Lbob

After going through a swing change, back problems, and some major frustrations this spring, I have gleaned some tip off that it's gonna be a bad hole. With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy You know it's gonna be a bad hole when you need your range finder for the third shot on a par 3. You know it's gonna be a bad hole when the fourth putt lips out. You know it's gonna be a bad hole when your third shot from fairway bunker hits the lip and then your forehead. You know it's gonna be a bad hole when after you find your drive you not only can't see the green, you can't see the fairway. I'm sure there are other warning signs.

The Ryder Cup was some of the best golf I have ever seen. I've followed the other threads and generally agree that the American team did well and that some rookies (Anthony Kim, Boo Weekly, J. B. Holmes) were superb. Watching AK start to the next hole after he had won the match was fantastic. Talk about being in the moment! But I also want to give props to one of the Europeans. Ian Poulter had a pretty darn good cup, and he had a lot of pressure. Every time I looked up it was Poulter putting to win the hole and he would drain it. I think we may have seen a bit of a break through.

It has to be the time that while we were waiting to tee off a red tailed hawk come swooping down and hit a ground squirrel. It happened about 10 yards from us. Those are big birds and it was an impressive sight. Then it flapped over to the green adjacent to the tee and proceeded to enjoy its meal.

The advice about the short game is right on the money. Do you keep stats? If so look at how many up-and-downs you average during a round. You probably hit from 4 to 6 greens in regulation so getting up and downs will save you a lot of shots. Pelz says that the distance from 100 yards in is the scoring zone and he's right. A couple of weeks back I had a really frustrating round. Could make good contact with my full swings, was standing up on iron shots, even had a couple of shanks, the whole nine yards. But my wedge was on fire. Case in point on how it can help. On a par five I hit a mediocre drive, stand up on the second shot and hit is about 100 yards, then damn near miss my third shot. Now I'm in iron range an so I proceed to chunk one. I'm lying 4 and I'm still 40 yards off. I pick up my sand wedge and put the ball 1 inch from the pin. I make a bogey instead of a double. That day I had 6 up-and-downs. Thats the difference between 84 (my score) and the 90 I could easily have shot. Practice the wedge, chipping and the old putter.

Let me add to the chorus of "been there done that." Went through a swing change last year and by the end of the year was making really solid, consistent contact. Went to the pro this year and got a couple of "tweaks" really small changes that nearly killed me. I was literally between two swings and boy splitting the difference really didn't work. Let me also add something. Perhaps you should go back to the pro for a brief follow up lesson. It's possible that you may be doing something wrong by accident, or that you aren't really doing what you think you're doing.

Some additional information: When I do the old toe hit the ball goes short and right. I was wondering if I was coming out of the shot. I am in the process of changing my stance/ball position to getting a more upright swing and getting closer to the ball.

I took a look at my irons and noticed that most of the wear/hit marks were out toward the toe of the club. Bottom line is I don't hit the ball in the middle of the club very often. What caused toe hits? Any cures?

Finally got out this Friday. I declared a golf emergency and went out to my home course and played 18. Had in interesting round: GIR = 5 Fairways = 11 Pars = 6 Birdies = 1 (and I hung two on the lip!!!) 3 putts = 2 Overall 87 (the bad news was 5 double bogeys So there may be hope for this year yet. The putter felt really solid even though I had three putts. The greens were very uneven and bumpy. Hope springs eternal!!!

You can get good information from the most unlikely sources. My wife who doesn't play golf at all was watching me hit some balls one day. I was having a bad day. I was really inconsistent and couldn't figure why. When I stopped for few seconds she told me that it was interesting that some times my hips moved in the same plane and some times they didn't. Bingo!!! So if your wife gives you advice listen regardless of her handicap.

I've decided to get a new driver with a high MOI. This is based on the belief that I will get more distance/accuracy from miss-hits. I would guess that around half of my drives are off center to some extent. I went in to try new drivers on a launch monitor. The spin rates I got were not what I expected. The highest I ever attained was around 2300. Most were well below that (1000 - 1800). This was true even with my old driver which hits the ball higher than I'd like. My swing speed is 85 mph. Is this possible/reasonable?

I'm thinking seriously of getting a new 2008 Nike Sumo. I tried the square one and really liked the feel and the forgiveness. I had a chance to try the round backed one also (sorry I can't remember models). Is there any appreciable difference between the two drivers? Are there any shaft options that should be examined? Thanks in advance.

is to hit my irons with a crisp, descending blow and take a divot.

My all time favorite wasn't a par it was a birdie. I was playing with a guy who wasn't that good but was really full of himself. I listened for 18 holes to how wonderful he was. So anyway a par three and he hits a great shot. ened up 2 feet from the pin. I hit a little thin push and end up short sided and about 40 feet from the pin. I get a lecture on staying down and getting through on the way to the green. So I'm in bad rough and I just decide to get it on the green and hope for a bogey. No way to get it close. I pick out a landing area and hit the best wedge in my life. The ball floats up and hits exactly where I'd hoped, takes a bounce and trickled into the hole. It got even better when mr. mouth rammed his putt and pulls it, then missed the 4 footer coming back. Too rich.

Reading this made me feel a lot better. It's good to know that I'm not alone in my golf-store obsession. I swear that I even like the smell of golf stores!

Was on the practice green yesterday and heard a couple of guys talking as they walked off the 9th green. One of them asks "How'd you get a 12?" The other guy says, "Well I was in the water twice, then I hit in the rough. So I'm lying 5. Skulled one shot, then I had a whiff. Now I'm lying 7. Hit into the bunker, then bladed it. (lying 9) Chipped on and 2 putted. Kind of makes me feel better about the triple I had on that hole last week.

I looked back at the 2007 goals thread. I didn't do too well. My goals were: Break 80 three more times, including once on a course that in my bete noire. *** Not even close. Lowest I shot was 83. Shoot 9 holes in par. *** Again, didn't make it. Best I did was 39. Get my putting improved. Curreently at 36.6 putts per 18 holes. I need to get that down to about 30-32. *** A little better here. I got my average down to 34.1 putts per round. Improve my up-and-down's. Only averageing 1.2 want to get that over 3. *** Didn't make this one either but I did improve to over 2 up-and-downs. This was a frustrating year. I went through a swing change and really improved my ball striking. Much more consistent and solid contact. MY GIR numbers were up by 1, my fairways hit was over 9. And I actually averaged one birdie per round. However, my scoring average was still 86. The major reason was the dreaded "others." Any time I had a good round going I would inevitably throw out a triple or get a couple of doubles. One round I had 3 birdies and quadruple bogey. I guess there's always next year....

I think that keeping the brain engaged is truly one secret to improving your game and score. But as you indicated it can be difficult.

I've been learning about course management and anger management this year. I've focused on trying to make the shot I have confidence in that will (potentially) result in the best score. For me, a lot of it is staying in the moment and forgetting the terrible shot that preceded the present. If you just stay at it and forego heroics or angry swipes you can often avoid disaster. Case in point. I hit a terrible drive on a par 4 and ended up in a fairway bunker. I had a hideous lie. The ball just trickled in and was right up against the lip of the bunker. I had to get on my knees to take a stab at the ball. I couldn't get out of the bunker but I hoped to advance the ball enough to where I had a swing. I hit a half-skulled 8 iron and got the ball to a decent lie. Now I'm laying 2 looking at 175 to the hole. Could even make par. I take a rescue club and catch it a fat. Now I'm 80 yards off. OK, let's try to get up and down and save a bogey. I hit a nice wedge that's straight at the the flag. The green is elevated and I can't see the ball come down, but it looks like I should have a chance for bogey. I'm happy. I take the cart around the green and I don't see my ball anywhere. Could it be? Yep. I holed the wedge. This is my all time favorite par. I didn't start flailing or get bent. I just kept plugging away. It just takes one shot, and if you keep your cool and give yourself a chance sometime you can make that one shot happen. I also remember that like death and taxes disaster will happen. It's golf even Tiger has them. But hey, I could be at work. And as the old daying goes, a bad day at the golf course is better than a good day at work.

Interesting to read the replies. I was looking for a number/distance and got something totally different, but I think useful perhaps. I am starting to realize that I am a "defensive" putter. That is, I am trying to avoid three putts more than focusing on holing a putt. I took a putting lesson a month or so back, and I told the pro that when I got over a birdie putt the thought in my mind was "Don't blow the par." He gave me a real disgusted look. And then gave me a little come to Jesus talk a la Iaccas (you should intend to hole every putt). I think part of the problem is that I know the odds. Even for a pro a 30 footer will be made very infrequently. However, I think that's carrying over to shorter putts. I may be making progress though. The last time I played I had a 15 foot birdie putt. I could see the break and had a good idea of the speed. When I hit the putt I knew it was in before I looked up.

I'm really appreciating the value of the short game, especially putting, in scoring consistently. This year reducing 3-putts has been a major emphasis. My overall putts per hole has gotten below 2.0 (so far!). My question is this. How close to the hole do you need to be to have about a 90% confidence that you won't take more than 2 putts. I'm not talking about really tricky putts. Just the normal ones. For me now I think that inside 20 feet I won't do worse than 2 putts about 90% of the time. Outside of 25 to 30 feet I'd estimate about 75%. So what's your 2 putt comfort zone?

This is a no brainer. Always use a tee. You get a perfect lie every time. I think it was Nichlaus who said that air has a lot less resistance than grass. Use the tee.

I feel your pain. Been there, done that, go the tee shirt. It's maddening I know. Kind of hard to reply if we don't know why you are posting big numbers. Are you whacking ball OB? Are you 4 putting? Are you skulling shots? Are you trying to hit shots you're not capable of? Still, in the end it boils down to identifying the problem and practicing enough to fix it.

It is really sad to see people on the range practicing bad habits. I remember last week watching a guy beat a bucket of balls. He had a reverse pivot that was so bad that most of the time he had a problem even hitting the ball. I mean literally I watched him swing and miss the ball completely two or three times. Other times he would barely top the ball. But he did hit a few decent shots out of sheer luck, of course this was in a jumbo bucket of 100 balls. That guy could practice till hell freezes over and never hit the ball with any kind of consistancy. But the idea of taking a lesson probably never entered his head. He will spend a hundred bucks on range balls, and he'll waste every dollar. Unless you are a real athlete and can self-teach a swing you need a teacher, because practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

I think you might be able to define consistancy in terms of ball striking. That is what percent of the time you could hit a club (e.g. a 5-iron) and get an acceptable shot. This is what I am working on very hard. Of course then your definition of "acceptable" changes.

OK here's a start Eric. I am a Pelz style or at least I try to be. I am tall (6' 4") and use a 34 inch putter. Length feels fine. My hands are ahead of the putter face. I think I am most puzzled about the loft and lie. How do you know if your putters loft and lie is appropriate?