golfro

If I can successfully copy Ernie El's swing, I'd be a happy man.

you're right on the money about the pull slice. Fortunately and unfortunately, the slice puts me back on the fairway :) but I'd rather have a bit more control over my drives. Yeah I was viewing this video in extreme slowmo frame by frame and my downswing is definitely off plane. Time to take it to the range tomorrow!

Titleist > Mizuno > Callaway > Ping > Taylormade > etc

If I'm in need of a reboost in my swing and something is definitely off, I put the balls away and just swing. I slow everything down to 50% especially on the back swing and pay close attention to my back swing, then back down, etc etc etc. I can usually pin point exactly where my swing is off when I do this. Either the face is closed mid back swing, or closed at top of back swing, or my shoulders aren't turning, or etc etc etc. Millions of things go wrong and slowing down and consciously feeling and watching my swing reveals it for me.

Demoing several drivers...this one was the Nike Sq Dymo 9.5 stiff. I'm consciously slowing down the back swing as to get some proper shoulder turning as I've become a bit stiff in my flexibility after 6 year hiatus. So you'll see me stopping a bit short on the back swing. Last time I went to the Bridgestone ball fitting, between 8 balls, I was hitting 113mph +/- 2 ,1.35-1.37 smash factor, 2300-2500 backspin, and estimate distance was coming out to 250-260. For the most part I'm happy with my drive but I've gotten a bad habit of slightly pulling all of my drives so help me improve my drive! *front view coming soon. PS: I ended up returning the Nike SQ Dymo and replaced it with Ping G10 9* stiff. Absolutely lovely driver.

You'll be surprised to find exactly how many things can go wrong from the point where your shaft is parallel to the ground to past that point. James Black is right, I've seen a lot of amateurs try to overswing without proper shoulder turn. This happens because alot of people just arent flexible enough to quite get a full shoulder turn while keeping your left arm in control and relative straight. Slow down your swing and watch where your club goes on the back swing. Consciously exagerate your backswing to an "incomplete" backswing, then increase alittle bit while focusing on proper shoulder turn. But best thing to do is slow your backswing down a bit and focus on controlling where your club goes.

I've been seeing Callaway X-18 irons on sale for roughly $400 or so. Very forgiving irons.

I've learned to put the club down on days where your body is just not feeling it. I've foudn that if my body is sore or uncomfortable, it can often mess up my swing as I'm having to adjust it in some ways. I've had a bad crick in my upper back and neck for the past couple days and I tried going to the range but found myself not turning my shoulders correctly because of the pain. after hitting half the bucket, I called it quits and put my clubs down.

one red dots on each side of logo

Definitely a good deal if in new condition. My local shops have them new on clearance for $100-$150 but theyre all off set :(

I really could care less if you or the next guy is wearing jeans...but i think there is a fine line between baggy raggedy jeans and well fitted jeans. Nice dark fitted jeans can look very formal...moreso than a pair of ill fitting ugly slacks. With that said, I grew up with a strict golf coach where denim was just not allowed. I stick with a pair of nice slacks or on hot days, a pair of clean shorts.

Those are the days that resulted in me breaking my driver shaft back in High School by smashing it against my bag. I was a stupid hot tempered kid back then...but god help me if I can control myself after a ridiculously bad slice.

aka, the product is a fake.

sliced the hell out of a driver and smashed it right into a tree, which bounced off and placed the ball neatly on the fairway. :)

Right...now age is suddenly correlated with their handicap. back when I was in high school, I used to play with 15 and 16 year old guys who were scratch players and some +h'cappers. Many of these guys now playing professionally or in college. Age has nothing to do with it. Anyway, 25 years old here.

Nothing as displeasing as having to hit an iron off a jacked up, not so grassy dirt heavy fairway. Better yet, having your ball land on a green that is not well kept and having it hit a dirt patch on the green and fly 30 more yards over the green isn't too pleasing either.

It always surprises me how many high handicappers play Titleist Pro V1. Prov1's have a rather thin shell but a fairly high compression core which leaves for most slower swing speed guys to not really get much of an advantage with the ball. The benefits of the Pro V1 comes when you have a fast swing speed. The soft shell enables for great spin control which not to offend anyone but not a lot of high h'cappers have. I swing at 113mph average and even at that swing speed I've had many guys say I'm better off playing a softer compression ball. do you guys actual feel the benefit of the Pro V1 at that price? I always thought so but after doing some ball fitting with the Bridgestone guys and after hitting literally dozens of diffrent balls models, I was surprised to find the distance and control I was getting with the Bridgestone E6.

I'm biased because I'm a big NBA fan and not so much NHL. With that said, I'm thorooughly enjoying the playoffs this year. OKC has put up some great games against the Lakers and as a former Sonics fan, a part of me wants the Thunders to take it far in the play offs.

Usually I discourage amateur players to hold off on trying to get to the blades but if you're shooting single digit h'cap and you're comfortable with blades, then the X-forged is a great choice in my opinion. It certainly isnt the hardest irons to hit but takes a proper swing to hit it well. I got my X-forged not too long ago and really enjoy hitting them. Other choices I was looking at was the Mizuno MP62, MP52 as I was an avid Mizuno Tzoid player for years prior, as well as the Titleist AP2 (I used to play the old DCI's for a short while when I played competitively). I was personally never a big fan of the older Callaway iron models but demoed the X-forged set just to try it out. The X-forged, being a slight cavity back had a smoother and a slight more forgiving feel to it without sacrificing the control you get from a blade. Great irons in my opinon for a player.

While I don't disagree with working on your short game... consistancy in your iron game is definitely one that helps a ton when you're playign 100+. 100+ players don't play 100+ because they sit on the green one putt after another. It's usually because their driver sliced off into the rough or because they have a hard time getting the ball on the green in the first place. Practice and learn to get the ball on the green. Of course there's no one answer solution, practice both short game and irons but I think it's important to practice your swing and be able to hit the ball with relative control to get it onto the green first.

It's about comfort. When i was fishing for a new set of irons, I tried a bunch of muscle back blades because thats what I used to play back in high school. Sure I may have been able to hit muscle back blades but the consistancy I get from a set that is a bit more forgiving is worth more for me than looking cool with a set of muscle back blades. I went with my Callaway X-forged which has a similar profile and feel to a blade but the slight cavity is much more forgiving than a true muscle back. With a lot of amateur players, there is this huge desire to 'graduate' into blades. Play what you are comfortable with. Not necessarily what is easier to hit, but what is fit for you and your game.

Understandable I suppose... I'm one of those people that enjoys the so called "journey" moreso than the "destination." I'm guilty of dissecting my swing all too often by video taping my swing and pin point out the flaws. Maybe I take this game too seriously for someone who plays as a hobby but I enjoy the challenge of analyzing and fixing my swing.

I too find it odd that people are so quick to fix their equipment before fixing their swing. It's not necessarily the golfer's fault as I walked into a driving range to demo some clubs and it just so happens that I was slicing my shots a bit that day. An employee was watching and before suggesting any adjustments to my swing, he suggested that I go with an offset driver instead. Nothing wrong with it I guess as people don't necessarily have the time to practice a lot and fix their swing but I think more amateur players should look at their swing before changing the equipment. I have a friend who changes drivers way too often. Before admitting to his flaw in his swing, he claims that there is a driver made for his swing and he's on an endless search, buying driver after driver to fix his ball flight for him. This mentality is flawed and one that I feel pro shops shouldn't encourage just to sell an extra club.

I run a search and interactive marketing consulting firm in Seattle. Running my own company has many benefits but time is definitely not one.

Reading the "How it all began" thread got me thinking about golfing with my dad. I have a hand full of stories that I always tell my friends when it comes to golf. Memories that will last a life time. Share your stories here: When I was 19, I had gone back to Oregon to visit my parents and decided to golf the course my dad and I came to love, Langdon Farms. I grew up on this course and came to love every single hole. The day started off just right. mid 70's, sunny, not a single breeze of wind and the green was just right. If you've played this course before, you know that Langdon Farms is very well kept and beautiful. So we started off with a little warm up and everything was going right. Irons are hitting right, driver was blasting off and my short game was playing amazing, and all with that, my confidence was off the roof. We started off well and I was playing the usual. Par here, par there, a couple bogies thrown in, double bogie or two. The most memorable holes however was a par 3 that I hit a 6 iron and put the ball not more than 5 ft from the hole, short put and birdie. Par 5, 280 yards with driver right on fairway, and another 220 yards put me right on the green with a 10 ft putt. Another short putt and put an eagle on my card. A short par 4, I hit a driver roughly 270 yards or so and was left with about 80 yards. Grabbed a SW and hit it high. Ball landed about 10 feet past the hole and what does it do? Roll right back straight into the hole for another eagle. 18 holes later, I ended up shooting 2 under and broke my own record. To this day, this was by far the most memorable day I've had in golf. Dad shot a 78 and had an amazing day and we still talk about this day today. We live thousands of miles apart now but we make it a priority to golf together whenever we can. Just about the best golfing partner to have.