Swallowing my Pride

[Arsenal Forever]

Hello everyone.

I am 16 and still growing golf-wise, taking lessons (which unfortunately are going a little shaky, see my thread in Golf Talk) but I'm still very inconsistent. At my best I shoot high 80's, but that's rare. I realize to ask to play your best every day is a tall order, so I'm not asking for that. But what I do want is to tighten the dispersion between my best days and then, much like today, my worst days. I played awfully today, and although I can never really hit my driver, which is normally the cause of my poor scoring (even when I hit the high 80's, it is an impressive score seeing how few fairways I hit, or at least the hole I'm playing's fairway), today I couldn't really hit my irons either.

Now, I realize I may go out again this week and hit everything pretty decently, but I come to you with a question. As you can see in my signature, I have Mizuno MP60's. Certainly not the easiest clubs to hit of them all, if anything some of the hardest. But, when I'm on my game, I have no trouble hitting them. Then I have days like I have today, where as if I wasn't punishing myself enough, these sticks just pound my confidence further and further into the dirt.

Is it a bad idea to swallow my pride and just go with more game improvement-type irons?

How would the Titleist AP1's fit the bill?

Thanks for any and all input.

[r7 425]

i think the ap1's would bring your scores down...They are forgiving from what i hear and i am excited that they added a tungsten insert plate...They are cast clubs opposed to the forged AP2's..Im hearing big reviews about these clubs...definartely worth trying with all of the hype--theyre cast

[Doctorfro]

I would put the money into instruction.

[Shindig]

Now, I realize I may go out again this week and hit everything pretty decently, but I come to you with a question. As you can see in my signature, I have Mizuno MP60's. Certainly not the easiest clubs to hit of them all, if anything some of the hardest. But, when I'm on my game, I have no trouble hitting them. Then I have days like I have today, where as if I wasn't punishing myself enough, these sticks just pound my confidence further and further into the dirt.

Just to be sure: you're using the MP-60s, which are cut-muscle or forged small cavities, but not blades, right? Anything that isn't blades should be fine.

How often do you hit them well? Are you hitting them well more often than not? Unless you're hitting them well rarely and are just fooling yourself, it's better to take a lesson. The clubs are good for where your handicap is going. Think of them as swing-improvement clubs. In case you think it's easy for someone with SGI clubs to say this, I'd like to add that I'm getting fit for MP-57s soon.

[Arsenal Forever]

I am investing money in lessons, or at least my dad is investing in them.

But as I said, see my thread in Golf Talk to see just how well those are going.

More often than not, I've been able to hit them decently I'd say. Nothing TOO special, a few awful shots per round to quite a few.

[Laxplayer201092]

PM sent....Think of it as an offer : )

[Dent]

What one problem I notice here is your confidence, by the way your posting I can tell your really down in the dumps about your play.

I'm guessing your not playing well because your constantly thinking how much you "suck".

The irons arent the problem. I'd say, get rid of the negative, and get out to the range and practise. Im your age and I know whats its like to have that "Man i suck at this game" feeling, but no matter how much you think that way, you still get out there and wear your shitty play off.

Keep it up, keep playing, and you'll gain back confidence when you just make that one perfect shot that assures you, you are good at the game.

Good luck.

[Shindig]

More often than not, I've been able to hit them decently I'd say. Nothing TOO special, a few awful shots per round to quite a few.

You don't need to hit them spectacularly. The ball goes airborne, more or less in the right direction and the expected distance? That's great. That's really all you need at the moment for your clubs. That's all I ask of mine at the moment, too.

Work on your short game. If you can keep the ball in play and get near the green in an appropriate number of strokes - and I bet you can, given your description - you'll knock the strokes off in no time, even on days when you're hitting it poorly. New clubs are fun, but unless your playing ability has drastically changed lately, you don't need them.

What one problem I notice here is your confidence, by the way your posting I can tell your really down in the dumps about your play.

This is perfectly phrased. Pick up a bit of confidence. You've broken 90, so you're obviously a good enough player. Get out there and have fun.

[Arsenal Forever]

What one problem I notice here is your confidence, by the way your posting I can tell your really down in the dumps about your play.

Not really, it's more of a joking manner. I've been playing an important role on the varsity golf team at my school since freshman year, and my school isn't a bad team, so if I think about it, I know I'm not bad at all.

And technically, no, I haven't broken 90, but I play 9 holes for the team and I've put up 43's and 44's for them, hence where I got the comment about the high 80's. Perhaps I should have clarified that a little more. I am comfortable with my short game enough to worry about my iron play, I need not worry about that. At one point today on the back nine, through the first 4 holes I had 6 putts. None of those holes I parred, they were all bogey's or worse. I am pretty poor off the tee and then today for example it took me a very long time to get to the part of the course where I can actually use my wedge play.

[Wannabe Paper Tiger]

What one problem I notice here is your confidence, by the way your posting I can tell your really down in the dumps about your play.

I think Dent's right on... Been watching the personal lessons segment on the Golf Channel and the one thing EVERY pro emphasizes is a positive attitude... something to be said about staying upbeat. Golf can be a fickle game. I started playing at 16 and still slice the crap out of the driver some days. But then there are days like last week... 6 over.

[michaeljames92]

dent i wouldn't say you're bad at this game...im 16 and on 18...8 would be a lovely figure for me!

[Jack_2251]

OK, well I would say, if you are getting lessons and are not having to pay for them, that keep those clubs for a while, and if you are still struggling with them after 1 year or more of using them, then "downgrade" to something more forgiving.
After changing my clubs from super game improvement to my 695.cb's (which are about the same forgiveness as MP-60's), I realised that the forgiveness in huge cavities compared to small is not that much.
All in all, Instruction will help a lot more than more forgiving irons which will in long term make your swing worse.

[RichF]

Hello everyone.

When you say

'I couldn't hit my irons either' , what results were you getting? Hooks, slices, shanks? If you find that you can hit these Mizuno's 'sometimes'...then you can still hit them. I had a lesson last Thursday on the driving range and the instructor had the camera/laptop/golf-swing analyser setup on me for the first time. I couldn't hit anything.... at all . When we looked at the playback, we saw why: chin down, spine not straight, left-arm bent on takeback, club-face facing down, wrists at funny angles, lazy follow-through, etc. Trying to rectify one of these simple problems, in this case, my take-back, try as I might, I just couldn't hit the 7-iron blade that I'd had no problems with the 3 weeks prior to this - a basket of 100 balls with maybe 10 I actually got airborne. Pathetic. Yesterday (feeling ill, I might add) I couldn't miss - pretty much everything went where it was supposed to go and apart from maybe 4 bad holes and falling by the wayside toward the end, I shot 88. Now given the terrible session only days before, and how golf can shatter one's confidence, 88 is a good score for me, especially as I've only been playing 8 months. But that's golf: some days it works, some days it doesn't and as a result, last Thursday's horror-show is now forgotten. I know what's wrong with my swing and I know how to rectify it - practice, practice, practice. If the top players in the world can't master this game, what chance mere mortals?

[Dent]

dent i wouldn't say you're bad at this game...im 16 and on 18...8 would be a lovely figure for me!

Aha thank you, I never really say im bad at the game, but there are times where I do bad and feel I am a bad player. It happens in everyone, usually its just my thoughts that screw my game over.

[Arsenal Forever]

To clarify my statement, I meant I was joking around in my post about being so bad, but in reality when I'm actually out on the course, yes, I am extremely extremely mentally weak. I sometimes feel that golf just isn't for me because it's a game which requires some mental strength to stay focused and I've got none. I get angry at myself and how my round is going far too easily, usually beyond repair.

[Leek]

Hello everyone.

Would you like to really help your game without having to buy new irons just yet?

Go to a good fitter and get your driver shaft reduced to a length that you can keep in the fairway. Studies have shown that while a longer shaft should help us hit the ball farther, they don't. Why? The longer the shaft, the less likely the player will make good contact. Most of the newer drivers are coming out at 45.5-46 degree lengths. This is very hard to control. A few years ago- ok maybe 10-15. Standard driver length was 43"! I think Tiger plays with a 43" driver today! I know when I had my driver cut down to 44.5" I hit it much straighter and longer.

[JustMe]

To clarify my statement, I meant I was joking around in my post about being so bad, but in reality when I'm actually out on the course, yes, I am extremely extremely mentally weak. I sometimes feel that golf just isn't for me because it's a game which requires some mental strength to stay focused and I've got none. I get angry at myself and how my round is going far too easily, usually beyond repair.

OK...everyone stop the train. You went from asking about your irons to the mental aspect of golf? OK...with regards to the clubs....remember I'm just a golf mom, but we pay for my kids swing coach. We have never bought my son a club that he wasn't fitted for. His irons are Callaway x-forged that were tweaked for him. Same with every club in his bag...but his putter. Now, my point of view is it's better to be fitted for a club then to guess. The mental aspect of it from what I've seen from the junior players at the tourneys? Yes it's a heck of a tough game for kids. My son found by playing more tourneys, and playing with his swing coach with adults lessoned that fear within maybe a year. Now he plays 6 days a week, at least 18 a day plus three hours of practicing so your situation maybe different. But I'd suggest you play more, practice more, and gain that confidence in you! My kid has had horrid tourneys, and great tourneys....it doesn't matter, you still have to get back on that horse if "you" want to play.

[Arsenal Forever]

I wasn't necessarily asking about advice for my mental game, it's going to take far more advice than I can find on the internet to fix that unfortunately. That's probably more of a job of my dad, or whoever else I play with who may care.