snicerz

This is my chief complaint too. It fits smaller drinks ok but if you get a big gulp or something it's a bit awkward. I also noticed that it' a bit "too" balanced. Since the drink situation is not ideal, I tried bringing a small water jug. With heavier bags, it's fine. With a carry bag, a half gallon jug will sometimes cause the cart to tip back if attached near the handle of the cart.

Now I'm starting to think I need to try out the X2. I can usually keep it pretty straight but I felt like the X1 never really gave me what I wanted on the long end of my bag.

Ok, last set of tests are complete! I am still hoping to get out for a couple rounds on a course with mowed fairways before the final report is published but at least I finally found time to get back on the sim. Why does work and weather have to interfere with my golf!? 3 Wood Testing Ball Speed Similar to the 4 hybrid test, ball speed for the X1 was middle of the pack. At this point, I kind of expected this. Launch Angle As with the 4 hybrid, I don't actually know what my "normal" launch angle is with my 3W. I would describe it as low but again I didn't really know on this particular club. I should probably mention that I was hitting off the mat with no tee for the 3W. I'm not sure what was up with the ProV1 but it was very low. I would consider the X1 to again be about middle of the pack regarding launch angle (not counting the ProV1). Spin At this end of the bag, I'm looking for lower spin numbers. The OnCore was actually on the lower side to my surprise. This matches the advertising and I could feel like I was able to get away with a bit more inconsistency in my swing here. Keeping in mind that the 3W is not my strongest club, I'll take a fairly consistent, relatively lower spinning ball to help me out any day. Carry The OnCore took the #2 spot here! It did in fact have more carry and total distance compared to the competition. Driver Testing Ball Speed Slow. . . I'm not sure what happened here. I'm not too concerned since it didn't seem to effect total distance much. I will say that for the Driver, I changed my method a little bit. Instead of hitting a handful of shots to get 5 "good" shots, I just took 5 shots period. Good or not, each ball got only 5 shots. Launch Angle I usually launch my Driver a bit low. 13* was the highest of the bunch. Not a bad thing as long as spin doesn't get too high. Spin A bit on the high side but not too bad. I will say that the OnCore X1 was the least consistent in regards to spin for me. Distance The X1 was short for me. I'm attributing this to the slower ball speed and higher spin. Again, consistency was a concern here with the X1 being the least consistent in my test. Feel, sound, special sauce? I still have mixed feelings about the X1. It did fine today but I haven't really noticed anything that makes it stand out compared to the other balls I'm testing. I'm looking forward to getting a couple more rounds in and my playing group is planning on going on the road this weekend to hit a couple area courses. At this point, I'm hovering around 4/5 stars. Results so far: Putter = 5/5 Wedges = 5/5 Irons = 4.5/5 Hybrid = 3/5 Wood = 4/5 Driver = 4/5 On course experience = 4/5

Had more rounds to post but since we basically threw the rule book into our uncut fairways and lost it, I don’t see the point. Still a good round at my course is in the upper 70s for me with the current conditions. Basically, every shot is 100% carry and no roll out (even drives). Greens are great but fairways are about 4” deep at this point. IF you find your ball, it’s a terrible and generally buried lie. My best round this weekend was a 76 and long drive was about 280 iirc. It’s definitely been rough - pun intended.

Well, good news is that I had a couple great rounds this weekend. Bad news is that I didn’t use the X1’s. I say great but we definitely didn’t play by the rules. If we couldn’t find a shot, we took free relief with the honor system of drop where your shot should be. I tried playing again with the X1 on Friday and ended up losing 6 balls. Again, not in the normal way of sending a shot to the woods or water. Nope lost all 6 in the “fairway”. I decided that since my course can’t seem to even cut grass anymore, I’m not going to keep donating balls on good shots. It’s a little ridiculous that I hit a good shot, find 3-4 balls in the area mine landed in the 4” fairway grass but can’t find mine. Anyways, rant over. I’ll try to get more time on the launch monitor and maybe get to one of the city courses for a final round with the X1 this week.

Got out to play a round yesterday. I had a ball that I've used a number of times and that took some abuse from trees and cart paths but unfortunately, I "lost" it in the fairway on the first hole. We got a ton of rain last week and only a few holes have been mowed since. The fairway grass was a bit over ankle high and everyone was having trouble. While I only lost this one ball today, I found at least 15 others throughout the round. Misery loves company right? Anyways, while I don't have any pic of how well it held up over maybe 300 shots, I will say that it was still in playable condition. A few minor scuffs but nothing too crazy. I've definitely played with worse conditions. However, I am getting more picky on when a ball needs to be retired. Nevertheless, the X1 was still playing as expected. I didn't notice any distance or spin issues despite the abuse it had been through. Since the course is in a bit of a scruffy state right now, I might go find a bunker to see how many sand shots they can take. I've noticed that sand shots are usually what shorted the life of the ball most for me.

Date 05/17/2023 Course Name Surrey Hills Gross Score 79 Course Handicap 0 Gross Strokes over/under par 8 Net Score to Par 8 Net Score 79 Net Birdies or better 2 Longest Drive 287 All this rain and sitting around lead to a rough start this round. Back 9 got better but I think it's more to do with the fact that it was mowed since we got all that rain last week. Most of the fairways were over ankle high. This lead to zero roll out and often a buried lie when hitting into the green. On the other hand, I lost count of how many stray balls I found in the middle of the fairway. The greens were great though! A bit more manageable speed compared to before the rain and finally soft enough to hold as long as I made a decent shot. I actually saw ball marks on the green for once!

Called mom, still got rained out. . . Forecast for this week? Highs in the 70s and some clouds.

Look what finally showed up this week!!! I was able to get one round in with them before all the nasty weather. God I love these clubs! Now I just need a couple shiney new wedges to match my shiney new irons and I’ll be ready to rock.

Hoping to get out for a round or two Sunday. We'll see how the weather holds up. Worst case, I can probably get on the sim again.

Date 05/12/2023 Course Name Surrey Hills Gross Score 75 Course Handicap 0 Gross Strokes over/under par 3 Net Score to Par 3 Net Score 75 Net Birdies or better 2 Longest Drive 298 First round with the new irons! It wasn't bad. I made some mistakes and #3 ate my lunch on the 2nd go around. Otherwise, it was pretty decent for a "tired" round.

Well, I tried to test 4 clubs today. Yeah, didn't make it. By the time I got to my 3W, I was gassed. Got "mad" and sent that shot with the 3W about 270 yds. The previous 15 or so shots were under 230 total distance. Anyways, I did manage to get time with my 8i and 4 hybrid. The results were enlightening to say the least. Not only was I able to see what worked and what didn't for me, I also got to see how the X1 handles clubs that naturally have a bit more dispersion and inconsistency. Same as with the 54* tests - "experienced" clubs but they got a nice bath before testing. All of these balls came fresh out of the sleeve. I only took the best 5 shots with each ball. I limited the number of shots to 10 total for each ball. I was tired today and I got to 10 on a couple balls. Average on course carry with my 8 iron is in the 160-165 yds ballpark. Average on course carry with my 4h is 205-210 yds. 8 Iron Testing Ball Speed OnCore claims the X1 will provide higher ball speeds off the tee and I assumed as much with irons as well. This thing was fast though. It took the #1 spot compared to the other balls I hit. Not only that but the ball speed was controlled - it also had one of the lower standard deviations for ball speed. I noticed with the ProV1, the ball was quick but not always. I was still pretty fresh on the ProV1 so not sure what that was all about. Launch Angle Launch angle was on the higher end of the spectrum but again very consistent. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Spin If you recall from the 54* test, I need help spinning the ball up. Some of it is my swing, some of it is my clubs. The Mavriks are great for getting the ball in the air and down the field. Not the greatest for spinning up the ball. The OnCore was great! 5000 rpm on an 8 iron is awesome for me. The only drawback was that I was considerably less consistent with the spin compared to the incumbent (TP5). Carry Very consistent. The carry across the board was a bit above average today. Maybe the 90* temps and humidity let me warm up and loosen up more than usual. Again, the theme with the X1 is consistency so far. I was not disappointed here. Feel, sound, special sauce? Nothing really stood out to me when hitting it with an iron. The feel from last time, "Not necessarily 'hard' but firm." is still accurate. To be honest, the TP5 has some competition. At this point, I'd be hard pressed to pay a premium for the other balls in my tests. The X1 works the same but costs less. Win-win. 4 Hybrid Testing Ball Speed Kind of middle of the pack here. I assumed it would maintain it's relative speed from the 8i but instead it just blended in with the pack. However, the X1 did seem a little less consistent compared to the competition. This may be due more to my fatigue at this point but I'm also not going to be 100% towards the end of a round or during a 2nd round for the day. You may have noticed this is also reflected in the dispersion of carry and total distances. Launch Angle To be transparent, I don't know what my "normal" launch angle is with my 4h. This seems low but the carry and total numbers check out so I guess I tend to launch it around 9-10*. The X1 fit in with the crowd. Was a bit less consistent here too. Spin Spin is once again on the high side. Not a bad thing for me. I did feel like I was all over the place hitting these shots though. Turns out, maybe I'm just not that consistent with my 4h. The ProV1 was another story. I think that ball can stay in the woods because throughout the tests today it was a wild beast. Carry Below average? Not sure what was going on here. I felt like I was hitting the ball well but I guess that little bit of extra spin was enough to shave a few yards off the carry and total distances. This does concern me a little since it may cause a gapping issue with my 5i. I may need to hit a few shots on the quad with my 5i to see what's going on. Feel, sound, special sauce? The X1 just didn't do it for me on the hybrid. It felt a little less consistent and I lost some distance. While the wedge and iron were like 4.9/5 stars, the hybrid was maybe a 3/5. It wasn't bad but not great either. I'm interested to see how it transitions through the 3w and Driver. On course, it's been fine but the numbers don't lie. If anything, I start thinking about what if I was playing ball X? Would I have been able to save that hybrid shot and that hole last round? So there you have it. The ball is still in the air. . . (kinda hate myself for leaving that line there). Putter = awesome Wedges = awesome Irons = mostly awesome Hybrid = ok, I guess Wood = tbd Driver = tbd On course experience = good but now I'm starting to blame the ball on things. I've had some rough rounds lately. Putting has not been as good as usual. Drives have varied, I don't use the 3W too often but it hasn't been great, my hybrid also hasn't been great. I wonder if part of it is related to using the X1 these last few rounds.

Chubbs finally showed up and had his first round with me this weekend.

Date 05/07/2023 Course Name Surrey Hills Gross Score 83 Course Handicap 0 Gross Strokes over/under par 12 Net Score to Par 12 Net Score 83 Net Birdies or better 3 Longest Drive 319 Back to my old round tracking app. There was an update while I was gone and I like the improvements. UI is a little cleaner and easier to use. I don't use it much but when I did, it was better than before. However, this was a nightmare round. I was cursed until #15 with a continuous streak of either bogey or birdie. Unfortunately, it was more bogey than birdie. #15 I broke the streak playing a side game with my group. Tee shot was short, couldn't get my 2nd shot across the pond in the wind. Walked off with a double cheeseburger. Long "drive" First a question: Does it have to be a Driver and what if it stopped in a water hazard? I think my next best tee shot was 299 but I got 319 to where I dropped after hitting this one to the creek. Moral of the story, yes you can still shoot in the 80s with 13 bogeys and a double. Here's hoping I can do better next round.

Date 05/06/2023 Course Name Surrey Hills Gross Score 77 Course Handicap 1 Gross Strokes over/under par 6 Net Score to Par 5 Net Score 76 Net Birdies or better 2 Longest Drive 293 My last round trying the golfshot app. Not the best round but it worked out ok.