Ovalevader

The only flaw I see in the handicap system as far as my game goes is distance. For example, I can play a course in my area (74/135 average) from the tees my handicap dictates, and be a 11-12 handicap. Now, since I consider myself a longer hitter than most, and very proficcient with all the clubs in my bag, I can play the tips, and shoot the same number, making my handicap a 7-8. Also, don't feel bad about blow up rounds, they happen. I shot 95,95,92 all in a row on a trip to Florida (OB everywhere!).

Recently, in an act of desperation, I tried all sorts of different putting strokes, stances, alignments, basically everything. What I came up with was my feet right up against each other, with the left foot back and cocked to the left (righty golfer). I'm swinging across my body, at the tip of my left foot, and across my left foot. So far, I just feel at home, I couldn't tell you of I was actually putting better or not, but my stroke feels smoother and it for some reason helps my alignment. my question is, if I run with this, and make it the way I putt, will I regret it? Would you just tough it out with a conventional putt, or go with what you feel?

I hit a titleist blade 1 iron one time, I played the last 5 holes of a blowout round with *only* the 1 iron. It was fun, I hit a few good ones 250ish. A few duffs that went 100 yards, and some solid putts, lol.

I'd also like to mention the Pinnacle FX longs. They play ridiculously long and straight, and other long/straight balls aren't even on the same playing field as far as feel goes. Also about as durable as a tank... I have a ball that my friends have named "the ball" because I must have used it on par 5's for about 20 rounds straight now.

3 hybrid, 8 iron, 56* wedge I can hit all sorts of shots with the hybrid, hit the 8 iron anywhere from 130-160 with a grip change, and wedge is obvious.

Right now my only wedge is a 56/8 vokey. I love it, so I'm gonna get another one. Problem is, my "a" wedge in my r7 set is a 50*, and the yardage difference between it, and my vokey is about 20 yards (56 is about 110, a is about 130). So what i've come up with is getting the 56 bent to 54, and picking up a 58. My question is, how will that effect bounce? What I want is for the bent 54* to be used for all fairway shots inside it's yardage, and fringe chipping, will the bending make the bounce more or less suitable for that? Also, the 58* will be used for sand and rough inside it's yardage, what bounce would work best for that?

So at your guys advice I busted out the old alignment sticks. My aligment was pretty good, stance was a little open, but the thing that really stood out was my stance width. I had my stance marked off on my sticks, and I was standing atleast 7-8 inches wider than before. As i've always played my driver and woods off my front foot, this was causng my ball position to be 8 inches farther forward than usual. I tried playing it right in the middle of the stance, and voilà, nice little draw again. We'll see how long that lasts, thanks for the help guys!

My local sports authority carries Callaway HX tour X-outs for 18 bucks. They arern't marked X-out, and I cant find any blemishes to speak of. I usually get a round out of one and its still good enough for 9. I bought about 10 boxes of them after trying them. I played HX hots before that, and they are very similar, but the HX tours are much more resilient. Thats my underrated 20 dollar ball until something better comes along...

So, I used to have a huge ballooning slice, I'm talking stratosphere high. I had the cause of that as a over the top outside to in swing path, with a little bit of open club face. I hit it pretty far that way, maybe 240-250 when it found fairway, but it was so inconsistent I had to fix it. So after about 400 balls with my driver trying different things, I had it dialed in with a big hip turn, pretty much shoulders pointing at the ball at the top, with a little bit of lag at the bottom. This resulted in beautiful drives touching 300 on a regular basis, perfectly straight ball flight, it was awesome, until... About 3 days ago I started hitting balls before a round, first couple sliced a bit, so I made myself concentrate on what I had found before at the range, hit about 5 good ones, and then I duck hooked one into the fence, thinking woah, I guess I mishit that one. Then the next handful of balls had a pretty big hook, pretty much just as big as my slice used to be. The ball starts at the target, then just slides flat left about 50 yards. My short and middle irons were still perfect, So I tried my 3 hybrid...same thing, starts straight, slides left. Then I tried not turning my hips, going back to the way it was before, that just turns into a pretty big push, with about 40 yards loss of distance. I'm pretty stumped, ever since that day I just can't get rid of it, its resulted in me pulling 5 iron off the tee, which has just a nice quiet little baby draw. Also, if it helps, when it hooks, the ball flight is considerably lower than my straight drives. Basically I'm asking, what happened? Is it an extreme inside to out swing path, club face angle, or something else? I guess if no one can help me I'd have to borrow a cam for swing vids, but I'd like to see if any of your input can fix it? Thanks, Ryan.

The range for me is pretty random as to how i'll score my next round, but always allows me to see what I have as for as distance and control goes. Last round I played the session at the range before it was brilliant. I was shaping everything all over the place, hitting 4 iron 220 yards, and bouncing balls off pins with my wedge. That round happened to be a pretty good round, with the highlight being a 220 yard 4 iron that needed to be drawn over really tall trees and come down pretty soft on the green. I had remember my ball flight being really high on the range, so I decided to go for it, otherwise I would have probably punched out.

I watched a local pro shape a ball about 100 yards outside a tree, and then inside another one, with a nice soft landing. It was about 160 yards with a 7 iron, a Taylormade R7 with True Temper shafts. Needless to say that same pro would of probably had the same result with a player iron or muscleback. But the point is you don't need blades to accurately work a ball, but I'm sure it helps.

Usually a spot about 2 inches behind and inside of the ball, I've always had trouble with my swing path and almost always hit a straight shot when I remember to do this.

Bad link, but... I'm assuming you're saying the clubhead is passing your hands, and you more than likely hit a draw/hook. Try taking some swings at the range like a giant putting swing, with your lowest iron, in the middle of your stance. If the ball goes straight and doesn't bounce right or left, you'll know you have a good swing path in and through impact. After you get a good feel for this, take some 3/4 swings implementing your normal swing with a good feel for what you've practiced. You can also work in lag using your shoulders doing this drill. I do this in my normal preshot routine when I'm trying to shape a shot, and it helps setup my swing path.

+1 on franklin... I don't think I'll be playing that place again. Roddy ranch has got to be the most underrated course in the bay area, and online tee-times can be had for 20-25 bucks for most times on the weekday. Lone tree is an awesome place to relax and play the 12 dollar twilight. Tilden is awesome, I wish I lived closer and it was a little cheaper, I always bring up tilden first when my buddies want to golf.

This very mental image effectively fixed my slice, and helped me hit draws. After 15 or so range sessions with a tee directly behind the ball, my ballflight went from big slice to tiny draw. Also, my slice was caused by being over the top, with a bent left elbow, so I've had to work on this as well.