JaxBomber17

Par 5 ninth at my dad's home course, Williston Highlands in Williston, Fl. My 5 iron didn't hold the green and rolled into the bunker behind the flag. I asked my dad to tend it, and was feeling pretty pessimistic because the bunker was soaked. Blasted it out, and it caught the slope perfectly and started tracking. He pulled the flag and it dropped right in. First eagle on that course, first eagle that didn't involve a putter.

That's me on occasion...lol sometimes a little Dave Matthews or Tom Petty helps me find the zone. I've even played a few practice rounds with them in. I'm fully aware of how ridiculous it looks though. And as for the guy who practices like it's a pro-am...beating balls for an hour is just going to wear you down. I usually play my home course or somewhere like Augusta in my head on the range. Makes it more fun and keeps me from getting in a rut with one club. Just not in my best gear...

That's me on occasion...lol sometimes a little Dave Matthews or Tom Petty helps me find the zone. I've even played a few practice rounds with them in. I'm fully aware of how ridiculous it looks though. And as for the guy who practices like it's a pro-am...beating balls for an hour is just going to wear you down. I usually play my home course or somewhere like Augusta in my head on the range. Makes it more fun and keeps me from getting in a rut with one club. Just not in my best gear...

Before I joined my club, I used to spend several hours a week at my university's practice facility. By far the most annoying person ever was the guy who kept his ringer on and took a half-dozen calls during my large bucket one night. It wasn't just the ringer; when he took the calls, he'd only step back four or five feet and then yell into the phone for a minute or so, hang up, and jump back in. Second worst were the drunken frat boys who would come out with a case of beer and a radio, sharing one bag of clubs between four guys. I ran into them a few times. That was about when I started practicing with my iPod on. A distant third was one poor newbie who kept chunking balls so badly he was spraying dirt on the backs of my legs. I can't really be mad at that; he wasn't trying to do it. Just was annoying.

sorry to be gone so long. You can walk as long as you clear it with the pro shop. No problem in the afternoon, but in the mornings it's 50/50. Trust me though, in the summer you want to ride.

Here in Jacksonville, the golf is good and there seems to be jobs to be had with the proper experience. There are some public courses and munis where you can pay-as-you-play and come out ahead, as well as a group of public courses that have a cooperative "membership" card that allows you to receive discounted rates at their courses. Personally, I'm a member at Hidden Hills Country Club, a private club which has one of the best courses in town; it hosted the Greater Jacksonville Open until the PLAYERS came to town. When I joined, they had an incredible deal: no initiation fee, $195/month for unlimited range balls and golf (I prefer to walk) until age 41, then it jumps to $345 I think. $20 for a cart for 18. Includes unlimited pool, tennis, and fitness center membership, and there is no food minimum. It's definitely been worth it for me, and I love having a home course.

I'd generally prefer to lay up to smooth P wedge distance, which is why I hit a lot of irons off the tee, but from 100 my go-to is a shot I picked up from Bubba Watson's Golf Digest short game segment: with my 56 degree wedge, I put the ball well back in my stance, open up a bit, take a 3/4 swing, and pretty much try to imagine hitting the top of the ball. I get a nice knockdown shot that skips once and stops dead, and having it in the back of my stance keeps me from chunking it, which is my most common short iron/wedge flaw.

Thanks for the tips! I'll work them in on the range tomorrow. Will flaring the right foot out cost me power though?

Does anyone have any tips or drills for shallowing out the AOA? I'm a very tall player with an upright swing. I have a tendency to take very deep divots. I generally make good contact, but about once every two or three rounds, and almost always with a wedge, I'll hit a shot just ridiculously fat and advance the ball about 20 yards. I know that shallow divots are the key to a consistent wedge game, and I'd also like to stop that bad miss and stop tearing up the course through the bag. I'm sure my fairway wood/hybrid consistency would improve as well.

6'7" irons are +2", 2 degrees upright Wedges are +1.5", 1 degree upright. Driver is standard length, but I believe Ping shafts are a little long anyway. Recently had my putter lengthened to 36.5", and it pretty much immediately improved my putting.

this is what I was told by my club pro when I talked to him about it once. I haven't seen any difference in performance. They spin very well and go just as far as the standard ones, and a good bit farther than the ball I switched from, the Nike PD Soft. Those ballooned like crazy off the clubface and were about as soft as the Titleist DT SoLos. Didn't spin worth a damn.

I've been hitting ProV1s exclusively for about four months now, and I love them. I have a low trajectory, and nothing gets up as quick or gets as high for me as those. Very workable, very long, and they stick to the greens all the way through the bag. As mentioned above, they are pretty pricey, but a local store here in Jax sells ProV1 practice balls for $28/dozen. Same ball, just with "PRACTICE" stamped on the side. I spring for the regulars if I'm playing a tournament, but other than that I play the practice version.

80 (+9). Eight over 44 on the front, mostly due to some shaky tee shots. One over 36 on the back, where I hit all six fairways and only missed two greens. Pretty much the story of my golfing life.

I had first swung this club about two months ago and fell in love with it, but felt that I needed to replace my irons first. Today I decided it was finally new driver time. First, I went to the local golf store and tried the Taylormade Burner 2.0 on the advice of the salesman. His reasoning was at my height (6'7") I should be able to get great results from a longer club(46.5"). Nope. They only had it in a stiff flex rather than extra-stiff, and I felt like I was dragging an extra-long, wet spaghetti noodle through the impact zone. Nothing but snap-hooks, and I started taking crappy swings after the third or fourth one, because not only was I skimming the ceiling, but apparently there was solid brick behind the screen, and it sent every shot right back at me. I walked away when I finally caught one square in the nose. Thought it was broken. So I went to Dick's, but didn't fare any better. Then I remembered the i15, and after a few swings, decided it was definitely worth the extra $100. My ball speed was back up in the high 160s, launch angle was higher, and everything was back to its normal shape. Anyone on the boards swinging either the i15 or Burner 2.0? i15: are you able to control the shape pretty well as far as draws and fades go? It definitely feels like a players club. When I strike it well, it's almost like I can feel the contact in my fingers. MUCH more responsive than my old Nike. 2.0: is there some sort of trick to squaring this club up? It seemed almost comically long, so I'd imagine it takes a good bit of practice to master it, and I'm sure the correct flex helps too, but still. I've been playing for six years, and nothing has ever felt that foreign in my hands.

I'll take one. And an airfoil. What's the ETA on a cupholder?

As a very, very, very minor NFL owner, I say...pay 'em. Until then, I'll play golf on Sundays and check the score of the Green Bay game on my phone between holes. A plethora of bad calls going both ways in that game. Poor Sam Shields...he probably wants to try the whole wide receiver thing again. I know I would. First he gets penalized because Sidney Rice put him in a chokehold, then Tate gets to shove him down before going all Christopher Columbus on Jennings' pick. He played wideout at the U; they teach those guys how to do that stuff in week one of spring ball. That being said...c'mon, Jennings. Rule one of defending the Hail Mary: swat it down, don't try to catch it. C'mon, Erik Walden. I agree it was a ticky-tack roughing call, but you can't dive at a QB's legs. Cmon, Green Bay O-line and Rodgers. Nine sacks? Terrible, terrible game, but Seattle came to play this year. Their defense is suffocating. I'd love to see a playoff rematch. In Lambeau. With the real guys in stripes.

$99 a month is just plain awesome. Before I joined my club, I was dropping $10 per bucket at my university, and that was the student rate to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of guys spraying me with their divots and talking on their phones. I found a nice course with a great junior rate-$195 a month until age 41, and no initiation fee. Free range balls and no charge to walk, which I prefer to do anyway. I bought new irons this year, and may be buying wedges and a hybrid. So about $200 a month on range and rounds at my club, maybe an extra $45 if I go play somewhere else. $14 on a glove about once a month, $30 on balls (I buy Pro V1 practice balls at $30 a dozen, saves me about $20 a box), and since my course is only about five minutes from home, I've saved on gas from when I had to drive to the school and courses all over town. Irons came in at $860 after tax, but that isn't a charge I'll need to see again for a few years now. Once you buy a house, if you have no plans for the garage (or basement), a good friend of mine spent about $1500 and turned his garage into a practice facility. He has nets up for full shots, a putting green that even has a few swells in it, and a few different lengths of turf.

9. I'd have a blast there, but you lose a point because I'm sure I'd donate a few Titleists to the briny deep.

He got what he deserved then. Nothing against chewing by any means, but spitting in the hole is disgusting. In a similar vein, although I never met the guy, someone at my old home course chews sunflower seeds and spits the shells on the greens. My dad tells me he still sees them all the time, of course always right in his line. I haven't been at my new club long enough to really get annoyed by anyone; most everyone has been great. There is a guy that likes to walk his dog on the 6th fairway who loves to come around the corner screaming at you if you tee off because you didn't see him through the trees, and he doesn't clean up after his dog. Not sure if he's a member or not, or if he even counts as someone at my course lol.

Ping i20 driver, extra stiff shaft Tour Edge exotics XCG-5 3 wood, stiff Mizuno MP-650 2H Mizuno MP 53 4-PW, Dynamic Gold SL300 stiff (got 'em!) Vokey 52*, 56*, and 60* wedges Scotty Cameron Newport 2 putter This could take a while...can't wait for my tax return.

The only real complaint I have about my club is that there isn't a long par 3 unless you play the tips, and it's one course where I just am not comfortable playing the tips yet. From the blues, the longest 3 is 185, and from the whites it's 172. I like the Gary Player school of Par 3 architecture; he says there should be one short (under 145), one long (over 200), and two middle (170-190) length holes.

I had only been playing about two months when I got my first set of clubs. On the sixth hole of my third round with my new clubs, I went to tee off with my 3 wood. I didn't impact the ground at all, just all ball, and I truly don't remember where the ball went, but the clubhead ended up about 50 feet down the path from the tee box, and I was left holding most of an Aldila shaft. the head didn't pop off, the shaft broke right at the point where it came out of the head. Had to be a weak spot in the shaft or something. Also, I holed out two of the first four greenside bunker shots I ever played, but have only done it once total in the six years since.

That triple bogey in the middle of a par streak is just deflating. I'm normally a good putter, but I had an off day coupled with diabolical greens, so what is usually a strength became a big weakness. Next time, though, I'll be ready for it.

no, Hidden Hills.

Sorry to take so long to get back to the thread. Been a crazy couple weeks in North Florida. Lightning took my modem and router out, so I'm just getting internet back. Also, I'd love it if this site had a good mobile app lol. First day of the tournament, my first full 18 on the track, that course pushed me down, took my lunch money, kicked sand in my face, and said bad things about my mother. I shot a net 95, mostly due to my putting and a Tin Cup moment on the short par 4 eighth, when I dumped four straight three-quarter wedge shots short into the water and then two-putted for a 12. Day two, I came back a little. Still couldn't figure the greens (I learned later that the guy who places the holes is the same guy that did the job back when the course hosted the Greater Jacksonville Open), but I managed to hit 11 of 14 fairways at least. Still, three-putts did me in, along with a horrific 9 on the par 5 6th, and I shot a net 82. Mastering this course has become my new sick obsession. It's the kind of course you absolutely must play backwards. My yardage book is starting to fill up with notes, most of which make zero sense when I read them the next day.