MattljDuke

Distance is less from MP-67s compared to my DCIs. Longer distance loss in longer irons, and maybe about 4-6 yards in the short irons. Wouldn't have anything else to compare them to. Two theories: one is the lofts are weaker with every club, that should account for most of the difference. Theory two: slight miss-hits will end up slightly shorter, because ball speed is lower. I'm clearly at the high end of the handicap scale for these clubs, but I won't switch. These clubs give me tremendous confidence that I can make the shots I need to make. That's worth enough to me to keep playing them. Now if I could just PUTT BETTER!!!

I guess I'll have to risk sounding like a closed-minded ass as well. A chipping club is absolutely worthless. It's my opinion that the people that buy these things think "gee, my chipping sucks. This will help me chip!" These same people probably haven't practiced a chip in years. If you want to chip better, try practicing with the clubs you already have, experiment with 7-iron through SW, see what results you get, and take it to the course. Don't spend 100 bucks on something that's going to waste one of 14 available. Rant over. That said, I need to practice chipping because it killed my last round.

I achieved some pretty impressive and quick results from Tour Tempo. The book itself is repetitive and very basic, and not a very interesting read, but the idea behind it is phenomenal. I went for a driver fitting last week and bought a new Titleist 909D3. My swing speed was clocked at an average of 93 mph, with a range of 90-96. Later that week, I bought this book, Tour Tempo. I was curious of my current tempo, so I videoed my swing and counted frames as the book describes. Before practicing the Tour Tempo method, my swing was 39/11, which takes 1.67 seconds from the start of the swing to impact. After two days, total about 60 minutes swinging in my living room with the included Audio CD, I videoed my swing again and was at 27/9, which takes 1.2 seconds, and achieves the 3/1 ratio that the book encourages. I went to hit balls at the range today. Very inconsistent contact at first, as I was getting used to the quicker tempo, but once I settled in, I was hitting the ball noticeably farther with every club. The range I go to has a trackman, so I tested my swing speed with both the 5 iron and driver, and was shocked with the results. 90 mph with the 5-iron and 104 with the driver. According to the book, this equates to an extra 18 yards of carry with the 5 iron, and 25 yds with the driver. The book is only 17 bucks on amazon, and I recommend it, if only for the included Audio CD tracks. The book itself is largely uninteresting and repetitive, but I am very encouraged with the results thus far, and excited to see how well my new swing transfers to the course!

There are things I like about both of these swings. Purple shirt guy has a great takeaway and top position, very much on plane, if not the slightest bit to the inside. Black shirt guy has an outside takeaway, but he gets his club in plane nicely on the downswing. Incredible drop of the hands. Black shirt guy also loads his hands more at the top of the swing. The biggest difference is impact. Black shirt has more lag and a later, more powerful release. On the first video, the purple shirt guy (in white shirt) has a very handsy release, not quite a cast because he does hit down on the ball, but that's his biggest power leak. So that said, I like Purple Guy's backswing and Black Shirt Guy's downswing. So hence, I like Black Shirt guy's swing more. But to clarify to all, these are both two plane swings. Black Shirt Guy's downswing plane is clearly steeper than his initial plane.

While I agree that lifting at a developing age can be beneficial, it's not necessarily going to help your golf game. As Harvey Penick wrote in his Little Red Book, "In golf you don't need muscles that lift weights. You want muscles that can pop a whip - or play golf." That being said, I'm 5'9 155lbs and average driver carry of 235. And I would lose a benchpress challenge to just about anybody.

Yeah, I agree with you. I got the 67 irons mainly to improve feedback so I could improve my ballstriking, and it certainly has helped. When I switch back to my old Titleist DCIs, I notice the immediate improvement in consistency, but bad habits tend to creep back in. That said, my ballstriking is better than my handicap suggests. But not at forged blade level though. My putting has been the slowest to come around. Thanks for all replies!

Hopefully not too much useless background info, so here goes: I'm a 23 year old who has sucked at golf my whole life until recently. Started playing at age 12, and never saw much improvement. 18 months ago I struggled to break 100. Broke 90 for the first time last July, and broke 80 for the first time this morning (shot a 79, and somewhat sloppily, 5/13 FWs, 9 GIR, 34 putts, 4 threeputts). I've gotten down to an 11.0 handicap. Seeing slow yet measurable improvement has been a true joy, and golf has become more enjoyable every month. I play a round almost every week, hit balls at the range once a week, and practice putting at home almost every day. I want to keep improving, but I want to make a realistic, but challenging goal, and just wondering if this is within the realm of possibility. So the goal is: within one year, reduce handicap to 6 and play at least one round at 2 over par or better. Thoughts well appreciated! Thanks!

Headweights are the same for each length, 340g on all three.

I carry either 3 or 4 wedges depending on the course. I really like having different loft/bounce options. My biggest gap is between 3W and 3I, so if I anticipate I'll need a 200-220 approach shot (doesn't happen often) I'll take the 60 wedge out and throw in the 3H. Otherwise, I love carrying 4 wedges. 47 low bounce, 52 high bounce, 56 high bounce, 60 low bounce.

I bought mine last year. It's quality. Only beef was that the head was a little too light. Lead tape on the bottom of the shaft did the trick. Now it could be my favorite club in the bag. The headcover is nice, and flashy looking. It's held onto the putter with a magnet; no velcro. Only problem is if you have a 33" like me, the headcover rubs up against the top of my golf bag and knocks it off pretty easily. Must have happened at least 10-15 times on the course. Haven't lost it yet though! Might replace it soon. Cast club. No insert. Classic (i.e. firm) feel. If that's what you want, you won't be disappointed. I absolutely love the club. Cleveland makes some nice low-price putters as well. But I love PING!

Don't feel like you need to move up to "Players" irons if you're happy with your ballflight. If you want to work the ball with more subtle changes, then they may be better. But forgiveness will suffer. It's just a tradeoff. And not that you suggested this, but never think "well golfer X uses blades and he's a low handicapper, and all the low handicappers use blades or split cavities therefore I need them too to become a better golfer." Simply not true. Rocco Mediate played all last season with X-20 irons and FT-I squareway woods in the bag. And no, not X-20 Tours. X-20. Paddy Harrington plays with the CI-7 from time to time. Blades are a different feel, which you may like. But no, you don't have to switch to get to scratch.

The advise of just "hitting down on the ball" did more harm than good for me. I started to really understand it when I got my swing bottom at the proper place, which is a considerable distance in front of the ball. Try moving the ball back in your stance, and aim for a spot in front of the ball, about 3 inches or so. Then swing normally. If you don't get spin, I don't know what will.

Best deal I've ever seen in golf: For those in Dallas, try Cedar Crest. Site of the 1927 PGA championship won by Walter Hagen. Regular rate is $20, but you can get a frequent play card that will give you 8 rounds for 108 dollars, or $13.50 per round. You'll get a round in pretty quick too, because it's usually pretty empty. I've played a round in 3 hours, which is unheard of these days. Just my 2c, best value golf in the country.

The driver swing is flatter, but this is only due to the length of the club. Short irons will swing on a steeper plane, woods and driver will be on a shallower plane. This does NOT mean that you swing differently. It's the same basic swing. This image is helpful: Note: be the guy on the right, who swings the same with each club, not the guy on the left.

CPA. I love it. I gotta keep the phone in the pocket on vibrate most days, but it's rare that anybody calls. A friend of mine is a systems consultant. We usually find time to play on weekdays. He's even listened in on a conference call with a bluetooth headset while on the course before. There's a variety of careers that allow you to play a lot of golf. In my field, some days golf = meeting with clients!

My lowest this year (so far, season's still got a few weeks left for me!) 83 on a 124 slope. With a snowman on the card. Oh Geez. My index is currently 15.5

I find it impossible to think about nothing right before my swing. Ideally, quieting the mind would be great, but I can't do it consistently, and "quiet" can really feel like a lot of different things. So instead, I set up, then take a look at the target. Look back down at the ball. Feel my weight on my right foot, just behind the ball on the inside half. Then I swing. But I keep thinking about my weight on that spot, otherwise some other thought comes into mind and I become inconsistent.

I play to a 15.0 For my last 20 rounds: Fairways: 47% Greens: 32% Putts/Hole: 2.14 Best Round: 83 Worst Round: 106 And yes, I know I need to work on putting.

Well, after buying some new Mizuno MP-67s last week, I can speak at least towards the beginning frustration of switching from CBs to blades. I learned to play golf with blades, then went to CB, now I have the Mizzys. I have always considered myself a good ball striker. These clubs speak to the contrary. The short irons are great, I'm glad to be able to have a more subtle control of trajectory. I'm starting to get a little more used to the long irons, but mis-hits still happen, and I'm about a half-club shorter than the old DCIs. But I'm committed, and I get a lot of practice time. But to anybody who is considering getting blades to step up their game, prepare to be discouraged when you switch. Probably the reason why a lot of these end up on E-Bay.

That paintjob looks really sweet. Thanks for posting it! My MP-67s come in next week, and this is a fantastic idea to give it a little personal touch. I may be going to the hobby store soon.

I've found that swinging like a maniac doesn't work. It seems to encourage me to accelerate the club from the top of the swing instead of through impact. I experimented with a big backswing (slightly breaking left elbow) and got the clubhead speed up to about 105, but control was definately sacrificed, and got no more than 10 yards out of it. So now I swing about 95-97, hit the sweet spot much more often, and carry about 245 average. Which is definately fine with me. A great man named Moe Norman always said "swing smarter, not harder." Probably the best advice I can give.

Well, getting irons with higher offset will help you turn the ball over more, but your distances show that you seem to hit the ball really well, and you're just frustrated that you can't draw the ball more. And your perception of lower distances could be from the fade/high shot you usually play. Fades subtract yards. Draws add them. So... Here's an idea. I try to control trajectory to control shot shape. I know this isn't a fix all (or even a fix any, depending on your swing) but it's worth a try. If you want to draw the ball more, concentrate on hitting a lower trajectory shot. I try to picture a hula hoop 15-20 yards past the set up location. Hit to the hula hoop. Put the hula hoop high in the air if you want a fade. Put it lower to the ground if you want a draw. This image seems to put my shoulders in the right place to execute the shot. Trajectory does relate to shot shape. Think about it. When's the last time you saw a nasty duck hook with a high launch? When's the last time you saw a low fade shot (not a block or punch)? I know it may sound confusing. It may sound like it won't work. But it's what I picture. It's worth a try.

Well, a man named Ben Hogan always said to hit the ball hard "with both hands." I've always kinda followed that. I guess that makes me a hitter. I find it very difficult to make left arm only or right arm only swings. I never really understood that drill. If both hands are one unit, why try to control the club with half of that unit?

If your handicap is 30+, the most important ball decision you can make is based on price. You should probably play bargain balls. I happen to LOVE Precept Laddie and Top Flite D2. For somebody of that level, probably the only boost you'll get from a Pro-V1 is confidence. And it's very easy to measure. Buy a sleeve of Pro-V1s (usually 12 bucks or so at the clubhouse) and play your round with them. If you shoot better, by all means, keep playing them. But, chances are once a few of the Titleists get lost, you'll realize that 12 bucks could have bought you an entire box of Noodles, Slazengers, TopFlites, or Precepts.

I can't disagree with this point. Beginners won't play any better if they have the newest and greatest clubs. When you don't know what you're doing (many have called this the first stage of learning: "unconsciously incompetent") changing equipment won't help you. This is why I recommend beginners buy the cheapest clubs available. And don't play on a course until you can hit the ball with generally repeatable results. For the experienced golfer, equipment becomes much more important. This is mainly due to quality. The high handicapper doesn't swing the same way every time, so the club doesn't have to react the same every time, because they can't tell a difference. The low handicapper swings the same way every time, so equipment that reacts differently with every shot is unacceptable. Just my 2c.