Wildcat

Bubba Watson's outfits are similar to special uniforms used by some other American professional and amateur sports teams who have a connection to the military or raise money for military-related charity. The San Diego Padres, for instance, have a camo jersey they wear somewhat regularly, because San Diego is a big navy town. Similarly, Fowler's display of university pride isn't uncommon in America. The all-orange takes it a bit further than most, but Oklahoma State has one of the US's premier college golf teams. A lot of Americans have an almost family bond to the school they attended for undergrad, whether or not they graduated (and if I had stood to make millions playing golf, I would have passed up graduating, as well). Not to say that either outfit is actually attractive, mind you.

I had been having issues with hitting a FW, both before and after implementing some S&T; this year. I just could not consistently hit the ball well...lots of fat shots and topped shots. I found a clearance 3W at Dick's with a stiff shaft (everything else I have is R-flex) and decided to give that a shot. It's turned into a nice little weapon for me...I've found that it helped for me to visualize taking a small divot in front of the ball before and during the shot; really concentrating on bottoming out in front of the ball. In my last three rounds, I hit an approach with it onto a par 5 green with my second shot (a rarity for me...just don't usually have the distance), and two intentional fades around doglegs that were two of my better shots of the fall.

The thing that tees me off even more is when a course sets all the par 3's at basically the same distance. I played one here in KC this year where all the par 3's were playing at ~180 from the men's. Come on...vary it up a little so I can use different clubs on a couple.

~50 or in (judged by whether I'm halfway between the center of green and 100 yd marker) is feel. I'll walk off anything 60-100, as I'll switch wedges at ~80.

Right. My title for the thread doesn't express it quite correctly, because you're right, I'm not really talking about the actual lie angle. What I was getting at was that a thicker grip, with more material between where it leverages against the heel of your palm, would theoretically flatten the angle of the shaft as it comes from your hand (end of the shaft would be lower in your hand), resulting in effectively the same result as if the lie angle was too upright. I didn't figure the difference in thickness would be enough to significantly affect it, but just thought I'd check. I did some checking on the specs between my old set and the new set. The comparable clubs (same loft/lie angles) in the Titleist set have a shaft that is a half-inch longer. With the same lie angle, the extra length could be causing it to go toe-up, I suppose. Thanks!

Recently got a set of used Titleist 704.cb that I'm going to start working with heading into next year. I've taken them out to the range and played a couple of rounds, and I'm starting to think I need to get the lie angles flattened a bit. I set up a lie board and tried my old irons (in sig) as well as the new ones. The markings on the old set were centered. The markings on the new set tend toward the heel, about 1/4 inch off in the PW to 8, and about 1/3 to 1/2 inch off in the 7-3. I've also noticed that the toes appear to be sitting up a bit at address. [Ball striking so far has been inconsistent, although I'm not sure how much to read into that as I grow accustomed to the new, less forgiving irons. I've had ~6-8 straight up shanks per round (and rarely any with my old irons), and when I hit the ball "well," it seems to be a bit of a pull-draw. The draw I expect, as I would get one with my old irons using the S&T;, but evidently the clubface is closing down more than with my old irons.] Anyway, before I go in to get the lie angles adjusted, I wanted to make sure that this doesn't have anything to do with the grips. The clubs came with Lamkin midsize, as opposed to the standard grips on my old irons. The only thing I was thinking was that possibly the thicker grips, sitting below the pad of my hand, cause a shallower shaft angle and consequently cause the club face to sit at a greater angle to the ground from heel to toe? Would the difference between standard and midsize grips cause that much of a difference, or is the only real concern here with the lie angle?

Those Adams are probably a good choice.

Got a Karsten CRAZ-E used at Golfsmith a few weeks ago. Really liked the feel of it more than any other putters I tried. It's got a great combination for me of feel and accuracy. Last round I hit a couple of putts that I'm pretty sure I never would have hit with my previous putters.

There are some great possibilities for law school Property I exam hypotheticals in this thread. I'll have to file them away in case I ever move from practice to teaching.

485 for the signature setup.

Go into a store with various types and try them out. See which ones you feel comfortable with. Try hitting some balls and see which ones you hit the straightest and truest. You should be able to narrow it way down with that. Store putting greens are flat and straight...if you can't hit a certain type straight on that surface, you can probably rule it out.

Best thing to do is to find a system to adopt so you can repeat your shot and gain confidence. You have to be able to step up and swing the club for chips and pitches without reservation, otherwise you'll wind up hitting a bad shot more often than not. Read a book or two (I just finished Stan Utley's Art of the Short Game) or watch some instructional videos, and find a swing that makes sense/looks good to you for the chip/pitch. Then go out to the range and practice it...if you're going to use a system using different clubs, hit each one with different lengths of backswing so you know what the ranges are for each club. If you're going to use just one club (as Utley does), do the same thing. Once you realize that hitting that wedge a little too hard isn't going to cause a disaster, you'll be able to step up and hit with more confidence, and hit better shots.

I keep my eyes on clubs on eBay looking for good deals I might be able to snag for equipment upgrades. I was watching a used set of r7 CGB Max irons, 4-SW, today. When it wasn't getting above $130 in the last few minutes I put in a bid of $150, expecting it to get up to at least $200. Well, lo and behold, they came to me at $150. I hadn't done a whole lot of research besides checking the PGA.com value guide. It seems I got them for at least $100 less than the going rate. Which is fine, but I already have and play a set of GI-heavy clubs (the Nickents in my sig) and I'm not sure these are going to be much different. Anybody here played these irons and have any opinions on them? At least it looks like I may be able to get my money back (and maybe a bit more) if I don't like them.

My most enjoyable shot is the one where I instinctively stop watching it and pick up my tee/get back to my bag before it lands, because I know exactly where it's going to be in the fairway/on the green without watching. Others/more specifically, in order from the top: 1. The 20+ foot putt that drops in. 2. The chip that drops in. 3. The big curve putt that follows the line exactly as you visualized it. 4. The pitch that winds up within 5 feet of the hole. 5. The approach iron/par 3 that is dead on the flag that you keep watching because you think you might have a shot at eagle/hole in one.

Has anyone tried the XL 7000 Super Softs?

Yeah, the irons I was hitting probably had some GI weighting, but they were definitely smaller and less GI than my Nickents. I know they were forged because they said it right on them. Thanks for the responses, everyone. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't just the hitting from mats that made the difference. Those forged clubs sure felt nice to hit.

Quick question: When I use my Nickent 3DX hybrid oversized irons I usually get a pretty solid "thwack" sound and can feel the ball impact. I was trying out some Callaway and TaylorMade forged irons in GolfSmith the other day. I noticed most of my hits made no sound at all, and I could barely feel the ball impact, if at all. Was this just the difference between hitting off their mats versus real ground, or will you usually get more sound/ball impact feel out of hollowed out oversized GI irons like the Nickent than you will from a forged iron? Just curious, because the overall experience of hitting those forged irons felt a lot more buttery than the Nickents.

Interesting. I did this for my round yesterday and came up with a number lower than my handicap would suggest. Kind of confirms my thoughts over the last few weeks that the main thing holding me back from shooting in the low 80s right now is my lack of distance off the tee (not even trying to use the driver right now). Add in making a couple of ~15 foot birdie putts per round and I'd be right there (usually 30-32 putts per round). Gotta get the driver figured out. Need to be able to hit 8 or 9 iron in instead of 3H.

Had to pull this old thread back up...played a course for the first time today, par 71, front 37 back 34. Had a 58 on the front nine. 37 on the back. +21 to +3. So strange.

Out by where I grew up. Too bad I gotta work...

Kind of a letdown all the way after Rory missed his birdie putt. A 4-way playoff with Rory, Dustin, Bubba, and Martin could have been awesome. Instead, Rory misses by 1, we get the whole Dustin snafu, Bubba mishits his approach on the 75th, and Martin makes a 2-foot putt for bogey to win.

Hmmm. My Callaway 26* FT Fusion hybrid is my go-to club out of the rough. Slices right through. I hit a shot from the rough 170 yards out today to within 6 feet of the hole.

Assuming that distance control is your major problem, there are a number of drills you can do to help improve your feel. Some that I like are: * Putt 5 or 6 balls from somewhere on the green to the fringe, so you're not worrying about target but only distance. * When practicing, line up your putt and then close your eyes while you putt. You'll learn the "feel" of different distances. * Use just your right (if a righty) hand. * On the putting clock before the round, the first thing you might do is find a level spot and hit a few balls with a backswing halfway to your back foot, a few balls with a backswing to your back foot, and a few balls with a backswing 3-4 inches behind your back foot. Then pace off the average distances. This will give you a baseline when out on the course if you get to a hole where you don't trust your feel or mentally you're shaky. If you're facing an 11 foot putt and you know your back foot backswing is getting you about 12 feet, you should be able to hit that within a foot or two (or better) of the hole.

We've had nearly two weeks of 94-104 temps and 100-115 heat indexes here, with no rain to speak of. It's wreaked havoc on the bluegrass courses. I haven't played any zoysia courses in the last couple of weeks, so I don't know how they're doing. When I played my usual (bluegrass/rye) course this week large parts of the fairways were burned off. The bent grass greens were still in pretty good shape, though.

A 3W should normally go further than a 17* hybrid. However, I use a 17* hybrid instead of a 3W because I can control it much better and hit it more consistently. I hit the 17* hybrid about 210. On that 177 par 3 I'd probably use my 22* 4H. If you haven't done so yet, you should go out to the range and get an idea for the distances you hit each of your clubs.