tefunk

Carl Spackler: I'd keep playing. I don't think the heavy stuff's gonna come down for quite awhile. Bishop: You're right. Anyway, the Good Lord would never disrupt the best game of my life.

Then go buy a TaylorMade...

The only way to get better, is to know where you stand and what you need to improve on. If that's what you want to do, I think it's a good thing you recorded a legit score, and found a couple things to improve upon. While it's nice to be in the fairway more often than not, you're going to wind up in the rough on a regular basis (everyone does, including the pros)... So might as well learn to improve your play in that area. Best of luck!

Considering the grip is one's only connection to the club, I would think getting that right makes a huge difference...

I feel like I'm playing worse than I am, lately. Probably because I've been scrambling so much, but still scoring well

I selected higher. I'm currently at 7.2 and don't really think I'll have the practice time necessary bring it down any further. But who knows, I didn't think I'd be at a 7.2 this year either...

I don't think you're going to find something reasonable anywhere near the $500 mark. The closest reasonable option currently seems like the SkyTrak by SkyGolf at $2K

Tied my best score today (although the first time was on a tougher course, so not my best round). 37 - 39 for 76. 6,834 Yards 71.3/117 Had a Triple on #17, 234 Yd Par 3... Very upsetting considering the potential going into the final 2 holes

I've had the G30 LS TEC, with the premium shaft, for a few months now, very happy with it. Prior to that I had a G15 with the premium shaft... I was happy with that as well. While I had the G15, I did demo several drivers out of curiosity, including the i series. The G30 made me switch, while nothing prior to that did. I've noticed tighter dispersion with the G30, but a very small loss of distance... Possibly due to being the low spin model and the shaft being 0.5" shorter. I'm very happy with it. Hope that helps!

I disagree. The MP-52 is going to be more comparable to the AP2. I don't think the AP1 and MP-52 are anything alike, other than both being irons

I would imagine regular flex is fine

The marking on my 56 are in the same spot. Where they put the markings may depend on the loft and/or grind. I agree with the serial number issue though

I like this idea. Thanks for sharing

The topic of this thread transcends golf. In general, our culture seems to be full of excuses, and avoids reality, in order to stroke the ego. If we can't be honest with ourselves, and we overlook our strengths and weaknesses, we'll never reach our full potential. Beyond that rant (sorry, struck a chord), I won't deny that I've kidded myself before when it comes to golf. Prior to the last few years, I made a lot of assumptions about my game, without having a true understanding of where I really stood. Once I took a step back, and really allowed myself to see the facts, I was able to improve quite quickly. Play to my true strengths, and try to avoid my true weaknesses.

Exactly. Until you find the right club, swing, alignment, whatever it may be... Take what you do well and make it work for you.

My current, and previous, driver is a PING G series. Very happy with both. Driver is certainly not the easiest club in the bag to play... Maybe some lessons/swing changes are more in order, versus buying another driver that may not do the trick

Unless somehow it's damaged, no, they don't "go dead". The driver is a tough club to play. If you play your 3W well, it wouldn't necessarily hurt you to just stick with that for a while and take the driver out if the bag for now

The options are better today then they were 15 years ago, however, the newer technology is not going to magically make you a better player... Maybe a few strokes at best. For $400, you could pick up a really nice set of lightly used irons

Check out some quality used sets, or maybe the Adams Blue irons, or one of the Adams complete sets. IMO, Adams makes some really good beginner sets

Brian, thanks for the follow-up. Glad to hear they are working out for you!

I think we all go through this, especially as we get better, and it can be very frustrating because our expectations tend to be higher the better we are. I used to have trouble hitting irons and woods well, in the same round. It was always one or the other that suffered. I found the swings are pretty similar, but irons one hits down on the ball, and woods one sweeps and/or swings up on the ball (I realize some people swing down on the ball with driver as well, and I used to as well, but found more consistent results swinging up). What took me way too long to figure out was... It can all be the same swing, the alignment is just a little different. I've worked on alignment quite a bit over the last year and a half... And it's done wonders. I'm much more consistent, and score much better in general. So, maybe it's something as simple as alignment, posture, etc. that you can work on and bring the driver back into play while continuing to be solid with the irons. Just some thoughts...

Congrats! Always feels good to have a breakthrough

I've never really liked any of the Nike irons I've tried, but today I demo'd the Vapor Pro Combo. Other than being a little too trendy looking (the bright green is too much for me), they are a really nice iron. Not sure I'll throw them into the running (purely based on how they look) for my next set though (which the front runners are Mizuno MP and Srixon 745). But for anyone who is not off-put by the styling... Might be worth checking them out

I should probably clarify what I mean by this stat... I don't keep track of fairways hit. This is the % I have a reasonable chance at a GIR on Par 4's and Par 5's, whether or not I hit the fairway. This stat does not include Par 3's, although the actual GIR stat does include all holes.

I've played about 30 rounds so far this year, and have shot in the 70's on 6 rounds. I've also shot in the 90's about the same amount of times... Here is the difference, statistically, respectively: Chance at GIR 79%. GIR 56%. Saves 50%. 1.7 Putts per hole. Chance at GIR 64%. GIR 28%. Saves 31%. 1.8 Putts per hole. So for me, I score well (for me anyway) when I play well off the tee. My short game is pretty solid either way, and the reason my save % is lower in the second set of statistics, is because my big misses off the tee don't often leave me with a chance to save Par. I'm also solid with my short and mid-irons, and putting. From my experience, I would agree with others that the "full shots" are a very important factor to playing well and breaking 80. I'll also add... I don't have tripples or higher when I've broken 80 (except one time), and I typically have 1 or 2 birdies.