Lefty22

Here's the excerpt from the Minor revisions PDF: 14-3/13.5 Golf Ball Artificially Warmed Q. Is the use of a golf ball that was purposely warmed during a stipulated round with a golf ball warmer, hand warmer or any such device a breach of Rule 14-3? A. Yes. Use of a ball that has been purposely warmed during a stipulated round with an artificial device constitutes a breach of Rule 14-3. However, it would not be a breach of Rule 14-3 to use a ball that was artificially warmed prior to the stipulated round. (Revised) At this point I think we are in fact getting in a bit of a gray area. The rule states purposefully warmed; this gives me the impression that if the warmers are genuinely for your hands and you accidentally put a ball in that pocket without the intent of warming it then it would not be a breech of the rules. However after reading this thread this rule is undoubtedly indelibly ingrained into your Golfer subconscious and as such it will be on the list of things like grounding your club in a hazard that you just don't do . On a somewhat related note; the rule does explicitly mention an "artificial device" constituting the breech. So it seems that if you just keep an extra ball or two close to the other pair of balls you've already got in your pants then they will be at 98.6* and completely legal when you need to put them in play... I'm assuming body heat alone could NOT be considered an artificial device; if anyone knows of an existing ruling stating otherwise please correct this statement. Link to PDF containing 2008 Minor revisions

Pretty off topic, but you seriously play of a +10 and the 2H is the next step from your driver? Wow, wonder what your scores will look like once you fill that little gap at the top... I need to trade someone the 2H MP fli hi I have for a 3 wood; I'm no good with the 2H I have curently, it's just a bit too demanding for my ballstriking...

Totally serious - this is from the PDF linked to below which was published after the glove failed to pass 3 times and then Bionic sued the USGA (so 4 tries and 1 lawsuit later they only got a conditional medical sanction): The United States Golf Association has informed Hillerich & Bradsby Co., that it will permit wear of the Bionic® Golf Glove in USGA sanctioned events for players with arthritis of the hands. The USGA has placed the Bionic Golf Glove on a List of Equipment Permitted Conditionally for Medical Reasons. Link to PDF Link to review from The Sand Trap

To be completely accurate and so you realize my post was based on misinformation you provided I'll point out that you actually said "ive only done it once in a long drive hole ". Hole not contest; thus giving the impression you claimed to only have use this method on one hole that required a long drive. Hmmm: I work at my game I don't worry about it... perhaps those who pick and choose the rules they play by spend time "worrying" about which rules they will play by and which ones they won't. When it's cold out I say you are cheating; I'm allowed to have my opinion (in this case it just happens to be derived from quantifiable facts). I'm not posting in your direction in this thread anymore because I think you feel I'm attacking you. Honestly when this started I just hoped that someone would post that this was illegal so someone new to the game (I am in this group having played less than a year) didn't think this was OK an then get called out on it. On a different note; this conversation has made up my mind on my own rules violation. I have been playing with Bionic brand gloves for about 8 months (since I started playing); I found out yesterday by reading some old reviews on this site that they are in fact only USGA legal if you have a medical reason to play them. I like that these keep my hand from getting sore (plus they last forever) and I was considering continuing to wear them but I don't have arthritis (yet) so I have so stop playing them if I want to truly track a USGA handicap. Bummer: I'll use the last two I have on the range until they wear out but after that I'm done with them until I have a reason to play them.

This post is BS: A poor rationalization from a guilty conscience. So basically "I only cheated once; and it didn't really help me so I don't call that cheating; and the rules I don't play by are stupid anyway" There is nothing in the rules like your pee in the woods example and to imply that the rules are that trivial and asinine is going to piss off (well at least irritate) a good number of golfers. If it doesn't help, and you only did it once, and you know it's cheating, then don't recommend it to others. Also call BS on the "only did it once"; you said "cold Michigan day s " and then talk about scrambles and it making the ball cut the air better making it sound like you've done this enough to observe the difference... Thanks - Jeff: who plays his cold balls down

Glad I'm not the only one who wanted to point this out

Give yourself just a little credit; you did have to string together the two great shots for the "lucky" putt to matter so you're doing something right. I've played Quail Ridge quite a bit and no eagles for me :) . If that's where you're playing and you're shooting 96 from the blues after a year or so I'd say that's quite respectable. I signed up as a member at Stonebridge last week, I think having a flat cost for unlimited access will really help with the practice time. Maybe I'll get luckier with more practice. Congratulations.

+1 - Another digger that's been assisted by the 14* bounce in the SM56.14.

From what I've read their are at least two approaches to the subscription model for the Golf GPS units. The first model (used by SkyGolf - SkyCaddie) involves a yearly fee depending on the "membership level" for courses over a time frame. For the $29.00 level you get unlimited downloads in you registered state; for $49.00 a year you get unlimited course downloads in the USA. These downloads, while unlimited in number, are ONLY available on the device while your membership is active. If you pay $50 one year and download all the courses you want, those courses will NOT be available on the device if you allow the membership to lapse after the year. Presumably this means the device has to talk back to SkyGolf to validate the membership; now to me this could mean that if SkyGolf goes under (not likely but it could happen these days) then there is no way to make your device work again... The second model I know of is used by Bushnell/iGolf and essentially you pay $35 for a year of unlimited download and they are stored locally on the PC you sync with. I read in a few places that the iGolf membership was only 10 downloads but it appears that is no longer a restriction. From what I understand the courses downloaded to the PC during the iGolf membership WILL remain functional after the annual $35 membership has lapsed. So while the iGolf Neo only holds 10 courses, you could still conceivably download every course that you thought you'd play and store them one the PC. Then you just load up a fresh 10 with whatever you're going to play coming up. Since this requires no communication back to "homebase" from the device it seems these would continue to function correctly even if the corporation itself were no longer around. Personally I like the sound of this setup better than the SkyGolf one... The Neo is on Amazon right now brand new for $118.00 shipped. I am probably going to get that one this week. Good Luck!

Hmmm, I don't think you'll be able to repair all the spike marks; pretty sure that's the point everyone is making. Even with people being "careful" these things just inherently damage the putting surface. As for them not being as good as steel, each steel spike was 1 spike that didn't bend at all and it was either in contact with the ground or not. Compare to a set of soft spikes where there are more prongs per "spike" and they can actually bend and (theoretically) they stay in contact with the ground longer... I remember going with my dad when I was little and I too think the sound was cool but I have no gripes with the grip in my GF-II Foot-joys.

There are at least five different free gps apps for the iPhone; not reallythat helpful a post if you can't look on the phone and give the name... As to accuracy, I think the 10-15 off is the worst case scenario. I use vcaddy every now and then and it's ok but I'm thinking the neo sounds pretty good. The iPhone apps usually don't do even basic things like add a point on the hole or hit a "shot" button to mark a shot distance. Honestly I hate having my phone on me while playing...

In a game of changing variables why not remove variables when you have control over them? What I mean is it's not like halfway though a hole in competition someone's going to change your ball and you have to "adapt to the changed element". As long as you only carry one type of ball then you have effectively removed the variable. I agree you have to practice adapting but not when it's an element you have complete and direct control over pre-round...

Sorry man; I'm sure your good and I'm sure you swing fast, but 300+ with any consistency from the deck with a 1 iron? I honestly would really like to see that, not being sarcastic or anything; if you can do it I'd be impressed as hell to see it...

I don't know; I think there's quite a difference in "Absolute perfection" and make-able. While I agree you might not make near the % as from inside 8 but that still doesn't mean you can't expect it to go in. If you think about basketball, a good free throw % is 85-90%. That's really good, 90/100 almost as good as the 99/100 you reference. Now back up to the 3 point line; 40% is outstanding here. WAY lower percentage but the goal oriented mindset of "make the basket" has not changed. I believe this mindset should apply in golf as well...

Doh! Yeah I guess it's not going to be better by then for you guys. Here's hoping for a few clear days...

Over here in Memphis the weather channel site is saying 40+ for Thurs-Fri and like 50 for Saturday! Of course that's kinda hard to believe with all the ice on the roads right now...

You state this as fact, but that's totally your opinion... An opinion I have to respectfully disagree with. In my opinion anyone who thinks 10ft+ are "beyond makeable range no matter how hard you practice" has an issue with the way they approach these putts (mentally) and should consider that before giving others advice on how to practice these strokes. Proper practice and a repeatable stroke will leave 10+ still in "makeable" range...

Or at least that's what the marketing department at Taylormade says

I paid $215 for 15 year old clubs but I've been totally happy with them (Ping Zing 2). They look super strange to a lot of people though so they're not for everyone... Best thing is to just get on eBay type in Irons, filter on Golf products, and then look for the "Dexterity" filter which lets you just view left handed sets. Good Luck!

From what I read and my personal experience this is actually exactly backwards. If you are coming from a tight lie (fairway) less bounce is better, if from the rough/sand then more bounce is better. The more fluffy the lie the more bounce generally helps. Bill Vokey said in one interview that bounce is the golfer's friend. He gave the impression that for higher handicappers more bounce was almost always better. I guess I'm saying that more bounce than you "need" from the fairway is something you can deal with, but having less bounce than required from the rough makes for a really difficult shot that may end up with the wedge wanting to almost slide under the ball... I had a 60* LW with 8* bounce that really was harder to hit from the rough; replaced that with a 56/14* and things are much easier from the same types of lies.

I like the Ping sponsored bag but why not a Redwood Anser instead of the Odyssey? I'd switch that then rock on with the rest

http://www.titleist.com/customerserv...d=62475&bhcp;=1 I've been using Pro V1 PRACTICE balls: $25 a dozen at Edwin Watts and I've been very pleased with them. It's essentially the range ball for tournaments, they may have cosmetic blems but they are on the list of comforming balls and can be used for tournament play if you choose to.

Hmmm, sorry just grabbed the first link: possible they make two kinds but I think they just didn't state the oversized part in the other link, try this one... http://www.golfjoy.com/Nike/Golf_Bal..._Golf_Ball.htm

Never thought about it like that but this seems like a pretty solid approach to getting the feel for things...

+1 for sticking it out with the 5w if the change is for one hole. I don't know for sure but I'd bet if you took the $$ you'd spend on the new club and went to a pro and said I want to work on fairway woods you'd see better scores than with the new club...