[mntlblok]

Been here for a couple of months now and been working on the game. Finally getting to the point where the ego might allow public exposure of same. Have read up on joining existing groups with less than a full foursome and am convinced that I can control my behavior well enough, more or less, to be tolerated.

Coming back to the game after 25 years, it was shocking to find the difference in distances that my shots carry, but *far* worse was the realization that I often can't see my ball flight - and can almost never see it after a hundred yards or so - at least whilst still in the air. And this is after researching and learning that neon greenish-yellow balls and yellowish-tinted, non-polarized sunglasses maximize my chances up to even that level of ball flight vision.

My wife helps greatly with where my balls go when we play together, but my concern is how that issue is going to fly with strangers in a group I've paired up with (with which I've been paired? :-) ) I can see where my whining could get old, and I'd hate to have to make a request from others who might not even be playing from the same set of tees.

I'm only looking to be playing the Executive courses at this stage, so that limits the problem to some degree, especially on the shots that end up around the green. But, I've found that on shots of 150 or more that the sidewaysness can end up being rather extreme, and I sometimes don't even know on *which* side to search. I *have* learnt to carefully watch for "splash circles" if lateral water is present, as I *am* typically able to see those from afar.

Thanks in advance for any insights. Surely this must not be all that rare a problem here, eh?