muttbag

Nelly, I put a SuperStroke Fatso 5.0 grip on my putter about 3 weeks ago and I know exactly what you mean. The grip feels great. I feel like I can take the same stroke 5 times in a row on the putting green and not have much variation in the results, which helps me a lot during practice. Putting is my weakest link right now, so I'm having to put in extra work on the practice green to begin with. I've noticed during the 2 rounds I've played with it that I'm hammering the occasional putt a good 5 - 7 feet past the hole. My circumstances may be a little different because of the following reasons: * When having my grip installed, I also had my putter shortened from 35" to 33.5". Although it feels much more natural now, I'm also adjusting my form and bending more at the waist. * I bought a new putter 2 days before having the grip installed on it, so I'm having to learn the club at the same time. I feel that overall, it was a good move. I can now grip the proper area of the putter grip and work on the idea of using the weight of the club when I putt now. I wasn't doing this before and I was incredibly inconsistent. I'm looking up putting drills left and right and going into this thing with the mindset of practice, practice, practice. Best of luck mate.

I'm in sales. I work for a water treatment company who manufactures industrial water treatment equipment. My customers are power plants, bottling plants, engineering firms, and a network of reps who sell our equipment. I'm transitioning to an outside sales role, and part of maintaining our customer and vendor relationships is getting them out on the golf course.

You're both right. This thing is well over 2 years old, probably closer to 5 - 7 now that I think about it. My current Nike driver that I purchased used is holding up well and I've certainly gotten my $50 worth out of it in the few short months I've owned it. Dbuck, on your suggestion, I hit E-bay as well as Amazon to look for a Nike SQ 3-wood. Looks like I can pick one up for about $40 delivered. I'll make that my next endeavor instead of trying to salvage this driver, especially since I already have one in my bag. I did have quite a fascination with this Cleveland Launcher when I first started playing (and had cheap no-name clubs), which is probably why I'm so hesitant to call it quits and part ways. . If I'm this scrambled over an old broken driver, imagine the mess in my head when I'm on the range trying to focus on swing mechanics.

Well, when you put it like that. I don't plan on concealing the nature of the damage, I simply don't want to throw a $300 club away if it can be salvaged. If there's no recourse due to the circumstances, that's understandable. I do not consider it rude to inquire through a distributor and/or manufacturer as to what my options are (if any) under a particular set of circumstances.

Wow. I frequent both Golfsmith & Edwin Watts here in the DFW area. If that's the case, this merits at least a phone call. If they can arrange any type of replacement, you guys are my heroes.

Thanks guys. Saevel, I'm not the original owner. Traded dad my TaylorMade R7 for his Launcher, we swapped on several occasions and ended up hitting each other's clubs better than our own. I guess I'll stick this driver with my old set of clubs and sell online 'as-is', or donate them to a local program for kids who want to get into the game. I ended up buying a used Nike SQ Sumo 5000 from Golfsmith for $50 to replace it. I hit several new drivers and didn't like how any of them felt, this one is eerily close to my Launcher in both weight and overall club feel. It has served me well and I plan on using it until it dies.

I have a Cleveland Launcher driver that I absolutely love and hit well. Unfortunately, there is now a crack on the bottom of the head. I made the mistake of letting a buddy's drunk girlfriend use it at Top Golf and she took out a neighboring bay in her follow-through. Is there anything I can do to fix the head? I can't bring myself to throw it away without hearing a definite "No, that is irreparable." Ironically, I can still hit the club about 270 yards off the tee. I tried before getting a new one. Non-golfers are no longer allowed to touch my clubs.

Shot a 62 for -8 at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. I'm experiencing pain in my right hand from too much golf lately, so I decided to play a round on Tiger Woods '09 (Xbox 360 variety). Now if I could only keep from spraying my 370 yd video game drives into the rough...

Swing looks much better, much more involvement in your lower half this time around!

No. Even beer leagues have umps eyeballing the game and keeping the play honest. Golf is an honor sport, as you don't have someone babysitting you on every hole (except for the occasional Marshall drive-by). Obviously some people can't handle it.

I'd find the guy who picked up your ball, grab the driver out of his bag and wrap it around a tree. Accidentally picking up someone's ball is one thing (in which case, you put it back if you realize soon enough), but deliberately picking up a player's ball and moving it to the cup to fool him is downright disrespectful and shows no regard for the sportsmanship of the game. Especially in a competition, even if it is just a weekend scramble. That guy shouldn't drink on the course if he can't maintain that filter of golf etiquette, and it goes without saying that at least ONE person on his team should have stopped him and put your ball back. Some idiots should stick to their softball league and stay off the course.

Thanks guys. I'll be using these tips as well. I go from slicing the ball on the front nine to push slicing on the back, and finally will hit a couple of straight drives before the end of the round. Almost every time. Irons are straight as can be (with the occasional pull or blade), but trying to stay in the fairway off the tee box is one of my biggest challenges.

I have to agree. With my new iron set, I consistently hit my 5i between 180 - 190 yards. I am by NO means a long ball hitter, but I am a solid hitter when I execute on my swing mechanics. I played in a scramble with a guy Tuesday night who hit a 345 yard drive (we didn't eyeball it.. we confirmed w/ 2 GPS trackers)... flat fairway, no wind assistance. Now THAT'S unbelievable. But a 190 yard 5i? That's just a solid swing.

Nothing a chip-off can't settle. Gentlemen, take out your gap wedg... I mean, take out your wedges.

Very nice. I've hit 40 between the eyes, but haven't gotten below that yet. I'm typically good for a 43 or higher. The fact that you recovered from a couple of bad holes up front shows that your head is in the right place.

Ah, that makes sense. I've never had a problem being too long on my iron shots. Before I switched to TaylorMade, I would always have to go 1 - 2 clubs up from everyone else to get the same distance. Not having a club I could hit consistently for a 200+ yard shot off the fairway was really throwing a wrench in my game, so I couldn't be happier with the investment. I just had my 35" putter cut to 33.5" a couple of weeks ago. The results are good, it's up to me to make them better. I haven't looked into having the rest of my clubs fitted, but I've heard it's the next step in improving your game.

Not a bad looking swing, man. I'm also trying to dial in the right amount of hip turn and torque on my swing, I went from shooting in the low 100's (can't tell you how many times I've shot a 101) to shooting in the low 90's and even high 80's a couple of times. Keep in mind, I'm still very much an amateur golfer. But two things I see right off the bat are: * More hips. Your swing looks to be alot of arms and not enough hips. Turn more in your backswing. I recently read that you want to try and point your back to the target. I haven't tried this on the range yet, but I would imagine stepping back from the ball and taking a few very slow backswings will tell you how far you can turn comfortably. A buddy of mine helped me alot with this analogy: Pretend your standing in a barrel as you go into your backswing. You don't want to sway side-to-side in an unconscious effort to generate power. It's there. You just have to tap into it. * Push your body through after making contact with your right foot. It should completely turn and point at the target, along with your hips. Right heel up after impact, pushing with your toes. But remember the 'barrel' analogy... you don't want to propel your body forward and create a sway. You're simply aiding your hips in turning towards the target. You seem to be keeping your left arm fairly straight, which is excellent. Left arm straight (I've heard a slight natural bend is ok), and push the club away from your body with your right hand. This has greatly improved my accuracy. Last but not least, clubs make a HUGE difference. I've played with crap clubs until a few months ago. They can only take you so far. I'm not sure what's in your bag, I'm just throwing that out there. These tips have worked wonders for me. If anyone sees any bad information, please correct me, because I'm currently utilizing these tips as well.

I'm recovering from a lower back injury due to a car accident where I was hit from behind (chuckles accepted). I've been able to maintain a fairly consistent routine of P90X and jogging every other day after a few chiropractic adjustments. In the last 6 months, I've completely torn my swing down and rebuilt it with the help of a very good friend who is also a very good golfer. On top of this, I've discovered 'left arm straight' in the last couple of weeks and have been at the range or on the course between 4 - 5 days a week since. I received a bad tip (from someone else) to keep my left leg completely straight (no knee bend in the takeback) and this resulted in a lot of upper body torque that put unnecessary stress on my left shoulder. I've been recovering from that pull for a few weeks, but now I notice that my back left 'flank' (left side, from middle of back to top of shoulder) is really feeling tweaked. No doubt I am using these muscles in a way they have not been used before, but something feels off. I'm spacing my range and course outings to every other day. I played through the pain last night and got 9 in, but I'm trying to listen to my body. As of now, it's telling me that I'm overdoing it. Any advice on how to remedy this?

+8 for a 43 last night. This is decent for me, as I couldn't break 100 six months ago. This SHOULD have been a +5, but I got a wicked bounce on a fairway shot and my ball went out of bounds by crossing under a fence and rolling down a 25 ft. ravine... then I three putted. No shoulda coulda's though, because I wouldn't be out of bounds if I'd have hit the right shot. Still getting a feel for my new Burner Plus irons and this Odyssey White Ice 7 putter I just purchased. If I'm chipping within 25 yards or under, I'm deadly, I get within 5 feet of the hole about 90% of the time. Putting is a different story. Long way to go, but I accept the score.

I just went from a set of Golden Bear irons to a new set of Taylor Made Burner Plus. The reviews were right. I've added at least 15 yards in distance with each club, if not more. I've had them less than a month, so I'm still trying to pin my distance on each club. Either way, I'm hitting them alot further than my old set. Driver: 270 average (under 250 if I slice it good, slightly over 300 if the stars align) Trouble Wood (16 deg): 210 yards 4i: 200 yards 5i: 185 - 190 yards 6i: 175 yards 7i: 150 - 160 yards 8i: 140 yards 9i: 130 yards P: 115 - 120 yards Gap (don't know loft): 85 yards Sand: Don't know full-swing distance. Only take it out of the trap. Lob: 40 yards I pulled my 3 and 5 wood out of the bag because they are also Golden Bear and I can hit my irons just as long, so my distances are covered for the most part. My next investment is a decent 3-wood to use on those beastly par 5's.