It's...where?

[Sherpat]

I drove my first Par-4 yesterday.

It was downhill all the way.

The course is at a high elevation.

There was a gusty wind at my back.

The scorecard said 337 from the whites, but my buddy and I both agree whoever was doing the measuring was on acid. (For instance the Par-3 9th has on the card: "White tees: 100 yards...Red tees: 100 yards", and the reds when we got there were at least 20 yards farther from the whites.) So...my guess is the hole was closer to 280.

But I got it to the green in 1 on a Par 4 yesterday for the first time in my life. So everything else can go to hell ( including the fact that I then *cough*4-putted*cough* on the rolling green. F*ck. )

In a way, I have the terrific reviewers at The Sand Trap to thank. When I took up the game a couple of years ago I also took up everyone-and-their-brother's advice to not bother bagging a driver for a while. So I didn't.

Then earlier this year I got an e-mail from Golfsmith informing me of a 3-hour "Lunchtime Special" sale available only to online subscribers. One of the clubs knocked down: The MacGregor MacTec NVG2. Golfsmith must have gotten a bunch of old MacGregor inventory in the deal when they purchased the company, and they're trying to get rid of it. So they stuck those remaining MacTec heads on new shafts, and reduced the price. In this case, to 59 dollars.

So I said "What the heck. For less than the price of a round at my boss's course I can see if a relative newbie with a driver really is the recipe for disaster everyone says it is." I ordered a 10.5-degree, with the Graphite Design YS7+ reg shaft. Had it delivered to my local store (no shipping charge) and it was there the next day. When I picked it up I just brought it back to the club maker's area and asked them to cut it down from 46 to 43 1/2 inches. No problemo. I did add another $4.50 by having them install a matching Winn DSI grip, though.

Here's where The Sand Trap came in. I wouldn't have pulled the trigger on that puppy if I hadn't gone back through the review section archives here and checked out the NVG2 test first. I've based other purchases on Sand Trap reviews in the past, and they've all been spot on. Never a bad piece of advice. Never. So when I saw there was nothing but positives written about the club, I went for it.

And I drove a Par-4 with it yesterday.

Thank you, Sand Trap!