hamletsdead

I just got the TEE 11.5° with the RIP shaft (X) yesterday and gamed it today for the first time. I don't know what the guys over at Golfwrx are complaining about -- this is not a spinny shaft at all, and the ball goes when you crunch it. I've been a TEE fan for a long time and have been gaming the CB4 15° 3W (which replaced my old CB2 13°), and have been looking for something to help me out with my never-ending driver woes. The 11.5° looks to do that, as I hit 13 of 14 fairways and only lost maybe 10 yards off my best drives. I have a tendency to get a little steer-jobby with my driver, so on long par fours with driver I sometimes punch it 220 and leave myself 220 in with my 2-hybrid. The new 3W (assuming it's not just first-date romance) consistently let me just swing away, which put me out there 250-260 on every par 4/5. I think I'm going to ditch my driver and see how this works out for the rest of the summer. I like this better than the small head drivers I've been toying with (e.g., Bridgestone J33R), way better than the new lightweight Clevelands, and way better than my Titleist D3 (which is great when it goes but feels like a feather at D0). My favorite club in the bag is the TEE CB4 2H, which sets up at 40.75" and I can hit on a string 210-220; at only a couple inches longer than that (43") the 3-wood just is much easier to go after and hit solid than driver.

I'm a big fan of Tour Edge as well, and have been playing the TE 13 degree 3-wood, and TE 17 degree hybrid for about 3 years. A few weeks ago I got the new TE CB4 3-wood and the 22 degree hybrid, and with the Aldila RIP shaft they are fantastic! For fairway lies it's pretty much a question of whether you trust your 3-wood swing. If I'm having doubts I choke up or grab my hybrid, but it's really an individual choice. For the rough, well, hitting 3-wood out of the rough is rarely a good idea.

Type in "Ben Hogan Interview" on YouTube. Awesome 7 minutes.

Can somebody post a sticky with a list of Stack and Tilt instructors in Northern California (Bay Area)?

I probably hit my 2-hybrid off the fairway or out of the rough at least 7-8 times per round, plus off the tee on those random 225 yard par-3s that are so popular these days. It's generally my second shot on par-5s if I'm not going for the green but I want to advance the ball 200 or so yards. I never used a 2-iron, so I can't really compare them, but I looooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvve my hybrid. I can hit it straight, I can hook it around trees, I can fade it on doglegs, it always always gets me out of the rough, and I've even been known to putt with it occasionally when I'm up against the collar. If it could dance and had a rich daddy I would marry it.

I'm a baseball grip man myself. I don't like either overlapping or interlocking, they both make me feel like I have arthritis. Whatever feels best is generally what works best.

That's not too stiff at all -- I've got Project X 6.0 in my MP-57s and its just about perfect for my SS (100-103). I've hit flighted in that flex and it was almost as nice. I also play my X-forged irons with 6.5 and they aren't too stiff either -- I can swing as hard as I want and they just go farther.

Update: Played the Lead Tape Special today and hit it pretty well. Average drive was 250-260. Found 11 of 14 fairways, and the misses were playable (first one hit a tree and bounced fair, other two were 220 yard popups that dropped into primary rough). I was hoping for more distance, since I hit my FT-iq as far as this, and don't miss many fairways anyway, but I felt like I had to tee it lower with the J33p (because the head is smaller -- 375cc), so I kept hitting line drives even with the added loft. The driver felt more stable with the lead tape, though, so I guess that part of the experiment was a success. Looks like I'll have to go try out some 460 cc drivers with 10.5* or 11* of loft and see if that brings my trajectory up and adds some distance.

I'm a bit of a driver ho myself, which is an amusing yet expensive habit. I've been gaming a 9.5* FT-iq that I can hit on a wire, but I tend to hit line drives -- which is great when it's dry and I can get some roll out, and not so hot when the fairway is thick and wet and my ball only ends up out there 220-230. All my friends seem to launch moon balls that hang up in the air forever, which I can't seem to emulate. I'm thinking my problem is setup, not shaft selection, but it would be interesting to see if your heavy shaft brings your flight down. I've been playing around with increasing loft (e.g., played with a 10.5* J33p today) to try and hit it higher, and haven't considered changing shafts.

I get the physics explanation, but there have been a few notable players on Tour who preferred very heavy drivers, and who hit them far. Nobody played with a heavier driver than Hogan, and he could smack it out there. And Nicklaus by all accounts played with a heavier driver than anyone in his day, and he wasn't exactly short off the tee either. So while the physics makes sense, it's not particularly compelling to me when two of the best golfers of all time preferred heavier than standard drivers. I can think of at least one reasonable explanation off the top of my head -- personal preference for how a club "feels" wins out over a simple weight-based analysis; if it feels right in your hands and you like the tempo it gives you, you put a better swing on it, and you hit a better drive. I personally like the feeling of the heavy club -- it feels like I'm actually throwing the club at the target as opposed to trying to hit the ball, and helps me complete my swing. I suspect this helps me accelerate through the ball rather than slap at it. I'm going out tomorrow morning with my new "Lead Tape Special" -- an adulterated Bridgestone J33p (cut-down and lead-taped) -- and will update the board on how it turns out.

For all you physics minded golfers: If you hit a golfball with a heavy object, it goes far. All things being equal (i.e., at the same swingspeed) a heavier clubhead will launch the ball faster and farther. But the question is, what is the optimum weight? I've been feeling like all the drivers out there are too light. Does anyone sell heavy-heavy drivers, like old Nicklaus weight? And does anyone on tour use a heavy driver?

Definitely. You can put extra-light grips on if you want a bit heavier swingweight. My clubmaker laughed when I had him do this, since most golfers can't discern between going from D0 to D1 in their swing -- or D2 to D4 for that matter. Since swingweight doesn't have units of measure (it takes less weight to change the swingweight on your driver than your wedge, because of the length of the shaft), what it comes down to is all feel, like virtually everything else in golf. Really, can most people feel the difference between a a dime's weight on the head of their driver?

I've been playing around with a Bridgestone J-33p driver which I had put on a 43.5" shaft, and the swingweight is now about C10, which is way too light for me, so today I slapped on a bunch of lead tape behind the head. Now it feels great, but how much tape can I put on? As much as I want? Not that I intend to cover the thing with tape, but it would be nice to know if there is an upper limit to how heavy I can make it.

I use a Tour Edge Exotics 2-hybrid (16*). My go-to club for 210-220 out. Great off the tee too for short par-4s or those occasional PGA-long par-3s. Has a smallish head, which I like, but some people find offputting.

I've got a 53* and a 58* that I've been playing around with in the backyard. They're about D4 (i.e., standard wedge weight). Haven't gamed them yet, but they feel lighter than my Cleveland CG12s.