[Cooking]

Got to try out the Old Smokey with a pork shoulder! Seemed appropriate for Memorial Day.

Sous vide from frozen, 161 degrees for about 18 hours with 1.5 percent salt in bag. Pulled from sous vide and rubbed with yellow mustard, New Mexico red chile powder and garlic powder.

Smoked with a couple chunks of hickory for about an hour at 250-300ish on the Old Smokey. Basted once with a mixture of G. Hughes sugar-free BBQ sauce, ketchup, Sriracha and juices from the sous vide bag.

Served with sugar-free coleslaw.

Ate way too much and am now lying in bed resting .

[How'd you play?]

14 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

7 one putts! Nice! Was that due to chipping it close? Or did you drain a few long ones?

I also tend to favor the heel on drives but have learned to set up favoring the toe at address and firing away. I even spent a few rounds living in the “high-toe” zone last year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Largely due to chipping it close. I've gone to using the Maltby PTM GW around the green if I don't need to clear anything and have some green to work with and I've been getting pretty good with it. I am starting to hit more greens than I used to, but I'm still working on getting reasonable length birdie putts. 

I'm really bummed because the ball I lost on No. 12 (150-ish par 3) I struck really well but I lost it in the sun. Didn't see it drop or hear it drop. Had I been playing with someone I'm sure we would have found it, but I had to assume it went OB left because I looked for about three minutes and didn't find anything around the green. Ended up taking a drop - kind of set the back nine off in a bad mood.

I've been setting up off the toe as well, was actually considering going the opposite route and trying some closer to the heel to promote me staying in my posture and not lunging as much. On 18, after the top (which was off low heel), I was basically on my tip-toes. Not going to hit many good shots with weight distribution like that.

Also, planning on bringing a water bottle and maybe some snacks for my next round. By 14-15 walking starts to take a toll on me.

 

[How'd you play?]

- 38/45 = 83 (+11)
- 7/15 FIR
- 5/18 GIR (1 birdie)
- 31 Putts (2 3-putts , 9 2-putts, 7 1-putts)
- 2:45 Round Time 

This goes down as one of my better rounds ever, and probably my best ball striking round of my life. I struck the ball extremely well on the front with most every club and really only had one or two awful shots. Went to the course with a few new swing thoughts and they really helped.

Back nine didn't go as well, still struck the ball well, but got a little hooky and had two shots sail OB left that hurt my score. I started to get tired near the end again, and ended up shanking an approach on No. 16 and topping a drive on No. 18. Remove those two penalties and wasted shots and I had a legitimate chance to break 80.

Driver still isn't good at all, but the irons are coming along nicely now. My balance is all out of whack with the driver, and I need to figure out how to not end up with my weight falling forward in my downswing. It's causing all my drives to be off the heel, the good ones being OK cuts or baby fades and the awful ones being low-left spinners. 

 

[How'd you play?]

30 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

I played my first round with a member of the forum today and it was a blast! Back around the beginning of April, David a.k.a. @KillerGees contacted me noting we live in the same area and asked if we could meet up sometime and play. He brought Jesse, a friend from work to my local course. They're great guys and we had a good time. We're going to get together again around July once his course finishes the repairs on their greens.

I shot 48/47 for a 95 hitting 6 fairways and zero greens. My short game was on fire with Arccos recording 4 chip and downs and 32 putts. I had to do something to make up for my abysmal approach game . 

We walked the course, the first time I've ever walked 18 holes and I'm just glad the course had a push cart I could use, even if one of the back tires was about to come off and wobbled the whole time. I'm going to be sore in the morning, but I actually enjoyed walking as I feel it slowed me down and helped with the focus. Except when I was gasping for breath. 

This is what the forum is all about, it's not only getting to talk to great folks online but getting to meet and golf with another member is awesome. 

Awesome! Sounds like it was a lot of fun.

[How'd you play?]

- 43/42 = 85 (+13)
- 10/15 FIR
- 7/18 GIR (1 birdie)
- 36 Putts (4 3-putts , 10 2-putts, 4 1-putts)
- 2:45 Round Time 

FINALLY! I sorted out the gremlin in my swing and was able to get the ball off the tee box today, and I struck a handful of really great irons, also. All I was thinking about today was making sure I was bent over less and had good weight distribution in my setup. Helped immensely. Only threw away two shots - a topped six iron on No. 3 and a finesse shank from about 110 on No. 10. 

Had a birdie on the front and reeled off four-straight pars on the back nine before I started getting a little wild off the tee and that hurt me on 15, 16 and 17. Sadly, two of the 3-putts were after hitting the GIR. Need to clean that up! Would have been a pretty great scoring round for me had I not had those bad putting holes.

Still not hitting the ball spectacularly, but this gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.

I ordered a flexible phone mount to attach to my cart, and I videoed hole No. 1, which I parred. I have a ton of respect for people who do full course vlogs, it takes a lot of time to even do one hole. I don't think I would want to do a whole round, but I may do a hole here or there as the season goes just for fun. 

 

 

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Precision, but not accuracy, apparently. Just need to move it a ball over. 

On the other hand, I found the reason for the dreaded s-word in my game as of late... 

 

[ncwoz's WITB]

59 minutes ago, ncwoz said:

Way late on the putter update here, but I've been the gaming the Evnroll ER2B since the testing opportunity last fall.

I have also realized that the shafts on my irons don't match up . Most have the zz lites, one has the Ping JZ shaft, and one has a Dynamic Gold.

Needless to say, irons are next up on my upgrade list! I think after that I'm going to look either at driver or for something to round out the top of my bag where my 2 iron currently resides.

I think a road trip to Sycamore, IL and Sub70 is in your future...

[How'd you play?]

First full go around for the year at the home course today. We had a ton of rain over the weekend, and the course had been closed since Sunday, I think. Most of the fairways were as long as the rough and pretty wet. Everything was all carry.

- 45/47 = 92 (+20)
- 3/15 FIR
- 3/18 GIR
- 34 Putts (2 3-putts, 13 2-putts, 2 1-putts, 1 chip-in)
- 2:45 Round Time (Love being the first off...)

I'm starting to hit better shots, but right now everything is either pretty good or just awful as I work through the swing changes from my lessons. It's one thing to put them in place on a range, but on the course it's a whole different ballgame.

I still really struggled mightily today getting off the tee for the first 15 holes. And unfortunately it really carried over to some shots from the fairway where I had my fair share of clanked tops and even a few dead shanks. Ugh. Looking back on the ShotScope data and it's pretty ugly.

Putted really well on the front nine, not as good on the back. Chipping was pretty good all around again. So there are some bright spots. And on the last three holes my driver started to wake up a little, finally registering a 245-yard carry on No. 16. 

Hoping to play a few times over the long weekend, and hoping more swings continue to work the kinks out.

 

[2020 Forum Member Review - SuperSpeed Training System]

4 hours ago, B.Boston said:

Those are some nice speeds! I can’t remember, what’s your usual driver swing speed?  What was your normal green swing without those tweaks?

I hit 108 last fall with my Swing Caddie. Because of COVID, I have not been able to get to a range this year yet. In my first round on March 1, I had three drives top 275 total on some pretty firm ground.

Regarding the green club, I recently have been sitting just above or below 130 MPH on the swing speed radar. So it was refreshing to see just a little bit more from the heel stomp.

I'm forever making tweaks to my swing, and I hope to have a better idea in a few weeks as to where I am these days.

I typically do not generate near the speed with my driver as say, my 7-iron. I mentioned my ball speeds last week a few posts ago, but my Mevo recorded an average of around 95 MPH club speed with my 7 iron.

[2020 Forum Member Review - SuperSpeed Training System]

6 hours ago, B.Boston said:

Saw this last night... I’ll be trying some of the feels here during lunch today to see if it can help me break past 126 with the green stick.

 

Funny you mention this video. I watched Ian go through all of his tweaks yesterday, and I tried a few of them today during my routine (namely the left heel), and it did seem to help.

Took five swings with green club to finish session - 130, 137, 135, 134, 132.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

I snagged some wiffle balls so I could practice full swings in the back yard. I had foam balls previously, but they tend to fly too far.

The takeaway from my last lesson that I was standing too close to the ball is really that I've had terrible balance in my swing, and with my weight on my heels my hands wanted to work so close to my body to stay in balance. Getting my weight my onto the balls of my feet made it much easier to feel like I am a little more "stretched out" with my hands. Spending a lot of time finding the right feeling so that I can stay balanced all the way to the finish of the swing.

Easier said than done...

 

[2020 Forum Member Review - SuperSpeed Training System]

2 hours ago, Nunfa0 said:

Ok as a follow up question to my last do the testers (definitely including our last group as well) think that you would benefit more from this system if you also incorporated a fitness or strength training regimen to go with it?

I've been lucky. I purchased a squat rack over the Thanksgiving holiday so I've been able to keep lifting during lockdown. I haven't been as consistent in doing flexibility work, and now that summer is here I've cut down lifting significantly due to golf, mowing lawn, gardening, etc.

But yes, I saw some really nice gains mixing For for Golf and SuperSpeed. Combined with a few lessons I picked up about 3 MPH of club speed with a 7-iron on Trackman in about two months.

I looked back at my Trackman numbers that I referenced in the above Tweet. I averaged 119 MPH ball speed with the 7-iron. Since December I started doing heavier compound lifts and started a second round of SuperSpeed, including the new SuperSpeed-C club. My maxes on my lifts have gone up 25-30 pounds and I've put on about 15 pounds since December.

Last Tuesday my Mevo recorded an average ball speed of 122 MPH over 11 swings with my 7-iron. That included two shots that topped 125 MPH ball speed.

SuperSpeed works, and tossing in some other workouts is definitely helpful. It is important, in my opinion, to find the right combination of training days/times so that you're well rested for everything.

[Cooking]

18 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

Peach and cherry don't give as much of a smoke flavor and may be better to her liking. You're definitely killing it with your grill, I was actually talking about your chicken today at work. 

Yeah, still learning the ins and outs of smoking. I'll have to pick up a bag of cherry next time I'm out.

Next up will be a pork shoulder that I'll do a combo sous vide/smoke cook. Thinking that's a good project for Memorial Day.

[Cooking]

1 hour ago, sirchunksalot said:

Those look amazing! I'm still going to have to try the 57 sauce with chicken. What kind of wood did you use?

Hickory. That may be why my wife didn't like it so much. It definitely had a smokey flavor. 

[Cooking]

Following up on something @sirchunksalot posted a while ago, I finally got the chance to smoke some chicken drumsticks on the Old Smokey. Brined in a 2 percent salt solution for about six hours, basted with a mixture of Heinz 57, Sriracha and ketchup a few times. 

I thought they were really, really good. My wife was more on the fence; she's not a huge BBQ fan so the smoke flavor just isn't her thing. Oh well! 

[Show us your Maltby!!!]

Older picture now, but I currently am gaming Maltby PTMs, 5-GW, with KBS C-Taper Lite 110 shafts and red Star Sidewinder grips! 

[Show us your Maltby!!!]

On 5/15/2020 at 6:15 PM, azstu324 said:

So to my complete surprise, I got a little something in the mail today.. I clocked out for lunch and went and built me a golf club. 

Right now it's glued up. I'll finish the ferrule edge later. 

To be completely honest, I was expecting the face to have the microgrooves that most of the newer wedges have. The write up states "micro grooves" but I guess it's referring to more large grooves placed closer together. Reading around, I'm not seeing that the super fine micro grooves make all that much difference so I'm not bummed out in the slightest. 

Should be all cured up to play tomorrow! 

 

Looks nice! How much of a rocker sole is there on the TSWs? Been debating about building one of those, or just going with some more M-Series+ wedges. 

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Working on everything from my lesson Tuesday - grip adjustment, setting up further from the ball, more forward press at address, etc. Lots of small tweaks that seem to be encouraging a nice draw flight with foam and wiffles. Hoping to get to the range Saturday evening to confirm with range balls, but we'll see what the day holds.

Amazing what getting the weight off my heels does for my swing.

My Mevo recorded a 126 MPH ball speed 7 iron during my lesson. I really want to hit 130 before this year is over.

Edit ... Should add that I fired up my Tour Tempo app also. Forgot how useful it is.

[2020 Forum Member Review - SuperSpeed Training System]

On 5/13/2020 at 1:38 PM, ChasingScratch said:

Alright Spies, update time.

First off, today was my second day of the Level 1 Week 1 training protocol.  Like some of my other spies will attest, my core was sore after that first session.  My left oblique was particularly tight.  My chest was sore from my weight lifting workout on Monday as well.

However, the good news.  I started with a max dry swing speed of 124mph.  After the first session it jumped to 126mph.  Today, I hit 130mph!

I will say that I feel as though the PRGR was not reading all that well on some swings today.  It was very cloudy, but I just don't know.  I may have to switch to a face on positioning rather than a down the line to see if that helps.  By not reading well, I mean there were swings with my non-dominant side that were faster than some of my dominant side swings.  Regardless, other things of note were that prior to the start of the training, my mode was 119mph with dry swing drivers. Today, I hit 120 or 121 most times for the mode.  Slow and steady wins the race!

I have no doubt the protocols work, so I'm really just as interested to see impressions of the PRGR. I have the older radar and sometimes feel like it misreads occasionally, or is drastically affected by small position changes.

[2020 Forum Member Review - SuperSpeed Training System]

On 5/13/2020 at 6:33 PM, revkev said:

Wait until you guys hit the kneeling swings. I’m on my third week of those the second time around and it just plain hurts.

Here was a regular driver swing hitting a few balls after my session.



I started at 88 a year and a half ago so this is significant -


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

I gave up on the kneeling swings and just do feet together now. So much more comfortable. Maybe not getting exactly the same benefit, but my knees thank me. 

[What equipment are you thinking about?]

6 hours ago, yungkory said:

After the fiasco of my last Sun Mountain bag, I'm glad that you decided against the C130. Not going to start a campaign against them, but I was going to reiterate my experience with my previous 3.5LS breaking after 2 years. I babied that thing like I do all of my equipment, still can't believe the handle broke off.

I think I've said this before, but I have a personalized 2020 SM Sync now. The 14-way full-length dividers are a godsend, especially on my push cart. So easy to get clubs in and out now.

That being said, it's a nice looking bag but the materials feel cheap. I assume it's some sort of ballistic nylon as it's very light (which is a positive). Unfortunately, the bag lacks enough structure for me to trust it standing on it's own, and all of the grab points/handles feel very weak. The Sync is a little light on storage, also, and I should have gone for the C130 in the Sun Mountain line for more storage.

For what I paid, I think I would have been happier with a Datrek. I've seen a few of those in person and they look just as nice for about half the price.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

Had my first lesson since February today. Couple of key takeaways for me -

• Grip had gotten too weak again. 
• Need to stand further from the ball. I tend to get my hands really tight into my body which causes path issues.
• Continue to work on getting the club face more closed at the top/impact. 

My instructor had me do a modified Flamingo drill where my right foot is pulled way back while I'm swinging. He also had me stand extremely far (for me) away from the ball, so that I feel like I'm reaching with my arms just slightly. His words:

Quote

Right foot back so you can't spin, more space at address. Feel club face more closed, and then the club goes down and out to the right.

Toward the end of the lesson I started hitting some really nice tight draws again with my 7-iron, and my driver was getting better as well. Still needs work but it's something to work off of. I played nine holes immediately following my lesson. In retrospect I should have just hit a bucket of balls, but I did see some promising things during my round.

When everything is working, I can put some zip on the ball and that's really good to see. I had my Mevo running for the last few 7 irons just for fun:

Additionally, I smoked a 5 iron for a total of 228 yards (carry+roll) with a little wind help off the tee during my round. Trying to look at these types of shots as my ultimate goals and seeing a few good shots here and there helps with my confidence.

I purchased my yearly membership today, and weather permitting, should be playing at least twice a week through the rest of the season at this point.

[How'd you play?]

Had the afternoon off for a lesson, and afterward stopped by my home course and bought my membership for the year. Walked on for a quick nine, which was not the right choice following a lesson (I should have been on the range, hah). Nonetheless...

- 50 (+14)
- 2/7 FIR
- 1/9 GIR
- 17 Putts (1 3-putt, 6 2-putts, 2 1-putts)
- 1:45 Round Time (The twosome in carts in front of me was taking FOREVER.)

Obviously, with the fairway stats, I'm still struggling off the tee, which was the focus of my lesson so now I have some stuff to work on. Putted pretty well again today, left a few right on the edge. The three-putt opened the round after having a 12-foot birdie opportunity. The greens are really fast for the time of year and unfortunately didn't account for that.

Hit a handful of really good irons, some more decent approaches/pitches/chips, but really need to put the ball in better places off the tee box. All there is to it. 

It's frustrating to go backwards after spending time and money on lessons over the past six months, but to be expected, I guess. Lots of bad habits and technique to get rid of! And I do have to remind myself that I'm not so far off from where I was at this point last year, as the chart from Grint shows (all nine hole scores at my home course):

[Dlow206 does away with double bogeys]

Love reading your updates. Keep them coming! 

[Cooking]

On 5/4/2020 at 4:15 PM, tommc23 said:

Got my new old smokey together and next to my smoker. It'll by my new cooking corner of my deck near my pool.

Looks good! And you opted for the long legs, which I bet are nice. Mine is quite short! But I love how easy it is to move around and how little room it takes up in my shed.