Question of the week [Oct. 20-26]: What is your favorite golf superstition — either your own or one you have heard or read about?
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My superstition is new golf clubs are only added to my bag at the start of every golf season. A club purchased or acquired mid-season must wait until next spring before going into my bag. I can switch an old driver or putter mid-season, but only with clubs I have already used. The new equipment must wait.
Reid Farrill
Toronto, Ontario
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I believe in "ready golf," except when it comes to the tee box because I also believe in tee honors earned from the previous hole. I’m probably in the minority, but I just think it’s bad karma to tee first if you didn't earn it.
Steve Moore
Birmingham, Alabama
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Can’t putt the ball if somebody else’s ball is in the hole. It never ever bothered me until about 20 years ago when somebody asked me to take my ball out of the hole. Now it’s non-negotiable.
Andrew Crichton
Toronto, Ontario
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Stepping in front of a birdie on the next tee box.
Tony Vaccaro
Bradenton, Florida
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I carry my sand wedge, along with whatever other club I need, when I'm venturing away from the golf cart to get to my ball and a bunker is anywhere in sight. I fear the golf gods will put me in the bunker if I don't have the wedge and force me to walk back to the cart. The wedge keeps me away from the bunker.
Dale Wegman
Newark, Delaware
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Plumb bobbing. When will the millions of bobbers out there realize their green-reading effort is fruitless?
Ed Randolph
Plymouth, Michigan
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I put five tees in my pocket before I start my round. Don't remember how it started or why, just know that I keep doing it.
Francis Kennedy
Oceanside, California
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A little history from a January 2015 Smithsonian magazine article: "Briefs, tighty whities—whatever you call them, it was more than 80 years ago that the underwear that would make many a Calvin Klein model famous was released to the world."
Yes, for me, it's all about the briefs, which act as a bra for men, lifting the goods so as not to interfere with my swing. There's not a boxer around when I play golf.
Play on Monday, Wednesday or Friday, I wear white tighty whities. On Tuesday and Thursday, it's much the same but the briefs must be black, not white. However, I'm not stuck on that. If I score poorly, over 80 let's say, in white, I'll switch the colors and days. If I play great, under 80, I stick with the superstition.
To my fellow golfers, a point of clarification: If I shoot 80 on the dot, I get a carry-over in color but I never wear the same pair for more than one round.
Jim Pomeranz
Cary, North Carolina
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Front: Rory McIlroy plays a sand wedge out of the 18th greenside bunker during a 2024 preview of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yaz Links Golf Club in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Photo: Fran Caffrey / Golffile