Razz11

Does the Sienna have an insert? I went from an older mill-faced putter to a insert putter. I have went through 2 of them including a Ping G5I Tess and a TM Rossa Fontana. For me it just felt like I never had consistent "spring" off the face. With the Ping I swear I could hit the same putt 10 times and get at least 5 different distances all with the same feel, almost as if it had a sweet spot. The Rossa wasn't quite as bad, but I could still tell. I went back to a solid faced putter with the Rife Bimini and I don't think I am ever going back to an insert putter. They were made to soften the feel with harder balls, but I prefer a solid putter and a softer ball. Maybe my stroke is just inconsistent, but for me the feel is a lot more consistent with a solid face. Weird thing is that both of the inserts felt like perfect fits when I was trying them out and after about a month or so of each on the course I just didn't like them anymore.

I will try to explain it a bit and get rid of some confusion. You do want to weaken your grip (move hands counter-clockwise) if you are hooking the ball... As you would want to strengthen your grip (move hands clockwise) if you are slicing the ball. The best that I can explain what will happen is this: with a natural swing when you come through the ball your hands should "straighten" themselves out so to speak. If you weaken your grip then it is harder to roll your hands over too early, where if you strengthen it, then you can roll them over very easily before contact, which will open and close the clubface throughout the swing. When you weaken your grip it should be quite a bit harder to turn your wrists over before impact, because they will be starting there.

You only count putts from the green. Any shot from off the green is not a putt even if you use the putter. So no, if you putt it off the green your putt coming back on to the green does not count as a putt.

So I have been hitting my driver well lately, but a draw/hook has been creeping in with almost all of my clubs above an 8. When I was on the range the other day one my my friends who is a club pro told me to focus on keeping both arms straight at impact. I was just curious if this is correct? My swing has always been a little too "handsy" and this could be my problem. It just doesn't make too much sense to me, because at address your arms aren't perfectly straight and isn't the point to try and get your arms/shaft to the same position on the downswing?

If you are bored with Tiger Woods being too easy because of the distance and spin that you can put on the ball, then turn it to "Tour Pro" difficulty. You can no longer add any power, put any spin on shots, or have a putting line. It really reinvents the game when the standard difficulty gets boring.

I play around with my tee height quite often. My standard height is half the ball above driver or a little higher. I like to tee it high and feel that I can control the ball a little better when I do. I did go through a phase a while back that I would tee it very low and hit straight line drives and not lose distance because of the added roll. I feel that I have a lot more control with a high tee though.

Well this would probably be considered a best flip-flop... Last Saturday on my home course I went out with a buddy who is a golf pro and was in town for two weeks. Front 9 was terrible, I couldn't hit driver to save my life(Everything was pulled/hooked left) and shot a 49. About the 8th hole he mentioned that my bottom hand on my driver grip was very strong and thought I should try to weaken it. So I did and on the back 9 I hit driver dead straight and deep every hole I had to use it. Ended up shooting my best score of 36. It was a pretty fun ending. He was pretty amazed as this is only my second year of golf, but all the while he shot a 33-34 for a 67...

As said above I think it's different from situation to situation. When I got my new putter and new wedges I played better the first time out. New drivers take me a while on the range. The last iron switch I had was from graphite to steel and from an older set to a new GI iron. They felt better right off the bat, but I think my scores suffered for about 4-5 rounds before I hit them enough on the range to figure everything out. My new irons should be coming in early next week and I hope the switch doesn't take too long. I am also going from some cast GI irons to some forged player's cavities, so I hope it works out for the better in the end. Who knows, it may be better right away for me because these are the first clubs I have ever been fitted for! Good luck and hang in there!

It could possibly yes. Were your old clubs a stiffer shaft? Obviously the way to go would be to go get fitted and see what comes out of it.

That would make two of us. Although mine aren't quite as new or fancy... I just bought a brand new set of Macgregor 1025-C's. They still have plastic on the heads and grips and are in original box! My buddy has a set of the 1025 M's and I hit them every once in a while and love the feel. So when I found this set that are still a players cavity, but have a little forgiveness I just couldn't let them pass me by at the price!

I agree that the offset definately shouldn't result in a huge hook. Maybe a pull or a smaller hook, but you should be able to figure it out. My guess would be that the shafts are too soft. Anytime I swing clubs with regular flex my great contact shots are dead pulls, but I can straighten it out if I try. With my stiff flex irons there is no miss left... You can see a lot of videos online of people with too soft of flex. The flex of the shaft at impact is crazy to see in slowmotion!

There's nothing wrong with the oil can finish. I bought one used early last season and still have it today and there isn't even a touch of rust on it. I don't do anything special. Clean it with water and a scrub brush once a week or so and don't leave it wet. Hasn't even shown a sign of rust. The finish is a little worn off the bottom of the club and face, but that's about it. Looks the same as the day I got it otherwise.

It just depends what you like as always... I think that all the different inserts vary a lot in feel also. Before I had a Ping G5i with and insert and needed a change this winter. The reason I didn't like that putter is that it almost seemed like it had a hot spot on the insert and would launch the ball sometimes. Have been hitting putters for a long time in the few shops around town and I loved quite a few of them. I went with a TM Rossa Fontana because the feel was great and it seemed to have the truest roll for me, and price was also a concern. I almost bought a Cleveland mill-faced putter, but it was just a little light for me. Hands down the best feel I have found in a putter is an old golfsmith mill-faced mallot that my dad uses. No wonder he has had the same one since the late 90's. That putter almost feels like it putts for you. I would say that I am naturally a mill-faced guy, but for now I am playing an insert...

My constant playing partner is actually a habitual liar about everything on top of golf. The reason it bothers me is because we are dang close to eachother and pretty competitive. I would say he has a slight edge over 100 rounds... It never gets to me because I expect it unless I'm having a bad day. He's the kind of guy that misses putts inside 4 feet and just counts them as gimme's. A couple rounds ago I suggested that we should start playing a little more serious and putt everything out(I always have anyways) so we could calculate our real handicaps. He agreed so that has now gotten better for the most part. On the round of 9 we played today I shot a 41 and he shot a 43 with about 7 mulligans. It is more so laughable now that I am beating him pretty regularly, but there are always those days that it still gets to me and really ruins my round mentally...

I am planning on getting some new irons within the next month or so. I know this topic has been literally beat to death, but I thank anyone for their advice. Although my handicap isn't the lowest, ball striking/iron play has definately always been my strong point and I don't gain too many strokes in this area. I very rarely ever mishit a ball with my irons. My miss with my irons is a pull sometimes. So right now I am looking for more of a players CB or maybe a combo set. I have hit a bunch of irons and there are a few that felt good, but I am looking for a little better price than most I have tried out. The clubs I am really considering are the Macgregor 1025 CM's or the MT-pro CM's. The problem is that nobody around here has them, so I can't try them out before I would buy them. You can find them at very good prices, so I'm thinking about taking a chance and just ordering them up. The other set that I am considering are the Cleveland CG reds and I have hit those... I have a question for anybody that has played the Macgregor's though. I absolutely hate a thick topline, so I was just wondering what these are like? Thanks again and hope everyone has some good insight!

I think it definately depends on your ball flight. The only thing I really make sure that I do is that I add more into the wind and take off less with the wind. Like you said there really is no perfect answer to this question. Jack was once coined as saying that a well struck ball will slice right through the wind... Where I golf in the summer a 15-20 mph day would be considered good. It blows so much there it is crazy. I can honestly say that it is all feel, there can never be a set number per mph, because the wind is never consistent above. I have played(read: tried to play) in winds gusting up to 50-60 mph before and I actually think wind is kind of fun and just adds another dimension to the game. (Since we really need more!) Really the only advice I can give you is to go play on those windy days instead of being mad that it's blowing and try as hard as you can to get a feel for it and get used to it the best that you can.

Another thing that seems a little weird to me is that you don't take divots, but are complaining that some of your ball flights are too high? Are you hitting the ball on the upswing and maybe trying to lift it? I would say try moving the ball around a little bit and make sure to hit it on the downswing.

I get the same distance whether I take the big divot or not. I do take the divot about 9/10 times but miss it a little sometimes and don't take much of a divot. I have heard that it is one of the most difficult things in golf to keep consistent, but it just comes natural for me I guess. Sorry I don't have much technical advice, but maybe just go to the range and try focus on hitting down on the ball a bit. Obviously another thing that will take a divot will be a steeper back swing, but that will also lose distance instead of adding it... It compresses the ball off the club face and gives you that penetrating ball flight when done right. I really wouldn't worry about it too much. One of my playing partners has a sweeping swing and never takes a divot (brushes the grass) and he is a legit 1-2 handicapper and gets a lot of spin hitting it that way. Just play what works for you. That's the beauty of golf is that different things work for different people. I was so confused when I first started and he was always telling me to just barely clip the grass and I just told him he was crazy because I was even getting good divots with long irons and could get the feedback from the divot.

This is kind of a weird situation, because I feel like I have the opposite problem. Mine is mostly consistency though. I hit my irons very far for being the hacker that I am. I would grab my 8 to play a 160-165 yard shot and my 5 to play a 195 yard shot. I really don't even know how far my driver consistently goes, but it doesn't seem far enough for me to be hitting my irons consistently that long... I just struggle to make consistent square contact with the driver, but make great contact with my irons. Sorry for the off-topic thread, I just saw your post and it made me think of this...

Just depends what I want to accomplish. If I need to play a quick round then I ride. I feel if I walk I play more consistent and stay in the game more though. I usually score better if I walk, but I tend to hit better shots later in the round if I ride. Maybe I just need to get back into shape? haha...

I agree that people without golf etiquette just piss me off! I have found that if I go early enough in the mornings then most jerks aren't playing yet , but a few of my playing buddies only play evenings due to work/class schedules. Last week were gonna play 18 at a course starting at 4 pm and only got 9 in because there were three groups in front of us that were playing like that. We jumped this first one and found out the next two weren't any better, so we just took our time. Took us 3.5-4 hours to finish the 9... I play 3-4 public courses around here during the school year and go home to my home course during the summer. Two of the courses are loaded with college students and people who really don't play golf. Nothing pisses me off more than when I am fixing my ball mark and find 5 more that are even bigger than mine to fix!

LOL! That's pretty damn good man... I think the craziest golf dreams have to involve Daly in some way or another haha...

I agree that touch is difficult to get used to with all the different wedges, but I started with a 52,56,60 so there wouldn't be a change. I went down to the shop today and picked up a Vokey spin milled 52-08 and a 56-10. I had a Ping G5i putter to trade in and got them at a good price. They were both used. The 52 is an oil-can and you can tell that it is used because some is rubbed on the bottom, but definately not used much cuz it doesn't have any scratches really and the grooves look good. The 56 is a raw finish and literally looks brand new without a single scratch. I got them for $60 a piece and got $60 trade for the putter, so it was not a bad day at all! I was just going to get a new 56 and keep the older 52 until I could spend some more money, but found this 56 and it looked and felt just as good as the new one, so I figured why not pick up the 52 also. I'm gonna leave the old 60 in the bag because I really like using it out of some bunker lies, but I don't use it much anyways.

So I am trying to get my handicap down to somewhere near a 10 this year and I think that the one place new clubs could help me is in the wedge department and practicing consistently with them. I have right around $100 to spend right now. My question is should I go for a 52,56,60 Adams Watson set for $99, or should I get a Vokey or Cleveland 52 and 56 and just use my old lob wedge until later in the summer. I want these wedges to last a few years down the road. I have read all the reviews on the Adam's set and they seem extremely varied. I think most of the user reviews are skewed because they are by brand new golfers that have never tried any others. I would love some opinions on what you guys think. My thoughts from reading everything are that the Adam’s set is a great value and just a little lacking in the quality/control department, but I really don't know obviously. Please let me know if you have any personal advice or experience on this. Thanks in advance!

Not to be a stickler. If your handicap is really around a 17; I'm just curious how you plan to play golf on a collegiate level? Two of my friends play college golf, one at a Division 2 and one at a Division 3... They are both 2-scratch handicap golfers.