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I don't drink while golfing... I wouldn't drink while playing other sports, so I don't quite see the difference. Don't have any problem with others doing it as long as they can maintain reasonable etiquette. Saw something that amused me a few weeks ago. I frequently hit the driving range and practice areas for a couple hours starting right when the sun comes up. I was finishing up at around 8:30 am one day and spotted a group who I guess had just finished a round (it's a 9-hole course, so if they started by 6:30ish, that'd be likely). They were sitting outside at the grill enjoying a round of large mugs of beer. Now, while I don't drink *while* golfing, I certainly can be talked into one after... but not before 9am! That's hardcore.

Once your handicap index is 9 or less, you get no more than double-bogey under ESC, so that means 5 on a par 3 and 7 on a par 5. Until then, yeah, you just get a fixed number of strokes per hole. And yes, other than the ESC rules, the handicap index calculation makes no distinction about which hole you get high scores on. Then, in stroke play, it just adjusts the course's overall par without regard for per-hole scores. In match play, you get those strokes allocated by hole difficulty rating.

My personal take is that in golf, as in most endeavors, you need equipment that's "good enough." That is, it probably ought to be a bit "better" than you are, but you don't need to spend the $ to get absolutely top of the line. For a rank beginner, I'd guess low-end clubs from a reputable source would be your best bet. My logic is this: you don't want to teach yourself bad habits to work around problems with the clubs, and you want the clubs to be able to help you move to the next level. If, as seems to be the standard example here, the 5 and 7 irons out of your cheap set hit the same trajectory when struck properly, you won't learn the difference between the two, and that will hamper your development.

PhD student in radio astronomy. Shoulda played more golf back when I was an electrical engineer and had more free time and money!

Until this week, both my wife and I were graduate students. Between that and having a kid, I definitely try to golf cheaply. Fortunately there are a couple of decent inexpensive courses near here. Weekday 9-hole rounds are less than $15, down to $8 or so for super-twilight (which is just about to become pointless when daylight savings wears off). But, mostly, I just go spend a couple hours at the driving range + chipping / putting greens. Given my, ahem, prowess on the golf course, that's probably more productive for me anyway. Certainly less frustrating, and I keep it fun by coming up with practice games so it's not just mind-numbing repetition. Only bummer is that they've moved from having grass range stations to using mats for the winter months. That makes it less of a replacement for getting out and playing on real turf.

If you just want to guesstimate it, your handicap should be a bit better than you typically play. The rule of thumb I've heard in various places is that you will probably play to your handicap one in 4 or 5 rounds. Of course, mine currently runs into the upper limit so I don't worry about it too much...

The Spanish language (at least the Chilean and other South American I've encountered) doesn't really distinguish much between pronouncing "B" and "V." To my American ear, either letter can make either sound. They tend to be pronounced the same way each time for the same word, though. On average, I suppose it's really somewhere in between the English B/V sound for both. Of course, it should be subtly in between. If it came out with a B as in Bob sorta BEE, that's pretty silly.

Radio astronomy PhD student (meaning I should have neither the time nor money to golf, yet somehow I get out anyway... maybe that's why I'm taking so long to finish...)

I'm somewhat amused to learn the term "play it down." I'm an American, and a lousy golfer. I'd never heard it before, or really noticed it until this afternoon, the first round after learning the term. I was playing as a single and got grouped up with a player who would roll nearly every ball a few feet before addressing it. Didn't seem to matter whether it was on fairway or not, it was just the way she seemed to play every shot. Kick, set, swing... kick, set, swing... Bizarre.

I'll agree that poor drives cost more strokes than conventional wisdom gives it credit for. I can't claim that my experience fully supports this, though, since I don't have enough good drives to know whether those holes go any better.... A couple other things get me a lot. Going out without warming up costs a few strokes on the first hole. That's mostly just dumb, I guess. Practicing too much on the driving range and not getting enough actual rounds is also a problem. I'm a lot better from a perfect lie on flat ground than my scores might show. Even fairway lies are rarely as ideal as that. Too bad they don't have driving ranges with sloped stalls...