Aguirre

At full swing, assuming my game is in order and I'm striking it well: PW (48): 115 SW (56): 95 LW (60): 75 SuperDuperLW (64): 60 Or something like that. I'm not a great golfer but with wedges I do have an ability to step on them with a draw to add distance. So I'm not 100% confident in my distances. I sort of judge everything and then just go with what seems right in my head. It's probably the best part of my game these days since my putting has gone to shit.

So I help organize (I'm primarily responsible for the logistics of organizing, running, and being the MC of the actual golf) a charity golf outing every year. This year is different than the previous seven we have done. If you're curious about the reasons, see below for details.* This year we have two celebrities (most likely) who are attending our outing. I suppose it's possible that neither will be able to make it, but both have confirmed at this point. One is a former MLB player of note who is now a broadcaster on a national network and the other is a current NFL star. These are names every sports fan knows (particularly in the Pittsburgh area), and I'd like to maximize their status to help raise money for our charity. But I don't know how. So I'm looking for any ideas. Throw me ones you've seen used before, or anything outside-the-box. We've raised over $100,000 running this outing despite not being pros at this, but none of us do fundraising professionally, so I need help. *I don't know if I've written about this before, but a friend of mine (and part of our main group of guy friends from high school) had two sons with Late Infantile Batten disease. It causes seizures and brain damage, and inevitable death. The poor kids ended up blind, deaf, and demented before they passed away. One at 9, and the other at 11. His second passed in late 2017. Last year, my friend went through a tough divorce, which included him moving from his house. In October, he took his own life. We've shifted focus from raising funds for the two boys medical care to another of my friend's passions: education. He taught phys ed at a tough, poor school district and lamented constantly about how the school didn't have funding for technology and upgraded gym equipment. He often entered a school year with a budget of $100. So we're going to spend the first $1000 on upgraded gym equipment, and the remainder (hopefully about $20k or more) on technology for the school.

. Whatever dude. This is your white flag.

Explain it to me, hot shot.

At no point in my life have I ever aspired to be a "saint." Although I feel I'm closer for not unnecessarily capitalizing "rules." Let me ask you a question. Say you're playing somebody for a decent amount of money (whatever that amount is for you). Whether it's fourball or singles. And they address the ball in some thick rough and it clearly moves a bit. Are you penalizing them? Your response to my comment about being facile is to double down on being facile.

We're not professionals. And none of us are playing events anyone cares about. Sure, if you're in a West Penn pro event, or somebody is playing a club championship, yes you have to abide by golf's often silly rules for uniformity. I've played plenty of matches for big money where my opponent was in something that should have been marked GUR, and I told him to just free drop. Or a bunker that hadn't been raked due to rain, and told him to rake and place. Or just drop out of the bunker. Or played a game of pick-up basketball where I didn't call someone for traveling. Or played tennis against somebody where I was given a let serve because the ball had gotten damp from a small puddle in the corner. Or given somebody the point in Catch Phrase even though their opponent didn't actually get the plural version, and only the singular. If that flag was put in properly by the assholes in front of him, or if it was a good flag with a well-cut hole, he has an ace. So again, congratulations to the OP on your hole-in-one. Don't be facile.

This is why so many people (even serious golfers like myself) roll their eyes at the rule zealots. That's a hole in one, I'm counting it as such, congrats to the OP, the rest of you are not invited to my foursome.

Yeah, dead pull? Those should go far as well. Sounds like a smother hook.

Of course. Like the totally common scenario your buddy had.

I'm far from formal, but I think I the bare minimums of generally recommended golf attire aren't exactly school uniforms. I wear sandal spikes, and have reverted to tucking my shirt in, but I don't care what others do. I mean, I laugh at guys wearing denim shorts and tanks if I see them at the mall, so I'm also going to laugh at them on the golf course. I don't see this often, though. But I'd like to point out the hilarity of the initial question: Good for bad for the game? I mean, really? Really?

A "be the right club today" story, almost. About ten years ago I was playing Totter Ridge, a course about 45 minutes east of Pittsburgh (iacas might know it). Tenth hole, and one of my playing partners hits first from the fairway. He says "Be the right club, bitch." I said, "You hit it fat. You're short." He lands on the fringe short of the green. He was like "How'd you know I hit it fat?" I said "I have eyes." So he starts swearing at me and I'm laughing. I had 145 to the pin. I hit a super solid eight iron and I say "Be the right club, bitch." One hop, into the hole for eagle. I ran circles around the two carts pointing at my buddy.

It all depends on the schedule and weather, but I prefer afternoons. I like to tee off around noon after having a good lunch. This way I can drink a couple beers on the back nine without feeling guilty that it's 10:30am. Or, instead, stop at a watering hole after golf to have a couple with my partners at an appropriate drinking hour. Also gives me time in the morning to get errands or other necessary things finished. Now when I'm in Myrtle during the summer, I'm playing early morning. Like 730 or 800. Because 94 and humid gets rough midday. EDIT--Also, my home course offers discounts starting at noon and a further discount at 2pm. So sometimes we play later just to save $8-15. If it doesn't matter to anyone's schedule.

Well that makes sense. I'm really interested to see how this will work. It obviously will do fine at private clubs that have an average and up number of rounds played. Elsewhere, I don't see how. Unless they use a geographic region and assume similar playing conditions.

Why can't you expose it to us here?

Okay. You, the helmet rule in golf guy, and guy who wants a different handicap for walkers go straight to hell.

What? No. You want to even the playing field? Pony up the $15, Grandpa.

I'll drop it off the green surface, but always just set it down gently when on the green. That putter trick is used by two types of golfers. Those who have bad backs (Woods) and old people.

I voted he would. I figured the repetition would win out. Apparently not.

At one point Johnny Miller was easily the best color man in golf. But he's gotten lazy in his old age, and his insistence on explaining every poor shot late in a tournament by citing nerves has become tiresome. Azinger is a good replacement.

This may sound odd ( I have no idea if it is), but when I'm playing my best golf, I fade the ball with my longer clubs, hit it pretty straight with a 6 & 7 iron, and draw the shorter clubs. It's probably swing specific, but this has long been my pattern. EDIT--I think the draw is cooler, but personally have found the fade more reliable. The fade stops faster on greens. For me, this hasn't been a problem, because I'm drawing the ball with my shorter clubs, and they won't have unreasonable runout regardless.

Unless you need something specific, I'd just load up on golf balls and gloves.

Oh, I get that. I don't need the gamegolf thing though to judge club distances. There are plenty of charts out there that pretty much match perfectly with my club distances. When I misclub I almost always know why. The problem for me isn't using the wrong club, it's that whole hitting the golf ball thing. EDIT--I'm Longleaf purple 6 almost perfectly.

Well, I'm always confused about "average." I hit a PW roughly 115. But if I catch one of ten super fat and hit it 60 yards, that would bring my average down over five yards. Add in two just regularly fat PWs that go 90 yards, and we can deduct another few yards off the average. And the same applies to the driver. The driver is obviously more consistent, but sometimes you yank one a bit and hit that tree hovering near the edge of the fairway and end up hitting a solid ball that actually only went 120 yards. So for the purposes of discussion, I usually think of my "average" distance with the driver as being a anything that isn't horribly struck that avoided that overhanging tree. But even then I'm not sure. I almost always have one shitty wipe per round that's high and fades and probably ends up at 200-210. That happens more than me puring one with a driving ball flight that goes 260 (of course I'm assuming the general flat no wind qualifiers). But that still doesn't stop me from saying 240-250 off the tee. That's a "typical" solid drive. None of us are pros. If you took the REAL average of our full swings, we're all hitting the wrong club almost every time.

"Lot of golf left to go here," the NBC/GolfChannel crews remind us. And sure, I'm not giving up on watching. But please with you trying to secure your ratings. We all know how this is likely to end.

Good observation. I mean, who else could have possibly come to that conclusion? Also, if you don't mind "passion" and some "expletives," how is that "out of place?"