The Wilderness

Post your PSN IDs. I can always use more friends my PSN ID=cyclicvomiting I would say Fallout 3 and Demon's Souls. Both games blew my mind.

I was on my first trip to Vegas in November. I played Bear's Best and TPC Las Vegas. Bear's Best was tremendous and the black sand bunkers were breath taking. TPC Las Vegas was nice but we were paired with morons and we were hung over and hadn't slept for days. See the image I took at Bear's Best

Here are my sticks. I took these pics as I looked out to 2 ft of snow on the ground.......... These are not in my bag but next to my bag in the winter.

Keeping iron covers on you forged irons traps moisture and can accellerate corrosion. I would rather have bag chatter that give irons a used look than have them rust away. Plus iron covers look stupid. Also, everyone is correct when they say use a plastic brush and towel. A wire brush will wear away the chrome plating exposing the low carbon steel, resulting in corrosion.

Agreed, but still I work to improve.

Yes, dry them off after cleaning. When they are not in use store them inside. Although mild steels corrode easily if you take the above precautions they will provide you years of service. Feel free to send me metallurgy related questions!

Forged clubs are usually made from a low carbon steel. Cast are usually made from stainless steel. Carbon steel, like other metals and alloys, oxidizes in air and moisture. You see rust because low carbon steel forms iron oxide on the surface, it flakes off exposing the raw surface below, and rusting (oxidizing agian). Stainless steels have chromium alloyed in. This results in a CrO oxide which does not flake off, instead it grows to ~10-100 angtroms and stops. If you scratch a cast club and keep it dry the oxide will re-form in air and your club will have some corrosion resistance. If you damage the oxide or passive layer and the club is wet, you may experience pitting corrosion. The forged clubs all have some kind of chrome or nickel plating but once that is damaged its just a matter of time before the corrosion begins. What can you do to prevent/minimize the corrosion issues? 1) Dry your sticks off after each use. 2) NEVER use iron covers! Not only do they look stupid, but they trap in moisture which accellerates the corrosion process. 3) Keep your clubs out of humid enviroments. Feel free to ask if clarification is needed!

This is not quite right. Tempering low carbon and some stainless steel is a process to increase the fracture toughness by heating the material and transforming some of the very hard but brittle martensite to banite or pearlite. This increases the ductility of the steel at the expense of a little strength. Other materials like aluminum, some steels (17-4 PH), and many titanium alloys become harder during a tempering or aging process but precipitation hardening is off topic. If anyone is interested in these topics I would recommend William Callister's Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction. It was my bible as an undergrad.

To answer your inital question, yes the inital ingot that forged clubs are made from are initally cast into simple shapes (cylinder, rectangle, ect). Almost all metals are cast from melt into ingots before use, with tungsten and tantalum being two exceptions that are hot pressed and sintered. This is partially correct, the beating (or working) of the hot metal in a single direction causes grains to align and elongate, as well as introducing plastic deformation and dislocation motion. This process may result in a slightly more dense structure and harder material but does not beat impurites out. No material is free from impuritis and imperfections, the sparks are not impurities but simply the result of hitting two pieces of metal together at high temperatures and forces. Impurities and imperfections that are small enough strengthen metals. Liquid metals do not have hardness and the hardness of a metal can be easily changed with heat treatments, cold work, and grain size. You can cast almost any metal that has a melting point low enough to easily work with. Much of the time forging is not the process of choice because of the high cost of casting molds. Again, to the inital question, forged clubs come from cast ingots but they are more than likely heat treated and have a nice equiaxed structure. Forging does not beat the bubbles out as they are not very large. Large scale metal suppliers have very well tested and careful processes that minimize voids and bubbles such as casting in a vacuum. I think that I am going to the golf shop to buy a ping and a mizzy, cross section and etch them and show you guys the structureal differences between the two materials.

My coach won MN PGA player of the year in 2008 with a Futura so it must not be too bad...he even has 2 circle T blades that he keeps stored away and plays the OTR Futura instead.

It's the only thing I have ever worked really hard at and still not become great (or at least good). Knowing I will never master it makes golf a game for life, or until my back goes out whichever comes first. Also I love the peace that playing a round of golf early in the morning on a beautiful MN course gives. It can be surreal at times.

surly beers from my hometown of Brooklyn Center, MN my favorite is the Darkness which is a russian imperial stout followed by bitter brewer (english bitter) and cynicale (a wheat ale). http://www.surlybrewing.com/index.php They make my favorite beer hands down.

maybe my initial statement was incorrect without clarification. I know many, many metals that we use everyday are cast and they can carry a load without failing. My statement was in regards to the metal used to make golf clubs. Very low carbon steels like the 1025 mild steel (.25 wt percent carbon) Mizuno uses are very difficult to cast and get the structure you would like to have, say a structure with fine grains of ferrite (BCC iron) that are oriented in the same crystallographic direction and some finely dispersed carbides. Casting mild steels makes it very difficult to control your final outcome and you could have non uniform cooling that could lead to phases and structures that are not desirable, inclusions, or voids in the material. All of these could significantly lower the strength of the club. I do not know much about what metals are used for guns but I would guess that they use a martensitic steel which has been tempered for improved strength and toughness. It is easier to cast materials that you would like to be hard and strong. Steel for example: use a large amount of carbon and pour the liquid into a mold. let it solidify and heat it to its austinatizing temperature and instantly cool it (water quench). This will lock the carbon in the crystal lattice giving you a structure of plate matensite. To Summarize: 1) I am tired 2) my inital statement was too broad to be correct and the best forming technique varies with material and application. 3) I enjoy answering metallurgy related questions and don't be afraid to call me out, when i got your reply I slapped my head. Dan

I would try the feet together drill for getting the feeling of a good downward strike with a divot taken. Put your feet together and slowly begin your takaway making sure to have your wrists hinge at least 90 degrees. when your hands get waist high stop for a moment and just allow gravity to bring the clubhead down and through. I had problems like you and I started seeing a pro recently and now I am striking the ball much better with much less effort. My pro started me over from scratch meaning grip, stance, ball position and posture. I didn't even take a full swing for 3 weeks. Once everything was put together though, my swing feels natural and rythmic. I still have much work to do but, once I got on the right track i feel much better about golf this summer and in the future. PS sorry for the long post.

I can't seem to find him when do a google search. Where does he teach out of? Also I do not doubt that the Golf Galaxy Pro is good but I need more outside help...seeing my ball flight, practicing different shots I may see on the course ect. My first lessons ever were in the Golf Galaxy in Roseville.