jangro

My HCP is definitely lower thanks to play on my home course. Calling it a loophole implies that it benefits me. I'd call it a liability. But that's pretty much the only place it gets used, so I guess it's ok. I'm a 9-something currently and just shot the best 9 holes of my life yesterday, 1 over par for nine on the back tees (pardon the brag). There goes the handicap (again).

I guess I'm an outlier here. It hasn't happened many times, but I don't think I've ever minded when someone asked to try a club. I just can't see anyone doing any worse damage than I can do on any given swing. (Unless it was a total hack, and then I'd maybe be a little nervous about it.) Then again, I'm not the type to baby my clubs. To me, they're there to get used and I don't worry about scratches. But that's just me. You should see my iphone -- cracked, scratched, well loved. :)

Well at least your golf clubs have a hole-in-one now. It's a start.

Practicing this week, I tried changing my grip to weaken my left hand. It felt really strange, but in the end I could swing with that grip. It's too soon to tell if that will help, but I'll stick with it. I also widened my stance and tried to keep my left heel down. I can't tell while I'm swinging what the heck my left heel is doing, but by taking some more video, I am still lifting it on fully ripped swings. And even though I'm feeling like I'm changing my swing a lot, video shows me that I'm really not. I have been able to get some swings closer to the right plane, I think. Though my heels were still up. To get a feel for what my heels are doing, I put a golfball under my left toes, which did force me to keep my heel down (and all the other associated movement) and I was striking the ball well. Maybe I should do that for a while on the course. The biggest thing, however, this week I rediscovered shoulder turn. It is amazing what your body does (and doesn't do) when you're not thinking about it. Once I really focused on getting my shoulders around, shots straightened out and short irons went 10 yards longer. I can't really tell what happened to the length on the long irons at the range. The above picture was before I made this discovery. I didn't take any video on this last practice session, though I'm eager to see another shot with my focus on shoulder turn to see what's happening at this point in the swing. So much to think about. ugh. Thanks again for all the feedback, I appreciate it.

What should my left foot be doing, not lifting the heel I assume? I went back to the range yesterday and focused on keeping my right leg flexed enough so that my hip can start the forward swing uninhibited. It made a huge difference and my swing that I've been trying to get to inside-out seemed to get there. After spending 10 minutes hitting bad shots and finding the timing, I went from fades to draws almost immediately. The biggest feeling I can say that I had was to keep my body and head low through the swing, and to focus my weight shift forward rather than up (like maybe what I was doing in that frame above). By keeping my body compact and low, and making sure my right leg didn't become too straight lifting me up out of the swing plane, I was pretty well able to go between draw and straight by adjusting my backswing between flatter or taller. This is going to be an adjustment, lots of swing thoughts, but hopefully on the right track. I'll be making another video in the next few days. thanks for the help Chubbs.

A friend of mine who's a great golfer has a heavy putter and loves it. I tried it a few times and I can see the appeal and benefits, though i'm not ready to give up my own putter. One word of caution. If you accidentally hit yourself in the ankle with this thing while walking around the green, you may be out for the round. I did and it hurt like a MF. Be careful!

You guys are right about me not sliding my hips forward. Sometimes when I focus on weight shift (vs other stuff like my hands or keeping my head still), I hit the ball noticeably better. So many things to work on! That right leg of mine (worse in this video than usual, I hope) is literally stopping my hips from sliding. They have to move UP first to get past the straight leg which is bending after I start the hips. I still can't get over that I've been doing that. Thanks for the pointer to that post Andrew. Here it is for anyone else who hasn't seen it yet: http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...LIDE-Your-Hips

Thanks. This is the first time I've really taken a good look at my swing with software where I can go forward and backward frame-by-frame and it was enlightening. I've been working on my swing all year making a lot of changes, and sometimes this slice sneaks in. One thing I've been working on is getting my hands to lead the club down in the "slot" and sometimes I can't believe that I'm still coming over the top. But here it is -- I am. And I think I see the culprit. I didn't realize it, but as I work to extend a big backswing, I'm straightening my right leg. It's most obvious on some of the 3-wood shots. I'm even locking it on a few of those swings. This is preventing my hip from getting a good start, and it's even pushing my hip up and over my straight leg as I start the downswing. I look like freakin' Charles Barkley on a few of those! Can't wait to get to the range again to work on this one and see what happens.

I use golfshot GPS. I think it works well, though it is a bit light on the information I can store. And inflexible. I like the idea of being able to jot down some notes in scorecard which I haven't tried. If I start a round without a fully charged iPhone, I'm usually conserving batteries by the end of the round. 36 holes, forget it. I suspect that's mostly because of the GPS using battery. I've tried Golfscape and didn't like it. It's a bit gimmicky, and I actually like the overhead view of the Golfshot GPS better. I think I'll pick up a dedicated GPS rangefinder over the winter and stick with just keeping score on the phone. I'll try out scorecard.

Because that's the rule. You get a hole in one, you're buying drinks. The guy got off easy just buying two guys a drink and stiffing the kid. It's supposed to be everyone in the clubhouse. :)

Would you say your swing changes at all with the different clubs? The ball position in your stance? Shaft tilt? It doesn't take much to de-loft a club a bit and make a 9 act closer to an 8.

I've played about 40 rounds this year, mostly at my home course. It's getting cold here, but we're not quite done yet! I'm also lucky to have had the opportunity to play some amazing courses this year... Cascata (Las Vegas) Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run (Kohler, WI) TPC Boston (MA) Red Tail (MA) Pound Ridge (NY) Sandpiper (CA) La Cumbre (CA) Rancho San Marcos (CA)

If you (the OP) are anything like me, you've replayed the scene in your head dozens of times with all the comebacks you could have said. But there's nothing snappy that a teenager (assuming from the story that you're a teen) could have said to that guy that would have come off as anything but disrespectful. You handled this perfectly. His partners know what a DB he was. You got to love the well executed play through. Sure Matt was a jerk off, but bowing isn't a very gracious way to finish either. (Unless they were joking with you, and clapping or something.) I would have waved a humble thanks and moved on knowing that Matt knows very well that he was just owned. Plus, these guys pay your tips! What club? Turner Hills?

I videoed my swing at the range yesterday. There are a lot of swings here, some with a 7 iron and some with a 3-wood. Face-on view starts at about 1:08. Most of the shots are fading or slicing, which I'm prone to do. Some days a lot. Some days not so much. This day a lot. I've got some ideas from this that I want to try the next time, but before I do I thought I'd see if you guys have some suggestions. thanks much. Here's a link to a higher quality video: http://gallery.me.com/sjangro#100014

Funny. He probably whiffed his first swing, so it was just a par. ;)