18holeclub.com

One type of club that is catching on from pro to amateur is the hybrid.  Why all the fuss?  Well you may want to try one and see.  Nearly every golfer I know has a tough time with the long irons, especially from the rough.  The nice thing about the hybrid is that it is heavy on the head so it does not get stuck in the thick stuff and it has a nice smooth bottom which acts like the bounce on a wedge not allowing it to dig in the earth as easily.  Most have built in shot correction and higher launch angle so you get it up higher which in turn give you longer shots.  I have two in my bag now, Callaway’s Heavenwood 3 and 4 hybrid.  They gave me a consistency at the 200 yard range I had been needing for a long time.  I have yet to try the Callaway X or the FT hybrids but I hear great things about them.  Next time you are at a golf store give them a swing and see the difference.

Golf is big in Florida.  Sarasota is no stranger to full courses and fun in the sun.  One way to add to the weekly foursome get together is to join a league.  All of the local courses seam to have them in one way or another.  The nice thing about them is a discounted rate and you play different types of golf games.  Stroke is fine but add the handicap and it spices up a regular round.  How about a Stableford type system or even match play, yeah we see it all the time in the leagues.  Some play for money, others for glory but it adds one other thing you may not even think about, new golf friends.  You can never have enough golf friends for those times when you just have to play and no one in your normal foursome can play.  Ask the pro shop at your favorite courses about leagues they have playing on the course and go play!

Hi, my name is Marc P.  I started playing golf semi-seriously 7 years ago when I was invited to join a local league.  I had played once or twice a year for 15 or so years before that and considered to have a nice looking swing.  Decently athletic I figured I could take on and conquer the game of golf…boy was I wrong.  I started to play frequently and hit the range farely often and at first saw much success as I drove my scores from the 120’s down to the high 90’s low 100’s in roughly a years worth of play.  I had it figured I would be in the 80’s by the next year and I would never be farther from the truth.  Natural talent can only take you so far some times and I would stay at my level for the next 5 years.  I got to the point where I couldn’t handle it any more, I was going to quit.  That’s when I finally realized something, sometimes you need to see that you aren’t as good as you think you are.  I went to a swing coach who basically told me I was close but no cigar.  We made some changes and I have over the last year dipped my score to the low 90’s.  I broke 90 once so far and hope I can continue to improve with some more practice with the putter/short game.  It took me 6 years to figure out that you drive for show and you putt for dough.  Anyway if I have any wisdom to impart to all you golfers who struggle out there is this, you are never as good a golfer as you think, so go find a golf coach who can help you be as good as you think you are!

As I watched the Barclay’s tournament this past weekend I couldn’t help but think that it was history in the making, but something was missing.  Oh I remember, the best golfer of our time skipped the first tournament, Mr. Tiger Woods.  I’m guessing when they designed this format they figured everyone would play the final four tournaments…wrong.  I saw Ernie Els was skipping the next tournament to see off his kids to school…off to school?  So $10 million dollars doesn’t entice these guys as much as the PGA would like us to think.  To much money flows at the top of the respective sports any more.  It’s all business and barely any heart any more.  It used to be that you played for the glory of being called the best.  Oh well, guess Steve Stricker and K.J. Choi will have to battle it out for the Superbowl of golf…sounds like a winner to me. 

Tiger Woods has proved once again he is the best of our era, maybe even all time.  Just when we thought his baby girl would doom him from winning a major this year….whammo he smokes everyone at the PGA in Tulsa.  You could see it coming, winning the two previous tournaments (Isn’t that five at Firestone now) and how close he was in the first three (roughly 4 strokes from winning all four majors).  Johnson, Cabrera, and Harrington all had fluke wins and are keeping the inevitable just a little further off….18 majors and Jack moving to second place.  I know it is hard to match people from different eras but Tiger would certainly hold his own with the likes of Bobby Jones, Hagan, Palmer, or Nicklaus in my book.  Soon there will be no more discussions as he cruises on by and wins over 100 tournaments in his career.  Oh and the billion he will earn on the way isn’t bad either.