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After my trip with @Ben_Howell34 to Big Cedar Lodge (I’ll update on his post about how that trip was….it was incredible) I got to play with a buddy at my local club today. I shot a 75 today (my best this year and one off my personal best ever) I had a chip in birdie and then….. a hole in one! Can’t even describe the feeling of seeing the ball drop into the hole off the tee. 149 yd shot, downwind. Pin is on the front. I played a full PW with the slightest fade. Hit 5 ft to the left of the flag, checked up on the side hill and started falling to the right towards the hole. The anticipation was real as I didn’t know if it was tracking or not. I saw it roll into the flag stick, catch the lip of the cup, do a 180 around the flag before falling in. Beautiful weather, incredible day. I’ve had many lows while playing, but this is why I love going out again and again. The chase for perfection and today was pretty dang perfect.

Ok don't laugh.. seriously.. I still love the Edel round putter grip and think that it works great for my biomechanics. This is however the biggest grip that they offer and I can't find any slightly bigger true round grips out there. I had an idea that I'm gonna try for a round or 2.. maybe more. This is a tennis racket grip wrap. It cost me $3 on Amazon. It has a pretty strong adhesive on the back side and a really great padded feel and texture. When wrapped, it creates some great spacing indentation for fingers... Just like a tennis racket. It doesn't look completely hideous but the feeling is really nice IMO.

Okay, but that is how the product evaluators are chosen. MGS forum testing isn’t about validating the OEM opinion, it is about someone taking time to create a series of tests, assess a product, write up their opinion on how that product performs for them, and to highlight the good and bad aspects of the product. It really isn’t random sampling. you are correct. Not sure why you think the evaluation will be biased but you are entitled to your opinion; I am guessing you believe that people will falsely post positive reviews as you think that is what is expected once selected, if that is your thought, it is a false assumption as there have been negative reviews of products. Posts, forum engagement, photos are a small indication if the person will follow through with the commitment they are signing up for but isn’t a guarantee as there are still people that take the product, provide no feedback, and are never heard from again. Random would never work as I would guess 90+% of the people that signup to evaluate a product just want the product and would not provide the review. the methodology selected seems to be working and in the majority of the cases, people follow through with well thought out reviews. The people that post on this forum do so as a form of conversation and with that people post their thoughts which could be right or wrong just like any other conversation that happens in the world. I post my thoughts, opinions, and what I have experienced and try to caveat those opinions as just that my opinions as what I have seen may not apply to everyone. For fact based information I try to provide a source so that people can see where i got that information from. Maybe I am wrong on things and would personally like to hear from more knowledgeable people to explain what is wrong and help me learn more. While you consider if pointless to get into those conversations, that is really what the forum is all about; engagement and education.

I'm honestly a little taken back with the response... however I'll bite. For starters we don't want random sampling. We want member reviews which provide their experience with whatever the product is. We aim to spread most products around a variety of handicaps, ages, new and old members and more. It is by no means random that someone is selected. We as a mod team hand pick every single member that is selected for a test. That is no secret. Random sampling provides us with questionable results and a higher potential for no review to be completed at all. Giving the OEM no feedback. Even though it can still happen with our selection process it is much less likely. Members who are selected must first agree to the terms of accepting the product with the condition of providing a full review for the community. If they are not able to do so then we move to another person. Something a lot of members may not realize is we have several that sign up and when selected something in life happens and they have to back out. When we are told this ahead of time we remember that. In a good way. It is great when someone recognizes what these tests mean to the community. It is not a contest to be won, it is an obligation and commitment to the community to provide a in depth thorough review that will help others with potential future purchases or decisions. Someone who bails is also equally remembered, but in the opposite manner. Of course feel free to feel how you do and critique our system or the way we select our members, but we truly do have some great reviews posted on this site by our every day members that just enjoy being able to give back to the community by putting their all into a review. Random sampling is for contests, not member testing. We will leave the random sampling to instagram, twitter and other SM platforms who draw names from a hat to give away products. This is not a give away and not the way we do things here.

He forgot to mention he won it in a closest to the pin contest at Payne’s Valley!

You must be talking about me! I can' think of a more egotistical photo than my own, holding up my CC4 championship plaque doing my best Ricky Bobby impersonation. A photo means someone took enough time to set one up, which we've seen correlated to someone sticking around and posting and being involved more often. It also adds a bit of personality and helps me remember some folks. For many, this forum replaces other social media fronts and serves as a community of golf fans who like to talk about things (not always golf related) with some friends we've made here. We've received a lot of feedback from OEMs that they like the way our testing is structured. It leads to thoughtful engaging conversations with our membership and provides OEMs with a different kind of feedback. They already have surveys and magazine ratings, this is different. Quite frankly, the MGS Forum is different, and that's why I love it here, enough that I decided to apply to become a Moderator and help give back to a great community how I can.

... Yea, yea, yea. Oh wow look at me I got a hole in one. Whatever. It's not that I am privately envious or jealous. I am publicly envious and jealous. (great round and congrats)

Thanks @fozcycle , I didn't want to be the first to post about my play after the hole in one..... League night last night was great weather and some good putting to give me a 37. Two bogey holes and a birdie with a couple lip out pars. I was very happy I kept my concentration because there was a lot of ball searching for two of the players in our 4-some. It was a long 9 holes and usually I check out from lack of interest after about 1-1/2 hours. The Sub 70 driver is really working well for me with 5/6 FIR with it and good distance (for me). The only bad tee ball with it was self inflicted by lining up wrong and getting a hard right bounce off a bunker mound. The young bomber in the group was asking questions about my driver / shaft combo during the round. I think he was surprised I was within 10 yards of him on some of his rockets, but I think his spin was on the high side by the way the ball ballooned on a few.

Back with my Tuesday game, shot 48/43:91 with 9/14 FIR, 2/18 GIR and 30 Putts. My shoulder had bits of pain and I was pulling everything left. I get the pain in the follow through, so I backed off my swing and dealt with it.

Dang, didn't realize the thread was mistitled to "How NOT to become a MGS Forum Tester" But seriously @flyingwedges you are entitled to your own opinion and expressing it. I do think you're narrowly looking at the application of the term 'testing' though. What forum testing is, in my belief and own opinion, is a chance for those who are selected to offer practical knowledge and ideas as to how a certain product may or may not impact the regular player. Being a tester is about discussing how something does or does not help your game and if you believe it can impact people on a larger scale. No one is saying this beats random seeding or blind testing. In fact, if you want qualitative testing with a set of people being a control group and how a set product performs, good news! The site has the Most Wanted Testing that does exactly what you ask across a myriad of player types and performance levels for a myriad of products. Again, with all things on MGS, nothing here should be taken as a absolute for every single player, and I feel like that's something that gets lost sometimes in discussing these things. What works for some might not work for you. Take these as a starting point or a guideline for your own fitting experience. If you know what you want, great! If you want cold hard data to point a direction, that's here too! If you want advice from someone you think of as a buddy who you feel you identify with, that's here too! There's room for every type of data pot under this big tent, why exclude?

More putting and wedge practice yesterday morning before the rest of the house got up and moving. The putting setup work is paying off, my start lines have been right at my aim points with only speed adjustments needing some work to get more consistent.

Opened up a bottle of Eagle Rare tonight. Felt it was appropriate…

So, the struggles continued at the range this evening. I was trying to work on my takeaway, but nothing was working. Just weak slices. I walk into the clubhouse and the pro talks to me, and we shoot the bull for awhile. He asks how I’ve been playing, and laughs when I tell him, and says, “I gotta see this.” Grabs his clubs and off to the range we go. I don’t even hit one ball before he starts laughing. He adjusts my grip, and I start striping it dead straight. I told him he just saved my clubs from going on EBay lol

That is definitely an incredible day!! Congrats on the Ace!

Monday & Tuesday Execs….. Monday borderline ready to quit, irons just not working. I can feel myself sliding in my backswing to reduce pressure on my right(forward) leg producing low, almost skull shots. But the putter worked!!!! Tuesday birdied 1st & 9th with in between. The sliding is continuing and will until knee surgery repair, I hope. Cancelled all Wednesday golf for May, going to reduce golf thru the month. June 2nd will be here quickly.

Got out for 9. Easily my best driving day. The putter let me down though which has been a strength of late. Two 3 putts. But went to use my Ping G410 Crossover. Set up and notice when I grip the club that head is pointed off line. The shaft shifted in the head. My shot of the day though was a wedge to 6 feet. With enough bite to only move a foot from my ball mark. My issue really is being consistent from shot to shot.

Made some great progress on my fence on Saturday thanks to the help of a bunch of friends. With 8 guys we put together 450' of fence on mine and my neighbor's properties in 3 1/2 hours. Just have to do some finish work yet (post caps, top boards) and put in the black hogwire panel fence across the yard at the transition point to keep the dog in.

I honestly don't see it as feeling important, but as an opportunity to share knowledge with a group of people with the same interests. As someone that doesn't have the same equipment knowledge, it is fascinating to learn about different aspects of the game and try to learn from those with more experience in things like club building. Speaking of which, I would enjoy reading about your putter builds and find that it might prove to be a great way to start a relationship with the forum. We love reading about things like that.

Heck I was apart of a review for in which things didn’t go as well as expected and the manufacturer didn’t like it so they decided not to submit a product for the yearly testing because of it. So biased I don’t think so! You obviously haven’t done any research before spouting off. Have your opinion as you should but because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

Funny because the other day I just started the Star Wars Attack of the Clones series with little Ivan since Mickey Mouse was starting to drive me a little mad.... put it on today and wasn't until I saw this thread that I remembered today was Star Wars day.

When we eventually get (move) to AZ, I'll be on the lookout for the guy gaming this set-up

It wasn't a ful laugh but just a chuckle! It reminds me of a guy i used to know that put foam pipe insulation on his putter... it worked well for him!

I was going to tag you in on this, but I see you've already seen it

F’in A. Hell of a round and even better ace!

Nice round and congratulations on the HIO!!

Congrats! It only gets easier from here on out

Congrats! Took me 65 years to get my first.

Went to Edel HQ this morning to say “hey”, get on the monitor with my wedges, and double-check my putter fitting and specs. Those guys are top-notch, and even hooked me up with an Edel polo, 1/4 zip, and a couple branded gloves. Nice way to spend a morning!

Loved my The Office headcover so I asked if he could make an Angels cover and he was able to. Looks awesome and finally can rep my favorite team on the course. Can’t recommend Tactical Caddy enough for custom or unique headcovers.

Glad you asked, as I’ve kind of been just shooting to get more used to them. Shot a 75 today which included a double on 8, thanks to using a tee that was still sticking in the ground from someone else. Lesson learned! the irons (p770’s) are fantastic. They’re 7-15 yds longer, and I’ve been getting used to trusting them. The switch to the regular shafts (Ventus Red 6R) has also been great, and I’m finding that just taking a smooth swing is the key. The 5 and 6 irons in the (p790) are SO easy to hit. This combo set is kind of taking the sting out of getting older, as the extra distance, feel, and forgiveness, are making these things so pleasant to hit.

Stumbled across a Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero Single Diamond 8.5* driver for a decent price so took the leap. The only info I could find was Johnny Wunder replying to a tweet saying it was Uber low spinning and fade bias which sounds delicious lol

Just got back from what was an incredible trip. Eleven 30-something year old guys just having a blast goofing off and playing golf (and of course my team winning ). These are probably the best courses I have ever played. From fairways to the rough to the greens (I will dream about these greens) it was top notch. Not a blade of grass out of place to be found over all 3 main courses (Payne’s Valley, Buffalo Ridge, and Ozark National) and the two par 3 courses (Top of the Rock and Mountain Top). Each course was unique in its own way but had similar characteristics as well. They were all very tough, from the wind to the layout and the rough. I was able to stay in the 80s on all 3 days from 7k yards on buffalo and ozark and 6900 on payne’s so I was thrilled with my play. We all discussed which course we liked the best, and I had a really hard time choosing, but landed on Payne’s Valley (still not sure) just because it was unlike any course I had played before and the 19th hole was a really cool touch as well (3 birdies didn’t hurt either ). The whole facility and customer service experience was amazing as well. Had one of the coolest dinner views on the last day at Osage and an incredible ribeye steak. Needless to say, it was a blast and I would highly highly recommend this for anyone looking for a unique, fun and challenging golf experience!

So taking off the ever popular What Have You Bought Lately Thread. I think it would be fun to see what Spies have unloaded and why of late. It may nto be as pic heavy (unless you plan ahead..ha) but I'm sure the reasons stories behind such sales will be fun.

If the OEM’s felt the same as you, they wouldn’t be lining up to participate. So I’ll ask this instead since my reply was the only one you didn’t engage. What would it take for you to change your mind based upon feedback from a cadre of some of this forum’s most active and reputable members and moderators?

+ 100 to all of these

No laughing here... I swear I've lost money in a cash game to a player having this same type of grip setup. Gotta do what works!

May the 4th be with you! My In-laws did not chose their wedding anniversary wisely. Now they have to share today with millions of lunatic star wars fans like myself. haha A few photos of Star Wars stuff from my Disney Trip:

May the Force be with all of the Jedi Spy’s… Sith’s too I guess, because there is always 2. Need that balance.

I had a Clark Griswold Christmas Lights experience today. The lady down the road had asked me to get leaves blown off a section of her roof. Her hubby passed away a few years ago and we help her out. Should be a 20 minute job. I stopped late last week to do it, plugged in my blower but had no electric at the outside outlet I had used on previous occassions. She wasnt home so I couldn't check anything inside until today. So today I tracked the supply wire to a hard to access outlet in the basement. Electric going into the single gang box, no electric coming out so I figured I had it isolated. After about 1/2 hour of gymnastics to get the outlet out to access the wires I see the black from the outdoor supply wire wire-nutted to a white....the classic switch config. I ask the lady if there is a switch somewhere that controls the outside outlets....not that she knows of. I ask her if there is a switch anywhere that she doesn't know what it turns off & on.... Uh Yes....that one over there by the back door I don't know what it controls. And you guessed it...turn the switch on and there is now juice at the outside outlet! So I wasted an hour today fixing a non issue. I immediately thought of Christmas Vacation, Clark and his lights. There were 4 cables stuffed into this over crowded single gang box along with the outlet. When I put it back together I left out the unused outlet so there was room to wire nut the wires together in pairs with a jumper. So I suppose it wasn't wasted time since I made it safer than it was.

Great stuff Matt!! Congrats open the virtual Bar

Congratulations on the ace!

Congrats on the ace!

Good practice today. Went up to GDC in Moorpark. Its a nice facility with a lot of good targets, varying since they have better targets, varying lies, and lots of different types of mats to practice on. Today was the last big big practice before a tournament on Friday and I felt very comfortable. Warmed up through about 30 balls focusing on the bottom of my swing before shifting into some full swing drills. On a whim I tried a variation of a half swing drill to stay connected that would let me swing almost full speed. It's the towel tucked under the arms but with it only squeezed under my trail arm. It felt like a very short back swing, but on video it's actually almost as far as I normally go. It also forced me to drop the club into the slot to keep the towel under my arm and was really good for learning that feel. It's something that's going to be a regular part of my practice and warmup from here on out. After those drills I worked on my tee shots and 'played' the course I'm playing Friday. Spent some time on the practice green dialing my stroke in before moving to the chipping green to practice some of the shots I think I'm going to be left with on Friday with a variety of clubs. Feeling comfortable with my swing for the first time in a month, adjustments feel like they're starting to set, tempo feels good, and it feels like I might be peaking at the right time, at least for this tournament.

I want to put a plug in for Shot Scope's (what's quickly becoming) legendary support. The course I played yesterday had what I believe to be mapping errors. I specifically had problems on several greens where the putting feature on the H4 would go in and out as though I was walking off the green, even when I was in the middle of it. It didn't dawn on me that it could have been mapping issues until later in the round so I didn't keep notes on exactly where it occurred. I wrote to Support this morning telling the story and asked what type of info they needed so they could look into the issue after I next played. Within 2 hours, I received a detailed response saying that they could absolutely look into the issue and asked only that I confirm the current course layout! I don't use any other product or service that comes close to this level of responsiveness; they're awesome!

Played Buffalo Ridge end of February before a big Snow storm. Started to spit snow on 17. I had the course to myself not another person on the course. Can’t wait to go back with green grass. It was a fun round nonetheless

Most recent purchase Bushnell Launch Pro. Getting Impact Screen projector and 4x9 hitting area mat in a month or so. Should have full garage studio set up by winter.

Ventus blue hybrid from Bort. Honeymoon was good in the super but couldn’t keep up with ball speed compared to the pro orange. Likely due to flex. Ventus blue driver traded for a Ventus black 6x. Rdx blue 70g driver shaft. Offloaded some old clubs my dad gave me: Burner draw driver, Tp burner rescue. Also sold my Corza ghost putter as I got a silly deal on a Scotty phantom x5 (am I right @twyatt700and @dlow206). One thing I somewhat regret selling last year was my PXG gen2 0311x DI and maybe my EF threewood. I tried the DI in the winter months here and never gave it a fair shake when it got dry out. In the end I guess it wasn’t bad because the trade sequence was PxgDI—>Scotty Detour—>SIK DW—>Epic max Ls driver. I also thought the super would be my savior, I guess it still can be, but I haven’t reached a green in two yet like I did a couple times with my EF SZ 3w. So the super might be sold soon but finding a way to tell my wife why I am going back to a club I said I can’t hit will be interesting.