EquipmentJunkie vs. Lefty731PM

You have responded - noone is stopping you. And again - I don't think anyone here would discourage another poster from wanting to improve their game, I wish everyone well. I also don't really think that a lot of the people I refer to are lying either. I think it's more a question of not really understanding what a handicap actually is. And as well as encouraging people. I think that thee is a pretty obvious need for a reality check. These days, every young bloke I play with thinks he's going to be a pro, even if he's been playing for 6 months. Of course you aren't going to say anything critical to their face about it - or even talk behind their backs. But when people make claims which are so obviously ridiculous ot have ambitions that so clearly outstrip possibility, why not question it here? All of the claimants have had an opportunity to back up their claims. They are unable to and get offended when these claims - which border on the unbelievable - but not impossible, given that many great players did get from 20 to scratch in a couple of years - are refuted.

How many of these posters have said - "I entered such and such a tournament and scored this." Here is a link to newspaper article" or "here is my official handicap link - you'll see that in May I had three consecutive 72s in our club championship. This link shows the write up in my club's newsletter" or I had a nett 60 in this competition. Go to WWW. whatever to see the results. I am such and such. Of course not, because these people play socially with a few friends who don't go around with experienced golfers and give each other putts and don't count everything. In the absence of evidence I will continue to be sceptical of any claim which isn't backed up. For the umpteenth time. You don't assign yourself a handicap. And I think Subpar seems like a very reasonable and intelligent, moderate person. Sorry if youngsters are offended. I know a lot of fine young people, but a lot of them believe the lie that "anything is possible." It ain't. They aren't helped by mollycoddling.

If your sole purpose is to seek out people who stretch the truth on an internet golf forum then you need to do some seriously soul searching int how much your life is worth. My suggestion is you drop it, no one appointed you the honesty police, who cares? Are you playing with him in the Masters tonight, how will his lying affect your life? It doesn't, stop trying to prove you have a bigger E-Penis than a child, act like an adult, grow up. Get back on topic before a mod closes the thread altogether, you are killing forum morale and that is simple unacceptable. Besides the absence of evidence is not always the evidence of absence, you have heard of fish stories right? Let the boys tell their fish stories, if you don't like them, no one is forcing you to be here....you are free to hit the "X" in the corner of your browser at anytime.

My purpose is to share experiences and information with other golfers here, most of whom are knowledgeable and have a good sense of humour. Who are you to tell me what my "sole purpose" is? As for "serious soul searching about how much my life is worth".................I think you may be overestimating the seriousness of the issue.

Why don't you hit the 'X" in the corner of your browser and and ignore me?Save your sanctimonious posturing for someone else.

I said "if" that is your sole purpose, I did not say it was, please read my friend. You are not exchanging information, you are a bully plain and simple. If your idea of humor is to make others feel bad then you are indeed hilarious. I hope you feel better about yourself, derailing a thread, making a minor kid upset, wow what a catch! If anyone is overestimating their self worth it is certainly not I, I could care less what someone claims their handicap to be, the only one that concerns me is my own. I will hit the X in my browser, as I find it immoral to debate with people who are not as well equipped as myself. Have a great day.

BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT ......ok

Haha, what an old picture. I used to be lighter than Michael! He passed by my around 8 years ago.

I don't have any interest in arguing I was sticking up for a kid who I felt was being e-bully'ed. Guess I let my instincts from my "profession" kick in. I have no intention on being a forum distraction and as such would prefer to have this thread deleted.

EquipmentJunkie won't be able to read this because he said he was going to ignore me (at my invitation), but I think that this is quite funny. I think Iacas did a sensible thing and agree the sniping got in the way of the original poster's question.

The instincts of my "profession" allow me to treat this issue with good humour and I have no desire to take the moral high ground. I do not proclaim to be a defender of those who are more than capable of speaking up for and defending themselves - the "kid" is obviously a smart young man who responded to my comments in a reasonable manner -hey...if he's playing golf and loving the game, he's OK by me. And I think the MJ popcorn thing is pretty funny.

Personally I don't get why when someone says they are a single digit handicap you suddenly ask for proof and stuff why are you so worried about this stuff. Now this is just speculation and I am not saying it is the truth or anything, again just a guess. Does it bother you when someone who is a lower handicap then you, or who got to single digits quicker then you bug you? I ask because if i say that I did it, then what do you care? IIRC you live it Australia or New Zealand, you are half the world away, if I say I'm a 5 handicap why do you care.

And you know what's wrong with a kid thinking he/she can go play professional golf? It is possible, I mean even my swing coach (who has played on the Nationwide Tour, and it going to play Champions Tour when he becomes of age) said that I can get on tour if I work very hard, but I realize that is what I have to do, and that I have a slim chance, but I do have a chance. Next school year I am moving to Oregon to play high school golf and play a lot more the I do now in Alaska. I have visited to the area that I will be moving to, and played with the guy that will be my swing coach down in Oregon, and he to says I have the talent to play on tour, I just need to have the discipline, and work ethic to achieve this.

Personally I think you need to have more faith in people, and trust that people won't lie. I mean these people are golfers, and committed ones at that, and the whole thing about golf is that it is a gentleman's (or woman's) game and you call fouls on your self, not lie about things.

I thought this was done with - but it doesn't matter. I respect your views.

But perhaps you need to reread my posts - my comments are not directed solely at you, but at all people who understimate the difficulty of the pro game. I love everyone who plays golf. I am particularly respectful of young people who have the drive and discipline to take up what is the most difficult game. My basic premise is that it is best not to put the cart before the horse. As I stated before. As soon as you can break par regularly on a good course which is not set up to be too difficult and shoot low low 60s on occasion, that's the time to think about the next step. There is a young player at my club who breaks par consistently, but I don't think he is remotely inteested in the idea of a pro career, because he knows he doesn't have the game. Do you like reading golf books? I can thoroughly recommend the one I mentioned before. "A Good Walk Spoiled" by John Feinstein. One of the best sporting books ever, let alone golf books. You will really enjoy it. He wrote another one called "The Majors", which is also fantastic. All the best - I mean it sincerely!

+1

Going to the Pro Tour is far more then just being a great golfer, I come from a club where a number of golfers break par on a regular basis and have shot in the low sixtys and they too know they could'nt make it on the pro tour. Although we do have one star golfer that is ranked #1 Amateur Golfer at the moment So the dream is certainly possible.

Okay, it just seemed like, after your posts in that other thread, you were talking about me, I apologize I read into your posts a little too much. I will say that after friday's handicap update my index has gone up to 7.8

but thats because I injured my shoulder and I couldn't swing well at all, or hit it very far (not too much of a change for me ), but I have been dedicating many hours (2+) too putting alone, and I feel this will drop my index quickly (I average 35 putts per round ) But back on topic, I apologize again for reading too much into your post, and offer a bid of truce.

It HAS to be possible. No one is saying that it isn't. And if no one believed it was possible, they wouldn't be motivated to work hard.

Have you heard of Danny Lee? He is from New Zealand and just won the US Amateur. He is 18 years old and plays off +6. I watched him play in january and he is a fantastic player. He intends turning pro, but the likelihood of him succeeding might be 50/50. The most important thing is to love the game - the pro thing will take care of itself if you are good enough. Now--------if you are a 5 handicap, and got there in 6 months, that is extraordinarily fast progress. You may well have better than a good chance. As you have guessed by the questions some players on this forum ask, they are not being honest about their handicaps. eg ( How do I stop slicing? Handicap 6). This is why I am saying think about SCORES, not a handicap, because a handicap means different things to diffeent people. Seriously - read those books - they will inspire and amaze you.

I made a truce with you 4 days ago - that part of our communication is over.

35 putts is OK if you are hitting greens in regulation. Less than 30 often means you're missing greens and putting from just off the green. Some of my best rounds have been with over 30 putts- just not hitting my irons close enough to have birdie chances. If I have 25 putts all it means is I'm missing greens. Now if you have 25 pautts and shoot 62, that's something different. Did you follow that link I posted before about turning pro? http://www.iseekgolf.com/news/7428-s...e-a-••••••••er

LEE, Danny Springfield 23/03/08 Whakatane 115 Blue 67 71.0 +5.2 +5.2

Danny Lee is the member of my course I was talking about

No I didn't, I don't see your link, could you post it again as I would like to see it. And I would like to drop my putts per round to more around 30 since I do hit lots of greens, its just that a few hole I screw up and make a bad number, plus I am not a good putter, and most of my 3 and 4 putts come from missing 2 and 3 foot putts. I have been doing the Phil Mickleson putting circle from 3 feet and my putting has improved greatly and I know have a scoring average in the 70's. I just need to get all of my shafts fitted and such and then I feel my game will get to scratch by next year.