sjduffers

About 900 rounds (884 for which I have tracked stats) since 2011, and easily 100 rounds or more before that as I started around 2000, so definitely over 1000 but probably much less than 1500. 5000 is a huge number, e.g. 50 rounds a year (or once a week), for 100 years! More likely 2 rounds a week for 50 years, still a huge number.

Alright. You guys asked for it! It will be a challenge for sure (probably greater than the golf part)...

Oh, it has nothing to do with being private, not wanting to be seen, or anything like that. My aversion is just based on my inability to make a video, much less edit it, like I have seen some in the 2017 applications...

As @bkuehn1952 mentioned my name, I am indeed considering applying this year, for the West team. The index is currently at 8.3, and has been slowly rising from the low 7s since last summer, so hopefully it'll still be good by then. The thing that worries me the most is not the somewhat unknown people or location (I am pretty easy going), or the amount of golf/fun, etc... It's the making a video part of the application process! FWIW, it's probably why I don't have a "my swing" thread on here either...

Ok, this is probably slightly outside of the intended subject of this discussion, but it has to do with maintenance and how it affects play. One of the regular courses in my rotation has trouble communicating with the ground crew the proper way to mow the fairways (when the course is open for play at the same time). They tend to mow the holes in increasing order, so that if you are unlucky to find the mower on hole #1, you may also find it on hole #2, #3, #5 (because he skipped #4 as a par 3), etc... as it takes about the same amount of time to mow a fairway as to play the hole. I know, it makes no sense to do it that way and if the crew (made of non-golfers typically) went in the opposite order, just like the cart girl does, they'd annoy a given group only once and would find many more groups to annoy, just like the cart girl finds more customers going backwards! I have "complained" or rather explained this to the management several times, and been told yes you are right and here is a $5 token to spend at the bar for your troubles, etc... Only to find myself in the same situation a few weeks down the road, and with another bar token, lol. How stupid is that, and how easy would it be to fix?

Yup, I have mine, usually in silent mode (unless I forget), in my front left pocket, at all times. I use it to keep my scores and track my steps. It's not unusual to have to wait a bit on slow groups, so I may use it in those times too. I now sort of feel naked if my phone is not in that front left pocket! Btw, when I got my first one, many years ago, and phones were only good to make phone calls and you had to conserve precious minutes, I used to turn it off (as in power off) unless I needed to place a call. My wife regularly got on my case for that... rightfully so. LOL.

Not sure about that either, but you would think that with 2 clubs lengths with the unplayable, you'd find a spot to drop outside the bunker (on grass), as the face is really close to that grass, by definition. Of course, you'd have to find a spot no nearer the hole and in some cases not finding such a spot may be the issue.

I played with 3 strangers yesterday. We had the conversation of what to do with the flagstick on the first hole, when I mentioned that the new rule allows leaving it in and that it helps statistically in most circumstances (save for leaning forward too much and wind battered flag). The response was sort of whatever... I repeated and clarified my thinking on the second hole, and one or two guys started paying attention. By the fourth hole, nobody ever took the flag out for the rest of the round. I felt that my mission was accomplished: people were educated and time was saved. Just be persistent in your arguments and insist on the flag being in at all times for your own putts: the other will follow when they discover it does not hurt and might even help...

I don't mind wind and I don't mind light rain, i.e when standard rain gear keeps you dry, but I won't play when it's both rainy and windy or the rain that really soaks you, no matter what you are wearing. I also don't mind playing on a wet course, as long as it's playable. I will play worse than when the conditions are better but I don't know whether that's better than the field average or not: at least it's not in my head, so perhaps I have an advantage?

There’s a button that says more(21) which unveals another 10 pics and the button then becomes more(11) and finally 1 more. Pretty impressive transformation! Color me jealous...

Overrated/Underrated #12: Walking while playing golf to help improve scores I'd say underrated. I think there is a difference of a few strokes in favor of walking. It keeps you in a better rhythm, you have more time to let go of the bad stuff that just happened and tend to think better about what's coming up. I feel sad when I see young guys who are healthy zipping around in carts instead of walking, carrying or pushing a cart, as they don't know what they are missing. They are typically not any faster either: I was walking behind such a pair yesterday and caught them up on the tee several times (they never invited me to join them, but that's for another topic!)...

This. I do like the drop with the arm forward while bent at the waist as shown in the link you provided. Yup. But it looks more like a #2...

Yes, I did after sending my approach on the 18th hole left into a red penalty area (full of water, I might add!). I had to catch myself as I extended my right arm, ready to drop... I then realized that I can’t stand straight with my arm by my side and drop from that height: it’s a bit above the knee. I have to either bend the legs and drop slightly above the knee to compensate or tilt sideways. It might take a little while to find the right posture/move...

Yeah. That makes sense: thanks for clarifying! Very good. I see that you only played the worst ball of the two (playing it twice from there). In another version of that game, you play both balls, not only the worse one, and pick the worst result for the score, so in order to get a birdie you have to hole out 2 putts, not just the longest. Just the same, this is a hard game: you did well!

Are you saying you are hitting his worst shot and he is hitting yours? That makes no sense, as it would be so easy to just duff one a few yards forward and leave him basically with the same shot. Then he could do the same to you, and you'd be just barely better off than when you started. A whole round of that could lead to a score of several hundreds! Now, one person playing their own worst ball, yes. That is a great way to work on one's game. To get a birdie on the card, you actually need to make it twice, with both balls. So, Tiger's 66 at worst ball is really impressive!