Norm66

I liked seeing him win yesterday. Good finish.

I understand the sentiment and truthfully golf might be a little easier to sell to the masses were golfers more open to the fans. But you have to put their performance/behavior in context. They're walking up the fairway with fans 3 deep the whole way trying to get their attention etc all the while they're trying to stay in their game because it is their job. To put it another way, can you imagine an NFL quarterback getting hassled by fans during a 4th quarter drive? No way. I tend to give the pros the benefit of the doubt.

Tommy, I'm originally from Youngstown, small world eh? According to their web sites, none of the big golf stores are in WV at this time. As it turns out, Columbus is in fact a little bit closer to me than Pittsburgh (where I'm going tomorrow for a Penguins game; but won't have time to shop). I was definitely hoping for a WVU vs. OSU game, but WVU blew it. Doh!

Klumon, thanks. The Easton one is closer to me (WV), but IIRC my wife has a cousin in or near Dublin so it might be easier to sell the trip if we could do a visit as well. I really liked the fact that Golf Galaxy has a section explaining what & how they do fittings right on their site. Golfsmith's didn't really spell out what they did or why so I'm definitely leaning toward Golf Galaxy now.

Klaymon, thanks! I didn't even know there was a golf Galaxy in Columbus. I'll check them out.

Thanks Big M! I appreciate the help. I don't think this golfsmith has an outdoor range, but dont' they have the simulator doodad? I don't think hitting balls into a net ten feet away from me will tell me much about new clubs. I'll have to look around and see what's available.

I'm ready to get my first set of name brand, fitted irons. I've got my eye on Cobra FPs in part because they've dropped down to about $350 at Golfsmith et.al. I want to have them fitted because my instructor told me just by looking at me he'd make my clubs at least 1" longer than standard so I know standard isn't for me. I live in West Virginia and the closest place that does real fittings I've found thus far (Golfsmith) is about 2 1/2 hours away in Columbus, OH so I'm not really able to just stop by the store to check things out so I figured some folks here might be able to help me out. I'm interested in the Cobras, but I'd like to hit a variety of irons to see how they felt. I definitely want a real fitting, not just measure my ground to wrist distance. Is this done on a walk-in basis or would I need an appointment? How long can I expect between the fitting and the clubs being ready? Does Golfsmith even do live fittings? Any idea of the cost of the fitting? I'm new to this so any other tidbits I might need would be very much appreciated.

I do much better in match play (nothing official, just between friends) because when I hit a bad shot or have a bad hole it's just the one hole and not my entire round I just ruined. I seem to gain a lot of confidence in that and tend to play much better.

Cool! I had the same experience after my first lesson. It turned out I wasn't actually doing what I thought I was doing. It's worth a lesson or five just to have someone who can stand behind (beside etc.) and tell you what you can't feel for yourself. I wasted almost my first full year trying to learn on my own and just snicker now when I see guys posting about being able to figure it out for themselves. My bet is most of those guys will either quit or wind up getting lessons eventually.

Nice. No, I was just trying to think of something that could provoke such hostility towards a talking head on television. I don't like John Madden and Al Michaels, but don't go around the internet calling for them to be fired from their jobs. It just seems like a lot of wasted energy to me, but whatever lights your cigar I guess.

Why all the hostility over a golf commentator? Holy crap dude, did she stand you up at your senior Prom or something?

Has anybody ever compiled a list of all the words and phrases were not allowed to say anymore? Something like George Carlin's big list of dirty words you never hear on TV, but more PC related than sex-related. It would be both fascinating and IMO scary.

Fiji, I'm not sure I follow. The first paragraph seems to agree with me while the 2nd paragraph kind of disagrees. IMHO it's on the parents to teach their kids who are and who aren't good role models.

I'm not a pro by any stretch and really a pretty new golfer (1 1/2 years) but I think "rules" like that one are dumb. Everybody is different and at over 20 handicap driver is the club I have the most confidence in. I would definitely recommend that a new player shouldn't yet try driver on the course, but to limit it to single-digit handicappers seems way overly conservative to me. I didn't use a driver for most of the first year I played and that was great for me. But at the end of that year I'm hitting driver and hitting probably 70% of fairways with most misses being just out of the fairway (as opposed to the next fairway over) with it. I'm not even close to a single digit handicap, but the driver has helped my game rather than hurt it. Edited to add: Of course it's also necessary to know when and when not to hit the driver. One of the common mistakes I see my buddies make is hitting driver on #12 where we play most often. It's a 510 yard par 5 that doglegs hard left about 230 off the tee with trees in the bend. These guys try to draw a driver around that corner and when it works, it's beautiful, but they often slice it, draw it into the trees or just hit it straight through the fairway up onto a mound. I always hit 3-wood and more often than not lay it right in the bend leaving a nice straight shot to the green.

My concern about the PED controversy is that due to the manufacturers staying one step ahead of the testers it'll lead to witch-hunting when a guy goes on a streak yet tests negative. If it was truly an easily verified black & white, user/non-user climate I'd be all for rigorous testing. As it is though, with the lists of drugs that are ok if prescribed by a doctor or just not on the banned lists etc. it leaves too much open to interpretation by the media and by fans alike. As an aside, I'm one of those guys who doesn't think that just because somebody is good enough to play pro ball, golf, hockey etc. that that makes them a role model for somebody else's kids. Being saints (role models) to kids is simply not in the job description of pro athletes, they're there to compete and win. Parents IMHO are too quick to try and force role model status on sports stars. In many cases, they're just not good ones and they can't be forced to be.

If the rain holds out I might get 18 in this afternoon. Here's hoping.

Not due to golf, but my mother-in-law had to have surgery twice (different fingers) to cure trigger-finger. She's 100% with both of them now. I've been pretty lucky as far as golf injuries go. I had a sore back last spring for about two months, but once I got some lessons and quit hitting 10" behind the ball that's been a lot better.

I tried to learn by myself for the first 8 months or so. Then I took 5 lessons over 6 weeks and made more progress in that time than I had in the previous 8 months combined. It seems like a lot of money, but it will pay dividends to put a few bucks into lessons early on just to get you started on the right foot. If you wait to take lessons later you'll have to undo a lot of what you learned on your own.

Cool! A guy I work with lost a bet with his son (about his golf accomplishments) and the two of them will be playing Pinehurst No.2 in May. Glad you had a good time.

For drivers, the smallest I've seen any new models in is 425cc. Out of curiosity, what's your reasoning for wanting a smaller headed driver than even the pros use?

Well, a ball that's not sliced will go further than one that is sliced. But no, offset doesn't reduce the distance you can expect from a given club.

Chalk one up for the overweight tattooed golfers of America! :) Josh was actually my pick, but I liked almost all of the contestants this time around.

I got a pretty good distance (and accuracy!) boost when I began starting my downswing by "firing" my hips. Also, trying to release as late as possible seems to help with distance, but I'm not 100% there yet.

My wife golfs with me occasionally. She really enjoys the local par-3 course because her lack of distance doesn't show nearly as much as on the "Big Boy Courses". But she also likes to play on the regulation courses and when we do, we just play scramble rules so she gets to hit all the shots without feeling the frustration of taking 6 shots just to get to the green. A friend of mine told me early on not to try to teach her myself. She's had a couple lessons and will take some more this Spring so hopefully she'll improve this year. To be honest though, I don't want to play with her all the time. Sometimes it's good to get out by myself or with buddies and not have to worry about the wife.

Some cool stories here. Mine isn't as touching as the dad & grandpa taking you out. I played in a company golf scramble as the 'rank amateur' on my team. I learned a grip and not much else on the range before we started. My goal was for my team to use at least one of my shots that day. We used several, but I hit a driver to within 8 feet of the hole on a 143 yard par-3(!) and a little later hit a 20 foot putt for a birdie. That was my first hit off the 'crack pipe' and I haven't put it down since. Of course nowadays that little down hill par-3 is easy for me to fly over with a pitching wedge if I'm not careful. Good times.