tricky

One thing I don't understand is without tape how do you build up a grip to an intermediate size (assuming there isn't a different grip for every possible size), or indeed stretch it out to narrow it slightly (without it springing back to its natural shape)?

I have some good news for you. You don't putt with the head cover. Although I suppose for those of us with brittle confidence related to the aesthetics of our equipment it might undermine how we play. Perhaps Tiger should ditch the dodgy headcovers and get some serious sober ones in black, to match his new mood of contrition? He'd surely play better? Personally I play with a set of generic headcovers so all of them match and the originals don't get lost or worn. I'm a mediocre player. Which headcovers should I be using to improve my game? ....or should I just get out of the damn pro-shop and onto the practice ground?

I'm out on the course today, without having hit a ball for 4 months. I'm expecting it to be messy.

I've tended to find that people on here don't seem to consider the tour-w a proper wedge. Why? It's a cast stainless construction. This means that it tends to wear less quickly than the often recommended wedges on here. I love the tour-w's. They feel well balanced, have more feedback than you might imagine, and are perfectly capable of spinning the ball in a controlled fashion. The only negative that I would offer personally is that the hard stainless groove edges tend to shred the ball cover as much as the most aggressive wedges. I bought one new and five others second hand. The second hand ones vary from pristine to clearly marked faces. They all seem to perform to the exact same level. I've had them since the start of the summer, with no obvious change in characteristics. I fully expect they will last me years, as in multiples of.

Thank you for that. I've been deliberating between the ping 703 and the Golf Pride......but these sharpro's are so much cheaper that I'm prepared to give them a go until the end of the season. Now all I have to decide is which colour or colours.........

Look, I'm really no expert - as my handicap will prove.....but..... ....it seems to me that your approaches are inaccurate because they are from distance, due to your lack of length. I'm not sure that moving from cavity backs to blades is the answer to that. Look at your stance and alignment as well, there should be little problem hitting a cavity back straight - and what you want to do almost all of the time is hit the ball straight. You need to be looking at some physical drills to strengthen your core, and to look at your swing to make sure that you are maximising the strength, flexibility, and speed, that you have. Now clearly at age thirteen you have some physical development to achieve yet. Good swing fundamentals at this stage will give you a better foundation than new clubs, that will almost certainly need to be at least re-shafted when you improve and grow further......and I speak as someone who didn't pick up a club until my mid-twenties. The starter set I had, I used to hit beautifully. I was then given an expensive set of top end clubs that suited me horrendously. I got worse, rather than better, for ten years. Putting them in the bin was the best thing I ever did. If I could have those ten years back I'd be a different player now. Getting down to single figures is mostly about the player, not the equipment - with the one proviso that you need to get equipment, particularly shafts, that suit you as your swing develops. ....and cut yourself some slack, and be a little patient. It's not natural to be a scratch golfer it your age, it's very much the exception. Work on your physique and swing, and be reasonable in your expectations based on your physical attributes. If you swing nicely, you have years of enjoying the game ahead of you. If you look to solve every problem with a new club then you are looking forward to madness and financial ruin. .....probably.... P.S. A 220 yard drive is not too shabby. I measured out a very nice drive on an uphill hole at my course during the week. It was only 220 yards, and it was beyond where most of our members get to. A lot of the time people don't hit the ball anything like as far as they think - and when they do it's because of their swing, not their clubs....

Good call. Most of the other suggestions are hardly underrated, when they are internationally well known. I'd like to add Benross (lovely hybrids - I game the V6 trimass Escapes) for their woods, and MD Golf for their wedges.

I'm biased. I love mine. I think it works. It's what I say every time I'm asked . Try one.

Try out a Rife Antigua. It's my wand of choice. Last time out was my best ever putting round (34), on my way to an 84 overall (great for me) after only my 7th round with it. This included a 35 foot uphill putt for birdie at the eighteenth (in front of a gallery). Died straight into the middle of the hole. I never make those....but what more impressed me was just how good all of my putts were for length. The Rife really gets the ball rolling beautifully. You'd have to prise it out of my cold dead hands, and all that.... ....get the right length and you can adjust it for lie, it has a milled face and reduced loft that gets the ball rolling without hopping, and is based on the classic Anser shape. It's a beautiful putter, finished with a nice grip. Still it's all about what suits you. Try one.

Go and try some Ping S57's. I find them ridiculously easy to hit for a players iron, and they're pretty easy to work - even for a player of my handicap (now that I'm working on a new swing). Most people agree that they have a nice feel for a cast stainless (last a bit better) cavity players iron.; They're not a forged blade, but a decent half way compromise, a lovely top line, and a slight offset. I've got S58's (the previous model before the improved S57's), and I've tried S57's. The difference isn't great, but the fact that the S57's also match my tour-w wedges in looks, means that I'll be upgrading when I can get a set at a decent second hand price. An advantage with ping clubs is that you can get fitted for them, and then buy them off the shelf, or second hand, to your fitting. They will also adjust them free to your fitting - at any point in the clubs lifetime (if you take them back to the factory - Gainsborough here in the UK), even if you didn't have them from new. Great service, great lasting clubs. Of course you might feel better with something else, but at least give them a try.

That's my problem with the gamers. It doesn't take many wedge shots to ruin the ball. I've also played B330-rx's and found they marked easily......so I've gone back to my top flight z-balatas. Not long, but a soft feel and a tough cover. I can get 18 holes out of one, rather than four or five. I don't feel the (marginal) loss of distance hurts me too badly, as I'm still normally about a club longer than our average member. In the winter I'll use a longer, harder, ball.

I love rife putters. I have an Antigua and a Two-bar hybrid. I've only used the Antigua in anger so far (the two-bar hybrid I got a cracking deal on, and bought to try given that it's a favourite of many people). I putt like a dream with it (compared to how things were going before). I don't really fancy the idea of the IMO, personally.......but you know the deal - it's all personal. Get one in your hands and see how it works for you. I do know that you wont be dissappointed with the quality, finish, and feel of a Rife putter.

Something that I am currently working on, and seems to be helping me a lot, is focusing on the ball . It's quite a weird feeling the first time you see the dark patch where the ball once was, but it sure helps you make a much better strike of the ball more often. Irrespective of your swing speed, swing plane, stance, hand position, or body turn, this helps you make the best strike. It also helps to keep your head still. A friend who plays off four, with the weirdest three quarter punchy swing playing a consistent fade, has this principle as the cornerstone of his game. He practiced by putting a tee in the ground, and focused on hitting the head of the tee. He makes the most beautiful contact with the ball, and he knows his swing - hence the low numbers.

We have deep rough and copses of trees. It's all good.

It's important to take on energy and to loosen up your muscles. I normally go with a chilli and chips (not your American chips, our british ones), and a pint or two of the guest bitter.

Then you're in a pretty good place. If you're driving well, and hitting your approach irons well (and let's be honest they're a lot easier to control than a driver) then the scores will come down. I've got the opposite problem. I'm good with my irons, and my short game is improving in leaps and bounds. I just need to put myself in a good position off the tee more often. Last time I played I only hit a four fairways.

Clearly the sensible answer is when the grooves wear out. Part of the reason that I chose ping tour-w cast stainless wedges, was so that this wasn't a factor too frequently. At this point I don't know how long I expect to get out of them, but in the course of the summer so far I see absolutely no discernible change in their appearance or playing characteristics. I expect their lifetime should be measured in years, and I'm hoping for at least five.

Yet you're playing off 35? With that awesome driving game, should you not be a little better than that? Perhaps what you mean by control, isn't the same thing as what a 10 handicapper means by control? Hell, I'm off 21 and I think I'm doing well if I make a decent-ish strike somewhere I can find it.......

Welcome to the titleist 975 fan club. These are my dream woods. I really dislike larger headed drivers and woods, and whatever I've tried, nothing compares to my 975's. I have: 975D in 8.5°, 9.5°, 10.5° 975F in 12.5°, 14.5°, 16.5°, 18.5°, 20.5° I almost never have more than two in my bag at once, and I've never used above the 14.5° in anger....but I like that I have the full set, and the option should I need it. I put the full set together from ebay, for less than the price of a top end modern driver. I couldn't be happier with them.

Nobody is more squeamish about my eyes, than I was. Unfortunately prescription oakleys couldn't be made for the level of vision defect I have. So I sucked it up, and got contact lenses. In the early days with gas permeable it was terrible, and I can't tell you it worked well for me.....but nowadays with periodically disposable soft lenses it's really okay. So now I'm on monthly disposable soft lenses, and oakley half jackets (and occasionally some old M-frames). Perfect.

If your swing tempo is exactly the same, then your club head speed is bigger with a longer club. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you were slowing down, in order to control the ball contact better....but hey, what do I know...you're twice the player that I am. I do know that when I hit a shorter shafted driver I hit the ball marginally further than a longer shafted driver. It is simply because my ball striking improves.

What do I think? I think: "Are you mad?". It wouldn't be unusual to swing slower with a longer club, in order to come through the ball more consistently. It's harder to put the sweet spot on the ball, the longer the shaft is. You will be able to swing more consistently with a shorter shaft, and the likely improvement in your ball striking/contact will probably compensate for the loss of clubhead speed with a shorter shaft (swing at the same tempo and a longer shaft gives a higher clubhead speed). My three woods are 42.5" (and dreamily easy to hit), my drivers (I have more than one of each) are 45". I'm definitely considering cutting one down to 43.5" or 44". Possibly the 10.5° to 43.5", the 9.5° to 44", and leaving my 8.5° at 45" - because with the lower loft I will need more clubhead speed to get the ball flight. I bet I end up using the 10.5°. My understanding is that many top players play with a 43.5" or 44" driver. Of course they are swinging that faster than I ever could, but the principle about control remains. If they struggle to control anything much longer, it seems reasonable that it would be unlikely that I could. There is nothing on earth that would get me to put a longer shaft in - unless I was intent on specialising in long driving competitions. That wont ever happen.

Have a look on wikipedia . Using the miles test (number 1), if I close my right eye then the target is no longer in the frame of my two hands, but closing my left eye it remain unmoved. Therefore I am one of the two-thirds of people who are right eye dominant. If my contention is correct, then playing with an offset putter should help me. Which is good, because I do play with one. It must be another reason that I'm a mediocre putter at best.....

Isn't it a dominant eye thing, as well? If you are left eye dominant your sighting is further forward then if you are right eye dominant. Therefore if you are right eye dominant an offset putter helps by moving the face of the club towards your dominant eye-line, whereas a non-offset putter helps for left-eye dominant sighting. Clearly stance and hand position plays a major role in this. Don't shoot me if I'm wrong, but I definitely read it somewhere (maybe somewhere in relation to putter fitting on the rife website - or somewhere else on putter fitting). Anyway, this is one of a myriad of things I'm working on (developing an action to get my dominant eye sighting up putts, when over the ball) - can't say that I can give you a definitive answer on whether it is doing any good yet, as I've not spent enough time on it. It wouldn't be a major stretch to imagine that most players are right eye dominant, and thus prefer offset putter.

Nothing wrong with small headed drivers. i prefer them (hence my choice of fairway/driving clubs). Personally I think a big head feels like a parachute on a stick, and it disrupts my rhythm in the swing. I use the 12.5 975F as a driver, when it's in my bag. The shorter shaft makes for more consistent ball striking (a problem I particularly have with modern length drivers)...but interestingly I have no problem hitting it from the fairway (I have a quickish swing, and hit the ball up in the air perhaps more than I should). Not all golfers are the same, nor are all high handicappers. With a bigger club head I tend to be further away from the sweet spot and more inconsistent (the extra size of the face seems to give me more scope to mishit, with a smaller face I seem to be able to focus better on striking within a tighter area on the clubface). I used to hit a tiny headed taylor made tour spoon instead of driver, but I didn't hit that one so well off the deck. with the 12.5 975D I have the best of both worlds - and I hit it longer than the members of our clubs average drive off the tee.