back to the basics?

[-BAMA-]

well ive been playing blades all my life since i was 7 yrs old.. started out with a women's blade (dont remember brand) 7 and pw that were cut down and regripped by my dad... played those untill i was 10 then i got a set of macgregor forged blades that i played untill i was 14.. then i got my dad's old hogans...

now i always played them real good... sure... i duffed them quite a bit but i was always comfortable with them...

when i turened 18.. i had saved a bunch of money up and went out and bought a set of PING isi-k blue dots thinking they would improve my game. (ok.. i just wanted clubs that said "ping" on them.. lol). the first 5 or 6 months i played them my scores dropped quite a bit... mis-hits seemed to be playable.. and i thought i was in love.

well.. here lately (i'm 24 now) ive noticed my swing has been getting progressively worse, even though my shots seem to be somewhat the same... im thinking of getting a set of older forged blades to hopefully get my swing back to the way it used to be, does anyone think this will make any kind of difference or should i just stick with the cavity backs and live with it and keep practicing??

i play worse now that i did when i was 17 with my blades...

[samuraimac]

your not 24! how do we know your not lieing about everything else mr. 23??!

[samuraimac]

and I KNOW your handi is not 14..... man you put up a front dont ya!

[-BAMA-]

your not 24! how do we know your not lieing about everything else mr. 23??!

my bday is in about 3 weeks. close enough.

and it actually is 14. i shot a 79 the other day followed by a 85. i dont count lost balls or water hazards. its wintertime now.. so im playing winter golf. deal with it.

[samuraimac]

well ive been playing blades all my life since i was 7 yrs old.. started out with a women's blade (dont remember brand) 7 and pw that were cut down and regripped by my dad... played those untill i was 10 then i got a set of macgregor forged blades that i played untill i was 14.. then i got my dad's old hogans...

As for the blade idea its worth a shot but I think you should stick with the best set of clubs you have because that is what you will be playing with in the end and that is what you need to practice with. If I had a set of pings I would ust them!

[samuraimac]

my bday is in about 3 weeks. close enough.

man if your not as good as you were when you were 17 I dont know how you are a 14 handi now because you were shootin in the 100's back then at sky park. and your still 23.

[-BAMA-]

man if your not as good as you were when you were 17 I dont know how you are a 14 handi now because you were shootin in the 100's back then at sky park. and your still 23.

thats cause when we were 17 we were more interested in playing bumper cars with the golf carts than actually playing. remember when i got the cart stuck in the sand trap?? but on a more serious note.. what you think about going back to blades? and dont knock my golf game.. i hit you several times at the range when you were picking up the balls... and bout did when you were mowing the teebox

[samuraimac]

thats cause when we were 17 we were more interested in playing bumper cars with the golf carts than actually playing. remember when i got the cart stuck in the sand trap??

Like I said in post 5 on this thread... I think you should try a little with the blades but since you will be playing with the pings you should ultimatly pick the set that sutes you best and really work on those and your swing mechanics....

as I have found out it really doesent take a fast swing to get a long strait ball. Try slowing down to 3/4 swing speed or maybe even 1/2 swing speed. you should find that the ball flys much straighter and not as long, but I would rather be in the fairway than the trees or the pond or the trap. just get used to the shorter distance with your clubs and over the next year or so you can start swinging alittle faster to get some of that lost distance back and hopefully you will retain the straightness of your slower swing speed! my 2 cents.

[tjy355]

...

Let me venture a guess that there might be some other factors besides the clubs that have changed since you were 17... - Full-time job? - Relationship/family? In other words - less time to play/ practice?

[-BAMA-]

Let me venture a guess that there might be some other factors besides the clubs that have changed since you were 17...

FACT. i only play once a week now and hit the range about 3 times a week... compared to playing 2-3 times a week and hitting the range everyday back in high school. (i could hit balls for free.. just made sammieboy go pick em up) went to the range before work yest. and whacked 4 buckets of balls with the blades. cant really tell much difference from my ping isi-k's...the sweet spots seem to be somewhat similar and mis-hits seem to go in about the same area... slowed my swing down a bit.. both at 3/4 speed and 1/2 speed... and boy did it make a difference on how straight they went.. but also cut the distance in almost half. i guess im just gonna have to keep working on it... and drink more red bulls.... my 4 wood is my go-to club... so i rely on it more on the longer shots.. i usually just use irons from 150 in

[n8dogg2669]

i would stick to the pings. i played a set of hogan apex blades for years through the end of high school golf, to just 2 years ago, and when i made a change to a more of a game improvment iron i had a hard time adjusting to them. I ended up buying a set of mizuno's and couldn't be happier. they have a real nice forged look, but way more forgiveness than the hogans. practice, practice, practice is really all you can do.

[ks8829]

Everyone who plays golf will go through phases of not playing well and they play worse, usually this happens when you are not consistenly practicing and you loose something that you had before.

You are right stating getting back to basis and I believe that working on putting, chipping and pitch shots is the road to getting better and scoring consistently. I practice pitch shot with my sand wedge and try to groove a golf swing. I focus on making consistent solid contact so that you hear the click sound from the ball making solid contact on the club face and use the same swing when I hit my irons, fairway woods and driver. I try to practice this just before I go out and play a round of golf. I also will spend at least 30 minutes putting working on distance control and putt within 3, 4 and 5 feet for control.

But it all boils down to the time your spend practicing the right things and seeing the improvement in your game. To answer your questions, I do not believe the equipment will make the difference but your golf swing and your approach to practicing. good luck and I hope you find your swing and score well.

[Never3putt]

I don't think going back to blades is going to improve your game. Going back to the other basics probably will. Over time, we tend to drift away from proper grip, stance, and alignment. As things get worse, we try to adjust more, and suddenly we're so far out of whack that we don't even recognize ourselves. I'd suggest working on those basics and cementing them into your routine through practice and actual play.

[-BAMA-]

thanks for the feedback everybody, i have taken everybody's advice into consideration over the last 2 rounds of golf...

my score increased when i slowed my swing down because i did not have the same distance per club... but i was hitting more fairways rather than digging through the tall grass in the rough trying to find my ball... so i was happy...

and when i say im going back to blades, i didnt mean i was going to play them all the time.. i simply meant i was gonna relearn my iron play using them because they are not nearly as forgiving as my cavity backs and will give me more honest feedback.. I.E. if i can hit these i can hit anything....

you wouldnt believe how far off my swing is now than it was 3 months ago.. my dad has been giving me advice constantly every time we play and it seems as if the more i have to think about during my address the worse i swing..

i used to just swing and let the ball get in the way.. and i had tremendous results... but that isnt the case anymore. next time i play im gonna quit thinking and just hit the ball.. we'll see what happens...

my dad has a set of those game improvement hybrid irons.. he had me hit quite a few balls with them.. and im embarrassed to say i couldnt even get the ball airborne several times with them.. theres something about the fat topline of them that completely throws me off.. call me crazy......

[samuraimac]

thanks for the feedback everybody, i have taken everybody's advice into consideration over the last 2 rounds of golf...

its ok man... ill show you how to play the game in about 6 weeks. ill have you swinging like a champ in no time. just remember "do as i say, not as i do" if you do that then you will be a winner.

oh and by the way i charge $198 per hr but trust me its worth it if you really want to go pro. let me know how many lessons you want because i book up fast.