All Things Golf

I believe we have a few golfers here, so I wanted to start a thread where we could post golf-related items: funny stories, stories about favorite courses, golf journey revelations, gear, current state of the PGA, tournament chat, etc. As long as it is golf-related.

Moderators - if there is a better landing for this thread, please feel free to move. Who knows? Maybe there will be zero interest, and this will be a moot point.

 

I've been golfing since my dad took me as a little kid almost 50 years ago. At first it was not my favorite thing, because I was not very good at it and that was frustrating. I'm still not very good at it, I just don't play often enough, but over the years some of my best memories are regular golf outings with my dad. He passed in 2020, but I was still golfing with him until he was 92 (with a power cart of course), and sometimes he still beat me

Non-golfers may not realize how difficult a game it is. As I've mentioned before if you take it too seriously it will rival any audio nervosa. I enjoy it now for some peaceful surroundings away from busy life, enjoying time with friends, and those memories of time with dad. I'm retired and have considered buying a membership at a local course, but you have to golf a lot to make that worthwhile. In the end we have a lot of public and semi-private courses here to choose from, and I enjoy the variety of playing different courses all the time, so I'm just sticking with that for now.

I'm in no place to give advice on playing, or club choice, or anything like that. I understand lessons are a good plan if you want to get seriously into it. One thing that definitely helped my game was using a GPS course map app on my phone (I use Golfpad). I don't think they are legal under tournament rules (though laser rangefinders apparently are now), but I'm not playing in tournaments so nobody cares. Between learning that hitting each club consistently is much more important than getting maximum distance, and using the app for club selection, my game is probably as good as it is going to get playing a dozen or so games per season. As with all things audio YMMV. Appreciate this thread idea @luckybaer. Look forward to hearing other's stories.

 

I began golfing about 17 years ago with my (at the time) only son, who was 7. I took a couple of lessons, bought some inexpensive DTC irons, but spent on a decent longer clubs. We went to pitch and putt courses, par 3 courses, and full-sized courses. I even felt confident enough to travel to Sea Island and play the Seaside and Plantation courses. It was a fun time, but didn't last for long, because once my 2nd son arrived, and my oldest son got more active in team sports, there wasn't any time.

Flash forward to the present...

My oldest son, now gainfully employed and utilizing his degree said, "Hey, Dad... we gotta start golfing again." So... we started on pitch and putt, added par 3 courses, and finally hit full-sized 18 hole tracks.

What about my youngest son? He who is a total introvert, doesn't like to play sports, and would rather play video games than see the sunlight? Haha... Well... we invited him to pitch and putt so we wouldn't feel guilty about not including him. I truly believed he would take a pass, because of his attitude towards playing sports, and the fact that he had to get up at 8:00 so we could start at a decent time and wrap up around lunch. Much to my surprise, he accepted the invitation.

I figured he'd come out with us to socialize, realize how hard golf was, and not join us ever again. I was wrong! My youngest is just as addicted as my older son and me. He's got his own clubs (still needs a gap wedge), golf attire, etc. He actually has no issue getting up at 0800 for a 0930 tee time. The funniest thing: he can actually go toe-to-toe with his older brother.

Good times.

 

Nice idea for a thread! I hope it’s not just the three of us who post in it (and I barely count as I’ve not played a round of golf in 30+ years, since I was a kid). I grew up next to a public course and caught the bug walking the dogs there every day and watching people play. My first job was on the course and I spent much of those difficult teenage years whacking balls around. I was lucky, the course was cheap to play, and since I worked there, I'd get hooked up with free rounds and discounts on gear. Best of all, there was a practice area (before it became a driving range), which was the equivalent of a par four and meant I could get unlimited practice for free with balls I’d found while walking the dogs. I loved it. It got me out of the house and away from the parents; I could smoke to my heart’s content without fear of getting busted. My mates and I’d be out playing till dark, which was around 10 pm in summer - this was in England.

This was also in the late 80s, back when Sandy Lyle and Nick Faldo’s success at the Masters and elsewhere inspired us kids. I’d have loved to become a pro, back when I was a kid, although I never came close to being good enough, not for a want of trying. It really is a hugely difficult game. I got to caddy for the club pro in competitions every once in a while, and he and his buddies told me the distance between tour pros and clubhouse pros was the equivalent of that between a club pro and a 20 handicapper. Anyway, my ball striking was never consistent enough to get good, although I got down to single figures, IIRC before the attractions of beer and girls lured me away.

I got to play in some kids’ competitions, including one at Royal St. George’s, which was the only time I’ve played a links course. It was a great experience. The first tee was terrifying, having to blast off in front of a small crowd (mainly other competitors) for the first time. I hit a decent, ever so slightly thin drive down the fairway, which has a blind landing area. Something you can’t appreciate on tv is quite how uneven and undulating the fairways are at Royal St. George’s, and while the drive went down the middle, the starter told me to hit a second one as it might have bounced off into the thick rough. This meant I had to go through the awkwardness of hitting another tee shot, which was all the more daunting now that everyone was watching more attentively this time. The second drive was good, thank god. The first one had indeed gone awol. I got to the green on the next shot and opened with a 6. And that basically summed up the round. I was out of the running by the 6th hole, lol.

What was great about the competition was that once you were out of it, you had open access to the course to play as much as you’d like over the weekend so long as you didn’t get in the way of the remaining competitors. I think I played 54 holes on one of the days. It’s a glorious course, so much fun, and so daunting. I was used to parkland courses where I’d learned to hit high fades. I loved having instead to hit low, punch shots and draws as well as lots of bump and run chip shots, given the blustery condition, which could be murderous. It’s such a challenging course, not just for the length (we played one round off the championship tees, with hilariously crap results) but also because of the number of blind shots, the many pot bunkers that really punish errant shots, and that monstrous mountain bunker on the fourth hole.





The best round I ever played was there. I shot an 84, I think, which was quite a feat, for me, at least.

A friend's dad worked for Ram Golf and thanks to that connection, we got to go back to work on the scoreboards for the 1993 Open Championship at Royal St. George’s. We also got passes to get into the restricted areas and met a couple of the pros, Mark O’Meara having been a really nice guy. Working the scoreboard on the 6th, a beautiful little par 3, was great fun. A couple of times I was tasked with being green side, walkie talkie in hand, to relay the groups’ scores back to mission control. The best part was when Greg Norman came over to say hi after he’d finished the hole and was waiting on the others. Starstruck, I couldn't believe that he took the time, in the middle of the competition, to talk briefly to us kids. I got to tell him all of us on the scoreboard were rooting for him. And he only went on to win it!

I hit some balls at a range with my old clubs back in the spring, for the first time in decades. I got chatting with the pro who got a kick out of seeing my early 90s gear. Apparently a lot’s changed. It was weird playing again. I started with short chip shots, just trying to get a feel for swinging a club again, and slowly built up to 3/4 and then, eventually full swings. I hit a couple of shanks and a top-notch snap hook. I also skied one so badly the people around me made a pretense of looking elsewhere. But the best bit was firing off half a dozen sweet medium irons in a row, which landed in close formation. I felt less like a plonker after that. I even blasted a couple of half-decent drives. It was a lot of fun. I might have to give it another go sometime…

 

@Kernel Kurtz I hope I can still golf with my boys when I’m 92! We enjoy hanging out for 4 hours and then eating. Each round ends up having its own collection of funny stories or nice occurrences.

During one round at a mediocre “executive course,” we were doing our best to maintain pace of play, so my oldest son took off down the golf path to track down his tee shot. My youngest hesitated to tee off, but I told him, “If your ball gets anywhere near your brother and the cart, it will be the worst slice you’ve ever hit.” Naturally, he hits the worst slice ever, and bounces his shot off the top of the golf cart —as the golf course was tearing down the path. We laughed our asses off.

 

@Tchoupitoulas Fantastic post! I hope you get out to the range regularly in 2024!

Regarding updated gear - the real arms race seems to be with drivers. Oooh… the hype around Callaway’s AI Smoke drivers is intense!

After coming back to golf after almost 20 years, I found the best thing I could do was to move to graphite shafts with less stiffness. I picked up a new set of irons with graphite shafts, and immediately picked up 10-15 yds of distance. I reshafted my old Ben Hogan CFT Edge Hybrids. Small sample size, but distance was about the same, but apex and shot shape improved. Apex up about 10 feet, and shot shape went from a right push or fade, to straight or a nice draw.

Having the right shaft for your swing speed and type is huge. The most advanced club head fitted to the wrong shaft is a recipe for disapppointment.

 

I haven't posted in ages, but this is one area where I can contribute some signal. I've played for 30+ years and averaged 1.5 rounds per week for about 15 years before priorities at home and work took over. I've averaged about 10 rounds per year the past decade and hope to get back to "avid" status soon. At my best I was an 8 handicap but today I'm happy to shoot in the high 80's. My club head speed with driver is still high at 110MPH (I was 116 back in the day) and ball striking along with putting is solid... but my short game inside of 90 yards is my downfall today.

As for technology, I started playing around the time the first Big Bertha came out so I've seen every iteration of non wood driver. Funny enough, I've only played three sets of irons... A cheap $200 set of Wilsons for about 2 years followed by Titleist DCI Oversize+ for nearly 20 years and for the last 10+ years I've bagged Ping I25's with KBS Tour X-stiff steel shafts. I have no desire to look at irons but I've considered replacing my Ping G30 LS Driver with something newer.

Regarding irons, I don't like the move to stronger lofts which was all the rage just after I bought my i25s. As for drivers, the high degree of adjustability today really bugs me. My recommendation to anyone starting out would be to purchase a 5 year old set of used clubs and get some lessons... after about 15 to 20 rounds you can then getting a fitting done.

 

@GTABeancounter Solid advice on the club front.

I often wonder if the stronger lofts in irons thing is a gimmick to trick golfers into believing iron technology really has advanced.

My first set of clubs had traditional lofts - 9i was 42°, PW 46°. My two newer sets are 38/43 and 39/43 respectively for the 9i/PW.

The stronger lofts themselves would “add” about 3 yards for each degree down in loft. However, I think the technology comes into play with using exotic materials and such to lower the CG on irons. After all, if someone struggled to get their 5i off the ground at 25°, wouldn’t they really struggle at 23° without some clubhead design help?

 

@ChaChaRealSmooth Dang, bro! 160Y on a PW?! lol… that’s some serious distance! My PW is my 100-110 club!

Isn’t it awesome to share golf with family members? Even when the members aren’t golfers, there is an abundance of cool destinations to see that have great golf and great sights to see or other things to do.

Golf helps bring my family together for sure!

 

Some very informative posts here for newbies!

Regarding the 160 yard PW... I'm not doubting that distance at all, but I will share a personal experience regarding my last driver purchase. My wife sent me to GolfTown with a $500 budget to buy a new Driver for my 40th birthday. I got in one of the simulators and grabbed a Cobra ZL encore (IIRC) and proceeded to hit 7 of 10 fairways with 280 yards of carry with only a half dozen half swings as a warm-up. The sales person came by and I explained my situation... ie; I'm buying my first new driver in 5+ years and want to park myself in this simulator for an hour or two to make the right choice. I then told him that my results with the Cobra felt a bit too good to be true. I was playing a shorter than stock driver at about 44" (stock used to be 43" in the early 90's) and was sure most of my hits with the 45"+ Cobra were off center. The sales person proceeded to make a couple of adjustments in the simulator settings and lets just say that results were much more representative of my game lol. It was a great experience though, still playing the Ping driver I bought today.

Regarding "hot irons"... I agree with the other posts, I don't want an extra 6 yards from my 7 iron when I hit the sweet spot, consistency is everything. I love my Ping I25s because thin shots (my usual miss) somehow don't blow past my "pure" middle iron distances... I imagine these lower lofted, ultra high MOI irons cannot be as consistent. For the newbs who might be here, understand that club head speed is a necessary condition to generate enough spin on your long irons... even on center hits with a 3 iron will be well short of your 7 iron if your club head speed is too low... if this is you, try out hybrids or even 7 to 11 woods.

 

I have to be realistic at my age and skill level. I sometimes have 3 hybrids in the bag!

 

Nicest place I've ever golfed: Sea Island in Georgia.

Waaaay back in 2006, my mom and I took a trip to Sea Island. She went to meet up with an old friend, and I went for the golf.

I played the Seaside Course and the Plantation Course on consecutive days, and the staff was kind enough to let me play them solo. A forecaddie was required, and I had a young MBA student as my forecaddie. He was a fine young man - uber helpful, lots of knowledge about the course, etc. I asked him for help on just about every hole - he knew the danger areas, could tell me about the greens, etc. Nothing like knowing about a false front green and taking a little more club to make sure your shot doesn't r-o-l-l back onto the fairway!

Back in those days, I was pretty ignorant about some of the finer points of determining how difficult a course was. I didn't know shit about slope, rating, etc. I just looked at the course yardage and went from there. I usually played from the middle tees - so course length somewhere in the low 6,000 range to high 5,000 range.

I wish I had known about slope and rating back then! My home course's low 6000 yard tee boxes played at a rating/slope of 70.3/119, and the high 5000 yard boxes played at 67.8/113. Relatively easy course. I don't exactly remember what the Seaside Course's low 6000 yard boxes played at back then, but today it plays at 70.9/135.

So... if slope rating is a measure of course difficulty relative to a bogey golfer (about a 20 hdcp, which is what I played at back then), Sea Island was a lot harder than my home course (135 vs. 119). That course kicked my ass! I normally shot 85-88 on my home course. I shot a 101 on the Seaside Course! Heeeeeeeh...

When I played the Plantation Course the next day, I played it forward! Not all the way forward, but one set back! Much more fun, and I shot 89.

What did me in on the Seaside course? For one, fairway bunkers! My home course doesn't have those, so semi-wayward tee shots end up being shots from the rough, which were easy for me to handle with a 3 hybrid. Bunker shots are another story if you aren't used to them - uphill and downhill lies... fried eggs... ugh. Second, the greens were way...WAY more challenging. My home course has few undulating greens and multi-level greens, but the Seaside course was/is chock full of them. I 3-putted a lot. Finally, the fairways were undulating, too. That meant that you could stick your tee shot and hit the fairway, but be left with an uphill or downhill lie. Those shots are harder for weak players like me, so I'm sure I ended up hooking shots on uphill lies and endangering wildlife on the right with downhill lies.

I did better on the Plantation Course because I played forward (2nd shots into par 4 holes were short irons, not hybrids or woods), and because I was able to hit better/easier approach shots, I actually got the ball on the favorable section of the green (thanks to my forecaddie's knowledge). I also learned that firing at the pin isn't always the best course of action. And... my miserable experience with uphill and downhill lies the previous day taught me a lot about how to play them and not suck as badly.

Sea Island Resort is the nicest place I've been in the U.S. The staff is very friendly, helpful, etc. I got a dirty look from the porter/bellhop when I bent down to grab my bags. He was like, "What in the world are you thinking?" Good thing I kept a roll of bills in my pocket for tips! Food was good, although probably too rich for me now. I'd need to dial back and eat more fish/chicken/salads. Back then, it was red meat full speed ahead.

I didn't go to any of the spa services, but my mom did, and she was happy with the whole experience.

I checked current prices, and shit is insane, but I'd spring for it again in a heartbeat.

 

We all rely on our audio gear collection. Chicks dig the damping factor.

 

Let's Talk About Your Balls
(thoughts on your favorite golf balls, that is)

When I play 18 holes on a full-sized course, I use Callaway Supersoft balls - in matte orange. For slower swingers like me, this ball is supposed to perform well. I do like the results - especially off my driver and around the green. The matte orange color makes them pretty easy to find - especially if they stray off into the rough. These balls can be had for $23 to $25 per dozen, so very reasonable.

When I play pitch and putt or par 3 courses, I'll use my "beater" Supersofts (balls that have been smacked around for several rounds on full-sized courses and are scuffed up). Or, I'll use balls I find on the course! I find a lot of low-end balls - like Top-Flite, Callaway Warbird, etc. Those things do kinda feel like giant marbles when I hit them - especially on those sub-50 degree days. I can't imagine playing them on a "real" course.

For home use on the launch monitor/simulator, I pried open the wallet recently and stepped up for Titlelist Pro V1 and Pro V1x. I never thought I had enough game to justify spending on those top quality balls, but I wanted to see if my swing could actually hit them well enough for the differences between the balls to manifest in my stats.

Per the Titleist site, the Pro V1 has a mid-flight profile, soft feel, mid-spin for the long game, and high spin for the short game.

The Pro V1x has a high flight profile, firm feel, high long game spin, and high spin for the short game.

So... if you need higher flight and more spin for your driver, and you like a firmer feel, the Pro V1x may be for you. If you prefer a more penetrating ball flight, or have no issues getting the ball high enough, want to lower the spin off the driver, and like a softer feel, the Pro V1 may be for you.

Small sample size (12-15 shots with each), but according to the stats off my Rapsodo MLM2, the average apex of the shots I took with my PW using the Pro V1 had an 18% higher average apex, which led to a 15% increase in avg descent angle. I couldn't check the spin rate, since I am not using the special Rapsodo Callaway Chromesoft X balls with the dots. I manually applied dots, but the spin data was totally effed up, and I considered it unreliable. Average carry distance and average total distance showed no statistically significant difference between the balls. Ball speed and smash factor showed no difference, too.

Based on the data, if I had to choose solely on the basis of performance with the PW, I'd lean towards the Pro V1. Getting the ball up higher with the PW would be beneficial. I'd be shooting from <125 yards into the green, so I would appreciate the higher flight and steeper descent to get the ball to "stick" and not kick and roll out as much. When I get into trouble, its because I get too much roll on the greens and shoot past the hole and end up off the green. lol... I suck, so honestly not sure how much a ball will help stem the suckage. But, fun to fantasize.

Later this week I will try both balls with my driver. I wonder if I'll see any difference in distance? Will be fun to hit some balls and see the results.

 

I corrected the post about my balls because I mixed up the Pro V1 vs Pro V1x data.

 

I prefer softer balls. Name brand does not matter, I'm not skilled enough to tell that much, just a general observation.

I also keep a pocket in my bag full of beater balls, collected from various places, often found while looking for my own. The ones I tee off with when I know that big water magnet is more likely than not to claim it. Perhaps even more than once lol.

 

"Tin Cup"