RobotDoctor

I just saw your reply. I have a TM Tour Burner suede head cover back from the 1990s that was new when I bought it. I am going to stick with that for the time being. Do you still have the head cover?

I have the 300 Mini that came out 2 or 3 years ago. I love mine especially since I put a driver length shaft in it. My 300 Mini IS a driver replacement with a small headed driver. I am not noticing any distance drop off and am hitting more fairways. I LOVE the head cover for the 300 BRNR and would love to be able to get one. Unfortunately Taylormade isn't selling them by itself.

I was on business north of Little Rock, AR this week. It snowed a bit but I am heading home where it will be mid/upper 60s tomorrow, mid 70s on Sunday and around 80 on Monday. I do love winters in northeast Florida!!!

One of my Masters hats I have purchased during a practice round or when I had access to the Patron's store (2020 and 2021). I like the 2020 one the best as there was no attendance yet I was able to buy one.

I currently game the Ben Hogan Icon blades (4-PW) and these are terrific irons. Great feel when struck on the sweetspot. Great feedback but not as good as the 1998 Apex Blades or previous generations. I am not looking to replace these anytime soon. Too bad the Ben Hogan brand isn't more prominent in the golfing world today.

I saw the release from The Masters Tournament committee regarding 2022 Tuesday ticket holders. I was indeed the holder of the tickets and will reapply only for the Tuesday rounds. It looks like me and my group are headed back in 2023.

Your 2017 Monday practice round was unfortunate. I hope this year is much, much better. I was at the 2015 Monday practice round and it was a glorious day. Hoping for the same kind of day a week from tomorrow! Have a terrific day as well!!!

Hoping for good weather on Tuesday, April 5th!

My persimmon collection in my office staff bag as of today.

No, Dave doesn't have any apprentices. There are some who have followed Dave's tutorial he put on his website and a couple who have become good at restoration. That said, there is only one Dave Wood and that is who I choose to restore my woods. Here are a few of the latest he's done for me in the past year, first the condition of the driver as I sent them to Dave and the restorations. 1952 M85TW driver (pre-production run model), M43 and 693 drivers. The 693 sole plate was replaced with one in better condition. While the screws lined up perfectly, the shaft cut out didn't. Dave added some metal solder to bridge it. He simply has mad man skills!!!

I am fortunate to have come to know Byron and even more fortunate to become friends with him. I was fortunate to become friends with the owner and some of the moderators of another golf website (now shut down by the owner). Because of these friendships I was fortunate in being invited to several golf outings from the late 2000s to mid 2010s. I was fortunate to be able to attend one in the Cleveland, OH area June of 2014 where Byron was also in attendance. To meet him was a pleasure as we had communicated a little in the past. His wife, Sally, went to high school a little south of where I did in Colorado and I apparently still harbor some ill feelings with her high school from a baseball district playoff game from back in 1982. That said, Byron got a kick out of that story when we first talked. Moving to the golf outing, we discussed putters and what I liked in a putter. That is where I made my first putter order, a custom GSS DH89 with long pipe flow neck. I was in Huntington Beach area on business either the following week or week after that and stopped by Byron's shop. He measured me for the DH89 build. He told me he had a carbon Epic Day putter and I ordered that one as well. I gamed that Epic Day putter from September 2014 when I received it until last summer when I put the DH89 in my bag where it remains today. I have ordered a couple more putters and picked up a handful more. The only Byron Morgan putters I own today are the DH89 and Epic Day. Those two will not leave my collection while I am breathing. The last time we spoke on the phone was during the 2021 Masters. Those who knew Byron personally knows that any phone conversation more than 5 or 10 minutes is rather long for Byron. Our last conversation lasted over an hour, more like and hour and fifteen minutes. We talked about another passion of his, persimmon woods and our love for classic MacGregor persimmon. We had exchanged pictures of our collections and I had just received a couple of restored drivers back from Dave Wood. We talked about the design of those woods, those who played them, how we played them and the classic beauty of persimmon woods. He was like a kid in a candy store. I will miss our conversations but most of all I will miss him. I will miss taking him to his favorite Taqueria in Huntington Beach or the prospect of finding a decent Fish Taco in Georgia. Byron was "Salt of the Earth" and such a genuinely honest person. The world lost one of it's better people when Byron passed away. RIP my friend.

This putter is a replica of the George Low Wizard 600 he used. Nicklaus never used a MacGregor replica in tournament play.

My M3 does have twist face. I agree with you in that there can be some interesting ball flight when the ball is struck high toe. I don't really practice too much with persimmon too much as I really don't have a practice wood. Then again, I do have a M43T that was sourced for the sole plate that I could use. The toe of this M43T was filled in with epoxy as quite a bit of wood was removed. It has great grain and is a shame someone who shouldn't have hit persimmon ruined this one. It is a decent driver and would prove to be a decent practice club. In fact that is a great idea. The 300 Mini has proven to be a terrific driver (when a driver's length shaft is installed).

The Epic Day has been relegated to a backup putter at this point. I put in my Byron Morgan DH89 putter I ordered a month before the Epic Day. I gamed the DH89 a couple months ago for the first time since the Epic Day arrived in September 2014. I made a couple putts over 30 feet, a couple more over 15 feet and didn't miss one from 3 feet during that first round. The DH89 has been so good I can't take it out. Well, taking it out for a spa session back with Byron Morgan for some minor tweaking.

And there it is, the right reason to collect! Good for you Chuck!!!

With the original 43.75" shaft this will be a bit shorter than a driver. With a 44.5" to 45" shaft the distance comparison is closer. I have an 11.5° Mini turned down one setting lower (10.8°) with the Fujikura Ventus Blue (non-Velocore) 5S made for TM shaft at 44.5" and it is nearly as long as my M3 440 9° (at 9.9°). The data from the trackman when I demoed the 300 Mini 11.5° with a driver length made for TM Fujikura Ventus Blue 5S 45" the data showed me hitting the 300 Mini a few yards farther than the M3. The 300 Mini allows me a little better ability to work the ball. Some believe the 300 Mini is a novelty but I think when comparing it with 460cc drivers with the same type shaft (in terms of length) the 300 Mini is comparable. While the sweet spot is a bit smaller a good, repeating, swing will have strikes more in the center anyway to render the larger sweet spot moot. To me this club is not a fairway wood replacement but a 440cc/460cc driver replacement. The head is large enough not to look too small. Then again I started playing with laminated woods and shortly played persimmon drivers which were around 185cc-190cc.

Jack Nicklaus used a George Low Sportsman Wizard 600 putter for much of his career to win 15 of 18 majors.

Add to the Ping list off the top of my head: Tom Watson Payne Stewart Lee Trevino Mark Calcavecchia Fred Couples Ray Floyd John Daly Greg Norman Tony Jacklin Ernie Els Paul Azinger Ian Baker Finch Curtis Strange Jeff Sluman Sandy Lyle Davis Love III Lee Janzen Steve Elkington Bob Tway Fuzzy Zoeller Jeff Maggert Chris DiMarco Kirk Triplett Hunter Mahan Ryan Moore Nancy Lopez Juli Inkster Karrie Webb Lorena Ochoa Christie Kerr Dottie Mochrie Betsy King Jan Stephenson Grace Park

I have put in my Byron Morgan DH89 in the bag the past 5 rounds or so and have putted extremely well with it. I am making some long putts with it and burning the edge of the hole of a lot of putts. It looks like the DH89 is in the bag for the time being.

Count me in the group that doesn't care for thick top lines and wide soles. While some irons are rather thin, my preference is the "standard" top line as exhibited by the irons in the following picture. The irons are both Ben Hogan 6 irons. To the left is the 1999 Ben Hogan Apex blade and to the right is the 2020 Ben Hogan Icon blade. Both have the right amount of top line thickness I prefer.

I have a wedge setup spaced by 4 degrees. Actually all my irons are spaced by 4 degrees. My wedge set up is PW, GW, SW, LW at 46°, 50°, 54° and 58°. The 4° gapping allows me to carry the 4th wedge.

Most every club in my bag can be replaced. The one club that really can't is my 58° LW. This wedge has proven to be very reliable for a variety of shots from full shots (80-85 yards) to finesse shots to short bunker shots. I have a standard stiff shaft in my LW, as I do for all my irons. I have tried softer wedge shafts and really don't care for them. I have a backup 58° LW (same make and model) that I put a wedge shaft in and it is NOT the same club. When my current LW needs to be replaced I will use the existing shaft with the new head.

Oh boy, this is going to take some time to figure out. I am certain I will have a few missing in various categories. I may have to edit my post a few times but here goes nothing: Drivers: Ben Hogan laminate wood Taylormade Tour Burner 9.5° metal wood Cleveland Classics 485 Tour Action persimmon Taylormade Tour Burner 8.5° metal wood Cleveland Classic DG43 persimmon Bridgestone J’s Professional 9.0° driver MacGregor TP Special persimmon MacGregor M85W Lynx Boom Boom 9° McHenry Metals 9° Callaway Big Bertha 9° Taylormade Tour Burner 9° MacGregor 945W persimmon Titleist 975D 8.5° Titleist 975JVS 8.5° Tommy Armour Tommy Gun 9° titanium Taylormade 300 9° Titleist 983K 8.5° Titleist 983E 8.5° Nike 9.5° (original blue colored driver) Titleist 905T 8.5° Titleist 915 D3 9.5° Titleist 905S 9.5° Taylormade M1 9.5° 430cc Taylormade M3 9° 440cc Taylormade 300 Mini 11.5° 3 Ws: Ben Hogan laminate 3W Taylormade Tour Burner 3W 15° MacGregor 1953 945W persimmon - 3W MacGregor 1952 M75W Eye-O-Matic – 3W (for a couple rounds) Titleist PT15 Titleist 970 15° Titleist 906 F2 15° Taylormade M4 15° Fairway Woods or Hybrids: Ben Hogan laminate 5W Taylormade Tour Burner 5W 20° Sonartec MD 2I hybrid Taylormade SLDR 2I Hybrid Taylormade Sim2 2I Hybrid Irons: Ben Hogan Radials (3-E) Arnold Palmer Peerless (3-PW) MacGregor Muirfield 20th (1, 3-PW) MacGregor VIP – 1990 remake (3-PW) Cleveland Classic Tour Action 588 blades (3-PW) Cleveland Classic Tour Action 588p (3-PW) Ben Hogan Apex – 1992 blade (3-E) MacGregor VIP Tour CB92 (3-PW) Lynx Paralax irons (3-PW) – because Fred Couples and very short lived Ram FX2 (3-PW) Ram Tour Grinds (3-PW) MacGregor Muirfield (3-PW) Titleist 692 (3-PW) Titleist 962b (3-PW) Ben Hogan Apex blades 1999 (3-E) Ping i3 Black (3-PW) Mizuno MP32 (3-PW) Ping i3 Black (3-PW) Mizuno MP30 (3-PW) – short lived Mizuno MP59 (3-PW) Ben Hogan Apex blades 1999 (3-E) second set Mizuno JPX-900 Tour (3-PW) – short lived Ben Hogan Icon blades (3-PW) Putters: WAY TOO MANY TO LIST!!! But the major ones: Spaulding T.P. Mills (forgot what model) Ping B60 Wilson Tour Special II Cleveland Classic Designed by (blade) Wilson 8813 (original) Ping Zing Ram Zebra Ray Cook M1 Scotty Cameron Catalina Scotty Cameron Coronado (gunned blue then 1995 copper) Ping Zing 80520 black band Scotty Cameron Inspired by Brad Faxon Scotty Cameron X2 mallet Scotty Cameron Circa 1 TP Mills Tradition II TP Mills Soft Tail TP Mills Tour Huey custom (made for the 2012 tournament tour bag) Byron Morgan Epic Day custom Byron Morgan DH89 GSS custom Balls: Any ball I could find – anything cheap. Titleist Pinnacle Gold Titleist DT Titleist 384/Tour Balata Titleist Tour Prestige Titleist Professional Maxfli Revolution Maxfli A10 Titleist ProV1 - Then tried a few balls from Nike/Bridgestone/Callaway but nothing could get the ProV1 out of the bag Taylormade Tour Preferred (2016 model) - As of late tried Snell MTB and MTB-X and Taylormade TP5 (will go in the bag after my last few TM Tour Preferred 2016 balls are gone)

I putt with an alignment mark. The balls I use don't come with one so I add one with a black sharpie marker and marking tool. After aligning the mark in line to my intended putting line I focus on putting through the line, like hammering a nail into a board (common swing thought). The reason for this swing thought is to putt through the ball and not just hit the ball. This promotes me to release the putter and make a smooth stroke. I have another method to gauge speed that seems to work for me. I also put a dot by the number in gold sharpie marker to the left of the alignment line (first dimple lower right of the number).

I am currently gaming the last few 2016 Taylormade Tour Preferred balls I have. I have about 8-10 more. I have a few dozen Taylormade TP5 practice balls that I will rotate in once the 2016 Tour Preferred have been retired. I have also recently tried the Snell MT and MT-X balls to see whether I like them and if they suit my game. So far I prefer the MT-X ball over the MT (Black). That said I still prefer the Taylormade ball over the Snell ball but my testing of the Snell ball isn't complete.