PiKapp23

Outside of the cost issue, the only other major issue I see is that the course is still almost 30 minutes away. If it was 10-15 minutes down the road you would probably be more inclined to use the practice facilities more often (or even play a quick 9 or so). That's been one of the things that keeps me from joining a club - none close enough to me to be convenient. Personally, I also enjoy playing a lot of different courses and would end up doing so whether I was a member or not, so it also would not make sense fiscally because of that. However, if you like the course and know that you'll play the vast majority of your rounds there AND use the practice facilities on a regular basis then it might make sense. Do the math of membership costs vs. regular rate x expected rounds. So many memberships end up being beyond what it would cost to play the same # of rounds, but people join because they either think they'll play more than they do or think they're getting something else that makes up for it (practice facilities, social options, prestige, etc.) Additonally, do not forget about the other costs that almost always come with club membership that often the club doesn't disclose immediately without you asking for more details - such as minimum food/beverage/pro shop, locker fees, cart fees, locker room attendant fees, course upgrade charges (irregular, but courses love to charge members for upgrades and maintenance work that is unexpected), etc.

I found the same thing. I just found I had to use their abbreviations for this purpose. I used to just mark it using one of their names, then I would update it using the desktop software later, but now they do not have that software anymore so you can not edit on your computer - very annoying - and, according to the support guy I talked to, that ability is not coming back anytime soon.

I won't go into swing advice simply because I do not know your swing or your overall game, however I would highly recommend you look into a hybrid or 2. A few years ago I finally sucked in my ego and bought a hybrid to replace my 2 iron and was blown away how much easier it was to hit. Then I bought a 4H and now I even carry a 5H. They are longer off the tee than irons with a higher trajectory (and easier to control) and they are not even worth comparing to irons off turf as they are so much easier to hit well consistently. One other thing I have done is replace my Mizuno MP-60 long irons (2-4)with hybrids and for my 5 and 6 irons I am using MX-900 irons, which are much more forgiving and easier to hit.

My friends and I are probably not average, but we typically play about 10-11 months out of the year. The last few years February has been the only month we have not been able to play (due to snow or sub-freezing temperatures). The weather has been surprisingly mild the last few winters. Most courses are open unless there is snow on the ground or some other extreme weather condition. If you're a die hard like we are you'll be able to play almost every week for at least 10 months.

If nothing else you're in luck with golf in Cincinnati. We have a lot of good public courses that are not too expensive. Check out this link for a list of most of the courses: www.cincigolf.com Additionally, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Lousiville and Lexington, KY are all within drive distance for golf and also have great golf courses. I have played the vast majority of public courses in Cinci and a lot in those outlaying areas as well. In the Mason area there are several courses including Golf Center at Kings Island (a Jack Nicklaus course), Crooked Tree, Beckett Ridge and Green Crest all very closer. Additionally, Glenview, Sharon Woods, Blue Ash and a few others are within just a few minute drive of Mason. All of those coures are pretty good courses, with Sharon Woods or Kings Island being the nicest. KI is a little pricier, though.

I think it's a good way to retail 'muscle memory' and keep you swing somewhat grooved, but it's not perfect practice because you can't actually see the ball flight and the mat prevents you from getting the good feedback that hitting off grass does (in the form of a divot). If you are a good, consistent ballstriker on the course then this might be fine (at least to some degree) because you can probably tell a lot about your ball flight from the feel of contact - aka feedback. The worst thing about the mat is it can hide fat and thin shots to some degree and with the net you can't tell how high or what direction the ball went but if you can familiarize yourself enough with your swing then you'll quickly recognize these feelings and that will help make your practice setup that much more effective. In the winter I will often go to Golf Galaxy and hit on the simulators just to maintain my swing and found that I could tell what the shot looked like without even looking at the screen just by feel and experience. I would put up a net and mat for winter/bad weather practice if I had the room.

The 57's are going to be more forgiving and have a little large blade which also contributes to them being a little more forgiving. The 32's are more bladelike than the 57's and are going to be more 'workable', although for most high handicap golfers that's not a good thing because 'workability' can easily be translated to 'sliceability' or 'hookability' unless you have a good, consistent swing that almost always strikes the ball on the sweet spot. It might be worth checking some of the MX lines that are borderline 'players' clubs (that's what the MP line is). The new MX-200 is quite a bit more forgiving than the MP line, but still are somewhat workable and still feel like Mizuno's. Older models MX-25 and MX-23 fall into this same category.

While I would not normally say to get a new club, in this case at this time it might be cheaper to buy new. Go someplace where you can get fitted for driver and shaft together - not just one head with a different shaft - you want to be fitted for the two components together as not all heads and shafts work together exactly the same (make sure to pay attention to head loft as well). Prices have come down so much on new drivers that it will probably not be much more and might be cheaper to buy new, plus if you can get fit properly you can be more secure in that you got the right fit for you.

I would also highly recommend choking up on driver or having it shortened. The modern driver has a shaft that is much longer than they used to be, which in theory can result in more distance. In reality this makes the driver much harder to control. By choking it you increase your chance of hitting the sweet spot and effectively stiffen the shaft which makes controlling it much easier. Many people have even gone so far as to have the shaft cut down to less than 45" and most of them will tell you they have not lost distance because they are hitting the sweet spot more often and finding lots more fairways. The vast majority of pros do not play shafts as long as what we purchase off the racks at golf/sporting good stores and they do it because it's easier to control the shorter club.

The next logical step is to try choking up on driver by at least 1-2 inches and try swinging more controlled. If you can hit it 10 yards past your 3H in the fairway then that's at least something. Most players hit the ball much better by choking up on driver (or even having shaft cut down to under 45"). Doing this shortens up the swing making it easier to hit the sweet spot on the driver (it's not just a myth... ) and also effectively stiffens the shaft, making it easier to control. There are other options such as getting a lower lofted hybrid (I carry a 17* 2H, which I sometimes use off tee), but you're going to want to hit the driver at some point anyway. Leaving it in the bag all the time is not helping you to learn to hit it, but choking up and swinging more in control will. If nothing else get a lesson (or more than one) on driving. Using a different club on tight driving holes is always a good option, but it's nice to be able to pull out the proverbial 'big dog' on those long holes to help put you in better position to score.

See my signature. I have contemplated dropping the 17* hybrid for a 60* wedge or a 20* hybrid, but haven't made up my mind.

I believe the only difference is in the core compression - the core in the e7+ has a firmer core. They both have 330 dimples and seem to have same dimple pattern. It's possible that the mantle layer may also be a little firmer, but I'm not sure. The cover material is also the same.

While I can't compete with 16 lost balls and this is probably not the most I have ever lost anyway, it's interesting none-the-less. Last year I played this country club course. The previous year there had been a bad drought so they had overseeded the rough very heavily late in the fall. With lots of rain early in the spring we played there in April and the rough was the thickest, deepest I have ever seen because they still had not cut it for the first time. I was a little off that day, but not missing fairways by much. Because of the rough I lost 11 balls that were in the rough and under normal conditions would have been very playable. Of those shots I lost only 1 (maybe two) were more than 4-5 yards off fairway (any further off and the rough was thinner). Twice I lost balls off second shot because when playing my drive from rough (surprise! I found a few) the clubface closed down and sent ball into rough on other side. By the back nine I had stopped even looking for ball more than a minute or so. Unofficially, I shot a 112 that day and that was just from taking a 2 shot penalty for each ball I couldn't find. A buddy of mine and I were playing 2 years ago on this course that hass big old oak trees framing almost all the fairways. It was autumn and the course had not been well cleaned of leaves - add to that, the wind was blowing them all over the place, plus blowing new leaves down. He bought a box of ProV-1's at the pro shop (for about $45 or more - it was pro shop prices) and had lost them all by the turn because we couldn't find balls with all the leaves. If it was in fairway you could find them (although sometimes you still had to look a little while), but in the rough you only found it by accident. To this day, he still will not play that course again.

I have done this a few times when playing by myself. I will not let myself hit driver on any hole and primarily only use hybrids/irons off tee (one time I did allow myself to use 3 wood off par 5 tees). I found it to be great practice in this way. On most holes it still left me hitting a longer iron into greens than I would normally hit. On one slow weekday at a course last year I played 2 balls - one from tips and one from women's tees. That was fun. I ended up scoring about the same from both tees using my rule about nothing but irons and hybrids off women's tees. There were a few holes where he difference was as much as 50+ yards, although on most the difference was 15 to 30 yards. My goal that day was to leave my tee shot from women's tees about the same distance into green as with my shot from tips. I don't think I've ever played from women's tees (or Senior/Jr. tees) while using a driver, though.

Adams A0x series of hybrids might be the easiest for a high handicapper that I have seen. They are very forgiving and easy to hit. The new A07 is the most forgiving yet, but the A02, A03 and A04 are also very forgiving. The Cleveland hybrids are also pretty easy and Nike Sumo hybrids are also well liked. Your best bet is just to try as many different models as possible and see which you like best (avoid those that emphasize words such as 'tour', 'workability' and 'controlled trajectory' as these usually indicate they may not be as forgiving as you would like.

First step is to get your shoulders parrallel to the slope if at all possible, then treat it as a flat lie, swinging along your shoulders with your normal swing. The only other change I usually make is to play the ball back in my stance a little bit. When you get your shoulders level with ground this becomes a much easier shot. It will still come off a little lower, so it might be necessary to club down a bit, but that's something you'll usually figure out more from experience than someone telling you.

Folded up the smallest pull cart available are the Clicgear 2.0, Sun Mountain Micro Cart and the Bag Boy Mini GT. All fold down to pretty small dimensions (all within an inch or 2 of 24" x 16" x 12"). If I am not mistaken the Bag Boy Mini GT has a release to make it easy to take the wheels off easily and quickly.

For the poll I said "White", but that's just because the players I play with want to play from those. Personally, I go based on length and/or course slope rating. I prefer something around 6300 yards with a slope around 128+. If the yardage is under 6300 yards from white, then I look at the slope to choose my tees. For most courses I do not want to play more than 6500 or a slope over about 135 unless I am playing by myself or with another player who is pretty good. The guys I play with stuggle with more than about 6000 yards and/or with a slope over about 125 or so. I also look at the yardages on par 3's and par 4's in deciding as I do not want most of par 3's to be 200+ yards or most par 4's to be 430+. I'm not a short hitter, but those kind of yardages all day long wear me out.

Also, check out the Ci series. These are nice irons that are somewhere in between GI irons and Player irons. They are on the GI side, but still have a little smaller clubhead and more feedback. Don't get me wrong - I love my Mizuno's - but the Wilson Staff Ci's are nice irons for someone who needs more forgiveness than blades, but still prefers a more traditional look. I almost bought the Ci6's several years ago (they were the Golf Digest GI iron choice that year, whatever year it was).

This is often the thing that keeps me playing - an ability to score well (OK, I guess) despite not playing well. The first key is short game - pitching, chipping and putting. The ability to scramble and get up and down from inside 100 yards really saves many a round. Just look at all-time greats like Tom Watson, Phil Mickelson and Tiger. When those guys are off (or 'were off' in Watson's case) they have the short game to save themselves. Part of this is never losing the focus. Sometimes when we play bad we tend to lose focus or become frustrated which only exasperates the issue. The second key is to play smart. When most players start playing badly they begin missing shots in a particular direction or with certain clubs. Suck in the ego and play smart. If the driver is the problem that day hit an iron or 3 wood. Aim as far from trouble as possible and embrace the bad ball flight. Again, this is often where frustration just makes us worse because we start to try to compensate or even hit the ball harder. If you just slow down and think you're way around course decent scores are still very possible. This is where the great players have differentiated themselves from us mere mortals - the greats can still shot sub-par rounds when they are off because they play smart (except maybe Phil...) I have had rounds where I couldn't hit driver so I went down to my 2H and still ended up with good score just because I didn't allow myself to post bad scores. Playing for safe bogey is better for your score than trying to hack out a birdie or par when you're not striking the ball well. Layup, hit to safe spots, and don't worry about the score and you'll likely be surprised at what you shot.

I will not even hit any club off mats except my driver, and even it I prefer off grass. You definitely do not get a real practice experience off mats as often bad shots are 'corrected' by the mat. Even with driver there is often a problem with the fact tee height is not adjustable. Practice off gress whenever possible, preferably a good range that has grass that is at least close to fairway/tee box grass.

I am gaming a 4W and really love it. It's so much easier to hit off turf than 3W, but longer than 5W. I think it's a great club to have in your bag. I found I didn't really need the extra 10-15 yards I could get from the 3W, but didn't want to drop down to a 5W as that just left too much gap. I carry a 4W and a 2H now and am really happy with that setup.

Alrighty - I'll play. I wore black Tehama shorts, white and black striped Slazenger shirt, white and black Mizuno hat, with black belt and my black and white saddle Ecco shoes. I always think it's important to match (at least to some degree). I also have a pair of white and brown saddle Callaway shoes and do not wear the same shoes back to back rounds so I always make sure what I wear matches the shoes that I will be wearing that day.

Lifting up before impact or sliding are both very common causes of this problem. Another is 'flipping' the clubhead past the hands at impact. You want to make sure you stay still and keep the hands ahead of the clubhead at impact. Another thing that sometimes happen when players 'slow down' their swing is their body gets a little out of sync and can cause you to over or under turn your body result in thin or fat shots (or pulls, pushes, sh**ks, etc.)

Like everything in golf, companies have to come out with 'new and improved' every year to stimulate sales. They claim a faster ballspeed and probably more control. Personally, I didn't notice any difference in the way they felt or performed, but that could be just me. Golf ball technology hasn't changed much in the last couple years, especially for non-premium balls. They will usually have some slight change in the chemistry of the cover, core, or mantel layer that for most golfers is not even going to be detectable. It's all about what you like. If you feel you get better performance from new then you probably will (placebo effect); if not, don't waste money for the new balls.