VALSALVA

Just turned 29. Only one more year of real life left.

Oh man...that would piss me off big time. Really poor form. Of course, behavior like that makes perfect business sense from his perspective. Why sell you a $90.00 iron when he can sell you a $199.00 hybrid?

I've been stuck around a handicap of 2-5 for years. Part of that was lack of time because of medical school and residency. For me, the difference between my typical round and a scratch round varies. One day, it's two balls OB while hitting 16 GIR. The next time out, I might hit every fairway but only hit 9 GIR. Perhaps it's a mental thing for me? As if I have to learn to allow every part of my game to be at it's best on the same day. Who knows???

I play it down in a casual round unless there's something under my ball that could break or severely scuff my club (i.e. rock, large stone, or big friggin' root).

Two occasions I can recall: 1. Played in a scramble where it was raining so hard that there were actual rivers flowing on the greens. The cups were overflowing with water. That was nuts. 2. Played on a day where it was so windy, I flushed a maxed out 3-iron on a 130 yard par three and my ball came up about 20 yards short of the green. Normal maxed out three iron goes approx 230 yards. That was crazy wind.

I was going to make a new post to say that I don't carry a hybrid but threads like this make me wonder if I should. I'll answer your question instead. To answer your question and, to go back to why i still don't carry a hybrid, I haven't found one that I can hit any better than my three iron. I've been a good long-iron player for a long time and I haven't been able to justify the purchase. My normal "smoothed" 3-iron carries about 210 yards. If I want more distance off the tee or to a par 5, I can comfortably reach back and carry it 230-240. I never found a hybrid I could hit any further than that. Also, I've always hit my long irons high so the hybrid has no practical advantage there. Soooo, that's why I don't carry a hybrid. To be fair, I haven't tried any of the hybrid models of the last 1.5-2 years so maybe I should take another look?

I am one of 13 lucky people who are testing NASA's SGPS system. This proprietary SuperGPS system allows me to incorporate the Earth's magnetic field into my yardage calculation - makes a BIG difference! J/K...I'm a traditionalist now and into the foreseeable future.

...and I support you 100%. As I posted above, I've got a 52 and a 56 deg. and I'm strongly considering replacing my Cleveland 60 with another MR. What do you like best about your 56 deg? I love the way the MR's pitch and chip and I like the trajectory control second best.

I'm happy with my Mizuno MR wedges. In fact, I'm thinking of replacing my Cleveland 60 deg. These are the most versatile and well rounded wedges I've ever hit. Great bite on pitches.

Your mailman's name wouldn't happen to be Newman, would it?

Ha! Actually, Harbour Town is one of my favorite courses. Love the small greens. Love the seaside atmosphere. It's frustrating when an approach from the fairway is obstructed by trees, but, for some courses, it's a primary defense from lack of length or lateral hazards (i.e. Harbour Town) and shot placement should enter the player's mind on the tee. I give those courses a pass for sure.

I agree. I used to only play ProV1x's b/c I'd spin Pro V's off the front of the green. Now that I play with the Project X's, I still play ProV1x's but can play regular Pro V's in really firm conditions.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Titleist clubs are over-rated. I'm not saying they're junk...just overrated. I realize that their target consumer is the "player" but their club models are typically 1-2 years behind in technology and even inside their niche, I think they're clearly behind Mizuno and TaylorMade. I expect that some will disagree with me. Again, I'm not saying Titleist clubs are lousy. I'm just saying they're not as good as their image implies. Lastly, they make a super sweet ball. That's undisputed.

I agree with this too. However, when I play with my favorite ball (Pro V1x), I shave 3-5 strokes almost without exception. IMO, there's a big difference between a round in the high 70's and a round in the low 70's. But back to the primary topic. My favorite is the Pro V1x because my approach shots hit, take one bounce and stick. With the Pro V's, I'm very prone to spinning the ball off the front of green - which is worse than simply coming up short from an emotional standpoint! I haven't seen an appreciable difference off the tee, but I realize that most people do.

I'm an emergency medicine doc. I have no complaints.

All things being equal, an appropriately fitted RP Project-X shaft should have a flatter ball flight and tighter shot dispersion pattern than it's DG equivalent. As a general rule, you should choose the RP shaft with the lowest frequency (5.0, 6.0, etc) you can tolerate. Or put another way, once a golfer starts hitting a straight block or more of a fade on a shot that would have been straight otherwise, you know that frequency is too great and you should choose the next lowest shaft frequency. Example: My irons with... 5.0: lots of pull hooks with some straight shots. Really hard to block or fade. Also, ball flight too high - ballooning Shaft is too "whippy" 5.5: still too many hooks with more on line shots. I can fade the ball if I really try. Ball flight still too high 6.0: Perfect! I can hit any shot when I want to. Just the right trajectory. The ball gets up fast but doesn't continue to rise very long. My pitching wedge doesn't fly any higher than my 5-iron 6.5+: More fades and pushes when I know I hit it square. Not enough "kick" in these shafts. Ball flight too low, especially with long irons.

I bought a putter for the first time in 12 years just a couple months ago. I played a PING Anser 2 in high-school, through college and until this season. I decided on the PING Karsten Series Cra-Z. I big change in looks and design! I still prefer a putter without an insert and the Karsten Series putters actually felt better and offered better feed back than the newest PING insert series (can't remember the name). Anyhow, my new putter is 34", 1 degree flat and I had a Winn AVS grip put on it. Very happy.

This may have been posted already, but my personal pet peeve are overhanging trees that penalize a tee-shot hit in the fairway. Major bummer.