sjduffers

I don't mind poorly maintained fairway bunkers: those are easier to stay out of or at least get out of regardless of conditioning. The main issue for me is greenside bunkers that really affect the playability of a hole: if they are in the way preventing a ball from being run up to the green, they should be in somewhat decent condition (with some sand in them, not just hardpan), otherwise it forces people to either lay up in front or make sure that they fly and land onto the green, meaning the ball will likely end at the back of the green with a good contact... I play a course which has probably less than 8 bunkers overall and the main defense the course has is the green themselves, fast with some movement (and some optical illusion for the first timer there...). I can easily spend 5 rounds there without ever being in a bunker. I play another course that has lots of bunkers by the greens, with very little sand but thankfully they are not of the deep kind so you can sort of chip out of them most of the time. They are still somewhat penal and that's ok with me. What is not ok is the couple of fairly high-end courses nearby that have typically nice or great conditioning but have let all their bunkers go to shit (with weeds and no sand in them) and they tell you: we plan a total redo of the bunker at the end of the season... but have said that for the last 4 seasons already. They will also tell you, play all of the bunkers as ground under repair (not allowed by the rules). And they have holes such as the redan style where one whole side is guarded by deep bunkers (e.g. 6-10 ft deep), with a tiny opening to run up a ball, fast greens and they sill hide the pin behind the (effectively unplayable) bunkers. I don't play much there if at all anymore.

I don't think those are blue herons, but sandhill cranes. [Images below from allaboutbirds.org] Sandhil Crane: Blue Heron:

I used to wear a glove for all shots until I got close to the green (removing it between shots so it would last longer and so I'd avoid the white left hand golf tan!). About 4 years ago I went without a glove because I had the feeling that I was not griping the club strongly enough with one, including a re-griping motion at the top of the backswing. I now have better even pressure on the club throughout the swing and I save some money too. I'll never look back. That said, I may have to wear 2 rain gloves if I find myself playing in a downpour (which is very rare)...

@Patch, interesting story but unless I am too dense to follow, this contraption only works for measuring past yardage (distance traveled by the ball from the previous location), not future yardage as in what is left to the hole, right? And even then, it only works if you can go to the ball from the shot position in a straight-ish line: good luck if you have to drive over water for example! Anyway, it's fun to see that level of passion, when one can just pick up a free app for their phone and have a decent GPS for free nowadays. Good stuff!

Tough to answer: on my regular courses it's usually 0, with 1 lost once in a great while. On courses that I don't know well, it's probably 1 to 3 on average. But I once found myself teeing up the last ball in my bag on hole #15, and I had already lost 16 balls by that point. I was playing by myself on one of those "target golf" types of course, with a bunch of canyons, blind shots, forced carries and what not, in the middle of winter when the course was super-saturated and you could lose a ball in the middle of the fairway if it plugged... I was anticipating some of this as I had culled the bag and only kept a bunch of "to be donated" balls in there. Anyway, I overshot the #15 green, into a hazard, but was able to find it, play it and finish the round with that last ball. Phewww!

You may want to double that! Tiger and Rory might get a 65 and on the same tees (assuming 7200y or more), you might need 95: Jack can't hit it out of his own shadow anymore, sadly.

Nick Faldo tells the story that watching the Masters when he was 15 or so (I can't remember exactly) was his inspiration to pick up golf as a sport. I guess he got good at it pretty quickly!

Would You Rather… #3: Would you rather hit your best drive (i.e. if your maximum drive is 250, then hit it 250, if your max is 300, then its 300, etc...) to the center of the fairway every time you tee off from now on. OR would you rather hole every putt from inside 10 feet from now on? Given that a typical good drive is around 230 for me, with the occasional one around 250 (heck, I drove over 300 twice, but that was downhill and downwind, can I use those all the time?) and I rarely end up in trouble from the drive, I would pick all the putts inside 10 feet for life! And I am a decent putter. Like many have said, it would free up the rest of the short game and even allow more flag hunting on approaches. It would probably save 5 strokes or more per round. Unless you let me place a ball over 300 yards in the middle of 14 fairways (when I drive it only 220-230 and not always smack in the middle!), there is no way I can get that much improvement by picking the drives...

Guys, I get it, there weren't a lot of specifics described, but assume the most typical situation: the hole is at least 4 paces from the edge of the green and you're another 1-2 paces beyond that, so the hole is probably 20-60ft away and let's assume a flatfish green and not some crazy tier or slope to get to it... Also, no obvious GUR or sprinkler head or kidney shape that would promote chipping over putting. I was just asking about the average situation: going over some length of coarser grass with the putter or not? Some people prefer putting, including you @iacas, and some prefer chipping, including me. Sorry for not a suggesting a really creative question... 😞

Would You Rather… #2: Assuming your ball is around 1-2 yards from the green, on fairway length grass, but not the super-smooth cut that some high-end courses use near the greens. Would you rather chip (with a wedge or short iron), putt (with a putter), or something else (e.g. hybrid or fairway wood with putting motion)? Personally, I'd rather chip and I do so with typically anything longer than a couple of feet of fringe when it's not real smooth. They are a few times when I may regret my decision afterwards, but usually I am better off: I just never felt comfortable putting when the ball will bubble onto the green... It becomes more of a conundrum when the ball is in a collection area below the green with a short flag, i.e. not much room between the edge of the green and the hole. Miss the chip and it rolls back to your feet, miss the putt (hitting it too hard) and the ball ends up a long way from the hole...

Since I already have a hole-in-one, just one mind you, I am no longer waiting for that elusive feat. If they come fine; if not, that's ok too, as I already have experienced the feeling. So sign me up for the twice yearly hole out eagle from the fairway!

Actually, if you follow the PGA Tour way of counting putts (and some other tournaments too), once you start putting, ie from on the green, all the subsequent strokes are counted as putts, whether off the green or on the green (or penalty strokes). I had this situation happen too but from the other side with the hole cut just on the edge of a false front so a 12 footer that barely missed the hole ended up a good 40 yards away. I should have declared an unplayable a redo the putt from the same location (with a penalty stroke of course) rather than pitch up and then 3-putt from there!

Didn’t see this until now, but I want to join the chorus in offering my congratulations for a great achievement: well done! 👍

A fox strutting along: A hawk and its prey: I also see plenty of deer, some coyotes and rattlesnakes (nearly stepped on a baby one exiting the green a few weeks ago) And these 2, while not completely wild were quite entertaining: