BMart519

70 is on the heavier end of the spectrum for driver shafts unless you are a pro in the 120 mph range and will probably play stiffer than a lot of 60 gram stiff shafts, especially with 2" cut off. Is 105 your simulator/fitting swing or is that measured on the course? Safe to assume most people are at least 1-2 mph slower on the course than indoors. Especially by the end of the round.

It never mattered... I don't think there has ever been an emphasis that your fairway woods should match your irons or putter. With all of the utility clubs and new construction techniques you could very easily have 5+ different types of clubs in the bag - Driver, fairways, hybrid, irons, wedges. Other than irons/wedges none of those clubs play the same and you could game a driving iron which was different from the rest of the set. One could argue you should be spec'ing out wedges with different bounces and grinds to help with shot your iron set struggles with.

Reducing loft on your driver opens the face, increasing loft closes it and increases lie angle.

I play on a muni near my house most often, so there are a lot of beginners which is fine. The only thing I care about is when you play with people who are clueless about pace of play. I got paired with 3 ladies who hit 2 tee balls on nearly every hole, unless they happened to hit their first shot well. By the 3rd hole, we were already 1 full hole behind of the group in front. Luckily it was only for 9 holes but it took 2.5 hours on what is essentially an executive course. The biggest frustration comes from feeling rushed to try and keep up, avoid having the marshall come by about pace or holding up people behind.

I either buy used AAAA quality Bridgestone or Srixon when they go BOGO. So approximately $2/ball, average 1-2 balls per round between loss and wear. So $20/month max.

Really wish they were open last year when I got irons. Excited to see Calgary get a high end facility. I think there is one SAM Puttlab in the metro area for almost 1.5 million people... Definitely an opportunity.

Do you have the ability to go on a launch monitor or simulator and hit 10-20 shots with each club in your bag? This is a valuable exercise to determine on average: - carry vs roll out with each club for club selection on approaches and par 3s - which side of your aim line does the ball land more often (and therefore where to aim on the course) - As someone who "fades" the ball I assumed my shot pattern would be biased to the right of where I am. But it turns out I either hit a straight pull or a pull that fades back toward center on average... So aiming to the right of target is better for my approaches. It is nearly impossible for me to hit a wedge to the right of where I aim, there is always some degree of pull. - side to side dispersion for each club (to know what hazards and OB are in play each hole)

I'm also interested in the Cobra One Length hybrids based on the accuracy results in the last 2 Most Wanted articles. Tough to find demos since they aren't widely available in Canada and the golf stores have been a disaster since COVID.

I like mine for stretching as others have said, I think it also helps grip strength due to the weight if you go through the Orange Whip training protocol. I like the pause to load at the top, help ensure a good wrist hinge.

I use ShotScope, I picked this over Arccos because of lower cost, no subscription, and the ease to tag putts and pin locations with the watch to provide detailed putting and proximity stats. It doesn't break down Strokes Gained by area which is the only downside, but there is enough data to identify weaknesses. In my case I identified my biggest weakness is each area of my game from the data then developed a practice plan around it: Putting - too many 3 putts FIX: ladder drill, lagging to targets Short Game - improve up/down% FIX: get SW to match LW, develop wedge matrix from 20-80 yards in 10 yard increments. Miss greens in appropriate areas instead of automatically going for the green from 180+ Approach - major drops in proximity to pin at 90, 130 yards FIX: course manage to these distances, focus on mid irons Driver - left miss (pulls/hooks) resulted in losing 0.5 strokes per hole compared to right miss (slice). FIX: extra driver focus, practice elements to lock-in a fade shape. Heavier driver shaft to slow hands. Implemented strength routine with target of 10 yard distance gain.

I would save the money and skip the Z stars, that extra spin and harder ball is just making your crooked shots curve more off line. The Q Star Tour would be the highest I would go if you must have urethane. As someone who used to be in your shoes - I would go with the Srixon 2 piece distance balls. I think my first time breaking 90 was with Nike PD Softs and Bridgestone e6. Until you start hitting 6 GIR and need higher spin for stopping power (or just play really hard, fast greens), or you rely on low spinning pitches to check up on greens save the money on urethane balls which wear out faster than cheap ones. It's much easier to play bump and runs and get used to roll out then trying to figure how much the ball will bite with inconsistent contact.

Ping just released a study that pistol grips promote more closing of the putter than straight/non-taper grips, so shape is an aspect to consider as well. I personally find that head weight needs to match swing tempo and it affects distance control more than face rotation. Edel putter fitting also only considers weight as it impacts distance on mid range putts. Ping has fitting charts correlating head weight to swing tempo which the iPing app also measures (and I found to suit my stroke). According to the iPing app, my stroke was on the dividing line between slight and strong arc when I used my EVNROLL ER2. When I switched to an Odyssey #9, all that toe-hang brought me over into the strong arc and with my face balanced Taylormade MC72 it slid to the middle of slight arc. In my mind, the less arc (or face rotation as measured by iPing) will help with consistency on your start line and short putts. My testing on a metal yardstick this winter seemed to confirm this and I also had trouble on the course short putts with the strong arc #9, but aim could have also been an issue. (I was fit into #9 style putter using the iPing app and a visual fitting and used it on SAM Puttlab which ended up recommending 30 - 45 degree of toe hang). My general miss is a left-pull similar to yours from the face being closed at impact. Head shape can influence aim bias, something that you line up to the right of target could help offset your left bias (works for Tiger). This winter I tested a face balanced TM spider, mid-mallet MC72, Cleveland HB soft 6, Odyssey 9, and EXO 7s. Head weights ranged from 345-360 grams and grip weights ranged from 60 - 120g, all had different alignment lines and the Cleveland has a sight dot (which made me aim right and push everything). The testing consisted of rolling putts off a metal ruler and lag putts (ladder drill and to specific targets) down the carpet in my hallway which probably played up to 40-50 feet since its probably about a 6 on the stimp meter. As much as I wanted a new putter, the old MC72 performed measurably better than all others it wasn't used during 2019 so feel shouldn't have altered the results (mostly used the EXO 7s which finished 2nd). The 345g head weight with light, oversize grip felt the most comfortable and is now the base I use for considering putters. The EXO with 360g head and 120g TOUR SNSR pistol grip felt like a croquet mallet by comparison and I didn't find grip weight to noticeable "quiet the hands" like many counter-balance advocates claim. The next consideration is milled vs insert and how the head feels with the type of ball you play... I've since bought a TP Collection Berwick and put a SuperStroke grip on which is a copy of the mid-mallet MC72 to get a putter with a metal face instead of the Surlyn insert for a firmer feel and see if it helps me get the ball to the hole on long lags. I am waiting on a Taylormade wrench in the mail to play with the sole weights and bring it down from 355 to 345g. The 7 style head was an easy adjustment for me who played a similar head shape to your Rossie, so that or other rounded mid-mallet heads that are likely to suit your eye best. I would check the head weight on the Rossie and aim for something close to that first. Definitely check out some of the 360/370g heads and see if it is something you like, but you will be more familiar with lighter putters due to how long you've been using the Odyssey. Happy hunting.

The online ranting on Bryson (predominantly Twitter) is rather amusing. He got big, so now he can't chip and putt? You mean the part of the game that requires the least physical ability... Hmm OK. "He missed a bunch of birdie putts, needs to hit fairways, etc." Being stronger makes your body more resistant to injury and the forces of the golf swing. What if he approached this whole PGA season like a body builder - bulked up to 230 knowing he will be down to 215-220 by season's end when he isn't working out 3X a day. There is literature out there showing most of these guys lose swing speed over the year from fatigue and reduced training. So you're saying he played bad and finished T3 1 shot out of a playoff... Sounds like he will crush if the putter gets hot and be in contention most weeks especially on courses that favor bombers... I can see hating his perceived attitude, choice of hat, or pace of play issues, but his approach to trying anything new to improve is something most people would benefit from. Especially that if you do some strength/speed work you can gain 20-30 yards of distance with minimal improvement to your "golf" skills.

This one will be memorable for a lot of reasons, especially being my first legitimate eagle. Fairway is 20-25 yards wide for the entire hole with trees and shrubs almost the entire way except at the green where there is water... Aimed at center of green playing a slight fade away from water on left (and conveniently toward a right flag). Ball started straight at the target and slowly began fading around 3/4 of the way to the green. I knew it had a chance at this point, only question is would it fly the sand trap protecting the front, ball landed 1 pace onto the green (~270 carry) and released about 10 yards to pin high for a 12 footer for eagle which I drained. Resulted in a +4 on the front 9 with 3 penalties and two 3 putts LOL. Shots like these are really making it tough to use anything except the Bridgestone Tour B XS, ball just seems to want to go straight. Apologies for the photo quality, Google is really lacking on the GPS images up in rural Canada

Are you using the same balls on the course and with the Mevo? See if you can move your setup further away from the net or screen at home so the Mevo can measure ball flight longer and if that helps the readings.

I'm confused as to how playing spontaneously is not playing 1 shot at a time, especially if you were thinking of a target score or holes to attack. It seems like what you describe is very much about being in the moment and playing 1 shot at a time to a specific target.

On the G410 irons there is additional milling on the PW and UW faces (micro grooves). Not sure if the G400 has this, but I notice some leftovers on the face occasionally when I am hitting a full wedge. That has to be reducing the life of the ball.

I pick up approx 5 mph club head speed by warming up compared to starting cold. Not being able to putt before a round is the biggest frustration as someone who plays at a lot of different courses.

Every shot must have a purpose.

The best way is to test them on the course you play most often over a few rounds so you are accustomed to green speeds for putting and short game shots but also how approach shots react whether they stick or roll out. If you are playing both balls the same day, there's always some psychological effects when you are hitting the second ball so I prefer play one ball as much as possible and compare scores/stats/GPS distances from different days. Doing it on different days help to see any differences when you don't have your A-game, GPS tracking also simplifies things for tee shots.

100% on 1-6ft putts according to Shot Scope for a tidy 30 putts (with two 3-putts, average 35-36) in my last round at Northern Bear outside Edmonton, which ties my lowest putts total from 2018. A lot were 5-6 footers definitely not all tap-ins, plus a 12 footer for birdie... That was definitely influenced by only hitting 5 GIR. A few weeks back I made a 75 foot downhill double breaker for birdie which was the best putt I have ever made, but AimPoint was a major contributor in that one. Buying a metal yard stick to putt on has driven much more improvement than my PuttOut mat and target did in the past 1.5 years to the point I regret buying them with the grooving issues. The alignment lines are the best part of that mat IMO. I could clearly identify my pull tendencies on the ruler and which putter worked best for start line in the offseason. This showed my old Taylormade face balanced putter (the last time I had 30 putts) performs better than any of the 4 I demo'd over 2019. Even though conventional wisdom is more toe hang is better for a pull miss, it encourages more rotation which makes me putt worse. The yard stick is so narrow you can only open/close face angle by 0.5 degrees either way or you will not make it off the end of the ruler. I try to make 10 in a row and have only been successful ~20 times over the 2 months I've been using it in lockdown. The difficulty level is perfect - you have to be focused and you will only succeed a small portion of the time. I also track the most consecutive putts made on the ruler which was 21 with the Taylormade vs 14 for the next closest which again made putter decision simple and took any emotion or looks consideration out of the process. On the putt-out mat I don't even recall how many I made in a row from 4 feet, but it was around 80-90 so I don't find it a great training tool for accuracy as I believe that is around +/- 5 degrees of face angle which is poor control TBH. The "perfect putts" become a bit of luck once you have worn channels in the mat and you start hitting double breakers in the channel that happen to settle in the micro target.

A 5 degree spread between face and path angles is going to lead to excess curvature especially when spin is 1000-2000 rpm low.

The F9 doesn't have the channel around the face that the F8 had, it is a different construction so OP confuses me. There is a seam since the crown/body of the F9 driver wrap around the edges of the front of club and the CNC machined face "insert" is mounted in there. I've gamed the F9 Driver and 5 wood since fall last year and haven't noticed damage to balls (all urethane). The only question I have about this family of woods is if the milling pattern on the face wears balls out faster. It is very easy to see where the ball was struck on these faces, but it is less damage than from fresh grooves on a wedge. If you are considering this driver, I would wait 3-4 months until the SpeedZone goes on clearance and get the new model where the milling wraps around the face as you will avoid any paint chips.

SC200 launch monitor, finally won a bid on ebay after 5+ attempts. Coincidentally, it was the same day golf courses in Alberta re-opened post COVID. But it will be nice to get some feedback on the hitting net I built in my backyard to see if my grip changes and off-season lifting made any changes to distance.

Five Fundamentals - Steve Elkington has a great section on grip with photos. Definitely learned a few things and it is available as a free download online!