Greg

I dont know much about those particular irons, but id just try to find a replacement for your 9 iron. try here www.ironfinder.com you might find one of the other titleist irons mentioned in earlier posts.

never heard of the timed rate either, how would they do that? Every driving range ive ever went to in my 2 years of playing it was by the bucket.

Its hard for me to know how slow i was at the beginning, I always scrambled with a friend so if i hit bad shots, we usually just used his as he had played longer. By the time I was playing by myself, I was good enough that i could keep a decent pace. I think the fact that these were older ladies has less to do with this than that they were beginners. As far as studying etiquette, maybe courses should really stress that, its usually just assumed that people know it and it can create problems sometimes. Kind of like driving, you have to know something before you are allowed behind the wheel, maybe new golfers should be encouraged to learn basic things like pace of play, respecting the condition of the course, not hitting into the group ahead of you, etc before they ever step foot on a course. I guess not knowing can be the most frustrating part, does the group ahead of you know you're faster and should let you play through? Does the group behind you know they're supposed to wait until you get far enough ahead of them that they couldnt possibly hit you? You hope they know but you're not always sure.

I looked at GigaGolf before I bought my irons in my signature, which i guess could technically be called clones, very similar to taylormade r7's but not sold as such. Its difficult to go against the big companies and not sell something similar to what they have, radically different club designs are a tough sell. I found mine on ebay from a company called golfballx and i got them because the price was so good it was worth the risk, $75 + $8 shipping for 5-pw and 56 deg sw(which was a free throw in). I have been using them for about 1 year now and they are a big improvement over my old kmart irons, much more forgiving and easier to hit. I would have purchased r7's but im glad I got these instead. There's no way to know if they're as good as the r7's but I would guess that they're so close that i wouldnt be able to tell the difference, they seem to be well made and should last for years.

Lebron may be MVP, but how many championships does he have, none. Im not a lakers fan either, i liked the bulls when Jordan was there and Kobe I think is the closest thing anyone else has come to being clutch like Jordan. He's not the explosive player he once was, outsmarting opponents at this later stage in his career, much like MJ did. I think Boston will be lucky to win game 3 at home and that will probably be it, the Lakers have much more talent overall and Boston is so beat up that I dont think they can really make it a competitive series, regardless of how the Pierce vs Artest matchup goes. They dont have anyone who can guard Kobe and the Lakers front court is just too big and deep for the Celtics to stop.

I felt like quitting a few months ago, just playing terrible, couldnt make anything resembling a golf shot. A friend videotaped my swing and I noticed some obvious flaws and played much better after that. Buying my first pair of golf shoes helped too, never realized how much my feet slipped before. Im not a low handicapper by any means but i do expect a certain level of performance from myself and I know when im not getting it, i.e. keep ball in play make mostly bogeys and an occasional par and keep the snowmen away and im happy. I remember my best 9 holes played(42), i started out with a 7 on a par 4 and made no worse than bogey the rest of the way, with 3 pars and a birdie. This is probably a minor setback, you will get through it and be playing well again before you know it. Youve played yourself to an 8 hcp, you didnt suddenly forget how to swing, probably just some minor flaw you're overlooking, you'll figure it out.

Well its not entirely on the subject but I did have something break recently(friday) at the range. My driver. My kmart special nitro driver that i had actually gotten to like very well apparently was not very durable. I was finishing up at the range, doing ok, hitting my last few with the driver and whoosh, the head snapped off and flew about 50 yards. I went and retrieved it, throwing around the idea of replacing the shaft but i doubt i will though I do like how i was hitting it, putting in a new shaft would cost more than buying another driver like it. I secretly thought that since I now had a driver I could hit pretty good something would probably happen to it and it did. No surprise but I have 3 other cheap drivers to choose from, well 2 that i would actually use. One has too many battle scars from being my first and looks like it was used in grand theft auto to smash windshields.

I guess thats simply not how it is where im from, though i guess saying ALL is many times too broad a stroke to take. Beginners take a lot of strokes to get to the hole which equates into being slow I would think. If you were never slow, you probably must have been either naturally gifted or spent a lot of time at the range working on your swing before you ever went on the course. Most new players spend little time practicing much less have any concept of etiquette and have swings that are hard to watch, sometimes so bad that I wouldnt even know where to begin to help them. I think many newbies try to rush everything thinking that will make them hit the ball further, the only thing that goes further is the clump of dirt they dig out with their swing and then cant find where the ball went. If you have a group of 4 like this, imagine how long it would take to play 9 holes, much less 18.

Blowing up and getting a big number on one hole many times carries over to the next tee and so on, confidence means a lot to high handicapper and is very fickle sometimes. Attitude means a lot, a poor one almost always guarantees poor play. Also not trying to swing like you're trying to slay the dragon and save the princess helps too.

I wish it was that simple, if i had to hit those old "sticks" that used to be used, they would probably end up being firewood in a big bonfire after about 4 or 5 holes. Technology is great, without it i wouldnt have a chance. With it, I feel like I can play this game and thats the case for many people, the game has grown tremendously because the initial learning curve is so much less now than it was probably even 10 years ago. That doesnt mean that everyone will become a great player because of it, it does mean that many will hang around long enough to be good enough to have fun and not get frustrated and quit and thats good enough for many players, especially those that simply dont have the time or money to practice and play very often.

i guess the one thing you can be certain of, is that ALL BEGINNERS, male or female, young or old, are slow because they're terrible. I played last weekend with a friend of mine and another friend of his came along, Nice guy but just starting to play so he was having trouble with just basic shots, the 20 yards and a cloud of dust on every shot, more like 50 yards but you get the idea. It took us nearly 3 hours to play 9 holes, we're usually nearly twice that fast as a 2some. But hey everyone has to start somewhere, i was just happy with all the waiting that after the first hole, i played pretty well after that, even making 2 pars which is above average for me. Yes waiting on slow players is a pain sometimes but it happens, beginners dont know about etiquete either, they're just as likely to hit into you as they probably cant judge distance very well or have any idea how far they hit any of their clubs. Throwing a fit like a 3 year old and name calling doesnt help anything as someone said in an earlier post, the ladies should have been approached and asked politely if you and your friends could play through, as they may not have even known that was normally done.

seems like the distances were pretty close to what ive been hitting, drive might have been a bit much, probably 20 yards farther than average, said 245, i average maybe 225, 240 for a real good one but the irons were all probably within 5 yards of what i normally hit them. 7 iron 150(spot on) 8 iron 139(real close) 9 127(close) and pw 116(about right)

I hit it a couple times at a local Dicks Sporting Goods about a month or so ago, just cant afford the $400 price tag but it felt pretty sweet, usually takes me a few swing to get the feel of a driver but felt good right away. I can see a lot of people buying this driver as soon as the price goes down a bit.

What I think the young gentleman who started this thread fails to realize is that many new golfers dont understand pace of play or allowing someone to play through. And these newbies, being older women, probably could care less how long it takes them to play as they probably were retired and had nothing else to do. Yes i have felt like telling someone off who slows me down, but geez, get a grip boy and show some restraint. Your actions reflect very poorly on all young golfers, yes its unfair but you probably ruined it for every young golfer at your club by acting like you did. You could have politely explained to them that better players are normally allowed to play through and would appreciate if you and your friends could go on ahead. Treating those ladies with respect regardless would have been the right thing to do. Im not old by any means(36) but i understand that being on the earth a certain amount of time earns respect, saying please, sir/maam, thank you, im sorry etc. Other than them holding you up, which they were probably unaware of, they didnt do anything wrong. Even at my age, I usually get a certain amount of respect from most people your age and I appreciate that. If you treat me with respect i will treat you with respect, it goes both ways.

I think if something like that happened to MY CAR, being a golfer myself i would simply go to my insurance and simply tell them something else happened and not worry about trying to get my deductible back. I would be more inclined to think that the golfer(with weapons in close proximity) would be the one with the upper hand. I usually wont tee off on a hole near a road if a car is approaching. I actually hit a ball on the roof of a house on a course near me, a par 4 right next to the entrance road and I sliced it and hit it across the road on their roof. Needless to say I didnt go get it. But if there had been a car parked there, yes I would have hit it. I dont think any golf hole should be near a road but sometimes space limitations require it. I havent hit any shots that bad for a long time so hoping it wont matter. Likewise, if the parking lot is too close to any of the greens, ill park a bit further back as well, though that would be on course property and thats a different matter if a car gets hit. Never know when someone is going to skull one 50 yards over the green.

You should have told them the golden girls was on tv, by the time they got to the clubhouse and realized you were lying you would have been to the next tee. Problem solved, you would never have seen them again. Or maybe tell them somebody hit their LTD out in the parking lot. Either way you would have distracted them long enough to play through. Or mentioned the free bingo in the lounge, etc....

Im to the point now of finding something that you can afford and hit, not worrying about what it pretends to be. OEM products many times are out of reach of the budget of a majority of people, just have to find quality substitutes and that takes some research and time, which dont cost anything. There are only so many different variations of golf club designs because they have to be legal for use so well known designs that work and sell will be imitated no doubt, as long as they dont claim to be the original, then I dont see them as knockoffs. As far as finding discontinued name brand clubs for affordable prices, how long do you expect someone to wait, a year, 2 years or longer. If someone wants new clubs they're not going to wait for something to be drastically reduced, they want to go out and play. Look at the feedback of the company you're going to buy from and you'll see how others like their products. If they're reputable, they will allow negative feedback to be displayed as well. I cant afford to play $1000 for a new set of pings, but Ive found some suitable much less expensive irons that i like and have been using for about a year now and they look to be well made and should last many years. Ive found that more expensive clubs dont make you play better, they just make you more frustrated that you spent so much money and still cant play very well. I really like the feel of my unknown irons, I wouldnt replace them now even if I won the lottery and could buy anything, my game is improving and they're helping me play better.

after i posted that, i realized that the hippo hybrids like the hex head in your post look like pic (b) which is legal according to the rule. Im sure Ive seen some hybrids or woods somewhere on ebay that look like (d) but I guess it wasnt the hippo ones. Though i really dont see why they would be nonconforming, they do look odd at address and I dont think they would be easier to hit.

Im no expert on anyones's swing but im guessing from the results of the shots(they look dead straight and solid) that the guy's handicap is a 3. Im sure there are some flaws, but he's way better than I am, probably been playing for a long time.

that figure (c) looks like the new hammer x driver and (d) looks like some of the hippo golf hybrids ive seen

I had a membership at a course a couple years ago, Crooked Creek in Mt Vernon, IL that cost only 300/year. I didnt renew last year or this year because I just dont go down there much, its about 30 miles from me, used to play there with some other friends but we dont hang out anymore. So its just out of the way now. I played there sat for the first time in a long time, its a quirky little course, not long by any means but got some of the trickiest greens anywhere. I couldnt imagine paying $2000 or more for a membership, thats just insane, I like to play at a lot of different courses and having a membership I would want to play at the same course all the time to get my money's worth. I can play 18 with a cart at many of the courses around here for $25 or less.

I think its a bit easier to score at a par 3 course, I did pretty good last night(for me) I shot +11 on the front 9 and +7 on the back which is better than i would do on a normal par 72 18 hole course. You only have to hit one good shot per hole on a par 3 course. I only got one par on the front 9 but got 3 pars and a birdie on the back so i felt pretty good about that.

I guess im getting by pretty cheap, I bought new irons last year, 3 wood, driver and new bag but spent only about $150, bought new shoes this year but only spent $28 including shipping but i like them. Was struggling with my driver so I got 2 new ones this year, finally decided that I liked the cheapest one, a nitro driver i bought off the clearance rack at kmart. If you include all the money spent playing(i dont have any memberships) the courses I usually play at arent expensive and range balls, figure 50-75 a week for about 7 months a year so that comes out to probably about $1500-$2000 a year total expenses playing golf i guess. I get a lot of golf balls and tees for christmas every year so I dont have to buy too many balls each year and i buy cheap ones, the $5 a dozen ones at walmart, so figure maybe 10 dozen of those a year. I might get a new bag soon as I have trouble fitting my clubs in this one easily sometimes and its frustrating at times to pull a club out and not get it back in, need to get one with individual slots for each club. I guess if you figure it out on a weekly basis for a whole year including not playing in the winter its really not an expensive hobby. I guess travel expenses would be another thing to consider, gas, food, drinks etc. Adding it all up, probably about $50 a week for a total year. The only club i might add is a longer hybrid, maybe a 17 deg 2 hybrid but im not really sure i could hit it farther than my 20 deg 3 hybrid which i can hit pretty good. Im single so I dont have a lot of expenses associated with being married and having kids so my other expenses arent really that much each week so I never feel like im spending too much playing golf and can go whenever the weather and my work schedule allow me to go.

Governors Run in Carlyle, I didnt know there was a lighted par 3 in Belleville, might have to go play over there sometime. A bit of a drive for me, I live in odin, its over by salem, about 60 miles or so from belleville. Im only about 20 miles from Carlye though I havent played the par 3 course yet this year, its a neat place to go. Had fun, hit mostly pretty good shots, carried my irons farther than normal, I guess making solid contact is better than trying to kill the ball. If i didnt hit the greens, i wasnt far off on most of the holes. Not as many people there as I thought there would be, was a great night, a little warm and muggy at the beginning, started just before 8 so the lights didnt come on until I was almost done with the front 9. Hit my best shot of the year on the 17th, 110 yards. Hit a pw to 1 ft, closest Ive ever come to holing out an iron shot and really made me leave feeling good about my play.

last night, went to par 3 course at Governors Run at Carlyle Il, was hitting my irons pretty good and got to the 17th, 110 yards. There was nobody within probably 4 holes of me so I hit my pw into some bushes left of the green. then i hit another about 10 yards short of the green trying to lob one up there. And I thought, well im almost done and I want to hit a good shot on this hole. Next one was about 20 ft away, pretty good. I had one more ball out so I decided to hit it just for the hell of it. It landed on the front of the green and bounced and rolled to 1 ft from the pin, almost jarred it, closest Ive ever come to holing out a shot of any kind other than a chip in and I had only done that once before. I saw it was a good shot from the tee box but thought maybe within 3 or 4 feet, always looks closer from the tee. But i got up there and realized it was real close. I noticed i had been hitting my irons farther, going about a club longer than normal as the first 2 holes I flew the green on distances that I normally have to hit the ball on the button to get it there so I guess im making more solid contact and i made very few poor shots. I think i only chunked the ball once in the whole 18 holes I played. My chipping was a bit under average so I made a lot of bogeys where with good chips they could have been pars. But overall +11 on the front and +7 on the back so not too bad for me.