Which Driver? And Fairway Woods?

As I am looking for a NEW golf set
i am also looking for a new set of woods!

After taking a trip down to American Golf
i looked at the

Taylormade R9 - Matching fairway wood
Nike SQ Dymo - Matching fairway wood
Callaway FT-IQ - Callaway Diablo Fairway Wood
Titleist 909 D2 - Matching fairway wood

any replys are welcome?

I have been in the golf business for 20 years, club fitter using the very latest technology,teacher of golf and up to date on all the latest equipment and i totally disagree with Paul.

He said take David Ley's advice but why would a so called expert convice a 20 handicap golfer to play with blades,total nonsense to me. Obvously David Ley thinks I'm speaking out of turn,but after speaking to lot of teaching pros I can assure you that using blades is not advisable for a high handicap golfer, as these kind of clubs are so much harder to hit than the modern day cavity backs.  You will get more feel from a forged blade, but the forgiveness in a cavity back is undeniable.

Forged blades, in my opinion, will not improve your golf only hinder those of a higher handicap. So why try them?

I think you're on the right track with taylor made drive and fairway woods. The R9 is a superb driver and the fairway woods to match are in a league of their own. They sit flat on the ground when most other manufacturers are concave.

When you try them you will see where I'm coming from.

Regards martin

Objective arument dont make me laugh Paul 20 handicaper using blades.

Give me a break.sorry still laughing

I have noT GOT A HANDICAP  as you well know so dont play that card with me. using blade clubs is nothing short of disgraceful but you can please yourself and believe what ever you want i was only giving advice

To put this argument to bed, when I started serious golf in 1959, cavity backed clubs were still in the womb, so to speak, only bladed clubs were manufactured and every player in that era had to learn to strike them.

It is is pity that we are unable to benefit from the quality clubs that were made during this period. If you seriously think that the modern irons are better, then I am afraid you are being conned.

I would love to play with some of the sets that I owned years ago, they had everything I needed in a club and strange as it may sound, even the pros were still shooting low numbers with this equipment. The standards of golf have not improved with all this so called technology and marketing hype we are constantly being bombarded with.

I do believe that the lofts have been strengthened over the years if only to back up the claims of the manufacturer that their clubs go further than someone elses. When will people realise that it is not the distance that is important, as each club can be made to hit varying distances.

Nothing on the market at the present time is turning me on, just mass produced overpriced crap.

I watched a young man at Staverton yesterday power a ball off the first tee like you cannot imagine, thinking to myself how nice i would be to be able to play off drives of that length. I was surprised to find out after speaking to him later on that he had scored far less points than me and Iam the worst driver of a golf ball in the world.

He hit the ball so high that it is impossible to be able to control the forward distance, so everything is hit and hope. All these new game improvement clubs follow this line, getting the ball in the air, but that in itself brings its own problems, which I have already stated.

With regards to advice on this wonderful game, we all have our own ideas as to what the swing should look like, what the ball flight should be and how to achieve these things. The Pros, because of their natural abilities have cornered this market because it was the only outlet for their inabilities to be able to make it as a touring professional.

Passing on any form of coaching is a gift and cannot be learned, that is why I do not hold much stock in the present PGA system of allowing young players of limited ability to be able to pass a coaching course and then qualify to teach others.

Pros say they are scratch but quite honestly how many of them really are. When I could play a bit there was not one club pro in my region that would have been able to live with me, and the reason for this is that they did not play as often as I did and certainly never under competition siutations. For reasons known only to them they did not make the grade and wished to stay in the game as a club pro earning a living by teaching and selling golf equipment.

Now of course that is a hard business, as they have all this competition from hard nosed salesmen in shops.

David, you are a gifted young man who has not realised that golf has been played for a long while before you were born, and because of that you have no knowledge of what the equipment was like or available to the normal player.

Everyone had to play blades and it is worth noting that the highest handicap ever allowed was 24.

The scoring has not improved with all these latest gimmicks, and that is all they are.

David, it is your insistence that everything must be better because of technology which is grating with me and as I do have personal experiences of playing this game with equipment that you think is inferior, and I can only assume that you think this because even you find it difficult, with your skills, to be able to use them, much preferring the easy way out with the modern cavities.

I took my old persimmon driver down to my local range a couple of weeks ago and jokingly said to one of the teaching pros, "have a go with a real golf club".

He knocked it to the back of the range with a beautiful trajectory and was gobsmacked, as that was the first time he had ever hit a ball with one. My persimmon driver I have owned for 45 years and a real player would still be able to use it.

You will never convince me that spending £300 on a driver is the answer to my inability to drive. I know what my problem is, but unfortunately the doctors have not been able to cure the problem, so I am stuck with it.

Paul, don't listen to people who attempt to ridicule your abilities without ever having seen you strike a ball.

I knew the blades would suit you, as you are a pure striker and once you learn how to keep the basics simple, when caution should be the watchword and fully understand that trajectory is a very important aspect of this game you will become the player I know you wish to become.

Well done today, I know how frustrating it can be when your rhythm is interrupted by a slower match in front causing you to wait, with muscles stiffening up and concentration becomes interrupted.

Thank you Nick, for a nice reasoned response. I play with players of all scoring abilities but I tend to think that even some of our higher handicappers always strike the ball nice and crisply, they fail to score well for the  many other reasons that make this game difficult.

I do't feel that playing with anything that is meant to cover up a poor action is the way to go. These game improvement clubs and I use a set myself X14 steelheads have limitations in what one can achieve with them, so this stunts the growth of the player wishing to improve.

No one would be happier than me if there was such a thing as a driver that I could send down the fairway 200 yards every time. The problem is between my ears, as I have a brain that is trying to tell my body to do something which it is now incapable of doing. I probably need to see a shrink.

"I probably need to see a shrink."  

I would get an estimate first John probably run into thousands!!!!!

I know no golf for me, wasn't really a problem  Paul spent some Qt with my little girls. I took them out to the forestry for a couple of hours, couldn't believe they found their way home! Got my seven year old swinging her clubs today she's really coming along.She's hitting her cut down 5 wood 250yrds which I thought wasn't bad, anyways I promised her a new set for her birthday in May.I'm going to build her a set of Wishon Blades 2-PW with X100's using the latest technology and as a so called expert I should have her on the LPGA Tour by the Time she's 12, a long side my other student.

I can confirm that not only did Williams take an eagle on the second with a 100 yard wedge (and he ran to the green to confirm it went in, not walked!) but he is striking the Maruman blades very well.  I can also confirm that his problems are between the ears and not in his swing. 

We were both playing well today (I was 9 over after 12) until we got stuck behind an inconsiderate 4 ball who were a hole down but would not play us through; it comes to something when a 2 ball has a queue of 4 balls behind them.  My concentration and focus went and I ended up carding a 94 instead of the mid-80 I genuinely felt I was on target for; lost control of my draw and started hooking the irons.  I hate waiting five minutes to take every single shot. 

With my moderating hat on now.  Martin Devlin, if you continue with personal attacks on the forums you'll find yourself unable to post.  You are entitled to your opinion and entitled to post it, but if it continues in the form of the current personal abuse as opposed to reasoned debate (a la John Pettit and Nick Thompson discussing their opposing views on technology on this thread) action will be taken. 

Chris - you're just being silly now.  Williams couldn't possibly run 100 yards/

Paul,

Well done, I've never had an eagle although I was just short of the green in 2 on the par5 18th Saturday.

Stick with the new clubs, I've played 2 rounds with my new ones & have never felt so confident.

Is this the demise of the invincible Mr Perry??

Paul

I stand corrected, if you are lowering your score and playing better golf who am i to argue.

Nice one, Martin, Paul is one of these new breed of very strong young men that seem to be invading the game with their awesome power..

As you know yourself, striking the ball well is only  a part of this game and it is the many other factors required to shoot low numbers that seem to elude most of the golfing population.

I am glad you have lightened up at last, David. If you have something to say, then say it, don't be shy.

Make sure you are very careful, though or you might get picked to pieces.

Messers Brown, Flood, Pettitt.  Quit it now.  You're all spoiling for a fight and need to stop baiting each other into it.  You're ALL old enough to know better. 

This is an informal moderation warning before things get out of hand.  Stop before it escalates. 

Chris,

not looking for anything, just amusing the kids

Aw Chris! You just pulled my thread on shaft/head spin rate analysis!

Tim he's a spoil sport, it was much better when Darren was moderating.

Just nipping it in the bud gentleman.  Teacher has spoken, don't make me give out lines......

Shouldn't drink and use forums at the same time.  Apologies to all

Same, HIC, here, HIC

Da  didy da its PERRYRANGER!!