Fore! Who's playing golf, yo-

[DasBlunt]

I'm 5'10" and play 43.5 driver shaft. Might be 1/2 inch short. But, I grew up with steel shaft on wood.

Yeah, even on the tour, because of lightweight shafts, lengths have increased because of it. In the past, steel shafts+ a longer club= WAY more swing weight with the fact of steel shafts+ plus swing weight physics.

Currently on tour (2011 data) it is 45, but I bet cash money it will go down to 44.5 in years to come.

[guroo270]

Fancy shafts are wonderful. I highly recommend them. I still use my 3 wood from ten years ago. A ping i3 steel head with an AJ Tech metal x shaft, 12* loft. Love that thing.

[Steven S. Dallas]

I had some custom-fit, fancy-shafted clubs made for me at Hot Stix in Scottsdale about 6 years ago. They were great, but at that point my "game" consisted of closing my eyes and swinging as hard as I could, at a speed up in the hundred-and-teens. Now I'm down around 100 and a little and they're just far too stiff. My current (second gen Burner) is, I'm sure, fine, but I got it entirely because it was cheap. Still, not going to buy anything unless there's a better than 10% improvement in trackman results.

Fuck, who am I kidding.

[guroo270]

You don't have to spend serious coin these days to pick something up with a dope shaft. I bought a last years nike sumo with some blue aldila shaft that I quite like, at sports authority, for $125 brand new, and it came with a box of soft Nike balls.
There are enough manufacturers out there that are offering off the shelf fancy shafts. It only makes sense since it's very costly to add them afterwards. I spent like $350 on some Fujikura heavy shaft as a high schooler, but if you ordered that club with the shaft from the factory it was an extra $175 or something. My last driver before that is a Titleist 905R with a Graffaloy Blue shaft. I like that shaft better. I have a knot in my back the size of my putter grip. It's making it so I can't yawn, and it's just driving me nuts. I'm falling apart.

[BackCountryNC]

Getting fit at a Golfsmith is a waste of money, so is getting fit indoors. For the money, there is no better shaft than a UST V2.

[Steven S. Dallas]

Getting fit at a Golfsmith is a waste of money, so is getting fit indoors.

I'm sure it's better to be outdoors, especially because I just feel claustrophobic hitting inside, but there aren't a lot of options for that around here. As for Golfsmith sucking, I was pretty stoked with Lloyd at the downtown SF location- he's a retired guy, early 60s, certified fitter and teacher, and apparently works there a couple days per week just to stay busy and get schwag. Very mellow, zero sales pressure, etc. Recommended.

Anyway, it was interesting. The clubs that felt best in my hand, I couldn't hit (particularly the Titleists). Clubs I'd hit outside and didn't like, I hit well (Ping G20 and i20-although, in both cases, those were Abdominable Snowman's 8.5*, x-x-x-stiff versions). The i20, in particular, is a monster and probably the most badass-looking club I've ever hit. So after an hour and fifteen minutes of hitting the latest and greatest, I picked up my old bone-stock Burner...

..and hit my three longest, straightest drives of the session, 270 down the pipe. Now, it's very familiar to me, and there's no doubt I'd develop that same level of familiarity with a newer club. But the Taylor Made stays in the bag, for now.

[spook]

So after an hour and fifteen minutes of hitting the latest and greatest, I picked up my old bone-stock Burner...

..and hit my three longest, straightest drives of the session. Now, it's very familiar to me, and there's no doubt I'd develop that same level of familiarity with a newer club. But the Taylor Made stays in the bag, for now.

[spook]

Hit the ball using only your left arm. It will naturally slow your swing down.

that's one of the drills he's having me do. he's also having me swing with my right hand basically covering my left hand (i'm a rightie) to take my right hand out of the swing and feel the left wrist turning over. my posture was poor and i have little flexibility in my shoulders and upper torso after too many injuries, but my hips are hyper-flexible from constant stretching to deal with muscle spasms, so when i start my backswing, my hips end up leading my arms and shoulders and on my downswing my wrists are apparently breaking too early and i'm not turning anything over. my follow through is way too high -- kind of like the punch shots i was asking about during the memorial, and i'm not gripping with my left hand solidly enough to keep the pad on the club through the follow through.

i had to take a couple days off because i hit too hard for the 18 on monday and then hit too hard for a lot of balls on wednesday and my back is thrashed. if i can figure out how to have a slowed, relaxed swing, it will save my back a bit i'm sure. i'm going to practice just swinging the club here at home for a couple days without trying to hit anything. try to slow it down and start to feel what i'm supposed to be feeling.

[DasBlunt]

Spook,

Flexibility issues, both hyper and too little, try some corrective (not conditioning) exercises. For the hips, use those stretch bands, there is an iTunes show, Golf fitness academy, and a whole episode on hips. The other one to watch is the women specific episode. It really helps the average Joe.

On a scale of 1-10, Say Tiger woods swing is a 10 and you try to swing driver at a 8, try this. At the range, try making FULL driver swings at the speed of 3, then 5, then 7. Complete your swing, and a full follow though with your best finish, no matter what.

I bet 6 will be the ticket.

I accept paypal.......

[wooley12]

Spook-

After you have mastered the 6 or 7 independent, unnatural body movements the pro is teaching, he'll continue your lesson program with leg drive and proper pressure on the big toe of your foot.

What is your ball flight pattern? What direction does does it usually start out (left, right or center of aiming point) ? What direction does it end? Hook or slice? Fade or draw? Straight? I can help.

Try hitting easy 8 irons at the range in your swing search. Hit a whole bucket of 8 irons at no more than 1 every minute or two. Concentrate on tempo and keeping some tension between your left hip and your shoulders.
---------------
" I see your problem with the driver" said the pro golfer to the amateur. "You're standing too close to the ball after you hit it."

[skiballs]

Played a hundred year old Donald Ross course in Philly yesterday Lulu Country Club .
Shoot 72 , short game still sucks ass , missed 2 three footers .
One of the guys I played with is a former nationwide pro .
He is buddies with Dufner , like best man at his wedding buddies , couple funny stories that I won't repeat .

[spook]

thanks for the comments

[BackCountryNC]

Played a hundred year old Donald Ross course in Philly yesterday Lulu Country Club .
Shoot 72 , short game still sucks ass , missed 2 three footers .
One of the guys I played with is a former nationwide pro .
He is buddies with Dufner , like best man at his wedding buddies , couple funny stories that I won't repeat .

I know Jason well, used to play a lot with him in Auburn. Who's your buddy? I used to chase Nationwide Monday qualifiers, might know him.

[skiballs]

I know Jason well, used to play a lot with him in Auburn. Who's your buddy? I used to chase Nationwide Monday qualifiers, might know him.

Jon Rusk .
I had never meet the guy , a buddy of mine is an industry rep for the Philly section , so I go up and play with whatever degenerates are playing that day .
Jon was a lot of fun to play with , really good driver of the golf ball .

[Ski to Be]

I have been trying to get my swing together this spring and golf frustrates me like no other sport. My instructor has me hitting the ball buttery smooth at the end of each lesson. I go back to practice the next day and it takes me 15 balls to get into a groove and I hit it well. Then when I think I am hitting it well then I always tend to speed up my swing which is fast to begin with and end up going back to hacker status. The thing is I know exactly what I am doing wrong but I have to concentrate really hard on each swing to do it right. I wish I had taken lessons from day one. I still love the game but I wish I could find more consistency. I have a question. Do range balls carry the same as standard balls? I hit my 7 iron 165 to 175 at the range. Are those distances going to be the same with standard balls? They say Super Range or something like that.

[BLOOWERPOW]

I'd say range balls are pretty unpredictable. Some balls are made harder so therefore they go further....

[guroo270]

Yeah, it's a tough call with range balls. Unless you are at Corde Valle where they have quality control looking after their NXT Tour range balls, you are most likely hitting balls that have been bladed tons of times, and/or balls that have a lower compression rate so they don't fly as far. I would guess that most are much like Top Flite XL's, or the lower 70 compression balls.

So, no. Most range balls don't give you an ideal picture of what you do out on the course with your Pro v1.

Colorado mags, here's a living social deal for $100 worth of golf for $50. I bought one of them last year, and had an issue that very few of these courses seemed to offer tee times for one - at least at the courses I wanted to play.

http://www.livingsocial.com/cities/2...golf-tee-times

[BackCountryNC]

Jon Rusk .
I had never meet the guy , a buddy of mine is an industry rep for the Philly section , so I go up and play with whatever degenerates are playing that day .
Jon was a lot of fun to play with , really good driver of the golf ball .

I played with him one time in Auburn back in the early 2000's. I think he was from PA or somewhere in that area.

[Tye 1on]

Lots of range balls are 'reduced flight', designed not to go as far. At least that's what the pro at the one course here that doesn't use them told me.

[guroo270]

Going out to Coal Creek with my father in law this morning. Today should be my second round in the 70's for the year. It can be pretty easy to get yourself in some trouble here, though, so we'll see. I'm glad my sky caddie has a fresh charge...

[TahoeJ]

Never worry about distance on the range. Those balls are shit - some will go further, some much shorter, especially with the driver.

[guroo270]

Shot 78 at Coal Creek. 39,39. Didn't make one putt over 6 feet but I probably made 6, 5 footers for par. I probably had 10 putts for birdie under 20 feet, but didn't make a birdie all day. The AP2's Das hooked me up with are really coming around. I've never hit the ball this straight before with my irons. My mind was kind of fucked for the day though, thinking about my friend. Thanks again to those who signed the petition.

[DasBlunt]

Yeah, it's a tough call with range balls. Unless you are at Corde Valle where they have quality control looking after their NXT Tour range balls, you are most likely hitting balls that have been bladed tons of times, and/or balls that have a lower compression rate so they don't fly as far. I would guess that most are much like Top Flite XL's, or the lower 70 compression balls.

So, no. Most range balls don't give you an ideal picture of what you do out on the course with your Pro v1.

We had ProV1's for range balls yesterday, pretty sweet.

[MotherFucker]

Got out to Colorado National w/ Fritz today. Great architecture but those have to be the shittiest greens in Colorado at the moment. I was hitting the ball great but got too fucking sloppy on the front (our back nine); ended up shooting a 45-49-94. I need to keep my head in the game and stop not giving a fuck by the 16th hole. Seems around 15 or 16 is when I start getting sloppy.

[spook]

hope survives.

took several days off to rest my back and today i went to a small soccer field around the corner that is 50 yards long and hit half swings with my 56 degree wedge trying to relax and slow everything down. virtually all of them were straight and roughly 70% were nice high shots that were all right around 50 yards. hit some fat and some thin, but even those were straight at least (i know, that doesn't count for much). in any case, the ones i hit well felt so nice and easy it was great.

anyway, i'm going to practice short wedge stuff there everyday and work on putting and irons at the driving range. i'm got a month before i go home so i am going to practice my brains out while i have the chance. may not play on the course as much as i had intended, but i'll get some instruction and some practice in.