hoofreak7

Best links course you've never heard of: The Island Golf Club north of Dublin. Absolutely unbelievable. Hardest course I've ever played.

16th at The Ocean Course at Kiawah 18th Green Ocean Course 17th Hole at Waterville Golf links in Ireland 18th Tee Waterville 12th Tee at Druid's Glen in Ireland View of the Celtic Cross Flowerbed in the background 1st Hole at The Island Golf Links outside of Dublin. Toughest course I've ever played. Exhausting. #13 at The Island. When I played it it was about 220 yards into the wind (and as you can see, all carry). #14 Apparently the narrowest fairway in Ireland. #18 Great finishing hole. I'll say that The Island has gotta be one of the best links courses in the world. It's a shame that nobody's really heard of it. I highly recommend playing it, but like I said, it's absolutely exhausting.

I think South Carolina has to be first for a number of reasons. First of all, for a relatively small state, it has an absurd amount of very good golf courses. Florida has a lot, but I'd say 70-80% of them are just decent and on retirement communities. From Myrtle, to Pawley's, to Kiawah, to Hilton Head, great courses everywhere. So many people flock to SC every month, that it just has to be #1. Plus, golf is pretty much what it is known for. My list would look like: 1) SC 2) California 3) NY 4) Arizona 5) Hawaii

I have only been to a couple but I know people who have gone to others. One's I've been to: Kiawah- One of my favorite trips ever. Some, because of the # of courses on a small island/area, assume Kiawah is really just a golf spot (ie Myrtle). But I was amazed with how good of an all around resort it was. Great food, plenty of non-golfing activites, close to Charleston, nice people, etc. Obviously, the golf is great too. The Ocean Course was probably worth the $$ (the caddies expect a pretty heavy tip because they are real pro caddies essentially) the first time, but the nice thing is that you don't have to play it every time you go. Turtle Point is a really great course. Osprey is an underrated course as well. The others are still in very nice shape and very well designed/fun. Overall, a near perfect resort. Sea Island- Okay I haven't been there in a while. We used to go when I was a kid (before I started golfing) so I don't know the courses but I've heard they are fantastic. Seaside course looks like the Ocean Course at Kiawah. We stopped going when they jacked up the prices to an absurd nightly rate. This caused them to go bankrupt. Now they have new management and hopefully it will return to the family/golf destination it once was. Still, you can expect to pay a lot at Sea Island, but you will really get what you pay for. Probably the place to go if you are looking for as upscale as possible. (Not sure if you wanted FLA, but I went to Doral this year. I went for the tournament so it was kind of crazy but still a solid resort. Pretty much a golf spot, but they have an amazing spa too. Everything is nice and convenient and not overly expensive. Very nice place. I plan on going back on a normal week.) Others that I haven't been to include Hilton Head, Reynold's Plantation, Pinehurst, and some other smaller resorts. My uncle loves Hilton Head and goes regularly. Great place for families. Tons of golf in the area. Affordable options on just about everything (accomodations, food, golf, etc.) Reynold's is a place I really want to go to. Great courses that surround Lake Oconee. Also a great place to get lessons. Very highly rated golf academy. Also, TaylorMade Lab is there. It's a RitzCarlton so you will get what you pay for. I've heard mixed reviews about Pinehurst. Most people are in the "do it before you die category". I haven't heard many people make return visits. This is probably because the prices are very high and there isn't much to do outside of golf.

This is one of the most entertaining tournaments I've seen. Donald's 3 at 18 is one of the best ever.

Sucks for Rory that he's got to try and defend a lead while playing with the second biggest A$$ on tour (to Tiger of course).

Phil can't buy a putt. Easy (makeable) putts missed today- 11 for par, 12 for birdie, 13 for birdie, 14 for birdie, 16 for birdie. He should be at around -6 with the looks he's been getting. He hasn't played himself out of it by any means, but he would be sitting pretty if he had taken advantage. Stupid analysts saying "he's not driving it straight enough". Who cares? He's still been getting good looks at birdie.

I live in Richmond, go to UVA, so Spring Creek is in between. It might be far but if this is you're from far away, it's definitely worth the drive. In my eyes, it's the best public course (and it's cheap) in the state and it's not even close. It's still young, but give it some time (and a clubhouse) and people will know about it. Definitely a PGA tour caliber course. If you wanna stay close, go Lake Presidential.

I'm going to stay at Doral for the WGC-Cadillac Championship next Thursday-Sunday. Anyone ever been before? What's it like? Any pointers? I don't have tee times yet; I'm waiting to see the pairings for the tournament to see when I want to play. Obviously I can't play the Blue Monster (also the Red is closed, as well as one more rotating per day for member use), which ones should I try and play? Thanks

The Legends courses are fun and I'm sure you can find a good deal. I've only played the Moorland, but I've heard nothing but good things abut the other two (although Moorland's probably the best). Also, River Club is a fun little track in good shape. Still, nothing beats Caledonia in or around Myrtle. Absolute masterpiece. Worth every penny.

When I was playing in Ireland, I went to press the mode button for Pinseeker mode, pressed it, and it just got stuck in the "pressed" position. It is still stuck and I have no idea what to do. It doesn't work now at all. It's still under warranty so should I call Bushnell up?

I'm going on a family trip (grandparents wedding anniversary) that's not supposed to be a golf trip, but the men and gonna get some rounds in. We're gonna be in Co. Kerry for the first week, then Dublin. I wasn't in charge of booking golf in Kerry so I don't know where we're playing except for Parknasilla in Sneem, which is the place we're staying at. I have heard that we are probably going to play that along with Dooks and Waterville (most likely). I booked Druids Glen, The Island, and Howth for when we go East. I've never been there before, so could anyone give me any info on these courses, local pubs (around Sneem or Dublin), or anything else to do, bring, etc. Thanks

So I played Kiawah's Ocean Course yesterday. The first thing I'll point out is that I was expecting to get absolutely dominated, so I purposely threw away the scorecard before the round so I could focus on having the most possible fun in the round. This worked great. I definitely didn't have any career round or anything but I think my score was fairly good considering the course is supposedly the most difficult in the country. After my round I went back and tried to remember my score, which I found to be at best an 84, at worst an 86 (memory was fuzzy on two of the holes). Now my handicap on here says like 5 or 6, but I haven't changed that in a while. I usually shoot right around 80 (78-83 is pretty average....mid 70s for easier tracks, low to mid 80s on tougher courses). So 85 wasn't off the charts bad like i was expecting. We played the tees in front of the tips (except on 2, 16, 17, and 18 where we played all the way back to see what it's like). We had fantastic caddies (I wouldn't have come close to breaking 90 without mine). The big factor: the wind peaked at about 10mph (we played early afternoon). Maybe it was the lack of wind or the aid of the caddies, but I thought the course was much easier than I expected. I had 3 birdies, which is better than avg. (I suck at birdie putts and usually settle for pars). Why is the Ocean Course hard? If I had to say, it would be a combination of the wind and the lack of space to miss anywhere around the greens. What do you guys think?

We've decided against surgery on the shoulder (for now). I'm going to physical therapy a couple of times a week to strengthen the muscles around it. This has been working pretty well, but it's gonna be hard to find time to keep going to appointments during the season. I definitely notice a difference when I don't go to therapy. My shoulder will pop in my backswing, which is not a particularly good thing in a sport so exact as golf. I might eventually have to get that operated on (it's annoying to sleep on, carry stuff with, pick things up, can't really work out the way I want to, etc) but that won't be at least until the summer after my freshman year in college (2 summers from now). For now, PT is going good. Hopefully that continues.

I had my operation in August. I was in bed for about a week. Limping for about a month. I think I first hit golf balls in October. I didn't actually get out on a course and play until a couple of days ago. As of now, my hip feels great. I DEFINITELY notice a big difference in my swing. I used to hang back, keeping weight on my right side on my follow through. Now, surgery seems to have fixed that problem all by itself. I've played twice in the past 2 days, trying to get ready for our season which starts in two weeks (spring break this week). I actually wasn't that rusty. I didn't really keep score, but I pretty much shot what I usually do (with a couple of errant tee shots and an obvious amount of rust in the short game department). So if you're thinking about having it fixed, I would recommend it. Mine worked out great (so far :) )