brettfan

I've followed this advice with great success. I catch a lot of sh*t on the course from my buddies for carrying around a yardage book where I've written down yardages for all kinds of shots... full/half/quarter pitch shots, carry distances from bunker shots, etc. On the other hand I get lots of compliments on my short game. Surprisingly, nobody ever seems to make a connection between the two things... maybe, just maybe, I have a decent short game because I have an idea of how far I am going to hit every shot and am not just going "by feel". One other thing. I have a rangefinder but I find that I almost exclusively use it inside 100yds. After reading LSW I realized that the sprinkler heads are usually good enough for yardage when I am a good distance from the hole... just get it on the green. It's only when I'm close that a couple yards might actually matter to me. I always chuckle (inside) when one my playing partner pulls out the range finder from 245 out but just "wings it" from around 60 yards.

The distances you quoted are almost spot-on to mine. My swing speed averaged 104 (ball speed was in the 120-125 range). I just got the 915 and was fitted by a Titleist rep with a launch monitor and he put me in the 60gm Adilia. Love it. Hope this works for you.

I just got fit for the Titleist D15... changed from a TaylorMade Rocketballz driver. According to the launch monitor it increased my average drive by 1 yard but the dispersion went down dramatically. I feel much more confident hitting my driver now and use it a lot more. Just my two cents but I think that getting the right shaft is maybe even more important than the right head. There were huge differences in the ball flight between different shafts but (seemingly) only minor differences between the different heads I used. Also, if you can, get professionally fit. I would have never, in a million years, put myself in an 8.5 degree driver but it really seems to work. The Titleist guy I worked with really seemed to know his stuff. Good luck!

I have played the RocketBladez (next year's model from the RocketBallz, not significantly different IMO) since they came out and love them. I've taken about 8 strokes off since I started playing them and have no intentions of changing any time soon. Nothing bad to say about them. Good luck!

Have you checked the batteries... may be running low. :)

Read this thread recently and have tried this the last few rounds with incredible success. Shot even par at mens-league last week and I'm usually in the low 40's... everything was working that night though! One other positive... and this is pure vanity... it that when I hit these shots I take the most awesome divot ever!!! Its a huge pelt of turf, right in front of the ball, that goes flying 20 yards... just like the guys on TV on Sunday afternoon. Of course, the lower scores are the big thing but it does feel/look cool to take that pro-style divot that I never took before.

The TaylorMade Rocketballz hybrids (the green ones) from 3 years ago are good, solid clubs. These are designed to help get the ball in the air and should be much more easy to hit than a driving iron... although a rock attached to a stick may be easier than a driving iron :) You can find loads of these clubs used for pretty cheap and I think this will be a good start for you. Best of luck!

I've never understood why there was a women's professional billiards league or a women's chess federation.

I see you are a 7 Handicap... it seems to me that struggling or higher HC golfers are more obsessed with spin and good or pretty good golfers are more concerned with keeping it out of trouble and hitting greens. Obviously really golfers want lots of spin but why would most of us who are light-years away from them tryi to emulate their game when we don't have their swing? Just my opinion...

I have been working with an instructor for the last 5 months, a really great guy, but I was going backwards. He had one way of teaching the swing and sort of demanded that I start from scratch with his method. I stuck with it a long while (5 months of lessons and LOTS of practice on my part) but was not making any progress so I drifted away from him and went to more of a Stack and Tilt method (along with A LOT of great advice from this site). I went by my instructors facility today to say "Hi" and he had me take a few swings on his video system. After the first swing he said "looks like you got a stack-and-tilt thing going" and his face looked like we was smelling a vicious fart. I told him that I was doing more of a "stack and tilt" thing and that it had helped a lot... handicap went down a full stroke in a month whereas with his instruction I was going sideways (at best). Nontheless, he still told me that stack and tilt was a band-aid and would rob me of distance in the long-run. I told him that distance is not a problem for me (always a pretty long hitter) but hitting it straight was an issue. Since going to the stack and tilt I noticed no decline in distance but was much more solid in contact and more consistent... nontheless, the "I just smelled a smelly fart" face persisted. My instructor is a great guy and knows a lot about the swing but I thought it was odd that he would have such a negative reaction when I told him I was doing great with a new swing... shouldn't he be able to help me tweak it and fix my flaws rather than look his nose down? Or is it really so different that it is out of his realm (seems unlikely to me, but what do I know)? In any case, I have taken 6 strokes off my best score ever (72!) and a full stroke off my handicap in the last month with my "hybrid" swing... shouldn't he recognize that he can work with me rather than change me? Looking forward to feedback from the gallery... Go Royals!!!

Interested in feedback from the community: My feeling is that most golfers are chasing the "perfect" shot. That pitching wedge that hits 7 feet past the hole and then spins back to a foot. I would agree, there is absolutely nothing better in golf than the way that looks. Also, the chip/pitch shot that goes bump, bump, and then spins back... hitting that makes you feel like a BOSS!!! On the other hand, in my experience in playing this game for a while, with people of many different skill levels, I think spin tends to hurt average players far more than it helps. Aside from the skulled shots, it seems that most pitches and chips i see (when hit like the player intends) check up way short. Furthermore, playing a ball with lots of spin means that with long shots there is a bigger chance that it ends up in the lake or in the trees. It's true, sometimes you get short-sided on a green and need it to stop quickly... but in my experience this actually happens (where you are really and truly short-sided) maybe once a round. Is the advantage of this one (or maybe two) shots a round worth all the times when all that spin hurts you? Furthermore, how many of those short-sided shots do you actually get up and down on, even with your ProV1 or B330? Additionally, those high spin balls are much more likely to hook/slice into the sh*it off the tee-box. If your high-spin ball makes that happens even once a round can you really tell me that increased spin around the green makes up for those two wasted shots. Seems unlikely in my experience. Not trying to toot my own horn but I'm not a hacker and one of the things that has helped me the most is playing a ball that goes straight (or at least straighter than my old ball, the Pro V1x) and learning to deal with roll-out. Just my opinion... really looking forward to feedback from the "peanut gallery". :) Go Royals!!!

Dave S: I had the same issue as you... constantly leaving chips 20' short due to too much spin. Then I thought... "why the hell am I playing balls that spin so much if this is a constant problem". I switched from a Pro V1x to the Bridgestone E6... now I get more of a "dead fish" pitch shot that hits and releases a bit rather than the "check and stop". My short game is so much better. I really think spin is over-rated... once or twice a round I may need to stop one quickly with little green to work with but I face a lot more shots per round where some release is beneficial. Also, lower spinning balls are a lot straighter (off the tee)... anything I can do to avoid hitting 3 off the tee goes a long way toward improving my score. It certainly looks cool to spin one back but it just isn't too practical for me. Just my two cents.

72!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Previous best was a 78 and I've only broken 80 5 times before. Made some recent changes, guess they worked. :) Everything was working, it was crazy! When I put my score in for my handicap a message popped up saying, "This score is very different than your usual score, are you sure this is correct?" Thought that was funny and awesome.

Took me forever to figure it out too. It turns out (I think) that you have to open the website on the Internet browser on your phone/iPad and enter the scores on it. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong about this but that was the only way I could get it to work.

Used this for the first time today and am looking forward to using it this season. I like the way the data is input and it generates a ton of great info. Looking forward to the iPhone app as that may be a little easier than the web-based version. My only critique is that it would be nice to go back and edit a hole before you submit everything... otherwise, really love it so far. I knew my ball striking was pretty good and my short game wasn't great today but going back an looking at the stats makes it much more concrete and gives me specific things to work on... love the data! I hope the Royals win the pennant.

Not sure what you mean... How what works? By the way, the dress is white and gold. I hope the Royals win the pennant.

Love this thread. I've been taking lessons for two years and just couldn't ever get the timing of the left arm pull, then lag, then release. Hit some great shots but the number of absolute turds never went down despite tons of drills/practice/video. Recently came across the idea of the "flying wedge" and it has been a revelation. Keep the wedge, swing along the plane of my right forearm, and push with the right arm. So much more solid and consistent!!! Feels so much more natural with a right-hand dominant "hit" than trying to pull down with the left side, which never felt comfortable to me. I'm hitting away and loving it!

Update: After three weeks of play I'm sending mine back. From the 8 iron through the wedges they were nice but the distance lost with the 4-7 irons was too much to play with. I had a huge gap between my 5 iron (which went the distance of my Rocketballz 6 iron) and my 4 hybrid. I never could hit the 4 iron well so it never went in the bag. I was super pumped about the idea of using them but they weren't for me.

Hey all, First post... thought I'd let everyone know my experience. I was watching the NCAA championships and they mentioned that one player was playing irons with the same shaft length from 3I to SW. Seemed to make sense to me since my big misses are hitting shots fat/thin... if every club is the same length then this should not be a problem. I did some investigation and bought the clubs (I got the 1-Irons) knowing I could return in 30 days if I didn't like them. I've been to the range once (hour and a half) and played two rounds with them and LOVE them so far. I am 5 yards shorter with my five iron and maybe 3 yards shorter with my six but length isn't a big factor for me so its an easy adjustment. My big problem before was consistency with my mid/short irons and my wedges... having a uniform club length, uniform clubhead weight, and uniform offset has made my mid/short game so much more consistent so far. I am really happy with them so far. One other thing... When I was looking for reviews of these clubs I looked EVERYWHERE for feedback. I was struck by the lack of negative reviews. This made me figure that the 1-Iron guys were spamming golf message boards with positive feedback. I have nothing to do with the company (never heard of it before two weeks ago) for whatever that's worth to you. Love the site!