Speedly

Well, the issue is, I've had a terrible little-to-no weight transfer swing ever since I started dabbling in golf ten years ago, when I was 13. I've only in the last few months pulled my clubs out of the closet (and actually bought newer ones, starter set for $300) and became serious on playing and improving. Why do I bring that up? Well, I had a terrible swing then, and it has carried to today. So I'm trying to re-learn my swing... I figure if I'm gonna stand any chance at being any good, I need to make sure my basics are sound, or everything I learn after that is garbage. But don't get me wrong - I definitely understand needing to learn how to strike the ball well. I took a golf class at my college recently, and it was a joke - but I didn't know that at the time. The guy was the baseball coach, and he spent more time talking to his baseball players and showing Butch Harmon videos than actually coaching anyone. All he taught me is that hitting off of poorly-maintained patched of field grass sucks, and to set the ball so far back in my stance with my irons that it was literally on my right instep. I've now noticed the flaws in his teaching, and am trying to break myself of them. Whenever swinging my irons like that, I'd take a divot, but would essentially drive the clubhead into the ground. I've managed to ingrain a ball-first impact into my swing, but cranking my wrists back when the club catches... well, it's not so fun. I'll potentially lose distance by moving it farther up (but still behind center) in my stance, but coiling correctly might make up for it.

So I'm a beginner still. I think my handicap well illustrates that. I've only recently learned that weight transfer with my woods shouldn't be forced with the swing - it's something that naturally happens when you start the upswing and downswing with your hips first. A good breakthrough for me! I've also been reading Pelz's Short Game Bible (about which this is not a discussion - see the Reading Room for that), trying to improve bit by bit. I've only gotten through... oh, a hundred pages?... and one thing I noticed him say is to use his 3x4 system, it's important not to coil, and to turn your hips in-line with your swing, not lead your swing with your hips. But this is with wedges. My question is, should one coil with your irons? Do you coil with some, and not with others? Thanks in advance!

I personally keep track of my score (obviously), Fairway Hit on any Par 4 or longer, number of putts, and number of penalty strokes. I use www.oobgolf.com to track my scores (although you could definitely use the Scorecard service offered here!), and those four stats feel me a large number of statistics derived from them. GIR%, overall fairway accuracy, scramble %, putts per hole, trouble holes, stuff like that. To answer your other question, Green in Regulation (GIR) is when you get the ball on the putting surface two shots under par, so you're putting for birdie. GIR on par 3 is hitting it from the tee directly to the green, par 4 GIR is on in two, and par 5 GIR is on in three. To explain the term I used in my post, a "scramble" is when you miss hitting the GIR, but manage to save par. My scramble rating is terrible (22% on a good day), and is something I'm trying to work on. =P

To the topic at hand: I didn't know the yardages were inaccurate at courses. I know, obviously, they change if the teeboxes are moved, but the teeboxes around here have color-coded yardage markers, so you can roughly figure out how long the hole is playing that day. I, being a beginner and having read other threads on here, have put my driver on time-out and now tee with my 3W. A few months ago, when trying to nail down my distances, I spent time out on the range writing down the distance on each clean hit I got with each club. My 3W, back then, was around 195, on average. Now, my distance is slowly improving with my clubs as I'm learning to hit them better and better, little by little. I would hazard a guess as to my 3W average being around 200 now. Playing with my girlfriend yesterday at a local semi-short course, I teed up on a 265-yard marked par 4, and put my tee shot just in front of the green. It was like a 240-yard shot! Awesome! But is that my average? Heck, no. I might tee with my 5 on some of the holes that were shorter that I used to tee my 3 on (simply because I don't want to blast it past the green), but those people saying that they average 300 yards a drive is like me saying I average 240 on my 3W - it's simply not true.

True as that may be, in all of the tournaments I've seen of the LPGA this year, she's not yet been in the top ten. Now, I haven't seen every tournament, and I understand that it would be asinine to equate this to poor performance without having seen every one. But it's not like I saw two tournaments and am calling it there. (I'd say I've seen seven-ish this year, I haven't exactly kept count in the case that I was going to hop onto a golf forum and ask.) For someone to be getting all that coverage, I'd think they'd consistently be atop the leaderboards, or dang close. Thanks for explaining it to me, everyone. I wasn't sure what was going on with her.

Every time there's a LPGA event on Golf Channel, they make a big deal about Michelle Wie, whether she's shooting decently or not. Now, I know she's good as compared to the rest of the population, and as you can see from my handicap, she'd wipe the floor with me out on the course. But she's playing in a professional tour, and not doing remarkably well. I've become quite accustomed to seeing that Wie is over par during the times this year that I've caught the LPGA on TV. What's the big deal with her? She's not usually on the front page of the leaderboard, so why do they bother to make such a fuss over her? And is it just me, or does Paula Creamer constantly look like she's on the edge of tears?

Not what your handicap says! =P

Weird subject, no? So my girlfriend's mother was kind enough to give me one of those putt return machines, the one with the little plastic ramp and the sides that funnel the ball into the "hole," one you typically see in executive offices in movies from the 80's. The return isn't sensitive enough, and I'd like to know if there's anything anyone knows of to do in order to make it better. Thanks!

Yeah, it seems like more trouble than it's worth, especially since, as you pointed out, I can snag one on eBay for cheap. I checked up on the driver, and apparently it's one in a really, really cheap set. Not particularly any better than what I have now. Thanks for the input, everyone!

Looks like a TourCraft Power Plus Titanium Matrix. The idea of it is more that I could get a new driver for cheap, rather than what kind of driver I could get for cheap.

While out playing at my home course today, I found a club head that apparently had been broken off and left in disgust. It's a 10.5* driver, and the shaft was broken at the hosel; a piece of the shaft remains inside the hosel. My question: I've been looking for a good driver to replace my old, awful, dented one. This club head doesn't appear to be damaged on its own, simply broken off of the shaft. I'm not exactly what one would call "rich..." so, is it possible (and a decent idea) to get this head attached to a new shaft? And if so, is it financially worth the effort?

Tiger, only because I wasn't around for Nicklaus's reign.

My home course is Bartley Cavanaugh, a course here in southern Sacramento. It's a links-style course, and its back nine is stunningly beautiful. It also has one of those island greens, although it's insultingly short - the white tees are set at something like 65 yards.

Yeah, I serve at Red Robin in Sacramento. Or as we call it, the "Dirty Bird."