goblue107501

145 yards on a par 4. I was playing a 2 person scramble tournament with my dad and holed out for an eagle. It flew directly in the hole. The sun was behind the green, as were a couple of carts. I hit it and didn't see it down, but heard it hit metal. We got up to the green and apologized to the guys in the carts about hitting them, but we couldn't see the ball to know it was going that far. They told us that I didn't hit them and to check the hole as they thought it went in. Sure enough, that's where it was The worst part about it is that after the first day not even coming close to anything that would be a skin, we decided not to pay the $10 to get in the skins the second day. There were only 2 skins that day and our 3rd would have got us around $125, which would have paid for the whole weekend. Last time I never got in a skins game.

I've always liked Tiger as a player and will continue to do so. The argument is irrelevant at this point because Tiger's career is not over. He still has a good 10-15 years left to play if he wants and his body hold up. He could win 20 more times with 5-7 majors in that time. Who knows where he will end up? You can't accurately compare careers until they are done. I don't have a dog in this fight or an argument to make. I will say this. You can't make an argument about better/worse equipment without bringing up course changes. As equipment has changed, so have the courses. A 7000 yard course used to be a monster that no one wanted to play. Now it is considered short and would never hold even a low level tournament (outside of a few exceptions maybe). So to say the guys today have an advantage with technology and equipment, they also have to play longer courses with harder greens, and narrower fairways. Is is an even 1:1 swap between course changes and equipment changes? Maybe, maybe not, but it's probably not too far off in many instances.

The only thing you really want to do is to seal it up as tight as you can. Partly for moisture, but my main reason (I keep my clubs in the garage over winter) is so nothing gets in there. The last thing I want in the summer is to reach in a pocket or pull out a club and have a family of spiders come out to play. I always make sure all the pockets are zipped up and I even put the rain cover over the top of it.

Instead of putting in all the time and work, why don't you just find a tournament that has some open qualifying? That way you can just get in a tournament via a qualifier, win the tournament, then you will get your tour status. That would be much easier than doing a q-school.

I don't have my bag nearby, but I think the vertical ones do. I have an old Bushnell (in the style of the Bushnell V2) and I believe it has the screw on the bottom. Although I don't know who would go through the trouble of taking a separate support piece with them. IMO that would just get in the way.

The stroke itself isn't anything special. There are only so many ways to swing a putter a foot back and down through the ball. Where pros differ is the consistency. They have a very repeatable stroke so they always hit the ball where they aim, and for the most part, have very good distance control as well. It's not an accident when they hit the 50 foot double breaker over a ridge to 2 feet. Practice, practice, practice.

My opinion is always laser >>>> GPS. Mostly the reasons iacas mentioned. I don't know for sure, but I don't think there is an 'anti-shake' laser. Pretty sure you have to hold it steady yourself. There are things you can do to help. The elbow tripod works if you are standing. If you are sitting in a cart you can rest your arms on your legs or the steering wheel, that works pretty good also. It's just something you have to figure out how to do. Once you get the hang of it, it gets easier.

Always short game. Eliminate one 3 putt (if that is a problem) and/or get up-and-down one or two more times, or one putt one or two more times, there are your 3 shots. Easy as pie to say, harder to do. The rest of the game comes into play as well, but it all boils down to the short game. If you drive the ball better, then your iron shots might be easier (maybe you hit a wedge from the fairway instead of an 8 from the rough), which would lead to shorter putts, which could lead to more made putts. Each part feeds off the other, but it all comes down to what you do with the short game. You can hit great drives and irons, but if it takes you more than 2 shots with a wedge and putter after that, your are costing yourself strokes. You won't get up-and-down every time, but if you can do it once or twice more per round, you will shave strokes. A close second would be eliminating penalties. If you hit one ball in the water/OB, there is a couple shots right there.

It is amazing to me how many people are concerned (borderline obsessed) with what other people do on the course and how they play the game. Especially when those folks have never met and will never play together. People, let it go. Let the individual decide how they want to play and stop trying to force you own 'golf values' on others just because they don't play the same way. So many are worried about what someone's handicap is or what they shot? What does it matter to you? You live 5 states away and you will NEVER see that person on the course, or even more unlikely, play against them. The only time it should ever come up how an individual decides to play a round of golf is when they are on the first tee and stakes are made for the game. People are so concerned about making sure Joe Golfer has the proper score listed and the right handicap scores posted. I have news for you. The great majority of golfers don't care about their 'official' score or their 'official' handicap. If I've know 100 golfers in my life, I can count on two hands those that care about an official handicap. Most people playing don't need one and won't ever get one. The other 90+ people just like playing the game and hanging out with their friends. Just let them play the game in peace. I used to play in a game with some schoolteachers. Mostly guys in their 40s and 50s who like to play and enjoy each others company. We played by some of the goofiest rules out there. We would play skins and greenies and team bets for the total scores. Everything was played as a lateral hazard, and not even strict about it, just toss one down and get yourself a good lie. The ball was played up. Up to the point where you could get up to a clublength. Gimmies inside the leather. Some of the guys would play shambles in their group, and some would play their own ball. We kept score and settled up at the end. Usually just for quarters, but enough to keep you interested. I would drive over an hour each to play in that game because it was so much fun. Nobody bragged about their score because we all knew it didn't matter. We had to keep score to settle up, but no one cared about having a handicap. The majortiy of the scores were in the 70s and 80s. A few guys were better than others, but the rules we played made it a little more equal. Moral of the story is that without the goofy rules and scoring, half of those guys wouldn't play golf because they wouldn't be able to do well enough on their own and it wouldn't be any fun for them. Golf is supposed to be fun. It's a game, it's a hobby, it's something to do with your friends. It doesn't have to be taken seriously. I can guarantee you that there are more golfers that don't care about rules and official scoring than do.

I think for the most part the majority of golfers know what the basic rules are and will abide by them. I think there are very few people who actually know the rule book enough to say they follow every one of them to the letter. Probably 90% or more of the golfers out there simply don't care about all of them, and that is fine too. Golf is supposed to be fun. Go out and hit the little white ball around and try and get it in the hole. Do it however you want. If you are playing for stakes of some sort then everyone needs to be on the same page, but if not, who cares what someone does or what they say their score is? I certainly don't. I have been paired up with many random strangers and have a good chuckle everytime I see them doing something wrong, but that is all it is. I don't know them, I don't care what they score or how they got there. To the OP, I understand why you did your bet that way. It is frustrating when you have people wanting to gamble, but don't have the game to do it. I had a few friends that were not a good as I was who wanted to bet, but I don't do strokes - at all. So I would play from the tips and play by the strictest of rules. They got to play from a shorter tee box and could play the ball up, and take a few other small liberties we agreed on. It evened out the match quite a bit and we had fun with it. From the friend perspective however, the better way to handle it may have been to poke fun at them when you see a rule break rather than call them out on it, at least to start. Instead of calling a penalty on the first tee box, just wait until the guy is ready to hit then say "wait a sec, you know it is a penalty to hit in front of the tee markers, right?" Help educate them a little with humor rather than just calling them out. They are still your friends, you don't want to be the a-hole of the group. If a guy hits OB, just toss a ball at his feet and tell him to try again from that spot. After a few times, they'll get the idea, and they won't hate you for it. They might learn something too. Plus, once you get in their head about all the rules they are breaking, that will net you way more strokes then calling penalties ever would.

I hope this was sarcastic. I would give anything to be able to wear a sweater and pants in the winter and have a 4.5 hour round. Around here (SW Missouri) it is only okay. We have some great courses, but they are not plentiful. They are pretty cheap however, but usually take 5+ hours to play. I'd say that within 30-40 minutes of where I live, there are 3-4 public courses I would pay to play (many others, but they are crap). A couple of those are in the Branson area and are more expensive. There are a couple of private courses that I can get on about anytime, but typically they are higher priced than my local favorite, so it usually isn't worth the effort. We have one good golf store that recently added a launch monitor which we had never had in the area. It is pretty new, so I haven't bought much there other than some grip tape, but pricing seems to be competitive. Surprisingly, some of the best place to shop and buy clubs are at the 3 city owned munis. They all have an outdoor range and demos available. Plus they have it so that each course has ties to different OEMs so you can try just about anything you want. They are not afraid to make you deal to get the sale either. The weather is hit and miss. Hot and humid in the summer, bitter cold in the winter. You do get those 'nice' winter days where you can go out and play. But as soon as you do it gets cold again so it really isn't even worth it. Overall, you get about 6-7 good months and 5-6 bad months. Depending on your tolerance, that can go up or down. Overall, I'd say my area is a B- or C+.

I think they are all over the place. The problem with trying to quantify it, is that an average player probably doesn't putt consistently enough to tell. I've seen plenty of guys who seem to play about the right amount of break, but then hit it 10 feet past, or 10 feet short, so we'll never really know how close they could have been. Personally, I think I'm pretty good, but I usually err on the high side if I don't think I have a good change to make it. My thinking has been that if It doesn't go in, as it slows down, it will only get closer to the hole instead of running away form it.

It's just something you have to practice to get good at. I think you are on the right track with the abbreviated swings (just make sure you always accelerate through the ball, you can't give up on the swing). One thing I do in addition to that is varying amounts to choke down on the grip. That can give you a whole other shot dimention. I can choke down and use an abbreviated swing with my GW and hit it the same distance as my SW. This can be good so you can use a variety of shot types. If I hit the SW, it will be high and land soft. If I hit the GW, I can hit it lower and get a big bounce and stop if needed. There is a bunch of variety you can use if you just practice them and get the distances dialed in. My scores improved drastically once I stopped being afraid of shots 100 yards and in. Now, I don't mind one bit being 57 yards from the hole. I know exactly how to hit that shot and can hit it three different ways if I need options.

I change when they need it. I've played long enough and changed grips enough times to know when it is time for a change. I used to just do it over the winter every year regardless, but I don't play as much any more so I just wait until they don't feel right. An easy gauge for you, go to a store with new clubs and find one with a style similar to what you have and take a couple of quick swing motions. If the new grips feel a ton better than what you have, it's time to change.