mohearn

Thanks for posting the videos, oh my gosh that's a tired looking swing of mine! Was great fun, weather perfect and the courses were all very different than each other, each challenging and interesting in different ways. Learned alot, ready for the next one.. Mike

No issues here, Flip away, or change it up, no problem, I appreciate your coordinating efforts. Too bad we can't find other central NY/Albany TST members! C'mon folks :-).

I can make that work. If I drove up there for Friday at Sullivan, and Saturday afternoon for Hiawatha, I might see if I can fit in 9 or 18 at En-joie in Endicott on Saturday morning. .En-joie hosted a PGA Tour Champions event won by Padraig Harrington earlier this year. Supposedly the course is in great shape, but I've never played there. En-joie is about 10 minutes from Hiawatha. It'd be a long day but it's golf! Open to anyone else joining for En-joie too, if it sounds appealing.

I will be there. Play 18 at Sullivan from the "white/blue" tees? I looked at the scorecard and looks like they have different tees for front 9 and back 9. Could decide later, no worries, just thinking out loud. I'd like to walk or pushcart at Sullivan. Hiawaha sounds good, never played there, so looking forward to it.

That'd be great. I saw they got quite a bit of rain with this last storm, but seem to be handling it and it's still a month out.. Green fees aren't bad at all, Sullivan county after all. Walk/ride... I'm easy either way, if I walk I usually cut down to 9 clubs and a light carry bag, but again, easy either way,.

I'm in Poughkeepsie. Hiawatha is about 3 hours, probably my limit. Makes for a long day to turn it around in a day. I have half a thought of driving early Friday and playing Tom Coyne's (Paper Tiger author) course in Liberty (Sullivan County GC) and then overnighting in Binghampton. Fairly flexible, too bad we can't entice another foursome, I hear it's going to be great. Mike

I can probably make it, I'm about 4 hours east (hudson valley). Willing to car pool (ride/drive) if makes sense for anyone.

With the WHS the best 8 of the last 20 rounds are averaged. In talking to folks where I play, many sorta assume its an average of all, and that one bad score will raise an HCP index. It won't, only the the best 8 of last 20 are averaged. You're right 54 is high. In the league I play in the highest we have is index of 49, and he's 86 years old, so I don't think you see too many at the extreme end. In general, from my (admittedly narrow) experience it works pretty good as long as the differences aren't too great. And at the extremes, both plus HCPs and really high HCPs it maybe falls off a bit, but those are really thin slices of the golfing population. I actually like it, and think it does a good job all-in-all allowing folks of various abilities to have adequately competive matches. Anecdotally, I lost match play last night giving up 6 strokes to my opponent, he won by one hole on the last hole, par vs bogey. And I won the net score by one, so it really was close!

Yeah, it's on my list too. I'm hitting similar vintage 2014 SLDR fairways, 3w and 5w. I don't get your distance though, I can only wring about 200 yds from my 5w.

Nice. Where would you use it, in what situations? 2nd shot par 5's? Most important, how does it compare to what you have now?

If you can get set up with a good sports medicine program, that would be great. I had surgery 25 years ago and went through 9 months intensive sport medicine program. Get as strong as you can, but with guidance so you're going about it the right way. I'd be careful of cortisone, not sure that's a long term positive other than relieving some pain.

Yeah, I hear you there. I can't avoid it in league, but it affects calcutta bets, so that's something I have to be careful with.

This exact thing happened to me, a 7 HCP shoots a -1 to beat me. Of course I know it's possible, still was annoying. I've never understood folks who want a higher handicap and argue for it. Oh I get that there is money involved sometime, sure, but works both ways. I lost tonight, (won the gross, lost the net, giving up 3 strokes). Oh well, should I have argued to raise my handicap? The only time I really care if if the winner (due to handicap) wants to brag about it.

Do you have any of the NYS Park Courses near you? I pay $23 walking on weekdays for 18 at one course, and $20 walking 18 at the other. Nice courses, prices up 10% from last year, but they are plenty busy so caan't fault them I guess.

Baird had been refurishing bunnkers on front, with concrete liners. I applaud the effort, but hopefully they put in enough sand to take the concrete out of play.

A quote from the video "hardly a day I don't hit 300-400 balls..." I guess that's what it takes, what a work ethic.

I may have missed it, but do we know which, if any, of the curent crop of balls from the major vendors would be nonconforming under the proposed new rule?

250m is quite a poke, that said, I'd replace it, what if it shattered or something?

Back in NY, played one of the courses that basically stays open (for free) all year if possible. Ground frozen when we started, gradually thawed and got really wet as the day wore on. I wore my Merrell hikers which aren't really waterproof anymore and got a bit of seepage, but wool socks and keep moving to stay warm. Ponds frozen. Shot mid-80s missed a couple 6 foot birdies, chunked a couple fairway shots, 3 putted a couple, oh well. Had some good shots too. I carried a subset of clubs. With the soggy ground and hilly course I think carrying was better. I got a good workout and stayed warm enough. That's really 95% of the reason I play in winter, especially in the wind and cold, for the workout. Beats a treadmill in the gym for sure.

California has so many great golf courses, Pasatiempo, Pacfic Grove, Blackhorse/Bayonet etc. I didn't play any of those, I played Spring Valley in Milptitas. Was great, friendly place in a nice setting. The pro told me they've been around since 1954 or so, so no doubt seen alot of changes in golf over those years. The longest tees are just a bit more than 6100 yds, so playing the tips is doable. We just say "playing the tips" and no need to mention distance. I only hit 2 GIR but putted from the fringe on a couple more, and scrambled nicely. Been working on my 5-12 foot putts and might have missed only 1 10 footer, making all the rest. Finished 8 over at 78, which is a good score for me. Driving superb, short game and putting good enough, but came up short on approach play. I think that when I'm on the range, even off grass, I'm really going fter the ball. On course I'm swing maybe 90%. I can feel the difference and see it in carry yardage, so something to be mindful of. On the plus side, didn't lose a ball, never in trouble. Reagarding driving, as an aside, since Nov 1st I've been doing 50 pushups per day, stronger, and it's showing up driving the ball. The course is very walkable, and feels quite rural with no surrounding houses to deal with. I'd definitely go back at some point if I were in the Milpitas area.

I fall on the frugal side of things, I enjoy my $20 senior walking rate at my local Robert Trent Jones course. I'm not sure I'm skilled enough to really appreciate what (say) $250 greens fees gets me. Maybe someday. But maybe I'm sidestepping the queston "willing to spend." Bring on Pebble Beach if I can get 3 other friends to come along.

Family, visiting, brought about half my clubs. Have a few courses to try to get to, but pretty busy with stuff. Sorta my off-season, so just getting to play in Dec is a bonus. Someone suggested Callippe golf course, so if I can get away I'll play it and post the highlights. Was at Oakland metro earlier today, after an airport run, didn't play just hit balls, they have a grass driving range.

Played Las Positas in Livermore, shot high 80's. First time playing, made some mistakes and didn't warm up (at all) on a very cold morning. First shot I think felt like I was swinging inside a sleeping bag, went all of 30 yards! Nice course, friendly folk along the way, got a birdie and finished with a couple pars. I could get used to California golf. 20* back home.

Shot high 80's at San Jose Muni. Funny thing though wasn't terrible round, had 9 GIR but also had 2 triples and doubles. Greens much faster then used to, but no complaints, snow on the ground back home. I'm cutting myself slack, first time playing the course, great fun.

HCP at 7.6. Shot a one-under 69 from forward tees Tournament planned to play was cancelled, but was low gross in two league tournaments. Won some money. Tracking with Golfmetrics, haven't ever reached scratch yet on approach shots, but had rounds where have reached scratch for the other aspects. not all at once though. Lost 35#, am stronger for sure, although right arm still not great, so theres that. Prioritizing golfing over rules cert. (excuses...) lWalked all but 3 rounds this year, pushcart. Maybe next year I'll get down to Ferry Point with a caddy, but it's like $150+ for non NYC resident, so outta my ballpark. Nickels to dimes, my ballstriking hs really improved, I use contact tape often when practicing, and my strike is much better, most days.