MMouse

The only reason my woods have steel in them is that's how I got them and I haven't wanted to change the clubs since.

I have steel shafts in my fairway woods and love them. I can hit them quite far and my shot cone is quite small with them. I will admit I know next to nothing about shafts as I am still learning about golf in general. With a driver what are the pros and cons to having a steel shaft? My understanding is you'll lose distance, but should shoot a little straighter. Is this accurate? What type of distance loss would one be looking at? No I am not going to put a steel shaft in my driver as it is working quite well for me right now. The question was more out of curiousity as I saw a guy at the clubhouse the other day with a steel shafted driver. He was just leaving so I never had the chance to ask him why.

I hit a buddies on the weekend from the fairway on a couple par 5's to try it out. I was impressed with the club. I hit it off the tee on a par 4 and liked it there too. I didn't find problems hitting it off the fairway, but I can hit my fairway woods surprisingly well from the fairway because my play has required it many many times as my driver isn't the longest out there.

2"? isn't that costing you some distance?

Thanks iacas, I know it's tough without seeing. I think I need to video a driver swing just so I can see it too rather than going by "feel".

Take your pick. Hook, slice, top, sky high, grounding the driver. I have no idea what changes and why but once I get the driver in my hand with all of its length, I just can't feel the swing. It feels awkward. Have you seen anything similar with any students? I just "feel" like the length puts me out of control.

Driver continues to be my mortal enemy with this swing. I am smashing my irons farther and more accurate than most guys I play with after practicing the swing all year. I CANNOT get a consistent driver swing going though. Any thoughts or drills out there for the driver swing as it applies to S & T?

Here's the long and short of this. Locally there isn't much around for a qualified club fitter. I MIGHT have a chance to catch a rep at my club later this year, but that is a might due to my schedule. I am looking to buy some irons as my game, particularly my iron game, has drastically improved this year due to a swing change. I've become very consistent and a little longer with my irons. Right now my irons are cut down an inch and a half shorter each. This was done to help with my height. I am 5'4" and have long arms ( wrist to floor measurement of 27 " ). Cutting the clubs down has helped me alot in my iron play. Right now I can hit my 7 iron 155 give or take 5 yards as my swing continues to develop. I'm not sure if there are any qualified fitters on here, but should I continue with this type of fit? Too drastic? The most local guy in town basically just does whatever you want. There's no recommendations or feedback. Just curious if theres a qualified fitter around the forums who can clarify the pros and cons, as well as the pros and cons of different options. I'm looking for my next iron purchase to be the last for awhile.

I hate that Fed Ex wait. I waited and waited for my driver and wedges, went for a quick lunch with the wife and missed the first delivery attempt! Still managed to get them that day for Men's Night tho :)

I haven't updated my handicap and am actually at an 18 now. I appreciate the caution about the X-Forged and their playability, but iron play has always been my strongest area. Driving and putting are what have kept me up. In addition I have hit the X-Forged regularly as one of my regular playing partners games them. I have found them relatively easy to hit and love the feel they give compared to my sledge hammers. Thanks for the ratings on the Nike's though. If they are rated that much lower than the X-forged I think i'll skip the time involved in hitting the Nike's and focus in on the X-forged. I have looked at x-20 and x-22 tours as well and didn't mind the feel of them. After playing my Big Bertha's though I LOVE the feel of a forged club.

As far as price you are absolutely right and that's what has intrigued me in regards to the clubs. I love the X-Forged, but keep hearing things about these Nike's and I need some new sticks before next year. I've changed the driver, wedges, putter and now it's the irons turn.

I'm in Canada, but we've had some different problems. Severe rain has had the course closed on numerous occasions, open only to walking ( which I don't mind ), had two par fours changed to par threes due to excessive standing water and another par 4 shortened to avoid balls landing/golfers walking on a very very damp area. Another par 3 has been closed on several instances as the green has been soaked ( after it was opened I hit the front half and my ball literally disappeared into the ground ) All in all I guess it's been fortunate. The par 4's which were turned into par 3's are now par 4's again and have recovered quite nicely from the flooding and subsequent kill. There are still many many areas on the course where one must take relief from the standing water or excessively wet fairway, but it's still playable.

I've quite frequently hit the Callaway X-forged and like them a lot. I've also hit the Nike Full Cavity and liked it, but am looking for something a little more demanding as my ball striking continues to get better. Anyone here hit these clubs and what were your thoughts? I know I love the Callaway, but have heard some great things about the Nike's this year, unfortunately my pro shop only carries Callaway and some Cobra so I've been limited as to what I 've actually been able to hit first hand.

First of all, I love the sign in your avatar pic. There's a sign similar ( tho not nearly as funny ) at a golf course here because they have a housing development directly along one of the par 5's. Haven't broken any windows, but have left some balls in yards for the kids to play with. On S & T, I too was frustrated with it for quite a long time and can feel your pain. A few things that have helped me: - truly tilting my upper body towards the target on the backswing ( keeping centered BUT tilting my body to the left in the back swing ) to help with this I have a drill at do at home, work or wherever I feel like it. I get into an address position, then stand up, then tilt left, then turn my shoulders and hips. I do this 10 times and then do a backswing as 1 motion 10 times. It has helped immensely. - the back swing does not need to be John Daly style. I used to swing like this and it gave me the power I had. I could see the clubhead on my backswing out of my left eye with every club. Start by taking the arms to parralell to the ground, no further and swinging. - as I swing I "feel" as though I am slowly moving forward from the moment I begin my backswing. - the spring board/butt tuck which it sounds like you already have down. I use the crush the can drill as my feel for this. I keep moving forward and drive myself through that left leg. - practice making some easy half shots taking the arms to parallel on the back swing and tossing them straight towards the target, extended on the follow through and stopping there. This is a popular S & T drill ( the arm extension part anyway ) I've struggled with S & T and am still far from great at it. It has however lead me to better ball striking, better control of the curve of the ball and I shot my best course ever on one of the hardest courses locally using the swing, yet doing it imperfectly.

I have a very, very weak lower back as per conditions I've had since birth. S & T has never given someone like me any issues concerning the back . I've got to agree with iacas that I feel it's easier on my back than a " conventional " swing.

Chipping for me is like putting. You've got to read it, where you want it to start , land. speed needed etc, practice the stroke, see it and then let it fly. I also only use a 7i or my SW depending on how much ground I have to cover before I let it land.

It's all about the instructor. I took a lesson a month and a half ago with the pro at my home course. I am just now starting to get back to where I felt I was before the lesson. I personally have seen much more progress by studying S & T as well as different books by people like Dave Pelz, Stan Utley etc and then practicing. I've added power and distance to my game to the point where I hit it as far or further than anyone I golf with, and my irons are cut down 1.5 inches for my height. My driver goes longer CONSITENTLY than most I golf with. Sure they might hit the odd bomb, but I am in the fairway more consistently and longer consistently. My only wish was that there was a S & T instructor here, but I never expect there to be. It's a very small market here and I don't see it taking off. Outside of that, there really aren't any pros I feel are worth my hard earned $$ here. Even the "good" ones will be attempting to move me away from my swing that I've built into a more " traditional " style and I am not up for that.

At my home course I sometimes play the blues. The blues at the course dont make a huge difference, mostly on the par 3's as two of them are already 180-190 from the whites. For me and my game I find the blues at this course actually help keep me out of trouble as my tee shots have a harder time reaching the well placed trouble. Now by contrast another local course has 4-5 tees ( can't recall ) including black. The black make a huge difference and I don't play the course from there. I don't have the control and distance to do so yet. Hell, I've played my course several times from the ladies just to make the round and the course " different "

Iacas I couldn't hit those. I couldn't bring myself to possibly scratch them.

Nope I don't. Can't say I have found myself in a place where having a left handed club more than 2-3 times this whole year would have saved me. You may want to look at some course management as opposed to swapping clubs in your bag.

With putting so much of it is mental and personal preference. If 99 people responded to this thread and told you yes it would be better, you would probably go putt better. The type of stroke would come into play as well as your personal nuances or imperpections that take place during your putting stroke.

For those of you who have his books, would you recommend Art of Scoring over putting and short game? Does it combine the two nicely or does it miss the mark being combined into one book? I'm looking to give one of his books a read, and right now both areas of my game could use some attention.

My handicap has dropped 6 strokes since the beginning of the year and my distances have all increased about a club, but I was a shorter hitter to start with.

I feel ya on this one. This weekend was the club championship and my putting was ALL OVER. Way past, way short etc etc etc.

Mine is decreasing. I've gone down by 6 since the start of the year. Granted I still have a lot more to go down.