Masters 2018

[rocket surgeon]

Yep.  I was reading this thread and mentioned it to my wife .. who is not a golf fan, but we did watch an hour of the Masters yesterday.  She immediately says, wow, I read some bad stuff about Reed.

So indeed .. Reed went from a golfer than maybe a few thousand people didn't like .. to having millions of new ~haters.

Poor guy, wallowing in his $2m prize today.

the price of success??  gotta be a strong person.  don't have a twitter account, don't open the newspaper, don't go on the internet, don't turn on the tv...

i agree with goose-golf might have some arcane rules, but cheating cannot be tolerated.  however, one who cheats, only cheats him/herself.  most times, it will come back to haunt you.  if patrick WAS guilty of cheating, her sure as heck hasn't done it at the pga level.  he is plain and simple, a good golfer.  i hope his personal life remains his personal life and he can put any of his other alleged stuff behind him. 

[MU82]

I don't know Reed at all, so I certainly don't know if he's a "heel" or not.

I also don't know that I'd call him a bigger "patriot" than others.

[Goose]

rocket

I agree with 99% of what you said. As you know, I love MU and MU ball for all of my life, but the game of golf is one I have greater love affair. I started playing golf at a very, very young age and played more golf than should be allowed for many years of my life.
I respect Reed for his win and hope he has a great career and life. That said, I will struggle forgetting the possible cheating in golf. Any other issue in his life, I get we are all flawed and he gets a quicker pass from me. Cheating on the course and being caught multiple times is hard for me to overlook.

[🏀]

Yep.  I was reading this thread and mentioned it to my wife .. who is not a golf fan, but we did watch an hour of the Masters yesterday.  She immediately says, wow, I read some bad stuff about Reed.

So indeed .. Reed went from a golfer than maybe a few thousand people didn't like .. to having millions of new ~haters.

Poor guy, wallowing in his $2m prize today.

$2m, sure, but the taxes...

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Enough about Patrick Reed. What about MY golf game!?!

Getting older and am a lousy chipper. Chunks and thins and poor distance control. Thinking about swallowing my pride and getting one of these. Anyone have any thoughts or experience with a club like this?

[NorthernDancerColt]

Enough about Patrick Reed. What about MY golf game!?!

Getting older and am a lousy chipper. Chunks and thins and poor distance control. Thinking about swallowing my pride and getting one of these. Anyone have any thoughts or experience with a club like this?

When hybrids first came out, nobody on Tour would be caught dead with one of them. Then, KJ Choi saw the distance and higher trajectory gains of hybrids and  put them in his bag. Others followed to the point that now the majority of Tour pros have replaced their 2 and 3 irons with hybrids. The modern hybrid is simply far superior in design  to the traditional long iron. It results in longer,  higher shots that land softer on the green. If you're a low handicap recreational golfer and you're still using a 2 iron, you should get over the "I'm a player" thing and choose lower scores over image.

HOWEVER, even higher handicap golfers would probably laugh at you if you put this thing in your bag. Time will tell if chipping clubs like this ever cease to evoke derision and laughter from playing partners. I would bet that things would get really quiet after you win a few bets from them after holing a chip or two using the square strike. Still, I will be shocked if any PGA Tour member ever put one in his bag, and until that happens, these chippers will never make their way en masse into amateur bags.

My advice would be: if you've tried one and it works for you, absolutely buy one...just steel yourself from the commentary.

There is one big caveat, however:  Badger supporter Andy North is Square Strike's main spokesman. He seems like a decent guy, rodent allegiance notwithstanding.

If you were just starting in the game at a young age, no way should you wave the white flag and buy a "chipper"  after a few bad chips. A traditional wedge will always be the better tool. So much you can do with it. Hood the face, play it back in your stance, get your hands "ahead", and you have a bump-and-run club. Open the face, play it forward in your stance, even-out your hands and you have easy access to a high pitch or lob shot. Sometimes you NEED those shots. The Square Strike is ok for the former, not so much the latter. But, alas we age...and not often gracefully...at least not on the golf course. As such, go with whatever simplifies the game....and the Square Stike certainly does that, as you employ a simple putting stroke to use it.

[NorthernDancerColt]

Among the players, only Bubba Watson is disliked more.

Personally, I like Reed's arrogance on the course. I always wanted my opponent to think that I thought I was better than him. In reality, I was really playing against the course and not my opponent, though. Burt he didn't need to know that.

Almost every other guy out there feels the same way inside (or they shouldn't be on the tour). They just hide it better.

This post is amazing. So true. Golf is such a mental game and getting in your opponent's head is worth probably 5-6 strokes per round at the amateur level. Not unlike Al putting MU up by about  4 points just by walking in the arena. However, just a couple of my playing partners would take this "edge" too far. I knew one guy who would rather shoot 120 to my 121, than have me shoot 74 to his 76 ( we are both regularly in the low 80s, and breaking 80 is always our goal). His trash talking always got the loudest when I was well up on him and in position to break 80 standing on 18 tee. To me, I'd rather we both be in the 70s and I lose to him than beat him while we both chop and hack away.

With regard to your typo...it would be so much more satisfying if you got into Burt's head on the golf course.

Billy Andrade:  "In his prime, Tiger knew he was gonna beat you.....you knew he was gonna beat you...and he knew that you knew he was gonna beat you."

[rocket surgeon]

hey zenyatta-thanks for the "rest of the story" on the square strike.  in todays golf world, there is more funky stuff coming out than fishing lures-they all catch fish ya know-it's always good to hear some decent opinions about some of this stuff.  golf has more gizmos, straps, slings, instructional crap, add this, remove that, elbow in, butt out, hit n spit, etc etc  a lot of us mid-handicap guys are always looking for that "gold nugget" without filling up our garages with all this crap.  personally i have been able to stick to the wider grips and a little bit of lead tape here and there


i know one thing that i think the pga should start to consider, but you guys tell me if it's a poor idea-why don't they just let the guys on the tour use range finders or gps for chriminey's sake?  it would speed up play.  which is another unenforced  rule for them-what the heck is slow play for the big dogs?   

[4everwarriors]

It ain't da arrows, its da Indrun, aina?

[TSmith34, Inc.]

$2m, sure, but the taxes...

Mr. Hadley, do you trust your wife?

[🏀]

Mr. Hadley, do you trust your wife?

Not sure Patrick Reed should.

[tower912]

But he does.    Completely.   And has chosen her family over his own.   

[MU82]

My wife did not have the kind of falling out with her family that Reed apparently has had with his, but it didn't take long after we got married for her to feel far more comfortable around and loved by my family.

It happens sometimes. We don't know the full Patrick Reed story about his family.

[WarriorDad]

Reed's are rumored events as are allegations of Tiger's steroid use.  Aren't they all just that, rumors?  Why the benefit of the doubt?  I thought one of the Golf channel guys hinted Tiger was cheating on the golf course a few years back?  Moving twigs that caused the ball to move and a few other areas.  There was a dust up back then of how dare yous being thrown around at the commentator.

[Goose]

WarriorDad

It is one guy on Golf Channel accusing Tiger of cheating on the golf course. Tiger has his issues, but I do not believe cheating on the golf course is one of them.

[MU82]

As is the case with all rich white men, white golfers just can't catch a stinkin' break in this country!

[Pakuni]

This Patrick Reed headline from the Spokane Spokesman-Review sure is something.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DabW6wcXUAM6YAr.jpg

[NorthernDancerColt]

It ain't da arrows, its da Indrun, aina?

Word

[NorthernDancerColt]

hey zenyatta-thanks for the "rest of the story" on the square strike.  in todays golf world, there is more funky stuff coming out than fishing lures-they all catch fish ya know-it's always good to hear some decent opinions about some of this stuff.  golf has more gizmos, straps, slings, instructional crap, add this, remove that, elbow in, butt out, hit n spit, etc etc  a lot of us mid-handicap guys are always looking for that "gold nugget" without filling up our garages with all this crap.  personally i have been able to stick to the wider grips and a little bit of lead tape here and there


i know one thing that i think the pga should start to consider, but you guys tell me if it's a poor idea-why don't they just let the guys on the tour use range finders or gps for chriminey's sake?  it would speed up play.  which is another unenforced  rule for them-what the heck is slow play for the big dogs?

I'm with you. All this instructional expertise and all these swing aids, and the average golf score hasn't gone down much at all over the last 30 years. Keep it simple. Rangefinders are great, but not much is going to speed up the perennially slow pros 
On Tour. There are some pretty funny videos on YouTube of how faster Tour pros deal with slow pokes they got paired with. Rory Sabbatini once walked the length of the hole ahead of his slug, I think it was a Ben Crane.

I just regripped my irons with the new Align technology. Love it because it I've always struggled to find "ribbed" (cue "4Ever") grips with the built-up ridge down the back. Seem to keep my grip relaxed and my swing "connected." That's the extent of my golf gimmickery.

[NorthernDancerColt]

WarriorDad

It is one guy on Golf Channel accusing Tiger of cheating on the golf course. Tiger has his issues, but I do not believe cheating on the golf course is one of them.

The trees just short of the 1st green at Conway Farms (BMW a few years ago) would beg to differ. A little sketchy for sure, but I agree with you overall. One inconclusive video does not earn him that "cheater" label. Plus, it sparked a discussion of the difference between "Oscillate" and "Move" as to golf ball position as per the Rules of Golf. Bill Clinton, he of the many mulligans and word parsing, would be proud.

[tower912]

Tiger dropped in the wrong spot after hitting into the water during the 2013 Masters.   Then, while moving debris away from a ball in some pine straw, his ball moved/oscillated.    It is entirely possible that he didn't notice.    Being Tiger, there was a camera focused on his every move.   

I have never rooted for Tiger Woods.   For a time, during his run of greatness, I rooted against him so hard that I actually rooted for Europe in the Ryder Cup in hopes of seeing him lose.      I would never call him a cheater.   

[NorthernDancerColt]

Tiger dropped in the wrong spot after hitting into the water during the 2013 Masters.   Then, while moving debris away from a ball in some pine straw, his ball moved/oscillated.    It is entirely possible that he didn't notice.    Being Tiger, there was a camera focused on his every move.   

I have never rooted for Tiger Woods.   For a time, during his run of greatness, I rooted against him so hard that I actually rooted for Europe in the Ryder Cup in hopes of seeing him lose.      I would never call him a cheater.

Thank you, I confused the BMW situation with the 2013 Masters. Shows you how reckless and foolish it is to accuse someone without even knowing the facts. If I remember, the BMW situation was also something no other player in that field would've had to deal with, as Tiger had a special camera following his every move there as well.

I agree. Tiger is a golf historian, honors the traditions and integrity of the game, and appreciates the difficulty of achieving greatness,  and I feel he would not accept a "tainted" trophy. 

[MU82]

I have never rooted for Tiger Woods.   For a time, during his run of greatness, I rooted against him so hard that I actually rooted for Europe in the Ryder Cup in hopes of seeing him lose. 

I was the same way, and I had nothing against Tiger.

I just want great golf matches. Seeing Tiger win by 8 or 11 or 17 strokes ... I appreciated the greatness of it, but it's not what I like to see. For me, it's all about the back 9 on Sunday.

If he was in a great match on the back 9 on Sunday, didn't bother me at all if he won ... although yes, there were sometimes that I rooted for the underdog because that's what sports fans do.

[rocket surgeon]

The trees just short of the 1st green at Conway Farms (BMW a few years ago) would beg to differ. A little sketchy for sure, but I agree with you overall. One inconclusive video does not earn him that "cheater" label. Plus, it sparked a discussion of the difference between "Oscillate" and "Move" as to golf ball position as per the Rules of Golf. Bill Clinton, he of the many mulligans and word parsing, would be proud.

re: cheaters-i think we discussed this last year when it happened-lexi thompson marking her ball-personally, i think it was inadvertent-maybe a 2 stroke penalty at most.  i guess there is crying on golf courses though

i'm changing over to the medium golf prides.  felt the same thing you described-relaxed grip on the club and i think it straightened out the club face to ball contact.  sometimes ya just have to go with it and not try to figure out why it works...for now

[D'Lo Brown]

When hybrids first came out, nobody on Tour would be caught dead with one of them. Then, KJ Choi saw the distance and higher trajectory gains of hybrids and  put them in his bag. Others followed to the point that now the majority of Tour pros have replaced their 2 and 3 irons with hybrids. The modern hybrid is simply far superior in design  to the traditional long iron. It results in longer,  higher shots that land softer on the green. If you're a low handicap recreational golfer and you're still using a 2 iron, you should get over the "I'm a player" thing and choose lower scores over image.

HOWEVER, even higher handicap golfers would probably laugh at you if you put this thing in your bag. Time will tell if chipping clubs like this ever cease to evoke derision and laughter from playing partners. I would bet that things would get really quiet after you win a few bets from them after holing a chip or two using the square strike. Still, I will be shocked if any PGA Tour member ever put one in his bag, and until that happens, these chippers will never make their way en masse into amateur bags.

My advice would be: if you've tried one and it works for you, absolutely buy one...just steel yourself from the commentary.

There is one big caveat, however:  Badger supporter Andy North is Square Strike's main spokesman. He seems like a decent guy, rodent allegiance notwithstanding.

If you were just starting in the game at a young age, no way should you wave the white flag and buy a "chipper"  after a few bad chips. A traditional wedge will always be the better tool. So much you can do with it. Hood the face, play it back in your stance, get your hands "ahead", and you have a bump-and-run club. Open the face, play it forward in your stance, even-out your hands and you have easy access to a high pitch or lob shot. Sometimes you NEED those shots. The Square Strike is ok for the former, not so much the latter. But, alas we age...and not often gracefully...at least not on the golf course. As such, go with whatever simplifies the game....and the Square Stike certainly does that, as you employ a simple putting stroke to use it.

Cool post, enjoyed reading. Student loans have kept me out of the game for a bit (no fun to just play a couple times of year, have to commit to it somewhat!) but about to jump back in at some point soon.