2023 MGS Forum: Cobra 50th Anniversary Special!

[chisag]

43 minutes ago, TSauer said:

This is me to a T.

When I go driver and I end up a long ways out, I always tell myself I have to go for it with a hybrid or 3 wood on that hole. I know that the probability of me hitting either of those clubs 125% and still ending up in a decent spot is low, but I do it anyway in the off chance it ends up being good. But now, on those days when my swing doesn't feel so great, I know that I can play the hole differently and still end up scoring well.

 

... Amen my man and I think you have exposed one of the reasons some pretty good players don't get to single digits. The game is and always will be both mental as well as physical. You never see a low index player hit a bad shot and then try and "make up for it" with their next shot. Every shot is an entity all its own and you play it the way it gives you the highest possibility to score. The amount of times I see high/mid index players attempt a shot that have far less than a 50% chance of pulling off is just astounding. Get back in position if faced with a shot you can't pull off at least 80% of the time. You still have a chance to save par but you can live with a bogie after a bad shot. It's the doubles/triples or worse when someone tries a hero shot that just wrecks a round ... and sometimes their confidence too. 

[TSauer]

55 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

Let's go!

 

So empty...

Good luck out there!

 

[chisag]

6 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

The odds of me hitting a 3 wood perfectly from 230+ out to get on in two is so low. But, the odds of me hitting a full shot anywhere from 8i - GW into the green are much higher. I’m going to start taking the approach to hit my second shot on par 5s to a spot where I am confident I can get a third on the green with a decent chance at birdie. I’ll still go for it once in awhile though

 

... Broadie's book Every Shot Counts was pretty revolutionary and exposed the myth of laying up to a specific yardage, and advancing the ball as far as possible gives you the best chance to score. That said there are other factors that come into play:

Is there trouble in play like hazards or trees?

Are you more comfortable hitting a full wedge than a partial shot? 

is there trouble on the side of your usual miss? 

How are you swinging that day?

... So for some advancing the ball as far as possible with a reasonable chance of success might be a 7iron as the longest club they have confidence hitting so that's the correct choice. Attempting a wood or hybrid or long iron if you have little confidence in those clubs is just a bad play. But if you do have confidence in your hybrids and fairway woods and hit them well, advancing it 220 when faced with 250 to the green is the smart play. 

[TSauer]

16 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

I’ll still go for it once in awhile though

You can't not go for it sometimes! Especially when you're just feeling it...

 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I'm so looking forward to playing in a little while and so not at the same time. 

I hate afternoon rounds, but in an irons only challenge, well, you need all the roll you can get with a 6 iron being at the top of the bag.

The other thing is that it is currently 94 degrees, no clouds, and humid. I prefer to walk so I might just melt. This should have been a fall challenge. I'm sure Sam is with me on this one. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

I added an initial start to my putter review on my testing post! No scores given as I cannot do so with just 18 holes in, but wanted to get some initial impressions up. Was hoping for mini golf today, but it’s been raining since 11 this morning (hallelujah!) so it’ll be far too wet to get out today. Aiming for Friday after work

[chisag]

 

2 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I'm so looking forward to playing in a little while and so not at the same time. 

I hate afternoon rounds, but in an irons only challenge, well, you need all the roll you can get with a 6 iron being at the top of the bag.

The other thing is that it is currently 94 degrees, no clouds, and humid. I prefer to walk so I might just melt. This should have been a fall challenge. I'm sure Sam is with me on this one. 

 

... I only play afternoon golf and I don't walk when it gets over 100*. But doubt I could walk at 94* with high humidity. That said do you want to make a trip to Phoenix and join me this weekend? Only gonna be 116* Saturday and 118* Sunday with very low humidity. Better bring a sweater! 

[GolfSpy BOS]

1 minute ago, Jnoble89 said:

I added an initial start to my putter review on my testing post! No scores given as I cannot do so with just 18 holes in, but wanted to get some initial impressions up. Was hoping for mini golf today, but it’s been raining since 11 this morning (hallelujah!) so it’ll be far too wet to get out today. Aiming for Friday after work

[rkj427]

22 minutes ago, TSauer said:

 

So empty...

Good luck out there!

 

Jason must be pretty confiedent to only need a handful of clubs to chalk up a WIN for Team 2....................................  

[Charles Lechair]

28 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Amen my man and I think you have exposed one of the reasons some pretty good players don't get to single digits. The game is and always will both mental as well as physical. You never see a low index player hit a bad shot and then try and "make up for it" with their next shot. Every shot is an entity all its own and you play it the way it gives you the highest possibility to score. The amount of times I see high/mid index players attempt a shot that have far less than a 50% chance of pulling off is just astounding. Get back in position if faced with a shot you can't pull off at least 80% of the time. You still have a chance to save par but you can live with a bogie after a bad shot. It's the doubles/triples or worse when someone tries a hero shot that just wrecks a round ... and sometimes their confidence too. 

Need someone to physically drill this into my brain. Maybe just follow me around and give me a 9 iron to the face every time i do something dumb

[Tom the Golf Nut]

10 minutes ago, chisag said:

... Anyone want to make a trip to Phoenix and join me this weekend? Only gonna be 116* Saturday and 118* Sunday. Bring a sweater! 

 

... I only play afternoon golf and I don't walk when it gets over 100*. But doubt I could walk at 94* with high humidity. That said do you want to make a trip to Phoenix and join me this weekend? Only gonna be 116* Saturday and 118* Sunday with very low humidity. Better bring a sweater! 

Dam I wish I could. Traveling to NJ for my niece's wedding and from there to upstate NY to see my dad for the week. I'll be gone for a while. Speaking of being gone.......... got to go, the course is calling. I'll get off work in 10 minutes. 

[chisag]

14 minutes ago, rkj427 said:

Jason must be pretty confiedent to only need a handful of clubs to chalk up a WIN for Team 2....................................  

 

[ParFore74x]

27 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I'm so looking forward to playing in a little while and so not at the same time. 

I hate afternoon rounds, but in an irons only challenge, well, you need all the roll you can get with a 6 iron being at the top of the bag.

The other thing is that it is currently 94 degrees, no clouds, and humid. I prefer to walk so I might just melt. This should have been a fall challenge. I'm sure Sam is with me on this one. 

That sounds brutal. That humidity is what gets to me eventually, usually around the 14th hole or so. I'm certainly looking forward to hearing about how this round goes for you.

13 minutes ago, Charles Lechair said:

Need someone to physically drill this into my brain. Maybe just follow me around and give me a 9 iron to the face every time i do something dumb

You and me both!! I constantly have to tell myself to play "smart golf" every time that I get myself into trouble and think that I can punch it through that little space in the trees right at the green.

[chisag]

51 minutes ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

 

... And then some!!! We had .02 inches of rain in March that didn't fall everywhere, so basically ZERO since February. I think even someone suffering from Aquaphobia is wishing for some rain here in the Valley Of The Sun.

 

 

[chisag]

11 minutes ago, ParFore74x said:

I constantly have to tell myself to play "smart golf" every time that I get myself into trouble and think that I can punch it through that little space in the trees right at the green.

 

... When I had not been playing very long I was with a 5 time Club Champion on a golf vacation and he sliced his drive into the trees. He had an opening that could get him somewhere around the green, another slightly larger opening to get back to the fairway gaining about 20 yds and a large opening if he played about 10 yds backwards into the fairway. He hit it backwards in the fairway and I was shocked. "Why would someone as good a ball striker as you not go for those openings?" It was my first big lesson in course management "I just missed a fairway that is 200 feet wide, why would I think I can hit it through an opening that's only 6 feet wide?"  

[JohnSmalls]

1 hour ago, Charles Lechair said:

Need someone to physically drill this into my brain. Maybe just follow me around and give me a 9 iron to the face every time i do something dumb

Tiger tried this.  Not sure it worked very well.

[JerryB]

9 hours ago, cnosil said:

no hero shots!

I don't have many hero shots, but I do have a lot of zero shots. 

[sirchunksalot]

After the teaser photo from earlier in the day, I thought I'd give you all a recap of my irons only round today. 

All I'm going to say is, I need to play more rounds with partial sets.

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Oh, you want details?

I'll give you details.

I played my usual course, Flagstone Golf Course and it was a beautiful day to be out there. It was 90 degrees with about 60% humidity. So not too bad. 

I'm going to be up front about the fact I played from the silver tees which measure 5330 yards and rate out at 70.4/114. I can only hit my 6 iron around 155-160, so I figured this was the only way I could score decently and make it challenging for any competitors. 

I started off well, I parred the first hole after a decent drive and left myself just short on the approach. I chipped a GW to 7 feet and made the putt.

I had a really good front nine going until I got to the 9th hole where I promptly shanked my drive into the driving range and had to hit a second tee shot and ended the hole with an 8.

Front nine 49 gross, 37 net.

Again on the back, I started off well going with 4 bogeys and a double gross. I ran into a buzz saw on 14, I lost my drive left when it landed near or on the cart path and I couldn't find my ball. I didn't see it bounce sideways but it must have. I drove up and spent my 3 minutes looking for it and had to go back and hit another. 

I will say the highlight hole of my round was the 12th. It's the #1 handicap hole on the course, even though it's playing 448 from the silver tees. It goes uphill around 60 feet. I hit a good 6 iron to the start of the slope, hit a really good 7 iron to around 150 out and then bladed a 7 that rolled up to 30 feet. The putt had a lot of break left to right and I just hit it a little hard and rolled to 10 feet past. I ended up 3 putting, but was ecstatic I hit the green.

Overall, I shot 98 gross 73 net. 

It's amazing how well I've played without a full bag. I think it's motivated me to manage expectations and not flip out over a bad shot. I've often thought I need to have the mentality of playing bogey golf. Hit a bad drive on a par 4? Well, you have two more shots for a bogey golf green in regulation. It has honestly calmed my mind and made the game more enjoyable. 

As a side note, the Agera behaved a little better today. I had 35 total putts and showed better distance control on lags. I am a little disappointed I missed few first putts inside 6 feet so I need to work on those. I plugged my stats into a strokes gained putting calculator and lost .85 strokes against my putting handicap of 17. I need to clean up the shorter putts and we might be good.

 

[chisag]

3 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

I'm going to be up front about the fact I played from the silver tees which measure 5330 yards and rate out at 70.4/114. I can only hit my 6 iron around 155-160, so I figured this was the only way I could score decently and make it challenging for any competitors CFredo. 

 

... I hate to burst your manly bubble, I really do but I think that 70.4/114 rating is for women. The Gold, Blue, White and Green ratings are for men. But if you identify as a women there's nothing wrong with that honey.   (I had to give you a little bit of a hard time after being relentless with CFredo that obviously would have played the Reds at 4579 and then posted a net 52) 

... I'l say this Shanks, I think this is a really tough challenge for a 26 index, especially with only a 6 iron as your longest club so you did really well! Not having expectations is a big key to improving. I'm sure people get tired of hearing it but the only way to play this game is one shot at a time. How you hit that shot dictates your next shot. So a par might be a good score or a double bogie might be a good score, depending on where each previous shot leaves you. It trains you mentally to focus on the shot at hand and not the last shot or the next shot. But you are making progress and that's what really counts! 

[sirchunksalot]

3 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... I hate to burst your manly bubble, I really do but I think that 70.4/114 rating is for women. The Gold, Blue, White and Green ratings are for men. But if you identify as a women there's nothing working with that honey.   (I had to give you a little bit of a hard time after being relentless with CFredo that obviously would have played the Reds at 4579 and then posted a net 52) 

... I'l say this Shanks, I think this is a really tough challenge for a 26 index, especially with only a 6 iron as your longest club so you did really well! Not having expectations is a big key to improving. I'm sure people get tired of hearing it but the only way to play this game is one shot at a time. How you hit that shot dictates your next shot. So a par might be a good score or a double bogie might be a good score, depending on where each previous shot leaves you. It trains you mentally to focus on the shot at hand and not the last shot or the next shot. But you are making progress and that's what really counts! 

I don't mind the ribbing, Sam. I think it's part of the fun of the challenge. I think for an extra 5-10 strokes off my game I'd go up and play the reds wearing a dress. At least I wouldn't have to shave my legs. 

I think the progress and most importantly, the mental shift during these limited club rounds has done wonders for my game. 

Your advice earlier in the thread about swinging easier with irons also helped tremendously. 

I'll say this about the irons, they're amazing! At my skill level, I worried about getting in over my head with a players distance set. I was wrong. They're easy to hit and I also believe the KBS PGI shaft is such a good fit.  

[chisag]

4 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

I think it's part of the fun of the challenge. I think for an extra 5-10 strokes off my game I'd go up and play the reds wearing a dress. At least I wouldn't have to shave my legs. 

 

... What a great course for women too. My Sumer course is 5759 from the forward tees and rated 71.9/124 (I don't see many women playing here) and my winter course is 5442 and rated 71.6/120. They are both waaaaay too long for the average woman or super senior. Flagstone having an option at 5330 for the longer ladies but 4579 gives than a chance at pars and an occasionally birdie! One of my Snowbird pards and his wife from Canada play with me several times a week in the winter and while she is a good player, she rarely reaches a par 4 in two or a par 5 in three because 5442 is just too long. Your course rocks! 

[sirchunksalot]

4 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... What a great course for women too. My Sumer course is 5759 from the forward tees and rated 71.9/124 (I don't see many women playing here) and my winter course is 5442 and rated 71.6/120. They are both waaaaay too long for the average woman or super senior. Flagstone having an option at 5330 for the longer ladies but 4579 gives than a chance at pars and an occasionally birdie! One of my Snowbird pards and his wife from Canada play with me several times a week in the winter and while she is a good player, she rarely reaches a par 4 in two or a par 5 in three because 5442 is just too long. Your course rocks! 

I love the fact they have 5 different sets of tees, I think it gives options for different skill levels to be able to get out and have a good time. My buddy I play with from work brings his wife along and she's played when she was younger, but hasn't practiced a lot as she's gotten older. I think they would be a good option for her. 

When you're scoring well, the game is fun. 

[JerryB]

4 hours ago, chisag said:

 

... When I had not been playing very long I was with a 5 time Club Champion on a golf vacation and he sliced his drive into the trees. He had an opening that could get him somewhere around the green, another slightly larger opening to get back to the fairway gaining about 20 yds and a large opening if he played about 10 yds backwards into the fairway. He hit it backwards in the fairway and I was shocked. "Why would someone as good a ball striker as you not go for those openings?" It was my first big lesson in course management "I just missed a fairway that is 200 feet wide, why would I think I can hit it through an opening that's only 6 feet wide?"  

What I'm hearing is...He lacks confidence!  I just get done reading about how every shot is it's own entity and to forget the last shot, then I read about this supposedly good golfer lacking the mental fortitude to forget his last shot and concentrate on the next one.  Nothing but conflicting information around here, no wonder I don't get any better!!  

[JerryB]

2 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

I played my usual course, Flagstone Golf Course and it was a beautiful day to be out there. It was 90 degrees with about 60% humidity. So not too bad. 

First of all, great round! 

But secondly...I think you and I have very different ideas of what "not too bad" really means.  

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I don’t know the last time I was so drained. I walked the back 9 to finish up my irons only round. Between the heat, humidity, the focus, and trying to get enough distance to get on or at least close to the green wore my butt out. 
 

The new grips are still amazing. I felt so much more comfortable. I did play well and frankly I was worried about the back 9. All the clubs are working well. The Gap wedge needs some fine tuning on chip shots. My other set the gap was at 50* and the Cobra is at 48* plus being 1/2 “ longer I was chipping past the pin a bit. But close enough to make the putt in most cases. Even though the Gap needs some fine tuning I don’t know what I would have done without one. The gap wedge is usually my work horse. I had to use it almost as much as the 6 iron today to get up close to save pars. I was short some after two six irons.

It is funny though on how many different clubs you can use to achieve the same results. Another eye opening day. I’m changing my approach on a few holes going forward. Now I can’t wait to use all of them!

Yesterdays 35 matched up exactly with todays 35 for a 70. Two birdies and a bogey. 
I hope to never do an irons only with the highest being a six iron again. A little too much for me. My eyes are crossing just typing this out and my left hand is cramping. I drank a lot of Gatorade too.

To compound my day. When I got to the course they said they just airated the back 9. Luckily it was the small holes and it didn’t effect much. I don’t think I could have done any better anyway. 

[TSauer]

11 hours ago, TSauer said:

The par 5 I played yesterday with only irons is a troublesome hole for me usually. The fairway isn't wide by any means, right is OB in the woods and left is a tree line that runs to the green that you don't want to be in. Guess what? I'm usually in said trees because I always pull out driver.

As far as keeping the driver in play, whenever you find the answer be sure to let me know!

So, that troublesome par 5 I was speaking of… guess what club I pulled out on the tee box here.

[chisag]

25 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Yesterdays 35 matched up exactly with todays 35 for a 70. Two birdies and a bogey. 

 

... CFredo wants to know which tees you played from. Here is CFredo teeing off from the girls forward tees in his Irons Only challenge. Crazy he swings so hard the rubber tee went as far as his ball but a nice follow through!  

[Tom the Golf Nut]

2 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... CFredo wants to know which tees you played from. Here is CFredo teeing off from the girls forward tees in his Irons Only challenge. Crazy he swings so hard the rubber tee went as far as his ball but a nice follow through!  







 

Orange I’m trying to keep up with CFredo. I tried moving the tees even shorter but I got yelled at. They almost banned me from the kiddie pool too. It was hot you know!

[rkj427]

16 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... CFredo wants to know which tees you played from. Here is CFredo teeing off from the girls forward tees in his Irons Only challenge. Crazy he swings so hard the rubber tee went as far as his ball but a nice follow through!  







 

 

Seems that CFreddie posted he played the irons only on a course that measured about 6100????????????

Really wondering if he measured it in inches or feet?  

[chisag]

10 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Orange I’m trying to keep up with CFredo. I tried moving the tees even shorter but I got yelled at. They almost banned me from the kiddie pool too. It was hot you know!

 

... It would just be a ton of fun to play Irons Only from the Golds at 5181! Two of the par 5's measure 362 and 348 which is shorter than most of the par 4's I played. But with a 65.7 rating I would have to shoot my career low just to break even.