soupy1957

Hmmmmmm.......let’s see........plastic vs steel..........which wins?! Obviously it’s not the BALL that is wearing out the club face. MUST be the dirt/sand. Essentially a grit blasting over time OR a very soft metal, or both, no?

Well I suppose I should ask what kind of condition the grooves must display in order to be considered worn out. Is it about losing their depth like the tread on the tire? Is it about seeing radiuses on the edges of the grooves as opposed to sharp edges?

I have a sneaking suspicion it’s going to be a “long way back“ to get back out on the course and play a round. I took my wedges and a half dozen balls out of the backyard the other day and I saw just how lousy my back and my swing was. I was topping the ball (I was certainly not controlling the ball), and taking monster divits!! My plan is to get out to the driving range and spent a lot of time there this summer after having a 20 year hiatus. Obviously I don’t have the back that I had when I was 25, and I’m going to have to make some concessions to the way I play. When I went to the golf Expo this past weekend, there was a girl there who specializes in back issues, and we talked for a little bit about how the spine moves; and her recommendation was to make sure I did a good amount of “warm up,” and that I had to be careful, because I could seriously injure what’s already compromised in my back.

Found a new Wilson SW for $25.00!!

The Garmin S3 wristwatch rangefinder, allows you to adjust cup placement. That said, how can you accurately use that feature, since the hole placement could be ANYWHERE on the Green!?

Tomorrow I’ll be going to a Golf Expo in a nearby city. I put together a set of Titleist clubs, but still need a Sand Wedge. So I figured I might find one at the Expo, but I wonder how inflated the prices will be AT the Expo. Anyone have any experience with pricing, at a Golf Expo??? I’m also wondering what is a “must do” or “must see” when I go to one of these?

Driving Range, here I come!!

I would imagine after 20 years of use, or 30 years of use, you might see some rounding to the edges of the grooves on the club head............ but wearing them out within a season or two?! Seriously?! I don’t believe it!! It would have to be pretty lousy metal, to wear out so quickly!!

Specific AND thorough, eh? OK, I’ll give it a shot… OK, I’ll give it a shot… 1: buy equipment I don’t have my clubs anymore so I have to get new ones. I haven’t had clubs since the mid-80s and no 61, so knows how well I’ll do. 2: practice The first time I got interested in golf, I spent the first complete summer at the driving range on a regular basis, getting used to the way my clubs felt and what they did, and how poorly I did, and what adjustments I needed to make to play a reasonable round of golf. 3: play Simply to get out there and actually do it, instead of talking about it! 4: care Be careful not to screw up my back anymore than it already is! Stretching exercises, and avoiding overextension and wrong moves. 5: socialization As much as golf can be a solitary support, when you’re walking the fairway, it is certainly a socializing support, and I look forward to that aspect of it. 6: stress relief I know that sounds like an oxymoron to some of you, but I find that playing a round of golf is therapeutic, because of the outdoors, the beauty of it. I don’t let the game stress me out.

I suppose many of you who have the opportunity, get together with a half dozen other people, and take trips away from the winter snow, to go south for a weekend, to play a round of golf somewhere. I’d really love to hear about your trip. Where you think is a good place to go. The logistics of planning something like that. I’m not talking about you extremely wealthy folks, who jump on your Learjet and fly out to Hawaii to play. I’m talking about excursions that are relatively modest in terms of expense, but still are fun rejuvenating escapes from winter. How did your trip get started? Why did you choose the place you chose? Is there an area that has nicer courses than others that you had a great experience at? Is there a place to avoid because of lousy conditions? Take me, by description, on your golfing trip to your favorite place, for one of those weekend winter adventures. Let me live it through your words.

So the Salesman has my list........ I asked him to "build a set like you were selecting the clubs for yourself. Lowest price possible, for the best possible club(s). Let's see what he comes up with!! Meanwhile, a sanity check was done today, when I took the wife the "Golfer's Warehouse" and she was able to see the costs of "new" product. I'd venture that to buy "new" would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $4,000.00 for everything. The Outlet, maybe $2,000.00. What's not to love about that?!

So far as I know, in whatever sport you’re talking about, entrance into the Hall of Fame is based on the statistical record, not on personality traits. Should there be an integrity button that trumps statistics? I don’t think so. But who an individual deems a “hero” to them, is up to them.

My mind goes back to Chi Chi Rodriguez. Some of you guys may not even know who that is, because he’s an older fella. What brings him to mind is the fact that he had a very unorthodox swing that was more like he was swinging a baseball bat. The first time I got myself a set of golf clubs I spent that first entire season at the driving range exclusively, just trying to become familiar with each of the clubs. I didn’t go out to play around of golf until the following season, by choice. I came to the conclusion after about four seasons of actual playing of golf, that it’s not so much about how much you conform to what appears to be the “normal” way to play golf, but it was more about consistency, no matter how ugly your shots looked. As a result, I quit trying to study everybody else’s teaching on how I should approach things, and just concentrated on how my results changed, depending on how I approach and handled the ball. If I could get reasonable results, it didn’t matter how unorthodox I might appear. Let them all stand there and comment amongst themselves about how crazy I look out there. It’s the fun of the game that I’m interested in. There was a friend of mine in eighth grade, who used to have the craziest way to dance that any of us had ever seen. You had to give this guy a lotta room on the dance floor, because he just kind a flung himself in all kinds of directions! But you know what? All the girls wanted to dance with him, and none of them wanted to dance with us!! That says something about being un-Orthodox!!

I remember back in the 80s when I was playing golf on a semi regular basis, which for me was about a couple times a month just because of budgetary constraints, one of my favorite shots was a pitching wedge, when my ball was about 100 yards or so from the cup. Now that I’m over 60 and taking the game back up again, I have placed certain expectations on my game. Now that I’m over 60 and taking the game back up again, I have placed certain expectations on my game: 1. Be bolder with my initial Drive 2. Unless it’s required that I keep score keep the scorecard in my back pocket. 3. Look for opportunities to pull out the wedge to pitch up to the cup. 4. Play around of golf at least three times a month. 5. Resist the temptation to buy a new club, if the one I have isn’t working for me, because it’s probably my own fault. 6. Look for opportunities to pull out the wedge to pitch up to the cup. 7. Look for opportunities to pull out the wedge to pitch up to the cup. My second most favorite activity on the golf course is putting. And I’m willing to put from the fringe. Even the light rough. There’s nothing more exciting, In the golfing world, than taking your best shot from way the heck out there, and having it accidentally go in the cup!!

The difference THIS time is, that I don’t have to “sneak purchase” the clubs and accessories, and wrap and address them “to: Steve / from: Santa” like I did before, and act surprised on Christmas morning!!

< is 5' 11" tall, and average build of 235. Will add "Ping" to my list of possibilities, but will admit that I'm kinda leaning towards Titleist. The hardest choice for me, will be a Driver.......they are so dang BIG these days!! I don't know how to approach all the choices out there......

Given the fact that the “Outlet” prices are a lot less than I’d pay for “new” clubs, it isn’t so much a “cost” thing for me. The biggest issue for me is going to be that I have not had my clubs “fitted,” and I don’t know what they would charge me to spend time trying to tell me what size clubs I should have; so on the one hand, cost is not important when it comes to the clubs, but I don’t want to put a lot of added cost into this.

Great stuff, DeadMan!!! I never owned a Hybrid........had a Driver, and a full set of Irons and a 64 degree Wedge in my original bag (LOVED Wedge shots to the green from 100 yards out).

Appreciate the initial feedback folks......keep it coming!! Of the brand name clubs listed, is there an order of expense? In other words, if you had to reorganize that list according to price, how would you list them, most expensive to least? The reason I ask, is so that I can gauge the pricing “as marked,” at the Outlet store that is near me, that sells “used” stuff.

I was a very average golfer back in the mid-80s. I have nothing to brag about with my golf game. I remember one time hitting a really long putt and feeling pretty good about myself, but otherwise there’s nothing spectacular about my game. I played for about four seasons, and then when the cost of playing 18 holes nearly doubled at my local courses, I stopped playing, because I wanted to make sure that whatever money I had,went to raising my kids and supporting my family. Now I’m 61, and thinking about getting back into golf. I’m not looking for fame or fortune. I just like being out on a well manicured course enjoying nature and hitting a little white ball around. Typically I would take my scorecard and put it in my back pocket, because that wasn’t so important to me. Because of some unexpected changes in my life two years ago, I moved to the Hartford area of the State of Connecticut. The PGA comes out here and plays in Cromwell, and so as you might suspect, there’s a lot of country clubs and courses available to me. In fact, I have found that membership rates are fairly reasonable, and that’s perhaps because there are so many courses in such a tight proximity to one another. Competition must be pretty fierce for them. I discovered, when I was looking around for a golf supply store, (not wanting to rely solely on a store at a particular country club, because their inventory tends to be a bit sparse and pricey) that within 4 miles of my house, there is an outlet store that buys and sells clubs from all over the world. Talk about equipment overload! I went in there yesterday and was floored by the amount of clubs of every brand shape and size imaginable, stacked floor to ceiling all over the building! Literally, crates of clubs were being carted in from the back room, by a half a dozen staff members, just from that particular days worth of transacted product! My temptation is to believe that because they have so many clubs and so much equipment, that their prices would be a lot lower than buying new (and they were), and if it wasn’t for the turn off of seeing adhesive backed stickers on the shafts of all these clubs, and the work it’s going to take to remove those stickers; and a lack of knowledge about what kind of clubs to buy, I would’ve come home with a set yesterday. So here’s my list.......Feel free to tear it apart, or make any recommendations you think are appropriate for this old guy, who probably isn’t going to be a very good golfer, but just wants to enjoy the game. Golfing Supplies: -Shoes -Bag -Tee’s -Balls -Towel -Glove -Head Covers Clubs: -Pitching Wedge (48 degree) -Gap Wedge (52 degree) -Sand Wedge (56 degree) -Lob Wedge (64 degree) -Putter -Driver -H2 Hybrid -H3 Hybrid -Irons (1,3,5,7,9) Brands: -Taylormade -Titleist -Callaway -Cleveland Materials: -Forged Irons -Steel Shafts