Smiffy

I got fitted for some Mizuno MX200's a year or so ago, results were telling me that I needed 1 degree flat. Having spent a year not really getting on with them I recently swapped out for some new Ping i15's. The online fitting suggested I needed 2 degrees upright!! Went to my pro who had some i15's in stock and I purchased them. Black dot, regular everything. He said to try them for a month or two and if I wanted anything altering to go back and see him and he would sort it out with Ping. I've been playing them for 2 months now and won't be going back. I hit them beautifully, much better than my Mizuno's. I was pushing the Mizuno's when I got them. Everything was going right. Which indicated to me that they were too flat. But what do I know?

Played on Sunday, course I hadn't played before. Lovely 18 holer up on the top of a hill with turf to die for. Blowing a gale though! Got to the 15th, par 5 down wind. Decided I wanted to hit my 3 wood to get the ball up in the air a little and let the wind do it's work. Topped it about 100 yards.... Second shot had a good lie, decided to knock my 5 wood down the fairway, topped it again... This left me about 190 to go, and I flushed my 6 iron (first time out with my new i15's). Absolutely nailed it and it ran on to the green finishing about 3 feet from the hole for a birdie and 4 points!

Walked into the pro shop on Thursday, came out with a brand new set of Ping i15 irons 4-PW. 56/10 TOUR W on order. Hitting them for the first time this morning...

Does anybody know where you can buy Ping wood headcovers with a "sock" attached for protecting graphite shafts? The ones that come standard with Ping woods over here are next to useless as they offer no shaft protection whatsoever. Thanks in advance Rob

Not all the time. I have it on the strictest authority that a couple of them shaved

You'd love the 16th at Carnoustie. 245 yards Par 3, stroke index 13. It's great playing it as a 12 handicapper

Another thread asks the question "Jack or Tiger. Who's the greatest?" The example above gives a clue as to why I answered "Jack"....

Up until about a year ago, I always used to carry. Much preferred it. Even 36 holes. But 25 years of playing football (soccer) had not done my knees any favours and I found as I got older that my golf was suffering towards the end of the round due to them aching like mad. So about a year ago I invested in an electric trolley, and find that my golf has now taken on a new lease of life. I no longer get tired towards the end of the round and I can honestly say that it has been the best £200.00 I have ever spent on the game. Given the choice, I would still rather carry. But unfortunately, the choice has been taken away from me.

Will let you know later. Monthly medal in an hour.....

Depends what you are trying to achieve.... Reduction in handicap? If you hit the ball reasonably well, practicing and improving your chipping and putting combined with good course management will see your handicap come down fairly steadily. New clubs won't do this. New clubs will make you feel good because a) You've spent some money b) You feel that you will play better The honeymoon period will soon fade and you are back to square one within a couple of months. Shortly after I first started playing, I went through a slump with my driving and iron play. Couldn't hit toffee. Tried all different things and it made no difference. So I practiced my short game. It was the one thing I could do where I saw an improvement. And I started winning games again. My friends couldn't believe how one minute I would be out of a hole but was suddenly back in it because I had chipped very close to save par or even chipped in for birdie. And my confidence grew again. And then my long game came back! My handicap dropped from 23 to 14 in a few short months. I kept the same irons throughout. Set yourself a golf, say getting down to 15 handicap. And when you've reached it, then treat yourself to the new irons. You deserve them....

Having lessons always messes you up to start with. You stand on the tee where once upon a time you had no thoughts in your head other than to smack it up the arse and get it down the fairway. Now your thoughts are different. You've got things to think about that the pro has told you. You're not sure of where the ball is going to go, you're not even sure of your swing anymore. I guarantee it will get better. You are just experiencing the storm before the calm.

Ping G15 Driver....£210.00. Things are a bit more expensive over here

Have you checked your alignment? My address position was progressively getting more and more closed and I found my irons in particular were going nowhere compared to a few months ago, and my divots were aimed sharp left where I was having to cut across the ball to get back into an impact position (of sorts). I spent a while on my alignment and things seem to have got back on track for the time being at least. It could be any number of things as have been mentioned, but check your basics first. Rob

Look at this from another viewpoint..... You are about to tee off with some friends in a threeball. You notice there is a fourball waiting to tee off behind you. Would you worry about it? No, because you would expect to pull a hole or two ahead of them fairly early in the round. They shouldn't bother you at all. In fact, if I was playing in a threeball match and didn't pull a hole or two out on the four guys behind within about 5 or 6 holes I'd know something wasn't right. So why should this fourball be penalised or pulled up for falling behind a fourball???? Hate to say it, but if I was in a fourball and we were pulled up by a ranger for falling half a hole behind a three in front and accused of slow play, my 7 iron would likely be shoved somewhere where the sun is not going to shine.

Winter golf in the UK sucks. Soaking wet fairways and temporary greens? Horrible mats to tee off from? Frozen fairways and greens with balls bouncing 20 feet up in the air and finding bushes they have no right to find? Break out the Monopoly.

Been struggling the last few times out. The swing hasn't felt right, lack of distance with my irons, drives which were normally dead straight were either pulling left big time or I was hitting big blocks right and during a game last week I had lost 3 balls before I even stepped on to the 5th tee... I've played loads of games where I haven't even had to hit a provisional, let alone lost a ball. Something wasn't right and I felt like chucking it all in for a few months. Played with a couple of good friends during last weeks round and they both commented that I was standing quite closed at address. I hadn't noticed it, but they had. So I spent a long time on Saturday watching videos specifically aimed at alignment, trying to remind myself of what I should be doing. Didn't get a chance to practice before Sundays game but made a deliberate effort when I stood over the ball to line the clubface up to where I wanted to go and then set everything up square from there. Simple thing I know, but sometimes it's the simple things we forget. Result? My best round for absolutely ages. 37 points with 4 "blobs" (N/R's) two of which were due to finding greenside bunkers on par 3's that saw me thinning shots out of due to lack of sand in them. Only two N/R's were due to bad drives, and even then I would have taken the bad ones during the previous round on the Thursday. My divots with my irons were going nice and straight again, rather than showing and out to in swingpath and the ball was pinging off the clubface. Two birdies and my playing partner (who plays off 3) was basically a passenger as we beat our opponents 3&2. Not bragging here, but just a reminder to check the basics. The fault had obviously been creeping into my game over the past few months and I hadn't even noticed it. Feeling a lot happier and now looking forward to getting out again rather than dreading stepping onto the tee...

The only G15 club I have in the bag is the Driver, and I haven't checked this out against the Rapture. Mine was a direct replacement for the previous G10 model. The G15 is taking a little more time to adjust to than the G10. Despite what my pro (and others) say, the G15 does seem to sit a little more closed at address than the G10 did. I'm finding my bad shots with the G15 are straight pulls, whereas the bad shots with the G10 were fades. Same shaft, same swing (I think) so it's got to be the head, hasn't it???

You'd be surprised how many guys on the internet can nut the ball 320 yards plus with their drivers....until you actually get to meet them and play with them. But of course, they are having an "off day"

This article might help a little bit in explaining the effects of torque... http://golf.about.com/od/faqs/f/torque.htm Hope that helps

If you want to have a fairly "high" trajectory, go with the Ping shaft. If you want a slightly lower trajectory go with the Seranno. If you want to go slightly lower still specify the Prolaunch Red from the WRX options list. I find the standard Ping shafts to be a little too "whippy" for me. The torque figure relates to the shafts tendency to twist during the swing. The lower the figure, the less "twist".

With a good strike I normally carry 160'ish. MX200's with Nippon NS 950GH in regular. But usually I'll fat it about 50.

I used to play with a guy who came out with some brilliant lines. Like you hit a horror shot off the tee. You come down about an inch or two behind the ball and fat it up in the air about 30 feet. He'd say "well you did have a bloody awful lie" Or you do an air shot and he'd say "you can see why this is stroke index one" One day he did an air shot on the first and turned round and said "my home course is higher than this"

Played a lot of nice courses over the 20 years I have been swinging the clubs. Some you will have heard of, others are courses that I've just stumbled across on my travels and they've turned out to be "hidden gems" that I would certainly travel back to play anytime. But if I had to pick one course out as my "favourite" it would be Carnoustie in Scotland. http://www.carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk.../course-video/ Absolutely fantastic course that can have you smiling from ear to ear one minute and then vowing that you are going to be selling your clubs the next! Played it one year, we were in shirt sleeves on the front nine, turned for home and the tide had turned...blew a gale, chucked it down with rain, and I swear the temperature dropped all of 10 degrees within two holes. Party of 8 and the worst score on the front 9 was 15 Stableford points. Best score on the back? I think it was about 8!! The back 9 is tough at anytime, but I've never played a course with a tougher 3 finishing holes...ever. Not the prettiest place in the world, some would call it bleak and ugly. The prettiest goes to Pitlochry, again in Scotland. http://www.pitlochrygolf.co.uk/index.asp But if I had one game of golf left in me it would be played around Carnoustie, preferably on a sunny and calm evening with the skylarks singing. Heaven.

With your handicap of 12 I wouldn't worry about it. If you are put in a group with 3 other golfers, the chances are you'll be the lowest handicapped player there....

I can almost guarantee it's a small piece of adhesive (used to stick the shaft into the head during the manufacturing process) that's broken off inside and is travelling up and down the shaft. Happened to me with a Callaway driver and my current "reserve" Ben Sayers Driver is the same. Nothing to worry about, just a minor irritation. Your club pro could take the grip off and shake it out, putting a new grip on afterwards. Would only cost a small amount I guess. I have heard of some pro's heating the heads up so that the adhesive becomes tacky again and it re-attaches itself but I'd rather go for the grip off, new grip on method myself Rob