Flatswinger

I think it's a combination of things: not understanding arithmetic, not remembering the topped or otherwise terrible shots, & not actually pacing off the tee shots. Anyone who’s taken the trouble to pace off an average drive has been surprised by how much shorter it was than they figured. Combine that with a terrible iron & short game & there you have it.

Nice looking irons, RS. I read the article you linked. You have to wonder if you set up all of the 45 drivers the same way [loft, shaft, etc] whether the performance difference would even be meaningful. I doubt it. I just tested my new TM Tour Burner on a swing analyzer against my old driver, a Titleist 905T [granted with a better shaft] & apparently I wasted my money. I’m hoping it’ll at least be a little more forgiving because it sure ain't any longer!

Boy, you said a mouthful, Surefire – on two counts. First, I’m glad not to have found out that the Tour Burners are the perfect club for me because I sincerely would have a tough time paying that much money for a club I can’t look at. Call it a weakness that you don’t have -- if it’s the case that you’re not that stoked about the appearance either. Hey, either way, you like the looks of the ball landing onto the green & that’s most important. That kind of proves my point, though. There are lots of clubs I consider ugly that might be good for me, but due to cosmetics are not viable. It doesn’t have to be that way. Remember when only crappy clubs were outlandish looking? In short: geez TM, enough of that random glitz. Secondly, your comment on image hits the mark, though I don’t know anyone who plays the game that’s totally unconcerned about it. I suppose it’s the extremes that you might be referring to: guys who still carry one irons, must have the very latest, most expensive gear at all times, muscleback irons…

I thought that by now someone would have come out in favor of these widespread designs. That's good, I guess. Can it be that only we don't buy them? Are there closet unable-to-resist-the-marketing iron players? Someone's got to be buying these things - you see them everywhere. Maybe it's like cars: some people just buy by brand, no matter what they come up with. [My grandmother would have voted for the devil himself if he'd run on the Republican ticket. Hey wait a minute, maybe she already did.]

Do we really need to have otherwise good irons with all these gizmos in the cavities? Take the fabulous new Taylormade Burner Plus irons, for instance. Is this an attempt to insult our collective intelligence? Do they think that the more confusing they are, the more technology we’ll assume they have? TM’s got the marketing power & enough real technology that they don’t need to assault us with these hideous frills to sell iron sets. And Callaway's not much better. Like many of you, even if I can’t see this stuff at address, I need a club with good aesthetics even if it's just sitting in my bag & I’m tired of having to rule out so many clubs just because the designer has a mosaic fetish.

The B330-RX doesn't spin enough for me. I top out at 104 mph with my driver, which puts me somewhere in the high 80's with my irons, I guess, so I should be a good candidate for a lower compression ball. But the spin's just not there on chips & pitches. I will say that on full shots the -RX spins well enough.

My bunker play vastly improved the day I started straightening my right arm [quickly] as my downswing key. This creates an ideal arc -- very shallow -- that's perfect in a bunker. Varying the distance is then just a matter of how fast you straighten it. [Homer Kelly came up with this move, among other things -- it destroyed Bobby Clampett's swing -- I don't use it anywhere but in bunkers].

My annual mandatory business trip this year is going to be at Hilton Head [touchdown & 2 point conversion!!] & I'm taking a week of vacation afterward. I'm not that interested in $200 rounds of golf, but there must be some great & also affordable tracks thereabouts. Any ideas, details?

I’ve placed & received orders for 2 drivers, a fairway wood, a hybrid, 2 sets of irons, 2 wedges & 2 putters so far & have been disappointed with condition only once. Several times I think the condition was better than advertised. Like you, I complained when a club that was supposed to be “Like New” came in with a small dent in the face. They weren’t interested in giving me money off either, so I just kept it & grumbled a lot. Overall, it’s a good place to get clubs, though. I just got a driver last week that was supposed to be “Good” & I could only find one imperfection on it. Yeah, it's buyer beware, but that company is pretty good at what it does.

I recently had a short game breakthrough that might help you, too. Chip shot: hands ahead, feel AND RETAIN the angle of your right wrist going back & coming down. The shoulders must supply ALL the power. Do not use your hands for this. [Hogan's tip of pressing your hands together throughout the swing helps]. Use three or four different clubs from loft wedge to 7 or 8 iron & just hit shots at a flag stick over & over. On longer shots kick your right knee to start the downswing. In time you get a feeling of how hard to work your shoulders for a given distance. This improved my lag putting, too!

PRO V1, reluctantly. I don't kow if I've got the swing speed for them, they're not that durable [I know, the new ones are improved], they cost an arm & a leg & I'm guesing they're not that straight off the tee ... but I'll never forget the first time I used one. The juice they had on the greens was astonishing. It's narcotic! I've tried the B330-RX & I can't get it to spin as well. I really wanted to love that ball but it didn't quite do it for me. My swing speed tops out about 104 mph; anyone got any ideas on a ball I'd like instead of the PRO V1?

I'm a partner in a restaurant supply dealership, & trying to survive this economy. In my bag: Tour Burner driver, 9½°, stiff Reax 60 SF shaft Orlimar Tri-metal 15° [EI-70+ stiff] & 19° [Precsion steel, stiff] fairway metals Mizuno MP-30 iron, 3-PW Vokey 52° wedge Cleveland CG-10 58° wedge Oyssey #9 mallet putter