[How'd you play?]

3 hours ago, Lacassem said:

The weather around here has been spectacular, I am glad I got out...but to sum up my actual play in 2 words? "Dog "

3 Fairways, 2 greens, 4 three putts and 2 penalties for a whopping 50. I also hit about 7 traps, if it wasn't 7 it sure felt like it.

I was in my own head the whole round and after hole 7 (6 and 7 were my only 2 good holes) I got a call from work that threw me way off once I finally got into a groove. Didn't even finish the last hole....I was probably not good company for @B.Bostontoday but I am glad I could provide a laugh at my expense and my foul mouth on the last 2.

While I didnt play well 6/7 showed me that A) planemate is working when I focus and stop worrying about outside factors and B) the shots were so crisp.

6-hit a somewhat heely drive 274, 9 iron in 2 putt par.

7-pured a 3 wood, little high but went 244, pured a 7 iron which was a little to much club but the way I was playing wanted to make sure I got it to the green. 2 putt from 15'

View from my 2nd shot

Gorgeous course, and a stellar 3 wood there. That hole looks like it would not jive well with my game, between the bunker pinching off the landing area and the elevated/protected green.

[FlightScope Mevo]

12 hours ago, golfish! said:

@edingc quick update...so I tried to set up my Rukket Pop Up net on a patch of grass in my apartment complex aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnd it was a bad idea as I popped up a drive that went over the net and luckily into the empty lot next to the complex and not into someone's windshield so not doing that again...

I did managed to hit some real balls (TP5, ProV1x, Bridgestone something lol) into a screen at my local golf galaxy. For $30 you can rent the bay for 30 minutes and as long as it is not busy they will let you stay a little longer. Buddy and I hit wedges, irons, and driver on a GC2 (no HMT). I set up my Mevo on indoor mode as well to compare numbers. I placed the Mevo on the carrying case (for a range finder) as the mat was quite a bit elevated from the floor of the bay. I don't have the actual numbers or screens but I did notice some trends:

• Wedge spin numbers (did not use the stickers) are consistently lower by about 2-3K RPM on the Mevo compared to the GC2
• CHS on the GC2 without HMT is calculated using a fixed efficiency ratio so the GC2 without HMT is a terrible indicator for your actual CHS
  • can't even really begin to compare because you are trying to compare measured vs calculated using a constant
• Ball speeds were fairly close
  • on wedges and mid irons the ball speeds were within 1-3 MPH +/-
  • on driver shots, the ball speed was consistently lower on the Mevo by about 5 MPH
• Carry distances were fairly close until you get to the driver
  • can't compare total distance because the Mevo only gives you carry
  • wedges and irons the carry distances were within 5-10 yards ( i know this could be a club up or down for some people) but no consistency on +/- 
  • driver carry distance was consistently lower on the Mevo by as much as 30 YARDS!!!
    • for example, my best drive was one that carried 270 and rolled out to 299 on the GC2
      • on the Mevo this came up as carry of 240ish
    • My buddy hit one that carried 285 and rolled out to 315
      • the Mevo recorded this as only 250 of carry
• Launch angles were fairly close within 1-3 degrees +/- with any club

Overall I would say for the price, I still believe the Mevo is a great tool for looking at trends. Depending on the club you are hitting you can look at some of the data as fairly accurate (carry distance with wedges and up to mid irons, did not hit any woods other than driver so don't know about those, launch angles, backspin with driver surprisingly was fairly close within a few hundred RPM). The ball speed was also surprisingly close though I think the issue with the much shorter carry distances on the Mevo is due to the calculations being different. Based on how I have been driving the ball lately, I know that the GC2 distances were much closer to my actual than the Mevo. Still, now that I have that info, I know that I can add about 20 yards of carry to my driver shots on the range and track my trends in ball speed. Hope this info helps you and anyone else with a Mevo.

This is good feedback and confirms what I've come to learn about the Mevo. It is generally precise when using the same class of ball (range vs. gamer) with ball speeds. I don't question the ball speeds that come out of the Mevo with most of my clubs, though I will admit since the last update I am finding the driver to record slower ball speeds than it used to (especially in relation to the shorter clubs). It could be my swing, but my Arccos numbers don't reflect that.

(Notice I said precise and not accurate within class of ball - comparing ball speeds with range ball vs. gamer would not be accurate, though that's not the Mevo's fault. And ball-to-ball range balls vary quite a bit, too.)

I've given up on carry distances with longer clubs and range balls because it's too wildly variable depending on the spin numbers. Once you get to the 7 iron and shorter, it seems to be much more consistent to me. I don't dot my range balls, of course.

I really need to get on course with the Mevo and try it with my Snells.

[Cobra Connect Five-Pre Challenge Chatter-Testers Announced.]

4 minutes ago, rbsiedsc said:

Hoping people went with the Link. I have been using it a few months, and despite a blue moon not picking up GPS it works wonders!

That's good feedback, I'm just not sure I want to shell out $130 for the Link plus renew my subscription (which is due in two weeks). With the money for those two things, I can nearly get four lessons or put some money toward my winter Skytrak setup.

I had very few issues with Arccos during #CC4, but it has been very hit or miss this year so far. It doesn't help that Android is a moving target of security/compatibility and there are a huge range of devices to support, but I'm using the same Samsung S10e as last year. I've noticed way more erratic GPS behavior and it really makes me question the value of "knowing my distances" when I'm not certain the shot was actually detected near where I hit it and not when I pulled it from the bag or when I put it back in.

The GPS inaccuracy isn't likely Arccos' issue. But, I'm stuck in limbo trying to decide if paying $100 to renew is worth it. I've looked at getting an old iPhone, but they're not significantly cheaper than the Link.

[Cobra Connect Five-Pre Challenge Chatter-Testers Announced.]

1 hour ago, jlukes said:

Arccos has shipped out our sensors, so we should be able to start using shortly those to create some baseline data with our current clubs

You've been an on and off Arccos user in the past, correct?

And larger question to the competitors - Android or iPhone? Or did everyone go with the Link?

[How'd you play?]

1 minute ago, rbsiedsc said:

It’s why we play the game. As an aside, Adam young pointed out that pros have spread of 10-15 shots. Granted they play super tough tracks, but goes to show that even pros have a range. 

Yup. And I played the last three holes terribly as I had to rush a bit due to time (and let's be honest - I knew I wasn't in the running for a "low" round so maybe my mind was wandering a bit.)

Finished triple, double, quad. Unplayable ball in a pine tree on 16, sprayed my tee shot way right on 17 and on 18 after actually hitting the fairway I somehow snap hooked a pitching wedge from 135 yards onto the driving range (marked as OB) and then hit my drop into the bunker way behind the green. 

[How'd you play?]

- 43/49 = 92 / 91 ESC (+20)
- 3/15 FIR
- 4/18 GIR
- 32 Putts (1 3-putt, 12 2-putts, 5 1-putts)

Same course, two days later, 20 more shots... hahahaha. Just couldn't get anything going this morning.

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

18 hours ago, juspoole said:

Agree - tough to beat them for the price and quality you get.  Haven't tried the Kirkland ones to compare as they just brought out the Lefty (right hand) gloves that I would wear.  

I would encourage you to give the Kirklands a shot. I was an MG guy for as long as I've been playing seriously, but I think the Kirklands last a lot longer before stretching out.

[Unofficial Review: L.A.B. Golf Directed Force 2.1 Putter]

1 minute ago, M. Parsons said:

Do you have a video of your putting set-up/stance?  I seem to think that a mirror would help me to make sure I'm always aligned correctly...as in where my eyes are in relation to the ball...typically inside and behind the ball, I just don't know if I'm consistent in the distance inside and behind.

I don't have one handy at the moment, but will add it to things to grab next time I'm at the putting green with my GoPro.

I do know when I'm more upright with the L.A.B. my eyes rest at least one inch inside the ball.

[How'd you play?]

9 minutes ago, M. Parsons said:

Bro, that's an awesome scorecard.  Is this your lowest round to date, or have you shot lower before?

Lowest round to date. I had a 76 here last fall during #CobraConnect and a 75 earlier this season. The biggest difference with today's round was that I got off to a good start and didn't hurt myself with mental mistakes.

[Unofficial Review: L.A.B. Golf Directed Force 2.1 Putter]

Funny how easily you can fall back into old habits. On Saturday the L.A.B. went ice cold on the back nine. I wasn't missing my lines by much, but my speed control (which has been such a big improvement with the L.A.B.) was miserable. I had four three-putts and was just way short or way long with everything.

I noticed that I had started to really hunch over in my setup. Part of the reason I went with the 36" L.A.B. was so that wouldn't happen, but I started to really bend my elbows and grip down to facilitate the hunch. Today, I focused on standing more upright at setup and it made a huge different. My distance control was fantastic as I did not three-putt during my round today, despite hitting 15/18 greens and having some first putts that approached 50 feet in length.

[Rypstick Speed Training]

I'm really loving the Rypstick as a quick tool to loosen up a bit before the round. Much more convenient than carrying multiple sticks in that regard, and I also prefer it to my SKLZ Gold Flex stick that is more geared toward tempo than speed/loosening up.

I'm just about done with the first 12 workout set. Truth be told, I haven't really been tracking (I do use the radar) and I'm not even positive I haven't already completed my 12th workout. Again, my goal was to keep my speed up and not necessarily add.

I am starting to see the effects of speed training throughout the bag, however. During this morning's round Arccos measured two tee shots with my 4 hybrid (which I treat like a 5/6 wood) at 250 and 259 yards. I also notched a 169 yard 9 iron, and on No. 17 needing a little cut against a 10 MPH wind, I landed another 9 iron around 160 right where I was aimed.

The stick has held up really well, and the mechanism is solid. It is really simple to change the weights. The workouts are just the right amount of swings. I still hate the knee swings, but overall I am beginning to understand how they improve speed and the swing.

[How'd you play?]

24 minutes ago, rbsiedsc said:

Those 15 GIRs are impressive! Keep up the great work. Glad you mental got back on track

 

14 minutes ago, ejgaudette said:

Great round out there. Great job keeping that focus I had a couple holes on the my recent round where after bad drives I told myself to keep the focus and still try and score. I came very close to 2 big pars, but still was a lost closer to that than allowing a blow up. I hope to score like this one day, but for now happy to see someone else pull it off.

 

6 minutes ago, CarlH said:

Nicely done!

Thanks, guys! I will say, it is incredible how much effort it takes to be mentally focused over an entire 18 holes. It helped that everything was clicking today with the irons. A lot less worry in the back of my mind. 

Definitely set a high bar now, but hopefully I can keep building on this and gain some more consistency in scoring. 

[How'd you play?]

 Siren alert time again! 

- 37/35 = 72 (E)
- 9/15 FIR
- 15/18 GIR (1 birdie)
- 33 Putts (16 2-putts, 1 1-putt, 1 chip-in)

All I told myself this morning on the way to the course was to be mindful and focus. I mentioned after my last round I was mentally out of it, so I was determined to not let that happen again. 

Irons were fantastic, driver was ok but didn't kill my score and my distance control with the putter was great. I got a little taller with my putting stance and that really helped me regain the touch I lost on Saturday.

Came up two rolls short of a birdie on 14 and lipped out my birdie putt from 10 feet on 18. So close to being under par!

[Post Your Swing]

2 hours ago, M. Parsons said:

Looks like really good tempo as well...nice swing.

 

1 hour ago, gavinski91 said:

You know it's a good swing when you generate lots of club head speed but look like you aren't really trying!

What shot tracing program are you using for the video? I'd like to get something similar for the Cobra Connect Challenge.

Thanks! Tempo is something that is always on my mind, not wanting to rush my downswing. Sometimes I get quick and hit some nasty looking shots.

@gavinski91 The app I'm using here is ShotTracerPro on Mac OS. They make an iPhone and Android version as well, though I never had a lot of luck with the Android version. The app implies that it costs money (if you read the website), but I downloaded it for free and it seems to be fully featured. It does a decent job, too!

[Post Your Swing]

Working on a few things at the range today. I'm realizing a lot of my issues still boil down to letting my forearms roll the club back inside. Focusing on letting my hands work back and not around, keeping the club head outside of hands at parallel.

Another thing I'm working on from an old lesson is feeling like I pick the club up a little more, getting a little more wrist set earlier in the swing. Else I pull myself off the ball and get stuck on my backside.

This is a good swing where I did both well!

 

[Broke 90, now time for 80]

18 hours ago, rbsiedsc said:

100 on the dot today. Many things could have made it possible. I look back at the start of my round struggling to get out of a fairway bunker. 

Looks like you're just needing to avoid one big number hole to break 100 easily. Lots of progress there!

[What equipment are you thinking about?]

2 hours ago, PMookie said:

Thinking of my 8 iron... Head came off at the range!!! Never had this happen.

Looks like someone didn't prep that shaft at all? Way too much shine on that chrome!

Hopefully they get you squared away. Needs a good rub with some 80 grit.

[How'd you play?]

A weekend filled with up-and-down golf, but most importantly I got to get out for five holes yesterday morning with my wife, who hasn't been able to play since the fall of 2018 due to a shoulder injury and botched surgery. I played the forward tees with her, we didn't keep score and jumped around holes. I carried with a minimalist bag of only six clubs plus putter to lighten the load (she got the cart!). It was a blast.

She's rocking my old Spider X and new-to-her Exotics EXS driver and fairway wood. 

Saturday afternoon I played at Moss Ridge Golf Course in Ravenna, MI, with my father-in-law and brother-in-law. I've played here a few times before and really enjoy the course. It's an old apple orchard, the course is open and fairly forgiving but the wind is a big factor. It's also a bargain at $39 peak rate on weekends with brand new, GPS-enabled carts. I started off really well and recorded my first 300-plus yard drive of the season (a new career best 311 yards) with "just a bit " of wind help on the second par 5. Unfortunately, my putter went ice cold on the back nine and I made a bad, bad mental mistake in taking not enough club on my approach to No. 17 green that led to a triple bogey and kind of ended the round on a sour note.

- 43/44 = 87 (+15) 
- 7/14 FIR
- 8/18 GIR
- 37 Putts (4 3-putts (all on the back...), 11 2-putts, 3 1-putts)

I meant to play 18 holes this morning, had a great warm-up on the range, striped my opening hybrid but started making mental mistakes on No. 3 and just never got into the round. Decided after nine holes that I was just mentally exhausted and headed to the parking lot instead of making the turn. 

- 47 / 45 ESC = +11
- 1/7 FIR
- 2/9 GIR
- 17 Putts (8 2-putts, 1 1-putt)

I hit the ball really well all weekend, even this morning, but made too many mental mistakes leading to big numbers of the scorecard. Just am having issues avoiding having more than one blowup hole during a round right now. Yesterday I went triple-double to end the round and had three doubles total, and today I carded both a quadruple and triple bogey to drive up my scores. 

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Re-visited the basics during my lunchtime bucket today and walked away smiling.

I have been struggling a bit with a couple of things since my last lesson, most notably weak blocked or cut irons/hybrids and the occasional big slice off of the driver. I also have been still unable to fix my "dipping under" on the downswing that my coach had me working on, so occasionally I'll throw snap hooks in there as well.

I noticed last night while cutting together my three-hole vlog I posted on here that I was starting to roll my forearms open and let my hands get really active on my takeaway. So today I just focused on my setup and then making sure I kept my hands/wrists quiet until I got past my trail leg on the backswing. I hit the ball so well with almost every club I had brought, driver, driving iron, hybrids, a couple irons and wedge. I also noticed that by not getting the hands so involved I started to pivot better and that really helped me not have to duck under to get back to the ball.

Hoping to get 45 holes in this weekend, including 18 away from my usual course. Hitting prime golf season/weather now!

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Just now, Chip Strokes said:

hit the range for some work with my wedges today. the shorter the club, the more my newly learned draw affects the ball flight. 

so today was all about setup, alignment, and controlling my ball flight. 

this was my last gap wedge of the day. swing is feeling good. it’s still more brute force than a thing of beauty, but my contact and distance control felt really good today. excited to get out on the course tomorrow 

Watching you accelerate through the ball is crazy. I also am loving your backswing tempo.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

5 minutes ago, ncwoz said:

There's a good chunk of tee shots at Western that I flip back and forth on whether or not I should just try to rip driver or go more conservative. Some spots the trees are just flat out dead like 11, but 10 I've found myself right a ton and seem to mostly luck out and still have a decent look at the green. It's tough too when the conservative play is still super super tight, then I end up 150 yards away in the middle of trees instead of 50 yards haha. From a DECADE perspective, I'd have to imagine a lot of these holes are the ones Scott would kinda throw his hands up and say there's not a clear winner.

You're correct. I've found that erring on the side of more aggressive is usually the better play. Even if you end up in the trees, you can likely get back out, chip up and make bogey at worst. I played conservatively almost all of last year and while it's fine when you hit the fairway, I'm pretty likely to mishit an iron as much as the driver.

No. 13 is a good example. Even though you can lay back and still have a wedge into the green (generally OK by DECADE standards), the "good" landing area is so much wider with driver. 

[What equipment are you thinking about?]

23 hours ago, edingc said:

Undersized grips. 

I have small hands to begin with, and the butt diameters of the MMT are slightly larger (.606) than previous shafts I've played. Haven't measured yet, but guessing I'm at least 1/64", if not 1/32", oversized with my .600 round Lamkin Sonars + painter's tape. Been struggling to find a good grip on the club lately, always seems to want to work into my left palm and it feels like I can't close my fingers around the shaft enough.

Looking at Star Sidewinders as I know I could completely eliminate the tape to get the size down as much as possible. Also not terribly expensive, in stock and only six grams lighter. But 14/15 clubs x $7 is still ~$100. Might have to experiment with a few first.

Measured last night and, sure enough, they are about +2 wraps on the irons (nearly .920) and even a bit larger on the wedges. I measured an old wedge I have laying around (which feels better, but maybe still too large) and it's .900. 

@dlow206 was nice enough to send some undersized grips at shipping cost, so I'll have a few to experiment with. If the size feels better, I will most definitely go through with replacing them. This one would even match the AutoFlex!

(I'm not joking. I'd be one to play hot pink on everything. They do have black, blue and white, but those just seem so boring!)

[edingc's Work In Progress]

10 hours ago, Nolan220 said:

Yo that was awesome can’t wait for episode 2 .. next forget the 4h and grip it and rip it 

You're not wrong on No. 10. There is such a small window of unobstructed second shots from the fairway anyway (overhanging tree limbs), it probably makes more sense to try to hit past them. Last summer I played with @ncwoz and he ended up hole high to the right behind the trees and I still think that's the ideal miss and a better play than going short.

No. 11 leaves you no choice. The trees on the right are too tall to go over, and I can't hit a big cut on command. In that treeline on the right there is the remnants of a rather large bunker. I assume when the course was built in the 1960s longer hitters could go over the trees and the bunker helped to make that a more risky play.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

@ejgaudette @Lacassem @sirchunksalot @bens197 @B.Boston

You all are way too kind. I'm glad you liked the video. I bought the GoPro and a cheap Amazon USB-C stand microphone with this in mind, and I'll definitely be sure to get some more footage. It serves multiple purposes for me - not only do I get to go back and watch some of my rounds to evaluate myself, there's a bit of pressure when I'm on camera and I'm trying to develop myself more so that when I'm having a good round going or playing in a tournament (may never happen) I am used to it.

I think you'll find the quality to be even better in more light. This was pretty early Saturday and with the cloud cover the shooting conditions weren't great. I think you could get away with an older GoPro to save a bit of cash - I have the Hero8 Black but only shoot in 1080p Linear so that I don't get the fish eye distortion of the higher resolutions.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

1 minute ago, sirchunksalot said:

The course looks good, the swing is looking smooth, and the framing of the shots on 10 and 11 looks gorgeous! That par 3 would give me nightmares with the way the trees frame the hole. Thank you for sharing that, it was awesome!

10-11-12 is the worst three hole stretch on the course for me! They all have my number... I have only once or twice in three years even been close to a birdie on No. 11, and No. 12 is just suffocating when you look at the green from the tee box. They actually took about 15 trees down over the past couple of years to open the hole up a bit more but it still is tight. The green is pretty deep and runs faster than others on the course, and there's a big grass bunker on the right that will swallow up anything left over there.