[Why are we still using Swingweight?]

On 5/8/2024 at 7:55 AM, Sonny Beach said:

You can make a telephone pole swing weight D2 if you wanted too but could you swing it? How big, strong and tall are you? Provided the overall weight is manageable for the individual, the swing weight matters for swing consistency and club performance. Swing weight too heavy, club digs. Too light thin shots and whiffs. Somewhere in-between is what you need. Go get fitted to find that out, if you do nothing else. . 

 

You make 2 important points here (and I'm of the opinion that swing weight doesn't matter much)

1.  The telephone pole example is exactly the point.  If we can make swing weight equal "anything we want" with the components we use, what does it REALLY matter?   Is it really a measure of anything useful? 

2.  I'll answer my own question, it doesn't.  Because of your second point.  you need swing weight to be "somewhere in between".  

We can make a club swing weight at d0.  That club could be built with a super heavy shaft.  We could also make a club built with a 40 gram shaft swing weight at d0.  I guarantee from testing, those 2 clubs will NOT feel the same to swing.  Worse, we can make a d0 club with most of the weight at the balance point OR we can make that same d0 with huge counterweights and head weights.  Again, those 2 clubs will NOT swing the same, even though they have identical swing weights.   This is from feedback when you blindly hand those setups to testers, they all say the same thing "wow, this feels heavy/light".  The NEVER say, wow, this feels exactly the same.  All just data to suggest swing weight is a fairly irrelevant measure. 

Most players just need swing weight to be reasonable and they can play.  The rest of the micro analysis that people are doing isn't real, it's part of that wonderful placebo vs the golfers brain.  Do some blind testing (which hardly any player does), and you'll probably be surprised.

 

[2024 What is safe in your bag? What's on the chopping block?]

Putter - SC armlock made custom - Safe, love the feel

Wedges - old solas wedges - safe, love the sole

Irons - Mavrik pro's w/steelfibers - pretty safe, but a bad round could change that

Hybrids - Taylormade from like 7 years ago - safe, fill the gap they are supposed to

3 wood - Callaway epoch SZ 13.5 - NOT SAFE - I hate 3 woods

Driver - Sim2 - NEVER safe

[Takomo - cautionary take]

On 5/18/2023 at 1:55 PM, RobGNA said:

Hey guys - wanted to share an experience I had with Takomo recently.

I recently received a new set of Takomo 101 irons with graphite shafts. On 3 of the 7 irons received, I cannot screw in my Shot Scope club tag to the butt of the grip - it seems like the hole in the grip is blocked. I can't even fit a small wire or pin into the grip hole, whereas on the other 4 irons, I was able to do so without issue. Note my irons were ordered 1/2" long. So, I messaged them asking for help.  Their response was:

"We are using the extra weight on the grips to balance the swing weight. Those extra weights may sometimes block the butt. Unfortunately, we can't help you with this."

Hmmm... Not the response I was anticipating.  So I wrote back, asking if they could escalate my issue to a manager and let me know whether or not there is anything that Takomo is willing to do here. They wrote back again:

"We hear you, but unfortunately, there is nothing we can do here. Custom set requires special adjustments so that we can meet the wanted swing weight. We will learn from this and look for other options in the future."

Now, I can think of several ways that they could address my issue. But the fact that they flat out said that there is nothing that they can do, to me is baffling. Needless to say, this is the first and last time I will buy from Takomo, which is a shame because the DTC concept makes so much sense. I'll likely take a good look at Sub 70 or PXG for my next clubs - happen to be in the market for a new 5-wood and hybrid.

 

 

Wow, some of the responses here are super defensive of this OEM.  It is highly unusual for an OEM golf company to use a counterweight under the grip to get a swing weight.  If a company was doing that, I'd expect them to tell me since that is a weird solution to dealing with weight.  In fact, some people don't like the feel of counterbalancing regardless of the swing weight.   I would have expected them to tell you when you ordered that they would have to counterweight to get the length and SW correct.

What you're really describing, in my opinion, is a set of clubs that's being made in an odd way.  counterbalancing under the grip is not how I'd expect an OEM to get swing weights right.  I don't think the shot scope sensors being installed is really the issue, I think the issue is the manufacturer counterweighted some clubs to hit swing weights, a very atypical way to accomplish that, without tell the customer.   If that was the industry standard method, like adding tip weights to get a SW, I would get their response.  But it's just not. 

As others have said, if you drill a tiny hole through the opening, you might be able to get the sensors in.  I hear you though, I don't think this was appropriate or the correct way to build your set without your knowledge.

[Is GolfWRX even relevant anymore?]

42 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BNG said:

This thread is not for discussing “issues”with WRX. The title asks if WRX is relevant anymore and you a free to state one way or the other with your reasoning but just complaining about wrx is pointless. I get that you are frustrated but MyGolfSpy is not a place to complain about other forums. I see most of your posts here are in this thread. I’m glad you found something to talk about here but if this is the only reason you come here, you won’t be happy. 

 

36 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

It’s a thread about is wrx relevant anymore as the title says, it’s not a thread about issues with wrx.

you posted on a public forum where people are going to respond and provide the j opinion on what’s posted. You claimed in your post it was probably your fault for the first post being removed so I think the summary of what happened is correct, you didn’t follow the rules and got a post removed and told why, you did it again and got a warning. There’s no debating what you posted. 
 

If you don’t want peoples opinions on what you post, probably a good idea to not post yours first 

Guys, this is LITERALLY a thread discussing nothing but golfwrx issues that go back all the way to 2019, prior to me even coming.  Issues of web design, BST, communication problems, membership declines, bad articles....etc.  The good and the bad (including Issues) are what make a forum relevant or not.   

 If you think golfwrx is doing all the right things and staying relevant, cool, you can feel that way.  I don't have to agree, and since months ago I made a reference to censorship I figured it might be nice to circle back around and show a concrete example of something that happened over the weekend that many would deem censorship.  Something you can't see as a user, because it's already missing.   

You can disagree and say it's all my fault, that's fine, but I also don't have to agree.  And as almost a 20 year user over there, I fell like I have some perspective on what it was like being a member prior.  

[Is GolfWRX even relevant anymore?]

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

So twice you violated the terms of the thread and are upset you got warnings and posts removed. That’s not anyone’s fault but yours.

The PGA championship isn’t a PGA tour event, it’s run a different organization, yes they have the same 3 letters in the name but they aren’t the same. Since Block has two sponsor  exemptions it makes sense for the PGA tour to talk about him. It draws eyes to the event and creates a buzz. The PGA tour is doing what any organization would do in promoting an event. They are using the hot person/topic. It’s not a slight to Brooks who’s not on the tour and won’t be anytime soon.

I agree that the Block story is a bigger story than Brooks winning when it gets remembered. 

As for the LIV thread I don’t know why your post isn’t getting posted but after two warming’s in another thread it’s likely your actions are what’s preventing your post from getting approved. Not agreeing with the mods or disagreeing with you, but from the outside looking in its user fault and not mods quietly censoring anything 

 

I was not proposing we discuss the PGA, PGAT, LIV, Block or Brooks in this thread.  You're entitled to your opinion on all of that, and so am I.

And no, your summary of what happened isn't accurate.  But that's cool, I wasn't asking for an opinion.  I was sharing what happened as an example of the changes at golfwrx.

 

[Is GolfWRX even relevant anymore?]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

They are free to do what they want with their platform and their users or members need to follow such rules. 

Their stance and guidelines on Liv have been pretty clear from day one. It to me was pretty clear they don't want any reference or anything Liv related in non liv threads... Therefore pushing that envelope comes with the expected reaction. 

I get what you're saying, but frankly it's up to you if you want to participate there or not. There are other places which I'm sure would welcome your points and posts more without the frustration. 

 

I'm not trying to be confrontational, but honestly, I'm not sure what the point was in your response and I don't need suggestions on what to do.  Sorry if I somehow made it seem otherwise.  This is a thread discussing issues at Golfwrx, not a thread asking for other sites and forums to participate in.  No one said they can't do what they want BUT, no one said we can't talk about it (here anyway, they won't let you talk about it over there).  they are not being transparent in what they are doing and MO people should know.  And there's no way to know unless someone comes along and posts these things, because it's all deleted or censored before you can read it.

If you want to censor, even in the LIV thread, fine. If you want to make it so a LIV winner of a major can't be discussed because they come from a different tour, maybe don't have a thread about that championship if LIV players are in the field?  But fine, we won't . for what it's worth, they seem to allow references to LIV in those thread(s), they just don't like any reference to LIV or any context that makes the PGA look bad..  And you're right, they can choose to do all those things, but I can also choose to share that they do it, right?

Certainly, everyone will make up their own mind.  They have a large number of members and I've been over there for a VERY long time. There is value over there, with ton's of club building info and experts who can help as well.  BUT,  I also think people should know this stuff is happening, because the way they are doing it is NOT transparent or obvious.

 

[Is GolfWRX even relevant anymore?]

So I came back in this thread to post a specific example of what’s happening at golfwrx, because it's not really obvious at times on the outside:

So when Brooks won the PGA, many of us were in the “PGA championship thread” discussing various parts of the tournament and the players.  In one of my posts, I referenced the Block articles that were coming out and how the PGA has been trying to make that the story because a LIV golfer won “their” major.  That post got deleted by the mods for containing LIV discussion (even though a LIV player won)….ok, maybe that one is my fault? There is a warning at the top of that thread saying “no liv discussions”.  I didn’t think I was having a LIV discussion per se, but I’m not sure, maybe I was wrong to post it.

Now, for context, it was coming up because there were people in the thread saying things like “block is the real story, no one will remember who won this PGA, we are all just going to remember block.  The winner is so overshadowed by a much better story….”.  Something many of us did not believe.  And frankly, something that I’m not even sure is a real opinion, I kinda suspect these were from accounts that might be golfwrx mod accounts.  But never the less …

So later in the same thread, it came up again.  So I said something like “the PGA is seeding the block articles because they don’t want to deal with another tour player winning one of their events, so they are trying to make a different story the highlight”.  I didn’t reference LIV by name, just that the winner was from another tour.  That post was deleted again by a mod, and I was formally warned and given a “demerit” on my account for discussing LIV.

I messaged the moderator and asked what I did wrong in the second post, since I never named liv, as of right now, they still have not answered.

Ok….so the instructions at the top of the forum say “if you want to say things about liv, do it in “the official” liv thread”.  I wanted to discuss the PGA championship, but no big deal, I’ll move over to the other thread.   At this point, the PGA Tour instagram account has like 20 block references, and nothing about Brooks, even some of the instagram users were starting to give the PGAT crap about not discussing the winner.  Anyway, I move over to the LIV thread, and I post a similar message asking if others felt the Block story was the thing the PGA wants to be popular since they don’t want to deal with a LIV player winning one of the majors and the implication that has on the strength of fields if LIV players aren’t invited to compete.  Blah blah blah….

But here’s the kicker, the LIV thread is a special kind of thread that ONLY allows posts to appear IF they get approved by a moderator.  As of right now, that post is still not approved and will not post to the thread.   My guess from prior experience, it won’t ever be approved and will never appear.

That's what I’m referring to when I say that GOLFWRX is quietly censoring the forum since their relationship with the PGA kicked in.  If they don't like the thing you want to discuss, they just delete the posts and/or never approve them. 

[Unofficial Poll - White Pants]

Wear whatever colors you want.  Why should anyone else care?

 

[Is GolfWRX even relevant anymore?]

2 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

They aren’t controlling narrative in most threads, and I haven’t been in the LIV thread but the conversation got to political and they wanted to avoid that. What they are controlling is personal attacks and members getting off track to cause problems. Just see the amg shallow thread. 
 

As for the bst when you have a growing membership at some point you are going to get new members just there to sell. There’s one or two members who only post here to sell.

If you think they are irrelevant you misunderstand the reach they have. The amg shallow thread has numerous teaching professionals reading that thread who aren’t members 

 

Again, I clearly said the aren't irrelevant, so.....?

I'm sorry, but they are controlling the narrative.  I know from personal experience, I've had posts rejected by moderators that had NOTHING to do with politics, and were not attacks on anyone.  I've talked with other long time members in private, they've had the same exact experiences.  There are entire sections of threads that get deleted, I know you don't realize that because they are already missing when you read them, but for those of us in them it makes no sense.  They were not attacks, they were discussions about marketing ethics, or some other thing they don't like.  or simply saying things like the positives that were in a broadcast.  So I completely disagree based on the actual experience I've had with rejected posts, closed threads, etc.  

I understand the need to stop personal attacks and political nonsense, but that's not what they are doing.  And with the PGA sponsorship, it's becoming more obvious they don't want LIV conversations.  For example, we can have 100 threads discussing the minutia of the PGA tour, but all "liv tour" discussions have to be in 1 thread?  

I'm not sure what your point really was, they certainly are relevant.  They will be especially relevant to people obsessed with the PGA tour, given the access they are likely going to get.  I obviously don't agree with you about their control over the content, I've seen first hand, if they don't want something discussed they shut it down or take the posts out.  And they aren't attacks on anything or anyone (except the PGA tour at times, or marketing ethics of some manufacturers, etc).

As for BST, maybe it's inevitable but it doesn't change the fact that it stinks.   

[Is GolfWRX even relevant anymore?]

12 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Apologies. Given the Topic of the thread, just read it with that undertone. My bad.

It's tough I guess, they have a fine line to walk or a decision they have made in the LIV PGA discussion and are prepared to live with the consequences of that decision. 

My own personal thing with WRX is it feel chaotic to me. Likely because I'm not on there enough, but I find it hard to follow along with many conversations and notice some shorter blunt comments when truly seeking help or advice. It is a reason I came here and am more of a looker vs poster there.

 

No worries, I was just clarifying. 

Yeah, I think that's a fair criticism.  I've been a member over there a long time, and at times I've participated a lot.  In that experience, I think I learned there are a handful of members that seem to like being short and disruptive (probably the same in most large forums).  There's also a set of members who are just 100% dug-in on their opinions, and will repetitively post about it again and again.  There's also some "guru" members, who frankly, are sometimes helpful, and sometimes sharing opinion (it's hard to tell sometimes).  For example, back when adjustable driver hosels came out there was a premier member over there who kept posting all these "informational" posts about how they didn't work and didn't do anything.  Of course, they provided a "wood lie and loft adjustment service" and sold their own line of bendable woods.  So.....you can decide what that was about.  

I think the largest change that I've seen over there is in the BST.  That used to be one of the best places for getting deals on really unique stuff.  But now, it's more like people dumping stuff at MSRP that they found in an outlet or at a pawn shop.  Or let's be real, it's industry folks using their purchase discounts and then reselling at MSRP.  Anyway, it's the most disappointing part of the changes for me. 

[Passive Aggressive Golf Sayings]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/passive-aggressive-golf-comments-worst-compliments

Came up in my feed and gave it a read... Had very mixed feelings on it. 

I'm sure I say some of those things, but I would imagine a lot of it is situational and meant in a helpful manner...

What do you all think on these? Do you use them? What's the worst one that is said to you and what is one or a few that you use?

 

 

 

I think a smarter use of your time as a player is to learn how to ignore the other players and focus.  I don't care what anyone says, I'm not listening when I'm playing.

[Is GolfWRX even relevant anymore?]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

We have one Central thread for LIV discussion. Much like them. It is a decision made to keep that divisive topic contained and not effect other areas of the forum. Also we aren't nearly as PGA centered. 

Stay tuned for a BST update here as well!

WRX has a huge following and while I don't post there I do have a account and check in from time to time. Many do. 

Part of being a much larger membership are those things where things need to be looked at more. 

We are fortunate here with a pretty unique online community that differs in ways for both the better and worse. 

I've said it before and say it again. WRX will always be relevant as they are a massive site which has found it's niche and is incredibly successful.

 

I definitely didn't say I thought golfWRX was irrelevant, however I do think they are changing significantly.  If it's for the good or bad is out for debate, but many of us over there are not super happy and have been withdrawing.  

IMO censoring conversations, not because they are political or inappropriate, but because you have an agreement with another entity that doesn't like them is NOT for the betterment of the game, that's for the betterment of the owners of both.  Some of us are starting to feel like there's a whole lot of "BS speak" going on over there.

[Is GolfWRX even relevant anymore?]

So it's interesting, I think this topic should be revived.  

Golfwrx has been censoring their content now for a while, more and more threads require "moderator" approval to post in, so they can control the narrative we discuss. 

In addition, they now just signed an "exclusive" deal with the PGA tour to get access to the WITB photos, BUT, the consequence is it seems we can't really discus or reference the LIV tour at all. In addition to them scrubbing out the LIV content in the tour discussions, there are several members over there who are very aggressive about bashing LIV if you bring it up, almost to the point of stupidity.  It would not surprise me if those "users" are really admin accounts that they use to direct the conversations outside the normal administrative channels.  

The BST used to be a huge draw.  Lots of neat stuff and great deals.  But lately, it's more likely to see people asking MSRP for everything OR you find pages of SWAG crap....super expensive premium brands, funny enough, asking more than retail in many instances.  It's just become something it never was.  

Overall I'm not sure where this new "pga only" strategy is going to lead them.  The aggressive content monitoring though has gotten very off-putting.  And the BST has become irrelevant, honestly there are better deals on Ebay most of the time now.  

It seems to be another "moment of change" for Golfwrx.