I've been out of internet for a bit. What's been going on in here?! LOL I got about 90 emails for this thread. Who drew who for playing? @J7Hawkins Where are we at coach?
Thanks to My Golf Spy and Lamkin for the chance to participate. My name is Stacey, yes I’m a dude, and no my mom does not in fact have it going on to my knowledge. I mean she is great, but the song does not apply to us.
So a lot about me, I am 39 years old and hail from the state of Missouri, just outside Springfield to be specific. I'm currently building my house while living in it. It is located at the end of a dead end road on 60 acres and that’s the way I like it, secluded.
I am outdoors all the time, I hike a lot, bow hunt, and keep in shape for my once a year trip to Colorado to go chase elk in the mountains. To say I’m an outdoorsman might be too fancy for me, I’ve dubbed the term “woodrat” to describe myself. I work as a regional sales rep for a brewery. My proudest achievement is my two children, they tag along with me often to play and are starting to wail on the clubs themselves.
I have been playing golf for 15 years or so with a recent 5 year layoff due to some serious back pain, but now I’ve returned and am playing the best golf of my life. My game has transformed and the parts that were my strength are now my weakness and vice versa. I am not the longest hitter in the game but can poke it out there sometimes.
My course management and mental game are my strengths by far, I think it comes with age and never thinking I would play the game again. I even walk with a bit of laid back swagger. (Think Jason Dufner meets Fred Couples) I am currently gearing up for my first ever stroke play tournament. I hope these grips make the cut and can join me in the journey.
If you are curious about how grips will hold up to moisture, stay tuned for my review as I will be the ultimate test for these grips. I have a condition called hyperhidrosis. It basically means I sweat.. A LOT! Specifically my hands sweat abnormal amounts compared to the rest of my body, which also sweats..A LOT! As I type this indoors in the a/c I have to keep a bandana on me to dry my hands periodically. I exclusively wear rain gloves and keep 3-4 attached to my bag and rotate them every shot.
So Lamkin is in for a ride and we shall see how these hold up. I assure you, if they hold up to me they will hold up to you. I currently use another Lamkin grip called the crossline plus.
Luckily these grips have the same specs. I will be installing my own with air and will also be something I am reviewing. I have used several completely different styles of grips over the years, but my favorite feeling grip of all time was the Winn Dri Tac wrap. I have been searching for a grip that feels like that but lasts longer than a week. I hope Lamkin can deliver on their claims of “feel” regarding this grip. One other thing I am specifically honing in on with these grips is at the transition from the top of the backswing to impact. I really have trouble gripping the club too tight at that transition, I’m hoping a tackier grip can aid in that. I think these grips will make the bag if can maintain that tacky feeling and not get slick, that’s my biggest pet peeve is when a grip wears and becomes slick. So buckle up and stay tuned and let’s see what we can find out.
-Sprinkler Hands
Initial Impressions 8 out of 10
I usually gravitate towards a clean, no fuss grip. Bright colors and patterns are not for me and I find them to be distracting. I do not like the way they look in my bag to others either which I realize is ostentatious. So when I opened the box today, I half expected me to be disappointed in these. I have looked at these online when shopping for new grips, and before the all black version was released I immediately dismissed them as the blue was just too much for me to stomach and assumed this version was only slightly less gaudy. I was wrong.
Looks
In-hand, these things are stunning! They do have an almost gloss finish on them but not to the point of being distracting, just enough to make them look high end. The pattern is subtle and blends in with the rest of the grip and are almost invisible when you hold the club at address. This is of course not taking into account the small white pattern in the center of the grip. It is almost too much out of the box, but again at address, it doesn’t become distracting or serve as a strict alignment aid. You can use it as that if that’s how one lines their club up. I do not like to see any alignment aids on my grips and this was my biggest concern with these. But once installed and looking down I was able to move past that very quickly and resume my normal grip alignment. The patterns really hide amongst the rest of the grip and the white pattern almost disappears when you set your leading hand on the grip and my thumb lands perfectly on it. These make my Nike’s look gooood
Feel
In my hand, uninstalled I would put these in a medium-firm feeling grip. Compared to my crossline plus (velvet style) these are a bit firmer to me. I was expecting something totally different in this category. I really thought they would be very soft and resemble something like a GP CP2 pro grip. They feel firmer than that however and much firmer than the Winn dri-tac I had envisioned. I don’t mind a firm grip, my concerns are how they will hold up to my level of moisture. They have an almost slick feel to them out of the box, once installed they still have a bit of a slick feel while not wearing gloves (remember my sweaty hands). I was finally able to dry my hands enough to get a good idea of how these feel. They have a nice tacky feel to them. It’s an almost corded tackiness as well with the design of the grip. It’s very nice. I am interested to see how they fare in the humidity on the course.
Quality/Consistency
I weighed each grip on my scale and found they are in a reasonable range. It never varied over 1.5 grams from the heaviest to the lightest. Every grip I’ve ever put on has approximately this range. The advertised weight was 57 grams and all grips weighed slightly more than that, the heaviest being 58.5 grams and the lightest being 57.1
I really enjoyed testing these grips and the overall testing process. I am thankful for the opportunity provided by all involved and I hope to participate in more in the future.
Well, this was definitely a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tale for my test. There were points along the way that I never wanted to swing another grip and other times I wanted to rip them off and never use them again. So let's explore that shall we...
Aesthetics: 10/10
Ok, so I initially said there was no grip that could achieve a perfect score as it is subjective… I threw that idea out the window. These grips look incredible! They look very high end, classy, clean, and make your clubs stand out without being too loud. They say something without saying it. I think if I saw these on a competitor's clubs I would immediately think they were a good player. I personally don’t like bold colors, and wacky designs on my grips. I prefer straight, black, clean looking grips, but these went beyond that.
Fit and Feel: 18/20
I’ve always preferred a less tapered and midsize grip so there isn’t much else about the fit to score. I deducted only 2 for the installation process, where the grips were a little flimsy to put on with air but they did not prove much extra trouble. If they would have been less flimsy they would have been less soft and tacky anyways. I have a lot of extra grips laying around and for this test I put them all on and at least took some practice swings with them to get a feel for the grips. I made sure my hands were dry and they all had the same conditions. I couldn’t find one grip better than these in the feel department, even the Winn Dri Tac wrap grip which was always my favorite feeling grip lost to these. They have a firm yet soft feel? The fingerprint tech almost acts like a cord while the soft material feels like it sticks to your hand. It is very unique and I think there is something there that can improve a lot of golfer’s stranglehold on their clubs while not having to go full corded grip.
On the course: 5/20
Ok, here’s where we start to see the problems that arose for me. If you haven’t read my intro please do so. It will help you better understand the issues I had with these grips. I deducted half the points due to my copious amounts of sweat which caused the grips to act like a bar of soap in my hands. My circumstance is extreme and shouldn’t be necessarily used for you the consumer to judge the grips performance. You will be better off to judge the grips based on another tester's experience. The humidity was to levels I have not seen before and other grips also got slick, but for whatever reason, these grips were the worst for my level of sweat. Again, I am an anomaly, but it is the truth and couldn’t even swing these grips bare handed with everything going on. Even with rain gloves on both hands I still never felt 100% confidence in them.
The Good, the bad, and the in-between: 15/20
You may be thinking this is too high of a score given the last couple lines in the previous section. But I also have to take into consideration my condition and work around it and in it and everything else. The truth is, no grip performs perfect when conditions are that bad for me, yes, corded grips seem to perform the best and softer grips less so, but they all have issues when covered in oily, gross sweat. I think back during this test to two specific times I was using them, once in the late evening on my property while the sun was setting and the humidity had dropped substantially. I was able to go out with my wedge and hit a bucket of balls on less than full swing shots and I was able to feel all these grips had to offer and I loved it. The swing felt effortless and in complete control. This was due to the grip alone. My initial thoughts about the test was based around this one section of my swing, the transition from the top of my back swing to the downswing. I tend to grip the club too tight during rounds and never feel like I can relax through that move. These grips allowed me to do that and not have to think about it either. That alone gave me a glimmer of hope to what these grips can provide and I loved it. Another time was chipping after a round and the same scenario, low humidity and dry hands. Same experience, just effortless comfort.
Play it or Trade it: 10/20
So I am taking these grips off…. For the moment. I am going to let the humidity drop and revisit them in the fall. For all I know these could be a seasonal grip for me, they have the same exact specs as my gamers and the brief time I got to experience their potential left me wanting more. I will repost on this page so if you’re interested in seeing how it shakes out, check back in here. I think it will be a completely different outcome.
So in closing, do I recommend these grips to you? Yes, absolutely yes! Try them, you will be pleasantly surprised at the unique feel and responsiveness of the grips. I could, however, not game them at this very moment. I did however, play in my first tournament and shot a great 75(+5) round with them. Hard to complain about that. They are also the most stunning grips I’ve ever seen and as I’ve said before, that is not a statement I’ve made in the past. They made me want to build an all black set with heads and shafts to match. If anyone does this, show me! It would be the single best looking set of irons ever! I also liked the feel so much I purchased a matching (ping version) of the putter grip. I look forward to the fall and my chance to dig deep into them again. I’m considering this test ongoing and looking forward to part two. So, if we are counting (and we are) that totals up, along with initial impressions to….. (drum roll please)
After a couple swings and misses, there is still a spot available on my team. If any of the remaining available golfers want to take it, let me know. 😁
That's what you get for having those beautiful forged blades! 🙂 I'm sure it felt good to share that - hitting on mats a lot with those clubs doesn't help, either. You should probably check them periodically. Now that you know they are right you can let it rip. Good luck!
Hello MGS Community,
I had my iron's loft and lie checked today at the PGA superstore and I was very surprised.
I thought I'd share my story - maybe a good entertainment reading for those stuck at home on a beautiful day (for who knows what reasons 😎)
Just a little background story:
Recently, my avid golfer friend who is a plus handicap told me that he gets his iron's loft and lie checked every year -- sometimes multiple times a year.
And I'd thought I'd give my iron a check-up. I mean why not? right?
I got my irons fitted about a year and a half ago by True Spec, and never had my iron's loft and lie checked after that.
and I recently ordered my wedges from Taylormade and had them custom-build me a 50, 54 @55, and 60.
I had a few reasons I wanted to get my irons checked.
First reason: my irons were hooking to the left.
I never really had this issue before. I use to play a fade, and nowadays I aim to play a push draw; however, even when my swing feels solid, I would notice my ball starting left of my aim and hooking.
For the past few months, I always blamed myself since my swing would be the biggest issue.
Second reason: I practice on a mat on a daily basis; however, when a golf course has a grass range, I always go early before the round to enjoy hitting off the grass.
I never achieved great-looking straight divots- and I, again, always blamed myself since my swing would be the biggest issue.
WRONG. (Kind of - )
While I'm not a tour pro of any kind, I honestly think my swing isn't bad. I teach golf to students, and I hit the ball pretty solid.
I think I would be able to bring down my handicap if I had more time to practice short approaches under 100 yards and chipping, but it's harder to get those practices in when I'm living in a more urban area. (Grass practice not readily available nearby)
But anyway, bottom line, I consider my short game the limiting factor to better golf, not my swing.
To continue on with the story:
I went into the store today and asked for my lie angle to be checked.
My first few swings with my 7 iron on a lie board and I got a result that I needed my irons -2 degree flat.
This was very surprising to know because my irons were already flatter than any irons on the market.
I use a Miura MC501 irons which have 61 degrees of lie.
For comparison, John Rahm's Callaway Apex TCB has 62 degrees of lie, Taylormade P7MC has 62.5 degrees of Lie etc.
In summary, my Irons are already flat. But I needed 2 more degrees of flatness.
Initially, before visiting when I was doing my research on what my iron's standard specs were -- I actually wanted to tweak my clubs to a more upright lie position.
Don't ask me why, but that was my thought... ( Looking back, I honestly do not know why I wanted to move my irons upright.)
But when the fitter told me I need my irons -2 degrees flat, I was in disbelief.
I asked if I could check the 9 iron. Same. -2 degrees.
I asked if I could check the 5 Iron. Same. -2 degrees.
So now in belief that I need to change all my irons to -2 degrees flat, I walked up to the counter and made a request for these changes, and handed over my lofts for each iron.
As he was checking the irons, he told me all my iron lofts were off. Either a degree stronger or two degrees weaker.
Last year, I carried my 8 iron 164. This year I carried my 8 iron 155. It wasn't the swing! It was the loft!
I stood there shocked and a lot of my recent miss shots started making sense.
I was carrying my 9 iron 148. But my 8 Iron 155. 9 Iron was 1 degree stronger than standard, and my 8 iron was 2 degrees weaker. What surprise!
The club fitter told me that soft metal irons like mine get bent easily and the loft changes as I swing and interact with the ground.
After he was done, I asked if he could check my wedges -- I noticed, I was carrying them further these days. Not by much but just a little over the flag -- EVERYTIME.
I bought these wedges and had Taylormade custom build it for me maybe two months ago and I assume they built it right.
But my 50-degree wedge was at 49. My 54 @ 55-degree wedge was at 54. My 60-degree wedge was at 59.75.
They were all in a stronger loft than they were supposed to be.
Shocked.. Again.
After tweaking everything, I went on the lie board and tested a few of my irons.
I was getting a good middle interaction now, but was getting some fades/cuts.
I guess now, it's the swing issue. But the good thing was that all the balls were starting in line.
and fades were prob happening because the clubs aren't that upright anymore at impact.
So back to my original point -- yes my swing is the biggest fault but it wasn't the ONLY fault. Ah ha! 🤭
After today's experience, I think I'm going to get my irons checked more often.
Maybe for those who read this far, you should too. -- It might change your misses, maybe save a stroke or two on average during a round with no extra practice!
I hope my writing wasn't too boring, and if you have similar experiences or thoughts, or reasons, on why irons loft change
Please feel free to share your story with me.
Just my clubs to make the post a tiny bit more interesting🤩
Ha! A long long time ago I was the organizer for a golf trip down south. First time we were headed to the RTJ trail. We all flew into ATL, rented a van and drove south. EVERY exit had a Waffle House. We who live north of the Mason Dixon line had never seen one. There was a Waffle House across the parking lot from the hotel so that was our gathering spot every morning. Every year after - before things became easy to find on the internet - I would pick the location and then call around to hotels to find one adjacent to a Waffle House… our golf trips were forever smothered, covered, and chunked.
There was a time in 2016-2018 where juniors were making the move to graphite. Not sure if that continued or not.
Danny Le from UST made a good point several years back. He said you play graphite in your woods and hybrids why not in your irons
While we all seem to agree that there are physical/health related benefits, it still needs to be stressed that graphite shafts come in a wide variety of flexes, profiles, and weights and aren’t just for senior golfers. Switching to graphite does not mean there will be a decrease in performance compared to steel.
I switched to graphite for a while due to elbow issues and they really helped alleviate things. That said, I switched back to steel last year and noticed an immediate difference with tighter dispersion.
I do think that if/when I get new irons, I'll look hard at heavier graphite shafts. I'm not getting any younger and the less wear and tear on my body, the better.
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