DaveP043

I have no doubt that you use these properly, but to me they tempt less well-trained players to use them as a lever, pulling up the center of the pitch mark, instead of nudging the surrounding grass towards the center.

I know we're getting a little far from the original post about Trackman, but its an interesting contrast. On the golf course, where dispersion counts, its really rare for me to want to swing full out, max speed usually comes with wider dispersion. But much like any other swing change, speed training almost has to be done with no regard to the (short term) impacts on dispersion. When I've made swing changes before, I worried about making the change, swinging the "new" way successfully and consistently, with no real concern about where the balls were going. After a while, as I ingrained the (hopefully) improved swing mechanics, my dispersion improved as well. Working with the Stack System, I've increased my max effort speed by about 6 mph, swinging a stick without a clubface, not worrying a bit about where a ball might go. My "cruising" speed is up by about 3 mph, and it seems that my dispersion with that increased speed is actually improved a bit as well. It has felt that my mechanics had to be pretty solid in order to speed up my swing, otherwise the effort wasn't productive. In a perfect world, I'd be able to dedicate time both speed training and to ball striking, but my world is far from perfect.

The PRGR does give ball speed information when possible, and uses some type of algorithm to estimate carry distance. For the OPs use with his Rypstik training, it would certainly be adequate. I do see that Rypstik offers their own radar unit, and that it measures only clubhead speed. Its less expensive than the PRGR, but it can't measure ball speed as well as clubhead speed. But yes, if you're looking for complete data, neither unit does that.

As part of the STack System review we were provided with the PRGR radar unit, and it works great for non-impact swings. You may not want to spend additional money if you can get the swing speed data another way, but the PRGR is pretty good and relatively inexpensive.

I don't disagree with those who say its worse to leave unrepaired pitch marks than it is to leave un-replaced divots. But the flip side of this is that you ARE allowed to repair pitch marks and other damage on the Putting Green, while you are NOT allowed to replace a divot if it improves the Conditions Affecting the Stroke in other parts of the course. Doesn't that make it a worse offense to do something that a player isn't allowed to fix?

My wife has been playing for about 30 years. The took a few group lessons way back then, so she could "play a few rounds on vacations", and quickly got hooked. She's posted 132 scores for handicap this year, a few more than I have. She loves to compete, in club tournaments, interclub competitions, and local VSGA events. We play a match every time we play together, and over the last 3 years we're really close to even. Its rare that we take a vacation that doesn't include golf in some way. While this is great in may aspects, it also means that golf vatations are nearly double the price with both of us playing!

The warm-up video includes maybe a dozen or 15 dynamic stretches (I never counted, really) and takes about 15 minutes to watch. Some of that time is spent in explaining how to do each exercise, so you might do the whole routine in 10 minutes or so, or you might extend the repetitions or repeat the sequence if you want a more extensive warm-up. The "speed priming" sequences take 5 to 7 minutes, depending on whether you hit balls or not. As with all of the app's programs, these are designed with specific rest periods between swings.

No real surprises to me here, better golfers are (generally) separated from lesser players mostly in full-swing shots, and much closer with short-game and putting. The stats shown indicate this, strokes-gained stats make it even more clear. Longer and straighter drives gain strokes, better proximity from a given distance gain strokes, those two stats influence the putting stats. Its easier to make more 1-putts and fewer 3-putts if you're starting from nearer the hole.

Not an individual book, but a subscription to the Golfers Journal is a nice gift. Tom Found is one of the senior editors. 4 issues per year, no instruction, no equipment reviews, no pro tour stuff, relatively little advertising, just good writing and great photography.

You might want to read Clarification 1.2a/1 for some examples of what is, and is not, serious misconduct. Perhaps you don't know, but prior to 1960 you were not allowed to repair anything on the green, you were not allowed to lift your ball on the green unless it interfered with another player's stroke, and even then you were not allowed to clean it. That rule was changed because a number of factors led to consistently smoother greens all over the golfing world, and greens became a kind of special place, there was a (new) reasonable expectation of a smooth roll. You have special rights on the putting green, and those rights were expanded even further in 2019, mostly in response to continue improvements in conditioning and green speed. There hasn't been a similar change for fairways (General Area), and especially in bunkers, you really don't have a "right" to a good lie in the General Area, and REALLY don't have a right to a good lie in a bunker. Beyond those "reasonable expectations", how would you address some of these "fairness" issues? Exactly what type of lie gets you free relief, and what type of lie must you play as it is? How do you tell a footprint from a furrow left by the raking machine, or a well-intentioned but careless rake job? How do you tell when a divot has healed well enough to no longer merit relief? Do you propose to allow preferred lies in all fairways, and allow rake and place in the bunkers all the time? I challenge you to try to write an effective and enforceable rule that stops short of full time relief. I don't think these are simple things at all, as you may have guessed. The "simple" solution is the way it is now, play the course as you find it, and play your ball as it lies, with the most limited exceptions feasible.

We've certainly come a long way from the original topic. I think the Rules are trying to be equitable, as opposed to fair. They try to treat similar situations similarly. Its not "fair" for a ball struck down the middle to bounce into a bunker, yet it happens. Its not fair for a ball hit deep into the woods to bounce into the fairway. In neither case do you get what you "deserve" you don't get a "fair" result. Golf isn't fair, and isn't intended to be. Hitting a fairway, in general, offers a better lie and a less obstructed line for the following shot than a ball off the fairway. I'd much rather be in a divot, or an uneven lie, in the fairway than in long grass or in the middle of the woods. I can accept that I play at a mid-level private club, my conditions are better than many public-course players, and much worse than the top-line private clubs. I can accept that I have to find my own ball without help from a gallery, that I'm more likely to end up in an unrepaired divot than a top-level pro, that's just life. If I want a perfect lie, I can go to an indoor sim-golf facility. I'll stick with the variability and occasional unfairness of real golf.

I've found that in most golf, the only one who really cares about how you play is you. The others will probably care that you're a nice guy, you're considerate of other players, that you play at a decent pace. And a league like that will help you make friends, and help you to become a better player. Join in, have fun!

Sasho has a video that addresses this a bit, I think its the one about the "plateau" effect. He suggests that each player has a personal max, @hckymeyer has suggested a few of the factors. I'm 67 years old, my personal max isn't going to be 120 mph, but it might be 100 or a bit more. To me, the instant feedback helps you to understand what a "fast" swing feels like, and you can learn what it takes to achieve that fast feel. I've finished my 18th session, and just this morning finished the progress check. I've gained something like 3 mph at just about every swing weight for full-effort swings, which are about 3 mph slower than my max-effort swings. Not too bad, I think, and not life-changing either, but it is definite progress. The app suggests a specific program next, which I'll try to begin in just a few days. The app also lets you preview the next session, and this appears to be structured differently from the Foundations sessions. Those typically began with heavier weights, worked to lower weights, and finished with the 195g swings. The first Full Speed Spectrum workout will be 195-full, 145-full, 145-max, and 195-max. I'm sure there's serious research behind this, its intriguing to see how it all fits together.

Rule 2.2c helps here, when a ball is touching both the General Area and one of the 4 specific areas (Putting Green, Teeing Area, Penalty Area, Bunker), the ball is in the specific area.

For the first bit, 8.1d, you did what I've done, and what many others have done, find a specific part of a rule that seems to back up my initial opinion, and neglect to read the remainder of that same rule. For 8.3, that addresses a players intentional actions to impact a specific other player's specific shot. Its not a scattershot prohibition against taking those actions. Also, if you read the things that are not allowed (8.3 references the list in 8.1), it says the player is NOT allowed to do some things, but makes no requirement to CORRECT anything he's done before moving on. Also note that the Player (the guy who made the footprint) is the one who might be penalized under this rule, but the rule doesn't do anything to help the guy whose ball found the footprint. This is consistent when another guy plays your ball, your ball is Lost if you can't become certain that's what happened within 3 minutes of search time. The 'innocent" guy still has no way to fix the problem. That leaves Rule 1.2. I've read all of Rule 1.2, and I simply don't accept that NOT raking footprints constitutes "serious misconduct", which is defined in the rule as "player behaviour that is so far removed from what is expected in golf that the most severe sanction of removing a player from the competition is justified." Remember that the only potential penalty for Serious Misconduct is DQ, nobody will ever be DQ for failing to rake a bunker. I'm happy to refer to Rule 1, in the Purpose Statement it says: "Play the course as you find it and play the ball as it lies." And like you, I enjoy these discussions. Like you, I played for decades, but only began to truly study the Rules after the 2019 edition came out. Since then I've attended the USGA 3-day Rules Workshop 3 times (once was the virtual version), and taken the 100-question exam, scoring in the Expert range each time. Still I have tons to learn, and working through these discussions is a great way to continue my education.