jaymikem

I like the point made here. Shaq couldn't switch out and shoot a different basketball to try and correct his atrocious free throw shooting . Tom Brady can't legally play with flatter or smaller footballs to throw further or more accurately. It would be interesting to see Rory or Tiger or Rickie all have to play a set of clubs that had the exact same flex characteristics, lofts, lengths, and so forth. Since they are all fine tuned athletes, I am sure they would still dominate the sport without a problem, but it would be interesting to see how their strategy and club selection changed to accommodate issues they experienced with the clubs, since they would no longer be tuned exactly to their specific needs. Stricter standardization of equipment may actually be a possible solution to the distance problem instead of trying to roll back golf ball technology, who knows. But I think that would put a lot of the custom component companies out of business, so it would never happen anyway. As far as people saying bifurcation would hurt companies from a marketing standpoint, I doubt it would make any type of difference. People bought Nike golf clubs and golf clubs because of Tiger, but how many people did you see playing the blade irons he was playing? Same with Rickie Fowler - people that love him will still go out and buy Cobra clubs, but I think it is a vast minority that actually goes out and buys the Cobra blade irons that he is bagging. I think people are more loyal to brand name than the actual specific equipment that golfers are using - i.e. "Rory hits the ball far, he plays Taylor Made, so I am going to go buy Taylor Made" more so than "I am going to buy the Taylor Made M3 driver". I also wonder about what effect course design change (longer rough, tighter fairways, more hazards) would have on recreational golfers. Let's say that happened, so suddenly pros rarely play driver anymore off the tee box, they start just using woods and irons. Does the recreational golfer start to do the same, since, lets be honest, the majority of the public tries to emulate what the pros do, especially when you are first learning any type of sport. Kids chuck 3's at a young age in basketball now (which, as a basketball coach, I hate since the majority of the time this messes up their shooting form), and everyone wants to hit the deep bomb like Dustin now, so would people stop using certain clubs and follow what pros do, even though it actually hurts your chance to score better? Does golf become less fun to watch or play because if this - would you want to watch US Open type conditions every single week?

Jay Michigan 13 Adams idea a12 pro, 4-PW, KBS tour stiff flex My heart tells me the i500's - they just look sexy to me - but my brain, my game and Ping's online fitting system says the i210's, so the 210's it is! Best of luck worldwide entrants! Also, this post officially got me from new spy status to spy analyst. Read more in the forums than I post myself, but just getting that boost already makes me a winner.

Great reviews guys. I bought the NX7 pro as a birthday gift to myself this April based on the previous MGS reviews that were done, and I have enjoyed it as much as you guys appear to. Question for you guys though - I have had a couple times where the battery has gotten loose or something, so the power goes out. I have to open the battery area and just reput it in and I am back in business, but freaked me out the first time since I only had the unit for a couple days and suddenly it wasn't working. Maybe I need to be less Indy car driver, more overly cautious grandma when I am driving my cart, but have any of you guys experienced anything like this?

Tier 1: Justin Thomas Tier 2: Tony Finau Tier 3: Daniel Berger Tier 4: Brendan Steele Tier 5: Thorbjorn Oleson Winning Score: -13

Tier 1: Rickie Fowler Tier 2: Matthew Fitzpatrick Tier 3: Zach Johnson Tier 4: Jason Dufner Tier 5: Satoshi Kodaira Tier Breaker: -12

Man, I am a little jealous of all you potential testers! Unfortunately my Google Pixel is going to keep me on the sidelines for this one, but I am really excited to see what the winners have to say about their experience. Best of luck to you all!

Good luck entrerants! I actually just bought myself an Nx7 pro about two months ago and have been thoroughly impressed with it. Interested to read what the testers end up thinking about it.

I am a metro Detroit golfer as well, and there are a lot of good treks to play. Fieldstone in Auburn Hills that was mentioned is a quality course. I never play well there, but it is a solid layout. Also has a nice driving range and putting green for practing on. Katke Cousins is one of the two Oakland University courses. I think you might need to be a member or play with a student to get oneither one though, but I could be wrong. I played it a couple of times with my brother when he was a student there, and every par 3 hole had a basket of nice, short tees sitting on the tee box for you to use if you want. The other course at Oakland is the Sharf, which is also a nice course if you can get on. Has that northern Michigan golf feel without the drive. If you can find a member to take you, it's worth getting on and playing. The Orchards is a nice course. It used to host qualifiers and amateur tournaments so it is pretty challenging. Another course I personally don't play well at, but I still enjoy myself every time. Greystone and Glacier club are also two other courses near the Orchards that are both good courses worth playing. A couple other good ones that are worth checking out - Twin Lakes in Oakland Township (has 27 holes, so can mix and match the 3 sets of 9 holes), Cherry Creek in Shelby Township (best practice facility in the Metro Detroit area in my opinion with multiple putting greens, chipping greens, bunkers, etc for you to use for practice), Stony Creek Metro Park Golf course and Boulder Pointe out in Oxford. And for Northern MI golf trips in the future, Forest Dunes is great - expensive but definitely a hidden gem in Roscommon. The original course is top notch, and they also have the Loop course, which plays in two different directions (clockwise one day, counterclockwise the next). Treetops has run really good deals the last couple years if you go before Memorial Day - you can get two days of unlimited golf and one nights lodging for $150 a person, which is a pretty unbelievable deal for the courses they have.

Are you specifically referring to pace of play for the pros and rangefinders, not the golf community in general? I think it would have minimal impact or may actually slow down the pace of play for the pros if they could use rangefinders on tournament days. As far as I can tell, tour pros and their caddies are generally pretty meticulous and strategic when analyzing the data that they already have available to them from practice rounds, pin sheets, etc. They already factor in wind, course conditions, strategy based on the info they have, so i think giving them the opportunity to have further data to analyze during the round has the potential to slow things down since it possibly just adds a step for them without eliminating anything (i.e. now checking exact distances not just to pins, but to any potential hazard or lay-up location, comparing that to the information previously gathered, then hitting a shot). I know that my livelihood depended on my score and a missed shot here or there could end up costing me tens of thousands of dollars, I would want to analyze all information I had in that moment to avoid that. I think pace of plays for the pros has more to do with over analyzing data then the issues we recreational golfers face when complaining about pace of play (i.e. not playing ready golf, playing from the wrong set of tees, not hitting provisional shots or hunting too long for lost balls, etc). Side note - I do think the green reading app could speed up the pace of play for recreational golfers since it would eliminate the need for people to read putts from multiple angles for 10 minutes, miss by a large margin and then repeat the process. Of course, this assumes the picture and scan process of the app is quick and efficient, otherwise it may be a push. I have no real way of proving this next thought, but I believe that tour pros and caddies also have developed a pretty good sense of distances from the endless hours of golf they have played, so the rangefinder hay have a limited difference to pace of play for them anyway. The only semi-proof I have to support this theory is from the experience I have golfing with my Dad. He doesn't use a rangefinder when he plays, but he generally has a good feel for the distance. We will be on a hole, I will pull out my rangefinder to get a distance and he will say "Its about 130 yards" before I say anything, and it will shoot to be 132 yards or something like that. It almost ends up being a game for him during the round, so at times he will venture out with more specific numbers suck as "It is 183 yards" or "it is 106 but will play like 94" and he is usually within 2-3 yards of what the scope shows at least 80% of the time. And it doesn't matter if we are playing a new course, he just has that innate feel, which he said he developed in all the years that he caddied as a kid from middle school through college and then continued to develop as he has continued to play the game. If he has that type of ability, I would assume the majority of the professional caddies and players would have developed something similar as they mastered their craft. But maybe I am wrong and my dad is some type of distance sensing savant who should use his talents as a pga tour sideshow event.

Jay Michigan Adams idea pro a12 irons, 4 - PW KBS tour stiff shafts 170 yards I was never really a fan of the ping iron looks. Have always read great things about the company, tech in the clubs, etc., but the design aesthetics never really tickled my fancy as they say. But I can definitely get behind this new design!

Tier 1: Rickie Fowler Tier 2: Tommy Fleetwood Tier 3: Tony Finau Tier 4: Matthew Fitzpatrick Tier 5: Chesson Hadley Tie Breaker: -4

Just curious, but about how often does everyone upgrade their equipment? Personally, I change different components at different rates. For example, I upgrade my driver and woods about every 3 years, my wedges every two years, but I don't really change my putter, irons or hybrids ever. I have been playing the same Adams a12 pro irons since 2011, and I played a set of Cleveland TA 4's for years before making a change. I know part of changing equipment is dictated by how many rounds you play since that will dictate wear and tear (I probably play about 20-25 rounds a year), but is wear the main reason most of you upgrade? Or do you upgrade more often to take advantage of advances in technology? Just curious what the community thinks.

Tier 1: Justin Thomas Tier 2: Patrick Reed Tier 3: Zach Johnson Tier 4: Martin Kaymer Tier 5: Rafa Cabrera Bello Winning score: -10 Low amateur: -1

Big contest announced just as golf season in Michigan approaches. I like it! Jay, MIchigan (Go blue!) Adams A12 pro 4-pw (bought based off mygolfspy review from 2011) stiff kbs tour shafts Cleveland Rtx 2.0 54 & 58 degree wedges, stock shaft Callaway copper forged 52 degree wedge, stock shaft Bridgestone precept ECU 21 degree utility club, stock regular flex shaft Callaway hot 17 degree 4 wood, stock project x stiff shaft Nike covert 2.0 tour driver, stock kuro kage stiff shaft, trimmed down 1 inch Callaway Versa #9 putter, 34 in. 3. 13.6 handicap 4. I am searching for consistency in 2018. My golf game is a lot like riding a roller coaster at Cedar Point - lots of ups and downs, an occasional loop and able to provide a little thrill but also an upset stomach. I have times where my driver is working but my irons are off, or my putter is going but I can't find the fairway, so I am hoping to find a way to just be steady in all areas at the same time. Also looking for practice consistency, which should help achieve consistency on the course. Best of luck to everyone!

A couple of weeks ago I saw that mygolfspy Facebook posted one picture of the Nike driver that was never released. Is there somewhere in the forums I can't find that has other pictures? Why the Facebook tease!?!