Practice Mode vs. Play Mode

 My personal length for a putter is 38-29". Right now playing with a long non anchoring one that is looking to try to be first team. Four birdies and 27 total putts with 6 almost was acceptable. Still not quite enough to be #1.

There you go if its not broke don't fix it.

I like looking at this kinda stuff also to the point I find my self watching a tournament that I have DVR'ed and rewinding and watching in slow motion certain swings not that I try to duplicate them. 

I had a local pro tell me one time that I knew to much about the golf swing and it was getting in the way cluttering my mind and that I should forget all of it and just swing the club.

Edit
Maybe one day if I ever get consistent enough I will take the PAT like Dick and see if I can pass it and become a instructor.

Robert,
Congratulations!  You have really grown in your quests to learn clubs.  You are correct, offset is the key feature of a golf club to look for.  Then, the playable features such as vcog gravity come into play. Keep in mind, the further you take the center of gravity from the axis of rotation, the more effort, energy, and speed it takes to bring that toe around.  Cindy  would need a low vcog but not necessarily an oversized head but more likely a midsize.  Something with a channel back design would be good.  My hat is tipped to you sir!!!!

As to difference of off center hits with a blade to a oversized cavity back:  distance - 4 to 5 feet    dispersion - 18" to 30"

Yeah, in one of my posts I noted the discrepancy with Shot Tracker. I'm hopeful that Kim or someone with direct contact will let us know the status and prognosis. Hopefully it's a minor tweak that he can recover from relatively quickly with non-invasive therapies.

Well DJ is in the same "boat" with me as I injured my back last week Monday and have had to lay off my everyother day rounds of golf.  Going to go out tomorrow and try to get in a few holes and see how it goes as the pain is lessen due to prednisone.  Why does this kind of stuff always happen when you start playing good?

Your clubs could be too short. You could be standing too far from the ball. You could be pulling your arms in closer to your body in an attempt to swing them faster. Your shafts could be too flexible, or too weak in the tip causing excessive toe-down. 

Angle of approach would be the last thing I'd think about, personally.

A person taking two or three practice swings after waiting for a green to clear, having done nothing to stay loose or think about the shot while waiting and having no clear intent for the practice swings other than thinking "I should take some practice swings" who then steps up to the real ball and swings completely differently and sends the ball 50 yards right of the target slows down play. A person who takes a few purposeful practice swings to get the feel, and then swings that feel so the ball goes where intended doesn't.
Most golfers don't know why they're taking practice swings, and what they do in the practice swing bears little resemblance to what they do when they step up to the ball. Those people either need to learn the proper purpose of a practice swing, or just step up and hit the ball cause they really couldn't do any worse. ;-)

I have two of them in the basement among my club collection. One is an original from 20-some years ago and one is a remake from just a couple years ago. They are unique in their design and actually have some merit to them. They also have/had a very small head.
http://compare.ebay.com/like/3... 

 I am thinking that DJ can do it because his shoulders don't square up until impact which drops the right elbow down tight to the right hip.

This is the point that Tom Bertrand makes in the youtube reference in the post above. Pretty tough to watch the whole thing to get to how Hogan forced his arms to drop down to a flatter release plane.

DJ appears to do it even from a really upright plane. Don's video from the same down the line and face on style shows that his elbow doesn't drop as far down and the shoulders open slightly quicker.

Morning Surge,

Could you please addrress my curse hit? Yes, it's the S word. Won't spell it out in fear of it spreading...s h a n...and the final letter is between j and l. Indeed, it has me by my meager brain! Assume there can be a few causes to hit the ball on the hosel and/or with an overly open club face resulting in the you know what; but is there one cure? Assuming there's more than one cause, please advise how one might determine which cause they have and possible cures.

Thanks much,

Right rough (or worse) Jeff

Thanks Robert.....we know how many pieces of tolet paper TW  uses but nothing on other players....how did you get your info....ed

 I agree.

I was waiting for you to post that quote. I thought when I saw the topic of this video, "Here's one right up Steve's alley." Just keep poking us with this one. 

They made a driver like that 20 or 30 years ago, but it apparently didn't catch on. It looked like a bullet, and that may have even been the name of it. I always thought it would be fun to try one.

Yes. That and an office chair with poor orthotic support thanks to a 360 pound friend borrowing it.

Steve:  Great quote that says it all !!  I wrote it down several months ago when you first quoted it and it is now firmly "ingrained" in my game. And I certainly agree with RF; keep poking us with this one - we really need it :-))  Hit 'em straight, R2 

Thanks for the update as well. He will be in my thoughts...

Encourage DJ to see a chiropractor that specializes in ART = Active Release Tecnique. My son applies this in his work on pro athletes in Texas. Be sure they are certified. Good luck DJ.

That instructor told me that at the beginning of last year when I was taking a lesson from him. He asked me when I got there whats was going on and I told him he said that we would see lets get some swings on the computer. I was correct on what I told him that's when he told me I knew to much.

On the course the only thing I think about is see it feel it swing and of course alignment.

 

I would like to see your set up with a driver.

Robert
DJ had to withdraw becsause of back spasms. This has caused problems before. He had to with draw from the Memorial last year with back spasms. I talked with Don earlier and he and DJ were on the way to a back specialist at the time I talked to him.He will keep up posted
Hal

For those not following Swing Surgeon on FB or G+, you might find this Outside The Ropes with DJ Trahan interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Seeking opinions and off topic.

Last week or the week before I thought I had my distances per club figured out.
Went to the range last night to find out I was hitting every club in the bag further by 10 -15 yards longer than when I recorded them last time the difference being I guess the temperature being low 80's yesterday. I was pureing all clubs 6 iron carrying 185 yards.

I guess I am thinking of recording my distances for a couple more practice session and taking a average of all recorded distances and see what happens.

Any thoughts.   

 Cool video Steve. Did you do the lines in the V1 program or another?

I have found out through viewing a lot of videos that when the centrifugal weight of the club straightens the angle between the arms and club shaft from address, the increased length of the radius causes the golfer to adjust the upper body so the ball is hit on-on-on.

Two ways to do so; moving the head back as shown on your video or pulling the leading shoulder way open as the rotational players do. The latter also use the head moving back.

The two swings that I remember having the shaft return on the same angle as the address one would be Hogan and maybe Sergio Garcia. Some of the stack and tilters may also do it.

Essentially the hands have to drop from the top of the swing onto this angle which means they are way into the SBG and much closer to being perpendicular to the spine tilt. I found some videos from a Hogan swing teacher named Tom Bertrand who shows how much the club has to be layed off in order to flatten the release plane onto the address shaft plane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... This is near to impossible to do with the PPGS and seems really painful. Sergio really lays the club off and a recent TV ad shows some really strong force being applied to the shaft. Hard to imagine how strong the shaft is to not snap.

 Steve

Glad to hear you have broken through the slump pal.  Those can sure be tough on the mental part of the game.

Keep up the good work and the rest will come around.

Dick

Thanks for posting Steve, I have laughed every time I see it on TV

 That is a talent to go to the course and just create the shot. A lot of psych guys working with touring pros to try to get them into that zone.

Surge: 

I totally agree with you about how we can get messed up a bit during a round of golf thinking swing mechanics, that has to be left at the practice range.  Don I commented a while ago about the grip and I got bitten and beat up a little from trusted and respected followers. And I have read everything that has been written or talked about with the golf swing and have narrowed everything down to the grip,  I got into studying Hogans hands more intently two summers ago after reading Bill Mehlhorn book. Many people do not know that one of the few people what Hogan frequently called, and this is long after Hogans playing career, was Bill Mehlohorn. Hogan had a respect and an affection for him. It is quite well known that Hogan sought Mehlhorn out and they talked alone at length at Champions when the Ryder Cup was held there.One of the things in Mehlhorns book that struck me and got me studying these pics of his hands was Hogan telling Mehlhorn. "I wish I had ten thumbs."Made me think about some things.  Don I started more on constitrating on the grip and pressure points and started forgetting about the swing mechanics, especially during a round of golf, and it changed my game, I'm using the main pressure points of the index fingers of both hands complemented with thumb pressure.  Can only you comment on this please and tell us your opinion on something pro's never share with anyone. 

Some of the greens at our muni are worse than trying to putt across asphalt and gravel. Whole patches of grass missing and such. The seventh hole, in particular, is a green that I simply write down two putts if I'm outside 4 feet because it's just not a true putting surface in that condition.

Thanks Robert. That is a nice personal inside look. I had seen this one I believe some time last year.

I'd say definitely record distances over a number of practice sessions, and also make note of significant things like temperature and humidity for each session, as well as any note about how you were actually feeling at the time. That will help you to make adjustments from the average based on external and internal conditions during any particular round.

We played our tourney yesterday and it was wet. Talked to a guy that lives by the course when I got there he said that they got 5" of rain Friday night in less than a hour. 
Shot 86 I had trouble keeping my balance yesterday. Got home and fell a sleep for about a hour and when I woke up I woke up to two sore ears and sinus congestion.

Played today did not really feel to good stomach tasted like snot ears cracking and popping to nice of a day not to play 84 and sunny. Shot 76 but struggled missing greens short catching shots out on the toe. Missed 3 - 6' birdie putts left 2 - 2 inches short dead in the throat and 1 - 1 inch short dead in the throat. 

 

 I have a friend whose pre shot routine is long enough to put the rest of the group to sleep.

 If the actual vertical center of gravity of the club head is less than .840 inches, the club will be more forgiving than a club head with a vcog of .840 inches or more. This is due to the center of gravity of a golf ball being at .840 inches.  In fact, the lower the vcog, the more forgiving the club head will be because it will be easier to get the ball airborne.  Also, if the vcog is low, and the MOI is high, say 14 inch ounces or more, the more forgiving the clubhead will be.  This is because the club will resist turning on off center hits.

It sure is neat, all of the stuff I am learning in golf college:0)

Hit'em Long and Straight,
Bob

 Would a remake now be called a g-Pod?

 Some of the best teachers I have run across from the pre PAT eras could never pass the test. If you have a quick eye and ability to focus it shouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to become a good instructor.

This should help you: http://www.swingsurgeon.com/Da...
Setup with the driver is pretty much like setup with any other club. The only change is ball position and how far the shaft puts you from the ball.