Jcp907

I just realized that I didn't answer the question. The Pitching Wedge and Gap wedge came in the set. I am new to the game, and had the 60, but didn't care for it, so decided that evenly spaced wedges would make a good addition to the bag. Hence the 54 and th 58.

Currently, my PW is 45 with 6 degrees of bounce, Gap is 50 with 7 degrees of bounce, I also carry a 54 and 58, (both 12 degrees of bounce) and 60 (not sure on bounce). I don't play the 60 well, so I will get rid of it once I get a Hybrid. I am considering bending the 58 to a 56 (so I end up with less bounce) and getting rid of the 54 as well.

Soft spikes which have improved the quality of the greens.

When searching for Ping search for Orange or Maroon Dot. You will find a lot more advertised that way as opposed to searching +1 etc.

I hit a demo version of each club that I purchased, with the exception of my irons. I only hit one iron from the set, however, I hit 7 brands. I started with an assortment and through the process of elimination, went with what's in my bag. I spent 4 hours at the GolfSmith with my sales guy before settling on the AP1s, putter, and driver. Then 2 hours on the 3 wood-I looked at some hybrids as well at the time and settled on the 3 wood. I have no regrets, and have confidence in each of my clubs in my bag!

Cool! Thanks for posting that. i will have to check it out after work...

If at all possible, take a few lessons to get your grip and basic swing down first, because that can affect the lie. It has for me. My 4 up may be bent to 3 up.

As I watch the video, just as you reach the top, it appears your weight goes off of your back foot, and back onto your front foot again. As you work on number 2, you might solve this. Then again, I may not be correct. Does anyone else see this? Is this something that should be avoided?

As I understand it, if you don't have enough lie (not upright enough) the toe will hit first, opening the face causing the ball to go right. If you have too much, your heel will hit first, closing the face, causing it to go left.

I am 6'4.5" tall without shoes, and my wrist is 37 off of the ground (measured to the first crease above the thumb). I also have a 34 inch inseam (very short inseam for my height). My clubs are 1" long and 4 up. I am considering bending to 3 up but that decision isn't made. My wedges are 1" long and 1 up. I did notice lessons reduced my need for some of the upright, which is why I am considering taking some lie out of my irons.

In the AM, black coffee, and water. After 12:00 in the afternoon, only water. I do have orange juice and sprite mixed 50-50, root beer, cola, or sweet tea on occassion (perhaps 4x a month).

They remove the grip, epoxy an extension in there, and replace the grip. I would never know there was an extender in there if they didn't tell me that was how they did it. Figure that the Hosel is epoxied on the other end, and it holds just fine.

I use the stock ones on my woods and putter, particularly on the course, but want to replace the wood covers with ones that are longer to protect the shafts as well. I don't use any on my irons.

I use my PW and Gap Wedges that came with my set, and love them, so have had no reason to even consider replacing them! They are 45 and 50 degrees. On another note, I had a 60 and didn't care for it a lot. I have added a 54 and 58 CG14 for the sand and chipping. I haven't played with them enough to determine whether I would want to replace my PW and W with CG14s, but I don't imagine that I will want to.

Jimmy, I am saying that grooves increase spin, not decrease it. The grooves increase the surface area of the ball that contacts the club because the surface of the ball deforms into those grooves. With fewer grooves, or grooves that are not as deep, the surface area is reduced, causing less friction, and less spin.

What do you need to see to accept this as a fact?

Less friction=Less spin

I am procarastinating right now. Supposed to be going to the gym. I am rehabbing a knee from orthroscopic surgery, so I am taking it easy, but the follwowing is what I am doing today: 10 minutes on stationary bike (for range of motion on the knee-slow) Knee raises (as much for range of motion on the knee as for abs), slow, no goal for reps, but 4 sets. 100 Crunches on a ball, with full range of motion, 1 set Not sure what this is called: sit on your butt, legs out in front of you, feet 3-6 inches off of the ground, and light medicine ball in your hands, straight out in front of you. Move the medicine ball to one side, touch the ground, then back to center, then the other side, and back to center. That is 1 rep. I do 3 sets until this burns. This should help with swing speed. The further to the side you go, the better. If my knee were better, I would add deadlifts.

If I am understanding your point, the key is in this last sentence and is less friction. With less friction, there will be less spin, the ball will slide as opposed to gripping, and spinning. The grooves allow more surface area for the ball to contact the club, as well as offer a "cog" (like two gears meshing together) to grab onto as the ball cover compresses into the groove of the club. If the club were smooth, it would have less surface area, with less friction, and less spin. If it slid up and off the top of club, you would end up with a flop shot with less distance.

The Ping Rapture V2 is the longest that I have hit. It is a Super Game Improvemnet driver, and offers the best chance for me to stay near the fairway, and still hit it far. Further than anything else as well.

I have a Rife Two Bar, and have had it for maybe six months. I love it! Don't hesitate if you like it. I don't recall exactly, but I believe mine is 35 inches with a 1 inch extension. I put a Winn grip on it. The two bar comes with a lie bender as well. Jay

I am in the automotive industry, and some of the magazines in the auto industry are owned by the same publishing companies that own some of the golf magazines. Based on my experience in the auto industry, data isn't fabricated, but might be manipulated. (I stress the word might) In other words if they tested a car part from 1500 RPM to 6000 RPM on a test stand (dyno), and a manufacturer that spends considerable money with that magazine title had a product that lost power between 1500 RPM and 2500 RPM, the data in the article might start at 2800 RPM. Some magazine titles will do this, others won't. Some manufactures will ask for this, others won't. Golf was built as a game of honesty and integrity, however the power of the dollar certainly has influence. I believe that if the manufacturer or magazine title is owned by an investment firm as opposed to individuals that started the company because they wanted a career in the industry that they love, the liklihood is higher that the dollar will have more influence.

About the only way I can hit a 60 with a full swing and get it anywhere near where I want it to go is to deloft it. By delofting and giving a 3/4 swing, I can carry it over 100 yds, with a lower trajectory...probably a similar overall height as a 7 or 8 iron if I were to guess. In order to do this, my right hand would be well in front of the ball at impact. I no longer use the 60, and favor my gap wedge for this sort of shot since I have learned how. If The Natural has his hands like this as his normal impact position (which it must be for the 6 iron going that far), this might be the reason for the need of the overly strong grip. At least it was in my case. My changes have included a weakening of the grip to keep my left thumb at 12 oclock and the vee that my thumb and palm makes, points to between my chin and my right ear. The grip felt very awkward and still does on occassion. I address the ball in the middle of my stance (with a 9 iron and wedges, moving 1-1.5 balls forward for each lower loftedd club) and keeping my hands in line or slightly behind the ball, but not in front of, at address. I also want to add that I would also hit the ball fat frequently with my old grip and swing. I used to bend my knees a little much, and have straightened them (just a little bend in them now), and straightend my back (Some of my issues were caused by a curved back). On my backswing, I used to slide to my right. Now, I concentrate on shifting my weight onto the left side of my right foot as I coil, keeping my left arm as straight as I can, and keep my arms in front of my torso, and my elbows as close together as feasible. I try not to reverse pivot and put weight back on my left foot. I also do my best to point my back towards the target, while keeping my head looking at the ball. this should result in my clubhead pointing to the target. I have had a recent knee operation, and am doing this all in slow motion to get ready to get back out there! Prior to the operation, this straightened me out a good bit and I look forward to working on the downswing in the future. This is a LOT to remember. I practiced the grip first, then the grip and address, then the grip, address, and backswing. All building towards a routine, where my checklist will only be necessary when I run into an issue. At some point, (when I am ready) I will post a video of my before and after swing. I haven't done so yet because I don't want outside influence until it's a routine. Listening to 1 Pro that I have decided to pay money to is all I can handle at the moment! It's an education for me to just document it all...and if it can help anyone else at all, great! Thanks for reading through it! Jay

I had and occassionally still have the same problem with being overly long on my backswing. When I am overly long I also reverse pivot. I believe that this was the cause of my occassional topping of the ball, among many other issues. Jay

Distance seems to be about 10% shorter. Once honed, I don't think I will be giving up much distance at all. Actually, I know my average drive should be significantly better than it is now. Even if my longest drive of the day is 50 yds short of what it could have been, I will take it as I won't be offline as bad, or as often. I may not have mentioned it, but these lessons have helped big time. Jay