LarryK

Not much you can do about a broken club but to take it in. As for regripping, I usually tried to do that in the dead of winter right before a major snow storm.

My personal best (from the whites) is 81. Normally, I am in the high 80s. I tell people when I start routinely shooting in the low to mid-seventies, I'll think about moving back to the blues, but not 'til then.

I recently moved to another state, and while I miss my regular playing partners of old, I am also one of those who plays better as a single. First off, I hate being pushed by the group behind which can sometimes happen if you are part of a threesome or foursome. In that case, I find myself rushing my shot and screwing up. Playing solo, I almost never get pushed by a twosome or threesome behind me, so that gives me plenty of time to concentrate over the ball without worrying if I am holding anyone up. Allowing a group to play through me is never an issue. If I end up pushing a group ahead of me and they invite me to play through, I will almost always do so. But I would never ask for the privilege unless they were painfully slow (i.e. a group of obvious beginners). In the same vein, I would never ask to join an existing twosome or threesome. I would think that would be presumptuous on my part. If they should invite me to join them , however, I may or may not, depending on my mood. I would almost certainly join them if my playing through would not appreciably improve my situation or theirs. Specifically, if there is another foursome in front of them, then my jumping between the two groups is just going to clog things up. Better to consolidate and make a larger playing group, strangers though they may be. In short, playing alone can be very tranquil, good for your game and a great deal of fun. But going out alone doesn't mean you should expect to finish that way. I believe you should always be prepared to pair up if circumstances dictate.

Fear not, 3Q. Why do I think it is coming your way if, in fact, it hasn't already?

Hate to be the one to ruin your day, but I can't believe you are unaware that state legislatures do this all the time. http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/...r=0336&pn;=1931 or how 'bout this one: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/...r=0333&pn;=1929

On the contrary. Whenever you beat your personal best by three strokes, that is absolutely something to brag about. That is a real chest-thumper, pard!! Nice going!

Hopefully your mini-rant provided some relief. At least here you will get some sympathy. My experience with truly boorish individuals (and fess up...yours, too, right?) is that the more severe and numerous their offenses, the less likely they are to feel any sense of guilt or shame surrounding their actions. In fact, if you confront them on their behavior they are more than likely to take offense at your offense and come up with some truly outlandish rationale on why they are entitled to act like idiots. I once saw a driver ahead of me throw out bags of trash (i.e. super-sized happy meals) onto a scenic road through a national park. Upon confronting the individual (oh, yes, I did), I did not for a moment entertain the idea that he was somehow unaware that blatant littering was socially unacceptable. To do so would have extended a benefit of doubt that he did not deserve. Instead, my rebuke cut to the heart of his real "crime," and with a fair amount of sarcasm, I let it be known that his lack of respect for others was only exceeded by my lack of respect for him. That is about all you can do with people who demonstrate arrogance rather than honest negligence.

Thank you, Wulff. Thank you, thank you, and again, thank you!

You guys got it all wrong! I predict just the opposite. When Michelle grows into a woman instead of a goofy little girl, I look for her to pull a fairly low-key Sean O'Hair. When she is strong and mature enough to put her parents in their rightful place and take full control of her game (and not incidentally her life ) there is no reason why her considerable talents should not develop to where she is a dominant force in woman's golf. This, of course, also presumes that she matures enough to abandoned the silly notion of becoming a dominant force in men's golf.

I don't think the appropriate question has to do with "fairness". As MGP pointed out, as long as everyone is playing the same course, that's fair. The better question has to do with whether or not the USGA can provide the severest possible test of golf for the best players in the world, and still have that course set up be "reasonable". They haven't always done that, but this year, I think they got it right. The evidence that they have, are the rounds by Nick Dougherty and Paul Casey -- competent professionals to be sure, but hardly who we would have picked to shoot lights out, right? Their rounds pretty much rob everyone else of any excuse. So yeah, tough, fair and reasonable. An awful lot of guys still have a chance to win this thing.

Back several years ago when I was unemployed and had severely limited funds for golf, I would go to my local range which also had an excellent chipping and pitching area. I would buy a small bucket and often supplement that with additional balls I would gather from around the chipping green if it was clear they been left by someone previously. After practicing my short game I might then hit these balls down range with my irons and driver. Obviously, I might save a buck or two on balls hit down range via my "gathering strategy". I never abused this to the extent that many guys did, gathering gargantuan buckets of free balls without paying for them. Rarely, if I got tired or needed to leave, I might stuff some unused balls in my bag, knowing full well that I was coming back tomorrow and that the balls were coming with me to be left at their rightful home. If you only saw me take the balls, you would probably assuming I was stealing them. But again, they were coming back within a day or two at most. It was never about stealing balls for regular rounds of golf elsewhere. Thankfully, I was never that poor.

I dunno....if it takes you 4 or 5 separate strokes to get "home" when having sex, you may need to sign up for some lessons.

Remind me to never stand next to you during a thunderstorm.

I also agree, and it's why I keep a stat called "other". "Other" are the number of stokes left after I subtract my tee shots (18) and total putts from my total score. If you hit every green in regulation, your "other" stat would be 18 strokes. If you are a bogey golfer, that number will be a lot closer to 36. Anything over 36......well, at least you were outside, and hopefully it was a nice day.

http://www.beardancegolf.com/golf/images/hole16_t.jpg #16 at Bear Dance GC in Larkspur, CO. Looks a little puny next to all these Banff photos, but it's still a great course. Eye candy holes are a big reason I play golf.