clearwaterms

A few things to consider. Expensive golf clubs, such as the current year drivers from Nike / etc. typically have higher quality shafts than those made for store brand companies. It isn't to say that the store brand isn't a quality piece of equipment. Likely the consistency and feel of the shaft is going to be much improved. The transfer of Energy from a driver club head to the ball is called COR (I think this is an overly simplistic explination) and it is limited by the USGA/R&A; to .83. This means that no legal club should hit the ball further than a different club. Some clubs will impact spin and launch differently. That being said, a good swing, regardless of the club will produce a good golf shot. Good golf clubs are made for the less than perfect golf shots. When you don't hit the exact middle of the face, does the ball travel 50% of the way to the target, or 90%. A machine would swing a golf club relatively the same way over and over again. A human however does not. As to your "hidden" message, is there value in less expensive golf clubs. I will tell you that last years models typically sell at 50~70% of the the cost of when they were new, and the benefits of new clubs isn't huge from one season to the next. For instance, the Ping G20s can be purchased for $549 compared to the G25s which are $699 or $799 (I don't remember the exact price). It is safe to say that the G20 isn't 80% of the club that the 25 is, but it is approx. 80% of the price. Ping is one of the companies that discounts alot less than Nike / TM / Callaway. The Nike Covert driver is a great driver that the beginning of the year was $299, you can now buy it for $199. If it fits your swing, you will still find it to be a great golf club. When I purchased a driver at the beginning of the year, the Nike at $299 (or even $199) was better than every other driver except the Callaway (which was $399 at the time and has been discounted since) and several of those were $349 to $399 (Titleist, Callaway, TM R1, etc.)

As for the doubling of money, we have always played that only the loser can choose to press. This will make it so the winner can't "lose money" but the loser has the option to go double or nothing. I guess this would work best if you broke the game into 3 6 hole matches, with the option for the losing team to press after the 4th hole, to try to win its money back. I do however like the idea of partners based on which side of the fairway they are on, its a unique way to pick sides.

this sounds interesting, when you play by handicap, is the score posted the adjusted or the real? For instance, a player scores a 6, with a handicap a 5. This is the first number as the other player scored a 7 net 6. Is that a 56 or 67?

Nice round. I have had similar experiences. But, I have had the other hold true as well. Last week, 5th hole, 390 yard par 4, trouble in the form of tree's on the left, and a dog leg right. I hit a high fade, end up in the tree's on the left, about 200 from the green. I look straight ahead, and I see that I can hit a low punch shot, and have open fairway. If I go 50-150 yards, I will leave myself something between a 150 yard shot off the left rough, to a 50 yard shot from the right rough. I take out the 4 iron, back of my stance, choke up to the edge of the grip, half back swing. The club makes clean contact with the ball, in a kind of flyers lie and climbs RIGHT smack into the ONLY branch that was in the weigh, and it was probably 30 yards ahead and 15~20' in the air. The ball hits the branch, goes straight up in the air, hits another tree and falls further left leaving me in deeper trouble than I was before. I scrambled for a triple on that hole. In hind sight, I probably could have hit a chocked down 3h, and left it to the right of the green for an up and down chance at par.

When I was hired the person who hired me told me that I would have a similar situation. I would leave on Monday morning, and fly home around noon on Thursday. It was domestic travel only. That was 9 months ago. I have been to China 2x, Brazil 3x, Prague, London, Mexico 4x and I think 2 or 3 cities in the US. P.S. if you are interested in a playing partner for a Friday afternoon round, I have family in Orlando and we visit approx. twice a year. They live in Hunters Creek.

How many out there travel for work? Do you travel domestically, internationally? How often do you travel? What are your thoughts on business travel? Do you bring your clubs with you when you travel?

exactly - they didn't walk out of college into the job. I have been in the industry for 15 years. Like ANY industry, if you are good at what you do, and you are willing to take the risks associated with continually climbing the corporate ladder, plenty of high salary jobs exist out there in the IT field.

bad habits make for the best stories... Think about how many great stories start out... "So one night I was out drinking..."

Why do people believe these stories? I have been in the IT industry for over 15 years, and can say, matter of factly, that no company is going to give somebody with a degree in 2 year degree 120k a year. Maybe if that 2 year degree was a master's, and the person already had 10+ years of experience in the IT field. Or the person has naked pictures of a ranking official in the company. IT people can do very well for themselves, but VERY VERY few people leave school and walk into 6 figure jobs. Plenty of IT people make well over 100k a year, but they do it after years of experience. In the IT world, there are 10 kind of people...

It's a pretty bike, but I don't know if they are made any more (could be wrong) But the Ducati Diavel is similar. Ducati Cruiser that is stupid fast, but semi relaxed rider position. http://www.ducati.com/bikes/diavel/diavel/index.do I have not owned a bike for a few years. I travel too much for work, so that any time I am home, I spend it with my family or my golf clubs. I try to rent a motorcycle for a weekend once a year, and always rent a harley that my wife and I can enjoy. Have not done it this year, last year we rented a soft tail classic in Florida and had a blast riding around the okeechobee area in Florida

Congrats on your new purchase. What brand of clubs did you get? If you are not able to hit the 3H, I would suggest instead of spending money on another club, instead spend money on lessons. Also, I had alot of trouble adjusting to hybrids. I always tried to over swing it. My suggestion is to swing it more like your 4 iron, and try to hit it the same distance as your 4 iron or even shorter. The goal of irons shouldn't be to hit them as far as possible, but to be able to control the distance that you hit them. Best of luck on your new clubs. Maybe post a video of your swing on the members swing section, you might have an easily identified flaw that is accentuated by the 3H.

here is an alternative. Why not give the players votes. Everybody plays off the differential of the lowest handicap. player A is a 6 player B is a 9 player C is a 14 player D is a 19 The differential would be a % of the difference between the 2 (say 90% rounded down) This gives a slight advantage to the best golfer since he is playing his net score, and the other players get a reduced stroke count. To make in interesting, let the players decide which holes they want to use the strokes on BEFORE the round starts, and they can not announce which holes they took the stroke(s) on until after that hole is finished. net on this would be A=0 B=2 C=7 D=11 It introduces a bit of strategy into the pre-round as you stare at the score card, and makes risk reward shots different. On a par 5 that you elected to get a stroke, you have the opportunity to get home in 2 which will virtually guarantee your victory on that hole, or you could lay up, and risk that nobody else took a stroke on that hole and play for the par. On that short par 3 that you always have a ton of confidence, you could take a stroke and paring it would give you a birdie, and might guarantee you at least one skin, but you have to basically forfeit the long par 5 that you struggle to make par on. To appease the higher handicap people, you could also play no pushes, all unclaimed holes go to the best net score based on course handicap for the day. This makes everybody play the entire course for what should be the largest prize of them all.

Don't swing so hard. I recently picked up a 3h Ping G25, and the feel of the club was a little lighter than my irons. At first I was over swinging. The net result was a lot of inconsistency. I grooved the feeling of a shorter back swing with the club (slower, more controlled, and stopping earlier) and worked on grooving the tempo with that back swing and the result was alot more consistency with the club. think about trying to hit the hybrid 10 yards shorter than you are capable of. So if it is your 180 club, try to hit it 170. It might not be your problem, but I can tell you that alot of people in our ability level (bogey golfers) have a tendency to try over swinging. Especially on shots when we are laying up to a distance of "as close as possible"

If you book a 4 some, do you get credit for one booking, or 4? I am just curious how long it is going to take me to book.

When you do this, do you move forward to a closer tee box?

I have only used Golf now a handful of times. Can somebody tell me how you qualify for this free golf? Thanks

Those are the worst conversations to have. You are SUPER excited to have hit such a great golf shot, but at the same time FEEL REALLY bad because you just needlessly endangered the group ahead. A few weeks back I was playing with a group of retired gentlemen. On the 6th hole, a par 5, I had honors, but playing ready golf, I explained that the group ahead of us was just crossing the 250 stick, and I have hit it to that point in the past (it's a 265+ yard shot to that point) so I waited. They all tee'd off since the longest hitter in the group was clearly safe and after the last of them tee'd off, I proceeded to hit my shot. The group ahead of us was off in the right rough out of site, but pulled out after I hit, and of course my ball is the drive of the round (if not week) and is straight as the day is long down the right side of the fairway. It came up easily 30 yards short of the group ahead of us, but still uncomfortably close. The funny part happens on the 7th tee box. I see the group ahead of us waiting, so I explain to my group that I want to putt out and run over to apologize for the previous drive. The guy from the group see's me walking over and proceeds to approach me. I figure he is going to yell at me for not waiting for them to clear, instead he reaches his hand out and says. DAMN, that was one hell of a drive, we thought you were Mark Wilson (the PGA professional lives one town over and has on occasion come out to play that particular golf course, and he is capable of hitting it that far. I was safe to say, very honored.

***update*** yesterday I played another Municipal course near my house with my dad. The course is an easy 65.8/110 at only 5500 yards with a par of 72. That being said, I played the front 9 to an average 8 over 43, but played the back nine to a 1 over 38, finishing the last 3 holes (eagle, par, birdie) All together, I had 1 eagle, 2 birdies, 5 pars, 8 bogies and 2 doubles. The grass around the green wasn't what I was used to playing, and it was very inconsistent, thick in some places, and thin in others, so my chipping was off, and I lost 3 golf balls off the tee box resulting in a bogey save, and the 2 doubles. But, I feel like the pieces are starting to fall into place. My handicap is down from the 19~20 range down to 17.4 after posting that net 64 yesterday.

I have been on this forum for 3 years, and never got to post in this thread until now.... (suck it golf gods :) yesterday, 16th hole, short par 5. ~450 yards with water on the right hand side. If you can carry the drive 250, you can hit it to the 150 mark, but come up short and you are 3 off the tee box. The safe place is a FW or hybrid to around the 200 yard mark, and then go from there into the small and undulating green. I hit the driver and pulled it (left handed) and it went further right, but like most pulled shots, it went a country mile. Landed right of the 150 mark, and rolled to just inside 135 yards to the middle. Pin was in the front. I pulled a PW and put it on the green, leaving myself a put that had to negotiate 3 breaks and about 25~30' of green. I figured, lag it close, leave myself below the hole for a realistic comeback birdie. I hit the put firm, and the first break wasn't as severe as I had anticipated and it stayed above the hole, slowing down on the 2nd, falling into the cup for my first eagle. The course I played is a short and easy municipal (5600 yard par 72) which ends 5,3,5 for the last 3 holes. I went 3,3,4 or Eagle, Par, Birdie to finish with a 38 on a par 37 back. I had an 8 over 43 on the front, so I shot a course best 81.

This is awesome - can you help me work through this just so that I understand a little better? What is the definition of a bogey golfer? would that mean an 18 handicap? How does that affect 9 hole rounds as well? My most often played course's rating is listed below. Does this mean a player from the whites should average 45? I came up with that this way. 111/5.381=X x+35.1*2=90.82 / 2 = 45.414 My handicap is acording to OOBgolf is 17.9. I consider myself a strive for 5's bogey golfer. My average score over the last 10 rounds at the course is 45.7. (Lowest = 40, highest = 50, and mode is 46) I typically play the whites, and on the shorter par 4's, have started playing the blues. Blue 35.9 114 3,404 White 35.1 111 3,253

I play by the same rules. I believe that playing from the back tee is something that is earned. In my opinion the right to play the back tee is when you can resonably expect to shoot better than bogey golf. What I mean by this is that if you don't HONESTLY think you can break 90, then play the appropriate tee box. As for the distance thing, this is a bad reasoning. We have several courses around me that are older golf courses with lots of mature tree's, etc. These courses are very short, but demand a high degree of accuracy off the tee box. For instance, my "home" course is a 3250 from the whites and 3400 for the reds (par 36 9 hole course) Too many people play from the blue tee boxes and as a result they take longer to play the hole. This is a compounding effect on the course.

Years ago. I was playing a course with my dad. Somewhere on the backside is a short par 3 with a water carry. I hit my shot and leave myself a birdie putt that is MAYBE 3'. My Dad tee's off after that and ends up left of the cart path. As we get to the green, I grab my putter and mark my ball and clear out for my dad to hit his approach shot (it was so far away it wasn't even a chip) He skulls the ball, it skitters along the ground hitting something that causes it to ricochet off the ground, bounces off the cart path where it takes a high bounce, lands on the green and rolls into the cup for a birdie. I missed my putt and got par.

These two were the best. # of times you are further from the pin than the previous shot. # of times you hit the wrong fairway.

generally speaking a slice that I like to call a power fade. unless the hole calls for a slice, then I hit it dead nuts straight