richk9holes

I was curious of other people's routines when it comes to preparing mentally and physically for a round. This can include diet, stretching routines, utilization of practice facilities, swing warm ups, practice swings on the first tee, or anything else you think goes into starting your round in the right place. I personally have little in the way of habits pre-round. It's usually catered to my playing partners. If my dad wants to hit a driving range first I will swing 50 times before a round. If a buddy has 3 hours to play I'll jog to the first tee and grip n rip. I'd like to develop more of a routine, I think it would help my consistency in my goal of putting a clean 9 holes together one day. So any thoughts are appreciated.

The 3H is the one that finishes a round clean sometimes. The reality is I hit my 17° 4w really straight and I am hitting my 5H better and better the more I use it at 26°. It's just a really good loft for me to lay into and flight an approach. 22° where I have the 3H adjusted feels like the flight of the ball stays low and gets back to the ground quicker than even my 4w. If I'm not going to roll out after the carry distance, I find little use for this trajectory. I imagine it has something to do with the courses I play. They are soft grass, very little elevation and also I've been known to play in all sorts of weather so the amount I play on a hard track that will help the ball run is limited.

Confirmed. I went to Golf Galaxy last month to get access to roll as many models as possible. I tried 50 or so putters from every OEM plus 1/2 the putters they had in their pre owned section which is probably close to another 50. I put 5 of them to the side to take more swings: Ping prime tyne 4, a SC Futura 6mb, an evenroll mallet that I forget the model, the tri hot 5k rossie s and the sik dw 2.0 I ended up buying. The reality is the Odyssey won this exercise. If I had unlimited money on the gift card I used it would be in my bag right now. The only reason I bought the Sik is value, as it was pre owned and selling for $140 less than the new tri-hot. The performance was close enough I feel confident I can get used to the heavy feel of the head in the Sik. But the tri-hot felt like part of my body when I was swinging it. Very impressed by it. I gamed a stroke lab all last season, so there's comfortability there to start and I thought the interaction with the insert was much improved from the '18 stroke lab I was using.

I'm a bit south from you folks, but close enough I've considered driving to Mercer Oaks but haven't gone quite that far yet. I was thinking of finding a new course in the Princeton area tomorrow.

Took a day off today after playing 5 days straight. Tomorrow weather is forecast as 55° and sunny with 10mph wind, so I'm amped up to get out. Was thinking of exploring a new course, possibly Atlantis near Atlantic City or somewhere in the Princeton area. That depends on when I get on the road. I will update after I play. Update: reservation booked for 1:40 at Mountain View in West Trenton. First time playing there. Decided to leave 45 mins early when I read they have a chipping area by the practice putting green.

Titleist T200 irons I found an 8 and 9 iron used for $60 each and gamed them with vokeys at 48°, 52° and 58° setup to be PW, AW, SW. They are the original T200 before the redesign in I think '21 with AMT red shafts in them, which actually belong in a T300 set. They had been regripped with Iomic sticky 2.3 grips in red. I had a 27° and 30° tour edge hybrid/iron type clubs along with driver, 3w, 5w so a light Sunday bag. I still have most of the clubs besides the full wedge setup to use for guests in the event it arises. My takeaways from playing them are they are buttery smooth and the high launch AMT red shaft really helps me hit high soft landing approaches. I would consider buying a set if I hadn't found my current irons which I feel like I'm tuning in more every time I play. A drawback is this set is where the power creep in strengthening lofts hit an almost silly point. Pretty sure a 43° PW is called a 9i and all those clubs are misnumbered, but I digress. Playing the 9i to a 48° left a huge loft gap whereas I had the same vokeys with older iron sets without needing another wedge. I ended up finding a tit. C16 PW 43° with a nippon gh 850 shaft to use in that spot. That club was like a samurai sword with its balance. The chance introduction to Iomic grips made me a devotee, I have one on my driver and 6i now and will continue to replace them as they need grips.

Next Level Chef. I need a Gordon Ramsey fix year round, he cracks me up.

My birthday was before I joined this forum, Feb. 13th. I decided my birthday present this year was I was going to play as much golf as I can afford with the money I got as gifts. This was a rousing success, as I was able to play about 5 times a week the final 2 weeks of February thanks to weird unseasonably warm weather. I was able to play 10 courses, including checking 2 new ones off the list I had never taken the hour drive to go play, Cranbury GC in West Windsor and Clearbrook GC in Monroe Twp. My scores ranged from +12 on a par 71 to +25 on a par 71. Very inconsistent but I feel the extra practice is helping me put together 5-6 good holes at a time. Still not at the point I can play 9 holes without a blowup, but I feel I'm slowly getting there.

My 2 cents on the OEM distance debate: some of the technology works to make the ball go further, but if you can't control it that extra distance is often in a direction that hurts your game. My anecdotal evidence is I had a Tour Edge exotics EXS driver that was advertised as a distance monster and it was for me. I used to hit the thing 30 yards further than any driver I had used. I loved it. It wasn't until that driver broke and I started using my current TS2 that I realized being able to hit it 220 yards into the same 10 yard circle over and over is much preferred to hitting it 260, but half the time in the trees. There's no question in my mind Tour Edge clubs gave me a distance boost as advertised, but it was a fleeting experiment and eventually the driver, 3w and 5H I had all got replace with clubs that have tighter dispersion.

This is from the last time I tested on Trackman. I thought it would be fun to play the Eagle Course at Wohali from the forward tees. I played this one before from the white tees and I remember wishing I could reach some of the downhill undulations from the tee with my meager drives I muster with my 160 lb. frame. It did not disappoint, as you can see my driver stats were helped quite a bit by hitting the fairways often on the back 9 where the course plays downhill. They can't take the 371 yard drive away from me, and I made sure to use 0 mulligans and finish the round so it saved in my stats. The fact the ball only flew 2/3 of the distance and rolled the rest of the way is something I can selectively include/exclude in the story.

Got out late, 3pm ish, and the local municipal course Howell Park has a $20 rate to walk 9. This course just reopened 3/1 so the track is near perfect a little muddy in places but beautiful sprawling hills of grass my clubs were happy (aside from when I hit my 5H off a tree root on the par 5 #2 leaving 2 white scuffs, a nice battle wound considering the ball flew under the tree line and ascended to catch the wind 20mph left to right taking my natural fade for a ride to the front of the green from 187 yds away.) Sand traps were wet and compacted so the 1 fairway bunker I had to save I was able to hit a nice 7i on the green like I was swinging off the cart path. I had 3 looks at birdie, made none, 3 putted 1 of them *cringe* and buckled my knees on the other 2. I did make a 8 ft putt on #1, but that was for bogey after I left my AW short and hit a decent flop. The 2 pars were on handicap 15 and 17 and I bogeyed the rest..until I doubled on #9 when a 40yd wedge became a skull over the back of the green. Finished +8 on the 9 holes, but that last hole wrecked me. 20+mph wind gusts felt swirling when I looked at the tree tops I got different reads plus the dogleg right 400yd par 4 makes you aim all over the place if you have to take 3 shots to get there. My drive plugged after about 180 yds, a 4w that should go about 215 went about 190, that's what left the half swing wedge shot to finish with a lazy armed amateur effort that had me wondering "What was I doing out here for 2 hours?"

Date 02/28/2023 Course Name Spring Meadow Golf Course Gross Score 93 Course Handicap 11 Gross Strokes over/under par 21 Net Score to Par 10 Net Score 82 Net Birdies or better 1 Longest Drive 230 Rained early, I went out twighlight at 1pm as the only reservation. Waterlogged in parts of the course and using a new putter for the first time (43 putts! 43!) I felt I played better than I scored.

Since you mentioned summer, I'll give a nod to my home and throw out the NJ shore as a suggestion. From Colts Neck to Cream Ridge has an assortment of any golf course you might want in an area approximately 30 miles west from the Ocean.

9 different shafts if you count the putter. Putter shaft, MCA Tensei blue in driver, ProjX LZ in 4w, Steelfiber 75hy in 3+5H, KBS tour v 90 black in 5UT, TT XP 95 in 6i, TT Elevate 95 in 7-AW, stock vokey wedge, TT DG Spinner in my SW

I'm a big advocate of using both. I've had ping g25 irons in graphite and I can game them 5-9i. But I absolutely need PW and higher lofts with a steel shift. When I swing a wedge with a graphite shaft I lose all feel for my short game. When I started testing hybrid clubs with different shafts I found the aerotech steelfiber and have them in a 20° and 25° where I transition to mid-high launch steel shafts at 6i. I've always had graphite shafted driver for as long as I can remember and was once a big devotee to Adam's tight lies with graphite for rescue clubs above my 3i-9i CG ta3 with steel pistol shafts I learned to play with so I guess I'm accustomed to having a transition to steel somewhere in that 150-160 yard range. As I've gotten older and better at striking the ball I've made sets the same way without really thinking about it. My 6i now flies like my 3i back then so it plays like a driving iron and the tight lies rescue has been replaced by some nice hybrids I can control from 160-190 yards now that I'm hitting more fairways, and also use as a rescue off a tree root every now and then.

Date 02/27/2023 Course Name Gambler Ridge Golf Club Gross Score 90 Course Handicap 11 Gross Strokes over/under par 19 Net Score to Par 8 Net Score 79 Net Birdies or better 3 Longest Drive 235 Weather was cold for my taste, grounds were still playing like February but I gave myself very little in terms of winter rules. I made the turn at +7 which is good for me, with a penalty on a drive on #7 that needed 2 more yards to clear a creek and be on the front apron with an uphill eagle putt. The back 9 was unkind and I started pulling my driver left on hole 13 leaving tree adventures for my 2nd shots. I hit my best drive of the day on 18, so I took that away as a positive that I fixed whatever that was before I was finished.

I tried to find receipts for everything in my current set but I had to guess on a few. This thread got me wondering how much more than $1200 I'm into my equipment. Dr Titleist TS2 pre-owned (golf shop)$185 4W Callaway XR pre-owned (Dicks)$60 3H Callaway Super pre-owned (Callaway site) $175 ($100 after trades) 5H Callaway Epic Super pre-owned (Dick's) $210 ($125 after trades) 6i-AW Callaway Apex '19 pre-owned (Callaway site) ~$490 52° Titleist Vokey SM8 pre-owned (RockBottomGolf) $80 56° Callaway Jaws Full Toe pre-owned (Callaway site) $90 37° Odyssey Marxman X-Act pre-owned (Callaway site) $40 Putter Sik DW 2.0 C slant neck pre-owned (Golf Galaxy) $220 ($90 after trades) Grand total: about $1260 plus tax plus traded away 2 putters about 5 years old, 3 wedges about 3 years old, and a 3W that was about 3 years old.

Great thread, I would prioritize the iron set and look for one 5i-AW pre owned. I paid about $70 each for my Apex '19 irons. I might look for an older set for this exercise but it works well enough. Ping G30 driver and 3w like my dad has would be another $300 or so in average condition, leaving about $400 for the short game. I am a fan of Cleveland putters and wedges when it comes to value. I think 2 RTX wedges, either 50° and 54° or 52° and 56° and a CBX full face 60° for flop shots along with a Huntington Beach mallet putter would finish the set under $1200 if all the stuff was pre owned.

I found a Sik DW 2.0 C slant neck with pistol grip in Golf Galaxy's pre owned section and got it cheap after trading the 2 putters I had been played prior. Now 3 rounds in with it, my observation is lagging a putt is easier. Not sure if that is DLT or some other factor. Previously I played a stroke lab #1 blade and hated the insert and light weight. Prior to that a Cleveland HB soft #11c that had a good feel but was difficult to sight. The Sik DW feels like the happy medium between them. Easy to sight and sturdy enough to feel confident over a 40 ft uphill lag while keeping that Anser style blade shape I like.