[How'd you play?]

12 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

That's awesome, Cody! Man, you've put in the work during the off-season and it's great to see the results so early in the session. With the driver and super hybrid acting up, it's a testament to how good your approach game is. 

Thank you! My irons were very good today. I definitely still hit a few I wish I could have back, but down the stretch my wedges were .

11 hours ago, B.Boston said:

Fantastic round Cody! I love seeing no three putts on the card for you! That’s L.A.B. Is showing it’s worth for you. 

I’m guessing that work you’ve been doing with your belt buckle feel paid off during the round? 

Real nice to end it with the birdie for the PB too! 

The L.A.B. (combined with EXPUTT) has made me such a better putter. My distance control is so much better than it used to be. A lot of easy tap-ins. Makes for a very stress free round.

The belt buckle feel has been great for when I get "quick" and spin out my hips and shoulders. Getting a little bigger hip turn has helped a bunch, too. I really just focused on my setup and made sure my grip/alignment/posture was all good to go and was rewarded when I committed to shots. Pretty sure my last thought on No. 17 was, "hit it anywhere but left," and wouldn't you know my body heard, "hit it left!" 

[How'd you play?]

 PERSONAL BEST ALERT! 

- 36/39 = 75 (+3) 
- 6/15 FIR
- 11/18 GIR (2 birdies)
- 30 Putts (12 2-putts, 6 1-putts)

Cold, dreary morning and the course was pretty empty. I really took my time deciding on shots and it paid off!

I actually didn't hit very many good shots from the tee today (bad case of the hooks with driver and Super Hybrid), but I hit my irons very well, chipped OK and putted excellently. And, down the stretch, my driver perked up for me.

Played the front nine at even par for the first time ever, highlighted by a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 5. I was +2 coming to No. 16 (probably the second hardest hole on the course) and blasted a beautiful drive that led to a par. I very nearly hooked my tee shot on No. 17 out of bounds left, making a mess of the hole with a double bogey to get to +4 heading to No. 18 tee. (My previous best was +4 during Cobra Connect last summer.)

Most of the pressure was off after the double bogey. I uncorked the longest drive I've ever hit on No. 18, 280 yards uphill, leaving 95 to the flag. Lined up a 58 wedge, landed a few yards short of the flag and ended up with my best approach all day. Knocked in the birdie putt for a new personal best.

Feels amazing to put a great round together this early in the season. Lots of offseason work paying off!

[2021 Official Review: Motocaddy M5 and M7]

30 minutes ago, golfish! said:

@edingcI don't see how a motorized cart would slow you down! Are you worried about the weight or speed? This unit has speeds from 1-9 which are 1 - baby crawling speed to 9 - light jog speed. Not sure about other units but I would assume other motorized push carts have similar speed settings. The acceleration from full stop to full speed is pretty quick too so the cart can get away from you if you have the speed setting too high. For the sake of testing I will launch my Motocaddy at speed setting 9 and let it go for a second and run to catch it on my next video!

The only motorized cart I've seen in the "wild" at my home course was quite slow. I figured it could go slightly faster, but the videos on here show they can fly. I walk a very, very quick pace and do jog occasionally as well. 

Again, reviews are great so far and love reading your comments/feedback.

[2021 Official Review: Motocaddy M5 and M7]

2 hours ago, golfish! said:

@xOldBenKenobiX yeah this thing really gets moving at speed setting 9. I have to do a light jog in order to keep up with it. Maybe I will try that for a twilight round when the field is wide open at my local course and see how fast I can finish a round. I have finished 18 in under 3 hours just at a standard walking pace with my manual push cart by myself before~

That's huge. I play a lot of "time-restricted" rounds and I was a little concerned that a motorized cart might slow me down a bit. Early and late in the season I need to be able to get around 18 in just under 2.5 hours, which I can do with a walking cart as long as I'm moving at a good pace.

 

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Frost and snow today, range is closed for the third day in a row, so I came home at lunch and hit some foam balls against the house to practice instead. Working on the feeling of belt buckle behind ball at impact (which, again, gets my hands in front and my hips rotating less to start the downswing). Feel good and video seems to confirm I've got more room for my hands and arms, less slide of the upper body  and more shaft lean at impact.

Can't wait to actually get out on the course and range.

Something else I've been working on is lengthening my backswing, which my coach has been asking me to work on for some time. Last week I got my Rypstick analysis video back and that was their biggest recommendation for me as well. For me, that means a feeling of my right leg straightening more in the backswing and feeling like my right tricep gets parallel to the ground. It's a work in progress...

[Has it really been that long already?]

Very cool! Always enjoy reading your content and reviews, and this post is no exception! It's fun to look back on stuff. I've learned a lot in my (not so short, anymore) time here as well.

[Unofficial Review: Dumina AutoFlex SF505X Driver Shaft]

21 hours ago, V series said:

With a swing speed of 115 mph, shouldn't you be using the 505XX? I recently moved from 505 to 505X as I am getting close to 110 mph. The 505 was all over the place but the 505X for me feels much more stable. 

As a follow up to my first response, Gabe Gallucci on YouTube compared a 505X to a 505XX in his latest video on YouTube. Like me, he purchased the 505X before the latest fitting charts were around.

He swings a little faster than I do (172-173 ball speed), but the only difference he found between the two shafts was about 250 RPM of spin (~1,800 for the 505XX, ~2,050 for the 505X) using the same head.

Honestly, both of those spin numbers are reasonably low already. 

Could I play the 505XX? Probably. Would it make a "real world" difference? Probably not.

[Decade golf app - my 6 month journey]

30 minutes ago, StrokerAce said:

Here's how I played the hole on Sunday.

I asked the starter who sits right behind the tee box for advice.
He said he pretty much never sees anyone try to hit driver or anything over the tree. That tree is 100 feet tall. If you hit driver you have to go through it somehow.
He said that the tee box lines most guys up to the right of the fairway and, it being the first swing of the day usually, guys aren't as loose and can't rotate their hips as well and end up fading it too far right and get blocked out---exactly what the 3 guys I played with did who all were over par!
He helped me with alignment and club selection. and it turned out well. Had about a 20 footer for birdie but was happy to start with a par.

And I believe DECADE would have supported this decision. Your 5 iron left you essentially a wedge/short iron into the green. It also looks like your second shot didn't have to deal with the bunker in front of the green. Playing too far right off the tee would bring that into play in addition to possibly being blocked out.

I tested my strategy on No. 1 and No. 3 Saturday morning and it worked OK for the most part. Need to aim a little further right on No. 1. First swing of the day without warm-up and I hit a pretty good ball but was aimed a little too left. The fairway slopes down and right but I landed it past the slope and it ran out straight with the tree almost in the way. It led to a tough knockdown that I just didn't hit hard enough to get through the wet grass. Saved par after a good chip to two feet:

Hit a poor 2 hybrid on No. 3 and gave up a bit of distance because of that, but had good line to the bail out area I highlighted in my earlier post. Blocked the 4 hybrid a bit, but it ended up in the general spot I wanted. Still had a bit of a knockdown nine iron that hit just short of the green and checked up for a two-putt par.

I'll have to keep tweaking strategies and aim lines as the season goes on.

[Unofficial Review: Dumina AutoFlex SF505X Driver Shaft]

24 minutes ago, BMart519 said:

Would love to try one of these to see how it feels, some guy is trying to sell a 505X on Facebok near me for $950 

Makes me feel like $300 for a used Graphite Design is a killer deal. 

I'm torn.

I'm still going to give this through June/July before deciding about the shafts long-term future in my bag. I've been able to sell a bunch of collectibles from past hobbies and have fully covered the cost of the AF with unexpected money, so I'm not under pressure to sell to recoup cost at this point.

I'm thinking I might go for a driver fitting in July or August with the latest Callaway heads and see how it goes before deciding, also.

 

[Unofficial Review: Dumina AutoFlex SF505X Driver Shaft]

7 minutes ago, V series said:

With a swing speed of 115 mph, shouldn't you be using the 505XX? I recently moved from 505 to 505X as I am getting close to 110 mph. The 505 was all over the place but the 505X for me feels much more stable. 

Possibly. When a lot of the early AutoFlex reviews came out last fall, the 505X was recommended for speeds higher than 110 MPH. Only the more recent English fitting charts imply that the 505XX might be a better fit. This chart from Torque Golf is true to what I remember from last fall:

There is a ton of whippiness in the shaft just waggling it around, but I don't feel like it's unstable on the downswing for me. But, I don't rip the club back in my backswing, and when I'm getting my best speeds near 115 MPH, I'm doing it with a long swing and smoother transition. I suppose if you are more violent with your transition the 505XX might be a better fit.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Still working on fixing my habit of too much hip rotation too early in the downswing. I was able to play OK on Saturday but realistically only hit five full iron shots through nine holes, and none of them were all that great. I keep getting the club stuck behind me, especially with longer clubs, and it leads to blocks, thins and hooks.

I've been trying a new feel of attempting to keep my belt buckle pointed behind the ball at impact. Although that's the feel, it obviously doesn't happen. But what it does do is allow me to feel a more correct hip movement, with less immediate rotation, which allows me to keep my hands out in front of my body and unstuck. The feel also gets me posting up on my left leg much better because I'm not sliding the lower body so much trying to free up space for my arms on the way through.

Been hitting small shots around the backyard with that feeling and it's been pretty good so far. I like this screenshot a lot. I need to commit to hitting a few buckets with this feeling, but now we've got crap weather (including the dreaded s-word...) coming over the next few days.

[What equipment are you thinking about?]

5 minutes ago, morbius36 said:

Does considering Pinemeadow irons with graphite shafts count as thinking about it? I know I can buy

lots of other irons for the same $300 but I'm not really very good yet and I want something that

is more reasonable in price.

If you're not stuck on Pinemeadow and are open to used clubs (and maybe lightweight steel instead of graphite), I'd recommend looking around a bit. Used clubs from big name OEMs will likely be better quality, and they'll have at least a bit of resale value when you're ready to bump up to something better/newer when you improve.

Not saying you have to order from 2nd Swing, but this link has a bunch of iron sets in between $200-$400: https://www.2ndswing.com/search.aspx?SearchTerm=all&sortField=Highest Price&facet=Department:club,CategoryID:golf-irons-and-iron-sets,PriceRange:6,PriceRange:7,Condition:1

[Unofficial Review: Dumina AutoFlex SF505X Driver Shaft]

I finally got the AutoFlex out on the course yesterday morning and used it three times during my nine hole round. I was very happy with its performance.

I've been trying to be more smartly aggressive on some holes (a la DECADE), taking driver and aiming more toward bail out areas and playing for a good shot to be straight or slight fade. On No. 5, I aimed further left than I have in the past (some trees taken out this offseason helped here), and hit a slight pull left of my target. Still, because of the distance I was able to just hit a low, chippy wedge under some trees to the back of the green and two-putted for par.

No. 7 is the course's toughest hole. 422 yards, uphill, dog leg left. I bombed this ball, and I'd say it's the best drive I've ever hit on this hole. I hit the ball so high I almost completely cleared the tree guarding the dogleg and unfortunately just caught a branch on the backside of the tree. Even with hitting the tree it nearly went 270 yards. I think, without clipping the tree, I would have gotten a perfect release down into the fairway. Unfortunately, the ball dropped straight down and I caught a tree trying to run the ball up to the green with my second shot.

I did low heel one on No. 9, but it cut over nicely into the center of the fairway. Just an awful swing but the results were fine. Big distance loss from the low heel shot and the fairway running up hill.

After I finished nine, I hopped over to No. 17 and No. 18 to hit a two more drivers on each hole. The first drive I hit on No. 17 was one of the best I've ever hit on the hole, leaving me a pitching wedge in to the flag. My second drive on No. 18 was pretty good as well, not the longest I've ever hit but again, a pitching wedge into the green. I would guess the drive on No. 17 was in the 265-270 range while the one on No. 18 (going back up hill) was probably 255-260.

[How'd you play?]

- 42 (+6)
- 2/7 FIR
- 3/9 GIR
- 16 Putts (1 3-putt, 5 2-putts, 3 1-putts)

First full nine of the year at my home course. I was all over the place today, but made good club choices so that my bad shots didn't penalize me too much. 

L.A.B. was great. The 3-putt was on No. 9 after hitting my approach just a hair too far and having a monster of a putt. Bad way to end a round but my putting was solid. Short game was pretty good, too, but had a chip that I hit just a touch too far on No. 8 that cost me a stroke.

Overall, I was one bad luck bounce, one blocked iron off the tee and about 5 yards from shooting a 40 or better. Good first "real" round of the year!

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

2 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Edin, what are experiencing with distance; both carry yardage and, more importantly, consistency?  The lack of consistent yardage, after switching to graphite, was something one of the guys I play with in Yuma brought up.  I believe he tried Recoils.  Still waiting to get my ZX5's and MMT 80's into play.

I haven't had that experience with the MMTs so far. I seem to have solid gaps of 12 yards or so between clubs. I tend to bunch up a little at the top of the bag in the "real world," but that's my swing and not the clubs:

• 4 Iron = 208 yds
• 5 iron = 196 yds
• 6 iron = 184 yds
• 7 iron = 172 yds
• 8 iron = 160 yds
• 9 iron = 148 yds
• PW = 136 yds
• GW = 124 yds

Those are just guesses based on my time on the range and throwing down a handful of balls on course this morning.

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

2 hours ago, Reesedw said:

@edingc, I saw the pictures but I would love to know how are the clubs? How do you like them? how do they compare to your others as far as feel and playability??

 

I suppose I haven't done a very good job of commenting on the actual playability, have I?

The Sub70s are very good. They are very forgiving, and the look is very sleek. Oddly, the non-Pro soles appear narrower to my eye than the Pro models. There is significantly more offset in the non-Pros, and after having played the Cobra SpeedZones for a season, I'm honestly struggling a bit adapting back to the Pros with less offset. I noticed I am setting up a little too open to the ball sometimes. Just something I need to watch out for.

Going to the TX MMT shafts was a good decision. I feel like my dispersion has improved a lot, and the feel is great. Also, my elbows and wrists thank me! The Sonar Tours are great grips, but I've noticed a few have twisted slightly (I should have probably used tape and solvent).

I would encourage anyone to look at Sub70 irons. They feel great, maintain a ton of ball speed on mishits and certainly won't hurt the wallet as much as the big OEMs.

[Decade golf app - my 6 month journey]

1 hour ago, StrokerAce said:

what would DECADE suggest from here?

This is the first hole.

if you want to carry the water - 200;

Do you go for the square (243) with a 35 yard wide landing area or play to the circle with a more generous landing area?
again...first hole of the day. 

(FWIW I drew this on Google Earth on the web. That is a bad a** app!)

 

Curious how you play this hole? And also, how tall are the trees nearest the left side past the water? Can you punch out from under them should it get caught up? 

My first glance thought is to hit whatever club you can carry 220 consistently on a line just to the right of what you'e drawn. 5 wood, 3 wood, hybrid, whatever. My aggressive play would be to take a similar line to what you've drawn with driver.

Personally, knowing my shot shapes and misses, I would feel less comfortable laying back on this hole because I'm quite likely to hook my 5/6 iron into the water playing for that 185 landing spot in the fairway.

[Decade golf app - my 6 month journey]

7 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

@edingc / @ncwoz - I'm curious if the nature of the trees plays any role in the decision making?  The course where I play the majority of my rounds is lined with trees, and I look at these trees almost like out of bounds because:

• If you hit in them, you'll lose the ball about 50% of the time (lots of low limbs, bushes, scrub, and leaves)
• When you find the ball, it'll be unplayable about 50% of the time
• If you find it and it's not unplayable, you can't advance the ball significantly toward the hole

So effectively, hitting it into these trees is a 1.75 stroke penalty on average.  

On courses where balls in the trees are generally findable and often can be advanced toward the hole meaningfully, I've stopped figuring them into my tee shot strategy.

My daughter went to a golf camp at Michigan State a few years ago, and she remarked that you could actually find and hit the ball out of the trees at the courses she played. 

@ncwoz covered it pretty well but here's a few example holes from my home course. There are only a few tree areas that have underbrush, so unless you're on the outskirts of the course and hit one OB you likely can play a shot out. 

Hole 1 - 305 yard par 4. You're not getting back to the hole from anywhere on the right side, but you don't want to be long or left of the two trees on the left. This is a hole I used to hit driver on but find my Super Hybrid leaves me with ~50 yards and can't reach the big tree on the left. With driver I was way more likely to be right in the trees or left and probably re-teeing.

Hole 3 - 510-ish par 5. Left trees are full of underbrush and ball will be gone. Trees to the right you can punch back out but unlikely to advance. Being a par 5 you'd think driver but the big tree on the left side of the fairway really blocks you out. I've had better luck sitting back short of the tree and then hitting a hybrid up near the green because there is a big bail out area right.

Hole 13 - Another short par 4. Here's where the hit driver strategy is better, and in the past I tried using an iron here but found myself in trouble more often than not. The hole is short enough that the driver actually gets you out of trouble and irons leave more trees in play.

Not all courses around here are like this - but as you'll notice at biggest our fairways are 40 yards wide and almost all of them are tree lined. Only a few holes really allow you to go for it without worrying about trees.

[Decade golf app - my 6 month journey]

4 hours ago, ncwoz said:

Look at that! Not surprised someone else had the same question...now is it a coincidence or not that it's someone who plays the same courses as me? Thanks for sharing!

Of course! We have so many courses around here that are so tightly-lined that DECADE-type strategy isn't so obvious all of the time.

I've redone my strategy now to look more at "hazards" reached on a line with distance and less at hazards left and right. Scott not wrong in his reply to me, I'm very likely to hit a shorter club into the trees as well. But there are a few holes where driver is simply too long and would run my into trouble on my intended line. On those holes I'm looking to drop back slightly to avoid the straightaway hazards.

[Decade golf app - my 6 month journey]

6 hours ago, ncwoz said:

This is something that's always been in the back of my mind about DECADE. If a 60 yard dispersion is a good number for PGA tour players to use, I know for a fact my dispersion is wider. So I get caught between either taking on hazards with a little more risk, or dropping back to a shorter club even if the dispersion cone technically does fit in non-trouble areas. Not sure if that's actually what Scott would suggest though.

Had this same question and @THEZIPR23 and Scott addressed it a few months back on Twitter:

[Got Problems?]

1 minute ago, Lacassem said:

Not all states have used car lemon laws. Some it’s only for new or if the car is still under original warranty 

Correct. I believe in Michigan it's only for new cars within one year of purchase, and they have to attempt to resolve the problem something like four times.

My parents bought a brand new truck a few years back and constantly have run into issues with it, including blowing the engine up while on the highway. It's continually being fixed under warranty, but since it's a different issue every time there is no recourse other than to sell.

[How'd you play?]

On 4/13/2021 at 8:43 PM, sirchunksalot said:

During my round Sunday, I got a chance to try out the GoPro I bought. I picked up a suction mount to attach it to the cart for its maiden voyage. I was planning on doing a rundown of every hole in the front, but the battery died in the sixth. I'm hoping to film some really bad course vlogs for my entertainment because it's just fun to film and edit. Here's a snippet from Sunday, the sound isn't the greatest because it was windy. 

 

Love my GoPro! Excited to get it out on the course again. The video shows off the image stabilization.

[2021 Official Review: Motocaddy M5 and M7]

Great start to these reviews! Based on the videos and pictures it seems like the Motocaddy is even smaller and perhaps easier to unfold than my Caddytek. 

[Rypstick Speed Training]

4 hours ago, jlukes said:

In terms of the Rypstick itself, it is fantastic - I absolutely love just having one stick.  It is quick and easy to put weights in and out.  The drills are nothing crazy new for those that have done Speed Stick training before - a lot of the same concepts.  Just 10 minutes every other day is a piece of cake. 

Agreed. I was surprised how easily swapping the weights fit into the routine. Two things I noticed on my first go around Sunday evening, however:

• It's possible to unscrew the retainer that holds the weights in if you turn it counter-clockwise too much. Not a big deal, just something I noticed. I will be sure to only turn it enough to remove the weights and then put it back.
• The grip started to slightly work its way off the shaft. I didn't notice until the end of the workout, when I tapped it against the ground hard and got it to slide back down some. I'll also have to watch out for this. I doubt the tape will spontaneously fail and cause a flying object to happen, but perhaps I'll have to remove the grip and re-tape/re-grip.

I got my swing analysis back this afternoon. A very nice add-on to the price of the stick. Luke sent back about a two-minute analysis of my swing video and picked up on a lot of stuff that I've been working on solo and with my instructor. He liked how much coil I get out of my shoulders, but wanted to see more hip rotation in the backswing and my right shoulder working down more on the downswing. Overall he thought my swing looked solid and said working on hip rotation would be the best "quick fix" for a few more MPH of speed.

For reference, my last time out with my Flightscope Mevo I bounced between 108-112 MPH with the driver. I haven't been on Trackman with a driver in a while.  During my last lesson after working on more hip turn, I was able to get up to 90 MPH with a 9 iron on TM. Realistically, I'm shooting to sustain 165 MPH ball speeds with the driver, which I occasionally see right now but with no regularity.

@jlukes How long did the fitness analysis take? Something I could do on a break at work assuming I have a few feet of space?

[Introducing MGS X TheGrint Virtual Tour! - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!]

20 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

My old iPhone 8 would not be able to do two rounds. I got an iPhone 11 Pro and the battery life is significantly better, so as long as having both open doesn’t cause the processor to go crazy I don’t expect much difference.

I used both Grint and Arccos throughout #CC4 last summer. Grint is really lightweight as long as you're not using the GPS.

As a long-time Grint Pro member I'm in!

(Pro-tip for Android users: I do random surveys with Google Rewards to earn Play Store dollars. You can pay for a month-to-month Grint Pro subscription with Play credit. Don't think I've paid anything to be a pro member in the 2+ years of doing this.)