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***Official 2025 Golf Thread, The Gator is FINALLY serious *** (11 Viewers)

Back to normal lol, shot 101 at Hunter Ranch in Paso Robles today. Very fun course, wild level changes, and angles on the fairways

Putting was difficult, had one bad bad hole, but otherwise happy. Had a chance to break 100 but put up 8 and 7 on the last two holes. :wall:
 
Went out to the range today to work on some more stuff and this image was stuck in my head. My hip sway is my worst enemy, this pic is literally the last thing I think about before my takeaway. Helped me a ton with rotation instead of swaying.

Looking to get in 18 tomorrow afternoon, see how it goes
 
Down in Phoenix for a business trip and brought my clubs as I scheduled to play golf today with clients. Had 5 a.m. flight into Phoenix on Wednesday and had client meetings that morning and afternoon. My afternoon appointment ended early around 1:30 and I happened to be right next to Stonecreek Golf Course in North Phoenix so I went into the clubhouse and asked next available tee time. 2 p.m. I signed up and without hitting any balls went right to hole 1 and was solo. Started with 4 straight pars before shooting 5 over 41 on front nine. I shot 40 on back 9 for 10 over so I was pleased.

Today I shot an 82, 41 on each side for 11 over. Again, happy with how I played but more pleased at the 80 degree weather and great courses. It has been raining constantly in Oregon so I might not get to play again for awhile.
 
Phoenix weather should be great right now. I’m playing in a cash game in Lake Havasu City today. Excited for the weather as well.
 
Just got notice that I’m paired to play with a Super Bowl MVP tomorrow.
That's pretty sweet
Just hoping I get strokes haha.
Update: I hit the ball farther…
You’re gonna tease us with this? Who was it?
Eh, I generally try to keep these guys' privacy. I'm fortunate enough where my BIL is considered a good guy to pair with others at his club and I've played there as a guest so much I also have a good reputation. We get invited into cash games but, more so to play with the notable others, we get paired in tournaments with these sorts of guys. Also, our handicaps I think have a tendency to line up with them as well. And, probably importantly to the club, we aren't putting it up on social media. Then, I've played on my club's team in some interclub matches against some real ritzy clubs that retired athletes and celebrities belong to.

Off the top of my head, I have either played with been in the same game (so like a group in front or behind and then settling up the game so some minor interaction):

A Heisman winner
MLB MVP
Super Bowl MVP
Academic All-American
US Open champion
US Amateur Champion
MLB WS champ (he's actually a member at my club and I've taken like $1500 off him and play with him often)
A two-time MLB all-star and Cy Young runner-up
NFL Hall of Famer
A member of the NFL 100 all-time team
NFL journeyman QB (who had his backup QB caddie)
A current MLB pitcher who doesn't have a major accolade but who's name is notable.

I've played a horse race with that Youtube golf celebrity guy Manolo or whatever his name is. That guy's energy is real. I don't mind sharing his name or anything because, well, he puts it out there and we barely interacted other than maybe some hooting and hollering on the first tee box.

Most of the guy's are generally pretty cool and really appreciate it if you just sort of ignore who they are. One of the guy's mentioned above - and this was in a tournament - just had the club pro lay it out up front that the notable athlete, despite being in our group, was going to basically walk ahead of us and play out the hole without us and prefer talking be kept to a minimum. Honestly, that was kind of annoying and weird at first but he was efficient about it so by hole 4 or whatever it didn't bother. Odd to play a round with a guy though that would be super interesting to talk to but a brief nod or muttered "good shot." Also made it somewhat annoying to try to track his score (it was a tournament) and we all just ignored the rule about putting but frankly none of us were in contention and IIRC it was day 3 of a 3 day tournament so it really didn't matter (plus he shot a very "normal" score relative to his handicap).
 
Driver got squirrely today
45 degrees, 20mph winds.

76. Best I've played and hit the ball in a long time. If my driver was average today could have been probably my best round. I got greedy on a par 5 and ended up with a double. My only real real mistake. Minus a handful of blocked drives I got lucky with
 
Put up another 99 today, absolutely shat the green on putting on the front 9 with 19 putts and three 3 putts. :wall:

Almost made it 18 holes with one ball, lost it on 18 with my second shot lol.
 
should be close to 40 when i tee off tomorrow for the first time in almost 2 weeks. Only hit the range once over this break, hoping the reset will allow the brain to quit over thinking
 
Super up and down round but ended on the up. I purposefully did not bring any woods including driver. So 3h off the tee or an iron only.

Cold as balls the first like 7 holes. Frost delay hurt. So the only warm up was some very cold putting. I haven't played in like 7 weeks either so the lack of warmup at all killed me. Took 3-ish holes to not totally suck like a fool.

But then strung together a couple pars, had great tee shots over and over, had a couple bogeys even with a water shot...and got to 15 knowing I had to leave at 16 based on time to get home and off to this wine tour my wife planned for us. So I said "I'd love to finish par birdie."

Tee shot went like 80 yards. So not good. But then I ripped one like 180 down the middle and then a 5iron to like 7 feet and got the lar anyway.

16th hole, I hit a beautiful 190-yard middle of the fairway, 9-iron to 5 feet, and sunk the putt and walked off victorious.
 
. I purposefully did not bring any woods including driver. So 3h off the tee or an iron only.
Been doing this since I got back into golf, but strictly irons only. It’s turning into decent shtick especially with randoms. :lol:
I mean there are definitely holes where a good drive and a good 5-6 iron would be an extra stroke saved vs a good 3h and a good 7-8i. So it's not all roses.

But it definitely shows the value of like "hey I can hit it 175-200 in the center of fairway every time and play from there".
 
played sunday morning on a semi ****ty course, teed off at 7 with the temps a toasty 40 👎🏼 and as soon as we tee off it decides to start raining. There was no rain even in the forecast but it stuck around for the first 6 holes which luckily for my 3some was played in an hour. wet and cold i started double, single, triple before settling in for a 12 over front 9 :wall: back 9 went more like golf going birdie, bogey, par before the fn rain came back. Shot a 90 but did manage to hit every fairway but 1 where i slid out and hit a super slice ob. i hate golf
 
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played sunday morning on a semi ****ty course, teed off at 7 with the temps a toasty 40 👎🏼 and as soon as we tee off it decides to start raining. There was no rain even in the forecast but it stuck around for the first 6 holes which luckily for my 3some was played in an hour. wet and cold i started double, single, triple before settling in for a 12 under front 9 :wall: back 9 went more like golf going birdie, bogey, par before the fn rain came back. Shot a 90 but did manage to hit every fairway but 1 where i slid out and hit a super slice ob. i hate golf
12 under is pretty impressive with those scores :hophead:
 
So I've been meaning to post that I probably played my first ever "professional course" in terms of setup last week. I'm fortunate to have strong connections as Mesa Country Club (mainly through my BIL but I've played there so much I'm friends with several members and most importantly several board members) so I get some special treatment. They just entirely renovated their course (it's beautiful) and, in doing so, created tee boxes for the lengths necessary for Korn Ferry/NCAA stuff and they redid their greens to make them smaller and incredibly difficult.

In contrast to how the course used to play (and it wasn't easy by any stretch before), the course is now playing about 5 strokes harder than it used to. The main reasons for this are the changes in the greens where they are almost all now turtle-backed and small, they put in a ton of bunkers both in fairways and around the greens, and they lengthened the previously reachable par 5s. I cannot stress how much more difficult the green changes make the course because they used to pretty much all be sloped back to front with a pretty clear runway up to and through most greens allowing for a reasonable miss with distance. Now, though, the greens are all pretty much guarded with bunks or a false front and most misses long will leave a player with a near impossible up and down.

When I played last week I played the tips as my BIL (~2 handicap) has his upcoming member and he's playing with a plus so they're in the scratch flight or whatever. As such, we played at 7100 yards with professional-level conditions. For context, Jon Rahm played it two days prior and per the pro Rahm expressed openly and on his own accord that the course - especially the front - played very hard. I believe Rahm shot in the high 60s though the pro didn't know the score exactly.

Words cannot express just how challenging the round was. I played well, played in a comfortable setting, and the weather was reasonable with just some wind. We played with our wives and I generally play well when I play with my BIL (we have a healthy fierce brother-like competition as he basically taught me how to play and I try very hard to beat him and he tries very hard not to let me) and/or with my wife who just relaxes me. I also dialed in my normal amount of liquid courage and did not have work on my mind. So, scoring-wise, this was optimal conditions.

The above in mind, there was just no let up on this course with the conditions and the length. Every hole was hard and every shot demanded full focus. A "good" shot was generally no good and brought bogey instantly into play. A mediocre shot instantly became a bad shot and turned bogey into a good score. I hot several iron shots that I thought were "very good" to perfect and they either didn't hold the green or got clipped by brutal green side bunkers. I think I was in 10 bunkers during the round. While the length didn't hurt me too much directly off the tee, it made a huge difference on approach shots because it left longer irons in that made it very difficult to flight the ball with enough arc to clear trouble in front but hold the green. I was +8 by hole 7 and when I hit a near perfect tee ball into a 200 yard par 3 that was just a touch too long, didn't hold the green, and skipped into the backside bunker (note: I threw down a front side press on the box as well and talked crap to my BIL when I flushed the tee shot) I had instant thoughts of just quitting. I did get up and down with a good bunker shot but it basically just affirmed to me that pars would be very hard to come by.

Wound up shooting 86 (46-40) despite playing well and probably making over 100+ feet of putts - many of which saved bogey. I don't recall having a single legitimate birdie opportunity and I average ~2/round with a normal round probably giving me a legitimate 6 or so chances. I played the same ball the entire round and triple was never a thought so it wasn't like I was spraying the ball everywhere. I can only imagine that if I played poorly mid-90s is squarely in play - which is scary given that I'll probably play a couple of tournaments here in the near future. My BIL played incredibly well and shot 76. We were both just beat down by hole 18 and he closed me out on 17 when I blew a stroke chance by failing to par from position A in the middle of the fairway as I slightly tugged my approach shot.

I say the above to simply say that when you watch the guys on TV shooting -10, it's ****ing unbelievable how good they are to be able to do that and what they are doing on the TV is night and day different than what you and I are playing on an average Sunday. So humbling.
 
I played TPC Harding park last year the week before the Solheim cup, the course was utterly ridiculous (one green closed) and the rough was the most penal **** I've ever hit out of in my life. Greens were fast as **** and so I watched in amazement as the women were able to lag putts that I was zooming right off the green.
 
I've never played a course when it's settup to host a pro/elite amateur tournament.

But I have played 2 major venues (bethpage black and baltusrol) plus Greyhawk (ncaa championships) under "normal conditions"

I know that the rough at bethpage and baltusrol will be brutal when they host pro events but I gotta think that they're probably pretty comparable (at least) to the average tour stop most of the time. Greens might be another issue.
 
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I've never played a course when it's settup to host a pro/elite amateur tournament.

But I have played 2 major venues (bethpage black and baltusrol) plus Greyhawk (ncaa championships) under "normal conditions"

I know that the rough at bethpage and baltusrol will be brutal when they host pro events but I gotta think that they're probably pretty comparable (at least) to the average tour stop most of the time. Greens might be another issue.
Yeah the "US Open rough" I'm told is a major deal. Big change to basically demand fairways be hit for the amateur player. I don't think I've ever played in this condition other than some of my local courses where they let the roughs grow (in northern AZ we do have real rough) for member/guest type events. The trick there is learning to recognize the lie as to whether it's buried or a flyer.

Greyhawk is tough on its own if you're playing the tips just because of the length. I don't think they change much there for pro/ncaa events except that I'm guessing the pin placements are in the difficult spots and the greens are sped up a bit.
 
Played on a few courses that host tournaments but not near the time of the tournament. Still challenging

Played 3 courses the Monday after a Champions tour event. They were ridiculous
 
Not a tips guy (let alone a championship tees guy) so that obviously makes a massive difference too. I'm obviously just thinking more about the difficulty of driving ACCURACY and the challenge of hitting and holding greens.

The rough at baltusrol was unreal. This is end of August not around any sort of major event and there were times you couldn't get a 7 iron on a ball 5 feet off the fairway. And when you walked up to it, you knew you were in trouble.

Bethpage was a little different. The ball sat up a little more most of the time, so you'd think you had a decent chance to get more club on it. But then the clubhead would just get absolutely eaten up in the downswing. It was just so thick.
 
To be clear, I'm not advising anybody play the tips unless you're a professional or you're required to for some reason. It's just masochistic otherwise. For the average player, I don't think they should be playing anything over 6k yards. This was just a unique circumstance to basically play the exact same layout and distance that one of the world's best players found to be challenging just two days prior so it was a rare opportunity to directly compare myself with what we see on TV.
 
Booked Ka’anapali Royal for Dec 23rd.

Debating a second course still, but seems like I should decide on what to do with my clubs first lol.

Changed this to Kapalua The Bay course to get something closer to the ocean. Ended up deciding against shipping/taking my own clubs and rented some Titleist clubs. MUCH EXCITE
 
To be clear, I'm not advising anybody play the tips unless you're a professional or you're required to for some reason. It's just masochistic otherwise. For the average player, I don't think they should be playing anything over 6k yards. This was just a unique circumstance to basically play the exact same layout and distance that one of the world's best players found to be challenging just two days prior so it was a rare opportunity to directly compare myself with what we see on TV.
You have the game to play the tips. I like playing different tees. My group now mostly plays whites. Course is still challenging. Not a huge difference to blues. Maybe layup on more par 5’s, fewer GIR and relying on short game. Haven’t dabbled with tips yet but will try this summer. This weekend I’ll miss our annual red tee classic for Christmas charity. Funny - guys think they would shoot lights out from reds and they don’t. Still comes down to chipping/putting
 
i'm old and fat now - whites (6100-6400) is just fine for me now. II can stretch to 6600ish

I did play the tips 7000 at my course and probably played the best i ever did. Shot a 80 or 81..... which is equivalent to a 75 index wise.

I just don't have the length anymore with my woods. Especially off the deck.

Irons still close to my same distance so thats something
 
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If the course isn't too difficult I'm willing to stretch it to around 6500 yards (typically the Blues). Otherwise I'm perfectly content to play from the whites and consider my manhood not threatened.
 
this time next week I'll be slamming down a few drinks in the united lounge waiting to board my flight for palm springs. Land at 10am and my buddy should hopefully already have our TURO so we can jet to a course and play. I'm hesitant to book a tee time until we know both our flights will be on time so that we don't get screwed but as of now the plan is to play the Classic Club around 1130. The other option is to play one of the pga west courses and hope that the courses aren't packed and play near a 4 hour round to beat the sun. First world problems
 
If the course isn't too difficult I'm willing to stretch it to around 6500 yards (typically the Blues). Otherwise I'm perfectly content to play from the whites and consider my manhood not threatened.

agreed. My home course is about 6400 from the blue tees but plays longer (our greens keeper BADLY over-waters the fairways because he's terrified of them burning out, so we get NO roll. Plus nearly all the greens are either raised or have very soft collection areas in front....so its all carry). Its a fair challenge, but you get punished if you can't drive the ball reasonably well (which I didnt do this year)

But when I was down in Hilton head in October.....the tees I played from were all in the 6-6200 range. There really weren't 6400 options (it basically went from 6200 to like 6700 at the courses we played) and with my driver game a mess, I decided to go down rather than up. Even though I still mostly stunk, it was a good decision. It was also sort of fun to not have to hit driver off basically every tee like I do at home. The 3 wood and hybrids got a much-needed workout.

My brother (who is very long and around a 5 index) played the same tees and didnt feel like he was over-powering the course.
 
If the course isn't too difficult I'm willing to stretch it to around 6500 yards (typically the Blues). Otherwise I'm perfectly content to play from the whites and consider my manhood not threatened.
Absolutely. And anybody who criticizes you for that hasn't played enough golf to get it. The game is hard enough without having to go driver-hybrid just to have a chance at a GIR. Plus, the handicap system accounts for the difference in boxes anyway so it's still plenty fair.
 
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My philosophy has evolved greatly in the last couple years. I have started telling my friends (most of them a generation younger) that "150 in is the same distance for everybody".

The point being that there's way more to the game than distance off the tee. If you regularly play Blue tees but then play with someone that hits from Black, should you feel pressure to move back there? I don't think so. So it's the same thing when discussing White vs Blue.

If you're all playing your second shot from approximately the same distance IN then you're group is all playing from the correct tees, IMO.

This assumes you're playing casual golf I suppose. If you're playing league or tournament stuff I'd guess then handicap comes into play - but I've never done that so I'm not certain.

I'm in the "golf for fun with friends" camp so my expectations and "rules" are as such. I just have less fun if I have to hit driver then three wood all day long.
 
My home course I tend to play the whites with my friends who are higher handicaps because it's easier out of the cart that way, if we are walking and there is no wait then I'll play the blues but that's very rare. I'm by no means a long hitter with my driver but the blues take most of the fairway bunkers out of play for me whereas the white's put them in my landing zone on a lot of holes which gets in my head. When I play from the blues with my lower handicap friends the rounds are just as enjoyable and frustrating so it really is half a dozen of one and six of another. or whatever that stupid saying is.
 
My philosophy has evolved greatly in the last couple years. I have started telling my friends (most of them a generation younger) that "150 in is the same distance for everybody".

The point being that there's way more to the game than distance off the tee. If you regularly play Blue tees but then play with someone that hits from Black, should you feel pressure to move back there? I don't think so. So it's the same thing when discussing White vs Blue.

If you're all playing your second shot from approximately the same distance IN then you're group is all playing from the correct tees, IMO.

This assumes you're playing casual golf I suppose. If you're playing league or tournament stuff I'd guess then handicap comes into play - but I've never done that so I'm not certain.

I'm in the "golf for fun with friends" camp so my expectations and "rules" are as such.
I'm also a huge proponent of, for those with the distance, varying boxes. At my home course I'll pretty regularly play the blue/white combos, blue, blue/black combos, and black. The significant difference with the tips really only comes in to play on one par four where the tips are 75 yards back behind the blue and forces the player to hit to a much, much narrower landing zone as well as the par 3s just play longer. That said, there are two boxes where, for my natural shot shape, the tips actually set up better for a couple of the tee shots so it probably evens out.

Like Andy says here I'm basically playing to the same approach shot on most of the holes no matter the box (and it really doesn't matter if I get there by hitting driver or 5 iron). So, I've found that my scores really don't vary a whole lot per each box.

I think my only nuanced difference here with my personal preference is that I enjoy the comradery and banter of hitting from the same box as my opponent. So, I'll generally play whatever box my playing partner(s) want (like I did with my BIL last week even though it meant a beating).
 
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If the course isn't too difficult I'm willing to stretch it to around 6500 yards (typically the Blues). Otherwise I'm perfectly content to play from the whites and consider my manhood not threatened.
Absolutely. And anybody who criticizes you for that hasn't played enough golf to get it. The game is hard enough without having to go driver-hybrid just to have a chance at a GIR. Plus, the handicap system accounts for the difference in boxes anyway so it's still plenty fair.


Kat Williams on playing form the tips. :lol:
 
If the course isn't too difficult I'm willing to stretch it to around 6500 yards (typically the Blues). Otherwise I'm perfectly content to play from the whites and consider my manhood not threatened.
Absolutely. And anybody who criticizes you for that hasn't played enough golf to get it. The game is hard enough without having to go driver-hybrid just to have a chance at a GIR. Plus, the handicap system accounts for the difference in boxes anyway so it's still plenty fair.


Kat Williams on playing form the tips. :lol:
:lol:
 
If the course isn't too difficult I'm willing to stretch it to around 6500 yards (typically the Blues). Otherwise I'm perfectly content to play from the whites and consider my manhood not threatened.
Absolutely. And anybody who criticizes you for that hasn't played enough golf to get it. The game is hard enough without having to go driver-hybrid just to have a chance at a GIR. Plus, the handicap system accounts for the difference in boxes anyway so it's still plenty fair.


Kat Williams on playing form the tips. :lol:
He's not wrong, but my only counterpoint is that occasionally in a handicapped game one does get an extra pop or two moving back!
 
also, I've turned into that person that shadow sequences his swing. I find myself doing it through out the day where I put my trail hand in front of my lead hand and go through my swing. It's really helped me remember to bring the club back first and then turn and then to start my down swing by forcing my weight into the ground which lets my arms drop naturally before firing through while I maintain wrist bend for lag :nerd:
 
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Also I see too many people play back because they "hit the ball far"

Yet every hole I see you guys looking for balls, topping a bunch, etc

You can't never hit bad shots from those tees, we are not pros. But that should be the occasional not every time.

Idc if you want to play up or whatever none of it bothers me. Only the 20 hcps that think "we have to play back"
 
this time next week I'll be slamming down a few drinks in the united lounge waiting to board my flight for palm springs. Land at 10am and my buddy should hopefully already have our TURO so we can jet to a course and play. I'm hesitant to book a tee time until we know both our flights will be on time so that we don't get screwed but as of now the plan is to play the Classic Club around 1130. The other option is to play one of the pga west courses and hope that the courses aren't packed and play near a 4 hour round to beat the sun. First world problems
Report back on the Classic Club. We’ve been going to Palm Springs for 20+ years. 24 guy Ryder Cup type tourneys. Played at Classic Club one time. Fun layout. Water on 13 holes. Risk is it’s near the 10 freeway which is a wind tunnel some days. We are playing Stadium course this year and excited because it’s after the renovation. If you are looking for another course I highly recommend Desert Willow. Great hospitality. 2 courses. Firecliff just opened after renovations. Beautiful.
 
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In Texas we go red white blue black generally. Some places have a farther back than that 5th box. With that in mind:

I definitely score better from the whites, hitting a 3H every time, than I do from the blues with a full bag. The difference is that I have some longer irons in or even a few holes of 3h back to back, and that I can't reach any of the par 5s in two. Using driver could help me on those, but my problem at blues isn't distance, it's accurate distance. The driver is just far and away my worst club. I'm getting better, and hopefully it's reliable by end of winter with the practice.

This absolutely kills me in the annual Ryder cup thing or with a group. Mainly because it's just not worth it to make the round take longer and be the only person hitting from a different box.

The strength of my game is definitely 150 in. Was looking at Arccos the other day and I have my goal set as 13 handicap. So it compares my rounds to the average 13. I am a 14.1. Over my last ten rounds:

I lose 2.7 strokes driving
I lose 2.9 on the approach (but when I look at it, it's IMO because I'm not as good on longer approaches past 150 or so...which mostly exist because of poor driving IMO)
I gain a stroke putting.
I'm not gaining or losing chipping.

Idk why the gained/loss don't add up to 1.1 lost but that's what the data tells me. Which fits pretty well with how I think of my own game.
 

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