SAGolfLuvr

In 2006 I had been golfing for 3 years and never took a lesson. I played a complete stranger that had a very good swing and kicked my butt and broke 90. I asked him if he had taken lessons and he said yes, from GolfTec. I asked him how long had he been playing. He said 18 months. I ran to GolfTec the next day but was disappointed when I found out the price. So I had to find cheaper lessons elsewhere. Based on what that guy was able to do in just 18 months, I would recommend GolfTec if you can afford it.

For what it is worth, I have been playing the PRO V1x pre-owned balls from Walmart. They work great. Last week I found an NXT Tour and decided to play it. If felt like the compression was softer and it had a lower sound to it when I hit it BUT it flew farther and straighter than the PRO V1x I have been playing with my driver. So in my opinion, I think compression DOES matter with driving distance.

The pre-owned PRO V1s I bought at Walmart worked great for me. I would recommend them to everyone.

For those of you that think that what GWLEE7 said is "not supported in scientific studies" I have two stories for you but I will keep it very short and too the point. 2 of my many golf buddies went to Golf Galaxy to get fitted. Friend 1 was loaned several putters until they found the right fit for him. Time taken for fitting was just shy of 2 hours. He had his putter adjusted to the "same" stats as the putter he was loaned during the fitting. His putting improved for a few months but he never felt right. So he ended up getting the exact model that he was loaned and is now very happy. Friend 2 was fitted in the same way. He didn't know anything about Friend 1's experience. Same thing happened to friend 2 except he decided to buy the putter they loaned him for the fitting rather than chop and re-grip the one he had. Both friends are putting much better these days. This happened at Golf Galaxy in San Antonio, TX.

Idehtiar, Nice spreadsheet! Thanks for sharing. Hkphooey. I buy the used Pro V1 at Walmart for $20 - $25. They are high spinning, all around great performing, premium balls at around half the price. I've tried many different balls but haven't found any that beat the Pro V1's performance.

My friend would love to use Swing by Swing if it didn't keep losing him on GPS and skipping to different holes on his Droid powered phone. He noticed I seemed to like my GolfLogix on my iPhone 3G. He tried GolfLogix but it takes "too long" for the GPS to catch up to his position on his Droid phone. It works very well on my iPhone 3G. SO I told him that it must be his actual phone and not the apps. I don't know the model of his phone but the touch screen is much larger than my iPhone and I think it is a Samsung.

I would like to think I have a semi-firm grip because my fingers used to be so "loose" that the butt of the club would lift off of my palm at the top of the backswing. So no less than two teaching Pros told me that was not a good thing. I also tend to hit the ball toward the toe of my clubs so the looser my grip is, the further to the right the ball will end up. I am just trying to find that perfect balance so that the club doesn't spin in my hands at impact and doesn't move at the top. I guess it isn't possible without some calluses.

I have volunteered for many pro golf events. So I shake hands with many Pro golfers. I noticed that most have only one glove and they have no calluses on the "un-gloved" right hand (So far, they all have been right handed golfers). I used to have really bad calluses on my right hand. Then I changed to an overlap grip. Now my calluses are on my left hand at the base of my middle, ring, and pinky finger. I have oversized Lampkin grips. What am I doing to cause these calluses? I would like to have hands like the Pros.

A quick shout out to ONESOME, RaiderNation! I have tried many golf balls. No ball has played better than the PRO V1, even for a 12-15 handicap like me. Yes I like some Callaway's and Pinnacles and Top Flite Strata's but consistent distance, great piercing flight control, and spin when I want it, is what the PRO V1 does for me. If it works for an amateur like me, I think we see what it does for the Pros every week. I buy the used PRO V1s from Walmart. So in an alternate Universe where NIKE (take your pick) is the number one ball on tour, I have a feeling the PRO V1, would find it's way to the top ball played on tour once the Pro's started winning more tournaments with the PRO V1 than NIKE balls.

For me, it was my lowest round ever, 77 at a par 72 course. It let me know what I am capable of. I wish I had the wisdom to just keep playing and not change anything back then. It would have saved me a lot of money and a lot of grief. Now I struggle to get back to how good I used to be.

Just my 2 cents...... 1. Good for you for confronting the guy, getting the course management involved, and getting him kicked off the course for lack of respect of the game, property, grounds crew, other people/golfers, etc, etc. 2. The Golf Guru in Golf Digest magazine, probably would have advised you to persuade the course managers (no PGA rules official to call) to bring out the white spray paint to mark that divot as Ground Under Repair (GUR) and fill it in. Then you would have been able to use the GUR rules. 3. Lastly, I would have illegally treated it as GUR, and would not let it bother me unless I scored my lowest round ever at that course, therefore earning an asterisk next to my score, which means I can't post it to my official handicap tracking website :-)

OLD School shafts are welcome. I simply need Stiff Flex. Metal, Heavier Shafts but I don't want to pay a fortune for them. Hopefully something heavier than 115g. Thank You in advance for your responses.

I bought the Foot Joy rain gloves from Edwin Watts yesterday. $19.99 for a right and left handed gloves set. They are not designed to keep your hands warm. They do not keep your hands dry. However, my wet grips did not slip in my hands during my entire round. They do exactly what they were intended to do. If I did not have these gloves, the club would slip and my round would be dismal.

I bought a golf rain suit from Dick's Sporting Goods (by Tommy Armour). I have been using it for two month's. It cost a total of $54 for the top and bottom (yes they are sold as a set). I advise you to go into the store wearing your normal golf gear (pants preferred) and then put the rain suit on and make sure it still fits loosely. I have played in pouring rain and have not gotten wet, even when I sit on a wet cart seat or bench on the course. I comes with a hide-away hood.

Thanks for this thread. I didn't know how "dingy" my new clubs were until I bought a matching gap wedge for my A7s last week. This thread is timely for me.

I agree with the folks that ask "Is it part of the same set?". It made the game much easier for me when I replaced my 54* wedge with a properly fitted gap wedge with the same shaft, length gap, same iron head, and lie angle as the rest of my set. The first time I used it,........it felt like I had been using it ever since I first bought my set. It solved several problems immediately.

There is a lot of talk about shirts and shorts in here..............Where (name brand, store, etc) can I buy moisture wicking pants for golfing for less than $50?

I have hit them. They are great. If you have a half decent swing, they are perfect. I think they are the best game improvement clubs for men. They hit longer than regular irons, they are very forgiving, and the 4 and 5 irons are easier to hit than an any other iron set I have ever encountered. These game improvement clubs are so good, they are hard to find on the used iron rack. The only bad thing is the lie angle cannot be adjusted by club fitters because the club heads will not fit in the standard "machine" used for lie angle adjustment. IMO (In My Opinion) the only reason you ever find these clubs on the used rack is because the previous owner's swing has improved (meaning he doesn't have a big slice anymore). The offset on these clubs really help to cure slicing while the hybrid style "throws" the ball high and long into the air. Enjoy.

Swing #3 gets close, Swing #4 and beyond are hitting the top. I Love it, but I have been known to hit a very high shot (especially when I am trying to hit lown under tree limbs with a five iron or 3 wood) so I think this wonderful invention needs to be at least 2 feet taller. So I would probably put it on 2 4x4s to raise it higher. It saves a lot of space and you don't need a whole bucket of balls. Brilliant.

One of the main reasons I am here is because I want to share my wisdom with new golfers so that they don't make the same mistakes I did. I am in my 9th year of serious golfing. For the first 3 years, I thought I could not afford an instructor so I did the following money wasting ventures; 1. Paid full price for rounds of golf and driving ranges, while golfing and practicing 2 or 3 times week. Discounts are everywhere and these days, memberships are affordable. If you ask, dig, read, and research, some deals span across multiple courses. 2. Bought golf clubs that were too advanced and too expensive for me, trying to improve my game without help. I bought the FTi and R7 NEW when I was a 20+ handicap. I lost a fortune trading them in for easier to hit drivers. It took me a year to realize that I should have kept the FTi. I bought 4 iron sets in my first 3 years. I finally started looking at what the good golfers had. Most of them owned their sets for many years and didn't need to chase technology. They also turned me on to used clubs. 3. Subscribing to Golf Digest magazine was both a blessing and a curse. It is the gift that keeps on giving. Hard to cancel, but turned me on to May, the "free" PGA Golf Instruction month. I started taking advantage of the free instructor sessions and then I had my first true Ahah! moment. Yes, Golf Digest taught me the lingo and helped me understand Golf Language. PGA Instructors are helping me to understand the golf swing, and yes I still have MUCH to learn. 4. Investing in training aids without golf instruction. The instruction manuals and videos aren't good enough alone. Analogy, You get more chest workout from a slow bench press with your feet off of the ground than a quick explosive press with your feet on the ground. Doing the latter will require more repetitions to get the same results. There is a better way to use golf training aids than what is advertised. 5. Choosing the right PGA Instructor is tricky. They assess your swing, develop a instruction plan for you, and then try to teach you. BUT if you don't stick with them for no less than 10 lessons, you won't improve, and it seems like you've wasted money. It's tricky because most of us regress back to the swing we are comfortable with because it produces a lower score on the scorecard than the new technique the Pro just taught us. Yep, lack of trust, patience, understanding, practice, determination, it goes on and on. So if you can find one you really like, it is easier to stick with that person, and hopefully they are teaching a swing that matches your body type. It wish there was a term for Golf Maturity. So what about money? I wish I had the massive amount of money I spent those first 3 years back so that I could have spent it on a 10 lesson plan at (pick your golf academy) and would have had plenty of money left over. The very new golfers that start right away with PGA instruction are years ahead of my self taught progress in the same 3 year span. The staggering amount of money I spent in the first 3 years proves that I COULD have afforded PGA instruction. 3 or 4 lessons won't cut it. PGA Pro Instructors have so much to teach us and they can't get to the next teaching point until we master the last teaching point. Our instant gratification society makes it hard on PGA instructors.

Depends..... Course with healthy green grass? White Autumn is here, leaves are on the ground? White Hit your ball into the woods and wonder which one is yours? Yellow Have a wicked slice/hook and you are next to the driving range? Use opposite color of balls on driving range. White/Yellow Course with healthy green grass and you want to distinguish your ball from your buddies because you all normally hit the same distance? Yellow Normally drive a ball around 210 yards? Pink/Orange

At 95 MPH you can play regular or stiff shafts. Golf Galaxy or Edwin Watts will be happy to analyze your swing speed and swing type and then fit you. You may grow a few more inches. Not to worry, shafts can be lengthened.

Not an instructor. I agree with MiniBlueDragon and I think playing innocently without fear (like a 8 year old would) helps. I Found this on You Tube, here is the full title; Lady Golfers and Focus Update; Shawn Clement 2011 Teacher of the Year Nominee for PGA of Ontario

LOL, this is obviously a knee jerk reaction to a few events in a short period of time. Check this out. I am a 12 handicap who volunteers his time at pro events. I both have humongous respect for Kevin Na, (who carded a 16 on one hole at MY Valero Texas Open and STILL scored and 80 that day) and have disdain for him because he is a slow player and is borderline with breaking the rules on his ball alignment on the green. I think Tiger's problems are between his ears because he does not fully trust where the ball will go because he has worked a control draw all of his pro career and now is trying to figure out how to trust a straight shot. I think MOST of us serious golfers have worked hard on the driving range, figured out something, and then choke in the actual stroke play game. It's called being human. There is a reason why there are high paid mental coaches, because it is mostly between our ears.

I agree with Ronbo25. On the course, I use GolfLogix $19.95 GPS. At first, it asked me what club I was hitting for each shot. After several rounds, it suggests the which club I should use based on my average from that distance. It works beautifully. After the round is done, you can see what data it has collected on all the clubs you reported and has many more features. On the course, you have uneven lies, hazards, and so on. It is great knowing your average distances in real situations.