Oceans Eleven Confessions to break a man's heart....

[mdgboxx]

Oh boy!

 

I'm on page 42/51.

Major flood repairs at home. Contractors on ground floor and in the basement. Covered by insurance, but it happened on Nov 29 (2015)

 

Very little access to computer, or anything else, my Precious is at her mother's. She was OK with the work/repairs, until she saw two different groups invade the house...She freaked out, had to get her out.

 

I keep in contact every night, she's 45 minutes away. I realized yesterday that I forgot how to make rice in the microwave, or maybe that I never have. I was old school. :rofl:

 

It more than likely will be a while before I'm caught up. As we speak, I'm sitting sideways at the keyboard. :fan_1: New kitchen cabinets and floor repairs upstairs.

New ceiling and floor in the laundry room.

 

Check in later :wave:

[Pigems]

Nice soccer balls Rad, Have you seen my Baseball?? Hahaha

 

Pigs that baseball is nice....,where'd you pick it up at?

 

In the middle of a fairway one day, or it might have been the rough I don't really remember lol. But found on a course none the less, it looked pretty cool so I decided to keep it rather than play it :)

[scotee]

 

Grooves matter. Just ask the Spin Doctor!

 

But wait there's more!

[PapaJohick]

Oh boy!

 

I'm on page 42/51.

Major flood repairs at home. Contractors on ground floor and in the basement. Covered by insurance, but it happened on Nov 29 (2015)

 

Very little access to computer, or anything else, my Precious is at her mother's. She was OK with the work/repairs, until she saw two different groups invade the house...She freaked out, had to get her out.

 

I keep in contact every night, she's 45 minutes away. I realized yesterday that I forgot how to make rice in the microwave, or maybe that I never have. I was old school. :rofl:

 

It more than likely will be a while before I'm caught up. As we speak, I'm sitting sideways at the keyboard. :fan_1: New kitchen cabinets and floor repairs upstairs.

New ceiling and floor in the laundry room.

 

Check in later :wave:

 

Man that stinks. Hope all goes well man.

[MMB1500]

Oh boy!

 

I'm on page 42/51.

Major flood repairs at home. Contractors on ground floor and in the basement. Covered by insurance, but it happened on Nov 29 (2015)

 

Very little access to computer, or anything else, my Precious is at her mother's. She was OK with the work/repairs, until she saw two different groups invade the house...She freaked out, had to get her out.

 

I keep in contact every night, she's 45 minutes away. I realized yesterday that I forgot how to make rice in the microwave, or maybe that I never have. I was old school. :rofl:

 

It more than likely will be a while before I'm caught up. As we speak, I'm sitting sideways at the keyboard. :fan_1: New kitchen cabinets and floor repairs upstairs.

New ceiling and floor in the laundry room.

 

Check in later :wave:

 

That's terrible luck old chap. I hope you manage to get things sorted out quickly.

 

I guess that's one down side of the snow melting...

[PeanutsDaddy]

Positive vibes being sent your way MDG. Bummer that your sanctuary is in a state of turmoil. Keep your head above water, I don't think we're going anywhere.

[knock it close]

Great tune Wolf, I was banging that today in my car with the nice weather we've been having.

 

T's & P's MDG, flooding sucks, I know my dad had some issues with his basement when the flood rolled through here a couple years ago and it took some time to get it resolved.

[thug the bunny]

No one can tell me that grooves don't add spin. What about when you flush a short iron and you see little bits of ball cover in your grooves? How about those beautiful little ball pubies that your grooves have shaved off the cover of the ball? The club face makes contact with the back of the ball tangentially, which imparts a shearing force to the outside of the ball, and at the same time the ball compresses so that the plastic will deform such that the edges of the grooves will catch the plastic, and sometimes can actually shave the plastic off.

[DeNinny]

scoteef that is a pretty good explanation. In short, there is a point at which you can put so much force on the ball during impact such that it stays compressed against the face too long and the clubhead actually has to slow down a little in order for the ball to decompress and spring off the face. A ball that is high in compression rating may be more optimal at lower swing speeds as you stated as such for your irons.

 

The moral of this story: scoteef is a BEAST with his driver. He has been pulling teef for so long that his hands and wrists are like Popeye's. He can't play those girlie man balls.

 

In regards to spin off the face of the club, there are ALWAYS two ways it does this:

 

1) A drag or shear force is applied tangential to the surface of the ball. This is more a classical view of spin. Simply put, the ball rolls off the face of the club. This is what dictates the amount of spin the most with the higher lofted clubs. With respect to spinning off the face, this is also where the cover of the ball comes into play a little more. Certain covers may have a higher coefficient of friction and thus should spin a little better based on this physics.

 

2) One side of the ball is compressed more than another. The more compressed side will "spring" off the face more than the other side. This puts an imbalanced force on the ball as a unit and so the ball spins around its center based on that difference in compression. The spin from stronger lofted clubs is more influenced by this physics than 1) above. Cover material differences will impact this type of spin less since it has nothing to do with the coefficient of friction of the cover. The amount of ball compression, however is impacted by this a lot, as is the clubhead speed and also the ball internal construction.

 

Both of these are at play when the ball spins off the clubface. The relative magnitude of each is highly dependent upon the clubface loft. And cover material comes into play with 1) more than 2).

 

There was a discussion about wedges (classic section) awhile back where a postulate (scientific terminology) was put forth by an individual that grooves do not have an impact on the amount of spin imparted on the ball. Even laid out some physics backing his claim IIRC. In your analysis of spin, notice that there is no mention of grooves as being part of the equation(s). This may be ground that's already been covered, so forgive me for not searching thru 10 prior threads. Interested in your take. Any "truthiness" to this claim?

 

I like science, in this case Physics. Even though I do not understand it. Mathematics has a way of cutting thru the "mythology" of a subject. Perfect deductive logic. Reminds me of an old meme (before there was such a thing)........."Real men know Calculus".

 

So sorry if some of this is rehash of what others have posted, but I would rather derive the answers for you from first principles rather than simply post links to someone else's work, whether right or wrong. If I'm going to post someone else's work as a link, it will be with respect to the basic first principles (like Newton's laws of motion).

 

Another point of note, just to clarify further, when I stated in 1) above that the ball "rolls off the face". It should NOT be taken literally. What I am saying is that there is static friction on the surface of the ball and that static friction is a very negligible "roll", literally, on the face, but it is the same physics as a literal roll. It is simply enough static friction to just start the spin on the ball. To be clear: the ball just doesn't spend enough time on the face for the roll to be seen. I mention this because I know others will (and have) nitpick that point.

 

Also worth mentioning is that both 1) and 2) above really just impart a very low amount of spin on the ball. Those 1000s of RPMs of spin you read on monitors from hitting shots ARE NOT from the spin just off the face. The real spin starts when the ball is airborne and it is based on the local air velocity at the surface of the ball. I can explain this in more detail later, if you want me to, but I just want to make the point clear that when I'm talking about spin off the face of the club, it really is a very little amount relative to the later spin when airborne. But all that said, those very minor differences in LOW spin off the face actually make a HUGE difference when airborne.

 

Sorry to ramble a bit before getting to your question, but spin is one of my favorite topics. The airborne spin part is a mathematical nightmare compared to other physics like how much the shaft bends or how much kinetic energy the ball has. That's the easy stuff! And LOL chemical engineers (<-I'm NOT a physicist) love their fluid dynamics.

 

So now, the problem statement is "do grooves matter?"

 

I want to start by just stating that what matters is high static friction between the ball and the clubface, AT and DURING IMPACT. As long as you have this, then the physics of both 1) and 2) as I explained completely apply without further complication. If you don't have static friction, then the ball "slips" on the face during impact and this results in a lower spin than if the ball didn't slip. When the ball slips, there is literally less frictional force for 1) above to cause the ball to spin. Also 2) above is LESS affected by the ball slipping (since it is about compressing the ball to cause it to spin), but since 1) and 2) ALWAYS occur, so long as there is a lofted face going into impact, both 1) and 2) are affected by the ball slipping.

 

So now the question is do grooves help with adding static friction to the ball enough to make a difference in the absence of them?

 

To me, in a dry environment, likely the answer is no, they don't matter. Also when there is a less lofted (better stated is less angled) clubface coming into impact, they don't matter as much. This is likely why testing by supposedly "knowledgeable" club manufacturers can prove they don't matter because they perform their tests in an isolated environment. So long as the coefficient of friction between a grooveless face and the ball is high enough to withstand the shear forces (which INCREASE with loft) during impact and prevent the ball from "slipping" at the surface of the face, then absolutely grooves do not matter.

 

So that is the ideal case, but let's dig into it further now with some non-ideal situations. What if the clubface is lofted so much that there is some "slip" on the face? According to the laws of friction, static friction is greater than dynamic friction, so once the slip starts, it is going to be easier to maintain that slip...unless there is something to stop it.

 

Consider the ball contacting the face of the club between the grooves. The ball is round, so absolutely there is only one infinitesimally small point of contact on the face until it starts to flatten against the face, so there is a high likelihood, in reality, that the ball can contact a clubface precisely between two grooves. So now if it starts to slip on the face at that precise point, the only thing to stop it will be the groove. So a groove is absolutely important in this scenario.

 

Furthermore, if the groove edge is smooth, then the ball can still slip a little along the rounded edge as compared to a sharp edged groove. The sharp edged groove will more easily stop the slip and again return the physics back to "static" friction. Ultimately the presence of a sharp groove is needed for increasing spin, as compared to no grooves or rounded groove edges.

 

Now let's take into account the business of grass and water that will be in between the ball and clubface during impact. In this scenario, both the grass and water serve as a "lubricant" between the ball and clubface and rest assured, they have VERY low coefficients of friction as compared to the much harder ball and clubface, so they will absolutely contribute to more slip and thus decreased spin. So once again, if a groove is present, then the grass and water can literally be pushed out of the way from being in between the ball and clubface. The grooves provide a nice little "nook" for the lubricants, BUT...it still isn't a perfect scenario. There is still a moment where the grass and water is NOT in the groove during impact and during that time, there is still some slip. So ultimately the grooves helped with this, but they can never fully mitigate the issue of grass and water decreasing the spin on the ball.

 

So in summary to all this, grooves will absolutely matter in the shorter irons (if they didn't, there would be no need for a groove spec and groove rule...LOL) and they matter less and less as the clubface gets more delofted. Do they matter for driver? I would say yes, but not nearly as much.

 

I hope this all makes sense.

[DeNinny]

No one can tell me that grooves don't add spin. What about when you flush a short iron and you see little bits of ball cover in your grooves? How about those beautiful little ball pubies that your grooves have shaved off the cover of the ball? The club face makes contact with the back of the ball tangentially, which imparts a shearing force to the outside of the ball, and at the same time the ball compresses so that the plastic will deform such that the edges of the grooves will catch the plastic, and sometimes can actually shave the plastic off.

 

Amen, my homie!

 

To nitpick, it may be better stated that grooves help prevent loss of spin rather than stating that they add spin. (Just sayin'.)

[Michael C.]

There's our Ninja!

 

I was kidding when I said I didn't know how it worked.

[DeNinny]

...

 

Ninja!! Good to see you back buddy. Always nice to have a guy who encourages me that I'm good enough to play my macs hahaha jk. Since he and I have been messaging each other about my probably easy for him questions, I have found out that what he says is what I have mostly though I'm just not smart enough with the words to explain it as well as he does haha and sometimes not even smart enough to comprehend what he's saying 100% of the time but I catch the gist.

 

...

 

PJ, thanks for the warm welcome and good to see you "on the flipside" (...thx for visiting me in the hole...). Anytime you need me to elaborate further, I will spend as much time explaining as you want. I've always been on a mission to not let my confessions brethren get deluded by HALF-TRUTH golf marketing "physics", so I will give you everything to the best of my technical understanding if you care to explore it with me. I can tell you that explaining the full physics, even if I repeat myself, is VERY helpful to me and refining my understanding even more.

 

And FYI Hammer, I'm off to see Esperanza Spalding in concert now! LOL I'll try to get her number for you.

[PapaJohick]

You've done a great job dumbing it down for me haha.

[DeNinny]

PJ, I think it was Enstein that said if you can't explain it simply, then you don't fully understand it.

[PapaJohick]

That is too true (and yes it was him ;)). I find myself doing that a lot with medicine. When someone is trying to explain to me about a procedure or injury and it's hard for them to make sense then I know that they don't truly understand the etiology and/or purpose. I catch myself also doing this sometimes with my athletes. Then I have to reference my surgeon that I work with and of course he makes it simple and I can now correct my thinking and also make it simple (and not just by copying him word for word haha)

 

Holy run on sentence by myself there.......

[Palauan Hammer]

...

 

Ninja!! Good to see you back buddy. Always nice to have a guy who encourages me that I'm good enough to play my macs hahaha jk. Since he and I have been messaging each other about my probably easy for him questions, I have found out that what he says is what I have mostly though I'm just not smart enough with the words to explain it as well as he does haha and sometimes not even smart enough to comprehend what he's saying 100% of the time but I catch the gist.

 

...

 

PJ, thanks for the warm welcome and good to see you "on the flipside" (...thx for visiting me in the hole...). Anytime you need me to elaborate further, I will spend as much time explaining as you want. I've always been on a mission to not let my confessions brethren get deluded by HALF-TRUTH golf marketing "physics", so I will give you everything to the best of my technical understanding if you care to explore it with me. I can tell you that explaining the full physics, even if I repeat myself, is VERY helpful to me and refining my understanding even more.

 

And FYI Hammer, I'm off to see Esperanza Spalding in concert now! LOL I'll try to get her number for you.

 

 

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge there Brosef!!! :)

 

You and Mrs. Ninja have fun at the concert, and yes I'm VERY jealous! Digits if you can,ayeeeeeee LOL :D ;)

[Michael C.]

PJ, I think it was Enstein that said if you can't explain it simply, then you don't fully understand it.

 

It was Einstein. See signature. That was Albert, too.

[Matt J]

No one can tell me that grooves don't add spin. What about when you flush a short iron and you see little bits of ball cover in your grooves? How about those beautiful little ball pubies that your grooves have shaved off the cover of the ball? The club face makes contact with the back of the ball tangentially, which imparts a shearing force to the outside of the ball, and at the same time the ball compresses so that the plastic will deform such that the edges of the grooves will catch the plastic, and sometimes can actually shave the plastic off.

 

This is the bane of my golfing. Why can't they build a ball that doesn't rip to shreds? I'm very close to going back to surlyn covered golf balls. When I'm done with my current crop, I'm thinking Noodle Long and Soft might be my ball. Only problem is the "jumpers" off of the irons that go too far.

 

Just got off the golf course and my group and I were talking about the durability of the cover. Two guys in the group create loads of club head speed. One guy hit a drive in the neighborhood of 340 today and reached a par 5 that I've never hit in regulation with an 8 iron. But, they have more shallow angle of attack and don't destroy golf balls. I played two balls today, one for 11 or 12 holes and one for 6 or 7 and showed the two of them to my partners in the 19th hole. They were shocked. Every time I hit a ball with less than a 7 iron it shreds.

[DeNinny]

...

 

Ninja!! Good to see you back buddy. Always nice to have a guy who encourages me that I'm good enough to play my macs hahaha jk. Since he and I have been messaging each other about my probably easy for him questions, I have found out that what he says is what I have mostly though I'm just not smart enough with the words to explain it as well as he does haha and sometimes not even smart enough to comprehend what he's saying 100% of the time but I catch the gist.

 

...

 

PJ, thanks for the warm welcome and good to see you "on the flipside" (...thx for visiting me in the hole...). Anytime you need me to elaborate further, I will spend as much time explaining as you want. I've always been on a mission to not let my confessions brethren get deluded by HALF-TRUTH golf marketing "physics", so I will give you everything to the best of my technical understanding if you care to explore it with me. I can tell you that explaining the full physics, even if I repeat myself, is VERY helpful to me and refining my understanding even more.

 

And FYI Hammer, I'm off to see Esperanza Spalding in concert now! LOL I'll try to get her number for you.

 

 

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge there Brosef!!! :)

 

You and Mrs. Ninja have fun at the concert, and yes I'm VERY jealous! Digits if you can,ayeeeeeee LOL :D ;)

 

Hamboner ( :taunt: ), I gotta thank you too, for turning me on to Esperanza. Wow, what a golden voice she has. Phenomenal voice is all I can say. She played electric bass and piano just perfect too, but OMG I fell in love with her voice. She is a true muse and I am a true fan. Also her drummer was insane.

 

And sorry, brah, no digits. We were on her piano side and I was only about 5 yards away, but LOL I didn't want to interrupt her performance to ask for her number. Besides all I could do is stare at her. She's got her own beauty and style for sure. The kind of woman that makes men stupid. :man_in_love:

[Palauan Hammer]

Ninja, I can only imagine she's amazing live!! I've watched LOTS of live clips of her and I am always completely amazed with her vocal prowess. Her note selection, control, and her soul really comes through. THEN you remember that funky Word not allowed bass line your hearing is her playing too. Doesn't surprise me that she plays the piano well too, I bet she can drum too LOL. I wonder if it's her usual drummer Otis Brown, that guy......amazing for sure! Esperanza, even to this day, is still a well kept secret it seems. Glad I could share her music with you, and glad you got to see her live. No worries on the number, I'll just do a bunch of drum covers of her songs on youtube and she'll find a way to get a hold of me :yes: :drag:

[BIG STU]

PJ, I think it was Enstein that said if you can't explain it simply, then you don't fully understand it.

I can explain things good in person but have trouble explaining them in few words on paper or in this case the screen. But for some reason you and Reasy and some others know exactly what I am talking about. Sometimes I have to deeply analyize what you and Reasy write several times but then I get it and put my Redneck practicality to it and all is good in the neighborhood so to speak

[BIG STU]

No one can tell me that grooves don't add spin. What about when you flush a short iron and you see little bits of ball cover in your grooves? How about those beautiful little ball pubies that your grooves have shaved off the cover of the ball? The club face makes contact with the back of the ball tangentially, which imparts a shearing force to the outside of the ball, and at the same time the ball compresses so that the plastic will deform such that the edges of the grooves will catch the plastic, and sometimes can actually shave the plastic off.

 

Amen, my homie!

 

To nitpick, it may be better stated that grooves help prevent loss of spin rather than stating that they add spin. (Just sayin'.)

Yep that is why with the rule changes the manufacturers have went to the "rotex milling grooves" and such. A lot of it also has to do with the mechanics of one's golf swing at actual contact with a ball. For me I have a little cut chop with hand action on my wedges and short irons and put that cut spin on the ball which makes it drop and stop. In my case it is not the ball because I can cut stop and drop a Top Flite or a range ball. Now the down side for some but not me is loss of distance. I do not hit a 56* but 100 yards and my 47* PW about 110. Now I can knuckle down and close the face on either one and gain 10 yards but I seldom do for me it is about control with those scoring clubs in my hand. I am like who cares if one hit their jacked loft PW as far as I did my 8 iron that dropped and stopped 8 feet from the hole.

It is all in technique. I remember way back I tried to BS some of you guys in telling you I was not a good ball striker and posting pics of my VIP wedge worn out from the center and the toe. Ninja and Nine Miler caught on exactly and Miler i think called me out on it saying he knew exactly what I was doing and do not try to BS him. yep they both were right. I think it is funny when hitting my wedges to a practice green on the range and checking it up with range balls. People will ask is that thing legal. I guess it is I tell them but it is 30 years old and worn out and when I show them it blows their minds. My 9 iron is worn the same way and the 8 is starting to wear. Now I will be the first to admit that grooves do help some folks more than others

[DeNinny]

PJ, I think it was Enstein that said if you can't explain it simply, then you don't fully understand it.

I can explain things good in person but have trouble explaining them in few words on paper or in this case the screen. But for some reason you and Reasy and some others know exactly what I am talking about. Sometimes I have to deeply analyize what you and Reasy write several times but then I get it and put my Redneck practicality to it and all is good in the neighborhood so to speak

 

BIG STU you must realize that you have been a major contributor towards validating my own understanding. Your years of experience is a WEALTH of data and knowledge for me. Plus you can explain shotmaking in simple words because you understand it well like Einstein said. LOL your simple redneck engineering is that full understanding! Also, I just see it as all of us here are just sharing our technical knowledge of this game. And for me it has actually helped mine.

 

Lately I have been moving from ball and club physics into the biomechanics of the swing, and wow has that been helpful for mine. I love ballstriking now. As I confessed earlier, my iron striking and overall game has definitely improved. And I attribute MUCH of it from talking the swing with you, da Judge, and all of us. It's really like the game is becoming simpler after picking apart all the technical details and then validating it on the range and course.

 

Oh and if I had a chalkboard and could talk face to face with everybody, it would be much easier to explain things. Having to write it all forces me to really "see" it all in my mind and although it is difficult, it helps my understanding at the same time.

[BIG STU]

No one can tell me that grooves don't add spin. What about when you flush a short iron and you see little bits of ball cover in your grooves? How about those beautiful little ball pubies that your grooves have shaved off the cover of the ball? The club face makes contact with the back of the ball tangentially, which imparts a shearing force to the outside of the ball, and at the same time the ball compresses so that the plastic will deform such that the edges of the grooves will catch the plastic, and sometimes can actually shave the plastic off.

 

This is the bane of my golfing. Why can't they build a ball that doesn't rip to shreds? I'm very close to going back to surlyn covered golf balls. When I'm done with my current crop, I'm thinking Noodle Long and Soft might be my ball. Only problem is the "jumpers" off of the irons that go too far.

 

Just got off the golf course and my group and I were talking about the durability of the cover. Two guys in the group create loads of club head speed. One guy hit a drive in the neighborhood of 340 today and reached a par 5 that I've never hit in regulation with an 8 iron. But, they have more shallow angle of attack and don't destroy golf balls. I played two balls today, one for 11 or 12 holes and one for 6 or 7 and showed the two of them to my partners in the 19th hole. They were shocked. Every time I hit a ball with less than a 7 iron it shreds.

What brand and type of ball are you playing? I posted in another thread today at one time I had problem with the Srixon Z Stars 3 years ago with fuzzing up. Now at the time I was in a R&D program and hitting brand new shovel type irons but they were legal. i actually switched to the Srixon Soft feels about a year ago and absolutely had no problem at all with peeling. When I did that wedge evaluation for another site I use 5 balls all through the tests with brand new wedges probably hit close to 200 various shots with each ball over the course of a 3 week test and with those wedges I never peeled or haired up one.

 

A few years back some friends of mine were down and we were playing a local lighted par 3 track one night and all of us had raided my shop and were playing with vintage wedges and putters. I was playing with a 1953 Spalding Top Flite SW at 55*. Now all of these guys were pros and played to high levels in fact one of them had played the Tar Heel Tour and had played in several Web.com events. Now my buddy who was a Nike Staffer at the time had given me 3 Nike balls I do not remember exactly what they were but they were top of the line what Tiger was playing at the time. Now the course was crowded it being the peak of the tourist season and we were throwing the ball up and zipping them back. Of course we were drawing some attention from the tourist hacks. One guy told his kids that it was easy to do what we were doing with illegial grooved out wedges. I showed him mine and asked "Hey this was made in 1953 and is worn out now what?" I was also hairing up the Nike ball. After the first 9 I switched to an old Maxfli HT-100 balata and had no problems. One of the other guys (the web player) was also hairing up the Nike ball and he was hitting an old 70s model Staff JP. Now one of the guys in the group behind us got curious (we were stacked 2 groups deep on every hole) and asked to see the Nike ball as he had herd us discussing them hairing up. Come to find out he was a Nike rep here on vacation. We got to talking and he did not know my buddy was a staffer since he was a Midwest rep. He ended up giving me a dozen of the same ball for my 2 scuffs and gave the other guy a dozen which he later gave me since he had a Titleist deal. I played those free 2 dozen and never had any scuffing problems with them even with a illegial hogged out shredder wedge. May have been a bad batch who knows

[BIG STU]

PJ, I think it was Enstein that said if you can't explain it simply, then you don't fully understand it.

I can explain things good in person but have trouble explaining them in few words on paper or in this case the screen. But for some reason you and Reasy and some others know exactly what I am talking about. Sometimes I have to deeply analyize what you and Reasy write several times but then I get it and put my Redneck practicality to it and all is good in the neighborhood so to speak

 

BIG STU you must realize that you have been a major contributor towards validating my own understanding. Your years of experience is a WEALTH of data and knowledge for me. Plus you can explain shotmaking in simple words because you understand it well like Einstein said. LOL your simple redneck engineering is that full understanding! Also, I just see it as all of us here are just sharing our technical knowledge of this game. And for me it has actually helped mine.

 

Lately I have been moving from ball and club physics into the biomechanics of the swing, and wow has that been helpful for mine. I love ballstriking now. As I confessed earlier, my iron striking and overall game has definitely improved. And I attribute MUCH of it from talking the swing with you, da Judge, and all of us. It's really like the game is becoming simpler after picking apart all the technical details and then validating it on the range and course.

 

Oh and if I had a chalkboard and could talk face to face with everybody, it would be much easier to explain things. Having to write it all forces me to really "see" it all in my mind and although it is difficult, it helps my understanding at the same time.

See that shows how everyones mind works different. If I did all of that over the ball I could not hit one. Trust me I tried it one time and my mind got cluttered and I had trouble breaking 90 in fact shot a 92 in two mini events. My best friend who is a great teacher and club builder in his own right got on me one day when playing and told me to clear my mind and hit the fricking ball and play golf and not play mechanical golf. My swing and game is complex and so is my mentality. I do not stress to much about missing a green unless it is 2 fairways over or where the elephants go to die. I have had so much scrambling practice over the years that I have full confidence in my short game. Now lately I have not said anything about it but I have been doing some equipment changes (don't gasp the VIPs are still in the bag) and some swing evaluation in the process. With my swing I naturally correct and I can not tell you in any shape or form how I do it. Now with getting older I have had to make some changes. I am getting slower and thus slower to correct and getting out of timing. I have a buddy of mine I just met about 3 months ago and he is a fellow club ho and tinkerer and one hell of a golfer for his age and had a lot of what I call redneck knowledge of golf even though he is from upstate NY. We have made some changes among them shorting my swing. for my age I still had a fairly long swing but the problem was due to moving slower and my hands being slower I was getting out of timing and balance. He actually got me to shorten my swing and it got me on balance and I actually gained speed and distance through the hitting area. I see the improvement. He hads not known me that long but noticed I had been looping coming down on my swing. That for me is a sure sign that something is not right and that I am in my auto correct mode as I call it. With my long back swing I always did get across the line or lay it off at the top but looped it back into position just before the impact zone. Now being older I can not do it as I used to because my hands have slowed down getting old is a biotch. But there is a sunny side to this now that my hands are not as fast I do not have to fear so much the dreaded rope hook or left lateral as I call it

[Michael C.]

PJ, I think it was Enstein that said if you can't explain it simply, then you don't fully understand it.

I can explain things good in person but have trouble explaining them in few words on paper or in this case the screen. But for some reason you and Reasy and some others know exactly what I am talking about. Sometimes I have to deeply analyize what you and Reasy write several times but then I get it and put my Redneck practicality to it and all is good in the neighborhood so to speak

 

BIG STU you must realize that you have been a major contributor towards validating my own understanding. Your years of experience is a WEALTH of data and knowledge for me. Plus you can explain shotmaking in simple words because you understand it well like Einstein said. LOL your simple redneck engineering is that full understanding! Also, I just see it as all of us here are just sharing our technical knowledge of this game. And for me it has actually helped mine.

 

Lately I have been moving from ball and club physics into the biomechanics of the swing, and wow has that been helpful for mine. I love ballstriking now. As I confessed earlier, my iron striking and overall game has definitely improved. And I attribute MUCH of it from talking the swing with you, da Judge, and all of us. It's really like the game is becoming simpler after picking apart all the technical details and then validating it on the range and course.

 

Oh and if I had a chalkboard and could talk face to face with everybody, it would be much easier to explain things. Having to write it all forces me to really "see" it all in my mind and although it is difficult, it helps my understanding at the same time.

 

Getting this group together with one of those utility golf carts with a bed full of golf balls at a range would be SOOO cool! We could get you a big dry erase board. We could talk mechanics and feels and science stuff. So much to share and learn. It'd be a blast.

 

An Effingham BLAST!!!

[PapaJohick]

I have out a mark on a ball one or two times I can remember...... It was an old ball and I did it practicing. But I have put lots of scuffs on balls by hitting palm trees. Those things do some damage to golf balls

[BIG STU]

I have out a mark on a ball one or two times I can remember...... It was an old ball and I did it practicing. But I have put lots of scuffs on balls by hitting palm trees. Those things do some damage to golf balls

LOL no truer words spoken for sure. You think that is something with a modern ball you ought to have seen what they used to do to the old balata balls. They would lay one open to the windings and it would not have to be a solid hit either just a glance was all it would take. Heck I can remember seeing pieces of balata covers stuck to palm trees back in the day

[BIG STU]

Ok guys my equipment changes are up in my profile. Like I said not too drastic. My old beloved Hathaway was getting aged and losing some of it's kick and the shaft was getting a bit too stiff for me and I was having to force the issue so to speak. The Titleist hits so smooth with no effort and I picked up probably 5 yards or so with it. It has a stock Diamana shaft at regular flex and is set to stock loft 10.5 with draw bias. The 5 wood absolutely the ugliest club since the Cleveland VAS but man will it go for some reason even though it is 18* I can hit it further and higher than any 3 wood or 4 wood for that matter. Just for some strange reason that club works for me. Only club I have ever put in my bag period that the looks did not appeal to me. But I am starting to grow fond of the looks and am actually warming up to the look. The Scratch wedge I have had a while now a $2.99 Goodwill find. I did reshaft it a long time ago. I have always absolutely loved that wedge the only reason I pulled it out was because it was rated by the USGA as needing further evaluation and I had pulled it out because I was thinking of returning to comp either some Mini events or getting my am status and playing some CGA events. I actually drew my line in the sand several months back on that and decided I was having more fun playing like I am exactly doing now so to heck with it. I actually forgot about that wedge until my buddy was over a few weeks ago and he is a club ho too and loves looking through my stuff. He pulled it out of my wedge bag and asked 'when did you get this Scratch?" I put it in the bag the next day. I also like the Renegar 60 but the grind on the Scratch I can pull off more shots with it. Now every one on Confessions knows that I found two Scottys in the scrap pile within 2 days of each other. And I recall posting pics of the rusty Santa Fe. LOL I remember Rad saying he dared me to play it as rusty as it was. Actually I did a practice session and 9 holes with it exactly as it came out of the pile ratty grip rust and all. Got tired of rust spots on the ball after putting and it was a little light and lead tape will not stick to rust or at least as much as it had on it. Did the Naval Jelly thing and polished it up some with the same stuff I used on Rad's Pings. Looks presentable to me any way. I did paint fill the Scotty Cameron on the face though for shock value to the preppy gurus. The sole was so pitted it was a moot point anyhow besides I have about 10 grams of lead tape there. The shock value of that thing is better than my beloved Zing 2. I can putt the lights out with that rusty SOB though and so it is in the bag. Like I said a few changes for me. The driver thing shocked people the most. My GM said he had known me roughly 6 years or so and never had seen a current driver or a non component driver in my bag

[BIG STU]

Ok guys here goes a total screw up by someone else that damn near got me hurt yesterday. I was unloading and we are unloading right next to the shreader as we always do. Now this thing does throw some shrapnel from time to time because the process is extremely violent. They were running some ductile iron pipe and come to find out they were not supposed to do that when trucks were unloading in the area. Yep two pieces got me square in the windshield darn near through it.

 

 

 

The manager of the plant was enraged at this not at me but his people. Was worried as my boss was about me being hurt but I just had glass on my clothes and I have an air blower nozzle under the seat so I just blew the glass off me and out of the truck in true redneck style. Ironic thing we call this getting bombed and as I was weighing out and had my radio on The Gap Band was playing "You Dropped The Bomb On Me Baby" no joke so I shared it on the CB with everyone. Actually I found the whole thing humerous but they did not. I did get pissed that it knocked the windshield out of the truck. They could not get one until Monday and get it put in until Tuesday but hell yes I drove my truck home I was not leaving it up there for 4 days. I felt ok doing it and the shreader people said if I got stopped and got put OOS they would pay for it to be towed to the beach. The pisser is that I am in a truck for 2 days that I totally hate the low power economy engine 2007 Vision 460

 

Edit It did not turn me over but the pic posted funny and that is my running partner in front of me in what we call staging his trailer got bombed too with no damage