WillieT

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.

Many thanks for the correction. I meant to say the heel and somehow got to thinking toe instead.

This thread has helped me tremendously - more to analyze what I am doing all through the swing. Today I went to the range (for $10 I get a couple of buckets of balls and no pressure) to "track" what is happening on the driver face. With the trusty can of "spray foot powder" I get soon, certain and positive feedback. Likewise I employed the "empty ball sleeve box" ahead of the tee to make sure I was on the upswing in my drives. I practiced the drives in groups of five - looking at not only the impact zone on the head but also the flights of the shots. I've attached a couple of photos of the driver head to show how this is a good indicator of where I am hitting the ball in relation to the club. One thing I have found is that I was setting up too close to the ball as a number of drives are off the heel area. A few simple adjustments now has the ball doing a slight fade (starting left, coming back right to middle of target area). I am looking forward to the next round to see how my score is affected. Side note - when I was looking at the pictures more closely, it appears you can see how the ball "wraps" around the top of the club head reflecting the compression we have all seen in the other videos. As you can see there were some "toe" shots but with each strike I was able to make an adjustment in my stance that afforded me to "learn" where to be to make better contact. Still more to learn....

This topic has become my focus of late. I have historically either sliced/push-fade most drives. On occasion I will drill it down the fairway - straight as an arrow. Ironically, I typically hit the hyrids (3-4-5) with dead on precision. Fairway woods are usually pretty straight away as well. My irons are decently straight - unless I get in a super hurry and I flat out make a bad shot into slice land. I have been doing a mental review of what I am doing and one thing is certain, with the way the hybrids are built (TourEdge GeoMax 3h & 4h, Nike CPR 5h) at address my hands automatically set-up with a flat left wrist. I find that in the swing I work to keep the hands in that format and the ball rockets on toward my intended target. After reading this thread and other info spots, I am thinking I have found a key to my "erratic" drives. In replaying my drives in my mind, I am 99% certain on most (the ones that go from fades to out and out slices) I am cupping my left wrist in hopes of "knocking" the ball farther down the line. Likewise I have noted how "high" the ball flies off the tee on those shots compared to the occasional drives that go straight - they launch and head higher but do so more gradually. I am looking forward to getting back on the range to verify my "findings." Willie T

Love that analogy! Then again I've never been a Corvette person. I tend to be somewhere in between a Corvair and Corvette in design tastes and influences. One look at my current golf bag testifies to that - TaylorMade R580 Driver, 3W and 5W woods; Tour Edge GeoMax 3 & 4 Hybrids; Tommy Armour 845s Silver Scot 5 - 9irons along with matching P, G, & S wedges, Odyssey Putter. I am a mutt when it comes to golf.

Thanks guys - figured it may have been a "newer" club in the hodgepodge bag. As it is 2nd tier stuff from MacGregor at the time, does that mean it was not a playable design. I love the design of the club head itself - simply stated and not a lot of fancy markings. Any thoughts on playability, etc. as I am hearing it isn't among the collectibles of the golf world.

In the hodgepodge of old clubs in the bag there is one that intrigues me most. Mainly I have not been able to garner much info about it. The one example I have is a 4iron. All I can see in terms of identifying marks is the MacGregor raised logo and the word Tourney in the sole. (see attached pics). Any input into where this was in the MacGregor family would be appreciated. The iron hits well and I really like the looks of it.....checking sources such as Ebay tends to yield a club or two from time to time, so I am not sure how popular this club was.

Getting Introduced: I had been around golf growing up as I had a couple of uncles who played at the local country club. I recall having an iron or two at home with a couple of golf balls we would hit back and forth. Still no real interest. In the late 90's a friend gave me his old set (a mix of Spalding, MacGregor, and Lynx irons and "real" woods). My joy at that time was to take varying irons to the local softball outfield where I would try to hit the balls to a given spot. I quickly learned I had a lot to learn. As I was not in a place where I could get on a course, I chose to put the clubs back in the back till this past summer. My FIrst Real Time on the Course: Fast fwd to around '09 where I went on a company trip that included a team building exercise involving best ball play with some very good players. I was the "D" player though I felt more like a "Z" as I had no idea of what I was doing. The exercise playing the back nine and I had fun slicing, hooking and worm burning the ball. When we were thru, my boss and a couple others wanted to play the front nine. I was asked to join if I wanted. I said I would like to as I was starting to get the itch. I was totally dismal on the drives and after the 2nd hole, a friend offered to let me play his tee shots. I politely declined as I wanted to do well, he said that I may want to use the 3 wood as it is easier to hit. The next hole I nailed the drive and I was hooked. By the end of the round, my friend Rudy said I had learned more in those 9 holes than most learned in a life time. I told him I was "retiring" as I would never be better than that day and I did not want to spend a fortune trying to get there again. Now: This past summer our church's men's group started having a monthly 9-hole best ball outing. My 2nd oldest son wanted to go, so I drug out the old starter set complete with the real woods and dry rotted grips and away we went. The foursome we were in included a couple of course regulars so we followed their lead. I truly enjoyed the day, more because of my time with him than anything else. Yet I still remember the 8th hole where the magic happened. My tee shot was the best, my approach put us within 15' of the hole and I was the only one to make the hole in one putt. As one of the guys said, "You truly owned the hole". I was hooked on the enjoyment of the game.

Interesting insight and makes sense. This would make sense why the trend appears to be using wedges in lieu of irons on bump and run/chips around the greens. And as JxQx said, more and more folks tend to want to up and down the ball onto the green rather than roll in. Also as I was comparing lofts of irons these days - my 9i is 44* (its an early edition TA 845s Silver Scot) and I have seen current 9 irons in the upper 30's (which is between my current 7i @ 36* and 8i@ 40* (again TA 845s Silver Scot). So it makes sense - with improved greens (as compared to the original greens of long ago where bump and run was a necessity on approaches), better club technology - it becomes easier to see why "bump and run" is a fading skill whereas chipping with wedges is the norm. Good talk folks, thanks for helping this newbie learn a little more about this game.

Thanks guys for clarifying the terminology as to what is a proper bump and run versus a routine chip shot and it makes perfect sense. You have given me inspiration to work more on my 52* wedge work. I am going to do more research on "bump and run" shots to see how they truly work.