powerfade

Shot a 74 at my home course yesterday. My personal best by 2 strokes (which I shot 3 weeks ago).

I answered 'mental/course management'. I have an all around solid game, in that I'm capable of parring any hole I play, however when I miss shots, they can mainly be attributed to the mind. Getting lazy with my alignment causing me hit a "perfect" tee shot "right" into the scrub. (I hate it when, after one of these shots, my buddies say I hit it right where I was aimed). I know how to align myself...anything but spot on is a mental lapse IMO. Hitting a nice chip to my landing target but not accounting for the fact that the green runs slightly away from me causing the ball to run 8 feet past. Hitting an online approach only to realize that subtle wind really is up there and it's blowing in the opposite direction. Problems like these are not due to mechanics...they're mental lapses (brain farts).

Whew...I'm glad you didn't say 100% of the people

High confidence? Pin hunting...140+/- and in (9 iron) Getting on the green...185 and in (6 iron) I'm not as confident beyond 185 (5i, 4i, H3, 3W), yet while I'm playing I never doubt myself. If I'm facing a 205 4-iron yard shot, I always feel I can get it to my target. If I didn't have the confidence to do it, why even carry a 4-iron?

The chip is the little shot played from a feet to a few yards off the green. As others posted, the club is delofted (because your hands are ahead of the ball at address and impact), so this shot will run out a little bit. You can get creative and setup like a chip, open up a lofted wedge, play it in the center, and plop one on the green to a tight pin. The pitch shot is usually one where the backswing goes back far enough to get the shaft parallel to the ground. The max follow through is when the shaft reaches vertical...give or take a little. My standard pitch with a 56* SW is 25 yards (YMMV). The half wedge is the 7:30 shot. It has a longer follow through...preferabably to where your hands/arms finish above your head with the shaft parallel to the ground. This 7:30 swing really does fly wedges half the distance of the full wedge (10:30 swing). It's one of the toughest shots in golf IMO requiring commitment and discipline to pull it off. To go one step further, the 3/4 wedge is the one where your left arn is parallel to the ground on the backswing (9:00).

It's not a problem for me...I've putted using this particular style for 20 years. I read the Pelz Putting Bible this past year and thought, cool, I already putt like he's teaching. I took a few tips from the book and checkpoints and went from there. I was mainly interested in his green-reading sections. I would venture to say that most who have played for years and follow Utley (arc) or Pelz' (SBST) methods, have always done it. This stuff isn't new. SAM? TOMI?

How often do you practice? 2-3 times a week unless I play mid-week What do you practice? Everything Where do you practice? My nearby home course has an excellent short game area and grass driving range (daytime only) At night I have to resort to the mat, but at least they have a little nap to them so you can see when you're hitting them fat. Do you have any tips for making it fun? I never really think of my practice time as fun. There are an infinite number of drills you can do to mix it up. The only time practice becomes fun is if I'm practicing with a friend...especially on the practice putting green ($$). Have you ever tried playing an imaginary round on the range? It's pretty cool.

In the old days we got a lot of roll from our drives thinking that was the way to go because the ball simply went farther. These days in the time of 'optimal launch angles' it has been proven that a longer carry with less roll for more predictable tee shot placement is preferred. Of course, the type of golf course you play and the conditions should dictate what kind of drive to play. I have a feeling that players who have difficulty launching it high and far will likely welcome roll to get them farther from the tee. In all seriousness, I'm not trying to come off as some arrogant monster. I'm very satisfied with my driver right now. I've been playing a lot of golf lately with & against many different players. My launch angle is noticably higher with a deeper carry. The end result are drives 20-50 yards further than my competitors. I never talk smack about it. When your friends at the club start joking about me playing par 5's with driver-pitching wedge, you know you're doing something right. (No, I don't do that). So back to the original question...sure, I would say most people exaggerate their driver exploits. It's part ego and partly because they don't have an accurate way to measure. I do give credit to the guys who say, hey I hit it 220 and I'm fine with it. We know the real fun begins at the 100 yard marker.

The key is to not peek.

Uh, I believe I said 250, not 260 (that would be crazy). LOL!! (I was being a little facetious....a little. I've (or rather technology has) hit them a little off the sweetspot on the toe side and still got that kind of distance. I'm sure the other big dogs, who jack a normally struck tee shot over 280, do the same. It's just something we have to live with.).

I see the main argument regarding the Pelz stroke is the need to manipulate your arms, wrists, and/or hands. Some of us are saying/thinking/doing this without the manipulation. I can't explain why I can do this (or think I do this). We've really beatin' this one up. The other relates to moving the shoulders around the spine. I have a problem with that statement because the shoulders are rocking (or tilting), not spinning around something (per say). It seems to me that if the shoulders were spinning around the spine, that would create a perfect arc because the arms are hanging down. That's probably the Utley method?

I was trying what I thought was the Utley method the other day just to humor myself. It was ugly! It seemed like every stroke had a different arc shape . I'm not sure if you picked up on my earlier post that I putt cross-handed. It allows me to keep the putter online longer. It's probably allowing me to keep the hands and wrists quiet as well.

That drill is based off the 10-ball drill he learned from Jackie Burke. He was at Champions to work with Jackie. Jackie placed 10 balls in a circle, 3 feet from the cup. He asked Phil to make 100 in a row, starting over if he missed. Phil wanted to bet something, saying he could easily make 100 in a row, so they agreed on dinner at a nice steak house. Phil lost. He missed the 4th putt.

Correct re Pelz. I'll leave it in most of the time, unless I'm only chipping from a few feet off with a reasonably flat roll to the hole, then out it comes.

I wonder if she'll put that in her " memory bank "?

Paula is hot! Sorry...wrong thread.

I completely agree with EXMAX's statement about face angle (Pelz explains this as well). I'm sure we can get everyone to agree that a square face at impact will get your putt started in a straight line. But more on path... I need something explained to me. As iacas stated, an arc has no straight part. I also understand an arc can be so big to where a small section could be considered straight. The Thompson machine, and other arc swing aids, defintely show an arc that has no straight line. The putter arc is not big enough to contain a small section of straightness. If you do not hit the ball in the exact dead center of the arc in relation to your swing center, how do you avoid pushing or pulling your putts? Like a full shot, that definitely has an arc, most shots either have a draw or fade spin. If you hit a dead straight shot with the ball positioned either forward or back of your swing center (not stance), that can be considered a mis-hit.

Virtual Reality?

I root for Tiger but like many have said, I root for the competition to give us an exciting tournament. Last years Deutsche Bank was a perfect example...Tiger vs. Phil down the stretch. I was actually rooting for Phil, only for that reason.

If you got that launch angle into the 13-14 degree range, you'd see an increase in carry yardage. They won't roll out as far, but sometimes that's preferred if you want to stay out of trouble on hard fairways. The playing conditions and course setup should help you decide whether you should go that route.

Hey, being a junior and playing to a 5.4 is pretty impressive in my book. There's really no arguement that there's some exaggerating going on. Even if we had a Sand Trap Open and everyone showed up, I'm sure we'd hear many excuses as to why people are not living up to their posted distances. It would be comedy to have some of the 'big hitters' get called out on the forum by their golfing buddies.

Easy junior...it's only a golf forum. You brought up your impressive index level then said you're baffled by all who 'say' they can drive it further than you. It's probably safe to say there are many golfers on the forum longer than you. Don't be baffled. BTW - I was using an analogy by comparing body size/distance and index/distance. All of which really have nothing to do with each other. If my implication about indexes doesn't apply to you, then don't worry about it. I've played easy courses and thought, I'd be a low single digit index if I played there all the time. I do believe a course has a lot to do with a person's index. For those who challenge themselves on difficult courses and play to an index they are proud of...good for you and me. Those that don't...just watch out who you play against.

My bad. This is definetely a different ball over the e5...for the better IMO.

Cool. You'll have to copy/paste the Google Earth images as screenshots into something you can crop images with (I think you can do this in Word using their drawing tools). I use SnagIt.

The urethane cover on the e5+ is superior to the surlyn used on the e5. It is softer. The core was reworked as well. This ball flies further than the e5.