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Brian Parkinson

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Everything posted by Brian Parkinson

  1. I am very excited about the Kirkland Driver and Irons. I have played their gloves, balls, and wedges and found them to be so similar to OEM offerings that it just doesn't make sense to play anything else. That being said, I am anxious for your testing and review of the Kirkland offerings. Assuming they are in the top third of the testing they should be a major disruption in the golf economy. I'm also interested to see if they spec out as something a serious golfer can play, or if they are going to be strictly tailored to the game improvement category. (will they have too much offset/driver extreme MOI creating too much backspin etc.) Can hardly wait for the verdict to come out!
  2. Yes - initially spin went down. They didn't use different shafts - I did ask if there were certain shafts that would help with lower spin, but based on readings they were trying my spin up. They said it wasn't high enough with aerojet, srixon, or titleist. Didn't tinker with adapter. I have since set it to a draw, but it's only an 8gram moveable weight that really doesn't shift center of gravity much. While I typically pay attention to carry at home (since my course overwaters - in a severe drought state no less...I'm on the golf board and I can't get them to stop) and you don't get any roll. But I wasn't familiar enough with the GC3 printouts to see that - was focusing on spin, ball speed, yardage and ball flight.
  3. While my swing was completely different, I would say it had more to do with being indoors vs. outdoors. I think the GC3/Foresight use the same but better/updated (high-speed photo) tech as the skytrak so both should theoretically be similar. I hit a draw 90%+ typically. Something with the optics of the club was screwing with my head and i was leaving it wide open - again an issue with a different swing, but probably more because I wasn't inside a bay, but on a course without the same framing, and no real consequence for a bad line. I haven't given up on the club, but given the very limited results since purchase, I don't really think the fitting netted any better result than off the rack.
  4. Aerojet LS 10* Aerojet 5 wood Aerojet 3/4 Hybrids King Tour 5-GW Snake Bite 54*/60* Wedges King 3D Printed Grandsport-35 Black Putter
  5. Been taking lessons, and per my Skytrak, it was probably time for a new driver. I had been swinging in the low to mid 90's and at 5000' elevation was getting an average drive of 260-270 with 230-240 of carry and spin rates in the 2,200 range. As a result of the lessons, I started overspeed swing training and got my swing speed up to 105-110. However the spin rate went up to avg over 3,000 with my old 44.5" Cobra F8. I lowered the adjustable loft to 9* and switched the 6/16g weights to the 16 in the hosel position (even though I already play a draw) and the 6 in back. To no avail - still spinning over 3k and my 10-15 mph speed increase netting me maybe 10 yards more distance. So I went to PGA superstore and got fit. They did a great job and let me try 6 different drivers that I had identified as candidates that would probably work for me based on the MSG most wanted results. I also took my old F8 (which according to their GC3 was going 290 with 2,800 rpm) as a baseline and to make sure that anything was significantly better than I already had. After warming up and hitting several balls with each driver, they showed me the metrics and I would say did a very good job of zeroing in on what worked the best for me. They actually increased me from a 9* up to a 10* so i could get more spin using the TSR3 which was giving me the optimal results (and a 305 yard total and 2,300 rpm) Per the baseline I noticed a significant increase in ball speed and reduction in spin. The net gain was a 15 yards. Overall, I thought their fitter did a great job. Then I went to the course the next day and couldn't replicate the results at all. Went home to my skytrak and tried to figure it out. Ball speed was still good, but the spin went back up and i wasn't getting the great numbers anymore and had picked up a nasty slice. My question is, can anyone really tell from 10-20 drives in a hitting bay or range session that they have the best club for their game? Especially since we all have good days and bad days, which obviously means our swings vary from day to day. It is somewhat frustrating because a lot of review sites make it sound like fitting session are the holy grail but after my experience I almost wonder how much better off I am than getting as much information as possible and just buying off the rack (usually at a cheaper price). If being fit is superior I almost think it would take several sessions in several different locations so you can see how the club works with different perspectives.
  6. Been a cobra guy since my ZL. Currently Rocking the F8 Driver woods and hybrids. The only bad Cobra I had was a MB/CB beautiful black irons a few years back. Turns out I'm not good enough to hit a blade....
  7. Still so disappointed MSG only tested urethane balls. Anywho, I just bought a couple of dozen of the E12 Contact to try. Feels like such a miss that they didn't include some popular mid-grade balls to compare against the urethane. Seems like a lot of what MSG is about is getting the right data regardless of stereotype.
  8. Is MSG going to test the non-urethane balls? Just as the tour response/tour speed fits certain golfers better than the TP5/ProV, I wonder if there are non-urethane balls that fit certain golfers better. I like the Supersoft (but the matte cover is awful to putt with) , the Tour Soft, used to like the Duo (but too many of them cracked on me).
  9. Thanks Dave - 100% the point I was making. Maybe I give golfers too much cerebral credit, but the whole would I rather be 30yrds out vs 100yrds dilemma, I wouldn't have seen a a dilemma at all. But when you factor in the am I what % more likely to find rough, tree, hazard, etc. then it becomes more of an analysis. It definitely seemed like an incomplete at best to just plain bad article without trying to factor in the rest of the story.
  10. I just saw an article that talked about myth busting on laying up verses going for it. The article seemed to make the point you should always try to get as close as possible to the green vs laying up to a comfortable distance - but ignored hazards as part of their analysis. Hmmmm - that only seems like the biggest reason anyone would ever lay up. Every par 5 I have ever laid up on has a penalty area or narrowing of trees that is effectively as hazard. It would be interesting to find out what percentage of the time you need to be successful in challenging a hazard before it pays off. For instance, a drive on a par 5 over a ditch that has to carry 230 and OB right. Reward – 2nd shot in the 250yd range at a green protected by sand. Verses a hybrid lay-upi n the 300 yard range – fairway wood for second shot to the 100 yard range. How many extra birdies does the drive to 250 get you verses the extra OB/water penalty. Or for a par 5 with a 2nd shot though a narrow gap of trees from 125-75 yards of the green. Is it better to lay up with a safer iron at the 125, or pull fairway wood which is typically more errant and get stuck in the trees and have to chip out. That would be a cool analysis. Is there such an analysis? I know the application would depend greatly on the individual golfer and his success rate carrying 230/hitting fairway through a small gap of trees etc, but I wonder if there are rules of thumb for certain success rates?
  11. Back in the day, I thought it was fun, and learned a ton making my own clubs. This was probably the late 90's/early 00's, and there were several high quality component companies such as Dynacraft, Golfsmith, Maltby, Wishon, and even Hireko made some good Acer products. Obviously some of those have gone under, and others purchased by other less quality/more clone-ish clubs. But it would seem with the explosion in the price of clubs in the last few years that this niche would become attractive again. Are there some good companies out there that I haven't heard of? To me, the ultimate fitting experience is designing your own clubs, just not sure I still have the time...
  12. I recently picked up some of the Sketcher Torque Pro's after reading the most wanted spiked shoe category. One of the main reason's I went with them was their score on the comfort/elements/traction rankings. I typically play every morning at 6, and in our beautiful Idaho summers, the course is always very wet with dew/watering, and mowed grass sticks to your feet. I've noticed that I'm literally skating/sliding around vs. my old Puma Ignites or Footjoy Contour Flexes. I've thought about replacing them with the New Balance they rated very highly as they did very well in the elements and comfort, but not as well in traction. Based on what I've experienced with the sketchers, the traction really couldn't be that much worse... Does anyone have shoes they recommend that check the comfort/element/traction boxes? thx!
  13. I built a nice room onto my house with an impact screen, putting surface floor, skytrak. I went with the real feel gorilla mat. I got the 3 x5 one without the thick rubber base, which makes it more portable to grab my net and head to the office and hit balls at lunch, but it can scoot a tiny bit while swinging, and I wish i had got the 5x5 so that i didn't have to adjust the placement of the skytrak when i move from hitting a driver or iron. There was, and is, so little information on impact screens, hitting mats, nets, and putting surfaces. It has been fun to see MGS start to cover some of that stuff this year.
  14. Has MGS ever done a most wanted on hitting surfaces? Seems like they've done most wanted on some pretty peripheral stuff, but to me that's one of the most critical parts of practice. Does anyone have enough experience with them to say one they might recommend?
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