pco225

Anyone have a recommendation on a good fairway wood to replace my 25-degree hybrid? I don't love it off tight lies -- seems to go left as many hybrids do -- and I think it would be better to have a 23- or 24-degree fairway wood. The problem seems to be that those levels of loft are either a 7- or 9-wood, and getting a non-senior shaft is often a custom order. Should I just shell out or is there a good option I'm missing?

How long have you been playing golf? What’s your handicap or normal score? Always loved golf but didn't really play growing up -- maybe 10 rounds total before age 22 (I'm 42 now). Got interested after college and started learning while living in Manhattan (which is less than ideal). Began to love golf in my 20s, and then kids/work put a lid on things for a long while (maybe play 5-10 rounds per year, with zero improvement). Covid convinced me to put real effort into improving -- started 2020 ~14-16 H.I. and just got down to my lowest-ever of 8.9 after a lifetime-best round of 77 to win my neighborhood tournament.* What do you love about golf? Everything. The competition. The practice and effort needed to get better. The difficulty. The outdoors time. What brings you to MyGolfSpy? Do you already know any other Spies? Have been reading some stuff sporadically for years. Where are you from? What is your home course? Chicago area. Will play anywhere. What are the best and worst things about golf in your region? Amazing golf courses in the area. Truly awesome variety of choices. Everyone will complain about the weather, but it's mostly whining. I've played at least once in every month but January (and my general rule is turf must be in decent shape; temp must be >40 if dry, >45 if wet, and >50 if wet & windy). Weird how golf was invent in 55 degrees with wind and rain, and that's still cool if you're in Scotland/Ireland/Bandon; everywhere else people expect it to be sunny and hot or they're not playing. Plus, having ~6-12 weeks off really gives you time to dedicate to practice and improvement without worrying about taking it to the course (and that assumes no winter golf trips). What do you do for a living? Investor * 20 guys. Gross winner and net winner; I took both. The 77 was a prime example of good-boring golf: hit 11 greens and had one birdie, six bogeys, and 11 pars. No penalties. Didn't even nick the one lucky Pro V1 I used all day. I shot 80 on the same course last year so this wasn't a total fluke, but everything definitely went right and I would need dozens of rounds to duplicate or beat that score. Driver: Callaway Paradym 10.5 w/Nemesys 65g S 3-wood: Mizuno ST-200, 15 deg. 5-wood: Mizuno ST-X200, 18 deg. Irons: Mizuno MP-15 Wedges: Vokey SM8, 50/54/58 Putter: Scotty Phantom X 7.5