analyticandrew

I actually had to postpone because of the COVID uptick for my work meetings but I’ll be out soon and will update the thread!

We all have seen the results where the MGS crew rated the Ping Hoofer Craz-E Lite the best bag for walking. However I have found that the strap system on this bag aren’t the most comfortable. They aren’t garbage (at all), but it got me wondering what y’all think are the most comfortable strap systems? If any of you have the Mizuno K1-L0 bags, I would LOVE to get your opinion.

Adding additional pictures here of the irons.

Definitely mind-blowing for sure. Some of the stats that Lou Stagner puts out there on twitter about managing your expectations have literally changed the way that I approach the game. This is one that I remember literally every time I have a 120-130 shot: "From 123-yards in the fairway, PGA Tour Players are more likely to hit it OUTSIDE 30-feet than they are to hit it inside 10-feet." So me hitting a gap wedge or flighted PW to 30-40' I should actually feel REALLY GOOD ABOUT.

TSi4 driver headed my way currently. Hoping to arrive tomorrow. I recently bought a Ventus black velocore but these HZRDUS smoke black RDX OEM shafts keep performing better for me! So now I gotta sell the Ventus so the mrs doesn’t get too upset. Lol

Been working on trying to get my turn back and through correctly. I tend to turn back for the most part pretty well, but then I tend to slide left as opposed to turning my body (and getting my hips out of the way). Today I worked swinging without a ball but with my alignment sticks in the ground - one to the right to ensure I wasn’t sliding back (see below) and the same thing on the left. IT FEELS SO WEIRD. I am going to the range this weekend to keep it going, as I think I’m going to end up basically shanking the ball because my hands have so much work to do to catch up!

Any spies in CA that want to meet up for an early morning 18 at Rustic Canyon? I’m flying out from the east coast and plan to make my way up there from LA. Would love to put together a weekday morning foursome one of those two weeks. I’m not 100% sure what week I’ll be coming yet.

Selling a myriad of items today. All are in great condition. All item prices include USPS shipping. Add $5 west of the Mississippi. Can ship UPS or FedEx if needed (will add actual shipping cost). Happy to take and send more pictures if desired. Various driver shafts that will fit the Tour Edge C721, EXS 220, and EXS Pro drivers. Ventus Velocore Black 7X - 45.25” tip to grip: $225 Mavrik Pro Iron Set 4-PW +3/4” long DG S300 (no stickers) standard L and L Tour velvet midsize: $750 600 Ordered these in 2020 and they were built to order and pured by club champion. I still have the original order info if needed. These are easily a 9/10 in condition and have less than normal bag chatter. 4i plays to D6, 5i-PW play to D7. Midsize your velvet grips. I CAN SWAP THESE FOR DG R300 SHAFTS FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE. Puma Ignite size 13 D spikeless waterproof w/ Superfeet black insoles: $75 60 Footjoy Superlites XP 12 D spikeless waterproof: $75 60 Inesis 13 D spikeless waterproof: $50 40 The Footjoy and Inesis shoes have seen very few rounds. The Puma shoes have been worn for about 15 rounds and have Superfeet black insoles in them. The Inesis do run a half size small. All have been kept in shoe bags and with shoe trees. The Inesis I have been testing as part of the MGS testing program and I will wear them two more rounds before passing them on. They just don’t fit my feet well

I’m going with Bryson. Why? No clue. Why not.

Took these shoes out for a tournament on Monday with The Fried Egg here in the Philly area. Played at a course called Rolling Green Golf Club, a William Flynn designed course from 1926 that holds true to its name. Elevation changes from tee to green could have been as much as 40-50 feet down, and 40-50 feet back up. Lots of sidehill lies, uphill lies, downhill lies and more. We played 18 holes best ball in the morning, 18 holes alternate shot in the afternoon, and (yay!) we made the playoffs called the Horse Race and so we played an extra two holes there. Unfortunately for me, after hitting about 30 warmup balls, putting for 10-15 minutes, and playing just three holes, I had to change out of these shoes. The issues that I had in my previous post persisted here as well. Low back pain, rubbing in the rear of the ankle/achilles area and on the second hole, with there still being a little bit of dew on the ground, I did slip on one shot. I think this was a combination of the shoe and also the teebox (it was a little sandy). My review still stands on these and I plan on giving them one more go of it this weekend, but I'm not hopeful given my anatomy. They are a FANTASTIC value, they are extremely comfortable for probably 80% of the population out there, and for the investment, I would tell people to "give them a try" as you are looking to expand your footwear options. Some course shots below just for fun. Severe left to right canting in the fairway with this downhill tee shot on #9, a par 5, the number one handicap hole. Hole 14 here - 220 yard(ish) par three with that 45' tall walking bridge on the left. More elevation changes here on hole #11, downhill from the tee, right back up the hill to the green.

Played 36 on a beautiful day here in Philadelphia. First really warm round of golf that I’ve played this calendar year. Needed multiple rounds of both water and sunscreen because of the amount of sweating that was going on. Screenshot below of my morning round (plus about 3/4 of a mile before I played) to give you an indication of how much stress I put on these bad boys. Rode the second 18 because of the heat and time, and added another nearly 1.5 miles to them (see below for why so little). Also this was the first round where I had my Superfeet insoles in the shoes. I tried them on TOP of the current insoles to see how they would work out. A couple other pair of shoes that I have, this ends up being nearly the perfect fit. Notes below on my thoughts of the shoes and how they held up. Good AND bad results with the Superfeet on top of the other insoles. Even though the standard insoles are very thin, end very spongy, this created all sorts of challenges: First of all, the good was that by elevating my foot in the shoe, the squeaking/popping noise that I had heard since I first put these on went away in my left shoe (my left foot is a half size smaller). Bad news was that by elevating my feet that much in the shoe, I started to get some rubbing in the back of my ankle in the Achilles area. Not a full blister, but it was headed that way. Secondly, the bad was that for my right foot, I DID have enough rubbing that I got a bunch of small blisters and ultimately I had to take the Inesis insoles out of the shoes by the time I got to hole number 7. So for the next six holes, I went with just my Superfeet. These insoles have been AMAZING for me. I had some lower back pain previously when I would walk full rounds, and those insoles have saved me. However, in these shoes, they didn’t seem to help. For whatever reason, with the way these shoes fit my feet, and the way that I walk with them, my lower back pain returned. I also was a little dehydrated, but my back hasn’t hurt like this in a long time while playing and walking. I had checked to ensure that the insoles fit, they weren’t slipping around, etc. For the final 5-6 holes I took out the Superfeet insoles and went with the standard insoles wanting to see if that made a difference or not. It didn’t help. End of the round, pretty decent amount of lower back pain and I’m starting to think that for my physiology, these shoes are just not a good match. For reference, on the final 18, even though I was riding, I switched to a different pair of Nike Roshe Tours (with the Superfeet insoles) and my back felt better almost immediately. I’m sure some of this was due in part to me riding, but also these just being a much better fit for me and my body. To help confirm or deny what I was experiencing, for the final 6 holes while riding I put the Inesis back on. And yup, by hole 14 my back was starting to get sore yet again. At this point, if you are someone who has a pretty “tall” foot, I would highly recommend these shoes. If you are someone with a pretty short or maybe flat foot, these might not be the best for you as they are not the best for me.

Update as I got in a range session with these as well as I decided to take them for a walk through the concrete jungle of my neighborhood to see how they hold up/feel. The popping noise on the left shoe persists as I noted in my last post. I'm going to take a tongue pad that I have used before on dress shoes and put it in the shoe and see if it changes it up at all. With my 1/2 size smaller foot, this is something that I deal with on some of my shoes, but this is fairly loud. Had no issues with slippage during the range session - I purposely went after about 15 shots working on some speed training and still no slipping. I always slip when wearing either my Puma spikeless or my Footjoy spikeless. These continue to be very comfortable. I have yet to try them with the insoles I wear in other shoes, and I'll be doing that tomorrow. They don't slip on the top of the foot or at the heel (even on the foot that's 1/2 size smaller) and, while I know they are basically brand new, they provide a good amount of cushioning. Speaking of cushioning, I like to feel my feet on the ground - if I'm standing on a rock, or a small twig, or anything that might effect my swing, I want to know that it's there. These shoes, while providing that supreme level of comfort, they still let you feel everything as well. This was very apparent when I took a walk through the neighborhood. I felt the cushioning, but also felt the cracks, the rocks, and more. Tomorrow I'll be out for my first full walking round with these shoes on 6500 yard track with a decent number of elevation changes. I'll report back the findings this weekend.

First Round Waterproof: since this is one of the key features touted for this shoe and almost an unseen feature in this price range, I wanted to see how these held up. Thankfully we had a bunch of rain work through the Philly area yesterday! It rained for about 7 straight hours including about 90 minutes while I was on the course. I also purposefully wore socks that would show any sign of leakage in the shoe. RESULT: Zero leakage of any kind. These shoes got drenched. And I do mean drenched, especially when my left leg, which was dangling outside the cart, got about a half gallon of water thrown directly onto it from the roof when I turned a corner fairly sharply. RATING: 5/5 Comfort: One if the other core tenants of this shoe is that it is (as MGS stated in their 2019 shoe evaluation) “the most comfortable golf shoe we’ve ever tested”. These are lofty expectations for ANY shoe, especially one that is accessible to so many from a price perspective. RESULT: The course I played yesterday was a new one to me. It’s a highly rated but short course with a good deal of elevation changes to it. We rode the course but since it had rained so much, it was cart path only. What a great way to test out the comfort of the shoes! I ended up walking about 5 miles on the course (full day stats from my Apple Watch below) and I can say definitively that out of the box, these are the most comfortable golf shoes I have ever worn. Big praise, I know. And honestly I wasn’t expecting that to be what I wrote. I currently wear a pair of supersoles insoles in all my other golf shoes and I am looking forward to trying these Inesis out with that upgrade! My heels, arches, toes… all of my foot felt supported and comfortable. I do have one small gripes that are going to knock down my rating in this area, however. In my last review post I noted that the tongue felt awkward to me. And as the round wore on, I did begin to notice that it was irritating the top of my ankle (even through my longer socks). I didn’t end up with any blisters, but it was sore. This could simply be the anatomy of my body and you the reader may have zero issues at all. They also might break in more for me as I wear them more as well. RATING: 4/5 Traction/Grip: Another hallmark of these shoes are the unique spikeless tread on the bottom of the shoe. The mixture of the different rubber and plastic components of the sole are there to aid in comfort, but also in not slipping and sliding around the course like I’ve done with some other brands of spikeless shoes. You can see in the picture below, comparing the spikeless shoes of (left to right) the Footjoy Superlite XP, the Nike Roshe Tour, Ecco’s with their cage sole, and finally the Inesis, just how different these soles from a spikeless perspective. Decathlon with this shoe has put purposeful design into their “spikes”. They have created a combination of larger, more hard nubs that are in just the right places for your golf swing to ensure stability and traction even on wet surfaces. These nubs are also of different shapes in different parts of the sole. Some are almost plus shaped (those that are almost translucent in this photo) in the areas that that can tend to slide the most in a golf swing (toes, outside footpad, heel) and they combine that with left-to-right or horizontal nubs (those colored orange in this photo) in those areas where the foot may need to move in one direction “only”. RESULT: These nubs are VERY effective from a grip perspective. Not once when I was swinging the club, walking in slippery grass, or even walking up it down wet hills did I feel unstable or like I was going to fall. The same cannot be said of other spikeless (and some spiked!) shoes I have had in the past. These spikeless nubs get my seal of approval. What I will pay attention to is how well they grip when the ground is not wet - which can present some additional problems for traditional spikeless shoes. RATING: 5/5 OVERALL RATING: 14/15 One final thought: I’m going to have to deduct at least a point for something I mentioned in my last post. These shoes look a bit chunky. This doesn’t bother me at all from a looks perspective. But what DID bother me is that on my left foot, which is a half size smaller than my right, with every step I took, and with every swing where I lifted my left foot off the ground ever so slightly on my backswing, I heard a popping noise in the top part of the shoe. This is NOT the first time this has happened to me in a golf shoe. And those of you that have heard this in any of your golf or regular shoes knows the exact sound I’m referencing. It’s the sound of a leather or leather-like shoe effectively “cracking” because it’s too big for the foot it’s on. This would normally not be too big of a deal for me. I just lace up the smaller foot a bit more tightly by the toes and all along the top of the foot. But with these shoes, because of the chunky height to them, that was not possible. This is something that I’ll pay attention to and see if it was simply a wearing in problem, or if it is something that will persist. OVERALL ADJUSTED RATING: 13/15

INTRO Hey all! This is my first official review, and I'm excited to share it with the entire MGS community. This has been a great community of learning for me, and I hope that you learn from this review and it helps you as the site and fellow Spies have helped me! I'm nearly 43, I played football, basketball and golf in high school, went to state in golf, and played football in college - DIII, played QB. I worked at a golf course in every capacity you can imagine (except for head pro) when I was in my early 20s. I played to a plus handicap back then, and I currently play to a 5.6 handicap. That's been with a lot of hard work and a lot of playing and practicing in the last few years. I have two kids, 16 and 10, and so getting out a lot when they were younger was hard. For background, I used to wear almost exclusively FootJoy shoes. Our pro shop sold them, they were the best around for ages, and so a pair of Dry Joy's and a pair of Green Joy's was all I needed. As I've aged, I've tried lots of other brands. Footjoy still, but also Adidas, Puma, Nike, and more. I look for comfort and stability more than almost anything else, and I walk a lot, so I need something that can stand up to me putting a good amount of wear on them. I generally don't play early mornings, so waterproof hasn't been an area of focus for me, but most of the shoes I currently have are waterproof. FIRST IMPRESSIONS First thing to note, this shoe came with no box. The shoes were packaged inside of a bag and were connected by a long piece of elastic. Kind of like when you pick up shoes as Marshalls/TJ Maxx/Ross/Insert-Discount-Store-Here. I thought this was a bit weird, but hey, maybe they don't really need a box? Saves a lot for the environment this way, so I'm ALL for that! Opening these, they do look "different" - not BAD - not at all. Just different. Almost a little chunky perhaps? Here they are compared to one of my other pairs of shoes, the Nike Roshe Tour. They remind me a bit of Sketchers golf shoes (also included that for comparison). In all, these are a pretty solid looking and feeling shoe. I went with the navy colorway given that I wear a lot of blue golf shirts and the fact that I haven't ever owned a navy pair of golf shoes. Lots of black, never navy! The quality of the outer I'll test out over time with wear, and what's interesting is that Decathlon says that their shoes are waterproof because of an inner membrane, not the outer part of the shoe. I'm interested in getting out for some dew-soaked morning rounds as well as a round or two in the rain. The sole feels soft yet firm when walking even on hard surfaces. Decathlon notes that they have three layers to the sole: Part 1 is EVA - EVA boosts cushion and is spread over the entire foot, especially on the heel Part 2 is TPU - TPU is a semi-rigid construction that ensures a strong grip while remaining flexible - this TPU is the colored main part and features six spikes Part 3 is the Rubber Sole - they state that this rubber sole is softer and ensures good grip when walking - there are two horizontal grooves under the sole that make the shoe more bendable - they also state that the front part of the sole is asymmetrical by design so that they can extend the material on the outside to reinforce stability while you swing and the more rounded front part of the sole moves with your foot at the end of the swing I put these on and walked around the house and yard and took a few swings and they are comfortable and do provide good grip so far. Testing on a 6 mile walk while playing this weekend and will report back. The tongue itself is made of a synthetic material and a waterproof membrane and also has a gusset to keep water from getting in. However the tongue shape or fit creates some pressure at the top of the ankle that is uncomfortable at best, and could create blisters at worst. Generally I wear no-show socks, and I'm going to have to carry a pair of ankle socks with me when I play this weekend just in case the rubbing turns to something worse. You can see in the shot below the tongue pressing against my ankles in the overhead view. We will see if this simply needs a breaking in, or if this will be an issue for the way these fit for me. The tag on the inside of the tongue is annoying. This might be nitpicking, but it's no less annoying. It's something that I'm going to remove for SURE, but it just dangles there, attached at the top only, not sewn into the shoe in a meaningful way. With the waterproof tongue and membrane maybe they don't have as much to be able to sew against to have it be sewn down like on many other shoes? Not sure... My final note on these before getting to performance on the course in my next post is that they do run at least a half size small. I ordered the 47 which equates to a US size 13. I am firmly a 12.5 with my right foot, and a 12 with my left foot (yeah, I know, I'm weird). The right shoe fits PERFECTLY for me with a little more than the standard "thumb-width" at my big toe. If you are ordering these, size up at least a half size or guaranteed you'll be uncomfortable in them. Hope this is a good start and that it's helpful to y'all! Thanks for reading!!

Good point!! It’s a short slant. Sorry about that!! Updated the title. Thanks @greggarner!!