When I started playing golf seriously three years ago, I didn’t have much idea about what I was doing. I bought a set of average clubs from Drummond Golf and joined the local golf club. I used to play hockey until my mid -30’s, so I can hit a ball O.K. The problem was I didn’t know what i didn’t know. How hard can it be ? No-one is tackling you and the ball is stationary!

My goals were to become a competent golfer, so I wasn’t an embarrassment to play with ( losing > 3 balls per round). I had plenty of time to practice since retirement, but lack of skill and post- accident fractures made swinging like a Pro difficult. 30 years of enduro motorcycle racing has taken its toll on my body. I was wondering if there was an easier way to improve. I found You Tube videos useful, but sometimes contradictory. We don’t have a local Pro in our town to get lessons. I kept slicing away!

It had to be my equipment I decided. So after a year I swapped the Power Bilt clubs for some second hand Cobra F7 clubs. I bought a 10.5 Driver, a 3-4 wood, a 4-5 Hybrid and some single length irons 5-GW and a 56 sand wedge. I hit the irons pretty well, though the stiff shaft flex was maybe too stiff for my swing speed (they were cheap) . The Hybrid was way better than the Power Bilt long irons. The F7 Driver was not great for me, but I could hit the 3-4 wood when I cranked up the loft setting to 16 degrees. I started playing in social games to learn how to do competition golf. I started to lose less than 3 balls per game.
I still struggled with the Driver off the tee. It had to be the Driver , so I swapped to a F8 stiff flex shaft Driver. I could fade that one onto the fairway most times.

I started to play in club competitions, hitting around 100 strokes per game. I wanted to improve and maybe break 90 ( see iseekgolf thread) so I went to a club fitter and bought the Cobra F9 range of clubs with regular flex steel shafts . Driver 10.5, 3-4 wood, 19 SL hybrid, 5-GW SL irons, 54 58 wedges. I picked up a second hand Rife mallet putter. I realize now that the club fitting process I experience was less than ideal, but I started to improve. My scores were in the low 90’s on occasions.

After trying various swing methods (single plane, stack and tilt, conventional) I settled on using the Jim Venetos method. My iron play improved in accuracy, but the Driver still eluded me when trying to draw shots on command. Eventually did break 90. I started following Golf Sidekick videos to learn course management methods. That certainly helped my scoring rather than just bombing every shot as far as I could.

My latest golf equipment changes seem to be working. I sold off the F9 Driver and bought a Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo 12 degree head ( better), then the 3-4 W F9 was retired for a Fly- Z 17 degree 4W ( seniors flex/ cheap on Ebay) which is better off the deck. I added a F9 5 wood ( set at 20 degrees) and use it for fairway shots in reasonable lies. I have retained the SL F9 Hybrid because it is so versatile. The F7 4-5 hybrid at 25 degrees is now in place instead of a 5 iron. The irons I use now are Milford Golf SL-7 6 iron to GW. These irons have graphite shafts and I seem to be hitting them well. They have conventional lofts, unlike the very strong Cobra F9 irons. Increased loft seems to be my friend as I age.

In the past 20 games I have scored an 89, 87 , 85 twice an 84 and 82. I can still score in the mid 90’s in some games though. Hence the thread title; two steps forward! I have to keep to the shots I know I can hit reliably ( mainly fade shots off the tee to stay in play), avoid hero shots, etc. Can I break 80?, Well at least my shots on the practice range are less likely to end up in the right side now.

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