MissionMan

The scrambles we play require you to take a minimum 3 drives from each player, and a max of 6 from one. That does force you to adjust strategy for some holes where you want the shorter hitters to do well. On the holes we want the shorter hitting to score, we typically let the best driver hit first so it takes pressure off them.

I tried the previous and found them way too hard. These are actually really nice, soft feel, but firm and much better than the previous generation. I actually think the TP5 are slightly better performers than a Pro V1.

Took out the TP5 and TP5X for a test and I can now confirm the TP5 durability is better than the TP5X. I hit a tree with a TP5X and if it wasn’t a practice round, I would have replaced the it immediately. I’ll post pictures but the damage was a lot heavier than I would have expected for a premium ball. I’ve had some arguments with trees and the TP5 definitely didn’t fair as badly.

I'm surprised this doesn't get more attention. I think it’s one of the better training aids out there. It’s a simple concept, but most ideas are. I tend to revert to this whenever my strike is becoming inconsistent. It helps soften my hands and force me to lengthen my swing so I am not collapsing.

Been using HackMotion for a little while and I like it. I think my only disappointment is that you have to go pro for a lot of the extra data, which is a substantial upgrade cost ($700) over core. I can’t justify pro just for Radial/Ulnar Data so I’m stuck at core. It feels me to me like they have base, base plus putting and pro, not really a true intermediate option.

I have 6 new ready-to-play balls and about a dozen premium balls that are more than 3 rounds old that I use for practice shots, high-risk shots over corners, etc. Our course is in a holiday location so it's easy to play an extra ball. If I hit a wayward drive or iron shot, I'll sometimes tee up a second and see if I can hit a better shot, then go back and play the original. Sometimes I am doing something that borders on stupidity, I'll take out a throw away. It may be something like driving over a dogs leg on a par 4 where I know if it misses, it's a lost ball.

Went out for a session today. The upside with miserable rainy days midweek is no one else is dumb enough to be out there. As a result, I had the opportunity to play 4 balls for 7 holes, before I had enough of the rain and decided to call it a day. The process was to drive with all balls, pick the best spot, and take the next shot with all four. I made a point of drying the balls between shots so the spin was closer to normal. It didn't help much with distances, as the fairways were soggy. I played a TP5, TP5X (I bought some), Srixon Z star, and Pro V1. On some of the par 3s, I also played a Pro V1X. My par 3's were not great today, wind probably wasn't helping but I'd put it most on me. Obviously it's hard to judge exact distances on the course, and I'm not good enough to get all ball strikes to be identical, but the TP5X was consistently longer than the rest of the balls by about 5-10 yards on the drive. I wasn't expecting it to be that big a difference but it was noticeable. I had holes where I struck 3 out of the four in perfect position where they should have been similar distances. The TP5 was marginally longer than the Z Star and Pro V1, but we're talking 5 yards. When it came to irons into par 3's, this reduced to a couple of yards. The spin on the Pro V1 with irons was slightly higher than the TP5 which I didn't expect. I TP5 felt a little spinnier for me most of the times I have had it out. I guess the launch monitor will confirm this in the next couple of days. I will say the short-game spin on the TP5 seemed to be higher than the Pro V1, as it seemed to check a little better on the greens, and I was consistently leaving it short of the hole. This is not hard to believe given brands can now get low spin off the drive and higher spin on short shots, but given the conditions, there are enough external factors to say this could also just have been course conditions. Will start my final launch monitor tests in the coming days so I should be able to deliver more accurate metrics.

Does he see a risk with copytition and other brands copying L.A.B based on their increased success? When is the DF3 broom coming out?

I don’t have too many issues with my SkyTrak. Also syncs fine when I get home. I don’t really need it synced at the range itself so that isn’t an issue as I am looking at the data live at the time.

I was use MCC+4 but found durability on the Golfpride is a challenge if you golf often. I’ve subsequently switched to Grip Master which are leather wrap grips, but absolutely amazing.

Okay, some torture tests with the wedge. 10 shots with a 48 degree in the nets. Mats at our club are a little hard so couldn't go to heavy on them or I'll break my wrists. The Titleist and Srixon seemed to do better than the others. The TP5 and Callaway not as well. In my view, it seems like a close race between the Titleist and the Sirxon, Callaway 3rd and Taylormade TP5 in 4th place. This supports Ronnie's view about the Taylormade's wedge performance. TP5 Callaway Srixon Z Star Titleist Pro V1

In my experience, the harder balls have the durability issues. I had more issues with spin wear on the pro v1x than the pro v1, and the previous Tp5/tp5x were really hard and also had similar issues for me. I could be completely wrong though.

I wonder if the TP5X has more durability issues than the TP5?

Well done, Sir. There are so few people left in the world who are like you. I liken it to the kind soul who still picks up a good-looking hitchhiker despite the risk of being murdered.

I was wandering through the golf store when I suddenly realized that there were so many things there that needed to be adopted. As a result, I unselfishly adopted a new pair of ECCO G5s. It had been days since my pair of Skechers died, and I thought the best thing I could do to hold their memory dear in my heart was to adopt a new pair. I also collected new golf shirts and pants as they also seemed lonely at the store in the discounted area. I was worried the bad people at the store would destroy them if I didn't adopt them, so I was really feel like I was doing the world a favour.

Well, my concerns about the quality of the Skechers boa equivalent turned out to be correct with the attachment on one of my shoes breaking today. The skechers twist fit is poor quality. I will say the warranty claim was addressed quickly after I sent a picture of the broken Twist Fit and they credited my account within an hour of lodging the claim.

Got some spin tests done today at a local pitch and putt. Not the greatest greens to work with but quiet enough that I could do this stuff without people around. First off, a 20 yard high spin skip and stop. Spin is pretty good. Here is a 30 yard high spin shot, open the face right up, full swing with a 60 to really try spin it up. Finally a 48 degree from about 110 yards. For these kinds of shots, if the pin is too far back, I found it easy to take a 3/4 swing with one club down and have it stop on the spot.

Got out for the first torture test today. These balls were selected because I had them on hand (comp winning, free balls at demo days etc). I could have included more but I don't think my arms could handle that many hits. Taylormade TP5 Callaway Chrome Soft Srixon Z Star Titleist Pro V1 (latest model) Results were interesting. 20 shots with a 9 iron on each ball in the nets which would be fairly hard on them because it's close to a wedge. I hit my 9 iron around 135/140 yards on any given day. I plan to hit another 20 tomorrow with a 5 iron, and 20 the next day with a 7 iron. The first photo looks bad, but this seems to be residue from our practice nets at golf course on the balls. This might not reflect normal play, but out on the course, the ball will be landing on hard ground, hitting trees etc so I felt given all the balls are experiencing this, it's fair for all of them. Cleaned up, they look a little better. All the balls did well. My expectations were surprisingly wrong. I expected the order of damage to be (sequenced good to bad) Titleist ProV1, Callaway, Taylormade and Srixon. Keep in mind, this could well just be hitting sharp edge on the net so we could well see these results change in the next couple of sessions. The actual results after 20 balls were a tie between Callaway, Srixon, Taylormade, then Titleist. The Titleist had the most damage with a number of larger wear patches. The other balls had minor spots, but nothing major. It will be interesting to see if that changes as the test goes on, because I suspect the thinner covers will show more wear over time. The Taylormade TP5 Callaway Chrome Soft The Srixon Z Star The Titleist faired the worse with some noticeable damage to the ball. At first I thought these might be residue that didn't come off, but it wasn't.

Thanks. That makes sense. I can normally get through 3 rounds without a problem. Our course isn't particularly bad when it comes to lost balls, but I've also been better at playing smart golf and not trying the high risk shots I used to when I was younger.

Got out for another 9 holes today in better conditions, and shot 2 over par which is 3 under my handicap for that 9. It could have been level par if my putting was better as I missed a couple more makeable birdie putts. Today was the first day I feel like I really played well enough to see the performance of the ball, as it was light wind and mostly rain free apart from a few light patches. I've yet to lose a ball over the 36 holes I've played to date which has been good to see wear and tear on the ball. I had some full wedges with the ball and it has a few scuffs although it's not unplayable or excessive, but it may not match some of the more durable balls. I should be able to verify this during my durability testing. Today was dryer than previously so I had a good opportunity to check out the spin. Had a full PW which came back about 5 yards, a little more than I expected given we had our greens cored 3 weeks ago, and we've had rain on the day. They were fairly predictable, I hit a 3/4 9 iron to control the spin on the next hole and it spun back about a foot which is what I'd expect on our greens. You can see the marks on the ball here just above the red line Didn't notice this until I took the photos but there is an A W O on the ball. Does anyone know why? Another bit of the wear and tear. The wear looks fairly obvious here because it's zoomed in, but most of them aren't that visible to the naked eye.

My balls arrived Thursday as I am international and shipping was a little slower for obvious reasons. I've posted my first impressions of the TP5's. I'll get into some launch monitor data in the coming week, but so far, it's really hard to fault them. I really love the feel of these balls. I didn't think I would prefer another ball to the ProV1 and Srixon Z Star for putting, but this feels incredible off the face.

thanks. Hope it goes well. Let me know if you have any questions when it arrives.

I added a new topic about learnings in the instructional area.

A couple of months ago, I switched to a broomstick. You can see my review here, but in summary, the results have been mostly good, with some ups and downs, mainly due to a lack of instructional information beyond the basic "This is how you hold a broomstick". As I went through the learning process, I've put together some learnings on switching, mostly the undocumented things that no one tells you. If you have any questions or other learnings, feel free to let me know. I'm not professing to be an expert, and I'd welcome anyone to correct me on anything I post. It's a little long, so I apologise if you can't get through the whole thing or use it as bedtime reading to help yourself get to sleep. 1. It's nothing like normal putting This may seem obvious to some, but I didn't realise it was that different. Switching to a broomstick is hard work. Part of this misconception is seeing the likes of Lucas Glover and Will Zalatoris switching to a broomstick with a large amount of success. We probably haven’t seen weeks of intensive putting practice with a coach, and I would hazard a guess it’s been at least 2 + hours per day to get to a point where his putting was at competitive levels. Let’s also not forget that while they may have been bad by tour standards, they would still obliterate most scratch handicaps at putting. They know how to read slopes, putt up hill and down hill. The problem is exacerbated by the flawed perspective we get from YouTube and the internet. The problem is you don’t always get the full picture. It’s not dissimilar to photography and Instagram. We see a photographer post a photo of a beautiful location and the one before it is beautiful at a different location. It looks like he only takes beautiful pictures, but he doesn’t. Behind the average Instagram photographer, you’re seeing one of the twenty to thirty photos they took that looks amazing. You’re not looking at the other 29 which weren't as good. When you watch some youtuber golfer video of them testing a broomstick, it seems like it all comes naturally. you don’t see the 12 practice putts that were bad before the one that was shown. Bad putts don’t sell referral links and discount codes to putter sales, and many of these youtubers rely on referrals from discounts to help fund their channels. Bad putts make it seem harder than it is to switch to a broomstick and we’re an instant gratification culture where we want additional performance just by making a purchase. 2. Grip is more than just comfort When I started putting with a broom, the initial results were really good - 28 putts good. I won monthly medal. After about a month, I made a grip change from claw to pencil because it felt more comfortable. What I didn’t realise was the impact of that grip change on my line. Without knowing it, I started taking the putter back a little straighter and squarer and slightly off the arc. The impact on short putts wasn’t massive, but anything beyond 4-5 foot became hit and miss and I couldn’t understand why. I didn’t think about the grip change because I didn’t expect it to have a big impact. When you look at which grips work for you, you have to consider the following: Comfort - does something feel natural. Comfort is key but not the most important. Repeatability - can you repeat the grip consistently. If you’re going to hold your hand at a 33 degree angle with claw grip. Can you do that repeatedly, time after time after time. Distance control - can you maintain your distance control consistently on a variety of different green speeds. It’s easy to do it on one speed, but adaptability becomes important. Accuracy over all distances - It’s one thing to hit a putt accurately with a short 6-8 foot putt, because you can be more accurate when you’re not swinging the putter as hard. Try hitting an accurate 50 foot putt with the same grip, because accuracy when you hit the ball harder is much harder to manage. It may even result in two grips. One for under 30 foot and one for over 30 foot. Putting arc - Accuracy is about staying on the arc and contrary to what most people think, the putting arc isn’t straight back. The biggest mistake I (and many others) have made is referring to putting as a pendulum, because pendulum assumes you take it back square on a 90 degree lie. A broomstick putter is on a 78-80 degree lie angle and that means the arc will reflect that. Only a 90 degree lie angle will result in a square putting path. I’d recommend buying a putting mirror with a putting arc so you can ensure you are taking the club back on the arc. 3. Switching won’t fix bad green reading When I started putting well, I realised how bad my green reading was (and still is). If you think switching to a broom will solve all your putting woe's, it may not. It does help fix alignment, but it won't fix bad reads. Sometimes, people say they’re bad at putting when they aren't. They're taking the wrong lines because they are bad at reading breaks. Before you decide to move, find out whether it's a reading problem or a putting problem. Find putting lines you know and try putting them from different distances. Suppose it’s going where it should, changing putters isn’t a fix for your problem. Learning to read the greens will or practice will. When I say practice, I mean matching putting speed to a read if you’re putting short or long. Practice putting on strong slopes regularly to allow yourself to be better at reading slopes. Try different speeds to see if dying it into the hole is the right approach. You can also do an Aimpoint or similar green reading course. 4. Your putting will go from good to bad and back to good again if you give it the time People forget that you are dealing with years of putting that your body has become accustomed to. That means it takes a lot of practice to undo that muscle memory and develop new muscle memory. Why is that relevant? Putting on a practice green is easy. There is no pressure, so missing the putt has no impact. When you are under pressure, things change, and you need to be able to putt from muscle memory to be consistent. You might consistently sink 4-foot putts, but imagine the pressure of a 4-foot putt where winning or losing means winning or losing $4 million, like a professional golf tournament. I can guarantee you’d suddenly miss 50% of the putts you’d usually make because you’d second guess the line, be worried about putting too hard, too soft, etc, instead of just hitting the ball. What typically happens is when you’re out in practice rounds with your buddies after 3-4 hours of training, you’ll initially start putting well, maybe dropping to 28 putts or lower for a round because there is no pressure. Your buddies are impressed with your new putter, and some might even consider getting one. When you play under pressure, such as in a club competition, things change. You’ll start to miss a few of the putts you’d previously got and see your score drop again to 33-35. You’ll get frustrated and feel like all the work you put into the broomstick wasn’t worth it, and you may even be tempted to sell it and put it down to a failed experiment. A pro could likely do it because they have conditioned themselves to play under pressure, but we mere mortals playing club golf aren’t quite at that level. Pros are also more adept at building a routine and probably spend ten times more time practising before they hit competitions. 5. Don’t accelerate the putter with your bottom hand; let the weight of the putter do as much work as possible Broomsticks move on a big arc and have a much heavier weight. That means that hitting the ball doesn’t require much force at all. You take the putter back and let the weight of the putter do the work, with minimal acceleration required. If you want to hit further, take a longer putting stroke. You may need some acceleration on the long putts, but the more bottom-hand acceleration, the greater the inconsistency of strike and distance control. Acceleration is hard to keep consistent. Letting something fall from a particular height gives you consistent results. 6. Start your putt with the shaft vertical Broomsticks don’t rely on a forward press. The putter shaft itself should be the centre of your stance, like a clock hand at 6pm, with the shaft vertical at a 90-degree angle to the direction of the putt. That means the ball should be slightly forward of centre, about one ball length depending on the broomstick putter you’re using and the location of the shaft relative to the putter face. You want the putter to meet the bottom of the arc with the face at it’s squarest point, and with the putter travelling directly towards the target. If it’s early or later, that is less likely to be straight, but the closer you get to that arc point, the better the outcome. 7. Your eye still needs to be over the ball Sometimes there is a perception that a broomstick putter results in the ball being further away from you. The ball's location, relative to the eyes, should be identical to a short putter. If you drop a ball from eye level, it should land on top of the ball sitting on the ground. This is one of the reasons people use putting mirrors, and a mirror is just as useful for broomstick putters. 8. Practice all lengths; shorter putts could be challenging until you find the right technique Obviously, different problems apply to different people but broomsticks introduce some different dilemmas to your golf at different distances. It could make some things easier and some things harder. My lag putts became insanely accurate, both in strength and line. I'd constantly be within 1-2 feet on a 20-50 foot putt. It gives you a massive amount of confidence, but it comes at a price. I battled to sink some shorter putts in the 4-6 foot range I really should be sinking because it was harder to keep the putting stroke smooth on shorter putts due to the putter's weight. I can honestly say that at one point on my broomstick journey, I was more confident in a 10-foot putt than a 5-foot. Suddenly, you find yourself in a dilemma. You're gaining putts in one area and losing in another, and you feel like you've gone two steps forward and two steps back. I tried practising short putts, and it helped a little, but the problem was trying to keep a heavy head stable while moving it slowly. Think of it like trying to ride a motorbike slowly on a white line. It was the motorbike analogy that gave me the solution that worked for me. When you ride a motorbike slowly, rather than trying to feather the throttle, you rev harder and hold the brakes. The combination creates a bit of tension in the bike that holds it steady and makes the process less jerky. From a putting perspective, what this translated to me was using a much tighter grip on the lower hand. When I take long putts, I typically hold my right hand quite soft, maybe 30% strength. When I putt short putts, I hold it much tighter, maybe 60%. This translates to the "brake" on the motorbike and holds the putter steady on shorter putts. By holding the putter tight, it puts more tension in my body. 9. You may not like alignment balls, but they are great feedback tools. Some of you may not like alignment balls, but they are great feedback on what the putter head is doing. My recommendation is if you don't like using alignment balls, use them for practice. If you are hitting the ball properly, you should see the line roll end over end to the hole. If you hit it badly, it won't. That's important feedback because while you may occasionally miss shots where it rolls end over end, and you got the line wrong, you'll miss lots where it doesn't roll end over end, particularly in the 6-foot plus range. It is also valuable for gauging the accuracy of your strikes at different distances. It's much harder to get it rolling end over end on a 50-foot putt than a 6-foot putt, and the 50-foot ones are the ones you will miss by enough for a 3-putt. 10. Develop a routine specifically for your broomstick that incorporates your arms/legs/head setup Setting up to putt with a broomstick is more complex than a traditional putter. As I mentioned in a previous point, repeatability = predictability = success. Even if you repeatedly putt one degree to the left of the hole, you can plan on that by aiming one degree right. It only becomes a big problem when the miss is inconsistent. If you want repeatability, you need to develop a routine that ensures: your feet are in the same position your lead elbow is in the same position every time your trail hand is in the same position the putter is in the same position and at the same lie angle your head is in the same position over the ball your shoulders are aligned with the target the head of the putter is pointed at the target When you look at the above, it shows you how easily small things can go wrong. You may not miss a three or four foot putt if they're wrong, but you could easily miss a 6 to 8-foot putt, assuming you get the weight and break correctly. Some are similar to a short putter, but a few extra things exist. That may contradict the view that broomsticks give more consistent results, but it doesn't. What makes a broomstick accurate is that if you take the putter back on line, it's more likely to remain on line for the putt. The routine is about ensuring you take the putter back online. Here is my routine as an example: I line up a line on my ball (and hopefully a mark on the ground) with what I think is the correct line. I don't do a practice putt. I line up my putter on the correct line and the shaft perpendicular to the target, ensuring the putter's lie angle is flat on the ground. While doing this, I line up my right foot and have my left thumb on the top of the shaft with my left hand open, fingers straight, and my left elbow pointing at the target. This ensures my shoulders are square to the putting line. When I am happy, I close my left hand and position my left foot. I lift the putting off the ground and wait for any movement to stop. I rock my shoulders to putt. The above isn't as complex as it sounds. It happens naturally for me now, or more naturally than when I started. You'll hear people talk about the importance of a routine, but when you change putting styles, you become acutely aware of the impact of not following a routine. Watch some of the pros, like Adam Scott or Lucas Glover, and you'll see how strictly they follow a routine. Conclusion Whilst it’s essential to have a routine and get your putting to a point where it’s muscle memory when it comes to the course, you must avoid overthinking it. Check from all sides of the hole so you know the break and whether it's up or down. Then, pick your line, do your routine, and trust yourself to putt. If you make a mistake, learn from it and move on. Putting is one of those areas where it’s easy to get trapped in a cycle of “ do X” or ”do Y”. It’s easy to guess second whether you got the line right or think about how you want to take the putter back. In reality, the thought we should focus on is trusting ourselves “ just putt it”. If you’re going to think of something as a swing thought to start your putt, make sure it’s something you can’t get wrong. If trusting ourselves isn’t enough, that points to a lack of practice, not thinking. Thinking about it more isn’t going to change that. The practice green will, another time.

Thought I’d start a post for fun non-conventional games to play on the course. There are a couple we do: Two ball worse ball ambrose - play from the worse position every time. You can play this drinking by giving both players the option to drink a shot to take the better ball. Your playing partners call the worse shot. Perpendicular out of the rough/semi rough except for within 30 yards of the green) - if you hit the rough, you have to play out to the fairway at a 90 degree angle, rather than at the green. In some cases, this can actually result in better rounds, because people don’t take insane shots, people also think more carefully about driver off the tee. No putting off the green - No matter where you are, even the fringe, you have to chip from off the green. Good way to force people to get their chipping game up.