PhxHacker

water systems analyst / lab technician for a national water bottling company in Phx.

I encounter quite a few long second shots into greens. I'm somewhat challenged because I primarily tee off with a 15* 3 wood much more often than a driver. Positioning off the tee is my main focus on each long hole. I don't ever pull the 3 wood for a second shot off the deck, in these instances I hit my 18* ping g15 5 wood. It is an incredible club for my swing mechanics but I haven't hit many greens with it. I have a g20 23* hybrid that I carry mostly for 180 yd par 3's. This club is terrific teed up but not so stable in the fairway. my new set of irons - Taylormade Rocketbladez Hl's have a 24* 5 iron which I have a feeling is going to compete head to head with the 23* hybrid, which could make the hybrid obsolete, therefore I might be searching for a new lower lofted hybrid this season. I see a few people here talk about cobra bio cel amongst other clubs as well. a question comes to mind is how do you choose a club? My only experience with picking a club is to find a club that is appealing to the eye and a name I'm comfortable with, and then see how it plays after purchasing and try to grow into the clubs characteristics. Am I going about club selection in the wrong manner?

Interesting topic. I had always teed up with the logos on the sides, one facing me the other facing away from. Right side up of course. Never wanted to see anything facing up and looking at me for fear of distraction. But reading some of these posts, I think I'm going to try something new. i like the idea of lining the arrow up with my target line at address. I just sampled this on the carpet with a Bridgestone e6 - and let me tell you. This changes everything. Oh man, now the logos are running vertical on the sides not horizontal and readable as before. This might take some getting used to, not like moving pocket change from one pocket or the other, but visually wher I notice something amiss. Cannot wait to try this tomorrow. Hopefully this is the cure all tip ive been looking for. Hopefully it won't expose my swing plain as an out to in path that doesn't resemble in the least the desired swing path

Almost all came together on the 17th. Outside of the errant tee shot, skulled chip and the 3 putt.

I voted No as well. I might be a high handicap but most of my scoring comes from being on the greens. I reach most holes right at regulation. Maybe not necessarily on the green in regulation but able to put that next shot on the green. Sometimes a duffed shot in the fairway or off the tee changes the above statement. But rarely. I'm still a good enough ball striker to make adequate positive yardage. However, I find it more enjoyable to play from the mid or white tees.

I went with the same shaft flex, regular steel. I knew going in that they were a 1/2 inch longer shaft then the clevelands I was playing with. I also was aware of the different loft and lie angles of each set looking at the specs of the clubs. My Clevelands were totally stock, and I learned how to hit them somewhat consistently. I just didn't realize how much of a difference one from another could be. I guess I've had similar issue when upgrading woods. Takes a while to get comfortable with the new club, but that's just one club sometimes two. A set of Irons in this case is 6 clubs, a little more daunting to me. I haveissues with adversity I suppose

Not yet, I purchased online and will be taking them to my local golf shop soon. With my old Irons I wasn't exactly sporadic, I had more of a push. I would miss right often until I aimed a little left. Aiming left of course, I would pull the shot and miss left. I guess I thought I would be able to magically make pure contact with the new taylormades day one, knowing full well that I still need to get them fitted properly to my swing. Hoping that a proper fitting is the only obstacle I'll be facing. I guess I was just looking for instant gratification.

I'm having a similar experience. I'm glad I came across this thread. I've been playing Cleveland TA5 irons since 1999 and just purchased a set of Taylormade Rocketbladez. Almost everything about the two sets are different. The new irons are a bit heavier, the heads are larger, the length is a 1/2 inch longer per club, and the grips are Different obviously and the lie angle is different. I have taken them to the range 3 times this week and have been somewhat inconsistent so far. A fair share of toe hits, as well as fat shots and thin contact. Distances are sporadic at this point due to what appears to be an adjustment period I'm experiencing. However, when I make solid contact I can't believe the improvement in ball flight, loft, launch trajectory, weightless feel at impact, descending trajectory and flat out carry distance. At least a club and a half added distance. So far, I 'm a bit nervous but it sounds like I might be able to grow into them judging by some of the posts in this thread.

New gear is cool. This spring I have totally overhauled most of my rig. It started when my buddy came out to visit and handed me his Taylormade r7 driver as he had just upgraded to an M1. That got me searching for a new 3 wood (which is primarily) the club I tee off with. I found a near mint taylormade R7 3 wood on eBay for $79.00. I could not believe how practically new that club was given its age. Next I bought a set of used Cleveland cg16 Wedges once again on eBay. Used but in good condition grooves still nice and defined for $69.00. Lastly I found a great deal on brand new still in plastic taylormade rocketbladez on eBay for $238.00. These shipped in a Taylor made factory sealed box from tee2green. The Irons arrived last night and I hit them today at the range. So for around $400 Give or take, I was able to overhaul a good portion of my bag with much newer technology than I have been using. I was playing the same set of Cleveland TA5 Irons since 1999. My 5 wood and hybrid are both Ping g20 that I bought used a few years back when I thought I liked pings, kind of a Phoenix thing with Ping (I've been here since 1999). I'll keep those 2 clubs just as a homage and they don't ever really put me in any trouble when playing them. My Putter is a taylormade ROHO I from around 1997, it will always be in my bag.

You're gonna dig the Raven. Good course. Phoenix is overflowing with fantastic courses

Wow, I grew up in Denver, seem to remember calling it the front range and grand Junction was the western slope. Anyhow I have since relocated to Phoenix, if any of you guys are ever in the southern slope district, or don't mind traveling 14 hours one way, look me up for a round.

LOL... I can't believe I read this thread. Ha!

I'm somewhat of a bogey golfer, by that I mean I set my round goal at 90. I try to par every par 3 and short par 4 and add a stroke to each hole I know gives me trouble. (On familiar courses). This tends to relieve alot of pressure on my ability to not get distraught on the course. Doesn't always work, sometimes I get a birdie on Par 5 and out of nowhere hit a 6 on a par 3. A couple weeks ago I was playing within myself when out of the blue on the 10th hole I hit a drive off the hosel straight left about 12 ft in front of me and 20 yards to the left. I teed another ball and duffed it. Meanwhile a guy in our group retrieved my original ball and handed it back to me. I hit the duffed shot due left, straight pull into a stream on my left. I dropped the ball that was retrieved for me and thwack, hit it into the same stream that crosses in front of the green. My buddy tells me toss that ball it has bad mojo, I tossed it and managed to grind an 8 on he following hole 11 a par 4. Normally the rest of the round would have been tarnished, but something happened to me on the 12th tee, I made good contact and came home through the rest of the round at bogey golf. Normally i would have brooded about this chain of events till Wednesday but, all I could think about was how I salvaged the rest of the round and a a couple days later, well, I happened upon this forum. And have atleast found a medium to give me hope

I live in phoenix, that definitely ain't scottsdale. I used to play a course in Denver - cherry Hills cc which had a similar driving range, in that you hit into a pond with targets it was 20 years ago or thereabouts but I kinda remember floating targets, not just yardage signs

Never had any luck with a 3i. I carry a ping g15 5 wood with 18.5* loft. Absolutely love this club, never afraid to hit it into a green. Awesome ball flight, I've grown comfortable with it and hit it with a slight pull most of the time. I also carry a ping g20 hybrid, 23*, but I swear I can only hit it off a tee. It's primarily a par 3 club from 185 - 195 yds. Nothing more.

Break 90. Break 90 consistently, I did this twice about a decade ago but then I just became a recreational golfer when people were in town. Now I have gotten myself back into the game and shot a 97 my first round in just over a year. I've seen some improvements in my ball striking the past 3 weeks so it gives me alot more confidence then I've ever had in the past. I've already played and practiced more this year through April 2nd then I have in the past 5 years combined. So if I can break 90 this spring, I know I'll have renewed interest in keeping the pressure on myself to continue to grind

What is LSW?

Had a set back at the range today, last Saturday I had a very positive confident session, today not so much. Last week I was pulling everything and hitting nice lofted shots. Today things were thin, my pulls turned into straighter shots and my straight shots turned to heavy fades. My Irons are usually always a push shot and that remained consistent but the amount of thin shots today overpower some of the positives I should be taking away from some of my successes. I worked alot on ball position so maybe I wasn't always necessarily at the correct distance at address and may have been reaching for the ball a little. The good news is towards the end of the session I was back to straighter shots and a couple with pulled. I've noticed that I have begun to have a better frame of mind when hitting a bad shot, actually trying to analyze the symptoms of the mechanics that lead to the error. In the past I would just hit another mindless range ball. I don't want to feel like I am hijacking a thread here, so is there a place on the forum to post personal progress or regression?

Well, stumbled upon this site by accident, actually, I was reading reviews on a golf club I wanted to purchase and TST had the most in depth review so I started reading some of the posts and really enjoy the content and overall wealth of information accessible on this forum. So what I've learned here in just a short time has improved my golf swing and ball physics further and faster than at anytime in the two plus decades I've been playing golf. I actually took a long hiatus away from the game due to total frustration with my results on the golf course. So the main things I've learned in just a couple weeks here at TST is: Flaring your feet at address; this tip in and of itself has paid huge dividends with my swing at the range. First time in my game that I consistently get my hips to clear and a clean follow through on every swing. Hovering the club at address; again another huge improvement to my swing, my golfing buddy calls me Sergio "Garcia" because I would stand over the ball for about 35 seconds tensing up before I began my wayward swing. Once again only tested at the range, but hovering the club, I can feel the weight in the club and I begin my swing almost instantaneosly - again a major major improvement to ball striking and staying down on the ball through impact. Lastly, this site TST has given renewed interest in the game of golf. Last weekend I attended a golf clinic at my local course which was all theory but we had driver in hand to work on grip. I used to have a very neutral left hand grip on the club and the one thing I took away from this clinic was strengthening my left hand grip "turning the left hand inward to see my knuckles." So i immediately took these 3 tips to the range minutes later and proceeded to hit beautiful golf shots time and again. My old ball flight and ball physics ranged from a slight push to an acceptable fade to an all out slice. Alas, all of a sudden, I am pulling every shot and adding max distance and roll to every shot. I believe I can regulate my pull shots in my grip now, and the more I practice I feel I will learn how to work the ball all from my grip alone!

Driver - taylormade r7 9.5* stiff TP65 shaft 3 wood - taylormade r7 15* stiff TP85 shaft 5 wood -Ping G15 18.5* regular flex UTILITY - Ping G20 23* rescue regular flex Irons - Cleveland TA5 (5iron - pw) Wedges - Cleveland 900 series 52* & 56* and a no name 60* Putter - taylormade ROHO 1 mallet Ball - Bridgestone e6

Thanks for accepting me into your fraternity. My name is Alan, but you can call me Al. I live in Phoenix. Sometimes I shoot in the mid 90's, other times I don't.