GoIrish17
New member
Hi everyone! My name is Brad, and though I've been a member of the site for a few years, I've never really spent much time here until recently. I was an active member on another website for some time, and after slowly growing disenchanted with the site I finally decided it was time to move on. I am not here to badmouth the other site, and don't care to discuss the less than desirable experiences that have been slowly gaining momentum there that made me move on. It was/ still is a great site when used in it's simplest form, but a change in the experience as a whole over the recent past made me feel it was time to just move on and find somewhere that people were more interested in sharing their shared love of golf and not squabbling over superficial things.
A little about me- I am 38 (soon to be 39- yikes! That will be my last birthday for a while!). I live in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, which is a suburb of just north of Akron, about 35 minutes south of Cleveland, having moved here just over a year ago. Originally, I am from the Warren/ Youngstown, Ohio area, and still make the hour drive home to play with friends and family. After many years in restaurant/ bar management, I decided to return to college and pursue a degree in journalism. I do club repair work to supplement my income while in college. I am a proud U.S. Army veteran.
I have been playing golf my whole life- my father got me started in the game at a very young age and I've continued to play to varying degrees since. The game of golf was just a casual hobby for me most of my life. I played once every month or two, usually a casual round or a scramble/ outing- more a beer drinking event than a competitive round. I played sports my whole life, including football and baseball to the small college level. As a younger man, I was more concerned with chasing girls, making money, and having fun than spending 4-5 hours of a day chasing a white ball around a golf course. I was used to being successful at the sports I played, and golf just didn't come as easy as others on a consistent basis. I could shoot a score of 110 just as easily as I could shoot high 80's or low 90's, and that just wasn't fun and I didn't have the desire to put in the time to improve.
Well, about 5 years ago the bug bit me hard. Maybe it was just something to replace the competitive juices that the other sports had provided for me earlier in my life, or maybe it was just that I had reached a point in my life that I could finally appreciate the great game of golf. I began purchasing some more respectable clubs, and I began to enjoy practicing and doing the things necessary to become better at the game. I joined a league that year, and amazingly, while practicing and playing on a much more regular and dedicated basis, I started to show some real signs of improvement. That first year in my league, I went from a 9 hole handicap of 12 to 6. Fast forward to now, and I am playing and practicing as much as my schedule will allow. My handicap has been as low as 7.1 (and as high as 10, lol), and I am currently hovering around 8.something and trending in the right direction. I appreciate the challenges golf presents now rather than get frustrated by them.
And, the equipment... Oh, the equipment. I love golf equipment ALMOST as much as the game itself. When I first rededicated myself to the game and bought a proper set of clubs, I taught myself how to regrip them to save a few bucks. Fast forward to now, and I am very adept at gripping, shafting, adjusting loft and lie, and everything such as this. I even took a part time job in between jobs and school working as a club tech at a big box store. The job was a dream come true, unfortunately the employer was not. But I learned more there about club building and fitting than I ever thought I would. Nothing gives me more pride than hitting a great shot with a golf club that I built from components. Don't get me wrong, I am not superficial or a snob about equipment, I don't look down my nose at someone who doesn't have a $1,000's of dollars set of clubs in their bag (one of the major reasons I soured on that other site). But few things give me more joy than helping a friend build a club that suits their game more than what they are playing now. Seeing someone strike a club you built for them better than they ever thought they could is a feeling of pure joy and pride- even when that shot results in separating me from a couple bucks of skins money!
So, I look forward to beginning a long and fruitful relationship with The Hacker's Paradise. I will be the most positive contributor here I can possibly be, and look forward to growing my knowledge by the visit! And, by all means, if someone here is from this area and ever looking for someone to play with, I'm always looking for a new playing partner. I'm still new to the area, so I do a lot of GolfNow Hot Deals and go out alone just hoping to get paired with someone.
Thanks for reading, and I can't wait to get started in a long relationship with The Hacker's Paradise!
edit:
Guys (and gals), I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome to THP today! Unfortunately, I will have to stop "thanking" (I'm still not sure how big a deal that really is around here) everyone for their amazingly kind comments welcoming me to this great site. It's getting to be too much to keep up with (and, if I missed anyone's post, please know that I truly do thank and appreciate the warm welcome), I never expected to get to 75 posts in this thread in the first day (not even a day, really). Everyone to follow who comments, please know that I sincerely appreciate how welcome everyone has made me feel here, it's a breath of fresh air. I look forward to interacting with each and every one of you and getting to know everyone better. Maybe even get out and chase the ball around with some of you sometime in the future.
p.s. Those of you that also thanked me for my service, it is both humbling and embarrassing that you took the time to do that. Though so many more made a much greater sacrifice than I did, it makes me proud when someone says thank you or extends a hearty handshake my way because of it. Trust me, I did nothing special, and it's been many years since I did so little. I'd like to ask you to make the same effort to thank a young man or woman for their service while they still wear the uniform sometime when you have the opportunity. Thanks, everyone!
A little about me- I am 38 (soon to be 39- yikes! That will be my last birthday for a while!). I live in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, which is a suburb of just north of Akron, about 35 minutes south of Cleveland, having moved here just over a year ago. Originally, I am from the Warren/ Youngstown, Ohio area, and still make the hour drive home to play with friends and family. After many years in restaurant/ bar management, I decided to return to college and pursue a degree in journalism. I do club repair work to supplement my income while in college. I am a proud U.S. Army veteran.
I have been playing golf my whole life- my father got me started in the game at a very young age and I've continued to play to varying degrees since. The game of golf was just a casual hobby for me most of my life. I played once every month or two, usually a casual round or a scramble/ outing- more a beer drinking event than a competitive round. I played sports my whole life, including football and baseball to the small college level. As a younger man, I was more concerned with chasing girls, making money, and having fun than spending 4-5 hours of a day chasing a white ball around a golf course. I was used to being successful at the sports I played, and golf just didn't come as easy as others on a consistent basis. I could shoot a score of 110 just as easily as I could shoot high 80's or low 90's, and that just wasn't fun and I didn't have the desire to put in the time to improve.
Well, about 5 years ago the bug bit me hard. Maybe it was just something to replace the competitive juices that the other sports had provided for me earlier in my life, or maybe it was just that I had reached a point in my life that I could finally appreciate the great game of golf. I began purchasing some more respectable clubs, and I began to enjoy practicing and doing the things necessary to become better at the game. I joined a league that year, and amazingly, while practicing and playing on a much more regular and dedicated basis, I started to show some real signs of improvement. That first year in my league, I went from a 9 hole handicap of 12 to 6. Fast forward to now, and I am playing and practicing as much as my schedule will allow. My handicap has been as low as 7.1 (and as high as 10, lol), and I am currently hovering around 8.something and trending in the right direction. I appreciate the challenges golf presents now rather than get frustrated by them.
And, the equipment... Oh, the equipment. I love golf equipment ALMOST as much as the game itself. When I first rededicated myself to the game and bought a proper set of clubs, I taught myself how to regrip them to save a few bucks. Fast forward to now, and I am very adept at gripping, shafting, adjusting loft and lie, and everything such as this. I even took a part time job in between jobs and school working as a club tech at a big box store. The job was a dream come true, unfortunately the employer was not. But I learned more there about club building and fitting than I ever thought I would. Nothing gives me more pride than hitting a great shot with a golf club that I built from components. Don't get me wrong, I am not superficial or a snob about equipment, I don't look down my nose at someone who doesn't have a $1,000's of dollars set of clubs in their bag (one of the major reasons I soured on that other site). But few things give me more joy than helping a friend build a club that suits their game more than what they are playing now. Seeing someone strike a club you built for them better than they ever thought they could is a feeling of pure joy and pride- even when that shot results in separating me from a couple bucks of skins money!
So, I look forward to beginning a long and fruitful relationship with The Hacker's Paradise. I will be the most positive contributor here I can possibly be, and look forward to growing my knowledge by the visit! And, by all means, if someone here is from this area and ever looking for someone to play with, I'm always looking for a new playing partner. I'm still new to the area, so I do a lot of GolfNow Hot Deals and go out alone just hoping to get paired with someone.
Thanks for reading, and I can't wait to get started in a long relationship with The Hacker's Paradise!
edit:
Guys (and gals), I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome to THP today! Unfortunately, I will have to stop "thanking" (I'm still not sure how big a deal that really is around here) everyone for their amazingly kind comments welcoming me to this great site. It's getting to be too much to keep up with (and, if I missed anyone's post, please know that I truly do thank and appreciate the warm welcome), I never expected to get to 75 posts in this thread in the first day (not even a day, really). Everyone to follow who comments, please know that I sincerely appreciate how welcome everyone has made me feel here, it's a breath of fresh air. I look forward to interacting with each and every one of you and getting to know everyone better. Maybe even get out and chase the ball around with some of you sometime in the future.
p.s. Those of you that also thanked me for my service, it is both humbling and embarrassing that you took the time to do that. Though so many more made a much greater sacrifice than I did, it makes me proud when someone says thank you or extends a hearty handshake my way because of it. Trust me, I did nothing special, and it's been many years since I did so little. I'd like to ask you to make the same effort to thank a young man or woman for their service while they still wear the uniform sometime when you have the opportunity. Thanks, everyone!
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