IanCC

I’m right handed and play right handed but appear to putt with a much smoother stroke putting left handed with a right handed (right hand down) grip especially on shorter putts. More straight back and through rather than whatever loopy nonsense my usual backstroke is especially with lighter putters (the heavier the putter the better this is but left handed the putter weight isn’t an issue somehow).

As good as Xander is, and he’s obviously very, very good, do you think he has that extra gear? Feels to me like Xander could put his best stuff out there and be at his maximum to get alongside Scottie and Scottie would just see that and casually move up a gear or two. Someone on here could probably tell us but it seemed over the weekend that the odd time Scottie made bogey he’d just have a bounce back birdie like he was just cruising and he’d just correct the odd slip up. It’s obviously not but he’s making the game look easy right now to the point he’s not remotely catchable unless fatherhood brings him back to the field. I don’t see the effect of that being sufficient to make it close for a while though. Rahm has made himself irrelevant by the way.

Easily and without question or doubt.

It’s the obvious answer. Ludvig Åberg. Other than possibly Wyndham Clark or Max Homa, everyone else feels like they have either reached their maximum or are on their way down. There’s still guys who may find the magic again like Viktor or Collin but not much outside that for me.

Use both. A PING Traverse 14 way divider cart bag and a PING Hoofer Lite 4 way divider. We walk 99% of the time here in the UK and we have a lot carry through the winter. I can’t fault either bag but the Traverse is so much easier to organise and find a club. I’m not for carrying it though. I also have to confess to using neoprene iron covers primarily to eliminate iron clatter. It does keep the irons from marking up and while I’m at it I clean my grooves after every shot as well. Total nerdfest.

#1 has to be Augusta National and nothing comes remotely close. More realistically I’d say the courses out at Bandon. The NLU boys did a fantastic job of it with their Tourist Sauce that season. Or Tara Iti near Auckland, New Zealand.

The only things on the block are my King Tec hybrids and whether I go back to fairways. I have 2h, 3h & 4h and swap in and out with the longer irons depending on conditions. That’d be a 5w and a 7w. With the TM BRNR I’ll never buy a three wood again. LTDx Max driver - safe unless the new one has a matt crown. TM BRNR mini driver - safe unless the used priced keeps on going up. What a nice club though. No idea why it was a limited run. 4-GW Forged Tec irons- super safe. Wilson Forged wedges - safe unless they wear out. I only carry 54 & 60. Would buy again. Wilson West Loop putter - Surprisingly good for the price. Sits well and feels great. Appreciate that’s two drivers, three hybrids, eight irons, two wedges and a putter but I chop and change at the overlaps so the 14 that take the field is super flexible. I need to decide on a summer ball as well. Srixon Ultisoft in the cold winter here but will go to something slightly firmer and with more spin when it warms up. Vice Pro was 2023 and maybe the 2024 ball also unless I go with Pro Plus or something else.

I’d carry both hybrid and DI rather than keep the 3w in the bag if that’s what you’re doing. You’ll not get the gapping you’re after if you don’t hit it right anyway. Even if the Hyb/DI combo is similar in carry you’d choose one over the other based on lie presumably? I’d rather not take a DI out of rough for example and your hybrid has flexibility for you around the greens. As you say, ideally you’d have them gapped but nothing to say you can’t have two clubs with the same carry but for different situations if you have the space. I think Phil took two drivers round Augusta one year, a draw and a fade one. Sometimes you’ve got to ditch traditional thinking and go with what works for you, whether that’s two drivers, hyb/DI combo, a wedge only for bunkers that isn’t part of your gapped wedges, two putters (one for lag putting, one for up close), whatever works for wherever you play. There’s no pictures on the scorecard.

Yes. Summer bag: 60, 54, GW-4i, 3 hybrid, 11.5 TM BRNR mini driver, driver. Also have 2&4 hybrids as our course gets soft in winter. Seen a lot of ‘who needs a BRNR’ but I use it as a power 3 wood with a bigger face. Tighter dispersion than driver without a great deal of distance loss. A good tee option on tighter fairways. I’d consider buying the higher lofted one as well.

They’d probably miss with a punch if you talked during their backswing.

If you have your lofts adjusted your ‘tweener’ distances will still be there, they’ll just be slightly different to what they are now. They won’t just disappear. Stronger lofts won’t improve your dispersion or GIR%. In fact the opposite. No one gets more accurate the further they are from the target. Variation on flight from your fitting may be as simple as spin from a mat to turf. Nothing more. The only good reasons to adjust lofts is to gap your iron set properly if you have a combo set or to gap the next clubs on from the set I.e. wedges or hybrid/fairways/driving iron or for wedges, again a gapping thing.