Woodtek

I didn't, but it's only about 1 1/4" high which is better than most lies I get into. I'm actually going to use two layers of carpet that I'm removing from my house to build up around it this year. I haven't got mine set up again yet, but its gotten cold so it may come out this weekend. Like I said, once you set it up for your specs it's plenty good. Good luck with it.

I have one and would recommend it for winter fun. Once you set it up for your "bag" it's good to go. There is extensive feedback on the Ottowa golf forum on it. I set mine up last winter in my family room hooked to my big screen tv. Some times it doesn't read woods well so I use 6 iron, wedge, and putter. Using it in conjuction with a swing speed radar I tweaked the speed of the six iron and wedge to match all the clubs in my bag. It's not perfect, but all I know is that golfers who beat me on the course beat me on the game too . I did find that in the spring when I first started playing real golf again I hit the ball the best I ever have and I have to say it was the optishot. For sure a slice swing will slice and a hook will hook. Good practice when there is nothing else. I'm a hack so the base has taken a beating with no problems.

I was adding insulation in my attic and found an 11 degree MacGregor Jack Nicklaus CG1800 driver I didn't know i had. I was wondering if it might be worth getting a cheap shaft on E-Bay and using it off the deck. I hit my callaway x 3wood pretty good off the deck but was wondering if it might be worth a try. I know nothing about the club. Any thoughts?

Optishot

My L3, L4, and L5 are in pretty bad shape, actually almost gone looking at the x-rays. I tend to stiffen up on the back nine and start rising up on my downswing. I lean over, and then back and try to stretch the back muscles out. I have also learned to walk at a slower pace than my usual walking pace. I can tell when to slow down when I start getting that burning sensation in my lower back. I take 3-4 advil 1/2 hour before I play and it seems to make a difference.

I have to say that I'm supprised at the play VS range leaning towards play. Some other forums stress "range time". For once I'm in the majority. I find it fairly easy to start groving a swing on the range while actually playing I never know what kind of leave I'm hitting from. I vote for play .

I have I-mix ft9 that came with Fabuki tour stiff. I've tried Graffaloy Pro launch red with axis stiff, and Aldila DVS stiff. For me the fabuki spins too much and tends to balloon and either stops dead or backs up a yard or so, the graffaloy feels stiffer and when I hit right its 15-20 yds longer than the fabuki and I get good roll with it. I tend to be all over the place with it though. The DVS just plain feels smooth and I'm usually in or close to the fairway with it. It's goes quite a bit farther than the other two with a very nice trajectory plus roll. I think I'm done searching, for now anyway.

My usual shot with woods was a dead push. Starts right and keeps going right. I can end up anywhere from thirty yards right to 50+ yards right, it depends on how far it goes. I've started making a slow swing and turning the club so it's square at the inpact position before my real swing. It might be a bandaid but most of my drives are going fairly sraight now, once in while a hook. If I come over the top and go out to in I still get a big slice, but at least I know it right after I swing now even before the ball starts to slice. It's frustrating to look at the face of the club and see the ball marks right in or around the sweet spot and have go right that way.

It's interesting the transformation. When I started I was a picker, clean and simple. Everyone told me to hit down on the ball. Last year i went to TCP Boston and after watching the pros up close I was amazed at how little effort they really seemed to use. I started trying to mimic them at the range, simple effortless turn and staying connected with my upper arms. I got pretty good at it until recently. It could be just rust, but I think I need to get somewhere between picking like I used to and digging to china. I'll have to work at it some I guess.

Amen to the 50 yo muscle control. I used to pitch baseball when I was young and fast pitch softball until 35. If I tried to do either right now my arm would end up in a sling.

Thanks, that is a good article. I didn't think mine were too good.

Interesting. I liken it to when I was a kid and we played baseball in a wild field. If there was 6 of us we played anything to the right of the second base rock was a foul ball. Oop's we weren't playing baseball, but you couldn't tell us that and it was fun. The guys I play most with don't take mulligans, we will hit a provisional ball and score accordingly. Sometime I play with guys that do, so I do. Most of the time I play alone in the winter and I will hit another ball when i mess up, but I know it's not the right ball to score, it's kind of like cheating on a test, you know what you did. I'Il usually only score the hole when playing alone and not bother with total score as that 7-9 hole score is too common for me sometimes. What I do do though is have fun in any case

How big should a divot be with irons? Mine seem huge. I've gotten pretty good at hittng the ball first, but my divots are at least 10" long and about 1" deep at the end and go about ten yards down line. They are pretty level, no toe or heel. I have stong forearms and wrists from swinging a hammer for 30 something years so I don't really feel the club dig. I know the ground is soft right now but isn't that too big?

Well I tried it again with mixed results. They finally had the real greens in play so I decided to keep score. The wind was blowing about 20sh. My drives were right and left, mostly left but not too far off the fairway. my irons were short and about the same pattern and my wedges were ok. Mt putting was on fire though and somehow I found myself +5 after twelve, unkown territory for me. next par 4, boom lost two drives in a row on the same hole into the woods, one right one left. After that it all went to H... and I stopped keeping score. Chunk, blade, missed 3 ' rs you name it. I'm sure I was no better than my usual at the end. I thought about it last night and I think it was my own cockiness that got me. When I was driving well the other day i was also only going back 3/4. I have a fairly large chest and fairly large, short arms and I had read about different swings for different body syles. Yesterday I think I was reaching too far back looking for "more" which in turn caused me to lose contact at the top and ended up resulting in no control at all. I also think that I started trying to slow down my swing with my irons when it went bad and ended up decelerating on the downswing resulting in chunk city. Oh well, back to the opti shot.

Thats exactely the feeling. I was a wide open arm swinger and definitely had an over the top move. A lot of times my body would get way ahead of my arms and slice city. Another thing I tried was a slow replica of my swing trying to maintian a good postition back and through and I noticed the face of my club was open at the inpact zone so I closed the face a little more at setup and it seemed to work. I do have some arthitis issues in my lower back and right shoulder so that could be why. It worked that day though, I'm going to play today and see if it was a one time thing.

As a carpenter for 30+ years, I can tell you that is exactly what you do do when swinging a hammer. It's the "whip" factor. You bring the hammer back letting the hammer's weight open your fingers, swing down, and tighten your fingers at or just before impact. Less effort most gain. When I took my first lesson last spring the pro watched me swing a couple of times then asked me what I did for a living. After I told him he then asked my how I swing a hammer, he told me that a lot of contractors he teaches have the same problem, they hold the club too loose and to tighten my grip. When I'm swinging the hammer it will actually work it"s way down to the end and the only thing keeping it in my hand is the little nub at the end. I did the same thing with my golf clubs and when I managed to hit right it worked great, very long, but that wasn't very often.

I went from the X-20s to X-20 tours and I think it was the best thing I've done so far. The offset in the X-20s was killing me. Everything I've read about the X-20s tour vs X-22 tours is that they seem to go a little higher. Try them I think you'll like them.

This is before the FT-5 came out. When I first started playing, about 3-4 years ago. I traded a BBII for FT-3 at C preowned and wanted to buy my son one for his birthday. I found one on e-bay and won the bid which was very lucky I thought. The so called seller was in Idianna so i didn't think there was a problem. When it arrived I compared it to my FT_3 and it had a different face,besides the chinese lettering on the box. Typical newbe that I was I didn't know about fake equipment. My future son in law and I went to a driving range to hit some balls. Both of us hit wicked banana balls with it. Now I can do that with any club, but he shoots around an 8 and he couldn't hit it straight. The funny thing is, it was as long as my FT-3 when it it sliced. I then traded up to an FT-5 and it had the same face.

Ok guys, I have a similar problem. I do the weight forward, open the face, hinge and hold, stand open to the shot (aim the face where I want the ball to go) but the ball almost always goes in the direction of my feet. Any suggestions?

I won a TM 3h mid in a raffel 2 yrs ago and fell in love with it. It was about the same a 7 wood I had and I'm now playing the 3h. I like it so much that I got a TM TP 2h mid and 4h mid this year. Both were for particular holes on my home course. The 2h for tee shots into a LH dogleg and the 4h for a 186 yd Par3. I like the 2h so much I'm thinking of leaving my 3 wood at home. The 2h is about 15-20 yds les than the 3 wood but I have a much better chance of hitting it straight and on my home course I don't really need the distance except on one par 5, and good drive (I wish) takes that out.

I"ve been playing on my opti shot this winter and praticing "staying connected". The opti shot really has helped as it showed me the wisdom of staying connected. I've played three rounds in the last two weeks and i must say that when I remember to stay connected my shots pretty much go where I want them to with my irons and today with my driver. Thr trouble is remembering, but I figure if I do it enough I won't have to think about it.

Granite Links in MA. Interesting they tell you to watch out for rattle snakes and use your club to find the ball up here.

I played today with my new shaft and I must say I'm more encouraged than I have been for a while. I bought the FT 9 I-mix with the Fabuki 63 S last year when Callaway had the deal going on, buy the head and get the shaft for $129. I found that shaft to launch high and keep going higher. It actually backed up more often than it rolled out. Last fall I bought a Graffaloy Prolaunch red w Axis S through C preowned. That shaft had a much better flight and a little more distance, but "felt" stiff. I just received an Aldila DVS 60 S used from e-bay for $75. Most of my misses with the driver are push and push/slice, once an a while a big hook if I get overactive with my hands. Today I hit 9 of 14 fairways, 5 of those right down the middle. My misses were slight push/rolled off the end of a dogleg fairway (haven't done that since I got the FT 9), hook 3yds off fairway, hook way off, hook 2 yds off fairway, one straight but I set up left. This shaft seems to fit me well. I've never hit that many fairways it two rounds never mind one, and it's easily 20 yds longer than the other two. It feels very smooth to me with a good "kick" to it. I'm a happy camper. One more thing, I don't have anywhere to try clubs first here so I have to read and try to see what fits. If there was someplace to try them I could have probably saved some time and cash. I know !

I have the reg FT9 9 that I bought with the same fabuki and for me it balloons too much, nothing worse than having your drive back up three feet. Last summer I GPSd a 260yd and 279 yd carry where both backed up. I'm trying the graffaloy red/w axis stiff now. It has a much better ball flight, but feels stiffer, but seems longer. I'm going to try an Aldila DVS next. I don't have a place to test them first here but if I did I would. There are some great deals on E-Bay for I mix but not too many regular. I had an FT5 with an Adila shaft of some sort that I GPSd two drives at 287 and 290 carry as both were plugged. Wish I could remember what shaft it was. My normal carry is about 245-260 no wind so somehow I hit those two drives perfect I guess.

Played yesterday, 39 degrees but no wind. I worked on trying to slow down my swing, stopping for a second, staying connected, so forth and so on. It seems I have at least two different swings, my "hybrid/iron swing" and my "driver" swing. My hybrid swing is much smoother, and yesterday much more accurate. It seems that when I get to the driver I have that "KILL IT" syndrome. Thing is that I've seen the positive results of being easy with my irons and hybrids, no loss at all in distance, actually probably longer but can't seem to convince myself with the driver. I'll make 2-3 nice easy practice swings and then step up to the ball see red. I've hit into my net with a swing speed radar and seen the difference, quite a bit actually, but oh no can't do that. I've only played a few years, but I see first hand how mental this game is.