Topic: Golf Equipment / GPS v Laser Rangefinders

About to try a GPS solution here. I figure my swing is only accurate to about 20m, so the GPS accuracy shouldn’t be a problem. :)

Also, I play lots of shots where I can’t see the green or the 150m markers for one reason or another, and theyre the ones when you really need it. Most other shots you can get enough info to get a reasonable idea even if you don’t have a range finder.

That said, if I was a gun golfer I’d consider the laser option based on the post above.

Topic: Golf Talk / Hole in one - and noone there tosee it!

I played my first lone round for ages last week. I got up to one of the par 3’s and thought to myself “What if I actually holed this?”

Then reality set in and I sprayed it 30m to the right. :)

Great stuff Whitednj – claim it, brag about it, embellish the truth. It’s a hole in one!

Topic: Golf Equipment / The Tight Arse Corner !

I’m the ultimate tight-arse. Recently turned over my entire bag for just over $500. Mind you, my lovely wife still thinks I spent waaaay too much on golf clubs, so there’s the reason for my tight-ardsedness. :) My criteria were cheap clubs, but with a reasonable name and good reviews. Superceded Nickent, Adams, Wilson and a few others were fantastic value compared to the new ticket prices on the major brands:

Nickent 3DX Square driver
Nickent pipe putter
Adams Tom Watson wedges (gap/sand/lob)

$275 delivered from RBG

Nickent 3DX Hybrid iron set (with 2 hybrids)

$230 delivered from ebay

Oh, looks like I’ve turned into a Nickent fanboy too, but it’s only because you can get their sticks really cheap.

Topic: Golf Talk / Food at golf courses. shite.

I’m a dodgy pie and sauce man myself.

Topic: Golf Equipment / Dodgy stand bag dividers?

I bought a Srixon stand bag on special at my local golf shop about a month ago. I’ve only played three times since, and I noticed today that two of the three fabric dividers are not attached to the bottom of the bag anymore. They are just floating around inside the bag, grabbing at the clubs every time I try to take one out or put it back in.

Has anybody else had this problem with stand bags? I’m wondering if I should take it back, or just rip all the dividers out and have done with it?

Topic: Golf Equipment / 7 months of vison uv balls

stands out like dogs balls.

There’s your next advertising campaign, right there. Or maybe:

Find your balls – with vision UV. :)

That said, I managed to lose 3 of them at Eynesbury the other week. I guess nobody said you couldn’t spray them!

Topic: Golf Equipment / 3/4 Iron replacements

This is an interesting thread for me, as I’m looking at a Nickent setup with two hybrids (15 and 17 degrees) and thinking that I will probably be able to get away with not carrying a 3-wood and keeping 4 wedges instead. Interested to know how far you end up hitting that 20 degree in comparison to a 5 wood.

I’m guessing a 15 degree hybrid will almost do the job of a 3 wood (I can handle losing, say, 20m or so), but I also wonder if those clubs are good for the old bunt out from under a tree shot (I need to play that shot far too often!)

Will I need to learn to play a 5 iron off my back foot if I dump the 3-iron?

Topic: Golf Equipment / A few new sticks for a tightarse - how does this sound?

Hey KYC, I think it actually is fairly Long, but I’m not quite getting it yet. I hit one a couple of weeks ago that was a bit of a “Woah!” moment, but most of them aren’t quite coming out like that yet.

The big thing is the shaft length. It’s actually 2 and a half inches longer than my old driver, and I always gripped that one right down near the bottom of the grips (something I’ve always done with all my clubs). I haven’t cleaned it since the last hit, and looking at it now, I can see a lot of dimple marks on the inside of the club, nearer to the hosel than they should be. I can see that I’m going to have to get some tape and a bucket of balls and head to the range to try and force myself to stand a bit further away at address.

The other thing is the alignment, which is different to what I’m used to. When you line it up dead straight, the shaft is angled further forward than my old driver – I guess it’s a little more closed than my old one. I’ve made mistake of opening it a little to make it “look” straight, and that’s making me slice most shots. When I think about it, I think it will suit me better to leave it closed and trust it to come through straight, as I swing with my hands well in front of the club most of the time anyway.

The good news is that all these inside misses and slices are still coming off OK without too much slice and aren’t hurting me as much as they would with some clubs. I’m getting average distance and decent accuracy, and I think when I work it out I’ll get much better distance and better than my usual accuracy. The club’s very good, but there’s room for improvement in the dud on the other end of it. :)

Topic: Golf Talk / Where to play around Avalon /South West Melbourne

queenscliff is worth a go
in o.k. nick but great design and only $25

I’ll second that, it’s probably the main course I was thinking of when I mentioned courses on the Bellarine. Very challenging course if the wind is up!

Lonsdale is also a nice course and usually in pretty good nick. The members I encountered there were very friendly last time I played there.

Topic: Golf Equipment / A few new sticks for a tightarse - how does this sound?

Hi Rohan,

The Driver I got was actually the Nickent 3DX square, not the Bang one. The wedges were a set of 3 Adams “Tom Watson” ones – Gap, Sand and Lob. Probably cheapo ones, mind you. Not spin-milled or anything funky like that, but I just wanted something that I could get in the air without hitting them 30-40m like I do with my PW. Doing the job so far, but my expectations are low. :)

I got mine from rockbottomgolf.com in the US – there’s another thread going about them at the moment. Didn’t have any problems at all, and the clubs showed up within a week of the order going in.

I think RBG mostly sells last year’s clearance models, so if you’re not fussed about getting outdated equipment there are plenty of bargains to be had.

-Larry

Topic: Golf Talk / Where to play around Avalon /South West Melbourne

A little bit further north is Eynesbury – well worth a game there at $45. Probably the best public course in between Melbourne and Geelong.

Thirteenth Beach is not far from Barwon Heads, and is good, but pricey in comparison – $70. Having played both of them in the last few months, I’d go to Eynesbury.

For something cheaper, lots of good courses on the Bellarine Peninsula – other side of Geelong. Most of these are around the $25-30 range, but you’ll probably spend that in petrol getting there so you might as well play Eynesbury or Sunshine (Haven’t played there though) if time is of the essence.

Topic: Golf Equipment / A few new sticks for a tightarse - how does this sound?

Thought I’d post an update for anybody that might be interested. I ended up getting the driver, the wedges, and a Nickent Pipe putter. Delivered for AU $275 from rock bottom. Every tightarse’s dream. :)

The driver is definately a little bit easier to hit straight, although I still do slice it occasionally. I think I’m not quite right with the alignment yet, but it’s coming along. Distance-wise, it’s a fraction shorter than some of the longer clubs out there, but I get good distance if I middle it. I’m finding it tough to cope with the extra couple of inches on the shaft, so lots of hits are off-centre at the moment. A trip to the range is in order, but overall I think it was a good buy.

The wedges have really helped my short game. My problem was that I couldn’t play a short chip, just struggled with anything less than a quarter swing. Getting some wedges with a bit more loft gave me the option of using that swing for short chips without flying over the back. I’d recommend this approach to any hacker who struggles with the delicate stuff.

As for the putter, well, I was right. The problem really is me. :)

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / 'Body feel' through the ball

http://math.ucr.edu/home/ba...

It’s a beautiful term, isn’t it? :)

To quote the article:

“In the aerospace industry they even have such a thing as a jerkmeter; an instrument for measuring jerk”

We can only look forward to the day when teaching pros catch on and we can all pull out the jerkmeter and improve our swings.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / 'Body feel' through the ball

Deceleration of anything in nature does not require decreasing velocity to occur. It is only when deceleration continues until acceleration becomes negative that velocity will start to decrease.
Remember deceleration does not equal negative acceleration.

Well actually, yes, it does. Acceleration is the change in velocity over time. Deceleration is a negative change in velocity over time. Not acceleration

Acceleration slowing down? That’s still acceleration, but at a lower rate .

The rate of change of acceleration with respect to time is known as “jerk”. So if you are slowing your acceleration (but still accelerating) as you swing, you are not decelerating, but you may be experiencing a negative jerk

Which is probably what I’m being at the moment. :)

Topic: Golf Talk / Show us your swing..

Really nice looking swing Chris. Not sure about the pink shirt though. :)

Topic: Golf Equipment / Stiff graphite vs Steel?

Good to hear Tim and Nadg, my situation might end up being the same as yours. If I do buy a new set it will probably be last year’s model at a huge discount, and most of the clearance sets I’ve seen around the traps seem to come with graphite shafts.

I guess if I’m getting them cheap I can always give them a go and sell them on ebay if I find them too wobbly. :)

Topic: Golf Talk / Very annoyed

Easy for you to say – no bunkers on the driving range. :)

Topic: Golf Equipment / $US and golf club prices

I’m not a big fan of haggling. I’d feel terribly rude if I walked in and (even in a very friendly manner) told the salesperson that I could get the product for half the price online and asked them for a discount.

They already know that, and I’m sure it’s probably frustrating. It’s not like the stores need to hear people tell them about the internet to know that they’re struggling to compete. I suspect that in many cases it is the suppliers that aren’t helping them. I wouldn’t want to rub it in, to be honest.

I just want to see the price and make a call. The last thing I’d like to see is shops sticking an inflated price on everything in anticipation of a hard-nosed haggling session over every purchase.

Certain things will be out of my budget in golf shops, but I will always try and buy the things that I can’t get significantly cheaper elsewhere from my local if I can. And I’d certainly feel bad about hitting every club in the shop if I wasn’t buying. That’s just rude!

Topic: Golf Equipment / Stiff graphite vs Steel?

Well, that was my unqualified opinion too, but I’m not really sure about the facts, to be honest. I wonder how much of that is traditional thinking and whether or not today’s graphite shafts, with various grades of flex, actually provide a flex option for all swing speeds?

Are today’s stiff graphite shafts measurably less stiff and more prone to twisting than steel? That’s the question.

As for the fitting from a pro, I’m afraid that’s out of my budget as I’m a tightarse, married, and a happy weekend hacker to boot. :) If I do buy a new set of sticks, I’ll be looking for huge discounts on last year’s clearance models on the net, so I wouldn’t want to waste a pro or a shop’s time using their equipment while knowing that I have no intention of buying clubs or paying for lessons from them.

Topic: Golf Architecture / Instead of bunkers

“Victoria GC is a beautiful example of design but I suspect a few bunkers could be dispensed with.”

Care to identify them ?

I’ll be able to identify them if I ever play there – they will be the ones that contributed 20 strokes to my scorecard. :)

Topic: Golf Talk / Looking for someone to play in Melbourne

Wouldn’t it be funny if manmex77 was actually Lee Trevino?

Topic: Golf Equipment / Stiff graphite vs Steel?

Hi folks,

This may be a dumb question, but I’ll ask it anyway. In a general sense (variations between manufacturers notwithstanding), is there much of a difference in ‘stiffness’ between stiff graphite shafts and stiff steel shafts?

My last set (that I bought ten years ago, and I’m sure things have change quite a lot since then) were fitted and the guy prescribed stiff steel shafts (True Temper ones with an S on the back) back then, saying graphite wouldn’t suit my fast (and wayward) swing.

Has graphite caught up, and is steel just a badge of honour for guys who want to look like big hitters, or are stiff graphite shafts still like well-cooked spaghetti in comparison?

-Larry

Topic: Golf Talk / Distance - It is Black and White

Anybody seen “The crying game”?

:)

Topic: Golf Equipment / Bought any Brosnan Products?

arent their clubs swinging a little more heavy ?

talking about the standard steel shafts

Do they get heavier over time? I guess they’re heavy compared to some of the new clubs I picked up in the shop the other day, but I’d never noticed until then. I can’t quite work out what having a lighter club would do for me (other than feel a bit wierd to start with).

My Brosnans have stiff steel shafts. Back when I got them fitted I was measured up and told not to get graphite because I was swinging too fast. Don’t know if today’s stiff graphites are more like yesterday’s stiff steel shafts though. :)

Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / melbourne course

I had my first hit at Sandringham a couple of weeks ago and thought it was a reasonably good track for the money ($26-50).

I’ll second Yarra Bend as good value too, if only because it is really close to the city, but still manages to feel like it isn’t by being tucked up by the yarra and not having many houses nearby.

Of course, if you want to spend more money you can find plenty of courses that are in better nick – you get what you pay for in most cases.