Where To Look When Putting

I have been told that to get them checked once a year. Not sure why mine were not what they were said to be with just a year use. The lofts were off according to what they were said to be by 3 * per club My guess is they were adjusted that way not sure though. I am going to get the checked again in July or August to see if they have changed.

My missis are swing related also but getting them straightened out slowly but surely.

Dan,
Yes, Shoemaker makes several references to The Inner Game of Golf by Tim Gallwey, but I haven't bought this book (at least not yet).
Amazon recommended the following which I did purchase but have not yet read : "Extraordinary Putting" By Fred Shoemaker.
Good golfing,  Jack

 Richard

So, you come and ask questions for help when you want to, then just stop back in and take a cheap pot shot when you want.

You should probably stick to asking real questions instead of being a troll, or bugger off all together.

Dick

Jim, for your info I use the Odyssey Jumbo Grip, which is excellent for my requirements since my hands suffer from arthrosis (I can´t close my fist).   BTW my putter is not an Odyssey but this grip works very well.

The goose is an outside agency, and therefore your shot is considered "rub of the green," or in your case, "rub of the goose."

Bob,
Thanks for your advice. I am going to check my lies dynamically for sure. I will actually test them all dynamically, cause I can:) thorough and complete I will be.  I only checked them for intial results. Heck I just got it yesterday, of course I was eager to use it and measure all my clubs. I am not not close to bending anything yet. Maybe by next week.

 Robert

That is one way to keep my mind on the game and not mess around.  Hope the governor commutes my sentence on the 9th.

Dick

For myself. Focusing on my spot just within 1-4 inches from the ball works best for me. I have used the look at the hole methode once in a while and it has worked for me but mainly for short putts of under 4 feet. In that case looking at the back of the hole can be very effective.
On another note, it was Christmas coming early for me today. I had been in Reno - up north visiting my Uncle and cousins the last few days and while away my order from Golfsmith arrived. My new golf net. mat, loft lie macine and bending bar. Put the net up first. Love it. It'll be Robert from the backyard driving range! Next I measured  the loft and lies of all my irons with the loft/lie. Wow, a real eye opener. Now keep in mind I did not hit my clubs on a board to see what I will adjust them to yet, i only measured what they currently actually are presently with my new toy. Generally fitters will want .5 degree of difference between each club (some go 1 degree). So for example;
38 inch length 5 iron may have a lie angle of 61*
37.5 "       "      6    "     "       "     "   "     "      "  61.5*
Those would be normal progressions.

Normally the lie angle will increase and become more upright as the club gets shorter and clubhead gets fractionally closer to us with it's slightly shorter  length. Follow?

My sticks?
After only 9 months of regular use my custom fit golf clubs have both lofts and lies that are all over the place with very little consistency.
For example my
4-7 irons get increasingly FLATTER rather than more upright.
4 iron is 63*
5   "    "  62*
6   "    "  61*
Then my
7 iron is 62*
8    "   "  62*
9    "   "  63*
pw  "   " 64.5

Again ideal would be 1/2 a degree between each. So most of mine are off. Of course I still need to add tape to the edges and dynamically check what's best for me and the bend/adjust them once I secure my lie/loft machine to my work table, but the measurements so far are shockingly off.

Do you think that checking your lies and lofts is important too? And how old are your clubs and have you EVER checked them?? Now I also checked my lofts and they are generally off also. I want to average a 4* gap between each loft and they are between 3-5* gaps presently. Hmmmmnnnnnn..........

Upset at my fitters work? No. I don't know how much changed in those 9 months with all the play my clubs get. I am excited that I have the means to fix it now and hope the rest of you will see someone who can check and likely adjust many or all your clubs too.

Julzbull:
 
    One man's garbage is another man's treasure

  Amos

Note on  putting:  Two years ago I went to side saddle putting.  While it is not the end to putting methods it is a good way to putt ,in my opinion.  The best thing about it is , that you are looking at your target instead of visuallizing it in your "minds eye". It just makes putting more fun for me.  I have found that while directional control is still an issue, distance control is much improved. It does require a special putter which can be purchased on line."puttmagic.com" is one. Anyone out there side saddle putting?  Ed Hiebert

I was just curios is all my missis are the same pulls and pull hooks. Went and had mine checked last week they were not what they were supposed to be according to my blue print on my clubs.After checking this time we ended up bending them upright basicly back to mizuno stock lies for my clubs they were supposed to be 2* flat but they were all over the place a couple at 1 flat a couple at 1.5 flat a couple 2.5 and 1 at standerd.
We adjusted the lofts back to standerd they were 3* weaker than standerd for some reason.

 

Thanks Jack,   I will for sure order the book, sounds like it might help me allot.   I think another thing, being only a five year golfer may still cause it??   I will order the bood tomorrow!

Thanks,
m

Great to hear from you Bob. Looking forward to more news from golf school when you have the time.

Many thanks, shall try.
In the meantime my homeopathic medicine has provided some relief, plus the fact that I gave up adding salt to my food. Thanks to the latter I dropped over 10 lbs. in weight in a year !!

Surge Nation

Here is my attempt at humor.  I am hitting the rack to dream of those feathered animals we all dream of shooting.  You know, birdies, eagles, and ducks.  Yep, I am a hunter.

Night all, have a great weekend.
Dick

 
The Four Engineers

One day, a Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Chemical Engineer
and Computer Engineer were driving down the street in the same car.

The car broke down.

The Mechanical Engineer said, "I think a rod broke."

The Chemical Engineer said, "The way it sputtered at the end, I don't
think it's getting gas."

The Electrical Engineer said, "I think there was a spark and something
is wrong with the electrical system."

All three turned to the computer engineer and said, "What do you
think?"

The Computer Engineer said, "I think we should all get out and get
back in."

I prefer to rub the goose with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika, then roast for about 4 hours.

Anyone having problems logging in to disqus through firefox ?  I cant login using firefox for some reason today keeps throwing up a warning that the site is not trusted never had that problem before. I can login through IE with out any problem.

Now it is working again must have been a KY thing.

Steve,
I will do my best to be your "case study." How's that? Seriously, because I now have my own loft/lie machine I will be checking my clubs fairly regularly. I should be able to tell soon after the adjustments are made if I notice more consistent patterns. I will likely recheck them every few weeks. It's actually fairly easy and as I get better at it will take even less time.I am not only going to adjust the lies but indeed the lofts. I want to be as close to 4 degree gaps between clubs as possible so as to cover various distances more effectively. Again, because I can I will.
That's again one of the main reasons I want to eventually get a laser range finder too. So I can eventually get a closer over all card on all my distances with each club. All of this is actually fun stuff to me.
I'm currently in the middle of my work week so I won't be able to give this stuff my full attention until Wednesday-Friday sometime. I will then see about securing it to my work table and then the real deal will be set up for bending.

Steve, ditto for me to. If your'e looking any where in front of the impact zone
your'e head/eyes will surely want to follow a moving opbect. I actually look
at the opposite side, ie keeping the club face square to the imaginary line
we have chosen. As the saying goes,"we are all the same, but different", LOL

Yep! My melon is so full, it feels like it might explode at any minute. lol
Good luck with the PAT.  You will need two such ;rounds in one day, so get plenty of rest and take a few good cigars with you to calm your nerves and take your mind off of the bad shots which are inevitable during golf's version of the Boston Marathon.

Bob

Got my book ordered today!!  Can't wait to read it.

Played golf yesterday and today!    Hit better today than yesterday, have to remember to skip a rock and all the way up, it works so much better.  |:o))  Also need to remember to turn more, but, stay in the toe line.  
The weather today and yesterday was great!  Tomorrow, work with the Humane Society.  

Thanks for all of your help,

marilyn

man u guys talk some rubbish

Steve:

   In my case, Tennessee or Mississippi would be more accurate -- but they don't rhyme with the words or fit the beat of the song-- so Alabama has to be "close enuff"
  
   p.s -- I normally wear a Maroon cap with a white "M State" logo and Maroon shirt with the smae logo.   It is amazing the number of perople that want to know "are you from Michigan -- or Missouri?" -- my usual first answer " Do I SOUND like I am from up north?" -- after all these years and living all over the USA, I still have a definite "Southern accent"  LOL
   MSU seems to get little attention or respect -- unless you have play them in the SEC!

    keep hitting them STRAIGHT and LONG

    Amos

 No problem here in the western US.

Can't say for sure but I will be checking them fairly frequently in the future. We do play out of the desert and some crazy hard pan here. i don't take any large divots on purpose but it does happen. In any case it behooves everyone to check out their lies asap before getting into full swing this season.

 Lynn

They were not Canadian geese.  They were not wearing thongs and knee high black socks with flip flops.

Dick

Surge Nation

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your birthday wishes for me and for your support for my game.

I did something today that I have not done since the first week of Jan, 1993.  It was incredible golf weather in central Ok today.  In the mid 60s with 5-10 wind.  I got paired up with a couple of our regulars who I had never played with before.  It seems like playing with new people is bringing out the best in my game.  Hope it works that way with whomever I get paired up with for the PAT.  I got a par on # 1.  Then birdied the par 5 # 2.  Then I pared the next 14 holes.  I hit every fairway, and had 10 GIRs.  the putter was working good.  I had several 20'-25' putts that stopped 10" to 2' from the cup.  I had 3 that hit the hole and rimmed out leaving me a real short tap in for par.  I had my only bogie of the day on 17.  As I was standing on the 18th tee, I was thinking that I only needed a 5 to par it and have my first scratch round since I started playing again.  I had my best drive of the day at about 305 right in the middle of the fairway.  I only needed a straight shot of 220 to reach the pin sit in the back middle of the green.  I hit it right over the pin to about 240 into the trap right behind the flag.  Sand is no big deal, I thought.  Just chip it on and 2 putt for the par and walk away happy.  The trap was flat as a pool table and only had about a 4" lip in the front.  I had to clear 8' of sand, then 10' to the edge of the green and 40' or so of green to run out to the pin.  I took my 8 iron and my putter with me.  It sure was a long walk from the cart to the bunker.  I forced myself to think about something, anything, but the shot during that walk.  I found myself thinking I was walking down that long hallway from my cell to the electric chair.  I know, just a touch of melodrama.  Well, it worked, and I did not give myself time to over think the shot.  I walked into the bunker, took 1 practice swing, and took the shot.  I picked the ball clean off the sand with barely a mark left to show where the ball had been.  It landed about 10' onto the green and rolled out so true that I thought for a second it just might go.  It went just to the left of the hole and stopped 14" from the cup.  I did not even mark it, just tapped it in and went back to rake the trap while the other guys putted out.

What a day folks.  It was only as I was walking back to the cart that I noticed that both hands and knees were shaking and my voice was cracking.  What a feeling.

Now, that feeling only lasted about 2 minutes.  Cause, in true golfer's fashion, then I started thinking about all those real close birdie putts on those 10 GIRs and the 3 lip outs.  What if I could have made a few of those?  See, you just can't make some people happy.  Ha, there is no crying in golf.

Any way, life and golf is great out here in Oklahoma.  Playing again in the morning before I go to work at the course.  Now the challenge becomes trying to do it again, and then more regularly.  One month from today till my PAT.  Hope I am peeking out at just the right time.

I owe it all to Surge, the other members of Surge's team, and my brothers and sisters of the Surge Nation.  Surge gave me back the game of golf, and you have all made it fun to learn as I go with this new swing, and you have been there with me to share the ups and downs in my game and in my life for the last year and a half.

That is what family does.

Thanks,
Dick

PS: I am keeping that score card for the rest of my life. I played from the blue tees which made it right at 6200 yards.

 Lynn

Thanks pal.  I have been having a great shot here and some there, or a great hole here or there.  But, yesterday it all came together on one round.  I have been thinking lately that I have good shots in my bag for every stick in there, but I could not seem to string more than a couple in a row.  Yesterday they just all feel into place.

Now I pray that the next month will see that become more the norm than the exception,
Dick

 Excellent, I´m sure you´ll like the book very much since it describes a very interesting and new approach to golf which goes alongside and enriches Surge´s teachings.
Good luck !!  Jack

Dick,

Great Job!! Now THAT is a birthday present we'd all love to have. We all do the "what if" game when we shoot a good score. Golf sure is a greedy game.

I'd be willing to bet that 10 years from now you could still recall every shot you hit. Golf is a game of memories and this is one you'll never forget.

It put a smile on my old face just reading it. ;0))

I finished my PAT with the 7th one right on the button. It was a thrill and the day was perfect (not so with the last 7 PAT's).  Now its on to the PGA schools for me at age 66!

 Robert F, If I 'goosed' my caddie, I would be walking funny for quite a while ; - )

Hi Robert,

I agree with Gordon.  Don't read too much into those numbers until after you do a dynamic lie test.  Some masking tape and a dry erase marker will give you a lot more information on what the shafts are doing and what your actual lie is.

If your fitter/builder did a dynamic lie test with all of your clubs, instead of with just a five iron and a driver, then he may have made individual adjustments to the lie angles in order to arrive at the numbers used, just  because of the way you hit each club.

Are you hitting them straight?  What is your worst iron and best iron?  Start with those two, hit and record several shots, until you are consistently getting the same results on your tape.  You will then be able to analyze the results and know whether you need to change the lie angles on them.

Hit'em long and straight,
Bob

P.S.  School is still going great!

 John

No space to reply under your comment.

Thanks for your note.  The pro who is helping me passed it on the 4th try.  Guess that is why they say it ain't as easy as one would think. 

congrats on passing it and good luck with the rest of the process.  I hope to be right behind you.

we are never to old to learn and to try to better ourselves.

Dick

Congrates on super play Dick!

 Robert
We get a lot of geese on our courses, especially this time of year.  They are like airborne snow birds.  They sure are a messy bunch.

There were a whole lot of them right in front of a green last week.  The pin was right at the front of the green.  I decided my best shot was to drop it right in front of the green and let it roll up.  I hit my hybrid from 165.  It went a mile high.  It came down and made a direct hit on a huge goose, right in the middle of it's back.  The goose did a cartwheel and took off wobbling and squawking like crazy.  It set off a riot among the whole flock.  I waited till they all got clear before I went to putt.

The ball bounced off the goose, and rolled up onto the green leaving me about a 10' putt, which I dropped for a birdie.

So, I hit a goose and a birdie on the same hole.  I gave the goose credit for the assist. 

That ain't a penalty stroke, is it?
Dick

I got my book today, now if I can stay off the golf course long enough to read it!!  :o))  IM going to start it tonight, I know it will help.   

thanks again,
marilyn

Someone put this Guy in a home..  He is making zero sense ...  talking in circles..  it's like watching a man loosing his sanity 

 Steve, There must be some red-neck in my genes. I love a lot of country music, beats Rap Cr*p by light years. The guys I knew in Libya at Wheelus USAF Base in the mid 1960's were, with one exception, all from Tennessee,Alabama,Kentucky,Texas etc, etc.
My wife put Dixieland Delight on over lunch today. Guess she likes it too : - ]
Liked Amos's comments as well.Music for me, has to have rythm, and meaning to it. Classical through to Country. Love that it is from where you grew up Steve. Have a great day, whenever you start yours. DH

Gordon,
Thanks for the warning/reminder. I am double cautious by nature when it comes to important investments. "Measure twice, cut once"' the old guy advised! Yes I had several double take moments of disbelief. This lead not only to measuring twice but triple. I am carefully making sure to align the scoring lines (grooves) carefully and following all guidelines. I appreciate your reminder though and will check all things very, very carefully before any bending(adjustment) takes place. In addition I will practice on my older sets of clubs first before I attempt to correct anything on my "babies".
Feel free to add any additional reminders. I am going at it slowly and with great care.

LOL..And to think my wife thinks that I'm the biggest SA on the planet. ;0)))

 Had a brilliant round today also, not like yours but I am as happy that you had the round you deserved IMHO. Good luck for the next one and go get 'em Dick. More later. Well done yeeeehaaaa! Will now play 'Dixieland Delight' by Alabama  just to put me in the mood. DH