Alf. S

4 weeks to go before the new season so bought myself a new bag. Had looked at the Callaway Org 15 but settled for the Srixon Tour cart bag. Seen here in all its glory. Iron covers too much?

I've had mine for about a year and last week was at the driving range in a bay with a small 3 foot partition and the Mevo was getting triggered by intermittently by the guy next to me, data was totally rubbish and spoiled my session. This is the 1st time I've noticed this.

Snow gone in Scotland hopefully for the Winter. Big thaw this week means course open for 18 holes for the 1st time in 3 weeks but lots of stormy weather coming in from the Atlantic, hopefully avoiding the course leaving in open for the 1st competitive golf at the weekend. Played the 18 today, dry but gusting up to 25mph, my driving was abysmal to start with and started double, bogey, double, par, double. 7 over after 5 then fished 8 over for the remaining 13. Really rusty but happy with the finish.

With COVID lockdown we can only play in 2 balls at the moment but the course has been open only 5 days since Christmas. Heavy snowfall this week course closed again. Thaw due to start tomorrow so hopefully course might re-open by the end of the week.

I agree with the putting comment Without the Arccos Link I found the putting data almost useless. Because it relies on the GPS on your phone and the maps being used don't accurately identify the green edge you could end up trying to set flag and Arccos thought you were off the green. I was trying to use the Siri shortcut "set flag" and would end up getting annoyed and annoying playing partners. So then you resort to hand editing the flag position which changes the distance of your 1st putt so you manually change the putt distance. Meanwhile your playing partners are halfway up the next fairway. The GPS and map inaccuracies are also the reason Arccos misses bunker shots, you could be sitting right in the middle of the bunker and it still records your shot as being a chip. SS is one click on the watch and the pin position is record without issue.

I've used both extensively and my short answer: Shotscope hardware is better, good data analytics and better price. Arccos data analytics is better but without buying the link is not as accurate which drives the price higher. ps I don't like or use the Caddie function

All my wedges are the same length 36" which is the stock length of my PW this was mainly because I felt the 56 and 60 were too short and I felt uncomfortable over the ball. This of courses adds maybe about 5 yds onto a full shot with the clubs. Are these custom or Cobra clubs? 39" is about the length of a 5i! Your club head speed will be 10 to 15 mph faster for a full swing this will add quite a bit off distance to the wedges. My main concern would be to get them gapped correctly. Couple of other points. Swing weight should be fairly consistent across the set but normally the wedges have a higher SW to give you more feel around the green. My Z565s are D2 and my 56' wedge is D5 this is something to consider. Also there are some grip manufacturers (Lamkin) that do longer grips for wedges. It is normally only 1/2" but can help to grip down for chipping.

I'm perfectly happy with the gapping on the irons and they are pretty much get ~10 yds between them , like I said I was fitted for them, then the gapping was checked once I played with them for a while and hence the decision to strengthen the AW. I've played with 52, 56 and 60 degree wedges for the last 15 years and looking back may have always had the issue. I probably been kidding myself on that I hit them 110 and 100yds, this is probably the top of the range. The reason I went for the AW in the Z565s was because from PW to 52 was 20 yds (or more). When fitted for the Z565s the difference between the other shafts and the NS Pro was marked and I put this down to the difference in weight 91g c.f. 130g for DG and 101g for KBS Having tried the old 52 RTX with the Dynamic gold Wedge shaft vs the 52 RTX 3 with the Modus shaft there seems to be a difference that I'm putting down to the shaft of a couple of yards hence the call for advice.

In Scotland at the moment we are in lockdown due to COVID so travel is limited and fitting sessions are not allowed at the moment and probably until mid March. We are allowed on the range and to play in 2 balls only so the data I have been pulling is from the range with my Flightscope Mevo. I would rather be settled with my bag for the new season so waiting for a fitting session might cut it fine. I'm a tinkerer and I do have a spare set of wedges in my garage.

The AW has been strengthened to 48' to get it to gap to the PW.

With a full shot with the 52 I'm looking to get 110yds and 100yds for the 56. Currently i get about 102yds with the 52 and 95yds with the 56. Don't really chip with the 52, mostly 56 round the green and from sand. I have a 60 with the same shaft but only comes out when the greens are quick. The problem I have is that I pretty well gapped down to 120yds and I also have 3/4 shots that covers 90 to 60yds. I can hit a 3/4 9i 100yds but it is a lot flatter trajectory. If I really stand on the wedges I can get the yardages but this can result in a pull. Bottom line is I'm not getting in the scoring zone with 110yds to 90yds shots. I'm thinking about either using the lighter Modus shaft or NS Pro 850GH into the 52 and see if I get better performance. If this is a stupid idea or someone has better advice then I'm open to suggestions,

In my irons Srixon Z565s I have Nippon NS Pro 850GH Stiff shafts that have been a bit of a revelation, my smash factor has gone up by about 0.1 giving me about 10 yds extra in length. They gap pretty well too. For my wedges I have Cleveland RTX 3 52' and 56' and have really struggled to get the gapping right. My Z565 AW goes 120yds with a smash factor of 1.2 the 52 and 56 I struggle to get smash of 1. The shafts in the wedges are NS Pro Modus Wedge 115. I moved back to an old wedge set original RTX wedges that have Dynamic Gold Wedge shafts and I seem to be getting better numbers but still not great. So my question is should I try the NS Pro 850GH shafts in the Wedges or is there another solution, the NS Pro Modus Wedge 105 is lighter and higher torque than the 115 could this help? Before you ask I was fitted for the wedges but not very well!

Invest in a private pension, you get tax relief on and it will stop you and your partner getting it until you're 55.

Someone told me work to live and not the other way round. I look around and I see friends of the same age that have had personal tragedies, ill health, partners health issues and decided I wanted to enjoy my retirement when I can. I retired 18 months ago at 58. Mortgage was paid and had no major out goings. I did the rounds with a few Financial Advisors and came to the conclusion that as long as I died before I'm 107 I would be fine. I did a big spreadsheet with some base assumptions on spend and pension growth really for my peace of mind. As I've gone through the last 2 years even with Covid financially I'm ahead of the game. When I retired I set myself a target to get my handicap down to 5 before I was 60 from 9. In the old CONGU handicap system this is what is called a Category 1 golfer. Under CONGU I got to 5.5 and with the WHS introduction that got me down to 5.4. Prior to COVID I had gone on 3 golf holidays in a year to the Canary Islands. So far so good.

This also doesn't take into account frozen ground at 30'F which would make the ball bounce another 40 to 50 yds

Pick this up form another sit but thought it was interesting. Not that I would play in anything above 90'F. Rule of thumb is that you lose 2 yds for every 10'F Temperature (Fahrenheit) Temperature (Celsius) Driver (yards) 4-iron (yards) 7-iron (yards) PW (yards) 30 -1 242.4 182.8 152.8 122.8 40 4 244.3 184.6 154.6 124.6 50 10 246.2 186.4 156.4 126.4 60 16 248.1 188.2 158.2 128.2 70 21 250 190 160 130 80 27 251.9 191.8 161.7 131.3 90 32 253.8 193.6 163.4 132.6 100 38 255.7 195.4 165.1 133.9 110 43 257.6 197.2 166.8 135.2

Oh well there's always tomorrow!

We have had a snow covering and frozen conditions for 2 weeks so golf has been off. Thaw is on tee time for 11:30, fingers crossed might get out for a hit for the 1st time this year.

Thanks everyone for their Birthday wishes. Had a great family day at home due to a new COVID lockdown being in force in Scotland. Main celebration are being planned for later in the year, we are calling this my 59.5 birthday. On the Breweries, the only ones I really know are Caledonian and Inns and Gunn. The Caledonian has a good reputation and is linked with a local pub https://athleticarms.com/ which is worth a visit. Off the tourist trail but more authentic than many of the city centre bars. Inns and Gunn are a fast expanding brand and although relative small have a good reputation, the lager is widely available throughout Scotland on tap. Never tried their ale but should be worth a visit. The nearest one on the link to me is Kinniel (about 5 miles away) and I didn't even know it was there I'll need to give it a go when lockdown is lifted Thanks again and happy golfing

BTW the round yesterday did not go as planned +11 front 9 +8 back 9 +3. Main problem was my approach play, only 5 GIR and again not holing a lot, 32 putts with 3 or 4 really bad lip outs. You know the ones, where you are on your way to pick the ball out the hole and it ends up doing a 180 on you.

Sketchers, I've just bought a pair of go pro v4 and really like them but this also do a lot good spikeless shoes. That are comfortable and light. Worked for a month is San Diego a few years back and had my clubs with me so was out every weekend playing golf and sampling the delights of the course in that part of the world.

It has been a pretty wet Autumn in Scotland this year and our course has struggled. We have 5 holes that don't drain very well in the Winter so the club use a slightly different layout in Winter we play a course layout called Kinglass. They maintain 6 greens for Winter keeping to the top of the course and take off 6 Summer holes. Even doing this they have struggled to keep 18 holes open and we've been only playing 11 holes. First round yesterday for 2 weeks of 18 and managed a 4 over par 68, couldn't make a putt all day. 4 bogies and 14 pars. Bogeyed 4, an easy par 5 with a litany of errors, bunkerd off the tee, under club my approach, over hit my chip. 10 got a flyer on approach, good chip then missed putt from 6 feet. 14 is a hard hole but got away with hitting a double cross 3h approach and saved a bogey. Then 17 is a birdie chance hole normally for me, 10 yds short with drive but short sided, hit the chip heavy and 3 putted. Out again today for my last round before Xmas, 35'F but no frost on the ground so should have a good day.

I used Across 360 for about 18 months. I was one of the original reviewers on MyGolfSpy. I really bought into them and would review and edit my data at the end of each round. I was just starting out using a new set of irons Srixon Z565 and I wanted to know the distances I was hitting, I knew they were longer than my old AP1s but not how much. I really loved the analytics and shot gained methodology which you get but after the 1st year I stopped using it. After I gather enough data maybe about 20 rounds my focus came on to approach shots and the only way to get accurate data is to record pin positions and putts. I found that I was spending too much time editing the putts and pin positions and forgetting the basics of the game. i.e instead of thinking about my next tee shot I would be updating the app and end up rushing the next shot. When I do look back it has helped me sort my bag out. The data showed me that I was hitting my 3i and 4i as long as the 5i, so I now use a 3h and 4h instead. I had a 2h that I alternated with my 3w again the data helped me decided that the 3w should be the club I use since I gained very little between 3h and 2h. Handicap history, started using them August 2018 7.3 rose up to 8.6 in Sept 2019, sensors removed, slow progression down to 5.4 I tried the Caddie function and didn't like it. For me the wind adjustments were not accurate but this could have been due to my home course being 600 feet up and the proximity to the weather station. I also flight the ball quite high. Down wind it would over club and up wind under club. On you question of rounds 10 is enough to get some good baseline data

Hopefully by the summer you will be able to freely travel around Scotland COVID free. We have just come out of Tier 3/4 travel restrictions which meant you couldn't travel outside our council area (county) for the last 4 weeks. If anyone is looking for a game at a good parkland course when they are over give me a shout and I'll take you on to West Lothian GC as my guest. We are about 20 minutes outside Edinburgh with views up and down the River Forth and the Firth of Forth estuary. This is the view across to Fife from the putting green. If you look closely you can just see the flag on the 18th at St Andrews in the distance