Joey's Golf Bag

I have two Cleveland hybrids, a 2i HALO with a stock stiff shaft, and a 3i HALO with a regular shaft. When I’m swinging well, I can hit these clubs pretty well, but I’m still looking for just the right club to replace my 3-iron, which I can rarely hit well. I also have a bunch of other hybrids that I built that never found a permanent place in my bag. (Those clubs were never swingweighted, so I need to go back and fix them and see how they swing).

Today, I build a new hybrid club using a Tom Wishon 321Li Hybrid 3-iron, bent to 61° (2° upright). I used the Tom Wishon Gi-335 Graphite High Launch shaft, R flex, tipped 1″, and trimmed to a final playing length of 39.5". I also used an oversize Tom Wishon V-Series Composition Rubber Grip with 3 wraps of tape so the final diameter is oversize by 1/16". I swingweighted the club to D-2, same as my irons.

I’ll give this club a workout this afternoon.

Yesterday, I decided to cut 1/2" off the length of my SasQuatch Lucky 13 driver, re-do the swingweight to D-0 and see how well I can swing it. This afternoon, after work, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch to practice and give the driver a try. The weather was unseasonably warm, with little breeze. The only downside is the day is shorter and the sun was setting as I practiced.

First, I warmed up by hitting a variety of sand wedge shots, from 1/4 swing to full swing. I struck the sand wedge pretty well, though hit a fat shot or two, which for me, means I’m rushing the downswing. Next, I did the same set of shots with the lob wedge, still having pretty good ball-striking, and then followed that up with full pitching wedge shots. I then moved on to hitting the irons in succession, hitting them pretty well until I got to the 6-iron. By now, I’d hit half the balls, so I got out the driver. After a poor shot off the heel to start, I worked on my alignment and started hitting shots, most of which had no side spin at all, maybe a bit pushed or pulled. I then got out the other long clubs, the 7-wood, the hybrid and the 4-iron. The 4-iron I never hit well tonight. I made good contact with the other clubs, but the shots were high and short.

I then ran the pin-hunting drill, and had a pretty good day, hitting 10 of 20 shots with a score of 4 or 5. My main faults today were hitting the long irons fat or hooking them badly. I also had one fat wedge shot, but I was otherwise pleased with my ball-striking.

My swing is still a work in progress, but having cut both my irons and driver 1/2" shorter than I was playing before has seemed to help my ball-striking and has not had any particular effect on distance. Time will tell, but I’m optimistic that my game is improving again.

This morning at the crack of dawn, I went to The Practice Tee in Plano to hit a few balls before work. The weather was cloudy and the wind was howling in from the south at about 30 mph, but the temperature was in the mid-70s. As I had limited time, I got only a small bucket of balls and started out hitting full swings with the 7-iron. I started out striking the ball pretty well — good, straight path down the target line — slight fades that the wind kindly brought back to target.

I then got out the 5-iron and hit a few pretty well, though low, and then my swing went south and I got a little frustrated. I finally figured out the problem: too much lateral movement on the backswing (an old familiar fault). I worked that out and even hit a very nice, penetrating drive that was unaffected by the strong wind. Still couldn’t hit that damn 3-wood or hybrid, though. For some reason, when I get the 3-wood or hybrid in my hands, my tempo gets too fast and I hit the ball thin or worse, top it. Maybe I need a sports pshrink.

Since I’ve put the Wishon Golf 770CFE irons in my bag, my shot dispersion has improved dramatically with the irons. I can’t credit the irons alone, as I’ve been using Tour Tempo on my iPod throughout my last few practices (and most of that practice was with the graphite-shafted practice 6-iron that is set up like my new iron set). Still… I’m very happy with these irons.

This morning, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center in cloudy, cool weather. There was a breeze in my face that averaged about 1 club.

Today, I brought out the new Wishon Golf 770CFE irons I built this week. In general, I was quite pleased with their performance, although I wasn’t swinging particularly well today. When I did produce a good swing, the irons produced a high ball-flight that landed softly on the target greens. I was especially pleased with a 4-iron shot into the blue target green; the ball came in high and rolled no more than 10 ft after landing. The clubs are a 1/2″ shorter than my previous set and weigh about 28 grams less. It appears my clubhead speed has not suffered from the shorter length, and may even improve slightly once I get used to the lighter swingweight (D-2 vs. D-7). Before I hit the clubs, I was concerned that the sound of impact might be different due to the thin clubface, but I really like how the ball sounds at impact. The sound is more like a forged club than an investment cast club, due, I guess, to the variable thickness forged clubface. The clubheads are certainly more forgiving than my previous set as well. So far, so good…

I felt pretty sluggish today during practice and always felt like I was a little behind in my tempo. I warmed up with the 6-iron and hit several fat shots before I got going. I got out the pitching wedge and 8-iron and alternated shots with those clubs. At first, I got very high ball flight and not much distance, but I soon got the ball flying well. My swing path was good today, mostly straight. My release was not well-timed, so I had a mix of fades and draws, more of the former.

Next up, I got out the hybrid and 3-wood (back in my bag for practice purposes). I never got the tempo right with these clubs, always late and usually topping the ball, so I went back to hitting the wedges, which I did well today, despite a fat shot or two. By now, my back was aching, so I finished out the balls by hitting mid-irons off tees, with mixed results. I had one high, monster hook with the 5-iron, but the hook monster was otherwise absent today. My back didn’t feel up to any additional practice, so my plan to have a full practice with short game and putting was not to be.

Not a very good practice today, but it is pretty clear I will benefit from my new irons. Additional reports to follow.

This afternoon, I completed the construction on my new Tom Wishon 770CFE irons by bending them to my specifications. The lofts of the clubs were very accurate, so I didn’t need to adjust the loft of the irons at all. I did bend the irons upright, in general, needing about 1° to 1.5° bend upright to achieve my desired specs.

My specs:

Tomorrow, I will take them to the range for the first time to hit balls and get an initial impression.

In my never-ending quest to use the best possible equipment for golf, I’ve built a new set of irons around the Tom Wishon Golf Technology 770CFE iron heads. These are not only the best looking cavity back iron heads I’ve ever seen, but they are designed for high handicap golfers like me.

For the shafts, I selected the new True Temper GS75 ultra-lightweight steel shafts, R300 flex and used Golf Pride Dual Duometer midsize grips. I built the clubs per Tom Wishon’s guidelines in The Search for the Perfect Golf Club, which, for me, are +0.5" longer than standard (I’d been using +1" longer) and will bend them 2° upright. I adjusted the swingweight of all the clubs to D-2.

On Friday, it’s test time!

This morning, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville on a cloudy, dreary day, threatening rain. My plan for today was to test the irons and woods I’ve built over the past few months and see if any of them can pull existing clubs out of my bag. In short, no.

I warmed up with the Toski Target T-58 6-iron that’s been in my bag most of the year. After that warm-up, I lined up my test 6-irons:

• Snake Eyes Viper Ti-4 with Grafalloy Prolite graphite shaft;
• Toski Target T-56 with UST PRoforce Rv2 75 graphite shaft;
• Toski Target T-56 with Dynalite Gold SL steel shaft;
• Toski Target T-58 with Custom Lite steel shaft;
• Snake Eyes 600B forged heads with Dynamic Gold steel shaft.

Basically, with the irons, the test was completely inconclusive, none stood out from the rest, although my best shot of all was with the Snake Eyes forged head (and there’s no way those unforgiving clubheads are going in my bag until I’m a much better golfer).

Next up, I got out the Toski T-6 driver, 3-wood and 5-wood and tested them. With the sole exception of one shot with the driver, and one with the 5-wood, I was completely unable to load the stiff shafts in these clubs, which makes me conclude that my swing is not suited to stiff shafts. The shaft never seemed to load properly and I never really felt like I could hit any of the clubs well. So, stiff shafts are definitely out, for now.

In my neverending quest to make and use the best possible clubs, I created two new iron prototypes for testing against my current Toski T58 irons. I built two new 6-irons, using the Toski Target T56 iron head, and two different shafts, the True Temper Dynalite Gold SL steel shaft and the UST PRoforce Rv2 75 graphite shaft. I also made each club 1/2" longer than standard and bent them upright 2°. I used Golf Pride Midsize Dual Duometer grips.

I tried out both clubs this morning, along with the Snake Eyes Viper Ti-4 6-iron (Grafalloy Prolite shaft, +1″, 2° upright) that I built a while ago, but my testing was inconclusive. I didn’t see a marked difference in any of the clubs, though I’m leaning toward removing the Viper from the mix, as I don’t like how it sounds when I hit the ball.

I’ll need to do a much more extensive evaluation at a later time. I thought that the lighter shafts and lower swingweights (D-1) would allow a bit more distance, but that’s yet to be proven. I’m also trying out shorter clubs in an effort to make striking the sweet spot a bit easier.

Tonight, after dinner, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to practice. The weather was cool and calm.

I started off hitting the sand wedge, starting out with half swings. I had difficulty getting my touch back with the wedges, but managed to get the ball going straight, if not the usual distance. I then got out the pitching wedge, 9-iron, 7-iron and 5-iron and alternated hitting those clubs. It took a lot of balls, but I did finally get the ball going straight again, after enduring innumerable hooks. I even overdid getting the club path back inside-to-square and hit some ugly shanks. 😯

I also got out the new Toski driver, 3- and 5-woods that I built; however, I hit the clubs so poorly that it wasn’t possible to evaluate them at all, so I gave that up.

The only drill that went well tonight was my putting speed drill, which I have been concentrating on the last few weeks. My feel wasn’t as good as it has been the last few practices, but even so, the distances that I miss putts has gotten smaller, so I’m making progress.

Not one of my better practices, though at least my putting continues to improve.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve built a new driver and fairway metals to match my improved swing speed.

For the driver, I used a 10.5° Toski Target T6 Titanium/Composite Forged Driver Head with a Grafalloy Prolaunch 65 stiff graphite shaft, and a Golf Pride New Decade Multicompound midsize grip. The fairway metals are 15° and 18° Toski Target T6 Fairway Wood Heads, UST Proforce V2 stiff graphite shafts, and Golf Pride New Decade Multicompound midsize grips. To make hitting these clubs easier, I sized them 1″ shorter than standard, 44″ for the driver, 42.5″ for the 15°, and 41.5″ for the 18°. I swingweighted the clubs to D-0, D-1 and D-2, respectively.

Some photos:

In a few weeks, after I get my swing back in shape with the long clubs, I’ll take them out and hits some balls.