wtd

I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on some new Vokeys. My irons have ProjectX Flighted (6.0) shafts in them, and it's been suggested I might want to put the ProjectX (5.5) shafts in the Vokeys to maintain a similar feel. I do prefer a softer feel in my wedges, and I believe the stock, off the shelf, shaft (TrueTemper S200) fits that bill. I was fitted less than a year ago and am pretty much a standard length, standard lie, standard grip size guy, so off-the-rack should fit well, and save me $25 per club. I'd also save myself the 2 week wait for the clubs to arrive from the factory. Realistically, how much of a difference will I really notice in a wedge, and does paying the up charge really make sense? Thanks, Tony

I carry a 46* (from my set), a 52*, 56*, and 60*. I basically took the 4-iron out of my bag. I carry a 3, and 5 wood, a 21* hybrid, and then 5-PW. I'm guessing it's one of the more interesting arraignments, but it works very well for me. I always have the "right club" for me from 250 in, although oddly enough, it's the 80 - 90 yard range that gives me fits. My gap wedge is too long, and I don't always get there with my sand wedge.

I'm considering picking up a new fairway wood or two. I've pretty much narrowed it down to the 906F4 and the Bobby Jones Fairway clubs. I prefer a smallish head in my fairway clubs, and those two are about the only ones that really fit the bill. I'm currently using a pair of TaylorMade R580 series woods. My concern is that the extra .5* loft on the F4 might cost me some distance. My gaps are pretty good between clubs. Although a little more distance might be nice, any less would be a problem. Does the 13.5 make more sense? I have the same issue with the 5 wood as well. So I guess my most basic question is how much does that .5* matter?

obligatory post Memorial Day bump...

Has anyone played with the new TaylorMade Z TP Wedges? I'm going to be picking up 2-3 new wedges (52*, 56*, and maybe a 60*). I tried the Mizuno MP-T (51* and 53*), and the Vokeys (both 200 and SpinMilled), and am leaning towards the vokeys. I'm wondering how the new TaylorMade wedges compare with respect to, feel, spin, playabilty, etc. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, there's only so much you can learn about a wedge from hitting it off a mat. Any comparative first hand experience? Thanks, -tony

Saturday: Tee Time at Kingswood (my home course) Sunday: No plans yet...golf is always a possibility Monday: Heading to Turning Stone to play the Shenendoah course.

I've been wrestling with the same question myself. My wedges are now 3+ years old, so I think they could use an update. After trying a few out at my local pro shop I'm leaning towards the Vokeys. I was thinking an 52/8*, the 56/14* and...well...ideally a 60* with very low bounce (I find myself hardpanned around the green more often than I'd like, but I'd like something with leading edge and heal relieve so I can open the face up without too much risk of skulling). I think it makes sense to cover a range of bounces so at a minimum you'll have a viable option from any lie.

Sell clubs by any means necessary, I suppose. Well, if one has a tendency to hit the ball abnormally high (18* launch angle with a 9.5 head), and are trying to fight the occasional slice, then low launch/low spin, makes some sense. No doubt there's an underling swing flaw that needs to be addressed, but why worry about that if there's a magic ball. In all seriousness though, what I was told, factual or otherwise, was that to lower my launch angle I should tee the ball lower (which I question for other reasons), think about an 8.5* head, and go with the Nike One Black b/c of the low launch characteristics. I guess launch vs. trajectory is a whole other thing, but your point is taken. I wasn't being fit for these balls so much as it was a Nike event, on an indoor simulator, so no surprise, everyone was given a selection of Nike One Platinum and Blacks to hit. I'm not sure I agree with your implication that high handicappers shouldn't play premium balls. I can't speak for all of us, but in many cases, high scores are the result of the inconsistency, rather than an general inability to hit a golf ball with any degree of distance or accuracy. If you play to a 20, but can keep the ball in play (the short game is where I lose 99% of my strokes - damn wedge yips), why not play a better feeling, better performing ball? Of course, I'd be lying if I said I would actually pay $40+ per dozen for balls. While I do hit my fair share of fairways, even if I'm only losing 1 or 2 balls a round, it doesn't make financial sense. I don't mind losing the ones I find though.

At the risk of further stirring up a hornets nest...that's a bit of a broad generalization that isn't completely accurate (at least not in one specific case that I'm aware of). I'll stay well clear of the TM Black vs. Red debate since I only know what I've read from TaylorMade (and been told by the "pro" at my local golf galaxy), all of which is, shall I say, inconclusive. All that said, if you look at the characteristics of Nike's premium One series; The Platinum is the softer, higher spinning, higher launching of the two. The Black, despite it's firmer feel is lower spinning, and provides for lower initial launch conditions. I've gathered this information not only from the Nike site, but also from fairly extensive discussions with my local Nike Rep, during a demo day event where I was hitting Nike balls into a launch monitor. This was all precipitated by the reps observation that I needed to bring my launch angle down. My point, for what it's worth; harder doesn't always mean higher.

I'm not the least bit surprised. It's amazing what a little bit of artificial shortage will do for demand. Me thinks there's a larger economic lesson in there somewhere. I'm glad they're gone, though. One less thing to talk myself into. I'm holding out hope they'll realease a non-custom version for the rest of us. I'd like to see a similar grind with a little less bounce. Oh...and for about 1/2 the price.

Forgetting for a moment that the "TVD" isn't available in any other Vokey wedge, and that for $250 they will stamp up to 8 characters of your choosing into the club head, what do you guys think the future holds not only for the Vokey Design custom series (apparently a new grind or two will be available every month), but also for the more general availability of some of these grinds? Capitalism is what it is, so if Titleist can get $250 for a wedge, I suppose more power to them, but as far as the "custom" bit goes, is the grind (and the stamping) worth over $100? For less than $150 you can get any other Vokey Spin Milled wedge with any of the grip and shaft options listed on the Vokey site. With practically every other big name company making at least 1 c-grind type sole available to all of us (and plenty of us eathing it up), how likely do you think Titleist is to follow along? Wouldn't they make more money selling thousands of TVD wedges at $120 instead of 600 at $250. I'm getting the feeling that "custom" sole grinds are the next great frontier; in so much as it's a great way to get guys like me to by more equipment I don't need. So I guess my questions are... How do you feel about a $250 "custom wedges"? Will you be buying? Do you expect, and would you like to see a more generally available TVD (or other grind) Wedge? Care to wildly speculate about future grinds from vokey.com?

At the risk of stating the obvious, a lot depends on your personal preference for the look of the club. A lot of higher handicap players prefer a larger head on their fairway clubs. If you're among them, the previously mentioned Adams, Ping, and TaylorMade (Burner) clubs are excellent options. Also don't discount the Callaway X Series. My personal taste is for a smaller head in my fairway clubs. If you're more like me, then the Bobby Jones series, and to a lesser degree the Titleist 906F4 (less forgiving for sure) are good options.

I actually just bought the BC01. I tried it out at a local demo days event, and absolutely loved the feel. I've played a couple of rounds with it so far, including a fairly successful day on a course with more than a handful of circus greens. I love the weight of the 33" model. I'm also a huge fan of the FIT face. I've always preferred a softer feeling putter, and the BC series has the softest face of any putter I've used. It's still early to tell, but I may have finally found the putter to replace my Rossa Monza.

Their prices aren't actually that far out of whack. Pricing for "BasicMode" courses (comparable to most GPS units on the market today) start at 3/$10 and decrease in price as you buy more. The ProMode (which adds features not found in other units) start at $10 each, but drop significantly if you purchase in chunks. For the sake of shameless self promotion, I have full pricing details here . I also have 'exclusive' pics here . I don't work for uPro or anything, but I've been fortunate to make some contacts on the inside.

I've been looking at new 3 woods myself. At this point I'm still undecided, but the choice will likely come down to either the Titleist 906F4 or the Bobby Jones Fairway. Both of them have smaller heads than most fairway woods on the market today. As much as I lover the Burner driver, the Burner Fairways are just too big for my tastes. I'm actually leaning a bit towards the Jones. It's consistently rated as a top performer out of the rough.

I'm personally not a fan of draw (or fade for that matter) weighted drivers. My recommendation, for what it's worth, would be a TaylorMade SuperQuad. You can configure it for a draw, but once you get things sorted out, you can set it back to neutral. It's been discontinued, so good deals can be had.

How about Bobby Jones? I don't see them listed in many sigs in this forum, and I don't see a ton of them out on the courses I play. It's also probably worth mentioning that the big box golf stores near me (Dick's and GolfGalaxy) don't carry the brand. Jesse Ortiz practically made Orlimar, and the clubs he's making under the Jones brand are fantastic. I had a chance to hit the new workshop driver, as well as the fairway woods and hybrids over the weekend, and I've giving serious thought to adding one or two in my bag. Easy to hit, great feel, and slightly less expensive than most. Lack of custom shaft options are a bummer, but everything else about the clubs is stellar.

I've tried the Nike maxsight as well. They don't cost much above regular contacts. That being said, I'm not a big fan of the gray tint recommended for golf. While they make greens really pop, and definitely help with the sun, I find that colors are distorted a bit too much for my tastes. I use the orange tinted ones for softball and ocassionally for golf (I actually prefer them over the gray ones). If I had to play with sunglasses, I'd go with something like an Oakley jacket. I need something that sits close to my eyes, or at least has a bigger lens, so that I don't see the frames while I swing.

I tried both the FT-i and the FT-5. I can't stand the sound of Callaway drivers. I also can't justify the cost compared to other drivers. Finally, while I found that the FT-i went a long way towards preventing slices, it greatly accentuated any thing I hit with a little hook to it. That was with the neutral model, I'm scared to think how bad it would have been with a draw bias.

Apart from the dream of a driver that always goes long and straight (or that you can bend at will around doglegs)... The TaylorMade R7 SuperQuad with the Aldila VS Proto shaft that I just bought is about as close as I can reasonably get. If money were not an issue, I probably would have bought the TP model.

My understanding is that there is a fairly significant difference between the HiBore and the HiBore XL. That being said, TaylorMade's R7 from last year is still extremely popular, as are the Callaway X460 (I know several people with this club, and they all love it). People on this board generally rave about the Callaway FT-3 as well. I'm one of those clowns who always wants to have the latest and greatest, but with most manufacturers having reached the point where their drivers are (to quote TaylorMade) evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary, in most cases you're not going to be getting a whole lot more for a whole lot more money.

I used a bunch of American Express points on the Bushnell Pinseeker 1500 Slope Edition last year. It's some of the best money I never spent. Obviously being able to dial in the exact distance of the pin is great, but what I love is the ability it gives you to pinpoint the distance carry a hazard, or to the front edge of a bunker. It's also nice if you know you want to lay up to say 150 or so. Find your spot on the fairway, pick your club and go. Apart from the cost, there isn't any good reason not to own one.

There's nothing at all wrong with the DynamicGold wedge shaft. It's far and away the most common (pretty much the stock option on most of the popular wedges on the market). I had to replace a shaft out of necessity, so I figured what the hell...let's try the Spinner. I couldn't be happier that I did.

While I can't comment on the pros and cons of using an extension, reshafting a wedge is generally a fairly inexpensive proposition. If your wedges are otherwise fine, I wouldn't suggest replacing them over something as simple as a shaft. Another benefit of reshafting is you have the option of installing something other than the DynamicGold shaft that is stock on most wedges. I just put a Rifle Spinner (5.5) in my 60 degree wedge. I love the feel so much that I'm considering putting it my 52 and 56 as well.

For the very high handicapper, my advice would be to check out the Callaway ERC Fusion or Cleveland HiBore irons. Both are targeted for the high handicapper, and the HiBore specifically should cost significantly less than the Ping Rapture irons. If you want to spend even less money, Adams golf, and TourEdge offer similar clubs for a fair amount less than the big guys. Other responders are correct, Titleist doesn't really have anything specifically designed for the high handicap player.