RoverRick

According to some interview I happened across last week while sick and in bed, yes. I normally don’t watch that stuff, but after 4 days, I ran out of golf and other stuff to watch. It was about some music video. I guess someone can have a LINK, MEZZ, and DF, and it would be a lot cheaper than 2 supermodels in the long run.

You know, I’ve heard that at one point, Billy Joel had to decided between models Elle McPherson and Christie Brinkley. Life is full of tough choices, but this is a good problem to have.

I can’t get terribly excited about seeing Scheffler, DeChambeau, Rahm, Garcia, Fleetwood, Rose, Aberg, Stenson, etc. play a 72 hole stroke play event to crown an Olympic Champion. However, Scheffler and DeChambeau vs. Rahm and Garcia vs. Fleetwood and Rose vs. Aberg and Stenson in a multi-day Ryder Cup Style match where they are playing for national pride would be great. Two or four person teams from any country. Perhaps even multiple teams from different countries. But not the same old PGA tour event that’s 25 minutes worth of excitement crammed into 32 hours of broadcast time.

I’m not 100% on with it is always shorter. I chock down on the driver often on number 7. I find that feels faster off the club face, launches lower, and draws. By chocking down it changes the swing weight and may increase the ball speed.

Bob Does Sports. Joey and Bob will make me look good at golf and Perez will make me look average size. And they are so fun.

Mostly, it is wind dependent. There are only 3-4 clubs in my bag I hit max effort, driver, 3w and hybrids. And usually just the driver on certain holes. So when I say full, I do not mean maximum speed. Let’s say I’m 125 yards from the flag. I am much more likely to go under a tree with a bump and run 6 iron than try to hit a pitching wedge 125. Club-Full-3/4-1/2 7-155-140-130 8-140-124-115 9-128-115-95 P-113-100-85 G-100-85-70 S-88-75-60 L-less than 60 These are feels or just baseline numbers. If I have a 93 yard shot, I am most likely to grab the gap wedge and think “that’s 85, that’s 100, so about here.” I can add a few yards by moving it back and trapping it, or subtract a few yards by moving it forward and “cutting the balls legs off”. While I do this with the 54° & 60° most often, I use “trail side feels” to determine how far to hit the ball. Ankle, shin, knee, thigh, belt, ribs, shoulder, ear high. Let’s say I have 60 yards. I know a waist high 54° goes 60 yards, but a rib high 60° does also. How aggressive do I want to swing? Unfortunately, I have spent the last 6 weeks working on my full swing (vastly improved) and my short game has suffered. But I’m able to devote more time now to it.

I had a great save today with the Lob Wedge. When I got home from golf, I pitched my wallet into the tray by the door and missed. It bounced behind the TV. I grabbed my 60° and scooped it right out of there without moving furniture. Does that count?

I think I aged from 30 to 60 in the last 5 years. I played great today and have used ice and heat and elevation and ointment and went to bed early because of it. But the good news is, I went from 210 off the tee to a 254 average. I can’t walk to the bathroom now, but I was stripping the ball. I’ll be better tomorrow and will remember to take anti inflammatories before play. At 60, ibuprofen is a performance enhancing drug.

Since these were written by “younger” people, they missed a key component to keeping a single digit handicap. That’s health. Age and injuries are major hurdles, at least for me.

It’s official. It’s TPT vs the world. May 18 & 19. Okay. Perhaps not quite the battle for the free world as we know it, but William P. and I are teaming up for a tournament at my club. I’m really looking forward to it, and it is an Invitational 2 Day-2 Man Best Ball Tournament. So we have a goal to work towards. We will have the practice day before then, but it’s just 5 weeks. We will try to get together before then but he is headed on a golf trip, and I have another tournament. It will be fun no matter how it turns out.

Good morning. Any guesses as to what I have been doing for the last 90 minutes? Yep, another day another 3:30 wake up call with a truck breakdown. Yesterday the tire guy said it was too dangerous to work on the truck there so I had to have it towed. $695 extra. Plus $800 tire, $300 rim, and $150 for them to come tell me to have it towed. I had it towed to the yard and now have to have it fixed today.

Another early morning and another truck breakdown. 3rd time since last Saturday morning a blown steer tire a me up at 3-4am getting someone to go fix it. Oh well, that’s why I get to play golf during the week. Most of my time critical issues happen between 10 pm and 10 am. The day time stuff is admin crap I can do anytime.

It’s been about 6 weeks since I posted here. About 4 weeks ago, I had my TPT shaft fitting and met Jon Sinclair. He spent some time “fixing my swing”. I learned a lot. Not so much on that day, he simply told me where my strengths and weaknesses were and how to fix it. In the weeks since I’ve watched a number of his talks with Larry Rinker about lower, mid, and upper core golfers. 80% of golfers are upper core, as am I. The short version is all these open hips, stronger grips, more body turn instructions were not only were hard on my body, but I was never going to achieve great results. It was actually slowing my swing rather than speeding it up. Current swing, very much like my swing from 7 years ago before I tried to get “better”, slightly closed stance, early wrist set to 90° by pushing down the handle with the left hand, big shoulder turn to 90°, lifting the left heel, with a slight pause at the top. The slight pause was what I put in so that I had a definite top of the swing. Also, the top of the swing does not mean hands above the head. It means shoulders turned 90° with the hands shoulder high. This feels like very flat backswing. Besides, in order to build speed from a stop, I have to shift my weight. This starts with a stomping of the left heel and what can best be described as an angle change of the left elbow. The left arm is straight but I roll my lower arm a couple of degrees which flattens the club a lot , a hard turning of the left shoulder, low to high, with a slow release of the right hand starting at the top until shaft parallel, the firing the right arm as I push with the left leg and allow the club and shoulders to pull me to a full finish. Yeah, that’s a lot of stuff in a second and a half. But the interesting thing is that it feels natural to me, and I barely think about any of it. The moral of this story is many things that I have learned on YouTube and from 3 different instructors doesn’t apply to me. Jon said that studying 200 tour pros and many good amateurs on 3D Gears, there are 3 fundamentals that all good golfers do. You must start the downswing with a pressure shift to the lead side. You must turn the hips while shifting. The trail foot moves towards the target after impact. All the rest of the swing matches up with your natural tendencies and body type. I really have seen dramatic improvement with less pain than in the past couple of years. I’ve also gained back all the distance I have lost due to leg problems. Monday was my best ball striking in 7 years and would have had a great round yesterday if I wouldn’t have left 13 putts 2” short dead in the center. Very unusual for me.

L.A.B. Golf LINK1 with a TPT shaft. I’ve been thinking (obsessing?) about it for 6 weeks. I need to sell all my non-LAB putters since I haven’t even considered gaming them in the last 11 months. But I’m procrastinating because I have a DF2.1 that is performing admirably. I’ve been focusing on other things, and a new putter is just on my wishlist not my need list. I’m not terribly happy with my G425 5 hybrid and THINK I would prefer a i525 5 iron, but I might discover the 5H performs better.

I have stated that while I liked the G425 4H, I never got along with the 3H. Of course swing changes suggested by Jon Sinclair along with the TPT shaft he selected for me has transformed this club. Monday morning was the Eclipse 4-man Scramble. Except we had 3 men and a woman. I was supposed to be the short game and putting guru, it turned out that not only was I that, but I was the driver and approach guru also. So the Hybrid. Twice off the tee to the perfect position. Second shot to all four par 5’s, where I had 2 pin high 12 & 15 foot eagle putts and 1 center of the fairway 10 yards short, and 1 that carried the bunker and hit on the downslope, past the flag and just off the back. Granted, this was a scramble, and I had back up. Still, I perhaps would have shot mid-60’s on my own ball. The best since May of 2014. It’s been a steady rain since Monday night and not sure how things will go the rest of the week. Saturday is a Par 3 tournament on the course in honor of the Masters so it may be Sunday (if I play early) before I find out if this was a fluke.

Then you have room in your bag. I stand by my earlier statement (perhaps insinuation) that I prefer the adjustable fairways more. I honestly like the Taylormade SIM TI, SIM2 Ti, Stealth + and Stealth 2+. For different reasons. Until last month I preferred that TM over the Ping. I had a SIM Ti and replaced with the Ping because of the TPT Shaft test.

I was looking at your bag info. You currently have a G425 Max 5w 17.5° +/- 1.5°. Turning that one down will reduce the spin and launch gaining you a bit of distance off the tee, while still making it a viable club for off the deck. Maybe even get a 3w length shaft and use the flat setting. The Ping is far more versatile and variable than the standard Stealth or any of the bonded 3 woods. The Taylormade fairways means you have to go to the Plus or TI versions to get the adjustability of the Ping, because for years now the standards are not adjustable. While the 3wood off the tee may gain you more distance, the 5 wood will give you more spin and thus will likely be straighter. I have a friend that has played Ping 5 woods on 3 wood shafts for a couple of generations of Pings. While I have the G430 Max 3 wood in the bag, I have it set to 16°. I give up a few yards off the tee, but makes it easier for those few times I may want to hit it off the deck. I say few times because statistically, I don’t have great results hitting a 3 wood onto the green.

I have absolutely no qualms about this, and even if the rules hadn’t stated that I wouldn’t have applied, thinking someone else should be chosen anyway. It was just quite a shock to be selected when I hadn’t applied.

It’s 4:17am, and my dog woke me because of thunder. I checked my email and saw that the LAB Putter Testers were announced, so I clicked the link to see who they were. RoverRick was the top of the list. WHAT? I didn’t even apply. I’m not eligible because I won last year. Then I realized this was last years thread and it was just an update. I mean, it’s 4:17 and perhaps I’m not especially quick on the uptake at that time. I thought it was the new DF3 thread. I was not disappointed. On the contrary, I absolutely love my DF2.1. The only advantages of the DF3 are it takes up less space in the bag, and easier to pick up balls. I’ve been thinking about posting a One Year Update in a couple of weeks, complete with stats, but the Cliff’s Notes version is that this is the only putter that I even consider taking to the course. I have half a dozen other putters that I haven’t even touched since getting this one. Thanks L.A.B. Thanks MGS. I look forward to the DF3 tester’s post, but there is no jealousy towards them. I am considering selling all my other putters and getting the LINK1 and TPT shaft, but only because it felt so great. Not because the DF2.1 with the Accra is lacking in any area.

And mine are performing admirably. Just a tease. Best ball striking 10 years, this morning.

The above changes didn’t work on the course as well as the range.

1st Tie Breaker +3 2nd Tie Breaker Lamprecht

I had my best driving day in years today. Every drive was 30 yards longer than my average. Of course, there are better swing mechanics involved also, but the confidence is way up. The 3 wood was only used twice. Once off the tee where I’m not sure what happened but I blocked 45° to the right and into the lake. Certainly not the shafts fault. The other time was on a par 5 which was a beautiful shot. Of course the distance off the deck is less than off the tee, unless you block it into the lake. The 3 hybrid was a bit of a mixed result. I did some testing Tuesday on the monitor and at Jon’s suggestion, I put the G425 4H on the 3H shaft. I was only giving up 5 yards total but gaining almost 20 yards of carry. Consistency was also way up. Tomorrow, I’ll take this set up to the course, along with the 5H on the 4H shaft, similar results Tuesday. Gapping with the Ping i525 6-U was spot on after some loft adjustments to the hybrids. I hesitated to do this until I played a round of golf with the new head weights. The 3H was not a failure, and I will have the 3H head and 5H shaft with me to swap back if this is a failure. 13 clubs allows for an additional wedge or maybe a club to be determined later. Honestly, do I care that there is now a 20 yard gap between my 4h and 3w, verses an additional wedge that might get me one putt closer to the flag even if I just use it once per round? My forte is not hitting the green from 215 yards.

I don’t retire them. They either quit and hide out for someone else to use or commit suicidal by drowning.

I played yesterday in the 35 mph wind. The TPT clubs were awesome. The rest of my bag was not. Worst round of the year. Not even the winds fault. I did get my recommended head weights for the fairway and hybrids, so tomorrow I will finally have all the pieces in place.