WillieT

@mvmac - Great read and excellent info all the way. Can see why my hand alignment has been all over the place. Not focusing on the grip first One thing I really like is the "green dot" illustration for properly aligning the right hand. I had read on another site about doing similarly using medical tape and a Shapie to mark an "X" on the tape. The premise is the same - getting the index/trigger finger 1st pad on the side of the grip. These two threads have definitely turned the "grip light bulb" on for me. I took this to my back yard practice area w/foam practice balls. Initial strikes were straight and farther carrying. Of course foam balls are not real ones, so it remains to be seen what will happen then. However both threads have provided excellent primer info to better grip technique at address.

@iacas You're right - its about having a "firm" grip that makes the hammer seem "effortless" because of strong fingers/hands. The parallel here is amazing (to me anyway) - as the club is basically another type of hammer driving a "nail", i.e. the golf ball into a theoretical "board", i.e. fairway/green and ultimately the cup. Therefore it makes sense about unequal grip pressure causing the soreness in the hands/wrists, as I experienced the same things when I was first learning to drive nails back in the day. At the recommendation of others, I picked up Hogan's book and have read/re-read the section on proper grip. I also try to spend about 30 mins at least every other day in the back yard hitting practice balls (when I cannot make it to a course to play or driving range) - always rotating between the woods - irons - driver - wedges - hybrids. Just as I learned how to hit a hammer or hit a drum / cymbal by developing proper muscle memory, the same goes with grip pressure, etc. I also play bass in our church band, there are times I can close my eyes and "just feel" where I am on the neck note wise without looking. My 3-yr old grandson can swing the club and consistently hit the ball while looking away - why? muscle memory. Therefore it stands to reason that proper muscle memory is what we want to learn ...whether its the swing or the grip or the ball position at address.

Was wondering about said "grip pressure" and how my own journey has been happening. Early on in thread I saw where MiniBlueDragon wrote " - The motion of hammering a nail. You grip the hammer enough that it doesn't slip out of your hand but don't grip it like you're killing it. You use your arm to begin the hammering motion but then let your wrist be loose enough that the hammer itself releases into the nail. - The motion of drumming. You grip the drum sticks enough that they don't slip out of your hands but not too hard. Your arms begin the drumming motion but your wrists remain loose enough that they can be 'flicked' to send the drum stick into the drum." Being someone who drove nails for a living back in the 80's before the advent of using air nailers, now impact drivers for everything and a life long drummer, I thought about how my hands grip and wrists work in relation to my club grip. Earlier this year, I was finding that at the end of a round or the end of range ball session my fingers were stiff like I had been gripping too hard. Of late I have become more relaxed in the grip area and have found my hands not suffering at the end of playing a round. If you grip a hammer with the right finger pressure and wrist action the hammer lands with full impact on the nail. Likewise a good drummer with great finger pressure can manipulate the sticks to go where they want with proper pressure to the head - smooth and glassy like jazz or rough and ready like thrash metal. All that to say, I believe I was holding on too tightly in the beginning and was feeling the ache in my fingers and wrists. Now I don't experience that pain but rather I am starting to understand what the club is telling me - the funky vibrations I feel when a shot is errant all the way to the sense of fluidity when all goes well.

I've tried taking the advice of many and tried to stick to just one ball type as that is when you will better know what the ball will do in a given shot. Being a newbie who was losing an average of half a dozen balls or more per round, higher end balls were not on the scope. Yes in the course of searching for badly hit balls, I found plenty of OP balls (ProV1's, ProV's, Chrome Softs, E6's, also less premium balls - Maxfli's, Noodles, lower end Titleist models, etc) that went in the bag only to be lost the same day or another day on another course. I've kinda settled on the Titleist DT TruSofts as I started on the DT SoLo's. (Hard to argue with a free two dozen that were a Christmas gift - when I wasn't playing golf). In the end, I have no real thoughts on what is a "best" ball for my game. I even tried Warrior's get two dozen free balls. Actually I am working through them at the moment and they do okay - decent distance and hold the greens okay. I wouldn't write home about them but for my game they work. Once I am through them and the current TItleist inventory, I will get more serious about what ball to play. Till then, I'll be one who plays whatever ball I pull from the bag that day......

To add to my story - about a month back, I was at the range when the local high school team arrived. Talk about wanting to feel intimidated, as I personally know a couple of the kids - who are very good in their own right. I kept swinging, taking a moment or two to watch youth in action. Toward the end I managed a few good drives to which they complimented me with "nice drive". It was a boost to my ego for sure, to which i promptly followed up that with a marvelous slice into the sideline trees.....which we all laughed about.

I find my range time not at all intimidating. My son typically goes with me and can easily drive the ball a good 30 yards farther. Does not pain me, but rather we talk about life, how a particular shot went, where to maybe make a slight change. I have gone by myself and spoken with other local golfers who are doing as i, just working on a part of their swing. Often they will shank one and make a comment along the lines of how they screwed that one up and then just swing again. The other day I was at the end of my bucket of balls when a guy walks up to take a few swings. He had bought a large bucket and politely offered me half the bucket as he said he would not need them. I accepted the "free" balls and we struck up a polite conversation about our games, where we live and our lives in general. He was about 15 years my junior and could smoke the ball. I would pause to watch his swing, admiring the rhythm of his drives and realized that he was just like me...an average Joe hitting a few balls. In the end I made a friend, had some good conversation about golf and got to hit about 30 extra balls! Oh and I love where I hit because it is real turf where you have to sand in the divots....

This thread interests me as I spend a fair amount of time making practice shots in the back yard. I can easily go 30 - 40 yards and if I include my neighbors hard (which has a large oak at the 60 yard mark) I can get some decent swings in. Of course I have several styles of practice balls to choose from - the foam dimpled balls that will carry roughly 60 yards with tail wind and driver. I also use wiffle balls the standard white ones along with some black/yellow ones that really show the spin. The latter are super soft and are great for tee shots against the barn with the driver. For all other practice, I have the real ones I can chip/pitch with in a controlled manner. Also the grandson (who is three) loves it when we can hit with hard golf balls in the back yard. Soon, though, he will be able to carry well enough that the only time hard golf balls will be used will be a the course/range. All that to say, the foam/wiffle balls are great for working out technique in limited space.

First bag has 5 dividers (now stores some older non-used clubs), second one has 14 (also holding not in use clubs) and current one is a Callaway and has 7. In all honesty, don't think it really changed my game. I have the current one set up - driver and putter each have their own, 3w & 5w share a cubby, 4h on its own, 6i & 7i share, 8i & 9i share with the PW, GW and SW all sharing. It makes it quick and easy to get to the club of choice and the weight is not bad. However, I am a heathen cart-rider - mostly due to the fact my left foot is missing everything from the toes forward due to a motorcycle accident in '16 and it does not like walking long distances any more.

Baw - wah - wah! That's a good one!

Thinking about it, the Silver Scots do allow me to mishit and still do okay. Case in point, the round we played Thurs from the white tees (6200yds), I shot a 107 - my personal best. Could have been easily under 100 except the greens had just been aerated and it was like putting on a huge corn cob of lump bumpy. What had me wondering about the Stratas is whether they would provide a few more yards of carry of the 845s and if the Killer Whale would have more carry than the r580. Oh well, as one once told me - its not the clubs but rather the hands in whom the club rests....

You are right, they are sold as part of a boxed set. I even asked if there were any other clubs and the lady said, "No, that was all they had." That being said, they are not as nice as the Silver Scots which were premium irons in their day. Loft wise Strata are basically one club stronger, i.e. where my 5i in the Silver Scots is 28deg, that is what the Strata 6i is. I was thinking that maybe until I get my game more under control, the Strata irons would be more forgiving. The plan is to play them next time I go out, hopefully a few range sessions before to get a real feel for them, just to see how they play. The end game will be to them as a "guest" set for that occasion when someone needs to come along and does not have clubs.

"baseball bat attached to a hose" - that's a pretty good one. Yeah, I know the prices speak for themselves but also know that at times they just put a price on it "hoping" to move the inventory.

At the local Goodwill yesterday and scoped some clubs in the corner. They had 6, 7 & 8 Callaway Stata irons for $4 ea, a Callaway Strata 3wood for $6 and a Wilson Killer Whale 10.5deg driver for $8. The last one intrigued me enough to just buy it for kicks and grins. I've attached a couple of pics of the head....from what I've read it seems to be a very low end driver at best. I am curious as to whether anyone has any experience with it and what their thoughts were. The shaft appears to be a stock Killer Whale men's flex unit. Compared to the stock TaylorMade regular flex shaft on my R580 it is rather "whippy". I took it to the driving range and hitting wise, it appears to carry about the same as the TaylorMade. Side note - I picked up the Callaways as I wanted to see how they compared to the Tommy Armour 845s Silver Scots irons and the TaylorMade R580 3wood I am playing right now.

Looking at these balls reminds of the myriad of "grinners" that are in the shag bucket of balls my friend gave me a while back. They were his father-in-law's from way back in the day. There are some long lost brands in there as well. Will have to take a few pics of the more interesting ones.