The Golf Slice

Buying golf clubs is generally a very intimidating experience. There’s so much to choose from and that’s especially true when it comes to putters. You have different lengths, different heads and different grips. It’s a madhouse.

The thing to keep in mind when buying a new putter is to remember you’ll be using it more than any other golf club in your bag. The key to good putting is confidence and consistency so make sure the putter you choose to buy feels like right when use it. I don’t suggest going for the most expensive or the latest putter available. Instead, choose the one you think will give you a consistent putt and makes you the most comfortable.

Remember that a putter is the easiest club to “try before you buy” so doesn’t be afraid to take some practice swings inside the store before making your final decision.

By definition an artificial obstruction is anything on the golf course that is man-made in the way of your golf ball. This can be broken down nicely into two categories: movable obstructions and immovable obstructions.

A movable obstruction is a something small that you can, surprise, move out of the way. Things like empty “soda” cans, lawn rakes and trash would fall under this category. You’re allowed to move these types of obstructions out of the way or, if they’re making physical contact with your ball, you can mark where your golf ball is at before removing the object.

An immovable obstruction is then, obviously, something you can’t move out of the way of your golf ball. These types of objects are typically permanent features of the golf course like sprinklers, utility sheds or even stand for spectators. If your golf ball stops on, in or under an obstruction like this you are allowed to seek relief by moving it back into play without penalty.

I wanted to take some time today to publicly thank our newsletter sponsor, Fore Score Golf Stats.

Fore Score Golf Stats lets you track your golf game and stats online using a very simple interface. It provides users with a place to record all of their scores after each round and then presents them with a bevy of in-depth stats personalized for their scores.

Fore Score has a ton of features but here are some of my favorites:

• Calculates your handicap.
• Provides real-time weather information for your favorite courses.
• Personalized scorecards for your favorite courses with your stats and averages built in. This is great because you can tell what your historical stroke and putting averages are for each hole as you play them.

I really can’t do the entire site justice so you might want to hop on over and register for a free demo account. A Premium Account is normally a one-time $20.00 USD fee but they’re currently running a special for 50% if you use the coupon code 6BWH9HU.

When I was first starting to play golf I would lose golf balls all the time. It was terrible. It got so bad that I started playing exclusively with the range balls they sell in the clubhouse. As I eventually discovered, that only made matters much worse.

So what do you do when you lose a golf ball? You perform a drop. Here are the three steps to take:

1. Try and find a spot closest to where you lost your golf ball that gives you total relief from any hazard area. Any area that gives your feet and the ball room away from the hazard will be fine. Mark that area with a golf tee or something else visible.
2. Move out from the hazard area and away from the hole by a distance of one or two club lengths. If you lost your golf ball in a water hazard the distance is two club lengths. If it’s a cart path or similar hazard then the distance is only one club length. Mark that spot as well.
3. Now for the actual drop. Stand between your two marked spots and hold the golf ball at shoulder height and an arm’s length away from your body. Let it go without straight down without putting any kind of spin on it. Once it lands your ready to take your shot.

That’s a lot of steps and is a pretty typical example of why most people find golf intimidating because of its mysterious rules. Hopefully, in the future, you’ll know what to do the next time you sail your golf ball into a pond.

I haven’t written a beginner style post in awhile so I thought I’d talk today about an important part of the golf course: the fairway.

The fairway is your direct path to the green. Its grass is cut very, very close to the ground (at a good course, that is) and is usually anywhere from a half to a full inch in height. The area on the sides of the fairway is called the rough and its grass is much longer than the grass you find on a fairway (again, at a good course).

Another physical trait of a fairway to consider is its width. One holes above a Par 3, the narrower the fairway the more difficult the hole.

So last week I was randomly selected by my boss to be a part of a golf outing in June with one of our clients. This wasn’t a big deal until I was told, more or less, that I shouldn’t take things seriously when I get out there because it was for fun and to schmooze with our client.

Apparently, my reputation as being a hardcore golfer has gotten out at work.

Now my problem is that I was essentially told not to try hard (ie, make everyone else look good and be comfortable). I’m by no means a really good golfer but I can hold my own so I was slightly miffed by this at the time.

Since my invitation/warning I’ve reconsidered things and now I see what my boss’ point was. I’m not a regular golf event attending kind of guy so maybe it’s common practice or maybe I just work for a weird dude.

There are really two different types of golf tees: normal and long. The normal golf tee is what you’ll see most people using. They’re generally made of wood and are, on the whole, pretty common and not exciting in the least.

I personally use the longer golf tees. They’re made of wood like normal but they’re approximate one to two inches longer in length than a normal tee.

Several years ago I started using longer tees as an experiment because I was having a hard time getting under the ball with a driver I owned at the time. While it turned out the driver and I didn’t get a long regardless of the tee I did end up sticking with longer tees and use them to this day.

So if you’re having some trouble on the tee box maybe you should try using longer golf tees and see if that helps.

I hate the winter.

I’ve been suffering from a nasty case of the flu since about Saturday so it’s been tough to find motivation to post right now.

I did manage to get out this week’s edition of the newsletter though.

I’ll try and get back into the swing of things tomorrow so expect regular posting to resume then.