Jack Lee

To this point, my issue bringing my handicap down was consistency. Thin/topped shots or big pushes. I recently got a little help with that and am coming along really fast in getting those out of my game. I do a lot of sand work with my sixty degree wedge when I'm in a steep bunker (common where I play) or short sided. It's actually one of my better clubs. I still have my old 5 wood and might try pulling my pitching wedge for a round or two and replacing it with that and see if it helps. My big concern in looking at this at all is that the courses I play have a lot of doglegs that force shorter tee shots. I have situations that call for that middle range between my 3 wood and 3 hybrid more often than I'm comfortable not being able to address, especially as I get more consistent. My driver has turned monstrously long since my last bit of help and I've hit my 3 wood for what my girlfriend guessed at about 250 in recent rounds. I just worry about being able to hit a shot in that mid range between 250 and 210 and have it stick without worrying about flying the green. Maybe it will prove to be over thinking an issue I won't see as often as I think as my game improves. I'd still love to hear impressions from folks that have carried 4 woods or high threes that they liked. JL

I've been playing a set that leans toward short range for a while now. My current set is driver, 3 wood, 3 hybrid, 4-pw, 52, 56, 60. I'm finding myself with a big gap in the long end of my set. I hit about 245 with my 3 wood and 200 or so with my hybrid. I'm thinking of going to a set makeup of driver, strong 3 wood, high loft 3 wood (or 4 wood), 3 hybrid, 4-9, 48, 54, 60. That would leave me versatile on the short end and close the gap in my long end. What are you folks thoughts on that change? And who makes a 4 wood or high loft 3 wood that folks would suggest trying? Thanks! Jack Lee

I'm looking at upgrading my wedges here soon. I'm looking at the callaway mack daddy 2, taylormade tour pereferred ef, or titleist sm5. I play 52, 56, 60 degree wedges. Which have you played and/or prefer and why?

I have been playing now for about 7 years. I have broken 100 exactly once to this time. I will reinforce the folks that said lessons are worth the time if you are serious about improving your game. I got my first lesson 7 days after starting to play. It was a demo day at a local course. There were instructors there to give you a free 5 minute lesson. One of them watched me swing and offered his help. In that 5 minutes he cured my beginner's slice and started me on the road to loving and enjoying this game. I took a few private lessons with that same instructor. (His style of teaching obviously worked for me.) When we started, I was shooting about 122 over 18 holes. By the time we were done, I was shooting 105 or so. One of the most helpful things that he told me was to read the book Practical Golf by John Jacobs and Harvey Penicks Little Red Book. Both have been excellent sources of information. Recently, I had been topping and pushing an awful lot of shots. I returned to the book and read the section on that issue. What I thought I was doing (lifting my head) was not what the book said was causing most golfers to have that set of issues. I made the swing change outlined in the book and have been practicing and playing with it. It looks like breaking 100 might just be in reach now. I have also recently changed my driver from a 9.5 degree driver to a 10.5 degree driver. The results of that change were immediate. I gained something like 30-40 yards off the tee. The things that I find seem to make a difference in my golf are good golf balls and focus on taking dead aim. Lately, I have found myself struggling on the course due to issues I can be happy with. I am hitting my clubs much further than before and having to try to adjust what club I go to for what range. I shot 52 during a Saturday 9 hole round with my dad this past Saturday and felt much more confident and relaxed on the course. If I hadn't been blasting shots over the green with the clubs that I usually hit from the yardages I was hitting from, I would have broken 50 easily.

Playing 9 holes with my dad this past Saturday, I teed up my new driver on a 286 yard par 4. I mashed it off the tee and couldn't see where it landed. When we got to the green, I had driven it alongside the greenside bunker. Maybe 10 yards off the green, if that. I was stunned.

Interesting point. And a good one, too. I'll have to also give some thought to how to politely deal with a group playing that slowly ahead of us in the future as well. We were keeping up with the group in front of us and I have no idea what our who may have been in front of them. We were being careful to give them room before hitting our shots so we didn't hit into them, but we were also getting to our balls and waiting there so as soon as they were clear, we were ready to go. I'll think on that one, as well.

So, when I started playing, I was using a loaner set of Ping I2 clone irons. The woods were all original style metals (sized like wooden woods) so I went to the local used sporting goods shops and replaced them with newer stuff on the cheap. Those woods were a Taylormade 300Ti driver, and Cobra SZ 3 and 5 woods. The driver and 5 wood have all been upgraded out of the bag, but the 3 wood is still in play. I am good for 240+ yards off the deck with my trusty old Cobra and it sounds ten times better than anything that I have tried out in stores in current generation clubs. This past weekend, I hit a shot that was 250 and change while playing 18 holes. I just can't see parting with my Cobra even though it is 10 years or so old. So, I was wondering if anyone other than myself is still playing a club significantly older than everything else in the bag that they wanted to pay tribute to here. Jack Lee

I recently updated a few clubs, so now the bag contains: Taylormade SLDR 430 stiff driver 10.5 degrees Cobra SZ 3 wood Adams A7 3 hybrid 19 degrees Taylormade 2008 tour preferred irons 4-pw Mizuno JPX wedges 52, 56, 60 degrees Odyssey White Hot XG #9 putter 34.5 inches.

Well there's a DUH moment that I should have thought of. I didn't even consider calling the clubhouse. That is one in the arsenal for if it ever happens again. Hopefully, it won't. Thanks!!

So, I was playing 18 with my girlfriend this past Sunday and we were having a nice time. We were both playing well, the weather was lovely, and the course is just awesome. We had a group in front of us that was playing slowly enough that we kept catching up to them. Now, we aren't fast players ourselves, but we either stand aside and wave faster players through or something similar if we are obviously holding someone else up. It was a little annoying, but no big deal to us. Where we started having problems was when a group that appeared to be an adult, a mid to late teen, and a ten or so year old caught up to us. They were being as obnoxious as anyone I have ever had the displeasure to be on a course with. This bunch was shouting to each other across the course as we were trying to hit shots, cutting donuts on the fairways with the golf cart, repeatedly screeching to a halt in the golf carts on the path, and so on. At least three times, they hit shots that came within 10 yards of us with no warning call. I have NEVER seen such behavior on a golf course. I was truly at a loss to decide how to respond appropriately. They ended up leaping past both us and the slow group ahead of us, but that was a long 6 holes to put up with them. I had originally intended to ask the folks at the clubhouse to talk to them if they had finished behind us, but after they passed us, it was a little less effective. I did make the clubhouse staff aware of their behavior anyway in case they were regulars to the course. I was told that none of the staff had seen them before that they could recall. So, how would you respond to this sort of behavior on a course? Keeping in mind that there were kids in the group. (That influenced my reactions heavily.) Jack Lee

Hard to word that topic line to make sense, but here is my question. Have you found that as you work on part of your game the rest suffers? For example: I have been working with a pro on my irons and short game. I have been at the range two times a week or so for the last month hitting my drills and working on incorporating the new changes into my swing. I spend the first part of every session hitting half wedge shots and short pitches to try to stick the swing path and such into my muscle memory. Result: my irons and short game are coming around but I can't seem to hit my woods worth a flat darn. My favorite clubs in the bag used to be my hybrid and three wood, but I can't seem to hit a clean shot with them to save my life now. Can I expect to continue to drive myself nuts like this as I learn? How hard was it (if you have) to overcome this sort of issue? Thanks for your time! Jack Lee

I found in my game that working with a pro has helped me to see what I am doing wrong. I found someone whose teaching style worked for me and I have been working with him for several months now. If your mind is open and you are willing to listen to a pro, then yes, the lessons are worth every penny. If you aren't ready to listen to someone yet, then you would be wasting your money. The other thing is that you have to be willing and able to spend time working on what you learn. You won't get better without working outside the lessons as well. Understand, I am no great player, I still shoot over 100 each round, but I also am getting better each round. That is just my opinion and worth exactly what you paid for it. Jack Lee

Ok, I have been working with a pro and taking two or three practice sessions at a local range a week. Here is the issue I am coming up with. I am coming up with insane amounts of power at the strangest times. For example, Saturday, I had a shot into a green backed by water. Check the range and get 140 something to the center and 155 to the back of the green. There is 7-10 yards of fairway/fringe behind the green and then it drops off to the lake. I took out my 150 yard club and put a smooth, clean swing on it. Right on target, line is good, I watch with amazement as my shot soars clear over the green and lands 5 yards or so past the land with a lovely spash. An easy 170 yard shot. That happened one other time that same round. I play a shot that should be exactly what I need and hit it so clean and pure that I overshoot my target by 20 yards. I am trying to work out how to account for this in my practice. I can only guess that these monster shots are coming from much better iron contact. It is just giving me fits on the course. I am minding my distances in my practice sessions and using those ranges on the course. So, any tips on how to address this? Thanks! Jack Lee

I have two that really bug me. The first is people that litter on the course. Especially cigarette butts on the greens. The two courses I play regularly are both very well maintained by the grounds folks. The busier that they are, the more you find junk on the course. Some times it is stuff that could be accidental and thoughtless like a ball sleeve. The real winners are things like the sand trap on my home course that some idiot dumped several empty beer bottles in. The second is folks that feel like they are the course police. The example I would have to give for this one is an incident from a par 3 when I was playing with my dad and fiancee. She ended up in a greenside sand trap. We were both on the green. There was a group pushing us, so we were playing hurry up. She walked onto the green to make a lag putt since she was still away saying to us "Let me putt this up real quick". She hadn't raked the trap. All three of us still had balls left to play on the green, so we were surprised to see a player from the group behind us come full throttle up to the green in his cart and call out at my fiancee "SON! HEY SON! You need to rake that trap!" Now, she is very petite and often gets mistaken for a male by folks that are just glancing, so that part was understandable. The part that offended me was that three of us were on the green, still finishing the hole. Had we been walking to our carts, I would have understood someone pointing out politely that we had neglected to rake the trap. I would actually have appreciated it. As it was, we get some jerk barking at us. Not to mention that to do so, he came almost onto the green in a golf cart. Talking about it later, my dad and I had both noted that my fiancee hadn't raked the trap and were planning to remind her if she finished the hole and didn't take care of it. Y'all take care! Jack Lee

I have to say that for me, the thing that makes me the happiest is hitting my target dead on. Watching the ball flying EXACTLY the line I wanted is just such a beautiful feeling. I can overlook a lot of junk in my game if I can keep my target line going on like I want it to. Y'all have fun! Jack Lee

Here's the issue that I am having: I currently am working with a pro to try to improve my game. We started on my irons and wedges. That is coming around nicely and the swing translates well to my hybrid and fairway wood. The driver, however, is troublesome. To get a grip/stance that I am comfortable with, I have to grip down almost to the bottom of the grip. Getting down that far on my driver grip means I start pulling the loving crap out of my drives. (Hit a 284 yard drive that was arrow straight, just pulled enough to get into the left rough and keep it from being an easy shot to take advantage of.) If I adjust my grip on my driver, it begins to mess with the grip I am taking on my other clubs resulting in beginning to push all of those shots. I am trying to figure out what to do to address this while playing without taking the driver out of my bag. The options I am considering currently are: take out the driver (don't want to if I can avoid it) swap back to my old driver (a 10 year old TM300ti) for now try a 3 wood shaft in my driver to see if cutting it down would help (R9 makes this pretty simple) What are you folks' thoughts on this? I am planning (when the money is available and my swing has settled in) to get fitted professionally for a driver. I know this would be the best option now, most likely, also as it would fix any length/grip size issues I have, but it just isn't something I can do yet. Thanks for your time. Sincerely, Jack Lee

I teed off with a 3 wood on a short par 4. I saw the ball hit a hillside just short of the green and hop back toward the center of the fairway. I thought I was going to be spitting distance off the green when I got up to my ball. Instead, I was on the green sitting about 20 feet from the hole looking at my first ever eagle try. I left the putt about 4 feet short, but I still was delighted to have the try anyway. If I keep improving the way I have been, it certainly won't be the last time. Jack Lee

I played 18 yesterday with my dad and shot 109. Pretty close to the 110 average I have been shooting lately, so not too shabby. I was hitting decently and pretty happy with my course management. I got too fixated on the back 9 with what I had to shoot to break 100. I started the back side pretty well, par, double, bogey. I fell back into bad swing habits thinking about having to tighten up to break 100. Dangit!!! I had been coming apart overall lately as I try to incorporate some swing changes into my game, so I was pleased to be back at my average, but I was disappointed that I didn't break 100 like I wanted. Back to the range, then. Jack Lee

I went back today to the course that whooped me last Friday. I was particularly looking forward to another chance at the par 5 that got so in my head last week. (Took a 10 on my longest drive to that point.) I smashed my drive same as last time. This time, I was thinking about it hard. I had a small opening in the trees to cut the corner (hard dogleg left...number 12 at Jamestown Park if any of you are local) so I punched it through looking for a decent lie in the fairway with a clear shot at the green. Sitting center fairway, I judge the range and pull the 8 iron and go straight at the flagstick. I watched with a grin as my ball hits the green, hops back about a foot and comes to rest two feet from the hole. Easy birdie putt. And it went. I stood there for a moment, grinning like an idiot, just looking at my lie from the fairway. MAN THAT FELT GOOD!!!!! Jack Lee

I went out today on the course that whooped me last weekend and shot 50 over 9 holes. Not, perhaps, what I was hoping for (set my sights on breaking 50 today) but I was much happier with my course management and club to distance matching today. I have struggled as I have been taking lessons and have gained serious distance on most of my clubs. Adapting to that has really been a task. It seems to be coming together, though. With any luck, I will be able to come here later this weekend and post a sub 100 round to add to this close one. Jack Lee

What is the easiest way to try going about it? What I am finding is that I am just not comfortable with the length of my R9 driver. I love the way it hits, but I find that I am gripping nearly the bottom of the grip to feel like I am set up correctly. I have a stock stiff shaft on it and was wanting to try something that runs about 2" shorter. If I try the shaft out of an R9 3 wood, would that be something like the length I am after??

I played 9 holes Friday morning with a twosome that I was added onto at the course. I learned a valuable lesson from one of the coolest shots I have ever hit and the result of it. I have been working with a pro to try to develop as a golfer. I am really finding benefit from this and it is causing me many laughs as I mess up my game with improvements. (Kind of hard to score if you are allowing for a much worse swing than you have currently, but that is a whole 'nother topic.) One thing I am still struggling with working into my new game is my driver. I just don't have the comfort level that I used to (with my bad swing). I was teeing off that round with my 3 wood and 3 hybrid on most holes, as appropriate, until we got to a dogleg left par 5 with a nice, wide fairway. The corner of the dogleg was better than 300 yards out, so I knew I couldn't possibly drive through it and the fairway was wide enough that if I pushed or pulled the drive (my two most common driver problems at the moment as I readjust my swing) I was still likely to be in short grass. So I turned to my playing partners and said "What the hey, let's see what I can do with the big stick." I pick my target, set up, and let her rip. HOLY CRAP what a drive! I pulled it just a touch, but still a nice, gentle draw that came to rest at the left edge of the fairway. One of the guys I was with looked at me and said "Quite a bit, apparently." as he shook his head. I get to the ball and check the distance on my skycaddie. 271!!! I was stunned to say the least. I have been averaging about 225 with the driver lately as I try to readjust to my new swing. So, I check the range to the green and the trusty gps says something like 220. I don't have anything approaching a clean line to the green, but I know that 220 is in my range. I was standing there, trying to decide what to play and I just couldn't get my swollen ego to stop saying "You can make 220 easy. Then you have your first ever shot at eagle." Now, I had a side hill lie from my left to my right. I was shy of the corner of the dogleg and didn't even have a hole in the trees that I could kid myself that I could shoot through. I should have played a lay up as far into the corner of the dogleg as I could safely reach to have the easy, straight approach shot to the green and played out for par. But, noooooooooo. My elephant ego started running the show. "You can bend it." says the ego "you've done it before." (on that very hole on one memorable occasion) "I should lay it up" says my butterfly golf swing. "But it will be an eagle try." says the elephant "just one more swing as sexy as that drive and you are there." So, all full of visions of turning that amazing (best ever by a long shot) drive into my first ever eagle, I went for it. I pull out the three wood, set myself for a hard left turning shot, and belted the flying snot out of that ball. .....so did anybody here forget that side hill lie I referenced earlier? I surely did when I was thinking out that shot. If I hadn't been set up to bend that shot, I most likely would have sliced it into next week. There was a pretty good slope there. As it was, I watched with a sickened fascination as my perfectly struck 3 wood went something like 230 yards.......straight as an arrow and so deep into the woods that I was laughing at myself before it even fell into the trees. With a bit of help from that penalty stroke and my current inability to judge my distances on my clubs, I turned a almost sure bogey or par into a 10. My elephant ego wrote the check and when it came time for that butterfly golf swing to cash it, the wings just dropped right off. I have to say that I understand now why I read in my favorite golf magazine at least one tip giver a month saying something like "know your limits and play within yourself if you want to score". Now, if only I can find it in myself to actually listen to that advice. Oh, well. I guess some of us hard heads just can't listen. Y'all take care! Jack Lee

I know the reason for the changes exactly. I seem to be already incorporating the corrections that he is teaching me faster than I had thought. The thing to me was that I was screwing up holes by being better than I expected. I was literally belly laughing each time it happened. Guffawing like an idiot on the course. What else can I do??? I know that I am going to have to spend some serious time relearning my club ranges especially if I continue to improve. I also expect that I will have to go through that more than once as we tweak my game and I become better and longer as a result. To me, though, it was hilarious to be smearing the ball that way and trashing my score as a result. I thought maybe y'all would share the humor and maybe appreciate the sentiment. Take care! Jack Lee

I was today. Twice. I have been working with a pro on my swing, building a nice repeatable swing that will give me a base to work on. Priority has been on irons and short game. I was playing stronger than average by far today and was really happy with how I was coming along. Playing 9 holes, I was fully expecting to better my usual score (55 or so). On the third hole, I hit the prettiest wedge I have ever hit in a round. Perfect 56 degree wedge to the green that checked up only a foot from the ball mark. Hot and solid. Great times. Then I get to the par 3 fourth. I check my range, get 125 and pull my 7 iron. I usually play a 7 for that range, and have been clubbing up while working with the pro to keep myself from trying to overswing and causing bad habits. Basing on the wedge shot I pulled on the prior hole, I decide I am a bit pumped up and need to hit the 7 solid instead of the 6 I had been hitting for that range recently. I take my aim and swing, and my dad watches it take off saying, "Man, that is going dead at it!" (and it was). Then I watch the ball hit and bounce sky high. I had hit the cart path behind the hole and bounced it into the landscaping. I ended up with a 6 on that hole trying to get out of the junk and in the hole. But I checked the distance to the cart path on my gps and came up 145. More than I have ever made with my 7 in a round. I did the same thing on the back side par 3, only worse. The hole was set long today and the rangefinder was giving me a reading of 170 to the center. I pull my 4 iron and swing. I pulled the shot left just a bit and watched, stunned as the ball vanishes into the woods behind the green. I grab my 5 iron and hit a provisional in case I can't recover the first ball. Pulled that one, too, but was able to find it. (not the first ball though) Checked the shot on the gps and got a distance of 177. I usually consider my 5 iron my 150 club and have, like I said, been clubbing up lately to allow me to swing easier while I get the hang of it. I ended up with a 6 on that hole as well. Shot 53 over 9 holes, but I can't be upset that it was because I was swinging better than I have ever been able to. I had two other holes that I caused myself to have to recover or scramble by hitting much further than I have ever been able to off the range. How can you be anything but happy about that?? Now I just have spend enough time on the range to relearn my clubs. It seems like I no longer can trust what I had come to think of as my ranges. Y'all have fun! Jack Lee

I played a round yesterday and had a few really nice shots. I have been working with a pro on getting consistent with my swing. I had struggled to incorporate the new changes to my swing workably, but have been working on the range to try to clean it up. Yesterday, I was able to really make it happen. I almost NEVER make GIR right now. I had a middling par 4 that I drove fairly well and was set up about 75 yards out. I would have usually played a full 56 degree wedge for that range, but I have noticed that I am a little short on what I am used to right now. I pulled out my 52 degree wedge and gave it a full on whack, thinking happy thoughts as hard as I could. I made clean, crisp contact and took the first correct divot I have ever hit in a round and the ball soared like an eagle. Popped up high, straight where I was aiming and landed on the green with a thud that I could hear where I was standing. When I got to the green to look what I had managed, I was 15 or 20 feet from the pin, on in regulation, and in position for my second ever birdie. I left the birdie putt short by about 6 inches, but was dead on the line and still got out in par comfortably. I have struggled based on my consistency issue to get a reliable drive range nailed down. That seems to be coming around as well. On a short par 4 (right at 300 yards) we were watching the group ahead of us until they got to the greenside bunkers. Dad pointed out that none of the three of us playing had ever hit a 300 yarder, so we were good to go. (There was a group behind us as well.) He drove and got about 220 straight and true. My fiancee set up and managed a nice 125 yarder. I set up, take aim for the gap between the fairway bunkers and let fly. I hit one of my cleanest drives of the day. The ball flew straight, true, and beautiful and as I realized what I had hit I yelled out "FORE!!". The group in the bunkers all flinched as the ball came to rest about 25 yards or so short of the greenside bunkers. (I apologized when we closed the gap enough that I could talk with them.) The gps I was using showed that drive to measure 266. Apart from the faux pas of nearly hitting into the group ahead of us, I was delighted with the shot. The hands down funniest of the day, however, was a 3 wood on a long par 5 that I have always struggled with on that course. One of the changes that the pro had me make in my swing is how I hold my arms. (allow the elbows to flex at address instead of setting up with them stiff and stuck forward) This has meant that I am having to relearn my distance from the ball at address for every shot. I apparently got too close to the ball for that shot and ended up hitting it off the hosel/head junction. Should have been a shank of monumental proportions by my thinking when I felt the ball/club contact. Apparently, the rest of the swing was dead on perfect, though, because I hit a gorgeous shank/fade that started to head left and then faded back into the fairway, hugging the tree line all the way. End result, 188 yards center fairway. My dad just shook his head and said "you couldn't repeat that shot if your life depended on it." All in all, three GIR, one up and down par save and some seriously confidence boosting shots. Y'all take care! Jack Lee