Nutsmacker

When I got the golfing "bug" so to speak; I would hit a lot of balls on the range until I hurt the tendon in my wrist from hitting the ball too fat on the mat. That was 15 years ago and the wrist pain will occasionally creep up on me again if I try to play 36 holes or I play more than two days in a row. Now, when I do go...I keep it very light...about 50-60 balls and I stick to one or two clubs that need work. This year I have been fighting tendonitis in my elbow which has cut my range time down to nil. I have played much less...however, I haven't seen a dramatic drop off in my game. I have shot some of my better rounds this year....I would say that I have been a little more erratic with my scores than before...possibly due to not practicing hardly at all anymore. However, as I get older I have to be mindful about how many "good swings" I have in the tank. The only way I am going to do a long range session is if I know I am not going to play for at least a few days. I would like to save my strength for the course. Getting older definitely sucks....and catches up to you much quicker than you want!

I started using the flexbarand doing the therapy exercises everyday. I have noticed it helps. Its surprising that doing an exercise actually improves the condition. I have been doing it for a week and they say give it 3 to 4 weeks before you start to see a good deal of improvement. However, I do feel better after using it. I think for myself, I like to do a lot of pull ups and pushups for exercise. I also drive probably 30 hours a week and of course, like to play golf. I also turned 40 years of age and almost immediately got the infliction right after my birthday. The doctor mentioned that it starts to crop up at 40 years. Great.... Anyhow, I will let you know how I feel after about a month of using the flexbar.

I am not sure if this counts, but I had no 6's....however I had two 5's on par 3's...which feels worse than taking a 6 on a par 5. 4 birdies though... 3 5 5 4 5 3 5 3 5 - 38 +2 4 5 4 3 3 4 5 5 5 - 38 +3 5 over 76. I was surprised that I actually played this well as my last two rounds I scored 90 and 95 and frankly embarrassing as it was my worst two rounds of the year and in an event. Yikes!

That sounds like a good idea. I have noticed that the pain kind of comes and goes in waves. I have my girlfriend massage the heck out of my arm to the point wear tears are ready to come out of my eyes before I play golf, and it definitely takes a lot of the agony away. However, when I am completely stagnant...the pain tends to get worse. There definitely seems to be a fine line of giving it a rest and also keeping the area moving and warmed up. Too much work for that poor elbow is going to make it worse...but doing nothing also seems to make it worse.

I have been dealing with my first ever issue of tennis elbow this summer. It has really set me back in golf. It is really hard to finish the golf swing when you know its going to hurt. I really feel for the touring pros and the fact that they hit gobs of golf balls everyday. I don't really know how they do it. Anyhow, I do a lot of pushups and pullups for exercise but I also play a lot of golf. This year I got tennis elbow in my left arm really bad and a slight version of golfers elbow in the right arm. ugh...it is a horrible injury to deal with if you are a golfer. My doc said its a combination of too many pullups/pushups, golfing, and simply age. I have been fighting it for the better part of 10 weeks now. I just started exploring various remedies. I couldn't believe it, but the elbow straps provide almost instant relief. Not the compression sleeves, but the actual straps. I am not sure that it is a cure, but I think it takes pressure off the damaged tendon/muscle and allows it to heal. Since I started wearing the straps the pain has subsided quite a bit. You can also play golf while wearing it. Anyone dealing with this horrible infliction, I highly recommend getting some straps. https://amzn.to/2MbZSyn

Yea, for real. I mean he shook his hand. He just put two balls in the water. Do you expect him to be all smiles after handing over the championship in the last few holes of a 4 day tournament? I am surprised that he even was able to shake his hand at all. I have played golf with guys that have imploded toward the end of an event and have behaved the worse. I don't think less of them as people. I know that they are upset at themselves...not me.

I was thinking of just dropping in the bunker again, but far enough away that I could clear that lip. Reteeing would be pretty crazy to do I think because I would need to stuff it and put the putt down in order to make it worth it. I will say Reed's third shot was impressive. My point is that if he had taken the penalty, he could have had that shot to begin with and made a 4 instead of a 5

I am going to take a video of the sand traps the next time I am there. Its crazy how many bees are in there. I have no idea why or how that happens.

If it was me, I would have known that I had no shot of getting it out so I would have probably taken the penalty. One other question I have on bunkers is that there is a course that my friends and I play that for some reason has bees swarming all over the sand in every one of the bunkers. It is actually pretty scary to go in there and take a swipe at the ball when there are hundreds of bees hovering an inch off the sand. We usually just rake the ball out and play from behind the bunker because none of us want to have a sting. What would be the official ruling on that?

I was watching a clip of Patrick Reed taking three shots to get out of a pot bunker in the Scottish open. I was thinking when he was trying to figure out his first shot, why not take an uplayable lie and give himself a better chance to get it out and on the green. What is the ruling there? Wouldn't it have been smarter to take the penalty stroke and give yourself a chance to get it out and on the green instead of hacking away inside a pot bunker? There was no shot of him getting it out on the first stroke, and he almost hit himself with the ball when he hit it. Then he had an even worse shot on the 2nd attempt.

No, you are right. I should have said something as soon as I thought I saw what I saw. I was just dumbfounded by what I thought I saw initially. Again, I was sneezing and my eyes were watering most of the day so I wasn't quite sure if I was just having a brain meltdown or what. Maybe when I email the organizer about the incident(s); I will request to call the ruling of D33-7/9 on myself to bring attention to the matter. That could be a way to shine a light. I don't plan on playing with that group again anyhow.

Fair enough. I did want to make sure that it was in fact the case. It was blazing hot and my allergies were driving me nuts so I wasn't sure if I was in fact witnessing the cheating move or losing my mind. The last thing I wanted to do was be wrong about it. When I did say something to him it was right in front of my eyes as we were both lining up short putts. So, I saw him go through the entire motion within a few feet of my eyes so I was 100% sure of it at that point. However, I was about 95% sure of it after 9 holes. I wasn't always in a place where I could see whether he was doing it or not.

I don't think I ignored the breach of rules. I told the person running the tournament. I am more than happy to disqualify myself if necessary, but I did not ignore it. I am tempted to write an email to the organizer outlining what happened again; and I will offer to disqualify myself. Frankly, I don't want to have to deal with this ever again....there is nothing fun about it whatsoever.

I didn't.