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bellairemi

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Everything posted by bellairemi

  1. Been very happy with my E722 - very consistent and forgiving.. Bought it new for $200 only a few months after initial release.
  2. Was able to hit the Paradym at a demo day with data being provided by a Trackman 4. I really liked them at address and the feel was nice - solid but springy. Ended up getting some very good numbers with the Hzrdus graphite (silver maybe - first shaft in that family I liked) and I put 18 out of 20 on a pretty small Trackman green. Honestly I would have placed an order on the spot until the fitter gave me the cost - $206 per club with my preferred grip. Probably just as well given the spelling issues would have driven me insane. Growing up with an English professor and a newspaper editor makes it hard to live with "Paradym" and "Hzrdus" in my bag.
  3. What Ping has done has made MOI their primary goal. As with anything in design, there is give and take in making that decision. To go super high in MOI, you either need to elongate the clubhead and make it shallower (look at some of the older Maltby designs) or just accept a higher VCOG to maintain a more normal shape. As someone whose miss is thin, I do not like any of the newer Ping irons. That is why Titleist, unless they change their design parameters, will never produce irons with MOIs as high as Pings. They consistently have maintained lower COGs.
  4. I did try the fingernail test on the edge of a demo Stealth face. You could say it left a mark but definitely not an identation. In fact I was able to buff out the mark pretty easily.
  5. You will not see mine in the used market - have played 12 rounds with it and have been stunned at how long and forgiving it is. I did not like the sound inside but I do not notice it outside.
  6. You might consider getting him fit locally and then ordering irons from Golfworks. They will be cheaper, better built and comparable to the major companies.
  7. I play with TE Forged but built a set of the TS-1s for my son's graduation present. We have the same specs so I have played quite a bit with his irons. Neither he nor I have seen any gapping issues between the pitching and gap wedges and they generate plenty of spin ( we both play the OnCore Elixir balls). I paired his irons with the new TSW DRM wedges which are very nice. The sole grind works well for our varied conditions (we go from hardpan to very soft quickly) and the feel is very nice. I will be replacing my Tricepts with the DRM wedges this week.
  8. Winter finally arrived here. About 8" inches here in the last 24 hours with the wind chills starting to dip under zero. With everything closed due to Covid, we have had to transform the overnight homeless shelter I manage into a 24 hour a day shelter - nowhere for our people to go during the day.
  9. I wish they made the 16th into an interesting hole at least - really an insipid hole to surround with stands.
  10. I have been demoing all the new drivers in the Trackman 4 simulator so I can a little better replicate how the driver might play on the course. While I can get better numbers just hitting balls, none of the new ones show a Strokes Gained advantage over my old one once I take them out on the "course". I'm pretty happy I decided to go this route as just from the standard hit balls down the range testing I would have purchased a new driver. This route saves both money and disappointment.
  11. Yep, I am in the hate camp but have some playing partners who love them.
  12. My experience was that Sterlings gapping was better and they were equally forgiving with the F7s. My brother has the set of Sterlings I built and will no doubt play them until they fall apart.
  13. I've been testing the new drivers in the launch monitor/simulator against my 7-8 year old model. While I can see some small and consistent improvements in some measures (ball speed and launch/spin) on the launch monitor, I do not see any advantage when I actually take them to the simulator and play them on the course. My strokes gained driving have shown minimal gains at best (.3 strokes a round) and actually had a few end up in negative numbers against mine.
  14. Maybe you could send some of that snow up north? You now have more on the ground than we do in TC.
  15. I don't think that would be the case for Ping as their manufacturing standards for their shaft partners are tight (as is their overall QC), I did have instances where stock graphites were disappointing versus what I hit at the fitting. For me it was Steelfibers that allowed me to ultimately make the shift because they reacted in my hands just like a steel shaft.
  16. Big fan of the OnCore as it feels softer without giving much, if any, distance up to the harder balls. Spin is good, holds its line pretty well in the wind. I never finish a round wishing my ball performed differently (most definitely cannot say that for my clubs).
  17. I understand that Callaway's aggressive marketing appeals to some but I will not have any of their products in my bag because of it.
  18. I just wanted to thank all the testers for their work on these reviews. Unfortunately I found some of the same issues that you all did. Because I had a good experience with the VKTR hybrid (except that it launched a little low but it was definitely anti-left and felt nice), I called Ben Hogan about the new version. They assured me that it would launch higher than the original while still retaining the attributes I liked. Sold! While talking to them, I mentioned that I was looking to replace my 5 wood which is 13-14 years old. My concern with many of the newer ones is that, while longer, they do not spin very well which leads to some inconsistent results for me. I was assured their 5 wood would maintain spin and would be longer than my old one due to the flex face. So I also bought that - I am a big supporter of the more off the beaten path companies. There was some truth in advertising. Yes, the VKTR+ was still anti-left and felt nice. It did not however launch any higher than the original (I had Trackman numbers for both). The 5 wood looked and felt great and did spin plenty. It was, however, shorter than my 2007 Burner 7 wood and only marginally longer than my 22* hybrid. Turned out to be an expensive lesson - lost $150 on resale even though the clubs were almost brand new.
  19. Will be interesting to see as I would not classify the D7 as having a low COG - they were measured at .862 (the center of the golf ball is .840 in comparison). Most of the newer GI and SGI have substantially higher COGs than their predecessors - counter to what they advertise.
  20. I'm set with a 2007 Burner 5 & 7 wood and a Callaway 04 Big Bertha 9 wood which I rotate depending on course and wind. They go the distance I expect so I don't see much advantage in changing.
  21. They do look great and the proactive thought put into blending is admirable. That said, I cannot fathom the pricing - $185 a club seems a bit excessive.
  22. Yes, mid-release. I grew up in the persimmon era and my driver was 42.5" for all my seminal golf years. I suspect that has affected my golf DNA to some degree.
  23. As was confirmed in my fitting last week, I have a faster swingspeed at 44" than I do at anything longer. It's odd given that I am 6'3" and play my irons at longer than standard length. I would think this to be such an individual fitting aspect though that my experience would not be germane to yours. It appears you have solid evidence that a shorter shaft did not work for you. The only question I would have is whether the Maverik had weight added back to the head and how overall weight affects you. I knew shorter was better for me but adding weight only to the head did not work. I needed a heavier shaft (70+ grams) and already use a slightly heavier grip due to it being midsize. Total weight and how it was distributed was key for me. My swingspeed hovers right around 100 so not superhuman :).
  24. The Score has been compared to the TT Dynalite 109 - which Nike used as their uniflex shaft. I have it in both my irons and wedges and like it quite a bit - it's really a middle of the road shaft in terms of feel, spin and flex.
  25. Any sense of less twisting when you missed center?
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