HappyGas Bag

[HappyGas]

HappyGas Bag 2010

HappyGas Bag....2010

Driver: Titleist 983K...8.5*
FW Metal: TM V-Steel.....15*

3i--PW: Titleist 680

56-Degree: Vokey
58-Degree: Vokey Spin Milled

Putter: Cameron Studio "1"
Ball: Titleist Pro V-1x

Bag: MacKenzie Sunday
Shoe: FJ Classic Spikeless

[ksavy17]

very nice,simple,classic set-up you have

[HappyGas]

Thanks.

I try to keep it very simple out there. Irons are from 2003....Driver from 2004. The Taylor Made V-Steel is to this day the best FW Metal I've ever played. If you ever get a chance to pick one up.....it will be the best money ever spent.

My best advice: Find clubs you understand & don't change.

[zubiq10]

Good bag and good advice. I carry a Sunday bag now too, love it
Whats your handicap, just wonderin

[AWE46M3]

Are those steel shafted woods I see?

[HappyGas]

Handicap: 1.0

I'll shoot between 72 & 82....unless something "weird" happens. ((ie....lost balls = 84. 24 putts = 69))

Shafts are Fujikura TOUR VISTA Graphite shafts. These were popular about 6 years ago. Again....find something and stick with it.

The Sunday Bag is dynamite. It is a MacKenzie Golf Bag ((www.mackenziegolfbags.com)). Fantastic product. You'll spend some money....but you'll have the bag to use for 30+ years.

HappyGas

[Garrett77]

Really like everything about this bag, Those 680's are some of the most beautiful irons in my opinion. Anyways, thanks for posting!


- G

[calc61]

Very nice!!

[ksavy17]

[quote name='HappyGas' date='17 February 2010 - 01:10 PM' timestamp='1266433854' post='2257999']
Thanks.

I try to keep it very simple out there. Irons are from 2003....Driver from 2004. The Taylor Made V-Steel is to this day the best FW Metal I've ever played. If you ever get a chance to pick one up.....it will be the best money ever spent.

My best advice: Find clubs you understand & don't change.
[/quote]
that is good advice but this is golfwrx. Bag changes day by day!! More fun that way. I wish I could keep my bag set-up for as half as long as you have

[SwingLikeElk]

It's a great set up for you...which is the point. It's refreshing that you stick with your set. I did the same years ago...

I had Cobra irons I loved, a trusty Warbird 3 wood and an old Wilson Counter Torque putter and would still be gaming most of it had it not been stolen! I miss the clubs I was used to and could trust.

Thanks for posting. It's nice to see the 983, too!

[HappyGas]

The 983 was their last great driver.

I gotta have some control out there, and the 460cc Drivers just don't offer it. What was most interesting about the 983 was that the factory shaft was just HORRIBLE.

I mean....when I got the club re-shafted, it was as if they turned a switch on and I was able to hit the ball straight. You can shape shots with this club which I love.

I'd love to sit here and tell you all that I NEVER move clubs in & out of the bag. But that would be a lie.

It is true that the 680's have been played since 2003. But if I have a bad day on the course I might just bring out a backup set to mix it up. After a short stint...the 680's are back.

My back up set are Mizuno MP-60's. Fine set indeed...just "buttery" compared to Titleist. I like it firm out there. I also have a set of Ping G-5's that are essentially a different planet compared to the above set.

If my back goes out.....I'm able to swing the Ping's more easily. But there is NO SHAPING shots with the PINGS. They are ONE TRICK PONY's.

Thanks for your interest......

[loomsey]

Simple is good

[The Hawkeye]

Nice to see some older stuff still gettin some love. But, why the minimal 2 deg. difference between wedges? Is the 56 bent down? Seems like a good player would want some more spacing there, like 55 & 60. I have 52 bent to 51, 56, 60. Just curious. Otherwise, nice set.

[HappyGas]

Good point.

Here is my response........

1. "The 56" is arguably the most versitile golf club in the universe. I could find 1001 uses for the club on the golf course as well as a half dozen off. The 56 is the perfect golf club....it's gotta be in the set. I'm floored when I see TOUR guys carry the 54 & jump to 60.

2. "The 58" is good for me. 60 degrees is too much. It can only be used for Extreme Shots....period. So...58 wins out.

3. What makes me officially "nutty" is that I carry both. To enforce this.....I struggle deciding which club is better for standard bunker shots as I hit them both the same way with similar results.

Go figure. In the end....they are THE SAME club.
;o )

[The Hawkeye]

I can relate totally to your comments. I struggle with the wedge question at the start of each season--how many, which lofts/bounce.


It is all about bounce for me now, so I'll ask if your 58 is lower bounce and your 56 higher bounce, ala Stan Utley (whose book I really came to see as my short game bible--but only upon a second read)? The thing that I have noticed as I have gotten older is how to let the technology work for you and with wedges I never quite understood, as I do now, how to use bounce. It has been a revelation and I bore my golf buddies to death with bounce talk. Of course, they all suck around the greens and that's why I hammer them.

[HappyGas]

I'm a big Utley fan.

Tell me your thoughts on bounce. I've got the bounce of my "58" shaved down a bit on the heel and toe to let the club sit a little flatter.

But tell me your thoughts on bounce.

What's in YOUR bag ??

[The Hawkeye]

I play Adams A4 irons. Love them. Play Cleveland wedges, they just feel better to me than the Vokey's. Don't quite know why...but they do.

After reading Utley I learned that a shot using the bounce is very distinct from a shot not using the bounce. For example, with a pitch shot where you compress the ball and then take whatever diviot you take, that is one type of wedge shot. The ball will have more spin, it will have a lower trajectory. A shot where you "bounce" the club off the sand or turf into the ball is another shot entirely. Off the turf, it imparts less spin and send the ball higher in the air. I never understood this to be what I was doing until I read Utley. Knowing all this helped me to be more consistent and thoughtful about my wedge game. I saw a 4 stroke drop. I never shot in the 60s until after I read Utley.

My 56 has more bounce because I am more likely to use it inside 30 yards, more so than any club I have. So now I can "chip check" the ball or "pop" it. The chip check is more useful for greens running away or odd breaking greens where I want very little roll out and it is where I do not use the bounce but strike down on the ball. The pop is the shot I use most often if the lie is not tight, and it is the shot I use the bounce on. It rolls the truest but the longest. I started all this last season and I really can imagine being very, very dangerous with my wedge game this year. I was always good on the bump and run with a 8 iron and the half wedge from 20 yards out, and greenside bunker shots--- but all other wedge shots I was an underperformer on.

I just reread what I wrote and it seems pretty obvious, but I realized after reading Utley that when I practiced I did not expressly practice one chip shot or the other, now I do. That is the big difference. So as I am walking up to my ball I am making a decision on which shot to use, and then let my skill take over and not overthing it.

[ssp]

[quote name='HappyGas' date='19 February 2010 - 02:43 PM' timestamp='1266612206' post='2263042']
I'm a big Utley fan.

Tell me your thoughts on bounce. I've got the bounce of my "58" shaved down a bit on the heel and toe to let the club sit a little flatter.

But tell me your thoughts on bounce.

What's in YOUR bag ??
[/quote]

I posted on your eye2/blade thread as well.

prior to the days of multi-degree wedges - I used to have a custom ground 56 (hogan special and wilson staff). All to take bounce off and allow for the ability to open the wedge a bit and hit off of bare lies.

I would not have any problem going back to a 1 wedge system to simplify decision making.

Tell me how many of the following statements are correct .... I only mean it in a fun way - I think I would probably like to play golf with you.

[list][*]you prefer single strap bags because you carry the bag old school - clubs pointing backwards. The new backpack straps do not work for you.[*]you never play anything but a titleist golf ball[*]the only golf shoe - footjoy classic[*]you would prefer to use leather grips - but they are just not as good as the newer ones[*]you prefer medal over match[*]you prefer nassau over points game[*]you enjoy playing in bad weather because the gap between your game and your opponents works in your favor[/list]How many did I get right? they all apply to me.

[HappyGas]

You nailed them all but ONE....

I prefer Match Play to Medal.

Go take a trip to Scotland & you'll hear they play almost exclusive Match Play. IMO....the game was "Thought Up" with Match Play in mind.

Also, You left out one other.....

I go out of my way to find VICTORY GREEN grips on eBay. Best grip out there. Pro's know it....that is why they still make the grip ONLY for them.

[jkim021587]

yeah i kept my mp 30s from forever ago... but had to go with a new driver and woods, also bought a putter that id probably use forever

[jaskanski]

Wow - top players bag! A man after my own heart in terms of clubs - there is nothing in your bag that I wouldn't put into play myself. The 983K is a classic driver and I've still got one kicking around in my garage somewhere. The victory green grip fetish only further proves you are a traditionalist.

[HappyGas]

I'll keep "Tradition" strong for as long as I can. I'm one of few out there.

[mshills]

Nice setup. One question - spikeless shoes?

[HappyGas]

I've only been wearing FJ Spikeless Classic for 20+ years. Of course....only when I'm not wearing TENNY's.

I'll sport SPIKES if I play early in the morning or Tournament.

I'm a big believer that nobody needs "Golfshoes" after high noon.

[The Hawkeye]

[color=#1C2837][quote]I'm a big believer that nobody needs "Golfshoes" after high noon.[/quote][/color]
[color="#1C2837"]
[/color]
[color="#1C2837"]Nice![/color]

[HappyGas]

Believe it not....

I'm a big believer that every course needs a "marshall" that pulls players OFF the course if they hit the 3 hr 30 min mark. You aren't done....you are pulled off the course.

[duswalk]

[quote name='HappyGas' date='25 February 2010 - 10:06 PM' timestamp='1267153569' post='2277851']
Believe it not....

I'm a big believer that every course needs a "marshall" that pulls players OFF the course if they hit the 3 hr 30 min mark. You aren't done....you are pulled off the course.
[/quote]

What if you are having to wait on every tee box and every approach shot?

[mshills]

You can't set an arbitrary time like 3h 30 min for all courses. I agree with you that there ought to be a time target for individual courses, but to set the same time on a course like say, Merion to a new housing-development course in Scottsdale just won't work.

You cannot walk my home course in 3:30. It is impossible - I am a fast player, former caddy, and die-hard walker, and if I walk 18 by myself and played "speed golf," I [i][b]might[/b][/i] be able to finish 18 in 3:30, but I doubt it.

There is no way a four-ball could do it walking or riding, and even a single walker playing at a good pace (not "speed golf") can't do it. There's simply too many hills to scale and several long walks from the green to the next tee.

[HappyGas]

Here's a statement....

"If a golf course can't be played in 3.5 hrs....it isn't a golf course. It is 'something else'."

((With all do respect to a former caddie, I've played said golf courses that take 4 hrs. to walk. Those golf courses need to be blown up. I've NEVER played a golf course that was worth playing that COULDN"T be played in less than 3.5 hours. Exception being Ocean Course at Kiawah))

Pebble.....
Torrey....
Old Course....
Sand Hills......
Bandon.........

All can be played in 3.5 hours. People don't move out there. Taking a golf trip to Scotland showed me how golf should be played.

Low to the ground and quickly.

HPP

[mshills]

LOL, okay.

Bethpage Black
Wolf Creek
We-Ko-Pa

ought to be bulldozed, eh?

We''re way off-topic here, so never mind.