Chris Stack

There are two things a man should not try to teach his significant other: how to play golf, and how to drive stick. I've tried both, and crashed and burned miserably both times. "STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!!!!" "YOU AREN'T HELPING ME!!!!!!"

You're right, I don't. Can we agree that the swing for a 6i through 9i aren't really that different from one another? If you can hit a 6i okay, you can probably hit a 7i, 8i, and 9i okay? And vice versa? So if we agree on that, we agree that one doesn't need to "master" any one of those clubs at the expense of the other, right? That a long time practicing on the 7i really doesn't affect practice on the 6i or 8i, you are mastering the same skill, right? So, if you use the same swing with each, why would you want to take one out of your bag unless you are making room for another type of club? Figure there's ~10yds between each iron, what are you gaining by taking a set that goes 140-150-160-170 (9-8-7-6i) and going to a 140-160 (9i-7i) set? I really don't get it. And I'm not being argumentative. I'm fairly new at this whole golf thing (playing 5 years now) so maybe there really IS a valid reason to play 2 of 4 irons, leaving the other 2 at home. But for the life of me, I don't understand it, and aside from some odd reason about playing 3/4 swings (couldn't you do that anyways, with all the irons in the bag?) no real reason has been given. So I'd be thrilled if you'd enlighten me.

But again, I get taking out, say, a wood or wedge that you don't hit well. No biggie, and I did it too. I DON'T get taking out a 6i and an 8i so you carry 5, 7, and 9i. The skill to hit an 8i is hardly different than that to hit a 7 or 9, and if you don't need the room in the bag for a different club, what's the benefit? Why do you want to take a 75% or 80% shot with a 7i to go 150, when an 8i would do it with a full swing?

I guess because I don't see the point. Take out clubs to make room for other clubs, sure; take out clubs when you already have

What are you trying to insure against? My clubs are almost always in one of three places: in my home, in my car, or in my hands while I use them. While they are at home, they're covered by my Homeowner's insurance (or renter's when I lived in an apartment), in my car my car insurance, and while I'm using them I'm not likely to lose them. So I guess I don't know what you're trying to insure against.

Agree with a bunch of people on this. I took my 3W and 5W out because I was much more reliable with my hybrid off the ground, and never bothered to hit my 3W off the tee (I'm decent with the driver.) But I also agree that I don't get why you take the 6i and 8i out. Doesn't really seem like there would be any benefit. I don't think my swing changes for my 5-9i, I just let the loft of the club do the work. It seems like if you could hit one of those, you could hit any of them. I could also stand to take my 3i and 4i out of my bag, as I'd rather reach for the hybrid or the 5i, but since I have plenty of room in there, I leave them in, if only to work on at the range.

In the summer, 1-2x a week, but occasionally I won't play at all, and sometimes I'll play more. It's obviously restricted by budget, and we also travel fairly frequently so I can't always play. I do prefer playing 9 to playing 18 though; 9 is ALMOST enough golf, where as 18 is a tad too much for me. I tend to lose interest after about 3 hours. I wish golf was played in 12 holes instead of 18.

Cleveland HiBore. Then at Wal*Mart the other night, a pack of Callaway Warbirds for a round I thought I was going to play with my dad in CT this weekend, but it's going to get rained out. Not even bringing my sticks now.

Don't they usually close the course when you pros play?

Maybe I DO overestimate my drives, I dunno. Maybe it's more 230-250 than 250-280. Whatever. But my local course has a couple of 285-300 holes, and I consistently end up maybe 10 yds short of the fringe (edit: on these holes), and I drive the occasional (as in a handful of times a summer) green. My last round a few weeks ago on the local 9-hole, I shot a 48 and had 22 puts. I mean, you do the math. Good tee shot, okay iron or wedge shot, toss it back and forth across the green maybe with a lob, and a 2-3 putt. Bam, you're at a double bogey or worse. Never really thought I'd have to defend my crappy golf scores.

Agreed. But I think we've got to divorce "distance" from "skill" in our minds. I'm walking proof that the two are not one and the same. I've never met a perfect tee shot that I couldn't screw up on the green.

Correct. I'm an average golfer. I see no reason to play from the ladies tees when my ball traveling a little less distance is not the hold up. I play with my brother in law quite a bit, and he shoots low 80s/high 70s. I drive plus/minus 10 yards of almost every one of his drives. So me playing off closer tees isn't going to make a darn bit of difference when my problem is putting and chipping. You want to make a "ladies hole" ( ) where the cup is twice as big, I'll glady play that. But I'm not going to play closer tees for no reason based on some arbitrary metric involving my score. I rarely see anyone play anything but the white tees. Which I think is appropriate. Quite honestly, I think this whole "tee thing" is a red herring. Look at my other point about what slows people down. Playing from a tee that's an extra 50 yards back has nothing on guys looking for 20 minutes for that Pro V1 they hit into the deep weeds.

I'm one of those guys who can drive the ball a mile (not really, but my GOOD drives tend to go around 250-280, and I'd say 75% are good, ie, fairway or 1st rough) but not do squat from about 75 yds in, including putting. I shoot around 100 (I don't have a REAL handicap, I figured 25 was around a "100 shooter" handicap) because I putt like a moron and have trouble chipping consistantly. And quite honestly, the dozen or two times a year just aren't enough for me to get a whole lot better, and I can't afford, in time or money, to play a whole lot more than that. Coupla thoughts: -I play from the whites. I'm not moving down to the ladies. -I think driving is about the easiest part of the game. Get up there and hit it, and you've got about, what, 12,000 sq. yds of possible decent places for the ball to land? But when you're chipping, you've got a couple hundred, and when putting, you've got inches. So someone can be a pretty good driver (and remember, that's the FUN thing to practice) and still suck at golf -I've always said that I suck, but I suck fast. I don't take many practice swings, and I always play ready golf. I really don't think the difference between shooting a 75 and shooting a 100 is the seconds per shot that it takes; slow golfers are slow because they look for their ball for 5 min, they have a ridiculous pre-shot routine, they think they're going to hit into the next foursome on the green with their 6i when 200 yards out, and they simply have their heads up their asses. I've played a round on a near-empty course while drinking (lots of) beer and shooting ~120 or so in under 3 hours. It ain't the score that makes you slow. -Finally, I'm ALL for pace of play, but if you're really worried about the extra 12 minutes a 100-shooter takes over a 75-shooter given 30s per shot, especially on your local $30 public course, you need to think about a different hobby, or maybe seeing a therapist. You're wound too tightly.

I play every once in a while with a friend of mine who reminds me of Spiccoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Everything this guy does is done with the casual air of someone who doesn't give a shit. He swings his club like it's effortless, and he doesn't even care. And he hits it really well. So I constantly am telling myself "Swing it like Mike" to slow myself down.

Honestly, this is what lead me to taking the woods OUT of my bag, and replacing them with the hybrid. Sure, I give up a couple dozen yards, but the confidence and consistancy I gain is definitely worth it. If I hit a bad tee shot (getting rarer, but they happen) the last thing I want to do is follow it up with a crappy FW shot off the grass.