I was surprised when he hit iron off the tee on 18, he absolutely had to make birdie and that iron, while in the fairway was a long way out. I know he struggles with his driver but just seemed like the moment was begging for him to take the chance with Driver and get into good position.
Speaking of Golf... So I've been hitting a Ping G SF Tec driver with a "Soft Reg" Alta 55 shaft. It's weight is 53 grams. That's pretty light. I am friends with a fitter who had me try the new G-400Max with a Alta Distanza 40 shaft which is 40 grams. He put me on the machine and I gained swing speed, about 5 mph. I didn't want a new head my G was just fine so I just bought the shaft and that was only 70$. With my old shaft my swing speed ranged between 79 and 82 mph, with the new shaft it was 85-89 mph. I played it this past 2 weeks. My best drives are around 220,(avg 200-210) unless fairway is hard and downwind/downhill. On a level fairway I am able to get out to 245 with this new shaft...of course a bad swing just goes further out of bounds. I know going light sometimes means losing some accuracy, but I'm no more wild than before and longer. So I'm good!
Terry, I'm impressed by your studious approach to your game......and I'm jealous that you get to play so often that you have such a studious approach to your game.
Don't let him fool ya Sid! Tell him Gipper!! It's the Indian....not the Bow....hit it, find it, hit it again. 245ish ain't bad for a squid though I tell ya.
I changed my driver about 6 mos. ago. Had a very nice Taylor with a stiff shaft that kept hitting line drives over the pitchers mound. I changed to a Ping with a senior shaft and 2 degrees more loft and I'm now hitting fly balls to the outfield. I'm at least 20 yds. further. Once you turn 70 you don't take your game so seriously. I actually watch those square strike infomercials and think about getting one. My irons are about 10 yrs. old and I doubt new ones would add much to my game. Would like to shoot my age but usually play only 9. Missed half my age by 1 a while back. Still enjoy golf but am carrying a ball retriever for the first time (gift.) We have 6 sets of tees here at the Villages. I still can move up twice more. One more tee and I'll be up there with the guys who shoot some great scores. That's because they forget a stroke or two on each hole.
Yeah shaft makes a difference. What Ping calls a Soft Regular is a Senior shaft. When your swing speed gets in the mid 80's you can't load even a regular shaft and you really need to have a mid 90's or more to load a stiff shaft. The Pro's and top young Am's use X-Stiff. It's math and physics! I got some new irons and went with lighter graphite shafts, The G400 pings and they feel very good and I got back about 10 yds on my iron distances. But even with proper shaft for swing speed, you still have to make a good swing. So it's both the Indian and the Arrow. :shock:
Tiger has opened as the favorite at Bay Hill by Vegas. He did play solid last week and he's won a bunch of times at Bay Hill, so it could happen. But somehow I don't think it will happen. I'm going with Ricky Fowler to get the W.
I see that among the new rules, that they have allowed for a local rule to help speed up play when you hit a ball OB or lose a ball. So you don't have to hit a provisional, I guess it's like a ball hit into the water where you can drop it anywhere along the flight path. Seems fair to me. Certainly would keep me from hitting that 2nd ball OB! Here's the USGA explanation of the new local rule for OB and Lost Ball. http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/rules-modernization/major-changes/golfs-new-rules-stroke-and-distance.html.
A. It's not quite the same as hitting it into a lateral water hazard...there is a two stroke penalty instead of one, and as I read the rule it's allowable to drop two club lengths from the nearest fairway edge (no closer to the hole) for a lost ball or an out of bounds ball. You find the point where the ball was lost or OB, find the nearest fairway edge, draw a line from the pin through each point (extending out 2 club lengths)...and drop anywhere back in that area. Sounds kind of complicated but actually most times the best drop will be nearest fairway edge...but I bet there will be some times when you can do better if you know the details of the rule! This link has a great picture; https://www.golfdigest.com/story/usga-and-randa-officials-reveal-final-draft-of-modernized-rules-of-golf-to-debut-in-2019 B. After hitting into water hazard you can't hit anywhere "back along the flight path" of the ball. There is no such thing as "line of flight" in golf. You can drop as far back as you want if you put the point where the ball FIRST crossed directly between you and the pin. If you can't do this (i.e. most lateral hazards) then you must place within two club lengths of that spot, no closer to the pin. C. I think they are removing the fourth option which is hitting within 2 club lengths of a spot directly across a lateral hazard, at the same distance from the pin. (third option is of course re-hitting from the original spot) They talked about removing that fourth option in the original proposal. I haven't seen whether the final rule changes have that in or not. Rarely comes into play anyway. A new addition to the rules that was NOT included in the original proposal is that they did away with the penalty for a "double hit"...it now counts as just one stroke like any other stroke (except the outcome usually sucks). There will be a lot of educational stuff coming out as January approaches, but there's a fair amount out now.
In our group we've never been as precise as what the rule describes when hitting into a water hazzard. On one hole a guy who played with us one time and was a rules wizzard claimed that if we hit into the water hazzard in a particular area that our drop area was way across the hazzard because there was no way to satisfy all the lines related to the pin and stuff. We always just drop the ball on that no existant line of flight. It's simpler.
: <r>I like this one as well! <E></E><br/> <br/> New rule: Red- and yellow-marked “penalty areas”<br/> may now cover areas of desert, jungle, lava rock, etc.,<br/> in addition to areas of water.<br/> Current rule: Relief is allowed only from “water hazards.”</r>
He wasn't much of a wizard. It's not that complicated; https://www.randa.org/RulesEquipment/Rules/QuickGuide/Relief-Situations-and-Procedures/Water-Hazards
It's Masters Week...who is your top 5? I've got.. Bubba Phil Jordan Rory Justin Thomas Stepping way out on a limb as you can see! :lol: :lol:
Oh and Stu I meant to reply to your water hazzard post. Nobody in my group follows that rule, most of the time just dropping it back from where it rolled in is what we do, but on one hole I play the most common point we slicers hit our ball into the water would result in a drop that none of us are going to make and I doubt outside of sanctioned tour events any person playing that hole drops where the rule says. Edit: rereading this it seem sort of argumentative, but I do want to say Stu's original point was that the rule was pretty straight forward and not complicated like I was saying...He was dead right on that, after looking at the link he gave me it was clear and simple.
Tiger Mania...Fred Couples saying how great he looked in their practice round probably drove a lot of money to Tiger.
I hope this year DJ is renting a ranch house without a basement. Spieth hasn't seemed to find his top putting form yet. Bubba's long lefty slice is a big advantage at Augusta especially on 13. Rory sure looked good on the final 9 at Bay Hill. Tiger is in better physical shape than he has been in years. When you were a dominant at he was there was not much pressure. After all, if he didn't win the major he was playing he probably would win the next. His time is running out and his collar has to be just a little tighter. Non Americans I look for Stenson and Rahm to be strong contenders.
Yeah DJ took quite awhile to regain his form after that slip last year. On Tiger, everybody is upbeat on him right now. He has definitely played well, hasn't won but has shown flashes of the old Tiger. But he still can't hit a fairway and I don't think he can even be top 10 at Augusta unless he's found some magic in his driver.