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How's that for a click-bait tile? But it's true. My MGS Anniversary and story. Four years ago this week, I was browsing my Twitter timeline, when I saw a Tweet thread by MyGolfSpy and it got pretty heated. It wasn't your typical forged vs cast debate---shameless plug for this weeks NPG episode. It was deeper than that. While I can't recall exactly what everyone was so worked up about, they were definitely piling on MGS for a story or take it had put out. Like most times when we witness a car crash, we slow down to take a look...we know we shouldn't and we probably say we don't, but we all know we do. Anyway, I digress, I logged onto the site to see what all the fuss was about. As I said, I honestly don't recall the topic, but what I found was a very well written story with tons of inside information that I had not seen the likes of from the current forum I was on, even though it had contacts with all the companies as well, they had never written a true piece of journalism like this. So I was hooked, I read several past articles, and not once did I find anything that I thought was false, untrue or inflammatory as the twitter trolls were calling it. Again all I found were great articles, by Tony Covey, John Barba, Dave Wolfe and Chris Nickel And four years later, they are all still pumping out the best golf writing in the business. Then I found my way to the forum, and what I found really hit home. A very welcoming and friendly place. It seemed to be led by guys like @revkev @hckymeyer ( who was the Forum Director along with @GolfSpy Barbajo ) @fozcycle @Kenny B@Jmikecpa@chisag @jlukes @DawgDaddy and of course @BIG STU Each one of these members and the others set a tone, I had never seen on a discussion board before, and I was part of the two other big ones as well. It was a friendly, non confrontational tone. I felt welcomed and at home right from the start. In all honestly the forum wasn't near as big those four short years ago, and content was not as plentiful as it is now. True story, I told someone just this week, that I could log on and read all new posts and threads in less than 30 minutes or an hour. And that's not a testament to my speed reading skills...ha Over the next few months, I started noticing some names from the other forums coming on board, some I had interacted with for several years such as @ole gray @cnosil and @PMookie and a few I 'recruited" Going back to the lack of new threads. During those early months, I would often go back and find a thread from a year or several years ago and comment on it just to stoke new conversation. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't In a ironic twist, @GolfSpy STUDque who joined about a year later, kind of did the same thing, but in a more weekly time theme of for #ThowBackThursday, and had fun reading the responses to old threads that some didn't notice the original date on. I was fortunate that in December 2017, the site posted an opening for a couple Moderators. I applied like I'm sure many of you did. After a several stage application and virtual interview process, I and Studque got the email, to start picking out our @Golfspy_names I was stoked! Then just a year later came the opportunity to be Forum Director, again Studque and I both got to split the duties of running the forum. The opportunity to really have a direct hand in the things the forum does from Forum Testing. contests and other cool content is something we both enjoy and are appreciative of. We had to bring on a moderator to help us and we sorted through dozen and dozens of applications. It was impossible to choose just one, and we had a true half dozen finalist that all would have been great. But @GolfSpy Stroker and @GolfSpy MPR stood out and I can honestly say, the forum would't be doing nearly as well and have so many cool things going on without these two. Most of you have no idea the amount of time and effort they put in behind the scenes to keep things functioning and running well here. Thanks guys, I'm truly lucky to get to work with three talented and dedicated guys as you all are. So I promise this isn't a "phase 1" of a long drawn out post...ha It's already long enough. I'll just end by saying this place has been my internet home for the past four years, and I've enjoyed every single moment of it. In away everyone that contributes here whether it's 20 posts a year or 3,000 posts a year....looking at you @Shankster is like another family to me. And I truly appreciate you all!

Here's @Erik-M's and my entry to the iron's only challenge. Note, for the record, that @Kirke beat both of us, but in our defense, he was playing with his full bag (and 3,000 fewer yards): My takeaways: This was my first round with my new Sub 70 irons: talking about diving right in to an iron test! Love the irons so far; more about that over in the Sub 70 review thread. Our course is short: 6,030 from the back tees. Honestly, I didn't miss my longer clubs. My last 18 hole round that I played, I shot an 82. Yesterday, with just irons, I also shot an 82. Apparently, I wasted money buying other clubs. I missed my wedges far more than I missed my driver and woods. Most of our greens are crowned. I'm used to tossing soft high shots back up on the greens when I miss; having to play it low, at the mercy of the ground, was an entirely different game. Arccos liked it: it estimated my chipping game at a scratch level. The chip-in from 47 yards on the 15th hole undoubtedly factored in heavily there. My putting was fine except for a stupid 4-putt from 9' on the 18th (we played the back nine first). I was below the hole, left the first putt about a foot and a half short. Casually went for the tap in, which horseshoed out back down the slope to 4-5', and I missed that one. It's the sorta putt I might have given myself in a casual round, but because I knew I was playing @edingc, wanted to count everything. But that one hurt. I used my 4h 14 times, my PW 19(!) times, and putted 28 times. 61/82 shots were taken with those three clubs!

For the actual round, though, you need to remember the high stakes challenges you've received, and please tense up accordingly.

So just quietly, I have completed a round that I'm pretty happy with. 82 on a par 73 for a net 72

My setup for tomorrow’s round #TeamCobraONE Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Was that 248 Hybrid downhill with a 30 mph gust behind you onto hard pan? That's quite a poke!

My first iron only round was probably the most stress free round of golf I've ever played. I was not worried about where my driver might leave me on my second shot. On some of the longer holes I got to bypass the forced carries which really made me swing my 5-iron like it was a lay-up shot and I was dead center of the fairway. It really makes me wonder why I need 13 clubs when my score wasn't much worse with 7 and the round was more relaxing?

SpeedZoneONE Irons I am the only competitor in #MGSCOBRA2020 #COBRACONNECT4 competition to choose ONE length Hybrid, Irons, and Wedges #TeamCobraONE. I am using the SpeedZoneONE irons 5-SW. I have been eager to try the ONE length clubs since joining MGS and following the COBRACONNECT Challenges in previous years. The concept (has been around a long time) brought to the forefront by Bryson Dechambeau in recent years just makes a lot of sense to me. The transition to the ONE length SpeedZone irons has been a smooth event. The illustration below highlights the simplification of the golf swing using one length clubs. I have been using game improvement irons since purchasing a set of Ping I3 3-PW irons in 2000. I then purchased a set of Titleist 716 AP1 5-PW irons in 2016. I tested the new Lynx Black Cat 5-PW irons in 2019. To date the SpeedZone irons are the easiest to hit and most forgiving that I have used. They are exceptionally long and high launching clubs. LOOKS 3.5 Stars SOUND and FEEL 4 Stars Nice solid thunk and soft feel when struck solid then the ball races upward and long as it drops softly at its target. BASIC CHARACTERISTICS 3.5 Stars Very much a game improvement iron. ON COURSE 5 Stars I have never played any iron so easy to swing and hit with distance and accuracy. Miscellaneous 5 Stars The combination of game improvement iron and ONE length technology makes these clubs GAME CHANGERS. PLAY IT TRADE IT 5 Stars These irons will be in my bag until I find a better one length iron for my game. OVERALL 4.5 Stars For me it really all comes down to playability. These clubs instill confidence into every swing I take. More players should be playing ONE length clubs! It's that simple. #TeamCobraONE

Alright gentlemen. The round is done. 81 from the tips. My course handicap is a 12 off our baseline stats so net 69. I was very happy with the hybrid, 5 iron, and 6 iron off the tee all day. I used them 9, 2, and 3 times each. The Hybrid redeemed itself in a big way today.

YOU are one of the main reasons MGS Forums are where they are today. Glad to have this place be my internet golf home. It's comfortable, friendly, and it doesn't feel like a constant competition and ass kissing contest

Now wait a damn minute! You're playing at altitude which gives you a 12% advantage in distance, so I'm gonna need 9 strokes! We have moved up one tee box so as not to annoy the other golfers trying to get in under 5-hours.

Thinking about winter coming in three months here and what that would look like...

I'd add: her cameo in this unboxing went much smoother than when I tried to film an unboxing for my review last year of the Precision Pro NX9 rangefinder:

Oh hey there

The one nice thing about an irons only challenge is that it has given me the chance to really practice with the irons and the hybrid. I was not in love with either for the first few weeks, but I'm happy to say they are coming around after a really great range session today. With both, but the irons especially, I just need to relax and take smoother swings and they are pretty darn good after that. I'm starting to get a good feel for what I need to do in order to get the results I was seeing in my last lesson two weeks ago. It's been a pretty substantial change in the way I feel my ground/foot pressure move throughout my swing, and it's taken me a while to get used to. To top it off, I was getting the club face too open on the back swing and that wasn't helping things any. Still, the takeaway for me is that with the x-stiff C-Taper Lites, I need to take the smoothest, tension-free swing that I can to get them really responding.

Playing the tips for you boys. 6280. Just had to go hybrid-hybrid to have a chance to hit the 465 yard 2nd. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Couldn't make it easy for you. Here are the rest of the round stats for transparency. The course slope rating is 123.

Highlight hole of the day, playing irons only (with one hybrid) for the Cobra Connect Challenge: Yank a hybrid *way* left into the next fairway. Punch a 5-iron under the wall of trees separating the holes. Bump a PW that rolls and trundles into the hole for birdie from 47 yards. Just the way it was meant to be played.

Head-to-head with Trackman, the ball speeds are pretty much spot on, and consistent. Clubhead speed can vary quite a bit. I've noticed it more often when it's sunny (today) or if the divot comes up into the line of the ball/club after impact. I would guess the 6 iron was an over read, average CHS across 20 shots was 91.7 with a deviation of four. Says my 7 iron was averaging 90.6 across 10 shots with deviation of 1.6. As we've discussed in another thread, it's a toy first. But over enough shots you do start to see patterns.

Very cool!!!! Thanks for all you do in KEEPING this the place you came to know and “love”!!!! You do a fantastic job on behalf of all of us who participate on here!

After stepping off a 5 hour flight from ATL to SFO, we immediately went to the first tee of Pasatiempo. Minimal stretching and no warm up led to a rough start, and then the wind started to pick up. By the time we arrived to the picturesque par 3, 3rd hole, wind was blowing 25-30 mph directly into our face. From then on, it was a grind for our group. Thick marine layer air and strong winds made the 6500 yard track feel like a 7400 yard us open layout. All in all, I tapped in a bogey putt on the 18th to shoot an 86. Beautiful course with diabolical greens and majestic bunkering that I wish Augusta National would go back to. Playing Spanish Bay today and I’ll do a better job of being an on course photographer. 3rd hole - Par 3, 221 yards 9th hole - Par 5, 518 yards Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Best hole so far. Nearly to the green on the par 5. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I was standing right next to the green when it happened! Ran right by me taking to the hole, his the pin bounces around the back of the cup and spins back into the hole. The best part was watching @GolfSpy MPR celebrate like a child who got an official red ryder BB gun on Christmas morning! Good stuff, my one highlight was a5 iron from 205 that stuck., nothing exciting

I would absolutely love a 46° MIM wedge. I’m not saying I dislike my set wedge for full swings, but that extra versatility would be awesome. So far, I’m loving the MIM wedges overall! Yeah, I could still beat @edingc even with that thing.

The Cobra Pars and Stripes hit the course tonight. It did very well except for 2 bad drives toward the end of a very hot and humid day where I was whipped. I'll have more on it in the Cobra SpeedZone thread. Score was a sloppy 97. Sloppy in short game and putting. Driving and approach were good for the most part.

I can understand that the MGS staff doesn't want a lot of $$ tied up in inventory. Maybe if we got a bunch of guys to sign up for a preorder, that would cover their costs for minimum order quantity. Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

I'll be playing my first irons only round tomorrow...I see you're a Hooser I hope you don't get too frustrated

As I've posted elsewhere on the forum, I had my first round with the new irons yesterday. I played 18 with @Erik-M and @Kirke. Erik and I were competing in this week's Cobra Connect Challenge, which is an irons only round. Seems like a great way to test a new set of irons! The round was interesting. 75% of my shots were taken with three clubs: my hybrid and putter, and the PW. The hybrid and the putter are obviously not relevant to the irons test. In hindsight, I was surprised at how few irons I hit in an irons only round. Even so, I was able to make some observations about the irons: As @Tom the Golf Nut alluded to, I found that the slight distance loss I saw on the SkyTrak was less evident on the course itself. I may still consciously play one more club that I have done in the past, but that's simply because, looking at my stats, I miss the majority of my approach shots short. Off the tee, the 5-iron was a solid, predictable option. That was important: if it's going to replace the Adams dHy in my bag, that's a job it needs to cover. The other job I need from my 5-iron is as a low punch out club. The first test for that was on our 16th hole. I hit a sky-high hook into the 17th fairway. There's a line of trees between the two holes: I have a very specific, low window I needed to hit to get my ball back to the 16th hole. The 5-iron was directly on my intended line. And I followed that one up with a 47-yard PW into the hole for birdie. The trajectory for these irons (remember, I'm playing exactly the same shafts that I have in my G700s) seems much lower than the G700s. I want to confirm that on the launch monitor (I haven't looked at a peak height comparison), but the ball was definitely in a lower window than where I'm accustomed to look. That said, I strongly suspect I'm getting more spin than I was with my G700s. My approach on our second hole yesterday (with an 8 iron) launched lower than expected, but checked up nicely on the green (and our greens are quite dry right now). Surprisingly to me, my miss right now is toe-side. I find that odd, because I've tended to live a bit more hosel-adjacent, with an odd shank showing up in my game every now and then. I hit a couple awful toe-side shots yesterday. The feedback on those is what you want: they let you know that you missed the center. But I found the flight to stay more on my intended line that I would have expected, though with a non-trivial loss of distance (say, about 10-12%). On a centered strike: I love the sound/feel. On this, they're roughly a million times better than the G700s. The PINGs have a distinct crack at impact. The 699 Pros are much more muted and dense-sounding. A big fan of this so far.

Mate it's been 8 years since our course looked like that....

I'll be watching for your posts Friday and Saturday. I will be playing again Sunday even if I go low tomorrow #TeamCobraONE

I've got a tee time early Saturday morning at a course I've never played before, so you're on! You gonna give me any strokes?

@GolfSpy MPR - choice of tee boxes? I mean I could make it a bit easier on myself... And should we report which tee box we played from? That said, let’s get after it @Headhammer! I’ve lost all resemblance of a swing but a challenge has been called out

Remember when you became mod and tried to leave CG2 out of your name? I'm glad all of us that kept calling you CG2 encouraged you to keep it

John, I appreciate so much the kind words. You reiterate one of the points I made, abut the growth of this forum. I'm sure in 2017 i was able to welcome every new member personally. Now there is no way, I try to do it in our regional Mid Atlantic thread, and it's tough to keep up with just one area, let alone a whole country. The same goes for the birthday wishes. I made a decision not to add my Happy Birthday to those threads, as I knew I would miss one or two along the way, and I didn't want that person whoever it happened to be, to take it personally. Not saying they would even have missed it, but just knowing it could be a possibility, I didn't want to chance. @GolfSpy Barbajo was the first to say it here, that I heard, and I've stolen it many times, but the members here Rock!! You guys make the place, we just keep the lights on for it all to happen. Thanks and be well

It truly is an honor to know you, share a joke or two on some of the MGS history (from my short time here) and to know you were one of the first people to welcome me back in 2017. Thank you for the awesome opportunities you guys give us members to test and help out the community as a whole. Most importantly thank you for continuing to call this place home and for keeping it home for the rest of us. Your hard work online is very much appreciated!

Well my Thursday got better really quick, there was an early morning ring of the door bell and I find this sitting on the porch! I will be testing a 50* RTX ZipCore wedge with mid bounce. It will be compared to my current gamer, a Cobra King PuR wedge. Here are some comparison photos I took this morning From the back they look similar in shape Face view, the shape is similar but the ZipCore has 18 grooves compared to only 17 on the Cobra and the ZipCore has the toe groves where the Cobra doesn’t. It will be interesting to see if there is a noticeable improvement in toe strikes (not that I EVER do that [emoji849]) At address the ZipCore has a little less offset but again to my eye the shape looks very similar. The ZipCore is fitted with new version of the DG spinner wedge shaft. I’ve played the old version of this shaft in my higher lofted wedges before with decent success, but since I use my 50* wedge for a lot of full swing shots my Cobra has the same shaft as my iron set, a UST Mayima Recoil F4. I’ll be paying particular attention to this during my testing to see the difference between the 2 shafts. I am hoping to get a practice session on a launch monitor this weekend and a full round in on Sunday. As always feel free to ask questions! Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

Well said Rob! Been a true pleasure getting to know you and working with you and I'm looking forward to many more years together.

You guys should have just parked the cart near the starter area, grabbed a couple beverages, and just pulled up a chair, and watched the crowds stop and stare at those two bags, and you could just "yeah, that's right playa's here"

Tips? The whites at my course are 6,400!

She'd have to be married to you...

For our part, the scores are handicapped. Not sure how that works with you challengers, however... Good luck!

Yes I did or else the 18th would have been two full 4 irons and a pitch to the green . You also need to know that it is winter here so I get zero run and it was a balmy 50 degrees....

I just booked mine for Friday! I decided to step it up on my end and play a brand new course.

Enjoy! Just don't play too well. My round will likely be Saturday - the course I'm playing Friday would not be conducive to a good score. It's decently long and the greens are difficult, both of which are things I don't need in this round.

Hmm. Now that I'm thinking about it, I have less than 25% confidence in my PW, 5i, 4i, and 3i. This might not be the challenge for me

To really test the CC4 combatants short game prowess, I think Cobra should send you all their ultra-low coefficient of friction wedge .

Well came home to a nice package on the steps. Shoutout to cobra for crushing the shirt game. I am not a SnapBack fan but this thing is so comfortable I’ll be wearing it and might be changing over from my mesh fitted....maybe. Will be rocking this gear Friday for my round.

Well cleaned up storm damage today.....minimal secondary damage removing the tree from the house but wouldn’t be fun if I didn’t break something else in the process!

Time for a first impressions post! My irons arrived yesterday afternoon. I was at the house waiting; I wonder if UPS has a way of signaling to their drivers when someone has hit refresh on the tracking hundreds of times in a day, just so the driver knows he might be encountering a totally crazy person. But that aside.... Here's the unboxing video, with cameos from @Kirke and @Erik-M (and my dog, Rohan): Erik was at the house, using my SkyTrak to gap test his new Hogan Icons for the review he's doing. He and I are planning to play this afternoon, irons only, as we compete with @edingc and @GB13 in this week's Cobra Connect Challenge. Visually, these irons hit the sweet spot for me: clean without being boring. I think they're really a great looking design. Size-wise: they're not tiny, though they're definitely smaller heel-to-toe than the G700s (which is what I hoped). I'll need to get a few more picture comparisons, but the top line is much more appealing than the G700s, with less offset. I was surprised that the sole is as wide as it as. That's not a complaint, but I'll be very interested to see the results on the course. Before the G700s, I played with a set of Adams XTD Tour irons, and was a small divot-taker. The G700s have made me a sweeper; I'm intrigued to see what kind of turf interaction the 699 Pros favor. After getting the irons out of the box, I got on SkyTrak for a few swings with the PW. Sound-wise, the 699 Pros represent a significant upgrade over the G700s. Both are hollow-bodied irons, but the G700s have no filling of any sort. They have never been "tingy", but they are loud, with a significant crack at impact. The 699 Pros are much more dense and muted sounding—obviously not as dense as Erik's Hogan blades, but better than my PING's. We're hoping to set up some mics to do a sound test in the near future. I wrapped up my initial experience with the irons with a gap testing session on SkyTrak. What I saw was right in line with my expectations: each club is a bit shorter than the G700 it's replacing (the 699s are about a degree weaker on each club). I have a bag mapping report from February with my G700s; a quick side-by-side comparison (carry distances here): On average, I'm getting about 5 yards less on each club. The problem club, in both sets, is obviously the 5 iron. This season, I haven't been using the G700 5 iron at all: I've replaced with an Adams XTD dHy. That club has been a go to for me: a last-resort safety option off the tee when nothing else is trustworthy, and a perfect shape club for punching out of bad lies and under trees. I am pretty confident that my 5 iron going shorter than my 6 is a bit of an aberration. It's definitely not the fault of the club. I'll be working and practicing with it. But there is certainly a chance that, at the end of testing, one of two things happen: either the Adams goes back in the bag in the 5-slot, or I look into shafting the 699 Pro 5-iron in graphite. In any case, I'm really looking forward to getting these out on the course for the irons-only round today and a league match tomorrow night. More updates coming!