RX Phoenix

Right now every part is fairly equal. Sand, chipping, pitching, wedges, short irons, mid irons, hybrids, fairway woods, driver, lag putting, short putts . . . everything is good but not great, no part is weak. Which begs the question . . . what to practice? 9 iron approach shots are the ones that get me the birdies, so I should try and set that yardage up off the tee.

235 out of the rough . . . you're screwed . . . unless you're a gorilla? Some of the hybrids with smaller heads will get the ball out strong. The fairway swing definitely won't work, you have to have a steep angle of descent with the club face a bit open.

It's rare these days to see anyone go back to the tee, after searching for a lost drive, the provisional is also not getting as much useage. In many cases it isn't practical to go back to the tee on a crowded course. The rules of golf were written up by people who played mostly on private courses in the days where people weren't in such a hurry. But today there is a lot of pressure on public courses to keep up a fast rate of play. I would say, get in the habit of hitting a provisional, most golfers I've played with have no problem having someone take that option, but there are times when you split the fairway with a drive but can't find the ball, happened two rounds ago with someone in our 4some, the ball just disappeared.

One of the main advantages of the new putters, ie Spider, is that you can get radio and even GPS readings if you hold it up in the air. Not sure if this is legal though? It's amazing how good the putter begins to look when the ball keeps going in the hole! I wonder how many of those who wouldn't dream of using these putters have a 460cc high MOI driver in their bag?

The answer is . . . you have to be able to go low. Attended 1st round Q-school as spectator and saw John Mallinger (yes he's on tour now and playing great) go ho-hum the first two rounds, around par, then go 65-65 to be medalist. So, 14 under on the weekend. If you are a + because you are very steady and skilled, but don't have the knack of going low then you aren't going to make it. The people who advance and make it post some very low rounds, the plodder who is around par is left behind. Even in the finals it's the guys who throw a 65 up on Sunday who get in.

That's what I believed until I got a set of Adams Idea Boxers, and I couldn't hit them at all, terrible clubs, huge waste of money. I went to the Callaway FT Fusion hybrids and have yet to hit a bad shot with them, fantastic clubs.

I have sets of all three types and they all work well, or course blades look better in the bag but I'd rather have forgiveness as most of the time I'm just playing so-so. Blades are great if you're on top of your game, but how often does that happen?

Not against any rule, but a large head doesn't work well off the fairway or rough. Any top line brand will have a good 5W, Titleist clubs are usually for better players, so I'd look at Callaway, Nike, Taylormade, Ping, Cleveland, etc. I have the Callaway FT-I squareway and it is very easy to hit with great results.

I'd think about getting a 4 hybrid which you are going to hit a lot better than your 4 iron, but a 5W is very nice to have. Driver 5W 3 or 4 hybrid Don't go with a 2 or 1 hybrid, they are tough to hit and get airborn, a 5W is much, much better choice.

If you putt cross-handed on the short ones you will rarely miss one, it makes a huge difference.

Hitting a distance ball off the tee and then switching to a hi-spin ball in the fairway is totally against the rules, LOL! Can only switch balls after the hole is finished. I may be switching to the TopFlight FREAK as I found one today and liked the distance off the irons . . . and it checked up decent on the greens. Great ball for the mid irons. ProV1's require a fast swing speed IMO as do many soft hi-spin balls.

SF Giants would be crazy not to pick him up, they need a RH power bat at 1st base. Their leading HR hitter has 9HR, and LH power dies at ATT park.

You cannot change shafts during a round of golf, so that's not the purpose of it. This idea is targeting older golfers who have the $$$ to buy it. As you get older you don't recover so quickly from a round of golf and your swing changes from day to day more than you would like. A shaft that worked yesterday may produce push fades today, so to be able to quickly change the shaft is a great idea IMO. This would be done on the range as you prepare for the round to come. It also would come in handy depending on the golf course you are playing, are the fairways lush with no run out, then you want to carry the ball as far as possible, if the fairways are very firm then you want a more penetrating ball flight with lots of run out, changing the shaft will give you the shot shape for the course you are playing. Of course if you are able to bomb the ball in the air 280+ every day with no problem then it isn't a good idea to be switching shafts, best to get fitted and stay consistent.

I use the FT-I and it is very forgiving, you will get a decent drive out of it almost every time. To get any real distance you have to hit it in the sweet spot, when you do hit it perfect then it goes just as far as any other driver. The problem is that you can't really tell when you hit it good or not from the feedback of the club. You think you really nailed one only to find out it's 230 instead of 280, or you think it's only 230 and it goes 280. I've hit quite a few monster drives that suprised me, and quite a few short drives that I thought were monsters.

I agree with the responses here. $20 is on the low end and $40 is on the high end, if you had the time of your life and can afford it then double it up to $80. If it's a real high end establishment then go higher. At Bandon Dunes I'd go for at least $40 if the caddie does a good job, $30 if it's mediocre, if it's superior then go $60-75.

How good of a putter are you? I don't think anyone can get to scratch who isn't an excellent putter. From there you have to put yourself in birdie position consistently which means distance control, work on that and getting very precise yardage calculations taking into account wind, elevation, lie, etc. It's all the little details that add up if you have the drive to push yourself in that way.

I use 3: A 2/18* mostly if I'm in the rough on a par 5, or for a long par 3, a 3/21* for 185-190yds, and a 4/24* that goes exactly 177yds almost every time. I use the 4 a lot more than the other two.

As a NCGA member I just post my scores on the Northern California Golf Association website and the 1st of every month the handicap is calculated for you.

What better way to pass some time?

Chances are you just overdid it, hit too many balls and the muscles have gone into spasm. 23 is kind of young for that to happen. Work on your short game and stop swinging. Also, hitting off of synthetic mats with irons will add a lot of shock to your body, better to hit off of grass if you can. Give it some rest.

I've found that if you have a shallow angle, sweeping type swing you won't generate much spin and no matter what shaft you use, you still will have the mid/low trajectory. But if you do change the shaft make sure you get a low kick-point shaft probably in reg. flex, or go to a higher lofted driver like an 11* or 12*. Trouble is that you will then lose a lot of yardage. A mid/low trajectory isn't bad, that's what I hit, the ball will run out on firm fairways. Where you get in trouble is the lush soft fairways which give no run out.

Confronting someone you think may have picked up your ball is a bad idea, more than likely they did not, is it worth all the stress just over a golf ball? If you're really sure they picked it up, drop a ball and play on. Usually you're ball is just in a unexpected place. Put unmistakable markings on both sides of the ball and very few people will pick your ball up.

Callaway FT Fusion, you know, what Rocco was using to hit those greens from far out at the Open. They are fantastic, Callaway is really producing great equipment right now.

Try the Pacific Grove municipal course, it is cheap and very scenic on the back 9 along the ocean.

What do you want, a tee that bends but doesn't break, or a tee that is easy to set the ball on? These tees are notorious having the ball slip off. Who wants to be fumbling around on the tee, with the ball falling off, especially when the tee is bent . . . I used to use them but no more. Buy a bag of 500 wood tees, put a handful in your pocket, tee it up and hit it and watch your great shot with no worries about recovering a tee . . . it's best if the tee is broken, it died a hero and you don't have to worry about finding it or picking it up etc.