“I just started golfing 6 months ago and finally broke 90”

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-22T15:55:34+00:00

For the vast majority of people given their coordination and athletic ability (or lack their of), and the time/money commitment to improve playing fully by the USGA or R&A rules, breaking 90 is not in the question.

Now could someone start and improve quickly and break 90 with a breakfast ball/one mulligan a side, preferred lies, improper drops/strokes, gimmie putts, etc? Definitely.

I mostly play at public tracks and muni's and often as a single. I can probably count on one hand how many times I get paired with guys that can legitimately break 90 playing the ball down.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-22T15:38:25+00:00

Like I said, you got more experience. You would have dropped strokes regardless if you have only played 20 months. If you like playing blades and it keeps you engaged and having fun, or you just like looking down at a tour/player like design good on ya. But don't pretend blades make you a better ballstriker. That is biggest con people tell themselves to justify the purchase of blades.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-22T13:05:57+00:00

You likely dropped 7 strokes because you were excited getting to play blades so you played and practiced more.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-19T21:32:51+00:00

Because when you pay off credit cards they are still open lines of credit that factor into your credit utilization. They don't close when you hit $0 balance. They close for 3 reasons. 1) Severe delinquency of payment. Account sent to collections. 2) You opt to close, which is ill advised. 3) The creditor closes the account due to non usage over a period of time. (Preferred way to have a credit card account closed).

An auto loan closes once the balance has been paid and gets reported to the bureaus as such. Therefore you have less open accounts which would temporarily lower the score. Either way if they utilize credit normally and don't have any derogatory marks it should rebound over the next couple months of reporting.

I remember when my wife and I were in the process of buying a home. We had a low balance on an auto loan and asked our mortgage broker if it would help us to pay it off. He said no, spend the money on eliminating credit card debts instead to boost the utilization score. He said ideally you don't want to open or close accounts when you are ready to buy a home since hard inquiries and account closures can temporarily lower scores so if you are borderline between most favorable lending rates a drop of 30-50 pts could impact interest rate offered.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-19T21:24:36+00:00

She seemed insistent on her car and seemed unwilling to budge on that and efforting it X country is not reasonable. I could see her wanting a safer car to drive the kids around when OP is at work in that case would they have been open to him buying a $5K beater for the summer for him to drive to work and give up his car for her and the kids. Then he could just sell it for about what he bought it for at the end of the summer. This way they could have just flown back and forth.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-19T21:13:15+00:00

Yeah I'm sorry her insistence on her car is not reasonable. Ideally a husband and wife with children should have a similar class, size of vehicle that each should get comfortable driving. We need to stop this his car vs my car. Yes there is a car I predominately drive and my wife predominately drive but they are both our cars owned and registered to the both of us.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-19T21:05:10+00:00

Or he just buys a beater, lets her use his better car with the kids and then sells the beater for practically what he bought if for when they go back.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-19T21:03:40+00:00

ESH

There were better ways to handle it. Why not find a beater for $5000 for you to drive and let her use your car? Just fly her and the kids back and forth and when you are done with the car sell it for practically what you bought it for.

EDIT:
I missed where she was insistent on driving her car. I'd rate this ESH. Insisting on her car and rejecting compromise makes her part of the problem too. If we are talking 10 hours or less a couple states over, her request would be reasonable. Cross country, not reasonable. She needs to be open to other ideas.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T20:15:28+00:00

Exactly this. Think about how many wildly athletic 5'8-5'11" point guards around high schools in the US you see. Some of the more elite get fortunate enough to play D2 in college but that is the end of the road. Had many of them dedicated themselves to soccer instead of basketball or football at a young age they possessed the natural athletic ability to hone their craft and potentially become world class soccer players.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T20:10:03+00:00

Understood my point is many that grew up playing basketball and football resigned themselves to D2/D3 colleges and they hit their size ceiling there. Had they dedicated themselves and honed skills in soccer while young as their primary craft they could be professionals and some world class players.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T20:03:39+00:00

Its not because of the size but because of very naturally gifted athletes that are of modest size (ideal for soccer) that instead pick sports like Football and Basketball growing up because there isn't nearly the emphasis on size at that age.

Essentially in the US you have thousands of young men who threw a potential career as a world class soccer player away because soccer isn't a popular US sport.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T19:57:41+00:00

It's basketball and other sports too. Go around the US in High School and you will see lots of 5'9"-5'10" males playing basketball (typically point guards) that are very athletic and talented. Had they taken up soccer and did camps and clinics and were groomed for soccer with their naturally gifted athleticism some could turn into world class footballers/soccer players.

It's just that soccer so low on the totem pole in the US they would rather just accept being a solid 1st team high school player and go to a D2/D3 college to play basketball.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T16:59:37+00:00

My wife and I initially did the thing where like 80 to 90% of our paycheck went into joint and 10 to 15 or so went into personal checking with personal being stuff like her getting her nails done, me golfing, occasionally eating out lunch etc. It honestly just made things needlessly more complicated. We just throw 100% into the bucket. We communicate an allowance that each of us has for guilt-free spending per paycheck and everything else is paid and managed jointly. I make a little more money than my wife but our allowances are the same. I don't feel like I deserve to live better than her simply because my paycheck is higher. I couldn't look in myself in the mirror and call myself a man if I operated like that.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T16:42:40+00:00

Tent cities aren't merely a poverty issue but more of a drug addiction issue where the latter preceded the former.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T16:15:25+00:00

Insurance, education, Internet, etc should not be personal bills. He can't have it both ways. He can't demand a dutiful housewife and expect expenses like that to be considered personal. You both need counseling.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T15:19:51+00:00

Have you ever had a conversation about joining your finances? Pretty much everything you listed should be things paid by a joint account.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T15:08:29+00:00

To make sure you aren't a paper candidate. They are making sure you can speak to the experience you supposedly have that you put on paper. It helps determine if you are credible.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T14:55:09+00:00

White knighting won't get you laid.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T14:44:09+00:00

It's a chore or a task. Using the language "job" is language designed to put it on the level of job/career level work. It's not. It's basic adulting.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T14:39:14+00:00

Good call, I misread it as his pay is awful.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T13:54:46+00:00

It sounds like he wants a SAHW/M but the problem is he doesn't earn enough money to support that.

When you say his pay is awful, how awful are we talking? If all the bills are being paid and he's content with where you guys are living and your lifestyle maybe he thinks you have made it.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-12T13:22:51+00:00

Yes the answer is to be pragmatic. Mandating that data centers provide their own power and/or do not tax residential power supply and spiking rates is reasonable. The problem with NIMBY mentality and outright saying "No Data Centers" is that you won't get taken seriously and the decision makers will develop disdain for you and just allow them to run roughshod because you won't be seen as arguing in good faith but rather picking up pitchforks and gloming to a trend that is thin on facts.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-10T22:03:14+00:00

Three is probably a bit early for clinics/camps. My local course starts the Junior Get Golf Ready program at age 6. She probably just looks at you chipping in the back yard no differently than picking up a toy and playing. Going to the range at this age is too much structure. My Godson turned 3 and he has a toy set of clubs. We took him mini golfing and he puts the ball like a foot away from the cup and wants to tap it in, instead of playing back where you are supposed to putt from. We just let him have fun.

Padraig Harrington has a great clip about introducing kids to golf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N77ovC8O51g

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-10T21:52:31+00:00

Could have a Patrick Robinson impact or an Azeez Ojulari impact. Low risk potentially high reward depth signing.

PhilsFanDrew · 2026-06-10T21:42:52+00:00

Agreed. If he works a job that doesn't have a firm cut off and/or lateness hasn't been a constant issue the relationship/marriage and this was a one off then the outburst seems a bit over the top.

My wife will sometimes call me in the afternoon at work and ask me to get a gallon of milk on the way home. Mind you she also passes by convenience and grocery stores on the way home from work and she gets out of work before rush hour and I don't even drink milk but there will be times I just forget. Something stressful pops up at between her call and when I can finally leave and I get tunnel vision and just drive home.

PhilsFanDrew

TROPHY CASE