odstore

That's for sure. I can't wait for the grooves on my gap wedge to wear down a little so that it stops sucking the ball back 20 ft. on full shots.

This made me laugh, and if you've played for a year I highly doubt that you're an 8 HC.

I remember an article coming out around 2 years ago (I think it was by golf digest but I'm not positive) where a study was done showing that balls do become water logged and show a noticeable decrease in performance as a result. It wasn't all that long ago and they weren't using wound balls or anything so I'm pretty sure it still applies.

Couldn't have said it better myself

diamana blue board stiff

I've been playing e5's and nike TA2 SPN's. Both play very well and you can get both for under $20 a box. I used to play pro v1x's but can't justify the cost anymore, however I have had great results with both of these other balls.

Someone already mentioned this in the titleist thread but whoever has the money to pay tiger also has the money to make a unique set of clubs that meet tiger's every desire. The manufacturer is kind of irrelevant in many cases because pro's know exactly what they want and sponsors make it for them. Notice how the only thing that you can go out and buy that tiger uses are the balls, and before this year that wasn't even the case.

A lesson?

I got a good amount of spin from the HX hot bite but I had an issue with it's durability. Every time I pulled out a wedge the ball was done after one shot. Not much use buying cheap balls if you go through 3-4 in a round without losing a single one.

Cleveland CG2's are going for less than 400 now.

Try demoing some of the new drivers out there. A lot of the new drivers will have similarities to their predecessors. I bought my driver a few years back without hitting it. Because I had two taylor made drivers before it, I felt pretty comfortable with it soon after I started playing it.

I agree that it's important to build good fundamentals but at the same time I don't think that a senior flex driver is going to help this much if you aren't swinging really slow. Snapping the ball all over the place off the tee can be very discouraging and there are many good drivers out there that are a few years old, and very cheap, that will be more than enough to last a beginner for a few years. I think that buying a new driver would be a good investment if the OP is even semi serious about trying to improve his game. Also I believe that learning to hit an offset driver will develop bad swing habits and will definitely make it harder to build good fundamentals.

I'd just look at what you want for loft in the wedge. I don't think that 12 degrees will be too much bounce in the fairway. My 588 has a 14 degree bounce and I don't have any issues hitting from the fairway. If you want something in between you can always get either one and have the wedge bent to 55 degrees and have a bounce that's more in the middle.

Agreed. The square face played a big role in my deciding to get my R5 TP. I got mine off ebay factory sealed etc. as well.

First I just want to say that Cleveland makes very good wedges and I'm sure the cg14's are good as well, although I've only hit the cg12's. I would say they are worth the money as long as you like the look and feel of the club. For me, the look of the club is important. I will admit that I've never considered the cg14's just because of the insert. I think it looks awful and I can't understand why someone needs feedback to be dampened on a wedge. I like all the feel I can get from a wedge and I don't want to have to look at a cheap looking gimmicky insert every time i get inside of 130 yards. But if you like it, then that's all that matters.

Agreed. I took my 60 out of the bag a year or two ago and really haven't missed it at all. My SW makes up about 85% of my short game because I can hit a million different shots with it. I generally use a less lofted club for bump and run shots, but any shot that needs hight or spin is easily done with a SW.

When I first switched to cleveland wedges I was also hitting them fat and not making good contact. What I did was just put the ball farther back in my stance, and tried to make my swing a little steeper to make sure I hit the ball first. After I got comfortable with them I never had another issue. Hope that helps.

Your swing is much more important than the clubs you play, but once you become comfortable with your swing and start hitting the ball consistently new equipment can increase distance, forgiveness (or workability), etc. and open up a variety of shots that you may not have had before.

Wedge loft is more personal preference than anything. I took my 60 out of my bag last year because I feel like opening the face on my 56 gives me enough loft to manage tricky situations, but my buddy is deadly with his 60. However I wouldn't think that carrying a two wedges with 2 degrees difference would be that useful imo. Dent, I just ordered 2 TM z tp's so I'll let you know what I think of them if you're still looking in a week since there really isn't much in the way of reviews for them that I've been able to find.

I just picked up a box of Nike TA2 SPN's for $18 and they've got to be the best cheap ball I've played. Long off the the tee, stop on the green and very durable.

I just bought a 43" Carolyne and I couldn't be happier with it. I'm putting better than I ever have. My distance control has improved so much and I no longer fear the 6-10 footers to save par. Definitely impressed.

This made me laugh because the only things in my trunk right now are coolant, oil, and my clubs.

You're going from a 10.5 reg to a 8.5 stiff? Doesn't sound like the club fits you.

It seems like you're a little caught up in buying expensive nike clubs. Spend a couple hundred of that thousand on lessons and you might even start to like those old wilson's. I pull out old clubs all the time to work on my swing. You don't want to be buying clubs in the hopes of compensating for bad swing technique. Just my opinion though.

Any cheap balls you can find will be fine if you're just starting out but I'd stay away from lake balls. I think it was golf digest that did an article on water logged balls producing significantly less distance and imo the ability the drop and stop a ball isn't really practical for most beginners but distance is.