golf questions

[Chadd 916]

If you ever make the journey over to King of Prussia, checkout Golf By Design on the third floor of the court. That's where yesner is, and if you call in and schedule an appointment for a fitting in the callaway performance center. Great tool and he knows his stuff, as does his assistant fitter. Can't say enough good things about them.

If you want to get a fitting you need to schedule an appointment though, usually a day or two before.

I appreciate the info, but I tend to be more of a feel guy. I'd rather use a combo that costs me a couple yards but feels right than something that produces the "ideal numbers" but doesn't feel comfortable. I'll probably buy a set of used Ping S58/S59 irons in the spring, they felt and performed better than anything I'e tried over the last couple years.

[Chappie 0]

I'm a fan of the s59's. The newer they get, the less I like them though. The new s56's look terrible in my opinion. I'm trying to find a set of original Nike blades with flighted rifle 5.5's myself.

[GoBucky 0]

When it comes to irons, I say go a bit stiffer than you think you need. Irons are about accuracy and a stiffer shaft will cost a bit of distance by accuracy should be better.

Assuming you can square up the clubface at impact, which most people cant do because, again, they dont swing the club fast enough and the clubface ends up being open at impact. A lot of people go for stiff or x-stiff thinking that they need it, but its mostly ego and it causes them to hit a lot of slices.

Swing speed isnt the only factor to consider, but it is one of the major ones and if you dont have the proper flex it will only cause your shots to be less accuarate. Ive never heard of any golf pro or clubfitter say that stiffer flex causes better accuracy.

To each their own though, if stiff flex works for you, Im not going to tell you that you cant or shouldnt use them.

I'm a fan of the s59's. The newer they get, the less I like them though. The new s56's look terrible in my opinion. I'm trying to find a set of original Nike blades with flighted rifle 5.5's myself.

I know a lot of longtime Ping fans who arent happy with the newer Ping irons, they all say they are too big, clunky and GI.

Im personally very biased towards Mizuno, Srixon and Bridgestone. You cant go wrong with forged Japanese irons, IMO. Right now Ive got a set of Mizuno MP-32s and I love 'em!

[noodle3872 40]

When you have a repeatable swing, a club fitter will play with different flexes and flex points on shafts to get you the straightest shot your swing can produce.

Golf Shaft Flex info

[Chappie 0]

Assuming you can square up the clubface at impact, which most people cant do because, again, they dont swing the club fast enough and the clubface ends up being open at impact. A lot of people go for stiff or x-stiff thinking that they need it, but its mostly ego and it causes them to hit a lot of slices.

Swing speed isnt the only factor to consider, but it is one of the major ones and if you dont have the proper flex it will only cause your shots to be less accuarate. Ive never heard of any golf pro or clubfitter say that stiffer flex causes better accuracy.

To each their own though, if stiff flex works for you, Im not going to tell you that you cant or shouldnt use them.

I know a lot of longtime Ping fans who arent happy with the newer Ping irons, they all say they are too big, clunky and GI.

Im personally very biased towards Mizuno, Srixon and Bridgestone. You cant go wrong with forged Japanese irons, IMO. Right now Ive got a set of Mizuno MP-32s and I love 'em!

I'm a Mizuno fan, but their blades (with the exception of the new 68's) never had a good pitching wedge imo. At least not since the TN-87's. The 33's had the best, but that was still a bit meh to me.

I play a 2-pw set of TM 300 forged's. Love em, and until the grooves are gone I will always love them. ;)

[sickwilly 37]

When you have a repeatable swing, a club fitter will play with different flexes and flex points on shafts to get you the straightest shot your swing can produce.

Golf Shaft Flex info

That was a helpful link. Thanks! Now I need to work on that repeatable swing (among other things).

[BobbyD9 0]

Guys,

Shaft flex isn't determines strictly by swing speed. You do need to determine how the shaft is loaded and unloaded through the swing. In a swing, the shaft bends 4 times. Where those bends are and how great or slight they are determines the recommended shaft weight and flex. You cannot talk about flex without discussing weight. Many tour pros go to a heavier driver shaft to take away the left side of the golf course.

In addition, the cold will reduce the trajectory and carry of the ball flight. How much is dependent upon many variables, but you can usually figure out how much the reduction is on the range during warm up.

Tour van fittings are pretty good (I have been fitted by Callaway and Titleist), but not as important now that many pro shops have fitting carts. They give the fitter multiple shaft and head combinations in order to find your optimal ball flight. Personally, I am not a big proponent of fittings that are indoors. I like to see how the ball flies, how much backspin/sidespin there is and the actual distance of carry. I am not convinced of the accuracy of the indoor systems. This summer I was looking for a hybrid and tried several. I found most of them to have too much spin which caused the ball to fly higher, not as far and with little opportunity to control the trajectory. I am sure that most of that was shaft related. I finally found the Admas Pro Black which fit me well as far as both the shaft and clubhead.

Fitting is most important and I recommend it thoroughly. All the best.

[chk hrd 164]

You can't just look at shafts alone, you have to look at the club as a unit. Shaft "A" with clubhead "A" will give you a different result that Shaft "A" with clubead "B". With one shaft you may do well with an 8.5 loft another shafter may work better with a 10.5 loft.

If you really want to get down to the technical part the golfer shaft, clubhead and even the ball all have to work as a unit that is best suited for the golfer's ability. If you have the resources to get a good professional fit and consistent lessons it is money well spent if you are serious about the game. If you are not that serious just find what works best for you and have fun.

A good instructor should not try to completely change your swing unless you golf like Charles Barkley. They will straighten out and tweak things to improve your natural swing. They can only do so much, the rest is up to you to practice.

[Chadd 916]

A good instructor should not try to completely change your swing unless you golf like Charles Barkley. They will straighten out and tweak things to improve your natural swing. They can only do so much, the rest is up to you to practice.

Unfortunately most instructors I've talked to still want to force the "perfect" swing on everyone.

[Chappie 0]

IF you have a good swing, you wont need a swing rebuild. But honestly, if you have a bad swing, a swing with 50 moving parts and no consistency, a rebuild just has to happen. Every instructor has their own core beliefs, and they build along those beliefs. One plain swing, 2 plain, stack and tilt, etc. Everyone has a core school of belief, and is going to mold your swing to that belief. If you prefer one method over the other or one is better suited for you, you have to research an instructor who teaches golf the way you want to learn it.

Most amateurs get mad that they can't keep their swings, but like skating, if you don't use or can't easily incorporate fundamentals into your technique, you need to rebuild.

I did it, I used to swing overly flat and was really inconsistent when I couldn't speed up my hands to close the face, and was only an R flex swinger. When I broke down my swing from the bottom up, got a bit more knee flex but picked my hands up and got them a bit higher in the swing, kept my club head in front of my hands on the backswing, drove with my body (somewhat like a slap shot, but more turn then slide I guess you'd say) and extended through with my hands leading more. This took me from a 70mph to 88-93mph iron swing speed, and an 85-88mph to 109-114mph driver ss, and made me much more accurate. I went from playing shovels to the TM 300's I have now, and allowed me to learn how to play a variety of shots.

In my opinion, the best thing a golfer can do is take inventory of their swing, figure out what they'd like to change and then find out who teaches what they want. For me personally, with the exception of the flat swing, I went to hogan and read his 5 lessons. Was the best thing I ever did as it really not only helped me change my swing, but also help me understand my body and what I'm feeling when I'm swinging. It was huge for me as I am a feel golfer and being able to understand what I'm doing, why something happened, etc. made me such a better player from hole to hole and even shot to shot.

[sickwilly 37]

I was given a copy of Ben Hogan's 5 lessons when I was young. I never read it until my early 30's when I started golfing. I think it's time to re-read it. Thanks for the reminder.

[Chappie 0]

I read it, or at least parts of it, all the time. Whenever I feel like I'm not understanding something, or I feel like a certain part of my swing is off, I go back to it. A never ending tool of knowledge that book is, at least in my opinion.

[Chadd 916]

Most amateurs get mad that they can't keep their swings, but like skating, if you don't use or can't easily incorporate fundamentals into your technique, you need to rebuild.

First time I took a lesson was after my first round in the 70s. I told the pro I wanted some tips to help with consistency and wasn't able or willing to put in the time to make major changes. He then spent the next hour trying to change my swing from the ground up. Good instructors work with what they have, not what they wish they had.

[Chappie 0]

First time I took a lesson was after my first round in the 70s. I told the pro I wanted some tips to help with consistency and wasn't able or willing to put in the time to make major changes. He then spent the next hour trying to change my swing from the ground up. Good instructors work with what they have, not what they wish they had.

I agree. That's just a sign of a bad instructor. If you are good enough to shoot in the 70's, than it doesn't matter how goofy your swing is because you are obviously coming into impact correctly. Once you are doing that right, it's all semantics. If you aren't doing it consistently enough, it's small changes, adjustments in maybe stance, leg width, shoulders at address, etc.

If a guy is going to change everything, then he probably isn't a good instructor and is just trying to text book everything. That's another reason you should always research an instructor. There are bad ones out there unfortunately, I've seen it and it's sad.

[sickwilly 37]

I was just re-reading this thread and wanted to thank everyone for all of the input and suggestions.

I wound up taking a shot on a cheap Nickent 4DX driver in a lower flex than I was using. I know it's not necessarily a perfect setup. I may spring for the proper fitting and lessons when I can find the time. At worst, I can resell it on ebay or give it to a buddy.

Again, thanks for the help!