dove694

I stated a few weeks back that I was a big fan of the "Tee It Forward" promotion and I thought everybody should try moving up a tee box from time to time to see how they liked it. I didn't mean to suggest that golfers should be forced to play a particular tee box by anyone. You have the right to play a course at any yardage you want! For example, if you are able to play a track that the Tour players play on (or have played on in past years), it gives you a great deal of perspective to try playing the tips just to see how GOOD those guys truly are. I tried that at the Golf Club of Houston (home of the Shell Houston Open) last year and it was an amazing experience. I played pretty solid and ended up shooting 88 (44-44). But that isn't an every day scenario. Golf is meant to be fun. And while challenging yourself on difficult courses can be fun and rewarding, so can allowing yourself hit shorter irons into greens, attacking some of the par 5's in two and trying to reach the occasional par 4. You learn how to "score" by playing courses within your abilities. And it also speeds up play! Teeing it forward is a win-win in my books!

I've been Playing Golf for: 17 years My current handicap index or average score is: 6.4 index; 2016 Average Score: 78.9 (25 rounds); Low: 71 (-1): High 84 (+12) My typical ball flight is: High ball flight, draw the driver, fade the irons The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Trying to get my ball flight down with the driver to get a few extra yards Video:

I have broken par and I have an eagle and a hole in one!

Wow, I should have read the prior reviews because I basically echoed what had already been said a thousand times in my last post! Haha! One course I can add to this list is The Legacy. It is a considerable distance from the strip (30 min away in Henderson) but I worked with a guy who used to be head pro there and he spoke highly of it so I figured it was worth a try. I took my dad for his 65th birthday and we ended up getting a pretty good deal - $89 including rental clubs. I imagine in it's heyday, the entire facility was quite something because the clubhouse/pro shop is very elaborate, the practice area great and it is situated in the middle of a high-end residential community. Now, however, the golf course is in a general state of disrepair. Fairways were burnt and dry, greens were patchy and bunkers were unkempt. And this was in peak season in early March so I can only imagine how bad it gets during the summer and fall months. The design (Arthur Hills, 1989) wasn't bad but not great. I know for a fact he has better courses out there! It did have a couple of interesting holes (namely #10, the Par 3 with the famous tee boxes, but also a fantastic reachable Par 5 on the front... #3 I believe, and a few others), but generally it felt a bit cramped within the housing development that encased most of the fairways. The staff was amazing though - service was top notch! All in all, If you are going to venture this far off the strip, you can surely find a better alternative than The Legacy for a similar price. Perhaps things have changed a bit since our experience (March 2015) but judging by some of the recent reviews I read, it appears much the same. It's a shame, too, because as I said it was probably quite good in its prime. Here is a question for some of you Vegas golf aficionados - what are the courses at The Revere like? They look incredible on the website. Reviews on GolfAdvisor have been mixed - some say "amazing", some say "not good" so I am eager to hear more. I have always wanted to try one or both of them, but would be interested to get some opinions first. Same goes for the Summerlin courses (Palm Valley, Highland Falls). They don't get much publicity, yet look pretty nice and green fees are modest by Vegas standards. I am curious to read what some of you may think. Thanks guys!

I frequent Las Vegas every year, and try to get out for a round or two if time allows. GolfNow is a great ally if you are looking for good deals on last minute tee times and aren't dead set on playing a particular course. Otherwise, golf in Vegas can be quite expensive. I can recommend Las Vegas National because it is close to the strip, has a really interesting history and is generally under $100 to play. Sinatra and the Rat Pack used to frequent this course, and it is a former Tour venue. I believe it was on the rotation when Tiger won his first PGA event in Vegas back in the mid-90's. Some scenes from the movie "Casino" were filmed at The National as well. The layout is nice, but it hasn't been in the best of shape when I have played it. That being said, I have also heard of people raving about the conditioning so I guess it's hit-or-miss. It is also one of the few courses in Vegas that isn't a "desert course". All in all, Las Vegas National is a convenient and (relatively) thrifty way to get away from the tables for a few hours to swing the sticks. Golf in Mesquite (70 miles north of the city) is also worth noting. The town itself isn't much to behold, but they have a handful of really decent golf courses and they are generally more affordable than the courses in Vegas. My favorite is the Palmer course at the Oasis Golf Club. That one is a ton of fun! Sporty, well-conditioned and incredibly dramatic! Some of the views you get there are unbelievable. It's like "Wolf Creek Lite" in the sense that you get the same (or close to the same) "wow factor" and it isn't going to take a huge bite out of your budget or your golfing ego. Hope this helps!

There was a promotion being advertised on TV and in golf magazines a few years back called "Tee It Forward" and Jack Nicklaus was a spokesman for it. Essentially, it just stated that if you move up a deck you will have more fun and it will speed up play. I am TOTALLY in favor of this. Even scratch players can benefit from playing the white tees here and there. As a shorter hitter (but still a relatively skilled golfer), I find it a lot more fun shooting 75 on a course playing 6000 yards than I do playing the same course at 6800 yards and shooting 85. To me it's a no brainer!

I shot 71 (1-under) today, breaking par for the first time in approximately 5 years! I am a 7-handicap, so rounds of par or better are a rarity to say the least. It's happened a handful of times in the past, but I must admit, I scare 90 a lot more frequently than I do 70 that's for sure! I was running a bit late this morning, so I rushed to the first tee and proceeded to pull my drive straight left into the trees and was forced to chip out. My chip out went way too far and ran through the fairway on the other side. Long story short, I ended up chipping in for par on #1 (which is a really easy 460 yard par 5) and that settled me down. I parred the next two, then eagled #4 (480 yard par 5) after hitting a hybrid to about 5 feet. I bogeyed #9 to make the turn at 1-under. I parred 10, 11 and 12 and then birdied 13 and 14 to get to 3-under. I was pretty nervous by this point because a career-low round was in sight. I shot 2-under on the back nine of yesterday's round, but prior to that it had been a pretty mediocre year, so it was all a little disorienting. I kept thinking, "you are 5-under on your last 22 holes... what is going on?!" Not to mention, I knew I had the hardest holes on the golf course coming up on the closing stretch. I played the last 4 holes +2, and I'm not going to lie, I had a few really LUCKY breaks in there. I kicked out of the trees TWICE on #15 and salvaged bogey. I blocked my tee shot on #17 but the ball kicked back into the middle of the fairway and I made par. I essentially SHANKED my approach shot on #18 but the ball hit a tree and stopped about 6 feet from a water hazard, avoiding a disastrous finish. Just the other day I was complaining to a buddy about how I couldn't buy a putt lately and how I just wasn't getting any good breaks on the golf course... Go figure!

I have been golfing for seventeen years (since I was 10 years old) and I have broken par about half a dozen times in that time. My lowest score is 69, which I have shot twice. One was at my home course (Par 72, 6300 yards, 69.6/124) and I had 6 birdies on the front nine that day. It was the last round I played with my grandpa before he passed away, so it was really cool I got to share that with him. The other was at a private club I worked at one summer. I joined up with a few of the senior members that afternoon and I played from the same tees they did (Par 71, 5800 yards, 67.2/122). Come to think of it, maybe I should play with the seniors more often! Haha! My best tournament round is even par, which I shot on the second day of my club championships several years ago after being well into the 80's on the first day. I am not a long driver of the golf ball by any stretch (approx. 220-240) so naturally all of my really low scores have been from shorter tees, but you still have to hit the shots and make the putts! There were 3 common themes for all of my under par rounds: 1) I kept it in play off the tee 2) I limited my mistakes (but when I did screw up, I scrambled exceptionally well) 3) My short game was fantastic Keep in mind, I have shot less than ten rounds of par or better in almost twenty years of golfing. I play to a 7-handicap, so I scare 90 a lot more frequently than I do 70. But it is still really fun when those rare moments of greatness do come around. One season I broke par three times within a 2-3 month span, then I didn't shoot under par for five years after that! Golf is a funny game.

I have been golfing for seventeen years (since I was 10 years old) and I have broken par about half a dozen times in that time. My lowest score is 69, which I have shot twice. One was at my home course (Par 72, 6300 yards, 69.6/124) and I had 6 birdies on the front nine that day. It was the last round I played with my grandpa before he passed away, so it was really cool I got to share that with him. The other was at a private club I worked at one summer. I joined up with a few of the senior members that afternoon and I played from the same tees they did (Par 71, 5800 yards, 67.2/122). Come to think of it, maybe I should play with the seniors more often! Haha! My best tournament round is even par, which I shot on the second day of my club championships several years ago after being well into the 80's on the first day. I am not a long driver of the golf ball by any stretch (approx. 220-240) so naturally all of my really low scores have been from shorter tees, but you still have to hit the shots and make the putts! There were 3 common themes for all of my under par rounds: 1) I kept it in play off the tee 2) I limited my mistakes (but when I did screw up, I scrambled exceptionally well) 3) My short game was fantastic Keep in mind, I have shot less than ten rounds of par or better in almost twenty years of golfing. I scare 90 a lot more frequently than I do 70. But it is still really fun when those rare moments of greatness do come around. One season I broke par three times within a 2-3 month span, then I didn't shoot under par for five years after that! Golf is a funny game.

To me, a low handicap is a single-digit player. Obviously there is a great deal of variation in the quality of players in this group - a scratch golfer is infinitely better than a 9 handicap - but at this point, you are able to play pretty well. You are surely hitting the ball 200+ yards off the tee and hitting the fairway a considerable amount of the time. You are likely able to work the ball both ways and have some sense of course management. Your touch around the greens is probably pretty good (getting out of the sand in one shot most of the time, decent lag putting, reliable chipping/pitching). If you can shoot in the 70's or low 80's, I'd definitely consider you a seasoned golfer. After this point, the line begins to blur a bit. I know a handful of 11, 12 and 13 handicaps who are solid, consistent players than can carve it around pretty well out there, and even occasionally get it into the 70's. I would also consider these types of individuals as "seasoned golfers". But generally speaking, if you are in the 10-20 handicap range, I would classify you as a mid-handicap. You are more prone to making the mistakes a single digit player wouldn't (ie. more three putts, more frequent chunks/skulls/mishits, more inconsistent off the tee). Your course management skills probably aren't quite as sharp and it costs you strokes around the course. Consistency may be an issue (following 3 pars in a row with back-to-back doubles). You likely make relatively few birdies in a round and less pars than a low handicapper. But you definitely wouldn't hold up play and can play some impressive golf at times. If you are a "bogey golfer", I would still say you are pretty good. If you are a 20+ handicap, I would say you have a high handicap. But again, this is a pretty broad statement as a 21 handicap and a 36 handicap are only moderately comparable. A 21 handicap has the capacity to hit some quality golf shots throughout the round and shoot some decent scores, whereas a 36 handicap probably isn't hitting too many good ones and struggles to post a low number. However, the inconsistencies at this level remain consistent. You are likely very unpredictable off the tee and around the greens. You probably don't get a tremendous amount of distance with your shots and lack the ability to control trajectory or shape the ball. Your course management skills are still developing. In most cases, you lack the technique it takes to consistently get out of the sand or the trees in one shot. Your ugly shots are indeed very ugly. You might throw the odd par in the mix, but big numbers are inevitable. Par 5's are likely your nemesis while better players probably view them as "scoring opportunities". Your swing mechanics and basic golf fundamentals don't allow you to deal with on-course obstacles such as fairway bunkers or heavy rough very well. That being said, improvements can be made fairly quickly by golfers in this group. It is a lot easier to go from a 25 handicap to a 16 than it is to go from an 8 handicap to a 4. (SIDE NOTE: No matter what your handicap is, selecting the correct tees that best suit your level of play is vitally important and something that is often overlooked. I frequently see mid and high handicappers heading to the "blue tees" when they would benefit far more by playing one or two tee-boxes further up. In my opinion, if you are a 30+ handicap, you should be playing the forward tees regardless of your gender. This would speed up play and you would enjoy yourself more out there. I am a huge supporter of the "Tee It Forward" campaign that was instigated a few years ago, and integrated its principles into my own golfing experiences. As a relatively short-hitting 7 handicap, I find it a lot more fun shooting 76 from tees that play 5800 yards than I do shooting 86 from tees that play 6800 yards. I am able to hit some of the Par-5's in two, be more aggressive with my approach shots, and attack the odd risk/reward Par-4. Give it a try next time you play a new course - you will definitely surprise yourself!)