Richmond Golfer

Now that the Miuras are the best sellers in the Pro Shop, anyone had the occasion to get them bored, shafted and can give a review of their feel, playability and comparison to similar clubs. What shafts did you put in them?

It seems to me the more we tend to keep the left arm close in the takeaway the more we take the club inside at the bottom. Maintaining the triangle with the hands as one unit in front of the chest until 3 o clock seems to work the best to get the club properly extended and going back at the top as opposed to the bottom. You don't mention any down swing problems but the early inside move at the bottom keeps the club turning counterclockwise in the swing so that its natural tendency is to continue its natural path over the top and come in sharply inside in the follow through. Each side mirrors the other, even in a bad swing. We want the club to be turning clockwise in the swing, that is, it crosses to the rear at the top so it continues naturally to the inside at the bottom for a good full inside to inside downswing. Compaction of the swing should occur by not letting the arms extend beyond the shoulder turn.

I been doing just the opposite with great results. I find many teachers emphasing coiling against the hips. This to me resulted in a reduced turn back. I admit I am old and decrepit, but restricting the natural motion of the hips back reduced my core turn and resulted in excessive arms and spine angle changes. I am now letting hips turn with my chest back naturally against a braced right leg, knee slightly in and I have improved my distance considerably. When I see photos of Hogan at the top I see a full 45 degree hip turn and the resistance is against his legs which allows the legs to spring forward. Resisting against the hips to me puts the tension too high in my body for the ultimate power source to be utilized to its fullest, the legs. My power is in my legs, not my mid body. Thanks for the imput.

How do these two compare for feel and forgiveness. I only ask because of the reputed ease and forgiveness of the MB 5003 which may it the logical choice over the CB 2006?

What is the cost upgrade, if any, to do the black or the plain chrome?

To quote from Nick Bradley at page 56 on "The legs in the downswing" "As the boxer moves forward to strike his opponent, he will plant his weight firmly on his left leg, creating a pillar against which he can slam the right side of the body as he unleashes his punch. When viewed in slow motion, this movement from the right side of the body to the left is a fluid wavelike motion. First the weight transfers, moving the entire left side of the body over the supporting left leg, then the right side uses this support to deliver a blow using the whole torso. A boxer could never deliver a knockout punch by keeping his weight on his right side and flicking his wrist at his opponent's face" Can you find an old dead tree and an axe. Set to chop the tree and hack it away. Feel the only way you can do it with any power and precision is coil back and fire the legs to power the top through. ( an arms only move is worthless) This is done naturally by the weight shift first to the left leg and then the firing of the right leg against the firm left leg. You know what to do and chopping a tree gives you the feel of the coil you must make and then take it to your golf swing. The lower body sequence is almost on autopilot if you get the dynamic coil in the backswing move first. I got the Ballard book, out of print, and he states you can only be as good as your backswing, Boy is he right.

The standard SW for TT DG at 37.75 is D1 to D2. This shaft is around 125 grams. The Nippon will be 115 grams so the SW will be less about D0. The Project X 5.5 weighs 115 according to their website but it feels about 125 to me. The .25 shortness from current US standard of 38 reduces SW 2 to 3 points. Its easy to check the spec here on the various irons. Find a similar spec club and scroll down to see the SW. Good news, however, is Miura can grind the heads to achieve any SW you want or the clubmaker can add weighting to the club with say Tungsten powder. As to the woods, you need to know the weight of the heads and from there you will find a website which will compute any SW for you once fill in all the specs. Just google golf club Swingweight determination or something similar and you will find it. At 44.75 inches driver, your be lucky to get to D0 without weighting the head somewhat as standard head in US is 198 grams and it plays to D2 at 45 inches with a 75+ gram shaft. This is why we hear all the time the Pros play shorter drivers, yes but they are tour weighted to about 211 to 216 grams in manufacture.

Well, I am not Brett but most teachers instruct to move the left knee towards the target, as the first move in the downswing, to get the weight on the left side, before the hips turn, retaining the spine angle through impact. Merely turning the hips to start the downswing can result in a poor weight transfer forward.

I would play a R300, but more so since the R300 run stiff and are standard weight which feels heavy to me. I have a set with the 1150 Stiff, soft stepped once, and it is perfect for me. I think I could even go without the softstep. I think all Nippons are higher launch than DG and that requires more flex at the bottom which gives the overall shaft a softer feel.

An interesting note, are you buying the Nippons from Japan or ordering them from a US distributor. Shafts meant for the US market are stiffer than than those intended the Japanese market. Shafts in US OEM (Srixon and Titleist) are true to flex. I have ordered several sets from Japan with the 950 S and loved the flex. I bought a set of Miuras from a US component maker and US Nippon dealer and the 950 S, tapers, were much, much stiffer, truer to US flex ie, S300 stiffness. My Srixon iTours with 950S are far more stiffer than my Golds Factory's with the same shafts.

I obtained a copy quite reasonably. Looking forward to the read!

I checked and it seems, Jimmy Ballards book, "How to perfect your golf swing", is out of print and used copies are $$$. It got rave reviews, too bad its not still readily available.

We hear all the time the lament, that I hit it so good on the range but I can't take it to the course and also we see our first seven holes where we are 1 over fade to a 42 or more with a train wreck of double bogie's or worse. So what gives here? Here's the thoughts of a rambling mind. When I go to the range I see the 10s and more hitting it pretty good after a few bad ones. Not as good as the 0s and Plus people but fairly good contact. The difference I see, however, is the A players are keenly aware of where they on, in terms of swingplane, when the club is butt down facing the target line. They always seem to monitor this position and stop the stroke if they are off. The Bs and up are just swinging away. What I think happens with the B players and up is they start swinging and they may be a little steep or flat and hit some bad ones. Then, as they keep hitting, they ingrain the compensations to make decent contact from that momentary swingplane position at the top. When they go on the course two things can happen. They stay relaxed and keep that swingplane position/compensation move going for a few holes but once they realize they are about to shoot a good number tension creeps into the arms and now the swingplane changes, becoming flatter or steeper and the current compensation no longer works and bingo, the bad shots start. Alternatively, the 20s folks simply cannot repeat the same swingplane once they have any long interval between shots. The problem is swingplane is very difficult to ingrain. The left wrist (RH golfer) is a large factor in swingplane. The wrist can move back (cupped) and also forward and also rotate clockwise and back. Most golfers can ingrain the flat left wrist at the top, but it is the rotation which is so elusive and damaging to the swing. Take your swing to the position where the butt points along an extension of the target line. If you turn counter clockwise just a quarter of an inch the clubhead moves several inches, flat and unacceptably so and vice versa. And, your wrist can still look flat even though the club is flat or steep. Just a small imperceptible change can really hurt a shot. The trick is to ingrain not just the flat left wrist at the top but the correct rotation. There is a inexpensive swing aid called a swinggylde which is just a piece of plastic which fits on the club on the grip and is set square to the toe and has a cup on the other end. You set it so when you cock your left wrist the plastic cup hits your forearm. You can hit balls with it on any club. As you swing back if your off plane the cup misses the wrist. This thing is good because it promotes an early wrist cock, ala Leadbettor and a correct backswing sequence hands, arms shoulder hips ala Ben Hogan 5 easy lessons. An added benefit is to keep the cup against the forearm in the downswing to save the hit. There is also a SWINGLITE which is a laser light which attaches to the butt of the club and shines a light on the ground so you can see your plane against a real or imaginary line backward from the target line, that way. Least effective but better than nothing is a shaft in the ground at the correct angle to gauge the swingplane. The trick is to stop at the top when you are on plane and finds some landmarks on your golf glove, watch, magnetic band to pinpoint the exact rotational position of the left wrist when it is on plane at the top and ingrain this position in your practice and then check it in you rehearsal swings on the course. Hopefully, some food for thought and greater consistency.

For chips, feet are closer together than full shots with weight on the lead foot. Stance can be a little open, if shoulders square. Hit down on the ball to pinch it off the ground with a short back swing-longer follow through and no left wrist brake. Short chips can be arms only but longer chip need some body for acceleration through the ball. Most poor chips are from scooping the ball and or decelerating through the shot, not from setup as good chippers can play the ball front or back in the stance to control the ball flight pretty easily. Place the ball forward to up loft the club for a high stopping flight and back for a lower running shot. Practice chips with your right heel off the ground to learn the weight forward setup and tape a yard stick to your club lengthwise to extend the shaft and insure your left wrist is not breaking.The yardstick should not hit your left side. Good luck

And aren't these just manufacturing tolerances from the same shaft spec. They are simply sorted afterwards and grouped according to weight without a fore plan to make the different weights. In general the heavier shafts tend to play a just a tad stiffer due to the thicker walls, but not always.

Any information on how these irons compare for forgiveness, distance, feel and looks.

Hi Gocchin, came across this older thread and was curious if the Type Xs are still in your bag or why you moved on. I have a set and use them in the winter when the ground is bare and the lies thin or hardpan. I still prefer a one piece forged head in the summer for the feel and for the chipping accuracy around the greens.

If your hitting range ball 375 yards you must be fairly good even if you will not admit it.

Excellent video. Manual De Torres book is great on this point. Starting the club down with the hands results in the early flipping/scooping motion common to handicappers. Starting down with the arms (part above the forearm to the shoulder) in unison keeps the hands quiet early in the downswing to keep the correct left wrist flat impact position. The danger of intentionally locking out the left wrist in the downswing is it stays locked out and the clubface is wide open at impact and the swingspeed great reduced due to tension in the forearms. Look again at the chip motion finish in the video. This will not lead to a good finish in the full swing if the left wrist is so positioned after impact. The left wrist is clearly bent at the completion of a full swing with the club over the lead shoulder. Any attempt to delay the left wrist folding in the downswing should be done by a correct downward move and not in the wrist itself. The drills are great as they strengthen the left wrist/forearm flexors which will then automatically hold the left wrist flat through impact in a correct downswing. Look at any good/great golfer with muscle tone and you will see the lead forearm is very muscular and larger than the back forearm. Clearly, we see the left forearm plays a very active role in the golfswing and the stronger it is the better it is. I just finished De Torres book, Understanding the golfswing and I highly recommend it to you.

What would you recommend instead, similar but an original design?

Looking at these clubs. Any feedback or reviews.

If you catch the ball high on the face, the effective loft of the club is a lot higher than the stated loft, maybe 4 or 5 degrees due to the curvature of the face. This is why we hear all the time the sweet spot is not in the center but above the center. That is really not true but underscores that more loft is better for most players.

What would be a recommendation for a small cart bag for a riding golf cart not walking cart. One that holds 14 clubs but is compact for travel on trips in the trunk of a car with the least amount of space.