schigara

Thank you. Anyone who is offended by words needs to grow a backbone. "There are no bad words. There are bad feelings and bad intentions but the words, themselves are neutral." ~George Carlin~

When is Haney going to teach Phelps some fundamentals like how to properly take the club back. Phelps first move is to roll his wrists. He fully opens the club face in less than a foot of club head travel. All he tells him is speed up!! WTF kind of instruction is that?

I'd be going freakin nuts with these snails ahead of him. It has got to be affecting his play.

cbs.sportsline.com click on "watch live"

Yup. Even when he plays at 70-80%, he's still better than everyone else.

Yeah, you would think right? Only problem was those 6 footers on the practice green had no break.

Just my personal experience with a long putter. About 2 years ago, I bought a used Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball Long putter. I saw it at a shop in Memphis that deals in just used clubs and tried it out on the little practice green. It was amazing! I was making 6 footers like it was a 3 footer. I told my buddy If I made 20 in a row from 6feet, I would buy it. Well, I made 23 in a row and took it home. I was in love with it until I tried to make long distance lag puts. It was horrible. I rarely 3 putt because I am pretty good controlling speed but If I was 30+ feet away, I couldn't control being 6 feet short or 6 feet long. After just 6 rounds, I cut the length down to my usual of 29in and it has been my favorite putter since then.

Are there any online streams of the coverage?

I am not the longest hitter, by far but I did drive a 304 yard par 4 green last weekend. We were playing the blue tees and the tee was about 3 feet in front of the concrete stone marker for 304yards. The tee is level with the green and it was 97 degrees with a heat index around 108. It landed 10 yards shy and ended up 16 feet from the pin and for my 3rd eagle ever, I dropped the putt. This eagle erased my double two holes prior and went on to shoot an even par 35 for the 9. My best 9 score to date. I have driven this green once before 3 weeks earlier. I normally have a 30-60 yard pitch into this green but since I fixed my casting swing and now have a proper swing where I release at the bottom of the arc, I am hitting much further with much less effort. My 150 club used to be my 6 iron and now is a smooth 8 or a hard 9. Like most people will tell you, distance does not translate directly to a good score. When I had a casting type swing, I was very inconsistent so I had to develop my short game to score with and I did manage to shoot mid eighties most of the time with the occasional 81-83. Since revamping my swing, the extra distance is nice and I consider just a bonus as the real advantage is much greater consistency with more GIR's since I am no longer over the top I generally hit the center of the face now and either take a divot after the ball or sweep with little to no divot. This new and proper swing is just 6 weeks old(played for 6 years casting the club) so it is not all solid or automatic yet as I still have to think about it.

Yes. We played Kirkwood National which is a very long and very hilly course in North Mississippi. It is gorgeous and perfectly manicured. The greens are very fast and smooth and roll smooth as can be. The first time we played we shot mid-high 90's and normally are high 70's to mid 80's players. Each hole is so scenic and unique, we didn't care what our score was, we just wanted to see what the next hole looked like. If you are ever in the Memphis Tn. area, there are a few must play public courses. #5. Tunica National .........a beautiful links style course. #4. Quail Ridge......mid length course that demands very precise tee shots #3. Forest Hill in Drummonds Tn.....this is a very large and beautiful course that is fair but favors accuracy over power. #2.Mirimichi...this is Justin Timberlake's course...used to be Big Creek.....gorgeous and lots of money spent but not very difficult. #1. Kirkwood National....Holly Springs, Ms....middle of nowhere but totally difficult and awesome

I used to only ride carts because I was a smoker. I quit smoking 18 months ago and now love to walk and walk whenever I can. I play better because I have time between shots to think and shake off any bad shots. Also, just because you are in a cart does not mean you are faster than a walker. Me and my playing partner get held up by cart riders all the time. Walkers tend to play faster where riders tend to play slower but they do technically get to their ball faster but since most courses require a pair riding to use one cart, they ultimately play slower than a pair that are walking that get to their respective balls at the same time whereas the two in the cart, get to one ball, decide club, shoot and then travel to the other persons ball, decide club selection and shoot. It is very rare that cart players play faster than me and my walking buddy. The biggest difference though is actual pace of play. Riding or walking, a considerate player will assess the basic distance and lie while enroute to the ball and will take just one partial or full practice swing, at most, and then fire and quickly place the club back in the bag and roll. He will not get to the ball, look around for 45 seconds for markers and then decide which club and then take 4 full power practice swings and then stab the club in the ground and go 10 feet or slice/hook out of bounds! Courses in Memphis are very crowded during the weekends and when we are held up with slow play, 95% of the time, it's cart riders who know jack &*$%@ about etiquette. It is extremely rare to get held up by walkers. Walkers tend not to be ignorant or rude like riders also. When held up by walkers, they are much more inclined to offer to let faster groups go by than riders. Since we have gotten 98-100 ambient temps with 100-110 index temps, I have been getting the cart as I like to play 27-36 holes and am not a big fan of heat strokes.

Today I shot a 35 on the back 9 of our little local muni which is a par 35. Going off the back on 10, I hit a perfect 3 iron on a dogleg left par 4 and proceeded to thin my approach shot which went over the green and down the slope about 30 feet below the green surface and ended up with a double bogey. I am now 2 over and hit a nice 6 iron to a 169 yd par3 and burn the edge from 12 feet and settle with par. Next hole is a short 304yd par 4 and I drive the green barely and, with a 16 foot right to left breaker, I manage to drop the eagle putt! After that I shot par, bogey, par, par, par and birdie. I have been shooting mid eighties for quite a while due to a pretty good short game but my driving was very erratic. I would hit a 260-290 bullet one drive and the next would either snap hook or slice so my entire game was a scramble to get close and then get up and down. Yesterday, we were playing and my best bud/playing partner points out that my stance over my tee shot is closed and says he thinks this is causing my difficulty with clearing my hips and the inconsistency so I open my stance just a bit(maybe 3-5 degrees) and all of a sudden, I am hitting perfectly straight to baby fade shots over and over. I hit 11 fairways in a row. Today I get to the course late and my 2 other friends have already played 13 holes and meet them on 14 tee. I hit 2 tee shots into the woods to practice a bit and get loose and then hit my first shot for real and it works just like the day before. I shoot 14-18 one over par and then even par on the back as we started the back again. The confidence from my driving now is spilling over into all the other aspects of my game. I was confident in hitting a shot around a tree from 190yds with a 4 iron that had to draw about 30 yards otherwise would have been lost in a ditch had it have gone straight. Sorry to be so long winded but I am very excited since this seemed easy to do today. I was actually frustrated over 3 of the pars that could have been birdies but lipped out.

Blackxpress, You are so right. I played yesterday with the long putter. I got my approach inside 10 feet on the first two holes and birdied each one. I was totally blown away and thought this putter was pure magic. From here on out, my approaches were less than great and had a very hard time with distance control with the long putter. A few times I was outside 40 feet and one shot came up 15 feet short and a few were 10 feet long. I shot 91. I had no idea where I was. I went back to the regular putter today and shot 79. Oh well, just another learning experience.

That is what I used to think. I thought it was a last ditch, desperate move of someone who can no longer stroke a "real" putter. My golf bud and I finished up 18 at our favorite local muni and then went to a golf shop right up the road that deals in just used clubs as he needed a sand wedge. I began to check out the putters to see if there was a belly putter I could try and there was one but it didn't feel good at all and then I noticed a long putter.....yuck. I am a fairly young guy at 36 who was just curious to try a belly putter and surely am not about to swallow all my pride and be seen using a long putter! I tried the long putter and liked it. The little practice green had two holes that gave about a 9-10 foot putt. There were five balls and I had watched Adam Scott putt so I knew the basics of how to anchor a long putter and swing using just the right arm and I put those five balls right in the center of the cup from about 8.5 feet. I told my buddy, "I just sank 5 in a row with this big goofy putter", he said yeah right. I pulled the balls from the hole and aimed at the hole which was diagonal to this last hole which is about 9.5 feet and holed the 6th-10th putt in a row. He actually saw all these and the rest drop. He walked over and watched and I said, "I just made 10 in a row and If I can hit 25, I am going to buy this thing". I proceeded to drop 27 in a row total before slightly missing so I did buy it. It's a 47.5" Odyssey Long White Hot 2 Ball. I tried hard and was not able to hit more than 7 in a row with a traditional putter. I have been practicing all night in the living room from 14 feet to the leg of a chair and I am able to die the ball at the leg from any angle about 95% of the time. Going to play tomorrow for the first time with the long putter. What's everyone elses experience with a long putter on course the first time?