glk23

I have had mine for a season and a half and love it. It speeds things up and knowing exact distances has helped a lot. I also know my distances for hard/dry summer as well as cold/soggy fall/winter.

They pretty much drain everything in the 3-5' range. Also lag putting, it seems like no matter how far away they are, they put it in the range above then drain it.

I go with low compression 2 piece balls when the weather cools and the greens soften up. I keep any good balls I find in this category during the year and play them in the fall/winter. I like srixon soft feel, TM Burner LDP, TF D2 Feel plus a few others thrown in. Zero need to spend much on balls in my area during the fall/winter season.

Thanks for all the input so far. Unfortunately, the course I like the best is the furthest away and costs the most to join. Not sure about going :45 away on the weekend for tournaments when the other 3 possibilities are only in the :15 range. Also as part of its membership you get discounted tee times which I would never use as all my rounds there are twilight and later. A couple of the courses also give a free round to new members so it cuts the cost to join almost in half. Seems like flip a coin time.

I am talking about a public course. All of the courses I am looking at have monthly men's club tournaments, plus some have weekend "choose ups" and/or leagues. Part of doing this is to meet other golfers as I play most of my rounds as a walk on. The course I like the most and play the majority of my rounds at is 30 miles away, but is close to where I work. I am really down to 4-5 options, but none has everything I would like.

I started playing again in 08 after 12+ years off and have been playing pretty steady ever since. As my games has been improving, I have started to consider joining a men's club. I would like to get an official handicap and play in some tourny's/leagues. There is probably 7-10 different options in my area and I'm having a hard time deciding. Some courses I like better, some have better variety of tournaments, some have leagues, but none seem to have enough of what I want to make an obvious decision. Guess my question is, how did others go about deciding where to join especially if you are in an area with a lot of variety?

Been lucky so far in PNW and plan on playing tomorrow. I have played each week so far in October, but don't expect that to last much longer.

I have a 2011 Grom that I got last November and have used for the entire season. It replaced my 2010 that I really liked but had 2 zippers blow out and become useless. Ogio offered me a 2011 for $100 so I took them up on it. I have used this bag since I received it and have walked 50-60 rounds while carrying it. While I know there are bags out there that weight less, I don't have any problems carrying it with all my stuff. The bag has held up well over the first year and the zipper design is much better. Once I found the club placement that i liked, I prefer the 14 way divider to the Woode system.

Today may have been my best day of golf even though it didn't start out that way. Shot a +1 73, lowest round of the year, and missed two putts of 4' which could have resulted in an even par or -1 round. It sprinkled in the afternoon which made the greens wet and resulted in slow sandy putts since the greens were sanded 2 weeks ago. This upset me because yesterday was sunny and I knew I would regret not taking advantage of it. I'm playing as a single and course seems wide open until I catch a 4 some on the fourth hole. Thought they might let me threw as I was getting to the tee box as they were pulling away.No such luck as they head to the left trees where 3 of them proceed to to take 2+ strokes to hack their balls out. Once they are out of range, I hit my tee shot into the right rough and hope they will let me threw on the next hole. Range finder says 140 yds to a middle pin placement and as I wait, one of the guys yells and waves me up. Wished they would have waited as now I feel pressure with 4 guys standing around the green watching. My only thought is don't duff it. Grab the 9 iron and make a good swing hit it a little thin but right on line. The ball hits the front of the green, releases and starts breaking left towards the hole. Just as I hear one of the guys yell, "go in", the ball disappears and they begin to yell. I just start laughing as I walk up to the green and get fist bumps from the group. Pull my ball from the cup and thank them for allowing me threw. My only other long hole out was to a ridged green and I never saw the ball go in and was playing by myself. It made the rest of the round not matter even though I continued to play well.

My feet are very flat and I have difficulty buying any kind of shoes. For golf, adidas seem to have the least amount of arch. I've tried on all of the major brands and adidas are the only ones I can wear. I have two pair: one is a "tennis" shoe style and the other is a black leather. I've had them for going on two years and I walk all my rounds with zero problems with my feet. If your feet are anything like mine, you will need to try on lots of pairs to see what suits you.

My ball striking improved greatly over the last year after I started hitting 50-100 balls a night in my garage. I would do this 3-5 times a week depending on how often I'm playing. My setup is more ghetto than a fancy net and mat, but it works just fine. Even without the ball flight, I know when I put a good swing on the ball. Earlier in the year I was struggling with drawing/hooking my irons. I was able to figure it out in my garage as I could feel it even though I couldn't see it. An added bonus is it's free. It's nice to be able to hit as many or few shots as I want.

While I don't have it as bad as you, living in Washington means I might get to play once per week for the next 4-5 months; this is if I'm lucky as a fall/winter like last year will mean maybe once a month. During this time I look to increase my exercise program which includes yoga, stretch bands and a yoga ball. Last winter I set up a place in my garage to be able to hit balls off a rug into some padding. This turned out to be a big help as I would hit 50-100 balls multiple times per week. I felt like my swing was able to stay grooved throughout the winter. I plan on doing the same thing this fall/winter to keep the swing in shape.

I know I am not the only one who loves finding great deals good used clubs. For me the less money I spend on clubs, the more rounds of golf I get to play. If money was no object perhaps my bag would look diffently, but since it is, I love me some deals. I have spent a grand total of $85 on the last 4 clubs I have added to my bag. This includes the $40 I spent on a brand new Wilson tw9 gap wedge. On a side note, I got this club a few weeks ago from Budget Golf and expected a Wilson shaft and grip; to my surprise, it arrived with a Dynamic Gold s300 shaft and Lamskin grip. Obviously, I didn't complain or send it back. Here is a breakdown of how the other $45 was spent on 3 clubs. Hybrid: Finally decided early in the spring that I was done with my 5W and went looking for a hybrid. Sinc I am frugal, I began looking used and a few years old. Heard really good things about the Nickent 3dx and began shopping ebay. Was about the buy one like new for $45 when I stopped by a Golf USA that had opened a couple of months earlier. They had a barely used 3h for $15; hit it on the monitor and liked it enough to take a flyer. Put a new grip on and $20 out the door. First two rounds with it, I was able to reach greens that I could not make before. Love this club. Sandwedge: Was not happy with the club in my set especially out of the sand so I started another search. Read positive things about older Ping Eye 2's for sand use especially. Back to ebay, but most were $40+ for the ones that looked the worse. A couple of week later I am in another store, look in their used club bin and spy a eye 2+ sand wedge in good condition. Hit it on the monitor a few times and it felt nice. Looked at the sticker.......$2.99. Add a grip and $8 later I am leaving the store. This club gets out of the sand every time. It's also great for chipping and the grooves were sharp enough to gouge up a ball pretty good on a full swing. 3W: I haven't carried one as I found my scores were better on par 5's if I layed up to some kind of wedge distance instead of a 40-50 yd. chip shot. My swing has improved alot this year and some of the courses I play have par 5's that I feel I should go for in 2. On these holes a good drive leaves me 230-250 out and my 3h is about 200-210. Going the same route as earlier, I go into the Golf USA and see a Callaway Hawkeye vft 3W for $14.99. Hit it on the monitor and had a hard time believing some of the distances, but for $15 I took the flyer. First time out, on the last par 5 I am 238 yds from a back pin. I put a good swing on it and it ended up about 25' left of the pin and two putt birdie. The best part is not only inexpensive clubs that have worked great so far, but probably saved $50-75 that went to more rounds of golf. It seems like there is so much golf equiptment out that there are great prices to be found on excellent gear.

I know it's mostly preachIng to the choir here, but man is this a good ball and at the price probably a great ball. I used it starting last fall and through the spring. As the weather got better, switched to my stash of TM Reds. I really like the TM, but the NW weather this summer never firmed up things enough to need the extra spin. In fact I was coming up short on chips and putts most of the summer. Decided to bust out the Gamers on Tuesday and shot my low round/personal best of 73. Chips rolled out a little more, which I like, and the same with putts. Ponied up on Thursday and played a nicer course that I had never played before. Brought the Reds just in case, but after the first hole (driver, 9 iron to 15', 2 putt par) continued with the Gamers and shot 77. Today, went to a course I haven't played in a month and shot another 73. Now I know it's not all ball, but I think I got up and down more times in these 3 rounds than in the previous I don't know how many. Instead of leaving myself 6-8' putts after longer chips, I was 2-4' with more roll out. I think I will be sticking with the Gamers for the rest of the season.

So you are part of the problem. I just love coming up behind a group of 20 hdcp who won't let faster people through. If I'm allow to go out as a single, it usually means the course is not very busy. Put away whatever chip you have and get out of the way. No reason I should skip a hole because you don't believe in letting faster players through.

I play at least 90% of my rounds as a single. If it's busy, I expect to be paired up with a 2-3 some and usually don't have to wait long. Quite often I am sent out as a single and either pair up along the way or am allowed to play through. Tonight was a good example, teed off at local muni as a single at 4:45 and caught a 2some on 4. They let me play through on 5 and caught 2 ladies on 9. They let me play through on 10, but caught back up when 12 got slow. We paired up for the rest of the round and still walked off 18 at 8:00. A nice 3:15 round on a Sunday evening.

Look at Wilsons ci9 and di9, both can be had new on eBay for under $250. Both are nice irons and at that price you can't beat it. Plenty of used options out there for around $300 if you want to go that route.

Since they are hazards, why even bother with raking them after I am done? I mean if I am unlucky or unskilled enough to be in one, then being in footprints or worse should add to the hazard.

So far this season most of my rounds have been spread out around 6-8 local muni's. Without exception, the bunkers are pretty bad and inconsistent. At best you get a thin dry top layer with wetter sand below; at worst is thin top with hard dirt underneath. Sometimes both kinds at the same course. If this wasn't bad enough, I'm sure I have not had a raked lie yet. The ball usually sits up high with who knows what under it. As you might guess, this makes getting out a chore and getting close unlikely. Yesterday after my playing buddy and I both had our sand issues, I half joked that I wouldn't mind having a "pick, rake and place" rule when we are playing casual rounds. Anyone else having the same frustration with the bunkers at your course(s)?

It may partly depend on what kind of courses you play the most and where you live. If you play hard fast greens all year round, then I would think a premium ball would be a must. I live in WA and only "need" the TM Reds I use about three months of the season; the rest of the year a good three piece ball and even two piece in the winter, will serve just fine. With so many good balls on the market, it is hard to tell someone what will work for them.

IMO, "play" less and practice more. By play less, I mean 18 holes, keeping score and counting all shots. I don't like pounding balls on the range so when I was trying to get from where you are now to lower scores, I utilized a par 3 course and a 9 hole university course at a local private college. Timed right, I could hit multiple balls from any distance without bothering anyone. I also rarely chipped or putted when doing this unless no one was around. Would spend a couple of days just on the short game. Actually "playing" 18 would come after the above routine and would give me an idea of what to work on the following week.

Single black dot to the upper left of the number on the ball. Also use a black alignment aid over whatever is already there. I found the line really helpful with short putts.

I hit balls in my garage almost every day. Once or twice a week, I go to a local course and work on my short game. At least half the time someone leaves range balls on the chipping green or there'll be a half empty bucket on the range and I'll hit those. Lately my putting practice has been 6-10' putts as I have not been making enough of those. Also alway start out with 3' putts to warm up. There is a 9 hole course close to me at a private university that I go to sometimes and when it's not busy I can hit multiple balls from different distances as much as I want. The greens are small and not in very good shape so I rarely do much with the short game there, but it's great for working on the driver and irons.

Here is a tip for those short chip shots. The biggest problem I see for higher hdcp golfer's is deceleration through impact. For these types of chips, I use my "slow motion" shot. I focus on taking a real slow backswing which forces me to accelerate through the shot. When done with a higher lofted club, the ball pops up, lands softly with a little run out.

I play almost exclusively as a single and usually don't have a problem getting on in :30 or so of showing up. There are times I have to rush out as the group I'm with is on the tee box or next up. I figure it's the price I pay for being a single. If I really wanted a set time, I would probably call for a twosomes and use an excuse why my partner didn't show. Most all the courses I play regularly have let me out by myself if the conditions allow it; this usually occurs either early morning, late afternoon or in the off season.