prutkows

I'd take what you are going to be playing with most often.

Maybe just have the loft/lie of your irons adjusted slightly so you can have a lower ball flight without losing too much distance. I'd say I have a moderate ball flight (not high, but not low either) and I've seen guys hit their short irons about as high as my longer irons at their peak so I wouldn't put too much stock into what your driving range neighbor said about your 4i. Also, since you're just getting back into the game you shouldn't really be too worried about shaping your shots on command. Personally I think its important to develop a consistent swing first which will allow you to strike the ball consistently and have a "regular" ball flight (high, low, draw, fade, or whatever it may be) because once you're consistent, you'll be more able to work the ball in the direction you need. Also, iirc the slingshot irons are GI irons? GI irons aren't the easiest things to shape shots with because they are more "forgiving" and thus allow the player to keep the ball straight (more or less). Keep at it, get fitted, and see if you can avoid throwing down hundreds of dollars on a new set.

not sure what everyone else considers is "good" but i'm a little lower handicap than you and i'll tell you what my goal for GIR is currently whenever i go out and play. I try to hit all the par 5's greens and at least half of the par 4's but rarely does that happen.

i've seen it on a lot of golf shops online that have "3 wood" and "3+ wood" as search options.. whats the difference?

If I like my ball flight and consistency with my driver shaft (Fujikura Speeder Stiff) what kind of shaft should i be looking for on a new 5wood and 3wood?

Usually at least 1 every 9 holes because there are 2 short par 5's on my home course :). I still remember my first birdie ever.. it was a par 5 and I was chipping from just off the green for my 3rd and completely duffed the shot and the ball barely even moved.. I was a bit embarrassed so i just hit the 4th shot and chipped it in.. :)

^tee it lower

Never seen a reason for SGI irons.. just go with GIs

Orange, it seems like your main problem (like most high handicappers) is having several double bogeys/others throughout your round. The rounds that stick out most to me are these 2. June 30th @ Highland Woods - 93 July 22nd @ Highland Woods - 87 The June 30th round you hit 1 birdie and 5 pars. that means that for 6 holes you were 1 under par... that also indicates that for the other 12 holes you were 21 over par which means you averaged +1.75 or almost a double bogey. On July 22nd you shot an 87 with 7 pars. so for 11 holes you were 15 over par which is only +1.36 which is pretty good :) I think you should just focus on reducing the number of doubles/triples/others on your scorecard by maybe being a bit more conservative on longer/harder shots.

I started golfing with a set of callaway x14's and loved them. I'm not sure of pricing right now, but i think the x18's are definitely a good set of irons. the others are nice too (also known brands) so i think you should just demo them and see which you like the best.

"Free..." with no catch :) golf is so darn expensive!

I'd definitely go with steel shafts if your swing speed is a 98. If you're shooting in the 100's, I'm pretty sure you will be picking up swing speed as your game & swing improves and when that happens, you'll regret having graphite shaft irons (even if they are stiff). Not only will the steel benefit you more down the line, right now as a beginner you need accuracy more than distance (especially if you're swinging the club as fast as 98) and steel provides much more control and accuracy than graphite does.

So if my math is correct you've got a +/- of 16? That seems pretty solid for someone of your skill level. But as someone else mentioned, you might want to keep track of your stats. For instance, when my drive hits the fairway i put an "F" in the top left corner of the score for that hole, if I hit a GIR then I write a "G" in the top right. And if i miss the fairway or don't get a GIR I write something to tell me where my miss was.. whether it was left, right, short, long, slice, hook, whatever. It really helps me to track where my mistakes were and to work on them :). Also, my scores so far this summer have ranged anywhere from 71 to 83 on courses of similar difficulty. Once in a while everyone has a "high round" no matter what their handicap or skill level is.

I'd go with the MP52's. I made the switch to my 690.CB's (players cavity backs) from my GI callaway x-14's and even though it wasn't an easy transition to make I've never regretted it. If you genuinely want to improve i think the mp52's (or something similar) are your best bet. It's my opinion that GI and SGI irons give people a false sense of comfort in their swing/skill level because they are so forgiving.

I've tried the same one as billysandy but only in the store on those crappy turf practice greens. It felt alright, but i still prefer my scotty newport 2

Welcome! Do you live near SIUE?

Haha, yes maybe 5'3" is a good height to agree on (right in the middle of 5'1" and 5'5"). Tad definitely is a short guy, but as everyone on this thread has seen (or at least read here) he has quite a bit of power. I think it just goes to show that you don't have to be in incredible shape like Tiger to be long.

I think you could start with moving your 7i ball position at address more towards the center of your stance. I'm guessing by "dribbler" you mean something that you hit thin and just rolls on the ground... if thats the case, i'm pretty sure correcting ball position at address will help out a lot. 7 iron is imo a club you still want to imagine hitting "down" on and leaving a divot with. But don't get down on yourself :) Congrats on cracking the 90's. The only thing harder than getting out of the 100's for me was getting down into the 70's.. so i think you might have smooth sailing ahead of you to get into the 80's!

I've hit them a few times and I like them a lot. I tend to have a higher ball flight with my 690.CB's and the 755 MB's helped me produce a lower ball flight which is kind of what i'm looking for. really easy to hit imo, but misshits on the toe really hurt on the hands.

2008 G37S

Let me make myself clear (sorry, don't mean to sound like an ass) 1. I don't want an explanation of what bounce is. 2. I don't want an explanation of how bounce works. I'm looking for purely theoretical answers.. that is, what should happen based on common knowledge about bounce. I know the answer(s) depends on my swing and the lie and the condition of the grass/sand... I just want a general answer to "What if...?" All I want to know is, If I am satisfied with my 56* 14 bounce SW - meaning I don't hit it thin, and I don't dig graves for divots - is there a specific degree/bounce combination i should be looking for when buying a 50-52* gap wedge? Also, If I were to get a 56* 11 bounce SW, what is likely to happen If I didn't adjust my swing for such a club? Would I be hitting everything thin, heavy, what?

I don't think cavity gw/sw/lw exist, but those linked above are great for beginners. I still only play with a pw and a 56*/14 bounce and don' miss a gw or lw at all.

I know it's not the same as playing for a living, but when I play $5, $10, $20 or whatever a hole with my friends I definitely step my game up and play much better.

For the sake of better discussion I'll add this: Someone above mentioned that unlike the competition on PGA tour, the LPGA tour has a huge range of skill level. I agree with this and would also like to include that although I don't necessarily follow the LPGA I'm pretty sure most of the top ladies are under the age of 28 or so and are either new to the tour or have been on the radar since before they graduated from highschool. Now I don't know if that means that the LPGA will always be ruled by the younger golfers or if this new generation will continue to dominate as they reach their early to mid 30's but i think it's safe to say that they are, at least for now, on a whole other level than the older women on tour. Of course the difficulty of the course would be an issue for a male scratch golfer, but I think that if forced to practice and play those types of courses on a weekly basis the scratch golfer would be able to improve or at least modify his game to better fit the course in less than one season. Like Iacas mentioned, the par 4's are often played with a driver and then a long iron into the green... I'm nowhere near a scratch golfer, but I can consistently play a 380 par 4 with driver followed by a wedge or short iron at most or even 3wood and then a short or mid iron. Sure the greens are faster than your average golf course, and there are more bunkers, more difficult rough, overall just a higher level of play is required but I'm confident a scratch golfer would at least be top20 on the LPGA. I completely agree. I know that it's probably not true that average golfers like you and me could hit some of those "average" shots we see on the LPGA tour but the point here (to me at least) is this: PGA Tour shots just seem so so so so far out of reach.. like an above average PGA shot (for example something like putting a 200 yard approach shot to within 12 feet) is something that I would attempt to do but if i succeeded it would be more luck than anything else. Lets not forget that the scratch golfer might not have the benefit of walking every course they play to figure out exact yardages, definitely doesn't have a caddy to help them read putts, decide on what club to hit, what shot to hit, where to aim, help keep emotions in check, remember that when the adrenaline is high the ball might go 15 yards farther than usual (kind of like what stevie does for tiger), carry his bag, bring whatever club he needs, wash his balls (no pun intended), and do all the other little things that could get a player out of rhythm throughout a round. Sure there will be pressure from the fans, cameras, media and whatever else, but there is also a real prize and many more benefits.. big purses, sometimes cars, sponsorships, endorsements, getting to practice with real balls instead of crappy range balls...

It definitely throws off your timing and where the clubface is at impact. Just work on keeping your swing on plane and getting the clubface square at impact.. should help i hope