Got some good practice in at the range yesterday. Hitting the driver with the new Purple Ice 65 shaft rather well I think. Only problem is the driver is so quiet. No load bat sound. I kind of miss that load noise when I make solid contact with the big dog. I wonde if there's a way to change that? Next came chipping, and had a lot of good chips. I use the ProSleeve shag tube which holes 14 balls. At one point I hit every ball to within tap in distance. We have 4 flags on the chipping green, so I alternate holes for the 14 shots. Felt real good to have 14 tap-ins after 14 chips. I didn't sink any, but I'll take 14 par saves any time.
Putting was next and that too went well. Sunk half a dozen 30 footers for my efferts. Only a couple of 3 putts, so it wasn't to bad of a session. Not perfect, but it never will be I think. Going back out today to work on the swing. Been reading Ben Hogan's Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. Interesting book with lots of good points to work on. I'm going to try to put as much of what he says into my swing over the next 3 weeks and see how it's working when you guys are here to play some golf. Hogans say the waggle is very important, but I'm not sure I want to add a waggle right now. I'll give it a try today at the range and decide then.

Keep up the practice DocT, and kick butt in your mini tourney in a few weeks.

Doc, you've made several curiosity-arousing allusions to your work. Will you tell us about it, please, if you don't mind?

Don, you are burning it up.

DocT, nice to see things improving. Enjoy the tourney coming up

Don, as for those 14 par saves....you're assuming you were chipping for Par to begin with, might have been a chip for a triple!

one more thing Don, since the air is thinner there, do the greens putt faster than other places since there's less air resistance?

Scott, thanks for deflating my par save bubble. Did it ever occur to you they might have been birdie saving tap-ins? Could happen.
As for putts being faster due to thinner air, I don't know about that, but I know the brain works slower. Bill tells me all the time mind works slower due to the thin air. Could be true, can't really prove it either way I'm afraid. When you get here, you can decide for yourself. both for the putts and the brain being slow or fast.

I've started a new thread on this in the General Discussions section.
http://www.golf-gear-review.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/18032/page/1#Post18032

Thought it would be a good way to re-introduce ourselves to this community.

Well hit the range for a last chance practice session yesterday. With the rain moving in here from the storms on the coast, might be the last time before flying out. But that's ok, we need the rain. Anyway, there was a girls junior clinic going on and as I walked up, dang if this 11 yr old (my guess) didn't rip a fairway wood straight down the fairway. Didn't see how far it went but it was a straight bullet. She had a nice setup, darn straight back and just striped the ball down there. I was glad they were finishing as I was starting!!!

Anyway, good day, hit about 60 balls and felt pretty good that I didn't embarass myself in front of those girls. Irons are doing pretty good, wedges get a little offline here and there. But I'm ready for Sunday whether my game is or not!

I hear you, I'm hoping to get out today or tomorrow for one last chance to work on game at the range. If I don't make it out, who knows what the game will be like come Sunday when you guys and gal are here.

Before my round on Thursday, I took advantage of the nice practice area to warm up. Hit a couple of balls with all of the clubs. Took some time to hit SW with full, 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4 swing to get a feel for distance and to make sure I wasn't pulling short wedges left (wasn't).
Nice short game practice area, hit LW and SW a bit and hit out of the bunker (which proved to be useful practice for the round...). Hit a few putts (nice greens, but they had been aerated so they were a little slow).
So nice to get the luxury of a full warm up hitting all the clubs before a round.

Went to the range Tuesday night to see if my theory about alignment on my irons was valid. I think it was, I was making excellent contact, nice high ball flight.
Only issue I'm having is 3 and 4 iron are now tending to slice a bit. Not a huge amount that I can't factor in, but bothersome since every other iron is behaving.
Hybrid is still somewhat inconsistent, I have a tendency to hook it, but get good distance. Dry/fast fairways I'll probably still pull the 3W for the amount of roll I can get (and if I need it for a long par 3 it's more reliable off the tee than the hybrid).
Got some good swings in with the driver, since I didn't have a good round with it last time I wanted to "de-bug" before the competition this weekend. Need to go into it feeling confident.

Aimee, we're both in training now. I have the annual Roosevelt Club Championship coming up in two weeks, over two days.

Today I had time to play the Los Feliz 3-par before an afternoon meeting. Happened to play with one of my competitors for the tournament. Unfortunately I shot +2 over while he shot +1 over.., but fortunately his handicap is lower too. After my meeting I stopped by a driving range and practiced for an hour. Feeling good about the swing though, and having no pain at all, so I seem to have healed. Although for some strange reason my big toe has started aching now..?

Wade, glad to hear you're recovering well...big toe problems? man, maybe you kicked something in a dream or something.

Anyway, I snuck out of the office today and hit the range for about 45 minutes. Overall, the results were pretty good. I always start with wedges and work backwards through the clubs and for some reason today was really inconsistent with the PW. Other irons were mostly still in good shape, but the wedge, hmmm...who knows. But my main reason for going was the driver and trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. maybe it was the layoff but out of about 7 shots, 5 were great and 1 of the other two would have been just off the right side of the fairway. So all things considered, I was pleased. Don't know why, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

I hope to get out some more this weekend and see if the results still continue and to try and get in some chipping and putting. We'll see. I'm heading back out Don's way in a couple weeks so need to stay sharp.

Been so busy at work (including working on the weekends), I didn't get a chance to hit the range since my tournament on the 16th. But since I finished everything last night, I have this weekend off.

Went to the range today, and had a really good time. Started with my wedges and worked my way up to the driver, then work my way back down. My best drive was about 220-yards straight down the middle. Everything else was about 190-200 within a 30-50 yard span. Hit everything really good, even my 7-wood (my most hateful club). Then decided to practice pitching. I aimed for the 75-yard net (similar to a crab net on its side angled as a basket). Took me 10 shots to get one ball in it! All the other shots were going around it. A neighboring golfer took note and started the same thing. But I managed to get one in first. The neighbor gave up and went back to his irons. I called it a day after that. Wanted to hit the Par-3 course, but they had some type of junior tournament going on.

It's funny how some days are just awesome at the range, and others are dreadful. I'll go again tomorrow and see what happens.

Went to the range again today. Weather was perfect in the upper 70's.

Started out really strong from wedges to driver. Took a break, and went to hell from driver back to wedges. I don't know what happened. Started to get dark, so I called it a day.

Did you tell us what the theory is, and I somehow missed it? Is it still helpful?

Doc, glad you were able to get outside and hit the range, at least. Do you think you might have been tired from the day before on Sunday? I think sometimes muscle fatigue can affect my swing.


I've had a little swing breakthrough. Somehow, some things fell into place, and I know I've advanced a level. I've finally got the feeling of freewheeling through the ball with a round swing, having it fly perfectly straight, and feeling my right foot come trailing up to the left, pulled by clubhead momentum. It is so cool. All the small movements that I've been taught to make are the natural result of a good swing -- making all the small movements correctly doesn't make a good swing. I see what they mean when they say everyone has to dig it out of the dirt for themselves.

It was nirvana for two days, and then I lost the swing for a day, and it was back again yesterday. Not so bad. Losing it and finding it again were educational (though I thought maybe I should quit golf on that bad day).

While the swing was lost, Ron reminded me that every time I set up to the ball, it must be exactly the same for a given club. He said foot placement should vary no more than 1/4", and also nagged me about torso position, head position, etc. After practicing being meticulous about this, it seemed to really help my consistency.

Taking it to the course was still inconsistent, but better. It's coming along. Thanks, everyone, for your support.

My theory was that I was closing the club face a little on my irons, which meant I wasn't making optimal contact. I remembered a lesson a while back where we were trying to watch that I didn't set the shaft too far forward in the set up (which delofts a little). When I set the club down on the ground, then adjust the shaft more upright, it makes the club face turn a little left. So I set the shaft position, then turn the club face just a little more to the right to square it up.
What I found is that this helps on the mid-short irons. Once I got to the longer irons, it was increasing my incidence of slicing. Still need to work it thru on the range to see what's going on exactly. It may be that I tend to forward press a little more on the shorter clubs so I need more correction on those.

Isn't this sometimes the most meticulous sport? It's the little details we find/discover that can be so useful. And Laney, as you said, we all are digging through our swings and our experience to discover how it feels to us. And all of our feelings and experiences are so different. Thats what makes this such a challenging sport. Remembering and replicating the feeling Laney had with 'freewheeling thru the ball' produces solid straight shots. Whereas for me, it's taking the club back a particular way that gets my right elbow in position, and boom, the ball goes straight.

I just find it interesting how we all focus on different aspects that lead us all to the same place (we hope!!!): square clubs face and a proper swing path.

Ok, enough philosofizing for one night (just had a couple beers and mellowed out after a tough beginning to the week). Hit 'em long, hard and straight!

Aimee, I reread your answer again this morning, and I think I comprehend now. I don't think I'm going to confuse myself trying to apply it to my swing, but I'd still like to hear updates as you work it out.

Scott, trust me, I still had swing thoughts while I was freewheeling. It IS fun sharing the mental process we all go through. Sounds like the beers were just what you needed!

Great signature!

Got out to the range yesterday to work on ball flight with the driver. I've been playing this fool game for 5 years, and my ball flight has been straight. Not always on line, but straight. Then 2 weeks ago, from out of nowhere, a big slice with the driver shows up. After Scott and Laney left, a trip to the range didn't get rid of it, but a second trip to the range seems to have it under control. Started out with a little fade, but by the time 2 buckets of balls were gone, so was the nasty slice. Still hit a few small fades, not more than 5 to 10 yards worth, which I could live with if I had to. Next time out I hope to be back to hitting nothing but straight drives, like in the past. Don't know where it came from or where it went, but I'm glad it went.

Don, glad you worked it out! Too bad you don't know how you did it, you could tell me.

Wish I knew Laney. I just tried to make good swings, and little by little the slice went away. Didn't really change anything. other than keep my left heel down, which is one thing Scott mentioned he had noticed I was doing wrong. I had this taken care of a long time ago, but it seems it came back to haunt me. I had picked up on this myself last time out, but having Scott mention it only helped. Now I know I was for a fact doing it when he and Laney was here. Not being able to see yourself is one of the worst things about golf. It makes it that much harder to figuure out what you're doing wrong when you can't see it happening.

Don, glad to hear it's coming back in line (literally). I've recently thought that maybe it's a smart idea to video tape ourselves when we're playing WELL, so that when we're not, we have something to compare it too. I may do that. Go to the range with the a partner and camera and record various positions of swings and some how give them a thumbs up or down so I can see from the video whether the results were good, and store those for future use. In my field (medical/clinical research) people are always storing samples for future use, maybe we should be too.

Yep, I'm considering purchasing a cam so I can look at my swing on good and bad days, and also get the swing of a good player with a similar style for comparison. You've already got the equipment, Scott, so report back on how helpful it is.

The hard part is getting a partner to help setup the video camera. Works best with 2 people, rather than by ones self.

As for the driver, I need to go out again and see if the big bad slice is still gone. One problem I had was due to no having a slice for 5 years of playing the game. I didn't want to start changing things to get rid of the slice, when I didn't know what made it show up in the first place. I wanted to strengthen my grip, the normal cure for a slice, but I didn't want to change it, as it's been working fine for 5 years. It had to be something else I was doing, or not doing correctly. I'll find out next time if its gone for good.

Smart Don. If you didn't have it recently, then I agree, don't start making major changes to get rid of it.

You're right Don, it is easier to video tape yourself with a second person. One thought would be if you get someone to help you set it up the first time, then you could get some general measurements of how far the camera needs to be behind you and such so you could set it up yourself. Might help.

Along these lines, there was a show on tv about golf inventions, and here's one, kind of expensive but it gives you some interesting options: http://www.proplaygps.com/

I'll try your idea next time I get a chance. Will take the wife out with me ahd set the cammera up to video her, and then that a few measurements of distance, and make a note of where I have the voom power set. Thanks for the tip.