DCCarpenter

I played 9 holes at Walden Country club, I shot a 53. A passable short game would have made this a 45 or better. I had excellent approach shots today , I got a 9 wood yesterday and it played very well today. Also, lots of good 3 wood shots. Driving was acceptable on everything but the par 3’s, couldn’t hit the high dollar Ping G325 5W from the tee on those to save my life, out of bounds on each. This course has small greens and they are all elevated pretty much. I previously was playing at Hawthorne , Mellomar, and Chesapeake where I could chip onto the greens with my 7 iron and setup good putts. I can’t do this at Walden. Balls are running off the green , the elevated makes bump and run hard and chips don’t run up well at this course. It cost me 8 strokes today. I need to spend several large buckets of balls drilling my 60 degree , it is the wedge I feel most comfortable with. I need to learn to pitch.

I saw a set at Golf Galaxy and they felt really nice, what flex shaft did you get? I might grab one of their individual irons from 2nd Swing to give one a try.

Had a surprising early end to the workday so I played 18 holes at Walden Country Club. I had been at the driving range with just my Ping G425 5 wood and 7 iron, weather was a sunny 52 and it was only 1:45 so I decided to squeeze in 18. I bought a $5 persimmon 5 wood at Goodwill on the way and borrowed a putter the starter lent me from the abandoned club pile. I chipped really poorly, even though the 7i is my normal chipper, and still just missed 100 by a couple strokes. I probably lost 12-15 strokes from chips that went over the green or came up short. The 5 woods were really solid from the deck and the Ping 5 from the tee was a monster it made 2 200 yard carries over water for me. I'm going to give my pitching wedge an audition for chipping duties after today's performance from the 7. I could have scored 90 if my chipping was at the level it was last week. I managed a birdie and pars on all the par 3s..

I spent an hour each of the last 3 days working on ball first contact off the deck, mostly with my 7 iron but spent some time with the new Ping G425 5 wood today. A 120 ball bucket each day at the range. Making great strides with the 5 wood, not hitting the 7 fat anymore but still working on trying to get a better release/weight shift for distance.

Thanks a lot for the info those courses all look great, I'm going to try Charleston National I think. It looks like a good challenge for me from the white tees but with chances to make par.

I played 9 holes at Mellomar on a windy day, I forgot my driver at home while reorganizing my bag as well. I shot 51, I had two pars and two single bogeys and the rest were blah. Once my back started acting up I was struggling from the fairway,. I was trying to play the fairway with my new to me Persimmon 3 wood which went well on the first few holes and really not well on the Par 5 / long par 4 where I struggled to get distance and just ground balled it. I had 3 penalty shots for shots in the woods I couldn't find, without the blanket of leaves I might have had a punch shot out if I found the ball. My putting was really good, no 3 putts and I sunk a 17' for par and my lag putts were tap-ins on 4 holes.

I took the Persimmon 3 wood and the Wilson 7 blade out to the driving range and to play 9 holes. Results were a bit muted because my back has been bothering me but neither were unplayable. I didn't notice a huge difference between the 7 iron blade and my old Alpha cavity back 7 iron. The Wilson 7 iron is about 1" shorter than the Alpha and has a different loft as Bonvivant mentioned. I would say I hit it about as far as my 9 iron. The Alpha has a graphite shaft and the blade has a steel shaft so there is that difference going as well. My miss is usually to top a shot or hit it fat rather than be off center so if a shot is going to be bad it'll be bad with the blade or with the cavity back it seems. I've used the alignment tape and sprays and I'm pretty good making contact in the center. The Persimmon wood was going well off the tee and deck for the 3 or 4 shots I hit at the range each way with it. I started strong off the deck at the course with it but I think as I got tired and eased up due to my back bothering me my results fell off a cliff with it. With the steel shaft on it I've got to be fresh and feeling good , much like my utility iron, to use it properly. Even before I got tired my Ping G425 5 wood was outhitting it distance wise , about 10 yards more on average I'd say.

I've heard Ocean Course is super hard, I was thinking my 26 handicap self might just embarrass myself on it. Any experience with it or the other courses on Kiawah?

Which of the munis did you mean? Do you think it'd be crazy crowded on an early December Friday? I've been looking at course maps and the Wild Dunes Links course looks nice as well as Summerville Country Club.

You may want to try the Ping G425 too, I am a new player and I don't have a very high swing speed. I got the G425 5 wood last Saturday and I was very impressed. I made several shots over 200 yards with it which is great distance for me. They had a lot of shaft options including light weights and flexes. I can only imagine the driver is of similar quality with a lot of options. I bought the 5 wood new but I have bought a bunch of my other clubs noted as 'used' from Second Swing golf and can tell you the ones that had a 9.0 rating still had plastic and had never been used.

I just started playing golf this summer and had noticed a bunch of references to blades and persimmon woods on the forums as well as several people mentioning Goodwill had golf clubs. I had to see for myself what both played like. All this spurred my first ever trip to a Goodwill on my way back from work today, I picked up a Wilson 7 iron blade and a Wilson 3 fairway wood for $4 total. It was getting dark when I parked at home but I really wanted to try out the fairway wood, I teed up a ball and launched one into my field (thankfully I live on 10 acres). Impact felt good and it made a cool sound, I couldn't see where it went with the twilight but it felt like I flushed it. Anyone who played one of these fairway woods, what kind of distance did your average run of the mill golfer get on them? Any better or worse off the fairway grass than newer 3 woods?

I don't have direct experience with either driver but I did read yesterday that the Tour Edge is in heavy use on the PGA Champions tour even among players not signed to Tour Edge. I took that as a pretty strong endorsement of it. I bought the Wilson Launchpad Driver a few weeks ago it's not terribly expensive , I'm a higher handicap than you but I've liked it so far. It gets the ball in play for me at over 200 yards and I've even used it off the deck a few times from a good lie with success.

Thanks for the input. This grass was thick all the way around , I probably should have used my sand wedge which is a heavy blade style head and seems to cut through thick stuff well. I think using the 7 iron was probably a reach hoping for more yardage than I was going to get. I usually play solo so the info from better players here is appreciated.

Bill, do you usually use a iron , hybrid, or wood in this situation ?

I couldn’t figure out how to edit my post so I wanted to add I didn’t mean the normal rough right off the fairway , I am referring to super thick bunched together you can barely see your ball grass. It might even be weeds or some other kind of vegetation I’m not a lawn expert.

I was playing yesterday and twice found myself in thick 5” to 6” tall grass about 5 feet off the fairway. The ball was low , about on the ground. I usually use my 7 iron in this situation as I don’t tend to get much distance on these shots and they sometimes go disastrously with a 15 foot advance into the same type of grass. Should I try out another club the next time I find myself here ? Is a safe sand wedge to the fairway and accepting barely any distance to the pin gained the smart play?

Howdy, I’m visiting Charleston, SC for the first time in early December. I was looking for course recommendations for a newer player, around 100, that is still fun and interesting if possible. Happy to drive 40 minutes or so out to wherever I am playing. Cost isn’t really an issue I’d rather pay more for a fun round than pay less for a super crowded municipal course. If anyone wanted to play a round I’ll be playing solo and would be more than happy to meet up.

I played Walden Country Club yesterday and shot a 107. I put 3 of 4 water carries from the tee into the drink and was too strong on at least 6 chips and put myself on the opposite side of the green. I managed to stay out of the woods much better today. My lag putting is improving , I had several 2 putts that would have been 3 putts last month. After 4 rounds on this course if I took my best score per hole I would have a 90. I just need to put a consistent round together and I’ll have a score I am happy with.

I played Carroll Park , one of Baltimore’s Classic Five courses , for the first time after work. It was windy , 3 attempts with the driver got blown way off course. I ended up using the Wilson utility iron from the tee. I shot 53 for 9 holes including the penalties for the drives. I didn’t have a chance to warmup and really felt stiff, I think I could hit 45 or better on this course given another chance. I’m working in Baltimore all week and am going to try the other Classic 5 courses.

Wanted to give a little follow-up. I went through a extra large bucket at the range focusing on nothing but impact position, I did the towel drill to make sure I wasn't hitting fat. Most of my shots were terrible but at least I wasn't hitting fat. I made my only swing thought for the week getting the release right. I played a round 4 days in a row. I played 3 different courses all with nice fairways and saw an improvement each day. Yesterday I managed to hit the green in 2 on a long-for me par 4 with a 185 yard 4 iron from the fairway. I had never tried chipping before this week either, I had some good luck with low shots within 70 yards with the 7 iron rather than trying to pitch a perfect fly ball in with a wedge. Playing on nice courses actually made these shots worth attempting, the course with rough-like fairways and patchy greens don't make for much roll on a chip.

Surprisingly busy at my home course early afternoon today , wanted to play 2 balls but had to drop it after the 3rd hole. I had a one ball score of 50 for 9 holes. The wind was heavy and on the 3rd my soaring drive was going nice and straight and then blew 30 yards hard right , followed by a topped fairway shot and the hole turned into a triple. Another top on the 9th turned what should have been a single into a double bogey. Wind hurt my drives some on that hole too. Highlight of the day was a 200 yard 3 iron drive dead straight against the wind on the 1st hole. First time on the course with this 3 iron since a regrip and new shaft, it was a gift from a family friend so glad to have it back out. Just a 90’s Spaulding Tour Advance but cool to have it back out and hitting some fairways again.

I have never held a hickory club, how does the weight compare between one of the hickory irons and a mid level graphite shafted club ?

How was it playing a round with the hickories ? Big learning curve or just shorter ball flight ?

I’m new to golf in the last few months and my only previous driver experience was a older hand me-down. As in 30 years old or so. I bought the Wilson launchpad driver yesterday , the slice fighting model with 13 degrees loft. It is very forgiving , I was hitting in bounds shots in the 150-180 range on my first few shots , with no driver experience. By the back 9 I was making several shots over 200 yards . Today I was able to stay in bounds and managed a 250 yard shot verified by rangefinder and cart gps. If your having trouble with an older driver or don’t have one at all I’d recommend giving it a shot. I think they run under $300 new and this one was less than $175 as a pristine used one. It’s so easy to hit I might have been better off with the 10 degree loft one , I would have more rollout perhaps. Regardless I’m pretty happy with it , beats my previous 5 iron/5 wood drive strategy.

Thanks for the replies , especially Carl’s he summed it up pretty well. It was a combination of needing to recognize the different condition required a better focus and not having the best release. I was so annoyed at yesterday’s performance I booked a 8:40 tee time this morning on a nicer course that I knew would have pretty good fairways. Also did a range bucket beforehand. With a commitment to focusing on a later release I played much better , took many divots and was impressing the guys I was paired with through the first 9 holes. As this was my 6th straight day of 18 holes I hit a wall on the back 9, but it got my head in a better place. As an aside I bought my first driver yesterday , other than a hand me down ‘80s one I had played with a few times. Managed to hit 5 drives 200+ in the first 9 all in bounds and an additional 250 yarder.