sarena1594

I was at the game last night and we walked around the entire time to see the game from different vantage points. Though I'm a passive Mets fan, I was excited to go to the game more to see Kershaw. And I must say, watching him pitch from centerfield was incredible. He didn't have his best curveball, but the slider really kept the Mets guessing and made many of them look silly at the plate. I agree...there was too much focus by both the fans (and I'm assuming the Mets players) to get revenge on Utley. IMO it took players' and fans' attention away from the game and from focusing more on figuring out how to hit Kershaw.

So excited that I broke 90 for the first time today. I shot an 89 on Bethpage Blue (my best score to date!). My short game was on fire and I really felt like I was playing golf the way it was meant to be played. Got a little nervous at the end once I realized I might break 90 and ended up with a double on 18, but thank goodness it was still enough to put me under!

Good news for me - got cleared by the doctor to play! Interesting note - he mentioned it would be more difficult on my back when swinging shorter clubs and less strenuous for longer irons and woods. He said it was because of the deeper divots associated with shorter clubs.

Interested to see how Spieth comes out playing on Thursday and Friday. He's repeatably told the media that he's over the Masters and ready to move on. I get the feeling he's being honest. I know there's more talk about Rory, Rickie, and others, but I think at the very least we'll see Spieth in contention on Sunday.

After the Master's, Geoff Shackelford on his new golf podcast Shackhouse, mentioned that multiple foreign TV broadcasts of the tournament had been showing the shot tracker on most or all full shots. I think it's possible, but it takes some investment on the part of GC, CBS, NBC, etc. Between CBS and NBC, NBC (and thus GC) does a better job with their shot tracker. Though I would say both fall way short of what golf fans are looking for.

It will be good karma for him come the weekend!

Anxiously waiting to go to the doctor tomorrow. It's been 2.5 weeks since my first doctor's visit and a week since the one after than. I was very methodical and committed to the workout he gave me, so I'm hoping I'll get some sort of clearance to begin swinging and/or exercising again. I've been antsy all week to get out on the course - doesn't help that the weather in Boston has been sunny and 70 for the last three days.

That's also something I see pros doing often during a round. I can only seem to get myself to do it on those hot, humid summer days. Maybe I should get into the habit of doing it every time, even if it just means avoiding the infamous glove tan. Not to mention the day after the round when you check your bag and all the sweat dried and the glove is all crinkled up.

My mistake, I can't do math in the morning lol. When I played it, it was 608 from the back tees, or about 130yds farther than the white tees....my original post said 180

Last year, I started to remove my glove when I got to the green and my putting speed greatly improved. The putterhead just felt so much more free flowing.

Black doesn't distract me, but I feel so much more confident with white. I started playing golf with a black glove, but I quickly realized how much better I felt on the tee with a white glove. Some weird psychological thing, but hey, whatever works right?

Since I usually don't play from the tips, I think the longest par 5 I've played was around 530. But I do remember playing the par 5 13th at Bethpage Black. From the middle tees, it was 480, but from the tips, it was 608. I remember just looking back 130yds and trying to actually locate the tee box. It looked like it was on a different hole.

When I started playing, I used a Footjoy Weathersof because that's what my father gave me. I haven't used any other glove since. I love the feel and the durability. For Christmas, I received a few new gloves (I think Top Flite), but I can't get myself to use them. I tend to build up my stock of Footjoy gloves whenever the sales happen, and usually I have enough to last me through a full season at any given time. Perhaps I should consider being a little more open-minded. I would be open to suggestions.

Do you notice any difference in your grip pressure or in anything else (other than the fact that you're playing better) when you played without a glove? I always just assumed that if I didn't wear a glove, I'd be getting major calluses.

http://www.pgatour.com/power-rankings/2016/05/09/the-players.html/?cid=HP_T1 Any idea why they leave Day out of the top 5 in the power rankings? He's #1 in the world and arguably the best short game player right now. I do remember reading that some were concerned about his driving accuracy. Is Sawgrass a particularly narrow course?

@jsgolfer A spreadsheet is a good idea; I might have to start one this season. Golf on my wedding day would be a dream come true! Haven't heard too many stories like that.

Is there a way you keep track of every course you play? I know I wouldn't be able to remember all of them once the number got that high. Same for @jsgolfer

Just bought a copy, can't wait to read this!

Agree with you on the insurance bit. Rising costs stem from a system where economic and health incentives are misaligned. There are relative winners and losers, and right now, the insurance industry is one of the losers. From a doctor's perspective: most doctors have high student debt and pay through the roof for malpractice insurance (not to mention the cost of litigation if it arises). They have an incentive A) to perform as many tests as necessary to protect themselves, no matter how expensive the tests are B) to cure their ailing patients as quickly as possible (in most cases) and C) to negotiate for their own economic incentive. From a patient's perspective: everybody wants to be healthy, yet there are so many who neglect the preventative measures to do so. Rather than practice preventative medicine, we wait to get sick, get hurt, etc. before visiting a doctor. We receive treatment (e.g. surgery, Rx) and are willing to pay for it because health is and should be a top priority. Of course there are some people who live very healthy lives and are rather unlucky, but by and large, IMO we need to be more proactive about our health rather than reactive. From a pharmaceutical/medical device perspective: please investors on Wall Street (high earnings, good margins, large drug pipeline, patent exclusivity, etc.) From an insurance companies perspective: please investors on Wall Street while also being compliant with new regulations. In doing so, insurance companies are stuck increasing their pool of more expensive individuals and charging higher premiums to everyone to do so. At the same time they're being squeezed by A) the doctor's B) the patient's demand for medical services C) the rising cost of healthcare, which is prescribed by the oligopolistic nature of big pharma and biotech. The graph below compares indexes that track the pharmaceutical industry (in red) and the insurance industry (in turquoise). Clear winners: pharma and doctors (the doctor part is a guess, but I'm guessing salaries for specialists have dramatically increased since the recession). Clear losers: insurance and us, the patients. The facial expression in each picture says it all

Looks like a hole that I'd have to play to get on in 3 for sure. Looks like you had a great 2nd shot over those trees! How far to clear a drive over the pond and into the fairway?

This is me. There's one course in Boston I must've played 20-30 times over the past two years and I've never parred the 5th hole. It's a dogleg right par 5 with a fairway slanted to the left, a 25 ft. drop to the left of the fairway, and trees up the hill to the right. A straight drive will roll off the fairway to the left and a draw will drop off down the hill. A slice puts you in the trees...a fade is the only thing that'll put you in the fairway. The green is protected by trees on all sides and has two very distinct levels. I've scored anywhere from a 6 to a 14 (don't ask) on this hole. Keeping it to bogey or double is seemingly always my goal on this hole.

Sure, there are multiple things a golfer can do to be in a good, athletic position from the start to hit all the correct planes and angles throughout the swing, but those are not the swing itself. There are similarities with most/all pros, but some vary widely in their setups based on their personal swing. While it is often the case, not every bad shot comes from a poor setup. Also, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book points out that a golfer with a poor swing and the wrong grip might hit the ball straight. However, if that golfer had the correct grip, he might be slicing the ball all over the place. Likewise, if a golfer with a good swing had a poor grip, he might struggle. That being said, I tend to worry most about grip and spine angle in my setup.

I agree - they vastly underestimated where the money would be coming from and though I'm not fully aware of the number, I have heard that some people have been able to avoid paying the penalty. Do you know the validity of this? Whatever the cause of its failure, I'm just disappointed that none of the candidates from either party seem to be presenting a concrete plan for how to fix it (not that we've heard too many concrete plans for other issues).

Just my two cents on the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare... Obamacare was a step in the right direction. However, it was a very poor, disorganized, drawn out effort at best. While I think we all agree that more people being covered by health insurance is a good thing (about 20M more people to put a number to it), Obamacare did nothing to reduce the complexity of our healthcare system. It was a thousand page document - a document I doubt has been fully read and understood by many politicians - that stated the ACA's goals were to promote better consumer protection, better access to care, and more affordable care. Though these goals were met to a certain extent, the plan does nothing to improve the U.S. quality of care and health outcomes, which are among the worst in the developed world when considering how much we spend on healthcare. And the claims made earlier in this thread about the ACA saving us $400M per year are highly negligible, as the U.S. spends over $3 trillion per year in healthcare, or about 18% of GDP. This is more than double the OECD average. The fundamental problem that exists is the hundreds of for-profit, publicly traded payers in the system who are subject to analysts on Wall Street. As someone about to graduate from business school and someone who believes that if regulated properly, Wall Street and its system of SIBs has its place in society, I do not think we should allow for-profit health insurance companies (much less ones that trade on the markets) to exist. Take Germany - who operates on the Bismarck model (multi-payer system of regulated, non-profit, private insurance companies) of health insurance - or Britain - who operates under the National Health Service (NHS). Both countries have developed economies, strong financial markets, and healthcare systems that aren't a burden to their citizens, doctors, government, or insurance companies (who are forced to compete on quality and formulary design rather than price to gain market share). The U.S. should look more towards these healthcare systems to redesign its own. ***Full disclaimer: I realize that it would be very politically improbable that the government would disallow private insurance companies on their exchanges, especially considering the millions on dollars lobbyists throw at politicians these days. It would also be very politically difficult for the government to enact what would likely be a payroll tax (similar to our 2.9% Medicare tax) to pay for or subsidize universal health coverage. It would be interesting to hear the opinions of TST members outside of the U.S. Definitely willing to discuss, but like many have said, sticking to our discussion and passion for golf might be a better match for this site.