Cas57

sounds like you might be pressing yourself to hit the long ball when you get out on the course. In all honesty, you don't even need the driver to score well and it sounds like it's getting you into more trouble than it's worth right now. I learned a heck of a lesson years ago by a guy who had been overseas for a few years and hadn't played golf while away. When he got there, he had a 7 iron, a wedge and a putter and he proceeded to shoot 76 on a 6300 yd course. If you're looking at the score and like the old saying goes, it's not how, it's how many. I'd say leave the driver at home and bring the clubs you can hit comfortably.

Ok, I haven't been around golf much the past few years so this Skycaddie thing is new to me. When out on the course the other day, it seemed most everyone has one of those little critters. I'm familiar with GPS units with mapping, do the Skycaddies work the same? Do you have to download the difference courses? or do some of the courses have transmitters? damn I hate sounding dumb I even noticed the course I played didn't have the 150 yd markers that I was used to seeing and judging my shots by. You know, stepping it off the old fashioned way. are they legal to use in tournament play?

1. Play a couple of times a month 2. find a ball I like since the ball I used to play is no longer made 3. get back down to a solid single digit index 4. maybe join another traveling club. I'd rather play different courses than the same one all the time.

I really didn't have any goals in 2010 and to be honest, I didn't have any plans to even play golf. As it turns out, I was invited to play in a 4 man scramble so I dusted off the clubs and bag (literally) and played. I can't complain the way I hit the ball or the way I putted, sunk 3 for birdie and we finished 11 under. A week ago Sunday, I went and played my first full round since May 2001 and shot 85 so I can't complain about that either. What's funny is the people I hooked up with thought I was teeing off with a 3 wood when it's just a 12 year old driver What came about from that is I now have the itch to play again but I hope it doesn't get the best of me to where I start practicing every day and playing 3 times a week again.

lots of good info above. Have you tried different ball positions with the driver? With it being 5" longer the timing of your release might be different than with the shorter club especially with the stiff shaft. It's also possible that the kick point of the shaft could be too high or low for your swing. Sorry to add another wrench or 2 to think about.

Congrats Jay! So what did the look on your partner's face look like?

you're absolutely right dr and I really should have included that! thanks for nitpicking

I always looked forward to playing Pasatiempo every year as it was on our tournament rotation. I don't think it's a great course but it can be an excellent test of your game but that can depend on the time of year also. I think in this day and age, it has probably been surpassed by many of the new courses that have been built. I also think that if you had a better experience instead of being stuck behind some hacks, you would probably have appreciated it more. The cost of it has always been on the expensive side. Good luck on it today!

Don't forget the amount and shapes of the dimples on the golf ball you use. Some dimple patterns will create a lot more drag thus causing shots to be shorter. You may also notice shots to fly higher in denser air. The other limiting factor is more than likely you're also wearing more restrictive clothes that don't allow the movement like playing in a short sleeved shirt does. A couple of tricks that were popular a few years ago was to use Lady Precept golf balls and hand warmers in the bag to keep the golf balls warm.....would keep your hands warm also

There were a couple of things that I used to do when the slumps hit. The first thing would be to play a 2 ball best ball with yourself. Sometimes the people playing behind you might get their panties in a bunch but if you can play fast enough, it's usually not too much of a big deal. The other thing would be to change up the way you play a hole. For example, if your first hole is a 350 yard par 4 and you always hit driver 9 iron then play it 5 iron 5 iron. The next is most people look at their overall score for 18 holes and many times during the round they will get "defeated" after 10 or 11 holes and end up with a worse score. On courses I was very familiar with, I would break the course up into 6 3 hole courses on the scorecard before teeing off. I would write on the scorecard what clubs I would use on each hole and a target score for each hole and I'd stick to that plan. Be lenient with yourself at first even if it's the score of the worst round you've played in a while. Just a couple of suggestions to take the pressure off yourself in trying to do better.

My Dad used to take me out to Harding Park in San Francisco when I was about 7 years old to hit the ball around with him, that was in 1964. At 13, I started caddying at a local private course and we were able to play the course after hours and on Mondays so that's when I really got hooked on the game. I bought my very first set from the money I made caddying and they were a used set of PGA's with aluminum shafts.....You want to try a hard club to hit, try something with aluminum shafts LOL I got very serious about the game in 1994 and was playing at least 3 times a week and practicing just about every day. I even set up a chipping "course" in the back yard with coffee cans so I could practice chipping every day. In 1996 I started an online golf business and then in 1998 I started playing on a very mini mini tour that lasted until I won a couple of tournaments and bought an old hot rod jet boat in 2000. I played intermittently until May of 2001 when I hung the clubs up and haven't played a full round of golf since. My index when I stopped playing was 2.6 with a low of 1.4 the year before. In essence, I was living and breathing golf and just flat got burned out on it. I really have no idea what my handicap would be right now so the handicap in my profile is just a guess. In actuality, if the owner of the building I'm remodeling hadn't entered himself and I in a tournament, I wouldn't be here. He has sparked the flame in me to get out and play again so here I am. I'm 53 now so I've been playing off and on for 40 years....now that just made me feel old!

I guess I'm way way out there as I still have a 1 and 2 iron in the bag. Since I haven't played in so long I can't say that I will still hit the 1 iron although I have been hitting it at the range.

I guess I have a few Since about 1985 or so, I'll only use white tees, a white glove and I refuse to use the button ball marker off the glove. I use yellow nail polish to mark the golf balls and can only play irons with a pretty thin top line. The visual of a thick top line just doesn't look right to me at all. I guess that stems from learning with forged irons way back when. I also have a problem looking down at the really big headed drivers. The one I use isn't much bigger than my old set of persimmons.

Nice Lewinski - nice shot, you get the cigar Almost a Lewinski - close but no cigar Some really good ones in here, thanks for some laughs!

I've been fortunate enough to play Pebble twice quite a few years ago and the first time I played was exactly what Clambake just said. If the opinion of a newby means anything, I wouldn't wait to experience playing that course either. The other suggestion I'd make is to take a caddy and walk the course instead of taking a cart. When I played they gave us the choice of either a caddy or a cart at the same price excluding a tip (tips were not mandatory and the caddy let me know that), taking the caddy was well worth it. Very good description, btw!

53 here, been playing off and on for about 40 years or so. I'm just getting back into it after almost a 10 year voluntary absence.

Hi All! First post here as you can probably tell. I'm a General Contractor in Northern California, well at least that's what I'm trying to do in this tough economy. The last time I played a full round of golf was back in 2001 at Royal Kaanapali on Maui. Long story short, I got golf burn out but now have the itch to get out and play again. The handicap I put in my profile is basically bogus since I haven't played in so long. At the time I hung the clubs up, I did have a 2.6 index so after a couple of rounds, I'll adjust what I guessed it could be. I'm looking forward to reading and trying to get familiar with what's going on these days. I do know that I'll probably get some strange looks due to having 20 year old clubs.....LOL