MisterLCP

A full lunch at the turn is quite acceptable so long as it's between the morning 18 tee time and the afternoon 18 tee time! But not otherwise! Just have to make sure slow play in the morning doesn't make you late for the afternoon tee time.

It sure seems like a lot more information is needed for this to be relevant, like what kind of head design (low launch, high launch, etc.) and what kind of shaft design (low launch, high launch, etc.). That said, I'm playing at 8.5 now, with a mid-launch 913 D2 head and low launch Speeder 6.2 X shaft.

I had another idea on the course today while waiting for groups in front of us. It was based on the handicap rank of the hole. I figured if it was the 1, 2 or 3 handicap hole on that 9, to just do whatever it took to make a bogey from the tee. Play an iron off the tee on a par 5, whatever. If it was the 7, 8 or 9 handicap, get some confidence and figure out how to reliably make a par. That means just keep it in play on the tee, get it on the green for that approach shot in regulation and 2 putt for sure, dammit! Of course, some of those higher handicap holes might be a par 3 and if you hit a lousy tee shot into the sand trap it's tough to make par. Now, for what to with the 4, 5 and 6 handicap I'm not sure. Go at the hole like you want to try and make a par, but make a mistake and end up losing a ball and taking a double, triple or snowman? I don't know. Maybe play it like a bogey target hole if it seems challenging for your weaknesses and play it like a par hole if it seems to play into your strengths.

Practice swings are no big deal. Realistically, what does each one take? 7 seconds soups to nuts? Now, " the cart crew who doesn't understand that both don't need to go to each ball and wait for their cart buddy to hit and get back in the cart and go to the other guys ball" is the definition of Chinese water torture. Sadly, it's one of the things that makes me hate playing golf with my dad. That plus his practice swings are at least twice as long as they should take, maybe more and he's not even ready to hit when he gets out of the golf cart, takes forever to laser the shot, forever to figure out what club to hit, then forever to find the club in his bag, then multiple practice swings, then finally success. It's dumbfounding considering he was once a +2 handicap only about a decade or so ago in his 50's.

Keeping the ball in play is my number 1 specific goal. But becoming better overall is almost more important than my number 1 specific goal. So even when I'm alternating between big slices and pull draws I might still keep hitting my driver hoping to string out some long straight drives in a row (it does happen on good days), I might still be hitting my driver to get the practice instead of just leaving it in the bag and hitting a 3 wood or 2 hybrid off the tee. If it's a tight hole that's not long, I'll think with my head a bit more and hit the 3 wood or 2 hybrid, realizing that either way I still probably have a wedge shot with either club for approach (on a par 4). Next up, is keeping my eye and focus on the ball. Too often my eye focus drifts (or I look up) and I chunk the shot. Next is eliminating 3 putts. I can putt straight. It's just a matter of discipline, a little bit of practice and being sure you learn and focus on the speed of the greens that day and the uphill/downhill nature of your putt on any given green. I'm athletic, can get in a groove with 300 yard drives, have good swing mechanics and can hit high and long shots with plenty of spin that I can shape either way when I need to. But having the ability and getting good at using it are two different things. In my 40's now, in the last year or two I just really started playing again since I was a teenager and really don't shoot much better now than I did then.

I'd go home and clean the bathrooms in my house before I'd endure a round of golf over 5 hours, no matter how much beer I drank there or how great the weather was.

I had to register to this site just to reply to what a load of BS this statement is. 4-1/2 hours is almost Chinese water torture slow. I'm a 20 handicap (athletic good swing and long driver but I have a two way miss on long shots and I easily lose focus on shorter shots), I can lose 2-8 balls in a round (my bad rounds at difficult courses are easily over 100), I laser every approach shot, I take a practice swing (or two) before most shots, I pace off my puts for distance, I take a half dozen practice shots a round, I drink beer on the course and in a foursome usually play in less than 4 hours UNLESS we get backed up behind people. 3:40 is a good foursome pace (3:20 or 3:30 is easily attainable if playing well though with no backups), 4:00 is acceptable if everyone is playing bad/hard conditions/cart path only, etc., and about 4:15 is the absolute upper limit for sanity, and that pace will usually include at least 10 minutes waiting on the group in front. Just this morning, the weather was so great I "had" to go play even though I didn't really plan to. I teed off by myself around 10 and passed a threesome on the fourth hole (when I caught them on the third hole that is when my round went to the dogs too!). Got stacked up on the seventh hole, but still played the front 9 in about 1:30. Then I joined the twosome I caught for a 2:30 back 9 stacked up behind at least a few groups of slow pokes on every hole. It was terrible. And the golfers I was playing with were awful, and we were still stacked up. The threesome I passed was stacked up behind us the last several holes. Sure, they still played in about 4:10, but it was excruciating how slow the groups had gotten backed up in front of us.