New BEST Friends

I just received two new clubs from TaylorMade that are updates of an older model....the Raylor. Being curious and searching for replacements for long irons which I haven't played in 12 years, I gave these a try. WOW!!! They work off the tee, shallow and deep rough, tight lies, and even good fairway lies. The clubs are green seekers. They have a very small head which might make you a little nervouse the first time you set up over this sweetheart. The shaft is a 65 gram REAX which I didn't think I would like. I thought it would be too light. I was wrong. It is perfect for me. It comes in 19° and 22° lofts. The distance they hit for me is GREAT. Your swing style and speed may dictate different results. It will hit the ball high and when it comes down it sits. These beauties found a permanent home in my bag. Being curious about why the club does what it does I did a little investigation and found the following accurate (I feel) article that announced the release of the Raylor. Here it is:

Golf News for Thursday, September 3, 2009 Equipment
TaylorMade announces introducing new Raylor Hybrid golf club CARLSBAD, Calif. --

Mention the name Raylor to golfers of a certain age and you'll receive a smile and a nod of the head in return. Introduced in 1988, the TaylorMade Raylor club was one of the most popular and useful utility woods of all time, and especially proficient at getting wayward tee shots out of rough and close to, if not onto, the green. The Raylor club boasted a small, rounded steel head with an extremely low center of gravity (far lower than any persimmon utility wood) and two distinct rails on its sole, which were designed to help the head glide smoothly through tall grass while resisting twisting or stalling. Twenty-one years after the original was introduced, TaylorMade has launched a hybrid called Raylor, and this one is far superior to the first.
"Twenty-one years of making metalwoods has allowed us to engineer the new Raylor to hit the ball higher, longer and straighter from tall grass," said Tom Olsavsky, TaylorMade senior director of metalwood creation. "It's the ultimate weapon for getting out of the rough."

The new Raylor comes in two lofts, 19° and 22°, and incorporates two key features that work in conjunction to make the new Raylor so effective from the rough. 1) A slightly sharp, slightly pointed leading edge that allows you to slide the face down through the grass and onto the back of the ball. 2) A "Raylor sole" shaped like ship's hull, sloping upward at the sides. The Raylor sole separates the blades of grass to allow the clubhead to glide cleanly through instead of slowing down or getting stuck. The Raylor sole and pointed leading edge together reduce by 23% the amount of area in the bottom part of the clubhead that would normally impede the head's progress as it moves through the rough. The Raylor sole also helps you hit the ball solidly from sidehill lies because of its sole radius. Whereas the sole radius of a Burner® Rescue® hybrid presents an angle of about 10 degrees up from horizontal, the Raylor's angle is 17 degrees. That means that the Raylor hybrid boasts 70% more sole relief on the heel and toe side compared to a typical Rescue club, which makes it dramatically easier to make solid contact with the ball when the ball is above or below your feet.

The Raylor is equipped with a RE*AX® 65-gram shaft that's one inch longer than typical for TaylorMade Rescue clubs of equal lofts, to promote the added clubhead speed and leverage to help get the ball out of thick lies. Combine the Raylor's pointed leading edge, Raylor sole, exceptionally low CG, compact size from heel to toe and longer shaft and you've got a hybrid born to get the ball out of the rough with extreme ease. Raylor also works nicely from good lies in the fairway as well, and is a great choice to play low, running chips from certain greenside lies, and is especially good for when the ball comes to rest awkwardly against the collar.

Tour-Tested and Tour-Proven

The new Raylor hybrid is tour-tested and tour-proven. Kenny Perry replaced his 3-iron with a 19-degree prototype Raylor to get out of the US Open rough this year at Bethpage Black. During one round, on the 10th hole, he put the ball on the green from deep rough, 220 yards out, and then ran in the birdie putt. It's usually hard for Kenny to hit longer clubs out of heavy rough because he brings the head in on a real shallow approach angle, making it hard to get the head through the thick grass. Most times he would have wedged out in that situation, he said. Thanks to the Raylor, instead of scrambling for par, he made birdie. A big difference made possible by the Raylor.

Who Needs a Raylor? Who needs a new Raylor hybrid?

Everybody from high handicappers to low handicappers to tour pros. "It's an essential part of every player's arsenal, even though you probably won't have it in your bag at all times," said Olsavsky. "It should be kept on hand to replace a long-iron, hybrid or fairway wood when you play a course with significant rough, or maybe an exceptionally undulating track where severe sidehill lies are frequent. Point being that the Raylor isn't necessarily an everyday club, but rather is a great weapon to have on hand when conditions call for it."

New Wedge and Leather Grip

New Wedge Vokey SM 58.12 Oil Can, Gripmaster OS Leather grip

Today at 10:40pm
Trying the The Gripmaster USA Oversize non-perf leather grip on my wedges. Love the tacky feel and the non-taper of the grip. Provides very good control and consistency of feel while gripping at the end or gripping down. Humidity and a damp glove don't impact the tackiness. Haven't played in the rain with them and quite honestly I don't plan on so doing.

Was using a Vokey SM 56.8 bent to 57. Have found with the Vokeys that the listed bounce measures on average about 1.5 degrees more. i.e. my 56 bent to 57 has a bounce of 10.5 degrees. I have been playing with it for about 3 months. Have found with my swing which has tended to be steep the 10 degrees of bounce wasn't quite enough to limit digging. As I like the 57 loft I needed to find something I could get 57 and a little more bounce. The SM 58.12 met that requirement. I bent the club to 57 reducing bounce by 1 degree. As the 58.12 is actually 58.13.5, I reduced it to 57.12.5 which has turned out to be perfect.

I have also learned to vary my angle of attack which provides me the capability to now control and dictate the desired trajectory . The wedge has become a very good utility club that is working well from hardpan, very soft turf, tight, firm, and soft sand, deep rough, and tight rough to name a few lies. My swing skill level and understanding of how to use the wedge has improved to the point I am much more confident and capable around the green and further out. This has been about an 18 month process with practice, patient instruction and lie study. My learning curve is at a good up angle now.

Golf Course Comments

This last Saturday I had the opportunity to play a golf course unknown to me though it is 25 minutes from my golf shop. It was introduced to me by my good friend and PGA teaching professional, Jim Pearce. He had recently played the course in one of the PGA Sectional competitions. The course is Timber Greens Golf Course in New Port Richey. It is between SR 54 and Ridge Road just east of Little Road. The course is in a retirement community and is considered a semi-private golf course. From the green tips the course is 6100 yards. There is more detailed info on the course at http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/course.aspx?course=1662756
My purpose in discussing Timber Greens is that I really enjoyed the course and wanted to pass that along. For me the fun started when I pulled into the parking lot and exited the car. There were a few carts driving through the parking lot. All of the cart passengers uninitiated by me or my playing partner kindly, verbally greeted us. A kind "hi" or "how are you" to us was quite unexpected but very welcome and inviting as in "we hope you enjoy your day at Timber Greens." That friendliness continued as we entered the club, each paid our $40 cart and greens fee, and then had a bowl of soup in the bar. We were joined by a fourth who from the and throughout the round demonstrated a congeniality that we had first been exposed too in the parking lot.
Off to the first tee (actually we started on the backside first) and our first closeup of the course. I won't be a bore and walk through every hole, but I will provide my overall impressions of the course.
Tees are comfortable in size, level and well kept. Fairways are defined and fairly tight which I like. It's easier to pinch the ball. Rough is not strenuous. Definitely easy to find your ball after an errant shot. Houses surround the course but are not right next to the fairway. Most of the time there is a protective cushin of trees and pinneedle covered ground to protect the houses. Fairways will have fairway bunkers or water or protected sanctuary. Keep the ball in the fairway and you will have your best chance to the green. Greens are small, undulating, and fast (we think we had 10.5 to 11). Greens are great!! Pitching and chipping provides a good challenge. If you are weak in your short game these greens will not be your friend. If you are working on your short game these greens are great to work on and hone you skills. Cups are sharpley cut so you better get most of the ball in the hole at the right speed or you miss. Cups are great!!!
The course does not have a driving range or pitching area. I don't think it is necessary. The course will give you lots of practice on all parts of your game. That's what I thought was so much fun about the Timber Greens because I hit every club in my bag. I tried to manage my way around the course. If you don't keep your ball in play, you will pay for it. I recommend Timber Greens strongly for the single digit handicap to the double digit. You will be challenged. If you aren't you might want to try the tour. I had a lot of fun. That cold beer after the round and the friendliness in the bar was the perfect end to a perfect day. Thank you Timber Greens.

Short Game

Because of my historically hysterical bad short game technique, results, and MAJOR frustration, I asked for HELP from my friend and teacher, Phillip Hancock (Gator, PGA Tour player and tour winner).  He was gracious enough to accept the challenge and spend time with me sharing short game fundamentals.  As a result of that help for which I am very thankful, I am climbing out of that abysmal short game hole that had all but swallowed me up.  As part of that process, I started looking for a way to practice what I learned that would also reflect shots and conditions that I have on the course.  

The search resulted in a little chipping/pitching game.   Now I look forward to the pitch and chip and find the opportunity EXILERATING vice going into cardiac arrest at the mere thought of having to execute one of those shots.  Putting yips, heck, I had the chipping/pitching yips.  This game helps me work on technique, technique, technique, and accuracy.  Every shot is a little different just like you find when you play.  You can use any number of balls, 25, 50 or whatever and you can start at any distance.   I suggest not much further out than about 30 or 40 yards to begin with.  You can start from the short grass or the deep grass, uphill, downhill, sidehill, hardpan, bunkers and hit a series of shots.  This makes that practice around the pitching/chipping area fun and challenging.  It’s also hard work.

First, pick a target for the first ball.  Hit your shot.  Where did it end up?   If your result is not within a 6-inch radius, then you missed your shot.  I know 6 inches is a lofty goal, but I prefer 6-inch putts to 1 foot or farther putts.   Now your target for the second shot is the last ball you hit.  Try to get it within the 6” radius.  Let’s say you mishit and you scull the shot across the green.  Rarely happens, right-----riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.  Your third shot is at the last ball you hit.  From here try to walk your shots back to your original target 6 inches at a time.  If you find you are getting a majority of shots within that 6” radius, move to a more difficult lie or try walking your shots around the green.  Always have a SPECIFIC target.  Keep challenging yourself.  The time will fly by and your game will eventually improve.  Suggestion:  Start with proper technique, technique, technique.  Expand your shot arsenal.  Look forward to the challenge of a great recovery shot.

Over a period of a few weeks you will begin to see improvement.    Work on weaknesses NOT your strengths if you want to improve your short game.  The short game swing is not the same as the normal swing.   If you need help with technique, give us a call.

Welcome to the Tampa Golf Blog

We'll be covering all things golf, and whatever else may be on my mind that day!

Check back regularly for commentary on golf technology, tournaments, courses and general play.

Looking forward to hearing back from golf enthusiasts!

Snap

PS
After a 3 year hiatus I will endeavor to provide more timely comments concerning my interests in golf and maybe some other stuff yet to be determined. 010709