ERdiesel

On your third point, and what if the pro is late by 35 minutes? Then people would be whining about how he was only 5 minutes late right? How would that be different from being 5 minutes late? the line was draw, it was clear, and the rules are black and white, no grey here. Also, iacas is right, late is rude, and even more so in the corporate world with whom furyk most likely drew his playing partners for the day from. Mistakes do happen, but great to see furyk own up to his mistake and not whine and complain about it like some many of us without a vested personal stake in this seem to be doing.

resurrecting an old thread................. happened to me last night. After playing half a dozen rounds of pretty decent golf the past month, I went to the range with my gf last night because she's been taking lessons for the past month and wanted to show me her swing. I also, wanted to show boat a little........ :) Well let me take a step back, earlier yesterday i went to the barclays practice round (pro-am) and spent the better part of 6 hours walking the course and since it was rainy and a bit chilly i didn't really eat anything or drink anything other than a couple of drinks (beer and some vodka drinks). After the pro-am, we go to the range upon which i proceed to hit some nice shots with the shorter and mid irons and then all of a sudden my swing abandons me. I normally draw the ball, but it began over drawing, starting straight or a bit right of line then going left by much more than i'm used to (not quite a dramatic hook but a larger than my usual draw).................then that changed to me just topping and shanking and cutting across the ball so it would just go slice to the right, right after impact. Now based on my past experiences, sometimes this would happen towards the end of a rather lengthy range session or a long day on the course with little hydration/food in which my swing abandons me so i was a bit surprised that this happened at the beginning of a range session. Still can't help but second guess what if it's not a fluke and all that. golf is very much as mental as physical and though i know to shrug this particular crappy range session off and trust my swing in my next upcoming round, i'm human and doubts still do linger.

I also can't think of any other sport with the level of self imposed integrity as golf. In every other sport, athletes are keen on trying to get away with breaking the rules. When was the last time you saw a football player call a holding penalty on himself? Umm never. Or the last time a basketball player called an offensive foul on himself. Once again never, in fact they will argue with the referee, and insist that no foul was committed. I can't think of any other sport than golf in which the players themselves hold themselves to a higher standard and will call out penalties on themselves when they knowingly screw up.

I use a 60 vokey with 7* bounce. Reading through the first part of this thread, it seems like enough people feel like the lw is only good for flop shots. I use it for basically everything from 80 yards and in (exception would be sand bunkers requiring more bounce or any other shot requiring more bounce which my 56 vokey provides). 80 yards with my 60* vokey is like an easy full swing, 50 yards for half, and about 35 for a quarter swing. For anything in betwen i adjust accordingly. I chip, pitch, flop with it. From 80 yards and in i'm usually on the green with one shot of my lw.

Some gals just like to look prettied up wherever they go.

Played bear brook for the first time over a week ago. What a b!tch of a course. Lost quite a few balls on that course :) the wind and elevation changes kept me guessing the whole time as to what club to hit with.

Not sure why you feel a viewer who knew the rules, caught the rule violation, and called it in qualifies as someone who "needs a life". Isn't there an official of some kind with every pair who should have caught the rule violation? I mean she had a donut weight on her club and most likely was swinging it around or holding it for a considerable amount of time and no official there saw it? Or if they did, they were willing to let it slide?

I would think a 10-12 handcapper should be hitting more than 3-4 greens per round. i'm down to a 15 and I hit on average 4-6 greens a round (according to the stats). But i seem to lose strokes with putting. :( I do agree with you in regards to mid handicappers lowering their scores by improving scrambling. My scrambling is horrible, according to my stats, i'm at only 13% in the past 5 rounds. For the greens that I don't hit, i'm usually off in the greenside rough by a short distance, and I pretty much always get it on the green with my chip but rarely within 3 feet of the hole for an easy up. Instead I seem to be in the 10 feet long or short of the hole range and with my horrid putting i hardly get an up and down and usually bogey out or double bogey if it's a particularly long lag putt. So for me, at the range i really work on my wedges, from pw (125-130) and in to continue to increase my GIR. My local range just doesn't have a practice green for me to work on putting :(

Rules are rules as echoed by everyone else and she should have known better despite your opinion of the rule. However........I didn't watch the round, but how the heck did things get backed up by half an hour and why didn't any groups in front get penalized for slow play? These are pros and they're not exactly playing on a muni course full of weekend hackers and duffers. I simply don't understand how there could be a 30 minute wait at a tee box for a pro tournament.

What if it's hard packed sand, for example some courses I play at the sand feels almost like dirt because it's so hard packed or wet. In those situations I don't believe you want to open the face for any additional bounce because you'll bounce right off the top and blade the ball. I have a 56 with 11* bounce and a 60 with 7* bounce, for hard packed sand which one should i be using to "dig" in a bit more? I'm thinking the 60 with less bounce?

Not to mention his professional caddy as well....................

After working on my swing, really trying to hit the ball more from an inside swing path this whole summer, i've noticed i've developed a small "natural" draw, starts right and ends up to where i'm targeting. I sometimes even get complimented on the course......but with my prevous flawed swing i would pretty much hit it dead straight. I read many posts where people talk about their natural shot shape, i.e. draw or fade or just plain straight and I've come to wonder if one specific shot shape is more desirable than another and is one more "correct" than another? If we assume there's a correct way to impact the ball (hands ahead of club face, from an inside path, etc.), than should your natural shot shape be more one or the other? Curious.......................

Seems like you generally play better than your 18 handicap would suggest. I have an iphone app (Golfplan with Paul Azinger) that imports my handicap index from their Golfshot GPS app as well as stats such as fairways hit, GIR, recovery, sand saves, #putts/hole and then displays what a person with my handicap level would average in those stats and whether i'm above or below the average and identify the two areas i most need to work on. For example, for a 15 handicap the app tells me i should average the following: Fairways Hit - 41% GIR - 26% Short Game (scrambling) - 11% Bunkers - 16% Putting - 1.9 (per hole) To answer your original question, you sir, are playing better than the average 15 capper :) Take pride in that. BTW, i have no way of confirming how accurate golfplan is in determining average stats for a certain handicap level but i'm assuming it is.

Thanks for the replies guys, makes sense. So ESC is purely just for handicap maintenance purposes. I've been using my iphone's golf scorecard program (golfshot gps) to determine my "estimated" handicap index, but have always posted raw scores for a hole to the app. I'm pretty sure the app does not filter out my blowup holes for determining my estimated handicap. I might try using one of the online sites to re-calc my approximate handicap by filtering out the blowup holes based on ESC.

I'm looking to establish an official USGA handicap so that i can participate in some tourneys next season and was reading up on this subject. Apparently there is something called Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) http://golf.about.com/cs/handicapping/a/whatisesc.htm where the maximum score that you can post on your scorecard for any given hole on the course is "capped" based on your course's handicap rating (which is calculated based on your handicap and course slope rating). I keep all my gross scores and stats, even those "blow-up" holes resulting in a snowmen and such. So the questions that I have are: 1) Does anyone actually cap their scores for any given hole according to the USGA set rules regarding ESC? 2) If you do, do you also maintain for stats tracking purposes your actual score and how you did (not capping your score)? 3) In an actual amateur tourney or club tourney, do you cap your scores for any given hole according to the ESC? I understand that your handicap index is a measurement of your "potential" and not so much an averaging out of your past scores, but it seems that by adhering to the ESC concept, you're almost "cheating" yourself when you have a blow up hole but cap yourself to a double bogey on a par 5 for example. Thanks in advance

Hi Iacas, Expanding on your response regarding pressure under left armpit at the start and top of a swing, what rating would you give it on the downswing, through impact and beyond? I've been working on keeping my left armpit more connected during a swing (glove under the pit drills) and am curious regarding the amount of pressure i should be feeling under my armpit throughout the swing. Thanks.

I know my club distances very well. It's the mental aspect of seeing trouble in front and trying to give the shot an "extra" push instead of trusting the distances. It's mental as mentioned by all others. I just need to not swing harder and swing normally.

As mentioned in the original post, the club distance isn't the problem. I know my distances very well and short of a completely duffed shot, i hit my distances consistently. The point isn't so much i don't know which club to hit (i use a gps that gives me very accurate yardages to clear any hazard), the point is there's a gremlin that gets into my head when i'm looking across a body of water that automatically makes me want to swing that much harder "just" in case. It's a mental thing as mentioned by all the others. And as with all mental things, it's a tough one to fix especially out on the course.

I always seem to try to swing much harder instead of trusting the distances with my clubs. It's as if i don't trust that my normal swing and distance with a specific club will clear the water. My tempo gets out of whack as I try to speed up and swing harder when I know i shouldn't. Just venting..................because the last few rounds i've topped/shanked the ball when hitting the ball over water. :( Anyone with similar water phobia issues and any suggestions on swing thoughts?

Best ball is great advice, and will maintain a good pace of play as well.

Great advice guys, thanks. I'm not a big fan of par 3 courses because around here, you basically hit your tee shot off of mats. I want her to get used to playing on grass and on a real course. I think I will take her out for a 9 hole round on a normal course, or an executive 9 hole course is a good idea. I did walk on as a single one time and got paired up with this couple, where the lady was obviously a "beginner". She couldn't hit anything and she wound up just sitting in the golf cart after the third hole for the rest of the round and I thought what a terrible way for her to get introduced to playing on a real golf course. Of course, it was also a Saturday afternoon at the peak time, and he was rushing her and simultaneously attempting to "teach" her with groups behind us. It was obvious she was having a miserable time, and I don't want my gf to go through that type of experience.

Yes, it goes without saying that I would make sure we don't leave the tees on the fairway.

So my gf has been taking lessons with a professional and I was thinking of taking her out to a course (on a weekday so it's not crowded) for her first time. Any advice? I remember how nevous and frustrated i was my first time, but that was a while back. I was thinking since she practices off of tees mostly right now, that after her tee shot, if her ball is in the fairway, would it be permissible to tee it up slightly off the fairway or whereever for her subsequent shots to ease her into course play? The idea is to wean her off the tees completely at some point but i want her to enjoy the course and get acquainted with golf etiquette out on the course. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Great article, thanks!!! Since i've been reading Utley's books, i've been working on the inside square inside putting style, it feels more natural. before i was "trying" the straight back straight though style which i "thought" was easier, but i always felt like i was "forcing" the putter head to stay straight in the takeaway. With the in-square-in approach i don't have to force anything. hopefully this will help my putting in the long run.

Funny that you ask, in Stan Utley's "The Art of the Short Game", he says and I quote: "I hit virtually all my short-game shots with my 58-degree wedge. I believe it's easier to learn how to adapt one club to a variety of different shots than judging distance with a lot of different clubs." (page 356, iphone ibooks electronic version - btw, wtf is the ibooks version more money than the physical version...........but i digress) That was exactly the point I was trying to make. For me I have limited practice/play time, and I would rather become extremely skilled with the one club and have the confidence of knowing how to pull off a given shot (as well as the predictability) inside of x yards because i've done it many times before than be mediocre and unpredictable with half a dozen clubs because i've never had the time to practice with all of them equally. BTW, i'm advocating the one club approach if you're like me, limited in practice and play time (avg 2 rounds a week). However if you can get out on the range/course 5-7 days a week and have the time and money to do it, than i would advocate learning to execute short game shots with a multitude of clubs for short game shots just like the pros do. it can only help your game in the long run. I simply choose to do what I believe is most efficient and beneficial given my circumstances, which I believe to be the case for most amateurs.