Steve Gawron

I had a retinal detachment in my dominant eye which really threw me putting for a loop. (about 8 -12 putts more a round) I have tried alignment on ball logos, spin balance of golf balls, and even floating golf balls in Epson salt solutions to find balance spots. The bottom line is that it is a poor workman who blames his tools. The best solution I have found is to increase practice time. Just my opinion.

As a retired club fitter, I would recommend getting a copy of Ralph Maltby's pamphlet "How Golf Clubs Work", available through Golfworks.com. Ralph created the PGA courses for club fitting and is recognized as one of the greatest minds in club fitting. The pamphlet is only 120 pages and can answer about 98% of your questions. Focus on length, shaft flex, lie angle, and 'feel'. If you get these right, you should have a set of clubs that will last many years and will out-perform most club sets costing north of $1000.

An outdoor swing analyser is just what a club fitter like me would love to have.

I would start with RalphMaltby.com. He publishes a playability of clubs (MPF) going back 20+ years. (http://ralphmaltby.com/maltby-playability-factor/) Look up your old set, then find something that has a similar or better playability factor. Find a good club fitter, not a sales person. Have your length, swing speed, grip size, and lie angle checked and have the new clubs adjusted accordingly.

I have already worn out two putting mats, not birdie ball, and would like to give this one a try.

I prefer a visual rangefinder over GPS. When golfing, friends usually will take my reading over cart or skycaddie.

As my Dad used to tell me. "Golf is just a silly game, relax and have fun playing it".

All great suggestions. As far as a putting mirror, I used an old shoe fitting mirror and a laser level when fitting putters. It allowed for instant feedback on putter level, face alignment and ball position and direction. It helped many golfers find the right putter, stance, rhythm, putting motion.

I had a retinal detachment around 7 years ago and it really messed up my putting. The retinal has since been repaired, but my dominant eye was lessened to about 90%. Several things helped. 1) Rhythm is important (Staying Alive...) 2) i read a book "7 Days in Utopia". In that book they talk about a lagging drill of tossing washers into an orange can. That drill can be applied to your distance control. Imaging you are rolling the ball into the hole under-handed. It works for me. 3) look into the concept of "Vector Putting. Essentially it means figuring the high spot within 3 feet of the hole and aiming toward it. Dave Pelz has some good advice on this. 4) Adapt your spot putting. It means you aim at a spot 12" to 18" ahead of your ball in line with your 'high spot'. From there it is all rhythm.

Changing to a steel shaft with change the flex feel and possibly the swing weight. You major issue will be a change in kick point. Since steel shafts lack the flexibility of graphite, a change to steel might negate any gain in launch angle. Find a golf repair with a swing weight scale and use the following gauge. A quarter is about 3 grams of weight. By placing a quarter on the head or grip, you can estimate changes to your swing weight. A heavier swing weight will make the head feel heavier. Most golfers have difficulty in telling 5 swing weight variation. Good Luck on your adventure.

I am a retired club fitter/builder and would like to see how Cobra has improved its product.

After watching the 2019 golf ball fitting YouTube, I picked up the Kirkland 3-piece at Costco and spun balanced all two dozen. I have tried spin balance and floating balls in epsom salt solution and spin balancing seems to work easier for me. I let you know how it goes.