Golf-Paralysis of analysis…and what to do about it
Ralph Guldahl was on his way to becoming one of golf’s all-time greats. He won the US Open in 1937 and 1938, and he won The Masters in 1939. Then he was asked to author an instruction book. He went into great detail, which forced him into thinking about parts of his swing which had always come naturally to him. After that, he lost his game and never recovered it. The moral of the story: If you try to make your golf swing too complicated, you are doomed. It is not reasonable to expect golfers like us, who play once, maybe twice per week, to be expected to swing the same way as a pro who practices and plays every day. Pros also have personal swing coaches watching their every move, yet they all seem to swing somewhat differently. Is there such a thing as a mechanically perfect swing for all types of body builds? Unless you are built like Tiger Woods, trying to make a mechanically perfect swing may make you a worse ball striker than you are with your natural swing. No golf instructor should ever try to make you do something that your particular body build is not capable of doing. You have to admit that all people are born with different degrees of muscle flexibility hand-eye coordination. Pro golfers have outstanding hand-eye coordination, and they probably have always been more gifted in this area than you and I. So in order to get the most enjoyment out of the game, set goals that are reasonable. It is not reasonable to expect an overnight quantum leap of improvement just because you took one lesson or read some tips.
Reasonable goals can make you feel better even when your scores do not show immediate improvement. For example, we all know that sometimes we fix one part of our game, only to see another part of our game go sour, so your scores may not show improvement, but hey, you did fix one part of your game. What if your fix is a lasting fix, and then you fix another part of your game, and then another? In a normal round of golf, what if you 3-putt one less time than normal? What if you got up-and-down one more time than normal? What if you hit one more green in regulation than normal? What if you hit one more good drive than normal? What if you made one less mental/strategic mistake than normal? What if you had one less flub than normal? Each one of these improvements seems minor, but if you can put them all together, they can add up to several strokes improvement per round! These are only a few examples of goals, there are many other ways to set them. Start with small goals like these for yourself and keep track of them, and celebrate the ones you achieve. One day you will put it all together and have your best score ever.
(see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Golf: What are Recreational rules and when should they be used?
A: The vast majority of golfers are never going to be proficient enough to compete at a championship level, and they therefore should not be subject to the same strict traditional rules, many of which really slow down the “Pace of Play” unnecessarily. Golfers who have no interest in establishing a USGA handicap, and who want to speed up the game should use “recreational rules” instead, especially on courses that use “Pace Rules” where you will be kicked off the course if you are playing too slowly (they actually time you!).
The term “recreational rules” came up during the recent debate over the Callaway ERC driver, where Arnold Palmer mentioned the ERC driver should be allowed for “recreational golf”. Since most recreational golfers are not likely to ever compete on the PGA Tour, there is no harm in using the ERC or any other “illegal” club. Just as metal bats are illegal for major league baseball, but legal for all other levels.
It makes no sense to complain about Pace if you adhere to rules that slow the desired pace, and also the rules that make the game less fun, such as nit-picky penalties assessed for petty reasons that have little to do with a golfer’s performance, and ruin the spirit of friendly competition.
Friendly competition should be settled by relative skills, not by penalty strokes for reasons unrelated to skills. Otherwise, all of us should go to the nearest police station and insist on being penalized for every time we drove our car over the speed limit, and insist that everyone else do the same. Time can be wasted while golfers are in a petty debate over a rule interpretation. You should not have to hire a Philadelphia lawyer as your caddy to assure compliance. Here is a sample set of Recreational Rules:

…As a general rule of thumb, an infraction should only be a penalty if an unfair advantage was gained.

…Do not use the “honors” system. Instead play “ready golf” and hit whenever you are ready, as long as you are not distracting another player by doing so.

…To avoid confusion and time-wasting debates, all unplayable lie or lost-ball ball penalties should be only one stroke, not two strokes, and certainly never stroke and distance. This makes provisional balls unnecessary, thereby speeding up play. If golfer A loses a ball in a lateral water hazard, while golfer B loses a ball out of bounds, or unplayable lie, it makes no sense to have a one stroke penalty in one case, and a two stroke penalty in the other case. In all cases for our league, you drop another ball nearest the spot where the ball left the playing area (within 2 club lengths), with a one-stroke penalty, and this will improve the pace of play.

…Improving your lie is allowed within a 6-inch (arbitrary) radius. Pace can only be slowed by bad shots resulting from bad lies. It makes little sense to make recreational golfers hit from bad lies when they cannot even hit good shots consistently from good lies. Trying to hit from bad lies will only ruin whatever confidence they are trying to build. Recreational golfers usually play on public courses which are not as nicely manicured as the courses used for formal competitions, so they already at a disadvantage. Having to hit a ball from a divot hole is no reward for a good drive, and there are many more divot holes, crabgrass clumps, and dry-pans on public courses than on upscale courses. You may have noticed on some TV tournaments that due to unfavorable conditions, players were allowed to “clean and place” their ball in the fairways. To be realistic, their conditions are not likely to be as “unfavorable” as conditions !on public courses, so why can’t the average golfers do the same? Some pros have refused to play on courses where the grass is cut too high or the greens will not hold a shot as well as they are accustomed to. Average golfers have little choice but to accept such conditions, they have to carry their own clubs, read their own putts, judge their own distances, find their own balls without help from caddies and forecaddies, and pay their own fees, so give them a break.

…The rule for repairing greens should include the repair of spike marks or other types of damage. It makes no sense to allow repair of ball marks and at the same time not allow repair of spike marks. You should not be penalized for the carelessness of those ahead of you. Same thing for footprints in a sand trap. Golfer A and Golfer B both hit their balls into the same trap. One is in a nasty footprint while the other is not. That is not a fair outcome for two similar shots. The luck factor comes into play instead of shot-making. (Another example - your buddy is in the rough with a perfect lie, and you are in the middle of the fairway with goose poop all over your ball. This is supposed to be more of a game of skill rather than luck).

…Recreational golfers should be able to clean the ball anytime anywhere, except in a hazard. Getting mud on your ball is only bad luck and is not related to your skill. Hitting a muddy ball can only slow the Pace.

…The penalty for a ball hitting the flagstick on a long putt should not apply to recreational golf, as that can only slow the pace of play for the time it takes for someone to walk over and tend the flagstick for long putts, and then walk back to their own ball, while instead they could have been saving time reading their own putts.

…No need to assess a penalty if a ball accidentally strikes another ball on the green. Both parties are equally guilty for not getting the ball marked.

…Conclusion - In summary, many recreational golfers do not get to play as often as they would like, so why should they have a good round ruined by unlucky bad lies and unintentional rule violations? Let them enjoy the game, and at the same time give us all a quicker pace of play. (see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Good Rules and Bad Rules

Every sport needs rules to assure fair competition. Good rules are intended to assure that skill is rewarded and deliberate cheating is penalized. The logic of some rules is questionable, but most any dispute can be settled by the KEY QUESTIONS, which are "Was there any unfair advantage gained by an unintentional minor violation?", and "Did this have anything to do with skill?". In other words, there is a difference between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. The spirit of the law calls for sportsmanship, the letter of the law, without considering the context, is for lemmings incapable of rational thought. Here are some examples:

Golf - A back issue of Sports Illustrated tells a story of a guy in Arizona leading a local tournament by 5 strokes. While walking up the last fairway, victory assured, his young son runs up to him and he lets the kid carry his putter up to the green, what a thrill for the kid, right? As a result, the guy is disqualified for having more than one caddy. Now read the KEY QUESTIONS again, and you will have to admit that there was no unfair advantage gained, and this had nothing to do with skill, so the incident should have been waved off, and in the interest of good sportsmanship, the 2nd place player should have insisted on waving it off. Instead, the ruling stood, which means if you want to be a good lemming, you have to follow all the other lemmings and jump off the cliff into the sea because it is the rule if you want to be a real lemming. I hope the poor kid does not carry a scar for the rest of his life because local officials did not have the guts to overrule this minor unintentional infraction that had no bearing on the competition.

Golf - Dan Forsman’s caddie was only trying to help when he stopped a ball from rolling into a bunker while Brett Quigley was taking a free drop due to a plugged lie. The rule says after 2 drops that roll away, you are allowed to place the ball, so the caddie was just trying to save time. The result was a penalty for caddie interference. So I guess you are supposed to just let the ball roll and disappear into a water hazard as well and lose 2 more balls to avoid a penalty. Now read the KEY QUESTIONS again, and you will have to admit that there was no unfair advantage gained, and this had nothing to do with skill, so the incident should have been waved off, unless of course, the official is a lemming.

Golf is not alone when it comes to stupid rules, here are some examples:

Basketball - A dribbler makes a good move and dribbles past a defender to attempt a layup. The defender prevents the layup by fouling the dribbler before the shot. Hello, a foul is an illegal move, that's why it is called a foul. So you can make an illegal move to legally stop a shooter from making a basket. Hockey has the right idea, allow play to continue until the offense loses possession, then halt play for the foul. Another example for basketball would be a defender who braces for impact of an aggressive drive to the basket, and the defender gets called for the foul because she/he was not standing perfectly still. Hello, who initiated the contact? Wasn’t that the way the rule was originally written?

Hockey - A skillful puck handler weaves thru the defense, only to get his body legally blasted by a bigger stronger player. Where is the skill or finesse in that? However, the fans seem to like that, and it is a business, so when it comes to selling tickets, what do I know? Soccer has the right idea, use yellow cards and red cards for dangerous play.

Soccer – On a penalty kick, which is almost an automatic goal, the goalie is not allowed to move too soon, so as the kick is being made, the goalie has to guess whether or not to dive to the left or right. For pete’s sake, somebody change this stupid rule and let the goalie have a chance by allowing her/him to move sooner.

Football - You can legally hit a person hard enough to knock off his helmet, but a penalty is called if a player removes his helmet away from the play but before the play is over. Just to be consistent (?), the rule for pass interference is waved off if the ball is deemed not catchable. Hello, the guy who removed his helmet was nowhere near the play, so why is that any different than the pass interference rule?

Golf and Football - The Raiders apparently beat the Patriots in the playoffs to get to the Super Bowl. However, upon further review, the obvious fumble is ruled not to be a fumble, and the Patriots go to the Super Bowl instead. Roberto DeVicenzo apparently beats everyone in the Masters but there was an error on the scorecard, not in his favor, so he was not trying to cheat. In the name of rewarding skill, if Roberto had gotten the same courtesy of a “further review”, he obviously would have had his winning score corrected, because the whole world saw the true score. Roberto, to me you are a Masters Champion. For those who do not think so, read the KEY QUESTIONS again and then decide if you are a thinking human being or a good lemming. (Oh boy, the purists are going to get me for that one. Go ahead, let me have it!).

Bowling – Despite limited space on the ball rack, bowlers who are successful because they can throw a big nasty hook are allowed to change balls to shoot at spares. Golf has the right idea. You cannot change balls on the putting green just because the green is too fast or too slow for you.

Local officials should have the right to wave off certain rules when the KEY QUESTIONS justify the situation. It’s all about fairness and rewarding skill. Just because some rules are traditional rules, that does not automatically mean they are good rules. Hey, there are lots of examples of strange rulings in all sports, especially golf. If you have heard some of them, send them in and let's have some fun debating them.
(see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Dare To Be Different

When conventional golf instruction does not seem to work, you have to decide whether or not to stay with it indefinitely, or to come to the realization that some of the traditional methods may not ever work for your particular body. Hey, if it's not working anyway, why not try something different? What have you got to lose? Look at the ways Chris DiMarco and Mark Calcavecchia putt, with 2 different variations of the "claw" method. Look at how different the backswings are for Jim Furyk and Raymond Floyd. I don't think you will find an instructor anywhere who will tell you to swing like that. Yet, it does work for them. Is there hope that unusual methods might work for you?

Especially when you get The Yips, you have to try something. Here are some experiments I have tried. A putting drill suggested to keep more weight on the front foot (left foot for right handers) by moving the right foot backward into a pronounced narrow closed stance. Although this was only a drill, the results were better than my traditional square stance.

Then I tried the belly-putter concept, but without the longer putter. Instead of touching my torso with the end of the shaft, I used my left elbow to touch my torso, with my left arm acting as an extension of the putter's shaft. By keeping the elbow in contact with the torso all during the putting stroke, my putting has improved.

Then I tried both of the above methods together as a drill, and the results were so much better that this has become no longer just a drill for me, I now do this on the course as well. Then I remembered some instruction said you can also use your putting stroke for chip shots as well, so I tried it and again it did work better than the traditional method.

As a result, for me, The Yips are gone. I'm not going to guarantee that this will also work for you, but I do suggest that you have contests with yourself to see which works better, the traditional methods, or your own experimental methods.

Challenge yourself. Can your A-method take the pressure to stand up to the challenge from your B or C method? This can be fun, exciting, and very enlightening.
(see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Q: How can we keep pressure from affecting our shots?
A: I like Hal Sutton’s advice on this. He says the smaller muscles do not work under pressure, so use your bigger muscles to swing. In other words, a wristy swing is more likely to break down under pressure than an arm/shoulder swing. This is especially true for putting, chipping, and pitching. Other ideas that might be worth trying are a consistent pre-shot routine such as a “waggle” or a “forward press”, or taking a deep breath and exhaling half way before you begin your stroke.
(see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Does video golf instruction always work? It seems like it should, right? Compare your swing side by side with a pro who has a similar build as yours. On the surface, that seems to make sense, and it has helped many people improve to a certain level. Others, however, have not been able to benefit as much from this, and here’s why. Consider the following factors. Human beings have inner workings that are as different as fingerprints, even for people that have similar builds. Their hinges all behave differently, hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, etc. It may be asking too much to assume you someday will make your swing a carbon copy of a pro’s swing. The pro swings every day, and probably hits more balls daily than you ever will in a week. The pro is probably blessed with better than average athleticism, eyesight (depth perception), and hand-eye coordination. Some instruction seems to take this for granted. Even if you are a pretty good athlete and you have good eyesight, you still can’t assume that your depth perception and hand-eye coordination are the same as anyone else’s. Just as good eyesight is a gift, hand-eye coordination is also a gift. The two gifts are related, but are not exactly the same. A person can have good eyesight, but poor hand-eye coordination. The only way to improve hand-eye coordination is to practice, practice, practice. However, golf is an expensive game, so unless you make a lot of money, your opportunities to play or practice may be a lot more limited for you as opposed to others who can afford to play or practice every day. As a result, your ball striking pattern on your clubs is going to be a lot more random than the pros, who can hit the sweet spot on the clubface almost every time. Meanwhile the rest of us, even when we think we are swinging well, are still occasionally hitting it fat, thin, off the toe or heel, etc. So are we all doomed to mediocrity? No, just try to understand that ball striking is more important than making your swing look pretty. You may not want to take the same full backswing as your body-type pro. The further back you go, the more trouble your hinges can get you into. Look at the way Dana Quigley, Allen Doyle, and Moe Norman have become successful with much less than a full swing, almost a half swing. Even Tiger has his “stinger” swing. When all else fails, this is the way to begin improvement. But this only addresses the full swing. What about the hand-eye coordination necessary for finesse shots? How many times have we tried a delicate flop shot only to either chunk it or catch it a bit thin and send it over the green? We even do that sometimes with simple chip shots. Is there any way to improve contact on pitches and chips? Yes, but you may have to dare to be different. More on this later. (see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Golf - Pace vs. Rules - Sometimes you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Sometimes the same people who complain about the pace of play are the same people who say the rules of golf are sacred and cannot be changed. Yet some of the rules are the very things that unnecessarily hurt the pace of play. Take, for example, the penalty for hitting a ball OB is stroke and distance, but if you hit a ball out of play into a lateral water hazard (identical type of shot), you do not have to take the time to hit a second shot from the tee. Solution: For all non-tournament play, abolish the stroke-and-distance penalty, and also the provisional ball rule. Instead use the same rule (for OB or lost ball) that exists for lateral water hazard (hit only once and drop ahead if you cannot find the ball) and everyone’s pace will improve. I would like all golfers to start a movement to come up with more ideas on improving pace. Other than formal tournaments, any rule that interferes with pace of play should be evaluated for possible change. Let’s hear some other ideas. (see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Did you know that there are 4 swing aids you can buy really cheap at your local hardware store?

1. Get a good sized hammer with a grip about the same size as your club grips. With this you can work on your swing indoors without hitting the ceiling. The weight of the hammer head will simulate the weight of a clubhead.

2. Get an ordinary yardstick to use as a putting aid. There are a number of things you can do with this. First, pick a target and get into your normal putting setup and have someone else place the yardstick flat on the ground flush against the face of your putter, then stand back and see if the yardstick is properly aimed at your target. Most people are consistently off to one side. Then step back and aim the yardstick at the target and line up your putter face flush against the edge of the yardstick, and you will be aiming properly (does it look right or wrong when you stand over the ball?). Then replace the yardstick with a ball and putt the ball at the target. Most people again are off consistently to one side, but it helps to understand your tendencies. Another thing you can do with the yardstick is to view your stroke directly over the yardstick to see how steady your stroke is compared to the target line.

3. Get piece of PVC pipe, diameter 3 / 4 inch, 18 inches long. On any smooth rug (or actual putting green), try to putt the pipe in a straight line. If your putting stroke is faulty, the pipe will spin. The direction of the spin tells you if your stroke tends to push or pull the putt.

4. Get a foot-long piece of soft pipe insulation tubing that has a slit on the side. Wrap this around your putter grip and have a contest to see if you putt better with a thicker grip. The theory is that any unwanted hand rotation during the stroke will translate into the face of the putter moving off square. The amount of this movement off square is reduced with a fatter grip due to the ratio of hand movement to the circumference of the grip. This may also improve your chipping as well because it reduces unwanted wrist action on the downstroke. (see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Golf - What causes slumps and how can we avoid them?
To execute a golf swing, your body uses hundreds of different muscles of varying sizes and shapes, all trying to work together at the same time. Every day, each one of these muscles gets stronger or weaker, bigger or smaller, depending on how you use them in your daily activities.
…On any given day, some of these muscles will have a greater or lesser effect on your swing without you realizing it. Trying to make all these muscles work together with precise timing and direction is like asking a bunch of school kids to behave.
…Nobody can ever avoid slumps entirely, everybody gets them, but you can reduce their frequency and their severity by adopting a daily exercise routine to strengthen certain muscles, and to induce “motor muscle memory”. You have to train your swing muscles to behave in a consistent manner.
…Consider the right handed golf pros who know all the right moves. Does that mean they should be able to play the game just as well left handed? Why not, they know all the right moves, don’t they?
…Knowing the right moves is not enough, you have to practice them in order to execute them consistently.
The more you practice the right moves, the better you get. This goes for everything in life, not just golf.
…While inducing motor muscle memory, make sure you are training you muscles with the CORRECT moves, because if you induce incorrect moves, they will be much harder to “undo” once your muscles are trained to behave that way.
(see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Golf - Is there only one right way to chip?
Advice comes from those who have had success with a given method. Different people have had success with different methods, so you may hear or read some conflicting advice. No method will work unless you have your hands ahead of the clubhead at impact. If you can do that, then the main issue becomes distance control.

There are 3 chipping methods, find the one that works best for you.

Method 1 - use the same stroke and tempo, knees to ankles, for all distances, just change the club to adjust for longer or shorter shots. The only limitation is to be sure the shot can carry over the taller grass and land the ball on the green.

Method 2 - use only 2 clubs to chip (one for minimum loft, one for maximum loft) depending on the amount of loft needed to clear the taller grass. Use the same backswing, but vary the tempo depending on the distance desired.

Method 3 - use only 2 clubs to chip depending on the amount of loft needed. Vary the length of the backswing for distance control, and keep the same tempo.
(see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Golf - Why do pros preach fundamentals, yet their swings all look different?
There is a difference between fundamentals (what everyone should do) and mannerisms (individual peculiarities). Most of the mannerisms occur on the backswing, because the backswing’s only purpose is to arrive at a strong hitting position at the top, and if you can do that it may not matter how you get there (right, Jim Furyk fans?). From there, the fundamentals take over, and the downswing happens so quickly that you may not notice the pros’ similarities (lower body weight shift and moving the back elbow in front of the hip before ball contact). Once the ball is struck, the differences in the follow thru positions again are mostly mannerisms (right, Arnold Palmer fans?). (see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)

Golf - 5 ways to advance from being an average putter to being a good putter – Let’s assume Golfer A and Golfer B have similar putting strokes and they can both read a green equally well, but Golfer A makes more putts and 3-putts less often than Golfer B. How can this be?

Golfer A uses a putter design that is weighted at the toe and at the heel, but not in the center. Golfer B uses a straight blade. Since they both have similar strokes, they both miss the sweet spot on the putter by the same amount. Golfer A gets better results due to a larger sweet spot.

Golfer A has confidence in the read and can concentrate fully on executing the stroke. Golfer B changes the read as he/she stands over the ball (why bother with the original read in that case?). This can result in a tentative stroke due to worrying about the read instead of execution.

Golfer A putts to a spot on the green on the way to the hole, a spot that is close enough to hit every time. Golfer B does not use an intermediate target.

Golfer A improves touch for distance control during practice by noticing how far the backswing goes for certain distances, and then steps off those distances. Golfer B just relies on feel without thinking about the exact distance. As a result, Golfer A’s second putt is usually 1-2 feet long, while golfer B’s second putt is usually 3-4 feet long.

Golfer A’s putter has a fat grip, Golfer B’s putter has a skinny grip. In both cases, any accidental hand rotation will cause the putter face to rotate off line. Golfer A’s putter face will rotate less than Golfer B’s putter.

Golf - Which is the best ball to use? If you are a low handicapper, you can try the softer high spin varieties. However if you are a higher handicapper, it probably does not make that much difference. You have probably heard advertisements from several different manufacturers claiming that their ball is the best. You also have probably heard that there are rules that limit a ball’s initial velocity, so it is likely that all the major golf ball makers are already at those limits. If they wanted to, they could probably make an illegal ball that goes much further. The pros usually have to play the ball of their sponsor, so how different could all these balls be?
That means if you want distance, any of the major brands will be OK. Some balls claim to have “high spin”. Sounds cool, but if that is true, you can expect to increase your slice or hook, which negates the value of being able to stop the ball on the green more easily. Trying to spin the ball on “public” greens may be futile, because those greens are usually not as soft as the greens on plush private courses, so the extra spin might not make much difference to the average golfer anyway. If you really really like spin, use a ball with a cut or scrape on it (just kidding). If you like more distance, line up the seam of the ball vertically along the target line (not kidding, this also promotes a better roll for putting - supposedly).
Some people claim they can feel a difference in the “softness” of the ball when they hit it. Don’t be fooled by this. Any ball will feel softer if you hit it on the sweet spot of the club, and the same ball will feel hard if you fail to strike the ball on the sweet spot. Some people say they can tell by the sound; gimme a break, does it go “doink” or “squish”? If you think any of these balls are soft, allow me to bounce one of them off your head, and then you can tell me how soft it feels.
They say hard swingers are supposed to use harder higher compression balls, yet some of them prefer to use the Lady Precept for its softer feel (no wisecracks from you perverts out there).
So the bottom line is this: Unless you are a low handicap golfer, it probably makes little difference which ball is better for you. The marketing hype is just playing on your mind. Pinnacle is a very popular ball, but it gets me no better results than a Top Flite. My heart tells me to use Titleist, but my scorecard says it’s no better than a Maxfli. However, the mind is a very powerful thing, so you have to feel confident with whatever ball you are using. If you feel luckier by playing Callaway or Nike, then go for it, the positive attitude will do you good. Me, I’ll just use whatever my ball retriever can dredge up from the nearest ponds, and save the ball money for some extra beers. One more thing, whichever ball you choose, use the same brand/type during a round, or else your distance control might be a little inconsistent.

The best swing aid I have ever seen is the “Freddy-Connect”, for 3 reasons.
It clearly shows you your swing path at contact.
It clearly shows you whether the face of your club is open, closed, or square at contact.
It encourages you to focus on the impact (i.e. keep your head down) so you can observe what the device is showing you.

What Makes You A Success At Golf?

Success can be hard to define, since it is such a relative thing. You must be aware that golf is full of unexpected twists of fate. Murphy’s Law takes effect most of the time, whatever can go wrong will go wrong sooner or later. A perfect-looking shot usually ends up too long or too short, or gets a sideways bounce. Shots that come close to trouble usually get sucked into it. When you have a shot perfectly lined up, you chunk it. The more you root for a putt to drop, the more it tends to veer off line. Just when you think your slice is cured, it comes back whenever trouble is on the right. The wind stops whenever you play for it, and kicks up again when you don’t play for it.

Like it or not, bad breaks are part of the game. You can complain and sulk all you want, but that is not going to change anything. To be a success, challenge yourself to keep your emotions in check no matter what happens. Which is more fun, sulking or chuckling at this futile search for perfection? Do you think you are the only golfer who has strange things happen to them?

You are a success if you can get thru a round without losing your dignity, enjoying your good shots and accepting your bad shots as just part of the game. Enjoy the awesome majesty of a moon-shot popup, the the graceful curve of a banana-peel slice, the feeling of helplessness as the ball heads toward the water hazard, the perfect symmetry of ever-growing circles that the ripples create, the impressive rooster tail from the morning dew being parted by a sizzling worm-burner. Bring it on, Mother Nature, give me your best shot, you are not going to make me lose my cool. If you can do that, the world needs more people like you.

Also enjoy the natural beauty of the course, the magical feeling of a good shot, a good score, or a fortunate bounce (and if you must, say ‘in your face’ to Mother Nature). Above all, be considerate of other golfers. Avoid unnecessary delays. If you are not doing well, make it fun for others. That makes you a success in anyone’s opinion, and they will always look forward to playing with you.

Golf - Why does a hook travel further than a slice?
Since a hook is caused by the clubface being slightly “closed” at impact, the loft is decreased, which is like hitting the ball with a lower numbered club. Similarly, a slice is caused by the clubface being slightly “open” at impact, so the loft is increased, which is like hitting the ball with a higher numbered club.

The Driver vs. the 3-wood
Times have changed. It used to be true that most people were better off using their 3-wood off the tee rather than their driver. At the time, the size of the club head was not much different. Driver clubheads were only slightly bigger than 3-wood clubheads.
However, the clubheads on the newer jumbo model drivers are so much bigger than the 3-woods, that it might make more sense to try one.
Why? Did you ever notice that sometimes when driving with a 3-wood you will hit a popup, or a grounder, or hit it off the toe or the heel?
Well, with the jumbo driver, you can tee the ball up so high, that it is not likely that you will ever “top” the ball or hit any grounders.
The face is so tall that it is not likely that you will ever hit any popups.
The face is so wide that it is not likely that you will ever hit it off the toe or off the heel.
The only mistake you can make is to hit the ground before you hit the ball.
You can miss the “sweet spot” of the club face and still have a decent drive instead of a flubbed shot. You may hit the ball left or right, but chances are that it will be a tendency either way, and therefore more consistent and predictable.
Let’s say it is a “wash” between the number of 3-wood shots that are flubbed vs. the number of driver shots that go offline enough to get into trouble. The net result is longer tee shots and better scores.

Golf - What is better, a skinny putter grip or a fatter grip? Let's say your hands accidentally rotate 1/8 inch during your stroke. On a skinny grip, let's say this rotation causes the clubface to move 5 degrees away from square. Now with a fatter grip, the same 1/8 inch rotation is a smaller percentage of the grip circumference, and therefore the clubface movement may only be 1 degree away from square. Here is an experiment you can use to challenge this idea. Get a piece of pipe insulation at your local hardware store. This can be easily slipped over your putter's grip to fatten it, and remove it whenever you want. Have a putting contest between skinny grip and fat grip and see who wins, you might be surprised.

Golf - Which are the best drivers? From personal experience, there are two, the Cleveland Launcher 400 and the Ping TiSi. Every other one is a distant 3rd at best.

SWINGFIXER - Golf tips, information on other sports, and life in general. (works in progress)
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