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Well feel like I just hit 1k posts. Summer CCC definitely helped! Such a great summer top to bottom. Makes it easy with how much stuff was going on Being involved with the site here has been awesome not just for the golf talk but for general life things for all of us....good, bad and other. Hope to really meet you folks (some of you anyway! ) Cant Walt to see what the future holds on the site and being apart of all of it Stay frosty my friends!

Excited to see this little lady on Friday.

After going over the Best Personal Launch Monitors Guide on the home page---Read It Here--for 2020 in great detail, I decided on the Rapsodo MLM. It arrived this weekend, and I'll be dong lots of testing--ie playing around with it, the next several weeks. Here's some intitial pics with several more updates to come.

Speaking of golf simulators... The wife wants to move back to the U.P., I said have fun... but then it dawned on me. I told her if that is the case, when we build the house it is going to have a “Golf Studio” with built in track man, putting green, and whatever else I can think of. That is the only way I am moving back to anywhere with more than 3 days of winter.

Big day tomorrow fellas. I'm playing the second round of our Members League Championship. After we're done tomorrow, they'll cut the original field of the year's top 52 money winners to 20. The top 10 in Gross and Net advance to next Tuesday when we reset and play it off for the Gross and Net Championships. I'm sitting okay, just inside the top 10 in both categories (you can only qualify in one) but I need a good round to advance. I'm not good enough to beat the top 5 or 6 guys in gross over two rounds, and the B flight guys, who are included in the field for this one flight event get a lot more strokes than me, so the net won't be easy either. That said, if I play well I should advance. If I don't it's on me... no excuses. I like that we're playing what I think is the toughest of our 4 courses, so there should be quite a shake up tomorrow, and the guys who advance will have earned a chance for our most prestigious title next week. I want that Net title bad LOL

I have a little coffee bar at home.

The salted smart insoles MGS just reviewed are $90 off.

My hopeful fairway finder arrived. Feels good in the hands and looks good at address. Stoked to take this out. The bigger question is what would it replace in my bag.

Went to the course this morning because I was not sure if my Monday Old Guy walking group had a tee time. Got there about 9:30 because they usually play around 10:30, but I found out that their tee time was 11:38... 2 hours; time to practice. Our 80-year old player didn't show because he injured his back somehow. Didn't find out how. That left the 78 year old and his 70 year old brother who had a stroke last year. He's not up to walking 9-holes yet so he left after #6 which is near the clubhouse. So, only two of us finished. I birdied #1... always a mistake because it's all downhill after that. However, I managed to get through #9 at only +4. Hole #3 was interesting; short-ish par 4 with water all down the left side and in front of the green. Poor drive left me too many yards to carry the water, so laid up. Hit my PW over the water and the ball hit the flagstick near the cup but the ball bounced 15 feet away... missed the par. My drive on hole #9 was my highlight; my buddy who is the longest hitter in our group cranked a high draw down the middle with a tailwind (about 15 mph). I was impressed! I hit a very good drive for me; not as high but straight. Our balls were 10 feet apart in the middle of the fairway, and I had him by a foot. He was impressed!!

It amazes me that I can consistently hit this patch of trees, but not a forty yard wide fairway.

MavriK.... keep in mind, 250 was an avg “good” g400 LST hit.. now?...

Thanks fellas, much appreciated. The surgeon was very reassuring, my daughter asked a lot of good questions so we're all as prepared as can be for tomorrow. My wife is freaking out a little bit so I've got to be the relaxed one... or at least pretend to be, anyways. Fingers crossed all goes well tomorrow morning.

Here's my typical morning coffee setup at my office: At home, we've got a Breville Barista Express espresso machine. I make a latte for my wife most mornings.

When I was learning I threw several balls out of the bunker up on the green - and it felt great to get there. I thought it was fun to be out on the course no matter how I played. It was the good players who made it sound like I shouldn't be having fun. Sounds like your daughter enjoys sharing your time and pastime. Embrace that part of it and she'll keep coming back just to do something fun with you. I read somewhere golf rules for beginners and it included things like tossing your ball back on to the fairway, improving your lie, and throwing the ball out of the sand.

Nothing new, but I thought I'd post an update on a previous purchase. I was finally able to get the grips I purchased from @chisag put on my irons, and they look amazing! The white pairs so well with the heads and I don't think I could have picked a better looking grip to go with them. Now the challenge is keeping them clean.

Dang it.... Went to hit the TS3 they he at DSG last week tonight and it was gone!! It had my choice of shaft and everything. Bummer. On another note, I made it to 7:31 on my presentation. Right smack dab in the middle of the time requirements. That’s called winning.

Sometimes I have random thoughts about how far along technology has come since I was a kid. Today I was printing a label with a digital label printer that you type on, and then it prints a little label. When I was a kid, i used to use this:

It is fantastic that she is prepared and had questions about the procedure. I know when I had my surgery last year I was out for a few hours, so I honestly don't remember anything. But my wife, brother and my mom were freaking out, I can only imagine what they were thinking about as the minutes and hours ticked along. I hope you and your wife find solace in the fact that we are here thinking of your daughter and you, as well as praying for the best outcome.

The TSi3 is [emoji91][emoji91][emoji91]! I got the chance to hit it and it might be enough to pry me away from my G410 plus hahah Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Got my wife this for Mother’s Day this year and she hasn’t stopped using it for her cold brew fix Throw in some homemade sweet cream and we save a ton of money compared to buying from Starbucks Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Next 3 days are gonna be nuts. My oldest is having surgery in Boston tomorrow so today's all the pre-op appointments and her COVID test. We'll find out later today what time her surgery will be, most likely earlier in the day since it's a 3 hour procedure, and then fingers crossed she'll be coming home Thursday afternoon. My wife will be staying in Boston with her and I'll be driving back and forth in all that lovely Boston traffic to make sure our youngest is all set with food, school, rehearsal, etc.

I make an effort on some of the tester wanted threads to go back and thank every veteran that is on the thread, newcomer or long time participant of the forum. But the TSi is at the very least twice as many responses as anyone I have done that on the past. I am right now, very glad I do not have your job.

I continuing to see improvement using the clubs, they may or may not be a touch shorter than the Bridgestones...we'll see.

That was an absolute beast of a shot...may be worth getting an @GolfSub70 3 wood demo. As for me, shot an 87 40/47. I'm more mad about the 47 than the entire score. Driver was a bit iffy, but the little tweak to my setup worked more often than not, allowing me to actually hit off the short grass more than normal. Irons continue to improve with the same tweak.

She is so pretty. Lailla will be 6 months on Saturday the 17th, she is now on the phase where she wants to put everything on her mouth, from the dog's tail to her mom's phone, if she get her little fingers on it, it is going straight to her mouth. She is sitting and on her first foods, so I cant wait to feed her some steak and mashed potatoes, the poor thing only have ever had apple, pear, carrots and green beans as baby foods.

My wife says she has a "No sand policy". But she does pretty well getting out of it.

Honestly didn’t feel like I hit it super well today. Just knocked it around and shot a 78...golf is weird. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Beef stew with the cool weather. We have been trying to figure out old family recipes because the wife and I both enjoy less tomato and thicker stew....I think we finally figured out the winner. Her grandmother didn’t write it down before she passed so we have been trial and error the past 3 years.

With multiple days in the extended forecast showing snowflakes (...sniffle...), it looks like it's time for the season in review. The short version: I made progress this year, but I'm still short of my goal. As of right now, Arccos gives me a handicap of 11.7. Most of my progress this year was from my short game and putting. The long version: The first obstacle to my year in review is that not only did I change my stat-tracking system this season (from Game Golf to Arccos), but midway through the season Arccos utterly revamped how they calculate strokes gained and handicaps. At one point this year, on the old system, I had a handicap well under 10; even today, the old version (which I can access because my iPhone 6 didn't get the new version) has me at a 9.4. But that was always fishy, especially considering the very low course rating of my home track. For that reason, I'm not going to try to do much by way of year-over-year analysis. Instead, I'll mostly look at the numbers from this season and be a bit more anecdotal about how they compare to previous years. Here's the 30,000 foot overview: Now, let's clarify this: these stats are for the most recent 50 rounds (as many as Arccos will allow you to select) compared to an 8-handicap. I choose this benchmark because it is a good indication of where my game needs to be to accomplish my goal of getting into single figures. The numbers here are clear: my short game (for Arccos's purposes, that's 50 yards and in) is single-digit caliber, both with the wedges and with the putter. My full swing remains my problem. Let's break it down by facets. Driving: I remain pretty awful off the tee. Arccos thinks I'm even worse than that. This number ain't good, but it is (as I've explained before) somewhat misleading. My home course is (to say it kindly) quirky, and there are multiple par 4s that take driver out of your hands. What Arrcos here suggests is my "long" drive number is actual the "smart" number it gives to the holes in which I actually use my driver: Those who've followed this thread for a while will recognize that that 234 number, while not impressive to anyone, represents a small gain in driving distance for me this season. For comparison, my Game Golf records from last year tell me that my "typical" drive (with driver) was 218 yards (since these are raw numbers and not strokes gained calculations, a comparison makes sense). Just to do this visually (and this graphic is imperfect), here's a shot from GG of my 2019 drives and from Arccos for 2020. I've lined them up to where the 250 yard stripe is the same on both; the scale, unfortunately, is different: This is noisy data, to be sure, but I think it's evident that I have a greater percentage of drives near the 250 mark this year than last. I also lowered the percentage of miserable short duck hooks, which was my nemesis miss last season. As for fairway accuracy, it looks like I brought the right miss into play much more this season. Game Golf tells me that in 2019, I was 28% Left | 55% Fairway | 17% Right. This season, I was 29% Left | 48% Fairway | 23% Right. That's a solid two-way miss dispersion. I have heard rumblings that there are plans to build a driving range at our course. This would have the potential to be a game changer for me, as it remains the case that if I want to practice driving the ball, I have an hour drive to the nearest range. I'll say more about this in the conclusion, but most of my goals for this offseason should, at some level, contribute to better driving numbers. I'm planning to dedicate myself to the PlaneMate this winter. I also aim to get back to working out and to regular use of my DIY SuperSpeed sticks. I need more distance, and I need a better, more predictable swing, because driving remains the biggest glaring weakness and the biggest obstacle to my reaching a single figure handicap. Approach: The big news here, of course, was putting the Sub 70 699 Pro irons in my bag for an MGS Forum review this season. If you want to dive deeper into that switch, go read the thread. The short version is that the switch from the SGI-class PING G700s to the 699 Pros had far less dramatic impact on my on-course numbers than I would have guessed. My before and after numbers were very close, and the aesthetic and subjective appeal of the Sub 70s are keeping them in the bag through the winter and into next season. How was my approach game? In a word: mediocre. Arccos thinks it is slightly worse than my actual handicap and definitely a liability in my quest for single figures. The biggest problem: a pitiable GIR number: Some of this is swing and contact related, but I'm finally getting it through my thick skull that some of this is strategy related. Why do I come up short so often? It isn't because I have totally unrealistic ideas of how far I hit my irons. I have way too much data, both on course and SkyTrak, to not know how far I hit my irons. My issue is that I base my club selection on the club that will get me to the flag on a very good strike. I'm not talking about a once-in-a-lifetime, totally flushed it strike. But it's the sort of strike that I have (looking at the numbers) just under 50% of the time. The other 50+% of less-then-ideal swings, I come up short. So I'm going into next season with (finally) a better strategy. I have a hard time simply telling myself to club up or to aim for the yardage of the back of the green. For me, that's like setting the clocks forward in my house 15 minutes so I'm not late: it doesn't work. I have a strong aversion to intentionally aiming at the wrong thing. To convince my mind that it's OK, I've learned the right idea is to center my dispersion pattern over my target. I'm not aiming past the hole. The hole (or the center of the green, etc.) is my target, but I need to choose a club that will get the center of my shots on the center of that target. In addition to the strategic changes, I trust that the PlaneMate and speed work this winter will also show an improvement in my approach game next season. Short Game: Finally, on to the better news! My short game showed significant improvement this year, and most of it was because I finally committed to a clock wedge system. In short, I use three wedges for partial wedge shots: my GW, SW, and LW. With each wedge, I have a 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 swing, and I tested those swings repeatedly on SkyTrak. After coming up with reliable numbers, I printed a chart with those distances and taped it to my Precision Pro NX9 HD range finder. This revolutionized my short game. I no longer had to "guess" or "feel" partial swings; I had swings that I had confidence would go the distance I got from my laser. Obviously, this is not foolproof; I still hit plenty of poor shots this summer. But my numbers were much improved and are almost exactly what would be normal for an 8 handicap: The chart here is interesting: in both yardage ranges, my average distance to the pin is closer than an average 8 handicap. I got up and down virtually identical with an 8 handicap from 0-25 yards and slightly higher from 25-50 yards. My greens missed were significantly higher than both; this adds to the evidence that the greens at my course are very small. There's still room to make this is a stronger strength: I can't use the small greens as an excuse; I have no business missing so many greens from this distance. But my goal this winter is simply to continue to sharpen what I've done here; I'm not looking to reinvent this wheel. Putting: This is now comfortably the strength of my game, where I'm now gaining strokes against an 8 handicap. If I'm going to complain about small greens for approach and short game, I have to concede: I don't have nearly as many really long putts as the average player. But the putts I do have, I tend to get without throwing too many strokes away: I rarely 3-putt (again, small greens are a factor here). But even breaking putts down by length (and I obsessively plot the position of my putts on the green during the round): Even on the rare occasions that I have a really long putt, it doesn't look like I'm struggling. I have a putter I like. I have a putting mat in my office with my PuttOut (I swear by the PuttOut) and my basement green. I'm going to keep grinding on my same practice routine on this. My goal here is incremental improvement rather than any wholesale change. Summary: I'm bummed that I haven't yet reached my goal. When I begin this project, it was an attempt to figure out if an amateur working without coaching, but armed with a bunch of tech and avid appetite for golf knowledge, could easily reach single figures. I think I'm likely good evidence that, if good coaching is available, you should seek coaching. In hindsight, I didn't practice much once the course opened this year. I played a lot, and so most of my available "golf time" was spent at the course rather than in my garage. When I set up the SkyTrak, Kirke often wants to bump me off (and the other kids want their time to play as well). This is a good thing and I'll not complain about it. My biggest plan, as I've already noted here, is to revise my swing using the PlaneMate. I have a nagging over-the-top move that I'd like to eliminate, and I think I've made some progress on it. My hope is that the result will not be merely a more cosmetically pleasing swing, but one that has greater potential for repeated good contact. As soon as the season is officially over, I'm starting offseason workouts, including some weight training and SuperSpeed. I'm planning to include my boys in some of that, which will hopefully give me more incentive to do the needed work. Another option that I have to consider again is online coaching. It might be time to set up a more formal coaching relationship with Adam Young.

I would venture to guess that Cold brew is probably more popular here in AZ and other warmer states? Something about drinking something only slightly warmer than the weather during the summer.. not too attractive.. to me anyway IMO, home brewed cold brew is much better than anything in the stores or coffee shops. Now if I could only get my mitts on a nitro brew contraption and learn that skillset, I'd be set!

I might be a little biased... but I think this thread needs a spot in the SpyChat section... What do you say @GolfSpy STUDque? Little? That’s awesome!!

To answer the White Elephant question that has already come up, right now it is only IOS compatible, and better with certain IOS models than others, more info on that to come very soon. The Android release is in the works now, and could happen by the end of the year or certainly early in 2021 according to information directly from Rapsodo.

That is awesome, I do want to move somewhere warmer after our son graduates high school. So a few more years. I don't want to go all the way down to Florida, just something with mild winters.

I definitely choke the thing. Very firm grip for better or worse. I will have to toss a picture in of grip alignment on here at some point. Love how an amazon deal thread has turned inability to keep a glove

I spent my childhood in the Petoskey area after my dad got out of the Navy. Joined the service To get out of Michigan... they sent me to the furthest place north they Could possible send me in Michigan, left there to Bellingham, Wa. Then to Va, then back to the U.P. For 5!! Winters. Really enjoying Southern Maryland’s mildish winters. I can play all year, might be a bit soggy though.

Good luck to you guys . Next few days stressful but we’re all with you and family. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

just a suggestion, don't change ball and driver at the same time. keep the consistency of the ball for trying out the new driver. just don't add too many variables.

I hope everything goes well. Definitely nerve racking having to sit around and wait.

Not looking for anything. I looked around last year and the deals weren’t all that great.... To me, it’s much-ado about nothing.

Score better? Not sure. Enjoy my round more? Definitely!!!! The public course where I play is in the worst shape it’s been in the 21 years I’ve lived here. Just horrible. I don’t enjoy the rounds there anymore, and I just don’t bother to really concentrate on score because of how bad the conditions are. When I travel for work, I take my clubs with me, and I look for the best courses in the area to play at the end of each day. I’ve learned I really enjoy playing on grass in the fairway! I enjoy greens that ALSO have grass on them, and roll true!!! I enjoy traps that have sand in them and have been manicured since the last Ice Age!!! My scores my not be “better”, but I enjoy the rounds a LOT more when the conditions are better.

Maybe is his way to apply for a job

Not a lot of our neighbors respond when I say hello. Still got to try hitting some balls with Matt @MyWifesSwingCoach before the end of the season.

Congratulations!! Good job getting to 2K that fast... not @Shankster fast, but fast!!

Not sure about the OP’s “nicer” but I always play worse when I’m on a marquee course. I’ve had the privilege of playing several world famous courses, and I always play much worse - +10 strokes give or take? Partly because I play the tips to see the course as a pro would, and partly because I’m intimidated by world class conditions, almost feel guilty taking a divot. I don’t have any such reservations on any regular courses I play.

Gotta pull this off

Only on occasion. There's a creek hiding in there that gobbles them up.

Yeah that was funny! My golf balls seem to prefer to go run and hide in the woods

Played kinda yuck. Cart Path only, mildly sloppy. No birds, 4Pars & 4Bogies & 1 dbl Bogy where a ProV1x committed suicide and drowned itself. Forced carry over swamp and didn’t make it, caught a clump of Snake Grass just at end of the wetland. Only fun part was “busting” a rabid Chiefs fan who spent the summer reminding me about Red Sox. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Tall, dark and very bitter, just like me I really enjoy coffee, I use everything, Keirug, french press, pour over drip, it all depends on the amount of time I have and how strong I want it that day, I also get a lot single origin coffee, current I have some good strong Brazilian coffee, some medium roast from Costa rica, some very bitter Kenyan coffee as well as some cafe bustelo for the keurig. I mostly get full been freshly roasted,and grind it, and yes, I use a hand grinder. I cant wait to be able to travel to Brazil again, so I can bring some fresh roasted beans from a farm of one of my friends down there.