NotQuite70s

If that loose chrome goes all the way to the tip, that clubhead might eventually go flying. Of course it will happen when you are pitching over a pond.

So, it appears that the PGA pros on YouTube have some useful drills in their repertoire. The trick for the viewer is to pick out of the haystack those that will be helpful for their game.

There is no doubt that I am better at golf due to youtube. Danny Maude fixed my swing enough to eliminate my slice. To be fair, some others may have helped too. I think I looked at Chris Ryan back then too. Mark Crossfield provides the most relevant instruction to me currently. Iron strike is much improved and dispersion is narrowing. Once hopeless fairway woods are now pretty solid. I have had limited instruction from PGA pros. What I had did not induce me to buy more. As I see it, there are dozens of nuances to the golf swing to be learned: grip, stance, ball position, swing path, sequencing, face control, release........You might get one of these knocked out per lesson. Hopefully, one experiences no back-sliding. One could spend a small fortune to get one-on-one pro guidance to learn all the pieces. Maybe that's okay if you have the budget and that is an effective way for you to learn. I am much more inclined to research it and apply the learnings myself. Lessons learned from one's own experiences are likely more durable. Beyond getting the full swing somewhat squared away, I have picked up many useful nuggets on short game and putting. All that said, I am mindful of what Bobby Clampett wrote in his book "The Impact Zone". He claimed that his pro career was cut short when he developed "rabbit ears". Apparently pros are vulnerable to copying their peers and listening to the others' coaches on the practice tee. Clampett lost his way by diluting the swing keys he had ingrained with what his "rabbit ears" picked up. I think one should not take input from so many instructors that the the message gets confused.

Ben Hogan was apparently so-so at putting. If you are good enough tee to green (and have Scottie's short game skills) that can get it done. Since he brought on a putting coach, maybe even that aspect of his game will improve and he can further distance himself from the pack.

Yes, hitting a ball in the same spot time after time will have an adverse effect. I use a Mevo launch monitor and the radar likes a metallic dot on the ball pointing downrange. After hitting balls about 50-100 times on the spot opposite that dot, they will show a visible crack. Before the crack becomes visible in the cover, they can start to sound strange and often show poor results on the Mevo. I hit mostly 6 irons into the net with swing speed at 87 mph or so.

Consider the course first. Old courses with nothing else inside the property perimeter are usually pretty walkable. Courses that wind through a housing development can be a pain with quarter mile hikes green to next tee in several places. Hills will wear you out, but then again, part of this is about getting some exercise, right? If you are carrying, ponder if you really need 14 clubs. Is your game really better for carrying a lob wedge? (I've heard that most amateurs should avoid it.) Do you really need both a 3 and a 5 wood, etc.? Graphite shafted irons might save you a pound per set if you get along well with them. I usually go with 12 clubs. Studies have shown that using a push cart burns more calories than carrying. Presumably, that is because you are moving more weight around with the cart. I've not used a cart lately so cannot say if the burden of the bag is worse than the energy expenditure of a cart (plus everything you might load on that cart that you would not carry). I think walking makes it easier to have the right club at hand for greenside chips and pitches. It can be hard to tell from the cart path which club would be best for the lie, carry distance, slopes, etc. and most won't bring along 3 or 4 choices. Plus you are not likely to leave your trusty wedge or bump and run club behind when your bag is right there. (I see so many iron sets on E-bay with a 7 or 8 iron missing, likely left by a green somewhere.) Walking might be good for your game. Jack Nicklaus said that he owed his distance advantage to strong legs so he always walked (and participated in a number of other sports). Ball hawking is best done on foot but can be too productive to keep bag weight down by the time you reach the last few holes. Just walking the edges can be productive. If you are reluctant to add much weight, keep just the pristine Pro-V1s and leave the rest.

I just started reading Ben Hogan's book "Power Golf". In the introduction (p xiii), he discusses the difference between pros and amateurs thus: "The way most golf courses are trapped the 85-90 golfers have to shoot around a bunker from the tee. We don't give the ordinary bunker a thought because we can drive over most of them with no bother at all." So the technology of the day - this book has a copyright date of 1948 - had already rendered the strategic intent of the course design obsolete. It's no good rolling back to 1948: we have to go all the way back to gutta percha balls if the RBs are to be satisfied. Or maybe they think the feathery is the only proper ball to maintain the integrity of the game. Any folks wanting to experiment with a really rolled back ball can buy gutties here: https://www.mcintyregolf.com/products/the-park-line-cut-gutta-percha-replica-golf-ball At the listed price, expect the 3-minute lost ball rule to be routinely ignored.

Those guys who laid up short of the fairway bunker largely got a nice fairway lie. Those who went for the green got all kinds of crap lies - bunkers, deep rough, in the trees, etc. Which is the more impressive skill, hitting a routine wedge close from the fairway or improvising for up and down from an unpredictable lie nearer the green? Supposedly, Viktor Hovland won the big money last fall because he had so improved his skill in the latter. Which is better for the fans, for the game? I for one am more impressed with the guy who can judge a chip from gnarly rough so well as to get to gimme range. Even I as an 11 handicap can stick a wedge from the fairway (now and then). If you are going to be long, you had better put in the time to be good playing out of all sorts of lies. There are plenty of would-be pro bombers who cannot score despite their length. Maybe the long driver need not be as good hitting long accurate approach shots, but wider dispersion puts pressure on other parts of the game. Its not better or worse, just different.

There is a lot of questioning here of the ruling bodies’ motives for pushing through an unpopular change. I think they are concerned about golf’s image with the non-golfing public. Golf courses use a lot of valuable real estate, consume a lot of water for irrigation, are likely responsible for fertilizer run-off, etc. The RB’s need some positive PR to counteract when an Augusta buys adjacent land to extend a hole or otherwise has off-course impacts. In an era of sustainability concerns and ESG investing, it seems every entity feels they need to show they are on board. It seems not to matter much if the sustainability moves are substantive, they feel that they need the PR credits to show that they are on board with what society claims currently to value. In the business I was in (now retired) there was a concept of “social license to operate”. One had to show that they were responsive to community concerns or life would become difficult, so there was a lot of posturing and sucking up. I suspect that is what is behind the ball roll-back rather than any real too much distance issue. Some here question if the manufacturers will offer non-conforming balls after the rollback effective date. I suspect some will. Bear in mind that development of the pre-2028 ball will be a sunk cost. They don’t have to do R&D or tool up to make a post-2028 non-conforming ball. Bearing the costs of developing a non-conforming ball now would be a substantial business risk and maybe an image problem, so they don’t do it. If old tech balls are outselling the new balls as the crossover date approaches, are they really going to abandon that line? Titleist might. OEM’s with smaller market share might seize the opportunity to expand their sales. That could be the DTC brands or the likes of Srixon. I intend to play non-conforming balls post-2030 as long as my supply holds out. I’ll be in my 70’s and trying to hang on to every yard possible. I don’t know yet how much I will stock up prior. There’s a good chance I will be hitting them with irons not in compliance with the groove rule as well.