2010 essentials, Part 1

With the 2010 LPGA season almost upon us (try in 13 days, AHHH!!!) I have decided that I am going to spend more time blogging. I mean, come on, I have not blogged in weeks! Shame on me! Tragic, I know. It doesn't help that I do not bust out a new entry in like two minutes, either. There are a lot of thought processes that go into a somewhat decent entry... So today, we are throwing that out the window! Let us see what kind of nonsense I am able to toss out in the twenty six minutes I have until my 90 min massage!
I have spent the last few weeks honing in on my skills, tinkering with new clubs, trying different ball configurations, and the whole lot. I (as of now) am fairly set on the current sticks in my bag.
I have gone through a few changes in my bag this offseason. Having had a good amount of success with my beloved TaylorMade r9, I called it quits, and now I have a Callaway FT-9 driver, set with a 7.5 degree head, opened to something along the lines of 7.2 degrees. It has taken Callaway a bit of time to get a head to set comfortably at 7.5 degrees, and I understand completely, as it is a loft of the old regime. I kick it old school still. With punch shots with everything, driver included. This thing is pretty damned hot, I won't lie. My favorite driver ever was an FT-3 that I used from 2006-2009 (I'm extremely loyal, my irons used to be HGs that I used for nearly a decade), but it broke when I touched down in Rio de Janiero, Brazil in Jan of 2009 and I had been fighting to find one that fits me since. I think we have a winner, though!
I still have the 3-wood that I picked up in France in 2008, a Callaway X 3W set at 13 degrees. It's been my baby forever, and as of right now I am thoroughly pleased with it. Hybrids are still from TM, a 4 and a 3 hybrid, which I finally broke down and tried out during the US Women's Open in 2009. They are almost like cheating. I do miss my TM r7 5Wood from like, 1966, but times had changed and I had to whiddle down the gaps I had in my long irons and my wedges. It took me years to admit it, but HYBRIDS RULE!
My new Titleist ap2s are fantastic. I got them a few weeks back, and had my boy Randall work and tweak them to perfection. I mean, he weighed every grip and added shavings of lead tape to the heads so that the clubs were all within a thousandth of a swing weight of one another. Mad skills, and now my irons are lethal. I used to use and loved my TM TP racs, but now I truly feel like I could stand over a ball, with a huge gorge between the green and myself, and damned near hole out. Mad props to Randall!
Wedges... Oh the battle, it still continues. I have my TaylorMade racs, with the new 2010 conforming grooves, but I have to decide (still, I know..) whether I should go with 54/58 degrees as I have done this last season, or if I should go back OLD SCHOOL with my 52/56/60 configuration. The groove regulation has not affected me to any great extent, but I think a lot of that reasoning is because the wedges are new, and heck, I used to use wedges that were nearly grooveless bc I loved them and refused to get new ones.
I still have my Callaway White Ice Sabertooth putter (used to be called the White Hot, but they went with a gunmetal finish and black accents, unlike the satin silver and red trimmed White Hot), with Cotton Candy written in pink on the sole. Long story, nicknames... hahahaha!!!!
Still pretty set on using my Titleist ProV1X ball, as I thought about and tinkered with the regular ProV1, but I am not sure yet. Either way, so long as the ball says Titleist on it, I will be comfortable. It truly is amazing what something as simple as a few letters can do to someone's comfort level. I tried the Bridgestone ball, and as much as I loved it, for some odd reason, the fact that Titleist wasn't staring back at me,  during many a crucial shot in a tournament, my mind would flip out. There's a lot to be said for change, and in many ways, I love change. But at the same time, certain things mean comfort, and comfort can guide you to security and success. Might be something to think about. Anyway, this took me 13 minutes to type, I am feeling proud of myself, and so having said that, I am going to head to the sauna pre-massage. More in-depth entries to come, I promise! But the thought of flushing toxins is just too tempting and my body demands it! I'm out! Hugsies to all!!!
P.S. I have a mad tweetlebrity (pretty sure that's not a word, but whatever) crush on @johnraser as well as @ebassprod. John is a great guy, supremely witty, and such a cutie. Oh, and he grew out long luscious locks of hair to donate to Locks of Love. I did a similar thing for the P&G Pantene ProV Beautiful Lengths in September, so I think that calls for him to be even more awesome. He is on the road to the PGA Tour, and I have no doubt in my mind that he will succeed and then have to fend off all the hot little girls that watch PGA tour events in miniskirts and high heels (in grass.. I mean, really ladies? Sinking into the mud wouldn't seem like a "hot" thing to do in my opinion, but what do I know). I will just crush from afar. He is great and his website is insightful, witty, and besides, he is just so cute!!! Hugs to John!
And Eric Bass is the bass player for the amazing rock band Shinedown. He is a writer, a musical genius(knowing how to play the bass, guitar, piano, and trombone. Trust me, if I knew him back in high school when he played, I'd be all over that!), producer, uber hot, and plays to a 6 handicap! AMAZING!! He said we should play a round in Charleston when he has some downtime, but I find it hard to believe one of the hottest bands in this day and age would find any downtime to go hit the links with lil ol me. Still... A girl can dream! Massagey time!!!!!