Jonnydanger81

Ok cool, sounds cross platform. There's a good chance I'll get it pretty soon after it's released.

Is everyone on Xbox or PS3 for this? I'd like to join a TST Country Club, but I'm only on PS3 these days the little bit that I get on. I still have a challenge on the hardest level on last years TW with the putting, there's gotta be a way to improve it.

I always enjoy walking more than taking a cart unless the course is an absolute killer with hills and such. I like to get a feel for how far I'm hitting it and it's easier to walk off yardage. I usually play really early in the morning when it's cart path only or sometimes before the course is actually open so walking saves a ton of time too.

I definitely think he originally under estimated the difference between scratch/+ and pro. I would bet he understands it a lot better now after spending 2 straight years playing that starting at age 30 and thinking you can turn pro by 36 is quite the dream. I was more impressed with the fact that he stuck with it so far (financially, mentally, physically) and got good results, so far. It'd be interesting to see how his time compares to other golfers on here. Personally I started playing when I was a kid, maybe 10 or 12, just during summers because of my location. If I played one round per week during the summer, one range session, figure 5 hours per week? In high school I played on the team for a year, but then in college I never played, so it's an average. So over the last 20 years (I'm 30 now) 5 hours per week, May-Oct so 6 months max, that's 2400 hours. He just condensed his time into 2 years, where it took me 20 haha.

Just checked up on this guy the other day, he's doing pretty well. He's 2,600 hours in, or just over 1/4 of the way. I haven't really kept track of him recently, but he started in April 2010, now it's almost 2 years later and he's shooting in the 80's (HCP of 8.6 as of 2/12) on what seems like a somewhat consistent basis. I honestly thought he would have given up or toned back on it all by now, but from some random samplings of his blog it seems like he's kept up and is really improving. For those that aren't familiar with it, he literally started from the hole and worked his way back. The first (forget the exact amount of weeks/months) were spent just putting, first from 2 feet then once he achieved his success rate of shots made (based on I believe PGA averages) he moved to 5 feet, etc, then on to chipping, pitching, full iron shots, etc, etc until he got to the driver which I think took him more than a 18 months to reach. It's a pretty interesting read even if you just sample one post every few months. http://thedanplan.com/blog.php . Like I said, I'm impressed that he made it 2 years doing essentially nothing but golfing, considering he wasn't a "golfer" before the project. If someone asked me to do this with Tennis or some other sport that I trip over myself at, I'm not sure I could stick to it like he has. I did see at one post where he mentions that if by 5,000 hours (so another 2 years roughly) if he isn't down to scratch he'd be somewhat upset with himself.

17th, Par 4, 320 yards but you're forced to lay up to somewhere in the 120 range because of a river. Hit an iron off the tee then an 8i from 145 from the right rough and it felt good. The pin was hid behind a bunker and there's a little creek behind the green so I spent a few minutes looking in the creek figuring I flew the green. My buddies went ahead and chipped on and one got close enough to see there was a ball in the hole. If it wasn't for the weird ball I was playing that day (Wilson Titanium) they wouldn't have believed that I holed it out from back there. So not only did I not get to see it go in the hole, I didn't even get to see it in the hole or take it out. Next hole I had an almost identical distance and knocked it to a few feet and birdied. 3 under for 2 holes. Works for me.

While putting if someone only hits it halfway to the hole and is still furthest from the hole - "That's USGA quality right there. U S uck, G o A gain."

I just got new irons the other day (after a few months of research) and I had my previous set for 15 years. Just hitting all types of game improvement, super game imrpovement, players, etc, hitting everything was huge in selecting new clubs. If you've been hitting the same clubs for years, there really has been some improvements. I'm not saying the improvements will take 5 strokes off your game, but there's definitely a difference. I would suggest hitting everything you can get your hands on (outside preferably and not on a launch monitor at first) and then get fitted at a store you feel comfortable at. You'll be able to tell the difference between the SGI, the GI's and the players irons without looking at the names.

I've bent 1 clubs over my whole golfing life and it wasn't over my knee or anything crazy. Just shoving it into my bag at a horrible angle and slightly bending it. I'd pay to see someone go through their whole set and break each one though. I'd think after 2 or 3 clubs you'd realize how stupid you're acting. I used to play with a guy that carried this beat up as hell 4-iron. That was his beating club. Bad shot, he'd take out the 4 iron and slam it around a bit. I guess it's better than slamming every club, but it's still embarassing when you're playing with someone and they start wailing away on a tree or the ground.

My wife is due with our first any time now. I've already played a lot less this year than previously and I'll essentially be giving up golf for a year so she can stay home for the entire first year of our kid's life rather than doing day care and such. I purchased a few frequent player cards and some cheap rounds via Groupon and such so I at least have a few rounds saved up for late summer and early fall.

Oh man, I've been looking at a new set of i15's. Pretty jealous.

Here in southern NH it's somewhere around $5 for a small, $8 for a medium and $10 for a larger. Most places don't go above $10 for a large. Sizes are normally 50, 75 and 100 balls.

I played my home course last year from the forward tees at the end of the year because it was unseasonably warm and the course was still open, but the other tee boxes were closed for the year. It was fun, playing only 5300 yards, compared to the normal 6100 (whites). I'm not saying I'd do it all the time as it was mainly driver/pitch for me on every hole and driver/5i on the par 5's, but it was definitely an interesting experience because you didn't need to necessarily hit a driver on every hole, you can just let a 5w or 3h go and maybe that would be a new experience for some people rather than ALWAYS hitting a driver on any hole that isn't a par 3. I know a few guys I've played with that always want to play from the back because they have the mentality of "I paid for it, I want to see the whole course" when realistically the way they spray the ball all over the place they're getting to see the whole course anyways.

Don't know if anyone has seen this yet but it's a pretty interesting journey this guy is taking. 10,000 hours of practice (6 hours a day, 6 days a week for 6 years) starting from the hole backwards, working his way to become a "professional" golfer. http://www.thedanplan.com/index.php I saw a write up about it the other day and he's just over 1 year in right now. He started literally just putting from 1 foot for a month or something. Then moved to 3 feet, then to all over the green and after a year he's now I think around 75-100 yards away from the hole so he's never swung a driver or long iron before. Obviously to all of us this is an absolute dream, as he mentions many times on his site, but just the experiment part of it is pretty impressive too. If you read any of the backstory on the "10,000" hour theory, it pretty much states that with a predetermined athletic prerequisite, pure talent (that which a lot of people state professional athletes have an us mere mortals don't) is actually much more rare than we think and many things can be achieved by extremely dedicated practice. Here is the essay on deliberate practice if you really want a long read http://projects.ict.usc.edu/itw/gel/EricssonDeliberatePracticePR93.pdf

170 yard Par 3 complete carry over water. It's a man made lake so before the green has a bunch of rocks and gravel leading into the lake, barely enough room to walk by between the start of the green and edge of the rocks. Guy in my group hits a pretty decent shot, high, wind catches it, kind of knocks it down he hits the rocks (which are all angled every which way) ball bounces about 20 feet into the air, still goes another 5-10 yards in the right direction and lands 3' from the pin. I'm up next, hit the same exact shot, start cursing thinking that we'll never see the ball bounce off the rocks and actually on to the green again, and mine does the same exact thing except on the other side of the pin. Looked someone walked up the hole, extended their arms and dropped a ball out of each hand. Both made the birdie too.

I just picked it up this afternoon. I started my career and put it on Tour-pro level and it's pretty tough. Came in 2nd in my 2nd Amatuer tourney and I had it won but 3 putted on 17. If anyone else is playing on PS3 my tag is jonnydanger81. I haven't played online yet but maybe later on tonight.

I'm going to get it in the next few days. Jonnydanger81.

Just got back from my buddies trip to NC. 90 holes in 3 days and I lost 2 balls. Played 1 ball for something like 42 holes. Typically I play a full 18 with a ball then put it in my secondary pocket if it's really dinged up. I don't know if I'm just good at keeping my eye on the ball once it goes towards the woods or I just get lucky, but I'm the one in the group usually finding everyone else when someone is in the woods.

Lots of great points by other posters. The biggest thing is definitely in the diet. My best friend and former roommate was/is a pretty successful personal trainer and 99 times out of 100 if given a choice between a client that works out like crazy but eats like a slob OR goes through the workouts but really, REALLY sticks to the diet he'd take the one that stuck with the diet. It's just that important. Cut out the soda and snack crap, replace it with water, that Crystal Light flavored water and fruits and veggies to snack on and you'll be good to go. Another great point was recording what you eat, how many calories, etc. www.fitday.com is a pretty simple tool for it. If you don't write it down or record what you're eating all day then there's no way you can change it. Try not to think of it as dieting, it's just eating healthy, hopefully for the rest of your life. If you think of it as a diet then you'll be thinking eventually the diet will end at some point when you reach your goal weight, then you start snacking or drinking soda again because you've succeeded and in 6 months you're back in the same spot? It really is a life change, and it's a great one to start. Sorry if that last part sounded scary, but I think that's a very common reason why "dieting" doesn't really work.

If they're going to get an athlete it will probably be a retired one. I think they said the show runs for about 7 months and not many active pros have that much of an off-season to film stuff. MJ and JT would both be great as they're already known in the golf world. I think they're going to go for a straight up actor. Maybe someone that has been on the Trump show like Mark Walhberg or an athlete like Jerome Bettis.

If you want to play IN Boston there's Fresh Pond in Cambridge which only has 9 holes. If you're going 93 out of Boston the closest to the highway is Unicorn in Stoneham. If you go Rt 1 there's Gannon in Lynn and Mt Hood in Melrose. Gannon is short and hilly, Mt Hood is just hilly as hell.

If you live straight north up 93, Meadow Creek in Dracut is pretty nice for an afternoon round. They keep the course in great shape and it has a brand new clubhouse and the prices aren't too bad. Also, it's not a bad walk except for 2 holes. Hickory Hill in Metheun is ok. Easy walk, decent shape, good price. Sagamore in Lynnfield. A little bit more pricey and gets really crowded on weekends. Some others that kind of all run together on your way from Boston back home are Unicorn in Stoneham, Woburn Country Club, Hillview in Reading. Personally my favorite in that half hour north of Boston realm is Meadow Creek.

100% agree, especially with the lower back/sciatica comment. I'm a big dude, 6'6", 240, off and on lower back issues for a while and I have always just lifted weights and done cardio, but doing yoga has helped with my flexibility and just my overall physical being. If you want a challenge, that P90X program has a really butt kicking yoga portion to it you can probably get on Youtube or something, but just the regular run of the mill yoga stretching and poses make a big difference.

I 100% agree with the clasp thing. What a stupid idea on their part. Put a button on there, or a clasp that holds better. I had to sew mine on after I bought them just to make sure it will hold better. The fit and sytle of the pants are awesome, but that clasp thing is a real downer.

Flew down to NC and played Tobacco Road last Sunday. Shot an 84 after not swining a club since November so that was about right. Putting was tough as half the greens were punched but the driver and irons were working well. Now I'm back north and it's 12F and no chance of getting out again until I fly back down to NC for my buddies trip in 3 weeks.