Wow, that is a pretty long putter. I think mine is 34", which I admit is short. Are you doing some kind of modified claw grip on it or just standing pretty upright?

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Its not long when you consider that you choke up to the line where the counter weight is which is about 3 inches up the shaft. So you end up holding it like a 35 inch putter.

But, in general I am trying to stand a little more up right to relieve pressure on my back as well as loosen things up with my arms so I'm not hunched over my putts.

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Interesting. I've hit a few counter weight putters at Golfsmith but never on real grass. I guess I just don't understand the concept. Felt weird to me but maybe I was using
them wrong.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I've messed with the TaylorMade 35" counter-weighted putter and I like the concept (my putters are 34") It feels cheap compared to my JDM TaylorMade putters, though.

I think you are wise to move to a longer putter w/your back issues, shakes. Did you try putting one-handed?

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

If you were holding the putter all the way at the end of the shaft then you were doing it wrong. Supposed to grip it below the weight in order to get the balancing effect of the counter weight.

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After watching Charles Barkley lace a one handed shot 160 yards onto the green of a par 3 this weekend I think it might be time to expand my one handed shot arsenal.

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I was doing it wrong then. Maybe next time I am at the store I will monkey with them. I am happy with the two Scotty's I have right now. If I would ever buy a new
putter it would be a new Bullseye which I putted with in high school and loved. I have a couple at home but they are bent up from me hitting them on my foot! ha ha

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Got out of work a little early last night and had a free cart coupon to use at Shepherds. Teed off at 2:30 and was home free until the 5th hole when I ran into a
couple of guys. They were slowed down by a two some ahead of them so they asked me to join up. We made really good time and then the rain rolled in about
#15. On #17 a bolt of lightning hit just on the other side of the garbage dump and thunder immediately followed. Not close enough to raise the hair on my arms
but close enough for me to head home. I gave myself a bogey on the very birdieable par 5 18th and called it a day. Back felt pretty much back to normal although
I started losing it off the tee near the end which was frustrating. Finished by 5 so 2.5 hours is a good time out there.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Some dude on the Web.com tour put up a 58 yesterday. I don't know what all the fuss is about. I have put up a 58 three different times this year.... on the back 9

Early tee time at River Oaks tomorrow. Hoping a familiar course and a bucket at the range tonite cures what ails my swing.

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Was invited out to the Glen Club in Glenview yestersday by a guy I had never met IRL, but correspond with frequently on Twitter. Second time playing the course, which was in great shape.

However, the interesting part of the day came on the drive home. While stuck in traffic on 294, I googled the guy's name to see what came up. I was... surprised.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-former-chicago-rush-owner-guilty-met-20160406-story.html

I'd like to take another shot at that course sometime. Had a vendor take me out probably 6 years ago or maybe even more and I didn't play very well.
I remember a couple of goofy greens. $100 for an early weekday tee time isn't bad but I don't think the $165-$200 price tag on a weekend prime time
slot is probably worth it for me.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

There's no possible way I pay that much to play a course, and I didn't think time either. That track is nice, but it ain't worth $200.

Never played the Glen Club, no way I'm paying that kind of money for a course that the consensus seems to be its nice, but shouldn't cost more than $75.

I have a buddy who has a friends who caddie there and they always get him on for $25, he's been promising to hook me up for a couple years, but hasn't yet.


From what I heard, Glen club wanted to be private, but the city wouldn't allow it so they countered by charging huge $$$ for greens fees and having members who basically get to treat it like a private club since it doesn't get much foot traffic from the public due to the fees.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Bingo. The place has a nice membership in terms of how you're treated when you walk around. Otherwise spend $70 less and go play Cantigny. Nicer course, nicer practice facility, 27 holes.

94 today at a very soggy River Oaks. I still am not playing particularly well, but I hit enough good shots to get my score down. 43 on the front with 3 pars which was real nice. Could not hit a driver on the back and lost 2 balls. I am also not getting near the distance I usually am. It was really impossible to put any stock into how I putted and chipped today (I would say just OK) because the greens were so wet and slow. Oh well, such is life.

The 9th hole comes back to the clubhouse and the starter was standing off to the side of the green watching us very intently. Our last guy taps in his putt, and I can hear him walking across the green to us. I thought it was going to yell at us for something, but I didn't know what. Instead, he shakes my hand and says thank you, and then pulls out a sleeve of Nike balls from his back pocket and hands them to me. He goes, "While you were waiting for your buddy's to chip on, I saw you fix 3 ball marks and then your own. We appreciate that, thank you." I told him I always fix at least 2 and my own if I have made one. I thought it was a very nice gesture, but honestly if people weren't asshole and fixed their own marks and spit their sunflower shells off the green we wouldn't be in this mess now would we?

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Partook in 9 hole Flagg Creek this morning. drove the ball exceptionally well. managed bogeys on 1 and 2, then had 8's on 3-4-5.

found bunkers on three of the last four holes and ended up with a 53.

a solid round for me and gave confidence in club selection. still not ready for Midlothian Country Club in 8 days. yipes!!

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CSFMB: Home of the small minded

Nice. I always fix my marks. It is called courtesy. Lacking these days everywhere.

I have the Newport 2 Counter Balanced Scotty and absolutely love it. I've always struggled with my lag putting, but for some reason with the counter balance I seem to get the speed right. This is my second summer with it and have never putted better.

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Heading down to Peoria tomorrow for my annual Sunday/Monday rounds at Weaver Ridge with 15 other guys. If you've never played there it is worth the drive. Beautiful setting and a top notch golf course. My game has been inconsistent lately so I'm expecting one good round and one bad round. That's they way my summer has been going. The bonus is Hoops pizza tomorrow night followed by a visit to Big Al's.

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Hit the ball much better this past weekend and the weather couldn't have been any better. Putter started getting hot which was nice.
Still too inconsistent off the tee and my chipping around the greens was atrocious. Shot of the weekend was hitting a gap wedge in from
110, one bounce and then spun back about 6 feet within inches of the cup. The dew was still on the green and the path was all mapped
out for me, so I took a photo. Hadn't put one that close for a while.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Got out twice this weekend. Met a buddy of mine from South Bend, he was in Geneva watching his kid try out for a hockey team so we met at Highlands of Elgin. I'm starting to think HOE is the toughest public course in the Chicagoland area. Place just eats me up every time. I think I've broken 90 there once. Saturday was more of the same as I shot a 94, two strokes better than the 96 I put up there a few weeks ago with Furious. 39 putts so the new putter didn't help much.

Yesterday needed a confidence boost so back to Deerfield where I shot a 76 last week. Only an 80 yesterday, but played well outside of a couple bad decisions and shots. Started to get the hang fo the new putter, 32 putts on the day which I think is my low for the year. Rolled in a lot of putts inside 8 feet. Highlight was hitting two 9-irons inside 10 feet and then draining both birdie putts.


Got my index update and its back in single digits, down to a 9.

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83 while walking a par 66 course yesterday. Start to finish I hit the ball better than I have in probably 6 weeks. Looked up on 3 shots that really hurt my score, leading to an 8 and two 6s. Only 1 three putt, and I was able to lag several long putts within 4'. I am still not getting much distance on my driver but kept it in play 6 of the 7 times I used it so that was good. 6 pars and a birdie, with a total of 8 GIR hit. Got out of 4 bunkers with no problem, but unfortunately was not able to sink any of those par putts. Still, really pleased with the round overall.

Played with a buddy who had his all time low of 89 with 7 GIR. He is usually a 105-110+ golfer. It was the best I have ever seen him play. Its always nice to see your buddies play well!

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The amount of times you guys get out on the course makes me insanely jealous.

Played there once, really liked the back 9, especially the long, downhill par 3 that runs parallel with 74.

Was it in good shape and what did they charge you?

What's anyone thoughts with Nike getting out of the club, ball and bag business?

One of the best drivers I ever hit was an 8.5 SQ Tour with an x-stiff Diamana Blueboard (similar to Tiger's) in 2006-2007. Face cracked and tried a couple of other Nike drivers (Sumo, Covert) with results that weren't as good as the SQ Tour.

My second hole in one was with a One Platinum on a 163 yard hole.

Still have a set of VR Pro Combos with a 54 and 58 VR wedges, Nippon Modus 3 120 x-stiff shafts. Really good clubs but the shafts are too much for my current swing.

Hopefully Rory can get a putter and some confidence back and turn his game around. From reading some golf sites, sounds like he and Tiger will continue to wear Nike apparel and with Day and Dustin Johnson both being equipment free agents at the end of the season, maybe they'll be sporting the swoosh as well.

It was in OK shape. We go every year and I was a little disappointed this year. The fairways were in great shape, but the greens were spongy and pretty beat up. The rough was brutal and the bunkers were inconsistent. With the greens being so beat up and the rough being so long I wondered if they had just had a tournament right before we got there.

Can't remember for sure, but it was around $50 each day.

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"Closed Right Ankle Fracture" was the diagnosis at urgent care.

Going to the orthopedist on Monday. Hope I only miss August.

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Franky Goes to Hospital

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Played a really pretty course up in the far north woods of Minnesota last week. Hit the ball very well and if it weren't for a couple of bad swings and
maybe knowing more about where to miss it could have been near par but finished with a 76 so I was quite happy with it. Just gorgeous. Generous
fairways and the greens were pure. The picture is not an exaggeration as to how it looked. Every hole was pristine and cut out of the woods.




Played one of my home courses yesterday and got into a game with three other guys I have played with before. I hit the ball very well and chipped and
putted about as well as I have all year. I made the turn at -1 (35) and proceeded to eagle the par 5 10th. I lost a ball and took a double on #12
but fought back with two more birdies on the next three holes. I lost another ball on #16 and bogeyed 17 to card a 36 on the back. Could have
been in the 60s but two bad swings cost me at least 3 shots. Took home $40 from the match which felt doubly good.

It was my 40th full round of 18 holes for the year so I think I will meet my goal of 50 pretty easily this season as long as I can stay healthy.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami