FAHooGolfs

Shanks are typically caused from too much of an inside-out swing path (i.e. you are coming at the ball too much from the inside. The club doesn't rotate enough and thus the hosel gets to the ball before the clubface does.

You didn't like Putterham?!?!?!?! They didn't have the goose droppings when I was there, and no, it wasn't in the best shape, but I thought the course had a lot of character. If someone dumped $1 or $2 million into that place, it could be extremely nice. For me, my worst courses are as follows: 1. Massanutten (near Harrisonburg, VA) - it's a mountain course and I'm not sure there was a flat part on the mountain. Every fairway was sloped severely to the point you couldn't keep a ball in play, there was an inordinate number of blind shots, and it was not uncommon to take a divot and have your divot be full of rocks. 2. Cheatham Annex (Williamsburg, VA) - par 64, with a 395 yard par 5! Of course, it was $9 for 18 so I guess I should have expected as much. 3. Sleepy Hole (Suffolk, VA) - the once proud home of the LPGA Crestar Open, the first time I played the course, 7 of the first 9 greens had tire ruts in them. And I'm not talking about a small tire, it looked like an industrial tractor had driven over the greens in soggy conditions. Thankfully the city undertook a $1 million renovation and made it playable again, but wow, it was awful the first time. 4. Warrior's Path State Park (Kingsport, TN) - there's actually a sign on one of the tees that says "please play your tee shot over the trees - the fairway is on the other side." I'm sure I've played a few others, but those are ones that come to mind and take the cake.

#10 - Tobacco Road #16 - Royal New Kent #24 - Spyglass Hill #26 - PB Dye #32 - Pinehurst #2

There is the Suntrust State Open of Virginia. Other than that, I don't know much about it. Here's the website. http://www.vsga.org/tournament.asp?id=5367

At least they beat the snot out of the Hokies. That had to be worth something.

That's awesome. You'll get huge brownie points for the creative idea. Congratulations and do let us know how everything turns out.

As the saying goes, "when you go to Pebble, the cheapest thing about your trip will be the airfare." I went back in 2004 (only $395 then). We stayed at Spanish Bay (highly recommend that over the Lodge) from Sunday - Friday, played Spanish Bay, Spyglass, Poppy Hills, and Pebble. I think for 4 of us (only 2 golfing) the entire trip cost about $12k.

I might also add that I think the final group was coming down 18 AFTER CBS' allotted time slot for the golf was over. I seem to remember looking down at my clock as Tiger was holing out and it said 6:01 pm or something close to that. While I agree that they weren't important to the story (and thus I didn't care to see them either), I think CBS also wanted to get the Tiger interview in and then be off to 60 Minutes or whatever is shown on the left coast after golf.

Why not? I would! I'll also echo the guy above who said Raptor Bay was decent. I played that as well and it was a good course. I still think Tiburon Gold was better though.

About the only thing I can offer is that I really enjoyed the Gold Course at Tiburon last time I was in Naples (December 2004).

-5 through 14 to pull to -8 and only 3 shots off the lead. That kid's got some game! I've been a fan of his since he qualified for the US Open at Winged Foot and said he spent his entire first day just walking around in awe of the place. Good for him!

I played with 2 guys at Spyglass 2 years ago who worked at a golf-only management firm - that is, they were agents for professional golfers. That guy had played everywhere - Pebble, Cypress Point (they were playing there the next day), Augusta, Colonial, you name it in Scotland, etc. To me, that would be a cool job.

Just FYI, the Ryder Cup is a PGA event. Being a member of the USGA doesn't get you anywhere for the Ryder Cup.

I've been a member for a couple of years, but barring 2005 when I was able to secure weeklong tickets to the Pinehurst Open, I haven't really realized any significant benefit. I just got my renewal notice in the mail today, and while it's only $15, I'm a bit conflicted with respect to whether or not I should re-up. According to the letter, here's what I get for my $15: - Advance priority for US Open tickets - Latest edition of "The Rules of Golf" - the US Open program - annual subscription to Inside the USGA newsletter - USGA Championship Annual - volunteer opps at USGA championships - special member discounts on USGA Catalog merchandise - personalized USGA bagtag and window decal - 2007 US Open hat With all I have going on this year, I definitely will get very little benefit and/or satisfaction out of any of the "perks." Still, I feel like I owe it to the game of golf to toss in my $15 so the USGA (which I consider one of the only "pure" bodies of golf) may continue to flourish, etc. So what do you say? Is it sacreligious as a golfer to not join the USGA? Or is this simply another way to get me to spend $15 that might be better spent on a sleeve of pro-v1s?

If you like length and shot placement, I think you'd really like Caledonia. All of the top 3 on my list had very good conditions (of which green conditions is my highest priority) and none of them are boring. I can't speak for True Blue (although by all accounts, I'm sure it's a smokin' course) but definitely try to check out Caledonia, TPC, or Tidewater.