umpiremark

I read a book, "The Keys to the Effortless Golf Swing" by Michael McTeigue; in it the concept of the "lighthouse" swing helped my game emensly this summer. Basically, stand in your golf stance, however erect, eyes and chest pointed straight out. Raise your arms to chest level and touch palms (out in front of your body) Now swing your hips right, then left - keeping a solid (and quiet) base. "That" is the golf swing. Shoulders and chest rotating right, hands (and grip) still attached to the line pointing directly at the center of your chest. If you use your arms at any time in this rotation right, then left - you are off plane. There's more to it (and lots of practice) but in essence the golf "swing" is not a swing at all, it's a golf "rotation." Make sense the way I described it? Read the book, I guess. It helped me.

How did your summer go? Here in Wisconsin, I am starting to put down the swinging sticks to replace my weekend outings with shooting sticks as I get into hunting mode and exit golf mode. I had a good summer, actually a great summer. Started the year out in Orlando with friends, golfing on some fabulous courses. Shot 41 on the back nine of a Nicklaus course to end the vacation. Perenially a bogey-round golfer, I broke 80 for the first time ever this year (actually shot 41-34) and followed that up a few weeks later with a 39-40 for my second sub-80 round. I came within three strokes of beating my (5-hndcp) brother in the annual "Green Jacket" tournament at our family reunion. Mike always wins, but I pushed him hard this year. When I started out with 4 pars, I think he was a bit unnerved! I still managed my occasional 90 somethings on bad days, but had more sub 85 rounds than I did above 85 rounds. I didn't golf in a league this year that kept USGA handicap information, but posting my scores on the weekends with friends all summer on a free handicap calculator site, my handicap should be about 10 with the scores I posted (yes, I even posted the 92's and 90's I shot along with the 81's and 82's)!!! I had a great summer of better driving (worked hard on keeping the ball in the fairway) and better putting. Courses you play a lot look different when you're not peeking out from the woods, the tall grass and the bushes! Fairways are pretty good looking when you can stay in them!! My final rounds this weekend with buddies went 44-41 and 43-40. If my brothers and I don't play before the Packer opener in 2 weeks, those will be my final rounds for the year. I finished with 4 of 5 pars and 13 putts on the final 40. I hit every fairway on the back nine 40. I hope your summer was as much fun!

Thanks for ALL the input, friends. I'm pretty excited about going. Although, I wish I could take pictures of my experieince there and show my friends (rub it in a little too), but I get it, NO CAMERAS ... dammmit ... and to JWL1957 .... Rule #5: When near a CBS camera and microphone on a par 5 tee, remember to yell "Git in da hole ..." on the tee shot. I hope to have a blast!!!

Why is that? I mean (as a golfer and watcher of TV golf) I understand "clickity, click" right behind Tiger or Mick ... but what about a casual shot of them coming onto the green or walking the fairway? I mean, I can go to a football game or baseball game and flash pictures of the atheletes "performing." Other than the click, click right near them, I don't understand the no camera rule.

Thank you very much!!

I have tickets to Friday's round at Whistling Straits. I have never attended a PGA Championship before and was wondering if the board here could help me with the do's and don'ts of being at a venue during tournament play. Please. I understand no cell phones, no cameras. Is that true, not even the little cameras that fit in your pocket? What about my wife's purse? A back pack with food/water in it? Extra shirts or long sleeve shirt in the back pack? From what little I can find on the internet so far, it seems like you can't get anything through the tournament gates. True/False? Someone with experience here, please respond. Thank you kindly.

I use the line on the ball exclusively. I also have one of those plastic dealies that came with my bag where you draw the long line down the equator and two perpendicular lines on the sides. I just started using that and I like that, because lining up the perpendicular lines insures my ball is lined up straight. I'm an engineer, so I think like an engineer!! If I set up the line with my intended target/line of putt, it's one less thing I have to think about standing over the putt. If I hit the putt good speed, proper stroke and the ball is left or right a few inches off the line, I know my read was off; but my putt stroke and speed was good. If I keep that up all day, I know I'll putt better and one or two just may drop in. Gimmick? Perhaps but I like the confidence it gives me (personally) and isn't that what everything is about? If what you do gives you confidence, who cares what it means to anyone else. If that weren't true, there wouldn't be 500 putter shapes, sizes, looks, feel, right?

This is probably on here a bazillion times, but I'm too lazy to look, so I'll start (perhaps) another thread on this subject. I'm hoping that someone with club building knowledge or shaft changes experience can guide me down the path, here. I build my own clubs; I am 54, about an 12 or 14 handicap. I built a driver to D0, 44-3/8" long, 65 g Aldila NV shaft, regular flex. The NV shaft has a high bend, low kick point, torque (I belive) is 3.5 degrees. The 460 cc head at 203 g is 10.5 degrees of loft. My issue is with ball flight with this driver, no other club. I play the ball with my driver, a bit forward or I'll slice. The ball is about on my left heel to left instep. I am definately hitting the ball on the upswing; I have a long sweeping path, not a downward blow "trapping" swing. My issue: I hit the ball very high. The ball goes about 220-225 (most times) and just falls to the earth; I get very little - if any - roll. The same brand 3-wood, Aldila shaft, high bend point, I hit a more boring shot, with roll after it lands. I hit the 3-wood (off the deck or off the tee) about 200-210. My question: I know I'm playing the ball forward because I just cannot get my hands to square at address, therefore I know I'm hitting the ball on the upswing. If I switched to a similar shaft - high bend point, same torque - only in a stiffer shaft, would my driver ball flight be more flat and roll farther? Any information from an experienced club builder or a golfer who has had success with subtle shaft changes in their game, would be superb. Thank you!

Who knows Pebble better than Jack and Tom Watson ... definately Nicklaus and Watson ...

My shanks were caused by my leaning back away from the ball at impact ... open face, clubhead now shifted too close to the ball, shanker-rooney ... just make sure you're sliding forward and finishing down the line.

Are you blading the ball because you're too far behind it and hitting the equator after a fat bounce shot, or just blading the equator on the intial shot? If the former, focus your eye on the very front of the ball (towards the target) and on the latter, are you standing up before you're through the shot? The face of the club should be pointing to the sky when you're done with these tiny shots and all arms, not hands. Rotate through the shot, too.

I'm going to take a shot here and ask (guess) if the 4 goes more right than the 7-iron? I mean, progressively downward in club, are you less off target? If yes, I'm going to say that somehow you're getting too inside to out with the clubface open on these mid-irons. Why do I say that? Because I've been blocking my irons right and am fighting the same inside move. The guy above is right; you (and me) are trying to 'help' it into the air instead of starting on plane and getting through the ball 'down the line.' That's my guess ...

One of the biggest reasons for an over-the-top downswing, is the "swing the door shut" swing. In other words, if you slam a door shut, the top, bottom, handle, lock all move at the same time, the same plane and get there at the same time. However you get to/near/at the top, if your next move down to "hit the ball" includes shoulders, hands, arms, neck, knees, hips ... all moving towards the intended target at the same time ... WHAM, door slammed shut. The golf swing is a controlled rotation of the upper torso back with quiet lower body ... followed by ... a controlled rotation (and slide if you will) of the lower body back towards the target, with quiet (albeit it minimal) upper body. In simplistic terms, the arms, hands, grip, shaft and club head, just come down and through the arc created "for the ride" on the rotation and turn of the lower body. It's not really a golf "swing" it's a golf rotate ... you swing a hammer; you rotate in an arc with a golf club.

Like the best "fluff lie" on the fairway ... just that the bottom of the ball is carressing the tops of the grass.

My guess is you paid close to $499 for this new, off the shelf club. Did you know that before the advent of graphite shafts, the average men's driver length was 43.5"? Did you also know that the average driver shaft on the PGA tour is 44.5" - a full half to one inch shorter than clubs sold to the average Joe in golf stores? A shaft that is too long for one's swing results in more mis-hits and off-center hits, resulting in less yardage - not the "longer" club the sales guy sold you, eh? Anyone with a handicap in double digits (like me and like you) should not be hitting 45.5" giant clubs. We should be fitted for proper swingweight, shaft flex and club length based on our swings, not our desires. That's my two cents worth ... P.S. My Snake Eyes Python, I swingweighted to D-0 and is 44.25" long. I still fade it or slice it or push my drives on occasion ... know why? Swing flaws. Always the Indian, hardly ever the arrow.

Please don't do any of these three. Good ball flight is a direct result of a good swing that puts a square clubface in the same exact position as it was at address. Pure, yes ... but not simple. Strengthening your grip? over rotate your forearms? Please no. I am a 14-15 handicap and fight a push (straight right) and push fade (starts right but goes even farther right) all the time. Here's what corrects it for me, when I go back to basics . The back swing is initiated by starting to rotate the upper body. If you move your arms, hands or anything else, you're already off plane. There is a triangle formed from shoulder to shoulder to the hands - try and maintain that triangle on the back swing for as long as possible. Do not rotate, turn, pull (whatever) the arms and hands anywhere but where the triangle leads them. The crucial point in the back swing is halfway up - the arms are parallel to the ground AND point down the target line, the hands cock the club exactly 90-degrees to the forearms. You can practice this in slow motion with any club in any room. Start the swing by rotating your upper body - maintain that triangle. Get your forearms to parrallel to the ground and pointing down the target line. Repeat this in slow motion until this is where you end up every time you begin, with a rotation. Full swing - continue to rotate the upper torso through the backswing, your left hand should feel like you're pushing the grip away from you ( the club should "cock" now). The instant your left arm bends, your backswing is done. Beyond a straight left arm is "over the top" time - fade, slice- ville. The final rotation of your backswing is rotation of the hips, not swinging of the arms. If you can't get on this plane back or your left arm breaks, there's no way your downswing will be on plane, nor will the clubface be where it was when you started at address. Review - start with rotation of the upper body - lower body quiet; forearms parallel = down the target line; push the grip away with the left hand; rotate hips through the top; left arm breaks = slice or push fade, always. If I remember to do these things on the way back, I have a better chance of hitting the ball straight. That's what I work on.

I'm confused ... shafts don't whip back and forth, that's a misconception. Shafts that are too light or spined wrong will bend in a direction from the hands to the clubhead, but they don't "whip" promoting a left to right or right to left ball action. The "snap hook" is more than likely caused by a swing fault, not the shaft.

I can hit my 6-iron "about" 160 yards - from a flat lie on a straight hole, no wind, good ball striking day, smooth swing, blah, blah, blah. I think it's important to know what we can hit our clubs "about." Uphill lie, downhill, side-hill, traps in the ffront, water in the back, hurting wind, helping wind ... and so on and so on ... With our handicaps, it's good to know what we can hit the shot "about" in yardage and then calculate what it's going to take so that our next shot has mitigated any danger - albeit rewards - because of this shot. If I can hit my 6-iron 160 and I'm uphill lie to an uphill green with trouble front and right with a slight hurting left to right wind, (just saying here), I'm thinking 5-iron, because the uphill lie will add loft, the uphill green will decrease total distance, and I want to stay away from the trouble front and right. In short, it's good to know "about" what we hit each club and adjust strategy from there based on conditions, course and (most important) how we're striking the ball today. Just my three cents worth ... I'm sure the pros can hit the numbers exactly, that's why they're pros ... enjoy!!

I play Wii 2010 all the time; love it. 2011 looks much sweeter. Can't wait to get it .. Christmas, honey ... hehehehehe

It's a game ... I play Tiger 10 on the Wii with the motion part and it keeps my back and leg muscles loose during winter. I'm 54 and get sore quickly if I haven't stayed "in shape." I agree with the poster that said it's as real to golf as watching the Travel Channel is to a vacation .... but it IS realistic enough to keep my swing muscles loose. Plus ... it's alotta fun!!! Also ... to the posters that have simulators at home/work ... where, made by who ... how much? Really, can you post this information? THANKS ...

My 'normal' 240 yard drive and 'normal' 205 yard 3-wood IS a layup (83 yards left) on this monster hole. Ridiculous hole, 518 par 4, really? YIKES!

I think that's legal in Nevada and Holland, only.

Stop trying to hit the ball. When you practice swing there's no ball there. Swing the club. The last time: swing the club where the ball is. Stop trying to "hit" the ball; swing the club.

0% without a doubt. I'm not long at all, at 53 my "good" drives go about 235-245 (with the wind and down hill 238-248). The longest par 5 on my "regular course" is 515 and the shortest is 492 and I cannot reach any of those in two (white tees). 518 par 4 realistically "might" be a 5 on my card, but probably more times a 6. I like the guy's comment, "Not even if Tiger drove for me!!" HAHAHAHA

Have a trusted club-fitter weigh the club heads and grips ... determine what swingweight you can be comfortable with (D0, C9, D2) and match all three to that swingweight with the proper graphite shaft weight, length, tip weights (if necessary), flex, torque, bend points, etc. to gain a proper lift/trajectory.