My golf game

[Richie Allen]

I've re-gripped all of my clubs for the past 25 years. It's easy but there are a couple things to be aware of. If you're cutting your old grips off with a blade knife, you'll want to be careful if you've got any graphite shafts. Don't scrape them. Put your double-stick tape on and then fill the new grip with either lighter fluid, naptha, gasoline (there may be others) and make sure the entire inside of the grip gets wet. Then pour the fluid onto the butt of the shaft, getting as much of the tape wet as possible. At this point, don't dick around. Get the grip onto the shaft as quickly as possible. It's nice to get it on straight first but it's more important to get the grip all the way down, as you can always turn the grip a bit later but you often can't slide it down any more as the fluid tends to evaporate quickly. If the grip gets stuck halfway on, you either cut it off and throw it away or, if you want, you can use a hypodermic needle to inject some more fluid under the grip and try to position it further. It's best to re-grip using a vice and a padded club holder (not sure what they're called) but I've often done them without. Just makes it a bit more difficult to get leverage when slipping the grip on. I was told to pound the butt end of the club a time or two onto the ground and I always made a practice of doing this, although I've always questioned whether this accomplishes anything other than possibly jeopardizing the bottom of your brand new grip. Remember too, when picking out grips, to get the ones that feel best for you. There are the perfectly round grips and then there are somewhat oval grips that have a rib on the underside. These grips need to be put on consistently from club to club, whereas round grips it's not as important. Also, if you want to experiment with different thicknesses of grips, you can build up under each grip by adding layers of tape. Beware, however, that this can eventually drive you insane. I did this for years and years with 2 wraps, 4 wraps, 10 wraps, thinking I was going to find a perfect size, before eventually abandoning it and going back to standard size grips on all clubs.

I've never re-shafted clubs although I've sometimes extended the shafts of a few drivers (back when 43" was standard). I'm not sure I'd trust myself with that, without proper training.

[clevername]

Golfsmith has some handy how to videos that make me feel a bit more comfortable about trying out re-shafting.

http://www.golfsmith.com/cm/display_pag ... clubmaking

Things are always more difficult than they look, of course. I figured I'd experiment on an old worn out wedge or two first.

[stlouie_lipp]

The only thing that kept me from the 70s today was a "whif" on eighteen. A whif while being F'd by a tree...but a whif none the less.

Not to mention the 3 chili-dips. Oh, well...another 80.

[phins]

I've decided I love golf, and I suck at it horribly. Nothing is ever going to change that I presume.

I play a lot, and I still never get better. I hit some decent shots, some terrible ones, and always sit in 90's on an easy course. If I make it on the green in 4 on a par 4 I'm happy. I suck so bad at golf...good thing for me is my friend who used to beat me like a drum has gotten worse for some reason, and I crush him every time out nowadays.

[Fat Strat]

I tried to regrip my 3w last winter and failed miserably. MISERABLY! Just a warning... give it a shot, though. Lots of guys do it.

I remain on the edge of turning the corner. Last week I was going along great, but started flubbing chips. I mean really flubbing them. That's normally a strong part of my game. Anyway, it's always something different. I'm hoping that tonight I really get it together. Goal for the night is a 42 (9 holes). Just have to play smart, keep focused, and take my time. No reason why I can't shoot that score consistently.

[Popeye_Card]

I've decided I love golf, and I suck at it horribly. Nothing is ever going to change that I presume.

I play a lot, and I still never get better. I hit some decent shots, some terrible ones, and always sit in 90's on an easy course. If I make it on the green in 4 on a par 4 I'm happy. I suck so bad at golf...good thing for me is my friend who used to beat me like a drum has gotten worse for some reason, and I crush him every time out nowadays.

This is pretty much where I'm at. On a good day, I'm a bogey golfer. I'm OK with that. The bad shots will always frustrate me, and the good shots will bring me back. As long as I can drink some beers and spend 4 hours outside without embarrasing myself, I'm good enough in my mind.

I've been good off the tee this year, terrible with my irons, and putting fairly well. I'm satisfied enough with that, but I guess it would be nice to get my irons straightened out.

[stlouie_lipp]

If I was ever going to shoot under par, today was the day.

I was +1 with a triple and 2 three puts.

[cards2468]

I used to love playing golf... then somebody broke into my locked truck and stole my tool set and my set of TaylorMade's, both which I hid well. I'm never buying anything nice again until I'm out of St. Louis.

[clevername]

I've regripped several clubs now and feel pretty confident about it. It's easy once you know what you're doing and have done it a few times. I ended up only wasting one grip and that was the first one I tried (wasn't quick enough when pushing it on). I'm going to wait and regrip everything this winter.

I haven't played in 4 weeks due to a shoulder injury...but tomorrow I'm heading back out. Hopefully all goes well. I've had serious withdrawals and spent entirely too much money on golf stuff to try to placate the golf hunger.

[clevername]

my shoulder is better and I've been playing again the last two weeks, catching back up to where I was before the injury.

Well, after today I guess I'm caught up and then some. Shot a 75, first time I've ever even broken 80. 39 on the front and 36 on the back. I didn't even realize it until I added everything up at the end of the round, which probably helped keep that back 9 score good. I knew I was playing well and had a couple of birdies, thought I might be around 80 but the 75 kinda shocked me.

Last week I cut down my driver shaft from the standard 45" to 44" after doing some experimenting with choking up on my tee shots. Since then I've been hitting tons of fairways and have actually seen a big increase in my driving distance, probably from hitting the sweet spot much more consistently. I was never very long to begin with, usually in the 230-240 range even when hitting the fairway, but now I'm hitting consistently in the 250-260 range and occasionally getting up in the 290-300 area. Letting go of the ego actually ended up boosting it.

I play again Friday afternoon. I expect to shoot 90+ and miss every fairway.