Race Bannon's OFFICIAL Golf Talk 2023-2024 Thread

YellowSnow said:

chuck said:

Bob_C said:

chuck said:

YellowSnow said:

Should I learn to hit a driver in 2023? This is the question.

Modern drivers are the easiest club in the bag to hit Yella. If my iron play, which I work on a lot, came close to my driving, which I never work on except during rounds, I'd be a scratch golfer.

Get one and figure it out. I'd look for one of the previous year's Taylor Mades, M series or Sim, to avoid spending $400+ on a club that you don't think you can hit

So true. Unless there's a crazy dogleg or a hazard that cuts through the fairway or something, I hit driver. Not because I've got a big dick or anything, but mostly because the sweet spot is so big now compared to a 3w or long iron. Better chance of hitting it straight and on the face than those other options.

I have a friend who can routinely crush it 300 yards but isn't consistently accurate. He's still usually in play and in wedge range though. What cracks me up is how he'll pick some odd hole to "play it safe" with his three iron. 81% of his iron tee shots are 100 yards shorter than his driver and in the rough, if he's lucky. It's comical.

I don't disagree with the logic here. I need to buy a modern, forgiving driver and learn to hit it.

But my 5 iron goes about 170 yds with an easy tall guy swing and generally hits the fairway. I'll take 170 in the fairway vs 240 in the rough every time.

Also, the rough at my course is fucking brutal. Here's the 1st tee. @Tequilla can confirm.

I'll take the extra 70 yards every day of the week

Your course is brutal for a number of reasons ... that said the fairways there are generally fairly wide so as long as you get some kind of consistent swing with your driver where you can rely on the ball flight then you'll never talk yourself out of the driver again

Bob_C said:

YellowSnow said:

Bob_C said:

YellowSnow said:

chuck said:

Bob_C said:

chuck said:

YellowSnow said:

Should I learn to hit a driver in 2023? This is the question.

Modern drivers are the easiest club in the bag to hit Yella. If my iron play, which I work on a lot, came close to my driving, which I never work on except during rounds, I'd be a scratch golfer.

Get one and figure it out. I'd look for one of the previous year's Taylor Mades, M series or Sim, to avoid spending $400+ on a club that you don't think you can hit

So true. Unless there's a crazy dogleg or a hazard that cuts through the fairway or something, I hit driver. Not because I've got a big dick or anything, but mostly because the sweet spot is so big now compared to a 3w or long iron. Better chance of hitting it straight and on the face than those other options.

I have a friend who can routinely crush it 300 yards but isn't consistently accurate. He's still usually in play and in wedge range though. What cracks me up is how he'll pick some odd hole to "play it safe" with his three iron. 81% of his iron tee shots are 100 yards shorter than his driver and in the rough, if he's lucky. It's comical.

I don't disagree with the logic here. I need to buy a modern, forgiving driver and learn to hit it.

But my 5 iron goes about 170 yds with an easy tall guy swing and generally hits the fairway. I'll take 170 in the fairway vs 240 in the rough every time.

Also, the rough at my course is fucking brutal. Here's the 1st tee. @Tequilla can confirm.

Is that Tetherow?

Yup. My 2023 life goal is to break 100 at Tetherow.

Yeah that's a beast of a course. Played there a few years ago and hit a few that I thought were perfect and just gone. Definitely not a bomb and gouge place.

Don't get me started on Tetherow ...

I've played over 60 courses located on Golf Digest's Top 100 Public Course listing dating back to the 2005 list or whatnot (there's less than 200 courses total on that list that are still operating and/or still public and/or if private I played them when they were still public).

Tetherow is BY FAR at the bottom 3 or 5 of the courses that I've played on the list. The design of the course is largely fine but the course is way too rough around the edges for someone playing the course here and there. I've hit good shots there that just ended up terribly . A buddy of mine had about a 25 foot birdie putt, proceeded to putt it off the green (nobody thought he hit a bad putt) and it went down the false front about 40 yards ... he ended up picking up his ball after about 3 chips came back to his feet.

If I'm in Bend I'll play Tetherow out of respect to Yellow Pisser provided I'm playing with him. That said, there are plenty of other courses in the area that I like far better at equal or more favorable prices.

On another note Pisser, I need you to find someone who is a member at Brasada Ranch (Canyons) as that's pretty much the only course that I haven't played in Bend (excluding Silvies Ranch) that is public or semi-private. If I'm going to play Tetherow with you we've got to find somewhere else that I'll be in a happier mood in after 18.