CarlH

A is more my style .... backstroke and through stroke are about the same length, but it's more about tempo and feel for me than thinking about the length of the backswing/followthrough.

Bill Clinton had the same issue with fudging his game. If you're a high profile individual and you cheat, it doesn't go unnoticed! On similar note, didn't Justin Thomas call out MJ as a cheat?

A few years back, my regular playing partner and I committed to always putting out when we played together. Of course, when in a group where everyone is giving "in the leather" putts, we didn't punish ourselves. But, because we generally putted everything, I became very good at short putts. We did that for a few years (much to the displeasure of our friend who routinely wanted putts given (and then would miss them)). Now, whether in a friendly small money game or tournament play, I stand over every putt without fear. Yes, I still miss some short putts, but I never feel the pressure of that 2 foot knee knocker. I just do my normal routine and hit the putt. It either goes in or it doesn't. More often than not, it goes in.

At the prices of DTC balls that are proven to be worthy of comparing to other premium balls, why buy used/refurbished? And if "cheap balls" is what you're seeking, there are plenty of available brand new balls at bargain pricing. Shoot, just take a walk along the outer edges of golf courses and pick up all the free balls you want!

I knew a guy at a previous club that was very loose with the rules when playing golf -- dragging putts as gimmies, improving his lie, generous drops, etc. He proudly boasted a 6 handicap. Played his first (and only) club championship, where the rules of golf are required by everyone, regardless of how trivial one may find a particular rule. His opening round was a 105. He withdrew from play after that round and, to the best of my knowledge, never competed in tournament play again. He went back to his loose and free ways with the rules. The bad part was that he engaged in casual betting games (not with me, because I refused to play by his total disregard of even the basic rules) and others willingly allowed him to get away with it. I know this sounds exaggerated, but I can assure you that it is not, in this guy's case.

Went out this afternoon by myself and played on a few holes with both balls, hitting them from the same places with the same clubs. I hit off the tee, off the fairway, longer irons, shorter irons, pitched, chipped, and putted, alternating between the two balls. Of course, my swing isn't precise enough to hit two identical shots back to back every time, but I did attempt the same shots. In the end, I had some very similar strikes and some misses. All in all, it gave me a good feel for the balls. It wasn't the best weather for testing with temperatures hovering around 45 degrees. I'll save the deeper comments for my review, which I'm close to finalizing.

I used to play a course that was a par 4 dogleg left with a pond on the left and in front of the green. In winter, when the course was open, the pond would be frozen over and a good drive at the green would hit the pond and bounce onto the green. Was. always fun to "go for it"!

Yesterday's regular game was called on account of rain, but I did manage to get in 9 holes after it stopped (kinda). Played as a 5some and after 2 holes, we played Wolf for the remaining 7 holes. Hit the ball fair; sloppy turf didn't help the cause, any. Ended up winning $2 on the Wolf game. We had one big loser that funded everyone else's losses. I actually won $2.50, but owed .50 to the big winner....LOL...big stakes!!

It's been a beautiful November, up until today. Record breaking high temperatures Wed and Thur, much cooler and wet this morning, turning to the mid to low 30s tonight with more rain coming. Cold and wet enough to cancel our regular scheduled game and leave it up to a "show up" game for the die hards.

Thank you. It was great format. I've never played anything like it before, but it was really a fun way to play. They did flight the groups, so there weren't a lot of strokes being given out and players played from their normal tees that they play during regular play. In my first group, we had one guy playing the forward tee and the rest on the same tee. In the playoff, the low handicap player played one tee further back (he's 11 years my junior) and one playing the forward tees. Just a great format. I guess you could play with a larger group, but 20 seemed to be the right number.

Today, the top 20 point winners in our MGA for 2022 competed in a Last Man Standing tournament. Note that this isn't the 20 "best" golfers, but the 20 highest point earnings based on play during the year with MGA Thursday games. Groups of 5 competed against one another in the following format: Holes 1-6 were cumulative scores (net). At the end of 6 holes, the person with the highest net score was eliminated. In each subsequent hole, highest score gets eliminated until one person wins on hole 9 (in each of the 4 groups). In cases of ties, a putt off was used to determine who would progress. After all four groups were done (2 groups played 1-9 and 2 groups played 10-18), the winners of each group would go to hole #7 for a 3 hole playoff with the lowest net score being the winner. I was in group 2. As the lowest handicap player in that group, I had to give 3 of the 4 players one stroke on hole #2. I shot 1 over for the first six holes (lowest of the 5). On hole 7, I bogeyed, but tied another player and beat one who hit his tee shot OB (par 3). On hole #8, I make par and the other 2 bogey the hole and have a putt off. Hole #9, I win with a par. I advance to the finals. The finals are hole 7 (par 3), hole 8 (par 5), and hole 9 (par 4). I will get a stroke from the lower handicap player and it falls on #9. I par all 3 holes and win by 2 shots gross (3 net) over the next best score (and last year's winner). I am the last man standing for 2022. Take care of yourself!

My wife is a complete newbie at golf, having not played in nearly 30 years....I never say anything other than "nice shot" (regardless of whether it is or not) when we play/practice together.

Struck the ball fairly well today. Inside 100 yards, I struggled with my wedge getting steep and fat in the wet turf a couple of times on the front side. Putting was awful today. I lost count of the number of 3 putts. To be a little less harsh on myself, the pins were in some ridiculous places, but still.....I don't think I made one putt of any significance. Had several burn the edge and a couple lip out. Just wasn't my day with the putter. Shot an 83, despite good ball striking, several realistic birdie opportunities which I failed to make, and magnificent weather (actually quite warm in the low 80s).

Took two of each balls to the practice green today and alternately worked with each ball. Other than a subtle difference in sound and feel coming off the putter, both balls performed equally well. Roll was true and I could not discern any other differences between the two balls. Either could find their way in my bag from a putting perspective.

Yes, it was tongue in cheek.

Well, I'm not sure what this was all about.

Disastrous club championship tournament for me the last 2 days. Played 2 of my worst rounds of the year, back to back. Weather yesterday was decent but windy and course wasn't set up ridiculously difficult, yet I exhibited poor ball striking and downright embarrassing putting. Last night, thunderstorms and tornado watches brought about 1.5 inches of rain to the course and it was sloppy fairways/rough, wet sand traps, and the greens did not get mowed or rolled prior to play and they were very slow (by our course norms). Again, I struck the ball poorly, although I did putt a little better. End result was placing near the bottom of my flight. On the plus side, scores were typically higher for everyone (except our resident ex-pro golfer) and nobody really lit it up. None the less, I am very disappointed by my personal play.

Played 18 holes with the 388 Proto today. Not my best ball striking day, but I was able to see a bit of differences between the 388 and the 348. Flight of the 348 was higher off both irons and woods. 348 firmer feel off putter, wedges, and irons. 348 spins on the green more aggressively than the 388. While I've only played 18 holes with each ball, my preference is leaning towards the 348, which doesn't surprise me as they are much closer to my existing gamer. Thursday, played the 348, Friday was my regular gamer Maxfli Tour X, and today was the 388. I was unable to get a feel regarding distances -- on average, none felt longer or shorter than expected. Not related to the ball, but my best score of the 3 days was Thursday with the 348. Played poorly next 2 days (in the tournament, of course!!!!)

Huh? You've got some 'splainin' to do, Loosey!

Even paranoid people have people out to get them!

Better day today. Ball striking was much better than the last 2 times I played. I used one of the new Titleist white box balls (the 348 Proto (Pro V1-X)) and was very pleased with the performance tee to green (as one would expect from a premium golf ball). Anyway, after a 37 on the front 9, I ran into a bit of trouble on #10 and #11, but was able to get back on track and card a 78 for the round. Tomorrow is the start of our 2 day Club Championship tournament and I'm looking forward to playing. On the negative side is that a front is moving in tomorrow late afternoon. Should be done with play by the time it gets here, but it will have some impact on Saturday, as we're expecting up to 2 inches of rain, which will make for some sloppy fairways if that holds true.

Played 18 with the 348 (V1-X) today. I really enjoyed playing the ball. The 348 is a firmer ball, which I prefer, and I liked the way it "clicked" off the club faces. It also helped that I played well today, shooting a 78. Again, my ball of preference is a firmer ball and this ball is very comparable to my regular gamer. I didn't play the 2 side by side (I was actually playing a game that required rules of golf so hitting a 2nd ball was not an option). Whether they're longer than my gamer off the tee is impossible to tell. They definitely spun off short irons well and I backed several up and others stopped within a foot of the divot. Short wedges is my weak area and these balls did nothing to resolve that mental error. Decent wedge shots performed well and I got good check on the greens. Again, very comparable to the balls that I regularly play. It would be easy to say that I prefer the 348 that I played today over the 388 that I played yesterday, but my ball striking was night and day different today than yesterday. I will be switching back and forth between the balls in future games, perhaps at the turn. Tomorrow and Saturday is tournament play, so I'll need to adhere to one ball. Still haven't decided if I'll play the firmer 348 ball or use my gamer Maxfli Tour X for the tournament. Guess I'll know at tee time when I put the ball on the peg.

Had a pretty crappy round today. Just couldn't seem to get focused on the task at hand. That my 3 other team mates were stinking it up worse than I was didn't help with the focus part. Hit some good shots, hit some bad shots (more than usual and some were really bad). Putting was okay but nothing stellar. Played with one of the Titleist white box balls today. Ball played as expected from a Titleist Pro V1. I played all 18 holes with the same ball and the durability of the ball was good. Only blemishes were dirt/mud. But, I didn't hit any cart paths or other objects that might blemish the ball, either.

Played 18 today with the 388 Proto (Pro V1). While I didn't play especially well and the overall ball striking wasn't up to snuff, I did keep the one ball in play for the entire round. At the end of the round, the ball was still in decent shape with no visible surface damaging. I found it to spin well off short irons and even off longer irons and woods. For the most part, my ball was reasonably close to the pitch mark on the greens. Wedge shots into the green had a one hop and stop type of grab; bump and run shots performed as expected. Distance wise, I could not discern any difference between the prototype ball and current models of the Pro V1 or my usual gamer ball or similar tour level golf balls. These balls are a tad softer than the Maxfli Tour X that I usually play, but I saw no significant differences between balls putting. It is my intent to do a deeper testing focused on putting and chipping differences between the 348, 388, Maxfli Tour, and Maxfli Tour X soon. Our club championship begins Friday, and I am contemplating whether to play any of the test balls or just go with my standard ball for those 2 days. My gut tells me to go with the Maxfli Tour X and then resume testing post the tournament play.

I played the new Pro V1 ball for 9 holes today. I was not playing well, so it's difficult to comment on the performance of the ball. I do have one comment to start with -- we were sent a dozen of each type ball (348 and 388 Proto -- V1X and V1 respectively). One of the sleeves of the 348 balls only had 2 balls in it. Since it's a prototype package and at no cost to me, it's not a biggie, but at near $5/ball, if you buy 12, you want 12!