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Shot an 80 today. Should have been better, but they just punched the greens and they're heavily sanded. Putting was, to say the least, a challenge for everyone.

Got out for the first time in a few weeks today, as I’ve been dealing with back pain. Played awful on the front nine (+8), but rebounded on the back and shot +4. Finished with an 82, not too bad considering I haven’t been able to play very often of late!

Shot 36 today. One birdie, One bogey, 7 pars. Pretty good. The 4 iron off the tee on a few of these shorter par 4's is deadly. It keeps me out of trouble and im able to still have about 140-150 in. Could have been under par, but putter wasn't cooperating.

Played the jewel of the LA city golf system - Wilson at Griffith Park. It's a course I have never played well at, but do really enjoy for the look and feel of the place (1927 course, so old school style). Insanely hard to get a day tee time there these days, so when I saw a time open up (at a discount no less!) for 11am today, I had to cut out from work (much easier during these WFH days) and play. A few things happened during this round: -I didn't get a single birdie -I got stung by a wasp -I shot a personal best on the course (+4/+2 - 78 total) There wasn't anything to really write home about, good or bad. Decent off the tee, but the fairways were shaggy and not giving much roll. Approaches weren't horrible, but nothing close enough to kick in. My putting speed was actually really good, but just not dropping, so easy two putts (30 putts total). Made a beautiful bunker shot right after the wasp stung me, guess I was too distracted by the pain to overthink it, but I then missed the easy putt for the save. Weather was beautiful, air relatively clear, pace not as incredibly slow as it can be there. All in all, a pretty good Wednesday.

Still struggling some with the 3i, but wanted to share a couple things that stood out to me tonight following last night's range session: I've got my hands lower at impact, so contrary to my initial rounds, I've now got a baby draw working (and can still easily call up a fade, which was very difficult for me with my Pings) D7 PW about 5 yards longer on comparable strikes (n=2, soooo...) BUT the peak height is pretty similar D7 6i about 10 yards longer on comparable strikes (n=3...) and the D7 is markedly lower/more piercing. My Ping seems to just float. It's hard to tell without a launch monitor, but I'm starting to wonder if the spin rates are a little lower on the D7 or if it's just the flatter descent angle (or, you know, both). I was playing ProV1x tonight and the Pings were drop-and-stop with mid irons and coming back about a foot or two with short irons. (The greens were so firm tonight that ballmarks were hard to find!) The D7s were definitely running out more. Here's an 8i from 160 (I would have juiced a 7i if playing my Pings). I added in the dotted line to help illustrate, but that's approximately 10' of run-out. Don't love that, but a) it was off a tee and b) there are spinnier balls. And one thing that I'm definitely noticing is the predictability of a well-struck shot. I can already tell by feel exactly where that ball is about to end up and that's not something I would've ever said about my i210s. D7s? KBS shafts? Combo of both? No matter, the dispersion is excellent. Case in point, par 5 9th, I flushed this 6i and just from the feel, I immediately had the thought: that's going to be damn close. Watching the ball track right at the pin, I thought, "that's going in." Well, I was wrong. Sure would've liked an albatross though.

Our Wednesday traveling group went to a muni called Thunderbird in Huron, Ohio. We played the north course which is a hilly parkland style with narrow fairways and lots of trees. The greens were just punched and sanded and were extremely slow. Ended up with an 89, mostly due to my putting. Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

I like it too much in the 5-wood to not try in the driver.... prob hitting a bucket on lunch tomorrow. Dry swings felt reallly nice.

We gambled today with $29 rates at Rose Hill Plantation just off the island at Hilton Head. We played the back nine first, shooting 43/39:82 for 5,682 yards. Last three holes: #7 Par 5, #8 Par 5 & #9 Par 3. I went par, birdie, par. Very enjoyable round today and the Staff were over the top friendly. BTW, first time playing this course and did not lose a ball! Using Tour Edge Exotics EXS Driver w/ Mitsubishi Tense ck Blue regular shaft; Cobra King F8 4W & 6W w/Mitsubishi Tense ck Blue regular shaft; Tour Edge CVX 119 4 Hybrid , Irons 5-PW Wilson Staff D-7 w/Recoil 460 regular shafts; Cobra King wedges 50/54/58 & Bellum Winmore 707 putter. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Could not make a putt this evening. I shot 43 for 9 holes.

... LUCY!!! You got some Splainin' to do!!! I have always been a fan of getting fit. I have been fit for individual clubs many times for reviews or at the PGA Show. But thinking back it has been 5 years since I was fit for any club. And evidently 5 years from age 62-67 is kinda like dog years. My swing speed with a driver has always been a pretty consistent 99-100 with a few 101/102's thrown in if I really went after it. Turns out I am consistently at 94-95 so I have lost a good 5 mph or more and with a smooth swing and transition, I was playing drivers with too little loft, too stiff a shaft and too heavy. Spin was pretty consistent at around 1800-1900. This fitting facility uses Titleist Tour Soft balls and they certainly spin less then my TP5's but still too low. Going from a Tensei Orange 65 gm stiff flex to an Atmos Blue TS 55 r flex increased my launch and spin to 2300. Going above and beyond, he busted out a few new TP5's from a dozen he had and my spin increased to 2600 giving me max carry and my highest total distance. Smash Factor with my driver was 1.45-1.47 but with the lighter r flex it was 1.50 with a few 1.49's. What an eye opener. ... Here is the problem for better players. I told him I shot 5 rounds in a row under par with my T100-S and KK 105gm stiff shafts this summer. He did not blink and said "I have no doubt you are capable of that. But you did it with your equipment working against you, not for you." He would only let me swing 1 or 2 times with a combo he didn't like because he said I changed my swing to accommodate the club and of course my club should accommodate my swing, not the other way around. He knew before I said it felt too light r too heavy or too stiff or too soft. The iron I hit best was the P770 with a Recoil 95 r flex shaft. Icing on the cake was when he had me hit a few knockdown shots with my irons, then handed me the 770/Recoil r-flex combo. The knockdown was just so much easier with the softer flex because of course I was unloading the shaft with the r flex but not the s flex. ... One of my go to clubs is my TM UDi 2 iron with a stiff flex 95gm HRZDUS Black. He watched me hit 2 shots that I hit well and said "Is your typical miss a push and sometimes a weak push?" He handed me the new #3 DHy and first shot was really nice, higher and dead straight and 5 yds longer than my UDi. I hit a few more all virtually the same and it was just so easy. He had me hit my UDi again and it felt like a tree trunk after the lighter and softer Diamana. Again, I thought I was hitting the 75 gm s flex but it was the 65 gm r flex. LUCY!!! ... So the good news is I can make the game easier on myself with equipment that fits me better at age 67. The bad news is I have a lot of thinking, selling and buying to do. I just can't recommend getting fit enough. I have always been a big believer but spent most of my golfing life with similar swings and swing speed. If you have over come any ailments, gotten older, been away from the game or most importantly never been fit I think it is an absolute must and will make this most difficult game a little easier. We have to fight the course, the elements, our swings and our moods so not fighting your equipment should just be common sense. *Side notes* He said he successfully fits a lot of golfers into the Taylor Made Ventus shaft, but very few into the Ventus with Velocore as it is just too much shaft for most players. And he is also very excited about the new Titleist drivers and said it is the best driver they have ever produced by a wide margin. We spent so much time with my irons/driver/putter that we never got around to wedges and he told me once I get my irons where I want them, I should book another full wedge fitting as he would like to spend a good hour with me and it was included in my full bag fitting, so no additional charge.

OK.. in honor of #TBT here are actual screenshots - from today, a Thursday - from another online forum... ..and.. Ya just can't make this stuff up!

Trying to get to the range as much as possible to familiarize myself with these. It’s really tough for me to just “play” with new irons. I need time. The one time I played I also experienced the ball not holding but it was exceedingly windy. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Winter is coming.... After enjoying a nice PNW summer of 75 degrees days and mild to no wind, today that all changed. I was the lone player from our standard 8 man Wednesday game to tee it up. I haven't played in sustained winds in a good while. Throw in some rain and it was a different day on the links. So, I got to hit lots of 3/4 knock downs... I hit more GIR today than in the last month and shot my best round in the last few weeks. Golf. Very easy to fight the ball down and got through the wet grass nicely. Surprisingly pleased with the day.

Thank you for your recent Like of one of my recent posts. You just pushed me over the 20,000 Likes barrier.

... Yesterday I wanted to share my initial thoughts immediately after coming out of a full bag fitting. Many have questions about fittings and lessons so I hope sharing this information was helpful. Having a full day to comprehend the fitting results, I realize the fitting flaws for me are still there and while I was initially disappointed, there was also some very useful information. 1. I don't hit balls at the range very well and certainly do not hit balls well off a matt indoors.Playing QB, I was always better in games than I was at practice. The Mistwood Performance Center is better than most because even though I was indoors, the bay window was open and I was hitting into a range but still using range balls. I know my real world distances with my T100-S and my 7 iron is a very reliable 160-165 yd club. Sometimes with a little wind or downhill I will use it form 170. My mishits or poor swings are usually a weak push fade that can be a good 10 or even 15 yds yds short of that so 150-155 sounds about right for a poor swing. On the LM I was hitting my T100-0S 7 iron a very consistent 145-148. To be fair to my fitter, they were all pretty much poor swings. Later in the fitting after hitting the P770 with a recoil F3 regular flex much better, I some T100-S 7 irons again and hit them around 155. So better but still nothing like I hit them when I am playing. And regardless of the distance, the r-shaft was just easier to swing and clearly produced higher shots with more spin and a tighter pattern with a deviation of 4.5 yds left and right. I just did not need to go after them as hard with that combo. So while I do not think the fitting accurately captured my swing, it did allow me to see that the same swing with a different iron, the results were clearly better. The question becomes, will I hit the 770 r flex 7 iron 175 on the course with my normal game swing or will I hit it the same distance as my s-T100-S flex with mishits turning out better and not having to work as hard to get those same results. That would be ideal. But only playing them on a course under normal conditions will answer that question. 2. Range balls make a huge difference. When hitting a couple TP5 balls, my launch, spin and distance improved by 7-10 yds with my irons and even more with a driver. Obviously an indoor fitting can use any ball since you can just get to from the net or screen and hit it again, but on a range it is impractical to have all the balls people being fit would normally play. 3. Even though I felt like I was not being fit for my normal on course swing, there was a lot to learn from the results. For instance my 2 iron DI with a stiff HZRDUS Black 90gm shaft works great with my best swing but when I miss it the results are pretty dramatically different. But again the truth is I don't miss it a lot on the course, maybe 1 or 2 out of 10 and instead of a 225-235 yd shot off the tee, I hit it 190 and a little right which is still playable. The ones I do miss are because I am going at it too hard and just get a little out of sync. I hit about 5 shots with the DHy and the much softer 65 gm r flex and after the first one was so perfect, I think I was able to swing it smoother and not work so hard and did not miss hit it at all with one just about perfect shot after another. We have all been on the course and thought 7 our 6 iron? I'll just really pound the 7 and we end up with poor results. Something to be learned form that. 4. And finally my fitter can only work with what I give him. I can tell him I usually hit the ball farther and much better when I play but I assume he hears that aaaaalllll the time. So I mentioned it once when first hitting my T100-S 7 iron and never brought it up again because telling him WTF? I normally hit this club 165 so 145 has little bearing for my fitting. These are the only shots he sees so he has to fit what I am giving him, not what I am telling him. ... So I have my work cut out for me. Gonna try my driver with a softer shaft, pick up the DHy with the 65gm r flex shaft and shaft up one 760 with a softer r flex shaft and see how they perform on the course when it counts, then take it from there. All in all not what I wanted from a fitting but some very useful information and well worth the time and money. So know what you want out of a fitting before going in. If you are good at the range or hitting of matts your experience will be much better. And if you know hitting off matts and/or indoors never really captures your normal swing, be prepared for that too.

They can't afford them

i’m in new york. the clubs on long island are insanely expensive. if i joined one of them the coke and hooker budget would take a big hit.

Did the fitting after lunch today, and bought it. https://edelgolf.com/collections/eas-model-putters/products/eas-2-0-putter

I've noticed the Z-Star seems to have plenty of spin, more of a hop-and-stop. I was giving my stash of XVs a break, but I may need to bust them out for some testing. I was thinking about picking up a sleeve of Bridgestone Tour BXS because I can spin the cover off of them, but if anyone has any other balls they want me to test, I'm happy to snag a sleeve (except NOT K-Sigs). The ProV1x's really aren't getting it done even with crisp contact. (And just for a fun, I found a Callaway ERC Soft and hit that a couple of times. You wanna talk about running out...) It's also clay down here. In the fairways, that's fine, but my club actively tries to make the greens really firm (Bermuda) so that it doesn't turn to mush when it rains. There is a course I have reciprocity at with Bentgrass greens and every summer they lose a couple of them. They are sponges right now and everything plugs, so I've stayed away from it for our testing. I had a couple shots today where I needed to punch and could not get the ball up. One of them had straight up topspin and dove into the turf about 20 yards out. Apparently I need to figure out how to punch with these irons as my Pings had me doing it wrong? Agree on wet grass. These are really easy to hit out of wet Bermuda rough.

hit the range last night and tried the "Bryson" swing... one thing that people have pointed out is that with his 'new' swing compared to his old swing he's already at impact vs just starting his downswing on the new one. So I tried to up the tempo - much faster back and through.... actually was quite surprised with the results. It feels much different but in a good way. Might have to put that into play. My tempo is usually pretty slow.

Got out for a small bucket this morning, mostly stuck with irons and wedges. Wedges and short irons were fine. Great even (for me). 5i-7i on the other hand... blech. Short game area at the local muni where I practice is still closed, no flags or holes so my practice on that part of my game is woefully lacking.

....so you’re telling me there’s soon to be a bunch of primo, beautiful stiff flex clubs hitting the Buy & Sell forum? That could be dangerous...

I hope you’ll be waiting a long time

I've played nine holes of golf in the past 7 days. Weird feeling after playing so much during this... The course where I practice at punched and sanded their greens on Monday, practice green yesterday. Leaves are starting to turn, also. Hopefully get some good fall golf weather yet. Couple updates to my initial reviews: Woods and Hybrids I stated in my original review (way back on July 27) that I wasn't sure if the 2 hybrid would find a spot in my bag. Well, after its performance during the irons only and woods/wedges weeks, where it double-dipped as an eligible club, it firmly locked down a spot as a fairway finder. I've actually been hitting it a lot as of late, especially when I followed the recommendations of Arccos during the final challenge. It's slotting in nicely in the 225-235 spot off the tee. Irons After a pretty rough transition period, I'm starting to really like the feel of the SpeedZone irons. I'm guessing it was the competition mixed with the move to x-stiff shafts that just had me overswinging really badly. The last few weeks I've been working on getting back to solid iron fundamentals and am striking the ball much better. And I'm beginning to appreciate the solid but smooth feel of the x-stiffs as well. They are a different animal than the regular stiff C-Taper Lites, but that's not a bad thing. And they still crank out the ball speed (from a 6 iron during today's range session): I did make one change to my iron setup. I dropped the SpeedZone 4 iron in favor of my Tour Edge Exotics CB Pro Tungsten driving iron. They are both 19 degrees, but the Tour Edge has a graphite shaft. Off a tee, I was seeing significantly better results from the Tour Edge. This change is hopefully shortlived! I have a brand new 75g X-Caliber rapid taper shaft coming from @Popeye64 that will be going into the SpeedZone 4 iron head. My hope is that I can exceed the performance and forgiveness of the Tour Edge. Wedges The wedges are fantastic! I said I might look into bending the 54 a degree strong, but I don't see the necessity of that anymore as I have gotten pretty good at hitting less full gap wedges. (On the wedge note, I played in a work scramble last Tuesday. On the first hole I had a long fringe chip that I used my 54 degree for. I hit it pretty hard purposely, letting it bump into the ridge of the green and it bumped and checked hard, stopping about four feet from the pin. We made the putt. My group couldn't believe how it stopped - they said they thought it was going off the green - I just smiled because I had full confidence the wedges just work for me.) Bag I immediately switched back to my personalized Sun Mountain Sync cart bag, which has a putter well, insulated cooler pocket and 14 full-length dividers. The SpeedZone bag has made a wonderful practice bag, having plenty of room to store everything I need for a range session. As a major bonus, the five way top is large enough to hold my Amazon Basics tripod. Because I no longer need to carry a bunch of things separately, I have videoed almost every range session in the past two weeks after not doing so almost all summer. This has been a huge help to my game because watching video led me to fix a few things I noticed had gone awry. Thanks again to all of my fellow competitors, to commenters, MyGolfSpy, Arccos and Cobra/Puma Golf. I still have a hard time believing I was chosen for this opportunity, even after living it for the past three-and-a-half months.

I found a par 3 course about 10 minutes from home that you can pay $12 to play all day so i have been playing there for the past 3 weeks working on my iron game. Between that and going to the range every week it seems to be paying off. Also finally dunked a flop shot from a few yards off the green this past week

I'm waiting for you to move on from the Hot Metal/Hot Metal Pro set and then i'll buy them from you

I thought folks might enjoy this photo from last month - playing at Pasadera in Monterey the day the wildfires started, and we got this photo on the 15th (highest point on the course) as the River fire spread in the background. Huge thanks to all the firefighters who risk life and limb to get these fires under control - they do an unbelievable job in awful conditions.

I thought I'd give ya another one, just to ruin that nice, even number by your name. I almost feel devious.

Oh, I wasn't implying that the price will be reduced next year, just that I am trusting myself to hold off until at least then

It is a day earlier then expected, but for those who are needing some evening reading my review is up! Of course there will be much follow up as the program continues and expect a updated scoring on the review in the coming months when I have more rounds in! Also final note will be I am going to try and find GC quad or trackman and get a full round up of numbers then fire them off to TXG and say give me a driver since they ship worldwide and will likely be cheaper then anything I can find here in Switzerland. Thanks everyone for following along and please feel free to send any follow up if you have them. I did not post kneeling swing or step swing numbers as I figured the other data was more relevant to the review, but can go over them if so desired. Cheers!

I hit 50 wedge shots in the backyard this morning while moving the sprinkler around. 58 yards per the MG Golf range finder, used the 57* trying to dial in the high soft ones. I hit 10 at a time then go get them, move the sprinkler (so I can say I was doing yard work ) and do it again. It was a pretty good session for me with the worst being 6/10 hitting the green on the first set and then 8 or 9 /10 on the other sets. From the angle I was hitting to miss the cars, the target area to hit the green is ~15' diam circle. I am better with the half swing 53* when at that distance but sometimes need the height of the 57* depending on whats to clear in front and how much green room there is in front of the pin. View from the mat..... 58 yds from about 30 yards..... The target zone.....

ummm....yep....one

Funny story about that. I recently purchased a box from Target because I was playing a new course with lots of water and was tipped off that I may lose a few balls. Well, rather than lose any of my preferred Bridgestones, I decided I'd grab something a little cheaper, while still offering plenty of performance. And wouldn't you know it? Target is the closest thing to me... Haha I knew I was getting a bit of a raw deal, but I also saw the 1 or 2 generation old Pro V1s and Pro V1Xs they had sitting on the top shelf and figured, "at least I'm not that guy." LOL I could have bought golf balls at the course, but without knowing what they carry and whether or not they were even letting anyone in the pro shop due to COVID - I opted for the easiest thing. All said and done, I only wound up losing two golf balls and have quite a few Vice balls to run through before going back to my Tour B XS.

2020/2021 Offseason Overhaul Beginning Early Working on cleaning up the long swing and making a better turn in order to have a more consistent low point and better descending blow with my irons. The swing from the beginning of the lesson is on the right. The swing after working on a few things is on the left

Did a dry brine on a whole chicken today. Sorry only got a picture of half because it was too good to wait on

Being a member of a private club, I can add some considerations. Some mentioned above I duplicated but here is a few points to check into. How often do the dues increase or when was the last time they did and by how much? How many times is the course closed for tournaments restricting member play. Is there an extra fee for a driving range plan with unlimited use? What is the guest fee for when you bring guests? Does the course host local high school or college teams for practice? Food minimum per month Cart fee per round or yearly cart plan. Locker fee Club storage fee. I don't do it because I play other courses as well. Some clubs are account only. Meaning everything gets charged to your account. Guest fees their food and such. Just be prepared. We just had someone ring up a big bill and doesn't want to pay for his quests. We had to show him the club rules and then told him he was responsible to get payment from his guests. Newer member not paying attention to the club rules, it happens.

this particular club is cart-only. i plan on asking why that is. i know they charge $15/18 holes and $8/9 hole for carts. but they are the most affordable club around by a wide margin, so i’m ok with paying for a cart theyre $4500 for the year, and an additional $375 for bag storage. no initiation fee other clubs close to me are 12k and up just for initiation, and then they’re north of 15k for yearly dues.

Make sure you understand all the costs, not just dues and golf. There could be a monthly food and beverage minimum . Also ask if any assessments pending along with history of past assessments. Note some pro shops offer a discount on equipment which puts them on par with big box stores. Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

I got called by the FBI once over an eBay transaction... talk about a sphincter tightening moment! Turns out some computer parts I had bought were stolen from a university's lab by an employee. The agent thankfully said right at the top that I wasn't in trouble, they just wanted to know if there was anything on the hard drives when they arrived, did I have any other communication with the seller, etc.

Shankster, you beat me too it. I came here to post this....and also to head off the inevitable question, No, I don't have any plans to buy these....in 2020 https://mygolfspy.com/titleist-cncpt-irons-cp-03-and-cp-04/

If these are pulled out of the drawer at my forthcoming bag fitting, I'm going to politely ask they be put back in the drawer. No doubt you'll see some high double digit handicap players at the country clubs spraying these down the fairways.

You can read about calculation of Score Differential and Handicap Index in Section 5.1 here: https://www.usga.org/handicapping/roh/2020-rules-of-handicapping.html The equation is Score Differential = (113 ÷Slope Rating) x (adjusted gross score – Course Rating – PCC adjustment) Your Handicap Index is the average of the best 8 Differentials from the most recent 20.

My five dozen Pix were delivered today, FedEx two day for free. Damned if I can find any of the cosmetic flaws that caused the PRACTICE brand. Even with the Pix’s heavy graphics, they all look pretty much perfect to me.

My unhelpful comment is that I play as a single [emoji23] Besides that, I say if booking in advance, reserve the foursome based on verbal commitment, but know the cancellation/change deadline and set the expectation that everyone prepaid the booker by then, that way there’s already a skin in the game.

...NO double bogeys though I'm guessing???

Sometimes the tourneys are private outside events. Company events, college matches, Boys and Girls club events. Those you can get in with a team. School fund raisers. Then you will have club member events. You can play in any of those and they are usually flighted by handicap. Don't worry about getting better first. We have one every other month or so. But they usually charge you to play in them and you win pro shop credit. It puts money back into the club.