forerightgolfer
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Posts posted by forerightgolfer
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Really interesting topic!
TLDR Version: Without SOME instruction I NEVER would have fixed myself. Budgetary restraints will limit the # and frequency of lessons, but I will probably use them sporadically over the next year or so. Slices don't just go away without good instruction. New off the rack irons have helped. A semi-fitted driver has been a HUGE improvement. HCP is 18-ish and hopefully headed down.
Long Version:
My journey is 20 years of playing golf <10 times per year and hitting balls at the range about the same frequency. And then 2 years ago a couple lessons. And then THIS YEAR deciding that I wanted to figure it out. The 20 years of no lessons were non-stop slice-o-rama! Most of that was pre-internet, not many friends that knew what they were doing, and no idea why I hit a slice. So I never fixed it. The lessons 2 years ago was helpful from a "why does the ball do what it does" standpoint, but it didn't really fix my slice.This year though I've done the following:
1 - Lessons! Several. From a good coach. He's not trying to put a band-aid on me. He's telling me what to change. And it's a long list.
2 - Practice! LOTS and LOTS AND LOTS of it. My Dad life worked out where I was dropping kids off for 90 minute Bible studies that allowed me 60 minutes of range time. My kids are old enough that my wife isn't ready to scream at the end of the day, so stopping on the way home from work to hit balls or putt or chip is an option.
3 - Video! Lots and lots of ugly ass swings on video and a few good ones where I can SEE what I need to be doing.
4 - New Clubs!
Irons are Cobra F7 OL - "fitted" in the sense that I hit a whole mess of clubs and based on price and feel and a few launch monitor numbers I picked what seemed to fit best. But lie angle was never measured nor adjusted. But I KNOW these go farther, higher, straighter than my 10 year old Orlimar set with worn grips.
Driver!!! I actually sort of got fitted for this. I went to GolfTec with a coupon and spent an hour tweeking shafts / heads / weights with the guy. At the end he said "get the lowest spinning face and lowest spinning stiff shaft you can afford." Enter the Ping G400 LST with Low Spin Shaft. I have added 20+ yards and straightened out my driver in a big way. Previous driver was off the internet Orlimar that measured out to a Sr. shaft.It's hard to measure with HCP the progress because I've never had a HCP before this year AND when I look back at old scores from the last couple years I KNOW that they aren't accurate. Penalty strokes were never really counted right, mulligans happened, foot wedge, etc. I played a few times in January and couldn't break 100 though, so I'm guessing 22+ wouldn't be a bad guess. I think I'm down to an 18-ish # right now. I've shot 90 twice in the last month and haven't been over 100 since April. (oh dear heavens the golf gods are going to punish me).
Looking forward to following others.
- romeopapazulu and revkev
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On 3/28/2019 at 8:35 AM, GB13 said:
I don't know why, but the course closed sign is making me laugh. Like, I don't think I need a sign to know that...
At least he can see the course sign! How often does the snow get high enough to cover it?
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On 6/21/2019 at 2:05 PM, tehuti said:
MGS - Thank you so much for this opportunity. I am excited to be part of the Snell MTBx testers team.
What’s your story?
The basics: My name is Larry Brown and I am from Anaheim, CA. But my hometown is NYC where I grew up in Brooklyn and the Bronx. (And in case you're wondering, I knew nothing about golf growing up in the city. That all came later.)
As I play with this ball more it doesn't feel significantly different from the Get Sum. But I still hit the Get Sum straighter, especially off the tee.
We need to get back out and play sir!
Great start to the review. Interesting that the less expensive balls seem to be working as well for you. I'm wondering if you find more touch/feel/control around the greens with the MTB the more you play them? As you say, your short game is very good so the extra spin might help? Will look forward to more info as you post it.
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On 6/3/2019 at 11:04 AM, PlaidJacket said:
I'd go play Lions. It's the oldest course in Austin. It's just off MoPac and Enfield Rd. central Austin. There's a big push to try and save the course from UT as they want to destroy and redevelop it. Look it up. Very affordable.
Lions is very short but fun to play. I think the back tee is under 6,000 yards.
Thanks! I will look into that course!
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I'm travelling to Austin, TX for work the week of June 17. I arrive early afternoon on 6/17 and fly out late afternoon on 6/20. Work has me tied up the 18th & 19th, but I'm planning to play Monday afternoon and Thursday morning. Anyone have suggestions and/or is anyone free to join me? (I'm an 18 handicap if that matters to you).
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On 5/29/2019 at 6:08 PM, tchat07 said:
Anybody recognize any of these gems. I have plenty of Top Flites but would love to play a wild card rock haha.
Sent from my SM-G950U using MyGolfSpy mobile app
That Cougar ball -- I want that! I have a set of Cougar Irons (circa 1985?) in my garage. They were my 2nd set - hand me downs from a friend who got them handed down from his dad. I may make my son learn how to play with those awful things because I'm cruel! But adding a Cougar ball to the mix... wow!
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On 5/14/2019 at 10:35 AM, forerightgolfer said:
After reading this thread I'm excited for this year's challenge. I KNOW I've got some garbage between my shag bag and my "found balls" pocket on my carry bag. I'll get pictures tonight, but I think I have some Wilson Eco balls "made from recycled tires."
#Can'tWait
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On 4/18/2019 at 8:16 AM, JohnSmalls said:
And we are officially less than a month and a half away from MGS Hard Rock Challenge 2019. Mark your calendars and get your bag of rocks ready!
After reading this thread I'm excited for this year's challenge. I KNOW I've got some garbage between my shag bag and my "found balls" pocket on my carry bag. I'll get pictures tonight, but I think I have some Wilson Eco balls "made from recycled tires."
#Can'tWait
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On 5/12/2019 at 8:51 AM, gaussman1 said:
A player with sound technique will be able to adapt to the equipment. A weaker player really needs to be in equipment that does what it can to help correct his faults.
So I guess my answer is the better you are, the less the arrow matters.
Sent from my Pixel 3 using MyGolfSpy mobile app
TLDR - MOSTLY Indian. At some points in development/skillset the arrows matter.
I wish there was a way to actually quantify this and graph it (because I am a nerd like that).
My best guess is that at a 20+ handicap it is 99% Indian. Swing is so wrong and non-repeatable that perfectly fitted top of the line clubs will make almost zero difference. AND older/smaller sweet spot clubs might be better because they would get better feedback on mishits during practice.
Somewhere between 19 and X HCP the player improves enough that fitting clubs and picking a single ball will help improve play. But a duffed/fatted/thinned/bladed/OTT-ed ball/iron combo will not make a driver go 240 down the middle no matter how perfect the fitting.
Somewhere between X and Y you get players that are good enough to surf on doors and can play any clubs well (plenty of YouTubers who play rounds with old school clubs under 80). At that point, moving to higher quality clubs and balls that allow more workability....
blah blah blah... I'm rambling. But I think there's some areas where the arrow provides decent return and some places where it wouldn't matter a bit and I'd love to see data and see it graphed.
- revkev, cksurfdude and MattF
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Great looking setup. Love the wear on those wedges - like trusted old friends!
And as many others have said, the bag is AMAZING!
Good luck this season.
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1 minute ago, z1ggy16 said:
I believe it was mentioned in the comments section the confidence interval as 85% not 68%. MGS can correct me if I'm wrong.
Still... even 35% of balls randomly flying 21 yards offline is pretty huge when you consider the face to path of this set up was probably within +/-1 degree or so (i.e. soft draw or fade). Again, MGS please correct if that's not true, I don't want to perpetuate false assumptions. I feel like with the more common extremes of face to path that us Am's display, this would get much worse. I'm personally around a 4-7 in to out guy with a face 3 or even 4 degrees shut to that on a GOOD swing. 21 yards offline could very quickly turn to like... 60. Now imagine it's a windy day.
Yes. I think I saw that in the info somewhere too. So, take my 35% down to 15% and it's not as bad. It's still not good.
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3 hours ago, JonMUSC08 said:
Probably one of the most overlooked aspects of the golf ball or the company of ball is the quality. It was pointed out to me to look at the raw data at the bottom of the article and review the standard deviation. The higher the standard deviation, the wider the spread of data points, which equates to poor quality. Those with a standard deviation under 1.00 are excellent quality!
Not to nitpick, but I'm going to nitpick just a touch here. YES, the STD is important! YES it points to quality and consistency of the ball and its performance. BUT 1.00 isn't a magic number. The size of the STD will be relative to what the average value is. If you are ONLY referring to the STD of compression, then yes <1.00 is very good. But I still wouldn't draw the line at 1.00.
As an example - I'm a little surprised that everyone is jumping all over the Snell MTB-X. The STD OffLine from driver at 115mph is 21.5yds. Unless I'm missing something in the data (i.e. they had one complete outlier), 1SD includes about 65% of data points. So about 35% of the balls off the robot were >21 yards offline. That is HUGE. The Bridgestone Tour B X is only 3 yards shorter than the Snell and the STD offline is half of the Snell. The Vice Pro is 10 yards shorter (yikes!) but the STD Offline for the Vice Pro is 6.6. That baby is STRAIGHT!!!!!!!! (it performs VERY poorly in the spin categories off the 7I and Wedge though).
So YES! Look at the data tables. YES! Look at the STD info. But don't use 1.00 as your dividing line.
- JohnSmalls and MattF
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I'm working on looking at the standard deviation (z-score) for each of the balls in each of the categories and conditions. Once I have it in some sort of usable format I'll share it here as well. I did drop some of the balls from the list though (the Cut brand / Volvik (based on price, if I'm paying that much I'm buying ProV1 or B-stone) / Vice below Pro). I originally was doing this for myself and knew those balls were all out for me.
The information and discussion here is fantastic!!! Thanks.
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2 hours ago, GolfSpy Stroker said:
Haha....sounds like even machine algorithms have confirmation bias.
But seriously - if you ever get a chance to do an in person ball fitting it is pretty cool. I'm not sure a computer algorithm can decide the best ball for you... I bought it cause I have played Bridgestone in the past and liked them and this is one I wanted to try and it was a good price. Would have bought it even if it recommended something different.
Seeing this and hearing the HQ guys talk about fitting a ball to the irons and a driver to the ball.... where do I go to get a golf ball fitting?
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4 hours ago, chisag said:
... Just waaaaaaaaay too many variables with a "used" ball. Did it sit at the bottom of a lake, river or steam? Did the previous player keep them in the garage with sub zero or 100+ temps? Did it bounce off a tree, several times? And of course since it is lost, maybe it was out of spec to begin with.
With so many excellent new balls for sale at sub $30 prices it just seems like a no brainer to buy new. Especially last years balls that work just as well this year as they did last year.
I'm just about out of my stash of "new" golf balls (many varieties received as gifts over the last year) so I'll be buying soon. I'm cheap (well, I have limited golf $) so ProV1's are not going to work. I was looking at getting a bucket of used for basically $1/ball, but as the boys at HQ pointed out yesterday in their YouTube feed, $1/ball for Kirklands!!!!! I'm not sure that I'm going this way, but knowing that's an option will keep me out of the used market.
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On 3/23/2019 at 7:07 AM, Hackster said:
I’ve been playing golf for 35 years give or take. Gave me a out from the bar life. Love the game for the competitive nature of you against “ole man par”
I reside in central California in the valley. Live two blocks from where I grew up. Play all over California, mother in-law lives in inland empire so make it down there a couple times a year. I’m currently at an 11.2 index but looking always to get better.
Ran across golf spy by accident while surfing the inter web.
My username is what I am. Hackster
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkAn 11 claiming to be a hackster.
Golfers are funny. I'm an ~18. If you're down playing golf in the IE on a weekend and looking for a partner to play with drop me a line. Goose Creek is one of my favorite courses in SoCal.
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Interesting thread.
I would love to have the option of a single rider cart. I play as a single often enough that having my own ride around the course would be a welcome change. I do not generally enjoy sharing a cart with someone I've just met.
I would hope that the 2 person cart never completely dies though. As was mentioned many times in the thread, for many people a huge part of playing golf is the social part of it. My dad's only reason for playing golf is 4+ hours of us hanging out and catching up. As noted, the cover from the elements is a big reason for the carts as well. For me, one of the hardest things about walking is that I don't really get to sit for 5 hours and I'm always in the sun. The 2 person cart solves both of those.
For those course that have a lease program, would it be an option to blend some single person carts into the lease and test them out for a year or two? Wouldn't single rider carts make sense for groups playing late twilight rounds chasing the sun? I hope that we see some of these make start to break through soon.
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14 hours ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:
Many of the OEM have upcoming fitting days listed on their websites. Search under fittings /Find locations of something similar.
Also check the websites if your local courses and driving range and suscribe to their text alerts or email lists.
Thanks! Will check that all out.
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49 minutes ago, PING Apologist #9 said:
Quail is just a friggin' tough course. I had an "OK" front nine, but hole #1 cost me 2 balls right off the bat. Didn't hit driver until #3 where I pounded it way down the hill and my normal fade went straight (wind didn't assist either) so I landed on the hillside with a tough second shot that ruined that hole too. Driver was a monster all day, the problem was I had zero (I mean none) FIR all day with it, so my accuracy with it needs to be addressed ASAP-obviously
. Distance without accuracy is a bit sh** so I was disappointed to say the least, especially when I was having a decent ball-striking day with my irons & wedges... Hope to get to the range tomorrow evening after work and maybe play my home course (Boise Ranch) this weekend where I am way more comfortable. I gotta learn to tame the beast...
Great picture! Thanks for the report and feedback. Would be interesting to see an on course comparison between your current driver and the test driver. Hit both on driver holes. Switch between which you hit 1st on each hole. It won't be perfectly scientific, but it might indicate if the accuracy is a swing/aim influence or a club/spin influence.
Looking forward to more feedback on the driver.
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My daughter saw me marking balls (3 green dots below the number) - "ohhhh, coool! Can I draw on your golf ball dad?" Sure, why not.
For those that know.... you know.
For those that don't, its the TriForce from Legend of Zelda games.
(I mark my balls when she's not around now)
- MattF, bens197 and JohnSmalls
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On 4/7/2019 at 2:15 PM, Redrider91 said:
First off sorry if this been posted before or wrong section.
So what is the deal with golf prices on golf clubs. Like the epic flash is almost 600 bucks and the rogue is 500 original price. I mean Maybe it’s just golf galaxy but that’s Insane for people that want to golf and not just have old clubs. I’m just shocked and they wonder why these don’t sell usually.
I was looking for new irons as a Christmas present in Dec '18. I hit a LOT of clubs and decided on Cobra One Length irons. I bought the last set of F7 OL's in the store at ~35% of their original price. I'm in the process of upgrading everything in my bag as it's all nearly 10 years old. I'm not afraid to buy last year's model if it works. I'm also bringing my current club(s) to any fitting/shopping outing so I can test the new against the current.
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Ah yes, the ever elusive "good"! Reading the thread is a reminder that Golf is completely unbeatable. 5 handicappers saying "I'm not good, but..." And I'm not knocking that thought. I think that's just what golf brings out in most/all of us. We want to CONQUER THIS BEAST!!!
For me, I'm 46. I have hit golf balls since high school. 20 years of banging balls around 5 to 10 rounds per year with a 1 or two range sessions ahead of the rounds to "brush up" before I played. Golf was always at least 4th in line for things to do. Fishing, hockey, poker, golf. 10 years ago I moved to a new town with a range 5 minutes from my house. After we got the kids in bed I'd head over to the range twice a week. No lessons. No reading. Just trying to figure out how to not hit a 40 yard slice. SUCCESS! It was only 20 yards after 10 months of that. Ugh!
2 years ago I took a couple lessons. In hindsight, they weren't very good. The solutions offered were band-aids, not repairs. BUT, the ideas that the teacher provided about how and why the ball goes where it goes got me to thinking.... And then life happened and my attempt to get back to weekly practice disappeared.
Enter 2019. I've given up poker and hockey. I will still fish, but that's rare these days. The kids are old enough that I can get out of the house more frequently. So THIS IS THE YEAR! I've taken lessons that are GOOD lessons teaching me fundamentals. I'm practicing putting and chipping on a regular basis. I'm LEARNING. And I'm getting out and playing. Am I "good" - oh heavens no. But I've posted some decent scores (for me) this year and I see my ball striking getting better on the range. My GIANT slice is gone. It's been replaced by a hook that I need to control. I see hope that by the end of the year my 17 will be down to a 15 and at that point I'll say "no, I'm not good, I hit 6 balls that screwed my round! Some day I'll be good!!!"
The quest continues. Enjoy the ride!
Fitting/lessons v off the rack/self taught
in Lessons, Drills, Mental Game, and Fitness Tips
Posted
Thank you for the kind words. It's taken 20+ years of marriage and nearly 15 years of having kids to be anywhere near the correct balance. I assure you I am NOT qualified to teach anyone about how to make this balance work.
And yes, it is a funny game. $/shot is inversely related to skill level, and generally speaking enjoyment of the round. It is also a cruel cruel cruel game. How many times have you said "if not for that X on hole Y I would have shot N." And X should absolutely be avoidable. And you probably shot at least 2 strokes better on hole Y the previous week. Cruel Cruel Cruel game!!!!