TheLauncher

White vinegar. Smells a little like salad at first, but cuts the grease, is non-toxic, all natural and cheap.

That's really cool man. Take it for what its worth now, and let everything else come naturally. There is a lot of time between now and college for your son, and many things, including golf, to enjoy between now and then. It's nice that golf is the game of a lifetime, and that it can be enjoyed at many levels, whether its at the range, a Sunday round with friends or playing competetively at any level. It seems ti me that you have the right things in focus.

Very salient point. Damn statistics! They can be so misleading wehn out of context. Wehn presented as the OP put it it is interesting. Considering this, it is entirely understandable.

It has to say a lot about the difficulty of tour leve greens too, right? The guys hunting for flags are likely to miss their GIR more often than those shooting for the fat part of the green. And a 15 yard putt may be more difficult than a 15 yard pitch, IMO. Sometimes it helps to be able to fly two thirds of the break.

Strength: Around the greens- chipping and putting. Scrambling out of trouble. Weakness: Consistency with ball striking. The driver can be long at times, but is too often errant. Ball striking doesn't inspire the confidence to be more aggressive with mid to short irons.

Try using a darker color.

Thanks. Looks cool, but that's damn pricey! My whole bag didn't cost a whole lot more than that!

What is this, a sort of putting mat? A video or computer game? Link? Edit: Sounds awesome, like to know more.

One of the better players at my course and a good friend, who plays off a 5, uses a 1 iron (not a hybrid) almost exclusively off the tee. He is more accurate and many times just as long as anyone in the foursome. I carry 16* and a 19* hybrids and find the 19* quite a bit easier to hit. Recently I have taken to hitting it off a particular par 5 that I've having trouble with the driver on and it has helped. 20-30 yards less distance but in the fairway is a tradeoff I'm willing to make. But the best case scenario fir me would be to learn how to hit that driver with consistency.

A league is a good way to meet people in your area who are interstedin golf. It's also been a great way for me to improve my game, playing competetively every week and getting to see a bunch of other golfers play theri games. Some you might not want to emulate, but there's always something to learn. Also my advice would be to find one friend who is as rabid as you are with a similar schedule who you can usually count on to play. I have one friend in particular who I have played probably 70% of my casual rounds with.

Good for you man, that's the attitude. All you can do is stay positive and affect your space. Whatever they do is out of your control. Best of luck to you.

Did anyone just see Yang's shot on the sixth, where he hit the pin from the rough and an awkward lie. Cool shot.

A good one I use after a putt or chip left short is to ask 'what'd you go in the wrong underwear drawer this morning?" Also, I call one of my frequent playing partners Shankman, as in "Your shot, Shankman"

I'm too young to have ever used metal, though I remember when that's all that was worn when I was still playing in sneakers. I know there's absolutely no replacement in baseball and I would like to try them in golf now, but all of the courses I play at ban them.

Funny. I saw the same thing on my course this year, a huge beaver pelt taken just below the cup. Hackers.

Golfer- Stricker. Love his swing. Non-golfer- Albert Pujols. The man is going to set records in baseball.

This seems like a good idea if the fit isn't exactly tight. I'm imagining a nial set making two small indentations on either side, but how do you do this without collapsing the shaft? I hadn't thought of this. I guess the butt if the gip is about a quarter inch, and so if I wanted to end a half inch longer I would need only a quarter inch of the extension? At any rate it seems like having them a little long would be better than too short, as they are now.

OK, that makes sense. I was thinking more like an inch, but you probably need more for rigidity. Thanks for your help.

After messing around with different clubs at the end of last season and over the winter I have determined that I would like to lengthen my clubs by a half inch. I have done grips myself before and found them to be quite simple, if a little annoying. I was wondering if there was any particular challenge in doing the shaft extensions or putting the grips on them aftewards. I'm pretty handy and I think I can save myself about $75, but I wanted to avail myself of the wealth of knowledge here at the Sand Trap before I got in over my head. Any advice on taking on this project? Also, I am assuming any change in swing weight would be negligible, is this correct?

It's a privately owned club that is leased and run by a committee of members, open to the public. Honestly, in this economic climate, in our area, it's struggling to survive, hence my reservations. I want to ensure the longevity of the course, but I am unsure if I want to sacrifice my personal enjoyment of it to that end. to put it bluntly and to adress Phil's points as well, they don't eactly have money to throw around, i.e. the perks wont be quite so grand as suggested. So ultimately I have to justify to myself (and I'm hoping my golf brethren can help here) that my enjoyment of and improvement in the game itself supercedes my responsibility to ensure the smooth running of the club.

I'm about three hours from the Big City. It just seems that if you say you are form NY, many assume you mean NYC. And where I am, well, there's really nothing about it that resembles a city.

Colin, I am about two hours south of Albany.

My current job is 40 hours a week, so this would be more, but I would have time in the off season to pick up other work, or just enjoy winter . The job entails running the small, circa 1900's course, pretty much from A- Z. So, there's a lot of responsibility, some of which I'm familiar with from my time there over the past few years. The idea of hitting the range in my down time is very appealing, but having to work 50-60 hours a week sending out golfers while I'm stuck inside isn't. Basically it amounts to a lateral move with the only perks being the pleasant working atmosphere of my beloved course. It seems natural as a golf nut to dream of a career in the game (I'm not making the tour ), but now that the opportunity is here I fear it may damage my relationship with the game.

It would seem like any golf fanatic's dream, but is it really? I have recently become aware of a job opening at a local club that would entail supervisory type duties (not a professional ) and anywhere from 45-60 hours a week. Salary is for the golf season and comparable to that at my current job. My biggest reservation is that spending all that time at the club will not only cut into my golf time (no more weeknight twilight rounds) and perhaps even jeopardize my relationship with the course I love by making it my place of work, rather than a place solely of recreation. I just have a feeling that after 50 hours working at the course I will less inclined to spend another 15-20 hours playing there, as I'm accustomed to doing. Are there any full time golf club employees that could speak to these concerns? Has your game gotten better or worse since working at a club? Has your enjoyment of the game suffered due to full time exposure to the business end of the game?

Sorry, but I think there is some bad advice in here. I she has asked to do something with you that you enjoy that is a great sign. I would just play it more as "we can go golfing together" (at the range or a pitch and putt or something) rather than "I will teach you how to play the game." You and she both need to understand that learning the game is not going to happen in a handfull of sessions, but this shouldn't keep you from trying it together. You will know pretty soon whether it's for her or not. As others have said, be positive and don't get heavy-handed with the advice. No harm in just going to whack some balls together to see where it leads.