Crap, I'm going to show my age here, but this thread did bring back some memories that caused me to smile!! My first set of irons as a 13 yr old was only a 2-9 set - no PW, no SW because I couldn't afford it. My Dad made me pay for my clubs because I wanted "pro-line" clubs and not "store-line" clubs like he had!!
So until I mowed a whole bunch more lawns in the neighborhood to be able to buy a PW and then eventually, a SW, I had to learn to hit all the chips, pitches, bunker shots and lobs with my 9-iron. I recall that I could hit a decent lob with that 9-iron - granted, all 9-irons had 48* back then, but that wasn't even close to 56 or 60. I do remember when I got the SW, I was so thrilled to be able to lay that 56* face wide open to hit high lobs that I overused the shot way too much from that pure thrill of seeing the ball head straight up in the air and lost a lot of shots I shouldn't have!! Today, I encounter shots that at first glance, I can't imagine being able to pull off the shot with anything less than 60* - but then I laugh as I remember hitting such shots with my 9-iron way back when! Does this show how we all can get psychologically dependent on "higher-tech" clubs today!!?? HA!! TOM -----Original Message----- From: owner-shopt...@mail.msen.com [mailto:owner-shopt...@mail.msen.com] On Behalf Of Dave Tutelman Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 8:33 PM To: ShopTalk@mail.msen.com Subject: RE: ShopTalk: Is it possible to hate a club? Right you are, TFlan! My LW is for popping it just over the bunker to a narrow green. (Did that twice yesterday.) Not primarily for flying that tall tree between me and the green. I count on hitting my PW 105yd and my SW 90. But I can get those distances 80-90% of the time -- that's what I mean by "count on". When I take a full swing with my LW, I'll get a full, solid strike only about half the time. When I do, I will get a very high 60-70yd out of the shot. That means I do it only when success is more valuable than failure is damaging. Examples: (a) If I'm in a stroke play tournament and competing reasonably well, I would never try it. Don't try to fly over that tall tree; pitch out around it and accept the lost stroke. (b) If my match play partner is on the green inside our opponents and I could be on the green too if I fly the tree, I will attempt a full LW. (Actually happened that way last month. I botched the shot and wound up IN the tree. Finally on the par-5 green in 6 instead of in 3. No matter; my partner got the par and halved the hole. The only way I could have helped is with a birdie -- which was what I was attempting.) Cheers! DaveT At 09:36 PM 8/27/2009, Tom Flanagan wrote: >O.K. everybody raise your hand if you can hit a 60 degree wedge 105 >yards, or a SW 120 yds, assuming it isn't a skull job. No? Can't? Why not? > >Because most every golfer in the U.S. is a mid- to high handicapper. >I have no doubt that Mr Kelly can hit his 60 that far, and >congratulations - buy why? Even the guys on TV don't hit lobs that >far on purpose. Why not just hit an easy PW? The 60 and 64 degrees >clubs are designed for floppers and short pitches around the greens, >not for 100 - 120 yds shots. That's why we have all those other >clubs. No knock intended towards Mr Kelley at all. It's just that >the overwhelming majority of golfers can barely hit a PW 100 yds. >And most can't hit a 60 degree at all with any consistency. -- Shoptalk ** Sponsored by the new Aldila Voodoo. Learn more at http://aldilavoodoo.com/ -- Shoptalk ** Sponsored by the new Aldila Voodoo. Learn more at http://aldilavoodoo.com/
