Entropy

Don't get me wrong, I still had a great time, I was just legitimately surprised how blitzed some people got.

I was at Sherwood for the final round of the Northwestern Mutual Open and it was my first time at a professional golf event, even if it wasn't a sanctioned PGA event. I had a great time and had some thoughts I'd like to share about my experience and would like to hear about some others' first experiences and opinions of pro golf events. Following Tiger Woods around is an infuriating experience because of the huge gallery that follows him. I knew it was going to be really bad and it lived up to expectations. Maybe it was because it was Sunday and he was in the lead but I'd only try to follow him on a Thursday round otherwise you really only get to see 1 shot per 2 holes he plays because you need to jump in front of the crowd to get a decent view. I am a huge golf fan, not just a TW fan, so I was excited to see all the golfers in action. Nevertheless when Tiger came out on to the range to warm up there was a huge buzz of electricity that honestly surprised me. My favorite moments of the event (besides the ending) were with small galleries. Steve Stricker and Hunter Mahan going up and down to make birdies, Jason Duffner telling a kid trying to Duffner that he's right on point, Matt Kuchar sinking a long putt, Jordan Spieth almost hole out on 18. Seeing these guys swing up close in person is really amazing and all the videos on the web don't do them justice. I got a head on view of Rory's driver swing, maybe 5 feet away and was blown away even though I've seen it a million times. I was really surprised at the amount of drunk people around. I'm not talking about happily buzzed, I'm talking incomprehensible word slurring and staggering through the galleries. There were your typical frat boy types which I expected, but there were also a lot of middle aged women who were completely hammered and both were pretty obnoxious. I'm 28 and like to drink myself, but the event seemed like a weird place for people to get THAT drunk. Maybe it was this particular Thousand Oaks type crowd. Zach Johnson just made two lifelong fans out of me and my girlfriend. Watching him hole out for par on 18 was one of the craziest, most clutch things I've ever witnessed and will go down as the second most amazing sports moment I've ever seen live.

I've looked at a few Sun Mountain bags, I sort of like the new Three 5 but not as much as the hoofer or 4 series. Sun Mountain seems to save weight on their bags by using really lightweight material that feels kind of cheap to me. I have a 14 way top now in my Nike bag and I'm kind of over it. I think it adds unnecessary weight. The other bag I really like is the Titleist StaDry Premiere (2014) since it only weights 3.5 lbs but its $330 which is just ridiculous in my opinion.

I think the value of lessons is not necessarily the instructions you receive but having the watchful eye of a trained professional focus on your particular swing. I for one find it difficult to translate some of the instruction on Youtube or from books into my actual practice because there isn't a good way for me to know if I am properly executing whatever I am practicing. Even if you start flushing shots with whatever drill or change you are making, that doesn't necessarily mean you have successfully incorporated the lesson from Youtube into your swing. In fact, when making a swing change sometimes the best swings result in dead shanks and without an expert around to tell you it was a good swing I think you'd be kind of lost.

The decision was based on convenience and mainly just a hunch. The PGA apprentice who gave me the lessons teaches a lotal my local course and I eavesdropped a few times while hitting balls and I liked what I was hearing. He has a very positive attitude, which I appreciate, and was also rather technical for someone giving lessons to a beginner which appeals to me as a golf geek. I had come to the point in my game where I was scoring pretty well and my miss with the irons (hook) and shot shape (largeish draw) were pretty consistent but not desirable, so I figured I had just picked up a bad habit. I tried to fix the problem myself using youtube, forums, golf channel etc, but eventually I realized I can't fix something when I don't know what the problem is . I needed another pair of eyes to look at my swing and tell me what specifically to work on to tighten my dispersion and get my shot shape less extreme. Since I didn't need a complete swing overhaul, I couldn't justify spending big bucks on lessons and the PGA apprentice helped me out for a $40 half hour lesson that really was more like 50 minutes. After a few swings he was able to tell me that I was swinging too far in to out but the thing that was causing the most inconsistency was my tendency to sway laterally on the back swing. He gave me a few drills and before the end of the day I was hitting nice high draws with the irons and my misses were much more playable. I think the message here is, when you decide to get lessons you have to know what you want to get out of them. For me, it was focus and direction, kind of like a tune up. For others it might be more of an overhaul.

You sound pretty confident that Coach O is going to get that head coaching job. I'm not an SC fan so I don't really care if he does or not but it's definitely one of the more compelling stories in sports right now. You don't think people are getting caught up in the Stanford win? Very much looking forward to the game this Saturday. SC has a lot of momentum and UCLA hasn't looked this good in years. Go Bruins!

I'm a big fan of golf instructors offering their services on groupon and other such sites. Nice way to get a refresher every once in awhile.

Not surprisingly, there are a lot of Yankees and Lakers haters. I'm from LA and a die hard Lakers fan so my most hated team WITHOUT A DOUBT is the Boston Celtics with no other team coming close. My hated for the Celtics has spilled over to other sports so I also dislike the Red Sox and the Patriots. The Cardinals are also now on my list of hated teams since they beat my Dodgers and I think the whole "greatest fans in baseball" is the most pretentious load of crap I've ever heard. When they gave Skip Schumaker a standing ovation when they were up by 10 runs or something in the last game of the NLCS I had to stop myself from vomitting. I'm surprised USC doesn't show up on this list more. I'm a UCLA alum so I hate the Trojans and everything they stand for. Wow writing this post just made me really angry..

I shot 46 38 for an 84 on Saturday with my new driver. The front 9 was awful, started with three straight double bogeys and was hitting weak slices off the tee. Surprisingly a few good up and downs on the front kept me from shooting 50+. On the 13th I finally found my driver swing and started hitting them flush and straight. After starting with two bogeys on 10 and 11 and I parred out, barely missing two birdie putts on 13 and 17.

Great topic, here are some of my thoughts: The choice between a round of golf vs. a lesson and practice is not trivial, both from a financial or time management point of view. Everybody approaches the game differently. We are communicating here on an (excellent) golf forum so it is safe to assume that we are all enthusiasts and our goal is to become the best golfers we can be, so lessons make a lot of sense. For many of the golfers I've encountered, especially at the local muni's and other public courses, being scratch is not the goal, they are just playing to have some fun, get away from reality for a bit, etc. etc. I envy them sometimes. When someone is first starting out with golf, from square one, getting lessons is without a doubt the fastest way to lower scores and build confidence. I have only had two lessons from a PGA apprentice at my local course and I sort of view him as a doctor for my swing. I really only see him when my swing is sick..basically when I am struggling with something specific in my ball striking. First lesson for me was because I had a tendency to hook my irons. Second was to cure a slice with the driver. The thought of having a weekly lesson seems beneficial but impractical to me.

Good call on the G20, it really was one of the best drivers to come out a few years back and is definitely worth the extra money compared to the G10. $200 for a new club and a fitting is a good deal. If you don't mind a used one you can find them on ebay for really cheap. I got a 9.5* with the Ping TFD tour shaft in stiff for right around $100 on ebay probably around 6-7 months ago and used it all season. Since the G25 is out now you can probably find used G20s for less than $100 now, just make sure there are no issues with it.

Some of my favorite rounds have been twilight golf after work, usually around 4:00 pm, on a warm Summer night, playing as a single and being paired up with 1 or 2 like minded singles at the local muni. Everybody just wants to play a relaxed game of golf after work but still practice their game. It's always interesting, for me at least, to hear how others approach the game. Sure you may get paired with a complete ******* every once in awhile but I've found these instances to be few and far in between.

The i20 driver is a great driver but does lack in the forgiveness category. Have you looked at the g20? They are also on sale and are much more forgiving but it does have a higher trajectory and more spin than the i20. I gamed a g20 for this last season and enjoyed it for the most part though I had a problem keeping it in the fairway because it felt too light for me. The other thing I really liked about the i20 was it gave good feedback depending on where you hit it on the club face.

Hi everybody. I was in the market for a new driver as I was having a lot of difficulty hitting my ping g20 straight. My miss was a huge banana ball slice and I know it was because I was coming over the top. I eventually found my way to a Taylormade R1 TP with a 65 gram shaft (swing weight D4) and it is noticeably heavier (my g20 has a swing weight of D3)and as a result has really helped me get my swing on path and now I'm hitting them nice and straight. I think a lot of amateur golfers would benefit from overall heavier shafts / clubs for this exact reason, yet premium higher weight shafts like the Aldila RIP phenom in my R1 seem to always be marketed towards the lower handicap players. What gives?

Thanks for the input. I had a hoofer 10 years ago and loved it so I am leaning that way now. After reading lots of reviews of previous year's models I'm kind of aware of some of the issues with the bag, mainly club tangling. That's why I was interested to see if the 2014 models address this in anyway. There is a 14-way divider version of the hoofer which looks promising but it also adds weight (5.5 lbs). I love that the new hoofer has a dedicated range finder pocket and the new attached raincover is also pretty cool. I just need to see them in person before I pull the trigger.

Hi everybody. I've been looking for reviews on the new 2014 Ping carry bags that are available for purchase now but haven't found any. Has anybody gamed one of these yet or seen one in the stores? I am looking for a light weight carry bag to game next season and have always been a fan of Ping bags. I'm leaning a bit towards the 4 series but the hoofer is only 0.5 lbs more according to the website despite having what looks to be a significantly larger profile. Any thoughts on the new models?

I actually do the opposite of what you mention. I take it too far OUT on the back stroke while keeping the face pretty square. I don't do this intentionally as I am trying for a straight back straight through putting stroke, but for some reason even though I am trying to bring it back straight the path of the club is more to the outside and then to compensate I have to try and get it back straight on the forward swing and it's always difficult to get the putt going where I lined up...it's kind of like Jim Furyk's full swing and I consider it a "miss". I've always suspected that the cause of this was using my arms, specifically my right arm, instead of rocking my shoulders to putt. Thanks for the suggestions regarding the chalk line. Some focused putting practice would definitely do me some good.

Thanks for the replies. I've read some info about the AimPoint Green reading and have thought about taking a putting class when I find some extra cash. To be perfectly and rather ashamedly honest, my putting technique is what needs work, not so much my green reading (although I'm sure I could benefit from that as well). When I am putting poorly my most common flaw is that I can't take the putter back straight and often have sort of a "cut" putter stroke where I take the club to the outside and cut through the putt. I've found that changing it up once in awhile seems to work for me but it's generally a quick fix. I think (definitely not 100% sure) I was watching playing lessons on golf channel with Rickie Fowler where he said sometimes he will try something different in his set up to reinforce the pendulum putting motion which is where I got the idea from.

My putting is extremely tempermental. Sometimes it's really good and 10 footers look like tap in gimmes and other times I am literally stressing about two putting from 15 feet away. Over the course of this golf season I have changed my putting technique many times based on articles I've read in magazines or online, tips from other players, pretty much anywhere and what I've noticed is that regardless of what the change is, my putting tends to improve immediately for a few rounds and I think I've finally found the secret to putting and then, sure enough, I start putting terribly again and the cycle restarts. Some of the things I've tried this season are: 1) holding the putter very upright ala Steve Stricker 2) standing very tall 3) bending over quite a bit 4) various degrees of forward press before the back swing 5) slightly open stance to see the line better Surprisingly the only thing I haven't really trying a left hand low or other style of putting grip. I was wondering if anybody else had similar experiences, basically if you were struggling with your putting did the simple practice of changing something (posture, ball placement, alignment) help, allbeit maybe not permanently? Is it good to switch it up every once in awhile if your putting starts to suffer or is it better to hit the putting green and practice some tried and true fundamentals?

Thanks for your response WUTiger. I was looking at petite sets for her as well but couldn't find anything worth while in my price range and ultimately decided against getting a boxed set in favor of a slightly used set of brand name clubs. I ended up getting her a set of 2010 Nike SQ Machspeed ladies clubs 5,6 hybrid 7-SW and nike SQ machspeed driver and fairway wood for around $250. The ultimate deciding factor ended up being her game: she was improving so much (clean hits with a 3 iron 150 yards plus+) that an off brand set would have gotten replaced rather quickly. I figured the extra $50 or so was worth it and now I can't wait to see how she hits clubs that were build this decade! At some point I may have to go get the clubs shortened for her but for now she can't wait to get her new clubs.

Thanks for your response Derrick. I took a look and it seems like a pretty good deal except I can't tell if the irons have graphite shafts. Right now I am still leaning towards the used set on ebay.

Shot 79 on Monday, first time ever breaking 80 on the same course I missed a 5 foot birdie putt to break 80 last week! Ah sweet redemption.

First off, hello everybody. I've been a long time lurker on this website (big fan) and this is my first post. Anyway, on to my dilemma. I am getting ready to buy my girlfriend her first set of clubs and I am torn between getting her a used set of older name brand clubs from eBay (callaway x-12, x-14, TM burner etc.) or one of those lower end boxed sets (not the Adams, Callaway, or Nike ones). I am trying to keep the price around $200 and my instincts tell me to go with the older clubs mainly because I have looked at the clubs from the box sets and they seem really poorly build and bad quality. My girlfriend is short at 5'0" but pretty athletic and she is getting better very quickly (got her first par yesterday on only her second time out!). Right now she is using an older set from a relative that wants her clubs back so I need to get her something quickly.