OK, OK, OK.....I finally did it.......

During the past few months, I completely revised my bag, with the exception of my putter. I went with the Taylormade R11-S, TP driver, since it gives me the option of customizing loft. I'm getting older and need a higher lofted driver. Most companies assume that if you want a driver over about 10 degrees, you must be a slicer, and in need of "help" (closed face/heel weighting). I can get my loft without closing the face or heel weighting. The most important changes are in my irons and wedges. I have always loved the feel of Mizuno MP irons, and have regretted selling my MP-60's a number of years ago. I did an extensive test session at Golfsmith, and tried all of the MP series clubs. My most consistent/tightest dispersion results were with the MP 53's. I also tried several shafts, and came back to plain vanilla Dynamic Golds. I have also replaced my wedges with the R12 Mizuno's. They have advanced a long way since I last tried Mizuno irons. They now have better sole grinds, plus with the textured faces, I am better able to control my spin on chips and pitch shots. I've retired/sold my Scratch irons, and moved to a Mizuno phase. I was surprised how solid the MP53's felt, vs. the 58's, 63's, and 68's. Basically, the MP 53's morph from a cavity back to a muscle back in the short irons. For all practical purposes, the short irons and PW in the 53's are almost identical to the 58's. I'm loving the feel and precision.
"Old dogs can learn new tricks"

I thought you were dead.

Well, by all rights, I should be......except I got some tips from my good buddy, Walt Disney, and I have been cryogenically frozen, then re-animated.

I recently got a driver with a slightly open face in 10.5* and it has been a revelation since all the ones I've had for the past 10-15 years have been closed or square with heel weighting. Maybe the next one will have adjustable weights as well. I have resisted getting one that is adjustable but the benefits seem to be too good to pass up.

Well Dorkman I never thought I would see you buying a bag full of OEM clubs with all the custom built boutique clubs you have always bagged in the past. Interesting review of the Mizuno MP series. I'm currently bagging the MP58s and haven't hit the 53s but saw a review of Mizuno series on YouTube from JPX 800 to MP 63 and the pro basically recommended the JPX 800 if you want game improvement irons or the MP53s if you are looking for players cavity backs. He couldn't see the point of the JPX Pro series saying that the MP53s fill the role of a forgiving players club and thought they were the best choice for most golfers looking for a players club that still offers forgiveness. He thought the 58s were ok too but didn't really see the point of difference and considered the 63s and 68s too unforgiving for the average golfer.

I have the 58s and love them and also have the DG shaft which works well for me. You say you have replaced every club except putter but you only mentioned driver, irons and wedges. What about fairway woods and hybrids?

[QUOTE=Kiwi Player;275985]Well Dorkman I never thought I would see you buying a bag full of OEM clubs with all the custom built boutique clubs you have always bagged in the past. Interesting review of the Mizuno MP series. I'm currently bagging the MP58s and haven't hit the 53s but saw a review of Mizuno series on YouTube from JPX 800 to MP 63 and the pro basically recommended the JPX 800 if you want game improvement irons or the MP53s if you are looking for players cavity backs. He couldn't see the point of the JPX Pro series saying that the MP53s fill the role of a forgiving players club and thought they were the best choice for most golfers looking for a players club that still offers forgiveness. He thought the 58s were ok too but didn't really see the point of difference and considered the 63s and 68s too unforgiving for the average golfer.

I have the 58s and love them and also have the DG shaft which works well for me. You say you have replaced every club except putter but you only mentioned driver, irons and wedges. What about fairway woods and hybrids?[/QUOTE]

Way to go Dorkman, now for the fun bit of doing your head in trying all the mizuno models (cause now you will never stop ;))

Kiwi, thought i would give you my take on the jpx800 pros, now i have a few rounds under my belt.
The jpx pros feel different than the 53's. The face feels hotter, and they produce a crisper sound where as the 53's have a more muted feel (very similar to the 52's). Performance wise i think its harder to work the ball with the jpx pro's. The pro's are more forgiving, not so much on toe or heel strikes but more so on thinned shots. Distance wise there is no difference, and visually when you look down at them the pro's and the 53's look very similar. The guy that did the youtube review did a later one on the jpx pro's and said how although he couldn't see the point of them initially he had really come to like them.(think he said the same about the 58's) The guy i bought the pro's off has stuck to the 53's and he loves them. His previous irons were the 62's, so he likes having more forgiveness with the same feel, where as i love the extra forgiveness of the pro's but don't mind sacrificing a bit of feel compared to the 52's, and by that i mean springier feel versus buttery in the short irons. Would like to try the 58's, but locally none of the golf stores stock a cracker of mizuno.

So Dorkman. How does it feel to have a wedge that has depreciated by about $550 that you no longer use?

[QUOTE=Not a hacker;275999]So Dorkman. How does it feel to have a wedge that has depreciated by about $550 that you no longer use?[/QUOTE]

Forgiveness is an admirable trait, NaH.
This is dorkman's way of apologizing and admitting he's been wrong. The GR Collective should welcome him back, not rehash past transgressions.
Plus, he went Mizuno with DG300's. Basically your wet dream set if your GF would ever let you out from under her thumb.

Kiwi; I have gone to the new Adams XTD hybrid, but I'm not sure about the shaft selection. I am playing an Aldila AVS shaft, because I wanted something that hit on a higher trajectory, but I think that is a shaft that might end up replaced. That is currently the weak link in the bag as far as accuracy is concerned. I am also bagging the Tour Edge Exotics CB1 5 wood with an Ozik X Con 7 shaft instead of my previous 4 wood in the same model; no big change there. It's a distance gap filling move only.

[QUOTE=Horseballs;276000]Forgiveness is an admirable trait, NaH.
This is dorkman's way of apologizing and admitting he's been wrong. The GR Collective should welcome him back, not rehash past transgressions.
Plus, he went Mizuno with DG300's. Basically your wet dream set if your GF would ever let you out from under her thumb.[/QUOTE]

Well said. NAH having a crack about the wedges was as predictable as king prawns on an Aussie BBQ . I considered pre empting NAH but thought better of it. I guess when you are under the thumb, pu$$ywhipped and emasculatced in your home life and job bullying others on an internet forum is your only outlet so we shouldn't be too tough on him. He deserves our sympathy not our wrath.

[QUOTE=Kiwi Player;276078]Well said. NAH having a crack about the wedges was as predictable as king prawns on an Aussie BBQ . I considered pre empting NAH but thought better of it. I guess when you are under the thumb, pu$$ywhipped and emasculatced in your home life and job bullying others on an internet forum is your only outlet so we shouldn't be too tough on him. He deserves our sympathy not our wrath.[/QUOTE]

NAH has been pretty relentless with the Scratch Wedge thing. It's kind of like a bully who finds out about a nickname some kid's parents calls him and then calls him that name for 15 years.

On another note, it's my birthday today so I went over to Golf Mart to check out the goods. Wouldn't you know it but I found a set of Ping i5 black dot irons, 3-PW, CS-Lite Stiff Shaft, Ping Grips for $179. After a little haggling with my regular salesman and informing him of my birthday, he let me have them for $149. The set is in excellent condition and appears to have only a few rounds on it. Oh, and on the way to the store I used my birthday coupon to get a free regular-sized sandwhich and soda at Jersey Mike's Subs. I got the Turkey and Salami done Mike's way...that's with all the fixens. I also could have played a free round at this great course named Maderas.

Bad news is that there are several fires going right now and two of them are close to where I live.

[QUOTE=famousdavis;276079]NAH has been pretty relentless with the Scratch Wedge thing. It's kind of like a bully who finds out about a nickname some kid's parents calls him and then calls him that name for 15 years.

On another note, it's my birthday today so I went over to Golf Mart to check out the goods. Wouldn't you know it but I found a set of Ping i5 black dot irons, 3-PW, CS-Lite Stiff Shaft, Ping Grips for $179. After a little haggling with my regular salesman and informing him of my birthday, he let me have them for $149. The set is in excellent condition and appears to have only a few rounds on it. Oh, and on the way to the store I used my birthday coupon to get a free regular-sized sandwhich and soda. I got the Club. I also could have played a free round at this great course named Maderas.

Bad news is that there are several fires going right now and two of them are close to where I live.[/QUOTE]

It's my wife's birthday today as well.
In all honesty, the Scratch wedge thing was pure comedy gold, but it lost its luster when dorkman quit the forum.

[QUOTE=Horseballs;276080]It's my wife's birthday today as well.
In all honesty, the Scratch wedge thing was pure comedy gold, but it lost its luster when dorkman quit the forum.[/QUOTE]

It's also OJ Simpson's birthday. Prior to 1994 that was a cool thing.

[QUOTE=dorkman53;275971]During the past few months, I completely revised my bag, with the exception of my putter. I went with the Taylormade R11-S, TP driver, since it gives me the option of customizing loft. I'm getting older and need a higher lofted driver. Most companies assume that if you want a driver over about 10 degrees, you must be a slicer, and in need of "help" (closed face/heel weighting). I can get my loft without closing the face or heel weighting. The most important changes are in my irons and wedges. I have always loved the feel of Mizuno MP irons, and have regretted selling my MP-60's a number of years ago. I did an extensive test session at Golfsmith, and tried all of the MP series clubs. My most consistent/tightest dispersion results were with the MP 53's. I also tried several shafts, and came back to plain vanilla Dynamic Golds. I have also replaced my wedges with the R12 Mizuno's. They have advanced a long way since I last tried Mizuno irons. They now have better sole grinds, plus with the textured faces, I am better able to control my spin on chips and pitch shots. I've retired/sold my Scratch irons, and moved to a Mizuno phase. I was surprised how solid the MP53's felt, vs. the 58's, 63's, and 68's. Basically, the MP 53's morph from a cavity back to a muscle back in the short irons. For all practical purposes, the short irons and PW in the 53's are almost identical to the 58's. I'm loving the feel and precision.
"Old dogs can learn new tricks"[/QUOTE]

Dorkman, first let me say that is good to see you back around and posting.

Secondly, I like your choice to play the Mizuno irons. I will chime in and add that you should try out the JPX 800s before you purchase any of the others, but if you have already purchased one of the other models, well, that automatically moves you ahead of NaH on the golf intelligence scale of things.

Finally, whenever you go all the way and put a DG shaft in your driver, you will have hit golf nirvana.

I saw something interesting at Golf Mart and took a couple of photos. These were going for $349. Golf Mart gave the guy $160 in trade. I was tempted to buy them but they have Nippon Regular shafts. Pretty cool looking irons. They had narrower soles than the US JPX 800 but the heads were bigger with more offset. Not a bad price for 4-PW, GW & SW. I know that Golf Mart gave the guy $160 in trade because on the orange tag they use the last two digits, multiply by 4 and that's the trade-in price. My sales guy told me this. This way the sales person doesn't have to go look it up on computer because it's right there on the tag. Helps me too, although I'm not supposed to know. Here's a photo:

Another photo for your viewing pleasure:

I don't like a lot of offset. That is one of the reasons I like the US version of JPX 800 irons. Even though they are GI irons, they do not have a lot of noticeable offset.

[QUOTE=Horseballs;276080]It's my wife's birthday today as well.
In all honesty, the Scratch wedge thing was pure comedy gold, but it lost its luster when dorkman quit the forum.[/QUOTE]

DM made two mistakes. First he bit when the baits were laid out. Then he compounded his error by slinking away from the forum like a hissy girl.

The scratch wedge theme is like fart gags in movies, it never gets old.

And as FD pointed out I dont let go when I smell blood on the forum. I would like to think I was also partly responsible for driving QCG from the forum when he made the ridiculous bump and run with the lob wedge comment.

[QUOTE=golfaholic;275975]I thought you were dead.[/QUOTE]Someone is always thinking DM is dead. Used to be me. Your turn. :-)

I'm a little sad you gave up on Wishon.

Welcome back and congrats on the new sticks.

I just had a reread...still hilarious.
[url]http://forums.golfreview.com/showthread.php?t=14092[/url]

[QUOTE=24putts;276205]I'm a little sad you gave up on Wishon.[/QUOTE]

Wishon makes fine clubs. I must say that I like the feel of Mizunos better, and Wishon never made very good wedges, either. (Not that anybody has to have the same brand of wedges and irons.)
To me, Mizunos have always felt better than anything else I've hit. Now, some of the OEM's are getting more savvy to some of the other issues, like sole grinds, and are definitely a better value/dollar. I really like the textured face of the Mizuno wedges, too, in addition to the feel and sole characteristics. I am able to better control spin on touch shots around the greens.

[QUOTE=Not a hacker;276127]DM made two mistakes. First he bit when the baits were laid out. Then he compounded his error by slinking away from the forum like a hissy girl.

The scratch wedge theme is like fart gags in movies, it never gets old.

And as FD pointed out I dont let go when I smell blood on the forum. I would like to think I was also partly responsible for driving QCG from the forum when he made the ridiculous bump and run with the lob wedge comment.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'll admit I did some things I'm not proud to remember. I am capable of learning from my mistakes, though. As Murphy says, "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment."

I just thought that GR was bringing out the worst in me, and I didn't like how I was acting, so I took a long hiatus. I also got very involved in some other issues that required a great deal of time, and I couldn't see continuing to spend so much time on a board where trolling and flaming were a way of life, not the exception. I don't plan on spending nearly as much time on GR as I did in the past, but still enjoy the banter. One of life's great lessons; "If people want to start a fight, the best way to react is simply to ignore them." It's not much fun for the instigator to simply shadow box.....

[QUOTE=dorkman53;276212]Yeah, I'll admit I did some things I'm not proud to remember. I am capable of learning from my mistakes, though. As Murphy says, "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment."

I just thought that GR was bringing out the worst in me, and I didn't like how I was acting, so I took a long hiatus. I also got very involved in some other issues that required a great deal of time, and I couldn't see continuing to spend so much time on a board where trolling and flaming were a way of life, not the exception. I don't plan on spending nearly as much time on GR as I did in the past, but still enjoy the banter. One of life's great lessons; "If people want to start a fight, the best way to react is simply to ignore them." It's not much fun for the instigator to simply shadow box.....[/QUOTE]

You have learned, oh grasshopper.

[QUOTE=Not a hacker;276214]You have learned, oh grasshopper.[/QUOTE]

My motto/mantra is: "DBT" (dumb, but trainable)

[QUOTE=dorkman53;276217]My motto/mantra is: "DBT" (dumb, but trainable)[/QUOTE]

Dead, but trainable is more like it.

[QUOTE=Horseballs;276221]Dead, but trainable is more like it.[/QUOTE]

Dead, but re-animated (thanks to cryogenics and those electrodes in my neck)......but somehow, "DBRABT" just doens't quite roll off the tongue......"DBT" is more compact, and almost sounds like an insecticide....

[QUOTE=famousdavis;276079]Wouldn't you know it but I found a set of Ping i5 black dot irons, 3-PW, CS-Lite Stiff Shaft, Ping Grips for $179. After a little haggling with my regular salesman and informing him of my birthday, he let me have them for $149. The set is in excellent condition and appears to have only a few rounds on it.[/QUOTE]

I think I am on my 6th year with my i5 CS-Lite stiff black dots (plus the 2-iron)... paid a bit more than you but as you may know, it the only set I have used in 6 years. I am bizzaro golf review... no iron ho'ing, I may be looking for a new putter though.

As far as irons, I may even be set up forever. My dad can't play much anymore and I got him an i5 red dot set stiff with cushion inserts... looks like when my bones wear down and my hands get arthritic my retirement set may be ready to go.

[QUOTE=CPS;276304]I think I am on my 6th year with my i5 CS-Lite stiff black dots (plus the 2-iron)... paid a bit more than you but as you may know, it the only set I have used in 6 years. I am bizzaro golf review... no iron ho'ing, I may be looking for a new putter though.

As far as irons, I may even be set up forever. My dad can't play much anymore and I got him an i5 red dot set stiff with cushion inserts... looks like when my bones wear down and my hands get arthritic my retirement set may be ready to go.[/QUOTE]

The Ping i5 iron was indeed designed for the astute golfer who plays for score rather than for show. The i5 features a compact head design, minimal offset and a sandblasted finish that wil surely last forever.

One could say that the CS-Lite shaft is a perfect compliment for the well-designed head. When hit flush, the club delivers the perfect combination of feel, crisp contact and penetrating trajectory.

Unlike the gigantic shovel JPX-800, the i5 has a traditional profile designed for the better player. In contrast to the never ending line of Mizuno MP and MX products, the i5 will not wear out after 2 seasons of play.

When your fellows see that you bag i5s they will know you mean business. The GFF crowd came to scoff but eventually they followed.

[QUOTE=famousdavis;276307]The Ping i5 iron was indeed designed for the astute golfer who plays for score rather than for show. The i5 features a compact head design, minimal offset and a sandblasted finish that wil surely last forever.

One could say that the CS-Lite shaft is a perfect compliment for the well-designed head. When hit flush, the club delivers the perfect combination of feel, crisp contact and penetrating trajectory.

Unlike the gigantic shovel JPX-800, the i5 has a traditional profile designed for the better player. In contrast to the never ending line of Mizuno MP and MX products, the i5 will not wear out after 2 seasons of play.

When your fellows see that you bag i5s they will know you mean business. The GFF crowd came to scoff but eventually they followed.[/QUOTE]

Yes the i5 indeed stands out as one of the few Ping irons that actually resembles a golf club.