rdwoody

I'll agree with uttexas on the Bridgestone J36 irons. Those things are really great. It was a hard decision between the Bridgestones and the irons I have now. Nearly impossible. I almost ended up with both sets!

Congratulations, buddy! I've been playing golf for about 10 years now and I still haven't found the elusive ace. I've come within mere inches a few times, but I've never dropped one. Enjoy that! It will be a memory you'll cherish forever. Especially since your son was there to witness it.

I used to struggle with this when I was a bit younger. I can think of one hole in particular that I used to struggle with. The first hole of my home course is a long par 5 that has a creek running across the fairway somewhere about 260-265 yards out. When I was in high school, I was a pretty long hitter and used to try to carry that creek every time. It was a high risk, low reward thing, really. I could carry it about 1 out of every 5 times, but even if I did that, I didn't have a realistic chance of making the green in 2 as I was still a very well struck 3 wood from the green. I say well struck because it was still a good distance away and the fairway was very narrow in front of the green which is protected by bunkers on the right and left. Once I finally learned that I could take a wood or even an iron off the tee and go 3W-3i-PW or 3i-3i-8i my scores went from 9-10 on that hole to 5-6. I learned from that strategy and improved my scores everywhere. Course strategy is one of the most important tools a golfer can have.

That's a decent price on them. It's really up to you in the end, but I'd pick 'em up! If you play a few rounds or whatnot and decide you like the Titleists better, you can always sell the MP-57s.

It could be the fact that you had some bad habits ingrained and the long break made you forget those and basically start all over. It has happened to me plenty of times. I no longer take a real "break" from golf in the winter, but I did when I was younger. It was too cold to play and I had better things to do (I was a big duck hunter) with my time. I always noticed that by the end of the golf season, my handicap was creeping upward. I didn't really know the cause at the time, but I now know I had some bad habits going on that were amplifying the more I played. Anyway, when the spring came along I'd get back out on the course and play way better despite not practicing at all for 3 months or more. I shot what stood as the best round of my life for quite a few years during my first round back on the course after the winter break.

Yeah, that's the only one I've seen in the last few days. That putter is not worth that much to me. They weren't even that expensive new!

At my local Dick's it's $9.99 for a pull, $17.99 to put the shaft in, and I believe another $9.99 for a grip. That doesn't include the price of the shaft or grip, of course. I have a local golf shop that is way cheaper, though. It's like $15 for a pull and re-shaft and only $5 or so for a grip install. If you have a small, local shop, I just about guarantee you can get a better deal there than at a big retailer.

This may be a long shot, as I rarely see these things for sale. I love the 8802 blade style and the look and feel of the Black Carbon putters. If anyone has one that they're not asking an arm and a leg for, I'd be glad to take it off your hands. Somebody help me out here! I NEED this putter!

My freshman year of high school, three other guys and I were walking from the tee out toward the fairway with my high school coach riding alongside us talking to us. After a short walk across a bridge, we all took the normal beaten path out toward the fairway. I had my bag slung across my back as we were walking. I heard a snapping sound, and before I knew it I felt a brush on the back of my head and my straps broke off my bag. I turned around quickly and saw a limb about 10 feet long with a 5-6 inch diameter laying on the ground. I literally came a couple inches from taking that thing square on the top of my head.

I always play with a tube of lip balm in my left pocket and all my other pockets empty. I used to empty all my pockets so I wouldn't have anything distracting me at all. Then, I had the best round of my life one day and realized afterwards that I had Chap Stick in my left pocket. Since then, I've done that every round. I've only repeated that performance once since then, but I still believe! This isn't a habit any longer, but I'll tell it anyway. All through my high school playing days and halfway through college, I refused to wear soft spiked golf shoes. I had a plain white pair of Reebok shoes that I called "golf shoes" because that is all I ever used them for. I played in the same pair for six years. Strangely enough, I'm not near as good now as I was in my later high school days. My thought is that it is probably because I went from playing 2-3 rounds per week to 2-3 rounds per month, but just maybe I need to ditch the golf shoes and dust off the old Reeboks...

I played a few rounds with some Titleist DCI irons back in high school. From that moment on, I pined for a set of Titleist irons of my own... until I hit some MP-57s. I really love the Mizunos. When you pure one, they feel marginally better than than the Titleists I played, and in my experience they've been a bit more forgiving as well. Not to mention they look better than the DCIs. Plus, you're asking about keeping what you've got or getting a new set of clubs. We all know what you REALLY want to do! As far as it being worth the money, though? I guess that depends on what kind of price you're getting on them. If you feel it is a decent price, I'd go for it. I had a set of irons that were just a couple years old when I ran across my MP-57s. They were used, but had only seen two rounds and the 4, 5, 6, and 9 irons had never even been hit. I got a killer deal that I couldn't pass up .

I'm a pretty calm guy, so I've never broken a club. I have slammed one down and kicked a cart tire a few times, but I never go over the top. I've actually never even played with anybody that broke a club. Although, I have seen some pretty interesting things done out of anger. In high school, me and three teammates were playing a practice round before a match. This particular hole had a narrow bridge over a creek leading to the 6th green and away from the next hole, so we usually left our bags sitting there in our path to the next tee box. One of my buddies hit a greenside bunker and took off across the bridge with only his wedge. After he got it up on the green, he noticed he left his putter, so he just borrowed one of ours. He missed his putt and then spun and threw the putter, narrowly missing the guy he borrowed it from. We all got a good laugh out of it, but I was glad no one was around to see that. During a separate round with that same guy, we were on the green and he was once again faced with a short putt. He lipped it out and I could see the anger building up already. After his tap-in, he rared back and took a full swing with his putter. That isn't so out of the ordinary, plenty of people have done that. But, he swung a little low and hit the inside edge of the hole and tore up about a 5" x 5" piece of green. During another round with the same fella, yet again, we headed across the same old bridge to the green on the 6th hole. Once again, he had wedge in hand to chip one up on the green. Usually, if we had to take a wedge over there, we would just lay it in our path back to the bridge, but after a poor shot, he decided he wanted that club as far away from him as possible. So, he gave it a little toss back toward the bridge. The club landed straight up and down and began to cartwheel... right into the creek. He went in, shoes and all, after it. One more time, I'll tell you about good old hole #6 (maybe they should make this thing a little easier, eh?). I was playing with a buddy that was just getting into golf and he was getting ready to hit one across the creek to the green. He rared back and chunked it into the creek. He dropped another and chunked it into the creek. Then, he dropped a third and chunked it into the creek and that set him off. He commenced to hacking at the ground with his club until he had dug a hole about 7 or 8 inches deep. The funny thing was, he was a maintenance guy at the course.

I may be completely wrong, but I feel like you're completely off base with this. Until I got my current set of clubs, I gamed cheap $150-$300 sets of clubs. I played all through high school and halfway through college with clubs like that. I played with a plethora of really, really good players and a lot of players who were really, really bad. Needless to say, I played with a bunch of people who had sets of clubs valued at 3-4 times what mine were worth, but none of them ever gave me any grief about my clubs. Maybe I was just lucky, but through all the competitive matches I played, I never once played with anybody that looked down on me for my gear or my skill level, for that matter; just as I've never looked down on anybody else. We were always out there just enjoying the company and having fun playing the game that we loved. Sure, there are always people who have the attitude that what they have is the best and you're nothing if you don't have that or at least something of similar cost. You'll meet "that guy" in every facade of life, although, out of all my hobbies, golf is the one where I haven't met him yet. But to say that "elitism of the privileged" is "alive and well" in golf is a bit of stretch in my opinion. I don't think anybody is really saying that name brand clubs are what you have to play or you might as well not play at all. From what I can tell, most everybody is using the sound reasoning that you started your post with. Name brand clubs have the technology, quality control, and warranty backing them that cheaper clubs don't have. The point is, name brand clubs are generally top tier, followed by clones and cheaper clubs. Nobody is saying "don't buy cheaper clubs or clones", they're saying "don't buy counterfeits" simply because they don't have any QC or care about the customer at all.

It has already been said by a few posters already, but I'm just going to throw my hat in the ring anyway. Sure, you're paying for the marketing just a little bit, but you're paying more for the research, technology, and production process than the marketing. All that definitely leads to a better club. Feel has already been brought up. If you can't feel the difference, that's fine, but there are plenty of serious golfers (like me) who are very discerning and who view feel as a huge deal. If you think counterfeit clubs and the real deals are being made in the same or a similar factory, then you are quite mislead. All a counterfeiter does is look at an expensive name brand club and copy the design. They're just out to fool the eye to move a product. They couldn't care less whether it performs or not. Let's say a counterfeiter wants to copy a set of nice forged irons. In all likelihood, they are going to take a cast of the shape and then cast the clubheads. If you are experienced, you will be able to tell a HUGE difference between forged and cast (if it is a quality forging). Now, I'm not saying that off-brand clubs can't be good. I've played with some clubs that are "copies" of name brands that are very nice. They are a bit cheaper because they don't have the name, and therefore, the research behind them. Those brands generally copy an already established design and do so with quality and performance in mind. That is radically different from what counterfeiters do. So, I believe name brand clubs hold an edge over all others. But, copies are not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Counterfeits, on the other hand, should be avoided like the plague.

I have a good condition VR driver that I'm looking to trade for or toward a PING G15. The VR has no sky marks and minor marks on the sole from normal use. I've used the club for about one full season and I just need something a bit more forgiving. I was striking my driver better than ever when I bought this thing and after that, I was absolutely crushing the ball for a couple months. I went from swinging a square SQ to the VR and gained a good 20-25 yards on my drive and I was able to shape the ball quite effectively. However, lately I've had to make some swing changes and can't seem to find the same groove I had before. The VR is a 9.5 degree and is fitted with the Aldila Voodoo stiff flex shaft. It comes with the stock headcover and the wrench for adjustment. As far as the G15 goes, I'm looking for a 9 degree with a stiff flex shaft of any kind and it should have the stock headcover as well. I'm willing to add a bit of cash if it is needed in a trade. If you don't have a G15 to trade, but want to buy the club outright, I'll sell it for $120 plus actual shipping to your address.

Actually, it did just happen to me the other day. I came up to the 8th hole the other day and sat and waited on a group ahead of us to get out of range. I'm not an extremely long hitter. I usually average 255-265 yards on my drives. The hole plays about 350, so I waited until all the people in the group were well past the 100 yard out marker and teed up. I made really good contact and hit a very nice draw that sailed right over the head of one of the guys and ended up under their cart just to the right of the green. That means that the drive traveled near 350 yards. I really don't see how it happened. I guess I got a lot of roll out because it was fairly hard and dry out there. But, I went and apologized to the group and explained that I didn't mean to hit into them and that I'd somehow hit that one nearly 100 yards farther than usual.

I know that's true! I saw someone selling some limited edition Daiwa driver the other day for like $1100. I started looking into them and their cheapest driver is around $600 I believe. Heck, until I saw that, I didn't even know Daiwa made golf clubs! I've been fishing Daiwa rods and reels for years, but never thought a company would make such an odd combination of things.

Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Enjoy them! I haven't hit any J33 but a friend of mine has a set of J36 that I like a lot.

Absolutely. Play with them just as they are. Odds are, you won't have a problem with them. I've played standard clubs all my life and never felt like they didn't fit correctly.

I know exactly how you feel. I recently backed up a 9 hole round of 39 with a 9 hole round of 48. It Just happens sometimes. I think I got a little too cocky and made some stupid decisions. But, you're right, a bad score on the first hole can completely change your game, usually for the worse. If you don't keep cool, you're busy the entire day trying to pull off hero shots and erase the bad hole.

The lowest round I've played so far this year was with a single Top Flite XL 7000 Soft ball.

It will vary from company to company. You'll usually see a sale on a particular model when they put out something new to "replace" it. What irons are you interested in?

He won't get as much roll because of the increased backspin that a higher lofted driver produces, but that backspin is what causes the ball to carry.

I would definitely get them sized correctly. The funny thing is, I always had the exact opposite problem. I was about your size when I was your age and my standard length clubs felt too short to me. I'm now 21 and full grown at 5'9" and my standard length clubs now feel just about perfect. On the other hand, if you've been striking the ball well with them, a bit of change in the club could call for a drastic change in your swing and you don't want that if you're hitting it well.

My recommendation is not to play with or listen to that Rhett Woody fella. He's full of bad advice and even worse golf skills. That will probably help your game more than anything.