robert

After I have set up to the ball my only swing thoughts are two triggers. During take away I try to imagine my club is always pointing at my belt buckle until it begins to come up on the backswing (I find this guarantees me a good weight shift and a full shoulder turn) after that all I think about is keeping my eye on the ball and getting to a nice balanced finish position. It all pretty much takes care of itself from there.

On this scale I feel like about a 5. I have several mental cues that I like to trigger my swing off of, but ultimately I want that feedback from a third party looking at my swing. Assuming they are qualified to help me with my swing. I feel like my yearly improvement in golf is directly from the help of the various CPGA teachers I have learned from, they know what they're doing and they've taught me well and I imagine I will always be coming back for more adjustments and tweaks to my swing.

Haven't posted on this thread before, but shot my best round EVER yesterday and had to add it here. I generally now play in the low 80's but for some reason this was my day, wind low, temperature good, greens quick. I played the front nine EXTREMELY well (for me of course, I'm sure many on here can do better). My only thought at the turn was whether I would even play the back nine or take the greatest nine I ever played and go home. The back nine is the harder nine but I still played GREAT (for me again), I felt a little angry towards the end when I finished Bogey, Par, Bogey, Bogey. The final four on this course are a hard par 3 and 3 very difficult par 4's in a row. Anyway, figured I would share my stats, I'm entering in all my rounds for the year and getting my new handicap (I'm horrible for not tracking my rounds), I think it has gone down considerably from my last season finish of 15. I don't expect to play another round like this for a long time so I figured I better record it somewhere. This is my fourth year playing and this one round will definitely keep me going for 40 more! Course: Par 72; Length 6568; Slope Front Nine 119; Slope Back Nine 128; Course Total Slope 124 Front Nine: Shot 35 (-1) GIR 7 16 Putts 3 Birdies, 2 Bogeys Par 5's (-1) Par 4's (-1) Par 3's (+1) Back Nine: Shot 40 (+4) GIR 6 19 Putts 1 Birdie, 5 Bogeys Par 5's (-1) Par 4's (+3) Par 3's (+2)

The casual golf fan is the decider when it comes to ratings, Tiger Woods is in contention = They Watch. This is no different in any other sport. Tiger Woods = Michael Jordan = Wayne Gretzky = Dale Earnhardt ... etc. I feel often that the failure within golf is that the announcers are not trying to create a connnection between the fans and the other players. It is Tiger's job to make people watch, therefore the networks must show him. It is the announcer's job to create an atmosphere which allows the sport to grow, they must promote the other players so that someone home watching who is only there because Tiger is playing becomes interested. Maybe then they can identify with someone else besides the number one star in the sport. For me (and as many others have mentioned) it is the constant promotion of Tiger within the broadcasts which disappoints me, it is highly unnecessary to use air time to run a bio on Tiger Woods when this could be used to run a bio on other lesser known players. How is anyone going to think "Wow, that guy Bubba is fun to watch" if they just show him firing at a pin and don't tell the guys story, sure we the "Golf Fans" know about him or we know about Aaron Baddeley or Charles Howell III but the casual fan doesn't. People are going to watch Tiger ANYWAYS. I think this is where golf differs from other sports, there is almost an air of desperation for ratings, a "we better show Tiger or people are going to get bored" attitude is presented. There were millions of people who only started watching basketball because Michael Jordan was playing, but after a while these people gradually saw other players that were great and this is what allows for the growth of any sport. I give huge recognition to the Golf Channel for shows like Quest for the Card or Playing Lessons from the Pros which don't have on Tiger but show you how entertaining some of these guys on tour can be, the problem is it's mostly golf fans who have the Golf Channel. The Golf Channel producers can't be blamed for this but I do blame someone like NBC or CBS for not taking 20 seconds to show how entertaining some of these guys on tour are in their natural environments. It was only last week that I realized how funny Colin Montgomerie is, I was watching the Telus Skins Game on TSN (the canadian equivalent of ESPN) and they had him mic'd up and I couldn't believe how entetaining this guy could be and I'm someone who watches golf every week, sure I knew people always said he's funny, but this was my first time actually SEEING it, pretty sad when you think about it. As a HUGE NFL fan I would urge any golf fan to look at how th NFL promotes it's players of lesser known hype and the correlation there in of the constant expanding fan base. Simple things like having players introduce themselves, players interviewed during games that they are playing well in, not during the post game show, during THE GAME. Allowing the announcer to tell a story about the lesser known player and how entertaining and hard working they are. There are millions of football fans, myself included, who started off as fans of simply one player and grew to make there own decisions about who and what they like within that sport. This is NOT Tiger Woods fault, he brings the fans in everytime he plays. He can not be blamed for being great or having endorsements and in no way does he damage the sport of golf. It IS the fault of the PGA for allowing their broadcast providers to feed solely on the Tiger Woods publicity and not allow the promotion of the lesser-knowns. The PGA should really look at building a future beyond Tiger Woods. One day he will be gone and where will the game be then if no one knows who else is playing. Sorry about the long rant, I know everyone will not agree with my thoughts, but the topic about Tiger dropping out of the Buick really got me thinking about this idea and as a fan of all competitive sports and a big fan of golf it is something I see every day and wonder if anyone else sees it like I do.

This is my fourth season playing, my first year I played a set of northwestern irons (hand me downs from my Dad) and the next season after a long series of tests and research I bought a set of Cleveland TA2 irons. My instructor felt that they would allow me some workability down the road and he was right, I love being able to play a slight fade/cut shot when needed. I would love to have the CG2's as Spamination mentioned above, those clubs just feel like an even nicer version of what I play with now. I try not to change clubs a lot so it won't be happening this year but the fact you can now get them for under $500cdn is very tempting. My suggestion to all the prospective buyers on here is to try EVERY set of irons at the place where you are buying, don't let brand name decide for you. A friend of mine works at a golf shop and he always says to me that blind brand following often leads to buyers remorse and more purchases down the road.

I've found playing alone early in the morning to be a great way to practice. I'll go early enough to play by myself or show up early and ask to play the back 9 to avoid people all together. Like everyone I'm trying to work on my short game so I'll play one tee ball until a get into short game territory then I'll generally take the position I have put myself in and create 3 different situations 1 good lie (standard fairway lie), one decent lie (first cut, middle rough), and one really bad lie (put ball in an old divot, bury it in rough, I've stepped on it to create buried lies) of course you'll only have to create 2 of these since your ball will already be in one of these situations. I then see if I can get up and down from all 3 spots. I've found it awesome practice. As a note I would never EVER do this with other players waiting on me in anyway. But when you're on your own early in the mornings no one should be catching up to you even doing this drill.

I starting playing the Titleist MX Distance (about $25cdn) last year. It's a 2-piece ball and very affordable. I found an overall good feel in the short game shots and a nice pop off the driver for a 2-piece ball so I've stuck with it. Another option would be the Titleist Dt Solo (about $30cdn) of course, also 2-piece. As clubchucker mentioned I've also heard and seen a lot of good things from the Nike Ignite (about $25cdn) and of course the NXT is also a good choice as a middle range (about $40cdn). Hope that helps a little.

I know I am certainly no big bomber but one thing that really made me realize it was seeing PGA players in person. I was lucky enough to see the Telus skins game in 2005 at Nicklaus North in Whistler BC. I had only been playing for one year at the time and I remember watching John Daly (and to a lesser extent Vijay Singh) launch them out there. (Note: The other wake up call was watching Jack Nicklaus play so much better then I ever will and still be talking about being over the hill and not able to compete.) If a ball ever came off my driver like they did I would probably just call it a day and walk off the course, first hole or not. It would be all down hill from there. I guarantee you take your so-called long bomber friend to see the tour they think differently about how long they are.

I'm gonna go along the same line as satch_ip and say Natalie Gulbis' personal trainer. You even get to go on the road with her then, I'd even throw in personal massage therapy for free. No charge seriously!

This is a very interesting topic, since I started playing four years ago I always fought off a slice, by last season I had completely eliminated the slice and I am hitting what I guess you would consider a power fade. Very controllable and yet I've always been concentrating on trying to change to a draw. I'll walk on the course (I love joining groups, meet lots of interesting characters that way) and out drive my fellow players (not all the time of course) with my fade and inevitably get the comment "imagine how far you would hit if you drew the ball" Maybe I should just be happy with my ball flight as is and just concentrate on learning how to hit a draw when I need it. Only been on this forum a few days and I'm already learning some interesting things. Thanks, Robert

Been playing for 4 years now and during the first 3 I could take advantage of indoor driving ranges, simulators, putting greens and all that. But now I've moved to a smaller town with no indoor range or any winter amenities, living in Atlantic Canada this means I'm on the shelf now until March, very little snow this year so far but that's still no help. Lots of Tigers Woods 07 (very glitchy game) and swinging in my garage, got a nice hitting net but no mat to hit off (next eBay purchase!). Lots of reading, and I like to work out a lot more in the winter, maybe add some extra power for next season. I might go into golf withdrawal and have to enter rehab as well. Who Knows! Later, Robert

Hey Everybody, New to the forum, I am a financial analyst. It's not action packed but when the boss isn't around my office has a great putting surface it plays left edge by the water cooler. Later, Robert

Hey, I'm new to the forum but I figured I'd give my two cents of advice. Bought a hitting net on eBay from a store: http://stores.ebay.ca/Golf-Practice-Cage-Nets Great net, it's basically half a tent, 7ft high, 10ft wide. Easy to set up, 4 pegs and 2 poles, ready to go in 2min. Very sturdy I hit my driver into it all the time, $40 can't beat it. I used this seller because I am located in Canada, but there are similar products from US sellers as well. Hope that helps. Robert