Topper

I play golf with a guy a little older than me (late 50s) who routinely scores in the mid 80s with an occasional round of 79. He's not a big hitter and plays a fade almost exclusively. He is a machine at hitting fairways and greens.

+1 for the Gamer V2.

I don't think it's too complicated of a decision. If you walk and carry your clubs most of the time, then a stand/carry bag. If you mostly walk with a pull cart or ride, then a cart bag with lots of pockets and club separation is the way to go. If you mix walk/ride, then you have to go with a stand bag. They don't fit in pull carts very well but you can make it work and they'll be OK when riding. Cart bags just aren't a great bag for carrying so I don't think that's even an option.

I developed a horrible slice earlier this year and I'm not talking about a baby slice either. Like 200 yard out and 100 yards to the right kind of slice. No matter what I did fixed it. Anyway, I took a lesson and the problem has for the most part been fixed. But I am wondering why I can hit a slice "300" yards but not even close with something that lands in the fairway. Anyway, my instructor showed me ..... The swing I thought I had was not what I actually had....not even close. My attempts to fix my imaginary swing were not effective because I was attempting to fix a swing that existed only in my head. how correct the slice by associating a specific change with a particular feel by repeated visits to the tee area and video display. Take a lesson from a teaching professional with experience and equipment. You will not regret spending the money. Golf is fun when you spend more time playing from the fairway. But keep your towels because you'll periodically need to throw one in.....because that's just golf.

Ditto this. As a bonus, I can rinse the sweat out of a rain glove without really damaging the glove.

The action deserves a severe penalty for sure but an "indefinite" (which sounds like lifetime?) suspension from golf sounds harsh assuming he does not have a history of other infractions or adverse behavior. In the end, I think a year suspension is more than harsh enough to send a strong message. As others have said, it's probably moot since he would probably have difficulty finding an employer.

Same here.

Same here.

+1 That's me to a tee. 90 mph (plus or minus) with a low level sweep with the driver. I tee the ball relatively low. I routinely carry about 220 plus whatever roll I get. My longest last weekend was 256 on the gps with some roll out. I have been really good at keeping the ball in play lately so I'm reluctant to change anything at the moment. Now for my approach shots...that's a another story.

Couldn't tell you. All I can tell you is that it is noticeably shorter than the Gamer V2. But I like the Srixon a little better when it's cold. The distance gap isn't as noticeable and it feels better.

I bought some and agree with the your comments. It's not long relative to my Gamer V2 but it feels real nice around the green and off the putter. It's a nice ball but I still prefer my Gamer V2s for all-around play.

I have both a 10.5 and 13 driver and get a lot more height with the 13. But it's not just the head. The shafts are different. The shaft for the 13 has a low kick point while the 10.5 has a mid kick point. I have been hitting the 13 great lately so it's in the bag. I don't get a lot of roll but I'll take a fair carry distance in the fairway any day.

uttexas....you are right on! Today I observed EXACTLY what you describe. I played a round with brother-in-law and two of my cousins today. One insists on using a Pro V1x because it's the "best" ball. He has a horrible slice and his driving distance is average. He was busting my chops for using a Top Flite ball (Gamer V2). When I suggested he try one of mine, he basically laughed his a$$ off and indicated that he wouldn't be caught with a Top Flite in his bag. He missed almost every fairway on his way to a 112. Ironically, I shot one of my better rounds with a 93 that included 12 of 14 on the fairway or a good miss (first cut of rough with clean second shot). My score included some lousy putting and the two missed fairways were hooks resulting in lost balls on holes that I could otherwise have parred or bogied. I firmly believe that matching equipment to the golfer is critical and that golfing dogma like tour balls can help everyone and that stiff shafts are better than regular shafts are hurting people's games. I'm well on my way to my goal of breaking 90 consistently and the Top Flite Gamer V2 (and similar balls) is an important part of it....along with more lessons.

I developed a slicing problem this year...a bad one. I can tell you that I took one lesson early last week and my slicing problem is practically gone except when I occasionally go back to my old take away. I have other issues and my driving is not real consistent but it's already much improved. For the record, I have been going back and forth between a 10.5* driver with stiff shaft and a 13* with regular shaft. At the moment, I can hit both but I seem to be better with the 13* except that I will hit it too high sometimes. I think this is an issue with my weight shift and follow-through which will be the focus of upcoming lessons. The point is I'll let my instructor figure that out. Lessons will be money better spent. It can be hard to find a good instructor that you can connect with. Find a PGA instructor that actually likes people and teaching. My current instructor teaches full-time and runs clinics in NY all summer and then goes to Florida and teaches all winter.

Not as important as I once thought it was when I bought my Ogio Syncro. I constantly snag my clubs as I pull them from the bag. This is made even worse since I use jumbo grips. For my next bag, I'd seriously consider a cart bag with a Woode type divider system.

Try http://valueguide.pga.com/

I'm totally lost on this thread and am going to have to start paying attention to things like their golfing and what they say. I just haven't been able to get past the T&A; yet.

I have similar issues but I'm having difficulty with your post. I have been inconsistent (putting it nicely) with my driver since I started golfing a couple of years ago and started slicing terribly this year. I took a 1-hour lesson a week ago. It took her all of 5 minutes to diagnose a multitude of problems and then show me the issues on video. How I thought I was swinging was absolutely not how I was ACTUALLY swinging. The difference between my perception and reality was startling. There were too many things to fix in one lesson so she identified priorities to work on prior to the next lesson: 1. Consistent ball position and height (more forward and lower tee height relative to what I was doing) 2. Takeaway to the inside (this was a tough motion to develop...for me) 3. Do not over swing (keep club and arm from collapsing at the top) Am I now an excellent driver? No. Am I improving? Hell yes! Slice gone almost immediately barring the occasional one when I catch myself sliding back into my old takeaway. Consistency is significantly improved. I think it's a mistake to think your problem can be solved by equipment. I would recommend putting any money you intended to use for a new driver back into lessons. Maybe consider a different instructor. Plan on hitting a lot of range balls.

I'm all for innovation and creativity, but can someone tell me what the advantage is for grooveless irons? Being different for the sake of being different might be creative but isn't necessarily innovative or functionally advantageous. I assumed that maybe they used an abrasive or milled surface but the pictures show the irons being pretty smooth.

I don't have enough information to vote. I haven't gone through every post but is there a statistical difference in putting performance for those using belly putters vs those that do not. As more people use belly putters, more will then obviously be in a position to win while using one. Alone, that's really not that significant. If there isn't really a statistical difference in putting performance, then I'm not inclined to vote for banning them. If there is a statistically significant difference for those using belly putters, then you could argue that the belly putter has "changed the nature of the game" and banning should be more closely examined. Given that anyone is free to use one, I don't think we can say that the current rules represent an unfair advantage. Have any belly vs non-belly stats been posted?

It's getting increasingly difficult to find Gamer V2s at a discount except maybe a few dollars off per box. Last year I could routinely get them for 10-12 per box. I'm afraid the "word is out" with respect to Gamer V2s so big discounts are going to be much harder to find. Since Dicks now owns Top Flite, distribution may be somewhat more limited which isn't likely to help the issue. On the bright side, this is still a great ball at $20 per doz. This weekend I ordered 60 used mint condition "Gamers" from an online vendor for $50 (including shipping). I hope that my order includes mostly V2s versus the original Gamer but it's worth taking a chance. I see that the listing has since been removed from their online catalog and I'm not sure why.

Sorry for the long post, but I have the same issue (plus a lot of others) and thought you might be interested what I am working on to fix it. I took a private lesson tonight and I was shuttled back and forth between the tee box and adjacent video hut. The idea was to get me to see changes and associate a particular change with a certain feel. To stop the OOT move, I had to start my takeaway with my arms by feeling like my hands were moving behind my right hip...not up. This put the club right in line with my toes when the shaft was parallel to the ground and my bicept was against my chest. This was surprisingly hard for me to get the feel for it. As soon as my bicept squeezed against my chest (which happens quickly), it acted as my "trigger" to turn my shoulders. From that point, my left bicept needs to stay "glued" to my chest. My arms continue to move behind me with the shoulder turn. They also moved up but that was due to spine angle. I had to feel like my swing was going behind me and let the "up" part happen on its own. Otherwise, my swing got too steep if I tried to "lift" the club. I didn't really think about my right arm but the flying elbow mostly went away on its own. My wrists were over-cocking or collapsing at the top on my original swing with my club often dropping past parallel. This surprised my when I saw it because I hand no idea it was that severe. To correct it, I had to feel like my backswing was stopped at 3/4 (at most) and my club was pointing "Up". It wasn't actually pointing straight up but that's what it felt like. I also had to feel like my backswing was short to keep from lifting up and out of my posture from over swinging or over turning. My back isn't in the greatest shape. Anyway, no more slice....even with all the other things I need to improve like a better weight transfer and extension on the follow through. I ended the lesson with 4 or 5 drives landing in the center fairway. I hope to hit several hundred balls on the range over the next couple of weeks to try to get these movements more automatic so I can move to other corrections during the next lesson. I think everybody is a little different on the sensations they feel when swinging a golf club. Maybe some of what I learned can help you.

I ordered AAAA from Lostgolfballs and was pretty happy with the quality. Very good condition. I would not hesitate to recommend AAAA or AAAAA from this vendor. I don't know about AAA or if it's the same with other vendors.

I haven't really gone through it lately...probably should do a spring cleaning. But I expect the following is in there....somewhere: Rain cover 1-2 dozen balls sharpie 1 bag short tees 1 bag long tees 2-3 divot tools rain gloves spare golf glove golf glove (in use) bug spray sun block advil 2 towels dark sunglasses amber sunglasses ball marking gizmo golf rules book bottle opener

My clubs are cast and bent 2* up. Maybe the R9s are different, but most cast clubs I've seen can be bent 2*. I've recently looked at Callaway Razr X and Mizuno JPX and they can both be bent +2*. You'll have to ask for more details. Is it a manufacturer's restriction or is the shop afraid to bend cast clubs 2*.