WUTiger

Dump the 2i and keep the 3i. To get extra distance, hit a draw with 3i (you can hit it both ways). And dump 3W for 4W. The 4W is more versatile... can you hit it off the tee if needed? You were Mr. 4W in your Tour Edge days... ================= And, what is the deal with the PW and AW? The AW goes almost as far, even through it's 5 degrees more loft? Is the PW damaged? What is the distance gap among the wedges? ================ New business: Is you daughter old enough to play golf yet?

Ping tinkered with stronger lofts in the 1980s. Stronger lofts emerged in the 1980s with Ping when Karsten started producing perimeter-weighted irons: the good news was they got the ball up a lot better than blades of the era. The bad news was they flew about a half-club shorter than the blades. Sensing that golfers didn't want to hit the ball shorter, Ping strengthened the iron lofts about 2 degrees to hold the line against distance loss. But golf marketing went overboard on this, and started the arms race toward the 200-yd. 7 iron. The last few years, clubhead designs with polymer inserts and flexing faces that launch the ball higher link to stronger lofts, again, to maximize both launch angle and distance.

Best thing to do would be go for a fitting. See what the numbers say, and how each feels to you. I hope my sig line doesn't seem confusing. For the past few years, I have been playing both Callaway and Tour Edge. My last three drivers have been Callaways. The past two seasons, the Exotics XRails and the Callaway Alpha 815s have been competing for the FW slots. And, my last iron set before the Exotics CB Pro Tungstens were Calla X20 Tours. Although I really like the Callaway wedges now in my bag, somehow I have an Exotics 46, 50 and 58 leaning against the wall at home.

No. The QB pairing is a curious mix: #10 Ta'Amu Jordan (6-2 | 221 lbs). from U. of Mississippi (Ole' Miss) #4 Nick Fitzgerald (6-5 | 227 lbs.) from Mississippi State The two started against each other twice in their annual Egg Bowl. In 2017, Fitzgerald went down with a leg injury in the first quarter, and Jordan hit for two long TB passes in the second half to spark a 31-28 upset of 16th ranked MS State. In 2018, Fitzgerald and crew struck back for a 35-3 trouncing of Ole' Miss. Styles: In 2018, Fitzgerald passed for 1767 yards (51% completion) for 16 TD and 9 Ints. Also rushed for 1121 yards and 13 TD, 5.1 YPC average. In 2018, Jordan passed for 3918 yards (62% completions) for 19 TD and 8 Int. / Also rushed for 342 yards and 6 TD, a 2.9 YPC average. ================ This year Jordan has been a better rusher than in college, and is a solid overall QB. Fitzgerald comes in on short yardage, either pounding it ahead or flipping a play-action from the Wildcat. Curiously, the BattleHawks offense reminds me of an SEC team: Power running and zone reads, mixed with play-action and screen passes. In case you're wondering... I'm a Mizzou Tiger fan!

Went to the St. Louis BattleHawks XFL home opener on Sunday. Among the things you can't bring into the stadium: air horns and selfie sticks. (BattleHawks defeated NY Guardians 29-9!!!).

lefty, Are you trying to convince me or yourself? I have a slight potassium deficiency, and without some sports drink at the turn, I tend to get crampy on the back nine. I draw upon 50 years of golfing and caddying for my statement. (After a multi-decade layoff from caddying, I caddied at a hot summer LPGA tournament in 2017). If you want water only, go for it. Just stay out of my way when I snag a bottle of PowerAde from the passing beverage cart.

MyGolfSpy has an interesting piece on Tommy Armour golf clubs. It covers before, during, and after the 845 irons surge of 1987-1994, and recent efforts of Dick's to return it to respectable brand status. The Story of an Icon: The Tommy Armour 845s | MyGolfSpy The original Tommy Armour 845s was the ulimate one-hot wonder. It was a household name, but ultimately led to Tommy Armour's demise.

I drink extra water the night before, and take a potassium pill in AM. If it's a two-day tournament, I drink no alcohol between rounds. On course, I start off with water from my blue reusable bottle. On the back, I drink some GatorAde or PowerAde, and eat a Cliff bar at the turn. Without the sports drink, I risk getting crampy in legs and forearms. Don't tell me to eat bananas, they give me an upset stomach. And, your framing of golf as not strenuous exercise is highly misleading. It may not be as strenuous as weightlifting, but it is sustained exercise over several hours. I work with a marathon runner, and he says athletes need electrolyte replenishment for sustained exercise over two hours, as sustained water-only flushes electrolytes from system and can lead to cramps.

I have heard of some courses requiring people to wear closed shoes out of risk management. Wearing shoes supposedly protects people from fertilizer burns or absorption of chemicals if the foot has a cut.

I went with single focal-length (distance) polarized lenses. My first set was basic tinted which didn't always work well. I had times on cloudy, rainy days or early evening in summer when I had trouble seeing the last few holes. Polarized adjust, basic tint doesn't.

You are correct, Shindig! The online ad mentions (Headcover included) for the D, FW and H.

I am going into my ninth season with some sort of 4W + 7W combo. The 7W goes about 190 yards: it is great out of rough, the fairway, and off the tee for longish par 3 holes. I also use a 4H that goes about 180-185, but launches lower. Some pros who use the 7W: Jason Dufner carries a 21° Titleist 915F Keith Mitchell carries a 21° Titleist TS2. Scott Stallings carries a 21° Titleist 917F2. Stallings said this in a Sept 2019 Golf Digest article (p. 36): "My 7 wood is a more versatile than a utility iron. I can hit it high or low, and the height on full shots into par 5s is so helpful, especially when you're coming in from 240 to 260 yards. I've found a utility 2- or 3-iron doesn't stop very well from that distance." Tommy Fleetwood, Bubba Watson and Marc Leishman also use a 7W on occasion.

A long time ago, I hit a tee shot and snapped the steel shaft of my driver about 6 inches above the hosel. I got it reshafted with a True Temper tipped for S-flex - same as original shaft. But just for fun, I had the clubsmith butt-trim the shaft for 46", about 2.5" longer than standard. Good news and bad news. The good news was that I could hit that shaftier persimmon driver a long way, about 270 yards on solid hits. The bad news was about a third of my tee shots went a long way into the woods, in some cases requiring me to chip sideways back to the fairway. After two months of fun and fizzle, I had the clubsmith trim the shaft back to 43.5". I found a lot more fairways the following season. Takeaway: longer shaft better for distance, shorter shaft easier to control. Challenge is to find the happy medium.

This would be more for mid to high HDCP golfers, and players who struggle with ball height. Some players do better with long irons or driving irons, especially if they have high clubhead speed. Final test: do hybrid and iron side-by-side and see which works best. Also, Michael is talking about traditional hybrids, not iron replacement hybrids (matched to an iron set). Revisit our 2016 thread for details:

Ralph Maltby recommends that golfers have variety in their wedge bounce. If most wedges are medium bounce, have a high bouncer to increase shot options.

With a 43.5* PW and a 49* AW, next could be a 54* or a 56*. You would need to see what the yardage gap is between PW and AW, for both full and partial shots. Then a 54* or a 56* might fill the gap. Will you hit full shots with your SW? Some golfers do, others don't. Make sure first of all that the SW gets you out of the sand. As David noted, LWs can be rather difficult to hit for many golfers. Unless you have the lob gift and can do wonderful things with it, you might wait a season to put it into your bag. LW is rather odd club, and takes a lot of work to master it. Any chance you can hit some wedges off real turf at early demo days? JC, you mentioned you had trouble getting spin on the ball. This could result from the type of ball you have (distance balls harder to spin), or how you hit the ball. You might get a short-game lesson if you haven't had one. I played golf for 20 years before I got my first short-game lesson, and learned a lot.

@ncates00 Thanks for the Trackman chart. I got an early-summer tune-up on my existing driver, and the pro emphasized launch angle and spin rate.For some reason, I was coming almost flat -1* to +1*, and was losing distance over last year. And, not much rollout which was unusual for me. He had me move the loft up from stock 10.5* to 12.5* (max), and brought my hand position back about two inches to my belt buckle at setup. Also, he had me focus on extending up through ball. This increased my launch from about 11* to 16*, trimmed off some spin. I began getting carry out about 210 again with decent rollout, and my consistent draw returned. For general planning, there's a dynamic relationship among clubhead loft, clubhead speed and launch angle. So sometimes it's not just clubhead loft and shaft. Setup flaws and arrested release can also cause problems. The last two tend to show up as inconsistent ball flight patterns.

The consistent distance gaps despite loft gap variance can be tied in part of clubhead design. Unlike some models with tight loft gaps at long end, Z565 does not mess around with shaft length. Some models going from half inch to 3/4 shaft length increments at long end. This messes up some who play long irons because of the uneven shift in length. Srixon makes excellent irons and gets overlooked somewhat because not all major stores carry them. You shortened your swing? That's the best news I've heard since you agreed to stay with Sweet 16 in clubs!!! 🙂 Final sentence says it all.

My area's weather has limits on golf. For example, you can't post scores for HDCP from November through February. HDCP postings aside, there's usually a few days a month during winter when you could go out and play. Big limit: the course doesn't like people slamming irons against frozen turf and damaging the grass roots. With simulators at golf shops, you can always rent some launch monitor time when its snowy outdoors. This is a good time to spend a half hour focusing on just one aspect of your game. I'm usually a little sore and tired after tournament stretch, so a break is welcome. Also, I make sure I get my income tax done along with any recycling, etc., so I can play once the weather warms up.

I attended a GolfWorks school in 2012, and since then I have dealt with them mostly on golf shafts. The GW/Maltby telephone service people are well-versed in their products. They give especially good info on the different shaft models and how they compare with each other. If you have a question, call them on phone and talk to them. Hear for yourself.

Ping first encountered this with its Eye series perimeter-weighted irons. They launched better than other irons, but ended up a few yards shorter than competitors. So, Ping strengthened lofts to prevent ballooning and to hold the line on its distances. downbl, in your case get some launch monitor time and see what your distances and ball height actually are. If your ball flight it good but your 7i is 10 yards shorter than your playing partners, so be it.Along this line, get a ball fitting to see if you could find more carry from a different dimpled orb. Also, especially with forged irons, get a loft-and-lie check to see how close to spec the irons are. Forged bend out of spec easier than cast, which often have harder metal. A collegiate golfer who plays forged irons says she gets a loft-and-lie tweak before the seasons starts, and then again before summer tournaments. You can always pick up a little distance with driver and FWs to get you closer to green before approach shots. As far as new irons go, this could depend in part on your physical age. If you are in your early 50s, check and see if the shafts from 20 years ago are as helpful as they need to be. If you are fighting the shaft, a reshaft or getting new irons (with shafts you need) might be in order.

If you have little background on golf, the best move is to find a golf clinic for beginners. These sessions take place once or twice a week, and get beginners introduced into the game. Little chance for embarrassment since everyone is a newbie. You will get separate sessions on putting, chipping, irons and woods. Often the clinic organizers will provide clubs for those who have none. During the clinic, you can get advice on starter sets. ---------------- As for the £25 vs. £400 for driver, not a very good example. Some super cheap golf clubs are knockoffs - inferior design and component metals - and simply won't work very well regardless of how much you develop your swing. And, plenty of good drivers hit between the two in price. Used clubs from a reputable shop are a much better bet. As for early fitting: get what's called a static fitting. The fitter checks clubs you like for lie angle, grip thickness, and shaft flex/weight relative to your swing speed and stance posture. It's hard to get a relatively stable swing without using the same golf clubs each time you play.

I've played some sort of 4W + 7W combo since 2012. Not only accurate off fairway, but 7W better out of rough than lower-lofted hybrid, and it can be used off tee on tight holes. Also, these PGA Tour golfers play a 7W: Jason Dufner carries a 21° Titleist 915F Keith Mitchell carries a 21° Titleist TS2. Scott Stallings carries a 21° Titleist 917F2. In a September Golf Digest article, Stallings says the 7W is a lot more versatile than a driving iron or a crossover.

I have trouble with objects damaging the ball during play. ... ~ Approach shot lands pin high 5 yards to left of green and bounces along cart path. ~ Punch shot bounces off metal stake marking Ground Under Repair near green, leaving mini-gash. ~ Ball rolls up against smoldering cigar butt on edge of fairway, spot-melting the cover. If the scuff will affect putting I retire the ball.

The local Amateur circuit plays a half-dozen events from May through September, and has its two-day Championship in early October. We usually get two or three rounds a year on private country clubs you might not get to play otherwise. I play in the Senior Net (HDCP) division. Lately I've been alternating heavy play and light play years (conflicting real-life events). I like the rounds because everyone obeys the rules, and the courses are usually in excellent shape for the events. One of the biggest thrills is when they announce my name and home club on the No. 1 teebox. (Just like the guys who play on TV!!!)