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I kind of agree, but wouldn't call it stupidity . Being in the right flex is, IMO, the most important factor. A close second would be to pick irons that match your ability (don't pick Nike Victory Reds if you're a 30+ handicap). Spending money to tweak the lie angle will not do much for the vast majority of players out there. However, Golf being such a mental game, having been fitted with clubs will affect your confidence and that can have a major impact on your game. If I know the clubs are fitted for me, that's one less thing to worry about. It makes practicing easier. With my old club, granted it was the wrong flex, I never knew if it was the incorrect club or my swing that caused the dispersion and ballooning. In the end it is, of course, always my swing, but I am not going to change it to fit the club if I can change the club to fit my swing. So true. I have played with people who are short on distance, have horrid slices, but they still managed to kick my ass on the course.. Because they know exactly how their ball is going to slice and what all their distances are. And you can clearly see how experienced they are in their short game. So, I copied that strategy and took 10 strokes off my average in a month.

Well, I took it to the course today. Although my swing pretty much abandoned me, the club did its work. I had two severe heel hits that still travelled 230yards. One high fade into the wind easily carried 235 yards, while it would have dropped dead out of the sky at 180 with my old club. Even with a bad swing I can hit the same shots I could with my old driver with a good swing.

I had a super-high ball flight and switched to my current driver TM Tour Burner 9.5* with Fujikura E360 stiff (high kickpoint). Fixed all my control, ballooning and distance problems. Ball flight is now mid and piercing. I covered it in this thread: http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22484

Make that 16.1

Let me guess. He slammed it into the ground after a bad drive.

Is it the dent near the heel?

Another question for 804, besides the golf scholarship one, which I would still like to have answered. How do you approach a 375 par4? What clubs do you use?

You think he'll try and sneak in a Ben Hogan swing video and hope we don't notice? Question for ya. Why aren't you in college on a golf scholarship? Someone with the raw talent to crush a 9I 170y pure every single time must have gained some attention from college coaches. Even with a 16.1 handicap coaches would be interested, because a terrible short game can be fixed with lots of practice.

To be honest this could be an optical illusion due to the low angle and fish-eye effect of the camera lense. Though, it is interesting how the swing breaks down as early as the take-away, one of the easiest things to control. I am anxious to see what the set-up looks like.

What sig? What is interesting in the video is the huge difference in club path between your waggles and your take away. Your waggle seems ok, but then you take the club away and it turns into a severe out-to-in path. I would have liked to see the ball land, but I'm quite sure it landed somewhere left of the camera view. Couldn't you find anyone to hold a camera for you? You apparently have a camera, now how come it is so hard for you to make another vid?

I am fairly consistent. However, this could be a chicken-egg problem. If you have a club that really does not fit you and is inconsistent due to incorrect flex for example, you might make small swing changes all the time to try and get a consistent trajectory or good distance. This will result in inconsistencies and the cycle goes on. Now that I know have the carry distance for my swing speed, I can fully concentrate on trajectory and accuracy. Before I knew I lost 30 yards somewhere and I kept changing my swing, trying to correct it. I do agree that you need to have some kind of basis. I would not suggest someone who just picked up the game a week before go out and get fitted. I see this as a multi-step process. You start with something simple, get a foundation, get fitted, improve your foundation, get fitted again etc.. I fully expect my swing to change in the next year, but not nearly as much as it did last year. So, in two years or so I will get refitted, but the changes in club will be much smaller (same flex, but different kick-point for example).. it'll be more like tweaking than a full blown change. PS. Another moral of the story is that you cannot alway deduce your swing speed from your current carry. You even have to be careful deducing your swing path from your trajectory. Another great way to do some testing is demo days. Find out if/when there is a demo-day on one of your local courses from one of the manufacturers and have a chat with those people. They want your business, so they'll try their best to get you hooked on one of their clubs. Ping came to my local course not too long ago and I tried a whole bunch of clubs. I was unimpressed with their G10 driver, but I was surprised by the consistency of their G10 irons.

When I started playing I wasn't sure if I would stay interested, so I didn't want to spend too much money. I bought some clubs online that were tagged 'beginner' and never really thought about shaft flex, brands and whatnot. Of course, I get totally addicted to the game . One of the clubs I found in a used club bin was a slightly dinged TM superquad 460 10.5* with a regular flex shaft for $75 or so (IIRC). So, I played that for over a year. In fact, most of the clubs in my sig are still my first set. Little did I know that my swing started to develop quite nicely. Honestly, I had no way of knowing because my distance with my driver was nothing to write home about. At the range I would barely carry the 200y marker and my trajectory was high, really really high. I tried all kinds of stuff and finally ended up with a swing that got me maybe 220y, but pretty erratic and no roll whatsoever. My irons were ok. Again the trajectory is very high, but distance is about average at 145-150y with a 7I. Then a couple of weeks ago I walk into a Golfsmith and notice the launch monitors are empty and the store is pretty quiet. So, I start testing some clubs. First a TM superquad reg, for reference. Lo and behold my swing speed was 98-106mph. I had no idea.. I expected high 80's to low 90's (that's what it was shortly after I started). That should put me in the 250y carry range, but I ended up with a 215 consistently. The monitor showed tons of backspin (~4500-5500) and a very high launch angle (up to 18* at times). What's worse is that it showed over 1000 sidespin. I tried a stiff shafted TM burner and it was a little better, but not a whole lot. I tried some more, but still nothing special. Until I hit the TM tour burner 10.5* with stiff shaft. The launch monitor showed 250 carry, 13* launch angle, ~3300 backspin and NO sidespin.. just dashes. I tried several more times and the results were very consistent. I did some research and then found a great used club at GlobalGolf. Available in four different flavors (Aldila VS, Fujikura E360, Graphite Design Pershing and stock). Reviews online were close between all three with the Aldila being a little worse. A friend of mine said he snapped two Pershings mid-swing, so that ended me up with the E360. The club arrived today. It is supposed to be a 3 star club (good used), but call me crazy if this has been used for anything more than a couple of times. Not a single scratch or blemish on the whole head (not even the bottom). Grip seems brand new and shaft is flawless. So, I take it to the range. Warm up a bit and then try the Superquad, again for reference. As always, about 220 and all over the place. Then I pull out the new club, take a swing and "Oh s%#& !".. That's what came out of my mouth.. rather loudly I might add. First thing I notice is the launch angle is sooo much lower. Second thing I notice is that the ball is not ballooning.. Third thing I notice is that it is going dead straight. Fourth thing I notice is that it is getting harder to see the ball. And finally I notice is the ball taking one bounce and coming to a stop at the bottom of the driving range back fence. Google Earth told me that is 275y away, so I'm guessing about 260y carry (with a range ball). I look at the face and see a little faded dimple pattern about .25 inch from the sweet spot. Hit almost half a bucket with similar results. Even a severe heel-hit carried 220y. Needless to say I am quite stoked with the results. I can't wait until I reshaft my 3W & 5W and replace my irons with something that will lead to a bit lower ballflight as well. Anyway, moral of the story is to get fitted or at least get on a launch monitor every now and then so you have an idea of your numbers. I had no idea my backspin was so far out of control and it was robbing me of at least 30y carry and 50y total distance. Even if you like your current clubs, it is quite possible they are not fit for your swing.

What's strange about that? You think this character actually has any friends?... or should I say "brah's"

And what full 18 hole round would that be? What exactly are you trying to achieve? Your rep on this forum is already destroyed. Nobody will believe anything you say. People you play with will see with their own eyes you are not anywhere near a 12 handicap, so what is your motivation? I don't think you have any idea how pathetic you sound.. I almost wonder if you're not a psychology student doing some kind of social experiment or something.

You forgot to add the word 'fairly'. There, I fixed it. Remember, this guy only needs 9 holes to calculate a handicap. I'm sure RocketSauce uses the official formula, like real men (and women) do.

Ok, let me help you out there buddy. The USGA allows you to combine two 9 hole rounds into one 18 one. It does NOT allow you to extrapolate a 9 hole round into an 18. So, we add 41 and 45 and end up with 86 for a 70.0/108 course rating. To be fair you should use the course rating for the 9 holes you played, but let's assume the front and back nine are fairly similar. Dump this into a calculator and what do we have? You official handicap for the 2009 season is: 16.1 . Now start acting like a grown-up and accept it.

So, now if you really want to redeem yourself on this forum, how about you take those two 9 hole scores, combine them to form 18 and recalculate your handicap?

Well, this new development screams for some kind of prediction. My prediction of what will be posted later today: Shot 39 over 9, making the handicap a clean 6. /or shot 79 over 18, breaking 80. Drove green on par 4. Eagled a par 4 Cleared the green on par 3 7th hole with 9I, making new yardage 180y Anyone else care to make a prediction of what will happen?

club championship. That's all you got to worry about for now.

Do you always brag and boast so much about 'pretty decent' results? You know you are showing all the classic signs of extreme insecurity. The boasting about your (fraudulent) handicap, the gpa scores, the weightlifting.. We've been slapping you around for several pages now and most of the time you don't even get the jokes made at your expense. It's a bit sad really. If you're so secure as you claim you are, why the bragging and the defensiveness in your posts? I dare you to take some time and read posts from some of the scratch players in this forum and try to find posts of any of the bragging about their results. I bet you can't find a single one. If you want the respect, acknowledgement and admiration you so desperately are looking for, how about offering some advice to some of the beginners on this forum. How about some friendly help for people who can barely hit their 9I 120 yards. I bet most of them would love to be able to hit 170 like you do. I think we all know that weightlifting really has very little to do with distance (honestly, technique beats strength tenfold), so obviously your technique must be near flawless. So.. instead of acting like a little b*tch, how about helping some of the less athletically blessed with some of your secrets to great technique.

Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't look ridiculous on one of these: (I had no idea Walmart actually sells 'pedastools'...)

I agree brah, putting people on a pedastool is stoopid.

Then start acting like a man and include last year's rounds for your handicap calculation.

Hold on.. If you have hit this hole close to center 'countless times' then how is it possible that you don't have enough rounds completed to be able to calculate an official handicap?

You know what.. I'm going to wish him the best of luck and really, really hope he will make it. If only because, judging from his last couple of posts, his first live on-air press conference is going to be a classic! - Mr. 804, congratulations on your first PGA tour win. How does it feel? dude you outside of your mind brah. i deserve it, all of it. did yu see me hit that ball brah? diz Woodz whuthisname caracter.. who is this dude anyway.. gtfo.. what's he like a 12 handicap or sum'thn