schigara

I think one of the drills Michael Breed mentioned on Monday might help you to learn to hit off your left leg and stop being so much behind the ball. It's a drill where you practice hitting the ball off your left leg while your right leg is behind you with the knee bent and just your toe on the ground for a little balance but 100% of your weight is on your left leg.

I played an unfamiliar course today where the greens run about 30% faster than the municipals I normally play. I had a 50 foot putt from the lower tier(about 2 foot rise) that also broke left to right about 3 feet. I lined it up and took the stroke . The ball grazed the left edge of the cup and trickled 18 inches past. This was done with a Scotty... Newport 2.5 that I gave $100 for used on Craigslist, in mint condition. I made the same kinda putts with my $30 Dunlop putter from Walmart. Why did I buy a SC putter that works just like my old Dunlop....? Well, the same reason why some buy Porsche, Mercedes or IBM........resale value.

I definitely understand now. I thought I could save some money at the course with buying the bag cart and walking the course but have realized that is just stupid in the climate during the summer, where I live. I will wait till the fall and spring weather to use the Clicgear to save money at the course.

I have the HTC Touch Pro phone and run Free Caddie software on it and used to use it every time I played. Now I only use it on courses I have never played or ones I rarely play. It comes in handy but once you learn a course, it becomes less and less useful. I will always keep this free software on any gps phone I have for new courses I play.

On the range and with GPS, 150-155 with a smooth 80% swing.

Two weeks ago, I was playing Galloway here in Memphis and was my first time walking a course as I just got my fancy Clicgear. I had gotten a bit toasted the night before at a friends b'day party so I was a bit dehydrated to begin with. It was cloudy and about 80 deg. when I started and only planned to play 9 holes. I played pretty good considering my 16 hdcp, with a 42 for the front. I was drinking water the whole time and sweating like crazy since the temp had gotten up to 91 by the end of the front side. I called a buddy to come out to play the back 9 with me. This is when my game went up but my health went down. After a short break waiting for my buddy to arrive, the temp was at 93 and then we start the back, still walking and drinking water. Hole 10 is a par 5 that I birdied and then walking to the tee box something weird happened. I stopped sweating as much and started walking slower. I made par on 11. I began drinking water much faster and started noticing a faster heart rate. I managed to play 4 more holes and made par on them all. It was like tunnel vision. I wasn't hearing my buddy talk trash and wasn't thinking about the shot. Basically I guess I was thinking mostly about heart rate and was hitting the ball better than I ever have. In this 9 hole portion, I was 1 under after hole 16 and hit another perfect drive on 17 and was walking to my ball when I could walk no farther. I knelt down and caught my breath in the fairway for what seemed like 5 minutes and then very slowly walked over to the other side of the cart path, under some trees to rest and let the group behind go by. A guy in the group behind us saw what was happening and called the clubhouse and the course marshall showed up a few minutes later with a big jug of ice water and poured it down my neck and back. He then had me ride back to the clubhouse with him. He asked if I wanted an ambulance but I said that I just needed to cool off. I was no longer sweating at all and was red in the face. I sat in the clubhouse with my buddy for 2 hours soaking up the a/c and about 2 litres of water before I was finally able to drive home. My best score for 9 holes ever has been a 40. I think I was on my way to shooting either even or 1 over for 9 holes(35-36). It was the purest I have ever hit the ball.

I agree there is no "best" irons. I personally think the new Adams Pro Black MB blades look the best and as soon as I can afford the ebay price of about $600, I'll be snaggin' me some.

I practice putting and short chips in my living room every day. I have yet to take out a window or lamp! The putting is about the same on the course but I can really tell my chipping has gotten better. Hitting chips from carpet has tightened up my chipping by drastically reducing the number of fat/thin shots. My up and downs have gotten much better and have had 5 chip in's in just the last 3 weeks.

Hey BigTazz, Do you have a tee time for tomorrow? I just found out about the course today, from a non-golfer, and have registered at the site and going to reserve a tee time asap.

Glad to hear you worked some of it out on the range. Be prepared though, most of the time one or two good practices at the range don't translate to play on the course. I straightened out my drive at the range and had it so straight that I started working on draws. I was ecstatic and was hitting it 260-280 with and easy 80% swing. Two days later I go to play and my old swing crept back up and it has taken 6 weeks of playing 36-54 holes a week to really reprogram my swing to the way I had it that day at the range. I still only hit the drive accurately about 50% of the time on the course. It takes a long time to get the muscle memory of a new or modified swing where you don't have the think about every part of the swing.

It's like any faith. If you believe in it, it will work. What that's worth?.........nobody knows. I am a realist so I believe in peace of mind, focus and concentration. No voodoo, fantasy or magic beans are going to help me hit a better shot.

I have just recently stopped slicing(mostly). I played for 4 years with a slice and did all the stupid stuff to compensate like closing the club face at address, aiming way left and trying to use a very in to out swing path. I saw a video which discussed the real problem that causes a slice. A slice is not caused by the swing path. An out to in swing path can cause the ball to fade a little or a lot but the trajectory will be about the same. Assuming you mean the big looping bananna slice, that is caused by an open club face at impact. An open club face increases the effective loft of the club and puts side spin on the ball at the same time. Even if you hit with an in to out swing path, if you have an open face, you will still get clockwise side spin because the face is glancing off the ball and a much higher than expected trajectory. The way I stopped slicing was to pay attention to my left wrist(im a righty). As long as I see 1.5-2 knuckles at address and the left wrist stays flat at the top of the backswing, the face will be close to neutral at impact and not open. Grab your driver and take your normal backswing and stop at the top of the swing and look at your front wrist. Is the back of your left hand flat and at the same angle as your forearm or is it cupped up and pointing at your face?

I am no great putter but I do agree that putting with the shoulders is the way to go. I used to watch golf before I ever started playing and could see for myself that all the pro's putt this way so I started playing with my arms locked and used shoulder twist only for the putter stroke. I have noticed that some pro's will incorporate a slight wrist hinge into their putting but I have never tried it. I try to take out as many unnecessary movements as possible in my putts.

I use an Adams Deluxe Cart Bag and, while it isn't as heavy as a staff bag, I still wouldn't want to walk and carry it. I plan to start walking the courses to save money and get more exersize and am buying a Clicgear 2.0 bag cart. It's $180 on Ebay but saving $7-14 per outing, it will pay for itself in no time.

I had the exact same gap problem as you and when I bought new wedges, I went ahead and got the set of Adams Tom Watson's which includes a 52.07 gap wedge. I got the 52,56 and 60 for $80 new on Ebay. I hit it about 85-95 yards and with a Maxfli BlackMax or Pro V1, I can either stop it dead on the green or pull it back a bit. BTW: what's the deal with the Vokey's I keep reading about? Are the grooves just more aggressive or what? Also, how much do they cost?

Why not just try it? Here's a scenario for you. I'm 10 feet off the green with a very tight lie. The lie is uphill and the green runs downhill and the pin is close. I can't open up my 56 because the grass is very short and the soil is hard as a rock and it is a good chance it will hit thin and possibly skull and run across the green. You get the picture. Why would you want to play a low percentage shot "fancy" rather than playing a higher lofted club straight? I rarely use the 60 on approach. The 60 is reserved for short green shots where a bump and run is too risky. You can do without one but why would you want to? I didn't take a club out to make room for the 60. With the 52, 56 and 60 wedges, I still have one spot in the bag. I hit the Adams Tech OS 3 hybrid 230 yards and am thinking about getting an adams speedline 3 fairway wood to fill the number 14 spot in the bag.

I just purschased a new set of Adams Tech OS irons. 3&4 are hybrid woods, 5&6 are hybrid irons and 7-PW are traditional cavity backs. I have played 3 rounds with them so far and absolutely love them. Easy to hit straight and about 6-9 yards further than I was hitting my old Callaway Hawkeye's. Been playing for 5 years and have been consistent in the mid 90's. My first round with these, I shot a 93, second round an 89 and just today, my best round ever at 87. I got the set with stiff graphite shafts. The look great, hit great and were cheap! I got them on Ebay for $172+$19 for shipping. Dick's sells them for $399+tax. This is the set I got. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=260428950599

I have recently purchased a set of 3-PW Adams Tech OS Irons. The 3-6 are hybrids and the 7-PW are cavity back irons and I love them all. My question is, should I get the Tech OS 52-56-60 wedges which are cavity back just like the other short irons? The only reason I would consider it is to have all matching irons. I currently have some cheapo $30 a piece blade type wedges that work well. Will I notice a big difference between the Adams cavity back wedges compared to my current blade type wedges?

One more vote for FreeCaddie here. I have been using it on my HTC Touch Pro for a few months. wrx_junki, you might try creating your own course files so you know the markers are set where they should be.

Here's something else to ponder, which might not apply to you. My brother in law and playing partner, tops or skulls most of the iron or wedge shots. What he does is, he shifts weight back on the back swing and never shifts weight back forward on the downswing. Because of this flaw in his swing, he has to use a long tee to tee the ball up high for his driver so he does not top it. The problem translates to every shot except putter. To try to combat this bad habit in his swing, I have had him turn his back foot in. He is a lefty so he turns his left foot inward which inhibits him from shifting weight too much back. Since he started doing this, every club has improved. He is getting under and hitting down on his iron and wedges and has started to tee his driver down to more human levels.

I agree with Bigboys advice and want to add something, as far as ball positioning goes. On a short chip, it may appear as though the ball is far back in the stance but with an open stance and feet closer together but relative to the spine, the ball may actually still be center stance or a half or one ball back of center, relative to the spine. No matter the shot, you don't really want to change the ball position much except when teed up for the driver. You can strike down on the ball no matter where it is positioned in the stance. Try not to change another variable in this game that doesn't need changing. It's hard enough, as is!

I forget which online video it was but my chipping got much better when I started looking at the the front of the ball. I also stopped trying to "sweep" the ball with the wedge(52-56-60 degree) doesn't matter. I still contact the ball with a descending blow. My chipping saves me 7-9 strokes per round. These chips are where a good swing and contact come into play. It's up close and personal and much less forgiving.

I would want to know because I tend to play better when there is pressure. I tend to make more mistakes when I am playing a round by myself and I am just playing against the course. When playing against someone else, I make fewer mistakes when I know what the score is and know what I need to win. The problem with that is, when I am in the lead, I relax too much. My point is, for me, I play better and harder when I know I am behind. Edit: Wow, I just read what I wrote and I am pretty screwed up!

I put my old putter in my bag and shot my best round yet. I had 5 single putts and 13 2 putts. No 3 putts today! I shot an 89...42 front and 47 back. I didn't miss a single putt inside 6 feet. I did miss 3 birdie putts from 8-15 feet

I'm sure this topic has been beaten to death but here goes another one. I played with a 3 and 5 wood a few years ago when I first started playing and would always slice them just like my driver. I got a cheapo 3 hybrid from walmart and could hit it straight to 240 or so. My playing partner, who is ten years older than me, would say, "you take your cheat club and I'll still beat you" would tend to spray his woods while I would hit my hybrid straight. To this day, he still calls a hybrid a "cheat club" even though he now uses my old hybrid and hits it way better than he ever hit his woods. I hit my Adams Tech OS 4 hybrid from a downhill lie, 235 yards today even with the pin and just off the fringe. I also hit the 3 hybrid 250 yards from level, even with the pin and 5 yards right of green. If that's cheating, call me a cheater! Yardages are taken with my HTC Touch Pro running FreeCaddie GPS. I can't believe I actually got the old timer to use my old hybrid. He's not really old though. He's 45 and I'm 35. I think he's gonna come around and put his woods to bed for good.