Nutsmacker

Great, so they will hit it shorter. That's awesome! What balls conform? This sounds like a sales pitch in congress for a new tax. "It only effects this group" Of course people would be better if they bought launch monitors, take lessons, practice everyday etc, but let's be realistic...most people don't have the time for that. Recreational weekend golfers are what keeps courses open(at least where I live) if that player is no longer enjoying themselves, we will likely revisit 2010-2016 when less people play and more courses close. Where I live, which is very busy, we lost at least 5 public courses in that time frame when golf was dying a slow death. There have been zero new golf courses constructed in my state for over 20 years with multiple courses that are permanently gone. Please explain how making the game less fun for the weekend player is going to improve the cash flow at a golf course? Playing the wrong tees and naming them. - I didn't name them, the golf course did. Take it up with the local government, not someone pointing out the issue. And yes, many player do "stink" - Again, not everyone can spend their entire week practicing golf. I really feel this is completely out of touch with reality to mention all of this. And finally, I am going to keep playing...I love the game of golf. I also recognize that most people that play don't share the same enthusiasm I have for the game. However, my fear is less enthusiasm to play, which leads to less investment in building and/or maintaining public courses, which leads to less options to play golf. So, yes, I am thinking about myself. I am thinking that I want to have more than a couple of public courses to play. One day I will spring for a CC membership but I don't have the means to do so at the moment. I don't think this helps the game grow at the recreational level. In fact, I can't find a single point that you made that makes the game more desirable to play from this rule change for the average person.

How often do you think a guy that is 43 years old is going to want to move up to the senior or ladies tees? We have the Tips, a Blue, a White(men's), Senior, Ladies. We usually play white's. When I don't play with them I play the blues. Again, I feel like everyone is just thinking about themselves and not the overall impact of the game and the revenue(and likely more golf course closings) that will result from this.

Hey man, I totally agree with you. Rolling back distances is not a good idea. I don't know about the people on the forum that are scratch players and what not, but at all of the public courses I play...I generally hit farther than most of the randoms I play with and my golf friends and have done so for 20 years. I hit the ball about 270 Yards average off the tee and I hit it about as far today as I did when I was 21 years old. Most players including a lot of my age 40+ friends can't hit the ball 230. The game is supposed to be fun and hitting the ball further is fun. This seems like a fun sponge of a ruling and will likely hurt the overall game for the older folks and recreational golfers. I don't want to hear about "its not going to hurt you that much" - every single one of my friends and acquaintances would do anything for 10 more yards off the tee. They are making rule changes for the elite players that we will never be. I spend 100 bucks to go play golf and the last thing I want is to be rolling the ball back. 99% of the golfers I play with aren't hitting it "too far" - they are barely able to even attempt to get on GIR. Many have given up playing now when they have to layup on a par 4.

Titelist TS4. Started with TS3, and moved over to the TS4 against everyone's recommendation and my driving is now consistent and long. Love the the smaller and more traditional head.

I mean, yes I am able to be versatile with it. It is not like I am totally messing up the shots or anything. It is just my thinking that my 5 wood rarely sees any action and when it does it really isn't that important anyway when it comes to my overall score so why not remove it and add a scoring club that will probably get more action. I lose a little bit of distance control trying to hit the PW between 130-145. My thought is if I had a stock shot at 135, I might be putting myself in better shape for more birdie opps. If a club in my bag is not getting used, why not replace it with something I would hit more often? I realize I am splitting hairs, but this season I have got my handicap down a few strokes for the first time in awhile and I am trying to get down a little further. Every little bit counts at this point...

Hey All, Over the years I have continuously changed my club configuration in my bag to suit the typical courses I play and the shots that I need. I used to carry stronger 3 woods and longer irons when I was younger because "hitting it far at all costs" was the name of the game for a young man. It was foolish but fun. Probably cost me lots of strokes over the years by trying to go for every par 5 in two and make the hero shot. It was awesome when successful, but I had to be honest with myself and the 4% or 5% eagles I made vs the increased double bogeys on par 5's was costing me my handicap and any real attempt to get closer to scratch. As of right now my set is Titleist TS4 Driver - Distance average is 270 yards (8.75 degrees x stiff) Ping G10 3 wood - 240 yards Ping G10 5 wood - 230 yards Callaway XR 7 wood - 215 yards Ping G Irons 6 Iron - 190 yards 7 iron - 180 yards 8 iron - 170 yards 9 iron - 160 yards PW - 150 yards UW - 125 yards Cleveland CBX 52 Degree wedge - 112 yards Cleveland CBX 56 Degree wedge - 100 yards Cleveland CBX 60 Degree wedge - 85 yards I got rid of most of my long irons as my thought process is that if I am looking at an approach of 200+ Yards, I am not going pin hunting. I just need to get it airborne and somewhere on or around the green. This is accomplished with the 7 wood/6 iron depending on the wind, conditions, and my ball striking of the day. I use my driver and 3 wood off the tee most of the day. However, I find myself rarely needing the 5 wood and a shot of that range, 230ish yards, I could simply use my 3 wood or 7 wood to compensate. Bottom line is that the only time that club comes out of my bag is for an attempt at a par 5 in two. I use all of my wedges a lot more often and the gap between my PW and UW causes me some fits as I find myself in the 135 yard range often for an approach. This requires me to try and dial down the PW or swing hard with the UW. The degree of loft on those clubs are 45 degrees for the PW and 50 degrees for the UW. Anyhow, the dial down or swing "hard" method is not ideal for pin hunting. I would like to remove my 5 wood from the bag and add a 47 or 48 degree wedge. However, I really want it to feel like the other clubs in my bag. The CBX wedges match nicely with the Ping G irons. Do you folks have any good suggestions on a wedge that would fit in between my PW and UW? I must say, my scores have improved by giving myself more granularity on my wedges and getting rid of the 5 iron, 4 iron, etc. It just makes more sense as I want to be close on 150 and in. 200+ and out, I am trying to get par, not birdie. Any thoughts or insights into similar bag configurations is appreciated.

Here in Maryland the courses are open with some guidelines to follow as of August. They are busier then ever and the courses have all raised prices and removed the ability to purchase a 9 hole round regardless of the time of day. For some reason the coronavirus has effected the ability to play and pay for a 9 hole round. We have foam in the cups (does any of this have any scientific basis behind it?) The one thing that bothers me the most is the termination of all of the tournaments and events. All of my favorite summer tourneys have been cancelled. I am not sure I understand the point of this as we are all out golfing anyway. Anyhow, I am looking forward to a time when I can walk up to the starter without wearing a mask and making sure that when I have to sneeze, cough, or fart that I don't have to run into the woods so no one hears me and freaks out.

Hitting it long will save your butt. For me, it hides my weaknesses in my long irons. I rarely need to pull a 4 or even a 5 iron if I am stroking the driver out there 280-300 yards...at least at the courses I play. In fact, I dumped my 5 iron recently and instead I have loaded up my bag with a myriad of wedges. Reason being, I am not trying to "score" so much when I have a 4 or 5 iron into a green. At that point I am just trying to get anywhere on the green or near it so I can save par. However, When I am 160 yards and in; I am thinking about molesting the flag.

The modern era Greg Norman?

It is pretty boring. The thrill of it is the annoying fans and potential of a fan fighting a player. The only other interesting thing about the course from a fan perspective is that we can play there rather easily(if you live on the east coast.)

Spieth takes forever to hit the ball. Just hit it!

In the last 3 years I have shot a low round of 68 and a high round of 94. Out of 130 rounds during that 3 years I have had about 20 rounds in the 70's(1 in the 60's), 100 rounds in the 80's, and about 10 in the 90's. For me shooting in the 70's, is basically eliminating catastrophic mistakes, duffs, chunks, and 3 putts. Generally speaking I cannot make it through an entire round without having at least one or two catastrophic mistakes which is why I tend to shoot in the 80's more then the 70's. When I do shoot in the 90's it is because I have exploded a few holes, something is seriously off in my swing and mental thought process and the course is difficult. If the course I am playing is not terribly difficult, I can almost always keep it under 90 no matter how poorly I am playing. But, when playing on a challenging course I can really suck. I am a 7.5 handicap also. Hope that helps keep things in perspective.

Well, the beauty of it all is that we will find out soon enough if he catches Jack. Personally, I think he will do it.

I guess you are missing my point. It doesn't matter. It seems like you are arguing that its the other golfers that are going to stop him from winning more. My point is that if he wants it; he will get it. So, its not that he is being held back by himself...it is that if he wants it bad enough I don't doubt that he will get it. But who knows? Maybe he is content with the one major victory and he will go back to running his restaurant...which I seriously doubt.