marfau23

Hey all! As the season is starting to wind down in the northeast, I am starting to set up a little chipping area in a spare room. Any recommendations for what chipping mats I should consider? Don’t have the space for any full swings so don’t need anything extravagant. The last one I had was a tri-turf callaway mini mat but somehow got waterlogged in a recent move. Just seeing what all is out there that people would recommend. It would be great to get some different recommendations at the <$50, <$100, and best all around. Thanks everyone!

This is certainly going to be my Old Man Yells At Clouds take but I think that industry wide, clubs are going too far. I hear a lot about drivers being the problem/chief symptom but I have noticed a much smaller difference distance wise upgrading my driver after a decade than trying to upgrade my hybrids. Currently I game a Titleist 910 4-hybrid and a 913 3-hybrid both bought from the course with the demo label on the shaft. I have absolutely loved them for the last decade but finally decided it might be time to look around and see what advancements have been made. I was absolutely shocked to see that EVERYTHING was flying 15 yards further and flying another 25-50 feet higher meaning I’d have to get an even higher lofted hybrid to fit my current gapping. As someone that already the ball arguably too high, that leaves me stuck. I still love these clubs and have never played with any irons longer than a 5 but am I giving up too much forgiveness by playing 15 year-old hybrids compared to today’s tech in the long/utility iron areas?

I realized it was time after my third round of >40 putts. Was the problem me? Absolutely. That said, I still needed a scapegoat to change up the voodoo and blame all the bad on. Went in to get fit and fell in love with a very similar puttter from the numbers perspective (toe drop, length, weight, etc) in a mid mallet compared to my blade. People are a neurotic bunch and maybe none more so than golfers. Sometimes we just need something to blame. We all know deep down that it’s really just us but if we let ourselves believe that, it’s easy to get discouraged and fall out of love with that aspect of the game. A very similar story led me to start with a super stroke (17/18 GIRs and shot 81). It’s just nice to have something mentally to blame!

Interested to get the communities view of a lab putter for a naturally arcing stroke. I’d imagine that it would be oil and water but even an arced stroke can definitely benefit from a more square clubface. Interested to hear!

Completely forgot about the R9 series! The R9 Supertri TP is probably the prettiest golf club ever made in my opinion. Great list and beautiful bag!

I went for a fitting after three consecutive rounds of 40+ putts and was told that I pretty much had the right putter for my stroke (I feel like your stroke adapts to your putter if you game it long enough) so the fitter helped me find a putter with the same characteristics (toe hang, lie, loft, length) in a different form factor which gave me something else to look at. Mainly, the fitting confirmed that I am in fact a headcase but now I can be a headcase that looks down at either a blade or a mid-mallet and can swap em as needed.

Is there a rule of thumb for when to replace rangefinders? I can’t imagine they’d go bad but has the accuracy really improved over the last decade to be worth shelling out a few hundred bucks for a new one? I’m not the biggest believer in the slope adjustment (think it’s more variable based on club and trajectory based on the individual’s fought characteristics than simple math) so I don’t feel the need to “upgrade” for that feature and can’t imagine things have gotten that much better. Any arguments to that?

Wanted to start this to hear the community’s opinion on what club sticks out in your mind as the most underrated or even which club is still your gamer despite technology allegedly passing it by a decade ago. For me, it’s my RBZ Stage 2 Tour 3-wood. Not sure what it is about that club but it still FLIES off the face and I haven’t found anything that is clearly superior. I HATE the look of it with the white crown and tacky graphics but it just performs for me. In an age of club fitting and really dialing things in, I think my off-the-shelf 3-wood will stay in play until it gives up on me.

Growing up in the Midwest, most courses were LONG. The type that emphasized hitting it a mile and searching for it in the rough. Very rarely had holes with trouble on both sides which allowed you to hit driver on just about every par 4/5. A couple of years ago I moved to New England and have found very few long courses and am down to only hitting driver 4-5 times/round (two way miss doesn’t help). Is this course design common throughout all of New England or more prevalent near the coast? Any regions within NE I should look to play that offers a longer, more open setup consistently? Thanks all!

I’ve been fit for clubs twice in the past. Once for my irons and once for my driver. I absolutely could not be happier with the irons. Still hitting them as well as they felt in the store. The driver on the other hand is all out of wack. The ball comes out very low and hooky (albeit that part is definitely me) when that was absolutely not my experience during the fitting. I’d imagine if my swing changed that significantly, I’d notice it in my irons too but they are still sky high. Anyone else experience this or have any insight?

Have had my eye on the Bushnell for a few years now but the MLM 2 Pro has stuck out as a definite stepping stone. If I’m going to be spending good money on a launch monitor, I’d want it to pretty easily be able to handle normal simulator rounds as well to grow in the future. Anyone have any experience with either of these/any alternatives to suggest?

Hovland with the most points, brooks with the clincher!

This post isn't about writing an in-depth review about a bucket list course. It's not about travel tips, booking agents, or accommodation recommendations. It's about THAT trip. The one that you've always wanted to go on with the person who introduced you to the game or the friends you gained from a random course pairing you up with someone. In two words, this post can be summed up by two words: DO IT. My dad introduced me to the game when I was 5-6 years old. The golf course grew to be a place where we would go to spend uninterrupted time together. It was the place where we could have conversations that just didn't seem to get off the ground anywhere else. It was the time that we needed to bond as father and son. The time that we spent on the golf course was instrumental to my personal development and I was extremely lucky to be able to share that with him. As I went off to college, the time on the course became less and less (went to school in a different state). Every time I came home, we were back out on the course every chance we got and I loved every second of it. My senior year, I knew that I was going to have about two months between graduation and when I would start my new job to do really whatever I wanted without any real responsibilities. I decided that I was going to finally do it. I was going to take that once-in-a-lifetime golf trip (we will come back to this later) and I was going to bring the person responsible for introducing me to the game. I started doing some research and stumbled on Scotland Golf Tours one night (not a plug but they did a fantastic job). I built up the dream trip to Scotland with all of the courses you see hosting The Open or the Ryder Cup. We're talking Carnoustie, Troon, Turnberry, Gleneagles, Prestwick. The works. At the end, the website asked for my email to get the quote and I begrudgingly obliged. I wasn't expecting much from it but just wanted to see what we were looking at. I woke up the following morning to a follow-up email with some different package options, pricing, etc. I really didn't think much of it at the time but over the next couple of weeks, it kept creeping into my head until I eventually pulled the trigger and put some of the little I had saved into a deposit (unbeknownst to my Dad). I will never forget the conversation when I broke the news to him that I was taking him to Scotland. It was my way of saying thank you for everything he had done over the years and a way to build some memories that would last a lifetime. Fast forward a few months and we finally get to Scotland. The first day was mainly getting caught up on sleep, figuring out how to drive on the left side of the road, and enjoying a few beers in the local pub. The second day, we played Prestwick (take a caddy for this one) then went back to the accommodations in Troon (right across from the course). It was still relatively early so we headed to the bar that was run by the hotel. The carefree conversations that we had while sipping a few glasses of scotch are memories that I'll never forget. Some topics mattered (what my next step in life was going to look like) and some topics didn't (why I was a grandpa for enjoying peaty scotch) but they were all memorable. The next few days, we played incredible course after incredible course during the days while exploring the towns (mainly Troon and St Andrews) at night. It was absolutely the trip of a lifetime. It is funny looking back at it. I had dreamt of this trip my entire life and looking back at it, I more vividly remember the lunch in the Turnberry lighthouse at the turn than I remember the shot I hit on the Postage Stamp (skulled the hell out of it; unknown whether it has been located to this day). The most memorable moments were the conversations and experiences that I got to share with my Dad rather than the individual holes we played. If you are thinking about planning a once-in-a-lifetime golf trip with family, friends, or loved ones, I have two pieces of advice: 1. JUST DO IT! The memories that you make are worth every penny you spend. 2. It doesn't need to be once-in-a-lifetime. We are currently planning on taking a second "once-in-a-lifetime" golf trip. If you have any suggestions, please comment below! Hope this post moves the needle for someone that's been sitting on the fence. Thanks all!

I had been playing a beautiful set of 2011 Taylormade MC irons for about a decade. Absolutely loved the feel, the workability, the look, and the sound. As I started to play more, I noticed that I was in less control of the trajectories leading to balloons and being unplayable in the wind. All came down to a windy April day and hit a 5 iron off the tee into a 10pm wind for safety. It came up 45 yards short of what a “normal” strike should have. I figured it was time to start exploring at least new shafts to help the ball pierce a bit more. Went to club champion and got fitted into some P7MCs with lower flighted shafts. (Strangely enough, even though the irons were 12 years apart, I still felt the most comfortable with the look, weight, and feel of essentially the same model iron). When I took them out to the course, one thing immediately stuck out. Not the trajectory or the distances (actually lost a few yards) but the forgiveness on slight mis-hits blew me away. I had always thought that somewhat bladed irons (like any MC) was going to punish any mis-hit significantly and that’s what I grew accustomed to. Catch it a little thin and the ball comes out head level and sails over your target. Catch it a touch heavy and the irons would dig giving you no chance of getting it close to the green. I was absolutely amazed by the amount of forgiveness that manufacturers were able to cram into a “players” iron. First real mis-hit was with a 7 iron into the green. Caught it a touch thin and it still came out with a solid trajectory (granted a bit lower than a perfect strike) and the distance perfectly matched what I would have expected with a perfect strike. Since that first day, I’ve found the same result time and time again. Off center hits were punished significantly less, thin/heavy shots still came out with a solid trajectory and had significantly better than expected distance control. I had no idea that modern irons in the same “class” would have such a significant upgrade in forgiveness generation to generation. I see a lot of good players sticking with the blades they’ve played for decades because they “can’t find anything like them”. While I certainly get where they are coming from, maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe some modern tech/improvements in weight placement and turf interaction can be the missing piece to help shave a couple of hard earned strokes. Helped me more than I ever imagined, maybe it can help you too!

The main issue I have with the round preview option is the club recommendations. It is not uncommon for the recommendation to say 5i, pw, 60’ to get to a par 4 (no water, hazards, ob, etc). Can’t imagine that would have a lower SG value than actually clubbing up to a mid iron then chipping if you miss the green but Arccos continually suggests laying up in these situations. Would be worth another look!