Saw Thompson Square and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band about a month ago, and recently saw that Logic and Prof will be doing a show at our state fair so we're going to be heading to that later this month!

That was the point I was trying to get across in my own game where if I'm close to the green, I'm almost never doing anything but putting it. The instances where I don't putt are when I have too much rough or longer fairway grass in the way or there's a large enough mound or something that would make the putt much more difficult than chipping over and taking some of that break out.

Depending on the amount of fluff to go through, my worst chip is equal to my worst putt, and I feel more likely to hit a bad putt than a bad chip (due to my work on my chipping/pitching, especially recently). If I'm not on the fringe/fairway type grass, I never putt it anymore. I've tried, and I either seem to barely make it out of the thicker stuff or crush it beyond the hole.

I don't remember the last time that I worked on putting. I'm sure I have improvement to make there, but I don't feel like my first putt doesn't leave me in a good position to make the second putt too often. At my handicap, I have more nGIR than GIR so working on my chipping and pitching has allowed me to get close enough to putt in without much work. Maybe if my long game got better and I was left with more mid-long putts I'd worry about it. Unfortunately, my course doesn't have a driving range so I don't get to spend as much time working on my long game as I really need to.

All right... I'll talk to the wife about it this weekend. My 'cap has been hovering right around 11 on my home course if that's good enough. Hopefully my swing change can bring that lower!

The flight cost is the least of my worries.

If I thought I could manage the expenses, I'd submit something.

Listening to Tom Doak on the Fried Egg golf podcast, I seem to remember him saying something along the lines of not wanting to put too much out there to advertise your course. Put out enough to get people there, but then keep some gems "hidden" so that anybody that goes there gets another wonderful experience beyond what you could see from pictures. This is likely for more high end, vacation style courses compared to one that will be played on the PGA tour, but it could be that they're keeping some of the best for last.