The other day the wind was so crazy on this one par 4 I got a 15 and my friend got a 13. I'm a 10 handicap and he's a 5. We were both in the water off the tee many many times. It was almost impossible.

I like the Adams dhy I built. A really nice mix between a long iron and hybrid. Has a nice ball flight, not crazy high like most hybrids. The adams pro I also built is good as well, not super high but a little lower than the A12OS it replaced.

Little off topic but curious if anyone goes to the celebrity golf tournaments, particularly the one in South Lake Tahoe in July. I went last year and had a blast. Just an amazing atmosphere despite getting crowded at times. Harrahs is the host hotel so you can at times find the 'celebs' mingling with public playing in the casino etc. I have a random selfie with Shane Battier at the blackjack tables lol

Reservations for wife and I have been made, let me know if anyone wants to join up for drinks, on me!

I hate how I can go out and hit every fairway and come in under par one day and the very next day go out and can't come within 40 yards of the damn short grass.

Such an absurd cheap price on these if you are a left hand player in stiff flex.

http://www.rockbottomgolf.com/adams-...el-5pc-lh.html

Whoa that is a steal. At that price you could afford to re-shaft them if need be.

I am playing in my first stroke play tournament next weekend. What are some rules that get messed up often? Any other general advice or things that are must know in tournaments? thanks

Not to put negative thoughts in your head but....

Know what your drop options are on lateral and direct water hazards. I see more confusion over that (moreso direct hazards) than any other thing in tournaments.

Also with all of the clubs you have make sure you are at 14 when you start

Yeah, I have to agree with this. Know where you can drop if you end up in a hazard or unplayable lie. So many ppl don't know and then do it wrong. All the other rules stuff usually won't be a problem. If it is really windy you might want to know what to do if your ball moves on the green from the wind. I've ran into this once on slick greens and stopped a guy from screwing up when it happened to him.

You probably already know, but FYI...

Yellow stake/line(regular hazard) - Rehit from same spot or drop anywhere on a line from the last spot the ball crossed the hazard straight away from the hole going back as far as you want.

Red stake/line(lateral hazard) - Same as yellow plus 3rd option of dropping within 2 clublengths of the spot the ball last crossed into the hazard or within 2 clublengths of a spot equal distance from the hole on the opposite side of the hazard, no nearer to the hole.

Unplayable lie (not in a hazard) - Rehit from same spot; drop within 2 clublengths of the ball; or drop anywhere on a line keeping the spot your ball was between you and the hole and you can go back as far as you want.

Someone correct me if I fudged any of that up...

Playing my first stroke play event of the year this weekend too. Good luck.

Thanks, for the most part I know the rules pretty well, just wanted to make sure I don't miss obvious things, like the 16 clubs that are currently in my bag since 2 I use as alignment rods.

Funny story. An old pro I know usually always has an extra club in his bag. Mostly local tourneys, nobody really cares/counts clubs, but one tourney we played he made the cut for the championship round by one stroke and he didn't want to play it, so he told the TD he had 15 clubs in his bag and would take the 2 stroke penalty leaving him in a tie for 1st place in the next flight. Technically he did it wrong and should never have been able to win based on tie breaker holes, but he tricked the TD who didn't know any better and he ended up wining $$. Sneaky old bastard. Lost all respect for him that day.

But isn't the rule 2 stroke penalty for each hole but maximum of 4 strokes penalty? If he played the whole round with 15 clubs then he should have got a 4 stroke penalty and not 2?

Second most common error I've witnessed; playing the wrong ball. Mark yours well and be certain it is yours before you strike it.

Good thought right there. I have accidently played the wrong ball in casual rounds many a time, especially when the rough is up and people lose golf balls that end up with in a few yards of where I thought mine was.

Is it correct that if all I can see is white and no markings I am allowed to identify it by picking it up or turning it as long as you replace it the same way?

Correct. Do not clean it. Has to be exactly the way you found it.

And make sure you mark it with a tee peg or something like that first, and tell one of your playing partners what you are doing. If you move your ball without marking it first you will (or should!) get a penalty. Lots of people think it is ok to just rotate the ball where it is without marking it, but that is not true - you always have to mark it first - to be sure it gets back to the exact place it was before you touched it. It might sound a bit nitty, but for example you might slip or something whilst you are rotating it and drag the ball away from the original spot.

Thanks guys, those are the kind of things I need to know but might not be obvious.

If it's a USGA event, it's very likely they have a "one ball rule" in affect. Make sure all the balls in your bag are the same make. If this is a rule they're using, you can't go from hitting a Titleist ProV to hitting a Titleist NXT. It has to be the same make. (the number can be different. You don't need like 3 sleeves of balls numbered as 4 or whatever)


Make sure you have a ball with another number on it. It shoudn't be relevant, but "Hey guys, I'm hitting a provisional. That was a #4. This one is a #3." You don't want to hit a provisional with the same number (obv super rare, but if you hit it into the same spot and find them both, you can't tell which is which, so how do you identify them?)

Oh, and on the note of hitting a provisional, make sure you announce "This is a provisional" or when you hit the second ball, it becomes the 'ball in play'. You're allowed to play a provisional up to the point where you can start searching for your first one to save time. (like, say, you top the provisional ball...you can keep hitting it until you get up to where your first one went).




This will be super rare as well, but maybe worth mentioning: If there is a rules question that your group can't figure out, you can play two balls. One the way you think the rule should be, and one whatever other way the other people think the rule should be. Make the one you want to be "the one that counts" is declared before you hit either of them. If you score the same on both balls, you just write down that number. Otherwise, record both scores and check with the rules committee afterwards to see which one counts.

Non USGA run by the city. Playing by USGA rules but no one ball rule

Oh, and like, good luck and ****

What is the reasoning behind the "one ball, same make and model" rule?

So you don't change to different types of balls for different holes - higher spin balls for a short par 3 and low spin bricks for long straightforward par 5s and so on.

Thanks, just trying to get my feet wet in tournaments that aren't silly hdcp sandbag fests. Pretty short old style course, most holes have one side or another you don't want to be but nothing too hard.

My 2 cents.... Make sure your pre-shot routine is down really tight. In the past when I've taken breaks from tournament golf I've found when I go back to tournaments my pre-shot routine is all over the map, and sometimes I don't even know where I'm aiming. Having a solid and repeatable pre-shot routine is one of the things that keeps you in a good rhythm and lets your normal habits come out when you are a little nervous. It might sound trivial but I think its one of the most underrated parts of the game.

Yes, you're correct. But no one knew that at the time. Except him, that I'm positive.