Creestoff

Just got what I think is an affordable deal on a Cleveland XL driver ($51), but in a brief online search haven't found matching fairway woods. Does anyone know if they produced fairway woods for the XL, or if they waited until the XLS driver was released to produce a new set?

Course, I'm playing 9 holes at a time, so that means i've gotta shoot in the forties twice in a row. But hey, we'll see.

congrats ... I'm looking forward to joining you ... some day

I was using a lynx predator sand wedge for a while there. I think that's from the 70s or 80s.

my dad is a big fan of hitting an iron off that first tee. I'm starting to think the best think you can do is just get up there and rip that first drive as quick as you can (within reason). The more you stand there, the more tight you get.

As a high handicapper, I love it when I'm able to recover from a poor tee shot and salvage a bogey when a double or worse seems guaranteed.

I always start out directly behind the ball, facing the direction I want the shot to go. I set my left hand grip (i'm a righty) at that point, then swing around and line up the club for the shot. Directionally, I think it helps me stay online.

Hmmm ... sounds like a good ploy. I'll have to give it a rumble.

Absolutely, get a lesson. I tried the "Play my way out of it" for a long time, and while the guys you play with mean well, none of them can see your swing/show you what you're doing right/wrong with video like an instructor can. There's some pride in saying you're self-taught, but I'd save yourself the frustration.

I'd be curious to see what the average green size is. The guys I play with say our course has really small greens, so it makes it more difficult to hit G-I-R. I need to find a benchmark number for curiosity's sake.

We have five city courses, at least three or four country club courses and half a dozen or more small town courses sprinkled within half an hour. At least.

I think walking helps build the mental toughness you need to play the game. You're fighting fatigue and trying to stay sharp.

Definition of a good player? As far as I'm concerned, if you're shooting 90 or better, than you're a "good" player. That means you've got a realistic shot at par every hole, and your game is good enough that you can minimize the damage of a mishit and escape with a bogey or better. If you're breaking 80, then you're really good. If you can break par, that's a great effort.

Par 3 hole that I'd never parred before: Since I didn't manage to screw any of them up, then it's a tie between the 5-iron that got me just off the green, the chip that got me within six-eight feet and the putt that fell for the par. Woo-haa.

Shot a 55 on a par 36 nine-hole course. Drives suffered early — grounders and duffed swings. Still trying to groove my swing with my woods. I think I'm overswinging them. Doomed me to a triple bogey on the par 5 #2. Had a nice par on a 150-yard par-3. Had my patented "collapse hole" on the par-4 #6. Just off the green after my third shot, chipped over the green for 4, chipped back way past the hole for 5, and had an abysmal three-put to settle for a quad-bogey. For me, mid-50s is pretty average, so I won't complain too much. Definitely had some lost opportunities to creep closer to 50, though.