Maker

I still have 2.5 feet of snow on the ground...oh how I can't wait for that spring thaw. At this point the ground alone would be a welcome sight, nonetheless pine needles (haven't seen it since December). :)

I tend to agree that ill kept Tee boxes are quite aggrivating. The two things that irk me the most are slanted ones (nothing like teeing off with the ball below my feet), or missing grass (not that I care where the ball is, but I'd like something for my spikes to hold onto rather than sand/dirt). If they are too bad I simply tee off elsewhere. If they are not going to bother maintaining them I am not going to bother using them.

My pro gave me a drill to work on to fix my slice since he thought my timing was off on my downswing. Grab your driver and pick a target only about 150 yards off. Feet together take a nice easy back swing and do only half a back swing. With about 50% of your power take your swing with the equivalent half way follow through. Keep working on this small swing until you can consistently hit that 150 marker. Once you feel comfortable with that, gradually start increasing your power and swing length. Once you get good at that widen your stance and start progressing to your full normal swing.

The key for me to getting my take away where I wanted it was slowing it down, then focusing on keeping my left arm straight and getting my turn completed without moving my head. Besides slowing it down I made sure to practice it in stages to get the feel for each part of the positioning. I try to get the sense that my hands are being kept away from my body, and make sure that while I am hinging my wrists I don't want them to feel too loose the top (because I had a habit of over cocking them and getting the club out of position at the top. The take away is really the main thing I focus on when addressing the ball now. For all of the above I'd say the biggest thing that helped me was slowing it down. Accoridng to my instructor my take away was great, so now I need to work on my club face at impact (the push shot is currently my worst enemy).

If I had to guess (which of course I do without seeing your swing), I'd gamble that you are still using some cheats/adjustments that you had in your set up that you used on your old swing (which you were likely implementing to compensate for your swing). If you are hitting left make sure your grip isn't too strong, that you are not closing the club face at set up, and that you are not aimed down that line. If you have improved your swing and eliminated the need for some set up tweeks make sure you modify your game as such so your not introducing problems at address.

Hind sight is 20/20, and if you hit the shots well the story would have been very different. The only real hot spots I pull out of your thread are the agressive line on 17 and putting it in the water on 18. Without seeing how rough the dogleg is it's tough to judge whether the move was right, but one thing to try differently next time is start it more right off the box and try to draw it where you need it. That or maybe even lay up if your second shot would still get you in position for a par. On 18, tough to blame yourself for going for the green if you have that 200 yard shot in the bag. Sounds like it was just a missed shot, which gets us all from time to time. Really the only other option there (for me anyways) is to lay up to the water and take a short iron or wedge to the green. Not sure where the water was in relation to the 200 marker and the green, but if the water was closer to the green and laying up would get you the par, that's likely what I would have done (tough to get the thought of dunking it into the water out of your head when you have to carry a long way to clear it).

Ping I15 set (4-PW, Steel, Stiff shaft, Yellow dot, +1/4) Cleveland CG15 56 degree wedge Nike glove Absolutely love the I15's. Added 20 yards over my old TM supersteels, and look great at address. Next on the list is a new driver (thinking the R9 Trispeed or the Calloway Diablo Edge).

Well, there is no rule that says you have to use the SW on bunker shots, and I will often swich club depending on the distance I need to carry (though I will say I never go with more loft than the SW). I think trying a couple things might help you out here, 1) try opening the SW face more. It's possible that you are leaving it with too much loft for the short shot. 2) Hit more sand. With a bunker shot you can change how hot the ball comes out by how far behind the ball you hit. If you want to get less distance out of the shot hit a little further behind the ball, thus displacing the ball with more sand and reducing the carry. P.S one last thought, another option is to adjust your swing power. Since you didn't clarify what type of disaster you are having I've assume you are flying it too far. If that is truly the case I would suggest trying to pull back your swing power a bit. You will need to adjust that depending on the shot, but I would imagine if you are swinging a 56 degree as hard as you are a 60 you are going to see very different results.

Without seeing it I would guess 1 of three things. 1) Standing up/leaning back instead of rotating through the shot 2) Ball tee'd too low 3) Ball too far forward in your set up

Working on my short game, i.e. chips and flop shots. Currently my distance control is not where it needs to be, and I tend to decellerate on the down swing when chipping, resulting in too many missed shots. This is the major obstacle for me getting to a lower HC, so I need to grow my skill and confidence there. Ultimately I want to get to single digits, so practice practice practice...

For me the goal to breaking 100 was threefold; course management, club selection and swing tempo. For course management, play smart and know where to aim for the most forgiveness. We all make bad shots, but putting yourself in the best position to recover goes a long way. And certainly don't try foolish recovery shots (say from 30 feet in the woods) when either a drop or an easy lateral out are the better options. For club selection, make sure you are picking a club you are comfortable with. If you are not good with woods, don't pull out the 5w when you are in 3 inches of rough. If there is a club you have been struggling with all day, might be a good idea to leave it in the bag and hit the ones you can get the most solid hits with. Hitting a 7i followed by a wedge to the green is better than duffing a 3i and then having to hit two more long shots to get up to the green. Tempo, the goal here is to keep a smooth relaxed swing. Don't over analyze the swing or you are likely going to hesitate and cause breakdowns. My best swing has always been the one where I go up relaxed and just think about a smooth tempo. And don't try to kill the ball. Overswinging inevitably leads to breakdowns (at least for me). If you think you need to kill the ball with your current club to cover the distance, go pick another club that will allow you to use an 80-90% swing smoothly. And finally, course selection. Breaking 100 is in part a factor of what course you are playing. Don't expect to go out and play a 139 slope and break 100 as easily as you would playing a 119 course. Not that it can't be done, but I would target a more forgiving course if your sole goal is to break 100. I left out putting because that should be a given. If you can't read greens at all and miss a lot of putts, you're going to really struggle breaking 100. Your goal should be to 1-2 putt every hole. Once the 3-4 puts come in, even if you had a good approach to the green, its all down hill.

Honestly, 9/10 times I'll drink a beer and say screw it...nothing relaxes like a buzz. On the other hand, if I'm serious about the round I will get pissed, and on the next hole make a concious effort to slow down. Take more time lining up the shots, and maybe take a little off the swing power so I get some control back. A little self pep talk doesn't hurt either. If that doesn't work...I drink another beer.

I live in the Boston area so I feel your pain about winter. When I was living in my last apartment I would practice Chipping and Putting on the carpet all winter. I also had a heated outdoor driving range that, while a bit chilly, did a good job at allowing me to hit some long balls at least once a week. As long as your ceilings are high enough you can get some plastic practice balls and do some full shots indoors as well. Of course, now that I own a house with all hardwood floors and no heated facilities nearbye my approach is a little different. I'll work on stretching and use a shortened position on my clubs just to go through the slow motion exercises of the swing. Beyond that, I do everything I can to shorten winter. I'm on the courses before they close in December, and as soon as they open in March. Lots of warm clothing and two cold weather golf gloves do the trick. However, hitting an iron off of snow bank is a lot harder than it looks.