anthony

I'm in the same boat as you. My lowest round to date is an 82 and have shot even par and +1 on 9 holes so far this year. Last Sunday I shot an 84 with 47 on the front and 37 on the back. No worse than bogey (aside from one or two at the most), a bunch of pars and a birdie or two is the way I see myself getting under 80. Getting into a groove as early as possible is key. How that happens exactly, I don't know . When I do get in the groove, it's like I know what I'm doing out there.

I did at the beginning of the year for my 60 yd and in shots, but I've memorized them. It's helped tremendously. I plan on doing the same for 70-115/120. I know a lot of people play purely by feel at these yardages, but knowing exactly what I'm going to hit for 50 yds (half 50 degree wedge) inspires confidence when hitting those shots. It also gives you a nice base to adjust the shot when it's downhill, uphill, heavy rough, etc. 70 yds up to a stock 50 degree is my next yardage group to figure out. I really like the idea of laminating a card to put in your pocket or something like that.

I should clarify when I wrote "take a percentage off my swing". I was referring to the backswing length.

Ah, got ya. I feel more comfortable taking a certain percentage off of my full swing then choking down when I'm in between clubs. I'm not good enough to dial in 5 yard increments from 150 (or whatever), so most of my in between shots are generally just above the full swing of a higher club.

Hitting a lower percentage swing on the longer club is the way to go. Trying to muscle 10 extra yards out of a shorter club would be a lot tougher in my opinion.

I wet the end of my towel before every round and sometimes at the turn so I can wipe my clubs off. I generally do it after every shot as I'm walking to my next shot. This way I don't have to clean them after a round.

For 50 yards, I like to hit a pitch shot with my 50 degree wedge with the club going back to about 9:30.

What exactly don't you like about the grips? We can make recommendations all day, but it would be easier to recommend something with a little bit on what you don't like. Not tacky enough? Too hard? Too soft?

Like the rest of the golfing population, I fight the slice with my driver at some point during the season. Usually, this happens when I'm hitting my irons great . Swing out to the right more? I still slice. Keep your back turned longer? Sometimes it works, usually it doesn't. Strong grip? Somehow that makes it worse. Crush the can? Crush a slice (crush the can is excellent for my irons though). Earlier this week, I stumbled across a solution at the range. I simply feel like I'm pointing the toe of the club towards the target at impact. Somehow this gets me into the right position and fixes my swing path, I'm guessing. I played 9 yesterday and couldn't believe how straight it was flying with my driver. I'm not going to speculate why this is working for me, but it is. I know club face manipulation is generally not advised, but I can't argue with the results. I want to emphasize that his is only for my driver.

Overflexing is when your right arm bends at the elbow too much.

It's a good stick. I've thought about getting something new, but don't have a reason to ditch it.

Visit this thread: http://thesandtrap.com/t/39411/quickie-pitching-video Improve tremendously, most likely immediately.

Yeah, you can slice the shit out of anything. Top Flite Gamers are nice. I really like the Noodle soft or Noddle long & soft. The remind of the gamers, but are quite a bit cheaper. In the long run, it's the swing that's gonna spin the ball, not the ball. Someone gave me a sleeve of Pro-V1's earlier this year and I swear I can't tell the difference between it and the Noodle.

- Nike Sasquatch 9.5* driver - Taylormade Burner 3 wood (07 model I think) - Mizuno MX-200 4-GW - Mizuno MP-H4 3 iron - Cleveland 588 56*/16 wedge - Solus 61* wedge - Cleveland Classics #2 mallet putter

I was 17 or 18 when I got my first birdie. It was a 150 yd or so par 3 with a big oak tree well out to the right of the green. I line drive sliced my tee shot right into the tree and it bounced off the tree, went straight up into the air and landed 5 or 6 feet from the pin. Made the putt.

I'd say that's pretty spot on to how my grip is, with the heel pad (bottom portion of the glove across from the pinky) on top of the club. Personally, I start the grip by placing the heel pad on top of the club and grip it from there. I don't really think about where the fingers are, just the heel pad to create a good lever.

Why not just play for the roll? I use my 61 around the greens mostly and it never checks up. I don't get 4 yds though, unless it's downhill or something. How are you playing the shot? I find that a ball forward / hands back pitch will have a nice steep arch and land softly with 1-2 yd roll out (assuming it's a 10-15 yd shot).

Leaving 25 yd and in pitch shots short. It's getting less frequent since I practice them a lot, but it's still annoying to miss them short.

Jeez, is Keegan fidgity enough? Maybe I've never really watched this guy before, but he's kind of annoying to watch.

3/4 is quite possibly what your full swing is. For me, what feels like 3/4 is indeed the full swing. Even though I have a tendency to go past that on my backswing, the results don't lie. My only swing thought, at the moment, is "feel" like my right arm is straight on the way back and start the downswing when I feel tension in front of the right elbow. Use this thread for the straight right arm feeling: http://thesandtrap.com/t/35195/shorter-probably-better-swing-keep-the-right-arm-straight

I don't blame him, I don't like sandals or "flip-flops" either. Especially on men, some guys needs to keep those sasquatch toes hidden.

I agree and I don't agree with that. It should be intuitive, but it's nice to have a starting point. For me, I know that a pitch with my 61 where the club goes back to 9:00 is 15 yds. If I have 20 yds, I'll take it to 10:00 and so on.

Try a Cleveland Classics Mallet if you can. I think mine is the #2. Great putter at a cheap price.

I do something similar, but only up to an 8 iron. Mostly because a half a 9 (or whatever club) iron is a lot easier than an 80% sand wedge for me. Unless I need to land it really soft, I like the shot you're describing. 6 iron and below may be more difficult than the full swing equivalent club I suspect.

Some of these make me appreciate my playing partners a lot more. - People that don't fix their ball marks are very annoying. I fix 4 per hole on average (except for tough par 3's). I'm generally not playing with these people though. - "Telling a story on the tee box guy". No one wants to hear about your new fence or whatever, we're trying to tee off. - Looking for balls forever. Dude, it went deep, we all saw it. Take your stroke and drop one already. Favorite catch phrase "Aren't you gonna look for that?" - Golf carts. Most of the people I play with walk, but a few take carts. When I'm over my ball and I hear that thing fire up I want to throw my club at the guy.