2020 Golf Thread

We had a similar foggy situation at Bandon one year. The caddies would throw a towel down at the front of the tee and say "hit it over that". Rather than someone getting hit with a ball though someone made an ace on #2. They were in the group in front of mine so I only heard the reaction once they got to the green. Though now that I think about it, it may have been BS. My caddie told me there was an older couple (late 70s) out there last year and the wife knew it was the last time they'd be able to go to Bandon. Her husband had never had a hole in 1 so they arranged for someone to put the ball in the hole for him on one of the par 3s so he thought he got an ace at Bandon. They did, and then he made an actual ace on the back 9. That story may also be bullshit, but it's fun anyway.
I aced a blind par 4 on a short and beautiful Scottish course called Shiskine, on the island of Arran. (Very similar to Dunaverty, which is where I shot my 63, except that Shiskine has only 12 holes.) This was during my whirlwind tour of Scotland with three of my college buddies at the end of my year living in St. Andrews - it was a downhill, downwind hole, and all of my friends hit long irons into the green, and I took a driver and pushed it right of where I was aiming and kind of got underneath it a bit. It was our second time playing that hole that day, but we didn't really know where the green was; we were walking toward the green when someone in the group called over to us and said, "You, you in the blue shirt! You just made a hole in one!" Talk about a total fluke...and obviously I can't be 100% sure that someone didn't sneak over and put my ball in the hole, but the guys were quite far away from the green when they called over to us, and all of my mates had missed the green to the left, so it seemed to check out.
 

jercra

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Damn. Ace on a par 4!! That's awesome. I have never made an albatross, never mind an ace on a par 4. Also, I really need to go play golf in Scotland.
 

FL4WL3SS

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The most random, once in a million billion, thing to ever happen to me on a golf course was when I was hitting balls late in the evening one night on the range at my course. It was me and one other guy on the range hitting the last of the balls about 50 yards away from each other on separate parts of the range. I hit a ball and look up to see where it's going and about 50-100 yards off the club face it smacks another ball in the air mid-flight. The guy at the other side of the range had hit a ball at the exact same time and our balls collided in the air. We just looked at each other and laughed thinking there's no way anyone would believe it. I can't even imagine the chances of that happening, but it was pretty cool.
 

jercra

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Ok, I'll see your million billion and raise you one...

I was playing in a 2 man tourney in central Oregon in a Chapman format (drive, hit each other's drives, pick the best then alternate shot). On a hard dogleg right par 5. I hit my tee shot down the middle and my partner put me in the woods to the right, just completely fucked. No shot at all. But, since it was a Chapman, my partner hit my tee shot and hit a nice shot into the fairway about 80 yards out so I was free to try something stupid. So my partner pulls the cart up about 30 yards behind the ball in the woods and I unleash on a 90 degree slice as hard as I can hit it. I smoke it off the center of the face of a 3-wood and just hear a "thwack" sound. No one saw the ball. My partner had walked out into the fairway to try to watch but never saw it. Everyone said they saw nothing and just heard it hit a tree. I was pretty sure it didn't hit anything but heard the sound as well. I got in the cart and drove over to wait for the slowest fucking 2-some in history to hit their shots. While we waited, my partner went to take a sip of his bloody and nearly burst trying to hold in his laughter...

32424
I didn't hit a tree. My club shot a stick backwards with enough force to stick into the cup 30 yards behind me sitting in the cart. I didn't even spill a drop of his drink. Best of all, my shot ended up right next to the green and we made a tap in birdie.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Holy crap what a story!

I've got one that isn't even close to that, but which is pretty funny nonetheless. Playing with a good buddy, we had just putted out on one hole and lined up at the next tee. The previous green was about 40 yards behind us, at about our 8:00 position. My friend yanked a drive to the left, smoking one directly into the only tree around. It ricocheted straight back in a nice high loft, landing softly on the previous green, and rolling to a stop about two feet from the hole. He casually walked over, knocked it in, and took a 2.

I let him keep it.

lol
 

Zomp

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I've posted this story before but about 12 years ago myself, my dad, and two of his buddy's all birdied the same hole playing together. Given the handicaps were 6, 13, 21, 26 I think that's pretty rare.
 
I've got one that isn't even close to that, but which is pretty funny nonetheless. Playing with a good buddy, we had just putted out on one hole and lined up at the next tee. The previous green was about 40 yards behind us, at about our 8:00 position. My friend yanked a drive to the left, smoking one directly into the only tree around. It ricocheted straight back in a nice high loft, landing softly on the previous green, and rolling to a stop about two feet from the hole. He casually walked over, knocked it in, and took a 2.
In a somewhat similar vein, another of my former "home courses" (at which I'm still a member, albeit a non-playing member because I don't get back often enough to justify a full membership) is Machrihanish in Argyll, a wonderful links course with arguably the best opening tee shot in golf:

http://ronbwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Machrihanish-golf-club_0331.jpg
The hole plays as a par 4 over the beach and then sort of doglegging to the left, but in that photo you can just see the 18th green off to the right. We once had a group of Swedish tourists come to the course who teed off at the 1st and thought the 18th green was the 1st green - they hit onto the green, putted out and were clearly perplexed at where to go to find the next tee.
 
And just because I'm in a storytelling mode and am desperately trying to procrastinate from doing any work today, my favorite ricochet story comes from the 4th hole at The Country Club in Brookline. I was out there with my college golf team one day, and the 4th hole has an elevated tee on a rock outcropping - it's a short par 4 which curves around some trees, and the effect is that you normally play a 3-wood or long iron to the fairway (there's a deep gully in front of the tee, but the carry is only about 100 yards) and then have a short-to-mid-iron 2nd shot which is often blind. There are trees off to the right of the tee, and one of my teammates who played a big sweeping hook teed off and pushed his drive: it hit one of the trees and ricocheted backwards, landed back on the tee in front of us, rolled between us and the tee markers and stopped at the very back edge of the teeing box. Because the tee is so elevated, it is surrounded on three sides by guard-rails, and the rail behind the tee was impeding my friend's backswing; normally you could take relief from such an obstruction, but there was literally no place for him to safely drop that wasn't closer to the hole, so he had to either play from where he was or re-tee and take a stroke-and-distance penalty for an unplayable lie. I thought the latter was by far his better course of action, but he took out a sand wedge, made a very upright swing to avoid the rail and just managed to carry the gully in front of the tee with his second shot. He still had a 3-wood left into the green from there, but he hooked it over and around the trees to a spot a few feet just in front of the green, and from there he holed about a 60-foot putt for par. Easily the best par I've ever seen.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Love these stories. Here's one from when I was in my early 20s. First tee, playing with my dad and two other friends. To the left of the first tee box is a white split rail fence. Just there to keep the flow of traffic, not remotely in the way of anything actually golf-related.

First guy up - and there's a crowd there on this busy morning - hits his tee shot off the heel of his club right off this fence about 20 yards away. Just a godawful shot, smacking off the fence. Everyone was uncomfortable because, you know, nobody likes to see that and it's embarrassing.

The next guy up does literally the exact same thing - hitting it off the same spot (within a foot of the first ball). Everyone kind of laughed at that because, I mean, what are the odds?

I'm next and I'm thinking, anything but that. But - yep, you guessed it - I yank mine in the exact same spot, right off the fence. Now everyone is laughing out loud, not hiding how absurd this is. Three in a row off a spot that probably hadn't been hit in five years.

Now my dad - the worst golfer of the group and the one most prone to doing just that (because he does that more often than he'd like to admit) - gets up and I'm thinking, there's no way he's NOT hitting it off the fence.

He proceeds to rip a 250 yard drive right down the middle.

He turns and looks at me and yells, "HA!"

Because he knew that I was 100% sure he'd drill it off the fence.

He got an ovation for that drive.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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And just because I'm in a storytelling mode and am desperately trying to procrastinate from doing any work today, my favorite ricochet story comes from the 4th hole at The Country Club in Brookline. I was out there with my college golf team one day, and the 4th hole has an elevated tee on a rock outcropping - it's a short par 4 which curves around some trees, and the effect is that you normally play a 3-wood or long iron to the fairway (there's a deep gully in front of the tee, but the carry is only about 100 yards) and then have a short-to-mid-iron 2nd shot which is often blind. There are trees off to the right of the tee, and one of my teammates who played a big sweeping hook teed off and pushed his drive: it hit one of the trees and ricocheted backwards, landed back on the tee in front of us, rolled between us and the tee markers and stopped at the very back edge of the teeing box. Because the tee is so elevated, it is surrounded on three sides by guard-rails, and the rail behind the tee was impeding my friend's backswing; normally you could take relief from such an obstruction, but there was literally no place for him to safely drop that wasn't closer to the hole, so he had to either play from where he was or re-tee and take a stroke-and-distance penalty for an unplayable lie. I thought the latter was by far his better course of action, but he took out a sand wedge, made a very upright swing to avoid the rail and just managed to carry the gully in front of the tee with his second shot. He still had a 3-wood left into the green from there, but he hooked it over and around the trees to a spot a few feet just in front of the green, and from there he holed about a 60-foot putt for par. Easily the best par I've ever seen.
Very impressive. Would you say the best shot of that hole was the wedge or the 3-wood?

My dad's buddy made this kind of par: On a par-3, sent a tee shot way off to the right and OB. Teed up again and holed it for a 3. Par the hard way, I say.
 
Very impressive. Would you say the best shot of that hole was the wedge or the 3-wood?
Definitely the sand wedge. The 3-wood was a great shot; I didn't think what he did with the sand wedge was possible. (It certainly wasn't a high-percentage shot selection.)
My dad's buddy made this kind of par: On a par-3, sent a tee shot way off to the right and OB. Teed up again and holed it for a 3. Par the hard way, I say.
A different college golf buddy once told me this story that he'd heard or perhaps seen (I forget which): there was a matchplay contest in an important California state amateur tournament where the two opponents were playing a par 3. One of them pushed his tee shot into some trees, possibly into a position where he wouldn't be able to find it, so he played a provisional. He then hit his provisional ball into the hole for what would have been a par...and as soon as he did so, both players immediately started sprinting from the tee. Why do you think that is, and in which direction did each competitor sprint?
The player who holed the shot headed for the green, and his opponent headed for the woods. The rule is that as soon as a provisional ball is removed from the hole, that officially concludes the hole for the player in question, and the provisional ball would then be ignored even if found. But if the provisional ball was found first, it would still be in play, and the other ball in the hole would become irrelevant. (For the record, the player reached the hole before his opponent found the ball in the woods, so he did get to record his par.)
 

FL4WL3SS

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Ok BaseballJones told his high score story. Any other funny ones?

I have two that happened in the past year, both ending as 9s. The first was during the WA mid-am on a par 5 slight dogleg right. I had never played this particular course and it's a pretty tough course, I hit my tee ball and ask my partners if it'll be ok as I thought I hit a good one but didn't know the hole. They all responded that it was, so I didn't hit a provisional. As I get up to my ball, it's nowhere to be found so I start looking in the right woods. Just then a Marshall pulls up and starts helping me look and we find it wedged under an old tree log that had fallen down. He looks at me and says "well, it's a movable object". So my stupid ass thinks I'm so strong that I can move this thing as he's just looking on. I get the tree to move about 6 inches before giving up and deciding to try and hit the ball out. I end up hitting another tree and further back in the woods, took me a couple more to get out as the Marshall was standing there watching the whole thing with his judgemental stare.

The other nine happened during our regular Saturday money game. I hit my ball right into some knee high wet grass and is only amusing because I tried to hit it out and the ball kept advancing about 6 feet further into the grass and I kept finding it... 6 times. The whole group was in stitches watching it.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Definitely the sand wedge. The 3-wood was a great shot; I didn't think what he did with the sand wedge was possible. (It certainly wasn't a high-percentage shot selection.)

A different college golf buddy once told me this story that he'd heard or perhaps seen (I forget which): there was a matchplay contest in an important California state amateur tournament where the two opponents were playing a par 3. One of them pushed his tee shot into some trees, possibly into a position where he wouldn't be able to find it, so he played a provisional. He then hit his provisional ball into the hole for what would have been a par...and as soon as he did so, both players immediately started sprinting from the tee. Why do you think that is, and in which direction did each competitor sprint?
The player who holed the shot headed for the green, and his opponent headed for the woods. The rule is that as soon as a provisional ball is removed from the hole, that officially concludes the hole for the player in question, and the provisional ball would then be ignored even if found. But if the provisional ball was found first, it would still be in play, and the other ball in the hole would become irrelevant. (For the record, the player reached the hole before his opponent found the ball in the woods, so he did get to record his par.)
Not looking at the spoiler....

Obviously the opponent wanted to find the first ball, thus rendering the provisional ball irrelevant. The golfer wanted to get his ball out of the hole, thus making that shot official.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Ok BaseballJones told his high score story. Any other funny ones?

I have two that happened in the past year, both ending as 9s. The first was during the WA mid-am on a par 5 slight dogleg right. I had never played this particular course and it's a pretty tough course, I hit my tee ball and ask my partners if it'll be ok as I thought I hit a good one but didn't know the hole. They all responded that it was, so I didn't hit a provisional. As I get up to my ball, it's nowhere to be found so I start looking in the right woods. Just then a Marshall pulls up and starts helping me look and we find it wedged under an old tree log that had fallen down. He looks at me and says "well, it's a movable object". So my stupid ass thinks I'm so strong that I can move this thing as he's just looking on. I get the tree to move about 6 inches before giving up and deciding to try and hit the ball out. I end up hitting another tree and further back in the woods, took me a couple more to get out as the Marshall was standing there watching the whole thing with his judgemental stare.

The other nine happened during our regular Saturday money game. I hit my ball right into some knee high wet grass and is only amusing because I tried to hit it out and the ball kept advancing about 6 feet further into the grass and I kept finding it... 6 times. The whole group was in stitches watching it.
LOL! What amazes me about these stories is the....honesty. Seriously. I get it with the marshal standing right there. But how tempting is it in those situations to just say screw it and take your ball and put it in a playable position?

The buddy of mine who ricocheted one backwards onto the previous green....when we were like 14 he pushed his drive one hole way right over trees onto the previous fairway (which ran parallel to this hole). I couldn't see him as I was in the fairway. But I hear a thwack and see his ball arcing over the trees beautifully onto the green. Helluva shot, to be honest.

We get to the green, he makes par and I ask him how he managed to hit over the trees.

"I teed it up", he said.

To this day, whenever we play and he gets in trouble, I remind him of this story.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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I was playing with my brother at Highfields (home of the RMPS Open). The 11th is a relatively short downhill par 3 along the access road to the course (up the right side). I hit a hosel rocket at about a 45 degree angle that probably ended up rolling into Millbury. My brother was dying laughing, and said "I think that is the worst shot that I have ever seen.". He then proceeds to do the exact same thing. At that point the local/family rule of "never mock another shot until you have hit your own" was born.
 

jercra

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The worst shot I've ever seen was actually 3 shots in sequence. I can't choose one as the worst. I was playing in a CGA event in the first group. The general public group in front of us was terrible. Like, swing and miss terrible. This meant we spent a lot of time on the tee box waiting for them to hit their tee shots. On the tenth hole (a 350 par 4 over a little creek) the last member of this group tees it up and hits it so far off the heel/hozel that it goes directly between his legs with a little slice and ends up about 40 yards left of and behind the tee. Dissapointed, he pulls his 3-wood, walks over and does the EXACT same thing, but not quite as far behind him. Determined not to do it again, he steps a little back from his ball and hits it directly off the toe, 90 degrees with a slice. The ball travelled about 175 yards. 3 shots in and this guy was further away from the hole than he had started without hitting a single thing and while hitting 2 backward between his legs.

To add insult to injury, once we finally got to play the hole I hit a perfect drive and lipped out my approach shot. I was left with a 3 inch birdie putt. My opponent had yanked his drive into the deep rough under the trees. He attempted to punch one out onto the green but bladed it pretty good. Hit the flag hard and dropped straight in for an eagle.
 

Doug Beerabelli

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In a somewhat similar vein, another of my former "home courses" (at which I'm still a member, albeit a non-playing member because I don't get back often enough to justify a full membership) is Machrihanish in Argyll, a wonderful links course with arguably the best opening tee shot in golf:

http://ronbwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Machrihanish-golf-club_0331.jpg
The hole plays as a par 4 over the beach and then sort of doglegging to the left, but in that photo you can just see the 18th green off to the right. We once had a group of Swedish tourists come to the course who teed off at the 1st and thought the 18th green was the 1st green - they hit onto the green, putted out and were clearly perplexed at where to go to find the next tee.
CP - That's an incredible photo. When the wife and I played Kingsbarns a few years ago, our caddies (one that was +3 that had played in some amatuer tournaments for GB, the other a soccer goalie in one of the mid tier Scottish leagues, I think for Perth) stated Machrihanish was their favorite course. I hope to play there someday when on a full golf trip, vs the one round we shoehorned in whilst doing other stuff in Scotland, including a couple days the Open at Carnoustie.
 
CP - That's an incredible photo. When the wife and I played Kingsbarns a few years ago, our caddies (one that was +3 that had played in some amatuer tournaments for GB, the other a soccer goalie in one of the mid tier Scottish leagues, I think for Perth) stated Machrihanish was their favorite course. I hope to play there someday when on a full golf trip, vs the one round we shoehorned in whilst doing other stuff in Scotland, including a couple days the Open at Carnoustie.
I lived for a year-and-a-half in Campbeltown, about 10 minutes' drive from Machrihanish, working on what I hoped would be a sequel to my first book. Unfortunately the book never came to fruition (I finished a draft, but it was miles away from being something I'd want to publish), but honestly, the time I spent there was absolutely worth it, and I would move back to the area if I could even though it's miles away from anywhere and my wife would kill me if I tried. The whole area is beautiful, but the golf course is another level - it's wonderful and challenging without ever beating you up. Some of of the dunes being played around and over are absolutely wild...I'm salivating just thinking about the terrain. The only weak link is the finish; the last two holes are mundane, but I always forgave it that for the first 16. To be able to play that every day, and to nip down to play Dunaverty (£15 into an honesty box for 18 holes) as a change of pace, was just an unbelievable golfing existence...and now that Machrihanish Dunes is in the area (designed by David McLay Kidd of Bandon Dunes fame) as a third course, you could really spend several weeks there without getting tired.

Once the lockdown is over and travel gets back to normal, I'm absolutely serious in saying that if a SoSHer or two wanted to spend a week in Machrihanish with me - giving me an excuse to go there for a while and reactivate my playing membership, which in turn would let me book you in as my guest for a nominal fee - I'd love to make it happen.
 
Meanwhile, back at Dunbar I was out again this morning for another 9:07 tee time in decent conditions. We had a fair amount of rain last night, which is why I couldn't figure out why the greens were as fast as I've seen them all season - I had a 70-footer for eagle on the 1st hole which I hit about 10 feet past the hole, and I never really got a great handle on the speed all day. I did make that comebacker at the 1st and also birdied the 6th after bogeying the 4th, so I was out in one under, and although I had four bogeys on the back and I was still fighting my swing a bit, I felt infinitely more like a golfer today than I did at the start of the week. And on the 18th, for my second shot from 205 yards into the wind I hit a driver off the deck that never left the flag - it couldn't have missed the cup by more than a couple of inches, and it finished 10 feet directly behind the hole. I misread the birdie putt and had to settle for a 74, but it's really great to save your best swing of the day for last like that.

Also, yesterday we got an email from our club captain about how competitive golf is going to work between now and the end of the year. Our first medal competition will be two weeks from tomorrow, and there will be a total of eight weekend events and a handful of weekday events as well. Most interestingly, our club championship will consist of a single round of strokeplay qualifying on the 22nd of August, with the top eight players qualifying for the matchplay quarterfinals - which really means anyone (possibly even including me) could potentially win it. I wonder if an asterisk will be put after the winner's name on the club's honour board?
 

The Needler

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I played Cal Club yesterday. Got an absolute A+ weather day for the walk of the course, which immediately goes into my top 5 played in the US. The wind kicked up on the back nine, and the highlight for me was hitting a 3-wood into about a 20 mph wind on #18 to about six feet and making the birdie putt to finish the day.

Pin was in the same position as here (not my photo):
 

voidfunkt

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Set a goal to break 85 this year and blew it out of the water yesterday at my country club with an 80. Also managed to pull that off with three doubles on the front and a triple on the back nine woops.
 

Zomp

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After a few years of not having an official handicap, I paid a country club near me a small fee to have a ghin number registered at their club. Now that I have 20 scores in, I'm a 7.6. Goal is to get to a 6 by the end of the year. I think with the new WHS it should be easier than in the past?

Also a big fan of the app. So much better than having to go to the country club and put the scores in their computer.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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After a few years of not having an official handicap, I paid a country club near me a small fee to have a ghin number registered at their club. Now that I have 20 scores in, I'm a 7.6. Goal is to get to a 6 by the end of the year. I think with the new WHS it should be easier than in the past?

Also a big fan of the app. So much better than having to go to the country club and put the scores in their computer.
I haven't had one in a few years either, but last I did I think it was like $50, has it gone up considerably or did the club just gouge you? I really didn't care what was listed as my home club so I took the first I could find accepting people, it was like three hours away.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Set a goal to break 85 this year and blew it out of the water yesterday at my country club with an 80. Also managed to pull that off with three doubles on the front and a triple on the back nine woops.
Nice work!!! That had to feel pretty good.
 

voidfunkt

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Also a big fan of the app. So much better than having to go to the country club and put the scores in their computer.
Yea the GHIN app is handy. Also has neat features like the ability to lookup another golfer's HCP or compute the CH.
 

riboflav

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Sorry to be a pain but I am just starting to get into playing golf after two decades of watching golf. Can anyone recommend a good beginning putter or a good place to look for one? Willing to spend up to 110. I can't tell yet if I need face balanced or not (not sure how much this matters for a beginner trying to figure it all out anyways).

Thank you!
 

kenneycb

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I would say just hit a bunch and get whichever one you like best. A lot of putting is feel, so a putter is a very personal decision.
 

Phragle

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Sorry to be a pain but I am just starting to get into playing golf after two decades of watching golf. Can anyone recommend a good beginning putter or a good place to look for one? Willing to spend up to 110. I can't tell yet if I need face balanced or not (not sure how much this matters for a beginner trying to figure it all out anyways).

Thank you!
Get an old Ping. @Comfortably Lomb will agree
 

voidfunkt

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Sorry to be a pain but I am just starting to get into playing golf after two decades of watching golf. Can anyone recommend a good beginning putter or a good place to look for one? Willing to spend up to 110. I can't tell yet if I need face balanced or not (not sure how much this matters for a beginner trying to figure it all out anyways).
If you can find one of the Taylor Made Spyder's circa 2018/2019 then I would but it. I love mine.

Get an old Ping. @Comfortably Lomb will agree
You really gotta try a bunch. Lomb loves Anser-style putters but they are not for everyone. My putting game suffers immensely if I don't have a damn UFO attached to the shaft.
 

Phragle

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I'm more saying that you don't need to spend much to have a nice putter. I have a $10 Ping from the 70s and a $400 Scotty and they both work great for me because they fit my eye and stroke
 

jercra

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Yeah, the thing with golf is that you'll NEVER know so just try a bunch out of the used bin at any golf shop and get the cheapest one that works for you then. Over the years you'll either go through dozens trying to find the "right" one or you'll have a couple that you can rely on. My putters all have a lifespan of about 1-2 years before they forget how to make putts and need to be retired to the garage. Same as @Phragle I have everything from bargain basement to top of the line and they've all both performed fantastically and failed me miserably. Maybe face balanced today. Maybe toe-hung tomorrow. Maybe somewhere in between. Same with shape, weight, shaft placement, etc.

Edit: I write this as I search for deals on the driver I want to buy because my driver is in my head and it's been a few months. I hit everyone else's better than I hit mine so it must be the club, right?
 
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Comfortably Lomb

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Feb 22, 2004
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The Paris of the 80s
Get an old Ping. @Comfortably Lomb will agree
Yup, there's nothing wrong with old putters. For someone new to the game there's no reason to spend serious money on a putter. Something from a garage sale could be perfectly fine for a while. At some point they'll realize they like something different (longer, shorter, heavier, different shape, etc.) and move on.

The best bang for your buck modern putters are the Cleveland Huntington Beach line.
 

Doug Beerabelli

Killer Threads
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Agree on putters being personal. I've got an Odyssey two ball that's probably 15 years old with a crack in one of the ball inserts.. Generally putting has been best part of my game (that's no saying much), so I'm sticking with it despite fiddling around a bit with some others.

My son was using an Odyssey I bought used for about $25. My wife got a new set of Cobra clubs a month ago, which came with everything. She liked her old TM Rossa putter, so no use for the Cobra. My son tried it out, liked it better, and is using it now.

Any savings are lost via the amount of golf balls he goes through these days.
 
I may need a new putter after my abysmal display on the course this evening - although one of the putts I missed really wasn't my fault. I had about a six-footer for par on one hole, and I failed to notice the flagstick was slightly off-kilter in how it was angled into the hole: I struck a perfectly fine putt with no more than 18 inches of excess speed which was going into the left-center of the hole, and somehow it hit the pin and bounced out. That was definitely my first post-lockdown "I got screwed by being forced to keep the flag in the hole" moment; I mean, my playing partner told me I should just consider that I'd made it, that's how egregious the bounce was.

No score to relate this evening - we got stuck behind a couple of foursomes and wound up skipping a couple of holes on the back nine to get in front of them (saving us a good 20-30 minutes in fading light) - but I hit the ball much better than I was scoring. We were behind those two groups all evening, but the weirdest thing happened behind us: another twosome played through the foursome that had started behind us, and by the time they got onto the 5th tee they were right behind us. But instead of accepting their fate like we had and slowing down, they seemed dead-set on pressuring us as much as possible: on the par-3 5th, I swear the guy who played first was halfway to the green when the other guy hit his tee shot. And on the 7th, my partner and I were both in the left rough off the tee, and after my partner had hit and I was preparing to hit my shot, a ball landed in the fairway to our right - we were there in plain sight, and they hit right into us! I yelled back to the tee and held my arms up, wondering what the heck was going on. When they then failed to hit any approaches to the 7th green, it seemed as though they'd been spooked enough by their own stupidity to find a gap on the 15th or 16th and turn back toward the clubhouse. But bizarrely, after we reached the far end of the course and turned for home, that twosome had somehow regained its original position at the start of the round, two groups behind us (with a foursome in between). So I really don't know what was going on there...meanwhile, the foursome in front of us was playing from the back tees even though on multiple occasions we saw at least one player hit his second shot on a hole from no more than 80 yards in front of the tee, and the group in front of them had at least two open holes in front of it. It felt like we were playing a $20 muni back home or something.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
3,147
Arvada, Co
I may need a new putter after my abysmal display on the course this evening - although one of the putts I missed really wasn't my fault. I had about a six-footer for par on one hole, and I failed to notice the flagstick was slightly off-kilter in how it was angled into the hole: I struck a perfectly fine putt with no more than 18 inches of excess speed which was going into the left-center of the hole, and somehow it hit the pin and bounced out. That was definitely my first post-lockdown "I got screwed by being forced to keep the flag in the hole" moment; I mean, my playing partner told me I should just consider that I'd made it, that's how egregious the bounce was.

No score to relate this evening - we got stuck behind a couple of foursomes and wound up skipping a couple of holes on the back nine to get in front of them (saving us a good 20-30 minutes in fading light) - but I hit the ball much better than I was scoring. We were behind those two groups all evening, but the weirdest thing happened behind us: another twosome played through the foursome that had started behind us, and by the time they got onto the 5th tee they were right behind us. But instead of accepting their fate like we had and slowing down, they seemed dead-set on pressuring us as much as possible: on the par-3 5th, I swear the guy who played first was halfway to the green when the other guy hit his tee shot. And on the 7th, my partner and I were both in the left rough off the tee, and after my partner had hit and I was preparing to hit my shot, a ball landed in the fairway to our right - we were there in plain sight, and they hit right into us! I yelled back to the tee and held my arms up, wondering what the heck was going on. When they then failed to hit any approaches to the 7th green, it seemed as though they'd been spooked enough by their own stupidity to find a gap on the 15th or 16th and turn back toward the clubhouse. But bizarrely, after we reached the far end of the course and turned for home, that twosome had somehow regained its original position at the start of the round, two groups behind us (with a foursome in between). So I really don't know what was going on there...meanwhile, the foursome in front of us was playing from the back tees even though on multiple occasions we saw at least one player hit his second shot on a hole from no more than 80 yards in front of the tee, and the group in front of them had at least two open holes in front of it. It felt like we were playing a $20 muni back home or something.
I've read so many of your stories about your rounds out there that I just did the hole-by-hole on their website. That course looks beautiful. They'd charge a lot to play that many holes right on the water over here. I have a question though. Is it truly links style? Basically, can you hit the ball all over the place and be fine (like avoid the water left or right by going way left or way right) or is it pretty well protected between holes as well?
 
I have a question though. Is it truly links style? Basically, can you hit the ball all over the place and be fine (like avoid the water left or right by going way left or way right) or is it pretty well protected between holes as well?
Well, in the first instance, "links" courses are really classified as such by the type of soil and turf they are played on - links courses are on sandy soil which drains well and can generally be left to their own devices, not requiring much manual watering above and beyond what nature provides. So I don't think "links style" means what you think it means.

That said, to answer the question I think you're asking: it varies at Dunbar from hole to hole. The 6th and 17th holes run parallel to each other, and the ideal line off either tee often involves hitting into the opposite fairway. On the 1st hole, you can bail out to left off the tee into the 18th fairway or sometimes even to the right into the 2nd fairway, and there are other holes like the 2nd and 18th where you can bail out into a parallel fairway. But there are plenty of holes - the 4th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th, not counting the par 3s - where both sides of the fairway are guarded by rough, water and/or OB and there isn't an obvious bailout line as such. (The 4th in particular is a short par 4 with a landing area that can feel frighteningly narrow: beach to the left, OB wall to the right.) So it's a nice mix.

And yes, the course is beautiful - I try to keep reminding myself of that, particularly when my scorecard is going to hell. It's beautiful in a rather refined way; I'm more of a fan of other links courses with wild dunes and humps and hollows and elevation changes, but Dunbar for the most part is relatively flat, and there are no dunes adjacent to the course at all. But it is right on the water in the way that few other links courses are, and the views back to town, out to sea and of some of the amazing rock formations between the course and the sea can be rather splendid. (And to reiterate: my standing invitation to host other SoSHers out here remains open, so once the pandemic subsides enough to allow overseas golfing tourism, I'll hope to see more of you out here in due course!)
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
3,147
Arvada, Co
Well, in the first instance, "links" courses are really classified as such by the type of soil and turf they are played on - links courses are on sandy soil which drains well and can generally be left to their own devices, not requiring much manual watering above and beyond what nature provides. So I don't think "links style" means what you think it means.

That said, to answer the question I think you're asking: it varies at Dunbar from hole to hole. The 6th and 17th holes run parallel to each other, and the ideal line off either tee often involves hitting into the opposite fairway. On the 1st hole, you can bail out to left off the tee into the 18th fairway or sometimes even to the right into the 2nd fairway, and there are other holes like the 2nd and 18th where you can bail out into a parallel fairway. But there are plenty of holes - the 4th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th, not counting the par 3s - where both sides of the fairway are guarded by rough, water and/or OB and there isn't an obvious bailout line as such. (The 4th in particular is a short par 4 with a landing area that can feel frighteningly narrow: beach to the left, OB wall to the right.) So it's a nice mix.

And yes, the course is beautiful - I try to keep reminding myself of that, particularly when my scorecard is going to hell. It's beautiful in a rather refined way; I'm more of a fan of other links courses with wild dunes and humps and hollows and elevation changes, but Dunbar for the most part is relatively flat, and there are no dunes adjacent to the course at all. But it is right on the water in the way that few other links courses are, and the views back to town, out to sea and of some of the amazing rock formations between the course and the sea can be rather splendid. (And to reiterate: my standing invitation to host other SoSHers out here remains open, so once the pandemic subsides enough to allow overseas golfing tourism, I'll hope to see more of you out here in due course!)
Yeah, sorry, I rushed my question. I assure you that I know what makes a links-style course. The terrain that lends itself to links courses generally is pretty wide open and not cut through trees or swamp or whatever, hence the conflation of the two. I was more trying to just get a better understanding of if your course was super tight or if there were bailouts away from the ocean and that fence/wall. Those holes on the turn look like they could ruin some rounds if the wind is up. I'll definitely be up for a visit if/when I ever make it over.
 

uncannymanny

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 12, 2007
9,078
Sorry to be a pain but I am just starting to get into playing golf after two decades of watching golf. Can anyone recommend a good beginning putter or a good place to look for one? Willing to spend up to 110. I can't tell yet if I need face balanced or not (not sure how much this matters for a beginner trying to figure it all out anyways).

Thank you!
I’m just back on the course this year after 20 years off, a year plus on the range, and then a year plus off due to losing my clubs. If you want someone else to feel sheepish with in this thread, I’m your man.

Example, my first ball off a course tee in 20 years last week. I didn’t have a driver yet, so I was hitting a 3W first on the long holes. I hit pretty damn well and consistently at the range, considering the layoff, but I hadn’t had the one-chance, people watching (I was alone but group behind me and the 1st tee snack bar), drive in half my lifetime.

Straight. Up. In. The. Air. 25 yards, maybe. I was mortified. Just kidding, I turned around, made finger guns at everyone, turned back to my ball, and holstered them. I shot a +10 *on the first 3 holes*.

Slowly got my swing feeling better over the next few holes and shot a +3 on 6-9 (terrible, but 9 holes back into this life, whatever). On 9 I hit a perfect tee shot, a fucking awesome approach shot, and 2 putted, but I missed the first 15 footer by a literal hair. I would’ve felt like a million bucks with that birdie there.

It was a dog shit game, but I felt awesome the way I progressed. I’d planned to play the full course, but my gf wanted to go get COVID tests and figured it was better to end on a “high” note.
 

Over Guapo Grande

panty merchant
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2005
4,459
Worcester
That's an awesome tale, and a great ending.

Hopping on your 9th hole putt, I've been burning more lips than Marquis de Sade. I made a minor change to my setup (toe of the putter in the air, essentially to stop me from hooding every put) , and I am rolling the ball great. I think it was Jack who said "I didn't miss the putt, it just didn't go in", and I am feeling that way. I am hitting the ball with the speed I want, on the line I want...it just isn't dropping. It is frustrating, but encouraging at the same time.

For putters, I grew up using my Dad's old high school clubs (Spaulding Blades) As I was generally short and crooked off the tee, making up shots on/around the green was the only way to keep up score wise with my brothers. My putter when I was younger was similar to this. I have tried on occasion mallet putters, and I just don't feel like I have the feel with them. So, as stated above, putters are a very personal thing.
32558
 

Papelbon's Poutine

Homeland Security
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2005
19,615
Portsmouth, NH
I’m just back on the course this year after 20 years off, a year plus on the range, and then a year plus off due to losing my clubs. If you want someone else to feel sheepish with in this thread, I’m your man.
Wait, can we go back to this? I need to request this to be expanded on, unless it's as simple as "airline lost it".