ballhawk

Top Pick is Tony F Dark Horse is A. Scott Surprise contender J. Spieth (if he can find his putting mojo)

when you yell on impacting the ball because you actually hurt yourself, folks will think it helps to hit it further cause that what the guy hawking the commercial does. I tried one once and it was the best and longest hitting wedge I ever hit......

We all concur with the "whatever works for you", but one has to try/experiment with a change and give it enough time to truly validate any merits. As I get older ( caddied for Moses once - big hitter but lousy putter) I found a complete separation between mind and body. Mind says this is what we should do and the body says "please" ain't gonna happen! Any who, I went to the baseball grip to elevate hand/finger stress due to arthritis. Now able to keep a solid grip on the club and actually achieved more distance with the driver. While it's not what Ben Hogan did, but I remember him saying, after he found what ever he found, "I wish I had 2 or 3 right hands hitting the ball. I place my hands low at address and it allows me to swing (at least for me) a lot more freely at/through the ball. It results in a slight fade but it's a consistent shot pattern and one that offers a lot more confidence when standing over the ball.

Newest rumor that since his decision to turn pro, and the management company he signed with has LIV tour players in their fold, he could possibly go to LIV. My guess is that, if there is any validity to the rumor, that everything could/would depend upon the size of the suitcase filled with money. It's also rumored that Rahm is looking to fill his team and that bringing him into the fold would be a major set back for the PGA tour.

I will offer this personal observation. Some years ago, my nephew had the chance to be offered a contract with a major league team. He stands/stood 6'4" 220 lbs left handed pitcher. Long story short he decided to stay in school and as luck/fate would have it, somehow he contracted a debilitating health problem. So as the saying goes, "Tomorrow is not promised, so all we have is today". In all honesty, college golfers on scholarship are being paid to play golf and at least in my mind are already pro's. He can always go back to school to complete his degree if he so desires, but his game as it stands right now is at it's most likely apex and he should again IMO, run with it while he can. No one knows how long it may last so another saying - "Strike while the iron is hot"..........

Using a broomstick with separated hand positions is extremely different feel wise from having both hand working together. Since you are right hand dominant switching to putting right handed should be a positive. The two main things to address with a long putter is 1) making sure the top hand has a firm grip, otherwise the club will have a lot of movement during the stroke and 2) Remove the mindset of hitting the ball, which most people do because of the length and trust in a smooth follow through (which practice will eventually allow). The length of the back stroke will decide the distance factor. But there is a also a down side and that comes from the speed of the greens you play on. Long putter is good on quick/fast greens but not very satisfying on slow greens. The way I approach slow greens is to bring a regular length putter also to deal with any putts from a distance and then use the long putter from closer to the hole. Hope this helps...........

What does the future hold for equipment? Drivers heads/length and face have all been restricted to specific numbers. Balls aside from the new rollback non-problem also have specific limitations. Irons have been lengthened and stronger lofted and hybrids have taken their place, so just what can the manufactures come up with to keep moving forward or have we finally hit the proverbial wall?

It's very difficult to find someone with great diplomatic skills and a black belt in karate! Luckily I play on a Military base and it's fairly easy to move folks along..........I marshal at times and when encountering a group of young guys just out for a good time, "Guys your going to have to pick up the pace"- Oh yeah! why? ......... Well you see that 4 some waiting behind you? "Yeah so what" ............."Well that's the base commander and the 2 star that's visiting, so I strongly suggest" -------- "Hey wait I wasn't finished talking".....

Make the pro's all play this club and the distance problem will really be magnified.........

So this issue has/was already tabled, but now they,(USGA/R&A) figure that we'll just stick it to everybody and by doing so the pro's that already said NO! will be forced to accept the ruling.....................Unless!, the pro's actually say "go pound sand" we'll just continue to play as we have been. Got to wonder if they really did this, what the overall fallout would be or would the rulers just fold again like they did when Ping took them on.

"ATTENTION"............News Flash!!!.................The so-called problem has been solved......... The USGA and the R&A can oversee their tournaments (The Opens and Am's) and then furnish the dictated roll back balls to all who enter. As far as the rest of the golfing world, Pro Tours and everyday golfers, we'll play what we have been playing, thank you very much!!

ROLLBACK!!!!...........I'LL GIVE YOU A ROLLBACK

Every informational review that I have been able to see has suggested that the actual shaft length could be/is at 43/43.5, when the addition of the shaft adapter is included, the overall total length of the driver from ground to top of grip becomes 44.5-45.

Are you ready for this?!!!! Here's the real solution, but first we shall have to back track in history. Prior to the introduction of the solid ball (top flight), The only balls available were balata and even before that the feathery gutta perch and so on. We had wooden shafts and then metal shaft and finally graphite and ti shafts. Clubs lengths went from say a standard 7 iron was 35.5/36" and now a 7 is 37.5. Driver was 43/43.5 You get the idea. The ruling bodies let the genie out and it's since run wild. The driver length of today has been rolled back to 48" max. Now if they control that aspect, perhaps they should roll everything back to the pre explosion standards. Drivers max length 43.5 Irons length/lofts back to whatever the pre specs were. Balls now all have 50 compression rating. The overall results then become golf courses now longer need to be 7K+ yardage. The OEM's now can refocus their R&D to start the entire genie process over and if this forum is still around, we can do this dance over again in 20 some odd years.............

I have the perfect solution to the ball distance for the pro's. Starting in January for the champions tournament in Hawaii, just have the tour players use the Wilson Duo ball. It goes about 15 to 25 yds shorter already and they can get them at cost from Walmart............

Just an FYI for using the broomstick/long putter. There are 2 IMO major aspects to using it......First, make sure the top hand is holding the club firmly, regardless of what the lower hand grip may be. I've found that if the top hand is not really firm/strong on the grip, the club will rotate enough to either close or open the face at contact. Second, most folks have a tendency on medium to long putts to hit the putt instead of stroking it. The lower hand gets strong and either pushes or pulls. Correcting those aspects and the success rate goes up greatly............

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We need 8 forum members to put these putters to the test................................ Another 4 to be picked ??

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Agree totally, but from my perspective - do we really need this us vs them. They (tour players) already make IMO way to much money and to me this competition(?) is nothing more than an exclusive more money grab for everyone involved.

Brooks - he's on the LIV tour right? Speith - Naw! he just seems to be limping along and not really motivated. JT - That's a slap in the face to all those guys who played hard and made it to Atlanta with a couple who had multiple wins to boot...... Ricky - while i like the rocket man, see the above statement with reference to multiple winners... Burns - kind of in a fog about this pick, nothing really jumps out as to why and again see the above.

To me, it really looks like the combination of all that heat for the entire week, coupled with playing 3 weeks straight has just sucked the mental and physical strength of most of the players. VH however seems to be on another level and if the heat doesn't get to him today, it should be an somewhat easy Sunday finish for him.

For a follow up: Long putts with gripping the putter on the upper end is great, but not so good on short putts. For those I find that gripping half way down on the shaft is much better and allows the upper portion of the shaft/grip to not influence the stroke (back weighting). On fast(er) greens (ours run 11 to 12+) trying to hold the putter on the upper portion allows (at least for me) too much head weight for short(er) putts and I struggled with keep the head square while losing stroke speed. Left a lot just short and mostly pulled. Went to the half way down the shaft grip and everything fell into place. I also noticed that a slightly open stance was beneficial in a free release of the stroke.

Tried again, the pics look like they are viewable, at least on my screen.