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.

Hi everyone. I bought a used set of ping g-10's that were web fitted for me by the store, Yellow dot's (1.5" upright from standard). I've been to the range and a couple of games and they just do not feel right so today, I scribbled jiffy on the back of a few balls and hit them. I am hitting all the pings off centre (towardsthe toe but still in the grooves, the entire impact is in the grooves). I hit a standard club and it is dead centre but thin (Hitting the ball at the top, which was my problem with my standard x-18's). Looking at the pics, is it my swing that needs re=adjusting (from 4 years of compensating for a standard) or did the web fitting put the wrong club in my hands? Any feedback is appreciated.

I used to play 3x a year but have been playing regularly for 4 years now (aprox 20-25 rounds of 18 and 20 rounds of 9). My first official handicapp was a 24 and it went down to a 17 after the second year. Years 3 & 4, it's varied from a best of around a 15.2 or so to a worst of 18.1. As of last weekend I am a 16.4. I tend to go on streaks of mid to high 80's games and streaks of low to mid 90's games. Best round was a 91 in year one, 87 in year two, 85 in year 3 and 82 this year. I shot a 100 (yes 100) once this year the day after I shot an 83. I never take mulligans or gimmie putts. I've felt like I've played a lot better in the last couple of years in all aspects of the game but my handicapp isn't really reflecting it. My goal is to make it to 10 handicapp someday but that probably means going to the range and putting and chipping greens. I have enough trouble getting to the course 2x a week.

Is there any way to practice the bump and run outside of finding a quiet night on the course? Also, what's about the limit for a bump and run?

Ha ha, I was thinking about replaceing my x-18's this winter even though deep down I know it's me more than the clubs. How many times do low handicappers hit the range a week and how many games do they play? I'll assume the range includes chipping and putting. Thanks

Never heard of this before but it looks like fun. Thanks for the link.

It's been raining here alot and I hadn't golfed in over a week but I did get in several rounds on this game. Today managed to get in a real nine holes and shot a 62 I normally shoot 42-45 on nine, a bad game is anything above 45. The wii swing really solidfied itself into my real game and my putting was messed up as well. I had to laugh after taking a 10 on the 4th hole and I just gave up caring about a score for the day and spent the last 5 holes trying to salvage my game. I did manage to bogey the 7th and 8th holes then end strong with a triple ;-/ This winter, ps2 golf with the old fashioned controller...

I kind of wish you would have pointed out that my addition was the cause for your confusion the first time before I spent far too much of my life trying to explain something that was little more than bad math. Perhaps this explains my high scores or sometimes I may just get lost on the course and play 20 holes...2 doubles, 5 pars and 11 bogies=18 holes for a score of 86 (on a par 71 course), 2 doubles, 6 pars and 10 bogeys will be for a score of 85.

What has been really killing my game has been scoring the inevitable triple and quadruple bogey during a round and it's usually due to poor decisions (going for a green from 200 and hitting ob, hacking out of deep rough, attacking a sucker pin). I can easily get 5 pars in a game, it's more about setting a mindset that 13 bogeys and a couple of doubles are ok so when I get into trouble or have a bad shot I switch from the mindset "how do I get this up and down from 220 yards" which leads to the triples, quads or even quintuple bogeys to managing my game on "how do I get this in the hole in the next three shots" I play the course smarter (i.e. not trying the hero shot) with this mindset knowing that bogey is ok as long as I get my 5 pars and I leave some wiggle room with the double bogeys (i.e. I flubbed a drive 30 yards into deep rough, chunked it 25 yards to the fairway, lying 2 and I'm still 400 yards from the green - par is never going to happen and a bogey is unlikely so I manage for a double bogey) If I do this I can shoot 1 better than my handicap. If I get down to a 15 handicap, I'll aim for 6 pars, 12 bogeys and 2 doubles. I do start every hole with the expectation of par but this system gives me the option to lower my expectations from par to bogey or double depending on what happens along the way and choose my next shot (club and approximate landing spot) accordingly.

I can't work the ball so depending on how much wind, if it is enough to take my hat off...Into the wind and cross winds - swing easy and hit it low. I aim just a little bit to the direction it's coming from and swing easy using my 3 hybrid or 3 wood. I hit both of these very low. I get decent distance and the wind doesn't take my ball to places I do not want it to go. Wind behind: Driver and let it rip. I've read that the high driver isn't the best way to play this but it works for me.

A bad day on the golf course is better than a great day at work.