Bluesman57

Love all the pictures of the pups! Joining in late, but here is a picture of Maddie, laying on the floor like a good girl, and her son, Buddy Guy, having taken over the couch. Adopted them from a rescue--Maddie was abused and was working hard getting past fear aggression when we lost her in her sleep 2 years ago. I have a Cuddleduds headcover for my driver in her likeness. Bubs is a 85 pound lap dog.

I've started a major controversy at the golf course where I work. I've just been promoted to cutting fairways--I only have the 5 Par 3's for now, but will soon be sharing all 18 with two other guys. I've only been here for 3 years, but I've always asked why we don't stripe our fairways--we just "circle" them with two mowers in tandem, resulting in the half and half pattern in the background of the image on the right. I strongly prefer the striped look, and especially the contour striping in the left picture. The tradeoff is that striping takes more time, but on the other hand, we always finish early and end up hacking off dead tree limbs with chainsaws, loading them into Gators, and dumping them--actual labor! I'd rather sit on the comfy John Deer and create art. What say you, fellow golfers and art aficionados? (Meanwhile, I'm striping!)

Does anyone know/can anyone point me to a reliable source where I can find out where golf balls are made? I'm specifically looking to purchase balls made in the United States. Doing a DuckDuckGo search led me to this site: https://sportblurb.com/golf-balls-made-in-usa/ , which indicates that Titleist, Callaway, Bridgestone and Taylormade manufacture at least some of their balls in the US. I'm not sure that I trust the information, because a couple of other sites that came up in the search results have the identical results and format, word for word. I appreciate any info.

Ryan, I do appreciate the positive vibes, but I'm 65, and whatever skills I might have had are surely deteriorating. On the plus side, I can play more often, and equipment and instruction are light years ahead of what they were 35 years ago. If I met my 30 year-old self, I'd have to give him a coupla strokes and still kick his butt!

To the pens of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice, add that of GolfSpy_APH: Swiss time was running out, It seemed that we would lose the race

I thought that I was the only one! I was fitted last year for a Titleist T2 4 hybrid, which I was able to consistently hit pretty little draws that carry 180 yards; heck, with my eyes closed. Suddenly, without warning and seemingly impervious to repair, I am hitting little thin worm burners with it. Strange things afoot at the Circle K for sure.

Yikes! OK, but I guess that I'll cut it down from War and Peace to just A Tale of Two Cities.

Crud, I just submitted (or thought I did) a long private message to the mods, expressing my interest in and my qualifications for the Forums Mod position. I hit "Send" (twice), but didn't receive acknowledgement that the message was sent. Was it?

Thanks, APH.

I really would like to apply for this position, but I have a question first. What are you looking for in terms of a social media presence? Specific platforms, etc. Thanks.

Sorry, didn't get the DM. $50 and the link is yours!

An old PC tools package vendor admitted that they inserted a line in the EULA that offered $50 cash to whomever read far enough down in the licensing agreement. Like yours, nobody ever claimed it, and only hard-core PC geeks would have bought it. They said that they wanted to insert a line to the effect that the end user agrees to surrender their 1st born child, but their lawyers talked them out of it. Not going to admit that I clicked to agree with the EULA.

I really hope that announcements are not limited to Twitter, Instagram, or any other social medium. I am enough of a luddite to not have a presence on any of them, save for this and two other forums.

I'm 65, and average around 240 off the tee.

My feelings exactly, Wafflehouse!

Thanks for the information, Martee. I'm glad it went well for you. FWIW, I played a guilt card on my instructor when I told him about the diagnosis. He was constantly trying to get me to turn my hips, and I kept telling him, "That's all I got!"

Time has run out on my effed-up right hip, and so I will be having it replaced after the season (November 14th). X-rays of both hips and knees were disheartening, but after discussing with the surgeon of my right hip and knee pain, I have to say that I am looking forward to having the procedure done. He explained that my knee pain is almost for sure referred pain from my hip, so I am optimistic that the surgery will address both. He will be using the anterior technique, which apparently minimizes cutting into the muscle. For those who have had the procedure done, how was it? I hear that rehab is a breeze compared to knee or shoulder surgery, and that post-op pain was actually bearable. Surgeon said that, if I had a post-Christmas golf trip planned (unfortunately, I don't), I should be able to play by then. Thanks!

I definitely used to hit at at least a small bucket before every round, but rarely do so anymore. With my old man hip, knee and back issues, I'm afraid that I'll use up too many of my allotted pain-free swings for that day, so I hoard them like a miser. I do putt religiously before rounds.

I had a putter fitting last week at Apex Golf Lab in Fort Wayne, IN, and wanted to share a few words about my experience. First, I have been going to Apex since my return to golf in 2020 after a 15 year layoff, for lessons (with my man, Wyatt Larkin ) and also for club fittings (also with Wyatt). At first glance, looking at my age and handicap, one could very well arrive at the conclusion that much of the money that I have spent is a great example of pearls before swine. But my attitude is that while I know that I will never be a great golfer, I do want to see how good of a golfer I can become with the right training, equipment and practice. I've lowered my handicap by 2.5 strokes since I started back, from 15.5 to 13, with the admitted stretch goal of getting below 10. And lessons combined with modern technology have increased my distance off of the tee by 20 yards compared to what it was 25 years ago. So when Wyatt informed me that Apex was getting the Quintic Ball Roll system and asked me if I wanted to be his first guinea pig (knowing that I was considering a putter fitting anyway), I jumped at the chance. My current putter is a Odyssey Stroke Lab Rossie that I was "fitted" for in 2020. The Quintic showed, among a myriad of other data, that I was consistently leaving my face open and cutting across the ball at impact, creating quite a bit of "slice" spin. I also have a huge left aim bias, but that is for another posting... Also, my angle of attack was quite positive (around 2.5-3 degrees--I wish I had saved all of the data, but unfortunately didn't). My ball did started rolling rather quickly, I guess one good thing from such a high angle of attack. We tried different putters of differing lengths, lie, loft and toe hang, but we both kept coming back to the Bettinardi BB-8W, which I finally purchased after some customization of length, lie and loft. I've only played a single round with the putter, but it was at a friend's country club (Briar Ridge, in Dyer, IN), whose greens to me are like Augusta National in terms of break and speed, compared to the muni I usually play. I was very pleased with my putting, and surprised my friends by dropping in a couple of 20"+ bombs, and not missing inside 6'. Again, I apologize for the lack of data, but I have attached the "after" picture of my putting stroke with the Bettinardi. PS Keep an eye out in the Classies for that Rossie putter!

I would love to win the Cobra Forged Tec X irons as the descriptions seem to indicate that they would make a better match for my handicap. Here is my info: Dave Fort Wayne/Indiana Currently Play Titleist T300 Irons Handicap Index: 13.1 Yes, I would enjoy participating in discussions regarding my experiences with the Tec X, and would do some side-by-side, A-B testing with them along side my T300s. Thanks to Cobra and MGS for the opportunity!

Stop the presses. That may have been the shot of that day, but I had the shot of my career yesterday! I played Briar Ridge Country Club in Dyer, IN as a guest of a friend. That course is way above my skill level, but I always have fun playing there. 16th hole that day was 190 yards, OB 20 yards left of the green, and a bunker, 10 yards of rough, and then water on the right. I don't have a 190 yard club, but my 6-iron usually gets me 180, so close enough for me. I hit it well, contact was crisp and it felt good. At least I thought it was good. Started on the right side of the green, and kept drifting right. Oh, did I mention that a maintenance guy was in his Gator, waiting between that bunker and the water. "FORE!!!", I yelled, but he didn't even flinch. I walked over to find my ball and apologize, but when I got there, he thumbed back towards the bed of the Gator, filled with 8" PVC, empty grass seed bags, assorted tools, etc. AND MY BALL! In heavily accented English, he invited my to climb aboard and play the shot from his vehicle. I just told him to keep the ball, and he drove away. I dropped another, without penalty, of course, and finished the hole. Oh, and since I reported my score in the above post, I really should do so here as well. 101.

Had the round of my life last week; I broke 80 (78 on a Par 71) for the first time ever. It was one of those rounds where everything went my way. 30' downhill putt for birdie that would still be rolling if the ball hadn't hit the stick, bounced up, and back down into the hole. Hooked my tee shot into the trees on a short Par 4, and after rattling around the branches for what seemed like forever, the ball flew towards the green and an easy up and down birdie from 20'. I swear a squirrel had to have grabbed the ball and thrown it at the green. There were other bounces, caroms and rolls that went my way every single time. If the breaks had just gone 50/50 instead of 100% my way, I probably shot more like an 85. But the shot of the day was a 50 yard pitch. I've been working on my game from 50 yards in, and felt pretty good about my chances from the right rough. I took my 52 degree wedge and hit it thin. I mean I crushed it, like a screaming line drive to the power alley. I was about to reach into my pocket for another ball, because there was no way that the shot was not going to fly the green and go OB. But to my wide-eyed wonder, the ball hit the flag, wrapped itself around the stick a couple of times, and dropped straight down into the cup for the prettiest (and luckiest) eagle I'll ever see. Thank you, Foster Park!

For Sale: Price reduced to $75. I'd rather work with Spies than Ebay. Arccos sensors and Caddie Link. Like new--really. I used them exactly twice, but decided that the annual fee is not worth it to me for only 7 months of golf weather around here. Picture shows what you get: 13 sensors for clubs, plus one for the putter. Arccos Caddie Link Bag plus charging cable for the link Asking $100, but will entertain offers. Thanks for looking.

But Indiana stayed on Eastern Standard Time. I might be OK with that but hard no to 9AM sunrises.

I voted "no", but more importantly, I learned from this thread that Maxfli can be considered a Dick's "house brand". Dick's will never see a dime from me because of the corporate attitude towards another product that I own that begins with the letter "g".