Tomboys

The following is the way I've interpreted the information, but I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed so take what I say with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, here's my interpretation: To answer your first question, yes--with a caveat. The caveat is that your handicap index is just a "base" number. You use that combined with the slope rating of the course you're playing that day to determine your course handicap. For instance, say you have a handicap index of 15.0 and your bud has an index of 10.0. You go to golf course A and play the white tees. On the back of the card, it'll tell you what the slope rating is for the white tees. Let's say that number is 118. According to the USGA calculations, you would receive 16 strokes and your bud would get 10. Now, let's say you decide to play a different course the next time out and the slope rating is 126 from the whites. You would now get 17 strokes and your bud would get 11. To answer your second question, no. You apply those strokes according to the difficulty of the holes regardless of format. In match play, it is used to equalize the playing abilities between players as it applies on a hole by hole basis. In stroke play, it's used to equalize the playing abilities between players as it applies to total score. Same principle, just different emphasis. The reason why it's applied to the most difficult holes is due to the skill set required to play those holes well. Certain holes will be inherently more difficult than others due to their layout/design. They could be longer, tighter and/or have more conspicuous hazards, etc. Because of this, players tend score higher on these holes than others relative to the designated par number. For instance, in the previous example above (course A with 118 slope), the #1 handicap hole may be a 420 yard par 4 with a required tee shot carry of 220 yards. In contrast, the #18 handicap hole may be a 336 yard par 4 with no hazards between the tee and the green. Correct. But, once you combine your index (which can be a whole number or fraction) with the course slope, it yields a whole number so you don't have to round up or down. At least, that's been my experience with the USGA.

LOL. If this was indeed the new criteria to being a tour pro, then I would definitely surpass Jack's 18 majors...

I don't hate the sport (game); I hate sucking at it.

Maybe this will help: http://www.footjoy.com/customerservice/shoes_fitting.asp Also, our feet tend to swell during the day, so it's usually better to try on shoes mid-day rather than early morning.

By your own admission, the majority of your frustration stemmed for your poor play. While this guy exacerbated your frustration, it wasn't the crux of it. As such, apologize immediately for your previous behavior, but also use it as an opportunity lay the ground rules for future on-course interactions. Say something to the effect of, "I would like to apologize for my d*ckish behavior the last time we played. I was trying to sort out my game and I was pretty frustrated. So, if we're ever paired again, please don't take it personally if I cut you off during a conversation. I'm probably just having another bad day that I'm trying to sort out."

Sorry, but to me, OP sounds like he's "full of it" or insecure or perhaps a little of both. As such, he seems to be looking for validation. Whether his professed "status" is real or not--this is the internet after all, is immaterial to me. The tell-tale sign was when he stated that he even had leather-soled golf shoes for the "appropriate" situations. LOL. Please. I know people of great wealth and none of them project the eliteist demeanor of the OP. If anything, they're some of the warmest, most compassionate, most down-to-earth, and funniest people that I know. But, I digress. This is about golf dress codes and whether or not they're good for the game. IMO, they're good for the game because our society tends to judge others based on their appearance. From there, they formulate certain preconceived notions about that person as a whole. However, what people fail to see is that class can be used to describe three different attributes. Those attributes are appearance, character and movement. Just because a person dresses in a classy manner does not equate that their character or movement is classy. Indeed, classy attire is probably the easiest to obtain because it's just a question of buying some clothes. Because of this, I'm pro dress code because it means that less emphasis will be placed on appearance--because everybody is similarly dressed and the focus will (hopefully) be placed on the more important aspect, character.

Perhaps this will help: http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/ball_flight_laws

This topic has been brought up already: http://thesandtrap.com/t/15300/dress-codes-good-or-bad-for-the-game

Agreed. My son was hanging out with some buds at a party that were smoking and when he took his drug test, the admistrator said that a trace showed up in his sample. The good news was that they said the amounts suggested that he wasn't smoking, rather just in proximity of someone that did, so nothing came of it. While I don't always "believe" what my kids tell me, in this case I have to think it went as he stated since his test was over 3 months ago and he's still receiving paychecks in the mail from his company. Nonetheless, it's an unnecessary risk and when my bud decides to take a "quick hit", I excuse myself and walk down the opposite side of the fairway.

While I feel your pain, emails get lost, servers glitch, people overlook them and/or delete them unintentionally, etc.--basically, sh*t happens. However, that doesn't mean they're blowing you off. IME, I tend to get the best results when I pick up the phone and speak to someone directly. I've had some issues over the years with stuff from Titleist and each time I called, they were very polite and promptly addressed and resolved whatever issue I had to my satisfaction. In one instance, I lost a pull-tab (zipper extender) on my mini staff bag. The newer version had different style tabs and when I called them to ask where I could get a replacement for the older bag, nobody knew. However, they got a manager involved and she called all their vendors to see if they had any of the older style ones laying around. Within a week, she called back to say that she couldn't find any of the ones that came with my bag. However, she was able to find enough new ones so that I could change out all my tabs so that they matched. I thanked her and asked how to pay for them. She told me there was no-charge and promptly mailed them out to me. While the above instance may have been the exception to the rule, I'd find it hard to believe that TM--being one of the more prolific and long-standing equipment manufacturers in the industry, would operate with vastly (inferior) customer service protocols than Titleist.

Well, not to be a Debbie Downer, but how many people are in the software business? Hundreds of thousands? Perhaps millions? Not all these people played it safe and I'm sure many of them have risked it all to succeed. Yet, there's more failures than successes even on a relative scale. That's why it's lucrative for those that are successful. And, that's why there's only one Bill Gates. If success was as simple as, "walking a tightrope without a safety net", then a loaf of bread would cost $1000.00. Besides, what's the risk in stating your goals to a bunch of no-name individuals on an internet forum? There's no consequences for failure. While it's great to use Gates as a source of inspiration, don't fall into the belief that his success will be transferable to you just because you adopt the same mental approach that he did. The most successful people that I know all share one main quality, they execute. Whether it's acheiving certain financial figures in the business world, or scoring well in the sports world. It's all about performance. And, that performance has to be quantifiable because results are measured. Which leads to below: This. Either you're good enough or you aren't. Everything else is moot.

Finding (truly) narrow golf shoes tends to be pretty tough. AFAIK, Footjoy seems to be the only company that offers a variety of golf shoes in specific widths (that include narrow). Check out The Golf Warehouse just to get an idea of the selection that is offered. I did a search and was pretty surprised how many models they (Footjoy) make in a narrow.

My go to club is the one that I go to after a round of golf. The drinks are cheap and the girls are friendly, so I can celebrate a good round or forget a bad one. Either way, I leave there happy. In all seriousness, my 9i. For some reason, it seems to be the club that most frequently produces the shot that I envision beforehand.

Sure, this guy named Kevin Na carded a 16 on a par 4. To make matters worse, he was on TV.

Patrick57?

IMO, golf dress codes exist because it's the dynamics of apprearance and its impact on perceived individual/market value. The golfers on a golf course become part of the landscape. Hence, their attire can influence the perceived market value of a given course. Society as a whole has a tendency--rightfully or not, to judge things based on appearance. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Years ago, when one of my buds lived in NY, right before nightclubs would open, they would send someone out into the line waiting to get in. This person would select patrons that were good-looking/well-dressed and bring them into the club. Everybody else continued to wait. Shallow? You betcha. But, it does happen and the silly thing about this practice was that it only made more people want to go to those clubs. Crazy. With that, I dress well for me and I don't care what other's wear. The default golf attire of one of my buds that I play with all the time is a sleeveless T-shirt and plaid cargo shorts with the hem hitting him about mid-calf. We have a great time playing together. The only time I've ever had him change was when he tried to wear that same outfit to a private country club a different friend got us onto. The only reason I had him change was because I would feel bad for him if the course denied him access and he was relegated to waiting in the car for me while I played. Lastly, as noted in other posts, it costs pretty much the same to buy clothing that will pass a majority of dress clothes than it does for clothing that may be questionable. So, I chose the former.

LOL. I thought the golf gods were just mad at me this past weekend. I'm glad to see that I wasn't being singled out.

You can buy the proV1 practice balls. That's what I do and they're only $30 dzn. From my understanding, they're sanctioned for USGA tournament play (because the ID is listed on the ball itself). So, they appear on the conforming list. The only caveat is that they put half regular and half x balls in the box and they have the word "PRACTICE" stamped on the side of it. When I buy mine, I go to the local store and swap out the regular ones to make a box of all Xs. I spoke to the manager about this and he was fine with it.

I heard the same thing from people I know in television (anchormen--and no, it wasn't Ron Burgundy). They said that they avoid white dress shirts because it causes problems for the camera, so they chose ecru (more like a winter white, eggshell where it has a slightly yellowish tint) instead.

Nope. More like friends with benefits. It's just a booty call.

Agreed with the AAAAA (or whatever is defined as mint, one-hit wonders, etc). I've purchased from them before and had no problems whatsoever. However, I'm anal-retentive, so I switched to the ProV1x practice balls ($30/dzn) because I like playing "virgin" golf balls and I can live with the bold "PRACTICE" lettering on them.

You may want to compare the lofts of the two SWs. I suspect that you may have less loft and possibly a longer shaft on your Burner SW compared to your sm4. Also, if you're hitting the Vokey 80 yards on both a half and full swing, then you're probably flipping a little on the full swing because there should be a difference in distance between the two swings. For instance, I have a Vokey 56*/14 SW and a half swing is about 50, three-quarter swing is about 75, and a full swing is about 100.

You couldn't be more wrong. I do not advocate keeping anything that doesn't belong to you. However, there are those in society that do. See above. The gist of my post was to point out personal accountability as it applies to behavioral modification.

Well said. Sometimes the penalty for our carelessness can be steep, but there's a lesson there if a person wants to learn it. Sure, we can come up with all the penalties we want for these "thieves" that don't turn in lost equipment found on a golf course. But then again, what's the penalty for being negligent and leaving your stuff behind? If there's no penalty for that, then what's the impetus to prevent us from being irresponsible with our own property?

The only real pet peeve that I have is when people want you to cheat too because it makes themselves feel better when they cheat. I have a bud that used to do this and I finally had say something to him to make him stop moving my ball from a bad lie and hitting my ball back to me when I'm still 8' from the hole