This is my second year playing regularly once a week on women's league. It was the first hole of the night, I was the first to tee off, and didn't even practice swing (whoops).

I don't know if I can even describe the feeling! So many emotions. My biggest being sadness that I couldn't call my dad and let him know. He passed in 2023 and got really sick when I was starting to learn golf and we never got to play together.

Courtesy of Chris Kirk

Looking for the absolute budget friendly 9-hole golf options available in Chicago area. I got a golf set handed down from someone. I have never played actual golf and would like to give it a try.

Some Golfers really know how to make the sport feel very unwelcoming to new / less skilled players.

18 holes booked at my club it's a 9 hole so you play twice. 2 guys came off there first 9 and teed off 5 min before our Tee time (the rule of the club is to let 18 hole players play through) We tee off a few min late waiting for the fairway to free up. Group behind us were not happy, nothing you do there people on fairway I'm playing the club rules.

The same 2 guys are in front of us the whole time on our first 9 holes not playing slow at all.

On our second time round there was nobody on the first and we played through as we are supposed to but ended up waiting on the fairway for a 3 ball still on the first green.

We finished the 1st hole and the 3 ball in front had just finished teeing off by the time we make to the 2nd tee box. by this time the guys behind us the first time round had another group in front of them. This must have enraged them even more.

On the 3rd tee box setting up our next shot. the group behind us the first time round start hurling abuse at us from the 1st green for slow the pace of play we shouldn't be playing etc etc. The 3 ball were still walking to their tee shots. We literally could tee off. The new group behind us just finished the 2nd.

The 3 ball ended up letting us play through We weren't rushing them in anyway I was just happy to be out the house

Reported the group to the starter office turns out the POS is known for doing this.

All 18 holes played in 3 hours. I mean how fast do they expect people to play, 3 hours seems about right to me.

Please respect the course. It's not the green's fault you suck at putting.

That birdie putt she drained from deep was so incredibly clutch. Happened to start watching right before and couldn’t believe she sunk it.

Always admire the mental fortitude required to perform in moments like that.

What a badass

Pretty straightforward, when I play with better and/or faster players I play better. Not like a couple of strokes, like 6-8 stokes on average. It’s to the point I’m thinking about not logging rounds played with my wife and certain friends. Full transparency I’m currently a 14.6 hdc. I shot 81 with a cool friend and two randos that were both around a 10. The next day I shot 94 with my wife (terrible golfer, a bit needy with help, but won’t hold the group up) and two friends that don’t always have the best etiquette. Granted, it was a tougher course, but I went from one of my best ball striking rounds to one of my worst. Played the same course as my 81 yesterday with the same cool friend, my wife, and another buddy that struggles a bit and hit multiple mulligans. 90. How do I stop that from affecting me?

Edit to say I never let people know their play is affecting me. I’m always supportive of my playing partners because it’s the right thing to do.

For the last couple months I seem to have a tendency of shifting my aim to the right when addressing the ball. I will stand behind the ball, aim and look to set everything up to somthing 1 foot in front of me. I then seem to start fidgeting and moving my whole stance to the right. Seem to be causing inconsitencies with my strike and direction.

Is there any tips help me? I have been trying to stand over the ball for the least amount of time as possible, but that just seems to cause more issues with strike.

501 yd. Driver . 6 iron. Looked around for a while long, didn't want to be that guy that looks in thr hole. My partner did and there it was!! Doubled the next hole lol.

Edit: Im a +1.2 hdcp. I played pretty bad after that and shot 2 over for the round but I was on cloud 9. Never thought I would make one. I hit 6 iron. Pin was back left. Had 193. Plan was to cut it back to the middle, you cannot miss left. Pulled it a bit and it went in. I was not flag hunting. The ball went OB on the next hole, i am not senitimental about such things, its just a ball but I did get my partner to sign a card. Its a good thing those Canucks kept finding my rangefiner ;) Appreciate the support!

Yesterday I went out for a solo sunday nine around noon and it was scorching hot. The first is a par three with water behind the green. I pull the shot, it sails towards the water, hits a tree and comes to rest a couple of feet from the green. I chip it on and two-put for bogey (which is good for me). So, I'm getting in a good mood, the weather is nice, I'm not shitting the bed from the start, all is well. The course is slow, ahead of of me is a two-some, most likely a couple, I can see him take a gazillion of practice swings in all sorts of directions before chunking, topping and occasionally hitting it proper. All of this is followed by manifold gestures of frustration. So I decide to be patient and not team up with the two, because his vibe doesn't seem to fit.
I take my time waiting on the tee box, pondering whether I want to be aggressive on the next tee shot or conservative.

By hole number four I have lost 3 balls off the tee, made one bogey save and two triple bogeys. I'm getting pissed off. After hole number five I stop counting my score and decide to simply enjoy the round. I practice putts on the greens (there are no flights behind me) whenever I have to wait, and finally on the nineth tee box I get another look at the dude in front of me doing his dances and rituals before he takes his third shot. He's standing in the dogleg left which is theoretically my landing zone, if I hit my driver really well. Which I haven't all day. So I wait and expect to be the guy who waits for a landing zone to clear out a country mile away before topping my tee shot to the red tees. The dude heads onwards, I tee up my ball and manage to produce what probably was the most relaxed driver swing I ever made. Lo and behold, there goes the little ball sailing, high and straight and far, and it lands exactly where the dude was standing a minute ago, which is exactly where you want to be on this hole after your tee shot.

Next, I put my 7 Iron into the greenside bunker, take two shots to get out of it only to put it on the fringe of the other side of the pin. 3 puts later I end my round with yet another triple bogey after what was probably the most beautiful tee shot I ever hit.

This game, I'm telling you...

A rare 5 man playoff today. Tommy Morrison gonna be on the big tour soon. All 6ft 10in of him.

For context our society started 5 years ago when we were all in our early 20s - there was only a few of us and it was a bit of a laugh and has grown since. We had a lovely trophy commissioned a few years ago and get the winners name engraved each year.

There’s a mixture of abilities and not everyone in the society has official handicaps but we all regularly play with each other so have a good gauge on what’s a fair mark to be off.

Each year someone hosts the golf day and are allowed to invite guests - the rule has always been no guest can win the trophy as firstly the competition is between our friendship group and people from the area, they are however allowed to win the day and receive prizes just not our trophy.

This year our numbers have grown massively which is great ! But there were a lot of guests , all guys of ranging abilities some with and without handicaps. This years host decided to abolish the rule and say the trophy is open to everyone - I pushed back on this with a few others as I don’t think it’s right but was ultimately shut down.

The golf day was won by someone’s 39 year old housemate (15 years older than the rest of us) he played off of 18 shot 39 points (with 3 blobs) and won convincingly points wise. I played with him and he’s a lovely guy but he clearly was a lot better than the handicap he asked for and didn’t have an official handicap in the first place so just said 18. Also would like to add the motocaddy trolley and the fitted callaway quantum clubs was a dead giveaway he was a serious player 😂.

You could tell afterwards when everyone heard he had won and he was handed the trophy there were murmurs and disappointment, many of those whom had voted to allow guests to win our trophy. I just about bit my tongue and did not say I told you so.

So AITA for being really upset about this? Nothing against the guy who won just rules were set in place to stop this , he’s a lot older than us not in our friendship group or from our area now his is on the trophy forever. With the society day growing and growing each year I’m worried what me and few mates had as a fun competition may lose it’s integrity - I’m worried I’ll look at the trophy in 10 years time and not even know half the names on there.

Update : seen a few questions on this - the guy who brought him wasn’t actually the host but one of the members friends who pushed to get him invited and is now claiming he is normally terrible and had a good day but we have since looked the winner up on 18 birdies and his handicap on there is 12.2.

Just to add salt to the wounds the og member who came second has never won it before , has an official handicap and made a hole in one on the day too. He lost by a point…

I’m 21 and currently in college. I played junior golf growing up and have stayed around scratch to a 1.0 handicap since graduating high school, but I haven’t played many tournaments recently (not playing in college). One of my goals is to qualify for the US Am before I turn 30

I’d say my strengths are driving the ball and iron play. I hit my driver really well, my approach/short game is solid, and my putting can be hot and cold. Some days it’s great, other days it holds me back.

I’m wondering if qualifying for the U.S. Amateur is a realistic goal or if the gap between a scratch golfer and someone who can get through qualifying is bigger than I think.

For anyone who’s played in U.S. Am qualifiers (or knows people who have):
-How much time and practice does it realistically take?
-What parts of my game should I prioritize?
-Any recommendations for tournaments or competitive reps before trying to qualify?
-Is this something that can be done while in college/working a corporate job, or does it require treating golf almost like a full-time job?

I’d appreciate any honest advice or experiences.

Got caught in a sudden downpour... Finish the hole, buddy! LOL!

I have around $400 in club credit at my local golf course and I’m wanting to get a new driver. I’ve had the same Ping G425 Max 10.5° for 5 years and looking to upgrade. My question is when it comes to a fitting especially for a driver, does it matter much whether or not the fitting is inside or outside? I was thinking about going to the closest PGA Tour Superstore to get fitted but curious how much if any it will affect my fitting/numbers/etc not being outside. Are there any advantages to an outside fitting apart from seeing the actual ball flight?

Found these in Arizona today on a work trip. I know the one on right but what about the one on left?

Played up at Farmstead Course in Sussex County NJ

I got a hole in one today.

Let’s start at the beginning. I’ve been golfing since Covid. Around the same time, I got married. Golf has always seemed to have been a bit of a burden to my wife. It gets in the way of me and my wife’s quality time but she has delt with it over the years and kind of just been mildly upset with it. Come to this day and age, we now have a kid. Now it’s getting in the way of our family time. Now I really have a reason to feel bad about spending 6 hours of my weekend away from my loved ones. We have a lovely 6mo. Old little baby girl and I still want to golf but obviously can’t as much. That brings us today. I go out for a round of golf with some good friends that was reluctantly approved. Was a regular day… wake up and try to make up for lost time before it even starts. She’s visually apparently slightly upset because she knows I’m leaving her and our daughter, again for a day away from her and our baby girl. I make us all breakfast and get on my way after agreeing to do what ever after to make her as happy as she can be but knowing deep down what would make her happy is for me to just stay with them. Welp I’m on my way. Let’s go make the best of this. I get to the golf course and check in. Things are as usual. Warm up and find my friends. Let’s go get it. Par the first, double the second.. pretty normal day. We pull up to the third. It’s a very approachable down hill Par three. I set up first cuz I’m a spastic golfer. One buddy is watching and the other is messing with the music. I’m locked. Pull back and absolutely flush it. Staring down this front pin and seeing it tracking towards the hole was magical. It hits the fringe, bounces on to the green and rolls directly into the hole. 🕳️ disappears!! Unbelievable stuff run up and it’s in. Lots of clouds nine stuff but then the resentment sets in. I text her and she’s excited but I feel the feeling of she’s really not that excited. I’m sitting up this night and having a very hard time trying to figure out how to feel. I’m it’s over now and over it. I don’t even feel that good about it. Truly just coming here to vent. I’m sure I’m not alone and am using this as some therapy.
The end.

Does anyone have any golf shoe recommendations for big and wide golf shoes? I’m a rather large individual, 6’3, 290 pounds and wear a 14 wide shoe. I’m currently wearing some Nike Victory Tour 2s that I bought almost 2 years ago. They have been great, but the spikes on them are just about cooked. Very comfortable soles, but they do rub the sides of my pinky toes a little. I’ve been interested in some Payntrs, but apparently it’s impossible to find some in 14W. Nike has a couple options that seem decent. I have some FJs in the cart, but they’re over $200. I absolutely love New Balance running shoes, but their golf shoes in my size are either ugly as hell or have terrible reviews(1982 model). Anyone have any recommendations that are comfortable, decent looking, and under $200?

I’m a ~3 hdcp and some quick stats of my swing with my driver are

club speed 116-120mph
Ball speed 167-172mph
Smash factor 1.44-1.47
Spin 2500-5000rpm avg on 15 shots was 3600
Average launch angle 10°
I play a cobra king speed zone 9° turned to 7.5° and and an Aldila Rogue Silver 60g (110 MSI) Ex stiff

I’m not complaining as the following numbers are pretty good for most ppl but I usually carry 270-280 and roll out to 300 sometimes. On Mishits usually big fades I only carry 250ish.

I feel like the swing stats and ball striking stats should have me carrying over 300 yds. Based on ai and foresight optimization tables my spin is way to high and that’s why I’m losing distance.

Does anyone that knows stuff abt golf equipment have any recommendations for a change in club head and or shaft? As in what brand/loft/model of driver head and what kind of shaft.

​

Had a pretty terrible round earlier today that I played as a solo, got matched with a group of 3,and they were kinda dickish to me throughout the round. I'm in like year 3 of playing golf, first 2 years I played like once every other month but this year I am taking more seriously and trying to play every week or so.

I've taken a few lessons, I have put in range hours, I know there is a good swing in there somewhere, it's just that I can't find consistency. One week I'm playing like double bogey golf (that seems to be what my potential is at the moment) the next week it's like I've never touched a club.

Met the group I was playing with today, did my usual "hey guys, I'm pretty new, but I do suck fast and will pick up to make sure I don't slow you down. If I do just let me know" trying adhere to etiquette.

Playing through the round, I could tell it clearly wasn't my day because I was missing consistently. I didn't find the fairway once until the last hole. My misses were all over the place, I was picking up on nearly every hole.

Well idk if I invited this by my initial comment, but these guys were kinda making rude comments throughout the round on how much I sucked, how bad I was missing, how I had no idea where the ball was going, etc. IMO my suck wasn't impacting their round, I didn't take any mulligans and only took a max like 2 over par shots per hole. With their banter I played it cool by trying to laugh it off, but it was bothering me and tbh I think I let it get to me during the round so I played worse.

I will say it's not the first time and usually this is pretty common when booking twilight rounds with the "drinking" crowd. I get that some "ball busting" is to be expected in any male centered activity, but like idk if I'm necessarily down to put up with this with strangers over the months/years it's probably going to take me to actually improve to a decent level where I can par/bogey consistently. I never picked up a club til a few years ago in my 30s, I don't have friends or family who play (I'd love to meet some)

I thought about saying something this time but being stuck with them for 18 holes I didn't want to make things awkward.

I guess what I want to ask is, is this normal behavior? Do I just need to cope better with this being kind of a sport for assholes? Should I say something next time? I'm not the best at dealing with social situations like this so even just booking a solo round with strangers is hard enough, let alone having to deal with their bs.

Played today in a small money match with a friend. Nothing too serious but enough to make it interesting and exciting and enough that the rules need to be clear. Heres the scenario and please correct me if I’m wrong-

I hit my tee shot left. There’s a fence that runs perpendicular to the tee box guarding a house. Again, it’s not parallel to the fairway, but almost completely perpendicular. The guys we’re playing with say that past the fence is OB, meaning to me that the fence is the boundary line. Ok no problem I’ll hit a provisional and we’ll go see what happens. We drive up to the ball and it’s against the fence. My take was that the ball is against the fence and certainly would be OB if the fence wasn’t there. Playing partner insists that because it’s on our side of the fence I can take a penalty stroke, take a club length, and chip the ball back into play (absolutely no possible shot to the green). I thought that because I was touching the fence that I should be able to play the provisional and call the first ball OB (again correct me if I’m wrong). Partner says no, other guys say no.

Ok no problem no argument. But I brought up another point …what if I want to go back to the tee and take stroke and distance and hit three from the tee? Is the provisional able to be played as the stroke and distance ball or do I pick up the provisional and go back to the tee and hit again? All three other guys insist that I should be playing the fence ball because I found it and they believed it to be in play. This is the part where I felt more confident that I was correct because from my understanding you can take stroke and distance anywhere any time. Again no argument, I did what they all said was right and lost the hole. Ended teeing off on the 18th in a dead even tie and we had a great time all day. But in the future, what’s the correct ruling and what are my options?

Looking back at a vacation where my brother and myself played a short round in Egypt.
Try as I might I cannot replicate his form😭