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GolfSpy MPR

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  1. So here's what I've got with lofts: PW (G700): 44° GW (G700): 49° SW (MD3): 54° LW (PM Grind): 58° Given the strength of the G700 lofts (combined with the hollow body, hot launching properties), it might make sense to go stronger than 54° with my SW, but then it stops being useful as a short game club, I would think. I'm probably going to do another Skills Assessment on Thursday, using my GW for the 105 yard shot and the PW for the 120. Here's why I'm optimistic: using my GW for the 120 yard shot this past attempt, I hit shots of 106, 112, and 114. Keep in mind: I was trying to go 120, so I was swinging hard. I suspect a nice easy GW will be good at that 105 range. If that doesn't solve that distance for me, then I'm going to have to look at my set makeup there.
  2. There's a lot of value in this. I'd add that, with the foot spray, I can learn to find the center of the face with practice balls. Being able to use the SkyTrak will be good (if I can figure it out) for optimizing launch angle and spin. Gaining distance is not an insignificant part of this project (as the first post in the thread indicates, I often average under 200 yards off the tee).
  3. It's like Furyk and McIlroy playing 72 holes with a single shot separating them. It's like that, except way higher scores I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to practice driver. I can't fit a driver swing in my garage, though I'm going to explore the possibility of removing a portion of the ceiling (yep, that's crazy). It may be that I have to create a setup outdoors once the snow melts, but I get nervous with that. My driver miss is a popup ball that can easily get over most nets and find its way to the neighbors' houses. That's not OK. For now, though, I'm working to tighten everything up from 200 down to the green. If I can do that, my scores should still drop while I try to wrestle with my tee game later.
  4. So Kirke and I both did a SkyTrak skills assessment yesterday. I posted about mine here; here's a summary of Kirke's. We picked yardages that should be within Kirke's range (more on that to come): 10, 25, 40, 55, 70, and 85 yards. Overall, Kirke played this to just over a 20 handicap: It's worth noting that, right now, I don't have a projector set up. When SkyTrak asks for a 25 yard shot, there is no visual reference point for that; we simply have to imagine it. I suspect that's harder for Kirke than it is for me. One really good point: check out it average left/right dispersion: about a foot right of the center line. If I'm recalling correctly, Kirke used his SW for the 10 and 25 yard shots, his 9 iron for the 40, 7 iron for the 55, and then skipped his hybrid to go directly to his driver for the 70 and 85. Even so, you can see that his driver shots are well short of the target. Right now, we're working to figure that out. Part of it is strike: foot spray shows a heavy tendency to toe strikes. He's also launching it really low, and SkyTrak isn't giving him summer rollout. But overall, to be six and playing to a 20 handicap is pretty solid stuff, and he's only keep improving with practice (and a projector ).
  5. The last time I did a SkyTrak skills assessment for my full swing (minus woods), it gave me a handicap of 9.6. The weather is steadily (finally!) starting to warm up here, so I got back to the garage today. I did the same assessment, with distances of 40, 75, 90, 105, 120, 135, 150, 165, 170, and 190. This time, I took only 3 shots at each distances instead of 5, just because of time. Tonight's score: 8.7. Progress! I went from 74% of greens hit to 77%. The 105 and 120 shots were still awful. My handicap at 105 was 22.8! I'm learning that I have to give up the idea of using my 54° wedge from that distance; it just doesn't reach. That's gotta be the GW, and the 120 is the PW. It's still odd to me that the wedges are short while every other club in my bag is longer than it was last summer. I'm easily getting my 8 iron to 150 and my 7 to 165. But it's time to stop being stubborn on those scoring yardages and use the club that going to get the ball close. The only other problem tonight was at the end, when I was trying to step on a couple of shots and hit them fat instead. The mat I have is fluffy; if you catch it fat, it kills distance and spin. It's great for keeping me honest. At 175 yards, I had this sequence: fat shot 56 yards short (36 handicap), shot 5 yards short (+4 handicap), fat shot 49 yards short (36 handicap). So, yeah, that's gotta get fixed. But on the plus side: no giant hooks tonight. Certainly still missed more left than right, but none of the off-the-planet shots that plagued me last time. On the whole, I'm pleased. I'm seeing progress, and with more regular practice in my future, my expectations are high right now.
  6. I'm absolutely with you on this! He can swing any of his clubs, including his SuperSpeed sticks. I'm also jealous of his swing
  7. Finally bit the bullet and used the coupon at rockbottomgolf for the metal case for my SkyTrak. I was hoping for an even better deal (I've been watching eBay for months), but I knew I was just testing my luck. Eventually, I was going to lose my $1,400 SkyTrak because I wanted to save $20. I got it for $135 shipped, with is better than the list of $150+tax+shipping.
  8. The perils of coaching: took a backswing from Kirke right in the elbow this morning. If I try to pick something up with my thumb and first two fingers, there's no issue. But thumb and last two fingers is pain from the elbow to the wrist and incredible weakness. Hoping that clears up in the next couple of days.
  9. Nice write up, @TR1PTIK. Laying my cards on the table: I'm a big fan of a lot of Adam's work. I read his blog posts regularly, and have access to both his Strike Plan and Next Level Golf video series. All that said, The Practice Manual is definitely not a normal golf book. I totally concur with you on the frustration of reading it because of the need for an editor; if I had the time, I almost want to contact Adam and do a round of editing for him. For me, I've found a lot of help in The Practice Manual as I work with my son. I think the book's emphasis on skill rather than technique is solid. His chapter on focus during the swing has been very helpful to me. The difficulty of the book is that, by and large, it isn't about golf at all. It's about learning theory. While there are ideas in the book that have specific application to a golf swing (ball flight laws, for instance), most of the rest of the book doesn't. In essence, it is like picking up a book that you think is about car repair, but as you read it, it seems to only be about repair shop administration, with almost nothing about fixing cars in the book. That's an obvious negative if you come to the book expecting direct help with your game. ___________________________ TL;DR: I think The Practice Manual is a helpful book, but it is not a golf book in the normal sense. Those looking for golf instruction will find little in it. But if you're into the theory of learning, there's a lot there (if you can get past the need for editing).
  10. This is very typically Kirke: came downstairs in his pajama pants, dog at his heels, getting in some swings with his newly adjusted clubs:
  11. Spent the closing hours of the evening getting Kirke's new Cobras down to the right size for him. They're supposed to be for kids ages 5-8. Kirke's a pretty average height at 6 (just under 4'), but all these clubs were a good 3" too tall for him. These should be quite a bit better, and (using air) I was able to save all the Cobra grips, which was important to Kirke.
  12. Did my usual short game practice with my SkyTrak (10–30 yards), but this time I mixed in some foot powder spray to check impact. This was a dozen or so shots: Certainly nothing amazing, but not awful either. I'd love to see this tighten up some before the season.
  13. I'll definitely be interested in seeing people's reviews on these. But an observation: is there a less cool ball marker than the included Costco poker chip?
  14. One of the biggest things that Adam Young teaches is making strike a skill. What he has found (and this makes sense) is this: take two groups of players who need to improve strike location. Tell one group to focus on hitting the center. Tell the other group to practice intentionally hitting the heel, toe, and sweet spot. After a period of time, the second group will test better than the first in hitting the center. He writes more about that here.
  15. Came across a link on Twitter this past week for a Pee Wee kids swing contest. That was too good to pass up, so Kirke and I put together a little video today, even though we're getting (another) five inches of snow right now: This was fun!
  16. OK, all, I'm looking for advice. Ever since I bought the SkyTrak, I've wanted to get a case for it. There are two options: one plastic and the other metal. My preference is for the metal case. The problem is cost. I can afford $150 to just buy one. But I hate paying full price for anything. And it seems like the kind of thing that, if you're in the right place at the right time, you could get a deal on. For a while, there was a seller on eBay listing them for $135. So I was stalking those listings, eagerly hoping for a day in which he'd have one available while eBay was doing their 15% off everything code. The other day, eBay had the code; he didn't have any cases. Worse, as soon as I saw the code, I jumped on to eBay, because I'd been watching another listing at $140. It was already gone. Today, Rock Bottom Golf is doing 15% and free shipping. I could get the case for $135 shipped. I know I'm nickel and diming here. I want to get it for $120 or less. In the meantime, the SkyTrak is going to get hit by a ball, and I'll be out $1,400 because I wouldn't spend $15. Should I just pull the trigger at RBG? Or continue to tempt fate and keep pursuing the best deal I can?
  17. Love to see these threads! Keep posting your progress, and we'll keep cheering you on.
  18. It would be quite a shock to the system to switch to these from my G700s. But wowsers it might still be worth it
  19. And I now have a water hazard next to my basement green.
  20. I'm no expert on intellectual property, but I can't see a lawsuit happening here, unless Callaway bought out the IP of all the gimmick companies that have made these:
  21. I think I am. I just put up an long, boring post in my other thread about my SkyTrak session last night. The kind of practice that SkyTrak offers is incredibly valuable for serious improvement.
  22. What's worse than the guy who takes you shot-by-shot through his mediocre round of golf? The guy who takes you shot-by-shot through his mediocre simulated range session! And yet here we are. Here's the big picture summary: Overall, a 9.6 handicap. Obviously, that's in keeping with my single digit goal—barely. It's also not really any improvement from my golf last summer. Since I haven't done much work on my full swing lately, that isn't a surprise. The wedge distances (40, 75, 90) were not great. For whatever reason, I was misjudging the 40 yard distance, leaving a couple really short. And then I thinned one of the 90 yard shots about 135. That'll mess up the handicap. The major weak point was the 105/120/135 range. There were a couple of factors here. One was stubbornness: I remain convinced that these three shots should be my SW, GW, and PW respectively. But I just wasn't getting there with those clubs. I eventually caved in on the last three shots at 135, grabbing my 9i. There's more to say here, related to what follows. From 150–190, I put up some really respectable numbers: mid-single digit handicaps on average. And I was finally getting the distances I wanted out of each club (which leads me to believe that, with tweaks, I can get those distances from the wedges). From 150, I was using my 8i; 165 was my 7i; 175 with my 6i; and 190 with my 5i. In each case, I was still (on average) just under five yards short of target, but still hitting the greens easily. On these swings, I made one tweak to my swing which seemed to make a difference: better posture, without the shoulders hunched at address. I need to figure out why that made a difference. The other point of focus remains my footwork. On a good swing, my feel is that I load up on my right heel, then transfer my weight from my right heel to my left heel. This facilitates keeping my hips deep and a shallow swing. If at any point, my weight starts moving toward my toes, my hips come forward, and my swing steepens. For many, this would create a fade, but my face always ends up left, and so I get the massive pull-hook which goes off the planet. I offer this as exhibit A: There's so much good here. I start with an OK shot. But then, three straight +4 shots (that's the best score SkyTrak gives), averaging 15 feet from the cup from 175. Then, the hook: 44(!) yards left, 132 feet from the pin, and a 36 handicap (the worst score that SkyTrak gives). That's the big miss. That's the shot I've got to eliminate, because that's the one that goes into the woods on my course here. Anyway, despite the mediocre results, I think it was a productive session. I hit some good shots, found some things that work, and I know what I need to continue to grind on.
  23. I have an Optishot and used it for two winters before getting the SkyTrak (it's now for sale here in the classifieds). It certainly has real limitations: if you want a Trackman, you'll be sorely disappointed. It's best feature, though, is that for relatively little expense, you get a dozen or more courses to play. It's not great for digging into you numbers on the range; it's just not precise enough for that. But as a way to "play" golf in the off-season, it has its place. In fact, Kirke is a bit miffed that I'm selling the Optishot, just for that reason. He and I have played a lot of rounds on it with foam balls.
  24. Just grabbed a new in package OG Game Golf off the 'Bay for $27. I wanted one so I had a second set of tags (as I switch out clubs and a couple of mine have broken). Having the second device just means we get to track Kirke's shots this summer
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