Golf in general

[TANGODANCER]

Described at opposite ends of the spectrum as "the greatest game in the world", to Mark Twain's "A good walk ruined", golf is a fascinating and at times, totally infuriating sport. Just a few general observations based over a lot of years:

Having been fortunate enough to see the likes of older champions Palmer, Nicholas, Tony Lema, Allis, Woosnam, Dia Rees,
Bernard Hunt and the great Christy O'Connor(senior) in action, one thing that stands out is golf club design. Irons haven't changed too much over a lot of years, but the same can't be said for woods and putters.

When I first took up the sport, my first thrashes with a wood consisted of addressing the ball with the equivalent of a "barmcake on a stick" driver (usually with the sole-plate or lead filling missing) and a bamboo shafted putter (a shaft that wasn't renowned for being straight to say the least ). Irons in the Municipal hired bag of weapons still had names like Niblick, Mashie and Spoon. Todays "furniture", to use a popular term , has gone full scale from the standardised versions of the 1960s to the 1990's, when all clubs looked almost the same, to the weird and wonderful.

Drivers today, with graphite super-duper shafts and heads (to use Bruce's colourful term) looking like a "bungalow on a stick" , Aluminium "woods"and putters that almost defy description, make one wonder if we should go back to standardisation again. How can the old blade putter be compared to something that looks either like a snooker cue with a head on it, or a scale model of a Lancaster bomber on a walking stick?

Golf swings too have changed so much. The American style of "same swing for everything" has replaced the more workmanlike and natural swings that made players like Sam Snead so special. I once saw Christy O'Connor senior play in the Ryder Cup at Royal Birkdale. Forgotten who his American opponent was, but he had eighteen practise swings, checking his style repeatedly. Christy walked onto the tee, cigarette in mouth, fumbled in his pocket for a ball, dropped it on the deck without even using a tee peg and lashed a three wood a mile, straight down the fairway. Marvelous stuff.

People who have never played the game can never know the thrill of "buttoning" a drive or long iron, or the ecstasy of lifting a delicate wedge over a bunker and stopping it near the pin. Ironically, a so-called expert commentator on this years Open saw Tiger woods hit a full four iron onto the green, stop and roll fifteen feet past the pin. "I think he caught that a bit thin" was his studied comment on the shot. Another full iron shot that went over a widerness of rough, bit an iron-hard green and finished about the same fifteen feet away was described as "Not a bad effort". Have these guys ever played?

Golf is a marvelous test of character. The same swing that the previous day sent your drive a mile down the middle, can today, send a wild duck hook into the rough or take a sudden imitation of a hang glider off to the right. It can test the temper to ridiculous limits. An American golfer, Tommy Bolt, was renowned for his habit of breaking clubs across his knee after bad shots, or throwing them into rivers. One day he asked his caddy, when approaching the 18th green: "What club do you think" " A two iron" the caddie replied" "Don't be ridiculous" replied Bolt, "It's only 120 yds. Why the hell would I use a two iron?" "Because it's all you've got left" replied the caddie.

Such, folks, is the wonderful world of golf.

[communistworkethic]

technology is getting out of hand, someone (romero i think) hit a 370 yard drive at the Open today, Woods took a 3 iron on to the green on a par 5, he hit it 265 yards, and Garcia took an 8 iron on a 185 yard par 3. An eight iron???????!!

[H. Pedersen]

I can't see getting into golf. I like playing football because you're involved in action at all times. Golf involves too much set-up for too little pay-off for me. Also, I can't imagine the cost of entry. That's coming from someone who owns Air Zoom Total 90 III's, but still . . .

[communistworkethic]

you can get all the equipment you'll ever need for £100 these days and a round need cost no more that £10.

[CAPSLOCK]

you can get all the equipment you'll ever need for £100 these days and a round need cost no more that £10.

YEARS SINCE I WIELDED A STICK, BUT WAS AMAZED AT THE COST OF SOME PRESUMABLY BUDGET EQUIPMENT IN A BIG RETAIL STORE YESTERDAY

AS YOU SAY, A TON IS MORE THAN ENOUGH TO GET GOING

ALSO THE LOW WEIGHT OF THOSE METAL WOODS

TWAS AMAZING (YEAH, I DON'T GET OUT ENOUGH)

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

technology is getting out of hand, someone (romero i think) hit a 370 yard drive at the Open today, Woods took a 3 iron on to the green on a par 5, he hit it 265 yards, and Garcia took an 8 iron on a 185 yard par 3. An eight iron???????!!

The pros' irons are a little bit longer and a couple of degrees less lofted than ours Commie, so it's not quite a direct comparison.

I wish the drivers could be reined in a bit, because all it does, like the big tennis rackets, is make the best players less special. Greg Norman was hitting the ball 300 yards with the old metal shafted drivers in the early nineties, and he was a bit special for it. A combination of much better balls and the new drivers with big sweetspots means that lots of people can hit 300 yards now and the likes of Woods aren't as much longer than the others as they really should be. Hell, I even hit a couple a round that are getting there.

[plodder]

technology is getting out of hand, someone (romero i think) hit a 370 yard drive at the Open today, Woods took a 3 iron on to the green on a par 5, he hit it 265 yards, and Garcia took an 8 iron on a 185 yard par 3. An eight iron???????!!

The pros' irons are a little bit longer and a couple of degrees less lofted than ours Commie, so it's not quite a direct comparison.

I wish the drivers could be reined in a bit, because all it does, like the big tennis rackets, is make the best players less special. Greg Norman was hitting the ball 300 yards with the old metal shafted drivers in the early nineties, and he was a bit special for it. A combination of much better balls and the new drivers with big sweetspots means that lots of people can hit 300 yards now and the likes of Woods aren't as much longer than the others as they really should be. Hell, I even hit a couple a round that are getting there.

Yeh right, I mean it is not a bit special when he hits 347 yards of the tee....before it lands. He measured a 416yd drive on Wednesday.

I wish I had one of those drivers.

[Dujon]

I've only ever had a 3-Wood and 2, 5 & 7 irons plus Wedge and putter. The wedge I inherited after finding it on the edge of a green. I stuck up a notice at the office but no one claimed it. It's amazing how inventive one can become regarding the use of limited equipment. All of it is second-hand and all of it in excess of 45-years old (including one with a wooden shaft).

I'm no genius when it comes to golf - too little time on the course and far too erratic in performance. Still, I used to card 85s on a par 72 course. I've never had a handicap as I've never competed in a club comp.

The point of this ramble is, of course, to point out that the newer clubs and balls might make a difference to some degree but they cannot and will not make you into a better golfer.

Hack away folks.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

IThe point of this ramble is, of course, to point out that the newer clubs and balls might make a difference to some degree but they cannot and will not make you into a better golfer.

Hack away folks.

If you're a hacker, then you're hacker. But at the other end of the spectrum, equipment has a significant part to play.

Admittedly, it's not everything. Growing up, Ballesteros was a scratch player using just a 3-iron for EVERY shot, because that's all he could afford. The skills he learnt inventing shots as a result, opening up the club face, hitting little knock-down punches etc. stayed with him forever.

[Dujon]

I hope that you did not read me incorrectly, Crayons. I consider myself to be a hacker.

By the same token though, I do feel that the pleasure that comes from fading or drawing a shot to where it's supposed to go surmounts any lack of distance provided by 'better' equipment. I have no argument with those who use the latest and greatest equipment. Does it matter though that your tee shot is 20 or 30 yards shorter than your playing partner's? You may have to pull out an extra iron but both of you still have to make the approach.

Certainly there are occasions where that extra 'yardage' would help but, hey, that's all part of the fun of the game.

I love golf and wish that I could play on a regular basis. I haven't walked onto the first tee in thirty years and yet still look forward to the next time I do just that.

[communistworkethic]

I've only ever had a 3-Wood and 2, 5 & 7 irons plus Wedge and putter. The wedge I inherited after finding it on the edge of a green. I stuck up a notice at the office but no one claimed it. It's amazing how inventive one can become regarding the use of limited equipment. All of it is second-hand and all of it in excess of 45-years old (including one with a wooden shaft).

I'm no genius when it comes to golf - too little time on the course and far too erratic in performance. Still, I used to card 85s on a par 72 course. I've never had a handicap as I've never competed in a club comp.

The point of this ramble is, of course, to point out that the newer clubs and balls might make a difference to some degree but they cannot and will not make you into a better golfer.

Hack away folks.

not entirely true dujon. cavity backed irons have made the game much easier and clubs, particularly drivers, can be fitted to your swing to increase the yardage and even correct a fade to a straight hit by altering the shaft, loft and weighting.

[Gertie]

I got a brand new full set including a bag for £95. They are ladies left-hand set which is no good for right handed men. It makes me thing that they can't be very good, as I saw a driver for sale for more than the cost of my complete set.

I'm still learning at the moment. At the driving range I can hit a ball pretty straight, just not very far. If I get really into it I suppose I could start replacing them as I go.

[hisroyalgingerness]

caddied for my mates this weekend and couldn't bear to watch. a 5 hour long round as they hacked and sliced their way round the disgusting Hart Common course. If i'm gonna take it up again i'm gonna practice and have lessons all winter and come back hitting it like I was when I got down to 14. I refuse to hack and nob my way roudn like they did

[ratbert]

My irons are weighted game improvers (ha!) that require a shorter backswing, but I forget occasionally and they don't work as well. With long irons this can be a particular problem!

Anyone got, or tried, one of those 'rescue clubs'?

[TANGODANCER]

This guy wont the Open four times in eight years. He was never beaten in doubles match play in his life. Tom Morris senior.

[communistworkethic]

This guy wont the Open four times in eight years. He was never beaten in doubles match play in his life. Tom Morris senior.

the oldest man to win the Open, the year after he took that honour the Open got it's youngest ever winner - Tom Morris Junior. You can still visit the Tom Morris Shop at St Andrews.

[knobpolisher]

Yes I use a rescue club , its a 3 iron equivalent, and the reason I use it is because I cannot hit my 3 Iron. I get along really well with it.

Someone, Lee Trevino I think, once said "You can give the best clubs in the world to the worst golfer in the world and they will still be the worst golfer in the world"

Wise words.

[Little Green Man]

Yes I use a rescue club , its a 3 iron equivalent, and the reason I use it is because I cannot hit my 3 Iron. I get along really well with it.

Someone, Lee Trevino I think, once said "You can give the best clubs in the world to the worst golfer in the world and they will still be the worst golfer in the world"

Wise words.

He might have said that, but here are some other attributed Trevinoisms:

http://golf.about.com/cs/legendsofgolf/ ... quotes.htm

And Val Doonican evidently said this about golf:

Golf is like an 18-year-old girl with big boobs. You know it's wrong but you can't keep away from her

[communistworkethic]

I did like the new golfisms that Radio 4 were using, a couple of which stuck with me....

A Dennis Wise - a nasty little 5 footer

A Maradona - a very nasty little 5 footer

a Tony Blair - it starts on the left, looks like it's heading for the middle then ends up way over on the right

[TANGODANCER]

Yes I use a rescue club , its a 3 iron equivalent, and the reason I use it is because I cannot hit my 3 Iron. I get along really well with it.

Someone, Lee Trevino I think, once said "You can give the best clubs in the world to the worst golfer in the world and they will still be the worst golfer in the world"

Wise words.

To reinforce that: I have a guitar. Paid a decent price for it and lived under the misapprehension that one day I'd own a super-duper, top range model. Took mine into work and our MD, who teaches guitar, played it. He announced it was a really beatutiful guitar. He sounded like John Williams playing it. Now, I know any faults were mine, so instead of blaming the instrument I have to turn to tuning myself instead.

A good golfer could probably play with any of our clubs and prove the same point. Apart from my old-faithful seven iron, my favourite club, strangely enough, is a one-iron. Sooner use that than a fairway wood anytime. Strange game this golf.