MGB

Hard to say without seeing you hit. Everything sounds good. You have enough bounce on the wedge to get out of the soft sand. You might have to hit it harder to get the splash effect you're looking for. I play all kinds of sand with my lob wedge that has only 4 degrees of bounce, but I lay the thing wide open and I'm fine. Think you should have another couple of balls in your pocket the next time you're in one of these traps and esxperiment a bit.

Thanks for the heads up, Chris. Looks like the V-Steel only has one weight port. Should be like the new Orlimars with only two ball flights? The new TP wedge looks good. :cool:

Looks like the stock shaft on the Japanese R5 series. They had two shafts in those, this one and one that said "Tour" instead of "Ultralite". "Tour" shafts were made by Fuji. I think the "Ultralite" was OEM Mitsu Rayon.

MGB- My conclusion is that what Jim teaches as a "one-plane" swing is very much modeled after Snead, not Hogan. See, for example, this commentary of Hardy students Jacobsen and Pernice: http://redgoat.smugmug.com/gallery/221289/1/8579073 BTW, I think Snead's left knee kicks more "out" towards the target line than "in" towards the ball. This is apparent in down-the-line sequences of Sam; see: http://redgoat.smugmug.com/gallery/87698 This action seems to help set up his bow-legged, sit-down look on the downswing as well as the very dramatic opening of his hips at impact, also very apparent down-the-line. Jeff Jeff, Thanks for the links. I agree with you. I neglected to mention that in my post. I kick the left knee in on the backswing then down the target line on the through swing. This begins the rotation of my upper body and clears the hips opening the way for the arms to come through down the line. Hey! How did you know I was bow-legged? :laugh:

Valid points. Thanks Paul and Jeff for participating in the discussion. I believe Jeff refers to models based on the swings of touring pros and Paul from his experience as a clubfitter and teacher. I think most people want to model their swings after the pros they either idolize or whose body type resembles theirs. In hindsight, I think that you have to develop a swing that you can repeat regardless of who you model it after. A more athletic person will develop a different swing from one less so. However, certain laws still apply to the golf swing. I Paul is right to suggest that a person can play with elements of both in his swing. I just feel the level you can achieve by doing such becomes limited. This was the point of experimenting with my swing; to take my game to the next level. I've developed or gone back to a Sam Snead type swing; reverse K set-up, kick the left knee in through the backswing and rotate through the ball. I had lots of trouble with my tempo using the modern swing technique of turning against the resistance of the lower body (McLean-style). I've found no loss of distance using one against the other and I've developed more consistency doing so. In the end, you'll do what works for you. Again, thanks for taking part in this discussion.

I'm finding out that for the best results you need to be just one or the other. Having tendencies of both really screws you up. I'm going to the range today to work this out. I guess it's just like anything else, you have to commit to one and let the other go to be effective. But I will say that the one plane seems to be easier to maintain. The two plane is a more athletic move that seems to require better hand-eye coordination. Hmmmm...

Late last year, I rebuilt my swing. From reading Jim Hardy's book, I basically went from one plane to two without knowing it. Although, I've picked up distance and lowered my handicap, the one plane swing seems to be simpler to maintain. I'm struggling to get rid of my one plane tendencies since they interfere with the two plane swing. The two plane swing works better with my irons, the one plane better with the driver. WTF? Hardy makes so much sense, I almost want to go back to a one plane swing to keep it simple. Any thoughts on this? Which one are you?

What he said. :cool: Good one, Paul.

Right you are. More torque, easier to hit for low swing speeds not good for high swing speeds. Low torque, harder to hit but less dispersion and better control and feel for hard hitters.

That set's amazing! Good luck with em! :cool:

If ever a puter could be called a work of art, this would be it. Gorgeous!! :cool:

I tried the MFS 65N in a Callaway GBB 415 Pro-Series of my teaching pro. It's long and stable. seems to have a stiff tip and soft butt and mid-section. It doesn't seem to have a very lively feel at impact. I'm not complaining or anything. Just observations from half an hour at the range.

Great info! Thanks for the pics! :cool:

The test for characteristic time you refer to equates directly to the .830 COR standard. It's the method that d**k Rugge developed to test COR of drivers on site at PGA Tour events and expressed in the amount of time the ball is on the clubface. Longer time on the clubface means a higher COR value.

My buddies at Mizuno tell me that the last year of production of high cor drivers will be 2006.

I want to add that I put myself completely in the hands of Barry and the guys at Custom Clubmakers in Manila. I didn't even know what they put together for me until I took delivery the evening before the Pro-Am. I was most gratified to discover that these guys know their stuff. The head they decided on was the KZG 395 9* loft. It sits a bit closed, but you know what? It doesn't really bother me. I hit this club as far as my old R510 Japan version, with either of the three shafts I had in it with an easier swing. Now to replicate this club with more exotic parts... :laugh:

I recently had the good fortune to get fitted by PCS clubmaker of the year 2000 Barry Harris in Manila. This guy's fitted over 9000 people in his career and impressed the heck out of me. After the fitting he suggested I go down a flex in my driver shaft after I developed tennis elbow in my left arm. Eager to make an immediate change to alleviate the pain, I went with a Grafalloy Prolite 3.5, really a relic by our standards. The new shaft bounced at 255 CPM a step down form the 265-267 I played in my previous shafts. Without range time I played in in the pro-am of the Philippine Open, the local Asian Tour stop. It was frickin' amazing. I hit the ball long and the shaft was light and lively at impact. Exactly what I wanted and needed for my game. It was like catching up with an old friend. Sometimes the solution we seek is right under our noses. But is this gonna stop me from looking around and trying new shafts? Heck no!! Those nanotech shafts are looking mighty good to me. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

The Diamana Stinger has a special Material inside of it that allows maximum kick while still maintaing a tight pattern. Only 1000 stinger shafts were made they came with a hat and towel @ 500.00 each. The Only shaft that is the same and available to us now is the Tourstage stock TXD-70 shaft just released this year. Chris, Comis Airbrush?? I know they do excellent work on motorcycles and automobiles. The owner Dennis Mathewson is world reknown for his talent. How bout something like this? :smile2: That Driver is amazing!!! :surprize: :surprize: :surprize: What is it? I wanna see the shaft, too! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Good review. Thanks!

Heard from one of the organizers that the course was in horrible shape. They basically painted the course green. And the greens. Sandy, every one because the grass was dead or dying. Course just wasn't ready, seems like. Shigeki confirmed in his losing interview, he complained about the greens in particular.

Perhaps you should be looking for a more forgiving driver. To keep you out of the rough in the first place? :laugh: Seriously, of the irons you're considering, Scratch sound like the ticket. Especially since we know you love your wedges. I think any custom set would be the bomb. If you like the Bridgestones, you might as well get the X-Blade CBs. Why not a custom 2 or 3-tier custom set of Mizunos?

Go with the Mizunos, Jon. A custom set's a keeper.

That day's here! Nike leads iron count at the Masters! :laugh:

How'd you get those pics, Chris? Thanks!

Though I don't have strong feelings on this matter yet, I'm actually surprised to see how many want to see limits set on this (essentially an equipment) forum. Interesting...