GolfSpy AFG

So my Dad took a video of me opening my clubs, but he forgot that I’m almost 11 now. That means I don’t jump up and down or scream and shout…I’m waaay too cool for that. And Lynx wrapped my iron heads in some sort of weird cover, so the video had to come to an abrupt end so Dad could help me get them off. Dad’s going to help me post some pictures in the next couple of days in something he called the “Unboxing & First Impressions” in my placeholder post?? For now, here’s the video:

I could explore that option, sure, but I'm really a fan of the Ventus by comparison to the point that I'm not sure I want to go to the trouble. I think part of what I'm learning about myself is that I'm not enough of a gear head or shaft aficionado to be able to make these sort of choices. I'm a guy who needs a professional fitter.

That's a great question. For me, there are some unknowns in here but I have to say that I got it wrong. As I mentioned in a previous post, last night I was able to hit 2 drives per hole on a twilight 9. (That's only 5 drives per each driver; a couple of the holes are not driver holes.) It was the first time I'd hit my gamer (a TSR2 with a Ventus Blue 6s) since getting the PING and the UB. I hit the PING okay, but I was killing the TSR 2...I hit every fairway with a nice little draw, with distances ranging between 270-290. Now, maybe that's less of an assessment of the UB and more of the PING head, but there is a buyer beware lesson here I think. The UB is a solid shaft and a definite upgrade over the stock, but I'm learning that I'm frankly not enough of a gear head to be selecting shafts for myself without a fitting.

Twilight 9 with my son tonight, and a chance to put the GD UB in action. Data to come, but there's no question the UB is an obvious improvement over the stock shaft. That said, I can't say I'm getting along with it all that great at the moment. That could be as much the head & shaft combination as the shaft itself, but for comparison's sake I brought my old gamer with me and hit some drives with that one too. (Relax, nobody behind us.) The results were...interesting. More to follow.

Picked up some UA golf shoes and a new flatstick from Evnroll. Both run some pretty awesome military discounts.

Congrats everyone. This is going to be interesting to follow.

I finally got to open my clubs! Dad took a bunch of photos. I wanted to post them tonight, but he said something weird about not posting them all at once, and stringing things out to get more thread activity?! Dad's weird. Anyways, my first day of football practice is tomorrow night but hopefully my Dad will get the pictures up soon!

Got a few unboxing and first impression pics up. I have to admit, it's a damn good-looking shaft...

Date 07/21/2024 Course Name Walnut Grove Country Club Gross Score 76 Course Rating 70 Course Slope 124 Gross Strokes over/under par 4 Birdies or better 2 Longest Drive 0

DAD, HURRY UP AND GET HOME SO YOU CAN TAKE YOUR PICTURES WHILE I OPEN THIS!

I called the clubhouse when I landed and my shaft isn’t ready! That’s 5 days! I try to be a nice guy and told them no rush; maybe that was a mistake. Hopefully it’s ready today.

Yeah, that one was dead nuts with a little baby draw. Need more like that one for sure.

I know I still owe some unboxing and first impressions; I'm sitting in the Salt Lake City airport right now and hope to get home in time to pick it up from the clubhouse tonight...left it to be built up this past Sunday. I've been doing some testing though, sort of. I'll be the first to admit this is not at all scientifically precise, but I charted my drives across 3 rounds with the PING G430 Max 10K with the stock PING Tour 2.0. I tracked total distance, FIR, right or left miss, and whether or not I was still in play with an open approach shot. (In other words, I was trying to track if I missed so bad I was in jail.). Bit of an eye chart but here it is... I'll say it right now, to this point I'm unimpressed with the PING and with the stock PING Tour 2.0. I'm hitting it pretty poorly and not very far, and putting aside the whole "it's the Indian not the Arrow" thing I am really really hoping the GD wakes this thing up. (I'd been hitting my TSR2 with a Ventus much better than this.) We'll see pretty soon.

"My" intro post is up!

I don't have a ton to contribute to this conversation, but I will share a quick anecdote. I joined a private club for this season, and it's tight and tree-lined, but the main defense of the place are some very hard greens that are awfully tough to read. The older members insist that you don't read our greens, you remember them, and often share the anecdote that all putts break to the train tracks..? An odd one to be sure. Point is, I bought a GolfLogix book, and the green heat maps have proven to be dead-on accurate. FWIW.