ChiefMikeOfficer
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Posts posted by ChiefMikeOfficer
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Soo... How many putters is too many?
Or shoes?
Decided to hunt down an EVNRoll ER10 Outback. Mostly out of stock direct (except 33"), but my local shop just happened to have one (could've gotten it shipped from Golf Galaxy and a couple others too). Putting has been terrible the last couple years, so just trying to switch things up and play with a few different styles - I'm hopeful with this one. And as an added bonus, the Michaelangelo cover from a few posts back fits better on this than it does on the Guerin. (Got some of the new Srixon Tour Divides to help with putting practice too - feeling like a total headcase).
Definitely didn't need more shoes, but the G4 looked awesome and, after one round, are my new favorite shoes. The NB...it's pair #4 of NB spikeless shoes, which are my top choice for resort days and/or walking 36.
Also pictured but not new purchases: the Guerin (with Putt Dots), an original Rife 2 Bar, Pins & Aces Joker driver cover, and the homemade Kim Jong Un hybrid cover.
- sirchunksalot, GolfSpy AFG, cnosil and 3 others
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3 hours ago, ChasingScratch said:
That stinks. I was hoping for a Raphael mallet.
It's out there, but might be difficult to find considering they only made 33 of each turtle (Raph was released back in November). Who knows if anyone plans to sell - might pop up on eBay or something, but I don't think they have a specific secondary market like some other companies.
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3 hours ago, ChasingScratch said:
Where..... did.... you.... GET THIS!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I didn't get that one
. @dlow206 picked up 2 so maybe he can hook you up.
It's Hole 9 Design - seems like a newer headcover company that's latching onto the Limited-release headcover trend, but they are very inexpensive relative to others. Really cool designs: https://instagram.com/hole9design?igshid=vlvn114hl12w
But... Maybe some quality or compatibility issues? Here's some pics of the Michaelangelo I picked up over the winter. It looks awesome, but these pics are the first time I tried to put it on a putter, and it's not fitting well (Guerin Tour Spec standard sized mallet - fits just fine over the head, but magnets are sliding a bit and not latching. Hopefully it works better with the EVNRoll).
- MattF, fixyurdivot, cksurfdude and 1 other
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Agree with the Mizuno recommendations - Miura makes a very nice club, but I don't think it's worth the cost relative to what Mizuno offers. If you're torn between Forged and Tour and think the Tour could be right, consider a mixed set - I have JPX 919s with 4-6 Forged, 7-PW Tour, which works pretty well for me, but there is a bit of a gap between the 6 and 7 in terms of distance. But before considering that...
Watch out for the sales pitch with the fitting - you might only be hearing part of the story and may want to ask more questions or try other shaft/head combos before making the final call. Changing a shaft on an iron absolutely should affect launch, but it might not result in what you're looking for and won't match the results of the same shaft in a different head. If you're actually looking for lower launch...Your current DG shaft is actually a very low launching shaft, and C Taper Lite shouldn't give you lower launch on it's own (you should actually expect it to be higher, but there are swing factors at play too). Simply reshafting might be going in the wrong direction (plus at $50+ per shaft, the cost alone would influence me toward getting newer heads)
There are other factors in the iron heads that affect launch/traj - for example, weighting and lofts. Focusing on loft, the Miuras are very strong relative to your current set and the 921s - comparing 7 irons, we have:
- Current gamer: 33°
- JPX Tour: 34°
- JPX Forged: 31°
- Miura: 30° (That's a full club stronger than JPX Tour - it's basically a 6 iron with a 0.5" shorter shaft)
It seems your fitter may have hit your ideal launch numbers by taking a higher launch shaft paired with a lower lofted head. That's not necessarily a bad thing - if the shaft profile leads to better contact relative to the DG (which is a reasonable expectation), then that's great, but then you would need something else to get the launch back down, and loft can do the trick. If you put the C-Tapers into your current set or JPX Tour, you might see significantly different results.
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This still available?
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7 hours ago, LICC said:
As to Streamsong, I thought the Black was excellent tee to green. Great landforms, good strategy. But there were too many greens that were just over the top and goofy. I thought the Blue had some great holes but too many unmemorable holes with enormously wide fairways, and I thought the bunkering was aesthetically too simple compared to the others.
I remember people at the resort talking up the Black's greens, touting their design and size, only to stand on one specific green saying "WTF? There's no way this should be part of the green, it should be fringe or a collection area)."
Still can't agree with Blue
that's the course we enjoyed the most, but of course that doesn't mean it's the best course (my best round was Red, so it's not play/scoring bias either). We were in and out of there pretty quickly though, so going back to play them again could change my opinion.
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5 hours ago, Middler said:
Course layout and history are obvious factors. I wonder how they factor in course condition? I’ve only played 4 generally accepted bucket list courses and all 4 were in far better condition - tees, fairways, rough, sand, greens & amenities - than any great local course I’ve ever played. I’ve never been on Pebble or Pinehurst #2, so I don’t know what that’s like.
The way GOLF does it, condition likely has nothing to do with it. They have fewer than 100 people rating 250+ courses, and there's no way they played all of the courses recently enough to factor it in. Other publications have more raters with specific guidelines, which means recent play is likely, which allows conditions to factor in.
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Haven't seen the list yet because for some reason they started delivering to my office, and I haven't been there for a month, but some initial thoughts:
Pinehurst is likely boosted by history and a variety of design factors that many of us (including me) may not notice or appreciate when playing it (especially if playing only a few times). GOLF claims to rate based on experts assessing actual course design and architecture, not using rating categories/weights like others (e.g. some ratings include clubhouse/amenities as a rated category, which would also boost Pinehurst courses, at least at the main site). The claim is that it's subjective, but the focus on experts rating design/architecture makes their methodology better than others (that's described here, which I assume is still accurate and applies to the public list too: https://golf.com/travel/how-golf-ranked-top-100-courses/ ). I haven't played No. 2, but I was not impressed by No. 8 relative to other courses in the area (haven't looked at the current list, but 8 used to show up).
Bandon is interesting too - Trails is a great course, just much different style from the others. Our caddies said a lot of visitors like Trails the best because it's closer to what they're used to. Coore/Crenshaw seem to hit a lot of the design elements that the expert raters are likely looking for, so I'm not surprised to see it ahead of BD. I personally liked Old Mac the best of the 4, haven't been back to try Sheep Ranch.
Streamsong... I totally agree about Black. To be fair, it was the first course we played on a January trip, so might not be giving it a fair shot, but it just felt over-hyped. I'd like to go back and try it again to see if I feel differently in round 2. Blue, though -- we loved that track, and I'd put it right up there with Red (if not slightly above on my own list).
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9 hours ago, txgolfjunkie said:
If you have the club head speed...Left Dash Pro V1x is stupid long off the tee.
To give you an example from personal experience:
GC Quad Session last week. 10 driver swings with the Bridgestone Tour BX, Left Dash and 2021 TP5X. I took the best 5
B Stone ~2,450RPM, 11.2* Launch, 167.5mph ball speed, 285 carry, 303 total.
2021 TP5X ~2,800RPM, 11.0* Launch, 166.5mph ball speed, 279 carry, 294 total.
Left Dash ~1,975RPM, 12.8* Launch, 166.2mph ball speed, 291 carry, 314 total.
Yea, but how do those compare to Top Flite numbers?
With the Left Dash last year, I don't have the actual data to back it up, but gut feel was that I was hitting some of my best drives in the last ~10 years.
- tony@CIC and myherobobhope
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13 hours ago, PMookie said:
Snell MTB-X, and Pro V1X Left Dash!
Left dash is my new favorite ball. So awesome.
As for the overall topic, I've always been curious about this. We used to swear by Top Flite XL for this, but that was back in the late 90s / early 00s, and most scrambles we played were on unwatered courses, so
. Most tests with the distance-focused balls seem to be with their target market (i.e. slower swing speeds), which totally makes sense, but leaves us "need 5 more yards for the long drive hole" guys hanging. For higher swing speeds (100+), I've heard the tour-level balls are as long or longer than the distance balls off the tee, but I'd be interested to see tests to back that up.
I've heard good things about Velocity and plan to try it this year. Prior gen Volvik XT have also done well for me distance-wise.
- PMookie and appletonjim
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On 3/27/2020 at 9:10 PM, tchat07 said:
I'm a year late on the, but great write-up on the experience. It highlights some things that will be very helpful for people making a decision. Comparing to my experience, I think it also shows variance in quality of fitter at the same location.
The Smash Factor comments are interesting, and I wouldn't trust anyone that picks smash over literally everything else. My CC fitter focused on that too, which might point to how they are trained, but there was one key difference - his strategy was "if smash factor is below this number, we're moving on". That led us to 3 shafts, and we used dispersion as a big deciding factor. He was also very focused on apex, making sure it hit close to his ideal number.
GolfTEC didn't work for me, but that was before they pledged to up their game with fittings nationwide. I kinda swore them off and haven't gone back to see if it's any different (still take a few lessons each year, which I'm very happy with, just no fittings). I had a coach fit me into irons, then he left; my next coach "fit" me into an original Epic driver (only brought two stock stiff shafts and no low spin head, and despite him trying to sell me on stock over after-market, my existing shaft worked way better), and he also left. My current coach is the head of our local center and does a really nice job. The most disturbing thing about my iron was in my first lesson with the current coach, he looked at my bag setup and said "why are you using these iron shafts? They don't seem right for you" -- only thing I could say is that it's because your guy fit me into them
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32 minutes ago, tony@CIC said:
Do tell me more. Did you start the fitting process with your existing shaft/head? How were the numbers different in store vs on the course.
I'm asking because I'm scheduled for a "driver fitting" on the 19th at CC. Specifically, I'm looking for a shaft upgrade. Note: I have existing trackman data from my last fitting in 2020 from an independent fitter. Note: while I'm looking to get fit I will be doing a price comparison after the fact (and don't feel obligated to buy from them).
Hopefully clear from my other posts here, but I'm 50/50 on CC. Do some research and go in with some ideas of shafts that you'd like to try/compare (some fitters gravitate toward the brand that has worked for them in other fittings), and keep referencing your past results and knowledge of stats/process (better chance of getting the right fit rather than "oh this works")
For driver specifically, I'm happy with what I was fit into, but I am not 100% confident that I have the best shaft for me. At the same time, finding that better shaft might take a ton of work and might not be worth the effort. The best thing for me is the selection that they have in relation to my location (Madison is a sweet city but we're not big enough to attract certain things...) - my top two brands coming out of both fittings were Accra and Paderson, and even though there could be something better out there for me, I don't know if I ever would have tried those without the CC fittings (closest CC is 90 minutes away, and I don't know anyone else within 2.5 hours that carries these brands).
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1 hour ago, The_Rough_is_my_fairway said:
I think that's the thing that really gets me. I've had a lot of golf clubs in my time - just off the rack - and I haven't had any that just rattle or come apart. Could I just be lucky - maybe - but I mentioned my club guy before and I've NEVER had something like that happen from him. I keep hearing stories from people who have gone to CC having this exact same problem time and time again. Being big means they can do fittings well, but I have to wonder about their build processes and how fast they're moving.
It definitely does happen with direct-from-mfr clubs, it just might not be as frequent. I've had adapters come loose and epoxy rattles on those types of clubs too.
This is 100% a guess (not sure if anyone even tries to keep stats), but it makes sense in my head: I'd expect the least issues in off-the-rack because of how many nearly-identical builds they do; next most in custom-ordered clubs from the manufacturer (similar build process but custom steps might lead to error), and the most in any club that's fully hand-built (whether that's a fitter like CC, expert club builder, etc.). It makes sense to me because those custom shops are likely less precise with things like measuring and applying epoxy. There's skill in club building too, and whether CC has highly skilled builders is a valid question -- the fitters tend to make it sound like they are the ones doing the actual build, and if that's true, I'd expect variance in skill across location; however, I'm pretty sure my last fitter did not build my clubs - he is based in Milwaukee, and I'm pretty sure the clubs were built in Chicago (the cities are close, so not unreasonable for him to go to a Chicago build shop, but how likely is that?).
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Won some golf.com cash on Chirp recently, used it to get this guy pretty cheap. If I can learn how to putt this year, I might actually put it in play, otherwise it'll just be another basement putting green toy.
Also from Chirp, I'll have a Miura wedge coming soon - right now it's only letting me pick satin chrome, but I'm trying to negotiate the new black finish before confirming specs and getting it built (tbh I'm not optimistic about that - the whole process from winning to getting the prize has had some issues for both me and a buddy that won a few weeks earlier). I'll post pics when it gets here.
Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using MyGolfSpy mobile app -
2 hours ago, Jmikecpa said:
They spin off the driver as well as they spin around the green and are a harsh feeling ball. With that said I have played them for a year and love them. Stable flight in the wind and they react just how you think they would. I can’t hit the little nip spinner around the green with them so I don’t. Reminds of of what a ProV1x was at one time. Overall a solid ball. For the shots I can’t hit with it I don’t fret because if I need 185 out of a 7 iron it is there. Just a great ball all around.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkWhen I read your first sentence, I thought you were going to go negative and I was ready to defend it... But I totally agree. I used it for a handful of rounds last year and thought it was great. I tended to score better when using the left dash over some of the other balls I've been cycling through. I also might be slightly biased because I got my first <unofficial> albatross with this ball (scramble, both my shots - can't give the ball the credit for actually going in, but also can't say that it wasn't a factor).
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On 10/9/2020 at 10:33 AM, dlow206 said:
Many contests on instagram require tagging one or more people to enter. If you are okay with being tagged in a contest on instagram, please post your instagram handle in this thread and i will update this original post with the list:
Is there a way to make this a pinned post (or whatever it's called) like the Admins do on things like Testers Wanted posts? Now that we're splitting into two chats, that would make the full list easier to find.
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I'm still winless, but don't enter nearly as many as some of you all do (e.g. I avoid the overseas contests). I went hard at that Dormie/Gilson contest the other day to the point that I couldn't post more comments from my laptop (not quite pulling an Elson and getting my account frozen, but just had to go to the phone and slow it down a bit) -- hopefully that one works out, but I'm not holding my breath.
2 hours ago, dlow206 said:i won a limited edition putter headcover from Taylormade a few weeks ago, waiting for that to come in
Do you know which one you got? The turf-looking one was both ridiculous and awesome at the same time.
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2 hours ago, fozcycle said:
Yeah Rob, they are in our Walmart (Wesley Chapel FL) as well. Will be watching the mark downs in a few months.
Surprising that they are selling them for the direct, single-dozen prices (well, with a $0.02 rollback
). I would've expected Walmart to mark it down to at least the 3-dozen discount.
- 00sportsman, GolfSpy_SHARK and MattF
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16 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:
The only shaft that really had anyone questioning the PX approach was the T800 made for callaway shaft that had same/similar paint job to the t1100.
As confirmed by PX on several forums the handcrafted version and the non are built to the same specs. The handcrafted version wa somewhat marketing but the cost difference was due to the amount that could be produced in SD along with the labor and other costs associated with building here in the states vs the large production run of shafts and the cost of business in Asia. Because they could only produce less than 100 shafts a day and this the cost for that version.
T800 was in my mind but didn't go back and look at it until your comment - I forgot how closely that resembled the T1100
I saw those notes on the HC and stock being the same specs - the "inferior" and "Project X claims" comments were were more directed at CC's narrative and perception, not actual results. I don't know for sure, but I doubt CC actually carried the less expensive version. Also, I never looked deeply into whether there were tests to compare the two directly, but there are various comments out there about potential differences - e.g. theories were that Handcrafted were more reliably produced to those specs than non-HC, and MGS's Srixon First Look article kinda implies they are a "watered down" version of HC (it does not say that directly, but considering there were so many stock HZRDUS on the market already, that's how I interpreted the Standard Goes Upscale section).
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2 hours ago, maninthebox said:
I did a full bag fitting. Basically I was hoping to hit what was an option from a specific club manufacturer whether it be the actual stock or an available upgrade. With the number of upgrades offered directly from manufacturers these days I was hoping there was a place to try them out, similar to what you mentioned regarding your irons.
This may be where you got a bad (or misleading) fitter -- they should have a bunch of the options offered from the manufacturer, if not the exact stock shaft. But I once had a fitter (I think my first CC fitter) tell me something like "if you're picking from their catalog and not paying an upgrade fee, then you're probably not getting an upgrade" -- I don't really agree with that because "upgrade" could just mean "better fit for you", which is definitely possible within the free options, but that statement could imply that they don't carry a bunch of the "free upgrade" options either. I also keep saying "might/may" because this is pure speculation - I don't know their full list of shaft offerings, and your fitter might have been truthful about their fitting inventory only having the "for cost upgrades" at that time.
1 hour ago, cnosil said:“Made for” shafts with exact same paint is become more rare in the industry. Today’s manufacturers are pairing the actual shafts with clubs as upgrades or even stock offerings.
Definitely agree it's getting to be less of a thing these days. My stock shaft knowledge is a bit stale, and my CC knowledge is now over a year old thanks to
cancelling my last fitting, which is why I looked back a few years for the easy HZRDUS example -- stock with no HC stamp? CC wouldn't have it because it's "inferior" (even though Project X claimed it's not), but they'd likely have the $300-400 stamped option that didn't come stock in anything (until Srixon).
I could see them taking a similar stance on the newer stock shafts and just not having them available for fittings, but if they truly are the same now, they may not be able to. Counter to what @maninthebox's fitter said, they advertised the HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX on their Facebook page back in December -- looks like the Black RDX is a stock option for the SIM2 with the Blue is a no-cost upgrade, so maybe they will choose not to stock the Black (no mention of Black on the FB page), or maybe they'll try to push the more expensive PVD or Limited options for the Blue (even though those may just be paint jobs?)? Either way, if someone does get fit into a SIM2 with Blue RDX, CC should be able to offer an un-Pured version of this club for the stock SIM2 price -- if the fitter doesn't offer that as an option, then something's fishy.
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On 3/14/2021 at 10:17 PM, maninthebox said:
I specifically asked if they had the stock shafts or any offered by the manufacturer and was told no because they were inferior. It's good to know that there are others that do offer them. We have another one and a True Spec within two hours, maybe I'll try one of those.
Were you actually buying full clubs or looking to get a new shaft in your existing clubhead? Irons or woods? Depending on the situation, your fitter might have sucked, or might have been telling (mostly) the truth.
For stock: If you were there to compare the 2-3 stock offerings for a specific driver or wood, Club Champion is not the place to get that done -they most likely will not carry those shafts (in my experience, GolfTEC will likely have this option, as will retail fittings). Keep in mind that there can be a difference between a stock shaft and an after-market version of the same shaft, which is especially true with woods (same holds true with "made for" shafts). A big name that sticks in my mind here is Project X HZRDUS - a couple years ago, they had a "stock" model showing up in off-the-rack drivers (the colors), an "after-market" model (same colors but labeled Handcrafted and way more expensive), and a higher-end/"tour" model (like the T1100). Club Champion is most likely not going to have that "stock" HZRDUS as an option, and their narrative is that the stock version is inferior to the others (and it may be). That doesn't mean they can't order the club with the stock shaft, but unless you bring it in yourself, they won't be able to fit you into it. These shaft differences are less prevalent in irons.
For other shafts offered by the manufacturer: They order clubs direct from manufacturers/reps, so they have access to the full shaft catalog from that brand (whether it's an off-the-rack shaft, a no-cost option, etc.). Same as above, they may not have the exact off-the-rack stock shaft for the fitting, but they should have quite a few of the "no/low cost upgrade" options available for the fitting, and they can order them at that same cost - if they told you otherwise, then you likely got a bad fitter. That's how I ordered my irons - Mizuno had my fitted shafts in their catalog, so I didn't need to pay for the shafts separately (the fitter did try to sell me on getting the shafts separately from Nippon, using similar phrasing to "inferior", but when pressed, acknowledged there should be no difference).
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Rare achievement: I have all 8 guys in the field this week. My top 4 are beating my top 8 straight up
Maybe next year we should consider bonus points for having the last place guy on your roster?
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11 hours ago, blackngold_blood said:
Great day of trades for this guy! Turned Sungjae IM and Sam Burns into Abraham Ancer and Hedeki. Then turned Ancer and Hedeki into Tony Finau. That makes my top 4 set with Rory, JT, Finau, and Scheffler. The bad part is my trading may be done as I don’t see myself moving any of them and the other 4 guys on my team will probably change tourney to tourney.
You offered me that exact trade, and I drafted up a counter that was straight up Finau for Rory
but then thought about it more and backed it out.
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4 hours ago, The_Rough_is_my_fairway said:
2. Price - This is where I start to cringe. The up-charges on everything are insane. For a stock setup (what I ended up fitting into) I was paying over $1000 more just for the product, then there was all the extras.
3. SST Pure - They push it hard because they own it, or so I've been told. I believe in the process, but it always seemed weird to me to include it on some clubs and not on others. Other places use SST as well so it's not like the only place you can get it.
4. Build - here's where it gets hairy. I've recently gotten clubs from them and they're great. Unfortunately, both of my clubs developed rattles and broken pieces of epoxy in the first two rounds. They stood by and fixed it, but then again - any store should and would do that. I have a normal guy for doing my club work who has a little shop near me and he's insanely good at it so I'll be sticking with him for builds - but not everyone has that option. The perfect fit guarantee is great too, but I'm wary of the whole thing. I think of that movie Tommy Boy "I can take a s*** in a box and mark it guaranteed, I've got spare time". Like I said, it's a normal process from people who take pride in their work, and the guarantee seems to be a way to cover the inevitable low quality fitters that some answers above have experienced.
3 hours ago, RollingGreens said:I'm still not entirely sure what they are fitting people for is the best product or the most expensive product, upcharge or not.
I can relate to all of these points -- I'm confident I overpaid for the irons that I bought through them, but it wasn't because their starting prices are steep, it was the add-ons (my price experience is in my posts from last year on this thread). They may have cheaper options available but tend to push toward the more expensive option (even if roughly equivalent) -- that's not saying they push to the most expensive shaft that they have (mine could have been much more expensive), just that they'll try to sell you on full after-market build, which is likely the biggest price tag. Plus their fitting fee...it's one and done if you make a purchase, but still steep relative to others that may waive with purchase.
Build quality: my purchase history with them is a full set of irons, 2 driver shafts w/adapters (1 fitted, 1 similar shaft with a better design because I felt like it), a fairway shaft w/adapter, and a hybrid shaft. With those clubs, I've had three build issues - the short irons were set to the wrong lofts (just an oversight in specs on a combo set, but it was significant), the 6 iron had an epoxy rattle (not functional issue) that I simply dumped out when swapping the grip, and one of the driver adapters came loose after about 2 weeks of use. All were easily fixable, but annoying, especially considering the closest location is 90 minutes away for me (had to send in for the iron lofts, and I just fixed the other two myself).
What Have You Bought Lately? (CHA - Club Ho's Anonymous)
in The Daily
Posted
That's awesome. I just got an offer a few days ago to get 5 new ones for $40 (after shipping). Not sure if that was just an offer to everyone, or if they actually read my recent post-round feedback or just sensed that mine were getting old (started using them back in 2017) -- either way, it's not a bad price for replacements after 4 years, especially considering I never needed to pay yearly for Caddie.