518TitleistX

So, I turned 30 yesterday. I decided earlier this year that I was going to make an effort to play a quality golf course rather than the local courses and cow pastures pawning themselves off as country clubs as part of my birthday gift to myself. I set out trying to figure out which course id really like to attempt to play, and read a few reviews online saying to try this course or that course or whatever. I just had one course in mind that I couldn't shake and that was Bethpage. My younger cousin lives in Manhattan, and being my normal playing partner before he moved there, I knew he'd gladly jump at the chance to play Bethpage with me. I asked if he'd be in and surely he was. He told me to leave the reservations to him so he went about getting registered in their system and we waited for the 1 week prior to try and reserve our tee time specifically trying for the Black course for obvious reasons. this brings us to the 23rd. Unfortunately, by the time he attempted to book our tee time, all spots had been filled for the day and we reluctantly accepted a 12:04 tee time on the Red course for 7/29. Still pumped for the trip though i drove from my home near saratoga to manhattan after work on saturday the 28th arriving around 9pm. got a quick bite to eat then attempted to sleep with not much luck. i mean after all i was still going to play a bethpage course, no matter the color. we got up sunday morning just shy of 9am, loaded the car and were off to get to the course and it starts misting out with heavy overcast skies and every weather report calling for scattered thundershowers throughout the day. not what we were hoping to hear by any means. We get to the course around 1015 and walk in to check in for our tee time and get situated. waiting in line to check in a guy walks in behind us and asks if we are going to play the black course, i told him that we had a tee time for the red course and were just signing in. he says "do you want to play the black course because my pops just bailed on me cuz of the friggin rain" UHHHH YUP! he goes through the line, gets his raincheck and we gladly took his tee time at 1pm, relinquishing our spot on the red without hesitating. we pay our in state resident fees of $75 each and headed to the putting green getting the speeds down. after an hour or so we headed to the driving range to warm up some and work out some kinks... i seemed to find more than i worked out but thats for another story. finished our buckets around 12pm and headed inside for a quick snack and a beer before our tee time. had a chat with the bartender and a few other patrons. one guy asked what i shoot at my home course and i told him mid 70's to mid 80's on average. he laughed and said the course is in PGA tournament condition currently as they are prepping for the 2012 Barclays in a couple weeks and id be lucky to shoot anything under 120 from the front tees. i smiled and nodded at him and we were on our way to the first tee. i took one look at the rough and started to have my doubts as well. i told myself im here to play the course for all its worth so im playing from the tips just to see how i do. the white tees were as far back as were in play currently which still measured out to over 6800 yards. thats 600 yards longer than my home course. everything was in immaculate shape. fairways were manicured perfectly. the rough was full and thick and treacherous. greens were slick and fast. i was in love. well, to make a long story much much shorter i made the turn at 51.holy crap. there is no doubt in my mind now how penalizing the rough is here. its a stroke or 2 penalty if it settles down no matter who you are.. on to the back 9 and things got a little better. i told myself that i would not put up a triple digit score for a round. i focused harder. studied my putts longer and took my time on my shots trying to pay more attention to form. i started out the back going bogey, bogey, bogey. not great but +3 is better through those 3 holes than the +8 i was on the first 3 holes on the front. then double, par, bogey, bogey, triple, and missed a 2 foot tap in for par at the last for another bogey. (sonofa!!!) if you're doing the math, that comes out to an eleven over par 46 on the back for a 18 hole total of 97. my cousin ended up with a 51 front, 50 back for a 101 total. the rain held off and it actually got hot and sunny mid round. it truly turned out to be a great experience and im really pleased with my score for the course being in tournament shape. cliffs: played bethpage black for my 30th birthday, shot 97 from the "tips". loved every minute of it. highly recommend you play the course if you can manage to get a tee time. regards all ~Travis

my 15* Titleist 910f. from the first swing with it i knew it wasnt leaving my bag for a LONG long time.

had 2 deer cross the fairway in front of me on hole #1 (my 7th hole of the day) on wed the 18th at a scramble tournament i was in at saratoga lake golf course here in NY. i was debating between 8 iron, 9 iron, or 9mm for venison steaks at the turn. lol

i forgot to mention in the original post that the current AP1's are +1/2" 2*upright, and have DG R300 regular flex shafts in them.

stopped at my local club fitter/ proshop today on my way home from work initially just to hit a bucket of balls, got there and decided i wanted to hit the 712MB's from titleist and compare them to my current set of AP1's.. turned into a mix and match shafts with 4 different sets and compare to my current set...here's how my personal experience went. (all 6 irons used) 712MB First up were the 712MB's from Titleist. these were the clubs I really went in there to hit. I learned how to play the game at age 10 with a set of blade irons my grandfather cut down for me. Now at age 30 and being a HUGE Titleist fanboi, I've been drooling over these clubs for months. i had the salesman / fitter (his name was Scott) set up a club for me. project X 6.0 shaft (+1/2", wanted 2* up but only had standard lie available.) I was making very crisp contact, but the ball felt weak off the club. i hit about 10 shots and hit my current AP1 for comparisons sake. my AP's were going 10 yards farther on average but had a much wider shot dispersion. i couldnt work my ap1 as much left or right as the 712 but the blades just couldnt measure up distance wise. Scott suggested we try a different shaft and see if that had any bearing. we swapped in a DG S300 shaft and i hit about 10-15 more shots then compared it to my AP1 again. again the shot dispersion was much tighter with the 712's but now the 712's were carrying 20+ yards farther than my ap1's EASILY. it was no contest. i just coouldnt hit the club with the project X shafts. the S300 woke the 712 MB's up to the point i didnt want to give him the demo club back. I relented and asked him if there were any other clubs he recommend i hit just to do my due diligence and not go with titleist stuff on name alone. Scott came back with a built Mizuno MP-69. MP-69 (+1/2" 2*up) This is the setup i wanted to hit with the Titleist. shot after shot they were long rope after rope over top of the 150 marker by 20-30 yards. i loved the distance off of them. they had great workability but felt almost mildly muted in comparison to the titleists. a softer face feel thats hard to describe. im still deciding on whether or not i liked it. yet again this club he set up for me with the S300 shaft and it seemed to work very nicely with shots surpassing my AP1's by 20 yards. all in all a very similar ball flight and distance to the 712's. The Mizzy's are $100 cheaper than the Titleists which is a good selling point, but im not sure if itd be enough to sway me away from my full Titleist bag. next up Cleveland 588 Blades. also set up with the S300 shaft but only in standard length and lie. i dont know if it was the length, the lie or what but i could not get this club to perform. It felt very crisp off the face but no distance, i couldnt get the ball to draw for the life of me, and fades looked like weak flares. after trying to hit 15 to 20 shots with this club i gave up. it just wasnt for me and after swinging the titleist and liking it this just wasnt going to find its way into my bag. finally the Nike PROVr Blades (+1/2, standard lie, S300 shaft) I took several swings with this club, and it had a higher ball flight than the previous clubs i tried, but was about on par with my current AP1's with length and shot dispersion. i could work the ball left or right at will but everything felt very clicky. i never felt that "buttery" contact i felt with the titleists or the mizzy's. lack of distance and the clicky feel ruled these out as well. all in all i pretty much confirmed im a titleist fanboi but i did have a few fleeting moments of misguided love for the mizzy only to come back to my senses when i finished off hitting a few last shots with the 712MB before he put it away. i will be posting my AP1's up for sale effective immediately and i will be placing my order for a set of 712MB's (+1/2", 2*up, S300 shafts) within the next 3 weeks. the added distance, accuracy and workability of the blades is just too much for me to pass up. i love the AP1's ive got but they are like a girlfriend that you've outgrown. its time to say your goodbyes and move on to the next figurative big boobed blonde! haha Cant wait to get my 712's!!!!

honestly ive never played a srixon. i couldnt tell you first hand. the only suggestion id have is to buy a sleeve of velocitys at your local course and try them out for 9 or 18 and see if you like them.

i play 18-27 holes every sunday and i try to get in 18 more on tuesdays (my normal days off) i follow all proper golf rules and etiquette and i shoot consistently mid 70's to low 80's (75 to 83 on average) ive only been the the range 3x this year (since march). i shot 79 my first round of the year after a layoff from october til march here in NY. i actually had a round cut short this sunday where i was -2 through 14 holes and was forced from the course by an intense lightning/thunder storm. im actually shocked when people i play with cant break 100. maybe i should temper my expectations?

not going to lie, a bright vibrant orange is truly obnoxious to look at.

Titleist mens large players flex glove, a bag of 2 1/4" tees, 2 dozen double digit titleist velocity balls ~$81 after tax

i was fitted at northway 8 for my ap1's 2 years ago now and i wasnt given a shaft option at the time. i play stiff shafts in my woods but they ordered my irons with r300 shafts. id like to sell the ap1's and get into a set of Titleist MB 712's...just not sure if my swing has changed to the point my "fitting" settings need to be adjusted as well. the ap1's are +1/2" and 2* upright. im just not sure if they still "fit" so to speak, and if i trust n-way 8 after reading the reviews here.

being "colorblind" to an extent limits the balls i can play. i was given a dozen orange balls when i was younger just starting to learn how to golf and lost them as fast as i could tee them up. my eye sight saw the orange as the same color as the grass thus camouflaging the ball from me. needless to say i havent purchased anything but a white ball in my life and will (out of necessity) continue to do so. im ok with it though, the Titleist velocity's are awesome just as they are.

another vote for the titleist velocity's. i switched from playing the pro v's and v1x's to the velocity for a cheaper price point and got added yardage as a bonus. there is almost 1 club difference in length from the pro v's to the velocity's for me. still a very soft feel around the greens. not quite as much spin as the pro v's but a very predictable and pleasing ball flight. plus the double digit #'s are just friggin cool. picked up 2 dozen of them tonight actually.

im a bit biased, but vokeys and its not even close... haha.

i think selanee' is the best looking of the remaining girls. ive been rooting for her from the beginning. not sure what it is but i really like her personality and shes gorgeous to boot.

im playing in a tournament at my local course on the 4th. 2 man best ball teams. called "the airway cup" tournament. should be interesting.

shot 38/39 for a 77 (par 72) at airway meadows today. 2nd best round ever. (shot 75 at van patten country club on my birthday last year) hit every club but the driver well today. very very pleased!

another vote for the 910D2 from me. ive hit the TM stuff at golf galaxy and it just doesnt feel as good as the titleist stuff to me. hit them both. choose the right shaft for you and swing away!

a dozen Titleist velocity balls and my 910F 3wood.

i just recently got a new 3 wood for this very reason. i was playing a Titleist 906F4 3wood with the ys-6 regular flex shaft and was hooking everything. bought a new Titleist 910F 3 wood with the project X 8c4 stiff shaft in it and played it yesterday for the first time. what a difference. i dont know why i waited 4 years to switch to something that worked so much better.

Titleist 910D2 9.5* Driver 46" ProjectX 73gram s-flex shaft Titleist 910f 15* 3wood 43" Project-X 82gram s-flex shaft Titleist 904f 19* 5wood YS-6 r-flex shaft Titleist AP1 irons 3-pw Dynamic Gold R-300 steel shaft (+1/2", 2* upright) Titleist Vokey 58.08 wedge Titleist Vokey 52.08 spin milled wedge Titleist Scotty Cameron 35" Studio Select Squareback #2 Titleist Staff bag Titleist Velocity balls Titleist Players flex glove Nike Lunar Control shoes

ive been trying out the new titleist velocity balls and like them alot. long off the tee with good feel around the greens and they seem to spin pretty good.. bought a box tonight for $26.99.. should be right in line with what you're looking to spend.

im 6'3" and i use a 35" Scotty Cameron Squareback #2. seems to be working well.

Ok so recently, over the past year or so I've been working on flattening out my swing and increasing clubhead speed. I've gone from 98mph to 106mph which is all well and good,except my fairway woods had R-flex shafts in them causing me to over draw or hook the ball outright. Hence my need for either a new shaft or new club entirely. Being as I was playing the Titleist 906F4 15.5* 3wood i figured upgrading to the new 910 series would be a good improvement and also give me the ability to adjust loft and lie angle based on the shot I wanted to hit. Off to get fitted... I have a local proshop called Northway 8 golf in Clifton Park, NY who I've dealt with regularly. So I went in and explained I was looking to upgrade and wanted to see how the 910 felt. The fitter gave me the options between the 910F, or the 910 Fd and in several different lofts from 13.5* to 21*. I wanted it to remain a true 3W so I went with the 910F in 15*. He first set the club up with the Diamana kai'li shaft and I was hitting it solid but felt the ball flight was just a bit too high for my tastes. I told him I have the Project X shaft in my driver and he switched in the PX 8C4 shaft into the club. 1st swing and I was in love. It felt perfect. Long laser with a boring trajectory with a baby draw right at the 250 sign. I told him to place the order after the 1st swing haha. Of course I hit a few more and played around with the club adjustments trying to see if you could improve on perfect. They placed the order and I got a call earlier this week that the club had come in. Today i headed down to Northway 8 and traded in my old 907D2 driver, my 906F4 3wood and a odyssey XG#9 putter towards the 3wood. I paid off the rest of the balance, and went straight outside to the range with it. I'm still in love. I worked through my bag and spent an extra amount of time on the new 3 wood getting used to the feel. No ridiculous hooks, no weak flares. It seemed like every shot, it was coming off hot and pure with either a slight fade or draw depending how I set the club up. Can't wait to take it to the course now and not end up 30 yards left of my target. Final specs on the club: 43" Titleist 910F 15* with Project X 8C4 shaft set on C3

2 or 3 fruit punch gatorades and when they are empty i refill with water and flavor it with mio energy (the black cherry isnt bad). if im playing at my home course i usually grab a couple hot dogs or a wrap at the turn. then a few pints of blue moon after the round with a burger or something hearty.

played www.airwaymeadowsgolf.com today again from the white tees. was not one of my better rounds. shot 42 front 46 back for an 88. hit 4 fairways all day and had 31 putts. 14 putts on the front 9. only 1 birdie all day at the 7th hole where i stuck a wedge to 3 feet from about 115 out. gotta work things out asap.