[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

29 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... OK, I have said many times I am a big believer in whatever works ... works. So if you find this works for you, have at it. That said, keep in mind you want to grove a swing both physically and mentally. One of the main goals should be a free swinging motion, and that is true whether you are a hitter or a swinger. I have found more often than not, those that use a muscle back blade to groove their swing tend to get tense, over think, guide the club and instead of a free swing they begin to have their main focus on hitting the center of the face not the swing as a whole. Obviously hitting the center is ideal as long as it is the result of a free swing, not a goal in and of itself. 

... So I am not trying to talk anyone out of anything, just be aware that the best way to improve your ball striking is practicing with the irons/woods you normally use. It not only improves your physical swing, it improves your mental outlook because if you can stripe your 4 iron on the range, you know you can stripe it on the course. Conversely if your mishits are minimized with your iron but more penal with a MB, you know you can mishit your 4 iron which is not the kind of confidence you are trying to build. Good luck! 

I've taken this advice to heart and that is now why my "4 iron" is actually a "4 utility." A lot more forgiveness packed in. 

[Unofficial Review: Titleist Pro V1/V1x RCT Radar Optimized Golf Balls]

Still using the same RCT ball that I started with. No cracks and the ball speeds seem to be about right, yet. Titleist quality, for sure. I've cracked three other balls now so I continue to be impressed by the longevity of this single ball.

I've learned that the Mevo+ can be pretty finicky and sensitive. Last night I think I did not have the tilt of the Mevo+ quite right (maybe not fully extended), and it was giving me lower than expected launch angles and heights throughout the bag. But, more relevant to this topic, I had a number of estimated non-reads with the RCT ball, and more misreads than I had in other sessions.

For example, out of 20 full swing 9 irons, I had three register as 12,000+ RPM, while the remainder were in the 6,000-8,000 RPM range. Moving to some of the longer clubs I was seeing a lot more estimated reads than I have come to expect.

Again, I think my setup may have been the issue, so I'll pay attention to that next time out.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

10 hours ago, Shapotomous said:

A little chilly tonight at 35* but still got a few swings in tonight with a 5i out in the pole barn.  Working on shaft lean and compressing the ball.  My plan is to only practice with 5 or 4 irons this winter to train using a longer iron.  It was so windy this week we had a local leaf rule in effect in there!  

I like to do that as well. Figure if I can consistently hit a 4 iron from the deck then anything shorter should be no issue at all! Or at least that's the hope... 

[2020 Forum Member Review - SuperSpeed Training System]

8 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

And sure enough, almost as soon as I post the question here, SuperSpeed’s protocol revisions are posted.

Here’s the link…they make you create an account to access now…

https://train.superspeedgolf.com/welcome/?mepr-unauth-page=1207&redirect_to=%2F

Wow. Seems to be a significant drop in volume from what I remember their more advanced protocols being prior. Good to see them taking some feedback/real world results and modifying.

[Rate my thought and feel process]

I think the important thing to remember is that feels are different for every person. There's a good Team TaylorMade video out there on YouTube with Morikawa and Tiger talking about the feels they have with their irons, and they're completely different but basically arriving at the same goal.

I can say that your feeling of the body being first to the ball is not a swing feel that would work well for me. While I agree that the body movement in the downswing is responsible for squaring the club face, I can't use that feel. It doesn't mean that it's wrong for you to feel that, but with my tendencies that would get me spinning out with my shoulders and my arms stuck behind me. I typically need to feel my hands being the main contributor to my downswing, not to flip at the ball, but to feel like my hands and arms are accelerating off my chest. But I have no issue with getting my hips open enough even without feeling like I do anything with the hips or body.

Based on your posts I assume you would agree with me here - at the end of the day the ball doesn't care about how you arrived at impact. It only cares about conditions (i.e. path, face angle, dynamic lie/loft, speed) at the moment of impact. If you are getting the ball flight and results that you want, then great! Whatever you're doing is working. 

[Unofficial Review: Titleist Pro V1/V1x RCT Radar Optimized Golf Balls]

9 hours ago, golfish! said:

Ok so first impressions the packaging and ball doesn't seem to be any different than a standard prov1. Unfortunately I made the mistake of ordering a prov1 rct instead of the prov1x rct so that I could do a direct comparison as I only have BNIB prov1x. So anyway I proceeded with the test and have found something very interesting.  The Garmin R10 picks up the standard balls fine. No metallic dots and not aligning the balls in any particular way.  Can't speak for accuracy of spin numbers but judging as I was hitting full 7i shots which I normally use for total distance of 140-150, that's what I was getting on the Garmin with the standard Prov1x. When I switched over to the RCT, the R10 only picked up 2 shots out of 10. Thinking it might be the unit not the ball,  I change back to the standard ProV1x and the unit picked up the shot right away.  Thinking it could be the club, I tried hitting chip shots with the 56 wedge. Same deal.  The R10 missed 1 or 2 out of 10 with the standard ProV1 but missed 9 out of 10 with the RCT. Not sure if I'll be able to continue this test but will try to gather more data.  Might try to reach out to Garmin support and see if they can answer. 

Interesting results. I'm not very familiar with the R10. Does it have optional stickers to put on the ball?

Good example of perhaps the software needs to be setup to handle the marking lines correctly. I'll be curious to see if Garmin support has an answer for you.

[What Have You Bought Lately? (CHA - Club Ho's Anonymous)]

30 minutes ago, RollingGreens said:

I had been doing well until today. I have wanted a new putter upgrading from my old Taylor made spider tour. Luckily Taylor made had a sale for the spider ex, on sale and free shipping! I closed the browser a few times but I figured it makes more sense to buy one now with the discounts than later. Plus it allows me to continue to fill out my wife’s golf bag, when we go out together I’ll use an old 2 ball gang and she uses the old spider because she likes how lightweight it is. Let’s just say that how I am justifying the purchase!

Funny how that works. I have a Spider X that I wanted to sell/trade last summer until my wife got a hold of it. It's now a permanent fixture in her golf bag.

[Building My 2021 Sticks - Sub70 699/699 Pro Combo Set]

Update on this build:

I played these irons throughout 2021 without issue. They have been awesome to hit and feel great. The ball flies off the club face, and although the heads don't produce the most spin in the world when combined with the MMTs, I hit the ball high enough that I have no trouble holding greens as long as I use the right ball (MTB-X, ProV1x, Maxfli Tour X). 

One thing I ended up not liking so much was the offset of the 4-6 699 heads, especially when directly compared to the 699 Pro heads in 7-GW. I replaced the 4 iron with a Cobra KING 4 Utility, which has proven to be more forgiving and has much less offset to my eyes. 

I entertained thoughts about getting a new iron fit this upcoming summer. But after the last few weeks I decided that the Sub70s are too good to part with. Instead, I snapped up a Cyber Monday deal on a used set of 699 Pros to scavenge the 5 and 6 iron heads for my MMTs.

Unfortunately, after removing the heads, I've found the bottom bore to ground measurement of the 699 Pros is 1/4" less than the 699s (3/4" vs. 1"). This means my 5 and 6 iron shafts are slightly short of where they played in the 699s.

Compounding matters a bit, I apparently was pretty sloppy when putting together the 5 iron. It appears I left a shaft plug from the original shafts in the hosel on the 5 iron, so my BBTG measurement was extended by an additional 1/8". Because of this, the 5 iron shaft is closer to 3/8" short in the 699 Pro head.

I will have no choice but to get a shaft extension for the 5 iron. I am debating if I want to extend the 6 iron, or I've considered cutting the other shafts by 1/4" to match. When building clubs I measure to the ungripped end of the cut shaft, so my 37" 7 iron typically finishes around 37.25" when accounting for the grip. This means my swingweights are a little on the heavier side (D4-D5). I could shave 1/4" from everything and probably be in the D3 range. 

I'll probably build up the 6 iron as is and see how it feels hitting some balls before making a decision.

[Rypstick Speed Training]

I've been able to continue using the Rypstick two times a week, doing a modified level two routine that includes feet together, step change and lead heel lift swings. I'm not about to get on my knees on the concrete (even with a pad), so that is the reason for the feet together swings. 

I was actually able to be outside for my session yesterday, and I'm seeing very slow but steady results from the Rypstick, weight training and just taking a lot of swings focused on speed.

I saw 141 twice on the Sports Sensors Radar doing the no-weight, step change and no-weight, lead heel lift swings. That's pretty solid for me. I also was able to get the two-weight, normal swing up to 127. Additionally, I've noticed my non-dominant swings have improved quite a bit as well.

I've been watching ball speeds on my Mevo+ with my 7 iron and they are creeping up to the 130 MPH territory, often 131-132 when I find the sweet spot. That's major progress. I did break out the driver on Saturday and hit 116 MPH club speed, but was all over the heel and low face and only once or twice got to 167+ ball speed. Lots to work on there mechanically.

I did not continue with my custom workout routine with Sarah after my second month. She was very helpful throughout the two-three months I worked with her, but ultimately I went another route with my training.

[Purchases that have made a difference]

8 hours ago, 03trdblack said:

As much as I hate to fan the flames of hype of the Autoflex shaft, I took a leap and bought one used and it's been a game changer for me. I instantly picked up 4-6 mph of swing speed and there's NO reason a shaft that's this flexible should hit the ball as straight as it does. I'm seeing places on my course that I rarely even sniffed before. 

Second this. My AF 505x/Epic Max LS combo has made a huge difference in my driver distance/accuracy. Once I got a driver lesson at the end of last year I was hitting 300+ yard drives with a ridiculous amount of frequency.

Close second place would be my Mitsubishi MMTs. They feel great, and there's no way I could practice as much as I do off mats in the winter without graphite shafts. They help so much with eliminating joint aches and pains.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

27 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... I mean this as a compliment, but I have no idea how you are a 9.1 index with that swing. 

Hahahaha. Thanks! My problem is between my shoulders, mostly. I tend to go through streaks of really good and then really bad play. Not a whole lot of in between.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Making a concerted effort to make some changes in my setup. I have for the longest time had a nasty habit of getting too hunched over at setup. What I found was that I would hinge my wrists way too much at setup by bending over and dropping the arms and hands in, and then the toe of the club would be way up at address. 

I've been focusing on feeling like the butt of the club is pointing at my belt buckle or higher by removing most of the hinge in my wrists. That magically got me hitting the center of the club more because I wasn't raising the handle nearly as much on the way through.

After having good success with my irons today, I tried hitting my driver for the first time in the garage. It took quite a few swings to get comfortable, but once I did I had some good results. I really have to emphasize a full backswing and what feels like a very subtle pause at the top before exploding down. When I got it right I was very happy, with club speeds touching 116 MPH on the Mevo+ a few times, and ball speeds nearing 167 MPH. Scaling down to "on course" swings yielded 110-112 MPH with 160+ ball speeds so I'm happy with that at the moment.

Swing thought today was long backswing, explode the hands out to the right. 

 

[Unofficial Review: Titleist Pro V1/V1x RCT Radar Optimized Golf Balls]

As far as durability goes, my initial sacrificial ball is still holding strong! The cover is a little worse for wear from the concrete, but it has not cracked yet. My best guess is that it has close to 600 shots on it at this point, including over 100 drivers. My ball speeds today hit 165-167 at times, so I'm impressed by the ball still hanging in there. 

I obviously wouldn't play something like this on the course, but in the garage it's more than fine.

[Unofficial Review: Titleist Pro V1/V1x RCT Radar Optimized Golf Balls]

1 hour ago, Nolan220 said:

@edingc did you upgrade the Mevo+ with the $1,000 update ?

I have not ordered the Pro Package yet. I'm not positive if I will or not. $1,000 is enough that it gives me some pause. If it was a $500 upgrade I'd probably be all over it.

My instructor (who is also a college golf coach), has a Mevo+ for easy transportation to/from events since it's much smaller than Trackman. He did some testing indoors with his Trackman vs. the Mevo+ and the numbers were neck-and-neck up until the longer clubs. He said he is going to order the Pro package and test it out, so he told me to wait until he can see how it compares to his TM.

21 minutes ago, Clayton said:

Have you guys used them on Trackman yet?  How did you purchase them? 

I dropped one off to my instructor earlier this week for him to test on his TM. I have not heard if he has tried it yet or not. I'm using it with the Mevo+, @golfish! is going to use it with the Garmin R10.

I was able to order directly through Titleist's website, which shows the ProV1x RCT is still in stock at the moment. $65 + tax, and free shipping. Better deal than when I bought them and paid $5 shipping a few weeks ago. I ordered on Nov. 13 and they shipped Nov. 24.

I have well over 200 shots on the only RCT I've used so far and it is holding up well.

[Unofficial Review: Titleist Pro V1/V1x RCT Radar Optimized Golf Balls]

27 minutes ago, BMart519 said:

I added dots to a dozen balls that are a mix of new Z star and used Tour B XS and Pro V1. I alternate through the 12 balls then go collect them and repeat. If you are concerned about breakage, this is probably a better approach than using 1 ball over an entire session. I hit in the garage which is not climate controlled, so I keep the balls and clubs indoors this winter. I plan to do the same thing with the RCT's to make them last as long as possible given the price. 

Yeah, after this initial durability test ball bites the dust, I will rotate through them on a more regular basis during a session. I'm still very impressed that this first ball has held up as well as it has.

[Unofficial Review: Titleist Pro V1/V1x RCT Radar Optimized Golf Balls]

5 minutes ago, Bucky CC said:

That's awesome they seem to be working for you already.  Imagine how much they could improve once Mevo and Garmin change their specific coding to recognize the balls in the future.

It will be interesting to see the overall durability of these.  I started last winter using my regular ProV1x gamer balls but ended up switching to Titleist Practice balls after splitting a few of the ProV's.

Thanks for sharing your results along the way!

I split a Z-Star and a MTB-X after not that many swings using the metallic dot, I assume due to hitting in one spot only. On the flip side, I have a Q-Star Tour that I use for all of my warm ups and when I'm less focused on perfect numbers. It has seen a lot of swings and hasn't split yet, but the cover is nearly gone at this point.

I didn't really touch on spin from my session last night, but I would say so far I'm getting measured spin that seems accurate about 90 percent of the time. There are still a few missed reads, and I've also had a few over reads where I will get 10,000+ RPM on a hybrid or mid-iron. But overall, I'm happy with them. They definitely improve the indoor experience.

I dropped one off to my instructor yesterday. He has both a Mevo+ and a Trackman 3 and is going to give it a test in his indoor space as well.

[Unofficial Review: Titleist Pro V1/V1x RCT Radar Optimized Golf Balls]

I've been really impressed with the durability of the RCTs. I hit probably 50-60 balls on Sunday with mid-irons and wedges with a single RCT. Last night I used the same RCT to hit about 100 more shots, including about 25 shots with my 4 hybrid. Over the last 10 swings with my hybrid Mevo+ registered ball speeds averaging 147 MPH, so the ball took some abuse going into the net and vinyl target. My hypothesis about spreading out the impacts around the entire ball leading to longer ball life seems to be supported so far.

I have added a few large sheets of cardboard to the floor between the net and my stance/hitting mats. The ball tends to kick back or roll off of the target and having the cardboard there catches most of the balls before they hit concrete and scuff the cover. Indoor/outdoor carpet would probably be better, but I'm making due with what's available.

[Pet Pictures]

Last night ours stole my seat. Charlotte just likes to give me that look so I won't take it back. Seems to work most of the time.  She'll be seven in January.

[What Have You Bought Lately? (CHA - Club Ho's Anonymous)]

AHHHH. I had done so well this Black Friday/Cyber Monday of not purchasing anything. Oh well.

Picked up a lightly used 5-PW set of Sub 70 699 Pros with the Sub70 branded Project X 6.0 graphite shafts from Sub70 directly with their sale. I had been wanting to replace the regular 699s in my gamer set for a while because the difference in offset between the 699/699 Pros just didn't suit my eye. But Sub70 won't sell individual heads, and I figured ordering two new individual clubs to dissemble didn't make financial sense.

I will pull the 5 and 6 heads and swap them into my game shafts while the 4, 5 and 6 regular 699 heads will make up part of a new combo set.

I'll give my brother-in-law first dibs on them for a good price if he wants them, but otherwise don't be surprised to see them in B/S/T soon.

[Unofficial Review: Titleist Pro V1/V1x RCT Radar Optimized Golf Balls]

6 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Will be interested in your results.   I am guessing that the intent of these and why they will work with other radar based launch monitors is they “minimize” the interference that the radar receives from metal and fluorescent lighting and helps the radar unit lock in on the ball.  I say that because I’ve read comments on other forums  that the advice received from customer support is to reduce this type of interference.  

I have a pretty good setup in my garage with all LED utility lighting and only minimal metal objects (I hit parallel to the door, which is mostly wood anyway). I still did not have particularly great results using the metallic dots included with the Mevo+.

One of the biggest detractors of the dots for me is the need to hit the ball in a similar location each time, since the Mevo+ only reads spin if the dot is faced away from the radar at impact. Balls just are not meant to take that many impacts in such a small area, combined with hitting the target/net and stopping quickly. I cracked two balls in the first couple hundred swings and I haven't hit anything longer than a 4 hybrid yet. My hope is that I will be able to more even distribute the strikes on the RCTs and make them last significantly longer. It's not uncommon for me to take 150 swings in a practice session if I'm trying to work on something specific.

Most of the time I just use a ball without a dot and focus on general shape, height, club and ball speed. The Mevo+ is plenty accurate with those, even without dots. But I'm really wanting to do a full bag gapping this winter and create a reliable wedge matrix. Both require accurate spin because the estimated spin Mevo+ provides is generally too low and results in carry distances that are closer to fliers than actual distances.

[Unofficial Review: Titleist Pro V1/V1x RCT Radar Optimized Golf Balls]

My order of the Titleist Pro V1x RCT golf balls arrived yesterday. Together with @golfish!, we wanted to create this thread for our unofficial reviews of these new releases from Titleist. Per the marketing material, these balls feature an "internal radar reflective marker" and are "optimized for indoor spin capture."

While they were developed specifically for use with Trackman, the majority of my testing will be with a Flightscope Mevo+ in my garage hitting bay, while @golfish! has a Garmin Approach R10 launch monitor.

I have already finished an impromptu test session with them, and my initial results/feedback is extremely positive.

[Christmas Wish Item]

2 hours ago, Headhammer said:

Honestly, there is not a thing out there that I want right now. Weird, right?

Not really. I haven't seen anything of late that I really, really need. But, having to spend it:

• The upgraded club head data for Mevo+ ($1,000)
• New set of 50/54/58 wedges with matching MMT wedge shafts (~$700)
• Stash away the extra $300 for a couple rounds somewhere new, probably Arcadia South and maybe American Dunes.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

16 minutes ago, Shapotomous said:

@JerryB  Nice simple indoor setup!  I wish I had the ceiling height for that in the basement and didn't need to put my net out in the unheated pole barn. 

Make sure that throw rug is cushioned enough so you aren't damaging wrists & elbows with the concrete underneath.  You might want to consider a layer of the 2'x2' drycore subfloor between the rug & concrete. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DRICORE-Subfloor-Membrane-Panel-3-4-in-x-2-ft-x-2-ft-Oriented-Strand-Board-FG10006/202268752#overlay

I put those under my mat and it made a difference for me.

Definitely good advice here. I'm considering doing something similar, or just adding about 1/2" or so of foam padding glued to the bottom of the Flightdeck and under the stance mat to level it. 

Even with graphite shafts in everything I still get some aching joints from the Fiberbuilt off the concrete, even though the Flightdeck is probably the best for joint pain of all of the available mats in that price range ($55 on Amazon).

[edingc's Work In Progress]

10 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Are you wanting to run that much for overall health or are you looking for it to translate to your golf game?

Overall I know you’re very intentional and methodical about your training, but (my two cents) I’m a little concerned you’re not programming enough rest.  Do you really feel you can go all out and push yourself in your weight training if you’re continuously running that much every week?

Yeah, the running is more of just something to do at lunchtime a few days a week. I'd do something more low impact but I absolutely hate cardio machines. The only thing it does do is help keep me in better shape for walking 5+ mile 18 hole rounds 3-4 days a week in the summer. In fact, I can say with certainly all of the walking from this past summer really improved my fitness as jogging hasn't really been all that tough to transition to.

I'm definitely at my upper limits and need to watch that. I may just switch M/W/F to a warm-up lap or two (it's a 1/9th mile track), and then move to mobility work for the remainder of the time. I was doing well with my weightlifting, and had reached my previous personal bests in almost everything, but two weeks ago I tweaked what I believe to be the sartorius muscle in my right leg by pushing too far in a stretch. So it's been only light movements of the lower body trying to rehab that - of course, I'm still swinging a club without pain thankfully. 

Realistically, besides general health, the ultimately measurement of progress is club/ball speed, which does seem to be trending slightly in the right direction. I'm still dealing with adjusting to swinging indoors somewhat, but my top end ball speeds with my 7 iron have been slowly inching toward my target goal of 130 MPH. Though I'm still a bit away from that being my "normal."

I appreciate the feedback! I know there's a bit too much programmed here to make huge gains in any one area, and it's good to have some checks-and-balances on that. 

4 hours ago, Thin2win said:

Love the practice area, I had to do something similar after moving this year to a snow zone. 

But on the topic of running, it made me think of this old article :

https://runningmagazine.ca/the-scene/tiger-woods-regrets-running-so-much-but-he-mightve-been-overtraining/

I'm very jealous of your GC3, though I've been surprised at how well the Mevo+ has adapted to being indoors. I did end up stopping by Home Depot yesterday and picked up a Mr. Heater propane heater with built-in fan and a carbon monoxide detector. It was 36 degrees while I was hitting yesterday, but with the heater blowing in my direction it was very comfortable once I got past the initial 10-20 warm up swings.

I remember watching the Tiger "documentary" that was on HBO this past year and they specifically talked about his SEAL training stuff and running in combat boots. Safe to say he was definitely overtraining. I don't love running, but it's just something to kill 30 minutes at lunch three days a week.

[Dude, I'm getting a Mevo+!]

1 hour ago, golfish! said:

@edingc by the way my wife just upgraded from an s10e to an S21ultra for 300 after trade in. Verizon is having a crazy trade in deal right now. 650 trade in value for most phones. Also, any update on your Titleist RCT balls? I think I got a shipping update they should be here in another week or so.

I'll have to look at upgrading the phone soon. For now, the iPhone is working great. I tried the sim features on it and it was a little underwhelming on such a small screen but might be fun as the winter drags on.

I believe my RCT balls will be here this weekend. Looking forward to them, mostly so that I can hopefully get spin readings without needing to hit the same spot on the ball each time. I cracked a second ball today. They're just not meant to be hit over and over again like that.