Jump to content
TESTERS WANTED! ×

edingc

 
  • Posts

    2,983
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    13

Everything posted by edingc

  1. @Bucky CC You'd bet against the best odds just because everyone else it betting on them?
  2. Everyone's here trying to earn some backers, I've already got @yungkory and @palvord on my side. Just finished up my SuperSpeed training and ready to blow by the competition...
  3. And the team cheats, you might say...
  4. Before I get any further into this introduction, I first want to say a big THANK YOU to Cobra/Puma/Arccos and MyGolfSpy. Not only is this one of the biggest and best testing opportunities on the MGS Forums, it is probably the best on any golf website out there! I am very honored to have been given the chance to compete this year. My name is Cody, and I live in the great state of Michigan! I was fortunate enough last year to be a tester for the Callaway Epic Flash here on the MGS Forums. If you want to know more about my background, how I got into golf, etc., feel free to check out my introduction post on that thread: It makes the most sense to talk about what is different from that original introduction these days. Well, for starters, I’m one year older and (maybe?) wiser. My dog is too, but she’s still cute! As far as golf-related changes go, I’ve been busy since the Epic Flash review. I played the most golf of my life last year, carding 52 nine-and-18-hole rounds, and hit thousands of range balls. Although I don’t maintain an official handicap because I play mostly by myself, my estimated handicap dropped to somewhere around 10-11 last fall, and I broke 80 for the first time in my life in August 2019. I started preparation for this year less than a month after the season ended. I purchased a squat rack for my basement on Black Friday and worked through a full Fit for Golf offseason program in addition to lifting heavy with the main compound lifts. While I’m no Bryson, I estimate I added about 8-10 pounds of muscle over the offseason. I also continued my work with my DIY SuperSpeed sticks and recently added a Tour Striker PlaneMate and the SuperSpeed-C club to my collection of golf gadgets. I started lessons in November 2019 with my current instructor and made an effort to hit range balls at least a few times each month throughout the winter to ward off rust. I am lucky to work within minutes of a championship-caliber course and one of the top-rated instructors in Michigan. I had not previously taken lessons, and they have been very helpful in improving my game. I’ve been detailing the progress in my game since last fall over here in this thread: And, here’s a decent swing video from over the winter with my Cobra KING F8 4 hybrid: Current Setup Driver: Callaway Epic Flash, HZRDUS Yellow 6.0, Black Star Sidewinder, 44.5” Length 3 Wood: Mizuno GT 180, MRC Tensei White Stiff, Stock Mizuno/Golf Pride Tour Velvet 19° Driving Iron: Tour Edge Exotics CB Pro Tungsten, UST Mayima Recoil 670 F4, Tour Edge/Lamkin R.E.L. 22° Hybrid: Cobra KING F8, AeroTech SteelFiber i95 Stiff, Black Star Sidewinder 5-GW: Maltby PTM Chrome, 1° Flat, KBS C-Taper Lite 110 Stiff, Red Star Sidewinder 54°, 60°: Maltby M-Series+, KBS 610 Stiff (54°), KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 Regular (60°), Lamkin Crossline Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Navy, 33", Golf Pride Tour Only Red Star Ball: Snell MTB-X Optic Yellow / Srixon Z-Star XV Tour Yellow Bag: Personalized 2020 Sun Mountain Sync Shot Tracker: ShotScope v2 Most of this bag has been built or modified by myself. I’ve swapped shafts in the 54 degree wedge, chopped the driver down an inch, and the F8 hybrid and Maltby PTMs were built in my basement over the winter. Other additions to the bag since last season come courtesy of @chisag (driving iron) and @yungkory (putter). My Game It is important to mention I play my golf almost exclusively at one course. The course is a short drive from my house, affordable, reasonably well-maintained and the owner is very flexible with my membership. Constructed in the 1960s, it is not long by today’s standards. I play from the back tees, which play somewhere between 6,100 and 6,200 yards and are rated 69.4/114. There are some easy and some challenging holes, and the narrow fairways (many are around 30 yards wide and bordered by trees) place a premium on accuracy off the tee. The large, push up-style greens have years of subtle undulations that can make putting an adventure as well. Lessons have been paying off, and as I write this part of my introduction at the conclusion of my baseline rounds, my unofficial handicap has dropped to 9.7. I’ve shot 80 or less eight times in 2020 already after only doing that three times last year. My Arccos baseline consists of 15 rounds from June and July and is an excellent representation of my game. I strike my irons reasonably well, and I can usually hit or get very close to a green from 150-and-in and two-putt for par or bogey. Driving and chipping tend to be my weakest spots, though my chipping has started to improve slightly recently following a technique change. My lowest scores usually happen when I don’t cost myself strokes with the big stick or around the green. From 150 yards out, I’m most likely pulling my Maltby PTM 8-iron (36 degrees loft). I rarely try to step on irons, although I could dial up a 9-iron (40 degrees loft) to that distance if necessary. My driving is erratic. I can go from barely hitting 230 yards one round to 280 yards the next. It’s the biggest work-in-progress of my game. Cobra Setup Driver: Cobra SpeedZone Xtreme (9°), 44.5", Aldila Rogue Silver 60 (110 MSI) Stiff, Lamkin Sonar Connect 3W: Cobra SpeedZone (15°), -3/4" SHORT, Aldila Rogue Silver 70 (110 MSI) Stiff, Lamkin Sonar Connect 17° Hybrid: Cobra SpeedZone, -1/2" SHORT, UST Recoil 480 ESX F4, Lamkin Sonar Connect 4-GW: Cobra SpeedZone, 2° Flat, -1/2" SHORT, KBS C-Taper Lite 115 X-Stiff, Lamkin Sonar Connect 54°, 58°: Cobra MIM Black, 3° Flat, -1/2" SHORT (54°), -1/4" SHORT (58°), KBS C-Taper Lite 115 X-Stiff, Lamkin Sonar Connect Bag: Cobra/Vessel SpeedZone Stand Bag Obviously, COVID-19 has affected global supply chains dramatically. Cobra has gone above and beyond in getting our clubs to us quickly and with most of our requested options. So, To Recap... Pretty sure I've checked all of the boxes here, so don't forget to vote for @edingc this week and join the winning team of #MGSCobra2020 #CobraConnect! Gratuitous photo and GIF usage. Cute dog and/or child picture. Calves! Want to be a winner? Join #TeamCalvesLikePhil right here on the forums, and follow me @edingc on Twitter and Instagram, over the next eight weeks as I climb my way to the top of this competition.
  5. I love the looks of the trees but they sure are frustrating. They place a premium on driving accuracy, of which I don't have much at the moment. The course dates back to the 1960s, and at one time was an actual country club. One of the buildings had the old spa and locker room up until recently when the owner converted them to extra storage. The clubhouse still is nearly 100 percent original - a huge wooden bar for drinks and tons of seating since it served a lot of food in its heyday. It was actually designed by a local designer who did a few of the bigger name courses in the area much later in his career. The current owner bought it a few years ago and has been making a lot of improvements to the course since his purchase. While the trees look great, many were overgrown and choking out greens and tee boxes, so he has done a lot of work to remove and trim, and in my opinion there are still several trees that need to go. I mentioned last week drainage is also an issue, but it has been so much better this year with the additional drain tile laid over the winter. I told the owner Tuesday that it's in the best shape I've ever seen it in. And it is currently still a bargain at $32 for 18 and cart on the weekend (a rate that was actually just raised from $28 at the start of the season because of demand). Thanks! Really played the hole the best I could after the drive, the little pitches were pretty much exactly what I wanted, just frustrated with my putting!
  6. Early nine holes this morning... perhaps a little too early as I forgot my ShotScope at home. Whoops. - 44 (+8) - 2/7 FIR - 3/9 GIR - 19 Putts (2 3-putts, 6 2-putts, 1 1-putt) - 1:30 Round Time Driver - Average, Irons - Poor, Approach - Good, Putting - Poor Couldn't buy a putt this morning. I missed five putts inside of seven feet, and they weren't even close. Frustrating. Didn't strike my irons well (very thin today), but I was getting around the course well enough to shoot better than 44, the putting just killed me. Oh well, tomorrow is a new round! Got a chance to try out the new driving iron and it feels very nice. Good results on the hole I purchased it for. Took a video on No. 5 today, which was not a pretty bogey. Leaked my drive out behind a tree on the right side, chipped out, chipped up for a legitimate par chance from less than 10 feet and just pushed the putt hard right. It's funny to watch myself on video because by this point I was pretty fed up with my putting, having missed a short putt on No. 2 and having three-putted from 12 feet after hitting the green in regulation on No. 3.
  7. Very nice job with the movie!
  8. edingc

    Cooking

    Maybe not the popular opinion on knives, but I have a cheap, aluminum-handled Rada cook's knife that I bought from Amazon for something like $12. It's not a "lifetime" knife, but it is made in USA and plenty sharp, especially since I use cheap plastic cutting boards. I use it for almost everything, except for deboning (I have a Rada boning knife), and for cracking open winter squash (I have an old heavy Santoku). The Rada is extremely thin and wouldn't stand up to the harder rinds on those squash. Just another option instead of a more expensive, lifetime knife. I have a very small kitchen with limited storage space, so I love that I only need a few knifes and cutting boards for everything.
  9. Hahaha, I actually had this exact thought this morning when I saw you were thinking about selling it.
  10. I bought some cheap ones from Amazon. I was on the line between sizes and bought the larger size, which was a mistake. They don't like to stay up. (My wife jokes that I should just workout my arms more, but...). I have been looking for a long-sleeve UV shirt, but haven't pulled the trigger on any yet. Despite the sizing issue, I still wear them when I'm outside gardening or mowing the lawn, but I gave up on them for golf really quick. They do seem to help prevent burn and also wick away sweat so you stay cooler.
  11. Great work, everyone! Really enjoyed reading all of the reviews this morning.
  12. Nice work! Building/modifying clubs is fun, and there's something to be said about playing with a club or clubs that you built yourself.
  13. I'm so close to pulling the trigger on one of these as well. Need to clear out some old stuff first, I think.
  14. Woo! Been plugging along with the protocols, slowly, but still moving forward. They are very responsive on social media, nice perk of their system.
  15. Beautiful 19 degree driving iron from @chisag. One particular hole in mind with this purchase, but after swinging it a bit in the backyard this might be a great addition to my bag for several holes on the course.
  16. Caught up on this thread and this is going to be a good one. They are gorgeous. Will love to hear your feedback on the v-soles. My PTMs have similar soles and I absolutely love them. Also can't wait to hear comparison to TS-1s from @bens197. Enjoy the review, all!
  17. The PTMs are awesome. Love mine. Enjoy the new clubs!
  18. Have you tried Snell? I got a good deal on MTB-Xs on here in B/S/T, so I'm stocked up for now, but was curious how these would compare. I've played the MTB Blacks in the past as well, but the MTB-Xs react better around the green for me.
  19. Welcome! Several of us from around the Grand Rapids area on here.
  20. - 41/43 = 84 (+12) 
- 5/15 FIR 
- 5/18 GIR
 - 31 Putts (1 3-putt, 11 2-putts, 6 1-putts)
 - 2:10 Round Time Driver - Average, Irons - Good, Approach/Short Game - Poor, Putting - Good By far the fastest I've ever walked 18 holes. Was actually nice, as it didn't give me a lot of time to second guess shots. Pretty much got up to my ball, committed to a shot and swung. That really helps me play loosely. I struck my irons really well again. The swing thought I keep coming back to is to basically take my right side completely out of my swing. If I don't feel like that, my right side just wants to take over and everything becomes all sorts of bad. Driver was erratic, as usual, and cost me quite a few strokes on the back. I did hit two good drives on No. 17 and No. 18, if I can continue that kind of striking a round in the 70s should be right around the corner. My misses with most of my clubs are starting to be hooks, which is actually a good thing and a sign that the changes from my last lesson are taking hold. Best shot of the day - absolutely striped 6-iron off the tee on the dogleg left No. 2 hole. I hit a beautiful draw around the dogleg that totaled 192 yards. Unfortunately ended up hooking my 9-iron approach left into the sand, but got out and two-putted for bogey.
  21. Congrats, man! Must have felt awesome. I'm still waiting for that glorious "everything is working" moment...
  22. I've been able to play quite a bit over the past 10 days, playing six 18-hole rounds and one nine-hole round. All in all, I've played pretty well considering it is still fairly early in the season and that I've had exactly one range session since it stopped snowing. I had a goal of hitting a single digit handicap this season, but at the moment it is trending in the wrong direction. While I've put together some really impressive strings of holes (including scores of 38 and 39 on the front and back nines at my home course), overall I haven't put together a really low (for me) round yet, hanging out in the 83-86 range when I play OK and into the 90s when I'm playing poorly. As a result of playing more, I've bumped a bunch of my lower rounds from last season out of my calculation now, so my estimated WHS handicap has risen from 10-something to 13.3 at the moment. It's a little disheartening to move in the wrong direction, but I'm trying to take the positives away from each of my rounds. My ball striking has improved a lot since last year, but I'm still prone to losing strokes with some awful shots - tops, shanks, chunks. And with those in the back of my mind I haven't really been able to cut loose too often. Flashes of speed and distance are there, but right now I'm definitely giving up a club or more of distance just by playing a little too tightly. My goal for June is to work on going after shots a bit more, and trying to play with a bit more confidence and freedom in my swing.
  23. Thanks! It's an older course and has some issues with water (as you can see), but we've also had a ton of rain here over the past two weeks so all-in-all it's holding up well. This is all done in Apple iMovie. I mentioned before that I have flexible tripod that is mounted to my cart handle. All of the video is shot on my phone (Samsung S10e) and then I clip the video shorter on the phone before I upload it to my computer to pull into iMovie. I then make a few other small cuts in iMovie and add cross dissolves and fade to black at the end.
  24. Three rounds in for the weekend - Saturday Morning 9 Holes - 42 (+6) - 3/7 FIR - 4/9 GIR - 17 Putts (1 3-putt , 6 2-putts, 2 1-putts) - 1:20 Round Time Saturday Afternoon 18 Holes (Not at home course) - 47/48 = 95 (+23) - 7/14 FIR - 6/18 GIR - 38 Putts (3 3-putts , 14 2-putts, 1 1-putt) - 4:15 Round Time Very windy round and really struggled on unfamiliar greens. Also had a two-stroke penalty for not being able to find a drive somewhere in the rough on No. 17. Pretty sure the group in front of us took my ball, given that there was no where for it to go missing otherwise. We had groups behind us, so I opted to just take the penalty rather than drive back and re-tee. Sunday Morning 18 Holes - 43/43 = 86 (+14) - 6/15 FIR - 4/18 GIR (1 birdie) - 32 Putts (2 3-putts , 10 2-putts, 6 1-putts) - 3:15 Round Time Triple-bogeyed No. 17, was otherwise playing OK on the back, could have been at least a stroke or two better. Could write a bunch of commentary, but wanted to just highlight a few good shots: - No. 9 Saturday morning, pulled my tee shot left. Managed to sling two stinger 5 irons around the dogleg left and onto the green. Two-putt par. - No. 1 Saturday afternoon (downwind, downhill), caught my drive flush and totaled 304 yards. - No. 15 Sunday morning, a bad approach shot from the fairway, sunk a 50 footer for birdie. Grading out the rounds: Saturday morning - Driver Average, Irons Average, Approach Poor, Putting Average Saturday afternoon - Driver Good, Irons Good, Approach Average, Putting Poor Sunday morning - Driver Poor, Irons Average, Approach Average, Putting Good Some day I'll get "Good" scores in all of those areas during a round. Still, compared to this time last year I am playing much better, and my misses are more consistent. I'm happy with my progress. Made another video during Saturday morning's nine, this time hole No. 2. This was a blocked six iron to right rough, thinned six iron out of rough to in front of green, chip and two-putt bogey.
  25. From my round Tuesday - Hole five, which should be a ho-hum par 4, 306 yards, but uphill. Pulled my drive left, had something like 75 yards left to pin but I was looking at a tree. Pulled out the 54, opened up face slightly and moved it forward. Nice healthy swing (and divot, as pictured) and ball just got up in time to barely clear the tree, clipping a few leaves at the top as it went by. Landed just shy of the green and ran up pretty close to the hole. Unfortunately couldn't convert the birdie, but I'll walk away with a par all day from where the tee shot was.
×
×
  • Create New...