enarhi

Good luck Ben. Great to see you're playing well and hopefully on your way to fulfilling the dream. If you're birdieing that stupid second at Rustic you should be fine in Asia

Yesterday but anyhow. 70(E) at Buenaventura, a pretty easy course that is treed, target golf through and through (Only 6100 yards). I was really pleased, since lately approaches had been killing me but I hit 14/18 greens--hopefully a sign of things to come.

Without a doubt my favorite ball to play, but I tear through them enough for it to be a financial burden. They last me 3 holes max before showing visible cuts, paint scuffs, etc. As a result, I only play them for serious rounds, using ProV's/found balls for the rest of them.

Possible, yes. Advisable, no.

I used to suffer from a similarly oversized backswing. For me, the most effective solution is to take the club back slower, maintaining a smooth swing throughout. Your timing won't change, since the slower backswing should take the same amount of time, therefore ending sooner in terms of going beyond parallel. You'll feel much more control as well, since with a slower backswing that will be closer to parallel, you're wrists and body rotation won't be given that extra period beyond parallel where they can easily drift/twist off plane.

It's ironically good that they are fining him. It will bring negative attention to the rules official who called this ticky-tack warning, and sets Tiger in a better light while also giving Paddy some solace for his loss. The end result-I doubt any rules officials will call the clock on a PGA golfer fighting for a victory anytime soon.

I couldn't agree more. This bugs the heck out of me.

I agree with Tiger winning by double digits.

His swing is so simple, it makes me feel bad for not being able to always hit the ball with perfect contact. I wish my swing felt like his swing looks. Same for Rory Mcilroy, really.

I consider delofting anything beyond the norm.

I highly doubt he's actually delofting. This is just what he can do when he really goes at it and has downwind/downhill conditions to work with.

He proved this week why he's the best putter in the history of the game. 49 of 50 putts made from within 10 feet going into the final round is enough to convince me. Seeing him make so many clutch putts, both long and short, doesn't hurt either.

I think he'll be shattering Snead and Nicklaus's records. He should be able to break the century mark in wins, and he will definitely get at least 5 more majors, barring any severe injury. People forget that he is just now reaching the common peak of a golfer's career, and has about 10 years of quality golf left at a minimum. At his current pace (63 wins in his last 10 years, 13 majors) this would leave him around 130 wins with 25 majors. Granted his performance isn't guaranteed to stay at this level, but with how he's bounced back from the knee injury I'm convinced that his performance for the future will be equal, if not better than, his past 10 years.

I've been wondering the same lately. I'm an architecture major at Cal, and have become interested in the course design section of the pga's program. From the info I've read, it is clear that the whole process is incredibly overly complicated and intricate. Not to threadjack or anything, but I'd love any information anyone has on the course design program. If any of you guys happen to actually be in the course design business or near it, shoot me a PM.

The amount of bias in all of these comments is funny. That said, Shaun Alexander should have won at RB, Hasselback at QB, and Engram at WR.

Had to comment on this. Taking less club is a bad idea for a flyer lie, as it brings even more inconsistencies into play. The best approach is to take the same club as usual and swing with a smooth swing, keeping the body rotation slower and under control through the ball to control trajectory--as Tiger Woods puts it, "Most amateurs take less club and swing harder, getting quick and steep on their backswing, which just accentuates the flyer or causes them to chunk it. Instead, I select the club I would normally use for the yardage and slow the speed of my body, staying tall throughout the shot. I also try to hit the ball with soft arms and hands. The result is a shot that flies the proper distance and lands softly, sometimes even sucking back."

Key in on accelerating through the ball. When having issues with putting and trying so hard to improve it, it's easy to start worrying so much about swing path, line, speed, etc. that you forget the most basic key to consistent putting--acceleration through the ball. Decel that perfectly smooth, arced putter swing with a perfect read, and you're still going to have an awful result.

Pick the 5 hardest holes on the course. Play those for bogey. Pick the 2 or 3 easy ones that you can attack, and play those for birdie. The rest of the way, play for pars. For me, the first time I broke 80 had nothing to do with ball striking and everything to do with course management.

The two keys I focus on are choking up so the leading edge of the club is around the middle of the ball at address and shallowing out my swing.

Tiggypoo! Duh...

Haha, this is great. I especially like the "fans".

All of the top-line wedges are equal in quality. Try them all out and go with whichever one feels best to you. Performance-wise the newer Cleveland's, Titleist, etc. are all quite similar.

With 10 greens hit you should be scoring much better than an 83. As you said, your short game is hurting you, since you must not have been getting up and down or sinking any mid-long range putts to score so high with so few missed greens. Think of it this way--a single-digit handicap usually gets up-and down slightly more than half the time, and very rarely three putts. this would leave them at ~+4 if they hit 10 greens, assuming none of the birdie putts were converted, and there were no disaster holes. I'm guessing you had a couple really bad holes, and failed to get up and down on most of the other missed greens. Work on course management so you can avoid those really high numbers and leave yourself easier up-and downs. If you only hit 8 GIR's, but play smart and have reasonable up and down opportunities on the rest of the holes, you should be able to shoot 77 or 78 without even needing to make any long putts. Even with one disaster hole (inevitable) where you card a double, getting up and down on half the holes would leave you at a 78. And again, this is without even making any of those birdie putts on the hit greens.

Fast=105+ Medium=90-105 Slow=Below 90 Generally the distance you hit is ~2.5*Swing Speed, although actual distance depends on many other factors as well, such as spin, trajectory, and quality of contact. For reference, pro's are in the 115-125 range, and long drive competitors peak around 150.

Good work, congrats on the win! Props for pulling 9 pars on the front and not falling apart--if I were at your level and had 9 pars I imagine I'd be killing myself over missed opportunities, especially since you hit so many greens. Sounds like a really solid round all-around.