JessN16

I played golf for several years while in college using something called "The American Lung Association Golf Discount Card," or more affectionately known as "The Lung Card." You got to see every bad golf course across the American Southeast so long as you could play during the week. There were a few goodies on there, but most were terrible. Some of the highlights/lowlights included: * Course in Mississippi had grain silos in the middle of a couple of fairways. These things looked like 40-foot-tall male genatalia. Same shape. Hit one broadside and they make an awful racket, too. * Self-pay golf course in west Alabama had the aforementioned Coke machine off to the side of a green, but what caught our attention that day was when driving over a pond, my playing partner hit one in the lake and suddenly, something emerged from the water: A diver. Some guy was down there diving for golf balls and we nearly hit him. He had the scuba tank and everything. * Course near Talladega, Ala., has a par-3 over a decent-sized lake. In the middle of this lake is a wooden pole, and attached to the pole is a wooden box marked "Suggestion Box." Considering I'd hit a rock in the fairway with my graphite 3-wood a few holes before and had dug a trench through the sole, I half thought about boating out there and putting something in that box. * I don't know if this counts as an "obstacle," but Isle Dauphine Golf Course in Dauphin Island, Ala., has mosquitoes big enough to see with the naked eye at 25 yards away. They're jet black and THICK. And they love me. * Golf course in Headland, Ala., has two holes that criss-cross each other. They form an "X." So I guess the "obstacle" in that case would be the guys coming off the No. 1 tee box just as you drive into the common fairway from the No. 9 tee box. FORE!!!! * And one good golf course in here for good measure: Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Oxmoor Valley property, Ridge Course, there's a green that is built on the top of a plateau of iron ore. The property used to be an iron ore mine, so it fits. But it's crazy to watch the caroms off the iron ore if you're hitting into the green and come up just a little short. Nice 25-foot vertical bounce I got... Jess

As many years as I played and as many rounds as I played, it struck me that I've been on the course with precious few "good" golfers. I doubt I've been witness to more than a half-dozen sub-80 rounds in my life. And unless there's a junior golfer I played with as a kid that later went on the bigger and better things, the best I've ever played with probably had a handicap of 10 or more. Jess

Uh-oh, don't tell me that...I'm getting ready to drop about $450 on some Snake Eyes Tour Blacks and assemble them myself. :) Jess

Man, is that ever the quote of the day. I played last weekend for the first time in six years, and hit 5 of 7 fairways with my driver and all but one was of at least decent distance. Want to know how many GIR I hit from 4s and 5s? One. In the fairway 5 times and the two times I missed it wasn't by much, yet I only hit one par-4/5 green (I hit one of the par threes as well). My natural stroke is a horizontal, sweeping stroke. I'm not built for iron play unless I stand right over the thing and even then it's hit-and-pray. As for how I miss the green -- you name it, I do it. Chunks, straight pulls, straight pushes, hooks, bad distance estimations, tops, etc., freaking etc. Jess

I'm going the other way. This was my bag last week: * Driver, 3-wood, 4-wood, 7-wood, 11-wood, 13-wood * Chipping iron, pitching wedge, sand wedge, lob wedge, putter * 7-iron, 8-iron, 9-iron Only three numbered irons in the bag. If I had to play a course with all irons I could tee off tomorrow and I'd still be out there a week from Tuesday. Jess

I've got a bunch coming that I found for cheap on eBay and was just wondering if anyone had had any experience with them. Jess

Bowling, definitely. Probably auto racing as well. Jess

To watch: College football. To play: Bowling, probably because I'm decently good at it (certainly better than golf). Jess

I'm so bad I have to yell it on the practice putting green sometimes. (g) Jess

My dad did that for awhile. Carried a left-handed 5-iron because he was in the trees so much and would often be faced with a lie he couldn't handle right-handed (i.e., ball up against a tree). I've also heard of a lot of people doing everything right-handed until they get to the green, then shifting to left-handed to putt. Does your dad hit full shots with that wedge or is it something he uses for his chipping game? Jess

When I stopped playing 6 years ago, I had just made the switch over from Precept to Srixon, and I was really loving the Srixons. My handicap was around 16-18 then. Now that I've started back (I would probably play to a 25 now), I don't know what to play. I got a great deal on some Volvik Crystal balls off eBay and should be getting them next week. I have no idea what they're going to be like. If I don't like them, it will be back to Srixon. I've always driven the ball better than my handicap. Even when I was playing 16-18, I was averaging 250-270 with 66-75 percent fairways hit. My problem is and has always been getting from the fairway into the green. I noticed when I went from hard, 2-piece distance balls to something softer (Srixon Hi-Brid) that I could still knock the bejeebus out of my drives but my work around the greens got better. Jess

If it's anything like the way the USBC certifies bowling balls for competition, you'll have to submit items within a specific model run/model name for certification, and they keep a list of what does and doesn't. After the changeover, they'll just ban any models known not to conform. Now, golf clubs are a bit different from bowling balls in that you can't change the rotational core of the ball after it's been manufactured, but you can, I would assume, modify a club with conforming grooves into something that doesn't conform by using tools on it and then doing a good job of covering your tracks. I'd like to know how that's going to be done, myself. Personally, I think banning old equipment based on changes in equipment specs for wear-susceptible items, be it bowling balls, golf clubs or whatever, is a little dumb. Unless you bought a set of non-conforming clubs, stored them away in an airlock somewhere and then broke them out in 2020 or so, you're going to impart wear on the clubs and "use them up," for lack of a better term. So basically, by the time the new rules come around you won't have whatever advantage you might have had when the changes were made. This is why, when the USBC changes specs for bowling balls, they grandfather in whatever has already been approved. Keeps people from having to reinvest in equipment just to stay legal. Jess

Can't believe I forgot to mention this -- and in MY OWN POST, at that. I have a Golfsmith 11-wood, 13-wood and 15-wood. The 15-wood has about 40 degrees of loft on it. They act a bit like hybrids. I don't carry the 15 very often but I always bag the 11 and 13. Jess

I play with a Dunlop "chipping wedge," which is basically a 7-iron mated to a putter. It has an offset hosel, a head that looks like a putter, but it has grooves and a 7-iron's loft. It then has a sight line grooved into the top of it like a putter. I guess it's built for chipping around the green, but I can hit it from 110 in with a full swing. I can basically do anything within 110 with it except stop/spin it back or come out of fluffy sand. I paid $19 for that thing at a Wal-Mart about 15 years ago and it's saved my bacon more times than I can remember. I also have a Taylor Made original Raylor (19 degree) with a titanium shaft that I got at a second-hand sports outlet. Even though I'm a bad golfer, I can hit that club better than most in my bag -- which is odd given that the rap on the Raylors was always that mid/high-handicappers couldn't play them. My dad carried a hickory-shafted putter right up until he died. I think it was an Otey Chrisman. Sadly, it got misplaced somewhere and we no longer have it. Jess

Another bump for Erica Blasberg. Very girl-next-door, nice smile. But my actual vote would be for my wife if I could ever get her to try the game. :) Jess

I build my own clubs and the only downside to that is that I don't know what I'm going to get until I build it. Sure, you have a decent idea going in depending on your specs, but you never really know until you hit it. I built a Golfsmith Long Jon driver back when 350cc clubs were the biggest thing going, and I hit it fine. But it had 10.5 degrees of loft, and I was really knocking some balls high but not necessarily long. I also had a left-to-right fade at the top that I didn't like (because it sometimes turned into a slice). So I bought the components to do a Cermet 2000 driver with 9 degrees of loft. The club was also draw-weighted a bit. Well, my slice and fade were gone (I could now hit a drive dead straight), and I developed a piercing, low trajectory that allowed me to add around 20 yards to my drives. But my mishits went up. The Cermet is only a 290cc club and has a smaller sweet spot. The shaft was stiffer (my swing speed was pushing 100 at the time and is probably in the low 90s still) and I didn't feel like I had the best control anymore. But I was out about $100, so I figured the best thing to do was learn to hit the club, and for the most part, that's what I've done. It's also one of the big reasons I'm eyeing a couple of the Snake Eyes high-MOI drivers, because I'd like some forgiveness back off the tee. Jess

I found this resource today: http://www.mbga.com/ (Myrtle Beach Golf Association) Hit the link and click "course directory." These guys don't pull any punches. If a course stinks, they say it stinks. I haven't played around there but more information is better than less, I suppose, so hopefully this will be a help to you. Jess

The old muni at the Huntsville Airport has gone rather upscale in the last 5-10 years...upscale meaning they poured enough money in it to make the grass grow, changed the name and then jacked up the prices. Still beats the other city course across town, which is now dominated by the buzz of model airplane pilots every time I've ever played it. Jess

I appreciate that compliment. If you're referring to No. 5, I could write a book just on that subject, and I could bore you to death with the story of what kind of man my Dad was. Highlights included born during the Great Depression, nearly died at age 8, lied his way into the Marine Corps and served in Midway in World War II, worked his way through college (graduating in three years with two majors and three minors), went to medical school on the G.I. Bill, made house calls up to the day he retired, faithful to my Mom for 53 years and never had a cross word to say about anyone. Not hard to understand why I miss my old golfing partner. Jess

Thanks for that tip. I'll try it sometime. I've tried many different kinds of grip pressures, but I guess what I'm most missing is that I can't feel nuances between different pressures very much. In bowling, I can make very, very minute adjustments and feel them. In golf, no matter how long or hard I practice, it just doesn't come to me. But I'll keep trying. Jess

The two really costly ones are Ross Bridge (Birmingham) and Lakewood Golf Club (Fairhope). Lakewood was built back in the 40s and is only on the trail because they wanted to incorporate the Marriot Grand Hotel and Spa which adjoins it. Ross Bridge is $110+ to play. Prattville has Capitol Hill, which has a $10 upcharge if you play "The Judge" course. It's worth it, and if you play during the summer you can frequently get heat discounts/twilight discounts so it ends up evening out. Capitol Hill hosts the LPGA Navistar Classic, although they play it on the Senator course rather than the Judge because the Senator has better camera angle possibilities (the Judge borders water 14 times and they can't get good shooting angles). They also have the Legislator course there, which I have yet to play. It's traditional, the Judge is a tricked-up monster and the Senator is a Scottish links-style course that is fun as heck. Cambrian Ridge is in Greenville, pretty much the most pedestrian city on the Trail. It has three 9-hole courses plus an executive. The three 9s are the Sherling, Canyon and Loblolly courses. The Loblolly is unique in that it was built with Augusta National in mind, and I'm told does a pretty good job of mimicking it in a way. But the Sherling and Canyon courses are the really unique ones. Lots of elevation changes and the finishing holes on both are two of the best on the trail. You combine two nines to make a round there, so if you can reserve the Sherling-Canyon loop you'll get the best mix. It's regular price there. Jess

After a few weeks reading this wonderful forum, I have determined the following: I am sad. I am sad because I realize the following things about myself and my game of golf: 1. I have no concept of "feel." I made a post asking if anyone gloves on each hand and someone responded with the note that wearing a glove on my dominant hand (my right) might interfere with club feel. Of this, I have no concept. It's not that I cannot feel a club in my hand -- it's that I cannot make use of the difference between having feel and not. Whether I swing with gloves on or without, my performance is the same. Same for putting. I feel like I've been treated to a tour through wine-tasting country but suddenly find I'm missing my sense of taste. 2. I cannot put swing tips into practice. I have never been able to do this. In the sport of bowling, which I'm much better at, I take coaching easily. I can quickly pick up what a coach is telling me and can repeat it. I can then learn from it and even improvise off those tips. In golf, no. My game is built around the things I've found that personally allow me the greatest repeatability in my swing, however awkward those things might be. Now take a look at my index and see how well this really works for me. 3. My physical game stinks. I need to drop some weight but more so than that, my knees are shot due to old injuries in other sports. One of the truest statements I've ever heard is "Be good to your knees -- you'll miss them when they're gone." Mine aren't completely gone, but they're headed out the door with the car keys in their hands. 4. The finances of the game are leaving me behind. I would wager I'm in the bottom third in terms of means among everyone here, and unless I want to play in a pasture I have to come up with some serious coin to play this game. It's hard to get better when every fairway lie you get is a bad one. I hope this trend in golf reverses; 10 years ago, I could ride 18 at a pretty decent course for $25. The minimum these days is probably $35-$40 in my area. 5. If you play golf with your father and are close to him, I have a piece of advice for you: Remember everything you can about every round. Save old scorecards. Keep his old clubs in a closet somewhere even if no one uses them. Take lots of pictures. Give your dad free relief out of the trees or better yet, find out what ball he plays and carry a spare or two so you can "find" his ball for him every now and then. As you can probably guess by now, mine is gone, three years now. The sport isn't the same for me as it used to be. What I'd give for just one more round. Jess

Thanks, I might do that! I'll try not to slow you down much (just noticed your handicap -- lol). Same offer stands if you come down here and want to play Capitol Hill or Cambrian Ridge. We have a couple of other good courses in the area, too (Emerald Mountain - Wetumpka, Lagoon Park - Montgomery). Jess

Thanks! I haven't been able to play that one yet. I've heard it's pretty tough and I was wondering how well it fit in with the rest of the Trail given that it was built after Jones' death. Jess

If you ever come down, PM me. I cover college football as part of my job and I do all the home games for UA. You won't see any "crimson tides" on the coast unless we're having an algae bloom. (g) And then you won't want to get anywhere near the coast. The nickname spawned from the fact that, before there were numbers on football jerseys, Alabama dressed in red shirts (probably because the state flag is a red St. Andrew's cross on a white background) and a sportswriter said it looked like "a crimson tide of humanity" or something of the sort. Coastal destinations for a vacation? Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. You'll see sand unlike any other beach I've ever been to. It is white, and I mean WHITE. They call it "sugar sand" because it looks like sugar. Very soft and clean. Both towns are more family-oriented than some Gulf Coast beach locations. For golf, Kiva Dunes, definitely. That's in the Gulf Shores area. Across Mobile Bay in Mobile, you have the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Magnolia Grove complex, with the Falls course and the Crossings course. (see http://www.rtjgolf.com/courses/ for a complete list of these courses across the state -- they're all superlative). Cotton Creek/Craft Farms is a bit inland up near Foley, and I've heard it's good. Glenlakes is a decent links layout. It's in Foley, too. Jess