revkev

In my opinion it is far better to be on the green than off - higher percentage of getting up and down from on the green almost no matter the distance (yes of course there are exceptions this is the general rule.) And I'm a reasonable chipper - extra types of grasses to handle on a hole create extra issues I think.

We've got to get us Florida guys together 3jack - there are several of us floating a round - I see a day in the woods coming - I typically have Friday's off - lets try and find one before the rates go up! Shot 71 in league yesterday afternoon - however the course was so wet that it was lift clean and place in the fairway which was very good seeing as though I hit 12 of them. I feel fully back from the pneumonia - my irons were going their normal distances (not the driver because it was so wet but it was going plenty far enough with that new xcaliber shaft in it and straight as an arrow - can't wait until it dries out a bit and I can get a real sense of how far I hit it - I was at the top end of my normal distance on track man after I picked it up.) I have pretty serious goals for this season - they got side tracked when I got sick but the main one winning the senior division in the St. Pete City Am - is still there to be had - that's in October. So the tale of the tape 12/14 fairways 14 GRI's 3/4 up and downs 31 putts (1 3 putt) 3 birdies, 2 bogeys, 13 pars Ironically I had 6 txts as I was waiting on the 8th tee because a parishioner was having a baby - several of those had to be followed up on to get my deaconess to the hospital - I wasn't ready to play at all and seriously chunked my shot on that hole - only hit it 50 yards on a 180 yard par 3 - had it been dry I would have gone into a hazzard but was saved by the wet turf - hit a 9 iron to 10 feet and lipped out the putt bogey on that hole never hurts. You can hit some squirrely shots and still break par.

Where do you live 3Jack and where was the qualifier? It was absolutely gorgeous over in St Pete - I tee'd off at 3:30 and it was only 82 with a nice breeze. It was 76 when we finished at 7. A bit breezy but other that a perfect afternoon for golf in Florida this time of year. So happy to have moved on to the senior category and to be able to play courses at under 6,500 for offical Florida Golf Association events - would hate to have to be back at 6,800, 6,900 like you would be - been there, done with that.

I have to ask, "Why would it be intimidating to play with a golf coach?" You're a 5 - you shouldn't really be intimidated playing with anyone. I played with a local sports show host yesterday - I ran the risk of doing something that might make it to the radio - I was hoping it would be something good.

Shot 74 in league tonight 38-36 - 2 birdies, 30 putts, 9 greens in regulation - only missed 2 fairways and both of those were in the first cut so I was very accurate off the tee. Was a bit longer than I've been too, hit one 255 and a couple of others over 240 which means my strength is really coming back - didn't get tired at the end of the round like I have been and have lots of energy right now even - didn't hurt that it was cloudy and windy the entire round - I doubt it was much above 80 by the time we finished - that's amazing in Florida in late July. I'm feeling like I'm on the verge of playing really good golf.

I liked to know if there is a fix for getting stuck inside as well - I think that's the better players error - generally when I have that problem, I have that problem, it doesn't pop up suddenly out of no where. Back to Dru's post - mental state is a huge deal for golf - there are lots of factors that can and do impact how we play. Sounds like you've found some good coping skills.

Man if I had the answer to that question JMiller I'd be rich. For those of us who work day jobs I think that stress of life plays a huge factor in how we play. Are we able to forget about what happened at work or is it sitting there just beneath the surface? If you do anyting physcial (obviously my job isn't physical but for me it could be lifting my daughter wrong) sometimes that tweak is just enough to through the tempo/timing of the swing off. The bigger thing though seems to be putting - when that's on the score comes regardless of how well I hit the ball - at least at the level I'm at - I don't hit it far enough to get into that much trouble there. Honestly my entire game is designed to allow my putting to shine - so long as it does or at least semi-does - I'm fine - when it goes south and sometimes it does and who knows why - well then it's all over.

Did you really mean 6 birdies in the first 6 holes? 6 straight birdies? Or was it 6 birdies on the front nine? That's a lot of birdies regarldless - the most I've ever had in a row is 3. I had 2 in a row on Friday, a par and then 2 more in a row. And I had a 10 footer for bridie on that par in the middle - the greens were horrible I had a chip in but no one in our group came close to making a putt outside of 5 feet - I mean these things were aweful. It's too bad this course normally has great greens but it got flooded from tropical storm Debbie. They had to aerate after that - first time I've seen a course aerated down here in the month of July.

Sounds like a great day on the course today!

Played Worldwoods today with fellow Golf Spy DogPro - shot 37-34 71 - I'm still weak from the pneumonia - hit a couple of really curious shots that lead to a couple of bogeys but obviously I hit some really good approach shots and had a nice chip in to be one under. I made 5 birdies, hit 13 greens in regulation - it's not an easy course by any stretch but I made it seemt hat way so I'm very happy. One of the guys that we were paired with was a bomber - he had an eagle and just missed a second one - He shot 73. His partner told us he hits it 300 but everyone we measured was 285 - of course that same partner thought I was hitting it 250 and everyone we measured was 235 (exactly how far I thought they were.) It's so wet here that this is basically carry with 10 yards of roll. It's brutal on the ego but that self same eagle feels pretty good because of the score and the fact that I still beat a guy who was hitting it 40 and 50 yards past me.

Chalk it up to experience JBones - I had caught that you were in a qualifier but not what the qualifier was for. I'm going to assume the state amateur. My experience has been that breaking 80 gives you a shot at qualifying in these things. The qualifying course always plays tougher than the field expects, there are always lots of players that don't belong that slow play down and they make it tough on everyone. I shot 77 today but again felt better - stronger than I have since I before I got sick. It's wierd because I shot 76 last week but didn't feel nearly as strong - of course I holed more putts last week and that was the difference - I hit it better today. Didn't putt poorly but just didn't make a single putt outside of 6 feet. 10 fairways (11 is my normal) 9 greens (spot on) 32 putts (2 over my normal which was why I was 2 over my par of 75) 4/8 up and downs - 1 hole I drove it in a mess and had an approach of 125 for my 3rd shot - hit a nice 9 iron to 15 feet and burned the edge for par. I hit 4 drives on the back side and 3 of them looked like I was the one hitting them!!!!! Nice medium high baby draws right where I wanted them. Can't wait for worldwoods on friday.

My favorite strategy RR - I'm guessing that our grasses are similar to yours and it's just tough to get it close to front pins - of course it's almost always wet here regardless of what the super does so you are rarely able to bounce it on. I very quickly figured out that the best strategy is to leave something full - somewhere between 100 and 120 is ideal to attack front pins - I don't prefer the 70 of my lob wedge because I don't like to hit it full and it also brings in the possibility of hitting it too far and having the part shot to face. It does often lead to the ridiculous strategy of me hitting 3 hybrid or 3 wood off the tee and a longer opponent hitting driver - 6 years of winning more skins and having a lower handicap index and many of them still haven't figured out that I do this when the pin is up front - I keep very quiet about it. Great job

Frankly it's the advantage of any player with half a brain - I may not be the longest but if the rough is up I can hit it on the green pretty consistently from the fairway at 200 and not so consistently from the rough at 170. Tour pros are another matter - sometimes they will take postion and angle over fairway - if the rough is not up I will do the same - may be far better to be in the so called rough with a good angle to the pin than the fairway on the other side or worse yet in the fairway in a spot that took on the pond.

"Club up, choke down, and make a nice controlled swing" could work all the way round the course!!!!!!!

Good luck today JBones I was supposed to be playing in my league's midseason tournament but the guy that I got to fill in for me is in the hospital - this is the 5th time that I've missed this tournament because of some sort of parish event - wedding - funeral - now this - in the past 6 years - I think I'll just give up on entering it. The good news is that while I'm working to be ready for tonight and tomorrow I'm inside watching the Open rather than outside in what will be a well over 100 degree heat index by noon - I don't really know that I'm ready to be out in that yet so this could be a blessing in disguise.

Amen - and by the way I used to have that shot - now it's more like 175 out and 75 left when I get the hooks going - older but wiser I think.

Agreed with jmiller and will add the following advice. When the ball is below the feet think of sitting on a bar stool to get enough knee flex. If it's pronounced you really have to stay down on the ball and not try and get too much out of it. I also think it's very important to find a spot behind or in front of the ball that is as similar to the stance/lie you'll face and take a number of practice swings to see where the club will contact the ground - that will help you play the ball in the proper spot in your stance and to choke up enough when the ball is above your feet. You want to be comfortable before hitting the shot so that you don't have to think about what you're doing while you're hitting it - I had three terrible ball below the feet lies on Tuesday - I was 2/3 in terms of executing good shots - the other one was complicated by the fact that I was in thick, gnarly rough - at least I got the ball across the hazzard that I had to cross but I didn't get it anywhere near the green - the 2 1/2 inch bermuda just grapped my club and twisted it.

Alright I managed to play 18 today for the first time in over a month. I was very shaky at first but fought my way through 6 at 3 over and then stuff started to kick in and I was even the rest of the way - shot 75 - not bad at all - hit some good shots, got my golf legs under me but did run out of steam the last few holes. I did chip and putt pretty well which is not surprising given that I've had time to practice those parts of the game - no 3 putts, really no missed putts inside of my 50/50 point - made a nice birdie putt of about 15 feet on the back and had lots of other good looks for birdie there that burned the edges. I'm happy, happy to have played golf, happy that I showed signs of playing good golf. Played with three great guys including a guy who's always neck and neck with me for low handicap in the league. He shot 76 so I nipped him. I had to laugh because we don't play a lot and have never really talked about equipment - he works at the course and got a new Rocket blz driver. I asked him if it was the stock shaft and he said, "Are you kidding. Stock shafts are for chumps. This one is an aldila that the pro fit me for and then helped me install. It's 44 and a half inches." I told him about this sight and hopefully he'll join the fun.

JMiller now I understand why you were disagreeing with us about length of a round - no doubt that when you're playing a course that tough the rounds will take longer. I don't know that I would enjoy it all the time though - I really don't - my ideal is course rating right around 72 and slope around 130 - Break 75 and it's a nice round. I've certainly played courses with ratings of 75 and slopes over 140 and had some reasonably good scores on them (and some train wrecks). Since it's been in the news lately Blackwolf run comes to mind - the River Course is 76 152 from the tips (and it's not even 7,000 yards long). The first time I played it I shot 83 and it felt like a billion - it wasn't even that bad a round - my low of 73 there would be like shooting a 68 and the course that I'll play tomorrow - hard to imagine. Speaking of tomorrow I'm really hoping the weather holds - I haven't played 18 in over a month - it's been 7 years since that's happened to me. :(

JMiller now I understand why you were disagreeing with us about length of a round - no doubt that when you're playing a course that tough the rounds will take longer. I don't know that I would enjoy it all the time though - I really don't - my ideal is course rating right around 72 and slope around 130 - Break 75 and it's a nice round. I've certainly played courses with ratings of 75 and slopes over 140 and had some reasonably good scores on them (and some train wrecks). Since it's been in the news lately Blackwolf run comes to mind - the River Course is 76 152 from the tips (and it's not even 7,000 yards long). The first time I played it I shot 83 and it felt like a billion - it wasn't even that bad a round - my low of 73 there would be like shooting a 68 and the course that I'll play tomorrow - hard to imagine. Speaking of tomorrow I'm really hoping the weather holds - I haven't played 18 in over a month - it's been 7 years since that's happened to me. :(

You guys are killing me! I'd just like to play right now - heck I'd just like to get on a range and hit a few - got rained out last Tuesday and Friday, went to practice yesterday, got my clubs out of the trunk and it started raining. Went to work at 7:30 and have to work until 8:30 tonight so decided I would take a couple of hours off to practice today and it's raining. I'm supposed to play tomorrow afternoon - guess what the forecast is calling for? I really feel for the guys who are going to get me as their A player on Saturday - it could easily have been 5 weeks since I played 18 holes by then.

Thanks James - I try to keep that right hand as loose as possible - perhaps I think it's loose and it's not - I will be watching for that. My bad shots are either blocks or hooks - I have no doubt that the right hand is the culprit in the blocks - I believe that my hips are the culprits with the hooks.

I think that might be the case JMiller - my normal shot is a fairly high draw (2 or 3 yarder). I do like to feel that right hand releasing through the ball and have to be very careful to make sure that I'm griping it lightly with my right hand or I leave the ball a bit right (to tight a grip and the release is late.) Interestingly I don't manipulate the club with my hands to hit a fade - I set the club open a bit left of target and then set my stance for the starter line - I have to really focus on pulling the club through with my left hand and letting the open clubface hit the ball high or else I'll get a double cross. Experience has taught me that when I'm trying to hit a fade or a slice it's a block fade or slice and so I have to aim a bit further left. I hit a really nice one on Tuesday with my five hybrid - freaked the guy out who I was playing with because I originally said that I would hit an 8 iron over the tree and then play from 175 into the green - he walked to his ball and on second look I released that I could get my 5 hybrid over the left side of the tree and cut it back thereby getting it down inside of 130 - creamed it and since I hit it so high out of the rough down wind I got it to the 100. Set up a really nice blocked short sided wedge into the trap. I can draw/hook anything about any amount that you'd want either by manipulating the club with my hands or the more traditional way aligning my feet right and closing the clubface - I generally go the hands route because it's so natural for me. I played baseball for so long and was a pitcher up through High School and a catcher as well (into college.) So I just see the ball going right to left and understand the spin axis needed to make that happen really well. (A curve, slider, cut fastball from a right handed pitcher)

I feel your pain RR - I'm 55 - I can't get out of the car and walk to the first tee cold anymore unless I want to risk missing a month of golf. Oh well at least we're still playing and at times playing rather well.

I've got them too but I also have a puzzler that perhaps someone can help me with - maybe even the boss man James. I get bruising on the pointer finer on my right hand - the better I'm striking the ball the more pronounced the bruising. I use a very straight forward Vardon grip that's a shade on the strong side of neutral. Any thoughts on why this would be? Like I said the better I'm hitting it the more pronounced the bruising. Oh yeah I'm a right handed golfer so the right hand is my bottom hand.