the last two posts kinda sound like scenes from Harry Putter and the Philosopher's Golfballs.

I am going to be a fore caddie at a pro-am on saturday (waving read and green flags or something), hardly anyone you know will play (perhaps my fellow danes will be able to recognize some names), I will try to figure out the best players and post them if there are anyone at all interesting.

It will be been there, done that, got breakfast, lunch and a polo. Hopefully it will be nice weather.

I was asked about this today by a new player, and didn't have a good answer...

On Tuesday when I played, 2 of the guys I was paired with hit the ball in a bunker filled with water following the rain we've had the last few days. We saw the splash when they hit it in, so we know the ball was there. But with the depth of the puddle, and that you could not see in the water, the balls were lost. This was a casual round, so it didn't really matter, but my friend who is learning the rules wanted to know what the penalty would be in this case, and I could not think of a clear answer.

I know had the ball been found, a drop away from the casual water, still in the bunker, no closer to the hole is allowed without penalty. But what would be the penalty here for the lost ball?

You cannot lose a ball in casual water
Even in a bunker, if you know it's in the casual water, then you drop in the bunker no closer to the hole, no penalty.

I coach a HS golf team. There was lots of rain before the state tournament last year and this was an issue. Dropping in a soggy bunker is brutal. The ball would almost always plug, plus since you are usually dropping on the back side of the bunker you would get a downhill lie. You'd be lucky to have no relief in the bunker and have to drop outside the bunker with a one stroke penalty. I guess another strategy is to try to have the ball land on a severe downslope and roll closer to the hole a couple of times so you get to place it.

QUOTE=squeek12;12621572]I coach a HS golf team. There was lots of rain before the state tournament last year and this was an issue. Dropping in a soggy bunker is brutal. The ball would almost always plug, plus since you are usually dropping on the back side of the bunker you would get a downhill lie. You'd be lucky to have no relief in the bunker and have to drop outside the bunker with a one stroke penalty. I guess another strategy is to try to have the ball land on a severe downslope and roll closer to the hole a couple of times so you get to place it.[/QUOTE]

Yes, it's tough.
Remember, it's in play if it rolls forward off the downslope, but is not closer to the hole than it's original position.

PS. You cannot put spin on it!!

Is anyone here Rohit Bhasin? I played a pro-am today in India, and the pro in my group was Kunal Bhasin. After the round, he mentioned that his brother was a professional poker player. Things like this don't happen to me much living in India!!

My game is really starting to come together lately. I put together 3 solid rounds of golf this weekend, all in the low 80s. Handicap is coming back down and golf is getting a little more enjoyable. I am starting to think again that I actually have a chance of getting to a single digit handicap this year. 11.3 atm.

Played Bethpage Yellow yesterday. Could not hit my driver off the tee. Absolutely miserable. Granted it was a new driver (Ping Rapture V2), I think I like my Callaway Ft-i Prolaunch Blue better.

Iron play was decent, definitely hitting alot more greens in regulation. Was able to par 3 of the last 4 holes. The key to those pars was that my drives were in the fairway. granted it was a fade-slice, it was still in the fairway.

Handicap 19

/rant over

visited pebble beach.
I have never bee to a famous golf course like that.

nice staff to all the visitors, even though many of them do not behave properly (maybe i'm a nit).

I saw the 1st hole, the 18th hole , and my favorite, par five 6th.

It was pretty relaxed there, you deffeinatly felt welcome, even if you were not here to spend $$$.

I was most impressed w/ the houses on the way there.
10,000 sq ft houses overlooking the ocean.

Couple questions. What kind of golfball should I use? I'm prob a ~18-20 handicapper. Drive the ball about 250-280 range normally, and am pretty happy with that. My misses are generally big fades, and the odd slice. So I'm guessing I don't want anything that would really exagerate that. Usually with a full iron shots the ball will stick, but don't usually get backspin. Hope that's enough info.


I was trying to sort the golfballs I've found this summer, and damn each brand has a lot of models. I have like 10 differnt kind of Nikes alone. No idea how to sort them.

in that handicap range the bridgestone e series would be good, top-flite gamers, nxts, srizon z-star.

I have some e5+'s, E6+'s, and NXT's so I guess I'll give them a try to start out.

The other day I played a course with houses running close to the right side of two holes on these holes you teed off inside a giant net about twenty feet high and thirty feet long.
I play a 11.5* driver and both my attempts to hit normal drives hit the ceiling net just at the end. Would others have had a problem with this or am I just hitting my driver too high?

i like the e7+...i was using NXTs and hitting sky high drives so i switched and i get a lower, more penetrating trajectory with the e7s.

I don't have any E7+'s unfortunatly.

I think if anything I need the opposite of you. My drives have been too low I think. Pretty sure I could get more distance with a higher trajectory, and would help when trying to cut across doglegs.

Of the balls I have kicking around my house. My options are.

Pro V1.
Pro V1x
NXT
NXT tour
Titelist DT Roll
Titelist DT Carry
Titelist DT So/Lo
Titelist HP2 Tour
Nike Oneblack
Nike One Platnum
Nike One Tour
Nike PD High
Nike JuicePlus
Nike SuperSoft
Callaway iTour
Callaway HX HotBite
Callaway Big Bertha
Callaway Big Bertha Diablo
Taylor Made TP/Black LDP
BridgeStone Tour B330
Bridgestone E5+
Bridgestone E6+


Then a whole bunch of random Pinnacle's, Top Flite's, Srixon's, Maxfli's, Slazenger's, Ultra's etc.. etc.. And of course some Noodles. Gonna take me a year to try them all out, and by then there will be a whole whack of new ones.

Looking for some recommendations.

I want to buy a new set of irons. But have no idea which ones to look for, hoping you guys can recommend me some.

Currently have a set of Ben Hogan Edge CFT irons. My handicap is currently 8, down from 18.6 a couple of months ago, and expect it to drop some more this year. Had my swing speed measured a couple of weeks ago, at 96 mph.

Wow that is a pretty anal neighborhood. Their is actually a net around the tee? What if you hit a big draw? Gross.

It is impossible to tell if you hit to high with those facts. I probably would hit it too at times, but I wouldn't say the height of my driver is a problem.

Heh, just bought a 983k in mint condition on ebay- with an aftermarket accra sc75 shaft. The guy got it as a present and never hit it, just let it sit in his garage. I wonder what this thing would have cost five years ago, $700? Got it for $79. It'll be nice to bench the 460cc burner and hit a smaller clubhead for a while.

That's quite a hc drop. Start by identifying what shafts you have on the hogans. Since you're improving so rapidly I wouldn't deviate too much from what you have. Find a set that have the same (or similar) shafts and then focus on clubhead asthetics- which is subjective.

How do I get a usga handicap or w/e ppl have. How does it work, I never really understood what happens, its beyond just your avg score isnt it?

I just tell ppl im a 5 handicap, but i really have no clue.

To get a legit USGA handicap, you either sign up though a club or join a "club without real estate". I get mine though my home course. GAM (Golf Ass'n of Michigan) runs it and it's convenient b/c you can post your scores online.

I've never bothered with the nuances, but it's basically your best 10 out of your last 20 scores. There's some additional math involved based on course rating and such:

To get an official usga handicap you probably have to register yourself with them for a small yearly fee and that usually affords you the luxury of using their handicap calculator.
Personally, I use www.leaderboard.com to keep track of my handicap.

In essence, your handicap is the average of the best 10 of your last 20 rounds in relation to par. Par in this case is subjective as it may vary slightly or a lot depending on the difficulty of the course(s) you play. In a general sense, a 5 handicap should shoot about 5 over par, however you have to take into account that his 5 is calculated from his best recent efforts.

brag: solid handicap improvement in the last 4 months.

nice one

Thanks, but it's just variance. I oscillate in the 7-10 range depending on how much I play and how much my putting sucks at any given time.

Incidentally S2BG, the 7.9 is my USGA index, which gives me a different handicap on different courses. At my home course, based on the course rating or slope (I forget which, I think it's the slope) I get 9 shots. At other courses I've played I've gotten as few as 7 and as many as 12.