pedarius

Judging by these posts, I must be the only hacker that actually likes going to the range. Extremely relaxing, I find, and generally more instructive at my low level than the all-too-frequent 270-yd drive into the woods that I will uncork on the course. I usually hit around 140 balls at a visit, which is four small buckets of 35--but there is always a plan. At least one of the four is dedicated solely to approach shots with a 8i or less, hitting at the near clump of flags (90-155). One bucket will usually be devoted to a new club (if any) or one that I haven't hit much lately to try and build confidence in it--this week that was 3W off the deck. The rest is split between 5, 6 or 7i for general swing practice and working on specific things. Usually, I take notes after every round of the things that I do wrong, particularly if I do them wrong repeatedly, and try to work on those in a deliberate way. For instance, normally I fight a hook, but last Sunday for some reason was pushing (not slicing) everything to the right off the tee. That warranted a full bucket on Tuesday until it was fixed (though, alas, "fixed" means back to a pronounced draw that likes to turn into a hook--well, there's always tomorrow!). Lastly, my teaching pro often gives me "homework" between lessons, and that gets a fair amount of time. Regardless of whatever else I do, I always end with chip/putt.

If you're in the market for a blade rather than a mallet, I totally agree with the earlier recommendation on the Mizuno Bettinardi C series for $100 from budgetgolf. My C-03 arrived a few days ago, and it's a beautiful looking and feeling putter, easy to control distance, etc.

I was in the same boat as you back in March--had just started back playing after a 10+ year layoff and was regularly shooting around 110. Decided to splurge on a new non-2009 bag and ultimately settled on the MX-950s (4-GW), bought off of ebay (different seller). Have never been happier--now hovering around 95-105 most rounds, and hopefully falling further. The MX 950s are reasonably forgiving but do not feel as clunky as some others I tried. I would note, however, that for whatever it's worth the MX-950s came in fairly low on the Maltby game improvement index for 2008, far behind, say, the Ping G10s or Cally X-20s (did not try the Big Berthas, sorry). The best part, IMHO, is that the set is progressive, with the 8-9i and wedges being pretty soft, responsive clubs for this level of game improvement and not nearly as shovel-like as some others I tried; the wedges compare respectably with my Cleveland CG14s (which many on this forum would say are nothing special, but I'm a hack). I will say that the Mizunos seemed to have less distance than some others I tried, but distance is much less of a problem for me than accuracy. Good luck with your decision, and have fun!

I went through the same process about a month ago. Came down to the Sun Mountain Four 5 and the Burton Hybrid, both having 14 full length slots. I went for the latter--$30-50 cheaper (in the US) with equally good fit and finish, seemed to me. Note that if you walk, the Sun Mountain is 2 lbs. lighter than either the Sasquatch or the Burton; doesn't phase me, as I'm a pretty large guy. Some posts have said the Sun Mountain doesn't fit squarely in most carts, if you ever ride, but I've no experience myself.