StixItClose

In projected chronological order: 1. Break 90 at Pebble Beach (my 30th birthday present) 2. Get down to a single-digit handicap (carried over from 2010) 3. Win a major tournament in my league 4. Come up with somewhere good to take my dad for Father's Day 5. Win the overall title in my league 6. Win the year-end major 7. Play with the same clubs from Pebble Beach to the end of the year

+1 for the golf trip... but in the winter. Being a Floridian, I'm not familiar with this "off-season" you speak of, but it sounds horrible!

Why are there never majors in Florida? Granted we get 6-7 tour events a year, but a major would be a different animal. The Copperhead would just be sick for a US Open. The winner of the Transitions is usually no more than 5-6 under anyway, so let Mike Davis work with it and they'll play it around par. For a PGA it seems they look for courses with some scenery, which I can't think of any around here. Maybe Seminole?

Living in central Florida, I'm lucky enough to have multiple chances at going to PGA events during the year. I've been going to Bay Hill my entire life. I've started going to the Transitions now that I live in Tampa Bay. I've even gone to the Tavistock Cup a couple of times, which is completely different as there are no ropes and very few spectators compared to the regular events. At Lake Nona there is a drivable par 4 on the back 9, maybe 310 or so. It has a slight dogleg to it near the green, so the guys have to hit it over some trees to actually make the green. This particular day it was playing into a slight breeze. The shorter hitters were bailing out and either giving themselves a wedge or putting it in the neck to the green. Ernie gets up there with a swing of the same pace as my practice swing and hits the driver high enough to get over the corner while coming down steeply enough to stay on the green. The ball hits on the green, TAKES A HOP BACKWARDS, and ends up 10 feet.

Great question! I only go to the range if I have something specifically wrong where I'll want to get the alignment sticks and/or video out or if I'm trying to get used to a new club. I hate hitting balls just for the sake of hitting balls. I've traded the range time that I considered wasteful for time at the gym. I feel better and have lost 5 strokes on the cap this year so far anyway. I don't even hit balls before a round. I would much rather get some feel for the greens with the putter and a wedge. If I wasn't particularly happy with an aspect of the short game in my last round, I'll go work on that for a few hours in the next few days after the round. Some people have to/want to beat balls constantly, and that's cool, too, but I've figured out that I'm not one of them.

So I just regripped my set with the new Golf Pride Tour Wrap 2G (love them, BTW), but had to come up with an interesting strategy with them based on what GolfSmith had on the rack at the time. I know I could have ordered whatever I wanted online, but I wanted to break them in before a big tournament this weekend. Anyway, here's what I came up with: Jumbo size on the driver and my strong hybrid, because of those being what I use off the tee. True to the idea that larger size grips take the left side out of the course, I didn't hit one ball with my occasional snap hook in a practice round on Saturday. White standard size with two wraps of tape on 3-9. Red standard size with two wraps on my wedges, because when I'm using those I'm in the "red zone". Anyone else get really creative with their grips? If I win the tournament this weekend, maybe I'll start a trend

It's what I call "Florida links", meaning the rolling hills and some hidden trouble but still has some holes where trees and water are an issue. I remember one hole in particular that was almost a complete 90 degree dogleg with water right and woods left. But there are also holes that are quite forgiving.

1.) TPC Sawgrass 2.) Plantation Course at Kapalua (the most beautiful place I've ever been in the world; just played terribly so it doesn't get ranked higher) 3.) World Woods Pine Barrens 4.) Lake Nona 5.) Dye Course at PGA Golf Club This list may be completely different by the end of the summer. I've got tournaments scheduled at Orange County National, Innisbrook Copperhead, and Black Diamond Quarry.

So my 30th is coming up in January and I'm playing with the idea of a guys weekend during MLK day in Vegas. First, what's the golf weather like in January, remembering that we're from Florida. Would we consider it unplayable? Second, is there any places on the Strip that offer some good golf packages to go along with the lodging or should I just worry about the hotel and work on the golf when we get there? I'm checking the websites of the usual suspects (Luxor, MGM, etc.) and can't find anything. Thanks!

I grew up there and my dad still lives there, so I know it well. I recommend either Baytree or Duran. Both courses are a lot of fun and are probably pretty reasonable this time of year. I would have said Viera East, but they had some sort of disaster with their greens that have made them unplayable. I grew up playing Turtle Creek, but that's also in terrible shape right now. Everything else around there is either private or a mundane municipal. If you can spare an hour drive, go down to Port St. Lucie and play the three courses at the PGA Golf Club. I did that one weekend last year and loved it.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but here's what I know about the caddie system: If we're talking your average, keeping-the-card Tour pro, like the thread started with, sometimes they have a regular caddie and sometimes they just pick one up at each stop. If they have a regular caddie, it's negotiated between themselves who picks up for travel, hotel, etc. Sometimes the caddie can be just as much of an independent contractor as the pro in that regard. Those kinds of guys are usually guaranteed an amount for the week, even if their man doesn't make the cut, somewhere around $1000-2000. If their man makes the cut, they might also get a small percentage (like 5% or so). Now your "name" caddies for name players (Bones for Phil, Steve for Tiger, Fluff for Furyk, etc.) usually just get a percentage that can get to 10%. They're quite happy with that because they know the odds of their man not making the cut are slim. They also might be hitching a ride on their man's jet, although the other expenses might still be negotiated. Those guys, in their own right, are usually millionaires themselves, especially if their pro lets them negotiate their own sponsors. Ever wonder why Stevie rushes to take his caddie bib off on the 18th green of a tournament? Because he's wearing a Valvoline shirt underneath it, and is being paid quite well to do so. I'm was surprised Tiger lets that happen, but these days none of Tiger's decisions are shocking anymore.

A regripping kit, an extension rod, and a Winn AVS putter grip for the Scotty. I did flirt heavily with the Burner Superfast, but decided it wasn't worth the divorce that would ensue.

I'm with rexicon. To me, a well-rounded golfer can bring their game to any course and get the desired result (in this case, a single-digit round). If you are going to limit yourself to one course, make sure it's a difficult one. I'm proud of where my game is now for a variety of reasons, but one of the main ones is because I've rarely played the same course twice this year and my best round was on the most difficult of all of them. One of those discount memberships might be the way to go to get some variety in your game. We're lucky that we live in Florida, where you can't throw a rock and not hit a golf cart driving by. There are plenty of options out there. Whatever you decide, best of luck! You've made some great progress so far.

Hello everybody. I'm excited to be joining this great board. After lurking through some of the threads for a while, I think I'll learn a lot. My name is Scott. I started playing when I was 2, swinging sticks at pine cones in the backyard. I played junior golf in the summers, eventually becoming the #1 player at my high school. I was never going to play in college, but my plan when I enrolled was to get a business degree and eventually become a club pro. I changed my major to English after seeing how much math I would have to take for a business degree. And that is where my game died. Without my dad paying for me to play or working at a course for greens fees, I couldn't afford to get out there but once or twice a year. After college, I focused on my career and my new marriage and still only played sporadically. I went from being a single-digit handicap in my senior year of high school to not being able to break 100. I've started playing more and practicing harder in the past couple of years now that things have settled down. Being a teacher, I get the summers to work on my game as well (when I'm not hanging out with my 15 month old daughter). I'm back down to a 15 with the goal of single-digit by the time I turn 30 in January. I'm even starting to play competitively in a league that travels around Tampa. I'm learning a lot about myself in this work to get back to what I consider a decent golf game, so I wouldn't trade those 10 years I took off for anything.