Ask the Pro Archive Index
Over 600 Golf Questions and Answers - all previous posts by topic and alphabetized

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Here I have organized the Ask the Pro Archive by topic area (see the link menu just below) and then tried to semi-alphabetize the entries (the alphabetizing of phrases is problematic). Anyway, if you can't find what you're looking for by browsing down this page to see what is listed under each heading you can always do a "Find" on this page (usually Ctrl + F and then type in the word you want to find on the page) or do a site search.

	Long Game - Irons | Woods | General
	Short Game
	Rules, Etiquette and Procedures
	Equipment
	Mental Game
	Miscellaneous - Professional golf-related | Terminology - Words and Phrases | Golf course-related | Other

Long Game

Irons

• Controlling the amount of backspin on iron shots
• Creating backspin
• Backspin again
• Effects of playing the ball too far forward
• Blocking it - divot left, ball goes right
• Club distances, how far they should go
• Why does the club face close in the rough?
• Iron distances are all the same
• Power leak, not enough distance on irons
• To take a divot or not to take a divot - that is the question
• Divot depth question from a junior player
• Divot point
• How to feel the hands forward
• Hitting it on the toe of the club
• Hitting the ball too low
• Effect of humidity on distance
• Shots "in-between" clubs
• Fairway bunker shots
• Why does a "flier" go farther?
• Graphite-shafted irons going shorter distance
• Should I hit the ground?
• Hitting shots to the left of target
• Hitting the 1 iron to the right
• Why am I hitting my irons fat?
• Hitting long irons fat
• Long irons fat or lacking distance
• Long iron out of the rough
• Misfit clubs causing inconsistency?
• Practice swing looks good, disaster with the ball
• Pulling the short irons
• Problem pushing shots with the irons
• Trouble making clean contact on sanded or top-dressed fairways
• Shanking - cause and cure
• Should you use a tee or not?
• Short yardage approach shot distance control
• Stopping the ball on a hard green
• Switch to blades with steel shafts?
• Is it easier to hit it straight with short clubs?
• Iron shots too high
• How do you control trajectory?
• Getting a higher trajectory on middle and long irons
• When to use which bounce on wedges
• Which club for which distance, and inconsistent swing height
• Filling in a yardage gap in the long irons

Woods

• Aligning the face with offset woods
• Alignment on tee shots
• 5 wood goes farther than driver
• Too much backspin on driver
• Blocking it to the right
• Casting problem with the driver and woods
• Club face alignment at address
• Club head alignment in relation to ball at address
• Erratic results with woods
• Technique for fairway woods
• What is the "gear effect?"
• How big a driver is too big?
• What loft angle goes farther?
• Getting a lower trajectory on drives
• Problem hitting drives on the heel
• Getting more distance on drives
• Hitting longer drives
• Problem hitting drives too low
• Hitting a power fade and slowing down
• Hitting a rising shot
• Use of lead tape to correct ball flight
• Slicing problem
• Swinging from non-dominant hand side decreasing distance?
• How high to tee the ball
• Skying the driver, hitting a pop up
• What is causing me to sky the ball?
• Hitting it straight off the tee
• Tee flight characteristics
• Worm burner, hitting grounders

General

• Alignment, problem lining up
• Alignment deteriorates during the round
• Arms in front of the body?
• Trying to get backspin on hard greens
• The purpose of the backswing in golf
• Backswing slow or fast?
• What balance means and its importance
• Falling forward off balance in the swing
• Ball above feet, distance loss
• Hitting the ground before the ball
• Ball position, or ball placement, basics
• Baseball swing interferring with golf swing
• Callus on finger problem
• Junior mysteriously can't swing from one day to the next
• Chicken wing
• Choking down for more distance
• Club selection - deciding when to hit an iron, hybrid or fairway wood/metal
• Which club to use from the rough
• Cold weather and less distance
• Temperature: Shorter distance in cold weather
• "Cupping" the left hand, and preventing a hook
• Curving shots, hitting a fade & draw
• "Disconnecting"
• Getting more distance, hitting it straight and long
• Trying to draw the ball and having trouble
• Ball goes farther with draw rather than fade
• Keeping the left arm/elbow straight, or not
• Elevation changes - uphill and downhill
• Erratic results, misses are everywhere
• Another golfer with wildly erratic shots
• Problem hitting shots from the fairway
• Back 9 fatigue, endurance
• Too much fidgeting at address, can't get still
• What is a flat swing?
• Finishing the swing, making a weight transfer to a full follow-through
• Having a forward press to begin the backswing
• Benefits of a forward press
• Clear hips or use hands?
• Swinging without the hips turning
• Making the hips turn faster
• Why am I hitting it fat?
• Hitting shots fat
• Flex in forward knee
• Amount of knee flex in the stance
• Previously injured finger problem
• Flying elbow question
• Ground club or hover it above ground
• Grounding the club a lot or a little
• On which hand you wear the glove
• Wearing a hole in the glove
• Which grip to use
• Which type of grip to use
• Which grip after hand problem
• How many knuckles to see in the grip
• Grips - neutral, strong and weak
• Ten-finger grip, good or bad, who uses it?
• How grip position (strong, weak, neutral) effects the club face
• Grip pressure, how to hit through and take turf with a light grip
• Grip size and its effect
• Using a weak grip
• Swinging with a cross-handed grip, reversing the hands
• Double-overlap grip
• Grip reminder, regripping during swing
• Late hand action
• Hand position at address
• Which hand dominates in the swing?
• To emphasize the right hand or the left hand in the swing
• Which side to swing from, to play right or left-handed
• Opening the left hand at the top of the backswing
• Low handicapper wants to shave off last few shots
• Playing from hardpan or tight lies
• Keep head down?
• Head position relative to ball position at the finish
• Lifting the left heel on the backswing
• When to bring the hips through
• Difference between "Hitter" and "Swinger"
• What is hitting from the top?
• How to stop hitting from the top
• Problem hitting the longer clubs
• Hitting a low runner
• Hitting it to the right
• Hooding or closing problem
• Hooking problem
• How to go from low handicap to scratch
• Hybrid club technique, sweep or divot
• Inconsistecy, hitting it left and right
• Cause of inconsistency, hands versus big muscles
• Problem being laid off at the top
• What "laying off" means and what to do about it
• Lower body getting ahead of upper body in swing
• Outside to inside swing problem
• How to keep from overswinging
• Practice on grass or mats?
• Problem with practicing too quickly
• The difference between practicing on the range and playing on the course
• To pull or to push
• Pulling shots
• Going from the range to the course
• How to know if your swing is "repeatable" and "consistent"
• Reverse pivot problem
• Improving balance and rhythm
• Problem rolling the hands in the takeaway
• Scooping
• Single digit handicap at home course, trouble on other courses
• Self-analysis and correction
• Down-the-line arm/shaft angle at impact
• Shaft planes vary from club to club
• Shot shape, why draw or fade instead of straight?
• Should I hit a fade or a draw?
• Shaping shots, how to fade and draw
• Where to tee the ball in the tee box for shapes
• Why do most higher handicappers slice?
• Does swing speed affect shot shape?
• What speed to swing
• Spine tilt at address
• Coming off of spine tilt
• Spinning on heel because of injured knee?
• Weight distribution in the stance, irons vs. woods
• Stance width, how wide to place the feet
• How far away to stand from the ball
• Same swing with iron and driver?
• The shape of a swing
  
• Hit wood well, but shank wedge
• Dropping shoulder at address
• Adjusting alignment direction for sidehill lies
• Where to aim on sidehill lies
• Learning the "squatting" or "sit down" position in the downswing
• Staying down through the ball after surgery
• How many targets are there in a shot?
• How shot distance is effected by tee elevation
• How to find and maintain tempo
• Tennis elbow problem
• Contact VERY slightly toward the toe
• "Strong" top of swing
• Difference between an iron swing and a wood swing
• Topping the ball, hitting shots thin
• Which arm do you put the towel under in a towel drill?
• Hitting shots on a lower trajectory
• Try to hit or just swing?
• Visual images while swinging
• Use of weighted club
• Loss of body weight - effect on swing or distance
• Can't make a weight shift or transfer
• Where to focus eyes, which part of ball
• Judging wind speed
• Should I flick the wrists for more power?
• Flat wrist at the top of the swing?
• Left wrist bowed or cupped at impact
• Wrist injury from practicing

Short Game

• Putter angle of approach, face, shaft
• The difference between a chip and a pitch
• Low bounce on wedges
• Club face opens to right on chips
• Which club to use for chips
• Club slides under ball in bunker
• Buried lie on uphill slope in bunker
• Playing long bunker shots
• Sand Wedge or Lob Wedge from the bunkers?
• Take a divot with pitch shots or not
• Why do golfers take off their glove before they putt?
• Take off glove on the greens
• What putting grip to use
• The Claw grip or Psycho grip for putting
• Putting with a cross-handed grip
• Cutting across putts
• Should I get a lob wedge?
• How to grip with a long putter
• Technique for long putter
• Hitting putts on the heel
• The ball hops when I putt
• Putting one-handed
• Leave the pin in or take it out?
• How to stop pulling putts
• Plumb bob for reading putts
• Which putter to get
• Heavy or light putter head
• Belly putter length
• Putting with the toe up
• Very little sand and hard ground underneath in bunker
• How to get good at short putts
• Opinion about sidesaddle putting
• Speed or line in putting?
• Training aids for putting
  
• What bounce on wedge for which sand type
• Tip for playing from wet sand
• Curing "the yips"

Rules, Etiquette and Procedures

• Why balls have numbers on them
• What can be used as a ball marker
• Penalty for breaking a branch
• Bunker rake in or out of bunker
• Ball questions: one-ball rule, changing ball types, borrowing balls
• Changing balls or ball types during a round
• How many balls a player can carry, limit on number of balls
• Backward club
• Carrying a left-handed club if you are a right-handed
• Using Chapstick or foreign substances on the club face
• Help with an opinion about defining "chippies" - chipping or putting
• Colors of stakes, lines for hazards, OB and yardage markers on a golf course
• Correcting a wrong score
• Having course information in written form
• CSS - Huh?
• Use of distance measuring devices
• Correct method for divot repair
• To replace or not to replace divots on the teeing ground
• Using a "pitchfork" / divot tool, a tee, or just the putter
• Why isn't a sand-filled divot ground under repair?
• A problem with taking divots
• Designated drop area penalty
• The year dropping the ball from shoulder height started
• When you drop on teeing ground can you use a tee?
• Wearing earplugs or headphones when playing
• "Embedded" ball
• What determines whether the flagstick is removed or left in the hole
• Ball stuck against flagstick
• Not taking the flag out before removing ball from hole
• How tall is the flagstick? (height of the pin)
• Diameter of the hole
• Hole placement or pin position on the green
• Using putter grip
• Using distance measuring devices on the course
• Brushing aside hailstones
• Why handicap holes are alternated between front and back sides
• Handicap strokes playing from different tees
• Should golfers invite themselves to play with others golfers
• The "last place" the ball crossed the hazard
• Hitting the ball accidentally with a practice stroke
• Hitting into the group ahead, how close to let your ball get
• Put an identifying mark on your ball
• Laying on ground
• Lift, clean & place
• Limit on number of clubs
• Lost Ball or what?
• Marker also records their score on scorecard
• Marking ball when off the green
• Why players mark short putts instead of finishing
• Pitching from on the green
• Are "range finders" allowed?
• Match play scoring terminology
• Onesome, or single player's status on course
• Dog (or outside agency) steals golf ball
• Different par but same score for men and women
• Is the ball still in play or out of play
• When to pick up your ball
• Placing ball while another player putts
• Play through, who asks who?
• Playing into another fairway to shorten dogleg hole
• Practicing on the course, same day, before a tournament
• What are "Preferred Lies?"
• Where to stand and how to get a read when another player putts
• What is "reasonable evidence?"
• How many practice swings can you take?
• Limit on number of practice swings, slow play
• Leaning on putter, dents in greens
• Limit number of putts to play faster
• Repair old hole in putting line
• Putting order, who has the right? - "continuous putting"
• Ready golf etiquette question
• What is slope rating?
• Starting on both nines, starting on hole 1 and 10
• Stepping on the putting line
• What are the "stroke holes" on the scorecard?
• When did "stymies" stop and marking the ball start?
• Tee block location relative to yardage marker
• Tie breaking by retrogression
• Time limit to search for lost ball
• How much time to play a stroke
• Time limit for shots on the Tour
• Tournament pairings
• Unplayable lie procedure
• When to move from white to blue tee blocks
• When to read your putts
• Where to stand when another player is swinging
• Who plays the shot first?
• Who is away and who plays first?
• Writing or marking on the golf ball
• Using a line drawn on ball to line up
• Using a tee to help keep head still
• When to play/wait
• Does a whiff count as a stroke?
• A swing, a miss, a hole-out and the score
• Playing a wrong ball
• Playing a shot from a wrong green

Equipment

• To use a 2 or 3 piece ball
• Which ball to play
• Are there balls any longer with balata covers?
• The modern golf ball curves less
• Temperature, humidity, altitude: Does the ball go farther on hot humid days?
• Bulge and Roll with irons
• What the initials 'CC' mean with golf clubs, what are cc's?
• Difference between Cadet gloves and regular gloves
• To use, or not to use, a "chipper" club
• All the clubs and what they're for
• Seeking advice on buying clubs
• Club lofts
• Degrees of loft on different clubs
• Adjusting golf clubs to fit
• How do you know if clubs are the right size?
• Can I fit myself for clubs?
• The difference between forged and cavity back
• The difference between Men's and Women's clubs
• Can women play with men's clubs?
• Getting the latest, new clubs
• Shorter players cutting down clubs
• How many dimples do golf balls have?
• Draw-bias(ed) driver
• Is a 45" driver too long?
• Is a 1 wood the same as a Driver?
• Junior playing with cut down driver
• Driver loft and its effect on trajectory and distance
• Driver length for player height
• "E" wedge, what does the E stand for?
• What is Effective Bounce?
• "F" wedge, what does the F stand for?
• Driver face loss of performance or "pop" from use
• Fairway wood numbers with a plus "+" sign
• Full set of clubs or half set (starter set)?
• Goggles to protect eyes from sand
• Golf club wear, do golf clubs wear out?
• Loss of feel after switching from steel to graphite
• Advantages of graphite over steel
• Graphite shaft that feels and performs like steel shaft
• Graphite-Hybrid confusion
• Shaft butt diameters, grip core diameters, .580, .600
• Why clean grooves
• The purpose of grooves on the club face
• Drivers with no grooves on the face
• Who needs a 2 degree hook face?
• Iron, Wood, Hybrid Conversion
• Cast irons and forged irons
• How to clean the irons
• Using lead tape to correct swing problems?
• Problem with lead tape not sticking or coming off
• The effect of lie angle
• Clubs seem too long for shorter player
• Stronger lofts on modern irons
• How to make a long putter fit in travel bags and on planes
• Importance of changing worn grips
• Ridge on underside of grip
• Grip size and its effect on shots
• Grip size, standard, and "wraps"
• The effect of oversized grips
• Larger grip sizes terminology
• Finger injury grip
• Getting smaller grips
• Playing with worn grips
• Creating a home practice area
• Flatter lie angles on wedges?
• Offset driver good or bad
• To get new clubs or used clubs
• How often to replace the ball
• The difference between a senior driver and a ladies driver
• Shaft flexes tutorial
• Matching club speed to shaft flex
• Which flex point or kick point for which golfer
• Why aren't club lengths all the same?
• What is shaft kickpoint
• Driver shaft flex and loft
• Why are club shafts different lengths?
• Is Firm the same as Stiff?
• Will graphite shafts shatter in the cold?
• Sole level at address
• Sparks flying from club head
• Spine aligning, "splining" or puring of shafts
• Swing weight tutorial
• Lots of questions about swing weight
• Breaking tees, why and how to stop
• Two-way chipper clubs are not allowed
• Wedge lofts beyond pitching wedge
• The different types of wedges
• What is a W3 or W4 wedge?
• Which clubs to carry in the bag
• Which one club would you use?
• Which wedges to carry after the pitching wedge
• Wood numbering system

Mental Game

• Blow up holes
• Breathing during swing
• Focusing
• Lose focus on course
• Looking up, how to not look up
• Last hole pressure, nerves
• Losing distance once a year mystery
• Mental game tips
• What to do for a nervous putter
• How to play more relaxed on the course and under pressure
• Tee shot anxiety, stage fright
• Trouble hitting tee shots on tight holes
• What to think during the swing

Miscellaneous

Professional golf-related

• Advantage for pro's who start earlier
• British PGA founding
• Why caddies don't wear spikes
• Caddy wages, percentage, payment
• What does a "Class A" golf professional mean?
• What is a "club" pro?
• Do touring pro's play with different clubs and balls?
• How the "cut" is determined
• Do European pro's play the "small ball" and are courses in yards or meters?
• Professionals' exemption for winning a major championship
• "Hit Fairway" statistic
• Average height of professional golfers, advantages of being a tall or short golfer
• How to become a golf professional
• The Masters Tournament founders
• Mini tour information
• When did the PGA begin?
• Professional golfers' fitness training
• How did the Touring Pro's do as juniors?
• Player badges, clip-on medallions
• Putting statistics, what is a putt?
• What do I need to get into Q-School?
• What it takes to become a professional
• Touring Professionals and wearing shorts
• Prize money if an amateur wins a professional event
• What happens in the case of ties with money
• Making the cut and winning money
• How professional golfers are ranked
• Scoreboard abbreviations - letters "MDF", "DNS", "WD", "a", "T", and more
• Senior tour shorter yardages than regular tour
• Becoming a teaching professional
• Tournament formats
• What are "TPC" courses?
• What is a "Major" tournament?
• Professional Major Grand Slam
• How a Major becomes a Major
• The ten shot rule / 10 shot rule
• How tournament announcers know what club players are using
• How tournament pairings are decided when there are ties
• "Putts per round" statistic
• What does "Open" or "Invitational" mean?
• How the Ryder Cup Captain is chosen
• Who has shot 59 on tour?
• Why some tournaments start players on both front and back nines
• Hidden undulations on greens
• Pro's yardage books
• Yardages for men or women professionals
• Annoying yelling by fans

Terminology - Words and Phrases

• The phrases "be the number" and "be right"
• The terms "birdie" and "bogey"
• Meaning of "breaking the wrists"
• The term "buried elephant"
• The phrases "control the ball" and "working the ball"
• The term "duck hook"
• The terms "fade" and "draw"
• The term "flight" for tournament divisions
• The term "fore", origin
• The term "Golf", origin
• "High side - low side", "above - below"
• Pluralization, hyphenation of "hole in one"
• The term "links course" or "links style course"
• What am I "laying" or "lying?"
• The phrase "moment of inertia"
• The terms "out" and "in" for the front and back nine
• The terms "outside-in" and "inside-out"
• The phrase "over the top"
• The terms "pull" and "trap" (and "push" and "scoop")
• The term "release"
• The term "scratch", origin
• The term "skins" or phrase "skins game", origin
• What is meant by "soft hands"
• The term "stymie"
• The term "sub par"
• Hearing the phrase "unforced error" on TV
• A "Working Man's Four"

See also the Glossary of Golf Terms and Phrases

Golf course-related

• How long it takes the greens to recover from aeration
• The amount of land or area for a golf course
• Bermuda grass playing characteristics
• "Front" edge of bunker
• Course layout, how many par 3's
• How course rating and slope are determined
• The first golf course and its year
• Why the colors of flags on the greens vary
• Size of the hole
• The term "Links" for golf courses
• Do all courses have the same par?
• Par 6's?
• Pin depth, flagstick depth -- front, middle or back of the green
• Pin placement relative to edge of green, how close can the hole be to the edge of the green?
• Shared, double or common greens for more than one hole
• Hitting over water, effect on distance
• Yellow stakes, red stakes, water hazards
• Who hits from Red, White and Blue tees?
• Why do golf courses have 18 holes?
• Estimating yardage when off center
• Hole yardage recommendations
• How hole yardages are measured
• How yardage markers are measured
• Yardages for different pars, par and distance
• Why yardages are shorter for women golfers

Other

• Club grip or grip change for arthritis pain
• Golf ball size
• Tips for beginners
• The benefits of playing golf
• Wearing bifocals, effects and options
• Carry only, or total distance (carry plus roll)
• When were the first golf carts?
• Effect of mud, why to clean the ball
• How to arrange the clubs in the bag
• Club length for taller player & how to "club" another player
• High golf club prices
• John Daly comment, "not enough club"
• Diet, workout & getting noticed by colleges
• Double-hit, hitting the ball twice with one swing
• What grades for scholarship?
• Throwing up grass to gauge the wind
• Ace or hole-in-one records
• Single digit handicap at home course, trouble on other courses
• Index, handicap, how many strokes to give/get in match play
• Junior golfer reluctant to get instruction
• Junior golfers and working out with weights
• Resources for left-handed golfers
• Lessons - trouble
• Golf lesson statistics, how many do and don't
• Lie angles & problem mid-long irons
• Lifting weights and golf
• Lowest to highest handicap
• How high can a golf ball go?
• What is a "green in regulation?"
• Going from the range to the course
• Ball does not go as far over low lying spots of the course
• Why to mark and replace very short putts
• The meaning of "mid" in Mid-amateur
• Playing both right and left-handed
• Dividing up practice time
• Who is a Pro? (qualifications, etc.)
• Lowest 18-hole score ever
• Taking skills to the course
• Golfers' scoring statistics
• How is a Skin Game played?
• Is golf a sport? Are golfers athletes?
• What is a stimp meter and how does it work?
• What type of vision correction to get
• Swinging a weighted club