ohiolefty

I tested some Eye 2's at the range the other day and someone in the gallery who'd gathered to watch me hit balls said "God, it's like Hogan all over again." I generally just shrug comments like that off; there's no need to get taken with myself.

To go back to the original premise of the thread... You say he was talking about fundamentals to start the lesson, and then 10 minutes later he's talking about spine angle and knee flex? Was this a first lesson? I'm baffled on a few levels. First - a discussion of spine angle and knee flex isn't really 'fundamental' stuff. Tweaking that is pretty complicated in my opinion and any tweaks or adjustments made to those angles in the swing should be related to some advanced work. If I was in a first lesson, regardless of my skill level, and a guy was going on about spine angle...I dunno...I might not work with the guy anymore. Second - they just 'talked' about grip, alignment, etc. and didn't work on it? I find that hard to believe. If they just 'discussed' it and didn't work on it, then the instructor is sh*t anyway - regardless of whether or not any of us agree with his theories on the golf swing. Getting set up properly and creating the proper angles at address is (my opinion here) the most important thing in the golf swing; it is what sets up all the other things in your swing. If you're in a bad position to start, getting into a 'good' position later in the swing is going to require a lot of unnatural compensations and/or require you to do things that your bad setup won't effectively allow. I'll put it to you this way. I've fallen off with informally keeping my HCP, but my last few full rounds were 74, 69, 68, 70, 72, 73. I have a sense of what I'm doing, do at least I think I do. And when I go to the range, I feel like my energy is split about 65/35 between set-up and putting myself in a proper position (65%) and the dynamic aspects of the swing &/or feel (35%). So I don't know....that's where I go on this, regardless of whether Nick Faldo knows the proper ball flight laws, or the vocabulary to describe them, or his ABCs, times tables, or whatever.

On my home course...a maximum of twice a round. On #3, a par 5...I usually have 5 or 6 iron in...but if I don't get 'all' of it and/or catch the wrong side of a hump that runs through the center of the fairway, I will occasionally have a 4 iron in. On #9, a long par 4...this is uphill and upwind on the drive...usually have a long-ish iron in, and very often it's a 4. Sometimes I have a hybrid in.

Damned trolls.

liberal politically correct nonsense? nice. i found the comment series racist. you didn't. we can disagree. it's not about being liberal, or being p.c. for me. it's about not enjoying tacit racism. if you think i'm a liberal, politically correct, (insert random blast into series here) that's cool. think it. just like i can think, and do think, what the guy said was racist. we're all entitled to our opinions, even if they make us like a$$holes - or something :-)

Right. I was bagging on another American poster for a non-sequitir that was racist. Relating to the Irish political troubles, however, I am curious. I haven't talked to any 'actual' Irish folks about this. I have a sister who married an Irish man (from County Kildare - and I was best man in the wedding which was over there. Talk about an experience!) and I haven't talked to her husband since the win. Wonder how he feels and the sense he has of how it's being viewed over there.

Callaway X Forged. Players cavities. I could play MB clubs, particularly in the scoring clubs, but I can do everything as far as shape, height etc. with my clubs that I need to shoot great scores. It'd be a matter or aesthetic...and from the topline and in terms of the sole width, I'm pretty comparable to most MB's anyway. I like my irons..for now :-)

Feherty was pretty cool. I find him annoying and not that informative during golf broadcasts, but this I liked a great deal. A lot better than the sanitized, formulaic fare of golf broadcasts. For those saying he seems "scripted". Of COURSE he's scripted. It's not a live show. There's obviously been a lot of attention paid by both Feherty and his producers to how Feherty will be presented. In that regard, I found the show effective and entertaining. Guy's got a lot to say. Compared to most of the dross on The Golf Channel it's The Sopranos.

Interesting. I thought if a thread about an Ulsterman (someone from Northern Ireland, for those playing at home) were to get nasty, it'd be on sectarian grounds. Sadly however, it's no suprise to see good ole' timey, thiny-veiled racist blasts can come up in our American discourse. I love how, a few posts later, you clarified with the "Gangsta Talk" and "bust a cap in your a$$" references. Enlightened.

I just had a 19th hole conversation about this.... I said 8. Reasons for him not getting into double-digits, breaking records, etc. Depth of fields and increased globalization of game - we have great players from EVERYWHERE now, not just the U.S. and the British Isles, and we keep getting more from more (different) places Rory's already had a back issue last year. That makes me nervous. I live with chronic back pain every day. It takes a massive toll, and I'm not under the physical, mental, or emotional demands that Rory will be under. Burnout factor - see Tiger Woods, etc. Rory's been a figure of prominence in his home country since grammar school. Granted, Northern Ireland isn't L.A., and his dad's not Earl Woods, but a lot of the same factors could be in play. Plus, in today's media culture I would argue the burnout risk has only increased. Rory seems to have a great attitude now and able to take it all in stride. We'll see how it is, however, when he's got 5 majors and is making 10 times as much money and can't live a 'normal' life.

Well-played.

As a lifetime Ohioan, I guess we in the Midwest just Annexed the Mid-Atlantic subregion of the East Coast. Awesome! Crab Cakes for everybody!

I have my home course so cold...I am a walking yardage book. It's funny when I'm playing alone and get hooked up with someone who doesn't play there all the time and we're talking through a hole and I'm busting yardages from the top of my head. I was playing with a guy who hit his drive into an adjacent fairway on a par 5, helped him find his ball. Then he was asking how far the green was, I gave him the number and the number was ugly. He was talking about laying up and was unsure of the number and I gave it to him, helped him 'club' the whole thing. He was like "Thanks, Bones" and ended up making a par. It was cool and made me feel like a good Samaritan for once in my life. As for my routine, it's basically the same throughout a round although I'll make minor changes based on things I might be working on. A lot of times, I take a practice shot or a half-practice shot that's based on some position I'm working on. If you're screwing something up within a round, it's best to work that out before you get up to start the hole, usually on the tee box. It's always best, in my opinion, to play a hole in a brisk rhythm.

I hit a 17 degree hybrid last year; I used to carry a 17 and a 20 degree hybrid, both by Adams. Replaced them this year with a 19 degree hybrid and put my 3 iron back in the bag. Awful decision. Regretting it terribly. My 17 degree Adams A7 was a weapon. Long. Could hit it low, high, draw, fade, etc. You can do everything a fairway can do with a hybrid, but the converse isn't quite true. I'd advise you to look at a hybrid of comparable loft, even with a non-stock shaft (something more 5W like, perhaps). I carried a 5W for a long time and don't miss it. My '2' hybrid (17 degree) is a different story, however...any time I get stuck behind a tree line or need to hit a ball through some crazy chute I still miss that thing. My home course is tree-lined, and I probably used it 5 times a round. Really miss it.

I read on the Golf Channel's website that Stephanie hasn't been on air much because she lost a (standing up) p*ssing contest with Kelly Tighlman. Stephanie, reportedly, competed admirably with a strong, manly, stream that seemed to come right from her huge adam's apple. But, it was no use. That dude Kelly is hung like a horse and it's hard to win a p*ssing contest against a dude who's already starting with an (at least!) 5 inch advantage on you.

I'd have to cut my gap wedge to only hit it 350.

Dammit - will Ben Crane just dissapear already? If it's not playing at a glacial pace, it's seeming like the 9th grade class president in interviews. If it's not annoying videos that lack the sufficient humor or irony to cause the (lame and egregiously out of touch) golf media to spunk their pants with no shame, it's this piece of excrement. I like Bubba Watson. I like Rickie Fowler. Hunter Mahan irritates me as a person and I hate the way he plays the game. My opinion of Ben Crane is well-established above. I was dissapointed in this. It was something the Lonely Island guys would have panned in about 20 seconds. The only redeeming moments are that: A. Bubba's outfit is hilarious self-parody and B. Rickie Fowler actually looks like he could be in a boy band and wear those ridiculous clothes. Notice that the best two things I can say about the video are related to how folks are dressed. Errghh. Why doesn't Ben Crane make a video where he mocks his own slow play? Or, where he just goes to a strip club with a bunch of other tour pros instead of putting crosses on his golf balls? The guy would have been beat up in most high schools. At some schools - repeatedly.

I think some of the driving distances vs. iron distances claimed on this forum are often out of whack as well...but that gets into a more exotic discussion, doesn't it? I'm pretty long. I average, on well-struck drives, somewhere north of 270 - my 'windless' carry is 260-265 if I hit it solid, and better if I 'crush it'. Now, how often do I hit it flush? I dunno...in 'mid-season' form much more often than not. In early season form or when I'm tinkering with something - less. I'm pretty good. This is my 3rd summer of playing again after a 10 year hiatus from the game, now aged 30. If I could get my back to feel good more than 3 days in a row I think I could be scratch or better... All that being said - there's a ton of horsesh*t on here regarding yardage. A ton. Anyone on here with a 20something handicap saying they're driving it 300 and hitting their pitching wedge 160 yards needs their head examined, at best. With some of the distance that guys claim...I don't know how they could play so badly and play most public courses which are in the mid six-thousands, yardage wise. They should be able to overpower those courses, even hitting it pretty crooked. But what do I know? I shot even par yesterday .

I get a large bucket....about 110 balls....and I alternate between 'even' and 'odd' irons each practice to minimize club wear a little bit.... My basic routine is this: Stretch Warm up with PW or 9I 'Up through the bag': Each club - PW/8I/6I/4I/Hybrid/3W/Driver - Trying to hit one just 'solid', one draw, one fade per club. Sometimes more depending on what I'm working on and how I'm swinging that day. 'Big draws and fades': Taking 3I/4I and 7I/8I and working on hitting pretty big, shaped shots Full wedges: Usually only a few "110 yard drill": I pick a target and hit different irons in my bag to hit, trying to work on distance control, feel, draw and fade, etc. This is a feel and contact drill for me, and a great way to end my practice sessions Short game work: I do most of this at my home course before and after rounds, but sometimes at my range I go over to the short game area and do bunker work or some other wedge stuff

I'll take this thread in a different direction... I shoot in the mid to low 70's most places I play, and I break par on my home course very often... What makes me say WOW is when I'm playing with a guy or gal who can just SCORE. Someone who makes par from all kinds of places. I end up playing skins or whatever with a lot of retired guys at my home course who are pretty good golfers (a lot of them in the 5 to 10 hcp range) and to watch some of these guys score from where they hit it and with the clubs they have to hit into greens...it's pretty cool..and I admire that. To me, scoring is the name of the game. Not that seeing someone hit it like a machine isn't cool, but I appreciate guile and grit.

I use these shots a lot, and most of what has been posted so far is pretty solid. I'd just like to add that impact quality is really important on these shots as it relates to distance control/spin. When you're hitting a flighted shot, you need to hit it flush because if you don't...all manner of bad things will happen. It's something to practice OFTEN, as in almost every range session. The other great thing about practicing these shots is that it should help your overall ballstriking. I advocate a drill where you pick a yardage that is a half a club too long for your LW, and work on hitting every iron in your bag to that target with draws, fades, etc. Great for impact position, feel, and learning to hit different shots. Then, when you get on the course and you want to hit a 95 yard shot beneath a tree line and you need to cut it, you've already hit that shot dozens, hundreds, thousands of times.

(Striking) Ball first is a good place to start.

The balata ball got up in the air to a fault. Also, it was terrible in the wind. But, it was fun inside of 50 yards...for about 3 shots...then you needed another one

From Bobby Jones to Phil...hands ahead of the clubhead...especially while chipping. Hell, if you think hands ahead of the clubhead and just work on that, it's a great place to start. I also chip/pitch out of a divot to work on holding the angle and making sure I hit chips/pitches flush with a decending blow.

I don't think Rickie is over-hyped unless you're some kind of puritan who's crying about Marc Wilson not getting enough recognition. I'm a Rickie guy because of his game. To me, he's got a ton of game. Yes, he's streaky. What golfer, besides Tiger when he was out of his mind a few years ago, isn't or hasn't been?!? None. Rickie is the kind of player where it wouldn't shock me if his first win came in a major. He's got the game. He, for the most part, plays pretty well under pressure. He can putt the eyes out of it when it matters. Short game, etc. His ball-striking, when it's on, is really exciting. He gets wayward...but, once again, most guys do wax and wane with that. Not everybody's a machine, and even the 'machines' had more ups and down than the rosy glasses of history like to remember. Rickie gives a lot of folks the feeling, because of his talent and demeanor, that when he starts winning he could go on a mad tear. Now - could it take him a long time to startwinning ? Yes. Might he not ever start winning? Sure. But Rickie's a gamer - so when he puts it together in terms of winning tournaments, it could get scary.