The Recreational Golfer

My goal is to have more scores that end in 7, 8, or 9 than in 0, 1, or 2.

If shots from a full swing are all going well, I'll switch to pitching and finish the bucket with those shots. So I'll leave my full swing early, I guess, but there are other things that need attention as well.

About 15 years ago I used a 2i off the tee if my driver was misbehaving, but I went to a Ben Hogan demo and tried out one of those new hybrid clubs and hit fabulous shots with a 2h OFF THE GROUND and ever since then my 2i has been unemployed.

These things have been around for absolute ever. I had one when I started playing golf in 1959. Do you have one?

He'll get a lot of top ten finishes, but there are too many players now who can beat him. They will just take turns doing it.

Good for you. It's fun to play like that isn't it?

While their records in major championships isn't the only thing that counts when comparing them, it counts for something. Woods has now played in 80 major championships (through the 2018 PGA). Here is his record compared to Nicklaus’s first 80: Jack: 1st - 15 2nd - 16 3rd - 9 4-10 - 18 Tiger: 1st - 14 2nd - 7 3rd - 4 4-10 - 15

This is how she's managing her life. More power to her.

Bruce Lietzke, winner of 13 Tour events with a machine-like fade, died yesterday (July 28) of brain cancer at age 67. Read his Golf Digest obituary: https://www.golfdigest.com/story/bruce-lietzke-67-succumbs-to-brain-cancer

ON January 1, 2019, information contained in green-reading books will become restricted to "effectively render the books impractical." Read the Golfweek article: https://golfweek.com/2018/07/19/usga-ra-have-agreed-to-severely-restrict-green-reading-books/

If you carry occasionally, you might look into a golf bag that not only has two shoulder straps, but a waist strap, too. This setup puts most of the weight on your hips, taking the load off your back.

This thought was in the GolfWRX Morning 9 this morning (I never knew "concerned" was a noun. Dig the two verbs in a row, too.): A concerned questioned asked Golf Digest if there's a point at which new golf balls begin to underperform. The reply: "Play it 'till you lose it, says Frederick Waddell, senior manager of golf-ball product management at Titleist. As long as the ball looks good to your eye, it's ready for the next tee, he says. You're not going to wear the ball out by playing it round after round, and you won't decrease its ball speed or lower its spin rate. That said, if it hits something like a tree or cartpath, give it a close look. Shear or scuff marks about the size of a dime or greater will likely affect the dimples and compromise its aerodynamics."

Have any of you played Bethpage Black from the red tees (~6200 yards)? Is it a seriously difficult course even from closer in?

I believe your priority should be on the up and down as one event, not two things put together. When you practice, chip the ball then go hit the putt. Always practice them together, because that's what you'll do on the course. To be sure, you can practice putting alone, and chipping alone, but neither of those teach you how to get up and down. Only practicing up and downs does that, in my experience. As for those percentages, none of them mean that much to me, because they are all after the fact. When you play there are only two percentages: 100% and 0%. You get this ball up and down or you don't. So practice like that. Hit four balls from the same spot to different holes on the practice green and keep at it until you get all four up and down. Then repeat but hitting to one hole from four different spots. Practice being 100%.

It's a combination of the pinching feel of hitting the ball first on the center of the clubface, and the ground a split second later, all of which which has its own sound. I just love it when that happens.