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Thank you, MGS and Callaway, for selecting me to test the Epic Flash Sub Zero 2019 most wanted winner! It is an incredible honor to be selected. I have never been so nervous to win anything in my life but super stoked to put this driver through the paces. To all my fellow spies, I will put all my effort into bringing you a review that will bring insight into the actual use of the driver and how it might fit into your game. My name is Ryan, I live in Fresno, California with my wife (of 19 years, and our two amazing children, Addison (16) and Thomas (13). We also have four dogs. They are all amazing and allow me to have golf as a main focus in my life (my family not the dogs). For those of you unfamiliar with Fresno. It is located almost smack dab in the middle of the state. Just over 2 hours and I can drive to the coast or to Yosemite. As with most of California you can play year-round, we will get very hot during the summer, but all of this has allowed me to play a lot of golf and at many great courses. I am a Controller at an almond processor and other than the commute, it is a great job. In between work and home is play, or a golf course in my case. My home club is located on the way home from work. It is a private club consisting of almost exclusively farmers. The membership has had better years but it is still hanging tough. With fewer members it means fantastic pace of play. Saturday 9 am tee time and its 3 hours 15 minutes. Since it is on my way home from work, I play frequently. It’s not unheard of for me to play 5 times a week. I played my first round of this great game at the age of 13. I knew so much about golf in general that upon arriving at my ball in the fairway I went searching though my bag for a tee. That’s what I did on the first shot why wouldn’t I on the second? . I shot 99 on the par 68 that day and really should’ve never left the golf course. Instead I played basically everything but golf. Golf wasn’t cool, but mainly it was baseball that got in the way. Baseball is my first love and with it being the same season as golf, golf took a backseat. I probably played a dozen or so rounds between 13 and 18. I can still remember it to this day, standing on the diamond of my junior college team, it was during infield practice and I decided I didn’t want to put in the effort to play anymore ball. I went straight from the field to the golf course and haven’t looked back since. 3 months later I made that same Junior College’s golf team. Quick story about the quality golfer I was then. Our first tournament standing on the first tee, I was with the first threesome off. All 3 teams were all gathered watching. I was so nervous I could barely hold the club. I hit 4 balls off that tee. The first two went a combined 20 yards and hit the pro shop, located pretty much right behind me, the third one OB left, the fourth was destined for the same spot until it somehow bounced the opposite direction, it was in play and I couldn’t run fast enough off the tee. I made a 12 and shot 89. (left side is pre lesson, right side is post lesson.) As you can see, I hit the ball to all fields, just like on the diamond. Miss is either a block or a pull hook. Even with that, my driver is my weapon. I play par 5’s in under par, and if I have to hit a shot on a particular line off the tee, 99% of the time it will be with driver regardless of distance needed. I have bored you enough with me now let’s move to the good stuff. I have had the privilege of hitting all 3 versions of Callaway’s JailBreak technology drivers. The epic was good but the mishits were punished. The Rouge was a definite improvement in that category. So, what can AI and Flash Face add to JailBreak. Is it the magical combination of both? I was fit for my current gamer by Club Champion, my swing being as it was prior to my lesson I was forced to play very heavy clubs my entire life. If they weren’t heavy, they would go left and keep turning left. Pretty sure if I played in space, I could hit the ball in a full circle. My irons for example are D9. My instructor fit me for the Flash and we decided that as I have and continue to rebuild my swing, I can keep a lighter club on the planet. So, I was fit for a 10.5* with the PROJECT X HZRDUS SMOKE 60 X-Stiff, it is turned down a degree and the weight is all the way in the toe. Lighter equals faster for me. With the swing changes and the lighter club, I have seen almost a 10 mph increase in club head speed. Prior to January 98.5 was where I was at. During the fitting I was between 107-108, with ball speeds hitting 163, now if I just knew where the club face was. I wish I had the actual report however during the fitting the internet and computer crashed. I am super excited to see how all this translates to the golf course. It really doesn’t mean much unless you can stand on the 18th tee knowing that a perfect drive will win you the match and then being able to execute it. I had hit the Flash prior to receiving it, but for those of you who haven’t seen it the colors are that bright. Not really my cup of tea but results are what truly matter. The top line is just beautiful though. They moved the crescent on top more towards the middle compared to the Rouge. Which I am still undecided about. It is one of the few drivers that at address doesn’t sit closed to my eye. It sits very square and screams hit me. In comparing the shapes of the Rouge and the Flash, the Flash appears smaller and taller. The carbon top is one of my favorite looks and this one doesn’t disappoint. Callaway employed a super computer to design the perfect face. 15,000 different faces were created, what would have taken 34 years on this PC, to find the right one. Did it work? Is it faster than humanly possible? Does the sliding weight add to ball control? Does the new carbon crown deliver more forgiveness? Or are all these claims just part of the never-ending marketing machine that is equipment manufacturers? Whatever the answers are I am super stoked to find out. With my schedule as it is, I will be spending extensive time on the range (something I’ve never done) to unearth these answers. I am very curious to see work ability and how the sliding weight changes the dynamics of the club. Of course, there will be many rounds played as well, it will even get some tournament play as the season is about to kick off in earnest. Let me know if there is anything specific you would like to see. Quote Edit

I know there have been countless discussions on this but I just pulled the trigger and went through a full bag fitting and wanted to give my two cents. Myself and a good friend scheduled the fitting at one of their newer locations in Hilton Head Island, SC, about two hours from my house. Walking in the door, both my fitter, James, and my friends fitter were extremely energetic and enthusiastic which gave me good vibes before we even started. The fitting began with him asking what I wanted to get out of the fitting. I explained that irons and my 3 wood were my two biggest issues. I have a tendency to hit my irons left on every green, sometimes even left of the green, and I'm really inconsistent with my 3 wood. I started warming up with my 8 iron on the trackman and finally started taking full swings. He came and watched me hit the last couple of balls and noted that I have plenty of swing speed but my current non-fitted irons are launching and spinning too much. I hit my current 6 iron (Epic Pro) and was consistency hitting the ball left with not enough distance. He started me out with the Apex Pro head and had me try different shafts. I got the best results from the KBS $Taper shaft in X-Stiff flex. The heavier weight of the shaft just felt better in my hands and I started swinging faster. The Apex Pro head was 10 yards further carry than the Epic Pro. I also mentioned to him that when I was shooting my best scores I was using blades. He put the Callaway Apex MB head on the shaft and I instantly picked up another 5 yards carry with better dispersion. He had me try a few more cavity backs but none of them gave me as good of numbers. He then started having me try different muscle back heads until we settled on the Titleist 718 MBs which performed slightly better than the Callaways. Then he started tweaking the loft and lie of the head until we got the ball flight we were looking for. We settled on 2 degrees strong and 2 degrees flat. I went 6-PW in the MBs and went with a CB 5 iron. Next was the wedges and he asked if I like to match the wedges to the irons, which I do. So we grabbed the Titleist SM7 heads and he had me take full swings with the 50 degree, which were solid and half swings with the 54 and 58 degree. He checked my turf interaction with a lie board and we settled on the right grinds/bounce. He also let me try his SM7 wedge with a heavier swingweight and I loved the feel, so went with that swingweight. The putter fitting was after the wedges and didn't take very long. They used SAM putt lab to analyze my stroke with my current putter (a Toulon) and it showed that I'd be better off with a putter with a different neck and less toe hang. After trying a few putters, I really liked the Bettinardi Queen B #10 and the SAM putt lab showed that I had a much better stroke with that head and a half inch shorter shaft. Their putter fitting is probably one of their weaker areas though as they only have a limited number of putters to try from each manufacturer. I'm not sure why they don't have a better selection, but I am happy with what they fitted me into. Then we moved back to the fitting bays to test some drivers. First, I tried my current driver and was hitting it more inconsistent then I normally do, but I did have a great strike on my fourth and final swing which showed what I was capable of with my current combo. I had decent ball speed on that one but my spin was too high (2800). The mishits before that were all in the 3000s. I play the Titleist TS3 so he was able to try several shafts in that head. The Accra TZ5 65 ended up being the winning shaft and brought my spin down considerably (almost a little too much). We tried that shaft in several other heads but nothing could beat what I was getting out of the TS3 head. He then took the TS3 and adjusted the loft a bit higher and I got even better numbers. In the end, I was hitting it about 15 yards further than my current driver because I could launch it higher with lower spin. The 3 wood was next. I took some swings with my 3 wood (Titleist TS3) and the distances were very inconsistent. He then tried a few different shafts until we put the Fujikura Ventus in and just like that I started smashing shot after shot the same distance every time. My average carry was 17 yards longer than my best strike with the old shaft. He asked if I wanted to try any other heads and I said I was really happy with this combo, so we stopped there. Finally we took a look at my ancient Callaway Alpha 815 hybrids. I was hitting them well but they were going more left then I liked. We started with the Callaway Apex19 Hybrids with the Accra TZ5 95 shafts I fell in love with the ball flight and feel. They seemed to fit me so much better than my old hybrids. We tried a few different shafts but the Accra's were the best. I was getting about 10 yards more carry out of them with a higher ball flight. After this, I went and watched my friend finish his fitting while they worked up the numbers on everything they recommended. I knew the price was going to be high from reading these forums. All told the clubs and shafts came to about $5300. This includes puring of all the shafts and setting up the clubs to the specs (swingweight, loft, lie, etc.) that I had when I tested. I almost just told them I was going to think about it, so I could get them built elsewhere, but then I decided that it was worth it to me to get them built correctly, and knowing that I had the right clubs would help me stop my golf impulse buying ways whenever my clubs start misbehaving. All the swingweights he fitted me to were very heavy compared to normal and I want to know that I'm going to have those specs on the course. Could I have just gotten everything with specs close to that for a much cheaper price and probably played really well with them. Most likely yes, but I would always wonder if I could have done better. I spent the money 4 days ago and I have no buyers remorse. The point is that you can go in and get a great fitting and buy your clubs elsewhere but if you have OCD about it like I do, you'll probably end up spending a little cash. Overall, I'm as happy as I can be with this fitting and would recommend it to anyone.

Hello, everyone! I’d like to start by thanking MyGolfSpy and Callaway for this opportunity. As a longtime reader of MGS and the forums, I’m pleased to be able to contribute back to this awesome community. I’m a 30-year-old hacker who has whacked around golf balls for as long as I can remember. I grew up on a large farm, often grabbing my father’s old clubs to take aim at objects in the yard. Although I played baseball in high school, I spent a lot of time with friends on the golf course once I earned my driver’s license. I have never taken formal lessons. I golfed often throughout college, breaking 90 once. I met my wife at the end of college, and we moved away from our home state of Michigan for work in 2013. We spent time in Wyoming and New Mexico before returning home to Michigan in 2017. I played very little golf during our four years away. Last spring, I played in a charity scramble for my work. It was one of the most humiliating golf days of my life. I was the only member of my foursome with any golfing experience, but I played awfully. Tops, shanks, the works. After, I decided I either needed to sell my clubs and give up golf completely, or commit to getting better. I spent months working on my swing through YouTube videos and many, many practice swings. I have played five nine-hole rounds since October 2018, shooting 49, 46, 45, 42 and 43 on very wet courses and sub-50 degree days. Eighteen holes is a rarity for me. Our dog, a house always in need of fixing and a 675-square-foot vegetable garden stretch my summers plenty thin. I’m thankful for an understanding and golf-playing wife, of course. I have never been more than an average player when playing well. The strength of my game at the moment is my course and mental strategy. The last three rounds of mine have been some of the best golf of my life. Driver has always been an issue and is the worst club in my bag. Although I have been practicing the SuperSpeed protocols with my homemade sticks, the speed increases have not yet permanently transferred to my actual driver swing. I lack confidence in the driver and it shows in my erratic results with it on the course. Right now, I sit comfortably between 97-100 MPH with the driver in cold weather. As the videos show, I currently am fighting a backswing sway that manifests as a forward move/over the top/casting sequence in the downswing. I had purchased a new old stock Cobra F6 from eBay this winter, but only played two rounds with it. My testing of the Epic Flash will be without direct comparison to another club. I had never been fit for any of the clubs in my bag or hit a single shot on any launch monitor prior to this opportunity. For this testing, I was fitted at The Golf Emporium in Rockford, Michigan, using a Flightscope. On this particular day I struggled with nerves and an unrepeatable swing. My angle of attack was very steep, and my Flightscope results looked the part of an early season swing. That influenced my fitting into the HZRDUS Smoke 6.0 60 gram shaft. The Smoke is a low-spin option meant to help offset the steepness of my swing. (If Jack “The Hammer” Hamm influenced Callaway’s marketing...) For me, the name Epic Flash and the green/yellow color scheme screams “comic book hero.” This baby certainly looks the part! It is gorgeous! Callaway’s selling point for the Epic Flash is that the driver face is the first created with artificial intelligence. According to the marketing material, Callaway’s computers iterated through more than 15,000 face prototypes before settling on the production design. It arrived on spec at 45.5 inches long and at D4 swingweight. Forgetting the technology for a moment, two little things really stuck out to me when the Epic Flash arrived on my doorstep. As someone who orders a lot of things over the internet, I appreciate the minimalist shipping box Callaway used (pictured below next to the shipping box for my Wilson C300 irons). The subtle branding makes the box less of a target for package thieves. A second small, but awesome detail. An easily-removable UPC on the shaft. No Goo Gone necessary. Little things like this really show the thought put into these drivers. I work in information technology, so I’m a sucker for all things computers. I’m very excited to see how the Flash Face technology benefits my game. I am plagued by inconsistent ball striking, putting me smack dab in the middle of Callaway’s AI-driven demographic. (Don't hate me for the iron headcovers. These clubs spend a lot of time being thrown in and out of my trunk. I hate bag chatter.) This is my first driver with an adjustable weight track. The Epic Flash features a 16-gram weight. As my first Callaway, it is also my first experience with the Optifit system. Forever a tinkerer, I am very interested to see how I can use those things to my advantage. The arrival of the Epic Flash coincided perfectly with spring finally arriving. I purchased both a range and course membership, so this summer should be spectacular! I'm looking forward to putting this beauty through its paces and reporting back. I was also invited back to The Golf Emporium to grab some launch monitor numbers later this summer. Honestly, given my past struggles the Epic Flash doesn’t need to do much to earn a spot in my bag. I am excited to see if this club can give me the confidence I desire from the tee box and to see if the Flash Face technology lives up to its hype. (PS: Early indicators are positive!)

Whoa - I've only been able to play this driver twice at a Muni, but dammmm it's as straight as an arrow. Hopefully our course opens this week so I can get a better sense for the distance. The earliest I could get the fitter scheduled for is May 1st. In the meantime I've got the 410 in the neutral setting. I'm a very happy camper!

Here's a few more different ones for you. Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

Got a few of these on the way. Hopefully they are as good or better than the B330S.

It's the Bayou - that's the Bayou and this is the signature hole - you should see what it looks like from the back when the pin is up front like that - 210 over all of that .... .stuff. Plus you've just come off of 15 which is all over water and has the Bayou behind it. Those two holes have the ability to make or break your round. And 18 is very similar to 18 at Sawgrass - the water doesn't hit you until later than Sawgrass but it's there and there is OB right. The course is a beast - my 76 was like a 73 where I play in league (it will lower my handicap for certain).

Went back to the beach today. For about 20 minutes it was pouring down rain and around 36°. Tried 3 draws, failed at them all. Tried 3 fades, great success. I started only hitting fades, from .5 yard to 5 with a 9 iron. Getting 128-134 yards out of it in the cold off the sand with the fade. I think it’s time I eliminate one side of the course and play fades. I can control them far better than a draw. Faders unite! (Yes that is ice out there, earlier there was a boat in that little bit of open water) ......there’s something to that beach practice........

The 6 iron over all this to 10 feet. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Round Recap - April 6th Best weather of the year thus far in New Jersey on Saturday. Temps hit the low 60s, it was sunny and there was no wind. Perfect day to get out and play 18 with the G410 I played with my brother in law, who is a former assistant pro and we hit our clubs similar distances. On the first hole, BIL teed it up first. We were playing from the blues and it was a short Par 4 playing 337. He hit a beautiful baby draw right down the middle. Put the pressure right on me. I followed his up with a baby draw of my own. The drives looked similar from the tee, but when we got up to the balls they were definitely different - I was 25 yards passed him! My first drive ended up going 307 yards (GPS measured). The Ping G410 made its presence known early. As the round continued I was continuously impressed with the G410. What really stood out to me was performance on low-face hits. There were a few that I didn't quite catch, but ended up much further than I expected. Another thing that really stood out was the fact that I didn't miss the left once all day. I pulled the G410 10 times and I hit the fairway 5 times. The times that I did miss the fairway I actually missed the fairway right! Some of this was me being used to over draws and aiming right to compensate. I had the G410 set to fade and in the flat position so it is set up to be anti-left and things definitely played out that way. If things continue like this over the next few rounds, I might have to move to a slightly more neutral setup to see how that changes things. As I mentioned in my shaft testing post above, I would have no problem gaming the Ping Tour shaft as my full time shaft. I was long, I was hitting fairways, and my misses where always in fantastic shape. It is nice when a driver gives you confidence like this. That being said, I cannot wait to game the G410 Plus with the Accra TZ5. Based on what I saw in my fitting, it the shaft really is an ideal fit for me and will fully unlock the performance of the G410 Plus.

Now my stupid allergies are acting up. Or at least that is my story for the next half an hour. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You bastard...gotta go blow my nose and wipe my eyes!

So humid in my office my eyes are sweating....

Wow....I'm not crying you are....

Just want to add that today I did the Wilson D7 Challenge. After warming up with my Cobra F8 7 iron, I tried the D7, then they had me try a TMAG M6 & a Mizuno 919. Guess what? The F8 was straighter and launched higher than the others. So, the Cobra F8’s remain in the bag. Heck, ya gotta step outside the box and try stuff.......right? Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

Bag is now set for the season. Solved my hybrid gapping by adding a 5 wood in place of a hybrid. First time I have ever carried one and may actually have been the first time in my life I hit one. Went with a Rogue Sub Zero 18* with a Graphite Design MT 7x and playing it half an inch short at 42”. So far I can get it high and carry it 240 and turn it down and hit a low bullet off the tee that rolls out a bit over 250. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am happy to say that I have broken out of my plateau. I knew something good yesterday when I played with someone who always outdrives me. I was blowing it by him on several holes. It was wet and I got zero roll. I was getting yardages on the fly that I normally get with carry and roll. Today...I broke multiple personal records. I had 107 with red stick on regular swing and I hit 124 with left handed step change swing.

So there's been a bit of a setback. This is what happens when you're trying to work on swing form and actual results at the same time. I do not want to fall into the trap of playing "golf swing," but at the same time, there are changes to my swing that I want to make for functional reasons. In particular, I want to calm down my lunge toward the ball at the top of my backswing into transition. My weight comes forward, and I have to stand up to save the shot. I'm decent at it, but it not a recipe for consistent golf. That said, making a swing adjustment while doing a skills assessment isn't a plan for good numbers So there were some really ugly results in here, but one point worth noting: I actually had a predominantly right miss with the swing I was using. So although I was struggling to strike the ball well (leaving a lot of shots short), I was pretty successful in fighting off the snap hook that I get with my normal swing. So it's still a work in progress. And I think we're getting another foot of snow this week, so I still have plenty of time to keep grinding before I face a real course. Here's a swing from my practice at the end of last week. Still not keeping back entirely, but better than before: [Looking forward to spring, not only for golf, but because I'll be doing a thorough garage cleaning.]

Proof!!

Yepa!! Had to close the office door after the first 30 seconds.

Dang, that's powerful stuff. Thanks for linking to it.

I like this idea. Having worked in manufacturing for a while now, it's definitely possible for some companies to lack the capability to ensure consistent performance. That said, the bigger names likely have this under control. For example, Titliest has been using radiography (x-ray) to verify core placement for nearly a century! https://www.titleist.com/company/titleist-story

Team G410 vs Team Flash Face. Let's go!

Yes...yes I am. Dang it's dusty in here.

Continuing to explore the features of the SkyTrak to help me reach my goal. Even since I first read Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible, I've been a bit intrigued by the clock wedge system. But without a range, I've really had no way to get my numbers, and so my short game approach has been to use my SW for every partial swing shot, unless the situation explicitly called for a LW. So the fact that the SkyTrak has a wedge matrix feature built in is great. In setup, you tell it 1) how many wedges you have, 2) what size swings you want to do, and 3) how many swings of each kind you want. The math means that your swing count will add up in a hurry. I'm doing four wedges, four size swings (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full), and five shots for each kind of swing. That's 80 shots; it took me almost 50 minutes to complete the matrix. Here was my first result: So the obvious things that jumps out is the major gap between the 1/4 and 1/2 swing distances. In my case, I think I need to reduce my own conception of the 1/2 swing, and maybe slightly also the 3/4 swing. I also still need to figure out how to hit a full swing wedge that doesn't just launch higher without carrying further. My desire is to have my full swing SW be 90, GW be 105, and PW be 120. I know that's possible for me; it's not a matter of speed but of consistent technique. Anyway, the potential is there for this to be a workable system for me. I use a laser rangefinder on the course, which is an important component for making this usable. I'm continuing to love the SkyTrak data. In addition to the matrix itself, it gives you the dispersion chart for each club. Here's my SW: With the 1/2 swing, I had one shot that was an outlier, otherwise all the partial swings had pretty tight groupings. I really think I need to look into getting some wedges that are a degree or two flat; the wedge pulls are a regular feature of my short game.

Blog post is live... https://mygolfspy.com/first-look-ben-hogan-ptx-pro-irons/ Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

I laughed out loud this morning at this, only because I'm transferring that feeling to my 18th hole on Sunday. Of course, I was standing on 18 tee +4 for the nine already, and I remember thinking, "OK, a five gets me home with a 45 on the back." I proceeded to hit my drive behind a tree, topped a 5 iron while trying to get out from behind it and then fatted an 8 iron. Ended up with a double bogey six and 46 for the nine.

Nice work! I've been curious about the side by side performance of the 2. Have you noticed a big difference in the feel? I'd like to guess that the 50 compression of the Softs might just be enough to take the edge off from what some have claimed about the Speed being clicky and hard. Have you noticed a difference in distance at all between the 2? So far I've concluded that the Softs are right on par with any premium offering in the distance department and definitely ahead of the curve with control. Slightly sub-par in the wear and tear category. The jury's still out on feel and short game. the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get..

Appetizer: cup of Gumbo Entree: Crawfish etoufe Dessert: Creme Brûlée Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

I've been reading MyGolfSpy for a while but didn't stumbled across the intro threads until now -- great to read up on fellow spies! Here's my info: How long have you been playing golf? What’s your handicap or normal score? I've been playing golf for as long as I can remember - my earliest memories are going to the club with my dad in the evening and teeing off from the 150 marker (I was probably 6 at the time, I'm now 34). We played occasionally in our earlier years, but starting playing more often and trying to take it seriously in middle school - we joined a club that was about a mile away, stashed our clubs there for the season, and rode our bikes to the course almost every day. I played in High School (thought I was good), went on to play D-III in Rochester, NY (realized I was not good), took a few years off, and went back to casual, more fun golf. I'm now a 3 handicap officially, but to be honest, it feels worse than that. Occasionally I'll get down in the low 70s, but most rounds are in the 77-83 range -- those scores from the tips at "difficult" courses lead to my index being 2.8 (if we played up a set of tees, I'd probably shoot identical scores and be a 4-5 index...but the tips are fun). We have a 6 month old now, so I'm expecting the handicap to slowly rise this year. What do you love about golf? Even a frustrating day on the golf course is relaxing to me now that I rarely try to compete (occasional scrambles and trying my hand at the city tournament are the closest things I've had to competitive rounds in the last few years). It's a great way to get to know people, spend time with friends, get outdoor time, get in a quick workout, and it's a challenge - you can always do better, and I love chasing better scores. What brings you to MyGolfSpy? Do you already know any other Spies? I've read quite a few MyGolfSpy reviews in the past, some of which have actually influenced which products I've purchased. I didn't join the forum until (I think) last year -- to be honest, I was enticed by one of the test opportunities, which forced me to get a forum login. I love trying new products, and am looking to be a more active member this season to share my reviews and opinions. Where are you from? What is your home course? I've been in Madison, WI for the last 10 years. I grew up outside of Utica, NY. This year, my home course is Cherokee Country Club, but only because I got a steal of a membership in a charity auction (it's on the wrong side of town - will be tough to get out there often, but hard to pass up the price). We normally play courses on Madison's West Side. What are the best and worst things about golf in your region? Madison is somewhat of a sleeper of a golf town. Madison itself has some great courses that you can play without being a member (notably University Ridge, Legend at Bergamont, Hawk's Landing are all solid layouts that are kept in great condition; The Oaks can be a fun course as well, but I'm not a huge fan). Private courses here are OK, with only a couple really being worth the price (obviously that's my opinion - if I were to pick a place to join, it would be Nakoma). In addition to that, there are a ton of great golf courses within a couple hours of Madison, leaving our options open for playing world class (public) golf without missing much time at home -- day trips are possible at places like Sand Valley/Mammoth Dunes, Erin Hills, Whistling Straits/Blackwolf Run, Cog Hill, and a couple others. What do you do for a living? Healthcare IT How’d you pick your user name? It's an inside joke within our group of friends. Everyone has some "C-Suite" title. Apparently the trend isn't picking up considering I've been able to snag ChiefMikeOfficer on every social media platform and e-mail domain I've checked. Bonus My friends and I are on a quest to play the Top 100 Public Golf Courses in the US. Most of our buddies trips are focused on that. But...we don't have strict guidelines -- I'm currently tracking both the Golf Digest and Golf Magazine lists that came out a couple years ago, and might track this year's lists right alongside it. When we finish one of them, it'll feel like an accomplishment, but keeping track of multiple lists lets it go on longer. Currently I'm at 19-20 depending on the list.

First (round) Impressions (..and yet another Unofficial Review ) Got the first 9 hole round in with the Shot Scope V2 in on Sunday. Overall, as @ddryan said in his reviews, it's a solid product that does exactly what it says it's going to do. * Initial Setup -- was straightforward to define "My Bag"; the tags were easy enough to screw in (I gave them each a little push in before turning to get it to the start of the thread). There are extra tags included for eg. extra clubs you may want to test/compare to current gamers; I stuck 4 of them into an extra set of wedges that I use on some short Par 3 courses so I can collect those stats, too. It was also simple enough to find and download "My Courses" and then sync them into the watch itself (so they're available for play). It's in this section that you'll see if a course update is available. * Apps -- not initially obvious to me, but the smartphone app and the PC (or Mac) app do the same functions; eg. find/download a new course, edit or change a club, etc. You can do some round editing in either app but it's much easier to accomplish in the web interface @ shotscope.com It's the web interface (ie. a THIRD "app" in your browser) .. where you can log in to view the most detailed "Performance" stats. * Start of Play -- in the "Start Guide" they suggest keeping the watch powered Off until you're ready to play, to conserve battery. Power on is instantaneous and after pushing two buttons to enter game mode and then "GPS + Track" mode it was less than a minute for it to locate my course. * During Play -- if you don't want to interact with the watch at all you don't have to. For putting there is an option for "Manual" vs "Auto", and you can just add your number of putts per hole in post-round editing. I suggest leaving the default "Auto" setting and getting used to performing the one-button "Pin Collect" feature to better track discrete putting stats. It's really simple plus it marks the exact location of "today's" pin. Which also enhances the accuracy of your "Approach" data. * After Play -- exit the round and it showed you total elapsed time (since starting). Then, at your convenience, you sync your round data to any one of .. smartphone app (Bluetooth connection), PC app (USB connection) or web interface (also via USB). Again, it's through the web interface that you'll probably want to do the bulk of your post-round editing / proofing; it's the easiest to navigate and use and has the most functions. The smartphone app is very accessible but it's just easier (for an older dude with failing eyes...) to work on a bigger screen and with a mouse. A Few (minor) Dislikes * GPS -- seemed consistently to read +2 yards longer vs benchmark stones on the tee boxes or markers in the fairways. * Distances to Hazards -- missing .. at least on that one course I played so far .. are distances into doglegs. I find that info really useful. Also, not a big deal, but distances to other Hazards do not indicate if located on the left or right side of the fairway (helpful when you can't see the entire hole ahead). * Tee Shots -- discovered this when I went into the "Performance" stats, but despite picking up all my tee shots it automatically defaults to club selection = "Driver" ... Despite the fact that I was at a forward set of tees and mostly using my 4H off the tee... Easy enough to fix in post-round editing. * GPS on-course vs Post-Round review distances -- thought there were a few discrepancies but it was most obvious on the #9 Par 3 .. standing on the tee it read "134” middle but looking at this hole post-round/on-screen I thought the distance under my tee shot looked a little short so I moved the end point of the shot to the middle of the green and it read "124”.... (Yes, I sent this question and my comments to tech support). A Few (minor) Would Like To Haves * Distances into Doglegs * "Performance" review -- one of the stats I'm looking to track is "Shots To Finish" (to hole out) from 150 and in. There are several options you can select to filter what data you see and how you see it, including a "slider" bar to set distance from hole. What's lacking is the view does not "persist", ie. remember your setting, between views (you have to select it each time). * "Dashboard" -- would be nice to customize your view to include just a few key things you want to see first. * "Scorecard" -- would be nice to see the "full" card .. eg. with number of putts on each hole .. without having to go into "Edit". * "Export" data -- if for some (strange) reason you want to further mess around with a lot of numbers in a spreadsheet. Anyway, looking forward to collecting more stats ...... even after just one round it's helping me see where I need to focus more practice time!

You Animal [emoji33][emoji106] Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

It wasn't easy keeping these under wraps. Saw them when I was in Texas last year. We have a blog post on these going live tomorrow. These are replacing the old PTx - which are about three years old. The differences appear to be very slight, with the aesthetics being the biggest upgrade. You'll be seeing more of this kid of stuff from Hogan as the weeks go by....

I don’t get these. A “ Pro” model with a bigger footprint and more offset? [emoji848]

Supposed to be 70° here today, gonna be going out for a round. The only problem is, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we are supposed to get 16-25 inches of snow. I think my phone is lying, but on the off chance it isn't, my new adresss will be, MN State Mental Hospital, Room # TBD.

I had to buy this headcover in respect for my son who is serving our country.

Continuing the great fun from last year's contest, Wilson Staff is back with MyGolfSpy for the 2019 edition of #SpyStaffSlam. Be sure to watch each Major this year with MyGolfSpy and Wilson Staff for an opportunity to win prizes. First up, The Masters. Just like last year, some BIG prizes are on the line: 1st Prize: CUSTOM SET OF ANY WILSON STAFF IRONS (FG Tour V6, C300, C300 Forged, D7) 2nd Prize: WILSON D7 DRIVER 3rd Prize: DOZEN OF ANY WILSON BALL (Duo Pro/Soft/Soft Spin/Optix, 50 Elite or Zip) How to Enter: The players participating in The Masters have been broken out into 5 Tiers Log in via desktop or mobile to select your players in Tiers 1-4 using the poll provided (won't work in-app) Reply to this thread with your selection for Tier 5 (anyone not in Tiers 1-4) AND your prediction for the winning score (tiebreaker). Watch and comment along with the rest of MGS in THE OFFICIAL MASTERS THREAD Winning entry will be whomever that has the most total prize money won amongst the 5 players Deadline to enter is 5:00am EST on Thursday, April 11, 2019 Use that hashtag! The winners will be announced during the week following The Masters.

Well done so far! Great intros and stages ones... Pumped for the rest of it even if the flash hasn't been on the top top of my list

The best part of this all. I took my 9 iron yesterday. Completely forgot it was Seve’s birthday. (April 9th)... I cant explain how I felt when I put it all together. Like some sort of calling. I knew it was close to his birthday. But if you remember Stroker “I never hit my 9 iron”... odd, and kind of spooky. But my swing came back to me. I normally don’t get into all those “signs” stuff, but this time I’m quite shaken by it actually.

The feel of the Modus is incredible! Much smoother than DG, but won’t hit the ball as low. Incredible shafts! I’ve been wanting them again for two years, and now that I have them, I really, really like them!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Ok, a few hours early, but it’s the 9th in Spain.

Got a chance to play yesterday, and I was atrocious. However, these balls are straight! If I pulled or pushed one, the ball may be offline, but it got there in a straight line. More to come later.

An elderly, but hardy cattleman from Texas once told a young female neighbor that if she wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a pinch of gunpowder on her oatmeal each morning. She did this religiously and lived to the age of 103. She left behind 14 children, 30 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, five great-great-grandchildren and a 40 foot hole where the crematorium used to be...

I finally can contribute back to this thread. As I posted in late February, I cracked the LCD screen on the radar with an errant swing. After some back and forth with the company (they are great, just a small operation), my replacement LCD screen arrived Saturday afternoon. I hadn't really been consistent with my workouts because, frankly, it's not a whole lot of fun without the radar. I did finish the introduction protocol and had been intermittently completing level one, but I haven't been terribly consistent since wrecking the radar. This afternoon I went through the introductory protocol once again to re-establish my baselines. I'm very happy with the numbers, and these were after my normal Monday morning lifting and about 50 range balls at lunchtime. I'm going to go through the introductory protocol twice more this week and then move on to level one next week. I did register one driver at 102 MPH during my lunch session. I have a lot of swing things to work on (most notably a backswing inside takeaway/sway/cast sequence), so I'm hoping that number goes up as I work to correct those issues.

I picked up a barely used Wilson C300 3 hybrid today for $99. Laser beams on the launch monitor which translates to executing the 90 day return policy after 3 rounds in my bag. Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

- so I went to a demo day to do the Wilson challenge at an indoor golf shop and they had other fitters there too so while I was there I decided to try out a couple things. I brought my 7 iron with me for the challenge so I had it on hand. I play a Sterling single length set made by Tom Wishon; those that know clubmaking know Tom as he's been around a long time but I wouldn't expect everyone to know him. I asked if the Mizuno rep was there and told him I wanted to try the shaft optimizer. He saw that I was holding a club and asked if it was mine and I said yes.....said what is it....told him what it was and that it was a single length club and he says "why'd you do that?"....what?....get those clubs?.... told him I didn't get a chance to practice much back then and wanted to try it to see if it made the game easier....he proceeds to poo-poo the clubs and says that was a weird fad and it won't catch on .... or something to that effect. This was a younger kid - probably mid twenties - and, honestly, all I wanted to do was smash him in his stupid face. First he was condescending ... Second he acted like I was bothering him... (had no other customers) Third he put me in a bay with no LM so I couldn't even see what the ball was doing with the shaft he put me in... Four he acted like I was asking for the keys to fort Knox when I asked what the 3 shafts the optimizer chose... I handed him the club back and he says that seems like a good combo for you (with the inevitable next step of filling out a purchase order)...I said yeah, thanks. It's too bad really because I did a demo day the weekend before in RI with a diff Mizuno rep and he couldn't have been nicer.

Over the last year, I have gamed quite a few balls to help figure out what I wanted out of a ball. I haven't had the need to buy balls in a while because I tested the MTB Red, won a dozen AVX's, and was given a dozen Tour B RX's during the Bridgestone test. Depending on how my day is going, I never let myself lose more than a sleeve per round (once that happens, I dig in to the decent ones I have found during rounds). The only thing that really stands out to me is I LOVED the MTB Red's around the green and the AVX seemed like it was made for me (although I can't part with $48 /dozen). The Tour B RX is a nice all-around ball for me and right now I'm playing Elixers from the free sleeve. What's the point? It's going to be interesting to see the results of this testing and where these balls (or their successors) end up on the chart. I can't always control my swing or what I am doing to a golf ball, but I also want to know that something weird isn't going to happen just because of natural manufacturing variation, so I'm going to want something with very tight dispersion with the robot hitting them, even it means losing some ball speed to get to an acceptable price point for the number of balls I still lose. Every year I have the intention of doing as Tony suggests - picking a ball and sticking with it, but something always happens to derail my plans.

Alas, my beloved MB is headed back today as well. I'll be waiting for these to hit online... If you think you want to try a blade - even for a moment - put these on your short list!

Do you mean there’s days when you can’t wear shorts?[emoji16] Shankster I think you’re going to thrive in the warmer part of the world. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy