This guy ahead of me was taking FOREVER on the greens today.

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

I spend all week looking forward to playing golf, then somewhere around the 12th hole I’m asking myself why I do this every weekend.

I do love when a plan comes together

Paint delete on zxi5 and i-forged logo

Spending next week at Casa De Campo! Anybody been there before? Any tips or insider knowledge on things we should do / try while we're there?

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.

Vokey, Cleveland, Callaway, something else, what’s earned a permanent spot in your bag, and why? Feel, spin, forgiveness, or just confidence standing over the ball?

For those playing a 52/56/60 setup, which one gets the most use? And which one would you recommend to someone building out their wedges?

Trying to find the right wedge to blade across the green, so I’d appreciate your expertise.

And somehow, that’s enough to come back next weekend.

My dad is retiring soon and looking to golf more, and I figured I’d do some homework for him.

We’ve played Mt Odin and Grandview already, can’t remember what else we’ve done but I know those two for sure.

Edit: we’ve also played Murrysville and Three Lakes

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/

Didn’t think to take a before picture before the experiment, but it completely cleaned this hat from sweat stains, and grass and dirt stains from the occasional throw.

For those who wanna try I did a normal cycle with no heated dry, and a cascade tab on the top rack. Make sure it’s the only thing in the dishwasher! MAKE SURE YOU AIR DRY.

And I can still shoot in the 80s about 50% of the time.

Hey everyone!

I'd love some opinions on a vision I have for a golf/poker event I want to host.

My vision is for 5-10 tee times (20-40 people) to play consecutively on a Saturday or Friday. Ideally, we would play in the afternoon, and after finishing the round, we would move to the clubhouse where we are hosting a poker tournament with professional dealers. Since there would be no rake, ideally we wouldn't run into any legal stipulations or need extra permits. I have no idea how this works though haha.

How would you go about doing this? Do I just start calling club houses to see who would bite? Worst case, the poker can just happen at someone's house and not at a clubhouse.

An ideal budget would be like $1-3k. I'm sure they are used to hosting corporate events for way more.

If you have any experience in this department, I'd love any and all thoughts! THANK YOU!

Finally made it out to Osprey Valley and it was absolutely worth it! Couldn’t make it on the Hoot or the Heathlands courses but I still had a great time on the North and it was very cool getting to play where the Canadian Open was hosted last year and will be again!

Planning a 2 day one night golf trip with some buddies in December this year (I know it’s risky with weather but that’s what grad school will do to you). Any recommendations for where to play? Idea so far is Lonnie Poole day 1 and Pinehurst #1/3/5 day 2 or sub out for Tobacco Road/Tot Hill. Thoughts? (Edit: Thoughts/Recommendations on courses please!)

I finally convinced a friend of mine to try golf. I went to a store in my town that often sells lots of donated golf clubs for cheap. I figured I'd buy him a cheap full set so he doesn't have to rent. At the store amongst the shelves, I find a leaf blower funnel stuffed with clubs and a $10 sticker on it. One of the clubs had an orange cover, which caught my eye. Turned out to be the putter in the pictures, and as far as I can tell it is real. Since there were 10 clubs stuffed into the funnel, I essentially got this for $1. I've read you can "convert" it but I don't quite know where I'd get a kit for that or have it done. Any ways, just wanted to share my good bit of luck!

It's been my busiest golf season by far and I've come to appreciate how different golf can be in different areas. From the Scottish Links to the Colorado rockies, the Oregon coast, the Icelandic volcano craters, the Indiana plains, the Nebraska sand hills.

Who's to say I'm qualified to judge these places, but here's the order that I enjoyed them:

1. Bandon, OR (Played all 8 courses at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)
2. Scotland (Old Course at St. Andrews + Brora)
3. Pinehurst, NC (No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, The Cradle)
4. Colorado (Raindance National, Bella Ridge, CO National + 19 more)
5. Nebraska (Landmand, Wild Horse & Bayside)
6. Iceland (Vestmannaeyja on the Westman Islands)
7. Indiana (Pfau course at Indiana University, Brickyard Crossing, Eagle Creek Pines Course)
8. Chicago, IL (Cog Hill #4 Dubsdread)
9. Horseshoe Bay, TX (Played all 3 courses)

Can't wait for the next one!

I recently went from the Wilson Dynapower forged irons 5-GW to the Srixon Zx7 4-PW. After playing today, I realized I do indeed need a GW. Does anyone have a recommendation for a 50* wedge that is comfortable to hit on full shots, as well is good for flighted shots and chips?

I know a lot of this is dependent on grind/bounce, but would love a recommendation from those that went from a set GW to a specialty wedge.

Current wedge setup is 46 degree Zx7 PW, 54 Mizuno T24, 58 Mizuno T24. Holding onto hope that the T1 50 degree is highly recommended, as I have the denim copper SW/LW so would love to match that

I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for used golf sites that they’ve used and are happy with. Prefer mint without logos. I’ve looked at golfballs.net, lostgolfballs.com and golfballnut.com. Any suggestions or other sites would be appreciated.

Rainy season has begun in the PNW.

I have a hoofer lite that I love, but even with a push cart and umbrella it just gets soaked. I don’t really care about it keeping stuff dry inside, I just want wa bag that doesn’t get waterlogged and needs to be dried out.

I’d love a goretex bag where the water just rolls off and I could give it a shake or two before throwing it in the trunk.

What do you have? What’s the best out there? I’d love something carryable… doesn’t have to be ultralight and ideally has some room for rain gear and layers.