pittpanther

I can't discount your or the OP's experiences, but blisters (versus calluses) I don't see as a necessary introduction to golf. Instead I would interpret blisters as a sign of a problem - the club is twisting around in his hands, coupled with a too-tight grip, equals the blisters. Everyone is telling him to tape up so the blisters can heal. But as soon as he takes off the tape, he will just rip open some new blisters - if he doesn't change something about his grip. Blisters do not equal Calluses. And if I got blisters from sandals, I would curse myself for buying shoes that don't fit. Again, I don't see blisters as a necessary part of wearing summer shoes.

Cy, I know what you're getting at, but this analogy doesn't work. You would only have doubts about her giggle, if you had doubts BEFORE her giggle... If you don't have confidence, then any comment will get in your way, whether it's sex or golf. If your 10 previous partners had mentioned how "big" you were, you would be very confident and this last chick's giggling would be completely ignored. You lined up that 5-iron, knew what you wanted to do, and one little innocent (he wasn't intentionally trying to mess with you) comment completely threw you? That means you never had confidence in your shot from the get-go. Don't blame your playing partner, blame your game...

I laughed for a solid 2 minutes! Thank you for this...

I also play guitar, and have to "earn" my calluses after an extended layoff. But what you're describing is not the same. I think in general a blister is a sign that you're doing something incorrectly. It is not something that everyone goes through when they learn the game. I have only once ever had blisters - I was at the range showing off, trying to hit harder than my skills allow. Gripped the club too tightly and ripped up my fingers. I don't think you should ignore these blisters and what it says about your technique. You should be able to hit a large bucket of balls (or two) without blisters.

He four-putted from 6 feet!?!?! I think I would have quit the sport right then!

So you must REALLY hate the NFL, then? At least they took Kobe to trial. Roethlisburger is off Scot-Free. Do you really hate an entire league because of the actions of one, or even a few, of its players? Or are you just posturing? Pretty much every sport, at every level, has its criminals. Perhaps you should stop with spectator sports all together.

See my posting #25... As to the comment about "NBA players only play for money..." Given that the NBA is their job, on the surface you are correct - they are playing for money. But I know you're implying something else. So what do you mean, and how do you judge, someone that is only playing for money? In the NFL you very often hear about someone is in a "contract year." They play their best ball, trying to score a big deal, then after wards sink back to mediocrity. I don't see that phenomenon anywhere near as often in the NBA, as compared to the NFL. I would like to understand why you think differently. But regardless, even in the NFL the fact that some guys only play well when their contract is up, doesn't make me hate the NFL. Why the hate towards the NBA?

This is so much BS, I don't know where to begin. First of all, there is no law saying you can't like both college and pro basketball. They are different games, with different rules, and different stakes. How you compare grown men competing for their livelihood, with college kids, 95% or which will NOT play pro ball, is beyond me. The "no defense" thing is such a lark - most teams shoot under 50%, and that's due to the other team playing defense. In the championship series, the Lakers played better defense overall, including a stretch in Game 7 where Boston didn't score for 7 minutes. The pros bitch and complain because IT's THEIR JOB! Every minute they are on the court they are being judged, evaluated, rated, etc. Anything they do, or don't do, will be held against them. The pros know that the difference between winning and losing can mean hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars. It can mean the difference of being able to decide where you play next year (having control over your career), or being sent to a bottom-feeding team (having no control). The pros whine because everything they have is on the line. Have you seen the whining in the World Cup soccer tourney? Same thing. It's just not the same as golf. Until recently there was no season-ending tournament to decide "the best." They are trying to bring that same excitement to golf with the FedEx Cup, but it hasn't caught on with the public yet (I haven't seen any threads about who is where on the FedEx standings...). And as for college, their coaches tend to whine MUCH more than NBA-level coaches...

Obviously then that wasn't a good shot. Perhaps they should have instead hit the fairway and run it up onto the green?

The shortest US Open course in quite a while, yet each day only a dozen or fewer pro's managed to break par. And the winner was exactly at par! I think the USGA got it perfect this year - the right combination of difficulty and challenge. The par-3 #7 was hilarious - did you hear Poulter complain "How are we supposed to play this hole?!" after he couldn't stop his tee shot from rolling off the back of the green? Gee, Ian, you're the pro. I know whining about it isn't going to help... I really wish most/all of the PGA tournaments managed to setup so that near par would be the winner.

Every driver review I've seen lately, the Ping G15 has been VERY highly rated.

This is such BS (not your reply, this Golf Digest Challenge thing)... The challenge says "Can a 10HC break 100 on USGA-level course?" The reality is that in addition to being a 10HC, you need other skills that don't necessarily directly translate into your HC. For example, you need to be able to reliably drive 250 yards (because you're going to be playing a 7200 yard course). This poor woman, a legit 10HC, doesn't have the ability to drive that far, so can't be successful on this challenge. Hell, even if she was scratch, she will never be successful at Pebble from the tips, solely because of her driving. And another thing - what does it mean to be a 10HC? If I only play 6200-yard courses, and get my HC down to 10, what is expected to happen when I play Pebble from the tips? Am I supposed to shot 82 - after all, my HC is 10? This poor woman shot 40 strokes over. Does that mean she is not a legit 10HC?

Isn't quitting kind of like "reverse sandbagging"? This makes your HC lower than it should be, by not including these "bad" rounds?

The interesting thing about a board like TST is the diferent opinions from such a large population of posters... If I opened a thread saying "I only drive 200-225 - I need some help to add distance," I can guarantee that within 5 replies someone will say "Distance is crap. I once played with an old guy that could barely drive 200, and he played scratch golf cause his short game was great!" Not to pick on you only, shortstop, but in this thread everyone is saying "distance IS important." No one's asked about her approach shots or her short game - everyone is assuming that lack of distance was the key issue. So the next time a mid-HC asks about increasing distance, don't just automatically say "work on your short game." There are legitimate reasons someone might desire the capability to have a longer drive.

What's the problem? These 3 guys just happened to shoot their best possible scores. I'm sure no sandbagging was happening here... LOL! Anyway, the HC thing works, but it's not a remedy for cheaters. I really have a hard time understanding why people want to win SO BADLY, at all costs. What was the winner's prize? Was it worth their integrity?

Fourputt, sorry to pick on you - I'm using your post as an example... I'm seeing a fundamental misunderstanding of a HC - or perhaps I have the misunderstanding... A HC is not an average score, where people often hit below their HC. I thought a HC represented pretty much "the absolute best" this player is capable of, and should rarely if ever reach. So the example of the 20 HC shooting 10 under his HC, should NEVER happen! I'm in the ballpark of a 20 HC. I am not capable of shooting an 82 right now. Neither is any legit 20-HC, otherwise my HC would be in the 80s. Again, it seems that no one has faith in the HC system, not even those who profess to follow it. If you're using flights, that means the tournament does not believe in the HC system, or does not believe that the particpants are following the HC system...

So the kid did exactly what some of the people on this thread are saying - He plays up when playing rounds for fun, but during tournament time he follows all the rules. So no harm, unless the kid was genuinely surprised that he shot the 98. Was he expecting a 73? You said this was his first tournament - perhaps nervousness factored into his poor score much more than "playing up" did?

You took the words right out of my mouth... Because many tournaments use flights, this does imply that the HC system either isn't perfect, or people don't have confidence in it. Why use flights if the HC system is supposed to adjust for differing skill levels?

I have NO IDEA what in the world this sentence means...

But this only works if you PRACTICE all these bad lies. Do you practice hitting out of divots? Do you practice hitting off bare dirt? Do you practice hitting your ball out of a field of tree roots? If not, I question how anyone would really "improve" at these shots, by only seeing them once or twice per round, and never on the range... You said "playing as it lies" would improve your game. So why is your HI higher now than before? Shouldn't you be "better" now than you were before? I'm not arguing that taking fluff lies is the right thing to do, but the reason not to do it is that it's against the rules. I don't see that hitting those wierd lies will do anything to make you better, unless you also PRACTICE all those wierd lies. Phil M hit a great shot off the cart path last weekend - but I guarantee he had hit thousands of balls off of cart paths and hard pan before attempting it during a round.

You're going to get in trouble with the rules sticklers!

That's me! I can't hit a GIR to save my life. Pull the "right" club, and inexplicably come up short. Try to compensate next time, and instead go long. Or hit the right distance pin-high, but left or right. (sigh) If I had 5 blow-up holes per round, I would slit my wrists!

Get into the habit of hitting a provisional, even when you're in a fun round with friends. If your drive goes off course, it costs very little time to tee up another and hit. Let everyone else in your group hit, then step back in and hit your provisional as everyone is heading for their carts. They will realize you are hitting again - it's not a surprise to most golfers.

I think you have received plenty of answers as to why you should use a tee anytime you're in the tee box. Regarding your point above about squeezing the ball between ground and club, hasn't that idea been de-bunked as a myth?

LOL! Because of you, we're going to have 50 posters all saying "High handicappers need to work on their short games!"