Willie T

Day 88 (11 Apr 24) - Played 18 at Minnesott today - what started off let’s have fun with gusting winds with the threat of rain to gusting winds and steady rain. As I made the turn on the back nine, I had thought about calling it but stuck it out. Actually it was a good exercise in playing thru…still not something I would do every day.

Day 87 (10 Apr 24) - Easy day hitting chips and pitches in the backyard. Bounced between the 7i and 54* wedge.

As @Rob Person notes - the Divot Board is a good way to work on swing path and begin to develop a consistent swing. It can de used with or without a ball. Also - don’t try to make practice too complicated - look at what is the “worst” area of your game and focus there…for me it’s been the 150yd in (approach shots) so I do a lot of work on the irons. Also follow this page and see what others are doing and ask questions, post a video of your swing (down the line as well as face on) - preferably is slo-mo. In the end, small gains are the best gains!

1st run - Took the Bridgestones Tour BRX for their first run…along with Snell MTB+…It did not start well, hole one is a tee shot over water - promptly dunked one brand new ball, did the same with the Snell…two balls down (brought only one sleeve of each). First impressions - love the Mindset reminder; the feel of the ball off the driver is “soft” whereas the Snell is more “crisp”; wear through the round was nearly non-existent, and the ball found sand, a few pine limbs, edge of wedges; putting wise the ball reminds me of the way a SuperSoft feels - very muted. After a couple of holes I began to really enjoy how the ball came off the clubs (driver, fairway, hybrid, irons, wedges). I honestly believe that ball has a “flag magnet” in it / on three different holes I was pitching in the green and the TourB RX hit the flagstick…I’ve never hit the flagstick that many times in a round. Back to initial impressions - the ball was none the worse for major wear whereas the Snell had some dings: Note: the “well worn” ProV1 played head to head with these new boys…especially on the greens that has been recently top dressed and were sandy and none holding for the balls…. This was the extent of the “wear” on the Bridgestone…more to come….

Day 87 (09 Apr 24)- played Minnesott today, focused on testing both the Bridgestone TourB RX (as part of the unofficial test) along with the Snell MTB Prime+ balls….it was a fun day, especially around the greens as they had recently top dressed them…watching the sand fly as they land…had to adjust to more than usual release of the balls (they were all doing it).

So did it bump the 3h from the bag? Or are you keeping both for different shot needs? Good review of the value of a good fitting session and being willing to look outside the box.

Kewl looking gear - May the testers never have a bad day of rainy play! BTW - congrats to all the testers…

This fitting system does beg to be followed…congrats to the testers…Looking forward to hearing how it all plays out and if the process is as grounded as they claim…

Day 86 (08 Apr 24) - Picked back up with slap shot drill w/9i and hard foam balls. Really seeing a more consistent strike point with the ball first/ground second…hope to put it to the test on the course tomorrow.

Day 85 (07 Apr 24) - Worked with 50* wedge in the backyard - hooded pitches, opened up lofted shots….reenacting green side scenarios….

I find that it promotes ball first focus - just like the video…the way the “fish scales” work, is they go to the white side (replicating the divot pattern) where the club makes contact. Here’s a quick YouTube video that demos how it works…

Day 84 (06 Apr 24) - day full of other stuff (band rehearsal this morning, a couple of quick chores at church, furniture shopping with the missus)….managed to get in some Divot Board work with 7i, hard foam balls. Really like the visual the DB gives and correlating resulting ball flight. A good late afternoon half hour session.

Cut: +1 Low amateur: de la Fuente

Day 83 (05 Apr 24) - Left foot 1000% better, able to work with wedges today focused on specific distances (45 & 25 yds) from different ball positions - middle/front to get high arching, middle/back to get lower punchy flights. Feels good to put weight on the lead foot and not totally wince…

Gotcha - is that the putter being sold under the Adams banner? just took a quick look over there and it looks pretty good.

If TM follows typical suit - I bet we can expect a "Yes! Putter" inspired design coming from TM or possibly under the Adams golf banner sometime in the not so distant future...

Kind of in a similar dilemma. A lot of pushes right "until" I made a quick adjustment to the G410. I set it where it's 1* up FLAT. It has made it more of a baby draw machine taking the loft to 15.5*. The other side is the SLDR S 3HL (17* (in my mind a 4w non-adjustable head on a 3w shaft)). I really like how the TM sits behind the ball, but also love the feel of the Ping. As Jamie noted - there are some great older 3woods out there that make great clubs. My son plays a Cobra F9 that he loves but also he has a old school Big Bertha 5w that he can stripe on demand. Good luck on your search....

Interesting point - what I am looking to gain is a "continued" thought process. Use the mindset off the tee and on the green where I do have control of the ball's placement. Let that process "then migrate" to the approach game...where as you note, only on that rare blue moon perfect lie with no wind on a cloudless day with a great line in moment, will you have the mindset reminder is available. Still going to be a fun test.

Mine arrived today as well…

Yes - there is the “general” test - which is what this one is. The other is the one the one where the testers have Shot Scope data they will test the Mindset against.

I would like to add Tommy Armour (although Dick's has them as a house brand and with the reintroduction of the 845 irons I thought they would be a flagship again a Dick's./Golf Galaxy). Seems they are being quickly being relegated to "super discount we're not making them anymore" pricing. My love the the TA 845s is directly related to the fact I still own my first set of "real" irons that I bought - the 845s Silver Scot patent pending (purchased in '17). However as others have noted I have have some Northwestern, Lynx, MacGregor irons; Toney Penna, Northwestern non-laminated persimmon woods and plasiticized Spalding woods. Balls - I've got a couple dozen of balata balls: Spalding, PGA, Acushnet (Titleist's parent company).

Edel SMS 7i update: I've sent the stock loft/lie test 7i back to Edel....but it is not as you think, they had sent an email to see how it was going with the long term test. I told them I wanted to get with them about adjusting the lie to 1* flat and shortening its length by 1/2" (to better match my INDI wedge fitting and it follows the "static" online fitting guides of both Ping and Sub70). They said if I would pay the postage there, they would bend it, trim and regrip with a new Tour Velvet "midsize" grip (I told them I was planning to change the grip)) and send it back at no-charge. I am really liking working with the crew. So how has it performed up till now - really well. As I noted earlier in my posts, it is almost point and play, I rarely have a huge miss. Now it does tell you if you mishit, but also when struck well its buttery smooth. Looking forward to the revised model getting back here and seeing how life is after the revised lie and trim to fit.

I tend to "overplay" their stay. Of late, I may go two to three rounds with the same ball(s) in play. I lose them far less now than even a year ago. What's the dertermining factor - it really comes down to how scuffed they are. Some balls still do well (for me) even after they have show decent wear. Those get relegated to chipping/pitching drills in the backyard. I have also taken a dozen "extra" balls to add to the driving range fleet at my local course as they use found balls mixed in with their regular balls.

Rob, I’ve got some of those Callaway foam balls as well… and they are definitely not a pitch-n-chip ball. My grandson and I love to wail away with them in the backyard. The hard foam balls fall more closely to a regular ball in in terms of feel and flight - however I mainly keep a group of balls just for pitch-n-chip practice. The hard foams are good for this mid-level swings where a real ball is just not practical or safe for neighboring properties…️️

Day 82 (04 Apr 24) - Back outside to work on the slap shot rehearsal and overall swing. Needed some new hard foam balls - shopped at Academy Sports (building a golf gift basket for the teen program at church to auction off) and found these… they are very similar for the Foam Flights I’ve been using…yes, they get dirty really quick - but give a solid feel off the face and decent shot shaping…