microcrayfish

So here's the story. I've just moved countries for university and while I've managed to get my clubs to my new home, I'm without a car and probably will be for a while. There's a few courses within busing distance and one that's about a 20 minute walk away so I'm looking to get a Sunday/pencil bag that will be easy to transport. I'm probably going to be putting less than a full set in it (especially if I have to walk to the course) and I carry my clubs in a stand bag normally anyway so I'm not too worried about size. What I'm most interested in is whether to go with a 'canvas' type soft bag or with something a bit more solid. Are there any Sunday bag users out there that have experience with either or both types? Any pros and cons of either type? And finally, any recommendations of brands/models to look out for?

Wow that was a big shake. It felt a lot bigger than the 7.1 in September. I was in the central city at work when it hit, fortunately our building was fine and everybody got out okay. I work about a minute's walk from a couple of the buildings that collapsed. The central city is a complete mess, it's gonna take a long long time to clean it up, years for it to get anywhere near back to normal. I don't know if anybody remembers the damage from the September quake but this time it is a LOT worse.

As someone who isn't a UFC fan but occasionally catches the PPVs I thought Machida should have won that fight, although I can see how the judges could have given it to Jackson. The first round could have gone either way and Jackson seemed to win the second, the thrid was easily Machida's but I can see Jackson winning the other two. I don't think the 10 point scoring system works at all for MMA, especially in a fight like that when both fighters stay on their feet and spend a good part of each round each round posturing and feigning for position and there's only three or four meaningful exchanges in each round, it just comes down to a crapshoot for the judges and the fans. I don't know enough about MMA to suggest a better alternative, but from what I have seen there's definitely something wrong with the scoring system. A fight and a result like the Machida Jackson fight is almost enough to put off someone like me who isn't a commited fan but is somewhat interested in the sport and occasionally watches events. When your main event is verging on boring and comes down to controversial/bad judging it's not a great way to gain new fans.

I have a feeling Kim might end up being the next Adam Scott, someone who seems to have all the talent in the world and a swing to match but just can't seem to reach their potential because they have other things they'd rather be doing than playing golf. I remember seeing an interview with Kim when he said he'd rather play basketball but for his lack of height, not exactly what you want to hear from someone who is supposed to be one of the 'next big things'. With the standard of the PGA Tour as it is today Kim isn't just going to be able to rely on his talent to get through. Only time will tell I guess.

Here in NZ most courses have them set up like this: Red: Childrens (though most courses don't have these set up) Yellow: Ladies White: Mens Blue: Championship/Tips

I think the situation might save him. He did duff the chip but he most probably needed to hole it out to have a chance of extending the match considering where McDowell's ball was. If the match was all square or even if McDowell was 1 up and there was a better chance that the match could go on then I could see him struggling to come back from this but he was most likely about to lose the match anyway, he just managed to do it in a more spectacular fashion than he could have.

It seems like a few people here think that DJ was a lock to win in the playoff if only he didn't get the penalty. Don't forget he still bogeyed the last because he blew his drive 50 yards right and into the crowd to get himself in the position where the penalty occured in the first place. Plus he probably had the memory of throwing the US Open away fresh in the back of his mind. There's no reason to assume he wouldn't simply choke again in the playoff. In my opinion Kaymer fully deserved the win.

The best two jobs I've ever had for golf were the two worst jobs I've had. One was washing dishes starting at 5pm and working until midnight - plenty of time for golf before work; and the other was making plastic bags in a factory starting at 6am and working until 2 in the afternoon - plenty of time for golf after work. Mind you, those were both summer jobs while I was at studying at university (which is also a good occupation for playing golf if you don't have many classes). Now I'm in the "real world" and can only play at the weekends.

Ha nope not at all, I'm very much in the minority here when it comes to liking the NFL (Madden was actually got me into football when I hired out Madden 2000 once years ago). People round these parts tend to stick to rugby union or rugby league. It sucks too because we only get the Sunday and Monday Night Football games on espn live and a random FOX Sports game delayed each week on TV. I end up having to follow the live scoring on nfl.com or trying to find a stream to watch any others.

Don't have a 360 but I'll be buying Madden this year for the first time in a long time for PS3. Haven't played much more than the odd game on a mate's system since PS2 days so I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this year's edition. Doesn't come out here until tomorrow though

And then you put the four gallons on the scales to defuse the bomb with 5 seconds left on the timer, high five Samuel L. Jackson and talk on the phone to a crazy German guy.

If only they were self cleaning, we'd never need another thread like this ever again.

I know a guy who has all Taylormade clubs, and bag, and clothes, and shoes. But that's cause he's a golf pro and gets them free because he is sponsored by them and could whip all the people who would care to judge his game based on his attire and club selection. Sometimes it takes a few swings to tell how good someone is and not just a look at their gear.

There's already the Presidents Cup and the International team have only ever won that once. Asia, Australia and South Africa don't have the talent yet to compete against U.S. or European teams in their own right. Maybe Asia will get there one day but I doubt the other two ever will - there have been good Aussie and South African golfers for a while now but they just don't have the golfing population to be able to stand on their own. I would like to see a Europe vs Rest of the World event but it'd be a matter of fitting it in somewhere because I doubt American audiences would agree to a 3 yearly cycle for the Ryder Cup.

You could always call them up or email and ask what they consider an "official" handicap. You're in the States so I'm pretty sure that you can get an official handicap through online services without having to fork out a whole bunch for a course membership. Others here will be able to direct you to the right websites.

Perhaps so people will talk about his shirt rather than the fact that he can't play links golf and is looking like missing the cut at this point?

That reminds me of a story my grandmother told me. Her and my aunt were in Manchester and had tickets to see United play in some exhibition match or something. They wanted to see George Best play. Turns out they got lost on the way to the stadium and asked someone on the street where Old Trafford was, his reply was simply: "I'm a City fan" and he walked off! Can't say people aren't passionate about their team. And to top it all off George Best didn't even show up to the game. As for the final, the Netherland's tactics were simply negative and they deserved to lose. Regardless of whether or not all the fouls and cards were justified, Spain were the ones who were trying to play good football and play their own game, the Dutch were just trying to disrupt the Spanish instead of creating chances of their own.

Considering the fact the The Open Championship, first played in 1860, is 35 years older than any of the other majors, 71 years older than 'The Masters' (arguably an equally pretentious name), and the world's oldest golf tournament, perhaps you'll recondiser your position and forgive the organisers for continuing the tournament's 150 year old naming tradition?

We've got a Tivo equivalent but I prefer watching golf live. Plus my flatmates wouldn't exactly be too happy with me coming home and watching 8 hours of golf in the evening . I'll still record the broadcast and watch the best bits but I'd rather be able to watch the action while it happens.

Great, my favourite major to watch and local coverage here runs from 10:30 pm to 6:30 am, 8 hours of golf coverage that runs exactly in sync with the 8 hours of sleep I get each night . Oh well, at least I won't have to miss work to watch the final round like I did for the US Open, I'll just have to be very tired.

Ahh the beauty of having an island nation too far away for anybody to bother trying to reach by boat and a bigger, economically stronger and warmer island nation in the way for anyone who did think about making the trip to run into first

I'm gonna have to try find some of the Tuatara. Pilsner is my favourite style of beer so it's good to know there's a world class one being brewed here in NZ. Ironically enough I've eaten at two of the restautants that their website says carry the beer in my city recently and opted for other Pilsners both times . There's a really good bottle store not far from my work so I might pop in and see if they stock it. Regarding Budweiser, I've only ever had it a couple of times but it's just like any mass produced beer - not a lot of flavour and aimed at people who drink beer for the effect and not for the taste. The problem with drinking it in places like NZ and Australia where the OP is from is that you end up paying high prices for a crap beer just because it's imported or "foreign" (even though most of the time they're brewed locally under licence). You pay good beer money for a crap beer and end up feeling all the worse for drinking it.

Have you played the course before? Some courses have a better flow on one nine or the design just means things go faster on one nine. It's not inconceivable at my home course to play the back nine 20 minutes faster than the front when it's busy.

It's always good when you still have a great time when shooting a bad score. And why not? Being on the course sure beats working or a host of other things that you could/should be doing. A lot of the people I play with just hate it when they shoot bad and it ends up completely ruining their day. Sometimes when you're not playing well you just have to let go of your expectations for a good score and just enjoy the disaster as it unfolds.

Definitely sounds like you hit too many balls that day and got fatigued. As others have said, simply hitting balls won't help you get better and can actually hurt your game as you get tired your swing breaks down. Many a time when I was starting out I would end up leaving the range with a worse swing than when I started and wondering what on earth was going wrong simply because I got tired. There are different views as to the best practice method - some say hit just one club, others say never hit the same one twice in a row – but the important things is a focused and efficient practice that will get results rather than just banging away at golf balls. These days I very rarely hit more than half a bucket (25 balls) at the range. If you do want to hit more balls then at least make sure you take time and rest between each shot so you don’t get tired.