[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

7 hours ago, GB13 said:

As it turns out, your predictions about my golf game were just as bad as you played last year. 

Yes, it’s only one round, and yes, I played pretty poorly. But your predicting ability is still lackluster.  

After my first round with Arccos, I’m very impressed by the accuracy of its shot tracking. I must say, I can’t wait to see my putting stat when my putter isn’t ice cold like it was today. 

Two rounds into Arccos now as my replacement sensors arrived Friday evening. I'm finding it to be a little fiddly, but overall impressive.

I'm not overly surprised to find approach shots to be my current strength, with driving, chipping and putting lagging behind.

In GIF form, keeping with the theme of this thread, how I currently view my golf game:

And how it probably actually looks:

[How'd you play?]

2 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

Sounds like some progress. Hitting some bombs too. Can’t wait to hear how you hit the SZ Xtreme.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, I'm very happy with the driver over the past two rounds. Amazing what hitting up on the ball will do to carry and total distance.

[How'd you play?]

Saturday Morning

- 43/43 = 86 / 85 ESC (+14)
- 7/15 FIR
- 8/18 GIR
- 34 Putts (2 3-putts, 12 2-putts, 4 1-putts)

Started the round with an (unexpected) triple bogey. After a few changes to my driver swing during Wednesday's lesson, I'm now hitting it more right-to-left and with less spin, and this one took off on me and rolled through the slight bend and into the tall grass about 270 yards from the tee. Hacked out, but having never really been in that position before, I played the hole all wrong and ended with an opening seven. 

This round came down to striking the irons pretty well and hurting myself with the driver.

Sunday Morning

- 44/42 = 86 (+14)
- 3/15 FIR
- 6/18 GIR (1 birdie)
- 32 Putts (1 3-putt, 12 2-putts, 5 1-putts)

Hustled to get this round in this morning as they are predicting thunderstorms mid-late morning. Highlight of the round was a 286-yard drive right in the middle of No. 3 fairway, after which I got away with a bit of a hooked 7-iron to the left rough with a good view of the green. Hit a nice low 54 wedge that took two big hops and clanged off the pin. Tap in birdie.

Hit the driver really well, and the irons were really poor after the third hole. Just didn't strike them well today at all. 

I'm consistently scoring mid-80s, but now I need to focus on eliminating the one or two bad holes that wreck my score. Saturday was the triple bogey on No. 1 and a double bogey on No. 16. This morning it was a triple bogey on No. 7, a double bogey on No. 9 (which is an easy, easy par for me usually), and doubles on No. 11 and No. 16, again.

My chipping has been pretty awful over the past few rounds, but my putter is getting better. Still had a bad three-putt this morning, but at least it was the only one of the round.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

Big question for me during the challenge/review is how well the SpeedZone irons keep up ball speeds across the face. The 7-iron seemed to do a decent job of it in my fitting, but I'll be curious how it works throughout the bag.

My bad miss at the moment with irons is a spin-out pull hook, or if I save the face, a shot off the toe (usually on target, but short). For example, take these two 6-irons off the tee this morning. First one was absolutely smoked out of the center of the club face, beautiful push draw back on the target line just like I wanted:

The second I got around on it too much, and caught it out of the toe:

That's a lot of distance to be giving up on the same club, strike-to-strike. Obviously the best remedy is to fix the swing, but I'll be very curious to see how the SpeedZones react.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

On 6/18/2020 at 1:05 PM, edingc said:

After my lesson focused on driver yesterday, I figured I better go hit some balls to see if I could make it work.

Left the range extremely happy after spending about half of a 60 ball bucket on the driver.

Over 27 swings, I averaged a ball speed of 149.7 MPH, smash factor of 1.48, for an average carry over those swings of 241 yards. That included two drives on which my Mevo reported carry distance of 255 yards. I actually stopped hitting driver for a bit until I could move further down range because I piped three straight into the trees at the end of the range (whoops!).

Now, just hoping I can take it to the course, and also hoping I can continue to strike my irons well alongside the driver.

Went back to the range today at lunch for a small bucket to make sure this wasn't a fluke.

Happy to see that over 19 "good" shots today with the driver, I averaged 148.5/1.5/240. I have a hunch that Mevo is underreporting club speed (it seems to miss CHS a lot, too) so that's why the smash was so high. I did hit a bunch out of the center of the driver but there were a few that registered 1.53 and 1.54 smash.

I was made more happy by the three-straight push draws I hit right at my target with my 7-iron while I was finishing warming up. I've been placing an alignment rod in the ground about 5-7 feet in front of me on my target line and trying to sling push draws around the stick and back on line.

I will place an asterisk by these numbers ("good shots" - as mentioned above). It was 87 degrees, and the range was in full sun. I hit about 8 7-irons and then about 15 drivers, switched to wedge for a few shots and then my bucket was pretty much emptied and I was full of sweat. I should have stopped but someone had left about 15 balls from their bucket in the spot next to me, so I grabbed them to try to better my driver numbers. I think I was just plain wiped at this point and I struggled some. My glove was soaked and I just couldn't get comfortable swinging any club from that point on.

 

 

 

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

1 hour ago, The 19th Hole said:

Its crazy to me your coach says that about not being able to hit up on it because he is shorter than you. I am 5'-6" with 32" (I think...don't really wear dress shirts out here in Cali...don't match our flip flops very well...) and have been playing a standard length driver forever. My current M5 is the 9* head that I have to turn down to 7.5* with 1 of the weights towards the front (about a 1/2" back) of the face for an even lower trajectory because I hit up on it so much. My friend is about 6" taller than me and he still can't get my driver up in the air. My "Low" shot is his normal one. 

I should be getting on an LM in the next week or so and now am very curious what my actual AoA is. If I had to guess, I am probably about +3*.

And that's what's so interesting about golf and how different swings produce different results. I'm sure in your case you are getting a bit of extra distance from the longer club, and definitely from the AoA. Impressive numbers.

 

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

44 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

I’m surprised that the majority of us have been fit into the tour length driver.

I'm glad that more fitters are not buying into the longer shaft is better mantra. I understand that longer shafts do equal more distance if strike is pure, but I'm absolutely loving that everything I was fit for is short to some degree. 

For my height (5'11"-ish), I have long arms (35" dress shirt sleeve) so for me the shorter shafts are just more comfortable and allow me to feel a lot more natural standing above the ball.

EDIT - I should add something that I discussed with my coach during my lesson Wednesday. He is shorter than me, and he said unless he shortens his driver shaft, no amount of manipulation will get his angle of attack to be anything higher than zero. As soon as he goes to a shorter driver shaft, he can get it around 2-3 degrees up without problem.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

2 hours ago, GB13 said:

I’m sorry I’m didn’t post about my fitting and resulting setup sooner, I started to write it at 2 a.m. last night, and it turned into a word salad.

That said, my fitting was probably the 3 most rewarding hours I’ve ever spent hitting golf balls. My fitter was extremely knowledgeable and I have complete confidence in his recommendations, which is an extremely important quality in a fitter. I made it clear up front that my number 1 priority was reducing dispersion, and he was very receptive to that. The importance of a fitting cannot be over-stressed, the difference between what I thought I needed, and what I actually needed was quite vast.   I’ll break down the fitting process and final results by club type below. If you have any questions for me at all, please ask:

Irons:

This was my first time seeing the Forged Tecs in person, and I was stunned. These irons are beautiful. @Golfspy_CG2 was not exaggerating about how nice these look. And, not to give too much away, they feel just as good as they look.

Anyway, we started with the $Tapers, a shaft which I had predicted would be a good fit. I was very, very wrong. They felt so “dead” to me and made me wildly overswing. We quickly realized that 120g was too heavy for my swing and that 105g-110g was going to be the sweet spot. We tried several shafts in that weight range, and after a few swings with a shaft that I was absolutely stunned to later learn was the Nippon Modus 105, my fitter and I knew we had found the magic combination. Dispersion was amazing, contact was the most consistent we’d seen, and launch and spin was pretty darn perfect.

We did have a pretty extended discussion about length, and debated back and forth between standard, and 0.5” long. At the end of the day, standard was by far the most comfortable, and again, produced the most consistent contact. The lie angle was very simple, after a few shots, it was quite clear that standard was going the be the best option there too. 

It was fascinating, I NEVER expected that I would be fit into a Standard length, standard lie set. For comparison, my (un)educated guess at my current setup has me playing clubs that are 1” too long, and 3° too upright. That is........ not ideal. 

Final result - Forged Tec 4-PW Standard Length and Lie  

Nippon Modus 105 Stiff  

 

Wedges:

After all the iron analysis, we felt very comfortable keeping the same shaft specs especially since the Modus 105 have a softer tip/lower kickpoint for good feel around the greens. 

The main discussion was focused around gapping after we ultimately decided against the Forged Tec gap wedge. The Forged Tec PW is 44° and I really wanted to keep a 58° as my highest lofted wedge and maintain proper gapping. We ultimately decided to go with a 50° bent 1° strong to 49°, a 54°, and then the 58°. The Versatile grind was an easy call on every wedge, and while we did briefly consider the Widelow 58°, we decided that it would limit some options around the green.

Final Result - King MIM 50° (bent to 49°), 54°, and 58° Standard Length and Lie. All with the Versatile Grind.

Nippon Modus 105 Stiff

 

Woods:

While my iron swing was rather good all day, my ability to hit the woods was at times, questionable. All-in-all, I’m okay with that, I want clubs that provide good dispersion on days that I don’t have my A game. (Or even B- game)

 

After a few swings, we decided that with the goal of dispersion in mind, Tour Length was gonna be the way to go. After figuring out that having the driver set at 10° draw was producing the best numbers, the shaft choice became quite obvious. The HZRDUS Smoke Yellow 60 was producing crazy good numbers. 

 

The fairway wood, which gapping analysis determined to be a 3 wood, followed very much in the footsteps of the driver. Lofted up 1°, with the HZRDUS Smoke Yellow 70. 

 

Picking out my 13th club was a challenge, we waffled between a 3 iron built more as a driving iron, or a 3 hybrid for more versatility. I don’t usually get along with hybrids, but I felt that I hit this hybrid well enough that the versatility upside was worth the risk of it being a bust. I’m really looking forward to see how it works on the course.

Final Result - Tour Length SpeedZone Driver 9° lofted up to 10° in the draw setting. HZRDUS Yellow Smoke 60 Stiff

SpeedZone 3W lofted up 1° -0.5” Short HZRDUS Yellow Smoke 70 Stiff

SpeedZone 3H Standard length Recoil ESX 480 Stiff 

Sounds like a great fitting!

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

1 hour ago, B.Boston said:

 

Somebody is getting all jacked up for CCC4!

Was this taken during your range session?

 

Hahahaha, while I've put on some weight recently, I'm not quite Bryson hulked (yet...).

Felt really good. Still working on getting the face fully shut, a lot of them had a bit of right to left movement, but I think I'm making some progress now.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

1 hour ago, THEZIPR23 said:

I think the little swagger when picking up the tee is on point!

Replay confirms a nice little hop-skip in there... solid!

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

After my lesson focused on driver yesterday, I figured I better go hit some balls to see if I could make it work.

Left the range extremely happy after spending about half of a 60 ball bucket on the driver.

Over 27 swings, I averaged a ball speed of 149.7 MPH, smash factor of 1.48, for an average carry over those swings of 241 yards. That included two drives on which my Mevo reported carry distance of 255 yards. I actually stopped hitting driver for a bit until I could move further down range because I piped three straight into the trees at the end of the range (whoops!).

Now, just hoping I can take it to the course, and also hoping I can continue to strike my irons well alongside the driver.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

My mood this morning:

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

2 minutes ago, Wedgie said:

I am really curious how the Speedzone irons perform out of the rough.  With the F9s I am seeing 1-2 clubs longer from the rough.  It really messes with you.

I suppose, given the lofts and lower spin that results, any grass that gets between the club face and the ball could exaggerate a flier. You'd essentially be spinning the ball like a wood but with a massive launch angle.

Do they look like they knuckle when you get one of these?

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

5 hours ago, Gurra said:

As I wrote yesterday I thought that I would be lucky to get the clubs today, but 30mins after my post I got notified that they had arrived! So I naturally picked them up on my way to the course for a round and they worked just so well right away! I do love them. I also got some new shoes to match! 

Awesome! And those shoes are awesome. I have the peacoat (navy) version, but now I wish I had gone for those.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

"Feel isn't real."

Common adage regarding golf, I suppose, but I always have to remind myself. 

I had a fitting yesterday for the #CobraConnect challenge and took away both positives and negatives. Before I get to those, I do want to say I've been playing very consistent golf since the end of May, shooting an 80 and 81 before massive putter letdowns led to an 89 and 94 the last two times out. Despite the scores, I still was happy with how I played everywhere but on the greens.

First, the good from the fitting was that my iron swing in nearly zeroed out path-wise now. I was hitting very consistent little draws, and sometimes some hooks, but that's better than the weak fades I was hitting when I started lessons in November.

The bad? My driver swing is garbage. It's ironic, but TXG just did a video today about people who take their iron swing to their driver fittings. That's what I do/did yesterday. It didn't influence my fitting massively, but I hit very few good shots with the driver.

I had a lesson today and we took a quick look at my irons to see about sorting the overcooked hooks, and then we moved onto rebuilding the driver swing into something usable.

For the irons, my feel now is that my feet will be aligned slightly left of target with my shoulders parallel or slightly closed. I rotate too hard with the shoulders and by having the feet slightly open (at least in feel) helps prevent me from wanting to rip the shoulders open. It's a nice thought and I was hitting some good push draws with my 9-iron that landed at or beyond the 145 flag I lasered at the beginning of the lesson.

With the driver, feel isn't real at all! I felt like I was setting up with secondary axis tilt and closed shoulders. In reality, I was very straight and my shoulders were open or maybe neutral on good swings. We tweaked my setup similarly to the irons, with my feeling being that my feet are slightly open to target, moved the ball to inside my left heel, and then added a lot of secondary tilt. The goal is to roughly keep that tilt throughout the swing, and stop my head from moving forward. My coach also gave me some half swing drills that I can work on with wiffle balls and camera in the back yard.

The results were pretty good! I was able to get my angle of attack to be positive, which is something I've really struggled with in the past. I was shocked to watch the face-on video of the drill because what I was feeling didn't look anything like what was happening. (Apologies for the video quality - that's what happens when I get video texts from an iPhone...)

 

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

1 hour ago, yungkory said:

That's interesting re: driver vs iron speed. I feel like I'm the complete opposite and hit driver disproportionately further than my other clubs.

 

Honestly, for me, it's probably a physiological reaction to having very little confidence in not slicing it off the planet if I swing harder? I can generate loads of speed with the SuperSpeed sticks, and a "dry" driver swing without a ball usually registers 112-114 on the same radar, or probably 108-110 with a "real" radar like Trackman. Those numbers would be more in line with an 87 MPH 7-iron.

I did have a lesson today (I'll probably create a post over in my work in progress thread), and we completely changed my driver setup and I started seeing better results. The one Trackman shot my coach sent me had 101 MPH club speed, 153 MPH ball speed, +2 AoA and +0.8 in-to-out for a carry of 245 with range balls. Massive change, it's now just being able to do it consistently.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

4 hours ago, mikeanthony said:

Nice. I need to hop over to the SuperSpeed forum and see how those are working for our fellow MGSpiers ... would love to pick up an extra 5mph of swing speed across the board. 

I have the SKLZ Gold Flex and mainly use it as a stretch and warming up tool during those early morning rounds.  

I use the Gold Flex as well, combo'ed with some stretches. Works wonders.

4 hours ago, JohnSmalls said:

Game recognizes game. 

 

@edingc  some discussion about the topline of the SZ irons went on when they debuted.  Did you find the carbon distracting? 

Agree totally with @daviddvm. I honestly didn't really notice the carbon fiber. The first thing I noticed is they did have a slightly larger footprint than what I'm used to, but a few swings and results really made me forget about anything I didn't like about them.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

43 minutes ago, mikeanthony said:

I’d be curious to know your reaction going from forged to cast irons. I moved on from my Snake Eyes 600c irons that I had for 10 years, for I just simply don’t play that much anymore and father time ... to my current TM M1s and while my game has significantly benefited from the switch, I truly do miss the feel of forged irons. There just isn’t anything like it.

It’s one of the reasons I’ve been eyeing the OL Forged Tecs. 

I suspect the biggest difference will be a loss of feeling exactly where I hit the ball on the face. I played cast clubs up until the PTMs, so I don't think it will be a huge adjustment. I definitely didn't feel like the SpeedZones felt "off" or anything. They certainly felt explosive and the ball speed numbers confirmed that.

42 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

Did you end up trying the Ventus or motoreX?

When I was swinging last week I was right at 90 and also could go S or X. Driver was at 108ish and the s flex was working better. Those are off GC Quad which I think is slightly different than trackman numbers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tried both the Ventus Black and Motore X F3. Preferred the Motore X and the numbers were better, too. Josh was real honest about it and said the Aldila Rogue Silver produced just as good as numbers for me (given my swing at the moment) and he would not recommend spending money on the Motore.

I think I topped driver out at about 103 yesterday. I've said it before I think, but I generate way more speed with my irons than driver/woods. Some of that is because of my AoA - if I swing any faster I just spin the ball more. I have a few drills to work on to try to get it more leveled out. I do suspect the shorter shaft (he did not have any tour length shafts) will help me some, as my driving with the shortened Epic Flash has been so much better.

EDIT - Confirmed with Josh I actually hit the F3.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

6 minutes ago, ncwoz said:

Sweet!! Just curious, what lead you out to Leading Edge?

Couple of things -

1) Cost was comparable/better than Club Champion, which would have been my local option in Grand Rapids. They were also able to get me in on short notice.

2) I wanted to be fit on Trackman because I already have an established Trackman account and like to reference numbers. That eliminated Golf Emporium as they use a Flightscope.

3) This is not a knock on Maple Hill, but their Trackman fitting studio is not as large and I always end up pulling the ball left in there for some reason. No issue with that at LE (which apparently has the second largest Trackman screen in the US behind the White House, according to Josh).

4) I wanted to hit a few exotic shafts (Ventus, Motore X) that I knew Maple Hill wouldn't carry. Leading Edge carries anything and everything your could ever want to hit.

1 minute ago, mikeanthony said:

That all makes sense. I’ve got the Modus 105 stiffs in my current irons and they just work for me. I’m not a huge loader in my swing. Wanted to like the KBS shafts for I love their matte chrome finish of their irons. I remember the Tour 90 being a no-go, Tour V was in there, with the Taper Lite being in the mix in the end as well. Did any of you guys swing the Mizuno shaft tempo monitor while there? 

And you are correct, it really is a religious experience when you go through a true 60-90 full bag fitting. Since we’re moving to the ‘subscription economy’ maybe a fitter will offer a fitting subscription program. ... ‘Still the same shafts? Perfect! All I needed to know. See you next month!’  
 

I was on the Mizuno optimizer last fall, where I was 83 MPH with a 4 tempo. Recommended shafts were KBS C-Taper Lite stiff, KBS Tour Regular, AeroTech SteelFiber i110cw Stiff and Dynamic Gold 105 Stiff. As you can see, my swing speed has gone up slightly since then. We were debating about going to X-flex in the C-Taper Lites but I wasn't having any issues with the stiffs.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

12 minutes ago, jddaigneault said:

It’s all about the bend profile. Modus 105 has a softer tip. It’s sneaky hard to control a club with a soft tip. The KBS CTL has a stiff butt section, so I imagine you’d feel it loading more in your hands which could give you a feeling of control. 

I love the modus 120. Super stiff tip, mid stiff middle, firm butt. Controls the club head really well, making it easier to square the face up more often. 
 

That's a very accurate representation of how it feels to me.

I'm excited about the Aldila Rogue Silver as it felt so much better than the HZRDUS Yellow I'm currently gaming. We tried the HZRDUS Smoke Yellow (stock option for Cobra) and it still felt just as lifeless and awful as my current one.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

 

8 hours ago, gavinski91 said:

There's so much more that goes into ball flight than club loft though - to be honest I'd be fine with gaining 20 yards across the board on all of my irons as long as I maintained similar descent angles.

I didn't bother bring in my Maltby PTMs because I wasn't there for a comparison, but I bet if I had, I would have seen similar descent, launch and spin angles from my 7-iron. Based on what I was seeing, I don't see any problem holding a green with these.

6 hours ago, yungkory said:

Looks like a super solid place to get fit at! It'll be interesting to see the on-course performance of that driver. We all know how Trackman indoors does with spin readings.

What color woods are you going with? @Mods, can I change his order to fit what I want in his bag?

 

Of the fitting experiences I've had, this is now easily my favorite. Once I started getting into a little groove with the Aldila Rogue Silver, the numbers were looking better. 

Don't worry - woods will be matte black/white. Especially now that I've gone with the Rogue which has the white color in it. I'm ready for a matte-topped driver again.

6 hours ago, JohnSmalls said:

Awesome update @edingc!  Can’t wait to see what the distance carryover is for the golf course and how the SZ stacks up against your old gamer 

Thanks! I'm really excited to get everything in. One of the biggest things I'm excited about is that we discussed club length quite a bit and he recommended shorter clubs across the board. I have long arms for my height, and I always feel very awkward with standard length drivers and woods. Since I cut down my Epic Flash a few weeks ago I have been hitting the ball much better, so the Tour Length SZX should be a match made in heaven.

4 hours ago, GB13 said:

I’m happy to hear your fitting went so well!!! Seems like one hell of a setup you got there. I expect I’ll be debating between the CTL and $Taper tomorrow. Although I’ve never actually been fitted for irons before (which I’m super excited about doing) so I really have no idea what to expect, those just kinda “seem” like they’d fit my game well. 

 

I dunno, if his Haka is “high, dirty, and sexy”, I’m not sure I want to see it anymore.

If I don’t wanna see your sexy calves, I sure as hell don’t want to see your dirty, sexy thighs. 

If you're currently gaming the Steelfibers, I suspect you will like the feel of the CTLs. At least for my swing, they feel very similar.

4 hours ago, jddaigneault said:

Getting fitted for irons might be one of the greatest experiences ever. It’s like Harry Potter wand shop good. You’re going to love it and it’ll lead to huge increases in trust when you go to his a long iron into a green. Everyone should get fitted. I wish I could get fitted once a week. It’s like drugs. 

I know someone who thinks fitting is just a money-grab, and while I agree there are some fitters that are less than top quality, when you get a good fitting it's eye-opening. Had I just been handed a set of SpeedZones with the Nippon Modus 105s I think I would have told you I'd rather hit my old clubs. The balance and feel just seemed all wrong to me, and it was reflected in some really poor strikes. (That's not a knock on Nippon or the Modus 105s as I know they are quality shafts, but for me with these heads, they just didn't work out.)

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

5 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

Wow we’re remarkably similar in spec. My AP2 have C-Taper lite and are 2 flat. Actually come to think of it I could probably easily be fit into those same specs except my driver loft would be higher.

Looks like you had a good time and found an awesome fitter!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, that's one of the first things I thought of because I knew you also played the CTLs. Something about them just feels right when I hit them. I didn't mind the $-Tapers, either, but still not a competition numbers-wise.

My fitter was very good, well worth the time it took to drive there. He was very patient with me, and I felt like he actually was making changes with a specific goal in mind. I've had other experiences where it just felt like the fitter was just changing shafts and relying on Trackman to tell them if it was good/bad.

7 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

I like the consistency you are showing with it, 175-182 is a pretty tight window. Plus, that yellow and black bag is nice!

I was very happy with my iron swing today. Once I get the driver swing down, it's lights out for everyone else in this challenge .

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

3 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

Now the question is......what bag!?

 

3 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

Looks like you were getting pretty consistent numbers across the board and that draw looks sweet. Were the orange dots all the KBS numbers? 

Yup! The last few shots we went back to the C-Taper Lites just to be sure they were still working. Maybe it is just my familiarity with those shafts, but man, compared to the others I tried, I just launched these sooooo much better. That picture gives a good preview as to what kind of distance these clubs will generate.

[#COBRACONNECT Challenge 4]

I had the wonderful opportunity this afternoon to get fit for this challenge at Leading Edge Golf in Okemos, Michigan. I've stuck a few pictures below and will create a gallery later with a few more. I had an awesome time!

Josh, my fitter, spent several years fitting for PGA Tour players and is a member of an advisory board for Cobra, so I felt really comfortable from the get-go today, which made the nearly 90 minute drive for me worth it! (Another cool fact - he fits many of the local "celebrities," including several members of the Detroit Red Wings and various college coaches from many of Michigan's universities.) I really appreciated Josh was willing to talk numbers with me, as I am analytical by nature and also enjoy the various technologies employed by the heads, shafts, etc. Would I be a Spy if I didn't?!?

We started with the SpeedZone irons, and without giving too much away, they are very easy to look at and launch. Loft-jacking aside, I saw some crazy ball speed numbers with good spin and descent angles, and I wasn't even swinging my best. I cycled through all of the shafts Cobra offers in the SpeedZones, but none topped the KBS C-Taper Lites, the same shaft I already play in my Maltby PTMs. Something about those shafts really suit my swing, and I love the feeling I get from them. To be honest, the biggest surprise with the irons was how much I hated the Nippon Modus 105s. Just felt all wrong to me. 

This was the first time I've spent significant time on Trackman since my lessons over the past few months, and I was ecstatic to see my club path with my irons has improved a lot. Most swings are now neutral or slightly in-to-out, which led to a bunch of nice draws with the SpeedZone 7-iron I hit.

We then moved to the top of the bag, working through a few different combinations of hybrid lofts and shafts. I'm not a huge fan of hybrids, but I've found the Cobra hybrids seem to work pretty well for me. Josh was very careful to ensure that the combo we settled on didn't go left like so many hybrids can do.

Obviously, the SpeedZone driver and fairways woods were the biggest pieces of puzzle for the day. I wish I could say I striped a bunch of great shots with both, but the reality is my driver and fairway wood swings need a lot of work.

I am very steep with my wood swings, and generate a lot of spin. We cycled through a bunch of different head settings and shafts trying to knock that down and eventually settled on a tour length SpeedZone Xtreme, turned down to 7.5 degrees, with the Aldila Rogue Silver. I really liked the feel of the Rogue Silver and with a few tweaks I did start hitting some better shots. Just for fun we also cycled through some exotic shafts, and I'm now in love with the Fujikura Motore X...

The final specs I will be submitting to Cobra are:

Driver - Cobra SpeedZone Xtreme 9 Degree, Tour Length (44.5"), Aldila Rogue Silver 60 Stiff - Set to 7.5 Degrees
3 Wood - Cobra SpeedZone 14.5 Degree, -3/4", Aldila Rogue Silver 70 Stiff - Set to 13.5 Degrees
2 Hybrid  - Cobra SpeedZone, -1/2", UST Recoil 480 ESX F4
4-GW - Cobra SpeedZone, -1/2", 2 Degrees Flat, KBS C-Taper Lite Stiff
54, 58 Wedges - KING Black, Versatile Grind, 3 Degrees Flat (if that can be done), KBS C-Taper Lite Stiff (soft-stepped once)
Grips - Lamkin Sonar Cobra Connect

Overall, today was an extremely fun and rewarding day.

 

[How'd you play?]

4 hours ago, cnosil said:

Based on your description of number 7 the other night it seems light the strategy paid some dividends. Was it hard to make the strategy adjustment or were you pretty committed based on past struggles?

Definitely a rough time on the greens.

Honestly, yes, it feels kind of weird to be hitting an iron on holes that I used to hit driver, which happened on four holes today (7-iron on on No. 5, 5-iron on No. 9, 6-Iron on No. 10 and 6-Iron on No. 13). I'll admit the strategy doesn't come without risk - I hooked the 7-iron on No. 5 and got a lucky bounce back to the fairway, and hit the green from a ways out with my 4 hybrid. I also did not hit ideal shots on No. 10 or No. 13, but I was still in better position than if I had hit a poor drive.

The "ah-hah" moment, so to speak, happened on the par 5 No. 9, however. I hit 5-iron instead of driver, didn't catch all of it but landed squarely in the fairway, and thought to myself, "Well, that was stupid." But when I got to my ball, I looked around and realized I was 10-15 yards ahead of where I would have been had I hit my drive left, and only about 10 yards behind where I would have been if I hit my drive right. I had a perfectly clear path for my second shot, which I executed well and left myself about 110 into the hole. Hit a pretty good wedge, and two-putted for a stress-free par. 

EDIT - Also, in reference to a different aim point strategy, that paid dividends on No. 7. I aimed more right than I usually would and even though I hit my standard shot shape it ended up way better than had I been aiming more left like I had in the past.

Changing my aim was not as big of a deal as changing my mindset about driver off the tee.