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A nine hole, full bag practice round this morning. Since there was a scheduled outing, I needed to be off the course for them by 8 AM. Finally had one of those days where I had almost everything working and didn't kill the round with a bad shot. I took what I worked on at the range on Thursday and had an excellent ball striking round, and a very good day off of the tee as well. (Arccos notes this as a +1, but it has one hole incorrectly labeled as a par 3 instead of 4, so this is even par and the best nine hole score I've ever recorded regardless.) I was able to tee off pretty early on No. 10 because it runs west-to-east into the sunrise. It's a 6 iron off the tee for me, so I was able to follow the initial flight for quite a while before it dropped off into darkness. Great start to the round. One of my best shots of the day followed, from about 117 to pin I pulled the gap wedge and put a good swing on it but could only see it heading toward the green. Left me with this when I got up to the green, and I converted the birdie putt. I've been trying to break rounds into three holes chunks, which as helped me focus on smaller stretches at a time. Played 10-12 +1 (my goal is +1), 13-15 even par (just missed birdie putts on all three, my goal is even par), and played 16, 17 and 18 one-under (goal is +1) with my first birdie of the year for me on No. 17. I really had the SpeedZone Xtreme working for me down the home stretch: I hit 7/9 greens which is fantastic for me, and actually airmailed the green long on the par 3 No. 12 with a 9 iron from 145 that went about 148 and kicked off the back of the green. Starting to round into form with the SpeedZones in the bag. Taking one more crack at the 14-club challenge tomorrow morning when I'll be able to get out for a full 18 holes.

The woods and wedges week showed me I should probably bomb the ball a little more often. Really, what I'm learning is that I need to hit my 3 wood and 2 hybrid and not necessarily my driver everywhere. I'm finding that my dispersion with the 2 hybrid is pretty darn good and it's plenty long on most shorter par 4s. I've been laying back with irons, content to leave an 8 iron into greens, but I'm finding a lot better birdie opportunities by bombing it out there.

I've gone exclusive! Well with my irons anyway These just came in and they are damn sexy!! Maltby TS-1 3-PW. TT DG 105 shafts. GP Microsuede grips. Maltby TSW 50° Maltby TSW 56°

Exactly, I’ve hit some great shots with the 8 iron and hybrid. I’ve got many more options now, which is always good.

No I am hopeful that more OEM look at producing one length clubs in the GI category. I truly believe in the concept. I have been playing GI clubs for many years but nothing has made golf this much easier for me before ONE length.

Couldn’t help myself

Well hello.... Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Played Fossil Trace in Denver. Supposed to be the knees here, and I finally played it. A little pricey and very gimmicky, but overall good, and I will return. Shot of the day was a 481 par 4. My drive went left and pretty short, leaving me with 225. I had to bend it right to left around some trees with a deathly deep bunker right of the green. Pulled off a high drawing 4 iron around the trees and away from the bunker that left me 15 ft for bird. Missed the putt, of course

Okay full disclosure... I sucked on the front nine of my local club tournament today! Then on the 11th hole par 5 THE EAGLE HAS LANDED happened and my round was salvaged by a sterling even par back nine that also contained a narrowly missed second eagle put on the last par 5 on the back. Even par back nine for a round saver thanks to a hot driver and putter. When I left the course I was leader in the clubhouse with Net score of 69.

For me: I am a much better iron player than woods. My first lesson in many years taught me I don't always need to send the ball every time I have driver in my hand and that a little fairway finder can be your best friend. My wedge game needs work. The Cobra SpeedZone 3-Wood and I are going to be lifelong friends!

All I can say is that I will NOT be bagging two drivers. But yea, to @Nunfa0's point, some of us have put up some really good rounds breaking ranks from the "traditional" club selections. To think what might have been had I opted to use a hard rock .

Creative describes it best. Also have learned some clubs are better for certain shots and that I can make those shots. Doesn’t have to just be a wedge relatively close to the green

Well, although we took low gross with our 59 in the scramble I mentioned in my last post, we were edged out of the net victory by over 2 strokes. We took 2nd for the flight and our low gross over all 3 flights was meaningless (points). EDIT: Major correction updated in email. We did, indeed, win! Guess the person calculating net scores erred.

So far I'm really liking the watch but unfortunately the rain won't stop. I love the light weight and with my bigger arms I don't feel like the watch is all that big. I don't think hitting buttons during my swing will be an issue at all. Some things I'd like to note. 1. This thing is comfortable. I barely even realize I have it on. 2. The heart rate monitor seems to be very accurate. I have to log my heart rate sometimes due to having bradycardia and still trying to learn how it affects me. After walking through the house mine is usually 55-60 and this measured it at 58. 3. The graphics are great and everything is easily seen. I love how detailed the layout and green view is. 4. Unfortunately the course I live on is not mapped by SkyCaddie so it is very generic and is lacking any kind of info other than distances. I'll be able to compare the distances I get to my rangefinder but I'm pretty bummed that I can't get the full benefit at my home course. Greens just show up as circular and there's nothing to look at but a straight line of fairway for each hole. If you look just above and to the right of the watch below, you can barely see two greenside bunkers on the 6th green in my backyard but they aren't there on my watch. Thankfully there are plenty of fully mapped courses within an hour of me so I'll be able to give this watch a full test, just as soon as all this rain stops! The bunkers mentioned above are mini swimming pools that the deer love to splash in of the evenings.

With as easy a transition from conventional to one length as it has been for you, I'm actually surprised more pros haven't made the switch. I haven't kept track of your detailed performance gains/losses, and certainly don't want to spoil your final "play it or trade it" review, but do you see yourself ever going back to conventional lengths?

+1 there as well! Landing that 114 swing speed right on the sweet spot, eh? @Headhammer, unfortunately ... I’m bowing out of this week’s competition. Wasn’t able to make it out this past week ... did get to play today, but was mainly focusing on the LX5 watch to review for MGS and it was the first time we played the course. It’s okay, you can breath easy now.

Well, I’m 61 and recovering from a quintuple heart bypass I had in June. Shocker as I am very active and play golf everyday. Anyway, while healing, I decided to spend some money (the old adage you can’t take it with you!). Keeping my Ping G400 driver and TEE EXS 3-wood. Just bought the 2 & 3 Titleist TS2 hybrids (loved my old 915H’s) and ordered some Ping i210 irons (5-UW) with AWT 2.0 shafts. My Vokey SM7 wedges and my Evnroll ER-1 putter are staying in the bag. Still have another 3 weeks before I can hit balls. Very excited to try out my new toys. Good health and happiness to all! Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Yeah, definitely was a wake up. So this is going to sound really dumb, but the root cause of the smell was not mold or dampness at all. Somehow, the smell coming from our undercared for fish tank had a stronger smell coming from an outlet that was a few feet to the left of the tank than from the fish tank itself. Definitely was from the fish tank though.

Finally, for what had felt like an agonizingly long wait, the 10 of us rcvd our SkyCaddie LX5 watches. And as others had mentioned, the initial first impression of the watch once unboxed is that it’s rather large. I know that is the trend as of late, to wear watches in the 50mm+ range with a large face and thickness ... but, however, I will add that the watch is shockingly light for its size. I’m talking barely noticeable on your wrist light. Truthfully, once I unboxed the watch, it was a huge let down for I was hoping this could be an everyday watch ... and after a full round in the books with the watch thus far, I can see it being a workout or running errands watch. But for work or for a dinner date with my wife, no thanks. The initial first impression of the screen size, brightness and responsiveness via swiping/touch is positive. Within the menu, you can change the backlighting to low, medium, high or auto ... if anything, while out on the course, I’d recommend placing the backlight for the watch to the high setting. When you initially tap the watch to pull up distances, it’ll slowly come into view via low, to medium then to high setting when it’s on auto .. whereas simply setting it to high, boom, it’s there and awake. With that said, I had absolutely no issues with the watch throughout the round with respects to glare or being able to read the screen, be it morning sunrise or sun overhead at the noon hour. As for the wearing of the watch during play ... I’ll admit that I surprisingly enjoyed having and utilizing the watch during the course of my round. There is just something to be said about not having to lug around your phone in your hand, unlock the screen, get your distance then shove the phone into your front or back pocket ... it’s liberating. Just the act of not having to grab my phone each time from either the cup holder or from within the cubby, unlock the phone, read my yardage, then place back into cart ... freed up my tempo and everything felt natural. I did compare the SkyCaddie LX5 distances with that of TheGrint from the phone app and they were right in line with each other. The added benefit with the LX5 is the additional detailed information to every trap, hazard, water, distance to clear water, etc ... is all right there for you to scroll through, as opposed to having to drag the crosshairs on TheGrint app. But the big selling point, is the reading of the slopes of the greens. Not sure if I’m overstating this, but to me, it’s a game changer. I shared my cart today with my good friend, Ben who is at a 4.8 handicap and absolutely loved leveraging me and the watch. He’ll be playing in the SC Mid-Amateur in Oct and he feels that just the slope reading of the greens can save you 1 to 1.5 strokes a round. A hole that stood out was a par 3 at a distance of about 135. From the tee box, you can see the green’s false front, but what you couldn’t see was that just behind the flag about 5-6 paces, the green sloped down and away from the pin, leading to a difficult up and down. The LX5 certainly helped in that regard as I opted to go with the PW and trust the distance ... ball landed pin high on the same slope as the flag and was able to hole my only birdie of the day. Here’s a photo of different par 3 ... and the reading from the watch ... apologies for the odd photo ... think I’ll need to adjust the settings on my iPhone. Ended up hitting a 6i with to hard of a fade that kicked left off the hills to the right of the green and rolled down onto the dark green slope of the green ... was barely able to 2 putt for par. My buddy Ben, he went right of the pin and stayed on the up slope level with the pin, just missed his birdie and pared as well ... again, it’s a huge asset to have and really just changes your thought process on those approach shots into the green. I’ll leave it at that for now, but all in all, after an initially negative first impression yesterday evening ... I’m certainly happy with it thus far and looking fwd to getting out again on a weekday afternoon this week. If anyone of you are traveling through Myrtle Beach, the course we played today was Prestwick Golf Club ... it’s a lovely link style course from Pete Dye. And before I forget, it was the first time we played the course, but the watch certainly helped in not making it feel like it was.

I played my first round today with the LX5, and thoroughly enjoyed my entire round. Eventually, I will compare the data to Arccos, but today was so much fun to just put the cellphone in my bag when I arrived at the course and not pull it back out until it was time to put the clubs in the car. I felt totally present for the round, which may have helped my scoring, but where I truly appreciated not having my phone on my person was that I was able to remain distraction free and hold full conversations with my playing partners the entire round. It was really nice to be disconnected from the outside world on the course. The maiden voyage for the watch was a good test as I had only played the course one other time. It has multiple blind tee shots, most of the par 5's force you to lay up on your second shot, and has many elevation changes. I shot an 84 today, and overall had a positive first experience with the LX5. Some observations from first use: - Finding the course takes longer than expected. My wife was wearing the Garmin S2 and had her FCB yardages on the first tee in about 30 seconds. The LX5 took a good solid 5 minutes to find the course. I found that odd, especially since I was playing a course that I had downloaded the night before. - The watch is very light. It never felt like it interfered with my swing, or swing speed. - The screen is very bright, and the size of the face helps you easily see the course mapping and data provided. - The scoring section was easy to use, and I will be interested to see how the data collection in SkyGolf 360 looks. - The zoomed in green section is very handy to help see how much room you have to work with for certain pins. The FCB numbers are great, but you can do some quick addition or subtraction with the help of the targeted green for even better distance information. - If you are spending a longer time on a hole, or far from the hole (aka playing from another fairway) the watch will vibrate and ask if you have finished your current hole. I bet that happens so they are able ensure you are seeing the yardages for the correct hole. - I didn't miss the "plays-like" distance from Arccos, but having that data over the last year and a half has apparently taught me to better judge for slope and wind. I never felt like I chose the wrong club today. And now for some photos of the various screens that you will all become familiar with seeing from all of us testers:

... Got paired up with some guys I have been paired up with a couple times this summer at 3:35 so grabbed the time hoping it was them. It was. On 17 after struggling most of the day "Blaze" says let's do closest to the pin for $5! You have to be on the green AND make par." We were all in and 2 missed the green and one had a 30 footer for par. I hit an 8 iron from 157 that hit 2 feet past a back right flag and the $15 was as good as in my pocket. We get up to the green and I am 8 feet away but on the fringe by 1" LOL. Jay rolls his putt leaving it 1.5 feet short so very makable but his friends were razing him after I rolled in my putt for birdie and he was a little nervous. He hit it dead center for par. ... I missed the cup by 2 feet and made an 8 footer for birdie and still lost $5. It was fun and money well spent.

I’d agree that I need to plan my rounds a bit better. I’d also say I need to work on my proximity. It has also forced me to be more creative with different clubs around the green, and that I have more effective shots in the bag than what I normally play.

Here is my two pesos,,,, The only way speed of play will improve is if golfers attitude improves. The following is repeated daily all over the US.: Two carts with 4 staff bags, all four occupants with logos on their shirts and hats. They drive past the white tee onto the blue tees, after ensuring the group ahead of them is at least 375 yards, the first golfer of the group tee’s up his ball and proceeds to take practice swings which can only be described as a cross between a severe electrical shocks and a seizures. After tossing grass to the air and sticking a wet finger out and calls to the weather service to ensure the barometric pressure, he takes a mighty swing and watches his brand new Pro-V1 roll 10 yards short of the white tees. He then proceeds to explain why he did not hit a 320 yard drive. Of course we are treated to this display 3 more times, when questioned they state they are going to play the whole course since they paid for it. Pro’s and the PGA can help, play “ready golf” and grow a backbone , penalize slow play.

39-36 75 I switched to a 10 finger grip on drives and any long shot around the 6th hole - I may just go through the bag with it for a while. Why not? It’s what I started with before I “knew better.” All I know was 1 over from there, no missed fairways (I had missed 1 and needed a great short game to keep my alive before that.). When I hit my drive on 18 my playing partner said, “Oh that again.” A medium high 5 yard draw, straight at the target. The right chimney of the clubhouse. That ended up with a look at 12 footer for birdie. Every approach on the back was either hole high or past Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Puma please send this man some new kicks!

The Odyssey putter giveaway must be up to that by now, right?!?

Woah there trigger, it's a great thread but a wee bit behind the most active by maybe 13,000 replies and 350,000 views....

Loving this site! Just wanted to share with everyone the article I came across after a 5 hour round at one of my local courses, and researching if anyone is still talking about it or trying to fix it, which brought me to this website. Sadly many of the things directed at courses responsibility, I regularly see. As the lets squeeze in two more foursomes because of a price drop, between 3:20 and 3:30(our tee time), and not make them wait until the next available, which contributed heavily to the 5 hour round. There is blame all around, courses, players, rules, that all contribute to slow play. Here is the link https://mygolfspy.com/the-pace-of-play-conundrum-does-golf-really-want-to-fix-it/ I have shared it with all the people I play with, and emailed it to all of the courses I play. Not sure if it will help, but I'm going to keep trying to do my part to be a part of the solution not the problem. As the tone of some of my previous posts already would indicate, I am about playing and having fun, not so much about the rules, and rigid nature of the game.

First time out with the new sand wedge. It’ll take a little while to dial it in, but I like the feel and love the look. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wow! What a round! Unfortunately Georgia weather has decided not to corporate with me this week. I played 9 holes on Thursday at 3 over before getting rained out as I rushed to finish hole 9.... after 2 inches of rain last night I was unable to play today. I have a money match tomorrow, so I’m going to have to play straight up with that one. But I bet with that score you would’ve beaten me anyway. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

This experience has 100 percent validated the tour length for me. I'm not saying everyone should run out and chop down their drivers, but as someone with slightly longer than "standard" arms for my height, having the driver be just a bit shorter has done wonders for my game off the tee. I also hit two awesome shots with the 54 degree wedge today and continue to really, really love the KING MIM Blacks. That includes this one from something like 105 out on No. 13 that tracked the pin so well that I thought I almost dunked it when it hit the green (Obviously, my depth perception needs a little work, but this was a great birdie chance that slid just right of the hole). Perfect hop and stop with a tiny bit of pull back.

I agree with Sluggos assessment. These are definitely players clubs. Not players distance clubs. I know what yardage all these clubs are going to go with a good hit and my regular mishit. The gapping is great between the clubs. The Icons flow nicely to the PTX pro which flows well to the four hybrid. They did such a good job with the gapping I was considering getting the 5 hybrid to replace the 5 iron since I have difficulty with the 5 iron for some reason. And just to be clear, this was not a cosmetic failure after playing. The club arrived with the paint fill missing.

Do I spy me a Motore X?

I love a little bag chatter. It’s one of the benefits of a nice forged iron. I actually really do like it on them tho. My wedding ring is the same way. I like the character. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I heard a man criticizing the way the Lord made things. He said, “It doesn’t make sense to me. A great big oak tree only has little acorns on it, but a weak watermelon vine has to bear those heavy watermelons. It would make sense for the watermelons to be on the oak tree, and the acorns on the vine.” About that time an acorn hit him on the head, and he said, “I’m glad it wasn’t a watermelon.”

And the ones that have gone left on him aren’t hooks. Just slight over draws. It seems like a great fit for him! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's awesome! That shot you hit was a bomb. Being able to take one side out of the equation off the tee makes a huge difference in scoring and confidence.

I play in a regular 4 sone with a guy who games G700’s. I hate the sound. In fact they always sound like he’s hitting a hybrid IMO. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

A few courses around here have starts that will ask you your handicap if you try to play the blues or black tees. It’s a small deterrent. But it’s something. I partially blame the courses for having 7-8 minute tee times too.

Yes I Totally agree. It really grinds my gears when people insist on playing from the tips when they really don't belong there. Who wants to make the game that much harder than it already is anyways!

PxG sure does make one hell of a nice driver crown. Love the alignment mark too.

Alright folks I took the time to figure out where everybody stands heading into the weekend of the first playoff event. These scores include the bonuses for regular season finish. I am not going to try to tag everybody but hopefully those that want to know will see this. It looks to be an exciting weekend at the Northern Trust with some low score obviously possible. If you see any mistakes please point them out. Standings heading into the weekend with how many made the cut: Place/Team/points/made cut 1/QuigleD/150.25/5 2/Hardcore Hacks/145.95/5 3/Out of Bounds/142.15/4 4/The Hammer/138/6 5/Jahren01 putt masters/135.4/4 6/Apolloshowl/135.1/5 7/Steve2100/132.55/4 8/Wedgie/125.15/6 9/Undershooter McGavin/125.15/8 10/Stud Muffins/121.15/7 11/GolfSpy Stroker/120.25/5 12/ScottB33/120.05/6 13/Cams Gotta Big Putt/119.25/3 14/Judge Smails/118.5/4 15/GolfSpy Dave’s Carr Fire/118.35/5 16/cnosil/117.35/3 17/High Fade/112.6/5 18/Bucky CC/110.7/5 19/Blackngold_blood/110.4/5 20/ZJBogey/110/5 21/IlikeBigPutts/109.1/2 22/CW/108/3 23/ChiefMikeOfficer/107.15/6 24/Bardle/105.05/4 25/poprocksnbirdies/102.4/2 26/Revsroundruined/101.1/4 27/Pj Engel/97.1/2 28/daviddvm/94.2/5 29/JbMullin/93.2/2 30/Marky Marks White Ballers/89.55/2

Like Garbage. With a week of rain everyday all courses are wet/sloppy and this morning was no exception. I can’t blame the conditions on my bad ball striking though. All 4 of us played bad, cart path only doesn’t help us old guys. Did putt relatively well even with the recent aeration. Didn’t keep score, probably embarrassing.[emoji12] Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

The range at the public course is closed all week, so I ran out to play a quick 9. I wasn’t paying attention to score, just swinging my clubs, and after the first hole, I figured I’d play my big draw I have going on right now. Add a nice draw to some hard and fast fairways, and it’s a mixture for long drives! The longest measured over 380! Here are the pics . You can see how hard and dry the fairways and rough are on 18! Hey, it counts!!!!!

Would have went in with the right shoes

I am using more clubs off the tee and have been playing to the middle back of the green (for the most part). Because of that I am seeing significantly more GIR. I’ve also short sided myself a lot less. I definitely used to be too focused on the flag. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My whole life has been “make better choices” SMH At least for golf I’ll probably listen that is insane I have not looked at the main thread in a while because notifications get me there that’s insane

A couple things: I prefer the size and shape. The G700s are very, very large and feature quite a lot of offset. These a simply better looking, in my opinion. Practically, the smaller head (especially heel-to-toe) is not as difficult to hit from the rough. This was one of my complaints with the G700; it has a lot of face area, and seems to struggle to rip through taller grass. The sound is much better. At best, the G700s have a loud crack at impact. The 699 Pros have a much more solid, muted sound. There is a point that, if the goal is a lower score, the objective performance numbers have to trump everything else. But as I said, all else being equal, I like the 699 Pros more.

The problem with the idea of using height to determine putter length is the length of your arms will have a huge impact. Regardless of height some people will have shorter or longer than average arms. Also consider how tall or bent over your stance is as well as how straight or bent your arms are and your height starts looking less significant.

A group of 12 women were at a seminar on how to live in a loving relationship with their husbands. The women were asked, "How many of you love your husband?" All the women raised their hands. Then they were asked, "When was the last time you told your husband you loved him?" Some women answered today, a few yesterday, and some couldn't remember. The women were then told to take out their cellphones and text their husband "I love you, sweetheart" Next the women were instructed to exchange phones with another woman and read aloud the text message they received in response to their message. Below are 12 actual hilarious replies from their husbands. If you have been married for quite a while, you understand that these replies are a sign of true love. Who else would reply in such a succinct and honest way? 1. Who the hell is this? 2. Hey, mother of my children, are you sick or what? 3. Yeah, and I love you too. What's wrong? 4. What now? Did you wreck the car again? 5. I don't understand what you mean? 6. What the hell did you do now? 7. Are you sure this is for me? 8. Don't beat about the bush, just tell me how much you need? 9. Am I dreaming? 10. If you don't tell me who this message is actually for, someone will die. 11. I thought we agreed you wouldn't drink during the day. 12. Your mother is coming to stay with us, isn't she?