I apologize to my regular readers for the rather lengthy time frame since my last posting. This has been one of the more vicious Texas Winters I can remember, and since 3 of the 4 courses in my regular rotation reside just below the flood plain, it has been hard to get a good round or two in over the past several months, let alone the several rounds needed to affirm, and then re-affirm what will be in the bag for the season. Well, after regaining 15 MPH of my former swing speed since this summer's heart attack, the bag is finally in some semblance of where she needs to remain for the season. Here we go.

Driver--9.5* Aurora with Accuflex Stiff Shaft. This club is an absolute distance monster thanks to the legendary "Aurora Driver Head" made of forged Aermet Steel, and forged at none other than The Kobe Steel Works in Japan. The Accuflex Shaft is phenomenal, and now that I have rediscovered my swing plane--it's only a matter of time until I'm splitting a few down a sun- baked Texas Fairway for 285-300 yards.

Safety Driver--This is a 10* club with the length cut to 43.5". It comes in at 330cc's vs the 440 cc's of my driver. I hate hitting 3 woods off of the tee, and this thing is darned near as long as the driver. It ought to be, as it too is an Advanced Golf Technology Club manufactured at The Same Kobe Steel Works, and it too is made of forged Aermet Steel. When I step up to the tee, and need The World's Easiest 200 yards down a narrow fairway, I pull this baby out and give her a nice even tempoed 75% swing.

3 Wood--This is my first 15* 3 Wood in many moons. I have almost always played a strong 3 at 13*. With the Safety Driver now an integral part of my bag, my 3 wood no longer has to do double duty. Besides, this 15* Monster is just as long as an old 12* 2 wood I used to carry around, but it's so much easier to hit. It too is an Advanced Golf Technology Club made at the Kobe Steel Works and forged of Aermet Steel.

My long irons have been replaced, but I no longer carry a 5 or 7 Wood. Instead I have 3,4, and 5 numbered hybrids. They are the Adams A4 OS Models with the Graphite Design YSQ Hi Launch Shafts. These are great clubs from 185 on in. I can't tell you how many strokes I've sawed off of my game by swinging one of these at 60% instead of flailing away with a long or mid iron. It's the best move I've made in sometime, and it feels good to go pin-seeking from long distance again. A word of warning though--unless you are playing a 3 piece urethane covered ball, you'd better launch it high if you expect it to stop from 180 out on these hard winter greens. Springtime or not--they haven't softened up yet, and may take another month or so to do it.

I still carry a 7 Iron, as that is one easy club to hit. Besides, it's a Wilson Di-9, so it really plays like an old school 5 iron. From there I jump to Pitching Wedge, Approach Wedge, and Gap Wedge--these are all steel shafted Wilson Di-9's so they play at least one club stronger than labeled. I personally like the feel of these particular Wilsons, and though they were bought as stop gap clubs after my heart attack, they may actually end up staying in my bag for at least 2 more seasons.

My 54* Sand Wedge, 58* Lob Wedge, and 62* Flop Wedge are all Nickent Arc Wedges. One of the first things John Hoeflich did after leaving TaylorMade and attempting to save Nickent Golf was to take this very good design, and regrind the soles similar to the soles one sees on tour. These Nickent Arc Wedges are about the closest thing to a tour van wedge you will find in an off the rack version. If you have a club fitter or do any of your own sole grinding you will see what I mean. Sadly, they are already obsolescent thanks to the new rules of competition, but I plan on keeping them for at least 2 more years, whereupon I will probably upgrade to the new Clevelands, The new score lines between zip grooves pattern works exceptionally well for my swing.

My Flatstick remains the Scotty Cameron Detour Mallet. This putter is definitely not for everyone. It was probably the only commercial flop in the entire Scotty Cameron line. Fortunately for me--it fits my putting stroke perfectly, so I own not only one, but 2 of these gems. I picked them up for $80 apiece, and thank my lucky stars that someone finally built a putter to fit my rather unorthodox pseudo pendulum/slightly arced at impact and follow through/ hybrid putting stroke.

These are all clubs I feel safe recommending. I have been experimenting with all the new balls this year as I am currently on the last 2 Dozen of my beloved "New and Improved" Wilson PX 3's that were discontinued here in The States roughly4 years ago, as well as the last 10 Dozen Bridgestone B-330s (Discontinued 3 piece version) Golf Balls in my inventory. This should carry me through the rest of this season, and the first half of next season, but I've already been on the lookout for the next ball to re-stock my inventory with. So far--the new Wilson FG Tour is the winner. I highly recommend that ball, as well as all the clubs, as esoteric as some of them may be, listed here in my bag. Have a great day--and thanks again for dropping by. Hit 'em long and straight.

Bernie

Opportunity Knocks During The Great Recession

• It's been 6 months since the heart attack. The Nickent Woods have paid their dues as I have slowly rebuilt my swing speed. Thanks to the recession, the Nickent Woods were bought for a song, and they came with the upgraded V2 Shafts no less. It's a shame when good companies go bankrupt, but it does give the poor beleaguered golfers of the world, such as yours' truly, the opportunity to acquire top notch equipment on the cheap. This is very handy when going through life changing transitions such as cardio rehab.
  
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• Since the heart attack, when my driver swing speed plummeted from 103 MPH to a rather meager 80 MPH, I have worked incessantly on width of swing arc, synchronization of hip turn, smoothness of transition, working on a "Turn Away" instead of a "Take Away", and just about anything necessary to try and regain lost swing speed. After six months, I have managed to get my swing speed back to 95 MPH. Because of that fact, the Regular Flex OEM shafts in my woods, which I desperately needed after the heart attack, are now a tad on the noodley side. The 3 Wood and 5 Wood are still in the bag for now, but the driver and 7 Wood have since been pulled.
  
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• The Driver, which was perfect for my swing 15 MPH ago, is now, due to a faster swing, A Duck Hook machine. Despite a weakened grip, the shaft is no longer resistant to a more aggressive swing, and the closed face it left the factory with has now become a hindrance rather than a help. I'm not complaining, as it was easily the best driver for the job when I desperately needed her. The 7 Wood was simply a helper club until I began building my swing speed back up past 90 MPH. I still recommend 7 Woods to those who no longer hit their mid irons as far as they used to, but don't care for hybrids. Both clubs have served their purposes well, but with the resurgence of a lot of my old swing speed I have moved to a driver with a stiffer shaft, and away from the 7 Wood and back to mid irons.

Meanwhile, the recession continues to create opportunities for those in the midst of transition. For those of us who have been playing this silly game for any length of time, the names Advanced Golf Technology and Accuflex should ring a bell. Both companies have taken the gas in the midst of this economic downturn and gone belly up. Because of this, I have been able to acquire several amazing prototype heads from "Advanced Golf Technology", and some of the best shafts ever built from Accuflex. The combination is one I am surprised I have not read about anywhere else.

I now have some of the longest woods known to mankind, and I am in the midst of reorganizing my bag accordingly. I may even put a Fairway Driver in there. I will update the blog shortly, but let's just say, between the 20+ wood heads, and numerous shafts I've managed to acquire for less than $100, there's a lot of experimentation going on. I'll post some results shortly. Let's just say--despite all the opportunity in the YARDAGE+ Category--7 of my 14 clubs remain Short Game Oriented. 6 Wedges and a putter. It paid off in yesterday's round, but like any other testosterone driven red-blooded American Male Golfer--I'm still looking for that magic "Extra 20 Yards" off the tee box. See you next time.

Bernie