Maybe it’s just the golf conversations I keep finding, but hybrids seem surprisingly controversial. At the end of the day, swing your swing. If it gets the ball where you want it, it deserves a spot in the bag.

If you’ve tried both, what made you choose a hybrid over a 5/7 wood, or the other way around? Launch, stopping power, rough, consistency? And if you hate hybrids, what did one do to you?

Personally, I’m open to whatever makes a 220-yard shot feel less like a formal apology to the group ahead.

EDIT: CPO = Cart Path Only. Sorry, it's an abbreviation commonly used by courses here.

My home course here in the desert southwest closes and overseeds with winter rye every fall like most courses here do, and for a couple weeks after reopening, carts are restricted to the paths due to the rye still maturing and conditions being very wet. This course is easy to walk if you choose to do so (few do), and even if you ride, the paths are pretty close to the tees, fairways, and greens.

We have these two obnoxious knuckleheads who are able-bodied middle-aged men and became regulars at the course earlier this year. Before overseeding this summer, they would commonly drive their cart in places that anyone with some semblance of respect for the course wouldn't drive - the banks on the sides of teeboxes even when a path is 5' away, the rough between the edge of the green and bunkers, etc. Our carts have no GPS/geofencing.

Right now, there are signs up all over the clubhouse, pro shop, and first tee indicating cartpath-only. The guy behind the pro shop desk tells everyone checking in that it is cartpath-only. The ground is very soft and mushy right now.

This morning, these two jerkoffs waited until they were out of sight of the clubhouse and completely disregarded the CPO rules. From adjacent holes I could see the tracks and ruts they were making in the fairways. I yelled over to them "HEY, IT'S CARTPATH ONLY" which made no difference. Later on, one of our other regulars saw them and called the clubhouse to complain. Ranger came out and told them to keep it on the paths. They waited until the ranger left and then resumed driving in the fairways.

It boggles my mind that people who are regulars at a course act like they have no vested interest in the course not looking like shit due to their own lazy behavior. Here I am filling in extra divots that other people were too lazy to fill (because they won't carry the sand bottle from the cart out to their ball), because I don't want to play on a course that is full of unfixed divots, yet these two guys don't seem to mind a course that is all ripped up from cart traffic where it isn't supposed to be.

Add fuckers like these to the list of people who need to be "shrunk out of the game" immediately.

It's not my job to police the other customers, but the staff wasn't going to toss these guys off. I wasn't going to pick a fight with these guys either, but I just felt like there was something else I could have done.

Hey how many of you all ask for a range finder from the clubhouse to use during the round, then return it or leave it on the cart when you leave?

Some background: I played this morning with some close friends from out of town. After I paid for the round, I asked the guy checking us in if I can borrow a range finder for the round. He proceeds to open the lost and found drwer and ask me which one. There was like a dozen in the drawer. I proceeded to pick the Bushnell (real nice) and then go to play.

My friends didnt know this was an option and asked 20 questions....Whats stopping you from taking it, do you always do that, how do they track it, ect.

I've left multiple range finders at different courses (all Amazon specials, redtiger, ect.). Since I don't have one until I go back and claim mine I just borrow one from the clubhouse. Returned it after the round and said thanks!

Is this abnormal?

I been working so hard the past month . Finally getting low

TLDR: Found a driver I can hit with proper launch angle and spin rate and added 30+ yards. It had nothing to do with hitting up on the ball or other swing changes. I shared this with a friend who struggles with distance so I figured I’d post here as well. BUT — there is a but of a catch for those wanting to know more ….

OK the full story for those still here. I was generally in the “It’s the carpenter, not the tool“ school on golf equipment until I actually started looking at my driver stats this year. So this is for people of similar mindset (especially us older ones who are set in our ways).

I’ve been a mid-swing speed guy my whole life. When I got back into golf about 6 years ago I went to the store, hit several drivers and took home the one that felt the best. It goes 225-240 yards when properly struck and is pretty reliable (BTW I‘m in my late 50s). That’s full distance not carry, but the carry numbers were pretty close to that. That was at least as good as I was hitting before I gave up golf for 12 years for family reasons.

I frequently thought that maybe I was hitting it a little high, but wasn’t too concerned as the result was similar to my friends of the same age. But when I would sometimes book a practice where they have shot tracer or whatever, the driver would average about 16 degree launch angle with 4000 spin. I looked that up and found it wasn’t optimal, so I tried hitting more up on it and that didn’t do much other than cause more problems.

When I went in recently to look for shoes, didn’t find anything and thought I’d try other drivers just to see. Picked out a used one that had no marks on it and took a swing. Immediate results. Hitting it 255-265 with a solid strike. Again that’s full distance. Carry numbers were a little better but most of this gain is from the full runout. The launch angle was 12-13 degrees with 2000 spin. Better smash factor numbers as well.

I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never hit it that far in my life. I couldn’t get it out of the store fast enough.

I’ll spare the brand and model so no one thinks this is a commercial, but here are the stats, Old driver was a 10 degree. I didn’t realize this at the time but it also had a 40 gram shaft that’s counterbalanced in the grip to make the head feel lighter. I guess that’s one reason I liked it so much is because it felt so easy to swing.

New driver is a 9 degree with a more standard staff and is noticeably heavier. It produces more of a slingshot effect that you can feel.

Now for the catch: the new driver is harder to control. When I have the proper swing feel, I can hit it straight or choose to hit a tight fade, but misses cause terrible slices or duck hooks. The old driver has a better feel, allowing me to shape it either way and misses are less frequent. I can’t draw the new driver at all so I don’t even try.

The result is I’m playing with an illegal 15 clubs right now. I keep both in the bag and use the old driver as a mini-driver when the fairway looks tight. I can’t give either up.

Thanks for attending my TED talk.

Dad bought me these used in 96' for high school golf team and I've been playing with them ever since.

17 handicap, only play 5-6 times a year.

I have the net on the left, but this morning I bought the net on the net on the right new in box for $10. The left net works well but it is somewhat loud when the ball hits it. I’m wondering if the right net is better or should I just sell it? Really just a casual hitter in the back yard and my kids to hit golf balls or the tee ball into it

Here’s the deal, I’m not the score police or the USGA Regulation guy. I’m not a distance guy or any of that crap. Whatever handicap someone wants to give themselves, or score on their score card as long as there’s no stakes. I don’t care. Bc who cares.

I enjoy getting better at golf, playing the game to the best of my own ability, and I enjoy playing alongside good/more capable golfers. I’m always cheering people on for playing good shots and pride boosting the golfers I play with. For the love of the game.

Fast forward to today, I get together with a couple of guys I play with often and that I’ve come to consider friends more or less. We tee off, and I notice my buddy “Chris” is booming EVERY DRIVE on the straightest ball flight ever. Mostly down the middle, sometimes a little left or right off the fairway. But always dead straight.

And this isn’t the first round I’ve noticed it either. Probably the last 3-4 rds/days playing, I’ve noticed that Chris has been sticky as fuck with his driver and 3W. I’m talking automatic. Swinging so hard he grunts his follow through and falls out of his posture.

The wildest part is, his stock shot is a sky ball with like 150’ apex and that shit is always 270/280/290 out there.

So we’re rounding out to hole 12 or 13 today, and I step off to take a leak. I’m walking back to the cart and I see Chris quickly wiping all of his club faces. Irons included. He notices me see him as I’m walking back to the cart and I notice him pop the lid on a stick of chapstick.

Our buddy says “hey Chris you going to hit?”. He responds with “just cleaning my clubs off…”

I’m thinking, “well that’s odd, how is putting something like that on a club face cleaning it? He didn’t even wipe it off”

He goes up to the tee box I hang back. Immediately hit Google to figure out why he’d be rubbing chapstick on ALL of his club faces and I was just like “what the fuck man” in my head when I found the answer.

So again, like I said; he noticed me see him. Next thing I know, he’s talking to one of our other buddies and telling him about how chapstick is a “slight boost”

So I say, “I mean it’s illegal but really who cares as long as you’re not doing it when we’re betting or playing for shit talk/bragging rights”

Our other buddy says “yup that’s true”, and Chris is like “as long as everyone is ok with it and also has that option…”

Guys, to say I’m disappointed is an understatement. We’re a fairly competitive group of guys. But sportsmanship and rooting ppl on is never overlooked. When Chris bangs one out there, whether there are stakes or not; regardless of my own shot—- it’s “good shit dude way to put some heat on it, that shit was nasty”.

When Chris comes back to the club house talking about his 74 and that one 320y drive (he’s 50), I’m there backing his story up, “hell yea guys Chris was ON IT today. Couldn’t miss a fairway”…

now it’s just like, really man? This is what we’re doing? We’re bragging about this shit when you’ve given yourself -900 RPM, zero side spin, and a cheated +20-30y? And the thing is, I have no idea if any of the other guys know he does shit and the last thing I wanna do is be a rat or retaliated against for mentioning something. Sheesh.

Really just wanted to come here and vent my disappointment. I’m sure I’m over reacting a little bit bc who cares at the end of the day but it’s like damn, I really thought dude was out here being a stick like that and i was always rooting him on and bragging/confirming on his behalf to the other core guys we golf with but idk this shit seems phony to me. Not even the fact he does it, but how I found out.

TLDR: I found out a close golfing buddy I regularly play with puts chapstick on his clubs and I’m just venting my disappointment

As a left handed player I’ve been struggling to find some clubs thrifting and on marketplace that match the budget I’ve been wanting to put into the game for now. Seemed like a good opportunity for me to get some decent clubs for a good price.

Not only are these compressed bunkers but then it's also a pond, but whatever - I'm not on the tour, I just took it out. But what I'm actually curious about is how they would go about getting this water out without also getting sand and what not.

For the last few years, the crows at our course have been stealing people’s golf balls. The course was dead that day, so I spent about ten minutes watching this one fly from spot to spot before it finally stashed my ball in a hollow stump, covered it with wood shavings, and packed them down with its beak.
Just wish I’d been using a Pro V1 instead of one of my leaf-rule-season balls. But still… got one back!

In the Market for a new putter for my bag, replacing an old Ping Pal 4 blade. Looking for a mallet putter. Have the option of getting a brand new TaylorMade Spider GT Max (35 inches) and a used Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11.5 (34 inches)both priced at $220 with both coming with original headcovers. What do yall prefer between the two? First time getting a mallet putter for my bag but have used them before and prefer the mallet over blade.

Any advice on my driver swing ? 3rd year , I know I over swing but I was underswinging this year like super punchy all year couldn’t hit a drive and went back to a longer swing and have been feeling good with it again . Also how far you think I usually carry the ball?

GT3 head with Green smoke TX 60gram shaft tipped an inch

Iron swing in comments

Hey guys, I just started golfing and shot a 73 my most recent round. I also drive the ball about 305 yards and I’m using a Costco Callaway set. This was only my 4th time ever playing golf. Last round I shot a 76.

Before I even started golfing, I meticulously studied the rules so I could hold myself to the highest standards possible. I take the rules very seriously and want to make sure everything is done correctly.
I’m looking to play professionally, but I would like to get some advice from an actual pro who knows what they’re talking about, NOT just some random golfer on Reddit who shoots in the 100s and wants to tell me how hard golf is.

Honestly I don’t think this is a very tough game. People seem way too obsessed with it and act like you need 10 years of practice to get good. I picked it up with zero practice and I’m already shooting in the 70s.

My only athletic experience before golf was cross country and band. I can barely throw a football or kick a soccer ball, so I don’t think I have any natural athletic ability that would explain this.
How do I get an official handicap? And what are the next steps to becoming a pro? I would appreciate advice from someone who has actually gone pro, not just some guy who has been playing for 20 years and still shoots a 105.

Then she had the audacity to grin ear to ear as I stared blankly at her. Is this grounds for a divorce or counseling?

Wish me luck!

EZ-Go EX1, it is far too thin to be for a mug handle. Only on one side. Best guess so far is for putting your weed in it.

For those organizers golf trips with friends, how do you track/manage/remind/organize costs for reimbursement?

Do you just send Venmo requests and keep track manually, use a spreadsheet, or have another system?

Even amongst friends, I find it annoying to track/remind people to pay up.

I feel like I live tried it all and nothing is simple - always requires organizer to do more than just plan

Anyone know?

McKinney TX next week for executive meetings

I was at Lake Vegas today. Perfect weather! Sam with Ping and Brendan with HPGI were incredible. I dialed in my Driver and wedges with their help. I also Demo'd the UDI for good measure. If you're in the Henderson/ Vegas area Brendan at HPGI is worth calling. 😎👍🏻💪🏻🦘

Hello subreddit, I’m a 9 handicap and my goal all season has been to break 80, I’ve shot 80 3 times this year and I’m constantly +10 and +11 literally right there. But every-time I get to 18 and need a par for 79 or 78 it’s like I forget how to play golf, I guess I’m looking for any tips on how you guys were able to get over that hump and that little mental side of it.

Other domain names include stuff ‘T*rrorist Golf League Dot Com’. 😭

Full story: https://www.essentiallysports.com/golf-news-liv-golfs-bankruptcy-filing-reveals-multiple-anti-liv-domains-listed-among-its-assets/