From his website, tigerwoods.com:

After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person.

I can't really add much to this, but I thought it appropriate to post it here.  Major media on it as well.

One would expect him to be back in time for the Masters, but there's no way of knowing.

With so much of the discussion here (and in the golf world in general) currently dominated (and somewhat understandably so) by issues having little to do with the game itself, I thought it might be nice to have a thread free of such distractions. There are other things going on, both in the wider golf world and my personal golf world (a world characterized by excruciating mediocrity).

I'll kick this thread off with a tale from each.

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In the last decade, there was a brilliant (and all too short-lived) television show that aired on Nickelodeon called The Adventures of Pete & Pete. It was a live-action show, and concerned the lives of two brothers named Pete, their friends, their own personal superhero, and a rotating cast of bizarre characters that moved through their neighborhood.

The second-to-last episode of the first season of Pete & Pete was titled "What We Did on Our Summer Vacation." Central to this episode was the ice cream truck man, Mr. Tastee, who appeared every year at the beginning of summer, and of course disappeared as summer ended. Mr. Tastee wore a giant plastic ice cream cone head, so no one knew what he looked like. Indeed, no one knew who he was, where he came from, or where he went when the summer was over.

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Hola, Wagglers.

As I believe I've mentioned in the pages before, I am a rank novice where this game is concerned. But I've recently begun to take things a little more seriously. As such, I've started mildly upgrading my clubs from the super-econo sticks the have occupied my bag for the past several seasons. (Picked up an old demo 975J that looked to have been hit maybe 20 times off eBay for $40 including shipping - Score!)

As part of this process, I've learned a few things that are critical when seeking out equipment that I had somehow never learned before - like the difference between forged and cast irons. And thus my dilemma.

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Some things in this world seem certain. Death. Taxes. The sun rising in the east, and later setting in the west.

But now?

It's entirely possible that the world is coming to an end. Indeed, the end-timers may be correct. As I sit and gaze out my kitchen window, I half expect gravity to suddenly cease operations. Conversely, were gravity to intensify and cause the moon to fall from the sky, I would not be shocked. Nothing makes sense anymore.

I'm trying to decide how to spend my week. Right around the time Tiger and Yang were walking up the 16th fairway, I told my dad I might start robbing banks. Perhaps I'll start drinking a lot and sleeping around even more. Drugs? Not really before, but hell - why not, now?

Friends, the apocalypse may indeed be nigh.

So, anyway...do what you gotta do. Repent. Pray. Hug your kids.

Hell...smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Quite some time ago - maybe a year or more - i managed somehow to lose my 9-iron. After searching through the lost club bins at the courses i had recently played, I gave up and set about to find a replacement. 

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Alright, Wagglers: Here's your chance to help a brother out in his time of need.

I am in the middle of altering my grip. When I began playing several years ago, I was first taught an interlocking grip. Please bear in mind that it was no professional who taught me this - it was my dad, who (bless his heart) is not the most technically skilled golfer around. 

Anyway, the grip worked alright for awhile, and I attibuted my all-to-frequent shanks to the fact that I'd just not very good. Recently, though, I've had a little more time to think about my swing, and I realized that my grip on the club was very loose at the top of my backswing. This was of course requiring me to essentially re-grip the club as I began my downswing. Timing, I figured out, was everything. 

That will not do.

So I picked up Hogan's book and discovered that I had the club improperly positioned in my left hand, with the shaft running pretty much straight across my palm as opposed to diagonally. I'm working on making this correction, and it has indeed provided for a more secure union of hands and club on the backswing.[I haven't gone full-Vardon; I've kept the interlock (it just feels better), but I'm not altogether opposed to going to a full overlap.]

However.

Since making these changes, I've developed a slice of epic proportions. Seriously - this ball is so far out to the right that it would require a meeting of the John Birch Society to locate it.

Any idea as to what might be causing this new-found slice? I assume it has to be grip related, as that's the only change I've instituted. 

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

By now, I'm sure everyone is aware of Sergio Garcia's comments regarding Augusta National yesterday on the Golf Channel, uttered after having limped to a T-38 finish in the Masters:

“I don’t like it to tell you the truth,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair. It’s too tricky. Even when it’s dry you still get mud balls in the middle of the fairway. It’s too much of a guessing game.
 
“They can do whatever they want. It’s not my problem. I just come here and play and then go home. That’s about it.”

According to TGC's Shag Bag, Garcia has since issued an apology via his management company. (Read: damage control.) But let's face it: Serg will undoubtedly get two ears' full at Bethpage in June.

Garcia's bellyaching is becoming tiresome, to say the least. And it's beginning to remind me of Colin Montgomerie's legendary grousing that led to his frosty relationship with American fans. Montgomerie and the public managed to get over it and nowadays he seems to be generally respected by folks on this side of the pond, and perhaps even liked. 

I suppose it remains to be seen whether the same will happen with Sergio. Surely his relationship with American fans has yet to sink to Montomgerie-like levels, but it's quickly headed in that direction. One wonders what happened to the imminently likable El Nino of a decade ago. I don't know - what's the Spanish phrase for "overgrown brat"?

It also remains to be seen whether Garcia will follow Montgomerie's path to golf's most unfortunate distinction, that of an incredibly talented player who fails to bring home one of his sport's most cherished prizes.

Good morning, y'all.

I am a weekend duffer. I've never seen fit to actually compute my handicap, but I generally shoot in the mid-90s. Because of my generally lousy play, I've spent a not-inconsiderable amount of time searching for errant tee shots in the woods and weeds; as such, I've had an opportunity to try out quite a few "found' balls over the years.

Anyway, I'm looking for a new ball. I was a fan of Maxfli's original Noodle, but the new Noodle is somewhat displeasing to me.

I tend to dislike so-called "distance" balls - feels like hitting a rock.

Costco (of all places) currently has a two-dozen pack of the Titleist Tour Prestige on sale for about $30. Has anyone had any experience with this ball? I was under the impression (from having read some old product reviews) that this ball had been discontinued. Anyone know if it's the same Prestige hey were making a few years ago?

Anyway, my ball criteria is generally determined by a) affordability; b) durability; and c) feel.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.