O.B. Right

I slice my driver but not my other clubs as well. If you're the same as me . . if you hopped on a trackman you would see that you slice all your clubs but that as the shaft gets longer and the loft gets less, the slice gets more and more apparent. Whereas you might not notice it at all on a 5 iron, you will probably see it, at least a little, in your 5w or 3w. Do you find your shots go a bit high and short? If you really only slice your driver and swing your other clubs great . . maybe you need a new driver? I don't know how common this problem is, though. I think, statistically speaking, you are probably like me . . .

If you want to try something funny and have a little bit of acting ability . .the next time you take a lesson ask the teacher, seriously, what he thinks your potential is. Ask him if he thinks you can learn to play competitive golf . .ask him if he thinks that if you practice hard enough, you could play on a mini-tour or reach a low single digit handicap. Chances are he will not say "No way you loser!", which, of course, would be the truth. I'm sure your son has talent and a passion for the game but I would take him to another coach just to see get a second opinion. I'm sure there has to be some truth behind the compliments . .obviously he's not going to say "wow, your kid's got potential" as he's whiffing another tee shot . . but you never know if he is more interested in your son or your wallet (not that he's a bad dude for trying to sell lessons. .everybody has to make a living!) In my opinion, there are thousands and thousands of kids who are "really good" at golf and will probably enjoy the game for a lifetime but only a very small percentage have enough raw talent to risk screwing with thier childhood over. Wanted to add that I realize you are not talking about screwing with his childhood or anything like that . . . also wanted to add that when I was about 12 I was in a jr golf program and there was one kid who stood out over everybody else. He was clearly head and shoulders over all the rest of us and was always the focus of the coaches attention. As far as I know he never even played high school golf . .let alone college golf or beyond.

Anybody watching this? I sort of am but it's kind of boring - even for me, a self-admitted golf-watching nut.

A lot of people have mentioned the Ping G series but I am a high handicapper and just got a set of used I5's and I don't find them hard to hit at all. I really like them, look and feel, over the G15's that I tried. My old irons were ~20 yr old ping eye2 copies and, after an adjustment period, I definitely hit the I5's a lot better than I was hitting my old irons. If you're trying clubs, maybe give the I series a try as well.

Me too, about 2 hours early - same deal here in Northern Cal. It was actually not a good day to skip out but we just don't get enough days like this. Played crappy knowing my inbox and voicemail was filling up. Going to go out again today :)

This will be my first winter in the nw. I've been up to visit before and tried to play golf in March and April and the public course was just ridiculous. I saw a guy playing in rubber knee boots. I laughed . . .at first. Balls were plugging so deep in the fairways that they were hard to find . .let alone clean and replace . assuming you could find a piece of ground within 100 yards firm enough to hit off. It's like trying to hit balls off chocolate pudding. I joined a private course that is supposed to be more playable during the winter. I hope so because I am determined to keep playing as much as possible.

I had horrible rounds last week. It sucks when you're hitting it bad and you feel like you don't know why. I do 2 things to try and help me minimize the carnage. Firstly, as has been said, club down. When I'm hitting it really bad I'll hit nothing bigger than a 5 iron - even on par 5's. The other one is don't look away in disgust when you hit a bad shot. It's hard to do but force yourself to watch that sucker fly into the trees or wherever and get a visual landmark in your head before you start walking (ie . . it's just past the 3rd big tree on right, etc). Half the balls I lose are because I look away in disgust - usually right after the first bounce or so. Force yourself to watch it until it stops.

ha - that's a funny picture just begging to be photoshopped. I have to side with the "looks kind of gay" group because well . .it does to me. Not that I think Camillo is (have no idea) nor do I think that was the intention of the photo . . but it is what it is (which is gay). I disagree with these types of photos for PGA or LPGA. A shirt-off pose to show physique is fine but this sort of staged sillyness just cheapens the athlete, in my opinion. Looks more like a Chippendale's flyer than a sports magazine cover. And the photoshop job on the head is strangley bad. I'm contacting my lawyers even as I write this because I'm pretty sure that's a photo of me but with Camillo's head pasted on. Hey, I like to play natural - what can I say?

Although I have a head movement issue I really don't think about trying to keep my head still. It's kind of hard to explain but my good shots kind of have a "certain feeling" through the downswing which is not about any specific thing. It's the weight moving forward, the body sort of "locking" into an angle (feeling of turn vs sway), the club dropping into plane . .it feels "strong" vs "weak". When I make a bad swing, any of about 5-6 things could happen (head movement, body sway, over the top path, stuck on back foot, "hitting" not "swinging"). I don't get the good swings by thinking about any of those bad things . . it happens when I clear my mind and focus on this "strong", natural movement. I'm a pretty bad golfer but improving so my mindset might not be right for you . .but I don't think about head position (or any of my flaws) . . I think about trying to make a smooth, strong, fast swing around my body and that's about it.

I understand his not taking a PGA card. He will play in whatever tournaments he wants without having to play in the required 15 - that makes sense. However, even though he is quoting his manager - he sounds like kind of a dick when he says: 'Why would you take up membership in the States when you've been the most successful player in the world this year despite being injured and still have a great chance to go to world No 1?' and "I don't want to be dictated by having to play, having to go to America to play in the FedEx Cup when it doesn't really mean that much to me. It doesn't mean enough to me, anyway" There are better ways he could've said these things but Lee's ego just got in the way. I believe this sets him up for an upper-cut to the chin from Karma. This is not sour grapes or anything like that. I believe McDowel has more of a "champion's mindset" than Lee Westwood . .not just because he took the PGA card but because he is not a self indulgent whiner.

Ha - these losers and thier mail order brides are ruining our nations roadways. I would be laughing except I bet this lady is driving a car somewhere right now.

Strange how common this seems to be. I've had it happen at 2 different golf courses. Once yelling and once air horn. It was only on one hole - they didn't follow me around the course. I didn't do anything about it . . ."Man on Golf Course Beats Children for making Noise" how would that look as a headline? Still . .somebody should beat them. Is anybody on here a particularly fast runner?

I wonder about this also. My golf teacher says "no" definitively. According to him, the forgiveness of GI irons do not lead to bad technique or slower learning - just the opposite. I still got some used Ping I5's instead of the G15's he was recommending, though because I just like the feel of the club better. I would have to admit they are harder to hit, probably, than the G15's and I don't think they're teaching me much on the course . .but I love the feel of about every 3rd shot :)

I'm a consultant and it's quite common to work non-standard hours. If I'm not on the road (about half the time) I can play about 2-3 times a week. I always bring my clubs with me on the road but, so far, never have had time to play.

I really don't understand why people cheat. If you want to play around and practice fine - then don't keep score. If you want to keep score then play by the rules. I HATE it when my buddy tells me he shot a 91, for example, and I know that included "one mulligan per side" and whatever other improved lies and hand wedges deemed necessary. I do these all the time but then I don't run around telling people I shot this or that . . .I tell them I didn't keep score because it was a practice round.

I recently upgraded from 20 year old golfsmith (or something like that) brand irons to 10 year old ping i5's and didn't really notice that much difference. I think the Ping's are nicer - especially looking - but I shoot about the same with them. I have a new driver, though, and that's a lot different than my 20 year old TM Burner with graphite shaft. Mainly the shaft is way lighter and better in the new driver and, of course, the head is bigger and lighter. I still hit the steel shafted 5 wood from that vintage, though. I don't like to rush into change.

Have you ever noticed that certain trees around the golf course seem to go out of their way to block the shots of high handicappers? Just the other day I hit my drive into the right rough and it settled underneath one of these evil trees. Now, I know that a tree is 75% air and this one looked even more so. All I had to do was go under or over a 2 inch diameter branch. If I took a bucket of 100 balls and tried to hit this branch, I wouldn't be able to do it so I thought the decision to go for the shot was an easy one. Well . . I didn't realize this was one of "those" trees and it basically lowered it's branch and swatted my ball out of the air like a NBA point guard. I swear I even heard it say "DENIED" . .under it's breath. I'm coming back after dark with a chainsaw . . make that stupid thing into a deck chair.

Ya . .a lot of guys post on here that they did this or that .. and then backtrack when they get called on it. In your first post you were frustrated all day and snapped your wedge . . now you were just joking and broke a 15 dollar club. I guess we'll never really know what happened because we weren't there . . but your first post did sound like you were having a temper tantrum.

I recently had a day like that . . posted a thread here about it. I've been shooting in the high 90's/low 100's and played a course with tough greens . .couldn't make a thng . .4,5 and 6 putted my way to an estimated 130 .. estimated because I got so frustrated I just picked up the ball on a few occasions. I was able to pretty much laugh it off, though . . no clubs were ever in danger. I've played with people having temper tantrums and I didn't want to do that to my buddy or the 2 strangers we were paired up with . . in my mind and imagination, though, there were some colorful moments.

As a fellow 95-105 shooter (on my good days, anyway), here's what I plan to do: Work on my standard swing and that's it. I use the same swing for 90% or more of my shots. Other than putting or maybe a few specialty shots, I'm looking to make the same swing every time. I give away shots on the tee . .and I give them away near the green. I give them away from the fairway, too. I need to cut down on the tops, thins, fats, chunks, slices, skulls, blades and hosel-rockets. All of which is accomplished by working on a good full swing. It could be very helpful to get some lessons or post some video on-line.

You haven't really given enough info . .for example. . if you want to be a doctor and have a chance to go to John's Hopkins then you would have to be an idiot to go to Florida so you can play golf. On the other hand, let's say you want to be a computer programmer, teacher or social worker or whatever . . . there are plenty of good schools in every part of the country for that. I would agree with everybody else though that school should come first no matter where you decide to go. When you got that fat job and paycheck you can join the country club and play a lot of golf.

I don't really disagree but I don't think it's true across the board. For example, do you suppose Tiger could learn anything about driving from me? I mean . .I suppose it's possible but it doesn't seem likely. In truth, though, most of my contempt is just because it's John Daly and John Daly is forever doing stupid things just to draw attention to himself. I think Tiger could learn from Bubba or Dustin or somebody like that, though. Somebody who can at least play golf (in the present-tense)

I had some clubs that were 2 degrees upright. I loaned them out and they got damaged and I replaced them with a standard set. Very hard to adjust but I did it . .it took about a month or so and then they felt normal to me. My swing got very flat . . .I basically set up with the club face like I want it at impact .. and then try not to lift up out of that position. I recently got new clubs that are 2 degrees upright again and am going through another adjustment period. Much easier to adjust to clubs that fit you vs clubs that dont . .but you can do it! Just give it 4-6 weeks. I'm not as good a golfer as you - or even close to it - so maybe you can adjust even faster. But I do think it will take some time . . no way around that.

So, I thought I was a pretty good putter up until yesterday. I play at a few local courses and usually putt pretty well. I've even made as few as 14 putts for 9 holes (that seems better than it is because I almost never hit GIR). Well . .that is apparently because I've never played on difficult greens! Went out yesterday to a new course and found that the greens were not flat! and not slow! Uh-oh! My first putt on hole #1 was from 10 feet. My second was also from 10 feet. My third was from over 5 feet and my fourth left me with a tap-in Quad. That's how it went for me the whole friggin round! I only made one long putt all day (~20 feet) and only 2 putted once or twice. The rest was just a brutal, ugly mess of 3,4 and 5 putts. The greens were so ridiculously fast that you if hit the ball hard enough to hold a line and missed, it would roll past by 75 to 100%! It was tough for everybody, our 4-some never got off the green with less than 12 putts. By the 4th or 5th hole, my putting troubles started to effect my whole game fell apart and the wheels came off in a major way. My (estimated) score - 130. Now, I would like to say that the greens were dried out but that just wasn't the case. The greens were awesome. I sucked.

On the rare occasion that I actually make a chip that spins, it generally lands and kicks right. The only time this happens is when I'm just off the fringe and "chop" the ball .. ie . .drive the club down to the ball and let it basically bury in the ground at the ball. The ball will then pop up a few feet, land on the green and kick right. I assume this is because I come over the top and impart side-spin on the ball when I don't mean to and if I fix it, the ball will check or spin back instead of right. So - maybe you're putting sidespin on the ball from bad technique?