wkdspd

check his sig, he's hitting musclebacks also, please see: 14-1/1 Playing Stroke with Back of Clubhead Q. May a player play a left-handed stroke with the back of the head of a right-handed club? A. Yes. A player may play a stroke with any part of the clubhead, provided the ball is fairly struck at (Rule 14-1) and the club conforms with Rule 4-1.

Id Rather Be Driving A Titleist

how about IRBDAT?

LOL... I HAVE read your thread on tipping, and chose to leave it alone for a reason. You seem like a good enough guy from the couple of times we've met, so I'll maintain some friendly banter here... it might do you some good to spend a little more time thinking/researching tipping since its such a huge part of the society we live in - the tipping norms you see today arent because of people like me, tipping has been around as long as payment for services has been existence (read: literally thousands of years). Im not saying anyone should pay someone extra for doing their jobs, lol... thats ludicrous! pay attention to my post - Im saying you should pay extra for the pasrt that is NOT part of their jobs... attitudes like yours are a large contributor to the DEATH of customer service in our society - if you get what you pay for, and all you expect is for them to do their job, then those people treating you like crap but still providing the 'service' is the outcome... so I have no problem showing some financial appreciation when someone goes above and beyond their 'job' to make sure Im getting the best service possible. does that mean that you should get lesser quality of work from your doctor than I? of course not! but dont expect your doctor to check up on you like he does me, and dont expect him to give you free samples of meds that you need like he does me... the argument could EASILY be made that YES, you ARE a cheap bastard, comparitively. I work very hard for my money, am very speciific about the ways I spend it, and make sure that I ALWAYS set enough aside to use for tips. lets look at it another way - not sure what you do for a living, but in my company we get bonuses a couple times a year for exceeding goals. I bust my tail and ALWAYS exceed goals, and work to stretch the ones Im given even further to make the company perform better. When I work harder, my company saves/makes more money, and they show their appreciation by giving me a bonus. There are other folks in my same general position, that just plug along doing the minimum required work for their 'job', but technically are doing their job. the company doesnt pay them bonuses. extrapolate from there... all Im saying is that showing individual appreciation works wonders - if more people showed their appreciation for that extra 'above and beyond', then maybe more folks would work harder, and our society wouldnt be experiencing the abysmal customer service death that we are. just doing your 'job' cuts it for some people, maybe they lacked a good work ethic role model growing up or whatever, who knows, but they dont feel the need to go above and beyond for anything. other people recognize that they can do more than what is required, and they perform at a higher level just because they can and its right, so I feel inclined to show them appreciation above the regular pay rate. thousands of years man...

There is a ton of discussion here about player's cavity's vs blades, with the majority of the tendency toward cavity backs for mid-cappers like myself with the biggest argument thrown around being that even many tour pros are using versions of cb's now. well, some very specific points were made by a couple folks here that made sense, and I started reading, and a lot of research points to blades being much more precise for someone who can somewhat regularly strike them well, and much more specific in the teaching process because of their undeniable tell of mishits. Soooo... I went back to my TM musclebacks a couple of weeks ago - pulled em out of the spare bag, re-gripped em, and started practicing. they tell me exactly where and how I hit the bacll, feel perfect when struck well, and best of all, go EXACTLY where I tell them to... Saturday morning I played Woodbridge and struck some of the best iron shots Ive played in years, sticking 9 approach shots inside of 10 feet, and 3 inside of 6 inches - this included a 9 iron that was kept from a HIO by tapping the pin, and a hole-out from 77 yds. I am re-sold on blades for anyone who is willing to practice to go low, if nothing else as a very specific teaching aid. for those of you that have switched to blades, did it make you better or worse? how many of you found the same experience as me?

interesting theory... not sure if I agree though. if you spend 15 mins in your barber's chair, how much time do you think they spend handling your payment, then cleaning up for the next person? another 5 mins, give ot take, which makes your $72/hr drop down to $54/hr. and then what about the time he spends hanging out doing nothing when the shop is slow - do you think he's booked solid 8-10 hours a day? on top of that, next to shoes, typically your hair shares the #1 spot as the most distinguishing and telling part of your physical personality - I dont know about you, but Im willing to pay more and then show my appreciation for someone with the skills to make me look good (at least with my hair ), so my haircuts are $20 and I drop another 20% on tip, which makes for a $24 visit every 4-5 weeks or so, which isnt a bad deal. I followed that instance out to make a point - as someone who has put themselves through school working from tips (I waited and then bartended for 6 years through college) I have developed a pretty keen and experienced 'philosophy' on tipping etiquette. Here it goes... get ready... when dealing with the service industry, (anywhere tips are expected to make up any portion of the employee's wages) if the service is standard, YOU TIP. if it's better than standard, TIP MORE. and here's the rub, if its not a service where tips are expected to make up part of the employee's wages, but they still go out of their way to make sure you're taken care of better than the standard, FIND A WAY TO TIP. at the coffee house - regular drink and no smile? no tip. drink with a smile and courteous service? tip. ANY restaurant - regular service, 15%. better than average, making sure Im cared for? 20%+(depending). Your doctor scenario is a GREAT one - my doctor takes great care of me, going out of his way to check up on me when Ive come in for something, getting me samples of meds I need to take, etc. It would be incredibly rude of me to ask his office staff to charge my insurance another 20%, or try to add it to my bill - so once a year at Christmas I send him a gift cert for a round of golf for 2 at his favorite course... it only costs me about $100, and I know that he's aware that I REALLY appreciate the attention I get from him. This is how it is for EVERYTHING - too many people think of tipping as a tax on service, where the reality is that tipping is really both a show of appreciation and a guarantee of future service. Dont you think that bartender is going to set your drinks up even better the next time you come around after that appreciative tip you left? Dont you think that barber is going to take a little extra time to make sure your hair is just right next time after you showed you appreciated it last time? as for the OP, if the pro does a great job, I say tip him. now I agree that pros arent making their living off of tips, so if its just an average lesson and nothing really stands out from it much from a regular observed practice, then no the standard payment is probably fine, but if shows you something you didnt know, helps you pull in that quick hook or hard push, gives you a move that saves an errant wedge, then yeah, show him you appreciate it! To me, that little display of appreciation is well worth it knowing that the person I just dealt with has gone above and beyond. sorry that was so long, but too many people just dont get it with tipping... and honestly unless you've relied on tips for your livelihood, you just dont have the correct perspective. the reality is, anyone who deserves the tip will be obvious and will be able to make their living from tips, and anyone who isnt working hard enough for tips wont be in the business long enough for it to matter anyway.

well I obviously wasnt trying hard enough, you guys win! LOL! thanks for the stories, apparently I need to be doing more of these multi-round days, and working harder on my stamina for holding my scores when Im tired...

I had a 6:32 tee at the FireWheel Bridges course yesterday morning... played my 18, came in to get some breakfast, and my buddy showed up, so I played another 18... we weren't quite convinced we had fully covered it, so we played 4 more holes... I have never played a full 40 holes at one time before, and I was BEAT. and... my scores showed it - I was 8 over for my 1st 18, then I was 8 over for my 3rd nine, and 12 over for my 4th nine - I could not control the shots to save my life after 27, but it became interesting to see what trouble I could get myself into and back out of, lol... anybody else ever play 40 holes at once? could you even grip a club when done?

Technically ANY adjustment made to a club's length affects it's stiffness, but it really depends on where you take the length out. if you take it at the tip, it will make dramatic differences in stiffness, while taking from the butt-end iis dramatically less-so. it also depends on the relative stiffness of the shaft in its original state, lesser shafts will firm up quickly while already stiff shafts will take more adjustment to realize a change in stiffness. rule of thumb lets you take an inch or so off the butt-end without adverse affect on the original state of the shaft, while an inch and a half will not make a huge difference, more than that starts to depend on the shaft itself.

I have the tour Burner, and I like it a lot, neutral face and very hot, if you like this setup then yeah its a good club to have. I agree however that the $130 isnt the best price on it, I think retail theyre down to $125 or so at this big box stores, and they can be had in great condition used for $80 or so. that being said I dont play that club much anymore, I picked up an R7 Limited and it plays much better IMHO, YMMV.

was playing with friends in a charity scramble, drinking involved, everybody getting loosey goosey and we were having fun. long par 5, the worst driver of our quad tees up and the other 2 players are already in their cart - he swings, the guys in the cart take off not watching... he had come completely underneath the ball, popped it WAY up, and it landed in the bag platform on the back of the cart as it drove away... we yelled, but they didnt hear us. as they cut off the cart path into the fairway about 250 yds up, the ball dislodged and started bouncing down the cartpath downhill, and rolled out to about 400 yds... we couldnt figure out a ruling, so he chipped up and putted for eagle.... ;)

why not chop a couple inches out of your current putter and regrip? itll get you where you want to be until you can afford the new putter you want. I took an inch out of my scotty for this exact reason, but it also gave me an excuse to get a baby-t grip :D

agreed with all of this... I have seen too many little guy shops (including the coolest golf shops) get run out by the big box stores here in Dallas to not at least TRY to throw business their way. Im not going to put myself out on items that are outrageously overpriced, but in talking to owners of small golf shops Ive learned that they dont make their living on retail golf club purchases. yes they make some money on them, but the cash flow comes from custom work, repairs, lessons, accessories, etc. whenever I can support local, be it a local golf shop, my local bike shop, off-chain coffee shop or bookstore, I do. not to say I dont shop at the chains, and the level of service is critical, but it feels good to know that I can in some small way promote the American dream. does that make me a fool soon to be parted from my money? doubtful... legal tender isnt the only currency in play with most purchases ;)

sometimes, yeah, thats exactly what we want... take a quick flashback to the pivotal scene in Jerry Maguire (I know, I know). Cuba's character is one of the best players in the game, everybody knows it, but he cant even get a decent contract with his home team because (basically) he's boring, and that doesnt sell. so Cuba pulls off a ridiculously good play, and instead of acting like it was nothing, he celebrates - the crowd goes nuts because they want to celebrate with him, and the team is able to package that up for what he's worth. Everybody knows tiger is good, throughout every post of every side of every one of these Tiger threads no one has argued his abilities. And yes, many of us like to watch him play because he's good. But just playing well and acting like it was nothing isn't making people tiger fans, playing well and then celebrating like it actually means something is what makes us Tiger fans. And THAT is what sells. You get the rest of the talent in the field (and there's a lot of it) to get excited out there and make it look like it means something, and they'll start to draw more attention as well. Cartwheels arent necessary, but excitement is... tipping your hat and walking off after a 48 ft birdie drop is very cordial and respectful - add a fistpump and a big "YES!" to it, and people take notice, it becomes real, it becomes EXCITING... throw in the emotion tied to all this talent we have out there and the game will live on without Tiger, without it, it goes back to being a fun to play, but relatively low rated Sunday afternoon sport.

yeah I hear you, and I dont disagree about the floors, always cleaner/flatter/etc than a real green. but nonetheless it felt great and the ball went exactly where I told it to. as a followup, I spent about 20 mins on the putting green at a course near the office this morning (early meeting was cancelled). although I froze my ever-lovin tail off, the 35-40 putts I hit were more-or-less as clean and true as in the store, from 5 ft out to 20 or so. Im going to follow Dub's advice for a bit and leave the stock grip for a while and get some rounds in, as I need to get past the honeymoon phase with it and see if I can be more consistent with it than my current Ping.

what you play with vs what you have/collect? I have 3 or 4 sets of irons, but Im currently using a speciific set. the other 3 I have, but Im gaming the 4th... I recognize its arbitrary semantics, but pointed nonetheless.

yep yep and yep :D Bullitt, you and I are on the same page, my UST V2 is 45" as well. even in a stiff that 46.5" just felt LONG... almost whippy, but not quite. felt almost wobbly. Jamo, that price is ridiculous, didnt know they could drop prices already! agreed on the supertri, my buddy just ordered one with a custom Epic shaft and absolutely kills it... Patriot - go try it out, it cant hurt. I like the feel of the SF off the face, and with a different shaft it would probably rock, but in its current config it just doesnt do anything for me.

par and dub, good points... maybe Ill play it like it is for a while and see how it feels, it sure felt sweet on the shop green. thanks! senor - nah, nevermind... too easy...

Went to a TaylorMade event at the local golf Galaxy this weekend, they had a rep in the store demo-ing the new SuperFast and R9s, get a free trial of Pentas, etc. Was put into a 10.5 Stiff in the SF, and went to swinging on the monitor - finally slotted it after about 6-8 drives (that thing feels LONG), and it felt pretty good, but was only showing to be cruising about 240(220 carry) on the monitor. That didnt seem right, and of course the rep had the general lines about how the monitor could be off, or better yet that most people dont hit as far as they think they do, which I understand, but this just didnt feel right - I had just left the course from playing 18 at Firewheel, and had been carrying traps at 235, so I knew 220 carries wasnt right. When I mentioned that she suggested I get my driver and bring it in to compare (insert smug factory rep face here, lol). so I did. I went out to the car and got my R7 (in my sig) and took a couple swings, then proceeded to jack one 260 (240 carry), and did it several times in a row... so if you're looking for a new driver and like TM equipment, I really do like the feel of the new SuperFast series. best recommendation as always though, is to get fit - they only offer 1 shaft in that driver, and it may not be the best for your swing. I personally think that head in a lower kick shaft would rock...

So i finally picked up a Scotty... Ive been gaming a Ping Piper H for a while now and love that thing, but was messing around at a local golf shop waiting while a buddy was being fitted, and started putting with a used monochromatic blue SD1.5 that was laying in the rack. putting across the floor at about 15 feet, I drained the 10th putt in a row before picking it up to look at the price - $200. well, I had a gift card worth $100, so I figured Id check with the salesman and find out what the story was... $117 later Im holding the putter with a matching headcover, oilrag, etc... Couldnt give that guy enough thanks for the hookup! So on to customizing... I love the oversize (jumbo) Lamkin grip on my Piper, keeps my wrists honest, but I cant find anything larger than a midsize in the Cameron grips. I also know that the purists frown on any non-SC mods. Im not against putting a non-SC grip on this putter if I have to, but wouldnt mind being able to have it correct. recommendations? Thanks!

I agree with those recommending to go with your gut, and I also agree with finding a used set to try out, maybe even rent from your local golf shop if possible for a couple of rounds. I absolutely do NOT agree that the style of iron you play is dictated by your hdcp, as ALL swing styles are different - as with every single club in your bag, you have to go with what feels right with your particular style. The old guy babying his porsche just under the speed limit instead of buying an old beater honda to drive around in is not to be chastised for liking the porsche and being able to afford it, neither should you for going and buying what feels and looks right to you that you can afford. absolute most important thing in this discussion - your game is yours, so if the gamer irons feel right to you and it doesnt break you to pick em up, I vote pick em up.

something else to mention, most courses around here will offer a discount if you can gaurantee a larger number of people and block out a portion of their tee sheet, especially if you schedule to come more than once. Ive seen as much as $10 off a round when 15 or more people were coming together. For example if you scheduled both courses at Sherrill Park, 2 or more courses at Firewheel, etc. we could probably get a good deal thrown together. Im happy to help with some of that fenagling if needed if we do end up with a large number of participants, it wouldnt be a bad thing to offer up some of the pool for charity as well. With a specific charity in mind, courses are more willing to help out with the planning so that they too can be involved with the cause. just a thought, may be more than you were intending

I am definitely in, those are courses I'd be playing in a general rotation anyway. My regular playing partner is in as well. pm me for my info, might be able to drag out a third as well. anybody else in? I think this a great idea, thanks for offering it up Perm!

great question, and I'd have to agree with many of the posts here, but very specifically with GoBlue... I always knew I would go to college, it was an understood throughout my childhood. my family had no money, and I busted my tail working 40 hrs a week to pay for 18+ hrs of classes a semester, plus summer and minimesters. I was under the impression the entire time that my life hinged on getting through my education and working in my field of study - medicine. so my senior year, I had my first cadaver lab. end of medical career. started over. I had invested 4 years and 140+ hours in an education I would not complete. I spent the next 2 years getting a standard business degree just to be DONE with school. circle it up to now - Im a senior IT program manager for the largest telecomm in the world, leading initiatives that affect the backbone network that we're all enjoying our forum over right this second. Im the only one in my company at my level without a graduate degree. you cant even be considered (in my company) for one of my subordinate positions without a bachelors degree. there's the key though... it doesnt really matter what degree... as long as its something related to business or tech, etc... so as GoBlue said, just get the degree so you can move on, and most likely you'll figure out what "move on" means in the process. I equate your question to some advice I receieved back in high school - I was 17, playing varsity football, working 30-40 hrs a week, and maintaining a 4.0 gpa - I was also a project away from earning the rank of Eagle Scout. the deadline to achieve the rank is 18 years old, and with everything else I had on my plate I was on the verge of just dropping it, thinking that it would never mean anything in the future. the advice I received from a mentor was that someone in the future would see my Eagle Scout rank for what it really was - not a list of merit badges and camping trips, but as a personal statement that I could put forth the effort and follow through with a long-term commitment and accomplish the final goals. as it happens, my Eagle Scout came up in the interview for the position Im in now - and I was told in no uncertain terms that it was the final straw that put me ahead of several other deserving candidates. College is the same... get in and get it done - if nothing else it shows that you can put forth the necessary effort to succeed. yes, you can be successful without a degree, but man it sure greases the wheels... good luck!!!

I was asking the same questions this past fall - I had been working a 9.5* TourBurner with a Grafalloy Blue Stiff shaft, and had slowly started pulling further and further left. I went to an R9 and played it neutral, which cleeaned up my path back to a nice push draw, but I wasnt as happy with the feel off the face. I hit a buddy's R7 Limited and absolutely LOVED the feel and distance was improved, so I went and found an R7 Limited TP with a senior flex shaft on the cheap in a 10.5* - I swapped in a stiff UST V2 shaft, and Im back to a clean push draw with an added 10 yds or so over my TourBurner, and the cleanest feel Ive had from a driver in a while. I found mine at Golfsmith for $139, as they were competing with a local sale price from Sports Authority, but they arent usually that cheap. I agree with watching the online outlets for a used or demo version, but make sure its one of the major reputable folks as I just dealt with an ebay seller on a Scotty and got burned with a fake...