chilly

I'm not sayign the chart is wrong at all, but I'd say it's optimistic. Realize it's assuming perfection, 1.5 smash, spin, conditions, everything is good.......the 30yds of rollout indicates this. I think something a bit more real world, although obviously on the top end of the scale, is to find a tour pro that has a 280yd average and find his swing speed. Yeah, I know, tons of variables based on course conditions, how well he hit it, etc etc etc.....but that's the world we live in, variables. A tour pro is about as close as we're going to get to a "robot" hitting the ball, so just work backwards. Optimal, 105mph will get there. In the real world, I'd say 110mph is more likely to do it with any consistency.

Agree with a lot of what's been said here. Last year, a good drive for me was 260. Made some effort to crank it up a bit more. In a nutshell, made sure that I was "swinging" rather then "hitting" at the ball. Seems simple enough, but it's tough. In general, this will help you come from the inside and hit a draw, play looser, get more turn, and sequence the swing better. All the same stuff stated above. I also lost some weight, which helped with the flexibility. This year a good drive for me is 280, and I've had a lot more days hitting it consistently, had a few over 300yds in the right conditions. Not a big deal in itself, but the nice thing is I'm swinging EASIER to get there. It's less work, and a lot more accurate...that is the big deal. The other big thing, besides sequencing correctly and not coming over the top is not flipping. It's simple, if I flip a driver I'm lucky to hit it 250, and it's going to leak right. If I keep lag, it's going to be a good drive. The sound and feel when the ball comes off the driver with proper lag is awesome, get that "cracking the whip" sense and the ball come off low and very hot. Again, this is part of an easy swing, you can't lag when tense or coming over the top.

I agree to some extent. Granted, plenty of guys seem to "get it" easily, in my experience they're folks that were taught from an early age. Guys that started after highschool or college have a tougher time. Seems that most have an outside in swing, it is just more natural to turn the shoulders around the hips. In many other sports, you're taught to "hit" something. The "hitting" of the golf ball is a major issue for most players, learning how to "swing" the club is tough. I'm not talking about the group of guys on this board, I'm talking just going out to a driving range and watching people screwing around, the swings are awful...very very rarely hit with a draw....always concentrating on "hitting" the ball with barely any finish.

I'm not a big fan of gift cards, seems like a lazy gift. I think a set of knit headcovers is pretty cool. Lots of guys seem to like them, and they're in that "want to but don't need to" range where guys don't have them. http://rockettour.com/

Just relating a bit of experience. I recently, for a span of two months or so, lost almost 10mph of clubhead speed and started hitting a big cut off the tee that barely got off the ground at times. Swing just went to crap. Lucky to drive it 240. The thing is, it was pretty accurate, and I hit a bunch of fairways. Ball didn't go as far, so it didn't go as far offline when not hit as well...pretty simple. I shot 79 for the first time and dropped my handicap 3 strokes in that timeframe, playing 6600yd courses. If my goals were different, I could just say screw it and keep that swing, it scores pretty well. I realize that it has it's limitations so I did "fix" the swing here in the last couple weeks. To be honest, I couldn't handle being shorter even though I knew it was helping my game in some respects. If I didn't have the time to put in the practice and figure out what was going on, I can see how a guy would just stick to what works and just enjoy playing as-is.

Why would his hcp change, the course rating would change with the length, so he could stay the same hcp playing higher scores.

Selling a pair of nice used Titleist 909H hybrids. These are in 19 and 24* lofts, both have Mitsubishi Diamana Blueboard 80gram hybrid shafts. The 19 is a Stiff shaft, 24 is a regular. Both are in nice shape, just normal wear on the sole and face. They DO NOT have any skymarks or other major scratches. Selling for $50/ea, or will make a package deal for both for $90. [IMG] http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af215/chilly460/Sales/280_zpsb6c83c70.jpg [/IMG] [IMG] http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af215/chilly460/Sales/282_zpsa72bc849.jpg [/IMG] [IMG] http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af215/chilly460/Sales/283_zpse986cb0a.jpg [/IMG] [IMG] http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af215/chilly460/Sales/288_zpsaa042625.jpg [/IMG]

Because I want to read content relevant to the OPs question, instead of wading through a bunch of posts by guys saying something can't happen, just because they can't personally do it.

At least on the links courses I played, they would be among the slowest courses that you could play in this respect. Every hole is surrounded by the thick grass, any ball off the fairway is a search and rescue mission.

I did a golf trip to Scotland in late August. One of my big impressions is that at least in Scotland, in all aspects, people just have more of a "clue". They drive more aware, they walk more aware, they're more courteous...they just plain have more awareness. Ever stand in line at a fast food place for five minutes, only to have the person in front of you wait until they're at the cashier to make their decision? Stuff like that, just overall doesn't seem as prevalent from my experience over there. So, carry that to the course, people don't act like zombies on the golf course. They get to their ball, make club selection, and are ready to fire once it's their turn. Walking definitely helps this aspect. A big thing, I will say, is that the caddies don't put up with guys getting behind either. Ever notice how the putting green at a crowded course is always a clusterf***? Guys hitting to same cup as you, etc? Well, over there, it seemed guys just naturally fell into line where everyone would be following each other around the different cups then move along to the next so you didn't have these situations...little things like that. I played a round on Saturday and it was just unbelievable how slow the guys played for no reason, at one point there were three guys...THREE...with rangefinders on a tee. So two guys are wasting time instead of being ready to go. They'd both ride in their cart to every ball, instead of dropping a guy off and both hitting in sequence where it made sense...bad cart positioning around the greens...just plain frustrating to watch.

Why do these threads always devolve into a pissing match. Who cares if it's possible, or not possible, or if you think the guy is full of BS. Just move along, or help answer the question. Yeah, I don't swing 125mph either, wish I did...but I'm not going to let that realization push me to say it can't be done by anyone not on tour. I've seen a dumpy looking 5'10"ish guy wing it 124-125 on a monitor, as well as a college age "looks like a golfer" type. There guys out there in the general public that can do it. I'd say pretty simple, look in the WITB on longer guys on tour. Tour AD DI 7 or 8, RIP Alpha, Whiteboard, etc...all the usual suspects.

110mph SS is going to do 265 carry, 280 total on a good drive with proper numbers, maybe a tad more but not talking about 1 in 100 ballstrike here. I'm not going to comment on the swing, just on your request. Personally I'd say an Adams 9015D is a good choice, Ping i15 as well although it has a bit of a reputation for being hard to hit. If you want absolutely lowest spin, I'd have to say the Mizuno MP 630, I tried one and could only get knuckleballs, I swing 108-110mph and usually have to work with a relatively low spin combo to get to 2500-2500rpm. The Mizuno was dropping out of the sky with the stock Fubuki, it's absolutely a spin killer. I have a Fast 12LS but have been swinging like crap lately and can't really comment on it, although it has a rep as a very low spin head.

Congrats, that's a big accomplishment. Nothing prettier then a 3yd draw on a high 7iron!

Have you tried Spring Creek? I haven't been to many Cville courses, but am pretty familiar with the Richmond area. Independance is decent, Federal Club is outstanding if you can still get on (heard recently went back to private but GolfNow has tee times). If you want to go East, Vinaterra is outstanding, Mattaponi Springs as well.

Agreed, hit a lot of clubs recently and loved the CG 16 Tours as more of a players cavity.

I played Callaway i(s). Normally I play the less spinny type balls in the $30 range, NXTs, Trispeeds, Penta TP3s...etc...but picked up the Callaways for $36 at Walmart. I'm not exactly consistent enough to safe "positively", but have a strong suspicion that these balls are quite short for me. Irons came up short all day, driver felt behind where it should have been as well. They seem to spin quite a bit, sucked back a full PW a good 6yds...every GIR had the ball spinning back some amount. Found two drives that ended with the ball right next to the ball mark, I was hitting a Ping i15/Oban Devotion 7 combo, so doubt the driver is spinning too much. Ground was soft, but other guys were getting rollout. That said, I did shoot my career low round with the ball, and my short game was very good for me. Wish I had a better compromise. Another ball I recently played was the Bridgestone B330...felt like it was the opposite...very long. Had a few drives that were quite a bit longer then anticipated, irons were flying the target. I don't think it spun an exceptional amount around the green, but being a "tour" ball, I'd say it played about the same as my normal Trispeed/NXT type balls around the green.

Seeing other guys with multiple sets makes me feel a little better. I've been on a tear lately, finding some older sets for dirt cheap at Golf Galaxy Mizuno MX-23 3-pw with Dynalite Gold S300s Taylormade R7 4-GW with TT Black Gold Stiff Nike VRS_Forged 4-GW with Nippon 950 Pro HT Stiff Cleveland CG16 Tour 3-SW with TT Dynamic Gold S300 Ping i5 3-PW with ZZ65s Adams CB2 6-GW with TT Dynamic Gold S300 I don't have too much of an issue swapping between them so far, most except the Nike are D1-D2 weight so they feel similar. The CG16 are noticeably shorter then the others with more traditional lofts, but others are about the same.

Thanks, all! It's been a grind, and it was nice to finally have that one "good" round that validated all the practice. Now to keep grinding away and do it consistently.

Carded a 79 in Sunday on my "home" course, 72.3/127 6600yds, par 71. It's a very "old school" layout, walking course with parallel fairways lined with many mature trees. Tight fairways, and small greens, but not much opportunity to lose balls or go OOB often. Background is this is my third year (technically 4 I guess) really playing, just turned 37. Played informally, once or twice a year until 2009. Guys at work are in a monthly golf league, joined and shot a "generous" 117 first time out. Embarrassed by that, it was probably closer to a 130 but I had to pickup on several holes. Threw myself into it pretty hard, practiced once a week and played every two weeks that summer and had a 16hcp by end of the year. 2010 I joined a CC and played roughly 35 rounds. Took two lessons, and was a 12.7hcp, lowest round of 81, normal scores in mid 80s on decent courses I hadn't played. 2011 I basically didn't play golf, started a business and hurt my back, got out a few times but struggled to break 100 due to the back. 2012 started back to it, although I wasn't a member of the CC. Thought it would come back pretty quickly, but for some reason it's been a slow re-learning. Actually hit the ball great off the tee for most of the summer, worked on the swing and picked up quite a bit of consistency and distance....but...the rest was horrible. After a few rounds barely breaking 100, hcp was 19, I'm currently a 13.9 and dropping. Early summer was just terrible pulling irons on approaches, bad short game, blown holes....a mess. To fix this, been playing more and working on tempo and course management...swing is fine on the range but for some reason it's taken awhile to get it back on the course. Played in Scotland in August and learned the value of keeping it in the fairway, came home and started carding more in the 80s with a few 9s hovering in the 38/39 area with bad scores on the other 9. So anyway, took two lessons to start getting irons better.....but driver has gone to crap. Hitting weak fades now, 30yds off my average drive early in the yar, but they do stay in the fairway or first cut for the most part so they're not killing me. Shot an 89 on Saturday on a new course, 5 three putts and a couple balls in the fairway that were blocked out from an approach to the green...felt like a decent round but didn't score like one. Sunday I didn't hit the ball all that well, but didn't really get into trouble, no penalties...think I hit 6 fairways and 7GIR. Short game was very solid, putting was very solid with one lucky 45foot putt for Birdie on the day. One double bogey on the 17 HCP par 5, decent drive that trickled into a fairway bunker, punch out of bunker, then a dead shank approach into trees and ensuing mess. So, anyway, I don't feel like the game is anywhere near consistent high 70s at this time, but enough 38/39/40's on 9 that it can be with some more consistency. Sunday's round drove home the point of a good short game, which I've been practicing. I didn't hit it particularly well, but irons were good enough to hit a few greens and misses were good enough to give me decent up/down opportunities.

OK, M5 is basically XStiff. I think Accra play plenty stiff to flex, so definitely could be part of your issue. I have played too stiff a shaft at times, find that I try to jump all over everything because you can't feel the shaft flex in transition which leads to an over the top move...which could be why you're getting that weak fade flight. I'm not sure of the deal with fitters, but I'd think he'd have to eat the cost of the shafts (minus residual if he can sell them used), so I'd guess that's why he's hesitant to change. Did he not build a demo club with M5 for you, before building out the actual club(s) with that shaft?

I evaluated my crappy putting this year, realized I was looking at the putter causing all sort of issues. Started looking at the ball and putting immediately got better. Thinking on it a bit, it doesn't really make sense to look at the putter. When you hammer a nail, do you look at the hammer? When you hit a baseball, do you look at the bat? Etc...etc

What stiffness did he put you in? M4 or M5 I'm guessing with that SS. I play Accra's in my Hybrids, and just picked up a 3wd with an SC 75 M4 in it, I feel like they play pretty stiff to flex. I play M5s in my Hybrids for control. That said, unless they're just way off, I can't see how any shaft can cause that much inconsistency...

I play an i15 with 69S Axivcore Red, cut down to 45". Love it, best feeling driver I've hit, and for me it's the longest I've played. I play 9015d's as well with several shafts, i15 is longer on well struck shots. I do find it's tough to hit on "off" days, pushes turn into push fades and a lot of penalties off the tee. I'd say it cuts a draw/hook as much as any other open face driver, but as said, if you hit a block be prepared for trouble. I just picked one up with an Oban Devotion, can't wait to play it.

I have a backup set of R7s. I think they're a very nice set, forgiving, long, but setup fine and don't appear/feel like a SGI or bigger GI set. One thing I noticed, they are very light, which makes sense as they're listed as D0 swingweight on TMs site.

Not sure what you're looking at, but I'd say the majority of fairway woods are still steel. Taylormade R11 and Rocketballz are steel. Titleist 910 is steel. Cobra is steel. Adams Fast 12 is steel, only the XTD is titanium. Pings G20/i20 are both steel.