ohiolefty

I was twirling a putter in my hand today. It's very hot and humid here. I 'lost' it. So here I am, on my last hole of the day, done with the hole, spending a prolonged period of time fixing a dipsh*t mark I made in the green. But - I fixed it.

I want to start contributing to this thread...at least to keep a running journal for myself. Today: 70 (-2), 31 putts, Skyland Golf Course, Ohio

I want less pro-tracer type stuff. Yes, it's amazing. But it reinforces just how good these guys are and how, as hard as I work, I'll never be that. I'd rather have shots poorly tracked on the fly and be allowed to keep my dreams.

Ball marks are a lot less problematic than skids and scuffs. As for handicap, ability or experience being related to etiquitte levels - there is some correlation because someone who plays often will (hopefully!) learn by osmosis or social pressure the proper way to act. However, any of us can probably pull up countless examples of good golfers acting badly. Example: On Friday I went out early in the morning as a single at my home course. The group behind me were two golfers from a local small college. I was playing well when they ignorantly and inexcusably (if I broke down the yardage etc. details) almost hit me with a tee shot. These are college golfers, good golfers, and guys who should generally know better - acting like a-holes. Jerks are jerks. Some jerks are good at golf.

I walk unless weather, course topography or my injured back won't allow it. I would say that if I play 100 rounds, I walk 85-90 of them. Play better when I walk and enjoy the overall experience more when I walk.

Titleist has the 712s in the hands of much of their tour guys . They had a list in this article of who was playing which set, but it's been removed. Quote:

As far as the original premise of the thread goes...I'd say that there's a higher percentage of guys with 'dated' equipment in their bags than guys that don't. Many if not most of the old school equipment contracts (that tied a guy to a certain product and lead to many horror stories with guys having to play irons they couldn't hit or work or score with at all) don't really exist anymore. Steve Stricker comes to mind. Here's a guy sponsored by Titleist, a fine equipment manufacturer, and I don't think he plays their current line of anything except for wedges if you can really count those.

Not quite. But, if they feel they get better performance from a GI shovel, that's what the guys will play. A lot of folks chuckle at certain players playing GI irons, or having a bag full of hybrids. But the PGA tour, especially for 'average' guys, isn't like other pro sports. You only make what you win at tournaments. For those guys, if it's a choice between vanity and staying on tour, they'll choose to stay on tour. I'd rather pay my mortgage than play blades.

Depends on your set. I would agree with some of those above...with golf courses playing 'shorter' due to better equipment and balls...a PW is a #10 iron for most guys. I don't use my pitching wedge today in the manner I used a PW when I was growing up playing golf 20 or more years ago. I use the PW from my set...but if I had a GI set, I might not. I agree with the above poster that you should hit players clubs as far up in the set as you can handle. For most recreational players, that stops with their wedges if they can at all. It's up to you. The only advantage to buying a Vokey or whatever as opposed to using a wedge from your set is feel and control, but that comes at the expense of game improvement features.

I'll leave it to the esteemed golf scribe, Kurt Vonnegut. http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

Bomb & Gouge, young Jedi.

These irons don't look as bad in person as they do here... The Anser forged are a lot worse looking in person. Thick topline, very much i15 esque.

I agree with this approach. Many of us might want a little more loft than a PW, but then again, I grew up playing all my short shots with a 9 iron, and later a PW, until I was in my mid-teens...and I am very solid with all my wedges now because of the feel I developed as a kid. So much of the short game, regardless of what stick you've got in your hand, is feel, imagination, and being able to assess the interconnectedness of the lie, green complex, club loft and what kind of contact you'll get, the ball, the conditions, etc.

Unless you have stance width like Albert Pujols, that seems pretty tough to pull off. Tiger and a few others advocate the 3 ball theory...essentially playing only 3 different positions in the stance. I try to basically do that because it's simple for me and I try to keep the setup fundamentals as simple and consistent as possible. I've added 2 special positions...I have a 'rear' position that's almost off my back foot, and a 'forward' position that's almost to my front. The rear position is to really trap the ball, the forward position is to try and hit a ball higher. I probably use those two special positions once, maybe twice a round total...and I probably hit a trap 4/5 times I'm using a special position. I try to keep the ball near the middle of my stance, though, the 3 ball theory. Because I have a strong grip and because I play a windy course with small greens most of the time, my error tends to be getting the ball too far back because I get into this rut of wanting to really control the ball and keep it down, and then I start setting up with remants of that approach all the time. It's not so bad I guess, but I start to run into issues with the 'long' clubs when I fall into that pattern.

I sometimes think of "This dumb guy" / "That dumb guy" when I know I'm overcooking a shot in my mind. I don't stay on it, but it gets me out of a bad headspace once in a while. When that doesn't work, visualizing something involving Scarlett Johannson usually does the trick. Or thinking of great Pittsburgh Steeler moments. Anything.

I voted average relative to the overall length of my home course. My course was designed in the 20s and most of it isn't super open.

Tommy Gainey should be the logo. It would look thoroughly postmodern. Or Kevin Stadler. Nice, smooth, wavy lines.

Gross. There is nothing self-conciously SnT about what Rory does. Nothing. Don't try to appropriate it. The SnT guys wouldn't. They do have certain positions and/or concepts they advocate. If Rory happens to have certain things he does that apply to those concepts, that's groovy, but it's not SnT. P.S. - My 80ish instructor tells me things that, on occasion, are SnTish even though he doesn't particularly know or care what SnT is. Should he pay royalties to Plummer and Bennett? I'd like to see the piece, though. Rory's action is pretty great to watch.

Isn't this the Ian Woosnam issue from a few years back? Once you hit the tee ball, there had better only be 14 sticks in your bag. In a casual round, though, it's no biggie. And if you're playing for money - usually we play skins or some version of match play...so I'd think having the offending party forfeit any holes won or tied with 15 holes would be appropriate.

I almost slipped and fell on a tee box today (early morning dew). I topped the drive and it went about 15 yards. It was a d*ckout, but I was playing at the crack of dawn, alone. Someone on an adjacent hole did see, chuckled a bit, and said "are you alright?" - probably because I yelled out "Holy sh*t, I almost fell over" without any self-awareness. I just laughed and said thanks...but I didn't feel so proud and/or manly hitting a 3 wood into a 340 yard par 4. I did make a scrambling par...so I guess it wasn't too bad.

It's valuable sometimes when you haven't played a course and the layout is odd, the green complexes are tough, the distances are poorly marked, or other factors where you don't know what you're necessarily in for when you step onto the tee box for a hole. Other than that, most good players don't care about it. On my home course, the #1 handicap hole isn't the toughest one for me. I'm sure many folks on this site could say the same of their home course.

Am I the only one that likes hitting wedges off of exceedingly tight/firm lies?!?!? Unless it's a cart path, or the kind of hardpan that forms along treelines (most of you, I'd think, know what I'm talking about. It's essentially the cart path) I love hitting those shots. For me, I just hit the ball first and play something pretty low, not too 'cute'. I usually get one big hop and it settles down nicely. Ball first! Ball first! Ball first! ................. I can't advocate a specific method for these shots...but practicing is the biggest thing inside of 100 yards. My only advice is try to find a consistent method and get your alignment right. Once you have that, feel and both muscle and cognitive memory should take over.

domc36 - Making an argument about tacit racism isn't going to get you anywhere on this board. Instead, folks will say "I don't see the racism in that post". It's kind of like saying, "20,000 people work at this company. There are no people of color. The only women that work here are secretaries. Our company isn't racist or sexist!" That doesn't describe everybody on the board, but it does describe those that would make and defend the kind of references to which you object. BTW - I loved, in this thread, the "you never see this in hockey, only in basketball and football" line of argument. Very enlightened. --- The thread itself - I don't know any of these guys personally. I can only identify the guys I'd like to play a round of golf with least . I'd say J.B. Holmes (pace of play, ridiculous actions on/around green), Tiger Woods (who wants to play with someone screaming the f-word every other minute and slamming clubs every hole) and Brinny Baird (I couldn't look at that ridiculous hat).

I just read on ESPN.COM that Ben Crane is switching to the Eye 2's and says he now no longer needs Jesus to play slowly.

It's one of the places, along with your local golf megaretailer, where you can look at things that you will later purchase on the internet at a much better price.