Golf Thread for the Rest of Us.

[cougjunkie]

Golf ball review, and a weird little story.

Because I've been playing more lately, I'm getting a better feel for the characteristics of individual golf balls. Pro V's are nice, but I don't like how dull they are, how they wear out quickly, and cost too much. I've found a couple of good balls that I like, and will report on them here.

Last year I bought a couple of dozen Top Flite Gamers. I felt they didn't have the distance, and they wore out (became too scuffed) too quickly. This year Top Flite came out with Gamer V2, supposed to be longer and more durable. I bought a dozen for $19.99 and played them. What a great ball! It's as long as anything, is more than very durable, and after 18 holes they look brand new. It's a 3 layer ball with plenty of spin for around the green, and they check up nice on power chips when you hit hard and you want them to stop quick. My one problem is that they're a little ugly looking. No color to speak of, and the fonts and numbering are a little plain. To offset this and to mark my ball as mine at the same time, I take a yellow Sharpie and highlight the Top Flite name, and the side sight line. In my opinion it looks better, and identifies the ball as mine quite easily.

So... If you're looking for a great ball for $20 a doz, try the Gamer V2.

Also the Callaway Diablo has the same core as a Gamer V2, but is not a 3 piece, but still is a good ball. I've had good luck with the Bridgestone's as well, and can't really tell much difference with all the minutia they intimate is there in the balls.

Story - Yesterday on our second round of 18, and on the second hole, there was a ball laying just off the cart path. We stopped to look, and it was a Top Flite Gamer V2 with the yellow highlights on the name and sight line. The strange thing was, I was still playing the only Gamer I'd had in play that day (along with a Bridgestone E6). If it had fallen out of my bag, it would had sat by the edge of a path for 5 hours with no one picking it up. (My bag was zipped anyway) The only thing I can think of why the ball would be there, is that I hit one out of bounds two weeks ago, and maybe someone found it and played it, and lost it themselves for me to find later. What/when/why/where is still on my mind, it was like a twilight zone event.

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-equip...fballs-under20

I am guessing you are the only guy at the country club playing top flites. No need to mark your ball.

[clackamascoug]

I am guessing you are the only guy at the country club playing top flites. No need to mark your ball.

Lol...

I know what you mean about golf balls you won't play. If I found a sleeve of Pinnacles, I'd give them away. No way I'd even bother wasting a shot on one. For some reason, I hate Nike Balls too. I don't know why. I used to play Titleist exclusively, but for the past few years, I've been more of an anti-eist just because everyone seems to play them. I think its mostly the hackers that play Pro V1's and think they are hot **** that bug me the most. I don't want to be included into that crowd.

I know for some that Top Flite is equal to throwing rocks, but Callaway owns Top Flite, and the Gamer V2 is the best of what Top Flite has to offer, and in a blind test I bet you'd rank it high as well.... but I do understand preconceived notions about certain products.

[FN Phat]

Lol...

I know what you mean about golf balls you won't play. If I found a sleeve of Pinnacles, I'd give them away. No way I'd even bother wasting a shot on one. For some reason, I hate Nike Balls too. I don't know why. I used to play Titleist exclusively, but for the past few years, I've been more of an anti-eist just because everyone seems to play them. I think its mostly the hackers that play Pro V1's and think they are hot **** that bug me the most. I don't want to be included into that crowd.
I know for some that Top Flite is equal to throwing rocks, but Callaway owns Top Flite, and the Gamer V2 is the best of what Top Flite has to offer, and in a blind test I bet you'd rank it high as well.... but I do understand preconceived notions about certain products.

That's obvious.

[clackamascoug]

That's obvious.

Yeah... what's funny... is to some I'm an elitist, to others I'm a Top Flite hack. It would seem I've really done it now with the typecasting, by going out and actually joining a "country club." True its a club and in the country, but you'll have to get the low down from Art as to how "exclusive" Forest Hills is. Let's put it this way, like Groucho Marx and Woody Allen, I'm a little uncomfortable joining a club that would have a guy like me as a member.

[wuapinmon]

That's obvious.

[clackamascoug]

Saturday Game Report

43+41=84

What a miserable day. Missed a 2 foot birdie on the first hole, and it went downhill from there. I was in the last group in mens club, and I got paired with the two biggest drinkers I've ever seen. Guy one was in the second day of a bender, and the alcohol was oozing from his pores. On the very first hole he found a tree, and came back 4 minutes later. I'm not even totally sure what was going on, but he stunk like a bigfoot when he returned. Guy number two has such a reputation, that the pro shop was taking bets on his consumption. The over under was 5. Not even sure what that means.

The golf was bad as well. With the warmer weather and my "Top Flite Gamer" I'm now hitting about 10 yards farther on my irons the last few rounds. It got so bad that I hit a wedge from 145 today just to gage a distance. I stuck it to 6 feet, and missed the putt, but it's kinda important to be consistent with your iron yardage.

Guy one bailed at the turn, (thank goodness) and guy two and I were left to play the back as a twosome. As we had the same handicap, and scored the same of the front, he asked if I wanted a "little juice" on the back just to keep it interesting. "Whatcha thinking," was my response, and he said five bucks straight up stroke play. I agreed. So I'm 2 up after two holes, and on the 3rd (12th) I swing my drive, and I tweak my back. So much so that I can't bend to pick op the tee. I go to my bag and pop 4 Advil, and take off for my ball. Again my approach is over the green, and Guy 2 is putting eagle from 25 feet. I can barely hit anything at this point, and chip poorly and end up sinking a 10 footer for par, while guy two 3 putts from 25 for a par. Next hole is a par 3, and guy two sticks it to 5 feet uphill. While I hit the restroom left, and bounce my ball off the golf cart of the group ahead. I hit off of bare dirt around the base of a tree, over a trap to 2 feet. Guy two misses the birdie putt.

Long story short, I'm 2 up and am burning oil smoke, and this guy keeps stiffing it for birdie putts, but he keeps missing them, and I'm I'm grinding like a Vegas Stripper (or so I've heard). So at 18 I'm up 1 and he's teeing the ball for me, cause I can't bend over. I somehow managed a par, along with his, and so I win plus one, on the back. Just like the Dali Lama, he stiffs me the bones, and I have too much grace to ask for it. So, I shoot a lousy score, get grossed out, endure sharp searing left hip pain, and get stiffed 5 bucks.

To top it off.... I can't wait to play some more.

[clackamascoug]

Friday's Report

42+41=83

My golf buddy called at 7 last night, and asked if I was in good enough shape to go golfing today. I said I felt pretty good, so this AM he picked me up in his luxurious Japanese automobile, and we headed to Forest Hills Golf Club.

We loaded up the golf cart, and with no one on the first tee, we hit away. With good drives we both parred the first hole, and as we got to the tee box we noticed that the group in front of us were waiting for the group in front of them, who were yet to reach the green on the par 5. We waited, hit well, and got to our balls, and waited, and hit well, and waited, again. It took 20 minutes to play the second hole. This will not abide with any golfing dude, and we resolved to play through hole three and play some holes on the back, waiting for the log jam to clear.

Holes 13-14-15-16 are all clear. We drive to 13, and play a 3 hole loop of 13,14,15. The slow pokes in front of us had only played 1 hole! We do the 3 hole loop again. Still jammed, we decide to play, 15,16,17 to see if the pace changes as 18 tee and 6th tee are side-by-side. We played the holes and drove over to the 4th and it was open. We caught the log jam on the 7th and waited patiently to play through the 9th. In the meantime a twosome behind us caught up, and played behind us.

The jammers only played 9, and the twosome behind us join us for the final nine. This is good, as it slows us down, and kicks the seriousness up a notch. Guy 1 is a potty mouthed 40 something, and guy two is a nice guy anybody would enjoy playing with.

On the back I go par-par, and on the 12th tee my back goes out again, after a beautiful drive. We get to the drives in the fairway and we sit, and guy one says to me..."Well, are you gonna hit your ball?" I said, "Sure as soon as you hit yours, pointing to his ball." He said, "That yours, I'm way up there." I said What are you hitting, and he says Pro V1x I said, "That's you."

I couldn't believe the guy actually notated the X . (If you remember I chuckle at hackers that play Pro V 1's, the way that the Spanish fart in a general direction to the English.)

Well, I wish my back hadn't gone out, as I was playing good again, and was hoping for a good round against guy 1. He ended up shooting a 50, and cussed every imaginable way all the way in. Maybe some day, I can move to Utah and join a LDS country club like Riverside. I've about had it with drunks (see above) and vulgar hackers.

With my back in pain tonight, I'm not going to be able to play Saturday or Monday. Bummer.

[The_Tick]

You come off as a golf snob.

[Katy Lied]

Played a best ball foursome. My partner and I got our butts handed to us. The next day we found out we played it wrong. So we have to do it all over again.

[clackamascoug]

Played a best ball foursome. My partner and I got our butts handed to us. The next day we found out we played it wrong. So we have to do it all over again.

What happened? What did you guy's do wrong?

I like team golf events. Takes some pressure off the regular game, and let's you try shots you'd normally never try. Plus the camaraderie is a lot of fun.

[cougjunkie]

What happened? What did you guy's do wrong?

I like team golf events. Takes some pressure off the regular game, and let's you try shots you'd normally never try. Plus the camaraderie is a lot of fun.

Only problem with team events is that when things are going bad its hard to try and work it out on the course.

[clackamascoug]

It's killing me that I can't play today, but I have a Global Golf Post link that some people may find interesting. It's a review of the new Bandon course Old MacDonald. (Lucky HFNW gets to play it this week.)

http://digital.globalgolfpost.com/globalgolfpost/20100705?sub_id=CMcDd9wGZWX7O#pg1

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

It's killing me that I can't play today, but I have a Global Golf Post link that some people may find interesting. It's a review of the new Bandon course Old MacDonald. (Lucky HFNW gets to play it this week.)

http://digital.globalgolfpost.com/gl...Dd9wGZWX7O#pg1

Thanks for the link. It is next week Sun-Wed but I am excited to play. I will break 100.

[clackamascoug]

Help me out, friends.

I need help moving the low point of my swing forward so that its bottoming out in front of the ball. Any drills, set up advice, etc. to make sure I'm still descending when I hit through the ball?

Clackamas, if you're reading in here, please respond. I don't want to have to double post this in two threads.

TIA.

You're in search of the holy grail here, what separates the pro's from the rest of the world. Hitting down and pinching the ball off the turf is what gives the ball world class backspin, and a reason to buy Pro V's. The key to this is not so much the position of the ball but the position of the hands being in front of the ball when you hit. This is a drill I work on in my dining room, with my 60* . It's surprising how much spin you can impart on a ball with a descending blow. When working on this, you can put the ball in the middle of your stance, and drag the blade behind the hands hitting down on the ball, and the ball will just take off and spin like crazy.

A couple of weeks ago, I was goofing off waiting for the tee time, and I experimented with playing off my left toe, and keeping my head and hands hands still ahead of the blade. The result was a very high flop shot. In the practice area I got it under control, but when attempted on the course I bladed, and choked. This is the kind of shot that's fun in a scramble.

So. middle, hands ahead, and strike the ball, and the divot should be in front of the ball position. Put a tee down marking the ball and see if the divot is in front of the tee or behind. Do it once, do it twice, and repeat a thousand times, and you will spin like a pro.

My edit will reflect the purpose of this descending blow is all about distance control. The better you get, the more precise your yardage will be. Pro's often find themselves in a predicament when their yardage is half a club long or short. The difference is only about 7-9 yards, but 7 extra yards can turn a 10 foot probable birdie putt, into a 31 foot prayer putt. The change in the grooves for 2010 is the result of too much precision from the rough which is supposed to be penal. Shallower grooves keep more slick grass on the club face, and the ball squirts off versus spinning off. The result is more run on the greens. The good grooves are good for non-pro's till 2024, so if you don't have some bad ass wedges, 2010 is the last year you can purchase them. I would recommend everyone go out and buy some of the good wedges in the next few months.

[falafel]

You're in search of the holy grail here, what separates the pro's from the rest of the world. Hitting down and pinching the ball off the turf is what gives the ball world class backspin, and a reason to buy Pro V's. The key to this is not so much the position of the ball but the position of the hands being in front of the ball when you hit. This is a drill I work on in my dining room, with my 60* . It's surprising how much spin you can impart on a ball with a descending blow. When working on this, you can put the ball in the middle of your stance, and drag the blade behind the hands hitting down on the ball, and the ball will just take off and spin like crazy.

A couple of weeks ago, I was goofing off waiting for the tee time, and I experimented with playing off my left toe, and keeping my head and hands hands still ahead of the blade. The result was a very high flop shot. In the practice area I got it under control, but when attempted on the course I bladed, and choked. This is the kind of shot that's fun in a scramble.

So. middle, hands ahead, and strike the ball, and the divot should be in front of the ball position. Put a tee down marking the ball and see if the divot is in front of the tee or behind. Do it once, do it twice, and repeat a thousand times, and you will spin like a pro.

My edit will reflect the purpose of this descending blow is all about distance control. The better you get, the more precise your yardage will be. Pro's often find themselves in a predicament when their yardage is half a club long or short. The difference is only about 7-9 yards, but 7 extra yards can turn a 10 foot probable birdie putt, into a 31 foot prayer putt. The change in the grooves for 2010 is the result of too much precision from the rough which is supposed to be penal. Shallower grooves keep more slick grass on the club face, and the ball squirts off versus spinning off. The result is more run on the greens. The good grooves are good for non-pro's till 2024, so if you don't have some bad ass wedges, 2010 is the last year you can purchase them. I would recommend everyone go out and buy some of the good wedges in the next few months.

thanks Clack-ity-clack. Can you describe the drill you do in your dining room a little more? Are you actually hitting balls indoors?