bradsul

I'm a member at simulator place up the street. I joined for the same reason as you, winters up here are long! I tried using a golf dome for a while but it was way too cold and way too expensive. My simulator place uses HDGolf. Absolutely amazing visuals since they take actual photos at the course. The trade off is they only have 20+ courses. I love playing in the leagues (I play in 2 leagues during the week). Met some great guys and a few new golf buddies that way.

I've got a Merkur HD safety razor that I've had for I don't know how long. I use it for shaving my head as well so it gets a lot of use over the course of a week. I like Feather blades as they're wicked sharp. I use a badger brush and whatever shaving cream the body shop has for men (changes yearly and it lasts for ages so I don't really pay attention). I also did a brief trial with a straight razor. Gave an amazing shave but I didn't have the guts to use it on the back of my own head. They also take quite a bit of extra up-keep which wasn't really worthwhile (at least for me). Fun experience though!

@Riz757 thanks for the advice! We did indeed end up going with Ocean Ridge and the Big Cats courses. The price just couldn't be beat. I liked the look of Pine Needles but it was just way out of our price range. My brother and I are both the play all day kind of golfer and travelling that far to play only 3 rounds just isn't appealing to us. I think the next time we're going to Florida I'm going to suggest detouring to play Pine Needles on the way down (or back up). It definitely looks like a course I'd enjoy. We're leaving Ontario late Thursday afternoon and tee off at 12:30pm on Friday. We should get down in time to hit a couple buckets because neither of us has hit off grass for a month and a half. Should be pretty interesting though I imagine that first round is going to be frustrating at times.

I'm a member at a simulator facility that has HDgolf simulators. I'm there 4 or 5 times a week including a couple of leagues. Not quite the same but it's good to keep swinging and the social aspect is great too. Met many a golfing buddy there. We usually head to Florida before Christmas as well but no time this year, arranging a weekend trip to Myrtle Beach area instead just before Christmas.

I'm waiting for a few more quotes to come in (I gather it's a holiday today for you guys) but I think we're probably going to go with the big cats courses at Ocean Ridge. The courses look great and they gave an excellent price (assuming the accommodations are decent) of a little under $300USD per person. 3 nights and 6 rounds (2 on each of the 'cheaper courses' and 1 each on the other 2) all taxes and fees included. No food or anything but that's fine and should put us perfectly in budget! Thanks for all the assistance!

@Harmonious , wow that's embarassing! My US geographical knowledge is worse than I thought! :-D And if that was what you consider chilly I think I can deal! My last round this year was -4C with snow flying and a wind chill of -12C. Anything above 0C now will feel like shorts weather to me. @iacas I think I came across a thread you posted a couple/few years ago mentioning those courses? We will definitely check them out,

We were originally thinking the area around Charlotte (sp?) but mostly because it was the first name that came to mind (we usually stop for lunch there on our drive to Florida). Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach of course were near the top of the list but there are so many options it's hard to know where to start. Really we have no preference and recommendations from locals are usually the best. You guys (and gals) tend to know the local hidden gems!

Hi Guys, My brother and I don't have time to do our usual Florida trip this December so instead we thought we'd try North Carolina since we've never done anything but drive through it. We were looking for a relatively inexpensive stay&play; from Dec20-23 (so 3 nights). Hoping to spend no more than $300-400 per person. The problem we're having is the number of choices is rather mind-boggling! I was hoping someone could help us narrow it down a bit. We're not looking to play any expensive TPC courses or anything but we don't want to play goat tracks either. Thanks!

I've got over 100 rounds in on about 15-20 different courses. My membership includes a number of courses I get to play so I'm usually on those as they don't cost me greens fees, they number about 10. I think my handicap travels really well as I shoot the same relative to the ratings pretty much everywhere I go. I have a couple buddies who are members at a single course with a similar handicap and their handicaps don't travel nearly as well. I imagine after a long time playing the same course exclusively your ability for strategy/risk management can get rusty.

I use the VRPro II 4H and the VR Pro Ltd 3W and 5W (Ahina shafts) and I absolutely love them. I used them all this season to great result. I decided to try the Covert driver last week since they just dropped below $200CAD at Golf Town. I wasn't sure about the cavity on the driver but I love the red head and shaft combination. Turns out I hit it incredibly well too so I have that driver in my bag now as well. As others have mentioned I don't care much for the balls and I haven't tried the irons, but I definitely like the clubs have tried.

I'm not sure about that particular one, I just did a google image search. The particular one I use is by Monk but it looks almost identical.

I used the sun mountain one for a while but found things still got a bit wet. I use one of these rain covers now over my Ogio Gromm. I just leave it folded up in its pouch in the bottom of my bag. I was concerned at first about leaks through the top where the shoulder straps come out but never had any issues.

No witty comebacks here sadly. I just sarcastically mutter to myself "that'll play". This thread made me think of this video.

Lamkin Crossline Tour Cord on everything but my putter. I hate wearing a glove and these work great even in 98% humidity in southern Ontario summers.

For me I think it was when I realized there was consistently more holes scoring at par than any other score.

I wish we had multiple seasons to choose from. If the course is dumb enough to open I'm stupid enough to play! Can't be too picky up here! I'd have to say I prefer mid to late April (opening time) and early Oct for playing though. It's way too humid in the summer for my liking. Not that that stops me from playing 3-4 rounds per week!

Some of my favourite holes are shorter par 3's with lots of trouble around the green. Requires touch and accuracy rather than bombing it close and hoping for a good lie. It's always really satisfying to be rolling birdie putts on those holes. One of my very favourites is only 120yds slightly downhill. Water in front and left, sand right and long. Multiple tiers on the green. Depending on the wind for the day you could be hitting 2 clubs different. You really need to hit the right tier too or 3 putt is a likely result. Miss into the sand and you're looking at getting out hitting towards the water to a green that's running away from you! It's always exciting when we get to that hole - especially when there are multiple skins on the line! Having said that I also like to stretch out on long par 4's too. I think a great course has a good mix of holes demanding length and also accuracy.

I have a sunday bag I like to use when I play my with my parents at their executive course. 3H (for par4's and the par5 (515yd)) 6i 8i PW SW P I use this once a week so I'm not sure if it counts as my semi-normal setup. My normal setup is 14 clubs.

knetgolf.com is great too. Free shipping to Canada and the US if you spend more than $129 too.

I had this question myself and couldn't find any answers. A quick email to GolfNow provided this: Quote: Thank you for your email. In response to your inquiry RE: 'Play Fast Promotion', the term simply means that pace of play is being strictly enforced. We purchased one as the price was good. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary except that the times tended to be early. I don't recall seeing any more marshals than usual for example.

I don't use a glove either. When I used to use Golf Pride Tour Wraps (which when looked at funny became slick as ice) I always wore a glove. When I switched to full cord grips I found I didn't need them any longer. Even in the crazy humidity we get here in Southern Ontario in the summer it just wasn't required. Nice to save that extra expense, the cost of gloves really adds up quick.

I happened to hit this ball again yesterday while it was quite a bit warmer and wow. The sound it makes when you hit it with a driver or hybrid is awful . It's what I imagine it would sound like if you put a normal ball in a sock and hit it. Not a confidence inspiring sound at all.

I tried one today for 10 holes. I quite liked it for putting, it didn't really feel any different than my usual TP5. I did find that it had very little feel coming off the irons and hybrids. It was almost like swinging without a ball, it was a very strange experience. I didn't really get to test spin on approach or short game as it was quite cold (~2C) and the greens were hard as a rock. I'll be curious to see how they do once it warms up. I never had an opportunity to try driver or fairway woods with it. I also didn't notice any appreciable distance differences with the TP5. I did notice that it discoloured quite quickly, not sure what to make of that. Factor in the price and I'd call it a decent ball.

The weather has FINALLY started to cooperate here in Southern Ontario. My [new] home course opened up yesterday at noon and I was able to go out today and play. They had a 10 hole temporary layout open (out of 27 holes). I didn't bother to keep score but I hit 3 or 4 pars which is more than I thought I'd be able to do. I decided to play it safe and use my 3H off the tee, managed to hit every fairway but had a little distance control issue getting onto the greens. My putting was much better than I expected after a winter on the simulator. All in all it felt amazing to be out there after such a long winter! Tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer so I'll probably go and play 20 holes (seems odd to say that).

I use Ultleys method out to about 70 yards (both chips and pitches) at which point I switch to a half to 3/4 swing with my SW. Distance really isn't a problem and I find distance control with his method is really easy to dial in. I also like how he defines the difference between a chip and a pitch as simply being with a pitch you're using the bounce and a chip is struck with a normal descending blow hitting the ball first. So you can hit both 50yd pitches when you need a soft landing or a 50yd chip because you have lots of green to work with.