The 19th Hole

I've gone over and played in HI twice. Once when I was like 16 and my Mom would drop me off at a course then leave to go shopping, then just come back to pick me up later (that was 20 years ago now so I don't remember which courses I played. The photos I posted were from a trip about 2 years ago where my father had a friend of his drop out of their golf trip so he just plugged me in since all expenses were already paid. I know we played Mauna Kea as that name stood out, but unfortunately, I was happy just to go and didn't pay too much attention to where I was being taken.

Correct! Good eyes! Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Well all of those ball options should be able to generate enough spin in order check up a bit on most greens. Again there are some that it just can't be done on...Do the other people playing with you get it to check? If not, then it may be the greens, If yes, then it is probably the style of swing. Are you more of a put the ball in the back of the stance with arms pressed forward then swing kinda like a putter chipper, or do you put it a bit more neutral bring the club back then rotate your body though the shot type player? I used to be the first type and was not happy with the amount of spin I was getting. Since switching to the other type, I have been much better at controlling the spin. It can also be the grooves on your club. Make sure they and the face is clean and dry.

First question would have to be what ball are you playing and how hard are the greens on the course you play? On some courses the greens are so hard nobody can get it to check.

This is my current set up, but I plan to "Upgrade" pretty soon by making the net a little taller and wider than it currently is (currently 7'w x 8.5'T....Next design will be about 10'W x 9' T and made with a wood frame and possibly roof and side net options) . Just waiting for my Mevo unit to come in to test it in a few places of my yard before building a more permanent set up. So far this has worked great though. Have hit a couple thousand shots into it and it still looks new up close. I also have a Rukket Haack Net to use when I take this one down to build the bigger set up, but it started to show wear after about 500 shots so hoping I can get the white one back up soon once I do start he project.

I am also hoping to test that Cobra set up! (good luck btw - announcement coming this week!!!!) I think that the woods through irons will be fairly easy to get all the same brand as you can re-shaft a club to preform different, without needing to change the head. The wedges and putter are where I see it most likely to be less brand loyal.

The one I was looking at was considered "all terrain" and would have been able to work on grass:

When I bought my Ping iBlades a couple years ago I started swapping out my wedges slowly to the glide wedges in an effort to get to a full bag of ping. I got a 56* ES, and a 60*TS and loved them so I later picked up a 52* and was going to start looking into the driver and 3 wood. BUT...then i started to shank my 52* about 50% of the time. Thought I was going crazy since that used to be one of my best clubs. I finally had a friend try it and on his first shot he shanked it too. Ok, something is up with the design of that club (it was a 52* SS Glide 2.0)...Don't know what it was but as soon as I put my old Vokey wedge back it the shanks were gone. I now have an almost brand new wedge that I will be looking to trade in to a Golf Galaxy or PGA Superstore once they all open back up...Long story short, I wanted to go full bag Ping, but after that wedge experience I have decided to forgo that and just put in the back what works best.

Note. I saw your original concept,but admittedly,didn’t read though it all first before posting my previous comment and see that you already got the green light! Congrats! Sounds awesome! Wish the courses near me were more open to the idea. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

I wanted to do a similar thing with an electric long board by EVOLVE, but after reaching out to about 6 courses near me, none would allow me to use it On their course due to liability reasons (even if I offered to bring a waiver, or pay a cart fee still). Have you checked around to make sure this is allowed where you play? Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

From a golf trip out to Hawaii a little ways back: Tee box view: From behind the same hole: Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

I have 2 that immediately come to mind: 1) Par 5 8th at Bayonet Golf course in Seaside, CA. 618 yards. That said, it plays a little downhill on the tee shot so if you really catch it, I have gotten home in 2, but not often. 2) Par 5 16th at Monarch Bay Golf Links in San Leandro, CA. This hole measures 598 yards, plays uphill, and is into a strong wing 95% of the time. I have NEVER gotten even close in 2. *Honorable Mention also at Monarch Bay is hole hole #7 which is an uphill into the wind par 3 standing @ 244 yards. My friend and I played there one day and both hit 3 woods because our ego would not let us hit driver into a par 3...we were both short...

Bit late, but I said I would post it...really don't want to...Ok here it goes. After my 1 over round on Sat (should have been under par), I had decided to go play a bit more challenging of a course to see how I was really playing. The course on Sat was Las Positas which came in at only 6300 yards or so I think. So I went out and played Coyote Creek Valley Course in San Jose which measures out to 7033 I believe. Started off well and hit a decent 295yrd drive on the first hole. Was left with about 140 slightly down hill and the pin in the back so you don't want to be long. My ball was in the fairway, but was also in close proximity to a drain that had just had some work done and this caused me to have my feet in really weird position. I thought about taking relief, but though "naw Its no big deal", pulled my wedge and swung. Shank into a hazard...well crap. 2nd hole, missed a 4 foot birdie put, 3rd hole, missed 4 ft par put for bogie. Now I'm 3 over through 3 this was not the start I had envisioned....Skip ahead to end end of 9 where by now I had settled in a bit and my short game was saving me for sure. Still only 3 over and starting to look up. Then the heat started to get to me. I even had to put up a shade umbrella cuz I couldn't hang. I think the temp was around 98* or so which is about 30* higher than I would prefer. I probably should have sought out the shade sooner because by now it was hard to stave off the sweat and even harder to hold my club straight with enough energy to swing. Without going shot by shot of my failures you can see on the card below how my back nine went. (I will comment that on hole 10 I have no idea what happened. Hit an OK drive and then scoped the flag at about 167 yards with a slight breeze into me. Pured a 6i to the right edge of the green and somehow my ball disappeared both on the green and nowhere within 30 short or yards long of the green...not sure what happened there). The rest of the back nine I just chocked apparently. Guess it's back to Las Positas for me jk. (please ignore the "Driving Distance row" ..not sure what was going on there...for sure didn't hit it 7 yards on 1, nor did I hit it 339 on 10...)

I had purchased the Puttout Trainer a while before the lock down and had used that in my office and it originally really helped my confidence on the greens. However, I watched a video by James Robbinson where he did 100 putts in the video then donated to covid relief for how many he didn't get the "Perfect Putt" on. Out of 100, I think he ended up with only 7 perfect putts. I thought that was low so I went into my office the next day (and challenged my friend to try at his work too) and we tried this for about 2 weeks. Only 1 day did I do better than 7, and all in all I felt myself getting worse. Now, unfortunately, I am less confident in my putting out on the course...I think it has to do with my carpet being so thin, firm, and fast and it throws me off that my putter head moves so much during my set up as there is almost no friction between the ground and the putter, where on a real green, the grass has friction to hold my putter in place a little easier.

I got mine in today and rolled some putts in my office. I agree that the head is a little light for my preference so far. I also noticed that in some hits it sounds more “clicky” than on others. I think once I get my hands on a weight kit I’ll like it a lot more though. As to other thoughts, the club cover seems decent. It is Velcro (saw somebody ask about that on a different post) and my grip was aligned fine. My main complaint with the cover is that it is a bit small in my opinion. I have a few other covers I have picked up over the years and will probably swap it out if I end up using it in a round. I am going to try and stop by a local course tomorrow after work to see how it feels on real grass. And I’ll update more. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

I have gone out and played 3 times since courses re-opened in my area and while I like pace of play (all 3 rounds have come in under 4 hrs. Normally where I am rounds are 4.5-5.5hrs long), and I enjoy walking more, I don’t when the cups are raised above the holes. I feel like this courses your scores to be unrealistically low. Putts that hit the cup are considered in, but that same putt may have lipped out on a regular hole. This happens a couple times in a round and your score is very different. I also look forward to enjoying a drink at the bar with friends after the round, but that will come in time. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

I have never seen a golf ball vending machine!

In my last round I played the TP5 pix (not the "x") and it felt much softer than the x version did. I actually quite liked it and plan to play a bit more with this model going forward. I didn't have the vice ball with me in that round, but next time I play I plan to test them side by side more. I also plan to test them on a launch monitor when I get a chance to test ball speed and spin rates to pick which one I will play going forward. While I prefer the feel of the TP5 and Vice ball, if the TP5x gives me better numbers then I'll get used to it.

I actually have played a little with the Vice Pro + Neon (green) recently as I like the lower price point and also enjoy occasionally playing with a non-white ball. I had never played Vice but I picked up a box and put a ball in play for 18 holes. I am also playing around with the TP5/TP5x Pix balls too so it was 9 holes with the vice, 9 holes with the TP5 balls on 2 different rounds. In those 2, 9 hole stints I found that the vice ball probably cost me a little bit of yardage on my driver (marginal though), but picked up a little on the irons. I hit it straight and it putted well. It does feel a little mushy though. When I first switched to the TP5x Pix ball on the 10th hole the first day It was a noticable difference in feel (Felt like i was hitting a rock with the TP5x, but it still spun and backed up on the greens for iron shots). For the first 9 I shot 2 over and the 2nd nine I shot 1 under so combined total of 1 over in 18 holes. Ball can't be that bad...will probably keep them around for days I want to play a colored ball or just want to save a little money relative the the TP5's or AVX I would normally play.

100% agree. I was going to say the same thing. If they are just playing for themselves and not in any competition. Or if just playing with friends and they are all doing the same thing then go for it. But once you try to compete with others who are using the correct equipment it becomes cheating and that's just not right.

I have two that I really remember well. The first my father beat into me when I first started playing, but I didn’t listen for another 10+ years: minimize the damage. The 2nd one I’m not sure where I heard, but I have since passed it along to those that ask for advise about chipping. One of the worst things you can do is slow down on any shot, but I find even more so on a chip. To solve this I have a swing thought of : strike the match. You would never slow down with a match, why do it with your club? With this it really makes you commit to your shot and has made me a much more consistent short game player. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

This formula seems very interesting to me. Where did the 95 come from that you use as the basis for this calc? On my last round I hit 12 greens and had no 3 putts (28 putts). Shot 73.

Alright, got to go back out for the 2nd weekend in a row and for anybody who saw my last post I kept the beer to a minimum and the shoes on this time; to much better result. Stayed a bit closer to home and played at Las Positas Golf Course in Livermore, CA. Considering all the time they had without golfers, I was a bit disappointed with the conditions of the course. The greens were a little bumpy, the tee boxes were lopsided and tore up, and the sand traps were half weeds. But considering all that it took a mental breakdown on the last hole to keep myself from shooting under part. I stepped up to the 18th tee @ -1 and took a look at my GPS unit. It is a dogleg left par 5 and it looks like the green would be blocked out on the 2nd shot anyways, so I pulled a 3 wood to lay up off the tee...But my playing partners, whom I got randomly paired with and by now were just about fall down drunk somehow convinced me to pull the driver and try cutting the corner a bit and they assured me I would have an open look to the green. I'm sure you all see what is coming next right?!? Pull Hook OB. Re-tee with my 3 wood and par that ball leading to a Double Bogie on 18 for a 73 on the day. All in all a great day, just a lame way to finish. But this did give me 27/36 holes that I have played pretty decent (the other 9 being the drunk barefoot section that was not really golf on my part) so I went ahead and booked another round for tomorrow morning (with the wife's permission) to go and play a slightly longer course to see if the course was just playing easy or if I actually unlearned all my bad habits while stuck at home. Tomorrow's round will be at Coyote Creek Valley Course in San Jose.

Ok, found another video on my phone from an actual golf course. Used the app in the Ball Tracer mode and it actually worked pretty good, albeit slow (Took 20 mins to render the video - So if you are going to do a full round, it could take a LONG time). I am just holding the phone by hand in the video so no real stabilization other than not trying to move during a friends shot. (Photo Location: 4th Hole, Black Horse, Monterey, CA) *Note: There is also a putt tracer in this app, but I have not tried it yet.

I just bought one of these too from Costco Online as well. Should be here in a couple days. Was bummed that the weight set was sold out already though. May go stop by a local costco to see if they carry it, or will just have to hope they either come back in stock soon, or I like the putter as is when it gets here.