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I wood really suggest a 4 wood with about 17* of loft. The loft will make it forgiving off the tee and easy to hit off the fairway. I personally play a Wishon MC949 4 wood with 16.5* of loft. Super easy to hit off the tee and has a really hot face. Not sure what your club preferences are but you can get a Taylormade R11 4 Wood for about $130 Canadian on ebay.ca

I keep track of my score, fairways, GIR, putts, Up & Downs, Sandies, and length of first putt using two lines on the scorecard. Score on first line with a superscript for number of putts. The arrow is for fairway hit or left/right of fairway. Second line is for Up & down, Sand Saves, and GIR. If you don't make your U & Down or Sand Save you draw a line through it. The number on the second line is for the length of first putt. If I have any penalty stroke(s) I put them in the upper left hand corner. I'm using Scorecard to keep track of all my stats. Really great program. Check it out at http://cynicalpeak.com/scorecard/

I'd like to see a "tournament ball" that goes maybe 10% less. That would roll the pro drives back to 275-285 for the big hitters. Still plenty of distance but makes a lot of shorter courses viable options for tournaments.

+1 Completely agree.

Adams F11. You can get new for around $100 on ebay. Adams offers a variety of shafts so you should be able to find something to your liking. Their "velocity slot" technology is one of the reasons Taylormade bought Adams this year (very similar tech to rocketballz and Taylormade wanted the patent that allows a slot on both the top and bottom of the club which Adamd owns). You get a lot of technology bang for your buck.

I've played Wishon for several years and am currently bagging a 949MC 4 wood and two 785HF hybrids. Tom Wishon makes great stuff and is truly one of the most respected designers in the industry. I am a hobbyist club builder and Wishon stuff is the highest quality available and is as good or better than any OEM. As others have said, it really is all about the fitting. Here's a video from Dana Upshaw who is one of the best in the business talking about what to expect from a fitting. Too bad Dana is in Atlanta area or I'd go to him for a fitting. I'd also suggest you look for a qualified fitter on the Association of Golf Fitting Professionals http://www.agcpgolf.com/locator/ I did a quick look and found this gentleman in IL. Larry Nee - AGCP Level 7 Qualified & Certified The Golf Club Builder Algonquin, IL. 815.529.8672 golfclubbuilder@yahoo.com Member: AGCP, GCA Wishon MOI Certified Wishon Gold+ Wishon MOI Certified True Length Technology Certified Fitter Eidolon Certified Master Wedge Fitter SMT Elite Clubmaker

You may have just discovered that you have the wrong driver. What kind of driver do you have( loft, shaft flex, etc)? Since you hit your 7wood with an R flex shaft well I'd make sure you have a similar R flex shaft in your driver. You also probably need more loft - somewhere around 11*. If you can really hit your 21* 7wood 200 yards then you probably have the ability to hit it 240ish off the tee with your current swing. Do you have a 3wood? Maybe pickup a 3wood/4wood similar to your 7wood. That should give you 20 more yards off the tee and they are much easier to hit than driver.

Good ideal. I added my favorite practice game - Up & Downs - in the comments section.

The misunderstanding of the ball flight laws really amazes me. I understand that people might have been taught differently 10, 20, 30 years ago but over the years we gain new information and need to update our models with current information. People used to think the world was flat. That model worked pretty well - for practical purposes when you navigate around town that model works fine. But when you try to explain things like sun rising/setting it doesn't work too well. The "old" ball flight laws worked in some cases but fell flat in other areas. The "new" laws work much better and apply to all situations. They've been proven using high-speed video, launch monitors, doppler radar. So now we have a much better model. And yet, knowledgeable, well respected people in golf refuse to believe it. It's like showing someone pictures of the earth from outer space and still argue that the world is flat. Simply amazing. Yes, Brandel Chamblee, I am talking about you!

I'd say every 2-3 weeks. A lot of it depends on how much time you have to practice. You want to have enough time between lessons to really work on what you've been taught but not so much time that you waste a lot of effort if you've strayed down the wrong path. HUGE +1000 on this. My son as a junior took lessons every week. He'd work on one issue one week, next week a different issue and by the third or fourth week we'd be back to the first issue. This cycle went on for almost a year. We never got the key issue straightened out as we did not just keep pounding away at it. Each week it was something different and we kept going around in circles.

One thing I forgot to mention is you will need some kind of base to stand on to bring you up to the height of the Optishot. Most use plywood and carpet or a matt. You can buy a special matt from optishot but it is pricey

Short answer: NO. The clubs have very short hosel and the fat shafts make finding a bending bar that will fit problematic. Even if you had the right equipment they would be very hard to bend.

I have one and like it. Hook it up to a projector and you have a fun simulator that *may* have some instructional/practice benefits. Good to do drills and get some feedback. I use it mostly to keep my swing loose during the winter months. PRO's Cheap! $400 is as cheap as it gets Decent set of courses that are fun to play Gives you swing speed, club path, and face hit data You can tweak club settings to get close to real world distances CON's It is NOT a launch monitor so you will not get that kind of data. Spend $15k-30k if you need that precision Lighting can be an issue - NO direct sunlight. Best in dim lit room with flouresent light Drivers don't always register well because you have to tee up high away from sensors. I found it easier to hit 3wood off a low tee and tell optishot I was hitting driver. Makes playing the courses much more playable. Additional courses like Pebble Beach are $50 each. Feel free to send me a PM with specific questions

The hardest thing about golf, IMHO, is that the smallest change can have a dramatic effect on your swing. Stand a 1/2" closer to the ball than normal and you may not be able to get the ball airborne. Strengthen your grip 1/8" and you may suddenly be pulling the ball. And so it goes... We have all been there - one day you're shooting the best golf of your life and the next you can't hit it out of your own shadow. That's golf! First thing to do is RELAX. The game isn't going anywhere. Take a few days off. The next time you go to the range your swing may be back. Second, I would invest in a camera capable of doing some high speed video so you can record your swing. There really is no substitute for being able to see your swing on video. "Feel is not real" and what you think you're doing and what you're actually doing are probably two different things. Post the swing in the My Swings forum and you'll get some great feedback on what you need to work on.

Really? I'm watching the LPGA right now and saying Johnny Miller during their swings starting the moment I see the club move. I'm just finishing John when they reach the top of their backswing.

Your front knee should remain flexed all the way through impact. Your weight should be on the center/balls of your feet. A couple of swing thoughts - you can try to 1) feel like you are crushing a can with your front foot to begin the downswing or 2) feel like you are driving your right knee towards the left ala Gary Player.

At Whistling Straits in Wisconsin they have a herd of black-faced sheep to help keep the course manicured

Not sure where I picked this tip up (could have been here or another forum) but wanted to pass it along. I've been having some problems with my tempo and with starting my downswing sequence correctly. In S&T; they talk about feeling like you're "crushing a can" with your left foot at the beginning of the downswing but that feeling has never clicked with me. Today I tried thinking "Johnny Miller" during my swing where: John = takeaway to top of backswing ny = setting club at top of backswing Mill = push down with the ball of my front foot like I'm trying to crush a can or squash a tomato er = swing through ball Hit tons of great shots using this thought including two of the longest drives of my life that we 25 yards past my best drives. Give it a try, it might work for you too.

Define "inexpensive". I play the Acer XC wedge and have been very happy with it. You can buy one for $22. I also hear very good things about the Acer XB. Take a look at Value golf http://www.valuegolf.com/custom-golf-clubs/wedges/

I'd go with the Top-Flite setup only because it is the cheaper of the two options. You're not going to get a great set at this price point but that's ok - they should be more than fine to get you started. Use the rest of your credits to buy some balls and you'll be all set. Have fun and welcome to the game!

So you want a premium ball at a non-premium price? I'd suggest looking at some of the "poor-man's" pro-v1's. Top-Flite Gamer v2 - very nice 3 piece ball, not quite as spinny around the greens but very good- about $20 Wilson FG Tour - $25 - Wilson Duo - two piece but long and really soft. decent spin around green. $20 Wilson Zip 302 - These are last years ball and are being blown out at $25 in 24 ball pack. I believe the Duo replaces it. Found a deal on these at the PGA Superstore for $15 for 24 so I stocked up

Definitely check out the local golf store for some used sets. Sometimes you can find some great deals at Play it again sports. Take a look at the Golf Digest Hot list from 2-5 years ago for some ideas http://hotlist.golfdigest.com/ For example, you can get some Adams A07os irons which have hybrids for the long irons for about $150 - 200 on ebay. These clubs were $799 in 2010 and made the Hot List Gold list http://hotlist.golfdigest.com/detail-exec/brand/2657/product_type/205/model/47648/b/Adams/p/Iron%20set/m/Idea%20a7OS%20Max

For the most part I just play my "natural" shot shape (a push draw) and not worry too much about working the ball. Hitting a draw or fade as your predominant shot is all about managing your misses. For the most part I know my ball is going to draw five yards so I aim 5 yards right of target and let it draw in. If my ball doesn't draw then I know it's going straight and will be about 5 yards right. The S&T; guys call this your "shot cone" and I know my ball will usually end up in this 5 yard cone. This makes it easy to manage your shots into the green and allow for your miss. For example, if the pin is cut on the right side I can't go for it because if it doesn't draw then I'll miss the green right. So I aim for the center of the green and if it doesn't draw my miss will put me fairly close to the pin. If you play a straight shot then your miss is probably going to be left sometimes and right sometimes - both your swing path and your club face have to be perfectly aligned for the ball to go straight. So how do you plan for your miss if playing a straight ball? You're not sure if it's going straight, right or left. This is why you always see the pro's curve the ball one way or the other - it's all about managing the miss.

Does anyone have any drills to get my arms moving faster. Took some video the other day and I'm back to my old habits. Can't seem to get my arms down and moving faster. Any help is very much appreciated.

If your losing more than 2-3 balls a round then buy the cheap balls and employ the 30 second rule. If you lose a ball, look for it for 30 seconds and then just drop another ball. You're only losing about 50 cents. Your playing partners will thank you. I got paired up with some beginning golfers this weekend. One guy lost a ball on almost every driving hole. I don't blame the guy for wanting to search for his lost balls, especially when you consider he was playing a $2-$3 ball. Took us 2 hours and 45 minutes to play 9 holes with the whole course open in front of us. Good thing the course was empty and we weren't holding anyone up.