B-Con

I've had on-and-off slicing whoas for a while know. From your video, it looks like you're starting your swing by moving your arms, then rotating your wrists. So your arms start moving before your wrists do. For me, one of the things that's helped me was to bring the clubhead around farther (like other's have said, that was definitely a help to me), and to start my swing with my wrists, rather than arms. Not by much, but instead of starting my arms a split-second before my wrists, I'd start my wrists a split-second before my arms. I made this decision after noting that sometimes I wouldn't just slice, but I'd actually hit the ball straight and to the right (I'm right-handed), leading me to conclude that I had an open clubface too often. Starting my wrist rotation first helped me eliminate the advantage my hands had over the club head in the race to the bottom of the swing and get them properly aligned at contact. Those are just two things that helped, and bear in mind I still slice. But when I hit a run of straight hits, those are definitely two things that I'm doing well.

Hey there. After trying all the Karstens I could find and several from the Craz-E and i-Series, decided to get the Karsten Anser 2, just yesterday, from GolfGalaxy. I went back and was hitting a few putts on their green waiting for the fitter to come and take a look at me. As I hit balls I tried to think of what I'd like to have changed. Usually with a putter I would like the lie angle adjusted, or like the head a bit lighter, or something, but I honestly couldn't think of what I'd change with the Anser 2. I looked at the 5 things they fit you for with putters (length, lie, loft, swingweight, MPF) and realized that I knew that I liked the length, lie, and swingweight. So when the fitter came over I told him what I was thinking and asked him if, in his opinion, he thought there was something that should be different that I should get fitted for. He watched closely as I hit a few 8ish footers and told me that, in his opinion, he didn't have any recommendations to change. He agreed the length was right, he thought the lie was correct for my style, and the loft was correct since I was flush on contact. So, I just walked out of the store with the stock model. I figured if it it isn't broken, no sense paying to fix it. Are you looking at the Karsten Anser or Anser 2? I tried both while I was there and I could tell a difference. The Anser was a nice putter, but when I put it back on the shelf and tried the Anser 2 I felt an immediate improvement. The Anser was a great putter, but IMO the Anser 2 felt someone took the Anser and polished it up a bit. I definitely prefered the 2. I'm not putter savant, but it felt like it had better balance and feedback. But the C67 almost hooked me. It was a great short distance putter, IMO on par with Anser 2, but I didn't feel quite as comfortable using it for longer 12ft+ putts. Not as easy to keep a square swing, which I prefer. I also tried the Anser 4 at another shop, but didn't care for it as much as the Anser 2. Hope some of that helps. Good luck with your hunt.

I'm 6' 1" too, and I personally prefer 34". I'm going to get fitted for a Ping putter soon, though, so I'm curious to see if the fitter agrees with my assessment.

I prefer walking, when possible. It forces me to return to some sort of equilibrium between shots. In a cart you can hit, run, hit, run, hit, etc, and if I hit poorly and get frusterated on a shot I can be hitting my next shot in 30 seconds, before I've had time to calm down and re-think my swing. With walking you expend energy between shots and have to take longer to get to your ball and hit again. The time delay and energy expenditure walking forces on me helps me from just getting into a whack-a-mole mindset.

True, most people do seem more eager to encourage it than discourage it. I can't find a black nickel version of the 588s. The 588 TA is only made in Chrome now, and the 588 DSG is made in Chrome, RTG, and GunMetal. I've actually ordered a 60* GunMetal DSG. If I feel so moved, I might get one for my GW as well. In making that purchase decision, I'm not sure if I'll choose the same finish. It really is a nice look, but you can get Chrome re-finished.

I only recently fell into a routine, and I wish I had sooner. Before I used to take a number of practice swings inversely proportional to how well I felt like I was hitting my club (if I was hitting well maybe only one swing, if I was hitting poorly maybe 3 swings), then stand over the ball and fine-tune my address until I was pleased. Recently I noticed that just taking two swings every time and standing at the actual address for at least 2 but no more than 5 seconds is best. When I spend too much time standing over the ball wiggling and adusting my grip, weight distribution, etc, I over-think things and often screw up. I just need to make that my habit now. I played a lot of basketball and I was almost religious about my free-throw routine. I'm surprised it took me this long to get a routine for my golf shots.

Maybe the idea is that rust is rougher and will do a better job of gripping the ball on contact. For those who like to maintain the GunMetal finish, is re-finishing every X hits a standard practice?

I know that some types are. Like for the Cleveland 588 model, the RTG finish is supposed to be rusted. I've heard of people who leave them in a bucket of water over night the moment they get them to get the rust started. Frankly, it seems odd to me, but if it doesn't inhibit the usability of the club, then to each his own.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'll hold off on the new club idea for now. @ ItsAllRelative, zeg: That's the idea behind my initial proposal. I figured on getting a shorter shaft so I wouldn't have to choke down on it, and because I didn't plan on using the 2i anywhere else. But the lowest club in my bag is a 4i, and while I don't have much experience hitting it, my 5i hasn't been too helpful in those situations and I figured that a 4i wouldn't be much improvement. Sounds like the best plan of action is to (try to) make friends with my hybrid, and also to practice hooding my 4i. Thanks for the info, Meddle. Looks like someone already had my idea. I'll consider it if I don't think I can make my normal clubs do the job for me. It looks like a better idea than my original one.

I'm looking at buying a/some wedge(s) and I've seen a lot of deals with gunmetal finishes around. I saw the sticker on a 588 DSG with a gunmetal finish and it said that Does this mean a) nothing, it's just a standard "don't expect the club to look brand new forever" warning, or b) that gunmetal similar to RTG finishes, in that it's supposed to rust? Or, c) that gunmetal is just an alternate finish on a club that wears off. In the event of (c), would a chrome finish last longer? I'm not overly concerned with looks, but the gunmetal finish looks very nice. But ultimately I'd prefer something with a hardy finish.

One of the most irritating things that happens to me during a standard round of golf is a poor tee-off that it lands in or just beyond the line of trees separating parallel fairways. At the course I normally play, the branches are often between 5 and 7 feet off the ground, and I've encountered this at other courses. So if I give a full or 3/4 hit with my 5-iron I'm still likely to hit a branch and have the ball drop dead 10 or so yards ahead of me. I'm rarely fortunate enough to have a line of sight to the green. Obviously, the best solution would be to never tee off poorly -- I'm still working on that. But for the mean time, I've thought about getting a club just for the situation of having to hit amongst low-hanging tree branches. My lowest lofted iron is a 4-iron, and my only current solution is to lay it over a bit and give -- at most -- a half swing, and hope I don't hit any trees. The solution works half-decently, but I really suck at using my 4-iron and I can't possibly bargain for more than 20 yards of carry with that sort of swing. Thus my plan is to get a 2-iron head (found one for cheap online) and put it on a 9-iron shaft, that way I can hit an easy, controlled shot with a very low club face and hopefully have a consistent way to hit half-decently when I get stuck under trees. It won't be a club for distance, I just want to hit 60+ yards and not feel like I'm almost guaranteed of throwing away a stroke every time I end up under trees. Any feedback or alternative solutions? What tricks do you guys have to handle such problems?

Nice fine, moparman. So Callaway made some of the GBB Warbirds normally and also commissioned Ruger to make some of them? Is there any difference between the ones made by Ruger and the ones made normally other than just the branding? @RocketSauce If you did so very recently, I likely had it on my watch list at some point. :P

I'm in the market for a classic driver, the Great Big Bertha Warbird. I've been keeping close tabs on eBay for about a week and have seen quite a few go through. I've noticed that some of the clubs say "Ruger" just about "Titanium" on the underside of the club, and others do not. Other than that word, Ruger and non-Ruger clubs look the exact same (to me). I saw on this site a list of the lofts available for the Great Big Bertha Warbird series, and I've noticed that some Ruger clubs have lofts not on that list (such as 9*). That's the only difference I've been able to tell so far. (Both have the loft I'm looking for.) * What does "Ruger" imply? * Is there any noticeable difference between the two types of club? * If so, does anyone have any experiences/preferences between them? I'm curious as to whether I should try to get a Ruger or non-Ruger, or if I should just make my purchase completely independently of it. (I'm practically brand new to golf club research, so I don't yet have a feel for such things.) Thanks.

I haven't seen much of Jack, but from my (limited) viewing experience I'd go for Tiger. I enjoy watching him play, if for nothing else than the passion. :P

For the next 12 hours, a full-time college student double majoring in Math and Computer Science. After that, I don't know yet.

For the (somewhat limited) time I still live around UC Davis, my course is http://davisgolfcourse.com . The course closest my family's house is http://basslakegolfcourse.com . I wish I played more than I do.