2020 Golf Thread

PedroSpecialK

Comes at you like a tornado of hair and the NHL sa
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Dec 12, 2004
27,164
Cambridge, MA
5 hours and standing on 16 tee. Dudes sharing carts, guys hanging out downing beers on the patio. Business as usual
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
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Jul 31, 2006
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Arvada, Co
I have nothing to add except I that I don't miss golf in Massachusetts even a little. Saturday morning 4:30 and people are bitching here. I love Boston, but sub 4 hour rounds and nothing approximating a hockey fight on the golf course are underrated reasons not to live there.
 

Light-Tower-Power

ask me about My Pillow
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Jun 14, 2013
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Nashua, NH
5:56 AM tee time and played in 3:20 here in NH this morning. Crack of dawn is the way to go. The course looked like business as usual as we were walking off 18. Tons of groups backed up and people congregating on the tee as they usually would. Whatever.
 

TFP

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I have nothing to add except I that I don't miss golf in Massachusetts even a little. Saturday morning 4:30 and people are bitching here. I love Boston, but sub 4 hour rounds and nothing approximating a hockey fight on the golf course are underrated reasons not to live there.
While I love Boston/Mass, golf here fucking sucks. Except in October. Then it’s sublime.
 

Light-Tower-Power

ask me about My Pillow
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Jun 14, 2013
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Nashua, NH
Played out of my mind on the back nine this morning. 43 with three pars and two birdies. Might not be much for some of you but as someone who was completely broken and shooting in the high 100s or low 110s the last couple years, scoring in the mid-90s with great stretches feels amazing.
 

TFP

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Had a great weekend so far. A quick recap:
  • Played #1 on Friday afternoon. Couldn't get off the tee to save my life but otherwise played fine. Biblical storm rolled in after 14 holes so we had to bail. Good warmup though. Walked and carried the whole round. Shot 87 taking estimated bogey bogey par par the last 4 holes.
  • Played #3 sat AM. What a course. It's 5100 yars, par 68, but it is NOT easy. I hit every club in the bag and the greens are a complete mindfuck. Tiny turtle back Ross greens that are devilish even with a wedge in hand. Also walked and carried. Shot 87.
  • Played #4 sat PM. Got paired up with another member Who only played 9 and a twosome from Florida. Had an absolute blast, but it was hot and humid and I was gassed. I still love that course, it's so much fun. Walked and carried again. completely lost my swing on holes 9-11 which cost me a decent score. Shot 91 with 40 putts.
  • Played the cradle midday Sunday. So much fun, but it was just unrelenting heat and sun, pace of play was slow, and I'm already cooked despite a tee time at #2 approaching.
  • Played # 2 sun PM. Just an amazing course. The greens are literally indescribable but it's so playable. I was next to the green in reg on the first 3 holes...made triple on all of them. I settled down after that, had a good stretch going for a while, and hit the ball really well. Drank gallons of water that I promptly sweated right back out. After the 15th hole, I knew I was done, but the gf had a good round going and wanted to finish (she shot 81 that easily could have been 78). So I limped home bogey, double, bogey while almost fainting walking up 18 I was so overheated. Walked with push cart. Shot 94 (50-44).
Was supposed to play #4 again this afternoon but I'm taking the day off. I got way too much sun and don't want to push it and ruin the rest of the week. Playing #2, #3, #2, #6, #4 the next 5 days. So I don't mind making today a couch day and Band of Brothers marathon.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
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Apr 12, 2005
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I played Friday/Sat/Sun/Monday. Had a great weekend. I holed "out" from 202 with a 5 wood on the brutal 13th (plays about 450, par 4). Caused a bit of controversy as it obviously can't go in the hole, but 3 guys including my two opponents saw it hit the flag and it stopped about 14 inches away. They all said it was moving slow enough to go down, but one of the guys in the group in front of us who saw it said it hit hard and he wouldn't have given it (we have a 20 man robin, so he has some bias too), but he's kind of a dick who never gives anything, so everyone ignored him. I then birdied the same hole the next day, so I went net 1, net 2 for a combined net -5 on that hole over 2 days. :)

Me and my partner won the robin on Saturday and Sunday, and beat our opponents 6 ways and 7 ways on each day, but then I gave a bunch back yesterday (I was paired with the club champ who missed at least 9 putts inside 5 feet and still shot 79). Still ended the weekend up over $400, so that's good.

Carts are now open to all in MA, and they are now mandatory again at our club from 10:00-3:00 on weekdays and 7:00 a.m-3:00 p.m. on weekends. Even better, my 12 year old can now ride with me, so I can get him out there in the afternoons. They still aren't messing around with the social distancing at our club. Nothing is open, and this was today's email:

  • All play in golf carts will be limited to one member per cart. Family members that live in the same home may share a golf cart.
  • Golf cart regulations will remain in effect - carts are mandatory on weekdays from 10:00am-3:00pm and weekends/holidays from 7:00am-3:00pm, effective tomorrow, May 26th.
  • Carts will have no scorecards, pencils or tees in them. These items may be provided at members request from the golf shop.
  • Golf cart staging will be located at the Starter’s Station next to Bag Drop. No golf carts are permitted in the parking lot at any time.
  • Players are required to remove trash from their golf cart upon completion of play. There will be an open trash receptacle behind the 18th green. Players should remove all trash and gather their valuables prior to driving up the hill for golf cart drop off. As you return your golf cart to the drop off area behind bag drop, players must immediately remove their bag and return to their vehicle for swift departure.
 

Comfortably Lomb

Koko the Monkey
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Feb 22, 2004
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The Paris of the 80s
I know it's part of the golf culture at your club but I don't think mandatory carts are a good idea right now. Yes, disinfection and limiting carts to one per player will reduce risk but we're not quite sure surface transmission, even outdoors, is negligible yet. I wouldn't bet on the cart disinfection process being perfect either. Forcing folks to accept risk just isn't appropriate for what is ultimately not a necessity for many to play golf.

FWIW, I was not impressed with behavior on the golf course this weekend. Many members were ignoring distancing requirements and basically walking side-by-side throughout their rounds. I had to ask a few to maintain distance from me. I'm sorry to be blunt here but it is extremely likely we're going to get another wave sooner or later and many people are going to desperately wish they hadn't been cavalier with relaxing their guard.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
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Apr 12, 2005
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I know it's part of the golf culture at your club but I don't think mandatory carts are a good idea right now. Yes, disinfection and limiting carts to one per player will reduce risk but we're not quite sure surface transmission, even outdoors, is negligible yet. I wouldn't bet on the cart disinfection process being perfect either. Forcing folks to accept risk just isn't appropriate for what is ultimately not a necessity for many to play golf.

FWIW, I was not impressed with behavior on the golf course this weekend. Many members were ignoring distancing requirements and basically walking side-by-side throughout their rounds. I had to ask a few to maintain distance from me. I'm sorry to be blunt here but it is extremely likely we're going to get another wave sooner or later and many people are going to desperately wish they hadn't been cavalier with relaxing their guard.
We have the added benefit of having a member who owns a company that disinfects restaurants, hotels, schools, the entire State of MA DYS and MBTA systems, etc. They are fogging the carts every night (as opposed to having some kid wipe them down) in the barn (he's also done Kettle Brook, Wachusett, Pleasant Valley and a bunch of other courses recently, although not nightly like we're doing it).

Even without that, I think the chances of surface transmission is lower than the chances of people standing around a tee box with each other, waiting for 10+ minutes a time during a 5 hour round. Like I said previously, I found it way harder to socially distance when walking than with carts. We have at least 4-5 bridges that are no wider than a golf cart that everyone ends up walking along together and various other paths, etc. With carts, everyone is off on their own, playing their own music, and then really only coming together at the greens. No waiting, no walking side by side, etc.
 

TFP

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Yeah, Kiz will smoke them but it will be entertaining. They played at Palmetto a few months ago before the virus hit. That round he played match play with Riggs giving Riggs 12 shots and that match was over by 15 I think. Then Kiz played the last 3 holes deep into his beer cooler and with only a 5-iron and still beat him easily. IIRC, Riggs might’ve beaten Scott Brown but I’m not sure what format they used. Kiz gave Frankie something like 25 shots in stroke play and that wasn’t even close either. Kiz is has a great personality that you don’t really see on tour and is an epic shit talker.

Edit: I bet the scramble will come in closer to 80
All square on the 14 tee. I think both Kiz and the Foreplay crew are -1. Kiz missed a couple birdies on the front and the ForePlay group is playing good team scramble golf.

I followed along for like 5 holes, was pretty fun to watch.
 
The member's section of my club's website was due to open at 8:00 this morning so that we could make tee time bookings. Suffice it to say that the site crashed due to excessive demand; it took me more than half an hour to get into the site at all, and each page is still taking a good two minutes to load, but I've managed to procure tee times at 8:40 on Friday (the course's first day back open) and 8:50 on Monday. So that's nice.
 

Zomp

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@jercra Have you received your wedges from sub-70 yet?

I've played 3 or 4 times with my new irons. I like them a lot but I really need to get to a good quality simulator with them to do a gapping session. I find myself a club to a club and a half longer with these irons. A little bit of distance was to be expected because these are 2 degrees stronger than my old clubs but I'm 10-12 yards longer with each one. My big worry was being able to stop them on the greens, particularly because my ball flight is low, but they actually check up just as good as my old clubs. I'm hitting them higher as well but that may be down to the shaft.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
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Jul 31, 2006
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@jercra Have you received your wedges from sub-70 yet?

I've played 3 or 4 times with my new irons. I like them a lot but I really need to get to a good quality simulator with them to do a gapping session. I find myself a club to a club and a half longer with these irons. A little bit of distance was to be expected because these are 2 degrees stronger than my old clubs but I'm 10-12 yards longer with each one. My big worry was being able to stop them on the greens, particularly because my ball flight is low, but they actually check up just as good as my old clubs. I'm hitting them higher as well but that may be down to the shaft.
I did. I love the wedge around the greens mostly. I was concerned about the high bounce (10 degrees) but so far the grind has handled that admirably. I'm a bit concerned about how it sets up for full swing shots but my game is such a mess right now that I'm not ready to blame the club for that yet. I also got the hybrid and it's a thing of beauty through 1.5 rounds. Playing the next 4 days in a row including a 2 day tourney this weekend so I'm really looking forward to putting it through it's paces when it matters.
 

Zomp

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Ah yeah, forgot you got the hybrid as well. I also have the hybrid. I like it when I hit it well but I may send it back for the 5 wood, which I just think suits my game better.

I'll say this though, my playing partner has a Titleist hybrid and they are nearly identical.
 

tmracht

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I have not bought clubs since my ahem TM RAC HTs. Witty username and all. Coworker just moved a mile down the road and wants to start playing again when CV19 slows down before or after work. I haven't played a round in probably 3 years. I don't have my clubs anymore I think my dad has been using them. But I'm guessing technology has changed immensely since I bought those anyways. Should be interesting to research clubs again wife is allowing me to buy them lol
 

jercra

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Jul 31, 2006
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I have not bought clubs since my ahem TM RAC HTs. Witty username and all. Coworker just moved a mile down the road and wants to start playing again when CV19 slows down before or after work. I haven't played a round in probably 3 years. I don't have my clubs anymore I think my dad has been using them. But I'm guessing technology has changed immensely since I bought those anyways. Should be interesting to research clubs again wife is allowing me to buy them lol
The good news is there are several direct-to-consumer like Sub 70, Hogan and Bombtech that will save you hundreds on a new set. The bad news is that they're better for people who know their game and what will work for them in general. Also, Ebay is your friend. There are lots of great deals on 1-2 year old clubs.
 

tmracht

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The good news is there are several direct-to-consumer like Sub 70, Hogan and Bombtech that will save you hundreds on a new set. The bad news is that they're better for people who know their game and what will work for them in general. Also, Ebay is your friend. There are lots of great deals on 1-2 year old clubs.
Yes I'm totally fine with second hand. As you say I have no idea what my game will be. When I played before I was 50lbs bigger and way less strong. So I have no idea how my mechanics will have shifted. eBay sounds like a good start thanks!
 

Comfortably Lomb

Koko the Monkey
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Feb 22, 2004
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The Paris of the 80s
Oh nice is there an equivalent for woods?
Fairway woods design hasn't developed much over the past decade. Shafts have gotten better but I wouldn't spin too much on that if you're just getting back into the game. Ditto for hybrids. Any of the big manufacturers are safe bets. Some of the lesser brands have cult followings too (and might be dirt cheap since resale is worse).

Drivers are the place to spend more money. The tech advancements even over the past few years are significant. You can still save buying a model that's a year or two old but I wouldn't go much older than that if you can afford it.

Check out the Callaway pre-owned site. I've never quite meshed with their woods but lots of people swear by them. I'm a big fan of their hybrids though.
 

Gunca

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Mar 5, 2020
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Ah yeah, forgot you got the hybrid as well. I also have the hybrid. I like it when I hit it well but I may send it back for the 5 wood, which I just think suits my game better.

I'll say this though, my playing partner has a Titleist hybrid and they are nearly identical.
My Titleist one is better, and throw some respek on my name.
 
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tmracht

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Aug 19, 2009
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Fairway woods design hasn't developed much over the past decade. Shafts have gotten better but I wouldn't spin too much on that if you're just getting back into the game. Ditto for hybrids. Any of the big manufacturers are safe bets. Some of the lesser brands have cult followings too (and might be dirt cheap since resale is worse).

Drivers are the place to spend more money. The tech advancements even over the past few years are significant. You can still save buying a model that's a year or two old but I wouldn't go much older than that if you can afford it.

Check out the Callaway pre-owned site. I've never quite meshed with their woods but lots of people swear by them. I'm a big fan of their hybrids though.
Thanks for the intel and links appreciate it a lot.
 

Chance17

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Apr 25, 2003
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Ok, suncreen for golf? What are people using? I can't stand having my hands be slippery at all when taking a swing so I just generally don't wear sunscreen. Even the spray shit gets on my hands as soon as I sweat and wipe it out of my eyes. Anyone use a sunscreen that's sweat proof and dries either dry or even tacky within a minute or 2 of application?
I don't really had the sweat and wipe in eyes problems. I do dislike greasy hands while trying to grip a club though, so I try to put it on where there's a sink so I can wash my hands afterward. In the current world order, I've resorted to my fallback method, which is to rub my palms on the grass after applying sunscreen--not pretty, but it works for me.

On the dries quickly and never seems greasy side, I remember trying this stuff ("Skin") a few years ago and thought it was great from that perspective. Seemed dry pretty much from application. Was expensive though. And now I don't seem to see it sold anywhere, so apparently they didn't succeed (or maybe it didn't work?)

Has anyone every played The Patterson Club in Fairfield, CT? if so, thoughts?
Yes, several times. Nice club/clubhouse, good course conditioning. Nice layout although not in "wow" kind of way. Happy to try answering more if you have specific questions.
 

Chance17

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So while golf is the perfect social distancing activity, caddying is not. At my club in NY no caddies so far this season (as I assume everywhere else, at least in this part of the country). Tough on the caddies, as I'm not sure what fraction of them can successfully get unemployment benefits. Not the school kids but the guys that do this as their primary job, some going north/south with the seasons.

In April we solicited donations from membership to support our regular caddies. For May the pros got creative and over the last week had a golf marathon challenge--where they and any members would pick a day and play as many holes as they could, getting sponsored $x/hole by whoever wanted to (plus some bonuses for birdies and eagles). No carts--just walking and carrying.

The two pros who planned it went the first day and walked 80 holes. Then a member went out solo on Friday and did 90, finishing in late rain. I was impressed--didn't peg him for someone who plays more than 18 most of the time, and he's a 19 index (but hits the ball pretty straight), a little guy in his 50s (not that I'm that big or much younger).

Yesterday I went out with a friend, while another pro played on his own (we started separate sides and never ran into each other). He walked 102 while we finished 108. Started at 6:30am and stopped around 8:15pm. Had light for maybe 2 more holes but thought we'd stop at an even 6 rounds. My body was unhappy with me this morning, but felt just a little sore by a few hours later.

It's a relatively hilly course, particularly on the front 9, but quite walkable. 6,750 yards from the tees we played, and we carried ~10 clubs with normal golf bags. My friend's Garman says we walked 34.1 miles. Anyway, thought I'd share.
 
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Koufax

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Mo goodness, that's incredible. The most I've played in a day is 45, would love to play 54, but walking more than 36 is really quite a challenge. Kudos to you and your club.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
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Jul 31, 2006
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So while golf is the perfect social distancing activity, caddying is not. At my club in NY no caddies so far this season (as I assume everywhere else, at least in this part of the country). Tough on the caddies, as I'm not sure what fraction of them can successfully get unemployment benefits. Not the school kids but the guys that do this as their primary job, some going north/south with the seasons.

In April we solicited donations from membership to support our regular caddies. For May the pros got creative and over the last week had a golf marathon challenge--where they and any members would pick a day and play as many holes as they could, getting sponsored $x/hole by whoever wanted to (plus some bonuses for birdies and eagles). No carts--just walking and carrying.

The two pros who planned it went the first day and walked 80 holes. Then a member went out solo on Friday and did 90, finishing in late rain. I was impressed--didn't peg him for someone who plays more than 18 most of the time, and he's a 19 index (but hits the ball pretty straight), a little guy in his 50s (not that I'm that big or much younger).

Yesterday I went out with a friend, while another pro played on his own (we started separate sides and never ran into each other). He walked 102 while we finished 108. Started at 6:30am and stopped around 8:15pm. Had light for maybe 2 more holes but thought we'd stop at an even 6 rounds. My body was unhappy with me this morning, but felt just a little sore by a few hours later.

It's a relatively hilly course, particularly on the front 9, but quite walkable. 6,750 yards from the tees we played, and we carried ~10 clubs with normal golf bags. My friend's Garman says we walked 34.1 miles. Anyway, thought I'd share.
Wow, that's amazing all around!! Really. Is this something they could open up to the caddies to them play for their own sake as well?
 

Doug Beerabelli

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That’s highly impressive! Like others, I think my highest in a day was 45. Two decades ago.

One trick I use for sunscreen is to use my glove hand to do any spreading or rubbing in. I can aggressively wipe it down after the application, and then it’s covered with the glove so no slipperiness and no sun exposure. You still have a to deal with covering the glove arm, but I use a spray, so I go with that.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
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One trick I use for sunscreen is to use my glove hand to do any spreading or rubbing in. I can aggressively wipe it down after the application, and then it’s covered with the glove so no slipperiness and no sun exposure. You still have a to deal with covering the glove arm, but I use a spray, so I go with that.
Yeah, this is what I do when I eat something that may be a little greasy on the course. Always eat it with the glove hand (glove off, obviously). The issue isn't so much putting it on since I could do that at home and have it dry by the time I get to the course. It's that I walk every round and that will cause some sweating in the summer months. That will inevetably lead to me touching some part of myselft that's both sweat and has sunscreen on which will lead to greasy and hands eventually to a club slipping out of my hands and someone getting hit in the head and dying. I don't need to go to prison over sunscreen. That being said, my wife found some stupid expensive stuff that I tried before playing a little par 3 course near me yesterday and after about 10 minutes it was completely dry and didn't seem to get greasy again with moisture. I'm going to try it out on a full round today.
 

Chance17

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Is this something they could open up to the caddies to them play for their own sake as well?
I guess they could have in theory (well, the owners could have--it's not a members-owned course), but I can imagine some members may have objected at an influx of new faces during social distancing period or something like that. Also, maybe it wouldn't have seemed like a purely nice gesture to offer to let the caddies play, for the purposes of playing as many holes as possible. I've seen a few of the caddies out as guests this year.

I like your idea though. If it doesn't seem like caddies are coming back for a while, I'll suggest a caddy day to them--normally they get to play once a week most of the time anyway.

That said, I've been hearing they may bring the caddies back pretty soon actually. I'm guessing they are waiting until this part of NY state (Mid-Hudson) is in phase 2 (https://forward.ny.gov/regional-monitoring-dashboard)--which I think could happen as early as June 9th. When they do, it will be no-contact caddying though. Either normal forecaddying, or if you want to walk and not carry, the forecaddie drives your cart for you, but doesn't touch the bag.
 
Golf in Scotland officially resumed today - and it is glorious. Sunny, temperature in the high 60s to low 70s, a touch of breeze but nothing too demanding, and because we've had very little rain for a while, my course is turning straw-colored and playing quite firm and fast. (Not super-fiery yet, but it might get there over the next week or two if this continues.) And because the course was closed for two months, there are no divots and no ball marks on the greens anywhere to be seen. They've let the grass grow on the greens a bit, so they aren't terribly fast, but they are beautiful to putt on.

And boy, did I putt well on them today - all of that practice I've been doing in my backyard has really paid off. I missed one putt from inside 10 feet all day, an eight-footer on the last for par; although I hit a lot of squirrelly shots and was +3 through four holes and +4 through eight, I played the next nine holes in -3, with birdies at 9, 10 and 16 and a miracle par at 12 where I drove into very thick rough, had to hack out, then hit a 2-iron from 210 yards to 12 feet and made the putt. I really wanted that par at 18, but I'll settle for 40-33-73 all day long; if I can straighten out my swing, I'm going to be seriously dangerous this summer. (If only there were competitions to play in and win; I have no idea when those will start being held, but I don't think it'll be for at least another month or two.)

FWIW, we've kept our tee times 10 minutes apart, which is the normal gap at our course; the concession to social distancing is that only singles and twosomes are allowed on the course. (One of our assistant pros was meeting people as they arrived in the car park, and another was by the first tee to make sure everyone knew the score; much to my surprise, the pro shop is actually open for business if you need any balls/gloves/equipment, etc.) I had a very slow twosome in front of me today that finished with around a two-hole gap between itself and the group in front of it...and my round still took only just over three hours. Scottish golf is the best.
 

Zomp

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For fellow Rhode Islanders, I played Crystal Lake this morning for the first time. I didn’t play that well but that was the only thing wrong with the day. We played 18 in 4 hours as a foursome and the course was in the best shape of any I’ve played this year.

It’s definitely target golf, but there aren’t many trees and it’s basically on a hill so the course gets a lot of wind. The greens were firm and fast.
 

steveluck7

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For fellow Rhode Islanders, I played Crystal Lake this morning for the first time. I didn’t play that well but that was the only thing wrong with the day. We played 18 in 4 hours as a foursome and the course was in the best shape of any I’ve played this year.

It’s definitely target golf, but there aren’t many trees and it’s basically on a hill so the course gets a lot of wind. The greens were firm and fast.
I’ve played there a few times already this year, it’s right around the corner from my house. I agree that they’ve done a good job job with the course. We got through in under four hours the last time we played.
I thought they were spacing tee times out a bit more but when you look online, they seem to be 10 minutes apart.
 

cshea

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Nov 15, 2006
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Played Trull Brook this morning. First course I’ve been to where the Pro Shop was open, though they made masks mandatory when inside. They also seemed to be ignoring the cart rules, people were sharing carts. Everything else was good.

I could not have driven then ball better. I could not have played worse at everything else. I shot a 52 on the front without missing a fairway (and hitting legitimate drives) or losing a ball/taking a penalty. An incredible accomplishment.
 
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I could not have driven then ball better. I could not have played worse at everything else. I shot a 52 on the front without missing a fairway (and hitting legitimate drives) or losing a ball/taking a penalty. An incredible accomplishment.
That is seriously impressive.

I played my second post-lockdown round this morning, and for the first six holes, I basically couldn't see a thing. A thick haar (cold sea fog) has been hanging around the coast for the past couple of days, and it was really bad for a while - e.g., on the 5th hole, a 145-yard par-3, I could barely make out the deep bunker 20 yards in front of the green, never mind the flag. On a couple of tees I stood there and had no idea when to hit; we were well spaced out, but I still stood for a while to make absolutely sure, and when I pulled my drive onto the beach to the left of the 4th hole, I did so not very long before a family of three walkers out for a stroll passed by the path of my ball. (That could have been very bad.) So that's the other side of Scottish golf; how often have any of you played in a fog so thick that you can't see more 100-150 yards in front of you?

Luckily it had mostly cleared up by the 8th or 9th hole and was fine for the rest of the round. I went from making a lot of terrible swings on the front nine to figuring something out and making a lot of really great swings on the back nine; my putter was much cooler, but I still managed to card a 75, which I'm perfectly happy with.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Apr 12, 2005
41,948
That is seriously impressive.

I played my second post-lockdown round this morning, and for the first six holes, I basically couldn't see a thing. A thick haar (cold sea fog) has been hanging around the coast for the past couple of days, and it was really bad for a while - e.g., on the 5th hole, a 145-yard par-3, I could barely make out the deep bunker 20 yards in front of the green, never mind the flag. On a couple of tees I stood there and had no idea when to hit; we were well spaced out, but I still stood for a while to make absolutely sure, and when I pulled my drive onto the beach to the left of the 4th hole, I did so not very long before a family of three walkers out for a stroll passed by the path of my ball. (That could have been very bad.) So that's the other side of Scottish golf; how often have any of you played in a fog so thick that you can't see more 100-150 yards in front of you?

Luckily it had mostly cleared up by the 8th or 9th hole and was fine for the rest of the round. I went from making a lot of terrible swings on the front nine to figuring something out and making a lot of really great swings on the back nine; my putter was much cooler, but I still managed to card a 75, which I'm perfectly happy with.
I've been out to Southern Ireland a couple of times for golf, and during some of the rounds we played at Old Head, you couldn't see 5 feet in front of you, never mind 100 yards. Because the cliffs are so close, one caddy would stand next to you on the tee box, and then immediately grab your shirt to make sure you didn't take a wrong turn and fall off the cliff. That same caddy would also yell what direction the ball left your tee, so the fore caddies in the fairway could run to those spots and listen for them when they hit, because you couldn't see anything.

I played Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Won our robin again on Saturday when my partner shot 79, including 3 birdies on the back, and I made a big birdie (net eagle) on the 17th. On Sunday, we were getting smashed by our opponents going into the 18th hole. I hit my drive left into the tree line and my only out to give myself a shot at the green on my 3rd shot was to hit a 5 wood out towards the 1st tee box. I then holed out from there (about 75 yards), ball actually staying in the hole for birdie, and saved me and my partner 4 ways ($80) in the Nassau....
 

Zomp

Moderator
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SoSH Member
Aug 28, 2006
13,942
The Slums of Shaolin
The simulator that I was going to is reopening today. I already have a 2 hour appointment for this evening and am planning on doing a gapping session with my new irons. Anyone done one before? Last night I read that most places have you do 10 swings and throw out your best and worst yardage, than average out the other 8. Because I'm going with another guy, that seems like it would take a lot of time and would be exhausting by the end of it. I was just going to make sure I get 5 or 6 good swings and contact with each club and average them out.
 

Average Game James

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 28, 2016
4,346
The simulator that I was going to is reopening today. I already have a 2 hour appointment for this evening and am planning on doing a gapping session with my new irons. Anyone done one before? Last night I read that most places have you do 10 swings and throw out your best and worst yardage, than average out the other 8. Because I'm going with another guy, that seems like it would take a lot of time and would be exhausting by the end of it. I was just going to make sure I get 5 or 6 good swings and contact with each club and average them out.
I’ve done one before. Number of swings really depends on the consistency of your contact. I was maybe 5-6 swings up through 7i, then a bit more for longer clubs where I’m less consistent. Even 10/club for 4-P is only 70 balls which is basically a large bucket at the range? Or are you doing the whole set?

Biggest learning was to get loft/lie checked at least once a year... a number of my clubs were off by more than a full degrees vs. spec, and that’s from an accurate baseline because I had my clubs built (OEM manufacturing tolerances can be as bad as +/- 2 degrees to begin with).

In addition to just pure distance, they should also be paying attention to overall launch conditions as you progress up through the set. For example, in my case, I have more or less ideal launch angle with my short and mid irons, but because my hands can get a touch high at impact (e.g. hit a bit low on the toe) my long irons launch a bit lower with higher than optimal spin so I go from a 12-14 yard gap to more like 8-10 going from 6 to 5 to 4. But right fix was to go a degree upright in lie angle for the 4/5, not go down in loft. A good fitter will be paying attention to all this. If it’s just a dude with a launch monitor, maybe not as valuable.

Hope it goes well. Enjoy!
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
3,147
Arvada, Co
The simulator that I was going to is reopening today. I already have a 2 hour appointment for this evening and am planning on doing a gapping session with my new irons. Anyone done one before? Last night I read that most places have you do 10 swings and throw out your best and worst yardage, than average out the other 8. Because I'm going with another guy, that seems like it would take a lot of time and would be exhausting by the end of it. I was just going to make sure I get 5 or 6 good swings and contact with each club and average them out.
What kind of simulator and is it all indoors? I'd be terrified to make any changes to my clubs based on a simulator that's not Trackman or equivalent and, for me at least, I see big differences in even Trackman numbers when hitting into a screen indoors than when they can measure from a bay outdoors. I think 10 swings isn't enough either and I feel like I'd want to go through the bag a couple of times. I'd prefer something like 5-10 swings from x-iron to z-iron and then repeat that pattern in reverse. Otherwise I think the inconsistency in the swing would be more significant than the differences in the clubs. I hope you report back though. I'd love to hear what your experience is. My clubs travel all over the country and get hit off of mats a lot so I'm sure they are bent to shit. If you find it useful I may try one myself.
 

Zomp

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Aug 28, 2006
13,942
The Slums of Shaolin
Trackman simulator. Indoors yes. I'm not doing it with a fitter, its just me and @Gunca

We have it for two hours. I've been having a tough time honing in yardages with the new sticks so I think this will help. I'll report back for sure.
 

Doug Beerabelli

Killer Threads
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
My son and I had some fun yesterday - we played from the gold tees for the front 9 at our course. We've been forced to play the front 9 all year (whether 9 or 18 holes), and have been playing a decent amount the last two month, so we decided to shake it up. My handicap index has gone up a bit this spring, where I"m at a 21.5. I've been 18 ish most of the last decade, but I've devolved into mid 90s or above consistently, with a sprinkled lower score here and there. I play from the normal white tees, about 6200 yds. The Golds are more like 5900. The course Index is 126 from Whites, 119 from reds, and my course handicap drops from 22 to 18. The boy hits from the blues most of the time (about 6500).

I can't say I hit the ball all that great, but the resultant second shots were a lot less demanding than the whites. The steady drop in distance on my drives has me often hitting hybrids or even occaisional 3 wood into greens on par 4s. Usually, I end up being short and chipping or putting off green up to hole. From the golds, good drives had me sub 150 in most of the time, and maxed out 165ish, which I can deal with much better than the 190ish I often face. I didn't putt great, and tripled a hole, but shot a relatively low stress 45 - bogey golf. There's something to be said for picking the proper tees to play. I'll still play the whites most of the time on the home course, but it makes me wonder to what extent pride is getting in the way of my enjoyment.

One good change resulting from the challenge is my 30yds and in short game chipping has gotten better, because it had to with all the practice I'm getting doing it.

My son (he's almost 15) got to have fun seeing how close he could get it to some greens on par 4 drives, and trying to reach par 5s in two. But also had to navigate hazards and doglegs that weren't usually in play for him.
 

FL4WL3SS

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
14,913
Andy Brickley's potty mouth
I routinely play the front tees at my course (yes, the one's ALL the way up). This is loads of fun and you'd be surprised that you can still bogey and double from those tees if your <100 game isn't dialed in.

A couple weeks ago the Sunday group I play with started a game on Sundays where we alternated the front tees (5500 yards) with the back tees (7200 yards) every other hole. The yardage comes out to the same as our blue/white combo tees. That was a blast.

I fully support changing tees and playing around with different setups.