MGP

I think my favorite golf quote has always been: The best wood in most amateurs' bags is the pencil. ~Author Unknown In relation to your #2 quote, one of my favorite lines in the movie: (Danny, while hitting his approach blindfolded over water): "Where'd it go?" (Ty - Chevy Chase): "In the lumber yard, Danny..." I also have a great quote I personally heard Lee Trevino make while watching an exhibition with Tom Watson about 20 years ago, but I'd probably get banned for posting it here.

Exactly. I just saw the stats today and the total tour purse money has gone from a little over $80 million the first year Tiger was on tour to over $260 million this year. I think the bottom 50% that are bitching ought to take a look at their bank accounts and thank Tiger!

Not to mention, isn't Bay Hill virtually in his back yard?

Thanks for the feedback guys! I picked up a pack of the short ones and long ones so I'm going to give them a try this year.

Hey Erik -- I sympathize with you. Sadly, as I've gotten older (I'm 47) my eyesight has slowly gotten worse and I really can't drive or play golf well without corrective lenses. I've had prescription sunglasses with polarized and UV blocking lenses for the past 6 years but none of them worked well for me on the course either. This past year at my annual eye exam I needed a slight prescription change so when I went for new glasses I looked hard at sunglasses as well. I wanted something that was easy on-off, a mostly "wrap-around" design to keep bugs and the wind out and most of all comfortable. I finally found a pair I really, really like. They're RayBans and have polarized and UV lenses with a hardcoat. They were not cheap (about $450 before I talked them into a $150 discount because I was buying another pair of frames and lenses). I wear them pretty much daily now and I played golf with them the last half of last year. They don't distort much except at the very edges of my peripheral vision. I generally don't putt with them on but I have on very sunny days and they didn't give me any problems with judging breaks in the green or length. Much like finding the the clubs that just "feel right" in your hands, I am sure there's a pair of sunglasses that will work for you!

For you guys that use Zero Friction tees... How do they stand up with use on Par 3's where you'll be teeing the ball low(er) and hitting with an iron or hybrid? Are they still "virtually unbreakable" or do they tend to break because there is a lot more of the tee shaft in the ground? I'm thinking of switching to them this year but if they break easily with irons and I have to use good 'ol wooden tees on Par 3's then I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle.

I have three different pairs of golf shoes now and I'm a big fan of Nike athletic shoes in general. I had two pairs of Nikes (don't remember the models) -- one is a traditional black shoe and the other an athletic white shoe. Neither are as comfortable as I'd like for walking. I just bought a pair of these: HI-TEC DT Storm Golf Shoe I've been wearing them a bit to break them in and so far they seem really comfortable and very light. Hopefully they'll be a good everyday golf shoe and make walking a lot nicer.

Yeah, that's what the "Slope System" is supposed to take care of... the variations in handicap due to the "toughness" of the course. I know when I was in high school my handicap was between 3 and 6 and my home course was long, tree lined, lots of lateral water and lightning fast greens. Every once in a while our golf team would play a match at some shorter, wide open muni course and I'd shoot par (and a few times under) and I know I got some stares after the round. hey schyler -- I see you're from Kansas also. I dunno about you but I feel like playing in the wind all the time here makes playing almost anywhere else in the country a lot easier! ;)

Oh yeah. All pro athletes and especially the really good ones are incredibly competitive at anything they do. I remember in the interview Ed Bradley did with Tiger on 60 minutes, Ed made a comment that maybe he could beat Tiger at ping pong and Tiger said "I'd kick your ass!" LOL

I have two pretty good stories, one that happened to me and one to my playing partner. First story -- I am playing a long dogleg left par 4, about 420 yds. with really tall trees along the left side making it almost impossible to cut the corner. The green is large and flat with a large bunker on the left side and a large pond on the right. Normally the pond doesn't some into play unless you are way way right. For me it's a really tough hole as I'm not a real long hitter and I have to hit a great tee ball and follow it with a really good approach, usually from about 180+. So I hit a 3 wood off the tee, dead straight to position "A". I was about 185 out and pulled my trusty go-to 5 wood out. Normally I hit this thing like most people hit a 7I or 8I, it's automatic -- high and long. Only this time I hit it off the toe, very short and almost in the water. I was steaming mad at myself and walked about two steps and saw another ball just in the rough. So I went over to it, rolled it back into the 2nd cut and let it rip at the middle of the pond. In the middle of the pond is a big fountain head which made a handy aiming point. I hit the sweetest shot, high and long and drilled the fountain head dead center! It made an incredible "doinggggg" sound that startled players on the surrounding two holes. If I had hit the same shot one shot earlier I would have been pin high! Moral: Sometimes it's better to relax, then grip it and rip it. 2nd story -- I was playing with my golf coach in high school. He was a 75 year old retired banker. thin and wiry and couldn't hit the ball further than 185 or 190 with ANY club. But he hit it dead straight every time. We tee it up on the 18th hole, a straight, rolling par 4 about 390 yards. The clubhouse drive runs along the left edge and is tree lined. The green sits in a swail right near the clubhouse by the parking lot. I hit a driver dead down the middle. My coach hits his tee ball and pulls it dead left, something I had never seen him do before. He just shook his head, figured the ball was gone and hit a provisional, which he played through the green. Yep... his ball hit the drive and bounced and rolled and bounced all the way down to the left edge of the green. When we got there, we realized there were 3 balls on and the 3rd was his first ball. He dropped the putt, about 15 ft. for an eagle. I always teased him about being a long hitter affter that and sandbagging us off the tee... Moral: Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

TGW and RockBottomGolf are my two favorite online sites for equipment. And TGW is just down I-35 from me too... which I never realized until I ordered from them last year

I voted for Tiger but I grew up watching Jack in his prime. I became a serious golfer in the late 70's (I was in high school), about the time Tom Watson showed up and he and Jack had some of their famed duels. FWIW, Tom Watson is probably my favorite golfer of all time -- I live in the Kansas City area and have seen him play several times and even met him once. He is every bit as nice in person as he seems on TV. That said, I think Tiger is a couple notches better than almost anyone else on Tour right now and there are some incredible players out there. When Jack played there were at least 3 or 4 guys that could at least challenge him every week and in the Majors. Tiger gears up for the Majors and only plays the select dozen or so other events he wants. That usually means he shows up rested and prepared and unless something crazy happens, he's very hard to beat. Different times, different tour now and really hard to compare the two.

I'm an electronics consultant, self employed. I design electronic products for medical, industrial and consumer markets. I've been playing business golf for the past several years but I decided to get serious again this year about playing more for fun -- I really want to get my handicap back to single digits! Glad I found this site, it looks like a lot of fun and really interesting.