[Pics from the course]

Great lighting during this morning's round. Tugged a 4-iron pin-high left of this green and sadly carded a bogey.

[#CobraCONNECT Challenge 3]

** Checks notifications, surprise face **

Woo! Thanks, everyone! This has been a great thread to follow. Loving everyone's posts. Keep up the great work.

[How'd you play?]

- 44/41 = 85 (+13)

- 9/15 FIR 

- 8/18 GIR (No birdies...)

- 37 Putts (2 3-putts, 15 2-putts, 1 1-putt)

- 2:45 Round Time - Walking by myself very leisurely, teed off at 6:53 AM.

Another great ball striking round (feeling so good about my swing at the moment), and awesome driving round for me. So why didn't I score better?

1) Weather. My last two rounds have been the most windy rounds I've played all year. Struggled to account for the effect on both distance and direction this morning.

2) Two specific tee shots. Pulled my tee shot on No. 3 left out-of-bounds (absolutely crushed my second one though!). Hit a massive block on No. 16 the required me to punch backwards to the fairway. Probably four strokes gone between those two shots. 

3) Wedge play. Just don't have a great feel for getting my wedges precise distances. I've been practicing a lot lately on this, but it hasn't come around yet. Leads to a lot of long first putts for me. Thirty-seven putts is too many!

Nine holes tomorrow morning. Trending handicap is now below 14 for good, hopefully!

[Pics from the course]

 

 

[How'd you play?]

- 43/41 = 84 (+12)

- 7/15 FIR 

- 7/18 GIR (1 birdie)

- 34 Putts (2 3-putts, 12 2-putts, 4 1-putts)

Oh, the round this could have been. Struck the ball out of my mind tonight, unfortunately the score doesn't reflect it. This could have been my all-time low (82, currently) and might have even been sub-80 with just a few yards here or there. I am so unbelievably happy with my ball-striking today, and I really hope I've turned a corner with my game.

I was cruising along through 12 holes with no one in front of me. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a threesome and a foursome of two adults and two young kids. After playing the first 12 holes in under two hours, it took another 1 hour and 20 minutes or so to play the final six holes. I played 18 holes in the time it took the foursome to play nine, as they were teeing off 10 when I was walking to the first hole. 

Sorry for the sidetrack - moral is that I couldn't mentally stay in it while the sun was setting both literally and figuratively on my round. Hit poor drives on the last three holes and three-putted 18 from 15 feet after hitting the green in regulation. Boo.

Can't wait to get back out there on Monday and keep grinding!

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

Since everyone was on a book buying kick, and I had a $20 eBay coupon that expired soon, I picked up the following for $2.44 delivered:

• Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game by Gio Valiante and Mike Stachura
• The Art of the Short Game: Tour-Tested Secrets for Getting up and Down by Stan Utley
• Golf is Not a Game of Perfect by Dr. Bob Rotella
• Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game by Joseph Parent
• Putting Out of Your Mind by Dr. Bob Rotella
• The Seven Laws of the Golf Swing: Visualizing the Perfect Swing to Maximize Your Game by Nick Bradley

I'm obviously very much on an, "Improve my game mentally," streak.

[MPR: The Single Digit Project]

53 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Young argues (and I think he's right) that most people get better moving from internal focus to something external.

Essentially what Golf Sidekick advocates. Visualizing the results seems to have a massive impact on what actually happens.

I agree with both of them. Went to the course Tuesday saying I was going to go low (for me). Opened with a great drive, great wedge and a no doubt putt from 10 feet for birdie. Kept that same "I'm going to go low" mentality throughout the round and really was only about 4 yards (needed to carry a greenside bunker) from seriously threatening my best nine holes ever.

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

2 hours ago, yungkory said:

Sorry, somehow I missed this way back when  you asked. They have a new "thicker" insert on these. I believe it is 5mm vs the old 3mm? For an insert, it's pretty nice feeling. More firm than the micro hinge on the stroke labs, not quite as firm as a milled face like the ER2

Yeah, I rolled a lot of putters before I settled on my Spider. I just loved the feel of the insert compared to the milled faces of the Evnrolls and Bettinardis I tried.

[Slipping Ferrules....?]

3 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... I use boiling water and just pour it over the ferrule. No chance of melting the ferrule and it works just as well. 

Hah. Good to know for next time. Glad I was only practicing on an old club!

[Slipping Ferrules....?]

Since your irons are steel shafted, as @TR1PTIK said, they are mostly for cosmetic purposes. The other reason I can think of would be to keep dirt/debris from getting down into where the hosel and shaft meet.

If they've slipped up too far they might not want to come back down without a little heat. A dab of epoxy and light touch from a heat gun will probably fix you up. Be careful with the heat gun, I got a little overzealous with mine and definitely melted a ferrule on a practice club a few weeks ago.

[MPR: The Single Digit Project]

I get the approach of not tracking and just playing golf. I really do. But, I don't believe that statistics collection and just playing the game are mutually exclusive.

@GolfSpy MPR, have you ever watched Golf Sidekick on YouTube? Whether you find him entertaining or not, his mental approach to golf is solid. I find myself applying more and more of his thought process to my rounds, and I truly believe it works wonders. Just really visualizing and committing to a shot before hitting it really helps me. 

I collect round data with GAME Golf and also track with The Grint or on a scorecard, capturing the same amount of data for either (strokes, putts, fairways, greens, penalties, etc.) I love that I can easily reference a round months later when I'm think about a certain shot in my mind. I practice almost always with my Swing Caddie SC200 or swing radar (sometimes both) because I find the immediate feedback is invaluable to grooving good tendencies in my swing.

My favorite part of the Golf Sidekick mentality is just the reinforcement that once you hit a shot, you're done and must move on. You can't go back and fix it, so the only reasonable approach is just to figure out the best option for the NEXT shot, and how you can get that closer to ending up in the hole. Not letting a bad swing or a bad hole ruin the rest of my rounds has been huge for me this year. 

Of course, I still struggle with it at times as well. But as I continue to practice maintaining that mental approach, it has become easier.

 

[How'd you play?]

Finally got back out after storms ruined the chance for a round Sunday morning. Usual nine holes before work.

- 40 (+4)

- 4/7 FIR 

- 5/9 GIR (1 birdie)

- 17 Putts (8 2-putts, 1 1-putt)

Considering my range session yesterday was absolute trash, I'm ecstatic about my round. Hit a bunch of good iron shots, some great approach shots, putting was above average for me and my driver didn't ruin the round (though I only had two good drives out of six opportunities). 

Tested out the MTB-X for the first time and was very impressed. I'll add my thoughts in the review thread.

[#CobraCONNECT Challenge 3]

54 minutes ago, palvord said:

Yep yep! It was the last course we played for our golf trip. It's a really nice course. Had plenty of holes to challenge you and make you think.

 

49 minutes ago, Kor.A.Door said:

It has a decent layout with some different holes. Fun course to play, and if I remember it’s pretty cost friendly as well. 

I only have been to the Lynx once, though I grew up not far from there. I played nine holes in 45 degree and rainy weather one fall in high school. I seem to remember it being pretty nice, and there's a par 3 that goes way downhill. I'm a sucker for elevated tee boxes on par 3s...

[#CobraCONNECT Challenge 3]

11 hours ago, palvord said:

This weekend, I was on a golf trip and that limited my interactions in here to just reactions to posts. 

As I mentioned, I took a golf lesson on Tuesday, and was seeing some success in the four club challenge round.

Well, during the golf trip the lesson really paid off:

I broke 90 for two consecutive rounds! These two rounds are some of my lowest handicaps in Driving and Approach in Arccos for the Cobra Challenge. I was more successful with self-correcting on the course, and was better mentally throughout both rounds.

Through these last few weeks of grinding on the course, I have firmly believed that the fault was with me, and not the clubs. These two rounds are proof of that. I need to continue practicing to keep pushing my scores lower, but I am just excited to finally see some results that look like what I believe I am capable of.

 

Awesome! Congrats! Was that Lynx in Otsego? Glad you got to enjoy some West Michigan golf. I'd love to get down to Gull Lake for a golf getaway.

[Got Problems?]

Dumb weather. Storms rolled through Friday night and we were lucky to have power Saturday morning. 

Spent all morning Saturday trying to get housework done in preparation for my Sunday round. At 3 p.m. another brief storm rolled through and knocked out our power.

Spent the rest of the evening babysitting our generator, and most of today, too. No golf this weekend because of that. Otherwise gorgeous day today.

Our neighborhood is tree-lined with red maples planted some time ago by the city. It's like no one ever thought they would grow! They are all woven through the lines now and they don't trim at all. Very frustrating.

[How'd you play?]

12 hours ago, jlukes said:

I'm grinning from ear to ear. A few squirrely shots, but I brought my 'A' game to Pine Valley today! 3 wood off the tee all day was money, and my iron game was the best it's ever been! 

 

Nicely done, man! That's awesome.

[How'd you play?]

Took the day off from work today, and along with my brother-in-law, went up to The Links at Bowen Lake in Gowen, Michigan. Quite a drive for us, but what an awesome course and a steal of a deal on Tuesdays. We managed to play a full 36 holes and grab a quick lunch in less than nine hours.

Only $54 for 36 holes with cart, a small range bucket, five hot dogs and two 20 ounce Diet Pepsis. Incredible price for a fantastic course with bentgrass tees, fairways and greens. Well worth $45/18, let alone $25!

Played the middle tees, par 71, 6,239 yards.

Round 1 

- 48/42 = 90 (+19) 

- 7/14 FIR 

- 9/18 GIR 

- 37 Putts (3 3-putts, 13 2-putts, 2 1-putts)

We started both rounds on the back, so the scores are reflective of that.

I struggled with hooking my driver, which led to a quadruple bogey and triple bogey after hitting balls out of bounds left. If only I could have kept them in the fairway the score could have been much better.

I'm typically a two-putt per hole type of player. I'm not used to firm greens, so I anticipated there would be a few three putts. Not upset about the way I putted considering I didn't give myself a whole lot of close looks for birdies or pars.

Round 2

- 47/45 = 92 (+21)

- 5/14 FIR 

- 5/18 GIR 

- 38 Putts (4 3-putts, 12 2-putts, 2 1-putts)

Round two started in a steady drizzle for the first hole and a half. I got off to a bad start. After hitting a good drive in the fairway on No. 10 (par 5 starting hole), I hit a very poor 5 iron, and then shanked a 54 degree wedge hard right from 90 yards away. Followed it with a duffed chip and my second round started with an awful triple bogey.

Couldn't get the driver to cooperate at all, lost a lot of balls right, I assume from trying to overcorrect from my earlier hooks. Oh well.

Struck several good middle irons, easily the highlight of my day. Putting was average, just like the first 18 holes.

Remarkably consistent! Was an awesome day. I've scored better, but I had a lot of fun and realistically, I am overall happy with the way I played. I just wish I could get some consistency with the driver. I know my scores would go down significantly if I could.

[How'd you play?]

- 44/48 = 92 (+20) 

- 6/15 FIR 

- 6/18 GIR (1 birdie)

- 37 Putts (17 2-putts, 1 3-putt)

Didn't play well. Mentally and physically exhausted today, caffeine and ibuprofen can only do so much. I did record two 260+ drives, but struggled all round with just about everything. Cannot score well when you lose three balls, and mentally losing balls just off the fairway (playing by myself, so if I don't see it land, good luck finding it in the rough) really takes a toll on you.

Oh well. Have Tuesday off and am hoping to play at least 27 holes. Onward.

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

56 minutes ago, yungkory said:

Had credit at Roger Dunn so I scooped it up to test on the course. It rolls really well in their practice area, but so do a lot of others. Still have $110 in credit left over.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using MyGolfSpy mobile app
 

I wanted to say, "I hope I contributed to this," but then saw it was all store credit.

Sweet looking putter. Love my Spider Tour Red. Did they do one soft and one firm insert? Which is this?

6 hours ago, mr.hicksta said:

Three midsize Tour Velvet 360s for the forthcoming wedge shaft swap

What shafts are you replacing and with what?

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

Finally ordered a HZRDUS Yellow 6.0 shaft for the Epic Flash. When I went for my second fitting during the Epic Flash testing this spring, the Yellow stood out as the best shaft for me. Better clubhead speed by a lot, so I must get along well with the backweighting in the profile.

Callaway Pre-Owned had a good deal for a used one with OptiFit adapter already installed. Having it regripped with a Golf Pride NDMC in yellow to match the black/yellow shaft and shortened so the playing length will be 45.5".

Traded in my old Cobra F6 driver and fairway wood so the total cost will be around $30 or so. Couldn't pass it up.

Of course, now I am without a fairway wood. That doesn't hurt me on my home course because I never use it, but I suppose I need to start looking for either another wedge or a wood replacement. Thinking a higher-lofted wood, maybe a 4 wood, would be a better fit for me.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

17 minutes ago, russtopherb said:

I hit a small bucket at lunch and it was probably too humid to be out there, to be honest. I was exhausted after 10 swings. 

Thanks for posting this. Made me feel a lot better because I just really failed to think about the weather today. According to AccuWeather, the real feel here is currently near 100 degrees. 

Long story short, went to range at lunch with the idea I'd hit two tokens worth, mostly working on short pitches with my 60 degree. I had brought my driver, a Ben Hogan Edge CFT 6 iron I built this weekend to try, and my lob wedge. Started with the iron and hit a bunch of crap balls. Figured I'd better quit that and move on.

I've been struggling with my driver inconsistency still, so today I made a small tweak to how far I stand from the ball (moved back another inch or so, and for the first 5-10 balls I was just striping it right off the middle of the club face. Long and straight.

And then, just like that, I couldn't swing to save my life. Club felt awkward in my hands, couldn't grip correctly, couldn't swing, wasn't balanced, etc. Went from 104-107 MPH and 255-260+ carry on a few straight to literally topping the ball yards in front of me.

Ended up with an OK session with the lob wedge, but I've been stewing all afternoon at how awful I hit the driver. Of course, I really didn't even think about the weather. I was drenched in sweat. Hitting driver 30-plus times is not realistic, I suppose.

Stupid. 

[#CobraCONNECT Challenge 3]

Thought of another fun one:

Since Cobra is often known for its color schemes, and this year being no different with the yellow and white drivers, assume you had the ability to chose whatever color scheme you wanted for your driver/woods. What would they look like?

[#CobraCONNECT Challenge 3]

1 hour ago, KurtActual said:

How is that black finish holding up on those wedges? The PVD on my wedge wore off the first shot out of a bunker haha

These use the same DBM (diamonized black metal) finish as my Maltby M+ wedges, which is completely different than PVD. The finish is actually part of the metal and will not wear off like PVD.

If you combine my nines, I have about 15 full rounds on my wedges and at least 20-30 range sessions on my 54 specifically. They are turning a little more gray colored, but no signs of finish wearing off.

[How'd you play?]

- 40 (+4) 

- 4/8 FIR 

- 3/9 GIR (2 birdies)

- 15 Putts

Course was very busy this morning, so I played the back nine. I'm really happy to see my last few scores were not flukes. Amazing how much better golf you can play when you create space for your arms on the downswing.

Had two chip-ins, one for birdie after a bad tee shot on the only par 3, and another from about 30 yards to save par on No. 16 after a bad drive and two punchouts. Driver was not great today, straight on some holes but short, longer on others but left. I'd happily take 250 and straight, but at the moment it's either 230-240 straight or 255-275 left, with the occassional block right. 

Two three putts that just lipped out, and I lost a ball into the water on the par 5 because my second shot left me a not great lie in a part of the course hammered by water this spring. Chunked a wedge into the irrigation pond protecting the green.

My biggest problem now is just ensuring I work on consistency from shot-to-shot. I tend to get a little loose with my head about midway through my rounds, which causes it to move forward on the downswing. The movement results in all sorts of issues until I really focus on correcting it.

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

I bought a stiff flex KBS 610 wedge shaft today, along with a couple new Lamkin Crosslines and a Pure DTX that I'm going to put to the test on my experimental set of Hogan Apex Edge CFTs. (Someday soon I'll get a post together about my Frankenstein-ish setup, which I'm building solely for testing various grips and hitting off mats in the winter.)

The 610 will be going in my 54 degree Maltby M+ wedge. I had been flirting with replacing my 54 degree with a 52 and 56 degree combo, which would necessitate dropping my three wood (never use it at my home course), but I couldn't see dropping $120 to build two new wedges at the moment. For $35, a new shaft and grip will have to suffice for now.

I had the 54 degree built with a regular flex KBS Hi Rev 2.0 shaft this past winter. I love the feel around the green, but whenever I need to step on it, it either balloons and falls short of target, or I hit a little sweeping draw/hook left of target. It's killing me on my home course because I need a club that fills the 80-110 yard gap that I can trust. My C300 gap wedge is too much club for that distance, but the 54 with the Hi Rev just isn't giving me the consistency I need to put my GIRs close to the hole. 

The 610 is supposedly KBS' most stout wedge shaft with a less active tip, good for hop and stops which I love to play assuming my lie is good. I will still keep the Hi Rev 2.0 in my lob wedge. The feel is great on less-than-full shots, but I just can't hit a full swing that I like with it.