seagullplayer

Seems to me some people will whine about anything. Most caddies are probably better players than the person playing. Unless the player happens to be a pro.

Don't they make that same promise on every new club that comes out, legal or otherwise?

I have never been ticketed when pulled over. But I am careful when the golf cops are out. Surely K-mart wouldn't sell dirty balls? But I agree they are not very conforming! Just cheap...

There is a little par three course I visit. He has "play all day" for one rate before noon or free cart mornings and such things on weekdays to stir up interest. Lots of places have married couple's tournament nights. I saw a "strangers" night advertised once. You show up, put your name in a hat and they pull out partners just before the start. I would think this would be a hit for folks that don't know many people. Last year a small local course ran a coupon in the paper; 18 holes, hotdog chips and a drink, dozen free balls $20. Weekday or Friday before noon. I would never have known this course existed otherwise. I played it because of the coupon, I liked the course, staff was friendly, it was 12 used balls, but in good shape. I plan to play it often this year. For a public course to do well you have to: 1) Get/keep the regulars more regular. 2) Get new people interested. Only #2 keeps it alive for the long haul.

For full disclosure I wanted to add that I did not count the balls I find along the way. If I find a ball that I think is better than the one I am using, I may start playing with it. I will pretty much play any ball unless it is scuffed or water logged or a Nitro. Unless its not scuffed too bad, or if I can't really tell its water logged or someone gave me the Nitro... Well maybe if Kmart had some Nitro balls real cheap...

If I don't have at least two dozen I am worried! I don't loose to many myself, that's my story anyway. But I play a lot with my oldest adult son and he does loose a few. I normally pay for the round and provide the balls. He has a wife and two growing kids to think about. I normally have three or four "nice" ones in the holder for myself.

I wouldn't worry about your partners option, he sounds pretty superficial/goofy. If the color of a golf ball effected a guys masculinity they wouldn't make blue pills. I have a couple of different colors I use, I have a hard time seeing a white ball in the sky on certain days. Plus I like playing a ball that is different than the people I am playing with. Just easier to tell who is who, I really like a logo ball for that reason too. My little brother wears pink all the time, I give him a hard way to go about it, but not many other people to, he is 6'4".

I have never played a private club, but I have watched Caddie Shack a number of times. So I feel I would fit right in... Hope you have a great time, be sure and report back. Always curious how the other half live.

I am not sure of how long it took, I may still be there. Its a long story, but I will leave most of the drama behind. I had a coupon to a course I had never been to and needed a partner, it was a Friday. I take a guy that I know that is kind of down on his luck, wife left him, lost his job, all in the run of a month. He uses my extra set of clubs, no big deal, he has not played in several years. But he was an athlete back in the day. He is several years younger than me. The first nine where bad, he was slow to the tee, slow to the ball, slow getting back in the cart. I mean old woman slow, he would set in the cart until after I teed off on most holes, then get his club and make his way to the tee box. When we made the turn we stopped in the club house to grab a bite, it was part of the deal. It was a hot dog and a bag of chips. It took him 20 minutes to eat and another 10 to finish his drink. There was no one behind us when we made the turn, but by that time the group behind was pressing hard. They where two couples in there 70-80's! The second nine was way worst than the first, he was shot, he is not over weight and to look at him you would think not in bad shape. He would leave the cart just long enough to hit a shot, if I had let him he would have driven onto the green and in the tee box. He wanted me to drive him to his ball on every shot, even if our balls where 15-20 yards apart. I would park at his ball walk 20 yards to mine, hit it and walk back, he might still be getting his club out! At one point on the last hole he fell out of the cart. It was horrid, he has asked me several times when we are going again... The place was pretty empty being a weekday and early, if we had been holding anyone up I would have just packed up a left. It was by far the longest golf game of my life.

UPDATE: Finally made it on the course with my wife playing Saturday. There was a threat of rain so the place was pretty slow. It went great! She hit off every Tee and all her tee shots looked pretty good. Very straight and we can work on distance. She played her ball when it worked out and just shot from my spot if it didn't. She played the fifth and sixth holes using all her shots. There was a couple and their very young grandson a head of us, they where letting him tee off with the grandmother and then putt on the green. They where pretty slow, but no one was behind us so we didn't mind. While waiting it gave us a chance to practice putting a bit. That is something my wife can't do at home. We where both really excited and had a great time.

UPDATE I played nine rounds with my brother last night and we discussed this issue again. Just to get it out of the way, I again out putted him. He brought a couple of his putters along for the ride and at the last hole we putted around. What I like about my putter (its a Wilson of some sort) is its weight. Nice heavy head on it, I "feel" it gives me more control. I also like the thick grip, but it is getting in bad shape. He seems to think that most of today's putters are lighter to provide more feel. (I like heavier) In the end I think my brother stated the best course of action; "You just as well buy a new grip, cause you are too cheap to buy a better putter." Thanks for the advise guys and the link. Now to find a grip I will pay for...

I won my putter in a hat draw at a scramble nearly 20 years ago. My brother seems to think I need a new one. He seems to buy a new one every time you turn around. He has offered me one of his "old" ones several times. But I have yet to like one of them any better than mine. I admit that my putter looks and feels like something 20 years old. Has putter technology really changed in the last two decades? I will also admit that I need to putt better, but I don't know that its the equipment as much as the operator. I will also freely admit that I consistently putt better than my brother does, even with his shinny new putters. If there is a "be all end all" putter out there he has yet to find it. Is there a putter I really need to be looking at? I am cheap, no I mean it, I am cheap. I been to Dicks, but nothing jumped out that I would pay for... What is your putter of choice? Links with pictures are good for me.

For me I see higher the tee the more loft and less distance. I tee on a three to try and get the ball to stick on the green.

I have found this to be an issue with every one of my clubs. I backed off on my driver awhile ago and saw instant improvement. It took me much longer to figure out this was the problem with my irons, I have stopped pushing my irons and just started dropping a club, it has had a big impact in my game. I also noticed that I was not consistent on my follow through. Its amazing that when you hit the ball where you want distance become much less of an issue.

Played a new course today, its a nine hole. I shot a 95!!! I play the same course 90% of the time. I was kind of worried that my improvements wouldn't move along with me. It was pretty cool.

After reading some of the posts around here I see many people keep MUCH better track of their round than I do. I can see where it would be very helpful in tracking improvement or the need for it. How do you go about doing it? I mean practically on the course while playing? Do you keep a note book or make some notation on the score card? I would also love to know just what you track. What club or distance? At first I was just thinking # of putts, but if I am going to do it... How do you make use of this information? Do you evaluate each round or look at a month or? Thanks

The end of last season I finally broke 100, this year I have been at or just blow 100, literally 99 several times. Saturday I played my best game ever, five pared holes! With a final score of 92!!!! The biggest difference for me was the ability to recover from a bad shot and much better putting. Even with the better putting I missed a couple of puts that will have to drop to improve my score. Not that long ago I can remember when a short drive would mean at best a triple. That second shot on a long par four is what I have really been working on this year and it is paying off. I have no idea why my putting improved, I just hope its not dumb luck and next time I am right back to zero. I am planning to hit balls into the net every night this week, its amazing the encouragement you get from one good round...

I played with a set of those clubs for about five years. I thought they where pretty good clubs. I didn't get to play a lot back then, but I never felt the clubs held me back! Good luck with your game, play often. (I still have my old set, they are in the closet. My oldest uses them when he is home from the military)

No offense to any individual teachers out there, but Those that can, do and those that can't teach. The best teachers I have had in any given subject are those that retired from the field before they became teachers in it.

I am off almost every Friday and it can be hard to find a partner. My biggest issue is being able to see the ball in flight off the tee. If I am alone and don't have a clue where it went, I will just hit another. I always look for the first ball and some times I find it. I will tell you a secret, I am usually the first one on the course and pretty often the only one on the nine hole course I play most often. When that happens, I often play a white ball and a colored ball and keep two scores. IMO, Its better than fishing alone.

Things went really well, she ended her first lesson with a smile! She loves her new clubs. The weather kept us in the back yard. She hit a few balls off the tee. She is excited and seems to understand her limitations. (Not ready to go on tour) I taught both our sons to play, but we have talked about lessons for her, and she is very receptive. She does hair for a living and one of her female clients started playing last year and took lessons and had a positive experience. She is going to ask for contact info. I am going to make some phone calls this afternoon and see what is available at our local course. One thing that is going to make this process easier is that my SIL also just got her first set of clubs. Her and my brother just got back from vacation in Florida, while there he played a couple rounds and she rode along. It was mid week and the course was deserted so he let her putt at the greens. She got hooked. First step went well.

My youngest son loved to play till he hit about 16, girls... He is now in the US Army (Made Sargent this week BTW). While stationed in TX two years ago he found the game again. My older son lives closer to home, but my two grand kids take up a lot of his time! He never really stopped playing but sometimes its months between rounds! (I remember those days!) Last Father's Day he was in for a visit, and I played with both my sons and my younger brother. All both of them could talk about was how bad we use to play. It was the best Father's Day I ever had. It may be years before both my sons are together on that day again. Hang in there, he will come around in one fashion or another.

My wife often rides with me in the cart. I am about half blind and loose my ball in the sky all the time, so it really helps to have a healthy set of eyes along. And she enjoys being out and people watching and I enjoy her company. So out of the blue last week on the course, she said she thought she might like to learn to play the game. Now I have asked her a 1000 times about it before, but I guess it just needed to be her idea. If you are married, I bet you understand... Her birthday is coming up and I offer to buy her a set of clubs. Today I picked up the clubs and tonight she will hit her first ever golf ball. Now she is left handed and I am "normal", (smile) so she couldn't use my clubs. So this will literally be the first golf ball she has ever swung at. This could be the beginning of something big in our relationship, or it could be that I have just purchased the instruments of my own death. We will start in the back yard, but if the weather holds, we could easily end up at the newly opened range at our local club. After raising two kids and almost 25 years of marriage we do have a little more patience for one another, I am pretty sure how this would have went 20 years ago! Perhaps now is the perfect time. I just want her to come away with something positive tonight. Does your spouse play?

I never heard of POP until this thread. After reading some of it I kind of thought it might be a misspelling of POOP. I can see why a posted expected play time might be of benefit to the course. They would have some recourse to back the point you where playing too slow, or if another group complained that you where taking too long. It would be a bench mark to gauge by. It would also be a gauge used to decide when the last group would be allowed out each day. Last Thursday my brother and I went to our local course after I got off work. She gave us twilight rate? We assumed that this meant they didn't expect us to have time to finish before dark? But no one was on the course ahead of us, so we where able to play at our own pace and did 14 holes, until our wife's caught us and made us stop for dinner at the club house... We could have done the 18 easy...