Blackjack Don

On Thursday, I shot an 86 at the muni. No blowup holes, no triple or quadruple bogies. Even left a few shots out there, mostly pitches. Could have been low 80's easily. My driver has begun to work. I hit a lot of fairways, no monster slices. My putting was as good as I can do it. I achieved the goal I set out to accomplish last June. I can play a round of golf as a golfer. Still a hacker, but I can laugh at my misses, flubs, and goof-ups. Golf isn't going to kill me anymore. Many thanks to the Sand Trap for advice and tolerance. Best wishes.

+1

Not up to me to comment on the hurt feelings of "some of the instructors." I never intended to insult anyone. Just trying to become a decent golfer. I see lots of people struggle off the tee. I have had more troubles than most. I love playing golf, but a driver like mine has been extremely frustrating. Getting a swing in as short a time as I could has been a pretty slow process, by my standards. That has more to do with how hard it is to hit a golf ball. I have no argument with anyone about how hard it is. I've put in hundreds of hours on this journey, process, path--whatever you want to call it since June '16. Hell, it's been as hard for me as having a baby! :LOL: But the good news is I'll probably not go back to what I was doing. I have (or am getting, finally) my driver problems sorted out. I shot a solid 97 on Wed and was quite proud of it. My first drive split the middle. I lost it in the middle, but got my swing thoughts sorted out and banged out several in the fairway, from 240 to 279, probably averaging 250. (Keep forgetting to TAP!, dammit.) By my Garmin S2. Couldn't hit a chip/pitch to save my life, and spent four strokes going from trap to trap. I could have easily saved a half dozen strokes, and I will. The hip turn tip did the trick. I have practiced it enough now to have solved that problem. My two swing thoughts now are don't cross the line at the top, and left wrist leading. When my left wrist breaks down, Fore RIGHT! But I am feeling more confident than ever I'm going to break 90--legitimately, following the rules as I know them--very soon. This is what it's all about, and why I was looking for a way to play, eliminating the source of my problems. Now that I've got the swing nearly sorted out, I'll happily go back to the tee box, as I did on my last round. I'm just trying to enjoy the game. Not spread misery. Why would anyone do that? I get enough pleasure in my life as it is. I'm okay, and hope you are, too, all of you. Especially my fellow jerks. I was seriously considering joining evolvr, but don't figure pyromaniacal students would be welcome. Burning bridges. Who knew how easy it could be! PS--Right now, I've got way too much going on to comment on any other subjects. Everyone knows which side I support. PSS-Eric, I was a reporter. I still think like a reporter. I ask a lot of questions, some of them are uncomfortable. It's how I gain information, knowledge, and understanding. A reporter's curiosity is relentless, and doesn't take anything at face value. Be glad I'm not interviewing you for the Golf Channel. (Oh, wait, they don't have reporters at the Golf Channel!) lol

I strongly disagree with the statement the rule changes will make the game easier. The rules make it harder. Nothing makes it easier. Technology should make the game easier, but it doesn't. Yesterday I was reading Bobby Jones, at 14, was winning tournaments against grown men. His personal best score was 74. Tiger Woods might have been breaking par at 14, but not because the rules were changed. The fact is scores haven't gone down as much as the cost of clubs and balls has risen. Nothing is going to make golf easier. Making the experience better is a worthy goal, and except for not changing stroke and distance, the consensus is they've done a good job. My old man has a saying he's fond of repeating: When the world looks out of step, check your own. You guys are bucking the tide here. It would seem for the wrong reasons. When someone figures out how to make it easy for someone to get a square club face on line at impact, then the game will get easier. Nothing in the rules makes the ball go in the hole. The golfer who needs the game to be easier isn't likely to hit the pin from above the hole. The rule change of leaving the flag in the hole isn't going to make it easier for him, and could make it easier for you, assuming the flag will stop your ball from going twenty feet down the hill. That's where mine often ends up on our bikini-waxed greens. The changes of the ball hitting the flag are 2%. That's not going to make the game easier, for anybody.

Got this in the mailbox and felt I had to come back and praise this post. Nicely done. If the USGA had done the sensible thing and leave the rules as they are for "tournament" play--and for anyone who wants the stiffest of tests--and done separate rules for the rest of us, we could have addressed this. Marketing, I think, or media, is the only way to get people to play their game and not the pro game. "Tee it forward" didn't exactly get the word out. Nobody told me that the red tees are ladies' tees. Nobody ever explained to me that par is meant for the expert golfer. I heard yesterday that only 3% of golfers ever break 80. From the stats, with my driver speed, the best I can reasonably hope for is low 80's. Maybe I can do better if I have a great short game, but that's just me. Not sure how dedicated the average golfer is to developing their game. The rules, and the marketing of the game, need to focus on what the average 50 year of male needs out on the course. If it's more beer, then that's okay, too. My point has been in all of my posts is make it easier for the average guy who gets to play twice a month, at best. The guy who is easily breaking a hundred, ninety and eighty will take care of himself. Good job, Lihu. Good stats always make for better understanding. Peace.

Why are you here? Gator, that 30k to 60k. Is that for full time? I have been working on call, which is now no more than 30 hours a week, for three years. It's taken that long for my seniority to get high enough to bid for a full time shift. I have to go to swing shift from day shift, which is going to suck for me, except I'll have more time for golf. Is there any way I can prove my working class cred with you? Finally, a big thank you and apology to Mike and Erik. I finally had another lesson with my pro, who is no longer our head pro but owes me another lesson, still. I had to drive two hours to get the third of the four, but it was worth the trip. You were right. He finally got me to stop sliding my hips. I didn't get it. Now, I do. Lots of drilling. I hit a driver on one hole 294, which is pretty good for an old man, I think. My average drive is around 250. I'm hitting all my clubs better, but as everyone knows, I'm mostly stuck on the driver. Turning my hips is now my numero uno priority. It's nice to finally understand. I'm sorry I didn't understand what you were saying. It took more than an hour, and a stick in the ground for me to really get it. Thanks for the effort.

That was a dumb comment by me. I don't know what I was thinking, or even if I was. (Legal substances here in Nevada do tend to work against thinking sometimes, thank god.) Just dumb and regrettable. When 90% of a group thinks nothing should change, and that a shrinking base is not a problem, that's a place where my liberal, populist opinions aren't going to be, well, popular. I want to see more people playing this wonderful game. I remember when Bushwood was the rule, and the only minorities you'd see were carrying bags. But as long as I can find a place to play that I can afford, I'm going to keep playing because I love the game. Perhaps not all of the traditions, but still, the game is unique. I am often wrong. I find I learn more when I'm wrong than when I'm right. I rarely learn anything when I'm right. I don't care about being right, just getting it right. Being wrong is on the way to getting it right.

A poll in another thread shows me that I don't have an audience here. I guess I'm a thorn that doesn't need to be in the paw. If none of what I've said makes any sense to anybody here, which 90% disagree with, then I'll shut up. I am pissing into the wind.

It's become a cliche. Even the USGA acknowledges the three challenges to the game: It's hard, it's expensive, and it's time consuming. Golf Now helps a lot, but it might not be the best for the courses. Golf Now does make it less expensive. Yes, you're second quote doesn't make sense. Not the first time for me. How about you?

Seriously? Expensive is exclusive and exclusive is expensive. The base of golfers who can afford PB--and who can convince their wives--is tiny. If shrinking it that much is okay with you, how did you miss the polo boom? And you know I have no problem playing anywhere it's good for me. Duh. I could not agree more.

Because we know from playing full courses. Par 3's suck! We duffers rarely hit the green, no matter what. We rarely par one. If I have ever birdied one, it was total luck. I do. Most don't. The game is populated by people who don't. My guess is they don't know any different. They are without clue. Fix that, and it might go a long way to stop the bleeding. 600,000 people is a lot of greens fees.

I have never, ever, not even ever, seen a man play from the red tees. Not sure there is a manly duck you could put on that tee box to get a man to hit from there. Am I the only one who is seeing it the way I am?

I was watching the Golf Channel at four o'clock in the morning when they announced the changes. Just lucky. My life sucks. This sounds pretty stuffy. Who knows what the PRINCIPLES OF GOLF! means? Who cares? Get the ball in the air, into the hole. That's the principle for most people. If you can't handle that, then I don't know what to tell you. Now you know what it's like to be on the wrong side of history. The numbers, which we both know, show that this is only a band-aid on hemorrhaging. Here's what you're up against. There are people out there who laugh when I have said "If I lose two balls on one hole, I don't play it." Now, you can criticize my humor, but most--MOST--people who play golf know what I'm saying. Hell, they laugh when I say that losing a ball is enough penalty, those things are expensive! If you aren't laughing, then maybe you're principled to death. I don't know, and it doesn't matter. Nothing I say is going to change anything. When I play alone, which is most of the time and is all the time my preference, I don't pull the flag. It's a waste of time. If this rule change doesn't survive, then don't expect these rule changes to bring in new people--which is how an activity grows--or keeps people playing who are on the verge (always) of quitting. Yes, the game needs to be simpler. It's hard enough as it is. What you believe is right for you, but is it right for the game we both love? I don't know. I'm just being as objective as I can be.

The red tees are "senior" now? Not women's tees? (Sorry, I have been asleep for decades. When did this happen?) Not where I play! These guys play the blacks! No wonder I've gotten flack. If I'd been playing Eric's courses from the senior tees, I wouldn't have to hit my driver! Hallelujah! lol It was something Eric said which really opened my eyes. It's about cost. I bet you'd be hard-pressed to find a muni anywhere with five tee boxes. Pebble doesn't count.

Once upon a time they used tea cups of soil to tee the ball up. In the distant past, we used to say "Play it as it lies." We had "winter rules." This is a dumb argument. They play by the set of rules they agree to. The easy part is keep the set of rules as they are (or were a hundred years ago). The hard part would be coming up with a new set of rules which grows the game. Despite what 90% of you want, at some point the game will shrink--and grow even more expensive which means exclusive--which means at some point probably everyone hear will be unable to afford it. (The rich aren't here; they have their caddies read it to them.) How many poor kids do you see yachting? Somehow folks perceive golf as being true to itself. For expedience sake (aka money), it is a chameleon. Pretty obvious, actually, but easily concealed from people.