mdbuschsr

This is really a case of semantics. I refer to my biological father as my father and to my step-dad as my dad. I agree with the usage referred to by Koth. In the end what we, and the OP, are talking about is manning up! Barring medical issues, any adult male can produce offspring. Parenting a child requires more patience than I ever thought I had. And if you really want to impress your child admit to them when you are wrong. Make the time to spend time with your kids. They did not ask to be brought into this world. It is our responsibility to do our very best as parents, recognize when we are screwing it up, and make the changes necessary! Sorry, that's a mess of a paragraph! I was raised by my step-dad starting around age 8, because my biological father was/is a pretty useless alcoholic! My wife and I got our son as a foster at age 5, and adopted at age 8. His parents were equally useless! He is 10 now, and I think we have learned as much about being parents from him, as he has learned about being a child from us. In our situation, Matthew (Dennis at the time) required some pretty heavy discipline in the first three years he was with us, because he had never received any real parenting in the intial years of life. Times change, now I find that I need to curtail the discipline, show love, and understanding even when my first instinct is discipline. IMO kids need to know there are limitations, but they need to be loved more than anything else! Granted my situation is a little different in going from zero kids to having a 5-yo. But to me it just meant the learning curve was vertical, rather than the slight incline birth parents get to enjoy. I could ramble on and on about this subject for many pages. It's hard for me to organize my thoughts here because they are so vast. In the end, learn from your mistakes like you expect your child to. MAN UP and be the parent your child deserves! Based on the OP, he is making the changes necessary to develop a relationship with his kid. I applaud him for realizing his errors and making changes. He and his child will benefit from it for the rest of their lives!

My tee shot on a 350-yard par four was this gigantic hook. About 180 out I hear, KNOCK!. The landing area is blind so I hit a provisional. Another hook, although not as bad. Same area, I hear knock, knock, knock, knock. Tee up one final ball, and hit a slice. You guessed it, KNOCK! Finally, I said the hell with it and drove forward to see if I could find the last ball because it was in an area I'm used to being in. As I clear the top of the hill, I see ALL THREE of my balls sitting in the fairway. I could not believe it. Picked up the two provisionals, and hit hit a beauty of an iron right at the stick. Came up a tad short, and it stopped right on the lip of a deep bunker. Chipped on, putted for par, and said thanks to God! That was the extreme, but it's how my whole day went. Wierd, ugly shots that came out OK or better.

Ditto! Had the same thing happen on a 480 par 5

Nice thread. As an adoptive parent to a 10 year old with emotion/developmental issues, fighting the first instinct is a hard thing. When we "got" our son, it was all discipline, ALL the time. But it had to be, as he had never had any discipline. Now, after almost four years, I am trying to back down a little and let him make mistakes, and be a boy. In that time we have gone from daily bad reports from school, to now, I haven't heard from his teacher since the first day of school. NNNNIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCEEEEE!!!!!! Heck it's almost normal! Now I just need to get my wife to back off a tad, and things will get even better.

I left out the part of my post where I would like to learn more about your chipping style. At first glance, at least in my puny little head, it seems as though your method and what I am trying to do are similar. Excluding ball position, what I gathered from your post that I first quoted is exactly what I am trying to achieve. I will re watch your included video to see if I can gleen some more info. Are there any other sources of similar information?

I have been making a conscious effort to accelerate through all shots, even the shortest putts. Distance is controlled with the length of back swing. I'm not sure what was going on today other than like I said letting my brain get in the way of the shot. So perhaps I was decellerating slightly. As for hands forward... That's how I have always hit my chips. I watched Phil's short game video and have been slowly getting into to play which is the only thing I can figure has helped my short game. But I always play the ball "back" in my stance for chips (depending on lie). If I'm on flat ground the ball is any where from slightly back of center to aligned on my back big toe. When on an uphill lie I move the ball forward as needed to allow for better contact. The above has been working for me, and has been getting better since installing the "hinge and hold". Today, I was fat, fat, FAT! Take two or three practice swings to "find" the low/contact point, align and address... Hit two inches behind the ball!

All of my really crappy holes today (a QUAD, and 5 doubles) were the result of crummy chipping. I know, your thinking, how do you get a QUAD as a result of bad chipping. Beautiful 3-W to 20 yards... 2-inches, 6-feet, bladed over the green into the woods, stroke and distance penalty, FINALLY chip on to 3-inches, tap in. I kept letting my brain get in the way. I'm normally at least a decent shipper. In fact until today I thought I was getting down right good! For instance in my round yesterday, I had quite a few that rolled over the edge and past the hole 1-6 feet. I guess the mental game got in my way. How do you quiet your mind, so it's not in the way? I shot a 93 which about the norm for me. But I felt like today could have easily been a mid 80's round!

The heart to tell him your swing sucks? LOL

I've hit a few found NXT's and they seemed to have a distinct click off the club. The action off the club was nice enough...

I marked a batch last night, so I guess I'll see if they hold up better after two days of cure time. I doubt it will help. The marks seem to come off due to impact with my clubs. I've seen orange on all my club faces since I started marking the balls. No big deal, I'll just have to remark during the round or switch balls. Superstitions be DAMNED!!!

So, I guess I'll just have to re-mark during the round and deal with it! Not a biggie, I was just curious if anyone had come up with a better solution.

It's definitely not skills... But for some reason, I couldn't get the 7 to stop worth a darn. The 6 was better, but gave me more rollout than either Gamer. The 5 (used today for the first time) gave me the most stopping power. I don't generate much back spin, in close (or anywhere), so more is better.

I've hit a couple of found E6's, and a few new E7's. Neither come close to the E5 in terms of pitch/chip control.

I have recently started marking all of the balls I play with an orange Sharpie "permanant" marker. I write my initials MDS around the sleeve number (both sides), and then strike through the alignment arrow. The problem is that the mark never seems to last a whole round, or even a few holes. On occasion I get through a whole round with the same ball, by the time I am done, almost none of the marker is left. Do you guys re-mark your golf balls during the round? I'm a bit superstitious... If I have a good round going, I don't want to change balls, or make a change to the ball I'm playing. Would the marking hold up better if I did them several days in advance?? I realize this is a stupid question, but I'm FULL of those!!!

I currently use something that came with a container of replacement spikes. But I think somewhere down the road (hopefully way down the road), I will modify your approach, and use my dogs name tag as a marker. HE'S A GOOD BOY!!!!

When I started trying to take the game more seriously, and quit padding my score, I decided it was time to use a ball that more clearly showed the flaws in my swing. I picked up a box of Gamer V1's. Coming from playing Maxfli Revolution ROCKS, the difference was amazing. My first tee shot with the V1 went so far right I was too embarrassed to even go look for it. My 2nd was almost as far right. I thought, boy it's a good thing I have a dozen of these bastards in the bag. In pretty short order I was able to get my "swing" figured out and started hitting straighter shots. The stopping power on the green with the V1 was amazing, but the cover became damaged very quickly, especially with all of my mis-hits. I went back to the store and bought another 4 dozen, because they were on clearance, and I really liked the ball. Eventually I ran out of V1's, and had to buy V2's. The durability was much improved, but IMHO the stopping power on the green suffered for it. What surprised me was that I sprayed the V2 off the tee even more. Again, I ran out of balls (big surprise huh?). The gamer V2 is obviously pretty well received, cuz' they are getting harder to find in stock. So today I bought a box of the E5's from Bridgestone. UHM!!!, WOW!!! What a golf ball. It may not be a prov1(x), but that is one fantastic golf ball. First tee shot was a bit of a hook, that I heard clanging around in the trees, so I hit a provisional. It went so far left that I knew I, nor anyone, would ever see it again. So, we pulled up to the wife's tee, and I'm scanning around looking and HOPING to find ball #1. Fortunately it dribbled back out into the rough. I played the rest of my round with that ball today, and other than the grass stains, and one small scuff it's in perfect shape. The stopping power of this ball is head-and-shoulders above either gamer IMO. I hit a 7i from 155 and mis-hit it slightly. A low little piercing shot (instead of the high arching shot I intended), and it stopped within 5 feet of landing on rock hard, dry greens. Distance was on par with most any other ball I have played. It will throw a little more draw/fade/hook/slice at you. But not so much to be uncontrollable with even a modestly decent swing. I'm still on the fence with the putter, but that has more to do with the friggen' staff cutting greens in a weird way (ie, hole #1 not cut, #2 cut, #8 cut, #3 not cut, #4 & 7 cut). It was kind of like hopscotch, Slow, FAST, slooooooowwwww, FAST, FASTER, etc. In any case, if you are looking for a moderately priced ball, that holds up well, and spins great? Try the E5!

That's a good thought. I seem to make better contact for a few shots after I have to punch out of the crud!

Par 5 dogleg right. I normally try to play a slice off the tee to cut the corner, but this day I was not hitting the driver well at all. I hit my 3H of the tee, but pulled it left and it went through the fairway. 2nd was about 6-feet behind a tree with a window to the fairway. Hit my 3H again right into the base of the tree, bouncing it back about 20 feet. 3rd, 3W low stinger with enough draw to go around the tree to about 20 yards from the front edge. Best chip of the day to a back pin. Tap in par. OR Par 4, pasted drive right down the gut. Pulled my 52* short and left into green side bunker up against the front lip. Blasted out to the left, away from the pin, and barely onto the green. 37 foot putt with 8 feet of left-to-right break. Stops right on the lip... And falls in as I'm walking over to tap in!

I like this response. So much so, that I am going to pull the driver from my bag for my next round. I am hitting it staraighter every round, but I still get into trouble with it from time to time. My other big issue is short game related. IE. related to not enough practice!

I guess it depends on what area of your game you need to gain confidence... I have recently found that with my woods (driver especially) that if I choke down a little I have much more control over the club head at impact. There is nothing like a 250 yard drive that goes dead straight to boost yourself. If it's your mid to long irons that are bringing you down, club up and swing easy. I didn't say swing slow... Swing easy! I've never seen a pro on TV take a 100MPH practice swing. It never fails, when I try to tear the cover off the ball, I have no idea where it's going. Swing 80-85% and let the ball get in the way. For short irons & wedges spend some time in your own yard just chipping around. Pick targets, and hit to them. It doesn't cost anything, and as you work on it and see improvement, your short game confidence will go up dramatically. Concentrate on crisp contact (ball then ground). Your distances will surely be long at first when you start getting it, but that's relatively easy to dial back. Putting? Your guess is as good as mine. I STINK OUT LOUD!!! Lastly (or maybe FIRSTLY), see if you can find the book, or audio book, Golf is not a game of perfect. Completely changed my mindset on the course. I listen to it every couple months just as a reminder. In fact I'm due for a refresher. Confidence is all in the mind. Find the one "good" shot from the day and remember it, celebrate it!

TourSpoon was responding to my comment (or at least made reply quoting me). When I first read it, I think I took it wrong. I had written 3 paragraphs berating his response. I self-edited and deleted my post. In retrospect I'm mostly glad that I did. The generalizations he made are accurate... AS GENERALIZATIONS! I still disagree with the crux of his argument, by the accuracy of his general statements remain.

Like most have said there is a minor relationship between hc and driver distance. IMHO handicap has more to do with what happens after your tee shot. I'm a 21 handicap driving 250ish on "average" with the occasional 280 bomb, and 200 duff/slice/hook. Prime example was yesterday, I hit a drive 287, leaving +/-60 to the hole. Duffed chip, long chip on but way past the hole, three putt. Two holes later, drive 305 pin high but left and behind a bunker. Chip into bunker, blade sand shot out and across green, chip back on, 2 putt. My long game was spot-on yesterday, but my short game was garbage. Many holes that should have been par at least turned into doubles or worse!

[rant] I went to the grocery store to pick up provisions for dinner, after my round today, and as I am walking in some ASS-HAT approaches me... "I have 50 bucks of food stamps for 25, interested?" As a man of meager means, and with family members that rely on gov't assistance to sustain their families I was more than disgusted to hear those words. I don't make much money, and I live in a low income neighborhood. But this is the first time (in 14 years here) I have ever had someone approach me. I was dumbfounded! The more I think about the situation the more I get angry. If you are "on food stamps" here is a clue THEY ARE FOR FOOD!!! Sorry, I'm rambling. But I am sick to my stomach! [/rant]

This is a topic that transcends golf. It is also a topic that is sure to cause controversy (perhaps why it was written). I have a friend whose father used to garden in a three piece suit. His mother wore a skirt, blouse and string of pearls at all times. My father & mother wear nicer clothes to work in the yard, than most of my friends wear to work. I have to force my child into a nice pair of shorts and collared shirt for anything let alone golf. I don't know of a parent that, at least one time, did not accuse their child of listening to NOISE not music. Myself included on both sides! My point is times, people, and society change. Maybe not always for the better, but the unavoidable change still happens. I work as a maintenance man. I wear a uniform sometimes 7 days a week. When I go golfing I like to look nice. I don't make a lot of money, but I make sure that I have some nice (off brand) clothes to wear golfing. I have another friend that is a bank manager. He either wears a suit, or what most would consider to be respectable golf attire to work every day. And I know for a fact that he makes a pretty good living! When he goes golfing (with me at my goat track), he wears nasty, often ripped, paint stained shorts and a t shirt of some sort with the sleeves cut off. That's apparently comfortable to him. If a course I play has a dress code, I make sure to know about it ahead of time, and ensure that anyone going with me does as well. As for cell phones... If you are using one (for any reason) keep it brief! If you have an emergency, by all means take all the time you need but get out of the way and wave other groups though... COMMON COURTESY! Any course that restrict times that I can play with my wife and child will not get my business.

Can't you just cut it down, and slide a grip on to test it with no grip tape? It's not like you'll be swinging for the fences with a putter. I know the grip might move on an off center strike, but at least you'd be able to get a feel for some different grips and be able to change them out without destroying them. Then when you decide which feels best, install correctly.