Midpack

The greens where I play most often are pretty uniformly slow, like most municipal courses I assume. However, there are several greens with noticeably more dramatic slopes (mostly from back to front, one even has a false front where anything there will roll off the green) than other muni courses I've played on. There's definitely a difference related to "shade/wind/sun exposure" and of course after/during rain events things slow up considerably - but all these conditions are reasonably evident so we can factor them in for distance and breaks.

I didn't make much progress towards improving my swing until I took a couple of lessons from a local pro. He identified some of the defects in my setup and swing, showed me via slow mo video on his iPhone, and has given me several drills to make permanent changes. The things he identified were plain as day once he showed me, but I was never going to find them myself even though I'd taken my own videos of my swing and watched them repeatedly at home. It took a pro to put me on the right track, and the drills he gave me have been most helpful. FWIW, my pro charges $260 for four lessons, about 45 minutes each but he doesn't watch the clock.

I totally agree with taking lessons from a qualified pro. I had to go through one who made my full swing and scoring worse, but I stuck with it for six weeks to 'give her recommendations a chance' as I know change usually takes time. Fortunately I then moved on to a pro who has helped me immensely, and I plan to work with him into next season at least. Maybe others are, but I am just not capable of accurate self diagnosis. I don't want amateurs or YouTube monkeying with my swing. YMMV

I'm also surprised at all the headcovers, clubs and misc at our local club lost & found that are never reclaimed, though most of it is not "nice" stuff. At the start of the season there were two barrels full of clubs in our lost & found, woods, irons & putters though mostly high lofted irons - presumably left greenside after an up and down. Fortunately I've never lost anything of value, but then I start backtracking to the last place I had the item as soon as I realize something is missing, even if it means I lose my foursome. I usually find the item within a hole or two, and more often than not the group right behind us has it, so it's not missing long. I'd hate to lose a club, can't imagine...

It's not a big deal with me if they stand well back, but I would just politely say something if it bothered me. If the other person objects in any way, I just wouldn't choose to play golf with them again. Usually the only reason I see people stand directly behind another players swing path is when the hitter has volunteered he/she has trouble following the ball and has asked for help spotting. I've played with a guy with spotty vision who doesn't know where his ball went more often than not, but it's not a problem - I usually stand behind him but at about 30-45 degrees to the side where he can't see me anyway (e.g. if his head is pointed at 12 o'clock and he's hitting toward 9 o'clock, I stand about 10 yards away at 4:00-4:30). He would lose a lot of balls if we didn't help spot for him. I don't mind, but I know some players object even more strongly to another player standing behind them when they putt (to get a read for their own putt on a similar line). As tempting as it is, I don't stand anywhere near another player who is putting - unless we're playing a scramble in which case it's encouraged for all to get a read off the first putter.

Evidence of many big name pros tossing clubs (mostly not "throwing" like post #1), some I never would have guessed (e.g. Crenshaw? Luke Donald?). http://www.golf.com/photos/golfers-throwing-their-clubs/tommy-bolt

I always pick up clubs, headcovers or anything a foursome ahead might have left behind. More often than not someone comes back looking for whatever they left behind within a hole or two. If not, we leave it at the clubhouse and hope it gets back to the owner. The only exception of course is lost balls. It's rare, but occasionally I've found balls that seem to have been lost in plain sight, with absolutely no one near enough to have lost it.

I threw a few clubs when I was a teenager (45 years ago), but never enough to damage one much less throw one in the water. Like most here, the club is the least of my problems, getting angry makes things worse, and I'm too cheap to deliberately damage or lose a club...

I was responding to an earlier post that claimed he got more distance with the M2 7 iron, but that's meaningless today. I've harped on this more than enough, and I realize most agree with your POV, and you're welcome to it. That said, there's no reason clubmakers couldn't have stayed with classic lofts instead of jacking up lofts and then advertising a misleading 'our irons are X yards longer than Y' Your statement in red acknowledges same and discredits the 'we had to reduce loft due to lower CG/higher trajectory' BS that many offer up in defense. Presumably most low HI players know what lofts they're buying, but many/most buyers don't, many assume all 7 irons have about the same loft. Used to be true, not anymore thanks to clubmakers. Almost no one in my league has any idea what their iron lofts are, and some don't realize that clubmakers have radically changed them over the years. And many just like to brag 'I hit a 7 iron' when it's the same as a classic 5 iron - it's as much as 2 clubs differential now. We've all been asked 'what did you hit?' after a nice iron shot - it's a meaningless question nowadays. I've yet to hear someone ask 'what loft did you hit?' One day we'll have 9 irons with 20 degree lofts and carry 8 wedges if they keep it up, is that OK? Or maybe we'll have 3-woods with 9 degree lofts...

As others have noted, M2's may have the most jacked up lofts on the market today, so any extra distance is basically due to loft, not club design. Most 7 irons are 30-34 degrees these days, the M2 is 28.5. I didn't care for how the M2 felt anyway, but I'd never buy them with those lofts - dishonest IMO. YMMV

Here's hoping the impact remaining is less than they're projecting. Stay safe.

I am looking for control over distance and I've always played various "model" Titleists, lately Pro V1 or NXT Tour S. But I'm on my second dozen Snell's now and they seem every bit as good as a Pro V1 at $32/doz (free shipping) for Snell's vs $48/doz for Pro V1's.

I went back and forth, and I'm still not proficient with my 3H & 4H, but I've decided to stick it out and my 2I & 3I are out of the bag. For me at least, when I started to hit my hybrids more like a long iron and stopped trying to kill the ball, my results have gotten better.

Speith - when his putter is on, he's unbelievable. Nicklaus Palmer Hogan Jones - the most successful player of all time IF you consider how short his career was, and he helped found and build Augusta National and The Masters, there is no greater tournament still!

+1. Sometimes the courses do. #11 at Glen Oaks/Northern Trust was a good example. Par 4 only 315 yards, but very few of the pros went for it (I only saw one, Matsuyama, and he missed the green left). They were all laying up because the hazards were great.

I'm not qualified to vote, but haven't many tournament level courses been lengthened (longer tips) over the past few decades because pros are hitting it so much further? Seems they've been mostly effective with the course mods. If pros tee off and all can easily carry fairway traps, water, mature trees and other obstacles and therefore they're no longer hazards, the design is no longer as intended. If there are par 5's where most pros are hitting a driver and an iron, is it really a par 5 still? Tournament par 5's where (almost) no pro can reach the green in two seem to be pretty rare these days. Or par 4's that can be reached with less than a driver. It's not the ball alone, but I'm sure there's a camp that knows reducing ball distance may be the easiest fix, IF a fix is required. That said, it's kinda fun seeing today's pros hit it so far. DJ's drive on the Northern Trust playoff hole was otherworldly. I think Faldo and Nance were stunned.

For me, (a little) too close is better than too far, though I have an uprightish swing. Too far and I'll hit off the toe and or thin much more often among other issues.

Yep, I've concluded I made a mistake by bailing on league play yesterday after my lesson the night before. I'll try to hit the range at least once after any lesson, but I'm going to implement any changes immediately even if that means taking it to the course when I may not be ready (I was very erratic during the Tue night lesson). Sometimes I may score as well or better, other times my scores may balloon (for a while). But I want to get better above all, so reverting to old form doesn't make sense. I'm prepared to lose some balls to get better. Thanks!

Just had an Old Fashioned with Eagle Rare.

I've been scheduling lessons to allow follow up practice at the driving range and maybe even a solo practice round on a course before taking my "new swing" for a league/handicap round. I had a lesson last night and I was very erratic with the new changes - I am talking about major changes that feel unnatural, not minor tweaks. Since there was no time to practice, I decided to skip today's league play (first absence this summer). To me my options were to revert to my old swing in the hopes of scoring better, or skip today. In retrospect, since I want to improve first and foremost, skipping today was probably a mistake. For all I know though I expected worse, I might have surprised myself even with the new "unnatural" swing and played better, I'll never know. The video below doesn't provide much insight but FWIW. And I read another opinion that said in essence "go for it, and don't be afraid of losing balls." So while I'll still hope to get in at least one driving range session with a swing change before playing for handicap, I think from now on I'm just going to go for it come what may. Thoughts/comments? https://www.golftec.com/blog/2016/08/golf-tips-golf-lessons-to-course/

If a foursome likes music, who cares if other groups can't hear it. And if one player likes music, just wear earbuds and drop one out when you need to hear others/something. But a group or individual shouldn't assume others like music on the golf course, I assume many clubs don't permit it (if they're told).

I wouldn't like it, but I haven't encountered it within a foursome I've played with. OTOH, my home course is next to a high school, and the football team had AM practices for four weeks before school started at MAX volume, some of it with crude language. It was awful, and I'm surprised nearby residents and/or city officials permitted it. Fortunately schools are open again, so the blaring has stopped again.

I'm not sure why someone would actively predict bad outcomes for any player no matter what. They seem more likely to win another major than most touring pros, time will tell. I wish them all the best along with their fellow pros.

+1. That's very helpful!

That's exactly what I've done, compare my 6-iron to the 7-iron for the new set where lofts are similar. And lengths are about the same, that's my point. Unfortunately hitting on a launch monitor doesn't give me a good sense of how they'll play on a course. For example if I hit even higher, or run longer (less spin) that would be unwelcome. Or if somehow dispersion is worse, though that seems highly unlikely. But I'll probably bite the bullet and buy Mizuno JPX900 Forged or Hot Metals. Though two of the Titleist 718's might be appealing too. Thanks for your patience.