Stuart

Went out a couple of days after I posted this and shot 114. Shanked a shot on almost every hole. I thought I might give up this game. Anyways realized that my left foot was moving and my head coming up. Went out this last Thursday and shot 75. Best round ever. Thanks for the help.

755's. They are awesome clubs. They have helped me to enjoy the game more. Shot my lowest round (75) with them this last Thursday. I've had them since June and have no regrets.

I think that any good ball striker could play a round at scratch in their first year, but to play at scratch every time is a different thing. I've been playing for 10 months now. Mid October will make a year for me. Unfortunately I haven't had any lessons, because they are basically impossible to come by where I live. That being said, I think that I would have benefited enough from lessons to shoot in the 70's instead of the 80's which I shoot now. My best score is a 79 so far, which I've shot twice. Realistically I could have shot 74 on one of those occasions, as I was only 1 over for 15 holes and took a 10 on hole 16. Anyways good luck to you. I hope you do it. If I could start over again, I would do whatever I had to, to get lessons right away. Golf is a very difficult game to figure out by yourself with no prior experience.

Thx guys. I'll try to be mindful of my spine angle today and also my right knee. I know that it sometimes likes to get a bit straight.

For the past couple of months my swing has been improving considerably, especially in my mid to long irons and woods. My problem is that every now and then I will pull out my 8 iron or wedge and shank the ball off to the right, and most of the times OB. I can't understand what I'm doing to do this, except possibly raising my head prematurely. It is confidence destroying to be playing a flawless round, only to step up to a small wedge shot and shank it OB. Anybody have any ideas?

The only other thing I would keep in mind is what do you want from your set of irons. I had orginally bought the Ping Raptures but after 9 months of playing, I found that they were too much Game Improvement and didn't give enough feedback when I hit a less than perfect shot. I switched to Titleist 755's and I really like them a whole lot more. With the 755's I know if I hit a bad shot, because the result shows it. Because I want to improve my game I prefer these irons. If you want something that's super forgiving to give you the best scores while you hack around, then go for game improvement or super game improvement, like the Raptures. If you want something that highlights your swing flaws, without being ridiculously unforgiving, then something like the 755's or Callaway X-20 Tours would be great. After you figure out what you want to get out of them, then hit several different types.

No. Choosing clubs is part OF the fitting process itself. You will hit several different clubs, and choose which one works best for you. Then if any of them need adjustment (lie angle, etc) they will do that for you there too.

Get fitted. If you don't then you'll be gambling. You might get lucky and you probably won't. The reality is that you probably won't even know if they are the best clubs for you, regardless of how you think you are playing with them, unless you get fitted.

Thanks guys for all of your comments. My swing is already seeing the benefits of quieter hips. I'm striking the ball more consistently, and I'm not actually hitting it any less far. I guess the fact that I'm striking it more solidly now makes up for a shorter swing.

Over the weekend I shot a bit of video of myself swinging a club in the garden, without a ball. I saw immediately that my hips rotated backwards with my shoulders, so that at the top of my swing my hips were literally facing the other direction away from my target. I was reading the golf digest with Luke Donald on the cover of it, and there is a piece on him and his swing. In that his swing coach talked of keeping his lower body quiet in his backswing. I have tried to incorporate this into my swing. So far the results have been that my ball striking is more consistent and my ball flight not as prone to heavy drawing. To make matters a bit trickier however I see that some pro's like Vijay have looser hips. Am I on the right track with quiet hips or is it totally subjective?

I have the Ping Discovery cart bag and also the Titleist X76 stand bag. The Disovery is very nice as a cart bag, and the external putter well is very handy. The Titleist stand bag is incredibly light and great for when i want to walk.

Nissan Skyline GT-R34

It took me 10 months to get my grip right. I literally got it right about two weeks ago. Finally had a lesson, and all along i've been struggling with changing my grip all the time to suit how i was striking on the day. Now i have a grip that's stable and provides a foundation for whatever i do going forward. Its amazing what you can ignore when you just start, that will severely impact you going forward. I settled on the interlock grip, which from what i've read is for beginners and people with weak wrists. But from what I see, lots of top players use this grip. Tiger, Ernie and quite a few others.

My goal by year's end is to be a single digit handicapper. If I can move from 13 to a 9 or 8 I will be happy. I would ideally like for my bad days to be no worse than an 85 and my good days to be down around 75.

I would try the 755's before you get the 775's. You will be very surprised how easy it is to hit the 755's and the feel is awesome.

Titleist 755's Trispec S. Unbelievable irons. Absolutely love them. Would recommend them to anybody with a 15 or less handicapp.

Titleist 907D2 with UST Proforce 76 S. This club is pretty awesome. I love how it looks when you address the ball. That square look gives me a lot of confidence. I started out with the Ping Rapture. It is also a great club and has one of the nicest sounds of any driver I've heard, but I didn't like how it looked at address compared to the Titleist. In my limited experience, once you are comfortable with how it looks at address, it's ALL about the shaft.

I have the Scotty Newport Studio 2 and absolutely love it. I've been playing golf for about 10 months now, and started out using the Odyssey 3 ball. I used to hate putting, but after trying a friend's Scotty, I realized that I hated my old putter. I'm still not what I'd call a great putter, but last week I didn't three putt once, in three rounds. For me, that's great. :)

I use my 60 degree for bunker shots and whenever I need to flop a shot in a tight situation. My only problem is that sometimes when I use it from 60-70 yards out, I tend to balloon it and drift it a bit right, when my usual shot is a slight draw.