Leek

I think you are somehow confusing Hank HANEY with HANK KUEHNE. Haney is a teaching pro, Kuehne plays on tour.

I don't think you will gain anything by splitting the set. Both are darn good irons, but the i-10 isn't that much more workable. Try them both and get what you like. Make sure you try the long irons in both.

Do you know your clubhead speed, launch angle and spin rate?

You don't really believe him do you?

Then I would guess you are flipping to try to turn the club over. What this means is your left wrist (for a rightie) collapses and your hands are even or behind the clubhead at impact. This is very hard to time. First, it's important to understand where your hands need to be at impact, past the ball and clubhead. Next if this position leaves your clubface open at impact creating a slice, then you need to get clubface control- square at impact. There are several ways. A very conventional way is to make sure your left elbow is pointing down, with the hands ahead of the clubhead at impact. Once you can get the left elbow pointing at the ground (and turning) at impact, then you can easily learn a flat left wrist. One way is to put a credit card in the back of your glove, pressing against the back of your wrist. The feeling of the credit card can help you feel what a flat left wrist feels like. Once you can do that, Congratulations! You're on your way to becoming a playa!!

For whatever it's worth, The Golfing Machine says your club should bottom out 4" past the ball for iron shots. There is a concept called "aiming point" which basically says you should aim your HANDS past your target side leg for impact, because with a flat left wrist at impact, your hands will be well past the clubhead and ball at impact.

So, is Ogio the runaway leader, followed by Sun Mountain and then the club manufacturers? I need a new stand bag....

Exactly. There is no magic in forged or cast. Its the alloy. Most forged clubs are 1020, 1025, or 1030 alloys. Mizuno uses 1025. Srixon and Miura use 1020 on some clubs, which is even softer. A number of Titleist's are forged from stainless alloys which are much harder. That makes them feel an awful lot like cast.

There is no "magic" in either the forging or casting process. Both are very viable ways to make clubheads. Forged irons tend to be made of softer steel. If someone made cast iron heads from very soft alloys (and I have no idea, someone might), they would feel pretty much the same. Also, there are forged clubs made from harder steel alloys and they give that hard feel many associate with cast. It's really more about head design and what alloy is used than what shaping process.

Wonder what makes you say that :) The couple of guys I know who play or played on TOUR work the ball pretty regularly. When I've gone to events like the Memorial, I see a lot of players moving the ball based on hole placement, or tee shot shape. Now, if you've never seen a very high level swing from behind to watch the curvature, unless there is a good reason for a big swing, their draws and fades don't curve all that much. Most mid to high handicappers would call the shots straight, but they aren't- 5-10 yards of movement with a driver. Less with irons.

Do you hit a lot of fat and thin shots?

I'd prefer to call it extended rather than straight. To me straight means rigid, tight or even locked at the elbow. I think those ideas are not conducive to good golf. I think it should be soft and extended. If you are flexible enough to make a full turn and have a soft straight left arm, GREAT! If you aren't flexible enough no big deal. Keep the left hand as far away from you as you can with a soft arm and if it bends a bit, it's just fine. Tension will make you slice and hit the ball short.

I just don't agree. For practicing shorter swings, like a pitch shot using a towel under both arms is a good way to improve connection. For full swings, a glove under the left arm is very effective as well. You have to have some "lift" in your full swing backswing, whether it's Jim Hardy style or a more conventional style. That comes from lifting the trail arm (right arm for righties). The left can easily lay across the chest and stay connected with either style. Look at Vijay Singh. He practices with a glove every day under his left arm, yet he doesn't have a Hardy style swing.

Typical Miura 5 iron through PW is $1200, plus about $200 each for additional clubs like a 4 iron or a 3 iron.

What if they are unreasonably fast? Say 13 feet on the Stimpmeter?

I have the ball in a general "soft focus". I'm not even conscious of looking at it at all. It's sort of a blob. I'm focusing on the target and the flight of the ball going to it.

It depends on the hardness of the green and the speed as well. It is a good starting point though. It also depends on the trajectory of the shot. I find that to be reasonably accurate for medium trajectory pitch and run type shots, until you get to the lob wedge. For me a medium trajectory lob wedge flys 2/3s and runs 1/3.

I hate to say this but it depends. I might use almost any club, whatever suits my eye. They key is to understand that you don't HAVE to land the ball on the green. Here are a few of the shots I might choose: 1. If there is some rough between the ball and the hole and if the pin is cut reasonably close, I might hit a chip pretty hard that lands in the rough, then bounces and trickles out onto the green. This could be anything from a 7 iron to a sand wedge, depending on the rough. The important part is to make sure it's hit hard enough to get onto the green. If you're putting you always have a chance. 1a. I've done the same with a sand wedge or a gap wedge, hitting a medium-low trajectory pitch that lands in the rough maybe 6 inches to a foot short of the green in the rouh, then trickles out. Great high percentage shot. 2. I might hit a medium trajectory pitch with a 56 or 60 degree wedge, that lands on the green and rolls towards the hole. 3. If I'm on the fairway and there's no rough in the way, I might chip with a hybrid. 4. I might also chip with a 5 iron. It's a great shot. I really sort of putt the ball with the 5 iron. I take my putting grip and putt it. It's a deadly accurate shot. It ain't sexy, but your score will be. 5. I might hit a low spinning chip with a 60 degree wedge that comes out screaming with a lot of spin, lands on the green bounces a couple times and slams on the breaks. 6. If nothing else suits my eye, I might flop a 60 degree wedge. Actually a flop is my best short game shot, but I avoid it whenever possible. No matter how good you might get at the flop ( and I holed 4 or 5 last season), it can create some very bad swing habits. Use it with caution. There are more, but those ones come to mind.

I started with that kind of stuff too. I played 1970s irons and woods until I forked over the cash for Titleist blades in the 80s. Today I play with top of the line stuff. I guess my thoughts are, sure I could drive my first car a 1961 Pontiac Catalina, I'm capable of it. Just because I could drive an old Pontiac, why not drive my Porsche 911 (996). It's current technology, easier to drive and much faster, but both would actually get me there. I'd just have more fun in the 911! Oh, and I can make a Top Flite range ball stop DEAD when I flop it. I can also do this with a ProV1.

I got to actually got play 9 holes Wednesday. That's a big surprise in Ohio this time of year. Anyway, it was very windy and a course I've never played before, so I can't really tell how far I was hitting the ball. I also didn't have my laser rangefinder with me. What I can say is I played with a friend how for the last few years hit his driver about the same distance I did. Well, I hit 7 out of seven fairways and my drives came to rest 25-40 yards past my buddy's. We'll see what happens next, but believe me when I go to the range and test my progress on SSR + TT it's motivating. Driving it past a guy who has been the same length as me by a reasonable amount AND hitting every fairway- that's really motivational!!

Probably a Dead Wings errr....Red Wings fan

Welcome Certifi_able! I'm in Columbus. Enjoy the site and ask anyone any questions you might have. Lots of friendly great people here.

Geek. Some of the best drivers I've ever played. The Geek Dot Com This driver kicked a custom fit tour issue driver out of my bag.

It really depends what works. When you say straight up, do you mean the club face? What's pointing towards the sky? Many people believe the leading edge of the club and your left arm (for righties) should be parallel. This IS a neutral position. If you have a slice problem, if the leading edge is pointing a little bit more towards the round than parallel with the left arm, it can help get rid of the slice. Most slicers have a problem controlling the clubface. They can't quite get it square at impact. Opening it more, with the leading edge pointing more towards the sky makes that problem worse. This often happens when people roll the clubface open on the backswing, or when they try to cock the right wrist on the backswing. First, make sure you hinge the right wrist, don't cock it. The folding of the right arm will cock the left wrist and that's all you need to do. No clubface control is what results in the other swing errors often seen by slicers. Their clubface is open at impact, so to try to fix it, they often intuitively swing outside in in an attempt to keep the ball from going right. So now, the slicer is winging over the top and the clubface is now more open to the path and the slice gets bigger! So fixing a slice is sort of progressive. The first thing to do is learn to hinge the right wrist on the backswing- no rolling it open (turning the toe to point behind you)! On the downswing try to turn your arms so that if you had a wristwatch on your left wrist, the watch face would be facing the ground at impact. If that doesn't quite get it done, then a good way to fix it is to try the opposite, roll the clubface a little closed on the backswing, until your left wrist is flat and facing away from you on the backswing, then fold the right arm and go to the top. Swing down normally from there. If you do this, you MIGHT just end up fighting a hook or a pull hook if you learned to swing over the top to try to keep from slicing. The very good news is, fixing the path is much easier. If you learn to control the clubface, your shot quality will begin improving by leaps and bounds.

I have a Cleveland 588 64 *. It was a gift. I've never tried it.