Jonnydanger81

It was official a few days ago (maybe a week) that Pinehurst bought the Pit and for now the Pit isn't going to reopen in the forseeable future. While down there we're also playing Legacy, Southern Pines, Pinewild Magnolia and Holly, and Pinehurst #5. We're only there 3 days so we're trying to keep the courses close to eachother to get 36 in for a day, except Saturday we're just playing Pinehurst. I was down there this weekend and played Tobacco Road and it was in really good shape. Also played The Preserve at Jordan Lake. Everything is dry, greens are nice and the weahter is pretty nice though.

I was just down in NC last weekend and I'm going back for my annual buddies trip in a month. Tobacco Road is in great shape right now compared to a lot of other courses. They must have overseeded. Half the greens have been punched but they're starting to fill in nice. One course that is inexpensive and we've heard some recently good things about due to an investment and renovation is Hyland. It's on the lower end of the price spectrum and a few people mentioned the name when I was down there this week. Golfnow is definitely the way to go if you're looking to save too. I've done quite a few courses down there using it and always have a good time.

www.stungolf.com . Their clearance stuff is $40 and they come in a wide variety of sizes and for the taller guys on here they come in unfinished length if you'd like so you can get them hemmed so they actually fit. Very breathable, some crazy colors and patterns too if that's your thing. I have two pair and I like them a lot. Only thing is they definitely run a bit small in the waist. I'm 6'6", 240 and 36" waist in anything and everything but I had to go to 38's for these. Seeing as my inseam is 37" though having the length of these made it worthwhile.

I searched and didn't see anything about this company on the site here, so I figured I'd give my review. My wife bought me two pairs of pants from Stun golf (www.stungolf.com) for Christmas and so far I really like them. I'm 6'6", so when I was doing research on pants these ones stuck out because you can get the length unfinished and hem them to the length you want. She ordered me 36" waist but they were really tight. I wear a 36" in everything, but these were just too small. I ended up sending them back but I called when I did so and they sent me larger pants back before the ones I sent back ever got to them. I just thought that was a really cool thing to do. From what I can tell they are a pretty small operation and I was very impressed that they'd do something like that, so they get my positive review. The pants themselves are very comfortable. They breath incredibly well, have really deep pockets and I'm pretty psyched on the length of them as I said before. They come in a lot of crazy styles too if that's your thing. We paid $40 for each pair, but they have some crazy custom ones that can run well over $100 I think. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the market for pants. I've only played 2 rounds in them so far and they've held up good through the wash so far.

Wondering if anyone in the Pinehurst/NC area has heard of the sale of The Pit? There were rumblings that Pinehurst had bought the course from the current owner but it's still been kept up and should only be closed a week or two. I ask because 8 of us are going on a trip down there in March and one of our rounds is scheduled to be played there. The company I booked the tee times through said they were confident the course was still in good shape and should re-open soon, but if I don't hear any word soon I'm going to try and change the tee time to someplace else nearby. Thanks

Orlando is good for a quick trip. Airport is big so you can get good flights, lots of well priced places to stay in the area and lots of courses on Golfnow if you want to look at discount tee times.

I can see the OP's point about his friend though. If you know what it takes for you personally to be at the level you want to play at and you don't have time to get there, then it may not be worth it for you. The frusteration of playing so poorly after playing well for a few years consistently would probably be enough to drive me away from the game, especially if it was a choice between golf and family, like it seems the OP's friend had to choose timewise. Golf, even at a casual level, requires more time and money than probably any other sport besides maybe hockey, but that's almost strictly because of "rink time" and such.

Absolutely no clue. Had a set of "custom" clubs made by a local shop while I was in high school (12 years ago) and have been playing them since. Every time I yell at them and tell them I'm going to replace them with something nice I go out and break 80.

I played an interesting course in Bradford yesterday, Bradford Country Club. The few reviews I read of the place made it sound like a real POS, but the reviews were from two summers ago, so my cousin and I decided to give it a chance and for $30 for 18 with a cart it made it sound even better. It was a short course, playing something like 6,000 yards (par 70) from the whites. I usually prefer blue tees but I'm always up to playing whatever and on this short of a course it wouldn't have mattered much. Lots of teeing off with my 3 hybrid and 5 iron. It seemed like every tee shot you just wanted to be between 180-240 yards out either because of a hazard or severe dogleg. Off the tee I did pretty well, I think I hit 10/14 fairways and 2 of the 4 par 3 greens. So most of my shots were from 75-150 yards out to the green but I was pulling my wedges something nasty. Everything was left side of the green or just off the left. I started and finished strong, but I had a string of 3 miserable holes where I ended up in the sand (which was a joke for "raked") and not only didn't convert my U/D but 3-putted once after getting out of the bunker. My putter was iffy all day. I had a great 30 ft birdie putt on a double break putt, but I also missed 3 easy birdies from inside 10 feet, one on a par 3, another on a par 5 and a last on a par 4. The holes were I lost it I probably 3 putted twice, besides that though I was content with my 2 putts seeing as I averaged 18 feet from the hole. Overall I ended up shooting an 81. There were those 3 back to back to back holes where I forgot how to golf and had an OB penalty that really killed me, but besides those few holes and the strange pulling of my wedges it was an OK round. I smashed my driver the 3 times I got to pull it out, carrying a diagonal hazard that I took the looooong way to get over and another driver that I just demolished. I haven't gone to the range AT ALL lately, only having time to get out of the course instead, so I wouldn't mind figuring out what this pulling business is about. As for the course though, the price was right, we played 18 in 3 hours and besides unfortunately running into a men's league halfway through the round because we were playing so quickly, it was a good experience. Lots of target golf, really only one hole where we could let it fly, but that's kind of nice sometimes. Now that I know a lot of the doglegs and blind tee shots I'd like to play it again, and for $30 sneaking out early from work, I probably will.

Don't expect to golf much between Thanksgiving and February though. If you can bring them with you when you come out in August/Sept then you'll be able to play. The first month or two of college classes are kind of BS anyway.

I've lived in/around Boston my whole life. 4 years in college in the middle of the city. If you're going to BC chances are no car, none of your freshman friends will have a car, and the T (local public transportation) isn't the easiest thing to navigate with clubs, not that there are a ton of T accessable golf courses anyway. Your only chance would be to make some friends with some guys that commute to class, they might have a car and their golf routines already set up so you can just join them. It's a big school and there are lots of people so you'll no doubt find some others that will want to go and play, it's just the matter of finding someone with a car at your age.

I always do, kind of part of my pre-shot routine. Stand behind the ball, get my alignment to where I want to hit, step up just left of where the ball lies, take a practice swing, then step in and hit the ball. On shorter shots, inside 100 yards probably, I'll always take at least one or two practice swings to get the feeling of how hard/what percentage swing I want to take. On shorter shots it's to help judge distance/control, on the longer shots it's just more to get a feel for the swing.

I played like crap the other day when I played there, but putting up a 3 on that hole was a good one. That course has to be packed on the weekends because for the rates they charge and the shape that place is in there's no way they make money on their weekday business.

It matters what you're talking about with rough. If you're in the trees trying to get out, I wouldn't want to try using a hybrid/rescue, I want something that I can keep low and can control. 6i or 7i has a good face to hit off, keeps the ball low and has a short enough shaft without choking up like crazy to be able to control it.

I just played Highfield on Tuesday. Love that course and it's a great deal during the week. That long downhill par 3 is a tough hole. I put a 3i to the front and it took a good bounce to the middle of the green and I finally made par there but that's the only time I've hit an acceptable shot there. Is that course always empty? I've been there half a dozen times in the middle of the week and I've never ran into another group yet.

I was going to suggest a go-to club for the mental aspect of it. The worst thing you can do in the woods is hit another one into the woods. I usually take my 7i and punch and if it's clear enough I'll aim for a distance I know I can hit from rather than automatically just going straight for the hole. I see a lot of people get frusterated that they're in the trees in the first part so they won't take the time to look at their punch, but the last thing you want to do is be hasty and punch across the fairway into more trees or rough. Make a good solid shot out of trouble and it gets your mind in the right spot for the next shot.

Few weeks ago someone was standing in line (paralell) with the markers on the tee box while someone was teeing off. The guy straight up sh*nked it right off the top of the club or something, but it hit the kid standing there dead in the eye and the ball was really moving. Broke his nose and everything swelled up like no one's business. We were in the group behind and heard some rocus on the tee and saw someone drop. I have no clue why anyone would ever stand paralell to the tee marker just out of respect for the guy hitting and just in the slight chance he might straight up miss the ball. I always clear out of the way when people are taking sand shots because not everyone is comfortable swinging so hard so close to the hole so give them room and let them do their thing. I've also almost been victimized from a skulled sandy too.

Definitely helps when you are playing with good friends. I took the day off yesterday and played with two of my uncles and one of their son-in-laws that is my age and it's always a blast. The competition and joking around and everything is so much fun that if there weren't numbers on the holes we would just keep playing til it was dark.

As a kid I would sneak on to a private course near my house. It's only 9 holes and during the days in the summer there was hardly anyone there. You could play 3-7 (really mid 2-7 if you wanted) without going close enough to the clubhouse to be spotted. We'd have our clubs with us in the woods and once we saw a break in a few holes we'd play like crazy. Must have been weird to see kids walking down the street with their clubs then disapear into the woods. Years later my high school golf team played our matches there and my coach (member of the club, hence why we got to play there) asked me how I knew the holes already if I wasn't a member. Never snuck on to a famous private club though. I don't know if I'd ever have the chance.

Matters how I'm playing. If it's good then I usually know I have all pars and maybe 1 bogey. If it's bad I tend to lose track pretty quickly.

When I was a kid (around 8 or 9) the local golf course gave free lessons and let kids play free on Mondays, so my mother would drop me off there at 6 in the morning, there would be a big (probably 12-15 kids) group lesson, then have putting competitions for prizes, closest to the pin, etc, and let us all go play 9. At that age walking I don't remember if I ever played the full 9. I definitely didn't take it serious back then, it was just something to do in the summer, but then when I was a teenager membership at that same course was $150 for a junior (under 18) for the summer, so same thing, I'd get dropped off in the AM and stick around til night. Played 2 years in high school, then gave it up during college and afterwards but I could always go out if the need for a 4th came up. Last summer I started seriously playing again with this summer dedicating more time that I ever have before. I'm 29 now.

I usually split a bucket with whoever I'm playing with. 3 or 4 wedges, a few 7i, half a dozen drives and I'm good. Then to the putting green to get a feel for the greens for the day. Right now I find it more important to putt before the round because I hate getting to that first hole and having no clue what the greens are rolling like for the day.

They (your friends) probably don't want to play the back tees because they're worried about putting up big numbers and the stigma that comes with it. I've played rounds from the blues and had friends play from the whites, just as if I play with a woman she'll hit from the red/forward tees and I'll hit from blue/white. Most of the times I play from the whites.

Best part is helping someone else look for a ball and finding 4 other decent ones. I'd say I like it when I go in looking for my own and come out with a few, but I'd rather not be in there looking for mine.

Just my quick response regarding my limited experience with S&T; over the last 2 months. 1) Overall, are you happy with the book? Yes. Even if you don't want to 100% commit to the S&T; swing for whatever reason, the book has so much good information on ball striking, ball flight laws and general swing commentary that it is by far worth the read, and it's not a long read at that. 2) Have you improved, if so, how much? It's hard to say how much I've improved stroke wise but my ball striking has improved immensely. 3) What area did you see the greatest improvement - i.e. distance, accuracy, etc. Ball striking would be the most improved, then I'd say it's close between distance and accuracy since I'm hitting better. Before my 8i was 140, maybe 150 when I really struck it well, but now it's 155 or so all the time. Driver is a lot more consistent at 260-270, still a slight fade but I'm ok with it. 4) How long from the time you started the program until you saw consistent play you were happy with and a swing you could trust and became natural? I didn't go "balls to wall" S&T.; I took in certain parts that helped my swing, namely keeping my weight forward, understanding the arc of the club and my hands and pushing my hips through. I don't even know if my swing looks like a S&T; swing but I know how things feel and I know where my weight is during the swing and how I'm taking my hands and club away. I had been golfing for quite some time before I started S&T;, but I'd say after 2-3 range sessions I saw improvement on the range where I felt the new swing working, then another 3-4 times out on the course when I really started trusting the new swing that I saw good improvement. 5) Did you use any other methods of instruction while reading SnT? Not really.