Rygolf32

Actually, just got this beauty the other day...had an 8+ year old Tour Edge Exotics E8 driver and happened to be at a local store over the weekend. Lots of deals on last year's models, $200-$300 off. Hit a bunch on a whim, Stealth 2 Plus, AeroJet, Ping 425 LST, Titleist TR3, Paradym, etc. Came home with this one - it's the low spin model (LST) for lower spin and trajectory based on my swing. Have been out twice so far and really liking it.

Which one did you get? I've never played with a watch so I'm not sure I'd like that and the club scan deal each shot seems a bit distracting. Maybe I just stick with old school and use the scorecard. lol

I had Arccos after I got my Ping irons and it was OK but missed a lot of shots, especially putts. You'll have to keep us posted on the Shot Scope, I'd like to try something else or maybe even go back to Arccos if they've gotten a bit better with the sensors!

Had to get out early this morning it was so beautiful and figured I'd get done in enough time to still work and watch the Masters Par 3...played 18 and was done by 9:30, first off and pretty much had the course to myself. Just ran to a local pubby course rather than my club which is hosting a high school tourney today. Gorgeous morning, no wind and played fairly decent with only a few holes I had to scramble a bit on. Only my 5th full round of the year so was very happy with a 77.

I've always been a stand guy as I've walked most of my life...as I get older (and have joint problems), I've started to use either a push cart or ride. This past black Friday I bought the Titleist Hybrid 5 stand bag that was designed to be push/ride cart friendly with a couple of their designs but is still super comfortable to carry. 5 way divider is perfect for me and the pockets have plenty of room.

Yep, the interstate is closed and it's supposed to get pretty bad out west. Luckily, we are both far enough east in Nebraska that we will just see some rain! We'll take the moisture though, should help the courses! It does need to warm up though, I have a tourney on Saturday and our league starts Monday!

My only real constant pet peeves are slow play and simple lack of awareness that there are others out on the golf course...I don't care if you are scratch or a 30 hdcp, if you are playing so slow you are affecting others in your group or behind your group, make an adjustment.

I did actually buy new irons (i525's) and a new 60 deg Vokey within the last couple of years BUT my i5's were 17 years old so I got my money's worth lol. On the other side, my Exotics E8 driver is probably 8 years old and my Callaway Steelhead Plus 3 is over 20 years old. I'm 100% of the opinion you do what works for you...new, old, etc. If you can score how you want to, that works!

I can answer for the club manufacturers... ABSOLUTELY NOT! YOU HAVE TO BUY BRAND NEW!!! I'm with the rest here - as long as they are your specs, in good shape and you hit them well, why not save some money for a set that is a year or two old? I have a buddy who is about a 4 hdcp and he actually connected with a guy on ebay that had a set of year old 790's to his exact specs. I think he paid $700 for them and loves them.

First time out this weekend - club opened today. Soooo excited!

I have a couple of buddies in the area that might be interested as well...I'm not sure they are on the forums but they use MGS for reviews, etc. If we needed/wanted more bodies for a couple of tee times, I could always ask if they'd be interested also. Just a thought.

I'd be in assuming we don't have any club events...Let me double check the calendar and run it by the wife but put me down for a 'probably' as of right now. Definitely would be open to other options within reason throughout the surrounding states too. My annual guys trip with buddies has pretty much died off because of kids events (theirs, not mine) so something new to look forward to would be good by me!

This is a great thread, awesome idea! Unfortunately, I think you may be right about golf season ending soon here in Nebraska, hopefully I can still get out once or twice more! 2023 goals - 5/6 isn't too shabby Get hdcp under 4 - ended year at 3.7 Shoot under par at least once - nope Play more golf - joined a club this year, definitely accomplished this with 34 rounds of 18 holes and weekly golf league from May to September Play more tourneys - Played in our club championship, 4 scrambles and two 'couples night' scrambles Think through rounds more/be more consistent - had 4 rounds in the 80's through early June, then only one other round in the 80's the rest of the year, the other 26 rounds all in the 70's Get my wife out to learn/play more golf - she played 6 times this year which is more than the previous 4 combined. I have a feeling she'll play even more next year 2024 goals - Get hdcp under 2 Play at least 45 rounds of 18 holes Play club championship/match play and Nebraska mid-amateur Hit more fairways - over 50% as I was quite inconsistent this year with the driver PUTTING - far too many mistakes/3 putts, keep more rounds 30 or under Play more rounds with the wife/daughter - try to get at least 10 with them Walk more - bought a nice push cart last year, still rode far too much. Break 70 multiple times/set new personal best (67)

Well, may have been my last round for the year...we'll see what the weather does, hopefully not though! Went out to the club yesterday with the wife and played 18...not a gust of wind, 69 and sunny. An absolutely perfect day for Nebraska in mid-November. Played decent, had a couple of holes that I made mistakes on with mid-long irons on approaches and pushed/pulled missing the green and costing a stroke here and there but otherwise, an ok round. I'll take 4 over if it's the last of the year...hit all my goals in 2023 except breaking par, was even par multiple times but just couldn't get it done. Next year, that will be the top goal for sure. Wife is still learning but played probably the best she ever has with two legit pars which hasn't happened before. Teaching her as she goes but one of the tips I gave a few holes in seemed to resonate and she started really hitting well/much straighter. I noticed that she was standing too far from the ball and feet were a little wide which led her to topping a lot of balls. Had her move closer in with a little more knee bend and a little swing plane change. I'm astounded at how quickly she just started doing it every time. She's an athlete, played college soccer so maybe that helps with adjusting and the feel part of the game. I think the bug got her a bit too as she hit a couple of drives and out comes an "ohhhh, that felt good" Overall, excited to get out next time, whenever that might be but a pretty successful 2023!

Probably depends on the wind but assuming I'm playing the tips, I'd put either a 3 wood out to the right side of the fairway leaving a 7ish in or poke a driver over the bunkers with wedge in. Very conservative shot would be 3 iron to the right side of the fairway and 4/5 iron into the green. This course looks amazing BTW!

I only tee up my driver and if it's really windy out, I'll even play that off the deck to keep it lower. It's 100% a mental/visual thing but I just feel like I have more control and feel hitting off the grass with everything.

Had a 3 man scramble at our club on Sunday - glorious day of high in the low 50's w/ winds in the teens. Then, to make it even better, it was a superintendent's revenge tourney with flags in the absolute toughest spots, some greens mowed twice, some not mowed at all. We tied for fourth at -6, in a three man scramble with a 3.7, 4.0 and 4.1 hdcps respectively. First place was three plus handicappers that finished -10. It was that tough. By far the hardest greens conditions I've ever played on - just no way to plan for it even when you knew where the pins were because every green had different speeds with the mowing differences. They absolutely killed it this year with all of that. Was fun overall and minus the brisk day, definitely enjoyed ourselves. This was the hole location/green speed on #10. We escaped with a bogey after almost driving the green on the par 4 but it took a slam dunk to get it to go in, otherwise the ball came back to your feet because of the severe slope and the hole was on top of a ridge that broke left/right on each side of the hole. The pro said the scoring average was a double-bogey. LOL Apologies ahead of time for the language. 20231015_103951.mp4

Good timing, I've actually just started doing yoga with my wife. I'll check out the Alexander Technique for sure. Thanks!

I absolutely appreciate that but as I get older, the more I actually appreciate at least a few swings at the range. Probably not more than 15 or 20 max though. I'm almost 50 and have had 4 right leg surgeries, a shoulder and an elbow. It was 45 degrees when we teed off this morning, not a single practice swing other than a few on the first tee. Wow am I not young anymore, lol. Back pops about 20 times first driver hit and the cold definitely was felt in my joints for a few holes until I loosened up. My goal for these types of days is to just fight through those first few however I need to and try to par through and then adjust accordingly when I actually can swing a bit looser.

My two cents, I just don't think that there are a ton of golfers that pay attention to their own strengths and weaknesses...they go out to play for fun and hope they score well but really don't want to do anything to work at improving or just don't have/feel like it's worth their time. I played with my brother in law this morning who's probably a 20ish hdcp and plays maybe 15-20 times per year. He wasn't hitting the ball well at all off the tee, slicing a bunch and kept getting pissed doing the exact same thing over and over without changing anything. Didn't adjust or try to figure out why he was slicing (or even ask me if I'm seeing anything he's doing), didn't decide to hit something else off the tee to try and find the fairway, etc. I bet next time he's out, it's the exact same thing. I think the majority of golfers, especially casual and many league golfers (many join leagues for social/drinking/etc and not to improve) are the same as he is. Go play, don't score that well or how you'd like but also don't do anything to change that, rinse and repeat. I'll be honest, I don't do research all of the time on new courses either. If I'm playing a tourney or maybe an event with decent players and prizes, I'll scope out a course on google or in person if I don't know it well. I will absolutely play practice rounds for the state am championship, mid-am, state games, etc. However, guys golf trips, vacation golf or just hitting a new course locally with buddies, I don't spend much time researching. To me, some of the fun in those type of rounds is the new course and not knowing what I'll run into.

Wasn't too bad overall (hopefully still some time left here to improve a little more with cooperating weather). Was able to get my handicap down from a 6 at the end of last season to a 3.7 with a lot of work, mainly focusing on off the tee and putting. Still haven't broken 70 this year, one of my few main goals as it's been a few years since I've been in the 60's. Otherwise, goal was to get in the 3's for handicap, to make less/limit 'dumb' mistakes and to play more golf which I've definitely done this year.

I guess these are my point...I get the data and analytics part for normal golf. Those make perfect sense for bomb and gouge courses or if you are hitting it normally/well but we weren't hitting it straight, why not adjust mid round? Far be it from me to tell pros how to play but it just seemed like we kept burying ourselves in rough to the knees with no shot at birdies while the Euros were piping every fairway. I just didn't understand it but again, I'm far from a pro so I have no idea. I guess from a mental side, it would do good to start hitting fairways/greens and winning holes, then go back to the driver and bombing. Just very frustrating to watch as a fan (and I'm sure even worse as a player)...

So here is what I don't understand about how the US in the alternate shot matches...I'd love it if someone better than me or that gets it can explain. I've played in plenty of match play tournaments and the one general rule I go by is risk/reward...I don't simply want to hand a hole away so it's always 'is going for the green in two worth it' or 'should I just play my 3 iron to the fairway even though I'll be 40-50 yards behind him'. I've only played a few alternate shot tourneys and this is the general rule we used, it seemed to work OK as we were in every hole without having to just give them away. Why in the hell do these guys not just do that during alternate shot? Putting your partner in a position to be 190 away from 12" tall rough when they could be 230 away from the fairway seems like an unnecessary risk to me. Especially if you are hitting the ball like most of the US did during the alternat shot matches. I just don't get it...If I'm hitting the ball terribly off the tee with driver, I'll smack my 3 iron to the middle of the fairway all day just to keep scoring well, why can't these guys do the same? Especially given that everyone knows why the course was set up the way it was, to punish the US for NOT FINDING THE FAIRWAY! Is it ego or am I missing something else?

HOLY $HIT! And I'm complaining about $7k initiation and $300/mo. LOL I wish someday (probably not likely since I'm rapidly closing in on 50) that I had that kind of disposable income to join a place like that! Honestly, size of our city is probably the main issue where I live in Nebraska...we only have 4 country clubs (fully private) in town and they are all pricey. The one I mentioned above is the cheapest, the rest are all $20k+ initiation and $500+/mo. I have a daughter in college, not a chance I'm pulling that off while helping her with tuition!

I saw a great post from someone on Twitter after the 1st day - "If we didn't learn anything else from day 1 of the Ryder Cup, it's that Derek Jeter will do anything to get back to his supermodel wife and kids."