Orange

I personally don't understand why people hit their own balls either. Like a previous poster already said, I'll only hit my own balls on the range (if they're balls I don't care about) if I need one more shot to leave the range on a positive note. But as someone who works as a cart attendant at a golf course, one of my tasks as an employee is to drive the tractor around the golf course picking up all of the range balls, cleaning them, and then putting them back in the ball dispensing machines. I cannot tell you how many times I have found perfectly fine Pro V1s sitting in the middle of the range. Not only Pro V1s, but other great balls are guaranteed to be picked up when I drive around on the range. Over this past summer I acquired nearly 700 golf balls, about 100 of them being Pro V1s. The rest are Titleist, Bridgestone, Top Flite, Callaway, Nike, or Noodle/Maxfli balls that I would normally buy if I needed to actually buy golf balls. I found a lot of Slazenger, Dunlop, Wilson, and other lower-grade balls, but I prefer to not collect or play with them because I have the option of playing with better balls. I guess it pays to work at a course that doesn't do anything with found golf balls on the range.

Didn't exactly go anywhere spectacular, but I did have quite the golf adventure earlier this summer. Played a round at 5:00 AM with a friend at Highland Woods , the course we both work at. Round went pretty well and we were feelin' good about our game... so good that we decided to play another round. We actually decided to play the next round at another course while in the middle of our back nine. Headed on over to Whisper Creek after we finished our morning round, and we were done with 36 holes by 2:30 PM. Things got interesting after that because I actually still had to work at my course that night starting at 5:00 PM. Got home around 4:00 PM, passed out for 35 minutes, then took a quick shower and headed to work at the course I started my day at. Needless to say, my eyes had never felt so tired in my life and my body was paying for the 36 holes of golf by the time I was done with work at 10:00 PM. I think I fell asleep for the night around 10:30 PM, haha. It was quite the adventurous day, a lot of fun too, but I don't think I would ever do it again. I've golfed 36 holes in a day plenty of times, but throwing in a shift at work at the end of the day was not very fun!

Have any of you ever played at Eagle Ridge Resort in Galena, IL? I'll be going there in a few days to play the East Course, North Course, and The General and was looking for any tips or suggestions for a first timer out there. Heard they're supposed to be nice courses with a lot of elevation change. If you have been there, how was your experience and what courses did you play?

Shot an 83 yesterday in a skins game (my first one). Didn't win any holes, only had two birdies, but it was a fun experience. Also played a quick 9-hole round with my friends today and had my second eagle of the summer (and of my life). Felt really good, but wasn't as exciting as my first eagle a few weeks ago on a par 4. This time I had it on a par 5. I'm glad I'm able to get those eagle opportunities though! I just need to take more advantage of them. Still shot a 40 on 9 holes, would have been nice to have scored a bit less than that.

I have no problem playing in the heat. Since I work at a course, I get to play for free whenever I want (best perk ever). I have been playing everyday for the past five because the course has been extremely empty. Actually got my second eagle today on a par 5 while playing a fun 9-hole round with my friends. They enjoy the discounted golf as well, haha. In short, the heat doesn't bother me. I love golf too much!

Just a Cleveland HiBore XLS 9.5 degree... this is my second summer with it and I couldn't be happier with some of my drives with it.

It's hard to tell because you can't see over the dogleg... I would guess it was between 280-290 though. I sky-rocketed the ball so I don't see how it would have gotten much roll.

Played a pretty decent round today, though it didn't go as well as a few previous rounds when I shot in the low 80s. I walked up to the 18th tee box with 7 pars on the round, hoping to get one more or possibly even a birdie. The 18th hole being one of my favorites on the course, I was pretty excited to hit my drive. The hole is a 374 yard slight dogleg left. I normally cut the dogleg with my drive, but today I did something I haven't quite done before on that hole. I cut the dogleg perfectly, landing my drive on the green. I've gotten close to driving the green before, but never have I been directly on it. After one of my best drives ever (easily 300+, possibly 325?) I walked up to the green hoping to hit my ball close to the hole for a birdie putt. It wasn't going to be an easy putt though... it was a solid 50 footer. Keep in mind, my ball was a few yards off the front of the green, while the pin placement was in the back. Putting isn't exactly my strong point, so I really just wanted to get it close for the birdie. Hit my putt and the ball just dropped into the hole after riding a left-right uphill slope. Needless to say, I was pretty excited, despite the fact that I still ended up with an 86 for the day. Definitely my best hole I've ever played... longest drive of my life, longest putt of my life, and first eagle. I'd say it was a pretty good hole! Sorry about creating a whole thread about this, I'm still overly excited about it, haha. I've had a handful of eagle opportunities before but never gotten one this nice.

My summer goal is to break 80, so I'm in the same boat as you. Last year I played from the blue tees because I have a long drive if I hit it straight. This year, I decided to just play from the white tees until I break 80 or shoot low 80s on a consistent basis. So far out of thirteen rounds this summer, my lowest five scores have been 80, 81, 86, 89, 91. The 80 and 81 have been within the past week so I'm feeling pretty good about my game right now. I definitely think I'll break 80 this summer, I almost did twice. It's just a matter of choosing the right clubs and making sure I'm all lined up correctly before I take my shot. My putting isn't too horrible and this summer I have actually had an extreme amount of confidence hitting out of sand. I don't know what happened, but it just seems easy to me now. My advice is to take it slow and focus on one aspect of your game at a time. Trying to do too much never seemed to help me out in the past.

I work at a golf course and part of my job is to take care of the driving range. The tenth hole is adjacent to the range, so sometimes we get a lot of balls that carry into the range. When I pick them up in the ball-picker, I set those balls aside and can take any of them if I want. You'd also be surprised how many nice golf balls I find in the middle of the range, as if people decide to hit ProV1s on the range instead of a range ball... I currently have a milk crate full of golf balls and a few extra ball boxes filled in my garage... 250 golf balls, about 75 of them are nice ProV1s or equivalent. For this reason, I don't usually go out of my way to find golf balls on the course because I can get them so easily at work. If anyone else wants free golf, free lost balls, and free driving range buckets , you should highly consider working at a golf course!

Yeah, I think I'll just wait it out. Just hit an 81 today, so my chances at breaking 80 before the end of summer is definitely in sight... don't want to ruin that.

A little background information... I have been using a Wilson Air Power beginner set for eight years now. Over the past three summers, I have played about 25-30 rounds of golf. Before that, I only played 5-7 rounds per year. I haven't changed the grips on my clubs for a number of different reasons... but I feel like they aren't valid reasons. Should I change my grips? 1) I'm not really sure if it's worth it. I plan on getting new clubs within two years when I get a real job and can afford them. 2) I hit my irons pretty well and am afraid that if I change my grips, my game will suffer. I just shot an 80 last week (summer goal was to break 80), and I want to keep my momentum going. My grips aren't rock hard or anything, don't exactly slip out of my hands at all, but from common knowledge I feel like most golfers would have definitely changed the grips by now. Has anyone else ever been afraid to change their grips? It would also be nice to save the $50-$75 it would cost to change them.

Ah thanks, I forgot about that guide.

So as usual, I was in the vicinity of a Golfsmith and I had to stop by and look around. I like looking at their pre-owned section because I'm a college student and cheap golf equipment is never a bad thing. Soooo I noticed that they put up a table for $99 "incomplete" iron sets. I saw MP-30 irons (3-9, missing the PW)... is it just me or is this a steal? I could be wrong though, I don't know much about Mizuno clubs. I peeled back the price sticker to see what their original price was for the set and it said something like $117 I think... They clubs are in pretty decent shape, a few of them have some noticeable dings, but nothing bad on the actual club faces. Can someone help me out here? Are these clubs an absolute steal for that price?

Well I tend to pick out all of the Pro V1's if they're in good shape, 95% of them are. I probably have about 40-50 of them. It's surprising to find so many of them at the range...I also like to play Maxfli/Noodle, Callaway, and TopFlite balls so I usually grab those if they're in good shape too.