mharr

While I cannot qualify for this long-running thread (I have 4 aces myself), I just wanted to post here to provide some hope for all of you. A friend of mine (who does not do online web much, so will not be here), just had his first ace, at age 70! He's been playing for 45 years! Always complains that he would never get one whenever conversation gets around to who have had any. And on that day, he almost cancelled his tee time because this or that hurt, and it was too cold, and yada-yadda. But he got his first ace!

My best tip I got was a number of years ago (sometime in the 80's) when I was about an 18 handicap. Saw a Tom Watson article in Golf magazine about strategy on long approaches, and how hitting a long iron or fairway wood (this was before hybrids) to a green was high-risk, low-reward, even a slight miss would put you in green side trouble (bunkers, moguls, heavy rough, etc). A better strategy would be to layup and hit a comfortable shot you feel you can almost guarantee to get on the green. So I dedicated a year, that if I was 200 yds out or more, I would layup to 100 yds, even if it meant hitting PW or SW twice. My handicap dropped that year from 18 to 13, my wedge play got SO much better, and I just got much better thinking around the course, where to hit it for my best chance of hitting the green. I still follow this practice, 30-35 years later as a 67-year old and now as a 7-8 handicap.

After being a public course golfer for 40 years, my wife and I moved from Ohio to a 55+ community in western South Carolina (near Augusta, GA). This would be considered more as a semi-private, as they do take public play, but is run as a private member club. And I could not love this place more. We have two 18 hole courses, each we significant elevation changes, 6900yds/140+ slope from back tees (but all here play much shorter tees because almost all greens are elevated and course plays 400-600 yds longer than stated on the card. Definitely NOT retirement courses, but are pretty challenging. I rarely play other area courses, as these are challenging enough to keep my interest here. The community of golfers here are great. I have not met a single person that I would not call a friend. We have very active golfing community, with over 60 leagues that play here, and the primary Men's Golf Assoc has 217 members, the Women's Golf Assoc has over 100 members. The club tournaments are a good mix of fun events and competitive events. This club does a great job where women play well and are treated well. No men get upset when following women groups, they keep pace. (There is one woman here that plays every Sat and Sun, and if not first one out, the first group always lets her go ahead. She will play 18 holes in less than 2 hours.). There are a number of mixed events, both for couples or true mixed. Our other amenities are very good, from boating and water sports (we are on a 71,000 acre lake), rec center with indoor/outdoor pools, tennis and pickle ball courts, fitness center, bocce courts and bowling alley. There are 3 very good restaurants here, though since we are in a rural area, staffing for the restaurants is a problem. Member charging everything is big plus! Of course, now that I have retired, I am playing more, so I am paying a lot less being a member here. It's $3100 for annual membership, and I'm playing 170-190 rounds per year, so it works out to $17-$20 per round! We are so very glad we found this place, and I often think back if I should have made more of an effort earlier to join private club back home. But like many have said, I enjoyed playing varied courses, really didn't find an affordable club near enough to home and work to be able to go there regular enough. But I feel I underestimated the community of a private club, and the extra amenities that would make it more enjoyable for my wife and I, and our kids when they were younger.

I also prefer wood tees, as I’ve had plastic tees damage the club head. But I use shorter tees (2 1/8”), and just barely put them into the ground, maybe ¼” or so. That way, the tee pops out of the ground easily on the hit. I will use the same tee for 2-3 rounds before it will break. A bag of 100 tees will last me 3-4 years, playing 150 rounds a year.

What is the source of that chart? Someone just making it up? Lou Stagner, Data Analyst at Arccos (@LouStagnerGolf) publish something similar recently, but it was more detailed, and broken down by percentages, not months/years. I’m guessing someone took his work, applied some low number for number of rounds per year , like maybe 20 or 30 rounds, and inaccurately extrapolated real data to something wholly unbelievable. I’m a 10 handicap. Shot a 75 last week, a 70 2 months ago, and a 66 (personal best) 2 years ago. But I play 200-220 rounds a year, so the frequency of having a very good round will occur more often in a year, than someone who plays 20 rounds a year.

The Stability shaft from BreakThroughGolf was the first graphite/steel hybrid shaft, before Stroke Lab "borrowed" (licensed, I hope) the design. BreakThroughGolf is the company that Barney Adams founded after he has sold his Adams Golf company. I've used that shaft on 3 putters now. Especially with the Cleveland Ti35, the stock shaft was so flexible, I would actually see the shaft flex on long putts! Put it a Stability shaft and it felt lighter, I could feel the head better, and my putts (both shorter and longer) were better.

Spikeless are good. If you slip while swinging, the problem is your swing or balance, not the shoes. Sam Snead, one of the smoothest swings and longest hitter for his time, would practice barefoot so that he would not get in bad habits with his balance.

Peter Millar, LinkSoul, Travis Matthews do not want my business, so I never wear their shirts. They do not make any larger sizes (3X for me), so its an easy pass. FootJoy are my favorites, though they are limited in larger sizes. But I also truly enjoy wearing William Murray, since they started adding larger sizes a few years ago. Nice weight, cool in summer, and fun designs without getting too LoudMouth-like,

THIS!!!! IN SPADES!!!! I tried it for 4 months, and it was a COMPLETE waste of time. I hit a driver into a 30 mph wind and it only goes 180 yds, and that affects your distance calculation. Hit a driver 310 yds downwind, and it affects your distance calculation. I have a 7-iron on uphill lie (added loft) to elevated green, and it gets to center of green at 125: I'm happy, but Arccos says my average for 7-iron drops. Yes, I understand that I can eliminate these "outliers", and adjust the numbers, but that eliminates the whole point of using their system, TO AUTOMATICALLY COLLECT THE DATA!!! I need to know what the distance each club is, and Arccos's number are completely unreliable! I had do many "oultliers" that I could not trust the their numbers. I know my numbers from time on driving ranges and simulators. When I have a shot, I need to factor yardage, lie, wind, and elevation, and Arccos gives bad info on one of them, and is useless on the others.

However, having lived in Ohio most of my life, I do appreciate DST for spring thru fall. Sunrise is early enough in April and October, and that extra hour of daylight in the evening for outdoor activities is helpful for spring golf, softball, baseball, tennis or what have you. Personally, I think the current time change is best solution to the most people.

True, except for area in the western side a time zone, sunrise would be close to 9am in December and January. It was too dangerous for kids to walk to school in pitch black nighttime. That was it was repealed almost immediately. But some people can't think about consequences beyond their own gratifications.

You probably was holding the knife blade at 90º to the shaft. Hold if off at an angle, 45-60º, so that the blade slides between the grip and the shaft, and the hook can slice the grip.

I originally switched because of back problems making it (a little) difficult to change shoes in the parking lot (I could swing ok, just problems bending over). So I put my gold shoes on at home, and put on loafers after golf. Then started wearing them in the clubhouse after golf, maybe restaurant or bar after that. That just cemented me that was more comfortable and convenient to go spikeless. Now, I also subscribe to Sam Snead's instruction on staying light on your feet, and in balance. Snead would practice barefoot to make sure he stayed in balance, if his feet slipped, he was off-balance. So, IMHO, if my feet slip, it's due to a bad swing, not bad shoes, and I need to stay in balance. I see that the players that need spikes, also spray the ball all over the place, and I don't think that is a coincidence.

I augment my wedges every other year or so, trying Cleveland CB's, Ping, Mack Daddy, in different lofts/bounce combinations. (I have wedges in every 2º loft increment from 46º-60º, and the 54º or 56º in bounces of 8º,10º,12º, and 60º in 4º,6º,10º.). But I eventually keep going back to my 30-year-old Cleveland 588's (56º/12º, 60º/4º), sometimes refreshing the grooves every 3-4 years. Just switched back to them from Ping Glide 3.0's 2 weeks ago, and holed a short-sided bunker shot with its first use!

Sorry that your topic got hijacked into a 14-way vs 4-way debate. I''m not sure, but looking at the Ping site and current offerings online for 2020 and 2021, they look the same. It does look like 2022 has some new colors: Tan, Cardinal, Navy and Multicam.