hoser

I've made 4 birdies on the back 9 twice. 1 eagle and 6 birdies over 18 holes.

With the scenario you described, I'd do the following: 1) Stroke play tournament - Lay up every time. 2) Match play - Lay up if I am hitting first. If my opponent hit first and was on or around the green, then I'd be forced to go for it. Otherwise, I'd lay up as well. 3) Money game - Go for it! 4) Casual round - Lay up every time. I like boring golf ... greens and fairways.

My suggestion for software is Kinovea - http://www.kinovea.org/en/ Its open source and free. I have used V1 Home and cSwing in the past and I'd consider Kinovea to be a better product. As for camera there have been lots of recommendations posted in other threads.

Agreed. The numbers I posted a bit misleading since my home course slope/rating is 113/66.0 which will result scores close to an average. This would be different depending on the difficulty of the tracks you are playing.

I use Scorecard to keep track of all my rounds and it has an anti-handicap calculation. Its the inverse of the handicap formula and calculates your index using the worst 10 of your last 20 scores instead of your best 10. My handicap index is 6.6 and my anti-handicap is around 11. This puts my bad rounds around the 79 - 83 range on a par 70 course. Presumably, you'd want the two indexes somewhat close indicating consistent play.

I change my grips about every 50 rounds which is roughly once a year.

I play about 50 times per year and replace my battery 1 or 2 times a season with my Bushnell V2.

I tied my best round of 1 under 69 this past Saturday on my home course of par 70. I shot a 38 (+3) on the front and a 31 (-4) on the back. It was a pretty even round with 4 birdies, 3 bogeys and 11 pars. I only hit 8 greens but scrambled to about 80%. I had 3 3 putts and a penalty stroke (OB) so there's still lots of room for improvement. I thought I needed birdie on the last hole for even par ... but I had miscounted. A pleasant surprise of an under par round when I added up my scorecard!

I'm a self confessed freezer over the ball as well. My symptoms are slightly different. When it comes time to pull the trigger, my hands, wrists and arms get very tense. A real killer. Oddly, no problems on the putting green or for pitching/chipping. I'm open to any suggestions others might have for fixing this problem. Interestingly, Michael Breed on the Golf Fix addressed this problem the other night on his show. He suggested doing the following drill for 30 days: 1. On the range place 3 balls in row approximately 2 feet apart 2. Start swinging the club back and forth 3. Move towards the balls with the intent of hitting them on the fly 4. Prior to hitting each ball, look up and pick a target and then hit the ball 5. Repeat for 5 - 10 reps Ultimately, it doesn't really matter where the ball goes. The purpose of the drill is to train your brain/body to react to hitting a ball. See ball, hit ball. In order to take it to the course, he suggested incorporating certain elements into your pre-shot routine: 1. Take a practice swing beside the ball 2. Address the ball 3. Take one look and swing At this point I've tried the drill on the range a couple of times in June and I've incorporated certain aspects of the pre-shot routine on the course. Modest results so far.

Yep. This software rocks. I just downloaded it this evening and began using it As a long time user of cSwing and V1 Home (basic version) I can pretty much ditch those applications now. If you are going to use the software I'd suggest that you quickly browse the help file which took me 10 minutes tops. Some of the features aren't obvious. However, once you learn the basic concepts its much more powerful than the other software I had been using.

1. Being a 7 handicap, I'm going to make a lot of mistakes even in my best round. I accept those bad shots by not pressing on the remaining holes. My best score is a 1 under 69 on my par 70 home course. That round included 2 double bogeys a couple of 3 putts. That round made me realize that you can make a lot of mistakes and still shoot well. 2. Having a good pre-shot routine is essential to calming a nervous situation. Focusing on the process and not the outcome is the key. My thought however, is that you can only minimize the anxiety of the situation but not eliminate it. Its an unpleasant by product of success ;-) 3. "The better you putt, the bolder you play." That quote has always stuck with me. Your ability to putt affects your whole game. A lot of mistakes can be cleaned up on the green with good putting.

I play about 60 rounds a year with lots of time on the practice range. My wedges (Vokeys) are fully worn out after 2 seasons, so that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

I used to have this problem as well. One drill that was recommended to me was to find a slope, where the ball would be above your feet and make some practice swings. This will naturally flatten out your swing. My range has a little incline just off to the side. I'd take 20 practice swings on the slope then hit 10 balls on the range. Wash, rinse, repeat until I got through the bucket.

Its impossible to root against John Daly. His name would never be at the top of a leaderboard.

Last year I went from a 4 wedge to a 3 wedge set up: PW - 47° Mizuno MP 60 SW - 53° Titleist Vokey SM (54 bent 1° strong) LW - 59° Titleist Vokey SM (58 bent 1° weak) This simplified my choices around the green. However, it now requires a bit more finesse and feel for full shots that are between distances. Overall, happy with the change. I'll take another year with this set up and re-evaluate.