1chaos52

Got an email with a link to this thread yesterday, and I have to say the timing was perfect. I have been swinging the club better than I ever have this year and had one of the best rounds of my life fairly recently. I played yesterday and had one of the worst rounds of my life. It was so bad that the guy I played with called me late last night to compliment me on my composure during the round as there was very little swearing and no club pounding or throwing, I just got to the point where I knew I would not be able to correct the problem on the course and just laughed at every shot. Pretty much every full shot was a snap hook and I would look at the club after and see that it had turned in my hand. I went to the range this morning after reading this last night and focused on keeping a correct grip. I hit the ball well again and most shots were straight or a slight draw. The feel of the club in my hand was so much better than yesterday and I can now tell that the issue was that the club was in my palm and not in my fingers. I have issues with arthritis and nerve problems in my hands so I sometimes tend to get lazy with my grip and think I had engrained that into my setup yesterday. On a separate note, having those issues with my hands I played my first round yesterday with the Pure midsize wrap grips, and for the first time in many years my hands did not hurt when I was done with the round, and did not hurt after my range session today either. Thank you very much for this reminder and very clear set of instructions on the proper grip. It has helped me a lot.

That is one odd thing with the Winn grip that I notices in that it does feel a bit squishy. Great on the hand pain issue, but does feel a little odd and not sure I like it or not. I liked it on the simulator, but so far my drives with the new driver/grip have not been great and wonder if that is part of it.

Unfortunately firmer grips are not an option due to the arthritis and nerve issues, or else I will be limited to playing once every two weeks in order to recover my hands which is not something I want to do. I definitely need the softer ones for the impact. Can't agree with you enough on changing grip pressure during the swing as this is something I have dealt with in the past. The softer and larger grips actually seem to help me with that because the confidence in my grip is better and I can feel the right pressures as opposed to a firm grip always feeling like I have to give it the death grip, and often this leads to the club spinning in my hand because I am regripping at the top. This is kind of the opposite of what you are saying, but mine does seem to be a different situation. Thanks for the suggestions and opinions.

And just to clarify, I mean the P2 Wraps.

I bought a new driver a month or so ago and changed the grip in the shop to a Winn DriTac midsize. I rather like the grip, but also looking at other alternatives as I plan on regripping my other clubs as well and have heard of the wear issues with Winn, plus I like the idea of the air installation and adjustability. I play a combination of Ping G25 irons and Adams Hybrids. The Pings I was fitted for last year and they have the mid-size grips from Ping on them, while the hybrids are older (except one of them) and have standard grips. I actually have smaller hands, but do have issues with nerve damage and arthritis in my hands (and at 38 years old no less) so went to midsize a while back to help with the pain and grip. The midsize from ping are very hard grips and have not helped in that department, but they have helped with my gripping of the club. They are getting a bit slick though and I am looking for more of an all around solution. After much research, I am very interested in Pure grips and have checked them out to some extent. Looking to get the grip kit with the compressor tool (already have the compressor) for installation. I see that their midsize wraps are rated as medium for impact, while the standard size P2 wrap is soft. Based on my situation with the arthritis and nerve damage, what are your thoughts on these grips and which way do you think I should go? Has anyone tried both? Has anyone done P2 with a tape buildup, and if so how much tape and how does it effect installation?I feel a little more comfortable with midsize, but can probably swing either. Any thoughts are very much appreciated.

Well, after a couple of weeks trying new drivers (and battling injury which is why it took so long) I finally made a decision. One of the last ones that I tried I simply hit better than the rest. I ended up with the Callaway X2 Hot. The final decision came down to the Taylormade JetSpeed, The Ping G25, and the Callaway. The TM I hit fairly decently. I am not a long hitter but was able to hit it around 250 fairly straight. As much as I love my Ping G25 irons, the driver was not for me. Every shot I hit was dead straight, but short. I can hit my 1 hybrid 220 - 230, and I was having a hard time breaking 240 with this one. The Callaway X2 Hot I did not like at first. For some reason every shot with it at first was blocked right. I found that the club head was deceiving me somehow and it made me put the ball in the middle of my stance instead of forward. Once I got the eye for it, that all changed. I was hitting the ball straight or with a slight draw and getting it out there between 260 and 280 every time with a max of 290. Since I can hit it relatively straight or with a draw and blow past the other clubs, this was an easy decision. That and the fact that they were having a one day sale for $100 off the price. I hit is again yesterday at the range> I ended up with a 9 degree that I have set to 10 standard and the amazing results with the driver continued (with of course a few mishits and bad shots).

I have to admit I am becoming a bit put off by Taylormade. I have had two drivers from them over the past years and both broke in some way after about 2 years. Granted my swing was pretty ugly before taking lessons, but I still have (and occasionally play) an old Adams Tight Lies driver that I have had forever and the thing looks like new and has never had an issue and has seen more playing and practice time than the 2 TM's combined. The shaft on my RBZ broke after 2 years. The head on my R7 cracked after 2-3 years. While I like the old Adams driver, it is easily 20-30 yards shorter than newer ones and can be difficult to hit straight or else I would play that until it dies.

I definitely noticed that the JetSpeed did feel longer and I was a little thrown off by it. The G25 definitely did not feel as long. Luckily when I go on Thursday I will have some time to hit them and will be able to do so on a range and not just the monitor. As far as hitting down on the ball, I know I was doing that and have corrected it for the most part and am generally now hitting up at it. I used to get my head way in front of the ball during my downswing which caused that. I have corrected it for the most part, but very occasionally still feel myself doing that.

After a few weeks off from golf due to injury I went to the driving range this weekend and ended up snapping the shaft on my driver. The odd part is that I did not hit the ground or anything, it snapped when I hit the ball. It was the original Rocketballz driver and lasted about 3 years and went through hell with my swing for the first 2 years of that. I am a 20 handicap now after taking some lessons last year and learning how I should be hitting the ball. I am actually hitting really well so far this year and think my handicap will go down some if I can get my short game improvements sorted out. Anyway, thinking I will buy a new driver this week and am looking for some advice. The two I have looked at so far are the TM Jetspeed and the Ping G25 (I have the G25 irons too). Unfortunately I got to the local golf shop a little late yesterday so only got a couple swings with each. With my old driver, it was a regular flex shaft. I am thinking I will switch to a stiff shaft as my swing speed is much higher now that I am swinging better. My general misses with it were blocks to the right and sometimes (but rarely) a straight pop-up that did not break 200 yards. So far early this year there has been a block with a slight fade which has been problematic. A good drive is usually 260 - 280. So, in all what I am looking for is something that is forgiving. I do not plan on working the ball much at this point so not worried too much about that. If I want to work the ball, I can do that to some extent with my hybrids.For now I want something that will go fairly straight with decent distance. I will be going back to the golf shop on Thursday to try some out. What suggestions do you have?

I switched to cross handed a few years back, then switched back to regular grip, and am now back to cross handed. I found I had a harder time controlling speed with a normal grip and had a much harder time keeping my hands quiet. I had switched back to a regular grip for a short time because I had gotten a new putter and for some reason could not get comfortable cross handed on it. My putting was terrible during this time, so I eventually decided to try and anchor the putter using an extension, and this forced me to putt cross handed again and my putting improved dramatically. I have since gone to an oversized grip which made putting the extension difficult for me, so I removed that, am putting cross handed, and am putting better than I ever have. I still have the occasional really bad miss on speed for lag putts, but in general everything is better. Not to say that it will work for everyone.

Hope it works out for you. My only advice is to try all of them that you can and pick based on multiple trial then by swinging only one. When I went to buy my irons recently, I had my mind set that I wanted the JPX 825's, but left my mind open and said that I would try a bunch of different ones until I found the right club. I ended up with the G25 irons 5 - LW and could not be happier with them, but for hybrids I just liked the Adams better. Not at all to say I did not like the G25 or hit them well, just a bit better with the Adams.

I also tried the G25 hybrids when I was getting fitted for my G25 irons. I hit them ok, but did not like the feel or the sound when hitting them. I ended up keeping my old Adams A3 Boxer hybrids for 3 and 4 because I can hit them well, but tried the new Adams Super S hybrids and really liked them. Because I have trouble with my 3 wood, I ended up getting a Super S 1 hybrid which hits the ball long and is really easy to swing and is the same loft as my old 3 wood was.

Got my G25s on Tuesday night and played yesterday. Did not hit the ball well but that was all me and not the clubs. The few that I hit well felt and flew very well. I also had a lesson on Tuesday and was working on a slight swing change so that did not help matters, and some days i really have a tough time getting my lower body moving, Heading back out today after some range time last night and hopefully will correct some of it and have a better experience with the clubs.

I went and tried a whole bunch if clubs this weekend and ended up getting fit for and buying the g25s. I hit them better than anything else. I ended up getting 5-lw as I play 1, 3, and 4 hybrids and needed to replace my wedges and figured having them match in feel would be a nice change. All told for 9 clubs (instead of the normal 8) was less than 800. Now the wait for them to come in.

Not sure where around here I would find a simulator. I live in NH and a lot of the golf shops I know of got hit hard by the current economic woes. Not being able to turn it over might be a good thing in my case with the nast hook I have been hitting. I figure I can spend a few buck on 2 grips, try them both, then make my decision from there. I will be doing the work myself and already have the tape and solvent, so won't cost much. The grips themselves I have been able to find pretty cheap so not concerned financially. The reason I am thinking 8 and 9 iron is because there is a cheap executive course near me I could play and use those two irons extensively. If i don't like either, I might even go and get a midsize of another brand and see if that works, but think I might as well try the two ends and see where that leads. My main concern is just being able to play. I know I will never be great at the game, but when it hurts this bad and I hook that bad because I cannot control the grip pressure, it just isn't enjoyable. I want to be able to enjoy the game again even if I am shooting a bit over par.