mcanadiens

Must be one hell of a course. I'd have gone somewhere else on general principle.

$38 increase in five or six years? Is this the same course? Do you get a free beer and lap dance after your round is over?

One big thing in my area is that the cheaper courses, the nine-holers and the par-3s are all pretty much out of business. I had a couple of golf buddies that were never up for 18 holes on a regulation-size course that would cost them $40 or more, but a casual spin around the old Falcon course (a cheap executive course) was perfect. Haven't really seen them since Kittyhawk shut during the pandemic. My first rounds were on a par-3. Thinking back on it, playing a big-boy course at that stage would have been a nightmare. Knowing I could hit a scrubby one or two and still be near the green quickly made a lot of difference, just feeling comfortable. That course just no longer exists around here.

At very least in the overall context of the average hack's golf game, being short-sided probably isn't in the top-five things that cause extra strokes. You hit to the fat part of the green, three-jack it (which you were going to do anyway) and write the same six on the scorecard.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have got lessons from the start. Didn't want to spend the money, but DIY probably led me to a lot of problems. A lot of compensations that temporarily produced some sort of result, but couldn't be sustained. Can't help but think a better foundation from the start would have prevented a lot of that. Setting a particular length of time before you try things out on the course probably isn't really necessary. Just consider how you are doing on the range. If the ball is flying in the general direction you intend it to go, why not hit the course? Don't think you can really know if you even like the game until you do. Ideally, pick an easy, wide-open course for your first rounds. Don't be afraid to pick up on a hole if things go sideways. Getting real wrapped up in the score shouldn't be a priority at this point. There is probably no need to worry about a handicap when you are just getting started. The only real use for a handicap is for competition and you'll presumably want to get your feet wet first.

At least the courses right around me seem to have kept things pretty affordable. With a probable move on the horizon, I didn't get my usual membership, so rack rates are once again a point of interest. The home course is a pretty good bargain at $14 for nine holes after 1 p.m. The other area courses aren't much worse. Nine-walking rates are generally in teens and 18-walking are in the twenties. The horseless carriage still costs a pretty penny.

I'm handicapped enough as it is. I'm not paying for such things anymore. The Miami Valley Golf Association handles such things in my area and charges $50 for e-club. Otherwise, you join through your home course. Most of them charge the same $50 except for those goofs at Community who want $55 for some reason.

My regular guys are walkers and push cart-users and nobody had anything bad to say about our guy with the attached seat. It honestly never would have occurred to me. It's probably come in handy for the man as well. Once, the weather gets consistently decent, that course will be packed. Taking a load off while waiting at the usual choke points sounds like a pretty good idea to me. We got a few tee boxes with benches, but not all of them.

Being the hacker I am, its either been the Callaway Supersoft or Wilson Duo. Naturally, the lower the spin the better given the way I spray it all over the place. My shots onto the green are wedge shots most of the time anyway, so I don't think I miss the extra spin very much there. The lower price point of these balls is obviously a factor. It may sound dumb, but I feel like I got better speed control on my putts with the extremely soft-feeling Callaway ball. Slightly less so with the Duo. One thing that is a requirement for me is that the ball is white. I got something screwed up with my eyes that makes it real hard to pick out colored balls in grass. Even the yellow ones are hard for me.

I think Ohio had all its nice weather while I was in work jail. Definitely played the first chance I got, but it was a bitter, old, windy day of it. We'll probably hit 90 here in a week or so.

Played my very first round of the year Saturday and birdied the first hole thanks to a pretty spectacular 9I draw out of the trees to three feet of the hole. Didn't come particularly close to another after that, but I'm on the board.

I would think that regularly using a simulator over the winter might give you a little leg up early in the season, but probably not much more than that. By tournament time, everything ought to be pretty balanced out if you are playing a decent number of rounds.

Over the years, I've probably hit most of the balls available in this sort of price range. For the most part, I can't tell much of a difference between any of them. This is one of the few exceptions. It really does have that quality. It's enough where I'll tend to go with Supersoft over other options if the price is more or less the same.

In what is an already humbling game, a particularly humbling moment was one I cold-topped into a cobra chicken standing with his gaggle about 100 yards out in the fairway. I'd like to think the bird was acting like a tough guy trying to impress the ladies, but he didn't even make a sound. Just looked at me like I was the biggest idiot on the course.

I really wouldn't want to bet on either one, but I'd take the Saudis and LIV Golf in a pinch. Let's keep it small stakes please. How many attempts have we had at pro football in the spring? Could be wrong, but I don't think any of them have lasted more than three years. Isn't there an attempt at another USFL happening right now to draw away from the XFL. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. My gamble is that the Saudis both have the money to burn and are stubborn enough to keep feeding it.

Spent about 10 minutes watching Liv on the CW yesterday and mostly I was looking at Peter Uihlein hunting around the woods in his shorts. Frankly, the guy looked a little too much like some of the characters I share a course with.

A long time ago I was a sportswriter for a small paper up north and one particular summer a televised boxing event was held in town. They had me write a few preview stories leading up to the thing and then grounded me in the office on the night of the fights. Had me watch the damn thing on tv and write something up. That was when I started re-evaluating my initial career choice.

I'm a bit of geek when it comes to mafia stuff, but I think Godfather has to be in any top 5. I'd have a tough time arguing with anyone including Shawshank Redemption. One of my personal favorites that I think ought to be mentioned if not actually a top five is Raiders of The Lost Ark.

I'm not playing in much of anything competitive these days. But the one exception is a quota game that my old Kittyhawk guys hold at Dayton's last remaining course, Community GC. Basically, it is Stableford scoring where the objective is to hit your quota. The quota is initially based on your handicap and goes up or down depending on whether you hit the quota number or not the previous time out. We all chip in $10. The greater you exceed the quota, the bigger your share of the pot relative to what the other players do. It's a pretty relaxed deal. Everyone roots for each other. I make it down there two or three times a year.

He can't believe you just wrote that.

Some stuff I read this morning quote Rory as saying he did intentionally ignore Reed, but wasn't aware of the thrown tee until others told him about it. Rory McIlroy defends blanking Patrick Reed in Dubai tee-throwing incident | Rory McIlroy | The Guardian Rory McIlroy has insisted he was well within his rights to ignore Patrick Reed after reports surfaced that the American had tossed a golf tee at the world No 1

I actually got out for nine at the home course on Saturday. Was second-guessing it on my way to the tee box, but it wasn't that bad once we got moving. Might not happen again for a bit though from the looks of the long-range forecast.

Thank you Shane.

I didn't find a whole lot specific to the question either. If I had to guess, maybe a lot of public courses simply wouldn't really have the time or interest to maintain handicaps prior to computerized systems. Unlike a private club, with a limited number of members, thousands of different people would play those public courses in a year. It would have been a nightmare for someone to keep track of all that.

My "worst rounds ever" were pretty darn bad. For the sake of what sanity I still have, I'm going with average.