[Shot Scope Users Group]

I finally got annoyed with screwing the sensors back in after every shot. I already lost two sensors and had no extra remaining, so to the electrical tape I went. Couple wraps around each. They shouldn't come loose now!

[edingc's 2022 WITB]

2022 Late Season WITB Update

As usual, there has been a bit of turnover in my bag since the last update. 

Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS (9°), 45.75", Fujikura Motore X F1 6X

The driver is still the weakest part of my game, but this is a good setup for me. The Motore X is a retrofit from my Club Champion fitting in March. When my mechanics are on, I am able to get this out over 300 total.

17° Hybrid: Callaway Super Hybrid, 41.5", Mitsubishi MMT Hybrid 80 TX

No change here. This club is used for one or two shots per round only. I've debated about replacing this with a 4 wood or similar.

21° Hybrid: Callaway Epic Flash, 40", Mitsubishi MMT Hybrid 80 TX

Also no change here. This is one of my favorite clubs, though as my swing has gotten better I use it less and less as I don't need the distance as much anymore.

4 Utility: Cobra KING Utility (2020 Model), 38.5", UST Mamiya Recoil 110 F5

No change! I'm going to reshaft this with a SteelFiber i110 or i95 this offseason to keep it in line with my irons. I use this mostly as a tee club but it is versatile enough to hit from the deck.

5-PW: Ben Hogan PTx Pro, 37" 7 Iron, Aerotech SteelFiber i125cw Stiff

The dark horse winner of my March Club Champion fitting. RIP to Hogan! These clubs are awesome. I think the long irons are the easiest I've ever hit, and I love the consistent four degree gaps and the gapping and distance consistency I get as a result.

50°, 54°, 58°: Edel SMS, V Grind, Nippon Modus 125 Wedge

Thanks, MGS! These were this year's testing opportunity. I really get along well with the high bounce V grind. Definitely check out my review if you are interested in hearing more about these.

Putter: L.A.B. Golf DF 2.1, 36", 68°, Black with Custom Sightlines, BGT Stability Tour, L.A.B. Press II 3°

No change and there won't be for a long, long time. I love this putter, which is as close to automatic as you can get.

Grips: Star Sidewinder, Undersized with Custom Tape Build-Up
Ball: Snell MTB-X Optic Yellow
Tracked By: Shot Scope H4
Bag: Personalized 2020 Sun Mountain Sync
Riding On: CaddyTek Caddylite EZ V8

[Nike SQ Machspeed Fairway reshaft]

Couple of questions:

The Machspeed I'm seeing did not have a bore through hosel. Are you saying that you did not remove the shaft totally and there is still some shaft in the hosel?

I feel like 5/8" is not enough depth, I would expect to see about an inch at minimum, but I've not done any work on non-adjustable fairway hosels. 

16 hours ago, Rtracymog said:

I don't want to knock the hosel cap into the head obviously, but I, of course, need to get the shaft far enough into the head. 

Can you take a picture of what you're calling the hosel cap? I'm not sure what you are referring to? Is it the old ferrule?

16 hours ago, Rtracymog said:

Last question: I just bought an abrasive saw blade for my 10" chop saw with a 3/32" thickness. How thick should the blade be? We used one at work all the time, but I'm not sure the blade thickness.

I just bought whatever was in stock at Home Depot for my abrasive blade. You just have to be sure to account for the thickness of the blade when making the cut. I'd also be sure to wrap some masking or painter's tape around the shaft where the blade will be making the cut.

[Official Cobra Forged Tec Contest & Member Review]

Congratulations, @Lacassem. 

Would make an epic vlog to watch you and @GolfSpy_BOS go at it in match play for nine holes... just saying!

[Casper, WY]

I lived in Casper for a short period of time and played both the municipal and was a range member at Three Crowns. I only played once or twice while I was there, but Three Crowns is a decent track from my memory. It is on the site of an old BP/Amoco oil refinery.

I unfortunately don't remember anything about the muni except that there were plenty of antelope roaming free throughout the course.

[How'd you play?]

42/39 -> 81.

Committed to playing the entire round with the stronger right hand grip from my lesson Friday. Sprayed the ball all over the course off the tee, but hit some good second shots and wedges. Putter speed was on the money today but just missed several putts that would have saved pars.

One bad 5 iron from the tee on a par 3 that hit the hard pan on the left of the green and ran out under trees all the way to the hole behind. 254-yards later it took me three shots to get back on the green and then two putts for a six. Only real awful hole all day.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Full bucket in 90 degree heat working on things from my lesson yesterday. Biggest change was a stronger right hand grip.

Took almost half the bucket before realizing that when I strengthen my right hand grip I am more likely to roll the clubface open on the back swing.

Felt like I was closing the face on the back swing (feel != real) and had some really great results. Noticed that it's much easier to not spin my shoulders open to start the down swing when the my grip is stronger (and I don't open the face on the back swing).

[edingc's Work In Progress]

Probably the last lesson of the season today. Some potato quality videos of my swing below.

Irons are better than driver. My coach would like to see me hit more range balls with the ball off my back foot to encourage my shoulders to stay closed longer as I still have a tendency to spin them open (thanks, baseball...).

With the driver I need to strengthen up my right hand quite a bit, feel more tilt and left hip forward and more outstretched arms at setup. With the driver only I seem to be able to use the feel of keeping my back to the target, while with the irons I can feel my right arm underneath more. 

I'm going to need a lot of range balls before the driver grip feels less foreign.

[Post your “Hole of the Round”]

11 hours ago, mikeanthony said:

The new Shot Scope H4 had its maiden round this afternoon and there were some significant trial and errors on my part … played with the H4 clipped to my belt and it’ll take some time to change up my routine and remember to tap the tag to the H4.

Below is not so much my best hole, but def my proudest. It was a bogey 5 for the hole and I’ll need to learn more about how to edit my score.

The drive was my 3rd longest on the day, managed to carry the tree line, but got an unlucky sloping hard kick to the left … left me just to the right at the base of a tree with low overhanging branches on my line directly at the pin. Had an opening that required me to aim way out to the right of the green and draw it in. Not my stock shot, which is a slight fade. 

Clubbed up with the gap wedge, choked down on the grip with the ball in the back of my stance, took a half-somewhat check swing … and somehow managed to flight the ball below the branches, carry the pond and draw it to the right edge of the fringe. And hot damn did it feel great to pull that shot off.  

My joy was somewhat nullified … putted my 3rd from just off the fringe and got to about 5ft … just burned the edge on my 5 footer, tapped in for bogey. 

 

I find the web interface is nicer for editing holes. I forget to tag things all of the time so I'm in there frequently.

Nice approach! Always fun to pull those kinds of shots off.

[Share your Shot/Hole Of The Day!]

Just one of those shots that you envision and then execute perfectly.

Pushed my drive a little right on No. 17. There is a large tree that is literally on the edge of the fairway. From the tee I was certain I cleared the tree, but I caught a terrible bounce off one of the top limbs and the ball basically dropped straight down 169 yards to the flag. Semi-obstructed shot with trees preventing me from going straight at all but the most left part of the green.

I originally had 8 iron in hand and was going to aim for the left part of the green and hope for a long two putt as the flag was back right. Not sure what got into me but decided I could pull off a cut 7 iron instead.

For once I had everything just right when trying to hit a cut and it was one of the most beautiful shots I think I've ever hit in my life. Landed and stuck about five or six feet behind the flag. 

Now, unfortunately my birdie putt slipped just under the hole which makes this story a whole lot less compelling. But still, the approach was incredible.

[Post your “Hole of the Round”]

5 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Man that’s a short par 5. Understand why it is due to the elevation. Nice play!

Yeah, it's listed at 454 on the card. All uphill and it's not uncommon for the fairways to be pretty long. It's become significantly easier though since they had to take out a dead tree on the inner side of the dogleg (satellite imagery doesn't show that yet). 

But to your point, there's a reason why the rating/slope is 69.4/114 from the back tees. It's not overly long and pretty forgiving as long as you don't find out of bounds around the perimeter of the course or get stuck too deep into the trees between holes.

[Post your “Hole of the Round”]

May have been the most beautiful drive I've hit in my life so had to post it here. This fairway goes up a bit (30 feet from tee box to landing area), so to see 299 is fantastic. Left me a pitching wedge that I left to the underside of the hole. Twenty foot eagle putt just missed, leaving a three inch tap-in birdie.

By the way, the "Elevation Profile" in Google Earth Pro is really cool. You can see the difference in elevation between two points by creating a path and then going to "Edit -> Show Elevation Profile":

[How'd you play?]

17 minutes ago, mikeanthony said:

Nice round, Cody!!

Antsy to get my Shot Scope H4 in the mail and use it for this Saturday's round. You'll need to post a screenshot on @jlukes hole of the round thread!

Thanks! I tried my best not to get too frustrated with myself for the penalty and kept my cool better than I have recently. Resigning myself to committing to changes and scores being what they may be during that period is helpful. Otherwise I tend to get too wrapped up into the score and not the progress. (That being said, I probably hit another seven or eight shots this morning that were a bad mix of old/new swing, I just lucked out and missed in places that didn't hurt me too bad.)

You'll like the H4, I think. I keep a rubber band looped around the clip and the device so it doesn't inadvertently fall out. You can still tag the club okay and read distances even with the band running across the middle of the screen. I like mine for the most part! (I will also go post my drive in the thread...)

[How'd you play?]

I've approached the last three rounds focused on my long-term swing changes. Thankfully they aren't too big of changes at this point, and I'm seeing good results. Some of my old habits still came back throughout my last couple rounds, especially when I try to reach back for "something extra" on the ball from time-to-time.

Two hooked tee balls leading to two penalties over the last two days being the result! Still scores were good:

• 39
• 38/36 -> 74

Besides the double caused by the tee ball this morning, I cancelled out three bogies with three quality birdies and had some good looks at a few more birdies that didn't fall. 

Hit some really, really solid shots and it feels good to see my driver start to cooperate with me which means the changes in what I'm doing are right. Hit some monsters today despite it being very wet and shaggy in most spots. According to ShotScope my best today were 281, 287, 293, 299 (uphill beauty, maybe the best drive of my life), 309 and 318 (downhill).

[What equipment are you thinking about?]

24 minutes ago, vandyland said:

Cracked my 12* driver head this weekend that I just got last month (bought used so no chance for return/repair) so I am back in the market for a 12* driver. Good times!

Might be worth reaching out to Cobra customer service and explain what happened. Worst they can say is that they can't help you, but they've generally been awesome about defects/replacements. You obviously don't know the history of the club so who knows what happened before you... but things do happen.

[Post your “Hole of the Round”]

Two beautiful holes back-to-back this morning for birdies. Pretty sure they are the best I've played both holes all season, not necessarily from a score standpoint, but from a swing/execution standpoint they were spot on.

First up, the lone par 5 on the back, No. 14. Hit one of my best drives all season on this hole into a 10-12 MPH headwind. GPS had me 225 into the center of the green, decided to go for it with my Super Hybrid because I had a perfect lie in the fairway. Water short and right. Ball came out like a dart right at the pin and landed middle of green and rolled out onto back fringe. Chipped down the hill leaving a three footer that snuck in the right side of the cup for a really quality birdie.

Followed that up on the short par 4 No. 15 hole with the best Super Hybrid I've ever hit from the tee. Really high baby draw that actually landed on the right edge of the green and rolled into the back fringe. Hit a perfectly crisp chip shot with my 58 to four inches and tapped in for bird.

[How'd you play?]

48/39 -> 87/84 adjusted

Eh. Decided I needed to finally commit to swing changes on course. Last lesson my coach gave me both long-term changes and short-term band-aids to use. The band-aids worked well for a while, but after being out with COVID for two weeks I lost all of my feels so figured I might as well start changing things for good.

Really didn't play too poorly, but it unfortunately took about six holes to get into a groove this morning. Had a bad first nine (started on 10) going double, bogey, par, +5 (two lost tee balls), bogey (lost ball saved by excellent wedge), double, birdie, par, double.

Second nine was much better and just one or two little things here or there away from being near even par. 

Going to keep grinding and remembering the good shots that I hit this morning. The goal of the changes is to straighten my ball flight out a bit and on ones I hit well it's obviously a much improved flight (including more distance), especially with my driver. Finished the round pounding one 288 uphill, leaving me a pitching wedge into the par 5. By far the shortest club I've ever had into that green (three putted for par  from 30-40 feet).

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Getting back to working on changes from my last lesson. Been guilty of playing too much and not being as focused on making the changes I need to make when I'm on the range.

Trying to get to a point where my face in a lot more stable through impact. My "natural" swing is more of a rolling release, which is fine when my timing is on, but is miserable when it's not. My coach wants me to feel my right arm coming underneath more through the hit. 

Figured out I really need to work on my pivot/turn to get this working correctly, otherwise I hit blocks or thin fades if my trail hip doesn't get out of the way. Practiced with my Super Hybrid, which I almost never do, and hit some really solid ones that hit the fence at the end of the range on a couple hops. I was very happy with that. Just need to be able to take this to the course now.

[How'd you play?]

Finally feeling well enough to get back out and play a full 18. Still getting a little winded from walking, but the physical exhaustion seems to be gone.

41/39 -> 80 / 79 adjusted. Drove the ball pretty well, ending up with a couple 275 yarders on very wet and long fairways and an absolute bomb of 300 yards. Irons and wedges were OK, putting was abysmal with 37 putts.

Trying to get from upper 70s-80 range to mid-lower 70s seems so far away at this point. For those of you who do that routinely, I'm so impressed. I only hit two really bad shots today and it cost me like four strokes. Oh well, keep grinding and hopefully my putting will come around again. I missed three putts inside of five feet today and that can't happen either.

[Ben Hogan Closes its doors]

If true, that's a bummer considering the PTx Pros are really, really good. I don't see them leaving my bag anytime soon. Easiest to hit long irons I've ever had.

That being said, sure, I can see why they didn't make it. Very few options available and nearly impossible to be fit for or customize without spending Club Champion-level money.

[How'd you play?]

36 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Putting was my achilles heel as I had 39 putts (3 3 putts)    39/37:76

Always seems to work that way, doesn't it? One thing goes really well and then something else doesn't cooperate. So maddening.

Very nice round.

[Let’s see some 2021 Accomplishments/2022 Goals]

On 12/31/2021 at 7:32 AM, edingc said:

2022 goals:

1. Fewer strokes lost off the tee, mostly through elimination of penalties.
2. If I complete goal No. 1, I should be able to drop my handicap to 7 or below.
3. Enjoy the moment. I'm not playing to earn a tour card or to pay bills. I'm playing for fun and need to remember that sometimes.
4. (for fun) Exceed my previous long drive recorded on Arccos, which currently stands at a wind-aided 320 yards.

Might as well re-visit these as I'm 3/4 of the way through my season at this point:

1. Season started rough in this area, but has come around since my last lesson. Still losing about 1.3 strokes to penalties from the tee in 2022, which is not a huge improvement over 2021.
2. Handicap has dropped into the high 5s thanks to a nice stretch of scores. Made some improvements in short game and putting this year that have helped a lot, but overall I'm seeing progress throughout the bag (well, except maybe with my driver).
3. Mentally, this year has been tough. I've had a few things get in the way of playing/practicing as much as I'd like to. I'm still really competitive with myself and it's been frustrating at times not seeing the results I feel like I should be seeing. That "sliding scale" of expectations is tough to deal with at times.
4. Pretty sure this sets a new long drive record for me. This one was not wind-aided but I did manage to catch a downslope that probably added the last 20 yards or so:

[How'd you play?]

36 minutes ago, bens197 said:

How are you liking your wedges?

Biggest gamechanger for me with the wedges has been the grind. There's a lot of forgiveness baked into the Edel V grind that I didn't have with my Cobra MIMs. The leading edge relief and the trailing bounce really work well for my swing, especially off of the mushy and wet bluegrass fairways I spend most of my time on. 

The moveable weight is a nice touch also, especially in the toe where it really excels around the greens. I can hit a nice high and soft pitch now that really wasn't part of my game before. My short game touch has left me over the past two weeks or so, but overall I'm pretty comfortable around the greens now. 

I do miss the black finish of the MIMs, which was much nicer in the harsh morning light. But the Edels have definitely secured their spot in my bag.

[How'd you play?]

Brought COVID back from my vacation, and while I'm feeling better I definitely have tried to push it too far twice now.

Before I got sick, I shot a 79 (two Sundays ago now) and then somehow pulled off a 78 the morning I started to feel "off." Was wiped out for about five days and tried to play 18 Sunday but quit after about 12 holes because I was exhausted. 

Waited all week to recover some more and tried 18 again this morning. I made it through about 11 or 12 holes before just hitting a wall and calling it quits.

Played OK for the first nine holes both times, shooting 40 and 39. My putting was horrendous today, which was unfortunate because my driver didn't cost me a single stroke. First drive of the day was piped 298 yards dead straight.

Hopefully this fatigue goes away quickly as I'm running out of season!

[Random Thread]

57 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

While we were in WA, we had gardens most every year... getting smarter and smarter about what to plant, when, and (most importantly) coordinating with neighbors so we weren't all trying to offload zuke's, cuke's, tomato's, etc.  I tried the baby corn one year.  I had no idea the stalk grew to darn near the size of normal corn and the yield was maybe 10... one and done.   My favorites were cucumber and baby tomatoes.  Lot's of yield and I took a Tupperware full of them in my lunch bucket, slathered in Italian dressing, salt and pepper .

I had to get smarter as well. I used to do cherry tomatoes but I'm the only person I know who eats them. Felt awful wasting so many - I can eat a pound or two over a few days but that's enough. Last year I think I pulled about 25 pounds of cherry tomatoes out of the garden. Overkill, obviously. I also used to do cabbage and Brussels sprouts, but last year's cabbage went almost completely to waste (something like 11 heads). I just don't know anyone else who eats them!

Green beans are a staple and even we struggle to keep up with those. I think I've pulled 10 pounds out over the last four days. I should can or freeze, but that's even more time commitment that I just don't have...