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Rather than waiting I'll share what I know and am aware of. JS can add to it later or if he gets a chance to. There has been a shift in how tests this season are provided and promoted this year by HQ. Where in previous years mods (meaning Rob) would be on the hunt and provide tests for the community. This is no longer the case and all testing opportunities come directly from HQ. We as a mod team have been assigned to run and manage them, but asked to leave the sourcing of them to HQ. We have been told to expect in the neighborhood of 20 testing opportunities for 2022. To date we have had 5 with one more scheduled June 17th. It has been admittedly a slower start to the season, but the communication to us from HQ has been that OEM's are more interested in Q2/Q3 slots and therefore June and July could still be slower with August/September/October being a lot fuller. Supply hasn't been as much of a issue as we have been told so far. It is more the desire to wait till later in the season for one reason or another. The other part of the equation is most our opportunities so far have been from advertisers of the main site. As per the blog they do not advertise with any of the major OEM: https://mygolfspy.com/advertise/ and testing opportunities for the membership are part of the package. Therefore we should see companies like EVNROL, motocaddy and others who have been advertisers on the blog in previous years. Although we do have a testing schedule with whats to come and what weeks products are placed in for typical seasons. With the shift this year we still have one, but again it is light as of right now. We have been told that as soon as any new tests are scheduled or known they will be posted for us to see so we can get started on our work with them. Unfortunately we cannot say what testing items are before the scheduled date we are able to make a calendar on the forum in which we can post when tests are about to be announced, when reviews are due to be posted and other news for dates if that is of interest to the community? I apologize I cannot share more, however I can only share what I know and at the moment that is all I know and am aware of. I hope that JS can further add to this conversation again as he is our Community Manager and the direct contect to HQ for the forum. Finally a big shout out to @Golfspy_CG2 for all the work he has done for the forum over the years providing tests and this season getting the Major Pools up for us as well as sourcing the prizes. He has been intergral to the community and done so much for us still in his semi retired role.

A group of guys and myself got out today after work and played nine holes at Bear Trace. We played best ball in pairs just to quicken the pace. Me and my guy shot +6 through 8 because we got stormed out on the 9th. It was a beautiful day to be out and I was excited because it's the first time I've been on the course when it was green. My driver, wedges, and putter were the performers for me today because I couldn't hit an iron for love nor money. I was suffering through a horrible case of the shanks and couldn't rectify it. It was me and not the clubs. I hit several fairways and had the best driving day I had in a long time. I hit a bunch of wedges close and nearly sank a pitch shot for bid on the final hole, it just skidded by. I also drained a 24 foot downhill putt on the day. I told the guys that even if I didn't play well I wanted to hit at least one shot that made them go "wow", I think I did that. We also saw some wildlife out on the course. Now at least I know what the subject of my next lesson will be: the shanks. I had a great time getting out there playing with the guys. I'm hoping this is the start of a regular game.

Just tell her the shipping delays are horrible. You ordered this like two years ago and completely forgot about the fact that you bought the driver.

Played in a scramble that I participate in every year where the proceeds of the tournament allows children in third world countries get the medical treatment needed which is normally not available in their area. It's held at the Links at Gettysburg, a beautiful links style course with lots of elevation changes on the front and lots of water on the back, LOL. Last year my team shot a -9 where the winning score was -16. This year, we shot -14 and the winning score was -18, LOL. We left a few out there and could of made -18 if we just hit our approach shots closer. A lot of times we were making long putts for birdie or to save par. Highlights included eagles on 2 out of the 4 par 5s (birdied the other par 5s), sinking some long putts on a few other par 4s for a few more birds and saving par in some instances and one of the guys on my team driving the green on a par 4 and almost driving the green on the long drive hole (368 yards to the center of the green and he was only 15 yards from the front of the green). Dude was a beast! Best part was helping those kids out and enjoying a great day out on the links!

Okay okay okay, as (not) a major OEM, I hear you Paul. If you guys play nice and ask even nicer I will bring back the Hard Rock Challenge

Ok I’m dead reading all of these. And there are too many people to quote. I’ll just say the groundswell of support is humbling. Now I just need an address to ship it to. Or the ring camera might need a “battery change” in a few days for a small window of time. Or I’ll “surprise” my wife with a spa day.

A request we have put in to HQ is that we have year round testing. There are several training aids and devices that can be test over the winter and it would be good to break those off into winter to keep the testing spirit year round.

An interview with Yellow Ball MGS. What brought you to My Golf Spy? YB. I was born into golf and I found that this site gave honest reviews and the people really care. Not just the staff but the members as well. It was refreshing to be accepted. Sometimes I’m a little harsh. You know, the older you get the less of a filter you have! MGS. Can you explain why your handicap is stated as ‘Lots”? YB. Well that’s an easy one. I’m only a ball as you well know. So when I’m in play it can be with anyone. My handicap can be 35 today and scratch tomorrow. I tried to establish my own but swinging a club to hit myself just didn’t work out very well. So I have to live with the strengths and weaknesses of whoever puts me in play. Hopefully @chisag doesn’t put me in play in the summer months in AZ again. I don’t do Hell well! MGS. Can you tell us where you are from? YB. A ball factory moron. Sorry the filter needs adjustment. A ball factory. MGS. I guess I wasn’t clear. I meant where you currently reside. YB. Sorry I can’t hear you. I have no ears. MGS. So, I take it that you don’t want to disclose you home town? YB. Duhhh MGS. What do you enjoy about the game of golf from your perspective? YB. Well of course it would be from my perspective. You’re asking me aren’t you? Well since I am played by many different people, I have done some amazing things. I can make a right or left hand turn in mid-air without a motor or anything. Not many can say that except for a few birds. Speaking of birds I was picked up by an eagle and brought to her nest for a visit during a spy outing. I’ve experienced every type of water, sand, and grass type in the USA, and have seen so many different animals. By the way, I am sorry about the alligator, but he swallowed me. I had no choice but to eat my way out! RIP my prehistoric friend! I have made every score imaginable either on a hole or an entire round. From snowmen plus to eagles and from under par rounds to triple digits. I’m still waiting to be in play for a YB albatross. I’ve even had a few holes in one. I have been fortunate to have played all over the United States. I have seen some beautiful courses and a few cow pastures/ dirt tracks along the way. But that’s golf for ya. Not many have experienced all that I have. I am blessed and this is part of why I love the game. Another bit of great enjoyment are the people I meet. Granted some are not happy to see me, but that’s usually because I’m in their fairway and not mine. MGS. What don't you enjoy about the game of golf. YB. Other than everyone hitting the crap out of me. I get it, that's my role in the game and I have come to accept it. MGS. Do you enjoy the driving range or just course play? YB, I only enjoy course play. Those ball picking machines at the range are a little rough on me. But I will say that I get to see a lot of relatives at the range. But having celebrity status has its drawbacks. Every other YB out there wants an autograph, want’s to borrow some money, or go with me on trips. Course play is so much better for me. It’s just me and you. MGS. You mentioned celebrity status. Would you care to elaborate? YB, I was always in the background as a kid. You know, your average range ball kind of kid. One day I had enough. I saved up some money and as soon as someone hit me over the fence on the driving range I rolled away into the sunset. I managed to get a makeover. Well once the closet door opened so to speak, I was out of my shell. It all started with MGS then the word got out. Next thing you know I was offered a book deal, someone wanted to be my agent, Amanda Balionis gave me a tour of one of the tour vans, Ellen Degeneres had me on her talk show. Some moron threw me at a coach at a football game and I was all over the news. Frankly it got a little overwhelming. I even saw shirts in a golf shop that said “Play Yellow”. So lately I was kind of just skulking in the background and chiming in once in a while. I’m trying to get back to just being me. You know, the ball in play on the course. And of course giving you crap when you deserve it. MGS. In closing, what message would you like to give the spy’s reading this interview? YB. Golf is not an easy sport. Be patient, take some lessons, make sure your clubs fit you, and be courteous to others on the course. Fix your divots in the fairway, rake the bunker after your sand shot, and fix your pitch marks on the green. But most importantly keep me out of the dam water! YB. Peace out my brothers and sisters! Hope you see me in the bottom of the cup in ONE some time soon.

Someone talk me out of demoing a TSI3 / ST-Z 220 / G425

Thanks for the update, and Big Rob definitely deserves a shout out!!! With the millions of views we get each year it seems to me we’d be top 2 for testing opportunities. Odd that sites with smaller “viewership” get the early tests and we’re late to the game. Folks in the golfing world want to see reviews immediately after product gets on store floors, not 8 months later after they’ve already been reviewed elsewhere. Less eyes on our testing. Hmm. Look, it is what it is, but it’s so odd that we’re behind so many others. Weird. Just glad we have opportunity at all!!!!

... Why not go look at them. You know, just look.

Well, we have "teed off on the 18th" of my Dad's life round. This tough old WWII marine is 96 and last Friday I had to get Hospice involved as his pain level and other medical issues got to the point of needing the more powerful drugs to make him comfortable. He and my Mom have lived with us since March of 2020 when the covid lockdown's started. They were about ready to transition from living alone anyway and the daily life complications brought on by the lockdown worked in our favor to have them move in with minimal resistance. His decline over the last couple months has been rapid as the heart failure condition brought on many other related issues. We hope to provide a dignified and mostly painfree '18th' for him to play out the round.

Failed to take pictures because of the short turnaround from pickup-to-course for the first round... But tried out a wood fitting at the local TaylorMade Player Development Center w/Gears Golf, ended up with a new Stealth Plus driver, 8° head set to 8.75°, Diamana ZF 70 X shaft, and immediately swapped out the stock grip with one of my gamers from the basement stockpile. Fairways are WAY up over the first couple rounds (lost confidence in the Epic this year, very happy with the swap so far). Resisted the Club Ho temptation to replace the 3w too -- decided to push the loft up to 15.75° on the current setup. Although... I did pick up a new Paderson Ballistic TP 85 X shaft to try with it, guessing on fit based on a previous driver fitting - used some recent Chirp winnings to get it for $50.

Don’t demo them, your driver is fine, you can live without that potential extra distance.

I’d try but id be doing you a disservice. The TSI3/Ventus TR combo has been amazing so far for me.

HaHa , good luck with this group

38 (+2, net -2) 2/7 FIR, 4/9 GIR, 15 putts League tonight I played really well all around - wasn't too far off an all timer! Was really solid off the tee. Even though I only hit two fairways, I was barely off on a few others and most importantly had no penalties. Approach game was really solid as well. Putting was actually even hotter than it seemed. I was lagging really well, and burnt 3 edges with perfect speed that I thought for sure would drop. Really happy with where my game is at the moment!

Am I becoming a club ho? I couldn't resist this Cobra Radspeed XB. Got a great deal on it on ebay. Motore X F3 regular, a weight kit, head cover, and adjustment tool. Used for 4 rounds, I love it! Can't wait to dial it in on the range, and try it out on the course this week. My first real near-new club purchase.

Aha so was that like a .... "special private" (wink wink hey hey know what I mean) kinda tour..??

Yup, sure that’ll work

Funniest post of the week do far!! I see the words but I detect a lack of sincerity in them!!

Don't do it... don't. Ok, I tried

I agree with you, the PGA tour should not have made a big of an issue of it and the league would probably flame out. Some of that I am sure was Norman's involvement and the PGA Tour 'office' types wanting to stick it to him. Another contributing factor I believe is they weren't getting any money out of it. I believe you are wrong about one thing though....Tommy Tutone is forever!!! I have used 867-5309 as my phone number countless times over the years when asked for it at a checkout register and will do so until I check out permanently!

Jamie thanks for taking the time to share that with us. I can see OEMs wanting to spread tests out across the year, especially when you have multiple places that may be running them at the same time. This way there's eyes on the reviews throughout the year, which makes sense from a traffic perspective from their point of view. Plus, it seems like it's been staying warmer later in the year, at least up here in the northeast, which helps to prolong testing windows for some parts of the US.

Yeah. They countered… we are mulling it over. Early early August is report date. We have a little time, but I will be super busy when I get there getting qualified and the other things that come with the territory if you know what I’m getting at without actually getting at it.

Not related to golf at all, but .. today, June 6th, is the 80th (!!) anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Was reading a few interesting stories earlier. Thank You!! to all active and retired Navy and Marine people

I posted it in the goal thread but gotta post here too cuz I’m so damn excited! 34/38 EVEN PAR 72 11 Greens 12 Fairways 5 birdies 5 bogies Whoop Whoop! A few chunked chips cost me a round in the 60’s.

I am going to look. I'll also touch and likely swing. And then from there who knows...

A reminder to keep the discussion to golf.

I just spit out my coffee...saving this...

Send it to my house, I will give it a few hacks for ya! Meet ya halfway after

My 53 year membership in the PGA Tour Broadcast Viewing Association prevents me from watching rival golf leagues.

I too am very interested in the electric pick ups for work.. I almost ordered the Ford F-150 Lightening. But I have a rule against ordering first generation vehicles. My current F-150 has 215,000 miles on it. So far, nock on wood, it has not had any major problems that would call for a replacement. I hope I can get a couple more years out of it and then go electric. (I got rid of my last pick-up at around 275,000 miles.) I spend a month last summer logging my daily milage and did not once exceed 80% of the range. With home or on-farm charging, I would rarely if ever need to visit a charging station. The "portable generator" aspect of electric would be great for farm use. We've only had the wife's MachE for 6 weeks, but it has been great. Plug in when you get home at night, charge to desired level, drive past the gas stations the next day. Plus, the car is fun. Press the peddle and go--great 0 to 60 and no lag at all. Makes passing cars on 2 lane highways a breeze. I have to tell my wife to be careful--its color is "pull me over red." When all is said and done, we will probably end up with the MachE, an electric pick up for the farm and our plug-in hybrid, mini-van for long trips.

Jay Monahan (circa 2067)... still waiting for Phil's apology.

I have used 651 ( Murrells Inlet prefix) 0812 do not know if it is someones number or not. I can remember when that song was popular it was actually the real phone number of Gaston County High School in Gastonia NC. They had to put an appeal on local news media for people to stop calling and asking for Jenny

I for one am very excited about getting an electric vehicle. I am especially excited for an electric pick up, I got a chance to see the new Rivian R1T truck a couple of weeks ago, and I liked it, well, except for the color, it was the orange one. We will not need new vehicles for at least a few years and at that time, I believe most of the major companies will have their versions of a pick up truck out, the F150 lighting, Silverado, and whatever Dodge has cooking up, currently I am partial to the looks of the Silverado, well except for the price, above 100k at launch. Due to the range limitations and charging capabilities, we will not fully transition our household to EVs for a little while, specially because we do a lot of road trips of 500+ miles and my wife is a little worried about running out of charge and not being able to charge on a longer trip, so maybe we will have one regular gasoline car and one EV.

Thanks for keeping us informed as always and for keeping the site running quite smoothly with all the recent updates

I don't see the likes of a Kevin Na, Garcia, Johnson, etc. planning on any re-qualifying for the PGA Tour. As it stands now without LIV, they can walk away from professional golf and not want for much. Even if the Shark Tour only lasts as long as Tommy TuTone, they'll pack away bonus bucks that should offset any endorsement losses and then some. I'm now seeing this as more a statement against the PGA Tour and Monahan's heavy handed approach which, when the final history is written on this saga, may go down as his worst decision. They (PGA) probably should just let them play these, Asian, Euro, DP Tour events so long as they meet the (15) event minimum. The LIV Tour has tried to schedule much of their events around the PGA Tour (at least majors and key events like Memorial, etc.). The odds of LIV or any new tour taking a significant bite out of the PGA's Big Apple is low. Personally, I think the suspensions, bans, fines, and threats are going to backfire. I also believe we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg and many more players will leave (or play an event and take their chances). One thing for sure is that, at least for awhile, this will be an interesting chess-game to follow inside the game of professional golf.

Some of my gamer friends will like this choice because of a game coming out this week... The Quarry (video game) - Wikipedia

In a few years it’ll hit that 80 year mark for Dday, which also happened on June 6. It’s interesting the events in WW2 on this day

Here here

Thank you, Robert! I was actually surprised it rained, the forecast said there was about a 15% chance...and we hit it. Hopefully it'll clear up for you soon and you'll be able to get out.

Yes!! Sorry I’ve sucked at updates, it’s been a crazy few weeks here…family emergency, promotion, and now packing up the house. But, after giving several Srixon offerings a test drive I gave the Tour B X a full 18 and loved it. Off the tee and on approaches I really liked it, and it seemed to do well in the wind, but what really won me over was that little bit more of release that I’ve been looking for. I manipulate the club face around the green a lot, and on more lofted chips the ProV1X literally stopped dead with almost no release, which looks cool but was not quite what I wanted. The Tour B X stops just fine but with just a little more runout that I want. That’s really interesting, I found the Tour B X to be much more durable than the ProV1X. Guess I’ll see, I stocked up on 5 dozen Bridgestone’s, so I’m committed!

Scored poorly, played okay, but had to fight my old swing all day. Not sure what the deal was but I was fighting OTT all day long. That combined with some mediocre focus and a few bad decisions led to 46/46 92. I just wasn't in it today. Still, it was a gorgeous day at Rustic and I managed to par 14 & 16. Two big time nemesis holes for me so definitely not all bad.

The August/September timing makes sense because a lot of product is released around that time. I know that a new iteration of the Mizuno JPX line is expected then and Bridgestone released their JGR then when we tested them 4 odd years ago.