Padreruf

Hit balls for the 2nd time since spinal fusion back surgery in April -- last week was the first.  Back and core are stronger due to 1 hour stretching and strengthening workouts every day.  However, I'm still not fully back...by a long shot.  Working with a ½ to ¾ swing length, swinging in rhythm and not forcing anything.  Gap wedge was about 10 yards shorter than before, but I anticipated that.  Just glad to hit and not feel pain...any suggestions out there as to how I should progress, let me hear it!!  I've rehabbed both shoulders before, but not a spine!!

Hit balls for the 2nd time since spinal fusion back surgery in April -- last week was the first.  Back and core are stronger due to 1 hour stretching and strengthening workouts every day.  However, I'm still not fully back...by a long shot.  Working with a ½ to ¾ swing length, swinging in rhythm and not forcing anything.  Gap wedge was about 10 yards shorter than before, but I anticipated that.  Just glad to hit and not feel pain...any suggestions out there as to how I should progress, let me hear it!!  I've rehabbed both shoulders before, but not a spine!!

Hit balls for the 2nd time since spinal fusion back surgery in April -- last week was the first.  Back and core are stronger due to 1 hour stretching and strengthening workouts every day.  However, I'm still not fully back...by a long shot.  Working with a ½ to ¾ swing length, swinging in rhythm and not forcing anything.  Gap wedge was about 10 yards shorter than before, but I anticipated that.  Just glad to hit and not feel pain...any suggestions out there as to how I should progress, let me hear it!!  I've rehabbed both shoulders before, but not a spine!!

Hit balls for the 2nd time since spinal fusion back surgery in April -- last week was the first.  Back and core are stronger due to 1 hour stretching and strengthening workouts every day.  However, I'm still not fully back...by a long shot.  Working with a ½ to ¾ swing length, swinging in rhythm and not forcing anything.  Gap wedge was about 10 yards shorter than before, but I anticipated that.  Just glad to hit and not feel pain...any suggestions out there as to how I should progress, let me hear it!!  I've rehabbed both shoulders before, but not a spine!!

Hit balls for the 2nd time since spinal fusion back surgery in April -- last week was the first.  Back and core are stronger due to 1 hour stretching and strengthening workouts every day.  However, I'm still not fully back...by a long shot.  Working with a ½ to ¾ swing length, swinging in rhythm and not forcing anything.  Gap wedge was about 10 yards shorter than before, but I anticipated that.  Just glad to hit and not feel pain...any suggestions out there as to how I should progress, let me hear it!!  I've rehabbed both shoulders before, but not a spine!!

Hit balls for the 2nd time since spinal fusion back surgery in April -- last week was the first.  Back and core are stronger due to 1 hour stretching and strengthening workouts every day.  However, I'm still not fully back...by a long shot.  Working with a ½ to ¾ swing length, swinging in rhythm and not forcing anything.  Gap wedge was about 10 yards shorter than before, but I anticipated that.  Just glad to hit and not feel pain...any suggestions out there as to how I should progress, let me hear it!!  I've rehabbed both shoulders before, but not a spine!!

I think fittings should be free, or at least highly discounted (>50%) IF the person buys a club. If I'm dropping $500+ on a Driver, or $1200+ on irons, that should save me roughly whatever a fitting will cost. FWIW the one fitting I've done was discounted almost to nothing because I bought the recommended driver that day. There are good places out here that already do this.

I see both sides of this argument. I agree with Adam that you should be able to go in and get a COMPETENT free fitting. That is something that is sorely lacking in the industry. When I go into a PGATSS or a Golf Galaxy and ask to hit a club, the guy helping me is usually clueless. He's just throwing me different options based on what I ask for or just trying random things without any real basis. On the other hand, I also think that if you want to go and get a TXG level fitting with hundreds of aftermarket shaft options then you are going to have to pay for that. The inventory needed to do elite level fitting costs a lot of money and essentially never ends as new equipment is always being released.  The return on investment just isn't going to be there based on selling clubs/equipment alone.  There needs to be some kind of happy medium where I can go and get a brand agnostic fitting from a competent fitter using the stock options that the manufacturer's supply in their fitting carts.  I'd also settle for paying up front for that and having the cost deducted from  the purchase price of whatever equipment I buy. 
 
TXG's business model is not based entirely on selling clubs, it's based on selling fittings so Adam's argument that they would make more money doesn't necessarily hold up. At some point, the quality of fitting I would get from TXG if they expanded in size to meet the demand of free fittings would be the same as what I get at PGATSS, which is crap. There just simply aren't enough elite club fitters to do what Adam is proposing and it will never be feasible to solve all of the "industry" problems Adam describes.  He's talking about a perfect world scenario where there are enough competent people to do these fittings and that club sales support the salaries of all these fitters.  It just doesn't work that way, last I checked there are tons of golf businesses that can't even afford to stay afloat giving away the crappy fittings from people who have no idea what they are doing much less hire a competent fitter for each of them. 
I'd like to know more about the retail scenario Adam described from his past where they were doing free fittings and saw a net increase in revenue.  In the short term, I can see exactly how it would work out like he said, but in the long term, I just can't see it working.  Once word gets around that you can go and get a free fitting from a real pro, I think they would get so overwhelmed it just wouldn't work.  

Thanks...I had to laugh as I've had MRI's and CT scans lately -- dealing with a plasmacytoma on my L4 vertebrae.  I have another coming up in October so I may try and stick a sleeve in my pocket...who knows what that would do to those who read these things...

Thanks...I had to laugh as I've had MRI's and CT scans lately -- dealing with a plasmacytoma on my L4 vertebrae.  I have another coming up in October so I may try and stick a sleeve in my pocket...who knows what that would do to those who read these things...

Interesting! I personally like Srixon and play the Q-Star Tour, as my driver swing speed is low to mid-80's, so around 60 compression works for me. I used to play Z-Star but with my current speed no reason to pay more per dozen. Plus, Srixon promotions are usually the best.

No helium in CT’s, that’s MRI. CT is really just fancy x-ray. The impact of helium shortages on MRI could be catastrophic somewhere down the road.

I bought a couple dozen previous year Srixon Z-Star XVs and tested them in water with dissolved epsom salts. They barely float in that solution. I marked the top of each ball when it stopped spinning. When I re-spun each ball none of them came up to the same place twice. That means every one was extremely well balanced. Good quality balls. Long hitting off the tee and high spin around the greens too.

This is Dr Olssen, Chief of Radiology.  I need to see you in my office first thing tomorrow morning.  Bring your keys and ID badge, if you would.  Thanks.

Now for the probably over-hyped bonus.
 
For a bit of fun I decided to throw some balls onto the CT Scanner. I was hoping that the CT would be able to demonstrate the cover and mantle layers.
I didn't scan all 4 boxes as I thought that would be going a bit overboard. I only uploaded a few images, as they were representative. The scanner I used is capable of 0.3mm slices, and reconstructions in any plane but I thought it best to just provide a brief overview.
The images are of Box 3



The large imperfection in ball 10 is even more clearly shown. As a technical note, the black round the bright dot is most probably artefact from the high density, and not a "hole" in the outer core. I measured the density of the imperfection, and it is almost certain to be metallic.
 
No balls were harmed during this procedure, and the likelihood of the balls glowing in the dark (despite Marvel comics and @PMookie's beliefs) is negligible
 
 

My recent purchase of 4 dozen Srixon Z Star XV's arrived yesterday, so it was time to get to work (actually get to playing around with my balls at work😅)
 
I started by x-raying each box. I only performed 1 view of each ball, a dozen at a time.  I left the balls in their sleeves and boxes but removed the lid from the box. I tried to obtain sharp but not noisy images, so used a scatter reduction grid to tidy things up a bit.
 
The density difference and thin layers made it impossible to visualise the skin from the mantle layer, but the combined outer 2 layers and the inner core are easily visualised.
The normal radiographic rule is 2 views perpendicular to each other, which  I only applied to one sleeve. My rationale was that significantly non centred cores would likely be apparent on a single view, and small high density imperfections probably aren't very likely to cause problems when playing.  I did do a second view of one sleeve to determine (and demonstrate) if the high density imperfection was in the inner core or the outer core.
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

I have marked box 1 balls 4 and 10, and box 4 ball 6 to keep them separate. I will play a couple of practice holes with them to see if I can determine any difference in playing characteristics.
 

me waiting for the ball test to be published.......

Yeah we are running 7-9 days for assembly.  Then add on shipping times which are inconsistent at best right now.  Most customers should still be getting their clubs 10-14 days from the time they order.  Just a crazy busy time of year for golf, there's been a massive resurgence of golf participation, and COVID is still throwing a wrench into things.  We'll definitely get everything built and shipped out asap.  Our assembly team is working like crazy to keep up.

I'll add my own Sub70 fanboy post.  I bought a set of 699 Pros after demoing them this winter.  Loved the clubs, I got the Dynamic Gold S shafts and just love the ball flight. I'm still learning to work the ball, but they have proved to be great so far. 
I also got a 3U with a Project X shaft.  It's an amazing club and I can rip it 230 under the wind.  However, hitting off mats this winter, I snapped the shaft right at the hosel (I did get to fulfill a lifelong dream of driving the ball collector when I went to retrieve my club head).  I emailed customer device and sent a picture.  They apologized for the defect (not sure it was) and sent me a return label.  Within two weeks I had a my club back in hand.  
After about another month, I cracked the shaft at the hosel again (I'm sure I was coming in steep on mats).  I emailed again, same process, but we discussed shifting to a steel shaft.  They found and held a Project X U shaft for me.  They installed the shaft and re-gripped the club.  The only cost to me was a $30 for the non-standard shaft upgrade.  Back in hand after two weeks.  
I love the clubs so much,  I bought a 3W Pro with a HZRDS Black shaft.  It's a beauty and when I catch it it just screams off the club with a nice piercing ball flight.  
  The customer service is amazing and cannot be beat.  I'm on beyond happy with all of the clubs and will be upgrading the driver this summer with 849 Pro.  

After 4 months I can say that walking with a push cart is the way to go...even @ 67.  Much more relaxing and enjoyable -- even had a 3 some in carts ahead of us tell us that we kept up with them the whole day...which we did.  

I've played quite a bit in the States and I don't understand why electric trolleys aren't used more widely. 
 
In Scotland it is unusual for people to use carts. At my home club we have a total of 6 and these are mainly used by visitors and surprisingly the younger members (under 30s). Even the seniors you see out playing i.e. post 70 year olds walk. There is a group of 20 of them that play every day at 10am.
 
I very rarely use a cart and have an electric trolley for competition days and use a carry bag when I go out after work. 

After 4 months I can say that walking with a push cart is the way to go...even @ 67.  Much more relaxing and enjoyable -- even had a 3 some in carts ahead of us tell us that we kept up with them the whole day...which we did.  

Ive rode all year until last Saturday when I broke out my new Clicgear cart. Play better I think until last few holes but that will get better as I build stamina. I was getting lazy in a cart with my beverages and munchies. Have a couple hunting trips coming up I beed to ge in bettet shape for.

Yes.  I walk at least 70% of my rounds.  I prefer walking when the course and those I'm playing with allows. For whatever reason, I tend to play better when I walk. 

... I have a remote controlled MGi Navigator Gyro cart and although expensive, it pays for itself over and over again if you play 3+ times a week. And walking the course without carrying or pushing is a real treat. I have had a remote controlled cart since my first back surgery in '95 and could not imagine playing without one.