Gary Kay

You're probably correct in that I was not choking down as much as I thought I was. After I cut it down it was the significant loss of distance that troubled me the most. Stiffness or feel was not an issue. There's no doubt that the shorter club resulted in a slower swing speed and reduced distance..... more than I thought would have occurred. I've convinced myself that I will go with a A/M/Senior flex shaft due to my slowing swing speed. I'm currently researching what would be my best torque range. The issue I have now is that the RBZ has a .350" hosel and most of the shafts I'm interested in only come with .335" tips. I've emailed GolfWorks to see if they have a hosel adapter and if a shim is needed. Thanks for the graphics. I will make it a point to study them.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Rather than try to save the shaft with an extender (good idea though) I think I'll replace it. This gives me an opportunity to try a softer flex. I've heard you have to be careful when going to a senior flex as the club can get kind of whippy (which I would want to avoid). Marv, do the Project X or Mitsubishi shafts you recommend avoid this tendency? Secondly, based on the research I have done, I do not believe that shortening the shaft from the butt end makes it any stiffer. The shaft does, however, stiffen if you trim from the tip. I did read that trimming from the butt can have a subtle impact on the flex point of the shaft (gets closer to the hands) and some golfers can feel that change or witness some differing flight characteristics. Thanks again for the help.

I was choking up on the club as well and then decided to just hack it off. The club just didn't work the same after I chopped it up. I'll probably start with a stock 46 incher again and if I do shorten it, it will be in much smaller increments. When I first got it (5/6 years ago) I was swinging away and developed a nasty hook. I corrected that with some lessons and slowed down my swing a little to improve accuracy. My swing speed has gone down about a 1 mph a year since I got the club (I'm a 68 year old) and it will probably continue to decline hence my considered change to a senior flex shaft.

I thought I could make my driver a fairway splitter but ended up ruining it. I have a TM first generation RBZ with stock Matrix Ozik shaft (bonded regular flex). What I did was shorten it from 46 to 44.5 inches (off the butt end). There was no accuracy gain and in fact I ended up with a bigger fade than I care for. Worse yet, I lost a good ten yards if not a little more. I really liked the look of this club, the feel of the head, and sound. I'm thinking of getting a new shaft for it, but don't want to spend to much (probably not much more than 50.00 or so). I'm also thinking about going to a senior flex since my swing speed is only about 79 to 81 mph now. I've read that a Grafalloy Pro Launch Blue 45 might fulfill my needs, but I don't know much about aftermarket shafts. I'd appreciate any comments about this shaft or suggestions on others I should consider. Thanks.

If the LPGA and/or PGA are going to allow arm chair rules officials watching TV, then they must be prepared to show the actions of "every" golfer in a tourney not just tournament leaders. That means every ball address, every ball placement, etc. of every golfer so all can be fairly scrutinized. A four shot penalty on someone in 30th place affects a lot more golfers than someone in first place as it means thousands of dollars being at stake for lots of people. Knowing that it would be impossible to put every player under the same scrutiny. Allowing selective enforcement to the few being seen more often is simply unfair to them and seemingly beneficial to those not under the watchful eyes of the self proclaimed TV rules officials.

My son and I will be going to Tucson around Mar 1st. I try to play a couple of different courses whenever I go there. This year I'm interested in Del Lago, El Conquistador's Conquistador course, Mountain View at Saddlebrooke and possibly the Views GC at Oro Valley. I'd appreciate any comments about any of these courses anyone may have. I'm looking for something that would be reasonably friendly to a senior golfer who's not as accurate as he use to be but can still carry a drive about 200 yards and keep my adult son, who's quite a bit better and longer than me, entertained (although most of his entertainment comes from my play). Thanks

I would buy the driver with the loft you desire. The reason is that with most adjustable drivers when you add loft it closes the face, when you reduce loft the face of the club opens. As a result the club become draw or fade biased. Some setup/address corrections maybe necessary as a result. Buying the club at the stated loft means it's neutral at that setting. Due to this, it's best to test the club and loft you desire on a monitor to make sure it provides the desired results.

I call myself a budget golfer as well, but my adult sons call me plain cheap. I "always" look for discounted tee times etc. and pride myself on never paying the rack rate anywhere. About three years ago I too decided I needed new clubs (I had just turned 65). I had been playing my last set for 15 years. They were off the rack, stiff shafts, etc. I was playing around with some new drivers at my local Golf Galaxy one day and discovered that my driver swing speed had gone down to 85 mph. I now had to accept that I was getting old as well! I noticed that Ping G20's were still available as G30's were being introduced. I gave both a try The swing monitor indicated I was hitting the 20's as accurately as the 30's with about the same speed and distance. I was able to order the 20's with graphite shafts for about 60% of a cost of new 30's with standard steel shafts. The fitting also showed I needed a more upright lie and senior shafts.The decision was pretty obvious to me, even for a cheap sob. While I'd love to tell you I got my distance of 15 years ago back, it didn't happen. I do have a lot more accuracy with a much more controlled and even slower swing. So my recommendation is not to be too cheap, there's deals available if you look, and definitely have your lie angle requirements checked. That one fitting item helped me hit far crisper shots than ever before.

I usually go to Tucson with my son in early March. This year we may not be able to make that trip but still want to go south . Are there courses that would be enjoyable for a high handicap senior golfer (and his son whose is much better) in or near El Paso. I've read about Painted Dunes and Butterfield Trail but know little else about them. Open to all suggestions. Thanks.