I found the spreadsheet and will get it posted when daughter takes a nap in a few hours. I have my actual stats from the entire Q School process that I will leave in the spreadsheet so you can see how it works.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I477BAFD

Let's see if this does anything...

Seems to me like that worked. I think it is pretty self explanatory but...these are my actual stats from the 4 stages of Q School in 2008. The FW and G column should be simple enough. The putts per GIR column needs the actual number of putts on the greens you hit in reg. The spreadsheet will then calculate the average. Scrambling column needs the number of times you saved par when you missed the green in reg. Ex. You miss 6 greens on the day and save par 4 times. Put a 4 in that column and it will calculate the number. Good and Bad is for commitment to shot and focus over shot...2nd scorecard I have detailed before. 3 putts is simply total number of 3 putts.

I am not a spreadsheet master so I don't know how to make the handicap average work without a little manual labor.

Finally, the bottom area is my "talent predictor". I put in what my goals are for each category and then the spreadsheet nets out goal vs. actual to give me my goal scoring average. It is a little estimated and heavily weighted to short game and mental game improvements. I am sure I could tweak it to give a number as you increase your GIR I just didn't take the time because there are a ton of assumptions when you start monkeying with that stat. I felt the scrambling, 3 putting and mental stats would be pretty accurate so I focused my energy on those categories. Also, with the new putts gained stats I am not sure I really think the putts/GIR is very relevant. I think it will show if it is a major leak but is not conclusive as to quality of putter you are.

More thoughts later but daughter just woke up....thank god mom will be home from Santa Fe in an hour!

Ship---this:awesome::grass:green

Google docs link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...thkey=CL_Q5PUN

http://www.sloansportsconference.com...olf-analytics/

Good stuff. I'll be sure to watch that when I get the chance.

I received a pm asking about the spreadsheet....so just to clarify the good and bad is for mental process and the outcome of the shot is irrelevant. Here's what I sent back.

The good and bad is for your thought process. Were you committed to the shot and completely focused during the execution. I am trying to find mental leaks from lack of focus and commitment. As for how do you decide....it is completely arbitrary. I try to be pretty tough on grading that as it is imperative to be mentally strong to play on the PGA Tour. Feel free to be more lenient and then as you improve take it up a notch.

Make sense?

Yeah I definitely understood where you were coming from with that. That's a very good explanation.

So my roommate and I went out to walk 18 at a course about 20 minutes away in PA since the twilight rate is only $18 on weekdays. We didn't get the chance to play the second nine because there was some beer league shotgunning off the back at 5 and we teed off around 3:45 so we just had to play the front side twice. Well, we get to the first hole for the second time and he hits his drive in a fairway bunker off the right side. I step up and proceed to push one right at the same bunker, and while my ball is in the air he says "Uh, I think there's someone in that bunker." There weren't any carts on the hole, but I did see a dark figure moving around so I was kind of like "uhhhhhhh." Well, after my ball lands in there a pretty big black dog ends up hopping out of the bunker and laying down on top of the mound on the other side of it. Walking up to our balls, we talked nice to it and I made a sarcastic comment about "don't attack us" since apparently a kid I went to High School with semi-recently got attacked by a pit bull (in the face I believe) and I heard he was going to have to get plastic surgery. Anyway, the dog ends up laying its head down on the grass and was looking at us with standard puppy eyes so we figured it seemed pretty friendly. Our balls ended up about three inches from each other and his was the furthest left so he went in to hit first. Lo and behold, the dog leaps up and starts going ape **** and chases him a good 60 yards down the fairway until it ran out of steam. He was ****ing hauling ass and it didn't look like this dog was going to give up, but it eventually did and went to lay down about 40 yards behind the bunker before heading back through the post-fence from which it came I guess. We both had clubs in our hands at the time so he had a method of defense if it was going to make an attempt at biting him, but if it had been me in there I'm not sure I would have been able to out-run the thing which probably wouldn't have been a good thing for the pooch. It had a collar and everything, but it kind of pissed me off that it wasn't tied up, especially if you live on a golf course and it's going to flat out go after someone like that. It was easily the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen on a golf course in my life (second to an alligator eating a turtle whole I suppose).

Hah - that's one to remember.

I was playing with a friend who is even worse than me (he shoots like 135) and we were about to hit our approach shots with 7i or 9i or something and we look to the green and a large dog is just laying on the green soaking in some rays. Nobody was really around so we kind of yelled and barked at it from afar but it didn't budge so I told my friend to go ahead and hit as he likely isn't hitting the green anyway. So he then of course hits an amazing shot like 10 feet from the hole and the dog starts playing with the ball, batting it around the green and chewing it and dropping it. We start laughing and since we saw where it settled it was no big deal to just drop it there. So I hit mine and skull it and it settles in the thick stuff next to the green. The dog drops his ball, trots over to mine, puts it in his mouth and just trots over the hill and took off. We were cracking up and hopped in the cart and drove up there and got to the edge of the green and looked down to the valley (fairway of another hole) and the dog was really far away already just trotting perpendicular across a fairway. Funniest damn thing I've seen so far on the course.

Wow, dogs on the course attacking you and stealing your ball? That sucks.

I got a good adrenaline rush a week or two ago, getting full-on dive-bombed by a goose on the 18th hole. The bastard came at me twice as I straight armed it to protect my face.

Once, my brother and I started playing 9 shortly before sunset, and as we were walking down the first fairway I hear him say, "Why are there cows?" ...Yep. Just across the creek, about 30 head of cattle were wandering down the 9th fairway. I guess they had gotten out of a ranch that is located next to the course and had wandered across hole 7, across the green of hole 8, doing a number on the turf there (not pretty) and had made it down hole 9. Just then a couple greenskeepers came and tried to round them up away from the fairways and greens and they got them out of there, but I can't say I've ever seen that sight before.

Also the range I go to has 3 stray dogs that live on the premises and the workers feed them and stuff but you can tell they are a bit malnourished and pretty sad looking.

A couple times I've been there in the evening and 1 of the dogs will follow out the ball collector out onto the range. There are never more than about 6-8 people there. But the dog trots way out there and just kinda follows the guy around way out there 200+ yards away. I hooked a screaming liner once that landed maybe 15 feet to his left a couple hundred yards away once.

Another night I saw the dog trotting off the range (but toward the tees) and I looked at the guy down at the left end who was addressing his iron and had his head down ready to hit. The dog was probably 40 yards in front of him and I was about to yell but figured the guy either already saw the dog approaching or didn't and would hit a nice lofted shot anyway (I had noticed he had consistent loft) and since he was about to start his swing I just watched and sure enough he catches it thin and smacks it about 4 feet off the ground directly over this dog's head. I could tell by the guy's reaction he had no idea a dog was directly in front of him. These dogs also lay on the putting green sometimes. Municipal golf courses ftl. I love dogs and I hope I never see that fella get hit. AFAIK the other 2 dogs don't go out on the range. They typically just kinda lay around by the main building/putting green.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the dog that went crazy on my friend might have been laying in the bunker when we both proceeded to hit our balls into it which could have been a reason behind its getting pissed off. I don't know if we might have hit it, but it seems like for it to have that much energy we probably couldn't have.

This reminds me of the Sandlot so much. He was probably just being territorial about "his new acquisitions".

Any suggestions for a pull/push cart? My old one (the cheapest Intech one available on Amazon) broke after I threw a 9-iron at it. (Note to self: don't do that again.) And it was too small, anyway. I have a Top Flite carry/stand bag and it was a little too big to comfortably fit--the bottom of the bad would slide off the bottom of the cart once a round or so, and it would twist underneath the straps as soon as I attached the bag to the cart.

I would prefer not to spend a ton of money (preferably under $100), but I want something decent as I walk 90+% of my rounds and hate carrying my own clubs. Basically I just need to make sure I get something that will fit my bag comfortably. I don't care if it's a pull cart or push cart.

Golfsmith currently has a $60 off special on one of their push carts that gets very good reviews:
http://www.golfsmith.com/products/30...e=bvreviewsite

Also the Wilson Trio is pretty good for under $100 although a little bulky
http://www.amazon.com/Wilson-W608-Tr.../dp/B001CHYFLA

That Golfsmith special looks like a a great deal. With such positive reviews I'd be going that route.

Your cart is something you will have for a long time (hopefully no more 9i's hit it), and you should treat it as an investment to improve your enjoyment on the course for years to come. Spending a little more than you want isn't a bad idea.

Probably the most important part of the cart is the braking mechanism so I would make sure it's well-designed and durable. Most of my playing partner's carts either have no brake or a broken brake. A good brake is important for those hilly courses with water everywhere.

Edit: After reading some reviews I'd be apprehensive with the Golfsmith. Splurge and get a Clicgear 3.0, or an old 2.0 for cheaper.

Lot of rain in the forecast for the weekend, thinking I might end up watching a lot of the Players instead of playing.

Just thinking about some stuff. I've been flipping back and forth between putting right handed and left handed. I've been all LH the last couple rounds and it shows enough promise that I think I'm going to stick with it for a while.

One thing I've noticed (from a laughably small sample size of 3-4 rounds) is that I start out putting great. I've been running late so no practice putting. I get out on the first hole and have great feel. I've made a couple 15-20 footers and lagged any misses up very close. This is better than 99% of my rounds putting RH.

As the round goes on, I start thinking about what I'm doing. And the results get worse. I start missing the shorter putts and don't lag the long ones as effectively.

Some of that is just that I need practice. But I wonder if there is something else I should be doing to stop tinkering with my stroke during the round.

Other random observations - stock distance miss is to blow it by the hole. I've really hammered a few, leaving comebackers up to 15 feet. Also have more issues with right to left breakers, if I'm not paying attention I tend to fan the putter head and miss left.

I've been applying the mental scorecard approach to my game lately and it's def helping. Sometimes I'm indecivie and will try to play a shot when I don't even have a solid gameplan. Ex. Pin on the right 150 wind blowing R-L, thinking maybe a tongue setup with the stick in the front. I might step up there with the 8 thinking in my mind that that I'm going to fire at the stick and hope the wind doesn't blow it much. I know in the back of my mind that I'm very capable(and very likely) to overdue this in order to not miss right and hit some sort of snap pos that misses left, so I'll end up blocking it right of the green. I am trying to commit 100% to whatever I'm trying to do and just let whatever happens, happens. Mixed thoughts on any level in your mind are no good.

This.

I love my clicgear. It is infinitely better than any other cart that I have ever seen/used.

Any suggestions on where I could pick up a clicgear used? I'm not terribly keen on spending $200 for a new one, although maybe I'll splurge if Full Tilt ever lets us withdraw.

Post when you've bought a brand new one. You'll be happy!

Anyone have any good backswing materials I should look at? My ball-striking is so bad. I recorded my swing, if you can call it that, but I don't want to post it. I'm like Moe Norman's evil twin. It's way past the point of ridiculous. It's definitely cheaper though, lol.

funny story: I once drove 2 hours to play a course but never left the practice green.

No gloves. See above, lol.

I don't use carts either, but +1 for FTP. I've been waiting for 16 weeks now.