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Please join me in congratulating our nine (9) testers that will be embarking on the journey for more speed: Low SS: @J_L_35 @Jbmullin @tony@CIC Med SS: @MALyons31 @MaxEntropy @Apolloshowl High SS: @jlukes @ChasingScratch @alisarodriguez15 Good luck guys! ________________________________________________________________________________ SuperSpeed Golf helps you increase swing speed using OverSpeed Training, which is exactly what it sounds like it is. Basically, it creates a neurological reset and trains your brain and muscles into believing you can swing the club faster. It makes the body move faster than normal during training to permanently increase the neuromuscular reaction speed of the body. In plain English: swinging a training stick faster than normal causes your brain to remember this faster speed, and even start expecting it. Frankly, the majority of training aids we test aren't worth your money. But, you don't get into the bags of 700+ touring professionals and 100,000s of everyday golfers unless it works. We're pretty confident it will work for you, too. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ We're looking for 9! dedicated forum members to test, review, and keep the SuperSpeed Golf Training system throughout the entire 48 week program and post updates every step along the way. Specifically, there will be 3 golfers in 3 different speed brackets. You don't have to be a low SS guy to take advantage of the program and SuperSpeed is ready to prove it. To apply, reply to this thread with the following information: Location and Age Current Driver SS Rate your fitness level: below average / average / above average Affirmation that you will see the entire program through Note: if you are unable to post in the thread and are wondering why, please read through the FAQ first: HERE

Hello all! (Apologies for how long this is, but I want to cover as much as I can) As we approach the 2022 testing season it is a good idea for us as a mod staff and community to welcome all the incoming members and guide them in how to best improve everyones chances of becoming a MGS Community tester. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ First please do NOT apply in this thread. It won’t help and any and all signups are done through the individual testing signups throughout the season. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Also a few quick house keeping notes before getting into it. - have questions about the process or anything that may have been left out? Just ask! - As mods we try to be as transparent as we are allowed to be and won’t hide things from the community as we are members just like you! - We hope to have a lot of new opportunities this year and encourage everyone to take a look at these pretty basic steps in order to better your chances. - Don’t want to read through the thread? Check out the FAQ page ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Okay! So a lot of this may be repeat and many of you will already know this, but here we go! You must be a MGS Forum Member in order to be selected. - Sounds pretty straight forward, but I ran some of the numbers and on average 90% of our signups are what I would classify as one off signups with 1 or fewer posts. Then if we look at those with 50 or more posts that number is only 2% of the overall signups. Complete your profile! - This includes a profile picture - this is one of the first things we look for with tester selections. - Although the new Player Profile is not a requirement, it is high encouraged and will not only help us, but you and other members. For you, signups will be quicker as much of the info is pulled from your profile and for members it helps them see how their game relates to their own. Get involved! - I want to state that we actively work to get a well rounded group for all testing selections. This includes attempting to get at least one brand new tester per test as well as include international members as well. - That being said, being active on the forum, creating new content for the community is huge. We want to make sure the OEM and community gets the best possible review (I mean completed, not good as in praise) and having a body of work even if minimal is important. - Only ever involved in sign up testing threads? Not likely going to increase your chances. Just being honest, likely not going to happen. Really want to stand out? - Do a unofficial review! We may have more on this coming soon which will hopefully help our review catalogue, but having unofficial review gives us a insight as to what you are able to do! - Want to make it a more official unofficial review? Send us a PM and we can provide you with the template that is used for all the official reviews. Do you have to be a donor? - No, although being a donor can be used as a tie breaker it is not a necessity to become a tester. Not only that but we cannot see how much anyone has donated. - While we are on this, if you have donated and don’t have the tag send myself (tag) a PM with your transaction number for it to be added. That is the basics to becoming a tester. Pretty simple right? We don’t ask for much, but we do want to see these things in order to make our selections more trustworthy. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Now all the other nuances I believe it is important for us (mods) to be transparent about all of this as again we are members like you as I said. So for those that don’t know or want a bit of a sneak peak of what happens behind closed doors… or computer screens let me do a bit of a run down for everyone. Once a test is created everyone signs up and during this process we actively take a look at who has applied and create a short list. We are fortunate to have a wealth of info at our disposal to make this a robust list. Examples? We look at recent activity, been a tester before? We look at your review(s) grades (more on this later), yes donor status, number of posts, number of reactions, location, handedness, and more. As well the mods add in notes for thoughts on each member who has made a short list. We also look at what members have tested in the past. If you tested a set of irons the previous year, chances are we won’t look to do another iron selection for this year. There is no limit to how many members we can have on a short list, it can be 5 or it can be 40. All depends on how everyone feels about the members who have applied. We aim to have the short list completed within 2-3 days after the signup has closed. It is then roughly a week later that we want our 4 or however many testers are required to be selected and then announced before moving onto the next test. In order for us to select someone for testing it needs the go ahead from at least 3 mods. This way no one mod can control or have bias towards certain testers. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What happens after being selected? - A group PM is made with the selected testers asking if they agree to completed and participate in the review process. We expected good efforts on all reviews and for members to follow the guidelines/templates and instructions from the mods during the process. It is perfectly okay for someone to back out. It happens, life happens and maybe the commitment is too much which again is perfectly okay! In that case we go back to our short list and grab someone else.| - Remember reviews are work and not just winning a prize. - After everyone has agreed to completing the review and participating we move onto the order process for the product (if fittings are required this can take a little longer) the order is placed through the mods and we wait for the product to arrive. - During this time intros are worked on and when the product arrives unboxing/first impression posts are completed. - After everyone has their kit we (mods and testers) discuss a timeframe for when reviews are to be completed (this was a complicated one last year with product wait times…) - Final reviews are posted then as mods we have more work to do as reviews are graded. This is outlined in the templates for testers to see as well as what makes for a 1 out of 5 and 5 out of 5 and everything inbetween. - These grades are REALLY important. As if someone bails on a review, it is good luck getting in on another review. We take pride in these reviews and our selections and being ghosted or having someone take zero effort is really disappointing. - For reference we understand life happens and there can be situations that cause someone to have a review completed late or something come up which make it harder to do the review and are of course lenient. I will send several follow up messages for those that are late in posting or gone mia, but after a few of those I will record it in our overall record that said member has gone mia and should not be considered for further reviews. Review grades are used for future selections. Good review scores better a testers chances at another review in a following year where poor reviews lesson those chances. So as a first time tester it is certainly best to do the work and get in a good review IF you want to better your chances next year. We do our best as a mod team to promote and create engagement within each review thread (last year with the new system was tough we all know), but in the end it is a lot on the testers to put out updates during their review to bring eyes to the thread. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Finally a few general rules of thumb - Testers are generally only selected for one test per season. Exception being a Golf Ball test or lesser valued items. - Brand new testers are often selected for lower valued items, like golf balls. However this is not exclusive. Example I was selected for Ping i210 irons with my first ever review. Again it is a general guideline and a first time tester who has put out good content to the community can of course be selected for a higher valued item. - Testers are generally not selected for the same equipment type year over year. Meaning tested a driver last year? More likely you won’t get a driver test again this season. Again general rule as sometimes it is interesting to see someone test the progress of a product year over year. Apply for what you WANT to test. Of course you can apply for everything and anything, but truly it is best to apply for a product that excites you. It is pretty easy for us to notice the same name applying in testing for every single test even when they are currently testing a product! Most importantly, enjoy the experience, have fun with it and ask questions. Be creative and although there is a template do what you can within those guidelines and make a unique review that will be remembered. Finally follow up is encouraged, whether it be with the mods or in the testing thread it is noticed and very much encouraged as members are often still curious about what is going on. For those that made it ALL the way down here, well done. Seriously. Have more questions just ask away!

Testers Wanted (4) Among all major companies these days marketing claims around drivers are getting out of control. Manufacturers would love for golfers to buy new drivers every year or two, at seemingly increasing prices—it’s what helps pay for those flashy advertising campaigns and big-name tour contracts. As a result, the price of drivers has exploded, and it becomes a vicious circle. Ben Hogan Golf is primarily thought of as an iron company, and rightfully so. But when it set out to design and build the new GS53 Driver, it did so with the serious golfer in mind. They feel they have developed one of the best looking and best performing drivers available. They feel it’s a driver that lives up to the Ben Hogan name and promise. So if you’re a regular reader of this space…you know what’s coming next……….. TESTERS WANTED; we’re going to select four of our trusted forum members to see for themselves—and of course share with the rest of the forum— if the GS53 drivers live up to the Ben Hogan name. The testing is open to all forum members in the US, Canada and UK. At this time the driver is available in Right Hand only. To Be Considered Please Provide the Information Below BUT DO NOT QUOTE THIS POST First Name City/State or Country Driver Swing Speed Handicap We'll be choosing the testers sometime next week

please join me in congratulating our sacrifices...err.... COMPETITORS: @GB13 - Forged Tec - MIM @B.Boston - Forged Tec - MIM @edingc - SPEEDZONE - King Black @Headhammer - SPEEDZONE - MIM @daviddvm - SPEEDZONE ONE - KING ONE (5) Competitors Wanted: #COBRACONNECT Challenge 4 That's right, it's time for the largest annual event the MyGolfSpy Forum runs. #COBRACONNECT Challenge 4 is ready to knock your socks off as either a competitor or enthusiastic fan. (5) dedicated testers will be outfitted with a full set of Cobra clubs complete with Cobra Connect Arccos sensors to track your progress throughout. The testers will compete in (8) weekly challenges that will test their ability in a wide range of challenges with a season champion crowned at the thrilling completion. In addition to our testers competing for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes, members of the community will be able to compete for PUMA GOLF prizes on their own. It's getting tougher each year to surprise the community but we're going to do our best this year with an increased catalog of Cobra Products on the table: Woods: SPEEDZONE and SPEEDZONE extreme drivers, fairway woods, and hybrids Irons: (3) SPEEDZONE and (2) Forged Tec testers. Available in conventional or One Length 3 Wedge Sets: (3) King Black (conv or OL) and (2) King MIM Go ahead and get started using the official hashtags for this challenge #MGSCOBRA2020 and #COBRACONNECT. In addition to the weekly challenges, testers will also be expected participate heavily on Social Media. This opportunity is open to residents of US and CANADA. To apply, reply to this thread only with the following information: Handicap and Location Social Media Accounts Expected rounds in an 8-week span Current OEMs in your bag Head to https://www.cobragolf.com/ and build your dream bag for this challenge

Introducing the MGS x TheGrint Virtual Tour! Many of you are familiar with TheGrint - a great golf app that let’s you get a valid handicap, track your score and Pro like stats, use a best in class GPS rangefinder, Scorecard Photo Service and much more. MGS has teamed up with TheGrint to bring you an exciting new feature - a season long virtual tour running from April - September with multiple contests along the way! The plan is to have one contest each month PLUS a contest in the week leading up to the remaining majors. All you have to do to participate in the 9 contest is tag the event, log a round using the app, and you're automatically entered for that months contest. How To Enter Create or Log-in to your Grint account - don't worry, it's all free to use Navigate to the "Spring Invitational" - our first stop on the tour - BEFORE your qualifying round *Note: Qualifying round is considered 18-holes You can play at any course - one entry per event Here's the catch: you won't know the winning metric until the contest closes! That's right, we might pick the scorecard with the most 5's, or highest GIR, or lowest Putts. One thing we can say for sure is that it will NOT be the lowest round for each event! There will be prizes each month for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners We are also going to have a season long contest, so make sure to get a qualifying round in each event! How to navigate to the correct Event In APP: On Desktop/Laptop: Now that you are all setup in TheGrint, let's take a look at our first event. THE SPRING INVITATIONAL Details: Qualifying rounds for the event must be entered between April 13th - May 3rd The contest metric and winners will be announced on May 4th Select the Spring Invitational before your round begins Play at ANY course and enter your score That's it! Prizes: 1st Prize - We're going big to get started... That's right - Driver Time! But not just any driver. 1st prize is a driver of YOUR choice with shaft, loft, grip, bells, and whistle options up to a $600 Value! 2nd Prize is Two (2) Dozen Titleist PRO V1/x Balls + 1yr Premium TheGrint Membership 3rd Prize is a One (1) year Premium TheGrint membership --- We're really excited about this series and the contest for the season. Let us know any questions you have and can't wait to see the leaderboard! ******** WINNERS ANNOUNCED! Congratulations to our three randomly selected winner! 1st Place: @XMasterXDrewX 2nd Place: Justin K 3rd Place: @IPlayLikeAStormTrooper - Perfect timing as you won on May 4th! We'll contact the winners directly to get the prizes setup accordingly. We'll have another contest for May announced VERY SOON!

Testers ANNOUNCED! Handling the testing this time will be: @TSauer @HeathS16 @hartrick11 @dlow206 @alfriday101 @Rickp Full announcement here: https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/41031-testers-wanted-6-titleist-tsi-drivers/?do=findComment&comment=695637 ______________________________________________________ This is a big one and a unique opportunity from any OEM. Titleist is going to have the new TSi drivers in the hands of six forum members by “Launch Day” which is the week of the Masters. You will be among the very first consumers to receive these in hand and on course for play. When the Titleist TS Series of drivers were launched two years ago, they were a big departure form the 9 Series drivers Titleist had produced for several years. They immediately won over the tour players and have been the most played on tour just about every week during the past two years. When the TSi series was made available to the tour staff a couple weeks ago at the US Open, it was no shock that several of the players put them straight in the bag. Titleist calls this Tour Validation. What’s new and improved with the TSi? From the few official images provided, there are some changes in the weight configuration and apparently a big story in the face design. Those details will come soon enough. In the meantime, Titleist is going to put these in the trusted hands of our readers for them to give a full review back to our forum members. My Golf Spy call this Forum Testing. We are looking for six members-(3) TSi2 and (3) TSi3 who reside in the United States, to join myself--as a staff tester--in the test group for the TSi drivers. How to Apply-US Only In a post below provide the following information: First Name City, State Current Driver in Play Handicap Swing Speed Which Driver Would You Like to Review That's it, we'll pick the testers sometime next week, be sure to check back and your PM's to see if you've been selected! Good Luck!

Congrats to our selected testers! Go here to see the official review: Testers Wanted (2) T100-S and (2) T200 Titleist Irons What better way to get our minds off of all the troubles in the world these days than a good iron testing. Well at MyGolfSpy, we don’t do good, we do MIND BLOWING--You Can Not Be Serious testings!! And that’s what we have here! When Titleist introduced its new T Series irons last fall, it included pretty much everything you’d expect from Titleist, all neatly arranged—T100, T200 and T300. The T100 fit the accomplished amateur and many tour pros, while T200 and T300 were designed for the distance and game improvement segments respectively. Now this spring comes the T100-S, and you can read the excellent First Look by our own Tony Covey here: Titleist launches T100-S. Titleist in the first ever Forum Testing opportunity that I can recall, is going to provide our members a chance to put these beautiful and now longer players irons to the test. But wait there’s more: Titleist doesn’t just dip its toes in the water, it goes off the high dive! It realizes most everyday forum golfers aren’t cut out for such a player’s club. So, it’s widening the testing field to include the T-200 iron as well! That's right two models, two testers each. So read the instructions closely, as not following them exactly could cost you an opportunity to be a tester. How to Apply This is important, so please follow these instructions carefully: 1. If you haven't already, make sure you're a registered MyGolfSpy Forum member 2. Provide us with the information requested below. 3. Be honest on your selection of desired test iron and handicap, it doesn't do anybody any good to have a 36 handicap testing an iron designed for tour players and single digit handicaps. - Your First Name - City/Sate - Your Handicap - Current Iron Model In Play - Desired Model to test- You Must Choose ONE-saying something like "either one" will get you disqualified. Lastly but just as importantly Please do not 'quote' this post when applying.. Per the manufactures request: this review opportunity is open to golfers who resides in the US. We'll be announcing the testers in this thread next week, so make sure to check back.

Testers Wanted (5) 2 - Icon Irons 3 - PTX Pro/Icon Combo Sets If there is any company that should have an iron called Icon, you have to believe that Ben Hogan would be one of the few to justify such a name. Arguably one of the greatest golfers of all time, Hogan was known for his pursuit of perfection both on the course and in the factory. Therefore an iron from his company bearing the name Icon, better be a good one. Well it's obvious to anyone from these pictures, that the Icon irons have already achieved half the battle with looks.The part about performance will be left to the hands of our lucky chosen testers. The Icon irons make no secret that you better have the game to put these in play, as they are ideally suited for the single digit player. But the good folks at Ben Hogan realize not everyone is blessed with pure ball striking skills or lives on the range, so they haven't left out those of us who live in the playable double digits neighborhood. Partnering with the Icon irons in the 8-P, the PTX Pros. in 5-7 offer a bit more play-ability in the mid iron section. Rounding out the low end of this players bag is the option for UiHi Utility iron or the incredible looking VKTR+ hybrid. So the call goes out to those who think they have the game and writing chops to do these irons justice on the course and in the forum. Step up, don't be afraid! HOW TO APPLY This testing is open to any right hand golfer who lives in the US or UK Follow the below instructions and please DO NOT quote this post when applying. Just create a new post First Name/City State or City Country Handicap Current Iron Model Played Which would you like to test Icon or PTX Pro-Icon Combo, You MUST choose ONLY one option. We'll be choosing the testers late next week, so check back to see if you have been chosen. Good Luck!! ______________________________________ Note: if you are unable to post in the thread and are wondering why, please read through the FAQ first: HERE

Actually Make that All Great Things-- After almost 4 years of serving as Moderator, Forum Director and Staff Admin. It's unfortunately come time that I need to re prioritize my time commitments. I'm stepping away from my day to day activities/duties of Forum Director and taking on more of advisory role and doing some odds and ends things to help out the moderators and of course @GolfSpy_THV and @GolfSpy MPR as they continue to lead the forum. I've taken on the responsibility of overseeing another course in our portfolio and it's going to require a lot more of my time and attention. As such I won't have the time needed to properly serve as a day to day Staff Admin. You'll still see me around doing some things here and there like running the final two Majors Contests Pools. Posting any newsworthy releases I get from the OEM's and of course just posting my usual club buying and testing adventures. I'm not going away, I promise you that. The staff is in good hands now with THV and MPR and the new additions of @GolfSpy_TCG and @GolfSpy_CS I'll just be watching from the practice squad ready to fill in if needed and available. As I've said, many times over the years, this forum is so great because of the members, you guys made this job easy. We have had to do so little moderating that it allows us to do other cool fun things and not have to worry about what's being posted where. That is so unusual in this day and age of forums. Lastly, I have to give a huge thank you to @GolfSpy Barbajo @hckymeyer and @GolfSpy_X for giving me this opportunity several years ago, and for supporting the Admin staff in everything we do, in more ways than you guys will ever know. Adam is an awesome owner, and Barbs is one the best and most professional dudes I've ever had the chance to "work" with if you call this work! Now, I've got a new update to my driver challenge to post soon, so as Miranda would say "We Out!"

As we have headed into the offseason the MGS Mod team has been working hard to look at areas of focus on the site and where to make some adjustments and changes to help improve the site for everyone who visits it. This includes the addition of a new Mod @GolfSpy_BOS who will be joining us. Bryan has been a part of the site for several years now and provided us with some truly great reviews and posts over his time. We are very excited to bring him onto the team moving forward. Everyone please welcome him and I am sure he will do his own introduction post/thread in the near future. Some of these changes have already been determined for the upcoming season. As most of you are aware we had a fair amount of turnover and change over the last year both with staff and the site itself. With this we all had to find our roles and we have had the time to find where everyone is best suited to assist the site. For everyone’s reference here is a quick breakdown of it all. @GolfSpy_THV is our Community Manager. JS has the majority of his work behind the scenes for the site. He also joined the site a few years back and is coming up on his 1 year anniversary as our Community Manager! I’ll leave a link here for his intro post from last season which dives a bit more into his role. @GolfSpy MPR is our Community Director. As the longest term Mod most everyone knows him and what he brings to the site. What some of you may not know is that Michael handles most all of the emails to the forum, which includes members getting locked out of accounts, responding to email complaints and has been our designer for the badges we all ask for and much more. This is all on top of everything he does on the visible side of the site. @GolfSpy_TCG is our Social Director and Community Outreach Mod. Chris as a lot of you are aware brought the AMA to the site as one of the biggest new features to the site this season. Chris will continue on with the AMA’s as well as push us (the forum) forward on other Social Media platforms. Keep an eye out for our twitter account (@mygoflspy forum) and more to become more active! @GolfSpy_CS is one of our Member Testing Directors. Tony has done a ton of work for us behind the scenes to help organize a lot of our work and within this new role he and myself will take on the testing side of the site. We had nearly 30 tests this season and are hoping to ramp that number up for next season. With this there is a lot of communication between OEM, members, testing set up and more. Tony has been vital to keep us organized along with keeping work on schedule and in rhythm for testing as well as working on updates to the new testing site to continue to push this updated feature of our site. @GolfSpy_APH as mentioned above is one of our Member Testing Directors. As stated above Tony and I (Jamie) will be working mainly on the testing side of the site, but will of course continue to be visible and active on the site. @GolfSpy_BOS will be joining myself and Tony as a Testing Director and working with us as we continue to work on the new testing feature and continue to try to improve on this new feature and make it focal point for our site moving forward. Added to all of this we will all continue to be active on the site and handle other more visible site responsibilities such as reported content, monitoring contentious threads and stepping in when/where need be. There are also all sorts of other small things that we will all continue to do including updating badges for members, responding to PM’s, promoting blog content and of course just being members on the site as well. I should also not let it be forgotten that Rob (@Golfspy_CG2) is still part of our team as he is still very active and an important member of our team even as he has taken a step back from full time duties. We have a few exciting features we are working on and hope to have some of them roll out nearing the new year. A few other quick hits before this post is completed is we are still actively engaging with HQ regarding ads and solutions for this continuing issue. We, like you, experience much of the same and like them all as much as all of you. We will also be sending out a survey to everyone on a variety of topics and encourage you to fill it out and provide feedback as we continue our work, the answers in this survey will be important to several decisions we will have moving forward to 2022 and beyond! With that thank you all for taking the time to read this lengthy post and please once again welcome our new member Bryan to the Mod team! Cheers,

Stage 2 is now posted below after Stage 1 Stage 1 … Well, well, well I received my irons a week after THEZIPR23, blackngold_blood and DavePO43, yet am the first to Stage 1. What a bunch of slackers! A quick intro for those that don't already know me. chisag stands for CHIcago Screen Actors Guild. I have been a member of SAG for 42 years. Being an actor meant I was either very busy or had a ton of free time. The free time can work very well with a sport I am passionate about that takes a good 5+ hours to play considering the round and travel. As an actor gets older, roles are not as plentiful and free time is much more the norm than being busy. Obviously great for golf and I can take an entire winter off, which I did in 2019 playing 4 months in Phoenix. 107 out of 117 days playing golf can really fine tune your game. That said, this year due to a herniated disc, rehab and Covid closures, I did not play a single round of golf for 5 months. That is by far the longest break I have ever had from playing. … While the short game is my bread and butter for scoring, iron play is certainly a strength of my game. Loving equipment, I have owned way too many iron sets to mention. I currently play and rotate some Taylor Made P760’s & P790’s, Cobra Forged Tours and some Srixon Z Forged MB’s. Needless to say, the last thing I needed was a new set of irons. But of course I always look and the irons that caught my attention in 2020 were the Titleist T100-S. When MGS offered a set for review, I threw my hat into the ring and was very pleasantly surprised to be picked. Thank you MGS. All of my current irons have strengths and weaknesses but I will concentrate on comparisons with my P760’s, the irons I played most. I love everything about them other than their surprisingly thick top line. One of my biggest questions going forward is will the T100-S mid/long irons be as long and forgiving as my foam filled P760’s. … Right out of the box, the T100-S looked like irons I had a hand in designing. Head size, shape, hosel transition, sole camber and a thin top line is just about perfect to my eye and they immediately jumped to my favorite irons aesthetically. I dated a Playboy Bunny back in the late 70’s for a very short time and know all too well that looks don’t always match up with perfoprmance. So as beautiful to my eye as the T100-S are, they will have to outperform what I am playing now. That is a tall order. … About 15 years ago I spent an entire fall playing only knockdown shots determined to master that shot in Chicago’s winds. Most courses here stop watering around October and the fairways can become rock hard. I am happy to say I now have that shot, but by pounding all my clubs straight down into the hard turf I developed a nasty case off elbow tendonitis. Per my Ortho’s orders (a serious golfer himself) I switched to heavy weight graphite in my irons to reduce the wear and tear on my elbow and my body. I am glad I did and I never went back to steel. My favorites are the Recoil Prototype 95’s and I was extremely interested in the Kuro Kage Tini 105 gm shafts that were available in the T100-S. I ordered them in Stiff Flex and soft stepped once. Specs and description looked really good and my only concern was feel. I found playing some Aerotech Steelfiber 95 shafts, the feel is a little closer to steel than graphite. Great for Pro’s that have been playing steel their entire lives, but I am used to the smoother, slightly dampened feel of Aldila VS Proto’s and Recoil Prototypes. With Tini wire in the tip section for stability, I was hoping they felt more like Recoils than Steelfibers. If not, I would just re-shaft with my Recoil Prototypes but after 3 rounds, the feel is exactly what I look for in a heavyweight graphite iron shaft. Stable, accurate and precise with a slightly dampened feel to absorb unwanted shock. They launch a little higher than I am used to, but adjusting should not be difficult. … Due to the Corona virus I was not able to schedule a fitting for my T100-S but I know my specs and what shafts work for me, so it really wasn’t a concern for me. That said, I would always choose a fitting if possible. Other than 2* upright, soft stepped once and 1/4” long, my specs are standard. With only 3 rounds played, I m still trying to figure out yardages for each iron, something I will have down for Phase 2. I will say as an old school golfer that played a 48* pw for most of my golfing life, I have reluctantly learned to navigate the 6* gap between my 46* pw and 52* sw. But the opportunity to play a 48* wedge that Titeist calls a W2 was a welcome surprise. And instead of a W1 and W2 on the sole, Titleist labels these 2 wedges as P and 48* so no confusion pulling a wedge without reading glasses LOL. A small thing but a nice touch. … While I can and have played MB’s, I see no advantage over a Players CB that gives me everything a MB provides with added forgiveness. Like many low index players, on my good days I can hit anything well, but on my off days and especially days when my back is tight I will use all the forgiveness I can get. I am very interested to see how forgiving the tungsten in the heel and toe of the mid and long irons will be on slight mishits. And would the slightly thinner face of the T100-S compared to the T100 produce a hair more distance. A myth is other than the longest hitters, a little more distance for a better player is not wanted in their irons. But a slight increase in distance is always a plus if that distance is accurate, repeatable and all your gaps are covered. Why would I not want to hit my 4 iron 205 instead of 200? While I have never experienced any fliers from a good lie with my P790’s, they can occasionally be a few yards longer, because with a 5* interval between irons they cover a larger gap than I would ideally prefer. My hope is going back to 4* gaps I will experience more precise yardages and gapping from my T100-S. (bottom left) … And lastly, these are not GI’s or posses any magic that can correct a bad swing. Unlike many GI and certainly SGI irons, you will definitely know if you hit one thin losing distance and your fingers stinging similar to a MB. But the T100 series is the most played iron on the PGA Tour for a reason, and that tells me they can be extremely accurate and repeatable for guys who make their living knowing exactly how far they hit every iron. And make no mistake, the vast majority of players on all tours, PGA /LPGA/Champions want all the forgiveness they can get when it comes with accuraccy, for both direction and distance. So all I am looking for is an iron that: 1. Feels great 2. Looks ideal at address 3. Allows me to be laser accurate with my good swings 4. Gives me a little forgiveness with my bad swings 5. Produces a few more yards … If there are any specific questions about the T100-S irons or Kuro Kage shaft you would like answered, or something you are just curious about, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer as I play and become more familiar with their capabilities. I have not requested to be considered for irons and a MGS review until the T100-S so they clearly have an opportunity to not only make it into my bag, but became my primary irons. I look forward to sharing my progress with all of you. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stage 2 To quote The Grateful Dead when it comes to finding the perfect irons “What a long strange trip it’s been”. I loved my P790’s until a winter in Phoenix where hard fast desert greens demanded more spin to hold approach shots. So I picked up a set of P760’s hoping they would be a suitable replacement and I ended up liking them even better. So I was not in the market for new irons but like most of us, my trips down the aisle of any golf store always included a peek at new irons. But the only irons that drew me in like the Sirens in Oh Brother Where Art Thou were the Titleist T100. (I promise that was the last song reference). So when Titleist offered the T100-S irons to My Golf Spy members for testing, I was aaaall in. Looks While I love the shape and size of my P760’s, their too thick for a players iron top line was always a distraction for me. I think the transition from short iron to mid iron is crucial and Titleist really nailed it with the T100-S irons. The short irons and the mid/long irons need a solid transition with the 8 iron, and the T100-S do exactly that with an iron shape that isn’t a short iron or isn’t a mid iron, but a little of both. The size and shape of the heads as well as the beautiful thin top line look like I had a say in their design. An irons hosel transition should be something we don’t even need to talk about because it should blend seamlessly into the head and never even be noticed. The T100-S get it just right and the offset is also perfect. Just enough without too much, again harder to accomplish than many think. My only complaint, and I am really nit picking now, is the short irons have a slightly higher heel than I prefer. I appreciate a subtle yet technically advanced cavity as much as the next player. The T100-S are subtle enough to appeal to a more traditional player like myself, but have enough visual tech to appeal to younger players that have grown up in the bling era. The no upcharge Kuro Kage Tini 105 gm graphite shafts are an excellent match for the T100-S. I read where a golf psychologist said a two tone shaft creates an illusion that the shaft is shorter and therefore seems easier to hit. I think she was on to something. The light silver top of the Kuro Kage shafts extend for about 40% of the length and then transition into dark silver that looks like steel. I really love the look but of course Titleist offers quite a few no uncharge steel shafts as well. Score 9 Sound & Feel Titleist forgings have a crisper sound/feel compared to some other OEM forgings and it is one of their trademarks. I appreciate that feel, but when you flush them absolutely dead center they feel like absolutely nothing at all. Hogan once said he hit one, maybe two perfect shots in 18 holes of play, and the T100-S let you know exactly when you accomplish that feat. Slightly off and you get that really nice, crisp Titleist feel that lets you know you hit it really well, just not perfectly. The one area the T100-S can feel and sound pretty bad is high on the face, something that has happened to me when my ball is in deep rough above or below my feet and I am not quite sure where the ground is. Score 9 Practice Performance After 2 back surgeries I can play golf almost every day as long as I walk and keep moving. I have not been to the range in about 20 years because standing in one spot and swinging over and over again would take a toll on my back. But I like to play practice rounds late in the day. I can hit several different shots from the tee and fairway and actually find it more beneficial than hitting range balls. I don’t think I am over stating the capabilities of the T100-S irons by saying they can do anything you have the skill to execute. High-low, left-right, draw-fade. But very quickly I learned they don’t mask bad shots. There is a reason the T-100 series went into Tour players bags faster than any other iron Titleist has produced. They are very precise irons. With my P760’s and even more so my P790s, hitting 3/4 shots tended to fly a little farther or shorter than I would like. A slightly faster swing might produce a few extra yards. Certainly not the 20yd “fliers” some claim but when facing a 110 yd 3/4 pw to a pin in the back of the green an extra 4 yards can mean the difference between par and birdie. Score – 18 On-Course Performance After a few weeks of getting to know my T100-S irons, I played 5 rounds in a row under par, something I have never done before. That took “potential” out of the equation and I was able to shoot my age for the very first time. I was comfortable hitting these irons very quickly, sooner than any irons I have played and the number of iron sets is probably close to 50. That said, they are a completely different iron for me when it comes to loft and I am still trying to calibrate their distance in all conditions. We have had the windiest spring/summer I can remember in the Chicago suburbs so playing a “stock iron” shot has been pretty rare. The pitching wedge is 44* and I have never played a pw with a loft that strong. But my set also includes a 48* “wedge” that just has a 48 on the sole. The pitching wedge has a P and then 44 underneath. Printing 44 on the sole is one of the few errors Titleist made with these irons as a simple P would be much cleaner. After playing a 46* pw and a 52* sw for years I was used to manipulating swings to cover that 6* gap. It did not take me long to appreciate hitting shots with my wedges and the 4* gap with my 48* meant less swing calculations. I use it much more than my old 46* or my 52* sw and has become a go-to scoring club for me. The surprisingly forgiving 4 iron is one my favorite irons to hit. And while I am on the subject of forgiving, the high density tungsten in the heel and toe of the 7-4 irons make the T100-S pretty darned forgiving of shots hit a little on the toe side, which is my typical miss. Thin shots suffer more than heel/toe misses and as I said earlier, shots hit high on the face are pretty penal. The T100-S is not a Game Improvement iron so they do not mask mistakes. On my good ball striking days I still miss the center a little and the T100-S really shine when near the center, rewarding a slight mishit with a shot similar to a perfectly struck shot, just without that melt into the face feel. So I guess what I am trying to say is the misses with good contact are pretty good, while bigger misses would be better served with something more forgiving like the T200. I usually take a very shallow divot or just brush the turf after contact. But when I have taken a healthy divot the T100-S are excellent slicing through the ground, carving out a uniform and easily replaceable divot. This means a sharper leading edge that will not be much help with shots hit a little fat, although that kind of help is probably not an issue for most players contemplating T100-S irons. Now, the negative. I still am not quite sure how far I hit all of them because the lofts are so different than what I have normally played and I just have not had an opportunity to play them on many windless 70-90* days, so stock irons shots have been rare. And as much as I love the 48 and the 4 iron, I have had to remove a club from my bag to make room for both of them. I like to play a 3 wood, hybrid and a Driving Iron. The hybrid I use from the rough or when I need max carry and the DI I use from the tee or a 2nd shot into the wind. So I have to decide by course type/weather forecast if I want the hybrid or DI in my bag on any given day. Score - 28 Miscellaneous I have had more questions from players I have been paired up with than any other irons I have played, several playing earlier versions like AP2’s and AP1’s, along with a few questions about the Kuro Kage shafts. The one thing that is a constant is “Those just look soooo good” kinda comment. I almost had my first HIO with my T100-S. Score 9 Play it or Trade it The P760 mid and long irons are a bit longer than the T100-S for me and that is the only reason I hesitate to call the T100-S clear winners. I will do some head to head testing this fall. But for now the T100-S irons will stay in my bag. As I stated earlier, I was not looking at any irons other than the T100 series and if you put my feet to the fire I just might have preferred the T100 with weaker lofts so I could keep both my hybrid and DI in the bag. Yet I love the addition of a 4th wedge and it has improved my short iron play. Admittedly I am being a little greedy. Points – 18 Conclusion The T100-S irons are exactly what you think they are. Stronger lofted Players Irons that are an absolute joy to play but do not travel silly distances or cover up egregious miss hits. I think they provide the kind of look and performance you expect from a MB, with the added forgiveness you want in a Players Iron. With their thin top line and slightly smaller profile, they are perfect for MB players looking for something a little more forgiving. They can execute any shot you have the skill to play and enough forgiveness to help when you miss them a little. If you are a marginal ball striker, the T100-S are probably not for you. But the better player that hits the center and has command of trajectory and partial shots will absolutely love these irons. Considering new Forged Irons are selling for $1200-1400 it is difficult for me to say if the T100-S are worth the cost. But if you’re in the market for a Players Distance Iron or would like to transition from MB’s while keeping the look at address, I think the T100-S should be at the very top of your demo list. 5 rounds in a row under par is a record for me so there is no doubt they have improved my scores and I can certainly see why so many Pro’s have put the T100 series in their bags. Thanks again to Titleist and My Golf Spy as well as all of you that have followed this thread! Final Score – 91

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.

Well for roughly 45 years, I've played this game, and heard lots of Hole In One stories, and have only witnessed 1 in all those years. Today, I witnessed a second one....that came from MY CLUB!! That's right my first ever Hole In One in our Thursday Morning League. Here's the specs: 145 yards back pin PING G410 6 hybrid (it was into the wind ) ProV1X #12 CG2 stamped Looked good the entire way landed just over the ridge and fed toward the flag, the actual hole is hidden due to the ridge, but when we got up there and I didn't see it on the green, I thought..."oh man it ran off the back!!) didn't see it anywhere in the fringe as i was walking to the green, so I took the obligatory look in the hole and there it was. I honestly don't remember what I said or did, but one of my playing partners said, he wishes he had a camera for the expression on my face! Pretty much shock and I didn't believe it. In the picture you'll see a Closest to the pin marker on the hole, it was a good shot in of itself about 10 feet to the right of the pin, I'm sure someone will be upset. So oh yeah, I mentioned two achievements. So that was just one very good hole of a very good round. I shot 39/43 for a personal best 82. Funny thing, the hole in one was not on the nine with the 39. Sadly that 43 was a result of two holes not being able to concentrate after the HIO, Taking a triple and double in 2 of the next three holes.

For those of you who have been active members here the past couple years, I'm sure you've come to know our Staff/Moderation team of Myself and @STUDque as Co Directors mainly tasked with keeping things running, and hopefully we have done that. @StrokerAce and @GolfSpy MPR came on board two years ago and have been a tremendous asset in doing so many things behind the scenes you can't imagine. From sorting through sometimes 3,000 Testing Applications to answering countless angry emails ranging from the US only requirements to "Why didn't I get picked" types. As a wise man meaning @GolfSpy Barbajo once told me, Forum Moderators are not designed to be forever jobs. They are generally something we do that allows us to combine our hobby with work and maybe have some fun times along the way, and sooner or later we move on. That said, there will be some changes of the staff going into 2021. I think a big Thank You and show of appreciation for Enrique and Jason are in order for their time served on staff here. They have both been instrumental in so many parts of the forum. I truly have enjoyed working along side them. And I hope they both stay involved in the forum. Michael and I will be remaining on staff and there will be an addition announced at some point soon, I'm sure. I look forward to making 2021 on the Forum another great year of interacting with everyone and continuing to make it the best Golf Forum in the business!

Background After I took a few months off of MGS due to some work and life things that needed my attention, I finally got some time to log back on and post a long overdue review. After posting, I found myself curious as to how I was selected and the likelihood of being selected again, especially since my product was so niche and did not receive many interactions. So I took the challenge upon myself to do a not so scientific study of how reviewers are selected and compare it to the post (https://forum.mygolfspy.com/faq/testing/how-are-equipment-testers-chosen-r11/) by the Mods on how testers are selected. While there are no bombshells, I think we Spys understand the value of data in telling our story. So, I did my best at pulling all data from the past 18 months of reviews Methods First off, I am no data scientist. From DJ to Bryson, I’m somewhere in the middle. I mainly do very basic data analysis in my role through excel. I know, I know, SQL is much more efficient and I’ll get around to learning it. For this study, I focused on 18 months of product reviews. I chose this timeframe to get some data points outside of the pandemic. I started going through the review pages and noticed it was not as organized as I thought, so I chose to do only 18 months of reviews that were already on the “Past Opportunities” page in the dropdown menu. Like I said, I believe that there may have been a few more reviews that have not been archived to this page, but I don’t think it was significant. I then did the manual labor of data entry and collection. I clicked on each individual “TESTERS ANNOUNCED” within the time frame, recorded the following data points - date of review published - product - rough product MSRP - MGS username - If the User has a Donor badge on their profile - Content count - Total reputation - Month and year MGS account was created - City and State Once all of this information was input into the spreadsheet, I then added a note if they had multiple reviews and I also created an additional metric to measure the quality of the posts. All analysis comes from these data points. Limitations Overall, the main limitation is that this dataset was manually curated, so there could be a mistake, but any mistake would be minor. I have checked that there is not an additional 0 added somewhere but there could be +/- 5 units off when it comes to reputation due to fat fingers on a keyboard. Additionally, the MSRP was calculated off a quick Google search. I get that there could be sales, or the price was actually $25 higher at the time of testing. Finally, the content created, and total reputation numbers are not accurate to the time the member was selected. There is no way for me to go back and see this information, but I proceeded with collecting this because for the most part, I believe that most people’s posts grow linearly. So, the quality of posts metric should not be too far off. I will address that in bigger reviews (Cobraconnect), this ratio can get skewed. Enough with the small talk, let’s take a look at the data. Data: Let’s take a look at the data! By the numbers- - 48 total products - 202 unique testers - ~$119,625 total costs of products tested As I said in the introduction, I will be using the MGS selection criteria as a framework of analysis. Picture – I did not go through and collect this data. This is also the easiest of all of them. Put something up there! I’ve seen pictures of the people (I assume), cartoons, their children, memes, etc. Just put something up. (Inclusive, but probably true) Prove review chops - 71 (35%) of people had more than 1 review. If you get chosen, even for the smallest thing, a pushcart distance tracker, a dozen balls, etc. take it seriously and write a good review. This means good pictures, concise statements that clearly articulate your opinion on a product, timely submissions, and good follow ups. A good first review will go a long way to getting your second review and the data clearly backs this up. Additionally, one anecdotal note, it was very common for there to be a progression of items to review, starting with a smaller item and then growing to more expensive items. (True) Start posting – Please remember that this category is not perfect because I was not able to pull the post and reputation numbers at the time the testers were selected. I am assuming that people post at a linear rate. I looked at three areas for this section. Number of posts, Total reputation, and third metric that I created, Quality of post score. I wanted to look at how many interactions per post the reviewer gets. This metric speaks to higher quality of posts for the forum. Total number of posts Total reputation Quality of Post Score* Range 5 - 14,307 3 - 26,497 0.09 - 5.8 Mean 1,412 2866 1.92 Median 513 824 1.85 Because of such a large range with bunching happening at the higher end of each category, I would suggest forum members look at the Median. The best chance for you to be chosen is to have over 500 posts with over 800 total reputation which comes out to 1.85 interactions per post. Like I said earlier, there were a number of members chosen with less than this number but most under 500 posts were in the 100-200 range. I think the biggest takeaway, is to post frequently and create posts that others want to engage in. I think an average user can get to 200+ posts in 2-3 months. There might be an issue that leads to inequity when it comes to being chosen. As I started reviewing some of the posts and interactions, if you are chosen for a more high-profile test, your posts and interactions will increase at a higher rate than other members. This easily leads to a boost in your profile making it easier to be selected. I don’t think there is a way around smoothing out this distinct increase, but it is something that I hope mods take notice of. (True) Become an MGS Donor This category comes with major limitations. The only public piece of data that I was able to collect was if the member included the MGS Donor badge in their profile. From this information I found 59.9% of testers had a donor badge in their profile. I suspect that this number may be closer to 70-80% but these members have not reached out to get the donor badge added. (Inconclusive but probably true) Overall, MGS is clear about how testers are selected. For the most part their criteria is clear and the data shows that they follow the criteria for selection. Common misconceptions I wanted to add a section that debunked some of the common misconceptions that I had when I first joined the forum. - I have to be a member for a long time before I get anything (FALSE) o Over the past 18 months, members who were selected had profiles created from March 2010 – November 2020. 42 testers (21%) joined in 2020. If you’re new and are contributing to the forum, you have a decent chance of being selected. - Once I get one review, I won’t ever get another (FALSE) o 71 (35%) members had more than 1 review in 18 months. I suspect if I go back even further, they had other reviews too. As I said in the above section, if you get chosen and do a good review, you actually put yourself at an advantage to be selected again. o No reviewer had more than 3 reviews in the past 18 months. It appears that this is the limit, it looks to be extremely rare for a member to have more than 1 review every 6 months. - I have to be good at golf to be selected for a review (FALSE) o This idea is very much false, MGS wants members of all skill levels to be involved in testing. In order to prove this, I pulled the handicaps listed on members’ profiles. This is a limitation because it is member provided information that is most likely not updated regularly. Regardless, here is what I found. Range – (33 - +5) Mean – 10.09 Median – 9.2 o If anything, having an accurate handicap is beneficial to being selected because, it appears that MGS wants to have a broad range of testers for each product, specifically balls and clubs. Conclusion For the most part, MGS sticks to what they say when it comes to choosing testers but it appears that there is some non-measurables that they use when it comes to selecting first time testers. It does not appear that there is a formula or that it is completely random. There seems to be a human element which makes it hard to say exactly why specific members were chosen over others from the outside looking in. Shoutout to @Brian A, @jlukes, @B.Boston, @txgolfjunkie, @gavinski91, @Mtbryant01, @daviddvm for having been selected to review over $3,000 worth of equipment! These individuals were ones who had been selected for this year or last year's Cobraconnect challenge. So each of them had at least one product review in addition to cobra connect in the past 18 months. TL;DR - Overall, post quality content frequently, if you are given a chance to test an item, take it seriously, and keep posting. If you’re new and you stay involved, your time will come. Okay, I’m tired. Let me know you’re thoughts!

... MGS Ball Testing says Titleist ProV1 sets the standard for quality and performance and I doubt anyone can find any fault with that claim. After playing about 10 rounds with Maxfli Tour balls, I put some ProV1's into play for 5 rounds then went back to Maxfli Tours for another 10. At my level of play, I just can't tell much difference if any at all. The Maxfli Tour is just so good at everything and the only difference I might have seen is the ProV1 is just a little more durable. I bought 2 dozen Maxfli Tours for $60 after MGS gave them such high marks and then went back and took advantage of the 4 dozen for $104 deal. That's 4 dozen Maxfli Tour for the cost of 2 dozen ProV1's so for non tour players that don't get balls for free, if you play 5 times a week and even once a week that is a substantial savings for balls that I can honestly not tell apart. ... I also always use the CG alignment on the tee and on the greens but do not "line up putts", I just make sure it is pretty much in the direction I am hitting/putting. I really can't say if it makes any difference but if Maxfli went through the trouble to find the CG, I figure why not use it. At the moment I think it is the best ball deal going.

Hello all! As a mod team we wanted to provide an update to a few changes coming down the pipeline in terms of site navigation and organization. Over the coming week or two we will be making some title changes to several of the main categories and merging several other categories. For example Boomsticks will become Drivers, Shiny Metal will become Irons and an overall simpler naming/navigation of the forum will be provided for all. We will not simply just do these changes overnight and will notify everyone of the date a few days in advance. These changes are aimed at making the site more user friendly for all who come to the forum or who have never been on a golfing forum before. Most of us use Recent Content or Unread Content for our day to day use, however a new user often has to navigate through the main page which can be a little intimidating. Another example of a change will be merging in a few redundant categories such as General Q & A, General Talk and The 19th whole as they all work to achieve similar discussion. Important to note that during this process threads WILL NOT BE LOST. They will simply be moved over. As of right now as a mod team we are working on finalizing our structure and have requested that testing be crossplaced so it will show up in both testing and Driver section for example. Testing section will remain as is until the offseason where we will then discuss how to move forward with that. Content Corner: This section will be brought back and available for all with a few new highlights - One being "The Daily" this will be 4 or 5 threads that are popular to check in and post in daily. Think How Did You Play Today? and What Equipment Have You Tested? type threads. We will also include Breaking News/Viral Golf Content where the popular goings on of the day can be posted. Finally Articles of Interest, simple really as if there are popular articles/stories or articles/stores that stand out to you in the golfing world simply post there for membership to easily find. All the content in the above section will still show up in your recent/unread content. Of course if you have questions reachout via PM and we can discuss further. Cheers, Mod Team

Testers Announced (4) When the pandemic hit last year, lots of things changed in golf. Courses were closed for a while, then they reopened with restrictions. One of those restrictions involved cart use. Either courses prohibited two people--not from the same household--from sharing a golf cart, or people just felt more comfortable not sitting a foot from a total stranger for the better part of four to five hours. So many golfers took to foot, as in walking for their rounds. The result created a demand like never seen before in push carts, with many companies selling out of them by May. Another area that had huge success was the electric push carts segment. After all, given the choice would you rather: A: Carry a 25-pound bag for all five miles B: Push that 25-pound bag for all five miles C: Just, you know, walk for all five miles Ask about anyone, and nearly all reasonably non-maniacal types would pick C. That's where MOTOCADDY and it's M5 & M7 series comes in. According to staff writer, John Barba, "using the remote-control Motocaddy M7 is like having R2D2 as your caddie." But we want to know what our readers think. We are looking for current walkers/push cart users, who are open to trying an electric push cart. We are looking for both men and women testers, that reside in the US. We want you to test/review and keep the MOTOCADDY and let our membership know what you think. Testers These 4 Members Will be Testing the MotoCaddy Congrats! @ole gray @Tpoole22 @golfish! @BIG STU

When it comes to PING many things come to mind, quality, engineering, performance and irons are among the first things most people will think of. And with the release earlier this year of the G410 irons, PING has hit on each one of those characteristics. Following the huge success of the G400 irons, PING has hit a home run with the striking black and red colors of this iron, as well as a being a bit more streamlined in all the right places. PING has achieved the rare feat of providing an iron that has a profile appealing to even the most discerning of golfers, but yet still offering the forgiveness and help that higher handicaps look for. We are looking for three forum members to join staff member Golfspy_Stroker in testing, reviewing and keeping a set of these G410's built to their custom specs. Testing will require a nearly two month commitment of putting the irons in play on the course, at the range and providing ongoing commentary in the forum thorough out the process. As an extra bonus to the irons, the selected testers will have the option to choose Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips equipped with Arccos. The clubs will come with a 99 day free trial to arccos. After that the tester would be responsible for paying for the subscription in order to continue it. It will be a great way to add data to your review. PING has opened this testing to all golfers regardless of country of residence. All you have to do to be eligible for the testing is follow the below instructions. In a post in this thread please provide the following information...AND DO NOT QUOTE this post when replying! First Name/State or Country of residence Handicap Current irons in Play The carry distance of the your 7 iron That's it. Good luck to everybody We'll be selecting the testers within the next 10 to 14 days, so check back to see if you've been selected! =========================================================================================== YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE.... Please join me in congratulating these members selected from a very large and diverse applicant pool: @ballplayer002003 @GregB135 @Rickp Official announcement here: https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/33112-testers-wanted-3-ping-g410-irons/?do=findComment&comment=571106

Testers Wanted (4) Ping G710 Irons Nothing like getting the official start of the MyGolfSpy Forum testing season off to a grand start with a set of irons that follow one of the most successful irons in the recent history of PING. When launched in the spring of 2018 the G700 irons caught golfers by surprise. They were different in almost every way from any iron PING had produced. And they performed, boy did they perform. Now, as is typical for PING, two years later they've launched the new version: the G710 irons. The most noticeable visual difference is the stunning stealth black finish. But PING wouldn't be PING if there weren't several technical improvements. Chief among those is sound and feel. But don't take our word for it—that's where you come in. Four MyGolfSpy Testers will be selected to test, review, and keep the G710 irons. Testing will require a commitment of putting the irons in play on the course and at the range and providing ongoing commentary in the forum throughout the process. How To Apply As an extra bonus the selected testers will have the option to choose Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips equipped with Arccos. The clubs will come with a 99 day free trial to Arccos. After that the tester will be responsible for paying for the subscription in order to continue it. It will be a great way to add data to your review. PING has opened this testing to all golfers regardless of country of residence. To apply to be a tester follow the instructions below. In a post in this thread please provide the following information...AND DO NOT QUOTE this post when replying! First Name / State or Country of residence Handicap Current irons in Play The carry distance of your 7 iron That's it. Good luck to everyone. We'll be selecting the testers within the next 10 to 14 days, so check back to see if you've been selected!

It is Thursday and we have an exciting announcement with a little twist. I want to introduce our new mods, yes plural. We have been fortunate enough to have been given approval for 2 new mods to our team as we go through a slight restructure. No worries, nobody is leaving how with some time commitments and such taking up time in various areas we were able to bring on two new mods. Please welcome @Golfspy_Lukes (former jlukes) and @Golfspy_TCB (former tiftaaft)! We are really excited to have both Joe and Tim join our team and work with us and the forum moving forward. Both have been stellar members and I feel will bring a lot to this community. @Golfspy_Lukes has been a member for a long time and most all of you know him well. He has a wealth of knowledge about the game that suprasses many. He brings a great background in equipment and fitting and is one of the most recognizable names on our forum for many years. We look forward to his experience and expertise and what he can bring moving forward! @golfspy_TCB has been a member for a little over a year and has made great contributions to the forum in that time. He has taken part in the Nippon test where he is now a bit of a shaft expert and has truly provided this community with quality content that is worth reading by all. As with Joe we really look forward to having Tim join the team with his drive and commitment to making the forum a better place for all! Finally I want to thank all who applied. To put it simply we had so many good candidates and it was near impossible to pick. It just goes to show how great this community is and the amazing members we have here, along with the varying skillsets and backgrounds is really cool. I enjoyed getting to know many of you a little better throughout the process and look forward to everyones participation in various areas on the forum! With that welcome to the Mod Team Joe and Tim!

Ping G410 Plus Driver - Stage 1 Review - jlukes Well it has been almost 2 whole years since I participated in official MGS forum testing and I have to admit, it feels great to be back in the fold! I have previously tested the Sun Mountain 3.5LS Stand Bag (which I still use), Evnroll ER2 putter (which I am taking to my grave with me), and Mizuno JPX 900 Tour irons (the only reason I am not still gaming these is that through fitness and lessons I increased my swing speed to the point where I needed to change shafts). What you should notice is that I do not apply to test everything and anything, and when I do apply to test something, it is a product that I am sincerely interested in doing a thorough long-term review for. I am going to use some of the background from previous forum reviews because a lot of that information hasn’t changed! My name is Joe and I am from Central NJ. I have been playing golf for about 23 years (since I was 12) and I am about a 4.1 handicap at the moment. I started hitting balls when I was much younger - my grandfather cut down an old 9 iron and 5 wood and gave them to me so I could hit balls in my backyard. I remember my first 9 holes being when I was about 11 years old - I shot 63 with my dad. I started playing in County tournaments when I was about 13 years old and played varsity golf in High School. My first job when I was at the local driving range/mini golf, and all through High School I worked at golf course taking care of the carts, running bags, and eventually became the starter. I have always enjoyed being around the game of golf in any capacity and I have found that it is truly a game for life. My son is just over 2 and he is already addicted to the game. I hope that he continues to see what a fun game this is and it becomes something we can bond over for years to come. When it comes to my golf game, I would say I have quite a few strengths. I am a long hitter (Carry my driver > 270 yards), I have an okay wedge game, and I am a good putter. Time is my enemy when it comes to golf; not being able to practice and play as much as I’d like (more than once a week or so) prevents me from being consistent. I have rounds where I am pounding it off the tee, but I can’t hit a GIR, and then I have rounds where I am a little wonky off the tee, but my short game saves me. Everything finally came together for me in November 2016 when I shot a personal best of -1 71, beating my previous best of +2 74. I am the type of golfer that can be extremely competitive, but I also love fun, no-pressure rounds with my buddies. A lot of the guys I golf with are not as good as me, but I do not care in the least. I enjoy playing with all skill levels and I have no problem giving advice and helping someone with their game if asked (and only if asked). I enjoy walking the course as much as possible and nothing frustrates me more than long rounds. I see no reason why an average round should take over 4 hours, no matter what the golfers’ skill levels are. If you want to know a bit more about my swing, I have a swing overhaul thread I have been chronicling here: It has been an interesting spring as I work to keep the momentum up from my winter lesson programs and I will update that thread with updates on my swing changes as the season goes on. But for the sake of this review, you should know that my driver swing speed is around 113-116 MPH and I play a bit of a draw. I have an upwards angle of attack and my miss is primarily a hook. Here is a video of my driver swing from the end of February For me, driver is my weapon. I play aggressive off the tee because if there is anything that modern analytics and “strokes gained” has taught us, it is that distance is king and that taking advantage of my ability to hit it long is key to me scoring low. I pull driver every opportunity I have. I am no more accurate with my fairway wood or hybrid, so there is no reason for me to sacrifice distance by laying up off the tee unless a hole absolutely calls for a lay up. I try to get on or close to all Par 5s in two, and I try to get myself as close as possible on all Par 4s so that I can be hitting a wedge into the green if the yardage dictates. I wasn’t always a great driver of the ball. I used to have quite a negative attack angle which resulted in low launch and high spin. No amount of head and shaft changes (much to my dismay) could correct a bad attack angle, so in 2014 I went through a swing change and learned to hit up on my driver. Once I got a positive angle of attack locked in, I noticed I gained 15+ yards of carry on my drives! I have been through quite a few drivers since high school - some were great, others were mistakes (due to lack of knowledge about fitting and purchasing on a whim) TaylorMade 320 TaylorMade r5 TaylorMade r11 TaylorMade RBZ Tour Cobra Amp Cell Callaway Big Bertha Alpha (fitted) Cobra Bio Cell+ Srixon 545 TaylorMade M1 (fitted) TaylorMade M2 (2017) (fitted) Cobra F8+ (fitted) Titleist TS2 (fitted) When the Ping 410 Plus testing was unveiled, I knew it was a testing that I wanted to put my name in the hat for. Ping received such outstanding reviews on their G400 line and I knew that that the G410 had to be something special in order to follow the G400. With that being said, I have never gamed a Ping club before. I do have a few old Ping putters, but I never really even given an extensive look to Ping Metalwoods and Irons. Thankfully, I was selected for this great testing opportunity and I get to see what Ping is all about! There are a number of selling points/claims that I will be keeping an eye on throughout testing: Turbulators - do they really increase swing speed? Adjustability - Well the G410 Plus is the most adjustable driver Ping has ever made. Does the weight track (3 fixed positions) actually work? Hosel Adjustment - The G410 Plus features a brand new adjustable hosel from Ping, one that now includes “flat” settings. Do they make a difference? I will put these three elements, as well as the general performance of the G410 Plus to the test over the coming months with the hope of providing the best information for the MGS forum. At the time of being selected for this review, I was gaming a Titleist TS2 driver that I was fit for at Club Champion. I truly believe that fitting is necessary to maximize what a golf club can do for a player. I chose the TS2 during my fitting because it provided me with the best combination of distance and accuracy. The Cobra F9 and Epic Flash SZ were longer, but I had trouble with both distance and lateral dispersions. When I was selected for G410+ testing, I immediately went to my local range, who happens to be a Top 100 Ping fitter, and got a basic fitting for the G410+. Unlike other OEMs, Ping does not offer a wide selection of no-upcharge shaft options. The only two shaft options that were really even under consideration for me were the Evenflow Black and the Ping Tour. However, I know from past fittings that I do not get along with the Evenflow series, so it came down to the Ping Tour. We set up the G410+ in a 9-degree head a Ping Tour 65X shaft and it was clear right away that it was the combination I would submit to Ping for testing. I asked Ping that it play 45" at a D3 swing weight. After I received my club I tested the swing weight and length at a shop and wasn't surprised to see Ping delivered on the nose. During the testing period I will be testing the G410 on the range, on the course, and on launch monitors. While I will be touching on how the club fits me, I will try to remain focused on validating the performance claims from Ping to see if the G410 stacks up with the rest of the drivers on the market. I want my review to be as interactive as possible, so please ask me as many questions on this testing thread and I will attempt to address them all. You won’t have to wait for my Stage 2 to head how things are going. All testers will be actively participating in the thread to provide updates as we go - so we can continue the conversation from day to day. So I mentioned that the TS2 was my gamer going into this testing, but if you are a regular on the forum, you would have noticed that as of this Stage 1 (April 3rd), I have sold my TS2. Without divulging too much right now, my 3 range sessions and 2 rounds were enough for me to know that the G410 Plus was going to be better for me going forward. Furthermore, I believe a good testing write-up should be about the individual club in the test and not about a club going head to head with another club. So does the Ping G410 Plus carry the torch that was lit by the G400 series? Early results are positive and I look forward to sharing the rest of my thoughts with the MGS community as the testing progresses.

We're in the midst of a pretty good run here on the MyGolfSpy Forum. We've doubled in size in less than 4 years, and now stand at nearly 76,000 members as we march toward our goal of 100,000. Sure, the place has changed a bit since many of us old-timers joined up, but as we've grown up we've done our best to make sure the Forum lives up to its promise of being an open, welcoming and diverse collection of people who share the same passion for all things golf. Our founding traditions include respectful behavior, open welcomes to new members and lively, fun exchanges among real golfers - not the internet sensations who always hit it 320 down the middle. Do we slip up from time to time? Absolutely, but you guys are remarkable at self-policing. With that, I'd like to extend a personal thanks to GolfSpy Meyer, or as he will once again be known as - hckeymeyer. Brian has served as your forum director and moderator for the last year or so and, as happens in this position, will be transferring back to the role of valued Forum Member. Rob and Enrique will be assuming the roles of Forum Co-Directors and will eventually be looking to add another moderator to the staff roster. Forum Director is such a transitory position - I've done it, Brian, Bones, Mr. Theoo and others. We get to do it for a while and then we transition back into the real world of day jobs, family needs, etc. I know I speak for Brian when I say it's a fun ride, and you guys are the ones that make it that way. Anyway, cheers and thank you to Brian, and best wishes to Rob and Enrique as they take over the ship. Just remember Barbajo's first rule of management: I don't care what you do, just don't f**k it up....

There are a few threads detailing individuals paths to getting better. Some want to break into the 80s, some want to be single digit, some are trying to achieve scratch golf, I am trying to get to the low single digits. I thought it might be a good idea to report on my progress and what I am doing to play better golf; hopefully someone finds it interesting; if not it will just be my own blog that I can use as a reference. About me: I have been playing golf on and off since I was in my early teens but stopped and started many times since then. Finally started to play regularly in the 90s which happened to be roughly where I was scoring. Took a bunch of lessons and worked my handicap down to a 4 in roughly the 05-10 timeframe and shot a personal best 70 and have about a dozen rounds of 71/72. Over the last 5/6 years my game has been going the wrong direction and scores that were typically mid 70s are now low to mid 80s. My short game was a big mess and after a lesson last year it has started to get better but still needs some improvement. I play with a regular group weekly and play in my companies golf league. My recent golf league results are what really set this journey forward. We play 9 holes in league play and my last three rounds have been +15, +14 and +9 and I know I can play better golf. As a result, I reached out to my instructor and said I wanted to get better at the game. How I think: For those reading these posts, this is probably an important thing to understand. I really like to understand the details and learn as much as I can about a subject. I did this with putting; I found a coach that helped me understand how the putting stroke works and how my decisions impact the stroke. I learn the mechanics but move toward the feel side of the scale when actually playing. Now, my goal is to learn more about the golf swing and strategy to playing better Initial Goals: Get my scoring average to 75 Break 70 Improve course strategy Improve approach game (struggle with pull hooks, toe shots, and fat shots) Improve short game (still isn't where I want it to be) Improve distance wedges Improve iron distance control (in between distances) Initial assessment: I went for an initial swing assessment on the 20th. The assessment we did is based on Mike Adams swing dynamics. I learned about Mike Adams last year on an episode of the Golf Channels Swing Expedition with Chris Como. Essentially you go through a series of tests and based on the results of those tests it determines how you should swing. This assessment includes what your swing pivots around, grip (strong/weak, over, under, side), swing plane, stance width, etc. For the way I process things, it was ideal. Based on this assessment, I am a front post, side-on grip and release, launch.spin golfer. Once this was determined, we went through a series of drills to help work on ingraining the feels and to work on ground impact location. Early results: Since the assessment, I have played 2 rounds and done a couple of most wanted testing sessions. The approach seems to be working; I have been making more centered contact, less fat shots, and narrowed shot dispersion. It is interesting that my short game has shown significant improvement over the last two weeks as well. Last two rounds have been 79 and 80 and the swing changes seem to be a step in the right direction. Future plans: Obviously I will continue to work on the practice drills. Since iron testing is getting under way at MGS, I will be hitting lots of iron shots a couple of times a week. From a lesson perspective, it looks like I will be doing one in-person lesson a month and a couple of online lessons per month to answer questions, check on drills, and develop course strategy.

How's that for a click-bait tile? But it's true. My MGS Anniversary and story. Four years ago this week, I was browsing my Twitter timeline, when I saw a Tweet thread by MyGolfSpy and it got pretty heated. It wasn't your typical forged vs cast debate---shameless plug for this weeks NPG episode. It was deeper than that. While I can't recall exactly what everyone was so worked up about, they were definitely piling on MGS for a story or take it had put out. Like most times when we witness a car crash, we slow down to take a look...we know we shouldn't and we probably say we don't, but we all know we do. Anyway, I digress, I logged onto the site to see what all the fuss was about. As I said, I honestly don't recall the topic, but what I found was a very well written story with tons of inside information that I had not seen the likes of from the current forum I was on, even though it had contacts with all the companies as well, they had never written a true piece of journalism like this. So I was hooked, I read several past articles, and not once did I find anything that I thought was false, untrue or inflammatory as the twitter trolls were calling it. Again all I found were great articles, by Tony Covey, John Barba, Dave Wolfe and Chris Nickel And four years later, they are all still pumping out the best golf writing in the business. Then I found my way to the forum, and what I found really hit home. A very welcoming and friendly place. It seemed to be led by guys like @revkev @hckymeyer ( who was the Forum Director along with @GolfSpy Barbajo ) @fozcycle @Kenny B@Jmikecpa@chisag @jlukes @DawgDaddy and of course @BIG STU Each one of these members and the others set a tone, I had never seen on a discussion board before, and I was part of the two other big ones as well. It was a friendly, non confrontational tone. I felt welcomed and at home right from the start. In all honestly the forum wasn't near as big those four short years ago, and content was not as plentiful as it is now. True story, I told someone just this week, that I could log on and read all new posts and threads in less than 30 minutes or an hour. And that's not a testament to my speed reading skills...ha Over the next few months, I started noticing some names from the other forums coming on board, some I had interacted with for several years such as @ole gray @cnosil and @PMookie and a few I 'recruited" Going back to the lack of new threads. During those early months, I would often go back and find a thread from a year or several years ago and comment on it just to stoke new conversation. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't In a ironic twist, @GolfSpy STUDque who joined about a year later, kind of did the same thing, but in a more weekly time theme of for #ThowBackThursday, and had fun reading the responses to old threads that some didn't notice the original date on. I was fortunate that in December 2017, the site posted an opening for a couple Moderators. I applied like I'm sure many of you did. After a several stage application and virtual interview process, I and Studque got the email, to start picking out our @Golfspy_names I was stoked! Then just a year later came the opportunity to be Forum Director, again Studque and I both got to split the duties of running the forum. The opportunity to really have a direct hand in the things the forum does from Forum Testing. contests and other cool content is something we both enjoy and are appreciative of. We had to bring on a moderator to help us and we sorted through dozen and dozens of applications. It was impossible to choose just one, and we had a true half dozen finalist that all would have been great. But @GolfSpy Stroker and @GolfSpy MPR stood out and I can honestly say, the forum would't be doing nearly as well and have so many cool things going on without these two. Most of you have no idea the amount of time and effort they put in behind the scenes to keep things functioning and running well here. Thanks guys, I'm truly lucky to get to work with three talented and dedicated guys as you all are. So I promise this isn't a "phase 1" of a long drawn out post...ha It's already long enough. I'll just end by saying this place has been my internet home for the past four years, and I've enjoyed every single moment of it. In away everyone that contributes here whether it's 20 posts a year or 3,000 posts a year....looking at you @Shankster is like another family to me. And I truly appreciate you all!

DRUMROLL PLEASE..... Spies - we are very excited for this test. This will be our first test with Honma golf and this driver finished in the top 4 in the 2020 most wanted driver testing. Very happy to let everyone know that these 4 lucky members will be testing the Honma TR20. Testing the 440 model: @golfingbrock @DPattGolf Testing the 460 model: @Getoffmylawn @Judge Smails

One of the most anticipated irons of this year was Cobra's release of the 2022 Forged Tec line, which expanded to included the Forged Tec X model. Read about them Here in My Golf Spy's First Look piece. These irons are stunning looking and in the case of the Forged Tec X are packed with enough help for the player that handicaps from scratch to 20 can probably play them. Cobra is going to give one lucky Forum Member a chance to win a set of their choice, you will be able to choose between Forged Tec Forged Tec X Entering will require a little research and work on your end, but it's well worth it to get a chance to put these in your bag. To Enter you must be a registered member of the forum. Then complete ALL of the steps below: First Head to the Cobra website https://www.cobragolf.com/golf-clubs/irons Research both irons and select which set you'd like Build a set (using any no upcharge options) and take a screen shot and post it in this thread. Note for Lefty's-You can click on Custom Options if you want the X model to buld your set. When the winner is chosen, if he/she is LH we will submit the specs directly to Cobra to be build. So in short Lefy's should have the same choices as RH in the X model. Then answer the following questions in the same post that you put your bag. Explain why you chose the model you did and what you'd hope to get out of them performance wise List your first name/city state (US Only entries) What current irons you're playing Handicap Will you agree to patriciate in discussions on the forum about your experience with the irons after receiving them. Plese join us in Congratulating @Lacassem Thanks to all who spent the time to enter and we will have more of these coming soon!

EDIT: Please check above post for several updates that have been made which have addressed several of the comments and concerns raised later in this thread. Hello all, Over the last few weeks we have been receiving a variety of questions about the new forum testing feature and how it is working as well much more questions regarding its placement and so on. In this post I am going to do my best to guide/answer most of those questions to hopefully clear any confusion up that any member may have. I will also include some screenshots which will hopefully help with getting a good visual of where we are at and how to understand this change a little better. As always changes can be difficult and at times frustrating, however the end result of this change should provide great benefits to the site and assist in new members and guests to more easily able to find the product reviews and simplified ratings they want. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lets start with where reviews will be- All reviews will be housed in the testing opportunities section. However we will do our part in updating the titles to ensure everyone is aware of where each test stands and at what stage it is in. This will look like the following Stage 1- Testers Wanted: (item tbd) - This will be when the testing item is in the signup stage. There will be a banner up top notifying there is a test available for signup and the rest is pretty self explanatory. Stage 2- Sign Up Closed: (Item TBD) - We will change this within a day or so of when the sign up is closed to help prevent additional posts in the comments section saying pick me pick me! This will stay until we are ready to announce testers. Stage 3: Testers Announced: (Item TBD) - This we already have and is pretty self explanatory, but we will keep this title until we have heard back from all the selected testers and got the information we require. In general this will stay as is until our testers are ready to post their introduction post. Stage 4: Test In-Progress: (Item TBD) - Again this we have already started, but this will determine when a test is underway and will signal for all of us as members to ask our questions, get to know the testers and for the testers to have received their product and start putting it through its paces and given it the thorough review our membership so often provides. Stage 5: Official Review: (Item TBD) - This will be the final title for the test and will be changed once we have the official reviews from the testers. With all of this we will update the titles as frequently as possible and put them in the appropriate box so you can select them (apologies for those who don't use dark or night mode, but my eyes have a really hard time with a white screen so all screenshots are with nightmode and on computer. I can look to do mobile screenshots on request in a follow up post. The red box indicates the status (currently only open and closed options) will have added selections thus being able to only see open, in progress and so on. Here you are also able to search for specific reviews by product name, vendor or equipment type (ie drivers, putters and so on). I hope this makes sense to everyone and will assist in clearing any of the testing opportunities section confusion up. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Now the reviews themselves. As some of you may have seen already there are two tabs when you click on the review. One for review and one for comments. At the top when you look at the test you will see a few notable things- avatars of all testers, highlights of star ratings and the initial testing post. I have highlighted the follow, testers, and star ratings which I will come back to in a minute... Just below from that there will be your reviews and comments- If you want to see reviews simply stay on the tab and scroll down. You'll be able to see all reviews right here. This is essentially what the old "placeholder" post was and is where we will see introductions, important updates, unboxing and final reviews for all of our testers. (currently working on like system for reviews as well) The comments section acts as the rest of the thread would normally be and is where we ask you to post any and all questions to the testers and where some smaller updates may be. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Now to back to what I was going to talk about with the highlighted features above. Again before I dive into this I would suggest that if you have questions about why reviews are not showing up in the recent content tab that you check out @GolfSpy MPRthread on setting up a custom stream. This will help all of these tests to show up in your recent content so you don't miss a beat. There are also a few other ways to make sure you are able to keep up with the reviews. I have gone over one feature, but we have two other quick ways to make sure we don't miss any of the new content coming from the tests we want to follow, which most of us know and use already, but still worth mentioning for those who have not used or know about these features. One: Follow the thread! Simple easy and gives you notification on any new post or comment that comes up within the thread. I use this a LOT... it also means I have a good few notifications each morning, however it is without a doubt one of the easiest ways to ensure you are not missing anything you want to see even if you do not set up a new stream. Two: Follow a tester: Again one I use a lot as there are so many good members here and its nice to follow along with the content they post in. This is great because if there is a tester that is similar to you it will enable you to follow along specific to them and again not miss any relevant information within the test as well as any other threads they may post in. Example you follow me and you'll see a lot of Fantasy Golf content haha These are some easy ways to follow along and make sure you are able to keep up with the testing that is relevant to you and take part in the testing as you see fit. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Since this post has gone on just about long enough, again we as a Mod team are doing what we can to make this transition to the new system a little smoother and being a newer Mod team we are hard at work making sure tests are running on time and keeping everyone up to date as best as possible. With backorders and so on it has certainly been a tricky season, but we are excited for all the tests we have running as well as the tests that are coming! We hope that this helps clear some of the confusion up and will continue to work to streamline the testing section to make it easy and accessible for all. Thank you, Mod Team

Fingers sweaty. Butterflies in the stomach. Type type type type, click. Click type click. It's done. I've officially registered to play on the SoMD Amateur. Here we go over the top of this crazy roller coaster. Am I making too big of a deal about this? Definitely. But I'm going to do my best here to create some entertaining content for the rest of you. I play in a weekly league that gives a nice bit of drama but there's nothing like a stroke play event. The SoMD Amateur is the biggest of these events that comes to the local area. Last time I played was (I think) was 7 years ago. Every summer since, I've considered it and ultimately backed out for one reason or another. Between kids, jobs, the price, and realistic self-assessments, I just couldn't justify entry. This year, those things are balanced enough that I'M DOING IT! God, so nervous. Here's the deets: Location: Breton Bay Golf & Country Club - LINK Dates: 28-30 June Format: 54-hole Stroke Play, putt it all the way down play all the rules Divisions: Regular Flighted, plus Sr and Jr. Player Pool: 250-300 Golfers Last time I played, attrition got the best of me. I rarely play 2 days in a row, much less 3. I entered as a 15 and was placed in the 4th flight (championship + 5 total). Shooting 89, 92, 108 landed me in the middle of the pack of some 25-30 golfers in my flight. That year was also when I took the infamous 17 on a single hole READ HERE. This year, I'm entering as a 12 which may bump me into the 3rd or 2nd flight depending on entries. If I can shoot 3 rounds in the 80's and break 85 once, I'll be a happy camper. Leading up to the event, I'll add some posts for the practice plan, course management strategy, WITB, and whatever else comes up. Obviously, you won't get live streams during the rounds but I'll be sure to check in with some short recaps after each round and a overall wrap-up once it's done. For now, wish me luck

It's been a while since I have posted. On January 1. I became a retired Virginia Gentleman. My participation on this site was available through the use of my office computer that I no longer have daily access. Due to my computer illiteracy, without its use, one could say that I am "off the grid". Occasionally, such as today, I am asked to come in to assist in projects that I was involved. So I thought I would take this opportunity to say hi and to let you know how much I will miss my daily discussions with my MGS friends. The bad news is that I am "off the grid", the good news is that my retirement plans have been realized. Specifically, my desire to do something associated with golf during my retirement. I now work part time at a local Annapolis golf shop called Dukes Golf. To say that I enjoy the experience would be an understatement, the interactions with fellow golfers is better than I expected and I am learning a lot about golf equipment. The one thing I have come to know is how much I don't know.

2022 has come and gone and it was an interesting year for the forum. We had a lot going on and a lot of changes throughout the year. Not only did we have the pleasure of adding a few new mods to our team, but we also had a lot of new people join the forum. Before getting into the awards here are a few stats for everyone to know! This has turned more into a recap and thanks/recognition vs awards... we will work on award names for 2023. New Registrations on the forum - 4881 Members who had content reacted to - 2321 Members who reacted to content - 1144 New Topics - 3932 Number of Posts - 63,448 Images uploaded to the Gallery - 118 Community Markers - 178 Tests - 18 Test Comments - 3,467 (on the new now old platform) Total Reviews - 39 (again on the new now old platform) Total Reactions Given - 176,715! Most Searched Item: Sub70 @GolfSub70 Most Marker Reviews goes to @GolfSpy_BOS Most Posts in 2022 goes to @Kenny B Most Reacted to Content (non staff announcements) @chisag Maxfli Tour Post with 40+ Reactions! This was closely followed by @azstu324 Otto Phlex Thread which had over 30+ Reactions! Third was a thread that will live on forever in the 2018 Odyssey O Works Giveaway with 30 Reactions! Some other noteworthy threads that should be recognized are of course the LIV Thread. This thing racked up thousands (2543 and counting) of comments and I don't believe will ever stop. However we had some other notable content worth recognizing @inner_game_coach had a career low post which gathered a great amount of reactions here: Also in one of our last AMA Matt Blois made a great video for us: Not to be outdone @PMookie journey to Ping was also a significant topic which you can find in the link below Then there are several threads which may have not made reactions list, but have been community highlights. One being the MGS Virtual Tournaments being led by @Golfspy_TCB! If you haven't seen them you can find all the details below and join in the fun! https://forum.mygolfspy.com/forum/104-mgs-virtual-golf-tournaments/ Also as this is the off season we have had some great threads which have kept us going in the winter months for those of us who are not lucky enough to play all year. A headliner for this is @ejgaudette MGS Off-Season Speed Challenge thread! Now that much of that has been covered we get to some of the thread/pm acknowledgements! @Yellow Ball gets a shout out for providing much comedic relief... which is often needed! Thank you and we expect more of the same in 2023! Of course we can't just recognize just Yellow Ball, @The Hat Must also be recognized for being a sense of joy and laughs on the forum. Thank you and keep it going! A special shoutout to all who attended, organized and participated in the MGS Regional Outing! Lets hope this year is even bigger and better! @edingc and his Work In Progress deserves a shoutout as one of the best Game Improvement threads. There are so many others we can recognize and truly I could go on and on so I will tag a few others and I truly apologize if I miss a few. we have so many incredible members it is impossible to name everyone. @cnosil @DaveP043 @GregGarner @Getoffmylawn (new Fantasy Football winner) @EasyPutter @BIG STU @tommc23 @tony@CIC @MattF @Lacassem @MattWillGolf @Berg Ryman @sirchunksalot @Bang60 @Samsonite @THEZIPR23 @TylorJudd @fixyurdivot @cksurfdude @Rickp @JerryB @Tom the Golf Nut @revkev @GolfSpy Barbajo @Samsonite @blackngold_blood @RickyBobby_PR @RollingGreens @silver & black @Jnoble89 @Siamese Moose And so so so many more! I also want to shout out our mod team @GolfSpy_BOS, @Golfspy_CG2, @GolfSpy MPR, @Golfspy_TCB and @Golfspy_Lukes for all the work they have done this past year and so. This site wouldn't be the same without you all and the work you guys do is amazing! Again I am sorry if I missed your name and if I did you can send me a PM telling me so! Thank you all for making 2022 a special (different) kind of year and one that will certainly be one to remember! Now onto 2023! (ps as I see members I forget I am trying to add them in as I feel bad that I am so forgetful often with names and such!)

One of my brothers had been dealing with severe depression and anxiety for a few years now, and he had gone to two treatment facilities recently to try and get some help. We thought he was going to turn the corner, but it got to be too much for him, so he took his own life today. Doctors and therapists tried everything, and nothing was working. Meds never got him even-keeled, and anxiety had taken over. Please, look after those who fall into depression and get them help as soon as possible. Growing-up, he was my hero. He leaves behind a special needs daughter and his wife. If you’re the prayerful type, please say a prayer for his soul, and one for his wife and daughter. Sad, sad day….

Official Review Thread: PING G710 Irons It's a special joy for me to announce the reviewers of the PING G710 irons. PING iron tests are always among our most-applied-for, (dare I say) most wanted review opportunities. I had the privilege of getting in on the test of the predecessor to the G710s and have shot the best rounds of my life with my G700s. I am absolutely looking forward to seeing how the sequels perform in the hands of our four forum testers! Without further ado, our reviewers will be: @perseveringgolfer: REVIEW @Berg Ryman: REVIEW @JonMUSC08: REVIEW @Lacassem: Final Review Join me in congratulating these four and in following their reviews here!

Hey guys I just got a message from one of our own, our Mod Golfspy_CG2. He asked me to to share that he’s in the hospital with COVID and pneumonia. He’s responding to treatment and hopes to be home in about 3 days. I’ve got him in my prayers and I’m sure he’s appreciate thoughts and prayers from all of us. Stay safe guys, we aren’t quite done with this yet. In the home stretch for sure but it’s not the time to let up yet. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

The biggest testing in MGS history is about to begin!! TESTERS ANNOUNCED BELOW This may very well be the largest forum test ever conducted on the internet. Can you say MEGA TESTING? We’re going to give 15 of you a chance to test one of these in the category you choose, no that’s not a misprint. Fifteen forum members will get a chance to test a GS3 Fairway wood, UHI driving iron or a VKTR+ hybrid. THESE ARE THE ONLY CLUBS AVAILABLE FOR TESTING THESE ARE THE ONLY LOFTS/SHAFT FLEX AND MODELS TO CHOOSE FROM NO ALTERATIONS OR SUBSTITUTIONS ARE POSSIBLE IF THE CLUB DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU PLEASE DO NOT APPLY OK Everybody, this was a big one to sort out and we actually found a few more clubs in the warehouse of Ben Hogan, so thank them for a total of 18 TESTERS! Biggest MGS Testing ever! Look below to see the testers for each. If your name is there, you will be getting a PM later today with some more info and asking for details. Hybrids – VKTR+ 18* - Recoil ES 75 F3 Regular @Nolan220 @Siamese Moose 18* - Recoil ES 85 F4 Stiff @ChitownM2 @TCUFrog 18* - Recoil ES 95 F5 X-Stiff @Shank Aaron @oaks Driving Iron - UiHi 18* - KBS Tour 90 Regular @twyatt700 @kardboard.kid 18* - KBS Tour V Stiff @scooterhd2 @gbtrsc 18* - KBS Tour V-X-Stiff @jb0330 @longdrivenate Fairway Wood – GS53 3 wood – 14* - MRC Tensei CK Blue 70 gram Regular @golfish! @AGutierrez7 3 wood – 14* - MRC Tensei CK Blue 70 gram Stiff @JB TexasEx @josmi15 3 wood – 14* - MRC Tensei CK Blue 70 gram X-Stiff @goaliewales14 @Crowev01 *all standard specs Congrats everyone, No need to do anything right now! You'll get a PM later with more info and details.

I feel compelled to weigh in from the MGS perspective so I'll do my best to address your concerns. You don't have to take my word for it but please consider these with an open mind. Here we go: Allowing Ads from small/medium companies: Yes, ad dollars are accepted from these companies, but that's only after MGS vets their product and deems it to be of high quality. There's a lot of products that get denied sponsorship because they just don't pass the smell test. You'd see these companies highly ranked in tests regardless if they were sponsors. Bias for the little guys through test results: Advertising on the site is completely removed from the tests. Most Wanted could be written by a robot with zero emotional connection because there's a straight line from the data to the results. Tests may change from year to test but that objective is to increase the quality of the test. All things must improve over time and Most Wanted is no different. Glaring (or not) reviews: The MGS Blog has long been out of the game of writing reviews. They may do feature pieces on new technology but the reviews can be found here, on the forum, conducted by real people. We can only put clubs in the hands of real people if a company offers up product. We ask every OEM, every year, and run the tests that we receive commitments from. No Scotty reviews means no Scotties have been submitted (as much as our members would love it). Forum Review Integrity: Any agreement we make comes with the caveat that good reviews are not guaranteed. We've lost sponsors before at the hands of poor performing member reviews. So be it. If there's one thing we promise, it's an unbiased opinion and that will not be compromised. Political Affiliation: Please don't Your final statement is an aggressive agreement with our philosophy. The data indicates tendencies of key attributes over large sample sizes but does not dictate what's best for you. Every player is different. The large data size or individual reviews should be considered a starting point, not a finish line. Eric, I would like to sincerely thank you for voicing your concerns on our site. Open discussion is key to education. I hope my response sufficiently addressed your apprehensions about MyGolfSpy. If you have any other questions or concerns, fire away and we'll be happy to respond.

How do you improve on a line of drivers that had a member of the family win the coveted Most Wanted Driver in 2018? That's certainly a tough task for any group of engineers. But the really smart guys in the lab coats in the rooms where nobody is allowed to go in Phoenix are betting they have done just that. And they have gone into uncharted waters to do so. PING has been if not the last , then most certainly the last major equipment company to produce a driver with movable weights. For years PING has stated that it had enough technology built into each version of it's drivers that you need not worry about unscrewing plugs, or sliding bars, or inserting cogs etc. They had done all the work for you and the driver would work just fine, and they did thank you very much. Well take a close look at the rear of the new G410 Plus pictured below. You'll see three possible ports for a movable weight, center for neutral, on the heel for draw bias and out on the toe for fade bias. People have finally gotten what they have clamored for. And for those who prefer a driver with a bit of a draw bias and don't need to change if from that, well PING hasn't forgotten you, as it made the G410 SFT--Straight Flight Technology--and it otherwise has all the same technology. Will this movable technology along with all the hosel adjustment that can moved into eight different configurations make one of the best drivers on the market year in and year out even better? Well we're going to leave it to four dedicated and trustworthy and oh alright, it's OK to say-- LUCKY as well-- members of the My Golf Spy forum to test, play, review--and keep-- these drivers. The members of the forum will anxiously be awaiting the results. The testers will be getting these drivers pretty much the same time they will be hitting retail shelf's, so you will be among the very first consumers on the course with these incredible looking drivers. HOW TO APPLY: in this thread - and ONLY in this thread - tell us the following: 1. Your first name and home state or province. -US and CN eligible. 2. Your current handicap and driver swing speed 3. Your current driver 4. List whether you would like to review the G410 Plus or G410 SFT Pretty straightforward! Good luck, and we'll be announcing the testers in this forum early next week! WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE! Congrats to the following testers: @jlukes @fixyurdivot @tony@CIC @PING Apologist #9 Please see the post below for more details: Edited April 2, 2018 by GolfSpy Rob (see edit history)

You read it correctly.. "Otto Phlex". I'm sure there's not a person on MGS or in the golf world who hasn't heard of (or seen) the Auto Flex shaft. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past couple of years, Auto Flex is a South Korean company that has basically branded their flagship shaft as a very flexible, but high performing, high tech, and somewhat "magic" shaft made with "Secret Hidden Korean Technology". The concept lends itself to the idea that a specific flexy profile can help increase clubhead and ball speed, while increasing launch and keeping spin relatively low, and improving disbursement and forgiveness, therefore yielding results of long, straight, towering bombs.. I mean, who doesn't what that right? Another claim is that while keeping the profile relatively soft, tempo improves, and the overall risk for injury can be reduced. Well I'll be one of the first to admit it. I was NEVER enamored by the claims and especially the price of the AutoFlex. Oh, and let's not forget about the color scheme.. Ultra Hot Pink? not my jam Sam. As a sole provider trying my best to balance a decent golf game on a budget with my family life, spending $800+ on a hot pink golf shaft just isn't something that interests me.. regardless of the claims. Well over the past year or so, there have been a few Youtube channels that have showcased the AutoFlex Hack.. or as I like to call it, the "Otto Phlex". It has been somewhat theorized that the secret sauce to the AutoFlex is based on the following basic profile characteristics: 2-3 flexes lighter than your preferred flex or frequency, at least 1 or even 2 weight classes lower than your preferred weight, a swingweight between D0 and D2 depending on the flex, and a mid/high launch profile. It has also been debated that the Autoflex works best when it's at least 46" or longer. I tried starting at 46.5" and just didn't like the length. I then tried shorter .5" increments and I ended up at 45" and I'll explain how I got there in a bit. OK before anybody sounds the alarm, I realize that all of these characteristics are subject to each shaft company's interpretation and that there is no such thing as a standardized R, S, X, etc, flex shaft. All of these characteristics are based on broad generalities and this experiment has quite a bit of wiggle room so don't get your plaid golf knickers in a twist. (there, got that out of the way) I've been playing the MotoreX F1 6X for the past 2 years. It's an XS shaft according to Fujikura, it weighs in at about 68g uncut. I've played it at about D5 SW but the shaft can take the extra head weight with no issues. Up until very recently, this was supposed to be my "Forever" shaft. It just works and up to this point I just couldn't find anything better. This is however going by conventional wisdom standards that with 110+ mph swing speed, I need to play either a hefty stiff or XS profile shaft and my preferred weight has always been sub 70g in driver. My Otto Phlex profile should look something like this: A flex, 45 - 55g, High Launch with low loft setting or mid launch with standard loft setting. Torque is another factor that can be thrown into the debate ring as having any value. The AutoFlex from what I've read is around a 4.0 torque rating. I believe torque can be important with this experiment because we're really treading on the edge of making sure the shaft bends but doesn't twist. Too high of torque rating and you may be pushing things a little too far. DISCLAIMER 1: I realize that this is a subject that might rub some folks the wrong way.. namely those who've spent the $ and are completely bought into the Autoflex concept.. or those who've done the research, had a fitting, and are about to pull the trigger on one. I think that this topic fully encompasses the MGS spirit of debunking a pretty hyped up marketing claim and/or discussing alternatives that take all of the marketing hype out of the equation and stick to the hard facts. Does the concept actually work? Can I make an Otto Phlex shaft that performs similarly or better than the real thing while nixing the insane price tag by following the guidelines listed above? DISCLAIMER 2: just because I'm finding success with this at the moment, it doesn't mean that it's for everybody. This is definitely a concept that even I'm still working to wrap my head around after playing for 30 years. It definitely has a lot of allure and appeal so the best we can do is try it out, give it some time and formulate final conclusions when the data is adequate. Below are a few of the videos that influenced my journey (and a few others like @Samsonite, @blackngold_blood, @cnosil, @cksurfdude, @tommc23, (forgive me if I missed anyone else) down this Otto Phlex rabbit hole. We all started up in the thread discussing the new PXG 0311 Gen5 Driver and ended up directing most of our discussion towards this AutoFlex Hack project because it just worked in such harmonized synchrony with the Gen5 head. Below is the PGX Gen5 thread if you'd like to catch up on what lead to this topic. The top of about page 3 is where the discussion starts to go sideways and turn into AutoFlex hack project Here is the original review by MrShortgame of the Autoflex. Very supportive of the Autoflex performance benefits Here are the colab videos by MrShortgage and MobileClubmaker. Both guys make great and very informative videos and they both know their stuff. Simon from SAS did something similar a while back.. He kind of rolls like me. He's all about getting the most out of a budget and still getting some really killer gear. Freddie Meikle Golf. I found this one as I was looking up more reviews for the PXG Gen 5 and it happened to be that he also stumbled upon the Otto Phlex After watching these videos about 10x each and saying "hey I can actually do that!", I tracked down a Project X Evenflow Riptide CB. In fact, it's the exact same spec of the shaft in the MrShortgame video. 40g 5.0 A flex. I sourced the shaft from a local OfferUp listing for a PXG Gen4 driver for sale. I reached out and offered the guy a straight trade for the Diamana S series that initially came with my Gen5 driver. Being that he was trying to sell his driver and I was able to gently convince him that an S flex might appeal to a broader audience, he was open for the trade. My fallback plan if all else fails is to plug in my trusty MotoreX and resell the experimental shafts and get on with my life. The only concern that I had was that the Evenflow played at 45" and I was convinced that it needed to be at least 46" for max results so I was already sourcing my shaft extension piece to have ready. Well eventually I discovered that 45" was absolutely perfect and that no extension was needed. I took the shaft back to the workshop, put it in the Gen5 and got the SW calculated to D0. Because of the higher balance point, I needed to add just a little more weight to the head. Luckily I was able to find a 10g PXG weight to replace one of the 7.5g weights and there we go.. I'm sitting right at D1.5. Now why is the SW so important with this build? Well this shaft isn't made for swing speeds over 100 MPH.. let alone the 110 - 115 that I'll be imparting on it. From my obsessive gathering of info, if you're able to keep the head weight to a minimum, and keep the swing weight optimal based on the desired shaft frequency (D1 lighter to D2 heavier), you should still be able to apply a max swing without any unwanted torsional head twisting. This is where the head can twist open or shut in addition to the shaft flexing the face up or down and then even more damaging is finding some odd variation in between where the face is flexed open or shut to some degree and then the face lofted or delofted to another degree and then who knows which direction the ball goes? Ultimately, the idea is to be able to put a hefty swing on the club and the ONLY reactional bending is the face increasing in loft, therefore assisting with an easier launch. Other variations are the actual club head itself. Every driver head is engineered for something specific. Luckily in my case, the PXG Gen5 seems to be a perfect mate for this experiment. It's naturally a lower spinning head and has a load of variable weight configurations. I have the 9* head option. Here are some standardized #'s from what I've seen with the MotoreX. I no longer have my membership with PGATSS (due to their recent 50% cost spike) so I'm just basing this off of memory from my last few sessions. (not 100%). As you can see though, the MotoreX works well for me. It's not an overly stiff profile. I'd say that it falls right where I need it to be between S+ and XS if I could give it my own classification. It's in the 65g weight class but actually closer to 70g than 65g. Launch - 10-12* Ball Speed - 157 MPH (probably not accurate) Swing Speed - 111 Carry 270 Spin 1900 Moment of Truth I took the Project X Evenflow Riptide along with the MotoreX to the Foresight Monitors at an outdoor range. This way I can see true flight and get some basic #'s to help quantify what I'm seeing with my eyes. The only downside is that the balls they use are limited flight which supposedly cut the flight down by 20% and the monitors weren't showing club or ball speed and weren't showing Spin so I was kind of disappointed. The limited results that I did see however blew my socks off. I started off the session with about 20 hits from the MotoreX and saw a nice low-ish draw. The carry was about 250 with rollout to about 270+. Not bad considering the balls were limited flight. I did see my miss come into play a few times which is a hard pull hook. This happens when I'm not fully sync'd and I'm swinging with my arms, chasing the ball, and just flipping the face closed. My shot can quickly go from fairway to neighborhood finder on the wrong layout. As soon as I plugged in the "OttoPhlex1" (I'll get to that "1") I could immediately feel the difference but that's to be expected.. the difference however isn't what I was expecting at all. The club actually doesn't feel lighter by weight or Swing Weight. I think there's some kind of trickery about the D1 SW and overall lighter club. The club doesn't feel too light at all. In fact if feels perfect! The SW also doesn't feel like D1 but closer to my preferred D4-5. I'm sure it's more to do with physics than witchcraft but to a lay fool like me.. it's the devil at work! JK. when I tee'd up my first ball, it was a high fowl ball to right field.. probably into the parking lot. weird.. OK this is a new sensation to me. At first impression I'm thinking, man this thing's too whippy and twisty. Well I buried that though and hit a few more. The more I hit, the more in sync I was getting and then the easier it became to just hit high towering baby draws. I'll say that the overall height at 9* was probably more than I wanted to see so I ended up cranking the loft down to 7.5 and just like old Bob Parsons himself would put it "KABOOM BABY".. ok I actually really hate PXG marketing but I guess it can have a time and place. You can read more about my thoughts on the Gen5 in the thread above.. but the overall feeling of it paired with the OttoPhlex1 is something else. The launch is effortless and even though I couldn't see the spin or ball speed #'s, I was getting about 15 yds more carry and rollout to about 290 - 300 yds. I went back and plugged the MotoreX in, bumped it back to 9° and then found myself struggling to get the ball in the air. A shaft that I've been familiar with for 2 years all of a sudden became a stranger to me. I had been so completely overtaken by the feeling, flight, and performance of the OttoPhlex1 that I'd completely forgot everything I knew about the MotoreX.. and that was just in 1 hitting session. So of course I go home all giddy happy but my silly brain just couldn't rest on 1 thing.. Just like the video with MrShortgame, the PX Evenflow Riptide didn't really feel how the Autoflex looks from videos. Those guys got some real 1/1 comparison and I don't know if I'll ever have that luxury. The shaft just felt like a really smooth, stable "Me" flex. Take the stigma of "# Flex" out of the equation. It isn't really whippy or overly explosive feeling but it just feels like a really nice, stable shaft to play that gave some great results and something that I could definitely game. So that night I went back to looking around for possibly another option that might land me a little closer to the Motore F3 like they used in the video. Looking at all of the comments, it's literally impossible to find that exact shaft anywhere and people were frustrated. Even the current MotoreX F3 is a tad pricy for an experiment. Off the top of my head I knew of a few light weight, low cost options that I could look into. I looked at the UST ProForce V2 in both the HL and standard version, the Aldila NXT GEN NVS Orange, and the classic Garafalloy Pro Launch Blue. All in A flex and ranging between 45 and 55g. Well I settled for the Garafalloy PL based on a very technical analysis of.. Aesthetics . Now we have OttoPhlex2 in the mix. This and all of these are shafts that you can pick up at Golf Galaxy, PGATSS, or Golfworks for around $60, which is about the same price that AJ (Mobileclubmaker) paid for the OG Motore F3 and all seem to fit that general profile. I will add that I started out the GPLB at 46.5". The SW was just too much and I wasn't loving the length. So this is where I shortened it in .5" increments until I just found my glass slipper at 45". I took this out to play a round on Saturday 9/24 and I tell you what.. Just like I was blown away by the improved results with the Evenflow Riptide, I was even more so impressed with the Garafalloy PLB. The round I played was on a tight community Exec course with very narrow fairways. I played the front 9 with the OttoPhlex1 and hit everything! then I played the back with OttoPhlex2 and not only did I hit everything but it was a noticeably longer and higher flight. Not feeling content with the limited amount of playing time during the round, I immediately took to the course driving range afterward to compare both shafts in a long drive battle. Same situation as the other range, they have limited flight balls. It's in a retirement community so the back wall of the range stops at about 290 from the matts and on the other side behind the back wall is a gigantic aluminum storage facility. When it's matts only, I haven't ever hit over the fence. When they push it to grass, and depending how far forward, and when you smash a good drive, you're rewarded with a loud PING when the ball hits the storage facility over the fence.. too many good drives, and the storage facility calls the golf course and you are kindly asked to put your driver away . like I said, from the matts, that's that furthest point from the end of the range and I've never hit one over the fence. So I started the contest with the OttoPhlex1 (Riptide). I hit a lot of nice straight bombs that bounced to the wall but not over. When I put the OttoPhlex2 (GPLB) in, I was clearing the fence almost every 2 or 3 balls. Not only was I clearing the fence but I kept a directional point of a large tree at the back end of the range and everything was at or just outside of the tree. Luckily I finished the bucket and wasn't asked to leave Well for the finale, I took a used ball from my bag that I planned to retire to my backyard for chipping practice and tee'd it up. I didn't hit the side of the storage facility.. I landed it on the roof which had to be about 30' high and I wasn't rewarded with 1 PING.. but a series of pings as the ball bounced all the way across the rooftop. I've already made a short story very long but I had a chance to take both shafts to PGATSS to get some better #'s with the Garafalloy PLB. What I found just added to some of the crazy things that I've already seen with this club. Launch from a 7.5* head with little to no effort is right at about 14*. Club head speed 112+ without breaking a sweat. Spin.. 2000 - 2200 RPM. Carry distance an avg of 285 - 290 rolling out to around 315. Shots that I felt like I hit off the planet were just right or left of the green. I will add that I was using my game ball Maxfli Tour CG. I've got 1 more potential candidate that I would like to add to the mix and that's the UST ProForce V2 HL or regular V2. TBC **************** It's getting late. This is phase 1. I'll add some pics and continue more tomorrow. ***************** PLEASE feel free to start commenting or sharing any similar stories. I think this could be a really good topic for MGS to cover on their GolfScience channel. Cheers!

This thread will serve as the announcement thread for the 2021 CC5 participants. Feel free to congratulate the participants and ask them any questions you would like about the plans for the event. I'm sure once they recover from fainting they will be happy to share their thoughts and enthusiasm for the challenge. Many more details will come out on the challenge in the coming days, but for now let's focus on congratulating the following spies. And on a serious note, please we are requesting to keep this thread free of memes and gifs. Just plain congratulations means much more to everyone involved. So lets meet #TeamYags and #TeamChad Team Yags: @Brian A Testing RADSPEED Variable Irons @LeftyMatt89 Testing RADSPEED One Length Irons @jlukes Testing KING TOUR MIM Irons Team Chad: @txgolfjunkie Testing RADSPEED Variable Irons @gavinski91 Testing RADSPEED Variable Irons @Mtbryant01 Testing KING TOUR MIM Irons That's our field, what I'm sure will be the best Cobra Connect Challenge yet, remember it's going to involve a team component and each team will be representing one of Cobra's very own in Mike Yagley VP of Innovation and AI and Chad DeHart Manager Product & Innovation

From time to time, MyGolfSpy does brand-association surveys. Titleist is among the brands that fare best in these surveys: they have a reputation of no-nonsense quality and performance. Here's my hunch: if the survey asked to identify a brand with the phrase "Tour Proven," Titleist would win in a landslide. So here in the MyGolfSpy forums, we're delighted to work with Titleist to get four sets of their newest series of irons into the hands of our members for testing and reviews: T100S: chisag thezipr23 T200: blackngold_blood, redeeming his golden ticket from being our 2019 fantasy golf champion in grand fashion! davep043 This was among our highest-demand testing opportunities, and I know we'll all be following along eagerly as these great forum members put their new sets of Titleist irons to the test!

Testers Wanted (4) If you have followed MY Golf Spy at all in the last year you have no doubt read about Honma's effort to gain North America market share in the club business.That's no small task. However, Honma feels the TR20 drivers have what it takes to do that. The TR in TR20 stands for Tour Release and it’s replacing the confusingly named T//World 747 line. Honma is producing two drivers in the TR20 offering: a 440cc and a 460cc. According to Honma, the real TR20 driver story is weight, or, more precisely, it’s where the weight is and where it isn’t. The driver frame is titanium but the body is nearly all carbon fiber. But we are going to provide 4 of our Forum Members a chance to tell us and the rest of the community if they feel Honma has produced a driver to compete in one of the toughest segments to break into and capture any market share. How To Apply Reply Below-DO NOT QUOTE THIS POST and provide us the following information Right Handed Golfers Only First Name/City State: (US & Canada Applicants Only) Desired to Test: 440 or 460 Swing Speed: That's it. We'll be choosing the testers sometime next week, so check back and see if you have been selected. Good Luck

(5) Testers Wanted: Bag Boy Chiller Cart Bag Nearly two of every three courses in the United States are currently open for business. Yes, open is a relative term, but as more golfers start to peg it up outside, there’s always the question of “Should I get a new _____________.” If your answer is “Cart Bag” it might be worth waiting until we release Buyer’s Guide that will give you the complete run-down on all of the latest models. That said, the Bag Boy Chiller Cart bag provides golfers a solution to a relatively common problem – How to keep beverages cold without asking for a bag of ice every time the beverage cart rolls around. Do you remember the excitement when Tommy Callahan first discovered the mini-fridge in his new office? If not, no big deal, but you really should carve out some time to watch Tommy Boy. If you do, that’s the type of enthusiasm Bag Boy is hoping to inspire with its Chiller Cart bag. Now to the important question. Want to test one and let us know what you think? All of MyGolfSpy’s Community Reviews require a serious commitment. You need to be motivated, detail-oriented, and savvy with online forums. Writing a thorough, detailed, and honest review requires a commitment. So, please make sure you read the following instructions carefully and apply in the proper place. Please note this is not a giveaway or a contest. We’re looking for golfers willing to complete a full evaluation and compose a detailed review for our Community Forum. This test is open to members residing in the US. To apply, reply to this thread with the following information: Location Current Bag(s) Things you look for most in a cart bag Note: if you are unable to post in the thread and are wondering why, please read through the FAQ first: HERE

Did I say one? Meant to say 2. Yes, 2. First things first, a special thanks goes out to the 33 applicants we received for the open moderator position. It really says something positive about the community that this many people were willing to invest their time and effort. Many of these applications obviously took a lot of effort to pull together so we're also grateful of how serious the position was taken. Through 2 rounds of selections, two gentlemen separated themselves. We looked at the criteria from all different angles trying to nitpick our way to give one the advantage over the other but we just came up with differences, not advantages. Not only that, they complimented each other in a perfect Yin and Yang. Why not Zoidberg? I mean, why not both? After re-evaluating the workload, we decided there's definitely enough work to share if we want to truly bring this forum to where we want to be in style. This new platform has a lot of untapped potential that we'll continue to explore. If we're gonna do it, We're gonna do it right. We're going to do everything we can to make the user experience for YOU the best on the web so please keep the feedback and suggestions coming. Without further ado, please give a warm welcome to our new staffers. Formerly known as strokerAce and mpatrickriley, I'd like to introduce you to: GolfSpy Stroker and GolfSpy MPR Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter and Instagram as well. Social Media will be a big focus for MGS moving forward. 2019 is going to be a BIG YEAR

Hello all! We are slowly getting closer to testing season (no I don’t have any inside information …. Right now). With that there has been a lot of work going on in the background to enhance the site and bring some improvements to the site. In this thread I will let you know all what is going on when we are getting close or about to launch any new features, structure and more. Without further delay the first update we are bringing to the membership is actually a older feature which ended up on the cutting room floor, but is bring brought back to life by popular demand. The Community Map! What is this? - The community map is a feature we had years ago and it’s pretty simple. It is a map of the world where you can tag your location and where you are located. Why now? Well the long and the short of it is I was able to get approval to purchase it and again it is a feature that has been asked for time and time again. Another key feature we are working on is Community engagement… I know we hear this all the time, but this is all part of a bigger plan to increase get togethers, events and a phenomenal community not just online, but in person as well. What can we do with it? This is a bit different than the older member map which has been renamed to Community Map. Again you can tag your location (home) so other spies can see who is all living in your area. We are also introducing a secondary function within this single application which is course reviews. It is pretty simple, have a course you want to write a review for? Go into the “create” go down to Community Map Marker and Select Course Review. From there find it on the map, mark it, add in the course name, a brief description and hit submit. It is after this that you are able to write your review on the course (unless it has already been created) and you can grade it out of your 5 stars however you like. We are also incorporating (at a later date) some of the player profile features (if you have it filled out) where when hovering over the player you can see their player profile data. Where is the Map Located? Well you can find the map here: https://forum.mygolfspy.com/communitymap/ Or simply go the the “Members” Tab at the top of any page and when the drop down comes you will find “Community Map” This was a very useful tool in the past in getting members together and creating a community that is more than just a forum. The great thing is it is also optional. Don’t want to take part? No requirement for testing or profile completion or any of that. This feature is there for you to use as you wish. Whether it is to check out course reviews, write your own on a course that has a review or doesn’t or seeing what spys are in your area which you may want to get a game in with this feature will allow you to do that. This is only the beginning and we have a lot more in store to bring you in the near(ish) future. Cheers, Jamie

WINNER ANNOUNCED! 4 years later we finally have been able to select a winner for the 2018 Odyssey O Works Putter! Please say a huge congrats to

After six years of playing, I got my first hole in one yesterday! Pretty crazy feeling to see the ball drop from the tee box. It was a slight downhill par 3 from 150 yards, got it done with a 9 iron! I should just retire now. [emoji23]

Testers Announced! Reviewing the Sub 70 699 Pro irons will be: @Smellis745 @Tom the Golf Nut @GolfSpy MPR Reviews coming soon! _______________________________ A product with solid value never goes out of style. Couple that with exceptional customer service, and it's an attractive package for golfers who aren't necessarily looking to take out a second mortgage to purchase some golf equipment. That's the basic premise of Jason Hiland's company, Sub 70, that leverages a factory-direct model to keep help keep costs low. What about performance? Well, in 2019, the Sub 70 699 iron model finished sixth in the Players Distance category of Most Wanted testing. That might not sound like much until you consider it finished ahead of Callaway, PING and Titleist. That’s an accolade worthy of some refrigerator space. For 2020, the 699 Pro iron features a thinner topline, less offset, and a black, Tour PVD finish. This opportunity is open to right-handed golfers residing in the United States. If interested, reply to this thread with the following information: Handicap and Location Current Irons and 8-iron distance What do you know about Sub70?

INTRODUCTION AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS Greetings fellow Spies! Golfish reporting in for another great testing opportunity provided oh so graciously by Motocaddy and MGS! Quick intro about me. As my MGS handle and picture implies, I am an avid golfer and fisherman. Yes that is me holding a casting rod on a golf course trying to fish my 6iron and my buddy's sandwedge out of a tree. Long story but DM if you want to know more! The GRINT says I played 89 rounds last year which is about right. I do play at least once a week and sometimes 2-3 times if the boss is on vacation! I am currently a 16.7 handicap index that has been trending down lately! My personal best round is 84 on a course measuring 6743 yards from the white tees with a slope and rating of 72.5/133. I currently live in Southern California and have been playing golf seriously for about 4 years. Before then I was a range rat for about 2 years ingraining bad habits into my swing! I chose to use pictures of Marines "humping" (hiking for you civilians) up a hill because that was me back in early 2000's. I served as an 0311 (yes PXG names their clubs after Marine Corps MOS designations because Bob Parsons was a Marine in the Vietnam era) which is your basic infantryman/grunt during Operation Iraqi Freedom. I did a lot of humping up and down hills and was the leanest, meanest fighting machine you'd ever seen! Now as an engineering manager married with two kids, I am quite a bit larger, and slower, and maybe not as mean! But I keep telling myself I need to get back to that time where I was in the best shape of my life. So I try to walk the course whenever I can which is usually any season other than summer here in SoCal. Everyone thinks it is a nice comfortable 70 degrees here all year long. That may be the case in the beach counties but cross the mountains into the Inland Empire and it is desert so it gets pretty hot in the summer. I applied for this Motocaddy test because I wanted to see if having an electric trolley (as they are called in Europe) would allow me to walk during the summer rounds here. As my home course is in a city called Chino Hills, it is quite hilly. The other course I play often is called Mountain Meadows because it is carved at the base of a mountain so there are some elevation changes there as well. This is actually not my first time using an electric push cart as I was in Germany a few years ago on a business trip and managed to get a round together with someone from the vendor I was visiting. He let me borrow his wife's Motocaddy (can't remember the model) as he told me that most everyone in Europe walks and does not ride in a cart. Imagine my surprise when I check my emails and get a notification that I had been selected to test the Motocaddy! As @GolfSpy MPR mentioned we were given the option to test either the M5GPS or the M7 remote. The main difference between the two is that the M5 has an integrated GPS for course info and has a full color display that shows things like yardages and hazard info. The M7 does not have this but has a remote control for operation. After a good ol knife fight, I was selected for the M5 GPS unit. UNBOXING AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS The box is very sturdy and I was a bit concerned when I picked it up from the Fedex office as I saw some damage on one of the panels. Thankfully it did not transfer to the unit and unit came well packaged and well thought out so nothing would jostle and get damaged in transit. The unit comes mostly assembled, with just the battery, wheels, and bag straps not attached. What I was not expecting was the included glass screen protector for the GPS screen. Motocaddy definitely went and got a manufacturer to design and make this custom for this screen as the fit is perfect. Little things like this are what tells the customer that a company appreciates them and is thinking about customer satisfaction. Our phones which for some border on the same cost as a Motocaddy unit don't bother to come with a screen protector! Take some lessons here Apple and Samsung! I install my own screen protectors on my phones so installing this one was the same process. Looks like there is a SIM card for the GPS which is preinstalled in the unit. No idea where it would go anyway but again nice touch not having the customer have to install something that is vital for the function of this product. Some random pictures of the instruction manual, the battery box, etc. The battery connector is proprietary and you will need to use their charger. Charging took about 4 hours for the indicator to go from red to green. Battery is fairly compact but dense. The case is well designed so that it sits in the battery compartment during use and is easy to lift out for charging etc. The instructions recommend disconnecting the battery when not in use to as there is no on/off button. Once out of the box, folding and unfolding is a breeze. 2 latches control the opening and closing of the unit and the front wheel folds in automatically. Attaching the wheels is also easy as each wheel has a small release button you press and push the wheel on to the axle. The wheel system is designed well as there are two notches on the axle for the wheel to lock into. One notch is for battery operation which allows the motor to drive the wheels. The second notch is for freewheel mode if you don't want to use the motor and it allows the wheels to freewheel on what I believe are it's own bearings. Smart design and as an engineer things like this excite me! The accessory station also comes pre-attached and Motocaddy has been gracious enough to send us the full accessory kit which includes a drink holder, umbrella holder, device cradle, and score card holder. This has not yet arrived as I believe we have been told they will be shipped mid April. Perhaps the accessory kit will have what I am looking for but compared to my manual push cart, there is no actual storage on the cart. ON COURSE FIRST IMPRESSIONS I have 2 rounds in (first one was the day I got it lol) and I have to say at first I was not sure if having an electric push cart was going to make a big difference. I am relatively young, in my mid 30's and not totally out of shape. However, after the first round using this, I can't quantitively measure the difference (maybe it is time for a whoop band?) but for sure I was much more energetic at the end of the round than when I used my manual push Sun Mountain Reflex cart. This course is relatively flat with little elevation change (Bryson could probably drive his ball from one end of the course to the other and see the ball flight mostly the entire time!) so the battery usage was minimal. My second round which I played this morning was on a much hillier course. Even with the use of an electric push cart, I was much more exhausted after the round (though that could be attributed to me getting the second dose of COVID vaccine yesterday) and the battery meter looked more depleted. (forgot to take a picture of the screen after to show the battery meter but will remember for future rounds). Controlling the cart is fairly simple, there is a large button in the middle of the handle bars for motor on and off. The button has a dial around it for controlling speed. You can change speeds while the cart is in motion and the response is fairly fast. You can also change speeds while the cart is stopped so that when you turn on the motor it will accelerate to that setting. I did notice though that sometimes the speed dial would not register a speed change and I had to try a few times. Might be I am trying to turn the dial too quickly. Finding my course on the unit was simple as the screen is touch screen and you choose "Play Golf" from the home screen and it searches for GPS data. It will then display courses closest to your location and you choose the course and go. I had no trouble finding the course for both of my rounds. The screen is pretty bright and easy to read in direct sunlight. The screen can be a touch sensitive as during my round I would notice I had pressed the screen accidentally and advanced a hole or went into a setting menu. Most of the menus are intuitive though and you can find your way back to the home screen easy. I did accidentally end my round somehow today between the 5th green and 6th tee box but I was able to find the course quickly before teeing off. You can use the M5 to track your score but it is not saved anywhere. I use my phone to enter my scores on Grint anyway so I am looking forward to the accessory kit. For now I use my Desert Fox phone holder strapped to the push cart. One thing I had to get used to is the lack of onboard storage. My Sun Mountain Reflex has 2 storage bins that I use to hold extra tees and my range finder as well as a 2 ball holder. Not a big deal as the whole point of having a push cart is that you have your bag right there with you and you don't have to walk over to your cart. Plus maybe the accessory kit will have some onboard storage options. Worst case I will use the drink holder as a ball holder as I know my giant water bottle wont fit in it for sure. Comparing distances with my shotscope V3 and a range finder, I noticed the distances on the Motocaddy GPS were consistently longer on the first round. The hazard info was closer to my Shotscope numbers. The M5 has the ability to connect to wifi to update firmware and course mappings. I updated the course info for my home courses yesterday and I did notice that the distances were pretty spot on for my round today. Forgot to take pictures of distances today but I tried to rely on the M5 GPS for distances to greens for my approach shots and I was hitting the greens like a champ today. Even had one rip back 10 feet to within 6 inches from the hole! Not that the push cart had anything to do with that but definitely had the right distances! Here are some videos of the cart running along in the parking lot and on the course. I also tested the DHC (downhill control) function which keeps the cart at the same speed when going downhill. The ADC (automatic distance control) function is pretty cool too. Allowed you to set a distance from 5-60 yards and the cart will go that distance then stop. Handy for making the cart go and wait for you at the next hole. Just make sure there are no obstacles or hazards in the way as the cart only goes in a straight line and will not stop until it reaches the preset distance! I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have taken out a footgolf flag today... The cart handles bumpy terrain fairly well though I would recommend holding on to the handles if it gets really bumpy or you are travelling across an incline that is perpendicular to the direction of travel as the cart may topple over. (almost had an accident on one hill but was holding on the handle bars so it didnt go over). 20210406_142650.mp4 20210406_143525.mp4 20210408_085148.mp4 Overall excited to be a part of this test and walk more rounds than previous summers. It is just starting to get heated up here in SoCal so I will also be tracking my weight over the course of the test to see how much walking 1-2 rounds a week contributes to my fitness. Again thanks MGS and Motocaddy for this awesome opportunity and looking forward to talking with Roger, the CEO of Motocaddy USA next week as he has asked for a quick zoom call to go over the features and some starting tips as well as to answer any questions we may have. Also there is another surprise to come but you have to stay tuned for details on that! Not sure if any other company has shown this much dedication to a product test in the past but it shows how much they actually want to hear our honest opinions and ensure the testing goes smoothly.

And now, the time has come. Dare I say, this challenge has been the best one yet. It's feedback from the competitors and fans like this that have really driven the challenge to another level. Thanks to our 5 test subjects and the hundreds of regular followers in the thread. This has been a great season and we thank you for coming along for the ride. Overall Stats: @B.Boston not only steered the ship into the harbor, he did a power slide into his space with style by wrapping up the overall category running away. This was truly a dominating performance by someone who took his game to the absolute next level. Who wouldn't want to cut their handicap in half? He didn't just improve one area of his game to bring down the HC either, this is across-the-board improvement. Very impressive! It's also very fun to look at the group's improvement as everyone experienced gains in multiple aspects of their games. You're each going to be formidable opponents in your next tournament. One of the keys to this challenge's success is total buy in and our guys really delivered with a staggering 95.5 rounds amongst them. There's no such thing as protecting the handicap in this group. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Which brings us to our final standings and podium prizes: We can #cuetheduckboats for @B.Boston and his fan base. For the grand prize, he'll be bringing home a custom Cobra License Plate Trophy PLUS 1 polo, 1 pair of pants or shorts, 1 hat, 1 pair of shoes. @daviddvm produced our best ONE length showing to date with a strong second place and even spent a little bit of time in the lead of our challenge. For his prize, he'll be sporting a PUMA Golf cap, polo and pair of shoes Although he had to withdraw from the competitive piece of the challenge early, @Headhammer managed to do enough throughout his competitive weeks to get himself onto the podium still. It's interesting to think about what would've happened had he not injured his elbow. He can impress his physical therapist with his new PUMA Golf cap and Polo I would be remiss if I didn't also acknowledge @GB13 and @edingc for their gallant efforts and detailed reviews throughout the process. I hope you guys enjoyed the challenge as much as the fans enjoyed heckling you! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And our last prize of the day....the member of the thread. This one isn't always an easy choice but for CCC4, the decision was clear. We chose someone that participated day in day out, asked tons of questions, spammed the memes, and competed in each weekly challenge. You know him, you love him, (you may be slightly annoyed by him); this year's winner is: @xOldBenKenobiX Congrats! Shoot me a PM to claim your grand prize of a Cobra SPEEDZONE Driver and Arccos for the full set. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE END. HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT YEAR.

Ping G410 Plus Driver Review - Stage 1 Hello to all my fellow MGS’s who visit the Official Product Testers sub forum for some no-nonsense, candid Intel about all the new products that promise to rock our golf world. For me personally, this sub forum and the product reviews written by the staff are what made MyGolfSpy my choice as the golf forum to spend time being part of. First off, a HUGE Thank You to MGS and PING who, along with other manufacturers, make these product testing opportunities possible! What a fantastic way to engage us mere mortal, non-professional golfers, and get feedback from a wide cross-section of players. Seriously, the whole “product tester” thing is crazy cool and I am both honored and excited to have been selected for the Ping G410 Driver testing!! I would also like to give a quick shout out and Thank You to George at Desert Hills GC, Yuma, AZ for offering to do my club fitting. When I told him the situation (being selected by MGS as a product tester), he scheduled me right in so I could get the data back for the order. If you are ever in Yuma, AZ, play a round at Desert Hills and say hi to George and Drew - great guys doing a fantastic job running that course. My Background So, just who is this @fixyurdivot dude? My name is Bill, now 58 and I started golfing about age 7 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. My Dad absolutely loved the game and introduced me to it. A used set of junior Chi-Chi Rodriguez clubs and a plaid golf bag became the tools of my trade. On Saturdays, myself and a couple of other neighborhood friends would get dropped off at a course where we’d get lessons and then play a small par 3 until late afternoon when someone would pick us up. A year later, I was playing in Junior Golf of America (JGA) and spending Saturday’s chewing up courses around south Florida which included Doral CC, Jackie Gleason Inverrary and Bonaventure GC. I never won a single event but the memories are still with me. I continued to play the game all my life – with bursts of focused effort/interest followed by periods of lackadaisical play. While in the Air Force, I once again got the bug and played quite a bit. I shot my lowest round ever (74) at Mather AFB in Sacramento, CA. Upon getting my Mechanical Engineering degree, my wife and I relocated to WA where I went to work for Boeing. I soon joined a work golf league and played pretty regularly – up until the last 5 or so years of my 30 years with them when travel, workload, and responsibilities made finding time a challenge. In 2016 I opted for early retirement and we moved to the golf capital of the world – Montana! Now I must confess that fly fishing is my #1 passion and I handle a 5 weight much better than a 5i, but golf is a really, really close second and I soon found myself playing the local courses. Combine that with our “snowbird” travel from Nov-Mar here in Yuma, AZ, where I play 3 times a week, and my fly rods are feeling left out. My Golf Game My current game has been pretty steady and I typically shoot in the 80’s. I don’t keep an official handicap, but my math has me at 13 presently. My best official handicap (11) was in the early 90’s. Inconsistency tends to be my nemesis – shooting a 38 on one side and a 47 on the other. Staying clear of “blow-up” holes when having a good round going is also problematic and most often it’s a drive gone OB that was the cause. I would say iron play is my strength as is my chipping. I have a pretty compact swing (not a huge rotation), not a really long hitter, and my typical driver ball flight is straight to slight fade. Another challenge I have is keeping swing tempo down. I’ve really been focusing on that the last couple of years and made BIG improvements, but I still get in trouble with that. I find myself playing courses much smarter these days then years ago. I lay up a bit more rather than trying to reach a par 5 in two – and to be honest, I’m still hitting as far, or further than a decade ago. While I still take aggressive lines off the tee, particularly when I’m driving well, I pay more attention to course conditions when choosing to do so. The “swing for the fence” mentality has slowly changed to a “manage the course” approach. I also find the "swing easy, hit well and far" approach to work for me. What’s in my bag? Well, let’s just get right to it – I still play PingEye 2 irons. I purchased these new in 1988 and have been playing them ever since. Up until last year, I gamed a Callaway Great Big Bertha, 8.5 degree driver. What can I say; I’m German-Irish stubborn, frugal, and not easily hooked by slick marketing and bling. It was only after repeated suggestions (ok, harsh teasing) from friends, that I needed to move into the current century in golf technology, that I purchased my current Callaway Razr-Fit driver in January 2018. I was fitted for the driver and it was among three I tested at the Kartsen Golf Facility at ASU. I immediately saw significant improvement in driving distance, accuracy, and forgiveness – silently asking myself why the hell I did not make that upgrade years earlier. Bill's Antique Clubs: So, this opportunity to test PING's newest driver technology is really interesting in my case. Having just made a logarithmic shift in driver technology, 1990 to 2014 circa, how much more could I possibly be missing? I am hitting the Razr-Fit very well and have confidence with it. The G410 Plus has a steep hill to climb. Will it reduce those OB score killers? Will its selectable “draw/fade” weight option, or 8 position shaft tuning feature allow me to get more draw ball flight? Will it yield faster club head speeds and carry distance? We shall see…. we shall see. First Impressions To be brutally honest, I do not find the G410 to be the sexiest looking driver. In fact, to me, it has a Chevy Truck vs. Lamborghini look to it. More utilitarian than posh, it has a brutish appearance that simply says “I’m ready for work”. The black, matte finish crown has no contrasting sheen areas, no logos, and no ball alignment mark. The “Turbulators” (small raised humps) on the crown are carried over from the G400 for improved aerodynamics – faster club head speed. At 455 cc in size, the G410 looks pretty compact compared to many of its competitors. This is a plus for my taste as I really dislike the “VW Bug on a stick” look. In comparison to my current driver, which is also smaller in look for a 458cc size, the G410 gets a thumbs up. At address, it looks great to my eye. The head cover is of nice quality and well made; sporting the PING logo and G410 designation. The graphics on the Alta CB shaft picks up the red accent on the driver head quite nicely and looks great. The Spec Sheet: The sole of the driver, interestingly enough, provides a bit more glitz with the PING name in bold chrome letters along with the G410 moniker. The leading edge of the sole has a black mirror chrome appearance which transitions into a v-shaped wear area. The forged face is fairly nondescript having a milled finish with contrasting white and light grey groove marks. It's as if PING is saying “it’s not the bling on the outside, but what’s under the hood that really matters”... and I'd be the first to tell you I'm good with that. Ping’s first “moveable weight” system for ball flight control is likewise kept demure with only a thin, red pin stripe following the arc of the weight track along the trailing edge of the head. The weight can be moved from the center “neutral” to either a forward “fade” or rear “draw” position. This feature is the principal difference between the "Plus" and "SFT" - the latter having a fixed periphery weight designed to prevent fade/slice ball strikes. On the surface, these seem a bit "gimmicky" to me. I'm really curious just how this feature will affect ball flight. I still tend to push more than pull shots and would love to see this feature work as advertised. This is something I will be evaluating and reporting on. My Fitting My fitting took place at the range and using the ES14 launch monitor. George had all of the available driver lofts and the four shafts. Both my Callaway GBB and my current Callaway Razr-Fit are 8.5 degree loft. Because I tend to still hit these pretty high, I told George I think the 9 degree would be a good baseline for me - he agreed. I started off warming up with my 6i and he used that to get some initial impressions of my swing and speed. He suggested the Alta CB Red in stiff, standard length. I hit the first half dozen or so shots well, fairly straight, and out just past the 200 yard marker. I then had a couple of hard pulls left. He switched me to the regular stiffness shaft and I again hit the first handful pretty straight and to about the same distance, but with higher trajectory. We then change from the neutral (0) to the (-) position - which changes loft from 9 to 8 degrees. I started seeing a bit more fade and contact marks out towards the toe. We changed back to the stiff shaft and with the same (-) setting. I was back to hitting more to center, with lower trajectory. He felt I could probably make either the regular or stiff work, but that I would likely see more accentuated pull and fade with the regular when I really lean into the shot. I asked about the other available shafts; (Project X Even-Flow, Tour, and Alta Distanza) and he said that except for the Distanza the others were more tailored for a player with much faster swing speed. What's Next OK Mr. G410 you’ve peaked my interest, but this is range time, not game time. What are you bringing to the course? Next up are some initial rounds with the Razr-Fit left at home – providing no emergency backup . Hopefully I can squeeze in another day at the range using their LM for some further fine tuning of the loft/lie and some head to head data against my Razr-Fit. We will then be heading back home to Montana where I have scheduled some time later this spring with a club fitter in Bozeman that has a ForeSight GC Quad launch monitor. My plan is to repeat the comparison with my current driver, but also get ball flight data using game balls. As the snow and frost clears, more rounds will be played ultimately seeing if PING's new “top gun” is better than my $60.00 Razr-Fit. Stay tuned for updates and Stage 2. Thank you so much for taking the time to read!