MiniBlueDragon

If it wasn't taken out of context you'd have quoted me in full. :P I absolutely 100% think it could be a real injury. When the body is doing things it's not done before it can cause injury and he's changed his swing a fair amount. He even said he felt his explosiveness had come back which suggests too much strain on the body. I also 100% think it could be Tiger having had enough of how he's playing and withdrawing through frustration. I can also see him having an injury which he'd normally work through but when he's not doing well it's the perfect excuse not to carry on (Harry Redknapp's knee injury the day after he failed to sign anybody in the January transfer window is another prime example; he has dodgy knees but in my mind would have continued to the end of the season is the team weren't second to bottom with 0 away wins and no new talent coming in to help save them from relegation) I haven't a clue which it is and wouldn't be surprised with any of them being the truth.

Taken out of context much? How about we add the rest of the quote in there? Here, allow me:

Funny; whenever he's playing to a half decent standard he'll soldier on in case he can win but whenever he's playing like a weekend hacker he has an injury which conveniently crops up. Either that or he's playing like crap and the change in how he's playing really does cause injury.

Orange. Definitely orange!

Bring it!

I play golf to beat the game fair and square. I like the challenge of golf so to make it easier with non-conforming drivers, straighter-flying balls and whatever else manner of cheating there is just doesn't appeal to me.

Saw this earlier. Made me chuckle!

You'll get a feeling for which of the "suitable" sets you prefer. It could be how they look at address, it could be that they feel more balanced as you swing them, it could be that you can feel where the clubhead is a little better throughout the swing, it could be that the technology on one set makes you feel more confident with them or even something as silly as the sound when you hit them. You'll know. :)

If you go in with preconceptions of clubs you like you'll likely give yourself reasons why they're preferable even though they may not be. I know this through personal experience when I went to a Mizuno DNA fitting and had the idea that I liked the MP-59's which Luke Donald was playing at the time, although that wasn't the reason I liked them. I then got fitted and the suggested club at the time was the JPX 800 to suit my 22 CONGU handicap. I persuaded myself that I would practice longer, more often and be better off with the 59's as they'd punish me more for bad mechanics so I ended up with those, albeit with correctly fitted shafts. After a year I decided they were far too punishing and I traded them in for some JPX 825 Pro's which were far more suited to my skill level and practice regime. I'd approach it by telling an experienced fitter about your game, about your practice sessions and about manufacturers you do/don't like the look of and let them make suggestions to you.

This. Becoming a professional golfer is akin to becoming a professional gambler; with a lot of hard work, dedication and patience there's a possibility it might all go well for you and if it does you might be minted for life. There's also a very high chance that you'll invest a large amount of money, hard work, dedication and patience just to watch it all crumble around you and you'll end up working a job solely for money, bitter about how you "nearly made it" and how you missed the opportunity to meet the right partner and build a normal life. Beautiful wife? Got. Beautiful baby boy? Got. Plenty of spare time for family? Got. Earning enough money not to struggle? Got. The only thing I'd change would be the specific job I do and that's this year's goal. The rest of my life I'm happy with.

No.

It's not just slanted tee boxes, it's tee box divots, sand/seed mix patches, uneven mowing etc that would cause an issue with it balancing I'd say. Also what about grass height? If it sits *on* the grass there'd be a fair amount of height difference (on the very same tee box) between a freshly mown vs one day before the next mowing surface. For me the lack of consistent height for each shot would irritate me; that's also why I moved away from Castle Tees. On a positive note it's nice to see people trying to innovate so good luck! :)

Someone once told me "drive for show, putt for dough" and I want lots of dough so I carry 14 putters.

Big golf chain for the following reasons: - DNA fitting on my new irons (Mizuno JPX 850 Forged) - Golf range as part of the facilities to try the irons with real(ish) ball flight - Fantastic trade-in value on the old irons - Excellent staff knowledge and always friendly and helpful - 5 minute drive from my home

Same. I even have the "Student Workbook" from the day. I also paid out for the Midpoint read when that was released and that made the whole "walk around the flag several times" thing quicker. lol If I played important rounds enough I'd fork out again for Express but realistically a single round with family once per month at the absolute max and not being a member of a club at the moment for roll-ups or comps doesn't warrant yet another payment.

When I played off 28 I felt I was a duffer and wanted to play off 20; that would have made me a good player. When I played off 20 I felt I was a duffer and wanted to play off 16; that would have made me a good player. When I played off 16 I felt I was a duffer and wanted to play off 13; that would have made me a good player. Now I play off 13 I feel I'm a duffer and I want to play off 10; that will make me... oh wait...

Protracer That's my local range. Great facilities, nice staff, excellent pro's. I completely ignore the ProTracer distances truth be told as I'd much rather measure out my real distances on course or find them out on a real Trackman/GC2 device. ProTracer for me is about seeing my ball flight and curvature to understand what I changed in a certain swing. Unbelievably it's free to use too!

- No (see below) - Estimate from the score during a playing lesson with my teaching professional. - I'm not a member of a golf club. I don't plan on joining a club as I have no time (3 month old firstborn to help with), nor the funds to waste joining one if I don't have time to play anyway. I don't play enough rounds per month to stack up scorecards to post off to an "official" (hah!) website for a handicap. I prefer practice to play. - Yes. I'm not.

I pulled the trigger on a Wilson Staff Nexus today. Pretty much every review I'd read said it was by far and away one of the best bags for 2014 and the fact that I got it for less than half price is a massive bonus. For me the important features were: - Stand - I wanted the ability for it to stand upright, e.g. without legs while fully loaded (it's stored in a cupboard and I hate having my current Sun Mountain Three 5 leaning on stuff in there!) - Weight - As I walk 99% of the time and I have a trolley/cart bag for times I don't I wanted a nice light weight bag. - Strong - My Three 5 has a broken cuff at the top where it was lifted by the cuff one time and for some reason snapped. - Adequate storage - I wanted a Goldilocks bag with not too much space for junk but not too little space that I couldn't carry my normal gear. - Looks - I wanted a bag that looks good. Not "flash" but not dowdy either. A nice middle-ground. - Price - There's no way on this earth I'd pay out hundreds for a bag, I don't care if it has flashing lights, built in GPS and makes me an espresso every 3 holes just the way I like it. I like the bag so much in fact I ignored the Mizuno Tour stand bag even though it was also available, also on sale, also looks great and would match all my clubs. lol

Well how's that for a non-eventful month? 2 weeks of not being able to get to the range due to work craziness and a 3 months old firstborn at home, then last week I got to the range but left my swing at home! lol Hit the range today though and with no changes to my swing I was much improved for 100 balls or so; generally a nice powerful draw and happy with it. For the next 50 balls I tried the flared feet and felt more balanced at the finish with the left foot more flared but flaring the right encouraged too much hip rotation for me and I felt like I didn't have time to rotate back to the ball quick enough after my slide. I'm going to need to think about my alignment now too if the front foot is flared more as I'm used to using my toe alignment and it looks like I have an open stance when in reality it's fine across the heels. Sticking with the flared front foot but putting the rear foot back to a few degrees flared instead I worked on "all right arm A1-2 followed by all pivot A2-4" and it felt far more in control than normal. Also felt like I didn't need to shunt my weight forward quite so dramatically to get back to the ball. The end result on shots however was as consistent as a mid-twenties capper. 20 yards shorter on all clubs, shanks, slices and I even hit the side netting between bays once. Very frustrating! Alas no video to show for today but I'll try and take the tripod next time out. So to summarise for me I think the front foot flared more is good as long as I learn my alignments a little better. Rear foot I think is better as it is. Right elbow move feels more controllable but I need to tweak my impact alignments a bit to get the club face closed quicker as I think that's the cause of the shanks and slices.

Thing is if you don't get on with it at all you've wasted £120. I've never had to pay for a fitting at AG even when I've not bought clubs afterward so maybe tell them you're looking at a new driver and would like to book a fitting. Then on the day give them a couple of ideas on clubs you like the look of and which would be in your budget (of which the Big Bertha will be one of course) and see what the fitting brings. You might find that you're fitted for a stock regular flex and that the weight and feel of the stock flex Big Bertha is spot on for you in which case £120 is a bargain. You might also find that the Big Bertha head is too big/small, too heavy/light, not forgiving enough or you simply don't like the look of it at address and aren't confident with it and you'll have wasted £120 buying it only to have to buy a whole new one with even less funds.

It was mainly a case of playing and figuring out that there was a problem. Then I spent a bit of time on a straight, level surface with the ball in my preferred position making putt after putt and noting the percentage of shots that started offline and which direction and it was a high figure like 80%ish. I think it was actually on TST that I saw there was a difference between putter closure rates so from there it was trial and error with different styles until I found one that worked (and even then as soon as I changed my stroke it stopped working! lol) I had the 825 Pro's before these and loved them too but as I've improved my swing and deliberately slowed down my swing speed to correct my sequencing the shaft (KBS Tour) started to not feel right any more. I'd have happily stuck with the 825 Pros if it was financially worth swapping the shafts in those but with the amount I was offered for the exchange it made more sense to trade-up and get the 850 Forged. If you get a chance try the 850's and I'll bet you any money you'll see a big improvement; I know I have. :)

I had a heavy toe-hang putter (Ping Anser iWi) which felt like it tended to push everything to the right unless I adopted a different ball position. I swapped that for a face-balanced Ping 1/2 WackE and that tended to pull everything to the left for me. I swapped that out for a mid-toe hang Mizuno BC2 and had excellent results with it for a long time as it allowed me to play my preferred ball position on each putt. I then decided to change my putting grip to a Runyan style grip and found that the mid-toe hang started pushing things to the right again so I swapped back to face-balanced and it was perfect. I now use a Mizuno MP A305 and I can't see myself ever wanting to swap it. Honeymoon period forever!