jaskanski

Certainly a lot nicer bunch of folk on here than any other the other forums.

The weights used in Ping i20's are a sort of plastic and tungsten combo if I recall. Adding lead tape to fill the gap may seem like a quick and dirty option, but without knowing the true weight of what came out, replacing with lead tape could be problematic. I guess you could swingweight an existing iron with a weight in it and try to match the swingweight with lead tape or a similar solution, but the overall density of the amount required may throw out the key MOI placement the weight port was also designed for - not just for swigweight adjustment. I would be inclined to wait a while and let Ping sort them out, but there's nothing wrong with trying out a reversible solution in the meantime to see how they play out.

The general rule of thumb for iron shafts is to go with the most flexible shaft you can comfortably control. If you're between Regular and Stiff, that would probably mean going to Regular and seeing if your dispersion is acceptable. The Regular shaft may help somewhat with distance, but if you've slowed down your swing anyway your distance will suffer as a result. For overall distance, ball speed is still king. No shaft will instantly give you more ball speed - the person swinging the club is responsible for generating that element. But a more flexible shaft may help in achieving this in your swing. Best of luck in your golf game.

The point is - there is no point in rolling back the ball which is the topic of this discussion. Any player has the ability on their day to demolish any course if allowed to. The ball has nothing to do with it. Maybe we should roll back the players? Like maybe make Bryson to wear a lead glove and an eye patch?

Was the Masters set up that way in 1976 when Ray Floyd posted 271? Or Jack in 1965? Was St Andrews set up that way when Curtis Srange shot a 62 in 1987? I'm sorry, but your reasoning has no relevance or logic. Dechabeau's strategy other than bombing everything he can is what exactly? Did it work out for him at the Masters with his 'strategy'?

There has always been strategy and challenge in the game. The trouble is, in the professionall game, the way that courses have been set up with slick fairways and little real protection of any note, the driver bomb and gouge tactic has become a dumb reach no brainer. Take that option off the table, no matter what ball you're using you have more strategic options.

Correct - that's essentially what I said. If the longer hitter has an advantage anyway, then why roll the back distance to whatever limit - they still have an advantage! Like I said - if you want to protect courses, then do something about courses - without adding length naturally...

Let's put the whole ball roll back into perspective - how many actual pros fall into the category of 'they're just too darn long' ? Maybe 80-90 at best? Lest's say above average Rory McIlroy needs his average 326 yards rolled back to 300 yards to 'protect' courses. That means a ball that will (on average) travel 26 yards less - which is around 8%.. Another pro who hits on average 300 yards, now has their disatnce cut down to 276 yards (the same 8%) - so who still has an adavatage? Yup - Rory. The whole ball roll back is a total nonsense that doesn't create a level playing field - it just creates a new relative bias. And it's the same relative bias that existed 50 years ago. You hit it longer than the next guy - you have an advantage (provided you can keep it in play). Simple solution - make it more difficult to keep it in play (without adding excess course length) by using strategic run off areas of rough, ditches, hazards, whatever, to mean there is no advantage whatsoever to hitting in excess of 320 yards, because you'll either be OOB, in rough (and I mean rough), in water, in a bunch of trees, or in a hazard which is no easy escape. It's totally doable (with the possible exception of ANGC) because it's how courses used to be before everyone on tour got some sort of sense of entitlement that courses need to look like contender for a beauty pageant. They don't - but all you hear about is pros whining about how difficult it is to break par on a course with an element of difficulty beyond it's length. Welcome to our world pro buddy, welcome. Just use the same ball and suck it up. That's the whole original point of golf rules right?

The whole 'bifurcation' and roll back discussion is an age old discussion that can probably date back to the 1960's - when a few of the more powerful players could easily out drive anybody else on a given day. Fast forward to today and little has changed - apart from golf courses themselves which a far too manicured for their own good. With regards to the debate then and now - lengthening courses and restricting golf balls has the same effect - it still gives the longer players the same advantage. It still doesn't take into acount the amount of 'average' hitters would have picked up major wins and the amount of 'above average' hitters who miss cuts. It's an issue that doesn't need fixing nor does it need an 'fix' that plays into the hands of the very same palyers who the ruling bodies claim to have some sort of an unfair advantage. Same equipment for all, otherwise it isn't golf as I know and grew up playing it. Sure, it woulf be great to see tour pros of today using 42" steel shafted wooden headed divers with balata balls - but the game has moved on since then and so has everyone else who tees it up on a casual basis who abide by the same set of rule rules as everyone else in the world. The elephant in the room is still talent - some have it more than others and that's the way it always has been since whenver golf was invented.

If you've been playing Mizuno for a while, it's hard to find anything that beats them for feel and quality at a reasonable price point. I'd suggest a trip down to Bearwood Lakes for a fitting session: https://www.bearwoodlakes.co.uk/the-course/coaching-and-fitting/ It's a Performance Fitting Centre which is a plus and the swing DNA system takes a lot of the BS out of shaft selection. Loads of options and great bunch of guys. Alternative Performance Fitting Centres can also be found here: https://mizunogolf.com/uk/custom-fit/performance-centres/

The AV Raw basically takes the concept from the previous Tensei series and stiffens up the tip profile further. The downside is the weight goes up slightly from like for like previous specs. On the plus side, the feel is not sacrificed by the increase in tip stabilty, and there are more TX rebar flex options if you are a high ball speed / fast tempo player. The see thru butt section makes it look rather stunning to show the metalised fiber weave as well. One for fashion conscious ball crusher.

The best golf tip is that there aren't really that many good golf tips - but you have to listen to an awful lot of golf tips until you find that out... Seriously though, there will always be golf balls, golf clubs and golf courses - the only downside is one day there won't be another day, so enjoy it while you can.

I guess the 3 biggest mistakes are measure, measure and measure. Tip sizes, bore sizes, butt width - don't take anything as written - measure it. Head weight, shaft weight, grip weight, any weight - measure it. Length, loft, lie, bounce, offset, face angle - measure it. As for flex, cpm, bend point, etc - oh boy....don't make me explain it again.

As a general rule of thumb, hard-stepping a shaft once makes it 1/3 stiffer in flex. To get to the next flex category (ie Regular in this case) you would effectively need to hard step 3 times (ie using for example the 8-ron shaft in the 5-iron) which would mean you will be found wanting for more shafts in the lower irons. The other problem is length if these existing shafts have previously been trimmed to length for their respective iron#. If tip trimming to get the flex to where you need to be, you run into problems with the available parallel tip section you may have and with a weight as you lose it with the trimming. These are just some of the issues you may encounter when considering a hard-step. For this very reason - and for the same reason shafts come in different flex categories in the first place - I always say get the right weight, length and flex shaft in the first place and build a set accordingly. If you try to make something out of something it wasn't really intended to be in the first place, you get problems. The takeaway is if you want Regular, buy Regular - not Soft Regular.

Saddened to hear the news of Tom Weiskopf's passing aged 79. That swing - a thing of beauty. RIP Tom.