foxhole88

I had putting problems last year. It felt like each of my hands was fighting for control of the club. I used to be a pretty good putter, but not last year. I was pushing/pulling short putts and misjudging distance/speed. It got so bad that for the last half of the season i started to putt with 1 hand (using just my right arm) I started this mid round and immediately the speed/distance control was back on track. I wasn't able to always hit or stay on the line i wanted with one hand but I was able to 2 putt again and sometimes one putt, so I stuck with it for the rest of the season and I got pretty good at it. At the beginning of this season I went back to conventional putting but made sure to just leave my left hand barely on the putter, just to steady it. I am putting much better this season for the most part, although i'm finding it hard to actually read the subtle breaks in a lot of greens. I also used to bottom out on very long putts a lot due to the elongated back swing so I have been using a hybrid or 5wood to putt the really long ones. I can take the regular stance and stroke and the putt will go much farther with no issues.

Well I asked for a discount, something on par with one of the younger membership levels (31-35yr olds) and they said they could not do it. The only thing they said was that the new rates for 2011 will come out in November and maybe at that time they will be cheaper, or maybe they will be running a membership drive. So I guess I will wait until the new rates come out and see what happens. Kind of a bummer, I was really on the fence with this, even at the full rates. I know I could afford this for at least one season and the rest of this season but I want to be able to stay at this place for at least 3 years and hopefully more.

I get annoyed with the whole guy that gets a hole-in-one buys everyone drinks. I think its one of the dumbest traditions in golf. People should be buying him drinks, not the other way around. I used to get charged $2 on my monthly dues every time this happened at my club and I wasn't even on the course that day.

Yes - This would be a non-equity membership (just a flat entrance fee of $4000) that they are charging. The yearly fee does not include cart fees ($20 for 18, $10 for 9). Club Storage is $150 a year and a locker is $300 a year. There is a $100/mo food and beverage and $40/mo capital assessment fees in addition to the $6500 a year. So it sounds like people think the entrance fee may be negotiable. I never heard of the cart fees being waived or discounted for a specific person. I guess I can ask about that and the food min (although I think that would never be an issue for me) and the $40/mo cap assessment.

I am considering joining a Private Country Club. It has one of the nicer and demanding courses in the area and I would love to be a member there and play this course all the time. The entrance fee is $4,000 and the yearly fee is $6500. The price is a little steep, especially the yearly fee. The club is not at capacity. I am guessing they are about 100+ members shy, so I don't know if they are hurting for members or not. My question is, have you ever heard of being able to negotiate the price of yearly fees or initiation fees at an upscale club? With the current economy, I don't know if they would be willing to do this...For example, they have cheaper memberships, like a Jr membership, etc. based on ages and while I am too old to qualify for one of these cheaper memberships, do you think a club would be willing to offer that membership as a discount (i know they wouldn't promote it - but if someone were to ask for it, would they possibly go for it?) I have heard of places negotiating terms, (when money would be due) but not the actual money. There are other cheaper places I could join that would be better for me financially, but this place is close to work and the course is awesome, so I know I wouldnt get bored of it.

If you were going to attend a PGA event what's the difference between grounds tickets and gallery tickets? Do you need/want both?

Isn't the US Open always played at this time each year, so won't Tiger miss her birthday every year he plays in the Open unless she is always at that venue?

I hit a house on a local NJ course and broke a piece of siding off. The guy was home at the time and I went over to see the damage. I didn't know what my liability was at the time. I told him to get an estimate and give me a call. After the round I asked the guy in the pro shop what my responsibility was for something like this. He said the course doesn't cover it, and that I wasn't responsible either. If I wanted to pay for it I could but that I wouldn't be on the hook for it. They said if you feel that bad about it maybe you could split the costs. The guy told me the last time he needed a piece of siding replaced it was $250. I also asked around the other members of the course and they said I shouldn't pay this guy. They said the course was here first, before the homes. His insurance should cover it. Plus I found out that the homes that faced the actual course in this development each got a $4000 tax break each year for having one of these homes. I felt bad at the time and offered to pay half but the guy was pressing me to pay for the entire amount and said this wasn't a negotiation and that it wasn't a question of liability, it was a issue of doing the right thing. I damaged his property and I should make it right. - I was a little put off by the whole "this isn't a negotiation" part and decided not to pay him anything. I figured his yearly $4000 tax break would cover it and maybe he should put up a net or get some more durable siding if his house was getting hit that often. (The houses on this course are extremely close to the OOB. It's cart path, 5 yards of rough then OOB and you are already in their yard. Add on another 20-30 yards and your in their living room)

I just played with a buddy last week and he is just about a scratch golfer. He had 9 birdies on the round, finished 5 under.

He can take a running start for throws.

This came up at lunch today. A guy thinks he can throw a ball and score under 130 on a course. On a Par 72, thinks he can shoot under 130 just by throwing the ball and rolling in putts underhanded. Has anyone ever heard of someone trying this? There are some guys that want to bet but we want to set a realistic goal or number. I tried to google it to see if anyone has posted or done something like this before. I am sure this isnt the first person to think of this.

Is anyone else having trouble accessing the GameTracker site from thegolfchannel.com? I used this site to track my scores, etc. My subscription ran out, I tried to renew it and it errors out and now I can't even get to the main screen. (I was able to get to this after the subscription ran out)

I always used to be a decent-to-good putter. I usually average around 32 putts per round. Sometimes I get down to 28 and up to 34 in a round. I think part of it is that I do not hit too many greens in regulation so it keeps the number of putts down. Anyway, over the last few weeks I have lost my touch on putts, making way more 3 putts than usual and even a 4 putt and very few 1 putts, while still hitting the same amount of GIR. I could feel myself pulling/pushing short putts, and not hitting it to the right speed. It felt like my left and right hands were fighting each other on my putting stroke. I spent some extra time on the practice green to try and get my groove back but it seemed like it was getting worse. After 3-putting 3 of the first 8 holes and missing a bunch of short 1 putts that I used to easily dunk, I had enough. I decided mid round (9th hole) that I was going to just use my right hand to putt for the rest of the round. I figured I couldn't do any worse than I was already doing and I was hoping that it would help to straighten me out. (I have messed around on practice greens using one hand from time to time as a joke and did pretty well.) So i spent the rest of the day putting one handed (No 3 putts) and the next 3 rounds as well. My putting stroke with one hand is WAY better now, compared with how I was putting over the last few months. My putts are back down to 32 avg range and I am getting more comfortable and confident in my putter each round. At this rate, I may even get back to when I was dropping at least 1-2 40-50ft's a round. My touch (speed) with the one hand is back to normal now, even on very long putts. While doing this I just need to be extra sure to keep the putter on line so I don't come across the ball and pull/push. I grip down to the bottom of the grip and hold it firmly, but so far so good. I only intended for this to be a temporary thing so I could get my stroke back but the results have been very, very good for me so far, so I am thinking of sticking with it. I still don't know if this going to be a long term solution. I don't know if this technique can hold up over a long period but the more I try it the more I am seriously thinking about sticking with it. Anyone else out there try this while playing a round or 2? Did you see any difference in number of putts, etc?

For a hybrid check out the Bobby Jones Hybrids, made by Jesse Ortiz. They are awesome. You can find them new on ebay for about $130 free shipping.

Update: Played yesterday with just a 7iron and I shot a 49 on the front. I beat the guy I was playing. He shot a 51. We then continued on the back to see if we could get in 18 holes. I continued to play with a 7 iron only and shot a 55 on the back. It wasn't that tough, especially on the front when I was chipping very well and putting well with the 7. On he back, my swing got away from me for a bit on some of the holes and my chipping was not nearly as good. I found that by just hitting the same club on each hole, I was able to get into a nice grove for a while. I may try this once every few months, (except to add a putter and maybe lob wedge) to practice hitting my irons.

So a few guys at work were talking about playing 9 holes after and none of us are great at golf, a few beginners and a few decent players, when the following challenge came up.... I am going to play 9 holes and I am only allowed to use 1 club for everything (Tee thru Green). I normally shoot between 43-47 for nine holes at this course. It's not very long about 3000-3200 yards. The greens are very, very slow with little break. The guy I am playing isn't that good, has a big slice off the tee (although there wouldn't be too much trouble on most holes if he slices), doesn't have a great iron game but should be able to putt pretty good on these greens. Anyway, I was thinking about using either a 4 hybrid or my 7 iron. I am leaning towards the 7 iron in case I need to get out of a greenside bunker or chipping over something. The hybrid would get me closer off the tee, and I would be able to putt better with it and be able to reach the longer par 3's. Since the course isn't that long and the greens are slow and straight, I think the 7 iron may be the play here. Has anyone ever played a round or 9 holes using just 1 club? How did you do? What club did you use? I think I could probably break 50 and maybe even get to 48 with 1 club

So has anyone tried this out and continue to do it today? Has it improved your ball-striking and if so, how? (For example, were you a pull hitter and now hit less pulls or were you a short hitter that now gets some distance?)

A combination of 1 or more of these things... -Breaking 90 -Decent day getting off the tee (I have been trying to improve my consistency with a driver off the tee) -0 penalty shots or lost balls (I currently average about 4.5 per round) -No triple or quadruple bogeys (I really want to be more consistent and avoid the huge blow up holes that destroy my round) -No 3 putts (especially on holes where I already have a penalty)

I use electrical tape. It works pretty well. The next time you go to the range and hit a bucket or more, tape up your fingers before and you wont get them anymore. Also, you can try going double gloved and buy yourself a right handed one. I have done this before too.

"Dollar Bills" - Tin Cup

Fact: Tiger's wife is smoking hot and I would dump my wife for her in a second.

Erik - I am interested to know what advantages Scorecard offers over the Golf Tracker Pro that runs on the Golf Channel's website. http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.aspx?page=35100 Other than this one being a yearly charge of $20 vs your 1 time charge, until a newer major release comes out, it seems like this web app has much more to offer, unless I am missing something? (I haven't actually used this site yet so I am unsure of it's capabilities and limitations.) I have used Scorecard and other than its lack of graph type analysis seems to be a good product.

Oakmont and Merion are both private. I took this as courses that anyone could play. (Public, Resort or Semi-Private) But if you are talking private Oakmont and Merion would both be on the list, although I haven't played either.

I played Bulle Rock last year, just after the LPGA championship and although the course was very nice, I don't know if it was $150 nice. I have played at some other courses in PA and NJ that are on par with Bulle Rock but at a cheaper rate. Pine Hill - NJ ($80 off-season - $125 peak season plus twilight rates available) The Course at Glen Mills - PA ($95 peak)

What happened to all the user reviews from this site? They all seem to have been removed. Does anyone have any new, or up to date places to get user course reviews on the web?