The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Ok so we have several footy threads, aswell as some for Cricket.

But how about one for Golf.

I am pretty much the worst golfer in the planet- but it is fast becoming my biggest past time especially in the summer. So I figure let's have a thread where we can post decent courses in the areas we live that are easier to get tee off times, experiences etc...

We can also discuss whether McIlroy is going to win the US Open and start to replace Tiger as the dominant figure in golf etc...........so there we go I have made a golf thread.

Feel free to contribute.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Pulls up chair and awaits dbd33's opinion of golf courses which I happen to agree with.:rolleyes: :)

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

I heard DBD33 owns the digitally remastered limited edition version of Tin Cup and holds it as his second favourite movie of all time behind Happy Gilmore.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

I've seen part of Happy Gilmour. I think the primary problem with it is that Adam Sandler is too classy a person to represent golf, his humour is too highbrow. Beyond that, the film misses the opportunity to lampoon the ridiculous clothing and cars of people who play golf, everyone in the film is far too conservative. The film Falling Down is far more realistic in that regard.

Obviously golf is morally wrong. The destruction of the environment wrought by golf courses, the depletion of the watershed, the mass distribution of noxious chemicals into the ground, reflect the ethos of a bygone era, one when the environment was something to be paved over. The professional players are dissolute yobs, though no worse, I suppose, than basketball players. The amateur players ludicrously insist on taking their sticks on aeroplanes or, more bothersomely, on airport trolleys. Such is the hand eye coordination of a person who's been playing golf for a while that they cannot determine that a trolley with a bag of sticks sideways on it won't go through the door of a lift. The terminals at, for example, Phoenix and Charleston are brought to a halt by morons in plaid repeatedly banging their implements against the door frames. And then there's the institutionalised racism of golf, foxhunting allows a more diverse population to participate.

It's a game offensive on most levels. The one saving grace, I suppose, is that it allows the elderly to pretend they participate in "sport" though why they can't settle for something similarly athletic, dominos say, being called sport and stay out of the way of the public, I can't imagine.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

It is a sovereign and effective cure for sea sickness though.;)

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

A passer-by muses on golf.

"The trousers". "The unforgiveable misogyny". "The trousers".

Seasickness it may be good for.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

I used to play coaster golf when the local bar had a shut in. Rather a fun game from what I can remember.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

There was a poster here, Helen Parnell, who, for me, encapsulated the spirit of golf. She's banned now, she was an estate agent and did estate agenty things, but while she was here she argued for the ban on washing lines in Calgary. I was unable to formulate a proper response to her argument that the hanging of laundry should be banned because "one of my clients might have to see it from his cart".

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

It's a gay game, (not that there's anything wrong with that). Some guys like the challenge of achieving their personal best, some like the competition, and some like the outdoor exercise, but there's an awful lot who just want to wear white shoes with tassles on them.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Tassels are so yesterday.

There is no ban on washing lines in Calgary:p

I've hacked around various golf courses in various countries for a few years. Took some lessons last year and improved my game and my enjoyment of it immensely. Now my son has taken it up and it has turned into a great family activity.

Nice to see Rory win today:)

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Restrictive covanents, applied to houses near golf courses. AFAIK the only loony law specific to Calgary is the ban on roaming cats.

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Yes good result from McIlroy!

It's addictive golf. I was hacking and hacking but a chap at work used to be an instructor and has helped me shave 20 shots of my round in a couple of months.

I am closing in on the magic 100 mark!

I find it addictive- but I agree it is costly. There is no way I could've played it growing up.

In the UK there was some rediculous stat that 90% of the golfers played on the 10% of courses which were the public ones. The other 10% played at the 90% private courses.

It's a huge game in the GTA. Courses everywhere.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

McDonalds, WalMart, crack dens and churches are also everywhere in the GTA. One can rise above.

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I avoid all of the above...........:p

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Great result for Rory, glad that the Augusta meltdown didnt have any lasting hangover.

I love golf, its the best game in the world, only an idiot wouldnt see that. The combination of the physical, the mental, dealing with the pressure, the fact its just you against the course with no where to hide, and the moral aspect of self policing the rules is unique. Im just glad I started as a kid and dont have to think about what Im doing too much. I pity anyone over 12 taking it up! It just sucks going from a cheap junior membership to being priced out of playing as a young adult. Having said that there are cheap places around here, my local track is $30 for the day, with 2 courses, and memberships (if I had the time) are about $800 or less.

Im not a fan of watching particularly, or of "corporate golf", the carts and massive overdevelopment and artificial nature thats created, or lurid checked trousers. Give me a natural layout rather than a landscape where heaven and earth was moved to create it, and Ill happily walk around. Im at that level where breaking 80 is the target. My brother plays off 2, He won the storied Alba Trophy last year, but then hes a kept man and spends more time golfing in a week than I do in a year. I still out-drive him though:)

Sadly my shoulder is buggered up this year, so cant play, but the kids had their first lessons yesterday. Putting. Not very exciting, but absolutely vital. I messed around on the green a bit, but Im pretty sure they have made the holes smaller since last year:unsure:

Best bet for anyone looking to break 100 is to focus on practicing chipping and putting. Just dont damage anyones couch while doing so....

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Isn't all this true of tiddliwinks? Or Snap!

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

er, no. Not unless you are flipping a tiddlywink 300 yards down a treelined fairway with the wind coming from the right, while trying to avoid the bunkers on the left and protecting a one shot lead.

Typically in tidlywinks or snap cheating is encouraged. whereas in golf if the ball moves on you at address while its just you there to see it, its up to you to man up and take the penalty; the temptation to cheat, to nudge a ball onto a nicer lie, or turn a blind eye to something is always there. I will concede that losers at home with nothing better to do phoning in penalty shots that the player missed, after seeing something on telly on the slo-mo close up, is going a bit too far.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Let's see:

"the physical"

both golf and tiddliwinks require a degree of physical coordination. Both, when played outdoors, require compensation for the weather, wind in particular.

"the mental, dealing with the pressure"

That's something one brings upon oneself, the man behind me here was greatly pressured on the weekend trying to ensure that his lawn was vacummed to the standard of the neighbours.

"the fact its just you against the course with no where to hide"

tiddliwinks is also a game in which there are no teams, each player takes a turn under the scruntiny of opponents

"the moral aspect of self policing the rules is unique"

tiddliwinks does not usually involve an umpire.

And, tiddliwinks does not cause any direct harm to people who have not chosen to participate. Tiddliwinks does not entail any institutionalised discrimination. Tiddliwinks is not riddled with snobbery and no tiddliwink player drives a Caddy, still less a Cadillac station wagon.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

I resent the last part of you sentence. :sneaky:

You have a right to consider golf the best game in the world. You don't have a right to declare that anyone who disagrees with your view is an idiot.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Sense of humour failure?


My opinion, is that anyone that fails to see golf as the finest game ever conceived, is an idiot. YMMV of course.

Is that better:D

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Actually no. :p

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Try a different thread then, this is the golf one.;)

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Not only are you calling me an idiot but now you want to tell me what to do.

Sad. :sneaky::p

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Maybe A nice round of golf would make everything seem better?

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

No not going to happen.;)

My view of golf is almost identical to Novo's view of hockey (iced variety).

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

I never read the hockey threads, Ive no interest in it so I leave it to those that do (it seems the decent thing to do). I can imagine though.

I dont like the business of golf particularly, all the tarting up that goes on, the over preenig of the course when the game was invented upon the rough waste links land, the up selling of equipment that will do nothing to improve a player compared to last years gear, the endless lessons that just serve to confuse most players. The game itself though is another thing. There is no finer game IMO.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

It's all fair comment.

And I have nothing against tiddliwinks and for a long time believed it had a place in the modern Olympics with other events such as curling and the modern pentathlon.

The thing with golf that fascinates and troubles me in equal measure is building the perfect swing.

Unlike IainK I unfortunately think about it to much. You need to develop a technique that enables you to consistantly strike the ball appropriately in any situation from fairway, rough to sand. As one develops the focus on individual parts often leads to neglect of other parts resulting in frustration and ill timed hitting of the ball. A good swing is when practice has made permanent and you can strike the ball well on any surface under any observation or pressure with out having to overthink the situation or occasion.

Then there is the short game which in some respects is a different set of rules altogethar.

It's interesting watching people implode on the golf course and having played both games I think for outsiders they really underestimate the concentration and poise required for a good round of golf that I think only some one who has played cricket would understand. the concentration required in golf is similar to playing a disciplined innings in cricket.

Where is the course where you can play for $30 a day Iain and how far is it from Downtown? Is it easy to get tee off times there?

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

I like golf. It's a great game. It's basically a 5 mile walk with some pals while whacking a ball with a stick. At it's simplest, what's not to like?

But... I don't like people who take golf seriously. I don't like the sort of people who join golf clubs. I really don't like the sort of people who run golf clubs. I don't like dress codes to play golf, though the way some people dress to play golf is highly amusing. I HATE golf carts with a passion. Golf carts should be banned. If you can't walk round a golf course, then you shouldn't be allowed near the place.

I don't like the artifical perfection of North American courses, I much prefer rugged links courses nature that it started out as.

I'm a rubbish golfer, probably around the 100 on a good day. I played at the weekend and was still on my first ball until the 16th hole which was a personal best for me.

A lot of people think golf is an elitist game. Some 'golf club people' certainly do, but I say f*** 'em. Golf is just a simple, simple game that takes practice to play well, and the more people who go and play golf while thumbing their noses up at the pastel-coloured-and-co-ordinated clowns, the better.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

I agree with all of the above.

To be good at golf is an investment of time and a bit of money at a range and course. That is as serious as I get. I want to be competent at golf and I view it as reasonable hobbie to get me outdoors and away from the TV and pub.

I usually just whack on some long shorts and a polo shirt when I play. I have a cheap pair of golf shoes and was fortunate to sell into an online golf retailer in the UK so got a set of clubs on the cheap. A friend won an expensive driver at his golf club but was left handed so sold it to me again knock down.

I've done corporate golf days on invitation and I love them purely because I drink a bottle of beer a hole and crawl back into the club house. They are a great day out.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Its not downtown, its at the end of my road! Usually I just walk on... 2hrs if you drive like you stole it, depending on the traffic.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Amen! Just dont forget that the most important thing is the etiquete, if you are hacking around and Ive caught you up, remember to let me play through. I hate 4 hr + rounds with a passion. What you wear I dont couldnt care less about, want to kick it out of the rough and take a muligan if you stuff it in a pond, then go ahead, replace your divots and let faster groups through and its all good with me.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Putting is a game within a game. The main difference between my game and my brothers is he can putt. I cant read a green to save my life, most of the putts I do sink are misread and then mishit off line:o

Once you reach a point where you can hit is consistently then a whole other world of pain emerges in trying to control trajectory and spin, trying to hit a high draw into a cross wind or fade it around a dogled or to get at a pin that tucked behind a bunker. Ive realised that there is always another level to try and get too.

When I am hitting balls I always try and have a clear idea in my mind what I am aiming at, and whether I am trying to hit it straight, or with a fade or draw. Otherwise its too easy to whack 50 balls down the range in no time and not really learn anything. I try and spend at least half my practive time on the short game, so much of the game is around the green, and even if your are never going to hit it 300yds off the tee, if you can get down in 2 or 3 shots from 100yds most of the time, or even up and down in 2 or three from just off the green you will soon be breaking 90, if not 80.

The trick in stroke play is to play within yourself on the course, think your way around, play the percentages. Hit the shot you have confidence you can hit and dont risk something that may work but may add two shots if it doesnt. In matchplay its more set up in favour of having a go. I'm more of a match play player, if there is a drivable par 4 I cant help but have a go for it...

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

In that spirit I confess to having participated in and greatly enjoyed several annual iterations of the "Scotland Yard Golf Tournament". In defence of golf carts I would say that they're well used at such events. One strolls the course and periodically a cart zooms up and the scantily clad occupants hand one another beer. Hiking without the need to carry the booze, they should have that at the Grand Canyon.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

<takes due note>

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Those tips are gold, glad to see they arent wasted:lol:

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Funnily enough, although I think beer is one of the main food groups essential for good health, I never drink on the course. I just don't get it. Some people say it helps them relax, but I'm more of the mind that the one thing my game doesn't need is alcohol. :)

Plenty time for beer after the game.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

I walk/jog on a trail that circles a city run golf course. I never see people drinking but whoa! the scent of weed is often stronger than the air above a folkfest!

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

I have just started to play. $22 for nine holes and a steak dinner(friday night special). Half the fun involves holding up all the members. We always get a cart as it comes in useful to store the beer.

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Dont be suprised if someone like me "accidentally" thins a 2 iron at head height towards your cart and says something like "Oh, sorry, didnt see you there, mind if I play through.":sneaky:

Re: The 19th hole.....also known as the Golf Thread!
 

Was at the range last night hitting some balls.

My house mate has downloaded a very cool iphone app that enables you to film the swing and then slow it down and analyse it with fancy lines and stuff.

An interesting experience.