JWL1957

Why not play with a modern 2 iron instead? You would get a little more carry and a slightly softer landing. I played a MacGregor VIP 1 iron for a long time before I discoved the Zing. I played alot of years with forged blades, but I teed off with the Zing 2 iron when my driver went south. It was automatic.

I miss watching Ben Crenshaw putt.

Lie boards lie. Players will almost always tend to adjust grip and stance to the club so that it fits thier eye before swinging. The best way to check a lie is to go play or hit balls on a turf range.

Why not leave him be. He must enjoy his privacy as much as you and I do. Pro's and celebs are just are deserving of thier privacy as you and I are.

I was a 1st year newbie at the time but, I was playing the Sub Base golf course in Groton Ct. on a rainy October afternoon. I was on a short par 4 and really swung hard at the ball . My ball carried about 2 yards to the right and hit a concrete tee marker. It richocheted right back into my " you know where". After sitting on the bench for about 20 minutes...... I was good to go. :)

Cabrera and Harrington are both great players. I have no idea why thier names would be mentioned. 95% of the tour players worldwide would froth at the mouth to have thier success.

I also agree with the shorter shaft theory. And here is why. About 4 months ago, I took my old Powerbilt Citation persimmon driver to the course to hit a few shots with it. I could not believe how accurate the damn thing was considering that the sweet spot is about the size of a pea in comparison to my jumbo headed Burner. I was hitting high fades about 250 yds. I then hit my Burner with the stock Reax "S" Shaft a few times..........and a little light went off in my pea sized brain. The Burner shaft was 2" longer than my "Ole Powerbilt" and putting me on too flat a swing plane. I went home and trimmed the butt of the Burner shaft 2" and added enough lead tape to bring the swing weight to D-1. I took the Burner back out to the course and found my old high fade ball flight that I always had back in the persimmon days. I gave up about 10 yards distance.... but who cares. This winter I will get a driver head that is about 1 degree upright and keep tinkering with this. I am almost 6'3" and play 1.5 -2 degree upright irons. I do not lengthen my shafts due to having 36 1/2 arm length. I have made posts on here before about my love/hate relationship with the driver, but now I really believe that I am onto something good with my driving. Took 20 years......... but oh well.

I use a Weiss-Gibson Ultimate. I paid $125.00 for it from a local guy who gave up the hobby. Not sure what he originally paid for it. I can pull a set of 8 shafts with it in about 25 minutes. Hydraulic is soooooooo much nicer than my old wrench type puller. Here is SST's website: http://www.sstpure.com/ultimate.html

Go to a clubmaker in your area and ask him/her if you could watch while they install a grip. Its is silly easy to do, although a bit cumbersome on the first couple of tries.

Do not always measure to the heel of the clubhead on todays drivers. You might end up with a club as much as 1/2" longer than you expected. The club should always be measured soled at the its correct manufactured lie. Alot of drivers today have rounded soles making the heel of the club actually sit higher off of the ground when the club is sitting at its correct lie angle. You would still use the heel of the club as a reference...... but just make sure the club is soled correctly and the measuring tool goes all the way past the heel to the floor. Most older drivers had fairly flat soles and measuring to the heel was pretty accurate and the standard way measuring.. Here is a example of a rounded sole and how the heel is in relation to the sole of the club: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...w=1003&bih;=478

Go hit some standard lie irons and see if they are giving you the contact and ball flight that you are looking for. If you decide that you like a standard lie, save yourself some jing and have the X-14 adjusted. You are a 8.0....so Im thinking that you should easily know if the heel or toe is digging. I never likes putting tape on the sole of the club and swinging off of a board or a mat. I always took my clubs to the course or a turf driving range to see how they reacted while striking down through the ball and turf.

Every shaft out there has different playing characteristics. The standard "S" and "R" labels mean nothing other than the relative stiffness within that series/model of shaft. You could have a "X" flex shaft with the same torque as a "R" flex depending on how it is manufactured. Weight, kick point, torque, and shaft materials create too many variables. I agree with CrazyX........ if you are really serious about getting a driver for your swing, then you need to get fitted.

Outside of 3-4 feet, I pay more attention to speed because I am usually pretty good with my line. Inside 4 feet........ My playing partners are usually standing together getting ready to chuckle at me for blowing another short one. I am the worst short putter on this forum.

I would think that 99% of golfers would make up for the difference subconsciously? Kinda like adjusting to green speed? I think adjusting for different greens speeds would be more of a factor than the ball itself. I never really gave it much thought when I made the switch to ProV's from Top Flites. I do think that some players with consistent and pure putting strokes might be able to tell the difference.

If you use a modern shaft puller, there is no damage to the shaft. I bought a new one a couple years ago and I only have to use about a 3rd of the heat that I used to.

The only swing thoughts I have are just the basic grip check , alignment, and posture . Everything else is by feel.

LOL.... I'd bet he would wig out over that one.

Kaymer as of right now.

I only play with ProV's and Top Flite XL's. The XL's seems to come off the putter face a little hotter than the Prov's. But I cant really say if it putts farther given a identical stroke.

I was stationed in Puerto Rice for a couple years and got to play the in the Island Amateur twice. The cheating that went on was unbelievable. Guys would bump thier ball and look right at you daring you to say something. I watched one guy in my foursome keep moving his ball mark to the right. He did it 3-4 times before I called him on it. His reply was that..... he didnt want to putt through all the spike marks. Another guy who I was paired with kept adjusting the layers of tape he had on his putter grip all day. Another guy kept scribbling out his scores on the scorecard and putting in different numbers, he ended up with a mid 70's score and we all knew he didnt break 85. I gave up playing any of the island tourneys....it was crazy.

With you being so close to a scratch golfer. I can understand your frustration. I am sort of lucky that I can usually find some humor when my games goes into the recycle bin. Even when I dont , I have 3 other buttwipes in my foursome who will needle me to no end all day long. I guess we try to make things fun for each other when our games go south..

Your right as far as a golf game goes. I just love tweeking the PC army.

1. Closed face 2. Heel weighted 3. Offset has nothing to do with it. You can slice just as easily with offset clubs. 4. Shaft torque has nothing to do with it. Torque affects a slice as bad as it does a hook. (timing) 5. Too upright a club can promote hooking. 6. Too "thin" grips can promote hooking as well.

I have 10 or more golfer friends in Afghanistan and Iraq, on thier 2nd, 3rd, and 4th tours right now who would love to have the same problem as the OP. Not to mention another 25-30 golfer friends deployed on ships constantly supporting the troops. Nothing was meant towards slamming the OP. I only mentioned it to keep things light. A bad day golfing is still far better than a good day at work. Gees.........gimme a fkn break. Enjoy the game...... you cant be a Tiger Woods everyday.

Actual running water was a rarity in most places in this country at the time (Liberia), and a porta john would have been converted into a small apartment within minutes. And you are asking about couth?