Are you a golfer?

93EXCivic said:

Does disc golf count?

Are you high?

My father and his brother's opened a driving range on their old dairy farm back in the mid 90's, right when Woods hit the scene.  Business was good, and as a teenager I was exposed to a lot of fun talented people.  Beyond that, I've never played a single hole on a course. 

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

I've pretended to be a golfer for 40 years, breaking 100 is a decent day for me . Years ago, I was watching PBS and a golf pro and his pro daughter asked "How would you like to play bogey golf?" "Hell, YES!!" They said to play holes with your 150 yard club and a putter for practice. Then they proceed to play a par-3, par-4 and  par-5 holes with only two clubs. I had a membership at the local course and would routinely tee off at 6:00 AM and play nine before going to work, so I tried their suggestion. I have shot 39 or 40 six times now by using only a seven iron and a putter. My best ever round with a full set of clubs is 88. You would think I would have learned by now, but noooo.....

Edit: Walking nine holes with only two clubs is a really relaxing jaunt, too.

There is so much to this. Why do you have a 3 iron, in the bag, or even a 4 or a 5 these days with how jacked the lofts have gotten? Take them all out. Why do you have a sand wedge AND a lob wedge? You really doing something with that lob wedge you can't do with the sand wedge? 

I often play with only 11 clubs - well, 12, because I have 2 putters - but my score is no worse than when I have the full 14. I think I can reasonably get down to 9 without any hesitation.

Duke said:

I don't play golf but I imagine it's one of things that doesn't get fun until after you're reasonably good at it.

I can tell you that this is not necessarily true.  I have played golf off and on for nearly 40 years, and at my best was not nearly good at it.  With a few beers and the right bunch of people, it's an absolute blast.  Golf is first and foremost, a social phenomenon.

1988RedT2 said:

Duke said:

I don't play golf but I imagine it's one of things that doesn't get fun until after you're reasonably good at it.

I can tell you that this is not necessarily true.  I have played golf off and on for nearly 40 years, and at my best was not nearly good at it.  With a few beers and the right bunch of people, it's an absolute blast.  Golf is first and foremost, a social phenomenon.

It is also the only place where it is socially acceptable to operate a motor vehicle while having a beer.

I play almost every week. I play with a bunch of friends, and also my son, and his friends. It's a great game. Challenging, rewarding, and frustrating. I don't think you can ever get to a point you are satisfied with, and at the same time you need to just enjoy it for what it is.

I also am a club junkie, and am lucky enough to have a friend who is worse than me and also very generous with his clubs.

I have started making my own putters. I started just for fun because I like to make stuff, and someone told me I couldn't do it. Now I have people asking for them. I don't make much money, but it pays for my tooling.

More info on these putters you're making? How do you do it? What materials? How much do you charge? Any pictures? 

I love putters. Have too many of them, which is not enough. 

So my process now is I start with a sketch of what I am thinking of doing with some rough overall dimensions. I generally base this off of who I am doing the putter for and what they like. I only do blades and mid-mallets though. Then I take some material and go to town on my milling machine and finish on a belt sander. The mix of milling to sanding depends on what I am trying to accomplish. I like to leave a rougher appearance as these are tools meant to be used. The finish depends on the materials. The carbon steel ones I have been flame coloring. I use 1018 mostly but have made one from 4140. I have also made one from stainless, which I left raw. I am currently cutting one for my wife from titanium. It will be the first one that will be fully cut on the milling machine, no sanding. I am also going to anodize it, a whole other process I am learning about. I am excited to try it out as titanium is generally considered the best material for a putter, but isn't used because of the additional costs. I also have a new exotic material a new friend in the Ukraine made for me. I have never seen a putter made from it, and think it will turn out amazing.

My putters start at $150 for a simple blade head. Made from 1018 carbon steel and flame finished. The shaft and grip are extra because of the wide range in costs, and can be supplied by customer or they can tell me what they want. After that the sky is the limit. I just take into account the cost of the material, and how much time it will take. Most have been between $200-$250.

I will try and get some pictures posted.

I just had the perfect microcosm of the game of golf a few weeks ago, on vacation- 

Round 1, course A- 92

Round 2, course B- 87 (Ties best round played for Par 72) 

Round 3, course A- 84 (Zoned in, best feeling round I've ever played)

Round 4, Course B- 99

Round 5, Course A- 103

I love, and hate this game so flipping much, often at the same time. 

I've been playing for 25 years or so now. I started when my dad joined the local 9 hole course, so it was free for me. Walmart clubs and really enjoyed it but I was terrible. 100+ all the time. I've played less frequently than I did in college when I would routinely play 36 holes a few time a weeks and was a 10 handicap. I'm back into it more now and actually shallowed my swing out recently and my game has drastically improved. I've always been long but inconsistent. Now I'm hitting long high irons and it's been so much fun. Dropping 7 irons 200 yards into the side of the green that I choose has made the game much more enjoyable. However it's so good now, I'm sure I'm doomed to shank city soon. 

I didn't quite feel like making a new thread and this was the most recent golf thread we had. 

Any tips for a new golfer? I've been told sometime in May I'll be taking place in my first few rounds at an actual course. It will be 2 experienced golfers and 2 first timers. They're already talking about playing best ball, which is great news. 

I got clubs, tees, 3 dozen balls (bright pink Duos wife got them super cheap at work), a bag, and a decent alcohol tolerance. I don't have ugly clothes, spiky shoes, or gloves. Is that going to be an issue? 

I don't even remember the last time I was at a driving range, so I'm going to try to get out and hit a few buckets between now and then. Maybe get a tee time at the local simulator for some more realistic practice first as well. 

I really don't care about score, I suck at almost everything, but it seems like a cheap enough excuse to get out of the house but not deal with the general public. 

In reply to RevRico :

If you, or anyone in your group, doesn't quote Caddyshack or Tin Cup at least once, the round doesn't count.  

But in reality the only real advise is maintain pace of play.  If you're going to be terrible, be timely about it.  

Don't wear Jorts. Actually that's a rule outside of golf too. Don't wear cutoffs. But some places, even cutoff jeans are acceptable. 
 

If you have a polo shirt, wear it. If you don't, a clean T shirt is fine. 
 

Gym shoes are fine. Whatever you wear just make sure you can walk in them. 
 

I only wear a golf glove when it's super hot/humid or raining. 
 

Don't forget sunscreen, hat, and sunglasses. 
 

Have fun!

In reply to RevRico :

I never wanted to golf. Had a bad experience on a par-3 as a young teen and prefer adrenaline. That said my FIL is a huge golfer, and everyone down here (Charleston SC) does it. For the job I took 10 years ago it became important for me to be able to go on a golf course with a donor. 

3 things:

have cash for tips, and know if/when they are expected. 

ask the experienced golfers where to stand (behind the person swinging), when to get there (at least 30 minutes before tee time), what to wear (polo shirt, maybe shorts are allowed, maybe belt required in clubhouse), where to drive the cart (just let them) and what club to use. 
 

just make contact, don't try to hit it too hard. It's ok to hit the ground, even proper for some reason at times! Don't keep score (I score by how many balls I find va lose), as noted just play quickly and move on. A golf ball can go in all manner of unexpected directions when people like me hit it. Observe surroundings, warn others, beware ricochets. 
 

finally, stretch first! You are using muscles you never use and won't realize it until the next day. At the end of the day you should be enjoying a day outside, not stressing over your play. The most stressful thing is not knowing all the etiquette and procedures. 

Biggest mistake I made as a young lad was to hold the club in a death grip and try to kill the ball. I've only recently learned to relax a good bit and I'm hitting much better.  Watch some videos on making good contact and swing basics.  It can help.

Yeah, are we talking etiquette or technique?  

Etiquette-  Basically don't walk in someone else's line on the greens, fix ball marks, and play fast...  Have a few beers, enjoy the weather, and don't take anything seriously. 

Technique-  It's kinda like racing-  Find a good swing tempo and stick to it.  Trying to murder the ball will only bring more pain and misery.  For newer players, the best cue I ever received was this-  Shorten your backswing until you can make reliable, consistent ball contact.  Even if it's a half-swing, you'll stay in play rather than chase things through the woods.  Work on making more full swings once you play more often and find your stride, so to speak. 

The NY Giants come up here for pre-season practice, most are golfers.  My friend Dave is a golfer, he's black, 6'8" about 280 or so without an ounce of fat.  His clubs are as tall as me.  He went to the Par 3 one day and the Starter said "No, no, you're at the wrong course".  What?  "Yeah, you're supposed to be at the 18 hole pro course".  OK

He drove over to the big course, the Starter didn't say anything, didn't charge him, just brought him over to where all the Giants were teeing off.   It was a good day.

I am not a golfer but have played a few times with friends. Never keeping score just working on actually hitting the ball and to my surprise I had fun. After borrowing a set of clubs from a friend I went on marketplace and found a set for $40 and I think that's the level of commitment I want to put into playing at this point. I need to go out to the driving range at some point and just hit some balls and work on my swing but as a fun once in a while non-competitive activity I enjoy it. 

There are tons of great videos on YouTube for tutorials on basics and that helped me out a lot when I went to play my first time last year.