Cory O

Never three putt, hands down easy answer (and this is from someone who rarely three putts anyways). That 300 yard drive is going to impact maybe 14 of your holes (and several of those that might not put you into the ideal position regardless) where as the never three putt will impact every single hole. ....of course if the posts I constantly see on 18birdies are to be believed, most dudes are driving 320 and 1 putting everything anyways, so it might all be a moot point.

Just realized I skipped over this rite of passage, so here's my intro! 1. Started golfing when I was 17 and spent about 4 years obsessed (including starting in a PGM program to become a teaching pro, but didn't finish), then a good 4 years off, and then the next ten years varied (living in Japan for a year and then South Korea for 6 years was the main culprit of the inconsistency, although I did get really into Screen Golf in Korea). Have really jumped in with both feet the past six months and got my handicap back down to 5.4, will shoot between mid 70's to low 80's depending on the course. 2. I've reached a happy medium with golf where I can take it seriously, keep score, and try to improve without stressing myself out about it. In this state, golf is simply perfect. Walking outside, getting exercise, with a specific (but always changing) goal. The game is all your own, but you can still be social with it and everywhere you go is different. No other sport has that. 3. I'm at MyGolfSpy because I don't really have any golf buddies and it's good to be part of a shared community. I also like the purpose of the site and the style it presents information. 4. I've been living in Los Angeles (La Crescenta) and play the LA city courses most often, Hansen Dam most likely counting as my home course just for distance. Yes, they are munis, but they're good munis and very playable. 5. Best thing here is obviously the year-round golf. I suppose the courses get a bit packed, but playing as a single with a players card for advance reservations and tending towards the twilight times means I never have a problem getting out. Honestly no negatives out here for me. 6. I work in Learning & Organizational Development for a technology firm focused on the construction industry. I'm also looking at starting up some content creation (YouTube etc) focusing on the mental side of golf and mindfulness in the game. 7. Just my name, nothing more creative than that.

Or that represents that some of those club ladies are much more strategic about their sandbagging. Don't care how bad you are, anyone bringing 54+ strokes with them is dangerous in a competition

I'd call all of that fair. I should probably also keep in mind that a handicap is a reflection of your score on a good day (especially if you play a lot of golf and post a bunch of scores) and not necessarily your average. Just looking at myself, I can go out and shoot 5 over on any given day, but I can also easily be 5 strokes higher than that. Add in that you are a fairly serious golfer (or at least serious enough to be in a club and want to play in club comps) to have a handicap to begin with, then the more suitable question is "Can 30% of male serious golfers shoot +10 or lower on a good day?"

Came across this article: https://golf.com/news/how-your-handicap-index-compares/ I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on how "honest" these numbers are for handicaps. Do you think that ~30% of men who keep handicaps are single digit players? I'm really not sure (although to be fair, I'm a single digit myself who definitely doesn't feel like I am some days). Just looking at the chart I attached to the post, it would also SEEM like women are more honest about it than men since the curve isn't as skewed to one side, but that might just be based on the chart creation choices. I suppose it's all harmless either way, because if you're keeping an index just for yourself and are shaving some strokes off, who cares. If you're playing in comps, then you're doing yourself a disservice as you could get more strokes for the net score (I suppose the worst possible thing is that if it's a team comp, you are hurting the players on your team). What you all think?

Must be a location thing. The one I’ve been to (Griffith Park driving range) was very accurate. This is the full setup with individual screens in each bay. At the end of the day, it’s not going to be as accurate as a full on launch monitor just because of the limitations of the system, but I was still pretty impressed.

Depending on the price point, I would look at surprising her with a fitting and getting the clubs. A good fitter will be able to figure out what she likes about the Kalea and figure out what will work best within those preferences and for her swing speed/ability level. The No Putts Given podcast had a great conversation about this a week or two ago and really it shouldn't be about "ladies clubs" but what will work best within swing speed/height. If a full on fitting won't really work, then look at her swing speed and where she is in the game. A used set of "super game improvement" irons with shorter senior flex shafts might wind up being a similar price to a box set and perform much better. You can also go to a place like GigaGolf.com (that's where my clubs are from) or GolfWorks and custom build something for half the price of name brands.

Thanks for the input! My appointment is in the afternoon, so not quite sleep right after I get home time, but can lay down with eyes closed definitely. Supposedly the newest generation of lasers they're using now helps prevent some of "burning sand" feeling, but good advice none the less. I always golf in a hat and will experiment with sunglasses or not (always wore them when I was younger, but then stopped for some reason).

That's essential.

It’s going to be almost entirely the blow you’re striking that creates that backspin. With say 12000 rpm of spin on a wedge shot (fairly high), club setup and ball choice are maybe 1500-2000 rpm of that. If you aren’t happy with the high backspin, the best thing to do is practice technique to control the bottom of the wedge swing and shallow it out so hitting at a more neutral than overly descending blow. Really this is what you’re probably doing subconsciously with those “3/4” swings, so nothing wrong with just sticking with that. Pros very rarely are taking full out rips with their wedges for the same reason.

Way back, I worked at a golf course with an attached Par 3 course. After everything was closed up, those of us on the cart/range crew would take out a pitching wedge and play around in essentially in the dark (parking lot and street lights providing just barely enough to see by). Sometimes we’d play tee to green, but then to switch it up and play green to tee (or just off green so the grounds crew wouldn’t kill us) with a tee marker as the “hole”. On one of the nights playing in reverse, I nailed the tee marker on the fly from 120 out getting a kinda “hole in one”. Funny part was the ball ricocheting off the tee marker, into the parking lot, and directly on to the hood of my car (which fortunately was a POS already, so no harm done). It was a shot that lived in legend, at least for the next couple of months.

Thanks for the input everyone. I played today in glasses (might be the first time I’ve played a full round in them, at least as far back as I can remember) and the whole time things just felt off. Encouraged to hear the positive results from a few of you and I’ll report back after the surgery.

Same here, worn glasses since I was 4 years old and contacts since I was 12. I don't meet many people with worse eyes than mine.

I'll be sure to report back after with my results and opinions. Couple of things right off, I'm doing just about the highest end surgery available with one of the top clinics in LA. Mostly because I have to because of how bad my eyes are, but also because I'm not really sure I'd trust those places that advertise around $1000 per eye. So my procedure is completely bladeless, will be finished in just a few minutes and (I'm told) I'll have fairly normal function the next day. All in, I'm looking at $3600, so definitely not cheap, but if I can wake up every morning for the next 15ish years (at a minimum) and be able to see, I'll consider it well worth that price.

I've worn contact lenses since before I started golfing, so I've golfed almost exclusively wearing them. Problem for this week is that I need to keep contacts out for 5 days before the surgery, so the choice is either put down the sticks for the week or golf in my glasses. Guess I'll be golfing in my glasses.

Was that with range balls and do you notice the same pattern with regular balls? Range balls spin a lot less off the wedges, so if the cover isn’t grabbing as quickly, I could see that causing the ball to climb a groove or two higher on the face than a normal ball would. Additionally, that lower spin is going to create “flyers” and be part distance discrepancy between range and course.

Hey all, after 30+ years of glasses and contacts, I’m getting LASIK done this Friday. I’m curious if any of you out there felt like there was anything different in your golf game after the procedure. I don’t expect anything dramatic, positive or negative, but just curious if there were any subtle differences. Thanks!

Saw on eBay that a supplier of these was close to me, so I made a deal to pick up a hybrid directly at a little discount. This place (Monark) imports and wholesaled the heads along with building for individual sale as well, so I’m guessing the Warrior Golf-esque adverts in the OP come from someone who buys wholesale from an importer like this. I never hit my 3 wood and I was looking for a low lofted hybrid with a graphite shaft (my “iron replacement” hybrids are steel), so I’m actually semi-excited to try hitting this 15*. First off, this club is heavy, very much a chunky monkey. The club head is about halfway between a hybrid and fairway wood IMO. Shaft also strikes me as thicker than normal (no brand). I’ll put this in the bag and see how it goes!

My 11.5 feet will take them. I’ll send a message.

With just two small punctures, you would think a little vinyl patch would work, or even just some super glue.

These are the company formerly known as TaylorFit RBZ Rocketballz clones. You can get them for around $50 a club on eBay (including shipping). Likely to be as playable as any clones out there.

Playing the "right" tees will likely mean hitting into fewer bunkers and closer approach shots for easier putts. Not saying you shouldn't be trying to improve bunker shots and putting, but that's for practice time (once the practice bunkers are open again of course!). At the end of the day, if you're not slowing anything down and you're enjoying it, you (or anyone) can play from whichever tees they prefer. I do think for most, though, playing from the tees best suited to their ability will lead to more enjoyable rounds (not to mention better scores from the better state of mind).

IMO, it's not about how far you hit it and everything about how well you hit it over the course of a round. One of the local courses here has a really simple sign, Blacks - normal score 70-79, Blues - 80-89, Whites - 90+. I think things would move a lot faster and everyone would enjoy the game more by just following that sign and that includes teeing off from different boxes in mixed groups. Even if you're competing, you can use the course index to level the playing field. Last, if you are with buddies and REALLY want to stick together just for the fun, then play from the fronts and enjoy it.

Hey all, First off, I like getting new stuff and second, I'm on a relatively limited budget for equipment, so the bag definitely reflects that. I'm a BIG fan of GigaGolf and highly recommend them to anyone looking to build a custom-ish set without spending a whole ton of money. That's why they make up the majority of my bag (and speaking of the bag, they actually included it for free). Besides that, I always like a good clearance sale. Driver was $99 on clearance from Golf Galaxy, 3w and hybrids were about $130 total, $140 on the 5-PW, and $80 for the three wedges. Putter listed in the signature is brand new to the bag, picked up from RockBottomGolf for $30 during a "tent" sale, but if it doesn't perform I'll go back to a Cleveland Smart Square Blade that I actually found thrown out with a bunch of junk clubs a couple years ago.

Thanks for the advice everyone! Found a Garmin S20 for a steal, so I bought it and will take it to the course for the first time tomorrow, just going to move my FitBit to my right wrist and have the Garmin on my left.