slainte

Crap. I just saw this. I ordered a set off ebay only an hour ago. Time to make sure my sandtrap notifications are sending correctly. Thanks for the offer

Blades are here! Took them to get fitted and fortunately found out that I am 100% standard lofts and lies. That was easy. Had them check all of the clubs overnight, bend a wedge or two and I'm ready to go. The downside: My iron swing speed is a consistent 98 mph which is too much for the Dynalite Gold R-300s. The trajectory and dispersion is all off. Back to ebay to find a deal on one of the three shaft recommendations they had. Hoping to snag some Project x 6.0s for a decent price this week which I was hitting really well.

Yep. I live in spreadsheets at work, figured they could help keep things organized here too. I'm getting my clubs fitted today and will have him take down all of the important angles. From there, if something is off or feels right, I can change/stick with it. Also helps to track of rounds, conditions, club inventory, etc. so I know what bets I owe between friends, how I'm playing comparative to other rounds and what I should sell a club for that I haven't used in a while.

In The Bag Degree Length Lie Offset Shaft Full Swing Normal Swing Driver - Cobra S3 White Limited Edition 10.5 44 Aldila RIP Beta 60g 3.5 Torque 320 280 3 Wood - TaylorMade Burner 15 43 58.5 REAX Graphite 240 200 Hybrid - Nike CPR 3 21 40.75 UST iRod Graphite 230 180 Nike 3i 23 38.75 59 0.115 Dynalite Gold S300 230 215 Nike 4i 26 38.25 60 0.1 Dynalite Gold S300 220 205 Nike 5i 29 37.75 61 0.09 Dynalite Gold S300 210 190 Nike 6i 33 37.25 62 0.085 Dynalite Gold S300 195 180 Nike 7i 37 36.75 62 0.08 Dynalite Gold S300 185 160 Nike 8i 41 36.25 63 0.07 Dynalite Gold S300 165 140 Nike 9i 45 35.75 63 0.06 Dynalite Gold S300 145 120 Nike PW 50 35.5 63 Dynalite Gold S300 125 100 Nike GW 52 35.5 62.5 Dynalite Gold S300 110 90 Nike SW 56 35.25 63 Dynalite Gold S300 90 60 Nike LW 60 35 64 Dynalite Gold S300 60 40 5' 9" 165 lbs 26

After demoing a few sets locally, I couldn't believe how well I hit Nike irons. I never thought I'd go back to blades but after a few rounds and range sessions I just switched from Ping Eye 2s/Vokeys to Nike Forged Blades and Wedges. I couldn't be happier, they're phenomenal clubs. Fitting starts tomorrow morning.

The search continues. Here's my next good bad idea on another "to each his own" topic: The Back Story: I've had a set of Ping Eye 2's and Zings ever since I started playing seriously. I've gone through numerous phases with my swing and unfortunate consumer habits which have found me picking up a set of something else I hit well at the range but never well enough to last a full season before going back to the trusty Pings. When I first started learning to play, I'd never picked up anything other than a blade. My first sets were hand me down Spalding blade irons if you can believe it. They were ugly as hell, extremely heavy in the head but helped me pick up the game. I spent my first 5 or 6 years learning how to play with these prior to my first set of Pings. I demo'ed a set of Nike Forged Blades, not the VR's, just the standard chrome blades a few times at the range on and out at one of the local Seattle courses recently and was shocked how well I hit them. I was puring most shots and was able to control loft, spin, everything far more than I ever thought possible before. Here's my theory: I've played game improvement irons my entire life after learning on blades. I believe, right or wrong, that these have actually hurt my swing due to the lack of feedback on off-center hits allowing me to correct the error. I also think somehow there is some muscle memory left from growing up on blades thats left my swing better aligned to clubs with weight in the club head. I'm naturally a high ball, light fade player. Over the past few years I've been searching to straighten it out but believe I've got it all wrong. The moment I started swinging blades again putting a slight draw or fade was almost effortless. I could "feel" the timing on my wrists and knew the right amount to apply one way or another most of the time. Most shots did exactly what I wanted. It was a great feeling. With most CBs I've played, this level of control simply wasn't possible due to the depth of the cavity and shape of the club heads. It may just be me but I've never felt completely in control with most cavity backs. I've known my yardages and simply lined myself up swinging for what I hoped would be the straight shot I wanted with mixed results. Getting consistent yardage seemed near impossible between pure shots going 10-15% farther than thin/fat hits. Good shots could still easily go offline. I wasn't improving. Today I shoot consistently in the 80's. High or Low depending on the day. Most of which is to blame on my irons unfortunately. I shot a 93 the other day that involved 7 birdie looks. How's that possible? Two bad drives and a lot of bad irons/wedges. The Aftermath: My goal is to improve to a 6 handicap or better. I'd like to consistently shoot close to par on all of my local courses next year. All of my Pings are on eBay along with the rest of my backup sets. I'm all in on this blade theory. The Nike's arrive between Monday and Tuesday. I'll be getting them fitted locally on Wednesday. Here goes nothing. Testing: Wanted to throw this out there too. The reason I've stuck with my trusty Pings for so long was both confidence and science. Believe me, I've spent hours and hours at the local shops on launch monitors and ranges with everything in the store. Callaway/Cobra/TaylorMade/Mizuno/Titleist/you name it I've hit it. I love trying out new clubs. Its a disgusting habit to think there may always be something else out there better for your game. Recently as an example, one of our best local shops, Puetz, has a location with a full range (Seattle) while the other has two high-end Launch Monitors (Bellevue). I've been on the hunt for a new driver and spent a total of 6-8 hours over the past two weeks demoing everything in both stores. Different shaft flexs and weights, lofts, club heads, adjustable shaft settings, etc. I hit literally hundreds of balls with multiple clubs. Using the launch monitor as a basis, Chris at the Bellevue store was able to help me narrow down my options pretty quickly. I'd hit 10 balls with each club and then we'd use the computer scoring system to determine the most consistent clubs. Overall, it really was a bit of a process but it has done wonders for me off the tee. I have done similarly for this iron situation and fully believe based on my personal swing, shot consistency and confidence that I will score better with a nice set of blades...all thats left is to get them fitted and let the fun begin!

My top 10 to hit when you can in the northwest: Chambers Bay (Tacoma, WA) Pumpkin Ridge (North Plains, OR) Newcastle China or Coal Creek (Newcastle, WA) Washington National (Auburn, WA) Gold Mountain (Bremerton, WA) Trophy Lake (Port Orchard, WA) Sunriver Woodlands (Sunriver, OR) The Home Course (DuPont, WA) Fircrest (Fircrest/Tacoma, WA) West Seattle (Seattle, WA) the courses i hit the most often: West Seattle (Seattle, WA) Jackson Park (Seattle, WA) Northshore (Tacoma, WA) Auburn Municipal (Auburn, WA) Allenmore (Tacoma, WA) Newcastle (Newcastle, WA) Kayak Point (Stanwood, WA) Willows Run (Kirkland, WA)

when i first read your question i pictured Rodney Dangerfields .22 caliber driver from Caddy Shack. Thanks, I had a great laugh. On top of that you compared bowling to golf. That speaks for itself. I'm sure most of the people on this site have nearly $1,000 worth of stuff in their bag. I believe Taylor Made has an interchangeable shaft driver coming out soon that will cost $1,000 with 3 different shafts. If they can gaurantee hole-in-ones I'll definitely pick one up

Auburn Municipal GC 1st Hole - 9am - 39 Degrees F The dew is frozen on the the ground and sticking to every crevice at the bottom of my shoes. Somehow I managed to pull out a 300 yard drive on my first swing of the day. My second shot is about 75 yards out with a good lie on soggy soil with no wind and a central pin location. The sun is just coming over the hill and shining right in my face off of my wedge. I hit a thin pitch that is heading 5 feet right of the pin. It lands about 10 feet short, rolls, hits something and goes straight in. As I approach the green in amazement I realize what happened. The group in front of me had stomped the ice/sludge off their shoes on the green. My ball had kicked straight to the hole after hitting their left overs.... They all count...

a fade is a shot that is hit straight and begins to move right after reaching the top of its trajectory e.g. "power fade" a cut is typically a lower shot that starts left and moves right during the entire ball flight eventually landing straight or thats atleast the way i think of them. anything more extreme is slice territory, manufactured or not

you can easily look up salary information on www.salary.com your major is going to play a part in it, but i think anything can work if you know the right people

i would recommend the okigolf package as well. you can get 6 rounds for $200. a few other solid options that are actually in Seattle are any of the premier courses (seattlegolf.com). West Seattle is my favorite of the lot but they are pretty well priced and not too busy

i bought one of those $4 lead "O" rings that you can put on any club and weigh it down a few pounds. i'll be the first to admit it helps. if i come up to an elevated tee box or any hole begging for a long drive, that is definitely going on whatever club i'm hitting. since i picked it up i hit atleast 2x 300yrd drive per round and have even nearly driven a few shorter par 4s. i've been playing since i could hold a club with a few pro golfers in the family so my mechanics are naturally pretty good. keeping this in my bag helps me "level" my swing out as others have mentioned and increase my swing speed without sacrificing accuracy. i haven't looked into the momentus or medicus but i could definately see it working in the same fashion

i make a new yardage chart every month. this has helped tremendously in playing within myself. Now I'd lay up when I would normally go for it, or sometimes vice versa. I know it sounds ridiculous doing it that often but I find the more I play and the better my swing gets, I'll gain/lose a few yards with different clubs in 30 days. My 100% is about 90% of my hardest swing. I never swing harder than that, if you ever need another 10 yards use the next club up. After hitting about 50 balls or so at the range, mainly with my 6 Iron. I'll take 5 shots at 80% and 5 shots at 100% with every single club. Then I'll do the same with a 3/4 length grip. This covers the broadest range of potential shots and gives me the best feedback for what to use in different situations on the course. Before I tried to do this mentally but found that having inconsistent contact, swing speed, etc will only leave you short, long or worse.

i've always been more of the non confrontational type. i never play slow but sometimes you can't really do anything about it. Everyone always gets their first freebie. After that, I'm simply collecting whatever you're hitting as a donation for having to put up with you. Usually I'll schedule tee times so that this is never a problem anyway. Take a day off, play early mornings, whatever. Its more enjoyable to play at your own pace and have a course to yourself than fight off the hordes of a$$holes all day. One thing I will say that I hate more than people hitting into me is people slicing from the next hole and mistakenly hitting my ball after a long drive. There is nothing more upsetting after nailing the crap out of a ball only to find that the perfect shot was just taken from you by some hacker who can't tell the difference.

i'd agree with the critics. who the hell remembers or cares who came in 2nd place?

I recently switched from Cleveland 588 Tour Action (52, 56, BeCu 60)to Titleist Vokey 52 and 56. It was more a personal preference but I would highly recommend taking a look at either set if you are looking to outfit your whole line of wedges. I chipped in from 20-60 yards 10 times last season from various lies since I made the switch. With my Clevelands I probably did that same feat only it took 3 times as long. I don't know much about the new wedges that have come out but I say go with whatever works. My 588s were really close to the 900s and forged wedges are never a bad thing in my eyes. Check out the Vokeys too

I use Winn Excels in all of my clubs, except my putter. Fitting will definitely help as others suggested, after that its more about personal perference. I have a relatively light grip and have never seen the wear on mine that others suggested but I could see it happening if you have forearms like popeye and a deathgrip like darth vader. i had the standard lamkins and they get really slippery when wet. after that I switched to the similar Golf Prides which were an improvement. When I bought my new set I decided to try the Winns and have loved them.

I must be a rare breed I have an original Ping Anser that was a hand me down from my mom. Its older than me, in great shape and been in the bag since I was 8. Regripped a few times but its all original. 1:15 for me

I went through nearly the same exact thing. When I first started playing I had a much steeper, "chop down" type swing. As lessons, many rounds and practice have proved my swing began leveling out making my former "custom" clubs perfect to actually hindering my performance. I've had 9 sets of irons in the past 10 years and would highly recommend seeing a reputable fitter when it comes to everything you are looking for out of your clubs. You won't believe the difference both in how well the clubs will form to your mechanics or how confident you'll feel when you step up to every shot.

I completely agree. My 9 wood and Hybrid take out any need for me to carry anything longer than a 5 iron. Not only is that a plus but I hit them much more consistent. Anything further than 190 and I already have 1 of 3 clubs to choose from and have already hit that same shot many times over.

i had an old Cleveland BeCu 60* for years. used to love it until last summer when i swear i only used it maybe 5 times in 15 rounds. Those shots were just as doable with the 56* which I have a hell of a lot more confidence in no matter what type of lie or shot. Ditched it and never looked back. Call me crazy but I only carry 13 clubs currently. Maybe I'll give it another shot...

Winn Excel Black Standards on every club (minus my putter of course)

Nikes. I've had everything. Titleist, Callaway, Taylor Made, you name it. For some odd reason I can hit these longer, straighter and more consistent than anything else I've ever tried. To each his own.