I do a modified side saddle putt. I use a regular putter, but I face the hole, left hand at the top of the grip, right hand at the bottum of the grip, with my pointer finger pointing down the shaft. It doesn't look pretty, but it works well for me, and if it was good enough for Snead, its good enough for me.

Anyone else feel it is easier to hit those long putts while facing directly toward the hole?

Modified - as in legal - I suppose? Snead straddled the line which is not allowed any longer. I have even seen a side saddler who looked at the hole while making the stroke. Dumbfounding, but he putted as well as anyone else in the group.

I tried it and it seemed to work better for me for the short putts and less effective on the long putts as distance control was really tough.

And you wonder why you can't score...

This goes back to my initial comments...looks like you're trying to fix your game with gimmicks...driving iron, side-saddle putts...

Take lessons and LISTEN to the pro!! Be open to change. THEY know what is going on and how to play the game. And if you try to fix things yourself and ignore the advice, or not be willing to change, then you'll never improve.

Fix your swing. Sounds like it needs a lot of work as steep as you describe it. Putting is entirely personal preference, but much of the time when you're doing this or that gimmick, it's a lot of luck. Something that works "pretty well" isn't "good". Putting depends on the line you choose, on rhythm, on stroke, on fluidity, on feel... If you really want to work on your putting game, there's a video that was made by Ben Crenshaw back in the late-1980's that was THE best ever made. He took apart the process and the instruction was top notch. There are lots of schools, like Pelz, but when you're resorting to gimmicks, you're RESISTING and not willing to listen to pros.

You may be a pro in your profession, but if an accountant decided to come in and administer some diethyl ether to a patient because he saw it done on a 3-Stooges episode, would you support such a method? Or would you, as a professional, suggest a little nitrous oxide, isoflurane, and other agents, under professional supervision? I would HOPE you would suggest PROFESSIONAL supervision.

SAME WITH GOLF. Listen to your pro and give up the gimmicks! Fix your swing by LISTENING... If your objective is to score and improve your game, you must be willing to modify your behavior so that it supports the intended effect. It's called LEARNING.

Doc, take ryj's advice, the man helped me a lot with his words.

BTW Doc, I had a question, it's not related to golf, but anyway. Do you still use Halothane or is it obsolete now??

quote:

Originally posted by TSF:
Modified - as in legal - I suppose? Snead straddled the line which is not allowed any longer. I have even seen a side saddler who looked at the hole while making the stroke. Dumbfounding, but he putted as well as anyone else in the group.

Actually, side saddle is completely legal, it was Snead's "croquet" putt that they outlawed. They changed the rule so that you must have both feet on the same side of the putter, so side saddle qualifies, and he used it successfully for many years.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gasdoc,

quote:

Originally posted by LuckyBreak:

BTW Doc, I had a question, it's not related to golf, but anyway. Do you still use Halothane or is it obsolete now??

You dont see Halothane in many operating rooms anymore, but it is still used on occasion. There were very rare cases of liver compromise with halothane that caused it to fall out of favor for fear of law suits. It is a great drug in certain circumstances though. It is not pungent, therefore it is great for masking uncooperative kids to sleep so you can put an IV in them. There has never been a liver issue in kids, only adults. Also, it is a direct cardiac depressant, so in certain cases, that is desireable. Other than that, it is rarely used anymore in America.

It is cheap, so many countries without a lot of lawyers still use it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gasdoc,

RyJ, I was actually waiting for this response, and I see your point. At the same time, not everyone is going to be a good classic golfer. It is not easy to go from shooting a 95 the unconventional way and going to a 115 just to hit like everybody else. But I actually had my instructor do an all woods lesson yesterday, and by the end of the hour, I was hitting them pretty well. I just hope it doesn't screw with my irons game, thats all. As to the other thread, when I talk about distance, I am not talking about how far one hits the ball one time. I am talking about how far a person hits a club when hit properly. Good direction, form, that nice little swish that makes it feel like you hardly touched the ball. If you average in all the topped, sliced, overly full shots, etc, many amature golfers could claim hitting their 5 iron all of 100 yards. In any case, your point is taken about the lessons. My next one is scheduled for friday, and I will be working on more conventional moves. I'm not giving up the side saddle yet though as it is MUCH more accurate than my conventional putting.

OK, that's it. For my hysterectomy, I need some ether...I saw Moe use it on a patient once, it's GOTTA work!! I'm CERTAIN it will work! I just KNOW it'll work! And I'll do the procedure myself...those doctors don't know SQUAT! Especially my gynecologist...

LOL! Seriously...don't do anything else before you buy and watch the video: Ben Crenshaw...THE ART OF PUTTING. It's one of THE best instructional videos I've ever seen, and it's still avalable - do a search for it (NOT the one by Stan Utley...but the one from 1986 by Crenshaw...). Even better than the Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard instructional video, "Cotton, Ether, and Performing Your Own Appendectomy"

quote:

Originally posted by gasdoc:

quote:

Originally posted by LuckyBreak:

BTW Doc, I had a question, it's not related to golf, but anyway. Do you still use Halothane or is it obsolete now??

You dont see Halothane in many operating rooms anymore, but it is still used on occasion. There were very rare cases of liver compromise with halothane that caused it to fall out of favor for fear of law suits. It is a great drug in certain circumstances though. It is not pungent, therefore it is great for masking uncooperative kids to sleep so you can put an IV in them. There has never been a liver issue in kids, only adults. Also, it is a direct cardiac depressant, so in certain cases, that is desireable. Other than that, it is rarely used anymore in America.

It is cheap, so many countries without a lot of lawyers still use it.

Yeah. Man you refreshed my memory on last year's pharmacology. We still haven't studied anesthesia as a seperate branch, only as a part of general pharmacology. Halothane is still used a lot here, specially in public hospitals like the university hospitals, where most of the patients go in on their legs and come out in coffins.

And if you're barely breaking 100, it would behoove you to learn the basics of the game, and once you get to a point that you have those basics down, THEN and ONLY then futz around with different methods or variations. But there's a reason that the great majority of athletes on ALL levels do things the same basic way...because those methods work. The exceptions are just that...EXCEPTIONS.

Stick to the fundamentals...don't fight it. Giving up in order to re-invent the wheel, so to speak, is a novelty and is a last resort. Like I say...listen; learn; improve. THEN develop your own style based on the tried and true methods. That's MY advice, anyway...for whatever that's worth (which is really not worth much...!).

Listen to me...I'm pre-med!

...I thought you were pre-law.

I just bought the video from Amazon for $.01 + $2.98 s&h. I'll check it out. There are actually 3 or 4 more at that price, if anyone else is interested.

Looks like a beautiful day today to be on vacation. For a change of pace, I'm gonna hit Montauk Downs for 18 instead of my normal course. I need to try out my new woods swing.

quote:

Originally posted by LuckyBreak:
Halothane is still used a lot here, specially in public hospitals like the university hospitals, where most of the patients go in on their legs and come out in coffins.

In truth lucky, many millions of people have had surgery under halothane without incident. But, technology is always bringing us better drugs. The newer agents have very low blood/gas coefficients, and therefor induces sleep AND wakefullness much more quickly than the older drugs. Less hangover too.

As I mentioned, there are some instances where the cardiac depression of halothane is actually a GOOD thing. When the patient has Idiopathic Hypertrophic Subaortic Stenosis, their heart muscle is enlarged to the point that when it contracts, it actually blocks the valve the blood comes out to get to the rest of the body. When a young athlete dies of a "heart attack", this is usually what he/she has. It is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in people under 30. Halothane's cardiac depressing effect is actually great for these patients. I know it is strange, but you have to depress the heart to make it pump better.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gasdoc,

Same difference! Point of Parliamentary Procedure...It's not that we took a few liberties with our female guests (we did...)...

Crenshaw's video WILL change your life (insofar as golf is concerned anyway...which means that it will change everything!)

You'll learn to keep your body ENTIRELY still and allow your arms to swing; you'll learn how to do the 'push-pull'; you'll learn about pace, about getting the ball close, about slope of the green, grain... Crenshaw actually advocates a slightly open stance, but he also cautions that opening up can cause a pull to the side you're opening on. As a consequence, the paddle grip I have on my putter leaves the clubhead oh so slightly open, so that when I set up, it's flush. Well, you'll see. Good job!

quote:

Originally posted by gasdoc:

quote:

Originally posted by LuckyBreak:
Halothane is still used a lot here, specially in public hospitals like the university hospitals, where most of the patients go in on their legs and come out in coffins.

In truth lucky, many millions of people have had surgery under halothane without incident. But, technology is always bringing us better drugs. The newer agents have very low blood/gas coefficients, and therefore induces sleep AND wakefullness much more quickly than the older drugs. Less hangover too.

As I mentioned, there are some instances where the cardiac depression of halothane is actually a GOOD thing. When the patient has Idiopathic Hypertrophic Subaortic Stenosis, there heart muscle is enlarged to the point that when it contracts, it actually blocks the valve the blood comes out to get to the rest of the body. When a young athlete dies of a "heart attack", this is usually what he/she has. It is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in people under 30. Halothane's cardiac depressing effect is actually great for these patients. I know it is strange, but you have to depress the heart to make it pump better.

It's not strange or anything. I come across a lot of stuff like that in medicine.
To be honest, I compliment you on choosing such a career. I think anesthesiology is one of the riskiest branches in medicine, on par with brain and spinal cord surgeons. The responsibility of getting a patient to sleep in the right dose using the right agent(which is different for each patient) and waking him up again after the operation is very grave. A lot might think it is a very simple thing, but it certainly isn't. Even with all the pre-OR investigations, anything is liable to go wrong any time. You know this better than I do of course.

My aunt (my father's sister) is an anesthesiologist as well. She retired last year at the age of 60, and I've heard her several times thankful that she got out of it with no problems. It's a very risky and tough job.

When I started med school, I planned on being an ER doc. If you told me I was going to be an anesthesiologist, I would have thought you were nuts. When I did the ER rotation, I realized it wasn't like the TV show. I was mostly treating people with the flu, colds, syphilis, etc. Occasionally a REAL emergency would come in, and the ER docs would call surgery to stop bleeding or anesthesia if the intubation was too difficult.
Then I did my anesthesia rotation, and I soon realized these guys were doing all the stuff I THOUGHT ER docs did, and I didn't have the ego to be a surgeon. lol. It was an easy choice after that.

BTW, I stopped after 9 holes today, as I needed to spend time with the family. My drives were much better. I wasn't driving as far, but they were on the fairway (mostly). I wasn't hitting the long irons as well as usual, but my mid-short were fine. I guess the tweaking of my swing is going to be a big adjustment.

Man I haven't played golf in a month. I've been stuck at home for the last three weeks studying. My exams start next Saturday. Community Medicine is the first exam. **** community medicine. Worst thing I've ever studied in my whole life. Boring. Stupid. It's like lame literature.

Did you study community medicine in med school?? I don't know if this is only here or is it universal; but I think some rotations in med school are useless for an undergraduate. Community medicine for example, and toxicology. I think toxicology should have been merged with Pharmacology as one branch. We also study A LOT in the Ophthalmology rotation, too much for undergraduates. I mean, errors of refraction, cataract, glaucoma, these are the essentials, but having to study corneal ulcers and retinal neuropathies with their complicated clinical pictures and description is just too much.

How is exactly is med school in the US?? What do you study?

Here we study basics in the first two years: anatomy, physiology, Histology and Biochemistry (may biochemistry rot in hell, amen)

3rd year: Pharmacology, Microbiology & Immunology, Parasitology and Pathology (may it share a fate with biochemistry, amen)

4th: Ophthalmology, ENT, Community medicine, Forensic medicine and toxicology.

5th: Internal medicine with all it's branches, including phsycology, dermatology, cardiology, chest, GIT, etc..

6th: Surgery and Obstetrics.

quote:

Originally posted by LuckyBreak:

How is exactly is med school in the US?? What do you study?

Here it works differently than in much of the world. Most everybody else has 6 years of school following high school. In the US, there is 4 years undergrad, where all of the undergraduate sciences are studied. These include 2 semesters of biology, 2 chemistry, 2 organic chem, 2 physics, and one or two other things. I dont remember exactly what. But remember, at the same time you are completing a bachelor's degree in the major of your choice. Most liberal arts degrees require a whole slew of courses that have nothing to do with science or medicine, like literature and art history, etc...

Then, after those 4 years you take the MCAT exam, and apply to medical schools. In the US, this is extremely competative. The first 2 years of medical school are mostly in the classroom. Anatomy, biochem, histology, and so on. Back then, community medicine was not a course. It could be now, I dont know. At the end of those 2 years, you take part 1 of the USMLE (U.S. Medical Licensing Exam)

The last 2 years of medicine are spent mostly in the hospital, but still with some classroom time, and board review. You have required rotations and elective rotations. The required rotations consist of Surgery, Internal Medicine, OB/Gny, Psychiatry, Pediatrics. Different schools vary a little, but these 5 are required by all. Part of surgery may include urology, opthalmology, or anesthesiology. Then you have to take about 1 year's worth of electives. During this time you take parts 2 & 3 of the USMLE. Everyone makes sure they are in electives like dermatology the month leading up to their boards. The last thing you want is to end up working 30 hours straight in the burn unit right before your exam.

After all this is complete, you apply for residency, which can be 3-7 years, depending on your specialty. After your residency, you need to take written specialty exams, and if you pass, in one more year you can sit for oral specialty exams. If you pass this, you are now board certified and you are good for 10 years, until your recertification exam comes up.

Every year during these 10 years, you are required to do 50 hours of continuing education as well.