atm90210

my family i make the trip to gulf shores every year. my dad and i play golf atleast 3 times on the visit. our two favorites are peninsula and kiva in that order. we had a friend visit a couple of weeks ago and peninsula had shut down 2 of the 3 sides, you might wanna call and see what sides are open before playing. we played cotton creek last time which is a part of the craft farms resort and it was a great course, it will become a part of our golf trip. we liked glenlakes but the course this summer had problems and burned up pretty bad and it wasn't as good as years past, i'd drive by and check out the fairways on it before committing to play. my dad enjoyed the preserve at soldier's creek. i didn't like it so much b/c of the heat. it is inland and doesn't get any gulf breezes. we played it in the middle of july though. i'm sure it would be better at other times of the year. you might want to check out rock creek or something like that up in mobile. it is a part of the robert trent jones golf trail. we haven't gotten up there for the same reason of heat as soldiers creek. we have it planned for a spring trip sometime in the future. those are the main courses i'd say look into. there are plenty more like the state park and a little par 64 in foley. these courses normally are open even when rain shuts down most of the others.

i'm currently an 18 handicap. i hit a mp t gap wedge in black nickel, i can say that i have loved the wedge so much that i'm thinking of getting a sandwedge soon. i have never had any problems with the wedge in terms of hard to hit. my game is alright, and i consider myself a decent ball striker, i mainly have problems having all my game hitting together at the same time. i can even have back to back days where different parts of the game failed me. one thing that hasn't failed yet is how i hit the mp t wedge. it has become one of my favorite clubs along with my 7 iron and 5 wood. no offense to the above poster but don't think a certain club isn't for you to hit. go hit them at the golf shops, try and get a demo for the course and take it out, that way you can see how you like the club and make your decision from that. example: the golf shop pro told me that i would never be able to play the mp60 irons with my handicap and tried to steer me to other clubs. i didn't listen and took out as many clubs as i liked and could to the course. i ended up playing the mp60 club better than all but the ping i5s which he also told me i couldn't play. in the end, a great deal later, i am proud owner of mp60s and loved every minute i've been able to play. i can actually hit a 3 iron now which i couldn't with my old cavity backs, which has lead to early retirement of my early purchase of hybrids. my dad has even been on record saying that i've never hit a ball as well as i am now.

I would also add: tour edge and bafflers. my dad and i have had success with them for the most part.

i use to be a whatever works and fits price scale golfer. thus i had golden bear woods, tour edge hybrids, armour irons, cleveland wedges and a carbite putter. then i bought a titleist driver. ever since then i have been trying to get the feel that i have with my driver in all my other clubs. my next purchase was a cameron putter (the red x2 and have been extremely pleased with it, just wish i could afford a custom paint job, i'd like to see the red colored areas become maroon, can't help it, I'M A FIGHTIN' TEXAS AGGIE). i have also purchased mizuno irons and gap wedge. my next purchases will be titleist 3 and 5 wood and finish off the wedges with mizuno. so basically, i'll be brand loyal with two brands.

i picked up the mp60s last summer. on the iron cover question, i keep them without covers unless i'm travelling. mine don't clank together hardly at all except during travelling. any other time be it on the course or in the apartment, i keep the covers off. when i clean them, i use a towel to dry them off and to get any debris that will come off. i then lightly use a nylon brush to clean the grooves. after that i use a microfiber towel to wipe them down to get anything that didn't come off with the initial toweling or brush. lastly, i take a silicon like clothe you would use on guns or fishing reels to "polish" them off. i've done this after every couple of rounds and the clubs still look like the day i picked them up from the store. good luck and congrats on the great purchase. don't forget to have fun when on the course.

hello everyone, for the people who wear adidas golf shoes, any opinions of the adidas powerband golf shoes? i played soccer from ages of 4 to 18 and wore adidas the whole time minus one season diversion to nike. i loved the adidas soccer shoes and can't imagine that the golf shoes would be a lower quality than them. my biggest concern is durability and comfort. i am on my second pair of footjoys e-comfort shoes. with my swing and footwork, i tend to put a lot of pressure on the outer sole of the front foot and end up pulling the sole from the rest of the shoe. the adidas shoes caught my eye b/c they seem to not have the same type of attachment to the sole as the footjoys do. the footjoys i have a very comfortable until they start to break down about 6 months of wear. i have also looked at the tour 360s but i don't like the color combos in them. i'm trying to stay away from anything with white as much as possible. i've had white and they started to require lots of care to keep looking white. i've had brown and black shoes and really loved that i didn't have to wipe them down after every round. thanks for your help.

i have a 3 and 4 iron hybrid. i actually use the 4 the most. i find the 3 only a specific situation club. i'll hit the four pretty much anywhere. i've used it for chips where there is a lot of green to roll, in the trees to punch out, from the rough and it is about the perfect club on most long par threes that i play. i'd try to get the store to give you a demo in the 3 and 4 from the brand that you like the most and take them when you play and hit a variety of shots with them. see which one is most beneficial to you and go from there.

the MP60s are pretty forgiving and have minimal offset. I haven't tried the 67s so I can't give any thoughts on how the 60s feel vs. the 67s.

i have done something very similar. i started playing golf with my dad's hand me down lynx blades. i got really really good with them and then my dad talked me into getting cavity backs to help with those few errant shots but keep the good shots. i played for 5 years with cavity backs and never felt right. the only way i could tell a mishit was when walking to the ball and not having the distance i was expecting. my cavity backs hid any mishit. anyways, with cavity backs my handicap actually climbed higher. with the blades i consistantly shot in the mid to upper 80s. this past summer my handicap and scores moved into the upper 90s region. i bought a new driver that summer, after i dented the face of my old one. the new driver i liked and eventually bought was a titleist 905T. all of a sudden my feel started coming back. then, my irons really started bugging me, since i would have good drives and good putting but i still couldn't start scoring. i started shopping around for some new irons with the disapprovement of my dad. to get him off my back, i tested both cavity backs, along with the muscle backs and blades. over testing and retesting, i settled in on the mizuno mp60s. the sales clerk, my dad, my dad's playing partners all told me that i couldn't play the mizunos. they reasoned that the forged heads and blade like set up would cause my game to shoot higher. well, i bought the clubs and did have a rough couple of months while getting used to them. i played my dad last month for the first time since december, and beat him by 15 strokes. when leaving the course, he apologized for doubting my club selection and said that my game has never been better. he said he saw shots that i haven't hit in years that day. needless to say, i am pleased with my selection. but like others have said, golf is a personal sport. what works with one person won't always work with another. i suggest no matter your handicap get the clubs that feel the best for you and keep you happy while on the course.

well voted and then read the question in the post...so i have to change what i voted. my dad and his golfing group would say i'm like the pre-major winner, phil. get in trouble and try to do too big of shot instead of playing safe. can't say i dont' disagree with them, like tin cup said about a defining moment, "either you define the moment or the moment defines you" and i didn't come out here to lay up attitude. i'm always attacking even if my game doesn't really amount to that mentality but that is how i always played sports. if i could have any golfers game: it would be a tie between adam scott and ernie els. even if they aren't playing their best i still love watching them play. i honestly wouldn't walk a tourney to see phil or tiger. i'd follow one of these guys around. maybe someday i can make a tourney where they are paired and i wouldn't have to try and jump around the course. i'd second the motion for payne stewart. he is one of my heroes and not just with his golf game.

i recently hit many clubs while upgrading from my oversized game improvement irons. here are a few of my thoughts quickly, if you want more info than i give feel free to email me with your questions and i'll try answering them if i can, justinbwyatt@gmail.com . titleist: 735s - loved the way they look and thought the technology of a cavity back working down to the muscleback would be exactly what i was looking for but when i hit these at my local golf shop they felt clunky and almost too much "feedback." i could never get the feel i was wanting from these clubs. 695s - probably more player's club than you are looking for but these felt like butter compared to the 735s for some reason. i liked the 695s better than the 735s. these were the only titleist clubs i hit. cleveland: cg4s - never liked the way they felt when i was swinging them and hitting balls so i didn't hit them much. mizunos: MP-32s - hit them a bunch, liked the way they felt but i couldn't get a feel for the clubs the more i hit them, basically they got worse as i hit them. MP-60s - these are the clubs i ended up getting. they feel great. i hit them near the start of my swinging and after trying all the clubs that i was interested in, i went back and hit my favorites and still hit these great, took them to the range with the other two clubs i wanted to test and these outperformed them by far. now, i can say that they aren't always easy to hit, if my swing is taking an off day, i can have problems as they aren't as forgiving as a cavity back. taylormade: rac LTs - they were my next favorite club i tested. i really liked how they were forgiving but still a little workable. would have gotten them but i found a deal on the mp-60s that help settle the deal with the buying. pings: i5s - liked them, very forgiving and a better club than i was hitting at the time but i hated how they ballooned on me pretty often which is why i didn't like my old cavity backs. had a buddy tell me after i bought the mp-60s that i probably needed an even more stiff shaft than what i was hitting. he plays the i3+ and he said they had him hitting the "stiff" shaft and it was ballooning really bad too and he asked if they had a stiffer shaft and they put him on another "stiffer" shaft and now he launches the ball, still high but it is penetrating. to add to my thoughts, everyone who has hit my mp-60s from seasoned golfers to beginners like them and said that they are easier to hit than they would have thought for a muscleback "players" club. if i were you, i'd just go to a shop that has many different clubs and hit as many of them as possible and do it more than one night. i kept going back about once a week hitting clubs and whittling it down each visit until i got down to the pings, mizunos and taylormades then took them all out to the range and a round of golf. after that i had in mind to buy either the mizunos or taylormades. then while returning the clubs a man walked in and wanted to trade his mp-60s in. he claimed that he couldn't hit them after two rounds and wanted to look at clubs again. the shop after he left told me that they were gonna give a good price since the clubs had already been fitted and played. i got them to check my fittings with what the clubs were and i was basically a perfect match which i thought would be right since the guy was basically my same size and build. anyways, hope this helped some and i'm willing to try and remember more specifics if needed. good luck. forgot to add that i'm a 19 handicap, my approach game from inside 100 yards gives me fits along with those stupid blow up holes and probably that walking the course in 100+ degree Southeast Texas heat and 90 percent humidity.

i went through a similar experience recently. my cavity backs where giving me fits because i could never "feel" a bad shot just saw the results but not having a clue why it was mishit. i went and tested a whole lot of clubs. everything from cleveland to titleist. just my experience was this: titleist: great clubs, lots of feel, i actually hit the 695MB better than the 735CM, the 735s just felt clunky to me for some reason. clevelands: couldn't hit any of their clubs for some reason callaways: never felt any hit, hit the xtours or whatever the newest forged club they have and all i can say is i hit a six iron ten times straight and ten times it hit the top netting everytime before it even hit the back wall. taylormade: loved the rac LTs, forgiving, gave pretty good feedback and was priced well ping: hit the i5, liked them alot too. my only problem is on the range i lost tons of distance b/c of ballooning of the ball on every shot mizunos: hit the MP-32 and MP-60, hated the way the 32s felt on mishits, but fell in love with the 60s, 60s have feel and forgiveness. in the end, i chose the Mizuno MP-60s b/c A) loved the feel B) bought a slightly used set (played twice) for a good price and they turned out being almost an exact match without any tweaking by the club fitter. when i upgrade my irons after the 60s wear out, i will look at mizuno again. in closing: i like mizunos or the titleist clubs the most if you are looking for a feel club and wanting a little forgiveness. these are just a few opinions. if you would like more details, i would be glad to give you some, just shot an email and i'll reply with everything that i can specifically remember about each club i hit.

i hate people who do this. i play mainly on a college course and as a single get paired up with guys who will play out a hole and hit it 8 or 9 times then at the end say that was a great bogey. i even played a tourney where one guy said he was a 8 handicap. he was put into my foursome as one of the better players. My dad (27 handicap), another guy (legit 4) and I (19) carried the guy for the entire round while listening to the guy while he complained of an off day. my next time out i called him, and he magically shot another 125 and couldn't for the life of him figure out why. i just laughed most of the round and kept playing. no offense to the state of oklahoma in this story but you have to know the guy. One guy in my dad's playing group is a huge oklahoma pride guy. he will constantly fudge his score on every hole. he has had times where he wouldn't even putt the ball down for a legit double or triple and tell us that he had a par. well, now we officially call a double an oklahoma par. it irks him all the time but he deserves it after constantly talking up oklahoma football while living in the state of texas playing with aggies and horns. just a few thoughts but yeah unless they are just learning and need some mercy, i hate people who lie about their scores. especially when i'm playing a round of the lifetime and he gets in a has a score 10 strokes better than me when i finished every hole before the other guy.

I've never really had any bad injuries just soreness and the occasional ankle tweak b/c the rough is hiding that nasty hole you never see until you hit it. But my dad on the other hand has problems about once a year. His biggest is what a lot of people call tennis elbow. he will be playing great then try and make a shot he shouldn't and he ends up dropping the club and grabbing his elbow in pain. He normally continues to play but his game just goes after that shot. He won't listen to me after he does it and continues to play weekly and only taking advil and icing every so often. then he will get out on the course and it will start hurting and he whines. the funniest part is his playing buddies start calling him old and telling him he should sell his clubs. when he is hurting, he loses distance and will decide to lay up instead of going for it sometimes and his playing partners then tell him "we didn't come out here to lay up, if you want to lay up, you need to pick up a sport like badmiton." of course, he listens to them and kerplunk into the water and they all laugh. sometimes i think they enjoy watching each other blow up instead of scoring.