vandyland

I am going to zag and say I don't like Morikawa for a few reasons. Awesome player but a few things about him bother me: - Seems like a total brand robot - Seems a bit spoiled - A "trackman/driving range" player that hits pretty much one shot all the time (he's really good at it but still kind of boring) - Lacks personality other than smiling a lot (which feels forced) - Doesn't seem to be friendly with other tour players except maybe the top 10 in the world. Carries himself like he is the next tiger at times (in my eyes) - I really don't understand why he is in SO many advertisements. Must have an incredible agent because he, himself, is not really very interesting outside of his major wins. Just don't ever find myself rooting for him. Obviously guys like Cantlay and Keegan are unlikeable as well but I wanted to take someone off the board currently.

Played twice this week and shot 73/76 which is good for me at that golf course. Irons have been great, wedges decent, putting decent and driving has been a tad erratic. Currently seeing a two way miss which is manageable but could portend trouble down the road. Also have been able to have a few range and short game sessions this week. Probably hit 70-100 30 yd pitches from different spots and about 30 bunker shots. Also played the up/down game trying to get up/down from various places around the practice green. On the range, working mostly on 75% mid irons trying to keep my hips from getting out ahead and resisting the urge to stand up in the back swing. So far so good. Short game has come a long way in the last few months. It is a great relief to not be worried about my technique on short shots and just be able to feel the shot.

Do I need to put it somewhere or just list it in a message here? 69.7 / 125 -- par 72

Date 04/22/2024 Course Name Harpeth Hills Golf Course Gross Score 73 Course Handicap 4 Gross Strokes over/under par 1 Net Score to Par -3 Net Score 69 Net Birdies or better 0 Longest Drive 0 Beautiful weather and a beautiful round outside of a sloppy double bogey.

Been hitting balls multiple times this week and feel like my shortgame is in a really good place. Chipping and pitching has felt automatic so I am less consumed with technical thoughts and able to just focus on the shot. As for the full swing, that still has more than a few technical thoughts (as always) associated with it. Not raising up in the backswing is a big one but also keeping my hips quiet and back in the downswing. The scottie scheffler slide drill ingrains that fairly well but I don't really want that creeping into my swing. Still can get a little spinny from the top so working on tempering that, as always. Probably won't get to play much the next few weeks as we have a newborn (priorities, I know) but might get out towards the end of paternity leave.

Current swing, happy with it so not looking for feedback or to change anything. Ball flight is a light draw at the moment. FullSizeRender.MOV Hit about 70 balls at 80% working on not spinning out early. Chipped and pitched for 20 minutes after that.

One more shoutout to @EnderinAZ, his review is unlike any other I have seen before and I mean that as a compliment. I feel very good about my review but if you want to really see how this ball, especially visually, stacks up against other balls his videos do an excellent job on showing the roll and setup. Also, I don't want to bury the lede on how labor intensive the building of his chipper/putter looks. Great stuff!

Closed out my testing with my final round in the testing window this weekend. Not that anyone cares what anyone else shoots but I shot 71 with 5 birdies which is basically a 0 differential. My rounds with the Maxfli Tour X align: 4/6/2024 - 71 (0.8 differential) 3/28/2024 - 76 (5.7 differential) 3/24/2024 - 71 (2.6 differential) 3/20/2024 - 73 (3.0 differential) 3/15/2024 - 73 (3.0 differential) 3/9/2024 - 73 (0.4 differential) 5 rounds immediately preceding the switch to the Maxfli Tour X (ProV1x): 3/4/2024 - 83 (10.5 differential) 2/18/2024 - 78 (8.1 differential) 2/17/2024 - 84 (16 differential) 2/11/2024 - 79 (7.0 differential) 2/4/2024 - 83 (10.5 differential) Is it ALL down to the ball? Probably not. There was some bad weather in February but I can't ignore how well I have been playing with the new ball. Also, strokes gained putting is now positive most every round which it was not before. Alignment aid in full effect there along with CG balance. Very pleased with what might be my most important gear switch this year.

Had a fantastic saturday round. Played a golf course that is easily now, after playing it, in my Top 5 most fun golf courses of all time* and made 5 birdies to shoot 71 which is a 0.2 differential on the old GHIN (par 70). Maybe hit 2 bad shots all day. Driver was on cruise control, putts were going in, wedges were flighting. It was great. I just tried to think of the pressure of playing well as EXCITEMENT rather than nerves. Stayed with my swing thoughts and just loved every second of it. Golf is truly more fun when things are going well and trying to manage my own expectations as after I made 3 birdies in a row was a challenge but we did it. * In no particular order: True Blue, Pinehurst No. 4, Pursell Farms, Tobacco Road, Park Mammoth (KY)

There are some good quotes from Dr. Alister MacKenzie that resonate with me: FUN -- "Narrow fairways bordered by long grass make bad golfers. They do so by destroying the harmony and continuity of the game and in causing a stilted and a cramped style, destroying all freedom of play." When talking about wide fairways it always seems synonymous with the thought that we “are going to make the golf course too easy.” Yes, it will be easier in many ways. It will be easier to find your ball, easier for you to recover from a poor shot, and probably easier to maintain the golf course conditioning. But wide fairways can present an accurate player more options, he/she can hit the left, right or center of the fairway to find the best ANGLE. DESIGN -- "The chief consideration that should influence us in making any alterations to a golf course is to give the greatest pleasure to the greatest number. Any change to a course that does not do this is manifestly a failure.” Too often in the past it seemed like golf courses were always made tougher, longer, more stressful. For who? The 3% who play at a + handicap level or the masses? Thankfully, I feel like golf course design is pulling back from the direction of making golf courses overly penal and frustrating. OPTIONS Borrowing from Brian Ross, I have to agree that in golf there is one over-arching goal: to get the ball in the hole in as few strokes as possible. In contrast to this singular goal, the best experience typically involves a variety of options for how to play each one of those strokes. Options come from wider fairways and greens that are surrounded by short grass with at least one angle into the green allowing for a run up shot so golfers have the option to hit any club in the bag on any shot. From multiple angles on each hole so golfers have an option for which route they want to take to get the ball close to the pin. Finally, providing at least one clear path to the hole so that even a hacker has the chance/opportunity to finish the golf hole.

Not a major OEM but Maltby would be a non-descript, no advertising, shag your own balls range that had excellent grass, balls and clubs to use. Cobra would be very tech forward and 99% revolving around ball speed and distance. May not even give you irons or wedges. Just full send drivers all the time. Titleist would be members only and would definitely enforce a dresscode.

Just a round with some good players (all better than me) at a course an hour away that I have been wanting to play. Something that generally makes me nervous which I just assume is excitement. There is always the desire to play well but it is amplified under such conditions. Not a competition or anything, I just want to play well.

Test for the YouTube channel short video uploads. Want to see what a short displays like: Vs a regular video upload:

Had a range session yesterday in what seriously felt like 40 mph winds. I believe I read somewhere that range sessions in high winds are not particularly helpful. To that end, I was struggling a little bit with my release so I just chalked it up to a bad day and went and chipped/pitched. I have a big round coming up this weekend that I am excited about so hopefully I did not forget how to play golf (again). Will hopefully get back to the range today or tomorrow to see what is going on these days. As always, when the ball flight/contact starts to get squirrelly, I start second guessing my setup/takeaway/first move down...all that. As always, I expect it is just me either yanking down on the club in transition or not casting "deep" enough. Something that ends up with my hips getting out in front of me is typically a death move.

Got in a little more chipping and pitching work with these. They do what I expect and I am loving the control. Holed out a number of times and even holed out on my second chip of the day!