tji

> But being from Michigan, I play a lot of 'up north' golf, which means, tight fairways, many trees, and (because it's usually a golf trip with the guys) a few extra barley pops. +1 for the Northern Michigan golf.. playing those holes caved out of forest can be challenging. Great place for a golf weekend with the guys. The balls of choice for me are from MG Golf. They are re-badged balls from a mainstream manufacturer (used to be hogan balls, then I think Callaway). They are balls with the spin rate of premiums, and the price of cheapies -- $20 per dozen. No marketing, minimal packaging, just the best new balls $20 will get you.

I know this thread is really old, but I am searching around for a spreadsheet to track a simple golf league. It's for my father, who is in a small church league. I told him we could find a spreadsheet to track the players' handicaps for the 9 hole league. The previous post mentions an attached spreadsheet, but I don't see it. Is it available somewhere? Or, does anyone have a pointer to a decent spreadsheet? Thanks for any help.

Anchoring the putter to your body. Use a putter as long as you want, but anchoring it to your belly or chest seems inconsistent with all the other rules governing club form, grip, etc. A vertical shafted putter is non-conforming. Croquet style putting is not allowed. I'm not sure why belly putters are allowed.

Good point.. Honestly, I never remember whether a situation allows for one or two club length relief. So, I usually just go with one driver length to be cautious. But, I don't see the logic for why the small difference in relief in various situations. Standardizing would eliminate a lot of confusion, and speed things up.

I don't think filling divots is a rule, it's a courtesy. I walk whenever possible. I replace my divots whenever possible, and I fix any ball marks on greens I encounter. I fill divots with mix, if the divot is destroyed and mix is available. But, I don't carry my own mix because of the weight and convenience. Frankly, those of us who are aware of the issues are most likely not the problem, and any attempt to change behavior of the clueless is futile. The problem of idiots not raking the traps is probably even worse. It happens a surprising amount even at nice courses. When my ball settles into a deep footprint, it pretty much eliminates the chance of getting up and down, and sometimes even getting out of the trap. As for the OB comments earlier: The OB stakes didn't move.. they were there when you addressed the ball and should play into your choice of club and line. No one forced you to use driver, if you decide to take the risk, take your punishment like a man. If I don't like the OB placement (e.g. all the courses with homes hugging the fairways) I avoid those courses.

With almost any GPS device, you should be able to check the stats and see how many satellites it is locked on to and what its accuracy is. With the iPhone, there is a free app called "GPSLite" which has a screen that shows the GPS signal strength and accuracy. When I was checking my iPhone on the golf course last weekend, it said the accuracy was 150ft. My Garmin car GPS unit usually is around 15 (feet or meters, I'm not sure what the units were). I'll have to check my SkyCaddie this weekend to see what it says.

Mine's on a mount attached to the umbrella holder of my push cart: http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...gear-GPS-mount So, it's always out in the open and locked in to the GPS signal, so I immediately have a good yardage as soon as I stop my cart next to my ball.

I have had my 60* wedge for three years, and the grooves are looking quite worn. My wedges get more wear and tear than most of my irons, because they are used more. I practice with them, chipping around in the yard, etc. I'm wondering if the fact that they look worn necessarily means they are not performing up to snuff. Or, if this really isn't a big issue and they perform as well as new wedges. I know people who swear by their ancient rusted wedges, and claim that the rust gives them better bite. How about re-cutting the grooves? Do many people try this?

Black Max is a good ball. Opinions vary, but I find them to be comparable to the expensive premium balls. But, make sure they are Black Max, and not Black Max Distance or some other variant. The other versions of that ball are nothing like the original. Where can you get them, and for how much?

I did a quick test last night to see if the materials I had could be a workable mount. Once I clean it up a bit more, and get a better attachment setup (rather than a screw and a couple washers), it will be okay. Certainly not as good as kregan's, but it will serve my purpose. Here are a couple pictures:

I was wandering around my local Target store last night, looking for potential material to use for a mount. There were several cutting boards. They were thicker than I expected, and pretty rigid. But, I will give it a try. I also looked at other products and materials which could be modified more easily. I found some lighter weight plastic which might minimally work, but didn't seem as sturdy. Probably the best options I found were the spatulas. There were some of roughly the right size and shape. The only issue would be the modification to get it to mount well (and, of course, removing the handle). But, I think it is do-able.

Thanks for the followup info. In the pictures it looks like the plastic is angled upwards. Is this just the result of the way it is attached, or did you actually bend the plastic? (If so, how? Heat?)

That is a great solution! I recently got a SkyCaddie 2.5 and have been looking for a nice clean clic cart mounting solution, pretty much exactly like what you created. The SkyCaddie has the same belt-clip holder so this would work very well. The mounts offered by SkyCaddie look quite cumbersome compared to yours. They look over-engineered, with a screw-down compression fit onto the cart tubing. For those of us without your nice shop gear.. What would it take to make something like this? Is the plastic piece you started from a standard component, or is it completely custom (you mentioned it's scrap plastic, I'm basically wondering about the bent layout and what a good starting point for this is)? I guess I'm looking for something that can be done with a Dremel. Beyond that, I don't have the tools.

That's very interesting from a V1x user. I have not played the Gamer yet. The marketing for it sounded good.. they say it has good spin/feel. But, I opened a box of them at golfsmith, and they just felt hard. In most premium balls, you can feel a little tackiness to the cover, but to me these felt harder than the NXT / HX Hot / e6+. The real test is to actually play with them. But, I would be interested to hear others experience with these. If I grab some and try myself, I'll post here too.

For a while I was really liking the "Black Max" as an inexpensive ball with premium characteristics. But, now they are not available any more (unless someone knows of a source). I've been looking around for the next best thing, which has premium playing characteristics, at a reasonable price. By premium, I mean the standard $40/dz balls (Pro-V1x, Callaway HX, Nike ONE, Bridgestone B330, Srixon ZUR, Taylor Made TP). I have tried the Maxfli Tour Fire, and I find it to be decent, but not as much spin as the premium balls. I really like the B330, but haven't found any decent deals. And, there are always the Practice and X-Out balls. I saw the Taylor Made TP X-Outs at golfsmith for $20. Any other recommendations?