[2022 TaylorMade Tour Response and Soft Response Stripe Balls]

Even though it says that the 18th is the day of release, I acquired the Tour Response Stripe last week, which in this day where their releases all seem to be late. I expect that these will be on time and maybe early for a change.  My early look at the TR is very positive and responsive. I have found the latest TP5s somewhat disappointing to me. Their problem is that while perfectly struck shots are as good and maybe better than most real tour balls, slight mishits especially with the driver spin excessively and lose more distance than other balls. The TP5 X is a little better than the non X but that doesn't seem to be an issue with the new Tour Response but I admit the testing is early for that ball. 

[How Often Do You Replace Your Golf Bag?]

Every 1.5 to 2 years usually. Although I have different variations of bags that I may go to depending on the situation, location and season.

[Stealth carbon face durability?? (Post PGA show pics from Reddit)]

1 hour ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

 

No it's most likely oneof the shaft companies, llike Fujikura.   The use all the OEM heads int their booths to demo their shafts.    Kind of tough to demo a shaft without a head

As a longtime visitor of the show, it's one of the little secrets, instead of waiting an hour in the TM booth to demo the new line, just go to Fuji, or UST or Graphite Design, they all have them!

LOL!!  Chi!  We must have been typing the same thing at the same time

You know what they say about great minds

 

FYI, Fujikura wasn't at the show either along with  all of the Big OEMs. They were debuting new product in a new release Launch.  Not sure what high end shaft companies were there. I didn't go this year myself.

 

 

[SD, Palm Springs, or Orando]

2 hours ago, hartrick11 said:

For San Deigo, more affordable options in the city would be Balboa or Coronado; older school tracks with views/character. RB Inn and Encinitas Ranch are solid tracks outside the city proper in the $100 range, and Encinitas has ocean views if that is of interest. Further south maybe Singing Hills or Steele Canyon would fit a similar bill as RB Inn golf-wise, but I haven't played there in quite a while.

Nice tracks under $200 (at least I think they are under $200 still  but haven't looked up the latest rates) - not sure how much driving you are looking to do as the distance from downtown on this list varies quite a bit, but IMO the list would be Torrey North, La Costa, Maderas, Barona Creek, Rams Hill 

Over $200 public access tracks: Torrey South & Aviara

If I was budgeting for <$150/round & willing to drive I would put together a 4 day trip like this:

1. Coronado - course is nice if not spectacular but the views are 10/10, super easy to get to if you are staying in/around downtown

2. Torrey North - should be A+ condition in Feb; course layout isn't as interesting or nostalgic as South but for >$100 less you get the same views and a still awesome course that pros play on yearly (for one round lol)

3. Barona (play after 11am for big discount) - most underrated course in San Diego IMO. I would play this over the better known Maderas every day, but some disagree. Most would agree that if you aren't afraid of a 90 min drive, Rams Hill would be better than both and would give you a Palm Springs feel w/ mountains/valley in the background 

4. La Costa Legends - Tour stop from the 90s, cool layout, should be really good condition and a great resort. If planning on a 36 hole day you could do 18 on Legends and 18 on Champions for less than trying to play Torrey North and South back to back (though budget-permitting I would argue that playing Torrey South over La Costa Champions would be better value even at $150 more)

 

Played La Costa in March, absolutely HORRIBLE condition. Champions course shows years of neglect. A $10 muni in a 3rd world country will be in better shape. The Legends was closed and torn up either for re surfacing or re-modeling. The staff secretly mentioned that there is no money being spent on the Champions course and yet they were charging about $100. We were warned by others but we had prepaid. Disaster!

[8620 vs 1020: Will The "Real" Forged Iron Please Stand Up?]

The softest iron heads I have ever hit (and I go back to the forgings of the 60's that I played as a kid even a set from the 50's acquired for fun)  is the Maxfli Revolution and the last version of the Austraiian blades made in the late 90's which were cast from Nickel (I don't know the full on composite of the medals such as how much Nickel there was. They had a patented process that went to TaylorMade when they sold. TM never took advantage of it. I have both versions with steel shafts  (one set with Precisions prior to Project X and the other had Dynalites) still today and I pull them out once in a while just to compare. Amazing they usually fell softer than today's stuff with graphite shafts. Really butter! They could still easily be played today.