Dr. Griefo

Thanks guys, zen or punch the guy out, that's two opposite ends of the spectrum. Is there a both option ;-) I'll try the zen and the bubble. Yesterday I was able to ignore idle banter of a group waiting at the tee behind us waiting on an overcrowded course with a lazy marshall not speeding up play.

Thanks, I think I can do the bubble and will try it with the next annoying partner out there. Thanks!

No his name wasn't Gary. I think there are a lot of "Gary's" out there ha ha (apologies to persons named Gary who are not obnoxious on the course). I would like to say that this guy was the exception but it seems like I ussually wind up with a guy like this in tournaments (curse of being a higher handicapper is being paired with persons who have no clue about golf etiquette (sp) and they really throw me off. People that annoy me on the course are always going to exist and it's not them, it's me. I need to figure a way to ignore this but right now, I'm just at the point where I'm comfortable with my swing and don't think about it until a tipster comes in. I'm usually ok when someone is chatting while I'm hitting but this guy was an exception, he was yelling like we were at a football game,all the time. The walking in front of us to his ball when we were lining up to hit was hard to ignore. I should golf with this guy more because if I learn to play through this nonsense I could play through anything.

Hey everyone, Any good tips or sources for not letting someone ruin your game? I shot in 102 last night (ussually in the low 80's) because I let someone get under my skin. Here's my story... A guy joined our threesome last night that would just not shut up. Either he was blabbing while we were hitting, he YELLED "put it in the cup" on one of the guys backswings on his putt, etc. He finally stopped after we reminded him, a little less politely each time. What really got me was that guy never stopped his own negative "self-talk." Any shot he made, even if it was decent wasn't good enough. And he talked and talked to himself about how bad of a shot it was. As the game wore on, he got more and more frenzied and when I would pull up to my ball, he would jump out of the cart, grabs some clubs and storm ahead in front of us and hit his ball. Then there was the "don't shank it like I did" comments before someone else would hit, "Don't top it" and finally, golf tips. We stopped those in a hurry but by this point I wanted the round over, done and shot bad, putted worse. So here's the point to my long-winded story. I apologized to a a group in front of us after this idiot was babbling while waiting for them on the tee box and one of the guys said to me, no worries, a bomb could go off while he was lining up and hitting and he wouldn't notice. I want to be this guy. Any tips, ideas on how to get there?

Thanks for the tip on Surrey, hotel recommendations and car rental info plus the map.

Ok, that made my day!

Looks like Vancouver is the place to go. I'll be checking for flight & hotel prices!

I checked into things a bit and there is no golf that is a reasonable days drive from sk or ab to the US. Time to start thinking of what I can do for indoor practice.

Hope it turns around, bad habits seem so easy to keep and good ones easy to lose.

My last set were calloway x-18's that I bought from Calloway pre-owned and I traded them in recently for a hardly used set of ping g-10's, web fit to me with brand new grips. I only paid $280 for the pings after trade in on the x-18s. I only buy used from reputable dealers. What concerns me about used clubs is people who buy the to good to be true deals and get a set of counterfeits, find out that you get what you pay for and then try and sell them as legit clubs.

Not sure if this will be helpful or not but I was having the same problem until I was fitted for clubs last month. The guy fitting me pointed this out and said something to the effect that I was strenghthening the grip to compensate for the improper lie of the club face when addressing the ball. I have no idea if he was full of it or not but crazy things were happening that I couldn't explain (i.e. shifting my grip on the back swing, massive hooks, etc). I use a neutral grip now (with the fitted clubs) except when drawing or fading and my handicap has dropped by 2 (to a 14...actually it's a 14.4 right now so by 1.6) since getting the proper fitting clubs (I need to update the clubs I use).

Assess a one stroke penalty when playing with a wannabe golf pro who hands out unsolicited tips during a round (i.e. I noticed your grip..., back swing..., have you tried..., you should draw this tee shot by...) Nothing messes up my game more than a tip during a round so the one stroke penalty stops them in a hurry.

Thanks everyone, I'll keep checking back. I will probably wind up calling Billings, Havre and Great Falls. I was in a hockey tournament in great Falls 4 years ago in february. Left Canada in 30 below (celcius) wether and Great Falls was 14 celcius. There was no snow to be seen and people were on motor bikes. They said it was like that most of the year. I'm skeptical but a weekend of golf once a month through winter would be worth the drive and hotels. If I find out anything I'll post it here.

Well my course is closing in two weeks but I would like to still get in a round or two a month this winter, does anyone know of any course that keeps the greens open all year in Montana or North Dakota? For that matter, how far south of the Canadian border (alberta / saskatchewan) would I have to go to find an open course with greens (not temporaries, I can do that at home)? Rumour has it that Havre and Billings has a course that stays open but these seem a little northern for that to happen. Any leads are appreciated.

Thanks srjorion and ks8829 for taking the time to respond. My problems are resolved. I was chatting with a friend at work and he had the same problem after switching from standard to custom fit clubs. Basically, he demonstrated what my swing looked like with a standard club and what it needs to look like with a 1.5 club. He told me to move closer to the ball and take a more straight up and down swing (rather than swinging around), and pull my arms up closer to my body. He said it would take awhile to get used to. I hit the driving range after work and tried this and was hitting off the heal. 1 bucket later I figured out where I need to stand now and worked on a more upright swing and it was all sweet spot. I hit two more buckets to hone it in and can even hit my 3 wood long with this swing. I really like the pings because I can't feel the ball off the sweet spot but it has a lot of feedback when hit wrong (though it still gives good distance and is relatively straight). By the last bucket I was able to fade and draw. Swing still feels wierd but it's a lot of years to undo and change. My back felt better (usually I'm toast after 1 bucket) and my weight transfer is definitely better, probably because I am not bending over as far to get the swing through. The best part was I was able to do the full backswing our golf pro was trying to get me to do when I took lessons (I was doing a 3/4 swing in order to make solid contact, a full swig brought so many surprises, right, left, straight, fat thin, I never really knew what was going to happen). It's a shame the course will be closed in about 25 days. I also noticed that my wrists automatically hinge and release now (due to the angle of the swing?) so that's two swing thoughts I do not have to worry about anymore. At the end I hit 9/10 onto the 150 yard practice green and this is something I have never done. In the end, I am completely blown away by how much the club made a difference.