bones75

I can't vouch for distances or exact curvature, but it looked just like the Mickelson clip I posted. From the vid, Phil's shot didn't look like it flew 150 yards me, I thought maybe 60 yards at most (in the air). It looked just like it, except even a more curvy shot and it didn't run out (hit into up-slope in front of green), similar hole setup, except the guy I saw was a natural righty. Perhaps my visual judgement is far off. Does the Phil clip to u guys look like 100+ yard shot (in the air)? or curving less than 20 yards?

Played back 9 this morning, but started to be slow around 17th and the first-out group of two caught up and joined me. One guy in his early 40's was super good, but I only saw him play two holes. My guess was that he was low singles index. On the 18th par 4, he hit a 300+ yard drive, but it landed him about 50 yds short right of the green, with a bush between him and the pin. He then deliberately played a left handed shot (he was right handed, and he clearly had room to swing righty) to do this crazy short 50 yard shot w/ a 20 yard hook to get him on the green. He then said that he can hook short shots more while swinging lefty, but he said it w/ a big grin. When he pulled it off and got on the green, his buddy was laughing pretty hard and gave him a fist bump. By his reaction and comments I am 90% sure he was just having fun w/ me and did it purely for fun, but at work today I started to wonder if that really is a thing. Like maybe the vertical grooves when swinging lefty allowed him to hook it easier or something? Again, it was such a cool shot my mind went wandering w/ it. Maybe he was ambidextrous too, I have no idea. The ball flight itself reminded me of phil's shot here, although it was shorter, and he shot it left-handed (while being a righty), and it appeared (to me) to turn even more than Phil's did. Ever heard of anyone else deliberately swinging lefty (if they are a righty, or vice versa) on purpose, even though they had room to swing regularly?

I have no idea who the guy is or any other info other than his index. I was just trying to gauge how good are the "+" index players, so the replies were definitely helpful. My buddy who is playing is an exec who is doing business with a big S. Korean company, and this round is a "perk" of sorts. (A) getting to play 9 Bridges and (B) getting to play with the tour aspiring +4.2 dude. I get the feeling the +4.2's name is googleable, so if I get it and there's any interesting story from the round, I'll post it here.

I also agree and like the fact that you can vote with your spending, regardless of which side of the fence you stand on. I'd be hard pressed to judge any consumer who wanted to either support or not support a person or company based on their values. So basically if you seek out Trump courses to show support, or avoid them to not give them your patronage (or cash), I think it's not just fine, but a nice way to promote the values that you believe in. Both cases the consumer to me has every right to do so.

+1 to that. Been paired w/ people who won't stop w/ the politics talk, (incorrectly) assuming I'm 100% on their page too. Silence is golden in those instances.

I just went to yelp and searched Rancho Park's reviews for the term "6 hours". 10% of the reviewers have that phrase. Sasquatch is real, but it is tinseltown afterall! @Chasing_Bogeys You nailed it. Everyone on the Westside had to play either Rancho or drive 30-45 minutes to get to Wilson/Harding, or play the vastly inferior Balboa/Encino.

Kinda on topic, but may not be. My buddies and I do the "no hitter" type of thing when someone is playing extremely well. I remember when I was having a then potentially "best round" no one talked to me for the last 6-7 holes, and I talked to no one.

My old home course was Rancho Park in LA, it used to be a PGA stop with the LA Open thru the 70's. Local's refer to it as "the most played course in the U.S." all the time. This appears to be true at one point, but not sure in recent years (see link below). It's the only full length public course on the western half of LA. I've played plenty of 6 hour rounds there on a weekend, with 5.5 hours also being very common for a mid-day weekend. On those days, it's common to find a 3-4 group wait (no joke) on #3 teebox, as well as #11 (par 3's). The article said in 1974 127,000 rounds were played there, which I don't know how to gauge. Not sure if its gone up or down in the last 30 years. Golf : Rancho Park Ranks as the Busiest Course - LA Times Rancho Park, the West Los Angeles course that was the site of the L.A. Open for many years, retained its reputation as the busiest 18-hole municipal course in the country last year when 125,894 rounds were played. That...

A friend is playing with a +4.2 index player in a few weeks. He's a Korean player in his early 20's who plays in Jeju, S. Korea. 9 Bridges is his home course that he established his index on (it's a pro tour stop in Asia). He does wants to go pro. How good is that again? Like what would you guess he'd shoot on a 7000 yard muni, rated 73/130? They're playing 9 bridges together, but I was more interested in what a +4.2 shoots on my course.

random trivia: 8 PGA rounds w/18 putts Fewest number of putts in a round on PGA Tour Ken Duke is one of just eight players in PGA Tour history to use just 18 putts in a single competitive round.

What's the lowest # of putts you've had in a round, and did you score well with it? I had 21 putts once, which I recall specifically, but I don't remember the score, as it wasn't a great round i recall for me, prob mid/high 80's. I think I chipped in twice and was constantly on the fringe all round.

Yea, this or double par looks like the way to go if we stick w/ stroke play formats. The higher handicappers typically just play the team bets, no individual bets, but still net scores. All the big $, as you guys prob guessed, is for the better players.

Ofc, enjoying yourself is always wonderful as others stated. But as I'm in my 40s now, that old adage of "it's the journey" strikes true more and more, even as I look back at my times at your age. I drool over thoughts of having more than a few free days/nights a week to focus and progress at something like golf. I for one have regrets not pushing myself more in post school athletics. I competed D1 in college (not golf) and played a lot of sports after, but I now I wish actually competed more and was more dedicated to a sport after school, as opposed to just going out and having fun. And you don't need to necessarily sack the former for the latter either. You simply won't have time (or the body) to do such a thing when you get older...

Primarily we are just a bunch of friends. Half of us played on the same (non golf) team in college, so we just like everyone involved and we all like to be competitive, relying on index's to make adjustments. We do a ton of diff bets but this year just happened to be daily nassau's and 3 day stroke cumulative play. Tbh, we got tired of ryder cup type of formats over the last few years. On ezier courses he hits ~100... but he sometimes get in a swing "rut", where he just fats a bunch in a row, and we all just feel bad when it happens to cause him stroke and distance per. Dang you guys are harsh! Even though it's a money game, the money is just to make it more fun!

12 person tournament of friends. Index's range from 6 to 20+. Playing lots of bets, including a team/group bet of evenly balanced teams (good and bad players each team) One teebox has a forced 150 yd carry to the fairway/"in play" area. One guy is in a bad groove and keeps coming up short. We usually invoke a "mercy" rule here, but it's largely undefined. We don't cap strokes at double par (per hole), as we want everyone to finish out each hole. What would you do?

He succeeded 89-81-86. Although his average was 85.3 (close to the goal of 86), he played safe near the end, as he layed up ("laid up"?) on a few par 4's on the final stretch to ensure he stayed in the money. We played Aviara from the blues on last day (tips rated 75.0, which was too much). We were all impressed and jealous at his progress (at least I was), esp after seeing him the last few years. Got back into old form quickly as he's in bewteen jobs and focused on it pretty much 100%. Tons of practice, play and fitness stuff (16 rounds in 34 days, and he played 6 times in the week prior to the trip). He got rid of a slice w/ his driver that developed recently, which used to cost him several ob's per round. To recap, he was an 8.5 in fall 2013, stopped playing regularly, and last few years only played 1-2x a year outside of this annual trip. Generously, he used a lot of his earnings for a Macallan 18 which we will cork next year! And despite my own personal recent gains, and the fact that I won my bet on him, i was the second biggest loser of the weekend. Played terribly, and I totally choked on two 3 footers, both big money putts. Very disappointed in my mental strength.

I can't think of a "worst" not like the OP's at least (which sounds amazing btw). But I have had this happen to me more than once: attractive women watching in the group behind me as I tee off on 1, then dribble/shank/hozzle/duff. Evidently I am one cool cat.

Sand Canyon near LA , Dessert course #5 is 248 from the tips and it plays uphill. I played from the blues when I was living in the area, but my friends and I played the blacks for that hole only a few times (for giggles). It can play into the wind too. I do recall hitting a decent drive there once (I was shorter back then), and still was like 30 yards short of the green. I actually just checked the website to get the hole yardage. But when I played it, the course was called "Robinson Ranch", and I swear it was even longer. If any LA locals have old knowledge, feel free to correct.

just having fun! I do a lot of stream of thought posts, so some days I feel i will (should??) be flagged for spam. 😋

To make matters even worse for myself, I knew all the above and chose to create this thread/poll anyways! I still find poll results interesting, even if just an exercise in semantics. And I give it a 50/50 shot that @iacas will banhammer me someday for silly posts anyways 😉

It was a cold February morning. I think temperature may have even been high 50's. Drizzled a bit on the back. #Socalforever

@Buckeyebowman @Club Rat @gbogey @Parpy @NJpatbee I agree there are many factors, but was just trying to get a general sense of what your average person "peaks" at who play once a week. From my (bad) memory, every <5 handicapper I've ever met played multiple times per week in order to get to that level. I just noticed that at my old home course, where I knew most of the members, all the players who typically shot ~80 or better played or practiced multiple times per week (including young guys and old). Also every weekend golfer (30-40 rounds per year, w/ some practice inbetween) I knew there was at best high singles. This was a muni tho, and I think membership golf demographics would be different at a different courses. Again, this doesn't count the ex-scratch+ player who only needs 10 rounds a year to still shoot a 75.

I think we've all seen that many great golfers play or practice multiple times per week. I was wondering what people think is typically the lowest handicap you can achieve by playing or practicing only once per week. NOTES: - Meant for "improving golfers" who are seeking a new personal best. If you were a scratch player 5 years prior, this doesn't apply - Playing or practicing one day per week on average, assume whichever would achieve the best results - Representing ~90% of average golfers, i.e. "most of us" (discounting the best and worst golf learners out there) - Assume no time limit (like it could take 10 years to peak or longer) Also, if you want to share your experience, feel free. For me, one year I started at a 13, and i hit 10 handicap about six months later, playing almost exactly once a week. For the next 6 months, I stayed at a ~10 w/ the same amount of play/practice. This consisted of a saturday or sunday round, w/ practice sessions before and/or after the round, as well as about 1.5 lessons/month.

Blue: 71.1 / 130 / 6,467 yds White: 69.0 / 125 / 6,020 yds I know it likely wasn't the tees that made the scores so different, I'm just a headcase. I often swing easier whenever I've played whites (as opposed to clubbing down), which usually makes me a lot straighter (and often longer). Just need to do that normally is all.

I SO miss this level of focus on sports. But havent done it (in any prolonged way) since college. Life just got in the way. I truly enjoyed spreadsheeting diet, sleep, strength and conditioning stuff and working so friggin hard on all aspects for months, all towards a "peak" game day/week/season. It made sports so all-encompassing but was so incredibly fulfilling on so many levels (cant fully describe it). I really miss it. But babies cry at night and i eventually need to support them through college so they get to experience the same.... *sigh*