Gone retro sortof

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By Quintin H

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  1. Quintin H

    Quintin H
    Morehead, KY

    In order to calm my swing down and keep some control, I decided to put in the 983K and 904F with steel shafts.

    Yesterday I played with my older buddies that play the front. Normally my rule playing the front is I don't use anything longer than my 21*h, but I changed the rule for yesterday and used the driver.

    I only hit 4 or 5 fairways, depends on if hitting the green counts as a fairway. I missed 3 fairways because the ball didn't curve( 1 was bad because I let stupid do the thinking), the rest were because I went thru the fairway(going from 21h to driver is like playing a new course off the tee).

    I was at a good 240, a couple 250's.

    Hitting the ball the correct direction was just so easy, I'll give up a little distance for the control.

    Today I'm going to take 983K w/graphite just to see if it is the head or the shaft.

  2. Quintin H

    Quintin H
    Morehead, KY

    I wasn't too bad on direction, the pop ups were killing me. I got off a few good drives with the graphite shaft today, and they were about 20y longer than the steel shaft.

    I'm going to test against a couple more drivers with graphite shafts, but it really looks like the steel shafted 983K is going to be in the bag for awhile.

    I really like stepping up to the tee and knowing this stroke will be a good one.

  3. David Browning

    David Browning
    Ohio

    "Retro" or not, you have to find what works for you. I believe that Mr. Stricker used the 905 driver for years, even when the 909's were out.

  4. Dorian L

    Dorian L
    Calumet City, IL

    I agree, it's all about what works for you. I am still playing the zb iron set and will not change for nothing in the world because i hit them so pure. by the way i do have the new 910 driver but when things get shaky off the tee, my 905 has never let me down.
  5. Lou G

    Lou G
    San Diego, CA

    I sometimes bust out my steel shaft persimmons (I have a a Louisville Niblick Vanguard 5/21 and Even Stripe 10/28) in place of the 7W and 5H. I also keep a persimmon 34H in the bag as a backup for the 5H and 7 iron. I can hit the 34H 160-165 yd (not bad for 7 iron loft) and can work it down to 140-145 yd with a choked full swing. Actually, my longest ever drive was 325 yd with a laminated Spalding 3 wood with aluminum r flex shaft. I also hit one 290 yd with a Toski persimmon stiff shaft 3W. TT Lite XL is a good steel wood shaft.
  6. Lou G

    Lou G
    San Diego, CA

    At one time (between 2008-2009) I used a Titleist 975D driver and I actually got to the point of hitting it better than the 460cc Cobra X speed. When I complete the re-shaft project with the Eye 2 irons, I will have a retro golf bag with persimmon 5 and 10 woods and Eye 2 6-PW irons as a 2nd set.

  7. Quintin H

    Quintin H
    Morehead, KY

    Them Niblicks are  good fairway woods, especially out of rough. I have 3,5,7,9 and 3(17*), 9(34*)Ghintys. I had Smart 3 and Niblick 2 and 4 with DBES, I busted all of them, I guess thats why LG quit making DBES.

    Yesterday morning I decided to test my ft-5 9.5* fade and I put in my LG blades, I was hitting my blades well, and the ft-5 a little higher with a little fade but no farther than the 983k with steel shaft.......ft-5 is out.

    I went home, had lunch and put in my very old irons, I have 2- wedge, I didn't use the 2 or wedge(wedge is not designated as P,G,S,L just plain wedge) the irons 2-9 have lofts 22*-49* and the shafts are about an inch short, and I put the 983k back in, then went out for an afternoon round.

    Early yesterday I did my workout and run, took a shower, then realized I forgot my protein, I quickly drank my protein, hoping it was soon enough, by the time I went out for round 2 I had not began hurting.

    I played the front, playing very well until hole 9 where I went over the green into the deep rough and I tried using my 60, bladed it across the green(54/14 would have been a better choice)......ended the front +1 with a double on 9.

    The workout pain was starting to set in and my body was stiffening up, hole 10 began the pulls with every club even putter.

    I was making very solid contact with them old blades, on the front I was hitting straight.

    A interesting thing about the old blades is the loft gaps, from 2 to 3 is 2.5* then 3-4 is 3*..........8 to 9 is 5*(adding .5* to each gap), and this works really well for making even distance gaps.

    The pain got really bad last night, I won't be late with the protein again. I'm feeling better this morning, I think I'll save the workout for later this evening. Then get back on track tomorrow morning.

  8. Lou G

    Lou G
    San Diego, CA

    I know your thing about the severe pulls. There is a common thing between severely pulled shots and shanks - the hips don't clear because the back foot gets stuck on the downswing. I had this anomaly in 2008 that would pop up, often with no warning, after about an hour of practice or in the middle of a round and it got so bad one time that I had to walk off the golf course because my swing literally did a complete shutdown (so bad that even a short chip shot couldn't be done). I asked several golf pros and they could tell me the drills but not the root cause (which I initially attributed to muscle fatigue - partially true). The bottom line is a loss of balance. When you start a round of golf or a session at the driving range, you are swinging easy and you stay anchored pretty well. As you loosen up, you start "cranking" your golf shots and, pretty soon,you are getting too much motion in your swing (you take the club back too far, the back foot gets stuck and your upper body starts getting ahead of the lower to the point of falling forward on the follow-through and heaven knows where the ball will go). The muscle fatigue is a by-product. What I've adapted over the past couple years is a combination of the Stack N Tilt and Don Trahan's "PPGS limited turn backswing". The diff is there is a bit more spine tilt with the Trahan method (more of a sweeping swing as opposed to hitting down on the ball). The bottom line is a more compact backswing with almost no weight shift to the back foot. The problem is a lot of people try to take the "big 90 degree backswing" with parallel shaft at the top (the left foot comes off the ground, the hips turn too much and one loses torque). Paul Wilson of Revolution Golf has a great tip for when you swing has gone too far back: if you got good torque, you should have difficulty talking at the top of your backswing. Compact backswing also eliminates a lot of lower back problems caused by the "big 90 degree backswing."

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