kilbyman

stiff is probably fine i think. it should be easier to hit straight at 93 than a reg. shaft, IMHO.

Didn't do too bad this time (in my view at least, compared to some of the rounds lately). Shot 109, in terribly soppy (can't hit out of the rough) conditions, so I won't kill myself. My buddy, who is a 19 HC, shot a 103. Anyways, I like the new irons a lot. Actually had some GIR's. Also only had one three putt. Still have to work on the ball striking, specifically this move from the top I have left over from my mindless hacking days. Basically, my shoulders outrace my hips to the ball (fat or thin shot) when I'm either tired or trying to kill it. Anyways, I practiced this a little bit at the range and had mostly positive results. And looking at the impact marks of the ball, with the fitted irons, I am hitting the ball in the sweet spot instead of at the bottom of the face. The i10's are surprisingly forgiving and have great feel for a cast iron. Too me, they are much easier to hit than the G5s I had (mostly because of the lack of offset). For my next range session, I need to work on my first move from the top. I'm pretty happy with the takeaway for now and the position at the top of the backswing, I just need to rehearse getting the hips going before the shoulders start turning, i.e. the bump or slide or whatever you want to call it. Leave me some comments! ~Ian

I don't think sean was telling the OP what to do, he was only relating his experience. I'd suggest the 4W too. If you want a good distance gap, the 4W would be ideal. I like my 4W (when I put a good hit on it, but that's true for any club, im a 32 cap).

Both drivers are good clubs, go off feel and performance. You won't go wrong with either of them.

I'm no expert, but based on the ball flight laws, your slice is probably not due to an inside out swing. Push slice to me seems like over the top + club face way open to start the ball to the right. I'm guessing in an effort to stop this you over-close the club face and come too far in to out, which results in the pull hook (again, according to my understanding of the new flight laws). You should look at the flight laws on this forum, and post a swing to get some help. But you should get another lesson or so if you are still frustrated.

Just got the irons today!

I posted pics in the WITB Photo Edition thread

Finally, my fitted i10's arrived today after almost four weeks from the initial order placement. They are sweet looking in my opinion (used to looking down on my G5s). I am excited mostly about the lack of offset, proper length and lie, and stiffer shaft, all which will help my iron game tremendously (I hope). I will post my first go at them (raining like crazy today and lightning).

Fat caused by too steep or too shallow or body being behind ball at impact.

I don't know about east central IN, but over here in Lafayette we can only use soft spikes. Metal spikes good for a green? I think he may be confusing metal spikes with aerating and sanding the green.

Hit a good 300 balls or so. Went through my home course in my head. Practiced everything from short little pitches with the 60* to drives. I'm realizing the "old" swing has been coming back a little lately. My old swing was go back super steep, mash ball from over the top, and send drive on a wild push slice. Trying to think "sweep" the ball to keep my swing flatter. This thought carried over well to all the other clubs in my bag, and helped my contact. I just need to ingrain the "new" swing into my muscle memory so I'm not stuck on mechanics when I'm on the course. The easiest way for me to diagnose that I'm going back to bad habits is the driver ball flight. Today I started with the push slice of doom. I need to pick up on this a bit better in my practice sessions. At least I have something to practice and a decent swing thought to carry it over on to the course. "Sweep the ball."

+10000 A lot of the shifting back stuff is confusing to me personally, and whenever I try to shift my weight back on purpose through a turn or whatever, I always feel stuck. This is really good advice. If the hips don't move backwards, you should be in a good position to strike the ball.

I've played the course at least a hundred times. So playing to learn on my home course isn't quite as important any more. I'm going to shoot for the hit 2-3x as often as I play.

@ chef I'm 6' 2" So decently tall, an I'm hoping my clubs come in today (I'm using standard length G5s right now with tons of offset, which for me, means tons of hooking).

So for every 4 rounds of golf, I might go to the driving range once (membership makes course free, driving range costs money.) I'm thinking of only allowing myself to play once a week, and practicing ball striking on other days when I would be playing. Playing so much leaves me with frustration that I'm not improving on a round to round basis. Leave some comments if you want. ~Ian

As far as opening up my wedges, etc. I thought I was decent at those type of shots. Today proved differently.

What do you think as far as chips pitches, etc. do you think high cappers should use at about 20 yds in? I think I just get overwhelmed in these situations and need an easy to execute go to shot in these situations.

I just posted my last round on my blog. I just can't take care of the finesse shots,and whenever I seem to chip with a club like a 7i, I always hit it way too hard. Oh well, you guys can read that if you want then offer more advice :) I'm tired of playing bad golf with a decent swing.

Today was definitely a demoralizing day on the course. Every Wednesday I play in a 9 hole men's league, so I practiced some short game stuff and putting and hit some irons at the range and hit the course. It was definitely one of those days where you want to throw in the towel. By the way, as an aside, I haven't received my fitted i10s in my sig 3 1/2 weeks after I ordered them, but are hoping they come in tomorrow. Anyways, here's how things went down. Rating: 69.5 Slope: 124 3134 yds Par 36 Hole 1 Par 4 330 yds Drive right of fairway. Hit an 8 iron close to the green. Chip on and 2 putt for bogey. At this point I'm feeling pretty good. +1 Hole 2 Par 4 314 yds 6 iron off tee lands in fairway. 8 iron hit fat about 50 yds. Gap wedge to just off the left of the green. Chip runs off the green. Chip back on and two putt for a triple bogey. Yuck. +4 Hole 3 Par 4 355 yds Hit drive underneath trees just to the right of the fairway. Punched out with my 3 hybrid. Shot a PW and hit green, 2 putt for a 5. +5 Hole 4 Par 4 358 yds Hit 4W to 150. Top 7 iron into trees on the left. Hit recovery punch. 60 degree short of green. Chip on and 2 putt for triple again. +8 Hole 5 Par 4 406 yds The most difficult hole on the course (dogleg and very tough, tiny green). Hit drive a little shorter than normal, and wanted to hit the 4W to get on in two. Topped 4W left. Hit 6 iron short of green (was in thick rough and hit a little too much under the ball). This is when it all just fell apart. Full lob web shot short. Chip ran off the back of the green. Then back on to green on other side. 3 putt. 5 over leaves me with an incredible 9! +13 Hole 6 Par 3 188 yds Hit 4 iron about 20 yards short. Hit bump and run too long. Chipped to other side of green, and off. Putt on to green, then two more putts once I'm on the green for a triple. +16 Hole 7 Par 4 351 yds Decent drive. Chunk my 8i approach shot. Hit the left apron with the gap wedge. Putted to right next to the hole, but since the pin placement is on a steep sloping green, ball trickles off the green. Next putt from off the green, left it short. Two more putts for a triple. +19 Hole 8 Par 5 500 yds My favorite hole on the course, but not today. Great drive, hit 7i, 9i to about 20 feet short of green (9i from thick rough). Horribly bladed the chip shot 20 yds past the green, under a tree. Punched short of the green, chipped on the green, 2 putts for a triple. +22 Hole 9 Par 4 332 yds Easy, downhill hole. Hit pop-up with driver (hit ground before, probably due to aggression left over from last hole). Chunked 7 iron, hit LW just short of green. Chip on and 2 putt for a double. +24 for a horrible 60. Yuck. Please leave any comments that may be helpful, encouraging, or at least pity ;) Hole 3 Par 4

In my opinion, Pings have better feel than most cast irons, but that's just my opinion. And I would get fitted for lie angle/length, and get Ping to do the bending for you. They will do it for cheap and will color in the correct corresponding dot for your fitting.

I said no, but since he plays for the Cowpukes, every decision he can make is wrong anyways.

Thanks guys, I'll post my next round... maybe start a blog on TST. Now that I think about what I've improved upon and what I still struggle with, many of my poor swings come from the old habit of swaying my hips backward. I'm hoping the more reps I can get in without a backwards sway in the swing, the less often I will flub it.

I think it sounds great. My biggest problem now is just getting that second shot to hit near the green (no flub on drive or approach). The three-putting also needs to stop, I agree.

My problems are not that I am not a poor shot maker, and I can execute different types of short game shots when I need to. My strokes are mainly lost when I just absolutely flub a shot. Hit a fat shot, or shank a drive, or something like that, when my old habits seem to creep in. I feel like I have one flub per hole. And I have lots of three putts. It's just consistency across the board. By the way, the opened up pitch shot with the wedges is by far the easiest shot for me to consistently execute.

So played one 9 hole round with 5i idea, played another 9 hole with driver (used 4i, 3h, and 4w as well). Difference? 2 strokes -- 56 and 58 (2nd hole OOB due to some poor alignment). I also had 24 putts. Chipping shots were pretty good. Chunked a couple of full 60 degree shots (next time I'll just open up a PW and hit a pitch... same distance, much greater margin for error). Hit some irons off the toe and chunked the toe (still waiting on irons to come in-- playing with irons an inch too short and almost 2 degrees too flat). Can I be breaking 100 with the putting the way it is?