Norm66

So what's your explanation then? They all got together before the show started taping and decided, 'Hey guys, let's put one over on all the viewers, let's lie two clubs worth through out the show, they'll all think we're professional golfers for sure'. A 165-yard 9-iron is about 40 yards farther than I can reliably hit my 9-iron, but the first thing that comes to my mind isn't "they're lying", it's "wow, nearly-pro golfers hit their 9-irons a long way!"

"And let us all try to refrain from calling our fellow bloggers names. You can argue your point without name calling." Not that it matters, but this is a forum not a blog. Blogs are generally written by one person, not anybody who logs on. Sorry for the interruption. :0)

I used to think my short game was better than my long game and maybe it was, but no more. I'm much more confident off the tee now (almost 60% of fairways, a major improvement for me) and when I do miss the fairway I'm not in the next one over or OB nearly as often. I'm OK with wedges, but still lose a ton of strokes with the putter.

Thanks guys, it was fun. To answer Erik, I was off in the woods taking a leak and we were playing ready-golf trying to get in before the course closed at 5:00. Don't tell the officials, we both might get disqualified. ;^)

This guy who I've golfed with a lot this summer has been playing for 20 years or so while I've been golfing a little over a year. He's consistently beaten me by ten strokes on average almost every time we've played. The only time I'd won all year was a day when we played 27 holes and he just wasn't hitting the ball well. Yesterday was our final after-work 18 of the year due to the time change this weekend. We left work a little early, got to the course at 2:00pm and found out the course closed at 5:00 due to Halloween. There were groups lined up on #1 and nobody coming up #9 so we decided to start on the back, match-play so we could get 18 in before five o'clock. I was down two holes after three, tied it up after five took a one-hole lead on 8 and we were all square after 9. There were people lined up on #1 again and again, nobody coming up #9 so we played the back again. I finally got a lead on 15 but was back one down on 17. I made a great tee-shot cutting the corner on a 418 yard dogleg left so I had about 130 left for a second and parred to his bogey squaring it up for 18. My buddy had the honor and proceeded to slam his tee-shot OB into some lady's zebra grass. I smiled and put my driver away in favor of my ever- straight 3wood. hehehe I made bogey to his double and won the match. Woohoo! This is only the second time I've ever played match play and have to say it's a very different game. The pressure situations are more spread out over the round and one bad hole doesn't necessarily take you out of the match like it can in stroke play. Thanks for reading along.

Which magazine? I'm a Furyk fan, and need help with my wedge game so I'd love to see it.

I can only guess that it's because you don't use paragraphs, punctuation or capitalization. ;^)

I've seen a lot of folks here claim handicaps lower than mine while talking about not breaking 100. My (unofficial) handicap is 21.5 the last time I added a score and I haven't had an over 100 round in ages. I've been close a time or two, but the majority of my scores are in the 90-96 range with a few (wonderful) days below 90. Maybe we're using different software.

That's fast. I've done it in 2:45 or so, but that seems a little quick. Three hours would be my preferred time for 18.

For me it's the long-low shot out from under trees. I just can't keep it low enough sometimes.

Man, get a paragraph or two, I could hardly make out your points. I too agree that a positive test (double and triple checked of course) should result in a permanent loss of Tour priveleges.

5iron is my 170 yard club. I can stretch it to 180 if I need to cover my lack of a 4 iron (damaged, not replaced yet) on a par-3.

I play from the middle, or men's tees (white usually). I don't see the point in being macho and moving to the blues until I'm looking to make the game harder which isn't yet believe me. Not saying you fit in this category, but I've seen too many hacks playing from the blue & black tees just holding up the rest of us who play from the appropriate tees.

I like playing alone too. You can't do it all the time though as Keiyoz points out, the slower pace with a group can effect your rhythm. Recently I've been enjoying listening to music while out. It blocks out the yells of other groups, tractors, traffic etc. and seems to help me focus.

Congrats, lessons helped me immeasurably, I hope they do you too. Do be careful though not to overdo with your sore wrists. There's a fine line between sore and injured. Josef- I too tried to put off taking lessons thinking I could figure it out for myself. I was on the right track, but a few lessons from a pro really got my game going. Everybody that puts off lessons and finally gets some says "Why did I wait so long?" or some variation on that. Do it, you'll like the results.

I'd say I average two, but it depends where I'm playing. Also the fall tends to use up balls hidden under leaves that would normally be easily found.

I was posting about my goals in the Sticky'd thread and got to considering what might be a realistic goal for next year handicap wise. I started playing golf a year ago August and didn't really start keeping a handicap until some time in June or July. For the past two months I've been somewhere in the range of 20-21 according to greenskeeper.org. I'm playing by all the rules as far as I know and what I've learned from here. So that's 36 to 21 in about a year. I have no illusions about dropping another 15 strokes in the next year so what do you guys think is a realistic goal for next year? I'm thinking 15. Realistic? Too easy?

I thought I'd posted to the original thread, but couldn't find it so I'll have to rely on memory. 1) Break 90 at least semi-regularly. Pass, my best score was an 84 (this past Monday) and I've had 87, and numerous 89s. This was a goal I set to allow myself to buy some new irons. Time to start shopping! 2) Decrease the amount of "wasted shots". When I set this goal, any shot that didn't go more or less down-range even if it was short, thin or whatever was counted as wasted. The better I get though, the tougher I am about considering shots wasted. Still, by my original definition, my number of wasted shots is way down. Pass. 3) Putt better, try to get my average below 36. I'm better, but my average is still 36.07. Jury's still out, if I putt well on a couple rounds I may still get to my goal. That's all I can remember. I'll be thinking about my goals for next year, maybe a handicap goal...

Had a great round yesterday. I shot a lifetime best (43, 41) 84. Three pars, 4 fairways and 3 GIRs on the front followed by six pars, six fairways and six GIRs on the back including a 35' chip-in bogey save and a run of five pars from to finish. Still had two lip-outs that could have improved the score so it still wasn't perfect, but talk about stoked!

After reading the article, I would say she's pretty much crazy. Her response to the GD reporter when he started asking too many pointed questions was the final nail in the coffin for me. People with nothing to hide aren't afraid of tough questions.

I started out interlocking but switched to overlap. When I dinged my left index finger this summer I had to temporarily switch back and nothing really changed. When my little injury healed, I switched back to overlapping without noticing. I don't think it changes my swing or result at all, whatever feels better to the individual IMO.

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of thing I was after. I just started golfing last year wasn't paying attention when all these were released. So the first generation were just M-F- or S-Speed, the HS-9s were next followed by the LD and now the new (just saw them for the first time in a catalog) LV4s. After a quick look at TGW.com I can buy the HS-9 model for $199 brand new so if the DEMO at the golf course isn't the LD model I'll skip it. Thanks again for the help!

Can someone put the various Cobra drivers/fairway wood models in order of release for me? I'm getting confused between the various "Speed" (LD/ST etc.) models in the market currently. A local course has an F-Speed Demo for $179 but I'm not sure if it's the newest or last year's model. I'd like to know if it was a really good deal or if I could get a new club without the "Demo" designation for $20 more from tgw.com. I'll be back at that course Wednesday to check it out again. Thanks in advance.

I sliced a drive over some mounds onto another fairway once. It didn't look like there was anyone there so I never yelled Fore. Heard a weird noise but didn't think much of it. My buddy hit his drive and we went searching for mine. Turned out there was two guys by a cart in the other fairway. Seems I'd bounced my shot off the roof of their cart. Doh! I met and played with one of those guys a few weeks later at a different course so obviously there were no hard feelings.

The realistic season in West Virginia is 8-9 months. That said, I've played at least a couple times every month since I started in August 2006. Any day in the winter that's above 40 and not too windy I'll go if the conditions permit.