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Har in the Hat

 
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    Finally getting back into it

    in The 19th Hole

    Posted

    Thanks all.  Tonight is the second night in a row I've logged onto MGS🤗🤗. It's really nice to connect with you guys again.  I quickly peruse this site once in a while but usually am at a loss of things to say. Being out of the loop I guess. I'm excited about the golf outing that some of us spies are going to attend next month. I'm sure there will be lots of pics and good conversation.

    Why many quit or cutback on golf ?

    in The 19th Hole

    Posted

    9 hours ago, TwoCoatsOfWax said:

    Most frequent I've hear is cost and lack of time.  Remember, any sport/hobby/activity has an ebb and flow to its popularity.  From 2003-2006ish, you couldn't go anywhere without seeing or hearing about online poker.  Now it's pretty much at niche (obscure?) status in the US (don't get me started on that).  Right now golf is not in a boom cycle.  Last I recall seeing, total rounds played annually in the US is still flat to down slightly, but things like Top Golf are keeping total "participation" numbers steady to slightly higher.  Didn't golf have a down cycle in the 80s/early 90s (pre-Tiger)?  I'd be interested to see how current participation numbers compare to pre-Tiger or just a long term average.  Regardless of the numbers, I don't get a sense that golf is very "cool" at the moment.  This doesn't stop me from playing and enjoying it though.  On top of that, the global economy is slowing and the average person just can't seem to get ahead.  These are not two trends that bode well for a sport/hobby that is known to be somewhat costly. 

    The reasons are endless as another mentioned.  And I don't think there is any simple solution to reversing the trend.

    This is the first time I have ever heard someone relate "cool" to golf. Interesting. Can I ask what your thoughts are why you think this?

    #CobraCONNECT Challenge 3

    in Forum Testing Reviews

    Posted

    On 6/9/2019 at 5:22 AM, bardle said:

    dwight.gif.692f8c16ecd551baaf4dba20225fac05.gif

    Its Finallyyyyyy Timeeeee!!!!!

    Welcome everyone! The first thing I want to do it is thank MGS and Cobra for letting me be a part of this incredible challenge. Being a high handicapper, I wasn’t sure I’d get an opportunity like this but I know there others out there like me, so I’m hoping I can be of service to you.

    MVIMG_20190506_174353.jpg.7d87dfaf2f4faa632022c207eeb52383.jpg.404cf370f9148ba3779f0d5dbc938336.jpgMy name is Bradley, I’m 29 and I live just north of Atlanta. I’m married and we have two pups, one of which is my profile pic, and we have a 7 month old little girl who is my pride and joy.

    Warning: Adorable kid pic incoming:

    MVIMG_20190603_122047.thumb.jpg.99d391896796338e5ba82bba8cc7ddea.thumb.jpg.e7355fa790f33587eb1fe1b0b759d569.jpg

    I’ve been golfing a year and a half or so now. My first round ever was at my in-laws Thanksgiving “Turkey Open” family scramble where I played for fun with my brother-in-law and father-in-law. It was a blast, I was terrible, but I had so much fun that I’ve never looked back.

    Here are my current gamer clubs:

    Driver: Cobra F7 - Aldila 2KNV Stiff shaft

    Irons: Taylormade Rocketbladez Stiff 4-PW

    Wedges: Bridgestone Tour B XW-1 52º / 56º / 60º

     

    So hows my golf game?

    Yeah it’s okay, I try to not be too hard on myself being pretty new to the game but I am a perfectionist and I hate being bad at anything.

    I recently joined a club that is well known to be the hardest course in the immediate area. This was intentional because I want to be better at the game. I play the blues which sit at a 72.8 / 136 and 6,600 yards long. It’s probably way too tough for me. My first round I shot a 113, since then I’ve come back down and currently my average score is around a 102. I have yet to break 100 at my new course in a full 18 hole round. That being said its teaching me the premium of keeping the ball in play as the rough is extremely punishing on most holes and it forces me to play shots I never would have before.

    Here’s my baseline stats with my pre-cobra gamers.

    baseline.png.6ce5535f6cc0fd46cb727e09287dbe14.png.3fe61edb03545c1921170dd287dab0f0.png

    I am the epitome of the high handicapper golfer, inconsistent ball striking with some good shots sprinkled in. I 3 putt sometimes, sometimes I don’t. I hit a power slice when my Driver isn't working, but overall the biggest problem with my golf game is inconsistency with my irons. Pretty standard stuff and if you’re over an 18 handicap everything I am saying here probably resonates with you.

    Some more details:

    driver.png.0dcbe6f2c6a9d0e3b4fb37064307413f.png.428d5d52ea214f1c4c41dc3906e5ec40.png

    Driving wise, you can see my average dispersion is only 20 yards, but I have a big time two way miss, I’ve been holding back on the tee lately in an effort to hit fairways more and lose less balls. The problem is that gives me a 4 or 5 iron into alot of the greens. Here’s my usage chart on my clubs from arccos:

    usage.png.39e5ca10993595f8fb7fee64298da01c.png.323013c2007f39150db37d935d9514f2.png

    You can see that leaving myself short off the tee means my 4 and 5 iron are used more than anything else. I almost never am in range to use a scoring club to get to the green reliably. Because of this, my approach stats show what I already know is the truth, I'm short alot...

    approach.png.8d9fb5c29975e39595ae43b197e50c78.png.89552434f036ea631960f564d20f98a3.png

    Short, short, short. Left and right aren’t nearly the issue here. Its thinning and chunking long irons that cause all the problems. As you can see a lot of my approach shots are 30 yards or more short of the green, which means I’m constantly hitting short pitches into the green and trying to save par. With my handicap I don’t mind missing greens, I expect it,  the real problem is the distance I’m leaving everything short. It makes chipping or pitching anything close very difficult.

    chipping.png.54b82c3bede5f589cd09e6733e029ff0.png.1cd4d4922511811cc3bc54e482eac92a.png

    The greens I play on are really fast, I know everyone says that, but they are the fastest I have played in my limited time golfing and pitching from 30+ yards often leaves me far away from the pin. If I’m greenside but off the fringe and I can’t putt it, I do fairly well. When I move the slider in, I’m averaging 6 to 8 ft from 15 yards and in on chipping, The problem is that only 11% of my baseline chips are inside 15 yards…

     

    Sand....

    GjQHzTdspX5TYQE7vpZY1X3y2wz28csRxHlfLne6_nKIF1iCAIGV2KqRb9_vyeak88-TqX8GnpezVyLS2YbBnTEiaMlAyPnFLBuZIDXsm3fMk44Q2xV2bE-m9AdRHRJXDIUiMb7B

    I’m a 22 handicap, the only beach I do well on has a chair and a cooler full of beer on it, not a golf ball. Seriously though, I leave sand shots short primarily, I’m always scared of sending them over the green or thinning them. Most of the time I can get out in one, but I do have the occasional 3-peat to get out of a high lipped trap.

    sand.png.121edbe7756de77757546fa801018e4e.png.5605b00a0dfe184b081527ca0af1afba.png

     

    On to The Fun Part

    J0JVk1TKNGlhVHhotl_wuiNJulBg3vdHS8bALIWErK1KOJARq2l1QQ_UFin3qtlT5E2M5fYt5Xkq3DKYsox57CeLZjB8wypILHXJxavU25t81t20E0nsCCndo3jKqbm33l900tuI

    That was a lot, you guys still with me? I saved the best part for last. First let’s hit the high notes and walk through what my fitting revealed and the clubs I chose:

     

    The Bag:

    Driver: F9 9º Degree head, Evenflow White T1100 X Stiff

    Woods: 3/4 Wood, Evenflow White T1100 X Stiff

    Hybrid: 3 Hybrid, Aldila 2KNV Green X Stiff

    Irons: One Length F9’s 4-PW, Modus3 Tour 105’s Stiff

    Wedges: King Black Wedges in 50º / 54º / 58º

    Bag: Black / Black Stand Bag (I freaking love this thing)

     

     

    Fitting Overview:

    So I saw a cobra fitter, without going into too much detail. I swing hard and put a lot of torque  on the butt of my clubs shaft. So he selected shafts for me that basically have no butt end and pretty much demanded that I go with X Stiff in all my woods and hybr

    drivershaft.jpg.ba06646ad72bd4b5ff7b94e312458566.jpg.44aced1243ba830dd6e21075a9a63ce1.jpg

    He also suggested that I go with a D4 swing weight on my irons, especially if I was going one length because of my size, he was concerned that I’d get too loose and wouldn’t be able to control the clubs if they weighed in at their stock D0 swing weight. My irons and wedges are also 1 inch longer than standard and the grips are like +4 wraps or something, which is an adjustment, but they do feel a lot better to hold. 

    3w.jpg.a7eafd2934ce7250b5208542fded0039.jpg.59f2eccfa8243f8f44b1a50357bd80e8.jpg

    I also went with a 3 hybrid and a 3 wood. My 4 iron is typically right around 200 yards. So I need some extra distance to recover from poor tee shots or hit long 2nd shots into par 5’s. So I went with the 3 Hybrid hoping for a 215-235 club and a 3 wood for something just over that, 230 - 260 or so would be great. We have a few tight par 4’s that require a limited tee shot and a little more control than a driver usually gives me. So I’m hoping I can hit those fairways a little more consistently with these clubs.

    BUT WHY ONE LENGTHS?!?!?!

    I hear all of you screaming, I’m the only one length tester in this crew. Cobra swears these things work. They have a lot of tech in them to make them work. Progressive shaft weighting to make the same shaft work and gapping consistent, Wider soles in the 4-6 irons to help with launch and trajectory on top of all of the standard F9 features like Progressive Hosel lengths, E9 Pwrshell face, etc... You get it. You read everyone else’s intros too.

    f9.jpg.39d04438bc5f2517527cb624ae25431a.jpg.537f4a86d168e9053be684dda544fe98.jpg

    What you really want to know is do these things work? Can a high handicapper like myself really be more consistent just because all of his irons are the same length. You’ve seen my approach stats, you know I need something to help me. I chose them because I want to eliminate some variables. I think too much as it is on the course. Take away ball position and swing changes due to shaft length and I think I can improve my consistency. I really feel like that is all that’s left in my game to take me from a 20+ index to a mid handicapper.

    Whats it gonna take for them to stay?

    My old set isn't exactly nice, but one thing I have with them is consistent gapping. My old wedges are great, I hit them well when I get to hit them, My driver might not be the most accurate, but when I have good days with it, I have really really good days.

    For the Cobras to hang around, what I really need to see is consistency throughout the bag. I need my driver dispersion to be tighter and preferably limited to a one way miss, I obviously need consistent contact with the One length irons, since thats kind of the point. The wedges have the most to live up too as the XW-1's I reviewed are very good, but the lower lofts have to help with gapping and consistency. It would be nice to be able to use that 58º reliably. I know, thats a lot to ask of the arrow, but I feel like I'm close to being a better golfer and I'm hoping these clubs can help mitigate some bad habits I have and get me shooting the scores that I feel like I should be.

    Lets make it rain with questions folks, especially with regards to the One Lengths, I'll do my best to answ

     

     

     

     

     

    Finally getting back into it

    in The 19th Hole

    Posted

    Well, finally. On the weekend I had to think long and hard about whether I should hit the driving range or not. And so I did. First time hitting the club's. Felt kinda nice to hit balls but was not really excited. Someone please give me a swat alongside my head. Went out again tonight and I saw the head pro and a few others I knew and went over and it was nice to talk to them again. I enjoyed seeing them. They noticed I haven't been around.

    When I got back home, I started exercising again. I think I'm getting back into this golfing thing. What is really surprising is that I have never before been so hesitant as I am now about whether to go out or not. Geez☹️☹️

     

    How are you guys, my friends doing?

    2018 Official Forum Member Review - PING i500 Irons

    in Forum Testing Reviews

    Posted

    On 4/5/2019 at 7:15 AM, GolfSpy STUDque said:

    So the hydropearl finish is doing just fine but I have another issue. I'm noticing cracking on the face along the apparent edge of the internal cavity. In other words, the face may be starting to cave in. It's the worst in my 6 iron followed by the 4 and 7. The rest of the set doesn't display this issue. 

    DC3348AE-B0CE-43AD-9A0E-C2FE74E773D1.jpeg

     

    Score one for Ping's 1-800 customer service though because they're going to replace the whole set at no cost. Just shipped the sticks away yesterday so I should have the new ones back in a week's time. 

    How did you notice that considering the cracks were so minute? Or are they visually apparent?


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