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First I want to thank all of you for the support through last year. I had some great success and some frustrating defeats. I made great strides in my swing and mental toughness and I still have a long way to go. This thread will be where I post my schedule and prep for the upcoming season, you can also follow on instagram @KCLeonardGolf. I have a very busy schedule this year with more high level tournaments than I played last year. I will be playing the VGA again this year. I have the SCGA Mid-Am, US Mid-Am, All Navy Tryouts, All Armed Forces(if I make All Navy), I plan on playing in 2 city Am events as well. First up is the SCGA Mid-Am qualifier on March 18th. I played my first practice round on the course yesterday and will be playing another in a few weeks.

... This reminds me of a training film I narrated for a financial advisor in KC many years ago. It showed how investing $50 a month (if I remember the $ correctly) starting in your early 20's would make you a millionaire. I commented may people in their 20's just aren't ready to invest barely covering their bills with their paychecks and while his response was about investing, it applies to so many other walks of life "The best time to start investing is when you are young. The second best time is right now". So sounds like you are taking his advice and starting right now.

Bought this for my back as suggested by my chiropractor...I'm going to practice being a bat!

Made some smoked pork sandwiches for dinner tonight. My wife made garlic toast from buns from a local bakery.

I just updated to the new version (12/19/20018) and also recalibrated my android smartphone gyroscope sensor. All worked out! All shots where recognized and stored. No issue with battery life. My battery went from 55% down to 39% within 18 holes or 3.5 hours. There seems to be a decent development for Android users, well at least for mine. best, Henning

Ditto Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Just remember that the Trackman device is measuring club head speed at the ball while the radar is before the ball - there has to be a difference. Plus I believe it extrapolates club head speed based upon ball speed. I will take ball speed every time because that's what is going to determine distance. Increased ball speed really gets me amped! I should add is that my ultimate goal is to get to 140 here.

40 degrees today but no wind so could play in a compression top and jumper. Hit the ball pretty well but still shot 82...........my short game is pretty poor this time of year. Spoke to the pro and signed up for 6 lessons as he is a Driver and wedge expert and hits the ball like I can only dream of

Guys, this is awesome. It might be the coolest thing I've ever purchased. [So much for subtlety in a review.] I've still got a ways to go before I'm ready to write a full review. But my early impressions are very positive. The biggest downside: there are too many shots it simply fails to read. For me, it has especially struggled on full and high wedge shots. Did a test today with two different patterns on the ball: lines and Truvis-like pattern (I have a little template for each of these). The lined ball seemed to be doing better, until Kirke shanked it into the dark corners of the garage, from whence we could not find it. The other smaller negative: the delay between the shot and its result. I didn't find this too awful, but it is mildly irritating. The best part: the depth of the software. It's not just giving you all the ball data; it sets up drills and keeps records for how you're doing. This is where I see it having massive benefits for my game. Today, I did a short game test: three shots to each of six targets. Here are the results: That kind of information is so helpful. I've got a problem around 100 yards, which doesn't surprise me: it's the upper limit of my 54° wedge. I also pull everything left. Now I have something to work on, and immediate feedback to know if I'm getting better. I'm planning on venturing over to @revkev's thread on coaching vs. self-teaching, but I'll say this: this is the kind of tool that those of us who go without coaching (for whatever reason) can use to make legit progress. I'm incredibly excited at the possibilities this season presents now.

When you are hitting a ball, you'll want position the radar at 45 degrees and the ball at least a foot from the radar and a couple of inches ahead of the radar. Sent from my SM-G955U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

I guess this will do for a baseline driver swing. Still kinda working out the positioning of the radar. Sent from my Pixel 3 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Man! What an awesome looking set! My first thought are if you drive them to the course in a blacked-out Cadillac and play while wearing Blues Brothers' or Reservoir Dogs attire...JK! Seriously, well done!

Added pic of my "Dad Juice"... I did mention above that I had Evan Williams on hand, but was mistaken...Ezra Brooks really. Still hits the spot and "builds bodies"...

I hope not to make many changes this year but I am sure there will be a few. With all these new drivers coming out and incredible claims that club will likely change at some point. Everything else is pretty set. I may refresh the wedges and get new grooves. I have been trying the PXG mini Gunboat H and its been so good. It may finally beat out my beloved Buttonback Newport 2 that has been in the bag for 5 years. The thing I like most about the PXG is the alignment line, with it I have been able to start more putts online. The biggest issue is adjusting to the difference in feel off the face. Ping G400 LST 8.5 set to 7.5 with Tensei Pro White 70TX PXG 0341 3 wood 13.5* HZRDUS Yellow 76 6.5 Ben Hogan FT Worth Hi 20* KBS Tour V 120X Ben Hogan FT Worth Black 4-P KBS Tour V 120X Ben Hogan Equalizers 50,55,60 KBS Tour V PXG Mini Gunboat H/ Scotty Cameron Buttonback Newport 2 Snell MTB Black and Red

In theory this should be a great MGS topic. I just read a Titleist Q and A with Charles Howell III in which he ended by saying that you can’t play good golf with clubs off the rack. I don’t agree. I agree that you won’t give yourself the best chance to play good golf with clubs off the rack but if you have Howell any random box set from KMart and let me have my custom set - I’m betting on Howell by a long shot! Clearly the Indian is the most important part of the equation. So I’m wondering if there is a way to quantify how much better the Indian can get by going from off the rack self taught to fit with lessons. Here’s my story in this regard: As a kid I played every sport in its season. The problem was that tennis, swimming, baseball and golf were all in the same season in Connecticut and baseball always won out. So I played golf sporadically until my senior year of college when a bout with mono and an enlarged spleen took me down. No contact sports for a year - enter golf! My $75 student pass at the local muni allowed me to play a lot. I got pretty good although I don’t know what my handicap was - mid single digits I’d guess - I could break 70 or shoot 85 - very inconsistent. That type of play continued throughout young adulthood until I attended a Jimmy Ballard three day thing. The total retool took a couple of years to settle in but by the time I graduated from Seminary I was very consistent - you could just pick a number between 72-78 write it down and move on. My handicap remained stuck between 4-5 for the next decade. The clubs that I was using were static fit irons, Eye 2’s and I did pay attention to stuff like tapping and bounce on my wedges but nothing like now. My first real fitting was for driver and it came with some lessons - my church had a class A pro and he really helped. As I moved to Florida he had me in a driver ver that fit, had shortened my swing a bit, using a 4 wood for more loft and better results with fairway wood and most importantly convinced me to play a premium golf ball. The handicap dropped to 3. I played in a league in Florida that had a strong group of players in it. Those guys invited me to play in another game that included some really strong players - including some mini tour types. I found a teacher, worked hard on my short game, got fit for putter and my handicap went down to 1 and stayed there for the better part of 3 seasons. An illness, work and family demands plus a lack of fitness undid all that so now I’m fighting my way back. To tally it all up the difference for me between off the rack and self taught was about 5 strokes - assuming I was a 6 in college (reasonable) - I got to a 4-5 through attending the golf school (with a lot of work afterwards), a 3 with further instruction, a driver and golf ball fitting and a 1 with work on the short game and a putter fitting. I should add that a part of the move from 3 to 1 was playing much more competitive golf. My course management skills were greatly enhanced by being forced to figure out ways to score every week, sometimes twice a week, over the course of three years. There will be lots of times when you don’t have it. You’d be amazed at the number of different ways there are to make par on a hole or save bogey and also how bogeys instead of others can help! Thoughts from the Community? How have or would lessons and a full fitting benefit you? Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

My final level two workout is in the books - I'm not going to give an update because I will have a stage two review coming in the next week or so. Out of excitement I've already spilled some of the beans. I will say that this was the first week that I was over 100 as a top speed non-dominant - last step through of the week with the Red did it for me! I've also got my closing driver swing speed on the radar (the batteries in Voice Caddy were dead so I didn't get that device involved - I will bring it to the course tomorrow afternoon to see how I'm doing with for real shots.) So it will be interesting to see how I'm faring start to finish with SuperSpeed. I started at 91 and was at 96 after the first level. Generally you don't gain as much with the second level as the first and most of the speed gain occurs in these first two levels. Stay tuned....

This made me laugh out loud. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Man you're fast. Oh and I'll take veteran as well thank you!

At work they’re laughing at me because I’m cranking them out here. Giving em 20 every 2 hours. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Congrats to Texas. You had the better team at the Sugar Bowl. We'll be back in the top five next season and close the deal. Go Dawgs!

Hey gang...I added all the tester 18 badges...but we had quite a few and I may have either missed some guys or accidentally removed one of your existing badges - if you see that shoot me a PM and I'll fix it immediately. Apologies in advance! Should be all set now...sorry for the error.

So I just bought some tp5x on eBay, so I’ll roll with them for a while and see what happens. Kind of a fun little chat here eh?

Stud & crew, I apologize for being a pain, but could y 'all add back in my "Broke 90" tag? It disappeared just after the awesome addition of the "tester 2018" tag. Thanks all!

We were at my buddy's brewery tonight. Midnight Brewery in Rockville, VA. Drinking the blood orange IPA and the brown ale. Boy am I lucky my wife loves beer.

I've tried the "slime" as a mitigation tool with new tires and tubes with my daughter's bikes over the years and yeah...it just doesn't work that way. As stated before, it was meant for an emergency situation I suppose. We have those nasty goat heads here too and going off-road is pure death. Solid tires are the way to go IMHO.

You guys in the midwest aren't familiar with these desert weeds. These weeds also grow in normal golf course rough if the rough is thin, so it's not just areas off the normal course. I have them growing in parts of my lawn. They are attracted to irrigated areas, and the only way to really get rid of them is to choke them out with grass. It's a never ending battle, because my irrigation water comes from ditches where they grow, so seeds come in with the water.

Slime is an emergency inflator - not intended to be a buffer between the tube and the tire. Since you already have new tubes installed why not just stay out of the prickly stuff? Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

Jim Beam Bonded.

Day 4 in the books. I’m definitely going to have to alternate days between knuckle and palm push ups. Starting to get sore hands, and some callus will form if I continue the palm push ups. Maybe some gloves, or a bar... something.

Would you believe 50 and sunny in northwest Ohio today. Got to the driving range today - the driver worked great. - very pleased with the progress I've made especially on the narrow ball dispersion. Distance wasn't great but I'm focused on accuracy and those range balls were pretty beaten up rocks. Once that brain/muscle memory is locked in distance will be worked on. Short irons worked pretty well also, long irons not so much. My wife got me 2 - 1/2 hr lessons for Christmas and my birthday so I guess I know what I'll be working on with my instructor. BTW I hate hitting off the mats with my irons. Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

I found the Chrome Soft X to be MUCH harder than TP5X. I bought them based on a statement from a buddy at Callaway, and I hated them from the first time I hit them out of the box.SO hard. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Added myself to make it half a dozen Scots here now.

Overcast in the low 70’s warming to 79* today. Decided to try an experiment. Played my PowerBilt set today as follows: Air Force One Driver, 3W, 5W, 3H, 4-SW with Apollo graphite shafts. Topped off with my SC Kombi. These clubs have been in my garage for about 8 years unused. I regripped them with Lamkins about 2 years ago but did not play them. My driver has a Winn grip that pretty much fell apart in my hands, but boy howdy could I hit it. 10 - 15 yards farther than my Cobra F8......isn’t that amazing? The irons are standard lie, and I need 2* Flat so I choked up about an inch to hit them....Three approach shots landed inside 3’ of the Pin. Prob won’t keep playing them but it was fun today. Think I’ll regrip the Driver and try them tomorrow. BTW, I shot a 42/45:87. Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

I used the exact same SwingSpeed radar unit for each of my testing periods. I was also at an indoor Trackman simulator for the Week 6 and Week 14 (today) test, and the SS radar was consistently 3-5 mph higher than what Trackman would register. For $100 versus a $20k Trackman the radar is pretty accurate and consistent.

Quick PSA about the tester badges: 1) If you tested this year, you got a 2018 badge. No need to request these. 2) To get a 2019 badge, you must complete Stage 2 in any 2019 test. 3) These badges will be on a 2 year roll. So once 2020 hits, the 2018 badge will go away...and so on. Carry On

ER2.2, Glide 2.0 Stealth in 50,54,58, and a 4i replacement, maybe an 818h1 if none of the 2019 hybrids pique my interest. Sent from my Pixel 3 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

I was able to hit the ST190 at the Des Moines expo, it is awesome! It felt better the the Cobra F9, Titleist TS2, and was comparable (in sound and feel - no launch monitor data was available) to the ping G410. Sent from my SM-N960U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Slow start as time kinda caught up with me with work and a few other commitments, however been at 60+ for 3 days running. Elbow joint keeps creaking which isn't great, but no pain. Definitely feels good doing a set amount so far and will look to ramp up this weekend into next week.

I'm up to 1 minute, although I think I could go longer.

To me, the TP5x is softer feeling than the XV. The XV almost feels like a CSX to me. TP5x and ProV1x feel almost identical across every club for me, but the V1x just launches so high, I love it. Might try to scoop up more of the 2018 version on the cheap when the new one hits shelves, paying $48 a dozen is lame, but I'll gladly pay $39.99. I loved the stopping power I got with the Tour B XS, and there's the "tiger plays it" factor (yes I'm that shallow) but the ball flight is ugly to me, more of a mid piercing one. Sent from my Pixel 3 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Not really a fan of the looks, but I hit a few shots with one of my buddy’s and I really liked the results....will have to give these a shot Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

If you're going to help your buddy find his ball, just leave the cart outside the weed patch. But if the problem persists, the solid rubber tires are the best solution.

Why the regular z star over the xv? Isn't xv closer to x in performance?

So ugly. I’ve never liked their PM grind. Yuck. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I probably worded this a bit wrong, it wouldn't be someone who's never played golf before, but isn't someone who's avid or be able to help me make decisions. But, I will say in my 9 hole round I played last year for my Mizuno test with my girlfriend with me taking photos, she had no idea what she was doing and I shot +1 on a course I hadn't seen before while helping her get in the right spot for good shots. Time will tell, still in the planning stages and may decide to go a different route than the caddie thing anyway.

160 today. Shoulder pain is gone... found my remedy.

First time on this thread in a few days. Texas was ready and I just don't know what to think of my Dawgs, they got their butts whipped much worse than the score indicated IMO. I have read an interesting stat since the game that I guess is really relevant only to gamblers but since the playoffs began the #5 rated team (the first team out of the playoffs) has now lost 4 of 5 of their bowl games, only tOSU won one and that was last year. I guess most college age kids are not mature enough to handle the disappointment of barely missing the playoffs so then self motivation becomes a huge problem for coaching staffs. I'm not making an excuse as I said above Texas beat UGA much worse than that final score but I did find the #5 bowl winning percentage telling. As always Go Dawgs!

For me to get to 100 a day anytime soon I'd need to quit my job. Goal will be 50 a day to start then build from there.

From the inbox today, here's some really good Arccos sales for the Christmas season. I'll maintain that this tracking system is great for your game. The other day, I straight up left my phone in the pocket the whole round and it captured every regular shot accurately. The only thing I had to edit was some putts and flag locations. I'm not 100% sold on Caddie because some of the recommendations have steered me wrong but that's a fixable problem through software updates. They've gotten the hardware right for sure. $50 off the sensors: https://www.arccosgolf.com/products/arccos-caddie-smart-sensors/ $30 off smart grips + 1 year subscription to Caddie https://www.arccosgolf.com/products/arccos-caddie-smart-grips/ Edit: It's like they can read my mind....

Stage Two - The Review 10/31/18 Arccos 360 Official MGS Forum Review by palvord Intro Well it has been a full three months of use with the Arccos system. Since the sensors only track and record data when playing a round on the course, I did not spend too much time at the driving range over these three months. I did have 3 range sessions, and was not impacted in any way by having the sensors in my clubs. Overall, I played 10 rounds of 9 holes and 7 rounds of 18 holes with the sensors. I did end having to delete some rounds from Arccos as it was skewing the data. More details below as to why that was necessary. Looks & Feel (8 out of 10 points) For what they are designed to do, the sensors are effective. They are designed to be screwed into the grip of the club and they perform that function well. It was easy to screw them in and I had no concerns with their security. The standard putting sensor does not look good screwed into the end of the putter. This doesn’t bother me that much, but it is clear there is a sensor in my mid size pistol grip. The black and green aesthetic is what throws me off as you are limited to that choice alone. As the product evolves, it would be interesting to see if color customization will become available. Setup (9 out of 10 points) Setup was the most simple part of this entire process. I did what I never do with equipment, and read the instructions. I really did this because I didn’t want my review to be delayed due to user error. The speed with which the sensor pairs with your phone is surprisingly fast, and can make you feel that the it did not register properly. On-Course (10 out of 20 points) So this is where things began to really impact my view of the system. While the sensors had no impact on my swing, it had a major impact on my thought processes. Every swing, I had to remember that I was trying to make sure that the sensor was “awake” on the club that I was going to use. There is no way to tell if the sensor is awake on the sensor itself or your phone. Since the sensor does shut down automatically, you want to take a few practice swings to give yourself the best opportunity that the sensor is ready to go. Also, I had to learn over time how to position my phone in my pocket. The shots registered more frequently when I placed the phone in my pocket with the microphone pointing up. I did have to learn how to create a new routine for my swing as I wanted to check my phone for the pre-shot data that it provided. I did miss the ease of just glancing at my wrist to get my yardages, but did appreciate the suggestions of club use, as well as the hole overview to determine where hazards were. I also had to decide if I wanted to take the time to fix the missed shots or penalties after every hole or at the end of the round. This constant checking of my phone did cut into the parts of what I really enjoy about golf, which is being with great people while eliminating the normal distraction of life like phones, emails, social media, etc. It is hard to be away from those distractions while you are using the device the provides some of the distractions. Before Arccos, my normal data gathering process was to use my Garmin S20 watch for yardages, and jot down notes to be transferred to a Google Sheet after the round. The time spent gathering or updating the data is about the same for both systems, however Arccos claims that your shots are registered on the phone. If you want to keep the data real time, you need to constantly check the app. With my system, a shot is never missed. Accuracy (3 out of 10 points) I may have bled some of the review of this area into the On Course section. For me the lack of accuracy in tracking shots impacted my enjoyment of the device On Course. The system earns 3 points for the yardages as well as the “plays like” yardages. I never had a discrepancy on the yardage between Arccos and my Garmin watch. For shot tracking and the time needed to edit the program, Arccos loses the rest of the points. I never had a round where at least 5 full shots were not dropped. (Arccos does hedge their claims about missed putts) I could not find a single solitary consistent routine that I needed to follow that allowed all of my full shots to be registered. Even when I would play a round with a full battery, full LTE signal, at the exact same course, the exact same time of day, with the exact same weather conditions the system would drop shots. I had rounds where I checked the phone before every shot and rounds where I kept the phone in my pocket for the entire round and the shots were dropped. I played an entire round with the phone in my pocket for a test, and when I looked at the final score, Arccos had registered a 56. In reality, I had shot a 91. The system gave me 2 putts on every hole, except 16 and 18, where it didn’t register a shot for either hole. For an entire round on a beautiful, sunny day, the system only recorded 20 full shots. Dashboard Interface (8 out of 10 points) Once you get the hang of the website and app, these interfaces are very easy to use. There are limited menu choices and so navigation is quite simple. The app does give you some step by step guides for how to use the Caddy feature when in that mode, but everything is pretty self explanatory. My father-in-law who is not the most technologically literate person was able to navigate himself through finding yardages, changing pin location, and reading the data provided. The desktop is where I found it easiest to delete a round or edit shots. Your fingers on the screen of the phone can tend to hide the yardages as you are dragging the new added shot into place. I didn’t find anything missing or that was absolutely needed for the interface. As to Customer Service, I had a concern about the original putter sensor reading putts. I emailed back and forth with Arccos and they ended up sending me two putter sensors, one of them being designed for more pistol grip style clubs. While friendly enough, I did feel it took some time for the package to arrive to me. I may be skewed on that expectation though as Amazon has almost trained me to expect two day delivery, The new sensors arrived 8 days after my email conversation with Arccos Customer Service. Data Usefulness (8 out of 20 points) This is the part of the Arccos system that I do not feel lives up to their claims. In their marketing materials, they claim that by collecting all of this data, you are going to be able to shoot better scores due to their suggestions. I began this review as a 13 handicap. I have finished the year as a 14 handicap. So essentially I am the exact same golfer as when I began using the system. Their handicap breakdown by facet tells me that my Driving and Approach game are the highest handicap areas. It also tells me that for my Accuracy I am a 33% in every area. Basically, I can hit the ball down the middle, miss it left, or miss it right. I knew all of that before I began using the system. There has been no suggested drills or activities given from the program to help improve any of the areas it tracks. I’m not sure how the system can help you improve by data collection alone as the system does not provide you with a means to improve on the weak areas other than letting you know it is a weak area. For a golfer that is not tuned into their game, this is a fantastic product for that. I have found that the only thing to help improve my game has been taking lessons, and focused practice. The data can tell me which areas need the most focus, but my previous data tracking was also letting me know that I needed to improve my driving and my approach. For tracking club gaps, I feel that this system needs to be used for an entire season to make that determination. Depending on the amount of golf that you play, the variables of golf make it difficult to make a determination of where the holes in your bag are. I may need to look at the area in my bag between my 3 wood and 5 iron, however I rarely use my hybrid or 4 iron and currently do not carry a 5 wood. You need to make sure that you have taken enough shots with each club on the course to truly trust the yardage gap. Since you cannot use the system to do gap testing on a driving range, you need to wait for enough data to be collected.. This gets into the meat of what this product really does for you as a golfer. Tracking data and pretty charts are neat, but do they help you play better? Play it or Trade it? (8 out of 20 points) If you have no idea what your data is, this is a great product to help begin collecting data. If you do know some of your data and are looking to have that data collected and collated with the intent of improving your game, don’t get this system At $250 retail, I would improve my game faster by spending that money on lessons or towards the cost of a club fitting. Conclusion Overall, Arccos is a system that is useful for collecting and storing data. Just like any data collection system, there is a level of manual work required by the user. Also, just like any data collection system, there will be flaws in the early versions. The information that it provides regarding yardage, and plays like yardages are useful, but can be provided by other devices. The information that it provides regarding your strengths and weakness is accurate, but can also be gathered by your own methods. I see the potential that the Arccos 360 has. As the system improves in its ability to accurately track your shots it is going to help provide and easy method for data collection. What can help take Arccos to the next level is not only consistently registering the shots taken by the golfer, but partnering with a group of teaching professionals to begin providing lessons for the golfer to improve their game. For example, if a person after 6 round is an 18 handicap in putting, Arccos suggests a specific putting drill for working on 6 foot putts. I am not sure if I will continue to use the Arccos system. I see what it is trying to do, but I don’t feel that it has reached the current claims of helping golfers improve 46.7x faster than the average golfer. Final Score: 54/100