The Recreational Golfer

Taking lessons to build a reliable swing so I didn't waste strokes getting the ball up to the green.

Developing a reliable swing. Good scores are only made possible by good play up to the green.

I learned during my time in the Navy that confidence means you know what the outcome will be before you begin and that's exactly what ends up happening. On the golf course, confidence is what allows the skills you have practiced to emerge.

54, when I was ten years old. I still have the scorecard. I don't remember what my first 18 score was.

Their record in major championships is part of the discussion, though not all of it. Woods has played in 86 major championships (through the 2020 U.S. Open). Here is his record compared to Nicklaus’s first 86: Jack (age 41): 1st - 17 2nd - 17 3rd - 9 4-10 - 20 Tiger (age 44): 1st - 15 2nd - 7 3rd - 4 4-10 - 15

I hate to say things like this, but can someone please tell Dan Hicks to just SHUT UP every now and then? You don't have to fill every microsecond with words.

I thought you might like to see this picture of an early tournament (year unknown to me). Bobby Jones teeing off, with Tommy Armour, Walter Hagen, and Gene Sarazen watching.

This might be a good starting point for you. "The best way to learn golf is to choose one department of the game get good at it before branching out. It can be any part—I suggest pitching with a sand wedge— but don’t try to swallow the whole game once. If you try to learn driving, sand play, fairway woods, and putting at the same time, the game will eat you up. You’ll get frustrated and might quit. Build up confidence in that one area and let it spread out to the other parts." https://www.golfdigest.com/story/my-shot-lee-elder August 2019

Neither one, really. I know I'll get down in three from either place.

Laying up sod on a chip that ends up four feet away.

652 is the serial number, which should be common to all the irons in your set if they all came from the same set originally.

Your irons are the 1961 Power Thrust. Equalizer is the name for the pitching wedge, since Hogan thought that this club he was so good with "equalized" his game with that of the the longer and straighter pros. He said if you were good with the wedge, there was no pin they could hide from you. The Exploder is of course the name for the sand wedge which I guess the marketing department thought went well with the Equalizer. Exploder has gone out of use, but my 1988 Red Lines and my 1999 Apex blades both call the PW an Equalizer. As for the value of your set, they're probably worth what you paid for them. There's a set on eBay right now for $399.99. I hope this helps.

I play golf to have fun with friends. Handicaps never enter into it. This change will not affect my golf in any way.

Maybe someone already submitted this, but Lee Trevino once said, "They say you drive for show and putt for dough, but if you can't drive, you won't be putting for very much dough."

The Road Hole at St. Andrews, 1968. 3-wood over the barrier, 3-iron to the green (Road Hole bunker? What's that?). 20-foot putt into the cup. Thank you very much.

74. Two over par after four, and even par the rest of the way--two bogeys, two birdies.

Fast. True, they are generally smoother, but mainly because I like to "finesse" the ball toward the hole instead of knocking it up there.

Do you mean every 240 goes into the bushes? 240 will be in the fairway often enough to more than make up for the ones that go into the bushes. And a 60m gap, even from the bushes, is still a huge advantage.

Let's look at what he did in 2019. Three wins, including the Player's and the Tour Championship. 2nd on the money list, (Koepka 1st), 1st in adjusted scoring average, and 1st in Total Strokes gained. In my book, Rory's A game beats everybody else's A game.

Not if you know their tricks. FAR less reliable? I don't think so.

I'm not saying the visual method I described is better than using your feet (to each their own), but what I like about it is that you can SEE the slope. It's right there. And you can see which direction it's going and how much of a slope it is.

Thanks. Shows how out of touch I am! I use an easier way to perceive the slope around the hole. Let's say the green slopes slightly left to right. Stand on a line connecting the hole and the ball, then lean to the right (looking into the slope you're not sure of). The green will look fairly flat. Lean to the left, and now you can definitely see the slope because you are looking down it.

I think this question goes in this section, so here goes. I went to the Cambia Classic (LPGA) in Portland, Oregon yesterday. I saw a lot of the golfers straddling the line of their putt when they were making their read. So many were doing it, I thought it must be some kind of green-reading system that has caught on, but I haven't heard of it. Does anybody know what this is about?

Late to the party. You have distance to burn, so the real question is, do you hit the ball straight? Does it go where you want it to go? You have to play well up to the green to give yourself a chance to shoot a low score. To break 80, you need to take no more than 38 strokes getting the ball up to the green (on it or beside it) from the tee and fairway. Once you're up to the green, can you get the ball in the hole? It's not about the 15-footers you say you make, but the putts from five feet and in, and from 30 feet and out. It's about giving yourself a decent chance to get down in two when you miss the green, from WHEREVER you miss it. Drills? Don't bother. Just take a ball to the practice green, drop it greenside and practice getting up and down from all over. And do that A LOT. The only way you get confidence in doing ANYTHING is if you have done it and succeeded so often that confidence is no longer an issue.

My local newspaper this morning had a huge article about Tiger Woods and how it's harder for him to win now. There was not one word about this tournament. Nothing. Good Grief.