Golf

How do you rescue a fledgling golf game anyway? Buy a new driver and start crushing your drives? Listen to all the tips your friends and families are eager to give you? Buy a new putter?

With dozens of Southern Nevada golf courses vying for the business of today’s cost-conscious players, it might seem like bare-bones facilities would have a distinct advantage. Silverstone Golf Club, however, has turned that notion on its ear, positioning itself as an affordable but all-inclusive golf outing.

Q. Do I always get relief from a staked tree? I know you’ve answered this question before but the girls I play with won’t believe me unless they see it in writing. — Carolyn Reiner

As golfers we are always searching for ways to lower our scores. There are many ways to accomplish this but the quickest and, in my opinion, the best way is to spend more time practicing on your short game.

For the second year in a row, the Cleveland Golf Pro-Scratch at Angel Park Golf Club was decided on the first sudden-death playoff hole. The two-person team made up of professional David Stead and amateur John Hahn edged out three other teams after their two tournament rounds of 63 on July 12 and 13 left them tied with Joel Kijowski and Clayton Yadda (64-67), Mike Ruiz and James Logeman (65-66) and Jake Ellison and John Busby (67-64).

While we’re all sweltering in this 110-plus degree heat, PGA Tour player Alex Cejka reminds you it could certainly be worse, based on the old adage: It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.

Back in 1989, Arnold Palmer helped create Angel Park Golf Club, a sprawling complex built around the desires — and limitations — of recreational golfers. Tough enough to challenge accomplished players, Angel Park’s two 18-hole courses were really conceived around the idea that most weekend warriors don’t have the length to play 7,000-yard tracks and will become frustrated hitting long irons on every par-4 approach. Two decades later, Angel Park continues to be among the valley’s most popular facilities, proving the strategy’s soundness.

Most of the top players in the game understand that the way to permanently lower their scores is to improve their short game.

Q. We have a problem at our weekly ladies play day and club tournaments with players who can’t seem to count the strokes they take on a hole. This is an ongoing concern since some of these women always get paired together and seem to win every week. Is there anything we can do about this? — S.P.

The UNLV men’s golf team has set such a high standard of excellence in coach Dwaine Knight’s 22 years at the helm that anything short of reaching the NCAA Championships can be a tough pill to swallow.