jorruss

I would say Jupiter Hills Club in Jupiter FL was the best for me. I played a practice round a week before the Florida State Am last summer after they had just re-opened from 4 months of maintenance on the village course, and there was nary a blade of grass out of place and not a single divot on the entire course. The Hills course is a work of art and the most challenging test I have ever endured. From the tournament only black tees it measures 7344 yards and plays to a par of 70. The course rating is 77.3 and 151 is the slope.

My list, in terms of the quality of the golf courses: (not in any particular order) Las Vegas, NV San Francisco, CA Orlando, FL Bend, OR Dallas, TX

Yeah, it was hard to pick venues, let alone specific courses, so I just listed the resort regardless if it had multiple courses. I love the new course at Grand Cypress. It's a great departure from standard Florida golf. I agree with you about Victoria Hills, especially since they switched the nines now to the original layout as Ron Garl intended. (They've played the original back nine as the front for years since they opened) I didn't include it since it's not in the Orlando area, but in Volusia county. Worth the drive for sure if you live in Northeast Orlando though. I also could add Royal St Cloud and Mission Inn. I've never played either but have always heard good things. Bottom line: Lots of great golf in the Orlando area!

Black Bear in Eustis is about as wide open as they get. If you are in the resort area near disney, The Grand Cypress new course has several fairways in excess of 100 yards wide. LPGA Champions course in Daytona is pretty forgiving also.

I'll put my greeskeeper hat on for this one: I think you only have to deal with grain in the south on the bermuda grass. Aerating is done to allow water, oxygen, fertilizers, and other nutrients to penetrate the soil and better reach the roots of the grass. In is normally done once in the spring and again in the fall. It doesn't have much effect on controlling grain. Verticutting, has an effect of reducing grain, but is done primarilty to encourage more growth and provides better sun and nutrient coverage.

The only issue I have with an aid like this is that the putting stroke isn't a straight path, but rather an arch. I've tried several path trainers and find them all the be ineffective for me. That doesn't mean it wont work for you though. I prefer something that gives me more feedback. I like my trusty old Carbite Golf Putter ball. It's basically a metal ball on the end of a shaft. If you don't hit it absolutely dead square, the ball goes careening way off to one side or the other. It's instant feedback and will certainly improve your putting. The other one I've tried is Dave Pelz's Putting Tutor. That works very well also. http://www.pelzgolf.com/dave_pelz_go...ing_tutor.aspx

The best deal on beginner set for ladies are either Nancy Lopez Golf or Square Two Golf. They both make woman friendly and affordable sets. http://www.nancylopezgolf.com/en/Home.aspx http://www.squaretwo.com/

I have a staff bag and a nice little carry bag. In Florida we almost always ride in carts, so the staff bag affords me more storage space for everything I need like sunscreen, bug spray, rain gear, drink mix, etc. The carry bag works great when I do walk or someone caddies for me. They both have their purpose. A staff bag can be pretentious if you are one of those guys that puts their name on the bag just to get attention. You know the guys - They stand up on the range with the name showing and turn to look around every time they hit a shot to see if anyone saw their perfect form? They park their cart with the name on the bag showing right in front of the clubhouse where everyone can see? They always shoot 10 shots better when they play by themselves...

Some irons hit it higher than others, especially depending on the shaft, but it is still possible to hit the ball very high even if you have the stiffest, heaviest, highest kickpoint shafts and blades with high center of gravity. Most better players deloft the club because the hands lead at impact, producing the descending blow you want with an iron. Have a pro check out his swing. My guess is he's probably sweeping it, which can work well for woods and long irons, but will make short irons go very high and short, like you describe.

Testing is the best way to determine that. The loft is relative and I don't think you can go by the set of irons and match lofts with hybrids. I personally hit a hybrid much further than an iron of the same loft. I have the Adams Idea Pro hybrids in 20 and 24 degrees. They say the 20 degree is a 3 iron, but I'll never hit a 3 iron as high and far as I hit that club. The same for the 4 hybrid. For me the 24 degree hybrid goes about 225 making it more like a 3 iron, and the 20 degree goes 240, making it more like a 2 iron. Hit some hybrids side by side with your irons to see what would be the right lofts for you. You want to avoid having big distance gaps between your longest iron and the first hybrid. I end up swapping out hybrids and long irons depending on the course I'm playing.

Love the pants, love the whole line. They aren't for everyone, that's for sure. Would he look better if his gut wasn't hanging over the belt? Probably, but you at least have to give him credit for losing the 62 pounds he has already shed. Look, his pants are at least as stylish as the stuff Brian Gay is wearing. Nobody gives him a hard time... To me, if your name is "Gay" you shouldn't be wearing bright lime green or orange pants. (Yes, I know Gay is married) I have a few pairs of the less obnoxious shorts from Loud Mouth Golf - John's sponsors - and I love them. They recently hosted a tournament at Ginn Reunion Resort where every participant got a pair of pants from Loud Mouth. You have never seen such a site as what I saw on the driving range that morning. It was like I had woken up in 1974 in Johnny Miller's twilight zone!

By far the easiest woods to get off the ground are the new Bobby Jones woods. I was hitting high rockets out of divots at a demo day. The hybrids hit the ball very high, great for low ball hitters or people looking for a very forgiving club. Jesse Ortiz also designed the original Orlimar Tri-Metal woods back in the day, and these look very similar. I would highly recommend the Bobby Jones 15 degree 3 wood or 17 degree 4 wood. http://www.bobbyjonesgolf.com/s.nl/c...ategory.724/.f

I've been playing my trusty Dynamic Gold x100s for over 15 years, and I'm putting together a new set of irons. I've heard all the buzz about the KBS Tour shafts, and I'm wondering if anyone has hit these? I actually hit them in a set of Adams Idea Tour Black irons, but they were only a stiff flex. The clubs seemed to hit the ball way into the air to me. The trajectory was much higher than normal, but I wanted to see if others experienced the same effect. Any other x100 players out there try these?

The Z-Star X competes with the Pro V1x, so it won't spin as much as the Pro V. If you want a softer feel and more spin try the Z-Star. I've played thr Z-Star X since it came out and I love it. It does everything the Titleist balls do and is better in the wind. Check out the review here: http://thesandtrap.com/balls/srixon_..._x_ball_review

To quote Tom Cruise: "This is what I call a target rich environment."

Yup. Playing USGA events makes it a must for me.

It's important that you determine the actual cost of being a member before you sign a membership agreement. Many clubs charge not only monthly dues and cart fees every time you play, but also club storage, handicap, and restaurant minimums. You also have to factor the cost of playing elsewhere every now and then and tournaments like the Member-Guest and Member-Member that most clubs have, as those cost more cash. For example, my home club charges a $1000 initiation fee, $2250 yearly dues, $17 cart fee every time you play, $75/yr for a locker, $75/yr club storage and $25/yr for handicap services. That also doesn't include any charges you might incur in the restaraunt or pub... It get's a big expensive.

Here's my list of the best 20 Greater Orlando (Public) Courses. These are in no particular order. Are there any I left off or need to take off? Let the fun begin! Top Ten: Rosen Shingle Creek Resort Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Resort & Spa Mystic Dunes Golf Club Grand Cypress Resort Disney Resort (Palm & Magnolia) Champions Gate Resort Ginn Reunion Resort Southern Dunes Golf Club Orange County National Golf Club Sugarloaf Mountain Golf Club Second Ten: Falcon’s Fire Grand Pines Hunter’s Creek Metro West Ridgewood Lakes Grand Lakes Celebration Stoneybrook West Diamondback Orange Lake Resort (Legends Course)

I once aspired to be a golf course architect and met with a past president of the GCAAA, William Amick. He told me the best way to get started is to first have a landscape architecture degree. That will provide you with the proper foundation and skills to "talk the talk". From there it's a matter of starting at the groud level as an equipment operator. There is a great book I have read that goes over the whole process in detail, from the financing and planning to the actual shaping of the course and grow-in, up to opening day. You can get it on Amazon. It's called "Driving the Green" by John Strawn. A great read if you are interested in golf course architecture. http://www.amazon.com/Driving-Green-.../dp/1558215557 Also, check out the GCBAA's website for more info about construction... http://www.gcbaa.org/ Hope this helps!

Orlando/Tampa area has some of the best courses in the country, and hundreds of other great courses. I've lived here since 1997 and haven't begun to play every course. There are also plenty of really solid players and lots of golf retail stores, such as Edwin Watts, Golfsmith, Golf Galaxy, etc. Orlando is a golf mecca.

Sawgrass is the 4th most expensive golf course in the world to play, so you might want to go down to the World Golf Village instead. Both courses are great, but the King & Bear is the better of the two. Hammock Dunes is private, so you won't get on there unless you know someone, but you can go to the nearby Ginn Hammock Beach Resort and play Nicklaus' Ocean Course. It's awesome. You can also try the Ponte Vedra Inn Resort (right up the road from Sawgrass), they used to play the Ryder Cup matches there back in the 20s, and if you don't like the job Tim Finchem is doing, drop a note in his back yard, I hear his house is right off the 4th tee. Royal St Augustine is also pretty good, and St John's Country Club is very good. In fact it hosted the second stage of the PGA Q-School recently. Finally, South Hampton is a nice club to play. That should give you plently of choices. Have fun!

Well, I have had more under par rounds in the last 6 months than holes in one in my 20+ year golf career. I had my first ace in 2000, 10 years into my golf career. It was a mishit 6 iron that took a weird bounce off the fringe and went in. I've been a scratch or better since 1999, so it goes without saying that I will have more under par rounds, but the average player might have more aces in their life than under par rounds. Like Erik said, it takes many many good shots to shoot under par, and one swing to make an ace. My question for the stats gurus out there is the odds of having eagles on consecutive par 4s? I holed wedges on consecutive holes once to start my round with 2 eagles. What are the odds of that happening again...

Never drawn blood, but we've had some nicks and scratches! It started when I was on the course maintenance crew and started doing it to get the broken wood bits off the tee for the mowers...

I think beginning golfers just do it to look cool. Here's a good article about why it doesn't work: http://blogs.golf.com/top100/2009/01...e-top-1-1.html

Right answer! That was an easy one for a true golf fan Yeah, we usually hit the little broken tee bits at each other across the tee while waiting. It's pretty fun.