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Testers Wanted: RUNNER Golf and Byrdie Golf Design ×

alii1959

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Posts posted by alii1959

  1. Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but here goes.  I have been trying real hard to like the more Pro oriented balls.  Whether Titleist, Bridgestone, TM, or the myriad of others I can't seem to stop them....especially on relatively short shots on fast greens.  However, the cheap 2 or 3 piece balls are predictable.  Off the driver or irons the urethane ball flights are extremely low.  It is almost as if the ball sticks to the face of the club and doesn't "jump" into the air.  As a feel player, who used cheap balls for years, this just doesn't seem right.  I watch others, try different techniques, and the results are mostly the same.

    This past few months I have been ball testing.  Everything I am willing to try (afford) from ProVs, Gamers, TF Bombs, e12s, Q-Star, Volvik Vivid, etc.  I find that the balls that are the most predictable for me are the Wilson Zips.  I know, I know.  They are cheap.  But, I have shot some low scores (for me that is) with them.  I find that much like the e12s the ball jumps off the club face and has a predictable roll-out.  

    As others have said before, maybe my swing speed isn't high enough to get the urethane balls to act properly, or I just got accustomed to the cheaper side of things.

    I do think that even the cheaper balls today are much better than those I used 20+ years ago.  Thus, it is conceivable that one of the lower echelon  balls may be just fine for most of us.  Years ago I, my swing speed was much higher, was able to get great spin out of non-tour balls.  I am not sure that most of us couldn't today as well.  Further, the testing done on launch monitors doesn't always equal the experience on the course, IMHO.

  2. In 1992 I got out of the USAF and started back to school  During those college years I made a couple of friends, one turned out to be a life-long friend who it became my major goal in life to destroy him on the golf course.  Over the course of the next two decades I became an addict. I was playing 3-5 times a week. Upon completion of my degree I took a position teaching at an Alternative school in my home county.  I found golf to be a welcome respite from the stresses of attempting to teach science to at-risk students.  While rewarding, teaching was very demanding.  

    During my teaching career, I managed to break 110, 100, 90, 85, 80, and par (once) (each goal taking me a year, except 80, which took 3 years).  I also managed to work in time for a masters degree.  During the year I worked on that degree, I also won the club championship at the club I was a member of, Three Oaks Golf Course, Harlem, Ga.  Shortly afterwards, my friend moved to Houston, Tx.  With him gone and my daughter's life becoming more demanding (she started college at 16, after being homeschooled), golf fell by the wayside for about 10 years.  The time was just not available.

    However, in 2017 the addiction returned.  I joined a local club and began to stalk par again. I couldn't believe how much I missed that irritating dimpled sphere. It was a scrubby little course, but it was cheap and let me get back in the game.  I have since retired from teaching, joined a better club, and my pursuit of par has begun in earnest.  In the ten years I laid off, apparently my body changed greatly.  I am not the player I once was, but I do believe that I can score just as well.  I never could over power a course, but my distance has suffered a bit and now I have to be more of a tactician than before.  

    As I have aged, as many others have, I have experienced more losses in my life.  The deaths of family members, friends moving on, etc.  Golf provides me the solitude to reflect on the great life that I have led and continue to lead.  I usually play alone, the vast majority of the time I walk the course.  Even when the "special" golf words are being used, I cannot fully give into my frustration, because I am so genuinely thankful that I can still play this great game.  

    Even for those of us who will never be on tour, there is a Zen quality to golf that cannot be found in other sports.  Wandering in the woods looking for that poor lost ball, wading into the creek for his brother, burying his yellow friend in the sand, stomping to just before the women's tees for that much anticipated 2nd, ...  I could go on and on, but you get the picture.  The peace and tranquility of the experience broken only by a constant assault on one's ego, pride, and self-esteem.  

  3. I am a dedicated walker.  I have, in the past, even paid the full green fee, that included cart, and still walked.  Without walking it isn't much of a sport.  At my home course, especially in the mornings, it looks like a shriner's convention with the carts running to and fro.  Being the radical bugger that I am I always thought houses on golf courses should be illegal, or the occupants must be willing to allow you to walk/play through their property, without any whining!!!!!!  

     

    I have played a few courses that were basically walking only.  They were great!  The play was faster.  The players generally better.  And you didn't have all the drinking and driving on the course!

     

    I have had to play out of a cart, mostly in resort areas.  Usually adds 5-10 strokes to my game.  

     

    I think if all of those riders, with the exception of the elderly & disabled, had to walk they would be a lot more careful about how they played.  They couldn't just zip into the woods to find their ball.  They might rethink what they are doing.  Might just get better.  

     

    I have now exposed myself as a walking snob....  I guess I am.  Imagine how much healthier all of us would be if we walked the course....every time.  I do so 3-5 times a week, and if this gimpy asthmatic can do it, anyone can.

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