Gerald

I am not the kind of guy, buying a new set every few years, but I noticed some uneven gaps in my mid irons and got the lofts checked. They just needed some small tweaks here and there, now lofts and lies are back to new and my gapping has improved much. How often it would be wise to have lofts and lies checked ?

Just take some lessons with the 3W and maybe add a driver later. As long as you keep that 3W or driver in the fairway or just beside, it will be the first 200-250 yds gone from a par 5. When even you plan to do 3x a 5 iron, it really must be 3 good shots with that 5 iron. It looks easy to do 3 good shots in a row with a 5 iron, but for most players in the 90's it is not !

Well I bought that BioCell driver. Drives are strong and near straight, but that I have with all "new" drivers .... I still have to find optimum settings for my swing but I hit a few hitting the net at the end of our driving range which is at about 250 yds.

I sometimes work the ball, but mosty they work by themselves

I used to play these MP-58 (oops that was the MP-57) before I went to AP2 some years ago. I would say there is not a lot of difference in forgiveness, but the 57 was better in working the ball.

Topic Title was "Within 50 yds" .... nothing weird that some of us (me) are also talking about 20 or 30 yds ..... IMHO that is within 50 yds ...... isn't it ?

Might sure be be so, but I feel it has more to do with kind of grass on courses (like DaveP043 wrote) and "new school" hitting it close with enough spin to stop the ball quickly ..... Still when Phil Mickelson won the Open some years ago, he played a lot of those old school BnR shots

I took a list of recommended drivers from the near past to some shops to see what I could find (2nd hand or at a nice sale price). G30 was still a bit pricy, but G25 could be found at nice prices. In the past I was quite fond of Cobra aswell (S2 and S3), but got lost when they introduced new models Amp Cell, Bio Cell, Fly-Z, 6, 7 and 8. I heard many positive remarks on the Fly-Z .... still looking for a good one, but how about the Bio Cell (not the +) ..... I have seen a nice one for a nice price and it is near new. Cheers, Gerald.

well I have been playing that for about 40 years now, maybe it is experience, maybe it is that golf and conditions are different in Europe, than on most USA courses with faster greens.....

You have a point there ! it depends on the quality of the fringe and fairway, if it's dry and bumpy I will also opt for landing it at the green.

Today's players ...... sounds a bit to me that you mean today's tour players ..... not us. Today's tour players are so seldom in that range from the hole I am not a today's (tour) player and a bump and run from let's say 20-30 yds can be hard to judge with a high soft landing pitch shot compared to a low running and rolling bumb and run.

Whenever I am within 50 yds from the hole .... I basicly use one single magic club if there are no hazards between me and the flag. Whenever possible I play a low risk, high percentage up and down shot ..... it is my little secret for a low score on most holes. Bump and run towards the flag. My favo bump and run club is my 8 iron ..... what is yours ?

I have a love/hate relation with my hybrids, they go in and out of my bag, some days they are great, some days they are in hooking country (but I also always have problems with my fairway woods from the fairway .... maybe just not a woodie player). In the past I mostly also had a 2 and 3 irons in the bag and they were very useful for me. I have an older Adams Pro Black 20* I only use from the teebox, nice for those long par 3's or narrow holes. I have tried the old models FliHi about 5 years ago, great from the teebox but not for me from the fairway. I just wonder if I would benefit from these Driving irons compared to "normal" hybrids and if my swingspeed would be high enough for these tools. Thanx for the advise, Gerald.

I have been reading some on driving irons vs wood like hybrids vs. those more compact head hybrids. Lots of advise is like : driving iron higher swingspeed players, compact headed hybrids for about medium to higher swingspeeds and the wood like hybrids for the medium swingspeed players. I have no idea what I am : my driver swingspeed is about 96-100 Mph Would a Driving iron (18* or so) make sense or would you need a swingspeed of 110-130 to profit from a driving iron. It would be my 210-225 yds. club (currently using a Adams Black Pro 9031 - 20*)

I am not an 18 ..... maybe I am a 54 now, but I used to play from 5.7 so I know how to play (not like these animals) ....... and I have a 2H that I only use from the tee at long par 3's or narrow par 4's ..... my 3W goes as long as most players drivers, my driver .... balls go out of sight, mostly ending in the woods or on another fairway -;)

LOL a bit late .... I liked the old EGA system, but there were many abusing it and keep their index around 18 or so, to win tournaments and enter 10-20 bad scores of casual rounds to stay in that 18 comfort zone, being able to shoot a 12-14 cap on a good day. Sandbaggers or in Dutch "Duikboot" (= submarine)

I have had quite a few hybrids and well I was never really pleased with their performance, I am sure it was my personal problem, read lots of advise, to hit them like a 7 irons etc. but the result I got from them were inconsistent. Hit some high balls, some nice long fades but also a severe hook out of the blue sky. Looking in tour player bags, they seem to vanish or actually these guns are so seldom at distances they need the hybrid. In my other topic on 10 clubs, I saw quite a lot of 3H etc. So what is your opinion on, are hybrids on their return ?

Practice, practice, practice ..... I know....., but I see almost no use in practicing a shot I need once in maybe 5 rounds....... a flop shot might look be great, but often there lots of safer options and if you thin a flop shot (easely done) it may end anywhere. I have been using lots of wedge sets, mine are now 44, 48, 52 and 58. Cheers, Gerald.

I see that a lot of midcappers have a 60 degree lob wedge in the bag, but I see only very few able to do some magic with them. For me personally a 58 is the lobbiest I can handle, but I have zero use for a 60 or 62 ..... or am I wrong ?

When I started playing golf (in the old days) ... it was quite common to start with a half set, maybe add an extra wedge and a 2 + 4 wood or similar. Irons were mostly 3-5-7-9-PW-SW or the even numbers.... those 3 irons had the loft of a current 4 iron. So about 6 irons, 2 woods and a putter. If you had to go for a 8 iron, just choke down a bit on a 7 iron, etc. When I changed to a full bag, well my scores didn't improve much, but the weight of the bag surely did. Suppose you were allowed to carry only 10, what would your optimum set look like ?

I see no point in buying a new set every few years, it maybe takes a few years before you are really into a set, so why toss them away and start all over again. In total I play golf about 40 years now and as far as I remember after a half beginner set I bought a set Wilson Fluid Feel I played for about 10 years, traded it in for a set of Ping Eye2's, went back to blades of Mizuno after another 10 years and being an old time Wilson addict bought a Wilson CI-7 set about 10 years ago and replaced these with a Wilson CI-9 set about 8 years ago.... still playing these !

Zebra ..... Yep that is my long time favo ! I bought mine new about 35 yrs ago, used it always, made a few side steps to Cameron and back to the Zebra ..... For me it is the best putter, but because it is a bit light it is not the best for long putts.

Tracian Cliffs is a beautiful course, I was near in Balchik last summer, but no time. Distance has never been an issue, I am tall 6'8" and played a 5.7 handicap about 30 years ago, drives are still long but short game lacks practice. Golfbidder is not shipping to Bulgaria .... Yes, I mostly liked those Callaway drivers, long and easy to hit, but most are go high flight !

Hello, After moving to Bulgaria I didn't play golf for a few years, asked my sister to send me an old set of Wilson Cavity backs that I bought online (not shipping to Bulgaria) and will try to pick up the game again, I figure with a little bit of practice will be a bogey player soon enough. Still need to find a good driver of about 2-3 yrs back ..... any recommends ? Just for info, my natural swing is a slight fade, not the best for a good drive, but I managed around 250-275 yds normally. Cheers, Gerald.