Bamma

I bet you would find little difference between either of these and the X-16's, 18's, or 14's either.

I have had them both snap and just come loose and fall off. I once had a putter come unglued about 3 holes into my first round with it. This was back in 93 or so. I do not recall what type putter it was (something in the style of an Anser) but I remember being upset enough about it that I traded it in a bought an S2H2 blade putter that I ended up keeping for nearly 10 years. I loved that putter.

My first thought is that if you are just now getting started on this, you are probably way behind the curve already. My guess is that folks who get the few scholarships out there to play golf are already playing in as many junior tournaments as they can, making a bit of a name for themselves, letting the golf coaches come and watch them play, etc. A few weeks back, I was watching a program on TGC showing the golf school that Hank Haney does for aspiring college golfers, and they start early, work their tails off at their game, while keeping their grades up, and still Haney has to make calls and sell these players to their future college coaches (even then, if they get a scholarship, they are sometimes just 1/2 scholarships). If you aspire to play college golf, even on a small division level, you should probably get real busy right now.

I am one who looks forward to the day when Tiger Woods would not need to be referred to as a Black golfer, or an Asian golfer, or an African-American golfer, or as any other race or combo. Why can't he just be a golfer? Why is it that anyone needs to consider him in any other terms besides just the world's best golfer? Does it matter what his race is to anyone? Should it? And if he is of the same race as other prospective golfers, why does he owe it to them to do something to help them along? Does Jack Nicklaus owe it to me to do more to help me with my golf career (okay, bad example, since my golf career consists of shooting rounds of 90-110)? Why would he need to? I don't get what Tiger is supposed to have been doing in these guys' minds to do more for them. Why can't they go and do it for themselves? Tiger did. So have many others. Granted, some present PGA golfers were born into fairly well-off families and had an easier road without the financial challenges, but many, many pros have had to do it the hard way; working other part time jobs in addition to club pro/teaching gigs, grinding through mini-tours making just enough money to pay for the entry fees into the next event, etc. But they knew that their own hard work was what would get them where they wanted to be, and they did it. The ones unwilling to put in the hard work did not make it, and are probably now sitting around wondering why someone else did not do more to help them, too. Sorry for the rant, but the whole topic just smells of entitlement to me.

I agree and would take that one step further in saying that, if everyone played at the kind of pace I would like them to, then it would not really matter so much that the course is overbooked. The problem with that is that it only takes one to ruin it for everyone else.

For some reason, fairway woods have always just been the one position in my bag I never look to replace. I have been through a ton of putters and drivers, and several sets of irons, but I am still holding onto my Steelhead fairway woods (3W & 7W). I guess I would say they are the only clubs in my bag that behave, so I have left them alone (okay, to be honest, I reshafted my 3-wood, hated it, replaced it with a couple different ones I hated, then went and bought another just like the first one I had after a few months in 3-wood Hell...lesson learned. Don't mess with what ain't broke).

So now, you are going to call others morally wrong based on the set of morals you have set up for yourself? They have an obligation now, just because you think they do? Look, the issue is pretty straight-forward here. AN invites people into their club that they want to be in. There is no policy saying "no women can be members." Rather, they have just not found one they wanted to invite yet. Hell, I wanna be a member there too? Are they morally wrong for omitting middle-class accountants with high handicaps who could not afford to be a member anyway? Of course not. As was said, even Bill Gates was left out for quite some time because they just did not yet consider him to be the right fit at the time. That's their option. There is no application to complete and then be denied. It is more likely you just get an invite from them and in you go.

Agree here. Remember that as a playing partner, one of your responsibilities is to protect the field. No need to be a jerk about it to him, but find a friendly way to let him know that, at least for tourney play, he has to follow the rules.

I remember when Golf Magazine (or was it Golf Digest?) used to run a "Keep Up The Pace" scorecard each month. John Daly was always rated as one of the fastest players, and Faldo/Langer/Norman were among the slowest. I have always been one who says that the cameras should spend less time on Tiger during tournaments because of its impact on pace of play. Not that he is a slow player (I have not seen any stats on that one way or the other), but because tournaments are so slow, and they show every single thing he does between shots, which often he only does because he has to wait, and people who want to be like him do all those things too. Take your time, drink a whole bottle of water between shots, eat a banana on the tee, etc. Granted, he has to kill the time, but the average guy on the course needs to get his butt in gear, not eat a banana.

Personally, I prefer to wear Dockers-type pants or shorts and a polo style shirt when I play golf. I really don't like to wear jeans any time, especially when I play golf, but more because I am just not comfortable in them. When the weather is a little cooler, I may wear jeans to the range, but never to the course. I don't really care if someone else wears jeans, cargo shorts, or a mock-T. I would prefer they reserve cutoff blue jeans shorts, tank tops, wife beaters, and jogging clothes for some other types of activities. Funny story. A few weeks following my wedding, I was out with the FIL playing a round of golf. There was a twosome of young ladies in the group ahead of us, both wearing sweats. After a few holes, though, we watched as they shed the sweats and ended up in Hooters-style shorts and tank tops. And they were built for those clothes. First and only time that inappropriate attire did not bother me in the least, nor did the day's slow play.

Being a new golfer or a bad golfer is no excuse for slow play. From the time I started playing, I was taught that the #1 rule was to keep up the pace. No matter what I would shoot, I would always play 18 in under 3 hours with a walking foursome (assuming a clear lane ahead). We were always the 2nd group off, with the first being quick and on carts. I could shoot 100+ and never hold up the group. It is as simple as "here's the ball, there's the hole..hit it." Sure, take a practice swing if you like. But don't sit there debating between a 7 and 8 iron when you are most likely gonna top the damn thing anyway. Play the correct tees. If you are way struggling on a hole, pick up and move on to the next. And if you are holding other people up, get out of the damn way. I hate to be rude, but go practice some more if you can't keep up. But the real problem is you just move too slow and are too indecisive. Just hit the ball and move on. I always said that Jack invented slow play, Bernhard Langer perfected it, and Tiger made it popular.

So you hitting the ball off the toe means there is a problem with the club? Not sure I understand that.

Well, I am sure you will be happy enough with what you got as long as you don't mind the bit of stigma that comes with playing a set of knockoff clubs. In many cases, the clubs do play well, as it seems could be the case with what you bought. Personally, I just don't like playing a knockoff/clone and think you could have still beat that deal with older clubs and still got the performance. Let's try: Taylor Made R5 Dual - $55 Ben Hogan BH-5 Offset $100 - These are so similar to the old Callaway X-14's you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference. Big Bertha 2004 3 Wood - $30 Callaway 20* Steelhead FW - $20 Adams Golf Tom Watson 3 Wedge Set - $50 Ping Anser Putter - $40 So, if my math is correct, I just put together a decent quality set of used clubs for under $300. I mainly stuck to as much game improvement gear as I could. Yeah, some of the stuff is old, but it is all good. I would much rather tote around old gear than clone gear, regardless of how the clones may work.

I just had my irons extended at $8 each, so you are correct.

Well, I am (or was) about a 20 or so (just returning to the game and have not played a round in years). My SS was right around 95 give or take a little, and my good drives, on those rare occasions when I hit a good one, were about 230 or so. I do recall on one particularly hot and dreadful day during the middle of a drought, hitting one of my good drives that landed at the point where the fairway slopes downward, getting a hard bounce off the concrete-like hardpan, and ending within a chip shot of a 350 yard green. So, yeah, I guess I drive the ball 340 too Seriously, that was one drive where course conditions allowed for something well outside my norm. I also do not hit 9 irons 150, but when I was playing well, 150 was my 8 iron distance.

Yep. You and all the folks playing Ping Eye2's and other classics are really killing your game according to this guy.

Nope. Shreveport, La. I miss Bama though.

I was at my local Edwin Watts shop on Saturday wanting to get some ideas on a shaft change for my Adams BUL5000 driver. I have another thread here where I talked about it being a bit too long and the flex far weaker than expected. Anyway, the guy that usually does there launch monitor work was not at work, so they could not do that (which was fine with me, since I have just started back and don't have much swing to judge by right now anyway). But one of the salesmen says to me that, given the fact that I am such a big guy, he is sure I will need a stiff shaft. Not that he is wrong, but I thought swing speed, not body size decides that...I mean I am sure Camillo Villegas plays an X-stiff and he weighs all of what...90 pounds? So the guy is going to sell me on getting an Aldila NV65S, which is a good shaft I guess...for $115 plus $25 to install. Now, I am sure Golfsmith already has a decent margin on their shafts as well, and they are selling that same shaft for $68. To be able to buy local and such, I understand, may demand you pay a bit of a premium...but not that much. Next, the part that I really did not like, the guy then says something to the effect that he does not know why I would bother reshafting that driver. I look at him quizzically, and he says, very serious here, that golf club technology is so good right now that if you are not buying a new club every 6 months to a year, you are falling way behind everyone out there that you might be playing with. That last year and the prior year's equipment are basically not even worth bothering with, and I am really handicapping myself if I do not keep all my gear current. Now, I understand that this guy is there to sell gear, but I have to strongly disagree with his whole line of thinking. I would say that, in fact, the technology has gotten so good over the last several years that there are few improvements left to be made from what was available last year and the year before, and what difference there are would not be so noticable to a hack like me. If I were inquiring about reshafting an original Big Bertha driver, I would understand his point, but the club I am looking at got some very good reviews not too long ago. Am I just way off base here or was that guy a total jerk?

I agree with the lesson suggestion, and need to do some of that myself as I get set to start playing again after a couple year layoff. Discounting that, I still would have a difficult time answering your question because I really do not know the price range. You say you want something fairly inexpensive, but that is all relative. Example: I purchased just this weekend a set of Big Bertha 2006's used from Golfsmith for $309. When my wife asked how much I spent I said they were "pretty cheap," which they were given prices I have seen elsewhere for those clubs in similar condition. When she pressed for more info and got the price paid, she did not consider that "pretty cheap" at all. So, we can recommend any number of good clubs for what we consider pretty cheap, but to one person that would be $300. I see one person recommended the Hogan BH-5 which can be had used for under $100 or around $150 new at Rockbottom I believe. Probably a great suggestion in that range. The TM R7 draw irons recommended will run you close to $300 new, but are supposed to be quite a good set for folks suffering your type of swing issue. Best of luck.

I am one who has never been able to find a driver that treated me well for too long. The couple that I have been okay with I ended up trading off hoping for better (and only finding worse). That said, I am a huge fan of Callaway fairway woods. To be honest, though, I could not tell you how their more recent offerings work, since I have settled in, quite possibly forever, with an original Steelhead and have had it in the bag since 2000 or so. If you don't mind going just a little retro, you should consider trying these out (or possibly a later model of the same). Callaway drivers, unfortunately, have not had quite the same effect as their fairway woods and irons for me (even though Callaway was initially known for their Big Bertha driver).

I kinda doubt you are gonna find anything much more forgiving than the X-14's you already have. Those are already about as forgiving as it gets. Maybe some super game improvement like the Big Bertha models from Callaway, Adams A4OS, Nike Sumos, etc. Also, I find it odd that someone looking for more forgiveness in irons would think they are better off with a 3 or 4 iron than a hybrid. Anyway, here are the reviews from the Club Test with some super GI irons you may want to investigate. http://www.golf.com/golf/gallery/art...725628,00.html