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GolfSpy Dave

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    2019 MyGolfSpy March Madness

    in Deals & Contests

    Posted

    image.png

    We've got a MyGolfSpy Madness NCAA Basketball bracket up on ESPN again.

    What will the winner win? Well, thanks to Cleveland Golf, the winner will walk away with a custom Huntington Beach SOFT putter.

    image.png

    You get to customize the specs and personalize the model of your choice with the colors of your choice.

    Let us know what you will build when your bracket smashes the competition!


    Get in the action now:
    Link to Group: LINK

    Group: 2019 MyGolfSpy Madness

    Password: mygolfspy

     


     

    Dave's Impossible Project: Same Gear For A Year

    in The 19th Hole

    Posted

    17 minutes ago, jlukes said:

    Great stuff Dave! I've had similar experience with Callaway wedges: look great, pretty good around the greens, but give me anything more than a half swing with them and I struggled with consistency. 

    Regarding your speed loss, you'd be surprised at how much speed is lost through early extension. 

    In early summer 2018 I was swinging the driver around 112. By the fall I was swinging the driver 105. The kicker? I was in better shape in the fall. Some really ugly early extension worked its way into my game and was zapping me of speed. I am just about to finish up my winter lesson program and driver swing speed is now in the low to mid teens. Now that I've got my weight shift and sequencing in a better spot. Hopefully a few lessons will give you some lost mph back, too 

    Thanks for the tip and hope about early extension. Something is off. Once it gets a bit warmer, I'll be in a lesson program somewhere around here for sure.

    Dave's Impossible Project: Same Gear For A Year

    in The 19th Hole

    Posted

    UPDATE: Getting Fit and Locking It Down

    So it’s been a couple of months since I decided that I would attempt to play the same gear for the year in 2019. Apologies for the delay but fittings had to happen, clubs had to be built, and NorCal for some reason needed to rain for the whole month of February. That being said, my plan was to lock down the golf bag by my 50th birthday, which was last week, so it’s an appropriate time to provide you with an update. To start, let’s dial everything back to just before Christmas in Carlsbad, CA.

    Callaway Visit and Fitting

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 1 (1).jpg

    While visiting Callaway headquarters under the primary mission of learning about the new Odyssey 2019 putters (viva Stroke Lab!), I was able to sneak in a couple of hours at the HQ fitting center. I was fit for clubs there a long-ish time ago (RAZR irons), and that fitting still stands out as one of the best I’ve ever had. Having gone through shop fittings, and self fittings since then, I was definitely looking forward to seeing what they would put me into this time.

    What I didn’t anticipate is that the fitting would also include an existential crisis.

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 1 (2).jpg

    The fitting started with the usual warm-up shots and discussion with the fitter about my game. I know that I am just not hitting the ball as far these days. At no point in time will I be publishing a video about me hitting head-to-head with Jamie Sadlowski. I accept that I just don’t hit it far anymore, but I still wasn’t prepared to see the shortness in cold, hard numbers.

    When I was last in the Callaway fitting room in 2012, my 7i speed was around 87 mph, with the final shaft fit from that session being DG S300s. The increased weight really tightened up the dispersal and actually helped me to generate more ball speed.

    This time, my 7i was topping out at 76 mph.

    I knew that things were off, but I think that I had held out hope that the decline was not so significant. I know that I’m no longer benching 225, don’t have a regular lesson program, and that I had abdominal surgery a few years ago. All of that cuts the speed out of the equation. I just thought it would be less.

    Driver speed fell about the same. Previously around 102, was now down at 90 mph. At least the slowing is consistent.

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 6.jpg

    Anyway, at the end of the session, we did come up with a club build to fit the current body. While the stock steel in the Apex 19 irons did give me a bit more distance, the consistency with the Project X 5.5 shafts caused me to go in that direction. Basically the ellipse with the PX shafts was smaller. Though losing distance hurts, knowing where the shot will go seems more important. Check the graph below to see the difference and to see what shortening the shaft 1/2" destroyed all consistency.

    Fitting Circles.jpg

    Although I was happy to leave there with the knowledge that I would soon be playing better fitting irons, and hybrids, it was very tough to stomach the numbers that I put up during the fitting. I feel like I should swing faster, and hit it longer, but I just don’t.

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 2 (1).jpg

    As an added bonus, I got to play golf with the Odyssey guys that afternoon. They are solid players, and all much longer than I am. Although my bag of clubs for that round was a bit of borrowed chaos, I feel like I didn’t embarrass myself too much. Naturally I didn’t mention what iron I was hitting into greens. Of course the Odyssey guys didn’t care, and were great hosts, but I was for sure at golf low point when I hit the hotel that evening.

     

    Intermission Montage

    While I waited for the Callaway stuff to arrive I:

    • continued to play with the current set of Srixon irons
    • sold the Srixon irons
    • put my PING i25 irons back in the bag
    • continued to love my G400 driver
    • reshafted my G400 with a RS flex DI-6
    • loved my G400 driver even more
    • started going back to the gym
    • started the spring semester
    • sprained my SI joint
    • walked like a 95 year old man for three days
    • learned to stretch my SI joint
    • shot multiple rounds between 82-89
    • explored lesson options and realized that maybe I’m too poor to play good golf
    • turned 50
    • received new clubs from Callaway

     

    Locking in the Clubs (-ish)

    And so we sit here at my self-imposed deadline for club locking, and I am actually totally confident in locking part of the bag. Almost all of it really, but there are a couple of remaining question spots that I will get to in a second.

    Regardless, here are the locks in no particular order.

    Irons: Callaway Apex 19 - PX 5.5 - 2°up - (5-AW) - GP MCC PLUS4 Green

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 4.jpg

    I am locking these in after one round and a short range session. Although I still hit some dogs with these, I also hit the purest irons strikes that I have hit in years. I love the weighting, and the flex is such that I actually feel flex. I have the strong feeling that these will be the irons in my bag for quite some time.

     

    Hybrid: Callaway Big Bertha 4h - 21° set +1° and N - F3 Recoil 

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 1.jpg

    This club too was an insta-lock. It’s stupid easy to hit and once again the shaft actually feels like it works with me and not against me. On the range, I could hit this at any target, and this held true to some extent on the course too. Range strikes are always better, but this 4H actually gave me what I thought a 4H distance should be, ballpark 185 yards. Probably went less than that, but it goes, and I can control it, so summer rounds will probably be around 185.

     

    Wedges: Cleveland RTX-3 - 54° & 58° - C-Taper RS shafts

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 3.jpg

    Although the fitting at Callaway was really about irons, they also sent along some other clubs to try and snag spots in my bag. For wedges, they sent along a 56° PM grind, and a 60° Mack Daddy 4. I think that these wedges could be the scoring tools that I need with practice, but as of right now I am way more consistent with the Cleveland wedges. I do everything around the green with that 54° wedge, and when I took the 56° PM wedge out instead, I just couldn’t hit the same shots. The PM architecture is just very different and I probably need time to adjust. The MD4 wedge is rad, but the gap from the Cleveland 54° is too great to combo them.

     

    Putter: Odyssey Toulon Design Atlanta - Stroke Lab Shaft

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 5.jpg

    I’ve actually had this club in the bag longer than any of the other ones, and it continues to impress me with it’s consistency. It came down to this and the much beloved Bettinardi QB10. I just putt better with the Atlanta. My distance control is better, by solid margin, and I just don’t hit dogs with it as I sometimes do with other putters. I’ll still be testing putters throughout the year as that’s what I do, but the Atlanta is the 2019 gamer. I’ve had my putting instructor buddy play with me a few times and he’s in total agreement about the Atlanta.

     

    Lingering Questions

    Fairway Wood: Epic 3W vs. Epic Flash 3W

    3W Options.jpg

    I’ve been gaming the Epic Flash 3W for about a month now, and it’s almost perfect. My only hesitation is that the 65g-ish Tensi Blue feels a bit light. The complication really comes from a moment of Callawaypreowned.com weakness, when I ordered R-Flex 70g Fujikura Pro Green shafts for both my Epic 3W and 5W. I’ve been playing that shaft in stiff, but wanted to try it in regular after the fitting. I wish that the adapter was the same, so I could put the Fuji shaft in the Flash head, as I am thinking that is actually the best combo, but until I get an adapter, this will require some more testing.

     

    18° Club: Epic 5W vs. Big Bertha 3H

    18 degree options.jpg

    I have become a 5W lover in the past year. Specifically, that Epic 5W. It is so easy to hit and just hums for me. Plus, I have it in a R-Flex shaft now, so it may be even happier. While the Big Bertha 4H was a lock, the 3H for whatever reason just didn’t have that same immediate feel. They do look a bit different, with the 3H on the left being a little smaller and steeper.

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 2.jpg

    Like with the  3 woods, these two are going to need some head to head time to see which one locks in.

     

    Driver: PING G400 vs. Callaway Epic Flash

    1W Options.jpg

    I saved this one for last as I thought that the G400 was the most locked club in the bag. It may still be the lock, but since the Epic Flash arrived a week ago, I’m not so sure. After sky marking the new driver with the first range swing (not kidding) I proceeded to produce some shots on the range that were hugely long. The HZRDUS Smoke shaft definitely feels different than the DI-6, but it feels like I can dial it in and maybe capitalize on the distance. I’ve had it on the course one round, and it didn’t find the fairway like the G400, but it did hit into some deeper locations here and there, and the misses were longer for sure.

    If accuracy improves, the 18 month run of the G400 could be at its end.

     

    What’s next?

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 7.jpg

    While I have decided to push back the final lock deadline a bit to accommodate some additional play testing with the new clubs, I am still planning on locking the bag. I just need a couple of afternoons on the range and the course to do some head to heads. I’ll post something when everything is set.

    I’ll also be looking into lessons. There is a new program in town that is offering 90 minute group lessons every Thursday for $250 a month. Seems high, but I need to find someone to take a look at my mess. Between that and the gym, maybe I can regain a MPH or two.

    Stay tuned and place your bets on the remaining head to heads. In the mean time, enjoy a SoCal winter sunset.

    Locked Clubs 2019 - 3 (1).jpg

     

     

    Push Cart Mafia - What are you rolling with?

    in Training Aids, GPS Devices, Apps, Accessories & More!

    Posted

    FWIW, I'm going on year 4, maybe 5 with my Clicker 3.5+

    Just washed and tightened it up today. Longevity on this cart is no joke, and should anything break, the Clicgear site has a bunch of spare parts.

    I've used it without issue with my Hoofer, Hoofer 14, Nike Hybrid, Ping Pioneer, MGS Vessel cart bag. Just need to adjust the straps and it will fit just about anything. Adding the 40oz hydroflask does cause a bit of twisting. I've actually thought about adding some stick on rubber pads to the bag holders to kill off all twisting.

    Love that cart, and I literally had a dozen different cart models in my garage at one point. It's my hands down favorite.

    Dave's Impossible Project: Same Gear For A Year

    in The 19th Hole

    Posted

    15 hours ago, hckymeyer said:

    Here is my only advice/tweak I'd suggest and you kind of have it built in already.  Commit to playing the same sticks, but break up the year into trimesters.  Commit for the first trimester.  Reassess, tweak if needed and recommit for the 2nd trimester.  Rinse and repeat.

    Also when you evaluate the club try looking at it this way.  Can you hit it well to the best of your personal ability 80% of the time?  If the answer is no it probably doesn't deserve to be in the bag.  Does the club save you strokes or cost you strokes overall?  If it's overall costing you strokes then it gots to go.

    Can't wait to see how this plays out, I'll be following along!

    Maybe I should do it based upon the majors... 🙂

    Like the 80% idea a bunch. That gives me something a bit more concrete to approach the assessment.

    Dave's Impossible Project: Same Gear For A Year

    in The 19th Hole

    Posted

    10 hours ago, Peaksy68 said:

    Good luck with the journey Dave. Have you done a fitting with the Mizuno Optimiser? For me it absolutely pointed me in the right direction. 

     

    I'm currently going through my most significant equipment change since I bought my first set. Irons and wedges are sorted, driver chosen, just need to sort out fairways and hybrid. The putter will be in my bag indefinitely unless something unexpected happens to it.

    One of the few good things about turning 50 is being a bit self indulgent😀

    It has been about two years since I've done the Optimizer. That's how I ended up with Nippon 1150 GS Tour shafts in the 850 Forged. Another set I probably should have stuck with, and the reason that I took a somewhat blind shot at the Srixon 756 with the Modus 120 shafts. That shaft really seems to have the right weight and flex profile for my swing. I can easily keep track of the club position, whereas the Recoil 780s in my prior set of Apex irons cause the club to seem borderline etherial. 👻


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