DJ Mico

If anyone needs a QB, I am willing to trade either Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen and will include Brandon Aiyuk or Tyler Boyd. I am looking for a top running back and a WR.

The first set of clubs I got, I had regrouped with Golf Pride MCC+4 grips after taking the quiz on their website. Pros: I really like the hybrid texture and feel of the thicker top hand because it feels most similar to a baseball bat (I played through college). I felt I had control of the clubs with enough texture that my grip wouldn’t slip, but not too much that I would destroy my hands. Cons: The only downsides are they are expensive and the extra buildup of rubber to simulate extra tape wraps changes the swingweight by a couple of points compared to just using extra tape. Since, I’ve tried Winn Dri-Tac, Tour Velvet, CP2 Wrap, the regular MCC, Tour Velvet Align, Tour Velvet 360, Larkin UTX cord, and Z-Cord. Of all of these, my favorite is the Tour Velvet 360 and the one I have on my irons in midsize with 3 extra wraps of tape on the bottom hand. Pros: Soft and tacky, with good feedback on the hands. The texture is a little rougher than the regular tour velvet, but the rubber is softer so it doesn’t cut into my hands like other grips. Cons: small particles can get stuck in the texture Thoughts on the other grips: Winn Dri-Tac Pros: soft and tacky, really nice to hold, especially on a grip sample rack that golf shops have Cons: too soft and squishy and no texture, making it hard to swing. Maybe a good grip for irons, or wedges, but I had it on a driver and felt like I was going to slip every time. Not my favorite for swinging. Tour Velvet Pros: super affordable, a little texture, right amount of feedback Cons: I might have gotten bad batches of these, but I’ve had 3 different Tour Velvets on different clubs and have not liked any of them. I’m not sure what it is, but they always feel like there is a film of dust on them. I’ve cleaned them and wetted them before a round but they always feel like they are dirty. Also, the last time I played in some light rain the one club that has the tour velvet was the only club that slipped out of my hand in about 75 swings. Tour Velvet Align Pros: The ridge is moderately helpful. This version seemed to be a different kind of rubber that was more like the rubber on a basketball shoe and harder than the regular. That made it a bit more tacky when wet than the regular tour velvet, but it also seemed to attract dirt easily. Cons: the ridge didn’t seem helpful enough for me to justify spending a little extra it Z-Cord Pros: great texture and feedback. That light rain round I mentioned, this grip was fantastic. Highly recommend for those in humid areas or that play in wet conditions often. This grip stays in your hand. Cons: I t’s a really firm grip with a lot of texture. I agree with OP that it can do a number on your hand. Good thing is I have it on my SW (stock Mizuno T20) so I maybe take a full swing with it once a month. CP2 Wrap Pros: tacky and soft but with a little texture that puts it above the Dri-Tac, slightly built up lower hand to reduce taper Cons: tackiness goes away quickly and there is not enough texture, plus it attracts dust and dirt easily since it is fairly tacky MCC Pros: same as the plus 4 Cons: this may be particular to me, but I found this one wore down easily, especially after cleaning. The rubber gets really hard and the texture goes always. Plus, I prefer the plus 4 version more. UTX Cord Pros: really good texture on the hands without being too rough and good feedback from shots Cons: not a very tacky grip, and the cord really holds onto oil from hands. The places where I usually grip would be sort of slick even with cleaning after a round

Regarding blending with the T100 or T100S, I hit both and did not get the same joy in seeing the ball take off that I saw in the T200 during my fittings. I hit them well, but I had really wanted to get Miura irons. A big point I realize I left out of my initial post is that the shafts are different between the two sets. I admit that I really wanted Miuras and bought them without doing a fitting. While I know that seems counter to my message emphasizing proper fitting, I would like to explain myself because I did not just blindly pick the Miura I liked best and buy them "off the rack" from Miura's website with aspirations of eventually playing blades with X-stiff shafts. I knew I wanted Miura irons, but I wanted to stay within my skill level and found the CB301 was the perfect blend of game improvement/players' distance looks and performance for my skills. I also called the only two fitting locations that say they carry Miura within a reasonable distance from me and asked if they had the CB301s and neither did. I went for two fittings within the last year. One in October 2020 for the full bag, and again in March 2021 after new products came out where I got the T200s. I hit irons during both fittings but did the second one in March to do a more iron specific fitting as I felt rushed during the first to be able to do the whole bag. Over the course of both fittings, I hit the Srixon Z585, ZX5, JPX 921 Forged, and Ping i500 all with the Nippon 105S shaft and hit all the clubs well. After my first fitting, I actually ended being "fit" for the i500 with the Modus 105S. During my second fit, I had hit the T200 with the AMT Black (the stock shaft) and obviously also hit that really well as I ended up getting them. When I was looking into Miura's online store, I saw the AMT Black S300 is not one of the shafts they carry, but they did offer the Modus 105 that I have hit well. I did substantial research to compare the Modus 105S and the AMT Black. I also researched the other iron heads I hit with the Modus shaft and compared them to the Miura 301 head. As I understand it, the only difference between the two shafts is the weight as the Nippon is not progressively weighted like the AMT. But the shafts do have virtually identical tip and butt frequencies and torque measurements. I would like to think I did full due diligence on my purchase and used what I learned from my actual fittings to properly fit myself for the Miuras. I realized the pictures did not upload properly on my initial post, but I would say I did a decent job as the numbers from TopTracer show I was able to maintain ball speed, distance, and forgiveness. I have also seen an increase in dispersions because I feel the T200 would occasionally give me one shot that would go 5-10 yards longer than normal, but the Miura more consistently goes the same distance on well-struck shots.

I did a fitting in March 2021 and got fit into Titleist T200 irons. I had previously been playing Titleist DCI 762 irons, so these were a massive upgrade. I received the irons in April and have played about 20 rounds since with them. The T200s are fantastic and work so well for me. My only complaint was that the 8-PW are different from the rest of the set. Starting at the 7 iron and into the long irons, the T200 has the Max Impact technology. The 8-PW have no Max Impact and I believe are simply hollow-bodied irons comparable to a Ping i500--please someone correct me if I am wrong. The feeling from the short irons is very dull, and every shot felt the same whether struck thin, solid, off the toe, or on the heel. After many rounds and range sessions, I was seeking an improved feel in these short irons. I did a lot of research about the best feeling clubs. Miura irons are known as the best in class for feel. So, long story short, I pulled the trigger on the Miura CB-301 in 7-PW. I ordered the Miuras strong to match lofts with the T200 and ensure my gapping remained the same. I just received the Miuras and played 2 rounds with them, so I felt I had compiled enough data for a comparison of the two. In terms of looks and size, the two are very similar in sole width and blade length from heel to toe. The main differences are the T200 is slightly shorter from heel to toe, is maybe a bit smaller with a shorter face, and the T200 are significantly lighter than the Miura. The Miura has a pre-worn leading edge and other grinding on the sole, but otherwise is just a forged cavity back with fairly strong lofts and no discernable technology. After all the comparisons in looks and weight, I finally decided it was time to give the fine pieces of metal a swing. The "hype" around Miura and their "legendary" feel is certainly warranted. These have that exact "soft" and "buttery" feeling you expect when you are getting a forged iron. Even the 2-piece range balls felt great. As a former baseball player, the best I can describe the feeling of hitting the Miura is like a hitting a high quality wood bad. You definitely get the feedback of mishits, but good shots feel like you are swinging the club and not even realizing you hit the ball aside from a gentle "thud" sound and little smooth vibration through the club as the ball melts into the sweetspot then rockets off at your target. I get it is not entirely apples-to-apples to compare a fully forged Miura to a technology-packed players' distance iron like the T200, so I also hit the Miura PW against my Mizuno T20 wedges. As Mizuno's saying goes "nothing feels like a Mizuno," so I also put that to the test. The T20 are fantastic feeling wedges and were the best feeling wedges I had tested during my fitting for the variety of wedge shots. However, compared to the Miura, the T20 felt a bit firmer. Where the ball felt like it melted into the Miura, the ball felt like it did not quite get into the face as much. I would put the feelings on a spectrum. The T200 are softer than the DCI 762, the T20 wedges are softer than the T200 irons, and the Miura are softer than the T20 wedges. Aside from being in love with the feeling, I also wanted to really see the performance differences between the Miuras and the T200s. My range recently installed TopTracer which measures distance, land angle, curve, ball speed, height, launch angle, and hang time. I am not sure how accurate it is compared to a launch monitor, but I am sure it provided a fair enough representation of the differences in the clubs. Side by side comparisons My observations of the data are that the Miura is equally as long or longer than the T200 in the 8-PW, but the Miura also went higher with a steeper landing angle. In terms of the 7 irons where the technology ramps up in the T200, the Miura was not significantly shorter in distance. In fact, I seem to think consistently hitting the Miuras around a comparable number is better than occasionally hitting a T200 over 165, but then also having the potential of only hitting it 150. I don't have a launch monitor to truly verify my findings, but despite a lack of technology within, I found the Miura to be comparable in distance and ball speed while feeling significantly better. Overall, I do think it comes down to preferences while also maximizing performance, which shows the benefits of fitting. I prefer a softer and more responsive feel in my short irons, and I found the best feeling clubs that also maintained the distances I got from my T200s. I am a very happy customer, and I will be hard pressed to find clubs that feel as good as my Miuras.

This sounds fun. So, before April 2020, I had not had my own clubs since about 2010. I was in high school and super focused on baseball, plus I hit a growth spurt, so I had a long hiatus where I didn’t touch a golf club. My first set of junior clubs was an all blue Wilson box set. After that I got a hand me down set from a cousin/uncle that was Ping Zing irons 3-SW, Cobra Baffler Hybrid, a Titleist 980F 3 wood and some sort of Mizuno blade putter (Anser shape). The set didn’t have a driver, and I was too tall for the junior driver, so I exclusively hit 3 wood off the tee. I used that mix match set until about 2010 once baseball took over. Once my baseball career was done and COVID hit, golf courses were the only thing that was open. I searched all over the web for a full set of clubs under $250 and finally settled on clubs from Callaway Pre-Owned: Driver: Titleist 983K 3 Wood: Titleist 909F3 Irons: Titleist DCI 762 Wedges: Vokey 200 Series, Vokey SM5 Lob Wedge Putter: Odyssey White Hot #1 I was not working at the time and was finishing up graduate school. I told myself I would save up and buy new clubs once I got better and had taken a few lessons. After going to the range a lot, taking lessons, and playing weekly, I saved up to do a fitting and buy my own clubs. I ended up being fit for and got these clubs (I didn’t buy them all at the same time): Driver: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero 3 Wood: Callaway Mavrik 3 Hybrid: Callaway Mavrik Pro Irons: 4-PW Titleist T200 Wedges: Mizuno T20 I kept my putter until my wife bought me one for my birthday: Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas H7 neck. I also decided to get a new lob wedge and went for the Ping Glide after playing an early morning round in the fall and not being able to keep the ball from releasing on the green. Finally, I just made an iron change and purchased Miura CB-301 in 7-PW. I wanted more control and feel in my short irons, but wanted a club with a similar shape and loft to my current set to not mess up my gapping. Now I’m just waiting for the Moira’s to be built and arrive.

I support everything my fellow tester of the Gamer balls for MyGolf Spy has to say. Check out our reviews here (https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/42412-2020-official-member-review-top-flite-gamer-golf-balls/#comments) Seeing these Ball Lab results is not a massive shocker given the price of the ball and brand perception of Top Flite. That being said, I agree with @Tom the Golf Nut that where the cut offs are for a "bad ball" and "average" is very vague. Having played the Gamers extensively, I definitely lost my fair share, but I attributed those to poor swings. I can't recall a ball I struck well and thought "that traveled poorly because of something with the ball." As a fairly average to slightly above average golfer, I can say that I did not notice a difference in flights on balls I hit with the Gamer compared to others I played at the time (Snell MTB-X, Callaway ChromeSoft/X, TP5X, ProV1/x, Srixon Z-Star). The balls I hit well all went straight and about the same distance with all clubs with minor deviations attributed to weather. The balls I hit poorly were all equally off target. As someone like myself that's only played just over 50 rounds since starting golfing regularly last April, I am just now discerning differences in golf balls, like how the ProV1X's higher launch and spin causes me to hit high spinners that greatly reduce my distance in the wind. I'd be interested in buying another sleeve of Gamers and testing them again to see flight differences between ones in the same sleeve and a sleeve of other balls to try and quantify any inconsistencies, but I am not necessarily consistent enough with my swing to repeat the same shot more than once.

Thanks! I guess when I say it "worked," I am saying it was more "predictable." With the sliding weights and all the tinkering I could do with it, I was able to get a fairly consistent draw out of it that would go about 250 total. I totally agree that the Mavrik is a significant upgrade over the old R15. The only difference with my Mavrik and why I made this post is that the Mavrik SZ is not a very forgiving club, so where a mishit with my old driver would put me short and a bit off line, the Mavrik has me shorter and farther off line. I think it is decided to get a lesson and keep practicing to dial in my swing, and if I'm still having issues, then it will be upgrade time.

I tend to fall into this line of thinking: whatever club I am picking, I am trying to hit it as far as I can. I have tried at the range or in lessons to back off my woods and end up causing more problems with my swing and get more erratic by not trying to swing hard because I am altering my timing. I have tried to manage the course better throughout a round, and getting more consistent with my driver off the tee would be a great place to start. I'm going to book a lesson tonight so I can feel more confident and consistent with my driver

Thanks! That is my thinking, and I actually wanted someone to say this "go get a lesson then do another fitting then maybe get a new driver." I was thinking of just buying a new one but needed some discussion to talk me off the ledge and go get a lesson LOL.

Thanks for the info. I know tinkering can lead to a rabbit hole, but I was just curious since the way I had tuned my old driver seemed to really work for me. I will experiment the next time I go to the range. I'm sure my swing does have some things that need to be fixed, but I did feel very consistent with my old one in with particular settings and think maybe slight tweaks to make the new one like that would help get the consistency back.

I could have noted in my last post, the two swing charts I posted were from different sessions. The R15 was from my October fitting, and the Mavrik results were from my iron fitting where I was just playing around on Trackman after we finished the irons. In theory, aside from weather differences, I was the same amount of "warmed up" by the time I got to the driver each day.

Thanks for the help everyone! I love hearing from my fellow Golf Spies as always. Since I moved out of the R15, I have been curious about how the loft sleeve works on the Callaway. I know on the TaylorMade that the adjustments would alter lie angle, face angle, loft and spin--per the below picture. I have not messed with the Callaway one since I was fit into the Mavrik SZ at standard specs. When I had the R15, I had the loft down 1.5 degrees making my 9.5 driver an 8 degree and played a fairly consistent draw with that driver. Does anyone know how the loft sleeve on the Callaway affects things such as face angle, if at all? I see it says you can turn it up or down a couple of degrees and set the second cog to draw or neutral, but does anyone know how that affects things in the same way the TaylorMade says its sleeve does?

You are correct, I do come very in to out. I'm a former college baseball player, so I have worked hard in the last year to try and eliminate the nasty banana slice that goes farther right than forward. The drives I hit well end up having a beautiful draw to them. Since eliminating the banana slice, I play for a draw, and it usually works. The problem is that sometimes I get a little too draw biased and get a high toe strike that doesn't go very far and goes very far left. Then, I try to tone down the draw and hit a strong power fade--usually when I don't need/want to. I definitely am going to take your advice though and just give it a swing. I feel like I've tinkered so much with my driver stance, set up, and everything else before even swinging that all the little tinkering has gotten me to the point that I feel like if my feet or shoulders are not at the perfect spot that I am instantly doomed for a mishit. I'll take a lesson and keep practicing and hopefully not keep wasting so many shots out of the tee box. I'm not a great golfer by any measure, but I at least know that if I get to within 170 yards that I usually only need 3 more shots to finish the hole (approach and 2-putt or approach, chip, and putt). While I would like to get that down, I am more concerned with getting more consistent with the big stick to avoid wasting shots on penalties or escaping from the woods.

We all know that one person--or we are that person--that when they have a bad day on the course, they go to the pro shop/store and buy new equipment. My friends think that is me, but to be fair I just started golfing consistently after I bought a used set of Titleist clubs (driver to putter) for under $300 last year. Since then, I've taken lessons, played a round at least once a week, did two fittings, and saved up to upgrade my bag. I started with a Titleist 983K driver that I got for $20 from Callaway Pre-Owned. I cracked the face after a month and instead of just issuing a refund, I said I was thinking of just buying the 909D3 driver they were selling for $45 and was able to exchange the cracked driver for a "newer" model without any hassle--fantastic customer service. I enjoyed the 909D3 for 3 months until my uncle upgraded from his TaylorMade R15 and passed it on to me. I had been gaming the R15 until December when I upgraded to the Mavrik SZ after a club fitting. I know that is a lot of changing drivers in a short period of time, and I just got fit, so why could I possibly want to upgrade again? Well, in all honesty, I have grown frustrated with my inconsistencies off the tee, and I am not sure if the driver is really helping me. For reference, here are my Trackman numbers with the R15 and my Mavrik SZ. The numbers seem to clearly favor the Mavrik SZ as I am hitting the ball farther, faster, and with tighter consistency metrics, but consistency in my fittings and on the course are very different. It's easy to get into a groove on Trackman or the range. But it is much different to just step up to the tee, hit one drive, and play your next shot. In my last few rounds I have noticed a two-way miss with my driver where I either hit a strong fade or a snap hook. Both of which only go a total distance of about 250 yards and are nowhere close to the middle of the fairway. Like most clubs, once that thought of getting rid of it creeps into your mind, you absolutely stripe one and think you can do that all the time and the cycle of mishits starts again. Trust me, I love the feeling of sending a solid shot off my Mavrik miles past my playing partners' best drives. But I also loathe mishitting one into the trees and losing strokes because I am short and in the woods and farther away with a more difficult shot to try and make GIR. In evaluating my strike, I tend to hit the middle of the face fairly often, but can feel that at times my club face is closed or open, which causes a bit of a draw or fade. When I really mishit my driver, I miss high and off the toe and end of feeling the club gear back and end up with a bad snap hook. I obviously want to improve all of my game but am okay where the rest of my game is for now. The inconsistency off the tee box is really the most frustrating part of my game. I am planning to get a lesson soon and fix/diagnose my swing problems and tinker with adjustments to the sleeve of my driver. However, I have read reviews and understand that the Mavrik SZ is not a "forgiving" driver and is aimed more toward the lower handicapper/consistent ball striker, and, honestly, that isn't me. How much of the inconsistency is just from being new and still learning versus being harmed by playing a driver that requires a higher level of consistency? What would I be giving up in terms of distance on good and how much mishit protection for less than good shots could I expect to see differ in a "more forgiving" driver? Any help is appreciated

I recently upgraded out of an old TaylorMade R15 I had been using to the Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero. When I did my fitting in October, I probably hit my R15 as best as I ever had. I had tuned in the R15 to the proper loft (8*), lie angle, and had the weight track in the best place for my swing at the time. Most of the strikes were around the middle of the face and it was as consistent as I have ever been with a driver. I didn't think I could get much better until I started hitting other clubs and saw a huge spike in distance. Some of the drivers I only took a few swings with because I didn't like the feel/look. Unfortunately, the data didn't fully upload from my first fitting, but luckily when I went back to do another iron fitting and hit some drivers, the Mavrik SZ that I was fit into the first time had very similar numbers from my first in October. Here is my baseline with the R15 As you can see, fairly respectable and consistent, which I can say is a very rare feat for me with my driver. Below are the numbers for the TaylorMade SIM, Ping G410, SIM MAX, and Callaway Mavrik (just the regular, not SZ). I think the biggest takeaway from those was that I was swinging the club slower and getting better ball speed/smash factor with higher launch, more spin, and yet more distance than the R15. My miss with a driver is a hook, and with a draw-favoring swing and most drivers being draw-biased, my fitter/teaching pro was working on finding the best club/shaft combination that would reduce that miss. We decided I would be better with a little fade/cut occasionally if it meant reducing the hook. I immediately hit slight draws with the Mavrik SZ and went forward with that as my fit. While I am about a 12 handicap and the SZ is marketed towards the lower range, I like it because it reduces my overdrawing the ball. However, I am a 12 because I am inconsistent, so days when my driver isn't working are long days. Here are my most recent numbers for my Mavrik SZ It was a little cooler in the morning, and I will say I was still shedding off some winter weight during this February fitting, which I attribute to the lower clubhead speed. But overall, compared to my old R15, my new Mavrik is SZ is 17 yards longer in carry distance. I've only had the Mavrik for 4 months compared to about a year I had been tweaking and hitting the R15 after getting it used. Hope this helps!