DougE

I use a Titleist U500 4 iron with a GD Tour AD-UT 85 S 3-iron length shaft in it. Hit it straight nearly every time, but sometimes much higher than I would like. I get great consistency off the fairway as well, but a pretty high trajectory for me either way, tee or turf. My U500 4 iron is only a degree stronger than my T200 5 iron, so if I had to do it all over again, I'd probably get the U500 in a 3i head. Of course, then it would be similar to my TS3 20* hybrid (though, hopefully offering different trajectories.) I've thought about bending it 2 degrees strong, but have been advised against it.....at least until it's out of warranty. Evidently, the U500s don't take well to bending. I don't know that for a fact, but it was suggested to me by my clubfitter when I brought up the idea.

Instead of one single, medium bounce Vokey LW, I would add two, a high bounce and a low bounce. SM8 58.12 D and a 60.04L. I own them both and play each one regularly depending on the conditions, but they both aren't kept in the bag for the same round. Inevitably, no matter which one is in the bag, I often wish I had the other at least once a round for a specific lie.

Have always played steel shafts. After putting a Graphite Design Tour AD UT in my U500 utility iron and seeing (and feeling) such great results with it, I am seriously considering a full set of GD AD iron shafts for my new combo-set of T100S/T200 I'm planning to purchase later this year. I'm sure my aging body will appreciate them, and I wouldn't be surprised if my game benefits too, once I get them dialed in. I think, though, my wedges will stay steel shafted.

Being a Titleist guy myself, I don't know which real-deal shafts are available off the rack in a Ping driver, but I would look for the best one they offer, in a stiff or XS (whether you play either of those flexes yourself or not), buy the driver with that one installed and then sell the shaft only on Ebay. You'll probably get nearly 100 bucks or more for the shaft since it's never been used. Besides, no reputable retailer will sell you just a head. Though, as mentioned by others, you can certainly find heads on Ebay for less than one with a shaft. But not much less.

Some of my exotic golf shafts.

So very true. I agree wholeheartedly and appreciate you making me feel better about topping my 4W off the tee yesterday on my way to shooting a 78 on a very tough course. Obviously, the rest of my game pretty much held up to my present 5.0 index, but boy, did I want to run and hide when THAT happened. I felt like I was looking like a 25+ handicapper to the group behind who were waiting on the tee. What really frustrated me about the incident, was not so much that I topped the shot, but that I was playing fairly well until then, at even par over the last 6 holes and I had just birdied the prior hole (my 2nd bird of the day, btw). Of course, they likely saw none of that earlier fine play. No, they just show up for my miscue, which I will now, most likely remember (and need therapy) for years to come. This game is hard, no matter how good you are or think you are.

I found one sitting in the water a couple days ago. Having played the MG-C4 many times, thought I would give this one a try. The C-4 is a great ball. I am a regular ProV1 player. Always thought the C4 played quite similarly to the ProV. So, when I found this MG SENIOR, I was curious. I had not even heard of the Senior, so had no idea they were not conforming. Off the driver (without a side-by-side comparison) it was hard to tell for sure if it was longer, but it certainly wasn't any shorter. It got out there. Could have been a few yards longer. The feel off the clubface was quite satisfying. However, the feel off my irons was even nicer. I normally hit my irons well for my advancing age, but using AP2-716s, my distance is just average, maybe a touch longer than average for a 61-year old, 8 indexer. This Senior ball definitely added yardage to my irons on well-struck shots. I surprised myself a few times on shots that just rocketed off the clubface. There was a distinct feeling of awesome speed. I played it for 7 holes until I hit one so far with my 7 iron, it bounced one hop into a hazard 193 yards from where I hit it! I normally play my 7 iron to go about 150 yards. Granted, this shot was somewhat downhill from a lofty lie in the rough, but I was expecting no more than 170. 193 was unfathomable. Again, I did not realize these balls were non-conforming at the time. I just found out when I looked online to find a review on them. Though I would like to mess around further with the MG SENIOR for fun, I don't want to get used to the longer distances I might get with them, particularly when I go back to my ProVs for tournament play. I will say though, I felt 10 years younger (and 4 index points lower) hitting the MG SENIOR for those 7 holes.