What language r u all speaking?

[EnglishGolfer]

I've played golf for 20 years since age 9 and I worked in golf retail 11 years ago, but I've got to admit that some of the terminology you chaps use is losing me. The main example is "puring". When I was still in with a chance of turning pro (before the weight of the world stomped all over my dreams) all anyone used to look for in a club was the flex which was either stiff, regular or womens. If you were a perfectionist you might look at the torque.

By "launch monitors" do you mean those things where you whack a ball and it tells you how many degrees open/closed the face is, club head speed and plane of swing or is it something more complicated than that nowadays?

At what point do you think you need to start looking into all this stuff? I'd have thought that most people are wasting their money until they get to 13/14 h'cap at the absolute most. Up to that point a cheap set of cavity back irons with regular shafts by a reputable company is perfectly sufficient.

However, I am often known to be wrong.

[DouginGA]

I tend to agree with you EG. but then again I have never known the feeling of topping a new $400 driver to just short of the ladies tee either. ( I do that with my old driver)

[Matthew_22]

I really don't think any of that technology is worth it, unless maybe you are a top proffessional looking to get just the slightest edge over your competition.

Before any of this technology was produced there was still top golfers. And anyway, 99% of golfers wouldn't know what to do if there club was slightly off-angle anyway.

When it comes down to it, you can't buy your way to the top.

[Pa Jayhawk]

As somone who has never carried lower than a 15 handicap, I would pretty much agree that it is not very important to my game, and I try to stay away from even changing anything with my clubs unless I feel it is absolutely necessary. I have played for 6 years and only changed clubs once for the sole purpose of going to a stiffer shaft because my ball flight was all over the place. On the flip side, I pretty much live for technology and advances in technology, so I like to know about all of the stuff, but not necessarily spend money on it unless I can have a little fun with the change. A good example is the Check-GO. What else can you find for around $20 that can keep you occupied for a short time and may (or may not) help you out. Another example are alot of the fine books out there, and even this forum. I do not utilize half the stuff I read, although maybe I should, but I like reading about it and knowing how it works. Launch Monitors amaze me simply for the technical side, sure they are better than hitting into a net, but not as good as seeing the actual ball flight. They help for choosing a club, but I would prefer being able to demo on the course or at a range.

So in a nutshell I don't really require the technical advances in golf (and in life), but for me I enjoy at least knowing about them. Just my curious nature.

[Davebud]

I am that way as well, I have to know whats going on out there in the world, even if it has no realized application to my life. I have been that way with astronomy for 15 years now, I have bought one new telescope in the last 6 years. I still faithfully peruse every catalog I get, trying to keep up with leading edge of the technological improvements being made every year. I have only been golfing for about 8 months now and most of that has been through the winter so, really more like 4 months. I am improving my equipment for this but not with the latest stuff, just with higher quality stuff. Cleveland wedges would be a good example, had crap wedges, I am working towards all 588's in the bag, second one will be here this week.