Siamese Moose

I just want to add my 2 cents to this. I'm 59, and have been in and out of shape. Today I am still an avid cyclist, and still competitive in my age group in races. I prefer to walk, but it is clear that I score better when I ride. I tend to walk my 9 hole rounds, and ride 18. 18 hole rounds tend to be more social anyway. I think being flexible is more important than strength for golf, but I aim for both. The couple guys I know who are seriously competitive in their age groups, plus 2ish handicappers, are seriously fit. They can out lift me, and bend in ways I have never dreamed of.

To be technical, whether it's caused by tennis or not, you have tennis elbow. Golfer's elbow is on the inside of the joint, tennis elbow is on the outside. It's always been a misnomer, as golfer's get tennis elbow, tennis players get golfer's elbow. I'm a sufferer. The elbow straps help limit my pain a little, but not by much. My doctor, a fairly famous hand surgeon, says surgery is effective in less than 50% of cases, so that's out. My best relief has been to focus on tricep strength exercises. Unfortunately you need to be very diligent with the exercise program, and I tend to be a slacker. I wish you better success!

I did something this morning I've never done before: got nine straight pars (back 9). I"m an 11 (this should drop me to 10), and I'm working to get back to single digits. Once upon a time I was down to 5, but that was before two back surgeries. But even then, I'd never shot straight pars. Overall a 76. Happy camper!

It's an old (pre-COR) formula, but the standard used to be 2.4xSS for center strikes.

Disclaimer: I'm an Apple hater (2 lawsuits, won both). I have a Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music. I didn't get it for golf, but that was a nice bonus. At least for running, the Garmin GPS has been third-party tested to be significantly more accurate than Apple. I don't know if that translates to golf, but it's a data point. Because I use the watch for multiple things, I keep an eye on battery usage. In normal, non-GPS mode I get almost a week out of the battery. 18 holes of golf takes about 20% of the battery. I keep my charger in the bathroom, and recharge whenever I shower. In the time it takes to shower and dress I get about a 50% charge if it's low, about 15% if it's just top off. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Shot a 78 this morning, which, while not my lowest score of the year, is my lowest differential (6.2). Yay! A big reason for that was pace of play. We had some storms overnight, and it's overcast and threatening, so almost everyone stayed home today. We nearly had the course to ourselves, started at 11:00, in the car leaving at 1:00. Sub-two hours. Sweet!

I had my closest ever shot at an ace. The pitch mark was one cup to the right, exactly pin high, and the ball hopped a little and came back (downhill green, I don't generally spin them back) to rest one cup to the left. 145 yards slight downhill, stood on a 9 iron.

I tested the hybrids at a demo day back in February. I'm looking to add some hybrids this year, but the Fli-Hi's have not been released for sale yet outside of sets. I loved the performance, although I also liked the performance of some others. I've been waiting to do a fitting, but the shop (Miles of Golf, Cincinnati) still doesn't have their fit samples yet. I don't know if it's the reason I liked them so much, but the rep made a point of the fact that they use iron shafts, and are built to traditional iron lengths. As a short (5'7") guy who prefers shorter shafts, this got my attention. (Note: he didn't tell me that until after I had hit and liked them, so no confirmation bias.) Unlike other hybrids, these can also be adjusted in a standard Mitchell loft/lie machine. I have to admit I'm a bit frustrated to still be waiting, as the rep said they would be released mid to late March.

The top seeds in both conferences are out! Is it going to be Columbus vs Colorado in the finals? 8 vs 8?

I live in Ohio, so I'm a Blue Jackets fan. I don't know if going all in this year at the trade deadline was a smart move, but I'm impressed that the GM was ballsy enough to do it. I love the way game 1 went, but I fully believe that what they achieved was just "poking the bear". I would not at all be surprised if the Lightning take the next four in a row. I'm really worried about next year, as so many free agents are likely to leave. I don't think it's living in Columbus that drives them out, though it certainly isn't a prime place for attention. I think it's more that Tortorella's style of hard nosed coaching only works for a limited time, and eventually the good players want out from under him.

..and didn't buy anything. My current driver (Wishon 919, 10.5°, XCaliber Superlight stiff, 44") is six or so years old, so I'm sure newer technology is worth looking at. In addition, since getting it I've been through two back surgeries, so my swing speed is way down(from 104-5 to 89-90). I went to Miles of Golf (Cincinnati), and worked with Eric, the same guy I've worked with before on irons and wedges. He knows my swing pretty well, and I totally trust him. My numbers with my own driver were: 89-90 mph swing speed, ball speed 138, launch 14.8°, all OK so far, but my problem: spin: 1524rpm. The ball's just not spinning enough to stay in the air. And that remained a problem with every head we tried (M6, G410, F9, Epic Flash), as well as every setting and loft. The Callaway gave the best results, but spin was still under 1600. There was not enough there worth spending any money on. I was swinging rather poorly, so he's invited me to try again when we do a hybrid fitting soon.(Waiting on the new Mizuno 919 Fli Hi fitting supply. I really liked them at last month's demo day.) I had a weird problem: I was downright awful hitting off the fitting mat, but when we stepped forward onto the grass I was extremely consistent. Of course, that was out of range of the Trackman, but it was easy to see that nothing was beating my current club. The good news is I saved money (No charge for the session either, regular customer.) The bad news is I'm losing carry. The modern low spin driver designs just aren't a good fit for me. I may even leave the driver home for a while, cause I'm not losing anything with the 3 wood. I may try reshafting my driver, as the existing shaft is pretty stiff for my current speed, but then again I'm hitting it pretty straight, and I don't know if I want to mess with it. Lots to think about here!

At a recent demo day I hot some of the new 919 Fli Hi hybrids. I was very pleased! So far the fitting heads have arrived at the shop, but for some reason the shafts have not. Anxiously awaiting that email from the fitter telling me to come in!

Finally got my first round in this year! Very pleased to shoot 80, one double, one birdie. Had to adjust to the fact that for some reason I'm almost two clubs shorter this year, and that's before figuring in today's wind.

When I got fitted for irons last Spring I tried to do the impossible: with the help of the fitter I never looked at the sole or back before I tried a club. I was trying, as much as possible, to not know the brand before hitting it. This wasn't fully successful, as some heads you just know are "Brand X", but I was trying to eliminate my brand biases as much as possible. I ended up with TM M3, but the Cobra F8 was a very close second. Going in I was pretty sure that if I stuck with my preconceptions I'd end up with Mizuno (which is what was replaced) or Srixon. I hit those well, just not AS well. I'm going in for a driver soon. I don't think I can do the same thing, because I can identify almost all of the candidates from the top.

I am the same height, weight, and age as Corey Pavin. At the time he won his Open I was hitting my clubs the same distance as he did (I've fallen behind since, but Corey hasn't had two back surgeries). He was my "cold slap in the face" that I didn't need to hit it farther to get better, I needed to hit it better to get better. While I'd still love to hit it farther, I know that's not what's going to lower my handicap.