kurtwainwright

The pro changed several things. 1. My grip. I had a weak grip to start. She changed it to a very very strong grip. My left thumb rests in the little valley created between my right thumb muscle and the pad of my right hand. It feels very weird, but it's effective in fixing my problem with opening my club face at impact. 2. My backswing. I have ginormous upper-body strength compared to most golfers. I was the center in my high school football team. At my first lesson she tried teaching me to swing with rhythm & tempo. "Brush the grass" she'd say. But by lesson #2, she changed her mind. I'm now on a "coil back and release" tempo. That has helped increase my distance by at least 30 yards. 3. "Try to hook it." This is what this thread is all about. I've been hacking for about 7 or 8 years now... but this is the first year I've gotten truly serious about improving my game. Until my first lesson 2 months ago, nobody had ever told me that I have not been rolling my hands/wrists on the follow-through. This was causing me inadvertently to pull the club inward during the impact phase of my swing. The result was a cross-cut on the ball, inducing a huge rate of spin. So fast in fact, that I'm sure the boundary layer of air had no clue the dimples existed until it finally slows down at about the high-point of the ball's trajectory. The dimples finally did their job then, sending the ball in that "fighter jet in a hard right turn" maneuver that you described. So by telling me to hook it, she mentally prepared me to roll my hands on my follow-through. Being a super-slicer, instead of hooking it, I hit it straight. Go figure!

Good advice. Obviously distance off the tee is a consideration. However, like one of the previous posters mentioned, if it hits like a lump of charcoal off your wedges then what good is it? For example, I've hit these Slazenger RAW's before and they're similar to the description he had about the Callaway HX HOT's -- good distance but rough around the green. I haven't hit the HX HOT's yet, so I don't have an opinion about them. Ideally, I'd love to hit a 2-piece ball with a responsive core and an extra hard cover then replace that ball with a softer balata covered ball that has extra feel to assist me on my approach shots and puts. But the rules say we can't do that. Here's an interesting article for your reading pleasure. http://www.golfdigest.com/equipment/...lueperformance Says Golf Digest Chief Technical Advisor Frank Thomas: "The best ball for the best golfers is a multilayer ball. But there's no reason the average golfer shouldn't play these balls, although he or she might not hit the ball consistently enough to recognize all its benefits."

I didn't vote. This topic confuses me, at least at this stage of my game. So I'm trying my own experiment. I just purchased a single sleeve of the following... Nike ONE Black Callaway HX Hot Callaway Warbird Callaway HX Tour Bridgestone e6 Nike Ignite Slazenger RAW Nike Juice 312 Titleist Prov1x All that cost me about 65 dollars. My plan is to take a ball out of each sleeve and go play. I'll tee up and wont even glance at the ball type... if it does what I want it to from tee box to cup, I'll pick it up and make note of the performance. My hope is that I'll find a ball that doesn't spin as much off the tee, has good distance, durability, but still has touch and feel around the greens. Who knows what the outcome will be... I just want to find a ball that suits my game and how I play. A mid-priced ball would be great, but if a $3 or $4 ball like the ProV1x or the ONE Black gives me better results I'll likely stay with it.

I laughed out loud when I read your thread! About 3 months ago I had the exact same revelation. I had taken my second lesson and that's when my pro noticed it. So to fix it, my pro 'tricked' me into rolling my hands/wrists on the backswing by telling me to 'try to hook it' Well it worked and now my backswing is much better and I'm hitting fairly well off of the tee. This is something I had never accomplished before. Before the revelation I was what ya might call a super-slicer. The ball would jump off the tee with so much spin that it seemed like it went straight for awhile then made an abrupt right turn in mid-air! Ahh the wonders of aerodynamics! I suppose it made that right hand turn because RPM's finally dropped far enough for the dimples to catch the boundary layer of air circling my ball. So if whatever your pro tells ya doesn't work, give the "try to hook it" mental mind trick a shot.

UPDATE I contacted FootJoy... and immediately got a response from AcushnetGolf Consumer Relations. This Jason Conners guy claimed that he'd forward my message to the glove and accessories team and would have them call me. So far it's been a week, and no response. Maybe I'll try again Monday.

My vote is for Jocelyn Hefner, Paul Casey's g/f. She just looks better put together than the others.

I have a friend that was born with a disability. He has three fingers and a thumb, all varying in length. Now don't automatically judge his disability. He plays great -- so I commend him on his effort! I think he has an 18 handicap. I don't have a disability and I can't play that well! Here lately he has been loosing his grip on his club shaft (especially if it gets damp or he is sweating) and sometimes gets open wounds on one of his fingers because they get chapped, cracked, etc. I guess the friction of swinging his clubs reopens the wound. Anyone out there know of a company/individual that makes specialty golf gloves for disabled/handicapped golfers? I'm sure this will help his game. Price is no object.

Let me qualify that. I've been hitting my SQ2 3 wood anywhere from a lousy 175 yds if I happen to loft the ball more than I intended, to 275~290 yds if I line drive it. I've always been the type of golfer than attempts to knock the cover off the ball... until recently I had a TERRIBLE slice. The ball would leave the tee like it is on fire, then make what seemed like an abrubpt right hand turn in mid-air, only to land out-of-bounds, or in the water. But two or three visits with the pro and I got that mostly fixed up. A tweak of my swing, along with a much much stronger grip, with a club that has stiff flex and I'm hitting it straight 80% of the time. Unfortunately by hitting better off of the tee, I've exposed my secondary weakness -- the short game. Chipping, Chip-Putting, Flop shots -- it's all so confusing at first. Do I put the ball in the center of my stance, leading foot, trailing foot? Who can remember all this? Once I tackle that, I'm hoping my handicap goes from 25ish to 15ish.

I've used Nike Power Distance and the NXT's before and I like those. I've got 2 dozen Slazenger RAW's in my bag now. But I'm not opposed to trying others. At this stage in my game I'd rather work on the big fish. I'm not predictable enough to be able to say that a certain ball gives me 10 - 20 yds of extra distance. If I get much much better I might think about going to a launch monitor so I can figure out which ball is best for my swing and my driver.

I have vision problems, so I have to wear sunglasses in the sun or I'll be in some pretty bad pain. I wear Oakley Half Jacket XLJ's with Transition lenses. However, that may be a bad thing because more often than not, I lose sight of my ball after launch. I'm reliant on my partner to spot the ball for me. I'm going to look into the G30 lens and perhaps get a second pair of Oakley's that I'll keep in my bag just for playing golf.

Like one of the previous posters, I couldn't justify the $500 price tag for the FT-i. Yes, it is a great looking driver. It isn't as large as the SUMO2 at address (i.e. less intimidating), and has a different sound as well. I'd have to compare the decibel level side-by-side to give you my opinion on which is louder -- but I'm guessing the SUMO2 is. Also like one of the previous posts on this thread -- I don't think either club is loud enough to give you hearing damage and "ringing". Summary: Save $100 to $150 and get the SUMO2. If cost is not an issue, the FT-i may very well be a superior club.

Ditto Ditto and Ditto! I love this club! I bought it wholesale and I'm waiting anxiously for its arrival. The sound it makes, although different, didn't seem all that loud to me. Instead of a "tink" sound of titanium meeting Surlyn, it makes more of a Poooowww sound like a hollow empty soda can being stomped on. I'm hitting my SQ2 3 Wood almost 300 yards. I cannot WAIT to see how far I hit it with this Sumo2.

I work as an engineer at Boeing - St. Louis. I recently picked back up on the game after a couple of years of only playing once or twice a year. My daughter is now 4, and growing up and I just graduated with my master's degree. I'm no longer tied to the house like I used to be because I "have homework to do" or whatever. My free time is being spent on the course or on the driving range. I'm hoping to get much better at the game in the near future.