jrm1493

Played a new course on the coast this afternoon (Moody Gardens in Galveston); it was a lot of fun and was a great course, but it was really hard and has a very low course rating compared to what I'm used to. There are 5 sets of tees and we played the middle ~6000 yd ones since we hadn't played the course before. My dad (solid 7-8 hdcp) and myself (14ish) both shot 90. We were clearly not playing our best but I really don't feel like I played all that bad. The wind was probably gusting 30+ mph but we are used to that playing down here on the Texas coast. The course was just plain difficult, rock hard fairways & greens, high wind, left and right side of every hole was lateral hazard/salt marsh, and plenty of strategically placed bunkers. Also lots of holes had greens that did not slope back to front and were shaved all the way to the waste areas so downwind you had to hit the ball 10-15 yards short of the green to hold them. The fairways were wide but other than that and the short distance I don't see how it was rated so low (67.3/119 from the tees we chose). If the two of us, not playing terrible shot 90s how can it be so low? In retrospect it wouldn't have been any farther for us from longer tees because when we were in the right place for our approaches we were hitting short irons or wedges.... next time I guess. I shot a 48/42, and I think part of the reason I played so bad on the front 9 was that I was not used to the speed of the greens (much faster than the overseeded bermuda I've been playing on), but still.... obviously this round won't be counting for either of our handicaps but I think the USGA made some mistakes on this rating... kinda frustrating. Of course I do take advantage of a course around here which I feel is at least 5-8 strokes easier than the one I played today and is rated at a 71/122 from a similar distance, so I guess it all evens out... just seems random how they assign this stuff.

Funny you should mention that, I have an old persimmon driver I took to the range yesterday (Top-Flite Spalding from probably the early 70s, with a steel TT Dynamic Lite shaft). It feels pretty sweet, definately launches lower than my current driver, and the distance is less (maybe 20-30 yards). But I think on a really windy day it might do better given the low flight I was getting. The strange thing was I had trouble hitting a draw with it even thought it had a "medium" shaft and my Callaway driver has a stiff shaft which I rarely have trouble hitting a draw with. I honestly think on a normal day I might lose 1 or 2 strokes using that driver but on a windy day I might be better off. It would be interesting to reshaft a persimmon wood with a modern shaft - I bet the distance loss would be fairly minimal. Of course the smaller and heavier head might not play well with a graphite shaft.

Used Pro V1's (4 or 5 star) on lostgolfballs.com You won't go back

Well, apparently the website was just bad because I went back on today and the season has been updated to run through Dec 31, and it accepted my 86, which dropped my trend down to 13.4 - slowly approaching single digit. A year ago at this time my handicap was 19.8 so if I keep it up I should drop to single some time this year (my goals for 2010 are to break 80 and get to single digit). I know I'll probably hit a wall at some point but I haven't yet, hopefully I can keep improving.

Ok - I think I figured it out. My guess is the score I posted yesterday will count towards the next revision, which will be on Jan 2nd, so that is why it is not "counted" for this year.... I guess I'll find out for sure on Jan 2! If it does not count I'm just going to post whatever scores I shoot until the end of the year on the 1st because it seems dishonest to not use scores of rounds that I acutally played. I'm planning on playing a bunch the next couple of weeks since I'm off work until the 4th.

So i played today and shot an 86 on a fairly difficult course, which should have counted for my handicap, but apparently the Texas Golf Assn season only runs from Jan 1 - Dec 1 so the score I shot today does not count? Is this normal and what is the reason for it???? It does not make any sense to me.

I agree with all that has been said - I've started buying them from lostgolfballs.com and I can't imagine ever going back to the Burner TP (which was a good ball but not a prov1). If you buy in bulk you can get 4-star ones for $20/dozen, which is pretty good and they are usually in pretty good shape. As far as getting to the back pin, learn to choke up on an 8 or 9 iron and make an abbreviated follow through, play the ball just in front of your right foot. We have to use that kind of shot all the time in the Texas wind and its very useful. One of the best shots of my life was that kind of shot with a 5-iron from about 140 out (wind was about 35mph in to my face)!

The talk that Tiger needs (or will need) the money is probably garbage. The fact is he lives in a ~$2 million dollar house, on a $100 million a year income. That is like someone who makes $100,000 living in a $2000 house (which does not exist outside the hood in Detroit). He also appears to drive GM vehicles, not exotics. He may own a few exotics but obviously his daily driver is a typical middle class pig mobile with almost no maintenance costs (its a Chevy truck after all). I know about the estate in Jupiter and the yacht but those combined are probably worth only a 3rd of his annual income last year. His largest expenses were actually probably employing his entourage and private aviation and all that goes along with that (maintenance, crew, etc).... all that goes away if he walks away from the game and stops traveling as much - even if he started flying netjets or something that is way cheaper than owning your own plane (I'm a commercial pilot and you wouldn't believe the costs of owning something even as simple as a turboprop King Air). If they settle down quietly in Sweden or something I can't see them needing more than a business manager and maybe a lawyer/accountant on the payroll. Face it - he grew up middle class in a military family and he appears to be quite frugal given his level of income, I am certain he could walk away today and be just fine.

nice clubs... Your next to last photo concerns me... a 40 of Olde English 800, some feet, saltines, and siracha hot sauce????

Who cares? I carry that much or more all the time because I don't like plastic.

I don't know how yall all supposedly hit 180 yard 6-irons and think that is normal (note the above post that says tour pros average 180ish 6 irons). On the launch monitor a few weeks ago well-struck 6 irons for me went about 175 with a draw (maybe 170 carry), with a pretty consistent swing speed of about 82-83. On the course I never go at a 6 iron that hard and like to try to hit a cut, and use it from about 155-160 out. If I'm 175 out I'll try a cut 4 iron. My playing partners will usually try to hit a 6 iron that far and only pull it off about 1/10 times. I find leaving about 10-15% in the tank works wonders for shot consistency, although any more than that and I start to hit some ugly shots trying to hold back. I tried both the PX 5.5 and DG S300 and for me there was no comparison, the DG felt so much better. As above, my 6i SS is 82-83, driver high 90s.

I just got my new irons last night (see sig) and went out this morning to hit them since I'm working evenings. Both of the ranges close to my house were closed! The first one, at a nice course nearby, is closed about half the time I go; anytime it rains or whenever they feel like it. They treat their range like its freaking Augusta National. I don't know why. The second one is more of a goat farm but its fine for hitting balls. I got there about 8:50 and nobody was there so I gathered up a few balls from near the hitting area and hit maybe 30-40, until about 9:30. Still nobody there so I left $6 under a weight on the outdoor counter (since I hit about a small buckets' worth). Pretty annoying. They don't seem to have any hours posted but it is a beautiful day, you'd think they'd be there by 9 at the latest... I love the new irons from what little I was able to hit them. Glad I went with the DG shafts as opposed to the PX flighted as I had no trouble getting the long irons up in the air, which I was a little concerned about (only hit them on a launch monitor before I bought them). Felt sweet and seemed pretty easy to work the ball either way. Other than a couple s****s they even seemed more forgiving than my old Adams clubs - a tighter dispersion on balls that weren't hit well (probably because my old clubs were regular shafted). I got them from Callaway preowned and was very satisfied with the condition, even though they were "average".

Adams A2/3/7, non-OS version (game improvement but not SGI shovels). They won't penalize too bad for off the sweet spot and will let you work the ball a bit and get some feedback. For the price of a regular set you get 2 or 3 high-end hybrids with good shafts which are great for an improving high handicapper. Got me from a 25ish to

Update... I played yesterday (with my current Adams regular shafted clubs) and hit them pretty well. Shot an 85 which included a 9 and a pair of doubles, so without the blowups would have been close to breaking 80. I hit my irons very well, but this was a shortish course so I only needed more than a 7 iron for one approach - I was killing my driver and leaving myself wedges or short irons on every hole. I did tee off with my 5-iron twice on long par 3's and my 3 hybrid on a longer one, and on a short par 4, and they were somewhat wild. Good contact but off line. So I think in my short irons the shorter length is allowing me to get away with having regular shafts but I think I do see the need for stiffer shafts given the wildness with the long irons and hybrids. The hybrids are the worst, being graphite shafted; I've actually started choking up on them for more control. I've also noticed that I hit my irons very high compared to my dad, who is a solid single digit handicapper, so I'm probably losing some distance there (he hits low spinners and has no trouble holding greens) My dimensions call for +1/2 inch and 1-2 deg upright which I think is close enough to "standard" that I'm not being really penalized by length/lie on the Adams clubs. I really like them just wish I had gotten them in stiff shafts when I bought them 2 years ago (I was about a 25-28 hdcp back then with a swing speed that was probably under 90). I know it sounds stupid but these clubs have gotten me to be a "decent" golfer and I'm almost sad to replace them but I think I've outgrown them.

Anyone ever figured this out? I think for me I've always felt more comfortable with a stiffer shaft, I just feel more in control. My first driver had a regular shaft and it was terrible, all over the place. I now have a Fuji E360 stiff which according to most accounts plays more like an X-stiff and I couldn't be happier - an immediate and drastic improvement, despite the fact that my typical driver swing speed is only 95-100. I even feel like I've gained distance with the stiffer shaft just because I'm more confident to go after it hard without worrying too much about a massive pull hook or sky-slice. I'm contemplating new irons (since mine are regular shafted and not fitted) and think I'd like to err stiff again, given my experience with the driver. I am a big digger (take huge divots most of the time) and I don't know if that makes a difference in shaft selection or not. I'm thinking about some used X-20 tours fitted to my length/lie with the Project X 6.0 flighted, which are supposed play pretty stiff. Anyone think that's too much shaft for me? (current index is 14.5 - but its a by the book honest 14.5).

This summer I played with a HS kid like that, he said he was on the baseball team but wanted to try for the golf team next year. On one hole I hit what I thought was an OK drive, about 230 on a 390 yard hole, leaving myself a 6 iron in, which I hit well to about 20 feet and 2-putted. This kid hit his drive to about 50 yards short of the green, no lie. He then chunked it 3 straight times and 3-putted for a 7. Walking off the green he indicated that he was impressed by how consistent I was, I think it was a good lesson for him on how to score. I mean this kid probably outdrove me by an average of 75 yards and I shot in the high 80s and he was probably around 110. He seemed like a really nice kid and if he could ever harness that power he'd be trouble. I hope he started to work on that wedge and putter, though...

I just got back from the range. The ground was pretty soggy and I hit a wedge fat and dirt flew up into my eye pretty hard. I think I got pretty lucky, was able to get it out and flush my eye. I was also wearing contacts but the dirt hit next to the colored part of my eye so they were not impacted and I was able to remove the contact with no issue. I have minimal pain but I do have a nice red spot just to the right of the colored part of my eye, where the dirt was. I called my eye doctor and they said that it was probably fine since there is no pain but if it starts hurting to come in. I think from now on I'm going to be like David Duval and just wear sunglasses all the time, it was pretty scary.

I agree 110%. This is for losers that don't respect or know how to act around women.

I have been giving this some thought recently, and I don't really understand how blades or clubs with lower MOI really promote more sidespin (aka workability). In my mind, sidespin must be almost completely imparted by hitting the ball in such a way that the clubface is open or closed relative to the velocity vector, which means that the ball will start to roll left or right on the face. This is similar to how loft promotes backspin. In my mind the ball must launch in the direction that the club face is pointed at impact, but it will have side spin relative to how open or closed the club face is at impact. It seems to me that the MOI of the club would have little to do with any of this. I can't really see how the position of the cg really would affect this other than at impact a more compact cg would tend to rotate the clubface more closed if the ball were struck toward the heel side of the cg or more open if struck more towards the toe. I believe this is called "gear effect", however I can't believe that much of this actually occurs given the large relative mass of the club to the ball and the short duration of the impact time. All of the energy that has gone into rotating the mass of the clubhead/shaft/hands/arms by not striking the cg is now not imparted to the ball resulting in distance loss. I can't believe that hitting a ball much off the cg is ever a good thing. The only advantage I can see to a smaller MOI is that the clubhead itself would be smaller which will make it easier to get through thick rough. I'd like to hear what others think about this...

I was thinking the other day about how most GI clubs have stronger lofts and why that is (other than so folks can brag that they hit a 7 iron 170). I have a 45° pitching wedge and a 49° Cleveland 588 (blade style) gap wedge, and I just had to have the 49 bent to a 51 because I hit it very nearly as far as the 45° pitching wedge (maybe 5 yd difference on a well struck shot). After bending the new 51° wedge fills the gap between the 45 and 56 much more nicely. My theory of why it goes nearly as far is that the high launch conditions promoted by the 45 deg GI wedge promote such a higher ball flight that it actually goes a shorter distance than a more traditional club like the 588. So a GI club with 45 deg of loft actually may play more like a 47 or 48. I also experienced this when I hit my friend's old Hogan blades, where I seemed to hit the Hogan 7 iron as far or farther than my Adams 7 iron (on well struck shots of course), despite the fact that I'm sure the Hogan 7 iron was probably 2-3 deg weaker. I also realize that this could very well be specific to the shaft that is in my Adams irons. My "first" clubs were some old Dunlops with almost no cavity back and Dynamic Gold stiff shafts, and I had trouble getting the ball airborne, but now I seem to hit moon balls with my Adams clubs, so maybe I have outgrown the shafts. I've been improving so much (about 8 strokes off handicap in a year) that I'm very reluctant to change anything. Anyone think this makes any sense?

Thanks for the replies. Several of yall said to hit everything I can and then decide and I think that is good advice. The place where I usually go to hit balls has a pretty nice pro shop so I'll try to grab several of their demo 6 irons the next few times I go out there. I'll probably get fitted there as well since I just can't imagine getting fitted on a launch monitor - I want to see what the ball flights look like. They have just put in a nice launch monitor at the end of their range where you can hit off grass but have all the computer feedback as well. I hate hate hate hitting off mats and I know launch monitors lie because last time I was in Golfsmith I hit a 380 yard drive according to the computer!!!

I have been toying with the idea of getting fitted for some irons and wanted to see what some of yalls opinions are. Current index is 15.1 (14.3 trend) and I have improved from about a 22-23 a year ago and only started playing seriously 2 years ago. I am a decent ball striker but the best part of my game is by far putting and chipping. I am wondering if I am better off sticking with GI clubs like I have now (maybe G10, Adams A4, X22, etc...) or go with something a little more workable (i10, X22 Tour, Mizuno MP52). I generally don't try to work the ball too much but when my ball striking is on I can more or less hit a hook or slice when I need to but the amount of hook or slice I have trouble controlling. I have never really hit any "workable" clubs except for a few hits with a friend's old Hogan blades. Honestly the blades didn't seem any more workable than my Adams A2's which maybe means I don't really know what I'm doing. They did seem less forgiving but not hugely so (I only hit a 7 iron - I'm sure 3i would be a different story). I have the standard A2's not the super-game improvement A2OS. At what skill level would something like the X22 Tour make sense - in other words where is the cutoff between it hurting/helping vs the standard X22. Thanks for the replies.

Anyone have any idea why he refuses to wear any logos? I mean its not like he's taking a stand against world hunger or something. He doesn't seem to really care about his appearance; it looked to me like he was wearing a 15 year old Wal*Mart brand polo he picked up at Goodwill. I know a bunch of guys look like Winston Cup cars out there but is it really worth throwing away all that money? I am on TV for my job sometimes and if someone paid me to wear a logo and I could get away with it I'd do it. If he really wanted to do something worthwhile why not get some sponsors and donate all the money to charity? * Edit: For all I know he is wearing designer clothing but I know his shirt doesn't look right.

I have basically followed Hogan's book and yesterday should have broken 80 like he says is possible (missed a stupid 18 in putt because I was too lazy to line it up and hit correctly). I first started the book about a year and a half ago and had I kept an honest score at that time would have averaged around 110. The grip thing is something that has slowly changed for me over time - starting out I had to go stronger to avoid a slice but as I have improved my grip is pretty much what he teaches in the book (very weak). I have also struggled with hooks and even the dreaded pull-hook and the weak grip has at least taken most of the hook out although I do still occasionally come over the top and hit a pull. I am currently working on my misses being pushes rather than pulls so I know I am hitting from the inside. I think his advice is sound although I do have pretty strong hands and arms so maybe it fits me better than some others.

Yesterday I shot 80, which was my best ever (previous was 81). The annoying thing was that on the 2nd hole I missed a putt about 16-18 inches past the hole and instead of walking around to hit it I just tried to jab it from the other side of the hole and missed. One stroke ended up being the difference... I guess that's a lesson learned for me. The good news was that the last two holes on the course are the two hardest and I needed to play them in -1. On both I had makeable putts for birdie (about 20 feet) and missed them both by a couple inches (although one blew by the hole but I made the comebacker). So I finished really strong considering the how hard the holes were - one a 440 yd par 4 and the other a short par 4 but with trouble everywhere. I had all pars and bogeys which was a first for me as well.