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I actually prefer to play one course most of the time. I get familiar, know the workers, etc. That is my personality though - I hate change. At my home course, which is public, I paid just under $1000 a year and can walk any time and get unlimited range balls. There are no other fees or restrictions. The private club which is literally about .5 mile from my house has a monthly fee of $400 plus $500 quarterly food fee, + cart fee, +initiation fee. I just couldnt justify it based on economics.

that sounds awesome. The thing that gets me is the initiation fees. I just cant imagine putting 20-50k+ just to sign up. I guess if I had a bunch of friends that were doing it maybe I would but I think my wife would rather I put that initiation fee towards kids college or whatever. I dont mind the other fees so much. Having said that one of the bigger country clubs right by my house is 40k to join but 15k to people under 40yrs of age (or maybe it was 15k off I cant remember). Seems like they want that younger blood. There are two other country clubs around me too but they do not have a deal like that. I cant even find out the prices unless I send them my taxes and all sorts of stuff.

Wish you could take some of our rain. It really wont stop here. But I agree that golf courses, homes, businesses etc in cali need to cut back for now. They also need to really invest in a cost effective way to purify salt water and problem would be solved.

Those salaries are not close to what people make here. Its not even half. Even my friends in DC/NYC do not make those kinds of salaries. Here you can see average medical field salaries across the us...the average MD makes 100-200k (http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Doctor_of_Medicine_%28MD%29/Salary) and those upper ends are urban areas. The MDs where I live in the south US make on the low end of that.

I agree with you. No way that works anywhere but very wealthy areas. And I mean really wealthy. Only 10% of american families have a household income above 100k and only 2.5% have one above 250k. I am 36 years old and live in pretty populated area. Most of my friends have great jobs - doctors, lawyers, business, etc - we all fall in the that 10% and 1-2 of us fall in that 2.5% (barely). But if any of them tried to spend 50k on golf their wives would divorce them and I dont think they could do it even if they were allowed. I think none of us would even pay a 5k initiation fee. That 2008 economical bust scared us. We are trying to put away savings for what comes next - a bigger house downpayment, etc. We have to spend our money on bigger houses, better cars, kids, etc. to keep up with the jonses - that is where our money goes. Additionally, since we live in warmer climates all of our neighborhoods have clubhouses, pools, parks, tennis etc. A private club membership is only good for golf. We dont need the amenities. I pay just under $1000 a year for unlimited walking and driving range at a public course. Honestly if it were more than that I probably wouldn't. Most of the people I am friends with my age won't even pay that because we work long hours, have kids, travel, etc and would rather just pay the daily fee when they get out. I dont think country clubs are something for my generation. There is too much other stuff we want to spend our money on (ipads, etc.). I don't even see the appeal of the private course in my area. The only reason I would join one is if I have millions just doing nothing in the bank. They just are not worth it when you have decent public courses at a fraction of the cost.

I am right where you are. Shooting around 100. Here is what I have been doing and my recommendations if they count for anything... - lessons. you are getting them through evolvr. I am too. Keep that up definitely. If you are going to spend more money get more lessons. :) - learning to drive. get a driver and learn to drive. you should definitely have one and learn to use it. i have seen experts say beginners should learn to drive first and experts say they should learn to drive last. so i guess its up to you. personally i like driving and LSW wins says its your most important shot to get good at. - get Lowest score wins. it will help show you what you should focus on and give you good practice tips. its only like $30 and a good quick read - i just picked up the golf app V1 analyzer. It was like $4 on android. essentially i can compare my evolvr videos to pros side by side. its awesome. i can see what i am messing up. It also helps my evolvr lessons because i can see when they tell me to do something how i am not and how the pros are. I think this was an awesome 4 dollar investment. - otherwise just get out there and play/practice. i am still not sure if i should be spending more time on the range or course but i figure either is super helpful for us since we are just learning

I have v1 analyzer. Its really cool to compare my swing to other players. I can see tons of things I am doing wrong just from watching. I bought it for like 3.99 and figured it was worth it. It comes with tons of comparison videos and drills.

So I have been comparing the last two videos I posted to other golf swings via the V1 Swing Analyzer. The one big difference I can see is that on the down swing my head seems to go forward with my body/hips instead of remaining still. Otherwise I dont see any differences. I wonder if this is why I am hooking/doing bad...or at least 1 cause. I am sure there are other things different but that is the one major one I am seeing.

It is definitely not too late. Play golf and have fun. Join your high school team and see how you grow into a golfer. You are going to change a lot between the ages of 14-18 and that includes your body, mind, interests, etc. You will grow, get stronger, and may or may not turn out to be a great golfer. Having said all of that if I were you I would invest my extra time in studying and get into a really good college and then work on getting a really good job that you enjoy. If you can make it in golf that is awesome but remember its extremely difficult so make sure you have other options that will lead to a lifestyle that you will enjoy (as in having a job that gives you the time and money to play golf)

Ok here are my updated videos. Evolvr has me working on my grip (I am weak and need to be neutral), stance (distance to ball/feet width), and making sure my back leg stretches on the shot.

I have found 50 balls on ebay for $25-$30 that were rated AAAA. If you want new walmart sells their brand for $4.95 for 12. Not sure you can beat that for new balls. Do not worry about brands or anything.

As the title says my irons are straight for the most part (6i-pw) and my driver hooks like crazy. my 3i-5i fall somewhere in between. So my question is really how should I practice and I have two theories.... 1. I should be working on my 6i-pw and get them perfect and slowly work on the 5i and when that is perfect go to the 4i and so on... 2. That my swing is the same with all clubs and that my mistakes are not being shown/felt on the higher irons but are being shown on the driver. Thus I should work on the driver to fix those mistakes and they will resolve for all clubs. Which of these is right? Or is neither?

Scramble is awesome. As others have said its a great way for non-golfers to get out on the course - especially for retreats, bach parties, team building for work, etc. When i was a kid the scramble tournaments were always my favorite because I had a knack for hitting the ball straight...now if i could just get that back:)

Any suggestions based on the new videos? Also, would you guys recommend I be playing more or at the range more? Right now I am playing 2-3 times per week and at the range maybe 1 day but I could mix that up more.

Essentially just getting better. Keeping head down, standing the right distance from the ball, etc. Literally anything to improve.

Been out about 5 times this week. My biggest problems are my driver-5i because I hook the ball pretty consistently. My 6i-pw is nearly straight every shot. So I have two videos, each has my driver and then my 7i. Note that my drives hook and my 7i is long and straight. Also my updated grip is shown in one of the videos.

Does your swing change when you go from driver to irons? I understand that your feet, placement from ball etc change but does your actual swing change?

Just finished LSW. Tons of great info in their for me. Well worth the purchase. I love reading about all the stats. I have played 2x this week and am going to the range today. My drives are 66% straight vs like 0% 2 weeks ago. I am only doing a 3/4 swing so the ball only goes 200 yards but I am happy for now with that. Now I need to start working on the 3hybrid-6iron. They are slicing and hooking a lot. I will post an updated video later this weekend.

Thanks all. It looks like the weather is nice the next few days so I will work on this stuff and post some updates.

I will try to get the finger down. I will also try to grip more with the fingers first, then wrap my hand around? I believe thats what I was doing the day I shot well then forgot that step. I got some feedback from evolvr as well and will incorporate all of this in and post some new videos later this week. Hopefully some other members chime in on my new vids. Also just reposting the latest videos/picture so that its at the top of the thread and not lost at the bottom of the first page:)

Went out on sat and sun and got a new best - 102. Sat every shot was straight and perfect. Then yesterday every drive sliced and every iron hooked. so...here is a pic of my new grip and videos of my swing based on the input you all gave. My wife/kids are making noise in the background so mute it:)

Thanks. Yes its at an angle with my left foot slightly back more - I dont know why that feels natural. Yesterday at the range I did use a club to line everything up and made myself stay square. I am not sure what my club face was doing but I believe it was more square than normal. The reason I was putting the face out a bit is because it was helping me not hook (which i know isnt the solution to the hook). If I have some time today I will take a new video/pics. I should definitely have time to get it up over the next day or two though.

Well I went to the range and hit about 200 balls.... And I actually hit the ball straight about 65% of the time! I used the grip on the video, gripped a bit lower on the club and stepped a bit back to bend down more, and made my stance less wide. It worked. Many of my shots were pretty good compared to many being bad. In fact, all of my clubs from driver-9i were much better. Now of course it was one good day on the range and I have to get used to this grip but so far so good. I just cant believe i wasnt hooking every shot. I will take a video of my new grip/stance over the next day or two so I can start working on that.

Gotcha. Should be heading to the range or maybe to play a few holes tonight so I will try it out.

These should help