jrm1493

My first set was and hand me down Dunlop DDH set 1-PW from my dad. The 1 and 2 were just about impossible to hit off the deck but off the tee they could be pretty good. I was probably about a 25-28 handicap when I got my Adams set but even back then I could hit the 1 and 2 pretty well teed down at ground level (I am reasonably athletic so even back then probably had a ~90 ss). Off the deck the 1-iron was impossible and 2-iron very difficult. Both were nice for escaping trees, however. I have considered returning the 1-iron to the bag just for tree escapes to keep the ball low since it can be hard to hit my 3-hybrid hard while keeping it under branches. Also, keep in mind that in a lot of modern sets the 3-iron has the same loft as a traditional 2-iron, so the modern 2-iron may be considered a 1/1.5 iron.

Maybe that's what I missed. Seems like all the media thought he was the first Asian to win a major.

Everyone is talking about Yang being the first Asian to win a major, but Tiger is actually more Asian than African American (1/4 Thai, 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 African American, 1/8 Dutch and 1/8 Native American, according to Wikipedia). Since he is considered the first African American to win a major shouldn't he also be considered the first Asian? I'm not trying to start a race war I'm just saying its a bit of a double standard. Of course he was born and raised in Socal so not exactly a native born Asian but still, I don't really think Yang can be called the first Asian to win a major.

I can't remember his name, but last year some guy was up to a 94 after 17 holes and play was called for rain. He didn't return to finish, but even if he had parred the last he would have shot 98. He had a 13 on the first hole that day (supposedly hit 4 straight drives OB). This was on the PGA tour. Anyone remember who it was?

The tops are fairly thick. Offset looks similar to the X22 tour, but the soles look about like the X22 regular. The topline is probably halfway between the tour and regular; you'd never mistake it for a blade. The back is much less in your face, however, with just a small black logo, no channel cut out or shiny graphics or anything.

They have been pretty good clubs to me. I've also hit the A2OS and the regular A2's are much better if you like a more traditional looking club. Not much offset but they are definitely cavity backs, however you can work them a bit. They hybrids are definately more of a "players" club than the irons - very workable and pretty low launch for hybrids. They are the same exact size/shape as the Idea Pro (at least to my eye); quite different from the hybrids that came with the A2OS. In fact knowing how marketing typically works they may very well be Idea Pros with a different paint job, which may explain why they are so workable with low ball flight. I find that there is a bit of a gap between the 4h and 5i, but at that distance I don't have all that much accuracy so its not a huge deal for me. It might be for a more accomplished player. I've improved from about a 25 when I got them to now about a 16 and I don't think I've outgrown them.

I like them cause they don't break as easily. There's no way they really affect the shot. I always use broken ones I find when I hit anything other than driver or 3w.

81 on a 70.3/125. Glad to see a lot of folks with much lower handicaps with about the same best score. I guess I need to work on consistency.

He is correct. From my experience flying and drag racing, humidity increases the "density altitude" which is a measure of the effective altitude. For example, I live at sea level in a very hot, humid climate (Houston, TX). Typically in the summer here in the afternoon our density altitude is over 2000ft, a few times this year it has been over 3000ft (103 deg / 112 or so heat index). That means that the ball (or plane or car) will behave like you are playing in "standard conditions" at 3000ft elevation. For racing and flying this is a bad thing because there is less air for the engine to breathe (your engine performance suffers quite a bit unless you have forced induction), but for golf, since all the energy comes from your muscles which presumably can still get enough oxygen, you get more distance (less drag on the ball). If you were doing some kind of aerobic exercise (like running or cycling) your performance would suffer, but in something like golf where you only exert for a few seconds every few minutes, your body can catch up despite the lower partial pressure of oxygen, and your performance does not suffer. Short story.... on a hot humid day your ball will go farther. Just remember to stay hydrated!

My best round ever was a couple weeks ago, walked 18 in 100+ degree heat, shot an 81. I drank a lot the whole time but on the tee box on 15 I started to see stars and I couldn't focus. Took a few minutes and drank a quart of water and then continued. Still played the last 4 holes +1! I think being so exhausted actually helps because you tend to play better golf when you don't try too hard and don't try to overswing. Having heat exhaustion helps you not to overswing. When I walk in the summer I usually "fluid load" prior to the round by eating something really salty and drinking a quart of water or so (this is basically what we have the Astronauts do before re-entry when they are not accustomed to gravity - it helps them to not get dizzy or pass out). Then at the course buy a 32 oz gatorade, and pretty much drink it in the first 3-4 holes, then refill it to the top at every water jug. At the turn get a salty snack (the salt will help you to retain water - as mentioned before drinking only water can mess you up - you need salt when you are sweating a lot). I take a large swallow of water after every tee shot and walking between holes. Seems to work pretty well but on the day I was talking about above, I had stopped drinking as much on the back nine which I think is why I started to get dizzy / see stars.

Yes. Last week I had the "power draws" off the tee with Driver, 3w and 3h but everything else was working well. I ended up making bogey on two holes after hitting snap hook ob first drives (so would have been birdies). Managed to shoot a 94 despite only hitting 5 drives in the fairway, and that included 3 snowmen (posted a 91 thanks to ESC)!!! Great scrambling and recovery shots, and pretty strong putting as well. Felt like if I had hit my tee shots in play would have shot mid/low 80s.

I color red the closest full dimple to the right of the brand name. Since my buddies and I discovered lostgolfballs.com we are all using pro V1s so we had to start marking marks. The engineer in me makes sure I use a small mark that is down in the dimple so I'm unlikely to get any clubface contact to the marker ink. Wouldn't want to sacrifice any spin!

One thing about Butch: he is probably a really good coach but he is an arrogant know it all according to my neighbor, who played with him from at the Bayou golf course in Texas City, where Butch had his first job as a pro before making it big. My neighbor played this muni goat farm (actually a fun little course along Galveston Bay) all the time in the early 80's and was paired with him one time and said he was an arrogant bastard who offered unsolicited advice the entire round, while talking about how good his own game was. My neighbor said he probably gave some good advise but he was such a jerk that he ignored it all. My neighbor also estimates that Butch shot well in excess of 85. I can image that Tiger wouldn't like being around someone with a sandpaper personality that thinks they are smarter than him, even if that person does actually have good things to say.

I don't think there's a better motor on the planet than the GM LS series V8's. Unbelievable power and ease of modification along with highway fuel economy that beats most 6-cylinder cars and even high performance 4's. Too bad the company was run into the ground by a bunch of bean counters. That's what you get letting business people run an engineering company.

2001 Ford F-150 regular cab V6 5-speed manual (~125k) 2002 Chevy Camaro Z28 6-speed manual, LS1 with intake/headers/exhaust, stock internals (~80k) 2003 Saturn Vue, Opel 3.0 engine and 5-speed slushbox (~105k) All paid for and won't be replaced unless they are destroyed.

I think that's true of a lot of GI clubs as well (mine included, I've noticed) because of the mass of the hosel and a small portion of the shaft that is effectively "in" the clubhead. The sweet spot on my irons is definitely towards the hosel but if you hit it out on the toe you usually get pretty decent distance. Mine are just "game improvement" not "super game improvement" however.

Thats technically correct, since there is only one point on the head directly in front of the c.g. Game improvement irons just distribute the weight over a wider area, but there is still only one c.g., they just make the area where you get say 90% of the effect of hitting at the c.g. wider.

Exactly one year ago I was a 22.2, now a 16.1. Mostly from practicing shots from within 60 yards, and also getting a driver I can actually hit. Most people seem to thing that the better you get the harder it is to improve, so if I'm at 10 this time next year that would be remarkable. My goal for 2009 was to get to 15, and I'm only one stroke away with 5 months to go, just have to make sure I don't start going backwards! I'll set next years goal in January Setting goals helps for me, since I can be obsessive about that kind of thing; for example I decided to become a commercial pilot and did it and have only flown one time in the 3 years since my commercial checkride. I realized I don't really like flying (the extreme cost doesn't help either) but I like the challenge of doing something hard that most others wouldn't attempt. I work in the space program and Kennedy's words about doing the hard things really resonate with me. My 2008 goals were to get to 20 and break 90 - broke 90 in June 2008 and went below 20 around November I think. 2009 goal is to finish the year at or below 15. Maybe next year it will be to break 80 and finish at or below 12.

Might be standing too close with a strong grip and coming over the top. When I start pulling short clubs I'm almost always standing too close. On the longer clubs you naturally stand farther away which might be why you hit those well.

I'm talking controlled draw when I need it without double-crossing. I hit my fair share of snap hooks. I think I have an excellent pitching and chipping game (I can only think of a couple folks I've played with that were better) but I'm only an OK putter and not great on full shots. I think its because where I practice they have an awesome practice green for chipping and pitching and I love to practice that more than anything, I can stay there for hours. But I'm cheap so I don't hit balls that much and practicing putting annoys me because the putting area is usually too crowded.

Thanks for all the tips. The last few days I've been thinking about what I was doing and I think I was letting my left arm just get away from my body which was causing me to come over the top. I went out today and concentrated on keeping my left arm close to my chest and of 4 times I tried to play a draw I pulled it off 3 times! The best was a low 5-iron draw from about 170 out around a tree that rolled up on the green (ended up going about 180 w/roll, way more than my normal cut shot). Of course I proceed to 3-putt but I was happy with finally pulling one off when I needed it to get around a tree. I did hit a couple of unintentional hooks, and some banana balls but it was nice to actually have a few go right to left when I needed it. I didn't play great (shot 93) but I played the tips and so it actually dropped my handicap to a 16.1 (I keep it myself with a spreadsheet), and any time it drops I'm happy.

There is a lot of garbage in this thread, clearly. Some of these I've verified with a google maps tool, and I'm using engineering judgment on the rest. I'm trying to conjecture my median distance here, so not my best by any stretch. Driver: 230 3w: 210 3h: 190 4h: 185 (really no difference in 3h/4h, thinking of dropping the 3h for a 5w) 5i: 165 6i: 150 7i: 140 8i: 130 9i: 120 PW: 110 49: 100 56: 75 Driver SS 90-94, Index 16.4, best 9/18 (70.5/125) 40/81.

For the life of me I cannot hit a draw. I can hit a big hook occasionally but usually my ball fades about 5-10 yards with just about every club except short irons/wedges which go pretty much straight. It is very consistent and has allowed me to put up some good scores recently. My miss is a big slice coming over the top; I try to be very deliberate about hitting from the inside but I just can't produce a draw Is there anything wrong with trying to run with the shot I have? I know most better players hit a draw but it just screws me up trying to do it. My distance is on the short side, driver average 230-240 on a good one, 150yd club is a 6 iron. I am very accurate with my irons when I'm on and play the 5 yd fade, and the ball usually stops dead on the green where it hits with everything from 6 iron on down. My real strength is pitching/chipping and I can get on a roll with the putter from time to time which has helped me get into the mid/low 80's quite a bit recently. Current index is 16.4 down from about 22 this time last year. I do often have problems with longer courses, since for a 400 yard hole I'm hitting driver-5iron best case. I can't reach many par 5's but I usually play them really well going driver-hybrid-wedge. I guess I just want to know if yall think there is hope for me getting to single digit not being able to hit a draw. Obviously I've improved 6 strokes in the last year by playing the fade but I just don't know how much farther it can carry me since I think I'm giving up a fair amount of distance with my ball flight (even though its quite repeatable). My driver SS is around 90-94 on average if that helps.

I don't think there is any difference - I looked diadic up and it just means "dual purpose" which I take to mean that this wedge (53 deg) can be a sand wedge or gap wedge. I'm thinking of buying one myself and trading the 56 for a 58 to close my gaps a bit, but I've been hitting the 56 so well I have been holding off and may end up sticking with what I've got (don't fix something that isn't broke)

Walked 18 in 100 degree heat yesterday in 3:20 (two of us). Had to wait a few minutes a couple of times but no real holdups. Did let one single through (riding) and I bet he played in under 2 hours. Two weeks ago we played in 2:45 riding only being held up once. I'm about a 17 and my buddy is about a 23 and we putt everything out. People just need to learn how to play quickly, you don't have to be good to play fast, and I think most would benefit their scores by playing faster. I've noticed one good countermeasure against slow play is to play in the Houston heat at around 3 in the afternoon. Pretty much guarantees that you will only be playing with committed golfers, almost all of whom abhor slow play.