GolfSpy SAM

How ‘bout just Blue? As in,

I’ll be cutting mine open immediately to see if it’s REALLY filled with goo, or perhaps hidden Korean technology.

He's Scr3aming about all the one-putts, that's all

I don't know if Munch had red hair, but this made me laugh out loud. I call it The Scr3am.

That's why I capitalized the "right", as it made me laugh twice. Both in "correct" and "republican" - while I can't tell you O'Brien is for sure on the left, I would guess. By the way, if you haven't had a chance to check out "Conan Must Go"'s first episode in Norway, it's shockingly funny, especially if you're a Conan fan (not RIGHT Conan, mind you).

or...RIGHT Conan.

I really love this point of view, as I'm in the exact same position. While I have purchased new clubs (most recently a 3/5 Cobra LTDx Max), they're always either used or several iterations old. My purchase, after trade-in, of both of those FANTASTIC (and literally new) clubs was $150. That's very much within my budget. But $750? Not so much. It's one of the reasons I felt so extremely (and honestly, eternally) grateful for being selected to test two years ago - it was something that I just genuinely would never have had the chance to try, let alone put in the bag. I would wager there's a way larger percentage of people on our side of the fence than on the side of "I don't care what it costs, I'm going to find a way to do it." And there's room for both of us at the party, which is awesome. If the DF3 works out for me, I honestly don't see myself parting ways with my beloved 2.1 - especially now that the wife and kids got me the Alien Headcover for my birthday last week. But who knows, in 2-3 more years, I could be ready to pass it on to someone looking for a way into the L.A.B. ecosystem at a fraction of the cost. And even just the thought of that makes me really happy, of being able to spread that joy and excitement that I've had with the putter to someone else. Anyway, just mostly wanted to jump on the bandwagon of this thought-process, as I super appreciated the reviewer saying that he couldn't see spending that much money - it's a very honest take. That being said, I've saved WAY more strokes with my 2.1 than with any new Driver, 3 wood, 5 wood or iron set I've ever had. So...the argument is there that it IS worth it. That's me, talking in circles once again Also, as for names, right now I'm leaning towards the obvious "Green Arrow" references - Oliver Queen is a bit wordy (and a little too inside-baseball). I could go straight up Green Arrow. I could go Robin Hood. What am I missing?

Please don't forget the greatest comedic redheads of all time - any of these would be an option, as far as I'm concerned: Carol: Lucy: And of course, Conan:

For anyone thinking about joining this paritcular club, a good deal going on until Monday April 29:

It seems clear you don't agree with the testing selection process, and honestly, that's totally fine. But there is a method to the madness, and it's nothing as nefarious as "ad revenue and other similar targets." Someone posting "cool!" or "I like this" 50 times is not the same thing as someone posting about their recent round, asking a question about gear, asking advice on a swing (believe it or not, a lot of people give advice about someone's swing based on a video of it, including a lot of highly-paid coaches), etc. While it ISN'T about quantity, it's a basic guidepost we use to see how involved someone is. Ironically, your back and forth here on this thread, despite perhaps feeling combative at points, is the kind of discussion and liveliness that we (as forum staff) LOVE. It honestly helps illuminate the process even more, which we're all about. It's why we posted the "How to be a tester" post in the first place, and why it constantly gets brought up again and again, as it's all laid out right there. I totally understand where you're coming from, raising a family and working, and a golf forum might not fit in with that schedule. I have two kids of my own, and once school is over, it's non-stop until bedtime, and by then, I'm usually exhausted and want to crawl into bed. That being said, I have a desk job with JUST enough down-time to keep a tab on things and poke my head into various threads to see what's happening. But for a lot of people, that's not an option, and god bless you - no sarcasm. If and when you're interested in joining a community of a bunch of genuinely passionate golfers, come on back - we'll be here with even more testing opportunity, because the people here who are picked for testing, LOVE it, and want to do even more. Appreciate your viewpoint, and hopefully you can recognize the passion that people have for this place (that sometimes MAY come out aggressively ).

71.6 / 125 (orange tees). Sorry about that!

Date 04/22/2024 Course Name Soule Park Gross Score 86 Course Handicap 9 Gross Strokes over/under par 14 Net Score to Par 5 Net Score 77 Net Birdies or better 0 Longest Drive 0 Another "what if" round, lol. Struck the ball SO well, in general, especially off the tee where I seem to have figured a little something out to give myself a lot more fairways. As @Syks7 said in his "How'd you play" post, the course is just a delightful test of making sure you put yourself in the right places. There were at least two holes, in particular, where I was faced with effectively an impossible shot (for instance, left myself on the right side of a green that funnels HARD from that side down to the left, with the pin placed halfway down the hill. Only way to stop it would have been to bang it off the stick (which I missed by about 2" - my ball went right over the right edge of the hole), and even then I'm not sure it really would have helped much), and paid the price for it. Not to mention the hole that effectively broke me, lol, the par 4 16th, where I left my drive out to the right, and had to either punch it back to the fairway and take my most-likely-bogey, or (and this is the brilliant choice I made (smh) ) try to snap hook a five-wood 210 yards around a huge tree. Yeah, so, that went OB, and then I was so pissed about that I flubbed the next one from 110 into the gorge that the first one went into. So...not a great QUAD (not sure there IS a great quad, but yikes). Anyway, I'm a HUGE fan of this course - it's VERY gettable if you miss in the right places, and I did a good job of that most of the day. But the few places I missed bad, I really paid the penalty. Can't wait to get back Scorecard didn't ask for it, but longest drive was 289 (and I still bogeyed the hole, lol. Stupid being right instead of left...)

A very happy birthday present to me - I've already told the testers, but figured I'd share here, too. Due to some VERY unforeseen (and happy) circumstances, I'll be joining in on the fun (not as an official tester by any means, but more as a happy co-participant) This was ordered yesterday (white Accra shaft, white pistol grip). To say I'm excited is a VAST understatement.

So, I just tried to record a 5-second video clip with my iPhone (13 Pro, if that matters), with settings from 4k 24 (my standard) down to HD 30, and all of them came in over the 5mb limit. So, I found this site here: https://invideo.io/tools/compress/video-compressor/ - just upload your file to that, select the "medium" compression, and my 4k file went from 12mb to 2.5mb in about 3 minutes, total. It's easy, it's free, and you don't have to sign up for anything (always an added bonus). Hope that helps!

Interesting to me that the Haywoods are so head-and-shoulders above the other sets you mentioned, turf-interaction wise. Are you pretty steep? I am, which is why I ask - and I've used (AND LOVED) the V-Soled Srixons a few times and gotten along with them really well. The Haywoods are very high on my list of MB/CB's that I'd consider going for, so great to see that they're doing well by you, but a direct comparison against the Srixons would make for some great reading

Joe - they actually did have an error in processing videos - the testers experienced the same thing. I’d recommend going ahead and sending it again along with a note saying you submitted last week but wanted to double check they got it.

@RTH1 - This picture is INCREDIBLY informative - thank you for thinking of taking it like this! Such a simple and effective picture showing the differences. Great work!

First of all, @Willie T - LOVING the updates you've been posting in here. Legitimately my favorite part about coming into a thread I haven't checked in on in a while is to find the 6-week test turning into a long-term test with updates like this. Absolutely killer info! And actually, one of the reasons I wanted to come in here was to do a bit of the same. I played on Friday at one of my favorite courses in my area - links-style course designed by Gil Hanse, where there are tons of shaved-down areas around the greens, forcing you to either putt it 80-100 feet, or chip something with some spin and get it to roll out closer to the correct shelf the pin is on. Well...the Indi 56 is just a shot-making joy to use. The amount of spin I was able to get was pretty incredible, and the TP5 Pix I was using made it pretty clear just how much spin was being imparted. Shot of the day was a 35 yard spinner that I had to land on top of a shelf that was 10' above my feet, and then checked hard and trickled down past the hole to about 18" - the ball was thrown back to me by my playing partner with "I know you don't usually do gimmes, but that was ridiculous." I took it Anyway, it's gotten to the point where I just love using these wedges, and as my technique gets better over time, these wedges have continued to shine. Playing again tomorrow on another Hanse design with similarly styled greens, so excited to report back with any more "wow" type shots

Where the hell did you find that picture? Lolololol. Thanks, all! No golf today for me - playing tomorrow at Rustic Canyon (with none other than @Syks7 and @Billy The Kid Rogers) and then again on Monday at Soule Park in Ojai on Monday. I'm a lucky man to have this community to brighten my day every day, but especially on a birthday spent working

Having played with guys who I outdrive by 40-50 yards (driving it 270-ish), but who beat me by 10 strokes, I can attest that distance isn't everything, lol. While I personally wouldn't want to give up 30 yards, for most of the courses I play, hitting the middle of the fairway 240-250 out is going to lead to WAY better scores than hitting it 275 in the rough behind a tree. I'm clearly in the "lesson" camp on this one, lol, as I tend to lose SO many strokes off the tee - one of the reasons I've had to work so hard at my chipping/putting over the past few years, as my driver woes seem to plague me week to week. On the bright side, I've gotten shockingly good at punching out with a 5-iron/5-wood. That's a skill I wish I didn't have to have, though.

Thanks so much for sharing - what an incredible story to have! Thanks again!

Two years in, my 2.1 is still kicking ass - THRILLED to see what this group experiences with the 3.0 (and yes, I'm a little jealous, but that's normal when a new kid is born into the family - the big bro gets a little jealous ) Please just include gratuitous videos of the ball-picker-upper in slow-mo, plesae

...I think we're all coming to your house next year for Masters week Wow!