Hackforfun

A bit frustrating watching the Aussies coughing up more points today. How good was Phil's hole out from the bunker!?!

Probably boring for you guys but anyway... I was given a link by an acquaintance yesterday to a site with a swing weight calculator. You weigh the club and then measue it's balance point and the calculator will spit out an approximate swingweight, the acquaintance assured me that the calculator was really quite accurate compared to the swingweights given by his clubmaker but I figured regardless it should work for comparative purposes. My 8I that I like to hit so much...D9 My Driver with the 6gm of lead tape - D8. My 4H that I hit everywhere - C8 My 5H - D2 My 5W that I hit OK - D7 My 6I, 7I, 9I - D8 I haven;t bothered with the wedges yet but I suspect they will be D9-low E's. If I got the theory right the driver would have been a bit south of D5 prior to the weight. It is amazing to me that such a small amount of weight can result in such a big change in feel swinging the club.

I had a fiddle over the weekend with the driver and the tape. I weighed out 2gm strips so i knew what I was adding. 4 grams of lead tape I started to feel the clubhead and 6 grams is on there now. It feels pretty good and it seems a lot easier to maintain my tempo. My backswing is feeling more compact and my follow through isn't jerky and abbreviated. Hopefully I can get to the range during the week and see how the feel translates to actual results. I might end up back at 4gm or even heavier...I'll have to hit some balls and see how I go. Another thing I have realised since engaging in this analysis - the Driver I was gripping the heck out of it! Probably due to fear of the results I have been getting. Hopefully these little changes and observations will result in something positive.

How else am I supposed to relax after these stressful events?

I have acquired some of this. Any pointers on its use. How many grams should I add to my driver as a base line?

I haven't been golfing much lately, my increasing frustration with my game has led me to do other things on the odd time I have had the opportunity. It seems for the longest time I have been one of those guys who just can't get off the tee to save himself. Give me three different tee shots and I'll find a way to hit it in three different directions. Conversely get me inside 170yards and I can play some handy golf for my handicap level. A real frustrating way to golf as I am always scrambling and I can play some really nice golf shots for double bogey or worse depending how much damage I did to myself at the start of the hole. I decided the past couple of weeks that I was going to spend some time on the range and try and sort myself out. I am so tired of going out to play, starting well and then having my tee game erode my confidence to the point where I can be struggling to hit the golf ball by the end of a round, even with my most reliable clubs. My range sessions seemed to follow a routine pattern: Generally hit about 40 balls with my short irons and have been hitting them quite well. When I go to hit my hybrids, or Driver it all turns ugly and my best shots are a fades - high and weak and I hit varying shades of snap hooks and mishits as I try and work out WTH is happening. This goes on for about 20-30 balls until I give up and go back to a pitching wedge/9I and try and recover some sense of a full swing. I usually get this happening again in 5-10 balls but am whiffing pretty bad the first couple. I'm usually pretty jacked off at this point and just hit pitches for the rest of the bucket and try to hit some targets and generally try to gee my self up a bit with some successful shots. Now I sat back and thought this isn't working, I'm just experiencing the same thing as on the course and not solving my problem. If anything I am ingraining a lack of confidence in my tee shot. I read a bit online and see that I am maybe not releasing the driver and hybrids and that is the cause of the high, weak fade. My adjustments are really trying to steer the club and the results are all over the place. I tried to think about why I couldn't seem to tell the difference between the occassional good shot and the solid mishits. I took some swings with my 8I, my favourite club and then took some swings with my driver, trying to note any differences. Hmm...this 8I just feels like it is locked in a groove - there is a weight or resistance at the end of the shaft - it's hard to describe so hopefully it makes some sense.. Swing my 8I, swing my hybrids hmmmmm...swing my 8I, swing my 5W (The one longer club I seem to have some luck with) HMMMM. Swing a bunch of my irons and I have my eureka moment. I cannot feel the clubhead of my driver and hybrids during the swing. The "in a groove" sensation I have with my 5W and irons is the feel of the clubhead. The Driver and hybrid I feel like I am just swinging a shaft with nothing attached. My iron's and 5W I feel like I just need to get into a good position at the top and make a good turn back to the ball, the club seems to guide and release itself into impact without manipulation. The driver and hybrids I am obviously missing that sensation and manipulating the club on the downswing by holding off or trying to force something. Now the million dollar question: How do I find this feel with these clubs? Is there a drill or something I can practice? Are there things I can check in my setup? Are there clubfitting remdies that may help - increase swing weight or different shaft flex profile required? I really feel like I could have a breakthrough with my game if I can find the clubhead.

Played a short dog leg par 5 where the green is offset to make the hole kind of "S" shaped. Hit a solid drive. Pulled 7I and hit the shot I envisaged which flew high and carried some tall trees to the green for my first eagle putt in I don't know how long. Hit that 7I just how I imagined. Very satisfying to execute on something with a degree of risk. Led to one of my infrequent birdies so that was nice.

I think picking the ball you like best off your putter and sticking with that one ball is solid advice for us slower swingers/higher handicaps. I like and have played e6 a lot. I can still slice or snap hook 'em in the bush with my swing. They check up fine on full swing shots on the courses I play. Conversely they roll out a mile with my technique on the short stuff. If I use my head and play with that in mind (ie leave a full short iron/wedge to the green where possible or try to hit the ball to an area that leaves me green to work with if I'm approaching with a club less likely to hit the green) I don't really notice the short comings of the e6 around the green. Once I'm on the green I'll back myself to get down in no more than two a lot of the time because I like putting that ball. If I hit one in the bush I know the next one out of the bag is going to feel the same around the green and I can stick to my plans. I like to tell myself that it's the execution and not the strategy that leads to my high handicap!

I'm running with from when I pull the club from the bag and dropped myself in the 11-20 bracket. Step behind the ball and get my target line, check my grip. maybe have a little 1/4 swing swoosh on the grass if they haven't been coming out great. Walk around to address the ball. Double check club face is where I want it, offer up a small prayer and pull the trigger.

I had a good meltdown myself one time. I was all primed for a big 2 day tournament. Hooked the ball uncontrollably all day...and was really just simmering the whole way around after the first few holes. By the time I hit me tee shot on the 13th to the left rough, hooked my second over onto the 14th fairway and almost killed the group on the 14th tee with my hooking third, that thankfully carried the tee, I saw red and gave my bag a great thump with the traitorous 9I I was holding. A substantial crunch and the realisation that i had just nailed my new mobile phone sobered me up quick smart. Got the anger out of the system at least and I was much better company for my group for the remaining holes than I had been until that point. Would be nice to say I carved up ther last 5 holes but unfortunately not...damned if that wasn't the most horrible round of golf I've ever played...12 stableford points for 18 holes! Played the next day a lot better frame of mind and actually enjoyed myself alot...even though the scoring was still awful.

I've come to terms with most of my failures off the tee and from the fairway rough. The one that really upsets me is wasting a good GIR, say inside 20', with a first putt that leaves you with with 6'+ to try and save your par.

Congrats Mac. I triple bogeyed 18 to card a 90. One stroke less and I would have had my best round for a fair while and on a course I've not played before too. Really good ball striking day (bar the 18th tee! ) but left a few out there with poor pitching and a handful of three putts.

I went 82 holes with a Bridgey e6+ one time. I'd like to say it was because I played exceptionally well but it was just a ball that seemed to always sit out in the open whenever I was wayward. Finally was lost when I hit it off the golf course on a hole close to the boundary fence.

I must have been to K-troop school for midcappers. 12* Driver - 18* FW - 23*H - 26*H - 6I-LW When I'm being brutally honest with myself going for the green with anything longer than my 26*H (~185Y) is getting into very risky territory for a major mishit. I think a couple of hybrids to replace the long irons works well for higher handicaps. I hit them much more consistently than the irons they replaced and the hot faces really help for hitting those little runners out from under the trees that we often need. I can get a pretty reliable 140Y runner with a big putting stroke on my 4H. A 3 or 4 iron would go 50-70 yards if I were lucky with the same stroke. Of course it's desireable to not be in the trees but lets face it we wouldn't be higher handicaps if we weren't hitting it in the wrong places with too much regularity!

Adam Scott might throw his hat in the ring I reckon. Saturday was ugly for him on the last few holes but he ranged from exceptional to solid for the balance of the Cadillac. He'll be hungry too! Rory has to go in as favourite for mine

I went to a 12* from a 10.5* degree driver with the same shaft. I hit the ball with a considerable bit more carry with the 12*. Total length favours the 10.5* driver as it will run further in the right conditions but average distance goes to the 12* handily.

I've been much more confident since changing the top of my bag around to include a 5W 12* driver, 18* fairway, 23* hybrid is my top end now. My 5W is a consistent 205-215 yards off the tee and I give up 10 yards or so off the deck. The extra loft and shorter shaft makes it a lot more forgiving than my 3W ever was and I'm not giving up a huge amount of distance really. My driver is good for about 250y if I catch it well but honestly it's much more usually in the 230 range and that is a fine distance gap for me. Occassionally I get caught out on a dogleg or something that will leave me short with 5W or long with driver. I try to just accept that now and use some of my prodigious handicap to play that hole for a bogey

Looking forward to this. Will get to see some world class action and only have a 10 minute drive to get there :D

I have a rangefinder and find it very useful. I have asked to get a simple GPS from the wife (Neo or similar) for Xmas. As I'm getting better in the 8I and down range I'm looking for a quick and easy way to work out my lay up club on longer holes and my best tee club for short par 4's to hit my ideal approach shot range. Anything that helps me plan to stay out of partial wedge range for my approach or stop me from leaving a low percentage longer club in the better. I can do it with my range finder but a GPS will probably be quicker and easier.

I have the Leupold GX-1. Super easy to use. Pinseeker which is gold on longer ranges where it is hard to be steady enough or if it is still and the flag is not flapping around. You can shoot bunker faces etc for carry distances and trees/scrub for dogleg layups off the tee. Of course at my HCP it's not a guarantee of a well executed shot but it is a variable taken out of play and you can take a confident swing at the ball and a better informed decision. There is nothing worse for a high handicap player than to hit a well executed shot that ends up in trouble from over/underclubbing. You need as much value from the good ones as possible and as much positive reinforcement as you can get. Nice and quick to use as well. I take much less time than friends on similar handicaps who take three practice swings and change their club twice before they play

Tiger should play more golf Down Under. It seems to agree with him. These last two tournaments are the first time since his come back I felt Tiger could start winning tournaments again. Next year is going to be real interesting for Tiger watchers.

John Daly...classic. and A.Scott. What a freak with that albatross. Way to turn your round around. Some good golf being played should be an interesting tournament.

Played some horrible golf this past weekend. I managed this one on a hole where I hit 4 provisional balls on my way to a 9... 170yards from the centre of the 14th green. Pin is back left and protected by bunkers on the line of play and a steep swale on the left of the green. I am pretty much over the day and decide to have a crack at the pin. Hit my best strike of the day with 6I and it soars in there, carries the swale by about 5 feet, rolls out 10 feet to settle 8 feet from the flag on a nice straight uphill lie. Of course this is one of my provisionals and I find the ball in play wedged in a bush *facepalms*

Lots of Aussie Flags at the top of the leaderboard. Hopefully they can play deep into the weekend.