Ended up ordering a Bell putter. It arrived so I threw it in the bag this morning, early returns promising but we'll see how I do on faster greens tomorrow.

Picked up a Bushnell Phantom 3 yesterday. It’s my first ever piece of golf technology and it was great, especially for someone used to using stakes and sprinkler heads to establish distances. Unfortunately I know I’m going to leave it stuck to the cart (via magnet) at some point in the future.

Got the clubs out for the 1st time in 12 years and realized I only have 13. (D-3-5, 4-PW, 52,56, P) My irons and wedges are Cleveland and obviously old, so I was thrilled when I found this old Cleveland 60 for $30. Soaked it in vinegar over night and rubbed it with steel wool.

Before


After



Just had a new grip put on, so in a few hours it’ll be ready for the range.

Vessel Lux Pro Cart Bag (Black)

Just ordered the Clicgear 4.0.

Visiting my 90 year old dad this weekend. Got his old putter out and gave it the vinegar and steel wool treatment. He was happy to see me clean it up and hopefully use it.



Did the same with an old Ping putter my late mother bought me 35+ years ago. I now have 3 excellent putters but cannot putt to save my life.

Spent $165 at the local used equipment shop for a driver and 2 hybrids. Never hit a hybrid before yesterday and now I’m forever changed.

Pro tip, if you want intelligent golf advice ask here instead of randoms in the AMA forum. We have a clue here.

Anyone know of a half decent range finder at a reasonable price,

I did have the shotscope pro lx or something it was great. Only thing was it came with the tracking stuff and I never made use of it as it was a bit of a pain compared to just having the watch to track stuff with. I then sold that and bought a cheap one.

It does the job but its very frustrating. Hard to pic up the flag and then read the numbers.

Things I need.

- Slope on and off
- Flag lock even when slope is off
- needs to be clear

any suggestion much appreciated.

I have both a GPS device (Bushnell Phantom 3 that has the slope function) and a range finder (Tasco T2G) and think it's a perfect combination. I'm not good enough to need hyper accurate yardage, and don't want to have to look thru that thing for each shot. The Phantom 3 is perfect for routine shots and is currently on sale for $125 or so at Dick's. It gives distance to front, back and center of the green, as well as the distance to hazards. It also has an app for your phone that gives a detailed map of each hole. It also has a score keeping function, tracks all of your rounds and compiles statistics like fairways hit, greens in regulation, putts per round, etc. For a golf dork like me, it's awesome. The range finder costs $70. It's bare bones, but it does what I need it to, namely tell me how far away something is within +/- 1 meter. I mostly rely on the Phantom 3. If I am skeptical or want another distance, I use the range finder.

I suspect that you won't be able to do as well for $200 with another set up.

Well, I broke my stealth driver over the holiday. Face popped out, so TM is sending me out a Qi10 as a replacement. Can't wait to see if there is any noticeable difference. I know the stealth was reportedly hard to hit, so we will see if this 20+ handicapper notices any difference.

Had some yellow bubbling on the face of my stealth in December. Sent them photos and had Qi10 within a few days.
Am getting a bit more yardage.
Trajectory similar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting. I'm seeing similar distance, but my dispersion is WAY down. Not to mention that I can turn this one over, which I could not do with the stealth.

Taylormade sent me a Qi10 LS last week for the bubbling/tee marks on the face of my Stealth+. I've only hit it a couple times but seems promising!

It’s rare that a change in head makes a big difference unless we are talking about quite a few years. Your improvement is almost certainly due to shaft assuming the head is configured the same way.

I have irons from 2005 or so (Cleveland CG4 tour). Ball flies great when I hit it good. They’re cavity-back so I assume they’re designed to be more forgiving than blades.

Am I at a significant disadvantage if I don’t upgrade to more recent irons? What am I missing?

Serious disadvantage for sure, you’re probably giving up a club in distance not to mention dispersion. Just too much has changed in 20 years.

Any iron regardless of age will fly true on a perfect shot although perhaps not as far because of loft differences. But all the imperfect shots are where you’ll see a huge difference.

And yes, cavity back irons are still the way to go.

I'm still gaming my Taylormade R11's and I just don't know how to quit them. I love them.

Simulator data from yesterday. 7-iron is 33.5 degrees. 9-iron is 41 degrees. Not sure what I’m “supposed” to be getting for these numbers, or what woujd be different/better with post-2020 irons.

Launch angle is roughly 2 degrees too low and spin rate is way low making it near impossible to hold a green. Typical spin rate for a 9 iron is 8000, 7 iron is 6000.

Iron heads these days are built to launch the ball much higher with lower lofts. Also stock iron shafts are going to be much better. Of course each individual won’t know specifics until they test.

Thanks for the feedback.

Could the launch angle be affected by my attack angle?

I have stiff shafts (TT S300) in them. Is it possible I need regular shafts?

I am considering upgrading to Srixon ZX5/ZX7 irons or some combination of them. I found this review and was surprised that my 7-iron spin rate wasn't much different than theirs, but my landing angle was. Should I be reading anything into that?

That could affect the launch angle, so could a whole host of other things.

I fly a 7 iron 170 and TT S300's are too stiff(and heavy) for me. For the record, TT shafts are stiffer across the board than any other shaft out there. All stiff shafts are not created equal. I play an S but in a 105g Nippon. You're probably right on the borderline between S and R but with those spin numbers I'd lean towards R.

Regarding those Srixon numbers, you are comparing your data to somebody that has much more ball speed than you do. Therefore they can launch it lower but still have an efficient descent angle. Look at it this way, take a 20* angle and extend it from the ground 150 yards. Now take the same angle and extend it from the ground 180 yards. Which line is higher off the ground?

You can't compare your numbers to others in some aspects like this. I don't want launch numbers like someone who can carry a driver 320 because it's a totally different ball game at that speed. With your ball speed you need a higher launch angle so you can stop the ball on the green with a combination of spin and descent angle. Only way to determine that is with you testing clubs.

always appreciate your thoughtful (and free) advice BO.
are you still fitting clubs or off to other things?

Haven't officially worked as a fitter/instructor for a few years now preferring to play some. But still keep up with the equipment and am able to give some pretty good advice to friends and the guys working in the golf shop where I play. Also give the occasional lesson. A neighbor asked for lessons a couple of years ago, his goal was to break 80. He recently shot 76.

I've got a lot of expertise in the field, just not a fan of having a boss at my age. Would like to think I could do a lot of good if I stumbled into the right opportunity. But I can still play.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I’m admittedly clueless and am trying to educate myself.

I know that club technology constantly changes and thus old clubs may put one at a disadvantage, but I also know that a poor craftsman blames his tools and I don’t want to be that guy.

I want my irons to hold on greens, but before I worry about the ball staying on the green I need to first hit the green. Hopefully I learn to hit it straight and then I hope to get fitted come mid-summer.