Farm_kid

I think Danattherock, sounds very wise. I would follow his advice.

It sounds like you are pretty good. I don't think three years off is going to turn you into a 18 handicapper. I bet you will be able to hit any driver or iron out there. The rusty part of your game is probably going to be putting, chipping and pitching from 100yds in. It might be worth having a club fitter look at your mechanics and swing speeds. They can at least steer you away from the WRONG stuff, and you will still have plenty of options to choose from. So buy whatever looks good to you. Style, color, material, whatever. I think shaft technology is more important than the chunk of metal and rubber at the ends of the club.

I have the caddypatch which is reusable and it is not too bad. There are some other reusable types as well you could google "strike n swipe" They won't last forever, but they might be handy in some cases.

I don't know too much about antique golf clubs, but for most collectibles, ebay is as good a price guide as there will ever be. If you have an ebay account you can search recent sales. Now if you have ultra-rare, highly collectible stuff, then I can't help you much.

Harmonious, I really like the drill you suggest. I bet if you turned most drills into statistics and then tracked them over time, it really would make practice more fun. How about this idea (based on the ideas from above and combined) 10 balls 9 distances (Putts; 10', 15', 20', 25') (Chips; 10', 20' forward pin, 20' back pin, 30' forward pin, 30' back pin) The goal is to track how many up & downs you can get. For putting, the goal is to not 3-Putt! I think you would get plenty of short putt practice opportunities inside of 10' trying to avoid 3 putts and trying to get up and down. Time:?? Anyone have an idea on how long to putt and chip the ball about 180-200 times? You could use one side of a regular golf scorecard to record your results. Put a date on the card and use the same card for 8 practice sessions (4 practices on the front and 4 on the back-9)

Here is my thought for making it fun. Don't worry about the drills. Instead focus on the "experience" of being at the course. If you have the time, go and hit putts for 15-30 minutes, when that gets boring, then go check out the gear in the pro-shop for a little bit. Then go back out and chip until that gets dull. Then eat lunch at the food counter. Then go out and bomb a bucket on the range. Then go back in and watch the PGA tourney or golf channel chatting up with whoever is there. Then go back out and work the pitching wedge.

I read the book, but I am no experts instructor. From my understanding, the impact zone for the irons is a descending strike meaining the club impacts the ball before the bottom or low point of the swing arc. So what you are focusing on 4" in front of the ball is supposed to be that bottom or low point. Therefore with a sweeping swing on the hybrid, you don't want contact to be as much prior to the low point. You still want to hit the ball before the bottom consistently though, or else you lose directional control and consistency. I speculate that the "shape" of the hybrid sole helps prevent the golfer from digging into the turf since you are trying to "time" the arc bottom with the ball. I hope this helps, I could probably draw it easier than I can explain it.

I play with One Iron Golf. I think they are the perfect clubs for me since I don't play on a very regular basis. They allow me to gain confidence in my swing during a round of golf. I often have a better score on the back nine than I do on the front nine.

I am more partial to the Ping Zings that replaced the Eye 2s. But I don't think you can go wrong with any set of clubs from "Karsten MFG Corp." Made in the USA!!

I bought a box recently and played 18 holes. I lost a ball into a murky creek on my second hole and then played the rest of the day with one ball (16 1/2 holes). I thought it held up very well. No major surface cuts or scuffs. Maybe a couple dings in the cover, the kind that you can just scrape off the plastic speck with your fingernail. Greens were pretty hard and I don't spin the ball back very often anyway, so I can't comment on that area of playability.

That means his PW will go from 80yd to 100yd and he will have to buy two more clubs to fill the gaps. Marketing Genius!! Or he could not fill the gaps and not be a good short game player, that's always an option.

I like my irons for ease of play, but probably can't find them for the money you mentioned. They don't show up for sale used very often. My next advice would be to get your swing analyzed by a certified club fitter and get their reccomendation. Lastly, check out almost any set of Pings.

My cynical side tells me that the the Big Name companies label golfers purely from a marketing perspective in order to justify multiple lines of clubs, and they will tell people anything they want to hear, especially as they smell a pending sale. They can stroke a person's ego in order to sell a more expensive set of clubs rather than thier entry level. In truth, companies are just guessing and generallizing people's ability becasue there is no right answer. A person could be an excellent ball striker and irons player, but average 40 putts in a round if that is thier week area. Their high handicap might indicate that they need game-improvement irons, but in reality they could easily be playing blades and effectively working the ball left and right in order to get closer to the green and pin for easier putts.

I didn't tally the votes, but I think the Sun Mountain sounds like the better bag. I am wondering how the OGIO Grom compares to the two previously mentioned?

Great responses from all. I knew the SW was a must and 1Iron has one with extra bounce compared to the rest of the set and wedges. I think 3W will be my next. I'm kind of old school and switching over to a hybrid will be weird for me mentally. I hit the 3i okay. You convinced me to go the one at a time route.