conceptDawg

2005 Jetta GLI 1.8T I like the turbo (it's great to hear the sound of a turbo winding up), but I'd love to go back to a 6-cyl. The wife has a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

I'm a huge F1 fan. I've been watching for years. I started when I was still in high school in the late 80s (man that was hard to keep track of F1 in the US back then). I was (and still am) a McClaren fan. Back then it was McHonda with Senna and Prost. Now I'm a big Ferrari fan too so this season is a lot of fun for me.

Oh...my bad. Didn't read correctly. Then that changes the logic a bit and puts more pressure on your approach game to get better (your GIR is lower than fairways hit by almost half). But, the tee/penalty logic still stands. Sorry about the mis-read....hey, it's much like my putting.

Oh...and you are not a short hitter. I would put you smack dab in the average category. In fact, your distances are exactly what I hit my clubs. Remember that most people exaggerate their distances. Don't worry about what clubs you hit compared to other people. Just know your distances.

Just using these numbers, here's what I get out of them: You say that you are a good chipper but the stats don't really show that. You are hitting only a quarter of the greens in regulation, which means that you probably have chip/pitch opportunities on 75% of the holes (if you are missing 75% of the greens, then you should be at least getting within 100yds on your approaches, if not then you need to work on your approach game...but I'm guessing that is not the problem). Now, if you have a short chip 14 times then you should be able to get within 1 putt range a quarter of that time, the rest should definitely be 2 putters if you are a decent chipper. That's 3-5 strokes picked up on the 1 putts. Unless you are doing a LOT of 3 putting on the other 12 holes (and you shouldn't be if you are a good chipper since you are chipping 75% of the time) then you should have a putting stat below 2.0. Removing 3 putts is another thing. But painfully obvious to all of us that play this damn game. Obviously you need to hit more fairways....but who doesn't, regardless of handicap. You are hitting 5.7% fairways but that doesn't let me know if you are taking a penalty on 50% of the 95% that you miss because you miss in the trees. If that is the case then you can (theoretically) pick up 6-8 strokes a round just by getting rid of the penalties by keeping it out of the forest off the tee. If you have to tee off with a different club then do so until you can hit your driver consistently (but continue to practice with the driver...don't just give up on it). You may feel like a wimp, but your score will thank you. That brings us to the mid iron/approaches.... It's hard to get good stats on your mid/approach game because you can't really tell from stats what kind of shots you are left with. Are you only hitting 25% GIR because you are left with horrendous positioning due to the aforementioned tee shots? Again, if you are tossing it in the trees off the tee then you are taking away all hope of getting a GIR on that hole. Using the stats you provided it's hard to get a good handle on your mid game, other than to say that you are saving a few holes with this aspect of your game (your GIR is higher than fairways hit) so it is probably the better part of your game. Think about these things and decide for yourself where you could gain the most strokes. Then move to the next thing. None of the above information should actually be taken as correct in any way.

I played Magnolia Grove today, the Trail course in Mobile that hosts the LPGA Tourn. of Champions. It too has an incredible par 3 course. I highly recommend the Trail's par 3 courses. I think the Magnolia Grove par 3 was rate the best par 3 in the country for a few years. Not sure about now though. If the one up at oxmoor is similar then I agree with you about the value. Splendid. Magnolia Grove is also in excellent shape right now. I played the 6100 yard tees today on the Falls. The whole course looks great...and I actually played well on the Falls for a change.

I use Erik's Scorecard software. I was using an online tracking system for a while, but I was lured by the incredible fame of being a beta tester for Scorecard and have stuck with it. I do wish it had some graphing capabilities, but that is the only drawback I see with it. The stats it keeps are really nice and have helped me improve my game quite a bit (just broke 80 for the first time this past week, though I hover right over 80 most days). Knowing where I'm dropping strokes is the key. If you have a Mac, you should download it and try it out.

I've been golfing for a few years now (HCP floats between 11 and 16) and something has been bugging me lately. Specifically, what is the best way to choose the appropriate tee box when playing. For instance: All of the courses that I play on are used for higher level competitions (either major collegiate or LPGA) and have a "competition" tee box. That is obviously not the one that I want to be using. When I started playing I shot only from the whites. Somewhere along the line I started playing with a group that was a little better than I was and I started playing from the blacks (one tee box back from the whites) with them (to speed play). Now I pretty much just walk to the blacks by default, with no thought put into it. I fear that this is the case with most amateurs. What is the CORRECT way to determine whether somebody should play from white or black? Boy that got long winded.

I still use an old Macgregor Golden Bear that was given to me by my father-in-law to use when I started playing. It's HUGE and I get a lot of grief from my playing partners about it. But, when the putts fall I just tell them that "You don't mock the Golden Bear."

Just got a set of forged Titleist 755s and I'm going to play them tomorrow. Here's to hoping that I play them as well on the course as I did in the shop. They have a great feel, that's for sure.

I'd love to hear some more too. I'm thinking of getting a set. I read the review on the main site, but more input is always welcome before plunking down a wad of cash.

I haven't ever seen it there for regular people. That's a pretty brutal placement. The greens are running MUCH faster than they do for "normal" play also. They're always fairly fast, but that was ridiculous.

I saw that. That was a pretty incredible hole for her. Those are the times that you just want to pack up the bag and go home for the day. Incidentally, they're playing on my home course. I'm pretty sure that I've never hit anything close to an 8 on that hole. That makes me feel a little better. Then again, if I shot +1 over three days on that course I would be ecstatic about it. Not the case with her. But, that's why I haven't had any calls from sponsors.