Ryanmal

I commend the honesty, man. Your situation is different in that you weren't married and didn't have kids (at least not that you mentioned). I'm going to tread lightly here because I don't want to seem like I am attacking you as a person, but Tiger was cheating on his wife for years with a variety of different skanks. It's not like there was one other woman that he fell in love with or something. It's also not like it was a one time thing. Either of those scenarios would be far more forgivable in my mind than being a serial skankmaster behind your wife and kids' backs. Apparently this impulse was pretty strong for Tiger because it went on for years and only stopped when he got caught. He had plenty of time to think about what he was doing.

Anyone see the Elin Woods article in People? I guess there wasn't a gag order... Personally I commend her for her handling of the situation. I don't understand how Tiger could demonstrate such little care for his wife and kids for such an extended period of time. He clearly isn't capable of caring about anyone but himself. I know that a lot of people want to see him return to form. Personally I want to see him never win again and fade into obscurity. I just cannot root for someone with morals that different from my own.

When has Tiger demonstrated an ability to do anything for anyone other than himself?

Agree 1000% on fitting. I picked up a good 20 yards on my drives by getting fit for a driver. It was amazing the difference it made.

I am having pretty good luck with the Sharpros right now. They are not quite as good as the Golf Pride grips, but for the price difference I can change them more frequently and still come out on top. I recommend trying them.

I have been working out around 3-5 days a week for several years now. Weights, cardio, and flexibility training. I Played Rugby in college. Graduated. Stopped working out. Ballooned up to over 300lbs. Now down to 245 at 6'1". I could probably stand to get to 225.

Why is it that people seem to feel compelled to tell other people what to do with their money? If I am new to golf and I have some coin, I am going to go out and buy a set of golf clubs to learn on. I may very well decide that I like TaylorMade, for example, and buy all TaylorMade clubs. I may even be wearing Adidas gear. I agree that the guy's behavior at the range was not appropriate and the whole scene was, I'm sure, quite humorous. What I don't necessarily get on board with is the litany of "if you have a bag full of all one brand and aren't good you are a poser" mentality. The last time I think I heard somebody called a poser was in 8th grade. The whole thing sounds kind of 'junior high' to me.

You didn't really phrase it that way though. You said "the diamana shafts that are 'made for Titleist' are crap". If you had said that the made for shafts didn't work for you, that would have been different. Just because they don't work for everybody certainly doesn't make them crap. I agree with CrazyXGolfer that as far as stock shaft offerings go the Made for Titleist Blueboards are pretty good.

Agreed. I am a pretty solid guy at 6' 1" 245 lbs. I now wear a large in most brands. Size XL seems to have gotten huge a few years ago. Adidas and Nike are particularly bad. For me, my shirts have to fit right or I don't want them.

Is this is joke?

I like that better than my explanation. No matter how you think about it, standing too far away from the ball sets up a bad swing. For most golfers that bad swing seems to be a slice.

For me standing to far away from the ball is a sure way to slice. I think it has to do with being able to swing down the target line past the ball. If you set up too far away from the ball you are already reaching to hit the ball and your arms aren't long enough to continue to swing down the target line after impact, the results is that you hit a slice because you are swinging on a more 'circular' arc in which the club head spends very little time along the actual target line. If you 'crowd' the ball you are usually taking the club away on a more upright plane, but you are also swinging down the target line for a longer period of time. It is also harder to 'come across the ball' when you have the ball closer to your body, there isn't enough room!

This is more my approach as well. I have never walked off of the course. I can't stand quitting.

I believe that I read recently that this was a factually untrue statement. I don't think you can really apply that kind of 1:1 relationship between backspin with a wedge and sidespin with a driver. Driver spin and iron/wedge spin are 2 different animals due to differences in the clubs. Iron/wedge backspin is primarily imparted by the grooves on the club gripping the soft cover of the ball. That is why urethane balls spin more. They have a softer cover. It is also why they get 'chewed up' by wedges. Drivers don't have grooves on the face. You also compress the ball a lot more with a driver due to the higher swing speed. That is why 3 piece balls exist. You don't really compress the core of a 3 piece ball at all on a wedge shot, but you do with a driver. I think Golf magazine or Golf Digest addressed this recently.

Well, I went to the range last night and checked everything from grip to address. I think that I had a combination of things going wrong. My grip was too weak so my clubface was open at address. I would then set up with my shoulders way open to the target in an attempt to 'pull' the ball to the left side. I fixed my alignment and was striping the ball again. Midway through the slice came back. I re-checked my stance and found that I wasn't bending at the waist properly which was making it very hard to come back and through on plane. Fixed that and I was hitting the ball straight again. The Titleist is definitely easy to lose way right if you come out to in. In that regard I think I could benefit from a more forgiving driver. The flip side is that when I played a driver with a closed face and I hit the ball well it would go to the left. I know that as a 20 handicap I should not be worried about taking the left side out of play, but it it nice to only have to worry about one miss. I think I am leaning toward keeping the driver, although I may hit a G15 just to be sure.

I find the Titleist Comp to be very light, which could help increase your swing speed a bit. I have not hit the G15.

Yeah. I probably am swinging too hard. I fight that urge anyways and since I have been hitting the driver well it has gotten worse. I did slow down a bit yesterday and while my slices weren't as bad, they were still definitely there. I am hoping to take the club to the range today to see if I can't get some confidence back with it. I may look into a lesson as well.

That is kind of what I am thinking as well, and that is the thought process that led me to get the Titleist instead of a 'more forgiving' driver. I am wondering if the swingweight isn't a bit too light though, particularly coming from a Taylormade driver with a heavier clubhead. I am considering playing with some lead tape to see if adding a bit of swingweight helps.

Probably, almost definitely, true. I have played with balls from lostgolfballs.com and not noticed a difference. Then I read a few articles/posts about water affecting performance and I have been kind of scared of them since. Lately I have been getting Srixon Trispeed for $15 per dozen anyways so I haven't really neeed to look at other golf ball options.

I am a 20-ish handicapper who tends to fight a slice with my driver, usually caused by coming across the ball when I pick my head up or otherwise 'come out of' my shot. It doesn't happen all the time, just a few times a round, maybe. About a month ago I got fitted for a Titleist 909 D Comp 9.5 Stiff with a Matrix X-Con 5 shaft. It came down to the R9 460 or the Titleist for me and the Titleist gave me better (lower) spin numbers. I understand that the club sits square to .5 degree open but I was OK with that because I wanted to keep the left side out of play. I figured that .5 degree shouldn't make that much of a difference anyways, and if I was going to slice I was going to slice. I didn't want to get a closed face driver because when I hit one straight (which I can do)I want it to go straight, not left. The first round and several range sessions were great. I was hitting the ball either straight or with a very slight fade with lots of roll. The last few rounds that has not been the case. I have been slicing the crap out of it! I know that my setup and swing have been jacked up, and looking at the Tee marks on the sole of the club confirms that I am coming across the ball. I know that this is a swing flaw that I need to fix and I am working on that. The broader question is whether or not I messed up by getting a Titleist driver with my handicap. Would an R9 460 or Burner Superfast be a lot more forgiving? The 909 D Comp is supposed to be a very forgiving driver for a Titleist which is I was OK getting it. I also got good launch monitor numbers and liked the sound/feel. Now I am second guessing it. The store I bought from does not have a 90/90 policy but they said that they would work with me as much as they can on a trade in for something else if need be. Should I keep the driver or do I need something more forgiving? Would there be a big difference in forgiveness between the Titleist and something else? Thanks for the input folks.

I always worry about recycled balls having been 'water balls' at some point of their lives.

I can hit about 260-280 carry and roll in reasonable conditions. I have hit 300 a few times but there was pretty much always a hill and some rock hard fairways involved!

I have gotten angry and frustrated, but I have never quit a round. Not my style, I guess.

I am in Consumer Insights / Sales for a juice company.