alfriday101

I did a putter fitting at club Champion on August 7th. The results were eye opening. I went in expecting to get the LAB Mez1 Max based on trying the putter a few weeks earlier at the PGA Super Store and Second Swing. I hit 10 putts with my putter. My set up was good and my old putter length was good. My face angle was "good" according to the computer at .1 degree open. We quickly determined that my old putter was too heavy. The surprise was that the data said I really needed 30 to 40 degrees of toe hang and a higher loft. I was skeptical as I have played mostly face balanced putters for years. The fitter pulled out a couple of different putters with more toe hang and higher loft. A bit of tweaking and boom, I found a putter that worked. I could feel the putter toe swing through when putting in the shop, but I didn't think it would show up on the course when I wasn't paying close attention to the feel of the stroke on the course. The extra loft really helped the ball to roll better. I ended up with the Odyssey White Hot Versa One--about as far away from a Mez1 Max as you can get. (An aside: One of my golfing buddies did a fitting a few days later. He went from a Scotty Cameron to a Mez1 Max, long putter. He's still waiting on delivery) My new putter showed up last Monday. I have played a few rounds with it now. It only took about 9 holes to figure out ball position and aim. It's almost as if I am confident in hitting my line for the first time in years. The roll will take a bit longer to adjust to. Pure roll tends to roll out more, but it holds the line better on our suboptimal greens. I'm excited about putting for the first time in years. I was a streaky putter. I could have really good stretches, but then revert back to below average. My base level with the new putter is already much higher than with the old. Sometimes it is the arrow. I highly recommend getting a putter fitting. I wish I had done it years ago.

Keep in mind that luggage does get delayed or lost sometimes. When I travel for golf, I pack some essentials in a carry on. One pair of golf shoes, a couple of changes of clothes, rain top and pants, layers for different weather conditions, gloves, etc. Enough to get by for a couple of days if the golf bag or suitcase doesn't show up. Last time I went to Oregon, I shipped my clubs so I didn't have to worry. I received word they were at the course a day before I left for the airport. Last time I went to Scotland, my clubs weren't pick up by the shipping company and I had to check my clubs. My clubs arrived, but one member of our party had his delayed for three days. He used rental clubs, which were fine. But he had to buy or borrow all the other stuff. It's easier to just plan ahead and fill up a carry on.

I dashed to catch the Metro and barely made it onto a crowed car. I grabbed the upright bar and looked around. I made eye contact with a very attractive, young, Parisian woman, who---offered me her seat. Sigh.

We call it "self basting" or "making our own gravy." I sweat quit a bit, but it's nothing compared to one of my regular playing partners. On the first tee, he's been known to say "It's a two or three shirt day." Some tricks we've learned. 1. Baseball style hats are the worst. They are hot and they trap the sweat so it can't evaporate. Wear a visor or well ventilated sun hat. 2. Wear a bandana rolled up to make a head band under your hat. When it gets soaked, wring it out. All the sweat you wring out is sweat that would otherwise run down your back. Use two and alternate one on your head and one airing out. 3. Carry body wipes. I use Hyper Go Full Body Wipes. They are 12x12 inches and big enough to wipe your head and neck, arms, and your pits with one towel. They cool you down as well. They make you smell better so you're not as self conscious going Ito the clubhouse at the turn. 4. My playing partner will sometimes tuck a small, kitchen hand towel, half in and half out, in his belt at his lower back. The towel basically rest up against his lower back. He'll let his shirt hang loose over the towel. It absorbs a lot of the sweat coming down his back that would other wise soak his shorts. If the towel gets soaked, he'll wring it out and flip the towel so the part that was outside is on the inside to absorb his run-off. 5. Have a designated sweat towel. Wipe off excess run-off as you go.

Find it helpful to set some expectations with the caddy at the start of the round. I tell them my handicap, how far I hit my driver, 8 iron and full swing wedges. (Be realistic). It really helps with club selection and lines earlier in the round. I tell the caddy my goals for the day. Something like: "I am here to have fun and to experience and enjoy the course. Score is secondary. I hope that how I play will not impact that. If I play well, great. If I have an off day, I still want to have fun. If I have a really bad hole, I'll pick up and move on to the next hole." Those are my goals on a new course. YMMV. Some fun questions include, Who's the best golfer you've caddied for? I've had caddies that carried for Jack Nicklaus, Rory, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino. Lots of fun stories. I also ask them to describe the worst golfer they have carried for. Some of the tales are hair raising. Like the guy who shot 130 at the Old Course and hit 3 tee balls into the Old Course Hotel and blamed the caddie for giving him the wrong line. If you like the caddy, it is worth while to have the same one all three days. I had the same caddy for 10 rounds at Bandon. By the second day, he would just hand me a club and say "Hit this." Made the game pretty easy one he knew my play. Buy your caddy a drink or sandwich at the turn.

I highly recommend Evidence Based Golf by Bob Christina, PHD and Eric Alpenfels. Subtitled "Improve Your Game Using Scientific Recommendations that Really Work. It fits in nicely with The Practice Manual. Christina is an expert in learning and performance of movement sports. Alpenfels is a master teacher and coaching golf pro at the Pinehurst Academy. Together, they look at ways golfers can improve their games and examine which approaches, such as drills, work best for most golfers. It is not a typical instruction manual, in that it doesn't discuss swing positions or specific mechanics. The book provides results from tests done at the Pinehurst Academy. For example, Chapter 6 looks at 9 different drills commonly recommended by teaching pros and used by golfers to improve distance. 117 golfers were randomly assigned to do one of the drills, 13 per group. Each group is pretested, does the drill, and are then post tested to see improvement. The drills: 1. Clip the tee, 2. Feet together, 3.Swing the Club Head, 4. Short Finish, 5. Left Foot Up, 6.Miss the head Cover, 7. Weighted Club Head, 8.Swing the Handle and 9.Toe Up. (Each Drill is descried well. The results are compared and the most effective drills are ranked. Spoiler alert, Clip the Tee and Feet Together were best for improving carry distance. They compare drills for improving impact position, enhancing shoulder turn, correcting a slice, sand shots, chipping drills, putting drills and others areas of the game. Learning which drills are most effective can really save time and effort in improving your game. I used to practice putting with a chalk line. After reading the book, I changed to practicing with a string line above the ball and saw an immediate improvement in my short putting. Part 6 of the book is "Get the Most Out of Your Practice." This section applies a lot of the concepts from The Practice Manual into practical advice on how to do almost any drill or how to maximize the effectiveness of training aids. I wish all teaching pros would read this section and pass the information onto their students. A lot less time would get wasted on the practice range. The sections talks about approaches that maximize learning/retention of the new skill and how to practice so that the skill transfers to the course. Good stuff.

I was an attorney in my earlier life. One of my favorites: Do you know what you call 25 lawyers sky diving? Skeet.

my traditional irons were fitted one inch long. When I ordered the cobras, I ordered them in standard length, which for me was equal in length to my 8 iron in the set I was replacing. Wishon recommends 8 iron length and I feel a bit more comfortable with the 8 iron length especially when I have a single length wedge in hand. As for woods and hybrids, my ball striking has gotten better overall. Probably because I spend less time hitting irons on the range—they are all the same length, so no real reason to worry about short iron, mid-iron and Long iron practice. I devote more time on the range to the other clubs. I have single length hybrids, but I ordered them 3/4 of an inch long, so not the same length as the irons, but shorter than a standard hybrid. Gaps work out for me. An additional note: I don’t have a 5 iron. When getting fit, the 5 and 4 iron were only a few yards apart, so skipped getting a 5. Works for me. YMMV.

Welcome Bunkerking. Hope you enjoy the forums. I’m 60 miles east of Omaha in Atlantic, Iowa. Good to have you on board.

I am "of a certain age" where I will not be sprinting on the track anytime soon. But, I read through other articles in the series posted above and found this: "Sprints It is unlikely that an older individual will be able to sprint safely without gradually building up a solid base of strength, mobility, and lower speed running first but this doesn’t mean that “sprints” can’t be performed on stationary bikes, cross trainers, and other cardio equipment of this nature." I went for a bike ride today and did some sprints and lived to tell the tale.

It takes me 10 minutes to walk to my club and 30 minutes to get home. The difference is staggering.

Royal Dornoch. But with a proviso; provided that my friends were part of the equation. I think the whom would be more important than the where. I would rather play a round at my local club with friends than a solo round or round with strangers. But if the friends could go, we would be headed for Scotland. Some of the most fun rounds I've had were at Dornoch. There is something magical about the place. The last time I was there, we played 18 in the morning and the a 2 vs. 2 best shot in the afternoon. The beer shack on the course was closed, so one of the caddies called his girl friend who brought down 18 Tennants and we all, caddies included, finished them off. Thus, the Tennants Cup was born. Great golf and great fun.

My set up has been majorly influenced by one pro. I play single length irons. The pro is Bryson. The irony is that I really don't like him. But I love my single length irons. Let me explain. I tried single length irons years before I had ever heard of Bryson. I ordered a set from 1irongolf. While I liked the single length concept, I couldn't get used to the clunky, super game improvement heads. I sent the set back at the end of the 30 day trial period. But, I said that if a company ever came out with more of a player's set of single lengths, I would try them. Fast forward a couple of years and Bryson comes on the scene. Cobra, Sterling and Edel come out with single length sets. I played the Cobra F7s for a couple of years (the were great) and then moved to the Edel single length set (even better). If Bryson hadn't succeeded, I doubt there would be a variety of single length sets available today. So thank you Bryson, but I still won't cheer for you.

I used to have the same problem. I'm 64, soon to be 65, years old. To counteract it, I make sure to stay hydrated and I eat nuts, peanut butter sandwiches and bananas on the course. High protein/good fats foods. That helps to an extent. But what really works for me is to stretch and to do controlled breathing exercises during the round. When I start to get tired, I find my shoulders start to round, I bend more forward from the waist, my hear droops so I spend more time looking at the ground than the horizon, etc.. Basically, the energy channels in my body get clogged. I have a number of standing stretches that I can do while playing that help my posture. I do overhead reaches, side stretches, chest openers, prisoner stretch, neck bends and others. Any stretch to lengthen and open the body. I stretch before the round, but tighten up as I play. There is a lot of down time playing, so it's easy to do a stretch here and there. It's not like I do a full yoga routine between holes or nines. For me, it's best to start stretching early in the round and stay stretched out rather than waiting until I notice an issue. The breathing part helps a great deal. I make sure I'm sitting, standing or walking fully up right, do three quick breaths in and then one long breath out for 8 to 10 counts. Three reps and I'm good to go. I also make sure to keep my head back and eyes on the horizon or at least a distant point. I like to pause and just take in the course, the sky, the clouds, a tree in the distance and appreciate the fact I'm out playing golf with good friends. I find it energizing.