Paulbee

Well he did more damage to England than the Luftwaffe. Up there with the defining greats from his sport. Probably little else you can hope for in any sport. Kids growing up wanting to be Ali or Tiger or Jordan or Don, to name just a few.

Well if the shaded area is hiding a set of real balls, then probably not.

Here they can't seem to be able to make their minds up. One days it's "get the vaccine - it's 100 safe" Next day it's "don't get the vaccine - it's dangerous" On the basis that more people probably die from an epidemic than the vaccine, I had my jab (or jabs should I say). Arm went dead for a couple of hours but nothing worse then the old cholera vaccines we had to have in the 70's.

I'd have to go with the links style. It is true. Faced with pros with modern equipment, links courses do rely on on a set of natural defences, the wind being one of them. I think it was the green keeper at Turnerry who said something along the lines of: "the prevailing wind is from the East, but it never blows from there" The strength of the wind is only one part of the equation. The way the wind swirls around is another.

I'll stand by what I said. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. The only thing we know for a fact is the past and in the past, her career decisions haven't exactly been spot on have they? Two very entertaining tours, two sets of excellent golfers. The twain shouldn't be allowed to meet.

If I can get 2 sets of clubs (ok - had to take them out of the bags) in the back of a Smart, pretty sure you can fit 2 sets in the 350. When we rolled up at the club is like one of those fun cars at the circus - stuff just kept being pulled out.

Nice to see (and pretty nice to watch as well). maybe now she'll concentrate on her own Tour and leave the PGA events alone. If they allow women to play PGA events, why don't they allow men to play LPGA events? Pretty sure some of the struggling Pro's on the PGA would welcome the money.

I don't need an alarm clock anymore. I wake up bang on time - or rather as soon as my prostate wants me to wake up. Whoever coined the phrase "Golden Years" obviously had phenomenal bladder control.

My best rounds usually come when I play with people who appreciate the values and etiquette of our great game. People who are real golfers in the sense of their attitude towards the game. People who have the right blend of eagerness and humility which is necessary to playing the game in the spirit it was meant to be played. Playing ability of partners has little to do with my enjoyment of a round of golf. The only person I've ever caught cheating during a round was off scratch. Very accomplished player but a bit too free with the "5-toe wedge", so there was an excellent player but a very, very bad golfer. One of my favorite golfing buddies plays of 22. He's been off 22 for as long as I can remember and I'd give good odds he stays a 22 for the rest of his golfing life. His attitude to the game is what makes him a firm favorite. His etiquette is spot on, he knows when to talk and when not to and I'd stake my life on his honesty. Does his playing ability effect my game? Not in the slightest.

Call me fossil. Simple fact of the matter is that all the Pros playing today and cashing big winners cheques owe Arnie a VERY big debt of gratitude. Greatest sports star ever: Mr "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" Ali.

Ditto on the Z-URC. Excellent ball.

1st at my local course is 174 yards. For me that's a six iron. Playing Dynamic Golds in my irons.

78 summers young. Don't feel a day over 77. Turn up regularly in our Annual "Old vs The Bold" match. "Old" team is for the over 55's. We usually have a team shirt printed for the matches. This year our logo was: "Avenge yourself - Live long enough to be a problem for your children"

Like most, I wish I could swing like Ernie. Smooth, un-hurried, mildly hypnotic. Unfortunately, I can't, so I have to go with what I've got. Line up 100 golfers and there will probably be 100 different swings. I'm all for trying to improve. In golf after all we have a measurable index of improvement, our handicaps. I can't help but bring to mind something I read years ago though. W.G. Grace was asked the secret to playing great cricket. His answer was a laconic "put bat to ball".

Let me think... Depleted Uranium, Nuclear Power, Oil Pollution, Global Warming, Dwindling natural resources, war, famine, recession... Sorry, but the environmental impact of golf balls is pretty low down on my personal lost of priorities. Also, if golf courses weren't golf courses, they'd probably be high rises and car parks. So we lose a few balls - courses are still islands of green in an ever encroaching jungle of concrete. The article mentions golf balls take from 100 to 1000 years to degrade. If that's true, why is that I only ever find really, really tatty balls anywhere

Come from a long line of golfers personally. Had a few low handicaps and some not so low, but all golfers in the true sense of the word - not necessarily confined to the skill level.

When my eldest took early retirement. Nothing makes you feel older than having a pensioner son.

I'll generally give em. Anything inside a foot or so, I reckon is dead, but it does depend on the putt to an extent. If it's a sharp downhill, left to right - maybe not. Fun round though - definitely. I did actually concede a gimme on Sunday which was all of 40 yards. We play a society stableford with handicap cuts for anything over 36 points - 1 stroke per point over 36, 3 strokes per point over 40. Played Sunday with one of the notorious sandbaggers. Claims a 24 but is more a 15 - 16 tops. On the 18th which is a par 5 and where he gets 2 strokes, he was just on the fringe in 2. He lined up for the putt and I gave it to him for a six pointer, total 42 and a 10 shot cut for next week. As we only get 0.3 back for anything under 30 points, it's gonna take him a while to get back to bandit territory

I think Ross Fisher might have a 6-iron going cheap after his adventures off the cart path at the Volvo Matchplay...

14. Never more, never less Mistakes can happen of course - like when I turned up for the final of the club knock-outs without a putter. Putted with one of my hybrids and shot a 73 to win on the last hole. Ok, fun rounds can allow for a more relaxed bag. I believe good habits are as easy to fall into as bad habits though, so even in a fun match, I pack 14.

Carried a 1-iron for a while. Great weapon to have if you're hitting them well. Not so good if you're not. Back in 1647, when I was a young man, I bought a set of Jack Nicklaus instructional videos. One of the tapes was about the long game and one of the lessons was on the 1-iron, which Jack hit as good as anybody in his day. Eventually the tape gets to the bit where Jack was going to show us "how to hit a 1-iron high" . Kind of lost interest at that point. Great rewards if you can master the 1-iron.

Cavity backs for me, but I'm an old fart. Played blades for years but need a bit of help nowadays. I can still move the ball around, just get that bit of extra help from the cavities. Yes, there is a slight drop in the feed-back. Not so much on a pure strike but rather on an off-center hit. With blades, hit one towards the toe and you know it. With cavity backs the feed-back on bad shots is a bit deadened.

It's been mentioned in the thread already, so at the risk of repetition: Distance control My usual drill involves hitting balls with various clubs to the same spot on the practice green. Gives me a good visual of how the ball will run out. I then move back a bit and hit balls to the same spot just short of the green with different clubs, again a good visual as to how the ball will run out. I don't subscribe to the one club theory. I'll use the club that gets the job done, depending on what I need to negotiate and how much run I want on the ball.

Purest hitting irons I've ever played were a set of Hogan Bounce Soles (the 1969 model). Played blades for a number of years - there wasn't really much choice back then. Trot out the Hogans from time. I can more or less still handle them but cavity backs make life that much easier. Bought the Hogans new from the PX when I was serving at AFSOUTH in Naples in 69. Got the woods as well which had a revolutionary new design feature - a SLOT on the front of the face for better aerodynamics. Obviously we were easily pleased back then...

210 carry give or take. I use a 12 degree driver cut down an inch so it's not built for length. I don't miss too many fairways though.