longbow

So my wife and I had a very very dear friend pass a few years back and went out and so so we bought a "cottage" in a Marina near Pultneyvile NY. Then last year we bought a big ass boat for fishing so over the last say 3-4 years I haven't been playing golf. I on occasion hit balls at Big Oak driving range in E. Roch NY. Which leads me to this post. I look around at the folks there at the driving range hitting balls with abandon. I mean getting up there on the matts and swinging away for the fence. Am I missing something here? No one on my last outing there about 6 wks ago seems to be aiming at anything. Nothing. Tee a ball up and swing away. They have a grass practice area that I go to first just to hit my irons on some un-even sod. I pick a target and concentrate on that target until I am getting near it or on it. Sometimes they have these nets out I hit my wedges too. Further targets are pin positions they have set out on little mounds that are supposed to replicate greens. So this whole diatribe is about this: when at the range don't just get up there and hit the ball. Pick a specific target ALWAYS and hit to it. Don't hit your irons off the mat's. If mat's are all your driving range has hit your woods or your driver only off the tee. If it has a grass practice area hit your irons and PICK A TARGET ALWAYS. Just don't get up there and hit away to see your ball flight. Like I said I haven't played only once in the past couple of years on a course. I have hit balls on occasion. Not like I used to but on occasion. I am just amazed at how what I would consider a semi serious golfer get up and swing away with no rhyme or reason to the swing or the practice session. Semi serious in that they have a good set of sticks and they wear golf shoes. I could go on and on but the last time it kind of stuck in my craw for some reason and figured now would be a good time to post about for no other reason other than my boat is in the shop and I can't fish! thanks for listening

Long time no post. But on the subject of TW, I told my bro this, everyone is as good now as he was back in the mid to late 90's. When he came on the scene no one had a work ethic like him, no one. Now they all do. That about says it all. thanks

Here is the secret to hitting a 2 iron. Buy a rescue wood, hybrid, 4 wood or whatever you want to call it! OR, reshaft the 2 with a softer shaft with a lower kick point, maybe a graphite shaft. Nicklaus used to do that. He would have his scoring clubs with as stiff of a shaft as he could manage for accuracy, his mid irons with a shaft he normally used and his long irons with a softer shaft to get height and distance but he didn't expect pin point accuracy like on his scoring irons or even his mid irons. I've done that and it works. thanks

Hey Golf Man which match did you watch? The single most stupid post is yours trying to analyze what Love was trying to do. What his strategy did was cost us the Ryder Cup which isn't to hard to see. I mean 4.5 points is what he had to win. These choke monsters couldn't even do that. I mean he didn't realize that the Euro's were going to try and start hard and fast? Give me a break. When the U.S. players had to hit shots and make putts count they just plain didn't. As we saw the first 2 days don't win the Cup. The U.S. was just pathetic. Plain and simple. Any other way of looking at it is trying to find a bright spot on a day when there were none. The U.S. choked for whatever reason. The worst playing performance by a U.S. team I've ever witnessed and that is being kind and this is pretty much the outlook on all the sports channels, new articles etc.etc. These guys play at the highest levels and didn't get it done when they needed to get it done.

THE BIGGEST CHOKE JOB EVER SEEN IN GOLF. THESE ARE PROFESSIONALS' RIGHT? I WOULDN'T WATCH ANY OF THESE GUYS ANYMORE AT ANYTIME OR ANYWHERE. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT NERVES ETC.ETC. OUT COACHED, OUT PLAYED, AND DOWN RIGHT SHAMEFUL TO EVEN CALL THESE GUYS PROFESSIONALS. Ok that's it done ranting but stand by what I said above. Just about the worst performance of a team of pro's ever witnessed by the world of golf. thanks for nothing U.S. team

Read my post about the Ginty I found in my old cart bag of wooden clubs. A superb club maybe the easiest and best club I've ever hit and I shite you not. thanks

I am tellin anyone that will listen that this is with out question the easiest club to hit well I've ever played bar none. Played yesterday and the wind was blowing about 25-30 mph by the lake. Playing the back 9 at Ozzie's Corner golf in Hamlin NY. Went there cause usually during the day there are 0 folks there in the early afternoon and the greens although for the most part are small they are SUPERB. Like walking on a firm sponge and super clean too. So with the wind blowing from the west and a bit south west at times the majority of holes are into or quartering into the wind on the back 9. So driving on some holes would just exacerbate my "power fade" into a nice short slice. So enter this Ginty. You know how when the rough gets dried out it will leave little tiny moon spots surrounded by tuffts of high grass. Well that is what I found myself more often than not. The ball would be sitting down on brown grass almost in a tiny hard pan crater with lush some what high grass around the ball. Bottom line is that my drive went about 200 yds(12th hole) into a very stiff wind and was pushed right, more so than just being a sliced shot. I am about 190 out and to reach this pin which was on top of the green but in the back, you have to carry a pretty deep valley that now has a dried up creek in front of it. This valley may be about 50' deep and maybe 50 yds wide and then the green starts severely up hill again about a 45' from bottom to top. Like I said the greens are lush, a wee bit slow but like walking on the finest carpet you can imagine. Strike the Ginty with a punch stroke and finish about 3/4 up into the swing. The ball comes out like it is on a rope. Wind is blowing pretty good but didn't seem to have alot of effect on the flight of the ball like it did when I hit driver. Hit half up the green and maybe a 5' roll maybe less. Greens are so nice there isn't even a mark on the green when I walk up to the ball and mark it. I am looking around to see if anyone saw the shot I though it was so good. Now normally I would have hit maybe a 9 to lay up to the top of the hill and then pitch across about another 90 yds to the pin. This happened all day with this club. Lies that sucked I would pull the Ginty out and maybe choke down or not depending on the distance and just hit it. Played very slightly forward I could hit it down a bit more a more boring shot and playing it in the center I could get more height and bit more distance. It is a GREAT club bar none and have not duffed a shot yet. So there ya go. thanks

That is the club I have! Stan Thompson. Holy moly what a sweet club and great info. thanks

So on Sun when we got back from our camp I went down to the basement to seek out some 2 blade broad heads to put on some old arrows that I am going to use for hunting this year. Shooting a Hill Ol Timer and old(but excellent cedar arrows). Now what does this all have to do with golf. Well saw my old pro bag(cart bag) in the corner and of course it is full of clubs. Mostly wooden sticks. So didn't find the bh's due to my wife re-arranging stuff so go over and looked in the bag and at all the dicarded clubs. Some Clevelenad drivers and others. But low and behold I reach in and pull out this Ginty. It is in perfect condition. Small persimmon head, reg shaft and the grip is excellent. This thing has almost like a dropped face on it with a thick steel plate. I don't think it has ever been hit actually. So I says what the heck. Take out my Cleveland 7 wood and replace it with the Ginty. I like saying that, the Ginty! Played Mon. and without a doubt this club from thick ruff is the ticket. Slight draw and about 180 yds but extremely easy to hit. Matter of fact I hit this club every chance I got and didn't duff one shot. It is very club head heavy but put a good smooth stroke on it and this thing just soars. The 7th hole on the west course in Churchville where I play is like 390 from the blues. Hit a not so good drive about 200 yds. sliced right into the deep ruff. Used the Ginty and put it right up on the front of the green. Just a nice high slight draw. Effortless almost. I duffed a drive on the 3rd hole and from a good 270 out from the deep ruff, put a good swing on it and had a perfect wedge to the green. Dead center of the fairway. Now it has must have set in this bag well since I quit playing like in 99 or so. I might have bought this maybe in 96 or so but just never used it. Anyways what a perfect little club. I think it might be a Simmons or something like that. So there ya go. Longbows and old wooden clubs just kind of go together. thanks

Ok so I have written here on occassion on my woe's with distance. All that not with standing, last week and this week I started to play way way better. What I did in a nutshell is to start using my 7 wood way more. If I am inside 150 I'll use an iron, if I am outside of that I'll use my 7 wood. Depending on the distance depends on how much I choke down. Today through 6 holes I was even par on the East course at the Parks in Churchville NY. Finished 6 over. That is two putting the last 3 holes. I have found myself swinging easier off the tee which cost me a little distance but not much, but I am in the fairway way more. I am also way closer to the green if not on it much more too doing what I am doing. Like regulation on. So I am cutting my set down to 7-sw, carrying a driver, putter, and 3 and 7 wood or a 5 and 7 wood depending on which I choose. I hit my Titelist 3 wood better than I hit my Cleveland 5 wood so go figure right. I wanted to make sure that what I was doing was really working and through 5 rounds over the last two weeks my score has plummeted from the high 80's to high 70's low 80's. Tues I shot a 79 on the south and east at the Parks in Churchville. No mulligans, do over's etc.etc. Matter of fact Tues I wasn't even keeping score another fella was and he was like 2 over after 18. So there ya go. thanks PS if I choke down on my 7 wood from the rough I can hit about 180 carry but nice and high, from the fairway choked down I get a bit more boring flight cause I don't open the club as much as from the rough and hit it max 195 but with a little fade. Or I can come at it a bit steeper like from the rough and hit very high but about 20 yds shorter with not as much roll out. All I know is that it is working and I am not afraid of duffing it which with longer irons I do more than frequently. Anybody else do this?

I have been miserable hitting my irons of late. I am usually on target as in the right direction, but short. So I took my first lesson yesterday at Big Oak golf in E Roch NY. Bottom line is that I use to much of my right hand and not enough of my left. Worked on a couple of drills to get more of a wrist hinge in my back swing. Worked on the grip a bit too. Thumb more along the top of the shaft than off to the side a wee bit. Seems harder for me to swing that way but when I hit the ball it resounds with a really nice click. SO there ya go. thanks

Yep move the ball back in your stance a bit. This is a quick on course fix. When you do that though you sometimes will start hooking the ball a bit. At least that is what happens when I do this. thanks

Just to clarify the above post when the fella said to hit down on the ball he was talking about my irons not my driver. This is where my game went south. Trying to hit down on the ball. Beats me is all I can say. Can't wait to bash it around tomorrow. thanks

So last week I hooked with this fella on Wed. that would crush the ball off the tee. No short game though. So today I drive out to Chruchville NY to the Parks Course's out there. Play the east course. Hard course, lots of water and sand traps etc.etc. Well nobody really there so I say to myself why not play a ball from the blue and then the white tees'. Just to see if it makes that big of a difference. Bottom line I was 2 shots better through 4 holes from the whites. But that ain't what this is about. I am on 13 par 3. Fella coming up behind me and I tell him to hit up. He does. So again we play in together. Now last week that fella was consistently 250-260 off the tee. Now the fella I hook up with now is easily 25 yds further off the tee. Matter of fact on 16 he hit a drive that was about 310-315 yds. But the thing here is this guy starts offering advice when I start choking. Don't know why I do that when I play with someone better than me but I tend to do that. First he's telling me I am hitting behind the ball and not down on the ball. Most of the time playing the round yesterday my driving wasn't as good as it usually is. That is about 20 yds shorter than normal, a higher ball flight than normal and a couple of pushes to the right. So he says to hit down on the ball I should step in closer and play the ball a bit further up in my stance. Not to bend over as much etc.etc. Man by the time I was on 18 I was so messed up I didn't know which end was up! As for hitting down on the ball I do with my short irons but don't with longer irons. Anyways the dude could truly drive the ball and had a great short game but again his putting was off. 3 putts and 4 putts but that could have been from him telling me stuff too. It was interesting to note that within a hundred which he usually was after his drive he would use a choked down 8 iron or choked down 9 iron. He said he had a better chance of getting on with these clubs from 115 yds say down to 50 yds. The closer he was the shorter club he chose and the more he choked down on the grip and the closer he would stand to the ball. I tried the same technique on 17, 3rd shot was about 100 yds out, so I choked right down on a 9 iron and danged if I didn't knock it close enough to two putt. Probably the worst round of golf I've had in a few weeks but once again I changed out my irons and went back to Hogans. I've been playing Wilson IP7's. But think I'll switch back to the Wilson's I hit a slight draw with them and they seem to be accurate as I need. That's it. thanks for listening

I did the same thing back in the late 90's. What I found was a much larger grip helped. Non tapered big grips. Might cure the hook you are getting now. Hope this helps. Never stayed with it, went back to the overlapping grip. thanks

What? I only said Asian cause he is. Korean I think cause his name was Kim. He was small but pounded the mack daddy all day long. His short game sucked and he knew it and said so. My long game ain't so long but my short is decent, pretty much so and he said that. Take that first hole I hit it in from 100 yds and missed the green by about 5 yards. He went over the green by about 5 yds. I pitched to 2' and he pitched to about 12'. I saved par and he didn't by 2 strokes. That's how the round went. All year I've been bitching at myself and on here about my lack of distance since I picked the game back up. Basically this thread is about that, me loosing distance from when I quit 12 yrs ago but playing with a guy that absolutely hit dead center just about every time and long. The short game is everything. I also found that on longer par 4's and 5's I can usually hit my 7 wood and put myself into position where I have a full shot with a wedge or sw. I don't have alot of 3 putts either and I am accurate with my irons, not long mind you but accurate. thanks

Last Wed. I played the south course in Churchville NY, a Parks golf course. Nice and long but very open with very little in the way of hazards save for the rough and trees. I hooked up on the first tee with an Asian dude that weighed about 150 lbs soaking wet. Off the first tee he lets' it rip and I mean he had like 50 yds left in. I wanna say the first hole on the south course is about 339 yds maybe. So anyways as the round progressed this guy could out right smack the ball. Consistently out drive me throughout the 9 holes I played with him. Save for the long par 5's he usually had a club or 2 less than me into the greens and he hit woods the same and his irons the same. Long. But the deal here is he had 0 short game. I mean he couldn't putt to save his life and within pw or 9 iron distance usually over the green consistently. I crushed him in score. I might bogey a hole he would double it or triple it or worse. Just about every single hole. I would par he would bogey. Just made me realize more than ever that getting on inside 3 shots or 4 at worse ain't such a bad thing if you can putt decent and get up and down around the fringe. Which I can. Ok that's it. thanks

Here are 3 I really like but I ain't long but I am accurate. The 2010 Top Flite E I think it is called. I bought 3 boxes this spring and have used 3 sleeves from one box. It is a very excellent ball with great attributes and if I didn't own so many of the Noodles and Wilson Duo's I just might play this one all the time. An old ball, the Noodle soft and long. I really like it. Doesn't roll out much on the green so it gets good bite but I skin it easily, and that causes it to get hairy easily! But to me has great feel which to me is important. The last ball I really like is the Wilson Pro Staff Duo. It seems to be as long as anything else and rolls out nicely but checks up on the green and feels good off my sticks a bit better ball than the previous mentioned two. thanks I think if you are 5 or better maybe more expensive balls would be for you but if you ain't in the single digits I don't know how much more a $50 box of a doz premium balls would be than the above mentioned. Just my opinion though. For instance last Wed I played the south course in Churchville NY. I played with a little fella, about 5'4", and 150lbs soaking wet, but the dude could dead nuts smack the mack daddy about the fairway. Consistently 260--270 off the tee and in the fairway. I ain't that long but as the round went on I got a bit closer to him. I was using the Noodles exclusively. Inside of a 100 yds he wold consistently be over the green almost like clock work. I would be on the green like clock work. I would one putt or 2 putt and he would 3 putt consistently or better. He was using the ProV1. I let him hit a Noodle with a wedge on the last hole and danged if he didn't back it up about 8' or so. He couldn't believe it. Not saying he is going to change but I know for a fact it had him thinking!

Ok here's the deal. I've found that a set of very old clubs I made back about 96 when I started to play the irons seem to very are long. Clones of Ping Eye 2's. So close in fact Karsten sued the company and won. I find that these are a half a club to a full club longer than say my Hogan Edge GCD's. And for that fact longer than all of my iron sets save for Callway X16's I have. So the scenario is this, 155 out, 7 iron in the Pro Tours but they may be a bit right or left depending on how my swing is. Mostly left a wee bit with a draw. The GCD's will be more accurate as on line but about 145 in distance. So obviously I use a 6 lets say instead of a 7. Now the problem is exacerbated with the stronger iron but not much. The PT's have more roll to and the GCD's have more check in them. Just wondering thoughts. thanks

I've so many sets of irons I could probably start a small business selling off what I don't use. thanks

I look for optimum ball flight in my irons. Nice and high in the 7-sw and more boring in the 4-6 irons. Whatever shaft gives me that flight I'll use. I've always found flighted rifle shafts in my TM irons to be very decent shafts but really could never feel the kick of the shaft. Irons I have in DG R300 I can feel the shaft kick and love the feel of them. So mostly I play I DG R300 shafts. I have a set of DCI's OS that have the tri step shaft in them and frankly not really sure what the tri step does or means but the kick in the shaft when swinging seems to me to be more in the tri step than any other shafts I've tried including the Memphis 10 in my Callaways. thanks

I play a 907D2 driver and the above mentioned 3 and 7 woods in steel R300 DG shafts. Absolutely wonderful fairway woods. Good length and workability. Cheap off the bay too. thanks

I think I am going to quit screwing around with changing out irons etc.etc. These Pro Tours are going to stay in the bag for now. These are ridiculous for really how good of a club they are. My 6 iron down to the 4 iron really have a nice ball flight. Just a nice ark to the ball when sweeted and decent roll. What I am really impressed with though are the 7-sw. I mean I don't hit my normal sw more than 80-85yds on a good day. I can comfortably hit this sw 110 yds and I ain't kiddin. Kind of cool. The ball flight is sky high too and the ball bites when it hits. Just a couple of small bounces and checks up. Not really back spin per say like it will spin back but it does check up. So there ya go. thanks

These are TT lite stiff shafts. I am tellin ya these hit very long and you are right about the ball thing. These really skin it. You get a nice fuzzy ball after playing it a bit, like 9 holes. I wished I had put better shafts in them though. My X16's hit long as do my Titelist DCI over size irons. The DCI's have the tri step shaft which may be just a tad to whippy for me. But I have the full set of them as I do the Pro's and my 981's. I should probably just put some of the sets I have up for sale but it is hassle shipping them. thanks

My Ping clones are Pro Tour not Pro Force. Here is a pic of the MARS and Pro Tour.