jaragon126

Our golf league was very similar ... ungodly long rounds. I think enough of us complained & stopped playing in the tournaments that they did decide to do something. For several years now they stamp our cards on the first tee; stamp our cards after the 9th hole and again after the 18th hole. The league committee kept track of all these statistics for a few years & came up with this pace of play rule for our tournaments: All members of a group that finishes the front nine 11 minutes or more behind the group directly in front of them, will be assessed a one stroke penalty. If the penalized group finishes the back nine 10 minutes or less behind the group in front of them, the penalty will be withdrawn. If the penalized group finishes the back nine 11 minutes or more behind the group in front of them, all members will be assessed an additional one stroke penalty. So we actually get penalty strokes added to our tournament scores. Harsh penalties ... Yes. Being able to play our rounds without having to bring along sleeping bags ... PRICELESS!

Ya I've gotten to know one of the starters and one of the Pro Shop workers pretty well too. Sometimes get free golf or free range balls. Not sure how to actually look for jobs there since I don't see anywhere on their website or any postings on the wall. I suppose all I can do is ask them ... and hope they don't laugh at me

I thought about trying to get a very part-time job at a course ... enough to get some discounts on golf. I already work a full time job so I don't want to book myself too much that I can't enjoy myself. When I go to the golf course website (if it even has one), I rarely find job listings on there. I assume that since there is not much golfing here in Colorado during the winter, the best time to find jobs at courses is in the early spring before the season starts?

Oh I didn't know you had to actually SEE someone take it. If I hit my drive 230 yards into the trees and can't actually see the ball ... but I see someone over there in the area from another whole ... I can't assume he took it because I cannot see him? What if I see him bend over which would indicate that he is either getting a closer look at the ball or maybe picking it up? What if I get to the area that I think my ball is in, but find a different ball in that area? Can that be assumed that someone took my ball so no penalty? Or since I didn't see it I still have to take penalty?

I too have suffered when other people seem to "mistake" my Pro V1 for their Rock Flite or something else crappy. I also used to lose my cool because now I get to take a 2 stroke penalty for a lost ball even though I have a pretty solid idea that they either hit mine & left theirs for me ... or just picked mine up because I wasn't very close to them when they found it. Glad to hear I don't need to take penalties if there is reason to believe mine was picked up or hit by someone else.

Wow I didn't even think of that, but you are right ... better to have a laser at the range for getting correct distances. Although the range balls that I've used are usually crappy enough that they don't fly true. I could just hit some of the junk I find on the course at the range to get a better idea of my real distances. I'm really thinking of asking for a laser rangefinder for xmas this year!

Ya I think if I get one I'll get a laser. Less to rely on "downloading courses" less to rely on satellites if the weather is bad or something. I have heard good things about lasers, and they are still expensive but you don't have to pay additional subscription fees. Obviously if you don't have a view of the flag then things get goofy, but I would think as long as you have a view of the 200/150/100 yard fairway markers then you can get a pretty good idea of distance to the green by just zapping those markers rather than the flag.

Ya on unfamiliar courses it would be good to have and for hazards. I actually tried fumbling around with a couple of the blackberry applications that supposedly did GPS and that was a nightmare. Never got it to work ... played horrible for a few holes before I just put the phone away. Ugh. They are definitely fun gadgets to have, but does it take away from your game of golf when you have to pull it out on every shot?

I have been toying around with the idea of getting a GPS or rangefinder ... but can they really make you play better? The guys that I have been paired up with on the course that have these things are usually awful ... so knowing the yardages isn't really helpful since they can't hit the ball well anyway. I could see if you were playing on a course that didn't have ANY yardage markers at all, where these would be a must. But most courses have a few markers here & there that you can get to. As for the speed of play issue, if EVERYONE used a measuring device then it MIGHT make things speed up ... but that's not going to happen. So the 5 minutes I spend walking off yardages should be fine since I'm waiting on the people ahead of me anyway. It would really be cool to be able to measure off the distances you hit your clubs, although doing that during a round of golf probably isn't the best time to do that. I suppose GPS devices are best for this as opposed to rangefinders. But rangefinders don't require downloading "maps" and paying additional subscription fees.

I use my 16GB ipod nano on the range & most of the time I'm practicing (putting & chipping). I sometimes wondered if that could be hindering me ... but I still make an effort to line up every practice shot like I would be playing and not just mindlessly bang balls. It definitely helps pass the time by to be able to listen to something ... but other guys have mentioned the nice sound of ball contact which is great too. I don't tuck my shirt in, so I put my ipod in my front pocket, then run the wires through my shirt and out the top of my collar. I use the standard ipod headphone buds, but they were horrible at staying in my ears so I bought some plastic earbud holders that wrap around your ears. I'm not sure if I can post a link, but google search [innovelis budfits] and you'll find them. They are cheap & they work GREAT at holding the earbuds in my ears.

Haven't ever had any problems with UPS here ... I have sold many things on ebay and my preferred method of shipping is UPS. Whenever I have tried USPS, they treat you like dirt and seem like they all would rather be somewhere else than to be helping you. The lines are long, the service is slow. At UPS, they are actually excited to help me, they make it easy for me to ship something, and they are always very helpful. I think unless you actually ship something next day, or 2 day, or even 3 day ... you never really know how long it's going to take. There are many factors that could affect shipping. So pay more if you want to get something right away would be my advice. If something is shipped regular ground ... it could take a week, it could take two. But if you pay more for 1,2,3 day shipping then they usually try a bit harder to get it to you faster.

I have had an Ogio Vaporlight for a couple of years now ... haven't had anything go wrong with it at all. This was my 2nd Ogio bag ... loved the first one too.

Well Greenfinder didn't work for my Verizon Blackberry Pearl. When I launch it I get a message saying "GPS is not supported on this platform, exiting ..." then just shuts down. Are there any GPS apps that work with Verizon?

Very weird, some Verizon people say it works, some say it doesn't. I think I'm going to install it tomorrow on my Verizon Blackberry Pearl & see if it works for me. I went to the GreenFinder website and all the courses I play are mapped so hopefully it'll work for me!

I have always wanted to try to wake up early & play 9 before work. Most of the time I just play 9 after work during the week & 18 on the weekends. At my regular course, it's $15 for 9 holes Mon - Thur, then $17 for 9 holes Fri - Sun. I don't really know if they have a different rate for going first thing in the morning. I tried making a tee time to see what the earliest I could get on would be ... but their online system is pretty crappy so I didn't get an answer on that. My normal work hours are 7:30am - 4:30pm so that I can play 9 after work. Are you guys tired all day for having waken up so early to golf? I bet you can play pretty quickly in the morning ... or are there alot of other people that have the same idea as you? Do you also play 9 after work or is once a day good enough?

I love mine, just got a 60* Titleist Vokey Spin Milled wedge a couple of months ago to replace my old smoothed out one. I carry a 50*, 56*, and 60* wedge in my bag. I suppose most of my shots are lost around the green so I like to have more "weapons" for that area. It definitely took some time for me to get used to the club ... alot of times I would hit the club fat & dig it into the turf. It works good on tight lies, when I've short sided myself, and from the sand. Most of the time the ball lands soft & doesn't roll much; that's the benefit of it for me. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer ... just what works for YOU.

I've been in a league now for about 5-6 years. It's pretty fun, nice guys to play golf with. We have about 220 members in the league. There are weekend tournaments about twice a month, and a 9 hole tournament every Monday night after work. Spots are definitely limited so you have to make sure to sign up ahead of time if you want a spot. We have many different handicap ranges ... from +2 to probably 30 or so. Ya I'm sure there are some sandbaggers, but our league committee does a great job of monitoring handicaps and posting scores for us to make sure everything is counted. The committee has even reduced handicaps in tournaments for some of our players that are clearly better than what their GHIN says. One of the big things for me was the pace of play. Many have mentioned that the leagues are slow, and that was the case for many years at our course. Our committee started keeping track of each group's times throughout the year ... what time they tee off ... what time they finish 9 ... and what time they finish 18. They put together several years worth of data & came up with a system where groups are penalized if they finish too far behind the group in front of them. The way they do it is if your group is too far behind after 9 holes then everyone is penalized one stroke. If you catch up to the group in front of you by 18, then the 1 stroke penalty is removed. If you don't catch up to the group in front of you, you are penalized ANOTHER stroke for a total of 2 strokes for the round. Similarly, if you are quick for the first 9 holes but end up getting way behind on the back 9, the group is penalized one stroke. This works out pretty well ... we used to have 5-6 hour rounds & now we are probably averaging just under 4.5 hours. One tournament we had was closer to about 4 hours which was nice! I love playing in a league ... I love playing competitively rather than just out poking around on the weekends. Plus we get prime tee times on the weekends when we are in tournaments The only downside I see is that obviously you play your tournaments at the SAME course over & over again, and that can get boring. There are a couple of courses here in town that have partnered up with each other & they let their leagues switch off between the two courses during the season. That would be awesome, but a little too far for me to drive.

As many have said, I think it depends on what troubles YOU the most. Some players can hit the long ball fine, but struggle with short game. Some players struggle with the long game & have a terrible short game. For me I think I was similar to you ... the long game shots were way off. I couldn't hit a fairway, and I couldn't even get close to hitting a Green In Regulation. Now that I am a lower handicap than when I started, I STILL feel that my long game suffers more than my short game. Right now my Fairways are 42% and my GIR is 37% with my Average putt per hole at 2.0. When I don't try to get cute with trying flop shots onto the green when I've short sided myself, the worst I usually get is a bogey. But if I can get a GIR then I'm usually good for par or better.

No hybrid here: Driver, 3wood, 3i and on down the line. I wouldn't be opposed to getting a hybrid, just never needed one since I hit my 3i as well as my other irons. Used to carry a 5wood, but I added another wedge and gave the 5wood to my Dad.

That does sound fun ... if my wife & I ever got out by ourselves I would be up for it. When we play we are usually paired up with other people though ... and I might get some frowns from the other people if I'm up at the reds

lol, the people in this forum all seem to know to play the appropriate tees ... but I can't tell you how many times I show up to play a round & get paired up with other people that should NOT be playing from the back blue tees. It's pretty embarrassing ... and it makes for a LONG round.

Mats do suck, but when I practice on my lunch hour the closest course has mats only. I try to hit my driver mostly from the mats (as others have mentioned), as iron shots are much different on grass.

I got one as a gift a while back, loved it! Very comfy, nice & cool looking I didn't know how much they cost until I just looked it up ... $25 for a golf glove??? No thanks. I seriously doubt a golf glove will make you a better golfer. I'll stick to buying the under $10 gloves.

Was in a slump for a couple of months ... had enough of it & went to get lessons

I usually play from the whites, although some of the courses I play have some pretty short par 4s. If I'm playing with other people that are playing from the blues, I'll usually join them and play from the blues as well. The funny thing is, it seems like I have lower scores when I play from the blues rather than from the whites. Many times from the whites, if I hit my driver I'm left with some goofy yardages ... many times less than 100 yards. I don't hit 300 yard drives by any means ... but many times the par 4s are downhill, downwind and I have short yardages to the pin. When I play from the blues, I suppose I get more middle-iron yardages to the pins. It doesn't make much sense to me, but it seems as though I play better from the blues many times. Of course there are times when I play from the blues & I shank my tee shot & can't even get off the tee box (or can't get passed the red tees)