ChiefMikeOfficer

Totally agree -- I have my go-to tournament ball and swear it performs better (the Left Dash), but I'm 100% willing to admit that it's likely all in my head. For everyday rounds, I bounce between TP5/TP5x, Chrome Tour, Vice Pro Plus (sometimes the Pro, because some of the colors/designs are cooler), OnCore Vero X1/X2 (specifically the Josh Allen logo balls), etc. -- they all perform sufficiently well for me on any given day, and I could not tell you which of those balls actually performs best on the course.

I'm sure this is a repeat topic in some way, but didn't find it in initial searches, can't find this published anywhere, and I don't have the measuring equipment to check for myself (I do grips, but not shafts/other things - maybe someday). Does anyone know if there are standard measurements for shaft length vs. playing length for TaylorMade's current lineup of wood heads? Or, alternatively, how their measurements differ from the USGA's (it's a disclaimer on their driver page only, specifically calling out custom shafts at 45.75") and whether a 0.25" difference from USGA makes sense? Most interested in the BRNR Mini, but also interested in the other woods. Context: TM advertises the Mini as playing length 43.75", and the stock shaft w/adapter is a shade under 42.75" butt-to-tip (so by their measurement, seems to be shaft length +1"). I ordered an after-market shaft, specifying build as the Mini at 43.75" playing length, and they built the shaft at 42.5" (so their measurement was shaft +1.25"). Started to give them hell for it, but now with that driver disclaimer, I'm starting to think it's a TM oddity that I should've anticipated and now need to apologize/deal with my mistake I'm basically down to: the 0.25" difference could make sense based on how TM measures, or maybe they measured with a deeper driver head than the Mini - hoping someone has the info to help me confirm before I do anything else.

Can we get a pic of the visor???

Building off a different topic from the last few days... shaft PUREing And fittings at Club Champion -- always fun to watch those threads

Uh oh... my Terra Forza experience might be coming to a tragic end (or at least a pause). It needs to go into the shop to repair or replace the TaylorMade adapter, but I'm concerned the actual shaft is cracked The shaft still works great, and it was going to have a permanent home in my bag. I brought it to Myrtle Beach for the annual Father/Son tournament with my dad, and my swing was 50-50, but when it was on, the TF put it out there a long way (don't have stats to back it up, but felt like I was getting more airtime than typical at sea level). Last night, had league again, and was striping it on the range. First tee - bomb, 301 in the air (a little downhill, but still...we've had a few inches of rain over the last few days, including a downpour yesterday morning, so we were getting no roll at all): Right after the tee shot, noticed the end of the adapter was starting to separate. Only took one more nervous swing with it (solid, but flared to the right a bit), then looked closer, and decided to put it away for the rest of the round (looked closer inside the adapter, and it looks like there might be a small crack). Then after the round, inspected further -- I think these are cracks in the shaft/adapter : How? Must be the powerful swing... (sarcasm, to be clear). Or more likely, some combination of the heat in Myrtle (didn't intentionally leave it in the car, but we had busy days, so it did get a good amount of trunk time) and potential damage from travel (did my best to protect the clubs, even used some wine shipper inserts to reinforce it, but could have still gotten whacked). Gonna try to sneak out of work early today to bring it into the shop, will probably get the verdict tomorrow or Friday. Hoping I just don't know what I'm talking about and it's cosmetic, but it feels different from just a little paint rub.

Tagging in my post from last year -- it doesn't answer the "how many stats", but from my experience, Arccos is better than Shot Scope with stats, Shot Scope better than Garmin. Shot Scope experience is outdated now, though - it's possible they've improved. Garmin gives you club-by-club distance, and gives you categories that show both distance and proximity for tee shots, approaches, chipping, and putting (with the sensors, you can go through these categories club-by-club). It does keep every round too, which lets you view some stats and shots. But, the actual performance stats leave something to be desired -- there's some interesting images involved, but I'd call it more of a "summarized shot tracking system" rather than "stat tracking"; something like Arccos does way better with stats. Some sample screens (note that I took the sensors out starting mid last year, so I can only show overall screens / can't drill down): Full bag: Tee shots - note there's an "All Clubs" filter on the right, which you can narrow to a single club, but you can't really click into these at all: Approach: And the main performance page: Now...for Arccos (stats outdated - haven't used in a few years), the stats are way better. Like this for club-by-club (which you might be able to piece together with Garmin, but Arccos has it in one spot): And general performance: This was the first time I opened Arccos in a bit, and the newer dashboard focuses a lot on Strokes Gained vs. a specific handicap level (you can select your target handicap). The old one gave you a "handicap" for each part of your game, and is still accessible - for example, this: My version of Shot Scope is somewhere in between the two (but again, these stats might be dated -- I was on v2, they're now up to v5, don't know if better stats come with that or if it's just the watch features that change):

Definitely not the right tournament to have a WD... Last place once again!

Cut: +2 Final Round: 71.3

Matching father/son polos from Rhoback - "Great Bambino" / Sandlot themed - love their designs, 100% have too many... But I guess that's why I'm on this page

Grabbed a few more things from what's probably my current favorite small-time golf brand: Live Forever Golf. The hoodies: amazing - lightweight, soft, and comfortable (for mid-summer on-course, I'd still go Rhoback Blitz Tech over this, but for my office, this is the one). The acronym: hilarious. The logo: incredible (can anyone name that former PGA Tour player?). It's my first polo from them - feels nice, but we'll see how it compares. Also picked up some fresh RWB gear - a couple Branded Bills WI hats, and the Swag Apollo Creed cover (haven't been a big fan of them lately, but this one was hard to pass up).

Another wild week... currently sitting in 15th because I have three guys in the top 5 (including Clanton - Go Noles!). But of course, my other two need to go low this afternoon to make the cut, so I might tumble all the way toward the middle/bottom again. Also, really wanted to pick Clanton in my One&Done pool, but couldn't -- that league goes by money/winnings, and he's solidified at $0, so it would've been a waste. So I picked Shipley instead -- we'll see if he can pull off a good round today.

Well...considering how things have been going with the Terra Forza, I'm totally conflicted - I recently bought a BRNR Mini Driver (see CHA post!), but did not customize it because it would have added 6 weeks to the estimated delivery, and I wanted it NOW!!! The typical shaft is 43.75" for the Mini, and even though I haven't tried it, the specs on the stock shaft make me think it's not even worth a shot; right now, I have the 43.25" Tour AD-IZ in the BRNR, which is actually from my 3W, and has been working pretty well in the first couple rounds (not amazing, but solid). Soooo.... for the BRNR Mini, my debate is, do I: Get a Terra Forza Yellow+ at 43.75" or 44", because it's been going very well with the main driver (at 45.5")? I've caved on this before -- after the T100S test, I spent a decent amount of money with Titleist to enhance the set. This is super tempting...but it's something like $450, which is tough to justify for the amount of use the club gets. Cut one of my previously-fitted shafts for the Mini? I kinda like to keep these full length in case I want a change at some point... Buy something different, like one of the newer Accra TZSix FW shafts (been fitted into something very close in the past, and they're not crazy expensive). The Accra is $250, which is easier to justify, but still not sure if it's the best play...

Even though final reviews are done, figured I'd keep this train rolling! I'll be honest, I was a bit conflicted when writing my final review -- the overall test went great, but I was only a few days removed from my worst outing with the TF. At the Barstool Classic at Lac La Belle (think I said this before, but if you're ever in the area, play it -- well worth the $150 greens fee), it was ugly, only going 1/5. And that's not just 1/5 fairways, 1/5 in play -- one snaphook in the "fescue" (in quotes because I know the golf purists will explain how it's not really "fescue"), one snaphook in the penalty area, one horrendous block that was never found (on the hole with walkup music too...). Then, one only slightly off target to the right, just on the wrong hole (narrow landing zone for driver, ended up in the fescue), and one striped down the middle. I was tempted to put the Graphite Design or Accra back into the club for the next round, just to get a different feel and see if it changed my confidence...but I'm glad I didn't. Took it back out on the course yesterday, and turns out, that poor performance was because I just forgot how to swing a driver (again... I guess that's what happens when you have two kids and don't get that much practice in). But yesterday, made some swing adjustments on the range (basic things...), and we're back! We played University Ridge (again, think I said this before, but if you're ever in the Madison area, it's a must play) at about 6700 yds, which is the longest they had set up that day (they often don't set up the tips). At that distance, it's only 7 drivers for me -- the three par 5s on the front, the two par 5s on the back, plus 10 and 18 (I know I was hitting more drivers during the test, but went back to "normal" now that the test is technically over). Officially I was only 3/7, but only 2 were "misses" -- on 6, it was flared a bit to the right and into the wind, but still solid position despite it not being great contact; 18 was my worst, leaving me with 2-3 clubs longer than typical on a hole that turns hard left (missed well right of target, but it was still well in play - 5yds shorter and it would've been in the fairway right at the corner). The other two missed fairways were in great position, just slightly off the fairway. Disclaimers for the Garmin screenshots: (1) we've had a ton of rain lately, including 1 inch of rain the day before this round, so there's almost no roll on these distances (exception is #2, which was surprisingly not soaked despite the rain and actually rolled out a bit); (2) don't pay attention to the scores, only pay attention to the driver distances -- I took the sensors out of my clubs last year, so now it really only catches full swings, misses nearly all pitches and chips (e.g. I didn't eagle 16 -- I chipped on from behind the green and made birdie, but it didn't pick up the chip). Overall, it performed very well, and considering the trajectory/spin characteristics I've seen throughout the test, a normal/drier day would've led to some very deep tee shots:

Welcome to the Terra Forza+Qi10 club! The Qi10 is a monster. The Terra Forza added at least 5 yds for me with that head. The combination is awesome - hope it continues to work well for you.

Final Review posted! Overall it was a great experience. The Terra Forza is staying in the bag, and I'll continue tweaking to make sure that's the right play (the launch monitors say yes; on course is a toss-up, but leaning TF -- going to try a couple others on course just for kicks, but good chance I land back with TF). Thanks again to both MGS and Terra Forza for the opportunity! The fitting experience was super cool, and the shaft performed well. Hopefully you all found the information in this test useful!

Got back out to the course, and readjusted the driver back to 8°. Gonna sound like my dad here, but...I read a recent article featuring Bryson explaining how he rips draws, so I tried something and it worked! For real though, it was actually during this test that I started taking videos of my swing, noticed my hips looked significantly closed, so I intentionally tried to make them more neutral. It worked well for 1-2 rounds, but, in classic CMO form, likely over-corrected. After reading the article, kinda split the difference -- set up in neutral, then kicked the hips/shoulders slightly closed. Boom. We were on the short/target 9 for league, which usually only gets 2 drivers, but decided to hit 4 because of the ongoing test. The stats are a total lie - hit the ball great but scored terribly; no fairways with the driver, but only 1/4 was off target, and they were all pounded with great ball flight (that 1 was slightly low, but not bad). I took my Garmin sensors out, but my watch still records some swings and got some good data (it doesn't catch putts without the sensor, but does get full shots, just can't determine which club was swung). My first one was hole 2, where I just tugged it about 15yd left of target and into the bunkers - notable that this was all carry and straight into a ~30mph wind: (Made triple after my 3rd hit the new green but hopped OB). Then, hole 3, 355yds in the opposite direction (downhill/downwind), rifled one down the middle, the guys in front immediately looked back, and it ended up 15ft behind the hole (2 putt birdie) - screenshot says 349, but it was actually 360 (again, it doesn't read putts without the sensors). But... Not a fairway. Next was hole 6, even more gettable -- and turns out Garmin didn't adjust for actual distance from the tee like I expected (definitely should have been a 3w or even a 2i). End result was over the green in the tall stuff (but almost perfectly on line) - again, no fairway. Last up is hole 9 (preview: another missed fairway. But why this time??). Hammered right up the middle, perfect draw. If it was 10yd further left, probably would've rolled onto the green (at like 360 uphill, that's pretty good, even with the wind helping that much); instead it rolled through into the rough, ending up right on top of the hill (with the look of the hole, hard to go further left.... But also have never been up this far). Naturally I flubbed the second shot and made Bogey... Final reviews are coming in the next couple weeks. Have one more planned round (Barstool Classic) and will do my best to get another sim session in before it's over. My quick preview: gonna be hard to say something negative about TF.

Welp, it's here. Custom shafts would've delayed delivery by over a month, so I just went stock retro ProForce (looks sick, but likely not gonna work). Current plan is to swap in my 3w shaft, which is 0.5" shorter (but I bet that's ok). Will probably pick out a 44" (0.25" longer) driver shaft in the near future. Can't go copper without some actual flashback/retro pics too, right?? Well, the classic move with the Burner was to turn the cover inside out: And then, even though today it's "mini", proof that it's still quite large when comparing to the inspiration (can't believe this was the standard when I started playing HS golf - 40 is really starting to sink in):

Looking more for off the tee or off the turf? I hit my buddy's BRNR Mini Driver last week and the thing is amazing (at 13.5*, it's basically a 3w replacement, and I think the loft can be cranked up a bit) -- but that's really a tee club, not sure how it will do off the turf (and, uhh...I might or might not have one showing up at the house today...). For easy to hit, Tour Edge is often a good option, and they have a range of reasonably-priced options -- I haven't hit their newest models, but some from a couple years ago were great (I always lean toward Exotics, E-series would be easier to hit than C, but they also have some "easier" / higher handicap models outside of the Exotics line).

Well, had a brief hiatus because of a death in the family, but got back at it yesterday for my 40th (!?!) birthday round at Sentryworld. Mixed bag - swing felt OK but also a bit off, if that makes sense. With the 8.75° setting, suddenly things felt high and spinny -- but also, from videos for this test, I noticed some alignment issues, and was trying to address those, so maybe it's related (gonna drop back to 8.0° for the next round to see if it changes). Came out firing - after telling the starter we're playing tips "because it's US Open week" and that, yes, they should be safe way left by the regular tees, hammed one 295 in the fairway, all carry (3 of us were right down the pipe; the 4th showed that they were not really safe, top-hooking one that struck one of their carts ). Only hit 5 fairways, but that's a bit misleading of a stat - had a couple right down the middle that were just anomalies (clipped some of the cross hazards - 2-3 more yards of carry would've been perfect for each), and a couple others that just barely rolled out of the fairway (but still like 3-4 not good - a couple high spinny balls to right). Overall the driver felt good. Once again struggled to figure out how to take pics of the shaft while on course, but did take a couple (mostly just course, but got the shaft into one):

Thanks fellas - I'm gonna hold out as long as possible on updating my profile to the 40-49 age range...

The Green Wolf lenses are awesome - some of the best I've used on the course. Likely going to come down to whether you picked the right shape for you. Also, used their replacement policy for the first time last year - super easy, but it's like $15 processing (still a great deal if you use it). It was for one of their wood-looking frames, and I'm guessing they just got a bad batch in that style/color combo, because they just broke a second time in the same spot - that second one got approved as a warranty replacement, which is $0.

Cut: +6 Tiger: +10, missed cut

The stack of golf balls continues to grow... this time bought 2 dozen of TaylorMade's limited release TP5x pix balls, because I couldn't resist the Adirondack chair design. Growing up, our family had a cabin in the Adirondack foothills (only about a 30 min drive from home), so spent a ton of time up there in the summers, and these chairs were everywhere. Interesting to see that design on an NC-themed ball instead of NY, but apparently TM thinks it's a Pinehurst symbol too (I always thought they were more into rocking chairs than Adirondacks at Pinehurst, but either way, love the design, so 2 dozen are on the way).

Already have way too many headcovers, but couldn't resist adding this one to the collection:

Definitely noticed this Trackman vs. others trend too -- I think my fitting used a Full Swing monitor, and my immediate reaction was "haven't seen swing speeds like that since college" (was in the 118-120mph range). On Trackman, it brought me back to reality, more in the 110-112mph range. Or...maybe I was just feeling good and loose on fitting day and actually had some additional speed? (Full Swing advertises consistency with Trackman / more accurate than GC Quad, but who knows).