ncates00

Is it just me or has Tiger really slowed down his driver swing since the first of the comeback? When he first came back recently, he recorded the highest swing speed at about 129 mph on a drive and averaged in the low to mid 120s and had ball speeds in the high 170s to low 180s. I think the speed really showed at the Hero a while back because IIRC, he made the most birdies out of the field but made a bunch of bogeys. He looked thick and quick. Fast forward a little: it seems like when he went on that run at the Copperhead Course, the Open, the Tour Championship, the Masters, and up to now, he swings driver, to me, much slower. Today, I didn't see him hit driver with ball speed more than 168; tour average is 167. Looks like he just flicking driver to hit the fairway and then doing what he does with every other club. I guess Tiger is thinking that he can cruise driver around the course because his cruise speed is still higher than the average player. That keeps the ball in play for him, and then he can do his usual Tiger magic with the irons and try to get hot with the putter. Seems to be working for him.

What program are you using to calculate your strokes gained? Nice going too by the way

Pro athletes, coaches, managers, etc. shouldn't be allowed to sport-specific gamble at all. It's almost like insider trading when you think about it.

Or contributed financially or otherwise (except for playing and getting paid himself) to the regime.

Haha. I could still hang out with ya'll or tee it up with you. I get along with people I don't agree with. For the most part haha.

Social brownie points jackpot! I've already conceded that if Phil actually supported the regime, I'd agree with you; we just disagree as to what constitutes an endorsement/support. You believe that merely playing golf is an endorsement. That's ludicrous. If so, you have set a crazy standard for all social causes. It's unduly burdensome to keep up with absolutely everything going on in the world and to expect people to join your touted social causes and share the same views you do. You start getting into this nitpicky hierarchy of social causes and who has been the most oppressed. Under your standard, you better support em all or you are a hypocrite--plain and simple. You may like the feelings you get by feeling all "holier than thou" for your activism and social stances, but others just want to buy a phone, buy a pair of shoes, or get the only internet service provider that works in their area, or play in a golf tournament.

That's not an applicable analogy, but nice try. Aiding another in the course of a felony is a crime. What Phil has done, unless the law has changed since I took Criminal Law in law school, is not a crime. Good try though! Make sure you don't watch the Masters either! Make sure you don't watch the Master either!

This is where I disagree with @iacas and others. It is not supporting the regime. If Phil tweeted out a statement stating that he agrees with the regime or he made financial contributions to them, then I would be in line with you all calling Phil out. Alas, Phil has not made any showing of support for them apart from taking money to play golf any more than any of us have for purchasing goods or services from companies that engage in misconduct. I guess we all support sexist agendas by watching/paying for tickets to attend the Masters tournament, right?

It is completely debatable. You saying that is merely your assessment of the situation. PR campaign it may be, but that doesn't mean that the participant supports the regime. You're making a faulty assumption. People do things for different reasons all the time. You're assuming Phil's motive and it is not easily inferred by these circumstances, i.e., merely playing golf for money. Again, you're assuming that was his theme for his message. Yes, he is an independent contractor, but a person has the freedom to take the jobs they want. He need not explain himself to you or anyone, but choose to do so. If you don't like it, fine. He'd probably echo Phil and say "you'll be ok." You don't have to agree with them for their choices. It completely is. That's a dumb assertion. So if you wear Nike's do you support child labor in Asia or other corporate wrongs? Do you buy oil for your vehicles? Come on man. FTFY Not my quote and you didn't fix anything. You have the burden of proving that Phil supports the regime. I'll wait. And try to use other evidence besides your belief that playing golf for money is support enough. You and @iacas are off base on that point. Otherwise, you're a hypocrite anytime you buy a product from a corporation that has shady business practices. Stand on your soapbox all you want and look down your self-righteous nose if you want, but you're no better than Phil if you do. Taking money doesn't make you an employee. He's an independent contractor.

Apparently you do! If this is so cut and dry, Tiger should have, right? That's my whole point. It's a close call (and I think you intimated as much in your OP when you said that the "line" may be in different places for different people), and therefore, live and let live. Unless you have more compelling evidence for an actual endorsement, besides your belief that merely playing is endorsement enough, I think leave Phil (and others) alone.

Tiger Woods defends Phil Mickelson’s decision to play in Saudi Arabia | Sport | The Guardian Tiger Woods turned down $3m to play in Saudi Arabia but defended Phil Mickelson’s decision to play there Not everyone is being self-righteous about it; some see some potential benefit. Dustin Johnson was among several top golfers who played in the tournament this year, and before winning the event he said, “Obviously, that was a concern with our team. I’m going over there to play a sport I’m paid to play. It’s my job to play golf. Unfortunately, it’s in a part of the world where most people don’t agree with what happened, and I definitely don’t support anything like that. I’m going to play golf, not support them. I’m not a politician. I play golf.” I guess not everyone sees it this way.

That's actually pretty good advice because if you can hit the "bunt" shot, as you call it, you'll gain some confidence and will hopefully be able to add some speed back to the swing. Hitting the bunt allows you to focus on getting solid contact, control face to path a little easier, and restore some hope as you work on driver.

While driver has less loft and therefore can be more difficult to hit than a higher lofted fairway wood, it you're totally lost with driver, then there are some issues here. Driver should go further and shouldn't necessarily be totally less accurate than your wood. Check striking and your delivery numbers. Driver is too much of a weapon to give up.

It is not a practical starting point because hybrids, irons, and woods are all very different. As I’ve already stated, get on a simulator and gap test. It doesn’t matter what the loft is or the number on the club. The point is to play what fits the gaps you need. That’s what happens at a proper fitting session. Read my previous post. You’re missing the point here. When buying clubs, a person doesn’t need a “starting point.” They’re often expensive, so buyers need to make educated purchases that fit their bags. Again, reread what I said previously.

Very likely, but for best results, check dynamic loft of your 7i. If dynamic loft is less than 30.5*, then you for sure are delofting the iron through the shot. AoA has nothing to do with lag. You can deloft a club and hit up or down. Many tour pros deloft a driver and hit up to reduce spin and maximize ball speed. Many players, however, will add loft and hit up. The same goes for an iron--just because you are delofting the club, that doesn't mean you must hit down on the ball. An attack angle of 0* is good; at your age of 70, I would say it is very good for you so you can still hit the ball plenty high as you age. Most older folks have trouble getting the ball airborne due to the lack of speed. A more shallow angle of attack (0 to a few degrees downward) helps with that. The ladies have a pretty shallow AoA for the same reason. The ladies likely: a) hit the ball better and have a higher smash factor (look at your smash factor of 1.31 vs. their 1.38--they're hitting it better than you do), b) have lower static lofted irons, c) deloft the club more, or d) all the above. Each one of those could explain why they have higher ballspeed than you, especially a). FYI, smash factor is ball speed divided by clubhead speed. Essentially, this measures your efficiency in hitting a ball. The higher the number, generally speaking as loft has a lot to do with it, the better.