mvarley84

I wouldn't call it "competitive" golf, but I play in a golf league with work. We play 2 on 2 best ball for 9 holes...Its either a win, loss, or draw...at the end of the season there are "playoffs". No one really takes to too seriously, but it is a free 9 holes every week, so I can't complain about that.

What I am saying, is that instead of looking for my ball to see if it is OB, lost, or just unplayable...I just take the one stroke and re-hit rather than go for a 5 minute hike.

I don't go all rule crazy...I do count penalty strokes, and I do play a ball as it lies (no foot wedges!)...But if I tee off and my ball goes off into the woods somewhere, I typically just hit my provisional, take my penalty, and carry on.

I play golf at my speed. I don't doddle, I don't spend ridiculous amounts of time searching for lost balls...I generally finish 9 holes in 2 hours ish walking. However, I do have the common decency to recognize that people are playing faster than me. If I notice on the 4th hole that someone is waiting in the tee box behind me, and there has been no one behind me all morning, I can safely assume that their rate of play is faster than mine. I generally don't wait until the tee box to waive them past...I'll just give em the waive and step behind a tree and let them play through. However, if I am waiting to pass the group in front of me, I won't waive the group behind be until I have passed...seems fair to me.

Currently wearing FJ Streets. Extremely comfortable, only had them since this spring, so I can't comment on durability quite yet. I'm just your average casual golfer, so I wasn't looking for anything performance...just something comfortable that I could walk 18 holes in.

406 yard par 4, sent my drive into the first cut on the right. The lie looked safe from the tee, but as I approached the ball I notice that it is 6 feet back of a giant spruce tree with about 4 feet of clearance under the lower limbs...Theres no way to fade it around the tree, so I pull out my 5 iron and punch it under the tree 160 yards and it rolls up to 6 feet from the pin.

There is no need, on any course, to smash the ball out there 300+ yards off the tee...I am fully capable, but my accuracy goes way down. I would much rather hit a drive 240 in the fairway and have a longer iron shot to the green. Focus on your short game. You use your driver maybe 10 times at most per round...but you are using an iron to the green and putting on all 18....your scores will drop dramatically if you can save a stroke each hole because you are able to consistently get the ball close on your approach shots.

I've picked up lots of items...clubs, GPS, rangefinders, iPhones, glasses...Either find the owner in the clubhouse afterwards, or leave it at the pro shop. Our local course has a bin of clubs that have been turned in...anything not claimed by the end of the season goes into the golf swap with the proceeds going to youth development opportunities.

I don't really have a "goal" for golf...I just enjoy playing it. The more I play, the better I get...Thats where the satisfaction of the game is for me.

As a purely recreational golfer, I wouldn't want to see a roll back of distance....a freeze, sure. Actually a freeze would be optimal for everyone involved. I would know for sure that any distance gained is purely based on my skill level improving. As for the above posts...100% correct...Number of strokes has little effect on game speed...rather its the ass hats who go marching through the woods to look for a lost ball, guys who chat it up with the beer cart girls, people that leave their bags behind only to saunter back for them after their shot....etc. I've played many rounds with 120 players and our 18 hole time is within 20 minutes of mine if I was by myself....

Shot my best round in 16 years today!!! Matched my personal best 77 (par 72) on my local course. Everything was going my way...a little luck kicked in on one par 5, I sliced it right into the trees but luckily it hit a trunk and bounced back out into the first cut. Its a 485 yard par 5...so I still managed to get on in 3 with a 2 putt for par. I've already played more this year than I did in my last 2 seasons combined. 6 rounds in, and its not even summer yet! Playing in a 2 man best ball league with work, so getting free 9 hole rounds every two weeks...plus I'm playing once a week at my local course.