Clayton

Hey MGS - My wife bought me a ticket to Manchester on the 8th. It was only $125 WITH golf luggage from where I'm currently staying. She doesn't know how difficult it is to "just go play the Old Course" like any other golf course and I didn't tell her. I rented a car and will make the 6 hour drive up to St. Andrews on the morning of the 9th. As long as the car pick up in the morning is quick, I'll be there in time for a round on the 9th. Otherwise just the 10th-12th. I will have absolutely every opportunity to play 18-36 or more holes each day as I have nothing else to do. As a single, I'm not allowed to make tee times until the day before on any of the courses that are part of the St. Andrews golf "resort" or whatever to call it. The Castle course has a "play one get one 50% off within 7 days" and as that's my favorite Trackman course for true links, I plan to do that where it fits. I e-mailed St. Andrews and fortunately they have reopened the possibility of checking in at the Old Pavilion in the morning and being inserted into a 2-3 some as is the tradition there. It was actually still closed when we bought the ticket so I see this as a total bonus that I might get to play the "Old Lady." I mostly play with Brits at my home course and they have recommended that I play the Torrance course just a little south of the main St. Andrews courses "best greens in the UK" they said. Like I said, I REALLY want to play the Castle Course. I also want to play the Old if I can get on but who knows how that will work out. I plan to check in each morning but if it doesn't happen, that's fine... I just wasted like 10 hours practicing on Trackman for it... the Jubilee sounds not so fun but the Eden course looks to be really great. I do LOVE a course with holes along the sea or ocean so that's always a priority for me. I'll have a car so I can drive a little bit to play but don't want to burn up a potential round driving instead of, well, driving the ball on-course. If there's any local MGS members in the area, we should meet up if you want to! That sure would be cool and fun. You can make fun of my American accent. I'll do my "If it's not Scottish, it's CRAP!" Mike Myers imitation. Then you can do it for real. LOL. I'm on a tinsy tiny budget so, for example, I'm renting a bedroom at a really cool looking house in the city for like $40/night... I plan to mostly eat food from a grocery store. But I might indulge myself one night and have fish and chips and a "pint" (not a big drinker these days!).

I thought 1 was OK, 10 wasn't my favorite either. I HATED that downhill one that curves left. Maybe #14? I actually lost my whole golf cart down that hole once when the brake didn't engage... it didn't get far before it flipped over, fortunately.

I am curious how it's working with the Trackmen you have. I worked this winter at a Trackman simulator and people were always messing with the unit or fiddling with the software. Not completely sure, but the Uneekor Eye XO seems like a better unit for "the masses" and not having employees at the location (ours is also a no-employee type but in Norway, not the US). I am interested in doing something like this, or perhaps with you guys, when I move back to the US soon.

I set up pretty big golf PNW meetups at another golf website at Kayak Point (unfortunately now gone) and Gold Mountain in Bremerton. They both went pretty well with 4-5 foursomes. I won't be in WA until mid July but sure would be fun to do a meetup somewhere. The Home Club might be fun and fairly central for west coasters from Portland to Vancouver BC. But are you guys trying to make it for all the different states? Then it might need to be on the other side of the mountains.

On the original topic - I fly back and forth from Seattle to Oslo all the time and have brought many different clubs over the years. I like to pack the irons in a shipping box, as it forms a sturdy "spine". I also take the heads off my woods. I rarely bring a bag but when I do, it's always my Ping Hoofer Light. I hate the thing but I've had it so long and it's been to so many amazing golf courses all over the world now, it still comes with me.

We had a bag lost January 5th (Seattle to Oslo, via Iceland). We just got it back Feb 25th. It was incredible that we even got it back at all. The AirTags idea is fantastic. There MUST be people with an iPhone close enough to "ping" off of for the AirTags when in lost and found, no?

Many thanks for taking the time. Camas Meadows is a bit of a question mark after looking at as much internet information as possible about it. Looks nice but "unique". I'd guess I would golf at all of these places a few times a year and have some favorite for whatever reason. I also think that in WA I won't get to golf as much as I do now with my current situation and will probably build a pretty nice simulator to keep the golf up. I've been working at a Trackman simulator place for a while and while I don't think I'd choose trackman for indoor, I'm completely addicted to playing simulator golf now. Hated it 15 years ago when my pops and I tried it but it's so cool and fun now. I just need to see if it helped my golf for "real outdoor golf" or not. Again - thanks for taking the time to reply Gusset.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll have to reach out to Dpatt.

Hey guys - we are seriously thinking about moving to Vancouver, WA. I'm originally from Bellingham but have been living in Europe for the past 5+ years (Svensk wife who I met in B'ham). I am wondering if any of you live in the area and what courses you typically play? Another member told me there's quite a few MGS peeps in the area. In the pictures of courses and the homes we are looking at, it seems like grass is hard to grow in that area. So many houses with dying lawns... curious about that. But I'm mostly looking into the golf there. Royal Oaks looks really nice but has a $30,000 fee!!!!! I'll be in Bellingham in March if anyone wants to tee it up and I plan to drive down to Vancouver to take a look around the areas we think we would like to live (open to opinions about that as well).

Golf shafts generally come in 4 flexes - senior, regular, stiff, and extra stiff. The swing speed stuff they do here at MGS should reflect what I consider to be a 4 swing speed standard as well, not 3. It would make more sense to do it that way and seems like it would be easier for users to fit a swing speed category.

Yeah, it's more affordable as well I think. But I think you need quite a bit more area (like with Trackman) so it can watch the ball with the radar while the GC3 takes pictures at launch. I'm certainly open to the Mevo+.

I mentioned this over in the "how to be a tester" section. I'm REALLY interested in a Bushnell/GC3 unit. I have a 2 and 4 yo now and after this season, I don't think I'll be able to golf as much, AND I want to teach them how to golf. Yeah, MGS did a short story on how accurate they are but I'd love to see a few people test them - maybe just into a net with a laptop, even full blown simulator experiences. I, for one, would even be willing to pay for the unit and a gaming laptop if Bushnell unlocked it for the testing. I've been working at a Trackman simulator place so I could even test it in the facility (just hook it up to the hdmi cable and the camera unit just sits on the ground, it would be so easy to do). It seems like with the MGS people using GC Quad for all their club and ball testing, it would be a natural fit for MGS members to test some units.

Just to be clear, I was not complaining and I followed the whole CC5 with great interest. I was only making a suggestion, and expressing interest if MGS does it again. They did their big release already so the new stuff is out. I think there are so many people out there that would like to see home testing of the Bushnell/GC3 setup, even if we had to pay for part of it (it's quite an expensive item to "give away") while unlocking the unit is "free" for them. I'll just say that I'd instantly pay for the unit and buy a gaming laptop if they did that and post a comparison to Trackman simulation, and I bet there's others that would as well. But I totally understand it's a long shot as you say. Seems like with the MGS "partnership" or loyal use of the GC4 units for their giant test efforts that something could happen. I'll go look for the thread you mentioned and post something on there, as I'd love to see a few people test and review them.

I think my dream test would be the Arccos/Cobra challenge. ESPECIALLY this season with the new drivers. I also really want to try the One Length out. I don't know how to make suggestions other than posting here so my suggestion after the sort of disaster of 2021 is to get the Arccos/Cobra challenge started now (I'm not saying the reviews were a disaster as I enjoyed them very much, just getting the equipment to the people was tough with shortages, etc). I know it seems so early but getting the equipment going now so they can hit the ground running when courses around the world start opening up again would make so much sense. And of course pick me... I already bought my father a "knockoff set" of them and he LOVES how the system works. The other one that I'd like to see is the Bushnell GC3. Maybe testers could pay for the base unit and get the FULL upgrade for testing and reporting on the unit. I would pay that $3500 right now today to test and report on the unit, and I'd be happy to buy all the other stuff like a mat and net or projector etc. for testing. I'm thinking that I need to buy a Bushnell or GC3 unit in the next year or so - I have a 2 and 4 year old and A) want to teach them how to golf and B) I can't justify going to the course and playing for 5-6 hours (with warm up and travel time) vs. spending time with the family more than maybe once a week or two weeks.

So I got an email that my ProV1 RCT finally showed up. Of course I won't be back there until late March and indoor season is nearly over by then. Oh well...

Unfortunately, Titleist did not send my order for 3 dozen RCT balls to my shop in the US, even though we put the order in right away. The Pro says this is typical of that particular rep. However, I was able to find a sleeve of V1X while visiting. I prefer the regular ProV, but that was the only option. I work at a Trackman Golfsim place and have been using metallic dots on the ball. It works loads better than no dots but I never feel like Trackman can accurately replicate driver. It's a whole different story with the RCT balls. No matter woods or irons, it catches every shot and now my driver seems fairly realistic compared to no dots or dots. I have chosen not to hit them with anything lower than my gap wedge (I only have 3 of them) so the ball, despite having played 5 or 6 rounds with it still looks brand new. My "wedge" ball, however looks like a range ball now. I guess it's time to put a new one in play. Trackman still misses a lot of putts, even with the RCT ball. Sometimes I have to hit 3-4 putts for it to "see" the putt but I've found that if I hold the putter up after putting it tends to see more of them. After experiencing just how awesome playing indoor golf is with Trackman and RCT balls, I'm not sure I could ever enjoy playing on Trackman without them as it just doesn't seem as accurate or realistic (indoors).

I got a box yesterday as well. It’s been maybe 6 years since the last time I was sent a box of TEST balls. Maybe I’m off the naughty list.

I bought these beginning of the season and ended up switching to another iron set. They are in very good condition - we do not have a sandy course and due to an injury I did not hit them very much on the range. The 5i, 9i, and gap wedge have small dings on them. they are very obvious in the pictures (I made sure). I think they are minor but others may not - you be the judge. I purposely took pictures to show as much of face condition as possible but I can say there is no wear on them, very light use. The shafts are KBS Tour X 130 and the length is +0.5", to the Ping standard. Lie is Blue dot. Loft is 1* weak on all, including the Glide 3.0 standard bounce 46* (47 actual) except the Glide 3.0 high bounce 54 is 1* strong to be a 53* gap wedge. Midsize Tour Velvet Cord in awesome condition, 2 layers of tape. The pictures are in order from highest loft down to 3i with some close ups of the flaws. I can ship these out Friday the 17th via the shipping speed you need to continental US. Unless it's something crazy like 2nd day I can split the shipping cost with you. Paypal only. Asking $999 - they cost more than $1,350 and are pretty difficult to get. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. PM might be best as they are easier to notice than a comment.

Here's two shots on my wedge from tonight - surely damaging the ball each time.

Thanks for starting up this thread. I'm working at a Trackman simulator business this winter so I have basically unlimited time on them. I've been using two of the test #3 and #4 balls a bunch of us got from Titleist for the MGS test along with one Srixon Z-star and a TP-5 ball with those weird triangles on them, and was using 2 Chrome Soft. I have a silver dot on all of them so they get hit on the same side quite a bit. None of them have cracked but a couple have terrible cover durability. One thing I do is use a "wedge ball" for anything more than the pitching wedge. I've noticed that dedicated wedges will make marks on pretty much any brand (compared to 3-P sets). So I'm planning to take one of the RCT when I get them and use it just for my wedges. I do use silver dots and it's night and day for TM4 to capture real numbers. It is a PITA to align it for every shot. I can't wait to use the RCT! Have you guys used them on Trackman yet? How did you purchase them? I see Titleist is out. Fortunately I had my Pro in the US order me 3 dozen a while back and they should be there by the time I am in the US mid month. Last thing - the Callaway Supersoft balls we put out for people to use cracked extremely quickly. I bet the ones I'm using have at least 200 shots on each ball, probably more.

Interesting. I don't think I answered any questions at all for this one. They asked for a video of the swing with a golf ball box in the video. Then they analyzed the video and e-mailed their suggestion. I won a box of the balls as well but haven't played them yet. Found a couple though and they kind of play like a distance ball but with spin around the greens. I'd like to try their new "proto" ball that is going to be released soon.

Many years ago - I'm gonna say 10-15. It was ProV1 or the X variant. Also did one with Bridgestone "virtually" this year and have done one in person in the past. They are all sales tools. The only way it would be really useful is if you had access to a big database and could hit all of them on a grass range with wedges and irons in addition to a woods ball fitting. That, IMO, is unrealistic.

Wow, thank you everyone! My wife booked a trip to Malaga, Spain for us. Had a really fun Birthday round of golf too.

I'm enjoying your thread (just found it). I think I could do some kind of 50% vegan type of thing and would like to explore that. There's an AWESOME resource blog called https://cookieandkate.com/ She comes up with the most delicious recipies. I'll link a couple of my favorite but the first one just has so much wonderful flavor. This can even be made with tortilla chips if you, like me, live in a country that doesn't have real corn tortilla. https://cookieandkate.com/vegetarian-enchilada-casserole-recipe/ There's so much awesomeness to choose from here, but if you just search for enchilada, you get an incredible list of foods like the one below. https://cookieandkate.com/search/?q=enchilada Anyway, since we are closing in on Thanksgiving... https://cookieandkate.com/search/?q=thanksgiving But this is what I'm making next. Well, African Lamb and garbanzo bean soup is next but I bought some butternut squash and will be making this with them. https://cookieandkate.com/thai-curried-butternut-squash-soup/ Thanks for the cool thread.

Just played a couple rounds at Moses Pointe in August. We nearly melted with the 100* temps, but started our rounds early to avoid the REALLY hot part of the day. Where do you play?