jcgolfpro

iacas beat me to the punch. I live in the Hilton Head area so I don't have a need to go on a golf vacation but if we do, we usually go to Orlando in their off season or Jacksonville (hidden gem with lots of courses).

As a golf professional, I LIKE multi-tiered greens for setting up tournaments. Larger greens make for faster play but having additional tiers allows us to put a little spice into events by following the 6-6-6 rule of tournament setup. 6 hard, 6 medium, and 6 easy; 6 right, 6 middle, 6 left; AND 6 front, 6 middle, 6 back. It's amazing when a course someone plays everyday is tournament set and balanced, how enjoyable it can be. For those tournament players on here, you know what I am talking about.

I can't stand any feature that doesn't fit with the terrain. Truly great golf course architects don't move tons of dirt but use the canvas as it is give them. With that, the thing that annoys me the most in designs are redan holes. Specifically the worst aspect of those holes is the sloping of the green from front to back.

Merry Christmas ALL, I hope you received everything you wanted.

All you'd need is the PROPANE torch to heat the head...no shaft puller required. You would need some epoxy and double-sided tape. You are looking at about $25 in supplies to be able to reshaft your irons because unless they are coming pre-trimmed, you would need a tubing cutter as well. I do most of my own repairs except for graphite shafts (can do it but the local guy will do it for me at cost). I definitely regrip my own clubs because we buy the grips by the case and divide them among us which brings the cost down (especially since the cord grips are getting to be so expensive). I guess I should look at what you are looking at buying on EBAY... Took a look at it. Great Deal if you can get it, good luck. One other thing to consider if you decide to do it yourself...the 690MB has a .355 TAPER TIP Bore.

Two friends were playing golf when one pulled out a cigar. He didn't have a lighter, so he asked his friend if he had one. 'I sure do,' he replied while he reached into his golf bag and pulled out a 12-inch Bic lighter. 'Wow!' said his friend, 'Where did you get that monster lighter?' 'I got it from my genie.' 'You have a genie?' 'Yes, right here in my golf bag.' 'Could I see him?' He opens his golf bag and out pops a genie. The friend asks the genie, 'Since, I'm a good friend of your master, will you grant me one wish?' 'Yes I will'' the genie replies. The friend asks the genie for a million bucks. The genie hops back into the golf bag and leaves him standing there, waiting for his million bucks. Suddenly, the sky begins to darken and the sound of a million ducks flying overhead is heard. The friend tells his golfing partner, 'I asked for a million bucks, not a million ducks!' He answers,'I forgot to tell you that the genie is hard of hearing. Do you really think I asked him for a 12 inch Bic?'

I only have ONE goal/resolution...to actually PLAY golf this year. And with the new club, that should be a realizable goal.

I played with a guy that would ALWAYS be first to the green and mark his ball whenever possible. One time someone beat him to the green but was off to the side and he didn't know it. When he was bending down to mark his ball, he was flipping his quarter ahead 8-10 feet on some longer putts and then replacing from there. We put the stop to that practice.

Minnesota appears to be the town name in GA. I have seen some retired members at clubs play 36 holes a day for the entire summer in NH and then do the same thing at their club in the winter in FL. The two guys at the club in NH played 36 rain or shine from June-Oct every Weekday and many Saturdays as well. We have one member here that has done the same everyday since the club opened 11/22. Not bad if you can get away with it...

Iacas, I think your problem may be similar to my tendency... Many are focusing on adding loft which produces a weak shot as the ball slides up the clubface and many times it fades. I have a tendency to hit the ball very high but when I start doing that, I know I have slid the ball too far back in my stance. The one thing some have forgotten is "angle of attack." When we slide the ball too far back, we get a little steep...many times doesn't hurt majorly but when playing in the wind, we hit a lot of "ballooned" shots. However, without seeing, I can't be sure but you can. If you have access to an impact bag, you can feel it yourself. If not, get a cloth laundry bag and fill it with towels and swing into it (using an old club in case something goes wrong). This will provide IMMEDIATE feedback on your impact position.

One of our professionals just bought a bunch of Bobby Jones closeouts from either TJ Maxx or Steinmart...can't remember which. Great way to get top quality for low dollar.

Been working so haven't been around much...honey do's AND work...never ends. Anyway, I did a non-scientific experiment when determining which ball to select for my Top Flite Staff Agreement for 2004. I used the Pro V1x as the "control" and took a sleeve of the Strata Tour Ace and a sleeve of the Hogan Apex Tour Black to our first hole. My experiment consisted of playing 5 holes and hitting 3 drives on each hole with each ball (except for #4 which was a Par 3). After hitting the drives, I gathered the balls and hit one approach shot with each from the 150 (8-iron) and two approach shots from the 100 (my sand wedge distance). The results: Tee shots, the Hogan Apex Tour was routinely about 10-15 yards longer than the Pro V1x and the Strata Tour Ace was approximately the same distance as the Pro V1x. Approach shots: The Hogan stuck like a cat and was about a club longer than the other two balls. The Strata Tour Ace spun just about the same as the Pro V1x and flew the same distance. Once again, this was a NON-scientific experiment as I was swinging the club and obviously every swing is not the same (although I try).

Sorry to disappoint those that go with the high theory...but the professionals for their standard shot want a mid-low trajectory because it is less affected by wind. The ability to hit the ball high is very important but that is not the desirable ball flight for most conditions. Keep in mind, the higher the ball flight, the more spin affects the landing and therefore, the ball can spin back much more than desired (i.e. you can back a ball up with 1/2 the spin of a lower flight ball just by hitting it way high). We have an assistant who has some money to play and has just finished some instruction with the #1 LPGA Instructor in the country and he was hitting the ball waaaaay high but was still scoring under par MOST of the time. After an hour and a half, the biggest thing she is getting him to do is hit the ball lower. By getting him to "cover" the ball more at impact, he can hit a lot more shots and create that bowed wrist that is desirable at impact.

One other note, how many golf courses want to have sets of tees to be used one time a year because they are insanely long. We can stretch to 7500 yards if we want to but WHY? Places like Colleton River's Dye Course and Kiawah's Ocean course have tees/sets of tees that are NEVER used. To play the Ryder Cup tees at Kiawah, you have to be given DIRECTIONS on how to find them or you'll constantly be climbing the wrong sand dune.

I use a couple of measurements to support my stance that the golf courses are NOT becoming obsolete. First, the scoring average on the PGA Tour for the BEST player each year hasn't even improved an entire stroke in over 20 years. Second, as a tournament operator, I know I can setup a course in a fair but difficult manner. This year, I ran the Hilton Head Open which is a very prestigious local Professional event with Amateur flights. Last year at a course a little longer than ours, there were over 20 players under par on Day 1 and 15 on Day 2. This year there were 2 total rounds under par for both days and about 10 nines under par between the amateurs and professionals. Is this because the course was tricked up? No, the course was setup thoughtfully and very balanced. I didn't have to "tuck" the flagsticks but I did make it so if you missed the green, you had many difficult up and downs but people keep forgetting that if you are in the rough, you should be penalized about a 1/2 shot and bunkers are HAZARDS. We've become way to spoiled with the upkeep of rough and if a course has a longer rough that we still can't stiff a 7-iron out of from 150/160 then we are upset...in the name of "pace of play," we have desecrated many golf courses by lowering the rough height, expanding the fairway width, marking OB as lateral hazards and water hazards as red...the bottom line is you still have to get it in the hole...which is a whole different post on the improvements in maintenance/difficulty of the greens complex.