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Spending the day with my son. Sometimes perspective comes from the small things

Good morning MGS! Happy Saturday to everyone. I volunteered to go in to work today to help out with the finish department, we usually have a couple of guys to go in and since we had lousy weather yesterday I figured why not. Thanks for the offer of coffee yesterday, @EasyPutter . I did make sure to make mine better this morning. It was a pleasure to get to speak with you and our fellow spies Thursday. The wife and I are planning on hanging out with some friends tonight and we're looking forward to it.

Goodmorning all. Got some baseball camp later on, then all the kids have a birthday party to go to at a trampoline park, then maybe doing a hibachi dinner and catching the Bruins on TV. Should be a good day! Now... if the snow that fell last night wants to melt that's cool too.

I did more inside work today in my hitting bay since it’s still chilly and windy. After stretching I worked on making a bigger, deeper backswing; easy to do until I put a ball in play to hit. Then I’m back to shorter swings. However, I am noticing that my speed is up slightly, just at the expense of poor contact. It will take time, but it seems like I have a lot of it with the current forecast. I also spent more time with pitch shots working on softening my wrists and letting gravity start the downswing; seems to work pretty well. Around 2pm I decided to take it to the course pitching area to see what it looks like outside. Well, when you add in 20-30 mph wind, cold hands, and dormant grass that is drier than a popcorn f@rt… well, let’s just say that I need to practice a little more. I also did a little putting. The greens are very firm and the grass hasn’t started growing yet this year, but the course has been mowing anyway. They are lightning fast; I like it!! The green in my hitting bay by Big Moss is supposed to be about 11-12 stimp (it is slightly faster in one direction vs the other). Today our course practice green was rolling out much longer with the wind. I can only practice putts at home that are less than 10 feet, so today I specifically worked on 15-20 footers into the wind and down wind. Speed control was surprisingly good for not having played much lately, even made a couple!!

Setup the old ExPutt* and rolled a few (Practice mode, random distances 5-30 ft, stimp 11) .. some things that I can see have improved include face rotation during the stroke and face angle at impact; however something that was off was distance control .. was either way off or really good... * For more info on the ExPutt plz see the Forum Member Review thread... ..https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/39526-2020-official-member-review-exputt-putting-simulator

Well @GolfSpy_BOS I broke and made a new one. Please all who see this take the few minutes to go through the membership poll in this thread. The mod team is hard at work in a variety of areas and want to continue to provide a better forum experience for all. As always we do our best to keep things constructive and work toward solutions with any issues members are having. If there are other areas you wish to discuss please enter it down in the comments. For all the newer members we welcome feedback on how to make your life easier and enable to forum to be more accessible when first joining! Other areas of interest I had noted, however didn't know how to enter in the poll are as follows: Profiles Member Leaderboard Slider Content Announcements Member Zoom Calls and Community Calls Thank you all for participating!

Finally put together my shadow box. Just need to get a ship picture and hang it up:

Good morning on this wintery Saturday morning, nothing we make a big deal about. Busy day on tap, going to pick up son's race packet for next weekend's Shamrock Run, 45th anniversary and I lost track of how many he has run, 8k for those on the actual race and they do virtual participation too since pandemic started. Then getting taxes done before heading off to Rochester for lunch with son and helping with one of his hobbies. Can't stay too long with him because session 4 of 6 for PGA HOPE at Wild Wood CC is late afternoon. Best part is coffee is hot and ready, and also in the thermos for the drives today

Had a solid round yesterday. Was fun playing with 2 new people and a fairly brisk round. Weather was good, company was fun and managed to play well. Not great, no birdies and a couple lost balls, however Really just played solid golf. I am falling back in love with my 3 wood and the thing is an absolute weapon off the tee. Especially with the tees moved up for winter it should be the go to club for all tee shots, however with the driver shootout that just would be no fun. Ball striking is really coming around and it is making me appreciate these irons so much more. The control, flight and distance is just all that I could ask for. I will do further updates in other threads, but the kinda highlight of the round was on 18, I was silly and didn't put my glove back on for the tee shot as my hands were just cold and.. blah blah blah. Anyway I caught my PW a bit out the toe and killed the distance enough to land in the water. Sucks, but that is my fault. So the other two guys hit, one in the greenside bunker and the other on the green. I tell them I am going to hit again from the same spot and this happens... A great bogey to say the least and the closest I have come to a hole in one in a long time. Even though it would not have been at true one and as excited as they were I still said even if it went it, that doesn't count. However a great way to finish off the round and excited to go back Tuesday for another. Tuesday is also with a friend who is getting better and will be the first round of the season I am playing for scores! As for what driver will be in the bag... tbd!

gm, going back to bed for another hour…have to trim some of the shrubs this morning and not in a rush to get out there.

We got ourselves a new coffeemaker after the old one was getting a bit tired and worn .. plus butterfingers yours truly cracked yet another carafe while washing it (..I usually keep spares in the garage!) .. and while the new one does a great job of brewing, it has the LOUDEST! "ready" beeps you've ever heard from an appliance!! ..I think maybe it really wants to be a smoke alarm...

Temperatures are warming, days are getting longer and grass is growing. Pinehurst is getting closer!

I certainly won't name names, however I will say for those on our Community Call were awfully interested to see if I had any insight on this. Thankfully I know you have so much going on it is hard to keep track of it all so told them i couldn't know for certain haha

I had a fitting yesterday for a fairway wood and hybrid. Decent numbers and dispersion were good so I took home two new toys! Taylormade Stealth 2 HD 3- wood 16 degree Taylormade Stealth 2 HD 4 hybrid 22 degree The first thing the fitter did was check out the numbers on my current Cleveland XL Launcher Halo Hy-Wood 3+ 18 degree. We pitted it against a 19 degree HD 5 wood. The first chart shows the comparison with the Hy-Wood on top and the HD 5 wood on the bottom. Then I hit an HD 4 Hybrid to compare to the 5 wood and they were so close that we decide the 4 hybrid would work great with a fairway wood closing out the gaping. The HD 3 wood fit nicely.

@Gavin_Shot_Scope did not confirm or deny new hardware coming at some stage. (I'll take it that there's something new coming) When asked he said that he who sets the embargo will not break the embargo. Stay tuned.

It’s just the golf gods way of keeping an eye on you. Are the good ones the same shot to the same target? Sometimes the mind gets lazy when you repeat a bunch of good swings in a row and doesn’t focus… until something changes, like hitting a bad shot. Uh oh! Better wake up! I would guess that happens more when you are doing something that you consider boring. Chipping and pitching are what I enjoy more than range work. I try to be creative and change up shots frequently; different targets, different trajectories, even different clubs sometimes. If you have a buddy, you can call shots and see you pulls it off better.

Range was absolutely packed after work today. About 10 people waiting for a spot before me, so I spent about an hour just chipping/pitching and putting. Chipping practice absolutely bores me to tears and frustrates me beyond all rational reason at the same time. It seems to come in waves where I'll hit 4 or 5 good ones in a row, then out of nowhere I can barely make proper contact. I won't change anything that I can pinpoint, and I'll start hitting good ones again. It comes and goes seemingly for no reason. Haven't really figured out the cause of it. I really need to find a way to make it interesting because I know it would help lower my scores. Putting went well, doing a lot better job getting the ball on the right line and leaving most of my misses in spots I can clean up without much trouble.

I've played a decent amount since I last posted on 2/7. Since, I've gone in order: 79 78 77 80 79 79 78 92 84 76. You might notice that one high round of 92 followed by the 84? I'm self-applying an asterisks for those two rounds. [emoji6] Two days prior, I had a colonoscopy that triggered my stomach to spasm (not my abs, my actual stomach). I first had this issue as a side-effect to the Covid shots I took in 2021. Wasn't having it and the doc prescribed muscle relaxers. So during those two rounds I was loopy while without a looper. [emoji6] That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. But seriously, the elevated scores concerned me, so I ditched the meds before my last round and shot a very controlled 76. Whew... balance in the world restored. [emoji12]

Was able to get down to San Antonio and played with a customer. Played The Quarry Golf Club down there and was really hitting some great shots. My driver was a real weapon and had chipping/pitching been a bit better could have been a really special round. Nevertheless, was very happy with a 1 over 72 for my second round of the year. Score - 72 (Par 71) FIR - 8/14 GIR - 12/18 Putts - 32 (Two 3 putts) 3 birdies and 1 eagle. 1 Bad double bogey. Going to Streamsong on March 13 so looking forward to playing those courses.

Just letting you all know, you might not me as active over the comng weeks. Everything is fine. But in additon to my day job being very busy right now, I've taken on s special project, which I can't give any details or information on now. Only to say, I think it when I am able to it will be of great interest to the Forum. So I'm not only looking forward to this endeavor, but also sharing the results of it with the forum. But as usual on a forum, feel free to guess away and speculate like crazy. That's all part of the fun! So I'll just leave it at:

I think this is in large part to not having the best testing season last year and the whole mod team working so hard to bring life to the forum in other ways.

Completed. I chose “Other” as my answer to the first question because I feel like I almost participate equally in each answer option. Lately, I’ve been most active on general discussion which I really enjoy. That is certainly what has kept me coming back each day.

Good morning all. Just finished my 3rd cup - one more than the usual. Our puppy had me up at 1:00 am so I'm still a bit bleary eyed. My wife had a 24 hr stomach bug was I was the one in charge of the puppy. I'm getting ready to head out for our normal Saturday morning couples match - sans wife. She wants another day to recover since we have our monthly couples event tomorrow. Thankfully the wind has died down to the normal 12-15. Yesterday's game was in winds of 25 - gusting to 31. It was interesting to say the least - especially on the greens. Hope everyone has a great Saturday - I should be home in time to see JT's and Speith's progress towards the top of the leaderboard and Rickie's elevation to something better than 14th.

Morn, all. Second and last round for this trip’s outing. We’ll see how it goes. First things first.

Where to start... . Demo day at Granite Falls South yesterday and I just cannot help myself. I've been to all four such events since we moved here in September. Not w/o purpose however as I've now completed my irons review having finally hit the G430's. I was not very impressed with their performance and kind of meh on looks. The i230's however were very nice and competed well with the Cobra ForgeTec X which has the #1 spot right now. The Cobra guys now know me by name and still can't believe I walked away from the first demo after picking up 10 yards on my ZX5's . I also had a chance to hit the Paradym's with the Recoil Dart shafts. That set-up really surprised - particularly tight dispersion. I also had a chance to hit the Tour Edge 723 drivers (C&E). I did not get any numbers as their LM was in use for a fitting but both had great feel and sound. Anyone shopping for drivers should give these a look.

Adding on, testing for this year hasn't started but the PGA, DP, LIV, LPGA tours are in full swing, new equipment has been released, MGS most wanted testing is in full swing so there are lots of topics that are ongoing so you can start working on the participation aspect that is part of being selected.

I am happy to share news for me and to things I am directly involved with. Would feel bad spoiling Robs news! Especially when I am not 100% sure which news it is... I mean the guy has a lot going on!

You keep saying that people on the community calls will get insider information; I thought that would be some good insider info.

The first step my dad takes when in bunkers is to determine if he can putt out of it.... Sadly it works more than it should with bunkers he plays!

Alright, (relatively, for me?) quick update with no pictures. Took the new clubs to the course today. First really beautiful (55°+) in a while here, so it was packed. No tee times for a single. I put my name on the wait-list, and grabbed a large bucket. "only 7-iron through wedges - construction down range" I was told. Considering this new 6-iron is lofted the same as my current 7-iron, I fibbed a little and agreed. Warmed up, felt pretty good considering I'd not swung a club all week. Hit my current 9 (38°) usually in the 150 range, so hit a few of those. Pulled out the TS-3 (40°). Looks-wise, not a huge difference. Top-lines are actually pretty similar to my eye. First strike was toed, flew dead-straight over the 135 target-flag. Huh. When I say toed, btw, I mean half the dimples were not on the grooves. Swung it again. Toe again, but this time all on the grooves. Felt really good. Kind of thought I middled it. Right over the flag, again. Although I was flying it over 135, I had a hunch it wasn't as close to 150 as my normal 9 (not a shock considering 2° difference). That's okay by me, though, as it felt awesome and the look at address is beautiful. And toe strikes really seemed to be minimally punished. Took out my 7-iron (28.5°). Stock distance with this is usually a comfortable 175 (sometimes creeping to 180). Hit it great, right at a target that was 180 away. Landed just shy. Hit a few more to get a groove. Pulled the TS-3 6-iron (28°). This one FEELS svelte in comparison to mine. No chunk-butt (Trademark) at address. First swing was pured. Like, dead at the pin, landed short but ran up a bit. Felt so so good. I hit it again. And again. And again. It's just beautifully made. My name got called about 45 minutes in, and I was thrilled to bring these onto the course. I was kind of shocked how much I got to use them - it's a short course, but I managed to hit each about 7-10 times. Results weren't always "pure" and I'd like to get these on a monitor to confirm, but I'm definitely losing some distance in comparative lofts. This isn't bad in and of itself, of course, but will just take getting used to and a new set of numbers to learn. I was surprised to find I enjoyed the thinner sole and found the turf interaction to be really clean. I may not ultimately game a whole set of these - I may end up in something more Player's Distance (time will tell), but for the money, this is one of the nicest clubs I've ever hit. (Side note: shafts are 10g heavier than I currently game, but were tipped to an R+ flex and felt surprisingly ok. I did not swing weight anything, though I do plan to do that to see what's what, and I may ultimately order the PX IO 5.5 shaft in the 6-iron to see if there's any noticable difference. Also of note, I installed mid-size grips and have regular grips on my Sim's) All in all, pretty successful. My on course numbers seemed to be about 165 for the 6-iron, and about 140 for the 9. Definitely usable, but I'd have loved to have the 6 closer to 170/175 to be REALLY ready to jump in head first. But there is zero denying they look incredible, and are shockingly forgiving, even for my hacky self

I started a garden when we moved into our current house 3 years ago because it already had one. I’m still learning. I have this “harmless squirrel and friendly rabbit” to contend with. I don’t really have any other hobbies or interests outside golf. I’ve had tons of them in the past, but lost interest or just moved on. Maybe it’s time to find something new… something that will occupy my free time when the weather turns cold.

I'm also a 12 (though not judging by today's play - yikes), and I recently had a fitting (at True Spec) that was super helpful. The fitting was not cheap, but it was a gift from my family, so it was free to me. That being said, I believe an iron fitting could be worth it for you. It guided me to a shaft/head combo that felt awesome (ZX5-II + Project X IOs 5.5, neither of which I would have assumed if be a good match to prior). Using THAT info, I was able to do a little comparison shopping/Googling. I found the Maltby TS-3 (forged cavity back), and decided to try two out (6 & 9), and directly compare them to my Sim Max (v1)'s. I built them myself (something I didn't know I could do until I found a bunch of people on the forum who had experience), using temp (read: "cheap") shafts to see if the iron head and I could be friends. Today was my first outing with them, and although it wasn't an ABSOLUTE match (distance isn't the same as a hollow-bodied iron, I'd need one more iron to fill out the set because of the weaker lofts), they're pretty extraordinary. And at $68/club, it's a cheap way for me to test them I'm saying all this, essentially, to encourage you to do the iron fit. Once you find a head/shaft combo you groove with, you can absolutely take that to a PXG/Sub-70/Maltby (btw, Golfworks.com will build your Maltby irons however you want - you definitely don't HAVE to build them), and they'll build out your set for a considerable savings. (ie, my PX IO 5.5 are $55/shaft at GW, the heads are $55 as well. They MAY charge a few $$ to build, but all told, $110/stick is a GREAT price for a forged head; Sub-70 has the new 699-Pro available with the PX IO for a small upcharge - but I think the whole set (assembled and shipped) is like $770-ish - and they also do a demo-set with a 6&9-iron for (net) $20). Basically, I'd suggest using the iron fitting as a springboard and go from there. There are SO many amazing non-big-OEM options, I would not, at this point, over-pay for something I feel I can match at a lower price. That being said: the day I win the Lotto, all this is going out the window and I'm going to TXG and buying whatever Ian fits me into Good luck, and baby can't wait to hear what you decide!

The chipping area has a few different targets so I will cycle through them and cycle through my wedges to try different flights. I just can't get into it by myself most days. No friends around the course for me.

I've had so many hobbies and got bored with most once I got good at it. The short version: Competition pistol shooting, just didn't keep my interest. Deer hunting with rifle. Every season that I went I got one in the first hour or two. 1 deer allowed per season so I had to wait another year. To easy for me. So I took up archery hunting. Archery, same deal. Got them right away. Finally just stopped hunting. Migrated to indoor competition. Won some competitions and some equipment but it was still not grabbing me. Fresh water fishing, always enjoyed it. Once I moved to TN it was difficult because of where I lived. I was right on the Nolachucky River. But the river was more often a red clay color because of the soil and run off. You maybe had a day or two a month that it was clear. Now that I moved I hope I can get back Into fishing. Golf has been the only thing that has kept my interest. Always room to improve. 34 years later and it still has me hooked. Started playing when I was 30. I'm also very handy. I enjoy building things (especially golf related things).

Gardening and landscaping. I’ve spent the last several years tearing out a bunch of old overgrown landscaping, replacing it with native plants, and growing prairie flowers from seed. There is something calming about watching the animals and insects the plants attract.

Vintage audio equipment is my non-golf addiction. Can’t seem to resist an interesting vintage turntable restoration project - I guess the multiple half done projects in my basement are a testament to that - or my inability to finish ANYTHING

Thinking I’ll chronicle my journey in a thread this year!

Due to a shipping issue the Cobalt Range finder will not be able to be sent to me. If you are interested in being a tester, please send me a PM. I will be making a decision on the new tester before the weekend is over.

Yeah finding what works for you and me is going to be different and difficult, the new course “Kapiti”I joined is cheap $520 p/a but the practice green is better than my old club PBGC in as much I can hit from 135metres into a nice green whereas the old fancy club just has a short mow grass area not a proper green? So now I’m actually practicing short irons into a green, I’ll try to remember a photo…

"needed"..? haha we're all here in solidarity with you, fellow CH! Plus I'm liking those bright hibiscus flower boardies

Something to practice. Have 3 swings with club of choice and also try different clubs because they will all land and rollout different distances. Note how at the ball travels in the air and how far it rolls out. 1st swing is short and quick (remember body rotation and not hands and wrists). Going to be a low trajectory shot that should land a little ways in front of you, kind of barely on the green if close to the green 2nd swing is medium length and speed. Going to be a little higher trajectory and carry further than the quick swing. 3rd swing longer and slower. Going to be even high and carry further than the media Only thing you are changing is speed, ball position will still favor more towards front foot. Also remember to keep more weight on front foot thru the swing another thing to practice is hitting your landing spot. Place a putting circle or towel where you want the ball to land and hit shots to that spot

The weather has been consistently... not nice. Looking out the window at the sun makes me want to head to the course, but I know it's chilly and the 19-36mph winds just make me miserable. Another morning of practice in my hitting bay after exercises, then watch the API tournament. Tomorrow is looking a lot better for play; 45-50º with only a slight breeze.

Another week of practice rolled into one post. Played another twilight 9 practice round less focused on contact and more focused on flipping the negativity I discovered in the video I made into being positive to myself after every swing (regardless of outcome). It's shockingly hard. The habit is so ingrained that I find myself having little arguments with myself. 'Ugh bad. No, wait, that was actually pretty decent.' I must look and sound like an absolute loon on the golf course right now. Lot's of work still to do on that front. Yesterday I did a lot of chipping practice that was more of an experimentation session than anything else. I was trying to really get to know what I can and can't do with shot & trajectory selection around the green. While my short game has gotten better I think I'd be getting up and down more often vs. giving up strokes if I made better decisions about target and trajectory. It was fun and informative and towards the end I started to see if I could recreate situations I often see out on my home course. I learned a few things there too. My 52 is the most versatile wedge that I own, I can hit a low driver that checks and stops, a medium height shot that rolls out, and a surprisingly high little almost flop that stops where it lands. The 58 is too situational and I think it's getting swapped for a 56 that will see a little more use. Truth be told, if I have to hit a little 58 flop to get close I've done something wrong at this stage in my game. Similarly, I can hit a high trajectory chip shot with any of my wedges down to PW, but that doesn't mean that I should. While it was fun to lay the 47 over and hit a flop shot, the disaster to good shot ratio was too high. It was either a nice long high soft landing flop or an absurd blade into the next zip code. I'm going to be doing more of this type of practice. It was way more effective than trying to hit 20 balls close to a single pin and I found that the further into the practice session I got the better I got at picking the right shot to get close as the first shot of a new tube. Similar stuff with putting. Focused a lot on making sure I left good leaves from any putt outside 8'. A lot more observation of what the ball does when I miss and what the optimal miss is to leave me a simple second putt -- like not driving it past a hole on an uphill putt to leave a slippery left to right 3 footer to make par. Same deal with irons on the range. What is my miss, etc. I suspect my new to me irons are flat, but seeing as how I have a tournament next week I'll get the adjustment done afterwards or not at all. Debating whether a push baby fade miss is more tolerable to deal with than irons that I never miss left with. All in all a very good week of practice, but yesterday at the end of the session told me I was in danger of overdoing it. Time to set up a golf fitness plan so I can get more swings in during a week without wearing out my core -- I've discovered when my core gets tired my upper lower body connection goes out the window along with my swing.

Good morning from balmy (3 degrees Celsius) Sooke. The weather has been inclimate and spotty in southern Vancouver Island the past week or so. No snow in Sooke however Saanich Penninsula (about 1 hour east) has 6 inches or so. My home course is kindof in between, I think the front 9 will be open today for play. Going to be an indoor day for me…

I'm bored

"Good" morning fellow MGS'ers! Our three year old has spent the week in what seems to be a sleep regression where he wakes up 3-4 times a night, yells "DAAAAAAADDDDYYYYY" at the top of his lungs, and then requests that I sit in the room until he falls asleep. It is safe to say I am lacking in sleep and feel like I am reliving the newborn stage again . Relying heavily on caffeine today! I should add that he recently discovered he can climb out of his crib, and his room is in the lower level, so where I used to just be able to let him be in there until he fell asleep, he's now an escape artist and tries to climb up the stairs in the middle of the night, half asleep. Transition to big boy bed is coming soon.

Yep, being cool isn’t easy

I need new irons, and am contemplating a Club Champion fitting to move up from my current game improvement irons, definitely not to blades but into something approaching a player's iron and more workable. I had a great experience getting fitted for woods at CC, so this is not a complaint about them. Rather, prices on new irons with the custom shafts I will need are absurd. I have read enough of this forum to know that there are good options from companies like Maltby (if I found a reputable builder locally) and DTC from Hogan, Sub70, etc., and probably good options in the used market too. But - and here's my question - how do I translate my CC fitting into any of those options, and can I retain the same likelihood that I will be pleased with the end results if I go with something other than the clubs into which I am fitted? I may just have to bite the bullet and pony up the big dough. I welcome thoughts and suggestions, and thank you in advance.

Finally got a chance to try on the FJ Tour Alphas, the new Hyper Flex Carbon, and the Premiere. All three were amazing. FJ does a great job of having a wide sole, even if the actual foot width is narrow. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it’s like the actual sole of the shoe is substantially wider than the top of the shoe where your foot goes in. The Tour Alphas were exactly what I thought they’d be. That plastic molded heel cup is so stable and secure. I think I’ll end up going with those because of that. That combined with the wide base made it feel like I literally couldn’t get outside of my lead foot. I’d have to manufacture something crazy for that to happen. The Hyper Flex Carbon were extremely comfortable. They just didn’t do the heel cup as well as the Alpha. The Premiere is amazing all around. Such a timeless looking shoe. I really could buy any of the three and have no regrets about any of them. Looks like I’m finally moving away from Adidas golf shoes after 13+ years.