JohnTwing

Exactly. I love the sound. If I can hear an echo, I hit the sweet spot. Perfect auditory feedback.

Not sure how courses like Clearview Park and Dyker Beach are in terms of club rental. Big question - are you going to have a car? If not, you're limited to Van Cortlandt and Dyker Beach (a very good way to get to/from dyker is the X28 Bus from Broadway right to Dyker.)

30 yards? I might chip a 6-7 iron.

83 (41-42) today at Dyker Beach. Probably the cleanest round I've ever played. +12 makes it my best round ever (once shot +12 on a par 70). 9 Pars, 6 Bogeys, 3 Double Bogeys. 6/18 GIR, 7/14 Fairways, 0/2 Sand Saves, 31 putts. Avg. Drive 240, Longest 277. Looks like it dropped my handicap by 0.8. Yay. :)

ESC is 7 for me, so generally my 5th shot I try to get aggressive and set up a putt for 6, or my 6th shot I'm always going to try to hole it. If I miss, pick up, you're always going to speed up play.

Playing Tiger 08 as Tiger on some absurdly easy courses we were able to score in the low 50's.

Driving - 4 Approach - 3 Short Game - 4 Sand - 2 Putting - 6 Course Management - 5

89 (45-44) at Dyker Beach. 1 Birdie, 4 Pars, 7 Bogeys, the rest doubles. Always good to keep the 7's off your card. Had a 276 yard drive too, always good to get those guys.

At Dyker Beach, Par 3 8th hole, 162 yards to the center. Swung a bit too slowly and left it short of the green. Uphill chip with a spine in the way, maybe about 35. Needed to play a bit of break, tried to get it close, and rolled it right into the cup for a nice 2. Always good to get those birdies without the GIR.

This usually happens a lot with me because I'm trying a bit too hard to hit a perfect shot to set me up for birdie/eagle.

Played from the tips, have not played in a month (was in Europe on vacation), and had an outing slowing down things horribly (as many as 5 groups on 1 hole sometimes). Went 0 for 14 on fairways. Argh. Still shot a 92 ;)

3rd hole at Cleaview from the tips. 430 yard Par 4, but downhill, but I hit the drive off-center, ended up 215 out. Took my 2h, and pured it with a nice fade (the necessary shape) to the back of the green (235 yards). 2 putted for par.

6 hours yesterday, we were stuck behind an outing. Oh dear god it was frustrating.

Had to do it once, but was way too scared about messing up the green so I used a hybrid, still ended up in the rough, though.

Yeah, the rulebook says "virtually certain", but often it is impossible to come up with another expanation.

Well it depends a lot on the quality of sand. You can't make this move in Nevada or Arizona or Florida, since the sand is too soft. It seems to work best on cold days where the sand is tightly packed. Another time you have to beware is when the top level of sand has dried after a previous day's deluge, but the sand underneath is rock-hard. We call it the skeeball shot, you have a nice little ramp to the lip, and an unfettered shot at the green, it's not terrible. Try it sometime!

I use this a lot, given that the bunkers in NYC are never fluffy, and usually very matted down and wet. A nice lip helps propel the ball in the air and let it be nice and soft.

In my experience, this is more often than not someone pilfering your ball.

My biggest weakness, by far, is sand. My other issue is being a little wild, both directionally, as well as short and long. I also seem to struggle both on getting distance control on "feel" shots as well as funny lies. My weaknesses have more to do with experience because I'm only playing just over a year, but I'm working through those as much as I can - just trying to see what I'm missing in my bag that can help my game.

They're not as easy as they look. 1 is surrounded by bunkers, and 9 is uphill, and if you're long or right you're completely dead. The "weaker" 3 are Par 3's.

I later clarified that the 2 and the 3 were hybrids.

At one of the courses I play there are 2 very short Par 4's which I've successfully driven: http://www.westchestergov.com/PARKS/...1dunwoodie.gif http://www.westchestergov.com/PARKS/...9dunwoodie.gif I'd be stunned if no one has ever done it there.

The 2h is a pretty weird club, nice and thin, but I don't use it too much unless I really have to. I hit it nice, but my driver isn't so erratic that I'm in trouble. I'm hitting 39% of fairways (fixed that 12% stat, grr), and when I'm missing I'm usually in the first cut, so I don't really mind going driver everywhere. That's why I'm wondering about the 3w... if it's that more accurate, I guess it's worth doing, hadn't really considered that. I'm also amazingly happy with my SW so I generally try to be about 95-100 on all my approach shots, I'm very strong with my 8i-9i-PW-SW that if I'm in that 100-140 band, I'm usually taking dead aim. And yeah, I track all tee shots (club, distance, direction), GIRs, Fairways, Sand Saves. Helps big time :)

The 2I and 3I are hybrids, but I very rarely use them off the tee, only when facing an extreme dogleg or a par 4 somewhere between 275-350, and blasting a driver isn't a good idea. I just checked my stats again, and I'm at 39% of Fairways hit in the past 20 rounds... I think the 12% comes from this software giving me 0% fairways from when I wasn't tracking them as a stat. But yeah, 39% of fairways and 27% of greens. I've fixed the original post. My SW is the same club as my PW, more the "AW" that you see in the Nike sets. A nice smooth swing gets me 100 yards with that club.

I've added my stats, thanks I'm presuming I need to add another wedge... but what? My 60 degree is still a club that can horribly miss (much greater margin of error than any other club).