Siamese Moose

I just booked a full bag fitting for next Tuesday. I'm mainly only looking for irons, but I figure on new wedges as well to get the gapping right. A "Full Bag", two session fitting costs less than separate iron and wedge fittings (and a greater amount applies to any purchase). I am happy with my woods, though I'll give him a chance to see if there's something to gain (I could use more spin on my driver - new shaft maybe?). He fit me for my hybrid last summer, so that's not changing. The putter is untouchable.

Some years ago I named my home brewery Siamese Moose, after my cat Moose, who was Siamese. Since then it's the username I use almost everywhere (despite getting a cease and desist from Moosehead for using it for beer stuff).

Rob Westendorf, aka My Greens Stimp At 2 on the old GEA, and the old Golf EF prior to that. Played in the Greg, and I think we were both at one or more of the Ravines outings.

Damn Doug, I didn't realize you were that much older than me. You sure as hell don't look it!

Many years ago on a trip hosted by a long past forum, while driving to Hammock Beach (near Jacksonville), our lone Southerner (Tennessee) made us make an unscheduled stop when he saw a roadside stand for boiled peanuts. That was a new experience for this Northern boy, and they were awesome!

Unfortunately, the courses with bells around here have removed or disabled them. They were constantly being vandalized. I've seen a few periscopes, but those only work over hills, not around corners.

I've got an original MGS driver cover, but I've got more than one driver. Just saying....

I moved onto a daily fee course 18 months ago. I am stunned by how many people play in really poor weather. Like 30° and a little sleet, and there's still a dozen or more groups out there. 40° and sunny? The parking lot is full.

I know they're still around, and I have no idea if they've grown or shrunk, but Louisville Golf made (and still makes) some very fine wooden woods (and putters).

I live on a course that does not have a range. The course that hosts my league just lost its' range to a housing development (they had been leasing the land). Put me in the camp that every course should have a range.

Kelly's Private Stash Kelly Montgomery is a friend of mine, and is currently the brewer at Third Eye in Cincinnati. He is currently the winningest brewer in the country in terms of Great American Beer Festival medals (and the only brewer to ever win brewery of the year at two different breweries - yeah, he's good!) Kelly's Private Stash is a very limited release of a barrel aged barleywine. I've been saving a bottle (I have several) for an occasion. Today I smashed some personal milestones on the bicycle, so even though I'm dead tired, and a high alcohol drink is not really the best choice, screw it! It was an awesome drink.

I'll keep an eye on this thread, but May is highly unlikely for me. It would be asking too much to go in the same month I'm doing the national trip.

I've hesitated to add to this thread, mainly because I can't remember model names of some of my candidates. I decided to just try and go with the best I can remember of them. Best: JPX800 irons - Maybe it was because it was the first truly comprehensive fitting I ever had (anyone remember Dana Upshaw?), but I only moved on after two shoulder surgeries. An old ladies Lynx 5 wood head that I reshafted and used as a 7 wood. This was in the 90's, and I couldn't find a men's 7W at the time. Ping G410 driver (still in the bag). Maybe I could get a tad more forgiveness from newer versions, but my launch numbers are maxed out. Putter fitting (twice): The first I ended up in a La Jolla model. At the time (90's) I obsessively tracked my stats. My putts per round dropped by 5! The more recent (two years ago) got me into a Mizuno OMIO 1. Very, very similar to the La Jolla, just a bit heavier. TM MG wedges - I got them before MGS did their wedge rankings. When that came out it made me feel like I was one of the cool kids. Worst: An older Maltby iron design (maybe 1993), I don't remember the model, but it was among the first contestants in the players distance category. These were totally unforgiving, worse than the toughest blades I ever tried. Snell MTB X balls - worst wind performance I can remember. Cleveland CBX wedges - could not control yardage at all. Every swing went the same distance. Longer/harder swings just went higher. Wishon 715CLC driver - this head had a rotatable internal weight that let you move 40g around in a circle inside the head. Felt poor in every position. I reserve the right to add a fifth at a future date. Most of these bad purchases have been erased from my memory.

8 iron normally. In yesterday's wind, sand wedge in one direction, 4H coming back!

Ballnamic tells me to play the Tour X, but the online tool says BRX. Either should be good for me.

You absolutely need to tell them you want to try arm lock, and I'll go further and make sure that they are capable of fitting one before you even go in. A fitter's job is to fit you for the swing you brought in, not find you a new method. Last year while having a lesson we spent some time putting, and they had just gotten in an arm lock putter for the lesson area, and for fun I got to try it. I had remarkable success in getting the ball on line, but poor results in speed control (but not bad for a first try). I mention this because they freely admitted that they had never fitted an armlock putter to anybody before. A few years ago I had the great pleasure to play a round with Paul Bessler, a local PGA member and long time President of the Professional Clubmakers Association (I think that's the organization name). Paul had worked as a rules official for many Tour events, and was for about a decade the on site clubmaker at the Masters. Paul is the guy who fit Matt Kuchar into his putter. It took two years to get it right. I'm sure the general knowledge base is much deeper now, but I mention it because it's not as well known as conventional putters. Best of luck!

I haven't found the right pair of boa golf shoes yet (I have weird feet), but I have been using boa cycling shoes for decades. I definitely prefer the models with two dials. With that said, there are many models of boa dials, and the ones that I hear are more expensive do seem to feel better.

From a tee my irons launch higher with more spin. If I'm trying to carry and stop the ball, I'll tee it up. If the pin is back I may put it on the ground and play for some roll. As the irons get longer I'll always tee them up, as that's the weakest part of my game.

I have a best memory, and a fun story: The best memory is puring a 7 wood for a second on a par 5. I knew it was good, but the green is above the fairway, and I couldn't see the finish. (I should add I was alone.) As I got close I couldn't see the ball, and I assumed it had gone over. As I walked toward the back of the green two course workers yelled at me, "Stop, back up!", and pointed at the hole. This was my third albatross (still no hole in one, though ), but the first two were both on an absurdly short par 5 (Neumann Red #6, for anyone from Cincinnati), and I still can feel how pure that ball strike was. The fun story was quite some time ago. On a Saturday my wife and I had a tee time, but when we got there the course told us they screwed up, and had an outing, but we could play 9 if we were quick. The par 5 ninth finishes right in front of the parking lot, and this huge outing was all in their carts ready to go shotgun. I had a good drive and a better second, and had about 12' for eagle. Someone in the outing apparently spread the word that this was an eagle putt. When it went in the whole place exploded, and damn near scared me into a heart attack.

This is something I have done. My instructor wants me to do it once or twice a year. In his words, it indicates what my current potential is as if my concentration is peak and I really grind. It's meant to be both inspiring and instructive. "See, if you bear down, this is what you're capable of right now." When I first did it as about a 24 HC, I shot 78. This year as an 8, I shot 69. It's way more shots than you guys think! Most of the gains are on and around the green for me. Especially chipping and pitching, I hit a good shot but it did something on the green that I didn't expect. I can change the way I play the next shot. My up-and-downs are doubled.

I've got two for you. The first one is in 2012. You have to guess where it is . The second is at the course where my league is. They have a number of these wooden footbridges. When they get wet they are slimy as hell. I fell on one (was not hurt), and I politely told them that they needed to do something before someone did get hurt. A couple weeks later these signs were up, but they've never cleaned the wood. As the lawyer in my league pointed out, all they did was increase their liability, becuase now it can be proven that they know there's a hazard that they haven't fixed.

Back when the Google Pixel first came out, Google had a promotion that if you bought one, and stayed with Pixel, you would get unlimited photo storage for life. I am now way over my limit for Google's normal free storage, but it's still free. I originally went with the Pixel because of the camera, and it's still a great reason to pick one. Side note: I've been to court with Apple twice (won both), so that's never going to happen in this house.

Good morning everyone! 4"+ of fresh snow on the ground, and not getting out of the 20°s today. It looks like it will be around for a few days at least. I was planning to go to my range today for their "all major brands" demo day. I hope they have those heaters cranked. I'm hoping that the temperatures keep the crowd size down to a minimum. Last year it was packed (and warmer). I didn't really mind, because I wasn't in the market for anything, but this year I am.

My new Bag Boy Revolver bag was just delivered. I'm hoping "this is the one". I split my rounds about 60/40 between walking with a push cart and riding, and with the Ogio bag I got last year I have to pull all the clubs out and rearrange them when changing between cart types. Besides being an annoyance, that bag works poorly on a riding cart: the cart strap blocks pockets, and the bottom won't stay in place on the cart. Now I hope to just rotate the revolving top when I need to. As a bonus, I strongly prefer an external putter tube, and this bag has one. It will probably be a few weeks before I finally get to start playing, but in the meantime the cats are greatly enjoying the empty box.