dave s

Lots of good advice here already. I'd like to add a couple for your consideration: 1. Be ready to play when it's your turn. This is the biggest time-waster out on the course. When it's my turn to play, I'm walking up to the ball, setting up and hitting a shot. Doesn't matter whether it's a drive, fairway, chip, pitch or putt. I'm ready to play when it's my turn. 2. Think ahead. If you've missed the green with a shot, return the club you just swung and pull your around-the-green wedge AND your putter. You'll need them both in short order. As soon as you arrive, assess your shot, hit the wedge then take both wedge and putter onto the green. Note to self: Do NOT leave your wedge on the green. Place it on the flag stick after it comes out of the hole. 3. Have a 'go-to' club and shot from the fairway when things aren't going well. Whether that club is a 5-hyrbrid or a 7-iron, have a club that you can comfortably hit to keep advancing the ball. A lot of times, I'll see errant drives into the rough followed up with rolled 3-wood! That's not a 'go-to' shot. Hack it out of the rough with a club that moves the ball effectively forward and back into play. I learned to play this way when my Dad was around. His rules were simple: 1) keep up or you can't play; 2) keep moving the ball forward with clubs you can hit; 3) follow the rules and etiquette. Lastly, my Dad outscored me plenty of times using just a 5-iron, wedge and a putter. See item #3 above. And most definitely get out on the course and have at it! dave

Our league used to use the first two league rounds to 'reestablish' personal handicap for the new season and on both nines. We don't do that anymore. Playing in Ohio means cold, ugly weather when a 12 handicap can easily shoot 50 those two weeks. Grass isn't growing, course is a mess, weather bad ... nobody goes low or plays well the first few weeks of the season. What we do now is carry over hdcps from the end of last season. We don't get a lot of new players so that's not an issue either. The most important thing our league does is hdcp players based on league-wide scoring BY HOLE. For example, hole 10 is a straight-forward 350 yard par 4 until you get to the green. The green is wide, but not deep. OB left, overgrowth deep, huge bunker short. On the score card it has a hdcp rating of 14. Our league racks up more strokes over par on this hole than any other on both nines! It's our league #1 hdcp hole. Hdcp by league scores seems incredibly fair to me. If you play to your hdcp or within reason, matches are usually pretty close. No team runs away with the league, either. Point differential between last place and first is also not that great. Pretty tough to 'sand-bag' our league. Plus, nobody cares whether they win or lose anyway. It's more about having fun. dave

possible suggestion: Take your new putter to a qualified grip installer and have them check to be sure the superstroke grip is on straight and properly aligned to the putter head. I had mine regripped when I went from a #3 to a #2 superstroke grip. The shop that installed the new grip didn't get it on straight and putts started out right and stayed right. Had them regrip it a second time making 100% sure the grip was properly aligned. Putts (for the most part) go in the direction the putter is aimed now. dave

In the same camp as others who don't prefer low-lofted hybrids like 3- and 4-hybrids. My bag has a 5-wood and a 7-wood, a 5-hybrid and 6-irons through wedges. At this point in my game, easier and easiest to hit consistently is the name of the game. dave

Yes. Sadly, I don't have a vote, though. Is he even on the HOF balloting each year? I have a feeling if he was that sports writers who do get to vote would vote yes, and Pete Rose would be voted in.

MOST rounds I play on weekends with the boys takes 4 to 4.5 hours to complete. 4.5 hours is more normal than anything less, actually. At the 4.5 hour pace we're not waiting on the group in front or being pushed from the group behind us. I enjoy that pace just fine. Tee off around 8:30 - 9:00am on a Saturday and home around 2pm depending on distance from course to home. dave

Don't wish to turn this into a 'spring depression' thread but my golf league season begins in 2 weeks. Two weeks from Thursday, to be precise. 6" of snow on ground that fell overnight and it's still snowing pretty steady. Playing the first 4-8 weeks of league play, (April and May) in NE Ohio can be just brutal. When you figure our first tee time is just short of 5pm, that's as warm as it's going to be that evening. Not uncommon to finish a league round in temps below 40. It finally warms up around here maybe in June. April and May can be beautiful, or it can be snowing, blustery or just flat out too cold to enjoy golf. On the bright side, you don't need ICE for your cooler to keep the beer cold! dave

I'm always sitting on the fence with regard to public behavior at PGA tour events. Here are a few personal observations: 1. PGA tour players have everything literally PERFECT for them at events. From golf course conditions, (and weather for the most part) to hospitality, (food and drink) and amenities in terms of how they are taken care of during events. 2. If everything ELSE is perfect for a tour player, how a little noise can affect them so severely is beyond my comprehension. Sure, screaming during a downswing is completely unacceptable and a patron should be asked to leave every time in that case. But for guys to look back in a crowd 20 yards from their playing position to glare at someone using an iPhone to take a picture has got to go. It didn't affect your perceived bad shot. Other observations: 1. If I had a dime for every time Justin Thomas drops his head, and puts that look of 'what a crappy shot' on his face, I'd have enough to follow the tour around the country already. This kind of negativity on tour has to stop. The 'spoiled brat' persona is a big negative, IMO. 2. Generally speaking, if tour players looked like they are having fun ONCE IN A WHILE while during a competitive round, golf would become much more popular among casual fans. I love golf, attend the WGC at Firestone CC in Akron every year and watch on TV. There are so many likeable tour players who are smart, well-spoken and represent the PGA tour in fine fashion. How about acting like you have a great job and ENJOY what you do a little bit? Not too much to ask. Fans who act a 'darned fool' during events should be tossed immediately. If you're being a detriment to the game, the NFL happens on Sundays. Go there, please. dave

Not in tournament, just a normal round. We come to a hole where a tree service was cleaning up an area after removing a tree from the corner of a dogleg L hole. Guy in our group hits his ball and it comes to rest 2' up the tree stump in a large vine wrapped around the tree which was now gone. He wanted a free drop due to work being done ON the course and cited 'ground under repair.' In fact, there was a can of red spray pain that was to be (and 'to be' is the operating phrase here) used after cleanup and before the stump was actually removed. The course has hundreds of old-growth oaks, maples, etc. Some die and they are taken out immediately and in similar fashion. After further inspection of site, the red paint hadn't been applied to the area. As good friends would do to another, we busted his chops giving him the 'play it where it lies, or take an unplayable penalty' decision. Finally, he took a whack at it, dislodged it from its resting place between the inch-thick vine and the stump and put it back into play. Of course, we let him know he could have dropped it on his line back to the tee without penalty in our game! He wasn't happy with us but wouldn't have had a shot on a 'free drop' anyway. It's just fun to mess with your boys when something ridiculous happens on the golf course! dave

My band just commissioned an Epiphone Casino for me to play ONE song during our show season. I'll be sporting a John Lennon model and playing the parts played by George Harrison on Hello Goodbye. And I'll tell you what, the guitar sounds EXACTLY like George Harrison parts in the song. Just incredible what playing the correct guitar used during recording does for the accuracy and authenticity of the tone in the song. My only beef is having to lug along, prepare and keep another guitar ready to play during our summer shows. I'm getting lazy in my old age. Can't I just play my favorite stratocaster all night? dave

If you're taking about GOLF pants, (and not the kind you wear to the office) the FootJoy Athletic Fit pants are nice. They have extra room in thigh area and are modern cut at bottom. They also have pockets like jeans that won't flare out. Puma also has pants with jeans style pockets as well. Also check the fabric content for 5% spandex or fabric description that says 'stretch' in some way shape or form. These products will expand a bit without having the pockets flare out so much even if they are the diagonal cut pockets. dave

I'm getting a sinking feeling that this latest setback may be his last. His body is just broken down and failing him. You can't compete with the guys on today's tour with a wrenched back and all the other maladies Tiger comes down with every other week. My take? He's done. dave

Since bkuen1952 mentioned me in his post, I'm going to respond with reasons why my wife really enjoys and has stayed with golf: I made sure when she started she understood that TV golf isn't reality. Only those men and women play golf like that! For everyone else, there is a degree of 'suck' you have to live with and be okay with. My wife has an outdoor job (delivers mail for a living) so she enjoys being outdoors in heat, cold, rain, etc. Doesn't bother her one bit to play in any conditions. She prefers sunny and low-70s. Early on, I took my wife to really nice resorts where any and all 'girl' amenities PLUS golf were available to her. Check out Villas at Grand Cypress in Orlando for a good example. We spent equal time at the pool sunning and sipping cocktails, going out for nice dinners at night, giving her 'spa time' if she wanted AND playing / practicing our golf games. My wife is fairly athletic and competitive as well. She doesn't shy away from rigorous activity so golf is like relaxation to her. Outdoors, good weather, tranquil when it's just the two of us. She also likes to drink beer and can swear like a sailor (and still look good doing it!) when she hits a solid shot that doesn't live up to her expectations. I've only given her the impression that golf is something we can BOTH do the rest of our lives. We enjoy each others company and golf is a great activity we enjoy as a couple. When I was sure she would continue playing, she got fitted for clubs and her game improved dramatically after that. She sees the results from better equipment and practice. She broke 100 for the first time last year. This year will be her 10th season. We take golf trips at least twice a year. Again, she gets her time for what she wants and she never turns down a golf outing with me. I know not to schedule golf for her every day of a vacation. She has other things she wants to do. She'll play 3 of 4 Sundays a month with me during the summer months. If we can get out, it's an early afternoon 18 hole round and a nice dinner outdoors afterwards. And I pay because she's worth it. And a lot of weeks Sunday is her ONLY day off so sleeping in is her first priority and we play later in the day. This is the most important thing: On the course, I absolutely NEVER criticize or offer unsolicited advice. The only golf-related words spoken are positive reinforcements or I say nothing at all. Want your wife to NEVER play golf with you again? Start telling her what she's 'doing wrong.' If any of the above sounds like your wife, a gentle push in the direction of the golf course might net you a willing playing partner for the rest of your life. I hope so because playing with my wife is pretty cool. She's fun to be around, has provided so many laughs on the course and plays well enough (most of the time) to really enjoy the overall experience of golf. dave

The only 'magic bullet' in putting that I know of is practice, practice and more practice. Check out some how to practice putting videos. There are as many as there are blades of grass on a green. Pick a couple that make sense to you and have at it. What I see most in mid- and high-handicappers is missing putts inside 5 feet at a rate of 3-4 per 18 hole round. I've spent a lot of time on those. Now those putts go in like an uncontested layup in basketball. dave

Now that you've brought up this topic, it appears that I play rounds under vastly different sets of rules and dependent on with whom I play. League night: Our league (local rules) says you can improve you lie in the rough until the grass is growing and it's mowed sometime in May each season. Winter/Summer rules effect. We can always improve our lie in the fairway due to people who don't know how to fill or replace divots or the mowers went over soft areas leaving them as unmarked ground under repair areas. Also, I don't care what my opponent does, (within reason) because regardless, I'm counting his strokes on each hole as well. So far, I've called someone out exactly ZERO times. It's just not worth bad feelings and straining friendships over something that is supposed to be fun and recreational. Saturday matches: Our usual group of 8 plays for skins, pin shots and match play results. We play as close to the rules of golf as each of us in a collective 4-some knows them and can agree upon during any possible ruling. Ironically, I don't shoot any worse playing this way than playing on a league night under the more relaxed local rules. Wife rounds: These are for practice. We both take seconds off the tee if we feel like it, pick up and record bogus scores, pull them out of hazards without penalty. Oh and a round of golf with the wife usually includes beers on the course and a nice dinner outdoors afterwards. Again, we're just out there to enjoy the company of each other, a beautiful day on a nice golf course and spend a summer Sunday doing something we both enjoy. Lastly, if you're trying to take money out of my pocket there's only one set of rules and we both play by them. Every shot. Every hole. This way, you're taking my money fair and square. Oh and I'll need 2 strokes a side! dave

No degree of science behind these statement, but I'll take a stab at 3 areas that would significantly reduce hdcp and quickly: 1. Hit more greens in regulation 2. Proximity to hole improvement 3. Hole more putts for birdie Now, get to work!

This is a rule that I absolutely agree with. Playing a wrong ball is simply a bone-headed, self-inflicted error that should cost you strokes or loss of hole in match play. Here's the craziest example of this during a weekend match with my usual group. Our game is match play and I ended up losing a hole due playing a wrong ball. Hole 3: Long par 4, 90 degree dogleg right. I was first to hit and my drove ball through the fairway. Everyone else hits. My partner drives me to exactly where my drive came to rest in fairly deep rough. No shot to green, so I hit a 7-iron pitch out to within wedge range. Get to my 3rd shot and uh-oh, not my ball. What an idiot. Immediately out of the hole due to penalty. Went back to original spot of drive, no ball to be found anywhere. Somewhere between my drive and the others teeing off, another player likely teed off on #9, hooked a ball into the same rough area, found what he thought was his ball, (my ball) and played it. My ball was a logo overun ProV1 ball with a guy's name of Phil Townstein on it. So #9 hole payer got my new ProV1. The craziest thing was on hole #16. I pushed my drive right of fairway toward a stand of trees and a water hazard. Again, my partner drives right to my ball and says, 'lucky you, it stopped just short of the water.' I look down at ball and identify it as the #9 hole golfer who hit MY ball on #3 hole. I mean really, how many ProV1 balls say 'Phil Townstein' on them? So I'm in the hazard and out another hole. What a round. It was like that pretty much all day. Actually, I was glad to find the Phil Townstein ball. I played it the next weekend and won some $$ off the guys with it! dave

Boy, that's a laundry list of questions. I've been assisting our league leader for the past few years. We have a golf league software package that does planning, scheduling, hdcps, scoring and probably a bunch of other things I don't know about. It even figures out who won skin money and on what holes, based on league hdcp. Everyone in our league has to be paid by a certain date, or you don't have a spot on the league. Pretty simple, pay to play. Some of the stragglers show up with payment first league day. Subs: Golf is already paid for so subs play for cart fee only. The way most 2-man teams work subs is like this: I tell my partner I'm traveling for work and won't make league night. He gets a sub, usually a buddy of his or from a pool of subs who will always show up and play free golf that night. Subs: If your partner doesn't show up, the software package has a way to include a 'ghost' score for a no-show. It's somehow based on something like 80% of an A or B player league-wide score for that particular evening. Treasury Report: We get a balance forward statement at the start of the year and we spend pretty much everything on a few food and beer event nights throughout the season. Nobody makes anything off our league. The president still has to pay his annual league fee. Prize money: Everyone throws in $5 for skins and pin shots. We have 32 guys. If you expect to win money, play better! Our league is a bunch of guys who have known one another for the better part of 30 years. I don't know one guy who shows up expecting to win money or beat so-and-so. It's supposed to be fun so we try to keep it that way. No sand-bagging to 'win the league' or anything like that. No cheaters, no scammers, etc. We just show up, throw back a few pops and have fun for 3-4 hours each Thursday night. Winning the league gets your name on our league's plaque in the clubhouse. That's it. No big money paid out. Again, want to win back your $5 bucks on a regular basis, play better! Oh, and our league president's favorite line is simple: "You don't like it, I can make you league president RIGHT NOW!" It's not that he's a jerk in any way, it's just that league president is a thankless job. Someone always complaining about something for the sake of complaining. Enjoy your league this summer. dave

One in my local area. Sadly, it's overpriced and not kept in very good shape. It's a course I like to go to and practice iron and hybrid tee balls. Two holes I can hit driver, but choose to hit a hybrid for practice. Big stink is the greens are always shaggy and really spongy. Walking on them kind of gives me the willies. 5 par 4s and 4 par 3s. If it's not busy or too stacked up (it's an evening golfer place for some reason) I'll hit 2 tee balls on every hole and play out each if I can get away with it. Good practice track, but otherwise I wouldn't play there to be honest. dave

First thought: BUY USED!!! I have 3 hobbies: golf, guitar gear, photography. Of the 3, golf has the lowest-cost used gear rates. Example: Buy a 3 year old used TM driver. Technology is not much different today from 3 years ago. Probably get a used TM driver for $75 or less. Pick up a used fairway wood and a hybrid for less than $100 total. The only downside of buying a used iron set is it might be a 3-PW set. You won't likely use the 3-, 4-, or maybe even the 5-iron if you choose to purchase used hybrid(s). If you shop, you should be able to accumulate a bag of decent clubs for $250-300 tops. Want cheap gear? Try RockBottomGolf. Example: I wanted a go-to 5 hybrid. Did some research that concluded that the Callaway X-Hot was probably the easist to hit of a group of brand-name hybrids as result of a shoot out test. Bought a brand-spankin' new X-Hot 5-hybrid from RockBottomGolf for $49.95. Sure, it was 2 years old, but brand new! Deals on golf gear are everywhere. Just decide what you want, do some research and find good quality, 2-3 year old used gear. dave

My bag is primarily Ping gear. Driver, fairway woods and irons, (6-GW) are Ping. I do have a 'can't-miss' Callaway 5 hybrid, Vokey 54 and 58* wedges and a Odyssey putter.

Thwack! = missing the sweet spot on the iron face by plenty! I hear it regularly. It's not the ball, either.

Some advice from a guy looking at 50 in the rear view mirror to the original poster - buy clubs that are easier, easiest to hit. If you go to a club fitter, there's a point at which longer irons will turn into hybrids, and lesser lofted woods, (i.e., the 3-wood) turn into more lofted woods. I'm 57 this year and my set consists of driver, 5- and 7-woods, 5 hybrid and 6-iron through wedges. On the longer side of the bag, I can get the 5- and 7-woods airborne and moving down the fairway easily. Three-wood, not so much anymore. Same with using a 5-hybrid rather than a 5-iron. I used to have longer hybrids, but switched them out in favor of a 7-wood that launches high and goes straight with much more predictable results. Back to the club fitting process: When the wife was being fit for clubs, she couldn't get a 6-iron airborne and flying straight. As soon as she was handed a 6-hybrid, it was the obvious better choice. Same with woods. The least-lofted fairway wood she could get flying was a 7-wood. Here set looks like this: driver, 7-wood, 5- and 6-hybrids and 7-iron through wedges. Last thought: For now, and when you have that long shot from the fairway, there's a good chance that a 3-wood is NOT going to be your best choice. Consider taking the distance and breaking it into 2 shots you know you can hit with confidence-even if it's two 7- or 8-iron shots.

Ali is ready to throw a left hook, Lexi is merely posing and proving she doesn't understand the shot.

When I want a grip change for the sake of trying something new, I'll do ONE club with a new grip. Just had a Wynn Dri-Tac midsize put on my 5-hybrid. It's kind of 'spongy,' very soft and very tacky feeling as new. I've heard these grips will wear out quickly though. I'll play it early next year and decide if gripping more clubs is something I want to do.