flystraight

I try to go through my normal routine, but not stand over it for too long. It's easy, treat it that way. A couple times when I've got a bad case of the yips, I started putting them with everything but my club face. I put with the tip of the club or lefty, with the back of the putter. I never miss those lefty putts, with the thin, curved back part of my putter that has no business whatsover touching a ball - so much so that I've considered getting left-handed putter and trying to putt lefty all the time. Feels strangely natural to me.

My short game is getting better lately, and it's because I realized I could practice in the regular ol' city park, right down the street. Who needs a range? (And besides, the only range near me doesn't even have a grass area.) I bring a bucket with all my old golf balls, drop them, and just pick different spots to aim. I start out picking one distance, hitting about 50 balls there, and then picking another and hitting about 50, etc. But I finish up by mixing it up; hitting one 20 yards, then 5 yards, then 15, then 5 again, etc. Whatever. This helps in getting used to knowing how hard to swing for any shot while out on the course. The added bonus is that when I'm actually playing, the grass on the golf course is so much nicer than the park that it's usually easier. (Unless, of course I'm in deep rough or something.)

Playing on pace with the people in front of you all damn day, but you fall a little behind on one hole due to an errant shot or whatever, and that's when the marshall pulls up and tells you to speed it up. Especially when the group in front of you has been dogging it all day! Then he hovers over you as you hit, and you know what happens. I used to keep quiet about it, but have decided that I pay good money to play golf and I don't like being mistreated by the course employees. I've found that a simple reply to the marshall explaining that you've been right behind them all day and you'll be there again on the next hole makes me feel better, and makes it less likely that the annoyance will show up in my next shot. I'm not mean about it, but I'm not especially friendly, either.

Definitely poor ballstriking. I'm always surprised with how far a low iron will go with a 1/8th swing, if you hit the ball solidly.

Thanks for the advice. A couple of my friends have hybrids, I'll give them a try the next time out.

I have 13th now, but am planning on adding a 14th - as noted in another thread. Just getting my game (back) together now, I want to give myself every chance to play well. Perhaps sometime in the future I'll decide that I don't need all 14, but right now I don't know my game well enough to know what I can do without.

I played my best golf on the HS team, even so I wasn't one of the best on the team. In fact, I learned to play golf the summer before high school because a friend told me that I'd get to play nice courses for free for four years. What made me good was playing every single day. If we weren't on the course, we were at the range - we'd hit bushels and bushels. Another factor was getting to know the home course so well. One could hit into blind greens because they've hit it from that spot 50 times before. I didn't have the skills to play college golf, so naturally started playing much less after HS. My golf game has never been the same. So to answer the original question, I think there would be a lot more skilled players out there if everyone got a chance to play that often and practice that much.

I've usually about had it with taking full swings after a full round, but I often chip. And man, I sure do my best chipping post-round!

Hello, I've been lurking for awhile and finally decided to sign up today. I'm in my second golf life right now. Played a lot when I was younger, but it trailed off until I quit entirely about 5 years ago. Been playing again since July. I bought a used set of Callaway X-20's and have been loving them, but they're only 4i-SW. Right now I'm carrying 13 clubs; in addition to the Callaways I have a driver, 3w, 5w, lob wedge, and putter. I've been hitting my wedges better and better, and don't really have any gaps there. If anything, 100 yard shots fall between my PW and SW - but I've been able to fill that in with one club or the other, depending on the situation. So I'm thinking I need to fill a gap between my 4i and 5w. As a general rule, I hit my 4i about 180, and my 5w about 200-210. So I occasionally find myself without the right club on a par 3, or - more rarely - on the second shot on a par 4. Is buying a 3 iron the right way to fill this gap? And how important is it that it is the same model as the rest of my irons? I don't know if X-20 3 irons even exist, and if they do, finding a single one can't be too easy. Would any Callaway X series do the trick? Thanks

1) Bladed chip shot. Same story every time it happens, I don't trust the club face and lift my body to try to "scoop" the ball up. I've been doing it less and less. 2) For some reason, second shot on a par 5 after a beautiful drive. No matter how hard I try to tell myself not to kill it, just hit it like any other shot, I often end up hitting it about 50 yards on the ground. 3) Hitting the wrong club on an easy par 3. Nothing like facing a big receptive green and puring a lovely 8i and watching it land ten yards short. 4) Leaving birdie putts way short because I'm afraid to jeapordize the par. 5) Playing the "safe" shot out of deep rough or trees, and knocking it across the fairway onto the other side.

Just started playing again in July after a 5 year break from golf. My goal for for this year was to break 100 consistently. I'm nearly there - I have the occasional bad round a few strokes above 100, but I've been in the mid-90's fairly often. Because of where I am now, my goal for the rest of the golf season is to break 90. I shot 43 on a 9-hole course, and have shot 44-46 plenty of times on the front or the back, but haven't managed below 90 for a full 18. The 2011 goal will be to break 90 regularly. I'm putting better, chipping better, my problem right now is consistency.

Pulled my second shot on a par 5 into the left rough, about 80 yards out. I was under a tree, with another tree in front of me. My friend, whose handicap is about ten lower than mine was urging me to punch it out on the fairway. It would have been the right play, but I wasn't having a very good round anyway, and decided that there was a hole where I could get out under the tree over me, and then over the tree in front of that. One of those tempting holes through the trees that so rarely work out. Why not give it a try? Trouble was, the trajectory on any of my wedges was too steep to get out of the tree I was under. I calculated the loft that I needed was my 9i. Hitting shorter clubs at less than a full swing is not one of my strong points. But I could visualize the shot pretty well, and I decided to give it a go. Took about a half swing with my 9i and put the ball right through the hole between the trees and onto the green. Missed the 15 foot birdie putt, but tapped in for par.

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