Golfers - Driver Recommendation?

[JCF]

Bandon Dunes would be PERFECT !
I'm in.

[sammyg2]

Black gold in Yorba linda is a nice course as is Anaheim Hills and I mean that, not just because they're practically in my back yard

[JCF]

The way Matt hits it we should play Torrey Pines - I'll hit from the womans tee.

[sammyg2]

Matt, sometimes when I try to put too much into a swing I don't get my top hand through which causes the club to strike with an open face. Not that big of a deal on a lofted club, it just kills the distance. but on a driver it tends to spray left and long, usually OB in the weeds. I often tell the people, "don't worry. That's just where I keep em".

If I take too much off I get too strong of top hand and hook hard right, swing too hard and it goes left.
Once in a while I'll have a round where everything clicks and I can swing hard enough to get both feet off the ground on follow through and still keep it straight. I just can't make a 5 foot putt.

Whattaya mean that's not how the game is supposed to be played? LOL

Since I don't play for dough, it's all for show. Imagine john Daly without the skills. that's me.

[sammyg2]

I GOT IT! Pelican hill in Newport Beach. It's perfect. http://www.pelicanhill.com/

If I start saving right now for it, I should have enough by next year.

[mattdavis11]

3 good looking courses. $265? Good lawd golf has gotten expensive. I have to say, I like the idea of a tourney. There are some really good players on this board. IIRC, someone is or was scratch or better.

[mattdavis11]

I was going to say that 6765 was a bit short.

I hear you Sammy. I'm a sore sob the day after I hit the links. I can't throttle back, never could.

Torrey Pines, hehe. Love too!! My brother played the south course a few years back and said to me "You aren't going to be hitting SW into every par 4 on that course". Little does he know I hit an R7 off the tee last month and had a SW into a par 5. It was downwind though. Alright, I'm done beating my chest. Damned internet.

[BeyGon]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

I GOT IT! Pelican hill in Newport Beach. It's perfect. http://www.pelicanhill.com/

If I start saving right now for it, I should have enough by next year.

What part of next year, I might have to save until the summer.

[JCF]

Wow. That's a nice looking course.

I am still saving my pennies for Bandon Dunes though.

[sammyg2]

I played pelican once, absolute postcard views on almost every hole. Comperable to what I've seen of that place they call pebble beach. They shined my shoes, wiped my butt, you name it. Luckily the rounds was on a vendor and not me. I'm too cheap.

My oldest brother has two holes in one at pelican, both on the same hole. I think it was a 200 yard par 3 oir something. He shows me the newspaper clippings every chance he gets. He has 4 of them total, the $%*(*&^T*&
He won't play golf with me, too frustrating.
He can consistantly out drive me left or right handed. He hussles people sometimes. Bless his heart.

[diverdan]

Are you scratch golfers ready for a laugh? I haven't held a club for over 25 years but I'm in great shape due to other sports. Breaking 100 wasn't even in sight back then. Okay a new club opened close to my house and work. Gotta do it. Looked at some Chinese knock off Calloways. Less than 500 bucks but the craftsmanship was absolute caca. Looked at the stuff at the pro shop, nicely made. Tried a set of Calloway big berthas with graphite. No feel, lousy shots. So I decided to try my luck at a big pro shop. Liked the Hogan Apex edge with R steel shafts, pretty good feel, not quite so lousy hits. Amongst other sets I tried was a set of Mizuno MP 67s with S300 shafts. Hook, slice. not under the ball, but when I hit it right the feel was awesome. Welll, I've got my work cut out for me and the teacher will have to earn his money. I don't know golf and I didn't know what I was trying out but those MP67s talked to me. Sure, my score would be lower with a more forgiving design, but these will tell me where I make my errors and reward me when I get it right. I hope you guys are laughing at my foolishness in buying the MP67s. But I'm going to sort it out in the next two to three months. (more chuckling)

Irons were not my problem in the old days, the old persimmon headed drivers were my nemisis and the players on adjacent fairways had to vbe aware! The 460 cc square heads that I tried gave long straight shots AWESOME. However, due to the expense , I opted for a used Taylormade r7 10.5 drive that seems to do much better than the persimmons so far as control is concerned. I'd love to have the feel and sound of the antiques, but right now they would never leave the bag and I'd be stuck at the tees with my 3 iron which used to give me 200 yards plus consistently.

diverdan

[KaptKaos]

I won a Taylormade 1-wood (forget the model & loft, but its one of those huge titanium jobbers) a few years ago at an outing. Prior to that club, I couldn't hit a driver. Don't know why. I tried different shaft stiffness and different lofts. I finally settled on a taylormade fairway wood (essentially a 2-wood) and seemed to be happy with that. I can hit the 2-wood 260+ fairly consistently, and a lot further if I'm lucky.

Now that I have this shoe-box on a stick, I am taking swings at short par 4 holes to get on in one. It's crazy. Anything inside of 330 is worth a rip.

I don't play anywhere near as much as I used to; 3 kids will do that. But I am pretty sure that I would be able to get my handicap down into the single digits (previous low was a 13) with that new wood. On all of the longer holes, my second shot would drop a club or two at a minimum. Plus, I have always found that I am most successful on holes when I get out of the box well. Doing that consistently would certainly boost my morale.

[widebody911]

I suck at golf - in fact, I'd have to improve to suck. My g/f got me a Nike Sumo² driver for xmas. With a good swing (1 in 20) I can get 285-295 yards.

[Burnin' oil]

My driver is the r7 Quad - usually 310-320 draw. Adams GT 3 metal - usually 280-290 draw. Titleist 690.CB irons. Handicap is +3. Some of this information is not correct.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Burnin' oil

My driver is the r7 Quad - usually 310-320 draw. Adams GT 3 metal - usually 280-290 draw. Titleist 690.CB irons. Handicap is +3. Some of this information is not correct.

The 310-320 and 280-290 bits?

[WI wide body]

Of course it's true that no club will overcome a terrible swing but anyone who thinks that the new club technology is not far, far superior to the stuff from 20 years ago is kidding themselves.

Anyone who can hit an old persimmon driver 250 yards will probably gain 15-40 yards with any of the current top line clubs. That is a fact.

Back in the 1970's I played decent and hit the ball very solid and longer than most. (and LH at that) Now I'm going on 67 and I have lost very little (maybe 10%) over-all distance.

The only possible answer is the equipment and the new balls.

BTW, just bought a Cobra Speed LD on eBay and going to a dome to hit it tomorrow!

[WI wide body]

Originally Posted by widebody911

The 310-320 and 280-290 bits?

Yeah, it's funnier than hell to get on one of those websites that let's readers rate clubs and read what some of those bozos say. They truly must live in a world of their own imagination. One thread rating the Titleist 907 had about 4 out of 7 guys who would embarrass both Tiger and Bubba Watson per what they listed as their average or normal drives!

Not sure why they were wasting their time typing on their little keyboard when they have that kind of power and ability!

[Burnin' oil]

Originally Posted by Burnin' oil

My driver is the r7 Quad . . . Adams GT 3 metal - . . . Titleist 690.CB irons. Handicap is . . .. .

Edited for accuracy. The only time I have ever hit a drive over 300 yards was a monster slice from the 9th tee that flew over the chipping and putting greens, bounced twice in the parking lot and ended up by the 18th green, which is on the far side of the clubhouse. I was a guest at a private club. Just glad I didn't hit any of the vehicles in the parking lot.

[steve911]

Back to the original question.

+1 on using 2-3 year old technology, particularly if you're not making a living at the game. Currently, I'm playing a TaylorMade r7 Draw 10.5, which can be had new at Golfsmith for $199.
I play to an 18 (down from 24 in last year) - not great, but I can get myself around a course pretty well.

Lack of distance is always an issue for me - I'm lucky if I can hit driver more than 230, but am happy when its out there 200+. As others have said, key is keeping it in play.

I'm 50+, so for me, practicing my short game is how I'm going to get my scores down. I've broken 90 a few times, so I know I'm capable of doing it - I just need to work on my consistency.
I'm realistic - I only picked up golf about 6-7 years ago, so I don't have 30 years of muscle memory (or the flexibility) that some guys do that have been playing their entire lives, but I'm not a total hack either. I figure that if my interests are Porsches and golf, that's not such a bad thing.

[WI wide body]

Originally Posted by ikarcuaso

I bought my first hybrid club, a Cleveland Halo 19 degree. It's pretty much made my current driver, a Ping TiSI Tec, obsolete (if it wasn't already). Easier to hit, and today at the range, I was hitting it consistently further than the driver. Can't have that, can we?

I haven't really looked at clubs for awhile. So what's a kick ash driver out there? With stock shaft, that is. Something easy to hit, and fuch'n long!

Okay, per your question about a driver: you first have to decide if you like the big headed 460 drivers or not. Some guys just don't. But they are definitely more forgiving and sometimes a bit longer for the average player.

One of my sons has a 120 mph swing speed and just crushes the ball but he doesn't play much and has little consistency. But he does not like the big head drivers and uses an old Orlimar HIP-Ti 420 with an extra stiff shaft. Says it just feels better to him at address and he can (sometimes) legitimately hit it 300 yards.

I have way too much spare time on my hands and I just buy and sell (if I don't like them) last years model drivers on eBay. Not as big a selection for me since I'm a lefty. (anyone can play RH!) Over the past season I've had a Callaway 454, a Taylor Made R5 Dual, a Nike Sumo SQ, a Cleveland Hi-Bore and an older Cleveland Launcher Comp 460, a Mizuno MX 500, a Magregor MacTec NVG2, an Adams Redline, and I just got a Cobra Speed LD M that I haven't hit yet. Not sure how it will feel since it has the biggest looking damn head I've ever seen or used so far!

There are a couple of surprises in my experience. First, that damn Nike just didn't work for me. And the older Cleveland Launcher Comp 460 was a better club (for me) than the newer Cleveland Hi-Bore model. Go figure. And one of the best of the bunch for distance is the little known MacTec NVG2 which I still have. It has a great Fujikura shaft and maybe that's the difference.

So I would suggest going to Golf Galaxy or someplace where you can hit balls and see if the big head drivers suit you and then go from there by buying a driver on eBay. If it doesn't work sell it and try something else. For less than $100 a club you can have a lot of fun finding out what suits you the best. Good luck and if you need LH clubs I'm your guy!