WITB? mat562...

[mat562]

I/we've got five of the things mate - so it's hard not to catch a flash of fur when I take a snap. Plus, the old boy may as well be joined to me by a 10' long bit of string since it's a case of 'follow my leader' whenever I decide to move in the house or garden. It's like having my own hairy stalker.

 

A bit of lead tape is a massive change for me Jamie. And the putter is another cheap and cheeerful job - rescued from a friend's car boot and given a new grip and a bit of fettling for a total outlay that has even a Yorkshireman smiling. :D

[projamie]

Haha, my dog is the total opposite, loves following everyone else but doesnt even blink when i enter the room... Wouldnt mind if it was the ladies constantly following me around... :rolleyes: never mind...

 

Should come and spend a day with me, i dont blink changing 200 quid shafts every couple of days lol... Dont bother with lead tape, just buy another club lol... To be fair i often go back to mine, cant beat em! Although i think im finally settled on this Odysee now, has a newport 2 shape, ive allways gone for the newport shape but this is doing the job so maybe ive been with the wrong shape all this time! If i could find a putter in exactly the same shape as my answer though in a 303ss i would game that till my last putt...

[Excelsior75]

Cracking drivers, the Ignite 410s. I definitely prefer something less than 460cc and the Ignite's as good a driver as I've ever hit. It looks nice at address, is workable and gives me a solid, flat flight that's exactly what I'm after.

 

I've got a 905S/Grafalloy Blue as a back-up driver (plus a 10.5 degree 410 Ignite with the same shaft) but the Nike is more consistent for me and is the weapon of choice. It'll take a fantastic club to usurp it from the bag and, despite trying loads of different ones, I haven't found it yet.

Mat

 

I've recently acquired a Titleist 905R with Grafalloy Blue stiff - but I find it a much higher / spinnier than my current gamer, Nike Sasquatch Tour 460 with Diamana Blueboard stiff.

 

Both are good drivers to work both ways but I'm not sure about the 10-15 yards less with the Titleist.

I think the word is perseverance...

[mat562]

I played a SQ Tour with a Blue for a while myself a couple of years or so back. Albeit it was a decent driver and I flighted it well, I struggled to turn the ball over with it so I ditched it for the faithful Ignite. I also never really got used to the frying pan look of it at address.

 

905Rs are a solid driver, but for me they are a much higher-spinning head, whatever shaft's in them, than the smaller 905 series drivers. I tried a couple, including a low lofted one but never got comfortable. The lower lofted one killed my carry distance and the flight was all wonky. Drivers are always a pain in the proverbial for me. I need a reasonable amount of loft to get a proper launch angle, but then end up over-spinning the thing and getting a ballflight that comes down like a wedge and stops dead in its tracks. Once I find one I like that gives me a flatter flight it usually stays put for a while.

 

These days I leave the driver alone - other than the recent swap to an old Titleist one - and just needlessly rotate putters in a vain effort to try and hole more than a single makeable putt per round... :jester:

[mat562]

Speaking of my comedic putter-swapping, in order to save a bit of time and bandwidth I've hit on a cunning plan.

 

Simply peruse the signature at the bottom of the page and, after cross referencing it with the attached picture, anyone who's remotely interested can have a look at the putter of choice on that particular day... :D

 

There are three or four more in the arsenal, but these five tend to be the most commonly rotated ones. Incidentally, Turner Prize here I come...

[Excelsior75]

I played a SQ Tour with a Blue for a while myself a couple of years or so back. Albeit it was a decent driver and I flighted it well, I struggled to turn the ball over with it so I ditched it for the faithful Ignite. I also never really got used to the frying pan look of it at address.

 

905Rs are a solid driver, but for me they are a much higher-spinning head, whatever shaft's in them, than the smaller 905 series drivers. I tried a couple, including a low lofted one but never got comfortable. The lower lofted one killed my carry distance and the flight was all wonky. Drivers are always a pain in the proverbial for me. I need a reasonable amount of loft to get a proper launch angle, but then end up over-spinning the thing and getting a ballflight that comes down like a wedge and stops dead in its tracks. Once I find one I like that gives me a flatter flight it usually stays put for a while.

 

These days I leave the driver alone - other than the recent swap to an old Titleist one - and just needlessly rotate putters in a vain effort to try and hole more than a single makeable putt per round... :jester:

Yep - you know, this is exactly what I'm feeling with drivers at the moment.

I have to keep my right-elbow tucked in to stop the ball from hitting the next fairway ala Tiger, but when it does comes off, it just flies and I'm in love with it again: like some battered housewive who keeps coming back for more. (Errr....Disclaimer: I don't advocate domestic violence in any way, shape or form...but you know what I'm getting at).

 

So, Titleists aside, the Ignite is the one that 'relights the fire'? (groan) :russian_roulette:

[colangus]

Terrific bag, I love the simple setup.

 

You seem to have a good amount of replacements for the Driver, but no selection in 3 woods? I would think Titleist would have a healthy selection of 3 woods...

 

Extra points for the eye2 1 iron :)

[trapsmv15]

Speaking of my comedic putter-swapping, in order to save a bit of time and bandwidth I've hit on a cunning plan.

 

Simply peruse the signature at the bottom of the page and, after cross referencing it with the attached picture, anyone who's remotely interested can have a look at the putter of choice on that particular day... :D

 

There are three or four more in the arsenal, but these five tend to be the most commonly rotated ones. Incidentally, Turner Prize here I come...

Boy, that's a gorgeous collection... I don't blame you for swapping out as much as you do! ;)

[mat562]

My bit of modern art certainly tells you that you're dealing with a man who likes a nice Anser. With three more in the cupboard, there's a bit of a theme going on - broken only by the old Pal that occasionally gets an airing when I get desperate.

 

As for 3 woods, I'm very much a creature of habit, and once I find a good one it stays put for a long time. Since the late '80s I've only really played three 3 woods - an old TM Tour Silver being the first and then a Flex Twist-shafted Tour Spoon that was a permanent fixture for over a decade until I had a dabble with a couple of newer Taylor Mades and finally settled on that T60.

 

The Nike is a belter of a club. It sets up nicely, has a nice clean look at address, and I'm able to pretty much hit any sort of shot with it - within the realms of my limited talent, of course. I'm not quite sure I love it as much as my old Tour Spoon, but I have a suspicion that, barring great technological advances, it'll rival the 13 year in-play record of my old faithful.

[puredit]

Callaway Tour X-20. 4-p with proj. x 6.0

Callaway Tour x460 Driver and 3w

hybrid 3i is on the way.

Adams Tom Watson L,S(56), and G(52) wedges

Oddessy White Hot Two-Ball srt.33'

 

What do you guys think about this setup? It works well for me but I'm just curious of other peoples opinioin's.

[Brucie]

Callaway Tour X-20. 4-p with proj. x 6.0

Callaway Tour x460 Driver and 3w

hybrid 3i is on the way.

Adams Tom Watson L,S(56), and G(52) wedges

Oddessy White Hot Two-Ball srt.33'

 

What do you guys think about this setup? It works well for me but I'm just curious of other peoples opinioin's.

 

Why would you put this in his WITB. As for you Mat, that bag's pretty sweet. It's refreshing to see someone who isn't a clubho on this site. :cheesy:

[mat562]

I'm still struggling to find a pitching wedge I'm happy with. I'm not a big fan of the set-matching Titleist wedge as it looks a bit odd to the eye at address and doesn't really perform too well, so I've been tinkering with a bog standard Oil Can Vokey for the last few months that I rescued from the bottomless pit that is my friend John's car boot. For the last couple of rounds, though, I put my old set-matching Nike wedge back into play and it's been working well enough. I always think of my pitching wedge as a 10 iron so, in an ideal world, it'd be the same as the rest of the set, but the 681 is a bit like a misshapen chocolate so it's off to a non-starter. The Nike was in play for years (it's actually the [i]second[/i] one I've had as the first one wore out) so it makes sense to stick with it in my book.

Lob wedge-wise, I've also been struggling a bit ever since my beloved old Nike wedge finally bit the dust. I haven't been able to find a straight Nike replacement to mess with and to try to replicate my old one with, so I've been tinkering with a couple of Vokeys for the bulk of the spring and summer. As if to chuck a jerry can of kerosene onto the Tour versus Retail debate, I've pulled out a perfectly good raw T grind Vokey Prototype and replaced it with the old Vokey 260.04 Oil Can wedge that I bought a few years back and hardly used in deference to the Nike one. It's been sitting in a spare bag in the cupboard for a year or two and is pretty much a new club. Nothing fancy about it; it's just a normal wedge that seems to work nicely. It's got a bit more bounce and a wider sole than I'm used to, but it's a nice bit of kit around our greens and worked pretty well on the last couple of occasions that I used it. After messing with a 588 RTG and the Vokey, the Vokey won the day.

I've also been messing with a 4 wood and have got one that seems to fit the bill when a bit of floatiness is required on long approaches. It takes the spot of the 1 or 2 iron when it goes into the bag. A 906F4 18.5 with an Epic in it is now in the rotation.

It's not much of a change to report, I know, but it's all part of the general tinkering that goes on every now and then in my bag. A change of irons or something [i]really big[/i] only happens once in a blue moon.

I'll close with an arty shot of my bag taken before a round this week. At least the headccover's sparkly clean.

[jaskanski]

I know what you mean about wedges. I'm currnetly fiddling around with the lob wedge at the moment - out goes the Spin Milled oil-can and back comes the seaside grind after a brief flirtation with a Cleveland CG12 DSG. The conditions are getting somewhat firmer at the moment and the old faithful seems to to work better for me under these circumstances - well, as best as possible really. The annoying thing is, I know what I want (probably a Vokey 'L' grind) but don't know where to get one. C'est la vie.

[mat562]

I can't help you mate, I'm afraid, with that lob wedge request. I've got a T Grind, and I previously had an M Grind - which was worse than useless - but no L grinds have ever crossed my bows.

I've got enough spare sand wedges to last me until Doomsday. A pair of beryllium Eye 2s, a 588 RTG, another couple of Vokeys, a raw Iron Nelson one and a beryllium 588 that's still got some life left in it. That's on top of all the retired, worn-out ones that I consigned to my father's loft.

[Señor Rafa]

A simple but very solid set-up you have there Mat.

I find it interesting how you don't use the PW that comes the 690's because those Titleist blades are probably the most pure-striking blades you'll hit, still, it's an intresting mix-up which obviously works well for you.

Btw, if you're tinkering around with you wedges you can't go wrong with SV Tour's. Superb wedges which will offer you the right variety.

Still haven't turned to the darkside of putting a hybrid in the bag, Mat?

[mat562]

I can't put my finger on what it is about the 681 pitching wedges that irks me. They just look a bit [i]toeified[/i] (if that's a word) and are a slightly odd shape; plus they simply don't work as well as I'd like them too.

The hybrid situation doesn't look like changing anytime soon. As long as I can hit a 1 and 2 iron nice and high and can hit all sorts of shots with them with oodles of confidence, I'm sticking with them. All the hybrids I've tried are basically a solution to a problem I haven't yet got. The 4 wood's a decent club though. I can carry it about as far as a 1 iron, or a few yards further, and get it a lot higher in the air too. It gives me a shot option from 230 yards or so that I haven't got with a long iron or with a fancy cutty floater with a 3 wood. It's not very often that I've bagged a lofted wood, but it's essentially a 3 wood that goes a bit higher and not quite as far through the air and I've always been happy hitting a 3 wood. The epoxy's hardly dry, but it's a decent stick and I'm getting to be fairly comfortable with it, even after only a couple of range sessions and a single outing on the course.

I'm a fan of the SV Tour wedges, but not of the fact that they only come in crap finishes. No raw option means that I'm not buying, I'm afraid.

[rascre]

As always your bag is simple and quite refreshing. What ball do you play? I am curious to find out. I like to play a 2 iron and would like to stick my old i3 3 wood back in the bag but I am having trouble finding a ball. Most of the balls I try just don't spin enough with the longer clubs, but with new wedges the ball seems to spin too much. I will quit my mindless rambling now and await your words of wisdom.

[mat562]

I'm still playing a Nike One Platinum ball. I bought a few dozen at the back end of last year and am still working my way through them. Despite being a naturally high spin player, I like the extra spin around the greens and for the way it allows me to flight my long irons and to shape shots. It costs me yards with a driver but it allows me to hit a lot of different shots that I can't hit as easily with a lower spinning ball.

I don't have too much of a problem overspinning it with fuller wedges as I'm used to hitting softer shots to cut down the spin anyway when I'm in and around the full sand wedge/pitching wedge range.

[Señor Rafa]

Oh, only just noticed; is that a Titleist staff bag in your most recent photo?

[mat562]

It is indeed an old Titleist bag. Albeit I generally use a pencil bag, I've been giving it - and the rickety old Turfglider trolley - an outing or two lately. When it's drizzling, it's a lot easier to keep everything dry with a big bag than it is with my old faithful little carry bag.

[projamie]

Top job as allways Mat...

That T grind vokey is a beauty... works better than an L for me, true you dont see many around though....

Agree on the higher spinning balls aswell, work on the same theory and seems to work fine. Funnily tried the grafalloy Blue lately, would be perfect on links, but dont see how you can play that thing on parkland!

All in all, classy set up as allways, good to see you keeping it real!

[robbie91]

just coke the sv tours and youll have a raw finish -- amazing wedges

great bag though

[astamm8]

i see your giving the old trusty rusty a go round (sadly no hump shaft); well played. no doubt you were inspired by those great vintage witb shots...

i loved the look of those things for full shots, but i always thought they looked as if they needed the heel shaved down a bit for pitches and flops. how are they treating you around the greens?

[mat562]

Indeed I am. I blagged the Cobra a few weeks ago from a friend's cupboard where it had been loafing for quite a few years judging by the amount of rust on it. I actually had to take off some of the excess crusty rust before it was in a fit state to use. Other than light use, probably a decade ago when it was new, I don't reckon it's hit more than a hundred balls in its life. All the grooves are nice and fresh and, now, are no longer filled in with rusty clag.

First job was to put a decent shaft in it, and I've also knocked a degree of loft off it and flattened it a touch. Despite having a bit of a freaky, pointed heel on it, the narrow sole means it's quite able to be laid wide open and it's not too bad from tight stuff despite me not yet having butchered the sole, in characteristic style, to take all the bounce off it.

In all honesty, I've no idea how long it'll last. The lob wedge slot, currently, is a revolving door-job with a couple of Vokeys, a 588 RTG and this new Cobra all having a look-in. What I really need is another raw Nike Forged that I can mess with to try and replicate my old faithful that wore out earlier in the year.

[fighting_irish]

Very similar bag to mine which freaks me out!!
Anyways, u always used a 2 iron?
Something tells me you probably had a 1 iron aswell in the past

[mat562]

 I've always bagged a long iron. For a while, back when I was a youngster, I carried both the 1 and 2, but I started to habitually carry a lob wedge in  my mid-teens and thus have to bench one of them. I play a 2 iron probably 75% of the time with the 1 going in for certain courses and when the ground's a bit springy in summer. I've always been a solid ballstriker, grew up playing and practicing with long irons and, along with greenside bunker play, they're probably the strongest facet of my game.

As far as the similarity between our bags goes, I've just benched a Vokey pitching wedge myself and, on the rare occasions that I bag a 4 wood, it's a Titleist one that sees service - a 906[i]F4[/i] in my case.

[fighting_irish]

Same with regards the long irons. Best part of my game. Had Miz TP19s 1-PW in play a few years back with no 3 wood. I trusted that 1 iron so much lol. Anyways great bag and keep up the updates

[Puppetmaster]

Really nice compilation of clubs here... loving all those blades...

[scotgolfer1977]

Ahhhh matty my boy!

The old Trusted Titleist Turfglider trolley!

Sad they don't make these beautiful chariots anymore.......

I still have mine somewhere................. not an ounce of rust on it...and it's seen some action!

Loving the clubs old "bean"

[funkyfedora]

Hey Mat,

Thought I should chime in... Really like the fact that you are playing what you like and what you are used to. Not the hottest club off the shelf... I have a similar driver in play and that series from Titleist is hot. Can't go wrong with it.

I think a byron would look good with your putter art to.


Willie