The technology is always improving, but I don't like the latest trend toward 460 cc drivers. Too big, too obnoxious, and I can't feel whether I am hitting the ball well with a driver that size.

But I think they lose their "pop" after a few years. Maybe the shaft loses something, too. I'd like to demo a few different clubs in the coming months and find a replacement for my current driver.

It's especially important if you wrap yours around a tree, or it's scraped up from throwing it down the cart path...?

I was playing with a friend at the Chardonnay course in Napa, and this is a guy whom I have never heard swear, let alone get mad at a shot he made. He's the type of golfer that remembers virtually every shot at every hole at every course he's ever played ("hey, remember when we were at Spyglass, and on 3, I hit that 8-iron that got smothered in the flag and almost got the ace?" as well as many, many more obscure and long forgotten shots that he always remembers). Anyway, until that day, I have never seen anything but an even keel when, all of a sudden, he just shanks a 4-iron approach, and just lets the thing FLY!!! All the way into a fenced off vineyard. Quite the distance, accuracy, velocity, trajectory...the sunlight hit it just right...

Some people calls it a shank...I likes ta calls it a hosel fade...um-hmmm.

[he hopped the fence and chased it down...]

I had a custom made driver in high school that I absolutely loved. Seemed like I could not hit it wrong and it felt great.

So I'm at the driving range and a buddy asks if he can try it out. Unfortunately, it was an indoor range (in the middle of winter), so we were hitting off of those turf mats. Long story short, the dude took one swing, smacked the head into the mat and snapped the shaft right at the hosel.

So much for that club.

Until last year I was using an 80's era Taylor Made 'Tour Burner' and resisted the giant, oversized drivers that were becoming prevalent. I hated the look of these behemoths and thought that they didn't suit the purist in me.

Finally, after a lot of cajoling I tried a modest 400 sized one and hit the ball easily farther than I ever hit the old driver.

I now own a NIKE Ignite 460 and 3 thru 5 MIZUNO woods. My old driver isn't as big as my new 5 wood.

I still hate the look of the game improvement irons though and use sleek new MIZUNO forged blades.

I had the opportunity to play a round with a Ping G2 460 cc and admit that it is confidence inspiring. I hit it pretty far with consistency. But the thing that got me was how hard it is to "feel" the shot. Once in a blue moon, I can actually hit a fade or a draw on purpose. With that club, I didn't feel confident trying that. It was much easier to stand there and try to crush the ball.

Some of those driver-heads are like a beer can on a stick...they work, but at what aesthetic cost?

As for irons, PJ, I could never get used to any of the Ping...the way they look when you set up, it seems like everything is hooked. Too odd. And confidence over the ball is everything.

I took my young daughter out to golf a couple of times over the past few weeks, and we played a regulation size course that is divided up into 9 holes...and we played only 9. I decided I would take THREE clubs only. I took a putter, a 52 degree wedge, and once a 7 iron (a '69 Wilson Staff...), and another time, a custom Spalding 6 iron. My score was within a couple of strokes of what it would have been with a full bag!

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As for irons, PJ, I could never get used to any of the Ping...the way they look when you set up, it seems like everything is hooked. Too odd. And confidence over the ball is everything.

My first set was the Ping Eye 2 (black dot). Outstanding clubs. But once they started with the Zings and the heads started to get fatter, I began to look at other manufacturers. Their more recent irons are an improvement, but I prefer Taylor Mades now.

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Originally posted by Coriolanus:

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As for irons, PJ, I could never get used to any of the Ping...the way they look when you set up, it seems like everything is hooked. Too odd. And confidence over the ball is everything.

My first set was the Ping Eye 2 (black dot). Outstanding clubs. But once they started with the Zings and the heads started to get fatter, I began to look at other manufacturers. Their more recent irons are an improvement, but I prefer Taylor Mades now.

I think that it might have something to do with what you started playing with. I started with some store brand Golden Bear's and then Wilson Staffs. I too, hated the looks of the Pings when they first came out and now some of the game improvement clubs look as large as the flight deck on an aircraft carrier.

Plus, when you hit a forged iron you get immediate feedback, good or bad, and I like that.

I tried hitting the Zing when they first came out. Felt like (and looked like) they were upside down at setup!

The Zings were way too crazy with the perimeter weighting. Their recent models are nice, however. They are much more conventional.

The Zings were terrible. IMO, so were the ISIs. The i3s were nice, the new I5s are awesome, almost Eye2-esque.

I went back to playing the Eye2s after an unfortunate injury where I had to have a surgical screw inserted in my wrist which affect my range of motion. I just wasn't able to repeat a swing consistantly enough to play a low offset muscle back. Since switching back about 2 seasons ago to the Eye2s my hcp is down 6 strokes. Proably the smartest golf equipment descision I have ever made.

I've got a set of the original square groove Eye-2 in BeCu, before it was listed as a hazardous substance, and before they went to the "+" grind, that have never been hit. A client gave them to me (note...not gifted...) years ago. Might be time to go on ebay with them and maybe pick up a sense of humor while I'm at it. LOL!

I couldn't handle the setup for the Eye2, the Zing, the ISI...and pretty much gave up trying. Everything went hard left and I just didn't feel right standing over the ball. I do like my Mizuno's, though...nice grind.

I'm using a Callaway Big Bertha Titanium for the last couple of years and love it....but....clubs are like computers, something bigger and better comes out every year and your new club from the year before is now out-of-date.