Mr. M

Get in his face and tell him that ain't how we roll on my golf team, got it? Do NOT ignore his behavior; he'll interpret your silence as positive reinforcement.

You've been playing golf for 25+ years, and this guy is old enough to call you "son"...? Perhaps he's a few cards short of a deck.

The higher the handicap, the better the advantage. For Right-Handed Phil, it's a 5-7 stroke advantage. But he's a 5 handicap. For someone who shoots, say, in the low 100's, I can see course familiarity making a difference of up to10-12 shots.

Just went to Golfsmith, looking for a good deal on a used wedge. I found a barely-used McGregor MT-pro forged 58-degree wedge for $49. It now sits in my bag, waiting for me to find trouble during my round this afternoon.

Certainly since the early 50's, maybe even before then, there has never been one second with no golf balls in flight around the world.

There was this old dude at the range Saturday night when I was there (mainly to take a few rips with my new Mizuno driver). So this guy would hit a few line drives with whatever iron he was holding, step back, see if someone needed his expertise, and help where needed. First, he walked over to this group of three guys and a girl and gave the girl a lesson so that she could begin hitting her own line drives. Completely unsolicited. Then he walked back over to his original spot and hit another three or four lasers. At this point, I had my sand wedge out. He stands behind me for a few minutes while I assault the target pin (about 110 yards out). I'm glad I was on target while he was observing me. I have a hard time being polite to people who offer unsolicited advice. As I was leaving, though, he was "helping" ANOTHER girl. At this point, I was just creeped out. Dude. I applaud you for trying to pick up golf chicks half your age, but at the driving range you just come across like a dirty old man. Keep your club in the bag.

Wouldn't it be wild if someone like Ernie Els or Vijay Singh sported some of those pants. And just went about their business, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary? As for the facepaint: it's cool if they win but stupid if they lose.

These are definitely ebayable (I think I'm the first person to use "ebay" in adjective form) items. I got that putter out of there before my mom got any ideas.

I'm going back tomorrow. I'll probably find all that and fifty dozen brand new balls.

I was poking around in my mom's garage today and came across an Odyssey White Hot putter. Brand new. As in unused. Retail: about $170. I was like, "Um, Mom? What's with the putter in the garage?" She says she won the putter awhile back...from a closest-to-the-pin contest. And since she already has an Odyssey putter, she just kind of forgot about it. I'd found it with her old clubs. She just shrugged and said I could have it, no big deal. Uh, that's a really big deal. Bye-bye, 16 year-old Echelon putter.

Give me wide fairways, but stick bunkers on one side of the potential driver landing area and trees/water on the other. So basically, I agree with those who say high risk/reward. Crappy greens suck. Crimony, at least mow and water them. One of my favorite holes to play is a par-3, about 160 yards, with a green that is surrounded by water and protected further by bunkers. Oh, and hard, crappy sand really blows. I like a course to be 6300-6600 yards. That seems about right. I prefer parkland to links, but I've had some decent rounds on a links-style course. I think it's more an asthetic thing. Trees are just prettier than weeds and crap. And give me one par-4 that's nearly driveable. Just one. Maybe somewhere in the the 290-310 range. But put some trouble on either side of the fairway. Give me the option to try to really crank one, but punish me if I don't hit it straight. High risk/reward.

They were on clearance, so it may be a regional- or store-based decision. I only saw that one box. I do love the ball, though.

I tend to agree with your tendency to agree with the other guy's tendency to disagree with the original poster. There is no new era. Yang made us all go "aaaawwwwwww" like when fourth-grade girls see a cute puppy. Now Tiger will come out in the spring and literally devour anyone holding a golf club. If I get to Vegas before the Master's, I will put money on Tiger winning the 2010 slam. Seriously, he could when them all...check out the venues.

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm currently loving the Top Flite Freak.

Ha! Joke's on you, because I fished out the one you tossed into the water and hit it 290 yards.

Years ago, my dad found a 9-wood in a K-Mart used club bin (this was some time in the late 80's I think). It was maybe 10 or 12 bucks, but he was a beast from about 180 yards out with that thing. I wonder what happened to it.....?

You're right about the green-side feel...not much there. But I, too, was pleased with the way they stop on the green when I approach with irons.

I was at Target today and saw a dozen of the Top Flite Freaks for $11. Since I was playing a round later in the day, I bought the balls just for kicks. Now this ball isn't exactly feather-light around the green, but, for me, it was longer and straighter off the tee. I hit a couple of drives straight and 280-290 (almost drove a green that I've been trying to reach in 1 shot since I was 16 years old). I generally hit a couple of bombs anyway, though (just out of luck). No, the real difference was my 3-wood and long irons. I was hitting very solid 3-woods 235-240 yards. For me, that's a 10-15 yard improvement, at the very least. Also, I was hitting greens, and the ball wasn't rocketing off the back of the green...so it's not like this balls are giant marbles. I had more GIRs today than I have in a long while. If you're looking to drop a wedge in there and back it up 10 yards, that's probably not happening with this ball...but I enjoyed playing it today. Anyone else have any experience with these? What do you think?

175 yards out, crazy wind in my face, ball in the rough (we'll call it "the first cut") and on a slope. The ball is above my feet. I grab my 4-iron to attempt a cut shot (LOL) like I keep seeing on TV. I'm thinking, this could go in the water, could fly all the way to the next tee, I could miss the ball entirely, who knows... I executed it just like I imagined...hit the green 20 feet from the pin (almost no roll!) and made par. The next time I try that fancy stuff, I know I'll shank it into the water.

True dat.

God Almighty. I had to read that twice.

I think we should round down to the nearest _9.9. If you are a 15, you round down to 9.9. If you are a 28, you round down to 19.9. Hey, that makes me a single digit handicapper. Sweet...... In all seriousness, though, single digit cappers, I think, start at 9.99999999. So you are almost there.

1) Be careful. Some folks on these here boards frown upon this sort of post. 2) Congratulations on getting that part of your game worked out. 3) Do you realize you didn't use any punctuation or capital letters in your post?

Folks routinely misuse punctuation marks and spell words incorrectly. It's a message board; it happens. But correctness became an issue in this particular thread. I think it's cleared up, however.

You are wrong on both accounts.