Dan Yates intro and WITB

[Dan Yates]

I’ve been playing since I was 14 - so about 41 years.  At my best I was a +2, now playing around a 6 (but lately feeling like I’m playing worse than that - I just manage to score better). Last year I set a crazy goal to qualify for and play in the PA Senior Amateur this summer (2024), so I’ve started training more methodically - something everyday.  
 

I’ve had two big injuries (4 herniated discs in lower back) and surgery (right rotator cuff, labrum, bicep) that really slowed my golf game for the last 4-5 years.  I am also a very avid rock climber and on top of my real job (fundraising) I am the head routesetter of our local college climbing walls.  So I’m in decent shape for my age, but I’ve seen a huge drop in my swing speed since the injuries.  I used to be between 112-118 mph club head speed - I’m around 97-101 now.  Really working to get speed back up.

Fun fact: I grew up in Latrobe, PA, as did my extended family.  My great-uncle was Arnold Palmer’s high school golf coach when he was at Latrobe, and they stayed friends their whole lives.  Arnie would often watch the HS golf team coming up 18 and comment on our play, give us encouragement, and sometimes join us for a few holes (or the mind-blowing day I played 18 with him as a HS junior while he was still playing on the Senior PGA Tour).  He was a great supporter of the team, allowing us all to play at Latrobe CC as our home course and showing up out of the blue for a wink and thumbs up.  As an adult I saw how much the community mean to him, stopping by every table, buying drinks for players, telling stories and jokes, and always grateful to the people who helped him get started.

I played Ben Hogan Apex PC blades for the first 20 years of my golf, persimmon Titleist woods, and an old Titleist Acushnet Bullseye putter until they were stolen.  For the next 10 years I played a mix of strays and oddballs, but generally always had an older TaylorMade driver, 3 wood and 5 wood, and Odyssey putters.  First good full set of fitted irons were Mizuno JPX 919s, and Vokey wedges, but as I’ve aged and my eyesight has gotten worse, and my distance shrinking I started looking for advantages in equipment.  Over the past three years I’ve built my bag into what I game now:

Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2 9.0, Mitsubishi Tensei White X-Stiff 75g shaft

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus 15 degree, Mitsubishi Tensei Blue X-stiff 75 shaft

(Sometimes): PXG Gen 5 0311X Driving iron KBS TGI 80 shaft

Hybrid: TaylorMade Stealth 2 19 degree Hzrdus Black 6.0 80g shaft

Hybrid: PXG Gen 4 22 degree Hzrdus Smoke 6.0 80g shaft

Irons: PXG Gen 5 0311 P 4-PW, 2 degree strong, 1 degree flat, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 S300

Wedges: PXG Sugar Daddy 2 50 degree with 13 degree bounce BP Grind, 56 degree 10 degree bounce C Grind, with True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 S300 shaft in the 50 and Elevate Tour S in the 56

Putter: 34.5” LAB Mezz Max 68 degree lie angle, with 2 degree press grip, ACCRA black shaft

I was fitted for all of the clubs (a first for me), and so I was a little surprised that I was put into Stiff and X-Stiff shafts, but they seem to work for me (most of the time).  I’m kind of curious to see if they still will if I get my swing speed up to 105-110 where I’d like to be.

Still not having consistency with the driver I want, but it’s definitely me and not the club - when I swing well I hit it 265-280 with a slight draw.  Looking forward to learning and getting smarter with my equipment here.