erova

hi guys, i've been rooting around the web trying to find a free web-based golf league management application. basically looking for a system where an admin can add and maintain rounds of a group, complete with slope of each course played. so far most of the stuff i've found on google has either looked really old, isn't web based, or charges a relatively high fee for something I don't think is really that complex. if there's nothing out there that fits the bill (which I doubt) i may take a stab at developing it myself if anybody pipes in that there could be some interest... TIA chris

i'm not too sure I understand that you hate playing golf with rich people, it sounds like you hate playing golf with jerks. you're inevitably going to be playing with people who have a bit of disposable time and money if you're ever going to play golf, let alone on some of the nicer courses around. i've played some tracks where the green fees were more than a week's pay at my first job out of school, and rarely have I ever been paired up with jerks (usually I've found the really well-off guys keep their wealth close to the vest and only incidentally drop a clue to their situation). on the other hand, i've played some munis where Joe Hacker thinks that the local goatpatch is Augusta and therefore owns the world... i'm assuming that after going to college at bowdoin (48k a year) you probably have SOME perspective and experience interacting with the financially well to do...

I recommend Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton. Also south of Denver. course web site: http://www.arrowheadcolorado.com/arr...=188&page;=3514 my pics from a September 2007 round: http://flickr.com/photos/erova/sets/72157601871005641/

i heard there's a decent track a little south of Jacksonville in Ponte Vedra...i think it's called Axgrass or Sawlawn...wait, sawgrass, that's it. you should be able to get on pretty cheap (relatively speaking of course) in the summer months. another half-hour down 95 takes you to the world golf village, and going back north on 95 from jacksonville offers up Amelia Island. obviously these are some pretty nice tracks and I don't know your budget, but if you're looking to do it up nice you're in the right place...

they may not talk about it as much, but if they're a better player i'd guess they're not playing with Crazy Eddie's Golf Clubs that came with the free toaster.

maybe i'm dense, but i don't understand this response. the conversation could easily go like this: player A: "hey, this new callaway ft-5 really works well for my game: the draw bias helps me keep it straight, and the large head gives me a lot more forgiveness to on mis-hits than my old 1995 wilson driver". player B: "what is your handicap?" player A: it's a 15, down from a 23 after I could keep the ball in play and hit 8 irons into par fours instead of dropping and hitting 4 irons into the greens." if it's driving you nuts, leave the conversation.

with all due respect to the old mastercard ads: (this doesn't include the full set of titleist in the garage complete with wedges, putter and even shoes--if you guys ever travel to DC for work and want to get in a round and don't want to deal with lugging your clubs i'm the guy to call) driver: new FT-5 from Callaway after FT-3 broke/free (FT-3 was $399) hybrid: cleveland launcher: i think it was about $120 3-wood: callaway fusion (3-strong) /$150 on ebay irons: 599 wedges: 4 vokeys at 110 each scotty putter: $300 give or take bag tags from Hoylake, Bandon, Pebble, and a few other tracks: about 40 bucks buying those bag tags after a few beers and counting up the scorecards after those rounds: priceless

Hey B-17, Played up in AC a few times. For an old style parkland Donald Ross course, Seaview is probably your best bet for a "golden age" style course. For a more modern course, try Sand Barrens and Twisted Dune. Both are great courses. Tom Doak renovated the William Flynn-designed Atlantic City Country Club, but the slope suggests it will be about as challenging as Seaview (Twisted Dune is a real bear). Anyway good luck and let me know if you play around CP and the area. I'll be looking to check out Lake Presidential when it opens in about two months... Go Terps (UMD'98)

i wasn't implying anything was wrong or controversial about your comment, i was just using your quote as an example since you provided a specific number, that's all.

honestly i don't understand how to figure the equation of what the "old" vs. "new" is...a hundo in NYC is always going to be different than a hundo in French Lick Indiana, regardless of the mid-1980's or today. TJK is exactly right when he mentions cost of living. Golf Yokel, the instant you mentioned your house costs 800 a month should immediately put things in perspective for those of us living on either coast of the country...

are you still going to look for the absolute cheapest price when shopping for clubs? this seems like a pretty decent example of "you get what you pay for"... maybe you could find a used golf-equipment retailer near your home if you really want to see the *new* sticks before you plunk down the credit card. it seems the major retailers also have great deals on last year's equipment as well...check out www.tgw.com and you might be better off...

i can't fault Tiger for taking off his cap a few days ago...on all the local munis every weekend people know when they jack a pure driver or the putt is going in the hole. i think we can look to baseball when the batter knows the ball is out of the park before he's stepped out of the box as a pretty common occurrence...as long as you don't stare down the pitcher or do the slow trot around the bags you'll be fine... if tiger just flipped his putter to stevie and walked to the nearest Golf Channel tv camera or off the green, I could see some people interpreting that as rude, but he took off his cap and walked forward to shake hands... move along kids, nothing to see here...

Aviara was a cinch--I just called the number on the Four Seasons web site and booked a tee-time the old fashioned way. Torrey was a bit different. Back in December, I used a booking service to ink an early tee time on the South, and ponied up $25 bucks for their service, plus the early reservation fee paid to the course. But my wife had business with the Hilton at Torrey Pines and they ended up taking care of booking the North and South tee times (they canceled the one I booked in December) so I can't quite testify to how difficult (or in my case, easy) it was to reserve those two times. Best of luck on Torrey and Aviara, they're two incredibly different golf experiences from one another, but both I'd wholeheartedly recommend.

definitely doesn't fit the half-hour requirement, but if you had the time in your schedule, a trip north to the World Woods/Pine Barrens track is supposed to be great. I'm making it out there on Tuesday myself. quite possibly the worst-looking golf site on the planet though: http://www.worldwoods.com/fw/main/default.asp

i have only made the trip driving down the I-5 from Portland, so I can speak to the fact the drive isn't THAT interesting through Eugene, but once you turn off 5 and start heading west through the timber farms and winding streams it's a really scenic drive. plus you're going through a few vineyards and the like while you're on 5 so it could be worse, and you still get about an hour or so along the dunes before you get to Bandon proper. since IMMT is an oregonian, you have to take his word to take the coastal route, but i wouldn't say your life is going to suck if you have to take the i-5 from portland to bandon...

hey guys, so last week i'm teeing off on Aviara's 7th hole-- a downhill bomb and gouger so I naturally whip out my trusty Callaway Fusion FT-3 I picked up 2 years ago. well somehow the tungsten weight snaps off inside the driver and I think I'm completely F'd. I start wondering if I should just buy another FT-3, try to find a discount on another big stick from tgw.com or what, but I have a trip to Sawgrass next week so I have to act fast. when i get back to the east coast, i take the driver to the local golf shop just to confirm i'm cooked and have to pony up for a new club and find out Callaway will still honor the warranty after two years and how ever many rounds I've played. the clerk hangs up the phone and says i've got a new FT-5 on the way and will be here in a couple days. now that's customer service--i'll never ever think about buying a knockoff with service like that...

i tell you what, for the most part Torrey exceeded my expectations. i had basically heard many times that the South course was a rather simple, unimaginative layout that was artificially long just for the Open and the maintenance/course conditions were those of an average muni that charged resort-style green fees. i thought the layout/design/architecture to be generally challenging and fit with the available landscape, and had some amazing views of the Pacific without putting holes on the coast just for the sake of the view. the rough is ridiculously thick already, and they're starting to grow in the fairways too so the course was one of the toughest i've ever played (and i've played a few decent courses in my day). the staff said this was basically the best time to play now that the buick was about 2 weeks ago, and the greens and fairways proved it. however, the rangers were non-existent and the length of the round was pretty unbearable...we started at 12:10 and finished at dark on the 18th at 5:58. but since it was about 72 degrees out, and i knew my golfing buddies back home in Maryland were sitting inside since it's 30 degrees there, i didn't mind that much. unfortunately, the track is relatively pinched by some of the biotech firms on Pill Hill and you have some *great* views of HVAC systems, parking lots, and offices. the north course also has some great views and could be a bomb-and-gouger's dream. definitely glad to play both, but the south really is a course anyone should try to play if they're in the SD area... here's the pics to the north and south loops: South Course and North Course

aviara is absolutely gorgeous. definitely about as man-made looking as you can get, but great condition, challenging greens, and a lot of opportunities to make shots. staff was super helpful--a pretty big change-up from Torrey the day before. more pics are online here: http://flickr.com/photos/erova/sets/72157603896296758/

Big M-- I think you make some good points--especially how some people get up in arms over when a course should be called a links track or not. Honestly I think the reason people bristle a bit when they hear links is because it's so overused and inappropriately used, even by the golf courses themselves. how often have we read this marketing pitch somewhere? "come visit The Links At Anytown, where we take the best of UK links courses and challenge you with an open layout surrounded by our 500,000 man made lake. Enjoy multiple elevation changes, raised teeboxes, and hundred year old oaks that line the fairway to our links. You may love it so much you'll want to live here in one of our 5 bedroom homes lining 13 of our fabulous links-style fairways!" alternatively, i also think some people assume that "links" means "best". i think anyone who has played Augusta National, Bethpage Black, or Riviera would probably challenge that claim (as would any desert golfer).

i've made the trip--played a local public parkland track outside the telford area, but the big dog of the trip was making it out to Royal Liverpool - Hoylake 3 months before the Open Championship was there in July 2006. safe to say i can't wait to make it back but will make it up to Scotland and over to Ireland too...

erin hills will be out for 2015 simply because the PGA Champ is up the street at Whistling Straits. with two tracks in a row on the east coast, look for it to be on the west coast (again since the PGA is in the midwest). so i suppose chambers bay could at least be somewhat legitimate, but i don't know too much about it... harding park could be a darkhorse since it will have a presidents cup as a potential tune-up and still keep the whole "people's championship on a people's course" theme... from the public tips it's only 6845 so the ole Open Doctor may have to make a visit... plus the usga has visited similar areas within three years before (Olympic/Pebble; Shinnecock/Bethpage and even Congressional/Merion).

will gladly report back with a follow-up and pics.

fyi, I'm going to play aviara instead of barona. I think i fired a 55 there on Tiger Woods 2007--I'll have to see if I can hit that on the front...

good call--definitely looks nice. looks closer than barona too...

Big_M-- just came back from a weekend down there and played Legacy--you should really enjoy the track if you're looking for that authentic sandhills golf experience . didn't get to play pine needles and whispering pines. count me in as a vote as strongly against claiming #2 is over-rated. some people on this board may take a nice cold PBR over Sceaming Eagle or Good Luck Chuck over The Godfather, but add up the tradition (there have been just a few more events than the kiwi's 2005 victory [which i don't understand how that could invalidate a course anyway--do we think Oakmont is going downhill because Cabrera won there?]), the challenge, and the fundamentals of golden-age golf architecture and it's a must-play to those who haven't played it once, and a strong draw for repeat players as well.