Golf Thread for the Rest of Us.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

thanks Clack-ity-clack. Can you describe the drill you do in your dining room a little more? Are you actually hitting balls indoors?

You are seriously an idiot. Sorry. Just being honest!

[clackamascoug]

thanks Clack-ity-clack. Can you describe the drill you do in your dining room a little more? Are you actually hitting balls indoors?

Yes... as you can putt indoors, you can also chip. I'm certainly not hitting any farther than 10 feet, but actually the action is the same. The training is two fold. I get used to hitting down on the ball with my hands forward, and i try to spin the ball hard. You'd be surprised how effective it is when you get to a course and are on the collar and can control the spin and stop the ball right around the cup. I don't know how many times, but I chip in maybe once every two rounds, and it's really fun when you strike solid, ball jumps quick, and checks, and goes into the hole.

Same principle applies to iron play. Hands in front, descending blow, ball will stop quick or back up. Sometimes a 3/4 swing with this is method is easier to manage.

[clackamascoug]

Continuing on this train of thought, I've had a problem hitting a lob wedge less than 70 yards. You'd think in a par 5 situation that being off the green by 50 yards would be a good birdie opportunity, but I struggled with getting it in that 10 foot range.

Goofing off on the range, I started hitting my 9 iron with a 1/4 swing, and found i could hit it on a very straight consistent path. I worked on yardage control, and found that with the hands forward descending blow I could do the Land-Bounce-CheckStop. Now, from about 80 in, I do a 9, or wedge, with a 1/4 swing and bounce the ball up to the pin. Funny thing is, I get a lot closer with that shot than a full lob, and it's a lot less tentative.

Also it should be noted that in my normal game, I don't have the skill level to do the above with anything more than an 8 iron. For the record, 8 or less I'm looking for a birdie, 7,6 I'm looking to be on the green, 5,4 I'm hoping for the green or short for a up and down. Anything over 180 and out and I'm hoping for a par, and its a 40/60 proposition.

What kills most older guy's games isn't the short game, it's the long par four's. That's why older guys are always monkeying with their drivers looking for 10 more yards. That's why hackers shouldn't play Pro V's - their spinning ability compensates for the loss of distance for the long hitting pros. The pro's have an abundance of length, and they trade a little length for spin control. For the normal guy hitting the ball farther/deeper into a hole, and using a 9 iron to approach the green with a Titleist NXT Tour/Top Flite Gamer/Callaway Diablo/Bridgestone E6 is the better option for scoring. If the above weren't true, why would Titleist even make a Pro V1x to try and get a little extra distance out of a Pro V1. Lot's of balls fly a lot farther than Pro V's/Callaway HXi's/NikeOne/ and that's why manufacture's make 10 different kind of balls each.

[falafel]

You are seriously an idiot. Sorry. Just being honest!

Go back to the other thread Mr. Senior Flex.

[clackamascoug]

Prop's to Paul Goydos for shooting a 59 in a PGA tournament yesterday. Only 4 in history. Is that the rarest of all professional athletic feats?

[Katy Lied]

What happened? What did you guy's do wrong?

I like team golf events. Takes some pressure off the regular game, and let's you try shots you'd normally never try. Plus the camaraderie is a lot of fun.

It was best ball, which means that you take the best score of the pair for every hole. There's a little bit of strategy in that you have to take one person's score for 4 holes, the partner's score for 4 holes, and the last hole can be either. So if my partner is better than me and shoots birdie, and I shoot a bogey, we might still take my score if I am snowmanning all my other holes.

Anyways, the yay-hoos I was playing with insisted that best ball is where both partners drive, and then you select the best hit, and both play from the best landing position. It was particularly ridiculous when the first partner tees off, then hits a provisional, then his partner tees off, then HE hits a provisional...

[clackamascoug]

It was best ball, which means that you take the best score of the pair for every hole. There's a little bit of strategy in that you have to take one person's score for 4 holes, the partner's score for 4 holes, and the last hole can be either. So if my partner is better than me and shoots birdie, and I shoot a bogey, we might still take my score if I am snowmanning all my other holes.

Anyways, the yay-hoos I was playing with insisted that best ball is where both partners drive, and then you select the best hit, and both play from the best landing position. It was particularly ridiculous when the first partner tees off, then hits a provisional, then his partner tees off, then HE hits a provisional...

I've long thought that "best ball" ought to be called "best score." With the popular scramble format playing the "best ball," sometimes it can get confusing. Our club game on Saturday's is a best ball score (net) for 3/4 players on the team. They call it roodles. The only thing for sure about golf games, is that there are dozens of variations and they each have dozens of names. I've asked but no one can tell me why closest to the hole is called KP. I figure its just easier to say.

I've found it hard to have camaraderie with misinformed fudgers. (Stupid Cheaters)

[clackamascoug]

Here's to a good coming week to HFNW.

May the wind be at your back. May you hit them straight. May your putts roll true. And as the sun dips below the Pacific Ocean, and you crack the crab legs, and dip them in butter, may you celebrate breaking 100 each day.

I'm seriously jealous.

[clackamascoug]

Steve Stricker played some of the best golf I've ever witnessed today. He's gone 60-66-62 in the first 3 rounds of the John Deere Classic. It'd be nice if if continues his hot streak to The Open.

Speaking of The Open, here's a good link for all the golf fans.

http://digital.globalgolfpost.com/globalgolfpost/20100709?sub_id=CMcDd9wGZWX7O#pg1

My back is still bugging me. With the inflammation down, I'm going to go to the Chiro on Monday and get it snapped back into place. I hope to be back in action by Friday, unless the herniation flares up again.

[clackamascoug]

Here's Monday mornings edition of the Global Golf Post.

Overall, It was a good weekend of golf on television.

http://digital.globalgolfpost.com/globalgolfpost/20100712?sub_id=CMcDd9wGZWX7O#pg1

[clackamascoug]

OK... it's The Open "pick 'em" time.

Feel free to pick 3 participants, and at the end we will add their total position on the leader board (not scores), and we will see if you can better the field. Choose carefully, as my picks are educated and awesome.

Rules: You can pick 2/3 of someone else's people, but not all three. Lowest combined leader board of the three picks, wins. Ties for position are OK, but earlier post wins. If a guy picked misses the cut, you can substitute that player with anyone, including the 36 hole leader, but you must count his position on the winners list as 1.5x of his actual placing. (a 4th place finish would be equal to a 6th place finish.) A good strategy could be to pick the one of the worst and hope he gets cut, thereby picking up the 36 hole leader at 1.5x of his position. In the case of a fractional ranking, a 6 would beat a 6.5. Deadline is 12:01 a.m. Thursday Morning.

Good Luck.

My 3 picks : Rory Maclroy - Steve Stricker - Justin Rose

A good dark horse for the less informed... (Eduardo Molinari)

[FN Phat]

You would have better luck with participation in your contest if you posted like The Moose's Whistle. Just tryin' to help!

[clackamascoug]

Thursday's Game Report

39+39=78

As noted above, I've had back problems, and took 2 weeks off. I was feeling pretty good on Monday, and swung a club in my front yard, and felt a lot of restriction in my back. I went to the chiro, and got a deep tissue massage, and adjustment. I waited 24 hours, and swung - bingo! I could swing. On the course, I felt so free that it amazed me.

On Thursday's the mens club play's a team event in the form of a two man net best ball. I didn't know my assigned partner, but he turn out to be a really fun guy. He's 52, a controller, and a 6 handicap. After 5 holes I was +1 and my partner was -3. He was playing out of his mind. He ended up shooting a 34 on the front, and our net best ball was 28. I contributed with a net eagle on 8

If we win, my dues for the month are paid, and we know we have the best front score. We're very optimistic for the back.

On the back I go par-birdie and on the 12th (my new nemesis hole, for the back issues, and out-of-bounds on the left) I hit a perfect drive, with 180 left to the par 5. 4 iron, hooked out of bounds. I switch to my 7 wood, (with a driver shaft) and hit to 15 feet. I'm laying 4. A good putt will give me a par with an out of bounds. Missed the putt - not even close actually, but a 1 footer for a 6 is the result. My partner goes out of bounds too, and we fail to eagle/birdie/par the hole most everyone else will do well on.

After finishing the 17th I'm 3 over, and he's 7 over, on the back, and I predict that that we will lose the best ball by 1 shot. We par out on 18, and in the clubhouse, we learn that we lost by 1.

If either of us had parred the easy par 5, we split the pot. If we birdie, $150 each. Note to self: 12th hole is easy - just don't hit out of bounds.

[Katy Lied]

Clack, I wish I had known about your pick em prior to the start. I only saw it today.

I will pick the 3 Woods:

Lee Westwood
Tiger Woods
Chris Wood (Yup, I'm still going with him)

[Katy Lied]

So some of you know that we have a family friend who is a pretty good golfer for an 11-year old. We've been following his progress in the Jr Worlds here.

What was interesting was in a field of about 150 boys aged 11 and 12, two of the boys were disqualified for using a rangefinder. One of the DQ'ed boys was disqualified on the second day, after knowing another boy already was booted for the same reason.

Why are boys as young as 11 cheating? Rangefinders are $300+ so their parents had to give the devices to them. Do you think that the parents encouraged them to cheat?

I'm sort of discouraged because all of the golfers I know are meticulously honest. In fact, golf is a great game to train your kids not to cheat.