etlreams

I picked up a new driver this past June. Based strictly on launch monitor numbers, the G15 and R9 460 were the longest and straightests for me. I went with the R9. My guess is the G15 might have been a little more forgiving on miss hits. I have been very happy with the R9. Longest driver I have ever gamed and the second most forgiving (most forgiving being the Callaway FTIQ). I don't know much about the D2, but I am sure you would be happy with either the R9 or G15. Just depends on what you like the look, sound and feel of and which one has better stock shaft options that best fit your swing.

Yeah.. My clubs have wear marks... But not from hitting the same concentrated sweet spot every time. My only complaint about the AP1s is that they looked 10 years old after 2 months!

I wouldnt worry about grooves so much. The weighting, balance and headshape are my top criteria in choosing a wedge. IMO....a lob wedge is a finess club. The weighting and balance has to feel good to you. I like Vokey's because they seem heavier than most wedges (not saying they are...just saying to me they feel like it).

I use mine 30 yards and in from the fringe 75% of the time. My GIR % is pretty low. So most of my approach shots are somewhere around the green in a 30 yard or less area. If I'm in a bunker, rough (most of the time) or soft fairway, I'll flop it up. It's one of my most consistant shots/club. I'll often times be left with a short 1 putt. If the fairway is hard and I have room to bump and run with an 8 iron or a PW I will. Or, I'll chip with an 8 iron if I'm on the fringe. But I would venture to guess that I end up floping/pitching with my 60* 3/4 of the time. On a related side note.....I'm thinking about dropping my 56* and 60* and replacing with a 58*. I rarely use the 56 unless I have thick rough or soft sand (it has 14* bounce)

i don't have any neat stories of holling one out after taking a drop or anything like that.... but I do have a "ugliest par" ever for me. It was a pretty straight, nothing fancy par 5. 1.) bannana sliced the hell out of my tee shot into the far side of the next fairway. 2.) Pulled the hell out of my second shot into the other opposite side wrong fairway. 3.) skulled the hell out of my 3rd shot from the other fairway but hit the trees, which slowed it down enough and ended up 20 yards off the green (of the actual green I was playing, haha). 4.) skulled my flop shot onto the opposite of he green. 5.) 1 putted from the fringe about 40 ft. out to save par. Ugly. Just ugly.

I have always been skeptical of launch monitors. Earlier this summer I went in to Golfsmith to get "fitted" for a driver (which simply went trying a bunch of different ones and what gave me the best numbers). The sales person I met with I trust and is a friend. He told me the numbers should be accurate, as the machine had just been calibrated. The distance and directionality I was getting on the monitor ended up being pretty accurate to how I drive the ball on the course. So.....my opinion is...... the machines are accurate if they are calibrated regularly and correctly.

My 52* gap wedge has become one of my favorite clubs. I use it for the 100-30 yard range. It is solid, consistent club for me. Sure, sometimes I scatch my head at the 100 yards range, trying to decide between my GW and PW. But again...if it is in the 100-30 yard range, the 52* is a confident "go to" club for me. I also carry a 56* SW, but I have a high bounce on it, so only use if from sand and thick rough. I use my 60* for 30 yards and in. So...my wedges are very situational. The 52 and 60 are probably the two most commonly used clubs in the bag.

I agree 100% with Saevel's post. Except for that very last part about it being an "easy" game. Haha. I know he/she was kidding. But I digress.... there is alot of wisdom in the points made here. Sometimes when I am lacking confidence, I think too much. Overthinking, for most, I would go out on a limb stating, will always do more harm than good. Let your muscle memory do the work. Don't confuse your own brain by thinking too much and then end up overcompensating. Also...I like the point about being realistic with yourself. I don't mean to say lower your expectations....but accept the weaknesses in your game (work those out at the range) and play to your stengths. Do this and your scores will be lower and your confidence will follow.

Play alone at a really easy course when it is not busy. I like to do this when my confidence is down. I play an exec 9 that I play really well at because I am just so comfotable there and know it like the back of my hand. I go out in the middle of the day and play a round by myself. I "work things out" in whatever area of the game I'm struggling with. If it's off the tee, I'll just plan to play a few balls off the box. If it's the short game, I'll just drop a few balls and work on that on a particular hole. If it's putting, I'll just play my tee shot, approach shot, and then putt multiple balls from different spots on the green Again, it's when the course isn't busy. I just take my time - take multiple shots - try different things. By the end of the round, I start to "fix" whatever problem I was having and feel better about my game. Ready to take on my buddies again!

I agree with the 100%. I am a 9-10 handicap and my average drive is about the same. Average 230-240. Lately I've been hitting a little longer - about 250. I weigh 135 lbs and my driver swing speed is in the high 80s/low 90s. I don't care what kind of perfectly matched ball and driver you give me, I don't care how perfectly I pure it, and I don't care how fast my hips turn....I'm not driving the ball 300 yards. Physics just won't let me. And I can manage to score in the low 80s. Good ball striking, chip/pitch/flop the ball close and 1 putting will get your scores down. If you regularly play REALLY long courses and always play from the tips, then sure...distance will help. But otherwise, I feel it is overrated.

Congrats! I agree with the Nassau. Don't sell yourself short. A great drive and a great 3 wood takes more than luck! I've had three or four eagles. Two of which came in similar fashion to yours. I hit my 3 wood pretty well off the deck, so I enjoy going it for it on short par 5s! If the hole is one of those 500 yards or less par 5s and I have a good drive, with a good lie, sitting on the fairway - I always have a nice grin on my face. Congrats, again. And many more to come, I'm sure!

yeah. I would go with the Imix version. It would be nice to have shaft options. But go with one that has the Fubuki shaft in it and I doubt you will want any other shaft. It is a great shaft!

Here in Minneapolis, most muni courses average about $50 for 18 with a cart.

I played the FT-IQ Tour last year and it was a great club! If you don't mind the square head and are looking for a forgiving driver, the FTIQ is an excellent choice. And being they are no longer Callaway's "current" driver, they can be bought new for very cheap (I think they are going for $150-199 at most places I've seen them). And the Fubuki shaft that comes stock in the Tour version, and as one of the option in the IMix version, is the best shaft I've ever used. Had a wonderful, low-mid boring trajectory.

Top Flight Gamers, Bridgestone E series, Titleist NXT Tour, and Nike One Tour/TourD are all excellent performance balls at the $20-30 price range. Personally, I think it is tough to beat the value you get from the Nike One Tour series since they dropped their price to $29.99. The Nike One Tour is the equivalent of the ProV1 (four piece, urethene cover) and the Nike One Tour D is the equivalent of the ProV1x (three piece, urethene cover).

definately give the hybrid a try. I think you'll find they are very versitile and forgiving.

1. a beautiful drive followed by a chunked approach or second shot. I do that all the darn time! I almost hate hitting great drives 2. sculling a chip/flop 3. leaving my approach shot short of the green. i do that too often!

I don't have the SuperTri, but I have the R9 460 driver - the SuperTri's predecessor. I went with the R9 because I couldn't justify the SuperTri's price tag. And I'm glad I did. The R9 is a fantastic driver! It is long and pretty forgiving. The only other advantage the SuperTri would have given me is moveable weights. I don't use the adjustibility on the R9 as it is, I can't imagine having more adjustibility options that I wouldn't use. That's my two cents. Think about if you are really going to use the adjustibility features on the SuperTri. If not, save a couple hundred bucks and look at the R9.

I don't mind golfing in the rain. I won't start a round if it is down pouring, but if it starts during a round I'll finish and if it is only a light rain I'll start a round. I've played some of my best rounds in the rain. Regarding putting on soaked greens.... yeah, of course it will make putting trickier than usual and will probably add a few putts/strokes to your usual score. One thing I do when it is raining or is really wet, I get really agressive in going at the pin with my approach shots. Which I should do anyways, I'd probably score better. But...knowing that I'm not going to get much roll, I'll just go at it and usually end up leaving it closer than I normally would...meaning, of course, shorter putts. So that's how i handle that. I don't know why, but for some reason my ball striking is pretty darn good in the rain. I loose a lot of distance (im not a long hitter to begin with) of the tee with less roll, though.

Wow. I see you dug up my old thread from back in May! I did not bag a 5th wedge. I did buy a 48* vokey in "like new" condition for $40 (who could pass that up) So...I had a 45 pw, 48, 52, 56, 60. I never did bag all 5 at the same time. I had the 48 vokey bent to 46* to replace my set pitching wedge, but I didnt like the bounce angle. I went back to my old set up of PW, 52, 56, and 60. I mainly have three vokey wedges for bounce angle variences. My 56 sand wedge has 14* of bounce. So I use that (probably my least used club) in thick sand and thick rough. Otherwise, my 52 and 60 are used most of the time.

Don't worry about having a "high end putter." Buy what feels best, fits your stroke best and looks best to you. If your current putter is working for you but your are, for whatever reason, worried it isn't high end enough, grab a marker and write "Scotty Cameron" on it. Putters are incrediably personal. You have to find THE ONE that works for YOU. Come to think of it..... of all my friends that golf, the worst putters (including myself) bag Scotty Camerons, Rife or other high-dollar putters. The best putters in my group? My father-in-law bags a Wilson from the 60s that looks like he stole it from a Putt-Putt course, an uncle who bags one of my old off brand gimick putters called "Puttology" and a buddy that plays a cheap Ram putter from Walmart.

Sorry bud. I tried that last season when I started slicing off the tee. No driver will help. It took me one half hour session with the pro to identify why I was slicing and it fixed my problem. Slicing is (typically) one of the easiest corrections to make with a little time and money for a lesson.

Golfsmith, Golf Galaxy, most major golf stores - --- and many of the larger general sports stores (such as Dicks Sporting Goods, etc.) have launch monitors. Although...I'd recommend staying to a golf specific store. It shouldn't cost you anything to get some stats off the launch monitor (mostly swing speed) and to set you up on a lie board to check the lie angle of your iron(s). It would be good information for you to have. What you do with it is up to you. My guess is, if anything, you may want to get your lie angle adjusted if it is way off. That is a pretty cheap correction. I think I recently paid $5 to have a wedge bent at Golfsmith

Just my personal opinion......fitting for higher handicaps is over rated. Will it help? To a very limited degree. If you are out of the ordinary on any or all of the these three, then yes, it will help: Swing Speed - if you have an extremely fast or slow swing, than you might want to check out a shaft outside of the "regular flex" area Swing Plane - if you have an extremely steep or flat swing, than a lie angle adjustment will help Height - if you are "in general" taller or shorter than average, than your shaft height can be affecting your ball striking. I'm going to make a generalization that I will probably get flamed for...... I think all high handicap or beginner golfers would do just fine with a standard (standard lie, standard height, regular flex shafts) unless one of the one of the things identified above is in the equation. Time, money and energy would be far better spent on lessons, or even at the driving range, than getting "fitted" for a set of clubs. As a high handicap, your swing will be changing and evolving. Whatever you get fitted for now, may not be your ideal set up in two months.

I have 8* of bounce on my 60* and find that to be just about right off of most lies. If I have to play off of a really hard lie (like a very dry, rock hard fairway within 20 yards of the green), I will bump and run it if I can. If I have to get over something and flop, I just make sure I make a steep swing and hit down on the ball to pop it up. If you are always playing on really hard surfaces, you might want to think twice about a lob wedge. Unless you are an excellent ball striker and have spend LOTs of time practicing with the lob wedge, off of hard lies it is probably going to get you into more trouble than it will help. But...to answer your question....I would go with 6-8* of bounce.