my dad brought his 600mm lense to a PGA Championship practice round so i'm guessing there isn't a limit

california (la sf sd ldo)
hawaii (you can live almost anywhere on oahu and maui, and be within 30 minutes of playing golf every day of the year)
miami, but it sucks during the summer.

Got to say dfw (texas) is pretty sweet. Year round cheap golf and a ton of nice courses.

The problem with hawaii and Cali (i only know the laguna area) is that the courses are so damn expensive. You can't "run out for a quick round" at any of those places either.

that's true. good things to consider.

how hot does dfw get in the summer? any place that's over 100 degrees for longer than two weeks a year is not OK with me.

yeah, june july and august suck in texas

its a dry heat I just drink more gatorade and less beer to compensate

SF Bay area ftw as far as golfing year round. The golf courses really run the gamut in the city and the north bay. There's plenty of high end resort courses but there's a fair amount of flat cheap easy muni courses too.

anyone who lives here knows..texas weather is pretty random. There are definitely 2 weeks worth of 100 degree days, jut not in a row, but all that means is that the courses are empty!

I really don't find 105 here as hot as 90 down in houston or something though. In fact, sometimes it will be 85 and humid here and that is way worse than 105 straight up.

So the other day at the range I was hitting some irons and then decided to pull out the driver. My mat was apparently too close to the wall because on my followthrough the head hit the stall and the shaft snapped. My driver is an 08 Taylormade Burner that I bought used a few months ago. I took it to Golfsmith today and they gave me about 8 million options for shafts and I really had no idea what the difference would be or if I even loved the stock shaft in the first place. I just finished grad school and don't have a job yet, so I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on this, and I really have no idea what I am doing wrt reshafting. Does anyone have any advice/opinions they can help with?

Go with the cheapest option that is comparable to what you originally had in it.
FYI- in general, a little lighter shaft will tend to give you a higher ball flight.
Heavier shaft = lower.
And a more expensive shaft doesn't necessarily mean you'll hit it better.

You should ask about pulled or used shafts. They should be less expensive and
will be every bit as good.

I wouldn' t invest a ton of money in it without knowing you're gonna love it.

Go with the Aldila NV-65 or VS proto 65, both are very good and should not cost an arm and a leg.Im pretty sure the burner is a .350 tip so these should fit.

Buddy and I were golfing todaqy and while waiting for group ahead to tee and holding wedges in my left hand, I found the same thing -- wow, putting one-handed isn't too bad? Put 3 or 4 within 6 inches from >10 feet. But looks ******ed.

So I am playing a Powerplay golf tournament tomorrow. http://www.powerplay-golf.com/

Cliff Notes -
9 holes
2 pins on each hole, 1 difficult and 1 easy
You have 3 powerplays to take from holes 1 to 8 (must nominate before your teeshot)
If you nominate a powerplay, you must play to the difficult pin
You score double the points for net birdies or better on your powerplay holes.
On hole 9, you can nominate a 4th powerplay and you get the same points as before except if you make net bogey or worse, you get negative points.

Sounds pretty fun, and it will take 2.5 hours tops. Also it is a pretty big tournament, 6 people qualify for a bigger tournament in another city. Winners also get 2 bottles of whiskey I think.

My handicap is 9, so I get 5 stroke holes, including the 9th. I will take powerplays on 3 of those, and definitely the 9th. Interesting imo

Sounds quite fun.

A nine-hole fav of mine is where you get 3 threes, 3 twos and 3 ones.

Beforehand you have to write a 3, 2 or a 1 at each hole. Your stableford points on that hole will be multiplied with the number you've written at that hole.

What is dfw?

Dry heat of 100 isnt that bad though. it has to be better then 7 months of cold.

dallas/fort worth

it's def NOT a dry heat, it really sucks here June July and August

i will eventually make a thread w/ video of my swing, but I gotta ask:

what is causing me to put top spin on the ball (driver only)?
I mean i hit maybe 12 balls today, and 6 of them dove to the ground. I feel sad that I hit my PW farther than my driver

I'm using rubber tees @ the range fwiw.

Some details of the powerplay event -

There were 3 categories, open (0-8 handicap), 9-16, and 17-24. The top two golfers from each category qualify for the southern India event. My handicap is 9, so I was in the second category, and I got 4 strokes on the 9 holes (75% of handicap)

I started off well. The first hole was a stroke hole for me, I powerplay'd and sank a 10 footer for par for 6 points.
I bogeyed the 2nd, which was a par 3 after hitting a bunker. (1 point)
The third was a 600 yard par 5 and was a stroke hole as well. I took a powerplay, but made another bogey after hitting a bunker. (2 points)
I birdied the fourth, which was a 175 yard par 3 with a nice 12 footer. (3 points)
The fifth hole is the hardest hole on our course and the difficult pin was really really hard. I had to powerplay it because I got a stroke on it. Made a pretty uneventful bogey. (2 points).
I parred the 6th, which was a long par 3 after hitting the green (2 points).
I missed a 5 footer for birdie on the 7th which was a shortish par 5 (2 points).
The 8th was a straightforward par 4, and I hit the green and made par (2 points).
I took the optional powerplay on the 9th, which was a longish par 4, but I had a stroke on it. I hit a really pure 3 iron 2nd shot to like 12 feet, and just missed the birdie putt. (6 points).

So, I shot 2 over and got 26 points which was good for 2nd. The guy who won was a 12 handicapper who shot even par and got like 33 points.

What's really cool is that 2 of my friends got first and second in the open category to qualify as well. One of them had 12 points going into the 9th, took a powerplay, and sank a 45 foot putt for birdie to win.

The south India event is on Tuesday and we leave today, to get a practice round in. Win and we go to Thailand for the final!!

Anyone have any tips for a consistent set up? I've lately found myself off target after adressing the ball. I approach from behind, put the ball on a target path and then step to address. However, after a practise swing, I settle in and find I'm off target. I think I'm moving my feet too much and that's causing the problem, but am not sure. Am I alone with this? TIA.

Spidar: intermediary targets. from tee markers 30 yards in front of you to broken tees 10 feet in front of you on the same box, pick a nice line and setup to it.

for any mechanical stuff im not good enough to give any advice.

It is not physically possible to put topspin on a golf shot.

Rubber tees have nothing to do with it. The one and only time I hit similar shots my driver had a crack in the face. Chances are you are just making funky contact or a funky swing path through the ball. Impossible to determine without video evidence, and that might not help either.

BO

You are clipping the top of the ball with the bottom of your driver.

The ball might be too far forward in your stance or you are hanging your weight back on your trail side foot.

ty guys, I put some tape on my driver and all my shots had missed the sweet spot. all of them were making contact w/ the extreme bottom right of the club face (side closest to me, I'm RH).

when I set up my swing, I feel I am a good distance away from the ball. but, it seems that when i swing, my arms stretch out or something. this pretty much happens only w/ my driver. Its difficult for me to gauge the distance form my body to the ball.

work on your stance/posture. you arms should not be stretched. they should be hanging down comfortably, or ever so slightly towards the ball.

Got myself a new shaft for driver. called Oban

I guess woods is trying it out too, its the ****. Earlier in the year I got to use it as a demo in a couple rounds and was right down the middle everytime.