I played a lot as a kid. I started at about 10 and during the summer my dad would drop me at the course on his way to work and I could get in 54 holes before he’d come by and pick me up on his way back home in the evening. I absolutely loved it (and hated it the same way every golfer does), but have played maybe only 3 times in 20 years. Anything outside of playing while on vacation I just cannot justify the time.
1 Like
been playing a set of Titleist AP1 712’s for 7 years now, but somehow I didn’t noticed they shipped with X300 DG shafts. I was taking the boy to the range so I asked the local pro, he tells me he hasn’t seen those shafts in years. as they’re a tour-stiff shaft there’s no way I can flex them properly, so he’s offered to swap them out for a different set of shafts if I can find the ones I want.
so I’m scouring CL/Marketplace to find a set of R100’s or some ProjectX 5.0’s I can swap out. even considered Mitsubishi MMT’s but the only ones I can find are light at 75g and price out used at $300 for the shafts alone. maybe at 40 I could still have flexed them when I was being fitted but not now. I think I was given the wrong box as they were probably a custom order.
so in the meantime, i picked up a set of Mizuno forged MP60’s which I’m using. back to hitting a 220y 3iron. best I could get out of my AP1’s was 185 out of my 4iron, they are just too stiff.
Yep.
I play minimum 4 times a week when I’m home.
Mind you, cheap as chips to play where I am.
Wish I had a downhill course.
1 Like
you must hate playing with folks who can strike a ball, hey.
D - 275 TM M2 Mitsubishi Tensei 60G stiff shaft 10.5°
3W - 250 TM R7 Draw, factory stiff shaft
3i 220
4i 200
5i 185
6i 170
7i 155
8i 145
9i 130
P 115
52° 100
56° 85
those are my bag yardages. adjust for lie, wind etc.
It’s not how far, it’s how many.
No way can I throw my bag that far.
I’ve tried a few times. Point of note though, I don’t like playing for money. Used to get called to go play with a group of guy from high school who are all business owners and take half-days to golf together. they were always playing some kind of a skins game and I never enjoyed it.
1 Like
I haven’t played much for the last couple of years, just life, kids, work. We all make choices, and our second child is high school age and plays travel football (soccer), so we are following him around.
Anyway, I’m a Taylor Made man, and my yardages are similar to Semmy’s, though my drive is a bit longer.
I play at Woodwind Golf Club in Westfield, IN, and when I was keeping it up, my handicap was 4. There are some lovely country clubs and private Pete Dye courses around here, and I live in close walking distance to Crooked Stick, where I’ve seen Rory, Adam Scott, and loads of the top players on the PGA Tour.
When I pick up a club now the target is to break 80. What drops for me is not so much the ball striking but the finesse around the greens, and the quantity of birdie chances or par saves gets worse without practice.
Last year and this year I will only play a handful of times, mostly charity fundraiser sort of events, but it is a sport I am looking forward to picking up a bit more again in a couple of years.
It is time intensive, and at the moment driving around to watch my son playing footy takes priority. It won’t be long before he’s grown and gone, but I’m sure the golf course will still be there!
PS - Like Semmy, I’m not a fan of money changing hands. I don’t care if it a couple of dollars here and there, but I’ve been in some skins situations where the money is getting big enough to care, and that adds a different dynamic that takes it away from fun. Some of the amateur tourneys I played in also had prize pots over $5k, not sure about the rules, but the money was made from entry fees, but at that point a lot of the teams are carrying a ringer to make some weekend cash. I don’t like that side of it.
as the saying goes. Drive for show, putt for dough.
I spent much of my 20’s working on clubhead speed off the tee as I struggled with my mid-irons. so if I could hit a 300y drive (when I got my R580XD in 2005, I could) it would shorten my iron shot into the green so I could give myself a birdie putt. but as you get better, you move from the whites to the blues. I rarely play the tips especially on the wrong side of 45 now.
So now I’m working on ball striking and swing tempo. moving to softer shafts has helped, after 20y of stiff shaft irons going to a regular flex has given me more yardage. I aspire to hit a ball like Freddy. Learning to hit inside out has been difficult as it’s not a natural motion for my hands after decades of baseball, but am working on it.
the light shaft on my M2 driver has been an adjustment from the 580XD which swung a bit heavier, but with less swing speed I can now hit about 95% of the distance with the older club which is less wear/tear on my lower body. my swing in my 20’s was pretty aggressive.
We never play for more than £2, just bragging rights about how full our loose change bag is getting.
I’m a steady 7 on a links course, anything over 80 has been a bad round.
I’m not long off the tee, but not short either, being 60 now distance will always decrease.
I dont miss many fairways off the tee though.
Probably a 3 or 4 on those inland courses where the greens are like sponges and you can hit driver out the bunkers
1 Like
Spot on with the drive for show adage. In the league I played in there was a pro hockey player who could hit the thing for miles, way beyond my furthest, and probably in the realms of a Tour Pro. I would beat him easily, as watching him from 100yds in was like watching a 24 handicap player. Scratch off the tee, easily. But as for the rest of his game, best not go there…
PS - whenever I play now I swing easy, too. I’m mindful of the Butch Harmon quip about amateur golfers:
“Most of them swing as hard as they can, in case they hit the ball!”
1 Like
one guy I worked with before my son was born was a carded pro. learned a lot from him, he got me fitted for the irons and I was well on my way to sub-80 rounds before I had to stop playing weekly. best was a 77 on a local course. 85 at the course the Mayacoba is played on at Bahia Principe. great course if you can get out at sunrise but it’s 36C at noon. rentals were Callway X22’s at the time, actually quite liked them.
1 Like
Played on Tuesday, putting out on the 11th green.
Match in front teed off at 12, bloke hit his drive which twatted a crow about 50’ in the air.
Down it came, stone dead when it hit the ground.
Strangest birdie I’ve ever seen.
Haven’t played in years sadly. The opportunity just isn’t there anymore.
I used to play with work colleagues regularly when working on a certain road project in Berkshire. We actually cut a golf course in two and built two bridges for it. Biggest, longest course I’ve ever seen at well over 6000 yards. That was 20+ years ago. Not flat either. There were a wealth of other courses in the area too and our offices, accommodation was on land owned by another small municipal. Some back scratching happened there.
My local course, which was an all year round Sunday hungover visit was short but brutally unforgiving and to be honest unfair. It straightened you out, that’s for sure. That’s sadly closed now, gone.
Maybe I’ll give it a go again one day.
After 2 years of LIV Golf vs PGA its all over.
https://twitter.com/GolfDigest/status/1666084838821228545?t=Y24kUu_p8ef6yG1NO_X1-Q&s=19
Guess that 
greased enough palms.
My footy team had a best ball tournament last Sat. 28 guys, 7 tee times. I was in the last foursome and the gallery was pretty boisterous on the 18th green, par5. Hit a wedge from 80yards, stuck it to 5ft and one of my teammates dropped the putt for birdie. Finished -3, winners were -8.
oh look…now the Saudi’s own the PGA.
Coming soon, to a football league near you!
2 Likes
Will Norman leave again to find another golf entity.
Sports finished.
Though Olympics every 4 years in SF grows ever nearer.
I assume the PGA Tour’s traditions etc will be retained. The players will obviously be paid considerably more, and I expect the majors (or new majors) to be played more globally now, with more international tour events also.
I guess that it’s nothing new with sport organisations changing over time. Seen it happen with footy, F1, darts etc etc. It’s an entertainment industry - it’s worth a lot, so the richest want it, and eventually get it, or get their fingers in the pies as appears to be the case this time.
I don’t follow golf regularly enough to know how LIV has been doing in terms of interest from fans etc. I only tend to watch the PGA majors, and even then, it’s more keeping an eye on scorecards and watching highlights till you get past the cut.
it’s the equivalent of a very talented stag party. made me sick when I saw this, completely devoid of class. tasteless. has the refinement of a college frat party.
