MrSandman

So if it is a blind tee shot, you should walk up 150 yards to see the landing area and know that there is no fescue on your target line? That's great for pace of play. And much of this fescue is mowed for 90% of the season. So even knowing the course can result in a shot in the fescue.

Sorry, 360 yards is a clear par 4 for men. Still, as you collect eagles you can count that one. You did it in a tournament when the field was playing it as a par 5. Until you get your second eagle though, you will always have an asterisk on the "have you ever made an eagle" question.

how short was the hole. Under 450, you're probably looking at what should be a par 4. Anyway, you are going to have plenty of good shots end up in poor positions and plenty of rounds/holes where you strike the ball well but don't score, so I never look down upon any 3 on a hole that the field is playing as a par 5. you gained 2 strokes on everybody else there (or at least on course par). I have about 40-50 eagles in my life. I count them all, even the half dozen or more from easier tees for whatever reason. I did my job, and I'm not going to look down on the accomplishment. Of course if you are running around bragging about eagles in the bar afterwards, you might want to talk about the ones you actually popped in from the fairway.

That's great when they mark the marsh/fescue as hazard. When it is unmarked, and real high, you aren't finding you ball but are penalized stroke and distance. Also, if it is marked than the yardage book will have it noted or it will be more apparent off the tee that a hazard is out there. Problem with some of these courses that grow out the fescue is that you don't even know a provisional might be necessary. I am not exagerrating when I say that most of my lost balls in this particular round were balls that I hit well down the intended line and I fully expected to not only be in play but be in good shape. Somewhat blind landing areas and unexpected fescue and it is a lost ball. Some of these course don't grow the fescue full length most of the year, so it pops up on you by surprise even if you have played the course a number of times. This was a highly rated course (one of the top available courses to the public in New England), and I imagine they had an event or a reason for pimping it out like this. But it was frustrating as can be. Couldn't even focus on a real score as after a few lost balls you know your score is going to be outside of your top 10 GHIN scores and a throw away round anyway.

Grande Dunes was my favorite down there. Tidewater was also nice.

I used to be of that philosophy. I haven't had a 5W in 10 years. Really surprised at how far the newer ones go.

If I connect with the driver for solid contact, it probably goes about 260, with 270 being the high end. But on average, the driver probably goes 250 (some of the ones that are less than solid contact only go about 240, or even 220 if they lack height). But the 5W seems to be more consistent in its distance at the 210-220 range even with some mishits.

On some shorter courses, 5800'ish yards, I have played irons only. I have some good scores from those rounds too. One time I hit 3I off every tee, and hit all but one fairway. It was a great scoring round. There is just something about a stress free tee shot that sets you up with a playable second shot that makes the round enjoyable and takes a lot of pressure off the rest of your shots, even if the second shot is a bit longer than you have had in the past. Even a 370-390 yd hole is fine for a 5W. Hit the tee shot 210, have 160-180 in (and probably only 150-170 to the front of the green).

jwat, how long is the course you normally play? going from a 6500 yd course to a 6000 yd course can allow you to chop off some significant strokes.

Those days are great. When I was playing a lot a few years ago, a good round would be in the 76-80 range, with an average round probably being an 82. One day I pulled a 72 out of nowhere. Just seemed like hitting the fairways and the greens were very easy, and the misses left me in good shape.

Looking for super simple and easy. If it is too complex or time consuming, I won't do them.

when does Carnoustie host again? Can't really complain about their last two Opens.

Yeah, the difference between 15 inches and 30 inches is really huge. A 15 inch putt can break on you, but it likely won't break outside of the hole. It takes a horrible stroke or a real tricky downhill breaking putt to miss a 15 incher. You can also be pretty firm, relatively speaking, with a 15 inch putt to hit the back of the cup with confidence. 36 inch putts can be missed. Even a good putter might miss a 36 inch putt 1 out of 5 times. 36 inch putt with break can break outside the hole. Also, you cannot be as firm, relatively speaking, on the 36 footer.Once you get to 60 inches, we're talking about a 45-40% miss percentage for pga pros. Just some examples of PGA tour pros stats (range for top 100 golfers: Inside 5 feet: 96-98.9% 3-5 feet: 86-96% (only Oosthuizen is above 93%) (this means these guys are very high 90% from inside of 36 inches) 5-10 feet: 54-65% (so if you can make 2 out of 3 of these, you are better than the best pga tour pros)

I used to really be against hitting something other than a driver off the tee. My thought was that the driver was so big and forgiving, why wouldn't I just use that. I do think that the distance loss for hooding one a bit is much more drastic on the driver than I was finding on the 5W. Both poor swings would hook, but the 5W would still get a nice trajectory and go a decent distant. Kind of like how a 5I out of the rough can go further than a 3I out of the rough.

I hit my 5I about 175-185, and my 4H can get me home from 200 most of the time. The 5W goes about 15 or so yards longer. I don't think that is a particularly small gap between my 5W and driver. My driver could definitely improve in consistency. But not much I can do about that but play more (and that option is limited). I find that win I am less than solid with a driver, the decreased distance is more pronounced than if I am less than solid with a 5W or hybrid off a tee. I think the added loft of the 5W allows for more consistent ball flight and distance, even on less than solid strikes. I found, especially on holes with any sort of dogleg, that the difference in irons for approach shots wasn't that drastic. 2 clubs would be a lot. If I could get the 5W just short of the 150 marker, that wasn't too much different a shot than getting the driver to go 20 yards past the 150 marker but due to the dog leg not that much closer to the green.

Picked up a new 5W recently and used it off the tee a bit in a round last week. Very pleased with the results. Probably hit my driver 260-270 on a good drive, but 10 good drives probably average out to about 250 (meaning some of them are in the 240 range) Think I hit the 5W about 210-220. However, I think a mis-hit 5W is going to still be closer to the correct distance while a mis-hit driver for me will be more of a hooded hook that doesn't get nearly enough distance. On some holes, particularly some simple doglegs, those extra 40 yards don't mean much. Who cares if you are 40 yards down the fairway if the approach shot is only 10 yards shorter? Sure, on some holes I might be hitting a 6I instead of an 8I, but a solid swing with a 6I will have a similar result to a solid swing with an 8I, and a bad swing with either is still going to be a similar result. Found the 5 wood was a very relaxing club to hit, much less stressful, and had me in play a bit more than the driver had me recently (getting over a back injury and my ball striking has been terribly inconssitent). Hitting seven five woods and six drivers off the tee really took pressure off my driving and I found that my six drivers were more consistent than if I had just gone with 13 drivers. I found the 5W was even a better option than a 3W, as a 5W is just so easy and relaxing to hit. Course I was playing was about 6300 yards.

How does the rating/slope of a course account for fescue? I don't think it counts it like a hazard.

Dave Pelz's short game bible is a good read and may help you gain consistency around the greens. Gives you some good philosophies for approaching the short game as well as reasonable expectations for the types of shots you are hitting. Probably get it for under $10 used online. We're like the exact opposite. My short game is very nice, but my ball striking is more like a mid-teens handicap.

I played Newport National in Rhode Island recently. Hit the ball great, shot about a 100. Lost a half dozen balls in the fescue. Five were on tee shots that I honestly thought had been hit well on the perfect line. Unfortunately for me, there was fescue at the end of the line I took and they resulted in lost balls. Wasn't my first time playing the course either, but I had never seen the course with the fescue actually grown out. Got me thinking. I would rather the course have water hazards than high fescue. Here is why: 1. Hit the ball in the water or the fescue, you aren't going to be able to find it. 2. You hit a ball into the water, you go up and take a stroke penalty; you hit a ball into the fescue you take the one stroke penalty but also lose the distance. 3. You can generally see the water off the tee and can avoid it; fescue isn't as noticeable off the tee, doesn't show up in the yardage book, and you cannot always account for it unless you are familiar with the course. Give me a course where water comes into play on 15 or 16 of the holes instead of a course that has fescue grown all over it.

I don't believe that many professional athletes put the Olympics ahead of their league accomplishments. Olympic gold in golf would be pretty cool though, as it would have a major feel to it.

scratch golfer doesn't mean shooting even par. more like 3-6 over par on average. I would hope to be able to do that with two balls. Shooting even par, might take 3 balls.

Now that I'm a bit older, I don't play as frequently. Most of my group doesn't even keep a serious handicap anymore. We play best ball match play all the time. Our rule on gimmes is this: - If the putt means something for the match, whether a win or a half, then it is not a gimme. Sometimes if it is really close, then we'll whack it back to the guy, but the vast majority of putts are not given. - If you are out of the hole, nobody cares if you take a putt or not. If you have a 4 footer to half the hole and drill it 10 feet past and don't feel like going through the routine for the 10 footer on the return, I don't care if you putt it or not.

I would go to iaasacs. He obviously takes the fundamentals seriously. Otherwise you are paying a lot for a lot of hype. Hank Haney et al are out there spending their earnings. You think they care about you and you snap hook?

I don't think 1 in 20 sounds right. That's 5%. I think 1 in 100-200 is more accurate. 15 inches is pretty short. The break doesn't come into play much from that short.

My first two eagles were on a drivable par 4. They felt chintzy, but no worse than eagles on some of the reach in two par 5's I have had them on. Definitely have more grand feelings for the ones that required solid drives and full tee shots. 5 iron from 185 was my best, but a 9 iron in a competitive match was another good one.