Harmonious

34 rounds posted to GHIN. Plus a lot of practice holes played in the late afternoon. It's great to live on a course!

HUH? explain this, please.

What others have said. It is downright COLD in January. You might luck out, but expect temps in the 50s and a brisk wind. Bring a windshirt to put over your turtleneck sweater.

Lived in Henderson for 5 years so have played a number of courses around town. You are going to find the rates to be cheaper at this time of year, which is good. The best courses for the money, in my opionion, are Angel Park, Legacy, Rio Secco (if you can find a good rate or hit a jackpot), Boulder Creek, Primm Valley. Drink plenty of water! have fun.

It's more fun to try to make a shot from an impossible lie or situation than it is to hit from a regular lie. I still remember shots I hit from years ago that required some real skill or thinking, like curving a shot around and under a low hanging tree onto the green, or hitting the green from a deep, unrepaired divot. Here's a good example: Do you think that 10 years from now anyone will remember Mickelson's shots from the middle of the fairway at Augusta, or the one off the pine straw out of the trees and onto the green? For those who don't want to have to make a tough shot, and will roll or foot wedge the ball: Enjoy the challenge that is golf. Those Scottish shepherds didn't invent the game to make it easy for us.

While not a S&T; devotee, I understand and agree with a lot of it. I try to implement Jim Hardy's one-plane swing, which incorporates many S&T; principles. But if someone mentions another teacher that may disagree with Hardy's philosophies (and there are some out there) I wouldn't classify that person as an idiot. I know what works for me, and what doesn't. On this forum, I would categorize mudslinging as making disparaging comments about other teaching methods, not personal attacks. And it isn't the S&T; instructors so much, it seems to be a number of S&T; aficionados who are so quick to bad mouth other teachers. Faldo is a boob, AJ Bonar is an idiot, Leadbetter ruins golf swings, Michael Breed is screwed up, Kostis knows nothing, on and on and on. So yes, I enjoy the comparison of swing thoughts. I don't enjoy the continual defensive, attacking nature of many of the S&T; folks here. If S&T; works for them, great. If something else works better for me, also great.

If he had said he"maintains his spine inclination to the ground" rather than "spine angle", would he have been correct? In either case, I understood what he meant. Hopefully, others did too.

Here's Watson explaining his "new" swing in detail. Watch and learn:

Pebble should give a good indication of where Tiger's game and head are at. It's the scene of perhaps his greatest triumph, he should have good memories to fall back on. If he continues to falter, say he finishes in the middle of the pack, it may cause some serious doubts to enter his mind. After all, he lapped the field in the earlier Open at Pebble. He clearly is not the same golfer he was back then, doesn't have anywhere near the same swing, but can he get back his mental edge? One thing for sure, TV will show his every swing whether he's leading or is 20 strokes behind.

There have been several interviews by Watson regarding his swing changes, with pictures showing the changes he made. They give a much better description of what he has done with his swing. CHeck those out if you want to learn more, before you start looking for flaws.

Having been a lurker here for quite awhile before finally registering, I have been really put off by the bashing of every teaching pro that doesn't espouse the S&T; philosophies. I understand that this site is run by S&T; instructors but come on. There are great teachers out there who have or have had success coaching players at the highest level (yes, higher level than Charlie Wi and Eric Axley). Their methods are not garbage, they are not idiots, they do know what they are talking about. If S&T; is the greatest thing out there, it should be able to be marketed positively, not by slinging mud at everyone else. Leave that forthe November elections.

Never said it was the formula for becoming a scratch player. Like I said, I don't subscribe to his idea of rotating the clubface through the ball. All I know is we spent less time looking for my friend's ball in the right trees than before. Whatever it was, it worked for him, at least for that day.

Interesting you should bring this up. I have had the opportunity to play with a mini-tour player at our course (Hooters and Canadian Tour). He is a great putter, always rolls it end over end with great pace. I asked him for some tips. He told me to focus on the forward edge of the ball when putting, not the back edge. It helps to ensure the putter moves toward the target. And it works, at least for me. I also try to focus on the forward edge of the ball when hitting out of fairway bunkers, again to ensure I'm moving the club forward, not down. Nothing worse than hitting a fat fairway bunker shot.

You have to be aggressive with your short shots. Vary the length of your backswing to adjust for carry distance, but never "baby" the forward swing. From Dave Pelz' Short Game Bible, I gleaned the following great information:: Learn how far you hit a 1/4 swing (leading arm only goes back to 7:30 on a clock face) pitching wedge, sand wedge and lob wedge. For example, for me those distances are 55, 43 and 29 yards. Learn how far you hit a 1/2 swing (leading arm just goes back to parallel, or 9:00) pitching, sand and lob wedge. Again, for me, it's 75, 60 and 45 yards. Learn how far you hit a 3/4 swing (leading arm goes up to about 10:30) for those clubs. Again for me, it's 100, 80 and 65 yards. Armed with that info, I can take the appropriate club based on the situation, such as pin position, length of rollout needed, etc.

When I hit one really good, no wind, I will use my skycaddy to measure just to see my distance. It almost always comes up with 260-265. When I lived in Las Vegas, the same drive would be close to 300, just because of the dryness and playing at elevation. It really does make a big difference. I routinely play with a fellow, ex college football player, who can put a hurt on the ball. I've measured him at 320, but probably averages 290. However, I'll take my 260 in the fairway to his 290 in the left trees any time.

I had a friend who watched the AJ video before going on a golf trip. Before then he took a hellacious swing, and could slice the ball 50 yards. After he watched the video, he started making some decent contact and could hit it straight every so often. I am not a fan of consciously opening or closing the clubface during the swing, so I don't do it, but I don't see why AJ's method couldn't help someone who doesn't know what a decent release of the golf club feels like. For all the vitriol against him, you'd think AJ manned the BP drillrigs! You may not agree with his method, but his golf analysis resume probably trumps anyone here. Maybe, like what some on here have said about S&T;, incorporate what works for you. Maybe it will help you , maybe it won't.

Play the course as you find it. The rules cover such things as Ground Under Repair, Embedded Ball, Cart Paths and Casual Water. If it's not covered in the rules, you play it as it lies. If you are on hardpan, you play off the hardpan. If it's next to a root, you figure out a way to play it from there. In a divot, same thing. I can't remember exactly, but I believe Tom Kite tells a story about Harvey Penick. It seems there was a junior (Kite and Ben Crenshaw were juniors at that time) tournament at the course in Texas where Penick was the pro. Some kid asked Penick whether they were going to play "winter rules". Penick replied something to the effect that they would be playing under the rules of golf. Anything other than that was playing some other game, not golf. Kite said that stuck with him from that day forward. To Pittpanther: Why not hit a few practice shots out of divots at the range? You might find that they aren't so difficult as you imagine. Then when you face one on the course, you'll know what to do.

Sometimes, when my swing goes south, I just go on youtube and find a Hogan video. His motions are just perfect. After watching them for 10-15 minutes, then getting out a club and making some practice swings in the back yard, all is well again. Thanks for posting this one. I'll add it to my "Hogan Youtube Videos" folder.

Man, your self awareness is awesome. To be able to have such a list is mind-boggling to me. It might be interesting for you to just step up to the ball and just swing, without being conscious of all your self-induced "faults". You might be surprised that you have a pretty good swing just waiting to come out. So many times we get in our own way, trying to make the perfect takeaway, the perfect turn, the perfect follow-through. We forget the object of the game is to put the f***king ball into a f***king gopher hole (props to Robin Williams).

No, not normal. If it were, driving ranges would only need to be 125 yards long. I would think that, after 150 balls (the equivalent of two large buckets) your arms were beat. It' s impossible to maintain a decent swing if your physically shot. I would advise hitting fewer balls at one session and work on making solid contact. Start with a wedge. If you can't make good contact with that, don't go to a longer club, as it will be more difficult. Just beating ball after ball does one no good.