TheMassHacker

Hey Muzz. I'm (sort of) in your neck of the woods, over in Norwood. I used to work in Foxboro and have played many a quick 9 after work at Willowdale. Actually, the picture I use for my avatar was taken at the tee of Willowdale #4 .

It must have been the weather, because it was not nearly as busy as I expected it to be. I know I was thinking about trying to play a round instead of going in to the Expo, and if I hadn't already bought the tickets online I might have. I guess thats the bonus of going on the last day. I'll have to remember that for next year. Still, it was well worth the $10 just to know that my swing in on the right track and doesnt need a major overhaul. After all, it's not practice that makes perfect, it's perfect practice that makes perfect. Also, I got a two-for-one deal for your hopeful future home course, so maybe I'll see you on the links sometime.

I went this afternoon and I really enjoyed all the various displays and booths that were set-up. I just bought a new driver and bag a couple weeks ago, so I wasn't really in a shopping frame of mind, but I got a lot of information for some golfing trips a couple buddies and I plan to take this fall. Best thing there was the 10 minute swing tune-up for $10. Paul, a club professional down in Fall River, took a quick look at my swing, gave me a couple pointers and gave me a couple things to work on at the range. Extremely positive experience.

I wouldn't consider myself a John Daly fan, but I would like to see him get his life in order and get back to playing good golf. That being said, I will not watch another episode of this series. They lost me in the first 30 seconds where Daly looks into the camera and his voiceover says, "It's hard being John Daly." Then he went on to mention how he had to sell BOTH his hummer and his Maybach. Yes, clearly very tough. I'll root for him to get his life in order, but don't ask me to feel sorry for all your problems when they are self-made.

I'm with you. I feel like he would stick with me during those cold winter golf rounds. "I'd keep playing. I don't think the heavy stuff will come down for a while."

Here's some more info on it. Looks to have a lot of vendors. http://www.paragonexpo.com/213.html?flash=1

There is a golf expo this weekend at the Seaport World Trade Center. I was planning to check it out on Saturday, but before I do I was wondering if any of the New England members have gone in the past and whether or not it's worth the time? Thanks.

This is exactly the way he needs to start the comeback: controlled environment and limited media access (thereby controlling some of the questions). Also, smart to do it on a Friday mid-morning on a day when there are two other golf tournaments and the Olympics going on. It'll still be a big story, but not as big as it would have been if he did this on a day when there was nothing else on the sports landscape. I would assume he'll reveal his plans to return, which is good. (Why else hold the press conference, because like Blue3715 said, there is no way he answers any interesting questions.) No matter what he says he will be his return date, at least we can end the insessent "I heard he'll come back at this tournament" stories that it show up ever couple of days.

He's already backing off the comments, now saying that he never said the word "retirement." This now feels like much ado about nothing. http://www.pgatour.com/2010/r/01/29/...ing/index.html

I feel like we've heard this too many times from Daly to take it too seriously. He probably thought when he lost all that weight his game would magically re-appear and he's just annoyed at how he played. But, if nothing else his scores should slow down those who think using the old Ping wedges is an unfair advantage.

Thanks for the reviews. I'm going out to Vegas next month for 4 days and am planning to play those same courses. Only one of the guys I am going with was seduced by the video on the Bali Hai website and will not be swayed from playing that course. Looks like we're playing Royal Link, Bali Hai, TPC Las Vegas and then I'm hoping to take several other people's advice and play two of the courses at Pauite. That last part depends on my luck at the Blackjack tables.

Nope, that's my bad. The press release jumped from giving details of the website to mentioning Tiger Woods '11 is coming out in June. I jumped to my own conclusion and thought it was a beta version of that. Sorry.

One of my favorite places to play in the winter is Little Harbor down in Wareham. Also a bit of a drive, but you can't beat the price. http://www.littleharborcountryclub.com/index.html Also, I wanted to check out Brookmeadow Country Club in Canton, but never made it there last season. Does anyone know if it is open year-round?

Don't know how many of you guys are into video games, but EA Sports has launched a Beta site for the latest online edition of Tiger Woods 2011. http://tigerwoodsonline.ea.com/ You can play the final 3 at TPC Sawgrass as Tiger or create a golfer and play full rounds on a couple courses. The gameplay is a little choppy, but that could be more my computer than the site.

Here's one I only heard recently: It was a sunny Saturday morning on the local municipal golf course and a man was beginning his pre-shot routine, visualising his upcoming shot, when a voice came over the clubhouse speaker: "WOULD THE GENTLEMAN ON THE WOMAN'S TEE BACK UP TO THE MEN'S TEE, PLEASE?" The man was still deep in his routine, seemingly impervious to the interruption. Again the announcement rang out louder, "Would the MAN on the WOMEN'S tee kindly back up to the men's tee?"' The man simply ignored the request and kept concentrating, when once more, the clubhouse attendent yelled, "Would the man on the woman's tee back up to the men's tee, PLEASE!!" The man finally stopped, turned, looked through the clubhouse window directly at the person with the microphone and shouted back, "Would the person in the clubhouse kindly stop shouting and let me play my second shot?"

Good rule for life: things rarely look as good in person as they do on the Internet. They did advertise having a Golf Zone there when they first opened with the new upgrades, but I never saw anyone in that part of the building. Not sure if it was a lack of staff or a lack of interest that made them close. Other than that, McGolf is pretty good. They had a fire there in 2007 and turned that negative into a positive by using it as a chance to build the covered bays, a new refreshment stand and expand the practice area with a new putting green. So, it's miles ahead of where it was before then. Also, because of this most of the pads are fairly new and the ones in the covered bay are still in especially good shape. There are lots of bays so you never have too long a wait, even on the busy Saturdays and $8 for a decent-sized bucket is a fair deal. It's not the best range I've ever been to (best thing they may have going for them is a lack of a better option in the area) but the staff is friendly, the balls fly true and there is actually grass on the range. Can't ask for much more that that.

Yeah, the short distance to the back wall is the only drawback. I use it more a place to work on getting a repetitive swing (something I'm still working on as a newcomer to the game), instead of trying to see how far I can hit my drives. But I was at McGolf in Dedham the other day and, despite the heater's best efforts, the wind was just too much for it. Inside at ForeKicks I didn't even need a jacket.

Not sure what kind of drive you guys would be looking at, but the ForeKicks facility in Norfolk (just off of Route 1) has an indoor driving range. http://www.forekicks.com/content/ind...n=drivingrange

As independent contractors, the players have the right to set whatever schedule they like. However, to help out some of these smaller events, what I would like to see the Tour do is set up some kind of rule so that players are required to eventually play all the tournaments. Nothing drastic, but something along the lines of "player must participate in every event within a 5 year period." To me it would be a good way to ensure that all the events can get the bump that having the biggest names would bring.

Yeah, I had a great time when I played it. My only complaint was with the crowd control. I played it the first nice weekend in April, so it was obviously packed, but there were a lot of twosomes that could have been made into foursomes just to speed the rounds up. Now, since you're in the general area I would also recommend you check out Chemawa Golf Course in North Attleboro next spring. It's my absolute favorite course in southern Massachusetts. Not very long (only one par 5 and it plays more like a par 4), but probably the best maintained place around considering what you pay to play.

C'mon man, don't jinx us. It's gonna be almost 60 here tomorrow. I'm hoping to get out there while the getting is good. Another place down your way to check out if you want to play some outdoor winter golf is Triggs Memorial in Providence. I played it last winter and it held up pretty well. http://www.triggs.us/

I can usually stick with regular khakis and a long-sleeve polo through November, when you still have the occasional day in the high 40's. After that, it's all about layering with me. Under Armour compression shirt, long-sleeve tee shirt, polo and I'll throw on a fleece vest and carry a long-sleeve windbreaker in my bag. That way I can shed or add as I need to throughout a round. Fortunately in winter golf clubs relax their etiquette so you can get away with tee shirt if you catch a particularly warm day. Still, every round last winter I began to ask myself why I don't live further south.

I played a course in Seekonk, MA called FireFly that was pretty terrible. They had a real bad problem with geese and I had to power wash my shoes after the round. The layout was weird and the staff seemed disinterested in even being there. Apparently back in the day it was pretty nice (which was why we gave it a try) but now they want to turn half the land into condos so they've let conditions slide. Of course, I also played my best round ever, so maybe I shouldn't complain too much.

Yeah, but this happens to every school that has a big-time athletic program. The subway alumni don't bother me if they stick to the sports. It's when you have people who never attended ND protesting President Obama speaking at graduation that drive me crazy. This is true, though it's not like we have anything to do with it. The flipside is that there is also the ND backlash from guys like Mark May who won't give the school any credit and looks for reasons to put us down each week. Unfortunately, I have to agree. Charlie didn't spend enough time recruiting defense. But, maybe he can return to the Patriots as OC.

Well, we (class of '02!!) half play football.... we just don't play defense.