bwinger79

Personally, I like to harness the power of my teeth on the downswing, but thats just me. The correct answer......BOTH. The body needs to work in sync to hit a proper golf shot. Arms, legs, torso, hands must all work together .

I am not sure about all manufacturers, but I know that new offerings from both TM and Callaway only have a .25 inch difference between standard length of steel and graphite.

If you are just going to use it for short yardages, you dont really need a top of the line mat. For $50 you can get 2, one fairway, and one simulated rough. http://www.rockbottomgolf.com/17izzrouchpmat.html http://www.rockbottomgolf.com/17izzchpdrvmat.html

How did you determine that you were +1 on your irons? Was it through a professional fitting? If so, were you fit with steel shafted of graphite shafted irons? Going a full inch on the graphite will probably mess up the lie angle. Anyway, most clubs I have seen only have a 1/4 inch difference between the stock length of steel and graphite. Maybe you are looking somewhere different than I am, but both TM and Callaway have a .25 difference.

Personally I would go with the Callaways. But I would not get the wide sole. If you are looking to drop 1k on a set of irons, you might want them to be something that can grow with you. Have you hit the normal Callaway Fusions? I think they are every bit as forgiving as the wide soles, and a much better iron once you get better and want to start shaping shots. If a grand is nothing to you, and you just want something for now, go with the wide soles then.

Hey.....what about the mountain courses????

RockbottomGolf is one of the best online retailers for golf gear. I have ordered from them countless times, and have never had an issue. I know many of my friends have also ordered from them without ever having any problems. Good luck with your new driver. Maybe being able to hit it so straight will give you more confidence to swing a little harder and get the distance you are looking for.

I agree, Tiger has a wonderful short game, but there is just something about Phil's that is better. Maybe its just because he has the balls to try shots that nobody else will try, and usually pulls it off when he does try them. Its kinda hard to put my finger on what exactly it is. I saw a Phil Mickelson Top 10 Shots thing on the golf channel, and some of the things he can do around the green I have never seen any other golfer do.

In certain aspects of the game, I do think Phil is more talented. Short game for sure. But Tiger has his many strengths. Tiger is going to win the Fed-Ex cup, but I would like to see what would have happened if they all played all 4 of the events. It would have given more credibility to it. If Phil had played this week, would Tiger be leading? If Tiger played the first event, would this race even be close? They need to do a little tweaking of the playoff format in the next couple seasons.

Tiger and Phil are in a league by themselves if you are looking at wins by active players, and of course Tiger is in a league by himself with what I believe was his 60th win last week. I think Phil has as much talent, and in some aspects of the game, more talent than Tiger, but he doesnt have the militaristic work ethic like Tiger does. If he did, I think he could seriously give Tiger a run for his money week after week, but he obviously is happy with where he is and doesnt feel the need to put in 10 hour days 6 days a week like Tiger.

The only problem that I can see with that swing is your left hand. There is no glove on it. LOL. Seriously though, the swing is looking good. Looks like you might have a little mini-Furyk going on at the top of your backswing, or maybe it was the frame rate of the video, either way, if its working for ya, keep using it.

The issue with your distance might have something to do with improper weight shift in your swing, but without a video it is really hard to answer the questions you are asking. The SW issue, I am not sure if you are hitting it off the hosel or just leaving the face wide open. You need to be more specific about the ball flight, or better yet, post a swing video. Good luck fighting the rights.

Swing is looking pretty good. I noticed on your DTL view that your left hand was below your right shoulder at the top of your backswing. Do you hit alot of pull hooks? I have seen this position work for many people, and I understand it is a part of some modern teaching methods(stack and tilt), but I think if you got that hand just a little above your right shoulder you would have much better directional dispersion. Just a thought, but your swing does look well tuned.

Welcome to the world of ball striking. Now that you are here, there are a few rules. Rule #1: You cant tell anyone else the secrets of good ball striking, they must stumble upon it as you did. Just messing with ya. Feels good to really compress the golf ball doesnt it?

I would tinker around and see what you like the best. The NXT Tour are going to be a little softer than the NXT Extreme, but if you know how to spin a ball around the greens, you can spin both. The sacrifice is going to be increased spin off the driver face when you go with a softer ball. Seeing that you shoot to a decent cap, I am sure you will know which one is right for you once you play a few rounds with them. Good luck finding the right ball for you and your game.

Sammy..... I forgot one thing. If you are looking for name brand clubs at great prices and dont want to deal with the E-bay issues, make sure you check out www.rockbottomgolf.com There are few places, if any, that beat their deals.

I would also try the other ones I put in my previous post. Nike One balls are great, but are pretty much the same price as the ProV's. Srixon also makes some good balls. Without seeing your swing and typical shot shape it is really hard to tell you what balls to try. Callaway HX Hot are great distance balls, but a little clunky around the greens. Personally I wouldnt buy anything less than $20/dozen because you are going to get glorified rocks for that kind of money. If feel isnt that important to you, or if you cant really tell the difference between golf balls yet, but the cheapest thing you can find. Here is my opinion on best balls for the price. $20/doz Pinnacle Exception $25/doz Bridgestone E 5/6 $30/doz Last years Nike One - Titleist NXT $40/doz Current Nike One - Callaway HX TOUR $45+/doz Anything in this category is going to perform well, just have to take the time to find the right ball for your game.

If you are looking for "off-brand" irons to save a little cash, I would highly recommend Pine Meadow Golf. My brother recently purchased a set from them, and I was very surprised by the quality of the clubs. Below you will find a link to their site. www.pinemeadowgolf.com These are the irons my brother got. He loves them. http://pinemeadowgolf.com/golf-clubs...ong.irons.html There are many other "off-brand" clubs on the market, but these are the only ones that I can say I have seen and they are decent club for the price.

I have played them and do like both offerings by TaylorMade. They just didnt perform as well and the Nike One Black off the driver for me. I think there are countless balls on the market that are as good if not better than the ProV1's, at least for my swing. I just cant stand having to throw away a $4 ball every time you hit a full wedge, and thats what I had to do with the ProV's. So am I a Titleist hater, maybe, but I think there is alot more to a ball than just the name they print on it.

Just starting out, I would agree that fundamentals are key. Not sure how the winter weather is in Iowa, but I would suggest getting a practice mat and a mirror. You can learn alot about your swing from looking at yourself in a mirror. If you were hitting the ball well early in the season, and have since gotten worse, I would guess that when you started you were making good contact, and in a quest for more distance, your entire swing got fast, out of rhythm, and out of sync. Know that this is a game of opposites. You will hit the ball better, more consistent, and typically longer when you swing a little slower(about 80-85% of you maximum) and contact the center of the clubface. If you could post a video of your swing, I could give you a much more accurate rundown of whats going on.

I am still waiting for my hole in one. Amazed that you remember yours, seeing that it was 1000 years ago. LOL. Sorry, I just couldnt help myself.

I am not sure if a 88-94mph swing is enough to really compress the ProV and get the full benefits of its design. There are tons of balls on the market. Really the only way to know if you are going to like them is to try them. Check out the NXT Tour, they are somewhat cheaper and may perform better for you. If you are looking for something around $20/dozen, I think the Pinnacle Exception is the best "cheap" ball on the market, followed by the Bridgestone E series.

I guess this is really going to change from swing to swing also. Someone with a big lateral shift in their swing would most likely tend to play the ball more forward. Personally, I have a pretty tight coil with not alot of lateral movement, so playing the ball about dead center allows me to position it just before the bottom of my arc, and I feel it leads to more consistent ball striking. But like I said, I think this is going to be different for everyone.

I am not sure where you got that information from, but it is wrong. Pros move the ball around in their stance all the time. They need to depending on what type of shot and trajectory the shot calls for. As for me, I play all "stock" iron shots from the middle of my stance. I will move the ball depending on what the shot calls for. Low shots back, high shots forward. Driver and fairways always forward of center, unless I need to hit something real low off the tee, like a stinger 3-5wood, then I will move them back a little.

Not every club. I guess I should have said every iron. Driver and fairways I move up a little unless I want to hit them real low, but sometimes the shot requires a low shot. But, yes, all irons are played from the same position unless I need to alter the trajectory for some reason.