Paulbee

Bad shot with driver is a hook. Doesn't happen too often now thankfully, but when I do get one pear shaped it's a hook.

Center shafted putters tend to be face balanced. If you have a straight-back-and-through putting stroke, face balanced makes more sense. Closure rates on face balanced putter are lower, so they suit straighter putting strokes better.

I usually go up half a size for Adidas. I think the insole patterns they use are a bit tight. Nice shoes when you get the size right. For straight out of the box comfort HiTech does it for me. Very, very comfortable shoes. I prefer to walk wherever possible and my HiTechs have never let me down. They do have some slight issues with the sole nubs on some of their designs. Not overly hard wearing. For comfort though, excellent.

It's always a good 4-ball. Bunch of mates that have been playing a regular Sunday match for the last 20 odd years, so we do know each other pretty well. As you can imagine, no young bloods in this match-up. Typical warm-ups consist of groaning and mumbling about high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, bad backs and the number of pills we have to take just to get out of bed in the morning. All a wind-up of course. The lowest I've ever been was 1, one of the other guys played County golf in his day and the other 2 have both been around the scratch mark (or there of there abouts). No long bombs anymore unfortunately but stick a wedge or putter in our hands and we're good to go. We'll get them come Sunday, then it will be their turn to feel violated.

Welcome to the rest of your life. A life full of frustration, agonies, enduring friendships, amazing memories and humility. You'll never be alone as even in the furthest flung corners of the globe, somebody, somewhere will be playing the great game. Now in my 64th year of playing the game. Yes, it's been frustrating at times, agonizing at others. On the whole though my life has been enriched through my experiences on the course. My outlook on life has improved and I've been fortunate to make some true and lasting friendships. Welcome and may all your balls be long and the rough just out of range.

I've got a few, foremost of which is: Slow Play We all start out somewhere so I don't have any gripes with beginners who are taking a lot of time but NOT being slow. You expect beginners to take some extra time as they will play more shots and probably lose a few. My slow play gripe is with golfers who take 8 practice swings on the green (yes, we've got one of those). People who unnecessarily pace out yardages to the greens (like for the majority of golfers it really makes a difference if it's 145 or 147 to the pin). People playing badly but still refusing to let anybody through. Worst slow play gripe: People who don't play a provisional if their first ball might be lost.

Funny thing was we played quite a good match. All off the stick as we're all pretty much the same handicap. Our better ball was 3 under. I suppose you can argue the rub of the green either way, but it would have been nice to get a better bounce here or there. Another go on Sunday so we might get our own back.

One of the great things about golf is you always get a chance to do to them what they did to you. It's a regular 4-ball, so pretty sure I'll get my own back. Funny game sometimes - it's not meant to be but sometimes it is.

Six chip-ins, yes. Pretty much getting to the stage where they would be lining up a chip and we'd be almost giving it to them. Should have seen the way the day was going to go when they holed a bunker shot on the first hole for a half. My partner was sitting a foot from the hole. Great day's golf, don't get me wrong. Always a fun 4-ball, but yesterday was just plain silly.

Well if they'd done this a couple of years ago it might have been Laura Davies bringing up the rear.

Played a 4-ball better ball yesterday. Royally stuffed, 3&2. Opponents were 7-under better ball. They played well, so deserved to win, but... Only one of their birdies came with the putter. All the rest were chip-ins which hurt. We'd be sitting around the hole with birdie putts, seemingly to win the hole and bang, another chip straight in the back. Our win putts were suddenly for a half. Hole starts to look a bit smaller. Great crack with a bunch of very good friends and an enjoyable day's golf. Still sore though.

Most things usually are and it's the simple things we seem to spend most time on. Loads of fun though.

If you can hit a dependable fade, stick with it. You'll be in good company: Hogan, Nicklaus, Woods - to name just a few. I'm not a great fan of clubs which are biased - as in offset drivers. That's just me though. Anybody with a bad slice will benefit from an offset driver. Just not for me. Like I said, I haven't hit the G15 yet. I did like the R9. Don't worry too much about being "back in the regular bracket". I hit a ladies flex shaft in my driver because it's the best fit for my game. No pictures on score-cards.

Played a few stunners in my time but if the good Lord only ever lets me play one course for what few years I have left, I'd go for Santiburi in Chang Rai, Thailand. Robert Trent Jones design and when you see it, you know why the guy gets the big bucks. From the moment you drive through the front gate it's just stunning. I've played it 30 times plus and have never been let down by the condition or the general atmosphere.

I haven't hit the G15 so no real opinion on that one, but how many really bad clubs have Ping come out with in the last few years? Not many. I liked the R9 with the Motore. Changing the shaft orientation around is a good idea and it works. You can come up with a setup to make the most of your normal flight without taking away the other side. Grab a bunch of drivers from your proshop and hit them. Choose the ones you like the best and see what shaft specs they have. That's the spec band you want to be looking at on your new driver.

I did like the R9 / Motore combo when I tried it. It's not the "real" Motore, it's a proprietary for TaylorMade but a very fine shaft indeed. Not to say the Reax is a slouch, but I liked the Motore a bit more. 3.5 - 4.0 is a good band to play in. Keep in mind new weave patterns mean modern shafts are much more playable in higher torques than even a few years ago. Having said that, I think the 5.8 deg. would be a bit on the soft side. Keep the launch in mind as well. Distance with modern drivers comes from high flying, long carrying drives. The Motore has a lovely piercing flight that just seems to keep rising. Quick drop-off but plenty of carry.

2.9 degrees of torque is pretty low. Very low in fact and it takes a very long, smooth swing to load a shaft with that kind of rating. With a shaft like that you'd be looking at a carry of around 220 - 230 yards to manage it. That's carry, not total. General rule of thumb is too much shaft will leave the club head open, encouraging a slice. I say general, as it's not 100%. How the shaft is presenting the club head has a lot to do with where your load is coming. Is it a gradual back and through or are you loading the shaft in one big burst at the end? See if your pro-shop will let you try some drivers with different shafts. Even playing partners will usually oblige. Not during a march of course, but try a few combos and see which shaft feels best for you. Then check the specs of the shaft in question. I'm betting it comes in at something like a 3.5 - 4.5 degrees of torque and is a regular flex.

I'll go with Nicosia Golf Club. Built by the UN on the old airport, you play over the runways. The "not so fair" fairways are covered in cap rock. The greens aren't, they're browns. Browns are a mixture of sand and oil. They used to use old sump oil, but due to the environmental issues they've switched to cooking oil. Every time you get close to a brown you get the munchies. I hit a 500 yard pitching wedge there once. Playing a 150 yard par 3, hit the wedge, coming down just short of the brown (you can't play for the browns - the ball just jumps off). The ball hit a patch of cap rock and bounced 100 yards over the green, hit one of the old runways and just kept going. Terrible place, but infinitely better than no golf at all.

We play one of these at the start of every season here. Usually go with the 19 deg. hybrid, 7-iron and 56 deg. wedge.

Both versions of the R9 have the movable shaft but the 460 doesn't have weight ports. For what it's worth, at a recent demo day, my preferred combo was the 460 with a Motore in regular. If your pro shop carries both, hit them in as many shaft combos as they have. Standard shafts from TaylorMade are the Motore and an Aldila Reax. Which weight V2 are you playing. These came in 3 weights and torque ranged from a manageable 3.7 to a very low 2.2 degrees. That's a lot of shaft to manage and takes a lot of effort.

One of the great points of this book is the section where he discusses set make-up and equipment. I have the 1972 edition, so page numbers might not tally but here goes: Page 51: "One thing I always advise is to use a club with a shaft a little bit whippier than you might want it to be. The big idea is to have the club working for you, instead of against you" Page 50: "I am definitely of the opinion that there is bound to be growing and well-warranted popularity of 5-, 6- and 7-woods among the vast majority of golfers" Plenty of other bits stand out. Yes, some of the instruction is a bit dated, but his general overview of how to make the most fo what you've got is still 100% relevant. Great book and one which has stood the test of time well in my opinion.

Just got back from Scotland where I took my grandson to University. He's just started his degree course at St. Andrews (lucky twonk) and I got back with a rather nice bottle of Aberlour which is just begging to be cracked.

Retired tool-maker. Used to tool jigs for car manufacturers. If you ever bought a Fiat with leaky panels - nothing to do with me. I worked for VW

Seen a couple of references to shafts and tip-stiffness in the thread, which is sound advice, but not carved into marble. Yes, rule of thumb is stiffer shafts favor a fade, but there are exceptions as where the shaft is loading comes into play as well. Somebody has suggested ball position in your stance which is as good a starting point as any. Again, rule of thumb is further forward in your stance will promote a fade, but again, exceptions exist. Experiment a little bit with where you're positioning the ball at address. A driver with a touch more loft might also help. Let us know how you get on

I'll go with Jack for the time being. It's always difficult to compare players from different eras as the only thing anybody can do is be the best on the day. As far as rating anything goes, then Major tallies is probably the best yardstick, in which case I've opted for Jack. Will Tiger surpass Jack's record? Not a lot of doubt in my mind at which point his claim to being the best ever will have a measurable yardstick. Also little doubt in my mind that Jack would have won majors in the Tiger era and Tiger would have won majors in the Jack era. Great players are great players, equipment not withstanding.