3Jack Golf Blog

How Kyle Stanley Lost The Farmers

31 January 2012 15:57:17

On Sunday, Kyle Stanley had a lead of 3 strokes going into #18 at Torrey Pines. #18 is a reachable par-5 with water short and left of the green, some bunkers right. The green actually slopes quite a bit towards the water.Stanley hit a nice driver and left himself with 241 yards into the green from a good lie in the rough. He had 2 options:1) Utilize the traditional golf strategy of 'laying up because you have the tournament won' and then putting it on the green and 2-putt for par and win the tournament.or2) Utilize 3Jack Golf's 'Metric Based Golf Strategy' which recommends that you go for the green in 2 shots unless you simply do not 'have the shot' to get there.Stanley chose #1. Even announcer David Feherty stated to the effect that 'if he doesn't lay up here, I will have to cross check him.'Stanley then:- laid up nicely with an iron into the fairway.- Hit a shot that landed about 10 feet past the pin and spun back into the water.- Dropped into the 1st cut of rough to take the spin off.- Hit one onto the green, about 30 feet away and downhill.- 3 puttedHe then proceeded to lose in a playoff against Brandt Snedeker.Of course, people will label this as a 'choke.' In fact, that's what the YouTube member who posted the video said. However, I contend that Kyle Stanley did NOT choke. Instead, he used an ill-conceived strategy that put him in a position to possibly choke. Hey, nobody wants to be the next Jean Van de Velde: However, there are extremely different circumstances here. Van de Velde is playing a tough par-4 and had to hit a tough tee shot while Stanley is playing a relatively easy par-5 and already hit a good tee shot (yes, Van de Velde's decision was stupid in epic proportions).Stanley's situation was something I wrote about in 2011 Pro Golf Synopsis. Essentially, there is an extremely high correlation to par-5 'Go For It' percentage and par-5 scoring average. Laying up so you 'have a full wedge into the green' is actually putting that AGAINST you on average compared to if you can go for it and get it closer to the green.Part of what this amounts to is by laying up, Stanley actually increased his 'expected score' instead of 'lowering his expected score.' Obviously, nobody thought that he would hit it into the drink (and he did get screwed). However, because his expected score raised and he needed to make double bogey to win, he actually increased his chances of making a triple bogey.The other part is this...Had Stanley gone for it in 2 shots and hit it into the water, he could have dropped into the 1st cut of rough. Then knocked it on the green and 3-putt like he did...EXCEPT, he would have made a 7 and would have won the tournament. And they would have never said 'choke.'3JACK

More PGA Merchandise Show Pics

30 January 2012 16:49:42

TRADITIONAL GOLF (www.traditionalgolf.com)Great looking clubs. The irons have an ultra-thin topline. They use 1025 carbon steel in the irons.ROYAL COLLECTION (http://www.rc-golf.com/main/)I thought Royal Collection (who is now working with Mercedes-Benz on golf equipment), had the best looking driver head I saw at the entire show.One of the new Bobby Grace puttersHere's the Miura MG hybrid I felt Yonex's EZone Muscle backs were big winners at the show. The picture doesn't quite do it justices because the head looks different than most blades, but still beautiful in shape.They also make some nice looking wedges. Callaway Razr Fit driver. This comes with weight ports. Currently, they only have 2-gram and 12-gram ports, but they plan to add more. I thought the driver felt nice.Here's the Exotics XCG5 3-wood. I could get the 13* 3-wood up nicely. The 11.5* 3-wood flew too low.3JACK

3Jack Golf PGA Merchandise Show Journal - Day 1

28 January 2012 06:57:10

The first day of the merchandise show is the 'Demo Day.' It's held at Orange County National which has this humongous driving range that is in the shape of a circle. This year, most of the companies are in between a 2-year product cycle, so I don't think there was a lot of hype going into this show. However, the weather was gorgeous today, 75-80* with a nice breeze throughout the day. The first thing I came across is the Tour Striker driver. The main idea of the Tour Striker driver is the face design creates a smaller 'center' to help train the golfer to hit that center.I have been reading Tom Wishon's book 'In Search For The Perfect Driver.' One of the things he says is that the sweetspot is:1. A very small point where the CoG of the club is. It's about the size of a needle point.2. The 'sweetspot' of the driver is in the center of the club...NOT towards the crown and toe. One of the reasons why it is misinterpreted as the 'hot spot' of the driver for golfers is that with the deeper face drivers, the roll of the driver actually causes the driver to have more loft located up by the crown. So, the center of the driver face may be at 9.5* of loft, but the top towards the crown may have 11* of loft. Wishon's claim is that golfers usually have NOT ENOUGH loft on their driver and have to hit it up towards the crown in order to get that loft. But, in reality they are causing themselves to hit the driver *SHORTER* than if they had the proper loft and worked to hit the center of the face.My first couple of strikes came off the heel and missed the face and were basically 'worm burners.' But after that I started hitting it quite well and I was surprised at just how good the club feels. The driver will retail for $199 and is currently being sold. I will have up close pictures of it on Friday.After that and some mulling around I got to meet with the Edel Golf people and try their new wedges.The idea behind the Edel Wedges is to give the golfer enough buonce angle in the wedge so the golfer does not have to worry about the club getting stuck in the ground. One of the things I noticed when I moved to Florida was how easy it was to stick a wedge into the ground on the wirey bermuda. But, I purchased some wedges with more bounce angle and that helped.However, Edel wants to give a LOT more bounce angle. I was fitted for a 52* 'Digger' grind and a 56* and 60* 'Driver' grind. I cannot remember what the bounce angle was at, but it was around 25* of bounce.Yes, that's right...25* of bounce. I was told that was quite common with the Tour players they work with. The idea is to make it so the golfer can take their swing without the fear of sticking it into the ground. And what will happen is now when you swing the wedge, the divot decreases.I think one of the important things this does is with distance control. One can now not have to worry about catching one thick and losing yardage and wedges are mainly about distance control. You can also hit low punches without worrying about the club sticking and causing your pivot to stall.The other thing Edel did was the moved the CoG of the club further away from the heel. And to top it off, the grooves now go all the way out to the toe. So if you ever have those marks towards the toe, those shots will actually be by the CoG and it will make impact off the grooves and you don't have to worry about hitting a knuckleball shot. Also, if you have a chip shot and the club is more upright, now you don't have to worry about the uncertainty of how the ball will react off the toe.Edel also has a special grip that is 1 inch longer than the typical grip. Edel has done this so the golfer can choke up on the club more in case they are in between yardages or want to hit a lower shot.I was fitted for a KBS C-Taper shaft and I should get my wedges in March. I will take more pics of the Edel Wedges on Friday.Also, Edel is looking to make 99 sets of irons for 2012 and see how they perform. The concept will be similar, more bounce without a huge sole. I got to hit the 9-iron and really liked it. Although it was a cavity back club. I then went over to Oban shafts and saw Oren Geri from Big Break hitting balls there. I don't think Oban quite fits me as when it comes to the driver shaft, but I think they make a great shaft. I tried their Kiyoshi line and thought it was pretty good. Oban also has some new irons shafts (graphite). I thought those were pretty solid as far as graphite iron shafts go.I also got to try the Matrix Program shaft. In fact, Matrix was giving the 95 gram iron shaft out for free and I brought one home with me. The problem with graphite iron shafts is that it's made so long that it just doesn't quite feel right. Although the shots I hit well with it really went well.After that I was very impressed with Honma's new driver (S-02). This is a 7-piece design and it's extremely forgiving and it's very long. I was quite impressed with this driver. One of the big winners for me was the new Yonex EZone Muscleback irons.These clubs look fantastic, feel fanstastic and really perform. I hit the 4-iron, 8-iron and PW and all of them were spectacular. I also got to hit the EZone driver. Yonex offers their heads in 380, 420 and 460 cc sizes. I think they have a winner here.I also started to fall in love with a 9* Black Tour Cleveland driver and the Miyazaki Kusula shaft. I did hit the new Cleveland Classic driver but came away unimpressed. I did hit the new Taylor Made Rocketballz fairway wood. The 3-wood does come off the head well, but it's rather large in size. Some may not like that big of a clubhead. Lastly, I was turned onto Ernest Sports new ES12 launch monitor. I didn't get the entire spiel on it, but I believe it measures clubhead speed, ball speed and it can record your swing.Here's a video for that. More to come on Friday.3JACK

Understanding the 'Hot Spot' For the Driver

27 January 2012 19:20:13

Recently, I purchased Tom Wishon’s book ‘The Search For the Perfect Driver’ (www.wishongolf.com). I have only read the first few pages of it and I will have a review for it when I finish.Anyway, one of the things that I came across that surprised me was Wishon discussing where the ‘hot spot’ or the ‘sweetpot’ of the driver is.For the past 10 years or so, we have beenWe have been told that the ‘hot spot’ of the driver is located towards the toe and up towards the crown of the club. We have been told when you hit there, that is where the golfer gets the most distance. However, Wishon essentially says that this is very very flawed in theory.One of the things Wishon discusses if the ‘bulge’ and the ‘roll’ of the club. As most of us know, the driver face has a very slightly curved design. The face will curve horizontally to the ground from heel to toe.This is called the ‘bulge.’ This helps the golfer with mis-hits. Thus, if a golfer misses the tee shot off the toe, the bulge and the gear effect will cause the ball to usually push and draw a bit. Conversely, the head curves a little vertically from the bottom to the crown of the club. This is called the ‘roll.’ Wishon states in ‘The Search’ that he never really has found a function for the roll and for years it was not a factor for golfers in any way whatsoever.However, that changed once the drivers got bigger. The loft of a driver is measured from the center of the clubface. Thus, if you have a 9* lofted driver on the stamp, that means that the loft was measured at 9* at the center of the face. But, as driver heads became larger, the roll started to become more pronounced and started to affect the loft of the clubface. So what happens is a driver with a 9* loft at the center of the face may have 11* of loft towards the crown and 7* of loft towards the sole.So, where is this driver head sweet spot?First, the ‘sweet spot’ is actually NOT an area. It’s actually a very fine point, about the size of a needle point. According to Wishon, when companies say they have ‘increased the sweet spot’, all they have done is increase the MOI of the clubhead around the actual sweet spot. I often get asked this with Trackman’s measurement of how far offline a ball can travel if it misses the sweetspot by 1 dimple. My answer is ‘no’, we really can’t feel a shot that misses the sweetspot by 1 dimple or probably even 3 dimples. However, that’s provided Trackman measured the sweetspot as a specific point about the size of a needle tip, not an area.Anyway, the actual sweet spot of the driver is where we had it…at about the center of the clubhead. It’s where the clubs Center of Gravity is located. Wishon surmises that the reason why people get into the myth of the ‘hot spot’ being located towards the crown of the club is that most golfers play with drivers with too low of a loft. So when they hit one towards the crown where the loft increases, that is more towards their optimal loft that they should be playing. However, a golfer could hit the ball further by getting the proper amount of loft on their driver and hitting towards the center of the club instead of using a lower lofted driver and hitting towards the crown. They can also increase their accuracy. This is where fitting for loft based upon clubhead speed, attack angle and dynamic loft comes into play. I recently spoke to a customer wanting a Wishon 919THI driver that he was surprised how far he hit it. He asked me what makes it go so far and I told him that at 11* of loft (what he purchased), the loft was much more optimal to what he had been playing at 9.5*. Personally, I think my optimum loft is more like 10*, although I’m currently using a 9* Wishon 919THI.The other thing Wishon has done is he has made the ‘roll’ on the clubface as flat as one can possibly make it. This means that you won’t get the added loft if you hit it towards the crown or the lower loft if you hit the ball towards the sole. Thus, it encourages the golfer to hit the real ‘hot spot’ of the driver, right towards the center of the face.3JACK

3Jack Golf PGA Tour Rundown - Week 3

25 January 2012 18:16:48

Here were my picks for the Humana and how they finished:Ryan Palmer: CUTHarrison Frazar: CUTKyle Stanley: CUTMartin Laird: t-14th Robert Garrigus: t-2ndVALUE PICK: Kevin Chappell: t-30thHere’s the current rankings of the players who finished in the top-5Player…………………..….ATD…….PG…….SG……BZ……SZ…….DZMark Wilson ……………...68…….51……139…..85……40…….56Johnson Wagner ……….117…….5…….28……47……101…….71John Mallinger …………..52…….53…….22……41……18…….108Robert Garrigus ………...29……159…..105…..89……63…….N/AJeff Maggert ………………45…….11…….102….13……19……..27Wilson’s rankings really don’t show it, but he excelled at driving, putting, and Birdie Zone play at the Humana. He also had a good tournament with his Short Game. His Safe Zone play was pretty average and his Danger Zone play was slightly above average.Here are my picks for the Farmer’s:Kyle Stanley: 80/1Robert Garrigus: 50/1Dustin Johnson: 28/1 Bubba Watson: 28/1Charles Howell III: 33/1 Value Pick: Charley Hoffman: 100/1 Here’s the rankings:ADVANCED TOTAL DRIVING 1. John Senden 2. Jamie Lovemark3. Bo Van Pelt 4. Chez Reavie 5. Matt Kuchar6. Bobby Gates 7. Jason Dufner 8. Charlie Wi 9. Camilo Villegas10. Ryan Palmer 156. Tommy Biershenk 157. Anthony Kim158. Alexandre Rocha159. Stephen Gangluff 160. Gavin Coles 161. Joe Ogilvie 162. Steve Wheatcroft 163. Matt Bettencourt164. Corey Pavin 165. Derek LamelyPUTTS GAINED (VIA PGATOUR.COM)1. Mathew Goggin2. Scott McCarron 3. Hunter Haas 4. Chez Reavie 5. Johnson Wagner 6. Greg Chalmers 7. David Hearn 8. Bo Van Pelt 9. Brendon Todd 10. Steve Jones163. Scott Brown164. Stephen Gangluff 165. Charley Hoffman 166. Mike Miles167. Chad Campbell 168. Ryan Moore169. Mark Brooks170. Rich Beem 171. Bill Lunde 172. Heath Slocum ADJUSTED SHORT GAME1. Joe Durant2. Sam Saunders3. Stuart Appleby4. Nick O'Hern 5. Tadd Fujikawa6. Brett Quigley 7. Mathew Goggin8. Ryan Moore9. Steve Stricker 10. Chris Couch 159. Ken Duke 160. Graham DeLaet 161. Richard H. Lee162. Gary Christian163. Tommy Gainey164. Tom Gillis 165. Billy Hurley III166. Gary Woodland 167. Kyle Thompson168. Charley Hoffman BIRDIE ZONE PLAY1. Joe Durant2. Colt Knost 3. Chez Reavie 4. Paul Goydos 5. Matt Kuchar6. Brendon de Jonge 7. Gary Christian8. Brett Quigley 9. Bob Estes 10. Phil Mickelson118. Scott Stallings 119. Jason Kokrak120. Ben Crane 121. Jhonattan Vegas122. Charlie Beljan123. Gavin Coles 124. Tadd Fujikawa125. Chris DiMarco 126. Kevin Chappell127. Doug LaBelle II SAFE ZONE PLAY1. Tom Gillis 2. James Driscoll3. Matt Kuchar4. Lee Janzen5. Bo Van Pelt 6. Corey Pavin 7. Tadahiro Takayama8. Justin Leonard9. Blake Adams 10. Alexandre Rocha144. Stewart Cink145. Camilo Villegas146. Billy Hurley III147. John Huh148. Matt Bettencourt149. Jamie Lovemark150. Derek Lamely151. Ryan Palmer 152. Richard H. Lee153. Gary Woodland DANGER ZONE PLAY1. Alex Aragon 2. Carl Pettersson3. Pat Perez4. Kris Blanks 5. Nick Watney 6. Matt Every7. Webb Simpson 8. David Hearn 9. Jason Kokrak10. Jonathan Byrd 129. James Driscoll130. Troy Matteson 131. Troy Kelly 132. John Merrick 133. Bud Cauley134. Duffy Waldorf135. Ryan Moore136. Jamie Lovemark137. Chad Collins 138. Russell Knox3JACK

2012 3Jack Prepares For Golf

24 January 2012 16:44:33

9TH HOLE AT METROWESTThis year I plan on trying to qualify for the Florida State Amateur Match Play championship. Last year I played in the Florida Mid-Am. My end goal is to make the match play portion of the US Amateur, but I project that my game will not quite be ready in time for me to seriously qualify for it this year. I will likely forego qualifying for the Mid-Am this year because the qualifier is held at a private club (Legacy at Alacqua Lakes) and I don’t care to pay money and take time off from work to play a qualifier at a course that I will likely only get 1 practice round in. The Florida Amateur qualifier is at Metrowest, a well known public course in downtown Orlando. Furthermore, the actual championship will be held at the Country Club of Orlando. If I qualify, it would just be a short 15 minute drive from my home.First, let me once again thank the Florida State Golf Association for the excellent work they do. They treated us tremendously last year and once again, their Web site is so efficient and user friendly and helps make things easy for us competitive golfers in Florida. They really go all out for us.Here’s the scorecard from MetroWest. Also, here’s a link of their ‘course tour.’http://webcastcity.com/Go/MetroWestGolf_InteractiveI’ve only played MetroWest once, but I plan on playing there at least once a month up until the qualifier this year. It’s a Robert Trent Jones design (and pretty typical one). Even though it’s in downtown Orlando, from a central Florida perspective it’s probably one of the hilliest courses you’ll find in the area. Overall, I would recommend this course to vacationers. It’s not as good as say Shingle Creek, World Woods, Orange County National or Reunion, but it’s a slight step below those and probably above places like North Shore, Eagle Creek and Falcon’s Fire.Anyway, one of the things that stands out about MetroWest is its long par-5’s. I believe that we will not play fully from the back tees (although I will practice from there). #4 will likely be moved up to no further than 568 yards (probably more like 580 yards).#10 will probably be moved up. And #17 will probably be moved to 198 yards. The committee usually moves up 2-4 of the tees to help keep the pace of play moving.Still, when you see long par-5’s on a course that is only 7,050 yards I think the overall theme is that it will be tough to go real low here. Also, MetroWest clearly favors the bombers, in part because of the long par-5’s. The good news is that I’ve picked up distance switching back to a Wishon 919THI 9* driver with an Aldila RIP Beta shaft in part to better launch and spin conditions. I’ve also been hitting the Wishon 929HS 3-wood quite well and long (topping out at 270 yards off the deck, but more like 255-260 yards). In preparation for MetroWest, I will be practicing a lot more with the 3-wood.Since I have only played there once, almost 2 years ago, my memory of the course is still a little fuzzy. However, I think the problem holes are:#4 610 yard par-5 (pictured above)If I recall, it’s an elevated tee and then the second shot will go around a bend. So the dilemma becomes how much the golfer can cut off on the 2nd shot without going in the water. #6 429 yard par-4 IIRC, this goes uphill. So I believe a Danger Zone shot on the approach is likely.#8 178 yard par-3Danger Zone shot#9 405 yard par-4 (first picture)Another elevated tee with the hole going around water. This time the water is on the left. I believe to go in a straight line from the tee to the green is about 330 yards and John Daly actually drove the green with the driver. But, the ‘normal’ play is to hit down the right side. I don’t think you hit driver if playing down the fairway because you’ll likely hit it too long. Here’s where the 3-wood or hybrid off the tee play may be a factor.#10 584 yard par-5I just remember this hole being fairly tight off the tee with a lot of difficult downhill lies on the 2nd shot.#15 – 196 yard par-3Danger Zone shot.#17 – 226 yard par-3Very difficult shot. Particularly into the wind. I believe they will move up the tees to 200 yards and still a difficult shot into the par-3.Other than that, for now I’m going to keep working on the swing. But, I will set aside 1 day a week for just putting practice (probably on Wednesday). From there, just keep tweaking equipment and keep the mental and course management sharp.3JACK

Edel Wedge Fitting

23 January 2012 17:31:09

Here's a video of the Edel Wedge fitting process for the new line of wedges from Edel Golf. 3JACK

2012 PGA Merchandise Show Preview

19 January 2012 19:09:54

Next week, the PGA will be having their annual PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando from January 25th thru January 28th. 3Jack Golf will be attending the event. We will be having a ‘Tweet Up’ at the Brickhouse Tavern and Tap, right on I-Drive, about a mile from the Orange County Convention Center. It will be on Thursday (Jan 26th) night at 8pm. For directions, go to:http://brickhousetavernandtap.com/locations/orlando/You can also e-mail me at Richie3Jack@yahoo.comThe first day will be the ‘Demo Day’ portion of the PGA Show. For those who have never been there, it’s held at Orange County National Golf Club’s driving range which was rated the Best Driving Range in the County by GOLF Magazine. It’s a giant, circular range and the every square inch of it has a tent where people can demo new equipment. Last year, the highlights for me were the following:- Graphite Design Tour AD-DI shafts- Oban Devotion shafts- Fourteen Golf Wedges- Wilson Staff Wedges- Bettinardi Putters- Heavy Golf Wedges and Drivers- Callaway Razr irons and driver- KBS Hybrid Shaft- Miura K-Grind Wedge (which I now own)- Prazza Golf Ball- Foresight Sports Launch Monitor- TourStrikerAfter that I spent the entire day Thursday at the actual show. Then Friday I took off to play some golf instead (weather was beautiful that day). The weather this winter has been good in Florida, but they are predicting scattered showers on Demo Day. If so, I probably will not show up to Demo Day and schedule to be at the show on Friday instead.Last year I talked with some people from Trackman and FlightScope at the show. I also found the HIRZL glove at the show and discussed some things with putting with David Edel (Edel Golf) and wound up buying a putter. After that I spoke to the AimPoint guys like John Graham, Jamie Donaldson and Mark Sweeney.The actual show is like a smorgasbord of golf. They have every type of golf club one could want, along with training aids, universities with PGM programs, retailers for driving ranges, golf vacation packages, etc.Here’s what I’m interested in this year:1. Driver ShaftsI should be getting Wishon Golf’s Shaft Bend Profile software sometime this week along with his book ‘In Search of the Perfect Driver.’ I plan on going thru the software and making note of any companies who have a shaft that is not in the current version of the Shaft Bend Profile software.2. YonexThey were at the show last year, but they didn’t have their new E-Zone equipment there.3. Other Equipment I Have Yet to DemoHere are a few clubs I’m interested in:Ping G20 driverTitleist 712 bladesBridgestone irons and woodsTaylor Made RBZAdams UL woodsScratch Golf SB-1Cobra S3 woods4. Edel WedgesEdel wedges are a very different design from the typical OEM designed wedges and due to that, they usually prescribe a much, much higher bounce angle for their wedges than people are used to. I’ll have to learn more about them.5. Tour StrikerRumor of a Tour Striker driver coming out at the show. If you have any other things you may be interested in, please let me know.3JACK

Wishon 919THI Driver Video and New 2012 Products

17 January 2012 17:34:21

Here’s a video from Tom Wishon on his 919THI driver Wishon Golf has come out with some new products for 2012 that just look fantastic. Like their new 575MMC model of irons.Their new Micro Groove HM wedgesAnd their new 739 CCG driverBy itself, I’ve found Wishon Golf’s equipment to be top of the line products. I currently own their 919THI driver, the 929HS 3-wood (COR the same as a driver at .830, same thing the Taylor Made RBZ is doing) and their 555C and 555M irons. I will also be getting their 775HS hybrid (COR at .830) in the mail soon.However, Wishon Golf’s equipment is actually designed with MOI Matching in mind. So when you combine its equipment with the MOI fitting and matching process, you are truly bagging superior equipment. The link below is to my Wishon clubmaking and MOI services:3JACK GOLF CLUBFITTING AND CLUBMAKING SERVICES3JACK

2011 Pro Golf Synopsis FAQ's

16 January 2012 16:56:55

I’ve received some questions about the strategy portion from the 2011 Pro Golf Synopsis e-book. So, let me do some FAQ’s in this blog post.Are you stating that golfers should play more conservatively?No….hell no. The strategy of Pro Golf Synopsis is about playing for your ‘average swing.’ The problem that golfers suffer from is that they will do the exact opposite. They will either play for their ‘worst swing’ or their very ‘best swing.’For example, I feel my ‘average swing’ with the driver will find an average size fairway about 80% of the time and will travel about 280-290 yards. An average swing with the driver for me will probably produce a very poor shot about 5% of the time and the ball usually fades. Let’s say we have a par-4 like #3 at North Shore Golf Club:What we want to do is play for the result of our average swing. The designer (Jeff Burton) made this hole long and has the green off to the right. So a golfer who hits a driver well and comes closer to the water will have a shorter shot into the green.Most golfers play for their worst swing and aim well left. Some golfers play for their best swing and really try to hug the water. The problem with playing for the worst swing is even if you hit the drive well, you will likely be further away from the hole and you are effectively increasing your ‘expected score’ than if you had played for your ‘average swing.’ Even getting 15 yards closer to the cup lowers the golfer’s ‘expected score.’ All things being equal, I would rather hit an 8-iron into a green than a 7-iron or a 6-iron. Conservative play is also a detriment to ‘going low’ and you can piss away those rounds where you are have your ‘A Game’ or even worse, when you are in the zone.I don’t believe that the Danger Zone is my issue. I think I lose more shots with my driving or putter. Should I still work on Danger Zone play?The strategy in Pro Golf Synopsis is not about labeling certain parts of the game as ‘important’ or ‘unimportant.’ If I can improve my fairway bunker play from average to ‘World Class’, that will improve my scores over time (provided everything else remains the same). However, fairway bunker play will not have as big of an impact on your scores than if I had gone from average to ‘World Class’ in driving the golf ball.Furthermore, as the player metrics in PGS show, there are some great Danger Zone players who lost their Tour card. Boo Weekley was excellent in Danger Zone play and driving the golf ball. But, he was dead last in putting. I wouldn’t tell Boo Weekley he needs to improve his Danger Zone play.The problem with amateurs is that they often misjudge the value of the shots they hit with the driver. If a golfer hits a poor driver on a hole and make a double bogey, they’ll claim that for the round, the driver cost them ‘2 strokes.’ In reality, the driver probably cost them 1 stroke and their shots following the driver were poor and those shots cost them 1 more stroke. However, what they forget is that the good drives they hit in the round also have ‘value’ to them as well. That 300-yard drive that you piped down the middle of the fairway has a positive value to it compared to that 270 yard drive that went into the woods. The difference between drivers and Danger Zone play is that you have a chance to ‘make up’ for a bad drive with another 13 drivers in the round. Thus, you may hit your driver on the 1st hole into the woods and that may cost you 1-stroke. But then you can go and hit the next 13 drivers as well as you can hit them and that will more than make up for that lost stroke.Conversely, you may only get 4 shots from the Danger Zone the entire round. If your first Danger Zone shot costs you 1-stroke, then you only have 3 more Danger Zone shots and it’s more likely that you will never ‘make up for’ that first Danger Zone shot that cost you 1-stroke. I’ll leave it with this…I believe that the practice I set forth in 2011 PGS is sound in theory. I do believe in practicing with your longest iron the most on the range because if a person can hit a 3-iron, they certainly can hit the rest of the irons well. Also, the practice set forth does include hitting the driver, but to really focus on the tough tee shots you may face and try to visualize those on the range so it becomes easier when y ou get on the course.I have a problem where for whatever reason, I cannot take my ‘average swing’ on a particular hole on the course because it does not fit my eye. What should I do?I believe that this is good that your recognize that a certain hole does not fit your eye. I think that since you are armed with this knowledge, there are a few things you can do. For starters, you can now go onto the range and visualize this shot and try to ‘simulate’ the shot so it becomes easier to hit on the course.Secondly, we now have to adjust the result of our ‘average swing’ for THIS particular shot. Essentially, for this particular shot our ‘average swing’ has changed. Our ‘average swing’ for this particular shot is not nearly as good as our average swing elsewhere. If there’s water on the right side of the hole and we struggle with this tee shot, we now have to adjust our aim further away from the water because the average swing we produce on this tee shot is not nearly as good as our average swing elsewhere on the course.Lastly, we need to gauge the risk and reward of the shot and plan our strategy from there. Take a look at #12 at North Shore.There is a big oak tree where the 153 marker is at. IMO, the best play is to hit a 3-wood off the tee because the fairway is only about 12 yards wide right where that large oak tree is. If I hit a good 3-wood down the middle, I’ll be far enough behind the oak tree that I can take a full swing and the ball will fly below the oak tree.The problem is that I do not hit the 3-wood well on this hole. I plan on working diligently on my 3-wood play this year so this shot is easier for me. But for now I just try to treat this hole with the mindset of it being a par-5 and using a driver off the tee. This way if I hit a driver well and down the middle, I’m now ‘playing for a birdie-4’ (technically it’s a par because it’s a par-4). If my driver winds up in the woods, then I’m ‘playing for a par-5.’ Before I started to theorize about course management, I would either stubbornly hit poor 3-woods off the tee or hit the driver in the woods and then ‘try to hard’ to make a par-4 instead of just punching out and taking my medicine and making a bogey-5. What would often wind up happening is I would make a double bogey-6 and double bogeys are KILLERS to good golf rounds.I don’t see why you use ‘Proximity to the Cup’ to judge players from the Zones because often times players are just trying to hit the green safely instead of shooting for the flag.The problem with a metric like ‘Greens In Regulation’ is that it is too vague and incomplete for our use. I have played better rounds of golf hitting few greens than the times that I have hit almost every green and vice versa. And in the end, GIR does not really help in explaining where strokes are lost or gained.The thing with the PGA Tour is that over the course of a year, every player gets their fair share of shots where they have to seriously consider just aiming for the middle of the green instead of shooting at the flag. But, over the course of time, the players who can hit the ball closer to the cup will see their scores drop.It’s like I mentioned in 2011 PGS, we are talking about probability, not certainty. That means there is no guarantee that a particular outcome will happen every time, but we do want to put the odds in our favor because over time, it will work out in our favor.This is somewhat similar to the principle that the Blackjack ‘card counters’ use in casinos. The card counter knows that if they card count correctly every single time, they are shifting the odds in their favor. Now, those odds may be in their favor by only…say, 2%. Thus, they will often lose a lot of hands. But, if they keep at it…over time they will win money. And that’s why casinos kick skilled card counters out of their casinos.Still, we use the GIR metric to some use. For instance, Shane Bertsch finished:6th in Birdie Zone6th in Safe Zone44th in Danger ZoneBut, he was 126th in Greens in Regulation (64.3%). He also finished 82nd in Putts Gained. Perhaps, Bertsch was firing at the flagstick a little too often and while he was hitting shots closer to the cup, they were off the green or he was leaving himself with a slick, downhill putt.Brandel Chamblee says that the ‘Money Zone’ is from 50-125 yards and has some players that won multiple times in 2011 to prove it. Is he right?Chamblee is wrong because statistically it does not correlate to Adjusted Scoring Average as strong as putting, driving the ball, Danger Zone play, Safe Zone play and even Short Game play. It’s a mathematical FACT. Much like arguing against D-Plane when it comes to the physics of how the ball flies.There are a few common flaws in Chamblee’s thinking. For starters, the sample size is not big enough. You can’t take one year and look at a few of the players in the top and then make the judgment of how important that area of the game is. David Duval finished 3rd in Birdie Zone play and was 174th in Adjusted Scoring Average. John Senden finished 184th in Birdie Zone play and was 25th in Adjusted Scoring Average.Secondly, the flaw in using the 50-125 yard metric is that if a player has more shots closer to the cup, they are more likely to going to hit those shots closer. If all of Dustin Johnson’s shots are from 55 yards and all of Luke Donald’s shots are from 125 yards, Dustin Johnson will likely wind up with a closer Proximity to the Cup. That doesn’t make Dustin a better player from this range. With the 2011 Pro Golf Synopsis, I utilize formulas that essentially ‘cancel out’ the differences in the yardages where the shot was taken from.Lastly, just looking at the shots from 50-125 yards does not consider other parts of the player’s game. Luke Donald and Shane Bertsch are a good example.Here’s a look at their rankings in each Zone and their driving of the ball:DONALDSafe Zone: 1stBirdie Zone: 1stDanger Zone: 46thAdjusted Total Driving: 132ndBERTSCHSafe Zone: 6th Birdie Zone: 6th Danger Zone: 44th Adjusted Total Driving: 97th So why is Bertsch nowhere near as good as Donald?In large part due to Bertsch finishing 82nd in Putts Gained and Donald finishing 1st in Putts Gained. Donald also hits the ball higher which I believe helps and is a better player from 225-275 yards. Combine that with dominating Birdie and Safe Zone play, that’s why Donald is such a great player. 3JACK