azstu324

@cksurfdudethanks for leading the charge on this one! I had made the thread with the intent of also making the first post but life got in the way.

Gotta risk it for the brisket!

DTC or "Direct-to-consumer" has been an ongoing hot topic for a little while. I would argue that in the past 3-5 years it's become more welcome and accepted than ever before. There are a few threads where curious Spies are asking for recommendations and there are others that might showcase a specific brand. I wanted to start this with the intent of having all of us DTC heads showcase our brands in 1 spot. I think it's very interesting to see the large variations of DTC brands and designs. Here are some questions that we might all be able to provide answers to for others looking to enter the DTC underworld: Why did you choose your DTC brand? Were you fit in some way and how did you conclude that your set is right for you? Any con's about your particular DTC? What sets your DTC apart from the other DTC(s) brands? Ready........ GO!

Kind of a late voice to this party, but what I've gathered over the years of playing a DTC brand (Maltby), and being very opened to and interested in the DTC underworld.. there are 3 defining categories of DTC that could make a difference. 1. Clone or semi-clone brands. These are companies to be cautious of. Usually the quality is just ok and they're just putting out models similar looking to older models of some OEM's. Gigagolf or Pine Meadow are brands that come to mind. These aren't counterfeit clubs but just clones. Many years ago I played some of both companies offerings. Initially I thought they were great but eventually found my way further down the DTC rabbit hole. My eyes were then opened to a whole other world and these brands kind of became live/learn scenarios for me. 2. DTC brands with non-original designs. Often times (especially recently), a person or group of people with some money in the bank decide they want to start a golf club company. New tooling for original forge or casting dyes costs a LOT. When another company has a model being stamped or cast at a foundry, they often run it for a period of time until they decide to discontinue the model. There's an expiration time on the stamping dye and after that time is up, the design becomes part of the foundry's open catalogue. Many of these overnight and even bigger DTC companies are just putting their names on expired foundry dyes and maybe just making some tweaks to the grinds, or finishes. This is why we are seeing so many "similar" looking models between some companies. Essentially it's the same club with different names. Additionally it helps save cost on paying engineers to design new models and R&D to test the clubs. Many of these are still high-quality turn outs but there is more room for error and quality control tolerances could be questioned. Also the tech on these could be somewhat outdated but that's another subjective topic for another day. 3. Lastly there's the original design DTC. These companies work just like the big boys but at a much smaller scale. They have their own in-house designers/engineers and they're able to stay in the pocket with modern tech and design. Often the club designer is the person who started the business and likely has an admirable design pedigree working for bigger companies in the past. You will find more design originality, enhanced service levels, and just an overall higher level of pride taken in the product. Maltby is a great example and why I've been using their clubs for a few years now. The company was started by Ralph Maltby many years ago after he decided to break away from main stream companies where he designed many models. In the past 5 or so years, Britt Lindsay has taken the mantle on but he was an understudy of Ralphs for many years so the lineage is still very relevant. I've also found hybrid versions of #2 and #3 with re-prints AND originals in their lineup. Y'all know me.. if you have anything else to add or correct, please chime in! That said I'm going to start another thread showcasing DTC brands where we can all show off our brands and talk about the pro's and con's and why we all went with our respective brands. TBC

Irons For the past few months I've been playing the new Maltby TS4's 5i - GW that I built with KBS S taper lite 110 shafts and Star sidewinder grips. Prior to the TS4's I was gaming their original TS1's for the past 3 years. Maltby is the DTC that doesn't get talked about but probably has the heaviest cult following. Before Sub70, Takomo, and now many others, Maltby was one of the pioneers for DTC and component club building. Being a gear head and inherent tinkerer I've played or at least seen most everything out there. The TS4's IMO are some of the best looking, playing, and feeling clubs I've put a swing on. For what they look like (Blades), these are so incredibly forgiving and are capable of anything that a blade is meant to do. Wedges I was playing the Maltby TSW 56° for a while. Yes only 1 wedge but it was so dang versatile that I only needed 1. I've since switched to the Cleveland RTX Zipcore 56° and 60° mid bounce 10° and absolutely love them! That said I could very easily go back to the Maltbys when I wear the grooves out on these.

This is definitely the right place! Congrats! Now you have an obligation to post pics

I'm pretty sure that good smoked baby backs are among my top 5 favorite things ever. Those look killer!

Been a minute since I posted a pic in here. Finished this brisket today. Split it before smoking. This is the point smoked to traditional perfection. OMG!!! So damn good. The flat I smoked for 6 hrs and then finished in the pressure cooker for shredded beef. Trying a month of carnivore eating. So far I'm down 12 lbs in 2 weeks and feeling great! AND I get to eat stuff like this!

Either way it's great to see you're having such a good time with the Maltby clubs. I'm not sure if I've ever run into somebody that's had a bad experience with them.

Good call on getting the TS4 pitch and gap. The gap wedge is quickly becoming one of my most favorite clubs in the bag do to the ability to take full shots as well as do some fun things around the green. It's got a really great in shape between a specialty wedge and a set wedge which makes it very visually versatile. Can't wait to hear how things go with the rest of the irons

Some would say "why ruin a good thing".. others would say "why stop there?".. So far I've tried probably 7-8 variations of the OP so it's obvious which camp I'm in. That said, I don't think I've found better than the PLB. It's just so damn reliable (for me) I'm still eyeballing the MB5 though as maybe my last run

UST MP5

The Mizuno STZ (TXG DOTY) is a great head! I don't think I ever weighed it when I had one as it was pre-OttoPhlex.

However it shakes out, you've got a really solid group of contenders with some good variety. Definitely interested to hear the results

And right there without saying it, you said it perfectly.. A $50 shaft can definitely find it's place among $300++ shafts. Maybe even outperform some of them

The OttoPhlex idea is a somewhat broader brush stroke to accompany the actual Autoflex. Generally speaking all of the profiles that have worked well so far seem to be in the same neighborhood but not exact and that's where it's an individual journey. Overall though, it could be beneficial to be opened to the idea that a shaft with "L" or "A" down the side definitely should be considered in a fitting or tinkering. Furthermore, I wouldn't necessarily say that the shaft itself is the magic so much as what the shaft promotes in our swings which results in smooth, solid, and consistent contact with the ball, at higher than usual speeds. I'd say that with about 75% success, that's a pretty conclusive result.

@IndyBonzo did you end up plugging that MP5 into the TD? I can't remember if that's the direction you went. Thinking I may have missed the boat on getting one of those

Not a total brag on my part... Okay maybe just a little bit , but I've always been the more consistent and longer hitter of the groups that I play with. What's really sweet is when I have one that was just so outlandishly long and we all get down the fairway to where we think the ball landed and find nothing.. everyone's looking and then a guy says.. hey is that your ball way up there? And it's another 50 yards down the fairway. Then everyone makes jokes about steroids or superhuman powers. That's fun

Just to echo the last couple comments about the consistency all around the face. The Paradym TD is no exception. The spin maintenance is really fantastic on less than perfect strikes. I made a comment in my other thread that I probably need to repeat here. When struck really well, the Paradym (at least the TD) seems to have an extra gear. It's finding the sweet spot every time that seems to be the tricky bit.

I wish it could have been that easy. It really was a dead draw but not for the same reasons. The PXG felt much better in the swing transition and was just laser straight down the middle. The Paradym feels so much more explosive off the face. It was still very straight but with a few more pulls than I'd like. Maybe due to 45.5" vs my usual 45". The overall distance and flight between the 2 was very similar BUT the distance with the Paradym when hit on the button was a whole other story. I've found that it has a whole extra gear.. that is if you're able to find it. I'm really hoping to get my hands on a Garmin R10 in the next week or so just to really get some distance and spin #'s figured out. For now thought I'm keeping both drivers exactly how they are as I could play either of them any day of the week.

Going to the range tonight at 8. It'll be a nice cool 108° at night. I've got some really interesting things to try out. Hopefully I don't lose anyone here. Driver 1: PXG 0311 playing at 44.5". PX Cypher 50 5.0 with a Winn Oversized Dri Tac 2.0 grip, 4g of lead tape on the grip end and an extra 2.5g at the head (7.5, 2.5, 10g) the 10g is at the back and 7.5 in the toe. SW is D1 but with a static weight of 323g. Driver 2: Paradym TD playing at 45.5". PLB 45g A flex with Winn Oversized Dri Tac Standard. Also D1 SW but static weight of 297g. With a 1" difference between the 2 and almost 25g static weight difference, I'm interested to see if there is any performance difference to be measured. I'm really hoping that the 44.5" heavier driver might have a better smash factor but with more control..? We shall see

If you do like the bigger grip, Winn Oversized is really light. I put the Dri Tac 50g on my 0311 with the Cypher 50 and the SW jumped way up to like D5. So then I had to counter with lead tape down the handle. Now it's at D2. They have Oversize ranging from 33 to 54 g.

So here's a weird one.. I took the PXG to the range with the Paradym. I had just glued up the PXG tip with the Project X Cypher about 3 hours prior (Golfworks Quick Set epoxy). I know it's advised against to use within 24 hrs let alone 3-4 hrs .. I figured if I kept the shaft in the garage to cure at about 140° that might speed things up a little. I'd been hitting other clubs for about an hour to give some extra time for the epoxy. I had about 6 balls left and just decided to roll the dice. I took what felt like about 40% swing with the PXG/Cypher playing at 44.5" just to keep from having the head fly off. So shorter length and much slower feeling swing. Well the carry distance wasn't far off from what I'd been hitting the Paradym TD all night with the PLB. I literally felt like I was taking slow practice swings but the ball just happened to be at the other end. Pretty sure the spin was higher and so was the launch because total rollout was less according to the Toptracer LM that they use. Unfortunately they don't have spin #'s.. I hadn't checked SW prior.. honestly just I forgot. So the next day I weighed it at D4. Definitely too heavy for an OP so I'll tweak the grip weight to get it below D2 and see if anything changes. Overall though, a pretty interesting addition to the OP saga. I'll be interested to see how full power swings @ D1-2 SW pan out. TBC.

If you have a shop that you regularly go, they may be able to spray some rattle stop inside the head. Normally the clubs get a spray at the factory. It's a spray glue that never fully dries and it should help keep things like metal shavings, dried glue, etc, from making noise inside the club head. You may even be able to find some on the ol interwebs This is only to rule out the rattle being something trapped inside the head.