Golf!!!2!

[Slava]

I prefer the zero strokes approach. If you don’t keep a legitimate handicap on Golf Canada, you don’t get any strokes. It’s $50/yr, and if you’re going in tournaments or leagues with cash prizes, it’s just in the price of admission.

[GioforPM]

It’s funny, my friends and I all have handicaps insofar as our golf trackers count (mine’s Garmin and the Grint). But we end up playing straight score, mainly because no money is involved. I get screwed because I end up playing the wrong tees - they all hit longer.

The only bets we make tend to even out because we play games that don’t depend much on total score - ticks/ left right ticks, wolf etc.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Slava

I prefer the zero strokes approach. If you don’t keep a legitimate handicap on Golf Canada, you don’t get any strokes. It’s $50/yr, and if you’re going in tournaments or leagues with cash prizes, it’s just in the price of admission.

Agreed, but is it not $100/yr?

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by jayswin

agreed, but is it not $100/yr?

$60

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Slava

I prefer the zero strokes approach. If you don’t keep a legitimate handicap on Golf Canada, you don’t get any strokes. It’s $50/yr, and if you’re going in tournaments or leagues with cash prizes, it’s just in the price of admission.

I play with a group where it is straight up regardless of index. Most of the players are low singles or scratch with the odd plus player joining every now and then. It's actually fun being one of the worst players in the group even though I donate more often than I cash. You play with better players and you are forced to get better quickly. I think I relish the opportunities to play with this group more than any other, possibly because it is straight up golf with no drama of leveling the playing field. Also does prepare you for the cash tournaments and competitions where the game is more serious.

Originally Posted by GioforPM

It’s funny, my friends and I all have handicaps insofar as our golf trackers count (mine’s Garmin and the Grint). But we end up playing straight score, mainly because no money is involved. I get screwed because I end up playing the wrong tees - they all hit longer.

The only bets we make tend to even out because we play games that don’t depend much on total score - ticks/ left right ticks, wolf etc.

I play in another group who do this very same thing. We play a game called trash, where you get a dot for making par from certain scenarios (sandy - out of a bunker, Floridian - hit the Bermuda rough twice, camel - hitting from the desert, roofie - hitting a house, fishy - hitting the water, barkie - hitting a tree, Hogan - fairway and green in reg, chippy - making from off the green.). We can make it really interesting and make it a two man team game (left two versus right two, or inside versus outside) where you're changing partners every hole. It's fun because there is a lot of strategy involved. It's not always picking the guy who made the longest and best shot off the tee. It may be beneficial to pick a guy who hit a bunker or is in the desert if they have potential for a recovery. When we're playing this game the mantra is "there's money in those bunkers" which makes the bad shots just as good as the good shots. Probably the most fun I have on the course because guys pull shots out of their asses from crazy situations all the time and just when you think you've won a hole, someone makes a long putt for "poley" which gets you a dot regardless of your score. So even when you're out of the hole, you're not out of the hole for ruining the other guy's scoring potential. I've shot some of my lowest rounds while playing this game and still ended up paying out. Makes golf that much more fun.

[nfotiu]

Pardon the dad bragging here, but my 110 lb 14 yo son shot his first even par 9 holes today (followed it up with a 45 on the back ). Nevertheless, he's had 5 straight rounds between 78 and 82 this week, and all 6500-6700 tees. He only started playing golf 18 months ago, but I'd estimate he has played over 500 rounds in that time and averaged about 1-2 hours a day on the range and short game practice.

He's an athletic kid who was the top starting pitcher on his travel baseball team and during his 5th round of golf broke down into tears saying he was never going to be able to get good at this if he kept having to go to baseball practice. He quit a few weeks later and played 1-3 round pretty much every day since.

I'm getting curious to see how this turns out for him. He's started playing in some competitive tournaments and is quite a bit behind the really good juniors who've been playing since they were much younger, but he's progressing quickly.

[prarieboy]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Pardon the dad bragging here, but my 110 lb 14 yo son shot his first even par 9 holes today (followed it up with a 45 on the back ). Nevertheless, he's had 5 straight rounds between 78 and 82 this week, and all 6500-6700 tees. He only started playing golf 18 months ago, but I'd estimate he has played over 500 rounds in that time and averaged about 1-2 hours a day on the range and short game practice.

He's an athletic kid who was the top starting pitcher on his travel baseball team and during his 5th round of golf broke down into tears saying he was never going to be able to get good at this if he kept having to go to baseball practice. He quit a few weeks later and played 1-3 round pretty much every day since.

I'm getting curious to see how this turns out for him. He's started playing in some competitive tournaments and is quite a bit behind the really good juniors who've been playing since they were much younger, but he's progressing quickly.

That's great to hear. Thanks for sharing. I hope he goes a long way.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Pardon the dad bragging here, but my 110 lb 14 yo son shot his first even par 9 holes today (followed it up with a 45 on the back ). Nevertheless, he's had 5 straight rounds between 78 and 82 this week, and all 6500-6700 tees. He only started playing golf 18 months ago, but I'd estimate he has played over 500 rounds in that time and averaged about 1-2 hours a day on the range and short game practice.

He's an athletic kid who was the top starting pitcher on his travel baseball team and during his 5th round of golf broke down into tears saying he was never going to be able to get good at this if he kept having to go to baseball practice. He quit a few weeks later and played 1-3 round pretty much every day since.

I'm getting curious to see how this turns out for him. He's started playing in some competitive tournaments and is quite a bit behind the really good juniors who've been playing since they were much younger, but he's progressing quickly.

That's incredible!
Did he drop out of school to fit all that in?

[jayswin]

Golf is so weird. I've been trying hard to get better this summer but just haven't had time to practice as much as I want. This past Sunday I shot my first non-shagannapi sub 80 round of the year at 78 in a round where I drank 10 beers and 3 shots and was having trouble walking straight by the 15th hole.

I don't understand this game. How do you spend all season trying to nail down each aspect of your game and come up short (low to mid 80's) and then get obliterated in a fun throwaway round and break 80?!

For whatever reason, even before the beer kicked in I just felt like I was in a zone where driving, irons, short game and putting were all working, which almost never happens.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Pardon the dad bragging here, but my 110 lb 14 yo son shot his first even par 9 holes today (followed it up with a 45 on the back ). Nevertheless, he's had 5 straight rounds between 78 and 82 this week, and all 6500-6700 tees. He only started playing golf 18 months ago, but I'd estimate he has played over 500 rounds in that time and averaged about 1-2 hours a day on the range and short game practice.

He's an athletic kid who was the top starting pitcher on his travel baseball team and during his 5th round of golf broke down into tears saying he was never going to be able to get good at this if he kept having to go to baseball practice. He quit a few weeks later and played 1-3 round pretty much every day since.

I'm getting curious to see how this turns out for him. He's started playing in some competitive tournaments and is quite a bit behind the really good juniors who've been playing since they were much younger, but he's progressing quickly.

That is really cool, nfotiu. That must be really exhilarating as a parent.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

That's incredible!
Did he drop out of school to fit all that in?

Ha, actually the opposite. He went from going to school, going to baseball practice (sometimes begrudgingly), and putting a half effort into homework before bed ... to ... enthusiastically getting his schoolwork done in school so he could get a ride to the course after school (our middle school is 7am-2pm) and stay until dark and had his first year of straight As. And then summer was just going to the course in the morning and playing until dark with whoever wanted to play with him or by himself.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

ESC is net double bogey for everyone now. You'd hope the higher handicapper is using ESC or entering hole by hole scores. If he's leaving 10 in his entered score, then he's sandbagging.

I don't think that's right. I use the golf canada app through my club and it definitely calculates my 8s on par 5s as part of my score because my adjusted score only usually changes if I post a 9 or higher.

I'm a 23.8.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

I don't think that's right. I use the golf canada app through my club and it definitely calculates my 8s on par 5s as part of my score because my adjusted score only usually changes if I post a 9 or higher.

I'm a 23.8.

Net double bogey. That would be a max 9 on most par 5s for your handicap.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Net double bogey. That would be a max 9 on most par 5s for your handicap.

Thanks for clarifying. I didn't appreciate there was a difference. I never calculated an official handicap before this season so i just put my score into the app after a round.

[Northendzone]

always great to hear stories of young people finding a passion and then having some success at it.

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Pardon the dad bragging here, but my 110 lb 14 yo son shot his first even par 9 holes today (followed it up with a 45 on the back ). Nevertheless, he's had 5 straight rounds between 78 and 82 this week, and all 6500-6700 tees. He only started playing golf 18 months ago, but I'd estimate he has played over 500 rounds in that time and averaged about 1-2 hours a day on the range and short game practice.

He's an athletic kid who was the top starting pitcher on his travel baseball team and during his 5th round of golf broke down into tears saying he was never going to be able to get good at this if he kept having to go to baseball practice. He quit a few weeks later and played 1-3 round pretty much every day since.

I'm getting curious to see how this turns out for him. He's started playing in some competitive tournaments and is quite a bit behind the really good juniors who've been playing since they were much younger, but he's progressing quickly.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Pardon the dad bragging here, but my 110 lb 14 yo son shot his first even par 9 holes today (followed it up with a 45 on the back ). Nevertheless, he's had 5 straight rounds between 78 and 82 this week, and all 6500-6700 tees. He only started playing golf 18 months ago, but I'd estimate he has played over 500 rounds in that time and averaged about 1-2 hours a day on the range and short game practice.

He's an athletic kid who was the top starting pitcher on his travel baseball team and during his 5th round of golf broke down into tears saying he was never going to be able to get good at this if he kept having to go to baseball practice. He quit a few weeks later and played 1-3 round pretty much every day since.

I'm getting curious to see how this turns out for him. He's started playing in some competitive tournaments and is quite a bit behind the really good juniors who've been playing since they were much younger, but he's progressing quickly.

Have yo taken him to any of the golf academies for a clinic so they have an evaluation opportunity? There are some good preparatory high schools out there that offer good academics and golf development programs. If this is something he really wants to do and has the ability it may be worth a look. If you are interested I can point you in the direction of a couple good ones that generate not only good talent, but good students.

[mrkajz44]

Anyone use the 18 birdies app? The premium version is outrageously expensive ($125/year), so no way I'm getting that. Just wondering if anyone has been using the free version and how they like it? I was thinking of using it mostly for handicap purposes, but don't want to go through the trouble of transferring scores unless I know I'll stick with it. All the reviews I see online pretty much only talk about the paid version.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

Have yo taken him to any of the golf academies for a clinic so they have an evaluation opportunity? There are some good preparatory high schools out there that offer good academics and golf development programs. If this is something he really wants to do and has the ability it may be worth a look. If you are interested I can point you in the direction of a couple good ones that generate not only good talent, but good students.

Appreciate it, but I think part of his love of golf and motivation is that it is on his terms (with occasional visits to a good local coach). The structure of the year round baseball academy is mostly what drove him away from it as it made baseball not very fun any more. Besides, I am not really ready for him to move to Florida, which I think would likely be around the closest for that type of thing.

[Dion]

Next Tuesday is the last week of my clubs Men's League. It's also week 4 of the playoffs where points earned are doubled. I'm sitting in 14th place out 60 plus golfers, hoping to move up a few spots next week and hopefuly into the top 10 in standings. It's good group of guys who love the game and love the competition.

[DoubleK]

Dion, you need to sandbag more harder.

Where's your net 24 scores? Get after it.