Jack Lee

I am curious to see what y'all would rate my set. Jack Lee

Well, I got lucky when I started playing golf last year. I caught a demo day at a local course that was advertising its new management a week after I started swinging a club. The demo day had a couple of club company reps there to show off new equipment and teaching pros there to work with anyone that came by. It was raining a bit off and on, so not too many people showed up to visit the course. The end result of that being that I was fitted for a driver by a club rep and then had a dozen or so bored teaching pros hanging out watching me swing. One of the pros stepped up after watching me slice ball after ball clean off the driving range and asked if I would like a pointer or two. After five minutes working with him, he had me hitting drives straight and true about 200 yards out. (Even drawing a few shots.) Fast forward to this year....I start talking to a 14 handicapper I work with about who I should take lessons from locally. He is pretty into the golf community around here and I thought he would have some good tips and knowledge about local teachers. I explain that I am eager to see what a pro could do for/with me over a series of lessons after what happened at the demo day. He stops me after I tell him that story and asks if I know where the pro I worked with that day teaches. I admit I do but that he is 40 minutes from the house. My coworker tells me that if the drive isn't just TOO MUCH, that I should go try working with that pro as his style seems to be proven for me. So..... I went out a couple of weeks back and talked at some length with this gentleman and set up to take lessons from him. We talked about recommended reading and my goals for taking lessons. The first lesson for me is noon today. I play an average round in about 110 right now because I just can't get a reliable and repeatable short game going on. I hit my driver well and am getting to the point that I can repeat that swing most of the time. I absolutely CRUSH my 3 wood and have to work to swing poorly with it. My hybrid I am still adjusting to, but I hit it pretty well also. My trouble begins in my irons. When I get one pretty, it is REALLY pretty. I can even work a ball around with them. The issue is that I get that sexy swing 1 time in 3. The other times I alternate between a lovely chili dip and skulling the crap out of the ball. My wedges I get good clean swings 1 time in 5 or so. I leave a huge number of them short and have some of the fat/thin problem that I have with my irons. The putter is where I put in my most practice at the moment, so I am decent with that. I grabbed the two books that the pro recommended and have begun working my way through them. (Harvey Pennick's Little Red Book and Practical Golf by John Jacobs if you are wondering.) Cover to cover on the Little Red Book and a goodly portion through Practical Golf and they both seem to contain a great deal of information. I understand parts of the swing (and how I think I am messing it up) much better now than I did before I began reading. I am looking forward greatly to my time working with this gentleman and seeing what we can make of my game together. I set up a series of three lessons to begin and am planning to do them 2 or three weeks apart to allow time to practice on what we work on. After that, if I work as well long term with this teacher as I did in the time at that demo day, I will be likely going back every 4 to 6 weeks to keep my game from getting too far bent out of whack. Wish me luck! Jack Lee

I had one playing a round with my fiancee that I was particularly proud of. Sliced my drive (no that isn't the one I was proud of) and thought I lost it into the woods right. I hit a provisional and then walked up the fairway. Found my first ball sitting just off the fairway where I apparently got lucky and caught a tree to keep it playable. I ranged the shot with my gps and got 180 to the back of the green and was hitting uphill, so I pulled my 19 degree hybrid since I hit that 180 to 190 usually. I took aim at the flag and put the absolutely cleanest lick of the day on that ball. I watched happily as the ball nailed the green and ended up about 15 to 20 feet from the hole. The hole is a middling par 4 and I usually don't get on in regulation. Managing to do just that after an ugly drive made me quite happy. Y'all take care! Jack Lee

Not too long ago, I solicited opinions of a driver that may help me dispense with my haunting hook. (It was a frustrating experience to play a long, tough hole out in par on my second tee shot after hooking my first one into never never land, and thus waste a fine performance.) The responses were varied and provided me with several different thoughts on the topic. One parameter I was looking for was "not to break the bank", that elusive state of value for dollar. The suggestions that I looked the hardest at were the Taylormade Burner (07) TP and the Cobra S9-1 Pro series. On the used market, both could be had for what I felt was a reasonable price. I had been thinking that an open driver would be the answer, especially after finding out that my current driver that I had thought was neutral was one degree closed. Learning that tidbit set me to looking at the handful of neutral aligned clubs as well as the open faced ones. In the end, I walked into a shop that had a good used selection of drivers and tried a handful out. The Cobra Pro D felt good and swung well for me, but sounded off with a wet slap kind of sound that just didn't feel right for me. The neutral club or two that I tried (don't recall them, they were that memorable) just didn't feel right. Then came the R9 460. Set up neutral, it felt very much alive in my hands. Felt good, sounded good, hit like a hammer. Price was acceptable to me (just after TM had announced the pending release of the new pair of drivers, so the price had fallen a bit) so I grabbed it. I took my new toy to the driving range to see if it worked as well there as it had in the store. (I love buying used for the short term return policies the stores I deal with have. Don't like it in 10 days or 30 days, depending on the store, return it in the condition you bought it and you're out in no harm.) It drove well for me and seemed to work well with my swing. Not quite the distance I was used to with my older driver, but for an improved chance not to hook it, I would trade. So I kept banging away with it and it stayed in my bag. Weather prevented me getting on a course with it until just this past weekend. I played 9 holes with my dad and fiancee (she was joining us for her first 9 holes of golf, so it couldn't be anything but an enjoyable day). The course we play has no driving range, so I wasn't able to warm up well like I like to, but still recovered nicely on the first hole. Nothing spectacular with the drive, but about what I am used to hitting there without warming up or having played for a bit. Second hole was about the same, nothing spectacular, but nothing horrendous either. Third hole, my hands seemed to come alive. There is a creek somewhere around "holy crap" and a ditch down at 220 or so. I pick out a spot on the creek bank for a line target and take my swing. Now understand that this creek has NEVER come into play for me before. I usually hit my really nice drives 30 yards short of it, so using the bank for a target had become my habit. When I hit that drive, that lovely "pure hit" sound rang off the club and the ball took off like it was on a wire. As I stood there not believing what I was watching, my ball went soaring about 8 or 10 feet to the right of my point of aim and one hopped into the creek. My dad looks at me and says "well, it sounded good, but I didn't see where it went." "In the creek" I answered him quietly. "You mean the ditch?" he asked. "The creek" I repeated. With a smile, he says "I have done that a lot myself, but ALWAYS on my second shot." The rest of the hole played out decently and the next hole was an uneventful par 3. On the par 4 fifth, again I pick out my usual target and let fly. Again, that sexy crack/ping sound rings out and the ball launches like it was shot instead of clubbed. The hole isn't long, but usually is a struggle for me to get on in regulation. I just haven't been driving well enough before. When the ball comes to a stop, it is an easy 50 yards past my usual landing area and I am trying to figure out whose swing I have picked up. Again, I end up having a fun conversation with my dad as he starts looking for my ball where I usually land it and I stop him. "Up there" I say, pointing him toward my ball. He looks at me and at the ball and then says simply "Pretty good drive" All I could do was nod. Parts of the course were still closed due to the recent snows, so we skipped a few and headed over to the par 4 8th. One more time, I pick out my usual target (slow to learn, huh?) which is the inside edge of the left greenside sand trap. Once again, I swing my driver and watch my ball launch like I have always dreamed of and come skidding to a halt in the exact edge I was used to aiming at less than 5 yards from the green. I can't be sure what the hole was playing that day, but the tees we were hitting off of card 276, so any way you cut it, that was a heck of a drive. With a grin, my dad says to me "That one I saw." All I could say in response was "Wow". For fear of overshooting my target, I used my 3 wood on the next tee. (Rolling hole where you want to land on the crest of the hill rather than in the valley between that and the green.) One more fantastic swing later, I was wishing I had clubbed down further as I still almost rolled it down the hill. I struggled that round with my short game as I usually do and dad was putting on a clinic titled "it ain't how you drive, but how you arrive" to stay ahead of me. (As he usually does.) I did have a couple of really nice shots with my lob wedge (which I have struggled to get used to using) that made me feel good and I stuck the wrap up par 3 tee shot to within 10 feet, so not my worst round by any means. I have to say that I think that I may have found the driver I was looking for. When I take my time and swing like I was taught, it crushes balls with monotonous regularity. It's a beautiful thing. So, now off we go to the same pro that taught me (in 5 minutes or so) how to swing a driver at a demo day to work on my short game and my iron consistency. I look forward to being able to pass on to you all here (especially those of you that suggested a pro over a driver change) what the results are of those lessons. Happy hacking!! Jack Lee

On my last trip to the golf store, I bought a couple of clubs for my fiancee who has finally decided to try out golfing with me. YAY!!!

In fact, I am dropping by a local country club tomorrow morning to return a club I picked up at a Goodwill store and called the phone number on the name tag to confirm that it was dropped off there intentionally. Turns out it hadn't been.

I had two worth mentioning this past Sunday golfing with my dad. First, teeing off at a hole where there is about 275 or so to the green, I took aim at the 8-10 foot space between the sand traps guarding the green and let fly. I watched as the ball took off like it was on a wire and blasted to the left side sand trap, just catching the edge by inches. The ball cut something like a two foot long furrow in the sand and came to rest something like 10 feet from the green and only 6 inches or so into the sand trap. I stood there with my mouth hanging open. I buried a shot into the greenside bunker at another hole, leaving myself a difficult recovery. The ball was in the far face of the trap which slopes up very sharply to the green. I considered playing it out sideways and then making the pitch to the green, but just felt like giving it a try. In an homage to Sergio Garcia, I took my stance with my right foot in the sand trap and my left on top of the hill, leaving me almost kneeling on my left knee. I took my swing with my 60 degree wedge (which I have struggled to learn to use well) and blasted out probably as prettily as I ever have, landing the shot about 10 feet from the flag. Those were two shots I will not forget for quite a while. Jack Lee

I have to admit, this question has me curious, also. Haven't thought of it before, but it seems like it might be a good idea to try.

I shot a 110 yesterday, but that doesn't tell the whole story nor why I was pretty ok with it. One, I forgot that I was coming off of a bout of bronchitis and probably shouldn't have been trying to walk 18 as I just flat ran out of steam about hole 8. Two, only one club in my bag was one that I had previously played with and I was expecting the result to be a complete puke-o-rama. Instead, it actually went much better than expected. The driver just didn't work for me. I was spraying them left and right to the fairway edges and into the edge of the rough and woodline. No real biggie, now I know not to buy that driver. My iron game was perhaps the best it has ever been. With my new irons, I was able to recover from most of the nasty places my drives left me. I was off on my ranges, but I was playing an unfamiliar course (second time playing the whole 18) with only eyeball range and course markers to gauge my ranges by using irons I hadn't had a chance to really range out yet. They are lofted quite differently than my last set and I was trying to make adjustments for the differences that left a few shots just short of the green and flew a few over. I think that when I get them ranged and get used to them, I will be much happier than I was with the "brick on a stick" irons I had before. (Eye 2 clones. Huge and ungainly with almost no feel for what the shots were doing....thus the term.) I really struggled with my wedge game. I couldn't get the hang of the loft and feel change over my last clubs. The wedges I just retired were the matching clubs for the "brick on a stick" irons I had been using. They were lofted something like 55,60, and 65. Real monsters. The ones I was using yesterday were Taylormade RAC TPs. I was either leaving the shot short or flying it pretty much all day. The putter was a replacement that I had to pick up due to being unable to locate mine. I had been planning to upgrade, just not at the same time as changing my irons, wedges, and fairway woods. I ended up with a really solid putting game. 40 putts over the whole 18 holes, 20 on each side. Given that the course has some large and tricky greens I was pretty happy with my putting. Room for improvement, obviously, but I 1 putted 4 holes, three putted 4 holes, and 2 putted all the rest. Not by any means unacceptable. I have to work on my strategy, also. When I was discussing the round with a course employee that asked me about it when I got back in, I mentioned not pulling out my new 19 degree hybrid for any shots all day. He asked me about teeing off with it twice on holes he said could often benefit from being played that way. It simply hadn't crossed my mind to do that. Both holes are hard dogleg short par 4s that I tried to turn the corner on with the driver. Next time I will remember to think about options. Well, I got a round in on New Year's Day and didn't go screaming past my average round score. That works for me. Y'all take care! Jack Lee

ummmmm, Throw my game for a loop, not through. Sorry.

Gang, I am starting 2010 off with new clubs in most of my bag. Other than the fact that I know that I am going to through my game for a loop while I adjust, I am looking for some thoughts here. I got fitted for irons and ended up with the Taylormade TP (last model, not the R9). Now I am looking at the driver. I am currently hitting a Taylormade 300ti in 9.5 with a stiff shaft. It is working well for me, but I am looking for something that is a bit open as I have a draw to a hook. I don't want to spend a fortune, so the 400-500 dollar drivers are out. The shop I am dealing with pointed me at Tour Edge and has loaned me a demo to try out with tomorrow's round. (I will let you all know how it plays for me.) The actual question (finally) is what have folks with draw to hook tendencies found to work well for a driver? I am also considering the G15 from Ping and the Adams Speedline (last model, not the current). I have looked at the Burner 07 TP that I found used. Help! Thanks! Jack Lee

I have to ask so I have an idea what to expect. I was in a minor motorcycle crash two nights ago and came out with a broken rib being the longest healing injury sustained. The rest was bumps and bruises. My question is whether any of you have had to deal with a broken rib and if so how long did it take you to get back on the course? I am planning to inquire of the doc at my follow up, but I know that depending on who that doc is they might be of the "overly cautious" school of thought and tell me not to swing for a year. If it matters, it was a clean fracture that didn't dislocate and only broke in one place. Second rib on my left side, I think they said. Thanks! Jack Lee

Dagnabit, I shot 123 today. In the rain and trying out new shots, but still should have been better. I shot 67 on the front nine and 56 on the back nine. Was trying to work out how to fade a drive (got it) and then how to aim the fade (didn't got it). I missed my first birdie by about half an inch. On a medium par 4 in 2 and only JUST missed the putt. DRAT!!! I was driving pretty well and hitting my targets with the drives about 2/3 of the time. The other third of the drives were drawing or fading too far and getting in the muck on the sides. Lost three balls on drives and ended up making excellent second drives on those shots. All three would have been great holes but for the fact that the good drives were stroke 3. I seemed to be doing pretty well on the approach shots as well. Still working out how to get the distance on the sub 100 yard shots, but was pretty well on line with all of them. The trouble today was putting. Wet greens that were MUCH faster than I am used to that course being when it is covered in dew. I couldn't seem to hit a putt to save my life. (or my round) Still had a blast and ended up finding one of the three lost drive balls as well as 4 other balls, so I came out ahead. Oh, well. Better next time! Y'all take care! Jack Lee

On one particularly memorable hole, there is a creek cutting the fairway about 230 yards or so out. (Don't know the exact range) I pulled the 5 wood thinking to lay up rather than try to drive it as I haven't yet managed a clean drive across the creek. I put an excellent stroke behind the ball and dropped it clean as a whistle into the creek. As I couldn't see from the elevated tee box whether I had hit the bank and might be able to play it or dropped it in the water, I teed up another ball, declaring it a provisional. I pulled out my driver and proceeded to slice that ball so hard into the woods adjoining the fairway that I didn't even bother looking for it. I can say that one reason that I had such a rotten round was that my 10 year old nephew was with us and I seemed to be able to either focus on helping him have a good game/good time (his second round of golf) or on my golf game. I can say with certainty that I think I made the more important choice on which to concentrate my focus on. The two holes my dad and I lost count of our strokes on were the two that my nephew did his best on. Y'all take care! Jack Lee

Well, I am in the Winston Salem/Greensboro area myself. Anybody else out my way? Jack Lee

I have heard that your best round will be followed by your worst round. The stinkiness of the bad round will be in direct proportion to the number of people you tell about the good round. Well, I sure proved it today! Last time I played a round with my dad, I broke 100 for the first time. Shot 99 and it was something like my 5th time playing a whole 18 and my 14th or 15th round of golf at all. Absolutely delighted, I proceeded to talk with all my golfing coworkers about it as well as posting it here. Sure enough, today was horrible. Not to say I played completely badly, as I had some excellent shots. We played 9 holes and I managed a par, two bogeys and two doubles. The other 4 holes were a whole different game of golf. 7 on one par 4, 8 on another and two holes we didn't even bother to total up. (Both of us stunk those two up.) I had one drive where I smacked the snot out of the ball, but sliced it so badly that I lost the ball in the woods on the other side of the fairway of an adjacent hole. Well, now I have it out of my system. I will likely spend some time tomorrow on the driving range trying to get some semblance of order back in my swing. Y'all take care! Jack Lee

I had one today in an otherwise forgettable 9 holes. Longish par 4. Smoked my drive and was a short pitch off the green. (30 yards or so out.) I came up short on the pitch and landed myself in a greenside sand trap with shot 2 and needed to get out and placed well to even hope for bogey. The sand traps today were rock hard and I knew I would have to pick it almost clean to have any chance at a decent recovery. I line up and settle in and swing nice and smooth. The ball pops up and out with only the merest trace of contact between club and sand. I watch incredulously as the ball rolls within 6 inches of the cup and stops. Dad looked up, shook his head and called out to me "I don't think you need to putt that one. I am pretty sure it's a gimme." I will be trying to forget a goodly part of today's round, but that shot was truly heartwarming. Jack Lee

I use a symbol that looks like the old Bad Dog tshirt dog's head. (All triangles, like that character was drawn.) Only in green sharpie so far. It does make 'em easy to identify. (And from a distance, too.)

Currently, I play second hand balls from my local used sporting goods store. I have a mix of Nike, Noodle, Tileist, and Callaway currently. I try to take all the same brand of ball on any given round, just to keep it consistent, but I play what I have. I am paying .25 a ball at that shop and can easily afford to lose the occasional ball at that price.

Thanks for the thoughts. I tried the easiest suggestion first and tried teeing it a bit lower today at the driving range. Seemed to help as I was getting a bit more distance and not the huge arcing flight that I had been seeing. I think that I will be paying attention to my tee height for a while and see what that does. Happy Hacking! Jack Lee

I appreciate the offer. As soon as I can balance my golf clubs on my motorcycle to get to Raleigh with them, you're on. I have to warn you though. My sense of humor is the best part of my golf game.

Ok, here's the thing. I am getting to the point that I have a fairly consistent drive at about 230 yards or so. I hit one in five or so for about 250-260. I am hitting fairly true with only a touch of fade or draw with an occasional hook or slice. Currently, I am hitting an older driver (Taylormade 300ti) with a 9.5 degree loft. I chose the 9.5 after hitting a 9.5 at a demo day for another manufacturer's clubs and finding that I could hit 200 yards with it a week after starting to play golf. What I am finding is that my drives look to be getting WAY high. I didn't really give it another thought until I hit my new 3 wood in a round and hit a low hisser of a shot that easily ran out to 220 or so. Seeing that and seeing how high my drives are flying made me think that maybe I might need to make a change in my driving to get more range. I have mucked about with my ball position in my stance to try to bring the path down and that made a bit of change, but it still looks to me like I could be getting a lot more out of my drives. The questions I have are: I have looked at changing up to a driver with an 8.5 loft. Would that make a difference in my drive flight, or should I try to work it out in my swing style? I am not looking at dropping 300 bucks here on a new driver, just hunting up another one of the type I am hitting with less loft. That pretty much takes expense out of it. (They run something like 20 bucks or so shipped.) Are there other things I might look at that would have an impact on my drive height before I try another club? What are people's thoughts in general? Thanks! Jack Lee

I played an early morning round of golf with my dad this morning and was feeling pretty together. My drives were hot (drove pin high and a little right on a 275 yard par 4) and fairly accurate. My short game was as good as I have ever played, and my putting was way above my average. I was hitting a new 3 wood that I just picked up used to match a 5 wood that I found second hand and really liked and boy did it SING! I pulled it out on a long par 5 where I had driven a solid 250 and had a nice lie in the middle of the fairway. I swung it nice and smooth and smacked the bejeepers out of the shot and landed myself about 40 yards out. My dad looked up and said "What the heck was that??" When I told him it was my new 3 wood, he grinned and said "I think you should hit that more often!". I usually try to confine myself to what dad and I call "Named golf", meaning shots that there are official terms for. (Yeah, I know if I tell most of you I hit an "oh, crap!" you would know what I mean, but you get the idea.) Today I was hitting bogeys and pars instead of triples and doubles. When we got to the end of the round and added the scores up, I was stunned to hear my dad tell me that I shot 46 on the back nine and landed myself a 99 overall. I had made a goal to break 100 before the end of '09. I guess now I have to change that goal to be shooting below 100 consistantly by the end of '09. I thought I would share my happy moment with all of you here as I guess you can all appreciate it. Y'all take care! Jack Lee

Hey gang! I am a new golfer in west central NC and just happened across the forum and thought I would see what's news. I am 34 and began playing three months or so ago at my dad's urging. (I have heard rumors he wanted someone that he could beat regularly.) I have been quickly falling in love with the game and having a ball. I am currently hitting my dad's last set of irons with putter, driver, and fairway metals added from my local used stores. My other loves are motorcycling, ham radio, and shooting sports. That pretty much covers me. Y'all take care! Jack Lee

I would have to say that my goals seem pretty basic, but I reckon that's just me. I started golfing about 90 days or so ago and am averaging 120 or so over 18 holes. I would like to cut that down below 100. I also would like to get to the point that I am two putting or less on each green. So far, I can't seem to find a rhythm for putting that works consistantly. I would also like to get to the point that I can make a consistant half swing for approach shots. I don't guess those are beyond me, so I will leave it there. Jack Lee