NiftyNiblick

One possibility, if it ever catches on with the major Asian clubmakers, is designing the fairway metals to be used with a clocking ferrule as is presently available for some Callaway, Ping, and Taylor Made driver models. Oriented in one direction, the ferrule allows you to install your new shaft either 1 or 2° flat. Oriented the other way, it allows to you go one or two degrees more open, the caveat being that this will also add some static loft, so you'd have to begin with a stronger loft than you want. I'm not aware of this being available for fairway metals, however. Opening up could add "bounce." Although one or two degrees means an awful lot more in lie than it means in bounce, where I'm guessing it would be imperceptibe unless you play a shot from the parking lot. And since the driver doesn't lay flat on the ground, most of us have accustomed ourselves to seeing the driver toe up in the air and convinced ourselves, true or not, that shaft-droop with the long club will take care of it! Still, it appears that I'll be making that big test--low tech that fits vs. high tech that doesn't quite fit.

Being a senior, fairway metals are an important part of my game. They are also the clubs that I have the toughest time finding. I have only two fairway shots left in my bag after my 180 yard five-iron shot. Those are a long fairway metal (or wood) and a lofted fairway metal (or wood) to fill the gap...210 and 195 yards would be very reasonable estimates. I don't have a longer fairway shot after that, barring a tailwind and a slightly uphill lie to a downhill landing, but I get can along fine without one. But try to find those two clubs! With trial and error, I know exactly what I want, but I want a matching pair...impossible! 18º, 42½", 55.5º lie, 1º open 23º, 42", 56º lie, 1º open Is that really asking a lot? Seriously? Can't anybody make TWO matching clubs with those specs? Well, I won't lie, I'd love to get the latest hi tech innovations as found on, say, the PRGR line. PRGR fairway metals, along with much of the other high end J-Spec gear, look awesome, to use a teenager's word. There's some nice looking domestic gear, too, but i really love those import models. But almost none of those OEMs, foreign or domestic, can give me what I want. As I wrestle with this this winter, I'm thinking Louisville Niblick DCs or Zeider Absolutes. The Louisville clubs represent a return to wood, this just to offer a glimpse at my desperation. The Zeider club is a well made but simple hollow steel sculpture, not at all unlike the original 1980 Taylor Made M1 Pittsburgh Persimmons! What they have in common is that they'll both make exactly what I want. Does anybody anticipate a day when state of the art clubs will also be able to offer the same options?

I think a lot depends on whether you prioritize technology or fit. J-Spec clubs have state of the art technology and pristine quality, but the available specs on certain equipment, particualry drivers, can be impossible for some. Weak loft, open face, and flat lie are a tough combination to find ANYWHERE, but especially, I think, in J-Spec.

Their new Plus iron has lots of visual appeal, at least, for where my game is right now. MP-709i shaft similar to what in the not so esoteric world---Fujikura E270i perhaps?

I had a post deleted from this thread and I'm not sure why.

The "tour spoon," 3+, or metal version of the 2-wood has always been too strong of a fairway club for me--didn't even try to hit it when I was young. Well, not after I broke an early-eighties TM 13º Tour Spoon over my knee--it had a club head the size of a walnut. I did use a Great Big Bertha "Deuce" effectively as a driver for a while, and that same outfit now pushes their X Hot 15º club as a potential driving club, even going so far as to lengthen it to a standard 44". My PRGR longer fairway metal is set at a reasonable 16.5º, which is as strong as I'd ever go with a fairway club these days. VERY nice hitting golf club, by the way.

I started out with ribbed leather "reminder" grips way back when and then evolved to round. Although they're no longer real leather, I still always go with a wrap-style grip on everything. I gave up the golf glove very early on. Don't like it, prefer to just towel before each shot, resin bag if necessary, but can't use rough, cord, or composition grips as a result.

That's good to know. My gear is all within one or two points of D0 (slightly higher in wedges), but only the numbered irons are specifically matched. I think it may be less critical with hitters like myself. I don't have the flexibility to be a pretty swinger so I hit from the position of shaft-vertical and load my shaft over a small arc. That's why I need a bit more flex than my overall strength would suggest, particularly with drivers and fairway metals. As for my preference for lower swingweights, that's not a senior thing as much as sticking with that to which I'm accustomed. Those old four and nine sets to which I referenced on this thread's first post were specifically D0 sets when D2 was considered "standard." The club actually feels lighter if you're flexible and get your backswing back to parallel. Hitting from just past perpendicular, even as a youth, the vertically oriented shaft feels heavier in that position. On the other side of the coin, it's harder to accidentally get wristy or re-grip when initiating the swing. You just pull the butt end of the grip down toward the ball.

Well, having taken up the game as a thirteen year old in 1959, I'm obviously not a rookie. But in fairness, I'm not a "club ho" either. Fewer than half of my clubs qualify as the exotica or semi-exotica discussed in these parts--two fairway metals, one driving iron, and two wedges--and that's only because they had very specific appeal. I had played preciously owned "Speed Hits" and a Zoom 050i to make me aware of PRGR, and the Scratches were pointed out to me after all the complaining I did to my friends about not finding exactly what I wanted in short game gear. In truth, it was my club ho friends who first guided me to this forum, and in my early posts, I got stern PMs from the moderator who questioned whether I belonged here. I was all but called a quack because I preferred lofted metals over long irons but nevertheless always packed a driving iron anyway, even in the gear that I was playing in '05. Perhaps this might jog his memory. Discussing my brief experimentation with Snake Eyes component hybrids nearly got me banned, as I recall! Still, I enjoy the discussion here, even though egalitarianism isn't the distinguishing feature of this message board. If Iwas an intruder in the beginning, I've got a passport in the form of five high end clubs to be here now. And given the obsolescence of the "matching set," I didn't think that my question was from that deep in left field. Sorry to have offended.

Maybe this is mostly for you fellow seniors out there, I don't know. Remember buying "sets" of woods and irons? Four woods, nine irons, sometimes a 5-wood/2-iron overlap and no sand wedge? We all used to talk swingweights back then. A sign of quality was how every stick in the set balanced to a D1 or whatever, and an unmatching culprit was cause for concern. Now, a typical bag looks like one of everything except for maybe a few matching numbered irons. Anybody want to pull out the old swingweight scale now? Has it become less important somehow? Or do some of you go crazy with grinders or lead tape? Curious about your thoughts.

Where are the red, yellow, and blue cavity inserts? Are they cheaping out on us? Seriously, isn't nice to see clubs that are so visually pleasing to the eye?

I certainly don't disagree. I'm not a high handicapper, per se, but I'm a senior and I also prefer the conventional lofted fairway metal to either the hybrid (which reminds me of the ancient long-nosed cleek) or the long iron. PRGR models going back to the Speed Hit are great. I just like the driving iron on the tee on scary driving holes. I use a broken tee pushed all the way in with just the cup of the tee above ground for the ball. That eighth of an inch difference from being nestled onto the deck makes all the difference. Fairway metal is the way to go for most, I'd say. Notice that some LPGA players, particularly in the Callaway stable, love that 4-7-9 combo of fairway metals. And they've got plenty of game.

I've only got one Epon club, and for me, it's a shot-specific utility at that. But it's a real difference maker on holes where the view from the tee challenges one's continence, never mind confidence. No thoughts of ever messing with shaft experimentation. The Mach Line is the perfect balance of launch and control for my driving iron at least. I've been committed to the driving iron concept since losing the ZZ Lite shaft in favor of a MicroStep on a Ping 1-iron in the 1980s. That got the ball up in the air without sacrificing too much accuracy back then. The ZZ Lite was theoretically straighter--the whole point of a driving iron--but at 1-iron loft, it didn't have enough launch zip for me. I can, without having had it very long, already see that the AP-901 is the best of several driving irons so far, this including the much heralded Zoom 050i of a few years back. Wish I had it when I was younger. For any to whom it would matter, the notch back style resembles some American clubs like Callaway X Series and Wilson Staff Ci7, neither of which lines offers a driving iron. With a small sample size, I can vouch for Epon already.

PRGR Zoom 320CX is a sweeting hitting hybrid---long way from the original copper-colored TM FireSole Rescue! I go with the driving iron type hybrid instead because I prefer conventional size hi-loft metals from the deck. But if I were to try the long-nosed cleek type, the Zoom with which I recently hit a couple of balls is where I'd start.

Very lovely indeed, but I wish they'd bring back the 691 at that high end level...especially the 691 58-0. When new with still sharp grooves, that was the most effective greenside utility wedge that I've ever owned.

The Studio 64 is a great driver shaft for me because with "senior" flxibility, I need the shaft to load over a shortish arc. My present driver has me right where I was hitting my Eye-O-Matics thirty or so years ago, around 225-235 carry. I couldn't be more pleased. I'm not sure that I'd want that kind of easy kick lower in my irons shafts, however. Garden variety NV Pro 105s still do the trick there, no problem. We'll see in a couple of years or so.

They do make an excellent golf club. I've got six of them myself. TC-550s have almost 1970s level sole weighting (Browning 440, Spalding Executive, etc.) but with more sophisticated execution. On holes where I expect to play a long club or Scratch into the green, I play a Gamer. On holes where I expect to hit one of my 550s into the green, I play a Freak. The Gamer will balloon. The 550 can spin a Freak, no problem.

You're right, Jack. I accidentally posted in the wrong place. Sorry, admn.

You're right, Jack. I accidentally posted in the wrong place. Sorry, admn.

The one thing that I've discovered that's even better than no-offset putters is the onset putter! I took up the game in 1959 at the age of thirteen, and I still don't understand the theory of the offset putter and the arced putting stroke which it apparently serves. The onset putter hits the ball sooner, giving the straight back putting player less time to screw up. To me, the offset putter simply extends the opportunity to lose the line. How does it work?

To my knowledge, the Mizuno MP-14 was the last high volume production iron manufactured with proper lofts. Does anybody know of something I may have missed? The whole four-wedge thing is a reult of 48, 47, 46, and even 45º pitching wedges, and I for one just don't get it. It's not just a matter of the clubs being numbered differently, of course. To make a traditional eight-iron out of a modern nine-iron, even ignoring the stamping, you'd still have to go flatter and longer, right? I love the MP-57 iron, but if you bend the lofts to match the MP-14s, you add unwanted bounce. It almost seems like the best answer is to find MP-14 eight and nine irons in good enough shape to rechrome and add to the MP-57 set. One shouldn't need as much forgiveness with eight and nine irons, I suppose. As a senior whose game is going in the wrong direction, I like carrying shot-specific utilities like a driving iron (when I don't play long irons from the fairway) and a dedicated, non-turf useable sand iron which fall outside of the standard loft progression of my set. The excessively strong short irons make it hard to keep to fourteen clubs.

They seem to get caught underneath just a little bit and then come up onto their toes at impact to compensate. I've seen a lot of swings work, but the one thing teachers should stop doing is tell their recreational level students to trust thier swings. Recreational players don't practice, and a golf swing unpracticed is like a lawn not maintained--it gets full of weeds in a hurry. I never told my kids to trust their swings and just let the ball get in the way. I taught them to always hit a shot--time and manipulate the clubface into the ball as required. Technique is memory memory--not muscle memory--and the non-practicer has a better chance to hit a shot from inside out and underneath like that. Don't know how it applys to a pro who practices constantly, though.

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The JPX fairway metals look absolutely awesome in design, although, as usual for NiftyNiblick, too upright. I'd probably hook everything with them.