cnl390

OK let me come clean. I just hate to admit age is catching up with me. You know the saying, "If I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself." Anyway between my bad knees and the arthritis in my hip it is a chore just to tie my shoes. But you all bring up another question, spikes vs. spike less. Pros and cons. Thanks

I am in the market for some new shoes, but I am tired of laces. I want a pair of shoes that I can keep in my bag and whip on just as fast as I can whip em off. I go to the range a lot at lunch and I want to get in as much practice as possible so every second counts. Any suggestions? Thanks

I have asked plenty of questions up to now so you all know I am a beginner. This question probably makes it all the more evident. I had a terrible slice with my driver and when I went to Golfsmith to get a new driver for my birthday I hit several drivers and a lot of balls using their diagnostic equipment. After watching me hit the guy that was helping me told me to imagine I was swinging a bucket of water up over my left shoulder. I started doing this and my slice all but went away. So here is my question. Should I use this same type swing with my irons? I

My slice was 100% exactly like yours. I am a beginner and certainly am not one to be giving advise. But I can pass on some advise that has pretty much completely cured my slice. I went to Golfsmith a couple of weeks ago to treat myself to a new driver for my birthday, and while trying out several different clubs on their computerized golf gizmo it showed my super slice every shot. Then the employee that was helping me made one little suggestion that worked for me. He said that on my swing if I would imagine I was swinging a bucket of water over my left shoulder (I am right handed) it might improve my slice. It was like magic. I started drilling my drives. I went to the range last Friday and was amazed. Instead of hitting my normal huge slice the ball was going high and straight as an arrow with an occasional very slight fade. I can't wait to get out and start hitting my second shots from the fairway of the hole I am playing instead of one or two to my right. Charles

I turned 59 a couple of Fridays ago, so I thought I would post this just for grins. When I was way younger my Dad had a friend that was pretty well off and even though he didn't play golf he would always be a sponsor of the Texas Open. So when the 50th PGA Championship was to be played at Pecan Valley here in San Antonio he became one of the sponsors and received all the perks that went along with it. I was 14 at the time and myself, my younger brother and his two sons all had sponsor badges and we literally ran wild all day and night all over the course. We even climbed the network's camera and commentator towers. I remember following my favorite players Palmer, Boros, Casper, Sanders & Trevino. This was when the players would go to the tee box and toss their cigarette on the ground while they teed off and picked it and kept smoking after the shot. I remember that Palmer piloted his own jet and made a pass over the country club and waggled his wings on his way home. This was also back when a 14 year old kid could stand at the 18th green and ask the players for autographs and get them. Sometimes they would even give you a ball. Dave Hill gave my brother the ball he played the round with. And I have a program with signatures of Palmer, Trevino, Boros, Casper, Venturi, January, Moody, Hill, Floyd, Littler, January, Trevino, Snead, Aaron, Crampton, Brewer, Archer, Zarley, Beard, Barber and some I can't make out. I don't want to sound like I am talking about "the good ole days". But I will say at 14 I sure had a lot of fun!

OK, the verdict is in, and I want to thank everyone for their help. I think I am headed in the right direction. I just got back from Golfsmith where I hit a ton of balls with a Calloway Xhot, a Taylor Made and a Cobra. After throwing out the miss hits and averaging the rest I walked out with a new Cobra AMP Cell 11.5 loft. I hit this club with more speed, yardage and accuracy than the other two by a long shot. I am so glad you all recommended getting fitted as it sure looks like it going to improve my game, or at my drives big time. Thanks again

See, there goes the memory. I meant driver. I am going to get fit for one today. Does the fitting determine the degree of loft as well?

See, there goes the memory. I meant driver.

Thanks! I think I will go buy a new hybrid

Thanks a lot for all the great info, I am learning so much I might be getting dangerous. Today I determined that the grips on my clubs are Ping Aqua which I am sure you know is one size under regular. Using the Ping grip sizing chart it looks like I am border line between white and gold. Of course I will confirm this when I take them in to be changed at either Edwin Watts or Golfsmiths. This brings up another question. As long as I am getting them changed should I stick with Ping grips or is there another type that might be better? Once again, Thanks PS I will address the driver issue after I get my grips changed. But I am an older guy (59 tomorrow) and do like (which I don't get much of anymore) a lively and hot feeling club.

Thanks for all of your advise and suggestions, they came in extremely handy. I went in for the static fit yesterday and he had me hit an iron with a little piece of tape on the bottom (pardon my nomenclature) and the tale of the tape determined that with my swing the lie on my clubs is just fine. So basically all I need is to re-grip for my large hands. Which opens up another can of worms. Now I have the $$$ to buy a new driver & 3w that are fit 100% exactly correct for me. And my driver right now is my biggest problem. Do you have a suggestion as to what brand/model I should be looking at?

Thanks for the help. I am going to stop by Edwin Watts after lunch and get a fitting and take it from there. I guess it would be more prudent for me to pay the $300 for essentially a new set of clubs. I guess it is the thought of paying $300 for a set of clubs I could sell for $300. Let me bother with another question. If the static fitting comes out like the nFlight it will recommend +.25 on the shafts. Will this make that big a difference?

I need to take a my hunting rangefinder and see just how far the 150 yard flag at the range actually is. I have suspected it is farther than 150 for some time and now I really wonder. My shafts are TFC149 Regular. Yes I will get properly fit. There is an Edwin Watts about half a block from my office. From what I understand, that unlike a lot of other sports properly fit clubs actually help beginners and rotten players more than guys that are already very good. I was planning on getting my clubs bent and re-gripped, and my 5i re-shafted because it broke at the hosel on Sunday. (I was putting a tee in ground and using the club as balance and it broke.) I got with Ping and was quoted the following... Re-shaft and re-grip the 5i $62.50 Adjust loft/lie angle $18.00 ea. Re-grip $ 7.25 ea. Shipping to & from $34.00 TOTAL $298.50 Is it worth to spend this much on a used set of clubs? Thanks, I really appreciate the input.

I have not been playing very long, & I am pretty lousy. But I am hooked so I want to give myself the proper tools for improvement, which would be a fitted set of irons. I am currently hitting a set of Ping G15 Black dot, regular flex graphite. I like them but after running the Ping nFlight it looks like I need yellow dot, +.25 shafts with gold grips. Of course this is where the actual fitting comes to play. I know that Ping is not the only good club out there and was hoping to get some guidance/recommendations on some other good sets of irons. I am 58 (59 this Friday) years old,6'2" about 265 lbs. I his my 5 iron around 155, 9 around 130 & my 20 degree H about 170. I am looking for 5-PW + SW + 20h in the $600 price range. Thanks for the help

I went and hit a small bucket at lunch time and after hitting about 20 balls with my driver about all I can say is that the hits sounded good.. Aside from that I don't have a clue where the balls went. I then went to my 5 and 7 iron and could see about half of them. Does anybody have this problem? So we don't waste time on questions I already know will asked, I will give some answers in advance. Today is a very bright sunny day I was not wearing sun glasses The balls were all white I Had my last eye exam about 2 weeks ago I wear contacts I am 59 years old

Thanks a lot for your input. I think I will go with 4W and a 3H. The irons, might be tough to find a trade. I could probably sell mine and then buy another set for the same price, but the hassle factor comes into play. I am going to look into having them bent.

This is what is confusing to me. You say the irons are too stiff, but the Ping nFlight recommends a stiff shaft. Are my TFC 149 Reg stiffer than TFC 189i?

I finished the Ping nFlight web fitting and the recommended clubs are as follows... Driver G25, 9.5, TFC189D Regular, 45.75", 360 ID8 gold Iron G25 Yellow, TFC189i, Stiff, +.25, 360 ID8 gold This is what I currently have... Driver Rapture V2, 10.5, TFC939D Regular, 4.26 flex, 52g weight, 52% stiffness, 18.566 EI (avg), 7.74 GJ (avg) Irons G15 Black dot, TFC 149 Regular This is all pretty much Greek to me. I do know that I cannot afford a set of G25 right now. I seem to hitting my irons OK. I will probably sell my 3 wood and get a 2 or 3H. Driver kind of worries me. Even though all the numbers mean nothing to me, from looking at them I think it might help me if I did get a new driver. Please help me out here.

I played my first nine in 40 years. 2295 yards par 34 Shot a 57

There is an Edwin Watts Golf Store two doors down from my office, and after listening to all the input I am seriously thinking about going over and getting evaluated. However I am such a beginner I am afraid I would get performance anxiety and not be able to hit the ball very well at all while being closely scrutinized. But I will go to the web site and do the static fitting and post the results. Also, would posting the the shaft specifications to my drivers help? Thanks Charles

I have just begun playing again after quite a few years and find that with my drivers I am hitting somewhere between a fade and slice. I just came back from the range where a guy told me I was falling back during my swing and told me position my back foot like I had a golf ball under my heel and that would correct the falling back. I tried it and even though it felt very weird it actually works. Now my question is, is this really the right way to correct my fade or is it a novelty type of remedy? Thanks, Charles

Thanks to both of you for your help. As far as dropping the 3W I might wait a while and see what my distances top at since right now I am just trying to perfect (this word doesn't belong in any golf discussion) a good fluid swing and am not crushing it. But then again when I was a kid I had a Babe Zaharias 4 or 5 wood that I was in love with so I might trade my 3 for a 4 or 5. And I believe I will begin looking for a used 3 or 4h. Dumb question #1, do hybrids of one brand of club have the same loft as other brands? Not so dumb question #2, Should I go with a Rapture hybrid or a G15? Or does it even matter to try and have matching clubs? Thanks again, Charles

I will add my clubs to my sig ASAP. My current set consists of... Ping Rapture 10.5 degree driver Ping Rapture 14 degree 3 wood Ping G15 Black Dot Irons 4,5,6,7,8,9, L,W,U Ping Asner G2i Putter I hit my irons relatively well I believe for a person of my skill level. I am pretty straight and accurate with my wedge to about 90 yards, Hit my 5 around 142. Longer irons and woods I have a slight fade, probably due to not squaring my club face. I never could hit a 1 wood when I was younger (when woods were wooden and heavy) but can hit this one pretty well.

I am going to add a hybrid to my bag, the problem is I have just re-taken up the game and know just about nothing about them. The only thing I am fairly sure of is I want either a Ping Rapture or G15 to match the rest of my clubs. Any suggestions? Thanks

I have once again begun to play, well try to play, golf. When I was in junior high and high school we would play from first light until it was too dark to see. And without any cheating, do overs or gimmies I would shoot around 120. The problem is that was 40 years ago. Now all of my brother in laws and friends play golf and I have been left out. So I got myself a set of clubs and have a lot of questions, so please humor me. First of all let me tell you about my clubs. Ping Rapture 10.5 degrees driver Ping Rapture 14 degree 3 wood Ping G15 Black Dot irons - 4,5,6,7,8,9,L,W,U Ping Anser G2i putter I have practiced a little and played 9 holes with my in laws (shot a 57) and find that I really like the clubs. However I have nothing to compare them to so I don't know if they are right for me or not. I am 6'2" about 260 lbs and 59 years old. In the little bit of practice I have done I seem to hit the short irons pretty straight and the long irons and drivers with a slight fade. My questions are: 1) Are the Rapture drivers good forgiving clubs, or should I trade them for something else? 2) I noticed that there are some new clubs called hybrids out there. If I wanted to get 1 or 2 for my bag would it/they be? And should I get Rapture or G15's? . Sorry for all the quetsions, but I warned you.