Carolinahooker

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=4185540 Sad new indeed...

His swing is just way off. If his short game wasn't so good he would have shot a 78 out there. I can't remember the last time I watched him hit so many bad shots. His recovery game is so good he didn't pay for it all the time. It is kinda' reassuring to watch the best player in the world go through something we amateurs have done many times. I have hit some of those same shots off the tee. I, of course, am at least 40 yards shorter :)

I agree, if there is a putting green with the chipping green you really shouldn't putt.

No, I think it makes the game more fun. Nothing feels better than when you hit that ball on the green from a difficult lie. It has made me so much better playing out of some bad areas. I really don't mind when the ball is in a bad lie at all now. I do play with some guys that do it on virtually every hole. I could care less, if it makes the game fun for them, fine by me.

I think in golf there is a lot of holier than thou behavior. I play by every rule but don't really care what rules anyone else plays by. This is a tough game, if someone is not of the skill level to hit those golf shots without moving the ball what do I care? When I play with strangers I always feel weird asking what they shot on a hole to see if I should hit. I mean when they are hacking around the last thing they want to do is say they got an eight on the last hole.

Enough of the Brian show, let's hear from some other contestants on the next few shows. I am waiting for the level of play to improve. I don't spray my driver as much as they do. Those drives on the first challenge were ridicules. That continued on the last challenge. Way too many people in the woods. Kim was the other obvious person to go after "tee it high and let it fly". They were the two that looked like their game just wasn't on the level of everyone else. Everyone left now can play. They just need to show it from here out.

Toe up is correct.

This all comes back the the stogy world of golf. You have A LOT of people out there that think you HAVE to go in order of furthest from the hole no matter what. Almost every course has the local rule of "play ready golf". That means that by rule you are SUPPOSE to go "out of turn" if it speeds up play. One rule that I think just flat out needs changing is order of play around the greens. It makes no since to take a flag out so I can put from 30 feet away and then put it back in so another guy can chip from 20 feet. I recently watched a round table discussion with a group of executives of golf courses. They said, far and away, the worst problem in golf is slow play. They stated the top reason that people quit membership or don't come back to their course is pace of play. With all that said, you would think they would get serious about enforcing it.

I had to stop watching that one guy's swing for fear of it creeping into mine

I'm not sure how low I can get my handicap but my goal is to play smart golf. I'm under 15 right now but I have just been bad around the greens. Bunker play and chipping around the green need to really improve. The only mental part I really try to stay with is just concentrate on the next shot and don't try to do too much. I almost always go for greens and not pins. I stay away from trouble on every shot, well I try to anyway. I make sure I don't try to be a hero on those bad lies. For me, it all boils down to staying away from big numbers. I shot an 87 last time out and had eight pars. Had a 47 on the front and a 40 on the back. I was proud of myself for hanging in there and shooting well on the back. Still need to keep those big numbers off my card.

That slope rating is very shaky. I have played a different course for every round of golf so far this year. I played two that were both 128 slope and they were light years apart. If either of those were my home course my handicap would be drastically different. One was narrow with lots of trouble in the fairways and the greens. The other was wide open and had very accessible greens. Just another reason that not all handicaps are not created equally.

I was torn because I thought Football was a cool guy but my heart went with the Irish lass. His putting was god awful though. When you play like he did on those par 3s you can't really complain about going home. The one guy is just trying to hard to say shocking things. "I wanted to send a message to everyone who ever watches this show that I was here to play." "When my stroke is on, I am the best putter in the world" Is he 12?

I am just coming back to the game after about a five year absence. Kids will do that. Everyone pointing to the short game is dead on. I have really worked to improve my game. I am a 16 right now after a lot of improvement. My driver use to be my weakness but now I am great off the tee. The thing stopping me from scoring low is my short game. Those chips around the green and 50 yrd shots are killing me as is my putter. A lot of those shots are tough to practice. You really only get better at them by playing a round. Going out tomorrow afternoon with good thoughts :)

Phil was just busting Nick's B*lls. Sounds like a funny exchange to me. That all sounds pretty normal for a bunch of guys sitting around having some drinks.

From my vacations in Canada I noticed a ton of lefty golfers. I asked one of the guys I was playing with up there and he says it's from hockey. They grow up hitting those lefty slap shots. He said a lot of guys up there have a tough time deciding which side to hit from when they take the game up. Shawn is a great resource. You could spend a week just sitting there watching all his youtube videos.