Vintage

What's the USGA rules say when you hit your shot, you clearly see it land in your fairway... And watch someone in a cart cross over to your fairway and pick up your ball and take off because they didn't see you and they thought they just found a ball? I can tell you what I did. I walked back and hit another tee shot. And no, I didn't penalize myself because I wasn't awarding a penalty to myself over my ball being stolen.

The past four years, I haven't been able to good much. Two sons born, so, I hardly get the opportunity anymore. Played a round yesterday, only 9. I was surprised at how well I struck the ball. Clean contract. Nothing chunked. Got one iron shot a bit fat, but it only cost me about 20 yards.... So, not terrible. Played bogey golf, essentially. Was +10. I was straight off the tees, approach shots were decent. Short game was garbage. I three putt bogeyed three times. One pitch, I skulled across the green. Another, I was too aggressive and it rolled off the green. And I had a pitch shot from about 40 yards on a par 5 that barely made the green and left 30 feet to the pin, which somehow, I managed to par. Only one tee shot went wayward (as in lost, because, well, driver). I had no feel once I was inside 100, basically. Anything that required touch or feel, or partial swings was a hot mess. I managed the course the best I could. Irons on 8/9 tee shots to keep it in play and hit as many fairways as possible... And hang on the best I could once I got close.

I tend to agree. I have some friends that are pretty serious about golf.... and we usually have a friendly wager on the game, so the scores are kept accurately. I have other friends, who view golf as something to do as fun with friends, and aren't all that serious about it. If they give themselves a drop, a mulligan, a gimme that isn't exactly a gimme, I really don't care as long as we aren't holding anyone up behind us. They are out there to just have fun, not keep score.

You tend to surround yourself with people like you. A-holes tend to attract other a-holes. The nice part of that becomes, they are then concentrated in one group on the course rather than dispersed. So, if you can avoid that group, the rest of your day is fine. Downside of that, of course is, if they are following you... you have a group of that following you.

I always let a single play through, even if we are keeping pace. I just assume they are slowing their pay to not rush us, so I will always offer. Sometimes, they take up on the offer. Sometimes, they don't, saying they are playing a couple of balls just working on different stuff and are in no hurry. But I always make the offer out of common decency.

Depends. If I am hitting a wood off a tee, I'll take a practice swing. If its an iron, I don't (I have more confidence in my irons). When I am putting, chipping, or pitching, I'll take a couple of quick practice strokes and then hit.

As someone who sometimes likes to drink while golfing with friends, lol, yeah... walking and drinking beer isn't a lot of fun. More enjoyable to ride, B.S. with the friends, and golf. But when I do that, I still play ready golf. Its not hard. Wish other people could do the same.

Its a very small course, in a town of 2200 or so. Not a lot of workers on the course at the time. The guy behind the counter (in the pro shop) was busy. There wasn't a ranger on the course (they don't have anyone to do that, usually, because its never a problem....). Also, with a community this small, people usually know one another and there really isn't a need for one (people let others thru all the time). When I was in school and still living in Milwaukee, I spent time on their public courses. Obviously, in a more populated setting... they had rangers, which was nice as it ensured speed of play... I'll never forget the time, we made the turn in 1:45 with a group of 4 walking..... the course was absolutely stacked up. We were waiting on every tee box to tee off. When we made the turn, a course ranger flagged us down to tell us that we had been reported for slow play by another group. Turns out, the group behind us reported us because they had to wait on every hole for us. What they didn't notice, was we had to wait on every hole. And unlike them, we weren't launching our tee shots up the group ahead of us. On a par 4, we'd wait until the group ahead of us were on the green (if it was a long par 4), you know, standard golf etiquette. The group behind us merely hit their shots when we were deemed "out of their reach." We'd see their tee shots land sometimes, 20 yards behind us as we were hitting our 2nd shots. This is what made them mad, we were "waiting too much." I do miss things about the some of the larger courses, but some things, I could easily do w/o.

Par 5. Had a 20' downhill putt that broke slightly right (1.5 cups right). Drained it. Par 3. Had a 50' uphill put for birdie. I was too aggressive and ran the put 8' past the cup on the wrong line for the speed I ran. My par putt was 8' downhill with 1.5' of break to the right. Saved my par after a horrendous misjudge on my birdie opportunity. Par 4 #8. I had to hit my second shot around a tree, a punch to the fairway. Third shot into the green. Left myself with a 15' par putt that had 2 cups worth of break. Saved par. My putting was good yesterday. I was very happy with it.

Shot an 88 yesterday, 43 going out, 45 going in.

Lucky you. Just yesterday, I had a group of 3 walkers.... in total, it took them 25 minutes to tee off. They took a combined something like 50 practice swings. All 3 sliced horrible. The reason for the long delay? The first two were holding the tee box because their 3rd was running late. They held up the course all day. Groups were stacked up behind us because these 3 wouldn't allow anyone to play through. I think the answer to the thread is simple: there is a percentage of the golfing community that are a-holes. Some walk, some ride. Some dress nice; some don't. Some are young; some are old; and some are middle aged. Male and Female. Hacks and Scratch golfers and everything in between. How they dress, whether they walk/ride, age, gender, income, etc... are not predictive of whether or not they are "nice" golfers.... its merely coincidences, at best. Its their nature to be a-holes. I suspect outside of the golf courses, they act like one too. The best way to counter it? Enjoy your round. Enjoy the fact that you are outside, doing something you like, and enjoying the company of your friends/family. While we all get pissed off from time to time at stuff like this, remember, you could be at work. Or doing chores. Or something else less enjoyable. Don't let a group of A-Holes ruin your golf. That's what I always try to remind myself when I encounter people like that.

Yesterday, my dad and I were playing a round. The group ahead of us were getting ready to tee off, or so we thought.... They took 10 minutes from the time they walked to the tee box until the first guy teed off. The first guy took at least 20 practice swings, then proceeded to hit his driver probably 200 yards with a nasty slice. The second guy took his obligatory 20 practice swings, hit his drive shorter than the first, and yes... also a nasty slice. All in all, they took about 20 minutes for them to tee off. The reason? They were waiting on the 3rd guy. He finally shows up, duffs his drive 100 yards. 3 guys; three tee shots, took about 25 minutes total. They were holding the tee waiting for the 3rd guy. They could have easily allowed my dad and I to play through. We had a cart, there were only 2 of us, and we'd have been done with the hole by the time they teed off (not that we had to finish it before they teed off anyway; it was a par 5). I understand they are under no obligation to allow us through, but c'mon. Decency dictates you do. Whenever I've gone golfing and we are waiting on someone to show up (hey, it happens, I understand), I allow anyone to go ahead of us.

LOL... I have an uncle/aunt who live in the KC area (one of the suburbs).... I've been down there once (to a driving range, didn't actually get a chance to play)... all I remember about it was hot darn stinking humid it was. I prefer shorts to pants as well. I'll wear pants when I need to, but if I have the option, I prefer shorts.

I was on a par 5 a couple of weeks ago. I hit my 3rd shot, a 70 yard approach into the green. I nailed it close to the pin..... when I got to the green, part of the ball was hanging over the cup, but not enough for it to have dropped. Had I got 1 CM more of roll, I'd have nailed my first eagle. That was the easiest birdie putt I have ever had. You've got to love those easy birdie putts... Congrats on your's!

I was off the green to the point where a putter was not feasible, so I had a 40' chip. I grabbed my 7 iron and gave it a go. Lipped the cup, leaving my par putt about a 1' from the hole. Always nice to start out with a par. Unfortunately, the rest of the round went to crap. But I managed to par both of the par 5's (only played 9).

Rough past 2 days... its been hot, so I've only played 9 holes on each day. Back to back 49's. On Friday, my putting was atrocious (not an exaggeration) and really struggled to hit any decent approach shots. My pitching was pretty solid, which saved my ass more than a couple of times. On Saturday, my approach shots were mediocre, my chipping bailed me out, my putting reverted back to normal (which is to say, didn't three putt and left myself short putts on anything over 15') I've really struggled off the tee the past 2 days. And just hit some absolutely crap shots..... While I am not happy posting back to back 49's, I also realize the rounds easily could have been 3-4 strokes worth if it wasn't for some timely pitches, holing putts when I absolutely needed them, and a couple of creative solutions to some errant tee shots. Hopefully, today, I get back on track.

I just got some Bridgestone E6's to try out.

You found a ball on the course... and you question its "white finish." Seems to me.. if you found a ball on a course, you have no idea how long its been there, which could/would affect its finish. As for the rest... you found it. Meaning, it wasn't brand new. Which means, I probably wouldn't put a ton of stock into how it played, since you cannot possibly know what was done to that ball before you found it. If you want to try a ProV1X, spend $4 on a ball and use it. Or buy a sleeve. Consider it a one time sunk cost to satisfy your curiosity. That's what I do when I want to try out a new ball. Buy a sleeve.

Really? I have a descending swing and hit my 18* hybrid fine, as well as my 3 iron and 4 iron... When I sweep my hybrid, I end up hooking it. The hybrid is a really easy club to hit. I find it more difficult to hit a 3 iron consistently than my 18* hybrid. To remedy that, I've spent the past several days at the range just working on my 3 iron. Its paying off. I now have confidence in hitting a 3 iron or my hybrid, when the time calls...

Everyone is going to list the hybrid they carry, naturally. That's because they went to the store, hit a bunch, found one they liked, and bought it. Or something like that. But really, its up to the individual. I went with the Ping G10 18* hybrid and I love it. My best advice is to go to a store, grab a bunch, and hit them. See which one feels the best for you. I went to Golf.com and read some reviews on hybrids before I went to the store, and narrowed my search from there.

First hole is a par 5. Had a 20 footer with about a 3 foot left to right break for birdie... sank it. Second hole is a 300 yard par 4, with a sharp dogleg to the right. Hit an iron to the dogleg. PW into the green....but the green is really slippery. Couldn't get it to stop in the middle of the green. It collected to the down side of the green, on the fringe. Had 40' and had to aim about 15' to the right. Lipped it out. Tapped in for par. I thought I was off to a great start.... and the putting was on FIRE. 3rd hole is an easy, uphill, 165 yard par 3. Pushed it right. Tried to get too cute hitting a SW through tree branches. Long story short; nearly chipped in for bogey...took a Double bogey. 4th hole; bogey. (par 4) 5th hole; double bogey. (par 4) 6th hole, 168 uphill slightly... nearly aced it. Tapped in for birdie. 7th hole; par 5; double bogey. 8th hole, par 4, par. 9th hole, par 4, triple bogey. Putting was great; everything else was inconsistant. I literally hit some of the best shots of my life coupled with some of the worst shots of my life... 44 (Par 36)

I know many won't like this... but my rule of thumb is this: if it gives my partner more pleasure to cheat than my pleasure for them to follow the rules; let 'em cheat. It only hurts them... (And I am talking about regular play here). Only if money is on the line, will I demand absolute sticking to the rules... But even then..... eh. Example: my buddy and I had a bet on a round. Loser bought lunch. We both launch our tee shots. Someone is coming up our fairway. We are probably 100 yards out from his ball, which is in OUR fairway. The guy walks up, picks up my friend's ball, pockets it....then walks off. We couldn't believe it. I was told the "proper" way to handle this is to count a penalty for a "loss" ball. But that hardly seemed fair. We both knew it was his ball, we saw it hit the fairway (and stay in the fairway....and saw it the entire walk to his ball, upon it being stolen). Since it was a friendly wager between two good friends, I told him to replace the ball in the area it was at with no penatly. Golf rules be damned here; I am not penalizing my friend for someone's elses blatant stupidity when we have a friendly wager going on. For tournaments, stick to whatever the tournament says... there is no bending of rules there...

Irons > Driver. My iron play has always been poor....but my driving has been decent. This summer, I decided to ignore my woods and concentrate solely on irons. I think I can best explain this in my latest round of 18 (a week ago).... I shot a 48 on the front 9, using my driver on 5 holes.....and slicing everything, which led to trouble. On the back nine, I hit a soft hybrid off the tee instead of driver or 3 Wood. I lost distance, I was only putting it out 200 yards or so.... but it was straight. Shot a 43 on the back. And I putted poorly that day. I have a lesson set up with my instructor to work on my driver and 3 wood this week... but my improved iron play has been more important than driving well. Hitting drives well doesn't necessarily lead to more GIRs. Good iron play improves the odds of a GIR than driving the ball well. I chose to focus on my irons this summer (and a rebuilt swing). Its finally coming around. And I can't wait to see it in my next round of golf.

Maybe someone can explain this to me (I'm relatively a golf newbie)... I like to hit what I call my 56* kill shot. Basically, I play it off the inside right foot.... take a steep angle, hit the ball....and it goes 100 yards and stops. The ball seems to fly a lot higher than my normal SW shot that I hit a little further. When I approach the green, I usually see a ball mark.... and my golf ball is usually a couple of inches from the ball mark... What is going on? Am I getting roll, then "spinning" it back? Or am I just "killing it" (as in, I hit it...it lands.....and doesn't go anywhere) Its a useful shot; I am just curious as to what's actually happening....

Please excuse me... but I need to talk about the worst shot I made.... as it sets up the best shot I made.... I am probably out in the rough, so I grab my hybrid... I hit it, but as I am on my downswing, I feel the club "slip" in my hand, and turn open on impact. The result is a slice into knee high links style grass. I am probably 85 yards from the green.....I caught a break and had a pretty good lie.... I grab my SW and hit it as hard as I could (I also had to hit over a tree to get it onto the green, hence using the SW)... the result was, I put it on the fringe. Chipped on, one putted; took a bogey. Could have been a lot worse.