Rexx

I gotta be honest, it can bother me some. The biggest issue is with how many times they hit it into the woods, high grass, or any other place that is going to require looking for the ball. It just wears on me after a while. We may still achieve the "normal" pace of play of 4:15-4:30, but I don't consider that normal. It should be under 4 hours, IMO. I don't blame them; they are trying their best, but it can affect me. It's my problem, I know. I don't care that much about etiquette as long as they are not tearing up the course. I don't really care if you walk in my line, putt out of turn, or talk to your buddy while I'm hitting -- although I don't do any of those things.

While not a low single digit handicap, I have never had an eagle (for whatever reason). Through the years, I've probably had several dozen shots that have stopped within a few inches, but just never went in. Just today, I hit a wedge from 105 yards on a par 5 that ended about 2 inches away. But I almost never play any par 5s that are reachable in two for me (or par 4s in one) since I like to play from the tips if possible, so I'll need to get a hole-in-one on a par 3 or hole one from the fairway. Someday...

- You do a good job with the hands going in, while the club stays out. I don't have any issues with that. The strange move is probably just your hands moving inward. - I'm not sure what you mean by "the instructor doesn't want my left arm vertical to the ground in the down the line view; he wants it closer to my body." Is that at address? The start of the backswing? Somewhere else? - Really, I think you have a lot of good movement in your swing. Your impact position is similar to your address position. Consequently, if you setup with your weight slightly more forward, your shoulders a bit more level, and the club leaning slightly forward, I believe it will translate into better contact.

My comments: - Not sure what club you're hitting, but if it's a mid-iron, the club is too vertical and it looks like you have your weight slightly behind and titled right. Shaft should have a little lean forward and you should be centered (and more level) over the ball. - At the start of the swing in the DTL view, do you pull your hands closer to your body? There's some little weird move there. - You're leaning back at impact. You have your hands slightly ahead of the ball only because your left elbow has bent. It's probably related to your setup. - Personally, I would like to see less wrist hinge. I think it has the benefit of using more large muscles and less wrists and arms (less flipping and chicken winging). Good luck.

Why take any more time or treat them any different? A stroke is a stroke no matter what it's for (unless it's a match play situation).

My thoughts: - Stance is a little too vertical. Back up from the ball a couple of inches, bend the knees a bit more, and start with your hands a little "lower" (so the club isn't so vertical). - And to quote another of my posts: Your hands move outward (away from you) to start, combined with a rolling of the wrists and forearms. Notice the gap between your left arm and body has increased as you start the backswing. Hands should move inwards, while clubhead remains outward by not rolling the forearms or hinging the right wrist (this will come later when right elbow starts to fold).

Yes. Initial direction is (mostly) determined by club face angle. Curve is (mostly) determined by club path relative to the club face angle (not target).

At the President's Cup in 2005 at RTJ, Phil Mickelson's tee shot ended in the woods right next to me. I was front and center right behind him as he played a shot off the pine needles. I saw the replay on Sportscenter that evening... pretty sweet!

Just make sure, now that you've agreed to the playoff that there is no complaining or "sour grapes" later if you lose (not saying you would... but enough people like to complain after the fact). Besides, I'd rather lose legitimately, then win on a technicality. Good luck in the playoff!

In the past, I've been yelled at twice for doing this. Apparently, they are afraid you are causing damage from the additional weight. They also claim that you might walk differently, scraping the green with your spikes. Or, that the bag could break and fall on the green. All really lame reasons, but whatever... I don't carry my bag anymore anyways.

It seems like putters can be put into 3 groups: 1. Keep the clubhead on the target line the entire way (straight back and straight through). 2. Clubhead follows an arc going back and an arc going forward and through. 3. Clubhead follows an arc going back and an arc going forward until it gets back to its original position, at which point it follows the target line. In all cases, the clubhead remains square to its path. I've recently started doing #3 with much better success.

Tell them there's a lot of people spending a lot of money on golf and as Warren Buffet said, "When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket". But if it was me, I would probably respond with, "Which of those individual words did you not understand?" I tell people I'm a Software Engineer, and they ask how to insert a picture in a MS Word document or what computer they should get their Grandma? I guess it could be worse... I could be a doctor.

Yes, and you need to replace it back to its original position.

I normally play 2-3 times a month during April-October and maybe a few more times in the other months. However, this year, I've only played 2 18-hole rounds, 3 Captain's Choice tournaments and 6 9-hole league rounds total. And the Captain's Choice tournies turn into a half-drunk fest by the turn and go downhill from there. So, I'm well behind my normal pace for this year. I "practice" somewhere around 6 times a year. But practice for me is tagging along with someone else, getting a small bucket, and spending half the time helping them with his/her swing. And usually donating half the small bucket for them to hit. I never make it to the chipping/putting green. And I don't warm up before a round, other than playing some sort of chipping game with my golf partner(s) while we wait on the first tee.

Warrick Dunn, Steve Nash, Tony Dungy, Roger Federer, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Reggie White, Manute Bol... well... you get the point. Not saying they have to be YOUR heros, but I wouldn't consider any of them over paid babies. In fact, they are exactly the type of people on and off the job that anyone should want as a role model. Probably not what you meant, but over-generalizations are just that...

Good explanation, Yukari. And if anyone cares, oxygen molecules are the second most abundant at ~21% and they have a molecular weight of 32 g/mole (and thus even heavier than nitrogen). The gist is that if there are more water molecules in the air, then there must be less of the other molecules at a given temperature and pressure.

Probably the most famous 2-ball scenario: http://www.majorwager.com/forums/bac...8-masters.html

I missed the "Do no harm" one... wtf? Since when are golfers supposed to be doctors?

I'd be pretty stoked if I was you. You could turn this into an entire "hustle" situation... start with your dad first.

Agreed. It's funny how the definition of pured changes as you get better. 5 yards difference is huge. Just this past week, I was left with 115 yards to a back pin and tried to hit a smooth, 3/4 PW. Well, I "pured" that one and ended up long... which was completely dead. A double bogey later and I was kicking myself for not aiming at the center of the green and taking the easy uphill two-putt at worse.

Your P3 position is a little off, the hands would normally be a few more inches left. But in your case, the left arm is bent slightly, so you are actually more like 4-6 inches off. The left arm should be straighter and a bit more across the chest here. I think at least some of this is related to the initial takeaway. And I don't know if it's your normal shot, but I believe you hit a pull fade there. Your alignment appears to be down the center of the fairway, but the ball appears to start at the left edge of the fairway. I know you said you're trying to avoid the woods on the right, just curious if you were trying to play a pull fade.

-2 for 9 holes once -- only time I have ever shot even par or better for 9 holes (even when playing 18). +2 for 18 once (+1 on both sides). The funny thing is, I think I have played better than either of those rounds on numerous occasions. It's just those were the rounds when every putt inside of 10 feet was dropping. No wonder the pros do so well.

Your hands move outward (away from you) to start, combined with a rolling of the wrists and forearms. Notice the gap between your left arm and body has increased as you start the backswing. Hands should move inwards, while clubhead remains outward by not rolling the forearms or hinging the right wrist (this will come later when right elbow starts to fold). And it's hard to tell without a front view, but it looks like you may have chicked-winged or flipped that one a bit -- the motion through impact doesn't look quite right. But, solid swing nonetheless.

I gotta admit, I was crushed when Watson lost last year's British. Honestly, I have teams in other sports that I root for and get disappointed when they lose, but that was one of the worst feelings I've had from a sports event in a LONG time. It felt like someone ran over my dog or something. Really, last year in golf could have been the most incredible year for the majors: Masters: Kenny Perry loses to Angel Cabrerra -- always liked Kenny Perry U.S. Open: Mickelson & Duval loses to Lucas Glover -- Duval would have been sweet British Open: Tom Watson loses to Stewart Cink -- ugh PGA Championship: Woods loses to Y.E. Yang -- not as big as the others, but it is Tiger and he's chasing Jack We went from amazing story lines to maybe the most nondescript group of champions in a single year. Anyways, I don't hate Cink, but EVERY time I see him, I think of Watson and that British Open (WHY DIDN'T HE CHIP THE BALL?!?!).

I never said that starting on a high school team is the top of the sport. It is FAR, FAR from it. I enjoy getting to about that level in most things I do, because I can see daily/weekly improvement up until that point. Beyond that, the effort required to improve is not worth it to me. To put another way... I'll keep trying a sport while I enjoy it. I enjoy it while I can see improvement on a regular basis. It just so happens I hit the "it's not as fun as it used to be" point at about the same time for each sport (approximately high school level). After that, I tend to play less of that particular sport and move on to something else. Maybe I'm lazy... I don't know. In high school (about 1500 students), I played soccer, basketball, wrestling, football, baseball, track (for a few weeks), and tennis on the school teams at some point (didn't play golf until college). Not saying I was the best, but I was at least serviceable (ie. a starter). And at the end of every season, I was happy it was over, because I was sick of the practices and the sport and wanted to move on. These days, I play golf, basketball, tennis, softball, bowling, and sometimes flag football at different points in the year. And just like high school sports, I'm relieved when the "season" is over (but generally psyched when it rolls around again). Oh, and at my size, 5'7", high school is as high as I was going to go. :) I have respect for those that can play a sport nearly every day and not get sick of it. They enjoy the practices and have the determination to grind through the lulls. BTW, I wish there was hockey around here growing up. That would have been awesome! I consider hockey the ultimate team sport -- strength, endurance, speed, quickness, finesse, hand-eye coordination, teamwork, strategy. Although I was in a pretty bitter mood for a few days after the Caps got ousted... let's just say that I need a new Caps beer mug. Oh, and for me, the worst day at the golf course, basketball court, bowling alley, etc. is not better than a good day at the office. A bad day in any of those things is probably going to keep me up at night, replaying in my head how I screwed up. Yeah, I want redemption, but that's not helping me feel better now. But I really like my day job, it challenges me -- and I never go home pissed off. :)