jaskanski

For graphite, shaft puller is a must. Resist any temptation to twist the shaft out or twist the head to get it removed when you apply the heat - it'll ruin the tip. Let the puller do the work and you should be fine.

Not really for me. There are plenty of ways to use practice techniques and equipment to help you develop routine etc (weghted clubs, smaller heads, whippy flexes, different grips to name but a few), but I always feel you may as well practice with the equipment you intend to use on course to ingrain that routine. The old mantra 'practice like you play - play like you practice' applies. But hey - whatever works eh?

Good topic. 1. Basics first - make sure the lie on your lofted clubs is correct. The more lofted a club is, the more critical the lie angle becomes. 2. Assess the ball lie. How it sits in relation to the ground conditions will make your decision of shot critical too. If it is sat down, you may want a steeper attack angle for example. Same goes for ball above/below your feet etc. Make sure your assessment of the lie focuses your choice of shot. 3. Assess your shot. Green and pin position, wind direction, and effect carry of specific obstacle or hazard, slope of green, run out or stop and spin etc. Make sure you picture the shot trajectory and target before committing to the club slection and required shot. It goes without saying - know your yardages for each club, but also know the yardage for intermediate clubs and partial backswings etc. 4. Make a few practice swings to get the 'feel' of the shot in hand and the one you have pictured beforehand. Know what you're going to play before you play it. 5. Stance, alignment.and ball position. All of the previous 4 factors will be for nothing if you don't get this last one right. Make sure your alignment to target is spot on to how you picture the shot. That's pretty much it. Once you get to be methodical with your approach (pun intended) I guarantee your short game stats will improve.

You might want to point them in the direction of Rule 1 - 1.2a

I've been playing golf for over 40 years now and I've NEVER felt the need to have any iron set, wedge or wood refurbished. Putter - yes, but nothing else. The bottom line is that I've never got that emotionally attached to a piece of equipment that could quite simply be replaced with a newer (new or second hand) set/club that were either in better condition than the previous set or perfomed better - even sometimes at a much lower price. Wanting to refurbish, renovate or customise any set of clubs revolves mainly around the question - 'is it finacially worth it?" or quite bluntly, 'is this a vanity project?'. For me, wanting to copper plate a a near 15 year old set of irons which can be picked up in near mint used condition on ebay for less than 300 bucks sounds like a vanity project. Which is fine if that's what you want to do and the cost is justifiable to your intent, but I'm guessing you wouldn't be asking questions 1 & 2 either if you thought it was totally justifiable. So in response to each question: 1 No 2 No 3 Ebay

A lot will depend on weight and the MSI rating on the Rogue Silver, if it's 130 MSI, it's night and day to the other models- let's not forget also it has a certain amount of conunter-balance compared to the Smoke Black. I played the HZARDUS Smoke Black RDX in 6.0 for some time and found it to be dependable with decent feel for a tip stiff shaft. I didn't care for the Rogue Silver as it didn't have the feel (like for like weight and flex) I was looking for. Spin and launch was higher with the Aldila for me. Generally, the HZARDUS is stiffer in the tip and mid section and has a softer butt than the Rouge Silver, which has a noticably softer mid section. At the end of the day, it's all about weight, feel and dispersion, so if you find one that outshines the other you should stick with it rather than relying on opinion.

Throwing Steve Elkington into the mix.

Other than the well documented list of fellow professionals and swing coaches that have gone on record to state that Schefflers swing is 'unique' and probably shouldn't be tried by anyone else or it wold probably result in injury? None, but I have eyes, ears and an opinion just like anyone else. If he proves me wrong - great. When you get your accredited teaching credentials and your doctors degree, let me know - my years of golf are really taking their toll...

Titleist AVX

Scottie is indeed a class act and a formidable competitor any time he tees it up - you can pretty much guarantee he's going to be the favourite going into to any tournament (as did Tiger back in the day when he was 100% fit). For me that is the biggest issue - 100% fitness. Mentally, that isn't in question (at present) - physically though, that swing is going to take it's toll on his body eventually - and that's what the biggest obstacle to multiple wins/majors/holding on to #1 status will be IMO. Out of the rest of the field for ranking versus events played, Auberg takes some beating and will possibly surpass expectations in due course with current form - possible future #1?

Once you start removing elements from a shaft, they are essentially irreversable - so consider the overall specification first. Tipping 1/4" isn't going to make a huge difference, but cutting the butt and then adding weight to the head to restore swingweight is. You will essentially be making the shaft weaker to original flex, because (a) you have removed a larger portion of the stiffest part of the shaft (ie the butt) and (b) you have added weight to the head to make it frequency lower. A better option would be to simply grip the club 3/4" lower down first to see what the results are before considering any drastic action on the shaft itself.

scallop and salmon terrine omelette arnold bennett selection of cheese and biscuits Chablis 1er Cru to wash it down

A lot out there, but for pure nostalgia and the longest time spent with any shaft - period - Dynamic Gold.

...I should also add - the eyeball shows the here and now - the Trackman explains the why...

If you can use your gamer ball for your fitting numbers, then so much the better. You'll be comparing apples to apples with your overall specs. If you have the luxury of Trackman and an outdoor fitting so you can visually see what's going on downrange - win/win. The mk1 eyeball still cuts through the BS on just about everything.

Generally speeaking about most of Mitsubishi's product line, 'blue' shafts are the mid launch/mid spin offering, whereas the 'white' line of shafts are the stiffer lower launch and spin variant. Some of the whites can be very stiff, so if you're looking for a higher launch shaft, then look elsewhere. Typical swing chatacteristic for whites is a stronger player with a late release looking to get launch and spin down.

Picked up a set of used MP18 MMC's for a bargain, so will probably put them in play next week and retire the aging set of JPX Tours. Fli Hi 4 and 5 iron was a bonus too, so may also look into switching out one of the hybrids.

I think TT don't publish that data anymore. It used to be relevant in the old days when shafts were fitted with bands to show the flex post install (without the need to remove the grip to read the butt code), but now that most of their shaft range is screen printed to heck, it's fairly easy to determine what shaft it is. You may be able to wite to TT directly to see if they'll share any detailed shafts specs, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Adidas have several

Well, that's a case of two sides. Build quality is a given. There isn't a significany delta on how shafts are constructed nowadays regardless of core materials. What there is a significant delta on is the actual materials. A high 'quality' shaft will typically have the superior fibre in terms of fibre specification and bonding content. An expensive shaft will have a certain amount of specified fibre ply to pre-preg content in how it is constucted in comparison to a lower value shaft, purely because one has a higher content of fibre ply specification (the expensive raw material) than the lower value version which has (arguably) a lower mass content of the same fibre raw material per gram per mm. Does this mean the lower value shaft is any inferior in terms of construction and quality? Absolutely not. It just means the more expensive shaft has more grams per mm in it's build constuction than it's conterpart. Can you tell the differnce in terms of playability and performance? That's the decision of the end user - some say yes, there's a distinct defined difference, others may say there is minimal or insignificant difference to justify the price difference. Long story short, the fibre ply that OEM's go to great lengths to design, develop and produce is the lions share of any shaft unit cost. The 'glue' that binds it all together to make a shaft is the least expensive part. How that ratio of fibre to glue works out will have a bearing on how much that shaft will cost. But saying one is a higher 'quality' than the other because of it's raw marerial content is somewhat mis-leading. Neither is of inferior quality - it's just one has more of the expensive raw material than the other in it's final build ratio.

Quality used to be an issue between 'real deal' aftermarket shafts and 'made for' OEM offerings, but this is less of a gap these days. Most shafts have an overall QC that is prettty much night and day to what it used to be. Which is good for anyone who thinks they are buying into 'quality' for a ridiculous price.

Grew up playing a glove, watched my heroes playing a glove - so yes, I wear a glove. It works for me - and I don't wear for putting or delicate pitch/chip 'feel' shots - but it makes for a solid grip on most shots which is key. Taylormade Tour Preferred is current glove of choice - I've yet to find anything better since the demise of the Titlesit players.

Parallel tip Nippon 1050GH are a constant weight shaft even though they're parallel tip. They come in discrete sets to match the respective iron because they're not meant to be tip-trimmed - you trim the butt to length only. +1" shouldn't be an issue because you have plenty to play with. This is the cheapest I've seen them: https://www.hurricanegolf.com/nippon-n-s-pro-1050gh-4-pw-parallel-tip-shaft-set.html On a side note - what does $100 per shaft include? If it's fitted including grips and labour - I'd be inclined to stop complaining. YMMV.

Totally gutted for Clarke, but he'll bounce back. But kudos for Scottie - what a player.

Meanwhile in the background, Patrick Reed...