Joey's Golf Bag

I’ve been playing the Tom Wishon Golf Technology 770CFE irons for a couple of years now, but I’ve lost a bit of distance. So, to get it back, and save some wear and tear on my right shoulder and elbow, I’ve built a new set of irons with graphite shafts. I used the TWGT 870Ti clubheads, TWGT S2S Gold Tour Flight shafts, and TWGT V-series midsize grips. I built the clubs with ascending swingweight to approximate MOI matching. The 5-iron was built to a length of 38.75″ and a swingweight of D-4. The increment in length for the irons was 3/8″ with a 0.5 swingweight points added as the clubs got shorter.

My TWGT 919THI driver I’ve been using for a while had gotten beat up and ugly from some bad swings, so I built a new one to match with the 959OL driver I use for recreational rounds (same shaft, swingweight, length and loft). I used the TWGT S2S Black 65 shaft and Golf Pride Dual Duometer midsize grip. I built it to a length of 44.5″ and a swingweight of D-1.

A few weeks back, I lost my sand wedge, so I took the opportunity to build new wedges as well. The CX Micro wedges are discontinued, but I bought several sets as it is the best wedge I’ve played and see no reason to switch to anything else. I used the TWGT CX Micro wedge heads, Rifle Spinner shafts and Golf Pride New Decade Multicompound midsize grips. I built them to match the 870Ti AW, 36.5″ length and D-7.5 swingweight.

I’ve practiced with the clubs, and they all work as expected, as long as I put a good swing on the clubs. There’s the rub… Anyway, I’m playing 18 with the clubs for the first time today.

I built a new driver late last week, a Tom Wishon Golf Technology 959OL driver. I had the clubhead hand-picked for 10.5° loft with a square clubface. I used the S2S Swing to Shaft fitting system to select the shaft; for me, that turned out to be the S2S Black 65 shaft in S-flex. I used a V Series Oversize grip with 3 wraps of tape, and swingweighted the club to D-1 to match my fairway woods.

This club has a 0.90 coefficient of restitution, thus does not meet USGA regulations. I’ll only use this club for recreational rounds; it won’t be in my bag for tournaments. As you can see in the photo below, this clubhead is designed for swing speeds that don’t exceed 100 mph.

I’m playing Cowboys Golf Club tomorrow with my usual golf buddies. A full report to follow. I’ve not yet stuck golf balls with the club.

Over the last few days, I rebuilt my wedges (replaced the TWGT PCF Micro Tour wedge clubheads with Micro CX clubheads) and built two new Tom Wishon Golf Technology 331H hybrids. The Micro CX wedges are unfortunately discontinued, but I bought 3 each of the 56° and 60° clubheads before they went out of stock. For me, these are the perfect wedges, so I still have a two year supply before I’ll need to find a new wedge.

The 331H hybrids, a 5-hybrid and a 6-hybrid, were hand-selected for stock lofts, and I shafted them with TWGT S2S Gold Tour Hybrid shafts, S-flex. I used TWGT V-series oversize grips and swingweighted the clubs to D-1. The club lengths were 38.75″ for the 5-hybrid and 38.25″ for the 6-hybrid. I don’t really expect to put the 6-hybrid in my bag, as I hit the 6-iron pretty well. The 5-iron is probably going to be replaced; I’m pretty inconsistent with the 5-iron, though with my improved swing, I’m going a lot better.

The wedges were rebuilt on True Temper Black Gold shafts, s-flex. Both wedges were made to be 36″ in length, with TWGT V-series oversized grips and swingweighted to D-8. The Black Gold shafts have been discontinued by True Temper, so no link available, though the shafts still seem to be available from a variety of sources.

… but not getting the results I want.

Last Saturday, I played a two-man best ball tournament at Grapevine Golf Club. I’d been working hard on my swing, but still had problems keeping the ball on the fairway off the tee. My irons have improved, but my driving, previously the best part of my game, was now pretty poor. I’ve been hitting a mix of pushes and hooks, and in general, not having a clue about where the ball was going to go off the tee. The howling wind didn’t help either. When I hit the shot solidly, I didn’t have any issue with the wind, but most of the day my shots were anything but. I really only had two well-played holes: #2 on Mockingbird (hit my hybrid just over the green and got up-and-down for par), #3 on Mockingbird (hit a very long drive with the wind, leaving me a pitching wedge to the green, which I hit pin-high into the center of the green and two-putt for par). I did manage another par on #6 on Bluebonnet, but that was after a huge push with the driver, a mediocre iron shot short of the green, a pitch hit thin well past the hole and bombing a 35 ft putt into the cup. The one hole that really describes how my day went is #1 on Bluebonnet. I hit a good drive just short of the fairway bunker, a low 4-wood to about 10 yds short of the green, a pitch hit thin over the green, a putt from off the green no-where close to the hole and 2 putts for bogey. And my putting was just terrible all day, which didn’t help.

Yesterday, I had a lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. I told him about my struggles with the driver and the longer clubs. He put me on the video, and again, I’d reverted back to not having enough hip turn at impact, with a bit of a lunge toward the target. He changed my setup slightly so that my knees were more over my ankles (feeling a little like riding a horse). He had me hit shots over and over with my 4-wood, making sure to feel like my left butt-cheek was moving straight back on the downswing. Viola! Instant improvement in ball contact. He told me to expect to have to hit 1000’s of balls before fully incorporating that movement into my swing.

After my lesson, I went over to the simulator and hit some drives. My driving improved dramatically, and I hit some of the longest drives I’ve hit yet on that simulator. My swingspeed is slowly improving. I’ve not gotten it to 100 mph clubhead speed yet, but I’m averaging about 92 mph now. My goal is a consistent 100 mph clubhead speed.

As it turns out, Bridgestone was in Golf Galaxy doing ball fitting. We started with my usual ProV1 ball, then tried the Bridgestone Tour B330-RXS ball and the e5 ball. I had the best distance with the Tour B330-RXS ball, and he gave me two sleeves of balls to try out on the course. I’ll play them on my next round and see if I can tell a difference.

When I was updating my equipment list, I realized that I had not added two putter that I acquired in the last few months. The first, an Odyssey White Steel Tri-Ball SRT putter, I bought on clearance. I’ve been using it for the last few months, but I can’t say my putting has improved any since I’ve been using it.

The second putter was given as an inducement to play the Cowboys Golf Club. I play at this fine (but overpriced) golf course two or three times a year when they send me a coupon that makes the course affordable. The last time I played, I picked up an Odyssey White Steel #1 putter. I’ve not played it on the course, but I’ve been putting with it in my bedroom on an Izzo Kickback Putting Mat. I seem to do very well with this putter, so I may put it into play, as soon as the weather improves.

Usually, I’d provide a link to the products on the manufacturer’s website, but I couldn’t find them on Odyssey’s website, as both have been discontinued (though still available on various golf equipment websites).

This afternoon, I picked up my Tom Wishon 919THI driver from Golf Galaxy, where I had it reshafted with a UST Proforce V2 MOI shaft (73g, 3.3° torque) in stiff flex. I also had the club lengthened to 45″, as I’m hitting the driver much better and thus can justify the longer shaft. This shaft doesn’t show up on UST’s website, so I guess it has been discontinued.

I hit a couple of balls on the launch monitor with it and had very good distance (one with a nice draw). None of the balls went right, as I had been doing with the TWGT 7-B2P driver shaft in regular flex. Proof will come on the golf course, but I’m very pleased so far.

Last week, I built three new Tom Wishon Golf Technology fairway woods. Two were 919THI fairway woods (4- and 7-woods) and a 525GRT 5-wood. All three were built using TWGT 7B2P fairway shafts, stiff flex (now discontinued), and TWGT V-series oversize grips. The 4-wood was built to an overall length of 42 inches, the 5-wood to 41.5 inches, and the 7-wood to 41 inches. All three clubs were swingweighted to D-1. Additionally, all three clubs were hand selected with square clubfaces and to spec loft. The 7B2P fairway shaft is the best I’ve ever used, and unfortunately, has been discontinued. I was lucky to buy a couple of extras for a very good price. I’ve only one left.

I played one round with the 919THI 4- and 7-woods, and they performed as expected (I already have a 919THI 5-wood that I love). The 525GRT 5-wood was built for my practice bag. It is not as forgiving as the 919THI fairway woods, and thus is a good candidate for my practice bag. I’ve practiced with the 525GRT 5-wood, and it performs very well when I put a good swing on the ball, but definitely is a club for the better player.

Some images:

Tom Wishon 919THI 7-wood, 525GRT 5-wood, 919THI 4-wood

Tom Wishon 919THI 7-wood, 525GRT 5-wood, 919THI 4-wood

Tom Wishon 919THI 4-wood, bottom

Tom Wishon 919THI 4-wood, side

Tom Wishon 525GRT 5-wood, bottom

After a nice vacation, I’ve finally achieved a state where nothing in my body hurts when I swing a golf club. No muscle spasms in my back, no sore shoulder, no tendonitis in my right elbow. Life is good!

Of course, after my long layoff of not playing or practicing, my golf game has gone south. I played last Thursday at Trails of Frisco and the only thing I can say positive about that day was I didn’t die of heat stroke. And should you need a ProV1, be sure to search carefully in the woods and long grass, as I left a bunch there. You’ll know they’re mine by the blue arrow on them.

In the meantime, I’ve created a practice bag and a playing bag. The idea here is that my playing bag uses clubs that are more forgiving than the clubs in my practice bag. My playing bag you can find on the In the Bag page. My practice bag consists of:

• TWGT 525GRT driver
• TWGT 949MC 4-wood and 7-wood
• TWGT 550C irons, 4-AW
• TWGT PCF Micro SW and LW
• Adams Golf Dixx Putter

I also have a new TWGT stand bag for my playing bag, which is about a pound or two lighter than the Great Divider stand bag I’ve been using for the past couple of years. That bag served me well, but is showing signs of wear and I had to repair the stand with some cable ties.

I also picked up a discontinued Adams Dixx putter just before my vacation. This putter has a little computer on it that determines path, clubface position, speed and tempo of the putt so I can work on fixing my putting. I’ll post a review in a couple of weeks after I’ve used it for a few weeks. I’d planned to use it when I played on Thursday, but forgot to put it in my bag. It is very promising so far, but a little quirky in the way it works.

I’m also getting ready to build a few new clubs. I’ve new 4-, 5- and 7-wood clubheads from TWGT and also new CX Micro wedges to replace the PCF Micro wedges I’ve worn out. I’ll get those done this week if all goes to plan.

Finally, I did manage to hit a few balls at Hank Haney Golf Ranch after lunch. There was intermittent rain and a light breeze from the east. I managed to run through two tokens before the rain started coming down a bit harder and I started to get soaked. I spent most of the session getting the driver to go straight, and also spent some time with tour tempo and short irons. I’ve got a long path ahead of me to get my game back in order, but at least nothing hurts and I can practice without pain.

I’ve been limited in my practices to short pitches, chips and putting for the last couple of weeks due to muscle spasms in the muscle just below my left shoulder blade. I’ve hit very few full shots since I last played in the April tournament. My short game and putting are improving, though, so I’m pretty happy otherwise.

I’ve made a few changes to the equipment in my bag. My two PCF Micro wedges are worn out, so I’ve put back into the bag my CX Micro SW and LW I built a while back. These have hardly been used.

I’m also going back to using my 949MC 4-wood and 7-wood, not because I’m unhappy with my 525FD 3-wood or 919THI 5-wood (after all, these clubs produced my first tournament birdie). I just thought I’d like to try a different arrangement in my bag. I also put my 525GRT driver back in the bag, just for fun.

Though my back still isn’t 100%, I plan to play tomorrow. I’ve found that if I limit my follow-through, it puts less stress on my back.

That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

Over the last couple of days, I built a Tom Wishon Golf Technology 870Ti 6-iron for use in fitting me for a graphite shaft. I’ve been plagued by a shoulder injury for the last few months and also suffer from tendonitis in my right elbow. I decided for my next set of irons will use graphite shafts, but as I’m not clear on which shaft is right for me, I made the demo iron with a Club Conex Faz-Fit shaft adapter installed. This will allow me to try several different graphite shafts with the 870Ti clubhead. The Faz-Fit adapter allows changing shafts in just a few seconds.

I selected seven different shafts from Tom Wishon and UST. These are:

• TW ZT Series Iron Shaft, stiff flex.
• TW InterFlexx High Launch and Mid Launch Iron Shafts, stiff flex
• TW TourFlight-EXP 85 Iron Shafts, both regular and stiff flex
• UST Proforce V2 Iron Shaft, stiff flex
• UST Proforce Rv2 Golf 75 Iron Shaft, stiff flex

I installed the Faz-Fit adapter into the 870Ti 6-iron and allowed it to cure overnight. I’d ordered the clubhead bent to 30° loft and 63.5° lie.

I tipped each shaft per manufacturer’s recommendation with an extra 1.25″ to accommodate the Faz-Fit shaft adapter. I then installed the Faz-Fit shaft adapter on each shaft and cut the shaft to length to give a finished club length of 38.25″. I swingweighted each shaft so that each shaft would provide a swingweight of D-5. Next, I installed a TWGT V-Series oversize grip on each club with my customary 3-wrap to make the grip just a bit more oversize.

I plan to start my shaft evaluation tomorrow, weather permitting. Dallas has had a series of violent thunderstorms pass through the last few days.

Photos: