GolfSpy Barbajo

Checked my copy of The Golf Club Identification and Price Guide by Tom Wishon (published 1985), The Spalding section ranges from 1956 through 1984 - didn't see the Tournament iron listed, which could mean one of three things: 1 - it came out before 1956 - but the pictures don't seem to indicate your irons are that old, at least from what's shown here. 2 - it came out after 1984, which is entirely possible. 3 - It was a recreational or department store release, which Tom didn't include in the book. It doesn't show up on the Swingyard website, but I'm not sure how complete that list is. Oddly, the Tournament name is pretty old with Spalding. I believe it was the original name associated with the Bobby Jones models when he signed on with Spalding in 1931. I did find some Bobby Jones edition models on eBay - it looks like they have hickory shafts but back in the 30s Spalding sold steel shafts that were colored to look like hickory. THe irons you show here don't appear to be that old. Also, if there's a "C" or the word "Custom" stamped anywhere on the head, they're from the Spalding Custom Department. Happy hunting, and good luck with the refinishing!

The gang at ShotScope dropped a new model, the Pro L2 last week, to little or no fanfare. Saw it at the PGA Show - it's a solid little (as in smaller than their others), with slope and a built-in magnet for $150. Gavin says you'll find it a tick slower in target acquisition than their Pro LX models (which are very good), but it represents a dandy value at a buck-fitty. And the lack of fanfare was intentional - they dropped the X5 watch the same day. They'll give the new laser some love after the Masters. Sold out on ShotScope.com - but it should be available through Golf Galaxy. Click here to check it out.

I assume it'll work with the old sensors -- the new sensors are bigger with longer stems, but the old ones should work fine. The charging connector is different - it's a small plug that goes into the back. Very easy to use...

Didn't notice during the round - but just looked at it now and date and day are correct. Not sure why it was wrong or what changed it, but it's fine now. Putting with ARCOSS and ShotScope is what it is -- I'm wondering if the AI element of X5 will improve putting stats over time.

It's functional - face options are limited. It tells time okay, but it's not fancy. It works...and it's counted steps. Did sync it with the phone, and it still had the wrong day. I let Gavin know - he's going to look into it.

Learned something very important - it's a VERY good idea to download the User Manual and actually read the damn thing before going out and playing. On some levels it's very intuitive, but like most things, you really do need to RTFM (read the fu#$@%ing manual). Worked like a champ for the first 12 holes and the I tried to access a few other functions -- and then I did something dumb (really not sure what) and wound up turning off the tracking function - wasn't really aware of doing it until I synched everything up at home. I want to stress - that's user error, 100%. For the first 12 holes it worked flawlessly. Putting it still a crap shoot -- it's ability to pick up the first putt is only so-so - very similar to ARCOSS on that respect. Best to place the putts as best you can during post round editing. Several positives -- my previous Shot Scope devices would take forever to find the course and start the GPS section. The X5 started up in no time at all. Numbers were as spot on as a GPS could be, although the doglegs were a little confusing. Again, I need to RTFM to really know. Nothing turned me off - in all I've found Shot Scope to be a hell of a lot better than ARCOSS, which led to nothing but frustration for me (especially when it couldn't find Pinehurst #2 or #4 when I played). The layup yardages worked just fine -- you do have to hold down the lock button for a few seconds to be able to move to different screens to get them - again, if yours truly had RTFM he would have known beforehand and not looked like such a doofus.

Got the X5 in yesterday - it's a pretty solid piece of equipment. Only issue I see right now is for some reason it thinks March 26this Monday and not Sunday. We'll check with Gavin about that. It appears to be a little more streamlined than, say, a Garmin, and you can see the comparison pix next to the Apple watch. It's not meant to be a Smart Watch, but I could see wearing this off course, especially since I only use maybe 1/100th of the Apple watch's capabilities. The sensors are very different - you can see the screw portion is a good bit longer for a better fit, and the head itself is larger - the better to have fewer missed shots, my dear Have the bag all set up for today's season opener at Black Swan in Georgetown, MA. Going to game the new MacGregor MT86 OS irons - golly Moses they're pretty. The rest of the bag includes the Wilson Staff Dynapower 3-wood (do not ignore this weapon - it's really good). PXG Gen 4 hybrid, Srixon ZX Utility 3 iron and the MacGregors 5-PW. The wedges are something new that I can't show you until tomorrow.

blog post dropping on these this morning....

You can order one of the five colorways they offer - and then as an add-on buy additional different corlored bands -- there $40 each.

Blog post on the new X5 dropping this morning. It has some pretty interesting features, specifically AI-enhanced shot detection capabilities. It's important to remember it's a shot tracking device first and foremost that incorporates GPS into a watch. As a GPS watch, I"d say it's nowhere near as cool as the Garmin S62,, but if you want that thing to do shot tracking, you'd been to spend another $300 for the sensors to go along with the $500 just for the watch. As a company, Shot Scope is trying to hit as many price points as possible to get shot tracking or distance measuring into as many hands as possible. I think their lasers are very under-appreciated - and the new model coming in at $150 is going to be pretty sweet (it's technically being released today as well, but they don't want to give it any love until after the Masters - instead focusing on the X5). The LX rangefinder will also be getting an update in the coming year - think smaller with a magnet, but still with the H4 if you prefer to do your shot tracking that way. And not for nothing, I love the fact there are no subscription fees. The stats package is robust enough for my liking, and it doesn't overwhelm me with data. As a watch, I have an Apple watch that I maybe use to one-one thousandth of its capabilities - that's all on the user. It's convenient, but I mostly use it as a timepiece. I'll give this thing a go as a regular watch and see how it goes. Step tracking will be cool and Gavin tells me there will be continuous free firmware updates, so it wouldn't surprise me if a few more functions are added. Full hole mapping is already coming this summer. Any questions - hollah....

Can't say enough good things about the 699/699 Pro V2 setup. I have the 699 in 4-6 iron (the 4 hasn't earned a place in the starting lineup yet - going with the Srixon 3-utility iron instead) - and the 699 Pro in 7-PW. They make me very, very happy. Been playing them since January - granted, that's only 6 rounds or so, but 4 have been in the 70s and my handicap has actually gone DOWN over the winter (spring might tell a different story tho!). I absolutely love the sound/feel of them and the 5-iron in particular is a friggin' rocket launcher. I have my preferred C-Taper Lite shafts and I'm finding terrific control and accuracy - and distance. They're long, that's for sure. With limited experience with the MacGregors, I'd say the Sub70s are definitely more forgiving - just not as sexy. Experimentation will continue...but between the D9 Forged, the Sub70s, the MacGregor MT86s and the Rams, I think I'm covered for irons, at least for the spring.

Concur wholeheartedly - reach out to Jack, tell him we sent you. He'll take good care of you and set up one hell of a great trip.

Brought the MacGregor, Ram and Sub70 7-irons to my Golftec lesson today - was working on a pretty big swing alteration so whatever feedback I can give is pretty subjective. First, on well-struck shots the MacGregor has a nice crisp sound. Feel isn't what I'd call squishy soft, but crisp - probably to someone's ears they'd sound like @cnosil reports - kinda clicky. But to my ears they sounded crisp. I guess there's a line somewhere between crisp and clicky, but then again, one man's ceiling is another man's floor (so sayeth Paul Simon). Even though they're the OS versions, I would say they're probably a little less forgiving than the Sub70 699 Pro irons - but not by a ton. The Sub70s do have a softer, more muted sound which translates into a softer, more muted feel. But then again, I don't mind soft and squishy, and I don't mind crisp. The Ram irons were actually pretty interesting - as discussed, they do share DNA - whether intentional or not - with the old Sub70 699 irons - and have a very similar playability. I found them to be more forgiving than the Sub70 699 Pro V2 (which are silly easy, by the way), and had a similar soft-ish feel. For $400, they're a friggin steal. More work needs to be done (it was only an hour lesson), but I have hopes for both irons sets. I do want to give the Rams an extended look in the bag to see how a $400 set of irons stacks up against higher priced options. I think we'll find that for most, they stack up quite well. Which begs the question - if they hold their own or - gulp - actually compete with irons from the Big 5, would you game them? Forget about waiting for discounts, trade-in value, blah blah blah -- if you had to buy new irons today and the $400 set of Rams were close to the same in terms of performance to, say, an $1,100 set of P790s or something like that, would you be able to pull the trigger?

Couple of nice packages showed up late yesterday. One contained the new MacGregor MT86 OS Forged irons... Had them built with KBS C-Taper Lite shafts. They've been sitting right behind me in my office since arriving, and I do have to turn around every so often to check and make sure they're still there and alright. Going to hit them at GolfTec later this morning, but good grief they're sexy irons. Philip has been hitting them at the test center as they're part of Most Wanted iron testing - early reports are they perform very nicely and the testers like them. We'll see how they stack up, but a forged Player's Distance iron for $899/set (4-PW) will represent a great value - if they perform anywhere close to how they look. Second box had the new Ram FX77 irons.... These are an open model iron - meaning if you and I wanted to start our own golf club company, we could sell these same heads with our name and logo on them. Simon MIllington told me it was the quickest and easiest way to relaunch the Ram brand as competitively priced offering with a nice quality iron. These sell for $400 a set - less if you want to just buy the heads and provide your own shafts. They do bear a striking resemblance to the old Sub70 699 irons - they're the same category: a hollow body, goo-filled game improvement/players distance iron, so it's hard to make it look completely different. I did ask Jason Hiland about it - he told me he still owns the molds for the old 699s, so he doubts they're exactly the same. But with the way manufacturing can be in China, I'd say it's a safe bet the design might have worked its way to another foundry that is selling it as an open model. It's pretty standard procedure over there. So my guess is they're similar to, but not the same as. Simon also told me he's contracted with Larry Tang - former designer for Callaway - to work on the Ram line as well as future offerings for MacGregor, Zebra and Teardrop. Larry, like Austie Rollinson before him, has plenty of bona fides - working on the team that developed the 2-Ball putter, the Epic series of metal woods, the Apex irons and others - he's on over 150 golf patents, so the guy has some street cred. Here's a link to his website. Finally, the new Zebra AIT1 putter showed up.... Another Austie Rollinson design - it's an odd looking putter, that's for sure. I've only rolled it on the carpet a couple of times and it has a nice, stable feel to it. It was a middle of the road performer in Most Wanted Mallet testing, so take that for what it's worth. Love the zebra etched into the sole - that's a really nice touch. When I posted pix from the PGA show here and in our blog post on Zebra, several commented on the somewhat sloppy paint job - this one is a production model (the others were likely rush jobs for the show), and it appears to be better, although it may not come across in pictures. Either way, hope the snow clears so I can give this thing a proper test on the green somewhere. Any questions lads and lasses, fire away....

I enjoy their videos - especially when they back me up I've gamed both during some winter rounds here in NE and some southern trips. Both have been fairway finders and both are long enough which, for this 62-year-old - is really helpful. Like I said, if you took the TSR away, I"d be fine gaming this bad boy for the season, and vice versa. May need to go through a proper fitting for the Dynapower and see what comes of it.

Had a shootout at the heated driving range yesterday - custom fit TSR3 with Graphite Design Tour AD shaft vs stock Dynapower Carbon. I'd give the edge to the TSR, but not by much. Custom-fit gave me a bit more consistency, but it was a hell of a lot closer than I thought it would be, Bottom line - I'd take either one into battle and be fine with it. Wilson has a seriously good driver on its hands... And not for nuthin' - don't sleep on the Dynapower 3-wood. That beat out the TSR2+ for the traveling team. It's the first fairway wood I've had since the persimmon days that I haven't hated.

On course so far this year: Sub 70 699/699 Pro V2 combo set - KBS C-Taper Lite shafts: Have gamed this set exclusively since late January for two rounds in Florida, one in Atlanta, two in Texas and one in Mass (thank you Climate Change!). Jason and the team have a winner on their hands. Jason told me in an interview that they've made these things really hot for ball speed and distance, and I'd have to concur. Loft-to-loft they're even with what I had been playing - Wilson Staff D9 Forged (also outstanding, btw). Same shaft in both - the 699s are a tad longer and are more forgiving. The five iron is a friggin' rocket launcher. I'd probably give the Wilson's the edge on accuracy, but not by much. Sound and feel are exquisite! Wilson Dynapower 3-wood: This is the first fairway wood I've had in my bag that I haven't hated since my MacGregor Tourney persimmon. I absolutely love hitting it - it's easy to launch, very straight and forgiving and goes like hell. Titleist TSR 3+ wood - a like it a lot, just not as much as the Wilson. Do not underestimate the Wilson 3-wood. Titleist TSR3 Driver - I gamed the TSi 3 last year, and this is a worthy successor. Finds fairways and is plenty long - looks like this one will be in the bag for 2023 -- unless it misbehaves. Wilson Dynapower Carbon driver -- and if it does misbehave, this will be banging on the door. Played it for two rounds in Florida and I can say it's the best Wilson driver I've ever hit. Tried it against the Titanium model and they describe the differences perfectly, The Titanium is higher launching, higher spinning and slightly left biased. The Carbon is lower launching and spinning (more forward CG and heavier shaft), straight to every so slightly left biased - adjust is a little and it'll be a slight fade bias. Srixon ZX5 LS - I let my cousin Paul borrow it and haven't seen it since. I've never seen him hit more fairways. Sometimes a golfer finds the right driver, and sometimes the driver finds the right golfer. The only time I'll be seeing this driver again is when we play together. Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore wedges - I loved the previous ZipCores - they were a huge improvement over the previous RTX wedges in my eyes. These are worthy successors -- ZipCore seriously helps sound and feel, and they're as forgiving of a "tour" style wedge as I've ever hit. Bingo! Might have found my go to ball for 2023. Either that or the Srixon Z-Star Diamond. It's a little firmer with decent spin. Cleveland MB Soft Milled 10.5 putter - I can see why the Cleveland HB Soft Milled 1 took Most Wanted Blade putter. This small mallet is money. It has the All-In UST Mamiya shaft and the stability is terrific - I've hit more putts inside of 10 feet with this thing in the bag than I can ever remember. The shaft is the real deal, and for the money, the putter is money, at least for me. Have a set of the new MacGregor MT86 irons coming, as well as a set of the new Ram FX 77 irons. The Rams are going to be interesting - they sell for $399 for 4-PW with steel shafts, and are a TPU-filled hollow body construction. They look very much like the original Sub 70 699 irons (over 5 years old), and even resemble the first generation TaylorMade P790s. Simon Millington told me they're open models - they saw no reason to invest in molds of their own design this yearly in the relaunch, especially for the price point they're targeting. It'll be fascinating to see how a $400 set of irons stacks up - what is there's little to no difference? What would you do? What should I do? Why do I keep doing this to myself?????

Do not know - they're forged in Asia-most likely China like most other OEMs that aren't Japanese in origin. Wilson does wonders with 8620 - the irons are cast into the approximate shape and the drop forged to finish the job. The feeling they wind up with is unique - still has the same softness of 1020 or 1025 carbon steel but with minimal waste. Wilson has been doing it this way a long time. Enjoy the CBs - they're a terrific set of irons.

There are shapes that are in everyone's offering simply because they're expected. The Anser style, for instance, is standard for every putter company, along with the Spider style and the Fang style - those are pretty much required, and any OEMs version will be eerily similar to someone else's. The AIT 1 is the most unique shape in the bunch - and most like the original Zebra.

Got a chance to roll these at the PGA Show - they did a really nice job with them. The Zebra name, along with the MacGregor, Ram and Teardrop names were purchased by Golf Brands, Inc from DICK's between 2019 and 2020. It's taken a while to get to market, thanks to the pandemic, but they're available now at Zebragolf.com. They did a really nice job with these putters - nothing fancy or groundbreaking, but nice putters at a pretty decent, but no bargain basement price. They were designed by Austie Rollinson - if you don't know who Austie is, you should. He worked on these putters and the new MacGregor irons (blog post coming next week - do NOT miss it!) from mid-2020 thru the end of 2021 on an 18-month contract. Prior to working with Golf Brands, Inc - Austie was head of design for Odyssey - you've heard of the 2-Ball, White Hot, Triple Track and others? Those are Austie's designs. He also worked on a variety of Callaway and Callaway-era Hogan irons during his time there. His name is on over 300 golf club patents and his designs have sold over $5billion worth of clubs. And he's currently director of putter R&D with Acushnet/Titleist. So no, these are not off-the-shelf open models. Zebra did it right. They're in house for Most Wanted testing - we'll see how they do.

Brought the 699 V2s with me to the PGA Show - played twice with them and have some impressions: 1. The feel is outstanding for a game improvement/players distance iron. The combination of variable face thickness and TPU filling make for a very, very nice feeling iron. 2. My struggle with the 4-iron continues - will probably drop it in favor of a hybrid or utility iron. I can stripe it on the range one out of three times. But that 5 iron? Wow. 3. Still learning how to play with them - hit some nice approach shots, but did have some stretches where I struggled with accuracy. By comparison, I had no such struggles out of the box with the Wilson D9 Forged - they generally went close to where I wanted them to more often. Then again, we're dealing with an incredibly rusty New England swing in the middle of January. 4. Had a dandy round of 77 with them on Sunday - acceptable round of 84 yesterday. The experiment will continue, but as of right now I'd say these are well worth a demo to see how they work for you. Jason and the team did a really, really good job with them. Shoot me any questions if there's something I missed...

Just got a combo set of 699 and 699 Pros -- took them to the heated driving range over in Hampton this afternoon and mercy, they are sweet. And they go like hell, too. They're going in the bag this weekend for the PGA Show trip - they're really, really good. I'd suggest giving them a demo. The set I have features the standard 699 V2's in the 4-5-6 irons, and the Pro models in the 7-PW. Struggled a bit with the 4 - but the 5 is a friggin rocket.

As @DaveP043 says - lots of great choices. New and Jubilee at St Andrews are excellent. The Castle Course is just part of the St Andrews links, and is just outside of town - fun play unless it's windy, then it'll be ass-kicking and you're providing the target. Eden is in the downtown complex, and while it's not a headliner, everyone I spoke with said for sheer fun it's hard to beat. Check out the daily pass deals - you can play as much golf as you want on any of the St Andrews courses that aren't the Old Course. I thoroughly enjoyed Kingsbarn - yeah, it's pricy but its really, really good. We were going to play Dumbarnie when we went this last May, but they shut it down after losing their greens. All is good now and I hear it's spectacular. Also thumbs up for Lundin Links - it's an under-the-radar course but it has Old Tom's fingerprints all over it. Really fun track right on the water. If you want to stray a little bit, Ladybank is terrific, and as mentioned, Carnoustie is an experience. We've done 2 MyGolfSpy Experience articles on St Andrews. We talk about different courses (New, Jubilee, Kingsbarns, Lundin Links are discussed), as well as places to eat, drink and visit. You'll have ball and you won't want to leave. Here are the links; 2019 trip: MyGolfSpy Experiences: A Trip To St. Andrews | MyGolfSpy 2022 trip: MyGolfSpy Experiences: A Return to St Andrews | MyGolfSpy

Bennet will be hitting "publish" soon enough - but here are some inside deets... 1. The LS version has a very good shot of going in the bag for '23 - it's going up against the Titleist TSR3. For at least one round earlier this week, the LS was the winner. 2. Srixon ditched the carbon fiber crown from previous generation to go back to titanium. It's ultra-with a Star Frame support structure (first used by XXIO). It helps stiffen the stiff portion of Rebound Frame even further. The sound is higher pitched than what you'd get with a carbon crown, but it's not objectionable. 3. LS version has a sole weight forward, behind the face to move the CG forward - and it has a heavier stock shaft - HZRDUS Smoke black, same as ZX7 - to achieve low spin status. 4. Standard ZX5 has sole weight in the back for launch and forgiveness, and lighter HZRDUS Red RDX shaft. Liked this one, just not as much as the LS version. 5. ZX7 has swappable weights in the back to alter ball flight - make it more draw or fade bias. It's 460 cc like the other two, but has what OEMs call a more "tour preferred shaping" 6. Hideki - a notorious tinkerer, is gaming the LS. Lowery is gaming the ZX5. Koepka - who dumped his previous gen ZX7 and Z-Star Diamond just before last year's US Open - is playing a Tour-only LS version of the ZX7. He's also gaming the new Z-Star Diamond.

The round we played at Firestone was a blast -- and my 6 months as a member there was the best six months of my life!!!