[How'd you play?]

- 42/41 = 83 / 80 ESC (+18, Par 65)
- 4/11 FIR
- 2/18 GIR
- 28 Putts (10 2-putts, 8 1-putts)

New-to-me course, local muni that @ncwoz has trekked around a few times, I think. I was very surprised at the quality of course given the price ($16 to walk) and the length (~4,700 yards from the back tees).

I just can't get out of my own way lately, it seems. Came to No. 9 +3 and playing well. Long 234-yard par 3 into a 14 MPH wind, hit a low screaming driver that landed in the greenside bunker. Proceeded to take three shots getting out of said bunker to 35 yards past the green, hit back over the green into the bunker again, blasted out and two-putted for a nine. Yuck.

Tried to put that hole behind me but just couldn't get it going on the back. Struggled with a case of the hooks with the longer clubs, driver was garbage on the two holes I used it, and I just struggled finding the right distance on my approach shots. Also shanked a 7-iron out of bounds from the tee on the first par 3 on the back. Still don't know what happened there!

On the bright side, I putted extremely well. No birdies, but no three-putts and I really wasn't close having one.

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

First round with the L.A.B. DF is in the books. Based on the Arccos data the maiden voyage tied for my best putting performance all season.

28 putts!

Total number of putts is a little misleading as I only hit two greens today, but 28 putts is the fewest number of putts I've ever recorded in a round. That's certainly no coincidence. 

I lipped out two putts as well, one from about four feet, so I wasn't far from even fewer total putts.

The greens weren't in the best shape, some were much quicker than others, probably because it appeared like they aerated a few greens at a time over the past month. Some were completely healed, some were still quite damaged, and a few were pretty sandy. Still, the DF put an excellent roll on the ball and my distance control was pretty spot on.

I really, really like the Press II grip. I just made sure I took a nice relaxed grip and let the head do all of the work. It really does feel effortless to keep the face square to the target line.

I also used the DF from the fairway and fringe multiple times, places where I'd usually chip. I was very impressed with the ability to get the ball up and rolling on the fairway/collar quickly while providing consistent distance control.

Knowing me, this is probably a honeymoon period. But I had a ton of confidence in the L.A.B. today and rolled in a couple 10+ footers with ease.

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

5 hours ago, dlow206 said:

One thing I have noticed with the DF 2.1 is that if you start with the putter flat (neither toe up or toe down) and you make a good stroke without your hands ending up higher or lower at impact, then the putter really does square itself up. If for some reason you previously manipulated your prior putter and your hands end up higher or lower at impact for some reason, then you are likely going to push or pull your putts.

@edingc - have you noticed this at all?

Yes, I've experienced this already. When I get my hands too low I tend to pull the putts. The head stays square but because the head is toe up, the face is pointing left of the ideal target line. 

[edingc's Work In Progress]

5 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Have you fleshed out what your offseason practice/training regimen looks like?

I have a rough idea. First things first, I need to drop about 12 pounds of weight that I added this summer to get back to where I was at the beginning of the season. 

Last week I started lifting again, I should have never stopped. For the next three months or so I will be working through Greg Nuckols' "28 Programs" sheets, focusing on squats, deadlifts and bench press. I used them to great success last winter/early spring, and I've now moved on to the "intermediate" levels of both squats and bench press along with more deadlift volume.

I've been adding a lot of flexibility work in the morning before work and before I start lifting as well. Typically I do some form of a quick yoga in the morning and then I do mobility work from the Fit For Golf warm-up manual in the evening.

Once January rolls around I'm planning on shifting over to one of the Fit For Golf programs, most likely either the SuperSpeed program or the new one Mike is planning on releasing soon. 

As far as swing stuff goes, I'm skipping October, but once November hits I will typically do one lesson per month with my swing coach. I try to get to the heated range once a week, but because it's about a 50 mile round trip it's very dependent on weather.

I'm going to do some Planemate work in my basement and garage, and I will start using my SuperSpeed-C club in January as well.

I have a new Exputt simulator for putting and that will get a lot of work over the winter as well.

[What equipment are you thinking about?]

4 hours ago, yungkory said:

Stoppppppp

Actually, during my phone calls with Matt from L.A.B. I was told they have a couple hundred factory seconds available right now. They only put a few on eBay at a time. You can email them to ask if they have your specs available. If you are interested, let me know and I can shoot over the contact information in a PM.

On that note, first round today with the L.A.B. DF and I have some good news to post over in my review thread.

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

I've had about three hours on the putting green with the L.A.B. now. I'm very impressed.

I have not rolled a putter as beautifully in some time. This thing puts an incredible roll on the ball. Because of the quality of roll, my distance control has gotten much better. I do think this might be more of a function of the grip than the putter however. With my Spider X I would forward press but routinely miss the middle of the face leading to all sorts of distance issues. Because the Press II grip automatically puts a consistent forward press, there's no variability in the setup.

@ChasingScratch commented on my Instagram post and made a good observation - you really just need to line up the ball and swing. The ball starts on the line so well. The practice green I frequent is not very flat and quick compared to my home course and I've just been dropping putts from all over the place.

The sound and feel is nice. Putts directly out of the middle of the face create a very muted sound and a very nice soft feeling at impact (similar to hitting the sweet spot on the Spider X insert). Putts hit a little more out of the heel or toe are more "pingy," but the hold their line well and go similar distances as balls out of the middle. 

Regarding the size, it's confidence inspiring. You literally cannot miss the face because the head is so large.

Some of my improvement probably can be attributed to my increased practice with the Exputt, but today I just lined up my putts, gauged my speed and let it go and had a lot of success.

I have 18 holes scheduled tomorrow at a course I've never played. We'll see how I feel after the putter's maiden voyage under pressure...

[2020 Official Member Review: Wilson D7 Forged Irons]

Excellent reviews, everyone! Glad to hear Wilson has another great product. These clubs are gorgeous.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

I went over my Arccos data recently to find my three favorite/"best" holes from the 2020 season:

1) Par, Holes No. 17 + No. 18 (Tie)
Western Greens - August 23

It might be a bit unusual for a pair of pars to share the top spot on this year's list, but these two holes were clutch. Playing in the Cobra Connect 14-club challenge, I had just turned the bag over on No. 16 and knew I was playing very well. Needing a good finish for the challenge, I pumped two of my best tee shots of the year to the middle of each fairway and finished out with par.

The pars cemented my personal best round of 76 and a solid third-place finish in the weekly #CC4 challenge (darn you Arccos handicapping!).

2) Eagle, Hole No. 9
Western Greens - Sept. 1

The No. 9 hole at Western Greens is a short dogleg left par 5, but since the course's construction in the 1960s the growth of the trees along the fairway have negated eagle opportunities for all but the longest of hitters off the tee. 

Typically, I don't hit driver on No. 9 because the fairway is only about 30 yards wide and a ball left or right by about five yards means a recovery shot is necessary. I was having a so-so round, so I elected to take my frustrations out on the driver and pumped one 268 yards dead center. I found all of the air in the tree guarding the dogleg with my 7 iron and then knocked down a tricky downhill chip for my only eagle of the season.

3) Birdie, Hole No. 12
The Mines - Sept. 10

I actually had quite a few birdies to choose from this season, but this one sticks out because of the quality of both the tee shot and approach shot. Playing a new-to-me course during the Arccos Caddie Cobra Connect challenge, the AI selected 5 iron from the tee and 9 iron from the fairway. I hit both shots beautifully, landing the 9 iron just left of the hole and allowing it to run down the slope to 18 inches for a relatively stress-free birdie putt.

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

First thing I've noticed is a sound difference between indoor and outdoor practice. Have you noticed anything, @dlow206? I felt like on the putting green yesterday the sound had a little bit of a "ping" to it, where as indoors it seems to be more of a muted crack.

The feel seemed to change a little bit too, I'm thinking the sound had a lot to do with that. The face feels firmer indoors than it did outside. I'm using a MTB-X indoors, was using ProV1x and ProV1 outside, so should be reasonably the same.

Of course, all early observations. I had a really good session this morning on the Exputt hitting 0-20 foot putts. 

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

6 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

You've already mentioned my biggest obstacle on the LAB putters: the price is quite prohibitive. At some point, though, I think my circumstances (money, trip to Minneapolis, etc.) for me to do an Edel fitting.

One question about what you've posted so far: do you find it concerning that the phone fitting adjusted your lie angle, and then once you receive the putter, you're slightly toe up? It seems to me that perhaps the in person fitter might have had this one correct.

I think the the toe being up is a flaw in my setup. I have a tendency to really allow my hands to drop low and to bring the club on a strong arc inside. Setting up with the DF flat really gets my hands in a better spot and my stroke gets a lot more SBST. 

Matt from L.A.B. mentioned he sees the hands drop a lot in the in person fittings. Because the fitting putter has the moveable lie angle, he said people just get their hands really low when there is no resistance to doing so. 

I was very impressed on the putting green today, and it kills me that I will likely be waiting months before I can really give it a proper test on course.

 

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

Some Halloween fun.

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

10 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Really, really looking forward to following along on this.

Another putter for your collection? 

I only had about 25 minutes with it this morning, but I can say it feels really nice and puts an excellent roll on the ball. I'm sure it is a honeymoon period, but I think the Press grip will be a big help to my distance control. Still some figuring out to do, but in general it appeared my distance control was much improved. Getting the correct distance is another ballgame, and something I'm still working on. 

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

Hey, everyone!

I wanted to offer up an unofficial review for the L.A.B. Golf Directed Force 2.1 putter and an overview of the L.A.B. fitting process. I recently purchased this putter after scouring the web for reviews, and I hope that my thoughts here might help out anyone else who has an interest in this putter.

The DF 2.1 is a lie-angled balanced putter, and besides the balance technology, the putter is perhaps best known for its interesting shape.

If you followed along during #CobraConnect this summer, you’ll know I’m a very streaky putter. There will be weeks where I putt extremely well followed by stretches of some of the worst putting possible. When I first seriously got back into golf in 2018, I had a 36” Odyssey Tank blade I purchased on a whim. A putter “fitting” at a local shop revealed that I performed better (at the time) with a shorter putter, so I traded the Tank for a 33” TaylorMade Spider Tour Red, which was replaced with a navy 33” Spider X for this past year.

I had a significant number of blown birdie opportunities this year. Certainly some were outside of what would be considered a “makeable” distance, but I had many opportunities inside of 10 feet that didn’t sniff the cup. I tend to struggle with distance control consistently, but I will go through bouts of start line problems as well.

Additionally, as I have gotten older my back no longer tolerates the 33” length as it requires me to bend over a little more than I’d like (I’m just shy of six feet tall).

I went into this offseason researching different putters. I landed on the DF 2.1, and after learning more about the lie-angle balance technology, decided I wanted to go through with a purchase.

The Fitting and Ordering Process

I placed my order on Oct. 5, and it shipped on Oct. 13. The specifications of my putter are as follows:

• 36” Length
• 68 Degree Lie Angle
• Black Finish (red and blue are also available for no charge, and nickel for an upcharge)
• Press II 3* Grip (upcharge)
• BGT Stability Tour Shaft (one of three upcharge options - BGT Stability and LAGP being the other two - KBS steel is the stock option)
• Combination of No. 18 and No. 19 sightlines (a custom option not on the website, also an upcharge)

I had a very positive first impression when researching the DF 2.1. The L.A.B. website has a dealer locator, and much to my surprise a local shop I had never visited before was an authorized fitter. I scheduled a fitting for a Saturday morning, and I had a great experience as I had multiple people working with me for almost an hour at no cost (this may vary by dealer). 

L.A.B. provides their dealers with a specialized fitting putter. The fitting putter features both an adjustable lie angle and adjustable length shaft. We tried several different variations of length and lie until we found something that was very comfortable for me. I left the shop with a recommended length of 36” and lie of 66.5 degrees.

TXG has a video about the DF 2.1 in which Matt Blois is shown briefly using the fitting putter: 

I had several additional questions about grip and shaft choices, so I reached out to L.A.B. through their website following the fitting. I was contacted by Matt Schuth, who was extremely helpful in answering my questions about grip and shaft choice. Matt also expressed some concern about my fitting results, saying the lie angle seemed a little flat, so he recommended a “remote” fitting. The remote fitting consists of taking a video with a comfortable length putter and sending it to the L.A.B. team for analysis.

I actually had to purchase a 35” putter to complete the remote fitting because I did not have easy access to one locally. After sending my video to Matt, he came back with the recommended 68 degree lie angle. He said it was common for the in person fittings to come out a little too flat.

I ended up placing an order through my local shop because they deserved the business after spending an hour fitting me. This was not a cheap purchase - with all of the upcharge options and Michigan sales tax the putter cost $736.70. I plan to keep this putter around for a long time.

The golf season in Michigan is sadly pretty much over at this point of the year. I can’t wait to get out and give this a go when spring rolls around! In the meantime, my new Exputt putting simulator will be getting a lot of work over the winter months.

I will try to keep this thread updated heading into next year with thoughts about and results from using this putter. In the meantime, here's some pictures and a brief video from my first practice session today.

One thing I notice immediately is that I'm a little toe up in this video. I have a tendency to let my hands drop a little too much and pull the putter inside. Will be something to work on. The putter sole should be completely flat both heel-to-toe and front-to-back at address with the lie angle technology.

Looks - 4/5 Stars

There is no doubt the DF 2.1 is funky looking. Bottle-opener shape aside, the biggest thing you notice is the size of the head. The DF 2.1 makes my Spider X look tiny in comparison. After a few rolls, however, the head’s size feels more and more natural. 

The combination of the black grip, black Stability Tour shaft and black head is very pleasing. The head finish is matte, and L.A.B.’s updated branding on the sole of the club looks better compared to previous iterations of the putter. Since the finish is matte, there is no issue with sun glare or reflection.

I’m very happy L.A.B. was able to accommodate my request to combine sightline options. I like having lines both parallel and perpendicular to my aim line. I also like that the outer lines frame the golf ball at address. I have a tendency to set the face too open and put the ball toeside, and these lines provide a nice reference for me to address the golf ball.

Sound and Feel - 4/5 Stars

The adjustment period has been relatively painless, with the biggest change being how light the head feels throughout the swing compared to my previous gamers. 

The sound of a putter is strongly correlated with feel for me. Having played the Spider line of putters, this is my first non-insert putter in some time. The DF 2.1 has horizontally milled lines on the aluminum face. Keep in mind I am gaming the DF 2.1 with the BGT Stability Tour shaft. I chose this shaft specifically because L.A.B. recommended it to achieve a “softer” feel. 

Putts struck out of the middle have a soft, muted sound and feel. As you move more to the heel and toe of the putter face (of which there is a lot to hit!), the sound becomes more metallic and pingy. This leads to those putts feeling firmer than ones out of the middle. 

I’m thoroughly enjoying the sound/feel of this putter.

Basic Characteristics - 5/5 Stars

The strength of this putter is its outstanding distance control. Given a few minutes to get a feel for the greens, I’m confident I will leave almost all of my putts within a 2-3 foot circle of the hole (that is, if they don’t go in!). It does not seem to matter if I don’t hit a putt just right - distances are repeatable and insulate against my stroke being imperfect.

There is definitely something to the lie-angle balance technology, but you have to be careful not to manipulate the club with your hands. Coming from a standard putter, it took a few practice sessions to eliminate my hands from causing rotation of the face.

I went up to a 36 inch putter to alleviate some of the stress on my lower back. This has been a resounding success. I have practiced a lot since receiving the putter (much more than I had all season up to that point) and have no back pain whatsoever. I am more upright in my stance and my eyes now rest about one-to-two inches inside the ball at address.

Miscellaneous - 5/5 Stars

The included leather headcover is very high quality. It has very strong closure magnets but is still easy to put on and take off, appears to be made from quality materials and the embroidered L.A.B. logo is top notch. 

To attach my Arccos putter sensor to the Press II grip, I had to take a small drill bit and deepen the hole at the end of the grip. I’ll admit it was a little unnerving to take a power tool to a brand new $700 putter.

On Course Performance - 5/5 Stars

With the nice fall weather holding on as long as it has this year, I’ve had more opportunities to play than I anticipated when starting this post. I ended up squeezing in a total of four rounds (54 tracked holes) with the L.A.B. The results were very promising.

 

The four rounds were the best putting performances of my season! And that was despite playing courses I hadn’t previously played more than once during the year.

In 54 holes I tallied only two three-putts, for a three-putt percentage of 3.7 percent. In comparison, my final 54 holes with the Spider X yielded five three putts, and I recorded 11 three-putts over 36 holes at one point during the last week of the #CobraConnect challenge.

Although I have no on course data to support this claim, my second putts are also of much more makeable distance. It would have not been uncommon in the past for my second putt to be four feet or longer. With the L.A.B. so many of my second putts are tap-ins.

“Early” Overall Score - 4.5/5 Stars

Yeah, the L.A.B. DF 2.1 is an expensive piece of golf equipment. However, if current trends hold, the L.A.B. will be a major reason for me finally staying in the single digits. I have not tried/tested/purchased another piece of equipment that has made such a dramatic change to my game in such a short period of time.

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

My L.A.B. DF is in! Picking it up tomorrow. Will be doing an unofficial review thread to cover the basics of my fitting and ordering experience, and to give me somewhere to post about it next season. (I might get it out on the course once before winter - it was snowing on me at the range today... )

My wife also officially saw how much I paid for it (I saved for a while, plus am selling some stuff), and was totally supportive. She did think it was a bit much to spend on a putter, but I don't think she realizes how bad of a putter I am... 

[TM SIM 3Wood Unofficial review]

1 hour ago, B.Boston said:

Nice write up Mark!

Sh*t. I better go talk to Bryson. Can’t have you hitting your 3-wood by my driver all the time.

Time to hit the gym! Pack in a few protein shakes, too...

Nice review @Lacassem. Do you hit it a lot from the fairway or just the tee? I like the results with my Cobra SpeedZone from the tee, but the sound is something I'm still not a huge fan of. Does this sound similar to a driver/hybrid or is a more of a dull wood-like thwack I get from the SpeedZone? 

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

I've had four or five really good buckets of balls since my last lesson. I've been focused on just getting my setup correct and then having a niced relaxed tempo through my swing. It has been working wonders. My driver is still pretty shaky, but I have some keys to work on there as well. I'm still a little bummed about playing the back +14 after playing the front +1 during my round Friday, but to be fair the back has a lot more trouble with out of bounds on six or seven of the holes and several forced carries as well. 

Onward! It's nice to feel like progress is being made again.

[GolfSpy AFG’s Speed & Swing Odyssey]

10 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Thank you for the feedback.  Last thing I want to do is post crap nobody is interested in, and I don’t want to run a bodybuilding thread in a golf forum.  
I’m really not concerned with whether or not I’ll be able to make the size and strength gains, it’s translating it to swing speed and yardage gains that I’m concerned with.  Haven’t posted much about it but I continue to do stretching and mobility work almost nightly.  That, plus SuperSpeed and PlaneMate protocols...should help it all translate like I hope.

Several of us have personal improvement threads. I love reading how other people are going about getting better at golf.

As the trend on the PGA Tour has shown, fitness and golf are extremely intertwined. Not saying there won't be another John Daly out there someday, but as Bryson has shown, hitting the gym can have dramatic results on swing and ball speed. That goes for professionals and amateurs alike.

I'll be curious to see how you like the Planemate as you get more along in your offseason work.

[MPR: The Single Digit Project]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

This number ain't good, but it is (as I've explained before) somewhat misleading. My home course is (to say it kindly) quirky, and there are multiple par 4s that take driver out of your hands.

This is one of my frustrations with the Arccos platform. I don't understand why that distance off the tee statistic can't be smarter and only count drivers, or give an option to show distance off the tee with different clubs. My chart is much the same - I hit driver on 7 of 15 non-par 3s at my home course. To do so on several of the holes provides zero benefit if your driver dispersion is greater than 30 yards (of which, mine is much wider...).

I know you didn't quite make the handicap progress you were wanting, but I think you're still trending in the right direction and you know what areas you need to improve upon.

[GolfSpy AFG’s Speed & Swing Odyssey]

Enjoying following this thread. I just started my offseason program on Sunday now that the weather is starting to turn for the winter. Starting with heavy compound lifts and mobility work and will ease into some Fit For Golf SuperSpeed protocols around January. 

I'm excited to see your progress. Good luck!

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

3 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

That's awesome @daviddvm! I'm glad you found your lost yardage and that shaft looks really good in the SpeedZone. 

That shaft looks . I hit that same exact Motore X F3 6-S shaft during my fitting for fun and loved the feel. Glad it's working for you! It's on my list of things I might want to try next season.

[Prototype Xcaliber Rapid Taper irons.]

Finally got a chance to play around more seriously with the 75g Rapid Taper from @Popeye64 that I put into a Cobra SpeedZone 4 iron head. With the Arccos Smart Grip the club came out to 39.75" and D2 swingweight with no additional head weight.

The few times I swung the club over the past weeks I really struggled adjusting to the light weight, but in taking Brian's advice you really do need to let the shaft and club do the work. I liked the feel of the shaft/head combo, and it looks like it's going to be the perfect driving iron good for 210-220 carry on my best shots. I really liked how I could hit a full, high-launching shot (likely thanks to the SpeedZone head), but also work some lower launching shots that would be great into the wind.

After my initial experiences I thought the club might lose out to my Tour Edge 3 iron with a UST Mamiya Recoil shaft, but I really, really like and need the higher launch of the SpeedZone head. So for now the goal is to get really deadly with the combination over my winter practice sessions. It could really stand to be about a half inch shorter, but I think I'll just play it choked up a bit unless I get the itch to chop it down and re-weight the head.

If I ever go graphite in my irons, I'd definitely look hard at the 95-gram RTs. 

[L.A.B Golf Putters]

On 10/11/2020 at 8:22 AM, dlow206 said:

One thing I will say is that LAB Golf has great customer service. I had a question about self installing a stability shaft on a DF 2.1 and Matt from LAB Golf gave me a call and talked through a few things to look out for when installing a stability shaft into a putter. 

Matt was excellent when I worked with him a few weeks ago. Multiple phone calls and emails to make sure what I was ordering was going to work for me. It was an expensive purchase but I'm not doubting my decision at all.

On that note, I'm hoping it is in by next weekend!

[edingc's Work In Progress]

On 10/11/2019 at 5:24 PM, edingc said:

Thanks! That's as good of a place to start as any, I suppose!

First, to recap a few loosely-defined goals I had for this year:

1) Play More Golf

Never mind the fact that "more" is a terrible qualifier for a goal, I definitely played more golf in 2019 than ever before in my life. I totaled 51 rounds this season. Honestly, I ended up playing a lot more than I anticipated coming into the year. Some of that is because I was selected to test the Callaway Epic Flash (thanks again, MGS!), but also because I ended up getting a very affordable membership at one of our local courses.

Additionally, I am lucky to work very close to a championship-caliber course and practice facility. I hit a bucket of balls and spent time in the short game area or putting green at lunch nearly every day from April to this past week.

2) Break 90

The last time I played golf consistently was my junior year of college. Playing three times a week for about 10 or 12 weeks in a row, I broke 90 once. I expected it would take some time before I’d ever do it again.

I ended up breaking 90 relatively early in the season, and I totaled 17 rounds of 90 or less out of 27 18-hole rounds played. I ended up breaking 80 once, too.

3) Walk Most of My Rounds

 

I bought a CaddyTek cart early in the season and walked almost all of my rounds. I even opted to walk when the rest of my foursome took carts on a few occasions. 

My goals for 2020 are more measurable. My hope is that by setting more specific goals, I will improve my game faster.

1) Hit 55 Percent of Fairways in Regulation

I hit about 44 percent of fairways this season. I’ve seen differing numbers out there, but some older stats by TheGrint put 10-15 handicappers as hitting 55 percent of fairways in regulation.

Removing scrambles and one round where I did not keep any statistics whatsoever, in only 13 out of 46 rounds did I hit more than 55 percent of fairways in regulation. In fact, I had more rounds (18) in which I hit less than one-third of fairways!

For my game, improving the accuracy of tee shots will dramatically affect my scores. My home course is heavily tree-lined. Poor tee shots are often left with no option other than to punch out back to the fairway. I punched out a total of seven times during the last round I played at my home course. That is seven strokes wasted on shots that did next to nothing to advance the ball toward the hole. (In my case, I ended up with a few extra strokes on top of those seven...). Simply keeping the ball in the fairway might have changed my score from the low 90s to something in the low-mid 80s.

2) Average 34 or Fewer Putts Per Round

I’ve posted around MGS a few times that I feel like I’m an OK putter, but I am starting to realize I might just be in denial!

Putts per round isn’t the best statistic in the world, but I do three-putt too often. I averaged over 35 putts per round in 2019, and not surprisingly, most of my lowest scores correlate with my best putting performances.

In 609 holes of putting recorded with GAME Golf, I three-putted 86 holes, or about 14 percent of the time. Now, I’m not a PGA Tour player, but even the worst three-putter on tour last year (Cameron Champ) three-putted only 66 times in 1,368 chances!

Bringing my total putts per round down will require me not only to become better at all facets of my putting, but also will require me to improve my short game from 30 yards and in. Too often I hit poor chips or pitches that still leave me with long and/or challenging first putts. Getting the ball closer to the hole when I miss the green in regulation should bring this number down quickly. 

3) Improve my Average Driver Carry to 250 Yards

Building consistency in my swing, specifically my driver swing, is a big priority for me. I had a few rounds this season where the driver was on fire, and I’d like to have more rounds like that in the future.

This goal is best measured on the range with my Swing Caddie SC200.

There is obviously a lot more to the game of golf than bombing the driver, but my hope is that increasing my swing speed and improving my mechanics helps throughout the bag, driver to wedge.

After all, carry is king, especially during my morning rounds and on a course as wet as mine is most of the year.

OK! It's time to revisit these season goals as I've maybe got one or two more rounds left in this season:

1) Hit 55 Percent of Fairways in Regulation 

I didn't reach this goal. This is basically the same dispersion as last season. I'm pretty disappointed in myself here, but not surprised. I really struggle getting off the tee. This is a focus point for this offseason, improving my long irons, driving iron and hybrid. Unfortunately, driver is nearly impossible to practice in the offseason because the heated bays are too narrow for me to swing comfortably.

2) Average 34 or Fewer Putts Per Round

Close! 34.3 putts per round. There were several awful rounds in there that drove up the average. I thought this might get better this year, but with COVID and working from home, I never committed to getting to a putting green to practice.

I recently purchased an Exputt putting simulator and also a new putter (L.A.B. Golf DF 2.1), so I plan on spending a lot of time this winter working on my putting.

3) Improve My Average Driver Carry to 250 Yards

Success! My "good" drives now carry well beyond 250 yards, and my Arccos Smart Distance is 259 yards. I recorded a personal best 304-yard drive this season, and have hit several drives 275+ total yards. 

It's not uncommon to hit 155 MPH+ ball speed and 247-252 yards carry on my FlightScope Mevo with range balls now. 

There is still a lot of work to be done with the driver. Optimizing launch conditions through better face control (i.e. learning to hit it straight/turn it over right-to-left more consistently) should make this number even better. Realistically, I want to consistently see 160+ ball speeds (with range balls) next season.

[2020 Official Member Review: Exputt putting simulator]

On 10/6/2020 at 10:03 PM, Golfspy_CG2 said:

As some areas of the country head into the off season, I thought I’d give this review a bump.  
 

it’s a great practice aid to keep that putting stroke grooved during the winter snd also s cool simulator to play some putting games on. 
 

I received mine a little over a week ago now and love it. Very few things have drastically influenced my game so quickly - this and the Planemate are the two things that come to mind.

I'll preface this by saying I've never been on a Quintic or SAM or anything that measured my path and face angle. I'm sure the Exputt is not as accurate as those systems, but within the first 25 rolls I noticed a distinct pattern in my swing. I was pretty consistently 0.5 to 1.5 degrees in-to-out with my stroke, but my face angle tended to go anywhere from 0.1 degrees closed to something like 4 degrees open. Yikes. The face angle was basically reliant on my right side twisting the club closed at impact. This totally explains everything I was struggling with this year on the greens.

This new information led me down a rabbit hole that ended with me changing my putting grip. Previously, I had used an interlocking grip as a holdover from the days when I used that for my full swing clubs. After doing a little bit of reading, I ended up switching to a reverse overlap. Immediately my face angle because so much more neutral and repeatable.

I played Friday on a course that I only played once before this season - I hit 10 greens and had 34 putts. I did three-putt three times, but all three were from outside of 35 feet and one was a mishit because the ball was backed up to the collar. Most importantly, I had several putts stop in tap-in range, and I converted two birdie putts from inside 10 feet. To echo something @cnosil mentioned, I really have a decent feel for distance now, and I just walk off the distance and then let feel take over. This works out well since I walk to the pin to mark the position in Arccos anyway.

The reviewers were spot on. The practice mode has a lot of use, I'm not sure how much I'll use the other modes. I do need to get a better light over the mat as the "control buttons" are a little unresponsive. It's quick to power on and in less than 20 minutes I can usually roll 50-60 putts. I've practiced more in the past week than I have all season.

I have a brand new L.A.B. DF 2.1 putter coming in the next week or so, and I'm super excited to have all winter to practice with it on the Exputt. 

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

6 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

So many rounds there over the season that you posted were just awesome, a lot of folks wouldNot have worked on the issues they were having and just said must be the clubs.

Appreciate the comments. I really think my struggles with the SpeedZones were largely because of the switch to the x-stiff C-Taper Lites. I think I was trying too hard to "muscle up" shots because they didn't feel the same as the stiffs I had originally fit into. As I've learned to relax a bit and let the club do the work, the results have been so much better and more consistent.

I played with my brother-in-law yesterday and near the end of the round he said something like, "You have such a pleasing trajectory with all of your clubs," and I'm really finding that to be true.