Okay, the last few tournaments I played in, the others always complained about me taking
practice swings too close to them, they were not in my swing path, and not within 10 to 15 feet,
they said the driver head may fly off and hit them

I have seen one time during a PGA tournament as the guy struck the ball, the
shaft of his driver broke and the head landed behind where he was teeing from.

Should I tell these guys to quit buying drivers from K-mart and stick with the real thing,
or should I take aim at them?

One thing a player should never do, is take practice swings that are directional toward others in their group, no matter how far away they are. The head could fly off, a divot, a rock in the turf, or goose poop could hit them.

Practice swings should only be taken when all other players in the group are visable and at a 90 degree angle to the players practice swing.

Bo, as to whether or not you should take aim at them, I would think aiming at them would be the best solution for insuring they never get hit.

I can relate to Bill's response. One time while I was taking a practice swing in the direction of the guy on the tee, I took a BIG divot (accidently of course) that went right in the guys mouth!!!

I about died laughing while trying to apologize....and learned a valuable lesson....only do that with people you Don't like!

Bill, I never swing a club in the direction of anybody, but when someone is facing you,
about 10 feet away, and you aren't taking powerful swings, they shoudln't get upset, or?

Scott, that's funny, how did the rest of the round go? The next time I play with a group
of knuckelheads, instead of hitting them with a divot, I find some goose crap.

Bo, I don't remember...everything after that and the beers I owed were a blur....

Bo, I think it's just good manners to swing in an area, and in a direction, that won't put your fellow players in danger of getting hit by flying objects (manmade or natural). If the guy complained that he felt uncomfortable, you were swinging too close to him. And if he asked you to move, you didn't, and you caused him bodily harm, you'd be legally liable.
No reason to give a lawyer a fee if it can be avoided.

Goose crap it is, like I said, this guy wasn't in my swing path, he was standing about
15 feet directly in front of me. This is the same guy who
I had an argument with about my feet being outside the markers on the
tee box, (the ball was inside).
~~~
Don't go there.., manners on the course, harming someone
(while playing golf), and having fun just don't fit together.

Sounds like you have a guy who itches for confrontation at any opportunity...

Bo, let's face it, some guys are a pain in the butt to play a round of golf with. I've had the same problem. One guy I was paired with complained when I put my glove on while his partner was standing over the ball. According to this guy, I was moving my hands and that was too much movement for his friend to deal with during his swing. Best thing to do might be to not play with this guy anymore. He sounds like a jerk to me.

Okay, let me change my post:

Jealousy plus a bad attidude = jerk

So would you recommend the driver because the face plate has a larger area,
and can scoop more goose poop, or a PW to ensure it has more loft???

I like the driver, driver into goose poop will give you maximum poop velocity and less chance they'll be able to get out of the way...

Remind me not to get you two mad out on the golf course. Especially during the goose poop season.

Thought I'd use this thread to vent a little. Had a meltdown last night in my weekly league. I'd played really well 2 weeks in a row, and have been swinging the club quite well. Then last night the wheels just fell off.... Even the shots I hit good turned out badly.

For example: the 14th hole(we played the back 9 last night) at my club is a medium length par 5 that is VERY hard to get to in 2. It's a dogleg left with OB all down the left side and up at the green there is a pond that's about 60 yards wide that fronts the entire green. In 3+ years of being a member at my club I can probably count on 1 hand the times i've actually gone at this green in 2. Well after bogies on 3 of the first 4 holes last night I popped a driver down the heart on the par 5. I really connected well and got to where I actually had an angle to go at the green. Already struggling I figured I had nothing to lose. I pulled 3 wood and unfortunately caught it a "touch" thin. It was on a perfect line however and I thought as long as it had enough to carry the water I had a shot at an eagle.

That was until the ball caught the top of the wood retaining wall that fronts the green and took a giant hop over the green and out of bounds. sigh....

I held it together pretty well the whole round not getting too upset but finally on the 18th hole I fried and lost it. My friends I was playing with thought it was pretty funny (admittedly it probably was) but I was pretty po'd to say the least.

what does everyone else do to keep from having "one of those days" where the game just wears on you and sends you over the breaking point?

Read what you just posted, realize how important your day of golf was compared to the kid in Ethiopia that has no food and is dying of AIDS.
Then, "Stop thinking, and your problems will disappear."

A bad day at golf is better than a good day at work.

Also, when my round is going down the toilet, I always think of the movie Kelly's Heroes and Donald Sutherland's character Oddball, "Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?"

Being as bad as I am, those type of shots don't surprise me anymore. Actually, I'd laugh and say "I meant to do that."

Like DocT, I laugh....every blue moon I start to slam the clubhead into the ground when I screw up...but then I remember, thats not going to help a dang thing and I just try to laugh about it and remember what Bob Rotella says..."every shot is an opportunity..." so I remember that and go see what sort of opportunity I have....

I would recommend reading his book, Play to Play Great...it helped a friend of mine greatly.....

Thursday, I played a round with a hypnotist who specializes in golf. He'd given me an audio to listen to for a few weeks before we played. Wow. What Bill says. It's possible to play a round of golf essentially without thinking. It is the coolest thing to look up and see my ball doing exactly what I'd envisioned, or close. It is just as cool to look up and see it going astray and have my reaction be, not, "You dumb s***,", but rather "How odd," because the strength of my vision was more real for me than the result. I don't have spectacular scores to show. My last two rounds were 101 and 104, where they had been, say, 106-112. But, really, this is the way to play. I had read about it, but I needed someone to model it for me. What a gas.

The mind is a powerful tool over matter. Success breeds more success. Congrats on making some good progress.