jeffrey r

Just strip the honey dip finish with naval jelly, and you'll have a beautiful stainless steel Scotty Cameron putter. Costs a couple of bucks, and takes 10 minutes. Just my .02 cents.

Lots of stuff written about Rife putters around the web, but they are very highly regarded putters. I recently picked up a used Barbados heel shafted putter, and really love it. I have some other nice putters, but the Barbados just feels "right" to me. I recently came across a used 2 bar hybrid mallet, and a used original 2 bar straight shafted mallet, for great prices, and picked those up as well. There are not that many Rifes out there for lefties, so I figured I should snap up what I can when I get the chance. Love Rife putters.

Paddy, I was really taking sales, not performance, but I am speculating as to any of those. I can only say this. From being on this and other golf sites, I can unscientifically draw several conclusions based on trends. Like, the G15 irons and the G15 driver are some of the most raved about irons and drivers, respectively, that I can recall reading about. That the G15 and K15 woods are very popular. Frequent and almost universal praise for all of those. And conversely, that the G15 and K15 hybrids get mentioned far less often than their predecessors, the Rapture/Rapture V2 and G10 (and even the G5), and that the look of the G15/K15 is generally viewed as unappealing. People are constantly "asking" Ping to return to a more traditional hybrid, like the G10. I stand by what I am saying as far as trends I have picked up. But if you are ok with the appearance of the G15/K15 hybrids, then I am sure you'd be happy with them.

I suspect that the G15 and K15 hybrids have been rare disappointments for Ping. Their irons, drivers and fairway woods have been awesome lately. I love the K15 driver, and K15 3 wood and G15 4 wood. But I just do not like the G15/K15 hybrids. I went with the original Rapture hybrids, and they are outstanding. If not the Raptures, I would have gone with the G10's. Those two models are classic looking, forgiving and hot hybrids.

First of all, that looks like a Rapture V2 (not an original Rapture) that Louie is using. Second of all, having owned G10 and G15 drivers, and currently owning and playing an original Rapture and K15 drivers, they are all oustanding in their own right, such that I can't see playing one over the other being a "condemnation" of any of them. And the Rapture V2, the only one I haven't owned, gets raves as well. They're all outstanding, but the pros can get attached to certain equipment just like the rest of us, and not want to move onto the latest and greatest (much to the OEM's chagrin I suppose). That said, I find your post a bit funny, as I was perusing Ping's facebook page earlier today, and almost all of their pictures from practice rounds at the Open prominently featured G20 headcovers in the pros bags, intimating that many of them were playing the new G20 woods. Now, that may be true for some of them, but apparently not for all.

Yep, G15 4 wood is amazing. If I can't hit a fairway wood off the deck, which was the case for me all the time with fairway woods prior to the G15, it's useless to me. Only cause I can't leave well enough alone, I've been trying out a K15 3 wood as an alternative to the G15 4 wood, but I can't decide which one I like better. K15 is longer off the tee, but I don't seem to hit it as consistently as the G15 4 wood. Both are outstanding clubs though, and I really don't need to try out other fairway woods for a good long while.

5 for me. Odyssey Backstryke Marxman currently first string. Then a White Ice Sabretooth 2, Cleveland Classic Platinum #4, Cameron Studio Select Newport 2, and a 2010 TM Kia Ma Daytona on the way cheap from globalgolf.

Good luck--hope it works out for you. The FT-IQ is a nice driver.

Quote: See here (Nike SQII 13*, classic club, $50, brand new--I would need a reshaft though due to the X flex shaft): http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Nike-SasQuatch-2-3-Wood-LH-ProPlatinum-X-Flex-/380346020691?pt=Golf_Clubs&hash;=item588e63b353

It's a big, chunky forgiving wedge, kind of like going with a SW and LW from a GI/SGI iron set (Ping G series for example). You'll gain forgiviness, and lose finesse as compared to a more traditional wedge like a Cleveland CG or Titleist Vokey. Different strokes for different folks. I've gotten rid of my Sure Out and other SGI wedges in favor of more traditional wedges, but that's my personal taste. And I do keep a full set of Ping iWedges around, which are sort of in between a traditional blade-type wedge and a GI/SGI wedge. I see Sure Outs available used all the time. Not sure what you mean by their grooves being "beyond their use", but they are obviously non-conforming due to their age, but if the grooves are in good shape, then nothing wrong with using them today as long as you don't do competitions and such that require conforming grooves.

As far as stock options, I've only swung the FT-IQ with the Rayon Fubuki 60 shaft in an R flex, and it was the flexiest, weakest shaft I've ever hit. That R flex could certainly work as a senior flex on its own. I ended up doing the I-Mix FT-IQ, going with the Fubuki Tour 63 shafts in R and S flex. Now those are really good shafts. The Zcom and Voodoo are likely stouter than the stock Fubuki, but I can't give any specific advice as I haven't hit those shafts.

Ping K15 3 wood is labeled as forgiving. I have a Ping G15 4 wood, and a K15 3 wood. The G15 4 wood is very highly regarded, but more often than not, I had read people preferring the K15 3 wood to the G15 4 wood. I'll be honest though, that in limited rounds, I seem to hit the G15 4 wood better than the K15. I've never hit a fairway wood as well as I hit the G15. It is really kind of point and shoot, which I never thought I'd say about a fairway wood. Could just need more time with the K15 though.

First of all, I love that Phil Mickelson short game DVD. Made a big difference for me. As to wedges, generally speaking, Cleveland is a great place to start. Going back to their 588 wedges, and through their current offerings, I've hardly read a bad thing about their wedges, CG10, CG11, etc. Some are bit more forgiving than others, some have a different look, but they are generally all good. Of course, Titleist Vokey wedges are very popular as well, and Nike, Mizuno, etc. all make good wedges. That said, I would suggest you pick up some new or used Cleveland CG14 wedges. I haven't played a ton of wedges, and I am by no means an expert at the short game, but I find the CG14's (I have the Black Pearl versions) to be forgiving (as far as wedges go), and very comfortable to use. I have 52, 54, 56, 58 and 60* in the CG14's, though I generally play the 54* and 58*. These should run you about $40 and up in nice used condition. I've acquired all of mine within the past month or two from the used websites. I also have a full set of Ping iWedges, and those are very forgiving as far as wedges go. The iWedges are totally out of production though, so you'd have to do some work building a collection of those.

I posted earlier in the thread about trying a 12* K15 with the TFC R flex shaft, and it was a nice straight driver, but too high and too short. So I swapped in a prolaunch red R flex shaft, and proceeded to slice the heck out of the K15 in my one round with that combo. So I am done with this experiment, and this high of a loft is simply not for me. So for now, back to my 10.5* G15, and I'll be swapping out the 12* K15 for a 9.5* or 10.5*.

OP, from what I've seen, most GI and SGI sets these days have a 44* or 45* PW, so I think you're in the ballpark with the S3's. My Diablo Edge irons similarly have a 44* PW. From there, I go with a gap wedge, either a Diablo Edge (49*) or Ping iWedge (50*), then 54* and 58* wedges (Ping iWedge or CG14 BP). Works fine for me. Where I did struggle quite a bit was with my set of Di9 irons that have the real funky lofts Vinny29 describes.