[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

^^^ @edingc you savage.  

 

Looks like a great combo with the Sync bag! 

Color combo turned out great. 

Genuinely want everyone to get their carts! Mine shipped from Chicago, basically next door to me, so hopefully everyone else's is not far away at this point!

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

1 hour ago, Hobert said:

Thank you! Love the color scheme. Did that lower storage bag come with it or is that an accessory you already had?

That was one of the Bag Boy-branded accessories I purchased separately. It's just a velcro-strapped bag, general fit, not specific to the Nitron.

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

34 minutes ago, Hobert said:

@edingc I neeeed one teaser pic from the unboxing!  Trying to live vicariously through you while I await my tracking info! 

Here's one from its maiden voyage this morning:

I will have a longer unboxing and first impressions post within the next day or so. 

Anyone else get a FedEx shipping notification yet?

[Callaway Paradym Drivers - 2023 Forum Review]

Awesome group. Enjoy these clubs. They are fantastic in my opinion. 

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Did it come with NOS? hehe

Can't wait to see this in action and looking forward to how it works out for all the testers!

"I live my life a 300-yard drive at a time."

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

4 hours ago, Lacassem said:

Pretty pumped to get this going, especially after seeing that this is top rated by MGS main page for push carts. LETS GET WALKING!

Game on!

[Edel SMS and SMS Pro Irons - 2023 Forum Review]

2 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Something was waiting for me at the door.  Not a branded box but at this point I could care less…

Obviously, many more pics coming…

That sure looks like UPS had a little mishap somewhere along the line... copious amount of packaging tape there.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

Been a couple months! I'm off to a good start to my season. The last few years it has taken me a solid month or so to round into form, but it did not take me long to get through the "offseason swing" part of the year. I initially struggled with some low-lefts with my longer clubs, but I've figured that out.

I posted this over in another thread a few days ago, but I took some video for the first time in a while and was very happy with my swing:

Thanks in part to my new Callaway Paradym TD, I'm driving the ball much better. This has resulted in fewer penalties off the tee, which has hurt me dearly in the past. I'm now trying to play straight/slight fades off the tee, which results in my misses being blocks or slight slices. At my course that is generally fine. In over a month's worth of golf, I've only lost two balls, both of which were water hazards and not related to my driver.

I still haven't been able to string together a really strong 18 holes, but there have been several good nine holes stretches - including two rounds under par and one at even par.

Over my last 10, I've been playing pretty well versus a scratch handicap:

I'm still missing too many putts inside of 8 feet (although my putting has vastly improved this season), and my partial wedge game has not been great. I finally broke down and am making an actual effort at a wedge matrix, which I made up this week at the range and have refined after a few test rounds:

Distance-wise, my offseason Stack training continues to pay off. I'm much more consistent with my long shots, and I'm hitting the driver further with less effort. And, as I continue to gain trust in my fade off the tee, I expect to swing a little faster.

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

18 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

Awesome intro @edingc, I think I might need to track mileage when it comes in!

had a question on your caddytek, does your top arm fall down like this:

Really looking forward to the bagboy coming in. I think alot of the features are going to work really well for what I am interested in.

Not while I'm using it, but yes the top arm tends to fall when trying to load the bag into the cart. I tightened it up with a screwdriver and that has helped some, but it's definitely a wear part.

 

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

On 5/16/2023 at 3:14 AM, Preeway said:

The Top-Lock feature on the cart sounds like an added bonus for securing a bag and could be enough to convince me to buy a new bag based on what I’ve read so far. More to come on this front for sure.

I've had some variation of a Top-Lock bag in different shopping carts on multiple occasions over the past couple of days! I just love my Sun Mountain bag a lot, I'd hate to change it out.

[Takomo - cautionary take]

29 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Welcome to the forum.

 

Interesting experience. Also kind of strange they were worried about SW and basically counter balancing your clubs. That may or may not throw off feel. Did you ask for a specific SW or were they just matching their website specs?

Yes, one of the concerning things here would be that the weights are only in some of the clubs. Obviously head weight can vary a bit, but counterbalancing some clubs and not others if they are all +1/2" from standard seems odd unless a heavier swingweight across the set was requested. Assuming (and this varies) 5 grams in the grip is roughly one swingweight point, you would think to match "standard" D2 swing weights across a set of +1/2" long clubs you would need to add at least some weight to the butt end of every club.

Couple thoughts here:

1. Not surprised by Takomo's response. If they do usually use counterbalance weights to hit a swingweight then that is their process. Their return policy states that custom clubs are not refundable, maybe they could have offered to fix it at your expense in shipping.
2. I don't know that I'd trust the customer service rep's explanation and that it's not just an excessive buildup of tape at the end of the grip. I've seen that before. What happens if you take a drill bit at low speed to the grip hole? 

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

My introduction has been posted! And I woke up to a great email this morning:

I don't know that the other testers have received a shipment notification just yet, but it won't be long until mine is on my doorstep!

[I don't care .... and neither should you]

Timely topic. I filled in for a league last night and my partner (~12-14 handicap) and myself were paired with another twosome consisting of a 34 and 46 handicap (league handicaps adjust to 18 holes - non-official). We had a blast playing with them as neither took the game too seriously at all. As the one said, they play for the one or two shots per round where they do something special, and both of them hit a handful of great shots throughout the nine.

As I've gotten older (wiser, perhaps?) it's been easier to avoid getting so wrapped up into a score. I obviously like to play well, but realistically golf is a brutal sport with so many highs and lows. That being said, it's also one sport where the playing field in a casual round is vast. Everyone is at a different level so I don't take offense to the low handicapper who is frustrated with his game because I get it (and I've been that person before). I just hope they are not obnoxious about it.

[Post Your Swing]

Videoed my swing for the first time this season during my range session today. Went with the magazine-style P positions montage:

Lots of progress in there over the past few years.

[The Stack System Review and Progress Thread]

My on course results continue to validate the effectiveness of The Stack. While I'm not where near my top speeds I saw indoors over the winter, my floor is definitely higher. Additionally, I'm impressed at how much my mechanics have improved as a result of the training as well. Perhaps the shorter club length is better at that than the longer length of the SuperSpeed or Rypstick that I had used before.

My tee game has started to round into form, and the improvement really shows itself when I get onto dry, fast courses where I get a more realistic amount of roll. I am usually a dew sweeper and the fairways at my home course are long, wet and slow. I played elsewhere the last two days in the afternoon/evening, and had several 290+ yard drives, including one last night that played slightly downhill and rolled out to 315-ish. 

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

I filled in on a league tonight and the car next to me pulled out a Nitron. Very excited for this to get going. Very sharp looking cart. He had the navy colorway. 

I will be very interested in how the cart handles non-"Top-Lock" bags. 

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

36 minutes ago, Hobert said:

Also toying with buying a BagBoy bag so that I can try the Top-Lok feature.

It looks like both Bag Boy and Datrek bags have the Top-Lok feature! I'm intrigued by the concept of Datrek's hybrid stand/cart bag, which if I'm understanding correctly will lock in this cart and be secure, but is also a stand bag. That'd be a nice combo! 

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

5 minutes ago, Bucky CC said:

Congrats everyone.  Anybody trying out a push cart for the very first time, or are you all converting from something else?

I currently have a Caddytek model that has 4 years and several hundred rounds/1,000+ miles on it. I'll dive more in on this throughout the review, but there are quite a few features of the Nitron that are things I think I will enjoy over the Caddytek - one of which is the handbrake.

[How'd you play?]

Had the pleasure of being invited to play a scramble at American Dunes in Grand Haven yesterday. For those unfamiliar with American Dunes, it is a recently-opened Jack Nicklaus redesign of Grand Haven Golf Club that is dedicated to the Folds of Honor project. Folds of Honor is a nonprofit organization that helps provide the families of fallen and disabled service members and first responders with educational scholarships. Typically a $155 round this time of year so to get on for an outing was a nice day!

They stripped down several inches of top soil during the redesign and got back to the sand base as it is basically a huge sand dune near Lake Michigan.

My tee game was pretty solid, short game was really good, putting was better than I expected but my iron play was poor. Still an excellent day and a lot of fun.

My cliff notes course review:

• Be sure to review the satellite maps or the scorecard holes closely. There's several blind shots around the course. On the par 5 No. 13 hole I thought it was particularly unfair, as your second shot goes up blind over a hill and funnels down to a green surrounded by bunkers. I don't know that you could possibly hit the green other than through blind luck.
• Shotmaker's dream around the greens. Lots of fun to be had with different options for high shots, low runners, etc.
• Tough but fair setup. If I had been playing solo I'd have played away from most of the trouble and been OK. The par 3s are brutal.
• It's very good golf, but there is a lot of good golf in West Michigan and there are courses with rates in the $60-$90 range that are just as good. Obviously, the proceeds from American Dunes go to a good cause so keeping that in mind it's somewhere I'd love to play every couple of years as a treat.

[Bag Boy Nitron Cart - 2023 Forum Review]

Bag Boy Nitron Push Cart – Official MGS Forum Review by @edingc

Introduction - May 18, 2023

Thank you to Bag Boy and the MyGolfSpy forums for yet another amazing testing opportunity.

My name is Cody. You may remember me from hits such as the 2020 #CobraConnect Challenge or the 2022 Edel SMS wedge review! I am from the West Michigan area and have been a member here on the forums since late 2018.

I currently play to a mid-single digit handicap, down from about 25 when I joined the forums. My strength is my length, while my accuracy tends to cause issues at times. Generally, as my tee game goes, my score goes.

My family and work situations allow for play almost every day from May to September. I am extraordinarily lucky in that regard! I walk nine or 18 holes at least four times per week, and from Memorial Day to the end of July I aim for six days of play per week. Additionally, I spend my lunch hours at the practice facility almost everyday.

Since the beginning of 2019, I’ve played around 275 rounds of golf. More than 85 percent of those rounds have been walking with a push cart. It is fantastic exercise, especially when walking with pace. I also feel I stay more mentally focused while walking vs. riding.

I play almost all my golf at a single course, which is a hilly track that tips out around 6,200 yards. An 18 hole round of golf ends up being between four and five miles of walking, depending on how straight I hit the ball!  Several of the holes are uphill, and the steepest grades top 10 percent in both directions. 

What am I looking for in a golf push cart?

Like @Lacassem, I also currently use a CaddyTek push cart (and did an unofficial review back in 2019). The cart has served its purpose well. It is only finally starting to show major wear and tear after over 1,000 miles of walking. The main feature I love about the CaddyTek are the top bag arms which hold my bag in place without straps.

The Nitron peaked my interest for several reasons:

• The appearance. I’ve seen the Nitron in person and it looks a lot more sleek than my CaddyTek.
• The hand brake. I don’t usually bother with the CaddyTek’s foot brake, but as a result I’ve had to chase down my bag more than once!
• The number of Bag Boy accessories available. For this particular test, I purchased the following accessories on my own and will be trying them out:
  • Cart Storage Bag
  • Cart Hand Warmer Gloves
  • Cart Storage Basket
• The “Nitron” opening system. The CaddyTek can be clunky to open/close.

My major concern is the “Top-Lock” system and how it will work with bags not designed for it. I have a Sun Mountain Sync push cart bag, a Vessel stand bag and an OGIO cart bag that I will use during my testing.

I am planning on putting a lot of miles on the Bag Boy once received as we are entering the meat of my season. That means six rounds per week assuming no blips in my schedule. By the time final reviews are due, I should have well over 75 miles on it!

Unboxing and First Impressions - May 25, 2023

As I posted earlier, FedEx delivered my Nitron cart on Monday, May 22. The cart came securely packaged in its branded box, surviving its trip from Chicago to me without issue. I had to put it together right away!

The time-stamped video below shows the ease of assembly. The main cart (the “Nitron” part) comes already put together. I only had to install the three wheels. Honestly, it was harder to figure out where to attach the storage bag I purchased than to set up the cart itself. One important part of the setup is that you must match the orientation of two small stars on the cart frame and front wheel during installation.

I had the cart ready to go in under six minutes.

The build quality is impressive. It is obvious this is not a cheaply constructed item. The frame has some weight to it, and the plastic parts are sturdy and solid.

The top handle assembly adjusts easily using a quick release knob. The handbrake is located on the left side of the top assembly and has a bicycle-like brake line that runs down to the right rear wheel.

The top assembly also has the cupholder and a storage compartment for balls and other small items. I love that this is not a spring-loaded door (likely to fail), instead a simple open/close door.

Rounding out the handle assembly is the cell phone holder and small storage bag on the underside.

I have been able to get out for 27 holes with the Nitron so far and have been enjoying my time. 

Final Review - July 4, 2023

Final review time!

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Bag Boy Nitron cart. Since receiving the cart at the end of May, I’ve walked 459 holes of golf spread out over 38 trips to the course. While I don’t have official numbers, I estimate I’ve put over 100 miles on the cart during the review period.

Aesthetics (5 out of 5 Stars)

The Bag Boy Nitron is a very attractive cart with its very sleek and clean design.

I’ve grown to love the red/black color scheme. It pairs fantastically with my black Sun Mountain Sync bag.

There is nothing I would change about the cart’s appearance. I hope Bag Boy restocks inventory soon as several color ways appear to be out of stock.

Features (4 out of 5 Stars)

The selling point of the Nitron is the auto-opening mechanism. This feature is amazing. It takes little to no effort to have the cart unfolded and ready to go within seconds of opening my trunk. An added benefit of the mechanism is that it also keeps the cart held together when it is moving around.

I love the fixed front wheel design. There is no requirement to move a front wheel into position, which I have had to do with other carts in the past.

Bag Boy added a good amount of storage and a cell phone holder, both necessities for any good push cart. There are also a ton of official accessories, which I detailed in the below post.

The Nitron comes with Bag Boy’s proprietary “Top-Lok” system. The system locks compatible Bag Boy or Datrek-branded bags into the cart's upper arms. While the cart also supports non-Top Lok bags (like my Sun Mountain), a Top-Lok bag would make the most of the cart's features.

On the Course (5 out of 5 Stars)

I hated the under mounted storage bag ... for about two rounds and then grew used to it. The bag can hold quite a bit. Its design ensures things don’t fall out even when the cart handle folds down for transportation.

The cart has been very stable for me, even on my hilly course. I have made good use of the hand brake to hold the cart still on the many side hill lies I encounter.

The wheels glide smoothly and the cart tracks well.

Since the Nitron is so easy to open/close, I have been wheeling my entire bag on the cart out to the range. In the past, I would carry only a few clubs. This has led to me using my entire bag to practice more often. I really need to do more of that if I want to reach my long-term goal of a scratch handicap.

The Good, The Bag, The In Between (3 out of 5 Stars)

My biggest concern with the Nitron is the longevity of the wear parts. The biggest areas of concern for me are the Nitron opener itself, the hand brake and handle adjustment. While the build quality of the cart is excellent, these areas are moved/used frequently and I can see them eventually wearing out.

Additionally, we as testers noticed a good amount of paint wear just from normal opening/closing.

Play It or Trade It? (5 out of 5 Stars) 

My old CaddyTek has is now a loaner cart for anyone who wants to walk with me. Bag Boy has produced a very nice cart. I love the Nitron opener which has made the setup/take down of the cart a breeze!

Conclusion

The Bag Boy Nitron is solidly built, has a ton of features, and it looks good! If you are in the market for a new cart, I’d recommend taking a good look at the Nitron. If you have a Top Lok-compatible bag, I’d not even bother looking at alternatives.

22/25 Stars

[What Equipment Have You Tested?]

2 hours ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

The TD looks like it will be easy to launch. The face seemed higher and looked like more loft than it really was.

Can confirm the TD is pretty good off the upper half of the face. Not really that floaty/knuckleball-esque, definitely higher launch. The taller face is one of the reasons I wanted it. Feels hard to miss (though I've come close ).To me it also sits more square than the standard Paradym, though that's probably debatable.

I have zero issues launching the TD, though my driver setup this year favors the higher launch/more erratic results type of delivery with the ball played outside my left shoulder/on my left big toe. I can't bring myself to bring the ball more in line with my instep - it's incredibly uncomfortable and I'd also need to go to a lower tee to do so.

[How'd you play?]

15 hours ago, Lacassem said:

PB alert!

76 (+4) a bird 3 pars and 5 bogeys on the front (felt better than that) and 2 birds 6 pars and a sole double for an even back! Never done that before for 9.

it felt like a round where I was struggling off the tee and putting was just good, nothing spectacular but my approach and wedges were dialed in tight. Jarred the flag stick twice from 100 out and 150 and through multiple wedges to <5’.

I needed them going because driver and 3 wood were not on board with play today. Multiple punch outs so it was a truly special round. If I just hit driving iron is read of driver/wood it really could have been interesting 

Heck yeah! Awesome round!

[How'd you play?]

Amazing how a couple of physical and mental tweaks can make a big difference. Three good rounds in this week after last weekend's less than stellar performance.

• Tuesday 9 (Back) - 38 (+2)
• Wednesday 9 (Front) - 35 (-1)
• Thursday 18 - 37/40 -> 77 (+5)

One dumb double bogey this morning after my drive landed squarely at the base of a tree and I had to go backwards out to the fairway. Momentary lapse in concentration led to missing what was basically a tap-in for an awful three-putt.

I'm not in 18 hole shape just yet. Started to get tired around hole 14 and labored hard over the final five holes. Finished par, bogey, par, par, par but made a mess of each hole with some tired mistakes around the greens.

[Engaged detachment]

On 5/2/2023 at 3:34 PM, ejgaudette said:

So who cares, hit a bad shot let it go, learn what you might need to practice on but otherwise there is nothing there.

Obviously tougher to implement than say, but this is so true. 

I know there's a lot of advice saying to break rounds into smaller chunks mentally, but I find I play my best golf taking things simply one shot at a time. If I just strive to put the best swing on the ball that I can each time, I find I play my best. I don't do nearly as well if I let my previous shot, or even a few previous shots,  linger in my mind 

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Solid range session today working on some basics - setup, grip, posture, balance, etc. Amazing how little fixes in these areas lead to better results.

Driver has been the weakest spot of my game so far this year, so I spent quite a bit of time really paying attention to ball position and shoulder alignment and how that changed my results. I need to do some more playing around, but I think I've gotten the ingredients to either a lower draw or higher cut figured out. Just need to practice some more to find out what one I can do with the most consistency. My course favors a high cut (all of the out of bounds is left), so if I can get that to be the default and play it, that's probably my best bet!