PingDB

Amazingly I use Ping. Have a set of Ping i15 irons, 3-PW Ping i15 9.5 Driver, 3 and 5 wood.

Maybe, but OP stated clearly "he plays a ton of different courses"

This about nails it! Also, I think we should consider having the name of this thread change and have it added to the instructional themed threads "how to effectively sandbag, and what to look out for so you don't get caught"

The original question you asked: "Is t here any other logical or plausible explanation other than sandbagging?" You just gave two in bold above. When I was working on a course many years ago, I'd play almost daily on my home turf, I would shoot frequently low single digits. I knew the course, I knew every shot, I knew what I could carry and where to back off, how and where to approach each pin location etc. I'd go and play rounds on other courses and would easily be 10 shots off my standard at home. I really wasn't a low single digit player. I wouldn't for a second consider playing to a 7+ shot higher handicap at home though, so yeah, he's sandbagging!!

Had a very mixed bag on the course yesterday. Brambleton Golf Course, Virginia. Turned up after a bit of a heavy night Saturday, only took a few holes to realize it was not going to be my day :-) Made the turn with a 57 on the card, I managed to find the water or lose the ball in the long rough at every opportunity on the front nine! one of those days where even if you strike the ball nicely and see it just roll off the fairway to the light rough you lose the damn thing!! Then: Started the back 9 with three pars straight off and played bogey golf all the way home until hitting a par on the 18! What changed? I decided at the turn to play the next few holes conservatively and hit the fairway off the tee so pulled out the 3 iron and kept the driver under covers.....with all the rain we had the night before even the light rough was sucking at the club head, lot's of fat shots on the front nine. Changed to a bump and run approach around the greens, playing lofted chip shots the ball was plugging with the very soft greens, it's amazing how many shots one loses without thinking when you leave yourself so much work on the putting surface. and finally, my luck changed, didn't lose any balls, when I did hit a wayward driver on the 18th it found it's way in to a 15yd gap in the deep rough, was able to get a good hit from there with my 5 wood and get on the green in 3 on the long par 5. Was quite happy coming off the course, the back nine was a better gauge of how I've been playing and striking the ball, but the front nine is definitely a reminder of what can happen if you let your focus go and are not in the game from the start.

1. Get back in to playing golf 2. Practice regularly 3. shoot in the 80's 4. Play the ball consistently 5. Get in 2-3 rounds a month would be a good start.....

you know you're an addict when: 1. your wife kindly points out that golf balls are not ornaments she enjoys looking at, there are other channels on the tv outside of Golf Network, take care of the shopping did not mean go to the range and top up your e-pass. 2. your colleagues ask each other where they went for lunch and how it was, then turn to you and say, "how was the range today?" 3. Your son asked if he could come to the range and try it out, 2 weeks and 5 trips to the range later he has his own set of clubs and is already challenging in the Putting through the house tour series. 4. You realize after a long break from playing and coming back to the sport recently, the years in between were spent in recovery, you never really stopped being an addict!!!!

I was going to wait until Wednesday, but an hour opened up this lunchtime, so obviously I took the opportunity. I actually hit the 4 and 7 irons pretty well, only issues I had were when trying to either hit it too far and rushed the swing, or tried to get too creative after a while and shape the shots too much. Feeling good this afternoon :-) Gotta love cross country hockey!!!!

Was at the range yesterday, having been away from the sport for some time I've been going to the range 4-5 times a week in the last month or so as I have a few outings with friends and colleagues coming up I want to be at least comfortable going on the course. I've followed my normal practice method each time, I'll bring out my 7 iron, hit a few off the mat, pull out the 4 iron, hit a few off the mat then off the low tee, trying to get a little shape in the shot. Always start with the 7 and 4 as they are my "go to" comfort clubs. Always strike them cleanly, always a good feel to the shots. I'll move on to the woods and driver, then finish off on some short game practice, chipping between 50-100yds to various targets Yesterday was no different, pulled out the 7 and that's where things went wrong :-) I couldn't get a solid strike, wasn't even consistent with how I was off. Caught it fat, thin, toe, heel..... switched to the 4 iron a bit frustrated, and the same thing. Just could not get hold of the ball, so I did what any reasonable player does....started to completely screw with my set up :-) ball placement, face open/closed, swing in to out, out to in and yep, none of it worked :-) Obviously at this point the only thing left to do was bring out the driver and go nuts! Next ten shots, clean, straight, all hit the fence at the back of the range (it's not a super long range the fence is around 230-250). I typically have a fade on my driver and have to work to straighten it out, yesterday, no concentration, my practice was over in my head and I just needed to swing. Going to take a few days off, go back to the range Wednesday, reset and get re-acquainted with my trusty 7 and 4.

Thanks Dave, Yep I live in Ashburn, work in Herndon, which is nice as I get to spend lunch practicing up at the Dulles range!

I'm the supply chain VP for a tech company in the satellite industry.

Hi all, Joined the forum today, seems there's a fair bit of knowledge and opinions to be had here. A little about me, started golfing when I was all of 13 years old, by the time I was 18 I was working on a course in the UK as an assistant to a club pro, played golf daily and taught lessons to the junior members. after a year or two it became evident I was not going to be the next Colin Montgomerie (ok, in all honesty, I wasn't even getting to the good club pro level)so the real world kicked in and I had to actually get a job that would pay....... fast forward 20 years and I'm starting to get back in to the same level of golf insanity I had then (have maybe played a total of 10 rounds in the 20 year gap), I can now hit the exact same fat shots at random intervals, swear at my clubs the way I used to and second guess my whole swing after a bad shot at the range :-) just restocking the kit list, used to play with Ping eye2 irons, Taylormade burner 3,5 woods and a Callaway Big Bertha Driver, so far I've picked up a set of Ping i15 irons and I'm looking at the more forgiving G20 series Driver and woods. used to love my Ping Pal 2 putter so I may just pick up one of those if I see one in good condition :-) notice there's a slight bias towards Ping.....I just like the clubs..... anyway, happy to be back playing cross country hockey, grew up playing the courses in UK and Germany, now get to play the ridiculously expensive courses in Northern Virginia :-) cheers all! Dean