MSU Red Cedar Message Board

If you are still in EL, spend a hundred bucks and get a membership at Lake of the Hills. It's a par 3 course and you get unlimited play with your membership so you can go out during the week and play a couple of holes or all nine (or more, whatever) and work on your short game.

When I first started my goal wasn't to shoot a certain score, it was to be able to play with "golfers". I wanted to be able to play with friends and in work leagues without being looked at as a hindrance or a bother.

For me that meant getting consistent contact off of the tee and irons, hitting solid chips, and having good course etiquette. Etiquette is a huuuuuuuuuuge part of golf. How you play on the course can tell people a lot about who you are as a person.

Make sure you pay attention to the little things: playing "ready golf", keeping quiet and still when someone it about to hit, understanding pace of play, dressing correctly, showing up to the course 20-30 min early.

Havent seen a comment on this yet....but play cheap balls. Or, dig into the club house water ball bin. Plan on losing them. And, don't spend more than a minute looking for them. A couple regulars I play with treat a ball like its worth $100 and spend the full PGA 5-minute rule looking around. Its maddening and slows down play. Nothing...I mean NOTHING....is worse that a weekend round where the group of hacks in front of you spend five minutes fanning out, deep in the woods.

Always play with a spare in your pocket also, so after you've briefly looked around, you don't have to run all the way back to your bag and dig out a scuffed Pinnacle. Better yet, the ProV1 you just found that isn't yours, can suddenly become yours.

No beginner should need to hit that club yet. If you're playing from the back tees, a five iron is used a couple times a round. For me, usually on par 5's, or that one or two long 4's.

7 iron. Always a begginers best friend. I would go to the range and just get consistent. You can't go get a lesson, until you've gotten the basics down. They can't tweak anything if you don't swing close to the same every time.

My advice to everyone is go to the range and find your 100 yard club. Aim for the flags there. Just try and get close to being consistent. One you find that club, and can be somewhat consistent, it makes everything easier. Then go to the 150 yard flag. Almost every approach seems to be 100 or 150 on most courses.

Golf is 90% mental. Just have fun. The advice about not getting mad because you aren't good enough is perfect. Grab a beer, head out with some friends, and good luck.

Be careful buying clubs on eBay. There are a lot of fakes. I got a set of clubs and I suspected they were fakes so I took one down to Dick's and compared it to the real thing and they were obviously not Taylor Mades. Fortunately, I was able to get my money back.

Avoid anything coming out of Asia.

Really? Given the vast amount of variation in back tees distance, player length and ability, and course strategy, you've managed to put a certain number on the amount of times a 5 iron is used in a round.

That's just about the stupidest statement made in any golf thread I've come across here.

Really? That I use a 5 iron a "couple times a round" is the stupidest statement ever?

You said..... if you're playing from the back tees, a five iron is used a couple times a round.

I take it you just made an error, because what you wrote doesn't read like you were talking about just yourself. You'd have to use words like "I" or "my" to make that clear. You said "you're ".

Not a schtick. I'm not sure why a few of you guys are deadset on that angle but you're way off base. And can a single guy even be considered a swinger? I'm not sure but it seems like a misplaced label.

I've been playing golf since I was 5 years old. Family was a member of a country club till I was out of high school. I actually instruct as a part time job in the summer. Whether I'm a 4 or not, I really can't say for certain. I'm not a member of a club anymore and I haven't played in a tournament that requires a USGA hcp for a few years so I really don't need to maintain one. I'm just a publinxer who plays about twice a week when it's warm enough to play. I average around a 78. Best round this past season was a 2 under 70 at Pheasant Run (33-37).

welcome to the world of hitting 1 shot per round like tiger....... then thinking you have it sussed, to be followed by shanking the next 10 shots into every available hazard...tree, pond, sand ect.....

as other have said.... work on the short/medium game first....

a lot of shops will have a club pro in them so take advice as to first club selections from them

I've been on this board since way before the transition from the old site and I barely even know who Nucky is. I know he stirs shit, that's about it. How you think that fits my MO I havent a clue. What shit have I stirred? Anyways, I've never found any interest in the reality tv that is the individual beefs that certain posters have with one another. You seem to enjoy it and all the power to ya. You're barking up the wrong tree though.

or anything forged. the perimeter-weighted clubs are so much easier to hit. I learned in the old days of forged irons and persimmon woods, the equipment has made huge strides since then. it's really too bad, a lot of really great old golf courses were ruined because of the new equipment. hazards that used to be in the landing area of better golfers now only catches the hacks. now all the new courses have tees over 7000 yards, so the advantage in nullified anyway. the usga and r&a really handled equipment badly. it did create a lot of sales for clubmakers though.