ohiolefty

My pre-round routine involves hitting a variety of chip and pitch shots with a set of 4 golf balls. I start with running chip shots, usually with my PW (I've ditched the 8 iron chip shot completely), then SW, then LW. I try to hit chips and pitches to an upslope and a downslope with all my shots. I usually chip at least 8 balls per shot/club before I play. If I'm not tired after I play, I try to do the same thing. I also practice at a range that has a short game area. That really helps if you can find it.

I'd tell myself to play golf instead of football as a young kid. I kick myself for it. I had to stop playing football, where my ceiling was VERY limited, after my sophomore year of HS because of ongoing neck issues. Meanwhile, playing golf casually (probably about 15-20 times a year) I was decent but never went out for golf because of the obvious conflict with football. When I finally did go out as a senior, on the adamant urging of many buddies, I just missed the quite stacked varsity team despite being less experienced than anybody else on the varsity or JV squads in competitive golf. When I picked the game back up, the rapid progress I made after learning the game properly made me kick myself that I hadn't done it sooner. Every time I play with strangers and get asked something like, "Where'd you play in high school/college", or get told how nice my swing is, or something, I kick myself because I was probably good enough to have played in college and done something more with the game. But the two sports I focused on, baseball (where I was GOOD enough to play in college but didn't pursue it due to arm injuries) and football (where I was nowhere close to being a college prospect on any level) didn't amount to much for me - they just beat the hell out of my body.

I was thinking the Callaway Diablo Forged or PING i15s.

All of these look really sweet. i20s, visually are a big improvement on the i15s. I'll have to see them in person before I can really figure it out, as the PING website doesn't have the best photography of the clubs.

I'm suprised that nobody has mentioned that it doesn't have to be an 'either-or' thing. You have many options in terms of attack, face angle, length, ball position, etc. that are going to create different results in different combinations. That's why short game practice is so vital. I hope this was a productive non-answering of the question :-)

Lots of thoughts here, and my game with my wedges (140 and in to greenside chips) is the best part of my game. I'll just rattle some things off that you can take or leave. On full or semi-full shots, making clean, "ball-first" contact is crucial. It should be easy with a LW because it has the shortest shaft in your bag, but if you can't hit it flush, you're better not to use it at all. If you can hit it flush, then the rest of what any of us might say will be relevant to you. If you can't, look to a different wedge configuration. Whatever method you're using, your hands need to be ahead of the clubhead. If you flip with a wedge, particularly with an LW, you're dead as far as consistency goes, and you're throwing away all the benefits of using a highly-lofted wedge. You can flip and hit sh*tty shots with the PW that comes with your iron sets, no need to buy an extra club. Don't listen to what everyone says about ball positon, etc. If you look on tour, there are a lot of different ball positions being used by guys who are great wedge players. Phil Mickleson, one of the best wedge players in the world, doesn't play the ball in the back of his stance unless he's hitting some freaky, severe trap draw kind of thing. Steve Stricker, probably the best wedge player in the world and at least probably the most consistent, doesn't play the ball severely back. I think you need to play the ball COMFORTABLY for you, and that you're only going to find through trial and error and repetition. Playing it back on all full shots just limits your options in terms of shot types, managing spin, etc. Using a lofted club isn't just for hitting high lobs, it is also usueful for playing low shots with ridiculous spin. There's no better feeling than being 75 yards out on a par 5 or a shorter par 4 on a windy day and hitting a shot with your LW that barely gets 25 feet up in the air, hits, and either stops dead or sucks back a little. You can do that with an LW, and it's a lethal weapon. Read what others say, try some things, find what works for you, and be consistent with that. There are a million theories about short game, all of which are right for the person that'd doing the theorizing. You should try some things others recommend and other things that you find out on your own. Find things that work, practice those, and develop a method for yourself in the scoring area. Practice until your thought process in the scoring area is as simple as possible. If you're thinking a million different things when you're hitting some feel shot over a hazard to a green that's running away from you - you're dead. Commit to a real target and hit the shot using a basic, repeatable method that you've ingrained.

I just hope the launch of the R11S brings the price of the original R11 down even further (retailing everywhere for about 299, now). As for the fairway woords...the Rocketballz thing seems interesting, but I can't buy a product called "Rocketballz". I just can't. I'd be mortified to tell someone what club it was after hitting a nice shot with it. I'll just wait till some other company (essentially) rips off whatever technological gains the RBZ fairway makes, and buy that one. Plus, I'm happy with my R9 fairway.

I'll play as long as the course is playable. However, if it's cold and windy and they don't allow carts that day - I can't play. I have a disc issue in my back and, although I prefer to walk, when it gets around freezing or lower it gets hard to walk 18 holes because of the exposure to the cold. If it's not too terribly windy and if I'm feeling decent that day, I can usually do it.

Yup. I keep the bagtag and give the usually less-than-stylish hat to my dad. I just like supporting the organization.

Does he also market a line of products with the word "Hammer" anywhere in the title?

Man, kind of 'reverse pyramid' organization to this, given the thread title.

Once we get into leaf season, or crazy cold....I buy Slazengers in a bag or play with whatever junk, rock ball I can find. Everything's so damned soft anyway once we hit November in Ohio, there's not an incredible difference. It's much harder to shape a shot, and you'll occasionally get more inconsistencies, but it's not that big of a deal. I'd love to use an AD333 or a DT Solo (I prefer the AD333, by the way...if we're "talkin' junk") but who cares! Junk is junk. Sh*t is sh*t. I'd rather just spend as little as possible and play a simplified game. Playing with a rock really is nice because you have to be really smart about how you play approach shots because if you shortside yourself you're really, really dead with a ball that doesn't spin.

I vote mostly Democrat, even though I'm way left of the Democratic party on things, and certainly way left of Obama (who's a centrist that many nutjobs call a Commie because it's more socially acceptable than direct racial attacks, or because they heard it on some hate machine program, or both, but who really cares). All that being said, I think the guy's been a tremendous dissapointment as a President. STILL... The guy doesn't play too much golf. He doesn't go on a disproportionate amount of vacations for a POTUS, and whilst on these vacations, he plays golf. He also plays golf every once in a while to do business or unwind. Big deal. I hated "W" as a POTUS, and golf had nothing to do with it. In fact, if he'd have applied some of the lessons the links teach to the Presidency, he'd probably have not been such an embarrasing, insufferable boob. ... Obama should play golf or do any activity that breeds self-control, encourages clear thinking, and being accountable for one's actions. This whole thing's almost as ridiculous as Rick Perry's new ad . But not quite.

Thanks, and I"ve tried that. It somewhat works...I adjust trajectory pretty well, and try this to hit low cuts - I do better with it using a scoring club than a longer iron, though. The cut thing seems like a no-brainer (most of the time) with the driver because it's so much easier to control in the air and on the ground (see contoured fairways). I'm mainly looking for little 'wind cheats' guys may use, cutting the ball, into the wind with long clubs. More loft is obvious, but there are many little adjustments you can make into the wind with a draw and, at least intuitively, there have to be just as many to cutting the ball. I could be off, though. Humbly seeking knowledge!

Columbus is within 90 minutes of most of Ohio's great golf, IMO. I'm not a fan of the city myself...but good luck!

I am a teacher - high school English. I picked up golf again a few years ago after not playing for a decade and, as an adult who was an athlete, instantly got pretty good when I dedicated myself to doing so. I work with an instructor, now only meeting once every few months. In seeing my instructor work with others, and watching others learn/teach the game, I think the athleticism thing has a lot of merit. The golf swing is a finely-tuned athletic move. I was a baseball pitcher, and there are similar thought processes to constructing both of the movements. Seeing someone who is, basically, an athlete learn the golf swing is a lot different from seeing a non-athlete learn it. Why? Because, when you look at someone who is unathle tic learning the game, many of their struggles come from their lack of body/mind awareness of balance, power, coordination, rhythm, etc. I think an athlete who is willing to work a little bit can get good at the game pretty quickly. Charles Barkley (who was once a low-capper, don't forget) not withstanding, you see many pro athletes pick up the game very quickly and play very well. Ever watch the Tahoe classic? Besides Rick Rhoden and Billie Joe Tolliver, who are essentially golf pros, most of the 'regular' pro athletes would easily be the best guy in your foursome. Why? Their level of athleticism makes the process of correcting flaws in the golf swing pretty easy because you also don't have to correct their basic athleticism. It's like speaking a foreign language. Most of us learn one in school but never become truly fluent (metaphor for athletic competency), so while we can travel to Madrid and ride the bus system, we would be laughable at best if we tried to write poetry in that language. The golf swing is to movement what poetry is to language in that respect, an advanced action that is easier to speak once one has a solid mastery of basic concepts. One could learn to write poetry in another language, but their initial attempts would be mechanical at best and lack the sensibility and/or musicality in the language to really have the essence of what poetry can become in any language. Teaching a non-athlete one thing in the golf swing just causes them to fall off balance somewhere else, and everything is more arduous.

Lads, homies, flunkies and friends... The last few months I've been tinkering around with my shot pattern quite a bit. Trying to cut the ball more because I feel like, all-in-all, it's a more reliable shot shape for me that I can replicate even when I'm not playing sharply. Trying to minimize the damage when I don't have my A-game. For those who play a cut, however, any tips for cutting the ball into the wind that go beyond "When it's breezy, swing easy?" Any inside tips or wisdom from the faders of the golf ball?

Two good resources: Ohio Golf Guide is a website with user reviews of every club, public and private, in the state and has top 25 rankings of the best public, private and 9 hole tracks based on user reviews. There are also clickable, county-by-county maps that bring up a list of all the clubs in a particular county - so say if you were going to the Hocking Hills, the Lake Erie Islands, etc. you could find courses nearby. I like this website quite a bit - user reviews display the individual users' biases, but don't have some larger political/economic motivation like publication rankings. Check it out! Golf Cleveland Ohio has reviews of all the public courses within an hour or so of Metro Cleveland, many/most with pictures. The reviews aim to be pretty comprehensive, and even though I always don't agree with what they say (I think they miss the mark on my home track, for example) I value their imput and the fact that they have extensive photographs for most of the courses. Another one to check out.

I got pissed a few months ago and played a 210 yard par 3 with a walnut after hitting two balls into someone's yard because I felt like I couldn't get set up properly on the ridiculous tee box setup. Yes. I wonder why my partner and I were 'followed' for the rest of the round by various staff members.

I can't fathom how people would change their putter grip for putts of different length. Wow. Wow. Wow. I use one of the old school Ping putter grips, and I have my thumbs over the logo. It keeps the grip consistent for me. If I could putt with all 8 fingers interlocked, I would, but I can't, so I really try to get my hands as together as possible because it keeps the hands and wrists out of the stroke for me. I guess, when you consider where the pad of my top hand is...I don't choke down at all. If you do 'choke down', is it hard to change putters because the swingweight of the putter is so affected by choking up and down? I'd think it'd be tough to make any equipment changes because you'd have to do more farting around than normal to get the weight right, but I could be overanalyzing it.

Sheesh...this might seem silly...but here goes. Take at least 6 complete weeks off . No swinging. No putting. Nothing. I had some issues with mental fatigue this year from grinding so hard the last few years, and a run of really ugly rounds and behavior on the course in the early summer. That wasn't cool, nor was it productive. I need time away this winter. Six weeks minimum, 8 weeks ideal. Last year I only did 4 weeks. Not enough. Get in a little better shape . I want to get my core stronger and tighter so that I can be a little more consistent with my swing. I feel like if I had a more stable core, my overall swing and game would be more stable. I also had some odd injuries this year, and I can't help but feel that most of them boiled down to my back issues (which I can't do much about in the immediate future) and needing to strengthen my core (which I can do something about). Drive the golf ball more consistently. I've made some strides to this end, but I feel like it ends up going sideways for me at some point in about 90% of my rounds. If I could drive the ball manageably during 80% of my rounds, I'd be a scratch. Inconsistency with the driver is the thing that kills me worst, that has me where I am - banging my head into a wall. Be less 'cute' with my approach play. I hit my irons well. I'd say I'm an "A" iron player inside of 180 yards, and a B, B+ guy from 180-210. When I'm not hitting the shots into greens I want, it's because I overcomplicate it. Just need to take dead aim at a manageable target and do it in a straightforward way. I can hit my targets and numbers consistently and I need to start getting out of my own way. Recommit myself to my short game. I really focused on full swing this year and my wedge game around the green suffered. I used to be a wedge wizard, now I can occasionally do a magic trick. Unacceptable. Gotta get that back. My putting has improved this year, primarily due to some techinical consistency and making a change back to a blade-style putter which has helped immensely - so I need to get the wedges back in order so I can fully profit from my improved putting.

Anyone valuing clubs because of bag chatter (as opposed to actual wear) needs their head examined anyway. Don't buy headcovers. Just don't. They're ugly, they trap moisture unless you keep your clubs flawlessly clean and dry on the course which is virtually impossible, and bag chatter is actually cool. A set of irons is like a set of Chuck Taylors- unless they've got holes in them that make them totally unwearable (clubs: unless they're severely worn or broken), they look cooler the more worn they get. Nothing looks cooler than a set of 10 year old, forged irons that someone still loves to play. Bag chatter is cool. All my opinion, of course.

Stonewater

I know Mizuno, Bridgestone and Titleist have made 'driving' irons that are, essentially, 2 irons with longer shafts and wider soles. The way that modern lofts are, even in player sets, a 1 iron is going to be somewhere, loft-wise, between a 3 and a 4 wood (16 degrees in most players sets, even lower than a 3W in a set of shovels). The construction of woods/hybrids and ESPECIALLY shafts for woods/hybrids makes it so, even in a links situation, there's no advantage to playing a 1 iron unless you're just trying to show off for your buddies. Plus, to hit a modern one iron with a traditional iron shaft, you'd need ridiculous swing speed and impact dynamics (talking top end of the PGA/Euro tour, here) to get any consistency out of it. Nobody on tour plays a 1 iron...and most guys really only carry a 2 iron in special situations. That should tell you all you need to know about hitting an iron with less loft than a 3 iron with modern equipment and the modern golf ball.

Two good websites you can consult to find courses in Northeast Ohio: Ohio Golf Guide - User review-based site. You'll get some wackos on there, but you can get recent takes on a course from actual players Golf Cleveland Ohio - Very cool site. Comprehensive reviews of Northeast Ohio tracks with pictures.