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GolfSpy Barbajo

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Everything posted by GolfSpy Barbajo

  1. I'd recommend Spargo in Providence - Steve Colletta is very good. Spargo Golf
  2. Some really great deals on the Penfold website - 25% off sitewide (except for clearance items) Extra 10% off clearance items Discounts taken at checkout. Just stocked up on GX Performance gloves - marked down from $21 to $12 with an extra 10% off at checkout. The Flatcroft Script Crew sweatshirts are a hell of deal - $35 marked down from $110, plus the extra 10%. Shop — PENFOLD GOLF USA
  3. HI Matt - that's not the case. They have the inventory left over from the previous iteration of Hogan and have some new stuff in the pipeline. Your comment about ordering stuff out of a catalog is true in regards to Ram - Simon told me that's exactly what they did and is how they can sell a pretty decent set of irons for only $400. The MacGregor MT86 irons are an original design by Austie Rollinson, who also designed the Zebra putters. The previous Hogan iteration's irons were also original designs- although the "updated" PTx pros were only an ever so slight alteration of the previous versions. The biggest difference there was cosmetic, as far as I could tell. Hogan itself did not have an R&D team on staff - they did outsource their R&D and design services to a US-based outfit and the latest model of Equalizer wedges was actually designed by Ronnie McGrath, who worked with Gene Sheeley at Ben Hogan's personal club maker back in the 80s. Those were definitely not open models chosen from a catalog.
  4. Have had the OS version in the rotation since April, and sweet Leapin' Moses are they some pretty irons. Feel is excellent, and I've had some of the best ball striking rounds in years with them. They are due for a spec-check, but these are definitely keepers. And I'm more than a little intrigued by the $150 MacTec driver!
  5. MacGregors are alternating with a COBRA King Tour/Tour CB combo set - I love 'em both. Macs are longer and more forgiving, COBRAs are smaller, a wee bit more precise - and forgiving enough when life is good. I love the 699s too - and the Wilson D9 Forged. It's not that I have too many irons, it's just that I have so much love to give
  6. I'll tell you what -- the Dynapower 3-wood is rapidly becoming my favorite club in the bag. The thing is sooo easy to hit and goes as far as I need it to. 3-woods off the deck had always been an adventure for me, but I friggin' love the thing. The Dynapower driver could go in my bag any time, as well. Gaming the Aerojet as it was custom fit, but for an off-the-shelf driver with the stock shaft, Dynapower is really, really good. Oh, the 3-wood is stock, too. Tried the irons at the range -- they go a long, long way, but I wasn't overly impressed with sound/feel. The two times I've demoed the Paradym irons I think I'd prefer those. As far as marketing goes, it's easy to say "do better marketing," or "do more marketing," but that costs money, and the smaller OEMs just don't have the juice to go head to head with the Big 4+Cobra. They spend a lot of money telling us their clubs are longer, easier, faster, better feeling and everything else. That's hard to market against. You do so plenty of promotion and paid advertising on social media channels by Wilson - not nearly as costly as Golf Channel/magazines, and potentially more effective for Wilson. My 2 cents, anyway...
  7. Been to St. Andrews 3 times --- if that ballot doesn't work for you, do the camp out thing at the starter's shack. It's a long, cold night but you'll have plenty of stories to tell. Bring blankets, pillows and a warm coat - it gets mighty cold overnight. Hope these two blog pieces are helpful to you... MyGolfSpy Experiences: A Trip To St. Andrews | MyGolfSpy MyGolfSpy Experiences: A Return to St Andrews | MyGolfSpy
  8. If you've played SCOR, then you know the sole. Terry says he's refined it a little bit for this edition - and I do like the way they play. I've only hit the 0311 wedges at a PXG fitting - did not pull the trigger on them, however. If memory serves, I liked them, but can't give you a head-to-head vs. the Edisons since I only hit them off a mat.
  9. Hi @Javs - have been playing the new Edison 2.0 for about a month now, after spending the late fall and winter in the Cleveland RTX6 ZipCores - which I'm a huge fan of. The Koehler sole is unique and it takes a bit of practice to get used to it, but it's a very versatile sole and the logic behind it makes sense -- you can open it up and hit full shots, it's good from all kinds of lies and on a variety of turf conditions, especially the sand. The 5x forging process delivers a wedge that feels fantastic and the higher CG and mass properties help you flight the ball -- you can hit it low with plenty of spin or high with a soft landing. Last few rounds have been spot-on with them - and at this point, they're going to stay in the bag for the foreseeable future. Highly recommended. Let me know here or in a DM if you have any questions I can help you with. Here's a link to the intro article I wrote for the 2.0 models... Edison 2.0 Forged Golf Wedges | MyGolfSpy
  10. I used the Apple watch function with SwingU yesterday for the first time - very cool. The watch gave me front-back-middle distances, wind speed/direction and "plays like" distances so in theory, I didn't need me rangefinder for slope calcs. however, I did use the rangefinder anyway just to be sure. @EasyPutter - this was my first time using it with the watch - but for some reason using the watch disabled the functionality of the app on my phone. Not sure if it was something I did/didn't do. It kept up with scoring, etc - just never moved off the hole map and never changed locations or anything. Didn't matter much because I knew the course and the watch gave me most of what I needed. It was pretty easy to input the needed information for strokes gained. Will give it another go next weekend. And not for nothing - If anyone wants an ARCOSS system with Link, I have two sets that will go to the first two DMs who message me. All it'll cost you is shipping and the monthly fee (Yes, I like the app that much...)
  11. Two funny Daly stories -- At the 50th Anniversary bash, John was killing it - he sang a few songs, told a few stories and drank whiskey and water. (He also sang it - I have a video somewhere). Anyway, later in the evening I'm waiting in line for the rest room when John comes up. I was next in line but let him cut because hey, he's John Daly. He walks in and a couple seconds later he sticks his head out and says to me, "Hey, I'm not gay or anything but there's a urinal and a toilet in here if you need to go." The other bathroom opened up and I told the guy behind me it was his decision to make and I went into the other one. Looking back I should have taken him up on the offer - I mean, how many times do you get to take a leak with a two-time Major champion? The other story came the next day - I"m going through a fitting with Brandon, Cobra's chief fitter and he's telling me that he's known John for over 20 years. He met him when he was just a kid and told Daly he wanted to get into the golf business. Daly then made some calls an within a couple of days he got Brandon a job at Cobra. He said that's something Daly just does - he's a big-hearted guy who'll help out anyone he can. And he's as genuine of a guy as you'd ever want to meet.
  12. Some strokes gained data from ShotScope. I didn't use Shotscope for much of last season for two reasons -- I was trying out ARCCOS (didn't like it - I have a set with the LINK if anyone wants it) and tried tagging with the H4 and didn't like it. Anyway, the last three rounds include the MacGregor irons - we peaked on April 12th at Maderas in Poway, CA. Everything worked with the MacGregors that day - very happy with strokes gained on approach shots. In fact, if my putting was just a bit better it could have been a personal best. Wound up with a 3 over - 75 which, if you told me on the first tee that's what I would shoot I'd have gladly taken it...damn that three-putt double bogey on 18!! Distance report on the irons is interesting. It's only been three rounds but the 5-iron is a problem. I flush it maybe one out of three times, and three rounds worth of stats show the Average, P-Average and Longest shots are nearly identical to the 6-iron. It's only three rounds, so more info is needed. There's about a 20+ yard gap between the Srixon 3-utility and the MacGregor 5-iron despite a 3.5 degree difference in loft. May need to add another utility to the mix. The round on April 13th we can forget about -- golf is hard, and it doesn't give a crap what you did the day before. On an unrelated note - I am fairly pleased with the Edison wedges. Short game stats are trending nicely - and some of the approach strokes gained came with either the 49 or 53 degree wedges. Love the forged feel and the Koehler sole is legit. Very versatile and love the turf interaction. Tossup between those and the Cleveland RTX 6 wedges. Will be trying the Cobra Snakebite wedges soon. Hit the entire Cobra line Friday and mercy, they've done a very, very good job. It's silly to say, but the KING Tour MB's might be the easiest-to-hit blades I've ever tried. Sooo tempted, but cooler heads prevailed. Any questions, gimme a hollah...
  13. Here's one for you - played today at Maderas near Carlsbad (in town for COBRA's 50th Anniversary bash) and had maybe the best round of the past 3 or 4 years (35-40 - 75; two lost balls on the back 9). Irons were lights out today - I'm really finding the groove with them and have distance dialed in. Getting better with the long irons - the 6 iron was particularly helpful today. Sound and feel just keep getting better and more addictive. They're making a case for staying in the bag for the foreseeable future. I'll post some stats late once I have the ShotScope info edited.
  14. Stayed in the bag all winter and is still in now. I love the All-In shaft - it feels incredibly stable. I keep all my putters together in my office so they can see each other and they know which one gets to go to the course. I've found it's the best way to make sure they all behave. If whichever one that's in the bag gets too cocky or lazy, it needs to know there are two or three others ready and willing to take its spot in the bag. Jealousy among the putters is a strong motivator. Seriously though, that Cleveland is a hell of a good putter. Not going anywhere any time soon.
  15. I think once you get into the right category of iron - SGI/GI/Player's Distance/Player's CB-MB - it's hard to pick a BAD option. It's just a matter of finding the right combination of head and shaft and getting the right level of forgiveness/spin/peak height/descent angle. So where one might be good for you, another option might be very good and another one might be great. That's where the fun starts.
  16. Thanks - that was a fun one to research and write.
  17. I'm guessing that's why MacGregor is selling heads only - so you can put whatever shaft you want in them. I have KBS C-Taper Lite in mine -- like you said, when a shaft works, it works no matter what it's in. Same shaft in the Sub 70 699s. And just wait till I get the new Ram irons out on the course. $400 for 7-piece set? Get outta here! Have hit them on the range and at Golftec using their LM - don't care if they're an open model, they're pretty damn good too.
  18. I'd say they're very similar to the P790s - both in loft and overall performance. The P790 is kind of the gold standard for players distance irons, but the recipe is not all that complicated - my hunch is these would be close enough. As far as going with MacGregor or Sub70 699 - it's a toss-up right now. Played very well over the winter with the Sub 70s and played very well with the MacGregors on Saturday - so I'm not sure there's a wrong decision. At least until I hit a bad shot and blame the club.
  19. They're pretty danged sweet Kenny - and they sell heads only if their stock shaft offerings don't work for you. Kind of a smart move on MacGregor's part.
  20. These are the OS version - I probably just missed the "O" in my WITB . These are being tested in our Most Wanted Player's Distance category. THe MT86 Pro version is in the Player's iron category. Size-wise and loft-wise they're consistent with others in the Player's Distance category - Wilson D9 Forged/COBRA Forged Tec/Mizuno 225.
  21. First off, I gotta admit that I REALLY want these irons to work for me. Part of it is being old school and loving the fact MacGregor is coming back and part of it is that they're just so doggone sexy. First real round in the books (I did play a season opener at Black Swan in Georgetown, MA with them - but in my book, March rounds at Black Swan don't count). Played in the chill and wind on the Jones course at Pine Hills in Plymouth, MA Saturday and came away kinda thrilled with the performance. They're every bit as good as what I've been gaming - Sub 70 699/699 Pro V2 combo set, I didn't use ShotScope much last year - I was trying the H4 and would constantly forget to tag - but was able to work the user-error kinks out of the X5 to get some good stats. Fairly pleased with the strokes gained - particularly compared to previous years' stats. Granted, it's just one round, but approach shots have always been a weakness. The fairway debacle and 100-150 debacle can be traced to two shots - a shanked 120 yard PW on a downhill/sidehill lie and a skilled 49-degree Edison wedge over the green on a Par 5 - which just goes to show one round's worth of stats can be skewed. But take those two away and the round would look a little different. Did wind up shooting a 78 with a couple of three-putts and a bogey-bogey finish. Subjectively, the feel was tremendous - it's an industry trend to call an iron forged even though the face - the part that actually hits the ball - isn't. The body is forged, while the face is a 2mm thin maraging steel MS300 face. The head is foam/TPU filled to soften the sound and feel, and the goo does its job. I'd say the Sub 70 irons are a tad longer - especially the long irons - but not ridiculously so. I have the same KBS C-Taper Lite shaft on both sets. And just for giggles - Wilson Dynapower Carbon was money - hit 12 of 14 fairways. And also played the new Edison wedges -- there's something to these things that I like, I just haven't figured out what it is yet.
  22. @MCMSR - haven't been fit at Joe and Leigh's, but know a few people who have and all had positive experiences. Golftec is also very good at fittings - they don't carry much beyond the Big 5 brands, but they don't try to steer into on brand over another - generally speaking. Spargo is still in business - they moved from their Mulligan's Island location to just down the street from Triggs. I'm anxious to try a fitting at the PXG center in Framingham.
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