bornfishy

Hey all, Played my local course Monday and Tuesday, with two different people. On Monday, walking up the par three 3rd some kids appear out of the bushes after our tee shots, offering to sell us golf balls. They'd clearly picked them up from the bushes, but we thought nothing of it. Tuesday, on the par four 7th, I'd laid up well short of a lake, and was on the backswing of my five iron when I noticed a splash up ahead. I put down my iron, walked a bit further ahead, and stared in disbelief - a ten year old kid, waist deep with a driver hacking at the bottom of the lake - which runs to fifteen feet deep with a mud and reed bottom - trying to get golf balls out! I was gonna say "no, no, no... use the wedge - more loft!"... Seriously though; three times he had to be told to get out of the way; about to swing back, and his mate appears! Told the pro shop, who I assume sorted it out, after we'd left. As we teed off on the eighth, they were knee deep in a different river... suffice to say, my playing partner scared them enough they'll never cross another fairway in front of us again. Any other crazy course infringers? andy.

Good god, it must be a slow news day. I'm glad I've more important things to worry about; I don't have the energy for "this is what we've become" et al. You'd be better off worrying about things that matter; schools, healthcare, crime. Not an LPGA player plonking her arse on an upside down flag, without having realised the implications - namely, much yapping on an internet forum. I've read and considered all your points, and I agree with you all when you state that what she's done is wrong. But come on, I mean - Mitch, you say that picture "saddens you more than anything else." Really? Honestly? That's what saddens you the most? Not death, disease... Natalie's flag etiquette. She was wrong, ok - but let's keep it in perspective. The flag, symbolically, is important - but with regards to real life issues affecting us all, there's much more to worry about, of much greater relevancy. andy.

If you can afford it, go for it. Your situation is different from P3R3's, in that it's not costing you the earth, and you're happy to set aside the money for that particular item. No point in getting a Yes! or Cleveland just because someone else waited ten years. Enjoy your Cameron. andy.

I can see where you're coming from, but to be honest - I'd guess there were five other people looking to get in after the store closed that night; they would all state they had $200 to drop right there and then, and you'd probably be the only one who spent anything. You have to draw a line somewhere. You were just unlucky to be the line! andy.

I'm a picker, also. A divot usually means I've caught it a little fat, with the exception of wedges. I'd hesitate to even call the mess created by a fatted shot a divot. As weird as it is, I just don't like the idea of cutting up all that turf... I also find it fairly hard to even get a reliable divot with chunky game improvement clubs. andy.

Heat? Probably very little damage. If your car gets stolen, though... different matter altogether. andy.

It wasn't a debate, Iacas. I agree they're not always right. I've stated that the OP was not saying that; he just stated the cliche, which unfortunately customer service folks still need to abide by, despite their customers lacking the knowledge of the brands return policy, or beyond date exchange caveats! And the point of this forum is not to discuss whether or not it's right (it's not!) Anyway, the rest of your point stands. The salesman shouldn't have had an attitude about it. Re the driving range practice; I'm certainly used to using the crappest balls possible. I realise they'll go nowhere, and are totally uncharacteristic of my actual (lack of) ability. But it helps ingrain the swing, for a new player. Pro V1's likely wouldn't be a problem in that situation. There's no pressure anyway. But, and this applies to all, no personal comments please. "Mentally weak" is just too far. andy.

Have you ever worked in sales? Successfully...? Anyway; yeah, I've had that experience before. I'm certainly no "snobby idiot", having worked in sales prior to my current job. As I've already mentioned, Mr. Buckethead was referring to the age old cliche; he was not, as you seem to believe, stating that the customer is indeed always right. It has absolutely nothing to do with how many permutations I can come up with. I hope you can discern the difference, now. Please don't resort to stating opinion as fact; "A good salesman is a good person". Find me a single fact to prove that - a quantifiable, bona-fide fact, and I'll eat my shorts with salt and pepper. Anyway; regarding salesmen - yeah, I can see you have a point. Repeat business is the key. However, it's entirely possible to build repeat business while gaining yourself, or your company, money. andy.

The customer is always right. Mr. Buckethead was, plainly, referring to the cliche which, to this day, remains true. Whether or not the customer is in the right, he is right. And please, just say "attitude". And another thing; a good salesman doesn't save anybody money. A good person does. OP, if you can afford the best balls, go for it. I've always taken the attitude that I may as well go into a new sport spending as much as I can afford; if that's Pro V1's, then so be it. andy.

I'm not sure what the point of used Pro V1's are though - surely, having been used, they're no better than similarly priced new mid range balls? I'm probably wrong, and I'm in no way knocking your purchase - I'm just curious. andy.

I hate playing by myself, it's crap! I've got 3 or 4 different regular partners / groups that I play with, but I work shifts, and as such, it can be hard to arrange a date. I usually shoot pants when I'm by myself, though having said that, the other day was my best round ever. Going out by myself tomorrow, so we shall see how it goes. Grrr! andy.

At my course, they have two buckets; one has four balls for $2 - pretty rough shape - and two balls for $2, and theyre in better condition. However, I usually bought 48 recycled "American Lake Balls" from JJB for $30. For a few quid more, you could get all sorts of recycled Titleist. I gotta say though, I think I'm done using them. AmericanGolf have 20% of all Nikes, and so I bought a dozen Nike Juice balls. There's no comparison! Hitting them just feels amazing - like a proper golf ball. They fly, bounce and roll like they should, and feel nice and soft. Lake balls just feel hard and nasty. That said, I was never a big subscriber to the whole loss of distance arguement; Today's Golfer robot tested lake balls vs. their new equivalent, and there was little difference. But whether or not it was spin, confidence, or just a good day, the Juice went noticably further at times than my old lake balls. andy.

I agree with Iacas and quite a few of the others here; try and get a lesson as early as possible. I get the impression from your post that you're fairly young, and so I realise money isn't easy to come by! Especially when your parents don't know whether you're going to like the game, etc. All I would suggest is, try your best to save up for even just two lessons; that half hour, or an hour, will be enough for the pro to go over the basics of stance, swing, and all that jazz. Explain to him you only want one or two lessons until you know whether the game suits you or not, and ask him to give you the basics. That way, it'll cost you next to nothing, and you'll have something to build on. Supplement the advice with instructional videos you can find for free - you already have! - and don't listen to the armchair experts who can criticise Tiger's swing, while playing off 28! andy.

I hope I never get cornered by the sad acts that conducted "studies" into golf forum usage at a drinks reception... Anyway, I feel that given my stance on lamebums point, and by agreement your own, I'm underestimating the average golfer. As I believe the average golfer drives far less than is posted around here - and regardless of whether or not 35% of your members are single digits, I can say with conviction that >35% of "driver length posts" are boasting about drives far beyond the reach of most golfers. So someone in that remaining 65% is either telling porkies, or is an exceptionally good higher handicap player. In which case, fair play! andy.

I couldn't disagree more. Quite a lot of people on this forum, and many others, are no more than very keen beginners. There's no reason why those "better than average" would be predisposed to joining a forum - in fact, you'd expect beginners, researching the game, technique, etc., to be signing up and posting. I do, however, accept that some people can bomb their drives. I just think many hopelessly overestimate distance. andy.