Agree with Des... You don't need to be "popular" to be well-liked by women, either. Being social, confident, and having good conversational skills is far more important. People just get in the way, and most women prefer 1 on 1 time. Having good looks also helps.
I ALWAYS fared better when I was solo. Friends just compete with you, try to make you look bad, hope you fail, etc. Every time I was mingling with a hottie - the haters came out of the woodwork, and tried to tear me down as much as possible. That's why you don't make a lot of close friends, confide in all your weaknesses and insecurities / failures, act like a chump around them, etc. Once women come around, they're going to reveal all that ****, and try to one-up you. It's pointless. They don't want you to be better than them, or even on their level.
****, I had girls just looking at me and not them, and the ego-jealousy-competition was in full force. "You're ugly, I'm better than you, everything you have sucks, no one likes you", etc. This is especially true of the players. Just because you all have the mindset or goals - doesn't mean they're going to help you succeed. Quite the opposite.
You'll find that a lot of "hot" girls with nice things also fly solo, for the same reasons. People just judge, critcize, compete, hate, etc. Don't tell them ****, and don't be buddy-buddy with everyone.
For the most part, outside of playing basketball, at work, or just saying "hey" and maybe having a brief conversation here and there - I don't talk to guys much at all. Just focus on my own ****, and interact with women. It used to be the opposite, but I learned that lesson. Most guys are NOT interested in seeing you succeed with women. They might act like they're trying to help, but all of their advice is negative - especially towards you. It's all ego and competition.