cksurfdude

Good review, good info! Wow isn't it nice to fall in love with a new club .. from the first shot!!??!! Now you have me thinking if (BIG "IF") if I ever replace my current 4W I may just look at this.... Hope it keeps making great shots for you

OK .. some good (finally) (golfing) news to report! The following events took place on a short (2400 yds) and relatively easy (unrated) 9-hole course._ Played with better focus** than usual and pulled off... 4 pars 5 bogeys * for my new Lo at this course +5 (Par 35) - tee shots all playable - chipping/pitching was 50-50 - 14 putts (with a few that burnt the edges and 0 x 3-putts) - 0 penalties (so zero lost balls!) - 2 x 2-Chips (simply sloppy and careless errors) At least 2, maybe 3, of those bogeys maybe cudda might've been pars with just a little more care in setup and execution; here's how my afternoon unfolded ... #1. Solid tee shot 1 yard into the right rough, clear shot at the uphill green. Solid second hit the green; got up there to see it had bounced and rolled just into the back rough. Chip on, ball tracks towards the hole and hits the flagstick but keeps rolling downhill... OK, note to self: greens are hard and fast today! First putt about 12 feet rolled just outside the edge; tap-in bogey. #2. Solid tee shot into the fairway; good enough second caught the front of the green. First putt about 20 ft grazed the edge of the cup; tap-in par. OK, second note to self: putting speed control seems to working well today! #3. My "Walter Hagen hole" (scene from a movie about Bobby Jones).. Tee shot pushed right and caught the one lone scrawny thin white birch between the tee and the dogleg right .. tree bounces it back into the fairway maybe 100 yds in front of me but still short of the dogleg. Get up there and decide against the smart golf layup shot - and watch my wormburner also pushed right go bouncing and rolling and rolling further and further right of the green into thankfully short-cut grass. Hit an excellent wedge over the bunker and guarding mound to land just past the flagstick and roll out about 12 1/2 ft past. Carefully assess the line AimPoint style .. 1 putt par! #4. The lone Par 5 - good tee shot just right of where I was aiming; good second to a good approach spot; and with a straightforward wedge shot onto the elevated green i somehow decided to airmail the green and put the ball onto the hillside above the green. OK so now I've got a steep downhill shot onto a firm, fast green that runs away downhill from me; plus this green is oval-shaped with the "skinny" aspect along the line of play. Take my time setting up with the lob wedge and hit a decent shot .. just a yard short .. ball landed where there was still enough slope so it ran out to the far side of the green, up against the collar of the rough. May be the first time I've tried this but took the same lob wedge and "bellied" it .. made decent contact and ball tracked towards the hole but fell off to the low side; stopped only about 5 ft away and sunk it for bogey. #5. Good tee shot into left rough where I was aiming - gives you a better view / approach to the green. Bit of a ball below the feet lie and hit it solid but maybe closed down the face a little too much as ball went long-left behind the green. Chip on I "babied" and left it short still in the rough ... so a second chip to get on .. hit that one ok just a tad firm, ball about 8 ft past but took care with the putt and sank it, bogey. --- In retrospect each of those attempted chips onto the greens on #4 and #5 could've - should've - been played differently (and here's hoping that talking about it stores it into the golf shot data memory bank!) ... on #4 there was plenty of more room to the right of the flag to have a better chance of leaving the ball in a better putting position; on #5 there was actually a steep slope / backstop behind the flag from where I was standing so I could've chipped the first attempt much more firmly. --- #6. My heretofore nemesis hole. Solid tee shot put me in a good position to attempt a shot on green vs layup (my normal route); of course thinned the second but it flew in the right direction just landed short-left of the green in the rough. Decent pitch on scared the cup and rolled past; first putt about 10 feet downhill left-to-right. Took my time setting up this putt, too - and I had the right read ("4 fingers") but didn't fully commit the full speed to that line so it missed on the low side; tap-in bogey. Happy enough with that score on that hole. #7. Uphill Par 3. I usually aim right on this hole as it drops off severely to the left of the green. Tee shot was good but looked like it was right of the green; got up there to see it was on the right / uphill side fringe. First putt about 27 1/2 feet (was pacing them off) and just outside the edge; tap-in par. Very happy with that score on that hole! #8. Straight Par 4 from an elevated tee area (for many of you this would be a long Par 3). Very solid tee shot carrying right down the middle but decided to turn left on me at the end (OK it's down there .. you hit it well!) Find the ball even with the front of the green (wow!) and in the left, short rough. Straightforward pitch slightly uphill to the flag in the middle .. and somehow pull off my second of my two worst shots of the day (and both were with the 54 CBX2 - my usually reliable and unflappable buddy) and put the ball into the rough on the other side of the green... Chip back on, hit my spot if a touch firm, ball rolled out on the high side but only to 5-6 feet. And here's where I finally had a disappointing putt and pushed it .. 2 putt bogey... #9. Short Par 3 over a pond. Hit it off the toe but ball tracked online tho landed short in the rough in front of the green. Line up the chip to the hole across the green, and .. hit the flagstick! But it doesn't stay in; stops less than a foot past. Since my playing partner - my wife - was already on that side of the green so I asked her to sink it for a team Par! (..and am always happy when I can make that score on that hole!) So that was my .. dare i say, "Fun"? .. golfing afternoon! -- ** Focus: Some background.. 19 months ago I'd attended a mental game clinic (given by David MacKenzie, Golf State of Mind - highly recommended!) where one of the main concepts emphasized was developing a process that you follow with each and every shot; more than a quick pre-shot routine but really preparing yourself to execute the best shot you can and scoring yourself on how well / how committed you were to your process on each shot. So yeah I've been working on this since but before playing this day I really decided to embrace doing the process and thinking through my shots. (Well.... most of my shots anyway .. maybe I can improve on that next time out!)

Had two not-so-great short iron shots in my last round but where the 0211s unquestionably helped them (helped me) from being worse.... First a thinned 8i that probably shudda gone nowhere but flew on-target just landed maybe 12-15 yards short; and then a gripped-down 9i off the toe that also flew on-target just 5-10yds short... Yep happy with these guys!

Pulp Fiction .. great flick .. so many great lines!!

Dammmmm! Definitely moving. (Well maybe sometime after my wife retires and if her kids move out of this area. Then maybe...)

Is there one emoji to use for for astonished shocked complete disbelief incredible jealousy ..? (..while calculating total cost of relocating to MattF neighborhood...)

Do we all know a... "Golf Guy"?

I want to play like that guy!!!

I have that same problem, more pronounced after a hip replacement, but - my PT guy (who golfs) recommended (well: ordered me really!) to put a heel lift (2 mm) on my right side to even things out. So now there's a shim in every shoe! Carl - surprised that had not been recommended to you before..... Fyi, I put my own insoles into all my shoes so I cut up pieces of the "stock" insoles for lifts. Maybe try it out?

True, it's all relative to where you're at in this game! » My goal is to NOT make worse than doubles and maximize the number of bogeys vs worse holes. Sure, I'll take a birdie where I can find it - every once in a while (not quite a blue moon ) on a short hole or if I've played a not too long Par 5 especially well - but really a par is my "personal birdie"!

I've read there's a setting to juice them up like +5% to exaggerate distance (and therefore to help promote sales).

Huh... Thought smash was a calculated result using swing speed and ball speed was inputs?

Yeah not the topic of this thread but just to corraborate what he said - I attended the Barclays at Bethpage Black a few years ago, and my buddy and I walked all over the (very long!) course to watch different players at different holes - and I can fully attest to the fact that the pros' drives are literally sky-high! That and the *CRACK * off the club face .. and seeing what they could carry off the tee .. really are impressive

Huh! Interesting!!

Went to a practice green more to work with my new digital level on reading slope AimPoint style (in percentage grade). My reads were about an equal 1/3 mix of pretty close, a little under, a little over. It's definitely a new skill that needs to be learned and practiced! Did roll some putts, too, working mostly on distance control uphill and downhill; threw in a few sidehills too just to make sure I wasn't getting overly confident in my abilities You're not supposed to chip onto this green but there's a reasonably wide grassy area surrounding it, so took two balls and an old 58° and worked on landing them next to each other - something else that's not too bad and is improving .. but yeah also needs more work......

^^ Very nice .. that's a really nice friend!!

A comment relative to just that... If you mean when you're watching on TV, I'd caution you to be aware of the camera angles - especially sometimes for putts they seem to get closer to a ground level view .. which can appear to exaggerate the vertical motion of the back- and forward strokes..... IMHO... If you were standing on the green next to the pros my guess is you'd actually see -less- movement of the putter head up & down vs most amateurs.

Oh...... You're serious?? Thought that was a joke

Thx for the insightful, interesting and always informative posts!! I've been working on my putting mechanics, and with the help of an AimPoint lesson have been working on my green reading skills ... and have been toying with the idea of taking the ER5 in for a putter fitting to see if there may be something that could be improved there, too ... I think I'm gonna do it!

That's a GREAT putting warmup!! I don't do that often enough myself, and have gotten in trouble twice lately when the course greens turned out to be slower vs what I had been playing and practicing on. And Congrats! on that hot putting round

Golf is a funny game... in a lotta ways but in my case (for this week, anyway ) there's an improvement in one area of your game yet at the same time other aspects of your game seem to backslide... ..and I know you golfers on here know what I'm talking about!! People who've read thru or commented on my posts in this thread (thk u!!) know I've been struggling with .. and working on .. my long game / ball striking; been having trouble with tee shots and second shots. Short game and putting has really improved this year, and while I still have a loooong ways to go to mount a challenge to a club pro, I've been getting better at what I call "almost" up & downs ... ie. down in three from near to and around the green. So.. played 18 at the beginning of this week (and then the next morning wrenched my lower back and had to pass on a meet-up/round with @Chip Strokes .. new date TBA!) and strangely enough had 12 / 14 "playable" (emphasized) tee shots = they were not all good shots, and not all in the fairway, but were in generally the right direction and near the fairway / not in trouble where I could make a second shot (and not a punch-out, which is another skill that's improved this year!). The two other tee shots - one was good contact but pulled way left to the OB fence and then lost; other one I totally chunked/skyed/popped-up to nowhere (on a long Par5...). Didn't keep an exact count of second shots but about 2/3s were also "playable", eg. not all "good" golf shots but at least advanced the ball towards the hole into a decent enough position. Now.. otoh, my "BAS" Bunker Avoidance Strategy which has been working pretty well this year fell apart as I put myself into bunkers three times and proceeded to double-chunk my way out of two of those. On top of that I 2-chipped twice and 3-putted twice during each 9 as my speed control continues to elude me (well.. more than usual...). On two holes (a Par 5 and the closing Par 4) I decided to combine those short game talents together to yield me an additional +5 shots on each to finish for two Triples - and each of these were after consecutive good (full swing) shots that put me in front of or next to the green! Ugh. (..and we're not gonna talk about the major blow-up hole nor the Par 3s here today) Anyway.. I did manage 11 bogeys (nothing better this round) and while not my best performance this season was actually encouraging as now I know the clear path for me, for making more on-course improvement, is really ... wait for it .. waaayiiit .. earth-shattering revelation coming ... limiting my mistakes!

Well you're in the right place here!!

A few years ago (..when I thought I knew I was doing and thought I knew how to hit a good ball ) I went into two different stores, twice each, to try out several different irons (..thinking all I need to do is find the "right" iron and then that ball will go *flying*) and I still distinctly remember the sound - and feel - of the JPX850 ... sweeeeet!!

FYI for the tester/reviewers .. and all others interested .. if you're looking to improve your putting game (who isn't?) and are looking for good practice drills and useful improvement plans (who isn't?) .. I can highly recommend the following paperback available on Amazon... * "Make More Putts" by Juan Gutierrez

^ That is so key!! A little off-topic, but one way (in addition to lessons + practice) I'm looking to improve on the course is working to make the bad shots less bad...