Willie T

Figured it would be best to answer in order:
How long to I keep them?  All so far - once worn out or thru, they’re hung on a peg in the shop (then again I’ve been only playing the past six years).  In reality, I’ve started using better quality gloves (FootJoy at the moment).  Getting about a season for a glove - but I switch bags and keep a separate glove in each bag.  

How long do I expect them to last?  At least most of a season of playing at a minimum a round per week.  
What glove do I normally use?  Have experimented with different brands - MaxFli, Callaway, Wilson and currently FootJoy.  The best in feel and durability has been the FootJoy….
Storage for them?  I am bag stuffer!  
 
Looking forward to hearing the Red Rooster glove reviews….

Figured it would be best to answer in order:
How long to I keep them?  All so far - once worn out or thru, they’re hung on a peg in the shop (then again I’ve been only playing the past six years).  In reality, I’ve started using better quality gloves (FootJoy at the moment).  Getting about a season for a glove - but I switch bags and keep a separate glove in each bag.  

How long do I expect them to last?  At least most of a season of playing at a minimum a round per week.  
What glove do I normally use?  Have experimented with different brands - MaxFli, Callaway, Wilson and currently FootJoy.  The best in feel and durability has been the FootJoy….
Storage for them?  I am bag stuffer!  
 
Looking forward to hearing the Red Rooster glove reviews….

Figured it would be best to answer in order:
How long to I keep them?  All so far - once worn out or thru, they’re hung on a peg in the shop (then again I’ve been only playing the past six years).  In reality, I’ve started using better quality gloves (FootJoy at the moment).  Getting about a season for a glove - but I switch bags and keep a separate glove in each bag.  

How long do I expect them to last?  At least most of a season of playing at a minimum a round per week.  
What glove do I normally use?  Have experimented with different brands - MaxFli, Callaway, Wilson and currently FootJoy.  The best in feel and durability has been the FootJoy….
Storage for them?  I am bag stuffer!  
 
Looking forward to hearing the Red Rooster glove reviews….

Figured it would be best to answer in order:
How long to I keep them?  All so far - once worn out or thru, they’re hung on a peg in the shop (then again I’ve been only playing the past six years).  In reality, I’ve started using better quality gloves (FootJoy at the moment).  Getting about a season for a glove - but I switch bags and keep a separate glove in each bag.  

How long do I expect them to last?  At least most of a season of playing at a minimum a round per week.  
What glove do I normally use?  Have experimented with different brands - MaxFli, Callaway, Wilson and currently FootJoy.  The best in feel and durability has been the FootJoy….
Storage for them?  I am bag stuffer!  
 
Looking forward to hearing the Red Rooster glove reviews….

Was hoping that maybe this time.  Alas not to be, one day maybe I will have crossed enough t’s and dotted enough i’s (tongue in cheek for being more active on the MGS site) to be duly considered….congrats to the testers.  This will be one I follow for sure. 

Was hoping that maybe this time.  Alas not to be, one day maybe I will have crossed enough t’s and dotted enough i’s (tongue in cheek for being more active on the MGS site) to be duly considered….congrats to the testers.  This will be one I follow for sure. 

Was hoping that maybe this time.  Alas not to be, one day maybe I will have crossed enough t’s and dotted enough i’s (tongue in cheek for being more active on the MGS site) to be duly considered….congrats to the testers.  This will be one I follow for sure. 

Was hoping that maybe this time.  Alas not to be, one day maybe I will have crossed enough t’s and dotted enough i’s (tongue in cheek for being more active on the MGS site) to be duly considered….congrats to the testers.  This will be one I follow for sure. 

Disposable vs discretionary - the average golfer has ”X” dollars to spend.  As others have noted there are “economical” ways to enjoy - used clubs, etc, playing 9 holes, off peak hours play.  Joining a club to have reduced greens fees or none.  Golf course management is expensive - agronomics, labor, machinery, etc add up real quick.  Think about it - not many can put up a golf course in their yard, but a mini basketball court…easy peasy.  For me - I have older clubs, more “OPB (found other people’s balls) than I’ll ever lose and some good local courses that play pretty well at reasonable rates.  I’m okay if that means I don’t play a round every day, just make the time spent that all the better.  

Disposable vs discretionary - the average golfer has ”X” dollars to spend.  As others have noted there are “economical” ways to enjoy - used clubs, etc, playing 9 holes, off peak hours play.  Joining a club to have reduced greens fees or none.  Golf course management is expensive - agronomics, labor, machinery, etc add up real quick.  Think about it - not many can put up a golf course in their yard, but a mini basketball court…easy peasy.  For me - I have older clubs, more “OPB (found other people’s balls) than I’ll ever lose and some good local courses that play pretty well at reasonable rates.  I’m okay if that means I don’t play a round every day, just make the time spent that all the better.  

Expensive is relative and related to how much disposable income a person has and how much they spend on a particular hobby.   
 
i can purchase equipment for what I consider to be an inexpensive price.  Used clubs from the early 2000s (or earlier) are still decent clubs and can be obtained for a couple hundred dollars. I can buy used balls in bulk.  I can play twilight rounds of golf at municipal courses relatively inexpensively.   I don’t have to drink alcohol while on the course; which is an expensive purchase.  
 
I can choose to get fit, buy the latest and greatest equipment, play a new ball every hole, play prime time at a private course and the game becomes much more expensive.  
 
most every hobby can be expensive; it is about the individuals perspective and how they choose to spend their money while doing that hobby.  

Like @Jnoble89 said about the bow industry, when my brother had a bow supply business, he would talk about how Matthews, Hoyt and others would get pricey, then there was the jump from aluminum to graphite shafts (kinda like steel to graphite).  The retail side of this game is about the latest “tweaks” and if the consumer is driven by such, the supplier will provide such.  
For me, I play a G400 SFT that a local pro-shop had as “clearance” ($220 out the door). I have flirted with the thought of a new driver but will instead look at a better shaft combo for the Ping head.  Is upwards of a $1k worth it for a new driver?  It all depends on your game - me as a casual player, I don’t see the need.  For others, let the market be their playground.

Like @Jnoble89 said about the bow industry, when my brother had a bow supply business, he would talk about how Matthews, Hoyt and others would get pricey, then there was the jump from aluminum to graphite shafts (kinda like steel to graphite).  The retail side of this game is about the latest “tweaks” and if the consumer is driven by such, the supplier will provide such.  
For me, I play a G400 SFT that a local pro-shop had as “clearance” ($220 out the door). I have flirted with the thought of a new driver but will instead look at a better shaft combo for the Ping head.  Is upwards of a $1k worth it for a new driver?  It all depends on your game - me as a casual player, I don’t see the need.  For others, let the market be their playground.

Like @Jnoble89 said about the bow industry, when my brother had a bow supply business, he would talk about how Matthews, Hoyt and others would get pricey, then there was the jump from aluminum to graphite shafts (kinda like steel to graphite).  The retail side of this game is about the latest “tweaks” and if the consumer is driven by such, the supplier will provide such.  
For me, I play a G400 SFT that a local pro-shop had as “clearance” ($220 out the door). I have flirted with the thought of a new driver but will instead look at a better shaft combo for the Ping head.  Is upwards of a $1k worth it for a new driver?  It all depends on your game - me as a casual player, I don’t see the need.  For others, let the market be their playground.

I like playing 9 when I am walking by myself. Most of the time I do ride 18 as my typical playing partners, my son and his 6 yr old son, like to go that route.  My grandson is getting his own cart for Christmas, so we will be doing more 9 hole walks in the coming year. The pace and peace of walking cannot be beat for sure as you hardly ever have to wait on anyone. 

I like playing 9 when I am walking by myself. Most of the time I do ride 18 as my typical playing partners, my son and his 6 yr old son, like to go that route.  My grandson is getting his own cart for Christmas, so we will be doing more 9 hole walks in the coming year. The pace and peace of walking cannot be beat for sure as you hardly ever have to wait on anyone. 

I like playing 9 when I am walking by myself. Most of the time I do ride 18 as my typical playing partners, my son and his 6 yr old son, like to go that route.  My grandson is getting his own cart for Christmas, so we will be doing more 9 hole walks in the coming year. The pace and peace of walking cannot be beat for sure as you hardly ever have to wait on anyone. 

I like playing 9 when I am walking by myself. Most of the time I do ride 18 as my typical playing partners, my son and his 6 yr old son, like to go that route.  My grandson is getting his own cart for Christmas, so we will be doing more 9 hole walks in the coming year. The pace and peace of walking cannot be beat for sure as you hardly ever have to wait on anyone. 

I like playing 9 when I am walking by myself. Most of the time I do ride 18 as my typical playing partners, my son and his 6 yr old son, like to go that route.  My grandson is getting his own cart for Christmas, so we will be doing more 9 hole walks in the coming year. The pace and peace of walking cannot be beat for sure as you hardly ever have to wait on anyone. 

No and no.  Always been a khaki or navy color  when it comes to pants. Besides you are not supposed to wear white after Labor Day and it doesn’t cool off enough in Eastern NC before then to require long pants.  Of course, I wear short pants pretty much year round anyway - even on some of the cooler weather days. 

The Eye 2’s line up like this - 50.5 GW, 53.5 SW (Eye 2+) and 57.5 LW.  They are fun to hit - shoot now I may have to put them back in the bag for golf Thurs.  

I literally bounce between two gappings.  Have TM SLDR irons so PW is 46deg.  Use Cleveland CBX / CBX2 wedges - 4deg gap setup: PW (TM) 46deg, GW (50), SW (54), LW (58) - all CBX or 6deg gap: PW (TM) 46 deg, GW (52), SW/LW (58).  The 52 is a CBX2.  In terms of shot distances - the 52 seems to be more versatile.  When I really want to mess with my head I’ll drag the old Eye2 wedges out, another day another conversation.

"Well Buddy, you get exactly what you paid for" comes to mind.  Now, if he's consistently standing in the middle of the fairways, waiting for the group to make their second shots, I might ask where he got it 😆.

Thanks for the overview of the tester selection process.  I live just far enough away to never be part of the Hit Squad.  I have applied for testing opportunities in the past, but have yet to be selected.  It’s all good though as I have enjoyed the reviews.  I have learned much and the MGS team strives to give us good info not Mfg suggested promo info.  I am looking forward to maybe getting in on a test this year….

Hello all! (Apologies for how long this is, but I want to cover as much as I can)

As we approach the 2022 testing season it is a good idea for us as a mod staff and community to welcome all the incoming members and guide them in how to best improve everyones chances of becoming a MGS Community tester. 
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First please do NOT apply in this thread. It won’t help and any and all signups are done through the individual testing signups throughout the season.
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Also a few quick house keeping notes before getting into it.
- have questions about the process or anything that may have been left out? Just ask!
- As mods we try to be as transparent as we are allowed to be and won’t hide things from the community as we are members just like you!
- We hope to have a lot of new opportunities this year and encourage everyone to take a look at these pretty basic steps in order to better your chances.
- Don’t want to read through the thread? Check out the FAQ page 
 
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Okay! So a lot of this may be repeat and many of you will already know this, but here we go!

You must be a MGS Forum Member in order to be selected.
- Sounds pretty straight forward, but I ran some of the numbers and on average 90% of our signups are what I would classify as one off signups with 1 or fewer posts. Then if we look at those with 50 or more posts that number is only 2% of the overall signups.

Complete your profile!
- This includes a profile picture - this is one of the first things we look for with tester selections.
- Although the new Player Profile is not a requirement, it is high encouraged and will not only help us, but you and other members. For you, signups will be quicker as much of the info is pulled from your profile and for members it helps them see how their game relates to their own.

Get involved!
- I want to state that we actively work to get a well rounded group for all testing selections. This includes attempting to get at least one brand new tester per test as well as include international members as well.
- That being said, being active on the forum, creating new content for the community is huge. We want to make sure the OEM and community gets the best possible review (I mean completed, not good as in praise) and having a body of work even if minimal is important.
- Only ever involved in sign up testing threads? Not likely going to increase your chances. Just being honest, likely not going to happen.

Really want to stand out?
- Do a unofficial review! We may have more on this coming soon which will hopefully help our review catalogue, but having unofficial review gives us a insight as to what you are able to do! 
- Want to make it a more official unofficial review? Send us a PM and we can provide you with the template that is used for all the official reviews.
Do you have to be a donor?
- No, although being a donor can be used as a tie breaker it is not a necessity to become a tester. Not only that but we cannot see how much anyone has donated.
- While we are on this, if you have donated and don’t have the tag send myself (tag) a PM with your transaction number for it to be added.

That is the basics to becoming a tester. Pretty simple right? We don’t ask for much, but we do want to see these things in order to make our selections more trustworthy.

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Now all the other nuances

I believe it is important for us (mods) to be transparent about all of this as again we are members like you as I said.

So for those that don’t know or want a bit of a sneak peak of what happens behind closed doors… or computer screens let me do a bit of a run down for everyone.

Once a test is created everyone signs up and during this process we actively take a look at who has applied and create a short list. We are fortunate to have a wealth of info at our disposal to make this a robust list.

Examples? We look at recent activity, been a tester before? We look at your review(s) grades (more on this later), yes donor status, number of posts, number of reactions, location, handedness, and more.

As well the mods add in notes for thoughts on each member who has made a short list. We also look at what members have tested in the past. If you tested a set of irons the previous year, chances are we won’t look to do another iron selection for this year.

There is no limit to how many members we can have on a short list, it can be 5 or it can be 40. All depends on how everyone feels about the members who have applied.

We aim to have the short list completed within 2-3 days after the signup has closed. It is then roughly a week later that we want our 4 or however many testers are required to be selected and then announced before moving onto the next test.

In order for us to select someone for testing it needs the go ahead from at least 3 mods. This way no one mod can control or have bias towards certain testers.

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What happens after being selected?

- A group PM is made with the selected testers asking if they agree to completed and participate in the review process. We expected good efforts on all reviews and for members to follow the guidelines/templates and instructions from the mods during the process. It is perfectly okay for someone to back out. It happens, life happens and maybe the commitment is too much which again is perfectly okay! In that case we go back to our short list and grab someone else.|

- Remember reviews are work and not just winning a prize.

- After everyone has agreed to completing the review and participating we move onto the order process for the product (if fittings are required this can take a little longer) the order is placed through the mods and we wait for the product to arrive.

- During this time intros are worked on and when the product arrives unboxing/first impression posts are completed.

- After everyone has their kit we (mods and testers) discuss a timeframe for when reviews are to be completed (this was a complicated one last year with product wait times…)

- Final reviews are posted then as mods we have more work to do as reviews are graded. This is outlined in the templates for testers to see as well as what makes for a 1 out of 5 and 5 out of 5 and everything inbetween.

- These grades are REALLY important. As if someone bails on a review, it is good luck getting in on another review. We take pride in these reviews and our selections and being ghosted or having someone take zero effort is really disappointing.

- For reference we understand life happens and there can be situations that cause someone to have a review completed late or something come up which make it harder to do the review and are of course lenient. I will send several follow up messages for those that are late in posting or gone mia, but after a few of those I will record it in our overall record that said member has gone mia and should not be considered for further reviews. 
Review grades are used for future selections. Good review scores better a testers chances at another review in a following year where poor reviews lesson those chances. So as a first time tester it is certainly best to do the work and get in a good review IF you want to better your chances next year.
We do our best as a mod team to promote and create engagement within each review thread (last year with the new system was tough we all know), but in the end it is a lot on the testers to put out updates during their review to bring eyes to the thread.

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Finally a few general rules of thumb

- Testers are generally only selected for one test per season. Exception being a Golf Ball test or lesser valued items.
- Brand new testers are often selected for lower valued items, like golf balls. However this is not exclusive. Example I was selected for Ping i210 irons with my first ever review. Again it is a general guideline and a first time tester who has put out good content to the community can of course be selected for a higher valued item.
- Testers are generally not selected for the same equipment type year over year. Meaning tested a driver last year? More likely you won’t get a driver test again this season. Again general rule as sometimes it is interesting to see someone test the progress of a product year over year. 
Apply for what you WANT to test. Of course you can apply for everything and anything, but truly it is best to apply for a product that excites you. It is pretty easy for us to notice the same name applying in testing for every single test even when they are currently testing a product! 
Most importantly, enjoy the experience, have fun with it and ask questions. Be creative and although there is a template do what you can within those guidelines and make a unique review that will be remembered.

Finally follow up is encouraged, whether it be with the mods or in the testing thread it is noticed and very much encouraged as members are often still curious about what is going on. 

For those that made it ALL the way down here, well done. Seriously. Have more questions just ask away!