There’s been a poll running in the sidebar asking what the biggest problem is with the game of golf today. It’s been up for a while and currently, there are 429 responses. Let’s have a look at how they break down. It costs too much (33%, 142 Votes) Slow play (29%, 123 Votes) Lack of general etiquette (9%, 38 Votes) Cheating or lack of integrity among fellow players (8%, 36 Votes) It takes too long to play (aside from the issue of slow play) (7%, 32 Votes) Perception that the game is only for certain kinds of people (i.e. wealthy Caucasians, etc.) (6%, 25 Votes) The game is too difficult (4%, 15 Votes) Insufficient access (i.e. not enough courses, courses already overcrowded) (2%, 9 Votes) Bias of some kind (i.e. sexism, racism, etc. in clubs or organizations) (2%, 5 Votes) There’s a little bit of error in the results because someone voted for “Cheating or lack of integrity among fellow players” around 18 times because I didn’t realize when I did a major site upgrade that I hadn’t remembered to configure the poll plugin

Regular visitors will probably notice that things are a little different in these parts. Well, it was time for a bit of an upgrade to Life in the Rough. There haven’t been any radical changes, but I think the new design will create a better experience for both you and me. I designed the previous theme myself from the ground-up. Despite the fact that I am a software engineer by trade, I’m was a rookie when it came to WordPress and its associated technologies. The site was OK, but it was a little unwieldy behind the scenes. I decided to join the 20th century and build a new theme on top of the Genesis Framework. Taking advantage of Genesis, as well as the things that WordPress has come to do better over the last few years, has allowed me to do some nifty things. For instance, you’ll notice that the comments section is now threaded. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to old posts, but from here on out, discussions will be easier to follow. I’ve also

[Update: The last slot is now filled. Thanks to everyone for the responses.] There’s still one slot open to test the Polara anti-slice/hook golf balls. If you’ve been kind of thinking about it but figured it was too late, it’s not. If you’re just shy, then I’ll just say that I promise I won’t bite. At first. Here’s your chance to try out a piece of golf equipment and actually to be heard by the company. Your feedback matters and Polara is listening. Check out the original post for all the details. If you’d like to do it, then please contact me. The first e-mail I receive gets all the glory. Well, there’s not much glory, but it will probably be fun and/or interesting, at least.