Jackemy

That is a huge 3 wood. May I ask why would you ever carry a driver?

You did the right thing according to the rules on picking up the ball and scoring the par. Changing your score is actually incorrect since you as supposed to score what you would reasonably think you would get if yu continued to play until you holed out. Personally, I would ask whomever is your handicap chair to adjust your round to a 72. Nice 9 BTW.

The assistant pro just sold me two dozen Nike ONE Tours for $60 so I guess I playing them for most of the rest of the summer. But I usually play Srixon z-star. I like Pro V1s as well but not enough to pay $20 more than the Nike's or $10 more than the Srixon. I also like the brighter white of the Srixon over the Titleist.

It becomes a factor when there is a tree between me and the pin ;). Personally, I used to love my old forged blades as I loved shaping recovery shots from anywhere. But with the new techonology (or just the fact that I don't have the game I once had) I can't really shape anything with any consitency.

What did you both shoot on your own ball and what are both of your handicaps?

There shouldn't be a difference as long as you post your adjusted score.

The current ESC is surely not as exact as the old system where your course handicap would determine how many double or triple bogeys you could post in a round for handicap purposes. I did prefer the old system, but can understand that this system is probably better overall for ease of remembering and consistency when you play a bunch of different courses.

Yes, my current set was fitted by Titleist and my club pro. And yes it has tremendously helped my game. But, it could be just that I was playing a 15 year old set of Ram Fx2 (great clubs for their time) and now I'm playing AP2s. I spent 2 hours with my club pro who fitted me with proper length, lie angle and shaft, for the Nike Split Cavity, Titleist AP2, Calloway X-22 tour, Cleveland CG7 Reds. And honestly when I was tweaking the AP2s I could immediately feel the difference and see the results between an unfitted AP2 and a fitted one. I would never, ever invest in new equipment without it fitting me perfectly regardless if I was a scratch golfer or a hacker.

The rule is you are both disqualified from the hole. From the USGA website: 30-3f/6 Player Plays Away from Hole to Assist Partner Q. In a four-ball competition, a player purposely putts away from the hole to a position slightly farther from the hole than the spot where his partner's ball lies and on the same line to the hole as his partner's ball. The player then putts towards the hole, and the roll of his ball is helpful to his partner in determining how much his putt will break, etc. Is such procedure contrary to the Rules? A. Such procedure is contrary to the spirit of the game. In match play, in equity (Rule 1-4), the player should be disqualified for the hole and, since his action assisted his partner's play, the partner should incur the same penalty — Rule 30-3f. In stroke play, the player should incur a penalty of two strokes and, under Rule 31-8, the partner should incur the same penalty.