here's another way to look at 9 strokes per hole vs half stroke each hole.

at my club, the #1 handicap hole is 440 par 4 from the tips. lots of trickiness that generally won't both an elite player (fairly big side win, parched fairway, huge trouble on both sides but not tight.. narrow off tee. ball needs to be worked somewhat)...

so if i play club champion (scratch golfer with full-time job), this hole isn't hard for him. i very often double bogey it or worse. not sure why but it gets away from me......

so that stroke is useless to me. 3 or 4 other holes like that but not as extreme.

so that's 4 or 5 of the strokes that aren't that great for me. he has good chance at parring. i have maybe moderate change at bogeying.. his chance of par >>>> my chance at bogey

so now if i get half stroke on all 18 holes.. now i'm getting half stroke on 140 yard pretty easy par 3. 170 yard par 3 same thing. 2 easy par 5's where he won't get home in 2. 4 pretty easy par 4's... so now that's 8 holes where it's great to get half stroke. i have better chance at parring than he does of birdeying.

basically if the holes where you got strokes were random, i would still want half stroke on 18 holes over 9 holes and 1 stroke. but it would be alot closer. but getting full strokes on the toughest holes isn't that great.

is jack nicklaus' ocean hole (island green IN the ocean) at punta mita the only hole with ocean green in world?

it looks really good? anyone played it? is the grass ok (very nitty i know)?...

i dont know of any but it's pretty much a lock there's another one somewhere

I'm looking to buy new golf shoes this year. Do you guys prefer spikes or spikeless? I currently have spikes, but I notice they break off, but I also play a lot of courses that could be considered soggy and soft with hilly terrain.

Any suggestions? Do pro golfers wear spikeless?

Damn! Who the hell are you able to get 9 strokes a hole from?

I bought a pair of Ecco Bioms a year or two back and I'm never going back to spikes.

I play in a lot of wet and soggy conditions, but feel no difference in stability from the spiked ones - granted I don't have a really forceful swing that'll "lift me off the ground" so ymmv if you do.

(Pretty sure Tiger used spikeless shoes for a while during one of his previous comebacks, but I may be mis-remembering that. And if he did, it may have been because of his back and/or because he was trying to sell his Nike TW spikeless shoes.)

im sure there are a ton still, but i personally have not been to a place that allows spikes in a long long time.

I don't think I've ever been to a golf course that didn't allow soft spikes - metal ones are out of the question most places though.

you must be pretty young... soft spikes are not spikes

You must be pretty old... when talking about spikeless shoes, we're actually talking about spikeless. Soft and metal.

when talking about golf courses allowing spikes, we're talking about metal spikes

The question that started all this was about spikeless golfshoes. Soft spikes and metal spikes are spikes. Spikeless are not.

Soft spikes aren't spikes by any reasonable definition

Yes, thank you ntnBO.

He's right. In the golf world if one says simply "spikes" it's referring to the metal nails. Etymology be damned.

Had my first round of the year in a new men's group. My handicap is at 9.5 and I played pretty well other than totally having the yips on short puts. basically any putt over 5 feet I stroked it really well, and made a 20 footer and had several other long putts that were really close and good speed. But any putt in the 2-3 foot range, I was totally a wreck. I think I missed 5 putts that were 3 feet or less. Essentially any putt where I would think "man, it would be embarrassing to miss this putt" I would miss. Anything longer I was fine.

I've actually been practicing 3 foot putts a lot this year, it is obviously a mental thing. I currently use a cross hand grip, and actually am toying with the idea of switching to the claw grip only for short putts. Planning to stick with my usual cross hand grip for anything > 4-5 feet or so. How terrible of an idea is this?

it's not that unusual to use different putting styles for short vs long putts

if it works, go for it

on the other hand, there's probably some sort of fundamental disaster with your "normal" style. you should figure out what you're doing wrong inside 4 feet.

Have someone double-check your routine. Make sure it's the same and the pace of it is the same as the 20 footers you're comfortable with.

Nothing wrong with using different grip inside 10 feet.

how old are you? what kind of physical condition are you in? back problems?

I am 40. I am in pretty good shape. I play tennis at a high level (5.0 rating if that means anything to you) and I don't have any back or joint problems. I don't seem to have the yips in any part of my tennis game lol.

Today I went out on the practice green and tried the claw grip for a few minutes and just wasn't feeling it so I stuck with my usual routine. I played with a group that did gimmes for pretty much anything within 3-4 feet and I didn't feel like being the guy that insisted on putting out so I didn't really get to test myself on this today.

I suck at short putts also. For me it's tension. Expectation that I should make the putt makes me tighten up.

be that guy. gimmes from 3 feet are horse****.

I agree. It only takes a few rounds for them to figure out you don't like it. My group knows I play enough tournaments and that I am putting everything out.

Before getting too crazy with changing your grip or stroke, check your alignment. Find a straight uphill 4 footer and lay down a chalk line.

Thanks for responding. 5.0 means you're awesome!

I'm guessing you're fairly loose and limber. My suspicion is that endurance type cardio causes people to lose flexibility, whereas something like playing tennis, which includes a lot of fast movements keeps one loose...

Do you feel like you have the yips, or you just suck at 4 footers? Do you feel your hands kind of spaz out at contact?