Leaderboard

I finished the final session (No. 18 in total) of the level one protocol Tuesday evening. I'm very happy that I was able to consistently get these workouts in. Looking back I didn't miss a single scheduled session since I started on Dec. 23, taking at least one but never more than two days off between sessions. For a refresher, last year I built my DIY sticks and started the protocols, working through them for most of the summer until early fall. I don't have the numbers from all of my original training sessions, but I found max numbers from a session last February: Green - 126 MPH Blue - 123 MPH Red - 118 MPH In addition to the level one protocol, this time around, I completed the Fit for Golf offseason routine (started in late October until early January) and am now doing compound lifts (bench, squat, deadlift) at home. Below are the stats from my last session: And overall max speeds during this go-around, along with a trend line. I hit a new personal best 145 with the green club once during this period. I'm very happy with my progress. Some of this I would attribute to changing swing mechanics after a few lessons with my instructor. I used to have a very inside takeaway, which carried over to my SuperSpeed swings, and I'm working on correcting that. I've noticed better speeds with both real clubs and the sticks since implementing that change. I've also moved my SuperSpeed work to before my actual workouts. As the weights of my lifts increased, I was finding it difficult to not be exhausted before even starting the sticks. I now do a quick warm-up (taken from Fit for Golf's warm-up manual), the SuperSpeed training and then do my lifts.

EXS 220 #7i with KBS Tour Graphite shaft (their stock offering for "R" flex); 30-day trial but have a feeling it may be staying and may be joined by a few slightly larger plus slightly smaller clones.....

Played a sixth different course today with the SkyCaddie. I’ve played the course a time before but not super familiar with it. On unfamiliar courses the SkyCaddie is a mix of Bagger Vance and Jonny 5 from “Short Circuit”. I have found the distances to be accurate and that has helped me focus on visualizing the shot shape instead of guessing yardage and looking for landmarks. Navigating the device remains a bit clunky but what matters is the numbers are right on the money. This has helped me dial in what clubs go how far and when to hit what club. More to come with more testing...I will be using this in a tournament next week.

Went to the range last evening before meeting a friend for dinner. I was surprised that we were over seeding - it turns out we didn't in early December like we normally do because of the changes in supers. So it was mats or go to the back range. I opted for the mat - Not my favorite but you know there is something to be said for the confidence you get when you are hitting off of them especially when you have a friend whom you haven't seen in 40 years meeting you - "Man you're good at this" was what he said when I was peppering the 100 yard pin with my gap wedge - little did he know.......

My memory is fuzzy and I'm too lazy to look for it but iirc someone that looked a lot like you said they were happy with their bag and was going to stick with it on his path to single digits....

No club purchases yet this year. But anxious to get this on the course and see all the new features.

Dormie Workshop 'Mint Cali Swing' driver head cover

82 yesterday with one OB when I caught mostly ball out of a greenside sandtrap. Fairly unhappy with overall putting for the day, having 3 putted twice (33 putts for the round) but the ball striking was better than the last few times out. But, MAN! Was it cold! It was supposed to warm up into the upper 40's, but never did and dropped to the lower 40s with a wind chill feel of about 38. Played as a 5some in a net skins game. I birdied the first hole for a skin, but failed to get anthing after that. Big winner was the higher handicapper who, because of age, played one tee forward of the rest of us...go figure.

Lefty is a unique character, that is for sure. Has always been overweight and needing a haircut, and beyond having the greatest short game ever, he's got a smoking hot wife to come home to. He also owns the greatest golf shot I've ever seen, when he hit the 6 iron from the pine straw on #13 at Augusta in 2010. Two of the most glaring deficiencies from his resume are that he never achieved #1 in the world, and he never won a US Open. But I am sure Arnold Palmer wishes he had won a PGA Championship as well. Phil just had the unfortunate reality of having played in the same era as the greatest golfer of the past 30 years.

I agree with your post, this is how marketing and the consumer world work. Best answer: as a consumer educate yourself. You asked fujikura and they gave you the straight answer. Most golfers don’t care and just pick up off the shaft clubs. Glad you want to know more. If it seems like too good if a deal it probably is.

Sounds like this is a new problem that has cropped up and unless you have changed the wedges probably just a swing issue that you need to work through.

Not sure when I bought it but found and Odyssey White Hot Pro V Line that is brand new when I was cleaning out my place upstate. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm opposed to anything that would cut distance for 99.9 of all golfers. This is an at the top issue. As many have observed distance is king at the top level of the game. Since I've seen the name of Webb Simpson bandied about as an example of winning while not hitting the ball a long way he's actually proving the opposite. He recognized 5 years ago that he didn't hit the ball far enough and embarked upon a program to boost clubhead speed which he has done between 1 and 1.5 mph each season since for a total of 6 mph or 12 plus yards over that time. This allowed him to hit 3 wood GW on 18 at TPC when he used to have driver on a different line, 9 iron - it makes a difference. He finished 40th in driving distance for the week, top third, 3rd in the field in fairways hit, 4th in strokes gained tee to green all stats that are far more consistent with a winner than the isolated week where Leishman won with his putting. Plus that's 40th in driving distance in a field of the elite - saying a touring pro doesn't hit it far is like saying an average major league pitcher is a soft thrower - grab a bat and see what 92 looks like up close and personal some time if you think that's "soft." It's up to the tours to determine if they have an issue or not - 3 mlb teams hit over 300 hrs last season - the game has changed - do you thin that the Kittle interference penalty would have been called 10 years ago? The game has changed. Andre Drummund is 6'11" 270 and I've seen him steal the ball on the perimeter, drive the length of the floor and throw it down. The game has changed. I can still shoot hoops in my gym at work and feel as if I'm playing basketball even though the NBA guys play by different rules. Tell the tours you think there's an issue and let them determine what they want to do. Leave the rest of us alone - please. If you want to freeze stuff where it's at now - that's fine - but roll it back and I'm done with the USGA.

Just a few things to keep in mind on your weight loss journey... A healthy weight loss is 1-2lb/week. That's 4-8lbs a month. Don't get discouraged if the weight doesn't drop immediately. Sometimes it stair-steps down. Sometimes it plateaus. Remember, weight loss is more mental than physical. Eat your damn fruits and vegetables. I don't care how, fresh, frozen or canned, it's all good. The nutrition difference of fruits and vegetables is negligible between fresh, frozen, organic, canned, etc. Nothing wrong with eating canned green beans vs fresh. Nothing wrong eating a $.25 apple vs a $1.25 organic apple. Side note, frozen berries are usually cheaper than fresh. All have the same nutritional density. Though it might be tough at times, get moving. Go on a short walk, do some push-ups during a commercial break, climb some stairs...whatever you need to do, get moving. Get involved with a community of folks who share the same task. Either an online forum, a group of friends/family/co-worker/strangers, etc. regardless it's best to be in a community to share the struggles and successes with. The ingredient is never the poison, the dose is. Sugar doesn't kill you. Sugar is mass quantities can. Just like water in mass quantities can. Just like oxygen in mass quantities can. Food doesn't have morals. There are no 'good' foods or 'bad' foods. There's just food. Some food is more nutritious and satiating than others but there's no good vs bad. Same with 'real' or 'clean' food. Think of food more on a processed scale. Eat more of the minimally processed foods than the heavily processed foods. Think of side dishes...like carbs...a bowl of brown rice is more satiating and more nutritionally dense than white flour pasta, but a sweet potato is more satiating and more nutritionally dense than the brown rice. Terms like 'super food' or 'organic' meat is all derived from the food marketing industry, not science. Spinach is just as healthy as a super food like kale and there's no such thing as an organic chicken...just...chicken. Chemicals will not kill you in proper doses. In fact, everything is a chemical. Organic is just more expensive, not nutritionally superior. GMOs are safe. All livestock are raised on grass...some just finished on grains versus grass. Grass fed beef has slightly more Omega 3's than regular beef, but it's nothing to throw your money at if you don't want to. If you need Omega 3s, eat more salmon. We live in a day in age where science has us living longer than ever. Why deny science now? If things become a struggle, switch it up. Keto not working for you? Try intermittent fasting. IF not working? Try intuitive eating. There's no magic bullet but changing the landscape could reveal better results for your particular body type. Here's some apps to help with the journey: MyFitnessPal, Noom, RP Diet Here's some informative accounts to follow on social media: BioLayne (PhD Nutrition Science), FoodScienceBabe (Chemical Engineer/Food Scientist), DrNadolsky (Obesity/Lipid Specialist Physician), Marie Spano (Sports Nutrition Expert) What if obsessing over healthy eating negates the health effects from healthy eating? - Dr. Nadolsky

Got a dozen of these on golfballs.com for my CPA since he does my taxes for free. He's a good friend, not a very good golfer but plays a lot, has fun and doesn't take it too seriously.

All the backup to the backup bags are empty?

Because I can play much better when there’s not 3’ snow on the ground and 10’. Easy choice for us.[emoji106] BTW, I hate Bermuda [emoji16] Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Got down to Florida for an extended weekend getaway last month .. actually got my wife to take a few days off from work; first time in almost ever .. and we got to play three days in a row. Part of the trip was to see one of my cousins and his kids; he lives in the Palm Beach area and is a member at PGA National - tho because of his work and travel he rarely plays. But we were able to get him out for 9 holes on Saturday and Sunday and he took us out on The Squire. One of the other courses there was being set up for the Honda Classic. First day played .. mostly .. really well (didn't keep score); a lotta good tee shots but I managed to screw up a lotta the second shots, but then short game was pretty solid and I managed to get up and down or literally just miss getting up and down several times. Second day didn't play as well and managed to find a lot of the water that I totally avoided the first day, so lost several of my fun Stars & Stripes Truvis. But it was great to see my cuz and catch up and spend some fun time together. Monday, on the recommendation of my Goftec coach, we went to Abacoa. What a NICE facility! Really friendly and helpful staff; nice pro shop; nice practice areas. The course is one of those "challenging but playable" layouts, and playing from the Senior tees and using my 3W (driver didn't go on this trip) I think I ended up with a 92 or 93 -- with 4 (maybe 5?) Pars (whoohoo!) and 6 Doubles (maybe 1 Triple), the rest Bogeys. And that was with several muffed shots from the (Bermuda?) rough and a *LOT* of 3-putts (booo...) on very contoured and what felt to me like super-fast greens. Sheesh I dunno how you FLA guys play down there!!!

Productive practice session a few days ago. Started out with a bunch of lag putting uphill, downhill and sidehill (still problematic for me) for distance control, and then some chipping from various spots around the chipping green. Then went to work on the range on all of the stuff my Golftec coach has been trying hard to get me to do ... and starting to see some real improvements! Always picked a target and was careful with setup and alignment; switched up clubs, switched up targets, took my time between shots; and worked a lot on wedges and short irons including using different clubs to the same target and also the same club to different targets. Starting to get more solid strikes vs misses, and starting to get more balls closer to the intended targets. Yea!

No pain in the hip anymore which is good. But my back is still jacked up. Before I had pain in the back & the hip, so I couldn't really differentiate the two. Now I really feel it in the back now that I'm walking the way God intended me to. Still lacking strength in the right leg for sure. Plus I'm still conscious of it in my golf swing too. I swing as though my hip is the Old hip, so I don't get back on my right side. I tell ya .... getting old sucks!

How are you doing now?

They’re supposed to be labeled differently in the players list (yellow + for waivers and green + for FA) but our multiple player situation is causing a glitch in the matrix. I reported that to Fantrax. As to the difference, FA can be added immediately and waivers have to give everyone a fair shot to add. @cnosil did a pretty good job explaining how they end up on each list. The easiest way to tell the difference now is to filter your results of the players list. Amongst other things, you can limit it to FA or waivers only.

Before I left Dallas this morning, I went by a local store, Dallas golf, that had the Honma rep there today. I was able to go through a quick fitting for their new driver, hitting both the 460, and the 440 cc heads. My Callaway flash subzero was showing 168 ball speed, which is consistent with what I’ve seen on trackman recently. The Honma 440 with Ventus black 70 X shaft was hitting 170 consistently, and even getting to 171. The most interesting part about that ball speed was that I was not hitting the ball consistently in the center of the face! I hit a lot of heel, toe, and high face shots, all of which held ball speed pretty darn well! I have not seen 170, 171 ball speed in a long time! Even with all of the inconsistent strike locations, the dispersion was significantly tighter than it was with my Callaway! The rep is coming to North Louisiana the last week of the month And he is going to get me out at one of the country clubs to hit the driver outside to confirm the ball flight and spin, etc. we were seeing. This driver head is legit! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I tired the 5 and 7 iron when I was at MGS on Tuesday. It is a nice looking club and I think the black makes it look smaller. Felt good on impact.

My apologies that I misunderstood. I honestly don't care if the elite players have to play with reduced flight balls, but I don't think it will happen in my lifetime. I just don't believe they'll ever accept that voluntarily, for reasons I mentioned in that previous post, and I don't believe the USGA/R&A would ever choose to develop mandatory bifurcation.

Stopped in to Golf Central this morning and took a quick look at the G710[emoji16] They are really, really a great looking club. The LH Demo 7 i still in plastic and the RH has been Demoed quite a bit. The RH was not as scuffed as I thought it might. I’m going to Demo it next week and take it out for a 9 holer. Did I mention their really nice[emoji12] Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

What I am amazed at is the number of people that will get fit for irons and top end of their bags but won’t get a wedge fitting or go to a demo day and try wedges for free. I have played everything from blades, player distance irons to gi and have used a blade wedge forever with no issues. Between the vokey wedge fit tool, the one Cleveland has or had, demo days and a fitting there plenty of tools available to find the right combo. I’m sure someone has done some review of a cb wedge vs a blade wedge and the numbers associated with each but in my limited testing with some Cleveland wedges several years back I don’t see much difference in performance on full or partial shots between the two types. Im pretty sure its @cnosilwho has talked about how technique plays a key role in wedge play based on his recent lessons and working on wedges.

Was on TMs website earlier and they are only offering with non velocore the blue 6 and red 5 shafts. In the velocore models they are offering the blue and black 6 and 7 bit no red. Checked TGW to see if it was an option there and no red with velocore. In case anyone is interested in the specs here is what TM has for the blue with and without velocore and the red

... cnosil, I'll take it a step farther. The vast majority of average golfers have no idea what shaft is in their driver and as you stated really don't care. I play as a single and have been paired up with 1000's of strangers and it is extremely rare that any of them posses any equipment knowledge, even really good players. The flip side is most forum golfers, even though a very small percentage of buyers, know many made for shafts have different profiles and sometimes even different materials than the aftermarket shaft. Very few are confused by the TM Ventus thinking it is the same as he aftermarket Ventus since just about every new driver with an aftermarket named shaft has multiple threads on ALL golf forums like "Is the Ventus a real deal shaft?" and are directed to look at the Fuji site and compare specs, if they haven't already.

Like any driver it’s going to vary by golfer. Someone that is slower swing speed and hits a ball with lots of spin may see the benefit of a lower spin head. Typically low spin and higher launch are going to increase distance but there’s a point just like with too much spin that low spin will be more detrimental than helpful. I don’t think anyone can say why this would be optimal for you without seeing launch numbers for your current setup and even then it would be an educated guess but only a fitting would tell if it’s optimal for you

The times were posted somewhere in the thread and should be on Fantrax somewhere. Basically after the waiver on Tuesday players become FA. Any player dropped as part of the Tuesday waiver wire remains on waivers until the Wednesday waiver wire. Players dropped on Wednesday waiver wire become FA Thursday morning. At some time before the start of the tournament all players go on waivers again.

As stated earlier the larger golfing public has no knowledge about what shafts are after market, what shaft is made for or even what the shaft designs are from low launch low spin to high/high. These golfer also don’t pay attention to iron what’s, buy off the rack base on some combo of brand, loft, looks, golf digest hot list. The educated golfer knows that there are differences in made for and real deal and can most can tell the difference by paint scheme, logo/identifiers used, and looking at the specs. They tend to get fit and play what works. They have more knowledge and some don’t want stock regardless of its deal deal or not they are going to re-tip a current aftermarket shaft or buy one of the aftermarket shafts. Others are going to choose based on fitting or reviews from others. As for comparing shafts why would mgs do it specifically for the ventus? Should they do it for each flex in each color? Should they do it for Diamana shafts, the speeder shafts, Tensei ck and pro shafts? the easiest way to see if there is a difference is to go hit them side by side and see what works for you. With all that said what if TM told Fujikura they wanted a shaft that had a profile of a,b,c and we want to cal it ventus and will give you X dollars for he name Ventus. Now you have two shafts with the same name and different profiles and since TM owns the name and whatever else Fujikura doesn’t have any of the information on their site for it as a result

Increased distance and speed are always nice gains and playing one side of the course and eliminating the other side makes course management even easier. Well the mavrik sz is a different design than the mavrik so what you are reading is either a combo of people seeing the difference in design between the two, mavrik sz being a bad fit for someone compared to the mavrik. while it’s nice to be able to work the ball both ways there’s pros with major wins that only hit one shot I’m with you on wanting to know if regular mavrik was hit. I’m also in the give me a one way miss and not have to worry about the other side of the course.

Did you hit the regular Mavrik as well as the SZ? And I'll take a manageable one-way miss with added length over the ability to turn the ball both ways but miss both ways. Can you draw a three wood? I know plenty of players better than me that fade their driver exclusively and use a three wood of the tee to hit a draw.

I agree with @cnosil about the swing issue. Have you considered how the wedges are working with the SPS? If the shafts have a slightly different feel than the set PW, you could be seeing an issue because the wedges aren't like your set. BTW, Moe had very heavy clubs, high swing weights like D6 or higher. When I stopped using the SPS, my wedge game improved. I didn't push, but I pulled and chunked a lot. Now that's gone. I changed ball position, and I am standing closer to the ball. Of course, I don't use full shots with my SW or LW. Hey, according to @cnosil I have something in common with the pros!!

Virginia spies - the VSGA just posted the One Day Tournament schedule. I've been meaning to play in one of these for ages, and I intend to make this the year I get off my ass and play in at least one. Some items of note: I'd be happy to play with anyone in a Four-Ball Qualifier as long as they're prepared to see me shoot an 84. It's been a while since I signed a card. Some of these fill up really fast. I'm pretty sure Spring Creek is one of those. There are a few of these on Sundays: The Homestead - May 3 Colonial Heritage - May 17 Wintergreen - October 4 The Homestead - October 18 I'm not so sure I want to drive all the way out to The Homestead, but Colonial Heritage and Wintergreen are strong possibilities. And even though my travel schedule is pretty crazy, I figure I can schedule it around a couple work-days off. So if you're going to play in one, let us know.

pros don't hit full shots with their wedges

Okay, Fujikura and TaylorMade are bad and are deceiving customers and have poor ethics. There have been articles that indicate that manufacturers have done this for a while. Pretty much every response has indicated that the shafts are different. What kind of response are you trying to get in this thread?

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Why do you think you were put in the wrong driver?

Your memory isn’t fuzzy, haha! My irons and wedges aren’t going anywhere but I’ve always tinkered with the top of my bag [emoji2].

Disclaimer: I absolutely LOVED my TM V-Steel 3W back in the day. Now that that's out of the way, I ordered a TM SIM 3W

... The short and very general answer is for the majority of average golfers, not only is there a difference between Made For and aftermarket shafts, most MF shafts fit them better than the aftermarket shafts. I use the Matrix Red as an example that Cobra had as stock in their driver several years ago. The Matrix Red profile was what the engineers identified as perfect for their head when hit by the majority of golfers. In testing shafts they found the AF Red's tip was a little too stiff causing a slightly lower trajectory and tended to leak a little right. They tested several prototypes and found that if they softened the flex a little and added more torque for feel and a slightly softer tip, they kept the mid launch mid spin profile but average golfers hit it much better than the stronger aftermarket Matrix Red. I would add most engineers know better players will almost always order a different shaft than stock, so in the case I just mentioned, the better player would not buy the Cobra with the after market Matrix Red anyway but install a shaft they know works for their swing. ... Obviously not true for every single made for shaft, but the OEMs are in the business of selling drivers. Most golfers know very little, if anything at all concerning shafts, so the OEMs want the average golfer to demo a driver and hit it mid to high, straight and far. Again, most will struggle with an aftermarket shaft that has a stiffer tip and stouter over all profile. I think the most successful driver ever proves this point. Ely Callaway knew ego's were involved with average male golfers that tended to chose too little loft and a shaft too stiff, so he did something absolutely brilliant. His Big Bertha's had higher lofts than were stamped on the club head, usually 2-3* higher and he took a Regular flex shaft and labeled it a Stiff flex. All of a sudden average golfers were hitting g their driver higher, straighter and farther and there was a waiting list of up to 6 months. ... And to answer your specific question I play the Tensei CK Orange. As a + index with a smooth transition and a swing speed around 100, the softer overall profile of the CK Orange fits me better than the Pro Orange which is designed for more aggressive hitters/swingers and/or more club head speed. CK Orange's mid launch and low spin is much better for most golfers compared to the low launch and very low spin of the Pro Orange.

Ordered the Wilson Staff D7 irons, graphite regular Recoil shafts, 2* Flat from our Pro Shop. Then, shot 79 with my Cobra F8’s..... Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Another quick update from yesterday's round. I didn't do well using the SX400 to track all of my shots, but I did get a nice comparison between it and Arccos on hole #2. As far as shot tracking, the two provided very similar results (the discrepancy of the last shot is due to the pin placement not being set). While not quite as seamless as Arccos in operation, the SX400 may be an option to consider if in the market for a shot tracking device. With Arccos going to a $99/yr subscription model for all products this year, the SkyCaddie - though higher in initial cost - would be less expensive in the long term. I've also downloaded the 18 Birdies and SkyDroid apps to compare as well.

I ended up pulling the trigger on new irons. The stats from multiple fittings and the feel of the new irons made me choose to make the change to the new Mavrik Max irons with the Nippon 950 Neo shafts. My current Mizunos are great clubs, but the C-Taper Lite X-flex shafts are just not the right fit for me. Can't wait for the new irons to come, it will definitely be a confidence booster for me. By the way, the 950 Neo shafts are so smooth. I typically don't feel much difference in shafts besides a shaft being heavier/lighter or more stiff/more flexible. However, there is something special with these shafts.

I love that there are multiple ways to putt, and that this helps some people but not others. There's no one right way to putt. I will say that if I'm more worried about speed than line (long putts), I won't use the alignment mark. I don't want to fall in love with the line and leave the putt six feet short. Not that I've ever done that... ... About a million times.

Went through a driver fitting at Club Champion earlier today. I love my Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero head but was pretty iffy on the stock Hzrdus Smoke shaft. After 60+ minutes of trying different shafts the clear winner was a Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X. Carry went up about 10 yards but more importantly the dispersion was much tighter. I knew the shaft would be expensive and Club Champion did not dissapoint. They wanted $415 for the shaft, $15 for the grip, and another $35 to install the standard Callaway adapter. Total of $465 but that did include shaft PUREing. I called the head pro at my local course and he can get the shaft with adapter and grip already installed for $330 (plus I get to use up my shop credit). Ding ding ding we have a winner!

40/37 at Coyote Wash. My approach shots were flag seeking drones. Only missed 4 fairways and those were not far off. I didn't track GIR, but it was better than average. Five legit birdie attempts... but only made one . My lag putting has been consistently good of late but my 4 ft in not so much. This along with transitioning away from my heritage bump n' run pitch to using (taming) my Glide 2.0 56-12 has been my focus area for the winter season. I think I've finally cracked the code on that wedge and starting to like the results. Also, really loving the G410 'W' and 'U' wedges - lots of confidence making good strikes and getting better at yielding consistent yardage with throttled swings.

@Kenny B Play Terra Lago while you're down there. Both South and North courses are good choices. I also enjoyed Shadow Hills GC.