Unforgiven93

Thanks everybody! Checking out Pinehurst and the RTJ trail in Alabama now. Which of the Pinehurst courses would you recommend the most?

I'm going on my last college spring break trip in about 3 weeks with my dad. It is going to be solely a golf trip, and I'm looking for suggestions on where to go! We will be driving from central Indiana... Looking for pretty nice, but not super expensive, places to go within driving range (15ish hours? Obviously less is better, but we need to get somewhere warm).

What drivers should I look in to? I swing around 115mph and I've always had difficulty getting the ball up to appropriate launch angle. Currently using an SLDR at 11.5 degrees, with a stock Fujikura Speeder X flex 65g shaft. Currently I'm thinking G30 or Cobra Fly-Z+... I base a lot off of the "High Swing Speed" results from this testing website: http://www.mygolfspy.com/2015-most-wanted-driver-overall-awards/ Any opinions on mygolfspy? Is it a reliable site? They seem to place a very high significance on distance, which I know according to LSW is the most important thing, but I'm not sure what the balance should be for me specifically. I hit the ball far and will hit the ball far with any club, is a 8 yard longer on average worth the 4 yard more offline average? I know the further the ball goes the more offline it appears to be because the margin for error is smaller, I think they take that into account on mygolfspy though.

This year, I want to get to a handicap of +3 using only tournament scores. I want to track my stats this year. I've never done that before and I think it will help me target improvement areas. Thinking about getting GAME golf, but I don't want my shot routine to be messed up. Also worried my Ogio Silencer bag will pull the tips off of my clubs. I may just get Golfpad Premium for my phone and use that for stats.

Well this is a cool idea. I'll take albatross, under par, LSW, and tournament win! I've won probably a dozen tournaments over the years but my favorite recent win was last summer. I won my City Championship's stroke play with a full field over a weekend. They use the stroke play championship to qualify for the match play championship. I ran through my first 4 opponents in match play, the only hiccup being against the 32nd seed in the first round. He took me to 22 holes. Ended up losing in the Championship Match on the 21st hole. What a battle it was. 4 weekends straight of golf, 9 tournament rounds. Two matches in one day on one weekend. Absolutely love it and can't wait to defend my stroke play title this summer, and hopefully finish the job in match play. I know that wasn't a very brief overview of the tournament I won, but I wanted to tell the whole story :)

That is a really good idea that I hadn't thought of! I only have a crappy $30 rain gear set...

My SLDR 430 has the Fujikura Speeder 65 X Flex shaft. That is a tour spec shaft? I didn't realize that. And yes, my clubhead speed is pretty high. Probably around 115 on average, although I haven't been clocked in about 3 years. You don't think I'd get benefit from being fit for a shaft? Leaning toward this option currently, because they have the shafts and heads on hand for Ping. I could wait for the G driver to come out for the price drop of the G30 too. Unless the G is way better than the G30, which I doubt it will be. If it is, I could just get that instead.

Hi guys, I have $400 of club house credit to spend, and I'd like to spend it soon so I can have whatever I buy all season long. I'm looking at 3 options right now: 1. A new shaft for my driver fit to my swing. I have a stock X flex SLDR 430 right now. I hit it well, but a shaft may help me hit it better. The pro said I would have to wait until May though because they don't keep enough TM shafts on hand. This option wouldn't use all $400, so I don't know what I'd do with the rest. 2. A new driver entirely. I was thinking a G30 or G30 LS tech maybe to help me keep the ball in the fairway. I hit it far currently, but I'd love to hit more fairways. 3. A new wedge set. My SM5 wedges are reasonably new, I got them a couple years ago in the summer, so I don't really need SM6s, but... new clubs are shiny :) I have Srixon Z945 blades and a Scotty X5R in the mail and I just got a brand new bag delivered today... (Someone should take away my wallet after 1 AM, I have a problem.) I have all the balls/gloves I need for the entire season too. I got them with a good discount through the NCCGA (National Collegiate Club Golf Association) that I am a part of. So literally the only not new things currently are my SLDR driver, SLDR 3 wood, and my 3 SM5s, all of which were purchased within the last two years. What should I do? My credit expires in summer, so I still have some time to sit on it, but like I said, I'd like to spend it now so I can use whatever it is all golf season instead of just in the Fall.

Who do you think has more potential in the long run?

Would you rather be someone that shoots pretty consistent numbers (68-78?) in tournaments, or someone that can vary hugely, shooting something like 64-85? Which do you think is better?

So for one of the bigger tournaments I played in this summer, I kept track of what caused bad scores. It is written poorly, but in general each comma separated item is a different day... I shot +9 over 4 days in this tournament. It was played 7349 yards, 75.8/149, but I don't think it played anywhere near that course rating. #1 Par 5 552 yards, played the hole -1 - hooked drive x2, bad punch shot, bad chip #2 Par 4 425 yards, played the hole +2 - missed 4 footer, hooked tee shot x2 #3 Par 3 207 yards, played the hole E - missed green left and right, good up and downs #4 Par 4 416 yards, played the hole E - pulled tee shot x2 #5 Par 5 616 yards, played the hole -2 - pulled tee shot x2, bad chip #6 Par 4 390 yards, played the hole -1 - 100 yard snap hook tee shot, over drawn wedge, wedge over green #7 Par 4 458 yards, played the hole +2 - 3 putt, cut tee shot behind tree, punched out #8 Par 3 195 yards, played the hole +2 - iron left plugged in bunker, hit over green into other bunker, different day missed tee shot right, cut too hard #9 Par 4 469 yards, played the hole +1 - pulled tee shot, wedge over green, wedge fat, short wedge #10 Par 4 472 yards, played the hole E - pull hook tee shot, missed 4 footer #11 Par 4 341 yards, played the hole +1 - tee shot sliced right (3 iron) + bad chip, left a 6 footer short, over drawn wedge #12 Par 4 425 yards, played the hole E - missed 6 footer short, missed 5 footer #13 Par 3 191 yards, played the hole -1 - bad club choice ended plugged in bunker short #14 Par 5 522 yards, played the hole -1 - bad chip that went long, left a tough greenside bunker shot in the bunker #15 Par 3 210 yards, played the hole E - bad putt from the first cut + missed 5 footer #16 Par 4 465 yards, played the hole +4 - missed tee shot right x2, bad punch 6 iron over green, bad chip, bad wedge, missed 3 foot putt #17 Par 4 419 yards, played the hole +1 - 3 putt #18 Par 5 576 yards, played the hole +2 - pulled tee shot x4, accidentally drawn wedge x2, 3 putt Trends that I saw: bad off the tee, mostly pulls or hooks... leading to several bad scores. Rough finishing on both the front and back 9, and lots of drawing short shots when I wasn't expecting it.. which is weird and has been a problem for me this year out of nowhere. I made 1 eagle, 11 birdies, 39 pars, 20 bogeys, and 1 double. If I could get my tee shots under control, I bet that would have shaved 10 shots off this score.

I want Turbulators to help me drive it long with the PING G30 Driver! I predict that the BLUE (East Coast) TEAM will win the 2015 Newport Cup by a score of 30.5 to 23.5 . The MVP will be @jamo with 10 points won.

I rock Darth Vader on my SLDR. He strikes fear into my opponents. I hum the Vader theme song as I pull out the driver to smash the ball 415 on average (It's the internet so I have to add like 130 yards to my average drive, right?)

I'm going to join in on this conversation. In order of importance, IMO: 1. Talent 2. Work ethic/drive to be the best 3. Money Absolutely some people have more natural talent than others, in all aspects of life, not just golf. I'm not sure how anyone could dispute that. Everyone is different, if you had two identical people who had never played golf before hit 100 balls a day on the range with the same swing coach for a year, they would never end up with the exact same skill level after a year. There could be a huge difference. One person will characteristically be better certain than the other, for whatever reasons. Working hard at something can only get you so far, you have to have a natural talent if you want to be one of the best. If you have the natural talent, you have the work ethic to put in 6 hours of practice a day, and you have the financial backing that you can practice 6 hours a day without living on the street, I think you could make it. You have to be able to play under pressure to play well, too, but I think that can be learned much easier than my top 3 choices. Every tournament you play in you'll get more comfortable being in pressure situations.

I have always played to my competition, so if I go play on a mini tour and get my butt kicked for the first few months, which I will, I think I would adjust and learn to play with them quickly. I'm in the process of talking to my dad, and he has always been incredibly supportive about my golf game. Not to mention he's the one that taught me 99% of what I know about golf. You're not twisting my arm at all, just giving advice! The company I'm interning at right now basically told me that they will hire me when I graduate... and it is a great company... It will be tough to turn an offer from them down, but I think I'm going to have to. It is what I want in my gut. Since I started playing when I was 14 I have dreamed of being a pro, or at least qualifying for some smaller pro tournaments... but I'm also a very rational and cautious person so I always told myself there was no way that would ever happen. Well, now that I'm starting to put up some numbers in bigger amateur events, without a coach, without a solid practice plan, without playing more than 3 months out of the year, I'm starting to believe in myself more. Also, boiler up!