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Wtg on the eagle @birdiesandbags !!! Today was a first on many levels for me playing golf... I played a local benefit scramble tournament today and was part of a 4 man team from the PD, just one team of many from work. There were 55 teams total iirc across 8 departments participating. We'll over 200 players. 2 of the guys I work with are newer to golf, and the one is a coworker on my sqaud, they are 25 hcps Avg We started out with birdie birdie, then 1 team mate hit for an eagle. i had 2 natural birdies and a natural eagle!!! 465 yd par 5. Caught the downhill side of what should have been a nasty ob hook, and it kicked right and rolled 30 more yards into the middle of the fairway. 165 to pin, hit a low straight shot with the 4hy, and it rolled 4 feet from the pin. They let me putt for the eagle. We placed 9th overall, but with hcp adjustments took 3rd at the final tally!!! Got my 1st golf trophy too! Since it was a charity event, naturally we bought a few mulligans, and a ton of raffle tickets for bonus things like throw the ball, drop a stroke, etc. We only ended up using 2 mulligans and 3 throw a ball. We had to declare it to the tee Marshall before we teed off on the par 3s ans par 5s. We forgot about the drop a stroke tickets though! One of the guys used a throw a ball ticket after coming up short on a par 3 (186yards) he was 20 feet from the pin, and I came up short too off the drive. He underhand tossed it and it rolled into the cup. While not a technical ACE, on the card it was!!! The DB performed very well, sinking 10 of the 18 holes we played! Overall it was a great day, I'm slightly over heated as it reached 91⁰ out, even though I stayed plenty hydrated. Really didn't have a ton of opportunities for pics. But managed to get a couple in.

I also received my order confirmation email earlier today! So excited! The people I’ve dealt with at LAB have been incredible so far! Avid putter coverer here! With this LAB I think I’ll try to find a cover for the cover to keep it in nice shape! I created a spreadsheet to help track my on-course putting in great detail. I’m not sure what to do with it quite yet, but I’ll post it on here when I get back home. I also might steal your spreadsheet, if it’s ok with you, for my practice putting on the Exputt when it arrives!

Awesome call with a lot of great information shared. Thanks Jamie @GolfSpy_APH for getting this arranged. Another large turnout of members too, at one time I saw that there were 29 people on the call.

Bummed I missed the call, but had a good reason (will post in the play thread later) Hopefully I will be able to catch a replay later!

I haven’t been posting as much lately, because it seems repetitive to come in every day and say basically the same thing, oh, I shot a 77 today and made some great shots, blah blah blah… so, I did shoot a 77 today, and blah blah, but the point of interest is in how strong my grip has become of late. Just a continuance of the “Hanson Hybrid“ grip development. lots of new faces and names I'm seeing, so welcome newbies… I’m just an old dog popping in to say hello…

Good morning everyone and happy Friday! I finally heard something on my car, after I had to reach out to the dealership. They told me the problem was caused by bad gas and they were going to have to clean the lines and replace the fuel pump. They them informed me I needed to make a claim with fleet response which turned into a 30 minute ordeal of answering all kinds of questions causing me to miss the first half of the community call. The part of the call I got to listen to was great and it made for good listening as I was doing yard work. I got most of it done and I'll finish up the trimming today or tomorrow. I hope it's a good start to the weekend for y'all!

Good morning all, it’s Friday and the last of my 7 duty days Lovely sunny warm start to the day here so hoping it stays that way and I can get some golf in at last. @Samuel09152 good news about the dog glad it’s nothing too serious @GolfSpy_KFT Glad to hear the good news about the little one Hope you all have a great day and ease nicely into the weekend

They make 2 bags: the anyday bag and the weekender bag. We were picked to test the anyday bag which left us with simply which color did we want.

I keep a few I find for scramble tourneys or the backyard net and the rest go in the MGA bucket. I trade out those for a few good ones from time to time.

I have 20 ish 18ct egg cartons separated by brands in the garage. Wish someone local would offer a credit like that!

All I ever find is range balls on the course Tonight is the NFL draft though!!! (Go Raiders) And looking forward to a weekend tee time. Going a week without hitting the course is starting to make my hands itchy and I have been walking around practice swinging with water bottles all day

I play enough rounds that they prob need to be replaced at least twice a year but that gets expensive quick.

I resemble that remark...

I have spent my fair share of time in the fescue and trees as well!

These were still in play until the last couple months and after hearing rounds, the sm9s may need friends while they are on sale still.

I don’t either, just have spent too much time in the trees looking for my own ball…unfortunately I’m better at finding other people’s!

Snuck up to the range this evening for some more work with the QI-10. Over the last few sessions I’ve been working to correct face to path issues that were producing high spinny slices. Progress has been made on that front and I’m starting to see more draws than slices. I had a couple that carried around 250 yards, which for my game is the sweet spot. My feelings on this shaft/head combo are thus: Love the shaft, starting to dig the head. Sorry, @IndyBonzo, you may not be getting this head back Oh, and the mini driver is serviceable off the deck. Which makes for a pretty good insurance policy, if the driver goes south mid-round. The top of the bag is starting to take shape for this season, just need to get some rounds in.

Good afternoon Spies! The last 26 hours have been ... interesting. Worked nine hours in Detroit yesterday, headed for the airport. While waiting for my flight, was notified by the airline that it was delayed, and that I should seek an alternate flight. Number of alternate flights available to ILM last night: Zero. Called my corporate travel agent. It took three calls, but they got me on a flight at 7:30 a.m. today after I take the delayed flight to Charlotte and spend the night there. At this point a gate agent shows up and I talk to her. She looks at what the travel agent did and advised me that I still had the seat on my 10:58 pm flight home, along with the 7:30 flight today, and that there was a decent chance of making the 10:58. But she gave me a hotel and meal voucher in Charlotte just in case, since the delay was due to mechanical issues. Finally leave Detroit, get off the plane in Charlotte 12 minutes before my flight to ILM is scheduled to board, I powerwalk through the airport to the departure gate and arrive just as boarding begins. Then once I'm on the plane our departure is further delayed while maintenance crews complete some work and some paperwork. Finally left at 11:39 pm, flight home is uneventful, retrieve my car and get home at exactly 1 a.m. Then this morning I'm a zombie. Went to a doctor appointment at 8:45 (eyes barely open), came home and went back to bed until 5 p.m. Got a couple of nice emails from Mike Carroll of Fit For Golf. During our huddle with him last week for the FFG test, I advised him that I didn't think I could do one of the warmup exercises properly because of my post-surgical back. He asked me to send him a video of my attempts to do it; GF shot the video on Saturday and I sent it to him. He got back to me and suggested a variation of the exercise. Today he asked how the variation was working. I said it was slightly better than the original version, but not much. But it's nice that he's taking the time to help me with this when I'm not even a paying customer.

Good morning Spies on another frosty Friday morning in the Motor City. Warming up later, but rain also moving in as well. Sunday round scheduled and weather outlook looks good for that. Jason, @sirchunksalot be sure to take the advice of @Northern Monkey, typically "bad gas" repairs are out of pocket for the vehicle owner/operator, and you will either need to see if station reimburses you, or possibly your insurance company. Hope that your day is the best that it can be, that something fun and enjoyable is in your plans.

@sirchunksalot Could be worth asking the garage that’s repairing the car to keep a sample of the fuel for you just in case it’s not covered on warranty and you need to try and put in a claim against the station

I usually buy my gas at the same station which is about three miles from my house, I tend to like routine and it's the most convenient place for me to stop. I'm hoping it's covered under warranty, I lease from work so the car has only got 7600 miles on it, but I'm not sure if it's a warranty claim or not. They said it's a four hour fix and I'm hoping I'll get it back early next week.

@sirchunksalot good to hear they sorted the issue with the car and hopefully it won’t be too expensive. Do you know where you got the gas from? Anyway of claiming the cost back from them? Hope it’s back on the road soon

Morning one and all! Days are busy at the moment with a project in the shop, seasonal chores, with one eye on the NFL Draft, and the other on golf. Next week weather predictions are looking pretty good, so perhaps I can finally get summer tires on the car. Oh, and get in a round or two of golf. Have a good one.

Got to get out with my dad today which is always a good time. Haven't played much to start this season but we renewed our membership today so it'll be the first of many rounds with him this year. Only had time for 9, was real pleased with my game off the tee and my iron play. Struggled with partial feel shots as I always do when starting the season but the new L.A.B. DF3 was so good, even with punched greens. Had a birdie and three bogeys to shoot +2.

Looks like a great day @Rob Person and an awesome round!

They aren't cheap. I don't play enough for that frequency of replacement but, I should have replaced mine long ago.

Congrats on the Eagle!

Tonight I went to Golftec for a lesson. I haven't been looking forward to these lately, but tonight was really productive... minus an equipment failure. To start the lesson, I told my instructor that I've been suffering with driver lately, pushing and slicing everything right. So, first we warmed up with 9i... which went great! Getting pretty reliable distance and trajectory from T200s right now. We then worked up to the 3i, which had some solid strikes but after a handful I went to rest my weight on the club and start to hear cracking sounds... a little more weight and the head snapped clean off. Welp... down to 12 clubs in the bag (I've reached out to Sub 70 support to see what I can do). With my "fairway finder" out of commission we pulled out the driver and I expected the lesson to go from bad to worse. Then I proceeded to knock my next four drives dead straight with solid distance for me (~270ish) my instructor was laughing at this point and wondering what the problem was. On shot five I "went for it," and finally the slice reared it's ugly head. However, he did a good job identifying how this swing differed from the first four. On this swing I was finishing the swing with my weight on the back of my heels/trail leg and I did this kind of swipe to finish. Identifying that miss paired with the feeling of releasing/throwing the club really seemed to help. We finished the lesson with some sim golf where I was finding fairways and playing about as good as I ever have on that sim setup. Despite losing a club tonight I'm feeling pretty positive! Have another lesson scheduled (outside of Golftec) with a PGA pro for Saturday to continue making progress on driver.

I know the feeling Josh, My spin milled are 2007 vintage, so they are definitely up for renewal this year, although, they don't appear to be worn out yet...

Turns out I went tonight for a quick 9-hole round and ended up playing a full 18! There wasn’t anybody on the course and my random playing partner and I played in just under 3 hours. Nod bad for an unplanned round after work! I birdied the first hole which HAS to be thanks to the Ronin. Here is a teaser (another post with more info is coming) of the bag out in the wild enjoying its time. *My playing partner must have wondered what in the world was I doing snapping random pictures of my bag every few holes*

Congratulations on the eagle, awesome!

We don’t have a store like that here. I see a lot of people sell them from their houses on golf courses. I don’t live on a course unfortunately.

Great focus piece for playing on course listening to the details about wedges and the design and finish on them. Great questions and again hearing from a subject matter expert who has forgotten more about his craft than most of us will ever know.

I walked into my local store with a Tupperware full of old balls…they sell some older ones. The guy behind the counter almost panicked thinking he was going to have to go through them all and sort them to give me a credit. Told him just give me a couple dollars off and we’d be good…he was quite relieved!

Ended up carding a 45 in my spark league round last night , but made my first eagle WOOH!!! Had a high risk shot behind a tree . But hey make the best of it . Driver,hybrid,putt

While I was only a spectator working the tournament yesterday, I did capture a few pics when setting up the hole markers and banners. Sunrise and full moon opposite my position at the same time. Found the albino fox squirrel! And this other one was feisty today!

Got out for 9 at a new to me course - really nice layout set into some wetlands and woods. Started out ok .. a kind of surprising "easy" par on the first then two good (for me) bogeys. Then #4 .. I dunno... Tee -> slice -> splash. Drop -> chunked. Attempted shot on green -> fluffed, splash. Drop -> barely made it onto the front of the green. Just to make the pain complete? 3 putt... This is the view from the back tees on a Par 3 - 200 from the Blacks, yes basically all carry! Fortunately the Gold and Red were waaay further up, with a clean shot .. no water .. and only about 120 into the wind for me. But yeah still came up short, on the front fringe... Here's another short Par 4 where yep this guy drove it straight down the middle and through the fairway into the rough at the end! (..thank you firm and fast fairway ) And, well, after this things fell apart... Managed a bogey on the next Par 3 .. almost had a miraculous up & down after a terrible awful horrible nasty bad not good attempt at a tee shot. #8 and #9 went double, triple....... Hey guys, did I mention this last time? Work. In. Progress.

Good Friday morning , let’s hope everyone has a great day , work , golf or family enjoy ! Got an early text that I didn’t want to get , one of the guys in our normal Friday group and one of my best buddies is in the ER , been having breathing issues so I’m ! Be blessed , kind and grateful !

I played SM5's for about 4+ yrs, replacing them with SM8's, which I bought new in a closeout. After going through a Titleist fitting, I found I was playing the incorrect grinds, which is the only reason I'm replacing the SM8's with SM10's. Now I'm really stoked because the SM10's came in the black finish vs the chrome finish of the SM8.

... Cousins must feel like Rodgers when they drafted Love. Just signed a 4 year $180 million contract and they could have taken Odunze to help him out, but they take a QB?

It just adds up so fast.

Agreed, I had a set of TM wedges around 10 years before I made a poor choice with one of them. They started as a satin finish, but the color wore off the face and were way more shiny than they started (to the point where the sun reflected off at certain angles).

Day 102 (25 Apr 24) - Worked with the Divot Board again today. Set the board up where I had a card just behind the ball to reinforce ball first contact Following are a series of swings (actually 3 in a row) where contact steadily inproved. For DTL visuals, set up the grandson's toy field goal about 10yds out - the goal was to start the ball (hard foam) just right of the posts and have it draw back to the center. Overall, a good drill day.

Over this past winter I used trackman a ton at work and I had the same issue once I got outside. I think it’s a great tool, but I try to have a good mix of simulator use for numbers and actual practice outside. The last thing I want to become is one those people that can play great on the simulator and awful outside.

I’ll be cutting mine open immediately to see if it’s REALLY filled with goo, or perhaps hidden Korean technology.

Shot an 85 from the blue tees at Balboa Park. It's a tough course and the wind was up a little, so I feel pretty good about it. Greens were still bumpy from being aerated a month ago so can't really say I putted poorly since I left a few short but most of them rolled past the hole. Just a few too many bogeys and doubles, but avoided any big numbers and had a nice par streak from 12-15. Doubled the hardest par 5 16th which is my nemesis hole, but then parred 17 and 18 to finish strong. Getting closer to my breaking 80 goal from the blue tees for this year. I already shot 77 from the white tees last October. Really just a few solid shots and made putts from a 79. Just getting my confidence back after a dreaded case of the shanks and heel shots, so feeling good about my swing and practice routing as summer approaches.

Yup and posting it now!

I got 12 holes in for the 7th time on course with the Haywoods at Olmos Basin GC in San Antonio, TX. It was windy (15-20 gusting higher) for every hole, so the yardages are impacted with each shot, so I'll try to share wind direction before each. Hole 1: 400ish yard par 4 with the wind coming off the left and maybe slightly into. Piped driver 278 and had 124.7 to a back pin. I decided to hit PW, hoping to hit it to the center of the green to leave an uphill putt as the slope was high past the hole. I thinned it bad and watched as it flew about 40' high max, hit the front of the green and the combination of spin and the slope slowed the ball at the very back of the green. 127 total, but not a good strike. GIR though. Hole 2: Dead into the wind on a 430+ yard par 4. I ripped driver but pulled it into some trees way left. I had 212 yards out and zero shot. I had to play a punch 4I and my goal was to get it under all the trees (including a very large, low hanging oak) and get it into the fairway around 150 out. I successfully did so with a low running 81 yard shot. I had 142.7 to an uphill green with the wind off the left and slightly into. I pulled 7, struck it pure and just overdrew it a bit into the wind. I was just short of pin high but on the far left side of the green. No GIR, but a green hit. Hole 3: 198.6 to a downhill par 3 playing 191.2 with several bunkers right. The wind was off the right. I pulled 4I with the goal of starting it over the bunkers and riding the wind with a baby draw onto the green. I pured it and it started right where I wanted, but I could see the wind visably knock it down while it was in the air. It drew perfectly on line, but landed just short of the green in a wet spot, but managed to creep onto the front. 181 total and a GIR (but a long putt). Hole 4: 380ish yard par 4 with the wind helping off the right. Smoked driver 283 right down the middle leaving 104.7 to a back left pin. I should have hit my 95 yard Edison 53, but wanted to challenge the flag, so I took a PW hoping to play a 3/4 swing draw and ride the wind to the hole. Hit it PURE to perfection, complete with the draw going 104 yards just left of the pin with the ball 3" from the pitch mark. A 13' putt later and BIRDIE Baby! 3 GIR! Hole 5: I thought it would be fun to play the par 5 (into the wind off the left with a more left/hurting wind on the approach shot) by going 4I, 5I, 6I because that should be fun! I PURED the 4I 194 yards with a baby draw into the center of the fairway off the elevated tee box (there was a creek that crosses at the 260 yard mark). The 5I strike was solid (not perfect) but went 171 yards into the wind uphill across the creek onto the left side of the fairway, which unfortunately brought a tree into play on the 3rd shot. I had 156.6 yards to an uphill green and pulled 6I as planned. Thinking back now, I should have played a big draw around the tree into the wind, but at the time I decided going over and fading was the play. I didn't execute, hitting the 6I low and on the toe and watching as the ball missed the tree right and kept going right. It bounded between the bunkers at least. 153 total but missed GIR about 25 yards right. Hole 6: 154.3 playing 149.7 downhill wind off the right helping on this par 3. The pin was in the front behind a bunker I wanted nothing to do with, so I pulled 7I hoping to just hit the middle of the green. I drew it in nicely but the wind helped a bit much and it wound up going 159 total to the center/left of the green. GIR 4 Hole 7: Short par 4 uphill 75-degree dogleg right with the wind coming hard off the left. I tried to go for it and hit a tree on the right side. I was 130-ish out and had no low shot so I had to hit 57 to get over some trees and found a greenside bunker. NO Haywood hit on this hole. Hole 8: 380ish downhill (to the creek at around 300) downwind. I hit driver so well I picked up the tee before it landed. When I couldn't find my ball, I was aghast. We found it. It had gone 303 yards to the edge of the creek. Had to hit 57 to the dreen (missed left). No GIR or Haywood hit on this hole. Hole 9: 485 yard par 5 straight downwind dogleg right. Tried to cut the corner and failed. I wound up in the right trees. Had to hit 2hybrid to punch out and had 136 exactly with the wind off the right helping. I hit 9I and PURED it...in fact...for the first time ever I took a divot like you see on TV! The kind where you have to go get the chunk of turf and actually put it back into your divot and it's all one piece so it fits perfectly. This does not happen on the courses I play here in Texas...I was amazed at the divot. I was also amazed that the turf interaction was so smooth. I shouldn't have been able to take a dollar-sized divot with dirt and grass attached and not have it slow my swing or rattle my hands. It was sooooo cool. Yes, the fairway was wet there, but it was soooooo cool. I hit it 132 total. GIR 5. Hole 10: 400ish yard par 4 wind off the right maybe into slightly. Smoked driver 263. Had 144.4 to the back pin. Hit 8I with the wind off the right. Hit it slightly thin (but again, slightly thin is good) and just a bit right (it did not draw at all, not even with the wind, so I think I faded it by accident or the strike was also with an open face). It carried a bunker, hit the green and rolled out almost pin high about 40' right. 142 yards total. GIR 6. Hole 11: 285 yard par 4 straight downwind. I tried to drive the green...hit a tree and wound up 108.1 yards out to an uphill green. In between the PW and 53 again, but hit the same 3/4 PW shot I did on 4 and had the exact same result. 106 total, 24' short/left of the pin. GIR 7. Hole 12: Conditions wise, this was the toughest wind hole I played. It was 25+ gusts dead into the wind on a 184.7 yard par 3 with water down the entire left side and gaping bunkers left and right short. I pulled 4I and told my friend I was playing with "there's no way this is enough club". I PURED IT and unbelievably stared in awe as the ball rose up and kept going perfectly straight before descending slowly until it softly landed on the very front of the green. It made a pitch mark and stayed in it 166 yards total. Was it near the flag...no, but to hit that green in those conditions with a straight as an arrow 4 iron was truly an awesome shot. GIR 8. 8 of 12 of GIRs. The 7th round in a row with positive strokes gained approach (even if it wasn't high...I blame hole 2 where I had to punch out as I know that was a negative SG shot and hole 7 where I had to lay up over the trees for the reason it was "only" +0.6). Hitting 8 of 12 GIR is well above my average. My proximity to the hole on the GIRs wasn't stellar, but with the wind blowing 15-25, it was tough to get anything really close. I'm really enjoying these practice rounds.

Plot twist: it's filled with hidden North Korean technology.