R&B

I read John Pflum, Jr.'s article about getting his handicap down below a 13,
making him a pre-teen. (See: "VICTORY!! (Goal achieved)."

It got me to thinking.

The first time I saw John's golf swing, I just knew he had to be a player.
I'm frankly shocked he hasn't been a single digit handicap for years with
that swing.

I thought the same thing the first time I saw Rob Hamilton ("The Professor")
play golf.

These two guys have BEAUTIFUL golf swings.

But apparently, their golf swings are far less effective than they are
beautiful.

I was going to pose this question in John's thread, and then I got to
thinking it might make a good topic for all of us to discuss (and might
provide a break from the All Politics, All the Time tendency that RSG has
this close to an election. While I have certainly contributed to that at
times, I figure it's the least I can do to try to shift the conversation a
little.

Here's the question:

What's holding you back? What, in your view, is the biggest obstacle to
your becoming a lower-scoring golfer?

Wild off the tee? Not enough length? Faulty short game? Can't putt? Just
flat-out inconsistent in all areas (aka, "I suck")? Too bull-headed (or
cheap) to take lessons? Always trying something new you've read in a
magazine, making it next to impossible to groove any kind of swing at all?
Do you simply refuse to practice at all, and even if you did, would you just
go out and beat balls with the same awful swing you have instead of trying
to make substantive improvements to it?

What?

Randy

Carbon

On Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:22:25 -0400, \"R&B\" wrote:

> I read John Pflum, Jr.'s article about getting his handicap down below a
> 13, making him a pre-teen. (See: "VICTORY!! (Goal achieved)."
>
> It got me to thinking.
>
> The first time I saw John's golf swing, I just knew he had to be a
> player. I'm frankly shocked he hasn't been a single digit handicap for
> years with that swing.
>
> I thought the same thing the first time I saw Rob Hamilton ("The
> Professor") play golf.
>
> These two guys have BEAUTIFUL golf swings.
>
> But apparently, their golf swings are far less effective than they are
> beautiful.
>
> I was going to pose this question in John's thread, and then I got to
> thinking it might make a good topic for all of us to discuss (and might
> provide a break from the All Politics, All the Time tendency that RSG
> has this close to an election. While I have certainly contributed to
> that at times, I figure it's the least I can do to try to shift the
> conversation a little.
>
> Here's the question:
>
> What's holding you back? What, in your view, is the biggest obstacle to
> your becoming a lower-scoring golfer?
>
> Wild off the tee? Not enough length? Faulty short game? Can't putt?
> Just flat-out inconsistent in all areas (aka, "I suck")? Too
> bull-headed (or cheap) to take lessons? Always trying something new
> you've read in a magazine, making it next to impossible to groove any
> kind of swing at all? Do you simply refuse to practice at all, and even
> if you did, would you just go out and beat balls with the same awful
> swing you have instead of trying to make substantive improvements to it?
>
> What?

I hit dumb shots.

I read that one here a while ago. After I stopped laughing I realized, you
know, that's pretty much it.

Alan Baker

In article <>,
"\"R&B\"" <> wrote:

> I read John Pflum, Jr.'s article about getting his handicap down below a 13,
> making him a pre-teen. (See: "VICTORY!! (Goal achieved)."
>
> It got me to thinking.
>
> The first time I saw John's golf swing, I just knew he had to be a player.
> I'm frankly shocked he hasn't been a single digit handicap for years with
> that swing.
>
> I thought the same thing the first time I saw Rob Hamilton ("The Professor")
> play golf.
>
> These two guys have BEAUTIFUL golf swings.
>
> But apparently, their golf swings are far less effective than they are
> beautiful.
>
> I was going to pose this question in John's thread, and then I got to
> thinking it might make a good topic for all of us to discuss (and might
> provide a break from the All Politics, All the Time tendency that RSG has
> this close to an election. While I have certainly contributed to that at
> times, I figure it's the least I can do to try to shift the conversation a
> little.
>
> Here's the question:
>
> What's holding you back? What, in your view, is the biggest obstacle to
> your becoming a lower-scoring golfer?
>
> Wild off the tee? Not enough length? Faulty short game? Can't putt? Just
> flat-out inconsistent in all areas (aka, "I suck")? Too bull-headed (or
> cheap) to take lessons? Always trying something new you've read in a
> magazine, making it next to impossible to groove any kind of swing at all?
> Do you simply refuse to practice at all, and even if you did, would you just
> go out and beat balls with the same awful swing you have instead of trying
> to make substantive improvements to it?
>
> What?
>
> Randy

Right now, I think for me, it's really two things:

Playing the game smarter. Too often, I fail to actually *think* about
the shot I'm about to hit from a tactical perspective.

Case in point: I was playing 9 after work the other day, and through the
first three holes, I was +1. I hit my drive on the 4th hole into the
middle of the fairway about 155 yards from an uphill pin slightly into
the wind. That made the shot into a six iron, and that choice wasn't
hard, but... ...the hole was cut near the right edge of the green with a
yawning bunker right on the front right corner of the green. So without
really thinking about where I wanted to play the ball onto the surface,
I took aim at the pin and did the predictable.

Which leads to thing number two I need to improve: bunker play. While
the bunker shot I had from there was going to be difficult to get close
and thus give a good chance to save par, I should have gotten out of the
bunker and onto the surface in one stroke...

...or at least two. Yes, after my third stroke from the sand and two
putts, I left the hole with a triple-bogey 7.

What really hurts is that I played the remaining 5 holes in one over par.

I'd like to say, "that's golf", but in reality, I know that golf wasn't
to blame.

<sigh>

JohnO

R&B wrote:

> I read John Pflum, Jr.'s article about getting his handicap down below a 13,
> making him a pre-teen. (See: "VICTORY!! (Goal achieved)."
>
> It got me to thinking.
>
> The first time I saw John's golf swing, I just knew he had to be a player.
> I'm frankly shocked he hasn't been a single digit handicap for years with
> that swing.
>
> I thought the same thing the first time I saw Rob Hamilton ("The Professor")
> play golf.
>
> These two guys have BEAUTIFUL golf swings.
>
> But apparently, their golf swings are far less effective than they are
> beautiful.
>
> I was going to pose this question in John's thread, and then I got to
> thinking it might make a good topic for all of us to discuss (and might
> provide a break from the All Politics, All the Time tendency that RSG has
> this close to an election. While I have certainly contributed to that at
> times, I figure it's the least I can do to try to shift the conversation a
> little.
>
> Here's the question:
>
> What's holding you back? What, in your view, is the biggest obstacle to
> your becoming a lower-scoring golfer?
>
> Wild off the tee? Not enough length? Faulty short game? Can't putt? Just
> flat-out inconsistent in all areas (aka, "I suck")? Too bull-headed (or
> cheap) to take lessons? Always trying something new you've read in a
> magazine, making it next to impossible to groove any kind of swing at all?
> Do you simply refuse to practice at all, and even if you did, would you just
> go out and beat balls with the same awful swing you have instead of trying
> to make substantive improvements to it?
>
> What?
>
> Randy

I went and had a video analysis a few months back. The pro just
scratched his head, and eventually said my swing plane was close to
perfect. He corrected a slight hands movement outside plane on the
take away and than used the phrase 'god like'.

I'm not kidding. He seemd to be stuck in the swing plane and club
routing mentality and was at a bit of a loss to explain why I suck at
golf. I put it down to him being a young fellow and new to the golf
coaching game.

My main issue is I hit too low a launch angle, especially with driver,
and I won't go with more loft as I want to fix the root cause rather
than compensate for it. The low angle means no carry and it is killing
me over winter.

Oh, and I hit dumb shots too.

David Geesaman

"R&B" wrote:
> Wild off the tee? Not enough length? Faulty short game? Can't putt? Just
> flat-out inconsistent in all areas (aka, "I suck")? Too bull-headed (or
> cheap) to take lessons? Always trying something new you've read in a
> magazine, making it next to impossible to groove any kind of swing at all?
> Do you simply refuse to practice at all, and even if you did, would you just
> go out and beat balls with the same awful swing you have instead of trying
> to make substantive improvements to it?
>
> What?
>
> Randy

Lack of rhythm. My tempo is always inconsistent, taking what could be a
fairly consistent stroke and making it inconsistent.

Good tempo wouldn't make me an instant scratch player, that's for sure,
but I believe it would improve my consistency to the point that more
practice would equal better results. As it is now, more practice for me
equals better ballstriking but degrades my swing.

Dave

Fairway

On Oct 1, 9:22 pm, "\"R&B\"" <noneofyourbusin...@all.com> wrote:
>> What's holding you back?  What, in your view, is the biggest obstacle to
> your becoming a lower-scoring golfer?

I´ve been below hdc 10 for some years but some of my friends are
around 5-8 and it was a mystery to me why they were better than me. I
am 180 cm, 178 kg, rather supple and very fit. I went to various swing
doctors, each of them taught me his favourite doctrine and I didn´t
become a better player. I had a resonable distance from the tee but my
iron play was always suspect,

This was my GREAT obstacle. MY IRON PLAY WAS SUSPECT.

I bought Hardy´s two books and became slightly better. But recently I
bought his DVD´s and the stones began to roll. Yesterday I went to the
range and hit the best iron shots in my entire life and the most
powerful and longest drives I´ve ever hit. And I´m talking about no
small improvement - it was a huge improvement. The One Plane Swing
theory is beginning to work for me.

Why didn´t the improvement come instantly - when I bought the books?
The reason is :

1) I didn´t fully understand the role of the right arm and hand

2) I didn´t perform step two in the theory

3) My turn wasn´t vigorous enough.

So, finally, I am becoming the golfer I was always meant to be -
thanks to Jim Hardy.

Long live Sarah Palin - she will need all her luck tonight.

F

K. Gringioni.

On Oct 2, 3:27 am, Fairway <armins...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Long live Sarah Palin - she will need all her luck tonight.




She's doomed. No one can learn foreign policy and economics in 4 weeks.

The Moderator

""R&B"" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I read John Pflum, Jr.'s article about getting his handicap down below a
>13, making him a pre-teen. (See: "VICTORY!! (Goal achieved)."
>
> It got me to thinking.
>
> The first time I saw John's golf swing, I just knew he had to be a player.
> I'm frankly shocked he hasn't been a single digit handicap for years with
> that swing.
>
> I thought the same thing the first time I saw Rob Hamilton ("The
> Professor") play golf.
>
> These two guys have BEAUTIFUL golf swings.
>
> But apparently, their golf swings are far less effective than they are
> beautiful.
>
> I was going to pose this question in John's thread, and then I got to
> thinking it might make a good topic for all of us to discuss (and might
> provide a break from the All Politics, All the Time tendency that RSG has
> this close to an election. While I have certainly contributed to that at
> times, I figure it's the least I can do to try to shift the conversation a
> little.
>
> Here's the question:
>
> What's holding you back? What, in your view, is the biggest obstacle to
> your becoming a lower-scoring golfer?
>
> Wild off the tee? Not enough length? Faulty short game? Can't putt?
> Just flat-out inconsistent in all areas (aka, "I suck")? Too bull-headed
> (or cheap) to take lessons? Always trying something new you've read in a
> magazine, making it next to impossible to groove any kind of swing at all?
> Do you simply refuse to practice at all, and even if you did, would you
> just go out and beat balls with the same awful swing you have instead of
> trying to make substantive improvements to it?
>
> What?
>
> Randy

I work for a living and golf is not my only interest. I have long lay offs
in the fall and winter when I am hunting and backpacking. In the Spring I
would rather go for a long bicycle ride than hit the range.

Fairway

On Oct 2, 4:07 am, "The Moderator" <sparky@_engineer_.com> wrote:
> > I work for a living and golf is not my only interest.  I have long lay offs
> in the fall and winter when I am hunting and backpacking.  In the Spring I
> would rather go for a long bicycle ride than hit the range.- Hide quoted text -
Do you play golf at all?
F

Kev

On Oct 2, 12:22 am, "\"R&B\"" <noneofyourbusin...@all.com> wrote:
[snip]
> What's holding you back?  What, in your view, is the biggest obstacle to
> your becoming a lower-scoring golfer?
[snip]

I know a guy that says he can tell how a guys relationship is
going
by his handicap. The lower the handicap, the worse the relationship.
It's a bit of tongue in cheek but it speaks to the fact that practice
is at
the core of most problems. I will do 20 minutes or range work prior
to
a round, but mostly to warm up. 4 times a year I might have a reason
to buy the large bucket and spend an hour working on a wide variety of
swing issues. When rounds are REAL slow, I'll spend time between
holes around the tee box doing pitching and chipping practice. But
I don't have a regular practice schedule or a practice routine of any
sort. There are only so many hours in a day, I have a life, a wife,
and other things to do. It is why slow play is such an irritant. I
could play more, or practice more, if golf didn't take so many hours.


Oh, and I have no natural talent. I've played with guys that are
single digit only to hear "yeah, I took up the game about 3 years
ago...". I wanna take a 5 iron to 'em. I played with one guy that
was a 5, and had started 9 months prior.