Jim N

Probably in the $300-400 range. Think I spent about $260-270 on the last one I bought. One thing that is a little weird is I don't think a fitting would work at all for me, because any time I switch putters my setup and technique ends up totally changing. I seem to mold myself somewhat to the putter, taking a more upright to crouched stance, adjusting the loft of the putter face by changing the shaft tilt, etc. It usually takes a few weeks for this to happen. Sometimes I think anytime I switch it's the result of me finding something that works to correct some flaw in my putting technique, which over time creates new flaws. Indian, not the arrow.

On golf tips/swing training, Alex Elliott seems to work better for me than the others I've watched, who are mentioned starting with Mark Crossfield on the first page and go on from there. On the club testing front, James Robinson is pretty good and entertaining, and I like Gabe from Let's Play Through. He's a "mere mortal" kind of low to mid-handicap guy whose drives tend to top out around 250-260 at most, so a little lower swing speed, which is where I am. It matters a lot on club performance. The Second Swing guys do great reviews, but the swing speeds of their testers I can only dream about.

Bushnell V6 shift rangefinder (thank you, Costco, for the excellent price on this), and the free version of the Golf Pad app. I haven't gotten into tracking individual club usage on the app, but may in the future. Someone already posted screenshots of the Golf Pad app in use, and the data it provides at the end of a round, on page 1 of this thread. The yardages to front/middle/back tend to be pretty close to what the Bushnell tells me, but on doglegs it gives "as the bird flies" yardages, which isn't too useful when the inner half of the dogleg is OB with trees and buildings stopping you from trying to cut the corner.

Stand bag, also from Costco. I walk using a pushcart, and it's big enough to carry all the stuff I need, but won't fall over in the parking lot or garage when I'm not on the course. There is one executive course near a friend's house where you almost have to carry that I play once in a blue moon, too, and I'm too lazy to swap everything around if I'm going to visit him and play.

Mine's in

Victoria Park golf course in Carson, CA. You can't tell the fairways from ground under repair, as they are basically just hard-packed dirt and rocks. It was built on top of an old landfill, and they neglected to put any kind of sealer under anything but the greens, so all the grass gets killed by methane and other toxic stuff leaching to the surface. These guys arrive at the course at about the 7:30 mark: To be fair, the driving range is fine, as are the putting green and short game area. It's probably the only course in the greater Los Angeles area where you can easily walk on to play any day of the week.

Short shot over bunker into narrow green that slopes away from you into water, and an overhanging tree can limit how high you can loft your pitch depending on how far behind the bunker you are. There's a par 3 on a course I play occasionally where from the tee there is water short and to the right, bunker to the left, so the better miss is left, and you're then faced with that nasty look if you steer too far away from the water hazard. I've put at least one or two second shots into the drink there, whereupon you have to try to execute the same shot again. Stuff of nightmares.

Odyssey White Hot Versa Seven SL. What's kind of weird about me is that when I switch putters it seems like my putting style changes almost completely. With this one all of a sudden I have an upright stance and very much a pendulum stroke. Before that I was using a Kirkland with a lot of forward lean to the shaft and almost arm locked, kind of medium bend at the waist, and before that a ping anser with an extreme bend at the waist and sort of a rock the baby motion with my shoulders and arms. I'm getting more consistent distance and roll now, which means that I'm giving myself short misses a lot of the time, but I've also been missing more putts in the 4-6 foot range than before, which is in practice kind of negating the leaving it close advantage on longer putts.

I much prefer walking with a push cart, both to get exercise and because I find I have better rhythm that way. I can't really carry my bags for a round anymore as it wears me out too much and screws up my back. I hate having to grab a few clubs to deal with shots that have gone seriously astray, as invariably once I get to my ball I've found that I still don't have the right option. There are a couple of courses I play occasionally where I'll generally take a cart, simply because they are set up with a gap of a half mile or so between one green and the next tee box in at least one spot on the course. FYI, I'm an extremely active 65 year old, and would like to keep it that way.

Odyssey Versa 7 putter. That's the batwing one. Got it at the PGA superstore on $25 off sale, and got an additional $20 off coupon from one of the guys there. I've been a blade guy for decades, so we'll see how this works for me.

I think they were $159 online, $149 in store, but I honestly don't remember for sure. I've been playing v1 for around a year and a half. Agree with the post saying they are a tad head heavy, but they do spin up nicely and perform well overall. My main criticism of them is that the grips are a little thin by my standards. Pretty good wedges at an incredible price.

Bump and run, most likely with an 8i, after taking into account how much of a slope up there was and if there were landing spots I'd like to avoid because of bumps, bad ground, etc.

Until they either start getting holey, or more often when they get crusty or stiff. My hands don't sweat much, so I probably go through maybe 3-4 pairs a year playing once a week on average. I've been using Kirkland ones because 1) I'm cheap and 2) found they outperform the ones you find on the bargain racks at golf shops, and last longer

I put three cursive "j" (my initial" around the equator more or less aligned with the alignment stripe. One of them is usually visible no matter how the ball lies, so I can determine it's mine without moving it.

I'm a weirdo. It's my 9 iron. I'm so likely to pull it left that I tend to avoid it like the plague. Even if it's the obvious choice based on distance I usually flinch and try to either hit a full swing PW or 3/4 swing 8 instead. Yeah, I know, it's all in my head, and I recently hit one of the best shots of my life with it, but still. FWIW, I tend to use my 60 degree out of green side bunkers but almost never anywhere else, but that's still once or twice a round for me.