Foot Wedge

I sincerely hope this is an exaggeration. Laughing at someone is a total bonehead move. Look through the instructional content on the site, there's good threads regarding posture, grip, setup. There aren't many one size fits all solutions, so posting a member swing as recommended is a good idea and taking lessons always helps. Best of luck!

This problem is that this kind of thought is a bit paradoxical for someone who hasn't broken 90. 200 yards down the pipe off the tee isn't some guaranteed shot. That's a decent strike with a long iron or a hybrid and someone who can't yet break 90 isn't putting many decent strikes on the ball. Even a stock 7 iron isn't a guaranteed shot, otherwise a 20 handicap would be flag hunting from 150 out. And it's hard to be a 20 handicap hitting all those greens... In the end, if your ballstriking improves you will hit your driver better, your irons better, your layup-off the tee clubs better. Doesn't matter what club you pull, your swing is your swing.

@Hugh Jars these 2 kinda go hand in hand. If your ballstriking improves significantly, you will hit it straighter AND longer. There seems to be the notion of longer = wild out there. If you're hitting the center of the clubface more, your drives will be longer and your irons will be more accurate, that's just ballstriking. Adds up to hitting more fairways and more greens, then suddenly making pars becomes a bit easier.

Welcome to the site! This sounds like a great way to be introduced to the game and a few other folks interested in picking up golf. I would think that some of y'all in the class could meet up for regular rounds. You've already gotten some good advice regarding playing shorter length courses or at least from the forward tees, but something else I'd recommend is playing best ball. If you can play with someone experienced, just hit your shot, and if your playing partner's shot is better, pick up your ball and play your next shot from where they are. It takes the intimidation out of those first few rounds and helps keep up with the pace of play. Maybe since there are a few other folks in your class, you could get a group together for a few best ball rounds together to get some on-course experience. Best of luck and enjoy!

I actually gave this 2-3 tries recently during some pitching practice. But it was with my 58 off a pretty tight lie, couldn't get the ball to cover less than about 15-18 yards. I have a shitty 64* wedge my old man gave me with my hand-me down clubs, and have been thinking about having a go with that and a fluffier lie...

*Picks up rusty shovel* "Back to the grave with you..." *Decapitates zombie thread*

Link please, I would LOVE to read this. Also a real physicist would understand the concept of a constraint on an experiment or calculation...or in Bryson's case, the MF 40 second time limit. Also, can we point out how badly he missed that putt? I mean, it's not like he JUST missed it, it wasn't even remotely close. That was some "I just gave it a whack because I still had an 8-footer for double and the hole was already ruined" kind of nonsense. Hell, it might have been a better putt if he had just done that...

This. Since you apparently don't want to miss long and my stock shot is a fade, aim for the front of the green, commit to the shot, and if I don't hit the hosel, start praying during the ball flight. If I get out with a 4 I'm good with that.

My apologies, didn't know you weren't in the US. Since I'm not sure what the going rate would be for these clubs in your location, I'd suggest maybe trying to see what similar clubs sold for on ebay or something like that and go from there. Price just seemed high to me and would be even worse if they had old grips that needed replacement meaning you'd dump even more money into them. Best of luck!

Sorry, but if I sold my MX-23's to someone for over $200 I'd feel like I ripped them off. They're pretty old so I'd try to find them for $125-150 if I were you. Great clubs, but irons just don't hold value.

Slices are operator error.

I don't think a 150 yard slice or duck hook qualifies one as a "long hitter". Although some guys think they are just because they're less than 25 years old. If that's your typical ballflight, you have no business splaying from the tips. Hell, I have no business playing from the tips.

Why? I'd have much more respect for someone knowing their limitations and teeing off from the forward tees than the groups of early twenties guys hitting balls from the tips into the woods...

@SemperFi, this^. For me, any day I get to play golf is a good one. Shit, any day I have a job, friends, family, and a home is a pretty good one. My family comes from a country where the average person is much worse off than they are here, so it's fairly easy for me to be relaxed and enjoy a round of golf. Also, what do I have riding on that 160 yard tee shot over water? Absolutely nothing. OK maybe a $2 Kirkland Signature. Unless you're telekinetic, the only way to get the ball in the hole is with the physically technical and athletic act known as the golf swing (or putt for semantics sake). You know what makes it easier to play golf? Having a good golf swing. You're a number of strokes better than me, so I'm sure yours holds up quite nicely even if you're not in the best mood. See my comment above, if a rough round of golf is the worst thing that happened to you today, you're doing alright.

Your best bet would be to create a member swing thread. A face on video will show if you're flipping at impact (as shown below). If you're going for scratch, this will be a big hindrance. You want your wrist to be in line with the shaft at impact.

Yeah keep an open mind when testing. The data will speak for itself and feel/sound is very subjective so just go with whatever you like best. The i500's actually only have a forged face that is welded onto a cast hollow body, so don't pigeonhole yourself with the whole forged/non-forged thing. Forging is just a manufacturing process and in fact, a lot of people mistakenly think Vokey wedges are forged when they're cast. Feel comes down to the material used and the geometry. A lot of the heads out there (even the players-ish ones) are multi-material and if a club has even one forged component, the OEM is guaranteed to place a nice big "FORGED" stamp on the head for marketing purposes. Traditional single piece forgings are basically limited to players cavity backs and bladed irons. Best of luck with the testing.

Sure, you'd just need to install the adapter for the new model. That's tougher since you can only use what fits on the adapter you install. Someone with more experience should chime in on this. This weekend I got paired up with a 73 year old who was doing quite well with his G400. Do as your heart desires.

2 years ago I played a round with my old man where my par putt lipped out on the par 4 first hole. I tapped in and he asked me "are you counting that?" I said, kind of dumbfounded, "well I had to hit the ball again, right? So that's a 5." You know, like a normal person who knows kindergarten math. He chuckles and shakes his head before saying, "I know a couple guys who would count the lip-out as 'close enough' and put themselves down for a 4." Wow......

Out of all the players out there who don't spit on the course, I wonder how many of them properly repair their pitch marks, if at all? When I go on a run, I end up needing to spit, rather frequently. I try to be low key about it, and when I spit on the course I stamp it into the turf a bit with my shoes so there isn't a wad of spit sitting there. Never do it on the green though, it can wait.

I almost always carry both when playing alone or with friends and although I've never noticed any club chatter, I try to be cognizant of other players. Don't walk right past them, don't yank up my bag if I've finished and they're hitting a putt, and when walking past the range, I'll rest my hand on the club heads to keep them still and minimize any noise.

I almost exclusively walk and if you don't have a very heavy bag and are still worried about the weight, maybe consider carrying less clubs. I've got a pretty light bag (Ping 4-series stand bag) so the clubs are the large majority of the total weight. Also take the time to mess with the straps and figure out the weight distribution that feels most natural and doesn't fatigue you as easily. Load your body properly and the weight shouldn't be an issue. Although all of this is not as important as with a backpacking backpack since as @iacas mentioned, you take the bag off a lot. For backpacking backpacks, the emphasis is much more on ergonomics/proper fit and weight distribution than total weight. If it's properly loaded on your body, it makes a world of difference as opposed to focusing strictly on weight limits.

This is exactly what I thought when I read this. I get that he wants to do all his calculations and whatnot. He's a nerd (not a physicist or scientist because he doesn't actually have a physics degree or career, so that would be disrespectful to real scientists. Don't even get me started on the boner golf digest has for him being a "scientist") and I can dig that, but dude you need to play within the rules. Say you're a football coach and you've got your offensive coordinator sitting there on a laptop running statistical analysis programs in between plays with all your "variables" to try and determine what defensive scheme the other team may run. Awesome, but don't complain when the clock starts killing you. It's a game, not a science. Not to mention I think one variable he's missing from his precious equations is etiquette and respect towards your playing partners. If he really wants to use all the available data to his advantage, compile it and create a decision matrix//DOPE card/some kind of playbook that his caddy can whip out (if that's even legal), go through for 10 seconds and give him a shot/club to use. I wouldn't be surprised if there are plenty of engineers/scientists/doctors out there listening to Bryson and thinking "chill out with your science stuff".

If I'm told to keep my wallet at home, I'm damn sure still bringing my wallet. But that's because if I didn't, the Catholic guilt will quite literally melt my body from the inside out...

Blueprint: 1-piece forging blade iron i500: hollow bodied iron with face welded to chassis, much stronger lofts Completely different animals.

Needs some lead tape.