revkev

If you expand this pictures you will see the Bayou Eagle flying over the flag on 18. I think he’s the offspring of the original eagle that was dispossessed of his home when hurricane Irma the tree with his nest in it. The next fall a new nest was built and this smaller Eagle has been there ever since. Like many Florida courses we have an array of gators that come and go - they removed if they become too large or aggressive- generally we have them in the ponds on 6, 9 and 15. Not sure what my new club will have. I’ve certainly seen all kinds of wildlife there when I’ve played as a guest. Just haven’t played there enough to identified what is permanent and what is migratory. The course that my league plays at has a healthy dose of Eastern rattle snakes. Gators and rattlers are to be avoided.

Congrats and keep the posts and participation coming. You are great addition to the forum community.

Went to the range yesterday. I’m in between clubs so April is the month where I’m a member at both Bayou and Seminole Lake. It was hosting a women’s conference championship. It perfectly illustrates why I’m leaving. While it didn’t impact me I never received a communication from the club about a 3 day event that effectively took over our course. I played there Friday and have no idea how a tournament where you had to play by the rules of golf could be held there - way too many bare patches in the fairways to mark all of them, the traps are inconsistent and the greens were pinched two weeks ago and are still healing. However the course layout is great, it’s hosted PGA tour events, mini tour events, is the home course for a DI college team and home club to a lot of very strong players. It’s a great club for a younger person because it has tiered pricing for young professionals. I’m not playing enough to justify the monthly full fee of $650 and they aren’t showing enough commitment to the course to justify sticking around for when I retire in a couple of years - I don’t trust that anything will improve. Bayou does have great practice facilities and since the tournament chased the membership away I had the range to myself yesterday afternoon. I really struggled with my swing Friday and wanted to sort that out. Also I was playing after a funeral that had around 600 people in attendance. I think that was a factor in my play. There really wasn’t much sorting to do. I was hitting the ball fine. I finally decided to pit my Wilson D7 forged 9 iron verses my Srixon ZX 5 9 iron. I had a clear view of a pin that was 135 for me - a little long for 9 iron but I had a bit of a helping breeze and the balls on that range are excellent - they should be for what we pay - at any rate - I could not reach the pin with the D7 forged but I was very consistent and my PLM and eyes told me they were getting on the front of the green, 128 avg carry, 131 with the run out, nice dispersion. The first couple of Srixons were pulled - that’s my miss with those. After that though the results were eye opening, 133 yard average carry and 136 yards with the run out, higher launch, a bit less spin - I’m not a high spin player and range balls are not urethane although they should be for what we pay - yeah that’s a sore point for me. Interestingly the lofts through the bag are the same on both irons except for the pitching wedge which is a degree weaker in the Srixon and the A wedge was is 2 degrees weaker - Shafts are supposed to be the same the recoils in the Srixon’s are an iteration newer. By site the Srixon’s have a bit more offset but a slightly smaller platform. Swing weights are quite different though - Wilson’s are D2 and Srixons are C9. I prefer the feel of the heavier weight for certain. But the difference in results were convincing yesterday at least. I will try it again and also will try to play an evening round where the course is empty and I can try done head to head shoots with my gamer ball into a real green. But for now the Srixons are in and the Wilson’s are out. Best range session in a long time - hit 6 hybrid to a flag that was 169 and was flying it 171 dead straight - thats crazy long for me.

Play golf more and have fun doing it.

Enjoy - I have a school at my church my cool is to prevent kids from doing something stupid as our car pick up is right at that time.

If have no DYI skills - I do have a great repair guy/fitter - I will have him do it for me.

Hey first off and most importantly congratulations on your first child! It is an incredible blessing. Enjoy him or her. It's been a long time for me - my oldest biological child is turning 37 in a few months. I definitely played less after his birth. For me the key was finding time to practice - that kept my game moving forward. I also went back to school when he was only 2 so that was a double whammy - fortunately I had high quality day care at Seminary and also an executive course to play on so that rounds took less than 3 hours - that let me play some until he got old enough to start taking him to the course - we had foster children once I got to my first church two of whom we ended up adopting - I would just take them to play golf with me and we had a family foursome - I was able to maintain a 3-5 handicap throughout but it took a lot of planning and a reasonable, wife - for example once we had the three she didn't mind if I took them with me to play and the rural Midwest had courses that were reasonably priced and family friendly. I honestly don't think that I could have kept playing as well had I stayed in Connecticut where golf was expensive and the pace of life much faster. Thanks for being in new parent and also a teacher - two of the greatest possible vocations.

I give me retired ones to my adult sons or at this time of the year my golf team. I'm the same way with found balls unless I have a playing partner who uses what I've found or its a ball that I've wanted to try - I will put it in the bag for a casual round -

This is so tricky - Im in the same boat btw for different reasons - I have a set of ZX 5’s that I’m currently gaming. They are beautiful irons but the shafts are 62 grams and they play at C9 - I really prefer the feel of a heavier swing weight - I sometimes have trouble feeling the club head with mine. When I was fit I performed very similarly with a shaft that was 10 grams heavier - we went lighter on the theory that it would help towards the end of a round when I’m tired. I have a set of steel fiber i70’s that I’m itching put in but I’m scared - I don’t game the 6 iron so I’m thinking of just doing that one to try it out. I will say this - lots of people think they hit their irons or driver too high, very few actually do. You should go on a launch monitor and get data to see if it’s really the case. Where does your set break between clubs?

I was surprised to go this long into the thread before seeing this answer. This would be my answer as well. Tournament or league play I’m opening a new sleeve and only play unblemished golf balls. I will play 18 with the same ball of it stays that way and doesn’t get marked up - I figure if I ever got past the sleeve it doesn’t really matter what ball I’m playing anymore anyway - I should remind everyone that MGS has contests on this - blemishes or marks do not help - they hurt - once a ball is blemishes it performs differently through the green. I still will play with one like that in casual play but it’s probably not wise because it could a false impression of how I’ve hit a shot. One last thing - my league play is every week. People in that league are extremely persnickety about rules which is just fine with me. I always have 2 fresh different numbered balls in my pocket when I play in that league just in case.

All in on the music stuff - I was a music major in college and played trumpet professionally for a while after school and then did side gigs for a number of years - 15 or so until I became a pastor. Somewhere along the way I discovered that I could sing - no one is putting me in a role at the met but I love singing and have a good enough ear that I'm not hurting anyone if they have me in their group. Plus even at 67 I can still sing tenor. I love music, almost all kinds of music. Since my church has a school, I've even had the chance to direct our choirs and bands. I'm the chief sub when one of the music teachers is out. I did a long term instrumental gig with the middle school band last year when we were between instrumental directors. Those kids were incredible - we got a Superior at our Music Festival - first time ever - it was so much fun - So music and scotch are my hobbies other than golf - and I suppose baseball and UConn Husky basketball - go Huskies!

I'm actually happy because I enjoyed Bones as a broadcaster - I never quite understood that pairing to be honest. I don't understand JT period - he's such a talented ball striker but then again golf is really hard. I hope they both do well.

I don’t think it’s as big a factor here as in other parts of the US. I do have the distinction of playing a joke during a hurricane once and also being fit in the outer bands of one at the tour performance center at TPC sawgrass - thanks MGS for setting that one up.

I’m drawn to them because I’ve had success with them as follows: driver - Taylor Made, Ping fairway woods - Ping irons - none - actually Ive had great success with Ram, Ping Eye 2, Nicklaus Iron maxs and Wilson D7 forged - two of those companies are defunct so that should tell you something. Wedges - Ping until I found SCOR - none of TKs wedges have worked well for me other than those - I’m tempted to go back to Ping. Putter - No loyalty what so ever Balls - I’ve always started with Titleist

It is interesting because I game SCOR wedges - I love that v-sole - the Srixons remind me of those wedges.

Congrats to our testers - I will be following this one for certain.

While you are waiting for yours I had my on the range today. I was thinking of this thread. What I especially noticed today was the turf interaction, how I get nice shallow divots through the bag with these irons.

Congrats!

I was in that test group only with the Mezz - it was very good for me on the green. Sadly I was very inconsistent with it from off the green. Given my age and the types of grasses that I play on (in Florida) being good with putter from off the green is essential so I had to finally give up on mine. If I lived up North it would still be in the bag. Good luck with yours when it arrives.

Rays Season member here. It’s Holy Week so no games this weekend for me but I do have tickets, soon.

Wait, no one has replied yet? I have to tell you I love my Sacks-Parente and I mean I love it and I'm significantly better with it than I have been with a putter in a long, long time - and I was pretty good with the EVNroll - passable with the LAB the issue being I couldn't putt with it from off the green and down here that's death. The beauty of the Sacks-Parente was that because of the test we agreed that we would game what our fitter recommended - remember the Ping long game test where we had to do the same thing and many of us found that what we were gaming wasn't right? It was the same eye opener for me with putter. I'd highly recommend that you at least try an online fitting with them and see what they come up with. It may be radically different from what you have tried and you might find that it helps. Obviously there are a myriad of great putters that you can try. If you aren't finding success on your own perhaps its time to let someone else recommend something for you. Go Huskies!

I remember that 3 wood/5 wood post - it's always a great question and particularly a great one to ask one's teacher or at a fitting. It's great to have you here and quite an accomplishment to rack up 3K posts in such a short time of activity. Particularly when they are such high quality posts. I will look forward to that thread on the breaking 80 - I used to do that like clock work - the last 6 months though - not so much - so here's your first tip - it's really hard to do if you aren't playing enough golf. Thanks for sticking around on the forums and congrats on hitting the 3K and 1 mark.

I bought a set of the 5’s in July and am currently gaming them. They look and feel great and I’m hitting lots of good shots with them. My one complaint is the gap between the pitching wedge and gap wedge. It’s 6 degrees - I’ve tried several remedies with very mixed results. I need to just go get the thing bent stronger. Honestly I’ve been so bad with wedge lately I’ve been reluctant to do anything until straightening that out though. On an interesting note a several of Srixon players play blended sets that include a ZX 5 4 iron. Also Paul Malanati made a similar move with a different brand of irons in his set at 5 and 4 iron - he credited that move because it allowed him to hit the iron on 17 that won. Enjoy the irons, looking forward to your review. Great way to find your new gamers. A plus on the discipline of taking so long to find them.

I swear I didn’t see yours before I gave mine. I’m guessing it would be the number one answer were it an option - let’s start a write in campaign. This country needs a good write in campaign

You didn’t give me my real strength - the 19th hole. I excel there! Lately it’s been chipping and putting selected short game. But if short game include stuff from 40-100 - I will switch to putting.