Smarf

You got great deals and I'm envious but isn't that 15 clubs? Ping Driver = 1st Calaway 15º wood = 2nd Irons 5 - 9 = 3rd thru 7th Ping Hybrids (17º, 20º, 23º) = 8th thru 10th Wedges = (47º, 52º, 56º, 60º) = 11th thru 14th Putter = 15th

I just wanted to add a quick bit FYI: You can make a degree symbol ( º ) by holding down the ALT key and pressing 167 on your number pad and then releasing ALT.

I just broke 100 for the first time as well over the holiday weekend. I shot a 53 on the front 9 and around the 15 or 16th hole, I remembered something from when my father was teaching me the game. It was the old "keep your left arm straight" adage, but it wasn't JUST that. I remember something clicking inside me when I attempted to keep it straight, and not thinking about anything else. The swing kind of flowed naturally and I thought as a kid that there me must be one thing that people think about that distracts them enough to do it right. Oh if I only I hadn't given up golf after he died... So I step up to the tee: My drive, which normally flies 180 yards and then extreme slices to the right into the woods, suddenly flew straight with a slight left to right curve to it. It was a blind uphill shot, but I knew it had stayed in the fairway. I got to the top of the hill and went past my partners a little ways to look for my ball. I saw a few in the fairway (my partner and his wife will hit two if there is noone behind us), but couldn't approach them safely until after she hit. I started walking to the ball and the guy says "Hey, that's mine! Yours is up there." I saw a ball maybe 60 - 70 yards from the green and actually didn't believe him. No way in Hades did I hit a ball straight and 270 yards. Sure enough it was mine and I still can't believe it. That shot got me on a run and I made par on the last three holes to make a 47 on the back 9 with a total of 100 for the day. I was excited about coming close but when I got home and put my stats in scorecard, I realised I had miscounted and actually had 52 on the front 9 giving me a 99 for the day. Man does that make up for all the bogey's and double bogeys.

The previous weekend on my first time on a real golf course, I shot a 103. This past Friday, we went out again and my front 9 round of 53 wasn't looking good. I was determined to play well and my tee shot on 16th par 4 went farther and straighter than I've ever hit it. I made par on that whole and the remaining two to lock in my 47 for the backround. If I'd only scored better on the front I would have finally broken 100. When I got home and entered my stats into the Scorecard software, I realised I had added wrong on the front 9 and really got a 52 for a final score of 99!!!! That's the best thing about being a poor player, there is only room to improve.

He also gave the winning ball to that guy when he left the green. I was really happy to see that, and glad to see him win again. It was an awesome way to celebrate the people defending our country. On a side note: I was watching CBS's coverage of the match and they didn't show the shot that AK made after he went through those trees and into the opposite fairway on the left. I was curious how he got out of that and wanted to see the shot.

Tiger would drive a giant Nike swoosh that dropped fifty dollar bills out of the exhaust. Boo Weekly's would be camoflauged with hunter orange wheels, and maybe a deer strapped to the hood. Colin Montgomery would have a time out box that he could pout in when he's heading to his next shot.

When I bought my cheapo Acuity set, it didn't have a sand wedge and I figured I needed one. I rummaged through my father's old clubs that we have in storage in the only one I could find was this: Tommy Armour Silver Scot (Tourney) Reg. 182 Those are the only markings on it, and I haven't had any luck finding it on the web. Short of taking it into a golf shop to measure the loft, is there any other way to find out more about it? Anyone heard of it?

At first I thought you were a spambot posting an advertisement until I checked your posts and stats and all that. I haven't heard of this one until now but I'll check it out since the price is in my neighborhood. EDIT: Wow I like the look of this thing. I'm not really advanced enough to need more than yardage to the green. It looks compact and easy to use. The main reason I wanted one was to get a good estimate of how far I hit certain clubs and this one sounds like it will do that. Membership to iGolf seems reasonable at 35 a year if I read that right. I think you might have sold me!

That makes sense, except this one didn't have anything except one of those artificial turf mats and rubber tee like they have at the driving ranges. I think they have a more sophisticated one in the section where they give lessons.

That wouldn't shock me much since my regular driver is an Acuity (made by Dick's Sporting Goods) in their bargain bin for $14.95. Once I know for sure that I'm hitting it on the range like I did in the simulator I'll pay attention to what kind of shaft etc it has. Half of those thing you mentioned, I don't even know what they are. I'm going to the range with it tonight, so hopefully my slice is still gone.

I don't think of it as treating people bad. You just have to be efficient as possible without distracting others or hurting your own game. This past weekend, I went to my first real (non par 3) course for the first time in 20 years. I shot a 103, mainly from slicing my balls into the woods lining the fairways. My group was a riding threesome but we were stuck behind a FIVEsome (Four riding and one walking no less) where everyone hit their drivers 20 yards. We never caught up quick enough to play through but we still finished in four hours on a Saturday morning with a 8:15am tee time. There are quite a few things you can do that are considerate to the people behind you and don't hurt your group mates: - Everyone split up and get to their balls. Have your club ready to go while the back person is shooting, get up and hit yours then move on. - Don't look for a lost ball forever. The 20 times I was in the woods, it didn't take me more than a minute to find my ball and if it did I would just drop another one. The group behind us took their time and were hardly ever waiting on a tee though. - Park your cart at the back of the green closest to the next hole. This way the people behind you can tee off as soon as you're done putting since you don't have to walk back 50 yards to get your cart that you left at your pitching spot. There's a difference between being a newbie and just being an inconsiderate donkey synonym.

Here's a good site for club specifications but I don't see the King Cobra II listed. If it's the SS Oversize made in 2002 then it's 45º. I do know that the Gap Wedge for the KC II set is 50º which matches the one for the 2002 set, so more than likely it's 45º.

Yesterday, I stopped by Golf Galaxy and since the swing simulator was empty I decided to try out a few drivers and see what I liked. I've been slicing the heck out of my cheapo one, and I know it's my technique. So I grabbed every driver I've heard of and started swinging them. Now, I made a conscious effort to put the ball off my left because I think I was confused and swinging with it in the middle of my stance. I hit every damn one straight, and about 200 yards. Now this is my usual distance with the wicked slice, so I thought maybe I had corrected my slice. I kept trying different clubs, mostly 9.5 and 10 degree ones, and it always went straight or with a slight (5 yrd) drift to the right. I finally came to the Cleveland Hi Bore XLS (I think), that looks like a stealth bomber or something. This one was 8.5 degrees which I hear is a pro style offset and not for beginners. Well I tried this one and I was hitting past 200 in the air, and they all ended up in the same spot at about 220 - 225. It's not but $70.00 pre-owned, so I'll probably get it but I'd like to know if these simulators are accurate as far as distance and ball spin etc. It wouldn't suprise me if they were set up to make your ball flight appear straighter and farther than normal so that you'll buy that shiny new driver the salesman hands you.

Even better, record your own MP3's of random loud noises with no set pattern and put the iPod on shuffle. I bet one of that politician guy that went Bleaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, would be great. I haven't really noticed any distraction problems. I also play pool in a league and I'm constantly shooting with distractions. I'm sure that built up some kind of zoning out thing in me.

Thanks for the support and advice. I'm going to try that this Friday when we play the next round. I love the little markers you can put into the Scorecard software, so I'll be able to see how I did after playing irons only and after the lesson. It seemed like a fairly short course and I had no problems reaching greens. My main scoring problem was the penalty strokes for losing it in the woods or OB. Now I'm even more excited to go play, I just hope they don't consider July 3rd a holiday so we get the weekday rate instead of weekend one.

Are you sure your handicap is right? If you're shooting 45 for 9 holes, that 90 for 18 which is about bogey golf. You should be lower than 33 definitely.

The tallest player to ever win a PGA Tour event was Phil Blackmar at 6'7". Phil's average driving distance is 277.6 UPDATE: This is from 2009 PGA e-notes flyer that gives little trivia bits about the upcoming season: Written by Dave Lancer, Director Information · There are 61 members 6 feet, 2 inches or taller this year, including the two tallest players— Jay Delsing and Brian Vranesh —each 6 feet, 5 inches tall. · The 2009 PGA TOUR season begins with 43 members still in their 20s. Of the 43, 20 have already earned TOUR victories—10 of them with more than one. The 10 are Aaron Baddeley (2 wins), Sergio Garcia (7), J.B. Holmes (2), Charles Howell III (2), Trevor Immelman (2), Anthony Kim (2), Sean O’Hair (2), Adam Scott (6), D.J. Trahan (2) and Camilo Villegas (2). · There are 28 rookies on TOUR this year, including 10 who have never played in a TOUR event before—Tyler Aldridge, Matt Bettencourt, Kris Blanks, Matthew Borchert, Marc Leishman, James Nitties, James Oh, Brendon Todd, Brian Vranesh and Gary Woodland. · As the season begins, 11 players on TOUR are under the age of 25. Jason Day is the youngest. He won’t turn 22 until after the season ends (Nov. 12). The rest of the list includes (in order) Derek Fathauer, Webb Simpson, Brendon Todd, Colt Knost, Anthony Kim, Casey Wittenberg, Tyler Aldridge, Dustin Johnson, Spencer Levin and Gary Woodland. · Arizona State has the most alumni on TOUR this year with nine. Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, UCLA and UNLV each have eight with Texas next with seven and Arizona, Florida and New Mexico each with six. · 2009 PGA TOUR players hail from 19 countries outside the U.S. Australia has 24 members to lead all international nations. The U.S. born players hail from 41 states (plus the District of Columbia). · International players have made their presence felt in recent years. International players won 41 titles in the ‘80s, 95 in the ‘90s and 138 already in this decade. · The TOUR will visit 22 states and four countries this season.

Their BIZRate and Verisign logos aren't valid if that tells you anything. I'd be scared to visit their website, let alone buy something from them. They also only take Paypal or Western Union, another fraud sign. Last but not least, they don't spell correctly or use proper grammar in their listings. Probably based in China, which would make them likely to be counterfeits and harder to get your money back.

Well, I guessed right on the money with my 30 handicap, because I shot a 103 my first time out. Except on the par 3's and the dogleg rights, I sliced damn near every ball into the right woods. Now, I've already got lessons lined up, but I'm playing another round at the same course before the lesson. I will get in some practice time at the range and would like to focus on one or two things that may help me hit straighter. From a quick flip through of Ledbetter's Faults and Fixes and the Break 80/90/100 book, I've boiled it down to the following. - Grip: I'm still not getting that see two knuckles thing. I did learn that you're not supposed to address the ball and then change the clubface, you're supposed to adjust the clubface in your hands before placing it. So I may try that until I can get the pro to look at my hands. Would closing the clubface a bit counteract my tendency to open it at impact and make the slice go straight or does that do the opposite and work against me? - Ball position: I would have never guessed that the ball position could cause a slice, but apparently it can. Would I better off trying to work on that, having it lined up with my left heel? I didn't want to confuse myself trying to work on 5 or 6 things at once. I may even just suck up my ego and hit my 4 or 5 iron off the tee since I can keep those straight 80% of the time. For my first round I bit the bullet and decided to use my driver to see how it would go. On the bright side, I did make a few pars, one of which was a 5 foot birdie putt that I missed. Oh, and only the woods ate my balls, not the water. I left my scorecard post at home since I can't access it at work or I'd post the other stuff. I had mostly two putts on every hole except for 2 3-putts and a 1 putt. All I know is that I'm addicted.

Just my opinion but I don't like the word award. Words that start with a vowel look awkward in a web address because they seem to run into the previous word. Double Eagle is especially bad because you may drop one of the E's that are together. I think trophy would be better. ParTrophy.com TrophyGolf.com GolfTrophy.com FlagstickTrophy.com etc etc. I would also nix gimme because some people spell it gimmie.

It wouldn't hurt to try. It's similar to a normal Visa debit card accept the Electron requires all of the funds to be there at time of purchase or it won't work. The reason some shops don't except them is because they don't have the ability to check funds like that. You'll get an error message if it doesn't work, like a decline etc and will be out nothing for trying it. Or you could always call them up.

So funny, taken out of context. I think this should be my signature.

He was pretty funny on David Letterman. Here is the Top Ten list he did in case you missed it: The Top 10 Things Lucas Glover Would Like To Say After Winning The U.S. Open 10. I’d like to thank Tiger Woods for letting someone else win. 9. I started playing golf in March. 8. I forgot my wedge yesterday, so I used a rake. 7. Honestly, I’m just glad to be out of the rain. 6. I had Phil Mickelson in the office pool. 5. Ladies, my last name isn’t “Glover”—it’s “G. Lover.” 4. I drive for show, I putt for dough. 3. Does anybody have a phone number for that Jon & Kate lady? 2. If there’s anything more exciting than watching golf, it’s ten lame jokes read by a guy who plays golf. 1. Even I have never heard of me.

And the biggest cause of slow players is knowing there is a tense, angry one waiting on you to finish the hole. Oh god, if I miss this putt that guy is going to throw his driver at me for taking too long!

I'll give you the son point of view from the father/son golf relationship. My dad was a great golfer and his club workspace was littered with tournament trophies. My mom and I would go out to play with him and get lessons, along with the occassional berating. He eventually got a part time job at a driving range, where I could hit as many balls as I wanted by doing all the washing. That's when the intensity kicked up and he was video taping me, pushing me hard etc. The game was no longer fun for me and I didn't feel I could live up to his expectations. He died from diabetes complications just before my 17th birthday and I never touched a club again after that. I was on my way to being good, and had the game been fun instead of work, I would have been as good as him eventually. Now that I'm his age, I've decided to take it back up again. It's fun for me, although a little lonely. I wish it had been fun back then or that our high schools had golf teams so that I had others to play with, but hindsight is always 20/20. There is a fine line between an Earl Woods and pushing your son to hate the game, be careful. I think it's good you got him on a team with his friends, maybe he'll grow to enjoy it on his own and strive to please himself instead of others.