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Shambles

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Posts posted by Shambles

  1. As I'm reading these threads I find myself "asking what do these people do?" and how old you are too...

     

    I'm 32 and I've been a high school Biology teacher for the last 9 years... I teach in the ghetto, and over the years I've had some great students and some terrible students... I've had students that have Super Bowl rings (JoLonn Dunbar - Saints), and students in jail for murder (one for killing a bum, and one for killing his girlfriends 9 month old baby for having an"accident" in the bed), and at least 2 that are dead. (1 in a drive by, 1 was suicide)... plus numerous other stories that I think are funny, but most people are disgusted...

     

    Overall I love my job, and although there are some rough kids (maybe 10%), the good kids by far make up for them... Watching them walk across the stage is a great feeling...

     

     

    So what do you do?

     

     

    As little as possible...:)

     

     

    Shambles

  2. ...

     

    I especially like the feature in lower weight shafts. It gives the impression of more weight under the hands which is often enough to trick those with a faster transition to keep on plane. They think the shaft is heavier then it is, because it feels so under the hands. It also works well for those players that also suddenly want to swing out of their shoes when you give them a light weight shaft.

     

    ...

     

     

     

    Nicklaus used to put lead tape under his grips and also added lead to the tips to make his clubs heavier but not lose the swing weight or lose the swing balance. He definitely believed in the heavier club. There were also other less watched pros who added weight for their own comfort. I myself used to like a heavier club to keep my swing calm.

     

     

    Shambles

  3. I counter weighted a set of Iron shafts in an attempt to save a very badly cut set by stabilizing them. The effect of counterweight is to bring the center of balance of the entire club up to a higher point on the shaft and I was only able to do so by adding 20+ grams per shaft to the butt end. At that point I had stabilized the set enough to know that that set would never serve and I disposed of the shafts as junk and rebuilt the irons with a new set of shafts.

     

    The tricky part of counter weighting is figuring out how much to add to have an effect that you can feel and see the difference of. Figuring out the amount of weight needed can be clumsy and tedious, and the results not necessarily worth the effort. I plan to never again resort to counter weights but plans can go awry at any time.

     

     

    Shambles

  4. To add:

     

    Tour pros and any top level player does not just send the ball way out there into the fairway. He looks for a favorable place for his second shot that will be comfortable and advantageous for a shot at the flag. This is one of the advantages of a long player. He does not need to shoot full every time even with a Driver in hand but is always shooting at a target.

     

     

    Shambles

  5. positionally weaker. My V started my golfing career at my right shoulder then went to my right collar bone, then my right ear, now it sometimes gets to my chin or even pointing at my left ear which is super weak.

     

    Ben Hogan over his career become a weaker and weaker golf grip to keep from snap hooking it, by weakening the grip with a one plane swing like hogan had it eliminated the left side of the course espesually when he pulled through impact with his left hand, he would bow out the left wrist to compensate the weak grip position for a draw.

     

    In short I need to take my super weak grip with the V pointed at my left ear or my chin and get it pointing at my right ear to my right collarbone again.

     

    The reason I said this is a hard change is that on the course when I know it is in a good position, it feel very awkward and like I am going to snap hook it off the planet, my old swing would snap it off the planet but the newer one produces a baby draw, I just have to learn to trust it somehow. I can still hit a baby cut with the strong grip as well on the range, it is a matter of taking it to the course and feeling the proper position and not second guessing it.

     

     

    I hear you talking. Been there. I confronted the matter by doing those grip changes on course and watched my score climb for a while. However I also watched the ball and repetition gave me the confidence to do those changes with a reasonable expectation of the results. These days I adjust my grip to help a shot I want to make, but not all that often. Mostly when my game is already gone, or when I desperately need.

     

    If you accept a high score for a while, you can learn more effectively in actual play. Your cap will probably go bad but nobody is paying you for that anyway and if someone tries to take advantage, the skill is still there. Just resting for the moment while you build additional tools. If the score truly belongs to you, you will be able to get it back when you are ready, with the caveat that it will be more securely yours because of the added tools.

     

     

    Shambles

  6. Jmiller,

     

    Just asking a clarification. When you say your left hand has gotten weaker, do you mean physically weaker or positionally weaker ? Frankly, I've never known anybody whose hand naturally got positionally weaker, but then it's not the kind of thing we would talk about over snacks and cold ones. Physically weaker I can sympathize with. I just got my left hand operated on and I can't grip for much weight these days, which I never expected to happen.

     

     

     

    Shambles

  7. And unless I'm mistaken none of us are Tiger or anyone else on tour - Often times they have lines of approach that are far different because they put more spin on the ball - at least than I do. That's the advantage to spin.

     

    I can't agree with the blanket statement that tells an amateur golfer to fire away at the pin all the time - you have to know your tendancies and play to the closest safest spot, occasionally that is the area around the pin and when it is we have a green light. Also one hopes that the spot gets closer to the pin the closer you get to the green but as we know that's not always the case. :angry:

     

     

    Obviously, if the shot is truly beyond you, it's always better to shoot for what you can handle. The question is, did you actually determine by trying on practice days, or did you just take the common wisdom as biblical. If you have a reliable carry and are aware of your roll out, the shot should be reasonably safe and you just need to identify the right landing area. Reading the green is not restricted to those guys who are already on the green. Further, one should also read the immediate surroundings of the green in case landing outside and bouncing or rolling in is a viable option.

     

    Limited skills does not excuse one from thinking his way through the round. It's all the more important to think your way through every stroke if you have very countable skills, and then work on expanding those skills at the range. Thus, when you look at a green that is within range, smart play would be to look for the safest way to send the ball towards the hole that is well within your skill level. The shot need not be fancy but it should be as well within as your skill level as you can find.

     

     

    Shambles

  8. Sorry to disagree with you here shambles but I'm going to - touring pros don't try to hole every shot and there's a reason why - Pins don't often or always reside in the middle of the green - they are normally tucked on one side or another, near some sort of trouble or another - Even at 100 yards it's pretty rare that I'll go directly at a pin - I'm normally looking to put it in a position to leave a makeable putt - I like 100 - great number for me as are 85 and 70 - those are my prefered numbers to lay up to.

     

    Trying to hole out from a hundred or more yards does not necessarily mean shooting directly at the pin. More often, it makes better sense to allow for the roll out and letting the ball go to the hole, thus your target landing is not the pin, but a part of the green that will let the ball go to the hole, or as close to it as possible. Check out Tiger's shot into the 18th green recently. That was not an accident, but it was an instance of correct thinking.

     

     

    Shambles

  9. I'll take exception to that " ...not trying to make the shot..." portion. To my mind every shot should be trying to hole it if the green can be reached, if trying to hole it won't be too risky of falling off the dance floor. Sometimes you get lucky and it really should be a lifetime habit to put yourself into a position to benefit from a bit of luck. :rolleyes:

     

    I would add that in trying to make the shot you also need to read the green as well as you can from a hundred yards away, which can be difficult. That's where course familiarity is an advantage, though the more obvious features such as slope, bumps and bulges ought to be visible.

     

     

    Shambles

  10. Just a question. Today, I played and drank zero beers. I've played rounds where I've drank a beer a hole. I try to restrict my drinking and playing to temps below 85 degrees. If its above I usually will stick with water. Sure exceptions are made, matter of fact when I go to Tampa in a few weeks I'll likely drink a few while I play with Rev. But that withstanding, my break even outside temp is 85. I wear pants a lot of times when I play and sweat more than most because of that, so I want to make sure I stay hydrated. I've found that there's no real way to say if I play better or worse. I've shot par drinking and I've blown past 90. But theres no regularity to my scores while drinking.

     

    So do you or don't you drink while playing and why or why not? Just curious if others observe the temperature rule. I'm sure we have some that don't drink at all, while on the course or off.

     

     

    I agree about staying off alcohol when the temps are high. It's a diuretic and slogging in the hot sun can be made more difficult with alcohol. These days I think even the sugar drinks are a bad idea. Water appears to be the best thing to take. I could probably enjoy a beer or two if the temps were in the 75's but the norm in my country is 80 and above and that makes alcohol a no no except in the clubhouse.

     

     

    Shambles

  11. I grew old with electric guitars blasting. It's nice now that I can hear birds and insects when I Golf. I only turn on my stereo when I'm driving long distance and alone. I still like the electric guitars blasting but I also very much like the silence.

     

    I think music and other noises are a bad habit that needs to be out of the fairways. There is already more than enough noise in our daily lives and we need a space to appreciate silence too.

     

     

    Shambles

  12. I like Staff bags and used them back when they were more available. With the giant heads on woods, and their covers these days, it's rather difficult to find the slot for a club. These days an 8" bag is about as large as you can have. That's probably because here in the Philippines, we get most of our bags from the States. There is no problem about the weight because we are required to hire a caddy per player regardless of walking or cart ride. The caddy acts as a diplomatic enforcer of club rules and is a witness if the club marshal's intervention is ever needed for player misbehavior. The caddy also picks up dropped or lost articles if they are seen along the way and hands them over to the flight ahead at the end of the round or earlier if the caddy from the flight ahead comes back looking for whatever was lost. Otherwise, just the norm of fixing divots and ball marks, cleaning the clubs and giving whatever information the player asks for.

     

     

    Shambles

  13. I played with a round rubber grip many years ago mostly because the putter grips available to me at that time were hard and slippery. I worked with it for a couple of months but, like Golfspy Dave, I found pointing the putter more mentally demanding and counter productive to a relaxed stroke. I subsequently installed a regular putter grip and scored it with a hacksaw blade so that I was better able to grip and point it.

     

     

    Shambles

  14. I wonder how fragile those heads are

     

    If anyone actually bagged one he would be faced with the very real possibility of having it chip or break against the other clubs. Some of those rocks look to lean in that direction.

     

    Having said that, I think it might be fun to give a couple to friends or a tourney as a booby prize or a tease, if they didn't cost all that much.

     

     

    Shambles

  15. Pulling a graphite shaft is no big deal if you have a spring loaded puller. That's because the moment the epoxy gives, the head goes out and you stop applying heat and just finish pulling the head off. Without the spring loaded shaft puller, you need experience and the knowledge of when to stop the heat and start pulling the head off. That can be acquired by watching someone else do the job and checking the amount of time he spends applying heat.

     

    Best solution is really to get yourself a spring loaded shaft puller. It's not a necessity but it makes pulling so much more simple.

     

     

    Shambles

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