Joe,
if you are not sure if you hit a ball out of play, if it is a yellow stake you cannot take a provisional, you have to take a drop and play on, but if it is a white stake you are allowed a provisional or else you have to go back to the tee and play it over. Since the ball may be out of play in either case, why is there a difference? Why is it you cannot take a provisional for a yellow stake?

Answer: For the same reason in North Dakota, it is illegal to lie down and fall asleep with your shoes on. It is dumb but true, you can look it up. This means if you are not sure that your shot cleared a pond with yellow stakes, you have to walk all the way around the pond to see if you can find your ball. If you cannot, you must walk all the way back and drop behind the pond, no provisional is allowed for yellow stakes, only white ones. This means if you are in North Dakota, you can possibly get arrested for falling asleep due to the slow play this dumb rule can cause, unless you remember to take your shoes off first.

Joe,
I read somewhere that the rule makers are thinking of reducing the number of clubs allowed in your bag from 14 to 10. What do you think of this idea?
Tanaka

Hello Tanaka,
I like the idea because it adds another level of skill required to adjust your swing with the same club rather than using the same cookie cutter swing for an entire set of clubs. However, I do not think the club manufacturers will allow this, they want to sell more clubs, even if all of them are not necessary. I would like to see the limit even lower than 10. Francis Ouimet used only 7 clubs to win the 1913 US Open, and Richard occasionally suggests during the off season you might do just as well playing with only 8 clubs. I put this to the test myself and found Richard and Francis were right, you can play just as well with half a set. Driver, putter, sand wedge, pitching wedge, 8 iron, 6 iron, and a hybrid 4. Whenever my distance to the green was in between clubs, it was not a problem to compensate by either swinging a little easier with more club, or adjusting the grip to a little weaker or stronger position and playing for a fade or draw. You can learn a lot about your swing this way. Walking is good exercise. No need for a pull cart, the bag was much easier to carry, in fact I was able to use a tiny Sunday bag, as light as a feather like a quiver for arrows. You might ask, what about the lob wedge? Well, for most people, unless you are really good with the LW, it can cost you more strokes than it can save you. Most people can pitch just as well or better with the SW. What about fairway woods? Based on what I have seen, most people can hit a hybrid 4 as well or better than any fairway wood or long iron. What about the missing irons? Not very many people hit all their irons equally well anyway because even in a matched set the shafts are all different lengths. If you carry only your favorite irons, and they happen to be either the even numbers or the odd numbers, you might have more confidence in each shot. Those of you who have the guts to try this might be in for a big surprise. For example, the next time you have a mediocre front 9 with all 14 clubs and your total score will not be important, use only the half set for the back 9 and put some excitement back into the round to see if you can beat your front 9 score with that half set. Have fun with this experiment.
Joe

Joe,
If you accidentally bend or dent a club, why is it a penalty if you use it anymore during a round?

Answer: For the same reason in Seattle, residents may not carry concealed weapons longer than six feet, it is just another dumb rule. The rulemakers must think damaged clubs are giving you an unfair advantage. If that were the case let’s all improve our games by bending and denting our clubs. Maybe stores will jump on the bandwagon too, and make some extra money by selling bent clubs at premium prices.

Question, why is it illegal to use a tee to flick a bug out of your putting line, supposedly because you might be testing the surface, but you can use a tool to repair a ball mark, which of course is a much better way to test the surface?

Answer: For the same reason it is illegal to set a mousetrap without a hunting license in California, a rule is a rule. It is true, you can look it up. And the purists who are incapable of rational thought had better follow this one too or else I would have to question their integrity.

(scroll down a page or two, for some reason there is a lot a blank space before the next question)

Joe,
Are there any rules that prohibit a man from using a golf ball designed for women? I like to use the Precept Lady because I can get them for $9.99 a dozen and I like the feel. I think they're very similar to Maxfli's Noodle, but I save about $5-6 per dozen. Some of the guys in my Wednesday night men's club have given me a hard time about using a ladies ball.......until I outdrive them.
Sincerely,
Darren Meyers
Silver Lake, KS

Hello Darren,
You are not the only one who discovered this. Several years ago golfers who wanted more distance would use high compression balls, but these balls lacked the feel as you mentioned. When oversized drivers came out, golfers discovered that they could hit lower compression balls just as far or farther than higher compression balls, but they also liked the feel of lower compression balls, so the Precept Lady began selling like hotcakes. Other companies recognized this and came out with their own versions of Lady balls. Precept also went one step further for those macho types who felt funny hitting a Lady ball, by introducing the Laddie for men, which also had low compression but not quite as low as the Lady. There is no rule that says you cannot use a Lady ball, you do not even have to wear a skirt.
Joe

Joe,
Question - I am a swayer (Not really a word), but I tend to sway on all shots, my back hip moving laterally. It's inherent from playing years of baseball, having taken up golf later in life. Don't know how to stop it, as when it gets bad, tend to reverse pivot as a result.Any ideas?
Larry

Hi Larry,
It is not easy to overcome motor muscle memory, it takes lots of drills to unlearn something. Start by posing at the top of your backswing and notice where your hips are. If the hips have swayed too far back, move them to the correct position while you are still posing and get a good mental feel for that position, just like a baseball player. Then try to repeat your backswing over and over again until you can arrive at your new position. Take a look at the way Kenny Perry swings. No hip motion at all until he gets to the top of the backswing and then all of a sudden he turns the hips and begins the downswing. Here is another thing you can try. While addressing the ball, tilt your spine toward your back leg while keeping your hips forward. This places most of your weight on the back leg, so there is no need to shift weight during the backswing, Just keep the hips forward and your head steady. On the downswing, make sure all your weight ends up on your front foot, and this should correct your reverse pivot.
Joe

Joe,
I am ready to buy new clubs and I am thinking about trying stiffer shafts. Is there such a thing as too stiff? What would happen if you get shafts that are too stiff for you? How would I know which is the right amount of flex is best for me?
Bud

Hi Bud,
Many golf shops have a monitor that measures your swing speed and launch angle to give you an indication of which flex is best for you. Unless you have a very high swing speed, with ordinary stiff shafts you might lose distance and hit the ball too low, but you might be a little more accurate. I used to think that stiffer shafts were always preferable because they theoretically would reduce an unwanted variable, that being the flex translating to variations in clubface positions, but today’s shaft technology has introduced the low-torque concept which helps keep the clubface square while the shaft is flexing but not twisting. This allows us to take advantage of the shaft's spring-effect without sacrificing accuracy. Depending on your swing speed, this spring effect should happen just before impact in order to get maximum clubhead speed and launch angle. It makes me wonder how in the world did the old time golfers ever shoot par with wooden shafts? It gives you a sense of how good those guys really were. No technology, no matched sets of clubs, just a stick with a hunk of wood or metal on the end, playing on scruffy fairways and greens with golf balls that were far inferior to what we have today. If those guys had the chance to play with today’s equipment, I think they would beat today’s pros. Maybe someday in heaven we will find out.
Joe

Joe,
I get so mad when I have a good round going and then all of a sudden I start hitting iron shots straight to the right. It does not feel like I hit it off the toe, it feels like a fairly solid hit. My confidence is ruined because on every subsequent swing I am afraid it might happen again, so I get very tentative. This does not make any sense to me, one shot straight ahead, next shot straight to the right. Is there anything I can do to help prevent this?
Samuel

Hello Samuel,
Take a look at ball marks on the clubface. I think you are striking the ball too close to the shaft hosel, and this is called a shank, and it will send the ball far to the right. I also have experienced the shanks, and I found a couple of ways to cure them. I my case, I was standing with too much weight on my toes. When I put a little more weight on my heels, the shanks disappeared. Another possible reason for those who have a rather flat swing plane is that the harder you swing, the more the clubhead extends further from your body due to centrifugal force, increasing the chance of striking the ball on the hosel. If you like swinging hard, try a more upright swing plane, and let me know the results. One more thing to consider, maybe your irons are not fitted properly to your body build, better visit your local pro shop and check this. If the shafts are too long, just have them shortened and regripped, it is not that expensive. Good luck!
Joe

Joe,
How about settling a friendly discussion. Bunkers and rakes. Are rakes to be left in or out of the bunkers?
Thanks, Dick Bruce

Hello Dick,
There is no rule one way or another. Each course may have its own preference, so ask at the pro shop. If you want to make it easier for the guys who mow the grass, put the rakes inside the bunkers but not on a sloping area. However, on the usga.org site there is a “decision” misc/2 that says it is better to leave the rakes outside the bunker just in case a ball rests against the rake, because if that happens and you move the rake, the ball might roll down the slope and you might not be able to replace it in the same spot, resulting in a stroke and distance penalty, which I think is really a stupid rule, because if the rake was not there the ball would have rolled down the slope anyway. You don’t want to get into debates with usga-holes, it is like trying to wrestle a pig. All you do is get muddy, and the pig likes it. After I make my first billion, I am going to buy the usga and change all their stupid rules.
Joe

Joe,
What is your opinion on why the Americans have not done very well in the last several Ryder Cup matches?
Javy

Hello Javy,
Some people think all the Americans have to do is show up to win. I think that is a dangerous attitude. Every so often I will mention one of the best golf books ever written, The Greatest Game Ever Played, by Mark Frost. In this book you will get a feel for the extra passion the Brits have whenever they play Americans. In my opinion, we need to give credit to the Europeans for playing better golf instead of saying the Americans played poorly. You can still play well and get beat anyway, especially by passionate opponents. I say hats off to the Euros instead of what is wrong with the Yanks.
Joe

Joe,
I think it would be really cool to play under the same conditions as the tournaments where the rough is grown tall and the greens are lightning fast. Why don’t more courses do that?
Chen

Hello Chen,
Pace of play is usually the reason. If the rough is too tall, it is sometimes hard to find the ball, and the constant searching will delay play. Overly fast greens are also going to slow play because everyone will be 3-putting. Also it is not healthy for the greens to always be cut too short. Conditions such as these are more suitable for tournament golf than recreational golf. If you ever hear about a course bragging about their high rough and double digit stimpmeter readings for their greens, you can count on a very slow round.
Joe

Question for the Evil Twin:
Jody, last week the topic came up about the advantage of using more expensive balls. Let us hear what you have to say about what difference it will make if I use a four dollar ball instead of a one dollar ball?
Answer: The difference is you will be three dollars poorer with little change to your game.

Joe,
Do expensive balls really help? What ball do you use and why?
Jim

Hi Jim,
I like the Pinnacle Exception because for me it seems to have the right mix of spin, feel, and distance, and it is more reasonably priced than the more highly advertised balls. Other good balls that are not expensive are the Wilson Pro Staff 360 Tour, Maxfli Noodle, and the Top Flite XL Extreme. I do not seem to score any better with more expensive balls. This does not mean these balls will be best for everyone. For those of you who hook or slice too much, you may do better to use a low spin or a distance ball.
Joe

Joe,
I find it confusing when I read instructions, some of which say to take a full shoulder turn but not much hip turn. I find this to feel most unnatural. If I turn the shoulders fully, my club goes past parallel, which I hear is not a good thing. This seems like too much to think about. What is so bad about turning the hips also, is there such a thing as too much hip turn?
Hank the Shank

Hello Hank,
Some instructions are intended for low handicappers who have better than average athleticism. Golfers with average athleticism might do better to keep things a little more simple. It sounds nice to say you should imitate the swing of the pro, but that is hard to do unless you have the same degree of athleticism as the pro, which is not likely. Average golfers should consider this, the farther you turn, the harder it might be to meet the ball on the sweet spot of the clubface. Therefore you have a better chance if you take a comfortable amount of shoulder turn, and allow your hips to turn naturally without restricting them (be careful not to sway). Only increase your turn if you can hit the sweet spot most every time. Also, going past parallel is not always a bad thing. John Daly, Phil Mickelson, and several others go past parallel, even the great Bobby Jones did that, so as long as you are making good contact, no need to change.
Joe

Joe,
How do you explain the unusual swings of Jim Furyk and Kenny Perry, who do not swing at all according to any instructions you will find anywhere? How are they able to get away with that?
Willie

Hello Wille,
Jim’s college golf coach said he would never make it on the tour unless he changed his swing, boy was he wrong. Kenny Perry’s swing has been described as home grown. In either case, nobody else even tries to swing like that. How do they get away with it? The answer lies in understanding the difference between mannerisms and fundamentals. Backswings are mannerisms, downswings are fundamentals. Jim and Kenny do not look much different than any other pro on the downswing, therefore their fundamentals are correct. Their backswings, although unusual, succeed in getting them into proper position at the top, which indicates it does not matter how you get there, so the different ways that they get to the top are only mannerisms. On the takeaway Jim sets his wrists early, bringing the club inside, but then raises his arms up to get on plane, which looks very loopy. Kenny raises his arms with no body movement, and just before he gets to the top, he turns his hips and shoulders to get on plane. Both guys at that point are in a powerful position, and that is the most important idea here. Again, the only purpose of the backswing is to get you to your most powerful position at the top.
Joe

Joe,
What is recommended, a thinner grip or a thicker grip?
Ramon

Hello Ramon,
It depends whether or not you want more or less hand action. A thinner grip allows more hand action, a thicker grip reduces hand action. Since everyone has different sized hands, here is a way to tell how thick your grip should be. When you grip the club, the tips of your fingers should be just barely touching the heel of your palm. If your grips are too thin, your fingers will pressing too much into your palm, and this might cause the club to rattle around in your hand. I personally prefer my grips to be on the thicker side because it gives me a feeling of better control.
Joe

Joe,
Now that I am shooting in the 80s I believe I can par any hole, in fact I get mad at myself whenever I bogey. Of course when you shoot in the 80s you must be getting more bogeys than pars, so I am mad at myself most of the time, and as a result my overall enjoyment is less than it should be. Even when I am playing better than normal, I always seem to have 1 or 2 blowup holes to keep me out of the 70s. Since I am getting older I am not sure I will ever get any better, so is there a mental strategy I can use to enjoy the game more?
Everett

Hello Everett,
You are not alone. Everyone thinks they can shoot better scores than they really do. We take pars for granted when we should appreciate that fact that a par is a successful score to feel good about, especially if we are not zero handicappers. Join some competitions where you have a chance to beat an opponent. Even if you have a mediocre score, it still might be better than your opponent’s score. If your score always suffers from one or two blowup holes, try some match play competitions where no matter how bad one hole gets you only lose one hole, not the entire round. If you are playing alone, you can still have your own match play competition like this – if you get a par you win the hole, if you get a bogey you lose the hole. For other people who shoot in the 90s or higher, you can change this to say if you bogey you win the hole, and if you double bogey you lose the hole. Whatever you do, make it fun. The fun is in the challenges, so even when you are not scoring well, create some new challenges for yourself and go after them.
Joe

Joe,
With all the modern technology, why is it that the average golf scores have not improved over the years?
Raul

Hello Raul,
I have seen people spend a lot of money on swing analysis and launch monitors to get custom fitted clubs with the proper shaft with the proper kick point and matched with the right type of multilayer ball, and they still cannot beat the guy who got his clubs at a garage sale and who uses whatever ball is found in the pond. All the technology in the world is not going to lower scores without a good short game. You can hit a par 5 in two shots and if you three putt, you cannot beat the guy who takes 4 shots to reach the green and only needs one putt. Over the years, golf courses have gotten more difficult, especially those that brag about their stimpmeter readings like it is a prestigious macho thing to have the fastest greens. However, I think that detracts from your enjoyment of the game when you hit a good shot that ends up above the hole, but you have no chance to 2-putt because there is no way to stop a downhill putt near the hole when the stimpmeter has the same reading as the hood of your car. The answer to that is to stay below the hole, but then if you stay too far below the hole you again are risking a 4-putt if your first putt goes past the hole, and if the pin is near the front of the green, you are likely to miss the green altogether, which still might be preferable to have an uphill chip instead of a downhill putt if the slope is severe. Stimpmeter readings should stay in the single digits, otherwise scores are not ever likely to improve.
Joe

Joe,
I have been told to chart my shots, but that seems like too much work. I need a simpler way to check my progress. Which things make the most sense to chart and which are those that do not matter so much and therefore are not worth charting?
Statman

Hello Statman,
I cannot believe that is really your name, but anyway it fits your question, I bet you are an accountant, right? My method is different because I only want to identify areas that I need to work on the most. I use 7 categories. When I count fairways hit, I also include a good drive that ends up in light rough with a good lie and a clear shot at the green (purists count that as a missed fairway). On the other hand, I do not count a poor drive that happens to end up in the fairway with no chance of hitting the green (purists count it as a fairway hit). For hitting greens in regulation, I include good shots that happen to end up on the fringe to allow a reasonable putt (purists count it as a missed green). On the other hand, I do not count a mediocre shot that ends up on the wrong end of a kidney shaped green where there is no chance to 2-putt (purists count it as a green hit). For counting putts, I include putts from the fringe (purists do not). After all, it is still a normal putt, not like a British Open roller from 20 yards out. In counting up and downs, I do not include the Texas Wedge, or putts from the fringe (purists do) because to me it is not a chip shot. In counting penalties, I include chipping out from behind trees, or other recovery shots where hitting the green is not possible (purists do not), because that amounts to the same thing really, and it makes me think about course management. I count mechanical errors that cost a stroke. Sometimes it does not cost a stroke, like a thinned shot traveling almost as far as a decent shot. I count mental errors if they cost me a stroke, like picking the wrong club and then realizing too late that I did not account for wind or elevation change or the type of lie. Keeping track of these things gives me a better idea of where to spend my practice time.
Joe

Joe,
My question has to do with the triangle and all swings. Due to limited shoulder/upper body flexibility, my back hand tends to separate (pull away) from the grip on the back swing. This pulling away, reduces the connection of the triangle, as I tend to only feel like I'm swinging with my front arm/ shoulder. It feels like I lose the connection of the back shoulder when I swing down. It's like trying to hit a baseball one handed, much harder. When I swing my arms, with no club, I can really feel the connection of shoulders/arms moving as one. Any ideas, I figure I can't be the only one with this problem.Thanks.
Larry

Hi Larry,
Here are some things to try. First the grip. There are 3 commonly acceptable ways to grip the club. Interlock, Overlap, and Ten Finger. Whichever one you are using, try the other two and use the grip that gives you the best results. If you find no improvement there, perhaps you are trying too hard to maintain the triangle since you said you already have limited flexibility. The triangle works best for those who have a lot of flexibility, so just use the triangle for the first part of your backswing takeaway, then get to the top of your backswing like Vijay Singh with your elbows not too far apart, which means the back elbow must fold down. In other words, if you try to maintain the triangle too long, you may end up with a flying elbow, which could result in your back hand separating. I hope this helps, good luck to you.
Joe