pcourtney

ever since I saw this video by Jeff 10 years ago it completely took my ball striking to another level, and still does and the Aiming Point Concept http://www.theswingengineer.com/faq3.html and page 105 of Bobby Clampetts book "The Impact Zone" and a PBS ( Pure Ball Striker ) and a Tour Striker 7 Iron https://www.tourstriker.com/7-iron-protocol/ Martin Chuck "clubhead delivered into a position of lag so the ball is compressed" just doing the below is a great reminder of how to hit some 10 yard shots in the garden

I've been using a demo Callaway 2010 FT iZ Tour driver 9.5 deg over the holidays, I don't think the pro is going to get it back, it's a sweet driver that is long and straight, difficult for me to say whether it's better than my Bang driver, or the other half a dozen drivers I have in the garage for the last 10 years, but I felt I wanted a change and the FT-iZ seems to me the pinnacle of Callaways offerings for the last 20 years it might be all horse shit, but I'm smitten :-0 Callaway FT-iZ Driver Features: Beyond Long- In their never-ending mission to find more distance and accuracy for golfers, Callaway’s engineers used an entirely new design to once again produce a driver that’s longer and straighter than anything they’ve ever made. Polar Weighting- Utilizes a heavy face and a heavy in-line power source in the rear, localizing weight at the front and back of the driver to provide stability, consistency, incredible feel and increased linear acceleration of the ball. Chemically Milled Hyperbolic Face- Generates Callaway’s most consistently high ball speeds ever by using a chemical reduction process to selectively remove unwanted material for precision thickness control. Aerodynamic Body Design- The progressive shape reduces drag in the downswing for higher impact speeds and produces Callaway’s most efficient high inertia clubhead ever. Fusion Technology- Exploits extreme weight placement by utilizing cast titanium, compression cured carbon fiber, formed aluminum and cast steel for the optimal combination of performance, feel and looks. Aldila VooDoo Shaft- High performance graphite shafts are engineered as the ideal complement to the FT-iZ Drivers.

what did you go with in the end ? I just put some KBS tours in my old 2002 Ben Hogan Apex Edge Pro's after testing the DGS300 and DSX300 etc, and Nippon Steels I have a set of DGS300 in some Taylor Made RAC's, but I'm now tempted to pull them and try them in some older Apex irons from the seventies, maybe the 1972 Apex

I've just pulled the Apex 4 shafts from my set of 2002 AEP's (Apex Edge Pro irons), and re-shafted them with some stiff KBS Tours, this combination is pretty sweet, before I completely re-shafted them all with KBS, I did some testing with the help of my local pro, we started with some S and X Dynamic Gold's, some Nippon Steel Pro's, and the KBS Tours, the KBS won me over, and now I'm back to playing my old AEP's again for the 2011 season :-) let's hope it knocks a few strokes off my scores as well this season !

two key thoughts for me to hitting my 3 wood well off the fairway are: 1) focus on a divot or grass colour variation about 3 feet in front of the ball in the direction of the target 2) then swing smoothly as though I am playing my favourite 7 iron nb sometimes I practise swing with my eyes closed to really feel that I'm doing this with my 3 wood) actually all my long irons benefit from the above controlled rhythm :-)

I started to become conscious of using my Bushnell, don't know why, perhaps the golf I play now is more recreational and so I gave the Bushnell Tour V2 to my younger brother and bought a GPS, as long as I know the yardage to the front of the green, and the back of the green, I'm good to go :-)

I voted 52/56/60 am very lucky to have bought these back in 2001 from Bettinardi http://www.ballybuniongolfinc.com/maker/bettinardi

that's right, just music, sit back and watch Al hitting thousands of shots, and let your brain get immersed in what he does, this is how kids learn to play when they are 5 years old, and it works, trust me. I noticed on ebay these DVD's selling for 50 bucks, good value I reckon.

oh, he knows already, in fact I played golf with him this morning, beautiful sunny morning here in London, and he had some balls he had already marked with red pen that I am pretty sure he has used the Check-GO gadget with, so he got to use if before giving it to me for Xmas, well I guess that might be the story, anyway I still beat him

let me add one more thing, start working on strengthening your wrists, a lot of people ovelook this fact, but trying to swing a golf club with a neutral grip ( the correct grip in my opinion ) and trying to swing it with weak wrists is a sure fire way to slice the ball. I have given the Powerball to many ladies I teach, and they have spent 5 to 10 mins a day using it, after a month they have started to see how useful it is to have stronger wrists, I am not saying the wrists should be overly active in the swing, but weak wrists are often why golfers slice, getting the right wrist to snap upon impact is not the swing thought you should have ( it can lead to many other problems doing that) , but having wrists that are strong, and that flow through the impact area in a momentum kind of way is the better thought to carry in your mind. Eventually you will just do it, and then it becomes one less thing for you to worry about. http://www.powerballs.com/powerball_benefits.php

I run a small Telecomms company in London, England. Play golf once a week and am on a number fo golf forums which I access from work and home

I get a lot of balls every Xmas, and this year will be no exception, but I am hoping my brother is going to get me a gadget that you put a golf ball into and it tells you the best place to hit the ball when driving, and the best place to hit when you are putting ( sweet spot finder ) , it might be in the mind that this sort of thing works, or it does not, but I am pretty sure he got me one, and if he has I will be using it on all my balls in 2007 to see if it make a tiny little bit of difference to my game www.technasonic.com Check-GO , about $25 USD

every so often I have the same problems as you, and when I do, I go to my office, turn on the TV and watch a video that Ben Crenshaw put together years ago, it is number three on the "Golf Learning" top videos to buy http://www.golflearning.com/html/videos.html The Art of Putting by Ben Crenshaw When you watch it, make sure you have your putter with you and 3 or 4 balls, and a Putting mat ( and putting cup, or putting machine ) , spend hours and hours doing what Ben says, do this in the morning if you can, then after lunch go to any Putting Green ( not your own course ) , and putt for 30 minutes, no longer. Do it again the next day, and the next day ( if you can), you can watch the video again and again if you want to ( but it is not necessary if you get what Ben is trying to tell you ) , then post a reply back here and let us all know how you got on.

Golf Magazine put this video third on their list, I rate it higher http://www.golflearning.com/html/golf_mag_videos.html They have now brought it out a 60 minute DVD, if you want to start 2007 off with good swing thoughts, you can do no better than get this DVD for Xmas. http://www.sybervision.com/Golf/indexg.htm

have you ever tried hitting half shots ( or three quarter ) with a 5 iron, you will be surprised when you catch them out of the middle, they go just as far as your swing in the video, try it if you can !

The OPEN ( well for anyone American, the "The British Open", yes I am biased having seen about 15 Opens in the last 30 years, and when Tony Jacklin won the Open in 1969, I was only 9 years old and watching it on TV in my house, and that's when I started to take up golf, so no contest for me to say "The Open"

I was with Butch Harmon in Las Vegas all week learning about teaching methods and how we are complicating the game for most players out there ( even the pros are getting confused according to Harmon). It was the "Harmon Brothers Teaching Summit" back in early Nov http://www.harmonbrothersteachingsummit.com The upshot was that people need to experience ( feel ) what a good swing really is, they need to repeat it and trust it. Easier said than done, but I was pleased to hear Butch endorse the Explanar which a buddy of mine back in England invented. The Explanar is nothing more that a golf training device, that lets you feel the swing, it warms you up, it exercises the muscles in a very rythmical way ( backwards and forwards at a nice slow tempo), when Butch was telling 200 people how good this was, and how no teaching is required to get a pupil into the groove using the Explanar, it provoked quite a bit of discussion. The lesson we came away with was keep it simple, give the pupil a chance to feel the motion, it is not a hit but a swing, but try telling an 18 handicapper not to hit the ball, they can't get it into their head it seems. http://www.explanar.com I guess what I am saying here, it that getting lessons is one thing, getting good feelings and getting fit before you have the lessons is probably more important, you can then build on that solid foundation, if you need proof, why are so many pros using Explanar to keep reminding them of this simple concept. Find a pro that has one for you to play on, then have lessons !

the "lightest shaft you can control" is good advice. I go at it pretty hard with the woods, but I have stuck with the Harrison Pro 2.5 Tour for my fairway woods for many years, the best weight for me was 80g. However, when I tried the Harrison in my driver, I was not absolutely convinced and now use the Grafalloy Prolite 3.5 S, which is 72g, so a touch lighter. I am not sure I could tell the difference in weight, but the Harrisons did not work for me with my driver head, but do work for my Bang fairway woods. I guess, what I am saying ( the moral of this story ) , is keep experimenting until you feel you have the right combo

HI there at Sandtrap, your site came up when I was googling for "Most Famous Putters", for me the most famous is the Ping Anser from 1966, next year it will be 40 years old and still the Scotty Camerons, Bobby Grace's etc love copying its timeless design. I even have a Bettinardi BB8 which is a copy. I think Ping have won over 2000 tour events with various putters they have introduced over the years, so I think they would take the Manufacturer spot for sure. I am playing Maylands GC in Essex on Friday in a Society, and am playing up in the Lake District next week, can't wait to play golf every day for a week. I'm a bit of a golf nut, well I have an Explanar in my back garden, and I am always practising my putting in my office Peter