Official Golf Thread

Originally Posted by archetypal_yuppie

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So, every shot that's not on a tee?

(...)

well, there's always hardpan, cart paths, sand-traps, and water.

Originally Posted by archetypal_yuppie

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What % of you guys actually play legit golf? In other words...

-no mulligans
-counting the actual number of strokes you took on a hole, and not subtracting the ones you didn't like, or turning the 9 into a 7
-rehitting, not taking a drop, for OB and *lost ball*!!!
-playing the ball AS IT LIES, not rolling it out of the divot
-putting out (no gimmies)

Hoardes of people violate these rules, and then when they actually play competitively (or for $), surprise, their scores are 5 strokes higher...

I do play legit golf, often to the frustration of my playing partners. I don't see the point of cheating. I play with people all the time that take mulligans, don't coun't penalties, improve their lies. How do you know how good you are if you never play by the rules? My father in law does all these things. I think he really believes that every golfer is allowed two balls on the first tee. It doesn't bother me though, people can do what they want and I just play and laugh when they tell me what their final score is. I noticed when I joined a club, after a round guys sitting around and talking about their scores. At first I thought "Wow, these guys are really good." Then after a few weeks, I kept seeing these same guys out on the course and I watched them. I realized how they were shooting in the 70s: they were cheating, plain and simple. I'm sure if I'd suggested as much, they would have wanted to fight too. It's endemic in golf.

Hit the range this morning for a small bucket. Made a couple little adjustments via. S&T thinking. Straightened right leg which let me rotate shoulders back more. Most accurate series of shots I've ever made.

IMO, for a 40 year old guy like me to try and copy a swing like Tiger's is wrong headed. I'm not a pro athlete, I don't have his flexibility. I'm also not trying to crush it 300 yards. I want to develop a repeatedable, predictable swing.

Be careful with stack and tilit, the wear on the spine and hips can be quite là rge. Not a fan at all..

Keep in mind that the Classic golfswing has many parts that can be adjusted according to your fysiology, so you wouldnt have to have the high tension high power golfswing that Tiger has, but perhaps a upright version like niklaus or free flowing one like couples. There is no one size fits all solution..

On a side note, still no Internet in the new apartment, getting sick of posting from my bb...

Originally Posted by nootje

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Be careful with stack and tilit, the wear on the spine and hips can be quite là rge. Not a fan at all..

Keep in mind that the Classic golfswing has many parts that can be adjusted according to your fysiology, so you wouldnt have to have the high tension high power golfswing that Tiger has, but perhaps a upright version like niklaus or free flowing one like couples. There is no one size fits all solution..

On a side note, still no Internet in the new apartment, getting sick of posting from my bb...

I'm digesting the aspects, from my totally golf noob perspective of course, but also from a former amateur jock with a little clinical knowlege tossed in. Thanks for the warning.

What is appealing to me most is their basic concept: watch the pros at a driving range. They all grip the club differently, have slightly (to greatly) different stances, different swings, etc. So starting with what are in fact variables and not "basics" is wrong headed. Start with what they all do impeccably, which is control the spot their club hits the ground.

Totally agree, no one size fits all, and that's the message I'm reacting off of.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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Sounds like a great day on the course, G.

It really was. I was starting to get a little concerned with my progress. It just seemed like none of the adjustments were working, but almost out of nowhere all the work started paying off.

Pio, take this from me. The 'basics' you have been given havent set in yet (unless you Found a way to hit a couple of thousand balls in the meantime). Tinkering with your swing at this poìnt in your development cà n lead to a wrong set of movement that will be VERY hard to grind out down the road. Stick to the basics for now and hit a lot of balls, and if you really want to ill give you a couple of tips in a while to fit your swing to your body type..

To give you a hint, the improved ballstricking you noticed from straightening your right leg comes from not shifting your bodyweight during the swing, itll work with your irons but will screw up any chances of getting a relatively normal ballflight with your driver.

A better drill to practice getting impact right would be to put a tee into the ground behind the ball and focus on hitting that into the ground after hitting the ball, hitting down on the ball so to speak. Do this while turning 60 percent of your weight on your right leg in the backswing.

I actually recommend going to the driving range and hitting balls as hard as you can for a while. You'll mess up a lot, but it gets the body to work together, and develop timing. Then hone it down. Or something.

When I was a teenage I'd pound the **** out of 100 balls a few times a week. It was kind of funny. I'd be hitting an 8 iron almost 200 yds when I got into a decent rhythyhm.

Originally Posted by archetypal_yuppie

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So, every shot that's not on a tee?
...

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Every long shot that's not from a tee. I.e. not a tee shot or pitch/chip/putt.

Originally Posted by Thomas

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well, there's always hardpan, cart paths, sand-traps, and water.

Also, this.

Originally Posted by MrG

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(...)

Also, this.

yeah, I was a bit wild back in the day and learned to play out off all of them. Water, though, certainly presents some limitations.

I have such an uncanny ability to find the most ridiculous surfaces to hit golf shots from. "fairway" isn't in my vocabulary when on the course, however, i always seem to get out of trouble.

Originally Posted by bdeuce22

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I have such an uncanny ability to find the most ridiculous surfaces to hit golf shots from. "fairway" isn't in my vocabulary when on the course, however, i always seem to get out of trouble.

Haha, I've learned to play quite a mean punch shot that is accurate out of trees. Doesn't really matter the surface either, it works on everything. Saved me numerous times.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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I'm digesting the aspects, from my totally golf noob perspective of course, but also from a former amateur jock with a little clinical knowlege tossed in. Thanks for the warning.

What is appealing to me most is their basic concept: watch the pros at a driving range. They all grip the club differently, have slightly (to greatly) different stances, different swings, etc. So starting with what are in fact variables and not "basics" is wrong headed. Start with what they all do impeccably, which is control the spot their club hits the ground.

Totally agree, no one size fits all, and that's the message I'm reacting off of.

Well, yes the club has to impact the ground a certain way to get that result, but these guys def have certain similarities to their swings that allow them to be repeatable. You have to have a basic understanding of how the golf swing works with respect to planes, hand positions, body movement, follow through, etc... before you can start working on fine tuning a swing. You don't just say I'm gonna hit the ground in the same spot the pros do and expect it to be that simple.

Most pros are going to have a toe up position to start their backswing, shoulder turn mostly behind the ball, hands are going to be high with a, relatively, flat wrist, shaft pointing down their target line, hands coming inside the plane on their downswing, follow through down the target line. These are just some "basic" principles of what most golf swings should entail. Most pro's start with this and tweak them as necessary to produce the shots they need.

Originally Posted by archetypal_yuppie

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I actually recommend going to the driving range and hitting balls as hard as you can for a while. You'll mess up a lot, but it gets the body to work together, and develop timing. Then hone it down. Or something.

When I was a teenage I'd pound the **** out of 100 balls a few times a week. It was kind of funny. I'd be hitting an 8 iron almost 200 yds when I got into a decent rhythyhm.

Def a great way to develop club head speed. I used to do the same thing. I'd be worn out from hitting a bucket of balls. It def lets you know what your limitations are and then if you need to juice up the 6 iron from 205 with a tailwind and hit it high, you've practiced it.

^ Exact opposite of what my pro believes in and also what many here have said. Proves my point this is really an individual thing, learning to swing.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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^

Exact opposite of what my pro believes in and also what many here have said. Proves my point this is really an individual thing, learning to swing.


Yeah, though I think you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find a tour pro who advocates swinging as hard as you can and then honing the swing style...that seems pretty backwards to me and goes against almost all of the swing instruction I've encountered.