NiftyNiblick

If my "woods" have numbers on them, I don't look at them. I have a driver (whether or not it was designed as one), a longer fairway wood, and a more lofted fairway wood. A wooden three-wood was usually 17º....for a long, long time. A metal one can be anything.

Things do change. Biggest change for me was the 460cc driver. I keep trying to put one in my bag and keep taking it out. Even the 365cc is tough. With a driving iron, I push the tee all the way down to the cup as I'd do with any other iron from the tee. Usually, I look for a broken tee on the ground and use that. With a fairway wood, I push it down almost but not quite that far. With a big, titanium driver, the ball has to be teed up as though it were floating in mid-air and that unnerves me a little bit. Have to play it too forward in my stance. It's easy to go inside-out for a big hook or outside-in for a big slice, but trying to hit it straight-on is for some reason hard for me. If I carry a driver, my Donkey from Daphne headcover only seems to come off three or four times, max. All of that being said, though, the spikes thing still bothers me the most. It's hard to go super aggressive without footing from steel spikes.

How old is this forum? Who here never played with any of these things? I ditched the wound balls first when the Spalding Top Flite came out as an alternative to the Spalding Dot in the early to mid seventies I think. Metalwoods were out a few years before I tried them. The steel spikes thing still irks me. The game's a lot harder without them.

At what level of playing proficiency do you think that the different attributes of brand name golf balls begin to become a factor? If I show up at the course to discover that I have no game-quality golf balls at all, I can buy a sleeve of whatever the pro has behind the counter and go out and play. This has been true since the wound balls, which I loathed, disappeared. At what point were you guys good enough to become a little bit fussy?

Infomercial-type clubs often get a bad rap. Many of them over the years have worked really well. Usually, however, they're shot-specific, one-trick-pony clubs. Most of us already have TWO one-trick-pony clubs--driver and putter. When we add other such clubs--Alien-type wedges only good from the sand.....keeled-sole recovery woods....chippers and run-up irons,,,,driving irons that we can't hit from the fairway...and certainly others that I'm not thinking of right now... that limits the number of regular, loft-progression clubs in the bag, causing wide gaps. I personally don't let this bother me. I used to play a sand-only specialty wedge for a very long time and I still play a driving iron that I can't hit from the fairway. I throw fourteen clubs that I like and can usually hit into the fourteen slots of my cart bag and go from there. That might not work for everybody, however.

Before my hiatus from the game, I was getting Pro V1s for gifts, Once I was off the Haig Pinch, that is. The latter USED to be the easy, no-brainer gift selection. On my own dime, however, I play much less expensive Top Flite Gamers. To be perfectly honest, once they discontinued making wound balls, which I hated, I couldn't tell one brand name ball from the other in terms of performance. My game was never good enough for that. I used to play the original Top Flite, often called the Rock Flite, when they were made in nearby Chicopee Massachusetts by the Spalding Company, once a major name in golf. It was their alternative to the then famous Spalding Dot wound ball. Now I play modern Top Flites, made by who knows whom?, just out of familiarity with the logo. .

Ooops! This is about left-handed dexterity. I thought that "Lefty Thread" referred to a place for people like me to go without breaking the forum political discussion rules. My mistake. Please carry on.

That's completely fair. It's a rant thread, I ranted, and I feel better. I will respect the code and not bring it up again. Good luck, guys.

Hi guys. Although spinal stenosis brought an end to my decades of playing golf, it was my intention to hang around here socially. Then Trump happened. Our sport, and the internet forums in particular, are not bastions of secular humanism and liberal progressiveness. There are lots of folks here who must carry a Trump vote to their graves. I don't merely disagree with Trump. I've cultivated a profound, seething, viscerally-felt hatred for him. I can't look at his face without wanting to smash it to pieces. I've broken up forty+ year old friendships and disowned family members--not necessarily because they voted for Trump but merely because they don't hate him forcefully enough. Hillary Clinton called the Trump-supporters "irredeemable." As a Bernie guy, I've never cast a less enthusiastic vote in my seventy-plus years than the vote that I cast for the Secretary. I do get that "irredeemable" comment, though. Evangelical Christians believe in salvation by faith alone. That gives everybody a free pass to be a prick in this temporal world. Secular humanists believe that you have to get it right in this world because it's the only world for which we've got empirical evidence. I'm not a big enough man to forgive Trump voters. Trump would be every bit as bad as Hitler if he were able to marshal the same amount of absolute power--and the vile beast is trying. Even while I have no evidence of heaven, I can't imagine how any Trump voter can ever be redeemed as decent person status in this world. I'm not in charge of redemption, but Trump revealed himself completely in his campaign for what he is. Anybody who voted for him had to know exactly what he was getting. Whatever time I have left, I don't want to spend it with people like that. Which of course sucks. I really liked it here. Nifty

My impression is a little different. America has chosen fascism of its own will and will now reap the consequences of that decision. I have but one blessing to count now; it's almost over for me. The sweet, cool repose in my brass urn is imminent. For those who'll be around for a while, enjoy the apocalypse.

You seem nice and calm, Rev. What's your secret? I've been doubling up on my Prozac, but it's not helping. Neither is the second shot of Sambuca in my coffee. I haven't had a cigarette since March of 1994 and I'm suddenly craving those. Maybe an asteroid will strike the earth this weekend and destroy all living organisms (except maybe cockroaches), but when have we ever been that lucky? Hi, S&B. At least I'm not alone. I've got Matteo Renzi on speed dial. It might be time to reverse my family's 1910 experiment--if they let me.

I've been watching MSNBC from Joe & Mika in the early morning to Brian Williams at the end of their live broadcasting day. And I'm terrified. In just a few days, I'll know whether or not I'm about to become an ex-patriot. Who ever thought it would come to this?

The only time I ever went into my bag for a tee is if I couldn't find a broken one on the ground. When one pushes the tee in almost to the tee's cup, the tee doesn't have to be very long. No wonder I could never play the 460cc driver.

In recent years, I've cultivated a very useful habit. Unless my round was something about which to really brag, I'll have forgotten about it before my car reaches the end of the club's driveway. Admittedly, this is no good at all for those of you who still maintain hope of improving. Someday, however, you'll reach the time when this could be a useful talent to acquire.

I'm so sick of this back pain that I went to an Arabic restaurant tonight, specifically to give the jihadists the opportunity to poison me. Instead, the damned place was run by Lebanese Catholics and I had to settle for a tasty meal. I can't catch a break. Oh well, there's boxing on HBO tonight so that should help a little.

Nobody would hit the ball very well with my winter gear: cane, back brace, lumbar steroid epidural, ice bag, liniment cream, three new pill bottles to go with the usual eight, and finally, vodka/Tabasco/V8 comfort drink to wash them all down. It's hard to hit the ball straight when I can't get myself straight first. Also, the vodka/oxy combo takes a little edge off my concentration. You can probably tell from my posts. Enjoy yourselves, you lucky twelve month linksters. I can be "jealous of" and "happy for" at the same time.

It's time for an honest assessment in terms of buying things. As of January, 2016, the best "woods" that I have ever owned were a set of four Titlleist PTs (early 90s). The most hittable irons I have ever owned were Wilson 1200GEs, the complete set, #s 1-9, PW, SW, (early 80s). I don't get rid of anything so I still have them. I obviously can't hit them the way I once did. I honestly won't ever see an index in the high single digits again. I want to hit modern stuff as well as I can, and just have a little fun with my friends. That's what golf is for me now. I've presently got some good, new stuff that should take me to the imminent conclusion of my days as a recreational linkster. I was never a great putter, but they won't introduce anything now that will help me putt better than I can with the collection of putters that litter my life already. I just got new irons and wedges in 2015: Epon AF-901______________19º Hogan FW-15 _____________28, 33, 38, 43º Hogan TK-15______________48, 53, 58, 63º. I've complained that I don't hit them as well as some of my older irons, this including those antique Wilsons. Realistically , it turns out, at this point, I don't today hit those older irons any better than the new ones. That being the case, I can say that I'm all set for irons and wedges. If I buy anything--anything at all--it will probably be one last "set" of metals. People don't buy metals in sets anymore, but I don't care. I used to enjoy have matching woods or metals, and I might like to have one more set. I don't need a driver. My strongest fairway wood has been my driver for some time. I did buy a driver, one of those new high-lofted "mini" models, and I can hit it ok. But I don't need one. Not where my game is now. If I'm tempted to buy anything, it will probably be the Henry-Griffitts Praxis metal wood set--15.5 (which I'd use as a driver), 18.5, 21.5, and 24.5º. I can get the exact lie angles, lengths, and swingweight that I want with the shafts and grips of my choice. They're also very conservative looking, golf, dress, and grooming probably being the only ways in which I've ever been described as conservative. I don't know that I'll spring for them, but if I spring for anything, that's probably it. Let's see how I feel.

Rub it in, boys. My dog bite has finally healed for the most part. But it's December in New England.

December golf is not one of my area's biggest selling points. Bummer. And the Patriots lost their second in a row, so double bummer. May be time to start hibernating.

This world wasn't made for us proletarians who fly commercial. It was made for the guys with Gulfstream G650s. We give the sorry commercial airlines our business and they treat us like a baby treats a diaper. It really isn't funny.

This is more of a true story than a joke, but people have thought it funny. My forty-two year old son never married, and my wife blames it on something that I told him when he was a kid. I said, "Son, no other woman will ever treat you the way your mother treats you. More likely, she'll treat you the way your mother treats me." Still, I wasn't lying.

You too, Foz. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

I'm in New Hampshire and it's freezing.. Thanks for breaking my balls, Foz and Rev.

Does my putting game count?

I've got one putter with a graphite shaft--a Frankly Frog. I've got two putters with hickory shafts--a Callaway Little Poison III and a Tad Moore Chicopee. The other guilty parties--and that's what all of my putters are--have steel shafts and are usually the only steel shafted club in my bag. If shaft material is important in a putter, I've never been a good enough rock roller to discern that.