alo1984

I could be wrong, but it looks like your right hand may be too far underneath the club which could make a proper release difficult. Again, due to the video angles I can't say this definitively but it's something to look into.

I totally agree. I don't want you to give me 8 strokes when we play. I want to beat you! I can't beat you if you shoot 71 and I shoot 77. To beat you I need to shoot 70 (not likely) - bottom line. That said, I'd be pretty ticked off if I shot better than someone at the Club Championship but he was declared the winner due to net scoring. Likewise, I'd be embarrassed to be crowned the winner when I didn't actually beat you gross.

I feel like practicing with short irons before you've learned good fundamentals can produce some bad habits. Reason: Every beginner is concerned with getting the ball in the air (rightfully so) and obviously short irons are the easiest to get in the air. Problem is, they're relatively easy to get in the air with a bad swing, ie. flipping the wrists, scooping the ball, coming over the top, etc. So when you use a less lofted club like a 5 iron, you'll get some forgiveness but it will really encourage you to make a good swing down the line. At this point in your game you should be almost entirely concerned with making good solid impact using proper technique like a flat left wrist and a good inside out or down the line swing plane. Really work on compressing the ball by hitting down it and taking your divot in front of the ball with a 5 iron and everything else will come with time. Just my 2 cents.

If you subscribe to the teaching of Ben Hogan then you should be practicing mostly with your 5 iron. Ben was a huge advocate of learning to swing the 5 iron and then that would translate into every other club in your bag. The 5 iron is really the perfect club to practice with in my opinion.

Well let's see. I learned to play from just a few very informal lessons from my grandfather. He would take me to the range and tell me to keep my left elbow straight, head down, head still, and swing through the ball - not at it. That got me along until high school. Then my coach and a pro gave me lessons once a month for a couple of years. That helped too, but it wasn't until college that I really became serious about understanding the swing on my own. I really became a student on the golf swing, and the game. That plus the implementation of the things I learned on the practice range helped me become a 5 cap. That's the lowest I've been and I haven't had a lesson in 8 years. My index has gone up but that's due to my limited time to play. I'm actually striking the ball better than ever now and I am convinced that is due to my study of the swing. I think I would benefit greatly from some short game coaching at this point.

Ideal distance for me is somewhere in the 6400-6800 range. I've played from the tips on my home course which is 7100 yards and enjoyed it but don't want to do it too often maily because I can't get anybody to play from there with me. Most of my playing partners are 20+ caps or old guys who can't even reach the fairway from back there. However, there are a couple of courses I play where the tips are only 6900 or so and I play the tips there. It definitely impresses the other guys out there. When I play with my grandfather I play from the senior tees which is awesom for scoring!

Gorgeous sticks! Stunning! I love my Anser 3 but man I'd love to roll the rock with a Scotty too. Thanks for sharing the pics.

I'm an Admissions Admin at a large hospital. My real passion is my young ministry where I travel to different churches/youth groups and share my story and do a little preaching. My story is pretty amazing if you ever want to hear it just hit me up. Golf is an obsession for me. Some would say I wasted a lot of time and money throughout high school and college playing the game. I would disagree, as I've met some great people and won some of their money ;)

Hey Guys! I'm from Tulsa, OK and am psyched about finding The Sand Trap. I've been married for two years and we're working on building a house so I don't get to play nearly as much as I'd like or used to. During High School and College I somehow managed to play about 150 or more rounds a year. Now I'm happy to play once or twice a week. This site is a great outlet to feed the obsession though!

I'm totally up for a challenge, but these look ridiculously hard to hit. Almost as if an advanced engineering degree may help. Did any pro's ever play/win with these?

Trajectory control is part of it. It's the overall control of a blade that is appealing. It's hard to shape shots with GI irons that are offset in order to keep shots going straight, but a blade is more neutral to start with which allows some workability.

I occasionally play with a guy who seems to think constant trash talking is part of the game. It really annoys me to no end because sometimes I just want to concentrate on a shot in peace. Anyways, he likes to talk about our size difference (I'm 5'5 and he's 6'4) and make jokes about that. It doesn't bother me that I'm short because I can take most guys twice my size, but his constant jabbering gets old. So yesterday we play and he says he's been playing terribly and asks me for a stroke per hole. Then proceeds to jabber about how he's going to take me lol. Well, after I posted a couple 38's he finally shut his mouth. This guy will never learn but it sure does feel good to take his money.

It's funny how people have to prove they're right no matter what. I really don't think there are many people here (perhaps there are on most courses) who believe that playing with a certain set of irons will magically make them better. That's ridiculous. However, it's equally ridiculous to say that playing a blade in no way has anything to do with improving your game. No, you don't get better because of the great feel of a blade or some magical feedback. But, take a decent player who is motivated to get better and spend time practicing and I guarantee you he'll come out a better golfer having honed his game with blades over GI's. Blades allow a player to play a vastly different game than GI irons. I really don't see how this can even be debated. I know not everyone is going to be physically capable of hitting blades well, and that's what's good about GI's, but blades will force a motivated player to concentrate harder on making the right impact move if he wants to achieve good results.

This simply isn't true. Playing a blade will absolutley make you a better ball striker because if you want to consistently find the "pure" shot you will have to work much harder than with a GI iron. Learn to hit a blade pure and then pick up a GI iron and you'll know what I mean.

Played 27 in 104 degrees. Shot 44, 41, 38. First nine I was really trying to find a groove with my new TaylorMade Burner. Once I got that going it was a much better day. The driver is awesome. I was finding an average of 15 extra yards!