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thebushcommander posted:Yeah just read an article on it (yay google) - I don't blame them really, they own too much poo poo and expected Taylormade to pickup the loss from Adams. I didn't even know they owned Ashworth. The first quarter sales loss is pretty staggering though. One article suggested that most of their profit comes from the US as apparently the United States accounts for 50% of the golfers in the world and the numbers of players is on a steady decline. Estimated 30 million amateur golfers in 2000 and around 23 million now. Ive been saying it for years, golf has just become too unaffordable to the average person. It costs more to buy a golf membership and the occasional club/bag than it does to play hockey now and golf season only lasts for 6 months.
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May 4, 2016 16:45
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Furnaceface posted:Ive been saying it for years, golf has just become too unaffordable to the average person. It costs more to buy a golf membership and the occasional club/bag than it does to play hockey now and golf season only lasts for 6 months. Yeah that's been hurting growth, and pace of goddamn play is strangling the current players. The best thing any course out there could do is have a dedicated rear end in a top hat as their ranger. Holy gently caress i cannot stand slow play.
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May 4, 2016 16:49
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I think it's no coincidence that I've been golfing less the last year or so and golf sales have gone down. I don't have to be a statistician to tell you that this correlation is the root cause. I'd be happy to get back into golf for the low price of $10 million.
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May 4, 2016 17:26
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DJExile posted:Yeah that's been hurting growth, and pace of goddamn play is strangling the current players. The best thing any course out there could do is have a dedicated rear end in a top hat as their ranger. Holy gently caress i cannot stand slow play. Pace of play is my big problem and is mostly why I haven't been getting out as much. A couple weeks ago I left after 13 holes because it had already been 4 hours and I had poo poo to do. On my way back to the clubhouse holes 17 and 18 were completely empty.
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May 4, 2016 20:14
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Speaking of spending too much money on golf, I'm starting up planning for my annual September trip to Orlando, and am looking for opinions on some new courses. I've come up with some courses that look good, and have decent ratings on yelp or elsewhere, but I'd like opinions from anyone that has actually played them (mattfl, I'm looking at you, mostly): Harmony Golf Preserve Hunter's Creek Rio Pinar Grande Vista GC Orange County - Legends Waldorf Astoria Courses also in the mix that I've already played: Falcon's Fire Disney courses Royal St Cloud OC National Grand Cypress New Course
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May 4, 2016 22:53
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I played the Waldorf a few years ago and liked it. Very well-kept.
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May 5, 2016 01:50
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UnionCarbide posted:Speaking of spending too much money on golf, I'm starting up planning for my annual September trip to Orlando, and am looking for opinions on some new courses. I've come up with some courses that look good, and have decent ratings on yelp or elsewhere, but I'd like opinions from anyone that has actually played them (mattfl, I'm looking at you, mostly): Hi! Gimme a budget and where you're staying and how far you're willing to drive and I'll throw out some recommendations! I'm actually on my way out to a tee time right now so I'll try and reply later tonight or tomorrow. 
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May 5, 2016 18:07
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I still like the idea of 18 hole courses broken out into three six hole sections. I trolled out early to play 9 on Tuesday and would have been fine just playing 6 in an hour and then jamming to work.......also sometimes you have time 9 or 12 but not 18 especially in early morning and late evening. Quit stuffing out players at 8 minute intervals (I think our L.A. guys can attest 8 min happens). Quit making the 7-11am tee times too expensive (rendering them empty) until 11-1pm when everyone shoes up and stacks up on every hole requiring 4 perfect tee shots, 4 perfect approaches and no 4 putts to maintain pace. Quit making enormous difficult greens running at 12+ would also make things move faster. Old course layouts also are extremely walkable and don't take 500,000 acres of land with 300 yards between holes. Golf is for golf not for some R.E. developer to sell houses. Finally, create a time machine and go back to the R&A in 1891 and make the fuckin' hole 6 inches instead of 4.25. Keyser_Soze fucked around with this message at 18:29 on May 5, 2016 |
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May 5, 2016 18:24
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Keyser S0ze posted:Finally, create a time machine and go back to the R&A in 1891 and make the fuckin' hole 6 inches instead of 4.25. Imagine how much fun the USGA would have protecting par then! Also the most relevant quote from the Adidas story: "It will keep Adidas-branded golf shoes"
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May 5, 2016 18:56
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DJExile posted:Yeah that's been hurting growth, and pace of goddamn play is strangling the current players. The best thing any course out there could do is have a dedicated rear end in a top hat as their ranger. Holy gently caress i cannot stand slow play. Unfortunately, the lower the cost to play golf the slower the pace of play will be. New players that can get into the sport for reasonable monies spent will slow it down for all of us that never left and the guys that could no longer afford $50 dollars for a dozen Pro-V1's because they lost them all in a single round will be back out in force as well shanking balls into my shins. I agree that golf is more expensive that almost any another other sport and constantly making GBS threads out "side-grade" equipment is choking the industry, but It can't get too cheap, the up keep on even poo poo courses is pretty astounding. Keyser S0ze posted:Golf is for golf not for some R.E. developer to sell houses. Unfortunately this isn't really the case anymore and probably won't ever be again. No one just builds a golf course in the middle of no where with nothing around. Any new golf course built in the last ~20 years was built on the sole purpose of having houses line the fairways and then up selling course memberships and amenities to home buyers. Stand alone courses in the middle of no where have had to recoup costs with player decline and competition which then leads to them adding houses to an already established course. Or if you're the 1 cheap public course in Charlotte, NC you drive the cost up higher and higher each year and lower your standards of course management and care till you eventually get exactly what you wanted and that is for a developer to come in and buy the entire course property from you for 10-20 million so they can build a strip mall and some townhouses. Most country club/golf course neighborhoods around here take a portion of HOA dues for the course even if you're not a member too so they get paid either way just by having their name on the sign at the entrance. thebushcommander fucked around with this message at 19:18 on May 5, 2016 |
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May 5, 2016 19:08
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I live in Norcal not the Southeast. I'm lucky as even the 3 courses nearby in Sun City old fogie places have half their courses significantly away from the houses and not horribly obnoxious. These two are by me both under 20 yrs old, granted they may have some houses someday - but just ranches and/or parkland for now. http://www.ridgegc.com/ http://www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/Turkey-Creek-Golf-Club/Golf This one has some houses but very much off the course FTMP. http://www.darkhorsegolf.com/ This one is the full (sort of) private SELL GOLF VIEW LOTS TO BAY AREA DOUCHES MAKE $$$$$$$$$$ http://www.winchestercountryclub.com/
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May 5, 2016 19:37
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thebushcommander posted:Unfortunately, the lower the cost to play golf the slower the pace of play will be. New players that can get into the sport for reasonable monies spent will slow it down for all of us that never left and the guys that could no longer afford $50 dollars for a dozen Pro-V1's because they lost them all in a single round will be back out in force as well shanking balls into my shins. Is this a Phil Mickelson quote? Or are you genuinely more interested in letting golf die a slow strangulating death just to maintain some kind of perceived image for playing the game? Ill just use my course as an example of why this thought process is actually more harmful: 6 years ago - ~900 members paying $1300 for their memberships (plus cart passes etc.. for those that wanted them) This year - ~300 members paying $2000 for their memberships, cart passes now mandatory for members Even factoring in mandatory cart passes youre making half the money from 6 years ago and the course is loving dead. They now rely heavily on websites like Golf Now, setting up deals with other courses and twilight deals just to break even. This is not a unique story. Its every course in central Ontario. Those ball losing, shanking, 120+ score players are absolutely vital to keeping the sport alive.
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May 5, 2016 19:50
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I don't mind lovely players out on the course. We all had to learn at some point. I just want people playing "ready golf".
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May 5, 2016 20:31
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DJExile posted:I don't mind lovely players out on the course. We all had to learn at some point. I just want people playing "ready golf". Oh that I can fully support. Its also where a marshal comes in handy, but they say they cant afford them because memberships are down. Vicious cycle. 
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May 5, 2016 20:45
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Furnaceface posted:Oh that I can fully support. Its also where a marshal comes in handy, but they say they cant afford them because memberships are down. Vicious cycle. Well and I'm sure marshalls don't want to be too much of assholes because they want to make sure people come back
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May 5, 2016 20:50
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Grittykitty posted:Pace of play is my big problem and is mostly why I haven't been getting out as much. A couple weeks ago I left after 13 holes because it had already been 4 hours and I had poo poo to do. On my way back to the clubhouse holes 17 and 18 were completely empty. I have a couple rants about a round I just finished. Full disclosure, we played in 3:45 as a threesome. The local high schools play the course on weekdays for league stuff and whatnot. We teed off behind 7 groups of mini-Speiths. We knew going in that it would be slow and to their coaches credit they came up to us and said they would try and speed them up. We were the first group out after the kids and the starter let us know what was going on so that's totally fine but goddamn they're slow. There was a twosome behind us, the motherfuckers hit into us on 1! loving 1! We had just putted out and the way the course is routed you have to walk off the front of the green to get to the tee box on two. Stuck the flag back in the hole and three seconds later a ball is coming at us. Bear in mind the aforementioned kids were waiting on the second tee box so it wasn't like we were holding anything up... on 1! We make the turn, the kids only play 9 so it's an open course for us at this point, time to rock and roll. The motherfuckers hit into us again on 10! We were putting out, flagstick is on the ground and its a slightly elevated green, impossible not to see someone on the green from the fairway. Lo and behold here comes a ball up onto the green. I get that it's twilight and it's still going to be close to finish 18 after slogging behind the kids but you can bet your rear end I'm not going to let you play through after you hit into me twice. Fucker was lucky we let his ball lie. My buddy was ready to go kill him. This poo poo drives me crazy. We've all wanted to hit into someone out of frustration, and a lot of us have done it on accident, but I just can't tolerate stupid poo poo like I saw today. 1 and 10 for fucks sake.
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May 6, 2016 01:28
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Hitting into people is such a stupid thing to do, there really isn't anything else in golf that compares. If somebody hit into me more than once, there's no way I let that slide. At the very least I'd pick up their ball and toss it in the nearest pond or woods. Then again, I've read stories of people pulling guns or clubs on other people on the course which is scary. It's a loving game, I can't understand how some people can get so angry over things like that. Also, dealing with high school teams year round must suck. In these parts they only have practice/matches in the fall.
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May 6, 2016 01:41
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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When someone hits into me, I pick their ball up and throw it into the woods.
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May 6, 2016 01:46
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daslog posted:When someone hits into me, I pick their ball up and throw it into the woods. I got to play with the head grounds keeper last weekend and the group behind us hit onto the green while he was putting the flag in. I swear it took every fibre in his being to not grab the ball and drive it back at them. At the next tee block he said if he had his hole tools with him he would be moving every single hole after we putted out into the worst place he knows.  He was an absolute riot to play with and my dad said he might join us again this weekend when we play. I might bug him for some funny stories to share.
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May 6, 2016 01:57
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So I finally have the base of my "new to me" bag put together, super hyped and have had a lot of fun hitting these new toys. Getting back into the game after 17ish years after life got in the way of my golf. Here was the bag I had: D: Cobra Ti 9.5 Reg Flex 3w: Callaway War Bird Stainless Reg Flex 2i: Ping Eye2 BeCu Stiff Flex 3-SW: Palmer II Reg Flex (Basically Callaway Rip Offs) LW: Dynacast 64* Lob Wedge P: Odyssey Dual Force Rossie II Here is what I have now: D: Titleist 913D3 9.5 Stiff 3w: Kept the callaway as I love it. 2h: Ping i20 Stiff 3-PW: Titleist 714 CB X-Stiff 54 & 60: Cleveland 588 RTX P: Kept the Rossie for now, still feels good Managed to get this together for about $650AU, I will look at new fairway and putter at some point but the 3 wood is still so consistent I'd have a hard time dropping it. I really love these irons especially though even though forgiveness is low when you hit them right and get some shape on the shot they just go and feel amazing. The 2h is more of an experiment replacing my 2i when I was playing regularly hybrids hadn't really come along, you might see a cobra baffler or TM rescue occasionally, I hit it about the same as my 3 wood which makes me thing that for gapping down the line maybe a stronger lofted 3 might be the go. Been hitting the range a few times a week and have been striking the ball pretty well, a few duffs, shanks and horrible slices but that was always going to happen getting back into it after so long, going to start playing some local courses with my old man over the next few weeks and see which we prefer so we can join up, then it's back into serious play and regaining my handicap. Dimebag fucked around with this message at 09:47 on May 6, 2016 |
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May 6, 2016 09:12
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mattfl posted:Hi! Not 100% sure exactly where I'm staying yet, not booking the hotel/vrbo/whatever until july, as some members of my golf club might be coming along. It will likely be in the crescent of resorts/housing developments between Windsor Hills and Grand Cypress Villas. Basically within 15 minutes of WDW's main gate. My longest drive last year was to Royal St Cloud at 40 min. I'm comfortable driving up to 60 minutes, but would prefer less. I'm also going to be playing dawn patrol tee times so I can go to WDW in the afternoons, if that affects anything about play at any courses you suggest. If members of the club are coming, I'm not sure what their budget will be, but probably a $90 cap for one or two rounds is fine. Personally I'll pay up to $150 if I'm going solo. Most of the rounds I played last year were $20-60, with Grand Cypress New Course being the most expensive at $80ish.
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May 7, 2016 00:40
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UnionCarbide posted:Not 100% sure exactly where I'm staying yet, not booking the hotel/vrbo/whatever until july, as some members of my golf club might be coming along. It will likely be in the crescent of resorts/housing developments between Windsor Hills and Grand Cypress Villas. Basically within 15 minutes of WDW's main gate. My longest drive last year was to Royal St Cloud at 40 min. I'm comfortable driving up to 60 minutes, but would prefer less. Ok let's see what I can come up with. Let's get you on some courses with some elevation changes. RedTail -> http://www.redtailclub.com/golf-club-florida.html Awesome course, always in excellent condition and it's a very challenging course. 18 is an awesome finishing hole. You can take 429 just about all the way there now as they've extended and opened some new parts of it. Should take you less than an hour to get there. Can be kinda hard to get out early on a weekend but if you're here during the week you shouldn't have an issue. Shouldn't be more than $40-60 to play. So here's the thing, 5 minutes from RedTail there are 2 other excellent courses. Eagle Dunes and Black Bear. I just played Eagle yesterday and it's in great shape, lots of elevation changes and the course is wide open. Black Bear also has a lot of elevation changes and a good number of their greens are elevated making it a pretty difficult overall course. Both of those you can play for $30 or less, I paid $20 to play Eagle yesterday at 3pm. I would say definitely try and hit at least one of those courses. My order would be Redtail - Eagle Dunes - Black Bear Of the courses you listed already, I've only played Orange County Legends. It was just ok to me, wasn't really all that impressed with it. I've heard Waldorf is always in perfect condition but it's gonna be the priciest course you'll play. This is a review someone just left for Harmony - The course is in fairly decent shape considering it will be closing for 5 months after mother's day. The greens are brown but roll very true and extremely fast. It was very hard to get acclimated to the greens So it sounds like it might be closed when you are here. Pass on Hunters Creek, it's garbage. I don't know if Celebration Golf club is included in your Disney courses, but, Celebration Golf club is a really great course. Always in pristine shape and a great track. You can't go wrong with either of the OCN courses. You NEED to play Mission Inn El Campeon - http://www.missioninnresort.com/golf/el-campeon-golf-course.html One of my favorite courses that I play as much as I can. Don't bother with the other course there Las Colinas, it's not worth the drive out there. So my list is in order of courses you should play. Mission Inn - El Campeon Redtail Celebration Golf Club Bella Collina OCN Crooked Cat( I like it better than Panther Lake) Eagle Dunes Black Bear So I haven't played Bella Collina yet, but I've heard it is pretty amazing. So there ya go, again I'm available if a 4th is needed
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May 7, 2016 01:44
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Zac Blair got himself disqualified yesterday because he bonked himself in the head with his putter bending the shaft and then putted out with it.
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May 7, 2016 21:16
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Bought a load of new clubs, then I earned myself a muscle spasm in my upper back / neck on hole 8 Saturday. Managed to finish the nine because I was one-under. Got a painkiller and muscle relaxers, so I'm going to try to take it easy. I was supposed to play in a scramble Saturday, but we will see. It's a cruel game in more ways than one.
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May 9, 2016 14:02
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I cannot stop laughing at this silly thing. Why Amateurs shouldn't have protracer https://www.instagram.com/p/BFJFntFM2My/
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May 10, 2016 14:32
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Farking Bastage posted:I cannot stop laughing at this silly thing. Why Amateurs shouldn't have protracer hahahahaha that's great
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May 10, 2016 15:18
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That is amazing
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May 10, 2016 15:46
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Shrapnig posted:Zac Blair got himself disqualified yesterday because he bonked himself in the head with his putter bending the shaft and then putted out with it. He hit himself pretty drat hard too and the club was clearly bent, so his excuse of not realizing it was bent out of shape was almost certainly bull poo poo.
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May 10, 2016 18:40
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Farking Bastage posted:I cannot stop laughing at this silly thing. Why Amateurs shouldn't have protracer I don't remember signing the picture release for them to use footage of me
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May 10, 2016 20:09
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I was playing at the Municipal Course in Charleston, and I teed off of white tees on hole two. I hit it direct into the water in front of it, and tried again. Boom, over the treeline and onto the highway. Unfazed, I drive off once more. Drive is long, and straight into the second water trap. I decided to just drop a ball near it to keep this trail of tears rolling. Iron 3, and 80degrees to the left, into the last water. I didn't start crying, so I estimate that I'll never lose patience in golf, but I was thoroughly tested.
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May 10, 2016 20:30
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Vahakyla posted:I was playing at the Municipal Course in Charleston, and I teed off of white tees on hole two. I hit it direct into the water in front of it, and tried again. Boom, over the treeline and onto the highway. oh god I have been there  we all have
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May 10, 2016 20:44
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If you guys don't follow 1 Step to Better Golf on YouTube, you should, if not just for the schadenfreude https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn4elULzElA
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May 11, 2016 00:12
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EnsGDT posted:If you guys don't follow 1 Step to Better Golf on YouTube, you should, if not just for the schadenfreude This means that one day I can be a pro! *cough*
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May 11, 2016 02:42
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EnsGDT posted:If you guys don't follow 1 Step to Better Golf on YouTube, you should, if not just for the schadenfreude i needed this
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May 12, 2016 02:53
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I'm spoiled, I get so bored if the tourney coverage does not have shot tracer. I want it on every shot, give me it on putts and I will be as happy as can be.
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May 12, 2016 17:03
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My birthday present to myself this week was a Callaway XR 4wood from Callaway Pre-Owned. I ordered it in like-new, it was like $125 with a discount. It arrived today and it is brand new, still in the original shrink wrap. I'm excited to see if it works better for me than my current 3 wood which I don't even try to hit these days because it's almost never works out well.
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May 13, 2016 00:38
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Start of the season has been soul crushing. Practicing more but doing worse. Part of me just wants to take a week off just to let the frustration dissipate, part of me knows I'll just come back as bad as ever. When I hit a bad shot which is depressingly often I have no idea why or what to do better next time. Even been taking lessons but I am way worse now than I was before even with the swing faults I had. Golf.
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May 13, 2016 01:40
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Had a pretty decent round yesterday afternoon. That eagle on 7 was a chip in from about 30 yards out. Nice high 60 degree wedge that nailed inside the cup, bounced straight up the flag stick, hit the flag at the top of the bounce, landed a few inches from the hole and spun back in. It was pretty awesome My playing partner was on the green about 5 feet from the pin when it happened and he couldn't believe the whole sequence.
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May 13, 2016 12:13
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That's a fantastic front 9, goddamn. E: and grats on the eagle  I've come agonizingly close on some close shots like those.
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May 13, 2016 14:14
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I spent all last week tinkering with my work schedule trading and picking up shifts so I could have a 4 day weekend for golf. Its supposed to snow(!!!!) Saturday and Sunday and rain Monday. Ive used my new clubs twice in the last month because of weather loving up my days off. 
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May 13, 2016 15:47
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