thorban

No... Not even remotely do I prefer rough over fairway. I understand some people may like that because once in awhile your ball is "up" in the rough almost as if it's on a tee making it easier to get the ball in air. The problem is distance is more difficult to gauge, it's harder to make perfect contact, and spin is reduced. Not only that, rough here tends to be either watered and thick or just hardpan dirt.

On a related note, I dont think I could have handled one more of those commmercials of Nicklaus with his foot on the bridge at St Andrews as though he conquered the place. Put me in the younger generation if you want, but I can't stand Nicklaus' ego.

I think that not only does the internet add significant yardage, it also straightens drives! Quite an amazing invention Al Gore has here.

Most public courses that I know of offer some form of club "membership" for $25-$75 that gets you a handicap and sometimes a few dollar discount on rounds you play there. For example see the memberships available at http://www.bristolridgegolfcourse.com/rates.htm The duration around here is always for the season, not a calendar year. YMMV depending on whether or not where you live actually has an off-season.

That might be good advice for someone looking to break 100, but not 80. When you're at that threshold you should have your club distance down to within 5 yards disregarding wind. My advice for breaking 80 is to make sure your misses are playable. I suppose that would fall under course management.

I assume you used 45 and 60 degrees as an example, but the ideal launch angle for a driver is 12-15 degrees. A different shaft kickpoint won't change the angle as much as it sounds like you would want. In any case, it's far cheaper to experiment with moving the ball further back in your stance and/or teeing it lower than it is to reshaft a club.

Kilkarney Hills #11, my home course. It's a 570 yd par 5, dogleg right. It's flat and straight away for 390 yds, and than drastically uphill to the right. Off a good drive, it's possible to get up the hill level with the green about 75 yds out, but it requires a 6 iron or more over 50 foot tall pine trees. The other option is 150-200 yds uphill 30 ft. I've played the course probably 30 times so far this year and have yet to hold the green.

I play Callaway HX Tour 56 normally. I'm suprised nobody has mentioned them yet. $10 less than pro v1 and superior spin off irons and wedges in my opinion. I also bought some d2 Feel the other day but havent put them into play yet.