Wheelieb

A little bit about me. I like long walks on the beach, during the day cause I don’t rust sea turtles. My likes are…Oops wrong forum. My name is Branden and I guess you could say I started playing golf as an actual thing to do, and not just a drive a cart and kick some balls around while having a few cold ones, in 2020. I had to do something since team sports were banned on base. I’ve been in the Navy now for we will say 19 years. Married and no kids, although we have three dogs that act like kids.
 
Word to the wise, fine print is everything when you are reading about a product. I used to be one of those that fell into the category of “word of mouth so I’ll go buy it” people. I used to not do my research on certain products if someone I knew glowed about it. This lead me down a few paths of wasted money on golf equipment that I should have done my research on. I can’t put a full price tag on the amount of golf balls from the Vice tour line I have donated to numerous wooded areas, lakes, creeks, and ponds. I probably could if I went back and checked my bank account with buying them, but that’s not relevant at this time.
 
What got me to play the Vice Tour ball was the fact that Vice balls were becoming a huge hit with some of the guys I was starting to play golf with in Florida in 2020. I had never heard of them, but they swore up and down that they were far better than any other ball out there. Since I was new to playing I decided it was a good deal to start buying them since they were cheaper and they used them all the time. I believe I spent about 113 dollars on Vice’s website to order 5 dozen due to the fact they were not available in any store at the time. I felt like that was a steal for that many balls and waited until they came in. Their KIL (Keep In Line) line seemed like a great added piece as well, except I learned that I rarely ever used it to line my putts up with. By the end of a 3 month timeframe with them I only had maybe 6 left and chalked it up to just not being good at the time. Those 6 seemed to have lasted at least another 3 months and I had bought some Bridgestone e12 matte yellow golf balls. Not the best ball to use for me and that’s a whole different paragraph. By this time I started seeing the Vice Tour in Walmart so I didn’t need to order them offline. This continued up until recently after I had moved up to Virginia.
 
Noticing I was getting better and better and not losing as many balls I kept buying them. They were cheap and seemed to work well. However, there was a flaw in my thought process. While continuing to play these balls and getting better, I was noticing that when I would hit into greens I wasn’t getting a lot of spin like some of the other guys I was playing with in my league were getting with theirs. This is when I went on a deep dive of doing a little bit of research and found that the Vice Tour were surlyn cover balls. Well this lead me down a few holes of rabbit chasing and found that the surlyn cover do go a little further, and spin a little less. Now this is not a big deal for most as spin with wedges normally is pretty decent, and approach shots don’t normally roll out well past the pin who use these. I was finding that I wasn’t getting the benefits of shorter putts, so I worked on my approach shots and my wedge game to get better spin. Insanity ensued. I kept buying them expecting different results and saw my average putting distance on approach shots move maybe an inch to the better. Still believing that this was all a ploy I just continued working on my approach shots.
 
Well luck would have it that I played in a charity scramble and I one of the guys in my group had some Wilson Triad balls. Knowing that they weren’t on the same price level as Titleist Prov1’s I asked if I could pay him for a sleeve of balls. Him being a great friend said no worries and handed me a sleeve. Now Normally I’m good for at least 1 or 2 balls lost on the front 9 and about 1 on the back 9. We played the front 9 and I didn’t lose a single one. On top of that we used 4 of my shots that landed on the green because they stopped way faster than what I had previously been used to. When we got to the back 9, my confidence was beaming. Had the longest drive out of our group and I was the one with the most shots taken on the green. Hole 10 I teed it up and let it fly. Beautiful draw and lost it over the trees. Now normally this isn’t a problem if it was a dog leg left. But that was not the case here. This was a dog leg right and I just lost a ball into the woods to never be found by us. My next shot, because my hops and dreams were crushed, went all of 20 yards. In all I lost 2 balls on the back 9 and only 2 of my shots into the green were taken. To me that wasn’t bad. This lead me to buying a dozen myself.

With the why I wanted to test these out on the course reasons out of the way, on to the review of my round with the Wilson Triad balls.
 
I started out on the putting green and liked the way the Wilson felt off the face of my putter. I am becoming hard of hearing (seriously, I have hearing aids now and I’m only 38) so a lot of hits off the putter sound muted now when I used to hear a click. Saying you learn to live with it is cliché. I’ve just gotten used to the fact that certain sounds will not sound the same to me. But I can feel them off the clubface and they felt firm but soft at the same time. I’m one to not use any lines to line up my putt cause I always aim it to far in one direction and miss my putts even further than what I should. Since these don’t have a line I didn’t have to worry about it. I did notice that these didn’t jump off the face like the vice tour did. It took some getting used to as I had to make a slightly stronger stroke to get the ball to the hole than I did with the vice. With that out of the way, off to the first tee.
 
Seeing how it’s still “winter” in Virginia, getting out to play is tough. Cold temps are not my cup of tea to play in, but I do know a few people who don’t mind playing when Jack Frost is blowing his lungs out. I wanted to get out and test out the Wilson Triad as they were pretty much the “new” ball to me. I hadn’t played a real round of golf with them, so I felt I needed to do so while playing and keeping my own score. Call it the first tee jitters, call it what you want. Stepping up to that first tee box I felt like I was not where I should be. Knowing the first hole is a dog leg right I decided to play it safe with an iron off the tee to get it to the bend. Naturally, I hit a slight draw and wound up on the furthest part of the fairway on the bend from the green. Great start, to the round. Seeing how I had 180 in I hit my 7 iron in and wound up just short. Perfect, I get to see how chipping would go. That was the thought as I bladed it across the green. Thankfully it wasn’t hard enough to go into the rough and wound up on the fringe. 2 Putt bogey and we were off. The second hole was a par 5 so I knew I could get after it, I smashed it down with a slight fade and wound up in the rough on the right side. Not content with unknowing how well it went, I hit one of the Vice Tour Balls to Compare to the Wilson. I was a little surprised that the Vice went maybe a yard or two further, but it was in the fairway. With it also being a little overly wet, I figured that may have been the reason. And since no one was behind me I grabbed the Vice and put it where I hit the Wilson. Since it was a par 5 I figured I’d go for the green with both and naturally came up short with both. This time the Wilson was a tad closer. Now it came down to chipping. I hit the Vice and it rolled to about 10 feet past the hole. If this test was ever going to give a good judge of what I could expect with this Wilson,  this would be the time. I chipped up on to the green and it didn’t roll past the hole. It bounced twice and rolled to about 5 feet. Decided to do a putting contest and found that using no line to line my ball up I was able to make a birdie with the Wilson. Using the KIL Line on the Vice, I hit it on the line and rolled end over end. I just had it aimed to far right. I decided to finish the front 9 without attempting to do a side by side comparison in order to keep pace of play up in case someone was coming up behind me.
 
Hole 5 came up and there is a little pond short left of the green. Feeling confident in my new found ball, I grabbed my 7 iron and teed it up. The saying “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” would have been an acceptable thing to say if I were to have skipped the hole. Instead, I bring the pond up because I chunked my shot that I never even gave the green a chance on this par 3. I took my drop and pitched it up to about 20-25 feet. Lost confidence and tripled that hole. Lost a ball, felt the golf demons approaching fast and felt like the wheels were about to just completely get lost even on the golf cart. I finished the front 9 with only entering my score. That is a whole other topic that can be broached at a different time.
 
The Back 9 came and hole 10 is a fairly straight hole. Nothing to really get in the way except a fairway bunker down the right side. Not a problem for me as I’ve been drawing the ball so far. This hole I would like to say was no different, I did miss the fairway bunker but I hooked the ball into the woods on the left. Ball number two was lost. I re-teed and still missed the bunker but this time I wound up in the left rough. Most people would be bummed about this, but I am one to be excited. I get to see how my Wilson is going to perform out of the rough. I took my 9 iron out since I was 150 out and I know I can hit 155-160 with it. To my surprise I came up short. Not problem since I get to chip again and see if this round has been a fluke on the front 9 with the stopping ability I had seen with the Wilson. Chipped it to 10 feet for a 2 putt double. Hole 11 I hit my tee shot with my 7 wood and was flabbergasted that it didn’t go as far as it normally would. Not close really at all. I had flushed it too, so it didn’t make any sense. I took out my 8 iron and flushed it and was short again. Started to wonder if I was taking the whole slow is smooth and smooth is fast way to serious. Chipped up close to the pin without it rolling past for a makeable par. Onto hole 12, with trees on the right and a small creek to far for me to get. I hit my driver and the theme of not going right was still in play here. What was in play were the trees on the left that I pulled my 3 ball into that I’m pretty sure some birds got mad at me. I don’t speak in bird tongues so I couldn’t tell you what they were saying. Re-teed and because I was scared the demons were with me I hit a bomb of 190 yards with my driver. That’s fine, I have 180 something in to the green. I take out my 7 and I’m short. I thought I had landed in the creek up a head, but I had made it over. Awesome, I get to chip again. This time I got backspin. Lag putt to 3 feet in for a 7.

I was starting to feel like maybe this ball just wasn’t going to be for me with how many times I was coming up short on shots I know I can hit with my irons. Pondering my life choices hole 15 came up, and I remembered a video I had watched about golf balls acting when cold and when hot. I felt like I was a fool. I hit my tee shot to the rough on the right and had 150 in. instead of using my 9, I took my 8 and on the green. Finally, a green hit for a birdie look again and the ball didn’t roll crazy past the pin. 8 feet well struck putt, the demons were gone. Hole 16 came up and it is a par 5. Everything was great, until I hit my second shot into the bunker. That’s a problem as I am not the greatest bunker player. But feeling confident I took my swing and landed in the bunker still. At least I was closer. Hit again and I was out. 2 putt bogey, The golf gods giveth and they taketh. Hole 17 is a straight shot, with a creek short and downhill of the green. Hit my tee shot right to the rough and had 145 in. I took my 9 iron out and hit, I was maybe 8 feet short, but that’s what happens when you decide to slightly chunk your shot. That was on me this time. Took my 9 iron to chip with and my putter, already resigned myself to the fact I was getting a par at best. The ball came off the club face and instead of popping off like I was used to with the Vice ball, it sort of checked and rolled….into the cup for a chip in birdie. I was ecstatic. Breaming with all the confidence in the world going into the last hole, a par 3, I was on my way to a great finish. That was until I decided to hit it short right. I chipped up and it stopped on a dime some 40 feet from the pin. No problem, I’ll finish with at worst a bogey. As I finished my round putting a 6 on the card, I saw that I had shot an 86. I’m used to seeing a 90 plus. This gave me confidence again. I feel like these Wilson Triad balls may be on to something for me. Below are my scores out of 10 for each category for them.

Driving  8/10
Approach 5/10 (Mostly due to me being a dumb dumb and not taking extra club)
Chipping  9/10
Putting  8/10
I wanted to get the review up, I may not be able to get out on Friday, but wanted to add pics. 

In a pinch I had to use my friends JPX 921 forged irons and played decently with them. What I am starting to not enjoy is the strong lofts making my 7 iron bomb out to 195-200 yards with my PXG XP irons. Those Mizuno's I played a round with I felt were more in line with how I want my yardages. that 7 iron was good for about 175-180. I am ok with that, and I am also ok with losing those distances with the game improvement irons. I know I am not going to be bombing a 7 iron with a weaker lofted club, and to me that's perfectly fine. The 245's I hit on the simulator were good for 180-185, that's perfectly fine as well due to them being able to hold the green with their decent angle. That's the only reason I am wanting to move away from my game improvement irons.

In a pinch I had to use my friends JPX 921 forged irons and played decently with them. What I am starting to not enjoy is the strong lofts making my 7 iron bomb out to 195-200 yards with my PXG XP irons. Those Mizuno's I played a round with I felt were more in line with how I want my yardages. that 7 iron was good for about 175-180. I am ok with that, and I am also ok with losing those distances with the game improvement irons. I know I am not going to be bombing a 7 iron with a weaker lofted club, and to me that's perfectly fine. The 245's I hit on the simulator were good for 180-185, that's perfectly fine as well due to them being able to hold the green with their decent angle. That's the only reason I am wanting to move away from my game improvement irons.

I know I'll be getting the new Mizuno Pro's. I'm just not sure if it will be the 245 or the 243 model. I hit the 245's and they were amazing. After I left I realized I should probably have hit the 243 model as well to see How they performed. 

I can say that I hit irons that are smaller in profile than my current irons better. Why? I have no idea. My best guess is that a smaller head means you instinctively know you can not miss much or you are going to get punished more. But I am no psychologist and that may be way off the mark on my assessment as to why. I'll second what @GolfSpy_APH said about going to demo days. I will also say if you have a golf store where there are used clubs of the type you want to start using, try going and hitting them. 

Morning all,
Woke up a minute before my alarm, and I'm not sure which is more maddening. waking up a minute before or 5 minutes before. Anyhow, today is my Monday for work. That means I have to get some info for our Industrial Health people who want to come and put these devices on us to see what awesome stuff we may be breathing in while cleaning weapons. We are also having to have noise devices to measure how loud it gets. Not sure why they are doing that now, but it goes in the medical record. I guess it's never to late for that stuff.

Oh, found this one. On the base course in Jacksonville, FL. Maybe a 5 foot gator  nothing crazy.

I will never delete this tee shot on to the island green 17th at TPC Sawgrass. 2 putt par. 

Congratulations testers, can't wait to see if these make you putt better than Scheffler.

In a pinch I had to use my friends JPX 921 forged irons and played decently with them. What I am starting to not enjoy is the strong lofts making my 7 iron bomb out to 195-200 yards with my PXG XP irons. Those Mizuno's I played a round with I felt were more in line with how I want my yardages. that 7 iron was good for about 175-180. I am ok with that, and I am also ok with losing those distances with the game improvement irons. I know I am not going to be bombing a 7 iron with a weaker lofted club, and to me that's perfectly fine. The 245's I hit on the simulator were good for 180-185, that's perfectly fine as well due to them being able to hold the green with their decent angle. That's the only reason I am wanting to move away from my game improvement irons.

First off.  Becoming scratch in one season you are wildy very much the exception not the rule.  Applying that to anyone else is kinda silly.
GI/SGI dont keep you from shooting great scores either.
By this logic playing SGI ill never "progress" which just frankly isnt true. 

They make great clubs!  

Oh, found this one. On the base course in Jacksonville, FL. Maybe a 5 foot gator  nothing crazy.

I will never delete this tee shot on to the island green 17th at TPC Sawgrass. 2 putt par. 

Oh, found this one. On the base course in Jacksonville, FL. Maybe a 5 foot gator  nothing crazy.

I will never delete this tee shot on to the island green 17th at TPC Sawgrass. 2 putt par. 

Oh, found this one. On the base course in Jacksonville, FL. Maybe a 5 foot gator  nothing crazy.

Ok, so went to the range earlier today and acted like I was playing the course with the exception of putting. Went and practiced that afterwards. While on the range I had an “Aha” moment, which will probably throw everything out the wind the next time I play cause I’ll revert back to what I have been doing…fun times…Anyway, it was to do with alignment and by golly when I set up the way I was on the range, nice butter cuts or baby draws. Then got to my new new driver, the Callaway Paradym AI Smoke. Not once did I fade it. I did pull hook it once, but the other 5 shots were beautiful 265-275 cuts or draws. I love this thing. Can’t wait to see what happens on the course now. 

Morning all,
I would say it’s back to work for me today, but it is a federal holiday. That means I am off on this cool day. I may take my new driver out to the range or may try and get 9 holes in if it isn’t to cold. Have a great day everyone. 

Did you hit other drivers? Or was that the only head he had you hit?

I bought the Callaway Paradym AI Smoke Max yesterday. Pretty excited to see it perform on the course when it gets a little warmer 

Morning all,
Woke up a minute before my alarm, and I'm not sure which is more maddening. waking up a minute before or 5 minutes before. Anyhow, today is my Monday for work. That means I have to get some info for our Industrial Health people who want to come and put these devices on us to see what awesome stuff we may be breathing in while cleaning weapons. We are also having to have noise devices to measure how loud it gets. Not sure why they are doing that now, but it goes in the medical record. I guess it's never to late for that stuff.

Did you hit other drivers? Or was that the only head he had you hit?

That's likely the biggest thing. Fittings inside are great to take out variables, bit for some golfers (myself included) we have slightly different swings and tendencies indoors vs outdoors. 
I don't think I'll ever do a true fitting indoors when an outdoor fitting I'd available. To see ball flights and more is just do important.

Did you hit other drivers? Or was that the only head he had you hit?