Shanks_McGurk

Golf course-wise, with the loss of three courses, one a 6,000 yd 18 holer, this city is back to where it was in the 1970s. In 1970, the population was a mite over 150,000. Now it's around 260,000. But, a new 4ORE just opened. What effect that will have if any is to be seen. But what does this have to do with length of drives? Only in the return on investment problem that all golf courses have by reason of the amount of real estate they occupy and in the way the golf industry markets length -- the way the golf industry has made itself dependent on length. Length sells -- just look at "iron inflation" where 6-irons are relabeled as 8-irons and the number of drivers marketed, and who our golf heroes are. Who's your hero, Zach or Dustin? But so it is for me too. I'm a long driver groupie who always plays from the longest tees and dreams of 380 yd drives. Btw, I watched the movie "Greatest Game Ever Played" the other nite. Pretty good movie, but how about the way actors were swinging hickory shafts like they were steel? Or the way they made drives look like something out of "Happy Gilmore"?

Report on the bargain $50 Goodwill Callaway Razr Fit Extreme 11.5 deg driver with whippy senior A-flex Trinity shaft. Hits well if I tell myself to swing at 50%. When I was trying to catch the ball on the upswing and swinging fast, I had trouble hitting high on the face, nearly on the crown. Was this a product of shaft flex plus the high loft? My first experience with an 11+ deg driver or with a senior shaft. I adjusted the ball closer to the center of my stance and stopped trying to hit up and and reduced speed and my shots improved. All but one over 200 yds according to the signs but I was not able to see how far the balls flew past that marker. Need a spotting scope. Not sure the Razr hits longer or straighter than my 975D 8.5 deg YS-6 stiff shaft or Integra 320cc 8 deg, TT DG S300 shaft, but it is in the neighborhood, whippy shaft and all. More consistent maybe. Baritone sound on impact; nothing tinny about it. Would like to use it just for that sound.

As far as I can tell, a few old golfers and golf course architects. And some cranky people here and there. I'm in there somewhere... 🙂

Can't argue that championship courses are okay as they are. But others .... My not very big city lost a golf course this year. The third in 30 years. This one was a lighted 9 hole short course, so distance pressures were hardly relevant. But if they had pushed playing a shorter ball as an option, who knows, they might still be in business. Given the right ball, a 9 hole short course can play like Firestone, and much faster. Faster because of not only shorter walking/cart distances but fewer lost balls to look for and less errant shots. And for evening hours, why not a glow-in-the-dark ball that doesn't fly far? Golf courses are threatened by urbanization, gentrification, sky-high real estate prices, taxation, wages and cost of employees, and declining participation in golf. Is golf going the way of bowling? Will it become again a game only for the wealthy elite? Which adaptation to combat the hemorrhage most harms traditional golf, a shorter ball and more shortened courses -- or garbage can-size holes in the green? And remember, this is not either-or, but introducing more choices in how people play at average golf courses.

Isn't shot dispersion more of an issue with shafts that are too flexible? Meaning if one has S shafts and less than supersonic swing speed there shouldn't be a problem? Stiffness = consistency. As a practical matter I just got a driver on the cheap and found out it is an A-flex. Can deflect the head 2 inches just waving it back and forth. After seeing this video I'm gonna give it more of a try. And I might stop blaming the R-flex metal shafts of a set of Cleveland TA5s for the way I hit the ball too high.

One little problem is hitting off a mat that is raised from the surface you are standing on. I like to wear golf shoes when practicing and stand on the same level as the ball so I don't ingrain the habit of addressing and hitting an abnormally high ball. In general, Kashkash, you look stiff in an artificially athletic posture. Many folks position themselves like a golfing model in a clothing ad, which may look powerful and athletic but isn't. Power comes from relaxation, balance, and nearness to the body axis. Let the arms hang down by their own weight, and the butt of the club come closer to your belt buckle. (Think "gorilla arms" when you address the ball in the sense of hanging down, not in the sense of muscle. Just relax.) Your legs and hips are active, which introduces more variables into the swing than a backswing that is more shoulders. Modern doctrine is to rotate the shoulders 45 degrees or over more than the hips, and to generate power from the difference. (For those of us far older than you are, there is a question of whether using the legs and hips more in the swing is easier on the back than a full 90 degree shoulder turn on hips that are angled 30-45 degrees -- but you are not nearly there yet.) At the top, it looked like your clubface was a little more open than 45 degrees, and maybe it was open at ball contact. Which would indicate something to be fixed in the backswing. All in all, you have a foundation to build on. Listen to IACAS.

What was the name of that ball invented by Nicklaus and somebody else that would fly -- what -- half as far? And that was 40 years ago. Problem I see is in golf course economics. Longer hitters using modern equipment = need for longer championship courses = higher investment in land + higher maintenance costs + more time required for ordinary golfers to play (or navigate) the course. We need cheaper-to-build and maintain courses that can be played in a shorter time as a choice/alternative to full length courses. Not a pitch & putt but a course that can be played with driver and hybrids. A shorter ball would make such a course playable with all the usual clubs in the bag. Lower fees, shorter playing time, fewer lost balls, more players per day, at least as much income to the course management with a lower investment (= higher ROI). The technology is there, so why aren't we seeing that type of course? Is it blind conservatism? Macho pride in claiming to whack a ball 250 yards? What?

Similar to my experience 2 weeks ago when I went to the driving range after an over 4 year layoff. Hadn't hit a real ball full swing since March, 2014. Soaring balls but with hooks for a time, then dead straight and boring, then -- after moving from driver straight back to wedges halfway thru the large bucket of balls -- topping. Trying to swing too fast maybe. Or tiredness. The old guy closest to me ("old" despite the likelihood he was no older than I) would hit for a spell, then go sit at a picnic table and hydrate for 10 minutes. Probably the smart way, rest and refocus. Good comments above.