CdnRiderFan1

Played my first 9 of the year yesterday... FINALLY!... for some reason the spring weather installation program kept failing for the last month.... I had a lousy score... I normally shoot 45 to 51 on 9 holes, and yesterday due to all the rust, I carded a craptacular 59... However, I had two great holes... On the 510 yard par five I striped a drive with my new to me Ping G5 driver, Hit a hybrid to 65 yards, and then hit a wedge on the green to 6 feet and made the birdie putt for my first bird of the year. Putting 4 good solid shots together in the first 9 holes of the year felt really good. It got better, on the 9th hole, I topped my drive, hit an iron to about 40 yards, and was facing a bunker a pretty narrow tongue of the green , and then a bunker on the other side. I looked it over and figured, what the heck my score is already stratospheric, so why not try something risky.. I visualized a full shot with my 60 degree wedge layed open (A mickleson) Hit it perfectly, It went straight vertical, and dropped softly onto the green about 8 feet from the cup. I rolled that putt to about 6 inches for a tap in bogey. It means more to me when I can actually hit the exact shot that I plan, than when I happen to hit a great fade, while planning to hit a draw. Today's 9 holes was a marked improvement. I played the same 9 holes with a score of 48 (11 shots improvement) One of the holes is a 340 yard par 4. I striped a drive with my G5 to about 50 yards from the green right in the middle of the fairway. In all the years i've played that hole, that is the closest I've ever been to the green for my 2nd shot by about 30 yards, and there was no special tail wind, just the fact that the fairways are still pretty hard from winter, and I probably got a nice bounce.

About 5 years ago, on a golf weekend out with my cousin and his friends. Playing a very difficult track in the kelowna area called Paradise Ridge(redtail). the Hole is a long dogleg right par 5 that basically goes around a large pond, so you can try to cut corners at your own risk, or even try the Hero 270 yard drive right across the pond to the green. I hit my drive pretty straight, and then hit a decent second and 3rd shot so that i"m on the large green about 80 ft from the pin looking at my birdie putt. I really didn't have a read on the greens that day, and Hit my putt way to far to the right of the proper line. All of a sudden about 20 ft from the hole, my ball appears to hit something and deflects sharply to the left, rolls down the slope and into the hole. My playing partners were standing there dumfounded, then proceeded to give me High Fives for my only birdie of the day... When I walked up I found a small pebble on the green that must have tracked on the green from a previous players shoes... I didn't know whether to pick it up and throw it off the green, or to leave that wonderful little karma pebble there for the next errant putter. I tossed it because I figured the next poor schmuck will be putting straight for the hole and then get the 45 degree deflection into the pond. There is no way I'll ever be able to repeat that combination of speed, and redirection to make such a long putt in my lifetime.

Thx for doing this blog! For hackers like me it is really educational to follow your progress, and learn what works and what doesn't in your efforts to improve. I think I will keep better stats this year, and also try to document my own rounds to establish an official handicap index and then try to improve it, so that I can look back on my experience and try to improve my game. Cdn Hacker...

Hi, Thx for the encouragement...Taylormade fortunately has no pull on me... I had a brief week visit with a Taylormade R580 driver back in 2006. It had a stiff shaft, and I couldn't swing fast enough to use that properly so I immediately flipped it to my cousin who is a stronger swinger, and I picked up a clearout Hogan Big Ben driver with the regular aldila shaft. The Hogan has worked pretty good for the past 4 years, but I've been hankering to move up to a 460 driver for more forgiveness, and always wanted to get a g5. The only clubs in my bag that were purchased new are my Ping Eye3+ irons. I was fitted for them back in 2002 (Blue dot +1/2 inch shaft length), and have gamed them ever since. I Love ping, The first ping club I ever had was my ping zing putter, my brother gave me that one in 1998 as a present for being groomsman at his wedding. It's been a constant in my bag for most of the years since. All the rest of my clubs, I pick up used, often buying something that looks like a good deal, trying it, and if it doesn't make the cut on my main roster, I tend to send it across the road to my buddies farm team. (I like that manager thing, been doing it for 15 years... LOL) He's a thrifty guy, and loves the castaways from my bag for the right price. I had a chuckle last time we played: In his bag were my former: Callaway Steelhead 3 wood, and 5 wood, a 12 degree cobra driver that had a shaft that was too soft to work for me, and my former Odyssy Mallet putter.. In his garage is my old Callaway Steelhead III 12 degree driver, he got that one when I moved up to the Hogan. I first tried a soft faced putter in 2006 when I worked in vancouver and played on greens significantly faster than the ones I used to play locally. I picked it out of the bargain bin for 30 bux and ended up selling it to a buddy for 20 at the end of the season. I was having a rough time with my Zing last year, and found a great deal on a used Ping Craz-e (Blue lines) for 50.00, and have used it for the past season. I picked up my ping 56 and 60 mb wedge from a guy on a different golf site for a good price (80.00 for both). The final piece of my puzzle was to get a driver, 3 wood and 2h or 5w. I found all three this winter for 240.00. Sorry for the ramble, but I just wanted to share that you can game the big brands for a reasonable price, if you are patient, and are willing to play the models that are one or 2 lines behind the current one. My total cost for my driver, 3 w, 2h, and 2 additional wedges and the craz-e was: ~370.00 The irons were approx. 900.00 new back in 2002, but I knew that they were an investment that would give me enjoyment for many years. I probably have spent an additional couple of hundred over the past 10 years, when you factor in the difference between what I purchased used, and what I recovered from my buddy with the farm team, and other sales. I really wonder why so many guys have to buy the latest and greatest at full retail, only to turn around and dump it within 6 months... Not that I'm complaining, it keeps the supply up in used clubs for the frugal golfers like me... LOL.

I scored some used clubs (Ping Driver/ 3w, and 2 h) last month off our local craigslist type site, and I think that I should try to get through this year without changing what's in the bag, in prior years I've been adding a few clubs trying to get the right mix. My bag ended up pretty much ping: Ping G5 driver regular aldila Ping 3 wood, and 2 hybrid. Adams 3 Hybrid Ping I3+ 4 to pw (I was fitted for these 9 years ago and they are the only thing that has stayed constant in my bag) Ping SW and 60 wedge Ping Craze putter ( I do have a long term reliable Ping Zing putter that may start the season when the greens are real slow and ragged) I've realized that the time I spend each season getting used to the changes in the bag, may be better spent this year on focusing on just hitting good shots with this set of clubs... I'm only posting this to see how long I actually make it this season before something gets changed out. LOL. Now I"m going nuts, cause we are suffering from a bad case of late spring up here this year in central canada, drove past my local course on saturday, and there is still several feet of snow on a couple of the fairways. They have cleared the snow off the greens, and exposed the tarps so hopefully the greens can start to grow now that the sun is out and it's starting to be above freezing on most days. Our temps are currently in the 40's to 50s. I'm hoping if we have a warm week to see some local ranges open up next week. enjoy your season, and yes I do envy those of you who have a 12 month season instead of our 6 and 1/2 month year. CdnRiderFan.

1. Break 90 on 18, Break 43 on 9. 2. Improve my course management, (Reduce Penalty Strokes for OB/lost balls). 3. Establish a handicap index by joining the wed men's league and reccording enough rounds to establish the index. 4. Start tracking all my stats on the computer, and figure out where I am giving up most of my strokes on the course, then practice to improve those areas. 5. Beat both of my buddies who are now retired, and playing 4 times a week at least one time this season... I used to be pretty close to both of them, but now that they are playing more, they are leaving me in the dust. 6. Play more golf with my sons this year. (19, and 13 yr old both like the game).

Hi, I'm a golfer from Canada... North of Montana... Have been playing for over 25 years, and have to admit that my scoring remains consistent: > 105 on the bad days, and into the lower 90's on a good one... I'm looking forward to learning a few things here to help me improve my game... I'm not a bad striker of the ball, can usually hit pretty fair straight or draw shots with the irons. Need to focus like many on my driving accuracy, and also on the short game, chipping, putting, and also on course management, learning to play around the course without so many penalties, or lost balls. My kids are getting older, and I hope to play a bit more this year than my norm. I usually play 2 to 4 rounds a month for our 6 month season < 20 rounds a year, and that basically isn't enough playing to really improve my game, so hopefully this year, I can join a mens league, play 9 each week, and try to get in an additional 18 holes a week. CdnRiderFan.