DonW

Certainly not a Tiger hater but please show us at least the top five players that are in contention for the win besides Tiger. Can't remember the exact tournament or player, but my favorite was when one of the unexpected won and they didn't even cover him during the live action, they had to scramble to throw together some of his highlights from his round as the trophy was being presented. All the new technology is great but I miss the style of announcing/format employed during the sixties where they could only cover a limited number of holes. This forced them to show nearly the full field the as they finished the final holes of the course. And the announcers didn't hype some phony drama they were trying to create, they simply told the story unfolding before them with out all the garbage talk about unrelated events to the current play before them.

I play a Titeliest F4 7 wood, it pretty much replaced my 3 iron maybe just a hair longer. I could rarely hit my 3 iron full distance consistantly so 7 wood works much better for me, especially useful out of rough. Took me a few weeks to find a used one but they are out there as I have seen several for sale since buying mine.

I am much more consistent with my DI7s, and my miss is off the toe and I get nearly full yardage off the toe.

Actually there is a new Hammer-X, supposed to be even longer and more accurate than the original. I'm serious saw the infomercial yesterday. Sadly no more Pow in this one.

I joined a club for the first time ever, like you I had only played sparingly in recent years. Since joining and playing 2 to 3 times per week my handicap has dropped 7 strokes. In the last two weeks I feel like I have broken through several barriers to improve even more scoring wise. I didn't like spending the money but my break even point occurred in June so I'm on a free ride for the rest of the season. I do miss playing a variety of courses but there are also benefits to having all the staff know you. If you want to improve your game go for it.

That indeed was their intent, to tee off right in front of us on 14. I was pulling my club out of the bag before they could even get out of the cart.

My wife and I walked off 13 and were literally ten feet from tee box for 14 (we were walking the full course) when two guys on a cart swerve around us and ask/announce "we're playing through, okay". They had not played holes 12 or 13, course received over 6" of rain in the past two days therefore carts were not allowed on those two holes today, pull carts were placed at the 12th tee to allow people to walk these two holes if they chose to play them. I was so taken back by their rudeness before I knew it I was saying "no your not". This really pissed them off and they started to argue about how they had to skip 4 when they had passed us earlier, they never waited on us but simply drove right past us as we played 4. We would have gladly let them play through on 4 if they had just teed off and actually caught us. As we approach the 4th green I look over to see one of them peeing on a tree at the front of the 5th tee box (there is a porta potty right behind the tee box). As we played the 5th I notice that they hadn't raked the bunker, one of them had walked the full length of it while playing their shot out of it (we were the first two groups out on the course and the bunkers had all been power raked by staff already). I'm not the fastest player but my wife and I playing in a foursome will never fall behind the group ahead of us on a busy day, I have always waved people by when they catch me. This is a small town course where you know most players and the course is rarely full. I'm never in a hurry to finish my round and will often take a break as people play through if they do catch me. I felt like a real @$$ after telling them no they couldn't play through and I'm sure their earlier actions on 5 weighed into my reaction to them. They ultimately skipped 14 but not before letting me know what a jerk I was. Kinda put me in a bad mood for the rest of the round, but seeing as how they were skipping holes I don't get how they felt they had the right to play through us. So what say the majority? Am I a Jerk? or Not?

With the turmoil that will follow the ouster of Bivens this style may be what is needed to get things back on track short term, and I'm thinking whoever comes in long term will have an easier time taking charge of staff when they haven't been allowed to do as they please during the shake up. No business expert but have experienced these type of turnovers more than once and things always went better when someone came in and took a firm hold of the reins immediately.

My BIL just died and my SIL gave me his bag of clubs. He was the kind who generally had to have the best of everything, they are at least 15 to 20 years old and have a small cavity in the irons (which look like they are cast), the 11*driver is very small head, fairways are #3 16* and #5 22* (driver and fairways are metal) and everything is stamped 350 RS (even the shafts are labeled as such). Digging on the internet I found reference to Arnold Palmer having played Pinseekers during his career, another little blurb stating Pinseeker introduced metal woods to the marketplace, the company being sold to another golf co. around 7 years ago and then nothing. They look nicely made and have very little wear on them but I have no idea what to expect when I try them out. Anyone have any further info or input as to what these were in their day?

Lessons!!!! If you must have a physical piece of golf equipment it would be shafts that fit my swing.

On Monday I saw a baby otter poke his head out of the grass at the ponds edge guarding the 12 hole as I walked by. Haven't seen an otter in more than twenty years in the wild here in Minnesota.

I bought mine late last fall over the internet, came brand new sealed in the factory box, as I said mine is located low on the right side as you look at the bag on its stand leaning away from you. I have no reason to believe it was old stock but who knows, the shop listed like ten Ogios all at once so maybe old stock from a few years ago, the colors they listed were current per the Ogio website for "08" bags. Bummer if you didn't get one as that is one of my favorite features.

My Edge has one, it is down lower and to the side as compared to the Grom.

For years I played with Tour Wraps and really liked them, easy on the hands gave me good grip even in the rain. Changed up my whole bag this year and put New Decade Multicompound on wedges, woods and driver, really like them but they really tore up my hands and were painful at the end of 18 holes. Switched my Driver and woods to DD2s and my hands feel so much better I will put these on the rest of my clubs when the rest of my grips wear out. My new irons came w/ Dual Durometer and they seem okay. DD2s are soft so if you want a firmer grip I'd try something different, some of the Winns felt like they might be a good compromise between too soft and too firm, but I read they wear fast so I stuck with Golf Pride. My local Golfsmith had some Goodyear grips that looked and felt interesting but I didn't want to gamble on an unknown.

My wife and I stopped to play on the way up to the lake and when we got to the 8th, she 3 putted and I lost count, 3 putting for her is a real rarity. I'm decent at putting but the hole was right on the front edge and you couldn't keep it on the green unless you went ten feet past the hole if/when it rolled back to the fairway it would then turn and run sideways so you always had a wicked break gettin it back up to the hole. When we got to the clubhouse the kid at the desk asked what we thought of the 8th pin placement with a big smirk on his face, evidently him and two other kids were left in charge for the day so they decided to amuse themselves by shaving the green and putting the hole on the edge, when we walked out to leave they were all yukking it up at the expense of the group behind us which were currently trying to putt into the same hole as these idiots watched from the club house balcony. Never went back and the only time I ever rewrote my scorecard after finishing a round, gave myself four putts which I felt was fair since I don't think I have ever four putted a hole in my life.

I bought the Edge and very pleased with it so far, only been a couple of months. I wanted the rain cover otherwise would have gotten the Grom. I bought last fall and the legs work just fine so far. I really like how it is laid out, score card pocket, drink pocket, and quick access ball pocket. But the best is how well it works on a cart, sits in the right position to access everything and with the cart strap in use no more falling off when the strap on the cart lets go.

PI5s with a CI 4 iron

I finally got to try my new Pumas today, these are the most comfortable golf shoes I have ever had. They are hard to find but well worth searching out.

I hear you, but I try to watch the LPGA and find it difficult to find them on TV, the coverage seems to jump all over the dial, I feel they need a deal with one or two stations to gain some consistency in vewership. For a little perspective from the 90s, when we had a local LPGA event my wife and I would attend and found the leaders highly skilled, but the also rans that filled out the field would post some horrific scores. I paticulary remember one hole that required a second shot of 80 to 120 yards to the green, 50 yards of this was over water and many put more than one ball in the creek when confronted with this challenge. Thankfully the level of play seems more uniform throughout the field now a days. The vast majority had no interaction with fans what so ever, by comparison the Seniors at our local Champions event would joke and sign autographs when time allowed several would come out and mingle with fans after completing their round. I'm getting old, it doesn't seem that many years ago the PGA million dollars in one year earnings barrier was broken, now they are collecting that in one event. If we don't turn our economy around soon I'm betting we will see a lot more media attacking the money amounts awarded at PGA events.

1) sorry live in the midwest 2)Have had group lessons twice, no choice as far as instructor, one was awesome and gave me all the basics I still try to use. Second one was a real d#$% and taught the group nothing that I can recall. Took golf for college credit and learned a lot from the professor who was also the coach, taught me how to work the ball all the way around the course, my game was very good by the end of the semester. Had private lessons over a five week period, was less than happy, midway through the pro changed a lot of things stance, grip, and swing, I tried to stay with them but had a horrible snap hook when things went bad (a problem I never had previously) and I reverted back somewhat to my old ways. When I play regulary (I haven't played more than a couple times a year in the last five years, I promised myself I would play weekly in 2009) with the methods learned from college professor and my first instructor I can play a really nice round of golf thanks to them. 3) Make sure you will enjoy working the with your instuctor. 4) I still remember a lot of things my first instructor taught me almost 30 years ago and think back to them when I'm struggling. 5) Group lessons were so cheap I got my money just from all the balls I got to hit, college credit was needed for my degree so being able to take golf was a plus, my private lessons didn't have a lot of value long term but they were a gift so I couldn't really ask for my money back.

I recently bought the Edge, wanted the rain cover or the Grom would have been my choice, it is heavier than my last carry bag but worth it. Carries nicely, stands better due to extra stiffness of construction, and works great on a cart when my wife goes with. Titleist carry bag was considered but I wanted some of the features only Ogio offers. I'm 53 and out of shape if I can carry the extra two pounds for 18 andbody should be able to.

driver Titleist 975D $30 used fairway woods Titleist 904 3,5,+7 $170 used irons Wilson Di7 4-G $210 new wedges Wilson TW5 S+L $80 for both new putter Wilson Ci5 $15 used or Arnold Palmer original gift Standbag Ogio $140 new total $655 My bag in the early 80s was $250 total (full retail) for everything 3 woods, irons, sand wedge, putter and bag itself. Only price I remember was the woods at $30 each as I upgraded to the then new technology of metal heads. My bag when I was a kid in the 60s 3 wood $.25 garage sale find 2&5 iron $2.00 ea. from singles barrel at local hardware store (always wanted a 9 iron but they sold right away and I never got there in time when the sales rep would drop off the odd ball clubs at the end of the month) putter I think my buddy gave me and he sold me his old bag for a $.10 for a total of $4.35

I grew up watching Arny, when Jack came along although a great player I could never bring myself to root for him, I'm hoping Tiger keeps playing long enough to break all the records. DonW (newbie)

Was in Real Estate but after having two offices close out from under me in the past year I have quit and will be returning to teaching. DonW (Newbie)