Cheating with a vintage bag

birly-shirly · July 5, 2015

I can think of a few things that are not strictly legal or sporting to put in a vintage bag. But here's what I've been cheating with this last week. Putting the vintage in my vintage bag are a set of '88 Apex, 1 - SW and a 8813 putter.

Here are the suspect supplements:

On Wednesday night, I cheated with a Taylor Made R1 and a Titleist 906 fairway. I like them. I like that I can set the driver to 12*, and with a stiff, heavyish shaft that I like, it doesn't go too high at all. I think it does me good to know that there's enough loft on the driver that I don't need to try and add any as I swing. I'm sure I pick up some distance overall, and the extra carry is great. I hit 2 big blocked drives, one of which cost me a shot but the other I got away with. On the 3 tee shots that usually give me the willies, I hit a 1 iron off the tee and kept it on the straight and narrow. On 2 out of those 3, I think I'd have struggled to get a good look around the dogleg if I'd hit a 2 iron and been 10 yards shorter.

But tonight, I put the R1 away, and replaced it with a steel shafted Hogan 25th anniversary persimmon driver, and a redline 3 wood. So far, so vintage. But to keep up my dastardly ways, I snuck an ALIGNMENT STICK into my bag. Dear Reader, I cheated my way around tonight with a clear visual alignment aid on every shot from tee to green.

Now, I thought I got a good deal on my R1 when I bought it second hand for about $100. But alignment sticks are about 1/20 of that, and I doubt I've ever had more fun off the tee. I've obviously fallen into some bad habits - and properly square alignment feels awfully strange indeed. So strange that I doubt I could contort myself into a square alignment without a bright orange artificial aid lying between my feet and the ball. So strange that I CAN'T look up at my target in the distance, it's so far out of place that I could never take the club back. So I just look at the ball, my orange stick, and I try to trust. The result? Only 1 ball into trouble on the right the whole round, everything else carried a slight draw which never really looked like missing badly left.

And the bottom line? Wednesday night with the adjustable toaster on a space-age stick I played nicely by my usual standards and went round in 79. Anything sub-80 is good for me, so I was very happy with the fruit of my cheating. Tonight, same course but from the back tees, I went round in 73 and I really don't think I was hitting my irons any better.

Those things are banned for a reason.

oldschoolrocker · July 5, 2015

Interesting. Now, I would not consider that cheating, only using a training aid during practice. Actually less In my opinion than having a caddy lineup your clubface from behind before a shot. Hmmmm, where do we see that?
Good show BS and thanks for the tip. Will be trying it out myself.

HoldenCornfield · July 5, 2015

Wow, Birly, that's great shooting! Congratulations. Does that 73 tie your personal best or set a new one? Excellent.

For a practice round, I think that alignment aid is a great idea. Wish I'd have thought of that. I think that would be a great lesson.

Fellaheen51 · July 5, 2015

Echoing the above, nice rounds B-S! May have to play (er' practice) with one of those alignment sticks. Sounds like a great way to get straightened out.

And.........It ain"t cheat'in if you don't get caught.

Shambles · July 5, 2015

I used any of my other clubs to set my alignment and simply pushed that club away for the caddy to pick up, or picked it up myself after I had already made my shot. It's perfectly legitimate as long as you remove the alignment aid before taking your shot, and pushing it away accomplishes that.

I've since stopped doing that but I've already become familiar with aligning my shots without the need for an alignment aid.

Shambles

jmck · July 5, 2015

Sounds more like a good solid way to practice your fundamentals on course rather than cheating to me. IMO, once your swing is good enough to break 80, it's really the basic fundamentals--grip, stance, posture, aim, alignment, pre-shot routine, course management--that are the key to consistent scores.

birly-shirly · July 6, 2015

[quote name='HoldenCornfield' timestamp='1436137976' post='11892758']
Wow, Birly, that's great shooting! Congratulations. Does that 73 tie your personal best or set a new one? Excellent.

For a practice round, I think that alignment aid is a great idea. Wish I'd have thought of that. I think that would be a great lesson.
[/quote]

Yes, previous best score on my home course was a 73, but played from a set of tees one forward from what I played last night. So, same score but longer course would probably constitute a new, official best. If it hadn't been achieved with illegal aids, that is...

[quote name='Shambles' timestamp='1436143667' post='11893240']
I used any of my other clubs to set my alignment and simply pushed that club away for the caddy to pick up, or picked it up myself after I had already made my shot. It's perfectly legitimate as long as you remove the alignment aid before taking your shot, and pushing it away accomplishes that.

I've since stopped doing that but I've already become familiar with aligning my shots without the need for an alignment aid.

Shambles
[/quote]

Very interesting. I hadn't considered the possibility that this might be legal as part of a pre-shot routine, provided it's removed for the shot itself. Now, that would be genius - although, really I'm hoping that like you I can ingrain a more solid set-up during practice and ride without the training wheels when playing in company.

[quote name='jmck' timestamp='1436145904' post='11893450']
Sounds more like a good solid way to practice your fundamentals on course rather than cheating to me. IMO, once your swing is good enough to break 80, it's really the basic fundamentals--grip, stance, posture, aim, alignment, pre-shot routine, course management--that are the key to consistent scores.
[/quote]

I very much agree. What I think I'm seeing is that the alignment stick actually ties lots of those aspects together. I now think that a good grip is pretty much how your hands lie naturally on the club when your alignment and stance is good. Ball position is critical too - in that too far forward tends to tug you open, and vice versa.

As regards routine and course management, I've always been guilty of looking up at my target once I'm standing over the ball and starting to second-guess myself. All sorts of contortions and compensations (and bad shots) result. The most remarkable benefit that I've found, is that with a consistent alignment my swing itself settles down and become much more consistent. I really think I'm making better, easier, swings when I take care of the pre-shot fundamentals.

The other thing I would note for anyone who wants to give this a go themselves is that the stick doesn't necessarily have to be strictly parallel to your target line. From a strict, parallel stance, I find that I tend to draw the ball. In practice, and at the range, I had some success pointing my stick a consistent amount left of my target - but with the clubface pointing dead at the target. If my experience is anything to go by, it's definitely worth experimenting to find the aim and alignment that works best for you, whether it's perfectly square and parallel or somewhat personalised. You can find a constant angle left or right of your "true" target at any distance by holding up 1 or 2 fingers at arms' length and sighting a proxy target for your alignment stick.

Fellaheen51 · July 6, 2015

[quote name='birly-shirly' timestamp='1436183555' post='11894954']
..........I've always been guilty of looking up at my target once I'm standing over the ball and starting to second-guess myself. All sorts of contortions and compensations (and bad shots) result. The most remarkable benefit that I've found, is that with a consistent alignment my swing itself settles down and become much more consistent. I really think I'm making better, easier, swings when I take care of the pre-shot fundamentals.

The other thing I would note for anyone who wants to give this a go themselves is that the stick doesn't necessarily have to be strictly parallel to your target line. From a strict, parallel stance, I find that I tend to draw the ball. In practice, and at the range, I had some success pointing my stick a consistent amount left of my target - but with the clubface pointing dead at the target. If my experience is anything to go by, it's definitely worth experimenting to find the aim and alignment that works best for you, whether it's perfectly square and parallel or somewhat personalised. You can find a constant angle left or right of your "true" target at any distance by holding up 1 or 2 fingers at arms' length and sighting a proxy target for your alignment stick.
[/quote]

Good points in your posting B-S. A couple of comments:

After setup, I always give the intended target one last look. Not to second guess my setup, but as a means to visualize the shot I'm about to execute. Work hard at trying to take care of the pre-shot fundamentals (grip, stance, ball placement, alignment, etc.) so that when I'm ready to fire, all I need to concern myself with is executing the proper swing. So goes the theory, reality is something different at times.

My natural ball flight is somewhat left to right. As much as I've tried to hit a nice draw, it usually turns into a bad snap hook. I no longer fight it, just compensate with my alignment stance. Taking a stance slightly left of intended target (appx. 2* or so) works out about right. Then keep the face square to this target line. Get myself into trouble on those days when the ball striking is erratic. Try to compensate by manipulating the face angle, closing the stance, etc. Usually unsuccessfully. To much over-thinking things. Cluttering the mind. It is at time likes this that I'll drop a club on the ground to reestablish my preferred direction and foot placement.

Never have considered the one finger at arms length approach to assist in alignment. Good tip, I'll give a go next time out. I have been known to give the one finger "salute" to my bad shots on occasion.

BIG STU · July 7, 2015

You were not playing a stipulated round for handicap purposes were you? Then it is not cheating just a practice round nothing at all wrong with that

birly-shirly · July 7, 2015

Hi Stu - no definitely not. Just a solo round. I'm pleased with my score - and would like to think that it's an indication of what legitimate scores I might post. On the other hand, even in a casual round, if I tried to claim a 73 after ignoring out of bounds tee shots and giving myself short putts, well, I'd just be kidding myself. That's not a real 73, is it?

In the same way, I hit the ball 73 times with the help of an alignment stick, but I don't suppose I can really claim to have SCORED 73 either.

Great practice session though!

oldschoolrocker · July 7, 2015

BS,
One thing your post did for me was to cause me to really think about alignment when I went out yesterday. Took the Split-soles that I had been going hooking left, and with the help of paying better attention to my body/club/target lines and a slight grip modification was able to keep them pretty straight. Almost had my fade working with them as well. Thanks for reminding me how crucial alignment is. Seems bad habits creep into our games when we don't stay on top of it and before you know it we think the sky is falling when all too often it is something fundamental. Most of us at this stage of our golfing adventure have our swings, so when a parameter shifts in the equation the result is not our preconceived outcome.