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*silently begins the repacking*

I usually walk, but I almost never walk if it is my first time out on a course. I will have my push cart with me, but only in case we get rain the night prior and they go cart path only. Once again, really really excited for this. My goal for the wedge fitting is to finally get an expert’s assessment on what grinds I should be playing. My goal for the outing…establish MGS dominance. Joking of course; I’ll be happy just to meet some fellow spies in the flesh, and finally report back to the forum on who has been lying to us this whole time and is actually an 82-year old Korean lady who has never played before.

... Been really struggling with my game since Bronchitis hit me almost 6 weeks ago. Started steroids Saturday and they really helped but I am going in for a chest x ray and hopefully I won't need antibiotics. Anyway the steroids took away the worst symptoms and I kinda felt close to normal today and shot 72 on aerated greens so it could have been lower I think. Hit the ball as well as I have in months and my swing felt effortless, again something I haven't felt recently. I think I have made the decision to sell my Stealth because the Sim Max is virtually identical when hit well and when hit poorly there isn't a lot of difference. But I will need a few more rounds to verify since I am feeling and swinging better again.

Finally feeling well enough to get back out and play a full 18. Still getting a little winded from walking, but the physical exhaustion seems to be gone. 41/39 -> 80 / 79 adjusted. Drove the ball pretty well, ending up with a couple 275 yarders on very wet and long fairways and an absolute bomb of 300 yards. Irons and wedges were OK, putting was abysmal with 37 putts. Trying to get from upper 70s-80 range to mid-lower 70s seems so far away at this point. For those of you who do that routinely, I'm so impressed. I only hit two really bad shots today and it cost me like four strokes. Oh well, keep grinding and hopefully my putting will come around again. I missed three putts inside of five feet today and that can't happen either.

Golf league round last night was a rough go. Was playing poorly and we score stableford, so the last two holes I decided to try my hand at a long drive swing haha. Both drives ended up 50+ yards left. Basically no green to work with, I stuffed each approach from 155 and 160 to 15 feet and made both putts for birdie. Golf is a crazy game

Man did not know you were sick--- You shooting 72 when you are sick you are hell when you are well. But then I have always been told beware of the injured or sick golfer. I ended up playing 27 yesterday. Played my dew sweeper round with my front line stuff to experiment some. Took the M-6 back out to try to get more out of it. Naah no control so the beloved Honma is still in. It is a little shorter but I can control it better than any driver I ever owned. I have been putting terrible lately switching up putters. I actually threatned to drag out my B-90 Ping broomhandle back out and I did. Now me and Rusty Scotty have always had a thing going I love that rusty ugly thing. I did some mods on it basically putting it back stock shaft and length. In fact put the original rusty shaft back in it along with the Lamkin standard 3 GL grip I first had on it which is the same as the red stock Scotty grips. I went back to my old putting stance too. Now days I think I can play like that but can not do long practice sessions. I will have to rely on feel and instinct there. At least I scared the hole with it. I did use the broomstick some with limited success. Decided to go with Scotty. My other experiment turned out fine too. Saturday I had cracked the shaft in the 3 wood and did not have a NVS 65 R around. Did one of my old tricks. Pulled a stock TM Reax shaft 55g soft tip out of an old R-5 driver. Tipped it .25 put it in and butt trimmed to .50 over 3 wood length I surprise myself sometimes. That thing is a cannon. Picked up about 7 yards with it and no it was not me because I hit all my other clubs the same. I had went out at 06:45 and even practicing I was done by 8:00 or so. Sat back had me a Pedelyte and a banana. Hmm I feel pretty good. Only a hand full of the Mens group showed up so I hit the back side after putting the broomstick and M-6 in the car. Got myself in the right frame of mind to really try and play my game. Played my game and shot even par doing stuff my way. The front side was wide open so I kept on. The front side is harder but I shot even par with 2 birdies. Even par for me best so far since the accident. I feel that my putting was not exactly spot on but maybe coming back. I had not played that much golf in one session since the accident. I felt that with the practice 9 I played the equlivent of 36. I was ok last night and this morning no pain or stiffness whatsoever. I am also stoked I was asked by the owners of my course to be a Royal Member I was already a Red Member. The Royal Membership is limited and you can only get in if someone passes or sells their membership. It also has to be approved by the owners. You pay a set fee and it is good for 5 years and the option to renew at a discounted rate. Does not cost me anything anytime to play and cart fees are included I can play as much as I want and unlimited range balls free too. Plus events are half cost for example the Saturday Shootout non members it is $45 Red Card Members it is $35 now with me being a Royal Member it is $20. It was a no brainer. I was stoked to even be asked out of the blue by both owners. Yeah I can basically play any time I want plus if needed I have priority tee times too. My wife loves it as she says it gets me off my butt and out of the house.

Caught a pic of @Yellow Ball in training for this outing (note the underwater cam makes his cover appear blueish) ...

@Yellow Ball is probably wondering why he has 150 notifications in the last 12 hours or so..ha He's never been so popular

I sucked. Puked out a 90. No driver until the back and irons were hell all day but I was putting like a bastard. All 1 and 2 putts for 30.

link to the Blog Home page article by @golfspy ba https://mygolfspy.com/ben-hogan-has-closed-for-good/

Aw heck a high school girls player could beat me now. I cant break an egg. Yep I have readapted my game to just that hitting the 3 wood and 7 wood into some greens and hoping. My chipping is still pretty spot on but my putting has gotten streaky. Back in my heydays i did not hit a lot of greens with my irons but relied on my short game and putting. Naaw even in my heyday I knew who to take on and who to run from. LOL would have never dreamed of taking on Beth Daniel or Nancy Lopez.

Played our club quarter final of the fourball better ball last night and got humped 5&4. It was a pretty level game in terms of strokes with me and one of my opponents getting getting 4 and the other 2 guys off scratch. We could have been 3 up after 3 after a lip out, one left hanging over the lip and a miss from 4 feet but that was the last chances we had. Lost 4 to birdie, 5 to birdie, 6 to par, 7 halved in net birdies, lost 8 to birdie, 4 down at the turn. Started being a bit more aggressive, made birdies on 12 and 13 to halve them to eventually falter at 14. they missed their birdie at 14, meaning I had to chip in from about 30 feet birdie or my partner putt from 4 feet both missed. The high handicapper (8) played really well, supported by his partner. On the par 5s he was 2 under and driving the ball long and straight., ditto for his 3w. Onto next year.

I played 9 holes with the kids on Sunday, was hitting the ball well, just slightly spraying the tee shots, missed a lot of fairways by a meter or 2. Only had 14 puts on the 9 holes for a solid 39, considering I made a double drop on the 3rd hole stroke 1. I just cannot get my head around that tee shot. If you cannot hit a controlled fade the fairway is not in play from the tee. And I cannot hit a fade on demand with my driver....or 3 wood.... or pretty much any club in my bag. I can hit it straight, but that still ends up in the bush if I miss the Tamboti Tree 30m infront of the teebox and hit it far enough to reach the 475 yard par 4 in 2. It is strange that a Tamboti tree or any part of it in a camp or cooking fire will terribly upset ones stomach, just the thought of that one on the golf course upsets me....

Kinda close tonight on the 137yd 3rd hole. A 3/4 swing with the 8i and it was tracking well and I am thinking don't you dare go in since I am playing alone on an empty front 9.

As an owner of a DTC golf company and a long time fan of Ben Hogan clubs, it is a sad day if they are in fact closing their doors. Very sorry to hear this news and what it means for all their employees and contractors. They were a go to in the early 2000's and I owned multiple sets of theirs as a teenager. We designed our first set of MB's from inspiration of the Apex Blades (my first ever set). We wish everyone involved all the best moving forward!

Dang! Should have hollered. It's been a long time since I played Bear Mountain Ranch and even longer since I played the muni (played a pro-am when I was an 18 hcp... max hcp for the tournament was 16. Needless to say... My wife went to Spokane this morning with two groups of ladies to play Hangman Valley (Oops! I mean Latah Creek for those sensitive types ) this afternoon, then playing The Creek at Qualchan in the morning before coming home. I wasn't invited. I thought I would walk 9 holes this morning; made it through 6 before I had to quit due to slow play; very hot and humid after the irrigation all night and I needed a shower before my appointment.

Golf. G.O.L.F. ..continually frustrating yet always still compelling... So my golf play continues to waver between some ok / some not so ok. Mentioned many times in this thread but I think my biggest obstacle to real improvement is still -me- ... and my lack of confidence on the course / lack of a good mental game... Working on it! Anyway, some *good* swing things from the past few 9 hole rounds include: - hit 4 ok enough tee shots last round .. 2 x 3W and 2 x driver .. none very far but all towards the hole - corollary: getting better at rescue / punch-out shots - starting to hit a few short iron approach shots here and there; too many are still short, left, right but once in a while - wedges around the greens slowly improving .. starting to get the ball closer and starting to make an up & down occasionally - putting continues to incrementally improve .. more first putts are starting on-line and ending up closer and closer to the hole .. a few more second putts are starting to drop .. tho I am burning a LOT of edges ... (..and, it appears, more often on the right edge of the cup .. so I presume that indicates a tendency to either push the ball and/or leave the face a hair open at impact...) Next week and a half are prepping for my "major" = MGS Annapolis get-together Meet-Up thread ... https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/51906-1st-annual-mgs-regional-golf-outing-pre-event-chat/#comments

... Back when I cared about the aesthetics I thought the Apex 99's were the most beautiful iron I had ever seen and ordered a set. Posted this before but I played them a few rounds and the performance was excellent but I found them just too crisp feeling for my tastes and took them back and exchanged them for some MP33's that were very soft feeling irons. I was at the range next to a young Asian kid in his early 20's just striping a new set of Apex 99's and asked him how he liked them. He said he loved them and had just traded in his MP33's because they felt like "mush" and he loved the crisper feeling 99's that had much better feedback. I told him I loved the soft feel of the 33's as the 99's felt like a cast stainless steel iron heads and we both had a good laugh. I had not been reviewing clubs very long at that time and it was a valuable lesson that "feel" is not universal.

No tee shaming here CK, play what makes you feel comfortable! Just throwing out where I think the majority of us might choose to live on the courses, but anywhere you can have fun is alright by us.

Played in a 36 hole qualifier for the Cleveland Amateur over the weekend. I had 85s both days, so I did not qualify. The first day everything was just kind of off a little bit. The second day I was off to a really good start as I was only +4 through 12, then imploded with +9 on the last 6 as my iron play went to hell and I missed some short putts. It wasn't that bad of a weekend, but I felt like I could have been 5-7 shots better over the weekend and I still finished in the middle of the pack. 85s aren't bad scores given my handicap and the tees/slope of the course. There's a stableford tourney at this same course towards the end of August that I'm going to play in as well.

...cough cough...oh no, I'm definitely not going to be able to be there. I've just gotten, umm...I have to wash my luxurious non-Korean-old-lady hair. Yes. That's it.

@Golfspy_CG2, as the guy who set it all up, is probably signed on the dotted line somewhere as liable for our conduct right? So Saturday we can put on The Thong Song and tear the place apart, and it’s on Rob right? (And that’s a movie line reference…Dodgeball. The cottage is a strict no thongs allowed zone fellas…).

Might want to add another dozen if we're doing a water skipping contest, LOL MDGolfHacker

Reading John’s blog post is interesting when considering ExWorks’ role. Zero chance PE finances a company that can’t make them money yet, Hogan CEO says they would be in business if they had funding. That tells me they were doing well with new product and new lines of irons. So it may have actually been a profitable venture, they were just choked out by their financier.

I'm walking.. ....to the cart ....to the bar ....to get icy hot for my sore back ...to the bar that is.. MDGolfHacker

If you want to pay for me to fly out and play, I’m more than happy to buy and carry for you (in my own bag) 3 dozen pristine range balls. That’s just the kind of guy I am. No thanks necessary. And to quote my wife, “yellow balls are better than blue.”

I'm prob coming fully loaded with four dozen .. two for each day!!! PS: @Yellow Ball some of your little buddies may get harmed in the making of this film

Almost ran into this guy tonight. He was about 10' from me as I came across that bridge. I drove up to the tee box and got the picture from there, about 25 yards from him.

I am sure @Yellow Ball will show up sometime during the weekend, he loves water.

Time for a check in, as I prepare for my own version of the late summer run (for any fellow Chasing Scratch podcast aficionados). My overall handicap has not moved all season: it's been right at 12. I think it's hovered between 12.2 and 12.5 with every round I've entered into Arccos. Looking through Arccos, it appears I've played about 25 rounds (mostly 9 holes) so far this season. That allows me to compare these 25 against the most recent 25 before those and make some comparisons. That comparison tells me that I'm playing slightly worse this year than I did the end of last year. A major contribution to that decline: my putting. So far this year, I've been a mess on the green, especially from inside 5 feet. Not gonna say it's the yips, but it's been ugly. Off the tee, Arrcos thinks I'm slightly better. I suspect that that improvement is based almost entirely on avoiding penalties. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that I had an online strategy session for my home course with Lou Stagner. Based on that, and because my course is so ridiculously narrow (and because it is lined with forests, completely penal on misses), I've been much more conservative off the tee this season. Arccos sees my approach game as slightly worse than last year, which I suppose surprises me. And Arccos sees my short game as slightly better than last year and still the absolute best part of my game: So what's the plan? Part of my plan hit a speed bump two weeks ago: my Mevo+ died. I had just created a Flightscope skills practice, with the plan of getting into a groove of consistent, measured practice for this homestretch of the season. But my Mevo+ decided to not boot up one day, and after a few days of tinkering with the Flightscope customer service, it ended up being shipped to them for diagnosis and repair. That's a bummer. In the meantime, I've taken on online lesson in putting, because that has been a consistent bad spot in my game this year. I've had a stroke that was an attempt at SBST for years; the reality is that the stroke was massively outside-in, cutting across the ball with a relatively square face. This year, that stroke stopped working for me. So I'm now incorporating a much more traditional putting arc. I'm finding no real issues with the same Edel putter I was fitted for last year, using the new stroke. The differences aren't trivial (new stroke on the left, old on the right): YouCut_20220720_120910537_2.mp4 I'm also giving up the heads up putting for now, especially on short putts. Instead, I'm find that using a line has been a good addition with the new stroke. I see putting lines badly; the correct line always looks quite left to me. So I'm using the line on the ball, then addressing the ball to that line, ignoring how it looks at address, and trusting that to be my start line. Because I'm finding good success starting my ball on my intended start line, this seems like a good idea. Used the line on course for the first time this morning in a nine hole round and saw immediate statistical improvement: 14 putts (with one chip in), didn't miss any putts that were in the shouldn't miss range, everything else was a no stress two-putt. So that was encouraging. Historically for me, the months of July and August are my best scoring months. So far, July has been mostly a wash; hoping that some of these tweaks will see me shave off the stroke or two I need to hit my goal.

I still have my Square Strike Wedge and I've picked a many of pocket with it too! If you think you're too good of a golfer to use this type club then I feel sorry for ya. Looking forward to more posts on this new Ping

No doubt, I've gotten to the point that if I"m playing a round (non competitive of course) and I get to a tee box that I know will just make the hole too long for me, or that I might not carry a hazard, I just say, I'm teeing it forward on this hole then go to the next. I'm almost as short of hitter as there is and the Blue/Gold are generally fine for me there. There will be a hole or two where I know I'm not going to reach the green if my tee shot was a bit off, but the really tough holes as mentioned above are fine from the Gold, maybe throw 4 in there as well depending on the wind Man..just talking about the course already has me depressed about missing out on this

been working on getting in a better left shoulder tilt with all my clubs but most importantly the driver .. went to the range and just worked on that also kept the ball in the same position inside the left foot heel but instead i gave a gap between my club and the ball and it really helped on getting better contact for me .. so far positive results

Discretion is the better part of valor on the River. Some decent forced carries, if you are too far back. Blue is a real challenge and will need to be 240 to 250 off the tee to not hate it. Blue/Gold should be fine the majority. 7,9,11, 14 and 15 are ball busters from the blues.

Same - bringing the electric trolley plus an extra push one for someone else if they want just in case, and will depend on total heat + humidity factor, buuuut..... Bottom line for me am there more for the camaraderie / hanging with golf bros plus, really, trying to watch and learn from all the better players vs actually trying to play too-serious golf on my own.

Rob will have that many sets of clubs with him .

Sucks to see but also not a big surprise. IMHO this is what I'd like to see with the Hogan brand... I would love to see a company like Cobra or Callaway or another OEM purchase the naming rights and do a special edition Ben Hogan series ever 3 or so years. Callaway may make the most sense as they were the ones who kept the Hogan original apex iron name, but just maybe for Cobra it could be a cost too and add a touch more Heritage to the brand. Anyway just a thought. Outside of old old Hogan irons i never had a chance to hit any. Being a lefty there often weren't a ton of options.

I’ve been sober for almost three years now! My game has gotten much better in that time. Wonder if there’s a correlation.

Not me. I'm still recovering from this years PNW Meet-up... just kidding . I was tempted to try and make this venue and meet some of the east coast spies but maybe next time. So let this event serve as our substitute for this years Cobra Challenge and let's get the "trash talking" started. How about some random teams and friendly competition that the rest of the forum can bet on, root for? Have fun you guys and share lots of highlights .

Because we are trying to avoid the water I’m sure we will see him and his buddies in all that water for sure. Question is do we try to pull a water skipping event off one day and see if anyone can skip a ball across a pond?

I have been playing well lately. Interestingly nearly all my practice has been short game due to the Mezz.1 test and the summer heat. This weekend I hit the practice green again. Worked on trap shots, pitch shots and putting because why not stick with what’s working? And the heat index was around 110.

I go to Myrtle every year for a week. Always get in a few rounds and always try to play different courses. Before I rattle off a bunch, can you answer a few questions? 1) What is the range of handicaps in your group? 2) Where are you staying. 3) How far are you willing to drive from your accommodations to play golf? (In time) Theres a big difference just from Pawleys to Myrtle Beach. MB alone is broken down into three sections (South, Central, and North) 60 miles from one end to the other then 30 more if you add in Pawleys. 4) How much are you willing to spend per round of golf on average? March is usually a higher fee time. 5) How many rounds do you want to play ? 6) Do you want to play 18 each day or play a course that has 27? I'm not being nosey, This will help me narrow down some options for you as there about 90 courses down there. I've probably played over 30 of them so far. There are management groups that own 4 or 5 courses and will give to package discounts. Play 3 courses get a forth round free. Play here and get free lunch and a beer. Lots of options.

I've tried the one at MGS headquarters and it works for chipping and finesse shots so it is pretty versatile. I'd be willing to drop a lob wedge to put it in the bag.

As usual @GolfSpy Barbajoi is a plugged in as anybody in the industry. Heres a Twitter thread on it

Sure, I hear that, but...does your 7 or 8 iron COME WITH ITS OWN COVER WITH "CHIPPER" EMBROIDERED ON IT? DOES IT? HUH?????

ER-ER-ER-ER-ERRRRRRRR! Just have to crow a bit as yesterday I hit a personal milestone. Been playing about 3 years and have been working hard the last 6 months or so to break 110. Well, I did it. Not only did I break 110, but I broke 100, and shot a 94. Felt damn good. That round dropped my handicap 4.3 points. Came dangerously close to acing two of the par 3s. Birdied one, and made a stupid putt to end up par on the second one. Made par on my nemesis hole too. And the weather was great! Even better was that I can see some mistakes that I could eliminate down the road. Currently the longest club I use is my 5 hybrid, and am starting to get full distance out of it. Once I can train up my woods and driver I see 85 coming in soon after.

So just to let everyone know, the planned revolution was not televised and instead it was a secret coup to overthrow @Golfspy_CG2 by myself and @MDGolfHacker to be co-runners on site of this event. Seriously though, big ups to Rob for really handling the moving parts and a speedy recovery to see you at the "hopeful" next one. Let's lay the land here, most of us are staying on site in one cottage, arriving on Friday afternoon/evening. Going to at least my first time meeting Spies in the wild, so that'll be fun. We've got two rounds scheduled, one on each course at Queenstown, going out in groups and maybe getting some games going. Bring those wads of cash boys, because I'm sure they'll be there for the taking. Also, myself, @Getoffmylawn, @cnosil, and @Shapotomous will be doing a wedge fitting and @tommc23 will be taking on an iron fitting with the local Titleist fitting professional as organized by Rob. For those of you looking for content, never fear @McGolf is bringing both a drone and his camera to catch some stuff and play, so I'm sure he'll be popping in from time to time to share with y'all some of what's going down. Lastly, just to keep everyone on their toes, we might have a couple surprises up our sleeves... so stay tuned.

Here's a look at the courses they will be playing 36 holes with on an onsite cottage sitting right off the 2nd tee. https://www.qhgolf.com/

... As I said Stu may give her a run for her money but still lose even at 7200+. And at the women's normal yardage they would just get owned. I saw a video that proved your post, although it was only one player it was still interesting. I can't remember the index of the challenger but wanna say a 2 that hit it 300+ yds? Challenged an Asian Tour lady that was a lower ranked player on a 7300 yd course. Lots of great golf from the lady and as you said a killer short game but the thing that stood out the most for me was she just played her own game. Many par 4's were unreachable for her but instead of swinging harder, she stuck to her own game hitting driver then fw or hybrid short of the green, chipping/pitching close and making par. If it was reachable with a few she was on and made some birdies while the guy missed the green with an iron. Some of those longer holes the guy tried for a little more distance to use his advantage and it worked some and backfired others. ... In the end great play in all aspects of the game, something any tour pro can do including Symetra, beats distance every time. He!! I just watched the Jr Girls Am and in the semi finals a 14yr old advanced with 9 birdies in 13 holes on a difficult course!

Royal New Kent in providence forge, Va; it has some big greens. It is links style. here is the green I was on and here is one that is probably the biggest. You’d have to hit a really bad approach to be hitting the 100+‘ putt but I am sure someone has done it They generally put the pin right side forcing you to deal with the deep bunkers.