MarshallRaynor

Awesome reply. I'll definitely check out that link. Thanks.

My lob wedge and I don't get along. At all. I hate that thing. And I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. I can't chip with it. I can't flop with it. I can't do squat with it but dig holes and invent new curses. I'm very decent with most of the rest of my clubs. My irons and I get along great, especially my small irons. My PW and SW and I are great friends. My SW is actually very close to my favorite and most reliable club, after the good ol' 7i. But I can't hit beans with my 60* LW. I think when I upgrade I'm just going to go PW, AW, SW, and fill out the top of my bag a little better. Maybe pickup a 5W to go between my 3W and my 3i. Or grab a 3H or 4H for special occasions when I need the extra bump. I'm not a big fan of hybrids, either, but they have their uses. Have any of you run into this situation? I think I can make do with a sand wedge being my smallest club for anything I'm going to be doing for the next long time. How about you?

10/10: Nope. 42/50: I have witnesses. 3 of them, one the club fitter/swing coach that worked with me at the TM fitting. And Trackman data. Not that they do any of you guys any good. But the example should serve to illustrate that my swing is good enough to look past beginner's luck and into some fitting options. And I don't mean to sound rude, but it seems to me I have laid out plenty of evidence to support that the shafts are quite important IN MY CASE. You have given me an opinion, but haven't offered any evidence to support it. Though I agree with you on some of your points, I was candid in the fact that I don't think they apply to me. Not because I was better than those points, but because I wasn't good enough for your points to matter to me. I said in my previous thread I'm a muscular 6'3 guy. I'm not a standard, off-the-shelf club guy. Everyone else's case, I don't know. But from the data I have collected, and opinions from club specialists and a swing coach, this is the answer that scientifically makes sense to me. And both of the club reps who watched my flight straighten up as soon as I wasn't swinging a rubber band. And you are very close to the first person I have encountered who downplays the importance of the shaft flex in the swing, especially in strong swingers such as myself. So please don't critique me or generalize. Even if you don't think this is the answer, it's the avenue I am choosing to pursue. Humor me.

So, if flex isn't an issue (or as big of an issue), can you clear something up for me? Here are my focus points: 1) Two different drives with S flex shafts, stock length, fly straight, while my R flex, stock length, curves. I also experience this problem with a friend's TM RBZ 2.0, which has a stock length, R flex shaft. 2) With both stiff shafts, I can swing as hard as I want to and still go straight. That tells me that my form is good. 3) With my regular shaft, anything I swing over ~75% arcs, which, when combined with the results from the stiffs, tells me that the shaft is flexing too much and the clubhead isn't keeping up. So, at the risk of sounding thick, how is that not a shaft problem? Or am I misunderstanding what you guys are conversing about? When the only difference in the equation is the shaft flex or type, I have to assume that's the problem. Also, I understand and agree that a great golfer can hit any club and make it work. But I'm not a great golfer. I'm really not even a good golfer. I'm an average golfer. And although a skilled golfer can hit any club, I also believe there wouldn't be the market in club customization that there is if the point of the thing wasn't to make it so that you didn't HAVE to conform to the club. They wouldn't do +- shaft lengths, +- lie angle, different shaft flexes if there didn't need to be the availability to make your clubs work for you and not the other way around. That's the whole point of a fitting session, which is one of the biggest things you can do to improve your game. Ya know? I'm not looking for an easy out to my game. I'm just trying to make sure my equipment isn't working against me any more than I am myself. :-)

Yeah, I'm on the same boat as dBrock. Other than duffing a wedge every now and then I make pretty consistent contact. My swing isn't perfect, but it's not too shabby. When I was swinging the TM JetSpeed and the Ping G25 with stiff shafts, I could crank them and it was beautiful. With my current driver, if I go full power, I pick up the most tremendous slice, but if I slow my swing down and only go ~75-80%, it flies. I have a fairly slow backswing and a fast downswing (don't know exact), so I'm sure my transition is pretty fast. Would that be where the torque rating matters? I assume playing a 9.5* that a would want to stick with mid-flight? How do I tell the difference?

What didn't you like about it? I don't really know anything about how a shaft is built, so the weights and all that is totally foreign to me. I just know I was told to look for stiff.

I currently have a RAZR X Black driver, 9.5*. I've been to two fitters now who both agree that is the correct loft me, but they both want to see me with a stiff shaft. This shaft is going at a great price on RockBottomGolf.com right now, so I thought I'd give it a shot. What do you think? Would this club and shaft be a good match? http://www.rockbottomgolf.com/grafalloy-prolaunch-axis-golf-shaft.html

Must've mis-typed my search. Thanks.

I did a search for something along these lines, but I couldn't find a very recent thread, so I thought I'd ask again. From where I am in my game, I think I could benefit a lot from picking up a driving/catch net. I can't afford to go to the course or the range three times a week and I need to work on making consistent contact with the ball, and I think a net would be a great way to do that. What are your thoughts on these? Are they good for anything besides making sure I don't take out my neighbor's windows with a stray shot? What are the pros and cons of hitting into a catch net? Is one better than another? I'd love to hear what you think.

Sorry for the late reply. That site is awesome. I will definitely give them a hard look. Thanks!

Really, I guess my biggest hangup on the entire situation - whether or not to go get fitted - is if you can extend a graphite shaft or if you just have to totally replace the shaft. I think that if a person could just lengthen it then I would know what needed to be done. If I'm just going to have to replace the whole shaft to get another inch of length, then I might as well go the distance.

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it. I actually have quite a bit of experience with GigaGolf. My oldest brother owns a full set. He's had them for about six years now and is really happy with them. I've played them a couple of times - we're the same height and within 15 pounds of each other - and they feel good, but honestly not a lot better than the Powerbilts I have now. He gets great results out of them, so to each his own, I guess. I'm actually pretty sure I know what lenght and lie adjustment I need because I have been to their site dozens of times. I've "custom built" sets on their websites a lot, but I just can't get comfortable with buying from them from my experience with their clubs. Six or seven years is a big difference in technology, though. They could be a ton better now.

Awesome. Thanks for the advice, guys. This place is pretty cool.

Buckshot, Tiger: Yours is great advice, and actually where I did start, but the problem is I'm 6'4". Standard length/lie clubs are actually detrimental to my swing because they re-enforce bad habits due to such extreme out-of-fit clubs. Otherwise I would absolutely be right there with you. I've taken a some lessons with three pros at my course over the past two seasons, and their diagnoses was that standard clubs don't fit. In fact, one of them sprung for me to put an extended shaft on my driver out of his own pocket because he was afraid of what the shorter length was doing for my swing form. Also, I don't plan to go get new clubs every year or anything like that. The reason I'm looking at the club sets I am is because they're all quality clubs from reputable manufacturers that I can use for several seasons. When I get these clubs I want them to last until I can justify dropping the bones for "new, professional" clubs. Thank you. I really do appreciate the information and I'm not trying to argue with you every step of the way. MVMAC: Thanks for the info. Would you say, in your opinion, that if I were to go with one of these sets and then go get them fitted to me, it would just be a "whichever I like the look of" situation? What are your thoughts on the adjustable driver? I know I need a 10.5* to work with my swing right now, but as I get better it would give me the option of changing the face to match my development. Would I be better off getting a bonded driver and then just buying another one as my form progresses?

MVMAC - Cool. I appreciate the help. What is it that they like so much about them? I really don't have any experience with Taylormade other than their fantastic reputation. I spent some time last night visiting YouTube and other forums and kinda started leaning towards the Nike set, with the Callaways in a close second due to my experience with that driver. Both of those iron sets are supposedly really forgiving, which is pretty essential for me, and the Nike driver held neck-to-neck with the RBZ and RBZ 2.0 for distance. I'm not really an enormous fan of adjustable, but I figure if I get it and start improving quickly then the driver can adjust with me. Bakry- For me, I don't know anything about them. As I said, the Blacks are one of the iron sets I am super interested in. I love my RAZR X Black driver. That's what's pulling me towards the rest of the set so hard. According to the pro at my course, they are really soft and forgiving on off-center hits, and once you get in the groove with them they make shaping fairly simple for a cavity-back. I am nowhere near good enough for that to be a concern for me, but YMMV.