Listen For That Solid Shot

Dick -

Nope, nothing, nada, zip, zero, zilch. While I love the idea of a man thinking about me for an hour in a trance, it's never happened before and I doubt that's the case here.

I'm glad, too.
J.

Dragonhead

I will celebrate with you. Thanks for your thoughts. Sounds like we all had a pretty darn good day. That lady sounds like she could be one of the members of the family in Ronnies video.

I am a certified judge at the Scottish games. A group of very large men running around in kilts, throwing rocks, large pieces of steel, and turning cabers. They play and sing Flower of Scotland at every game, along with our National Anthem. I love that line too. The British were smart enough to realize at some point that rather than keep fighting those crazy men in kilts, they were better off to get them to fight along side. The regiments wore kilts into battle as late as WWI. They scared the crap out of the Germans. They said we want no part of those guys. They dress like women and fight like the devil himself. Many a gallon of blood has been shed by people who could not figure that out quickly. After the Romans captured all of England, they could not take Scotland. They ended up building a small version of the great wall of China across England, called it Hadrian's Wall. They wanted to keep those crazy Scots from raiding them. It did not work all that well.

I sometimes try the eyes closed swing on the range. I have never tried it during a round, although sometimes the results look like I did. Some days Ray Charles could kick my butt. Maybe I should get all my sticks fitted with white canes for shafts. I wonder if Doc would help me out with that? It won't help my game any, but it might explain why I drive my cart the way I do.

A whole lot of years ago when I was still on active duty in the Corps, we had a large group of British Royal Marines stationed at our barracks for about 4 weeks. What a time we had with those lads. A tough bunch of life takers they were. I would have ridden to the sound of gun fire with them. We showed them how to play our football. It took them a while to get it all down. We had a lot of great laughs at their expense. Then they turned the table on us and showed us how to play Rugby. The next morning half of my platoon was at sick call. I think they torn one of my ears off. I have never been hit that hard, piled on so much, just a plain old fashioned butt kicking. I have not played rugby since that day. I still have nightmares about that. We traded all kinds of uniform stuff with each other. The last day they were with us, the commands called a last minute surprise joint formation. All the command staffs from both units were going to do a joint formal inspection and review the troops. They all walked through both formations and just went nuts. We all had Royal Marine crap all over our uniforms, and they all had U.S. Marine crap all over their uniforms. They just marched both units right over to the field and PTed the crap out of us for a straight hour in our full dress uniforms. It was well worth it. I guess Marines are Marines, no matter what country they are from.

Semper Fi
Dick

Tre:

My fitter is a scratch golfer. Let's will see if anyone wants to play a round of golf with him. He is 59 and will be 60 next week (I thought he was just 57) and can still hit 360 yard drives. The reason why he creates superior drivers is that he works with an engineer who started making graphite shafts at the same time Jim Flood did - Jim is considered the Thomas Edison of golf.

No, but I have been accused of being persnickety. Does that count?

Lynn:

Have Doc make up a driver and send it to Janet. Doc is honest, he just hasn't fit DJ with a driver that delivers more distance and accuracy. And I place some of the blame for that on DJ. My fitter says that PGA types typically all hit "rebar" - meaning a shaft that is way too stiff for them and doesn't bend as they swing it. So they are fearful that their wild shots are coming from flex in the shaft. So the right shaft for DJ is one where a shaft maker (using whatever head that DJ likes) would deal with the feel that gives him the most distance but is also something where his mind is saying that it does not produce wild errant shots from the flex. This would be a very one of a kind shaft that no one else in world would hit as well.

So feel free to use what Doc makes for you. The key is that Janet has a new club already created for her that is made from a new material in the shaft (the head will not belong to her) that should give her a lot more distance than she has now and also more than what Doc would create. You simply won't know what is best for you when you settle for a Doc built club ... just like DJ may not be getting all the distance and accuracy he should get.

great is you get more distance and accuracy with what Doc makes for you but you still won't know if you can purchase something better. I tried everything Taylormade is offering just last week and my club is 30+ more yards longer than anything you can buy from them. My fitness buddy had the same experience - 30+ yards longer with what I bought for him (he gave me a fitness program in exchange for the new shaft and fitting). And he stayed at the Taylormade tent for maybe an hour trying EVERYTHING. So even as he sees now he has something better than anything they say he was still super interested in being longer than what I gave him that gave him so much extra yardage.

And he works out very hard as well .... if I spent as much time and effort at fitness as he does I would be hitting the ball over 360 yards at age 66. He was tired of being a 280 hitter for all his effort at fitness and his clients (young gun 340+ hitters - some are trying to break in on the Nationwide tour) were teasing him about only being a 280 hitter. So now he is 310+ and has a surprise in store for them the next time that they play.

Same experience for my 75 year old buddy on the Callaway Staff (a teaching pro). he has had a series of physcial issues that has robbed him of distance. I am having a club made for him after he tried out my club. He tried Aimpoint and doesn't like it. SO I have had more trouble getting him to accept one of my ideas than anyone here - attitudes in golf tend to be set in concrete. But when he used this new material (he is getting an R shaft and my X is too stiff for him) when he swung my club it made him a believer.

When Janet swings her new club she will be a believer too. Doc should send out a club for her made from Rambax or whatever he wants and we hold a blind test to see which club delivers more distance. I will buy one of Doc's clubs if it is better (suppsing he will sell me one).

You guys get all invested in personalities and protecting Doc when ALL of us should have longer distance and accuracy as our goal.

Thanks for the tips. I'll give 'em a try. I'll also have to get my wife or someone to film me.

Here we go again. You muddy the waters with all of your conditions knowing that the other parties involved won't agree to them. This is obviously how you weasel out of the whole deal. I've stated what I would agree to. It's very simple. It will be as I stated or count me out.

Keep in mind that no one will believe any driver competition involving the Vice-President of the WK-JB51 Mutual Admiration Society. Might as well stop this nonsense now. Don't bother coming back at me with another deal or any more conditions. As I said, I've stated how it will be if I'm involved. If you can't agree to that, then we're finished.

Boog

We have missed you my brother. Great to hear from you. Holler back at us when you get caught up.

Semper Fi
Dick

nla

I told her I would be at the range this PM ... she was promptly answering my messages ALL day ... no show. I had a 285 carry into the wind (against three members of the Patrick Henry golf team - I asked to join their long drive competition -- giving away around 50 years.

As to names ... I am offering 5 Ben Franklins to Doc to buy a brand new driver for Janet so long as his driver beats the one my fitter has already created.

Want to give my charity a Ben Franklin if my driver beats Doc's and vice versa -- except Doc gets a whole year to beat what my fitter created in an hour?

As to "Put up or shut up."

Back to you babe.

There was nothing like persimmon wood crushing a titlest was there? It was "thwack!" nows it's "ting!".
Down the middle,
Robert Meade:)

T

Did you see my question to you about Tracy Lawrence? Just wondering.

Dick

Kevin:

I agree - almost. My favorite sound in golf is the resounding "CRACK!" of a persimmon driver meeting one of the old "rubber band" techonology balls.

Sadly, time marches on, technology improves the game, but I ahve never been able to truly like the "PING!" sound of a metal draiver on a solid ball -- although it is definitely the way to go these days.

Keep hitting them STRAIGHT and LONG

Amos

Just tell me where to pick up the club. Also, tell me when you'll be at the range so I can come and see you hit 300 yards. That's it. Simple.
Janet

WK - you're clearly delusional. You've never seen my swing a club, I've told you that I'm currently hitting about 160 yards, and you see my potential as somewhere between 260 and 300 yards. I've told you repeatedly that I have no desire to meet your fitness buddy, yet you keep bringing him up. You keep posting comments that make it sound like I'm changing the conditions and attributing things to me that I have simply not said. I'm done. I don't know if you're truly off your nut or just enjoying the heck out of yourself by getting everyone here all riled up. In any event, you're off the hook -- you don't have to worry about anyone finding out that you really can't hit 300 yards because I have no intention of going anywhere within 1000 yards of where you are.
Janet

Boog

Have a great time with the family while you are home. With 3 kids and 5 grandkids, trust me I know that feeling when one of them is ill. I will keep you all in my prayers. I am sure the others on the blog will do the same. We have developed quite a prayer chain on here. Just another side benefit of being a member of the Surge Nation. No additional charge for that.

No mater what time it is where we are, somewhere in the world some of us are playing golf and some of us are praying. Heck, sometimes we do both at the same time.

The sun never sets on the Surge Nation.
Dick

Phil

Thanks pal. Glad you had a good weekend too. Seems to be going around the Surge Nation.

Like I said before, we don't need no stinking magic shaft, we have the Magic Surge.

Dick

Sorry, I only ship UPS, LOL, I have a family member that works for them.

Dick

Had not seen that. It was my attempt at civility. I can't expect it from others if I can't do it myself. This has turned into that old saying..."I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out". Welllll, it's way past time to get back to the hockey game. Some people will just never get the concept of honest differences being debated civily.

LynnF

N/A

Cool. Give me his # so I can try it out. What info did you email to him?
Janet

Tech Crew, I noticied that we have lost the quick linking ability, that we had earlier today from any comment on the RSS Feed page, or the Disqus dashboard, or the left colum, to that very comment. The quick link still goes to that blog, but not to the specific comment anymore. I thought that was a nice feature if it's possible to make it permanent. Especially from the RSS Feed page, you could one click to the specific comment to post a reply, without having to scroll through the blog or Disqus page to find it.

N/A

Doc:

I forgive you for making the error that Janet had not sent me the info my fitter needed to make a club for her in an hour.
When you say "What info?" ... the info is right here on the blog for all to read. I am guessing you just didn't read that message from her to me.

So go check ... In one message to me she told me how tall she was and how long she wanted her driver with descriptions of what she was using. And my fitter already knows Janet has hit the ball 200 yards but now may be around 160 yards now.

With that he made her up a driver using one of the driver heads he already has at his disposal..

He knows of this explosion and I think you owe him a huge apology. The way to settle all this is to Fedex a driver out here for Janet to use and then keep working with her over and over and tweaking this driver you make for her until you believe you can't do any better.

Then ...

I will ask my fitter to put the driver he made in an hour in some place where we all know he can't touch it. And then you take a week or months to develop the perfect driver for Janet and then we have a head to head competition.

We will see if my fitter can create in an hour something that goes way way past the best driver possible in to the top of your ability that you create for Janet.

One hour of my fitter's time vs an unlmited amount of time for you. Use Rambax or whatever material you wish.

My guess is that my fitter has created in one hour something that beats the best you can create no matter how long you work at it by maybe 25 or more yards.

Aren't we all just interested in what it takes to create a driver that delivers more distance and accuracy.

And in the words of the famous philosopher, Rodney King, "can't we all just get along?"

A head to head competition - a driver my fitter created in an hour vs the best driver you can create with no upper limit in time (just no illegal clubface).

In horse racing they call this a handicap race. My fitter is like a Secretariat so we have to put a ton of weight on him so you have a chance (slim though it be) to beat him. What we want is a really close competition. I just don't think there is any way you can win no matter how much time you have because this new material fit correctly is going to win.

And fedexing a driver back and forth is a lot lot cheaper to you in time and money than flying all the way out to San Diego.

Doc

All of you have tears running down my cheeks...lol. And I thought it was allergies.

LynnF

N/A

Doc:

The info you missed from Janet is this:

"Here's the scoop. I'm in my mid-fifties; I'm 5'6”. I work out regularly and am pretty strong. There's no way I can hit a club with a 46” shaft. I'm using a 44” old Callaway Big Bertha that was bought on eBay. The driver that came with my set is a 43” TaylorMade. I prefer that length but it has too much loft. Mr. K has incorrectly stated that I told him on the phone that I hit 200 yards. What I really told him was that I was hitting 180 to 200, but since I developed tennis elbow a few months ago, I'm averaging about 160. His response was that that was pretty good. As someone else said here (can't remember who, sorry), I could probably go see a fitter and end up with a club that gives me more distance, and it would have nothing to do with changing my swing or having the ability to do 150 pushups."

364 days left for the challenge.

My fitter says that the shaft he built for me is 15 years ahead of anything on the market today that everyone else is using plus he knows how to fit people with it. The way my fitter got such an insight into how to fit this shaft is because he was in on the development of this break through material day one. Unless a fitter has such a special insight from being associated with the design process day one the fitter just won't know how to get the most out of it.

That is why if DJ was fitted with this material he would not get the best result and that applies to me and to Janet too. And the guy who created this brand new material has been associated with the same graphite engineers that Jim Flood worked with so many years ago.

But Jim was a money guy and not an engineer (thus Jim did figure out how to keep advancing the state of the art in graphite shafts.) Jim had investors -- Jim told me singers Glenn Campbell and Dean Martin were early investors in Aldila. So the money side of graphite shafts got out faster but progress keep moving outside his company. Jim is more than likely an ENTP and came up with a lot of other products - putters and the Pod driver. Bouncing around is fine but refining the benefit from the potential of graphite moved past him. Pioneers wear arrow shirts and Aldila (Jim founded it) wound up canning him.

That is why I can bet on my fitter beating your shaft and know he will win ... no matter what you do for Janet in the next 364 days.

N/A

Awesome Ronnie. I was at Golf Galaxy yesterday and looked at both the R11 and the Burner2.0.
Cool stuff. Of course I did'nt swing them, just talked to their young but seemingly very informed Taylormade fitter. (Doc if your reading this I know their fittings are limited compared to a complete certified fitting. I was just looking:). Anyhow I did think it was nice that they do have the 3,4 and five woods too in both models. Beautiful clubs, spendy of course. Looked at a lot of different iron sets too.
Like a kid in a candy store. Checked out lots of irons. I am interested in exploring the possibility of graphite for my irons. My hand will be better off with less vibration. Still planning on an actual certified fittinf before I buy. My stitches come out Wednesday. Still will need couple weeks after that before golf is an option.

Robert F.

To clarify your comment, once my upper arm touches my chin, I have reached the top of tree and the "bump" begins.

This will be followed by my FUS.

Thanks, Phillip

Dick,

Sorry to hear about your 78. What did you shoot on the back 9? And, more importantly, what kind of soup was it? The devil made me do that....sorry. ;0) My first thought was WOW...with the "magic" shaft you'd be out there over 300 with DJ.

Seriously, great job. Sounds like one of those rounds that we all have maybe only once if we're lucky. The one that you'll tell the grandkids about when they're big enough to appreciate it. I'm sure not playing you for money any time soon. If you go shooting par golf on us are you still gonna come back to the blog and talk to all us "little people"?

LynnF

N/A

Why don't you guys all play a round of golf and sees who sorts who out. It's all about scoring not how far you hit it. John from OZ.

Yep, He got his fame first through singing. If you remember an old western with Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe, The River of No Return, TEF sang the theme song in that. They do look very similar in some of the pictures. Have a great day !

Robert
Thanks pal. I could not bring it to bed, because my wife does not know about it yet. Haha.

I just called over to the course and got a 3 pm tee time. Going to go do some chipping first, then play a round.

Dick

DICK:

YES I have -- many times -- we had two or three persimmon trees on our place when I was a kid.

Do you know what a "muskidine" is ? They eat good too -- but they are hard to find -- kind of a wild grape that has an ultra tough skin.

Amos

Janet:

Since the driver head belongs to my fitter and not me I can't make a deal for you to pick it up. Not may call. He says he is willing to have you hit it in his presence but when you are done with it it stays with him. I think I can persuade him to build you another club around a club head you supply and he can guide you in that choice. But if you recall ... my offer has always and only been for the fitting and the new shaft made out of the material I have been using. I think the condition of secrecy (no names - just recults) from my fitter is fair if you see all the hateful messages posted here pointed at me. He doesn't want any of that pointed at him.

This all started because Doc told people to cut off their shafts and I had a 47" driver made for me that gave me back all the distance I lost moving over to the vertical swing. I think (from memory) the length of the driver my fitter has created for this test is 43,5 inches long. When the two of you get together (if you agree to his terms - the driver comes back with him after all tests and no names - a secrecy shroud over all details but the number results).

So don't carry forward any attitude towards him that you generated from me. We are two different people. You will find he is a straight shooter and a very basic guy. I think he can generate extra distance for you that he got for me. And I think the driver he has created for the test will be 25 yards or more past whatever Doc can create. And straighter too .... and a lot easier to hit. I am getting about 300 total yards from my best drives now with 85% effort swings.

J,
It's a sad, sad, situation. (Elton John) Silence is the only way to win this battle. You can't reason with, or out logic, so, the best course of action is no action. It ain't happening!

T

I think you mentioned the other day that you grew up on country music. Do you know who Tracy Lawrence is? Here is my chance to name drop. Sad, but you know I am redneck, my only claim to fame is that Tracy is my nephew. He is quite a guy and has a real interesting life story.
Dick

Boog

He has had his share of personal issues, but he is incredible person. He has a lot of God given talent. But, what makes him stand out for me is his life story. If you every get a chance you should read some of his history. He stopped a bunch of thugs from kidnapping a woman. He got shot and nearly killed for his trouble. He stood his ground and kept her from being taken though. Being willing to do that for someone else covers a multitude of sins in my book.

We are just about to run over into the midnight shifts time on this blog. I have another early and long day laid out ahead of me, which is going to be starting in just a few hours. I am glad we got a chance to catch up a bit. I look forward to chatting with you again real soon.

Night lads, I am hitting the rack.

Keeping it vertical, and dreaming of just one more birdie, in Oklahoma
Dick

WK -

In one of your earlier comments (about 3 hours ago) you said "If you will let me buy a driver from Doc for you and agree to the secrecy proviso then I will have you meet him with the driver he already created for you."

Okay. I'd have to be out of my mind not to take you up on your offer. I've been in touch with Doc and he's agreed to build a driver for me if you'll pay for it upfront. Just send a check for $325 payable to The Golf Stop, 1600 Garner Lane, Columbia, SC 29210, and that'll get the ball rolling. I'll contact Doc through his website to give him my contact info and whatever he else he needs.

I give you my word that everything about your fitter and the club and whatever else you want will be kept secret. Then we can meet at a driving range and I'll hit both drivers and we'll see what happens.

And a PS -- Reggie Bush did not go to Patrick Henry. He went to Helix.

Janet, I think he's referring to the (Male members) having the shaft envy, pun intended !
You know what Freud said about men. We use a different measuring system.

Janet:

He has already built your driver.

Are you a Gemini?

My fitness buddy lives in PB right next to Bird Rock and Mt Soledad. Is that a problem for distance driving for you? His studio is behind his house. He is also a sports psychologist and I believe he is also certified by the Titelist Performance Institute (but I would say he is better than what you would get there and they charge something like 5 or 6 grand for a few days). He knows the golf swing but does not buy into Surge's ideas. W

When I do a session with him (maybe once every 6 months or so) I have been asking him to give me routines that support a vertical swing. Be sure to make that point with him too and not just take what he gives you ... be assertive so he doesn't try give you routines that support a rotational swing muscle set. The one where he will have you raise your arms (light free weights) in the golf position has given me 15 yards in the last month.

I lost a lot of distance from skin cancer operations (4 since January) but am getting it all back. If you want to see me hit the ball feel free to ask but ask this fitness guy to give you a demo of his new length he's gotten since I bought him his driver with the new material. Last week he tried out everything Taylormade is selling and the driver that I gave him is 30+ yards longer than anything they've got -- including superfast etal.

Lynn -

Who? Why, the soon-to-be-60-year-old-scratch-golfing-golf-fitter-who-drives-360-yards. I ain't proud. I'll play with anyone!

JM

Dick, sounds like you got your answer to the question on your driver. As I said in my answer to your question, experience with the club is the best way to know if you like it. Like it, hell a 78. YEEEHAA! Wow. Did you sleep with you driver last night? Don't lie and say it did'nt pass through your thoughts. Good for you pal. Now that's a lifetime golf memory that you can take to your grave no matter how you play in the future. Hope you keep it going. And golf three or four days a week while being a marshal at the course part time? That's my retirement plan some day too. I'm jealous buddy. Good for you:)

Ronnie:

I am all for that. Better materials produce longer drives with less dispersion (more accuracy).

If you live in the USA I will pay your airfare to San Diego and have my fitter create a driver for you and then you can see if Doc's driver (regardless of Rombax or other shaft) is longer than the one my fitter creates for you.

Your only cost would be the club head you put on the club.

Like who wants a longer drive that hits more fairways? What difference does it make that the longer drive comes from my fitter? I want the better driver and would buy one from Doc if it delivers more distance than what I have now,

You mean you don't perform emergency surgery on a 5-iron that has been wrapped around a tree ;-P