MaxEntropy

Right, but there are clear markets for those 14 balls. Adding a couple "pro only" models that they likely won't sell to the public means they may have to eat the cost (or pass it on to people like us). The unknown factor to me right now is how many pros actually pay for balls? I honestly have no idea, but have always assumed not many do.

I don't know that I have a strong opinion on the proposal either way - I can see the arguments from both sides and think both have their merits. I assume it has been brought up, but I haven't stayed totally up-to-date on this discussion. My biggest concern is the net effect on the price of a dozen balls for me. I don't see how the OEM's can recover the R&D costs associated with making balls for pros (never mind there may be more than one compliant version per manufacturer). Who is going to absorb that? My fear is that it will get passed down to us.

It's always fun to be able to start participating in this thread again.... League started tonight. Even though I haven't touched a club in about 4 months, everything was pretty good. 3 pars, 5 bogies, and an eagle for a +3 (38). The eagle came on a par 5 with a temp tee box that only shaved about 20-30 yards off the length, but more importantly, it allowed me to cut the corner of the dogleg a bit. I didn't intend to, but that's what happened. Stuck a 6 iron from about 165 to 4 feet and buried the putt. Driver was good. Irons were solid contact but I pushed a few wide. Short game was ok given the early season greens.

I think it would be hilarious if Titleist/Bridgestone/TaylorMade/Srixon all determined the ROI is NOT there to commit R&D funds to develop a shorter ball and opted not to participate. I know it won't happen, but still think it would be funny.

The early coverage on Hulu yesterday had Spieth and whoever he was playing with as a featured group. Both player's drives came to rest in the designated fan crossing area. Announcers didn't go into any detail, but both were granted relief even though they were in the fairway. Can someone please explain?

It's been years since I played Raintree, but I would probably pick Grey Hawk. Obviously good with whatever, but I really liked Grey Hawk. Might be a different story if I had been playing my own ball that day.

Just bought 10 of these... I wanted/needed 11, but Golf Galaxy was already closed and Dick's only had 10 midsize in stock. I plan to not change the grip on my 5 iron because a) I've apparently forgotten how to hit one, and b) it rarely gets used due to a). Most use is in the punch out of trees category, so not super concerned about the grip. Has anyone else tried them? I will be blowing them on with air.

Done. A couple comments: 1) I would participate in the virtual tour, but I don't have a "real" handicap, so I will continue to post in How'd You Play. It would be a little tricky to get one since so much of my golf is in league with a non-compliant HC. 2) I selected Other (please specify below) on the main site content. Gratuitous Photo threads are great (even though they are not technically main site, but APH posting Tony's pics). Other than @GolfSpy Barbajo stories, I can pretty much take or leave any of the other content.

Lessons

My fear is that new eyes may try to tune into a broadcast and see how terrible the coverage is. I also wonder if they would understand why their new "favorite" player is never (or rarely) shown or why all the players don't play in all the events?

I tried to search and see if there was another thread... My golf buddy Mike and I just started playing this winter at a local tennis club that offers relatively inexpensive pickleball-only memberships. We found a couple guys that are similar skill level to us and play 1-1.5 hours at a time, usually once a week. @Berg Ryman seems to be a local expert and his notes above look solid to me, as a newbie. The club has some loaner paddles that I tried before I bought - most were Head of varying types (high spin, low spin, composite, graphite, etc.). I would grab 2-3 different ones each session until I found the type that seemed to work best for me. I ended up buying an Onix Z3 for around $70 (didn't want to spend much more than that if this was just going to be a passing fancy). It has a polymer honeycomb and composite face and is designed to be better for power and spin, with less focus on touch. I may decide I want better touch/feel at some point, but who knows if my current paddle will wear out or break before that happens. I played a fair amount of recreational tennis in grad school and had a pretty good ground game, just sucked at getting my first serve in. Even though I haven't played any tennis in the last 25-30 years, the hardest transition has been trying to overpower the ball when it is not really necessary. One thing Berg didn't mention is balls. There are "indoor" and "outdoor" balls. Outdoor tend to be heavier and have more holes so they won't be effected by the wind as much. Indoor are lighter with fewer holes and supposedly don't bounce as much. We've always used outdoor balls even though we play indoors. It would be interesting the try indoor balls and see if/how much it effects us. Does anyone have experience with indoor balls? Maybe it's because we are all in our 50's, but keeping track of score/serve has been tricky at times, especially late in a match when fatigue is starting to set in. As we've all improved, our volleys last longer so I feel like I've been hit by a bus by the end, but I assume that will change as I get in better shape.

Last year was a personal best for me: 49 rounds at 19 different courses, including a round on Maui. In addition to league, @DiscipleofPenick and I both enjoy driving around NE Ohio to play different courses. Reviewing in Arccos, it looks I had never played 6 of the 19 courses.

The league I am in runs from clock change to clock change*. Early season and late season can be a little iffy with the weather, but at least we are golfing. *We will have to see what happens if/when the House decides to do away with daylight savings time (Senate has already passed) as the time change has always seemed like a somewhat natural start/stop point.

I'm game and I know Mike is excited for the season to get going.

I had it done about 20 years ago, maybe a little less. It really wasn't that big of a deal for me - procedure on a Friday, lay around with frozen pees on my sack over the weekend and I felt fine come Monday. The only downside was I felt well enough that I went and played softball Tuesday evening (yes I was wearing a jock strap). That was a mistake. It felt like I got kicked in the nads for the next few days.

Haven't paid a ton of attention and don't know if the spots are full, but I won't be able to make it this year . Hoping to make one of these soon. @DiscipleofPenick and I were talking last week and we are looking at some sort of an Ohio stay-n-play outing for this year.

Ditto. A good friend has the Epic Max LS and I have the Epic Speed and the sounds are very different, with the Epic Max LS being a little more of a muted and Speed more metallic and a little louder.

I really dig the color/appearance of these. Very sexy, imo.

6' and I use a 32.5" putter. I've always been more comfortable letting my arms hang more. I could probably go a little shorter as the index finger on my low hand usually touches the shaft.

Oh man, I'm really interested but won't know for sure if I can make until I get back to work on Jan 3 (pending the REAL boss' approval, of course). @MattF @Mr_Theoo @DiscipleofPenick are any of you planning on trying to go so we can car pool?

To me, this is key. At many of the courses I play, I almost never see a ranger and the starter (if there is one) never really lays out the pace of play expectations. I have had a couple experiences that I think courses should do more of: 1) Warren Course at Notre Dame - the starter was awesome. He recommended tees for us (which were forward from what we were tempted to play based on length) and explained their pace of play expectations in a manner that was friendly and stern at the same time. 2) A muni in Jefferson City, MO - I have no idea if they still do this, but in the 90's, they had a time clock by the club house (like you would see for workers in a factory). You stamped your card at the start, the turn, and the end. A ranger checked the time card and if you were outside their requirements it was possible you would be asked not to return. The course was jammed on Saturdays, but everyone knew they had to keep time, so it was always a nice pace. @Reesedw's post sounds like a more modern take on this type of system. Question for @GolfSpy_APH: are there ever any pace of play issues with the system in place? Without decent rangers, I could imagine there are still people like the selfish old farts I see that just don't care (yes, I'm generalizing, I know they are not the only problem).

I don't think I've heard a Sasquatch, but it can't be much louder than some of the old Cobra drivers. I can hear a guy in our league warming up on the range from the parking lot.

Didn't drive the ball particularly well and playing one of the harder courses in the area in gusts around 40 mph was interesting. Best part of my game was irons, for a change, but tricky greens with lots of slope meant a couple 3-putt bogies on par 3's. Started the front with 3 straight doubles (after what ended up being the best drive of the day on 1 ). #9 was dead into the wind. The card says 357. As I recall, Arccos claimed it was playing more like 440, which makes sense given that I hit driver and 4h and was still not quite pin high.

I've been debating deleting my Facebook profile since I rarely use it any more. My wife has discouraged it because she likes to browse the marketplace and doesn't want to create her own account. Shockingly, having an account proved to be a good thing last weekend. We were driving to MO to see my wife's family and she happened to be scrolling through FB and says, "hey, it looks like a couple of your old roommates are in Columbia." There is another old roommate that still lives there. It has been about 10 years since I had seen one of them, more like 20 for the other two. We grabbed some dinner, hung out, and spent a lot of time catching up. It was a great time.

The forum software does it automatically. I don't think it requires any special options turned on to do it.