Pro-V-None

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Cut golf balls would be nice to see tested as I play them.

Thanks for the replies and this article. Yes, I was teeing it up higher at first to maximize my distance and lower my spin, but the guy who works there came by and started handing me clubs and giving advice such as lower my tee height and I obliged because I wasn't paying for the time in the simulator. Most of the launch angles were about around 15.5 or so I believe. None of my pics cleared my phone's outbox yet. Must be too big to send. Will have to send one at a time.

I'm looking to squeeze out every bit of distance I can for the swing and ball speed I currently have. Yesterday I stopped into the 2nd Swing near me to hit some drives on their launch monitor to get a baseline of where I am right now. I'm about to start working out again and looking for general strength and to add swing speed as well. I'll post some pictures I took of the best drives I had when they clear my mobile phone and into my email. I was pretty happy with my efficiency numbers I saw, which is better than I ever really remember. I was hitting 300 yards pretty routinely, where I never really did on the launch monitors at PGA Superstore last year when I used to go there. My stats from the drives I hit over 300 hundred where as follows: I hit about 8 drives over 300 yards, with the longest being 307 yards. Ball speeds were 150 to 156 mph, and carry was 276-283 yards. My launch angle was usually between 12.2 degrees to 17.2 degrees, with the average usually being around 15.5 degrees. I used two drivers, both with 9.5 degrees of loft, one with a stiff shaft, the other with an extra stiff. The extra stiff shaft seemed to have a slightly higher launch angle. Backspin ranged from about 1698 to 2320 rpm's, with about 2000 rpm's being around the average. The launch monitor didn't give clubhead speed, but I'd estimate about 104 to 107 mph. Any thoughts on which area I could improve to squeeze out some more distance from my drives? *** Drives 1 - 4 were with the Callaway Driver (Rogue Low Spin), 9.5 degree, extra stiff shaft. Drives 5 -7 were with a Cobra Driver marked demo with a stiff shaft. The guy who worked there came over and started handing me other clubs to hit because he thought the stiff shaft was too soft. I liked it fine but didn't argue.

Go to the link, then scroll down to the graphic that shows the driver hitting the golf ball. Watch the golf club and note whether it is left handed or right handed. Then watch the graphic again and this time focus on the ball as it flies off, and the club head appears to turn the other way -- go from right handed to left handed. It's crazy. https://www.vicegolf.com/us/vice-golf-pro-plus-shade-yellow-orange

I'm building a set to my spec as well as a few demo clubs using a True Temper R/S steel shaft. If I follow the tip trim instructions on the page where I bought the shaft, my club length ends up a half inch longer than I'm going for (I'm going +1 inch over standard). Do I take off that half inch off the butt end of the club or just take another half inch off the tip? Seems like the tip end makes it stiffer and the butt end would make it less stiff. Any advice before i start cutting down the last pieces of the shafts?

I may be going that route soon enough. I have had the hardest time using my fingernail to get that piece of tape off the double side, to the point where it starts bending and crinkling. The last 4 have taken way longer than it ever should because of the tape, and I have the strips and roll.

Ouch. That's an expensive fix to simple problem. I'll have to figure out a different way.

My last few regrips have been a pain because I'm having a lot of trouble with the double sided tape. I can't easily peel the plastic off one side of the tape. I have both the pre-cut strips and the roll of two sided tape and both give me problems. Is there an easy way to peel away that plastic away from the sticky part of the tape?

I'm surprised that hasn't been thought of and implemented considering how popular these golf watches are nowadays.

Is there any way I can have my golf watch that I use for pretty much every round (unless I forget it on the charger) sync with the site that I use for track my handicap? It would be so much more convenient, especially considering how it tracks my fairways hit, greens in regulation, sand saves etc. that I don't bother to input manually on the website. The site I use -- www.ushandicap.com -- doesn't sync up with the watch, nor can I get an answer on their community page. My watch carries my handicap but I don't think I can use it for official play, which I'd like to get into this summer. Any ideas?

Has anyone done a study on how much the average golfer can reduce their handicap over a certain period of time? I heard that after 3 years, you're about as good as you're going to get, but I have no idea if that's true or not. I just started back golfing around March of this year after 12 or 13 years of not picking up the clubs even once. I established a handicap in May/June for the first time. I think I was 22 even or with a little change, but am now 17.8. I think I will drop this down about another 10 quickly because I finally have gotten the swing I want and don't plan to make any changes. [I typically love to experiment and was always experimenting, but I've decided on being an "educated hands" player, which simplifies matters and makes corrects easier.] I have good tracking and improvement tools like the Garmin watch that tracks my data, a friend with a simulator he just bought that I can use, and I live in Scottsdale where golf is year round. My only downside is that I herniated a disk in my back about 2 months ago and I still feel the disk bulging regularly, so it will limit my practice. The good thing is my swing mechanics are pretty much settled, so I don't need as much and will spend most of it on the short game. I want to see how quickly I can improve with applied effort. I play about 6 to 8 times per month and practice regularly. My last two scores were in the 80s and I expect to pretty much stay there and keep dipping down regularly. What are my chances of getting in the single digits in 3 to 6 months, would you say? What about scratch? Is that like 3 standard deviations of what would be expected? I want to see what I can do with dedicated effort to lower my scores vs. what is to be expected. I'll try to keep this thread going for the full 6 months. GM Club: Phoenix Area #008 Effective: October 28, 2021 Handicap Number: 10985016 Low Index: 17.8 17.8 Handicap Index® USGA

I just started back with golf earlier this year after not touching a club for about 12 years. I never had a handicap before but I felt like I might have been a 10 - 12 at my best. Not sure. But now I'm more a stickler for the rules and counting everything. I established with a 22 handicap in march and am now just under 18. I just felt like I've finally settled into the swing I want a few weeks ago (right after coming back from a herniated disk in my back) and am going to see how low I can get my handicap before next summer. I'm shooting for a single digit to hopefully near scratch, though that is almost statistically impossible but I'm good at making improvements and teaching myself.

I tried with a shaft puller I just got in and it went poorly anyway. It was hard to get the shaft off, and I had to use my hands instead of the puller because the vice wasn't strong enough to hold the shaft as it pushed out the head. Anyway, I ended up screwing up the graphite at the tips. I need to cut them off about an inch now, which won't work for my project. Luckily my friend wants to reshaft his old Bertha's and he's a good 1 to 2" in shaft length less than me, so it works out for both of us. I'm just going to have him buy me new shafts and I'll just swap them in. FWIW, it sucks pulling graphite shafts. It's hard to soften the epoxy and on one of them, I had to drill into the hosel because I couldn't pull the shaft cleanly. Looks like it used a lot of my hosel brush trying to clean the hosel on just that one shaft removal too. Definitely not a fan of shaft removal, at least not when they are graphite.

Update: after checking out the prices of a shaft puller, I've decided against buying one. I'll have to make it work without one. Maybe just a good clamp to secure the clubhead while I heat up the hosel and hopefully I can pull the shaft with just my own strength.

Unfortunately they are graphite shafts. So a butane torch, electric drill, and shaft puller and I'm set? I need to buy those tools anyway if I'm going to reshaft older clubs in the future, which I plan on doing. Thanks for the help, guys. I can't believe I did that after being so careful with the measuring, cutting, taping, laying out the club heads, etc. But I never even gave it a thought when it was time to epoxy the shafts in. Live and learn.

i finally built a full set of woods/hybrids last night, finishing about 4:30 am. I was so proud of myself until I just put them in my 2nd golf bag and realized the sizes were wrong. After all the measuring and precautions I took to get everything right, I ended up putting the wrong shafts into the wrong clubheads, so now I have a 3 iron the length of an 8 iron and other mismatches. I'm using the Pro Cure epoxy that says 24 hours for final cure, though only 1 hour before it says you can use the clubs. And the expoxy was solid after about 30 minutes. What is the best fix? Get a blow torch or heat gun, melt the expoxy, clean with drill and drill bit, sand the expoxy off the shaft tips, and re-epoxy them? I have only assembled new clubs, never pulled used ones, so please mention the tools I'll need so I can go to the hardware store and buy them. I do not have a blow torch or power drill. I do have 2 cleaning bits that I bought from Golfworks when i bought supplies last time. Please let me know the easiest and cheapest way to fix this screwup. I can't believe I did this.

I am a hands player now anyway. I make my hands responsible for applying the face to the ball, so I take it back preparing to bring it back with the least amount of manipulation into the ball. I'm aiming the entire swing, I guess. I gave up on the idea of a mechanical golf swing regulated by the big muscles of the body, since most of the motion is done subconciously anyway, so why focus on it? It makes fixing things so much easier. Slicing the ball? No need to reconsider your hip turn, shoulder turn, swing plane, elbow position, ball position, etc. looking for the fix. The clubface was open at impact. Close it faster so it's square next time. The hands are holding the club, so let them do it. Problem solved. Hitting the ball left. Okay, the clubface is closing early. Have it come in less closed until the ball stops going left and starts going straight. Easy. The hands can do that. And sometimes you hit bad shots, not because of swing faults, but because you're human and don't have perfect eye/hand coordination. That's life and there's no mechanical fix for that. You may want to check out AJ Bonar or even some old clips by Henry Cotton. Both of those guys advocate the hands controlling the swing helped me more than guys giving swing tips and body positions you must emulate to hit the ball well. I'd rather just be told what the clubface is supposed to do to the ball and work out how to do it myself instead of turning the golf swing into some elaborate dance move that almost nobody will ever learn how to do successfully no matter how hard you try.

I just herniated my L4/L5 disk about 1 month ago due to golf. I finally over did it (I think I hit about 10 large buckets in 2 days, played a round, and did 2 overspeed workouts for clubhead speed. I often wake up with an aching in my lower back -- I now know it's the L4/L5 area -- but I ignore it and it goes away in a day or two. This time was different. I woke up about 3 am and tried to sit up in my bed, but I collapsed. My back hurt and I couldn't get comfortable in any position, though laying down would be the only way for me to get relief for about 10 days. I used all my strength to walk 100 yards to the Walgreens near my place, and I had to take 3 breaks during the trip. There was a shooting, tingling pain down the front of my left thigh that made walking difficult. I had to limp. And the muscles in my back felt like they were seized up or something and the longer I was upright, the weaker my back got. I had to sit on an empty trash can at the front of Staples and a big rock in front of Walgreens to rest before I made it, though sitting didn't make it any better. I wasn't sure how I'd be able to make the walk back. I basically bought every type of back pain medicine, creams, and heating pads and some electrical stimulation device that didn't work because it required some other device. For the first 2 days I layed in bed and tried to manage the pain while watching everything I could on Youtube to figure out what I hurt and how to heal it. That's where I found out about bulging disks, L4/L5 part of the spine, herniated disks, sciatica nerve pain and what it affects, and stretches and treatments other than surgery, which I was my biggest fear. I ended up buying an inversion table my 2nd day and I think that was my best move. I think that helped me heal faster than anything else, especially doing brief but frequent inversions to decompress the spine, which I still do to this day. It took about 10 days before I could do anything other than work from home and lay around since I could only walk about 50 feet before my left thigh started throbbing and my lower back would start seizing up. I would have to limp back to my bed if I wanted to pain to subside. I was basically hobbled. It felt like I was on a self imposed house arrest or something. I wouldn't dare walk more than 100 yards from my front door out of fear not being able to make it back. For the first few days I thought I'd be back to normal in a day or so, as usual for me, but it didn't get any better the first week, which worried me. I was even considering going to see a doctor, which I rarely do. Finally after about 10 days of basically being an invalid, I felt well enough to venture out and actually played a round of golf with my friend. Another week or so later, my back felt normal or almost normal again, though I seem to get that same lower back pain from a round of golf or hitting a bucket of balls now that I used to only get by hitting 8 or 9 buckets plus playing a lot and swinging really hard. I hope this isn't one of those injuries that never quite heal and you are always susceptible to re-injure every few years. Most people I know with bad backs would re-injure their backs every few years, my Mom included. I hope when it does heal fully, I'm as good as new, not a walking time bomb for another herniated disk. I don't want that in my future. I hope you feel better. You might want to try inversion therapy if you haven't done so already. It's the only thing that seemed to help me.

If it's a matter of the clubhead being so light you can't feel it in your hands/mind as you take the club back, then it's a weight issue. If that's not it, it's a club length issue. The longer clubs require a flatter swing (back and downswing), which is harder than a more vertical swing. And it's harder to keep your clubface controlled and tracking in your mind with the longer clubs. I recently bought a 48" driver and it is the most difficult club to square I've ever hit. It feels like you're swinging horizontal on the way back and down, almost like hitting a tee ball waist high vs a downward vertical strike that you do with your short irons. And that makes squaring the clubface so much harder, especially if you're not a "hands" type swinger and rely on body rotation to square the club. I have to consciously turn my wrists as hard as I can through the impact zone to have any hope of hitting a straight shot with that club. Otherwise I'll hit a hard push or even a massive banana ball, instead of a nice draw which is my typical flight pattern. I'm sure it would be even more difficult if I tried an even longer club, no matter the weight. I hope you solve your issue.

I previously tested the Aero Swing Trainer and liked it, but I ended up buying an Albatross Swing Speed trainer because I wanted to try something that was a dedicated swing trainer and not something I hooked up to my driver, thus taking it out of commission. And I liked the Albatross because it's a single club with detachable weights at its end instead of 3 different clubs like you get with the Super Speed system. I kept the workout similar to the Aero Swing Trainer - 3 to 4 full sets going through the different weights, from heaviest to lightest, swinging all out until my speeds dropped off. Then I'd take off one of the weights, rest 30 seconds, and repeat. It's a great workout. Gets you soaked with sweat when it's hot out, which it has been in Arizona. I started a little behind where I ended with the Aero Swing Trainer a few months ago because I hurt my ribs about a month earlier and had to lay off golf until that healed. I did an 8 week program, from June 25th until August 19th. My initial average swing speed was 101.33 -- done after a brief warmup, not after overspeed training with the Albatross) and ended with an average club head speed of 113 mph, which was a much bigger jump than I expected. Most of my big gains came in the final 2 weeks. I also tweaked my swing a bit which helped me get a few extra mph. End Results: Top speed increased to 115 from 112 mph with my 43" driver recorded on my PRGR radar. I didn't get there until the 8th week. It took me 6 weeks just to get back to 112 mph, which I was doubting I could reach the first month of training. My highest swing speeds were recorded after the overspeed training session, which was about 50-60 swings deep. I couldn't swing this fast on the course or just lightly warmed up, though. My ending average swing speed -- taken after about 5 warmup swing with my driver -- ended up at 113 mph. I was very surprised with that result, considering after week 6 my average was only 106.33 mph. I was expecting maybe 108 mph average. Hopefully I can take this new speed to the course, though I'd be happy with a 110 mph on-course driver speed. I'll keep working out with my Albatross training club, but this time add bodyweight exercises to see if I can keep increasing my swing speed. I'd love to get to 125 mph, though it seems out of reach. Years ago, I remember seeing the physics equation from Jack Kuykendall showing how much additional work was needed to gain a certain amount of additional swing speed, and it was mind boggling. It was something like doubling the amount of work for small gains or something. Makes sense when think about how hard it is to increase a few mph over the swing that makes your face purple and you nearly fly out of your shoes doing.

I'm about to build my first set of clubs ever, and I want to put together a complete set of hybrids/woods to replace my set of irons. I'm going with graphite shafts as well instead of steel. My current set of irons are 1.5" longer than standard, and my Golfworks ruler suggests using an extra .5" shaft when using graphite shafts on irons vs steel shafts. It also recommends using 1.5" longer shaft for graphite shafts on a hybrid over the standard steel shaft length for irons. Should I go with the recommended length of irons using graphite shafts or hybrids and then add the 1.5" after that? Thoughts?

Update. Finished the Aero-Swing 6 week workout -- two cycles because I got injured after the first 2 weeks and had to take a month off from golf, so I started a 2nd cycle after I was healed. I started with a swing speed of about 95.67 mph after a warm-up. That's a 3 swing average after warming up properly. That's a good measure of speed you can get during your golf round, maybe a bit higher than you might actually go for when playing though. When I started playing golf again, I could not get over 100 mph with my driver no matter how hard I tried. After the first 2 weeks, I was able to max out at 112 mph, which is about the best I had ever gotten before back when I was playing often, which was over a dozen years ago. That's when I got hurt. When I healed up, I started all over with another full round. My average was 101.33 mph, which was about 5.67 mph higher than when I first started the process. I ended round 2 at 103 mph average driver speed (3 swing average after a warmup), which only increased my average by about 1.67 mph. So added a total of about 7.34 mph to my average driver speed, or a little over 15 yards in length. Not bad. My Thoughts on the Aero-Swing. I like the Aero-Swing. It's a good workout and it's cheaper than the swing speed training devices.. I got to where I knew what my top driver speed would be just by how fast I could swing the Aero-Swing with two of the devices on the driver. For me, it was 20 mph more with my driver than what I could do with the two Aero-Swing devices on the driver, making it unnecessary for me to swing the driver during workouts. I would recommend this device to anyone who has an old driver they don't use as it's a pain to take things off the club once you have them attached. You can also hit balls with the device on, though wasn't something I tried or desired to do. I just got a new device called the Albatross that I'll start a new training cycle with, also incorporating a full body workouts as I'm looking to get fitter as well. We'll see how it compares. I like that device alone device that easily fits in my golf bag and it has multiple weights that screw on instead of 3 different clubs like its competitors. I'd like to get my average driver speed over 110 mph if possible, hopefully by the end of summer. I think getting stronger in your entire body will amplify the results.

Here's a calculator I found online that estimates your carry distance from your club head speed for driver. I plugged my 237 carry per the launch data provided for my average driver and it equaled 97.5 mph. That jives with my stated starting point of 100 mph. You can probably even find a calculator for my 7 iron which I have documented within the last 2 months to driver conversion to find out what my driver club head speed would be. And I bet it would be about 100 mph, plus or minus 4 mph. I'm betting it was actually in the mid 90's as 100 mph was my highest I recorded on my swing speed meter, not an average. I had a hard time getting triple digits with my swing meter and usually was mid 90's, so I'm being conservative with my estimation of an 11 mph gain so far.