mn723

I avoid hitting downwind on the range and look for chances to hit into the wind. As far as temperature requirements.... that depends on how high my level of up north cabin fever is. If I'm uncomfortable and looking to finish the bucket up quick then it's probably not a productive range session. I do like playing in most any condition as it teaches you how to improvise.

I also use a Callaway FT 17* 4-wood. Have been using a 4 wood since the late 90's when I needed to make room for a lob wedge. The 4 wood was a compromise of the 3 and 5 woods. My first 4 wood was a Callaway War Bird which I loved and used from 1998 until 2008. The War Bird had a steel shaft and was my reliable friend when the driver was off. I had to work to get the War Bird up in the air off of the fairway. Though not as straight as the War Bird, my FT 4 wood is much easier to get airborn. I feel comfortable easing off on it from 230 out and ripping it from 270.... not that it always works out mind you. The more I go after it the more of a draw generally allow for.

I love the look of the new Titleist CB and MB irons. The new Mizuno MP-68 look sweet as well. When my swing is off a trip to the range with my dad's Ping Eye 2's always makes me feel better and gets me back into a groove.

I agree with this statement. For irons I'll usually only seriously consider offerings from Mizuno & Titleist as their "players" irons tend to be similar. For drivers I'm willing to look at any brand, except for Titleist and usually Mizuno because they seem to be too much of a "players" driver for me. I want big and forgiving off of the tee. For fairways woods I've always been a Callaway guy since I fell in love with their War Bird series in the late 90's. I'm looking for a hybrid company, have never played a hybrid as they all seem "draw" biased to me when standing over the ball. Wedges are Mizuno for the forged feel and for putters I'll try anything. Titleist only for balls. Will never use any Nike equipment.

I noticed from an overhead view that #10 appears to have 2 greens. Do they use both or is one some sort of practice green?

Go to the club and play with the coach, they'll most likely let you play. Clubs are always giving student golfers access to their course as long as you respect the opportunity, it's good PR and advertising for potential future members!!!

I wouldn't say it is unethical to quit, but I say you should continue to play and do it with the proper attitude. If you are going to be crabby and a distraction to others then quit, but I say you should realize that once you are no longer in contention your job could be to lighten the mood and be courtious of others. Last year in our club championship, leading by 1 after day one, I posted a 42 on the front 9 in the second round and realized I was out of it. My 2 playing partners were very much in contention, so on the back nine I focused on playing ready golf and doing my best to get the flag, help with divots and get out of their way. They finished 1st & 3rd in the tourney and I holed a 25' footer on 18 in front of a large gallery to salvage a 79.... I left the course feeling great.

Best of luck to you. I'm not sure what you are trying out for, but I'll assume it's a high school team or something like that. First of all, realize that at that level everyone is prone to posting a big # and don't get down on yourself if you do as well. I remember in high school that my coach told me to break the round up into 3 hole "mini-rounds" and have total score goals for those mini-rounds. Also, forget what happened in the last mini-round when you go onto the next. This will hopefully keep you from getting too high or down on yourself through the tryout/match. Shoot for the middle of the greens and not the pins, few players at that level have the game to pin-hunt under pressure. When pitching and chipping, a ball on the ground is much easier to control that one in the air. Point being, putt whenever you can off of the green and play low running shots instead of high lofted shots when you can. Have fun

Let me start out with a little background..... When I first started playing and especially in high school golf, when a long drive was 220 yards, it seemed like I could make every putt I looked at. I tried to copy Bobby Jones' putting style back then and had a very narrow (heels touching at times) open stance and wristy stroke. As I got into college golf and began to hit the ball much longer my putting level dropped significantly. My coach got me to use a much more traditional putting stance and SBST stroke for the better/faster greens we would play on. Today I am a very streaky putter, which causes me to often swtich between my Bobby Jones style and my more conventional parallel SBST style. I sometimes switch back and forth on a bi-weekly basis. Saturday morning I'll have that feeling where the hole looks like a basketball hoop and then Sunday morning it will look like a shot glass. I'd classify myself as a below average putter for my handicap who occasionally gets hot for a short period. Anyways, my goal this year is to stick with a more conventional SBST stroke and parallel stance. I'm going to really focus on having my eyes directly above the ball from stance to follow through. This will be tough as when my eyes are directly over the ball I feel as if I'm standing way too close to it. I'm also going to try to reduce my forward press a bit, though my first move in my stroke is my hands moving forward.

1. Keep my eyes over the ball while putting 2. Practice more around the green 3. Post back to back rounds under par 4. Win club championship

During the 3rd round of the Australian Masters Tiger Woods hit a poor tee shot and proceeded to throw/slam his driver into the ground and it shot into the nearby gallery. On camera it seemed as if Tiger was more concerned with the physical status of his driver after the incident than he was with the status of any gallery members that could have been hit by his club toss. Tiger continues to become more and more of a selfish guy with an attitude problem on tour with his temper tantrums. I have to assume that Jones, Nicklaus, Palmer and Player are shaking their heads. Tiger may be the best, but he needs to grow up.

This weekend could be it for us MN golfers, anything after Nov. 1st is golfing on borrowed time. During the winter I work on 5 footers in my living room and sometimes chip balls at my couch pillows. I don't like hitting off of mats, so I don't go to dome unless I'm going golf crazy. I try to schedule a March trip to the desert once I get the itch again. One thing I think is great about MN golf is that every spring seems like a whole new season.

My natural shot is a low draw, but the funny thing is when I have to intentionally curve the ball around something I'm much better at hitting a big fade/slice than a big draw/hook.

LeSeuer Country Club down towards Mankato is more fun to play than Northlinks

I just think there are too many unknown Koreans, who seem to have no personality (which may be due to a language barrier) that seem to dominate the woman's game. If the liks of Cremer, Wie, Gulbis etc started winning it would definitely jump in popularity.

What kind of $$$ do you want to spend? The Links at Northfork and Logger's Trail are pretty good links style courses for around $40. Keller Golf Course and Bunker Hills are pretty good parkland courses for around $40 as well. For upscale, Troy Burne (in Hudson, Wisconsin) is very nice and so is Stonebrook. If you want play on a budget the Minneapolis city courses aren't too bad either. If you have time for a weekend getaway I'd head up to Giant's Ridge (approx a 4 hour drive north of Minneapolis).

Don't worry about this too much. Golf is tough and that's why we are so addicted to it. I've shot 85-72 on the same day on the same course this year, but the 72 was from the tips and approx 400 yards longer in total yardage.

I was interested to watch it this weekend until I turned it on and saw the facepaint and a Euro caddy with dyed blue/yellow hair. That was enough for me and put this event on the same level as NCAA softball with their annoying/never ending chants from the dugouts.

My favorite would be a long (7000ish) links course with hard fairways, lots of waste bunkers, ever-present wind and large greens. I enjoy all kinds of courses though, just wouldn't want to play desert style more than a couple times per year.

Sometimes I wish a full round was 13-14 holes. On occasion the last couple holes of an 18 hole round get long and I get tired/lose focus.

The Ventana Canyon courses are very nice, and so is LaPaloma, which is nearby. Starr Pass is also nice. Those 3 courses are kinda $$$$ though. On the cheaper end, I enjoyed Fred Enke, a city course on the east side of town.

I played Ross Bridge a couple times when I was in Birmingham about a year ago. My impression was that it is a pretty easy course to score on. Wide open driving areas and huge fairways. Sure, there is a lot of water and bunkers, but they are easy to avoid. I'm sure the PGA could pretty much do whatever they wanted to toughen up the course, but I'd say the pros would still go way too low for a major.

My experince is that boozing (either the night before or on the course) leads to very good rounds or very poor rounds. I've never been able to grind out a decent round while hungover or drinking on the course, but shot both a 67 and an 85ish round last summer while being not sober. Seems like booze can take the edge off of difficult shots, putts especially, or lead you to do dumb things just like in regular life!

I agree, Black Bear was tough, especially for a casino course where you expect them to cater to your average skilled golfer. My most difficult was Dellwood Hills from the tips, long course built in a swamp so there is no roll and lots of trees. Great course though.

The T series have a teardrop shaped head, while the R series has a more rounded shape. I chose the T series based on asthetics.