Curious Golf Thoughts/Questions...

[collegefbfan]

In watching the pros and reading here (I am, by no means a pro, and would love to have the experience a lot of you have), I just was wondering some things:

• What determines when you take a shot with your feet positioned very close together? I know some have their feet close together when pitching/chipping. Is it a yardage thing that decides it for you? Is it only when you use a certain club?
• Let's say you are playing for money (winner takes the pot). The last hole, and you have a one stroke lead, and driver has been giving you fits all day, but you keep going back to it. The last hole is a par 4 with 396 yards straight to the pin, no doglegs, no water, and only bunkers are on both sides of the green. Leaving driver in the bag, what is the safest club you going to hit to make sure you are headed down the fairway? What is the shortest club you would go with?
• No way am I being judgmental in this next one. Golf is a sport that requires tons of focus and such. Even on TV, everyone is quiet before a drive or a putt. When folks like us hit the course (or some anyway, my family members have done this too), there seems to be a 6 or 12 pack involved. If the sport requires such mental focus, and you want to lower your score or shoot below 90 or 80 or whatever, wouldn't drinking alcohol possibly throw that off? I have a feeling some will say it loosens them up. That's fine. I was just thinking getting fitted, having clubs adjusted, certain shafts to help you out more, dropping thousands of dollars to improve your game just to have a few drinks/beers that could possibly mess up your game. If some say that they just play to have fun, I get that too.

 

[hedley_lamarr08]

I don't drink so I can't help with that part. I narrow stance to take speed off of chips/pitches

I'm likely playing the driver unless the other club is absolute money from the tee. I'm borderline in that spot right now

 

[wadesworld]

In watching the pros and reading here (I am, by no means a pro, and would love to have the experience a lot of you have), I just was wondering some things:

• What determines when you take a shot with your feet positioned very close together? I know some have their feet close together when pitching/chipping. Is it a yardage thing that decides it for you? Is it only when you use a certain club?

The short game is a different swing than the full swing. It requires rotation around a fixed point - your lead leg, rather than a drive of the legs through the shot as in a full swing. If your legs are too wide in the short game, you have have the tendency to get your pressure right, but the swing is not long enough to give you time to get your pressure back left. Narrowing the stance helps reduce the tendency for your pressure to shift or for you to sway.

• Let's say you are playing for money (winner takes the pot). The last hole, and you have a one stroke lead, and driver has been giving you fits all day, but you keep going back to it. The last hole is a par 4 with 396 yards straight to the pin, no doglegs, no water, and only bunkers are on both sides of the green. Leaving driver in the bag, what is the safest club you going to hit to make sure you are headed down the fairway? What is the shortest club you would go with?

I'm going to hit the club that puts me in the widest part of the fairway and with the best chance to avoid any hazards

• No way am I being judgmental in this next one. Golf is a sport that requires tons of focus and such. Even on TV, everyone is quiet before a drive or a putt. When folks like us hit the course (or some anyway, my family members have done this too), there seems to be a 6 or 12 pack involved. If the sport requires such mental focus, and you want to lower your score or shoot below 90 or 80 or whatever, wouldn't drinking alcohol possibly throw that off? I have a feeling some will say it loosens them up. That's fine. I was just thinking getting fitted, having clubs adjusted, certain shafts to help you out more, dropping thousands of dollars to improve your game just to have a few drinks/beers that could possibly mess up your game. If some say that they just play to have fun, I get that too.

Yes, if you're trying to score, anything more than 1 drink is likely a detriment. That said, sometimes concentrating just on the fun can allow you to just swing without technical thought and can lead to your best scores, while trying really hard to concentrate and score can get you in the realm of too technical and cause some awful scores. You have to find the balance, but I don't think alcohol is generally helpful from a golf swing perspective. But if you enjoy it, have fun (without drinking and driving).

 

[Slowmo]

1. - I will chip with my feet close together if I"m playing a lot pitch and run shot. Different shots, even short game shots, need different setups.

2. In that situation I"m hitting 3w. Heck, to be honest I would probably score better if I put my driver in the bag and only played 3w. The first time I ever broke 80 my buddy tossed my driver in the trunk of his car right before we teed off.

3. I usually only drink wile golfing if i"m already having a horrible round so that's not a concern.

 

[PatsFan]

In watching the pros and reading here (I am, by no means a pro, and would love to have the experience a lot of you have), I just was wondering some things:

• What determines when you take a shot with your feet positioned very close together? I know some have their feet close together when pitching/chipping. Is it a yardage thing that decides it for you? Is it only when you use a certain club?
• Let's say you are playing for money (winner takes the pot). The last hole, and you have a one stroke lead, and driver has been giving you fits all day, but you keep going back to it. The last hole is a par 4 with 396 yards straight to the pin, no doglegs, no water, and only bunkers are on both sides of the green. Leaving driver in the bag, what is the safest club you going to hit to make sure you are headed down the fairway? What is the shortest club you would go with?
• No way am I being judgmental in this next one. Golf is a sport that requires tons of focus and such. Even on TV, everyone is quiet before a drive or a putt. When folks like us hit the course (or some anyway, my family members have done this too), there seems to be a 6 or 12 pack involved. If the sport requires such mental focus, and you want to lower your score or shoot below 90 or 80 or whatever, wouldn't drinking alcohol possibly throw that off? I have a feeling some will say it loosens them up. That's fine. I was just thinking getting fitted, having clubs adjusted, certain shafts to help you out more, dropping thousands of dollars to improve your game just to have a few drinks/beers that could possibly mess up your game. If some say that they just play to have fun, I get that too.

#1 Shorter compact swing for a chip
#2 5w or 5i
#3 I don't drink much. If I do drink when I play I won't drink more than 1 during a round.
I think there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to swing lube.

 

[MtlJeff]

Those are some different questions LOL

My feet are usually similar for most shots

My strategy in match play type situations is usually "don't lose the hole" if i'm up late. Make him beat you with birdies. So if i'm struggling with driver and can hit a comfortable iron in with 3wood or hybrid--i'd do that

I don't drink in important rounds. Hard to play well when drinking

 

[CTRosarian]

4 iron is by favorite club off the tee for narrow fairways.
I've been working on driver accuracy by learning to hit a straight shot down the middle of the fairway.
My springtime golf project while I'm busy with gardening chores in New England.

 

[blugold]

In watching the pros and reading here (I am, by no means a pro, and would love to have the experience a lot of you have), I just was wondering some things:

• What determines when you take a shot with your feet positioned very close together? I know some have their feet close together when pitching/chipping. Is it a yardage thing that decides it for you? Is it only when you use a certain club?

Around the green, If I want to be somewhat steep on the ball, feet close together. If I want to be more shallow, a little wider stance. I am not worrying about feet distance anywhere else, I'm just trying to be as predictable as possible and the added variable of stance width is a good way for me to starting worrying about if I'm inhaling or exhaling in backswing.

• Let's say you are playing for money (winner takes the pot). The last hole, and you have a one stroke lead, and driver has been giving you fits all day, but you keep going back to it. The last hole is a par 4 with 396 yards straight to the pin, no doglegs, no water, and only bunkers are on both sides of the green. Leaving driver in the bag, what is the safest club you going to hit to make sure you are headed down the fairway? What is the shortest club you would go with?

As long as there are no penalty areas around my usual miss, let the big dog eat. I can never be sure I am going in the fairway, nobody can, but I feel good about the 19°UW right now. That would give me about 230-250 off the tee and a reasonable shot in.

• No way am I being judgmental in this next one. Golf is a sport that requires tons of focus and such. Even on TV, everyone is quiet before a drive or a putt. When folks like us hit the course (or some anyway, my family members have done this too), there seems to be a 6 or 12 pack involved. If the sport requires such mental focus, and you want to lower your score or shoot below 90 or 80 or whatever, wouldn't drinking alcohol possibly throw that off? I have a feeling some will say it loosens them up. That's fine. I was just thinking getting fitted, having clubs adjusted, certain shafts to help you out more, dropping thousands of dollars to improve your game just to have a few drinks/beers that could possibly mess up your game. If some say that they just play to have fun, I get that too.

I play golf to have fun. My score doesn't determine my enjoyment for a round. If my goal was to drop strokes and lower my handicap then I would no drink on the course. But that environment is usually too serious and not what I am after with golf.

 

[Bernoulli]

Narrow stance for shorter shots around the green.

I’m hitting driver. Best distance and accuracy choice for me.

Most rounds I wouldn’t drink. Exceptions are scrambles, charity events or rounds with friends I rarely see or rarely play with.

 

[BigMac]

1) I put my feet closer together when I'm pitching/chipping, or when I'm swinging a partial wedge (AW or PW) and deliberately taking yardage off it.

2) I'm probably hitting driver. Nothing else is going to give me a reasonable chance of being on in 2 on a 396 yard par 4 (that's a stretch for me even with driver), and stats have shown that most people aren't any more accurate going to a FW or hybrid, so there's no real advantage. Exception might be if I'd been hammering my 3W all day and felt really good with it, because a well hit 3W will probably go as far or farther than a mishit driver.

3) I used to drink a lot of beers on the golf course. Maybe not coincidentally, I also rarely broke 100 at the time, but I really didn't care because it was mostly about getting out there and having fun and a few beers with my buddies. We all sucked at golf and none of us cared much about our scores. Different people handle their alcohol differently, but for me there's definitely a line where 2-3 beers over the course of a round is no big deal, but more than that and my game starts going downhill. I've seen some guys who can shoot in the 70s when they're nearly unconscious, but I'm not one of them.